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Published on August 1, 2007

HRW Letters to England Premier League (click the image to enlarge)

Premier League's letter to HRW (click the image to enlarge)

Deposed premier Thaksin Shinawa-tra's controversial takeover of the English Premier League's Manchester City Football Club has led to fresh debate in the United Kingdom after leading international groups yesterday attacked the new club owner over his human-rights record.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the London-based Amnesty Inter-national separately attacked Thaksin's human-rights record when he was prime minister, and they also questioned the Premier League's decision to allow him to run a football club.

The news dominated the British media yesterday, with the websites of key media outlets running latest developments about the issue throughout the day.

HRW has written to the Premier League questioning why Thaksin was deemed to meet the criteria of its fit-and-proper-person test after buying Manchester City FC.

In response, the League defended its test, BBC Sport reported yesterday.

"We have very clear rules on the ownership of our clubs," a Premier League statement read. "These rules go above and beyond any requirement by company law and are some of the sternest in any UK industry."

The City hierarchy, meanwhile, believes Thaksin is being victimised by a government whose only interest is to pursue a personal vendetta against the only man to win two terms in office through democratic elections, the Manchester Evening News website reported yesterday.

"What seems to have slipped through the minds of some observers of this situation is that Thaksin was the first, and only, prime minister of Thailand to be democratically elected twice," said a senior City official.

"He was then the victim of a coup d'etat by a military junta, which is now actively pursuing anything it possibly can against the man. We have total confidence that any investigation into him will flounder," said the official.

Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW, told The Nation yesterday: "A person who presides over extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests and attacks on the media is not a fit and proper person by any standard."

"It appears that Thaksin is trying to buy his way into polite society in Britain to cleanse his image and record as a human-rights abuser. The Premier League shouldn't play this game," he said.

In a separate interview with the BBC, he labelled Thaksin as "a human-rights abuser of the worst kind", who should not have passed the League's fit-and-proper person test.

Adams wrote a letter dated July 30 to Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, expressing concern that the Premier League considered Thaksin as a "fit and proper person" to purchase the football club.The letter, seen by The Nation, said that an assessment of any prospective team owner should at least include an assessment of the individual's human-rights records, his or her record on corporate responsibility, and whether there are credible allegations of corruption or other issues that might call into question whether the person is truly 'fit and proper' for ownership.

"Such criteria should examine the individual's record globally and not just in relation to UK laws," the letter said.

The three-page letter cited long-standing research by HRW and other credible organisations which show that during his time in office from 2001 to 2006, Thaksin committed numerous extrajudicial executions, "disappearances", illegal abductions, arbitrary detentions, torture and other mistreatment of persons in detention, as well as attacks on media freedoms.

Amnesty International shares many of HRW's concerns and their spokesperson told BBC Sport: "Thaksin did preside over some very serious human-rights violations."

Amnesty also outlined several allegations against Thaksin, including extrajudicial killings, a violent crackdown on insurgency in the deep South and suppression of media freedom.

"If the Premier League wants to take any of that into account when making their decisions, we're happy to make our documents available to them."

Thaksin's legal adviser, Noppadon Pattama, yesterday countered the allegations directed at his client.

"As far as I am concerned, he has never instructed any public officer to execute a drug dealer. We just tried to solve the drug problem in Thailand by getting tough with criminals. But he has never issued any instructions for shoot-to-kill policies."

Thai security forces under Thaksin's rule routinely committed serious violations of human rights. More than 2,275 people were killed in the three months after the campaign was launched on February 1, 2003.

HRW also said that Thaksin failed to address seriously the culture of impunity that prevailed in the country during his government. The case of the disappearance of lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit is a case in point.

Thaksin, according to the letter, was equally brutal in addressing the insurgency in the three border provinces. His preponderance for using heavy-handed counter-insurgency tactics through unnecessary and excessive use of force caused grave human-rights violations which led to hundreds of deaths of ethnic Malay Muslims and injuries to many more.

In all these cases of human-rights violations, Thaksin made no apparent effort to pursue serious investigations to bring those responsible to justice.

In conclusion, the letter said that, based on such records, Thaksin's past actions should be subject to investigation by impartial police and prosecutors, and he should not be welcomed into the elite club of owners in the most popular football league in the world.

The Nation