<p class="rteleft">As a part of our &lsquo;looking forward to 2012&rsquo; series, Prachatai interviewed CJ Hinke, freedom activist and founder of FACT &ndash; Freedom against Censorship Thailand - on the situation of freedom in Thailand, internet freedom in particular. </p>

<p><em>&ldquo;Prachatai exists to promote human rights&rdquo;</em></p> <p>The judge presiding over the trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal, Prachatai, arrived late to court today [21 Sept]. This gave regular observers, local and international activists, NGOs, media representatives and diplomatic staff great pause for concern.</p>

<p><em>(Note: Chiranuch&rsquo;s trial will NOT be heard on Wednesday, September 7 as expected. Trial will resume on Friday, September 9 for the last prosecution witness. It is likely the presiding judge will continue with hearings on mornings only, starting at 9:30am.)</em></p>

<p>A Bangkok-based computer programmer is the latest individual to be charged with both lese-majeste and the Computer Crimes Act.</p>

<p>A capacity crowd of supporters filled the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal Prachatai, which continued into its seventh day at Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court. Yesterday&rsquo;s animated senior judge, The Honourable Kampol Rungrat, was joined by a second, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) reports.</p>

<p><em>Two police &ldquo;IT experts&rdquo; as Prachatai trial resumes</em></p> <p>The l&egrave;se majest&eacute; trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal Prachatai resumed at Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court this morning after a hiatus of nearly seven months. The first five days of trial were held February 7 to 11. However, Chiranuch&rsquo;s case was postponed when it became obvious the trial would take longer than the two weeks scheduled to hear testimony from 14 witnesses each for both prosecution and defence.</p>

<p>Thai court will resume the witness hearings against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, charged with l&egrave;se majest&eacute; under the Computer Crimes Act. Chiranuch (Jiew) is a media rights advocate and Executive Director of Prachatai, an independent, online news agency.</p>

<p>It is incumbent that the US government support US citizen Joe W. Gordon who has recently been arrested on multiple charges in Thailand, the country of his birth.</p>

<p>With WikiLeaks cables continuing to cause reverberations around the world, the website's Bangkok-based international advisory board member, C J Hinke, answers questions put to him by The Nation's Pravit Rojanaphruk about the impact the leaks have had domestically and internationally. </p> <p><strong>Excerpts:</strong><br /> <strong></strong></p>

<p>On February 5 an unidentified man was arrested for comments he posted to a webboard. His house was searched, his computer confiscated as evidence, his family frightened, and friends panicked. These are ordinary people who express opinions that the authorities consider dangerous, and the mainstream media never allows. &nbsp;The Internet is their only outlet.</p>