Thai
junta Hits a New Low - Slammed for latest lese-majeste charge to prosecute
woman who didn’t actively condemn Facebook message describing its use to
prosecute the mother of a student activist who didn’t actively condemn the
content of a Facebook message as "a new low"
Patnaree Chankij, a
39-year-old widow and mother of three, was arrested and charged with
lese-majeste Friday, because of her failure to condemn the private message.
“The Thai junta has sunk to a new
low by charging an activist’s mother under the ‘insulting the monarchy’ law,
which has been systematically abused to silence critics,” said Brad Adams, Asia
director for New-York-based Human Rights Watch, in a statement released
Saturday
“The arbitrary enforcement of the
lese-majeste law against an activist’s mother is yet another example of
Thailand’s blatant contempt of its human rights obligations."
Friday's message was sent by Burin
Intin, a friend of Chankij's son, who was arrested last week under a similar
lese-majeste charge.
In the message, Intin asks Chankij
“not to criticize him for what he wrote”.
Chankij simply replied
"ja" -- a polite way to say "yes" in the Thai language.
The short reply was considered as
an absence of condemnation of Intin’s message by the Thai police.
Chankij, who has denied the
charges, was refused bail and placed in detention Friday and will be brought to
a military court Monday.
A demonstration in support of
Chankij is planned for Saturday afternoon in Bangkok.
Chankij is the mother of Sirawith
Seritiwat, nicknamed "Ja New’, a founder of the pro-democracy group
Resistant Citizen.
Seritiwat, a tireless critic of the
junta, has been arrested and detained numerous times, but still refuses to
follow orders imposed by the military, which seized power in May 2014,
overthrowing the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra.
Some analysts have suggested that
that the new charge is a way to put pressure on Seritiwat, as the junta has
previously used similar tactics.
In March, the military
"visited" the sister of exiled academic Pavin Chachavalpongpan to ask
her to put pressure on her brother to cancel a talk on the Thai monarchy at a
British university.
Anond Nampa, a pro-democracy lawyer
who has volunteered to assist Chankij, summarized the situation on his Facebook
page Friday.
"The fact that someone sent
you messages that may violate Section 112 [the lese-majeste section in the
criminal code], and you saw them, yet did not stop or reprimand the sender, is
equal to you participating in the offense,” he wrote.
“Are we really walking down this
path?” he added.
Section 112 of the Thai criminal
code punishes with jail terms between 3-15 years persons who “insult, defame or
threaten the king, the queen, the heir, or the regent”.
In the last ten years, judges have
tended to interpret the law broadly.
A man criticizing a 19th century
king has been jailed, as has another who mocked on Facebook a dog belonging to
the current King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Since the 2014 coup, military
courts have charged 57 people with lese-majeste, with 44 charged for online
commentary.
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