Hannah France: Paul, nice to meet you.
Paul Chambers: Nice to meet you. It’s really a pleasure to be here and out of Thailand in order to be here.
HF: What’s it been like being back?
PC: It’s been like a return to normalcy for me. But more than that, it is unbelievable that I have been able to escape that horrific situation. My family and my friends have really come through and saved my life.
HF: From your perspective, how did this all start?
PC: On April 8th, I was told to come to the police station and answer charges, those charges against me. They handcuffed me, put me in a cattle car with several other prisoners, and took me off to a rural prison. It was horrific, very shocking. To get into prison and to have to tell the guards there and other prisoners, why you're there — I was charged with insulting the King of Thailand, the beloved King of Thailand — that is something that can get you killed in prison, especially if you're a foreigner. But ultimately then on April 9th, my wife and the U.S. Embassy representative came to the prison and they were able to get me out that night of April 9. But in order for me to get out of prison, I was forced to wear this very tight ankle bracelet to monitor me so that if I absconded across the borders, the police would know. And I was always in fear that I would be forced to go back to that prison.
HF: I want to talk now about the response from the academic community. There's been articles written about you, a lot of traction on social media pointing out that there's this, you know, American academic in Thailand imprisoned, essentially punishing you for your academic work. How has that response been like to you and what does that mean to you?
PC: You know, when I was put in prison, I thought maybe I was gonna be forgotten. I was very scared and felt so intimidated. But here, I find that so many academics and social media groups came to my help. The American Political Science Association issued a statement of support for me. The Association of Asian Studies also did, and it makes me want to become more involved in supporting academic freedoms around the world. There is an organization called Scholars at Risk, which supported me. I really back their work, and if I can help them in any way, I would. I want you to be aware that, okay, I was charged with insulting the King — Article 112 of Thailand's criminal code. Currently, there are about 281 Thai people in prison for the same charge against me. They don't have the fortune to be an American citizen. They don’t have the fortune to have all the connections that I did. So they're rotting in prison, some of them for longer than 15 years. And they're needs to be a lot of attention made towards helping the human rights of Thai people who are in prison, especially on these politically trumped up charges.
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