<p>I'm a legal adviser, so not exactly a stranger to courts. I've even been in Thai courts before. But I still find the scene surreal. I was in a Bangkok military court on 7 July 2015, and I'm talking to 14 young students and activists who face the might of Thailand's military justice system.</p>

<p><em>Shortly after the one-year anniversary of the military coup on 22 May, 14 anti-junta activists were arrested for their peaceful gatherings. Since then, different groups in Thai society have shown their support for or opposition to the jailed activists’ civil disobedience.The 14 activists, mostly students, are members of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).&nbsp;</em></p> <p></p>

<p>France has granted refugee status to Thai political refugees and lèse majesté suspects who fled Thailand after the 2014 coup d’état.</p> <p>According to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BBCThai/photos/a.1527194487501586.1073741828.1526071940947174/1670422789845421/?type=1&amp;fref=nf">BBC Thai Service</a>, the French government on 12 June granted refugee status to&nbsp;<a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/5082">Saran Chuichai</a>, aka Aum Neko, a renowned Thai transgender student activist, who fled to France shortly after the coup d’état on 22 June 2014.</p>

<p>“The road to hell is paved with good intentions” is a traditional English proverb.</p>

<p>The Thai military government’s last minute shutdown of a panel discussion on human rights is a blatant attempt to silence criticism in violation of Thailand’s international legal obligations, Amnesty International said.</p> <p>The event, a report launch by the NGO Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, on human rights violations in the year since the 2014 military coup, was today cancelled by Thai authorities at the last minute. Media reports said that authorities claimed the event was “likely to cause disturbance”.</p>

<p>Controversial ex-Prime Minister Pol Lt Col Thaksin Shinawatra is to be charged with defaming the monarchy and stripped of his police rank.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thai military officers arrested anti-junta activists on their way to file a criminal charge against the Thai junta leader for staging coup d’état against the 2007 constitution during the first 2014 coup anniversary.</p>

<p>Activists from Thailand’s northeast held a symbolic activity to condemn the junta’s plan to grant petroleum concessions in the region to business interests while pointing out that the Thai junta’s promise to return happiness to the nation is a lie.</p>

<p>May 2015 is a significant month for Thailand, but perhaps not for the right reasons. On May 19, it is exactly five years since the Thai military, at the order of the then government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, launched brutal crackdowns against the red-shirt protesters, who demanded him return power to the Thai voters and called for a fresh election. Abhisit was accused of taking power illegitimately; he was only able to form a minority government with the backing of the army. The crackdowns resulted in 99 protesters being killed and over 2,000 injured.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1430819467&amp;typecate=06&amp;section=">Khaosod English</a>:&nbsp;Thailand's military junta will retain its ban on political activities, which was imposed nearly one year ago, despite calls from the leader of the Pheu Thai party to repeal the prohibition.</p> <p>The sec-gen of the Pheu Thai party, which led the government toppled in the May 2014 coup, urged the junta yesterday to lift the ban and allow political parties to organize conferences and discuss the constitution being drafted by a junta-appointed body.&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">Amnesty International urged the Thai junta to remove censorships over media and stop the prosecutions of people of the press in the name of national security.</p> <p>On Sunday, <a href="http://www.amnesty.or.th">Amnesty International </a>issued a public statement to the Thai junta on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, which is on 3 May of every year.</p> <p>The statement pointed out that since the imposition of the martial law on 20 May 2014 and the subsequent coup d’état, the junta maintains tight control over media, claiming that it is necessary for national security.</p>

<p>Workers in Thailand’s textile industry called for higher wages and labour rights while condemning the military regime.</p> <p>The Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation of Thailand (TWF) issued a statement on Thursday to demand that the government increase the minimum wage from 300 baht to 421 baht per day (from about 9.1 to 13 USD per day) and to hold elections as soon as possible.</p>