<p>Much has been made of the National Council for Peace and Order’s attempts at political reconciliation and its voting down its own draft constitution in an act of political theater. In fact, everyone in ‘Amazing Thailand’ right now is engaged in a giant ‘democratic thought experiment’ – trapped in a giant, country-size military camp. As no one except General Prayut, the NCPO, and the National Legislative Assembly has any power in these ‘special circumstances’, the whole country has an ideal opportunity to collectively consider the nature of power and the absence of it – nautonomy.</p>

<div>5 September 2015, the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) has the following legal opinions concerning the Draft Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand which is tabled for voting in the National Reform Council (NRC) on 6 September. Four points are being raised coupled with recommendations as follows;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>(1) The lack of democratic justification in its inception and drafting process – The Draft Constitution has been made possible directly as a result of a military coup. Legally, the commission of a coup is an unlawful act. </div>

<div><strong>Protestors Fight Thai Military Rule From The U.S.</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>American Thais and Thais supporters demand</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>political rights for students in Thailand.</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Los Angeles, CA - Fifty protesters gathered at the Royal Thai Consulate today to denounce Thailand’s military junta and advocate for Thai political rights. </div>

<div><em>Two theater activists have been jailed for insulting the King for their involvement with the Wolf Bride, a student play which parodies the Thai political conflict. At least two actors have fled Thailand because they acted in the same play. &nbsp;</em></div> <p></p>

<p>LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – On Monday morning, employees of the Royal Thai Consulate-General of Los Angeles and nearby pedestrians were greeted by protesters standing in support of the 14 students who were arrested in Bangkok on June 26.</p> <p><img alt="" src="http://isaanrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/IMG_27321-1024x683.jpg" /></p>

<div>A group of almost 300 academics denounced the junta’s arrest of 14 anti-junta activists, mostly university students, as “barbaric.”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Network of Academics Concerned about Arrested Students, consisting of educators from all across Thailand, declared in a statement released Tuesday, June 30, that “only a tyrant would react using brute force and enforcement of barbaric laws on students using their citizens’ rights to call for reinstatement of internationally-held values and governance.”</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The statement praises the activists’ pro-democracy </div>

<div>The European Union Delegation issues the following statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Thailand.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Bangkok, 30 June 2015 – The arrests of 14 students on the basis of charges brought against them for peacefully demonstrating on 22 May is a disturbing development.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The EU believes in the right of all to express peacefully their opinions and calls upon the Thai authorities to abide by Thailand's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. </div>

<div>Despite the risk of being sent to seven years in jail by the military court and harassments from the Thai junta, the 14 embattled anti junta activists, most of them university students, from the Neo Democracy Movement (NDM) still stand firm on their demand for democracy against the Thai military regime.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The 14 are:&nbsp;</div> <div>1 Rangsiman Rome</div> <div>2 Wason Setthasit</div> <div>3 Songtham Kaewpanpruk</div> <div>4 Phayu Boonsopon</div> <div>5 Apiwat Soontararak</div> <div>6 Rattapon Supsopon</div> <div>7 Supachai Phuklongploy</div> <div>8 Abhisit Suebnapa </div>

<div>JAKARTA, 26 June 2015 – ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) called on Thai authorities to drop all charges and immediately release students arrested in Bangkok today, adding that the time had come for others in the region to take a stand alongside those fighting for democracy in Thailand.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Fourteen students were arrested this evening, according to reports, charged with taking part in a gathering of more than five people—an act outlawed under the National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO) order no. 3/2558. </div>

<div>About 100 people gathered at Bangkok’s Democracy Monument on Thursday when a group of embattled activists from Bangkok and Khon Kaen awaited arrest by the police and rallied against the military regime amid tight security.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 25 June, 11 anti-junta student activists under the newly founded Neo Democracy Movement (NDM) protested against the military dictatorship at the Democracy Monument, Ratchadamnoen Avenue, Bangkok.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The rally began in the afternoon after the group left Suan Ngern Mee Ma, a place under the care of Sulak Sivaraks </div>

<div>June 26 is observed as the International Day in support of the victims of torture. Unfortunately, in Thailand, the day will be eclipsed by the military regime that is in power since May 2014, when it overthrew the last elected government.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The National Council for Peace and Order that is in power is military machinery. It has, since inception, actively engaged in purging voices of political as well as academic dissent on the military coup.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Practice of torture is widespread in Thailand. </div>

<div>In pursuance to the invocation of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order no. 7/2557 to ban political gathering and Section 44 of the 2014 Interim Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand which issue the Order of Head of NCPO no. 3/2015 regarding the maintenance of public order and national security as well as the orders to authorize military court to have jurisdiction over cases related to political assembly, the police and military officials have lately exercised their draconian power to hold a person in custody. </div>