Human Rights Watch condemns arrest of Ja New's mother

On Friday, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) accused Patnaree Chankij, 40, of lese majeste under article 112 of the Penal Code and of “computer crime” under the 2007 Act on Computer Crime for failing to criticize or take other action against Burin Intin, a friend of her son. Burin sent her Facebook messages containing alleged lese majeste comments. Burin was arrested on April 27 for posting Facebook commentary that Thai authorities considered to be offensive to the monarchy.
“The Thai junta has sunk to a new low by charging an activist’s mother under the ‘insulting the monarchy’ law, which has been systematically abused to silence critics,” the statement of the HRW quoted Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW as saying.
“Prosecuting someone for her vague response to a Facebook message is just the junta’s latest outrageous twist of the lese majeste law.”
Sirawith is a prominent student activist with Resistant Citizen and the New Democracy Movement groups which the authorities have regularly targeted because of his pro-democracy activities.
The charges against Patnaree state that she received alleged lese majeste messages from Burin, who then wrote, “Don’t criticize me for saying all these.” Patnaree merely acknowledged the email by writing “Ja,” a non-committal, colloquial “yes” in the Thai language. The authorities charged her both for violating article 112 and for being an accomplice to Burin.
“In the name of protecting the monarchy, the junta is tightening a chokehold on free expression and heightening a climate of fear across Thailand,” Adams said. “The arbitrary enforcement of the lese majeste law against an activist’s mother is yet another example of Thailand’s blatant contempt of its human rights obligations.”