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Apr 11

Across the globe, an immense humanitarian crisis is expanding. Despite significant reporting, it’s still largely unknown to much of the world. Though you may have never heard of it, it’s rapidly spreading like a virus–a pandemic of fraud, human slavery, torture, and abuse. 1/11

VICE News

@VICENews

May 5

Bangkok's reformed "super pimp" is on a one-man mission to hunt down gangsters, politicians, and police, shining a light on the nation’s deep-seated culture of extortion, bribery, and lies. And he’s getting results.

‘The Truth Will Be Loud’: Thailand’s Former Brothel Baron Is Using His Infamy to Fight Crime

Bangkok's reformed "super pimp" is on a one-man crusade against gangsters, politicians, and police. And he's getting results.

A quick correction:

says that Anousa "Jack" Luangsuphom from Laos survived the shooting and is recovering in hospital.

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May 3

In Laos: another political activist is shot dead in plain site. The assassin entered a public coffee shop in Vientiane before shooting Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom twice, in the face and chest. Disappearances, abductions, and deaths of activists are all too common across SE Asia. twitter.com/Reaproy/status…

Mailee Osten-Tan

@mailee_ot

May 4

“Some believe bad things about people in #KhlongToei... I prove myself by fighting in the ring. I’ll show them how good a fighter I am” My 📸 essay on a young woman Muay Thai kickboxer battling the odds

@VICEWorldNews

. Thanks

for the edit 🙏🏼

She Came From Thailand’s Biggest Slum. Now She’s One of Muay Thai’s Top Rising Stars

“If I wasn’t boxing, I’d have stopped going to school. I’d have no future, no purpose.”

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Assassin at the door! CCTV video of gunman who killed #Lao political activist Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom in cold blood in #Vientiane on 29 April. Since then #Laos authorities done basically nothing to investigate. Is #LPDR gov't covering it up? Activists murdered for free in Laos!

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Alastair McCready

@AlMcCready1

Apr 28

Our APAC team has been decimated amid widespread layoffs today at VICE World News. A sad day for us all, but that means some of these fantastic reporters & editors in Hong Kong, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia & Japan are available. Hire them!

Alan Wong and 9 others

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Chanatip Tati

@ChanatipTati

Apr 26

ผู้แสวงหาที่ลี้ภัยชาว #อุยกูร์ เสียชีวิตในห้องกักตัวของ ตม. ไทย (อีกแล้ว!!!) หลังจากเพิ่งมีกรณีแบบเดียวกัน 2 เดือนก่อน ปัจจุบัน มีชาวอุยกูร์ถูกกักอยู่ในไทยกว่า 50 คน ไม่มีวี่แววว่าจะได้รับการปล่อยตัวและแทบไม่สามารถเข้าถึงทนายหรือองค์กรระหว่างประเทศไทยเลย

‘Wholly Negligent’: Uyghur Asylum Seekers Keep Dying in Thailand’s Detention Centers

Rights groups have raised concerns about the conditions Uyghur refugees face in detention, after another Uyghur refugee has died in Thai custody.

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Apr 26

Mattohti is the fifth Uyghur asylum seeker to die in Thai detention over the past nine years. Rights groups are once again demanding the Thai gov to investigate the living conditions inside Bangkok's immigration detention center. My latest with

@hellokoyu

‘Wholly Negligent’: Uyghur Asylum Seekers Keep Dying in Thailand’s Detention Centers

Rights groups have raised concerns about the conditions Uyghur refugees face in detention, after another Uyghur refugee has died in Thai custody.

Uyghur Human Rights Project

@UyghurProject

Apr 25

“How many more deaths will take place before Thai authorities act with humanity to release these innocent people who are merely seeking safe haven?” asks UHRP Director

@OmerKanat1

. *Another* Uyghur dies in 🇹🇭 immigration detention. Release them now.

‘Wholly Negligent’: Uyghur Asylum Seekers Keep Dying in Thailand’s Detention Centers

Rights groups have raised concerns about the conditions Uyghur refugees face in detention, after another Uyghur refugee has died in Thai custody.

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Population, Refugees, and Migration Bureau and 8 others

Phil Robertson

@Reaproy

Apr 21

More about the disappearance of

@UNHCRAsia

recognized refugee Đường Văn Thái in the suburbs of #Bangkok, with #Vietnam state agents suspected in this criminal abduction. Thai gov't officials saying to activists that they didn't know about this in advance rfa.org/vietnamese/new

Wai Wai Nu

@waiwainu

Apr 21

#Twitter's blue check verification was vital to #HumanRights advocates/activists in #Myanmar & across the world. We are risking safety to raise awareness to the world. A system more equitable & accessible than #TwitterBlue is a must for all of our voices to be heard & amplified.

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Twitter Verified

@verified

Apr 19

Tomorrow, 4/20, we are removing legacy verified checkmarks. To remain verified on Twitter, individuals can sign up for Twitter Blue here: twitter.com/i/twitter_blue Organizations can sign up for Verified Organizations here: twitter.com/i/verifiedorga

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According to

, at least 20% of the political prisoners in #Myanmar are women. #WHRDs continue to be at the forefront of the #SpringRevolution. They cannot and will not be silenced. Military impunity must end, and those unlawfully detained released. #BlueShirt4Burma

Gavin Butler

@gav_butler

Apr 19

It's been 2+ months since Philip Mehrtens was taken hostage, and fears for his safety are growing. His captors told me Indonesia's militarised rescue attempts only put him at further risk.

‘A Powder Keg’: 6 Dead After Attempt to Rescue Kidnapped Pilot Turns Into Bloodbath

The man's captors told VICE World News that further attempts to rescue him could jeopardise his safety.

Jack Brook

@jack_brook96

Apr 18

While electric vehicles are touted as clean & green, the industry’s supply chain is far from it. In Indonesia,

@Tesla

-linked suppliers are pushing one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes to extinction. Here’s how indigenous groups are being sacrificed to make our EVs 🧵1/10

A mining project on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the site of an industrial nickel production park backed by some of the same companies behind Weda Bay.

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Take some time out of your day to read this powerful story from

@jack_brook96

on how a nickel mining project is devastating one of the world's last uncontacted tribes in Indonesia.

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Jack Brook

@jack_brook96

Apr 18

While electric vehicles are touted as clean & green, the industry’s supply chain is far from it. In Indonesia, @Tesla -linked suppliers are pushing one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes to extinction. Here’s how indigenous groups are being sacrificed to make our EVs

1/10

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Myanmar junta airstrikes kill dozens in attack on NUG ceremony - Myanmar Now

Poppy McPherson

@poppymcp

Apr 11

Women, children, and elderly people reportedly among the dead in the latest atrocity inflicted by #Myanmar’s junta, an army trying to impose its rule on a country that does not want it.

myanmar-now.org

Many of the victims were members of the public who were offered food as part of the ceremony, which also coincided with the start of Myanmar’s traditional New Year’s celebrations

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Apr 11

To read the full details from members working inside the criminal trade along with victims themselves, see the story here.

‘Hell All Over Again’: The Frontline of an Expanding Human Trafficking Crisis

Despite Cambodian police crackdowns, evidence suggests the criminal syndicates are expanding to Myanmar, the Philippines, and even as far afield as Dubai.

“They’re better at evading detection now, better at evading arrest. And they don’t feel threatened because there have been very few charges, no legal response,” he said. “So they have this idea that they can just get away with it.” 11/11

Tawanchai, the Immanuel Foundation director, shares the concern that trafficking is expanding despite the heightened scrutiny from authorities. His primary fear is that the criminal groups, whoever is behind them, are getting smarter and more sophisticated. 10/11

It’s a complex problem also acknowledged by Thai law enforcement. Agents from Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation told me the scale of the problem is overwhelming and that the crisis is “not going away.” 9/11

“They cuffed all of us together,” she said. “On the fourth day after we got moved, because of the raid, that's when they started starving us. We had to drink water from the faucet to stay alive. 8/11

‘Som,’ a victim who spoke to me on condition of anonymity with a pseudonym, was abused and dehumanized by the syndicates. In mid-2022, she flew from Bangkok to Manila under the promise of an office job. Immediately after arriving, everything started to feel off. 7/11

“It’s worse than before. The amount of slave labor is just as high, if not higher,” the director of Immanuel Foundation told me, a group working to rescue hundreds of victims each year. “The Chinese groups are just changing locations, and the cases are increasing.” 6/11

Since July 2022, I’ve been digging into this new crisis. In over a dozen interviews with recent victims of trafficking, members involved in the illicit trade, and interviews with law enforcement and other responders, the cartels appear undeterred by police crackdowns. 5/11

Forced to work with little to no pay, the past 18 months has seen a stream of testimony from escaped victims detailing the abuse, torture, and even death facing workers held against their will inside large compounds operated by organized crime syndicates. 4/11

Sandwiched between Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos—three countries playing host to major scam operations—Thailand is increasingly serving as a major source of, and transit point for, trafficking victims to those countries. 3/11

It’s taken root in Southeast Asia since 2020. Low-wage workers have been lured from across the region into industrial-scale scam mills, where they’re abused and forced to steal from strangers worldwide using sophisticated online scams, in an illicit industry worth billions. 2/11

A group of anti-government activists with

@thalugazzz

were just arrested over the last couple of days. They're being charged for spray painting anti-'112' (lese-majeste) symbols across Bangkok.

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ทะลุแก๊ซ - Thalugaz

@thalugazzz

Apr 6

ด่วน

สายน้ำถูกหมายจับคดีทำลายโบราณสถาน

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Koh Ewe, Koyu

@hellokoyu

Mar 30

An graffiti artist was arrested Tuesday for painting subversive symbols on the Grand Palace wall. By the next morn, the same symbols were eerily copied in other parts of Bangkok. Thai activists tell

about their new "graffiti strategy":

Activist Arrested for Spray Painting Anti-Monarchy Slogans on the Royal Family’s Palace

While the man was detained, others sprung to action overnight, spray painting the same anti-monarchy symbols across Bangkok, Thailand.

Mar 30

Although Thailand’s pro-democracy movement has diminished since its peak in 2020-2021, underground groups like

@thalugazzz

are actively encouraging a civil disobedience movement among the Thai public. From

@hellokoyu

and me.

Activist Arrested for Spray Painting Anti-Monarchy Slogans on the Royal Family’s Palace

While the man was detained, others sprung to action overnight, spray painting the same anti-monarchy symbols across Bangkok, Thailand.

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Pallavi Pundir (she/her)

@pallavipundir

Mar 23

It's been 6 days since India cut off the internet to millions and arrested 100+ to catch a high-profile Sikh activist. No one's sure if he's dead or alive, captive or on the run. But his fate could trigger serious unrest in India. Here's what's going on 🧵1/12 #AmritpalSingh

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Rachel Cheung

@rachel_cheung1

Mar 21

#thread: “I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with the film or technical reasons,” director Rhys Frake-Waterfield told us, after #WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney was abruptly dropped by #HongKong cinemas, days before its release. So what went wrong?

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For the full details with voices from the the ground, read

@gav_butler

's story: vice.com/en/article/4a3 (Photos in this thread were of junta troops taken in 2022 and 2021)

‘Only Thing We Can Do Is Run’: 22 Civilians Massacred While Sheltering in a Monastery

The Myanmar military is torturing, mutilating and murdering civilians in a string of violent massacres.

“These specific massacres serve—as intended—to send a message to the broader population, Davis said. “The beheadings, the disembowelings, this sort of return to the 12th century are all intended to terrorize the population into submission.” 11/11

Davis believes the junta is escalating its tactics out of fear. In recent months, the resistance has become bigger, more organized, and better armed. In response, the military has grown anxious, handing out orders of extreme violence. 10/11

“If this were to happen in Ukraine, it would be all over the front page of every newspaper on the planet,” Anthony Davis, a security analyst with Janes, told

@gav_butler

. “Make no mistake though: this is medieval butchery.” 9/11

The atrocities were attributed to a notorious military detachment known among locals as the “Ogre Column.” The group was one of the combat units responsible for perpetuating the Rohingya massacre in 2017. 8/11

The ages of the victims ranged from 17 to 67. Twenty were members of the armed resistance, who were decapitated and disemboweled after being shot in the back of the head, and three were women, who were raped before they were killed. 7/11

Just weeks before the Pinlaung massacre, between Feb. 23 and March 5, a task force of about 100 regime soldiers visited a handful of villages across the Sagaing Region of the country’s north and reportedly tortured, mutilated, and murdered at least 37 people. 6/11

The massacre is the latest in a string of mass killings, illuminating a dark pattern—the Myanmar military is rolling out a new and horrifying campaign of atrocities, one of which experts say is an intentional escalation of egregious violence aimed at civilians. 5/11