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Phil Robertson: “Việt Nam has the capacity and the political will to abduct people abroad.”

By Đoàn Bảo Châu18 min read
Phil Robertson at an Asia Democracy Network (ADN) conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 22, 2023. Photo: Trịnh Hữu Long / Luật Khoa.

Interview by Đoàn Bảo Châu, October 17, 2026. Edited for length and clarity.

Nguyễn Đức Thuận, a Norwegian citizen; Trần Hiệp, an Australian citizen; and Thái Công Trường Sơn disappeared in Cambodia on Sept. 18, 2026. Ten days later, Việt Nam announced it was holding them on terrorism charges. Đoàn Bảo Châu spoke with Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates in Bangkok, who has worked for almost 20 years to protect activists hunted across borders in Asia.

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