Ekachai Hongkangwan
Ekachai Hongkangwan is a writer and human rights defender. He has been actively campaigning for transparency and democracy in Thailand since 2016, and has been especially vocal in calling for elections to be held in the country. Since the general elections on 24 March 2019, the results of which are due to be confirmed on 9 May 2019, the human rights defender has been campaigning for greater transparency and fairness in the electoral process. He previously spent almost three years in prison under a lèse majesté conviction and has faced judicial harassment for speaking out against the undemocratic rule of the military junta.
After seizing power in a 2014 coup, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has maintained its grip on the country through an array of restrictive laws. The junta’s intolerance of dissenting opinions has resulted in a challenging climate for human rights defenders.
