<p>The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has expressed concerns about the recent arrests of Thai protesters and several lengthy&nbsp;lese-majeste&nbsp;sentences in recent weeks.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Secretary-General of the Move Forward Party proposes Section 112 amendment to open up discussion, though the draft amendment does not satisfy everyone.</p>

<p>A crowd of around 500 gathered at the Pathumwan Skywalk yesterday evening (9 February), after the Criminal Court <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/9059">denied bail</a> for activists Parit Chiwarak, Anon Nampa, Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, and Patipan Luecha, who are being detained in prison pending trial and have been taken to the Bangkok Remand Prison.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>UN human rights experts today expressed grave concerns over Thailand&rsquo;s increasingly severe use of lèse-majesté laws to curtail criticism of the monarchy, and said they were alarmed that a woman had been sentenced to over 43 years in prison for insulting the royal family.</p>

<p>A court has found not guilty Bundit Aneeya, an 80-year-old writer and translator in his third lèse majesté trial. The court ruled that his allegedly criminal comment made in public in 2015 did not directly refer to the monarch. His comment could be interpreted in many ways.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/thailand">Thailand&rsquo;s&nbsp;</a>government in 2020 escalated its repression of basic rights in the face of a growing, youth-led democracy movement demanding political and constitutional reforms, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/01/13/thailand-rights-crisis-rapidly-worsens?fbclid=IwAR0r2vNVrc82Edi59BvBR96JO2LEOMd1KKSVvqHEkQsc5F7QuGQj9-OM1_8">Human Rights Watch</a> said on Wednesday (13 January) in its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021">World Report 2021</a>.</p>

<p>Sirichai (last name withheld), a freshman at the Puey Ungphakorn School of Development Studies, Thammasat University, and a member of the student activist group United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, was arrested during Wednesday night (13 January) on a royal defamation charge under Section 112.</p>

<p>3 more people have been charged with royal defamation under Section 112 of the Criminal Code, bringing the number of people facing Section 112 charges to 40.</p>

<p>Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26621&amp;LangID=E">statement</a> today (18 December) raising concerns over the Thai authorities charging protesters with charges under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, Thailand&#39;s lèse majesté law.</p>

<p>Two students facing charges under the lèse majesté law for participating in a &ldquo;fashion show&rdquo; during a pro-democracy protest on Silom Road went to hear the charges yesterday (17 December), while members of the We Volunteer protest guard group and other protesters gathered outside the police station in Thai traditional dress to show support.</p>

<p>The number of people involved in recent protests who have been charged under Section 112 continues to rise as 31 people have now been summoned, one of whom is 16 years old. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor in Nakhon Phanom has issued a prosecution order in the case of a man accused of royal defamation for a Facebook post made in 2016.</p>

<p>A group of alumni and current students from the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, has issued an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nisitchulaparty/posts/196286588789050">open letter</a> to King Vajiralongkorn, calling for the repeal of Thailand&rsquo;s lèse majesté law, with which at least 24 people involved with recent protests have been charged in the past two weeks.&nbsp;</p>