The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) welcomes the Thai Court of Appeal’s ruling that the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC)—a government agency responsible for Thailand’s internal security—is liable for “damaging the reputations” of Senator and human rights activist Angkhana Neelapaijit and  women human rights defender Anchana Heemmina.

UN experts* today (12 March) deplored the continued failure to clarify the fate and whereabouts of Thai human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit 22 years after his enforced disappearance.

UN experts* on 11 November expressed grave concern over renewed online attacks, disinformation campaigns, and harassment of two prominent Thai human rights defenders, Angkhana Neelapaijit and Sunai Phasuk.

Thai Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit and Sunai Phasuk, Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch, received online death threats and hate speech in response to their public comments on the Thailand-Cambodia border conflict, and the Government of Thailand must protect them and all human rights defenders from harassment and threats, Fortify Rights said today (21 October). The two prominent human rights defenders filed a petition on October 18 with the Royal Thai Police seeking protection.

Senator Angkhana Neelapaijit, former human rights commissioner, and Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher Sunai Phasuk filed a petition with the police chief on Saturday (18 October) requesting police protection after they received death threats and online harassment for criticising a social media influencer’s activities in areas along the Thailand-Cambodia border.

The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders has raised concerns for a Thai senator and human rights defender after she received death threats over her criticism of the broadcasting of ghost sounds intended to disturb Cambodians along the border.

Left without answers following the disappearance of her husband, human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, Angkhana Neelapaijit has not only spearheaded the search for him but also campaigned for the criminalization of enforced disappearance in Thailand. Today, 20 years later, Angkhana is a member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. We speak to Angkhana 20 years after Somchai’s disappearance about her life since her husband went missing and her hope for Thailand after the enforcement of the new anti-torture and enforced disappearance law.

The South Bangkok Criminal Court has dismissed the criminal defamation lawsuit filed by the Lopburi-based chicken farm company Thammakaset against three human rights defenders for their postings on social media about alleged abuse of migrant workers at its farm.

Prosecutors in Thailand should immediately drop criminal defamation charges brought against three human rights defenders by Thammakaset Company for their support of other activists facing criminal charges, and the Thai government should repeal criminal defamation law and strengthen anti-SLAPP measures, said Human Rights Watch.

<p>On 12 September, South Bangkok Criminal Court accepted a defamation lawsuit filed by Thammakaset Co Ltd, the 39th of its kind, against Angkhana Neelapaijit, Puttanee Kangkun, and Thanaporn Saleephol over their tweets about labour rights violations at their farm.</p>

<p>Public prosecutors have filed formal charges against a group of officials who stand accused of murdering and concealing the body of a land rights activist back in 2014. Despite the move, civil rights advocates remain skeptical that justice will be served in the case.</p>

<p>Giving Sri Lanka&rsquo;s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa temporary permission to stay in Thailand could lead to pressures from civil society to prosecute him for war crimes and to questions about how the Thai government has treated refugees who are much more in need of help, such as Rohingyas, Uyghurs and ethnic minorities crossing the Myanmar border, according to a former National Human Rights Commissioner.</p>