<div>AUGUST 20, 2014</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Thailand: Theater Activists Jailed for Insulting Monarchy</strong></div> <div><strong>Lese Majeste Arrests Increase Since Military Coup</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>(New York) – The arrest of two activists involved in a play considered by Thai military authorities to be “insulting to the monarchy” shows the decline in freedom of expression in Thailand since the May 22, 2014 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. </div>

<p>Right, I’ve had enough. I’m sick up to here with this mindless ‘if you don’t like it here, then go and live somewhere else’ garbage.</p> <p>So what about you? If you don’t like reading this stuff, why don’t you go and live somewhere else where they don’t write like this? Never thought of that, did you, eh?</p> <p></p>

<p>Dear me, I can hardly keep up.&nbsp; A Prime Minister talks about democracy in something more than platitudes, and in front of foreigners.&nbsp; And comes home to a chorus of boos from those whose recent contributions to democracy have included coups, live fire zones, and mass censorship of the internet.&nbsp; How dare she mention the word ‘democracy’ 27 times in a speech at a forum on democracy!</p>

<p>There are times when some incidents in Thailand remind this writer of another society in a land far away. This was the case when virtually every mainstream mass media ignored certain &quot;wires&quot; about Thailand that were carried in WikiLeaks. </p>

<p>The public must demand that the government free all websites blocked under the emergency decree, which ended yesterday, in order to defend their right to access information, media executive Chuwat Rerksrisuk said yesterday. </p>

<p>Despite many difficulties, Burmese journalists inside Burma and abroad have in recent weeks covered two events of great importance for the country: the 7 November general elections and Aung San Suu Kyi&rsquo;s release six days later. The military authorities sent contradictory signals about their intentions as regards media freedom. The undemocratic elections were marked by censorship, arrests of journalists and other obstacles, but Burmese newspapers were able to interview the various candidates during the campaign.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders calls on the Thai authorities to release Sun Shucai, an 87-year-old refugee activist and journalist who was arrested in Bangkok on 8 December. He is now in a Bangkok immigration detention centre after a judge fined him 3,000 Baht (75 euros) on 9 December and ordered the authorities to examine the possibility of deporting him.</p>

<p>Academics, journalists and activists including <span class="published-content-body">Daniel Ellsberg, Barbara Ehrenreich, Arundhati Roy, Noam Chomsky have signed on an <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/592/p/dia/action/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=5343">online petition</a> in support of the WikiLeaks. <br /> </span></p>

<p>The Ministry of Justice is inviting people to join its &lsquo;<a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/07/02/business/Govt-backed-cyber-scouts-to-monitor-internet-30132866.html">Cyber Scout</a>&rsquo; training programme in order to build a network of volunteers to protect the monarchy in the online world.</p>

<p>Internet activists in Thailand criticized the government for infringing on the rights of online users and called for amending the controversial Computer Crime Act.</p>

<p>Since the enforcement of the Computer Crime Act in July 2007, there have been 185 cases in relations to the CCA up to July 2010. There have been 117 court orders to block access to 74,686 URLs. </p>

<p>Over the past few weeks, we here at EFF have watched as whistleblowing website WikiLeaks has fueled an emotionally charged debate about the secrecy of government information and the people's right to know. We have welcomed this debate, and the fact that there have been myriad views is the embodiment of the freedom of expression upon which this country was founded.</p>