THAILAND: Grave and expanding threat to freedom of expression and human rights in Thailand

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper, was detained by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samutprakarn province near Bangkok, and transferred to Khon Kaen police station, in northeastern Thailand. She has been charged with violating the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956) (section of the code relating to lesè majesté). 

CASE NARRATIVE:

On the afternoon of 24 September, 2010, Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper, was detained by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Ms. Chiranuch was on her way back from the ‘Internet at Freedom 2010’ conference in Hungary, sponsored by Google and the Central European University. After being detained by the immigration police, she learned that there were charges pending against her in Khon Kaen province, a province in the northeastern part of Thailand, and that the Khon Kaen police had a warrant for her arrest. She was driven by car to Khon Kaen, and then interrogated and formally charged by the police. 

Ms. Chiranuch has been accused of violating Articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956). She was informed that her case was reported to the Khon Kaen police station in 2009 regarding the lack of removal of 5 comments with alleged lesè majesté content. The comments were posted in response to an interview with Mr. Chotisak Onsoong, who has been charged with lesè majesté for not standing when the royal anthem was played before a movie was screened. 

Shortly after 12 a.m. on 25 September 2010, Ms. Chiranuch was released on bail of 200,000 baht (6,525 USD). She will have to present herself again to the Khon Kaen police station on 24 October 2010. 

The detention, arrest, and charging of Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn raise a number of questions about the current state of freedom expression, human rights and rule of law in Thailand. In this case, the arrest warrant was issued on 8 September 2010, but not executed until 24 September 2010. Ms. Chiranuch herself did not learn of the charges against her until she reached Khon Kaen. Ms. Chiranuch was informed by Pol.Lt.Col. Chachapong Pongsuwan, one of the officers who arrested her at Suvarnibhumi Airport that she had not been told about the charges in advance because the case against her was “a serious matter.” The withholding of information signals the growing climate of fear for dissent in Thailand, in which one does not know that one has crossed a line until one is face-to-face with the police.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In addition to this new case, Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn faces other changes as well. She was first formally charged with violating Article 14 of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and with violating Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code in March 2009. In March 2009, the police raided the Prachatai office and arrested her. By April 2009, she had been charged with 10 counts of alleged violations.  In each of these 10 instances, comments with alleged lesè majesté content were made on the Prachatai webboard. Ms. Chiranuch removed the comments, but her accusers have claimed that she did not do so quickly enough. If convicted, Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn is facing up to 50 years in prison for 10 counts of alleged violations of the 2007 Computer Crimes Act and the Criminal Code; each violation carries a sentence of five years.  The case trial will begin in February 2011. The first set of charges against her were unjust; the addition of the recent charges seems excessive. 

As Thailand attempts to undergo a process of national reconciliation in the aftermath of the violence of April and May 2010, this latest constriction of speech and threat to human rights is of particular concern. Without the free and unobstructed flow of information, neither human rights nor the rule of law can be strengthened in Thailand. Without respect for human rights and the rule of law, the process of national reconciliation will also fall short of fostering accountability for violence.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) calls on all parties to closely follow Ms. Chiranuch’s case and to demand that the charges be dropped against her and all of those being held or investigated in relation to either Articles 14 and 15 the 2007 Computer Crimes Act or Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code. The cases against her, in which she is being accused of crimes for not removing webboard comments with alleged lesè majesté content made by others quickly enough from the Prachatai webboard, represent a grave and sinister threat to what remains of free speech in Thailand. Free speech is a crucial aspect of the protection of human rights. Without the free and unobstructed flow of dissent and information, citizens cannot monitor and criticize their governments, and cannot disseminate information about the violation of the human rights of their fellow citizens.  

For further information, see recent AHRC statements on the raid of independent news outlet Prachatai and the arrest of Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn (AHRC-STM-051-2009, AHRC-STM-054-2009), on lesè majesté and the Computer Crimes Act (AHRC-FPR-024-2009, AHRC-STM-028-2009, AHRC-STM-229-2009), 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) and on wide-ranging restrictions on freedoms of expression (ALRC-CWS-14-06-2010). Also see the AHRC press release about how the shutdown of the Prachatai webboard indicates the shutdown of free speech in Thailand (AHRC-PRL-014-2010) (Also see a recent column on UPI Asia on the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. )

For further information on human rights issues in Thailand, see the 2008 country report of the AHRC and the AHRC Annual Report, The State of Human Rights in Ten Asian Nations 2009, especially pages 306 – 308. 

For further information on charges, see Articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956).

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below asking for the immediate withdrawal of the charges against Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn and the dropping of charges against all those being held or investigated in connection to either the 2007 Computer Crimes Act or Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER