By Andrew Spooner |
<p>As the news of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/11/us-soldier-killing-afghanistan-children">Kandahar Massacre</a> circles the globe, the eyes of the international community are once again scrutinising the USA’s dubious and often appalling human rights record – particularly when they are intervening/invading in some foreign country.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Dual Thai-US citizen Joe Gordon was sentenced to two and a half years in prison yesterday under the lese-majeste law and the Computer Crimes Act for translating parts of a banned book about the King and posting them on the Internet while in the United States, prompting an immediate expression of concern from a locally based US official.</p>
By Reporters Without Borders |
<p>Reporters Without Borders is shocked by the two-and-a-half-year sentence imposed on American blogger Joe Gordon by a Bangkok court today for insulting the Thai royal family and deplores the increase in so-called lèse-majesté crimes in Thailand.</p>
<p>On 8 Dec, the Criminal Court sentenced <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/search/node/Joe%20Gordon">Joe Gordon</a>, a Thai-born American citizen, to 5 years in jail for lèse majesté, but reduced the jail term by half as he had pleaded guilty.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Confusion reigned yesterday over the verdict day for Joe Gordon, a dual Thai-US citizen charged under the lese majeste law and Computer Crimes Act, when US Embassy personnel and Gordon's lawyer appeared at the Criminal Court - only to be told the ruling on his prosecution would be handed down next Thursday, December 8.</p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>Prachatai has monitored the <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/2826">case</a> closely, writing that "the Thai-born American citizen was arrested by the Department of Special Investigation in late May this year for allegedly translating the banned book ‘The King Never Smiles’ and placing links to download the translation on the internet, violating the lèse majesté law and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act."</p>
<p>On 10 Oct, Joe Gordon pleaded guilty at the Criminal Court after having been detained without bail for 139 days.</p>
<p>On 27 Sept, a group of activists gathered in front of the US Embassy in Bangkok to call on the US government to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizen, Joe Gordon, who has been detained without bail for 4 months on charges of lèse majesté.</p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>Yesterday, Thailand’s Criminal Court would deny Joe Gordon bail for an eighth consecutive time. In its decision, the Court would cite a number of reasons for the American’s ongoing incarceration, namely, the seriousness of the alleged offence. “The witness had not yet testified… and the penalty, (if convicted), is high,” wrote the Court.</p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>U.S. citizen and lèse majesté prisoner Joe Gordon is “learning a lot about Thai politics, in prison,” and intends to mount a serious charge against the Thai Government in light of his ongoing incarceration.</p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>Late last month, Joe Gordon, a Thai-American citizen, was again denied bail on charges relating to lese-majeste and the Computer Crimes Act (CCA). The decision marks the seventh and final appeal for bail during the period of his pre-trial incarceration. </p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>It is 63 days since Joe Gordon was first incarcerated, and despite this, he seems considerably well. "Yes, it took a long time, but I've started receiving some medicine now, and it's working," he says. </p>