<p>The junta leader threatened to step up the use of martial law, warning that people who still engage in anti-junta activities, especially the media and the anti-establishment red shirts, will be detained and barred from making financial transactions.</p> <p>Moreover, the junta Premier revealed that another ex-Pheu Thai politician has been summoned for taking an anti-junta stance.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities have dismissed an international NGO’s report on the deterioration of Thailand’s political rights, saying Thai people should not let ‘the outside world’ intervene in domestic affairs.</p>

<p>The military summoned a prominent Pheu Thai politician for a discussion reportedly due to his Facebook post on the impeachment of former premier.</p> <p>Military officers from the 1st Army Region Command on Thursday summoned<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Chaturon.FanPage">&nbsp;Chaturon Chaisang</a>, a well-known politician from the Pheu Thai Party and former Education Minister. He was reportedly summoned because he posted comments on Facebook and twitter about the impeachment of Yingluck Shinawatra, the former prime minister ousted out by the 2014 coup.</p>

<p><strong>Executive Summanry</strong></p>

<div> <div>A group of pro-coup nationalist Thais rallied in front of the US Embassy in Bangkok, calling on the US to stop interfering in Thai politics after Daniel Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, criticized the imposition of the martial law during his visit to Bangkok.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The group calling themselves “The Network for the Protection of Thais’ Benefits and Dignity” gathered at the US Embassy on Wednesday and read a statement to the Embassy.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In the letter, the group urged the Unite </div></div>

<div>Thai police recently arrested a man solely for Facebook messages sent to another lèse majesté suspect in military custody.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The man claimed the messages were merely an exchange of views about politics, but the police said he was supplying lèse majesté content to another suspect through the chat and that they were part of the “movement” to defame the monarchy on Facebook. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Jamroen S., a 59-year-old civil servant, was arrested in early January by the military and police. </div>

<div><a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/">Khaosod English</a>: Thailand’s military government has summoned the head of the United States Embassy after a senior US official criticized the junta's use of martial law and called for a return to democratic rule in Thailand.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Don Paramatwinai, said today that the US Charge d'Affaires to Thailand, W. </div>

<p>Environmental and civil society groups condemned the new mining bill for ignoring environmental and health impacts and urged the junta government to stop deliberating the bill until Thailand has real representatives of the people.</p>

<p id="E23" qowt-divtype="para" qowt-eid="E23"><span id="E24" qowt-eid="E24">Bangkok’s Military Court dismissed a petition submitted by a prominent red-shirt figure </span><span id="E25" qowt-eid="E25">questioning</span><span id="E26" qowt-eid="E26"> whether the jurisdiction of the military court o</span><span id="E27" qowt-eid="E27">ver</span><span id="E28" qowt-eid="E28"> civilian cases </span><span id="E29" qowt-eid="E29">violates</span><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30"> the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). &nbsp;</span></p>

<div class="asset-body"> <p>Bangkok, January 20, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Thailand's military-appointed legislature to scrap proposed legislation that would allow for mass surveillance of online activities and platforms. The Cyber Security Bill was approved this month by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's Cabinet and is pending in the National Legislative Assembly.</p> </div>

<div>A red-shirt poet whose lèse majesté case is being tried by a military court has made the extraordinary decision to fight the case despite the dim chances of winning.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Wednesday, the military court scheduled the first witness hearing for 2 April. There are 10 witnesses in total.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>His case is being tried in camera at a military court after the court said his crimes--writing poems-- are severe since his poems touched on the revered Thai monarchy. </div>

<div>Throughout Thai history, state officials, especially police and army officers, who perpetrated torture and enforced disappearances, have never been punished and have never admitted their crimes. This year a bill against the 2 crimes was completed which has been praised by experts. However, under the military junta regime, which itself is a threat to human rights, one must be very sceptical about the bill really being passed into law.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>