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Re: Protests update
Academics urge UN to investigate rights violations under junta
Submitted by editor2 on Thu, 05/05/2016
Thai academics have urged the UN to investigate human rights abuses as the Thai junta increases its crackdown on political dissidents ahead of the referendum on the draft constitution.
The BBC Thai reported that 12 academics from leading universities in Thailand on Thursday, 5 May 2016, submitted a letter to the UN, urging the UN human rights office to investigate the increasing violations and abuses of human rights done by the Thai authorities..... (read more).... http://prachatai.org/english/node/6124
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Re: Protests update
The unsettling truth behind the Thai junta’s media campaign
by Alistair Denness | 5th May 2016
HAVING failed to convince the international community of its benevolent intentions, junta leaders in Thailand last week issued a six page PR document to diplomatic staff around the globe in an attempt to reverse opinion and salvage the last vestiges of the country’s battered reputation. The document comes after the European Union froze talks over a planned Free Trade Agreement and threatened to slap the Thai fishing industry with sanctions over its use of slave labor.
Recently, in a rare show of European unity, the 28 EU Ambassadors expressed their concern over “alarming developments” in the regime’s increasingly aggressive attitude adjustment programs and its continuing stifling of basic freedoms.... (read more)....
https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/...edia-campaign/
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Re: Protests update
UN agency ‘ready to facilitate talks’
KASAMAKORN CHANWANPEN
THE NATION May 6, 2016
THE Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has offered to facilitate talks between the government and its opponents, an academic who met with the agency said yesterday.
Anusorn Uwanno, a key member of the Thai Academic Network for Civil Rights (TANC), said that Laurent Meillan, acting regional representative of the UN Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia, made this offer during his meeting with delegates from the network....(read more)....
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/poli...-30285382.html
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Re: Protests update
Junta to replace elected local councillors with appointed bureaucrats
Submitted by editor4 on Fri, 06/05/2016
The latest order by the junta replaces elected local councillors with appointed government officials and gives the junta head the power to directly dismiss ‘corrupt’ councillors. This will allow the junta to take total control of local administrative organizations across the country within four years.
On Thursday, 5 May 2016, the Royal Gazette published NCPO Order No. 22/2016 on the selection of local administration councillor. The Order states that when any local council is dissolved, the Ministry of Interior shall have the authority to appoint government officials to local councils....(read more).... http://prachatai.org/english/node/6126
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Re: Protests update
Fri May 6, 2016
Mother of Thai anti-junta activist charged with insulting monarchy
BANGKOK | BY PAIRAT TEMPHAIROJANA AND PANARAT THEPGUMPANAT
The mother of one of Thailand's highest-profile anti-junta activists has been charged with defaming the monarchy, police said on Friday, in what a rights group said was an escalation in government attempts to stifle dissent.
Political tension is building ahead of an Aug. 7 referendum on a military-backed constitution, which is the first vote under the junta and a test of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha's popularity. His government has threatened to jail anybody campaigning against the charter.... (read more).... http://www.reuters.com/article/us-th...-idUSKCN0XX0VF
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Re: Protests update
Teeranai Charuvastra
06 May 2016
Activist’s Mother Defamed Monarchy With Her Silence, Police Say
BANGKOK — Patnaree Chankij, the mother of a prominent student activist, never sent a single message insulting the monarchy, police said Friday evening as they denied her release.
However, it was the fact she received such messages but made no effort to reprimand their sender for which she will be tried on a royal defamation charge, Patnaree’s lawyer told reporters at police online crimes headquarters in the first known instance of someone charged under such reasoning.
According to Teerapan Pankeeree, a member of Thai Lawyer for Human Rights group, police told him Patnaree was contacted via Facebook chat by activist and lese majeste suspect Burin Intin, who sent her messages that were deemed insulting to the monarchy.... (read more).... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...te=06§ion=
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Re: Protests update
The government's playbook from the start has echoed "1984". It is no wonder they banned this book.
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Re: Protests update
Editorial: Military repression halts progress: So much for paradise in Thailand
May 6, 2016
Thailand is an exotic destination for travelers and a big Southeast Asian economy, but it has an ugly side. Freedoms there are under siege from a heavy-handed military government that intends to rule indefinitely.
While Thailand has a shaky political history, the country ramped up its commitment to free markets and free elections in the 1990s, a development that was good for the country and the rise of democracy in Asia.... (read more)....
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...506-story.html
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Re: Protests update
Pravit Rojanaphruk
07 May 2016
Fear is Junta’s Best Weapon Against Our Online Public Sphere
Warning: Facebooking may be detrimental to your freedom if you use it to oppose or lampoon dictator Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha.
The sedition charges filed against the so-called “Facebook 8” last week, plus lese majeste charges for two of the eight, and the claims by some detainees the regime independently accessed their message boxes on the social network have spread a deep chill through those opposing the regime in virtual reality.
While the junta has so far succeeded in maintaining the appearance there is little to no opposition to its rule in the streets, it has utterly failed to extinguish angry resistance and condemnation on the internet, particularly on Facebook and Twitter.....(read more)... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...te=06§ion=
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Re: Protests update
Facebook pressured following arrests
Published: 07/05/2016
Writer: Online Reporters
Facebook has come under fire after police charged and arrested two people over the last two weeks using as evidence their private messages in the social network's chat rooms....(read more)...
Please credit and share this article with others using this link: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/poli...lowing-arrests.