Exiled Lao democracy activist Joseph Akaravong is recovering in hospital after emergency surgery following a knife attack in southwestern France by an unidentified assailant, the activist and a human rights group said Monday.
French news portal Sud Ouest reported that a man in his 30s was stabbed three times in the throat and torso around noon on Saturday in the center of the city of Pau then rushed to hospital there. It said the attacker was still at large.
On Monday, Akaravong posted on Facebook a photo from his hospital bed, showing himself heavily bandaged. He said his attacker was a man who “didn’t dare to fight me face to face with my bare hands.”
Sud Ouest quoted an unnamed witness as saying: “I went to the window and saw a couple who didn’t speak French, maybe Asian tourists, shouting ‘Help, help!’ The man had blood on his clothes and was holding his throat.”
Manushya Foundation, a human rights group, said that Akaravong had been rushed to hospital in critical condition but his condition had stabilized. While the identity of the assailant remains unclear, the group described the attack as an example of “transnational repression.”
The Lao Embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Akaravong is one of the most prominent public critics of the communist government in Laos which has ruled for five decades and is intolerant of political dissent. He often posts on social media about socio-economic conditions in Laos and commentary critical of the government.
The foundation said Akaravong fled Laos in 2018 after criticizing the collapse of a saddle dam at the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower project in Attapeu province that killed dozens of villagers. He was granted political asylum in France in March 2022, the foundation said.
In recent years, other Lao activists have gone missing or faced violence both inside Laos and outside the country, typically in neighboring Thailand.
In August 2019, Od Sayavong, a 34-year old Thai-based Lao activist, and his housemate went missing in Bangkok. Thai authorities pled ignorance in the case and their investigation has stalled.
In May 2023, Kitiyano Bounsuan, a 56-year-old Thai-based Lao democracy activist who had received U.N. refugee status, was gunned down in Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
