Thai National Politic

A ‘top secret’ document circulated online earlier this month believed to be produced by the Thai government - lists 183 people including opposition politicians, outspoken democracy activists, lawyers and journalists categorised by their perceived threat level to the state.

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern over the latest conviction and sentence of a person in Thailand for a crime of freedom of expression. On 23November 2011, in Black Case No. 311/2554, Ampon Tangnoppakul (also known as 'Arkong'), a 61-year-old man, was sentenced to twenty years in prison for four alleged violations of Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code and the2007 Computer Crimes Act.

In this post I will try to describe what I saw, and how I felt about what was happening. I do not have any sense of an overview, and nor do I claim to. I was only there from 5.00 am to 11.00 pm, with a short interruption at midday, and from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm to file some images, and close my eyes for 30 minutes. I could not have possibly been everywhere at the same time. It was generally not possible to know what was going on even 100 meters away. 

Thailand’s Government has an obligation to respect and protect the rights and freedom of all persons. All the Government’s acts must be lawful based on rule of law and human rights principles. Restriction of people’s freedoms is prohibited except by virtue of law. Such restrictions must be proportionate and action must be taken only when necessary, whilst not materially affecting the important substance of such rights and freedoms

[:th]Former prime minister Samak Sundaravej has resigned the leadership of the people Power Party (PPP). The resignation letter was dated on 26 Sep 2008. On 9 Sep 2008, Mr. Samak was disqualified from the office of prime minister by the Constitution Court for violating the charter by receiving payments for hosting television cooking shows. The verdict was also criticized over double standard and rule of law.[:]

Good Girls Go to Heaven. Bad Girls Go Everywhere. This song title has become a popular T-shirt message of Empower, an advocacy group for sex workers' rights, to make fun of the good/bad girl stereotype which is at the heart of sexual discrimination