<div> <div> <div>The police on Friday morning arrested and charged Pornthip M. with lèse majesté for her involvement with a political play about a fictional monarch, which has deemed lèse majesté by the police.</div> </div></div>

<div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The police on Thursday arrested a student activist from northeastern Khon Kaen University and charged him with lèse majesté. He was accused of taking part in a political play about a fictional monarch, deemed&nbsp;lèse majesté by the police.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Friday, the court rejected his bail request. He is now detained at Bangkok Remand Prison.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The police arrested Patiwat S., 23, on campus on Thursday at 3 pm. </div></div>

<p>It’s not listed in any of the human rights documents that the UN comes out with but let’s credit Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha with the Right to Ignorance.</p> <p>So they arrest this Kritsuda woman on 27 May under martial law.&nbsp; After 7 days she fails to re-emerge, no one knows where she is, and then on 17 June her name appears on one of the NCPO’s ‘see me in my office tomorrow morning or else’ lists.&nbsp; This was a bit perplexing since as far as anyone knew, she was still in the custody of the military.&nbsp; How can you report to them when they’re holding you incommunicado?&nbsp;</p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>The Thai junta will distribute 20,000 free movie tickets for Thais to celebrate Thailand’s Mother’s Day on 12 August, Than Setthakit Online reported.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This is the third free movie screening organized by the Thai authorities as part of the “Return Happiness” campaign.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Previously only the patriotic film The Legend of King Naresuan was screened for the campaign. </div></div>

<p>When the summons was announced for the leaders of the anti-Israeli rally to report to the Thai Army Club, most observers assumed that it was the normal ‘we’ll have none of this marching about no matter what noble cause you say it’s in aid of’ message.&nbsp; And the representatives of the Al Quds International Council of Thailand emerged from their enforced conversation and reported telling the military that the protest was nothing to do with Thai politics.</p> <p>Oh yeah?</p>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) has blocked access to two Prachatai English news stories on the alleged torture of red-shirt activist Kritsuda Khunasen, without giving any explanation to the online news outlet. </div>

<p>It's not just through guns and tanks that the military junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), usurps and clings to power. Two months after the coup, the Kingdom saw the use of both soft and hard power, as well as support from a large enough sector of the population that helped shore up the NCPO.</p>

<div> <div>29 July 2014&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Thailand: Amnesty International’s meeting with the National Council for Peace and Order&nbsp;</strong></div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Amnesty International visited Thailand between 9 and 18 July to undertake research on the human rights situation following the declaration of martial law on 20 May 2014.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As part of its research, the human rights organization met with representatives of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – the milit </div>

<p><img alt="" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3862/14783115555_c659fd2807.jpg" /></p> <p><span><em>Professor Charnvit Kasetsiri (Left) and Professor Tham Chaloemtiarana (Right)</em></span></p>

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<div>&nbsp;</div> <div>After the 2007 Constitution was torn up two months ago, Thailand was presented with an Interim Charter with 48 articles on 22 July 2014. The significance of the charter is that it allows the establishment of three bodies: a National Legislative Assembly (NLA), taking the responsibilities of Parliament, a National Reform Committee (NRC), which will propose a “reform” plan aiming at re-engineering the Thai political landscape, and a Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), which is responsible for drafting a permanent constitution. </div>

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