After years of waiting for Amnesty International's support, lese majeste detainees hope smuggled letter will bring NGO on board

A little background to this piece. The main research and interviews were completed earlier this year and so may seem a little dated now. However, I interviewed 9 lese majeste prisoners at the Bangkok Remand Prison and about 8 political prisoners at the “new” Lak Si political prison. One of the lese majeste prisoners I interviewed was Ah Kong – who I met on two occasions and who died in May 2012. Obviously it now seems horribly ironic when he told me personally that “conditions improved” after the Pheu Thai government were elected in 2011.