Human Rights Watch calls for release of student activists
Human Rights Watch on Saturday called on Thai authorities to immediately drop all charges and to release unconditionally 14 student activists who peacefully expressed opposition to military rule.
On Friday, police and soldiers enforced a military court warrant to arrest 14 students from the Neo-Democracy Movement for sedition and violating the military junta’s ban on public assembly.
The students are now being held in the Bangkok Remand Prison and the Central Women Correctional Institution for 12 days while awaiting trial in a military court.
“Thailand’s junta should immediately stop arresting and prosecuting student activists,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
He said in a statement released Saturday that while insisting they aren’t dictators, the Thai generals have used the military courts as a central feature of their crackdown against peaceful criticism and political dissent.
“With each new arrest, Thailand’s path toward democracy is getting harder to find,” Adams said, adding that governments around the world should press the junta to end repression and respect fundamental rights.
