<div>Pavin Chachavalpongpun has been known as a fierce critic of the Thai Army since before Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha staged the coup d’état in May 2014. After the coup, he continued to criticize the junta leader in his mischievous and acerbic manner on his Facebook page, but also in frank and serious articles and interviews. Gen Prayut got so irritated that he called Pavin “a jerk” (คนเฮงซวย in Thai.)</div> <p></p>

<p>Military officers visited a well-known Thammasat University academic, saying that from now on he has to ask for permission from the junta before traveling overseas.</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1450335068">Matichon Online</a>, at 11:40 am on Thursday, 17 December 2015, four military officers went to the house of Thanet Aphornsuvan, a well-known political science and philosophy lecturer of Thammasat University, in Bang Kruai District, Nonthaburi Province.</p>

<p>Thai academics have kicked off an online campaign, demanding that the junta ‘unconditionally’ end the persecution of political dissidents.</p>

<p>Embattled lecturers accused by the military of violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings have denied the charges, saying different ideas are crucial for Thai society.</p> <p>At about 2:30 pm on Tuesday, 24 November 2015, six lecturers charged under the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Order No. 3/2015, banning political gatherings of five or more persons, reported to Chang Puak Police Station in the northern province of Chiang Mai after summons were issued against them last week.</p>

<div>On 11 November 2015, Changpuak police station, Chiang Mai, issued summons for a group of six academics from various universities. </div>

<div> <div><em>Note: The below statement was originally released in Thai on 31 October in Chiang Mai by a group of university lecturers. On the basis of this</em></div> <div><em>statement, they have been accused of violating the NCPO's prohibition on political gatherings of five or more persons and summoned to report</em></div> <div><em>to the police on 24 November.</em></div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>A criticism has been made that instruction in educational institutions has created opposition to the government and this is detrimental to Thai society as a whole. </div>

<p dir="ltr">The Thai Consulate in Chicago, US, reportedly attempted to prevent overseas Thai students to attend a lecture of a well known anti-junta figure.</p> <p>According to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pavinchachavalpongpun/posts/710714485696984?pnref=story">Pavin Chachavalpongpun</a>, a fierce critic of the Thai junta who is a Thai Associate Professor at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan, the Thai Consulate in Chicago, US, last week attempted to prevent Thai students from attending his lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.</p>

<p>A group of academics at around 10:30 am on Monday, 23 November 2015, submitted a letter to Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, demanding the junta stop harassing and intimidating academics.</p> <p>The letter was signed by about 300 leading academics, such as Anusorn Unno, a lecturer from the Humanities Faculty of Thammasat University, Kasian Tejapira and Prajak Kongkirati, renowned political science lecturers from Thammasat, and Pitch Pongsawat, a political scientist from Chulalongkorn University. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>A citizen network in southern Thailand has demanded that the Thai junta withdraw charges against embattled academics and stop intervening in academic freedom.</p> <p>A network of 50 academics, physicians, and others from the southern province of Songkhla on Sunday, 22 November 2015, issued a joint statement addressed to the Thai military government after several academics last week were accused of violating the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) ban on political gatherings.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities have summoned to a police station an academic who urged the junta not to intervene in academic freedom.</p> <p>According to Midnight University, a virtual university for free public education, police from Chang Puak Police Station in northern Chiang Mai Province issued a summons for Attachak Sattayanurak, a history lecturer from Chiang Mai University.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Military officers in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, intimidated academics and students on environmental research in areas with potash mining planned. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Three military officers from 24th Army Region base in Udon Thani Province on Wednesday morning, 16 September 2015, came to Huai Sampad Sub-district, Prajaksilapakom District, of the province to monitor activities of academics and students while they were in the field research on local environment and public health.</p>

<p>A Thai military officer has filed a lèse majesté complaint against Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and political science scholar known for his firm stand against the lèse majesté law, for allegedly criticising Thai monarchs of the early 20th century, King Rama V and Rama VII. &nbsp;</p>