<p>On 31 August 2007 the Court of Appeal in Thailand upheld the decision of a lower court that a group of persons had in 2002 been exercising their legal rights under the abrogated 1997 Constitution when they went to protest about a gas pipeline project on the border with Malaysia, leading to clashes with the police. The court agreed with the lower court that the protestors had simply been exercising their constitutional rights to assemble and participate in decision making on natural resources, and that there was no evidence that they were responsible for the violence that had ensued.</p>

<p>When Karl Marx prophesied 150 years ago that "history repeats itself," he wasn&#39;t talking about human rights abuses in Asia. But today his words resonate as we face a nearly identical repeat of Southeast Asia&#39;s most unconscionable "development" project, right next door in Burma. And the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is again poised to be complicit in human rights abuses. </p>

<p>Net surfers have sought a Thai government explanation over a report in the Financial Times about the arrest of two Thais for alleged offensive comments about the monarchy on an Internet chat room.</p>

<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Her new book, The Shock Doctrine, details the rise of disaster capitalism with painstaking care, showing how big business often steps in after global misery</font></p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that anti-coup activist Sombat Boon-ngam-anong is detained with pending charges of criminal defamation after he expressed opinions against the coup leaders. The AHRC calls for your immediate action to urge the case to be withdrawn. </p>

<p>The junta and the military-installed government&#39;s over-reaction to the European Union&#39;s proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) as a prerequisite to sending its election observers to Thailand may have won popular nationalistic support but also comes with a price and suspicion.</p>

<p>BANGKOK - News reports in Thailand and the international press are saying that Google-owned YouTube has agreed to cooperate with Thai authorities in filtering sensitive content on its website, paving the way for the lifting of a Thai ban on the popular video-sharing website. </p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission today joins with the Asian Migrant Centre, Hong Kong, and other organisations worldwide in a global day of action to call for the repeal of the provincial decrees in Thailand against the basic rights of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers there. </p>

<p>The Burmese military dictatorship may be tightening the already restricted telecommunication channels in the country to prevent information about the ongoing mass protests and arrests in Rangoon from leaking out, according to SEAPA sources.</p>

<p>BANGKOK - Journalists in Rangoon are reporting a rapidly deteriorating situation for covering the sporadic protests, and brewing crisis, in Burma. </p>

<p>In a radio interview at the end of July, the interim prime minister of Thailand criticized anti-government protestors who fought with police outside the house of a privy councilor in Bangkok, the man whom they accuse of masterminding last year&#39;s military coup. General Surayud Chulanont told listeners that it was not right for the demonstrators to have gone there, and that all citizens ought to work together for the country. Everyone should cooperate and think about maintaining the image of Thailand abroad, he said. </p>

<p>FORUM-ASIA is deeply concerned with the reports of harassment conducted by security and law enforcement officers against activists voicing their dissatisfaction and critiques against the content of the draft constitution, which is to be voted by Thai citizens this coming Sunday 19 August 2007. We urge the Thai military government and its officers to respect the basic rights of the people, in any democratic society, to voice their opinions on the referendum. </p>