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Re: Protests update
17 November 2015
Outgoing Rights Commission Criticizes Junta, Pre-Coup Protests
Bangkok тАФ At the end of their term, members of the National Human Rights Commission said Monday the junta has trampled on human rights, while its way to power was paved by protests that occasionally violated constitutional rights to peaceful assembly.
The remark was among the commissionтАЩs frankest admissions of the ongoing repression of civil rights by the military junta so far, and came the same day it released a full report on human rights violations during the six months of protests which preceded the May 2014 coup dтАЩetat.... (read more)... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1447744818
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Re: Protests update
18 November 2015
Head Human Trafficking Investigator Rumored to be Fleeing Country
BANGKOK тАФ The police officer in charge of investigating human trafficking has been allowed to quit the force out of fear for his life and is rumored to be preparing to flee the country with his family.
Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsiri sought to quit the force earlier this month rather than be transferred to the southern border provinces, the very region where he spent six months going after human traffickers. After the investigation was shelved, Paween was assigned to the region, at which point he went public with his fear of reprisal from henchmen working for those heтАЩd arrested..... (read more)... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... ypecate=06
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Re: Protests update
19 November 2015,
Prayuth Warns Obama Not to Trust Reports of Rights Abuses
MANILA тАФ Junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha said he told U.S. President Barack Obama today that concerns about human rights violations in Thailand were partly based on inaccurate news presented by people with bad intentions.
Gen. Prayuth said he and Obama had the brief conversation on the matter as they sat next to each other this morning at a regional economic summit in Manila. It was the second time Prayuth encountered Obama, whose government condemned the coup dтАЩetat he staged in May 2014..... (read more).... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... 1447917761
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Re: Protests update
19 November 2015
Teachers Charged for Asking Junta to Respect Free Speech
By Teeranai Charuvastra
BANGKOK тАФ Police have charged eight academics with violating the juntaтАЩs ban on тАЬinciting unrestтАЭ for a recent conference at which they told the regime to stop clamping down on free expression in universities.
The eight were summoned to report Tuesday to the Chang Puak Police Station in Chiang Mai to formally hear their charges, an officer at the station told Khaosod English. He said the charges stemmed from a news conference held by the academics in Chiang Mai last month..... (read more)..... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... section=11
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Re: Protests update
20 November 2015
Reserve Act Opens 12 Million to Summary Military Conscription
By Sasiwan Mokkhasen
BANGKOK тАФ A law granting the military authority to order 300,000 men into service annually was recently passed by the junta-appointed legislature with little public debate and no opposition beyond an emerging online campaign against it.
An online petition launched Tuesday against the Armed Forces Reserve Act, passed recently by the military-stacked interim legislature, said that exposing 12 million men to summary conscription would lead to social and economic instability.... (read more)..... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... section=11
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Re: Protests update
20 November 2015
Junta Seeks Blanket Amnesty for тАШHonest Use of ForceтАЩ
By Teeranai Charuvastra
BANGKOK тАФ The junta has asked drafters of the new constitution to include a blanket amnesty for any use of force deemed to protect state security.
The request is among 10 suggestions made public Wednesday to the Constitutional Drafting Committee as part of its process for writing a new charter, after the previous was dissolved when the regime seized power in May 2014.... (read more)... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail.ph ... section=11
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Re: Protests update
Thai army says itтАЩs not involved in park corruption case
by AP News | 21st November 2015 |
BANGKOK (AP) тАФ ThailandтАЩs military says an internal investigation has cleared senior officers of corruption in connection with the financing of a public park featuring giant statutes of kings on army property.
Army commander Gen. Theerachai Nakvanich told a news conference Friday that no member of the military was involved in corruption connected to Rajabhakti Park in the seaside town of Hua Hin.... (read more)... http://asiancorrespondent.com/2015/11/t ... tion-case/
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Re: Protests update
US voices frustration over Thailand's democracy progress
Published: 20/11/2015
Writer: AP
WASHINGTON -- The United States has expressed deep frustration over the lack of democratic progress in Thailand after last year's military coup, saying a new constitution there won't pass the тАЬsmell testтАЭ unless civil society helps to draft it.
Political developments in Thailand came under congressional scrutiny Thursday as a Senate foreign relations panel examined the state of democracy in Southeast Asia.
State Department officials reported a mixed picture, with good news in Indonesia, the Philippines and former pariah state Myanmar after landmark elections this month, but bad news in Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia...... (read more)..... http://m.bangkokpost.com/news/771360
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Re: Protests update
Academics face unjust detention in Thailand
By Robert Dayley, Guest Contributor
тАУ 22 November 2015
Academic freedom is under grave threat in Thailand.
Since the May 2014 Coup, scholars at ThailandтАЩs institutions of higher learning have faced ongoing harassment and intimidation. Military presence on campus has now been coupled with new rules and restrictions on everyday instruction and standard university activities..... (read more)..... http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandal ... -thailand/
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Re: Protests update
The army camp creeps on to the uni campus
The military has been using overt and covert means to influence academics, who fear their freedoms are being restricted.
Published: 22/11/2015 at 02:07 AM
Nanchanok Wongsamuth
Titipol Phakdeewanich does not discuss politics on Facebook. He was never тАЬinvitedтАЭ by the military to undergo "attitude adjustment" sessions. His colleagues who teach at Ubon Ratchathani University describe him as not politically vocal, and his criticisms as not provocative or hostile, but within the boundaries determined by normal Thai politeness.
But even after his first unofficial meeting with military officers in December last year, the armyтАЩs continued presence in classrooms, seminars and events involving international organisations has left the political science lecturer feeling fear and concern..... (read more).... http://m.bangkokpost.com/news/772244