thefreeonline on 31st Aug 2023 by Prachatai. Photo from ไข่แมวชีส
Warunee is the latest activist jailed hungerstriker accused of insulting The King, .
Statement from Warunee.. แถลงการณ์จากวารุณี : ฟางเส้นสุดท้าย ก่อนตัดสินใจอดอาหารประท้วง ย้ำภายใน 3 วันหากยังไม่ได้ประกันจะยกระดับ ‘อดน้ำ’ ด้วย
Warunee was aged 30 and from Phitsanulok when she was arrested on 2 December 2021, accused of lese majeste.
Her charge stemmed from a Facebook post that included a picture of King Vajiralongkorn changing the seasonal “clothing” of the Emerald Buddha. At the time, the king had briefly returned from Europe for this ceremony.
It is alleged that the picture was edited so that the Buddha was wearing a dress.
Warunee was alleged to have posted an edited photo that had the Buddha is wearing a ball gown with a Yorkshire terrier sitting next to the base of the Buddha, with the message “Emerald Buddha x Sirivannavari Bangkok.”
Prachatai provides an update on Warunee (last name withheld) or Nam-Warunee, a Facebook user detained pending appeal on a lese majeste charge, who has begun “a hunger strike in protest after being repeatedly denied bail.”
Warunee was arrested at her Phitsanulok home following a complaint filed by Nopadol Prompasit, one of the bullies associated with the Thailand Help Centre for Cyberbullying Victims, an online ultra-royalist group of thugs.
Nopadol complained “that the edited image insulted and made fun of the King, and that the post was rude and inappropriate and could affect national security, as well as insulting the religion.”
The police tagged along with the ultra-royalists and cruelly charged Warunee under Article 112, Article 14 of the Computer Crimes Act, and Article 206 for insulting an object of religious worship.
CMU students convicted over art installation29 Aug 2023 Prachatai…Two students from Chiang Mai University (CMU) have been found guilty of royal defamation and violation of the 1979 Flag Act for an art installation piece exhibited at an event in March 2021.
Prosecutors made the outlandish claim that “the image [she posted] might lead to a misunderstanding that the King was putting a dress on the Emerald Buddha and that a dog was sitting next to the Buddha during the ceremony [and that this] false information [was] damaging to national security.” Prosecutors apparently consider most Thais are stupid.
Warunee denied all charges.
The police confiscated her phone and laptop. Warunee was detained overnight at the Thung Song Hong Police Station before being taken to court on 3 December. Her lawyer requested bail citing her bipolar disorder that needs continuous treatment. She was later granted bail using a 100,000-baht security.
She was convicted on 28 June 2023 and sentenced to 3 years in prison, reduced “to 1 year and 6 months because she confessed to committing an offence against the King, who should not have been violated in a manner affecting other people’s feeling.”
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights report that Warunee told her lawyer on 21 August 2023 “that she is going on a hunger strike to protest her detention and will not be eating solid foods. She will still be drinking milk, but if she is not granted bail within three days, she will be going on a dry fast and will refuse medical treatment.” She “also told the lawyer that she has signed a document refusing medical treatment.”
Warunee is described as “very stressed” and has lost weight from about 37 to 33 kg. This means a fast is dangerous.
She reportedly told her lawyer that a hunger strike is the only way to communicate how Article 112 “hurts ordinary people.” Warunee said “that being denied bail on 17 August was the last straw for her.
She said she can no longer put up with being bullied by the court and that there is nothing else she can do but to jeopardize her own health in protest.”
She added: “If the Court is not going to let me go nicely, I will find a way out myself … physically intact or covered in a sheet of white cloth…”.
After her conviction, a bail application was made. Warunee has now been denied bail 5 times and has been in detention for 60 days.”
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