Right-wing Thai media mocks Human Rights Watch with satirical cartoon

After Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Thai authorities to investigate the alleged torture of the criminal court bombing suspects, a conservative Thai news website mocked the rights group with a satirical cartoon, suggesting that the military should let a militant group attack the HRW office.     

ASTV Manager Online, a royalist right-wing news website, on Thursday published a satirical cartoon to mock HRW after the organisation issued a statement calling on the Thai authorities to investigate the torture allegations by the suspects in the Bangkok Criminal Court bombing.   

The cartoon depicts a group of heavily armed militants entering the HRW office while people in the office on the second floor seem to be terrified.

In front of the office stands a man in a military uniform saying “You lot, you can shoot anyone or bomb anything; you can do your worst inside…..Mr. Brad understands you.”

ASTV Manager Online’s satirical cartoon, which mocks Human Rights Watch’s statement to investigate the torture allegations of the suspects in the Criminal Court bombing (Photo from ASTV Manager Online)

The caption to the cartoon at the bottom says ‘Mr. Winthai, please arrange this.’

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), four of the court bombing suspects were tortured after their arrest while in police custody from 9-15 March 2015.

On Thursday, HRW issued a statement that the Thai authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the alleged torture of suspects while they were held incommunicado in military custody.

“These serious allegations of torture in military detention are further cause for alarm about ongoing rights abuses under martial law in Thailand,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

On the same day, Col Winthai Suwaree, spokesperson of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), stated that the allegations of torture by the four suspects are false. He said that the allegations are a distortion of the facts, and are aimed at ruining the credibility of the authorities.

 

See related news:

Exclusive: Bomb suspect reveals details of torture allegations “They tortured me until I won.”

 

 

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