Mekong Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 The death of Amphon Tangnoppakul serves to remind us of a travesty of justice. Amphon died of cancer last Tuesday at Bangkok Remand Prison's central hospital. He was 61. He passed away before he could apply for a royal pardon on his lese majeste conviction and prison sentence of 20 years. In life as well as in death, Amphon was at the centre of an ongoing debate between proponents and opponents for change in the lese majeste law. The opposing camps should, however, be mindful that this is a time for mourning and reflection, instead of treating the dead man like a political football. The verdict, handed down last November, was actually a summation of oddities found in the Amphon case. The legal wrangling began after four SMS text messages were sent on May 9, 11, 12 and 22, 2010 to the mobile phone of Somkiat Krongwattanasuk, private secretary to the then prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. With or without Amphon's involvement, it was odd that someone would target Somkiat, as if trying to provoke the authorities to enforce the lese majeste law. Inquiries subsequently linked the messages to Ampon's mobile phone, using the International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI) as evidence. Unlike past cases involving royal insult, the prosecution opted to prosecute Amphon based on the IMEI and mobile phone technology rather than re-enact how and why the offensive messages were sent. In other words, the court heard arguments and rebuttals about the technology to identify and link Amphon's mobile phone to the four messages and not whether Amphon was the man who sent them. In the court of public opinion, many had two lingering doubts - whether Amphon was capable of text messaging and whether the IMEI could be manipulated to frame Amphon. These two doubts were not addressed in a court of law. And the defence neglected to explain why Amphon's mobile phone showed a number of text messages sent when there were doubts whether he was capable of relaying such notes. The gist of the conviction was based on the Computer Act holding Amphon accountable for the spread of offensive messages via SMS. The lese majeste law was cited to penalise him in conformity with the procedural code to invoke a stronger provision of the two laws in the sentencing. The defence did not, curiously, dispute the prosecution's branding of the messages as a royal insult. If a frail man like Amphon was prosecuted for a crime he did not commit, then this leads to a disturbing question - who was behind the scam to frame him? The four text messages were sent via an SMS substation located near Amphon's home. But the question remains: Did someone deliberately involve Amphon? Oddities of the case did not end in the courtroom. The autopsy report showed Amphon had terminal liver cancer. After his death, his wife admitted knowing about the fatal illness. Yet in all his eight bail applications, the defence never mentioned cancer. In March, Amphon decided to seek a pardon instead of trying to overturn his conviction. His poor health was apparent for all to see. But the people he trusted convinced him to opt for a pardon via the government as a short route to directly petition the King. Shortly before he succumbed to his illness, he wrote a passionate letter to his defence team voicing optimism about a pardon. He seemed to be unaware that the government had not started his pardon process. My link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted May 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 As I said in yesterdays thread, I believe that the lese majeste laws are rather antiquated for modern society, but what gets me is the evidence he was convicted on. His IMEI, that's all. IMEI Spoofing (just google it) has been going on ever since IMEI was introduced, what on earth his defense team were up to I do not know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Hi, Guys, please thread VERY carefully in this thread. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acockasian Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Hi, Guys, please thread VERY carefully in this thread. Sanuk! Mekong was not wrong to post this but he knows how far comments can go. Most on the board do. But it only takes one person to cause an issue.... The safest route is to delete the thread if a mod can't follow it real time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 ...The defence did not, curiously, dispute the prosecution's branding of the messages as a royal insult. ... That would seem to a rather disingenuous statement by the author as there is no doubt the content of the messages were insulting and it is very likely the author has seen them. I guess he was just being careful. If you look at who had the most to gain from making Amphon a martyr to the LM laws it is not the hard core royalists that are being blamed, but rather the radical faction within the UDD. This would seem to be a similar tactics of those that placed an armed element into the UDD at the 2010 protests in order to create martyrs then. It is backfiring somewhat with Amphon’s death as Yingluck is getting a lot of criticism for not doing anything about it. But that actually goes along with the radical factions’ agenda at this point. I do agree that the penalties being handed out are far in excess of the crimes and something must be done to stop the LM laws from being used as a political tool by both sides. Abolishing them is not the solution, but some sort of independent review board needs to be setup to be sure the cases are real and the punishment fits the crime. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Hi, "Mekong was not wrong to post this but he knows how far comments can go." Agree, and no problem with him posting it. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted May 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Mekong was not wrong to post this but he knows how far comments can go. Most on the board do. But it only takes one person to cause an issue.... Thanks for the support Cocky. I do believe that now the board has a lot less traffic than it did 2-3 years ago that all posters know the limitations of what can be said on subjects such as this and hopefully have a reasonable debate without crossing the line. That being said if KS decided to "Lock the Thread" rather than delete it, I would respect his decision and say nothing more on the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 He said he didn't even know how to send an SMS. Didn't matter ... it was his phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted May 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 He said he didn't even know how to send an SMS. Didn't matter ... it was his phone. Was it? As I said before just google "IMEI Spoofing" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acockasian Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Was it? As I said before just google "IMEI Spoofing" That is an important point. To me the even bigger one is that people who know they are about to die generally don't lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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