Military to censor websites
Bangkok Post: September 24, 2009
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/155223/military-to-keep-websites-under-watch
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon on Thursday ordered all military units and their commanders to keep a close watch for websites running reports with lese majeste content, defence spokesman Col Thanathip Sawangsaeng said.
Pol Gen Prawit issued the order at today’s meeting of the Defence Council.
All military units and their commanders who come across such websites were to coordinate with the Information and Communication Technology Ministry to take legal action against them, the spokesman said.
Units under the Internal Security Operations Command have also been tasked with monitoring community radio stations for lese majeste content.
Send a Royal postcard to Darunee
27-09-09
Postcards for Da
Princess Bajrakitiyabha, daughter of the crown prince, is director of the Kamlangjai (Inspire) Foundation, a project to reach out to Thailand’s women prisoners, helping their return to society, medical and childcare during their incarceration.
The princess in her role as a Thai public prosecutor is regularly confronted by the reality of women prisoners.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha received an award of recognition from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime for her Enhancing Lives of Female Inmates (ELFI) Project. ELFI proposes new rules on prison reform and the humane the treatment of women prisoners as well as non-custodial measures for women offenders. The ELFI proposals are intended to supplement the 1955 Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (of which UNODC is the custodian).
The princess was also a participant in writing the UN’s Kyiv Declaration on Women’s Health in Prison.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has recently asked Princess Bajrakitiyabha, to review the harsh treatment of lèse majesté prisoner Darunee Charnchoensilpakul in gaol. Princess Bajrakitiyabha helps women prisoners to receive proper medical care; it only follows that the princess must seek full medical treatment for Darunee’s jaw cancer simply out of human decency and metta.
On Kamlangjai’s main page on left bottom is a box for “Kamlangjai e-cards” in which one can send messages to women prisoners. Choose a picture and then enter text.
We know Da would enjoy receiving a card from you via the princess!
Thai: http://www.kamlangjai.or.th/eng/index.php
USA, Australia, EU and UN asked to intervene in Thailand’s jailing of political prisoners
Prachatai: September 25, 2009
http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/1416
On 24 Sept, Prawase Praphanukul, lawyer for Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, together with a group of activists, submitted letters to the embassies of the US and Australia, and the offices of the EU and the UN in Bangkok, asking those countries and organizations to call on Thailand to stop the imprisonment of political prisoners.
Daranee, 46, says in the letter, dated 16 Sept, that she has been imprisoned for political reasons, as she was one of those people who came out against the military’s overthrow of an elected government. She was arrested for making political speeches when the junta, bureaucrats and their political allies were trying to overthrow yet another elected government through the seizure of the airports and Government House.
She complains about the court’s repeated denial of her bail requests and its order to hold closed trials in her case.
She also complains about the tapping of conversations between her and her lawyer, her solitary detention, and labelling her with a nametag giving her offence, which exposes her to harassment from peers and prison officials.
She says there are others who face the same fate.
She believes that other democratic countries which respect rights and freedoms and human dignity will agree that this is a crime which the Thai government is committing against its people.
She asks those countries to convince the Thai government to stop persecuting her and other political prisoners and set them free.
Source:
Letters for Darunee-PPT
27-09-09
[FACT comments: Letters to Darunee in English would also be appreciated. You don’t need to be in sympathy with Da’s actions and politics to express compassion in such a simple way.]
“Letters to Da”
Political Prisoners in Thailand: September 22, 2009
http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/new-letters-to-da/
For PPT readers who can read Thai, we wish to bring “จดหมายถึง ‘ดา’” (”Letters to ‘Da’”) to your attention. The Progressive Society Assembly (”สมัชชาสังคมก้าวหน้า”) has started a project called “Write Love Letters to Those Who Struggle for Democracy” (”“เขียนจดหมายรักถึงนักต่อสู้เพื่อประชาธิปไตย“). They are asking people to write letters of care, support, and greetings — not politics — to Darunee Charnchoengsilpakul (Da Torpedo), and to send them to them. They will forward the letters to her, as well as collect them to use as part of the events for this year’s commemoration of the 6 October 1976 massacre. The first seven letters have been posted on Prachatai.
PPT urges you to read the “Letters to ‘Da’”/อ่าน”จดหมายถึง’ดา’” — See “จดหมายถึง ‘ดา’ ฉบับ 7: คนยังคงยืนเด่นโดยท้าทาย” — this is the seventh letters. You can link to earlier letters from the page.
More importantly, join the Project. Write letters of care and support to Darunee. Make sure that she knows that her struggle is appreciated and supported! สู้ต่อไป!
Prison mistreatment of Darunee-AHRC
27-09-09
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 23, 2009
AHRC-OLT-025-2009
An Open Letter to Princess Bajrakitiyabha by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol
Director
Kamlangjai Project
Ministry of Justice
Changwattana Road
Nonthaburi 11120
THAILAND
Phone: +662 502 8060
Fax: +662 502 8327
Dear Princess Bajrakitiyabha
THAILAND: Mistreatment of woman detainee convicted of lese majesty
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) listened with close attention to your speech on 14 September 2009 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and is aware of your work for the rights of women prisoners in Thailand through the Kamlangjai Project, as well as with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and your role as a UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador. We note with interest your remarks that in addition to violence against women, “Yet there is another gender-specific issue that requires greater attention, and that is the treatment of women prisoners… Thailand to develop the draft United Nations rules for the treatment of women prisoners and non-custodial measures for women offenders.”
The AHRC shares your concern for the conditions of women prisoners in your country, and in this spirit wishes to draw your attention to the maltreatment of one particular woman prisoner currently held at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution, 47-year-old Darunee Chanchoengsilapakul.
Darunee, as you may already be aware, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison on 28 August 2009 on three counts of lese majesty. She was denied bail and held for the duration of the trial. She is also planning to appeal her sentence.
However, since she has been held in prison she has suffered a number of forms of maltreatment, one of which is systemic, the others of which we believe are a consequence of the charge for which she was convicted.
First, she is suffering health problems but has not received treatment. Her jaw is locking and she is unable to open her mouth properly to eat or brush her teeth. As far back as January, while awaiting trial, a doctor examined her and recommended that she receive treatment outside the facility, but to date she has received none. Her attempt to get bail so that she could seek medical treatment at her own expense also failed. As you will be aware, there are many other prisoners in need of outside medical help that are not getting any, and in this respect her case is typical rather than exceptional.
Second, since her detention she has been kept isolated from other detainees throughout the daytime. She is kept outside a guardpost and made to sit under the roof there alone. At nighttime she is brought back to sleep with other detainees; however, other detainees have reportedly been warned not to speak to her and to inform the guards if she tries to communicate.
Third, since her conviction she has been issued a prison uniform that is brown with red on the sleeves. According to the advice that the AHRC has received, this uniform should only be assigned to convicts in very serious criminal cases, such as drug dealers where the amount of amphetamines recovered exceeds 100,000 tablets.
Fourth, since her conviction the wording on the card that she must carry with her in prison to identify her offence was changed to a much more serious expression from that on the original card. Whereas the previous card identified her offence as having defamed the monarchy, the new card uses the Thai word “arkhatmadrai”, which is often translated as “threaten”. But as you are aware, the connotation of this word is grave; it does not indicate a passing threat but suggests deep malice that a person may carry throughout her life.
Evidently, the second, third and fourth aspects of Darunee’s mistreatment in prison are intended as forms of additional unofficial punishment because of the nature of her conviction. The third and fourth in particular appear intended to provoke needless hostility towards her among staff and other detainees.
In light of the above, and given your roles in the Kamlangjai Project as well as with UNODC and UNIFEM, on which you had the opportunity to speak at the Human Rights Council, we kindly request that you pay special attention to the conditions of imprisonment of Darunee Chanchoengsilapakul, and:
1. Ensure that she receives proper medical treatment without further delay;
2. Not be isolated from other prisoners and be given the same opportunities as other detainees;
3. Be re-issued an ordinary prison uniform appropriate to her conviction; and,
4. Have a card issued that also accurately describes her conviction and is not designed to provoke hostility from among those who read it.
We look forward to your prompt intervention.
Yours sincerely
Basil Fernando
Director
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong
Cc:
1. Ms. Angkhanung Lepnak, Director, Central Women’s Correctional Institution, Thailand
2. Mr. Peeraphan Saleeratwipak, Minister of Justice, Thailand
3. Mr. Gary Lewis, Regional Representative, UNODC, Thailand
4. Mr. Homayoun Alizadeh, Regional Representative, OHCHR, Thailand
HotSpotShield free VPN-MarketWire
27-09-09
AnchorFree’s Online Privacy Tool Continues Explosive Growth in Wake of Increased Online Censorship
More Than 7.5 Million People Now Use Hotspot Shield Each Month to Surf an Uncensored and Secure Web
MarketWire: August 6, 2009
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Anchorfree-1026696.html
With growing censorship and political tensions around the world, an increasing number of Internet users are turning to a free online privacy and security tool called Hotspot Shield to access the Internet freely and safely. Developed by AnchorFree Inc. in 2005, Hotspot Shield has seen its user base explode by 550 percent since 2008 and is now serving more than 7.5 million monthly users across the globe, averaging almost 30 million page views per day.
Hotspot Shield is a free ad-supported virtual private network (VPN) that guarantees its users complete privacy and security online. Available on desktop computers, laptops and iPhones, it establishes a secure tunnel between a user’s computer and Internet connection, encrypting entire Web sessions to keep IP addresses protected and the user anonymous. As a result, third party Web sites and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) cannot block or censor Internet content, and therefore cannot track any information exchanged by the individual online.
“Hotspot Shield has perhaps become the biggest disruptor of censorship in the world, enabling anyone to access the Web freely and securely,” said AnchorFree Founder and CEO David Gorodyansky. “Many of our users are in countries where individual efforts to thwart governmental censorship online have recently been thrown into the spotlight. We are playing an important role in opening the Web and allowing people to access sites like Twitter and Facebook in order to share their stories with the world.”
Providing Internet Access Abroad
When Hotspot Shield is downloaded and enabled, all Web activity is immediately encrypted, and the user’s identity becomes anonymous. This opens the Web to users in emerging regions where content is censored and enables complete freedom to access information online without any geographical barriers. As a result, no matter where users are in the world, they can enable Hotspot Shield to access Twitter, YouTube, Google and all other Internet sites as if they were inside the USA.
As Internet content has continued to be censored in many regions, Hotspot Shield has experienced massive growth in emerging regions, such as the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Thailand, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China; eighty-five percent of these Hotspot Shield users are English-speaking.
Hotspot Shield’s growth worldwide has fueled a significant increase in traffic flow and revenue to many prominent Web sites often prohibited overseas, including Google, Orkut, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, as well as news sites such as BBC, FOX and CNN. For example, Hotspot Shield currently brings 800,000 users per month onto YouTube in regions where it is blocked, and about 500,000 users per month globally onto Facebook.
Keeping the Web Secure
In addition to allowing Internet access abroad, Hotspot Shield also prevents potential security breaches at home or on public Internet networks. Many Hotspot Shield users in the United States use the tool to secure their Wi-Fi connections at airports, hotels or coffee shops, as well as to secure online shopping or financial transactions.
Many users also use Hotspot Shield to prevent Web sites, ISPs and search engines from tracking online activity, thus eliminating any concern over the ever-thinning line between privacy and invasive targeting techniques online.
About AnchorFree and Hotspot Shield
AnchorFree enables millions of users globally to surf the Web freely and securely through Hotspot Shield, the world’s first and most popular ad-supported virtual private network. More than 7.5 million monthly users in 190 countries rely on Hotspot Shield to secure their Web browsing experience, proliferating freedom of information online and democratizing the Web. It is the only free way to ensure privacy and total anonymity online on desktop computers, laptops and iPhones. Hotspot Shield is powered by AnchorFree’s proprietary communication platform that enables marketers to distribute ad campaigns, messaging and content to millions of users, totaling almost one billion page views every month. AnchorFree is a privately held company with more than $11 million in financing and is based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information or to download Hotspot Shield, please visit www.anchorfree.com.
The World’s First Real-Time, Privacy Protecting Search Engine Yauba.com Launches in 7 Languages Thanks to Twitter
PRWeb: September 18, 2009
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/09/prweb2893034.htm
Yauba.com, the world’s first real-time, privacy protecting search engine has now launched in 7 languages thanks to the generous volunteering efforts of its users, many of whom contacted Yauba initially through Twitter. The Yauba Privacy Safe Search Engine is now available in Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Brazil, China, Iran, Australia, Canada, India, UK, US, and South Africa. Additional versions for Israel, Malaysia, Ukraine, Mexico, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, and many other countries will soon launch.
UK, Hong Kong, and India (PRWEB) September 18, 2009 — Yauba.com, the world’s first Real-Time Privacy Safe Search Engine, is pleased to announce the official beta release of its latest country search engine, Yauba Germany. With this latest version, users in over 7 languages can now obtain the highest level of privacy protection of any search engine online.
The Yauba Real-Time, Privacy Safe Search Engine (http://www.yauba.com) is the only search engine in the world that does not use ANY cookies whatsoever, does not record ANY search details, and allows ALL users to visit even external third party Internet sites in a private, anonymous manner. With Yauba, users can search multiple types of files online, including Internet sites, real-time results, blogs, multimedia files, pdf files, and social networks in a single click … safely, privately and anonymously.
The Yauba privacy protecting search engine is now available in English, German, French, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Farsi. All of these international versions were developed entirely by volunteers who contacted Yauba by Twitter or by email. These volunteers generously offered to help bring Yauba to their home countries so that people from around the world could benefit from the privacy protections of the Yauba search engine.
In the words of Susanne Merkel, a new Yauba user from Hamburg, Germany, “I am truly grateful for Yauba and for the German volunteers who created Yauba Germany. I have always worried about Internet privacy and safety, and I have always been concerned about my children’s privacy and safety. Yauba offers a truly attractive search engine that addresses my needs.”
Similarly, Patrick Swift, a student from Sydney, Australia stated, “What I like best about Yauba is its privacy policy. It is only 9 words long and comes with no fine print, no footnotes, no caveats, no ifs, no ands, and no buts: We do not keep any personally identifiable information. Period.”
Thanks to global volunteers from Twitter and elsewhere, the Yauba Real Time Privacy Safe Search Engine will soon also launch in Hebrew, Ukrainian, Spanish, Lithuanian, and many other languages.
ABOUT YAUBA:
Yauba is a new search engine company that seeks to transform the way people find information online, while providing maximum protection for their safety, security and privacy. We offer our users the highest privacy protection of any major search engine in the world. We are the only major search engine company that offers users the option of an anonymous browsing mode, which when used properly, allows users to both search and browse third party websites safely and anonymously, without passing on any private, personally identifiable information. Yauba is available at http://www.yauba.com.
Panrit Daoruang free
Nicholas Farrelly
New Mandala: September 25th, 2009
http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/2009/09/25/panrit-daoruang-free/
Those who hang around the Thailand Internet scene will probably be aware that for the past few years young Thai webmaster extraordinaire Panrit (formerly Nattawud) Daoruang has been locked up in Samut Prakan Central Prison. Known by the nickname “Gor”, he was recently released. One of the websites run by his long-time teacher, mentor and friend, Richard Barrow, has the happy pictures of family reunion.
Once he is back on his feet I hope Gor will leap back into the online world with relish. His site announces that “Some of his previous blogs had to be censored as the Department of Corrections discovered this website and were giving Gor a hard time. Now the full truth will come out.”
Once upon a time (and we are talking 1999 here) I learned a huge amount from Gor’s early experiments online — the websites that grew into www.thailandlife.com. I don’t know him personally but I have always remained impressed by his commitment to sharing his life (and its ups-and-downs) with the world through the web.
Hearing that he has been released has made my day.
Gor, I hope you enjoy this new chapter of life back with your daughter, family and friends. Good luck from all of us at New Mandala!
[FACT comments: Obviously what verges on lèse majesté has not yet been caught by Thai censors. FACT emphasis below.]
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand ill in hospital
Richard Lloyd Parry
The Times: September 22, 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6843789.ece
King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, the world’s longest-reigning monarch and the object of intense devotion for many Thais, has spent a third night in hospital, underlining the atmosphere of crisis and division in the country.
Doctors said that the the condition of the King, 81, had improved since Saturday, when he was put on antibiotics and an intravenous drip after suffering fever, tiredness and loss of appetite. “In the past 24 hours His Majesty has less fever but he still has a loss of appetite,” the royal household bureau said in a statement read out on national television. “The medical team is still giving him antibiotics and nutrients.”
The King’s indisposition, after some of the most tumultuous and chaotic months in modern Thai history, is a reminder of the degree to which the country’s stability depends on his continuing survival – and of the uncertainty that is likely to follow his death.
King Bhumibol’s illness came at the end of a tense day in Thailand, and after three years of bitter division, conflict and political instability. On Saturday, tens of thousands of supporters of the deposed former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, marched through Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of the military coup that ejected him from power.
“Three years after the coup, our country has slid backwards,” Mr Thaksin told supporters of the “Red Shirt” movement, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), via a videolink from his exile in an unidentified foreign country. “There is no justice in society. The longer this government stays, the bigger the disaster is for the country. Give me just six months as prime minister, and I will bring this country back to normal.”
Meanwhile, members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, who oppose Mr Thaksin, mounted a violent display of nationalist fervour at a Buddhist temple on a disputed area of border with Cambodia. Dozens of people were injured, after the “Yellow Shirts” fought with Thai police and local villagers.
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime MInister, visited the Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok over the weekend to offer wishes for the King’s recovery, and assured Thais that the treatment was routine. “His Majesty’s condition is not a problem,” he said. There is no reason to doubt this, but the timing of the King’s illness is bound to provoke anxiety among Thais.
In the past few years millions of Thais have taken to dressing in yellow, the royal colour, in honour of the King. Thai towns and cities display posters of Bhumibol and his Queen, Sirikit, every few hundred yards. Along with his family, he is protected by a harsh lèse majesté law which punishes any perceived insult to the monarchy. A female opposition activist was sentenced last month to 18 years in prison for this crime.
Bhumibol is also respected for his occasional, but influential, interventions in Thai politics when he has forced compromise between squabbling politicians and appealed for national unity.
His son, the Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, has been married three times and in the past two years scandalous film footage has been distributed on the Internet and on clandestine CDs, featuring him and his current wife, Princess Srirasmi.
An Australian writer, Harry Nicolaides, spent five months in prison for a novel thaty referred to the romantic entanglements and intrigues of the Crown Prince, before he received a royal pardon. A biography of Bhumibol by the American writer, Paul Handley, which also touches on the taboo subject, is denied distribution in Thailand.
Camera director of ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’ makes ‘tactical withdrawal’
Andrew Drummond: September 20, 2009
A British producer cameraman has had to flee Thailand after filming a sequence in which British Royal Marines were held at gunpoint by Thai mafia after hiring a Jet Ski on a paradise beach.
The cameraman Gavin Hill, 40, from Manchester, a former bureau chief for Associated Press Television, was today back in London, after fleeing Bangkok, as his Thai crew faced up to a year in jail.
They stand accused of assisting in the filming of a sequence which could ‘damage the country’s image’. A battle with the Thai authorities has raged for two weeks.
Hill, who also produced ‘Crime Squad’ for the BBC with Sue Lawley, and a series for Real TV said today (Sunday) : “I’ve made a tactitcal withdrawal and am in London to discuss how we can help our Thai colleagues. But yes, I did not wish to argue my case from prison.
“We filmed the mafia but suddenly we are the criminals apparently. The atmosphere is a little bit hysterical. The Marines are behind me thank god. ”
The gun incident happened on Phuket when a young marine Jack Tebbott from Leicester was kidnapped by tattooed mafia figures, who control what’s for sale on Phuket’s Patong Beach.
Twenty-one-year old Tebbott was seized after his colleagues from Delta Company 40 Commando told a scammer to ‘get lost’ after they were presented with a bill for 60,000 Thai baht (£1094) for damaging a jet ski which they had hired.
The marines, from 40 Commando based in Taunton, have lost three men fighting the Taliban in Helmand province of Afghanistan. Delta section’s most famous Marine is Joe Townsend who lost his legs in a mine explosion.
They had been warned about the scam and told not to hire jet skis before after arriving on HMS Bulwark in June, but did not anticipate coming up against a gunman in a Thai holiday resort.
Gavin Hill had received permission from the Thai authorities to film a series called ‘Thai Cops’ , a reality show which followed British volunteers in the Thai Tourist Police dealing with the hundreds of thousands of British tourists who travel to Thailand every year. However ,as a result of this incident and others, the title of the series had to be changed to ‘Big Trouble in Thailand’.
The Marines incident happened after producers received complaints from tourists and went to a Jet Ski operator called Winai Naiman, nicknamed JJ, to get his side of the story.
On camera he admitted beating up tourists if they did not pay.
Then he called the production crew to film after catching Marine Tebbot and taking to him his yard three miles from the beach. Unknown to him Hill was also filming with the Marines. Naiman brought out a gun with a telescopic sight after a section of Delta Company react to a distress call.
The affair was settled after the arrival of Marine Police Sergeant and Detatchment Commander Tim Wright, from London, who told Naiman his was ‘corrupt and a crook’ after examining the jet ski and finding the damaged area had already turned brown proving it was old. But Sergeant Wright finally agreed to pay 35,000 baht, over £600.
Royal Marine Police Sergeant Tim Wright said at the 40 Commando base in Somerset: “I got my men out of that situation without claret being spilt and that was the important thing.
“The Thais are trying to say my men were not threatened or held at gunpoint. But by doing this they are questioning my integrity. I do not like my integrity being questioned especially by a two bit crook.
“We will make representations to the Foreign Office. The warning to tourists is not sufficient.
“ If Thailand wants to make a fuss about this I am happy to support the producer and raise the level to that of diplomatic incident. The case of Marine Tebbott was not the only case of extortion I had to deal with, not by far.”
The Foreign Office advisory warns traveller to ensure that the people whom they hire jet skis from are reputable. But they do not warn specifically about the extortions involved and that violence has been used.
Tourists have been milked for as much as 200,000 bat during these incidents in Thailand according to a group of foreign consuls, who estimated on the Thai island of Koh Samui jet ski operators, working with local police, had scammed nearly £100,000 out of tourists between December and April of this year.
“In almost all cases the police are called they make the tourists pay out and then they get the commission from the jet ski operators. In most cases it is old damage. In a case of new damage the cost of repair would not normally be more than £50, ” a local consul said on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the Thai film board said the crew had violated Article 34 of the motion picture law by not having the contents examined by a Tourism and Sports Ministry film committee before they were broadcast abroad.
And Seksan Nakawong, director-general of the Office of Tourism Development, said the film-makers also violated Article 23 of the same law for making a film tarnishing the reputation of Thailand. The penalties are a £18,000 fine and a year in jail or both.
Meanwhile Police Lt. Gen Santhan Chayanont, chief of Provincial Police Region 8, whose officers are accused of being involved in the scams, says he has ordered his men to bring in all the Thai ‘collaborators’ .
