<div>A Thai court on Thursday morning sentenced an anti-coup protester to two months in jail and a fine of 6,000 baht, but since the defendant pleaded guilty, the jail term was suspended. </div>
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<div>Weerayuth Kongkanatan, 49, was arrested on 23 May 2014, a day after the coup, while he was protesting against the coup d’état at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), near Siam Square. </div>
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<div>“On the night of 23 May, the defendant and 500 accomplices, who are still at large, held an assembly to oppose the coup.
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<div>The trimonthly Same Sky journal, an academic journal which constantly criticizes the lèse majesté law and the establishment, has sent a letter to its subscribers saying that they will indefinitely delay publication of the journal due to the climate of fear. </div>
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<div>Same Sky editor Thanapol Eawsakul was one of the first people summoned by the military junta. He was arrested for protesting against the junta and later detained without charge for seven days.
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By Thanapol Eawsakul |
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<div>This is my account as a person who reported himself following an order of the junta and was detained for 7 days. As a number of friends have not yet reported themselves, and many have been called to do so, I think that this account may factor into the decisions of many people. </div>
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<div>The conditions under which I reported may be different from those of many others. Since I was arrested on the evening of 23 May, I was detained for one night before there was a list of summons for people to report themselves.
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By Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand |
<div>The professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand is deeply concerned by the detention of journalists by the new military authorities in Thailand, following the imposition of martial law on Tuesday and a full coup d’etat on Thursday.</div>
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<div>Thanapol Eawsakul, the editor of Same Sky magazine, was arrested following an anti-coup protest on Friday.
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By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p><em>The past is always subject to editing, omission, co-optation and selective memorisation.</em></p>
<p>This was manifested recently when the red shirts flocked to listen to their leaders' speeches at Muang Thong Thani's Thunder Dome. Before people like Jatuporn Promphan and Nattawut Saigua took the stage, a video showing how resistance to the September 19, 2006, military coup took shape was screened.</p>
By Thanapol Eawsakul |
<p>I have been involved in many lèse majesté cases with different outcomes and under different circumstances. My involvement has been as a defendant, a defense witness, a publisher, and as an organizer of discussions, and as someone who has campaigned against the use of lèse majesté. On Wednesday, 11 May, when Professor Somsak Jeamteerasakul goes to hear the charges brought against him, 11 May, it will mark a turning point for lèse majesté. This is the case for the following reasons:</p>
<p>On 27 April, Fah Diew Kan editor Thanapol Eawsakul was summoned by the Crime Suppression Division as a witness to possible lèse majesté cases against over 50 people who posted messages on the magazine’s webboard about a couple of years ago. </p>
<p>Democrat MP Watchara Petthong has filed lèse majesté charges against Thaksin Shinawatra, Robert Amsterdam and editor of the Same Sky magazine Thanapol Eawsakul for the publication of the Thai version of the White Paper.</p>