<p>Three brave women journalists who have risked their lives covering the news have been named the International Women&rsquo;s Media Foundation&rsquo;s 2011<em>Courage in Journalism</em> Award winners.</p>

<p>Tony Cartalucci has <a href="http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/04/exposing-international-arbiters.html">written</a> prolifically on the political turmoil in Thailand. His writing focuses on the International dimension; the foreign interference in Thailand. While there is no doubt that no nation is an island and foreign groups with their own agendas interfere in all nations for their own personal ends, Tony has been very selective in which foreign groups he writes on, what their intentions are and who they work with in Thailand.</p>

<p>The trial of the Prachatai Director has been postponed to September and October after 5 days of hearings dealt with 5 witnesses out of 14 in total.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities should drop all charges against human rights defender and web forum moderator Chiranuch Premchaiporn, whose trial continues this week, Amnesty International said today.</p>

<p>Chiranuch Premchaiporn's trial over computer crime charges began yesterday and attracted some 40 supporters and observers, all of whom are interested to see how this case against the freedom of expression pans out. The accused is the director of the non-profit online newspaper Prachatai.com.</p>

<p>The trial of the Prachatai Director started with testimony from an official from the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology as a prosecution witness.&nbsp; About 40 Thais and foreigners attended the hearing.</p>

<p>The public must demand that the government free all websites blocked under the emergency decree, which ended yesterday, in order to defend their right to access information, media executive Chuwat Rerksrisuk said yesterday. </p>

<p><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span">It has been 258 days since the Prachatai.com website was blocked under the order of the CRES. The order to block the website came about right after the declaration of the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation (hereafter &ldquo;Decree&rdquo;). Prachatai.com, which has been online since September 2004, was first blocked on 8 April 2010. The amount of the financial loss, according to the figures that Prachatai has filed in a charge against the government and CRES with the Court of Justice and which is currently being investigated by the Court of Appeal, stands at 5 million baht.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b> </b></span></span></p>

<p>(Hong Kong, November 5, 2010) The Asian Human Rights Commission on Wednesday launched a new campaign webpage on the case of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the director of the independent online news service Prachatai, who is facing multiple criminal charges over material that readers posted onto her website.</p>

<p>BANGKOK Oct.2 -- The arrest and legal procedure of the case against Prachatai director Chiranuch Premchiaporn were both unfair and unlawful, said Chiranuch&rsquo;s attorney.</p> <p>Chiranuch&rsquo;s lawyer Anon Nampa, who drove from Saraburi province to accompany her during the interrogation at Khon Kaen provincial police station in Northeastern Thailand, said the charges against her are too severe and constitute unjustifiable use of law.</p> <p>&ldquo;The charges are filed at random,&rdquo; Anon said. &ldquo;It clearly is political slandering.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of prachatai.com, an online newspaper, which is regarded by some as being pro-red and has been blocked since April, was arrested at Suvarnabhumi Airport last Friday on charges of lese majeste and violating the computer crime law over comments posted by other users. Upon returning from a seminar on cyber liberty in Hungary, she was driven straight to Khon Kaen province to face charges filed against her two years ago. She is now out on Bt200,000 bail and tells The Nation's Pravit Rojanaphruk about her ordeal. Here are some excerpts:</p>

<p>The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that Ms. Chiranuch Premchaiporn, director of Prachatai online newspaper, was detained by the immigration police at Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samutprakarn province near Bangkok, and transferred to Khon Kaen police station, in northeastern Thailand. She has been charged with violating the Computer Crimes Act BE.2550 (2007) and Articles 112 and 116 of the Criminal Code BE.2499 (1956) (section of the code relating to les&egrave; majest&eacute;).</p>