<p>The junta have charged eight dissidents abducted by the military with sedition while two of the eight are also accused of lѐse majesté. Meanwhile, the police are gathering evidence against key red shirt figures allegedly linked to some of the eight. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">The Thai military has released one of <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/node/6087">the 10 persons abducted by the regime</a> in the latest junta’s crackdown on political dissidents.</p> <p>Nithi Kooltasnasilp at 10:16 pm on Wednesday, 27 April 2016, posted a status on his Facebook account that he has reached home after being interrogated by police officers and soldiers.</p>

<p>The Thai military has abducted 10 people in Bangkok and the northeastern province of Khon Kaen in the junta’s latest crackdown on political dissidents. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/KAO_VoiceTV21/status/725215022029279232">a reporter from Voice TV</a>, Col Winthai Suwaree, spokesperson of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said that the military on Wednesday morning, 27 April 2016, detained 10 people in total.</p>

<p>Military prosecutors have filed lèse majesté charges against a man from an ethnic minority in northern Thailand who claims to possess telepathic powers.</p> <p><a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2016/04/21/sao_prosecution-2/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>, reported that at the Military Court of Bangkok on Wednesday, 20 April 2016, staff of the military Judge Advocate General’s Department indicted Sao (surname withheld due to privacy concerns) under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p>

<div>Since March 2016, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has embarked on the crackdown of influential people without any supporting legal provisions. Until on 29 March 2016, it has issued the Order of the Head of NCPO no.13/2016 to support the policy. In essence, the new order bestows on the appointed competent officials the power to arrest a person who commits a flagrant offence. </div>

<p align="center"><strong>Human Rights in Northeastern Thailand:</strong></p> <p align="center"><strong>An Assessment of the Situation Eighteen Months After the Coup</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<div><em>Thailand’s military courts have handled more than 1,400 cases involving more than 1,600 civilian defendants. The most pressing problem has been the overuse of pre-trial detention against those accused of lèse majesté or criminal possession of war weapons, which simply turned them into “forgotten prisoners.” &nbsp;If they decide to fight the charges, these civilians would face almost indefinite detention – both because of the seriousness of the charges against them and the Court’s own slow procedures.&nbsp;</em></div> <div> </div>

<p>The Thai military summoned a key leader of a group campaigning against a waste-fired power plant for a discussion, saying that he is on the list of ‘influential figures’.</p> <p><a href="https://tlhr2014.wordpress.com/2016/03/30/ncpo-summoned-taweesak-junk-power-plant/">Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)</a>&nbsp;reported that on Wednesday, 30 March 2016, military officers released Taweesak Inkwang, a key leader of a campaign against a waste-fired power plant in Chiang Rak Yai Subdistrict in the central province of Pathum Thani, after hours of discussion.</p>

<div>On 26 March 2016, The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has ordered the military officers to arrest Mr. Worachai Hema, a former MP, at his residence. The officers did not inform his family and relatives of the location where he was held in custody. Col. Winthai Suvaree, the spokesperson of the NCPO, told the media that the detention of Mr. Worachai was a result from Mr. Worachai’s comment that if the current Constitution draft failed to pass the referendum, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha should resign as prime minister to take responsibility, and that the detention was for Mr. </div>

<div>Thailand’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) must end its interference in the elections of the president and committee members of the Lawyers Council of Thailand (LCT), the ICJ and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), said today.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The LCT in turn must ensure the elections are conducted in a fair and impartial manner.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“International standards explicitly prohibit external interference in the elections of the executive body of a lawyers’ professional association by its members, and the association’s leadership must ensure that s </div>

<p>The Thai military have abducted the administrator of an anti-junta Facebook page who has been reported missing since last week, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).</p> <p>TLHR on Monday, 14 March 2016, issued a public statement, urging the authorities to immediately release Sarawut Bamrungkittikhun, the administrator of the Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/issuesopen">‘Poet Praden’ (Open Issues)</a>.</p>

<p><a href="http://hrw.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8-30%3d0-%3eLCE593719%26SDG%3c90%3a.&amp;RE=MC&amp;RI=4432086&amp;Preview=False&amp;DistributionActionID=95051&amp;Action=Follow+Link">Thailand</a>’s government should stop bringing trumped-up criminal charges against human rights lawyers to harass and retaliate against them, Human Rights Watch said today. Thailand’s friends, including the United States, should publicly call on the military junta to stop persecuting its critics.<br /></p>