The recent death of the Sriburapha Award-winning author Wat Wallayangkoon, who passed away on Monday at the age of 67 in France, is not only a loss for Thailand's literary scene. His life also reflected the struggles and threats that political dissidents living in exile must endure.
Wat epitomised Thai radical political dissident. As a young university student and after having joined protests that led to the October Massacre in 1976, he fled Thailand to live in Laos. Years later, he became a leading figure in the red-shirt movement and subsequently joined the anti-junta government after the 2014 coup. Like some other anti-government dissidents, Wat faced lese majeste charges and fled to a neighbouring country, in his case Laos, after refusing to report to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). He left Laos to take up residence in France in 2019 after being granted political asylum status.
In France, the late author gave interviews about the kinds of risks political dissidents face.
