Bangkok (The Nation/ANN) - A group of college students from Kasetsart University in Bangkok collected more than 900 signatures on a petition since last week calling for the university to guarantee freedom of political expression after one of its recent graduates was accused of lese majeste by the university's vice rector for student affairs in Thailand last week.
On August 5, a recently graduated male student was detained by Thai police after a vice rector pressed charges, claiming he was under pressure from the Student Council as well as the need to protect the reputation of Kasetsart University. He claimed to have received complaints alleging that the male student had posted defamatory text against the monarchy online.
The man, 23, was granted bail last Monday, but the case has led to a wide debate among students at Kasetsart University and beyond.
"It's important that the university guarantees freedom [of expression so students] can exchange ideas. Even if they want to file charges [the university administrators] should summon the student first and find out what happened," said Bhuribas Medhanakula, a freshman studying humanities at Kasetsart and a key member of the group that launched the petition.
The student group, calling itself Liberal Kasetsart, had collected more than 900 signatures by Monday, and those signing their names included students from other universities such as Thammasat and Chulalongkorn, as well as academics and ordinary citizens.
"We have to let the society know that a group of people do not like what's happening," said Bhuribas, who acknowledged that there were also people who supported the lese majeste law, and who argued with him that the student was simply being treated in accordance with the law.
The secretary of the petition group, Jirachai Phittayanond, a fifth-year agricultural-industry student at Kasetsart, said he hoped the university's administrators would never again take such threatening action.
"We want the university to review its action," he said, adding that a number of students who opposed the university's action dared not reveal their identity.
The group also complains that most of Thailand's mainstream news media have so far paid no attention to the case.
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