A professor who organised an international conference on Thai studies and four Thai academics, who were delegates at the conference,have been charged with violating the country’s military junta’s ban on political gatherings of more than five people. They could face up to six months in prison if convicted.
A report on University World News said the charges were announced on 14 August, a month after the 13th International Conference on Thai Studies, which was held, 15-18 July, at Chiang Mai University in northern Thailand.
The conference has been held every three years since 1981, including at universities outside Thailand. It is the first time the event has experienced interference from the Thai authorities.
Local reports said the deputy commander of the 33rd Military Circle of Chiang Mai, Col Suebsakul Buarawong, filed the charges, accusing the five academics of violating the junta’s order number 3/2015. The order stated charges could be dropped if the accused agree to undergo an ‘attitude adjustment’ course.
Academic sessions on the conference programme had included debates on the Thai political system and plainclothes officers were seen monitoring the conversations, according to University World News.
In a joint statement, 176 Thai and foreign academics have called on the junta to give people back the freedom to express opinions without fear of punishment or reprisal. They wanted full and free access to information and facts, and said prisoners of conscience jailed for their religious, political or other views should be released from jail.
Conference organiser Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, director of the Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development at Chiang Mai University, was quoted by local media as saying he had not asked for permission from the military to organise the conference as it was academic-based and insisted no political activities were held at the conference.
“Government censorship and military surveillance have no place at an academic conference,” said Human Rights Watch Asia Director Brad Adams. “By prosecuting a conference organiser and participants, the Thai junta is showing the world its utter contempt for academic freedom and other liberties,” Adams added.
At least 157 planned civil and academic gatherings and activities in Thailand have been intervened in or prohibited by the National Council for Peace and Order, as the junta is known, according to iLaw, a civil society group that monitors law-making and law enforcement.
