[imagesource:facebook/ashleyoosthuizen]

Ashley Oosthuizen is still serving a gruelling life sentence in a Thai prison for drug trafficking.

The 23-year-old, originally from George, moved to Thailand after matriculating in 2018 and soon became convicted of international drug trafficking after a series of dodgy events and connections (her crummy boyfriend of the time, for example).

American Tristan Nettles spoke with Carte Blanche in April 2022 and it’s fair to say he didn’t make a great impression.

Ashley’s family and friends maintain that she is innocent and they have been working tirelessly to petition for her freedom. They’ve already managed to get her life in prison rather than a sentence to death, but the progress is slow.

Nonetheless, Ashley is adapting to life behind bars in the central prison in Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand, “giving cha-cha lessons” and writing letters to keep her family and friends abreast with her ongoings.

She recently wrote another letter, this time detailing the terrible experiences of some of the female inmates, IOL reported.

The letter, titled “Never shrink from standing up for ourselves when mistreated” was shared with the social media page A Voice for Ashley Oosthuizen last week:

“One day, after a prolonged period of horrendous circumstances in the living space called ‘their room’, the group of women who decided to take a stand, did so by simply refusing to go upstairs when it was time for lock-up. Female officers tried to subjugate the rebels, but to no avail. Eventually armed male officers were called in to take matters into their own hands and these men proceeded by hitting many women with their batons, even though none of the prisoners were aggressive,” she wrote.

She said that when the women detailed the conditions they were living in when they were finally asked to speak:

“There’s only one toilet for all of us and should I get up to use the bathroom, I’ll have lost my spot when I return.”

“We need to take turns lying down or sitting up, because there just isn’t enough room for all of us.

“Some of the younger ones or old ladies could be seen crying at night because of lack of sleep and discomfort … Something needs to change,” Oosthuizen quoted the women.

She continued by saying that “the Lord spared me from the very worst”:

“Even though the instigators of change could never see what fruit their efforts bore, they certainly did a great service to those who came after them. May we thus never shrink from standing up for ourselves when we are being mistreated, no matter how ‘low’ we may be at the specific time.”

Earlier last month, she said that she is still fighting her case; “all the while living behind bars” and now feels like “it’s time to put myself in contact with the world”.

You can keep up to date with the latest developments via the Facebook page, ‘A voice for Ashley Oosthuizen’.

[source:iol]