4 replies to this topic

[Kirkland]

"The Criminal Court Friday approved police's second request to detain 11 red-shirt leaders for 12 more days under the Criminal Procedural Code. The court allowed police detain the 11 red-shirt leaders from June 27 to July 8 after the first detention period expires on Saturday.

Police requested the detention extension on ground that they have yet to interrogate 70 other witnesses and have to wait for scientific evidence before they could file charges against the suspects in court. The 11 include Natthawut Saikua, Weng Tojirakrn, Kwanchai Phraiphana and Nisit Sinthuprai."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Court...s-30132422.html

I am not a lawyer but is there any democracy in the world where the police are allowed to lock you up without bail while they investigate whether you did anything wrong. This has got to be perverting justice.

[Oliver]

Agreed, Kirkland. The far-right certainly has Thailand in its grip at the moment. But come the revolution.....

Sadly, it's also true of the UK for "terrorist" suspects, thanks to Lord Blair of Fallujah and his neo-con cronies. And, of course, our suspects aren't even told what the evidence is and where it comes from. Some have spent years in Belmarsh Prison on this basis.

[wpcoe]

Don't the "Homeland Security" folks in the USA have that ability as well?

[Hedda]

Don't the "Homeland Security" folks in the USA have that ability as well?

Probably not, although the Homeland security Act and the Patriot Act have certainly muddied the waters. Traditionally, if you are arrested without a warrant, you are entitled to a prompt judicial determination if there is probable cause to believe you have committed an offense. That's usually been held to be 48-72 hours of your arrest. If you are arrested with a court-approved warrant, then you are presumed to be held for probable cause, but you still must be brought before the court promptly for a preliminary hearing where the government must show there is a reasonable basis to hold you.

Since 9-11, the US executive branch has argued that "enemy combatants" in the so-called War on Terror can be held indefinitely without charges on the basis of the President's authority as commander-in-chief. With one exception, all people who have been held under that authority have been aliens, not US citizens, apprehended outside the United States. The US Supreme Court is still in the process of sorting what due process requirements apply in these "enemy combatant" cases.

The present Thailand situation is very different in that the government argues it has the right under the Emergency Act to effective suspend civil liberties for the entire population, jailing people "on suspicion" that they are terrorists, and holding them without bail while it investigates them. It's guilty until proven innocent.

As far as I can tell from the news reports, no court has ever made any determination in any of these cases that there was probable cause to arrest them in the first place or that there is any evidence justifying their remaining in jail, pursuant to the Emergency Act. Indeed, in the case of the government's attempt to revoke the bail granted to Pheu Thai MP Jatuporn, the court appears to have effectively held that the government produced no evidence to hold him for any serious offense, let alone revoke his bail.

In effect, Thailand's jails today are filled with over 400 persons who are political prisoners, jailed for their membership in or adherence to the red shirt movement, without any evidence that they have participated in any crime, much less the capital crime of terrorism, greater than gathering to protest the imposition of the Emergency decree's ban on public assembly.

[Tony]

Remember also that it is illegal for the US army to arrest anyone in the United States, much less imprison any civilian without charges or trial. This State of Emergency is a military dictatorship, especially with the courts rolling over and playing dead if anyone mentions the word "terrorist." Who needs a coup with laws like this ?