Here is a statement from Forde Nicolaides, brother of Harry. He announces the establishment of a website called Bring Harry Home. Please visit the site to sign the petition and offer your support in other ways.
The pardon application made by Harry is currently being considered by Thai authorities including the Royal Palace. There is no timeframe that has been provided as to when the application will be dealt with or finalised.Attached is a link to a website developed by a group of Harry’s friends – www.bringharryhome.com. We have been overwhelmed by emails and phone calls by hundreds of people in the last few weeks wanting to do something to help in the support of Harry’s case with one objective – to bring Harry home. This webpage was developed for that reason – to give anyone that is interested in Harry’s fate an opportunity to make a difference. A facebook site has also been developed with the same name: Bring Harry Home. The Australian government, despite sending a letter of support to Thai authorities following Harry’s conviction 2 weeks ago, does not appear to have actively pursued the case since that time. As they demonstrated in the period before Harry’s trial, the government again seem to be waiting to see how things unfold rather than take proactive interest now to confirm that all necessary steps have been taken to allow the application to proceed and be dealt with by the King.
I encourage you all to visit the website from time to time as it will contain updates to the case including an online petition where Harry’s friends hope to raise over 100,000 signatures.
I have had a lot of people ask recently about how the King of Thailand brought the charge against Harry. To clarify, it was not the King of Thailand or any member of the Royal family that brought the charge against Harry. As is usual practice in Thailand, the charge of Lese majeste is brought by a Thai government official or the Thai Police who in their own assessment considered that Harry’s actions defamed or insulted His Majesty the King and the Crown Prince. Throughout a legal case of Lese majeste, the King or his Institution is never involved in the process, for example, to give evidence or to confirm that he has been insulted or defamed. To the best of my knowledge, the King has never told anyone to prosecute a person for Lese majeste.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Rome Ritikrai // Feb 5, 2009 at 10:31 pm
The essence of the Thai Lese majeste is Article 112 in the Criminal Code. Its relevance is very vague and although it is often brought
by a government official or a police officer, it can in fact be brought
by anyone (ie. anyone can file a complaint to the police if they think
they’ve witness a defamation act to the King, the Crown Prince, or
the Regent). Worse of, eventhough not included in the clause
literally, in practice these days other members of the royal family
are protected by this article as well.
Because of its ridiculous foundation, there are a number of social
movements -notably that of the so called “Red Shirt” group- to
change its use or even to completely demolish it. No one knows how
far or how soon that change can be witness.
2 Mariner // Feb 7, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Although the LM laws undoubtedly confer all sorts of benefits on the royals, the reason why the legislation persists is because they are a powerful weapon which certain ‘groups/figures can use to pursue their own agendas. I doubt the sincerity of those who say the monarchy must be protected: what they are really after is preserving draconian laws which they personally find politically useful.
I think it’s clear though that Thailand is ‘waking up.’ The populace is just less and less prepared to bow and scrape to their supposed ‘elders and betters.’ The idea that certain social groups have a God given right to govern is dying -it just happens to be a rather long and drawn out death process. I think change is in the air, and there’s no going back now.
3 Ralph Kramden // Feb 10, 2009 at 12:57 am
Reporters Without Borders have called for a cyber-demonstration on 9 February to call for the release of Harry Nicolaides. The cyber-demonstration link is at the RWB site – http://www.rsf.org/freeharry/index.php?id=21
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