Junta gets tough on its critics

IN A SIMULTANEOUS move to crack down on anti-junta groups, the authorities yesterday briefly detained 16 activists in the capital while a member of the Election Commission (EC) lodged a complaint with police, alleging a Khon Kaen-based funding organisation had posted rude criticism of the draft constitution. 

The activists were nabbed from Victory Monument as they staged a silent, thumbs down protest against the alleged recent abduction of eight anti-junta civilians.

The group was led by human rights lawyer Anont Nampa, who was later charged with organising a public protest without permission, police said. The activists were quickly removed from the monument and taken to Phya Thai Police Station. All of them were freed a few hours later. 

Prior to the protest, National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) spokesman Colonel Winthai Suvari confirmed that the junta had previously detained eight people from Bangkok, and two from Khon Kaen yesterday for posting online criticism and sarcastic messages on the NCPO, the draft constitution, and the prime minister. 

“All 10 are in military detention. They were not abducted [as widely reported earlier]. They can be detained not longer than seven days,” he said.

Of the 10 activists, only five – Noppaklao Kongsuwan, Supachai Saiboot, Wararat Mengpra-mool, Harit Mahaton, and Nithi Kulthanasilp – have been identified so far, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights [TLHR], a group of lawyers representing mostly those charged by the current regime. 

Noppaklao and Wararat were also confirmed by red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan as the administrators of the official Facebook page of the red shirts. 

According to a source in TLHR, the junta has not yet pressed charges against those detained, though it claimed to have evidence that they had violated the Computer Crimes Act.

Winthai said officials were investigating whether they had an intention to commit offences. Evidence linked the two in Khon Kaen with the eight people in Bangkok, as they had posted information in the same group, he said. 

Colonel Somchai Kanpachai, deputy commander of the 23rd Military Circle in Khon Kaen, acknowledged that the two men were under detention by the NCPO for “attitude adjustment” after they were suspected of committing offences under the Computer Crimes Act. They talked for two hours at the camp before being sent to Bangkok.

Relatives of the eight activists would today file a complaint at the Criminal Court against the authorities for misconduct. 

Meanwhile, EC member Somchai Srisuthiyakorn lodged a petition with Bangkok police alleging that a Khon Kaen-based group had posted harsh criticisms of the constitution draft and had violated the recently adopted referendum law. 

Somchai said they had posted Facebook messages with abrasive, aggressive, and seditious content about the charter draft, which would be a violation of Article 61 of the referendum law that carries a penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment or a Bt200,000 fine, and a five-year ban on voting.

The untitled Facebook group was officially a fund based in Khon Kaen province, but Somchai did not provide any details about the group. 

Despite the complaints filed against the anti-charter group, Somchai insisted that posting online messages about rejecting or accepting the draft constitution is permissible, but they have to be based on educational reasons without harsh, aggressive, threatening, or seditious language that aim to persuade voters in a particular way. 

Not only the EC members, but everyone is eligible to file a complaint at any police station against those violating the referendum law, he said.

Pol Colonel Termphao Siriphuban, the superintendent of Thung Song Hong Police Station, said he would collect more evidence before tracing the administrators of the Facebook page. 

Constitution Drafting Commission spokesman Udom Rathamarit, however, raised doubts as to whether Somchai, as an individual, was legally eligible to file the complaint. According to the referendum law, to determine whether violations have taken place, the EC members must jointly decide and pass a resolution, he said.