Khieo Lapchanh, a Laotian activist with over 150,000 social media followers who criticised Laos's communist government, has not been heard from since 15 September in Samut Sakhon, near Bangkok, and rights groups fear he was abducted or killed. He had received death threats this year and was reportedly due to attend his first interview with the UN refugee agency, seeking asylum in a third country, around the time he vanished. Rights groups say several Laotian opponents have previously been abducted or killed in Thailand, and that Southeast Asian governments cooperate informally to track exiles across borders, a practice known as transnational repression.