"Red-shirt leaders under detention should not be chained, especially when they appear in public, because this violates their rights and goes against international practices, chairman of the Truth and National Reconciliation Committee Kanit na Nakhon said yesterday. He added that the committee would advise the authorities to stop such practices soon.

"It is a tradition in our country to chain prisoners [when they are brought out of prison], but it is against the UN human-rights principles," Kanit said.He said he was disturbed by photographs taken of red-shirt leader Nattawut Saikua being brought to court in chains, and realised that this practice was wrong. "The red-shirt movement will raise this issue to attack the justice system," he said.

Kanit, a former attorney-general, was chosen to lead the committee investigating the military crackdown on the red-shirt protesters, during which at least 90 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured.

The red shirts are blaming the government for launching a military crackdown against them, while the authorities |are blaming the red shirts for using militants. Kanit said his committee would not just aim at bringing wrongdoers to justice, but would instead campaign for human rights.

"This is not just for the red shirts, but to establish good human-rights practises in the country," he explained. "If human rights are being violated in the country, how can this committee talk about the principles of human rights?" he asked."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/...s-30134467.html

The Bangkok Post has an editorial today raising serious questions about what this Kanit commission is all about. It says that shackling prisoners has little or nothing to do with finding out why so many people got killed and injured during the red shirt protests. It closes with this admonition:



http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion...-its-priorities

The only reason that Kanit is concerned about the shackling of prisoners is that he doesn't want the world press to be able to take pictures of the red shirt leaders arriving to court in chains. Bad PR. He also wants to be seen as some sort of 'liberal" who is accomplishing something in this committee. In fact, he is a company man all the way. You can be sure he won't do anything that might embarrass or harm the guys who appointed him and Abhisit. This commitee is about as independent of the government as the judges who keep approving CRES jailing suspects without evidence and no bail. It's all a huge charade to mask Thailand's voyage into a military dictatorship on the Burma model. The Amart are terrified that they will lose control of the country if the king should pass away and elections return power to the Thaksin supporters. Their only hope is to establish a military dictatorship that will run the country through a puppet like Abhisit.