Thailand’s Ratsamoms campaign for the release of youth protesters jailed for defaming royals
- The mothers of prominent youth activists such as Penguin and Rung are demanding for the release of their children
- Observers say they could be a ‘powerful force’ that plants the seeds of revival for the wider protest movement, which has stalled partly due to Covid-19
Outside a remand prison in a run-down Bangkok suburb, five women stand by cardboard cut-outs of their incarcerated children. A bedsheet tied to the gates bears the message: “Give us our children back.”
This is the closest they can get to the young pro-democracy activists, who have been held for months without bail on allegations of insulting Thailand’s monarchy.
The “Ratsamoms” – a derivative of the “Ratsadon” people’s movement – have for weeks gathered outside courts and jails, standing in silence for 112 minutes, in a rebuke of the royal defamation law under section 112 of the penal code, which keeps their sons and daughters from them.
Some of the activists are barely in their 20s, but face long years in prison for their bold efforts to demand for reforms of the once untouchable monarchy. Under 112, offenders could land a jail sentence of between three and 15 years per conviction.
The experience has turned the middle-aged mothers from tepid supporters of the anti-government protests to outspoken advocates of the need for political reforms in a kingdom that sees a symbiosis between generals, tycoons and the monarchy.