Public prosecutors have dropped defamation charges against Naritsarawan ‘May’ Keawnopparat, Prachatai’s Person of the Year 2016. On 24 January 2017, Naritsarawan told the BBC Thai that the Director-General of the 9th region Public Prosecutor’s Office and prosecutors of Narathiwat Province dropped accusations under the Computer Crime Act and Criminal Defamation against her.

The outspoken niece of a draftee who was tortured to death has been indicted under the controversial Computer Crime Act for revealing information about torture in military camps.    On 22 September 2016, Prosecutor Rati Cholamyai indicted Naritsarawan Keawnopparat under the Computer Crime Act for disseminating information deemed defamatory to the Royal Thai Army, according to the Cross Cultural Foundation.   Naritsarawan is the niece of Wichian Puaksom, a military conscript who was tortured to death by other soldiers in 2011.

(New York) – Thai authorities should drop trumped-up criminal proceedings against a woman who has sought justice for her army conscript uncle, who was tortured to death by soldiers in 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat, 25, faces up to five years in prison and a 100,000 baht (US$2,900) fine if found guilty of defamation and publicizing false information online under the Computer Crimes Act.   On the morning of July 26, 2016, police arrested Naritsarawan at her office at the Ministry of Human Security and Social Development in Bangkok.