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THAILAND: Man given ten years' imprisonment for lese-majesty online

April 6, 2009

Thai

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-036-2009



6 April 2009
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THAILAND: Man given ten years' imprisonment for lese-majesty online

ISSUES: Freedom of expression; censorship; administration of justice
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the latest imprisonment of an Internet user in Thailand for posting online supposedly offensive images to the country's royal family. We are bringing you details of the case and urge you to protest strongly against this use of draconian laws, old and new, to attempt to stifle free expression.

CASE DETAILS:

On 3 April 2009 the Criminal Court in Bangkok sentenced 34-year-old Suwicha Takor to 10 years' imprisonment for posting images on the Internet in 2008 that were allegedly offensive to members of the royal family, including the king and the crown prince. He was convicted of lese-majesty and also with having wrongfully used a computer under a draconian computer crime law that was introduced through a military dictatorship's legislature in 2007. He was convicted on two charges carrying 10 years' imprisonment but the sentence was halved because he pleaded guilty.

The police arrested Suwicha on 14 January 2009 at his home area of Nakhon Phanom in the northeast of Thailand and took him by air to Bangkok. He was kept in jail since then, as the court twice refused submissions for bail.

Suwicha was working as an engineer for a multinational oil company. After he was arrested he was sacked from his job without severance pay. Aside from his three children, his wife and father had also depended upon his income for their survival.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Suwicha's imprisonment follows many other recent cases of lese-majesty and charges brought against persons under the highly ambiguous terms of the Computer Crime Act 2007, as part of a general trend away from human rights and democratization in Thailand begun in the time of the former government of Thaksin Shinawatra that has rapidly accelerated since the army coup of 2006 and continued under the present unelected prime minister.

For further information, see recent AHRC statements on the raid of independent news outlet Prachatai and arrest of its director (AHRC-STM-051-2009, AHRC-STM-054-2009), on lese-majesty (AHRC-STM-028-2009), 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). See also a recent column on UPI Asia on the computer crime law.

For further on human rights issues in Thailand read the 2008 country report of the AHRC.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the following persons to protest the imprisonment of Suwicha and the use of draconian laws, including those on lese-majesty and computer use, to attempt to stifle free expression in Thailand.
Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Southeast Asia office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling for an immediate action in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ___________,

THAILAND: Demand for release from jail of man sentenced to ten years for lese majesty

Detainee: Suwicha Takor, 34, solids control engineer, married with three children
Convicted at: Criminal Court, Bangkok
Convicted under: Criminal Code, section 112, read with sections 33, 83, 91, and with articles 8 & 9 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand BE 2550 (2007); Computer Crime Act BE 2550 (2007), sections 14(2) & 16(1)
Convicted on: 3 April 2009
Sentence: 20 years' imprisonment, reduced to 10 because of guilty plea

I am writing to strongly protest the imprisonment of Suwicha Takor on charges of lese-majesty and computer crimes and to call for his immediate release and the amendment of the criminal law in Thailand so as to cease violating the freedom of expression of the country's citizens and residents.

It has been widely reported that on 3 April 2009 the Criminal Court in Bangkok sentenced Suwicha to 10 years' imprisonment for posting images on the Internet in 2008 that were allegedly offensive to members of the royal family. He was convicted of lese-majesty and also with having wrongfully used a computer under the provisions of law listed above. He was convicted on two charges carrying 10 years' imprisonment but the sentence was halved because he pleaded guilty.

I am also aware that after the police arrested Suwicha on 14 January 2009 at his home area of Nakhon Phanom in the northeast of Thailand and took him by air to Bangkok, he was kept in jail as the court twice refused submissions for bail.

Thailand has become infamous in recent times for the bringing of charges of lese-majesty and charges under the Computer Crime Act 2007 against persons who have done no more than exercise their freedom of expression. Despite the current prime minister's claims to be concerned for the freedom of expression and human rights in Thailand, the case of Suwicha is yet another example of a trend in the opposite direction. I note that another recent case of special concern is the raid on independent news service Prachatai and arrest of its director, Chiranuch Premchaiporn.

I call for the government of Thailand to take the necessary steps to see Suwicha Takor released from prison without delay. I also call for the dropping of all charges against Chiranuch Premchaiporn. Furthermore, I strongly urge the government of Thailand to demonstrate its prime minister's stated commitment to human rights and freedom of expression to at once put forward bills to amend the Criminal Code and revoke the Computer Crime Act (which was passed by a legislature of military appointees, not elected representatives of the people of Thailand) so that no further cases of this sort occur in the future and so that the country's human rights reputation does not continue to slide downwards.

I look forward to your intervention.

Yours sincerely,

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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. 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 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
E-mail: om@moj.go.th

3. 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

4. Mr. Chaikasem Nitisiri
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

5. Prof. Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
Office of The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
The Government Complex Commemorating His Majesty the King's 80th BirthDay Anniversary 5th December, B.E.2550 (2007)
120 Chaengwattana Road
Laksi District
Bangkok 10210
THAILAND
Fax: +662 143 9576
Tel: +662 141 3800, +662 141 3900
E-mail: interhr@nhrc.or.th or saneh@nhrc.or.th

6. Chairperson
Subcommittee on Legislation and Administration of Justice
Office of The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
The Government Complex Commemorating His Majesty the King's 80th BirthDay Anniversary 5th December, B.E.2550 (2007)
120 Chaengwattana Road
Laksi District
Bangkok 10210
THAILAND
Fax: +662 143 9576
Tel: +662 141 3800, +662 141 3900
E-mail: interhr@nhrc.or.th

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

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Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-036-2009
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.