UPDATE (Thailand): Release Sombat Boonngamanong and all detainees under Emergency Decree

Dear friends, 

The authorities in Thailand continue to detain persons without charge under emergency regulations imposed in response to anti-government demonstrations in Bangkok during April and May. In this appeal we bring you the case of one person, Sombat Boonngamanong, who was detained for holding a memorial for victims of the violence on 26 June 2010. We are calling for his immediate release along with the release of all other persons held under the emergency regulations, and for the non-renewal of the regulations today, on 6 July 2010. 

CASE NARRATIVE: 

On 26 June 2010, Sombat Boonngamanong (pictured) held a peaceful memorial at the site of killings that took place during the crackdown on anti-government protestors in Bangkok in May. It involved the tying of ribbons to a signpost in remembrance. Photographs and details of his act are on the website of independent news group Prachatai: http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/1910. 

In response to the act, a court issued an order for his immediate detention under the Emergency Decree currently in force in Bangkok and 23 other provinces of central, north and northeastern Thailand. Because he cannot be detained at an ordinary detention facility under the decree, he was taken to the Border Patrol Police 1st Region Command Office in Pathumthani province. 

The AHRC has previously issued an appeal on hundreds of other persons detained under the decree (UAC-089-2010). 

On 29 June 2010 human rights lawyers helped Sombat to file a motion against his detention, requesting his release on the grounds that his detention was in violation of his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful gathering, as provided for in the constitution and international law. Although the court allowed the motion, on July 2 it ordered that Sombat be kept in custody for another week, stating that he had violated the terms of the decree — which are so ambiguous that virtually anything can be construed as constituting a violation — and that he may do so again. 

Under the decree the court can order detention in seven-day increments for up to 30 days before charges need to be brought. Therefore Sombat is due to come before the court again on 9 July. 

Please see the sample letter below to call for Sombat’s release and for the lifting of emergency regulations in Thailand. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

Sombat Boonngamanong is the founder and former chairperson of the Mirror Foundation, based in Chiang Rai, which works with ethnic minority groups in northern Thailand to help people improve their lives while retaining their cultural identities. For this and other work to support local communities and protect human rights, Sombat was nominated and selected to join the international Ashoka Fellowship of social entrepreneurs. 

Since the 19 September 2006 coup Sombat has been an outspoken critic of successive military-backed governments, advocating non-violent dissent. He has led the Red Sunday Group to engage in symbolic actions against the constriction of political space in Thailand. The group’s activities include mobile political performance art and, as its name suggests, wearing red on Sundays. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: 

From the moment that the Emergency Decree was introduced in Thailand the AHRC has strongly opposed it as a law that would inevitably result in gross abuses of human rights. For many years it has been applied in the far south of the country, with disastrous results. In recent days and weeks the AHRC has also issued a series of statements and open letters calling for it to be lifted from the other parts of the country where it is now in effect. See among them: STM-143-2010; STM-139-2010; OLT-007-2010; OLT-005-2010. 

For further information on Thailand visit the AHRC Thailand website or go to the AHRC homepage and type Thailand into the search box on the top left hand side. See also the End Emergency Decree page: http://thailand.ahrchk.net/edecree 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please write to the persons listed below to call for the release of Sombat and other detainees, and for the non-renewal of the Emergency Decree. 

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia concerning the case of Sombat and other detainees in Thaila

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