Thailand’s political landscape seems haunted by figures, events and images that once symbolised progressive change. Such change arguably has not come, yet the same symbols linger on, in newspapers, activist pamphlets and state media.

The Court has ruled that Somsak Jeamteerasakul, the embattled lèse majesté critic and ex-Thammasat lecturer now in self-imposed exile, is not guilty of leaving Thammasat University after the 2014 coup d’état. The Administrative Court on Monday, 11 April 2016, ruled that an order to fire Somsak Jeamteerasakul,56, was illegal. The court reasoned that it did not appear that Somsak intended to be absent from his lectureship at Thammasat University and that his position at the university prior to his self-imposed exile shall remain intact.

An international human rights agency has downgraded Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) due to failures in addressing human rights issues.

Thai academics have kicked off an online campaign, demanding that the junta ‘unconditionally’ end the persecution of political dissidents.

As Thailand’s time under a military regime drags on for a year and a half without any prospect of an election in the near future, an independent writer and democracy activist says that political reform is just an empty promise if the Thai military does not reform itself.