<p>On 12 Sept, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung told reporters at Government House that he had called a meeting with police officers who had finished doctoral degrees on government scholarships to get rid of websites with lèse majesté content.</p>
<p>Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul’s brother <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/search/node/Kittichai Charnchoengsilpakul">Kittichai</a> has been arrested and detained at Bangkok Remand Prison since 29 Aug on charges made 12 years ago.</p>
By Freedom against Censorship Thailand |
<p>The final prosecution witness, senior police lèse majesté investigator, Lt.-General Boonlert Kullayanimit of the Royal Thai Police Crime Suppression Division, proceeded to elaborate the police chain of evidence against Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent online news source, Prachatai. The last witness made some remarkable disclosures in his testimony.</p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>Yesterday, Thailand’s Criminal Court would deny Joe Gordon bail for an eighth consecutive time. In its decision, the Court would cite a number of reasons for the American’s ongoing incarceration, namely, the seriousness of the alleged offence. “The witness had not yet testified… and the penalty, (if convicted), is high,” wrote the Court.</p>
By Freedom against Censorship Thailand |
<p><em>(Note: Chiranuch’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>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>A Bangkok-based computer programmer is the latest individual to be charged with both lese-majeste and the Computer Crimes Act.</p>
<p>Three red-shirt defendants have been kept in jail without bail for 16 months now, despite the fact that their case has already been dismissed by the court in Bangkok last week. </p>
<p>A capacity crowd of supporters filled the lèse majesté trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand’s independent online news portal Prachatai, which continued into its seventh day at Bangkok’s Criminal Court. Yesterday’s animated senior judge, The Honourable Kampol Rungrat, was joined by a second, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) reports.</p>
By Freedom against Censorship Thailand |
<p><em>Two police “IT experts” as Prachatai trial resumes</em></p>
<p>The lèse majesté trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand’s independent online news portal Prachatai resumed at Bangkok’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’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>International concern for human rights in Thailand has been made clear in an open letter to Thailand’s Prime Minister, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra.</p>
<p>112 international scholars have signed a letter calling for reviews of lese majeste and computer crimes laws in Thailand. The letter draws attention to human rights issues and the political use of lese majeste (Article 112 of the Criminal Code) and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act.</p>
By Lisa Gardner |
<p>U.S. citizen and lèse majesté prisoner Joe Gordon is “learning a lot about Thai politics, in prison,” and intends to mount a serious charge against the Thai Government in light of his ongoing incarceration.</p>
By Karin Frodé |
<p>Following her 11 day long anti-trafficking mission (August 8-19) visiting Chiang Mai, Mae Sot, Samut Sakhon, Songkhla and Tak, the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo returned to Bangkok to hold a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding her preliminary findings and recommendations. </p>