Thailand’s government is seeking to oust Amnesty International from the country over allegations the rights group has been interfering with national security.
Seksakol Atthawong, aide to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, has said a petition, which has garnered 1.2 million signatures since last November with the aim of forcing Amnesty International out of Thailand, will be submitted to the National Security Council and the Interior Ministry within days.
The move comes after hardline royalists have been campaigning for months to have Amnesty International expelled over its support for young pro-democracy activists who have been charged with royal defamation, a serious crime in Thailand.
“This organization destroys the security of the country [as] it supports groups that want to topple the monarchy,” Seksakol, a former anti-government firebrand who has switched sides after a military coup spearheaded by Prayut in 2014, told a foreign news agency.
“[Amnesty International] lacks impartiality and sided with an anti-government movement that is anti-constitutional monarchy,” he added.
Amnesty International has been vocal in its defense of young activists who have been detained and charged with royal defamation over their calls for political reforms in Thailand, including the reform of its monarchy, which they say has unchecked powers.
Amnesty International has said that it feels beholden to speak up over what it perceives as human rights violations perpetrated by the country’s military-allied government
These calls by young activists during mass rallies in Bangkok and elsewhere have angered hardline royalists, who insist that the monarchy is inviolate and above all criticism.
At the same time, Thai authorities have been seeking to suppress openly expressed anti-establishment views by charging many young activists with various crimes.
In all, more than 1,700 activists, including numerous minors, have been charged with sedition and other crimes. More than 170 have also been charged with royal defamation, some of them numerous times.
A conviction for royal defamation carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison per charge, which means that people who have been charged repeatedly could be sentenced to decades and even centuries in prison.
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In response to the attacks on it, Amnesty International has said that it feels beholden to speak up over what it perceives as human rights violations perpetrated by the country’s military-allied government.
“While we recognize that the Royal Thai Government has a duty to protect public order and national security, we continue to highlight that authorities must do so in a manner that is in accordance with international human rights law,” the group said in a statement late last week.
The group has been only one of many rights organizations that have been calling on Thailand’s government to respect the rights of young protesters to the freedoms of speech, assembly and conscience.
However, the government has shrugged off such calls, insisting that any criticism of the monarchy, which it says is a hallowed institution, must be penalized because it is a threat to national security.
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