<p>Thailand might be viewed as one of the most open-minded countries in Southeast Asia when it comes to LGBT. However, the country’s laws still put LGBT people at the margin. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>On 14 July 2015, a network of academics and LGBT activists from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/thaitga">Transgender Alliance-Thai (TGA)</a>&nbsp;organised a public seminar at Thammasat University, Tha Prachan Campus, called ‘Gender Recognition Advocacy for Transgender in Thailand (T-GART)’ in order to gather opinions about ways to push for legal recognition of LGBT people in the country.</p>

<p>The Thai Criminal Court sentenced a man to two years’ imprisonment for spray-painting what looked like an anarchist symbol on the court’s name plate in Bangkok, but the jail term was halved.</p> <p>The Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road on Tuesday morning, 14 July 2015, sentenced Nattapon Kemngoen, aka Jayjay, a 22-year-old man accused of the painting letter ‘A’ in a circle, resembling the symbol for anarchism, on the nameplate of the court, to two years in jail for destroying public property and violating the Public Cleanliness Act.</p>

<div> <div>A military court on Tuesday sentenced eight defendants to 10 years in jail for lèse majesté, while two other defendants were sentenced to six years. However, since they pleaded guilty, the jail terms were halved. The 10 defendants are accused of being members of the anti-monarchy Banpodj Network, which allegedly produced podcast programmes criticizing HM the King.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>A total of 14 people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Bandpodj Network. They were separated into two groups of 12 and two, each group facing different charges. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">Environmental activists have started a hunger strike to protest against coal-fired power plant project in southern Thailand. &nbsp;</p> <p>Two members of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stopcoalkrabi?hc_location=ufi">Save Andaman from Coal</a>, an anti-coal powered plant group from southern Thailand, have vowed to undergo a hunger strike to death in order to halt the construction of a coal-fired power plant in the southern province of Krabi.</p>

<p>The military court granted bail to a red shirt woman accused of defaming the Thai junta leader.</p> <p>At around 12 am on Monday, the Bangkok Military Court granted 100,000 baht bail to Rinda Parichabutr, a red shirt woman nicknamed “Lin,” 45, who was arrested last week for spreading a false rumour through social networks that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, and his wife sent about 10 billion baht to a secret bank account in Singapore.</p>

<p>Anti-junta activists and others gathered at Bangkok Remand Prison to urge the release of an anti-establishment red shirt single mother charged with sedition for posting a false rumour about the Thai junta leader. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Muslim people in Thailand have condemned the Thai junta government for deporting Uighur refugees to China, pointing out that it is a violation of international law.</p> <p>On Friday, 10 July 2015, a group of Muslim people in Thailand issued a statement condemning the Thai junta’s forced deportation of Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim minority from western China, back to their supposed country of origin.</p> <p>The statement was signed by Zakariya Amataya, a well-known Muslim poet in Thailand and Ekkarin Tuansiri, a political science lecturer at Prince of Songkhla University.</p>

<p>A mentally ill Thai accused of defaming the monarchy has retracted his pre-trial statement and pleaded guilty as charged, saying that he could no longer stand a lengthy court process. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The Criminal Court has dropped charges against anti-election protesters who barricaded a Bangkok District Office in early 2014 to prevent the general election from taking place. &nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://crime.tnews.co.th/content/151580/">T News</a>, at 10:00 am on Thursday, 9 July 2015, Bangkok’s Criminal Court dropped charges against People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) demonstrators who barred the Din Daeng District Office in northern Bangkok, to prevent the distribution of ballot papers polling stations on 2 February 2014.</p>

<p>Thai military officers have visited academics the 14 embattled anti-junta activists to ask about their political stance. &nbsp;</p> <p>Bencharat Sae Chua, a lecturer of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ihrp.mahidol.ac.th/index.php/en/our-institute/about-ihrp">Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies of Mahidol University (IHRP)</a>, told Prachatai Thai that on Wednesday, 8 July 2015, five military officers came to the university to ask her and other lecturers about their political stance and whether they support the 14 anti-junta activists, who have been temporarily released.</p>

<p>The 14 embattled anti-junta activists have vowed to fight on after their temporary release, saying that the Thai junta’s orders to maintain national security are illegitimate.</p> <p>At 15:15 pm on Thursday, 9 July 2015, at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan Campus in Bangkok, the 14 anti-junta activists from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.org/english/category/new-democracy-movement-ndm">New Democracy Movement (NDM)</a>, an anti-junta group, who were released on Wednesday after nearly two weeks in detention, issued a group statement on their stand on the democracy movement.</p>

<div>Police have arrested without a warrant and detained incommunicado a red-shirt woman for allegedly posting a false rumour that the Thai junta leader secretly keeps money in Singapore.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Rinda Paributr, a red-shirt woman, nicknamed “Lin,” 45, was arrested on Wednesday around 3 pm in central Pathum Thani Province for distributing the false rumour, which stated that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and his wife had transferred about 10 billion baht to a secret bank account in Singapore.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Pol Maj Gen Siripong Timula, Director of </div>