Thai Gov't Arrests News Site Owner, Because It Doesn't Like Some Comments By Users
from the free-speech-is-tricky dept
We've discussed a few times in the past about how the Thai government uses rules that say it's illegal to insult the Thai king in order to censor websites that it doesn't like. Now it seems to be taking this even further. The EFF has the details of how the webmaster for a political news site in Thailand has been arrested over comments on the site. As the EFF summarizes:Jiew's crime? In 2008, Prachatai published an interview with Chotisak Onsoong, a Thai man known for refusing to stand at attention during the Thai Royal Anthem -- a dangerous political act in Thailand, though not technically a crime. The interview received huge attention, drawing over 200 comments from Thai citizens. On April 28, 2008, complaints were filed against Prachatai alleging that several comments on that interview were a defamation to the Monarchy. An arrest warrant for Jiew was issued on Septemeber 8, 2009, but no summons was received by Jiew until her arrest this past Friday.The EFF also notes that this appears to be purely political and about intimidation, as the timing of the arrest (despite the fact that the warrant was issued over a year ago) didn't happen until Jiew was returning to Thailand from a trip abroad where she gave two separate talks about the importance of an open and free internet.
Of course, in the long run, as with the attempts to shut down sites under this same law, all this seems to really be doing is calling that much more attention to how the Thai government uses the rules in questionable ways.
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Filed Under: arrests, free speech, thailand
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It would seem more fitting if that said, "An arrest warrant for Jiew was issued on Septemeber 8, 1345"
But alas; unlike science or medicine - politics doesn't seem to progress quite so rapidly. That or while other things move 'forward', politics move 'backwards'.
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