<div> <p>A Malaysian news website reports that the Thai state authorities and Deep South insurgent groups are getting closer towards formal peace talks.&nbsp;</p> <p>Malaysiakini on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, reported that the peace negotiations between MARA Patani, an umbrella organisation of insurgent groups in Thailand’s Deep South, and the Thai state have shown progress.</p> </div>

<p>The Military Court has for the second time issued arrest warrants for anti-junta activists calling for an investigation into corruption allegations concerning a park constructed by the Royal Thai Army.</p>

<p>Seafarer tribes in southern Thailand facing eviction have submitted a petition to the Ministry of Justice calling for rights over their home. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Members of the seafarer community in Mueang District of the southern province of Phuket on Thursday, 11 February 2016, met Tawatchai Thaikeaw, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Justice Ministry. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Pathumwan District Court of Bangkok has dismissed charges against an anti-junta activist indicted for protesting against the coup in May 2014.</p> <p>Pathumwan District Court on Thursday morning, 11 February 2016, dismissed charges against Apichat P., an anti-coup activist, who had been charged with violating the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 7/2014, which prohibits any political gathering of five or more persons.</p>

<p>A wrongly identified theft suspect says that police officers threatened to kill him and dump his body on a mountain. &nbsp;</p> <p>The Cross Cultural &nbsp;Foundation (CrCF), a human rights advocacy group, reported that on Monday, 8 February 2016, the Provincial Court of Prachinburi in the east of Thailand held a second witness examination hearing in a case filed by Rittirong Chuenjit, 25, against seven police officers.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A human rights activist in Thailand’s restive Deep South has denied rumours that he is a member of an insurgent group in the region.</p> <p>Wifa-e Molor, 31, a human rights activist based in the Deep South province of Pattani, on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, spoke to the local <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wartanimap">Wartani News</a>, to reject a rumour that he is a member of an insurgent group affiliated with Abdullayib Dolah, 42, a suspect in the assassination of a Muslim cleric in Pattani. &nbsp;Abdullayib died in custody in mysterious circumstances on 4 December 2015.</p>

<p>A human rights lawyer for the 14 well-known anti-junta youth activists detained in June and July 2015, has denied charges that she refused to cooperate with police officers.</p> <p>Sirikan Charoensiri, a lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), met police officers at Chanasongkram Police Station in Bangkok on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, to hear the charges against her after she received a summons from the police station last week.</p>

<p>The head of the junta-appointed Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has threatened legal action to quell criticism of the new draft constitution. &nbsp;</p> <p>Thai News Agency on Monday, 8 February 2016, reported that Meechai Ruchuphan, President of the CDC, said that the CDC will meet to discuss possible legal action against people who distort facts to criticise the 2016 charter draft.</p>

<p>The Administrative Court of Thailand has acquitted National Park authorities accused of burning down the houses of a Karen ethnic minority village in an attempt to evict them, saying that the Karen encroached into protected areas. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>According to the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dailynews.co.th/politics/378291">Daily News</a>, the Central Administrative Court at 10 am on Monday, 8 February 2016, acquitted the Department of National Parks and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of malfeasance charges.</p>

<p>A spokesman for the national counter-insurgency agency today denounced a report alleging the use of more than a dozen torture techniques to force confessions from insurgent suspects in the Deep South as a work of fiction aimed at destroying the credibility of the army.</p>

<p>Police officers in plainclothes in northeastern Thailand, Isan, arrested a villager over a land dispute and allegedly abused her in an attempted eviction.</p>

<p>Military officers have attempted to censor displays of political parody at the upcoming annual football match between Chulalongkorn (CU) and Thammasat University (TU).</p> <p>Military officers in plainclothes at 17:40 pm on Wednesday, 4 February 2016, met with students of Thammasat University at Rangsit Campus who are in charge of the pre-match political parody parade at the 2016 CU-TU football match, which will take place on 13 February.</p> <p>The plainclothes officers did not allow members of the press to participate in the meeting.</p>