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Sulak Sivaraksa's arrest raises free speech fears
Renowned scholar and social activist Sulak Sivaraksa (Thailand, RLA 1995) has been arrested on charges of lèse majesté.
On Thursday, November 6, the 75 year old was taken from his home in Bangkok and driven 450 km to a police station in Khon Kaen province.
Sivaraksa was detained in connection with a university speech he made last December, when he criticised government spending on the lavish 2006 celebrations for King Bhumibol Adulyadej's Golden Jubilee. He was later released on bail and allowed to return to Bangkok.
It is not the first time that Sivaraksa's social activism has brought him into conflict with Thai authorities: In 1976 he fled abroad from an arrest warrant during the country's bloodiest coup, and in 1984 he landed in court on a charge of royal insult. Finally, the King intervened to have the charge withdrawn, but in 1991 the military junta levelled the same charge against him following a university speech. Sivaraksa was acquitted in 1995.
The Right Livelihood Award Foundation has written to the King's private secretary, asking him to petition His Majesty to protect Sulak Sivaraksa.
The 2008 Right Livelihood Award of SEK 2 million is shared between four recipients:
Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan, and their organisation LAFTI (Land for the Tillers' Freedom) (India), who receive an Award "for two long lifetimes of work dedicated to realising in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development, for which they have been referred to as 'India's soul'."
Picture: Michael Kee
Amy Goodman (USA), founder and award-winning host of Democracy Now!, a daily grassroots, global tv/radio news hour, is honoured "for developing an innovative model of truly independent political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media."
Asha Hagi (Somalia) The Jury honours Asha Hagi "for continuing to lead at great personal risk the female participation in the peace and reconciliation process in her war-ravaged country."
© medica mondiale
Monika Hauser (Germany), gynaecologist and founder of medica mondiale, receives an Award "for her tireless commitment to working with women who have experienced the most horrific sexualised violence in some of the most dangerous countries in the world, and campaigning for them to receive social recognition and compensation."
