The criminal defamation law, misused for decades by politicians and phuyai, represents long, stressful punishment for the accused. They were ... well, they are:Somchai Homla-or, lawyer, long-time rights fighter, commissioner of the Law Reform Commission, secretary-general of the Human Rights and Development Foundation, member of the National Human Rights Commission;Anchana Heemmina, Muslim, southerner, founder of Duay Jai Group which she formed to help to rehabilitate and support torture victims and their families;Porpen Khongkaconkiet, human rights lawyer, director of the Cross Cultural Foundation which has promoted and monitored human rights since 2002. The process itself, being forced to participate in such outdated legal proceedings, is the entire punishment sought by the litigious officers of Isoc. Like the navy commander who brought the Phuketwan case, Isoc and the former Isoc commander seem unlikely to win these cases in court. The fallout from that article spread ripples, now waves across the most basic civil rights and freedoms — press, speech, recourse.

Source: Bangkok Post July 31, 2016 02:15 UTC