By Lisa Gardner |
<p>Family of arrested Thai-American citizen Joe Gordon, 54, believe he is innocent of all charges.</p>
<p>On Friday Prachatai reported that Mr. Gordon had been charged on Tuesday "with lèse majesté, inciting unrest and disobedience of the law in public, and disseminating computer data which threatens national security." The DSI allege that he owns a blog which offers a link to download 'The King Never Smiles', a book banned in Thailand.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>A Thai-born dual Thai-US citizen and passport holder was arrested and detained without bail on Thursday for allegedly putting up a computer link to the content of the banned book "The King Never Smiles" on his blog.</p>
By Harrison George |
<p>The most recent issue of OK magazine (Thai version) has, perhaps inevitably, a photo spread on the latest British Royal Wedding. The story caption (and captions in OK Thailand are always in English) reads ‘The Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge’.</p>
<p>Joe Gordon, 54, has been arrested by the Department of Special Investigation in Nakhon Ratchasima for lèse majesté and computer crimes. The DSI alleges that he owns a blog which offers a link to download The King Never Smiles.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>There is more than one prisoner of conscience in Thailand, although the number of those detained under lese majeste law and their names known to Amnesty International (AI) is "not for public consumption", said Benjamin Zawacki, AI's researcher for Thailand and Burma.</p>
<p>"We don't declare every time someone is a prisoner of conscience," Zawacki said in a phone interview with The Nation yesterday.</p>
<p>On 18 May, Anand Panyarachun, former Prime Minister and Chair of the National Reform Committee, held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand to discuss the work of his committee which resigned on 15 May.</p>
<p>On 22 May, Niphit Intarasombat, Minister of Culture and the Democrat Party candidate for Phatthalung, said, in response to a public call to amend the law made by a group of writers last week, that he did not see any problem with the lèse majesté law and its enforcement.</p>
By Confederation of Congress of Indonesia Unions Alliance |
<p>Konfederasi KASBI (Confederation of Congress of Indonesian Unions Alliance) is deeply concerned over the re-arrest of labour activist Somyot Pruksakasemsuk and worried about his safety in the prison.Somyot Pruksakasemsuk was arrested on 30th April 2011 and is currently being held at Klong Prem Central Prison, in Bangkok. We believe this is part of a systematic repression against pro-democracy activists in Thailand.</p>
<p>On 18 May, the National Human Rights Commission’s Subcommittee on Civil and Political Rights held a discussion on the lèse majesté law, attended by academics, activists and individuals affected by the law.</p>
<p>On 19 May, groups of red shirts under the banner of Democracy Networks held activities to mark the first anniversary of the crackdown in front of Lumpini Park, performing traditional rituals to curse the masterminds who ordered the killings, and campaigning for the release of political prisoners and the repeal of the lèse majesté law.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>For the first time in several years, Amnesty International acknowledged yesterday that there was at least one prisoner of conscience in Thailand. This was declared in the agency's recently released 2011 report on human rights, which details how the freedom of expression is being curbed through the use of the emergency decree, the lese majeste law and the Computer Crime Act.</p>
By Junya Yimprasert |
<p>As said, hard and fast data is hard to obtain. How many people are under LM surveillance, have cases against them that they do or don’t know about, how many sit in jail without being charged, await trial, or are already convicted nobody knows exactly.</p>