<p><font size="2">Tesco Lotus, one of the biggest retailers in Thailand, has filed another defamation case against a Thai columnist, following through on a trend that has got the country&#39;s journalists and media on edge.</font></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">In a new<a href="http://chiranuch.googlepages.com/WorldDEVELOPMENTSondp2007ENGLISH.doc"> report</a> published on 15 April 2008, Amnesty International revealed that at least 1,200 people were executed in 2007 and expressed deep concern that many more were killed by the state, in secret, in countries including China, Mongolia and Viet Nam.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">Two reports this month by the International Rivers Network (IRN) are strongly critical of developments in the construction of 2 dams in Lao PDR.</span></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">On January 23, 2008 the Board of Directors of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) announced that it was granting its 3rd Asian Human Rights Defender Award jointly to Mr. Muneer Malik, former President of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, and his successor.</font></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">On 11 April 2008 Mrs. Noom Maisaeng, a Shan migrant worker who was disabled as a result of an accident during construction work was escorted to Chiang Mai Administrative Court by staff from the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) together with two friends who are also Shan construction workers. Their purpose was to file a complaint to the court asking for withdrawal of<span style="color: #3366cc"> Order</span> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma"><a href="../05web/upload/HilightNews/document/20011025.pdf"><span style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none">Circulated by the Social Security Office (Document number </span></a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma"><a href="../05web/upload/HilightNews/document/20011025.pdf"><span style="color: #3366cc; text-decoration: none">0711/ 751) </span></a>which was released on 25 October 2001.</span></p>

<p><font size="2">The following is an IFJ media release: IFJ Condemns Denial of Jailed Activist&#39;s Right to Appeal</font></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma; color: black;">10 April 2008 &ndash;Associated Press reported progress in the case of Jonathan Head, BBC&rsquo;s Asia-Pacific reporter who has been charged with l&egrave;se majest&eacute; under article 112 of the Criminal Code. The charge arises from his role as moderator of a seminar entitled &ldquo;Coup, Capital and Crown&rdquo; at the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand (FCCT) on 13 December 2007. A representative of the international news broadcasting company said it is aware of the case and will find a solution as soon as possible.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">The deplorable plight of migrant workers in Thailand was highlighted yet again when on April 10^th it was discovered that 54 of 121 Burmese migrant workers suffocated to death in a container only 6 by 2.2 meters long. They were being smuggled to Phuket.<span>&nbsp; </span>This underscores the desperation of migrant workers and their vulnerabilities to exploitation.</span></p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">The news that 54 persons died in the back of a truck as they were being transported to work illegally in Thailand on 10 April 2008 has again drawn global attention to the desperate conditions in Burma from which thousands escape daily in search of means of livelihood elsewhere, and the dangers that invariably lie ahead.</font></p>

<p>The Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD), an anti-coup organization which later transformed itself into United for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) has been campaigning for wholescale changes to the 2007 Constitution. They have recently formed the <strong>People&#39;s Committee for Reforming the 2007 Constitution</strong>, which continues to expand. Currently there are 35 organizations involved including former constitutional drafters and senators. </p>

<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">On 8 April 2008, Pol Lt Wattanasak Mungkitjakarndee, Investigation Officer of Bang Mot Police Station, seconded to Phaholyothin Police Station met Pol Maj Boonlert Kalayanamit, Investigation Officer at the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), to file l&egrave;se majest&eacute; charges under Article 112 of the Criminal Code against Mr. Jonathan Head, BBC reporter and member of the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand (FCCT) committee.</span></p>

<p>A Thai man and his female friend have been charged by police with l&egrave;se majest&eacute; for not standing for the royal anthem at a movie theatre in Bangkok late last year.</p>