<div> <div>A public prosecutor has halted an attempt by the authorities to prosecute a villager who peacefully protested against a potash mining project in Sakon Nakhon, part of a long history of suppressing opposition to mining projects in rural Thailand.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 21 December 2017, a public prosecutor at Sawang Daen Din Provincial Court decided not to indict Achittaphon Khukasang, a member of Wanon Niwat Environmental Conservation Group, for violating the Public Assembly Act.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=5</p> </a></div></div>

<div> <div>The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) may ban people who fail to vote from working for the government in a bid to increase the penalties for election absentees. </div></div>

<div> <div>A cartoonist mocking the ruling junta is the most influential Facebook page of the year according to a poll organised by Prachatai while an exiled historian who regularly posts news about the royal family is voted the third.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>During the past two weeks, Prachatai has conducted an online poll on Facebook, asking respondents what is the most popular Facebook page of the year 2017. </div></div>

<div> <div>Evidence submitted by the Army in the case of the summary execution of a Lahu activist is unusable, a defence lawyer has claimed.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Although the trial in the killing of ethnic Lahu activist Chaiyapoom Pasae began over seven months ago, the court has not yet received the Army’s CCTV footage, critical evidence which recorded soldiers shooting the activist.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Sumitchai Hattasan, the lawyer for Chaiyapoom’s family, the Army had already sent the CCTV hard disk to the police, but the file cannot be opened. </div></div>

<div> <div>A regional red-shirt group has decided to call off a new year party after a brief confrontation between red shirts and the police.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 24 December 2017, police officers disrupted a new year party hosted by Western and Central red shirts. The event was held at a restaurant in Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram. </div></div>

<div>Paramilitary officers arbitrarily detained a Muslim Malay youth activist after he witnessed and recorded a house search in the restive Deep South. </div>

<div> <div>Due to the higher cost of living, a nationwide network of Thai labourers has urged the Labour Ministry to increase the national minimum wage to 360 baht per day. The rate has remained almost unchanged for five years.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 20 December, more than 20 labourers from the Thai Labour Reconciliation Committee (TLRC) gathered at the Ministry of Labour to read a statement demanding an increase in the national minimum wage from 300 to 360 baht per day by next year. </div></div>

<div> <div>A student activist has been arrested in Khon Kaen for a peaceful, symbolic protest against the junta.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 21 December 2017, a military prosecutor in Khon Kaen detained Phanuphong Sithananuwat, 22, a student activist from the pro-democracy Dao Din group. Authorities arrested Phanuphong while he was attending a trial for another lawsuit, in which he stands accused of criticising the junta’s charter in July 2016.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to a local source, the court has granted him bail. </div></div>

<div> <div> <div>The junta’s attempt to prevent human trafficking has pushed migrant workers into a more precarious situation.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Migrant workers and their employers said the new Management of Foreign Workers’ Employment Act, which came into force in June 2017, may not have achieved the intended purpose of protecting migrant workers from human trafficking because the implementation of the law has opened a loophole for exploitation by the middlemen.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Sai Htun Shwe, a Burmese migrant, <a href="https://voicetv.co.th/read/SybxOtvMM">told </a></div></div></div>

<div> <div>The police have reportedly sought to identify foreign diplomats who were present as observants of a sedition case against a Pheu Thai politician.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 19 December 2017, Khaosod reported that the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) sent letters to five embassies, requesting to verify persons present at the TCSD on 13 December who claimed to be embassy representatives. </div></div>

<div> <div>The junta’s lawmakers have proposed a law which will allow authorities to tap the phones of politicians suspected of corruption.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 19 December 2017, Meechai Ruchupan, chairperson of the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), expressed concern that the junta’s National Legislative Assembly (NLA) is proposing to grant the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) power to track the communication devices of people holding political positions.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The CDC chairman is worried that the proposal would give too m </div></div>

<div> <div>Amid calls for more political freedom ahead of next year’s election, a group of human rights defenders has urged the authorities to terminate the ban on public assembly.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 19 December, representatives from various civil society organisations submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court, calling for the termination of the Head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order 3/2015.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Article 6 of the order, military officers have the power to summon any individual and detain them for up to seven days withou </div></div>