<div> <div>The outspoken niece of a draftee who was tortured to death has been indicted under the controversial Computer Crime Act for revealing information about torture in military camps.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 22 September 2016, Prosecutor Rati Cholamyai indicted Naritsarawan Keawnopparat under the Computer Crime Act for disseminating information deemed defamatory to the Royal Thai Army, according to the Cross Cultural Foundation.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Naritsarawan is the niece of Wichian Puaksom, a military conscript who was tortured to death by other soldiers in 2011. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">While Thailand is making strides in anti-torture legislation, experts argue the government&rsquo;s continued prosecution of human rights defenders makes this formal progress hollow.</p><p>At a public panel convened at the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand on Wednesday, 24 August 2016, representatives from local and international organisations called upon the Thai government to drop charges levelled against three human rights defenders investigating torture in Deep Southern Thailand.</p>

<p>Pvt Somchai Si-ueangdoi&nbsp;is from the Karen ethnic group and from Chiang Mai. He decided to serve in the military to earn money to support his mom and sister after his dad passed away. &nbsp;About two years of conscription, Pvt Somchai was allegedly beaten to death. Like many other cases related to torture in the barracks, the court dismissed the case.&nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">The outspoken niece of a soldier who was brutally tortured to death in a military barrack has said that an army officer involved in the torture of her uncle has been promoted to a higher rank. The same army officer has accused the niece of offences under the Computer Crime Act.</p>

<p>The post-mortem examination in the death of a young soldier has concluded that he was beaten to death by other soldiers in a military camp in Isaan, northeastern Thailand. &nbsp;</p> <p>Surin Provincial Court on Tuesday, 26 July 2016, read out the autopsy report on the death of Corporal Krittikon Suthiraphan, 25, a soldier at Weerawat Yothin Army Camp in Surin.</p> <p>Krittikon died in a military prison in Weerawat Yothin Army Camp on 21 February 2016. He was imprisoned after he was accused of assisting other detainees in the military prison to flee.</p>

<div> <div>The arrest of a woman who publicly spoke out against the military over her relative who was tortured to death by the army clearly exposes the difficulties faced by the families of torture victims, as outlined in a Human Rights Watch statement.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 27 July 2016, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement saying that “Thai authorities should drop trumped-up criminal proceedings” against Naritsarawan Kaewnoppart, who was arrested for publishing the details of her uncle, conscripted Private Wichian Puaksom, who was tortured to death in a military camp in </div></div>

<div>(New York) – Thai authorities should drop trumped-up criminal proceedings against a woman who has sought justice for her army conscript uncle, who was tortured to death by soldiers in 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat, 25, faces up to five years in prison and a 100,000 baht (US$2,900) fine if found guilty of defamation and publicizing false information online under the Computer Crimes Act.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On the morning of July 26, 2016, police arrested Naritsarawan at her office at the Ministry of Human Security and Social Development in Bangkok. </div>

<div> <div>Police in the restive Deep South of Thailand have accused three prominent human rights defenders of defaming the Thai army after the three published a report on the torture and inhumane treatment of Muslim Malay suspects in military camps. &nbsp; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Tuesday, 26 July 2016, police officers in Pattani Province accused Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, Somchai Homla-or, Advisor of the Duay Jai group, and Anchana Heemmina, President of the Duay Jai group, of defaming the Royal Thai Army. </div></div>

<p>The Thai police have arrested the niece of a soldier who was tortured to death in the Deep South of Thailand after the authorities accused her of defaming the military. &nbsp;</p> <p>Three police officers from Makkasan Police Station, Bangkok, on Tuesday morning, 26 July 2016, arrested Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat, the niece of <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/5524">Wichian Puaksom</a>, a military conscript who was tortured to death by other soldiers in 2011.</p> <p>She was arrested at her workplace in Bangkok and is currently in custody at Makkasan Police Station.</p>

<div> <div>The Justice Minister has justified the use of shackles on student activists, asking rights defenders what would they do if unshackled prisoners escape, while a junta spokesperson said the use of shackles depended on officials’ personal discretion. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Although the seven activists from the New Democracy Movement were already released, they have left criticism against Thailand’s justice system as the pictures of them being shackled by chain were widely spread throughout the media. </div>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand has a grim and poor record of torture and enforced disappearances, which even in the last 10-15 years has barely improved, regardless of the international treaties and agreements it has signed onto. Experts, though, believe that improvements are coming, hopefully sooner than later.</p>

<div> <div>A civil society network has said that although Thailand ratified the Convention against Torture almost a decade ago, the situation regarding torture in the country has hardly improved. </div></div>