Tag: Sombath’s Family

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Workshop on Sombath at ACSC/APF

ACSC-APF-2016-Humanity & NatureLao civil society representatives made it clear that Sombath’s name, among other issues, would not be welcome at a ACSC/APF event held in Laos. For this and other reasons, the event was moved to Timor-Leste.

“Humanity and Nature” will be held from 16:15-18:15 PM on August 4th in room two of the Alola Foundation.

Speakers include:

  • Ng Shui Meng, Spouse of Sombath Somphone
  • Genito Santana, Kdadalak Sulimutuk Instititute
  • Cheek Sophea, Focus on the Global South
  • Myrna Dominguez, Integrated Rural Development Foundation
  • Sam Zarifi, International Commission of Jurists
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Disappearance Casts a Pall Over Laos as ASEAN Conference Looms

Radio Free Asia: 07 July 2016

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A 2005 photo of Sombath Somphone in the Philippines. AFP/Somphone family

Sombath Somphone’s shadow continues to hang over Laos, with the rural development expert’s disappearance in 2012 still haunting the country as it prepares to host the annual meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Sombath’s abduction remains unsolved even though there is video footage of Sombath’s Jeep being stopped at a police checkpoint that also shows Sombath being herded into a white truck and taken away. In the video, a man dressed in white returns and drives off in his Jeep.

Though police promised to investigate, Lao authorities soon backtracked saying they could no longer confirm whether the man in the video footage was actually Sombath.

And that’s the way the case has remained despite international calls to solve it. Continue reading “Disappearance Casts a Pall Over Laos as ASEAN Conference Looms”

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Surface missing devt worker Sombath: Asia-Europe People’s Forum to Lao govt

Interaksyon: 05 July 2016

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ULAAN BAATAR – Sombath Somphone, the missing development worker who won the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize, has been a focal point of the 11th Asia-Europe People’s Forum here.

The estimated 500 participants from the two continents and the host country Mongolia were asked by Somphone’s wife Shui Meng Ng to sign a petition asking the Lao government to surface him now.

Ng’s message, read by Evelyn Balais-Serrano of the Bangkok-based Forum Asia, also asked the Lao government to conclude its four-year investigation into what the international community, including the United Nations, the European Union, and the United States, has already dubbed as a case of enforced disappearance.

Her assumption that “AEPF was a safe, inclusive space for civil society engagement was misplaced” when Somphone disappeared right in front of a police outpost in the Lao capital of Vientiane in December 2012, Ng said. Continue reading “Surface missing devt worker Sombath: Asia-Europe People’s Forum to Lao govt”

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Shui-Meng’s remarks at AEPF11

Remarks by Ng Shui-Meng, read at the opening of the Asian-Europe People’s forum in Ulaanbataar:

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Greetings to all participants gathered together at this 11th AEPF in Ulaan Baatar. Once more representatives from civil society groups across Asia and Europe are gathered together for another Asia-Europe People’s Forum. Two years ago I was in Milan at the 10th AEPF recalling Sombath Somphone’s role and engagement in the 9th AEPF in Vientiane and his optimism and vision of seeing civil society groups, working alongside governments and businesses to support the fostering of more inclusive and sustainable societies across Asia and Europe, and especially for Laos. Unfortunately, Sombath’s aspirations and expectations of a safe and inclusive space for civil society engagement and debate were misplaced.  Two months after the 9th AEPF Sombath was disappeared right in front of a police post in Vientiane, with his abduction clearly recorded by the Lao police surveillance camera.

AEPF11-LogoNow, nearly four years later, Sombath is still missing. His abduction has been acknowledged world-wide as an “Enforced Disappearance”, and his case remains open at the UN Working Group for Enforced Disappearances, as well as at the UN Universal Periodic Review. To all the questions and calls for accountability of Sombath’s abduction, the Lao Government has stubbornly maintained the position that the state is not involved, and the police are still investigating.  Continue reading “Shui-Meng’s remarks at AEPF11”

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Laos cracks down on social media critics

Al Jazeera: 06 June 2016, By Preeti Jha

In a new strike on freedom of expression, Laos broadcasts a stark warning to social media users.

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Soukan Chaithad and Somphone Phimmasone on Laos national TV [Preeti Jha/Al Jazeera]
Vientiane, Laos – With their heads hung low, three Laos nationals quietly apologise on state TV for betraying the country through anti-government Facebook posts, a striking parade of apparent confessions in the communist regime’s latest crackdown on dissent.

The ominous broadcast in late May was the first news of the trio for families desperate to know their whereabouts since they were arrested in March.

“From now on I will behave well, change my attitude and stop all activities that betray the nation,” said 29-year-old Somphone Phimmasone on Lao National TV.

He sat between the two co-accused: his girlfriend, Lodkham Thammavong, 30, and another man, 32-year-old Soukan Chaithad, each wearing the trademark royal blue uniforms of prisoners.

Flanked by a row of straight-backed police officers, beneath a banner proclaiming “peace, independence, unity, prosperity” in Laos, Soukan stressed their confessions weren’t forced by the authorities. Continue reading “Laos cracks down on social media critics”

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Event by AFAD on Sombath Somphone

AFAD event 16 Dec 2015The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) together with representatives from human rights organizations in the Philippines gathered today, to commemorate the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone. Former Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Ms. Etta Rosales who was also present in the event gave an inspirational message to encourage human rights defenders to not lose hope and to continue the struggle for truth and justice. Shui Meng, the wife of Sombath, sent a video message expressing her thanks to AFAD and human rights networks in the Philippines.

Sketches of the Disappeared, including that of Sombath Somphone, were displayed.  “The sketches all have no eyes”, the artist says, “they will have eyes when they reappear”.

The event was also the launching of the ilitaw.ph – the official campaign website regarding enforced disappearances in the Philippines.

More than 50 people from various human rights organizations and media organizations attended the event.

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Interview: Remembering the Disappearance of Sombath Somphone

The Diplomat: 15 December 2015

Sombath Somphone (d.) en compagnie de l'archevêque sud-africain Desmund Tutu en 2006. Wikimedia Commons / Shui-Meng Ng
Sombath Somphone, pictured here with Desmond Tutu. Wikimedia Commons

The Diplomat talks with Ng Shui Meng, the wife of disappeared Lao activist Sombath Somphone.

Today marks the third year anniversary of the enforced disappearance of Sombath Somphone, an internationally-renowned civil society leader in Laos.

Despite the availability of CCTV footage showing Sombath’s abduction in the early evening of December 15, 2012 at a police checkpoint in Vientiane, no progress has been made in locating him and returning him to his family. Rights groups say the fact that the police officers who witnessed the abduction failed to intervene suggests some level of complicity by Lao authorities.

Ng Shui Meng, Sombath’s wife, continues to campaign for his release. Ahead of the third anniversary and Laos prepares to officially take over as chair of ASEAN in 2016, she spoke with John Quinley III. An edited version of that interview follows.

Can you tell us your personal feelings on the third anniversary of the disappearance of your husband Sombath? 

His enforced disappearance took place three years ago. I am still confused why someone like Sombath who has worked for 30 years openly in Laos in a very non-confrontational manner would experience enforced disappearance at that time of his life. Continue reading “Interview: Remembering the Disappearance of Sombath Somphone”

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Tres años del secuestro policial del ‘Mandela de Laos’

El Diaro: 14 Diciembre 2015

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Shui-Meng contempla un cartel en el que se solicita ayuda para encontrar a su marido, el líder comunitario Sombath Somphone, en Vientiane (Laos). | Foto: Carlos Hernández.

El líder social más influyente de Laos desapareció el 15 de diciembre de 2012. Las imágenes de las cámaras de tráfico revelan que fue la propia policía laosiana quien le secuestró en pleno centro de la capital. eldiario.es ha entrevistado en Vientiane a su esposa Ng Shui-Meng que, pese al terror impuesto por las autoridades comunistas, sigue luchando para conocer el paradero de Sombath Somphone.

La mujer, de aspecto frágil, irradia una tristeza infinita. Nada más entrar en una semivacía cafetería de Vientiane, se dedica a buscar el rincón más alejado de miradas y oídos indiscretos. Solo cuando se siente segura, aflora en ella la fuerza y la determinación que le han permitido seguir adelante durante estos durísimos tres años: “Nací en Singapur. Sombath y yo nos conocimos mientras estudiábamos en Estados Unidos, en Hawai. Él fue, probablemente, el único laosiano que regresó a su país. El resto de estudiantes se quedaron para siempre en Norteamérica, pero él quería trabajar por Laos. Era de una familia muy humilde y quería ayudar a sus vecinos a salir de la pobreza, a desarrollarse, a involucrarles en la preocupación por el medio ambiente”.

Esa decisión de volver a casa marcó para siempre sus vidas. Sombath Somphone aprovechó su extensa formación académica para trabajar, codo con codo, con los más humildes. Sus idas y venidas a Hawai le llevaron a una situación paradójica: el régimen comunista de Laos sospechaba que era un agente de la CIA mientras que en Estados Unidos le tachaban de marxista. Continue reading “Tres años del secuestro policial del ‘Mandela de Laos’”

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Family of missing Laos activist Sombath Somphone reveal new evidence three years after disappearance

Channel News Asia: 14 December 2015

The family of Sombath Somphone, a Laos civil society leader who went missing in the capital Vientiane three years ago, urged the government to do more to probe into his disappearance.

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Sombath Somphone, an award-winning campaigner for sustainable development in Laos, pictured in 2005.

Sombath Somphone, an award-winning campaigner for sustainable development in Laos, pictured in 2005. (Photo: AFP)

Within days after his disappearance, the Laos government released footage showing his Jeep had been driven out of the capital Vientiane.

However, a new piece of evidence released on Monday (Dec 14) by an advocacy group, the Sombath Initiative, revealed his car had been turned around and driven back towards the city centre.

Presented at a press conference entitled “Three Years On: Demanding Answers for the Enforced Disappearance of Sombath Somphone in Laos” in Bangkok was new footage his family retrieved from closed circuit TV cameras (CCTV) along the road where he is believed to have disappeared.

His family claimed they had presented state investigators the new evidence, adding the authorities have yet to examine it.

“This CCTV footage was gathered by Sombath’s family and sheds new light on what happened the night he disappeared,” said Sam Zarifi, Regional Director for Asia-Pacific for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). Continue reading “Family of missing Laos activist Sombath Somphone reveal new evidence three years after disappearance”