<p>It is a rare occasion when the lifting of martial law is met with unprecedented alarm and condemnation. Yet, this is exactly what happened when the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) lifted Martial Law on 1 April, after being in place for more than 10 months in Thailand.</p>

<div>The professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) shares the concerns expressed by four Thai media organisations over the new powers announced by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) under Article 44 of the interim constitution, as outlined in the report below posted on 2 April on the website of broadcaster Thai PBS.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The new order gives military officers sweeping powers to censor the media, with harsh punishments possible for journalists deemed not to be in compliance. </div>

<div> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0a6df398-7f1b-573b-5f76-3db3788f2dfd">The military have detained 17 people in the restive southern province of Narathiwat with no explanation given. The arrests are believed to be related to last week’s extrajudicial killing of 4 youths. &nbsp;</span></p> </div>

<p>(New York, April 1, 2015) – Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha is seeking to invoke a constitutional provision that would give him unlimited powers without safeguards against human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said today.&nbsp;<br /></p>

<p>The military court has again postponed the trial of a suspect charged with defying an order of the junta in 2014 due to the repeated absence of the first prosecution witness. &nbsp;</p> <p>The military court on Friday morning postponed examination of a prosecution witness in a case where Sirapop (family name withheld due to privacy concerns) was charged with defying the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Announcement No. 41/2014 for not reporting to the coup-maker in May 2014.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-445d2a04-4645-5e98-087f-33e936067494">The Thai military forced labour unionists to remove pro-election stickers and placards at&nbsp;a monthly rally.</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-445d2a04-4645-5e98-087f-33e936067494">Around six military officers on Saturday morning inspected cars which belong to Rangsit and Area Labour Union members at the rally in Pathum Thani Province, north of Bangkok, and ordered the union members to remove the A4 stickers which simply read ‘election’.</span></p>

<p>(New York, March 19, 2015) –&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/asia/thailand" target="_blank">Thai</a>&nbsp;authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the alleged torture of suspects while they were held incommunicado in military custody, Human Rights Watch said today.&nbsp;<br /></p>

<p align="center"><strong>Investigation of alleged torture against suspects of the Criminal Court Bomb urged,</strong></p> <p align="center"><strong>Martial Law must be lifted</strong></p> <p align="center"><strong>For immediate release on 17 March 2015</strong></p>

<p><a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/">Khaosod English</a>:&nbsp;A witness of the deadly military crackdown on Redshirt protesters in 2010 emerged from six days of military detention today, a day after the junta denied any involvement in her arrest.</p> <p>Nattathida Meewangpla, 36, was arrested at her residence in Samut Prakarn by five soldiers on 11 March and had been detained in communicado since.&nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>The military has detained incommunicado for almost a week a female medic who is a key witness of the killing of red shirts at a Bangkok temple in 2010, said a human rights lawyer.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Winyat Chatmontree, a human rights lawyer from Free Thai Legal Aid (FTLA), on Monday told Prachatai that Nattatida Meewangpla, aka Wan, was taken from her house in Samut Prakan on 11 March. </div></div>

<p>Activists rallied for women’s rights and an end to military rule on International Women’s Day, pointing out that the rights of both women and men have been suspended under the junta regime.</p> <p>Anti-junta activists and others staged a rally from the 14 October Memorial to the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue in central Bangkok on Sunday afternoon, International Women’s Day, in a ‘Wearing Sarongs and Aiming for Elections’ campaign.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7598/16568532870_3411207b60_z.jpg" /></p>

<div> <div>Military officers tried to cancel a media workshop in the restive deep south, claiming that they were ordered to do so by their superiors. </div></div>