Human rights activists have demanded the immediate release of political reform prisoners from Thailand’s jails.
Protest groups are concerned about the health and safety of those jailed and fear they will die if they don’t get urgent medical treatment.
Thai authorities are well versed in targeting reform activists and a number of protesters have been thrown in jail and left to rot.
Thantawan ‘Tawan’ Tuatalonon, and other activists, including Nutthanit “Bai Por” Duangmusit, Netiporn “Pakbung” Sanesangkhom, and Sophon ‘Get’ Surariddhidhamrong, have been arrested over the past two months on a range of legal charges, including violating Section 112, or ‘lese majeste.’ Lese majeste is a French term which means “to do wrong to majesty.” And in Thailand criticizing the monarchy can result in a 15-year prison sentence.
The 20 year old Tawan has been repeatedly denied bail and on April 20 went on hunger strike in protest of her incarceration. Human rights groups and lawyers have requested immediate healthcare, because her health is rapidly deteriorating behind bars, but it has been ignored
Sunai Phasuk, Senior Thailand researcher of New York-based NGO, Human Rights Watch, says “The lengthened pre-trial detention of Tawan and other activists is brutal and shows Thailand’s disregard of human rights and fair trial standards.”
“Tawan has been on hunger strike for 33 days now to protest such unjust and unwarranted treatment. This is a display of Tawan’s bravery and commitment to civil disobedience to resist abusive authoritarian powers.”
Kunthika Nutcharut, an attorney for Thai Lawyers for Human Rights who is working on Tawan’s case, went to visit the prominent activist yesterday and says she has “lost at least five kilos, her gums are bleeding, and needs help to walk.”
“When I saw her last, her spirit was very strong, she did not complain about anything, and only asked about the well-being of other political prisoners.”
Over the past year, a number of democracy activists have become ill under similar circumstances while in detention.
Anon Nampha, a human rights lawyer and one of the first to call for monarchy reform, fell ill last year while in pre-trial detention. Panupong ‘Mike’ Jadnok contracted COVID-19 as he languished in prison last year. Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, was hospitalized after a hunger fast in December.
Sunai says the government and judiciary system have continued to adopt an “out of sight, out of mind” tactic to handle these kinds of cases, often ignoring their medical conditions.
Pornpen Khongkanchankiet, the director of Cross Cultural Foundation, says Thailand increasingly uses judicial harassment against activists, especially youth calling for reform.
“You saw this with Anon, Rung, and others who have already been harassed by the judicial system. They were arrested, charged, detained, bailed, and then rearrested again. All of this is to silence activists.
“Tawan and others like her are sacrificing themselves to conduct an autopsy on our judicial system and it’s showing something ugly, something primitive, uncivilized. So now they are sacrificing themselves to show the international community, and the elder generation, this broken system.”
Source Thai Enquirer