Somyot is founder of the Center for Labour and International Solidarity Thailand (CLIST) and has worked with the Clean Clothes Campaign on numerous campaigns and Urgent Appeals. He worked as a project coordinator for the International Chemical, Engineering and Mining Union Federation (ICEM) before devoting his time more exclusively to journalism and human-rights activism.

Last year Somyot was arrested and detained for three weeks for holding a news conference where he and others called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva following the bloody repression of red-shirt protesters in 2010. Clean Clothes Campaign supporters worldwide sent protest letters against his arrest to the Thai government. Soon afterwards, he was released.

Somyot's latest arrest took place just two days after he attended the launch of a campaign to collect 10,000 signatures needed to call for the removal of the lese majeste article from the Thai criminal code. It assumed that this was was provoked his arrest, although the arrest warrent was dated February 2011. Somyot has been denied bail after the authorities claim he was attempting to leave the country. Somyot denies all charges and states he was never informed that an arrest warrent had been issued. He also denies any suggestion that he was planning to flee Thailand.

Read Somyot's letter from prison here

Somyot is now being held indefinately until a trail date is set by the Thai authorities. To date there is no indiciation how long he will have to wait and there is no limit on how long a person can be held before trial. Human rights activists in Thailand believe it is Somyot's constitutional right to be allowed to prepare his defence.

ACT NOW! Call for the immediate release Somyot Pruksakasemsuk