Thai PM defends execution law

BANGKOK, June 19 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha, who is also Chief of the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has defended the country's execution law against prisoners of serious offences, explaining that the law is aimed to maintain national peace and order. The prime minister made the remarks at Bangkok's Government House on Tuesday, in response to a move by the Department of Corrections, under the Ministry of Justice, earlier in the day to execute a 31-year-old male prisoner of a fatal robbery case at the Bang Kwang Central Prison in the capital's adjacent Nonthaburi Province. "The execution was in accordance with procedures under the law of justice, aimed to maintain national peace and order and to be a precautious lesson for people", the Thai premier insisted. The prime minister quoted a latest survey as saying that the majority of the Thai people wanted the government to maintain the execution against prisoners of acute criminal cases. Dressed in black with face masks and carrying picket signs, representatives of the Amnesty International Thailand, an affiliated non-governmental organization of the London-based Amnesty International (AI), meanwhile, showed the symbolic protest against the inmate's execution by laying flowers and candles in front of the Bang Kwang Central Prison, declaring the AI's stance against Thailand's execution law. AI Thailand Director Piyanut Kotsan claimed that the execution of prisoners is a critical legal punishment against human rights and dignity, citing that 142 countries, or about two-thirds of countries worldwide, have already revoked the execution against any prisoner. Besides, Tuesday's execution was against an international declaration on human rights the Thai government signed in 2009 and the AI Thailand sees the government's practical measures on maintaining peace and order and efficient law enforcements are the key to prevent serious offences in the country's, rather than the execution of prisoners on serious criminal cases. (TNA)