<p>The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) wishes to congratulate the people of Thailand for turning out in large numbers to exercise their democratic right in a peaceful and orderly manner. Further, ANFREL wishes to compliment the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) for their management of the General Elections on July 3rd 2011.</p>

<p>Jubilant Pheu Thai supporters said they were not counting out the possibility of an attempt by the Army or so-called &quot;invisible hands&quot; to intervene, but added that they were ready to fight to hang on to the election victory they won yesterday.</p>

<p><font><font size="2" face="Default Sans Serif,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Thai political parties must publicly commit to respect human rights, Amnesty International said today, on the eve of the country&rsquo;s first national elections in more than three years.</span></font></font></p>

<p>PSM is alarmed that its detained members are undergoing torture and inhumane interrogation from special Bukit Aman Officers who are brought specifically to extract information as most of those detained have preferred to use their rights under the law to speak to the court and not to the police.</p>

<p><em>Political Parties Silent on Rights During Election Campaign</em></p> <p>(Bangkok, July 1, 2011) &ndash; Thailand&rsquo;s political parties and newly elected members of parliament should make human rights a priority following general elections scheduled for July 3, 2011, Human Rights Watch said today.</p>

<p>As Thailand braces for the hotly-contested national elections, to be held on the 3rd of July, journalists, media groups and civil society in the kingdom are also girding for what could be another round of challenges to Thailand's freedom of expression.</p>

<p>Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and the Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA) strongly condemn the recent and on-going threats and intimidation by the Malaysian government against the electoral reform campaigners. The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) comprises of Malaysian civic and human rights organisations campaigning for electoral reforms and independent monitoring of elections in the country.</p>

<p>(Hong Kong, June 29, 2011) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from the Cross Cultural Foundation that Mr. Sudeerueman Maleh, one of those who alleged that he was tortured by police in the case of stealing weapons in 2004 has been criminally counter-charged by the police on the charge of making a false statement to the authorities.</p>

<p>Thai society appears heavily afflicted by the cult of the &quot;good person&quot;. Vote for &quot;good people&quot;, Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said this month. Many more have expressed similar views as the general election draws near.</p> <p>The problem is, whose &quot;good people&quot; should we vote for and how is a &quot;good person&quot; defined?</p>

<p>On 24 June 2011 human rights defender and land rights activist Mr Akhil Gogoi was arrested at Guwahati Press Club, in the northeastern state of Assam, where he was addressing a press conference. His arrest follows a protest which took place on 22 June 2011 in the state capital Dispur, during which three protestors were killed and over 50 injured as police opened fire into the crowd. Akhil Gogoi is general-secretary of Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) and an activist using the Right to Information (RTI) Act.</p>

<p>28 June 2011</p> <p>Your Excellency,</p> <p>Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), a membership-based regional human rights organization, is gravely concerned with the failure of Your Excellency&rsquo;s Government on the investigation into the disappearance of Sri Lankan human rights defender, Mr Pattani Razeek, an Executive Committee Member of FORUM-ASIA, who disappeared on 11 February 2010 from Polonnaruwa, a town in the North-Central Province of Sri Lanka.</p>

<p>With the organization of the advanced vote on Sunday 26th June, the ongoing electoral process in Thailand has entered a new<br /> phase: nearly 3 million voters, both residents and non-resident voters registered to cast their vote one week prior to the General Elections on 3rd July 2011. Voters across the country were able to cast their ballots in a largely quiet and well managed election environment.</p>