By Susan Loone |
<p>MALAYSIA made history on May 7, for all the wrong reasons, and would probably go down in the Book of Records as the only country in the world who arrests its citizens for wearing black.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:<br />
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">‘Please help me!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’ve no one to turn to,’ Thitima Thakor panicked over the phone in the morning of May 12.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:<br />
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">‘What’s happened?’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:<br />
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">‘Five days ago, Nui (Suwicha’s nickname) was transferred to Zone 7.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The other inmates forced him to be tattooed.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>There are 37 people in his cell.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Nui was scared.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He didn’t yield.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He told me if he was tattooed, he would kill himself,’ Thitima anxiously spoke of the latest situation for her husband, Suwicha Thakor, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for posting </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:<br />
"Tahoma","sans-serif";color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">lèse majesté</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:<br />
"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB">content on the internet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1241855586&grpid=00&catid=01">Matichon</a> reported an interview which Army Chief Gen Anupong Paojinda had with 100.5 FM radio station on May 9.</p>
By Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) |
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">6 May, 2009 - CIJ raises concern over clampdown on anti-government expression</span></span></p>
By AHRC |
<p><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">An Open Letter to the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for Human Rights by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)</span></span></strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"> </span></span></p>
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By AHRC |
<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kasit Pirom hosted a delegation of ambassadors from 15 EU countries on a two-day tour to meet with government agencies, NGOs and religious institutions located in the Deep South. Part of the tour included a visit to the Pattani office of the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP), chaired by Angkhana Neelapaichit, on 3 May 2009. The visit, welcomed by WGJP, gave the group an opportunity to raise awareness on particular issues.</p>
<p>Kevin Hewison, professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, guests on Prachatai's online talk show <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/tv/chupitchtv/?ep=55">ChuPitch TV</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>He talks about politics when Gen Prem Tinsulanont was Prime Minister (1980-88), and Thailand’s current political situation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The host is Pitch Pongsawat, a young academic from Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science.</p>
By AHRC |
<p><strong>A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission</strong> - <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Last Friday, May 1, the appointee Senate of Thailand elected seven new persons as the country's National Human Rights Commission. They are, Police General Vanchai Srinuwalnad, assistant commissioner general of the Royal Thai Police; Mr. Parinya Sirisarakarn, former member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly of Thailand (2007); Mr. Paibool Varahapaitoorn, secretary to the Office of the Constitution Court; Ms.</p>
By Reporters Without Borders |
<p><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span lang="EN-GB">The Thai media has been buffeted by repeated political crises. Several journalists have been assaulted by demonstrators and scores of media have been censored for openly supporting the “red shirts”. But it has been a crackdown on Internet users and intellectuals for alleged crimes of lese-majeste that posed the greatest threat to free expression in the country.</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><b> </b><br />
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By Reporters Without Borders |
<p><div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">In the run-up to World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Reporters Without Borders is campaigning for the release of three women journalists who have been “taken hostage” by governments.</span></span></div>
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By Friends of Burma Group |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Since Nargis Cyclone disaster attacked Burma on 2 and 3 May in Irrawaddy, Rangoon, Central Irrawaddy and other towns. As the result that more than 100,000 people have lost their lives while more than 200,000 people have been missing and 2 millions of survivors have been severely affected. Although this disaster has been passed for a year already but various organizations work on relief and recovery in the effected have been reporting that the affected area have not been physically recovered for better livelihood of the local people.</p>
<p>Manager reported on Apr 28 that Matichon Weekly’s editor Sathien Junthimathorn had been sacked, following the dismissal of Matichon Daily’s editor Chulalak Phukert a week earlier, for having been mouthpieces for the Thaksin regime, and blindly attacking the Abhisit government.</p>