<p>For the past 9 months, the Criminal Court has been refusing to issue summonses for documents requested by lawyers representing activists charged with royal defamation for the 19 September 2020 protest to be used as evidence, delaying the witness examination process.</p>

<p>A man who was arrested in November 2021 and accused of hacking the Constitutional Court websitre and renaming it &ldquo;Kangaroo Court&rdquo; has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for violation of the Computer Crimes Act.</p>

<p>Musician Parinya &lsquo;Port&rsquo; Cheewinkulpathom has been sentenced to 9 years in prison on royal defamation charges for 3 Facebook posts made in 2016.</p>

<p>An activist was arrested on Saturday night (30 July) and temporarily detained pending investigation on a royal defamation charge for speaking at a protest on 28 July to demand the release of detained activists.</p>

<p>The Thai monarchy&rsquo;s influence and role in politics have for decades been debated in academic circles and on the street. Under the current reign, the focus of analysis has shifted from the old network to a new one that is gradually becoming clearer - the military.</p>

<p>Monarchy reform activists Nutthanit and Netiporn, who are being held in pre-trial detention on royal defamation charges, have once again been denied bail despite being hospitalized after collapsing during a witness examination hearing from severe pain and fatigue from their hunger strike.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/thailand">Thai</a>&nbsp;authorities should immediately&nbsp;drop the charges and&nbsp;release&nbsp;pro-democracy activists detained&nbsp;for&nbsp;insulting the monarchy&nbsp;(lese majeste), <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/19/thailand-free-detained-critics-monarchy">Human Rights Watch </a>said today&nbsp;(19 July).</p>

<p>From 9.00 &ndash; 17.00 for the past three days, activists and members of the public stood in front of the UN headquarters in Bangkok to protest against the denial of bail for detained activists and to demand that UN agencies pay attention to the Thai authorities&rsquo; violation of civil and political rights.</p>

<p>The activist group 24 June Democracy has demanded that the Ministry of Justice investigate a prison doctor&rsquo;s alleged harassment of Nutthanit (last name withheld), or &ldquo;Baipor,&rdquo; a monarchy reform activist currently detained pending trial on a royal defamation charge, while the Department of Corrections claims no harassment took place.</p>

<p>Punyaphat (last name withheld), a 29-year-old man with a mental illness, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for posts he made in the Facebook group Royalist Marketplace about King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida&rsquo;s popularity and the King&rsquo;s trips to Germany.</p>

<p>Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, former lecturer at Thammasat University&rsquo;s Faculty of Law, former Future Forward MP and current Secretary-General of the Progressive Movement, has been charged with royal defamation for several posts he made on social media.</p>

<p>Amnesty International has launched an urgent action campaign calling for the release of Baipor and Netiporn, two monarchy reform activists currently held in pre-trial detention on royal defamation charges and who are on a hunger strike to demand the right to bail.&nbsp;</p>