คณะกรรมการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชียจับตาไทย

คณะกรรมการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชีย เรียกร้องให้ทำการปล่อยตัวอำพลโดยทันที รวมถึงนักโทษคนอื่นๆ ที่ถูกจำคุกด้วยกฎหมายอาญามาตรา 112 และ พ.ร.บ. คอมพิวเตอร์ด้วย คณะกรรมการสิทธิมนุษยชนแห่งเอเชียจะคอยจับตาคดีที่เกี่ยวข้องกับกฎหมายหมิ่นฯ และ พ.ร.บ. คอมพิวเตอร์อย่างใกล้ชิด และขอเรียกร้องให้ประชาชนที่ห่วงใยสิทธิมนุษยชนและความยุติธรรมในประเทศไทยให้ทำเช่นนั้นด้วยเช่นกัน

The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern over the latest conviction and sentence of a person in Thailand for a crime of freedom of expression. On 23 November 2011, in Black Case No. 311/2554, Ampon Tangnoppakul (also known as 'Arkong'), a 61-year-old man, was sentenced to twenty years in prison for four alleged violations of Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act. Ampon’s crime was to allegedly send four SMS messages to Somkiat Klongwattanasak, personal secretary of the former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. iLaw, a Thai legal NGO, reported that the four SMS messages were alleged by the authorities to contain vulgar language and to defame the Thai queen and to insult the honor of the monarchy. The precise content of the SMS messages has not been made public by the authorities and because repetition of alleged les majest content itself constitutes a violation of the law, reporters are unable to report the precise content of the messages without then becoming subject to criminal prosecution themselves.

Compounding the injustice of this sentence, Ampon Tangnoppakul is suffering from laryngeal cancer and had been unable to access proper treatment during detention before and during his trial. There is no reason 1to believe that this will change now that he has been convicted, and, in fact, depending on what prison he is transferred to, there may be further concerns over his safety and well-being. As has been clear in the case of Daranee Charnchoengskilpakul, currently serving an eighteen-year sentence for alleged les majest and who suffers from severe jaw disease, the authorities have no qualms about denying necessary medical treatment and violating the rights of political prisoners .

On 3 August 2010, a group of 15 police officers raided Ampon Tangnoppakul’s house and arrested him. He was detained for 63 days of pre-charge detention before being granted bail on 4 October 2010. He was then formally charged by the prosecutor on 18 January 2011 with violations of Article 112 and the Computer Crimes Act, and has been incarcerated since then. The court refused bail on the basis of the gravity of his crime and the possibility of flight. His trial took place on 23 and 27-30 September 2011. From the beginning, Ampon maintained his innocence, noting that he did not know to send SMS messages and that the number that sent the message to Somkiat was not his number. The response of the prosecutor to this was to discount it, and note that as the IMEI number of the cell phone that sent the messages to Somkiat belonged to Ampon, then he was responsible.

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