Concerns for imprisoned leader heightened by leaked logs
Leaked prison logs from early 2024 have provided rare insight into the tightly controlled life of Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted Myanmar leader, who is spending her fourth year in solitary confinement.
The logs detail her daily routine, including waking at 4.30am, over an hour of meditation and prayer, three modest meals, and several hours reading English and French novels.
Ms Suu Kyi was detained after the military overthrew her elected government in a 2021 coup and she was handed a 27-year prison sentence on charges widely condemned as politically motivated.
Concerns about her wellbeing are heightened by the logs, which indicate she receives only basic medical care and has faced room temperatures reaching 31C.
Ahead of her 80th birthday on 19 June, her son Kim Aris has launched a campaign to collect 80,000 messages for her.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Bangkok protesters demand prime minister's resignation over leaked phone call
Thousands of protesters have gathered in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Thailand's prime minister over a leaked phone call with a former Cambodian leader. Paetongtarn Shinawatra faces growing dissatisfaction over her handling of a recent border dispute with Cambodia involving an armed confrontation on 28 May. One Cambodian soldier was killed. The recorded phone call with the former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen led to the protests on Saturday and has triggered a series of investigations in Thailand that could lead to Paetongtarn's removal. The call caused anger because of Paetongtarn's comments about an outspoken regional army commander and her perceived attempts to appease Hun Sen, the current Cambodian Senate president, to ease tensions at the border. There were about 6,000 protesters, according to Bangkok police. Despite a downpour, they held national flags and placards around the Victory Monument in central Bangkok as speakers took turns attacking the government. Protesters chanted slogans, sang and danced to nationalist songs. 'From a heart of a Thai person, we've never had a prime minister who's so weak,' said Tatchakorn Srisuwan, 47, a guide from Surat Thani province. 'We don't want to invade anyone, but we want to say that we are Thai and we want to protect Thailand's sovereignty.' There were many familiar faces from a conservative royalist group known as Yellow Shirts. They are opponents of Paetongtarn's father, the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who reportedly has a close relationship with Hun Sen and who was toppled in a military coup in 2006. Rallies organised by Yellow Shirts also helped oust the elected government of Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in a 2014 coup. Hun Sen said on Saturday the border action by the Thai army was a serious violation of Cambodia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, despite the country's goodwill in attempting to resolve the border issue. 'This poor Cambodia has suffered from foreign invasion, war and genocide, been surrounded and isolated and insulted in the past, but now Cambodia has risen on an equal face with other countries,' Hun Sen told an audience of thousands at the 74th anniversary celebration of the founding of his ruling Cambodian People's Party in the capital, Phnom Penh. There is a long history of territorial disputes between the countries. A 1962 International Court of Justice ruling awarded Cambodia the disputed territory where the historic Preah Vihear temple stands and there were sporadic, though serious, clashes in 2011. The ruling from the UN court was reaffirmed in 2013, when Yingluck Shinawatra was prime minister. The scandal has broken Paetongtarn's fragile coalition government, losing her Pheu Thai party the support of its biggest partner, Bhumjaithai party. Its departure left the 10-party coalition with 255 seats, meaning it has a slender majority in the 500-seat house.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Leaked phone call could bring down Thai government
When Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand's Prime Minister, picked up her phone on June 15, she probably had no idea that the call she was about to take would send her government into a tailspin. The call was with Hun Sen, Cambodia's de facto leader, to discuss reopening the disputed Thai-Cambodian border after a clash in late May left a Cambodian soldier dead. Ms Paetongtarn spent the conversation kowtowing before the veteran politician and criticised a Thai army commander – a red line not to cross in a country where the military has significant power and prestige. She had no idea that the 17-minute phone call, during which she referred to Hun Sen as 'uncle', would be leaked and leave her government hanging onto power by a thread. With the crisis on the border still unresolved, Ms Paetongtarn could now face a vote of no confidence as well as a case at the Constitutional Court, as many accuse her of betraying her country. To add insult to injury, Hun Sen, who remains the de facto leader of Cambodia despite relinquishing the premiership to his son in 2023, announced on social media that he was the one who recorded the conversation and shared it with 80 individuals across the government, which is how it was released. During the call, Ms Paetongtarn can be heard saying that one of her army commanders 'is on the opposing side'. She also pleaded with the Cambodian strongman not to be 'upset or angry' by comments the commander had made where he threatened Cambodia to a 'duel' over the border land. 'He just wanted to look tough and ended up saying things that are not helpful to either country,' Ms Paetongtarn was heard saying. Tensions between the two nations are at a record high. They are locked in an ongoing dispute that resulted in Thailand's army closing its border with Cambodia this week. Relations escalated in May after troops exchanged fire at a contested part of the border, during which a Cambodian soldier was killed. On Thursday, Ms Paetongtarn and Hun Sen made separate visits to the border areas, with the latter saying that more Cambodian troops and weapons have been mobilised to the area. He said that soldiers 'are constantly prepared to defend the territory in case of any invasion by the Thai army'. Amid mounting fears of further escalation, the feeling among Thai politicians and the public is that Ms Paetongtarn has betrayed them, and even committed treason with her damning leaked phone call. The Thai premier – who has only been in office for 10 months – is now fighting for her political life amid calls for her to resign. 'The last straw' Along with criticisms over Ms Paetongtarn's comments about the military, many in Thailand also took issue with her demeanour towards Hun Sen, which many saw as overly meek and friendly. At one point in the call she was heard saying: 'If there's anything you want, just let me know. I'll take care of it.' 'The leaked call was a bad look. Paetongtarn calling Hun Sen 'uncle' and referring to a Thai general as an 'opponent' made it seem like she was too soft or careless, especially on a sensitive issue like a border clash,' Saipaan, a 32-year-old marketing officer from Bangkok, told The Telegraph. Hundreds of protesters have been gathering outside of the government in the last week saying that the phone call was a 'failure of leadership' and demanding that Ms Paetongtarn step down. The leader of Thailand's opposition also called on Ms Paetongtarn to dissolve parliament, claiming that the leak was 'the last straw'. 'She was compromised by her conversation with Hun Sen whereby she is perceived to have given concessions to him at the expense of Thai sovereignty,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University. Ms Paetongtarn has apologised and criticised Hun Sen, saying that all he cares about is 'his popularity'. After the recording was made public, the pro-military Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) announced that it would be withdrawing its 69 members of parliament from its coalition with Ms Paetongtarn's centre-left Pheu Thai Party, leaving her government with barely enough seats to remain in power. In its statement, the BJT called on Ms Paetongtarn to 'take responsibility for causing Thailand to lose its honour, dignity of the nation, the people and military'. As a pro-military party, the BJT's ties with Pheu Thai party – and the Shinawatra family specifically – were already tenuous. Ms Paetongtarn's father, Thaksin Shinawatra, and aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, both previously served as prime ministers and were both ousted in consecutive military coups in 2006 and 2014, respectively. In the lead-up to the leaked phone call, the Pheu Thai party had also been pressuring the BJT to give up control of the Ministry of the Interior, one of the most prized portfolios during election seasons. 'BJT was haggling with Pheu Thai and it looked like they might have to concede on key portfolios,' said Mr Thitinan. 'When the leaked recording scandal came up, it gave the BJT just the right pretext to pull out.' Pushing out the prime minister The BJT have now said that they plan to submit a vote of no confidence against Ms Paetongtarn when parliament reopens on July 3. However, party discipline in Thailand means that most members of parliament tend to vote along party lines. 'Based on where things currently stand the government has enough MPs to survive, so there would have to be a significant number of defectors to the opposition [for Paetongtarn to lose],' said Ken Lohatepanont, a Thai politics expert and PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. More worrying for Ms Paetongtarn, experts say, are the cases that have been petitioned by Thailand's Constitutional Court, which allege that she committed treason. The court will convene on July 1 and decide whether to dismiss the cases, accept them and allow Ms Paetongtarn to continue serving as prime minister or accept the cases and suspend her from her duties. The court has removed four prime ministers in 16 years, including Ms Paetongtarn's predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, who served for less than a year. If Ms Paetongtarn is ousted, parliament would have to select a new prime minister. However, Thailand's political system requires that her replacement come from the pool of candidates submitted during the country's last election in 2023, which is very limited. The only remaining candidate from the Pheu Thai party is Chaikasem Nitisiri, who is reportedly in poor health and has a history of supporting amendments to Thailand's controversial lese-majeste laws, which criminalise any defamatory or threatening comments about the monarchy. 'While it is unlikely Paetongtarn will be able to remain in power for more than a few months given the mounting political pressure, her strongest asset at the moment is the absence of any viable alternative,' said Napon Jatusripitak, a political scientist specialising in Thailand at the ISEAS Yusof-Ishak Institute in Singapore. Benefit to Cambodia Beyond a major shake-up in Thai politics, another question that has left analysts scratching their heads is why Hun Sen made the decision to leak the phone call in the first place – Thailand and Cambodia are strategic partners and Ms Paetongtarn and her family are believed to be well-liked by the former Cambodian prime minister. 'I'm still slightly puzzled by exactly what Hun Sen thought he would get from this,' said Sebastian Strangio, an expert on Cambodia and the author of Hun Sen's Cambodia. To make matters more confusing, Hun Sen made a number of veiled threats towards Ms Paetongtarn's father and their family yesterday while visiting the border. While Hun Sen had previously referred to Mr Thaksin as a 'God brother', his tone on Saturday was very different. He said: 'Now that I've been betrayed, I feel I must reveal what the Thaksin family did to betray their nation. This is a warning.' A week after releasing the tape, Hun Sen had also said that Thailand 'will have a new prime minister within the next three months', suggesting that he was eager to see a reshuffle in Bangkok. 'The relationship between Cambodia and Thailand is pretty asymmetric. Thailand is a much wealthier country, it's more powerful militarily,' said Mr Strangio. 'So this sort of approach is a way of leveraging Cambodia's relative advantages over Thailand in order to score nationalistic points with domestic political constituents.' Although Cambodia and Thailand have faced border disputes in the past, the leaked phone call and subsequent fallout sparked by this latest incident could have a long-term impact on relations between the two countries, according to Mr Napon. 'Relations between Thailand and Cambodia are likely to remain severely strained for the foreseeable future,' he said. 'The leaked phone call controversy has fundamentally damaged trust between the two nations, not just between the Hun and Shinawatra dynasties.'
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Bangkok protesters demand prime minister's resignation over leaked phone call
Thousands of protesters have gathered in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Thailand's prime minister over a leaked phone call with a former Cambodian leader. Paetongtarn Shinawatra faces growing dissatisfaction over her handling of a recent border dispute with Cambodia involving an armed confrontation on 28 May. One Cambodian soldier was killed. The recorded phone call with the former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen led to the protests on Saturday and has triggered a series of investigations in Thailand that could lead to Paetongtarn's removal. The call caused anger because of Paetongtarn's comments about an outspoken regional army commander and her perceived attempts to appease Hun Sen, the current Cambodian Senate president, to ease tensions at the border. There were about 6,000 protesters, according to Bangkok police. Despite a downpour, they held national flags and placards around the Victory Monument in central Bangkok as speakers took turns attacking the government. Protesters chanted slogans, sang and danced to nationalist songs. 'From a heart of a Thai person, we've never had a prime minister who's so weak,' said Tatchakorn Srisuwan, 47, a guide from Surat Thani province. 'We don't want to invade anyone, but we want to say that we are Thai and we want to protect Thailand's sovereignty.' There were many familiar faces from a conservative royalist group known as Yellow Shirts. They are opponents of Paetongtarn's father, the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who reportedly has a close relationship with Hun Sen and who was toppled in a military coup in 2006. Rallies organised by Yellow Shirts also helped oust the elected government of Thaksin's sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, in a 2014 coup. Hun Sen said on Saturday the border action by the Thai army was a serious violation of Cambodia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, despite the country's goodwill in attempting to resolve the border issue. 'This poor Cambodia has suffered from foreign invasion, war and genocide, been surrounded and isolated and insulted in the past, but now Cambodia has risen on an equal face with other countries,' Hun Sen told an audience of thousands at the 74th anniversary celebration of the founding of his ruling Cambodian People's Party in the capital, Phnom Penh. There is a long history of territorial disputes between the countries. A 1962 International Court of Justice ruling awarded Cambodia the disputed territory where the historic Preah Vihear temple stands and there were sporadic, though serious, clashes in 2011. The ruling from the UN court was reaffirmed in 2013, when Yingluck Shinawatra was prime minister. The scandal has broken Paetongtarn's fragile coalition government, losing her Pheu Thai party the support of its biggest partner, Bhumjaithai party. Its departure left the 10-party coalition with 255 seats, meaning it has a slender majority in the 500-seat house.
