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Thailand Hmong Resist Forced Deportation

Tong Her in an ambulance during tense scenes at the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center as authorities threatened to deport 152 Hmong refugees back to Laos, Nong Khai, Thailand, on Tuesday January 30th, 2007. Tong has been recieving reconstructive surgery in Thailand and was being taken from the Dention Center to Nong Khai Hospital for treatment. Half of Tong's face was shot off by Lao Army forces in the jungles of Laos. ..The deportation was postponed after the Hmong men, including Tong's father, Blia Shoua Her, barricaded their jail cell and threatened mass suicide if they were forcibly sent back to Laos where they face possible torture and death. ..The men reportedly declared, "We would rather die in Thailand than be sent back to Laos". ..On May 16, 2007 the Thai Military Junta forced the UNHCR Bangkok refugee office to stop accepting applications from asylum seekers. On Friday night June 8, 2007, after UNHCR and western diplomats had gone home for the weekend, Thai authorities forcibly deported a different group of 160 Hmong asylum seekers to back Laos...Up to 1,000 Hmong jungle people surrendered to Lao authorities last year due to Lao Military pressure, an inability to defend themselves, and lack of food or medicine. This includes Blia Shoua Her's group of 438 people who suffered the massacre April 6, 2006. All of these Hmong have vanished and the Lao Government has made no account of their whereabouts or condition despite requests from humanitarian groups.

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Tong Her in an ambulance during tense scenes at the Nong Khai Immigration Detention Center as authorities threatened to deport 152 Hmong refugees back to Laos, Nong Khai, Thailand, on Tuesday January 30th, 2007. Tong has been recieving reconstructive surgery in Thailand and was being taken from the Dention Center to Nong Khai Hospital for treatment. Half of Tong's face was shot off by Lao Army forces in the jungles of Laos. ..The deportation was postponed after the Hmong men, including Tong's father, Blia Shoua Her, barricaded their jail cell and threatened mass suicide if they were forcibly sent back to Laos where they face possible torture and death. ..The men reportedly declared, "We would rather die in Thailand than be sent back to Laos". ..On May 16, 2007 the Thai Military Junta forced the UNHCR Bangkok refugee office to stop accepting applications from asylum seekers. On Friday night June 8, 2007, after UNHCR and western diplomats had gone home for the weekend, Thai authorities forcibly deported a different group of 160 Hmong asylum seekers to back Laos...Up to 1,000 Hmong jungle people surrendered to Lao authorities last year due to Lao Military pressure, an inability to defend themselves, and lack of food or medicine. This includes Blia Shoua Her's group of 438 people who suffered the massacre April 6, 2006. All of these Hmong have vanished and the Lao Government has made no account of their whereabouts or condition despite requests from humanitarian groups.