Rights group laments 'repression' in Thailand
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HUMAN RIGHTS Watch (HRW) said in a statement Tuesday marking six months since the May 22 coup that the Thai military junta has shown "no genuine signs of restoring democratic civilian rule" and is "severely repressing fundamental rights and freedom".
“Respect for fundamental freedoms and democracy in Thailand under military rules has fallen into an apparently bottomless pit. Six months after the coup, criticism is systematically prosecuted, political activity is banned, media is censored, and dissidents are tried in military courts,” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said.
The group noted that five Khon Kaen University students who protested against junta leader and Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha last week were threatened with military court trials for violating martial law, while a female student in Bangkok who did a three-finger salute in protest was detained and interrogated at Bangkok Army Club for several hours before being released without charge.
The New York-based rights group said at least 14 new lese majeste cases are pending in the military court since the coup. And on Monday a Thai E-News website editor with the penname Somsak Pakdeedech was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for publishing an article deemed insulting to the monarchy by the military court.
The Nation
