Protests update

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25 February 2016
Amnesty’s Rights Report Lacks Balance, Context: Govt
By Teeranai Charuvastra
Staff Reporter

BANGKOK — The military government said today Amnesty International ignored Thailand’s political context in its harsh verdict on the human rights situation in the junta-ruled kingdom.

Responding to the NGO’s annual report on global rights situation, which called out junta’s continued suppression of critics..... (read more)..... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...te=06&section=

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Thailand: Lèse-majesté detentions have reached alarming levels, new report says
26/02/2016
AFP
(Paris) Lèse-majesté detentions have reached alarming levels after the 22 May 2014 military coup in Thailand, FIDH and UCL said in a new report published today.

The report, titled “36 and counting - Lèse-majesté imprisonment under Thailand’s military junta”, raises serious concerns over the pattern of violations of the right to liberty, the right to a fair trial, and the right to freedom of opinion and expression stemming from prosecutions under Article 112 of the Criminal Code (lèse-majesté). These violations are in breach of Thailand’s obligations under key international human rights instruments..... (read more)... https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/...ing-levels-new

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Exiled academic Somsak may face more lèse majesté charges
Submitted by editor1 on Fri, 26/02/2016
The Thai police are considering a further lèse majesté charge against Somsak Jeamteerasakul, in self-imposed exile in France, and the Thai PBS channel over a talk programme on the lèse majesté law.....(read more)... http://prachatai.org/english/node/5888

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February 25, 2016 10:30 am JST
Tim Johnston
Thai elite must bridge the political divide while it still can
As the twilight deepens on the almost 70-year reign of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej amid reports of his deteriorating health, the contradictions inherent in this modern, middle-class country ruled by a traditionalist elite are becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile..... (read more)..... http://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Vi...ill-can?page=1

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Unfolding and unscrambling the Thai military junta’s policy advertorial
by Saksith Saiyasombut | 26th February 2016
THAILAND’S military government has gone on the media offensive to promote its “reform roadmap” by planting paid advertisement supplements in Thai newspapers. But the published product is, in its own words, one giant “confusion trap”..... (read more)..... https://asiancorrespondent.com/2016/...y-advertorial/

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27 February 2016
No More Heroes: Democracy Fails if We Watch From the Sidelines
By Pravit Rojanaphruk

A Thammasat University lecturer told me Wednesday that democracy activist leader Sombat Boonngam-anong has been too quiet since he was arrested in 2014 for calling for a failed effort to overthrow the coup makers.

But what more should we expect from an individual – Sombat or anyone – in carrying the flickering torch of democracy and human rights with a paranoid military... (read more).... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...621&section=12

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Thailand's Thaksin Talks, But Will He Act?
The ex-premier’s decision to break his self-imposed silence raises some interesting questions.
By Shawn W. Crispin
February 27, 2016
In a flurry of foreign media interviews, former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra broke his self-imposed silence to criticize the ruling military junta’s draft constitution and democratic roadmap, claiming coup-maker and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s election timetable is a “charade” designed to prolong his stay in power power.

The media blitz also coincides with rising government pressure on the exiled former leader’s family’s interests, signaling the delicate rapprochement that has underpinned a near two year period of stability may be coming undone.

Thaksin’s critical comments were his most extensive....(read more)... http://thediplomat.com/2016/02/thail...t-will-he-act/

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Young monks call for boycott of government functions
THE SUNDAY NATION February 28, 2016
A GROUP of young Buddhist monks upset with a delay in the appointment of a new Supreme Patriarch has threatened to boycott the government.

They said it was "highly likely" that monks would refuse to take part in functions hosted by the government.

Phra Palat Non Kittipanyo, head of monk students at Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya University, a monastic institution of higher education, said that if the government continued to interfere in monastic affairs, monks would boycott the government..... (read more)... http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nati...-30280359.html

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Teeranai Charuvastra
26 February 2016
Police Dispute Photo of Alleged ‘Royal Impostors’ in New Zealand

BANGKOK — Senior police commanders insisted a viral photo of two fugitive lese majeste suspects living “a life of luxury”’ in New Zealand is false, though they decline to say where the pair is currently hiding.

Police on Thursday threatened legal action against those behind an anti-government Facebook page that spread the photo, which was the first indication of where the two fugitives, themselves army officers, might be since they apparently fled Thailand amid a high-profile purge in November.....(read more)..... http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...11&typecate=06

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DEADLOCK FAVOURS CONTINUED DICTATORSHIP
FEBRUARY 28, 2016
Giles Ji Ungpakorn

No one with any democratic principles or half a brain believed that Prayut’s military coup in 2014, or the previous judicial and military coups since 2006, would somehow “solve” Thailand’s political crisis. They were all reactionary measures taken in order to decrease the democratic space and to prevent the return to power of Taksin-sponsored political parties through free and fair elections. But even in their own terms, the conservatives who backed this destruction of democracy, have failed to impose a settlement which serves their interests.

The latest deadlock is over the junta’s new draft constitution, written by veteran anti-democrat Meechai Ruchupan..... (read more).... https://uglytruththailand.wordpress....-dictatorship/