<p><em>This week, Patiwat S. was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for lèse majesté because of his role in the play, “The Wolf Bride.” Patiwat is the most recent student to have been imprisoned under the law, and has been an advocate for Isaan peoples’ rights and democracy for years.</em></p> <p>On Monday, the criminal court sentenced Khon Kaen University student Patiwat S. and activist Pornthip M. to five years in jail for their involvement in a satirical play that was deemed “damaging to the monarchy.” The court reduced the sentence by half for their admission of guilt.</p>

<div qowt-divtype="page" qowt-structural="true"> <div id="E-7" qowt-divtype="section" qowt-eid="E8" qowt-structural="true"> <p id="E31" qowt-divtype="para" qowt-eid="E31"><span id="E32" qowt-eid="E32">It </span><span id="E33" qowt-eid="E33">is </span><span id="E34" qowt-eid="E34">ten years since Prachatai was founded as an alternative media outlet.</span></p> </div></div>

<div> <div>A group of anti-coup activists produced a music video mocking the junta. It said it is aiming at breaking fear created by the military regime. Resistant Citizen, a group composed of activists, academics, human rights workers and lawyers, on Thursday released a music video which makes fun of the military power and the unpromising general election.&nbsp;</div> </div>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-3eb0ad1c-5239-cf60-83af-afc1526f2822">Thai police last week arrested six people who were allegedly part of a criminal organization defaming the monarchy on the internet. The group is allegedly led by a self-exiled red-shirt named “Banpodj,” with support of a financier.&nbsp;</span></p>

<div> <div>Two years after the abduction of the prominent, internationally acclaimed Lao development worker Sombath Somphone by Lao state agents, the Lao government has done very little to find the truth, experts say. Meanwhile, the disappearance and lack of justice has effectively created a climate of fear which has worsened the human rights situation in Laos.&nbsp;</div> </div>

<div><span>Record on lese majeste cases since 2010 shows that the military court is likely to hold &nbsp;more trials in camera and sentence lese majeste convicts to more years in prison in comparison to the civilian court.</span></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div>Prachatai looked into record of those who just campagined for the media freedom -- six months after the coup.</div> <p></p>

<div>Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the head of the junta and Prime Minister, has revealed the eleven policies of his administration, one of which is a plan to improve Thailand’s health system; however, the conservative junta might set Thailand’s health policies back by ten years.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Prayuth stated that they would facilitate a health insurance system accessible to all, prioritize preventive medicine to reduce costs, and redistribute health personnel to rural areas in accordance to the fifth policy of his government.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>This, however, contradicted his words i </div>

<div>Two months after the coup d’état in May, the Thai junta vowed to reform the Thai education system, which is one of the worst in the region. But instead of paying attention to structural problems, the junta’s policy for the Ministry of Education aims to focus on indefinable ‘merit’ and more nationalistic history classes. </div>

<p>While Burma’s Constitution reserves 25 per cent of parliamentary seats for the military, Thailand now has 52.5% of seats in the newly appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) occupied by acting and retired military officers.</p> <div> </div>

<div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Coup makers, since 1976 coup d’etat, have regularly cited a surge of lese majeste as a prerequisite for overthrowing an elected government. The 2006 coup, when lese majeste was cited as one of the major reasons, marked a surge of the lese majeste cases. The atrocity in April-May 2010, where almost 100 of people were killed during the military crackdown on anti-establishment red-shirt protesters, also contributed to a dramatic rise of lese majeste cases, especially the offences committed online. </div></div>

<div>&nbsp;</div> <div><span id="docs-internal-guid-6c340e8b-1f50-19fa-d321-e599c1a8d652"><span><img height="336px;" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/vSCLvEp2u44mb-ekwXtrBjHgpu9um6beD00gWSqT603bwrTggSzfeRoKgbh-bfxjABslisWteug7bGlJQyuNRSTdoi4Qp4eq4QGxmj21-wYaMt414Wz0qhhZgB0l2LMPLOhy7qXXWIw" /> </span></span></div>