Rights group concerned over missing Lao activist in Thailand

A Paris-based human rights group is calling for Thai authorities to investigate the disappearance in Bangkok of a Laotian pro-democracy activist who was seeking political asylum.

The International Federation for Human Rights said Friday that Od Sayavong failed to meet with friends on Aug. 26 and has not been heard from since.

It said Od has been a member of the Bangkok-based “Free Lao” group of Lao migrant workers and activists promoting human rights in their home country. It said the U.N. refugee agency in December 2017 registered Od as a person of concern seeking resettlement in a third country.

Laos is a single-party Communist state intolerant of dissent. Rights groups fear that Thailand and Laos have an informal agreement to secretly seize their own dissidents from each other’s country.