Vietnam dissident wins reprieve
A Thai appeal court has overturned a decision to extradite a high-profile Vietnamese dissident.
Ly Tong is accused of flying a hijacked plane from Thailand to Vietnam to drop thousands of anti-communist leaflets.
The court ruled that Mr Tong's act was a political rather than a security offence, and decided that he should not be sent to Vietnam to face charges.
Mr Tong spent several years in a Thai jail because of the incident, but the ruling now makes him a free man.
He told reporters outside the court that he now plans to leave Thailand to live in the United States.
A veteran of the former South Vietnam air force, he gained American citizenship after the Vietnam War.
Daredevil reputation
Mr Tong hijacked the aircraft from Thailand in 2000 and flew it over Ho Chi Minh City during a visit by then US President Bill Clinton.
He was arrested by Thai authorities on his return.
He has long argued that he should not be deported to Vietnam because his flight was a political rather than criminal act, and Thai law forbids people to be extradited to face political charges.
The appeal court in Bangkok agreed with him, overturning an original decision made in September.
"Vietnam wants to take the defendant back to prosecute him for a political offence," Judge Wisarut Sirisingh was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
"What [Mr Tong] did caused no harm to the territorial security of Vietnam."
Mr Tong has a reputation for carrying out daredevil stunts against communist countries.
In 2000, he was forced to surrender his pilot's license to US authorities after he illegally entered Cuban airspace and dropped anti-communist leaflets over the island.
In 1992, Mr Tong hijacked a Vietnamese jet and forced the pilot to fly over Ho Chi Minh City as he dropped leaflets calling for an uprising.
He then parachuted out of the aircraft in the hope of leading a popular revolt against the country's communist government.
But instead he was captured by soldiers and sentenced to 20 years in jail.
Vietnamese authorities freed him as part of an amnesty in 1998.
BBC News - April 3, 2007.
Vietnam expresses regrets at Thai court's refusal to extradite Ly Tong
Vietnam expressed regrets at the Bangkok Court of Appeal's ruling on April 3 which refused to extradite Ly Tong to the country, a local spokesman said Tuesday, stating that the man "had committed actions which seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty, security and law as well as international laws and treaties."
Ly Tong's actions are essentially terrorist acts, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said, adding that such actions should be severely punished.
"The ruling is unfair, at odds with Thai laws, Vietnamese laws and international laws and incompatible with the fine development of the relationship between Thailand and Vietnam as well as running counter to the common efforts in preventing and fighting criminals and terrorism in the region and the world at large," he said.
The Court of Appeal's ruling turned against the Criminal Court's ruling in September 2006 which said Ly Tong's acts were purely a security-related crime and allowed the extradition.
Ly Tong, a U.S. citizen of Vietnamese origin, hijacked a plane from Thailand in 2000 and flew it over Vietnam's Hanoi capital during a visit by then U.S. President Bill Clinton. After being arrested upon his landing in Thailand, he was given a jail sentence there for violating Thai airspace.
The Vietnamese government sent an extradition request to Thailand in 2004 charging Ly Tong with slandering the government and violating the territorial security of Vietnam.
In 1992, Tong also hijacked a Vietnamese plane, forced the pilot to fly over Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City, and then dropped leaflets calling for an uprising.
Ly Tong parachuted out of the plane in the hope of leading a rebellion against the Vietnamese government, but he was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released from prison in 1998 after getting an amnesty.
Xinhua - April 4, 2007.
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