Sentenced to 11 years in prison

Somyot, a Thai labour rights activist, human rights defender and magazine editor, has been in detention since April 2011 for the publication of two articles deemed insulting to the king. He was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment in January 2013, with an appeal still pending.

The Clean Clothes Campaign has been lobbying international bodies for awareness and action, together with the Free Somyot campaign group and other organisations.

Labour rights activist Somyot Prueksakasemsuk was arrested on April 30 2011 after publishing the two articles which he didn't write himself. Furthermore he was an active supporter of a campaign for freedom of expression and the removal of the article on lèse majesté - the crime of insulting the king - from the Thai criminal code. Nearly two years later, in January 2013, he was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.

Geneva

In 2013, the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) continued to work together with other international human rights organisations to push for Somyot’s release. CCC sent letters to the Dutch and Danish embassies in Thailand and worked with the EU parliament’s Human Rights Committee, who raised the case with the Thai embassy in Belgium. Somyot's wife visited Geneva in September 2013, where she met with CCC, Thai and European government representatives, UN OHCHR, ILO and global trade union IndustriALL. She was also interviewed by French national radio and participated in a Human Rights Council side event about internet and media restrictions in Southeast Asia

CCC continues to call upon the Thai authorities to drop all charges against Somyot Prueksakasemsuk and all other human rights defenders detained under the lèse majesté laws. CCC asks that, as a minimum, Somyot will be released on bail. CCC also asks that all human rights defenders in Thailand be able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of judicial or other harassment.

Sentenced to 11 years in prison

Geneva

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