20 July 2026. In September 2024, Bai Zhaodong became the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Public Security Bureau of Yulin City on fabricated charges of "extortion". Since then, Thai authorities have prevented him from relocating to a safe third country and barred him from leaving Thailand. He has been held in immigration detention since January 2026.
If returned to China, Bai would face a grave, foreseeable, personal, and real risk of political persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and other serious human rights violations. His forced return would therefore undeniably violate Thailand’s obligations under international and domestic torture prohibitions (non-refoulement).
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Andrea Bolaños Vargas, has urged the Thai authorities to "immediately halt any deportation proceedings, facilitate his prompt relocation, and ensure his safety and access to adequate healthcare."
Bai Zhaodong has worked as an investigative journalist in China for more than 25 years, most recently for the respected Caijing magazine in Beijing. His reporting uncovered a large-scale corruption and financial fraud network involving money laundering and other illicit financial activities. The investigation implicated both local government officials and senior figures within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Because of the senior officials implicated and the sensitive nature of his reporting, Bai became the target of intensified surveillance, intimidation, and sustained harassment by both local and central Chinese authorities following the publication of his investigation.
Throughout his career, Bai has faced repeated retaliation for his investigative reporting on corruption and financial fraud in Shaanxi Province. Chinese authorities have subjected him to six separate rounds of criminal charges, interrogations, and detention in connection with his journalistic work.
The Chinese government routinely uses vague and politically motivated charges, including "espionage," "subversion," and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," to prosecute journalists, writers, scholars and activists. China is currently the world’s largest jailer of journalists, with 120 journalists imprisoned. It ranks 178th out of 180 countries and territories in Reporters Without Borders’ 2026 World Press Freedom Index.
We therefore urge the Thai government to:
– Immediately halt any deportation or forcible return of Bai Zhaodong to China;
– Facilitate Bai Zhaodong’s safe transfer to a third country willing to provide him with international protection;
– Refrain from cooperating with requests from the Chinese authorities that would result in the persecution of journalists, writers, scholars, activists or other individuals at risk of serious human rights violations.