<div><em>Rangsiman Rome is 1 of the 7 students who was arrested and is being detained as a result of campaigning around the constitutional referendum. He dictated this letter to Somkit Lertpaithoon to a friend who came to visit him at the prison. </em></div>

<p>Thammasat University students and lecturers held a symbolic event in support of the fierce lèse majesté critic in exile, Somsak Jeamteerasakul, who was sacked by the university early this week due to his absence. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>At around 5:30 pm on Thursday, about ten people gathered at the statue of Puey Ungpakorn, a former rector of Thammasat University, at the Rangsit Campus and lit candles to show support for Somsak, a former history lecturer at the Faculty of Liberal Arts.</p>

<p>Thammasat University has sacked the renowned embattled lèse majesté critic Somsak Jeamteerasakul, who has been in self-imposed exile since the 2014 May coup, due to his absence. &nbsp;</p> <p>Somkit Lertpaithoon, the Rector of Thammasat University and a member of the junta’s National Legislative Assembly, on Monday signed an order to end the civil service employment of <a href="http://prachatai.org/english/category/somsak-jeamteerasakul">Somsak Jeamteerasakul</a>, a history lecturer in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, as a punishment for his absence from the university for about nine months.</p>

<p>Matichon published its <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news_detail.php?newsid=1325655010&amp;grpid=06&amp;catid=02">interview of Dr. Somkit Lertpaithoon</a> on 4 January 2012. Dr. Somkit Lertpaithoon is the rector of Thammasat University who also teaches public law.&nbsp; The entire interview covered several issues, mainly Kanthoop, lèse majesté law (Article 112), and the proposed constitution amendment.</p>