<p>Four people currently facing royal defamation charges and detained pending trial have been granted bail: activists Jatupat Boonpattararaksa and Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, and two other people who were previously detained at prisons in Chiang Mai.</p>

<p>Thai artists are joining the online campaign &ldquo;#DrawTheJustice&rdquo; to protest against the unfair judicial process and for political activists currently facing charges or detained pending trial to be granted justice.</p>

<p>PEN International issued a <a href="https://pen-international.org/news/thailand-government-expands-legal-system-against-critics-criminalising-peaceful-expression">statement</a> on Tuesday (20 April) raising concerns about the Thai authorities&#39; use of the royal defamation law against critics of the monarchy and call for the repeal of Section 112 and for all charges against the protesters to be immediately dropped.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Scholars At Risk (SAR) called on the Thai authorities for the immediate release of three detained students activists and for all charges against them to be dropped.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Phonphimon (last name withheld), a 22-year-old online vendor from Chiang Mai, faces a royal defamation charge and a charge under the Computer Crimes Act for a Facebook post made in October 2020 and is currently still in detention.</p>

<p>The state of emergency declared by the Thai authorities one year ago in an effort to curb the Covid-19 pandemic has been used as an excuse to crack down on fundamental freedoms and should be lifted, say regional lawmakers.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University, and several other faculty personnel attempted on Monday (22 March) to remove students&rsquo; art projects from the Media Arts and Design Department building without first informing the students, while the Faculty claims that some items were removed because they could violate the law.</p>

<p>Activist Parit Chiwarak read out a statement during a hearing questioning the court&#39;s decision to reject bail for those who were charged with the royal defamation law and declaring that he would be fasting as an act of protest against the decision.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/9113">denial of bail</a> for four protest leaders on Monday (8 March) is &quot;tantamount to a systematic suppression of freedom of expression and freedom of opinion&quot; in Thailand, says Amnesty International, who calls on the government to end legal prosecution against dissenting voices.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As protests in Thailand begin to intensify again, authorities must urgently de-escalate their current heavy-handed approach and stop trampling the human rights of peaceful protesters, said Amnesty International on Saturday (6 March).&nbsp;</p>

<p>Section 112 of Thailand&rsquo;s Criminal Code, which criminalises defamation, insults, and threats to members of the monarchy, is fundamentally incompatible with the right to freedom of expression, said ARTICLE 19 in a&nbsp;briefing published today.</p>