Detained activist calls on govt to permit dissent-Bangkok Post
28-06-10
[FACT comments: Govt may rue its decision to arrest Sombat. He is now able to use his credibility as a platform. His decade of good works gives great public recognition. Why is Sulak Srivaraksa silent???]
Sombat calls on govt to allow dissent
Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post: June 28, 2010
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/39374/sombat-calls-on-govt-to-allow-dissent
Detained social activist Sombat Boonngamanong has asked the government to allow more room for dissenting viewpoints and encouraged the public to speak up against injustice.
Mr Sombat, who heads the non-profit human rights organisation the Mirror Foundation and is also a red shirt supporter, submitted an appeal to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) yesterday.
In it, he asked the commission try to convince the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) to revoke the emergency decree.
“The government must allow those who have differences of opinion some room to express themselves,” he wrote. “As a dovish red shirt, I’d like to call on the public to overcome their fears and express their opinions and continue in the quest for truth and justice.”
The petition was handed to Kessarin Pieawsakul, a secretary of the NHRC subcommittee on civil rights, during a visit to Mr Sombat yesterday at the Border Patrol Police 1st Region Command Office in Pathum Thani.
Anond Nampha, Mr Sombat’s lawyer, also met him at the temporary detention centre to prepare an appeal to the Criminal Court in case the CRES requests the extension of his detention once the initial seven day period elapses.
Niran Pitakwatchara, chairman of the NHRC subcommittee on civil rights, said the NHRC would seek a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to clarify the situation.
“The government should not invoke the emergency decree to silence different political opinions,” said Dr Niran.
Mr Sombat was arrested on Saturday while tying strips of red cloth to a billboard at Ratchaprasong intersection.
He already faced an outstanding arrest warrant for allegedly violating the decree on May 21 by gathering with dozens of red shirt sympathisers on Lat Phrao Road.
