U.S. Court of Appeals Affirms Political Activist’s Extradition to Thailand

On May 22, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed a district court decision to extradite Van Duc Vo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, to Thailand, denying Vo’s argument that the political offense exception and due process precluded extradition. Vo, born in Vietnam, came to the U.S. in 1980 to escape his home country’s regime. He is a member of the Government of Free Vietnam (GFVN), based in Garden Grove, Calif., which Vo asserts is “an organization deemed a terrorist entity by both Vietnam and the United States.” The purpose of the GFVN is to “[d]ismantle the Communist dictatorship of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam by a peaceful, practical and persistent approach.” While the GFVN insists that its activities are peaceful, its members have been connected to several incidents of terrorism in Vietnam and South Asia.