Joseph Akaravong was granted asylum in France in 2022, rights group says. 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. 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. 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.