Embattled American academic Paul Chambers has appealed against the termination of his employment at Naresuan University and is demanding a fact-finding investigation into his case.
Chambers, a former lecturer at the Faculty of Social Science, Naresuan University in Phitsanuloke province, was charged with lèse majesté by the Internal Security Operations Command, at the Third Army Region, concerning an article which appeared on the website of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
The charge was eventually dropped by the director-general of the Region 6 prosecutors’ office, apparently to avoid complicating the tariff talks between Thailand and the US.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, Chambers submitted an appeal on Tuesday, challenging the legitimacy of two orders, signed by the vice rector for administration of Naresuan University, in his capacity as the acting rector, terminating his employment.
Chambers claimed that the termination did not follow procedure, as he is now in the process of appealing the cancellation of his visa by the Immigration Bureau. The visa cancellation was apparently triggered by the now dropped lèse majesté charge.
He also contends that he was not given a chance to defend himself against termination and that no fact-finding committee was set up to investigate his case. He cited the university’s regulations, which state that an employee of the university can be dismissed when he or she is found to be unqualified or to have committed a disciplinary violation, saying that he has neither committed any disciplinary violation nor been found to be unqualified.
