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#1
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
When Dissent Is Criminalized
First published May 26, 2010 Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened fire with live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring more than 1,800, including foreign journalists and onlookers. In a desperate bid to escape international condemnation for these unlawful killings, Abhisit is trying to paint the demonstrators as terrorists and enemies of the state. Many around the world are not fooled. Writing in the Financial Times, David Piling said, “Attempts to portray the tens of thousands of mainly poor Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets as ‘terrorists’ or paid mercenaries of [former Prime Minister] Mr. Thaksin simply do not wash.” The world saw for itself that the vast majority of pro-democracy demonstrators were peaceful men and women of all ages camped around the central stage area, while those fighting at the barricades were mostly armed with primitive weapons. Journalists around the world have been firm in setting the record straight, noting the lopsided nature of the clash. “The Red Shirts were massively outgunned,” reported Bill Schiller in the Toronto Star, noting that most of what was seen were slingshots, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and a few small arms. However that doesn’t mean the government still isn’t pushing hard to sell the terrorist narrative as a justification for possible human rights abuses. This past weekend diplomatic delegations were dispatched to key allies bearing photographs and slick multimedia presentations of an alleged arms cache that they claimed to have discovered days after clearing out the protest camp – a time during which no third parties were allowed to enter this zone to confirm the discovery. They’ve also issued a warrant for the arrest on terrorism allegations of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they claim is the mastermind of the Red Shirts (disclosu I represent Mr. Shinawatra as legal counsel). Many factors undermine the Abhisit regime’s terrorism claims: the government has consistently resisted international mediation requests from the protestors, which would in theory corroborate such claims; they have obstructed the work of journalists (one correspondent for the Times of London was detained at his hotel, while many others were seemingly targeted during the siege, including two seriously wounded Canadians – Nelson Rand and Chandler Vandergrift); they’ve shut down hundreds of websites and media sympathetic to the Red Shirts while launching charges against student leaders and academics associated with the movement; and lastly, no one is able to explain how so many local and foreign correspondents inside the Red Shirt camps for weeks failed to record the presence of serious war weapons. Some observers point to the parallels between this attack on the Red Shirts and the massacre of 46 student protestors at Thammasat University in 1976. As happened then, the government is portraying the protesters as evil criminals and enemies of the state, while their control over the media allows for the stirring up of hate and public tolerance for violence against fellow Thais. In the aftermath of Thammasat, it was later discovered that the Thai military had planted a big weapons cache on the students after the fact to justify their actions. The criminalization of Red Shirt protestors as terrorists is even more dangerous than a simple excuse for violence – it is a focused measure aimed at reducing their basic rights to defence, attorneys, and trials. Of the more than 40 protest leaders who have been arrested, the government has refused to disclose their location of detention, the charges against them, or their health status. The government has declared a state of emergency since April 7, allowing them to arrest whomever they choose without charges and hold them in non-conventional facilities – which raises concerns, alluded to by Human Rights Watch, over possible torture or mistreatment. The authorities say that thousands of Red Shirts have been provided with transportation back to their homes, but so far no one has been able to verify who was taken where. These accusations of terrorism against the protesters have been made easier by the existence of real crimes on the fringes of the demonstration. The so-called “Black Shirts,” who have no relation to the peaceful spirit and stated principles of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have likely been involved in illegal activity and should be arrested and prosecuted before a court for their crimes. Those responsible for the terrible acts of arson that affected more than 20 buildings in Bangkok, including massive damage to the Central World shopping mall, must be investigated and prosecuted for their crimes. But these isolated activities on the lawless fringes represent the outrage and frustration of misled individuals, and have nothing to do with the non-violent political change espoused by the UDD, much less any conventional definition of terrorism. There is also a perception on behalf of the Red Shirts that the legal system is unfairly biased against them. When activists of the pro- government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) illegally occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008, not one of these protestors was ever investigated, charged, prosecuted, or jailed for this crime, and in fact the current foreign minister was personally involved. The conduct of the Thai authorities is not that of a victim of terrorism, but rather the behavior of someone who has something to hide. The invention of new crimes to cover up older ones is not acceptable in the contemporary context of international law, and this crass manipulation must be openly discouraged by outside parties. The Red Shirts risked their lives and suffered considerable casualties because their democratic choices and popular will had been repeatedly disqualified and stolen. Until that central grievance is addressed, all other accusations are only distractions. The international community must ask Thailand to uphold the rule of law and basic procedural rights for citizens who have done nothing more than express their opposition to the ruling party. At a minimum, the Abhisit government has a duty to disclose the location of the prison camps and the conditions for the detained protesters, confirm their access to legal counsel and the basis of the charges against them, and grant access to international human rights monitors to ensure fair treatment of the detained Red Shirt leaders. Robert Amsterdam is international lawyer to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and advisor to the human rights defence team of the UDD. |
#2
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
Obersturmbanfuhrer Olly wrote:
When Dissent Is Criminalized First published May 26, 2010 Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened fire with live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring more than 1,800, including foreign journalists and onlookers. In a desperate bid to escape international condemnation for these unlawful killings, Abhisit is trying to paint the demonstrators as terrorists and enemies of the state. Many around the world are not fooled. Writing in the Financial Times, David Piling said, “Attempts to portray the tens of thousands of mainly poor Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets as ‘terrorists’ or paid mercenaries of [former Prime Minister] Mr. Thaksin simply do not wash.” The world saw for itself that the vast majority of pro-democracy demonstrators were peaceful men and women of all ages camped around the central stage area, while those fighting at the barricades were mostly armed with primitive weapons. Journalists around the world have been firm in setting the record straight, noting the lopsided nature of the clash. “The Red Shirts were massively outgunned,” reported Bill Schiller in the Toronto Star, noting that most of what was seen were slingshots, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and a few small arms. However that doesn’t mean the government still isn’t pushing hard to sell the terrorist narrative as a justification for possible human rights abuses. This past weekend diplomatic delegations were dispatched to key allies bearing photographs and slick multimedia presentations of an alleged arms cache that they claimed to have discovered days after clearing out the protest camp – a time during which no third parties were allowed to enter this zone to confirm the discovery. They’ve also issued a warrant for the arrest on terrorism allegations of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they claim is the mastermind of the Red Shirts (disclosu I represent Mr. Shinawatra as legal counsel). Many factors undermine the Abhisit regime’s terrorism claims: the government has consistently resisted international mediation requests from the protestors, which would in theory corroborate such claims; they have obstructed the work of journalists (one correspondent for the Times of London was detained at his hotel, while many others were seemingly targeted during the siege, including two seriously wounded Canadians – Nelson Rand and Chandler Vandergrift); they’ve shut down hundreds of websites and media sympathetic to the Red Shirts while launching charges against student leaders and academics associated with the movement; and lastly, no one is able to explain how so many local and foreign correspondents inside the Red Shirt camps for weeks failed to record the presence of serious war weapons. Some observers point to the parallels between this attack on the Red Shirts and the massacre of 46 student protestors at Thammasat University in 1976. As happened then, the government is portraying the protesters as evil criminals and enemies of the state, while their control over the media allows for the stirring up of hate and public tolerance for violence against fellow Thais. In the aftermath of Thammasat, it was later discovered that the Thai military had planted a big weapons cache on the students after the fact to justify their actions. The criminalization of Red Shirt protestors as terrorists is even more dangerous than a simple excuse for violence – it is a focused measure aimed at reducing their basic rights to defence, attorneys, and trials. Of the more than 40 protest leaders who have been arrested, the government has refused to disclose their location of detention, the charges against them, or their health status. The government has declared a state of emergency since April 7, allowing them to arrest whomever they choose without charges and hold them in non-conventional facilities – which raises concerns, alluded to by Human Rights Watch, over possible torture or mistreatment. The authorities say that thousands of Red Shirts have been provided with transportation back to their homes, but so far no one has been able to verify who was taken where. These accusations of terrorism against the protesters have been made easier by the existence of real crimes on the fringes of the demonstration. The so-called “Black Shirts,” who have no relation to the peaceful spirit and stated principles of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have likely been involved in illegal activity and should be arrested and prosecuted before a court for their crimes. Those responsible for the terrible acts of arson that affected more than 20 buildings in Bangkok, including massive damage to the Central World shopping mall, must be investigated and prosecuted for their crimes. But these isolated activities on the lawless fringes represent the outrage and frustration of misled individuals, and have nothing to do with the non-violent political change espoused by the UDD, much less any conventional definition of terrorism. There is also a perception on behalf of the Red Shirts that the legal system is unfairly biased against them. When activists of the pro- government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) illegally occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008, not one of these protestors was ever investigated, charged, prosecuted, or jailed for this crime, and in fact the current foreign minister was personally involved. The conduct of the Thai authorities is not that of a victim of terrorism, but rather the behavior of someone who has something to hide. The invention of new crimes to cover up older ones is not acceptable in the contemporary context of international law, and this crass manipulation must be openly discouraged by outside parties. The Red Shirts risked their lives and suffered considerable casualties because their democratic choices and popular will had been repeatedly disqualified and stolen. Until that central grievance is addressed, all other accusations are only distractions. The international community must ask Thailand to uphold the rule of law and basic procedural rights for citizens who have done nothing more than express their opposition to the ruling party. At a minimum, the Abhisit government has a duty to disclose the location of the prison camps and the conditions for the detained protesters, confirm their access to legal counsel and the basis of the charges against them, and grant access to international human rights monitors to ensure fair treatment of the detained Red Shirt leaders. Robert Amsterdam is international lawyer to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and advisor to the human rights defence team of the UDD. Amsterdam is being paid to ignore the distinction between the rank and file protesters, and the leadership core. It is the core that is being called terrorist, not the rank and file. No country allows international organisations to adjudicate its internal disputes, and there is no reason why Thailand should do so now, nor is it remotely likely that it will. The terrorist label is appropriate to people who funded the purchase and use of weapons used against security forces and ordinary citizens, and who developed lists of buildings to destroy, called for the destruction of those buildings, and ensured that those buildings were, in fact, destroyed. Cheers, Ian |
#3
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
and people say Thai have a DEMOCRACY .
all governments of all nations in ASEAN are totally corrupted . May 26, 7:09*pm, Ian wrote: Obersturmbanfuhrer Olly wrote: When Dissent Is Criminalized First published May 26, 2010 Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened fire with live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring more than 1,800, including foreign journalists and onlookers. In a desperate bid to escape international condemnation for these unlawful killings, Abhisit is trying to paint the demonstrators as terrorists and enemies of the state. Many around the world are not fooled. Writing in the Financial Times, David Piling said, “Attempts to portray the tens of thousands of mainly poor Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets as ‘terrorists’ or paid mercenaries of [former Prime Minister] Mr. Thaksin simply do not wash.” The world saw for itself that the vast majority of pro-democracy demonstrators were peaceful men and women of all ages camped around the central stage area, while those fighting at the barricades were mostly armed with primitive weapons. Journalists around the world have been firm in setting the record straight, noting the lopsided nature of the clash. “The Red Shirts were massively outgunned,” reported Bill Schiller in the Toronto Star, noting that most of what was seen were slingshots, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and a few small arms. However that doesn’t mean the government still isn’t pushing hard to sell the terrorist narrative as a justification for possible human rights abuses. This past weekend diplomatic delegations were dispatched to key allies bearing photographs and slick multimedia presentations of an alleged arms cache that they claimed to have discovered days after clearing out the protest camp – a time during which no third parties were allowed to enter this zone to confirm the discovery. They’ve also issued a warrant for the arrest on terrorism allegations of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they claim is the mastermind of the Red Shirts (disclosu I represent Mr. Shinawatra as legal counsel). Many factors undermine the Abhisit regime’s terrorism claims: the government has consistently resisted international mediation requests from the protestors, which would in theory corroborate such claims; they have obstructed the work of journalists (one correspondent for the Times of London was detained at his hotel, while many others were seemingly targeted during the siege, including two seriously wounded Canadians – Nelson Rand and Chandler Vandergrift); they’ve shut down hundreds of websites and media sympathetic to the Red Shirts while launching charges against student leaders and academics associated with the movement; and lastly, no one is able to explain how so many local and foreign correspondents inside the Red Shirt camps for weeks failed to record the presence of serious war weapons. Some observers point to the parallels between this attack on the Red Shirts and the massacre of 46 student protestors at Thammasat University in 1976. As happened then, the government is portraying the protesters as evil criminals and enemies of the state, while their control over the media allows for the stirring up of hate and public tolerance for violence against fellow Thais. In the aftermath of Thammasat, it was later discovered that the Thai military had planted a big weapons cache on the students after the fact to justify their actions. The criminalization of Red Shirt protestors as terrorists is even more dangerous than a simple excuse for violence – it is a focused measure aimed at reducing their basic rights to defence, attorneys, and trials. Of the more than 40 protest leaders who have been arrested, the government has refused to disclose their location of detention, the charges against them, or their health status. The government has declared a state of emergency since April 7, allowing them to arrest whomever they choose without charges and hold them in non-conventional facilities – which raises concerns, alluded to by Human Rights Watch, over possible torture or mistreatment. The authorities say that thousands of Red Shirts have been provided with transportation back to their homes, but so far no one has been able to verify who was taken where. These accusations of terrorism against the protesters have been made easier by the existence of real crimes on the fringes of the demonstration. The so-called “Black Shirts,” who have no relation to the peaceful spirit and stated principles of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have likely been involved in illegal activity and should be arrested and prosecuted before a court for their crimes. Those responsible for the terrible acts of arson that affected more than 20 buildings in Bangkok, including massive damage to the Central World shopping mall, must be investigated and prosecuted for their crimes. But these isolated activities on the lawless fringes represent the outrage and frustration of misled individuals, and have nothing to do with the non-violent political change espoused by the UDD, much less any conventional definition of terrorism. There is also a perception on behalf of the Red Shirts that the legal system is unfairly biased against them. When activists of the pro- government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) illegally occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008, not one of these protestors was ever investigated, charged, prosecuted, or jailed for this crime, and in fact the current foreign minister was personally involved. The conduct of the Thai authorities is not that of a victim of terrorism, but rather the behavior of someone who has something to hide. The invention of new crimes to cover up older ones is not acceptable in the contemporary context of international law, and this crass manipulation must be openly discouraged by outside parties. The Red Shirts risked their lives and suffered considerable casualties because their democratic choices and popular will had been repeatedly disqualified and stolen. Until that central grievance is addressed, all other accusations are only distractions. The international community must ask Thailand to uphold the rule of law and basic procedural rights for citizens who have done nothing more than express their opposition to the ruling party. At a minimum, the Abhisit government has a duty to disclose the location of the prison camps and the conditions for the detained protesters, confirm their access to legal counsel and the basis of the charges against them, and grant access to international human rights monitors to ensure fair treatment of the detained Red Shirt leaders. Robert Amsterdam is international lawyer to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and advisor to the human rights defence team of the UDD. Amsterdam is being paid to ignore the distinction between the rank and file protesters, and the leadership core. It is the core that is being called terrorist, not the rank and file. No country allows international organisations to adjudicate its internal disputes, and there is no reason why Thailand should do so now, nor is it remotely likely that it will. The terrorist label is appropriate to people who funded the purchase and use of weapons used against security forces and ordinary citizens, and who developed lists of buildings to destroy, called for the destruction of those buildings, and ensured that those buildings were, in fact, destroyed. Cheers, Ian |
#4
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
wakalukong is right ,
all government of all ASEAN nations are totally corrupted. On May 26, 7:29 pm, wakalukong wrote: and people say Thai have a DEMOCRACY . all governments of all nations in ASEAN are totally corrupted . May 26, 7:09 pm, Ian wrote: Obersturmbanfuhrer Olly wrote: When Dissent Is Criminalized First published May 26, 2010 Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened fire with live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring more than 1,800, including foreign journalists and onlookers. In a desperate bid to escape international condemnation for these unlawful killings, Abhisit is trying to paint the demonstrators as terrorists and enemies of the state. Many around the world are not fooled. Writing in the Financial Times, David Piling said, “Attempts to portray the tens of thousands of mainly poor Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets as ‘terrorists’ or paid mercenaries of [former Prime Minister] Mr. Thaksin simply do not wash.” The world saw for itself that the vast majority of pro-democracy demonstrators were peaceful men and women of all ages camped around the central stage area, while those fighting at the barricades were mostly armed with primitive weapons. Journalists around the world have been firm in setting the record straight, noting the lopsided nature of the clash. “The Red Shirts were massively outgunned,” reported Bill Schiller in the Toronto Star, noting that most of what was seen were slingshots, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and a few small arms.. However that doesn’t mean the government still isn’t pushing hard to sell the terrorist narrative as a justification for possible human rights abuses. This past weekend diplomatic delegations were dispatched to key allies bearing photographs and slick multimedia presentations of an alleged arms cache that they claimed to have discovered days after clearing out the protest camp – a time during which no third parties were allowed to enter this zone to confirm the discovery. They’ve also issued a warrant for the arrest on terrorism allegations of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they claim is the mastermind of the Red Shirts (disclosu I represent Mr.. Shinawatra as legal counsel). Many factors undermine the Abhisit regime’s terrorism claims: the government has consistently resisted international mediation requests from the protestors, which would in theory corroborate such claims; they have obstructed the work of journalists (one correspondent for the Times of London was detained at his hotel, while many others were seemingly targeted during the siege, including two seriously wounded Canadians – Nelson Rand and Chandler Vandergrift); they’ve shut down hundreds of websites and media sympathetic to the Red Shirts while launching charges against student leaders and academics associated with the movement; and lastly, no one is able to explain how so many local and foreign correspondents inside the Red Shirt camps for weeks failed to record the presence of serious war weapons. Some observers point to the parallels between this attack on the Red Shirts and the massacre of 46 student protestors at Thammasat University in 1976. As happened then, the government is portraying the protesters as evil criminals and enemies of the state, while their control over the media allows for the stirring up of hate and public tolerance for violence against fellow Thais. In the aftermath of Thammasat, it was later discovered that the Thai military had planted a big weapons cache on the students after the fact to justify their actions. The criminalization of Red Shirt protestors as terrorists is even more dangerous than a simple excuse for violence – it is a focused measure aimed at reducing their basic rights to defence, attorneys, and trials. Of the more than 40 protest leaders who have been arrested, the government has refused to disclose their location of detention, the charges against them, or their health status. The government has declared a state of emergency since April 7, allowing them to arrest whomever they choose without charges and hold them in non-conventional facilities – which raises concerns, alluded to by Human Rights Watch, over possible torture or mistreatment. The authorities say that thousands of Red Shirts have been provided with transportation back to their homes, but so far no one has been able to verify who was taken where. These accusations of terrorism against the protesters have been made easier by the existence of real crimes on the fringes of the demonstration. The so-called “Black Shirts,” who have no relation to the peaceful spirit and stated principles of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have likely been involved in illegal activity and should be arrested and prosecuted before a court for their crimes. Those responsible for the terrible acts of arson that affected more than 20 buildings in Bangkok, including massive damage to the Central World shopping mall, must be investigated and prosecuted for their crimes. But these isolated activities on the lawless fringes represent the outrage and frustration of misled individuals, and have nothing to do with the non-violent political change espoused by the UDD, much less any conventional definition of terrorism. There is also a perception on behalf of the Red Shirts that the legal system is unfairly biased against them. When activists of the pro- government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) illegally occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008, not one of these protestors was ever investigated, charged, prosecuted, or jailed for this crime, and in fact the current foreign minister was personally involved. The conduct of the Thai authorities is not that of a victim of terrorism, but rather the behavior of someone who has something to hide. The invention of new crimes to cover up older ones is not acceptable in the contemporary context of international law, and this crass manipulation must be openly discouraged by outside parties. The Red Shirts risked their lives and suffered considerable casualties because their democratic choices and popular will had been repeatedly disqualified and stolen. Until that central grievance is addressed, all other accusations are only distractions. The international community must ask Thailand to uphold the rule of law and basic procedural rights for citizens who have done nothing more than express their opposition to the ruling party. At a minimum, the Abhisit government has a duty to disclose the location of the prison camps and the conditions for the detained protesters, confirm their access to legal counsel and the basis of the charges against them, and grant access to international human rights monitors to ensure fair treatment of the detained Red Shirt leaders. Robert Amsterdam is international lawyer to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and advisor to the human rights defence team of the UDD. Amsterdam is being paid to ignore the distinction between the rank and file protesters, and the leadership core. It is the core that is being called terrorist, not the rank and file. No country allows international organisations to adjudicate its internal disputes, and there is no reason why Thailand should do so now, nor is it remotely likely that it will. The terrorist label is appropriate to people who funded the purchase and use of weapons used against security forces and ordinary citizens, and who developed lists of buildings to destroy, called for the destruction of those buildings, and ensured that those buildings were, in fact, destroyed. Cheers, Ian |
#5
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
On May 27, 2:41*am, "Vishnu , om Mangalam Mangalam"
wrote: wakalukong is *right , all government *of all *ASEAN *nations *are *totally *corrupted. On May 26, 7:29 pm, wakalukong wrote: and *people *say *Thai *have *a *DEMOCRACY *. all *governments *of * all *nations * in ASEAN *are *totally corrupted *. May 26, 7:09 pm, Ian wrote: Obersturmbanfuhrer Olly wrote: When Dissent Is Criminalized First published May 26, 2010 Over the past two months, Thailand’s Abhisit regime has opened fire with live ammunition on the Red Shirt pro-democracy demonstration in Bangkok, killing at least 88 of its own citizens and injuring more than 1,800, including foreign journalists and onlookers. In a desperate bid to escape international condemnation for these unlawful killings, Abhisit is trying to paint the demonstrators as terrorists and enemies of the state. Many around the world are not fooled. Writing in the Financial Times, David Piling said, “Attempts to portray the tens of thousands of mainly poor Thais who took to Bangkok’s streets as ‘terrorists’ or paid mercenaries of [former Prime Minister] Mr. Thaksin simply do not wash.” The world saw for itself that the vast majority of pro-democracy demonstrators were peaceful men and women of all ages camped around the central stage area, while those fighting at the barricades were mostly armed with primitive weapons. Journalists around the world have been firm in setting the record straight, noting the lopsided nature of the clash. “The Red Shirts were massively outgunned,” reported Bill Schiller in the Toronto Star, noting that most of what was seen were slingshots, fireworks, Molotov cocktails, rocks, and a few small arms. However that doesn’t mean the government still isn’t pushing hard to sell the terrorist narrative as a justification for possible human rights abuses. This past weekend diplomatic delegations were dispatched to key allies bearing photographs and slick multimedia presentations of an alleged arms cache that they claimed to have discovered days after clearing out the protest camp – a time during which no third parties were allowed to enter this zone to confirm the discovery. They’ve also issued a warrant for the arrest on terrorism allegations of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whom they claim is the mastermind of the Red Shirts (disclosu I represent Mr. Shinawatra as legal counsel). Many factors undermine the Abhisit regime’s terrorism claims: the government has consistently resisted international mediation requests from the protestors, which would in theory corroborate such claims; they have obstructed the work of journalists (one correspondent for the Times of London was detained at his hotel, while many others were seemingly targeted during the siege, including two seriously wounded Canadians – Nelson Rand and Chandler Vandergrift); they’ve shut down hundreds of websites and media sympathetic to the Red Shirts while launching charges against student leaders and academics associated with the movement; and lastly, no one is able to explain how so many local and foreign correspondents inside the Red Shirt camps for weeks failed to record the presence of serious war weapons. Some observers point to the parallels between this attack on the Red Shirts and the massacre of 46 student protestors at Thammasat University in 1976. As happened then, the government is portraying the protesters as evil criminals and enemies of the state, while their control over the media allows for the stirring up of hate and public tolerance for violence against fellow Thais. In the aftermath of Thammasat, it was later discovered that the Thai military had planted a big weapons cache on the students after the fact to justify their actions. The criminalization of Red Shirt protestors as terrorists is even more dangerous than a simple excuse for violence – it is a focused measure aimed at reducing their basic rights to defence, attorneys, and trials. Of the more than 40 protest leaders who have been arrested, the government has refused to disclose their location of detention, the charges against them, or their health status. The government has declared a state of emergency since April 7, allowing them to arrest whomever they choose without charges and hold them in non-conventional facilities – which raises concerns, alluded to by Human Rights Watch, over possible torture or mistreatment. The authorities say that thousands of Red Shirts have been provided with transportation back to their homes, but so far no one has been able to verify who was taken where. These accusations of terrorism against the protesters have been made easier by the existence of real crimes on the fringes of the demonstration. The so-called “Black Shirts,” who have no relation to the peaceful spirit and stated principles of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), have likely been involved in illegal activity and should be arrested and prosecuted before a court for their crimes. Those responsible for the terrible acts of arson that affected more than 20 buildings in Bangkok, including massive damage to the Central World shopping mall, must be investigated and prosecuted for their crimes. But these isolated activities on the lawless fringes represent the outrage and frustration of misled individuals, and have nothing to do with the non-violent political change espoused by the UDD, much less any conventional definition of terrorism. There is also a perception on behalf of the Red Shirts that the legal system is unfairly biased against them. When activists of the pro- government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) illegally occupied and shut down Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport in 2008, not one of these protestors was ever investigated, charged, prosecuted, or jailed for this crime, and in fact the current foreign minister was personally involved. The conduct of the Thai authorities is not that of a victim of terrorism, but rather the behavior of someone who has something to hide. The invention of new crimes to cover up older ones is not acceptable in the contemporary context of international law, and this crass manipulation must be openly discouraged by outside parties. The Red Shirts risked their lives and suffered considerable casualties because their democratic choices and popular will had been repeatedly disqualified and stolen. Until that central grievance is addressed, all other accusations are only distractions. The international community must ask Thailand to uphold the rule of law and basic procedural rights for citizens who have done nothing more than express their opposition to the ruling party. At a minimum, the Abhisit government has a duty to disclose the location of the prison camps and the conditions for the detained protesters, confirm their access to legal counsel and the basis of the charges against them, and grant access to international human rights monitors to ensure fair treatment of the detained Red Shirt leaders. Robert Amsterdam is international lawyer to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and advisor to the human rights defence team of the UDD. Amsterdam is being paid to ignore the distinction between the rank and file protesters, and the leadership core. It is the core that is being called terrorist, not the rank and file. No country allows international organisations to adjudicate its internal disputes, and there is no reason why Thailand should do so now, nor is it remotely likely that it will. The terrorist label is appropriate to people who funded the purchase and use of weapons used against security forces and ordinary citizens, and who developed lists of buildings to destroy, called for the destruction of those buildings, and ensured that those buildings were, in fact, destroyed. Cheers, Ian- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - That's Asian style. That's why everyone in Asia want to be politician. |
#6
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
On May 27, 9:29*am, wakalukong wrote:
and *people *say *Thai *have *a *DEMOCRACY *. all *governments *of * all *nations * in ASEAN *are *totally corrupted *. May 26, 7:09*pm, Ian wrote: Say Hey! Show me any government in the world that isn't corrupt and I'll show you a government that doesn't exist. 5555 Yee-Haw !! |
#7
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Thai government is ROTTEN TO THE CORE -- read this
my government in Cambodia is not corrupted .
because we CPP Khmer party in Cambodia must listen to Vietnamese orders from Hanoi . But sometimes we listen to Chinese orders if Chinese orders come with cash money n May 30, 10:12*am, Cheesy Bob wrote: On May 27, 9:29*am, wakalukong wrote: and *people *say *Thai *have *a *DEMOCRACY *. all *governments *of * all *nations * in ASEAN *are *totally corrupted *. May 26, 7:09*pm, Ian wrote: *Say Hey! Show me any government in the world that isn't corrupt and I'll show you a government that doesn't exist. 5555 Yee-Haw !! |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Greedy government bureaucrats ,many parasites, feasting off the restof us at that Federal Government Trough | O'Donovan, PJ, Himself | Europe | 1 | March 20th, 2010 04:21 PM |
Constantly on the alert for new and innovative ways to extract moretax revenue from its subjects, zee Fwench government considers nationalizingand licensing prostitution to become available in special government whorehouses | PJ Odonovan | Europe | 2 | March 20th, 2010 03:01 PM |
Core Inflation Remains in Check As Energy Pushes Overall Prices Up | Earl Evleth[_2_] | Europe | 4 | June 15th, 2007 11:43 PM |
FS: New Core Duo Centrino GeForce Dell Inspiron 9400 Laptop | [email protected] | Travel Marketplace | 0 | July 23rd, 2006 02:39 AM |