<p>Despite a looming eviction deadline, the community of the ancient Mahakan Fort is adamant that they will not move away, and has called for people to observe the eviction.</p> <p>After many postponed eviction deadlines and discussions which yielded no results, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) set a new eviction deadline of Saturday, 3 September 2016 to demolish the community behind the wall of the ancient fort of Pom Mahakan,&nbsp;<a href="http://news.thaipbs.or.th/content/255372">Thai PBS reported</a>.</p>

<p>A provincial court in southern Thailand has sentenced a man to 35 years in jail for trafficking nearly 100 Rohingya refugees, some of whom died from suffocation.</p> <p>The provincial court of the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on Wednesday, 31 August 2016, sentenced Sunon Saengthong, an alleged human trafficker, to 35 years imprisonment and a fine of 666,000 baht, the Migrant Working Group reported.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A suspected accomplice in the case of an alleged royal impostor was arrested on a charge of insulting the monarch, police said Tuesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">Thaworn Puangprathim, 66, was accused of impersonating a royal palace official and helping the other suspect, Kamonthat “Kim Eng” Thanathornkhositjira, solicit donations for what they said were for members of the Royal Family.</p>

<div> <div>A post-mortem examination has revealed that a suspect in a land corruption case, previously reported as committing suicide in custody, was actually killed by internal bleeding and suffocation.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Tuesday, 30 August 2016, Thawatchai Anukul, a 66-year-old retired official of the Department of Lands, was <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/267603">reported</a> to have hanged himself while detained at the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). </div></div>

<p>After its international accreditation was degraded from A to B, Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) faces another round of criticism from an Asian civil society network on human rights over its inaction and partiality.</p> <p>The Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) on 29 August 2016 issued a statement criticising the NHRC, saying that the NHRC is inactive and partisan. &nbsp;</p>

<div> <div> <div>Police officers in Thailand’s northeast have achieved a new standard of intimidation after pressing charges against two rights advocates for merely observing a seminar criticizing the junta-backed charter.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Wednesday, 31 July 2016, police officers in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen summoned six people to Mueang District Police Station to hear accusations against them. The authorities accused the six of breaching NCPO Order No. </div></div></div>

<p>A civil society group for sex workers is urging the Thai authorities and media to stop discriminating against sex workers, saying although the sex industry contributes substantially to the Thai economy, sex workers suffer stigma and a lack of protection.</p>

<p>A network of people with HIV is urging the Thai authorities not to hand a multinational pharmaceutical company the right to monopolise a drug to combat Hepatitis B as patients may have to pay millions of baht for treatment. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Thai media regulator has suspended a news programme on Voice TV, a digital TV channel owned by Panthongtae Shinawatra, the son of controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin.</p> <p>The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on Monday, 29 August 2016, voted 3 to 1 to suspend transmission for seven days of Wake Up News, a popular morning news programme of Voice TV. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>The junta head has said insurgents in Thailand’s restive Deep South must stop all violence and merge into one group before initiating peace talks with the Thai government.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Monday, 29 August 2016, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta head and Prime Minister, spoke to the media about discussions on the Terms of Reference (ToR) for talks between the Thai government and Mara Patani, representing insurgent groups in Thailand’s restive Deep South, which will be held on 2 July in Malaysia. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">While Thailand is making strides in anti-torture legislation, experts argue the government&rsquo;s continued prosecution of human rights defenders makes this formal progress hollow.</p><p>At a public panel convened at the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand on Wednesday, 24 August 2016, representatives from local and international organisations called upon the Thai government to drop charges levelled against three human rights defenders investigating torture in Deep Southern Thailand.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Public prosecutors have indicted a Prachatai journalist and four anti-junta activists over leaflets allegedly campaigning against the junta-sponsored draft constitution. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">At the Provincial Court of Ratchaburi Province on Monday morning, 29 August 2016, the prosecutors formally indicted Taweesak Kerdpoka, a Prachatai journalist, and four anti-junta New Democracy Movement (NDM) activists: Pakorn Areekul, Anucha Rungmorakot, Anan Loked, and Phanuwat Songsawadchai, a student activist from Maejo University, Phrae campus.</p>