(15 May) Amnesty International (AI) said the Thai government′s decision to unshackle over 500 prisoners at Bangkwang Prison, Nonthaburi, is a long-overdue step that would improve Thailand′s human rights practices.

In a press release, the AI says Thailand should also recognise rights in life and dignity of prisoners by pushing for abolition of death penalty altogether.

Earlier today, PM Yingluck Shinawatra , along with Deputy Prime Minister Captain Chalerm Yoobamrung, Nuttawut Saikua, Deputy Minister of Commerce, and Mr.Korkaew Pikulthong, Pheu Thai partylist MP, presided over a ceremony to unchain the 563 death row inmates at Bangkwang Prison. They were part of pilot programme that would eventually see the unchaining of all 800 death row prisoners.

The program is intended to show that Thai government is focusing on the human rights of inmates.

Pol.Col.Suchat Wongananchai, Department of Corrections, said that the Bangkwang prison is a maximum security prison, where the maximum sentence is death. It is also the only prison in Thailand with death row.

He told our correspondent that the prison has experimented with the removal of the shackles that keep prisoners in chains since 23 January. Prisoners who had their chains removed included 16 prisoners with less than 50 year sentence, 34 prisoners sentenced to life, and 513 death row prisoners, 563 in total.

The result of the experiment include a change in behavior in the inmates and they were able to move around more freely, without chains holding them down, Pol.Col. Suchat said, adding that there will also continue to be unchaining ceremonies at other penitentiaries across the country.

Male inmate Wisut Boonkasaemsun, ex gynecologist at the Chulalongkorn Hospital who was found guilty of murdering his wife, said that today he felt happy for his inmate friends who have been unchained.

He said to be on death row and was chained down for almost 4 years. The physical and mental pain caused by the chains is still alive in his mind even though years have passed. It was a feeling of constant discomfort while he was sitting,sleeping, going to the toilet.

But the pain, he said, was at its greatest in his heart.He said that he felt like he was a hell creature, a non-human. He thinks that all chained inmates feel the same way.

This kindness offered today is easing the torment in hell to some extent, Mr. Wisut said.

It should be noted that although shackles are mostly applied to serious crime prisoners or suspects, those who were charged with lese majeste, such as Mr. Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, are often shackled when they appear before the judges. The practice has caused uproar among civil rights activists who see it as further punishment of ?prisoners of conscience?.

(15 May) The nation is in shock after a kindergarten student in Sisaket province was left in the parking school bus for 7 hours, leading to his death – just a month after a similar case happened in Samut Prakan province.

Today at 15.30 pm police received reports of a boy being locked inside a school bus. The boy was sent to Utumpornpisai hospital, but did not survive.

The victim was identified as Suriyakarn Pagun, nicknamed Potter. He was 3 year old.

After investigating Ms.Tunyatorn Boonma, 27, the victim’s mother, it is revealed that the school had picked up her son in a truck to go to school like normal at 07.00 am. The school ?bus? was in fact a converted pickup truck, she added.

Her son was asleep in the small space at the back of the car and nobody noticed he was missing until 15.00 pm. The owner of the car rushed over and discovered Potter who had turned dark green and had torn the buttons off of his shirt. He was rushed to the hospital, but he was already dead.

His body was sent from Utumpornpisai hospital to Sisaket hospital for an autopsy. The owner of the school had contacted Potter’s mother and informed her that they are entirely responsible for the incident.

Pol. Col. Bundit Potisarn, director of the Utumpornpisai police station, revealed that the roofed pickup truck belonged to a school teacher, carrying 10 students. Potter was a small child so he was put in the small area behind the driver. When they arrived at the school, the teacher got all the kids off the back and locked the door, forgetting that Potter was asleep in the front portion of the vehicle.

Officers have pressed charges of negligence.

The teacher has not been questioned since she is still in shock, but she has informed the school that she will be responsible for everything. The witnesses have been questioned and the teacher will be summoned for questioning soon.

This shocking accident comes of the heels of another shocking incident on 3 April, where a kindergarten teacher in Samut Prakan province left a little 3 year old girl in the school van for 4 hours. She spent 14 days in the ICU and eventually lost her life. The teacher is now charged and will be prosecuted.

(15 May) Silpakorn student shot herself to death in Nakhon Pathom province after suffering from what her father described as stress related to her courseworks.

Around 11.00 today,
Nakhon Pathom police received reports of a suicide by gunshot at a local
grocery store in Nakhon Pathom. Police arrived at the scene
along with recue foundation workers and doctor on call from Nakhonchaisri
Hospital.

The incident took place in the victim′s  , bedroom above the grocery store. She was wearing a pink shirt
and denim shorts, with a bullet wound on her temple, sitting against the wall.
2 bullet shells were found near the
body and the gun was taken in as evidence.

The victim, identified as Ms. Wiral Yimlamaie, 22, was a computer
engineering student at Silpakorn University, Nakhon Pathom.

Ms.
Daongam Yimlamai, 39, mother of the deceased, revealed to the police that
before the incident, she was at the shop and her daughter came down to help like normal, but she looked as if she had something on her mind. She began walking
in circles but Ms. Daongam didn’t think anything of it.

Her daughter
then reportedly walked up to the bedroom and she heard 2
gunshots. She was greatly alarmed and ran upstairs to discover her daughter
had committed suicide.

Mr.Somchai Yimlamai, 46, father of the deceased, informed police that
he was not home during the incident since he had driven out to the rice
fields. He received a phone call from his wife informing him of his daughter’s
suicide and he hurried home.

He added that his daughter was a third
year engineering student at Silpakorn University. Lately, she had been
complaining about school a lot and informed him that she was feeling stressed
and pressured. He told her it was okay for her to suspend her education and
just come help out at the store.

She had been taking medication to
suppress her stress, Ms. Wiral′s father said..

Mr.Somchai also said
that 2 days before the suicide, his daughter approached him and told him that
she was worried she would disappoint him and her mother, fearing they would be
ashamed if she could not graduate from university. He then started to spend
more time with his daughter because he was getting worried about
her mental state but he never
imagined she could kill herself.

Investigations will take place to determine whether the
suicide was from stress or from side effects of the medication she was taking,
which may have caused hallucination.

She was also on diet pills which
may have caused the stress as well, police added. The
parents will be questioned again to determine the cause of death.

(15 May) Earlier today, Mr.Pichit Gliagutan, head of Sawangrojtummasataan rescue foundation, received reports of a large python laying numerous eggs at the roots of a tree in a cassava plantation in Chonburi province.

The rescue team found many python
eggs near a tree stump in the plantation, but did not immediately see the
python. After a 20 minute search, the 3 meter long python, which weighed 40
kgs, revealed itself and was caught by the team along with 19 python eggs.
They were all released back to the wild in a secluded forest.

Locals who were aware of this incident came to see the snake and its eggs, interpreting the number of the eggs as a lucky lottery number.

(14 May) Khonkaen police received reports of a man hanging himself in Baannonetun School, behind the administration building. Police arrived at the scene with rescue foundation workers and a medical examiner from Srinakarin hospital, Konkaen University.

On the North part of the Campus, the school had installed many water towers. Under one of those towers, the body of a teenage boy hung from the metal bars.
He was wearing a blue and white sports shirt, sport pants, and his feet were
touching the ground, he shoes lay spawned out on the floor.

A female student discovered the body and informed the school staff,
who called the police. The deceased’s motorcycle was left with keys in
the ignition near the restroom; under the seat was an unpaid traffic ticket,
which revealed his identity and was taken in as evidence.

The
police gave his name simply as Mr. Watchara, 18,  and said he had been dead
for at least 3 hours.

Later, the deceased’s mother came to identify the body and informed investigators that
her son was kicked out of his old school in 8th grade. He continued studying
at Non-formal education for 1 year and then quit and just stayed at home.

Lately, she said, her son had been more reclusive and seemed like he
had some life problems. Before the incident, at 11 AM., his uncle saw him at
home and it was a shock for his family to think that he is now dead.

Mr.Watchara’s
body was sent to the forensic department to determine cause of death before
being returned to his family for religious rites.

(13 May) A Chiang Mai woman claimed an American raped her after she met him via a blind date.

Mr. Natee Teerojanapoing, secretary of the
Chiang Mai Araya Group (Civilized Chiang Mai),
said in press conference that a Thai woman aged 30 complained to the group about a scam
luring Thai women to be sold to foreigners. He said she
was raped and believes there are other victims of this scam as
well.

Mr.Natee said that the victim is a college graduate and owns a
business. She was looking through the newspaper
and found a personal ad saying that an American man named James Dean Hackner,
49, a business man, is looking for a life partner to help him with his
business and to marry. A phone number belonging to a Thai woman was included
in the ad.

“When the victim contacted, the Thai woman set up a dinner date with Mr.
James Dean, but it turned out the man was 56 years old. Mr. James insured that
victim that he was looking for a life partner and took her back to his
condominium on Huay Kaew road, Chiang Mai, that was
decorated as an office building.”, said Mr. Natee, who is known in
Thai public for his traditionalist-conservative
view.

Mr.Natee said
that Mr.James asked the victim to meet him at the condominium again and raped
her. Any attempts by the victim to contact Mr.James afterwards was turned down
and she believes there are more Thai women who had been victims of this scam,
but may be too embarrassed to come forward.

She then went to
Poopingratchanivet police station, but no actions have been taken. That is
when she contacted the Chiang Mai Araya
group.

Mr. Natee added that her appeal is aimed to prevent other prospective victims to this scam, which she believes may be a new form of sex
trade targeting Thai women.

(13 May) Bangkok Metropolitan Police apprehended a nude photography trip participants in an apartment in the city after sending in undercover investigators to pose as a photographer interested in buying the trip.

Police arrested 4 suspects: the trip coordinator, 2 photographers, and a 19 year old female
model, and confiscated a camera which contained more than 300 photos of naked women, some showing
them engaged in sexual intercourse.

Mr.Suparak
confessed to catering 2-3 trips prior to this one, charging each client 1,200-1,500 baht. The model
said she was starting her first year of college. She revealed that this was her 5th time and she got
paid 4,000-5,000 baht per “trip”.

(13 May) Our correspondent received reports that a prehistoric cemetery in Nongtakien Temple, Pitsanulok, which was built thousands of years ago is starting to collapse, especially during the start of this year′s rainy season.

The cemetery becomes flooded and the water may
have damaged the prehistoric human remains buried there. Locals request the
immediate aid of agencies involved.

The Fine Arts Department says it will send in more workers to survey the area since the skeletons are considered
archaeological evidence.