By Prachatai |
During Srettha Thavisin’s 7-month tenure, political prosecutions, particularly for royal defamation, have remained an ongoing concern with no sign of improvement. Citizens and activists continue to be jailed for political expression and many have been denied their right to bail, says Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
By Prachatai |
<p>On 15 January, the court accepted a request from the police to withdraw an erroneous arrest warrant against political activist Chayaphol ‘Dave’ Danothai after he went to Klong Luang Police Station for questioning with a goat.</p>
<p>The Military Court has halted hearings in the case of a red shirt accused of sedition for defaming the junta’s leader because of disputed jurisdiction on the case.</p>
<p>Amid tension with villagers, the Thai military continues to help oil company transport equipment into a potential oilfield in the northeast, despite an NHRC order to halt the process.</p>
<p>Despite a recent order by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for the company to halt operations due to the project’s controversial Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), military officers and district officials have helped the company to occupy major roads leading to the oil field to secure the convoy’s access to the area since Saturday.</p>
<div>After the Bangkok Remand Prison attempted to separate red-shirt political prisoners from each other by sending them to several different prison zones, which was followed by the alleged beating to death of a red shirt by yellow-shirt inmates, a group of human rights lawyers has urged the prison to change its policy for the safety of political prisoners.</div>
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<div>Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) on Thursday submitted a letter to the Bangkok Remand Prison director asking the prison to review its assignment policy.
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<p>The military have arrested and detained a red shirt suspected of participating in an anti-coup protest in June. The arrest came after the funeral of a renowned red-shirt leader.</p>
<p>On Sunday, four plainclothes military officers arrested Nueng Katesakul, a red shirt supporter who allegedly took part in an anti-coup protest at the Victory Monument on 28 June, on his way home from the funeral of Apiwan Wiriyachai, the late red-shirt leader and ex-Pheu Thai Member of Parliament, on Sunday in northeastern Bangkok.</p>
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<div>The military have refused to disclose the whereabouts of a red-shirt supporter who has been detained for 13 days, and say he wants to continue his stay in a military camp. </div>
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<div>On Friday, lawyers from the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lawyercenter2014">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights</a>, a network of human rights lawyers, met the police and the military to ask for information regarding Yongyuth Boondee, aka “Daeng Shinjang,” because he has been detained for longer than seven days -- the period allowed under martial law.
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