Wrong on torture

Re: “The Big Issue: A Torture Culture”, ( BP, March 5).

The article by Mr Alan Dawson was misinformed and mendacious, and represented the so-called “alternative facts”.

First, the photograph it used as the cover had nothing to do with the article. It seemed to have been chosen for the wrong reason, which was to induce shocking effects. Besides, the writer used a single case of the homicide conviction of two migrant workers in Koh Tao to infer institutionalised torture by law enforcement officers. It was simply a fallacious argument that demeaned journalism and damaged its credibility.

It could also be said that Mr Dawson simply wanted to sanction what Ms Ravina Shamdasami wrote in her report about Thailand for the United Nations Human Rights Council. But even in that exercise, Mr Dawson failed to provide any facts to back up her theory.

It should not be too inconvenient for him to try to read the draft constitution more thoroughly. In it, Section 28 states clearly that “Torture, or a brutal act of punishment by cruel of inhumane means, shall be prohibited. Moreover, Article 246 of the Constitution provides for a formation of an independent Human Right Commission, with full authority to investigate such abuses. That makes any act of torture and abuses of basic human rights punishable by law.

Finally, Mr Dawson argued that the absence of a specific law against torture meant that the torture culture was endorsed by the government. This was a stretch beyond an honest flaw of inductive logic. Thailand has been a State Party to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment since 2007. Thailand also became in 2013 a signatory to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Work has been ongoing to complete the legal process towards the ratification of the Convention.

MAKAWADEE SUMITMOR Acting Spokesperson of the Ministry

of Foreign Affairs