BANGKOK, Nov 21 (TNA) — The spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry said ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) was not an official organization of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Ms Busadee Santipitaks, Director-General,Department of Information, was responding to APHR’s statement expressing its disappointment with the Constitutional Court’s ruling on Wednesday to disqualify Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit as MP for his shareholding in a media firm when he applied for MP candidacy in February.
APHR was a nonprofit organization gathering present and former members of ASEAN parliaments, Ms Busadee said.
The only official legislative organization of ASEAN was the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), she said.
Earlier APHR issued its statement to not only express the disappointment but also call for an end to using laws as tools to persecute opposition members and human rights activists.
APHR responded to the Constitutional Court’s ruling which ended Mr Thanathorn’s MP status from May 23 when the court had suspended his MP roles pending its trial on the shareholding case.
It stated that the Future Forward Party was a victim of discrimination and many parties were trying to silence the political parties that were pushing for constitutional amendments. (TNA)
