Two young Thai protesters facing charges of defaming the king announced Saturday they were ending a marathon hunger strike amid doctors’ concerns they might be suffering organ failure.
Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon, 21, and Orawan “Bam” Phupong, 23, began a hunger strike on January 18 to call on political parties to support the abolition of certainly one of the dominion’s strictest royal insult laws – among the strictest on this planet.
Wednesday marked the fiftieth day of the young women’s protest. They were released from detention last month as a consequence of their deteriorating health.
“Tawan and Bam would like to inform the public that we have ended our hunger strike to save our lives and continue the fight,” Tawan announced Saturday in a Facebook post.
“Medical staff are concerned that long periods without food and water affect our kidneys and other organs.”
In Thailand, a person was imprisoned for selling calendars with yellow geese
In Thailand, a person was imprisoned for selling calendars with yellow geese
The post confirmed that they were conscious and capable of communicate.
“Even though we have passed the danger zone, Thammasat Hospital still has to take care of us,” Tawan said, adding that the couple called on authorities to release other political activists from detention.
The duo was charged with defaming the king over two separate protests in Bangkok in 2022. Those convicted face 15 years in prison on each charge under a law that rights groups say is used to suppress political dissent.
Thai human rights lawyers say greater than 200 people have been charged with lese majeste because the 2020 pro-democracy protests, including at the very least 17 minors.
Bangkok has been rocked by mass youth-led protests, resulting in unprecedented demands for reform of Thailand’s monarchy.
Thailand is anticipated to go to the polls in May.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who got here to power in a 2014 coup, called on the ladies’s families to watch their behavior.
Pheu Thai, the country’s principal opposition party, has avoided backing Tantawan and Orawan’s calls for reform, apparently reluctant to have interaction on the highly sensitive issue of the monarchy so near the elections.
On Tuesday, a person was sentenced to 2 years in prison for selling a satirical calendar with yellow rubber geese, which the court said was an insult to the king.
