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<div>Alarm has been raised over last minute changes to the controversial Computer Crime Bill that the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) will vote on tomorrow.
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<div>More than 300,000 Thais have signed a petition opposing the new Computer Crime Bill that will allow greater government control over information online. </div>
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<div>On 15 December 2016, representatives of the Thai Netizen Network (TNN) and Amnesty International (AI) submitted the signatures to the President of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), the junta-appointed law-making body.
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<p dir="ltr">Thailand’s junta leader has invoked absolute power to terminate three public agencies responsible for facilitating dialogue between civil society and the state.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A provincial court has detained three anti-junta activists accused of discrediting the junta’s referendum on its controversial draft constitution.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Update: On 14 December 2016, Phra Khanong Provincial Court granted bail to the three suspects after Boonlert Wisetpricha, a lecturer from Thammasat University’s Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology, offered 200,00 baht as surety for each suspect. The suspects will be summoned again on 27 December to attend a reconciliation session and a deposition hearing. </em></p>
<p dir="ltr">Soldiers and police officers have stormed into a press conference on the crisis of Thai Buddhism to force its organisers to cancel the event.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A civil society group has called on people to engage in a social media campaign to prevent the junta’s lawmakers to pass the new draconian Computer Crime Bill.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The junta has finished the first draft of election regulations that come under the new constitution. It will be difficult for small parties to emerge under the new law, according to the drafter spokesman.</p>
<p dir="ltr">On 7 December, the Constitution Drafting Committee published its first draft of the Organic Act on Elections, which is one of ten organic laws under the junta-backed draft charter.</p>
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<div>The authorities have summoned or visited at least six people across the country who follow the Facebook page of an exiled academic.
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<p dir="ltr">A criminal court has handed a two-year suspended jail term to a witness of Thailand’s<a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/category/april-may-2010-political-violence"> April-May 2010 political violence</a> accused of defaming the Thai Army. </p>
<p dir="ltr">On 8 December 2016, the Criminal Court of Thailand sentenced Thanaporn (surname withheld due to privacy concerns) to two years of imprisonment with a 100,000 baht fine, according to <a href="https://freedom.ilaw.or.th/case/648#progress_of_case">iLaw</a>. The court suspended the jail term for two years.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Thai military has threatened a prominent anti-junta activist from the New Democracy Movement (NDM) with the lèse majesté law over a Facebook post.</p>
<p dir="ltr">On 8 December 2016, Chanoknan Ruamsap, a key member of NDM, posted a message on her Facebook account explaining that the military contacted her family while she was in Brazil. </p>
<p dir="ltr">A network of anti-mine activist groups has condemned the Thai junta for pushing a new controversial mining bill without public participation. </p>
<p dir="ltr">On 7 December 2016, the People’s Network of Ore Owners, a coalition of anti-mine activist groups from across the nation, issued a public statement to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).</p>
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<div>Thailand’s deputy junta head has confirmed BBC Thai will be prosecuted for publishing a controversial biography of the newly instated King Vajiralongkorn.</div>
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<div>On 6 December 2016, deputy junta head Prawit Wongsuwan told media that the biography contains false information, so he has urged authorities to investigate whether the article is in breach of the law.
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