In the 29 July, 2009 edition of Eureka Street, Australian writer Harry Nicolaides reported on a market at Tachilek in eastern Burma where child pornography is openly sold. The authorities in Burma and Thailand must know about this market; Mr Nicolaides certainly had no difficulty finding it. Yet, Mr Nicolaides writes, “unless you are a saffron-robed monk, you will not be searched on the way back across the border into Thailand.” Nicolaides’ report was reprinted in the December January issue of Chronicles (which I noted here.)
The Thai police have still done nothing about the trafficking of child pornography from Tachilek through their country. But let it not be said that they have simply been idle. No indeed. In August, four weeks after the publication of the report, they arrested the reporter. Monday, he was sentenced to three years in prison. The court did not of course say that Mr Nicolaides was being punished for exposing the Thai government’s complicity in brutal crimes against children the world over. Instead, the authorities cited a brief passage in an extremely obscure (sold only seven copies) novel Nicolaides self-published almost four years ago, claiming that the fictional character of a Crown Prince described there reflected badly on Thailand’s actual Crown Prince and thus violated the country’s strict laws against lese-majeste.
Here is an online petition asking for the release of Harry Nicolaides.
More information about the case, including links to several sites offering downloads of the novel which the Thai authorities cited as the cause of their action against Mr Nicolaides, can be found here.
On 24 September 2008, a friend of Harry Nicolaides posted a piece about Mr Nicolaides’ arrest. On 20 January 2009, the same friend posted about Mr Nicolaides’ plea and sentence; I commented on this latter post, bringing up Mr Nicolaides’ investigation into the child pornography industry and asking his friend whether he thought the prosecution might be the Thai government’s way of hushing that issue up.
acilius
believer1
lefalcon
losthunderlads
vthunderlad
Panther Red 
cymast
/ January 23, 2009signed
Thank you for posting this. It’s so obvious Nicolaides was incarcerated for calling attention to the rampant sex crimes against children in Thailand. Especially considering the fact the he had GOTTEN PERMISSION from the relevant Thai authorities to publish his book before he published it. It’s cases like this that make me realize how luckly we are to live as citizens in the USA, and how dangerous it can be to travel to foreign lands. You’re walking down the street and a militia recruit needs to complete his initiation. Use your imagination. Sobering.
acilius
/ January 23, 2009And remember, the crimes aren’t just in Thailand. As Nicolaides described the videos in his article, most of the children they show being brutalized appear to be in Europe and North America. Also, the buyers and sellers at that market are from all over the world. So this is an international issue by any definition.
I’m going to write a letter to my US Senators and Representative. I don’t know if they will do anything about it in response to a letter from me, but I do know they won’t do anything if they don’t get letters. And one of them is Richard Lugar, whom President Obama has repeatedly mentioned as someone he listens to on foreign policy issues. If Lugar were to call the Thai ambassador, I’m sure things would start happening very quickly.
Hey, one of your senators is John Kerry. They know who he is in Thailand. Why not write him a letter? It would be worth a shot, I’d think.
cymast
/ January 23, 2009I am going to write letters to my Senators, my Representatives, and Obama himself.
Everybody write!!
acilius
/ January 23, 2009Sounds good! The more of us write, the better the chance somebody in a position to do something will notice.