Nat Sattayapornpisut: A Statement

Tomorrow, October 26th, ends the 12 day period during which time Nat Sattayapornpisut has been held at DSI offices in Bangkok. Will we know his fate?

According to the press, Nat has "confessed to sending three lese majeste videos via e-mail". I can tell you that this is not true. I myself downloaded the videos from Spain.

But there are other isses here which I think the European Union and Human Rights groups should be concerned about. Firstly, there's the question of how the DSI managed to read my e-mails.

Did the DSI illegally hack into my mail? Or did Yahoo give permission to the DSI to access my mail? Did Spanish authorities permit Thai police to access the Spanish internet servers? This is a question of freedom of speech which no civilised country can ignore.

Then there's the most worrying aspect of all. Is Nat Sattayapornpisut a police officer serving in Thailand's police force? Read this snippet from an article which has now been deleted from a Thai website called Prachatai -

Friends Connection ประชาไท หนังสือพิมพ์ออนไลน์

Thai man arrested for sending lèse majesté clips to a British blogger in Spain ... Briton living in Spain, who had been in contact with Suwicha via e-mail. ... This case is the first in which the DSI has charged police officers over ...

If however, the "Police officer" who was "charged" was not Nat, then we can safely say it was another police officer who is involved in this case. But, why would the DSI arrest its own police officers? Could it be that it relates to the way in which my mail was "hacked" into?

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If so, then Nat's arrest was "illegal" because the method used to gain the information was in itself illegal. I urge Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to become involved in this case, and help Nat Sattayapornpisut prove his innocence.

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We have the right to know the truth.

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