By Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>Of all the attacks against media and its practitioners, none is more heinous than the slaying of journalists—and getting away with murder.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this anomaly more pronounced than in Southeast Asia, where by SEAPA’s reckoning at least seven media workers were killed in several countries in 2010 just because they were performing their duties as members of media.</p>
By Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>Representatives of the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA) will submit a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House on 3 May 2011, asking him to throw support behind the 2011 World Press Freedom Day which falls on the same day. The prime minister will be given a T-shirt pin and a campaign T-shirt to mark this important event.</p>
By Asian Human Rights Commission |
<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that human rights defender FMA Razzak is going to die without proper medical treatment due to tremendous pressures from the officials of the armed forces and intelligence agencies who have cordoned the whole area in plain cloth. Since 9:45AM today, 30 April 2011, Razzak is left on the floor of the Radiology Unit of the DMCH. The officers of the armed forces and the intelligence agencies have been trying to make sure that Razzak die without proper treatment.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Accused by some of being mentally unsound, academic Somsak Jiamteerasakul continues his calls for reforms</p>
<p>Thammasat University historian Somsak Jiamteerasakul is probably the most under-reported public intellectual in Thailand. That's not because he doesn't have anything to say; quite the contrary in fact. A vocal critic of the Thai monarchy and the country's lese-majeste law, Somsak has long been treated by most mainstream mass media as persona non grata.</p>
By Marwaan Macan-Markar |
<p>BANGKOK, Apr 28, 2011 (IPS) - History professor Somsak Jeamteerasakul has weathered a storm of insults since mid-December for doing the forbidden: he offered an alternative assessment of the most dominant institution in the country, its monarchy, in a forum at his university. Now military officials are dropping hints he could face more than just verbal attacks.</p>
By Asian Human Rights Commission |
<p>At a press conference in Thailand on 24 April 2011, Somsak Jeamteerasakul and several coalitions of academics, human rights activists, and journalists released statements calling for the protection of freedom of speech in Thailand. These statements were in response to a series of blatant threats made towards Somsak over comments that some people have considered amounted to criticism of the royalty. Somsak's statement at this event is available on the independent news website, Prachatai: http://prachatai.com/english/node/2441. </p>
By Salween Watch |
<p>Following recent heavy fighting in northern Shan State, all the planned Salween dam sites in Burma now lie directly in active conflict zones. The Salween Watch Coalition is therefore demanding an immediate halt to all plans to build dams on the Salween River in Burma. This applies directly to the Governments and Corporations of China and Thailand as well as the new Government of Burma</p>
By IRIN |
<p>NONG KUN NA, 27 April 2011 (IRIN) - In the Thai village of Nong Kun Na along the disputed border with Cambodia, security forces are digging in, building bunkers and training volunteers to act as defence guards.</p>
By Andrew Spooner |
<p>In the latter half of 2009, shortly after one of Thailand’s most notorious political prisoners, <a href="http://bit.ly/hbn5cV">Daranee Chanchoengsilpakul</a>, was sentenced to 18 years in prison under Thailand’s draconian lese majeste laws, an experienced human rights advocate contacted Amnesty International’s International Secretariat’s Thai-based researcher, Ben Zawacki. The reason for the correspondence was to try to get to the bottom of why Mr. Zawacki and Amnesty had been almost completely silent on Daranee Chanchoengsilpakul’s incarceration.</p>
By Reporters Without Borders |
<p>Reporters Without Borders condemns the closure of a dozen community radio stations linked to the opposition “Red Shirts” in a major police operation yesterday in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces. An exact list of the radio stations raided by the police is not yet available.</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Despite protests, the House of Representatives is expected to go ahead with passing the Public Assembly Bill during its third and last reading on 27 April - a move that will curb people's constitutional right to assembly and give courts the power to decide whether a protest is legal or not. The Nation's Pravit Rojanaphruk speaks to Anusorn Unno, a leading opponent of the bill and lecturer of anthropology at Thammasat University, about what he's so unhappy about. Here are some excerpts:</p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Thammasat University historian Somsak Jiamteerasakul said yesterday he's ready to fight any lese-majeste charges and prove his innocence - but the military must cease what he called harassment that was frightening his family.</p>