<div>The Thai military government has invited editors of mainstream media to a few meetings.
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<div>The authority intimidated rights groups and NGOs during a conference on human rights and Constitution in Khon Kaen.</div>
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<div>Military and police officers on Wednesday morning tried to monitor a discussion called ‘Human rights and the Constitution’ in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen in a bid to harass North East-based NGOs and activists, many of whom believed to be taking part in issuing a courageous statement, ‘No Reform Under Military Top Boots’, denouncing the military government on Sunday.</div>
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<div>Human rights groups and NGOs based in Thailand’s North East denounced the legitimacy of the coup makers and the authoritarian regime of the military government, arguing that reform cannot be carried out without public participation.</div>
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<div>Many human rights groups and environmental activists based in the North East region, such as the Human Rights and Peace Information Centre and Isan human rights media groups on Sunday, denounced the legitimacy of the junta’s cabinet led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) and Nationa
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<div>For almost five months, the Thai military has used the draconian century-old martial law to detain anti-coup protesters and academics. Recently, however, it has also used the martial law to arrest and detain suspects without charge in cases related to general crimes and informal debts. Human rights lawyers say the military’s use of the law is arbitrary and unnecessary and contradicts the spirit of the law. </div>
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<div>In the past ten days, the military has used martial law in at least five cases to detain people and search the houses of activists.
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<div>The military has harassed Boonyuen Siritum, a consumer rights and energy reform activist and former senator at her house in a bid to suppress rallies on energy reform. </div>
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<div>Eight military officers on Wednesday morning raided the house of the former elected senator for Samut Songkhram Province and accused her of inciting people to stage rallies and being unusually rich. </div>
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<div>The officers searched the house in Samut Songkhram’s Muang District without warrant, claiming that they can search any house under martial law.
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By Pravit Rojanaphruk |
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<div>The cancellation and breaking up of talks believed to be critical of coup-makers in recent days have sent shock waves beyond the academic community here in Thailand.</div>
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<div>This was yet another signal from the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) that it will not tolerate any form of dissent - not even inside university walls. </div>
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<div>Perhaps this offers an insight into the junta's deep-rooted insecurity four months after the May 22 coup.</div>
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<div>A few weeks after taking over, the junta began ce
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By Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) |
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<div>The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to express grave concern about the arrest, interrogation, and harassment of four academics and three students during a public lecture on 17 September 2014 at Thammasat University in Bangkok. This is the latest in a series of actions by the authorities in the four months since the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) overturned the civilian government in a coup on 22 May 2014.
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<div>Hundreds of arbitrary detentions, reports of torture and other ill-treatment, sweeping restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and unfair trials in military courts are creating a climate of fear in Thailand, and there are no signs of a let-up, Amnesty International said today in a new report. </div>
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<div>The report, Attitude adjustment –100 days under Martial Law, is the first comprehensive investigation into Thailand’s human rights situation since the military imposed Martial Law on 20 May 2014 and seized power two days later.</div>
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By Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div>Thai authorities reportedly planned to implement a surveillance device starting from 15 September to sniff out Thai Internet users, specifically targeting those producing and reading lèse majesté content, a report says. Although the report is yet to be confirmed, it has created greater climate of fear among media. </div>
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<div>Prachatai has received unconfirmed reports from two different sources.
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By Kongpob Areerat and Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div>Instead of throwing an ice bucket over one’s head, the challenge is to sing a song whose lyrics touch every free spirit. </div>
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<div>Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned loyalist and critic of the lèse majesté law, has condemned the suppression of freedom of expression, especially the use of the lèse majesté law to arrest and threaten civilians, academics and artists, saying the more despotic the regime is, the more people are being hunted for expressing their thoughts, while the junta leader on Friday defended the use of the draconian law. </div>
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<div>Sulak said the recent coup affected the monarchy and that the coup junta is using Article 112 or the lèse majesté law to suppress freedom fo
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By United Nations Human Rights Office for South East Asia |
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<div>BANGKOK (3 September 2014) --- The United Nations Human Rights Office for South East Asia (OHCHR) is seriously concerned about increasing restrictions on human rights defenders in exercising their rights to peaceful assembly and expression in Thailand.</div>
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<div>On Tuesday, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a local human rights organization, announced the cancellation of an e
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