February 05, 2013

Have You Seen This Man?

Image of Sombath Somphone

Mr. Sombath Somphone, 60, disappeared on December 15, 2012.  He was last seen getting into a vehicle in Vientiane after having been stopped by traffic police.  A video posted on Youtube shows the last moments of when he was last seen.

Some speculate that the Lao government may have had a hand in his disappearance.  To this, the Lao government has released official statements both in the KPL and Vientiane Times newspapers indicating that he may have been kidnapped or involved in some personal conflict.  And to their credit, they authorized the viewing of the CCTV video footage of his last moments.  However, there remains a lot of uncertainty and many unanswered questions.

Image of Sombath Somphone

Mr. Somphone is a dedicated, caring, family man.  He’s helped numerous Lao people both personally and through his charitable work including that of creating the well known PADETC organization.  (To see an interview he did and to understand his thoughts on Lao development work click here.)

Someone like this, who has done so much good for Laos and Lao people, surely deserves our support in obtaining his release.  Many of his friends, foreign governments, fellow humanitarian organizations, his wife and family, are all pleading to the Lao government to get to the bottom of this and to help in his safe return.

For further details or to keep up-to-date on what's going on, check out:
http://sombath.org/
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