<p>As news of the foiled coup d’état in Turkey triggered new waves of criticism against the Thai junta, the Thai military regime said that comparing Thailand with Turkey is not ‘creative’ because Thailand is unique.</p>

<p>Thai police have arrested two suspects accused of lèse majesté for making false claims about the Thai monarchy for financial benefit.</p> <p>Pol Maj Gen Thitirat Nongharnpitak, Commander of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police, on Friday, 15 July 2016, held a press conference on the arrests of Phakhin Chakabat and Woraphon Mawimon, suspects under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law, the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tnamcot.com/content/514301">Thai News Agency reported</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Thai police have refused to press lèse majesté charges against the mother of an embattled anti-junta activist. &nbsp;</p> <p>Pol Lt Col Sanpetch Noothong, police investigator of the 3^rd Division of the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD), submitted a petition to the relevant authorities to cancel the request to detain Patnaree Charnkij, the mother of well-known anti-junta activist Sirawit Serithiwat,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=1184">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported</a>.</p>

<p>After a stand-off with anti-junta activists over leaflets criticising the junta-sponsored draft charter, the Thai authorities say that the leaflets cannot be distributed as they distort facts about the draft.</p> <p>Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, of the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT), on Thursday afternoon, 14 July 2016, told the media after a meeting with the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) that leaflets entitled ‘7 Reasons Not to Accept the Draft Constitution’ are not allowed to be distributed.</p>

<div>Almost 20 people in northeastern Thailand have been summoned after they participated in a red-shirt referendum watch campaign a month earlier.</div> <p>On Thursday, 14 July 2016, security officers including soldiers, police officers, and local administration officials in the northeastern province of Udon Thani summoned 19 people who joined a local red-shirt referendum watch campaign on 19 June, to an attitude adjustment session, a form of detention with lectures from military, at the 24th Army Circle, <a href="http://www.tlhr2014.com/th/?p=1161">reported</a> Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (</p>

<p>As the referendum on the junta-sponsored draft charter draws near, the Thai junta leader has given power to a national media regulator to close down media critical of the regime without any accountability. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The Royal Gazette website on Thursday, 13 July 2016, published the latest order of the Thai junta,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2559/E/158/24.PDF">the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Head’s Order No. 41/2016</a>.</p>

<div>Fully armed soldiers guarded state electricity executives during their visit to a controversial coal-fired power plant project in Thailand’s restive Deep South amid opposition from the local community.</div> <p>On Wednesday, 13 July 2016, armed troops and Humvees were sent to guard executives of the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) during their visit to the site of a coal-fired power plant project in Thepha District, Songkhla Province.</p>

<p>Authorities have confiscated over 2,000 letters from anonymous senders containing information against the junta’s draft charter in the northern province of Chiang Mai while another 3,000 were found in Lampang a day earlier.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br /></p>

<p>The Thai military prohibited discussants at a public forum in Isaan, Thailand’s northeast, to talk about politics, referendum, and the lèse majesté law. The authorities however ironically allow them to talk about human right issues only.<br /></p>

<p>A statement has been released following the arrest of a Prachatai reporter, and the subsequent search of Prachatai’s office, with concerns of the precedent against media freedom that could be set by these actions.<br /><br />On 13 July 2016, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) released a statement raising concerns of the arrest of Prachatai reporter Taweesak Kerdpoka.<br /></p>

<p>The military in northern Thailand has confiscated over 3,000 letters allegedly campaigning against the junta-sponsored draft constitution and is now hunting for the senders.</p>

<p>The junta head has reversed his earlier statement that he will draft another constitution himself if the August referendum fails, saying that it was just a slip of the tongue. He also blamed the media for highlighting his thoughtless words and putting him out of temper.<br /></p>