Abhinya Sawatvarakorn, nicknamed Kantoop, or “Joss Stick”, a 19-year-old student at Thammasat University, will be charged with lèse-majesté over comments she made on Facebook two years ago. Kantoop was accused of committing lèse-majesté in April 2009 while she was still in high school.
She will be one of the youngest ever to be charged under the law. She has already been through a catalogue of “social punishments”. She was refused admission into Silpakorn University where some professors reportedly called her a traitor. Her own family rejected her and stopped financing her study. She had a shoe thrown at her by a monarchist and has been forced to change her name to avoid being recognised, and possibly attacked.
At 9.30 am, on 11 February 2012, Kantoop will report to a police officer at Bang Kane police station after receiving a police’s call regarding a charge of her committing lèse majesté. Simultaneously, there will be a protest by a group of Thammasat students in front of the police station.
From Bang Kane police state to Suvarnabhumi Aiport: Panitan “Tai” Pruksakasemsuk is planning a hunger strike to demand justice for his father, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a well-known labour activist who has been imprisoned since April 2011. The court has not allowed Somyot to receive bail throughout the prolonged trial period.
Tai will begin a hunger strike for 112 hours, the number corresponding to Article 112. The hunger strike will start from 4.00 pm on 11 February 2012 until 8.00 am on 16 February 2012—totalling four and a half days. The hunger strike will take place at Suvarnabhumi Airport. He said that his protest will be held peacefully and will not affect the airport’s operation.
On 14 February 2012, also Valentine’s Day, a special event “Love for Justice” will be organised. Thammasat students and groups of activists will offer flower to Tai, as part of commemorating all victims of the article 112. After the end of the hunger strike, Tai will attend the hearing of his father’s seventh request for bail at Criminal Court Ratchada on the same day.
[Apology: for several days I had this post listed as being authored by me. In fact it is by Pavin Chachavalpongpun. I forgot to change the author field when I posted it. Andrew Walker]
The world is on fire in the land of smiles. For the Lao, I always found it regrettable in what we did to our monarch. In his last dying days, Rama IX will probably look at his people in complete sadness, and only when he’s gone will the Thai people regret their actions in his last remaining years.
Quality comment or not?
11 
31
I wrote this piece back in August 2011 about Kantoop and the hate campaigns she has endured – http://bit.ly/p439lh.
The point of that piece was to put forward the argument that freedom of expression needs to be protected by laws as much as it is protected by the absence of laws (i.e. 112).
I still think the hate campaigns that the likes of Kantoop and others have suffered are as much a threat to freedom of expression as the lese majeste law. And, ultimately, this is going to have to be something Thai liberals and progressives are going to have to deal with.
And before someone pitches in with an “equivalency” argument – I don’t see anyone from the anti-112 movement threatening, intimidating or stalking anyone.
Quality comment or not?
28 
3
> “Kantoop was accused of committing lèse-majesté in April 2009 while she was still in high school”
Was she? Or was she accused of not being respectful enough to the monarchy? There’s a difference.
> “some professors reportedly called her a traitor”
What exactly did they say?
> “Her own family rejected her and stopped financing her study.”
Not according to the interview in Bangkok Post last weekend.
> “She had a shoe thrown at her by a monarchist”
She had a shoe thrown at her by one of a group of students at Thammasat.
> “… Bang Kane police station after receiving a police’s call”
Better known as Bang Khen. The police contacted her months ago.
> “From Bang Kane police state to Suvarnabhumi Aiport …”
I’ll quit reading this dross now.
Quality comment or not?
6 
21
This article states:
“Abhinya Sawatvarakorn, nicknamed Kantoop, or “Joss Stick”, a 19-year-old student at Thammasat University, will be charged with lèse-majesté over comments she made on Facebook two years ago”
But according to this recent Bangkok Post interview she herself is quoted as saying:
“What I wrote on my Facebook page isn’t what the police are charging me with. They are basing their case on the forwarded emails of the people who accused me. Those people took screen captures of my Facebook page and added messages that I did not write and forwarded them around. The entire thing is based on forwarded emails.”
Quality comment or not?
16 
0
http://www.bangkokpost.com/search/news-and-article/joss%20stick
Quality comment or not?
2 
0
I think the people he will look back upon in sadness will be those reactionary right-wingers who have refused for seven years now to heed his request to them on the occasion of his birthday in 2005.
Despite HM plea to be allowed to be human, the reactionary right-wing have polished his image, like a fetish, and used him as a blunt instrument with which to thrash their adversaries.
It is the most belittling, insulting thing I can imagine for them to have done, and gives the lie to their claim to ‘love their father’. Recalcitrant children in need of strict discipline is what they are.
Quality comment or not?
15 
0
It is utterly disgusting what some Thais have done to this brave Teenager. They have shame. Pity them.
But enough of them.
Now it is time to vote with your feet Joss. Give up on Thailand. It is a hopeless case.
I urge you to flee to the EU or America and apply for Political Asylum. Go over the border surreptitiously and enter an EU or American Embassy in Cambodia.
Better to be an alive and breathing free than killed by extradicial forces or placed into a grim thai prison.
Perhaps go to UC Berkeley and become an advocate for Freedom there where such views are incouraged and supported.
You are brave to be want to stand up to the dark forces against you, but they are hopeless. Freedom is moree important. As is life itself.
Good luck in the future.
Quality comment or not?
14 
2
“Abhinya Sawatvarakorn, nicknamed Kantoop, or “Joss Stick”, a 19-year-old student at Thammasat University, will be charged with lèse-majesté over comments she made on Facebook two years ago.”
Wait a second … is this basically saying that in a country where legal age for drinking / driving is 18 and age of majority / voting is 20, 17-year-old’s may get 5+ years for something others claimed in forwarded emails? Thailand keeps amazing me!
Quality comment or not?
21 
2
Almost certain that Kantoop’s Facebook comments referred to here were made in April 2010 not 2009.
As far as I’m aware she has only just turned 19 so the comments, if they were made in 2009, would’ve been made when she was 16, not 17.
This needs to be fact-checked and corrected
Quality comment or not?
3 
0
@Conductor #7 wrote: :I urge you to flee to the EU or America and apply for Political Asylum. Go over the border surreptitiously and enter an EU or American Embassy in Cambodia.:
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought going to the embassy in Cambodia is not enough. To seek asylum, she needs to enter the US/EU soil first. Then she can notify the staff at the airport or at the border that she wishes to seek asylum. Simply entering the embassy is still not an act which other country must grant her an asylum. This is because each country has the right to protect its own territories from overseas migration. However, the responsibility for each state to grant asylum according to the Refugee Convention begins when those people can successfully escape into their territories.
But again, I am not an expert in asylum seeking. So if I am wrong please let me know
Quality comment or not?
3 
2
The hunger strike will now be held at the Criminal Court at Ratchada, instead of Suvarnabhumi Airport.
One of the organisers told me that “Since a lot more people than we expected will join the event and this could lead to the chaos. We want to make this event peaceful and avoid the risk that someone could be injured. We agreed to change the location for this hunger strike from the airport to the Criminal Court Ratchada.”
FYI, please.
Quality comment or not?
2 
2
> “Please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought going to the embassy in Cambodia is not enough. ”
Depends on the countries involved. For example, North Koreans try to make it to the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok. No way would they bother with the embassy in Vientiane or any missions in China. I think the advice re seeking an embassy in Cambodia is bad advice.
Quality comment or not?
2 
0
During cold war it was quite easy just to “jump the fence” into an embassy. After 9-11 and several attacks on embassies that has changed.
Quality comment or not?
3 
0
Yep Prachatai seem to confirm it – Kantoop’s original comments were made in 2010 not 2009.
“The 19-year-old first year Thammasat student was accused of lèse majesté for comments she posted on Facebook in March and April 2010, when she was a minor.”
http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/3034
I remember tweeting about her case back at that time in 2010 but nobody seemed that interested then and many on twitter actually thought she deserved it (oh, what happened to the net utopian’s twitter-inspired democracy movements, huh?).
It’s a terrible story that is very emblematic of how low Thai society has fallen.
Quality comment or not?
11 
4
What if she just applied for a tourist/student visa in the embassy’s of the final destination in Cambodia? Thais don’t need visas to visit Cambodia, no? Some rights organization could sponsor her. Once she gets in the final destination country, she can then apply for Asylum.
RE asylum: I think this would be a good thing to happen. In the international press, it would give a lot bad press for Thailand, and the fact that she is a teenager will even make Thailand look worse.
What is Murdoch’s relationship to the Thai elite? If it is frosty, then there you go, you could actually put his evil empire to good use.
Quality comment or not?
5 
2
@Richard #15
Most embassies would not issue a visa if the applicant has been charged. They will know that the reason these people will travel overseas is to seek asylum. Joss Stick has been charged with lese majeste. She also has been harassed. Her story is made public. This fact alone will alert the embassy that the reason she will travel to their country is she needs to escape from Thailand.
In my opinion, whether Joss Stick would travel to Cambodia or not would not make much difference. She can try applying for visas at any embassy in Thailand to see which country would allow her to travel there. But it is up to her whether she wants to leave Thailand or not. I think with Joss Stick, obtaining a visa would be the most difficult part. Getting asylum would be an easy part as there are ample evidences that she has been persecuted due to the reason of political opinion.
Quality comment or not?
1 
2
Prachai had posted an interview with Somkid Lertpaitoon, Rector of Thammasat University, in which he discussed his support for Kantoop’s admission to the university.
Appears that since Thammasat has stopped dicussion on LM (pro or con) on campus, Prachai has removed the aritcle.
Quality comment or not?
0 
0
where will the red shirts stand in this matter?
Quality comment or not?
0 
0
Andrew Spooner, (c: 14), I think you’re right. At the time (26/5/2010) I proposed to my colleagues in the English Department at Thammasat University that we send the following letter to the dean and circulate it to the rector. I was able to add two signatures to my own.
“Dear Professor Pinmanee,
We are writing in connection with the case of Ms Nattakarn Sakoondarachart.
Apparently, you have rejected her application to study in the Faculty of Arts at Silpakorn University on the basis of unproven assertions about her political views and personality. You are quoted in the Manager newspaper on 24 May 2010 as saying that otherwise her application would have been successful.
This is a gross dereliction of your responsibility to Ms Nattakarn as a student and to the concepts of academic freedom and natural justice.
We strongly urge you to reconsider your decision.
Yours sincerely
Thomas Hoy” (and two others)
I thought it was a firm but polite and reasonable letter. We did not receive a reply.
Quality comment or not?
12 
0
This terrible article comprised, almost word for word, the second half of a terrible piece on Asia Sentinel on Friday credited to Pavin Chachavalpongpun. So, is this factually-suspect and shoddily-written piece actually the work of Andrew Walker or Pavin?
To reiterate from my post above: Was she really accused of committing lèse-majesté in April 2009? Did any professors really call her a ‘traitor’? Was it really a ‘monarchist’ who threw a shoe at her? Please New Mandala, don’t allow contributors to take liberties like this.
[Hi John, as I have noted on the post, I accidentally attributed authorship to myself by forgetting to change the author details when posted Pavin's piece. Andrew Walker]
Quality comment or not?
0 
2