Thai woman arrested for pursuing uncle's case

By Max Constant

BANGKOK (AA) – A rights group has called for the Thai police to drop a case against a 25-year-old woman arrested for comments related to her uncle being beaten to death at a military camp in the insurgency-plague Muslim south.

Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat was arrested Tuesday following accusations of “defamation” and “violations of the computer crime act” after posting a TV interview online about the circumstances of the man’s death in Narathiwat in 2011.

Kaewnopparat’s uncle, whose family name has not been made public but is identified by his first name is Wichian, was a conscript in southern Thailand in 2011.

In a statement Wednesday, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director, Brad Adams, called police efforts to "intimidate and retaliate" against the outspoken relative of a victim of rights abuse "no less than an endorsement of torture,”

“The government should immediately direct the police to drop the criminal cases against her and seek the prosecution of those responsible for her uncle’s death,” he added.

According to an internal investigation by the army, soldiers beat and severely tortured Wichian June 1, 2011 because he had fled military training.

The report said a sub-lieutenant, Om Malaihom, ordered nine soldiers to strip him and drag him over a rough concrete surface before repeatedly kicking and beating him for several hours.

Soldiers are reported to have then put salt in Wichian’s wounds to increase the pain. They forced him to sit on ice and beat him with bamboo rods, kicked him, and stomped on his chest and head.

Wichian died from his injuries four days later.

Malaihom and the other nine soldiers have received military disciplinary punishment of 30 days in detention, but were never charged for murder or other serious offenses.

The army agreed to pay the equivalent of $185,000 as compensation to Wichian’s family, after one year of negotiations.

The army filed a case against Kaewnopparat at the beginning of this year after she detailed the circumstances of her uncle’s death on her Facebook page and on popular website Pantip, and then gave a TV interview on the issue in October.

On Tuesday, three civil society activists who wrote a report on torture in military camps in the country’s Muslim south were formally charged with defamation and violation of the computer crime act after military filed a legal case against them.

This comes despite Junta chief-cum-Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-Ocha pledging in May that torture would be made a criminal offense under Thai law to fulfil Thailand’s obligations under the United Nations Convention against Torture.

“It has always been risky to speak up on behalf of victims of military abuses in Thailand,” Adams said Wednesday. “Now the government is using the full weight of its legal system against those urging justice.”

Chan-Ocha has ruled the country since the military seized power in a May 2014 coup.