Dissident Russian rock band deported to Israel
Members of a Russian rock band opposed to the Ukraine war have left Thailand for Israel a week after authorities threatened to deport them to Moscow.
The band Bi-2 faced deportation for working at the resort island of Phuket without a permit, the band and the Royal Thai Police said on Thursday.
Human rights activists had warned that the seven members of the self-exiled rock band Bi-2 would face harsh punishment if they were sent to Russia.
Several band members, however, hold both Russian and Israeli citizenship, and the group had been based in Israel in the 1990s. Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn said the band requested to be deported to Israel.
The band were fined for working without a permit, he added.
"All of them travelled to Israel around 11 pm last night," Pol Gen Surachate told Reuters.
The band also said on its Facebook page that all members had left Thailand and were heading to Tel Aviv.
Bi-2 is known for its condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia's Justice Ministry labelled lead singer Igor Bortnick a "foreign agent" after he criticised President Vladimir Putin online last year.
Earlier this week, Thai immigration officials said the band could choose to be deported to another destination if they felt unsafe to return to Russia.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, welcomed the decision to send the band to Israel.
"Human rights concerns won out in Thailand's to let all the Bi-2 band members travel to the safety of Israel," he said.
Vocabulary
- activists (noun): people who take part in activities that are intended to achieve political or social change, especially someone who is a member of an organisation - นักกิจกรรม
- citizenship: being a member of a particular country and having rights because of it - ชนชาติ, ความเป็นพลเมือง
- condemnation: a public statement in which someone criticises someone or something severely - การประนามหยามเหยียด
- deportation: the process of forcing someone to leave a country, especially someone who has no legal right to be there or who has broken the law - การเนรเทศออกจากประเทศ
- exiled: forced to live in a foreign country, usually for political reasons - ที่ถูกเนรเทศ
- face: to (likely or possibly) have to deal with a problem - เผชิญ, พบ, เจอ
- harsh: strict, unkind and often unfair - อย่างรุนแรง
- human rights: the basic rights which it is generally considered all people should have, such as justice and the freedom to say what you think - สิทธิมนุษยชน
- invasion: an occasion when one country’s army goes into another country to take control of it by force - การลุกล้ำอาณาบริเวณ
- permit: an official document that gives you permission to do something - ใบอนุญาต
- punishment: an act or a way of punishing somebody - การลงโทษ
