Suwicha Thakhor

Location: Bangkok, Thailand

13° 43' 24.3084" N, 100° 28' 34.4352" E

Status: Under Arrest
Arrested on 14 Jan 2009
Campaign Site: http://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/new-suwicha-thakhor-pleads-guilty/

Suwicha Thakhor, a 34-year-old oil engineer and father of three children, was arrested in January and held in custody until his conviction on 3 April 2009 of lèse majesté for material he posted on his blog which was deemed to have defamed the monarchy. Defaming, insulting or threatening the king or the royal family is an offence under Section 112 of Thailand's Penal Code. Suwicha's lawyer has said he will apply for a royal pardon.

"The suspect committed a serious crime and deserves the most severe punishment," the verdict read. "Therefore the court sentences the suspect to 20 years in jail but as he has confessed the charges the sentence is reduced to 10 years."

“We have to be able to think freely,” Suwicha said on March 4 at Klong Prem Central Prison, “they cannot stop ideas by sending people to jail.”

''This is the first case of an Internet user convicted under the computer crime act related to national security or lèse majesté,'' adds Supinya Klangnarong, a media rights campaigner who head the Thai Netizens Network, a group lobbying for the rights of Internet users. ''The sentence came as a shock. It means that this could happen to any Internet user in Thailand.''

Trackback URL

Articles from trusted websites about this blogger

Comments and Updates

Submitting Updates

Threatened Voices hopes to be a collaborative project. If you have updated, more accurate or more detailed information about the blogger profiled above please let us know! We hope to add the ability for anonymous visitors to add to these profiles soon, but until then please use the comment form below to submit updates. We will review all comments and update the profiles themselves as soon as possible.

Guidelines to speed up the process

For any new information please state a source so we can verify it before updating the profile (URLs are ideal).
To make this profile as detailed as possible please check the profile submission form and include data for as many of the fields listed there as you can.
If you would rather submit privately (we understand!) please use the contact form instead of a comment. Just make sure you include a link to this profile as well as updated information in your message.