By Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div>This time of year, couples often show their love for each other. But political prisoners and their spouses are not so fortunate, and remain separated, often for many years. Romuelah Saeyeh spent one half of her married life – five years – going back and forth to Pattani prison in order to visit her husband, Muhamadanwar Hajiteh, whom she knows as Anwar, an activist working in Thailand’s three southern provinces.</div>
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By Panida Dumri and Nattamon Krajangdararat |
<div>Freed anti-junta activists from the Dao Din group talk to Prachatai about their experience in jail and how they learned about the value of freedom.</div>
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<div>Police on Tuesday detained a red-shirt activist and an expatriate for selling and buying campaign t-shirts to help Thai political prisoners. </div>
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<div>The police detained Anurak Jentawanit aka “Ford Red Route” and Franz Borbath, a red-shirt supporter from Austrai living in northeastern Mukdahan Province, at Ratchaprasong intersection for possession of t-shirts with a quotation of a poem by William Ernest Henley called Invictus.
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By International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) |
<p><strong><em>Paris-Geneva, April 30, 2015 - Thailand’s Supreme Court must immediately release on bail human rights defender Somyot Phrueksakasemsuk and expedite his appeal trial, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint program, said today.</em></strong></p>
By Kongpob Areerat and Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div>Instead of throwing an ice bucket over one’s head, the challenge is to sing a song whose lyrics touch every free spirit. </div>
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<div>Thantawut Taweewarodomkul aka “Noom Rednon”, a former convict under Article 112 or the lèse majesté law, revealed on Tuesday that his family has been followed and harassed by the military after he did not report to the junta as ordered. </div>
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<div>Thantawut was sentenced to 13 years in jail for posting lèse majesté messages on a website. After serving three years in jail, he received a royal pardon. After he was freed in July 2013, he occasionally joined red-shirt pro-democracy activities.
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<div>The authorities on Monday morning transferred most of the red-shirt political prisoners who were arrested after the 2010 political violence in Bangkok from Laksi temporary prison to more crowded permanent prisons where conditions are worse. </div>
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<div>The Laksi Prison for political prisoners was initiated during the Yingluck Shinawatra government.
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By Thantawut Taweewarodomkul |
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<div>“I have no regrets, at all, that I decided not to report myself to the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).” Even though many people told me to reconsider, I remain firm in my original decision.</div>
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<div>As soon as the broadcast of Announcement No. 5/2557 [2014] of the military dictatorship of the NCPO on the afternoon of Saturday, 24 May 2014, which ordered 35 individuals to report themselves, was finished, I did not hesitate.
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By FIDH |
<p>Paris-Bangkok-Geneva, April 29, 2014. Thailand must release labour rights activist Somyot Prueksakasemsuk and promote a free, open, and informed public debate on lèse-majesté, FIDH and OMCT, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) said today. On April 30, Somyot, a UCL member and the former editor of the Voice of Taksin magazine, will mark three years in jail.</p>
<p><strong>On the Occasion of the International Thai Studies Conference</strong><strong>, Sydney, Australia</strong><strong>, 24 April 2014</strong></p>
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By Suluck Lamubol |
<div>Nitimonster, a network of young artists and activists based in Chiang Mai, wants their art exhibition to be provocative, and touch upon the hottest political issues of the day. But what they did not foresee was that their artwork would cause all the staff in the gallery to go on strike, and earn them an f-word curse from the chef in the restaurant opposite on the opening day. </div>
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