<p>ARTICLE 19, English PEN and Index on Censorship today expressed concern over the ten-year prison sentence given to Thai blogger Suwicha Thakhor, a 34-year-old father of three.</p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemns the latest imprisonment of an Internet user in Thailand for posting online supposedly offensive images to the country&#39;s royal family. We are bringing you details of the case and urge you to protest strongly against this use of draconian laws, old and new, to attempt to stifle free expression.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders condemns the 10-year jail sentence which a criminal court in the northeast Bangkok district of Ratchada imposed today on <strong>Suwicha Thakor</strong> for posting content online that was deemed to have insulted the monarchy.</p>

<p><span>On April 3, the Criminal Court sentenced Suwicha Takor to 10 years in prison for his violations of the constitution, the Criminal Code and the Computer Related Crime law.</span></p>

<p>On Apr 1, Aree Jiworarak, Director of the Information Technology Supervision Office under the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, said the Ministry&#39;s recently established Internet Security Operations Centre (ISOC) had blocked over 7,000 improper URLs or web pages, which included 1,403 culturally and morally offensive pornographic pages.</p>

<p>In June 2008 after Cyclone Nargis devastated the Burma delta, a group of homeless residents went to request assistance from offices of international agencies in Rangoon. At that time, two reporters for local news journals went along with them. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in this appeal is bringing you details of the subsequent arrest of the journalists along with the residents, and imprisonment of the two journalists on trumped-up charges. They are among a number of persons sentenced because they tried to help cyclone victims. </p>

<p>On March 30, PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul spoke to reporters about Thaksin&#39;s address to the red-shirted crowd attacking the 2006 coup masterminds, including Privy Councilor Gen Surayud Chulanond and Surayud&#39;s subsequent response. <span>&nbsp;</span>&lsquo;I have no comment.<span>&nbsp; </span>No matter what Mr Surayud has to say, I have had no comment [about him] since he was Prime Minister.&#39;&nbsp;<span>&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>30 March 2009: The Pattani office of the Working Group on Justice for Peace was once again visited by a group of soldiers from Special Taskforce Unit 23 of Pattani. This time the group of soldiers, comprised of 4 uniformed and armed men, under the command of 1st Lt Benja Manochai, deputy chief of Special Taskforce 23, came to the office on 29 March 2009 at 11 am and stayed until 1pm interrogating staff. They asked the staff questions regarding the following</p>

<p>Today, to mark the 10^th anniversary of our founding, SWAN is launching a publication: &quot;SWAN: A 10-Year Journey&quot; as well as the Burmese, Shan and Thai versions of our website. We are also holding a community event on the Thai-Shan border, including an exhibition, cultural activities and the screening of a docudrama on SWAN&#39;s education program for displaced children.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On March 17, five years to the week of the disappearance of human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit at the hands of police officers, the ambassador of Thailand to the United Nations Human Rights Council insisted that his government is doing all that it can to conclude the case. Responding to the Asian Legal Resource Centre, Sihasak Phuangketkeow said that the government &quot;attaches the highest priority&quot; to solving the disappearance. </p>

<p>The undersigned representatives of media advocacy and journalists&#39;groups in Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, who converged in Manila from March 21 to 24 on a special mission sponsored by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Sultan Kudarat journalist Marlene Esperat, are alarmed by the continuing killing of media workers in the Philippines and the inadequate measures the government is taking to stop them.</p>

<p>The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) welcomes the announcement that the Chief Justice has been restored in Pakistan. We hope that the restored judiciary will exhibit its independence and begin to address the plethora of ongoing human rights violations in the country, notably widespread forced disappearances in Balochistan and other provinces and the endemic use of torture, including that taking place in at least 52 army-run torture centres</p>