<div>AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL</div> <div>PRESS RELEASE</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>22 May 2015</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>The arbitrary arrests of students and anti-coup activists in at least three separate incidents today in Thailand’s capital Bangkok and the north-eastern city of Khon Kaen come as a stark reminder of the ongoing intolerance of peaceful dissent a year into military rule, Amnesty International said today.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>“A full year since the Thai military declared martial law and took power, we are seeing how peaceful dissent is still being steamrolled in the stre </div></div>

<div> <div>At least 34 people arrested on Friday evening for commemorating the coup were released without charge, on condition that they stop political activities. However, student activists in Khon Kaen face charges and were released on 7,500 baht bail.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>The first arrests occurred about 6 pm after a group of students gathered at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC), Siam Square. </div></div>

<p>JAKARTA,&nbsp;<span data-term="goog_1485817195" tabindex="0">22 May 2015</span>&nbsp;– In the year since the Thai military staged a coup to overthrow the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand has witnessed the entrenchment of authoritarianism and its new leaders have increasingly reneged on their international human rights obligations, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today.<br />&nbsp;</p>

<div>Since the coup on 22 May 2014, about a hundred pro-democracy activists have fled the country because they may end up in jails due to political charges. Aum Neko, a provocative transgender activist, fled to France after the coup and is beginning her new life. Aum tells about her long-term plan abraod and how she will continue to campaign for the Thai democracy.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<p>On 22 May 2014, the military clique in the name of “National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)” seized power from the Yingluck Shinawatra government citing as its pretext the incessant violence which has led to massive casualties among people and damage to properties, hence the seizure of the power to stem the destructive causes. &nbsp;</p>

<p>An anti-junta group plans to file charges against the Thai junta leader and his associates for instigating rebellion to topple the constitution. &nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8b09f24b-4b32-81cd-d736-5f4167ef23ab">The Crown Property Bureau (CPB) is one of Thailand’s most revered yet opaque financial institutions. In recent years, however, there have been moves, including by the CPB itself, to increase transparency and discussion of the CPB in the public sphere. Most recently, at a March seminar sponsored by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Associate Professor Dr.</span></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-ef13f757-4b0b-8287-adf0-5498f9192ae8">With uncertainty about whether the Thai junta will hold a public referendum on the draft constitution or impose it without public consent, alternative media outlets and think tanks in Thailand came together to open an online forum titled ‘Prachamati’ (referendum) to let people speak their mind about the draft constitution which is currently being debated by the junta’s National Reform Council (NRC).</span></p> <p></p>

<div>In May 2014 Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha stated that he wanted “to create an enabling environment that would facilitate the holding of elections” which “ will be free and fair, so that [it] can become a solid foundation for a complete Thai democracy”.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Unfortunately in practice the human rights situation in Thailand is moving in the opposite direction and every action by the military government seems to have the specific purpose of silencing dissent and eliminating any effective opposition. </div>

<p>In November 2014, a transgender student activist was arrested and briefly detained for flashing a three-fingered salute at the ‘Hunger Games 3’ movie premiere in central Bangkok as a symbolic protest against the junta. Since then, she has become one of the best-known figures in the political movement against the junta. Prachatai talked to her about why she chose to stand against the regime despite all the risks that this entailed.</p> <p></p>

<p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-c718abfe-92d1-a1aa-528d-d211a60003bd">On 20 March 2015, martial law, which had been in force since May 2014, was finally revoked. However, instead of returning Thailand to civilian rule as it had promised, the Thai junta replaced martial law with its new protocol, Section 44 of the Interim Charter, which significantly broadens its authority while still retaining the power to crush political dissents with arrests and detentions.</span></p>

<p>It is a rare occasion when the lifting of martial law is met with unprecedented alarm and condemnation. Yet, this is exactly what happened when the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) lifted Martial Law on 1 April, after being in place for more than 10 months in Thailand.</p>