<p>Human rights groups and NGOs based in Thailand’s North East denounced the legitimacy of the coup makers and the authoritarian regime of the military government, arguing that reform cannot be carried out without public participation.</p>

<div> <div>The military court in Bangkok on Friday rejected a bail request from the man accused of writing messages defaming the King on the restroom walls of a shopping mall, despite his illness.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Opas C., 67, allegedly wrote the messages, mainly criticizing the coup makers, in a restroom of Seacon Square shopping mall in eastern Bangkok on 15 October. After the security guards of the mall detained him and fined him 2,000 baht, they handed him over to the military. </div></div>

<div>About 100 of police officers on Friday have been deployed at the “Uncle Nuamthong Pedestrian Bridge” since around 7am to prevent democracy lovers from commemorating the suicide of the taxi drivers, who hanged himself at the bridge to protest against the 2006 military coup.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The police said under the martial law, imposed all over the kingdom, no one is allowed to hold anti-coup activity, including this one -- related to the coup eight years ago.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Nuamthong Praiwan’s first attempt to suicide was in 30 September 2006 when he dri </div>

<div>After the Bangkok Remand Prison attempted to separate red-shirt political prisoners from each other by sending them to several different prison zones, which was followed by the alleged beating to death of a red shirt by yellow-shirt inmates, a group of human rights lawyers has urged the prison to change its policy for the safety of political prisoners.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) on Thursday submitted a letter to the Bangkok Remand Prison director asking the prison to review its assignment policy. </div>

<div> <div>Journalists from Myanmar, Indonesia and Malaysia have attended a security workshop by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), held before their trip to the Philippines, which is considered the most dangerous place in the region for reporters.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>SEAPA held a workshop on working in dangerous areas in the region for journalists who were awarded fellowships to produce in-depth reports on press freedom, media harassment and impunity. </div></div>

<p>The criminal court has convicted 39 Pakayaw Karen villagers on charges related to illegal logging and forest encroachment and sentenced them to imprisonment and fines. This is believed to be the first large scale prosecution of so-called ‘encroachers’ under the junta’s heavy-handed approach to increase forest coverage.</p>

<p>The Thai criminal court has dismissed criminal defamation charges against Andy Hall, a British human rights defender and migration researcher. This is one of the four libel cases filed by a processed fruit company after Hall publicised poor human rights records and abusive labour conditions in the company’s factories.</p> <p>Phra Khanong Provincial Court, Bangkok, on Wednesday morning dismissed the first criminal libel case against Andy Hall, a freelance human rights and migration researcher, due incorrect investigation procedures. &nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>Three human rights lecturers used their academic posts to guarantee the bail requests of ‘The Wolf Bride’ theatre activists charged with lèse majesté. Nevertheless, the court denied the bail requests.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This is the fifth time that the two have submitted bail requests.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Tuesday, Phawinee Chumsri, a lawyer representing Patiwat S. and Pornthip M. (aka. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">The military court allowed four defendants of the ‘Khon Kaen Model’ alleged rebellion case, who had been arrested and detained since late May, to be released on bail due to the defendants’ poor health conditions. &nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>Sgt Prasit Chaisrisa, a former Pheu Thai MP and red-shirt figure, on Monday pleaded guilty to lèse&nbsp;</div> <div>majesté charges before the criminal court, after he earlier denied all allegations.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Prasit was accused of defaming the King during a speech on an event titled “Stop Overthrowing Democracy,” held at Imperial World Ladprao Department Store on 7 May 2014. A staff member of the military Judge Advocate General’s Office filed a police complaint against him. He has been detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison since his arrest on 29 May. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">The military court in Bangkok on Monday sentenced a red-shirt political activist to one year in jail term for not reporting himself to the coup-maker and sentenced another anti-coup activist to six months imprisonment for protesting against the coup. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<div> <div>Prosecutors have decided to file lèse majesté charges against two activists involved in the political play "The Wolf Bride".&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Phawinee Chumsri, a lawyer representing Patiwat S. </div></div>