After the arrest of Prachatai webmaster Chiranuch Premchiaporn: observations and analysis

By Saksith Saiyasombut

Two weeks ago, the webmaster of the Thai news site Prachatai Chiranuch Premchiaporn was arrested after she arrived in Bangkok from a conference on online freedom of expression in Hungary (as previously reported). Chiranuch was charged for violating the Computer Crimes Act regarding reader comments on the website deemed offensive to the monarchy. The complaint was filed by a man in Khon Kaen. Chiranuch was released on bail on the same night. She was previously arrested and in court last year for the same charges that could put her in jail for 50 years.

There was a considerable amount of outcry by international human rights groups, press advocacy groups and even prime minister Abhisit was reportedly concerned by the case, although one could suggest that he more feared the damage to an already ruined international reputation of the country (see Bangkok Pundit for details). Chiranuch's arrest has set off some discussions about her case and the state of freedom of expression in Thailand.

First, in an interview with Pravit Rojanaphruk of The Nation, Chiranuch told she was shocked upon her arrest at the airport and voiced doubts about her case(s). Also, she talked about the ramifications of her most recent arrest:

[Pravit] What will you do next?
[Chiranuch] We'll have to see if the Office of the Attorney-General will forward the cases to court or not. My first [case for violating computer crime law] is already taking years. After getting bail, I have to travel to Khon Kaen once a month and it's a burden.
P: How has this affected your life?
C: I have doubts about the judicial process. In this case, if someone wants to hurt you, the person can lodge a police complaint in a far-flung province and the suspect has to travel far. This incurs real expenses.
P: Do you know the person who has pressed charges against you?
C: No, I have never met this person, though I have learned that he's a real-estate businessman based in Khon Kaen.
"Facing charges two years later in another province", Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation, September 30, 2010

The last sentence highlights one of the main problems of the lèse majesté law, since virtually every person can file such a complaint with the police and the police would have to go after every case. How ridiculous these procedures can go, was shown recently in the case of actor Pongpat Wachirabanjong, who despite or because of the widely-applauded speech praising the kinggot slapped with a lèse majesté complaint as well - in his case though, it was thrown out in lightning speed.

The Thai Netizen Network has analyzed the case and revealed more details:

After considering that comments related to the interview of Chotisak Onsoong, who refused to stand for the royal anthem in a theater, on Prachatai, which attracted more than 200 comments within the first week of published, and Sameskyboard.com on April 28, 2008 deemed lese majeste, Sunimit Jirasuk, a Khon Kaen businessman, went to the police station and filed charges against Chiranuch and Samesky webmaster Thanapol Eawsakul for publicizing and persuading others to approve, praise and imitate Chotisak’s ‘disloyal’ act, Manager Online reports. (...) 

“Most of the comments approve Chotisak’s act, indicating that they want to overthrow the monarchy. It is believable that letting people freely express their opinions regarding the issue on the Internet indicates that [the webmasters] want to be the center of the people who want to undermine the throne. Therefore, both webmasters should be charged,” Manager online reported Sunimit’s remark. (...) 

Chiranuch, who has travelled abroad four times since the court issued the warrant, said she has never seen an arrest warrant or a summon letter before and never had trouble passing through the immigration counter at the airport. This is similar to Thanapol from Sameskybooks.org who is reportedly facing the same charges. Thanapol said he has gone abroad once after the arrest warrants was supposedly made, but never had problem passing through the immigration police counter and had never seen any legal document from Khon Kaen police. (...) 

A reliable anonymous source said the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and a police department specifically dealing with cyber crime did not acknowledge and did not order the arrest. The source further observed that the arrest followed police reshuffle in August.
"Analysis On Chiranuch Latest Charges And Arrest", Thai Netizen Network, October 2, 2010

The aforementioned businessman from Khon Kaen has also filed against Chotisak himself and was quoted that he "could not accept that Chotisak and friends claimed to be Thai" (Bangkok Pundit has more).

Also, as pointed out in the article, the timing of the arrest is bears an ironic coincidence since Abhisit was out of the country and said this in a speech:
 

He also defended himself against accusations of damaging media freedoms, saying that only outlets which "incite violence" had been closed. "I'm not sure whether you'd allow any special station for Al-Qaeda here," he told his mostly American audience.
"Thailand could hold early 2011 elections: PM", AFP, September 25, 2010

The Bangkok Post points out in a very critical story about the ongoing repression against freedom of expression and the media. Key excerpt:

There are many problems with the massive media crackdown by the Abhisit government. The most obvious is the continual use of the Computer Crime Act to intimidate and silence websites, blogs, videos and other forms of legitimate media. The thousands of times this law has been invoked is telling. It means that authorities either cannot or will not bring normal legal charges. It is enormously discriminatory. If an article, a photo or a video appears in a newspaper or on a TV station it is legal; but because it is on the internet, it is not. (...) 

Ms Chiranuch has been the personification of an unseemly, unnecessary and eventually self-defeating government policy. The current government of Mr Abhisit did not start the persecution but it has pursued it more aggressively than its predecessors. They have brought in the military in the form of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES). (...) It is clear to all observers that the government considers Prachatai a media enemy, and has used strong-arm tactics against it.
"Persecution of the media", Bangkok Post, September 28, 2010

While radio and TV stations (and to a certain extend the print media) can be monitored and easily controlled, the internet is from the viewpoint of the authorities a frustratingly, uncontrollable, wild stream of diverse opinions and footage, no matter their validity, authenticity or truth.  

Saksith Saiyasombut is a Thai blogger and journalist based in Hamburg, Germany. He can be followed on Twitter @Saksith.

Via : http://asiancorrespondent.com/siamvoices/after-the-arrest-of-prachatai-webmaster-chiranuch-premchiaporn-observations-and-analysis

A double lese majeste-computer crimes charge

This is a part from an interview with David Streckfuss who recently completed a seminal book on lese majeste law entitled “Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, treason, and lese-majeste”. Questions by Pravit Rojanaphruk. 

6) Is there anything particularly unique about the recent arrest of Prachatai on-line newspaper's director Chiranuch Premchaiporn under lese majeste law?

Chiranuch’s arrest indicates a worrying trend in lese majeste arrests. First, the police admit that they had a warrant for her arrest for as long as a year before actually seizing her at the airport. They claimed that they had to use this tactic because of the seriousness of the crime. Well, if it was so serious, the police had plenty of time to arrest her in her office where she was arrested last year. But instead, she was arrested while returning to the country from abroad. She is probably the fourth or fifth person to be arrested in this dramatic and needless manner. Second, this is probably another example of the increasing use of a double lese majeste-computer crimes charge.

Click here to read the whole story. 

Reporter's Notes: Chiranuch Premchaiporn, freedom from fear.

This is the machine translated article by Google Translate. Scroll down for the Original version.


Column: Reporter's Notes: Chiranuch Premchaiporn, freedom from fear.
By Narunart Prapanya, narunart.prapanya@gmail.com.


On Friday September 24 have occurred on the immigration checkpoint. Airport that afternoon Miss Chiranuch Premchaiporn Director of Prachatai website. www.prachatai.com. Return from the Internet at Liberty Conference in Hungary.

Immigration officer behind the counter, after checking passport, instead of passing through to the baggage hall, Chiranuch was invited to the immigration office. To report an arrest. Arrest of the District Court จ. 311/2552, dated September 8, 2552 as an offense under the Computer Section 14/15 sensitive text published on the Internet.

From the message on people wrote on website in early 2551, then the person who manage the site removed it.

This case was informed and the police ask for a subpoena on August 27, 2552, and the court approved a subpoena another 10 days later.

After the police took custody Chiranuch you travel by car to the Khon Kaen province on the same day.

The next day, with the help of your friends partisan Chiranuch has been bailed out.

News of the arresting of the director Prachatai website was conceal by the  news on Annie Brooke and Film Rathapoom, a singer relationships.

But it does not mean that Chiranuch's arrested is not subject to suspension in the international level.

Reporters Without Borders issued statements that "We urge you to release Chiranuch immediately. And stop the operation of such charges. "

"Prachatai is considered a reliable information that continues to insist that provides information and data.

Mr. Andrew Marshall, Time magazine's correspondent said, "Thailand must accept that they were not ruled by a truly democratic system."

To insight. Previous events for the UDD demonstration on April 7, Prime Minister, Mr Vejjajiva announced the emergency decree to full power with the government.

The next day, Center for the Resolution for Emergency Situation (CRES) which Suthep Tueksuban, Deputy Prime Minister for Security is The director of CRES, order the Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to close 36 websites by the Section 9, Article 2 stated that

"No news of the sale or proposed actions to spread a newspaper publication. Or any other media which may make the public fear Or deliberately misleading information. Cause misunderstanding. In an emergency situation and affect the stability of the state. Or peace Or morality of the people in the Kingdom. "

The fact is that the media were ordered off the Internet that most or almost all of the online media that were critical of the government www.prachatai.com is one of them.

Until today, if anyone type www.prachatai.com rather than reading the news that does not have the same content with the government side but  find the message in English says.

"This Website has been blocked by ICT" under the English text English text will be marked as "access to this information. Temporarily suspended access by virtue of Decree on Government Administration in Emergency Situation, BE 2548 years. The order of the Center emergency situation. "

Date of the emergency situation that the Prime Minister, Mr Vejjajiva announced it clear that the announcement is to keep the situation calm. The Government does not intend to insult people who slaughter rally.

The record also is clear in an interview. Two days later, ten people died. And one month later, people died in great numbers

Comes back to Chiranuch. I'd like to read your mind a little girl who Chiranuch tell you that we can break away from the idea that Thai people living a simple fun-loving. Non-political Honest belief like other dogs.

"We have to wake up from a fairy tale dream" Chiranuch said the man with three things:" We are in love with. We live with hope in your life. We live with fear , At which point one out of fear then. We do not know why life is to fear. We are not afraid. "

"For the ruler, the question that occurs is itself a threat to the ruler. Therefore, the state will rule the nations that want people in a peaceful state Songed outright I do not have to make people wonder. "

Chiranuch explains, States are creating a 2 tool eliminates the questions. First one is creating the Otherness on person who question. I would like to expand further as "the Law of Alienation" is to make people who questioning their sovereignty becomes eccentric as opposed to them. This common ancestors ever since the present society and believe that it is still available in the future.

Second, create an image of a threat to people who becomes suspicious of state power, they threaten the peace of society.

This will make people dare not question. This will become a threat to human security. Undermine the society that we think is a rich intellectual society. Or as a mature society.

"Society is silent. The government do not have accountability. (Who is responsible to know what) is the lack of social maturity. And the silence that occurs is certified to use the power of the state. "

Source: Newspaper Siamrath on September 30, 2550.


คอลัมน์: บันทึกคนข่าว: จีรนุช เปรมชัยพรอิสระจากความกลัว
โดย นฤนารท พระปัญญา, narunart.prapanya@gmail.com


เมื่อวันศุกร์ที่ 24 กันยายน มีเรื่องเกิดขึ้นที่ด่านตรวจคนเข้าเมือง สนามบินสุวรรณภูมิ บ่ายวันนั้น นางสาวจีรนุช เปรมชัยพร ผู้อำนวยการเว็บไซต์ประชาไท www.prachatai.com เดินทางกลับจากการประชุมสัมมนา Internet at Liberty ที่ประเทศฮังการี

เจ้าพนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมืองที่อยู่หลังเคาน์เตอร์หลังจากตรวจพาสปอร์ตแทนที่จะให้ผ่านเข้าเมืองไปที่ห้องโถงรับกระเป๋ากลับเชิญคุณจีรนุชไปที่สำนักงานตรวจคนเข้าเมือง เพื่อแจ้งการจับกุม ตามหมายจับของศาลจังหวัดขอนแก่นที่ จ.311/2552 ลงวันที่ 8 กันยายน 2552 เป็นความผิดตามพระราชบัญญัติคอมพิวเตอร์มาตรา 14/15 เผยแพร่ข้อความอ่อนไหวบนเครือข่ายอินเตอร์เน็ต

เรื่องเริ่มต้นจากข้อความที่มีคนเอามาใส่เว็บไซต์ประชาไทตั้งแต่ต้นปี 2551 ต่อมาคนที่จัดการเว็บไซต์เห็นจึงถอดออก

คดีนี้แจ้งความและตำรวจขอหมายศาลเมื่อวันที่ 27 สิงหาคม 2552 และศาลอนุมัติหมายศาลอีก 10 วันต่อมา

หลังจากการควบคุมตัวเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจก็พาคุณจีรนุชเดินทางโดยทางรถยนต์ไปจังหวัดขอนแก่นในวันเดียวกัน

วันต่อมาด้วยความช่วยเหลือของพรรคพวกเพื่อนฝูงคุณจีรนุชจึงได้รับการประกันตัว

ข่าวการจับกุมตัวผู้อำนวยการเว็บไซต์ประชาไท ถูกกลบสนิทโดยข่าวความสัมพันธ์ของคุณแอนนี่ บรู๊คกับดารานักร้องรัฐภูมิ โตคงทรัพย์

แต่ก็มิได้หมายความว่าการจับกุมคุณจีรนุชเป็นเรื่องไม่เป็นเรื่องทั้งยังกระเทือนไปในระดับสากล

องค์กรผู้สื่อข่าวไร้พรมแดนออกแถลงการณ์ว่า "เราขอเรียกร้องให้มีการปล่อยตัวคุณจีรนุชในทันที และหยุดการดำเนินการในข้อหาดังกล่าว"

"ประชาไท ถือว่าเป็นแหล่งข้อมูลข่าวสารที่น่าเชื่อถือซึ่งยังคงยืนหยัดที่จะนำเสนอข้อมูลข่าวสารต่างๆ ให้สาธารณชนได้รับรู้ว่ามีอะไรเกิดขึ้น"

นายแอนดรู มาร์แชลล์ ผู้สื่อข่าวของไทม์ แมกกาซีน กล่าวว่า "ประเทศไทยต้องยอมรับว่าตัวเองไม่ได้ปกครองด้วยระบอบประชาธิปไตยอย่างแท้จริง"

เพื่อความกระจ่างชัด ขอย้อนเหตุการณ์ระหว่างการชุมนุมประท้วงของ นปช.วันที่ 7 เมษายน นายกรัฐมนตรี นายอภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ ได้ออกประกาศตามพระราชกำหนดการบริหารราชการในสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉินให้อำนาจเต็มที่กับรัฐบาล

พอวันรุ่งขึ้นศูนย์อำนวยการแก้ไขสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉิน หรือ ศอฉ. ที่มีคุณสุเทพ เทือกสุบรรณ รองนายกรัฐมนตรีฝ่ายความมั่นคง เป็นผู้อำนวยการศูนย์ก็ทำหนังสือถึงรัฐมนตรีว่าการกระทรวงเทคโนโลยีสารสนเทศและการสื่อสาร ที่คนรู้จักในนามกระทรวงไอซีที ให้ปิดเว็บไซต์ 36 แห่ง โดยอาศัยอำนาจตามมาตรา9 ข้อที่ 2 ที่ระบุว่า

"ห้ามการเสนอข่าว การจำหน่าย หรือการกระทำให้แพร่หลายซึ่งหนังสือพิมพ์สิ่งพิมพ์ หรือสื่ออื่นใดอันอาจทำให้ประชาชนเกิดความหวาดกลัว หรือเจตนาบิดเบือนข้อมูลข่าวสาร ทำให้เกิดความเข้าใจผิด ในสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉินจนกระทบต่อความมั่นคงของรัฐ หรือความสงบเรียบร้อย หรือศีลธรรมอันดีของประชาชนในทั่วราชอาณาจักร"

ข้อเท็จจริงก็คือสื่ออินเตอร์เน็ตที่ถูกสั่งปิดส่วนใหญ่หรือเกือบทั้งหมดเป็นสื่อออนไลน์ที่วิจารณ์การทำงานของรัฐบาลwww.prachatai.comก็เป็นหนึ่งในนั้น

จนกระทั่งทุกวันนี้หากใครพิมพ์ www.prachatai.com แล้วคลิกเข้าไปแทนที่จะได้อ่านข่าวสารอีกด้านหนึ่งที่ไม่จำเป็นจะต้องตรงกับรัฐบาล กลับพบข้อความเป็นภาษาอังกฤษแจ้งว่า

"This Website has been blocked by ICT"ใต้ข้อความภาษาอังกฤษจะมีข้อความภาษาไทยกำกับไว้ว่า"การเข้าถึงข้อมูลดังกล่าวนี้ ถูกระงับการเข้าถึงเป็นการชั่วคราวโดยอาศัยอำนาจตามพระราชกำหนดการบริหารราชการในสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉินปีพุทธศักราช2548 ตามคำสั่งของศูนย์อำนวยการแก้ไขสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉิน"

วันที่ประกาศสถานการณ์ฉุกเฉินนั้น นายกรัฐมนตรี นายอภิสิทธิ์ เวชชาชีวะ ได้ประกาศชัดเจนว่าการประกาศนั้นเพื่อรักษาสถานการณ์ให้อยู่ในความสงบ รัฐบาลไม่มีเจตนาจะเข่นฆ่าทำร้ายประชาชนผู้ร่วมชุมนุม

ความข้อนี้มีบันทึกการให้สัมภาษณ์อยู่ชัดเจนสองวันต่อมาคนตายเป็นสิบ และอีกหนึ่งเดือนต่อมามีคนเจ็บคนตายเป็นร้อยเป็นพัน

กลับมาหาคุณจีรนุช ผมอยากให้อ่านความคิดของคุณผู้หญิงตัวเล็กๆคนนี้คุณจีรนุชบอกว่าเราได้หลุดพ้นจากความคิดที่ว่าคนไทยมีชีวิตที่เรียบง่ายรักสนุก ไม่เกี่ยวข้องกับการเมือง ซื่อสัตย์ดุจสุนัขเชื่องๆ

"พวกเราได้ตื่นขึ้นจากเทพนิยายชวนฝัน"คุณจีรนุชบอกว่ามนุษย์อยู่กับสามสิ่ง"เราอยู่กับความรัก เราอยู่กับความหวังในชีวิต เราอยู่กับความกลัว ซึ่งเมื่อถึงจุดหนึ่งที่พ้นจากความกลัวไปแล้ว เราไม่รู้ว่าชีวิตจะต้องกลัวทำไม เราก็จะไม่กลัว"

"สำหรับตัวผู้ปกครองแล้วความสงสัยที่เกิดขึ้นนั้นเป็นภัยต่อตัวผู้ปกครองเอง เพราะฉะนั้นรัฐประชาชาติที่ต้องการที่จะปกครองคนที่อยู่ในรัฐอย่างสงบสงัดราบคาบ ก็ต้องทำให้ประชาชนไม่รู้สึกสงสัย"

คุณจีรนุชอธิบายว่า รัฐกำลังสร้างเครื่องมือขจัดความสงสัย สองอย่างคือหนึ่ง สร้างความเป็นอื่นให้แก่ผู้สงสัยข้อนี้ผมอยากจะขยายเพิ่มเติมว่าเป็น Law of Alienation คือทำให้คนที่ตั้งคำถามต่ออำนาจรัฐนั้นกลายเป็นพวกนอกรีตเป็นพวกนอกคอก วิธีนี้ใช้กันมาตั้งแต่สังคมบรรพกาลจนปัจจุบันและเชื่อว่ายังคงใช้ได้ในอนาคต

สอง การสร้างภาพของความเป็นภัย ให้คนช่างสงสัยในอำนาจรัฐกลายเป็นพวกคุกคามความสงบเรียบร้อยของสังคม

ทั้งหมดนี้จะทำให้คนไม่กล้าสงสัย อันจะกลายเป็นภัยต่อความมั่นคงของมนุษย์ เป็นการบั่นทอนสังคมที่เราคิดว่าเป็นสังคมอุดมปัญญา หรือเป็นสังคมที่มีวุฒิภาวะ

"เป็นสังคมที่เงียบงัน รัฐบาลทำอะไรโดยที่ไม่ต้องมี accountability (ที่รู้ว่าใครรับผิดชอบอะไร) เป็นสังคมที่ขาดวุฒิภาวะ และความเงียบงันที่เกิดขึ้นนั้นคือการรับรองการใช้อำนาจของรัฐ"

ที่มา: หนังสือพิมพ์สยามรัฐ วันที่ 30 กันยายน 2550 

Thai Webmaster Arrested for Online Speech

by Eddan Katz

On Friday, the Director of a popular alternative Thai news portal Prachatai was arrested by the Thai government. Chiranuch Premchaipoen — popularly known as Jiew — was charged under the intermediary liability provisions of the 2007 Computer Crime Act and for "Lèse Majesté," or defamation of the Thai royal family. She faces a 32-year prison sentence.

Jiew's crime? In 2008, Prachatai published an interview with Chotisak Onsoong, a Thai man known for refusing to stand at attention during the Thai Royal Anthem — a dangerous political act in Thailand, though not technically a crime. The interview received huge attention, drawing over 200 comments from Thai citizens. On April 28, 2008, complaints were filed against Prachatai alleging that several comments on that interview were a defamation to the Monarchy. An arrest warrant for Jiew was issued on Septemeber 8, 2009, but no summons was received by Jiew until her arrest this past Friday.

The timing of Jiew's arrest suggests that it's intended more as political intimidation than as simple law-enforcement. Jiew was arrested at Bangkok International Airport, immediately upon her return home from speaking at a pair of conferences promoting the free and open internet — The Internet at Liberty conference in Budapest, Hungary and the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in Vilnius, Lithuania. At both conferences, Jiew spoke passionately about the importance of freedom online and her innocence in the cross-fires of tumultuous Thai politics.

The arrest drew the immediate condemnation of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and an outpouring of global support from Internet users microblogging with the tag #freejiew. A Free Jiew website went up to follow the case and to expose the decline of media freedom in Thailand. A fund was set up to help pay for her trial expenses by Digital Democracy.

For outsiders trying to make sense of political turmoil in Thailand, the common tragedy is the obstruction of individuals' freedom of expression through the misuse of media law. As Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva once explained, both democracy and reverence for the King is betrayed when Lèse Majesté is a subterfuge for political repression.

So as the Thai government sets out to tame the Internet and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya tries to frame Prachatai as an example of inciting hatred, Jiew, her fellow guardians of freedom at the Thai Netizen Network, and their friends inspire online activists across the globe to stand up against authoritarian control of the Internet.

We'll be following Jiew's story as it unfolds here at EFF.org.


UPDATE: Update: Chiranuch Premchaipoen was released on bail, and now faces 2 criminal trials for internet intermediary liability and for Lèse Majesté.


Via:  http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/09/thai-journalist

AHRC's campaign on Chiranuch's case

Asian Human Rights Commission
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper, was detained by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samutprakarn province near Bangkok, and transferred to Khon Kaen police station, in northeastern Thailand. She has been charged with violating the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956) (section of the code relating to lesè majesté).

CASE NARRATIVE:

On the afternoon of 24 September, 2010, Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper, was detained by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Ms. Chiranuch was on her way back from the 'Internet at Freedom 2010' conference in Hungary, sponsored by Google and the Central European University. After being detained by the immigration police, she learned that there were charges pending against her in Khon Kaen province, a province in the northeastern part of Thailand, and that the Khon Kaen police had a warrant for her arrest. She was driven by car to Khon Kaen, and then interrogated and formally charged by the police.

Ms. Chiranuch has been accused of violating Articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956). She was informed that her case was reported to the Khon Kaen police station in 2009 regarding the lack of removal of 5 comments with alleged lesè majesté content. The comments were posted in response to an interview with Mr. Chotisak Onsoong, who has been charged with lesè majesté for not standing when the royal anthem was played before a movie was screened.

Shortly after 12 a.m. on 25 September 2010, Ms. Chiranuch was released on bail of 200,000 baht (6,525 USD). She will have to present herself again to the Khon Kaen police station on 24 October 2010.
The detention, arrest, and charging of Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn raise a number of questions about the current state of freedom expression, human rights and rule of law in Thailand. In this case, the arrest warrant was issued on 8 September 2010, but not executed until 24 September 2010. Ms. Chiranuch herself did not learn of the charges against her until she reached Khon Kaen. Ms. Chiranuch was informed by Pol.Lt.Col. Chachapong Pongsuwan, one of the officers who arrested her at Suvarnibhumi Airport that she had not been told about the charges in advance because the case against her was "a serious matter." The withholding of information signals the growing climate of fear for dissent in Thailand, in which one does not know that one has crossed a line until one is face-to-face with the police.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In addition to this new case, Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn faces other changes as well. She was first formally charged with violating Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and with violating Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code in March 2009. In March 2009, the police raided the Prachatai office and arrested her. By April 2009, she had been charged with 10 counts of alleged violations.  In each of these 10 instances, comments with alleged lesè majesté content were made on the Prachatai webboard. Ms. Chiranuch removed the comments, but her accusers have claimed that she did not do so quickly enough. If convicted, Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn is facing up to 50 years in prison for 10 counts of alleged violations of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and the Criminal Code; each violation carries a sentence of five years.  The case trial will begin in February 2011. The first set of charges against her were unjust; the addition of the recent charges seems excessive.

As Thailand attempts to undergo a process of national reconciliation in the aftermath of the violence of April and May 2010, this latest constriction of speech and threat to human rights is of particular concern. Without the free and unobstructed flow of information, neither human rights nor the rule of law can be strengthened in Thailand. Without respect for human rights and the rule of law, the process of national reconciliation will also fall short of fostering accountability for violence.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls on all parties to closely follow Ms. Chiranuch’s case and to demand that the charges be dropped against her and all of those being held or investigated in relation to either Articles 14 and 15 the 2007 Computer Crimes Act or Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code. The cases against her, in which she is being accused of crimes for not removing webboard comments with alleged lesè majesté content made by others quickly enough from the Prachatai webboard, represent a grave and sinister threat to what remains of free speech in Thailand. Free speech is a crucial aspect of the protection of human rights. Without the free and unobstructed flow of dissent and information, citizens cannot monitor and criticize their governments, and cannot disseminate information about the violation of the human rights of their fellow citizens.

For further information, see recent AHRC statements on the raid of independent news outlet Prachatai and the arrest of Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn (AHRC-STM-051-2009, AHRC-STM-054-2009), on lesè majesté and the Computer Crimes Act (AHRC-FPR-024-2009, AHRC-STM-028-2009, AHRC-STM-229-2009), and a statement of the Asian Legal Resource Centre to the UN Human Rights Council on the resurrection of the internal-security state in Thailand (ALRC-CWS-10-04-2009) and on wide-ranging restrictions on freedoms of expression (ALRC-CWS-14-06-2010). Also see the AHRC press release about how the shutdown of the Prachatai webboard indicates the shutdown of free speech in Thailand (AHRC-PRL-014-2010) (Also see a recent column on UPI Asia on the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. )

For further information on human rights issues in Thailand, see the 2008 country report of the AHRC and the AHRC Annual Report, The State of Human Rights in Ten Asian Nations 2009, especially pages 306 – 308.

For further information on charges, see Articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956).

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the authorities listed below asking for the immediate withdrawal of the charges against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn and the dropping of charges against all those being held or investigated in connection to either the 2007 Computer Crimes Act or Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear ___________,
THAILAND: Grave threat to freedom of expression and human rights in Thailand
Name of arrested person: Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn
Charges: Articles 14 and 15 of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code
Charged by: Khon Kaen Police
Place: Suvarnabhumi Airport in Samut Prakarn province and Khon Kaen province
Date of incident: 24 September 2010.

I am writing to voice my strong objection to the charges made on 24 September 2010 against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper. She was detained in the afternoon by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport when she was coming back from a seminar at Hungary. The immigration police informed her that there was a warrant for her arrest at the Khon Kaen police station. She was transferred to the Khon Kaen police station in the evening. The Khon Kaen investigation police charged her under the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and the Criminal Code. She was informed that someone reported to the police in 2009 that there were comments posted in response to an interview with Mr. Chotisak Onsoong with alleged lesè majesté content and she did not remove them from Prachatai website. She has denied these charges and was released on bail of 200,000 baht at midnight on the evening of 24 September.

This action is in direct contravention of the freedom of expression as set out in section 45 of the 2007 Constitution of Thailand and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Thailand is a party.

I ask that you withdraw the charges against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn without delay, since it violates national and international laws on freedom of expression. In addition, I ask that you drop all charges against others being held or investigated in relation to either the 2007 Computer Crimes Act or Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code.

In making your decision, you need to consider Thailand's international obligations under the ICCPR. In this respect, I wish to remind you of an important section of the concluding observations of the UN Human Rights Committee to the report of Thailand in 2005:

"The Committee is concerned about reports of intimidation and harassment against local and foreign journalists and media personnel as well as of defamation suits against them, originating at the highest political level... The State party should take adequate measures to prevent further erosion of freedom of expression, in particular, threats to and harassment of media personnel and journalists, and ensure that such cases are investigated promptly and that suitable action is taken against those responsible, regardless of rank or status." (CCPR/CO/84/THA, 28 July 2005, para. 18).

I trust that you will take care to recall these recommendations before proceeding with this unnecessary and deeply problematic action. I further urge that the existing civil defamation law be reviewed to bring it into line with international standards. Until these changes take place, the people of Thailand will not feel free to speak, broadcast or publish their comments without fear of prosecution.

As Thailand attempts to undergo a process of national reconciliation in the aftermath of th
e violence of April and May 2010, this latest constriction of speech and threat to human rights is of particular concern. Without the free and unobstructed flow of information, neither human rights nor the rule of law can be strengthened in Thailand. Without respect for human rights and the rule of law, the process of national reconciliation will also fall short of fostering accountability for violence.
Yours sincerely,

---------------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva

Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 288 4000 ext. 4025
Tel: +66 2 288 4000
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th or abhisit@abhisit.org
2. Mr. Chaowarat Chanweerakul
Minister of Interior
Office of the Ministry of Interior
Atsadang Road, Ratchabophit
Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 226 4371/ 222 8866
Tel: +66 2 224 6320/ 6341
E-mail: om@moi.go.th
3. Mr. Peeraphan Saleeratwipak
Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi 11120
THAILAND
Fax: +662 502 6734 / 6884
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
E-mail: om@moj.go.th
4. Mr. Kasit Piromya
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affair
443 Sri Ayudhya Road
Bangkok 10400
THAILAND
Fax: +662 643 5318
Tel: +662 643 5333
E-mail: om@mof.go.th

5. Mr. Jullasingha Wasantasingha
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building, Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn,
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th
6. Pol.Gen. Wichean Potephosree
Royal Thai Police
1st Bldg, 7th Floor
Rama I, Patumwan
Bkk 10330
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 251 5956/ 205 3738/ 255 1975-8
E-mail: feedback@police.go.th
Via: Prachatai

Curbed freedoms: hypocrisy at new heights

Thai diplomacy may have gained a new definition: hypocrisy.

Sihasak Phuangketkeow, president of the UN Human Rights Council, delivers a statement at the 15th session of the HRC in Geneva on Sept 13, 2010.

While Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prided itself on having its representative as the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Thailand has continued to violate human rights and curb freedom of expression.

In June this year, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, the Thai ambassador to Geneva, was elected unanimously to lead the UNHRC, approximately a month after the Abhisit Vejjajiva government ordered a deadly operation against the red-shirted protesters, which resulted in at least 90 people being killed and more than 1,000 injured.

The chain of events poses the serious question of whether the United Nations really cares about the human rights situation in Thailand and, by extension, in the entire world.

Mr Sihasak must have been working very hard to whitewash his government's controversial policy on human rights. Just a few weeks ago, the Foreign Ministry unashamedly forced the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) to cancel a scheduled press conference on the human rights situation in Vietnam.

The event had been organised in conjunction with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR). Allowing such an event in Thailand would have added credibility to the country and its presidency at the UNHRC.

Yet, for the government, it seemed that there were more benefits to be gained from forcing the cancellation of the press conference, rather than advocating human rights. Local media denounced the Foreign Ministry's decision, calling it a real setback for human rights debate and discussion in the region. Moreover, in holding the UNHRC presidency, Thailand should practice what it preaches, especially at home. Thailand should be more vocal about the human rights situation in Asean in general. This is not to mention that Thailand, a founding member of Asean, earlier offered its strong support for the establishment of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights (AICHR).

Not long after the Democrat Party formed the government, I wrote an article praising its new direction in foreign policy. After years of diplomacy being abused at the hands of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, I naively believed that a Democrat government would bring back its much publicised "principled foreign policy" and reaffirm its affinity of democracy and human rights.

From 1997-2001, the Democrat government kept on lecturing Burma on the need to defend the people's rights. Then-foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan even suggested a new form of diplomacy, "Flexible Engagement", which promoted the Thai right to voice concerns over the happenings in neighbouring countries that could affect Thailand.

But that was a deceptive past. Today, human rights are being abused in Thailand and the government fears that its neighbours would exploit the same logic of flexible engagement to interfere in Thai affairs.

As the part of Thailand exercising preventive diplomacy, the Foreign Ministry refused to upset its Vietnamese counterpart and therefore closed its door to human rights groups.

What made matters worse was the recent arrest of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, an online news editor in Thailand, under the Computer Crimes Act.

Ms Chiranuch was arrested on grounds that she allowed certain materials to be posted on her website -materials perceived by the person who filed the charge with the police as "a danger to national security". It was reported that these materials were written and posted by unknown Prachatai.com readers. Ms Chiranuch claimed that she could not stop readers from posting their opinions on the website. But police claimed that she had the right to remove materials once they were posted - which she had obviously failed to do, according to police.

Amnesty International (AI) swiftly launched a campaign to set her free, citing the narrowing space of freedom of expression in the kingdom.

The AI urged people from all walks of life to pressure the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to immediately release Ms Chiranuch and drop all charges against her, to make public the full list of charges against her, and to cease censorship of websites under the 2007 Computer Crimes Act.

The non-governmental group Global Voices Advocacy reported that more than 113,000 websites have been blocked in Thailand.

Under such a situation, how can Mr Sihasak reconcile his duty as chief of the UNHRC?

Certain Thai diplomats have set a new precedent when it comes to practising so-called "principled diplomacy".

In October 2008, Kittiphong Na Ranong, then Thai ambassador to Hanoi, challenged the headquarters' instructions on how to "explain to foreigners" in a way that would play down the "fatal accident" of Oct 7, 2008, when police allegedly used excessive force against PAD protesters.

Mr Kittiphong wrote in his memo to Bangkok: "Explaining something untrue will only discredit the image of the Foreign Ministry. This will cause a long-term negative impact on other responsibilities of Thai diplomats. Trust and credibility is the most important quality of the Foreign Ministry. Without it, our diplomats would face many difficulties in achieving national interests."

Well said, Mr Kittiphong.

Mr Sihasak should follow in the footsteps of Mr Kittiphong and stop presenting a false image of his government's love of human rights and democracy, when in reality, violations of human rights are occurring consistently in his country.

If the record is not set straight, then hypocrisy could end up becoming acceptable vocabulary in the world of Thai diplomacy.

---

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a former diplomat, is the author of Reinventing Thailand: Thaksin and his Foreign Policy.

Via: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/198673/curbed-freedoms-hypocrisy-at-new-heights

Persecution of the media

The press reform goal of the government, specifically Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, clearly must begin at home. This is evident from last week's shambolic re-arrest of Prachatai.com website director Chiranuch Premchaiporn. Her case is part of a continuing and large campaign. Ms Chiranuch's serial bail payments, and her growing calendar of past and future court and police interrogation appearances show serious inattention, even disrespect, for the constitutional concept of freedom of the press.

 There are many problems with the massive media crackdown by the Abhisit government. The most obvious is the continual use of the Computer Crime Act to intimidate and silence websites, blogs, videos and other forms of legitimate media. The thousands of times this law has been invoked is telling. It means that authorities either cannot or will not bring normal legal charges. It is enormously discriminatory. If an article, a photo or a video appears in a newspaper or on a TV station it is legal; but because it is on the internet, it is not.

Back in the days of the Thaksin government, the public was assured that the Computer Crime Act (CCA) was necessary to protect against, and to prosecute, online crime. The purpose of the law was to ensure that e-commerce would be reliable, and that cheating consumers would be rigorously policed. Instead, successive governments have used the CCA to compile a list of more than 110,000 websites that must be blocked from the public's view. The list is secret, the reason for each website's ban is secret, and there is no appeal. This cannot happen with newspapers, magazines, books, TV and radio stations and so on.

Ms Chiranuch has been the personification of an unseemly, unnecessary and eventually self-defeating government policy. The current government of Mr Abhisit did not start the persecution but it has pursued it more aggressively than its predecessors. They have brought in the military in the form of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES). The Prachatai.com website has been blocked repeatedly, under a variety of names. It is clear to all observers that the government considers Prachatai a media enemy, and has used strong-arm tactics against it.

Of course Ms Chiranuch and Prachatai must obey the law. There are many laws which protect the public against media offenders, including libel, defamation, national security, incitement and lese majeste. Use of the latter law has become controversial in many cases. Even Mr Abhisit has admitted that enemies try to misuse this law for political purposes. Courts will decide Ms Chiranuch's guilt or innocence, but her many supporters claim, and demonstrate their belief, that she is being unfairly persecuted.

With up to 120,000 websites banned, the government has surpassed the infamous and odious ''great firewall of China'' in censorship. The red shirts' TV station was never prosecuted, but has been banned. Thailand has fallen in the eyes of the world, in rankings of world press freedom. Freedom House now rates Thai media as ''partly free'', down from ''free'' in 2002. Reporters Without Borders says our media are the 130th freest in the world, not nearly as free as those of Indonesia or even the Central African Republic.

Mr Abhisit, his ministers and security officials must take steps to stop the downhill trend of press freedom. It was interesting that the premier put media reform near the top of his agenda to achieve reconciliation. But so long as politically-inspired persecution continues against selective media outlets and respected figures, reform is clearly impossible.

Via : http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/198503/persecution-of-the-media

Thailand and its hybrid authoritarianism

By Dr.Thitinan Pongsudhirak


Although she has been granted bail, the second arrest of Prachatai Online webmaster Chiranuch Premchaiporn on Friday exposes Thailand's solidifying "soft" civil-military authoritarianism. Such authoritarianism is "soft" because it is tailored for the globalisation age where domestic legitimacy and international credibility matter more than in past eras of outright military-authoritarian rule. This decidedly nuanced and disguised authoritarianism thus revolves around a necessary hybrid of a civilian democratic facade with a military spine.

Ms Chiranuch's case is merely symptomatic of this hybrid authoritarianism. Her first arrest transpired in early 2009 on charges of allowing offensive comments on Prachatai's web board in violation of Section 112 of the Criminal Code and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. This time around, similar charges appear to have been filed by an individual, whose identity is unclear, in Khon Kaen province. Ms Chiranuch was ironically booked at Suvarnabhumi airport and taken by car to Khon Kaen after returning from a European international conference on internet freedom.

What her legal saga portends is growing censorship and selective persecution of those who are deemed to harbour the wrong thoughts. Freedom of expression in Thailand is an endangered commodity. To be sure, Prachatai is left-leaning in a country whose powers-that-be are shifting even more to the right. But Prachatai is no more to the left than its myriad counterparts in other countries that are receptive to dissenting opinions and open to fair comment and criticisms of the status quo and conventional wisdom.

Without offsetting news and opinion sources, Thailand would be skewed by the government's official news apparatus, reinforced by one-way rightist propaganda elsewhere. That Prachatai and its progressive cohorts, many now blocked by the ICT Ministry, serve to balance out opposing views should be seen as healthy and warranted for Thai society. Otherwise the suppressed and stifled dissent will only accumulate and find manifestations in a pent-up fashion that can only be detrimental to national well-being.

While Ms Chiranuch's ordeal is relatively high profile, it epitomises a plethora of other cases that have found little voice because of the climate of fear, intimidation and coercion attendant with civil-military hybrid repression. These cases include the persecution of university students who have been gagged, harassed and made to undergo psychological tests for their political beliefs. A professor of a well-known university has been detained at an army barracks for a week with neither charges nor apology on his release. A youthful aspiring entertainer was pressured to withdraw from a reality TV show because he had criticised Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. A high school graduate was denied a place at a leading university after passing the national admissions test because of political opinion.

Thailand's world of academe has never sunk so low under ostensible democratic rule. Lecturers in these parts typically resort to all manner of inducements to generate student views and opinions from basic encouragement and pleas to veiled threats of points reduction on final grades. When the young speak, we should listen with encouragement and constructive reply. But in this period of soft repression, ironically presided over by a PM who was once a lecturer, the younger generation has been suppressed.

The list of the suppressed is not confined to the young. In rural Thailand, many dozens of individuals who act on officially unsanctioned thoughts are languishing in jail and army barracks. Some have quietly met expeditious jail terms for similar charges that hound Ms Chiranuch. Many are on the run. The air of intimidation and fear is pervasive. And it works.

What is perhaps more dangerous than official censorship and suppression is self-censorship. The fear is such that penmanship is voluntarily curtailed and spoken words become more muted and subtle. Such an environment has led to a double asymmetry in media coverage of Thai politics.

The first centres on the yawning gap in the Thai media between what takes place and what is reported. Less reporting on cases of dissent is evident in the Thai media, and most evident in the mostly state-owned Thai electronic media. The Thai press has a wider coverage but it is biased in favour of leaving out controversies rather than including them. New media sources on the internet face one-way blockage from the ICT authorities. If online content is pro-officialdom, it stays. Otherwise it is blocked. Those in between must always tread a fine line that too often compromises their full expression.

The second gap is between the Thai and foreign media. As the Thai media keep their heads down, the foreign media stick out by comparison. This is why official dealings with foreign media have become increasingly contentious, leading to xenophobic fear-mongering and conspiracy allegations of a phantom plot from the outside world to undermine and subvert the Thai order.

Prime Minister Abhisit admitted in the recent past that certain laws and their enforcement should come under review and under reform. But nothing has happened, as with much of the PM's right-sounding words and mixed or empty results.

Such duplicity relies on a serial doublespeak. Ms Chiranuch's case will be a test of the PM's moral rectitude, the viability of Thailand's legal infrastructure and the solidity of hybrid authoritarian rule.





 
The writer is director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.


Via: http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/198329/thailand-and-its-hybrid-authoritarianism

Thailand's Grim Human Rights Situation

Written by Pavin Chachavalpongpun

Monday, 27 September 2010

The latest arrest of an editor demonstrates the government's growing threat to freedom of expression Does the United Nations really care about the human rights situation in Thailand? The brief but painful answer appears to be No. This is because, despite Thailand's appalling human rights records in the past few years, in June the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously elected, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Thailand's ambassador to Geneva, as its current president. But it seems that Sihasak is working under heavy duress. Gross violations of human rights in Thailand are embarrassing Sihasak and his fellow Thai diplomats. Some wonder how Thailand could defend human rights elsewhere in the world when the protection of human rights among its own people is a failure. On Sept. 24, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, an online news editor in Thailand, was arrested under the country's 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act. She has been detained in Khon Kaen police station in Northeastern Thailand. Chiranuch is the Executive Director of Prachatai (Thai People), a Thai online media portal that contains news, opinion, and a forum for discussion about current affairs in the country. Thailand's Immigration Police (Investigation and Suppression Division) arrested Chiranuch at passport control in Suvarnabhumi International Airport as she returned from her overseas trip – to Hungary, where she was attending the "Internet Liberty 2010" conference. Chiranuch was arrested supposedly on the ground that she had allowed certain materials to be posted on her website – materials that were perceived by the police to be a danger to the so-called national security. It was reported that these materials were written and posted by unknown Prachatai readers. Chiranuch asserted vainly that she could not stop readers from posting to the site. But police claimed that she had the right to remove materials once they were posted. She however refused to do so, according to the police. It appears likely that Chiranuch will be charged with lèse-majesté, the crime of insulting the monarchy. She is not the first to face the draconian law. Nor will she be the last. Amnesty International (AI) swiftly launched a campaign to set her free, citing the narrowing space of freedom of expression in Thailand. The human rights NGO urged people from all walks of life to pressure the Abhisit Vejjajiva government to release Chiranuch immediately, make public the full list of charges against her and drop all of them, and to cease censorship of websites under the 2007 Computer-related Crimes Act. Global Voices Advocacy reported that more than 113,000 websites have been blocked in Thailand. The AI has asked human rights defenders residing outside Thailand to write to Thai embassies and consulates in order to add pressure on the Abhisit government. In addition, Shawn W. Crispin, the senior Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, issued a statement saying: "We urge Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to release journalist Chiranuch Premchaiporn immediately and unconditionally. The government should stop using anti-crown charges to suppress legitimate criticism." The Chiranuch case is not the only example that rightly describes the state of Thailand's human rights as increasingly perilous. A few weeks earlier, in a shameful move endorsed by the Thai Foreign Ministry, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) was forced to cancel a scheduled press conference by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) on the human rights situation in Vietnam. Thailand's The Nation criticised the Foreign Ministry's decision, saying that "The forced cancellation is a real setback for human rights debate and discussion in the region. Thailand is the current chair of the UNHRC, and thus should practice what it preaches, especially at home. Indeed, Thailand should be more vocal about the human rights situation in Asean in general." This is not to mention that Thailand, a member of Asean, also supported the establishment of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission of Human Rights (AICHR). Yet, the Abhisit government has once again paid endless lip-service to Asean and now to the rest of the world. The ruling Democrat Party, headed by Prime Minister Abhisit, has boasted its affinity to democracy and human rights. When it formed the government from 1997-2001, it adopted a hard-line foreign policy toward Burma, accusing the leaders in Naypyidaw of violating the rights of their own people. As it turned out, the Democrat Party has gradually transformed itself into something similar to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the governing body of the Burmese junta. What has driven the Abhisit government to turn monstrous when it comes to human rights issue? At one level, the government's brutal crackdowns against the red-shirted protesters, from March-May 2010, which resulted in more than 90 people being killed and more than 2000 injured, is a testimony of its lack of respect for human rights. At a deeper level, however, the issue is not merely about eliminating its opponents through violent means. It is about protecting its own long-term power interests. In accomplishing this mission, lèse-majesté law has been employed to legitimise the elimination of its enemies. Sadly, Sihasak will not be able to explain his country's human rights situation in that context – the context in which the Abhisit government, like other despotic regimes of the world, is pretending to adhere to the protection of human rights principle when in fact it is violating it at the same time. Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The views expressed here are his own. Via: http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2720&Itemid=164

Website arrest was unwise and politically wrong

By The Nation
Published on September 27, 2010

Jiranuch's detention a real spoiler of hopeful peace moves



It was so absurd some people saw it as an anti-government conspiracy. The arrest on Friday of a senior staff of the Prachathai website, Jiranuch Premchaiporn, who was accused of disseminating lese majeste contents on her website, which is perceived as being sympathetic to the red shirts, was uncalled for and very counter-productive politically. Whether she would be released or not doesn't matter. Damage has been done, and what a timing. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was in New York when the chief of a rebellious yet respected news website was detained.
Jiranuch, 43, was detained at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport upon returning from Finland where she had attended a media liberty event. She was taken into police custody at a time when "reconciliation" at long last was being taken seriously thanks to positive gestures from Thaksin Shinawatra, the peaceful rally of the red shirts a week ago, a campaign by a coalition partner as well as lobbying efforts by Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart. If none of the "signals" truly represents real hope for political peace, at least they did not serve to widen the national divide. Jiranuch's arrest, on the other hand, was the real spoiler.

Prachathai has for years been serving as an alternative news website. Sometimes this news and commentary outlet became controversial, but which news organisation hasn't in the midst of our political crisis? Prachathai's role is not much different from ASTV's website except for the fact that they are on the opposite side of the conflict. When it comes to hard-lined comments, stances and overzealous readers, both news outlets probably cannot beat each other. This only means the Thai authorities must be very careful in dealing with the freedom of expression flourishing on both websites to avoid charges of discrimination, injustice or double-standards.

Like the rest of the world, Thailand has been grappling with the new-found freedom provided by the digital media. The US authorities' problem with wikileaks.net confirms that even the biggest flag-bearer of democracy doesn't quite know how to handle the phenomenon or navigate the increasingly blurry line between freedom and national (or even international) security. Thanks to our long-lasting serious political conflict, Thailand can probably say we have had a head-start when it comes to dealing with the "freedom" issue. This, however, doesn't mean we know better, as underlined by various incidents which have been capped by Jiranuch's detention.

The action against Jiranuch is unwise and politically wrong, considering its potential effects on fledgling reconciliation efforts. Moreover, people who know Jiranuch- including many fellow journalists- speak of a decent person who can be anything but a threat to national security. A hard-liner she probably is, but an insurgent she is absolutely not. That the arrest triggered a storm of criticism and drew much attention on social media on Friday should provide the government with enough clues how society perceives this latest political incident.

Chiranuch, as a former web master of the now defunct prachatai's webboard, which staff insist is separated from prachatai.com the newspaper, has an ongoing case against her for violating the computer crime law. The charges came after a number of postings by web board members were deemed to constitute an act of lese majeste.

Like it or not, the arrest will draw local and international attention back toward the lese majeste issue. This is unhealthy and could even be more damaging to the beloved monarch than offensive comments on websites themselves. Of course, the laws are there and there may have been some violations, but this is an issue that deserves everything but rigid legal enforcement. Tolerance, understanding, maturity and sympathy must be allowed to play key roles - not only for offenders' sake, but also for everyone's as well as our nation as a whole.

Via : The Nation's Editorial

Giles Ji Ungpakorn: The Arrest of Chiranuch Premchaiporn

Prachatai web manager arrested for the second time by the military junta

By Giles Ji Ungpakorn

Chiranuch Premchaiporn, web manager of the independent Thai online newspaper Prachatai, was arrested for the second time on 24th September 2010, at Bangkok’s international airport. Ironically she was returning from the “Internet Liberty 2010″ conference in Hungary. The arrest was reported to be in response to an alleged incident in the north-east town of Khon Kaen but there is much confusion about the actual date of this incident. The Khon Kaen police claim that they issued an arrest warrant for Ms Chiranuch back in September 2009 on lèse majesté and computer crimes charges. It beggars belief why the Thai police have taken a whole year to locate such a prominent person whose office is well known to them already. Ms Chiranuch stated that she never received any police summons or any documentation prior to her arrest. This indicates both incompetence and possibly illegal behaviour by the Thai police.

In an interview with Matichon daily newspaper, Police Lieutenant General Chuchapong Pongsuwan, the officer in charge of the case, stated that a complaint was made to the Khon Kaen police in 2008 that Ms Chiranuch had committed “lèse majesté”. After discussions with the National Police Bureau, Khon Kaen police issued an arrest warrant. When asked why Ms Chiranuch was not issued with a summons first, according to usual procedure, Police Lieutenant General Chuchapong Pongsuwan claimed that “it was not necessary” since the offence was “extremely serious”. Yet in other lèse majesté cases defendants have been issued with summonses first and if this was such a “serious case” why did they take a year to locate Ms Chiranuch?

Last year the offices of Prachatai in Bangkok were raided by the Crime Suppression police on the 6th March 2009. Ms Chiranuch was arrested on accusations of allowing web-board comments with a lèse majesté content. She was charged on the 31st March 2010 under the Computer Crimes Act. Ms Chiranuch had to wait nearly four hours before bail was approved with a 300,000 baht bond, calculated on her salary as a nursing sister, for not removing comments posted on a web-board deemed offensive to the monarchy fast enough to satisfy the government censors. On April 7th, Ms Chiranuch was called to Royal Thai Police headquarters for further investigation. Thai police laid nine new charges against her resulting from the information she herself gave them after her arrest. According to FACT (Freedom Against Censorship Thailand) these additional charges under the computer crime law mean that Ms Chiranuch is facing 50 years in prison for comments she did not create. The Criminal Court has set February 2011 to begin proceedings against her for these earlier charges.

Back in March 2009, the military installed Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, told an audience at St John’s College, Oxford that he had “sorted out” Chiranuch’s case and that it was a “misunderstanding by the police”. The fact that the case has proceeded and that Ms Chiranuch has been arrested for a second time proves that Abhisit is prepared to lie in order to appear to be an upholder of democracy. The deliberate killing of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators in April and May 2010 on his watch, in order to avoid an election, merely emphasises the point.

The repeated arrest and multiple charges against the Prachatai web manager add up to gross harassment and a serious infringement of the freedom of the media. Prachatai is an independent, non-profit, daily web newspaper, originally established in June 2004 by Jon Ungpakorn and other social activists. Its website states that Prachatai’s objectives are:

   1. To provide the Thai public with access to reliable news and information relevant to developing and strengthening the democratic functions of Thai civil society.
   2. To focus news coverage on the problems, concerns, activities and accomplishments of local communities and civil society movements and organisations.
   3. To strive for freedom and independence of Thai news media.
   4. To promote active public participation in Thai news media.

Since the military coup against an elected government in 2006, Prachatai has played a crucial role in providing independent news coverage in an era when the junta has instigated draconian censorship and control of all forms of media. During this time Prachatai has been blocked by government censors at least 3 times and has had to re-establish its website each time.

In January 2010 U.S. based Human Rights Watch wrote that: “While Prime Minister Abhisit sometimes said the right things about human rights in 2009, his actions didn’t match his words. The government continually undermined respect for human rights and due process of law in Thailand.” The report went on to state that: “Democracy in Thailand suffers badly from draconian laws on lèse majesté and cyber crimes. A climate of fear looms over civil discourse and in cyberspace as a result of increasing restrictions on freedom of expression under the Abhisit government.”

Via: http://robertamsterdam.com/thailand/?p=393