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Human Rights Watch is calling on Thailand’s military government to drop charges against a professor and four participants in an academic conference who are accused of violating a ban on public assembly. The charges stem from the International Conference on Thai Studies, which was held in July at Chiang Mai University.
Human Rights Watch said that Chayan Vaddhanaphuti -- who according to The Bangkok Post directs a center on social science and sustainable development at Chiang Mai and was an organizer of the conference -- faces up to a year in prison if convicted. In addition, Human Rights Watch said that four conference attendees -- Pakawadee Veerapatpong, Chaipong Samnieng, Nontawat Machai and Thiramon Bua-ngam -- were charged for holding a sign that said “An academic forum is not a military barrack” to protest the military’s alleged surveillance of conference participants.
“Government censorship and military surveillance have no place at an academic conference,” Brad Adams, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “By prosecuting a conference organizer and participants, the Thai junta is showing the world its utter contempt for academic freedom and other liberties.”
A spokesman at the Thai embassy in Washington did not respond to requests from Inside Higher Ed for comment.
