Friday, Aug 24, 2012
Locked up for breaking Thailand's most- enduring taboo, the kingdom's "royal insult" prisoners say they face mistreatment from jail guards and are shunned even by common criminals.
They are viewed by their supporters as prisoners of conscience and, in most countries, would not have been imprisoned.
But in Thailand, they carry the stigma of flouting one of the nation's toughest and most controversial laws: defaming the monarchy.
"Some of the wardens took me to a different part of the jail and ordered other prisoners to beat me," said Thantawut Thaweewarodomkul, who is serving a 13-year term for posting online content deemed offensive to the royals.
The incident, which happened soon after he was incarcerated three years ago, left him with two black eyes, the 40-year-old said in an interview at the high-security Bangkok Remand Prison.
The former administrator of the Nor Por Chor USA website - which has links to the "Red Shirt" protest movement loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra - was convicted under controversial lese- majeste and computer-crime laws.
He is one of nine lese-majeste prisoners in the kingdom, according to the Office of the Human Rights Commission of Thailand.
Mr Benjamin Zawacki, South-east Asia researcher for Amnesty Interna- tional, said lese- majeste is seen as an "offence to society" and not just the four individuals it is designed to protect - the Thai king, queen, heir or regent.
"Fellow prisoners, common criminals, look at them as somehow committing a crime that is different than what they have committed and, somehow, worse," he said. "It is not incredibly different than the way paedophiles are treated."
The authorities are responsible for the mistreat- ment of royal-insult prisoners, many of whom are held without bail and are tried in secret on national- security grounds, he said.
The royal family is an extremely sensitive subject in politically turbulent Thailand. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 84, is revered as a demi-god by many Thais.
Rights campaigners say the law has been politicised in recent years, with many of those charged linked to the Red Shirts, whose street protests in Bangkok in 2010 triggered the worst civil unrest in decades, with about 90 dead.
Thaksin's sister, Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, leads a government elected last year, but lese-majeste cases have continued under her and she has dismayed activists since becoming premier by ignoring calls for reform of the law.
Still, prisoners say that conditions have improved under the current administration. Mr Sorasit Chongjaroen, superintendent of the Bangkok Remand Prison, denied that there was mistreatment of inmates.
"There is no such thing - no beatings here," he said.
Locked up for breaking Thailand's most- enduring taboo, the kingdom's "royal insult" prisoners say they face mistreatment from jail guards and are shunned even by common criminals.
They are viewed by their supporters as prisoners of conscience and, in most countries, would not have been imprisoned.
But in Thailand, they carry the stigma of flouting one of the nation's toughest and most controversial laws: defaming the monarchy.
"Some of the wardens took me to a different part of the jail and ordered other prisoners to beat me," said Thantawut Thaweewarodomkul, who is serving a 13-year term for posting online content deemed offensive to the royals.
The incident, which happened soon after he was incarcerated three years ago, left him with two black eyes, the 40-year-old said in an interview at the high-security Bangkok Remand Prison.
The former administrator of the Nor Por Chor USA website - which has links to the "Red Shirt" protest movement loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra - was convicted under controversial lese- majeste and computer-crime laws.
He is one of nine lese-majeste prisoners in the kingdom, according to the Office of the Human Rights Commission of Thailand.
Mr Benjamin Zawacki, South-east Asia researcher for Amnesty Interna- tional, said lese- majeste is seen as an "offence to society" and not just the four individuals it is designed to protect - the Thai king, queen, heir or regent.
"Fellow prisoners, common criminals, look at them as somehow committing a crime that is different than what they have committed and, somehow, worse," he said. "It is not incredibly different than the way paedophiles are treated."
The authorities are responsible for the mistreat- ment of royal-insult prisoners, many of whom are held without bail and are tried in secret on national- security grounds, he said.
The royal family is an extremely sensitive subject in politically turbulent Thailand. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 84, is revered as a demi-god by many Thais.
Rights campaigners say the law has been politicised in recent years, with many of those charged linked to the Red Shirts, whose street protests in Bangkok in 2010 triggered the worst civil unrest in decades, with about 90 dead.
Thaksin's sister, Ms Yingluck Shinawatra, leads a government elected last year, but lese-majeste cases have continued under her and she has dismayed activists since becoming premier by ignoring calls for reform of the law.
Still, prisoners say that conditions have improved under the current administration. Mr Sorasit Chongjaroen, superintendent of the Bangkok Remand Prison, denied that there was mistreatment of inmates.
"There is no such thing - no beatings here," he said.
