<div> <div> <div>The Thai government and a Muslim Malay liberation organization have reached an agreement to make one district of the Deep South safe for civilians. </div></div></div>

<div> <div>Would you pay over 200,000 baht for a painting that you cannot hang even in your house? A group of businessmen has won the bid for a portrait of an exiled historian by a satirical cartoon page. </div></div>

<div> <div> <div>The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has urged the junta to negotiate with anti-coal protesters after seven hunger strikers were admitted to hospital.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 15 February 2018, the NHRC expressed support for the rally at the UN building, Bangkok. The rally urged the junta to withdraw its plans to build coal-fired power plants in the southern provinces of Songkhla and Krabi. </div></div></div>

<div> <div>The Administrative Court has nullified an order that fined Thai PBS for broadcasting political talks about the Thai monarchy.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 15 February 2018, the Administrative Court ruled to invalidate a fine of 50,000 baht imposed by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on Thai PBS for broadcasting political discussions about the Thai monarchy.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The court ruled that bias on the part of Lt Gen Peerapong Manakit, one of the NBTC members who proposed the punishment, led to an unfair trial. </div></div>

<div>The authorities have claimed that a draftee in Chanthaburi died of heat stroke. The soldier’s father found no injury marks on his body.</div> <div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>On 14 February 2018, Muhammad-Erfan Je-ma, a conscript in the Royal Thai Marine Corps, was subjected to punishment (colloquially called ‘repairing’) until his death at a military camp in Chanthaburi Province. </div></div></div>

<div> <div>Despite an earlier court ruling, the Thai Army has filed a defamation lawsuit against a torture victim in the Deep South, who exposed his experience on TV in support of an anti-torture bill.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 14 February 2018, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 filed defamation charges against Isma-ae Tae, a founder of the Patani Human Rights Organisation. </div></div>

<div style="text-align: center;"> <div style="text-align: left;">The authorities have summoned a student activist who planned to hold a pro-election rally in Chiang Mai. </div></div>

<div> <div>A singer-turned-red-shirt-activist has pleaded guilty to a fourth lèse majesté charge for comparing Thailand with Denmark, where the King has to stop at traffic lights.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 13 February 2018, the Bangkok Criminal Court tried Thanat Thanawatcharanon, 60, whose stage name is <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/5187">Tom Dundee</a>, on a charge of lèse majesté, a violation of Article 112 of the Criminal Code, for a speech at a red-shirt rally in 2011 in Lamphun Province.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to the prosecutor, Thanat’s speech constituted </div></div>

<div> <div>After Rangsiman Rome led a protest on Saturday attended by hundreds, Bangkok police transferred the pro-democracy activist to Khon Kaen to face prosecution for campaigning against the junta’s constitution in 2016.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 11 February 2018, police transferred Rangsiman from Bangkok to Mueang Khon Kaen Police Station to hear charges of violating the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order’s (NCPO) Order 3/2015, the junta’s ban on political gatherings of five people or more. </div></div>

<div>The former president of the Student Council of Chulalongkorn University has petitioned the Administrative Court to invalidate the university’s order that punished him for protesting during a university initiation ceremony.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 9 February 2018, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal and his lawyer submitted a petition to the Central Administrative Court. </div>

<div> <div>The 39 pro-election protesters have reported to the police to hear the charges against them. The courts released them without bail.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 8 February 2018, 34 out of the 39 pro-election protesters known as the MBK 39 reported to Pathumwan Police Station to hear the charges against them. The junta accused the group of joining a public assembly on 27 January within 150 meters of a royal site, in violation of Article 7 of the 2015 Public Assembly Act. </div></div>

<div> <div>A network of Thai scholars has launched a fundraising campaign to seek two million baht to bail the 39 pro-election protesters. The junta has also filed another charge against them of violating the ban on political gatherings.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 6 February 2018, Nuttha Mahattana, one of the protesters, revealed that the group has to find over 2,000,000 baht as bail for the 39. </div></div>