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By ASEAN People's Forum (APF) |
<p>Organizers and participants on the Workshop on “Democracy struggle in Thailand and its impact to ASEAN” denounce the illegal military junta ruling Thailand and call for the release of all political prisoners in South East Asia.</p>
By Human Rights Watch |
<p>(New York, April 1, 2015) – Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha is seeking to invoke a constitutional provision that would give him unlimited powers without safeguards against human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today.&nbsp;<br /></p>
<p>The military court has again postponed the trial of a suspect charged with defying an order of the junta in 2014 due to the repeated absence of the first prosecution witness. &nbsp;</p> <p>The military court on Friday morning postponed examination of a prosecution witness in a case where Sirapop (family name withheld due to privacy concerns) was charged with defying the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Announcement No. 41/2014 for not reporting to the coup-maker in May 2014.</p>
<p>Thai junta ignored the UN inquiry into the torture allegations of Kritsuda Khunasen, a red-shirt political activist who was detained incommunicado for more than 20 days in June 2014. &nbsp;</p>
By Khaosod English |
<p>The protracted political crisis that has rocked Thailand for the past decade is the result of "too much democracy," said Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the retired army chief who seized power from an elected government in a military coup last May, at the Convention for the Federation of Thai Industries in Bangkok on Monday.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Pro-democracy activists charged with defying the Thai junta’s orders have submitted a statement to the court of justice, urging the judicial authorities not to let military courts try civilians. &nbsp;</p> <p>Four activists from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.org/english/category/resistant-citizen">Resistant Citizen</a>, a pro-democracy activist group, on Thursday afternoon submitted a statement to Bangkok’s Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court to call for the court of justice to resist the junta’s orders in letting military courts try civilian defendants.</p>
By Human Rights Watch |
<p><span>(New York, March 12, 2015) –&nbsp;</span><a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8%2c57%3a9-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4369775&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=73763&amp;Action=Follow+Link" target="_blank">Japan</a><span>’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should press&nbsp;</span><a> </a></p>
<p>The authorities continue to suppress local activists and villagers who oppose petroleum exploration in villages in Thailand’s Northeast.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lawyercenter2014/posts/800328040017052?fref=nf">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, the military on 25 February brought Thawatchai Surat, a northeastern energy activist, to Buriram Muang Police Station and tried to force him to sign an agreement not to campaign against a petroleum operator.&nbsp; However, Thawatchai refused to sign any document. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>A Cambodian academic says the derailment of democracy and coming to power of the junta regime in Thailand sets a bad example for other ASEAN countries.</p>
<p>UN Human Rights High Commissioner has urged the Thai junta to respect freedom of expression to ensure open discussion during the drafting of constitution.&nbsp;</p> <p>Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Thursday pointed out his concerns on the imposition of the martial law, which has given to the military the power to crack down on political dissent and opposition.</p>
By Pen international |
<p>On 23 February 2015 student activists&nbsp;Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Pornthip Munkong (f), 26, were each sentenced to two and a half years in prison for&nbsp;violating Thailand’s “lèse-majesté” law. The charge of&nbsp;“lèse-majesté” criminalises alleged insult of the monarchy&nbsp;under&nbsp;Article 112 of the Criminal Code, and is commonly used to silence peaceful dissent.</p>
<p>Thammasat University has sacked the renowned embattled lèse majesté critic Somsak Jeamteerasakul, who has been in self-imposed exile since the 2014 May coup, due to his absence. &nbsp;</p> <p>Somkit Lertpaithoon, the Rector of Thammasat University and a member of the junta’s National Legislative Assembly, on Monday signed an order to end the civil service employment of <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/category/somsak-jeamteerasakul">Somsak Jeamteerasakul</a>, a history lecturer in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, as a punishment for his absence from the university for about nine months.</p>