In response to the European Parliament's resolution condemning Thailand's use of the royal defamation law, detained human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa wrote an open letter thanking the European Parliament for its concern and calling for a resolution imposing visa restrictions on Thai officials and other individuals involved in the enforcement of the royal defamation law.
Anon Nampa (Photo by Ginger Cat)
Anon has been held in detention pending appeal on several counts of royal defamation since 26 September 2023 and repeatedly denied bail. He is now facing a cumulative prison sentence of 18 years, 10 months, and 20 days.
In the letter, which was posted on Arnon's Facebook page, he thanks the European Parliament for its concern regarding human rights violations in Thailand and for the resolution to use economic and diplomatic measures to address Thailand's deportation of refugees and the enforcement of the royal defamation law.
He notes that there are many individuals involved in the enforcement of the royal defamation law, including accusers, witnesses who often hold opposing political views to the accused and testified in many cases, prosecutors, and judges, all of whom have significant roles in the violation of human rights and the use of the law to limit freedom of expression. The result, he writes, is that a large number of people are unjustly imprisoned and prosecuted.
To limit the scope of human rights violation and to not allowed these individuals to continue to use the royal defamation law, Anon calls on the European Parliament to issue a resolution imposing to cancel and cease issuing visas to to the accusers, witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and administrative officials involved in the "unjust enforcement" of the royal defamation law, similar to a policy recently announced by the US government imposing visa restrictions on Thai government officials in the deportation of Uyghur refugees to China.
On 14 March, the European Parliament issued a resolution condemning Thailand's deportation of Uyghur refugees to China and its use of the royal defamation law and calling on the European Commission to leverage free trade area (FTA) negotiations to press Thailand to amend the royal defamation law, release political prisoners, halt the deportation of Uyghur refugees, and ratify all core International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.
I am Anon Nampa, a political prisoner held on Article 112 cases in Thailand. Thank you very much for your concern regarding the situation of the violation of human rights in Thailand and for your resolution regarding the use of economic and diplomatic measures to address the problem of deportations of refugees and the enforcement of Article 112. Subsequently, the United States government announced the cessation of the provision of visas and entry to the state officials involved in the deportation of refugees.
Regarding the enforcement of Article 112, I would like to inform you that there are many individuals involved in the violation of human rights. That is to say, there are the accusers, who include state officials and groups of individuals with different political views; witnesses who hold opposing political views and who repeatedly provide testimony in many cases; prosecution officials who indict and litigate the cases; the judges who perform the duty of issuing orders in the cases, including the decisions; and administrative officials at many levels. All of these individuals have significant roles in the violation of human rights and the use of the law and the judicial process as instruments to limit freedom of political expression. The impact of this is that there are a large number of people unjustly prosecuted and imprisoned.
To deter and limit the scope of the violation of human rights, and to not allow the aforementioned individuals and many others to use their role and position to continue to enforce Article 112, I therefore call on the European Parliament to make an additional resolution. Similar to the action by the United States, which issued a resolution in response to Thailand’s deportation of the Uyghur refugees, I request that you issue a resolution to cancel and cease issuing visas to the accusers, witnesses, prosecutors, judges, and administrative officials who are involved in the unjust enforcement of Article 112.
If you would like additional information and the names of individuals, I would be happy to send my lawyer. Or if you would like to meet with me at the Bangkok Remand Prison, it would be my honor and pleasure.
With deepest respect,
Anon Nampa
18 March 2025
Thailand
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