Regardless of the outcome, however, Song Zhiyu will probably lose his freedom. If he wins the case in Chumphon Court, he will be locked up as a refugee at an Immigration Bureau facility pending his relocation to a third country.

If he loses the case, he will face being sent back to China, where the Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP) believes he will be in danger.

Many Chinese nationals including Song recently fled from China, which has continued a crackdown on the Falung Gong religious group.

Last March, Song boarded a boat from Thailand in the hope of travelling to New Zealand, but the boat capsized near Chumphon and he was rescued along with other passengers.

Song was charged with alleged illegal entry after police said he used a fake passport to enter Thailand.

At the Chumphon Court trial yesterday, an immigration official testified that Song had used a fake passport to Thailand via Suvarnabhumi Airport. Police told the court the fake passport had been made in Pattaya.

However, Song told the court he used his Chinese passport to enter Thailand via Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai checkpoint, but admitted that he had overstayed his visa-on-arrival.

CRSP staff member Kohnwilai Teppunkoonngam said Song chose to travel on the boat that capsized last year because he was worried that he would be deported to China, after many Uighur political refugees were arrested in Thailand and deported.

“But now, even if he is acquitted of illegal entry, he will lose his freedom. Thai immigration officials will require him to stay at their facility only,” she said.