<div> <div>The police have summoned Ekkachai Hongkangwan, anti-junta activist and former lèse majesté prisoner, for posting pornographic content online. </div></div>

<div> <div>22 civil society organisations have launched a project to collect signatures of Thai citizens in a bid to repeal the junta’s orders that violate human rights and democratic values.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 15 January 2018, iLaw, a human rights advocacy group, and its network organisations launched a campaign to abolish over 500 orders of the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Organisations that joined the campaign today include the Southern Peasants Federation of Thailand, the People's Health Movement, the student activist Democ </div></div>

<div> <div>Thai government agencies plan to sponsor a large-scale project to plant marijuana on over 2000 acres of land for medical purposes. </div></div>

<div> <div>A prosecutor has indicted 16 villagers who joined an anti-coal protest from Thepa District, Songkhla Province.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 12 January 2018, the Songkhla public prosecutor indicted 16 villagers for joining the protest against plans to build a coal-fired power plant in Thepa. </div></div>

<div> <div>A famous actress has to report the police after accidentally posting an image of her boyfriend’s genitals on her Instagram account.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 9 January 2018, the Technology Crime Suppression Division asked actress Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, 27, to report on 12 January to hear accusations against her. The authorities accuse her of importing pornographic images into a computer system, a violation of the controversial Computer Crimes Act.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 4 January, Apinya posted on her Instagram account an image of her boyfriend’s penis. </div></div>

<div> <div>The anti-election monk has urged the police to stop harassing his disciples after the authorities visited his temple to investigate the lèse majesté allegation against him.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 9 January 2018, Suvit Theerathammo, abbot of Wat Or Noi temple, and his lawyer visited the police’s Crimes Suppression Division to ask information about the lèse majesté lawsuit that he is facing.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The monk claimed that many police officers have come to his temple and questioned his disciples about Suvit’s personal information.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp; </div></div>

<div> <div>Villagers in Loei have vowed to fight against gold mining and urged the junta not to prolong its power after the election. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">Security officers detained 20 people of Banang Sata District of the Deep Southern Province of Yala, <a href="https://web.facebook.com/wartanimap/photos/a.270058583095887.45164.249763755125370/1270164219751980/?type=3&amp;theater">Wartani</a>, a local media based in Pattani, reported at 3 pm on 4 January 2018.</p> <p>The 20 were taken to the 41st Military Ranger Division in Raman District of Yala.</p>

<p>A court in the Deep South has sentenced a blind woman to one year and six months in prison for royal defamation. &nbsp;</p> <p>On 4 January 2018, the Provincial Court of Yala sentenced Nuruhayati Masoe, a 23-year-old who is blind, to three years in prison for violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p> <p>She was accused of royal defamation for sharing an article by Giles Ji Ungpakorn, an academic and political activist who fled from Thailand to the UK in 2009 after he was charged with lèse majesté.</p>

<div>The police in Nakhon Si Thammarat have illegally collected detailed information about Muslim Malays living in the province. The information includes fingerprints, explicit physical appearances, and address. This operation has caused fear among the Muslim Malay community in the area.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Muhammad Gaddafi Guna, a university student in Nakhon Si Thammarat, told Prachatai that at about 2 pm, 29 December 2017, six police officers interrogated him and three other Muslim Malays in a restaurant near a mosque. </div>

<div> <div>Two major political parties have challenged the junta’s new regulation which handicaps old parties amid criticism that the military is manipulating the election laws for the benefit of new parties in the next general election scheduled in November 2018.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 27 December 2017, Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a member of the Pheu Thai Party legal team, <a href="https://prachatai.com/journal/2017/12/74741">submitted a petition</a> to the Constitution Court asking it to rule whether the junta’s endorsement of Head of the National Council for Peace and Order </div></div>

<div> <div>The Military Court in Khon Kaen has begun trying two members of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) merely for observing a public seminar that discussed the junta’s constitution. </div></div>