Name: Tantawan Tuatulanon (Age 23)
Occupation: Student
Case: Sedition (Article 116) for Honking a Car Horn
Date or Imprisonment 28 June 2023
Location of Imprisonment: Department of Corrections Hospital

“Tawan” Tantawan Tuatulanon was age 20 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She took the GED (General Educational Development) exam in Grade 11 and then went to study business at a university in Singapore. Previously, Tawan lived the life of an ordinary young person and thought politics existed far from her. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic began, she had to shift her studies online and then returned to Thailand. She began to follow politics more closely, beginning with the dissolution of the Future Forward Party. She joined a political demonstration for the first time in August 2020. Next, in November 2020, she became a Wevo guard. 

Subsequently, Tawan and her friends engaged in activism in the name of “Thaluwang.” They carried out polls in public places in which a large number of people circulated, such as large shopping malls in Bangkok. The polls asked simple questions, such as “Have you been inconvenienced by a royal motorcade?” Passersby could then indicate their answer using stickers. 

Tawan has been held in prison three times. The first time resulted from the court revoking her bail on 20 April 2022 after a request from the police to do so after she made a series of 10 Facebook posts. She was also accused by the police of trying to drive too close to an area where a royal motorcade would pass on the evening of 17 March 2022. Tawan was detained for 36 days before being released on bail with the condition of 24-hour house arrest and wearing an electronic monitoring (EM) ankle bracelet; these conditions remained in place for 279 days until she revoked her own bail.

The second time was on 16 January 2023, when Tawan revoked her own bail simultaneously with her friend Bam Orawan. They did so to call for the Court to release political prisoners and abolish the lèse majesté law. Tawan and Bam further announced a hunger strike in prison and did so for 23 days. Both became gravely ill and had to be taken out of the prison to be treated at an external hospital. The Court granted bail as a result of the illness arising from her hunger strike. 

The third time was on 13 February 2024, when Tawan was arrested on a warrant accusing her of violation of Article 116 and the Computer Crimes Act. She was arrested along with Frank Nuthanon and accused of honking a car horn at Princess Sirindthorn’s motorcade on 4 February 2024. The police requested her remand and the Court denied bail. This time, Tawan again went on hunger strike and was released on bail on 27 May 2024.

Tawan faces a total of 24 cases related to her political activism, including 2 Article 112 cases. 10 cases are complete, 8 cases remain at the level of police and prosecutor investigation, and trials are ongoing in 6 cases.