Fm Urged To Revoke Thaksin's Passport

[monty]

Former foreign minister Prasong Soonsiri urged foreign ministry to consider revoking passport of exiled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was issued arrest warrant on Tuesday.

Prasong, now chairman of Constitution Drafting Committee, said that the foreign ministry should consider whether Thaksin's passport should be cancelled or not, given the fact that Thaksin is now alleged of malfeasance and the supreme court has already issued an arrest warrant for him. "

Thaksin and his wife; Pojaman, became fugitives on Tuesday after the Supreme Court for political holders ordered them to be arrested for evading judicial proceedings.

The couple are facing abuse-of-power charges related to a 2003 Ratchadaphisek land deal in Bangkok.

Foreign Ministry had cancelled diplomatic passport of Thaksin after he was ousted from the premiership in September last year. Thaksin, living in exile in London, is now holding ordinary passport.

Prasong said that public prosecutors will cooperate with the foreign ministry to look into possibility to ask the UK to extradite Thaksin. He said the allegations against Thaksin were not political but criminal.

The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/15...cs_30045091.php

[Florin]

Does the UK even have an extradition deal with Thailand? If so, poor, poor choice of a country to exile yourself to...if not, they don't have a chance of getting him extradited.

edit: Just noticed you edited to show where the article is from...seriously, what monkeys do they have on the typewriters of The Nation?? It's written in AWFUL English!

Edited August 15, 2007 by Florin

[seonai]

Yesterday's Guardian Online said there is no extradition treaty and that is extremely unlikely that Britain would send him back

[chachachacha]

Does the UK even have an extradition deal with Thailand? If so, poor, poor choice of a country to exile yourself to...if not, they don't have a chance of getting him extradited.

edit: Just noticed you edited to show where the article is from...seriously, what monkeys do they have on the typewriters of The Nation?? It's written in AWFUL English!

Britan falls under tthe Euorpean court of human rights so even if Britain wanted to extridite him they couldn't.Simply because his life would be in danger & because the prisons in thialand are reconised as not being humaine

[ercorn]

Does the UK even have an extradition deal with Thailand? If so, poor, poor choice of a country to exile yourself to...if not, they don't have a chance of getting him extradited.

edit: Just noticed you edited to show where the article is from...seriously, what monkeys do they have on the typewriters of The Nation?? It's written in AWFUL English!

Britan falls under tthe Euorpean court of human rights so even if Britain wanted to extridite him they couldn't.Simply because his life would be in danger & because the prisons in thialand are reconised as not being humaine

Plus he has invested a lot of money there as well.

[spot]

Britan falls under tthe Euorpean court of human rights so even if Britain wanted to extridite him they couldn't.Simply because his life would be in danger & because the prisons in thialand are reconised as not being humaine

He's a clever man....isn't he. He really thinks ahead.

All that time in power and he did nothing about the state of prisons, just in case?

[seonai]

See this new link http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=120882

[Tony Clifton]

Does the UK even have an extradition deal with Thailand? If so, poor, poor choice of a country to exile yourself to...if not, they don't have a chance of getting him extradited.

edit: Just noticed you edited to show where the article is from...seriously, what monkeys do they have on the typewriters of The Nation?? It's written in AWFUL English!

Britan falls under tthe Euorpean court of human rights so even if Britain wanted to extridite him they couldn't.Simply because his life would be in danger & because the prisons in thialand are reconised as not being humaine

Some of his TRT minions were thrown in jail recently and refused bail themselves, wanting to stay in. Can't be that bad.

[fongvin]

Yes, I too agree, Messrs. Shinawatra has taken advice on his choice of host country whilst he is in a benine state of exile! And I believe the United Kingdom would not accommodate the extradition for many reasons already mentioned, including not recognising a none government state, certainly not a dictatorship ...........

[Siripon]

Yes, I too agree, Messrs. Shinawatra has taken advice on his choice of host country whilst he is in a benine state of exile! And I believe the United Kingdom would not accommodate the extradition for many reasons already mentioned, including not recognising a none government state, certainly not a dictatorship ...........

But elections are not far away.

[Plus]

There IS an extradition treaty, and Thaksin will have to spend considerable time and energy to argue his case. Then there's restriction on his movement - he won't be able to leave the UK. Forget golf in China or shopping in Hong Kong.

His investment in Man City will also be under threat.

If not extradition, UK's weather will make his life miserable.

I bet he is not really prepared for any of this and is just trying to wing it.

[lazeeboy]

There IS an extradition treaty, and Thaksin will have to spend considerable time and energy to argue his case. Then there's restriction on his movement - he won't be able to leave the UK. Forget golf in China or shopping in Hong Kong.

His investment in Man City will also be under threat.

If not extradition, UK's weather will make his life miserable.

I bet he is not really prepared for any of this and is just trying to wing it.

there is no way england would send anyone back to there own country if it was run by the army via a coup; his life would be in danger .....

[Scott]

Most any Western gov't would have a hard time believing that this man and his family wouldn't face persecution. It's way too high of a profile case to return him.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has some money in Belize or Lesotho or one of those countries where you can get a passport simply by buying it.

[John K]

A good point about the state of the jails. Thaksin had all the time and power he would need to upgrade the state of the jails. That simply says he was content with them. If he argues the jails are inhumane it simply adds support to the prosecution’s side for other cases like the killings.

However this is all premature. Pulling a fugitive’s passport is normal procedure for many countries. Because Embassies and consults are considered territory of the country, if Thaksin walks into the Thai embassy technically he has just stepped into Thailand and extradition is bypassed.

This is the way it was explained to me many years ago, and I don’t know how accurate it is but it does make sense when people go to embassies asking for political asylum the host country can’t go in. The most recent memory of this was with Manuel Noriega http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega . Can anyone verify this?

[John K]

I have a question about travel in general. Typically while you are in transit between countries you are in for lack of a better term “International waters.” If a fugitive is intercepted while in transit what laws apply?

A typical example of that would be where the casinos are located around the Thai Cambodia border. Technically you are in no country in that space between the immigration check points and that is supported by no valid and active entry stamp in your passport for either country. Although you are physically standing on Thai or Cambodian soil, legally you are in transit.

[sriracha john]

Thaksin's passport to be revoked if court orders

Foreign Ministry said it will not revoke passports of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Potjaman until it receives court orders. Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Jarungwat insisted Thursday that the passports of Mr Thaksin and Potjaman, who are facing arrest warrants for failing to appear for the first hearing in the 772-million-baht Ratchadaphisek land purchase case on Tuesday, are still valid. Mr Tharit said the Foreign Ministry has full authority to revoke their passports, and it will do so when it receives court orders. He denied to comment whether passport revocation will force the pair to return to Thailand. He only said that the process does not

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=120905

[Plus]

The court won't issue any orders until at least September 25.

What if they decide to try him in absentia and eventually find him guilty?

Conviction is far more serious legal issue than arrest warrant. If he applies for asylum he can forget about French food and Miami golf culbs.

[britmaveric]

He'll have british or chinese passport before you can count to 10. This is a waste of time.

Edited August 16, 2007 by britmaveric

[Plus]

Can he use those passports to come to Thailand and unfreeze his 70 bil?

Getting a foreign passport is a lot more difficult these days, after 9-11 and all. Will the Brits give him a passport? On what grounds? That he was ousted in a coup? Does Benazir Bhutto have a UK passport? I don't think so. He needs to be someone like Salman Rushdie, which he is not. He's just a typical white collar criminal hiding from prosecution.

[britmaveric]

Not a criminal mate - just pissed off the wrong people. They had an illegal coup while he was outside the country and they are scared shitless of him. He has no worries.

[Prakanong]

Yesterday's Guardian Online said there is no extradition treaty and that is extremely unlikely that Britain would send him back

The Guardian is well wrong then - there is an extradition treaty and its quite old in fact. There have been people held for extradition to thailand in recent years but ended up choosing to go back without going through the courts.

As for the UK actually extraditing him then thats another matter altogether - we have a habit of not sending back people facing charges of a political nature to undemmocratic tin pot dictatorships s should any decent nation.

[Prakanong]

There IS an extradition treaty, and Thaksin will have to spend considerable time and energy to argue his case. Then there's restriction on his movement - he won't be able to leave the UK. Forget golf in China or shopping in Hong Kong.

His investment in Man City will also be under threat.

If not extradition, UK's weather will make his life miserable.

I bet he is not really prepared for any of this and is just trying to wing it.

How will his investment in Man City be under threat????

His chairmanship will if he has a criminal conviction (recognised and have to benot from a tinpot dictatorship I bet) but his investment certainly will not be.

You rabid anti-anything Taksin causes you to be irratinal sometimes!

[hammered]

All the wealthy Thai people I have known well enough to talk about such things have always had a second passport/nationality. I would be very surprised if Mr. Thaksin doesnt have one, and if he does the authorities almost certainly know about it.

[lazeeboy]

Not a criminal mate - just pissed off the wrong people. They had an illegal coup while he was outside the country and they are scared shitless of him. He has no worries.

agree 100% ,when they elect proper politician they will see sense and deal with this matter in the right channels like educated men and not school children that are envious of what this man has acheived .......

[A_Traveller]

Not a criminal mate - just pissed off the wrong people. They had an illegal coup while he was outside the country and they are scared shitless of him. He has no worries.

agree 100% ,when they elect proper politician they will see sense and deal with this matter in the right channels like educated men and not school children that are envious of what this man has acheived .......

Thaksin was nothing more than a rent farmer, just like his father. Only difference was that the numbers were bigger.

Regards

/edit format //

Edited August 16, 2007 by A_Traveller