<p>Bangkok’s Military Court dismissed a petition questioning its jurisdiction, submitted by Worachet Pakeerut, a prominent law academic and core member of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.prachatai.org/english/category/nitirat">Nitirat group</a>, who was charged with failing to report to the junta. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/1422797047994795/photos/a.1422801184661048.1073741828.1422797047994795/1540103046264194/?type=1">Free Thai Legal Aid (FTLA)</a>, the Military Court of Bangkok on Monday morning rejected the petition submitted by Worachet.</p>

<p>Almost 10,000 people have signed a petition urging the junta not to pass the digital economy bills which will give the state unprecedented powers of mass surveillance and control over communications in the name of national security.</p>

<p>Environmental and civil society groups condemned the new mining bill for ignoring environmental and health impacts and urged the junta government to stop deliberating the bill until Thailand has real representatives of the people.</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-68b5de57-24ba-71e7-3835-fc9ccc0ac714">The authorities in the Northeastern province of Nong Khai arrested a man who falsely used the name of the monarchy in a scam related to a water management project.&nbsp;</span></p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-68b5de57-24ba-71e7-3835-fc9ccc0ac714">The police and military on Saturday arrested Chotechuang K., 61, after he was accused of fraud and lèse majesté. &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>

<p id="E23" qowt-divtype="para" qowt-eid="E23" style="list-style-type:none;"><span id="E24" qowt-eid="E24">Bangkok’s Military Court dismissed a petition submitted by a prominent red-shirt figure </span><span id="E25" qowt-eid="E25">questioning</span><span id="E26" qowt-eid="E26"> whether the jurisdiction of the military court o</span><span id="E27" qowt-eid="E27">ver</span><span id="E28" qowt-eid="E28"> civilian cases </span><span id="E29" qowt-eid="E29">violates</span><span id="E30" qowt-eid="E30"> the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). &nbsp;</span></p>

<div>Thai royalists protested in front of the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok, pressuring the New Zealand government to extradite a lèse majesté suspect living in exile there and threatening to step up measures if the New Zealand government do not comply with their demands.</div> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr">The network of Thai poor people pressed the junta to rethink about its forest protection policies and come up with strategies to reduce prevalent socio-economic inequity in Thai society at the first official meeting between the group and the junta. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fa0ddf29-15d6-7bef-befc-6015a37035ff">Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) is developing and testing software to intercept internet communications which uses a secure protocol in order to better intercept and block lèse majesté content, according to a leaked document. &nbsp;</span></p>

<p>The junta leader has admitted that one of the prime goals of the controversial digital economy bills is to catch lèse majesté suspects and did not deny reports concerning Thai authorities’ implementation of software for mass surveillance.</p> <p>At Government House on Thursday morning, Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader, revealed to the press that among the prime objectives of the controversial Digital Economy Bill and Cyber Security Bill is a crackdown on online lèse majesté content.</p>

<p>The junta leader enjoyed a ‘massage of congratulation’ from leaders of other states, according to the official website of the Royal Thai Government.</p> <p>The misspelling on the official&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thaigov.go.th/">website of the Royal Thai government</a>&nbsp;was spotted by local media on Wednesday. It read ‘massage of congratulations’ on the page introducing Prayut Chan-o-cha, the current Prime Minister and the head of the junta, and his brief biography.</p>

<p>The court sentenced a former lèse majesté&nbsp;convict&nbsp;to two months and 20 days in prison for failing to report to the junta in June.</p> <p>The ex-lèse majesté&nbsp;convict is the first to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment for failing to report to the junta. Unlike others who pleaded guilty to defying coup orders, the court did not suspend the jail term because he was once convicted under lèse majesté law in 2009.&nbsp;</p>

<div><span style="font-size: 12px;">The Supreme Administrative Court on Wednesday ruled that facility for physically challenged people must be built in the Bangkok’s skytrain ‘BTS’ system.&nbsp;</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The ruling, which overturned the verdict of the Central Administrative Court in 2009, beautifully ends the 20-year fight of the Thai people with disabilities in&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12px;">Thailand for transportation equity on the Bangkok’s popular mass public transportation. </span></div>