VOA慢速英語: 一些活動家對泰國戒嚴(yán)法結(jié)束表示質(zhì)疑

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Thailand’s rulers announced this week that martial law had ended, with thesupport of the King. The rulers say martial law will be replaced by Article 44, a security law in the country’s temporary charter.

Legal experts and human rights defenders in Bangkok say the announcementis not a reason to celebrate. They are warning that the new law will widen andstrengthen the powers of Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha.

The temporary charter replaced Thailand’s constitution following thegovernment overthrow on May 22, 2014. Martial law was in effect for morethen ten months.

Thailand's National Human Rights Commission says enacting Article 44 willgive Prime Minister Prayuth absolute power.

The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein,strongly criticized the move. He released a statement saying Prime Minister Prayuth could now “issue any legislative, executive or judicial order.”

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha requests the king to end martial law.

Rupert Colville is a U.N. Human Rights agency spokesman. He says the newrule is even worse than martial law.

“It’s really very worrying because it could lead to quite large-scale humanrights violations with total impunity and gives quite extraordinary powers toeven junior military officers in their dealings with civilians.”

Mr. Colville says the U.N. High Commissioner is also extremely concernedabout the power the military now has in the reporting of news.

“They can also restrict the sale and distribution of books, publications, and on the very, very vague grounds, just a suggestion, that the book or thenewspaper or whatever may create public fear or is intended to distort newsand information. That is incredibly easy to abuse.”

Freedom to gather also remains highly restricted in Thailand. Protesters whogather in groups of more than five can face severe punishment.

A Thai government advisor on security issues says the U.N does notunderstand what Thailand did this week. He says the government establishedfourteen rules to lessen the power of martial law. He says he thinks the U.N.human rights agency missed that point.

Prime Minister Prayuth has promised to use his increased powersresponsibly. He said those who have not done “anything wrong” have no needto be afraid. However, he strongly warned that “if there is any shooting andcausing of chaos again, I will order arrests immediately.”

The U.N High Commissioner is calling on Thailand to honor internationalhuman rights law and return normal civilian rule to the country. The agencystatement noted that Thailand promised, right after the overthrow, to take thataction.

Observers say Article 44 guarantees the military will have control of Thailandduring a period of royal change expected in the near future. King Bhumibol is 87 years old and has been in poor health for years. His son, the CrownPrince, is not as well-liked as his father.

I’m Caty Weaver.

VOA correspondent Steve Herman reported this story from Bangkok. AshleyThompson wrote it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.

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Words in This Story

martial law – n. control of an area by military forces rather than by the police

absolute – adj. complete and total

impunity – n. freedom from punishment, harm, or loss

chaos – n. complete confusion and disorder: a state in which behavior andevents are not controlled by anything

royal – adj. of or relating to a king or queen