Dameyo

jailed for being rude

// March 5th, 2009 // General, News

An English man is facing a two-year sentence in Thai prison for being rude to an official.

Voice reader Simon Burrowes, from Wembley, north London, was ending a holiday with a friend when Thai authorities in Phuket airport detained him on January 31, preventing him from returning to the UK.

Immigration officials suspected Burrowes’ passport was a forgery. Speaking to The Voice via phone from Thailand, Burrowes said: “A woman at immigration was looking at my passport and then handed it to the man behind her. I was ushered to sit down whilst he took out a magnifying glass and proceeded to check my passport for half an hour,” he said.

He was told that he was not getting on the plane and was taken to a detention center, whilst his friend Matthew was able to fly back to the UK. Burrowes said: “I’m a black man so I’m used to getting hassle at airports, but I was shocked by this.” For three weeks, the 44-year old was held with 126 men in a cramped prison cell.

“Thai prisons are notorious for being some of the worst. There is no privacy. You go to the toilet in the open and there is no toilet paper. There were guys in there that had scabies and were next to me,” said Burrowes.

He contacted the British Consulate, who confirmed his passport was genuine. However, the disgruntled Brit claims that the Consulate should have done more, saying that they took long to react to his case.

The Director General of Immigration at the Phuket International Airport, Suksopon Maneeson, said he had a voice tape recording the incident.

The man’s passport carried a photograph in which he was not wearing clothes, which led the official to wonder whether it was a genuine passport, Suksopon said.

He also looked younger in the photograph. ”When compared with other passports, even from Cambodia or Laos, they have standards,” Suksopon said. ”Britain is a developed country.”

When the official started to ask questions, Burrowes became angry, Suksopon said, and snatched back his passport. Burrowes then said ”F*** You” and criticized Thailand in an offensive way, Suksopon added. ”If you go to England and behave the way this man did, what would happen?” Suksopon asked.

”I love Thailand. I do not want people coming here and looking down on Thailand or speaking badly about Thailand and to Thai people.”