Amnesty International Thailand has urged Thai authorities to investigate the suspected abduction in Bangkok of a Vietnamese journalist, a Radio Free Asia contributor.

On Wednesday, Amnesty’s senior director for Global Operations Minar Pimple said that Truong Duy Nhat went missing on January 26 and it is suspected that he was abducted after his arrival in Thailand on January 25 when he applied for asylum with the Bangkok office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Thai authorities must immediately investigate multiple reliable reports of abduction received from members of the Vietnamese exile community, corroborated by Nhat’s colleagues at Radio Free Asia who have now raised the alarm,” said Pimple.

Amnesty International’s senior director claimed that Vietnamese security forces had abducted exiles and refugees from Thailand and elsewhere in the past.

“Vietnamese authorities have been silent over Nhat’s disappearance.  They must come forward with any information about his whereabouts and ensure his safety and freedom of movement,” said Pimple.

Truong Duy Nhat was jailed from 2013 to 2015 on charges of publishing propaganda against the state.  Since his release, he has pursued a career as an independent journalist.  In December 2018, he received reports that he might be arrested and noticed a heightened police presence near his house.

In early January 2019, he travelled to Thailand and on January 25 he applied for asylum with the UNHCR office in Bangkok.