The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Selection Process for New Press Body to Begin Next Month
- High-Speed Heists Have Mandalay Afraid of the Dark
- A Rough Road to Recovery in Flood-Ravaged Chin State
- Tourism Pro: ‘What We Need Is Stability’
- Joint Action Needed on Human Trafficking, Corruption: Activist
- Thai Junta Hits Royal Critics with Record Jail Time
| Selection Process for New Press Body to Begin Next Month Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:40 AM PDT  People buy and sell newspapers in central Rangoon, April 3, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — The candidate selection process for the 29-member News Media Council, which will replace Burma's Interim Press Council, will begin in October, according to Thiha Saw, vice president of the Myanmar Journalist Association. Under Burma's Media Law, enacted in March 2014, the president is obligated to establish the council which is charged with regulating all forms of media in the country. The Interim Press Council announced details of the new body's structure at a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday. One person will be drawn from the Myanmar Journalist Network, the Myanmar Journalist Association, the Myanmar Journalist Union and Burma News International respectively; two from the existing Interim Press Council; six from news media organizations; eight from publishing, writing, poetry or cartoonist associations; two independent candidates; and four "experts" drawn from legal, social or economic fields. Three other members of the 29-member council are each appointed by the president and the lower and upper house speakers of Parliament respectively, as stipulated in the Media Law. Applications are sent to the press council's election team which will determine final candidates. "There are only three appointees nominated by the president and parliamentary speakers, but the 29 members will freely vote for crucial posts like the council's secretary," Thiha Saw told The Irrawaddy on Friday. Myint Kyaw of the Myanmar Journalist Network said he did not foresee undue government influence over the new body but said that criticism was likely to center on whether working journalists were adequately represented. Kyaw Min Swe, secretary of the Interim Press Council and editor of The Voice Daily, said the selection process and procedures had already been made known through last year's Media Law and that new critics simply "hadn't done their homework. In an analysis of Burma's Media Law in July 2014, UK-based freedom of expression advocacy group Article 19 expressed concern that the media council, as set out in the Media Law, would not be independent from government and that the council "should not have any powers over print or internet-based media, which should be self-regulated." The post Selection Process for New Press Body to Begin Next Month appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| High-Speed Heists Have Mandalay Afraid of the Dark Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:24 AM PDT  A man rides his motorbike in front of a Chinese beauty salon in Mandalay November 29, 2011. (Photo: Reuters) MANDALAY — It was a late August night in Burma's second largest city when Moe Moe Htet, a lawyer in her early thirties, was whisked off the back of her husband's motorbike and dragged several meters down a crudely paved boulevard. She was one of the lucky ones. Moe Moe Htet lost her litigation license, her identification card, work-related documents and a sizeable amount of cash, but she sustained only minor injuries. At least one woman reportedly died in a similar high-speed robbery in July. Mandalay is a popular destination in central Burma, a rich cultural center viewed as a friendly and "authentic" Burmese metropolis. That reputation is beginning to sour, however, as the crime rate climbs. Several targets in a recent rash of thievery said they no longer feel safe on the streets as motorcycles steadily replace the pushbikes that once were ubiquitous. "Even in broad daylight," Moe Moe Htet said several weeks after she was robbed, "when a motorbike with two or three men on it approaches me, I feel horrible. I am afraid to go out when it's dark." She and her husband, Aung Naing Win, were on their way home after a late night at work when a larger bike sped up from behind them carrying three young men. Aung Naing Win swerved when one of the men grabbed onto his wife's purse. He tried in vain to kick himself free of the menacing vehicle, but before he knew it he was on the ground and his wife was lying in the distance, bruised and bloodied. "I had to let go of my handbag because I was in severe pain," she recalled. "Their motorcycle was bigger than ours and it drove away so fast that we were unable to follow them." The couple reported the incident to the police, and within about a week they were notified that an arrest had been made. The three young men were also accused of involvement in no less that 18 other robberies, police told Moe Moe Htet. Although she and her husband "recognized them at once," the pair decided not to press charges. "We felt sympathy for them and their parents, they could have faced several years in prison," she said. Several victims told The Irrawaddy that they also opted out of pressing charges after an arrest had been made. Some, like Moe Moe Htet, felt sorry for their attackers, while others just thought it would be more trouble than it was worth. Kyaw Khine, who was badly injured after being beaten with a baton by a man attempting to steal his mobile phone, said he simply couldn't be bothered trying to see it through to prosecution. "If I opened the case and they arrested the culprit, I would have to go to court several times," he said. "It's such a waste of time." Spending Money 'Like a Boss' Despite the public's apparent reluctance to seek justice, the number of reported cases remains high. According to the Mandalay District Police Department, at least 53 cases of motorbike robbery have been reported since just the start of this year. Of those, 25 resulted in the arrest of more than 50 people. So far the frequency of attacks seems to have declined slightly from the year prior, when a total of 85 cases were reported. "The rate is a bit lower than last year, people are becoming better informed," an official from the department told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. Most of the offenders, he said, were young men—many teenagers and some in their early 20's—trying to make a quick buck so they could buy cell phones and motorbikes, or "spend money like a boss." The official said the ratio of police to residents in Mandalay is about 1 cop to every 2,000 citizens. He said the police force does what it can by creating random checkpoints and broadening routine patrol areas, but the number of officers is just too low to curb the rapid rise in crime. Because of the lack of manpower, he lamented, "we can't protect the people completely just yet, and we still need their help to make Mandalay a crime-free city." Other types of urban transgression are also on the rise, locals said, including sexual assault, vandalism and physical violence. It's clear from the moment you step inside a city hospital that something has changed. In the past few weeks, a shocking number of patients have come to Mandalay General's emergency room for injuries related to violent crime, according to a doctor at the hospital. Most of them were attacked by other drivers while commuting on their mopeds, he said. "One night we treated seven patients from different locations, three of them with broken legs and arms, all who were robbed by motorcyclists on their way back home," she said, requesting not to be identified. "In some cases they were unconscious and we couldn't contact their families until they had recovered the next day. In the case of dead bodies, we can't say precisely [how many were involved in robberies] because some of them were in traffic accidents." At least one woman is believed to have died after being targeted by thugs on wheels. According to Than Than Win, who watched the whole horrifying ordeal unfold on one of Mandalay's busiest throughways, 62nd Street, the woman was driving when two men on another bike closed in on her, grabbed her bag and pushed her over. Upon losing control of her vehicle, the woman tumbled to the ground and slammed her head against the pavement. "She died on the spot," said Than Than Win. "It was dark and they drove away before anyone could stop them." The post High-Speed Heists Have Mandalay Afraid of the Dark appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| A Rough Road to Recovery in Flood-Ravaged Chin State Posted: 04 Sep 2015 06:07 AM PDT Click to view slideshow. Since June, many parts of Burma have been devastated by flooding that is said to be the worst to hit the country in decades. More than 100 people died due to the violent waters and ensuing landslides, while an estimated 1.6 million others were affected. Situated in the northwestern corner of Burma, Chin State has seen some of the worst damage wreaked by the flooding. Extreme weather in Chin State has claimed five lives and affected more than 20,000 people as of late August. Debris from landslides has blocked many of the roads and destroyed crucial bridges, undermining necessary relief efforts. Photographer Sai Zaw recently visited the state capital, Hakha, and surrounding villages, documenting the depth of the damage and the lives of locals struggling to restore normalcy. The post A Rough Road to Recovery in Flood-Ravaged Chin State appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Tourism Pro: ‘What We Need Is Stability’ Posted: 04 Sep 2015 02:34 AM PDT  Aung Myat Kyaw, chairman of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association. (Photo: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy) Burma expected to receive at least five million tourists in 2015, but so far there have only been about two million arrivals. This week the Irrawaddy spoke with Aung Myat Kyaw, chairman of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association, about tourism prospects for this year. Estimates have placed tourist figures for this year around five million. But in light of serious flooding in recent months, should we expect to fall short of these estimates? Five million is very ambitious. By the end of July, we received around two million foreign travelers. It is possible that we can get close to our target of five million, probably around four million, because the number will only increase from now on. But we will still try to reach our target. Some people say that the flooding will not impact the country's tourism sector. Is this true? There has been no impact on major tourist destinations. For example, there was no flooding in Rangoon, Bagan, Mandalay, Ava, Sagaing, and Inle, and flooding only lasted for a short while in Pegu, Hpa-an. and Moulmein. Mrauk U was hit by flooding, but it usually does not receive a large number of travelers anyway. Only around 1,000 visitors went to Chin State last year, so there won't be a large impact there. As for Mrauk U, because of conflicts there over the past two or three years [in Arakan State], it has not been heavily promoted by tour operators. It may see more tourists going there, but it would only be a small increase, from 1,000 to 1,200, not by tens of thousands. Are there plans to promote tourism during the monsoon season? We would need the cooperation of the entire [tourism] industry to do such a promotion. There are markets [destinations] that are not vulnerable to rain, and, unlike previous years, the number of tourists who have visited these places during this current monsoon season has increased. Still, it's not that package tours have increased, but rather, there's been an increase in the number of free independent travelers [FIT]. This decline in package tours is an issue around the world, not only in Burma. Previously, Burma was seen solely as a country under military rule, much like North Korea. As a result, no one came. But now, Burma is accessible like other places. So travelers come here on a regular basis, and the number of tourists has increased steadily. As tourists' perceptions of Burma have changed, in a positive way, they have stopped buying package tours. They feel safe coming independently. This increase is also because Burma's infrastructure has been steadily developing. Previously, we could not use credit [cards], but now we can. Previously, we had no access to roaming, but now we do. We can easily buy SIM cards and access the Internet, which has made planning travel abroad and at home much easier. We're therefore becoming a more popular destination for travelers. But isn't this FIT increase a challenge to tour operators? We can look at this in different ways. On the one hand, customers can learn more about their destinations online, making the industry more competitive. And yes, while this is good for customers, because they have more options, it's a challenge for us. But on the other hand, this will motivate us to do more. Tour companies won't fall by the wayside because of online agents. We're here for a reason. We're here to provide a different service. We're here because the human element still plays a critical role in the industry. Bomb blasts recently occurred in Bangkok. Most foreign travelers come to Burma through Thailand. Will the blasts affect tourist numbers? The first bombing usually does not have an impact, but the second one often does, because it makes travelers feel unsafe. But despite the bomb blast, tourism is still running normally in Bangkok. Could you tell me about bed and breakfast (B&B) services in Burma? When the tourism law comes into force, the decision to allow B&B services will be up to division and state governments. They will have to adopt a model that is suited to their particular region. The general election will be held in November, which coincides with a popular travel time for tourists. Will this affect the industry? The leisure market is concerned because the number of hotel bookings is not as high as it was last year. But there's still another market. Journalists and other media observers will come [for the election]. So rather than feeling concerned about this, we just have to make the best of it. Do you expect to see an increase in the number of foreign visitors after the election? What we want is stability for the tourism industry. It is also important that we have security. The industry will go on if we have stability and security. We hope to be able to use the Asia Highway as soon as possible. If roads are available, I'd like for people from other countries to visit, too. Critically, the tourism industry will see greater development if there are more border entries, as well as stability and security.
The post Tourism Pro: 'What We Need Is Stability' appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Joint Action Needed on Human Trafficking, Corruption: Activist Posted: 03 Sep 2015 09:43 PM PDT  A Rohingya child plays with balloons at a temporary shelter in Indonesia's Aceh Provice in June. (Photo: Zabur Karuru / Antara Foto & Reuters) PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — The international fight against corruption must work in tandem with efforts to root out modern slavery since corruption is a key driver of human trafficking, the head of the world’s largest anti-corruption organisation said on Thursday. Many of the world’s estimated 36 million slaves are trafficked because corrupt police, customs, judicial and other officials take bribes from traffickers, according to government and think-tank research. “In all parts of the human trafficking chain, corruption is present from the start because you need to bribe a lot of people in order to move the victims of trafficking from one place to another,” said Jose Ugaz, chair of Transparency International. However, the impact of corruption has been neglected in the development of policies and measures to tackle human trafficking, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Although slavery is illegal in every country, the $150 billion a year human trafficking industry is growing. Victims include girls trafficked to brothels, people forced into manual labour and victims of debt bondage. “The mix of easy profit and impunity through easily bought protection from law enforcers has created a high reward/low risk scenario for human traffickers and their accomplices,” said Ugaz. Although such trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise, specific data and in-depth analysis of how it is linked with corruption are limited and international co-operation is sketchy. Ugaz said no country could stop human trafficking on its own. “Trafficking is a dramatic reality that is affecting millions of people, and more collective action is needed to fight it,” the Peruvian lawyer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the sidelines an international anti-corruption conference. The Organisation for International Co-operation and Development (OECD) think-tank has established principles for combating corruption relating to human trafficking, aimed at developing tandem strategies at national and international levels. Transparency International, which works in more than 100 countries and publishes an annual corruption perceptions index, has traditionally focused on practices related to bribery in the public sector, Ugaz said. But he said with trafficking and global organised crime gaining visibility, Transparency International is increasingly focused on how worldwide criminal networks and corrupt practices interlink. Ugaz said the battle against corruption and trafficking is being undermined by an increasing number of governments imposing or drafting laws which jeopardize the work of non-government organisations by squeezing their foreign donations or imposing other restrictions.
The post Joint Action Needed on Human Trafficking, Corruption: Activist appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Thai Junta Hits Royal Critics with Record Jail Time Posted: 03 Sep 2015 09:24 PM PDT  Opas Charnsuksai, 67, is escorted by prison officers as they arrive at the military court in Bangkok March 20, 2015. He was sentenced to one-and-a-half years in prison for writing graffiti insulting Thailand's king. (Photo: Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters) BANGKOK — Just minutes after being locked up for 30 years for insulting Thailand's monarchy, Pongsak Sriboonpeng described what he thought was the cause of his capture: a poorly chosen Facebook friend. For at least a year, the self-described "red shirt" supporter of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had posted angry commentary on the social networking site, including six postings that were later deemed to have defamed the royal family. He had also made an online acquaintance: a young man who seemed to share his views, and who invited him to visit. So Pongsak took a bus to meet him. As the bus idled at a station in the northern province of Phitsunalok on December 30, soldiers and police swarmed the vehicle and took him to a Bangkok army base. Within days, Pongsak said, his Facebook friend emerged in the real world—among the officers interrogating him. "He appeared and said, 'Don't you remember me?'" Pongsak told Reuters in early August, as he peered through the thick metal mesh of his holding cell beneath Bangkok's military court. Pongsak's sentence—an initial 60 years, halved after he pleaded guilty—is the harshest of its kind recorded in the country's history. It is part of a dramatic rise in arrests and convictions in Thailand for "lèse majesté," or insulting the monarchy. The crackdown has been enabled by sweeping new powers the military granted itself after a May 2014 coup, and what government officials say is a junta-ordered campaign to more vigorously police online offences. Many of the suspects arrested since the coup were detained without charge, held by the army without access to lawyers and, in many cases, forced to hand over passwords to their online accounts, according to defense lawyers and a legal watchdog group monitoring these cases. Both Pongsak and a woman detained in a separate lèse majesté case said they were forced to reveal their passwords to their interrogators. Military courts, which since the coup hear many lèse majesté cases, are handing down sentences of as many as 10 years for a single offense. When it comes to online platforms such as Facebook, multiple postings deemed critical of the monarchy can earn someone 10 years for each comment, served consecutively. That has led to record-breaking sentences. Since the military takeover 15 months ago, 53 people have been investigated for royal insults, at least 40 of whom allegedly posted or shared comments online, according to iLaw, a Bangkok-based legal monitoring group. The majority of these cases have resulted in charges. In the seven years and five months prior, 75 people were investigated, 27 of them for online activity. Reuters reviewed online postings for which two Thais pleaded guilty and were convicted of lèse majesté: six by Pongsak and five by another man who got 50 years for his comments. The postings included claims about the king and other members of the royal family that the court ruled to be false and defamatory. Some of the postings included profanity and ridicule. One posting was clearly false. Another was based on longstanding rumors. None of the postings included threats of violence toward the monarchy or appeals to abolish it. Since the arrests of the two men, all of the postings deemed offensive by authorities have been taken down. "The tempo of the arrests and prosecutions, and the severity of the sentences have gone up significantly," said Sam Zarifi, regional director for Asia and the Pacific at the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a Geneva-based human rights group. The 50-year and 60-year prison sentences were "egregious—there's no other word for it," Zarifi added. Although the military said these cases dealt with issues of national security, "they haven't suggested there were threats of violence," he said. Political Uncertainty The targets of the law are increasingly ordinary people, many of them red-shirt supporters of Thaksin, rather than prominent individuals, said David Streckfuss, an independent academic in the Thai city of Khon Kaen who researches lèse majesté. In Thailand, the royalist establishment backed by the military has repeatedly tried to neutralize the political machine of Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, who were both elected prime minister with broad rural support, only to be toppled by military coups. Critics of the junta say lèse majesté laws, often seen by the world as a quirk of Thai society, are being wielded by the generals as an instrument to crush dissent. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has repeatedly called for stronger prosecution of lèse majesté since taking power in a military coup in May last year. The army said it seized control to end a decade of sometimes violent political turmoil. Thaksin has frequently been accused by his opponents of seeking power at the expense of the revered monarchy, a charge he denies. The health of 87-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who the palace recently said was treated for "water on the brain," has added to the political uncertainty shrouding Thailand since the coup. So has a recent bombing in downtown Bangkok that killed 20 people and injured more than 100. Major General Werachon Sukhondhapatipak, a spokesman for the government, said the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra had not properly pursued lèse majesté cases, which he called a "national security issue." Werachon would not say if the increased policing of lèse majesté cases was related to the political turmoil in Thailand, except for one allusion. "If someone wants to be number one in Thailand, you need to destroy the existing number one institution," he said. Asked if he was referring to Thaksin, he said: "I'm not saying anyone, I did not say anyone. But if you want to be on the top of the list, be number one, you need to topple, you need to get rid of number one." Streckfuss said the more severe punishments being meted out in lèse majesté cases should be seen as a bid to shore up the power of the junta—and the traditionalist elite it represents—amid anxiety over the king's health. "It's trying to send the message that this is a taboo subject and that discussion of the monarchy will be punished at all costs," he said. 'Little Scrutiny' The number of lèse majesté cases in Thailand has spiked during a period in which the military, which has staged a dozen successful coups since 1932, has enjoyed a level of control not seen in decades. Many lèse majesté arrests since the coup have been carried out under martial law, which was in place until April and allowed the army to detain people for up to seven days without charging them, according to iLaw. The pace of lèse majesté arrests has slowed since martial law was revoked and they are now handled by police. But the focus has moved to the courts, where the pace of trials and convictions has picked up, iLaw said. Article 44 of the junta's interim constitution, a provision that was put in place after martial law ended, still allows for suspects to be detained for seven days without being charged, according to iLaw. For now, it is not being used for arrests, the organization said. Under Article 112 of Thailand's criminal code, anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent, or regent" faces up to 15 years in jail. The 2007 Computer Crime Act, which was passed on the back of the 2006 coup that deposed Thaksin, provides for sentences of up to five years for offences against "the Kingdom's security." The military courts that are now trying lèse majesté cases, like that of Pongsak, have been criticized by the United Nations for failing "to meet international human rights standards, including the right to a fair trial." UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said last month that the trials were generally closed with "very little scrutiny" and that in most cases the accused were "denied bail. So they are held for a prolonged period, certainly a lot of pressure is applied on them to make their guilty pleas," she said. As was the case under civilian rule, those accused of lèse majesté often plead guilty in the hope their sentence will be reduced and they may receive a royal pardon some time in the future. Both iLaw and ICJ's Zarifi said they weren't aware of a royal pardon being granted since the coup to someone convicted of lèse majesté. Prior to the coup, "police needed to gather evidence before they arrested someone," said Sasinan Thamnithinan from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which has defended the majority of people accused of lèse majesté since the coup, including Pongsak. "But the military has been able to do anything," she said. "The military arrests you, gets your Facebook and other passwords, accesses them, prints things out and gets you to sign that it's yours. After that they go to the court, get a warrant, and then they send you to the police." In Pongsak's case, his lawyers also accuse authorities of using a fake Facebook profile to lure him into a trap. He was arrested after he defied a junta summons to hand himself in to the army. Officers at the base of the 11th Army Circle, where Pongsak said he was initially detained, confirmed that lèse majesté suspects were held there in late 2014, but said they had no knowledge of Pongsak's arrest. The police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD), which handles online lèse majesté cases, declined requests for interviews. Major General Werachon, the government spokesman, said he was unaware of Pongsak's claims that he was tricked by the authorities. Asked about accusations by lawyers involved in lèse majesté cases that authorities had seized passwords from suspects without warrants, he said: "I don't think it is the case that happens at the moment." "If you ask me if it's fair game to intercept or gain access to criminals, I think it's fair game," he said. Online Monitoring In 2014, Prayuth created a joint committee on national security, comprising the army, law enforcement and government ministries, which also deals with lèse majesté offences. Better coordination between various agencies has meant cases are handled more swiftly, former Minister of Information and Communication Technology Pornchai Rujiprapa told Reuters in an interview last month, before leaving his position as part of a cabinet reshuffle. He said Thailand has a longstanding 30-person TCSD team that is based in the Information and Communication Technology Ministry and operates around the clock, scanning online postings and following up complaints from the public on cyber crimes, including royal defamation. The team hasn't expanded, Pornchai said. Instead, it is better coordination that has yielded more arrests, he said. "Beforehand, the usual way of doing things was everyone separately going about their own tasks," Pornchai said. The TCSD declined to say how many web sites have been blocked for alleged crimes of lèse majesté since the coup. In the period between the military takeover in May and December last year, the government blocked 1,200 web sites on the grounds they carried content violating lèse majesté, local newspaper Matichon reported, citing Pornchai. Earlier this year, the junta's cabinet drafted a suite of eight digital economy and cyber-security bills. The proposed legislation has been held up amid criticism from civil society groups that the bills would clear the way for mass online surveillance and grant authorities the power to access information on electronic devices without a court order. 'I Told Him to Sign' For those at the receiving end of the crackdown, justice has been swift. The arrest of Thiansutham Suthijitseranee, 58, in December started when a woman wandered to the front of his Bangkok home and asked for directions, according to his wife. As Thiansutham emerged to help, men jumped the fence and grabbed him. Both he and his wife were taken to the Bangkok base of the 11th Army Circle, the same base where Pongsak said he was interrogated. There, the couple was made by soldiers and police to sign documents giving the authorities access to their online accounts, Thiansutham's wife said. She was later released without charge. A warrant for Thiansutham's arrest was only obtained on December 22, four days after his initial detention, according to lawyer Sasinan, who also handled his case. "I told him to sign the documents," Thiansutham's wife said. "I thought that if we cooperated then the charges wouldn't be too severe." That was not to be the case. In late March, the military court in Bangkok sentenced Thiansutham to 50 years in prison, 10 years for each of five Facebook postings, reduced to 25 after he pleaded guilty. At the time, it was the longest recorded sentence handed down for lèse majesté. That record was exceeded twice on August 7. That day, a military court in the northern city of Chiang Mai sentenced a 29-year-old hotel worker to 56 years, reduced to 28 after she pleaded guilty, for seven Facebook postings. Everything was done "according to the law," said Werachon, when asked about criticism of the sentences handed out in the Chiang Mai case, as well as those of Pongsak and Thiansutham. "This is not a product of the military system… If you commit a crime you have to be brought before the legal process." On the same day as the Chiang Mai verdict, Pongsak's final hearing was held in the building that houses the military court, a short walk from the gilded spires of Bangkok's Grand Palace. Cuffed by his ankles and wrists, Pongsak was escorted into a small courtroom and lined up on a bench with four other suspects at earlier stages of separate lèse majesté cases. Reporters were then asked to leave for the closed hearing. In less than an hour, all five men emerged clattering from the room. Pongsak had pleaded guilty and his 60-year sentence, commuted to 30 years on his confession, came almost immediately. Pongsak, who said he is HIV positive, made a plea for leniency. The judges rejected it. "Well, it went as I expected," he said, as military officials shuffled him toward a basement cell.
The post Thai Junta Hits Royal Critics with Record Jail Time appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Irrawaddy To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.