<p>Amid tension with villagers, the Thai military continues to help oil company transport equipment into a potential oilfield in the northeast, despite an NHRC order to halt the process.</p>
<p>Despite a recent order by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for the company to halt operations due to the project’s controversial Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), military officers and district officials have helped the company to occupy major roads leading to the oil field to secure the convoy’s access to the area since Saturday.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-30f11374-917c-1f94-8036-e9cedeedc97c">An anti-coup student activist group from Thammasat University has condemned the charge against a student activist, who will be the first student tried in a military court. </span></p>
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By Kongpob Areerat and Thaweeporn Kummetha |
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<div>The police on Saturday arrested four activists for organizing a peaceful anti-coup activity and charged them with violating the junta’s orders.</div>
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<div>The four are Sirawit Serithiwat, a student activist from Thammasat University, Pansak Srithep, a red-shirt activist and the father of a boy killed by the military during the 2010 political violence, Anon Numpa, a human rights lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), and Wannakiet Chusuwan, a pro-democracy activist. </div>
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<div>Police at Pathumwan Police Station charged them with v
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<p>The military has helped a petroleum company bypass proper environmental impact assessment procedures and an NHRC order to halt petroleum exploration and threatened villagers opposing the exploration with martial law.</p>
<p>About 40 armed police and military officers on Friday morning assisted <a href="http://www.amchamthailand.com/ACCT/asp/corpdetail.asp?CorpID=1029">Apico (Korat) Limited</a>, a US-based oil and gas exploration company, to move oil-drilling equipment into a potential oil field called Dongmoon in Kranuan District of the northeastern province of Khon Kaen.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A state official filed lese majeste complaint against two men connected with a brother of former royal consort, for claiming about the monarchy to threaten the state authorities not to properly perform duties.</p>
<p id="E24" qowt-divtype="para" qowt-eid="E24" style="list-style-type:none;"><span id="E25" qowt-eid="E25">The military court on Friday denied bail </span><span id="E26" qowt-eid="E26">to</span> <span id="E28" qowt-eid="E28">a red-shirt suspect</span><span id="E29" qowt-eid="E29"> accused of posting </span><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30">a </span><span id="E31" qowt-eid="E31">forged royal statement, w</span><span id="E32" qowt-eid="E32">hen</span><span id="E33" qowt-eid="E33"> the court </span><span id="E34" qowt-eid="E34">had </span><span id="E35" qowt-eid="E35">earlier granted bail </span><spa</p>
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<p>Thai military has ordered the eviction of villagers in Isan accused of trespassing on a public land plot, despite an ongoing settlement process with the local authorities.</p>
<p>The Thai military on Thursday ordered the villagers of Bua Daeng Subdistrict in Pathum Rat District of the northeastern province of Roi Et to sign a document stating that they will leave the area by Friday, according to the Land Reform Network of Isan (LRNI), a civil society organization affiliated with the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pmovethai">People’s Movement for Just Society (P-Move)</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-33531540-7d2c-9933-2060-2c511739b6c7">Press freedom in Thailand has fallen on the Reporters Without Borders index from a ranking of 130 in 2014 to 134 in 2015. Thailand still remains the second best among the ten members of the ASEAN.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/index.php">Khaosod English:</a> A spokesperson for Thailand's military junta explained to a group of foreign dignitaries today that the Kingdom's lese majeste law is needed to protect the "feelings" of the Thai people.</p>
<p>One of the community leaders of an embattled farmers’ community in southern Thailand has been assassinated. He is the fourth villager assassinated during the on-going dispute with a palm oil company.</p>
<p>Chai Bunthonglek, a 61-year-old member of the Southern Peasant’s Federation of Thailand (SPFT) from Khlong Sai Pattana Community in Chai Buri District of southern Surat Thani Province, was assassinated by two gunmen around 6 pm on Thursday. Chai was shot dead at his house by a .357 gun.</p>
<p>He is the fourth member of the SPFT from Khlong Sai Pattana Community to be shot dead.</p>
<p>In the case of the forged royal statement, a red-shirt suspect has to stay in jail because he cannot afford bail, while the ultra-royalist yellow-shirt media web editor walks free after being granted bail by the military court. It is considered rare for a lèse majesté suspect to be granted bail by a military court.</p>
<p>A civil society group submitted a complaint urging the government to solve land conflicts between poor urban communities and private landowners after the poor were threatened with lawsuits and evictions. </p>