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Watchlist for lese majeste offenders


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Watchlist for lese majeste offenders
PIYANUT TUMNUKASETCHAI,
PRAVIT ROJANAPHRUK
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- PEOPLE WITH the potential to defame the monarchy will be divided into five watchlist groups for monitoring, Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya said yesterday after chairing a meeting on how to tackle lese majeste offences. Some of these people were linked to groups in nearby countries.

Paiboon said the five groups on the watchlist included those not facing arrest but who had gone abroad; those facing arrest and active abroad; those active in Thailand; those part of the watchlist with 135 names; and offenders' allies.

The minister said these people were being assessed and their behaviour monitored in order to see if they were acting together as a network.

Police, the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and other security agencies were involved. They were also tasked with extraditing offenders from abroad. A joint database among the Information and Communication Technology Ministry, police and the Army has been set up to process information gathered.

Paiboon said he understood that some countries did not recognise lese majeste as a crime and he did not expect these states to extradite violators. Nonetheless, he said the situation had to be clarified with other countries, as offenders often claimed that the charges were political.

On Monday, Paiboon handed a list of suspects facing lese majeste charges to French Ambassador to Thailand Thierry Viteau for acknowledgement. Viteau declined to comment about this.

Paiboon said Thailand did not want France to take action against these people - it just wanted the French government to know the facts and understand Thailand's viewpoint. Some suspects were reported to have fled to France, which has no lese majeste law as it is a republic.

So far there are at least 30 Thais abroad facing lese majeste charges.

Meanwhile, the Military Court yesterday sentenced 10 members of the so-called anti-monarchy Banpodj network to five years for violating the lese majeste law.

The 10 were found guilty of spreading more than 400 video clips deemed defamatory toward the monarchy online between 2009 and early this year. All were found guilty of violating the lese majeste law yesterday, and violating the Computer Crime Act.

Eight of the 10 - including alleged ring-leader Hasadin Uraipraiwan aka Banpodj - were initially given a 10-year term, but this was halved to five years after they confessed.

The remaining two were given six years in jail, which was cut to three after they confessed.

Sasinan Thamnittinand, a defence lawyer, who represented eight of the defendants, asked why those who shared the clips were given the same sentence as Hasadin, who allegedly produced the content. However, she praised the court for not keeping the proceedings secret.

She said it might have to do with the growing public pressure, both local and abroad.

The fate of two more defendants, who chose to fight the case, is not yet known as the court did not make a ruling yesterday.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Watchlist-for-lese-majeste-offenders-30264452.html

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-- The Nation 2015-07-15

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PEOPLE WITH the potential to defame the monarchy will be divided into five watchlist groups for monitoring

If you have potential you can make the list. Of course as it is just potential it is an open ended approach and hey, since it's just a list why not put on a few names of people you plain just don't like, if only to keep em on edge ... hehe thumbsup.gif

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The category ' Offenders' Allies ' could be a problem for some depending on how ally is defined.

It's easy to know someone with views that you don't subscribe to but a simple friendship / acquaintance could mean you appear on the database without any explanation that there's no known or proven support for those views and I wouldn't trust Thai officialdom to bother with checking.

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International sanctions may be the only incentive left to educate the rulers of Thailand in respect to human rights.

I'm afraid that educating them is not possible. The international community just have to show them that certain actions will have adverse consequences.

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I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five people that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department. - Joseph R. McCarthy (1950)



Students of modern US history will recall this as a particularly shameful period.


Back to Thailand...


In other news today, the PM called for establishing a database of potentially corrupt officials.


Not that any of these lists could ever be abused in a place like Thailand, with all the checks and balances in place nowadays. whistling.gif

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well, France is not a monarchy. But if you would write some ugly remarks, jokes about Hollande nobody would fine you. Same in UK though we have two important persons: Queen and PM. Nobody cares. Even it's printed in the "Sun".

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Christ sake with all the graft, rackets, murder, road crime and general lawlessness you have to wonder why defaming an institution or merely opposing it in your own head constitutes a crime worthy of proactive policing.

Fast getting out of hand now. Sad

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"Paiboon said he understood that some countries did not recognise lese majeste as a crime and he did not expect these states to extradite violators. Nonetheless, he said the situation had to be clarified with other countries, as offenders often claimed that the charges were political."

Not sure how many countries recognise LM laws as an offence but I'm guessing it ain't many.

Many countries do see those accused as being charged because of their political views and often as not will not extradite the accused due to the severity of the punishment attached to the offence.

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"potential to defame the monarchy" a suggestion: in order to increase efficiency and maximize use of resources, perhaps a list should be made of those without potential? Everyone just about has potential to be a murderer for example, excepting those in vegetative state or other extreme disability. Wasn't a senator charged a few years back with LM for saying "Man from Dubai" had a nicer jet than X? Arrest everyone and let Buddha sort them out.

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well, France is not a monarchy. But if you would write some ugly remarks, jokes about Hollande nobody would fine you. Same in UK though we have two important persons: Queen and PM. Nobody cares. Even it's printed in the "Sun".

Not to mention the hilarious Private Eye front pages over the years ....
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yes, in the UK though they are not quite as improtant as they are here. I do like the duke of edinbrugh though, he has a great sense of humour, such as 'look at that wiring, did an Indian put it' hes a crack up.

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PEOPLE WITH the potential to defame the monarchy will be divided into five watchlist groups for monitoring

If you have potential you can make the list. Of course as it is just potential it is an open ended approach and hey, since it's just a list why not put on a few names of people you plain just don't like, if only to keep em on edge ... hehe thumbsup.gif

it's the only way they can say they will put the whole country under survellience without people getting upset.

And 5 watchlists ! Oh really....wouldn't one be sufficient

Edited by Time Traveller
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It's continual amazement that these people are so up themselves about these laws. Forget murders, corruption, wife beating, etc etc, and get on with the really important stuff - LM.

For gods sake, GROW UP!

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It's continual amazement that these people are so up themselves about these laws. Forget murders, corruption, wife beating, etc etc, and get on with the really important stuff - LM.

For gods sake, GROW UP!

As far as they are concerned this is the really important stuff. LM is what allows them to control dissenting views, and this bunch must have control.

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somehow its the most important tool of the non red shirts - even when the last corrupt government were in power this was still wielded by the non reds. incredible thailand

I know its is my grans genration ( 80+ probably similar to a lot of tv) that care about this in the UK still. the rest of us got over it, I guess some of that has to do with Englands WWII - they do forget that those lot of long nose buck teeths are part german

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