<p>A civil society organisation for Thailand’s poor has urged people to call on the Thai junta through local administrators to hold a referendum on the draft constitution.</p> <p>The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai3.info/english/category/assembly-of-the-poor">Assembly of the Poor</a>, an organisation which is the voice of Thailand’s poor communities, on Tuesday submitted a statement to the Thai junta to demand that the regime hold a public referendum on the draft of the country’s highest law, the constitution.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b2ad50e2-4737-1758-e0cd-810c94f9008a">The Thai Appeal Court on Tuesday sentenced a 65-year-old woman with a mental illness to jail for a year without suspension for stepping on image of King Bhumibol. &nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-b2ad50e2-4737-1758-e0cd-810c94f9008a">Thitinan K. was found guilty of treading on an image of HM the King when several groups of protesters gathered in front of the Constitutional Court office in July 2012.&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>An ultra-royalist group has launched a political cyber bullying campaign and legal charges against a red shirt activist. The campaign against her has led to her employer firing her on Monday. &nbsp;</p>

<div> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4c477671-41e7-e397-10a1-0b186358e3e6">Thailand and North Korea have celebrated the 40th anniversary of bilateral ties by issuing special sets of stamps and organizing an exhibition.</span></p> </div>

<p>With uncertainty about whether the Thai junta will hold a public referendum on the new charter draft or impose it without public consent, alternative media outlets and think tanks in Thailand came together on 8 May 2015 to officially open an online forum to let people speak their minds about the draft constitution which is currently being debated in the junta’s National Reform Council (NRC).</p>

<p>Thai military said the arrest of nine Israelis conducting a training session for Thai police was a misunderstanding, claiming that the military only wanted to get information on the devices used in the training.</p>

<p>Thailand’s junta leader expressed reluctance to hold public referendum before passing the draft constitution, saying that it could cost billions of baht.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachachat.net/news_detail.php?newsid=1430994766">Prachachat News</a>, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, on Thursday afternoon told the media that holding a public referendum on the draft constitution may cost the government three billion baht (about USD 89 million).</p>

<p>Military and police officers came to inspect a seminar about environmental impacts on a disputed oil field in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/lawyercenter2014/posts/826426717407184">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, about 30 military from Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) and police officers in plainclothes and in uniforms on Tuesday morning came to monitor a public seminar titled ‘EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) Na Moon: the Injustice of Land Based Petroleum in Isan’</p>

<p>Southern civil society groups have condemned the killing of civilians in the deep south and urged the Thai authorities to bring those responsible to justice.</p>

<p>Thailand’s think tanks for consumer rights and sustainable agriculture are urging people to boycott a giant convenient store chain and to call on the junta to revise business laws against market monopolisation.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.php?newsid=1430819467&amp;typecate=06&amp;section=">Khaosod English</a>:&nbsp;Thailand's military junta will retain its ban on political activities, which was imposed nearly one year ago, despite calls from the leader of the Pheu Thai party to repeal the prohibition.</p> <p>The sec-gen of the Pheu Thai party, which led the government toppled in the May 2014 coup, urged the junta yesterday to lift the ban and allow political parties to organize conferences and discuss the constitution being drafted by a junta-appointed body.&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">Amnesty International urged the Thai junta to remove censorships over media and stop the prosecutions of people of the press in the name of national security.</p> <p>On Sunday, <a href="http://www.amnesty.or.th">Amnesty International </a>issued a public statement to the Thai junta on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, which is on 3 May of every year.</p> <p>The statement pointed out that since the imposition of the martial law on 20 May 2014 and the subsequent coup d’état, the junta maintains tight control over media, claiming that it is necessary for national security.</p>