FACTexclusive: Interview with Prudence Leith, widow of Rayne Kruger, author of The Devil’s Discus and a sneak peek at her forthcoming memoir
Prudence Leith received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1989 and Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2010.
She was named Veuve Cliquot’s “Businesswoman of the Year” in 1990 for her successful restaurant, the Michelin-starred Leith’s in Notting Hill, which opened in 1969 and her cooking school, Leith’s School of Food and Wine. Prue is also the author of several celebrated cookbooks, including Prue Leith’s Dinner Parties, the industry-standard Leith’s Cookery Bible and five novels.
However, at Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) we think fondly of Prudence Leith as wife to Rayne Kruger (1922-2002), the South African author of The Devil’s Discus in 1964, which continues to this day to test the boundaries of censorship in Thailand, with a new Hong Kong edition in English in 2009 and an underground Thai translation published in 2010. Rayne married Prue Leith in 1974, ten years after The Devil’s Discus was published. She has been kind enough to share her memories of Rayne with us.
QUESTIONS FOR PRUDENCE
1) When did Rayne first visit Thailand? Did you visit there together?
Shortly after the new King Bhumiphol came on a state visit to England. I think it must have been about 1962? No I was not with him. But did come later. *
2) How did Rayne become interested in the death of King Ananda?
He saw a newspaper mention of the mystery of the king’s death, prompted by the new king’s visit to London.
3) In reading The Devil’s Discus, it is apparent that Rayne had access to many Royals and Palace retainers, as well as contacts throughout Thai govt. Who facilitated these for him?
A woman whose identity even I do not know. Rayne kept the secret for her safety’s sake. It is really important, even if you guess the truth, not to publish it.
4) Was Rayne aware that the controversy brewing in Thailand over the Ananda death case would result in the ban of The Devil’s Discus from its first edition in 1964?
No, but he very soon realised he was handling sensitive stuff.
5) Was Rayne a part of any discussions with Thai officials prior to publication regarding the banning of The Devil’s Discus?
No.
6) Was Rayne informed that he was persona non grata, barred from entering Thailand?
Yes, but I don’t know how he was told this.
7) Did he have interest in returning to Thailand?
He loved Thailand but realised he could not return. He would have liked to adopt a Thai baby, but he could not have gone there and then we heard of Li-Da, a Cambodian war orphan of 16 months living in Paris.
8) You and Rayne adopted a Cambodian child, who grew up to become successful film-maker Li-Da Kruger. When did you visit Cambodia and did you make any effort to visit Thailand?
Both Li-Da and I have visited Thailand, usually before or after a visit to Cambodia, but obviously not with Rayne. Rayne died eight years ago and for some years before his death he did not like to travel, so even had it been possible, I don’t think he’d have wanted to go.
9) Was Rayne aware of the Japanese and Thai translations of The Devil’s Discus? Was he in contact with their translators?
Yes, he’d been sent various translations, but since he did not read Thai or Japanese language, he has never read them.
10) Rayne’s obituary in The Times, January 1, 2003 mentions “In Thailand the book was banned, and the publishing company which illegally printed an edition burnt down.” Although our research has failed to find any evidence of this, it is a marvelous family anecdote to have! How did this story come about?
I have no idea. Rayne told the story, and he was not given to exaggeration or invention, so I assume it to be true. But maybe it wasn’t. Myths tend to have a life of their own.
11) Why did you sign FACT’s petition?
One day a few years ago I was in Bangkok and got talking to a highly educated guide/taxidriver as he drove me to the airport. We quickly got onto the current political situation, the reverence for the king, and then to King Ananda. He turned out, amazing co-incidence, to have read Rayne’s book, and to believe it likely that Rayne’s conclusions were right. He was very excited to meet me, and I realised that for today’s young people in Thailand this history is still casting shadows. So when I heard of the petition it seemed right to sign it. Interestingly, he was reluctant to give me his name and contact details. Maybe he was nervous?
*An extract on The Devil’s Discus from Prudence Leith’s forthcoming memoir:
Rayne had recently finished his book, The Devil’s Discus, on the mysterious death of King Ananda of Thailand (then Siam). At 20 Ananda had been found dead in bed, a bullet through his head.
Few educated Thais believed the official story that two faithful royal pages and an ex secretary, who had served the Royal Family for many years, were the murderers. But the alternatives were even more unbelievable: that a demi-god-king would kill himself or a divine prince kill his brother-god, were unthinkable concepts — too dangerous to both the monarchy and the regime. So the three men, after ten years of trial, appeals and more trials, were finally executed, the story being that they had been complicit in the killing of the king at the behest of the democratic, reforming, Prime Minister Pridi, who had long since disappeared in the face of the Army’s seizing power.
Rayne was moved by the plight of the families of the convicted men who could not cremate their bodies while they remained unvindicated — the flames would not release their spirits to find Nirvana. And he was intrigued by the rumour that Prime Minister Pridi, accused of masterminding the killing, had fled to China. He decided to investigate and took ship for Bangkok.
On arrival he tried to get a rickshaw to take him to his hotel, but his inability to speak a word of Thai meant he had to go back to his ship and get an English-speaking Thai to write the name and address of his hotel in Thai characters. The incident revealed to him the utter madness of his mission. Imagine, he thought, that a Thai writer, without a word of English, should arrive in London set on discovering the truth about the killing of the Queen.
Without any hope of a result, he asked the receptionist at the hotel to put the word out that he needed an assistant who would have the following qualifications: good English; royal blood; charm and personality, disbelief in the divinity of kings; close acquaintance of the ruling elite; no political ties or allegiance to the current regime, able to travel, willing to work night and day, and completely free for the next month.
He then went for a massage and thought he might as well spend a few days seeing the sights and then go home. Two days later a young woman came to see him. She was a rare aristocrat, more socialist than royalist. She had been to university in the West, she was charming, beautiful, could type, was free to work, etc. Above all she was brave. Rayne would have liked to dedicate his book but to do so would have jeopardised her safety.
Between them they discovered that Ananda had fallen in love with a Swiss girl when at college in Switzerland. He knew he could not marry her and anyway he dreaded his future as a god-king. He was a teenager with no one to turn to. He had shot himself through the head.
Of course Rayne’s book was banned in Thailand, but it is still in print in underground versions today. When, twenty odd years after its publication, I went to Thailand to do a stint of “British Country House Cooking” in the Royal Orchid Hotel (which at that time belonged to the Oriental Group) the hotel manager was astonished at the stream of royals — usually patrons of the grander and older Oriental, who came to the less illustrious Royal Orchid to eat potted shrimps and treacle tart. I put it down to their husbands’ nostalgia for the spotted dick and custard of their English public schools, but it soon transpired that they were coming to peer at the wife of Rayne Kruger, the author of The Devil’s Discus.
Rayne had wisely told me to keep my mouth shut on the subject and I deflected questions by saying I’d not read the book.
FACT comments: It can easily be see how anyone, fascinated by Thai history and culture and monarchy, can unwittingly blunder into lèse majesté.
A reprint of The Devil’s Discus in English, banned in 1964, is available here: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&vci=1330729&an=&tn=devil%27s+discus&kn=&isbn=&x=0&y=0
We have recently seen printed books of กงจักรปีศาจ, published in 1974 but not banned until 2007, for sale surreptiously in Bangkok. กงจักรปีศาจ may be read or downloaded here: http://www.scribd.com/collections/2496420/The-Devil-s-Discus, http://www.scribd.com/collections/2801432/หนังสือหายาก, and http://www.scribd.com/collections/2690652/หนังสือหายาก.
König Ananda – Des Teufels Diskus, a 2009 German translation with extensive additional analysis and commentary by Mark Teufel, not banned yet, is available here: http://www.epubli.de/shop/showshopelement?pubId=2141.
[FACT comments: So now we can add 378 to the hundreds of Thailand’s political prisoners. Take a close look at the weapons seized. In the picture, these are homemade rifles which are used for hunting on every rural farm in Thailand. We’d bet the ‘explosives’, etc., have a similar origin. Is this more govt paranoia over Redshirts?]
378 arrested in North over weapons
2Bangkok: January 21, 2011
From Daily News, December 31, 2011
The caption reads: Clearing – Lieutenant General Chaiya Siriampankul, Region 5 Police Chief announces at a press conference the seizure of guns, weapons and explosive objects in eight provinces in the upper North. 378 alleged were arrested with much evidence seized. [2bangkok.com]
Missing lawyer verdict deferred to Feb 7
Bangkok Post: January 21, 2011
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/217503/somchai-case-verdict-deferred-to-feb-7
The Appeals Court on Friday postponed its verdict on five former policemen accused in the disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit to Feb 7, to allow a legal formality.
The case was filed on June 16, 2004 by prosecutors and Mrs Angkhana, Somchai’s wife, and their four children against Pol Maj Ngern Thongsuk, 49, Pol Lt-Col Sinchai Nimpunyakampong, 42, Pol Sgt-Maj Chaiweng Paduang, 40, Pol Sgt Randorn Sithikhet, 38, and Pol Lt-Col Chadchai Liamsanguan, 45, all former officers of the Crime Suppression Division.
The five officers were charged with robbery and physically forcing others into submission in connection with the disappearance of Mr Somchai on March 12, 2004.
On Jan 12, 2006 the Criminal Court sentenced Pol Maj Ngern to three years imprisonment for physically forcing others into submission. The other four police officers were acquitted.
The plaintiffs and prosecutors appealed.
While the case was being considered by the Appeals Court, relatives of Pol Maj Ngern submitted a request to the Pathum Thani Court asking it to declare the officer a missing person. They said Pol Maj Ngern disappeared in the collapse of the Kwae Noi dam in Phitsanulok on Sept 19, 2008.
The Appeals Court, which was originally scheduled to make a ruling on Jan 21, postponed the verdict to Feb 7, reasoning that the Pathum Thani Court was still considering a request for it to declare Pol Maj Ngern a missing person and that it was unable to send a warrant to the officer to be present to hear the verdict.
Therefore, the court will instead post the warrant in front of the court for 15 days before reading the verdict and take it for granted that Pol Maj Ngern had acknowledged it.
[CJ Hinke of FACT comments: If Somchai were your loved one, would you ever give up the fight? Khun Angkhana became a FACT signer during Thailand’s military coup. Hands down, she’s one of the most courageous women I’ve ever known.
Thais are damned tired of this culture of police, military, govt and even judicial impunity. Impunity has resulted in illegal detentions, forced confessions, torture, disappearances of persons unpopular to govt and, of course, extrajudicial murders. Impunity has allowed coupmakers and their collaborators to walk free to this day and their laws to still be ratified. (Anybody remember Suchinda?) Just read WikiLeaks…
To be honest, we can’t remember a single case where govt was forced to come clean and justice was served! Do you?
PLEASE JOIN US to support FACT signer Khun Angkhana Neelapaijit. Criminal Court, Ratchadapisek Road, 9:30 am, Friday, January 21. JUSTICE FOR SOMCHAI!
We will only get justice for Somchai and prevent such impunity in the future by demanding it and showing our strength of numbers.]
Missing lawyer’s wife seeks progress
Angkhana wants new DSI team to take case
Bangkok Post: January 19, 2011
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/217050/missing-lawyer-wife-seeks-progress
The wife of missing human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit is expected to ask the Department of Special Investigation this week to change the team of investigators looking into her husband’s disappearance.
Mr Somchai disappeared in Bangkok on March 12, 2004, while representing clients from the deep South accused of attacking an army munitions base two months earlier.
He was forced into a car by a group of men, never to be seen again.
The DSI took over the investigation into Mr Somchai’s disappearance on July 19, 2005, after police failed to make any progress in their inquiries.
The Criminal Court is scheduled to read a ruling by the Appeal Court on Mr Somchai’s disappearance on Friday.
The case was filed by his wife, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, and their sons against five police officers allegedly involved in the abduction of Mr Somchai.
The five officers _ Pol Lt Col Sinchai Nimpunyakampong, Pol Sgt Maj Chaiweng Paduang, Pol Sgt Rundorn Sitthikhet, Pol Lt Col Chadchai Liamsanguan and Pol Maj Ngern Thongsuk _ were arrested in connection with the disappearance, but four were acquitted by the Criminal Court of First Instance.
The fifth, Pol Maj Ngern, was not convicted of any offence relating to Mr Somchai’s disappearance but was sentenced to three years in jail for physically forcing others into submission. He disappeared in 2008 after being released on bail, having reportedly been killed in an accident, although his body has never been found.
Ms Angkhana, the chair of the Justice for Peace Foundation, said she would call on Justice Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga and the director-general of the DSI, Tharit Pengdit, after the court ruling on Friday to inquire about the progress of the investigation into Mr Somchai’s whereabouts.
She said she would ask Mr Tharit to change the team of investigators because of their failure to make any progress in their inquiries.
The Justice for Peace Foundation issued a statement yesterday raising its concerns about the investigation process.
The statement said it seemed as if the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration had initially paid attention to this case but now showed obvious discomfort because of interference by politicians.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) said on Dec 21 it would close its investigations into 19 police officers accused of torturing five men represented by Mr Somchai at the time of his abduction, as well as the abuse of another 27 persons. The commission cited a lack of evidence for its decision.
Abdulah Arbukaree, an important witness in the case who had been living under the DSI witness protection scheme, disappeared from his home in Narathiwat on Dec 11, 2009.
His whereabouts are still unknown and the DSI has not admitted any responsibility for this disappearance, the statement said.
Another witness, Suderueman Malae, has been charged with making a false statement to the NACC about having been tortured.
Ms Angkhana said she could not predict how the court would rule on Friday because of the lack of progress in the investigation, particularly on the alleged offences involving certain police officers and on the disappearance of Pol Maj Ngern.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Wong Kai Shing, said the Friday reading carried importance not only for Thailand but also overseas.
The Hong Kong-based AHRC is to send international and domestic observers to attend the Friday reading.
“This is a historic case of tremendous importance not only for Thailand but also for the regional human rights movement,” Mr Wong said.
ประเทศไทย: AHRC ร่วมฟังการอ่านพิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์ ในคดีทนายความที่หายตัวไป
คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย: ๑๘ มกราคม พ.ศ.๒๕๕๔
http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/somchai-neelaphaijit
คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย (Asian Human Rights Commission: AHRC) จะส่งผู้สังเกตุการณ์คดีทั้งจากต่างประเทศและในประเทศเข้าร่วมรับฟังการอ่านคำพิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์ เกี่ยวกับกรณีการหายตัว และคาดหมายว่าอาจจะถูกฆาตรกรรม ของ นายสมชาย นีละไพจิตร ทนายความด้านสิทธิมนุษยชน ในวันที่ ๒๑ มกราคม นี้ ผู้อำนวยการบริหาร AHRC ประกาศในวันนี้
“นี่เป็นคดีประวัติศาสตร์ที่สำคัญอย่างยิ่งใหญ่ ไม่เพียงแต่สำหรับประเทศไทย แต่ยังรวมถึงกระบวนการเคลื่อนไหวทางสิทธิมนุษยชนในระดับภูมิภาคอีกด้วย” นายหว่อง ไค ชิง (Wong Kai Shing) กล่าว
“AHRC ได้ติดตามและทำงานเกี่ยวกับคดีของนายสมชาย มาตั้งแต่วันที่เจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจได้ลักพาตัวเขาจากถนนในกรุงเทพมหานคร เมื่อเดือนมีนาคม พ.ศ.๒๕๔๗ เป็นต้นมา และในวันศุกร์ที่จะถึงนี้ เราจะมีผู้สังเกตุการณ์คดีจากประเทศไทยและต่างประเทศเข้าร่วมในห้องพิจารณา เพื่อรับฟังการอ่านคำพิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์ ซึ่งเป็นเช่นเดียวกับที่เราได้ทำตลอดมาในการเข้าร่วมฟังการพิจารณาคดีสำหรับจำเลยทั้งห้าในศาลชั้นต้น” นายหว่องกล่าว
คำพิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์จะอ่านที่ศาลอาญา กรุงเทพมหานคร ในวันศุกร์ที่ ๒๑ มกราคม ศกนี้ เวลา ๙.๓๐ น.
เมื่อปีพ.ศ.๒๕๔๘ และพ.ศ.๒๕๔๙ องค์กรภูมิภาคซึ่งตั้งอยู่ที่ฮ่องกงได้ส่งผู้สังเกตุการณ์ เข้าร่วมการรับฟังการพิจารณาคดีสำหรับนายตำรวจทั้งห้า ซึ่งถูกฟ้องเป็นจำเลยในฐานที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการบังคับให้สูญหายของทนายความ ซึ่งได้มีการรวบรวมทำบันทึกการสังเกตุการณ์ขึ้น รวม ๑๔๔ หน้า “การหายตัวของบุคคล และข้อบกพร่องของระบบ บันทึกดังกล่าวมีอยู่ในเวปไซต์รณรงค์กรณีทนายสมชาย: http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/somchai-neelaphaijit
ศาลอาญาพิพากษาลงโทษหนึ่งในจำเลยทั้งห้า คือ พันตำรวจตรี เงิน ทองสุก โดยลงโทษจำคุก ๓ ปี เขาได้รับการปล่อยตัวชั่วคราวด้วยการประกันตัวในระหว่างการพิจารณาของศาลอุทธรณ์ ต่อมาเมื่อปีพ.ศ.๒๕๕๑ ก็มีรายงานว่าเขาเสียชีวิตจากอุบัติเหตุ แต่ร่างของเขายังไม่เคยค้นพบ
“มันเป็นสิ่งที่น่าสงสัยอย่างยิ่งที่ว่า ตำรวจนายนี้ที่อยู่ระหว่างการรอผลคำพิพากษา ในคดีที่กล่าวหาเขาเกี่ยวกับการลักพาตัวทนายสมชาย กลับหายตัวไปอย่างลึกลับเสียเอง” นายบาซิล เฟอร์นานโด ผู้อำนวยการฝ่ายนโยบายและโปรแกรม ของ AHRC กล่าว
“สำหรับเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจซึ่งเป็นเจ้าแห่งความคิดในประเทศไทยอยู่แล้วนั้น การจะช่วยเหลือเพื่อนร่วมงานของตนด้วยการสร้างอัตลักษณ์ใหม่ให้เขา ไม่ใช่เรื่องยากเย็นใดๆเลย ซึ่งมันเป็นเหตุผลที่ดียิ่ง ที่ทำให้คนสงสัยถึงรายงานการตายของเขา” นายเฟอร์นานโด กล่าวเพิ่ม
การอ่านคำพิพากษาศาลอุทธรณ์ได้ถูกเลื่อนการอ่านมาแล้วจากเดือนกันยายน ปีที่แล้ว หลังจากทนายความซึ่งเป็นตัวแทนของสมาชิกในครอบครัวของพ.ต.ต.เงิน ได้ยื่นคำร้องให้จำหน่าชื่อของเขาออกจากสำนวนคดี เมื่อเดือนพฤศจิกายน ที่ผ่านมา นางอังคณา นีละไพจิตร ภริยาของทนายความที่หายตัวไป ได้ยื่นคำร้องคัดค้าน โดยขอให้ศาลอ่านคำพิพากษาโดยไม่จำหน่ายชื่อเขาออกจากคดี
ในขณะเดียวกัน เมื่อวันที่ ๒๑ ธันวาคม ที่ผ่านมา คณะกรรมการป้องกันและปราบปรามการทุจริตแห่งชาติ (ปปช.) ซึ่งได้สอบสวนกลุ่มนายตำรวจ ๑๙ นาย ที่ถูกกล่าวหาว่า เกี่ยวข้องกับการซ้อมทรมาน ชาย ๕ คน ที่เป็นลูกความของทนายสมชายในขณะที่เขาถูกลักพาตัว และยังถูกกล่าวหาว่ากระทำละเมิดต่อคนอื่นอีก ๒๗ ราย โดยปปช.ได้ประกาศว่า ได้ยุติการตรวจสอบเรื่องดังกล่าว เนื่องจากพยานหลักฐานไม่เพียงพอ
ท่ามกลางเจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจ ๑๙ คน ที่ถูกสอบสวนนั้น หนึ่งในนั้น คือ รองผู้บัญชาการตำรวจแห่งชาติ คนปัจจุบัน พล.ต.อ.ภานุพงศ์ สิงหรา ณ อยุธยา
“การยุติการสอบสวนในข้อกล่าวหาเรื่องการซ้อมทรมานนี้ ได้พูดถึง การไม่ต้องได้รับโทษยังคงอยู่อย่างต่อเนื่อง ว่า เจ้าหน้าที่ผู้บังคับใช้กฎหมายในประเทศไทย จะยังสามารถเพลิดเพลินกับใช้วิธีการเช่นนี้ปฏิบัติต่อผู้กระทำผิดทางอาญาต่อไป” นายเฟอร์นานโดกล่าว
“ในขณะที่รัฐบาลแห่งประเทศไทยได้ร่วมลงนามในกติกาแห่งสหประชาชาติว่าด้วย การต่อต้านการทรมาน และได้อ้างว่า ตนเองให้ความสำคัญต่อมาตรฐานสิทธิมนุษยชนในระดับสากล แต่กรณีนี้เป็นการแสดงให้เห็นว่า การให้ความสำคัญที่ว่านั้นแท้จริงแล้วกลวงขนาดไหน” เขากล่าวเพิ่ม
“ปรากฏว่า คดีการซ้อมทรมานดังกล่าว ซึ่งเป็นข้อกล่าวหาที่มีน้ำหนักเพียงพอที่จะโยงไปถึงการลักพาตัวและการฆาตกรรมทนายความของเหยื่อนจากการซ้อมทรมาน กลับอยู่ภายใต้การดำเนินการขององค์กรที่เฝ้าระวังเพื่อต่อต้านการคอรัปชั่น อันแสดงให้เห็นได้เองว่า เป็นสถาบันที่อ่อนด้อยในการจัดการสำหรับทั้งการสอบสวนและดำเนินคดีต่อผู้กระทำผิดในการซ้อมทรมานในประเทศไทย” นายเฟอร์นานโดให้ข้อสังเกตุ
ในจำนวนเหยื่อจากการซ้อมทรมานทั้งห้าคนที่นายสมชายเป็นทนายความให้นั้น หนึ่งในนั้นก็ได้ถูกลักพาตัวและหายไปในภาคใต้ของประเทศ เมื่อวันที่ ๑๑ ธันวาคม พ.ศ.๒๕๕๒ นอกจากนี้ เจ้าหน้าที่ตำรวจระดับสูง รวมถึงพล.ต.อ.ภานุพงศ์ ได้ดำเนินคดีต่อเหยื่อคนอื่นในห้าคน ในข้อหาให้การเท็จ ซึ่งคดีดังกล่าวยังอยู่ระหว่างการพิจารณาคดีอาญาอีกด้วย
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เกี่ยวกับ AHRC : คณะกรรมาธิการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย (The Asian Human Rights Commission : AHRC) เป็นองค์กรพัฒนาเอกชนในระดับภูมิภาค ซึ่งทำงานตรวจสอบและรณรงค์เกี่ยวกับสิทธิมนุษยชนในภูมิภาคเอเชีย AHRC ก่อตั้งขึ้นเมื่อปีพ.ศ. 2527 โดยมีสำนักงานอยู่ที่ฮ่องกง
THAILAND: AHRC to attend court reading of appeal verdict in disappeared lawyer’s case
Asian Human Rights Commission: January 18, 2011
http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/somchai-neelaphaijit
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) will send international and domestic observers to attend the reading of the verdict on January 21 in the appeal case concerning the disappearance and presumed killing of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit, its executive director announced today.
“This is an historic case of tremendous importance not only for Thailand but also for the regional human rights movement,” Wong Kai Shing said.
“The AHRC has followed and worked on the case of Somchai since within days that police abducted him from a street in Bangkok in March 2004, and on Friday we will have people in the courtroom from Thailand and abroad to hear the reading of the appeal verdict, as we did throughout the trial of the five accused in the court of first instance,” Wong said.
The Appeal Court verdict will be read at the Criminal Court, Bangkok on Friday, January 21, at 9:30am.
In 2005 and 2006 the Hong Kong-based regional rights group sent observers to the criminal trial of five police charged with offences connected to the lawyer’s forced disappearance. It compiled the trial observation notes into a 144-page dossier, “The disappearance of a person and the defects of a system”. The dossier is available on the Somchai campaign webpage: http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/somchai-neelaphaijit
The Criminal Court convicted one of the five accused, Police Major Ngern Thongsuk, and sentenced him to three years in prison. He was released on bail pending appeal, but in 2008 reportedly died in an accident. His body was never recovered.
“It is highly suspicious that this police officer while awaiting the outcome of a case against him for abducting Somchai has himself mysteriously disappeared,” Basil Fernando, director of policy and programmes at the AHRC, said.
“For a resourceful police officer in Thailand to obtain the assistance of his colleagues to create a new identity would not be terribly difficult, and it is with good reason that people doubt the reports of his death,” Fernando added.
The reading of the appeal verdict was delayed from September after a lawyer representing family members of Ngern submitted a motion to have his name removed from the list of accused. In November, the wife of the disappeared lawyer, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, submitted a counter-motion for the verdict to be read without his name being removed.
Meanwhile, on December 21, the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which had been investigating a group of 19 police over the alleged torture of five men whom Somchai was representing at the time of his abduction, as well as over abuses of another 27 persons, announced that it would close its inquiry because of a lack of evidence.
Among the 19 police under investigation was the current deputy national police commissioner, Police General Phanupong Singhara na Ayuthaya.
“The closing of the investigation into these allegations of torture speaks to the continued impunity that law enforcement officers in Thailand enjoy for practically any type of criminal offence,” Fernando said.
“While the government of Thailand has joined the U.N. Convention against Torture and makes claims that it is committed to international human rights standards, this case shows how hollow its commitments really are,” he added.
“The fact that a case of severe torture, the allegations of which were serious enough that the police chose to abduct and murder the lawyer for the victims, has been handled by an anti-corruption watchdog itself speaks to the total lack of any kind of institutional arrangements for the investigation and prosecution of torture perpetrators in Thailand,” Fernando observed.
Among the five victims of torture whom Somchai was representing, one was abducted and also disappeared in the south of the country on December 11, 2009. Two senior police officers, including Pol. Gen. Phanupong, have charged another of the five with making false accusations, and the criminal case against him is pending.
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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
[CJ Hinke of FACT comments: We think this may be the development that beats Internet censorship anywhere. Or will the thought-police block all Torrents?
We can see some major advantages to a Torrent-based DNS lookup:
1) Impossible to censor
2) Will eliminate restrictions on bandwidth by ISPs. If you’re using Torrent for DNS resolution, it will be impossible to separate from downloading.
3) Will hide one’s downloading from greedy, grubby copyright cops.
Can’t see any downside. This is the most exciting development against censorship in a long time!]
BitTorrent Based DNS To Counter US Domain Seizures
TorrentFreak: November 30, 2010
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-based-dns-to-counter-us-domain-seizures-101130/
The domain seizures by the United States authorities in recent days and upcoming legislation that could make similar takeovers even easier in the future, have inspired a group of enthusiasts to come up with a new, decentralized and BitTorrent-powered DNS system. This system will exchange DNS information through peer-to-peer transfers and will work with a new .p2p domain extension.
In a direct response to the domain seizures by US authorities during the last few days, a group of established enthusiasts have started working on a DNS system that can’t be touched by any governmental institution.
Ironically, considering the seizure of the Torrent-Finder meta-search engine domain, the new DNS system will be partly powered by BitTorrent.
In recent months, global anti-piracy efforts have increasingly focused on seizing domains of allegedly infringing sites. In the United States the proposed COICA bill is explicitly aimed at increasing the government’s censorship powers, but seizing a domain name is already quite easy, as illustrated by ICE and Department of Justice actions last weekend and earlier this year.
For governments it is apparently quite easy to take over the DNS entries of domains, not least because several top level domains are managed by US-based corporations such as VeriSign, who work closely together with the US Department of Commerce. According to some, this setup is a threat to the open internet.
To limit the power governments have over domain names, a group of enthusiasts has started working on a revolutionary system that can not be influenced by a government institution, or taken down by pulling the plug on a central server. Instead, it is distributed by the people, with help from a BitTorrent-based application that people install on their computer.
According to the project’s website, the goal is to “create an application that runs as a service and hooks into the hosts DNS system to catch all requests to the .p2p TLD while passing all other request cleanly through. Requests for the .p2p TLD will be redirected to a locally hosted DNS database.”
“By creating a .p2p TLD that is totally decentralized and that does not rely on ICANN or any ISP’s DNS service, and by having this application mimic force-encrypted BitTorrent traffic, there will be a way to start combating DNS level based censoring like the new US proposals as well as those systems in use in countries around the world including China and Iran amongst others.”
The Dot-P2P project was literally started a few days ago, but already the developers are making great progress. It is expected that a beta version of the client can be released relatively shortly, a team member assured TorrentFreak.
The project has been embraced by many familiar names in the P2P-community. Former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde is among them, and the people from EZTV have been promoting it as well.
“For me it’s mostly to scare back. To show that if they try anything, we have weapons of making it harder for them to abuse it. If they then back down, we win,” Peter Sunde told TorrentFreak in a comment.
Although the initiators of the project are still debating on various technical issues on how the system should function, it seems that the administrative part has been thought out. The .p2p domain registration will be handled by OpenNIC, an alternative community based DNS network. OpenNIC also maintains the .geek, .free, .null and several other top level domains.
On the other hand, there are also voices that are for distributed domain registration, which would keep the system entirely decentralized.
The domain registrations will be totally free, but registrants will have to show that they own a similar domain with a different extension first, to prevent scammers from taking over a brand.
The new P2P-based DNS system will require users to run an application on their own computer before they can access the domains, but there are also plans to create a separate root-server (like OpenNIC) as a complimentary service. It’s worth noting that the DNS changes will only affect the new .p2p domains, it will not interfere with access to any other domains.
It will be interesting to see in what direction this project goes and how widely it will be adopted. There are already talks of getting Internet Service Providers to accept the .p2p extension as well, but even if this doesn’t happen the system can always be accessed through the BitTorrent-powered application and supporting DNS servers.
If anything, this shows that no matter what legislation or legal actions are taken, technology stays always one step ahead. The more aggressive law enforcement gets, the more creative and motivated adopters of the Open Internet will respond.
Gov’t crackdown spurs initiatives to route around DNS
The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it
ITWorld: December 7, 2010
http://www.itworld.com/legal/129947/net-censorship-dns-alternative
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), led an alphabet soup of government agencies in seizing the domain names of 82 Web sites (PDF) that ICE said were “engaged in the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works” (See: Operation In Our Sites v. 2.0). The seizures were accomplished by getting the VeriSign registry, owner of the .com and .net top-level domains, to change the authoritative domain-name servers for the seized domains to servers controlled by DHS.
Regardless of the supposed criminal intent of the affected systems, the seizure without notice of these domain names by US authorities sent shock-waves around the Internet world. It got people’s attention in a much stronger way than version 1 of this enforcement operation had — the first iteration late last June seized the names of nine sites selling pirated first-run movies. Many people woke up to the reality of how vulnerable the DNS is to government meddling.
(More recently, the uproar caused by the WikiLeaks publication of US diplomatic cables — and subsequent attempts to censor the site and/or to hound it off the Internet — have resulted in what developer Dave Winer calls “a human DNS” implemented “in a weird sneaker-net sort of way,” via Twitter and ad hoc bulletin-board sites.)
Within days of the ICE/DHS seizures, at least three separate initiatives to work around the DNS had been announced, and several existing alternatives were highlighted in the ensuing discussion. Let’s take a look at some of these proposals — two to route around and one to supplant the DNS — and some of the obstacles they face.
1. 4LW: 4 Little Words
This new alt-DNS project got a quick boost from the developer communities at Hacker News and Reddit. The idea is to map each of the four numbers in an IPv4 address to one of 256 “little words,” in the Mad Libs-inspired pattern adjective noun verb noun. For example, using an online 4LW generator, 208.101.51.56 (the IP address of the seized domain name torrent-finder.com) becomes simple hair climbs cup. Reddit user armooo created an open source DNS server that returns “A” records using the 4LW protocol. For the example above, visiting http://simple.hair.climbs.cup.4lw.org takes you straight to the site formerly pointed to by the seized domain name. This scheme should continue to work unless 4lw.org itself is compromised, in which case others could copy the source code and put up their own servers; meta-servers could emerge to distribute requests among known 4LW servers; and so on.
2. P2P DNS: Peering Around It
This project has gotten the lion’s share of press attention, because it was initially suggested by Peter Sunde, co-founder of The Pirate Bay. The idea is to create a peer-to-peer alternative to the DNS, and beyond that nothing has been announced. Sunde’s blog post has garnered over 100 comments, most pledging help and some offering concrete suggestions or pointing out similar efforts across the Net. There are active brainstorms in various media and a code repository, which is currently empty. Sunde has promised a press release soon.
3. Project IDONS: Internet Distributed Open Name System
This proposal is by Lauren Weinstein, one of the early developers of what became the Internet and the long-time moderator of the PRIVACY forum (which predates even the widespread existence of email). Weinstein’s vision is of “an alternative Internet name to address mapping system — fully distributed, open source, fault-tolerant, secure, flexible, and not subject to centralized constraints, meddling, and censorship.” Other high-level goals include “no central registries, no registrars, no fees nor charges necessary for any name or address operations across IDONS.”
Weinstein adds in his introduction to IDONS: “Ad hoc attempts to bypass the existing system (such as those newly proposed by Pirate Bay) are likely to create fragmentation and confusion, and therefore ironically tend to further entrench the existing system… ad hoc won’t fly for this.”
In an interview, Weinstein told me he has had a “couple of thousand” responses to the IDONS proposal, ranging from substantive technical suggestions to “Yes I’d like to help.” Weinstein said, “The point is not just to replace the DNS with another DNS. It’s to get out from under a completely limiting condition. Technology is full of these kinds of situations in which we have to get out from under bad early decisions. In the case of DNS, the mistake was centralization. That enables not only censorship, but also the whole gigantic mess that has grown up around domain registrations” — what Weinstein has taken to calling the “domain industrial complex.” He continued, “This is not just a technical project, it’s an attempt to change the underlying mechanisms we use for names on the Internet. It involves policy and politics as well as technology.” And it’s likely to be a 10-year effort or longer.
At this point the project does not have a website or a mailing list. Interested parties can contact Weinstein via his blog.
iVPN.net Announces Secure, Anonymous Surfing VPN Service; Military Strength Encryption Neutralizes Threat of Information Theft
Private information is stolen, online activity recorded in vast databases and Internet users in repressed markets restricted from using basic services such as Facebook and Skype. Now iVPN.net emerges with the most advanced VPN service solution to date.
PRWeb: November 29, 2010
http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebvpn-service/anonymous-surfing/prweb4724634.htm
“iVPN.net builds on the most secure open-source software available. Our technology provides an unparalleled degree of privacy and anonymity so that users can surf without having to worry about exposing information to a 3rd party,” says Aynat Renu, CTO
iVPN.net, a leading provider of online privacy, today announced its VPN Service Solution for secure, anonymous surfing, aimed towards individuals concerned with protecting their privacy online and those in locations where free access to websites is restricted.
Using a Private VPN from iVPN.net, users are able to surf the web anonymously via a highly encrypted data tunnel without risk of intrusion or exposing sensitive information to third parties.
The encryption deployed by iVPN.net follows the interoperability testing and certification requirements by the U.S. Department of Defense for all IT equipment that attaches to U.S. defense networks.
In addition to providing completely anonymous surfing, the encryption completely defuses attacks by information-stealing programs such as Firesheep, that are able to capture usernames, passwords, e-mails and other private information from computers connected to public Wi-Fi hotspots.
“iVPN.net builds on the most secure open-source software available. Our technology provides an unparalleled degree of privacy and anonymity so that users can surf without having to worry about exposing information to a 3rd party,” says Aynat Renu, CTO
The VPN Service from iVPN.net bypasses filters and unblocks websites in countries restricted by censorship such as China and several countries in the Middle East, so that users can conduct business safely and securely. In addition, internet service providers and other parties are prevented from collecting and harvesting private data for resale, for instance to marketing agencies.
iVPN.net was established in 2009 by a group of security information professionals increasingly concerned about Internet privacy. Using sophisticated Multihop VPN technology, the engineers designed a VPN service that chains two or more servers in different geographical jurisdictions to significantly enhance users’ anonymity. The VPN Service from iVPN.net also supports port forwarding which is commonly used by many Internet enabled applications.
In addition to providing an industry leading VPN Service, iVPN.net is backed by in-house live support 7 days a week on its website.
“We are proud to provide a personal user experience which is both fast and designed to solve problems. The support organization that talks to customers, are the same people that engineered our private VPN network and technology, ensuring that customers get the best possible support at any given time.” says Aynat Renu, Chief Technology Officer.
For more information, please visit http://www.ivpn.net
iVPN.net was founded in 2009 by a group of information security professionals concerned about the increasing threats to Internet privacy and restrictions placed by repressed markets. VPN Services from iVPN.net use the most sophisticated open source software to enable safe, secure, anonymous surfing.
[FACT comments: To be honest, we haven’t read Ajarn Giles' new book nor seen the ban order published in the Royal gazette. According to Post Today, as reported in Prachatai (http://www.prachatai.com/journal/2011/01/32684), it is ราชกิจจานุเบกษาได้เผยแพร่ คำสั่งของสำนักงานตำรวจแห่งชาติ ที่ 702/2553 and published here: http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2554/E/006/74.PDF. Banned books, well, just rub us the wrong way. Links below. Ajarn Ji informs us that the book, both Thai and English, is only digital rather than print. That makes this book the first so officially banned by Thai govt, and sets a dangerous precedent for online publications. UPDATE: We have just been informed by a reader that, yes, there is also a print edition, possibly print-on-demand, ISBN: 9780956514509.]
FACT signerGiles Ji Ungpakorn
After struggling to read my book for over a year, the Thai police have finally banned “Thailand’s Crisis and the fight for Democracy”. No one is allowed to import it. But I have nearly sold out!! What is even more amusing is that there is a Thai version which is available on the internet to download for free. Anyone who wants a copy of the Thai version can just e-mail me at ji.ungpakorn@gmail.com or visit: http://www.mediafire.com/?1la1shr4iy2rjie. English version may be read or downloaded here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/47097266/Thailand-s-Crisis-and-the-fight-for-Democracy - Giles Ji Ungpakorn
