<p>On 13.00 - 15.00 of 14 August, three men with short hair claiming to be undercover police appeared in the vicinity of the Prachatai and Thai Volunteer Service offices.</p>

<p>Never before have people&#39;s messages about the monarchy, be they satirical or direct, substantial demands for monarchy reform, appeared widely in protests countrywide. But these messages do not make it into the mainstream media due to legal and moral fears.</p>

<p>On 9 July, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced the launch of the #HoldTheLine campaign in support of journalist Maria Ressa and independent media under attack in the Philippines.</p>

<p>The conviction of a prominent journalist for criminal libel is a devastating blow to media freedom in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/asia/philippines">Philippines</a>, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/15/philippines-rappler-verdict-blow-media-freedom">Human Rights Watch said today</a>.</p>

<p>Amnesty International responds to the cease-and-desist order issued by&nbsp;the Philippines&#39; National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), effectively stopping operations of ABS-CBN, one of the country&#39;s largest broadcast media companies, after repeated attacks on the network by President Rodrigo Duterte.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Today (27 April), the ICJ and Lawyers&rsquo; Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) jointly submitted a legal brief (amicus curiae) to the Court of Appeal in criminal defamation proceeding against Thai journalist Suchanee Cloitre.</p>

<p>Thailand is ranked 140th in Reporters Without Borders (RSF)&rsquo;s <a href="https://rsf.org/en/2020-world-press-freedom-index-entering-decisive-decade-journalism-exacerbated-coronavirus">2020 World Press Freedom Index</a>, four places below its 2019 ranking at 136th, while hyper-control and nationalist populism threaten press freedom in the Asia-Pacific.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It has only been one month since the declaration of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but already the CIVICUS Monitor is documenting an alarming deterioration in civic space across 40 countries. A&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://monitor.civicus.org/COVID19/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1587444730621000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGC-RwDkf7IVrVGh8EUUfraM74xcg" href="https://monitor.civicus.org/COVID19/" target="_blank">new brief</a>&nbsp;released today by the CIVICUS Monitor, shows that many governments are responding to the pandemic in an unjustifiable and unnecessary manner.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FCCThailand/photos/a.266558006762490/2888058027945795/?type=3&amp;theater">statement</a> and open letter addressed to the Prime Minister released yesterday (6 April), the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand (FCCT) calls for the exemption of journalists from the <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/8443">nationwide curfew</a> implemented last week, which prohibited people from leaving their residences between 22.00 - 4.00.</p>

<p>In a <a href="https://www.tlhr2014.com/?p=16785&amp;lang=en">statement</a> released on Monday (30 March), Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) says that while they find that it is necessary for the state to &ldquo;impose measures&rdquo; to control the spread of COVID-19, it finds that the Emergency Decree, in effect from 26 March to 30 April, &ldquo;contains provisions which significantly restrict people&rsquo;s rights and freedom,&rdquo; especially freedom of expression, press freedom, and freedom of movement, raising concerns about the necessity and proportionality of the measures issued under the decree.</p>

<p>On Tuesday (24 December), a court in Lop Buri sentenced former Voice TV reporter Suchanee Cloitre to two years to prison in a defamation lawsuit filed against her by the Thammakaset Company.</p>