Harry Nicolaides' release from a Bangkok prison, and return to Melbourne last
Saturday brought to an end a harrowing six month ordeal both for Nicolaides and
his family.
He should never have been jailed in the first place. The law under
which he was charged, lèse-majesté, the crime of insulting the Thai monarchy,
breaches article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
which guarantees freedom of expression. Thailand is a state signatory to the
covenant.
While Nicolaides was pardoned, the law remains. On 20 January this year, the
day after Nicolaides was sentenced to three years imprisonment, Giles Ji Ungpakorn,
an associate professor at Chulalongkom University in Bangkok, and a contributor
to Asia Sentinel and New Statesman, was charged with the offence.
The
complaint against Ungpakorn relates to his book A Coup for the Rich, in which
he criticised the 2006 military coup which overthrew Thai democracy. He was given 20 days to respond to the charges, before Thai authorities
decided whether his case would be referred to the courts for prosecution.
He
could face between three and 15 years in prison if found guilty. Fearing the
consequences, Ungkaporn, a vocal critic of the military, fled to London in early
February.
International PEN, one of a number of human rights
groups that vigorously campaigned on Nicolaides' behalf, is concerned about the
growing number of Thai citizens being charged under this law. Anyone can file a
police complaint of lèse-majesté on the king's behalf. Unfortunately Thai cases do not receive a high level of attention. The Thai public is unable to
judge the merits of the offences because the press runs the risk of being
accused of repeating the crime by merely reporting it.
While the exact source of the accusation is yet to be determined, there is
little doubt that Nicolaides was a pawn in the machinations of Thai politics.
Members of the Thai military, police force and political elite appear to be
using the law so that they will be seen to be currying favour with the Thai monarchy, and as a
means of stifling legitimate discussion of the monarchy. The New York based
Committee to Protect Journalists has pointed out that Thailand's Ministry of
Information Communication and Technology closed down more than 2300 websites
last month for posting materials deemed offensive to the monarchy.
According to International PEN, Harry Nicolaides' case was unusual. He was, it
is believed, the first Australian writer to be imprisoned in another country because
of his writing. Most PEN cases concern writers imprisoned, harassed, threatened,
exiled or murdered for the peaceful pursuit of their craft in the countries of
which they are citizens. Several hundred writers languish in prison at any given
time. International PEN is currently pursuing the cases of 600 journalists,
novelists, poets and bloggers, imprisoned or harassed for daring to criticise
their governments.
Many cases involve acts of extraordinary courage. Burmese poet and comedian
Maung Thura, aged 47, popularly known by his stage name, Zargana, was sentenced
in November last year to a staggering 59 years in prison after criticising the
government for neglecting the victims of the cyclone that swept through lower
Burma, now known as Myanmar, in May 2008, killing over 130,000 people.
Zargana
has long been critic of the Burmese government. He spent time in prison in 1988
and in the early 1990s for his support for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League
for Democracy.
Despite Chinese government promises, in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics,
to honour the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it
is a signatory, more than 40 writers remain in prison on charges such as 'inciting subversion of state power' and 'publishing articles critical of the
authorities'. Sentences range from three–20 years, with the majority serving
sentences of over eight years.
There is particular concern about the rise of
Internet writers being detained, most notably Shi Tao, serving a 10-year
sentence for 'revealing state secrets' after having emailed his notes of a
government briefing meeting.
On 20 January 2009, Stanislav Markelov, a lawyer for the independent newspaper
Novaya Gazeta, was shot dead in a Moscow street after leaving a press conference
at the Independent Press Centre. His colleague, journalist Anastasiya Baburova
who was walking alongside Markelov was also shot in the head, and later died in
hospital.
Markelov had represented the investigative journalist Anna
Politkovskaya before she herself was assassinated in October 2006. This month
the four men accused of helping to organise her murder were acquitted by a
Moscow court amid suspicion that those responsible for her death are still at
large.
The release of Harry Nicolaides is a cause for celebration and great relief.
Yet it leaves many unanswered questions over the reason for his imprisonment,
and also highlights the plight of many other persecuted writers. There is a need
for an investigation into the circumstances of Nicolaides' arrest so that in
future the Australian government and the Minister of Foreign affairs do not
again merely resort to the mantra that we cannot interfere with the judicial
processes of another country.
Australian governments also need to
be more concerned with the fate of imprisoned writers in countries with which
the governments are doing business. Many are courageous individuals who desperately require
our representation and support.
Arnold Zable is an author and the president of the Melbourne Centre of
International PEN.