Narissarawan Kaewnopparat, who was previously in the forefront of a campaign for justice over her uncle’s death, was arrested by Makkasan police in Bangkok, after a warrant was issued her arrest by Narathiwat Provincial Court in February. She was sent to Narathiwat to face the charges.

Phunsuk Phunsukcharoen, her lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights Centre, said it was still unclear who had laid the complaint against Narissarawan and what exactly her client did that was illegal. No summons has been issued to her client, she added.

“My client was arrested at her office in the Children and Youth Department before noon. She was arrested because of the warrant but did not get any summons before,” Phunsuk said.

“As of now, I only know that she faces two allegations: defamation and posting wrong information on the Internet. We have to wait till we see the full complaints when we arrive at Narathiwat.”

She said Narissarawan was due to be taken to Narathiwat by van, accompanied by police and two inspectors from the Cross Cultural Foundation.

In related news, the secretary general of Amnesty International Salil Shetty issued a statement condemning the arrest of three rights activists: Somchai Homla-or, Anchana Heemmina, and Porpen Khongkaconkiet, who exposed the case of torture by Thai authorities. Shetty called for officials to drop all charges against them immediately.

According to the statement, the three face up to five years jail and a fine of up to $4,800 (Bt168,000), if they are found guilty of criminal defamation and violating the computer crime law.

The three surrendered to police at Pattani Police Station yesterday to hear the charges.