<div> <div>A Deep South civil society group has called for the immediate release of its Muslim Malay chairperson after the authorities detained him for three days. He is suspected of being involved in a bombing at a Yala market.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 24 February 2018, the Deep South civil society organisation <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JOPjusticeforpeace-138451690204493/">Justice for Peace (JOP)</a> issued a statement calling for the immediate release of its chairperson Aiman Hadeng.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The military arrested him on 23 February at his shop in Yala. </div></div>

<div> <div> <div>The Thai government and a Muslim Malay liberation organization have reached an agreement to make one district of the Deep South safe for civilians. </div></div></div>

<div>“The absence of a united women’s coalition hinder[s] a collective and strategic effort to call for inclusive and gender-sensitive peacebuilding”, argues Firdaus Abdulsomad in her Master’s thesis entitled ‘Women’s participation in the Patani Peace Process : a case study of the barriers to women’s participation in building peace in Patani’ which can be read <a href="http://www.scriptiesonline.uba.uva.nl/sv/scriptie/640110">here</a>.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Firdaus Abdulsomad who identifies herself as “a second generation Patani Malay who grew up in Sweden” undertook her fieldwork r </div>

<div> <div>Despite an earlier court ruling, the Thai Army has filed a defamation lawsuit against a torture victim in the Deep South, who exposed his experience on TV in support of an anti-torture bill.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 14 February 2018, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 filed defamation charges against Isma-ae Tae, a founder of the Patani Human Rights Organisation. </div></div>

<div> <div> <div><em>A story about the family of a Buddhist Thai woman killed by a motorcycle bomb in Yala market on 22 Jan. A group of Deep South women activists have proposed measures to make markets a safe space for everybody.&nbsp;</em></div> </div> </div>

<div>A story about the family of a young Muslim Malay man killed by a motorcycle bomb in Yala market by Soraya Jamjuree and Kamnoeng Chamnankit</div> <p></p>

<div>“... some people had stones thrown at their head, a knife pointed at their throat or a knife aimed at their belly (these are experiences that I myself had directly). Some have had piss thrown at them, and have been kicked and slapped around. Some have been beaten up to within an inch of their lives just for other people's satisfaction. They have been kicked, beaten and stomped in the face, without being raped or having their possessions taken. </div>

<div> <div>The three provinces in the restive Deep South will have the lowest minimum wage in the country, according to an announcement by the Labour Ministry. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">Security officers detained 20 people of Banang Sata District of the Deep Southern Province of Yala, <a href="https://web.facebook.com/wartanimap/photos/a.270058583095887.45164.249763755125370/1270164219751980/?type=3&amp;theater">Wartani</a>, a local media based in Pattani, reported at 3 pm on 4 January 2018.</p> <p>The 20 were taken to the 41st Military Ranger Division in Raman District of Yala.</p>

<p>A court in the Deep South has sentenced a blind woman to one year and six months in prison for royal defamation. &nbsp;</p> <p>On 4 January 2018, the Provincial Court of Yala sentenced Nuruhayati Masoe, a 23-year-old who is blind, to three years in prison for violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p> <p>She was accused of royal defamation for sharing an article by Giles Ji Ungpakorn, an academic and political activist who fled from Thailand to the UK in 2009 after he was charged with lèse majesté.</p>

<div>The police in Nakhon Si Thammarat have illegally collected detailed information about Muslim Malays living in the province. The information includes fingerprints, explicit physical appearances, and address. This operation has caused fear among the Muslim Malay community in the area.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Muhammad Gaddafi Guna, a university student in Nakhon Si Thammarat, told Prachatai that at about 2 pm, 29 December 2017, six police officers interrogated him and three other Muslim Malays in a restaurant near a mosque. </div>

<div> <div>Despite its efforts to regain mass support, the junta is facing a backlash for cracking down on anti-power plant protesters and a series of ham-fisted statements.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Southerners used to play an active role in the anti-election movement, the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), that paved the way for the 2014 coup.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>However, over the past three years, the ruling junta has put in place various policies that have affected the livelihood of southerners, such as regulations on fishing and plans for coal-fired power plan </div></div>