<p>Environmental activists and academics have urged the government to improve the Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) process on a controversial coal-fired power plant project in southern Thailand.</p> <p>On 2 March 2017, academics and environmentalists gathered at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, to discuss deficiencies in the government’s EHIA process as conducted on mega-projects such as its ongoing plans to build&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/6935">a coal-fired power plant</a>&nbsp;in the southern province of Krabi.</p>

<p>Soldiers and security officers have detained a member of an anti-establishment red shirt group at a market close to the Dhammakaya temple and told him not to enter the area again or risk imprisonment. &nbsp;</p> <p>On 5 March 2017, officers of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and soldiers apprehended Anurak Jentawanit, a leader of a red shirt group called ‘Ford Red Path’ at Klang Khlong Luang market in Pathum Thani Province.</p> <p>The market is close to the Dhammakaya temple and is currently used by Dhammakaya monks and disciples as a gathering point.</p>

<p>A local conservation group in Thailand’s northeast has urged the military and local authorities to reconsider plans to dredge a local swamp crucial for local farmers.</p> <p>On 2 March 2017, 20 members of a local environmental conservation group in Nong Phai Subdistrict of Mueang District, Udon Thani Province submitted a letter to the Department of Water Resources and the 24th Military Circle.</p> <p>The group demanded that the authorities reconsider their plans to dredge Nong Na Tan, a local swamp, which local villagers use for agriculture.</p>

<p>Security officers have detained an anti-junta political dissident at the Dhammakaya Temple complex.</p> <p>At 4 pm on 2 March 2017, about 10 soldiers and officers from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) detained taxi driver Phaisan Chantapan, a regular participant anti-junta political activities, at the Dhammakaya Temple in Pathum Thani Province, north of Bangkok.</p> <p>About two hours later, Phaisan told Prachatai that he had been taken to the Border Patrol Police Region 1 on suspicion of calling on Dhammakaya disciples to come to the temple.</p>

<p>Civil society groups oppose the junta’s plan to use the regime’s absolute power to speed up the process of registering pharmaceutical patents, warning the plan could cost billions of baht in increased drug costs.</p> <p>On 1 March 2017, FTA Watch, a civil society group monitoring trade policies, and AIDs Access Foundation (AAF) submitted a letter to Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, urging him not to use Section 44 of the Interim Constitution to bypass normal regulations in registering pharmaceutical patents.</p>

<p>The police have permitted a renowned royalist intellectual accused of lèse majesté to postpone hearing the charges against him.</p> <p>On 28 February 2017, a defence lawyer representing Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and lèse majesté critic, submitted a request to police officers of Chanasongkram Police Station in Bangkok asking for a postponement a hearing about the lèse majesté charges. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>The inquiry officers permitted a postponement for the time being.</p>

<div> <div>Thailand’s junta leader has called for the Thai people to be flexible about the country’s ‘roadmap to democracy’, suggesting that a postponement of elections would not be a big deal. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 27 February 2017, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, delivered a <a href="http://prachatai.com/journal/2017/02/70315">speech</a> reaffirming the importance of the country’s ‘roadmap to democracy’. </div></div>

<div> <div>The media have been barred from the junta’s first regional session for political reconciliation in Chiang Mai. </div></div>

<p>The Appeal Court has refused to release an anti-junta student activist accused of lèse majesté.</p> <p>On 1 March 2017, the Appeal Court Region 4&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=3582">confirmed the ruling of the Court of First Instance&nbsp;</a>not to release Jatuphat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, a law student and key member of the New Democracy Movement (NDM).</p>

<p>After years of campaigning and lobbying by human rights groups, the junta-appointed lawmakers have dropped a bill to criminalise torture and enforced disappearance.</p>

<p>Five months after agreeing on preconditions for peace talks, the Thai government and Deep South insurgent groups have agreed on a general framework to set up safety zones in the restive region.</p> <p>On 28 February 2017, Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, a delegate and key member of MARA Patani, an umbrella organization of Deep South independent movements, announced that the group and the Thai government representatives to the Deep South peace negotiations in Malaysia had reached an agreement on a framework to establish safety zones. &nbsp;</p>

<p>A criminal court is refusing to accept a lawsuit by the parents of a drug trafficking suspect who died in police custody until court fees are paid.</p> <p>On 27 February 2017, Southern Bangkok Criminal Court&nbsp;<a href="https://voicefromthais.wordpress.com/?s=%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99">ruled not to accept</a>&nbsp;a lawsuit against the Royal Thai Police (RTP) filed by Wasana and Phanom Koedkaeo, parents of Anan Koedkaeo, 34, a drug trafficking suspect who died in suspicious circumstances three days after being interrogated.</p>