#Faiyen_is_saved!
Faiyen members are now rescued from the acute danger they faced in Laos – to begin new lives in France with the dignity, liberty, equality and sister-brotherhood that they fought for with their lives, branded as a threat to the security of the Thai monarcho-military regime.
It has been a stressful 7 months of struggle to find a country in the democratic world that would recognize the importance of saving the lives of Thai political exiles in Laos. Seven months during which the lives of 8 Thai people in political exile are presumed terminated.
We Faiyen remember our 8 Thai friends who were living in Laos that have been abducted / murdered / disappeared since 2016: Sunho (22 June 2016), Gotee (29 July 2017), Surachai and Phuchana and Kasalong (12 December 2018), and Sanamlaung and Youngblood and Siam (February 2019).
In being rescued to live in France, to a land that honours liberté, égalité, fraternité, we commit to continuing the struggle to establish respect for freedom, equality, fraternity and human rights in our home country.
There are so, so many organisations and people who have been helping us during these seven months. Thank you to all the journalists around the world who broadcast our stories and struggles. We thank you Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Association of Thai for Democracy, Thai Alliance for Human Right USA and Action for People’s Democracy in Thailand (ACT4DEM), for helping to pass our messages and stories to UNHCR, OHCHR and the French authorities. Without the help of the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) we would have continued to be ignored. The deepest thanks to IRAP from Faiyen and #SaveFaiyen Campaign.
During the last two months of constant daily threat from Thai government units commanded to eliminate lèse-majesté dissidents, France opened the door for us. We cannot say enough of the words of thank you and gratitude to the French authorities who recognized the acute urgency of our case and provided the necessary documents. We thank you IRAP again for arranging our flight tickets. And a huge and deep thank you to all the many individuals in Thailand and around the world that helped us with mobilising funds and with words of support and solidarity.
Faiyen is now in France. We will now proceed to the political asylum process and progress through learning the French language.
With our rights of equality affirmed we look forward with joy to living with freedom to express thoughts and feelings that caused us to be hunted as criminals in Thailand.
Faiyen is a political musical band and the first thing we will do in France is to sing, in Paris, in the great Place de la République.
Stay tuned.
Posted to Facebook by Junya Yimprasert August 2, 2019