Amnesty International (AI) on Monday urged Thai authorities to drop charges against human rights lawyer Sirikan Charoensiri, who faces prosecution after providing legal assistance to anti-junta student activists.
The AI also urged authorities to protect the independence and freedom of lawyers, end the repression of peaceful dissidents, and respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
In October, Sirikan was charged with sedition under the Penal Code’s Article 116 and with illegal political assembly in violation of the National Council for Peace and Order’s order banning political gatherings of more than four people.
She also faces criminal charges filed in May for allegedly failing to comply with official orders and for concealing evidence, following her refusal to consent to police requests to carry out a warrantless search of her car after her activist clients were detained for engaging in an alleged political gathering.
As she made a legal complaint alleging official misconduct relating to the incident, Sirikan was also accused of filing a false report to police.
Sirikan, of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, represents the student-based New Democratic Movement, which has held peaceful assemblies in opposition to the junta. Some of its members have been arrested.