Here are some updates on the case of Sakchai Makao. The northern isles MP Alistair Carmichael says that Sakchai's treatment is in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Gillian Bowditch argues that, despite the seriousness of the offence he was convicted for, it would be wrong to deport him:
It is hard to see what purpose is served by sending him to a country he can barely remember [he's lived in this country since the age of 10]. Far better for him to stay and show his gratitude by working for the community that so clearly wants to keep him.See also this from Huggy:
It is clear there is a massive groundswell of opinion in Shetland that he be allowed to stay, Shetlanders see him as one of their own who makes a positive contribution to his community.(Thanks: Brian S.)
Update at 2.15 PM: See now this piece by Ron Ferguson in The Herald:
Locals bristle at the suggestion that they are glossing over his crime. They admit its seriousness, but argue that it was entirely out of character, at a time when he was going through personal problems. Since his release he has been a model citizen.
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Sakchai Makao has accepted his punishment and served his time. By all accounts he is both respected and loved in the community in which he has lived for the past 13 years. He regards himself as a Shetlander. He neither speaks nor writes Thai, and he has no family in Thailand.Whose interests will be served if Makao is deported to Thailand, where he will immediately be conscripted into the armed forces? If we believe that one of the purposes of prison is rehabilitation, what sense does it make to tear a young man away from a community to which he is clearly making a fine contribution and in which he is receiving such support?