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free_jiang_and_dong.jpgPlease sign the following petition at
https://www.change.org/p/thailand-prime-minister-inquire-china-about-repatriated-refugees

WHAT:    Bring attention to repatriated human rights activists
                Ask Thai Prime Minister to inquire of China of status of repatriated refugees
                Tell Thailand to stop further repatriation of human rights activists to China
WHEN:   U.N. Human Rights Day, Thursday, December 10, 2015
TIME:      2:30 p.m.
WHERE:  Royal Thai Consulate
                 611 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, Ca. 90004
                 Please meet downstairs.  The Consulate is at the 2nd Floor.  It closes at 4 p.m.
INFORMATION: Visual Artists Guild, Ann Lau 310-433-0697

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Your Excellency Prime Minister Parayut Chan-o-cha,
         We are writing to you regarding the recent repatriation of Chinese refugees to China by Thai authority.
         Although China is a signatory of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, we are concerned that these repatriated Chinese refugees may be subjected to torture now that they are back in China. 
         During last month's United Nations review on China's compliance on torture in Geneva, the Chinese delegation was evasive in their answers and in fact considered some obvious tortures such as the use of iron interrogation chairs in which prisoners had  report being strapped for hours, even days at a time, as merely "management tools".          
         As a member State of the United Nations, Thailand has every right to inquire of China as to the status of the Chinese refugees who have been repatriated.
         We therefore ask that you make inquiries to the government of China regarding the following people:
           *   Jiang Yefei姜野飞, a political cartoonist who had been in Thailand since 2008 after he fled China where he was tortured for his critique of the government's handling of the Sichuan earthquake.
                He was already granted refugee status by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in April of this year.
           *   Dong Guangping董广平, who was imprisoned for10 months in China for taking part in an event to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.
                Dong has also been granted refugee status by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),
           *   100 Chinese Uighur minorities who have been deported from Thailand in July this year.
          As Thailand has also ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in which Article 3 of the Convention states that "No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture", Thailand has therefore the obligation to these people to ensure that they are not tortured. 
          It is important that Thailand be part of the global village and be recognized for the adherence to international norms regarding refugees.  We therefore ask you to direct your government to cease further repatriation of refugees back to a country where they may be at risk of being tortured .
          Your truly,