Thai police arrest 12 Facebook users for sharing British tourist’s rape complaint

Police in Thailand are being urged to drop charges against 12 Facebook users arrested for sharing a post about a British tourist who claims that Thai authorities shrugged off her rape complaint.

Authorities had investigated the 19-year-old woman’s allegation that she raped while holidaying on the island of Koh Tao in June, but then dismissed it as false, The Sun reports.

The arrested Facebook users, all Thai men, were detained after a post detailing the allegation and subsequent investigation appeared on the social media site, Tourist Police Bureau deputy chief Major General Surachet Hakpan said at a news conference this week.

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They are accused of violations of Thailand’s Computer-Related Crime Act, and could face up to five years in prison and fines for spreading false information and damaging national security, ABC News reports.

Thai police said two more arrest warrants are out for suspects living aboard, including the British editor of a Thai new site, the news site adds.

Described by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as “draconian”, the Computer-Related Crime Act was adopted in 2016, with the authorities claiming that it would help halt the spread of false information that risks damaging national security.

The HRW site claims that the vague law “gives overly broad powers to the government to restrict free speech, enforce surveillance and censorship and retaliate against activists”.

Winyat Chatmontree, a lawyer for the 12 detainees, yesterday called for all the charges to be dropped.

“These men just simply clicked share on a Facebook post. They have no intention of spreading false rumours or damaging the country. I can only assume that the police made such a quick arrest to stop people from sharing news on this case, which they see as bad for the tourism industry,” he said.