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BENARNEWS- Elections in Thailand won't take place for another year because the military government needs more time to iron out a new constitution that requires the king's signature, a deputy prime minister revealed Wednesday.
The postponement marks at least the fourth time the junta has pushed back elections since the military seized power in a bloodless coup in May 2014. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has repeatedly promised that polls would happen as part of a "roadmap" putting Thailand back on a democratic path.
In a testy exchange with reporters in Bangkok on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam repeated that polls would take place about one year from now.
"There will be about one year to the elections, but don't count 365 days exactly," the deputy prime minister said.
Wissanu was responding to questions from reporters following a talk he gave on Tuesday evening about Thai legal reforms.
"[T]he elections will not take place shortly. It will take at least a year," he said then, according to reports.
Elections will have to wait, he told the audience, because of amendments being made to a junta-backed constitution that Thais approved in a referendum last year, Wissanu said.
"We have so many issues that must be done immediately," he added, referring to proposed amendments to the new constitution that "require feedback from stakeholders."
Repeated delays
Some of the changes were requested by Thailand's new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, after he declined to sign off on the draft charter in January – as required by law for enacting a new constitution.
The draft constitution, which passed in a referendum in August, seeks an appointed senate with seats reserved for military commanders, limits on parliamentary authority, enhanced powers for non-elected state agencies and a provision for a non-elected prime minister.
The king, who took the throne in December following the death of his 88-year-old father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, asked the National Assembly to make changes that would widen his powers as monarch, such as being able to rule the country while spending long periods abroad.
A revised version of the draft charter would be presented to the new king before Feb. 18, Wissanu said.
After the king sent back the draft charter last month, Prayuth assured the Thai people that tweaking the constitution to satisfy the monarch would not affect elections planned in 2017.
Soon after the junta came to power, it promised that elections would take place within 15 months – by August 2015 at the latest. But in May 2015, Prayuth said elections wouldn't happen till September 2016, and that would depend on whether the new constitution passed in a referendum.
Then, in September 2015, the PM announced that elections would be pushed back by nearly two years and would happen in the second half of 2017.
"The government will act as quickly as we can [to organize national polls] as the prime minister does not want to prolong his time in power," Wissanu said on Aug. 8, 2016, a day after a majority of Thais voted for the new constitution.
And, five days after King Bhumibol died in October, Prayuth said the passing of the monarch who had ruled for 70 years would not delay the junta's timetable for elections in September or October of 2017.
Rights 'not absolute': Thai government
The monarchy is a revered institution in Thailand, where a strict royal defamation law known as Lese-Majeste guards against speech seen as criticizing or insulting royals.
Arrests of suspected violators of the law have soared under the junta.
This week, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on free speech, David Kaye, slammed Thailand's military rulers for "using lese-majeste as a political tool to stifle critical speech."
"[T]he fact that some forms of expression are considered to be insulting to a public figure is not sufficient to justify restrictions or penalties," Kaye said.
And while the junta has not yet delivered on its promise of staging elections, others have criticized it for rounding up and arresting Thais who dare to defy military rule.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International issued a 30-page report detailing how the junta has "criminalized dissent" by targeting dozens of civil society and political activists.

The regime has created "a fearful environment where people cannot speak or assemble peacefully without risking arrest or prosecution," Champa Patel, Amnesty's director for Southeast Asia, said in a statement accompanying the report's release.

Responding to the comments made by the U.N. special rapporteur, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended the Lese-Majeste law.

The monarchy "has always been a pillar of stability" in the country, and the law "is not aimed at curbing people's rights to freedom of expression," the ministry said Tuesday.

But, it added, "While Thailand supports and values freedom of expression, these rights are not absolute and shall be exercised within the boundary of the law in a manner that does not disrupt public order and social harmony or infringe upon others' rights or reputations."


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BENARNEWS- Police said four people were shot and killed in three provinces of Thailand's insurgent-stricken Deep South on Friday, including a local sub-district chief.
The killings prolonged a deadly trend in February, bringing to seven the number of people killed so far this month in a series of attacks in the southern border region.
The first incident took place late Friday morning near the administration office of Tambon (village cluster) of Piyamumang, in Yaring district, Pattani province, where assailants armed with assault rifles shot and killed the administrative chief.
Yaring station police chief Col. Montree Kongwatmai identified the victim as Sama-ae Doloh, 63.
"The incident took place while Sama-ae was driving from his home to the Tambon Piyamumang administration office. Three assailants followed him and shot and killed him with guns. We are investigating the cause," he told reporters.
Officers gathered bullet casings from AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles from the crime scene, the Associated Press reported.
In Narathiwat, police at Yee Ngor district station said assailants shot and killed two people at a residence in the late morning. The victims were identified as Pakorn Lipikawong, 66 and Usman Sahabuding, 24.
"They were both getting rest when unknown assailants stormed in and killed them with handguns. We are investigating the motive," he said.
In the evening, a former ranger identified was shot dead at his home, Lummai station police said. Capt. Siripol Chanya said Maropee Hajisamae, 31, was shot and killed as he was tending to his cattle.
Deadly month
Earlier this month, three people were killed and two injured in four attacks in the Deep South.
On Feb. 3, ranger Samnusee Yusoe, 33, was shot and killed while he was walking to a prayer at a mosque in Yaring District, Pattani.
Since then, a civilian was shot and killed in Narathiwat's Rue-soh district on Feb. 6. Two days later, a man was shot and killed and a woman was injured in Yala's Betong district while working as tappers at a rubber plantation.
On Thursday, Samsugding Beding, 50, was shot and seriously injured in Narathiwat's Yi-ngo district.
The Muslim-majority, Malay-speaking region has been home to a separatist insurgency since the 1960s. At least 6,700 people have been killed in violence linked to the conflict since it rekindled in 2004.


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BENARNEWS- The Bangkok arrest of an alleged Laotian kingpin of a major Southeast Asian drug trafficking ring helped expose links between narcotics smuggling operations on both sides of the Thailand-Malaysia border and an insurgency in the Thai Deep South, officials said.
Following the Jan. 19 arrest of Xaysana Keopimpha – a Lao dubbed as the "ASEAN drug lord" in news reports – and the subsequent arrests of about a dozen alleged drug traffickers with the aid of Malaysia, Thai officials said that some of the suspects were possibly helping finance southern insurgents directly or indirectly.
The deputy defense minister who is in charge of the Thai junta's efforts to solve the decades-old separatist conflict in the Deep South said insurgents and drug traders may have converged.
"Officials involved see it is possible that the insurgents benefit from such illegal activities, therefore we need to focus on this issue as it is vital," Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr told BenarNews on Friday at a military base in Pattani, one of the provinces in the troubled far southern region.
"It is possible for drugs cartels to make money and provide insurgents with funds and materials to conduct attacks."
Drugs are an integral part of the troubles in the region, and local gang leaders and even some local politicians provide insurgents with funds and sanctuary, said Lt. Gen. Nanthadej Meksawat, a security expert and retired Thai army officer who spent several years in military intelligence in the Deep South.
Given its proximity to the Malaysian border, the restive region is awash in criminal activity and drug-smuggling, apart from the insurgency, local sources said.
According to a senior military official stationed in the region, around "one-fifth" of the nearly 7,000 people who have been killed in violence in the Deep South since 2004 were victims of drug-smuggling activity.
The situation in Deep South will ease when authorities cut the flow of money to insurgents, Nanthadej said.
"If the government can solve drugs problem, it half succeeds in solving Deep South troubles, simply because the insurgents would not be well-financed by drugs traders," he told BenarNews in a phone interview.
Mr. X
Officers arrested Xaysana, a 41-year-old nicknamed "Mr. X" and described in reports as the head of a drug cartel trafficking "yaba," caffeine-laced meth tablets produced in Myanmar, throughout the Mekong region, at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport.
"Xaysana was elusive. But thanks to Lao officials who gave us information about him, we could nab him ... we tried to follow him for five years," Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, who heads the Thai police's Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told reporters the day after the Laotian was caught.
Meanwhile, separate raids in northeastern Thailand on Jan. 19 led to arrests of two Thai men and a Thai woman, resulting in the confiscation of more than 100 million baht (U.S. $2.86 million) in assets.
In Malaysia, the director of the Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department, Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff, said anti-drug officers arrested five suspected drugs dealers last week in Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan – a state that lies across the border from the Deep South.
"[F]ive men – four locals and one Thai citizen involved in trafficking psychotropic pills – have been arrested. No drugs were confiscated," Mohd Shariff said in a statement.
Sommai, the Thai counter-narcotics chief, said he learned from a Malaysian counterpart on Feb. 6 that one of the suspects was Kamarudin Bin Awang, whom he described as a "trade partner of Xaysana."
Sommai said the suspect is also known as Sinudeng Ma and is a son-in-law of Maniring Jako. Maniring allegedly traffics drugs from northern and northeastern Thailand to Malaysia, according to the Thai criminal database.
Sirinya Sitthichai, secretary general of the Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board,said a drug dealer from the Deep South, Uzman Salamang, was among the syndicate's leaders.
"This man [Uzman] was wanted so he became inactive and Xaysana took his role ... Kamarudin's arrest is an extension of the operation," Sirinya told reporters on Friday while pointing to an organizational chart of the transnational cartel.
Thai authorities placed a bounty of 2 million baht (U.S. $57,000) on Uzman's head and he fled to Laos in 2012, Sirinya said. Convictions on charges of trafficking in drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine or crystal meth could lead to death sentences.
Sommai linked Uzman with Xaysana.
"Xaysana connects with Uzman, a key drugs dealer in the Deep South who escaped to Laos. Uzman uses Xaysana's last name, having face job. Laos is trying to identify him," Sommai told Thai Rath TV.
Anis Natasha in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.
An earlier version misquoted Sirinya Sitthichai as referring to Kamarudin Bin Awang as a wanted man who became inactive. Sirinya was referring to Uzman Salamang.


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BENARNEWS- More than 4,000 police officers and soldiers Thursday raided Thailand's biggest Buddhist temple as they sought to arrest a former abbot charged with money-laundering and other alleged crimes, but they did not catch their man.
Soldiers and officers from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) scoured 19 sites at the sprawling Wat Dhammakaya, in Khlong Luang district north of Bangkok, after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha issued an order to capture ex-abbot and temple founder Dhammajayo.
The raid marked the third time that authorities failed to capture him despite being armed with several warrants for his arrest.
Police and soldiers surrounded the temple at 3 a.m. and entered the temple grounds at 7:30 a.m., meeting with Phra Sanitwong Wuttiwangso, the temple's public relations chief.  The search began at 11 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m.
Officials said the search would resume Friday.
"The search went fine ... but we do not want people to expect much as we still have several days to work. Today, we tried to keep those not involved in this temple from coming in to this area," Pol. Col. Krishna Pattanacharoen, deputy national police spokesman told reporters.
Police spokesman Woranan Srilam, who directs the DSI, said Friday's efforts would be similar.
"Tomorrow will be a search of the rest of the areas. By law, we do not require consent, but in practice, we need to talk to those at the temple," Woranan said.
"We have not found the wanted person according to the arrest warrant," he said, adding, "From the information we received, we believe that Dhammajayo is still in the temple area."
The temple's public relations officer said he did not know where to find the former abbot.
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Devotees pray while sitting in front of a gate after authorities closed the temple to outsiders, Feb. 16, 2017. [BenarNews]
"As I mentioned earlier, monks here and I have not seen him for eight to nine months," Phra Sanitwong Wuttiwangso told reporters. "But those [followers] came peacefully because they are worried about the temple," speaking about the crowd outside the temple.
A police official told reporters that officers were able to search about 10 percent to 20 percent of the property that covers almost 1,000 acres.
Theft, money-laundering charges
In March 2016, Supachai Srisupa-aksorn, the former chairman of the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative (KCUC), pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 16 years for embezzlement totaling more than 22 million baht (U.S. $630,000). Investigators determined that some of the money was linked to the temple.
At the time, DSI investigators told reporters that between March 5, 2009, and Feb. 15, 2011, Dhammajayo, as part of the temple network, received 21 checks from KCUC totaling 1.2 billion baht ($34.4 million).
DSI investigators determined that Dhammajayo allegedly supported Supachai's embezzlement efforts.
In June 2016, DSI investigators submitted a complaint of theft and money laundering against Dhammajayo and a prosecutor filed an indictment on Nov. 23, 2016.
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Police officers prepare to enter the Wat Dhammakaya temple, Feb. 16, 2017. [BenarNews]


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BENARNEWS- Thailand next week will hold a new round of exploratory talks in Malaysia with southern rebels and discuss so-called safety zones needed for a ceasefire, an army general who heads the Thai delegation told BenarNews.
Talks with MARA Patani, a panel representing rebel groups and factions from the Thai Deep South, will take place on Feb. 28, according to Aksara Kerdpol. The meeting with MARA will be the first this year and the first since the two sides last met in December.
"Next week, there will be pre-talks with the dissidents in Malaysia. They will have discussions on the demarcation of safety zones with our peace talk delegation and there will be formal talks," Aksara said Tuesday in a phone interview, without specifying how long the meeting would last. The Thai side will send a full delegation to the meeting in Malaysia, he added.
Abu Hafiz al-Hakim, the Malaysia-based spokesman for MARA Patani, confirmed that the meeting would take place on Feb. 28.
"It is a one-day meeting to confirm the general framework for security zones handled by joint technical teams," he told BenarNews.
In 2016, Malaysia facilitated four meetings between technical teams or larger delegations representing Thailand's military government and the rebel panel, and which aimed to reopen formal peace talks for the first time since December 2013, when a civilian government led Thailand.
So far, the two sides have not agreed to Terms of Reference (TOR) – a framework for the peace process – as well as so-called safety zones, or designated areas where the two sides would observe a ceasefire. Both the TOR and safety zones are seen as critical pieces in reviving the process to settle a separatist conflict that has killed nearly 7,000 people in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South since 2004.
Before the Thai delegation leaves Bangkok, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, who is Thailand's deputy prime minister for security affairs and defense minister, will meet on Thursday with the National Security Council to discuss details for criteria in selecting a limited number of safety zones to begin with, Aksara said.
"A certain district in the Deep South will be selected as a pilot safety zone," a Thai official based in the Deep South told BenarNews, referring to the upcoming round of talks in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Thailand's prime minister and junta chief told reporters that his government was determined to press on with the southern peace process.
"The talks must be done within this government's tenure. But then again, we need to ask the violence instigators what they would request from us – i.e. self-rule – and whether we can accommodate them or not," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said.


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BENARNEWS- A Bangkok-based British correspondent for BBC News pleaded not guilty Thursday to criminal defamation stemming from his report about a man losing his property on Phuket island through alleged fraud.
Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head faces a defamation charge brought against him by Thai lawyer Pratuan Thanarak, who appeared in a BBC TV segment narrated by Head that aired in September 2015, along with a charge under Thailand's Computer Crimes Act.
If convicted of both charges, Head could face up to seven years in prison. Unlike most countries where defamation is a civil offense, people in Thailand can file criminal defamation charges.
Head's co-defendant, Briton Ian Rance, the former director of a property company for foreign retirees, was charged with criminal defamation and faces up to two years behind bars.
"We have done nothing wrong and yet I am the one in court, prosecuted by a private individual, far away from where I now live for the sake of safety, in a court in a province where I do not feel safe, and on a criminal charge that has a prison term," Rance told BenarNews.
Head and Rance appeared in a Phuket court on Thursday.
"We certainly pleaded not guilty," Rance said. "It must be remembered that I came to Thailand with a substantial investment, a foreign investor in fact."
Head told BenarNews he could not comment on the case, but his news organization issued a statement in support of his report.
"The BBC stands by its journalism and we will fight the allegations made against our correspondent by these proceedings. We have full faith in the Thai justice system, and we intend to clear the name of our correspondent. We will not be making any further statements at this time," said the statement made available to the media.
Co-defendant's story
In 2001, Ian Rance married a Thai woman named Suda and they had three children, according to the BBC report, a 10-minute news segment that aired in September 2015. The report quoted Pratuan but did not identify the lawyer by name.
Then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, had started a program called "Thailand Elite," to attract wealthy foreigners to settle by allowing them to own small parcels. Because Thailand normally does not allow foreign expats to own land, many set up companies or marry local women.
Rance told BenarNews he owned two businesses, the family home and another house he planned to expand for his family. He said his then-wife forged a document that enabled her to remove him as company director and sell his properties.
The fraud against him involved several people, and the attorney Pratuan was not central to it, Rance said.
"But rather through his profession as a lawyer, by verifying forged documents as true, [this] allowed the Business Registration Office in Phuket to remove me as director of the company and remove my ability to protect and recover the assets stolen from the company by the fraudster and laundered through the right of redemption," he said.
"All those businesses were stolen through fraud and assets stripped to money lenders at fire sale prices," Rance added.
'A bad idea'
On Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the charges brought against the two Britons in Thailand.
"This is the kind of case that shows exactly why having criminal defamation laws is such a bad idea. The threat to lock someone away for what they said, or in this case, reported in the media is far too easily abused by those with time and money to engage in game of legal blood sport by dragging people through the Thai court system," HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said in a statement.
"Thailand should also move to immediately revise the Computer Crimes Act to bring it into compliance with the government's obligations to protect freedom of expression under the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights that Thailand has ratified."
Also on Thursday, the Thai Supreme Court reduced the sentence of the editor of an anti-junta magazine, Voice of Thaksin for violating Lese-Majeste, Thailand's notorious royal defamation law.
It imposes harsh penalties on people who are prosecuted and convicted for publishing or airing content perceived as critical of the monarchy, and arrests and prosecutions of such cases have proliferated under the junta, which seized power in May 2014.
Editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, who has been in prison for nearly six years for defaming the royals, saw his sentence reduced from 10 years to six because he had spent sufficient time locked up, according to his lawyer, Wasan Panich.
An earlier version of this report contained inaccuracies.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's 4th Army Region commander flew in a helicopter Friday to pick up an alleged Muslim insurgent in the Deep South who was turning himself in after eight years in hiding.
Lt. Gen. Piyawat Nakwanich made the trip after Ahama Duere called to say he wished to surrender. Piyawat flew from Sena Narong military camp in Songkhla province to Yala province to capture the rebel personally.
Ahama, 38, is a suspected Deep South separatist who had four arrest warrants in Muang and Krong Pinang districts in Yala province, and Rueso district in nearby Narathiwat province, the lieutenant general told reporters. For nearly a decade, Ahama hid out in Raman district in Yala.
Ahama said he called authorities to surrender because his separatist group was disorganized and he and other members lacked confidence in their leaders.
"There are still many members who wanted to come out and turn themselves in, although they do not because they are not assured they will be safe. I think it's better than staying inside. I had been in a hideout during the past eight years and I was tired of that life," Ahama told reporters.
The army commander had released his phone number and announced that he would pick up any separatist who called to turn himself in, setting Friday's events into motion. After Ahama's relative gave him the phone number, he called twice, leading to the helicopter flight and capture.
Ahama expressed confidence that he would be treated fairly.
The Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 (ISOC4), the military command that covers Thailand's Deep South, will be involved with Ahama until the prosecution is completed, according to officials. Later, ISOC4 members will help him find a job, allowing him to peacefully return to a normal life, officials said.
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Lt. Gen. Piyawat Nakwanich, the 4th Army Region commander (third from left) takes separatist Ahama Duere to board a military helicopter in Yala province, Feb. 24, 2017. (Courtesy of ISOC4)
12 years on the run
In November 2016, a man accused of leading an insurgent squad in Thailand's Deep South for 12 years said he was tired of hiding from the authorities and turned himself in.
Sakariya had led a squad of Runda Kumpulan Kecil, a combat unit of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest and most heavily armed of separatist groups fighting Thai security forces in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South.
"I have to hide all the time since the authorities issued an arrest warrant on me. ... Officials were always looking for me, so I fled from my neighborhood and stayed with my friends," Sakariya told reporters at Yala police station after he surrendered.
"It had been a hardship, I was starving, so my family members consulted with each other and they agreed to contact the headman of Tambon Laba to inform the police," he said, referring to the name of a village cluster.
10-year-old project
Beginning in 2007, the ISOC regional branch began a counter-insurgency campaign aimed at encouraging Deep South separatists to lay down their arms. The latest effort is known as the "Bring People Home Project."
ISOC regional spokesman Col. Pramote Prom-in said the project aimed to rehabilitate and return to normal life those facing criminal charges and others who fear arbitrary prosecution, even if they did not commit a crime.
About 4,000 people have joined the project, Pramote said in November when Sakariya surrendered. Authorities said they had targeted about 9,000 BRN militants to re-integrate into society.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence associated with the decades-old separatist conflict in Thailand's southern border region, which is predominantly Muslim and Malay speaking.


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BENARNEWS- Negotiators from Thailand's military government and a panel representing insurgent groups achieved a small breakthrough in exploratory talks by agreeing Tuesday to a framework for a limited ceasefire in the Thai Deep South, according to officials from both sides.
At a one-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur facilitated by Malaysia, the two sides agreed to work together to pick one of five districts in three provinces of the troubled region that would serve as a so-called safety zone where a ceasefire would take hold within six months, the two delegations said in statements issued late Tuesday.
"Both have come to an agreement to bring this negotiation forward. That's all I can comment on," Malaysian facilitator Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim told BenarNews.
It will take three months to select the district and another three to execute a geographically limited ceasefire, a spokesman for MARA Patani, a panel representing southern Thai rebel groups and factions, told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur following Tuesday's meeting.
"The decision today is another step forward that we have jointly agreed to accept the framework that had been designed together," MARA spokesman Abu Hafiz al-Hakim told reporters.
"After this the next step is to send an assessment team to execute the next step of action," he said.
Near identical statements from both sides said they would select a district from a list of two districts in Yala province, two in Narathiwat province and one in Pattani province.
Neither side disclosed the names of the five districts under consideration, but the Thais indicated that the military would shield delegates from the MARA side venturing into any of those districts during the pre-ceasefire period.
"Thailand will give them protection," said the statement issued Tuesday evening by the government in Bangkok after the delegation returned from Kuala Lumpur.
Aksara Kerdpol, the army general who heads the Thai delegation, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night, but last week he indicated that the two sides had more or less ironed out a deal on a framework for a limited ceasefire.
"At the moment, all stakeholders have agreed in principle to create [a] safety zone. But there will be discussions in order to map out a guideline for how to [implement] it with the participation of local people ... and to define the meaning of safety zones and the protocol for all sides to follow," Aksara told BenarNews.
'We will wait and see'
The framework-agreement is something of a breakthrough because it marked the first time both sides agreed to take the issue of safety zones a step farther, after holding several rounds of exploratory talks in Malaysia dating to August 2015.
Implementing safety zones would be seen as a milestone in efforts to re-open formal peace talks aimed at ending a separatist conflict, in which nearly 7,000 people have been killed in the predominantly Malay-speaking and Muslim Deep South since 2004.
Abu Hafiz conceded, however, that MARA might have to persuade hard-core members of rebel groups, some of whom have reportedly resisted supporting the informal peace process, by briefing them in the field about the prospect of observing a limited ceasefire.
"We will wait and see the results. It's too early to predict. Give us time to implement it. If this is the best for the people, then it must be supported," the MARA spokesman said.
A technical team will visit the five districts and propose its recommendations to the Joint Working Group-Peace Dialogue Working Group (JWG-PDP), a body consisting of the two negotiating teams, their technical support staffs, local officials and other stakeholders.
Another body called the Joint Technical Team (JTT) will be responsible for assessing the effectiveness of the "safety zone," which would serve as a test case in order to determine whether the concept needs to be improved or expanded to other areas in the Deep South, Abu Hafiz said.
'I fix the process': PM
In Bangkok on Tuesday, Thai junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha commented on the latest round of negotiations with southern rebels, saying he was directly engaged in the process.
"The prime minister must know about the peace talks from the ground up. I fix the process for delegates," Prayuth told reporters following a weekly cabinet meeting at Government House.
"The achievement or failure in setting up safety zones will reflect whether those who negotiated with us have real power or not. If they do have the clout, we can continue talking on other issues," he added.


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BENARNEWS- An 8-year-old boy and his parents were among eight people killed in separate attacks in the Thai Deep South that left four injured Thursday, just two days after government and rebel negotiators agreed to set up a limited ceasefire.
Police blamed the attacks in Narathiwat and Pattani provinces on groups seeking to instigate violence following Tuesday's news out of Kuala Lumpur that a panel representing some southern Thai rebel groups had struck a breakthrough with negotiators from Thailand's military government.
The two sides announced they would work together to establish a safety zone in one of five districts in the Deep South as a test case to see if they could implement a wider ceasefire.
The attacks began Thursday morning as Somchai Thongchan, 47, the deputy chief of Ban Sri Pinyo village in Narathiwat, his wife  Rasika Daduang, sister-in-law Son Thongchan, and son Thanakrit Thongchan, 8, were attacked and killed, police said. A daughter, Sirapassorn Thongchan, 12, and a niece, Yanisa Srisuwan, 6, were injured.
"The incident took place while Somchai and five others were driving to send the children to school. On a remote hill, unknown assailants fired weapons at them, resulting in death and injury," police Capt. Wanchai told reporters. "We believe it was the work of insurgents who wanted to instigate violence."
Hours later, Kasem Toyo, a security guard in nearby Yala province, was shot and killed before dusk as he was traveling home in the Mayo district of Pattani.
The violent day ended when three rangers were killed and a postman and civilian were injured while shopping in the Ban Tabae market place in Pattani's Mayo district, according to investigators.
"As per witness accounts, seven to eight assailants shot those killed and injured while they were walking in the market," police Capt. Muhammad Madwang, an investigator at Mayo police station, told reporters.
A spokesman for the military's regional command promised justice.
"The act of these assailants indicates that they are cowardly, wild, lacking in ideology. They should not cite ideology for the Malay people. We will go after them and bring them to justice as soon as possible," Col. Pramote Prom-in told reporters.
Thursday's killings occurred a day after police found the bodies of Kajpon Puvavimol and wife Titapha in Thepa district, Songkhla province. They were beaten, tied up with duct tape and thrown into the Thepa River as assailants hijacked their pickup truck and made off with it.
Police found the truck which had been loaded with bombs that failed to detonate, officials said.
Violence condemned
Thai junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha denounced the killings.
"We need to prevent such bullet-spraying attacks," Prayuth said, adding "at the moment, we are not done with peace talks. We still need solutions to the problem."
He stressed the need for safety zones and called them a test to determine if MARA Patani, the panel representing southern Thai rebel groups and factions, could contain violence in the Deep South.
"If they do have potential, talks will go on. If not, they must find a way to non-violence," Prayuth said.
MARA Patani spokesman Abu Hafiz al-Hakim reiterated the panel's commitment to resolving the conflict through dialogue and the establishment of safety zones following Tuesday's agreement.
"We are saddened by today morning's incidence in Ruso district, Narathiwat, where four people were killed and two injured," he said through social media after learning about the first incident. "We do not condone violence involving civilians and children and strongly condemn the attack.
"We express our condolences to the victims and their families. We urge the authorities to thoroughly investigate the incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice."
The killings also drew rebukes from local NGOs.
Ruckchart Suwan, the leader of the Buddhist Network for Peace, posted on Facebook: "We call on the assailants or the supporters of the armed militant group to stop violating human rights. Government officials must bring the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible to prevent more conflict. All parties must have clear and tangible protective measures for soft targets in local areas."
The most recent talks are the latest effort to bring peace to the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South where nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence associated with the decades-old separatist conflict.
Updates to correct details about the family members slain in Narathiwat and removes mention of Yala province.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's army Tuesday dropped criminal defamation charges against three human rights activists linked to a report that alleged systematic torture of insurgents in the custody of security forces in the Thai Deep South.
A spokesman for the regional command (ISOC 4) that covers the southern border zone said the three activists would not face trial for defaming the military and for committing computer crimes, as alleged in a complaint brought against them in May 2016.
"We filed the complaint because we wanted an option to join them in a co-investigation on the claimed torture. We will withdraw the case today. We have no intention to just win the case and punish them through prosecution," ISOC 4 spokesman Col. Pramote Prom-in told reporters Tuesday at a hotel in Bangkok.
The complaint had named Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF); Somchai Hom-la-or, an adviser to CrCF; and Anchana Heemmina, who is with the Duay Jai (With Heart) Group, as targets of a criminal defamation suit.
Pornpen confirmed to BenarNews that ISOC4 had withdrawn all charges against her and the other activists.
In July, the three had appeared before police in Pattani, one of the provinces in the Deep South, to answer to charges of defaming the security services and violating Thailand's Computer Crimes Act through the online publication of the report, "Torture and Ill Treatment in the Deep South Documented in 2014-2015," released five months earlier.
The 49-page report co-published by CrCF, Duay Jai and a third local NGO, the Pattani Human Rights Organization (HAP), detailed allegations of torture of suspected insurgents in custody between 2004 and 2015.
The report cited accounts by 54 people ranging in age from 19 to 48 who alleged they had been subjected to physical torture, psychological torture or other inhumane treatment while incarcerated in the Deep South. Physical torture included water boarding, electrocution and sexual assault.
All the detainees were Muslim or Malay-speaking locals from the region, where violence associated with a separatist insurgency has claimed nearly 7,000 lives since 2004.
Positive outcome
Pramote said both sides agreed to three proposals: setting up a joint committee to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the Deep South; establishing a mechanism to prevent such abuses; and establishing a mechanism for all stakeholders to agree to the contents of human rights reports about the Deep South.
"The human rights organizations must work with the ISOC to achieve peace in the Deep South," Pramote said.
Those organizations expect to play a positive role in the process.
"We NGOs will play a role like a bridge between suffering people and the government to solve violence against human rights," Anchana told BenarNews after the news conference. "We also insist that we will be documenting, fact-finding and reporting comprehensive and more detailed accounts from all stakeholders."
International support
The withdrawal drew praise from Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia.
"We commend the military authorities for their decision to drop the case against these brave activists," said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International's deputy director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
"This case is emblematic of how criminal defamation provisions and other repressive laws have been used to target activists peacefully exercising their rights in Thailand. To prevent further such injustices, the authorities should reform or repeal repressive laws and bring them into line with the country's international obligations."
Laurent Meillan, acting regional representative of the U.N. Human Rights Office, also welcomed the move.
"Today's developments are very positive, and we encourage the Government of Thailand to take additional steps to strengthen measures to protect activists carrying out human rights reporting and monitoring," Meillan said.
"Our office supports today's plans to establish mechanisms whereby the military, activists and other concerned stakeholders will come together to review and investigate allegations of human rights violations in the south. We stand ready to provide technical advice in this process."


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BENARNEWS- After failing to agree to a new long-term contract with Thailand's military government, BBC World Service stopped broadcasting shortwave radio programs from a transmitter north of Bangkok at the start of the year.
A Thai government spokesman said the BBC decided to drop its effort for a seven-year lease agreement on the transmitter.
"I would like to inform you that, the Public Relations Department owns the premises and the negotiating counterpart is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. BBC told us a couple of days ago or so that it would not want to have a new contract," Lt. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd told BenarNews in a phone interview.
Despite the shutdown, Thai residents have access to BBC News content through the broadcaster's Thai Service website that went online in November 2016.
The website created controversy shortly after its launch by publishing a profile of King Maha Vajiralongkorn on the day he assumed the throne on Dec. 1 following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in mid-October.
Two days after the king's ascension, Jatupat "Pai" Boonpattararaksa, a student activist from Khon Kaen University, was charged under the nation's strict royal defamation law for allegedly sharing the profile on Facebook.
Jatupat, the first civilian charged with royal defamation under King Vajiralongkorn's reign was indicted on Feb. 10 and will face a closed-door trial. Only people involved in the case will be allowed to attend hearings.
BBC officials did not comment on the flap, but Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that the website's coverage of Thailand was an obstacle in discussions around renewing a lease for the transmitter.
"Despite extensive negotiations, we have been unable to reach an agreement to re-commence transmissions. Given the financial constraints faced by the whole of the BBC, we have reluctantly decided to shut the site," the BBC said in a Wednesday statement about the Jan. 1 shuttering of its Thai transmitter.
Layoffs possible
The BBC said it might lay off 45 staff members who worked at the transmitter site in Nakhon Sawan, 240 km (150 miles) north of Bangkok for 20 years. It moved the transmitter from Hong Kong to Thailand when Great Britain handed over the territory to China in 1997.
The transmitter broadcast local language news into tightly controlled countries such as China and North Korea and into places where many still rely on radio, including Pakistan and Afghanistan, AFP reported.
The closure comes even as the BBC plans to increase its output to 40 foreign languages, near its post-World War II peak of 45, AFP reported. The British government announced an additional $352 million for the 2015-2020 period following years of cuts.
The move was partly a response to the expansion of state-sponsored media in Russia, China and Middle Eastern countries. The cash injection also went toward hiring BBC Thai staff in Bangkok and London, AFP reported.


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BENARNEWS- Authorities Friday ended a 23-day siege at Thailand's biggest Buddhist temple after they could not catch a founding monk wanted for money-laundering and other charges, although they had deployed hundreds of police officers and soldiers to hunt him down.
Investigators will keep looking for the wanted monk, Dhammajayo, beyond the confines of Wat Dhammakaya, a sprawling temple complex in Pathum Thani province, a top official told a news conference at the temple on Friday.
Also on Friday, Thailand's top religious body began a process that could lead to Dhammajayo losing his status as a monk. The former abbot is wanted on charges of money laundering and  receiving stolen property, among others.
The decision to end the siege occurred more than three weeks after more than 4,000 police officers and soldiers sealed off the 1,000-acre temple on the northern outskirts of Bangkok to search for Dhammajayo. Monks and followers made themselves into human shields, leading to scuffles with members of the search party.
The other monks eventually allowed the ministry's Department of Special Investigations (DSI) to search a building and its vicinity, where officials thought the former abbot had been hiding, but this was futile.
"We checked out Zone A, B and the Boon Raksa building where they erected barriers. We cannot find Dhammajayo," DSI Director-General Paisit Wongmaung told the news conference.
"We conclude that the person we are looking for is now a fugitive, but the statute of limitations in the case is 15 years, so we will set up a pursuit team and deal with immigration police to prevent him from leaving the country," Paisit said.
Authorities invoked Article 44 of an interim constitution adopted following May 2014 coup which brought a military government to power in Thailand, to allow troops to enter and search the temple, according to the Reuters news agency.
"We are glad there is a sign of peaceful resolution but cannot rest assured until Article 44 is revoked," senior monk Phra Pasura Dantamano told Reuters.
Dhammakaya has 5 million disciples nationwide through 690 domestic branches, Methapan Bodhoteeraroj, the dean of the anthropology faculty at Maha Chulalongkorn Rajavidalaya University, told BenarNews. It has another 200 branches internationally.
Buddhist council meets
Meanwhile, Thailand's leading body of senior Buddhist monks, the Supreme Sangha Council, convened Friday to begin the procedure of stripping Dhammajayo of his status as a monk, according to police Lt. Col. Pongporn Pramsaneh, the director of the National Office of Buddhism.
"The National Office of Buddhism has proposed to the monk council to disrobe the monk who regularly broke Buddhist precepts," Pongporn said, referring to Dhammajayo.
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This undated photo shows Dhammajayo preaching at Wat Dhammakaya . [Courtesy of Wat Dharmakaya]
Money laundering
Dhammajayo and his associates are charged with receiving 21 checks valued at more than 1.2 billion baht (U.S. $34.4 billion) from Klongchan Credit Union between 2009 and 2011. Investigators allege Dharmajayo was involved in a money-laundering scheme involving the checks.
In early March 2016, Supachai Srisupa-aksorn, the former president of Klongchan Credit Union, who had transferred the money to Dharmajayo and his associates, was sentenced for embezzling money.
DSI investigators suspected that Dhammajayo and his temple aided Supachai by receiving stolen property and laundering the money he embezzled. In June 2016, DSI investigators submitted a complaint of theft and money laundering against Dhammajayo and a prosecutor filed an indictment on Nov. 23, 2016.
Dhammajayo has links to the political party of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who has been in self-exile since a 2006 coup. His sister, Yingluck, was forced from office in a similar coup led by now Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha in 2014.


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BENARNEWS- The Myanmar government is sending a special legal team to file a second appeal of the verdict against two migrant workers from the country who were sentenced to death in Thailand for the 2014 murder of a British couple at a Thai resort, their lawyer said Wednesday.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun, both in their early 20s, were sentenced to death by a Thai court on Dec. 24, 2015, after being convicted of the murder of British backpacker David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of his companion Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the island of Koh Tao in September 2014.
A government legal team had filed an appeal with a lower court but it was rejected on Feb. 23 of this year, though the news was not made public. The men's lawyers and activists found out about it a week later.
The death sentences can be revoked under an amnesty or be changed into a minimum punishment because the highest court in Thailand cannot impose capital punishment without solid evidence, their lawyer Aung Myo Thant told the Myanmar Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA), a sister entity of BenarNews.
"The state is giving us full support," he said. "It is sending a legal advisory team to provide assistance for when the new appeal is submitted to Thailand's highest court. Right now, we are translating the documents from the First Appeals Court from Thai into the Burmese language."
A Thai Foreign Office official said the Myanmar legal team must submit new facts in its appeal, Aung Myo said, adding that those working on the case are studying a 4,000-page report about the crime.
"We need to request that the deadline for the new appeal be postponed because the 30-day deadline for filing it after the sentencing is not enough time," he said.
"We are working with the Myanmar Lawyers Network to extend the deadline," Aung Myo said. "Under Thai law, the appeal deadline can be extended a month at a time based on reasonable facts."
One of the questionable facts in the case is the principal murder weapon, which court documents list as a hoe, he said.
"But the DNA of the two suspects was not found on that hoe," he said, adding that a Thai doctor told the court that DNA could be found if a person holds something for just five seconds.
"We can take up this issue in our new appeal," Aung Myo said. "We know this highest court where we are submitting our appeal is a very free and impartial court, and we expect to get the truth and a fair result."
Though Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun at first admitted to the crime, they later recanted, saying they had made their confession under duress.
Hundreds in Myanmar staged protests in late December 2015 calling for the pair to be freed, saying the men were scapegoats in a botched Thai police investigation of the crime.
At the same time, Myanmar human rights officials appealed to their counterparts in Thailand to ensure that two remained protected by the law while they appealed their verdict.


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BENARNEWS- A future ceasefire in southern Thailand could be annulled if more than three violent incidents occur in a district selected for the experimental truce, according to a Thai negotiator, but a rebel spokesman said insurgents had not approved this condition.
After exploratory peace talks in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 28, negotiators from the Thai side and a panel representing Deep South rebel groups announced a framework for a so-called safety zone, or limited ceasefire, which would take hold in a one of the districts of Thailand's war-stricken southern border region.
The safety zone will take at least three months to set up and implement, and will serve as a test to see if the concept can work there and in other areas of the Deep South, officials from both sides have said. Neither side has named any of the five districts in three provinces from which one district will be picked for a ceasefire.
Yet during a press briefing in Bangkok on Thursday, a military officer who serves as secretary of the Thai negotiation team claimed both sides had agreed to placing a condition on the truce related to violence in the Deep South.
"The delineation of a safety zone is one measure of testing mutual trust between the government and the dissidents, which, at present, is not quite there yet," Maj. Gen. Sitthi Trakulwong told reporters at the Bangkok headquarters of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, referring to separatist insurgents in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South.
"However, it is understood that there are other factors to the violence other than the insurgent groups –namely, opportunistic threats such as drugs, oil-smuggling and local politicians. Therefore there is an initial agreement that, in a safety zone, there can be no more than three violent incidents taking place," he said.
Should acts of violence interrupt the ceasefire in the chosen district, both the Thai and rebels side would need to conduct joint investigations, he said.
"But if we cannot identify the culprits, the safety zone is cancelled," Sitthi warned.
The rebel view
Abu Hafiz Al-Hakim, a spokesman for the MARA Patani panel that represents southern rebels in the peace efforts, was asked Friday whether they had agreed to the condition to do with violence as spelled out a day earlier by the secretary of the Thai negotiating team.
"That is the view of the Thai side. We so far only agreed on the General Framework for SZ [Safety Zones]. There has been no detailed discussion or consensus on the rules or SOP [Standard Operating Procedures]; all these will be refined later," Abu Hafiz told BenarNews.
He and Sitthi indicated that the two sides would work together over three months to select one of five districts where the truce would take effect and make preparations for a ceasefire. Once they agreed to this, the chosen district would serve for another three months as a test site for the concept of safety zones, they said.
However, the prospect of a limited ceasefire being implemented and holding has been shaken lately by violence in the region, which some have blamed on hardcore armed separatists who refuse to negotiate with Thailand's military government and are not on board with MARA Patani.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence associated with the insurgency since 2004. Since Feb. 28, when the two sides agreed to a framework for a limited ceasefire, 12 people have been killed and 10 injured in suspected rebel attacks in the Deep South. The dead included an 8-year-old boy, his parents and aunt, as well as other civilians.
Meanwhile, as the Thai military was briefing reporters about its plan to pursue a limited ceasefire, its regional command in the Deep South announced that it was extending an emergency-powers decree for another three months in certain parts of the region because of the cycle of violence.
Such powers allow security forces in the region to arrest suspects without a warrant and to hold suspects in isolation indefinitely, according to the Bangkok Post.
The extension of emergency powers will begin on March 20, Col. Yuthanam Petchmuang, deputy spokesman for the regional office of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), told reporters Thursday.
"[T]here have still been ongoing serious incidents. It is therefore expedient to extend the emergency decree for serious situations," he said.
BenarNews staff in Pattani, Thailand, contributed to this report


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BENARNEWS- Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest of the armed separatist groups in Thailand's Deep South, appointed a new leader to replace Sapae-ing Baso who died two months ago, Thai security sources said Monday.
At a meeting in Kelantan, Malaysia, the BRN's governing council (DPP) named Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), a former principal of a school in the Deep South who is wanted in Thailand on insurgency-related charges, as its new chairman.
He takes over from Sapae-ing, the chairman of the council and "spiritual leader" of the rebel group who died at age 86 of complications from diabetes on Jan. 10, sources told BenarNews.
Doonloh was promoted a week after Sapae-ing's death to the chairmanship from the rank of secretary on the six-member council of the highly secretive BRN, which was established in 1960 and whose number of fighters stands today around 6,000, according to Thai military officials.
The governing council, also known as the Al Shura, appointed Doonloh during a meeting at the Al Dawah Islamiyah Madrassa in Kelantan on Jan. 17, a Thai security official told Benar on condition of anonymity. The information could not be immediately confirmed on the rebel side.
"The meeting had a unanimous decision to appoint Doonloh Wae-mano (alias Abdullah Wan Mat Noor), the former secretary, as the new DPP chairman and Uztas Abdul Munir, the current leader of BRN's political wing, to be secretary as well," the official said.
A spokesman for the military's regional command in the Deep South, however, said he could not independently confirm the report.
"I heard about the possible appointment of Doonloh. It involves the peace talks and we will check it out carefully," Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman  for Internal Security Operations 4 (ISOC 4), told BenarNews by phone.
Thailand's military government is trying to open formal peace talks with MARA Patani, a panel representing southern rebel groups and factions, including the BRN, but none of the people who sit on the BRN's governing council are represented on the panel, according to a list of BRN council members obtained by BenarNews.
Late last month, Thai and MARA Patani negotiators agreed in Kuala Lumpur to a framework for a limited ceasefire in one of the districts in the Deep South. But since the two sides achieved the breakthrough on Feb. 28, at least 12 people have been killed in attacks by suspected insurgents in provinces across the region.
Nearly 7,000 people have died since 2004 in violence associated with the separatist conflict in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region.
'Of the same generation'
Doonloh, the new chairman of BRN, is a former headmaster of the Jihad Witaya School in Pattani – one of the provinces in the Deep South  – who fled to nearby Malaysia 13 years ago after being charged with rebellion for allegedly training insurgents on his school's grounds, sources said.
Thai authorities accuse Doonloh of training separatists who took part in looting more than 400 assault rifles from a military camp in Cho-Irong district, Narathiwat province, in 2004.
"Abdullah Wan Mat Noor [Doonloh] was appointed the DPP's Secretary in 2016, so he is as known a quantity as a shadowy insurgency that delights in the secrecy its inner workings can have. Since September 2016, he has been the BRN's number two, so it seems normal that he would be appointed chairman,"  Zachary Abuza, an expert on the Thai Deep South and professor at the National War College in Washington, told BenarNews.
The BRN has lost two of its most prominent leaders in the past two years – Jekumar Kuteh and Sapae-ing Baso – who were headmasters at two of the most prominent Shaafi Islamic boarding schools (madrassas) in the Deep South and whose "influence over students and teachers was very deep," according to Abuza.
Of Doonloh, he observed, "we don't know how broad based his support is," but Doonloh "is of the same generation."
"I am still concerned about a generational change within the BRN that brings a more hardline leadership to the fore," Abuza added.
Doonloh is a BRN hardliner whose ascension to the organization's top spot could threaten peace efforts between Thailand and MARA Patani, according to a source in Thai military intelligence.
"MARA Patani does not seem to be able to control militants RKK on the ground. Abdullah Wan Mat Noor is hardcore and he would likely not agree with the peaceful solution," the intelligence official who also requested anonymity told BenarNews.
RKK is an acronym for a BRN combat unit known as Runda Kumpulan Kecil.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's leader Tuesday ordered an investigation into the killing of a 17-year-old activist, as reports surfaced about a soldier turning himself in to police to face charges in the shooting death.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said he was ordering a probe into the killing of Chaiyaphum Pa-sae at Ban Rinluang, a check point in a remote district of northern Chiang Mai province, on Friday. The teen resisted arrested and attempted to throw a grenade at officers manning the checkpoint, police had stated.
"I will order an investigation into the case. But if you think the military summarily killed him because he is an ethnic, you cannot think so because the government does not bare such a grudge," the prime minister and junta chief told reporters in Bangkok.
"Anyway, the case will be probed for transparency with evidence and witnesses. Don't talk too much otherwise it may negatively affect the case," Prayuth said.
Police said Chaiyaphum was riding in a car with a 19-year-old friend who was driving when officers stopped and searched the vehicle, finding 2,800 hidden methamphetamine pills.
Chaiyaphum allegedly used a knife and grenade to try to escape while his friend was detained, soldiers from the 5th Cavalry Regiment Task Force reported.
"Soldiers said they found a hand grenade to the right of the body," Panudesh Boonreung, deputy commander for the 5th Police Region Bureau, based in Chiang Mai, told reporters.
According to media reports late Tuesday, a soldier who allegedly killed Chaiyaphum turned himself in to police in Chiang Dao district, was charged with murder and released on bail.
Officers in charge at the station declined to respond to BenarNews when asked about reports of the soldier's arrest or to release his name. Police officials Cholathep Maichai and Monkol Sumpawapol said they could not release additional information.
Rights groups react
The killing drew outcries domestically and internationally because Chaiyaphum was considered a popular activist who campaigned against drugs and for the rights of stateless people in Thailand.
A Thai NGO, Surapong Kongchantuk, chairman of the Cross-Cultural Foundation, said the government should set up a neutral committee to investigate the case.
"What we are concerned about is how to have a fluid and fair justice. The suspect is a soldier and is influential. In our past experience, witnesses were afraid to come out and testify. Especially when the army spokesman previously confirmed the soldiers acted in legal self-defense," he said, adding that the "soldier versus civilian" incident was not the first in the region.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International expressed similar concerns.
"The claim that soldiers killed an outspoken young ethnic activist in self-defense after he had been held by soldiers sets the alarm bells ringing," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch (HRW). "Instead of accepting at face value the account of the soldiers who shot Chaiyaphum, the authorities need to thoroughly and impartially investigate this case and make their findings public."
The government should immediately direct the Department of Special Investigation to investigate Chaiyaphum's death and request the National Human Rights Commission to investigate the case, HRW said.
The New York-based global rights watchdog urged the Thai government to ensure the safety of witnesses in this case, including the driver of the car, whom it identified as Pongsanai and said was being detained at Mae Taeng Prison in Chiang Mai province.
Amnesty International called for Thai authorities to promptly order an independent and effective investigation and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable if any human rights violations contributed to his death.


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BENARNEWS- Bangkok and Manila vowed to cooperate more closely in staving off growing security threats from terrorism and transnational criminals when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's visited Thailand this week.
Contending with respective threats from rebel groups in Thailand's Deep South and Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines, Duterte and Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha agreed that their governments would move swiftly to exchange information and intelligence.
"Both leaders expressed concern on the growing security challenges from the spread of terrorism and extremism as well as transnational crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, piracy and cyber security with a shared view that cooperation at the bilateral, regional and international levels, are required in dealing with these challenges," according to a joint statement released Tuesday during Duterte's three-day visit.
"In this regard, the two leaders agreed to enhance cooperation in the exchange of information and intelligence among security agencies of both sides at the bilateral, ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and Interpol frameworks to increase efficiency in addressing these challenges," the statement said.
The leaders of the two ASEAN states also reaffirmed their nations' commitment to stronger bilateral defense and economic ties. The Philippines this year holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation bloc marking its 40th anniversary in 2017.
The two countries, longtime pillars of the regional bloc, are contending with similar challenges, according to an adviser to Thailand's deputy prime minister.
"The Philippines faces separatism and extremism like us, but at a much greater degree, as far as I understand. In Mindanao, the Abu Sayyaf is very violent," said Panithan Wattanayagorn who advises Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, Thailand's deputy prime minister for security affairs and defense minister.
"Abu Sayyaf has joined the IS (Islamic State) and campaigns with even increased violence and has links to other regional organizations," Panithan told BenarNews, adding, "We periodically have international terrorists transit in Thailand. Therefore, exchanging in information is very crucial."
IS links to Thailand?
In 2016, according to a source closely involved with security issues in Thailand, there was no evidence of suspected IS ideologists transiting through the country heading to Syria. But in prior years, officials spotted seven or eight people from ASEAN-member nations who were potential IS members trying to travel through Thailand.
"One of them was successful, Malaysian Muhammad Wanndy, who became a prominent IS warrior in Syria," the source, who asked not to be named, told BenarNews.
Malaysian police said Wanndy is based in Syria but leads a militant cell back home called the Black Crows (Gagak Hitam). Police allege he orchestrated a grenade attack that injured eight patrons at a Kuala Lumpur area nightclub last year and was claimed by Islamic State.
Panithan said IS unsuccessfully tried to promote its ideology in Thailand's predominantly Muslim Deep South, where nearly 7,000 people have died since 2004 in violence associated with a separatist conflict in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region.
"The IS promotes propaganda regularly but our agencies keep an eye on them. In general, they campaign for support and they tie the campaign to circumstances in the Deep South," he said.
"The IS members have communication loops, we keep an eye on that," he added.
Panithan said the two countries would continue to stress communication during the Joint Committee on Military Cooperation on the sidelines of a meeting of ASEAN senior defense officials in the Philippines next month.
"The upcoming meeting will be a good move because the cooperation will be more formal and more data will be shared among agencies," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Local and international journalism groups Tuesday asked Thailand's national broadcast regulator to reverse the suspension of a TV license for a station linked to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra over allegations that it aired biased and seditious programs.
The Thai Journalists Association (TJA) and the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association released a joint statement detailing three objections to a National Broadcast and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) order forcing Voice TV 21 to go dark for a week.
The Thai associations said the order should not have covered all broadcasting by the station because that action hurt all station employees, not just those involved in the questionable programs. They also stated that the government's action reflected outside interference and a lack of the professional integrity, as well as violated the Thai constitution's guarantee of press freedom.
"With those reasons, we two associations demand the NBTC to urgently revise the television broadcast committee's decision. In the case of any programs breaking a law, they should be dealt with under regular law and not a blanket suspension of the entire organization," they said in the statement.
"This issue must be addressed in the junta reconciliation forum that said any TV channel that commits a crime must be dealt with under the law," TJA President Pramas Lekpetch told BenarNews, referring to the junta's endeavor to pursue reconciliation among political parties.
International groups Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) also issued protests against the decision.
The military came to power in a coup that deposed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra – Thaksin's sister – in May 2014. He himself was ousted from office in a coup in 2006.
Since seizing power, the military government led by retired army general Prayuth Chan-o-cha has clamped down on media outlets, including those aligned with the Shinawatras. On Monday, the television broadcast committee adopted a resolution to take Voice TV 21 off the air for seven days, beginning Tuesday.
The television broadcast committee said it had received a petition from the government's media monitoring body saying the station aired biased programs about the military's recent killing of a Lahu tribe activist and on the seizure of a cache of weapons allegedly linked to Ko Tee, an activist with the Shinawatra-aligned Red Shirts. Ko Tee, who lives in self-imposed exile in neighboring Laos, has been accused of plotting to assassinate Thai leaders.
The junta determined that four programs were biased and seditious and could cause social turbulence, the petition noted.
NBTC Commissioner Lt. Gen. Peerapong Manakij said the station faced 10 suspensions last year and two already in 2017 over its programming.
"It kept repeating the same mistakes, without standard improvement. ... The committee viewed the petition as valid and a majority of the committee agreed to suspend the broadcast license," Peerapong said Monday.
Station CEO Mekin Petchplai told reporters he would appeal the order or sue the NBTC.
"Over time, we have been cooperative and performed our duty duly, but that is what we got. We need to protect our rights," he said, adding the station's online site remains live.
Family ties
Voice TV was established in 2003 with two of Thaksin's children holding a 44 percent stake in the station. Since then, it has been seen as a mouthpiece for Thaksin, who served as prime minister from 2001 to September 2006.
Responding to the suspension, Thaksin's youngest daughter, Paethongthan Shinawatra, who is not one of the major stakeholders, posted an Instagram message: "Oh, dear. Just do whatever you well please."
In 2008, Thaksin, who made a fortune in Thailand's telecommunications industry and stock trading, fled the country but was sentenced to two years in jail for abuse of power. He faces a series of lawsuits in Thailand and received a 17 billion baht (U.S. $494 million) tax bill over the sale of shares of a telecommunications company in 2006.
SEAPA and CPJ both condemned the government's action.
"The decision demonstrates the enormous power given to the NBTC by the military regime in July 2016. Considering all previous suspensions of programs and TV anchors, the decision is a demonstration of the NBTC's control powers," SEAPA said Tuesday.
"Thailand's military government has consistently said it is preparing to restore democracy but it continues to censor the media in a crude, authoritarian fashion," Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative, said in a statement issued Monday.
"We call on regulators to reverse the week-long suspension of Voice TV and to stop censoring and harassing the media."


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's king will officially endorse a new constitution on Thursday, the royal palace said Monday in announcing a formality that will clear the way for the first elections promised by the military since it seized power nearly three years ago.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn will sign the charter in front of leaders of the executive, legislative and judiciary branches during a ceremony at the Ananta Samakom Throne Hall in Bangkok, the Royal Household Bureau said. Thailand's 20th constitution in 85 years will be enacted as soon as the charter is published in the Royal Gazette following his signature, according to legal experts.
"[T]he Lord Chamberlain shall bring the constitution up to the King for signing and then granting to the Prime Minister," the bureau said in a statement.
But elections enshrined by the new constitution will not happen until sometime next year at the earliest, the deputy prime minister said nearly two months ago when government officials were tweaking the military-backed charter to accommodate changes requested by the king.
The public comments in early February by Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs Wissanu Kreua-ngam, in which he told reporters that elections would "roughly take place within one year's time." The statement signaled at least the fourth time the junta pushed back the timetable for electins it had promised for putting Thailand back on a path to democracy.
"It has been almost three years now and nothing got better. The government or the NCPO told us they have a roadmap for democracy but they keep postponing this," Somkid Cheukong, a former MP with the opposition Pheu Thai Party, told BenarNews.
"They should fix the timeframe for passing related laws and hold elections at the soonest."
On Monday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and other officials from the military government did not issue any statements in response to the announcement from the palace or say anything about a timeline for elections.
Further delays?
The charter's enactment, a step in the process of holding elections, was delayed because the king had requested some changes after he declined to sign in January. The king asked the National assembly to make changes that would enhance his powers as the monarch, such as being able to rule the country while spending long periods abroad.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne in December following the Oct. 13, 2016, death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had ruled Thailand for 70 years.
After the new king sent the draft charter back for revisions, Prayuth assured the public that elections would take place in late 2017 and a new government would be in power in 2018.
Yet the timetable for elections could be complicated by a provision in the new constitution requiring that lawmakers pass 10 so-called "organic laws" related to elections and political parties, Wissanu said on Feb. 9. Lawmakers will need to gather inputs from all stakeholders before they can pass these laws that represent another hurdle before holding elections, he indicated.
The 10 laws will require the consent of 75 political parties and Thailand's Election Commission, said Meechai Ritchuphand, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee.
The new charter was approved in a referendum in August 2016, but it is controversial because it allows the junta to retain influence over governments, critics have said.
For example, the constitution allows 250 senators appointed by the junta to join 500 elected MPs in picking a new prime minister for a five-year term.


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BENARNEWS- Some 20 to 30 suspected insurgents injured 12 officers while attacking a police checkpoint in the Thai Deep South with grenade launchers and other weapons on Monday, the police chief in Yala province said.
The attack in Yala's Krong Pinang district appeared to have been carried out in retaliation for the killings of two suspected rebels by security personnel last week in Narathiwat, another province in the Deep South, officials said.
"There were more than 20 of them, mostly locals," Maj. Gen. Krisda Kaewchandee, the chief of police in Yala, told BenarNews.
"The attack in ​Krong Pinang district was planned and similar attacks have been carried out every April," he said, adding, "the unrest in the area this month will be higher than other months, statistically."
Since Jan. 1, including Monday's attack, 28 people have been killed and 37 injured in 17 different incidents across the Deep South. The predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region has been wracked with violence despite efforts by Thailand's military government since 2015 to pursue formal peace negotiations with southern rebels groups.
On Monday, officials released details about efforts undertaken by the attackers to create havoc.
"After the attack, officers found nails and bombs planted along the road. The attackers also cut trees across the main and small roads to obstruct the officers tracking down," said police Capt. Pongsak Khaonuan, deputy inspector in Krong Pinang.
"From CCTV monitors, we determined that nearly 30 of them were split into two groups. The first group climbed up to the roof of the house next to the checkpoint, then fired heavy weapons at officers and used grenade launchers to attack. Another group attacked the officers from outside the checkpoint," Pongsak said.
Police did not release details on the severity of the injuries to police or if any of the attackers were injured.
Response attacks
Pongsak said the attack appeared to be in response to the killings by police of two suspects in Rueso district, Narathiwat, on March 29.
Officer killed the two men suspected of a roadside ambush in  Narathiwat that resulted in the killings of an assistant village chief, his wife, sister-in-law and 8-year-old son on March 2.
Authorities identified the slain suspects as Isma-ae Hama, 28, and Aseng Useng, 30, and said both fired at officers, causing police to retaliate. Isma-ae's sister, who was at the scene, said her brother had no weapons.
"We confirmed the two suspects were killers. There were five arrest warrants against them. The weapons inspection matched the ones used to shoot and kill the assistant village chief's family in ​​Rueso district," Col. Pramote Prom-in, the spokesman for the military's regional command in the Deep South (ISOC 4), told reporters at the time.
"Officials always are ready to provide fairness to all parties," he said.
Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, a spokesman for MARA Patani, a panel representing rebel groups and factions in exploratory talks with Thailand, issued a statement on Saturday expressing concern over the deaths and pointing to the conflicting reports from police and the suspect's sister.
Police officer killed
On Thursday, a police officer died and three others were injured in a drive-by shooting outside the Rangae district police station in Narathiwat in what officials said was in response to the killings on Wednesday.
"There were about four or five attackers who drove by in a pickup truck and opened fire at 30 police who were standing in rows during their morning assembly in the front yard of Rangae district police station on Thursday morning," station chief police Col. Surapong Chartsut said.
"The gunmen were dressed like construction workers and carried heavy weapons."
The dead officer was identified as Cpl. Supatsorn Sayukhongthon, 30, and the wounded officers were identified as senior Sgt. Maj. Theerapong Kaewchamnan, 45, Cpl. Pongsathorn Kaewprasert, 23, and Sgt. Maj. Ekawit Thongbut, 33.
Checking surveillance footage, police determined that the truck had been stolen in Sukhirin district, Narathiwat, earlier that morning. Police are searching for the gunmen.
Peace talks
After months of on-again, off-again exploratory talks between the government and MARA Patani, negotiators on Feb. 28 announced a framework for a safety zone establishing a limited ceasefire in one of the Deep South districts.
The safety zone was expected to take at least three months to set up and implement and serve as a test to see if the concept can work there and in other areas of the Deep South.
The region has seen nearly 7,000 people killed in violence associated with the ongoing conflict between separatist rebel groups and the government.
Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Two women were injured when a pipe bomb blew up Wednesday night near Bangkok's Grand Palace and Monument of Democracy, police said, on the eve of the ceremonial signing of Thailand's new constitution by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
The explosion was the first bomb blast to hit the Thai capital since 20 people were killed and 125 injured in the bombing of the Erawan Shrine, a popular tourist spot in Bangkok, on Aug. 17, 2015.
Two Uyghur men are standing trial over charges stemming from that incident, but police had little information available on who may have planted the bomb that went off at around 8 p.m. Wednesday as a municipal sanitation worker emptied a trash bin.
"The bomb exploded in front of the old national lottery office, at Rajadamnoen Klang Road. A Bangkok janitor cleaned up the area and the bomb went off. She suffered a slight injury," police Col. Pitak Suthikul, chief of the Chanasongkram district police station whose jurisdiction covers the bomb site, told reporters, according to local news reports.
Thai media identified the injured sanitation worker as Suriyaporn Pulsombat and a passer-by who was injured as Pimwara Raweenopasit.
The bomb was a low-powered explosive device made from black powder and PVC piping. Moving it could have caused it to ignite, said police Col. Kamthon Uycharoen, the chief of the police bomb squad who inspected the scene.
"It's not an act of terrorism or an act to stir unrest," National Police Chief Gen. Chakthip Chaichinda told Reuters.
According to police Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakpan, the commander of police emergency services, the bomb likely belonged to members of a youth motorbike gang who left it in the bin to elude a police checkpoint in the area, according to reports.
The explosion occurred the night before Thailand's new king is scheduled to sign the country's 20th constitution in 85 years in a formality that will clear the path for the first elections promised by the Thai military since it seized power in a May 2014 coup.
The charter, which passed in a referendum last year, is controversial because it allows the military to retain influence over government, such as by allowing 250 senators appointed by the junta to join 500 elected MPs in picking a new prime minister for a five-year term.
Wednesday's blast also occurred a week before the nation will hold festivities to mark the Thai New Year. In the run-up to the festivities, which will take place from April 13 to 15, police have stepped up security measures across the capital, including mounting checkpoints and searching vehicles for explosives and other weapons.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's king Thursday endorsed a junta-backed constitution that frames a timetable for elections potentially as late as November 2018 and allows the military, critics say, to influence the process and keep a grip on government.
Hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed the 20th constitution since 1932 during a pomp-filled ceremony in Bangkok, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced that the new charter was law but it could take up to 19 months before Thailand held its first elections since the military seized power in May 2014.
"The government cannot tell when the elections will be ...," Prayuth, the junta chief, said Thursday night on national television as he listed legal steps needed for elections to become a reality.
"But we know today is the beginning of the announcement of the constitution and it will be followed by the other events."
Since toppling Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government nearly three years ago amid political turmoil and chaotic street demonstrations, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), as the junta is formally known, has kept promising elections as part of its roadmap to putting Thailand back on a path to democracy.
On at least four occasions, NCPO officials have pushed back dates for prospective elections, while the junta has arrested pro-democracy activists and critics as well as banned large political gatherings and demonstrations.
The royal endorsement of the constitution, a key step in its enactment, was delayed three months because the king requested that parts pertaining to his rule be amended, including allowing him to govern the country from abroad.
The televised ceremony at the Ananta Samakom Throne Hall, during which the king signed the charter in the presence of Prayuth, leaders of the legislative and judicial branches of government, took place on the 235th anniversary of the beginning of the Chakri Dynasty. Afterward, the constitution was published in the Royal Gazette.
When he appeared before the cameras in the evening, the prime minister said it could take between 13 and 14 months for the legislature to pass a set of 10 so-called organic laws required for setting up elections. Then, as stipulated in the new charter, the country's Election Commission would have up to five months to organize and stage elections, Prayuth said.
"From today on, there will be ... these events: the drafting of the organic laws, within eight months, and reviewing of organic laws by the National Legislative Assembly, within two months. It will need an additional one month, if changes are required. Then the laws need royal approval within 90 days," Prayuth said.
Meanwhile, Meechai Ruchupan, chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee that wrote the charter, said the timetable for elections rested on several factors and it was not possible to predict exactly when polls would take place.
"It depends on whether or not the drafting of organic laws faces trouble. No one can predict possible problems," he told reporters at parliament, referring to the possibility that political parties might disagree on some of these organic laws, according to local media.
'Isn't it time for elections now?'
Abhisit Vejjajiva, the leader of the pro-royalist Democrat Party and a former prime minister, said Thursday it was ready to organize itself for elections and start campaigning.
"It is up to the NCPO to lift the political activity ban. It is possible that it will ease the ban. We have put a priority on recruiting new members and preparing key platforms," he said on TNN television.
Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, called for parties to unite over the passage of the organic laws.
"We saw the intention of the government to return to democracy and think it will not delay the process, so all parties should cooperate in the process," he said.
Somkid Cheukong, an MP with the opposition Pheu Thai Party whose government was toppled in the May 2014 coup, said elections could no longer wait.
"Isn't it time for elections now? Or will we walk without a goal? I think the nation should walk forward and should have political parties that come from elections," Somkid told BenarNews.
The charter, approved by a 61 percent majority in a referendum in August 2016, is controversial because it contains provisions that allow the military to add 100 seats to the Senate and appoint all its members. Six of those seats will be reserved for chiefs of the armed forces. All 250 senators also have the power to help members of the 500-seat National Legislative Assembly appoint a new prime minister.
Before the king put his signature on the constitution, global rights watchdog Amnesty International called on Thailand to end human rights abuses under the junta.
"While Thailand's new constitution sets the stage for general elections and lays out a wide range of rights and liberties, it does little to correct the dire human rights situation in the country," Champa Patel, Amnesty's Southeast Asia director, said Thursday in a statement.
"Thailand's military government retains its carte blanche authority to rule by diktat until elections are held, and future governments will have free rein to restrict human rights on various vaguely-defined grounds."


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BENARNEWS- Coordinated explosions and arson attacks by suspected insurgents who targeted electrical infrastructure rocked Thailand's restive Deep South region early Friday, causing widespread power and internet blackouts but no casualties, officials said.
The 23 attacks in parts of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces took place less than 24 hours after Thailand's king signed a new junta-backed constitution paving the way for fresh general elections.
"The attacks took place after midnight in acts of sabotage – homemade bomb blasts, setting fire to utility poles, and tire burning in 19 districts of four provinces. There were no reports of human casualties," Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 (ISOC 4), told reporters in Pattani on Friday morning. Fifty-two utility poles were targeted, he said.
"Given the pattern and time frame, the assailants are in the same group and well-coordinated," he said.
The Commander of the 4th Army Region added that he suspected insurgents had carried out the attacks.
"The sabotage was likely the works of the insurgents on the ground who wanted to make their presence known and to show off their potential to cause damage," Gen. Wiwat Nakwanich told reporters, also speaking in Pattani.
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Nails are seen laid out on a road in Narathiwat province, a common insurgent tactic to slow down security forces, April 7, 2017. (BenarNews)
Politically motivated?
The first attack took place nine hours after King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed Thailand's 20th constitution Thursday afternoon in Bangkok, and three hours after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha went on television to discuss a road-map to elections, now projected for late 2018.
In a briefing at the Defense Ministry on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs and Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan said the motive for the attacks should be investigated.
"I don't understand why the attacks happened at this juncture. Whether they have anything to do with the new constitution or not, I would like to have time to investigate," a Bangkok Post reporter quoted him as saying.
Late Wednesday, on the eve of the elaborate constitution signing ceremony, a small pipe bomb went off in Bangkok, near the Grand Palace and the Monument of Democracy, slightly injuring two women.
Prawit said the bomb attack resembled ones that took place during political turmoil in 2009 and 2010, when  supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lost power in a 2006 coup, violently rallied on Bangkok streets to overthrow then-Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Lee Tangda, a sympathizer of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) – the largest armed separatist group in the Deep South – said he did not believe the 23 attacks early Friday were the work of the Juwae – a Malay word for young militants.
"The Juwae were not mobilized last night. And to do such large-scale, coordinated attacks, it needs a big number of operatives," the man, who uses a pseudonym for security reasons, told BenarNews in Pattani province.
Since Jan. 1, at least 28 people have been killed and 37 injured in 17 different incidents across the Deep South.
Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces, along with some districts in Songkhla, form the predominantly Muslim, Malay-speaking Deep South. The region has been wracked with violence despite efforts by Thailand's military government since 2015 to pursue formal peace negotiations with southern separatist rebel groups.
After months of on-again, off-again exploratory talks between the government and rebel negotiators, the two sides on Feb. 28 announced plans for a limited ceasefire in one Deep South district.
The so-called safety zone, expected to take at least three months to implement, would serve as a test to see if the concept could work in other areas of the Deep South, negotiators said.
The region has seen nearly 7,000 people killed since 2004 in violence associated with the ongoing conflict between separatist rebel groups and the government.


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BENARNEWS- In a rare statement Monday, the largest insurgent group in Thailand's Deep South appeared to reject a two-year-old peace process with the military government, suggesting that a panel negotiating on behalf of rebel factions lacks a mandate to do so.
But the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) restated its belief that the decades-old separatist conflict on Thailand's southern border could be resolved through dialogue and demanded it play a direct role in fresh talks witnessed and mediated by impartial members of the international community.
"Regarding the Patani peace dialogue which is currently under way, it should be represented by delegations that are mandated and authorized by the two negotiating parties and must also comply with international norms," the secretive BRN said. "The negotiation process should not be designed by any particular party other than the negotiating parties. ..."
"n any peace dialogue acquiring absolute mandate from the constituency and conveying the people's  aspiration is one of the most important things," said an English version of the two-page statement from the BRN's "Information Department" dated April 10 and obtained by BenarNews through Thai military sources. The statement was printed on BRN letterhead.
It did not name parties involved in the peace efforts – the Thai military, the rebel panel known as MARA Patani, or Malaysia, which has been facilitating informal talks in Kuala Lumpur since 2015 – but BRN was sending the message it wants to negotiate directly with the Thai junta and rejects MARA as a legitimate party in talks, analysts told BenarNews.
"BRN is dismissing MARA Patani as irrelevant. The leadership is also reminding Bangkok that this dispute is between them and the Thai state and others shouldn't set the terms for the talks. ..." said Don Pathan, a BenarNews columnist and Thai Deep South analyst.
Zachary Abuza, a U.S.-based expert on insurgencies in Southeast Asia, said "the BRN wants the government to deal with it, not MARA Patani, and they want some sort of clear road map for talks and deliverables."
Rebels split over talks?
MARA Patani officials have said the panel acts as an umbrella to negotiate with a single voice for peace in the Deep South on behalf of all the rebel groups, including the BRN. In February, MARA Patani and the Thai delegation agreed to a framework for setting up a safety zone – or limited ceasefire – in one of the districts in the four southern provinces touched by the insurgency.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence associated with the conflict in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region.
"The BRN quit the peace process in October 2015. Though they still sit on MARA Patani, it is not clear to me whether they still hold the majority, let alone, the chairmanship and the secretary positions. My sense from a previous round of talks, was that they had a representative in the room, but that he was there more as an observer, rather than a lead," Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington D.C., told BenarNews on Monday.
After the BRN issued its statement, a spokesman for its Information Department told the Asia Times "the BRN was playing no part in the MARA Patani umbrella group."
"BRN has never given a mandate to anyone or any agency in terms of sending a delegation to join the ongoing process between Mara Patani and the Thai government," BRN spokesman Abdulkarim Khalid said.
Abuza said the BRN statement questions Malaysia's credibility and impartiality as mediator of the informal peace process.
"MARA Pattani was created by the Malaysian government, at the urging of the Thai government," he said. "Without Malaysian pressure, MARA would not exist. I think the BRN wants to communicate its displeasure with KL, in that the Malaysian government continues to push MARA to the table, even when the BRN has made its position on the peace process very clear."
BRN issued its rare statement four days after Thailand enacted a new constitution that, critics have said, allows the military to retain its influence over government. The statement came three days after 23 "acts of sabotage" – a combination of bomb blasts and arson attacks – rocked the Deep South, took out utility poles and caused power outages in the region. Police blamed rebels for carrying out the acts and have since arrested four suspects.
It was "telling," Abuza said, that BRN's statement followed on the heels of the new charter's proclamation.
"The constitution makes any devolution of political power or even cultural autonomy all but illegal," he told BenarNews, referring to demands made by the BRN in past peace talks. "The constitution is all about centralization of power. The BRN looks at the charter and can legitimately ask whether the Thai government has any interest in reaching a negotiated political solution."
'That's the style of the BRN'
Meanwhile, Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, the army officer who leads the Thai delegations in talks with MARA Patani, cast doubt on the statement's authenticity.
"Let's double-check the information. We cannot conclude that the statement document is genuine. I don't think BRN would issue such a statement," Aksara told BenarNews, adding the Thai side would ask Malaysia to verify whether this document came from BRN.
However, a source with MARA Patani suggested the statement bore BRN's imprint.
"Based on its Malay statement, that's the style of BRN. And, from what I know, that is what the BRN really wants and would like to see in negotiations," the source told BenarNews.
BenarNews staff in Pattani, Thailand, contributed to this report.
Updates to correct details about BRN's statement.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's military junta chief Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Tuesday asked the most powerful Muslim rebel group fighting for a separate state in the country's Deep South to convey its demands for revamping a peace building mechanism to Malaysia, the process facilitator.
The Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) had suggested Monday it wants a direct role in fresh talks that have been held in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur since 2015 to end the decades-old insurgency.
It had also called for mediation by a neutral third party and the participation of international observers.
"Whoever wants to talk peace with us, as we have Malaysia as the facilitator, [it] must propose via the facilitator," Prayuth, Thailand's prime minister, said in response to reporters' questions about the BRN statement which appeared to reject the government's current peace efforts with MARA Patani, an umbrella rebel panel which includes BRN.
He also made it clear that the junta would not hold any direct talks with rebels in Thailand and ruled out the participation of third parties.
"Regarding the participation of third parties in the peace talks, why do we need them," Prayuth asked.
"We can solve our own problems. Why do we need someone else in? How can they understand the issues?"
He stressed that the government was committed to resolving the conflict, saying it "wants the situation to die down soonest" and that it would "fix the problems wherever they are."
Some analysts interpreted the BRN statement as a signal that it wanted to negotiate directly with the Thai junta, rejecting MARA Patani's lead role and questioning Malaysia's impartiality as mediator in the peace process.
Umbrella group
In February, MARA Patani and the Thai government had agreed to a framework for setting up a safety zone – or limited ceasefire – in one of the districts touched by the insurgency, in which nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in the predominantly Muslim region.
Analysts said MARA Patani, which consists of exiled insurgents in Malaysia, has little power on the ground.
"The BRN wants the government to deal with it, not MARA Patani, and they want some sort of clear road map for talks and deliverables," said Zachary Abuza, a U.S.-based expert on insurgencies in Southeast Asia.
Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, a spokesman for MARA Patani, told BRN Tuesday to get its act together, saying it was already participating in the peace process through its representatives in a rebel panel in talks with Thai officials.
"There are already BRN representatives at the table now and they just have to coordinate among themselves, which is the best way to cooperate and rectify any shortcomings with their other colleagues from PULO, BIPP and GMIP," he told BenarNews.
MARA Patani lists its members as BRN, the Patani Islamic Liberation Front (BIPP) two factions of Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), and the Islamic Mujahideen Movement of Patani (GMIP).
Abu Hafez, who said he was speaking in his personal capacity, described the BRN statement as a postive development considering that it has not directly rejected peace talks as key to ending the insurgency.
"Any agreement between the Thai government and Mara Patani would not be struck any time soon. There are still many issues that need to be discussed at this level," he said.
"Such an agreement in the future will surely involve all stake-holders, including the Thai government, representatives of rebel groups and the local community. Only through this way can progress be achieved and peace be restored."
The BRN statement on Monday came three days after 23 "acts of sabotage" – a combination of bomb blasts and arson attacks – rocked the Deep South, took out utility poles and caused power outages in the region. Police blamed rebels for carrying out the acts and have since arrested four suspects.
Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- The Thai government on Wednesday banned citizens from interacting online with three outspoken critics of the monarchy, effectively widening its restrictions on speech in the online domain.
The individuals are Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a former lecturer at Thammasat University now living in France; Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a lecturer at Kyoto University in Japan; and Briton Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a former Reuters reporter, according to the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.
"[It] is announced that general citizens do not follow, contact, share content or spread content or information of the trio stated herein on the internet or social media, directly or indirectly, to avoid violation of the Computer Crimes Act – advertently or inadvertently," a Ministry statement said.
The announcement, dated April 12, was published in several mainstream media outlets but not immediately posted on the ministry website.
Declaring an individual persona non-grata online – barring Thais from contacting them or engaging with their content online – is unprecedented, but the Ministry cited an unrelated criminal court  order banning "inappropriate content" under the Computer Crimes Act of 2007.
An official with the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society told Thai PBS that the announcement was intended to help people avoid trouble.
"It is our good intention to let citizens know that certain information that they are looking for on the internet are banned by a court order and be aware that such surfing may affect them directly or indirectly," Deputy Permanent Secretary Group Captain Somsak Khaosuwan said.
Jailed
Thailand already prosecutes individuals for online activities deemed illegal under the nation's strict royal defamation law.
On Dec. 3, 2016, two days after the ascension of King Maha Vajiralongkorn following his father's death, student activist Jatupat "Pai" Boonpattararaksa was charged with allegedly sharing a BBC profile of the new king profile on Facebook. He remains in jail after being denied bail repeatedly.
Since taking power in 2014, a junta led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha sharply increased prosecutions over perceived slights against the monarchy. In July 2016, Thai police questioned Marshall's wife after he posted to social media photos of the then-crown prince, even though the photos were taken at a German airport and Marshall does not live in Thailand.
Record-breaking 25- and 30-year sentences have been handed down for people over Facebook posts, while a man found himself arrested for making sarcastic comments about Bhumibol's late dog. Many convictions are not made public because Thai journalists censor themselves when reporting cases to avoid falling foul of the law.


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BENARNEWS- A Laotian man described as a major drug lord in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia pleaded not guilty Tuesday in a Bangkok court to charges that could carry the death penalty, including smuggling and possession.
Xaysana Keopimpha, 41, had been dubbed an "ASEAN Drug Lord" and Thai authorities said he headed a network that supplied caffeine-laced methamphetamine tablets known as "yaba," which were produced in Myanmar, throughout the Mekong River region.
Xaysana's Thai lawyer, Vorakorn Pongthanakul on Tuesday promised a strong defense of his client that would include challenging an earlier confession. Vorakorn said his client confessed to a police investigator because while Thai and Lao are similar languages, Xaysana does not understand it or the country's laws.
The lawyer said his client was worried because he had never been convicted of any crime. As for possible bail, family members in Laos are going to decide whether to apply.
"Now Xaysana is indicted and is becoming a defendant ... he and I, as his lawyer, agreed that he would plead innocent and we will fight all the charges," Vorakorn said following the arraignment in Bangkok North Criminal Court. "I felt somewhat heavy hearted because the charges carry the death penalty."
The last execution in Thailand for any crime was in 2009.
Xaysana was arrested Jan. 19 at Bangkok's Suvahnbhumi Airport following a five-year investigation and a tip from Laos officials, according to Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, who heads the Thai police's Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
A Malaysian suspect who was arrested by police in Malaysia in February, Kamarudin Bin Awang, was a trade partner of Xaysana, Thailand's counter-narcotics chief said back then, Sommai said at the time.
Assets seized
Xaysana led a flamboyant lifestyle prior to his arrest, hanging out with Thai celebrities and a soap opera star, according to reports. Lao authorities seized his assets including nine luxury vehicles, five houses and a 475-acre rubber plantation.
Following his January arrest, Sommaly Thammavong, the daughter-in-law of former Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong distanced herself from rumored ties, saying that a photo showing her and Thammavong's son with Xaysana was  taken "by accident."
The photo that circulated widely on Facebook shows only a casual social connection among the three, Sommaly Thammavong said at the time.
"We have not done any business with him, and we didn't know what he was involved in," she said.
Arrest details
The Golden Triangle which straddles Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, was notorious for opium and heroin, but recently methamphetamine overtook production in the region, mostly in Myanmar and to a lesser degree in Laos. Police officials allege that Xaysana himself distributed the drug in Thailand and had a network of dealers peddling yaba in other countries.
Thai police in 2016 captured four members of Xaysana's alleged drug network, seizing more than 5 million yaba pills, officials told reporters on Jan. 20, the day after they captured the alleged kingpin. Police arrested Xaysana and three associates after they arrived in Bangkok following a visit to the southern Thai resort town of Phuket.
During that press conference, Sommai thanked Lao law-enforcement authorities for providing information that helped lead to the arrest.
"Lao authorities said to us that if we couldn't arrest him here, they wouldn't be able to do anything in Laos," Sommai said.
"Xaysana has enormous assets in Laos," he said, adding, "I don't know what's going on over there."


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BENARNEWS- Suspected insurgents mounted 13 simultaneous attacks in three of Thailand's southernmost provinces late Wednesday, and two of them were accidentally killed in a bomb explosion, officials said.

At least 10 attacks involved bombs or grenades, while the others were shootings, according to official information. 

There were 13 attacks in all – seven in Narathiwat, three in Pattani and three in Songkhla – officials in those provinces of the Thai Deep South told BenarNews.

The two suspects were killed in a blast in Saba Yoi, a district in Songkhla province. Elsewhere, a security volunteer was shot and injured as he guarded a railway station in Sungai Padi, a district of Narathiwat, officials said. 

"As far as we learnt from a Saba Yoi district official, the two dead tried to plant a bomb and it went off, killing them," an official with the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.

The string of bombings and shootings were the first attacks in Thailand's predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South since 23 coordinated bomb blasts and arson attacks by suspected insurgents rocked the region on April 7, taking out utility poles and causing power and internet blackouts. 

Since the start of the year, 30 people have been killed and 38 others injured in violence blamed on insurgents in the Deep South.
During that time, Thailand's military government has been negotiating with MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing rebel groups, to end a decades-old separatist conflict that has claimed nearly 7,000 lives since it reignited in 2004.
Wednesday's attacks were aimed mostly at security positions such as police stations and village defense volunteer bases, Lt. Gen. Wiwat Nakwanich, commander of the 4th Army regional command, told the TNN television news channel.
"We were tipped-off by local residents that insurgents would launch attacks ... people dislike violence so they alerted us," Wiwat said.

In late February, Thailand and MARA Patani agreed to a framework for setting up a limited ceasefire in one of the districts of the Deep South, as part of their negotiations to re-open formal peace talks. 

But deadly violence, which Thai authorities have blamed on hard-core rebels, has persisted in the region since the two sides struck that deal at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur facilitated by Malaysia. 

Three days after the flurry of attacks on April 7, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest and most powerful of the rebel groups represented on MARA Patani, came out with a statement rejecting the current peace process. BRN demanded that it negotiate for peace directly with the Thai junta and that an impartial and international third party mediate those talks.

On April 11, however, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha brushed off BRN's demand, saying that Thailand could not deal directly with the rebel group and it must take its demand to Malaysia, the peace broker in current talks.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand will cremate the body of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Oct. 26 during funeral rites lasting five days and coming more than a year after his death, the government announced Tuesday.
The royal cremation and other rites will be part of a state funeral that promises to be as grand and elaborate as the life of the monarch who reigned for 70 years, with construction already under way in Bangkok for a massive pyre for Bhumibol.
His funeral rites, starting Oct. 25, will close out a year of national mourning preceding the coronation of his son and successor, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, at a yet to be determined date in December.
"The royal funeral committee, led by the prime minister, suggested to the King the dates for cremation rite and his majesty agreed to hold the rite from Oct. 25 to 29," Lt. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, the spokesman for Thailand's military government, confirmed to BenarNews, referring to consultations with King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Until his death at age 88 of health-related complications on Oct. 13, 2016, King Bhumibol was the world's longest ruling monarch. His reign surpassed that of Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrated her 91st birthday on April 21 and who has sat on the United Kingdom's throne for 65 years.
The king's death plunged Thailand into mourning, as tens of thousands of people converged on the Thai capital and stood in line for hours to grieve for and pay their respects to Bhumibol. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced a year of national mourning that will officially end on Oct. 30, 2017.
The king's 64-year-old heir, his only son among four children, ascended to the throne on Dec. 1, 2016, but has yet to be officially crowned. On April 21, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam, announced that the coronation of King Maka Vajiralongkorn would take place in December, but a date has not been set.
The body of the late king is being kept at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, which lies next to the site where a funeral pyre complex featuring intricate art pieces is being built as the centerpiece for the state funeral (see accompanying photo essay), which is expected to draw dignitaries and other attendees from across the globe.
On Oct. 25, King Bhumibol's body will be moved from the palace and placed on the pyre, where it will be cremated the next day, Sansern said.
The king's ashes will then be collected and placed in an urn housed in the Chakri Maha Prasart Throne Hall, and Buddhist monks will chant over them during a merit-making ceremony, the spokesman added.
An earlier version contained wrong information about the date of King Bhumibol's death.


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BENARNEWS- Suspected insurgents killed six soldiers in a roadside ambush Thursday in the Thai Deep South, authorities said, in the single deadliest attack on the region's security forces in at least two years.
The gunmen shot all six after a bomb explosion caused the truck the soldiers were riding in to run off the road in Janae, a district of Narathiwat province, according to officials.
Four of the rangers died at the scene and the two others succumbed to their injuries at a local hospital, officials said. No one else was injured.
"We received a report that there was an attack on rangers on the road at Ri-ngae village in Janae district at around 2 p.m. I believe the insurgents tried to instigate violence," Lt. Col. Sailom Rod-uppo, deputy chief of the police station in Janae, told BenarNews.
A policeman who inspected the site of the attack said the assailants tried to burn the six soldiers after shooting them.
"The assailants exploded the truck and sprayed bullets ... at the six ... they poured fuel on the truck and, before leaving, they stole weapons from the dead," the officer told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
"Luckily, the fire did not burn much because other officials rushed to the scene quickly. I suspect the insurgents were trying to stir something up," he said.
The attack took place on the eve of the anniversary of the so-called Krue Se incident in 2004, when 32 suspected insurgents who were holed up inside a mosque in nearby Pattani province were killed in a gun battle with security forces. That incident helped re-ignite a decades-long separatist conflict in the Deep South.
Thursday's ambush occurred amid a cycle of violence in which dozens of people have been killed or injured across the region since the start of the year, and as Thailand's military government has tried to negotiate a ceasefire with rebels in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South.
Earlier this month, 12 police officers were injured in an ambush by suspected rebels at a checkpoint in nearby Yala province.
Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest and most powerful of the southern Thai rebel groups, is believed to be behind the cycle of violence.
On April 10, the highly secretive BRN issued a statement rejecting informal peace talks that have been under way for two years between the Thai junta and MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing the BRN and other insurgent organizations in those negotiations.
At a meeting in Kuala Lumpur in late February, MARA and Thai government negotiators achieved a breakthrough. They agreed to set up a limited ceasefire in the Deep South, but that has yet to take effect and attacks have persisted in the region.
"Today's attack was exacted on the prime target, the military. I believe the insurgents were planning to do this for a lengthy period. BRN has a policy to launch coordinated, big attacks every quarter ...," Retired Gen. Samrej Srirai, a former deputy military commander in the region, told BenarNews by phone.
Since Jan. 1, including Thursday's latest attack, 36 people have been killed and 38 injured in multiple incidents across the Deep South. Overall, nearly 7,000 people have died since 2004 in violence associated with the insurgency.


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BENARNEWS- Thai lawmakers Monday voted in favor of a military-backed bill that would broadly regulate the nation's media after some 30 local organizations complained it would curb press freedom dramatically.
The junta-appointed National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA) voted for a draft bill of what would be Thailand's first law governing the media, but it removed a section setting prison terms and fines for unlicensed media members after the organizations had submitted a letter stating their concerns.
Leading figures from the Thai media handed the letter to the vice president of the NRSA, Alongkorn Ponlaboot, as it was deliberating on the draft bill, officially referred to as the Bill on the Protection and Promotion of Media Rights, Freedom, Ethics and Professional Standards.
Thai Journalists Association (TJA) members said they worried that the legislation, if passed, would subject media outlets and anyone who directly or indirectly earns income from reporting news to the public without a license to up to three years in prison and a 60,000 baht (U.S. $1,735) fine. It called those punishments too severe.
"We are disturbed by and distrust this action," TJA President Pramade Lakpetch told reporters witnessing the protest letter delivery at the Parliament on Monday. "When the problem is about the foundation of our home, it makes no sense to repair just the windows and doors. Any reform needs to look at the problem in a holistic manner."
After receiving the letter, Alongkorn told reporters that the reform committee would consider their concerns.
Following about eight hours of debate among assembly members, the NRSA endorsed a bill that omitted the section setting prison and fines for unregistered media, Thai PBS reported, voting 141 for, 13 against with 17 abstentions. The bill will be amended to reflect the changes agreed to during debate and sent to the cabinet for consideration.
Association members could not be reached late on Monday to answer questions on whether the NRSA had addressed all of the TJA's stated concerns in the version of the bill that was passed.
The letter raised four points of concern about the bill, including that the draft legislation would empower the National Press Council to issue licenses to media personnel; that it would allow a state representative to sit on the council; and that the bill's broad provisions could "include all people who criticize or comment on news or information."
Media should regulate itself
The association's position is that the media should be permitted to regulate itself. The group said the draft's interpretation of "journalist" is vague enough to include the general public whose websites and postings are critical of government's policies.
Since seizing power in a coup three years ago, Thailand's military government has arrested government critics or people who have posted online content seen as violating the nation's strict royal defamation laws. The regime, in some cases, has also summoned journalists who have published articles critical of the junta for so-called "attitude adjustment" detention sessions.
The proposed media legislation also goes against the 2017 constitution which states that the people of Thailand have the right to freedom of expression through speech, print materials and other formats, the association's vice president said.
"We called on the government of Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha to listen to all sides, especially when deliberating laws that curbs the rights and freedom of the public," TJA Vice President Chaiyuth Yonpium told BenarNews.
"Such legislation should be drafted by people who know something about the media. Or should the soldiers be the ones who draft it?" Chaiyuth said, adding, "Could it be possible that such legislation be drafted by elected representatives and not be pushed through under an atmosphere where anybody could be summoned (by the military) for attitude adjustment that they often refer to as a seminar?"


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BENARNEWS- The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand canceled a panel discussion this week about a missing plaque marking the birth of Thai democracy after police said the event would threaten national security, FCCT officials said.
The cancellation is the latest twist in the case of the missing plaque, which has spurred debate about free speech and democracy in military-controlled Thailand. Junta leaders have told people not to raise questions about the missing object that was mysteriously replaced with a pro-royalist plaque, and have even taken some into custody who allegedly did not heed that warning.
Authorities this week arrested and charged six Thais on suspicion of violating the nation's strict royal defamation law by sharing a Facebook posts about the missing plaque, according to reports.
Officials at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Bangkok on Wednesday night announced their decision to cancel the program, "Memories of 1932: The Mystery of Thailand's Missing Plaque," scheduled for that evening, saying they had received a letter from the district police asking the club to call off the event.
Police told the FCCT that "relevant officials" had contacted the local police station about the matter, club officials said in a statement.
"In the letter the police said these officials believed that the event posed a threat to national security, and that it could be used by unscrupulous individuals to stir up disorder," the club said.
"The FCCT disagrees with this assessment. Our events are always well-moderated and allow for constructive and civilized discussions," it added.
The club noted it was led to understand that the police request to cancel the program came through orders from the National Council for Peace and Order – the official name for Thailand's junta.
Related arrests
The discovery of the missing plaque was reported in the Thai press on April 14.
The small bronze plaque was embedded in the pavement in Bangkok's Royal Plaza near the king's palace. The plaque is a much cherished symbol of constitutional democracy in Thailand, which began 85 years ago when the 1932 Siamese Revolution brought about an end to absolute monarchy.
News of the missing plaque surfaced only eight days after King Maha Vajiralongkorn signed into law the country's 20th constitution since 1932. The new charter has set a timetable for the nation's first elections under the current junta, which seized power three years ago this month.
Those could take place as late as November 2018. The charter, however, allows the military to influence the process and retain a grip on government, critics say, although the generals have promised to put Thailand back on a path to democracy.
On April 18, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha urged people not to stage street protests over the missing plaque and said they should stop drawing attention to the object.
"I would like to remind you that, no matter what you do in the meantime, I do not want the country to go nowhere," Prayuth told reporters. "For that matter, I do not want it to be an issue ... we have a democracy for more than 80 years, and I have affirmed that I am pro-democracy, so it is up to us to move our country forward."
On Wednesday, police announced that six people, including Thai human rights right lawyer Prawet Prapanukul, were arrested under the royal defamation law known as Lese-Majeste.
Anon Nampa, a leader with local NGO Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, said the six were accused of violating that law because they had shared Facebook posts about the missing plaque that were written by Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a Thai historian who lives in France, according to reports.
On April 12, the Thai government blacklisted Somsak as one of a trio of outspoken critics of the Thai monarchy, and banned its citizens from interacting over the internet with any of those three.
And eight days later, two pro-democracy activists were detained and sent for so-called "attitude adjustment" sessions after they had filed a complaint urging police to search for the missing plaque, Thai news website Prachatai reported.
Prawet, who also faces three counts of sedition, could face up to 150 years in prison if convicted on 10 counts of royal defamation, the Reuters news agency quoted Anon Nampha as saying on Thursday.


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BENARNEWS- Six border policemen were slightly injured Friday in an unusual attack in Thailand's war-torn Deep South when suspected rebels detonated a bomb from the Malaysian side of a narrow river that separates the two countries, according to Thai authorities.
The late-afternoon attack occurred in Na Nak, a sub-district of Narathiwat province's Tak Bai district that lies across the border from Kelantan state in Malaysia, when rebels standing on the Malaysian bank of the Golok River triggered the roadside bomb, Thai officials said.
The assailants had planted the improvised bomb on the road and connected it to wiring that stretched across the river to a detonator on the bank in Kelantan, officials said. The rebels set off the bomb on Thai soil in the village of Toyamoo as a truck carrying the border guards drove by.
"The assailants triggered a bomb to try to kill the BPP [Border Patrol Police Company] 4413 who were patrolling the street along the Golok River. ... We found pieces of improvised bomb near a water gate (on Thai side) and the trigger-wire ran across from Malaysian side," said Capt. Boonsanit Khiewpradit, the deputy investigator at Tak Bai Police station.
Such an attack is rare, but leaders of rebel groups are believed to be hiding out on the Malaysian side of the border. Insurgents at times have crossed the frontier to carry out attacks on the Thai side before slipping back into Malaysian territory, according to Thai sources.
The six Thai border guards who sustained non-life threatening injuries on Friday included Lt. Capt. Manoch Kongsuk, the unit's commander, who was cut under an eye and later sent for treatment at a hospital in the district, Boonsanit said.
"We came back from providing security at a village event, but when we arrived at the scene assailants who were hidden behind the brush on Malaysian soil triggered the bomb with a battery," Manoch told reporters.
Recent attacks
Friday's incident followed a week-long lull in violence in Thailand's predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, where a separatist insurgency has raged for decades, killing close to 7,000 people since it flared up again in 2004.
Last week, in the deadliest attack on Thai security forces in at least two years, suspected insurgents killed six soldiers in a roadside ambush in Janae, another district of Narathiwat, and they tried to mutilate the bodies by setting them on fire, officials said.
In early April, 12 police officers were injured in an ambush by suspected rebels at a checkpoint in nearby Yala, another province in the Deep South. Since the start of the year, 36 people have been killed and another 44 injured in multiple attacks across Thailand's southern border region, including Friday's bombing  in Tak Bai.
The attacks have occurred as Thailand's military government has been negotiating with MARA Patani, a panel representing Deep South rebel groups, in meetings brokered by Malaysia that are aimed at re-opening formal peace talks.
Earlier this year, the warring sides agreed to a framework for setting up a limited ceasefire in the Deep South, but Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the largest of the rebel groups, has since rejected the current peace process. Experts believe that BRN is behind the recent cycle of violence.
River crossing
The Golok River, which is also known as the Kolok River, is where a suspected Islamic State (IS) member from Malaysia is believed to have fled across to Thailand as he escaped capture by Malaysian authorities.
This week, Malaysian Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar announced that his department had arrested six suspected IS members in raids in several states of Malaysia between late March and late April. But a seventh suspect, Muhammad Muzaffa Arieff Junaidi, was believed to have escaped into Narathiwat province, Thailand, on March 22, Khalid said.
On Thursday, the chief immigration police in Narathiwat, said his department had records showing that Muzaffa had crossed into Thailand and returned to Malaysia "several times," through a border checkpoint at Sungai Golok.
"The latest trip was on April 21 of this year. He has both countries' immigration stamps. This happened before he was accused being an IS operative," said Noppadol Rakchart, who heads the immigration police bureau in Narathiwat.


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BENARNEWS- At least 56 people including children were injured Tuesday when a pair of car-bombs exploded outside a department store in Thailand's insurgency-wracked Deep South, officials said.
Although no fatalities were reported in the attack that left two victims severely injured, the bombings in and around the parking lot at the Big C store in the town of Pattani were the most devastating combined blasts in Thailand's southern border region this year.
"Fifty-six people were injured ... At least 33 people, mostly with shrapnel wounds, remain hospitalized," Wichienchok  Phetpakdee, a senior official with the Southern Border Province Administration Center, the region's governing agency, told a news conference.
Officials said it was too early to determine whether separatist insurgents from the Muslim-dominated and Malay-speaking Deep South were responsible for Tuesday's attack. But it followed a series of recent deadly attacks believed to have been carried out by hardcore members of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the largest of the southern rebel groups.
Two bombs were used in the latest attack, police said. A small one went off in the parking lot of Big C – a major grocery and retail chain in Thailand – moments before a larger bomb planted in a pickup truck exploded.
"[T]he more powerful, second one exploded later," Capt. Preecha Prachumchai, the deputy chief investigator of the Pattani police station, told reporters at the scene.
An eyewitness, who requested anonymity, told BenarNews that before the second bomb went off, he saw a driver jump out of a pickup truck that was parked near the store's entrance.
A video posted by a witness on Twitter showed the second explosion cause a large fireball that sent bystanders running for cover. The blast blew away the store's front.
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Firemen extinguish flames caused by a bomb blast in the parking lot of the Big C department store in Pattani, May 9, 2017. [BenarNews]

'Callous disregard for human life'
The attack drew condemnation from international organizations.
The Bangkok office of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) deplored the "indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, where children and their families are known to be present."
"No child's life should ever be put at risk in this way. This is wholly unacceptable," the U.N. agency said in a rare statement touching on the Thai Deep South.
Separately, human rights watch Amnesty International called on Thailand's government to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"The attack on a shopping center in Pattani is a horrific and deliberate attack on civilians, and shows a callous disregard for human life," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. "Thailand's authorities must immediately order an independent and effective investigation."
'Just unacceptable'
In Malaysia, a spokesman for MARA Patani, an umbrella body that has been holding informal peace talks with Thailand's military government on behalf of various Deep South rebel groups, condemned the attack as well.
MARA spokesman Abu Hafez Al-Hakim said it was "still premature to point fingers at the perpetrators."
But "whoever they are, inflicting injuries on civilians in a public space is just unacceptable," he told BenarNews.
Tuesday's attack brought to 100 the number of people who have been injured in violence in the Deep South that has also claimed the lives of 37 others since the start of the year.
This year's deadliest attack in the south took place on April 27, when suspected rebels shot dead six Thai army soldiers and tried to mutilate their bodies by setting them on fire during a roadside ambush in Narathiwat province.
That attack took place on the eve of the anniversary of the so-called Krue Se incident in 2004, when 32 suspected insurgents who were holed up inside a mosque in nearby Pattani province were killed in a gun battle with security forces. That incident helped re-ignite a decades-long separatist conflict in the Deep South.
The informal talks between MARA Patani and the government, being brokered by Malaysia, are aimed at setting into motion a formal peace process to end the conflict that has claimed almost 7,000 lives since 2004.
But after the two sides agreed in late February to a framework for setting up a limited ceasefire in one of the districts of the Deep South, BRN issued a statement expressing its opposition to the current peace process. The rebel group demanded that it negotiate directly with the Thai government and that an "impartial" international mediator broker such talks.
Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Peace talks with insurgent groups in Thailand's Deep South will go on despite a twin bomb attack that wounded 69 people at a department store in the region, an official from the Thai negotiating team said Wednesday.
No one was killed but 13 children were among those injured when two car-bombs exploded outside the Big C store in Pattani town on Tuesday, officials at Pattani Hospital said in releasing updated casualty figures. Four were listed in serious condition, including a 5-year-old girl.
"The attack is not getting in the way of the peace talks, which we are pushing forward," Maj. Gen. Sith Trakulwong, the secretary of Thailand's peace delegation, told reporters in Bangkok.
"Despite the violence, the peace talks will go on," Sith said, adding that the next round of talks facilitated by Malaysia would be held after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which is observed in the predominantly Muslim Deep South.
In Pattani, a supporter of Barisan Revolusi Nasional, the largest of the rebel groups operating in the region, said BRN was behind the attack that targeted civilians.
"I can confirm the BRN conducted the Big C attack. It used the same old operatives but the officials cannot catch them yet," the BRN sympathizer, who identified himself as Awae, told BenarNews.
"They believe violence is the path to independence."
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has ordered police and the military to capture those responsible for the blasts as soon as possible, according to an army spokesman.
Violent backdrop to peace talks
The attack was the largest bombing to strike the Deep South this year, and it took place amid a spate of attacks by suspected rebels across the region that have overshadowed peace talks between Thailand's military government and MARA Patani, an umbrella body representing various rebel groups.
Without being specific about who carried out Tuesday's attack, Sith said the perpetrators simply wanted to be in the spotlight by attacking a public place rather than attacking utility poles. Last month, coordinated bombs, set off by suspected militants, targeted electrical infrastructure in parts of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla provinces and caused widespread blackouts, but no casualties.
Tuesday's attack brought to more than 100 the number of people who have been injured in violence in the Deep South that has left 37 dead since January. This year's deadliest attack occurred on April 27 when suspected rebels shot and killed six Thai soldiers and tried to mutilate their bodies by setting them on fire during a roadside ambush in Narathiwat province.
While Sith did not identify the suspected assailants, Human Right Watch researcher Sunai Phasuk said attacks in the past decade and especially recent weeks appeared to be the work of BRN.
"I think the attacks have eroded confidence in the peace process as many people count on the Thai delegation MARA Patani. But when BRN came out to undermine the legitimacy of MARA Patani and subsequently followed with a few attacks, those are reaffirmations of its rejection of peace talk efforts," he told BenarNews by phone.
On April 10, BRN released a statement rejecting peace efforts by MARA Patani.
"The method of attacking resembled that of what BRN used for more than decade. That is attacking civilians indiscriminately regardless of religion and it used a double explosion to force people into the kill zone followed by a second, more powerful one," Sunai said.
"But the BRN has never claimed responsibility. It is a coward," he said.
In February, MARA Patani and the Thai delegation agreed to a framework for setting up a safety zone – or limited ceasefire – in one of the districts in the four southern provinces touched by the insurgency. Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence associated with the conflict in the Malay-speaking Deep South.
"We do not condone the violation of safety for public spaces. We condemn any act of cowardice that directly inflicts casualties on civilians/non-combatants, especially women and children. The perpetrators must be brought to justice. Our heartfelt sympathy and condolence to the victims, the people of Patani, of all races and religions," MARA Patani spokesman Abu Hafez Al-Hakim said in an email to BenarNews.
Kastrui Mahkota, a leader of the Pulo United Liberation Organization (PULO) rebel group that has a seat on MARA Patani along with BRN, also condemned Tuesday's twin bombings.
"Stop attacking or insulting the non-Malays and non-Muslims but instead move professionally by bringing your own initiatives," he said in a Facebook post.
"The position of the Malays and Islam has a special place but it is not a license to attack others."
Four suspects spotted
Pattani Gov. Weeranan Pengchan said authorities sought an arrest warrant for Makoseng Ma-ae, 25, who allegedly drove a bomb-rigged pickup truck to one of the spots where explosions rocked the Big C store and destroyed the storefront. The suspect was spotted on a security camera when he left the scene on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.
The suspected bomber has three previous criminal convictions, including bombing a fishing boat in June 2016, Weeranan told reporters.
In a separate news conference at the regional office of the Internal Security Command, Col. Pramote Prom-in said the authorities were able to identify other suspects.
"Now the authorities can identify four suspected bombers from security cameras and we have evidence. Let us have enough time to extend the investigation. ... We can arrest them," he said.
Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Thai police Monday announced the arrests in central and northern provinces of a dozen drug traffickers allegedly linked to a busted Lao kingpin's network and the confiscation of methamphetamine and marijuana valued at about 312 million baht (U.S. $9 million).
The announcement of the arrests tied to efforts to traffic drugs to Malaysia and European countries came after reports surfaced that nine drug traffickers were killed in a weekend shootout with Thai soldiers near the Myanmar border. At a press conference in Bangkok, police officials did not comment on the reported shooting in northern Chiang Rai province because police were not involved in that incident.
Deputy National Police Chief Gen. Chalermkiat Sriworakhan told reporters that the arrests of the 12 unnamed suspects were an extension of "Operation Chaiya Sayop Pairee 1" in January, which resulted in the arrest of Xaysana Keopimpha – a Laotian citizen dubbed the "ASEAN drug lord." Xaysana could face the death penalty if convicted. Police also did not reveal information about the suspects' nationalities.
Maj. Gen. Thanai Apichartsenee, one of commanders with the Thai national police's Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said all of the suspects were linked to Uzman Salamang, who is believed to be a close associate of Xaysana. Thai authorities placed a bounty of 2 million baht ($58,000) on Uzman, who fled to Laos in 2012, Sirinya Sitthichai, secretary general of the Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board, said earlier this year.
"We believe all of them are linked to the networks of Uzman Salamang. They have an aim to traffic the drugs to Hat Yai district of Songkhla province. However, we have to investigate further," Thanai said Monday.
Chalermkiat announced that along with the arrests, police confiscated more than 1.5 million yaba (methamphetamine) pills and more than a ton of marijuana.
A yaba pill is priced at 200 baht ($5.75) and the marijuana at about 1,000 to 1,500 baht ($29 to $43) per kilo in the domestic market, according to a central investigation police who asked not to be named. The price would increase five to 10 times if it reached foreign markets such as Malaysia, Australia and European countries where much of it was destined to be sent.
Thanai said two of the suspects are former police officers who were fired because of their roles in pangolin smuggling from Malaysia. High demand for pangolin, an animal native to Africa, in some cultures that value its meat as a delicacy and use its scales in traditional medicine, fueled an international criminal trade that severely threatened its survival.
Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, the head of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told reporters there were 400 million to 500 million yaba pills stockpiled on "the other sides of Thailand border."
"I am losing sleep because of it," he said.
Reports of shootout
Members of a Thai army ranger unit apparently killed nine traffickers in a shootout Saturday night in Chiang Rai province – a part of the notorious drug-producing Golden Triangle straddling Laos and Myanmar, officials said according to reports.
The commander of the 31st Ranger Regiment Task Force told the Thai Post that the shootout occurred at a pass along bamboo wilderness in Ban Pamee in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
On Sunday, Chiang Rai Gov. Narongsak Osotthanakhon went to the scene.
"Our security forces engaged and killed nine armed men. We learned that 15 smugglers crossed the line and we found 700,000 yaba pills," Narongsak told Agence France-Presse.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's military government on Tuesday toned down threats to block online access to Facebook, saying the social networking giant has cooperated in removing thousands of website links to content deemed as violating the nation's strict royal defamation law.
Last week Thai broadcast regulators gave Facebook a Tuesday deadline to take down more than 130 posts on its network that were seen as breaches of the so-called Lese-Majeste law and Thailand's Computer Crimes Act, or face legal action that could lead to Facebook being banned in the country.
But the government instead will provide Facebook with court orders, and it expects the company to comply, the secretary-general of Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) told reporters on Tuesday.
"Facebook closed over 6,300 URLs in the past three years. ... Facebook was very cooperative," Takorn Tantasith said after visiting the Thai Internet Service Providers' Association to monitor how Facebook had handled the government's requests.
He expressed confidence that Facebook, after receiving court orders, would shut down the 131 prohibited pages and other content items that are still accessible.
"Facebook has a Thai law firm to help translate court orders. Once they are translated and authenticated, Facebook will close the implicated websites," Takorn said.
When government officials believe that an Internet posting violates their country's laws, they may ask the company to restrict access to that content, said Clare Wareing, a Singapore-based spokeswoman for Facebook.
"When we receive such a request, we review it to determine if it puts us on notice of unlawful content," Wareing told BenarNews in an emailed statement. "If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted."
Also on Tuesday, Morakot Kulthamyothin, president of the Thai Internet Service Providers' Association, said that Facebook representatives had informed her earlier that they needed original court orders as supporting evidence before they could respond to requests to shut down the web links. She said the 131 links remained accessible.
'Constantly looking over their shoulder'
Rights advocacy groups view Thailand's looming threat to shut down Facebook as the newest effort by the junta to restrict online speech and free expression.
The threat against Facebook means that users "will be constantly looking over their shoulder in fear that they could be sent to jail for posting or sharing commentary about the monarchy," Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Tuesday.
Last month, the government banned Thais from interacting online with three outspoken critics of the monarchy.
The royal defamation law carries a maximum jail term of 15 years. It forbids anyone from making insults against the king and members of his family.
Since the military seized power in a coup on May 22, 2014, Thai authorities have arrested at least 79 people on suspicion of defaming the royalty, and only bailed out 18 of them, according to local NGO iLaw.
"When Thai authorities slap Facebook with shutdown threat, it becomes clear that they are willing to take extreme measures to clamp down on any speech they arbitrarily deem is critical of the monarchy," Adams said.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand has banned people in the country from contacting, following or otherwise engaging online with three government critics overseas.
One of them is Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a professor of politics and international relations at Kyoto University in Japan.
The ban has made him better known among Thais than he was previously, Pavin told BenarNews in an interview.
"Strangely, and against the warning from the Thai state, I have more followers since the ban was launched," he said.
The other two are Somsak Jeamteerasakul, a former lecturer at Thammasat University now living in France; and Briton Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a former Reuters reporter, according to Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.
Pavin studies and writes about key institutions in Thailand including the monarchy and the military, which came to power in a coup three years ago "primarily to manage the royal succession," he said.
That transition is now firmly under way since long-reigning King Bhumibol Adulyadej died in October 2016 and was succeeded by his son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Pavin says he "doesn't care" about a promised return to democracy in 2018 because, thanks to a new constitution, "we can expect that the new government will either be weak, of coalition, or be under the domination of the military."
Pavin (pictured) has paid a high price for the ability to speak freely about his country.
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After the coup in May 2014, authorities twice summoned Pavin to discuss his opinions. As he did not comply, the junta issued a warrant for his arrest and revoked his passport.
But he holds out hope that Thailand will follow some of its neighbors by establishing democracy within the next two decades, reflecting changes in the region and within Thai society itself.
BN: You are one of three individuals that people in Thailand are banned from contacting online.
What was your reaction to this move and how has it impacted you?
(courtesy of Pavin Chachavalpongpun)
Pavin: I am not surprised to learn that I have been among those being banned online by the Thai state, given that I have been critical of the military and monarchy. I have not reacted in any way in particular, but just continue my usual activities online. If anything, I am more open and direct than before. As a result, strangely, and against the warning from the Thai state, I have more followers since the ban was launched. More than 3,000 people have followed me on top of my regular followers. If there was an impact on me, the ban helped me become more well-known among Thais.
BN: We have reached the third year anniversary of the coup that brought the junta to power. What are positive and negative aspects of this chapter in Thailand's political history?
Pavin: There is nothing positive coming out of the military's intervention in politics. Optimists would say that the coup renders good lessons for Thais and politicians alike... For me, this is a setback of Thai democracy. The military staged a coup primarily to manage the royal succession. On top of that, the military wanted to ensure that enemies of the elites are eliminated, in this case, the Shinawatra family. In the process, they have rewritten the constitution to allow the military to entrench its influence in politics, weakening civilian governments in the future. Also in the process, civil liberty has been taken away. Thais can no longer express their political views freely. The media has to practice self-censorship. The monarchy has wanted to maintain its political dominance by exploiting the Lese-Majeste law to undermine its critics. This explains why cases of Lese-Majeste skyrocketed over the year.
BN: It's been 25 years since bloody May, when mostly middle-class protesters rose up to demand the resignation of an unelected prime minister. What is different today? Why is the middle class of Bangkok not protesting military rule as it did then?
Pavin: We have to understand that the Thai middle class has never been a reliable partner of democracy... They will support democracy if the latter gives them benefits. ... When they are under threat or their government can no longer guarantee their advantages, they will turn against democracy and support military rule. This has been the case of Thailand, and is not uncommon in Southeast Asia, I must say. From 1992 until today, little has changed. The Thai middle class is still searching for their political benefits at the expense of their real promotion of democracy.
BN: When do you think elections will be held? Will Thailand return to a more limited form of democracy, in your view?
Pavin: Frankly, I don't know. And frankly, I don't care. ... I don't know because we cannot rely on the military government. The junta will not allow the election until it can be certain that its power arrangement has been successful. As for why I don't care, this is simply because the junta-written constitution will not promise real democracy. [Given] the content of the new constitution, we can expect that the new government will either be weak, of coalition, or be under the domination of the military. So yes, Thai democracy in the new government will be limited.
BN: Much has been written about curbs on freedom of speech under the current government. What about academic freedom?
Pavin: Little or none. Within Thailand, my academic friends have worked under extreme pressure. They are not allowed to freely express themselves. They are not allowed to hold any conferences deemed a threat to the junta. Anyone vocal about the junta, the monarchy will have their attitude adjusted. Outside Thailand, as in my case, I have more freedom to express myself, but the price is high. I cannot return home. They also charge me with Lese-Majeste.
BN: Where do you hope to see Thailand in 20 years?
Pavin: Despite what I said, I hope democracy will eventually return to my country. I believe that non-democratic forces will be defeated by the will of the people. The international environment has changed so much with the opening up of countries like Indonesia and Myanmar. Thailand will never be able to run away from it. ... Thailand is not the same as in the past. Based on this, I hope that the military and the monarchy will come to terms with the changes.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand enters its fourth year under military rule Monday with the junta firmly entrenched in power and prospects for the return of democracy bleak despite promised elections at the end of next year, rights activists say.
On May 22, 2014, then-Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-o-cha overthrew the democratically elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup, saying the military had intervened to end street protests and years of political turmoil.
Coup leader-turned-Prime Minister Prayuth then vowed to restore order and unity, and rid the nation of those against the Thai monarchy, whose alliance with the military dates back six decades.
The junta-backed parliament or National Legislative Assembly has swiftly passed an array of laws aimed at gagging dissent, in a country that already had strict Lese-Majeste laws forbidding insults to the royal family.
Since the coup three years ago, the junta has detained 597 people, including politicians, activists and journalists, according to iLaw, an advocacy group for online law education.
Among them, 82 were held for violating Lese-Majeste laws, under which offenders can get as many as 15 years in jail for sharing a story on Facebook, while 64 were hauled up for sedition, iLaw figures show.
The junta recently banned people in Thailand from contacting, following or otherwise engaging online with three government critics overseas.
Already armed with highly restrictive web laws, the junta is also moving to introduce a new cyber law that would grant the authorities more powers to access private computer systems.
The 2007 Computer Crimes Act, originally aimed at stamping out Internet scams, is now used against critics or people who speak out against wealthy companies and figures, right groups say.
"The issue of concern is the snuffing out of freedom -- [freedom] of speech, to hold demonstrations, peaceful public gatherings," said Angkhana Neelapaijit, a national human rights commissioner.  "Human rights defenders are intimidated or prosecuted," she told BenarNews.
Undermined
She said that as the junta has rewritten the country's constitution and got it approved by the people in a referendum in August and by new King Maha Vajiralongkorn last month, "the government should compromise and let people express their opinions."
The amended constitution paves the way for elections, postponed at least four times by the junta, and enables the military government to appoint a senate that will have a say in appointing the prime minister.
The junta, whose formal name is the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), had indicated that an election can be expected in November next year.
"The regular promises by the NCPO military junta to return democracy next year are undermined by their lack of respect for basic human rights like freedom of speech, association and peaceful public assembly that are critical for democratic participation," said Brad Adams, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.
"Even if the elections for a new government are held at the end of 2018, which is the most likely scenario, one needs to ask what sort of democracy will it really be with a powerful Senate entirely appointed by the military, and mechanisms that make it harder for any one party in the lower house to gain a functioning majority?" Adams told BenarNews.
"The latest constitution is designed by the military and for the military, and will likely perpetuate soldiers' influence in politics well beyond the 2018 election," said Adams.
A state of chaos?
Prayuth has defended the junta's rule, saying the government has been working to lay a strong foundation for the country but that opposition politicians and critics had cast it in a bad light and made it look as though it is failing.
"I am concerned about the country, not about democracy," he was quoted saying by The Bangkok Post recently. "We'll have elections, but do we want to return to a state of chaos?"
Maj. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd, the NCPO spokesman, said the government was making efforts to lay the groundwork for better governance.
"The government has tried by all means to fix the nation's problems and steer the country towards good governance, financial discipline, and make it free from corruption," he told BenarNews.
He accused some media outlets of "negatively" assessing the junta's achievements.
But the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), which campaigns for press freedom in the region, said the Prayuth administration particularly took aim at online media over criticism of the government.
"Online media are under spotlight -- accused of creating conflict or having key roles in criticizing the government's work results," said Kulchada Chaipipat, Bangkok-based media freedom campaigner for SEAPA.
"The society has progressed beyond the point that the government has to control the media," Kulchada told BenarNews.
Kulchada said media organizations should be given the responsibility of taking action against media practitioners if they had breached the journalistic code.
Depending on dictators
Among the few who speak out against the junta is Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, a 20-year-old student leader.
Netiwit, who chairs the student council in Thailand's oldest Chulalongkorn University, said the coup has done more damage than good to the country.
"For example, the constitution erodes the foundation of the democracy, the education curriculum is not good enough and human rights have simply vanished," Netiwit told BenarNews.
"We need to get away from the cycle of coups and the feeling that we need to depend on dictators. We need to improve democracy to prevent any more coups from occurring," he said.
The Thai military has successfully seized power a dozen times since 1932.
In a fresh crackdown on Friday, police briefly detained eight people who held street protests seeking justice over a military crackdown in 2010.
Among them was Payao Akhard, the mother of a nurse who was killed as she tried to help a dying protester during demonstrations against then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's administration. She was among about 90 who were killed during the military crackdown.
Murder and other charges against Abhisit for ordering the military crackdown in 2010 had been dismissed.


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BENARNEWS- A pipe-bomb explosion injured 21 people at a military hospital in Bangkok on Monday – the third anniversary of a bloodless coup in Thailand – but officials said they had yet to determine who carried out the attack.
The bomb packed with nails went off near a pharmacy inside the Phra Mongkutklao Hospital, said national police who linked the explosion to two recent pipe-bombings in the Bangkok area.
"Both explosive ordnance disposal officials and the K-nine unit confirmed it was an explosive. ... For the type we must wait for further investigation," Gen. Srivarah Rangsipramanakul, the deputy national police chief, told reporters.
"There were traces of batteries and electric wire. ... The bomb, which had a two- to three-meter range [6.5 feet to 9.8 feet], went off in the public place and it must have been placed in a container," he added.
Of the 21 hurt in the blast, eight were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, hospital director Maj. Gen. Channarong Nakasawasdi said.
Also on Monday, four soldiers were injured in a roadside bombing in the province of Yala in Thailand's insurgency-stricken Deep South, as they were patrolling on motorbikes, the Bangkok Post reported.
National Police Chief Chakthip Chaichinda said investigators had not ruled out whether Monday's bombing at the hospital was carried out by separatist rebels from the Deep South or by a group politically opposed to the coup, which brought the military to power on May 22, 2014.
"Deep South [insurgents] have the potential to do so. But whether they have come up to mount attacks, we don't know yet," Chakthip told reporters.
Similarities between other Bangkok area blasts
On April 5, a small bomb exploded at the old government-run Lottery Building in the Thai capital, slightly injuring two people while a similar bomb exploded in front of the National Theater on May 15, injuring two others.
The two incidents occurred close to the Royal Grounds in Bangkok, where a gigantic pyre is being constructed for the funeral of King Bhumibol Adulyadej later this year.
"The bombs in three attacks were of improvised type – pipe bombs with PVC tube container –but this third bomb incident contained nails, while the previous two did not. It could seriously injure or kill people nearby. ... Yes, those three are linked," Chakthip told reporters on Monday.
The bomb in the latest attack was placed in a dispensary room in front of the hospital's Wongsuwan Room, which was established as a tribute to retired Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, who has served as defense minister and deputy prime minister for security affairs since 2014.
A military coup, led by army Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, toppled the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra. Prayuth then became Thailand's 29th Prime Minister and appointed Prawit to the two ministerial posts.
Since the generals seized power, the junta has imposed tight controls on freedom of speech and assembly, and has arrested government critics or others accused of violating Thailand's strict royal defamation law.
Monday's attack was not necessarily meant to coincide with the anniversary of the coup, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army said.
"The haters would capitalize on any occasion they could find," Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart told a separate media briefing in Bangkok.
Other bombings
In August 2015, Bangkok was targeted in a bombing that killed 20 people and injured more than 120 others at the Erawan Shrine, a landmark in the capital that is popular with tourists. Two Uyghur men are standing trial in Bangkok in connection with the attack.
Since last year, other parts of Thailand have been attacked with bombs.
On Aug. 11 and 12, 2016, a series of coordinated bomb attacks killed four people and injured more than 30 others at tourist hotspots across the upper southern region. A few weeks later, a member of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) – the largest of the armed separatist groups in the Deep South – told BenarNews that his combat unit had carried out those attacks.
Bombings occur frequently in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, where nearly 7,000 have been killed in violence linked with the insurgency since 2004.
Earlier this month, more than 80 people, including children, were injured when two car bombs were set off outside the Big C, a department store in the Deep South province of Pattani. Authorities in the region say they have since arrested and questioned at least three suspects in connection with the attack, who, according to officials, confessed to being BRN operatives.
One of the suspects, identified as Suhaimee Sama-ae, is accused of hijacking and killing the driver of a truck that was used in the bombing outside the Big C store on May 9.
Officials acknowledged that the suspect had previously surrendered to the military through its so-called "Bring People Home" program, which encourages insurgents to lay down their weapons and turn themselves into the authorities peacefully.
An earlier version misidentified the director of the hospital as Saroj Keokajee.


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BENARNEWS- One day after a pipe bomb injured almost two dozen people at the military-run Phra Mongkutklao Hospital, Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Tuesday told reporters that new elections would not occur until the country was at peace.
Shortly after the explosion, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart blamed people opposed to the junta-led government for placing the pipe bomb packed with nails near a pharmacy in the hospital.
"What I want everyone to realize today is that as long as our nation is under bomb attacks, the use of war weapons, instigation to wedge apart the society – the same old troubles – how can (I) set the elections date?" Prayuth told reporters Tuesday at Government House in Bangkok, explaining why peace must precede the elections.
National Police Chief Chakthip Chaichinda said investigators had not ruled out whether Monday's bombing was carried out by separatist rebels from the Deep South or by a group politically opposed to the government.
Prayuth said he did not know why the hospital was attacked.
The bomb blast coincided with the third anniversary of the 2014 military coup, the latest of 13 military takeovers in Thailand during the past nine decades. At least six explosions have occurred in Bangkok since the 2014 coup.
"I don't think it is linked to the third anniversary of the NCPO. But it will be up to investigation," Prayuth told reporters, referring to the National Council for Peace and Order, the official name of his junta. He said the blast was not a "false flag attack."
Prayuth, who leads the NCPO, took office as the 29th prime minister months after he ousted the democratically elected Yingluck Shinawatra government on May 22, 2014.
A former member of parliament (MP) under Yingluck's administration said the latest bombing is a sign that Prayuth's government needs to step down.
Yingluck also issued a statement on her Facebook page, saying Thais "have not seen any concrete reforms" from the military junta.
"Without reform, it is wasteful because of enormous economic damage from the overthrow of democracy," she said. "Therefore, I hope that it will not be three years of waste."
After taking office, Prayuth presented a road map listing a time frame leading to the elections after approving an updated constitution and establishing election-related regulations. The election date has been postponed several times since the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016.
"Why do we need to have a clear-cut date? I would say we are following the road map to the elections, except for the nation running into turmoil," Prayuth said.
Series of bombings
Since August 2015, Thailand has sustained several bombings, including one at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok's Rajprasong tourist district that killed 20, and the August 2016 attacks on tourist sites in seven southern provinces.
More recently, a small bomb exploded on April 5 at the old lottery building, slightly injuring two people. On May 15, a similar bomb exploded in front of the national theater, injuring two.
Chakthip told reporters those blasts could be related to Monday's attack because of the similarities of the bombs.
On Tuesday, Deputy National Police Chief Gen. Srivarah Rangsipramanakul told reporters a forensic team tried to find trace DNA evidence from a vase where the pipe bomb was hidden and to check the security cameras, but discovered many were not working.
Meanwhile, in the insurgent-wracked Deep South, police in Yala's Krongpinang district said two Thai rangers were killed when a roadside bomb exploded Tuesday. Elsewhere in Pattani, a Muslim man was shot dead by an unknown assailant.
Bombings often take place in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, where almost 7,000 have been killed in violence linked with the insurgency since 2004.
Opposition speaks
Sunai Julaponsathorn, a former MP for Yingluck's Pheu Thai Party, told Voice TV's Facebook channel that the bomb was a call for the junta to step down after three years in power.
"The fresh bomb attack on the third anniversary of the coup does not need interpretation," Sunai said. "It was only meant as an eviction of the NCPO. The longer the junta is in power, the more frequent the bombs explode."
The Pheu Thai Party on Tuesday joined its political foe, the Abhisit-led Democrat Party, and human-rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to condemn the hospital attack.
"The bombing of a hospital is an outrageous rights abuse that shows total disregard for human life," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Bombing hospitals not only risks the lives of patients and medical workers, but disrupts medical care for many more."
"Thai authorities should ensure those responsible for this heinous crime are apprehended and brought to trial," Adams said on HRW's website on Monday.


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BENARNEWS- Police in Thailand are holding a 14-year-old boy and five other people on suspicion of burning a portrait of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej and violating the country's strict royal defamation laws, officials and human rights groups said Wednesday.
The Thai military arrested the six suspects in northeastern Khon Kaen province about a week ago and later transferred them to police custody, a policeman assigned to the area told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
The six, who include two other teenagers and two suspects age 20, were charged with arson and violating section 112 of the criminal code, the country's royal defamation law which is known as Lese-Majeste.
"They were detained for more than seven days. We had to bring them out for interrogation and put them right back into detention," the officer said Wednesday in a phone interview.
Scores of people have been arrested on suspicion of violating Lese-Majeste during the three years since the military seized power in a coup and later imposed restrictions on free speech and public gatherings. Under the law, those convicted of posting online content deemed as offending the monarchy or committing other perceived slights against Thai royals can face 15 years in prison.
In the case in Khon Kaen, police identified the suspects as Abhisit Chailee, 14; Jirayut Sinpho, 18; Ratthathammanoon Srihabutr, 20; Akkharapong Ayukong, 18; Settha Thepnarong, 20; and Preecha Ngamdee, 45. All six are residents of Chonnabot, a district in Khon Kaen.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Abhisit and three others have been in custody since May 15 while police said others were detained on May 18.
Military authorities transferred the suspects to a detention facility at the 11th Army Circle Camp in Bangkok for questioning without access to legal counsel or their families, HRW alleged in a statement issued Tuesday when it demanded the 14-year-old's immediate release.
"The secret detention of a 14-year-old boy in a Thai military camp should set off alarm bells, especially since no improvements have come following past reports of military abuse," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.
"None of the four youths arrested should have been denied access to a judge and placed in an incommunicado military detention, whatever the charge against them."
Sorawut Wongsaranon, a spokesman for Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a local NGO, told BenarNews it was trying to contact the detainees' relatives to provide legal aid.

"We have not seen them yet but have sought information in the Isan [northeast] region," Sorawut said.
Police said the suspects confessed to being hired for 200 baht (U.S. $5.80) to burn the portrait of the king who died in October 2016 after ruling Thailand for 70 years.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told reporters that the person responsible for hiring the suspects might be living outside the country.

"Adults should not support children doing such a thing," Prayuth said, pointing out that groups could blame Thailand for human rights abuses and child abuse.
He said there was a network that would hire people to commit such acts.
Since Prayuth took control of the government following a bloodless coup on May 22, 2014, more than 80 people have been arrested for allegedly violating Lese-Majeste.
The junta-backed National Legislative Assembly has also passed other laws aimed at gagging dissent in the country.


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BENARNEWS- A British campaigner for migrant-worker rights in Thailand launched litigation cases Wednesday against Thai officials and a local pineapple processing company over a lawsuit that targeted him for criminal defamation.
Lawyers for labor activist Andy Hall filed a lawsuit in a Bangkok court against nine state prosecutors and a police officer alleging they had pursued criminal defamation charges against him based on false information provided by the plaintiff, the Natural Fruit Co.
Hall's attorney also filed a separate criminal suit against three executives and a lawyer representing the firm claiming that it had filed a false complaint against Hall, a veteran labor activist championing workplace rights in Thailand for migrants from Myanmar and other countries.
"I am launching this litigation today consisting of two sets of criminal prosecutions today with a heavy heart and not out of anger or with any desire for revenge," Hall said in a statement to the media sent from Brussels.
"It is regretful that things have reached this stage. However, it is necessary now to launch these litigations as I must defend myself against an unlawful prosecution and judicial harassment waged against me that continues unabated," he said.
His suits stemmed from a complaint brought by Natural Fruit over an interview that Hall gave to Al Jazeera television in Myanmar about adverse workplace conditions allegedly facing Burmese migrants at the company's factory in Thailand.
"I expect for the courts to consider the cases prosecuted according to the law and facts of the previous prosecutions which the Supreme Court found were unlawful. I hope that I would gain justice from these counter litigations given they were already ruled to be unlawful," Hall told BenarNews via a text message on Wednesday.
Last November the activist fled Thailand, where he still faces prison time as a result of his conviction by a local court over a separate defamation complaint lodged by Natural Fruit.
In September 2016, a court sentenced Hall to a three-year term and a fine of 150,000 baht (U.S. $4,292) after convicting him of defaming Natural Fruit and violating Thailand's Computer Crimes Act. The case stemmed from the online publication of a workplace survey that Hall had undertaken for an NGO based in Finland.
But in November, Thailand's Supreme Court dismissed Natural Fruit's lawsuit over the Al Jazeera interview, ruling that the plaintiff had no power to sue Hall over comments made in another country.
"The chief prosecutor should not have advised the attorney general to indict Andy from the beginning because the alleged defamation was done outside of Thailand," Nakhon Chompuchart, an attorney representing the Briton, told BenarNews in a phone interview.
Somsak Toraksa, a lawyer for Natural Fruit who is among four people targeted in one of the suits brought by Hall on Wednesday, could not be reached immediately for comment.
Not 'above Thailand's sovereignty'
The workplace survey that led to Hall's conviction last year was based on interviews he did with employees at a pineapple canning plant owned and operated by Natural Fruit in the southern province of Prachuap Khiri Khan. Migrants from Myanmar make up much of the factory's 800-strong workforce.
According to the survey, which was published by Finnwatch, workers at the plant complained that Natural Fruit violated Thai labor law through paying them salaries that were below minimum wage, not giving them sick and holiday leave, and employing children, among other allegations.
On Sept. 20, after a Bangkok ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the case against Hall over the Finnwatch report, the owner of Natural Fruit told reporters, "This is proof that we ... did not do that [violate labor rights]."
"The court proved that he violated my rights, and, no matter who you are, you will not stand above Thailand's sovereignty," Wirach Piyapornphaiboon, the firm's proprietor and president, said then, noting that his business had lost 100 million baht (U.S. $2.8 million) in revenue as a result of negative publicity around the Finnwatch survey.


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BENARNEWS- Buddhists in northeastern Thailand have filed a petition to stop a Muslim community's efforts to register a recently constructed mosque, citing fears of violence similar to that in the country's insurgency-stricken Deep South.
Pramual Pimsen, president of the Buddhist Assembly for National Security, told BenarNews that he led about 60 Buddhists in Khon Kaen province to submit a petition with the local governor on Monday seeking to dismiss the registration of the mosque in Ban Lerng Peau village.
"Local Buddhists and those in the nearby village agreed that terrorism has spread widely and imprinted a bad perception in people's mind. The people are not feeling welcome toward the mosque because it may induce violence such as what happened in Deep South...," the petition said, according to Pramual.
"Buddhist establishments in Khon Kaen therefore have asked the governor to nip it in the bud, dismissing the mosque registration request," he said.
The governor of Khon Kaen could not be reached for comment, while a national Ministry of Interior official said he needed to study the complaint before he could comment. Khon Kaen province has a population of 1.8 million, of whom, 3,000 are Muslim.
Of Thailand's 67 million people, about 4 million are Muslim. Almost 2 million Muslims are concentrated in the Deep South region next to the Malaysian border.
Since a long-running separatist insurgency by Malay-speaking, Muslim rebels re-ignited in 2004, nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence associated with the rebellion in the region, where Buddhists form the minority. According to Deep South Watch, a think-tank based in the region, Buddhists comprise about half of this death toll.
'They don't feel OK with Muslims'
In Khon Kaen, a retired member of a local committee responsible for mosque affairs said construction on the place of worship began in August 2014, and the city granted permission a few months later. The project was finished in July 2016 and passed initial inspection on Dec. 22, 2016.
"That was seven months ago and it was put on hold. All of sudden there are people coming up against the mosque even though we did follow the procedure. The province held it up," Uzman Radinghin told BenarNews, adding he did not know when the registration would be approved.
Meanwhile, Rukchart Suwan, president of the Buddhist Network for Peace in Yala – a province in the Deep South – said people in three other provinces, Nan, Chiang Mai and Mukdaharn, have harbored feelings toward Muslims in the southern border region.
"In my experience from chatting with locals of Nan province, they don't feel OK with Muslims because their relatives died on tours of duty in the Deep South," he told BenarNews.
"We are going to Khon Kaen, perhaps after Ramadan to create a mutual understanding," he said.
In May 2016, protest banners appeared at a mosque construction site in Mukdaharn, another province in the northeast.
"Cannot build Buddha Monthon Park in Pattani because they are Muslims. Here we are all Buddhists. Who is the mosque for?" one banner read.
Islamophobia concerns
Saki Pitakkhumpol, a professor at the Institute of Peace Studies at Prince of Songkla University, a campus in the Deep South, said that a lack of understanding about the regional conflict had fueled Islamophobia throughout the country. The lack of understanding is exacerbated by the media's penchant for focusing on violence, he added.
"We cannot deny that there are separatists. There are many, in fact," Saki, the son of Sheikhul Islam or the Chief Muslim in Thailand, told BenarNews in 2016.
"But there are contraband smuggling rings and they need to create an environment to facilitate their business. As well, there are drug-trafficking syndicates, and personal conflicts among local gang-landers," he said, adding, "When they get angry at each other, they use bomb attacks. When the officials cannot identify the real cause, they say the incidents are separatist-related."


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BENARNEWS- A Bangkok military court Friday handed the longest prison sentence to a person convicted of violating the nation's strict royal defamation law, ordering a Thai man to serve 35 years for posting content on Facebook deemed as insulting to the monarchy, a lawyer said.
The man, identified only as Wichai, 34, was sentenced to 70 years' imprisonment on 10 counts of violating Lese-Majeste – the name for the law that guards against defaming, insulting or issuing threats against royals – but the court decided to halve it after he pleaded guilty, said Sarawut Wongsaranon, a lawyer with Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
Still, the 35-year sentence stands as the longest one handed down under the law, Saruwat said.
"This is the harshest sentence for Lese-Majeste," he told BenarNews.
Wichai, who used a Facebook account that purported to belong to another user, chose to confess after a witness for his defense failed to testify twice, Sarawut said. He declined to give Wichai's full name to protect his privacy because of the sensitive nature of the case.
The trial was held behind closed doors and Wichai was denied bail, Sarawut said.
Wichai, a native of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, was arrested in December 2015, after another man filed a complaint that he used a Facebook account under the man's name and posted insulting messages against the royal family, according to local news reports.
"Wichai made 10 offenses posting messages on a Facebook account that he faked in another person's name, resulting in 70-year imprisonment. He broke Section 112, the Lese-Majeste law. But, as he confessed, the sentence was reduced to 35 years," Sarawut said in a phone interview with BenarNews.
"Now Wichai gave up appealing and will be jailed and he will see if the jail term is further reduced occasionally," the lawyer said.
At least 82 people have been arrested and charged on suspicion of violating Lese-Majeste since the military seized power in a coup in May 2014, lawyers said. Under the law, those convicted of posting online content deemed as offending the monarchy or committing other perceived slights against Thai royals can face 15 years in prison.
Wichai's prison term is longer than the 30-year sentence handed down in August 2015 to another man who was found guilty of six counts for Facebook posting under the name Sam Parr, according to local news reports. He received a 60-year prison term that was reduced to 30 years.
Reacting to the sentencing on Friday, Brad Adams, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said the criminal sanctions imposed for violating the country's Lese-Majeste law "are neither necessary nor proportionate to protect the monarchy or national security."
"Today's verdict of the Bangkok military court, which sentences a man to 70 years in jail, is shocking and will further stifle the already constricted freedom of expression," Adams told BenarNews.
In a separate case also on Friday, Thailand's Supreme Court halved the five-year prison term handed out by a lower court to Chaliew Chan-ied, a tailor, for violating Lese-Majeste, according to local news reports.
Chaliew was found guilty of uploading online an audio file that was deemed insulting to the royal family.


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BENARNEWS- Six people were shot and killed during the past two days in Thailand's insurgency-stricken Deep South, police said Monday.
Police could not say whether separatist rebels were behind the latest attacks. The killings of two people on Sunday and four more on Monday brought to 14 the number of locals who have died in violence in the predominantly Muslim southern border region since the holy month of Ramadan began May 27.
Monday's four victims were shot in three separate attacks in Pattani and Narathiwat provinces.
The first incident took place in Thung Yang Daeng, a district of Pattani where assailants shot and killed a motorcyclist and a passer-by, according to police.
"Unknown assailants shot defense volunteer Ismail Hama dead right there, taking his gun. A civilian named Lateh Jae-wae, 65, was hit by a stray bullet," police Capt. Pallop Promkaew, the deputy chief investigator for Thung Yang Daeng police station, told reporters.
Defense volunteers receive a monthly stipend and are trained by local military units. They function more or less as part of a neighborhood watch scheme.
The second attack killed Abdullah Se, an assistant village chief in Tambon (sub-district) Krasoh in Pattani's Mayo district, according to police Capt. Muhamad Mudwang.
"Abdullah was shot while resting at his home in Mayo district. Based on initial investigation, unknown perpetrators shot him with handguns. We are investigating the motive behind the attack," he told BenarNews.
Later, Bakri Na-ing, a native of Narathiwat's Tak Bai district, was killed at his home, Tak Bai police said.
"Bakri Na-ing was shot dead with a 9-mm pistol by assailants while he was resting at home, according to witnesses and the initial inspection," said police Capt. Niwa-aming Wateh, an investigator for the Tak Bai station.
On Sunday, a defense volunteer in Pattani's Yaring district, Panupong Chumanee, was shot and killed and his gun stolen, according to police Capt. Narawit Rachkijyothin, an investigator for the local station.
Another attack in the same district resulted in the death of Asman Buwan, 30. Ibrahim Maming, 38, suffered a leg injury, according to another investigator in Yaring.
Police have not determined a motive for any of the attacks over the last two days.
Ramadan death toll
Since local Muslims began observing the Ramadan fast, 14 people have been killed and 11 other in bomb and gun attacks across the Deep South, said officials with the regional branch of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).
Four days before Ramadan started, two soldiers were killed in a bomb attack.
Lt. Gen. Piyawat Nakwanich, commander of the Fourth Army Region, which oversees the Deep South, said insurgents disrupt Ramadan each year.
"They wrongly believe they are doing good deeds by mounting attacks during Ramadan," Piyawat told BenarNews.
On June 2, seven soldiers were injured in two bomb blasts in Narathiwat. Piyawat called on imams to teach the assailants right from wrong
"Religious leaders should tell them to not disrupt Ramadan because it is the holy month and it should be violence-free," Piyawat said at the time.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence associated with the insurgency in the Malay-speaking region, since the conflict re-ignited 13 years ago.


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BENARNEWS- A retired engineer confessed to setting off a bomb last month at a Bangkok military hospital on the third anniversary of the junta seizing control of Thailand's government, authorities said Thursday.
The deputy prime minister for security affairs said military officials searched the home of a 62-year-old man who was arrested Thursday and who confessed to detonating the pipe bomb that injured more than 20 people on May 22. The suspect, whose name was not released, was taken to the Military Circle 11 detention center in downtown Bangkok.
"Officials have arrested a suspected bomber at Phra Mongkutklao Hospital. They are speedily questioning the man. ... He admitted to planting the bomb," Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also defense minister, told reporters in Bangkok.
"It is a good thing that we arrested a bad guy who created turmoil," he said.
Prawit designated National Police chief Gen. Chakthip Chaichinda to handle interrogation.
Search
Lt. Gen. Apirat Kongsompong, the commander of the 1st Army Region in Bangkok, led his men and police as they searched the home in Bangkhen, a suburban district north of Bangkok, of a man identified only as 62-year-old retired engineer for a state enterprise.
Authorities found bomb-making materials such as a detonating circuit, PVC pipes and nails, Apirat said while declining to reveal more details.
The bomb packed with nails exploded on May 22 near a dispensary room next to the hospital's Wongsuwan Room, which was established as a tribute to the deputy prime minister. The blast struck an area mostly frequented by military officials.
A Thai language newspaper reported the suspect told officials he set off the bomb because he hated the military.
Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich told reporters he believed the suspect was not the only one responsible for the attack, according to a local news report, without releasing additional details.
Three bombings since April
The national police chief said there was a potential link to three bombings in Bangkok since April.
On April 5, a small bomb exploded at the old government-run Lottery Building, slightly injuring two people. A similar bomb exploded in front of the National Theater on May 15, injuring two others.
The two incidents occurred near the Royal Grounds in Bangkok, where a gigantic pyre is being constructed for the funeral of King Bhumibol Adulyadej later this year.
After the hospital bomb exploded, Chakthip, the national police chief, said the three attacks were similar in nature, based on initial investigations.
On May 22, 2014, army Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha led a military coup that toppled the civilian government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Prayuth became Thailand's 29th prime minister and appointed Prawit to the two ministerial posts.
Since taking control, the junta has imposed tight controls on freedom of speech and assembly and has arrested government critics or others accused of violating Thailand's strict royal defamation law.


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BENARNEWS- Suicide among Myanmar refugees in Thailand's biggest camp increased at an alarming rate during the past two years, according to a study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The study, which was released on Monday – the eve of World Refugee Day – found that only one person committed suicide in Mae La camp in 2014, but the number escalated to 14 each year in 2015 and 2016.
During the same three-year period, 96 people attempted to kill themselves at the camp, the study said.
"The trend is increasing in the past couple of years," said Dana Graber Ladek, chief of IOM mission in Bangkok. "This actually needs more services, such as by counselors and psychiatrists in the camps, to prevent suicide."
Mae La camp in Thasongyang district of Tak province, about 500 km (312 miles) north of Bangkok, harbors about 40,000 refugees, mostly ethnic Karen from eastern Myanmar. It is the largest of nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, where about 100,000 people resettled after the Myanmar military regime launched offensives against ethnic rebel forces during the 1980s.
Ladek said collaborative efforts between nongovernmental groups and government agencies could help identify the cause and ways to prevent suicides.
"The Interior Ministry of Thailand takes this refugee situation very seriously, and it's not a situation that one agency can address," Ladek told BenarNews, adding that the effort would require a collaborative approach on many different levels.
The study said no conclusive cause for the surge in suicides had been established. But, it said, family conflicts, financial situations, alcohol and drug abuse and depression could have contributed to the rising figures.
Middle-age people, mostly those who have spent their entire lives in the camp, were statistically at higher risk of suicide, the study said. It said the most common methods used were hanging and drinking herbicides which are easily available because many refugees work on farmlands.
Government officials respond
Officials of a Thai government agency that manages the camp said they were aware of the suicides. They responded by fielding psychiatrists who provided counseling to vulnerable individuals and set up checkpoints to stop drug trafficking into the camp.
"We have our representatives staying with refugees in the camp who observe and are ready to talk with them 24/7," Kwanruen Srichan, director of Border and Refugee Affairs Section, told BenarNews during a phone interview.
"We are expecting that attempted and completed suicides would decline," she said.
Thailand began hosting hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in the 1970s. More recently, Thailand has received populations threatened by armed conflict and ethnic persecution in Myanmar, according to Amnesty International (AI).
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said more than 80,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand had resettled in other countries since 2005. It said tens of thousands had returned to Myanmar after the new democratically elected government announced its commitment to voluntary refugee repatriation.
But the 100,000 refugees remaining in nine camps are facing reduced funding, decreased resettlement opportunity and poorer services, officials said.
"This is very complex," Ladek said. "All the reasons are contributing" to the problem.
Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, but officials said the country has been committed to providing the humanitarian needs of refugees and asylum seekers.
In addition to the 100,000 people living in refugee camps, AI said there were about 8,000 asylum seekers from more than 50 countries in Thailand.
Another 330 UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum seekers are being held in immigration detention centers in difficult living conditions and many have been forcibly repatriated.
On Tuesday, AI said that despite Thailand's role in hosting and supporting large refugee populations, the nation had failed to consistently protect their rights.
"Refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand are not afforded any legal status under Thai law and remain extremely vulnerable to arrest, detention, forcible deportation and exploitation," AI said in a statement.
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A refugee holds her sibling in Mae La camp in Tak province, June 1, 2012. [Pimuk Pakkanam/BenarNews]


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BENARNEWS- A 2-year-old girl, her father and 12 soldiers were injured Friday when a roadside bomb exploded just days before Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Thailand's Deep South, officials said.
The attack in Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat province brought the toll of violence in the predominantly Muslim region to at least 40 people injured and 25 killed since the holy month of Ramadan began on May 27, according to the military statistics.
Insurgents hid the bomb along the roadside and detonated it as soldiers passed by on a military transport truck, said Police Capt. Supichai Soynak, deputy investigator for Sungai Kolok station.
"The insurgents attacked the soldiers, I strongly believe, to cause havoc. The attack resulted in a dozen soldiers injured and a father and a daughter nearby," he said.
An investigator at the scene who asked to not be identified said the soldiers were on their way to a shift change at Narathiwat Task Force 30 in Ban Lubo Sama village.
"The improvised explosive device was packed in a gas tank, weighed about 30 kilos (66 pounds), and was remotely triggered, causing the truck to veer off for some 50 meters," he told BenarNews.
The father and daughter were identified as Abdullayi and Patanan Haji-Salaemae. The girl suffered a major cut on her right thigh, according to police.
The Friday attack followed a similar ambush on Monday that killed six soldiers in Pattani, another province in Thailand's restive Deep South.
Since 2014, Thailand's military-led government and MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing southern rebel groups, have held occasional meetings aimed at restarting official peace talks.
In February, MARA Patani and a government delegation agreed to set up a safety zone – or limited cease-fire – before the end of this year in a district where insurgents are known to operate. But attempts to restart peace talks have since stalled.
Meanwhile, civil society organizations in the Deep South have called for a ceasefire in public places such as schools, religious establishments and hospitals to spare women and children.
Wichianchoke Petchpakdi, an official with the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center, told BenarNews that at least 87 children had been killed and 554 hurt, including 23 who suffered serious injuries, since 2004.
During that time, about 7,000 people have been killed in violence associated with the conflict in the Malay-speaking, majority Muslim region.


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BENARNEWS- Future governments will not be required to follow a 20-year plan put in place by the current military junta, a senior official said Monday, in an apparent roll back of statements last week about a new law that critics say will prolong military control over Thailand for years to come.
The junta-appointed National Legislation Assembly (NLA) passed the National Strategy Bill 218-0 with three abstentions on Thursday, paving the way for formation of a 17-member National Strategy Committee to be led by Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha.
"The upcoming national strategy isn't set in stone or compulsory to the new governments to follow. It includes a broad vision and a goal for the nation in the next 20 years," Adm. Pallop Tamisanon, an NLA member and spokesman for the strategy drafting committee, said Monday.
The committee to establish a 20-year national strategy will include seven top military officers, according to the new law. It will officially be formed after the law is posted in the Royal Gazette.
The law also calls for creation of a subcommittee charged with monitoring the compliance of future governments formed after elections, now expected at the end of 2018.
Pallop's comments during a televised session of the NLA were in sharp contrast to those of Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam, who told reporters Friday that new governments must follow the plan or face being disbanded and potential jail terms for their leaders.
"The national strategy sub-committee will monitor how the new governments would run the country for five years and will report guilt, if any. It is a big issue," Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam told reporters after the bill was passed.
"Any governments that fail to follow it, commit wrong-doing or defy it, will be investigated by the counter corruption commission and tried by the Constitutional Court," he said.
'Too harsh'
Since constitutional democracy came about in 1932, at least 19 coups have shaken Thailand. In the most recent, populist leaders Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck were toppled in their roles as prime minister in coups launched by the military in 2006 and 2014.
Prayuth has said he needed to oust Yingluck in May 2014 to restore national stability, and that new elections will not be held until the nation is at peace. Political street violence has killed hundreds of people in Thailand over the last 12 years.
Critics said the new law would enable the military to hold the reins of power even after it allows the country to hold democratic elections.
Nipit Indarasombat, deputy leader of the Democrat Party, questioned the law's penalties.
"It is too harsh, I think. The issue came out of the junta-appointed NLA which does not necessarily go along the wish of people," he told BenarNews in a phone interview. "The committee strategy might not fit people's liking and when future governments do things their own way, they could be subjected to a jail term. That is odd."
A former representative of Yingluck's Pheu Thai party said the national strategic template would not allow Thailand to adapt to rapid global changes.
"I don't agree with the 20-year strategy planning simply because it dictates that new governments do what it says, leaving no room for adapting to changes. Amending laws is hard," Somkid Cheaukong told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand is considering bringing more parties to the table for efforts to end a long-running insurgency in the Deep South, a senior official said Wednesday, acknowledging for the first time that it may not have been working with "the right dialogue partners" during two years of informal peace talks.
Deputy Defense Minister Udomdej Sitabutr made the comments two months after Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the most heavily armed of the rebel groups in the southern border region, criticized the current peace process in a YouTube video.
"We talked about whether or not we already have the right dialogue partners," Udomdej told reporters in Bangkok, saying the "peace-talk process is still ongoing" and that Thailand may ask neighboring Malaysia for help in bringing all parties on board.
Kuala Lumpur has brokered the process, but both sides have not yet implemented a ceasefire in the far south, where attacks and bombings by suspected hardcore rebels have persisted.
According to Udomdej, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon recently told him and Aksara Kerdpol, the head of the Thai negotiating team, to explore whether MARA was an appropriate partner in the talks.
"The Thai prime minister advised General Aksara to look into that. Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit also advised him to discuss with the facilitator – Malaysia – to ask around in order to have all parties included," Udomdej, who chairs a 13-member special government delegation to the Deep South, said without specifying when these conversations occurred.
In his comments, Udomdej was apparently alluding to a rare statement issued by BRN in April that voiced misgivings about the peace talks.
BRN, which occupies three seats at the MARA Patani table, suggested that the panel negotiating on behalf of rebel factions lacked a mandate to do so. BRN said the decades-old separatist conflict could only be resolved through dialogue. It demanded a direct role in fresh talks witnessed and mediated by "impartial" members of the international community.
"nclusivity is very important for the peace process. All the parties and all the stakeholders should be involved in the process, and I don't think there are any problems with MARA," Kasturi Mahkota, the leader of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO), another rebel group represented on MARA Patani, told BenarNews.
MARA spokesman Abu Hafiz Al-Hakim could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
'Incremental progress' on safety zones
Meanwhile in the Deep South, the rector of Rakabhat Yala University suggested that MARA Patani was the wrong party representing the rebel side in talks.
Negotiations should be held in secret "because after every [round of] of talks, there comes more attacks, reflecting the wrong partner to talk with," assistant Professor Sombat Yothathip said.
"There is someone opposing the attempts at talks," Sombat told BenarNews "[T]he situation did not get better. I agree with the attempted talks but not with the method."
More than 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 through violence associated with the conflict in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South.
And since MARA Patani and Thai negotiators agreed in late February to setting up a limited ceasefire in a district in the region, the Deep South has been riddled with attacks associated with the insurgency. At least 47 have been killed and 134 others injured since the last round of talks on Feb. 28.
Back then, according to MARA, the two sides set a three-month deadline for working together to identify a district where a ceasefire would be implemented. But, Udomdej revealed, both sides had not yet settled on this.
"As far as I know, the attempt to set up a safety zone has been going on. The next step is to specify a place to accommodate project coordination ...," he said.
"I cannot [go into the details] because the work has gradually progressed. It has made incremental progress," Udomdej added.
Mariyam Ahmad in Pattani, Thailand and Hata Wahari in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand will purchase four Black Hawk helicopters from the United States through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program to complete a full squadron, the nation's army chief said Thursday.
Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart told reporters in Bangkok that Thailand wants to add the helicopters to 12 Black Hawks already in service and purchased prior to the May 2014 military coup that brought Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha to power. Since then, U.S. weapons sales to Thailand have slowed.
Following the coup, the U.S. suspended military assistance valued at 119 million baht ($3.5 million) to Thailand but continued to participate in a scaled down annual Cobra Gold training exercise.
"Currently we are processing the purchase through the 2018 budget the parliament already approved. It is under the FMS program," Chalermchai said, without disclosing the purchase price.
In 2012 Thailand purchased four Black Hawk helicopters, equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of 8 billion baht (U.S. $235 million), according to the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency.
"We want a total of 16 Black Hawk tactical helicopters to mobilize a company of frontline troops. It is called airborne unit. We already have 12 Black Hawks but the additional purchase hit a snag when the National Council for Peace and Order took power," he said, using the official name of the junta.
The U.S. embassy in Bangkok confirmed the planned sale, adding the two nations had a "long-standing security relationship," according to Reuters news agency.
Diplomatic ties between the two nations began 184 years ago, which makes Thailand the oldest American ally in the Asia-Pacific region. The kingdom is also a major non-NATO ally who fought alongside U.S. forces during wars in Korea and Vietnam.
Prayuth plans to travel to Washington
The announcement came amid reports that U.S. President Donald Trump invited Prayuth to visit the White House next month. The date of the visit has not been released.
Earlier this week, Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich said the deputy prime minister told the armed forces to inventory their weapons prior to Prayuth's trip so he could discuss with Trump the potential for more purchases, according to news reports.
Kongcheep said Thailand seeks to balance military ties with and dependency on the United States and China, according to reports. He said Thai officials told the U.S. envoy they wanted to buy U.S. weapons.
Besides Black Hawks, Thailand expects to replace some of its fleet of Vietnam War-era UH-1 (Huey) helicopters with 30 UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters. The first batch of six ordered before the coup was delivered last year but one crashed in bad weather.
Since 2014, Thailand purchased weapons from other countries including China, Russia and Ukraine. Among major purchase projects are Chinese submarines and main battle tanks.
On May 5, the government signed a contract to purchase a Yuan Class submarine from China with expected delivery in 2020, according to the Royal Thai Navy. Thailand plans to buy three submarines valued at 36 billion baht ($1.05 billion) over the next decade.
In addition, Thailand purchased 49 Chinese battle tanks valued at 4.9 billion baht ($142 million) to be delivered over the next four years.


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BENARNEWS- Cambodia's government on Monday closed all checkpoints along its border with Thailand to anyone other than migrant workers returning home from the neighboring country, drawing criticism from residents who said their livelihoods depend on traveling between the two nations.

The move follows a royal decree passed by Thailand at the end of last month which imposed jail terms of up to five years and hefty fines on illegal workers in the country.

The decree was suspended for 120 days on June 30 after facing a backlash from employers and migrant advocates, but thousands of Cambodians are still being deported, including nearly 1,000 last week alone, according to a report by the Phnom Penh Post.

On Monday, Cambodia indefinitely closed all checkpoints along the border with its western neighbor to anyone who is not a Cambodian migrant working returning from Thailand, citing a need to curb unlawful crossings.

Roath Veasna, an official at the Tumnup Dach border checkpoint in Au Bey Choan commune, in Battambang province's Au Chrov district, told the Khmer Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA), a sister entity of BenarNews, that the order was initially given on July 1, but fully implemented on Monday and aimed at preventing illegal workers from crossing into Thailand in search of jobs.

"Only workers who are returning from Thailand will be allowed to cross into Cambodia," he said.

"No one from Cambodia is allowed to cross into Thailand – even to buy commodities in Thai markets and vice versa."

While Cambodia's government claims the move will stymie illegal migration, people who live along the border and civil society groups said a prolonged closure of the checkpoints will damage the livelihoods of local residents.

A villager from Au Bey Choan commune named Loeum No said the effect of the border closure has yet to be seen and urged the government to rescind the ban on crossings as soon as possible.

"I would like the border crossing to be re-opened soon – it can't be closed for too long," he said.

"When all the border crossings are closed, our lives are severely impacted. We need to cross the border into Thailand to buy commodities."

Sum Chankea, coordinator for the rights group ADHOC in neighboring Banteay Meanchey province, echoed Loeum No's concerns about how a prolonged border closure could affect local residents.

"Many Cambodians earn a living by going to work in Thailand and they should be allowed to return home after their day's labor," he said.

"The authorities should be focusing their actions against those who illegally bring workers to Thailand," he said.

The Phnom Penh Post cited Dy The Hoya, of labor rights group Central, as saying Cambodia's government should pressure Thailand to grant more time to adjust regulations and regulate recruitment agencies better.

According to the report, Cambodia's Labor Ministry issued a letter on Friday asking the Information Ministry to ban recruitment agencies' advertisements, which it said "usually deceive our residents ... to convince them to go to work in Thailand."

Seeking work

Thailand has been criticized for its treatment of migrant workers who are often at the mercy of unscrupulous employers and labor brokers.

"Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking," the U.S. State Department wrote in its 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report.

While migrant workers are at risk, they are drawn to the country as Thailand is a wealthy nation compared to its neighbors.

Human traffickers charge Cambodians as much as U.S. $100 per person to illegally transport them across the border from the northwestern part of the country, human rights groups told Radio Free Asia last year.

Workers, who do not have passports, pay 300,000 to 400,000 riel (U.S. $75 to $100) each to help them cross over the border in Banteay Meanchey and Battambang provinces.

Thailand's economy grew at an average annual rate of 7.5 percent in the late 1980s and early 1990s, creating millions of jobs that helped pull millions of people out of poverty, according to the World Bank. That growth has slowed in recent years.

Workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China and ethnic minorities from Southeast Asian countries, have cut into businesses reserved for Thais, according to the Office of the Social and Economic Development Board.

In September, an official from Banteay Meanchey province said Thai authorities were cracking down on illegal immigrants and sending thousands of migrant workers back to Cambodia and Vietnam each day, with more than 4,000 Cambodian workers deported during August alone.

A crackdown by Thailand's military regime on undocumented migrant workers in 2014 saw tens of thousands of Cambodian migrant workers flee from Thailand to Cambodia amid fears over government measures.

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BENARNEWS- Tens of thousands of foreign workers have left Thailand after it adopted tough new labor regulations in late June that penalize undocumented migrants, traffickers who smuggle them in and employers who hire them, a government official told BenarNews.
Adopted by the Thai junta on June 23, the new rules call for a sentence of up to 10 years in jail and a fine of 1 million baht (U.S. $29,418) fine per each person convicted on trafficking charges. Employers charged with hiring undocumented workers could face fines of 400,000 baht ($11,766) to 800,000 baht ($23,532) for each employee.
Those entering the country and working illegally could face a sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($2,941).
"We recorded about 20,000 workers, but that was just a portion of those returning home. They went back home voluntarily," Sutha Saiwanich, the deputy governor of Tak, a province in northwestern Thailand that borders Myanmar, one of the neighboring countries from where thousands of workers migrate for largely menial and low-paid jobs.
Mae Sod district in Tak province is about 500 km (310 miles) northwest of Bangkok. It serves as a major transit point for illegal border crossings into Thailand across a river that separates the two countries.
The Labor Ministry reported that Thailand has about 2.7 million registered migrant workers, mainly from Myanmar and Cambodia. Of them, 1.4 million have work permits and are not affected by the law, while another 1.3 million are allowed to work temporarily until March 2018, pending verification of their identities.
The ministry estimates that another 2 million migrants are working without papers.
PM establishes grace period
Last week, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told reporters that migrants affected by the new regulations could continue to work temporarily, pending verification of their identities.
"These people have problems because they are not authenticated yet. They are temporary workers," Prayuth said. "They cannot change workplaces. Their countries of origin must have proof of identity for them.
"I did not mean to cause hardship to anyone, but the law cannot be revoked," Prayuth said.
He will establish an executive order to allow a 120-day grace period for migrants to obtain verification without being arrested.
The president of the Fisheries Association of Thailand, whose industry employs many migrants, said the grace period was needed.
"The foreign labor decree is a good law for controlling the labor force, but the government must let them have [four] months to get paperwork done," Mongkol Sukcharoenkana told BenarNews. "After that, it can stop registration of workers for good."
Extortion and Instigation
A source in Mae Sod district told BenarNews that police exploited loopholes to extort money from employers and migrant workers.
"Police took a chance to raid a furniture business in Mae Sod town, asking for 4 million baht ($117,647) as a settlement. But the owner did not accept the deal and said he would rather be jailed than pay a bribe," said the source who requested anonymity for security reasons.
Hearing of the allegations, National Police chief Gen. Chakthip Chaichinda threatened to severely discipline any officers who attempt to extort money from workers or employers.
Meanwhile, labor rights activist Andy Hall said the effort to force registration was likely "planned and instigated by corrupt and powerful officials, agents and brokers.
"After a decade and more monitoring migration in Thailand it's clear to me tens of thousands of migrants only move like this with instigation. Mass profit is to be made in a short time and from panic and commotion," Hall said in text message to BenarNews from Europe.
Hall fled from Thailand in November 2016 following his conviction on a defamation charge resulting from a lawsuit by the Natural Fruit company regarding a television interview in Myanmar. He alleged migrant workers faced adverse work conditions at the company's pineapple processing plant in Thailand.
"Many migrants are fleeing Thailand voluntarily at a high cost. Some employers cover the cost, but many also are unceremoniously fired without compensation," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Thai police on Wednesday announced the confiscation illegal drugs valued at more than 700 million baht (U.S. $20 million) during nationwide operations last week that led to the arrests of 16 suspected narcotics traffickers, including a Laotian woman.
Police seized 3.5 million methamphetamine pills, known locally as yaba or crazy pills, 42 kilograms (19 pounds) of crystal meth or ice, and 525 kilograms (238 pounds) of marijuana, which the suspects intended to distribute in southern Thailand and foreign markets, Deputy National Police Chief Gen. Chalermkiat Sriworakhan told a news conference in Bangkok.
"The Narcotics Suppression Bureau coordinated with other agencies to make five raids last week, netting 16 traffickers," Chalermkiat said, adding that the operations took place in the provinces of Nakhaon Sawan, Khon Khaen and Chumporn and in Bangkok's Saimai and Bangna districts.
A yaba pill is priced at 200 baht ($5.75) and crystal meth is 2 million to 5 million baht (U.S. $57,504 to $143,760) per kilo (2.2 pounds), while marijuana sells for about 10,000 to 15,000 baht ($290 to $430) per kilo in the domestic market, officials said.
The price would increase five to 10 times if it reached foreign markets, such as Malaysia, Australia and European countries where much of it was destined to be sent, they said.
Maj. Gen. Thanai Apichartsenee, a commander at the narcotics suppression bureau, who was also at the news conference, identified a Laotian suspect as Champa Sudlaew, 39. She was arrested while preparing to trade a kilo of crystal meth in Bangkok's Bangna district, Thanai said. The 15 suspects are Thai citizens and ethnic Hmong, he said.
Thanai said the Laotian suspect was not linked to Xaysana Keopimpha – a Laotian dubbed the "ASEAN drug lord" – who is facing drug-related charges in Thailand. Xaysana was arrested at a Bangkok airport as he arrived from a holiday in Phuket in January. He could face the death penalty if convicted.
Thai authorities confiscated more than 40.4 million yaba pills, 584 crystal meth, 56 kilograms of heroin and 4.4 tons of marijuana in 2015, according to official statistics.
In 2016, police seized 28.8 million yaba pills, 632 kilograms of crystal meth, 43 kilos of heroin and 917 kilos of marijuana. So far this year, 14 million yaba pills, 959 kilos of ice, 69 kilos of heroin and 369 kilos of marijuana had been confiscated, officials said.
"In the past years, we successfully cracked down on many drugs cartel networks. We disrupted cash flow that supports production of drugs, cutting purchasing power, particularly the networks in northeastern Thailand. We saw less supplies of yaba," Chalermkiat told reporters.
Up in smoke
Last week, Thailand and Myanmar marked the International Day Against Drug Abuse by burning narcotics valued at almost $1 billion.
On the outskirts of Bangkok on June 26, Thai authorities torched drugs valued at almost $500 million, including thousands of kilos of yaba pills and meth. During the same day in three official ceremonies, Myanmar burned seized drugs valued at $385 million, mostly opium, heroin, meth tablets and cocaine.
Police have reported an upsurge in drug seizures across Southeast Asia in recent years, as armed gangs reportedly churn out vast quantities of meth, opium and heroin in a remote border region known as the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its 2016 report the production of synthetic drugs such as meth, had increased in the Golden Triangle region. The report said 287 million meth pills were seized in East and Southeast Asia in 2015. That's more than twice the number of pills seized in 2011.
Thai police officials said the vast amount of seizures indicated they were making inroads into their campaign to eradicate narcotics in the country.
But in May, Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, the head of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told reporters, without elaborating, that there were 400 million to 500 million yaba pills stockpiled on "the other side of Thailand border."
"I am losing sleep because of it," he said.


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BENARNEWS- The head of the U.N.'s refugee agency said he met with the Thai prime minister in Bangkok on Friday to discuss efforts to repatriate refugees from Myanmar voluntarily and improve conditions for tens of thousands of foreigners sheltering in Thailand.
Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told a post-meeting news conference that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said that his government would be willing to aid Myanmar refugees return home on their volition. The PM also agreed to develop a procedure to better evaluate claims for refugee status and protection put in by people who seek refuge in Thailand, Grandi said.
During a stop in Myanmar earlier this week, Grandi had met with Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's state counselor, who said her government would welcome back people who had fled the country.
"The Thai prime minister agreed to pursue the continued return of Myanmar refugees to Myanmar ... it was very clear that he agreed with the message he heard from Myanmar's government, that return must be voluntary, sustainable and gradual," Grandi, who was making his first visit to Thailand as chief of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), told reporters.
In October 2016, a group of refugees returned home to Myanmar, according to Grandi who said both countries were preparing for the return of another 200.
During the press conference, Grandi said Prayuth had reiterated Thailand's commitment to create a mechanism for evaluating refugee status for people sheltering inside the country. He said UNHCR was working with the government to train officials to ensure that this happens.
On top of that, the Thai government is taking steps to allow refugees to have access to education while reducing risks for refugees and asylum seekers who are detained, Grandi said.
He praised the government for its efforts to grant Thai nationality status to stateless persons, pointing out there were more than 500,000 such people in the country.

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UNHCR commissioner Filippo Grandi talks to reporters at the Anantara Bangkok Hotel, July 7, 2017. (Nontarat Phaicharoen/BenarNews)


Incidents of forced repatriation
Thailand is home to about 102,000 refugees, a majority of whom are from neighboring Myanmar and live in temporary shelters along the border, according to statement issued Friday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a dozen other rights organizations and NGOs. According to them, in Thailand there are 8,000 "urban refugees" from countries including Pakistan, Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and China who live in the Bangkok region.
The joint statement issued ahead of the meeting between Grandi and Prayuth, called on the Thai government to demonstrate a "commitment to protecting refugees by ending abusive practices as well as instituting and implementing laws that guarantee rights of refugees."
Despite pledges by Thailand's military-run government to protect refugees and improve conditions for them, the junta has failed in these efforts and put some of them at risk by forcing them to return to their home countries, the NGOs said jointly.
"In recent years, Thai authorities have forcibly returned refugees, asylum seekers and others based on the requests of foreign governments, despite the credible risk of torture or other grave human rights abuses," the 13 NGOs said.
The groups cited a May 26 case where the Thai government returned Turkish national Furkan Sökmen to the custody of authorities in Turkey, despite warnings by U.N. agencies that he would face human rights violations.
In 2015, Thailand returned about 100 Muslim minority Uyghurs to China, where they faced prosecution, the rights groups alleged. In other instances, Thai authorities have intercepted boats carrying refugees and have towed them out to sea, endangering the lives of those on board, the NGOs said.
The groups also expressed concern about Thailand's protracted detention of some refugees in immigrant detention centers. Some refugees have spent years in the centers that are designed for stays of up to 15 days.
They called on the government to work with UNHCR, civil groups and refugees to develop an effective and fair procedure to evaluate claims of refugee status and protection, pointing out that Thailand lacks a legal framework to assess asylum claims.
Their five-page statement ended with a series of requests for the Thai government, including asking Prayuth to instruct relevant ministries and state security forces to discontinue a policy of forcing boats back to sea and the practice of unofficial deportations.
In addition, the NGOs asked the government to end arbitrary and indefinite detention and assure that all refugees were provided access to legal documentation, health care, work permits, educational opportunities and other forms of assistance.
Maj. Gen. Weerachon Sukhonthapatipak, a spokesman for the Thai government, told reporters that it would focus on education, public health and basic needs, including providing temporary shelter for refugees. He also thanked UNHCR for its assistance.


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BENARNEWS- The trial of three Thai nationals charged with trafficking and abusing eight Lao workers has begun in central Thailand's Phetchaburi province amid a crackdown on illegal migrant laborers in the Southeast Asian country.
The Laotians – all members of the same family from Sanasomboun district, in southwestern Laos' Champasak province near the borders with Thailand and Cambodia – had worked illegally on a lemon plantation in Phetchaburi province since 2011 until they were rescued last September.
Police Lt. Gen. Thammawutt Wichianmaneechot, director of the Thai anti-human trafficking unit in Phetchaburi province, told Radio Free Asia's Lao Service, a sister entity of BenarNews, that the suspects have been charged with physical assault and detention, human trafficking, forcing people under the age of 17 to perform labor, and possessing illegal weapons.
"It is the duty of the jury to decide whether or not the employers as defendants are found guilty of human trafficking because they deny that they have committed human trafficking and insist it is just a wage payment-related case," he said.
During the trial at Phetchaburi province court on July 6, the prosecutor called four witnesses, including two police officers who showed photos of a gun illegally possessed by the accused men and of their arrests when the men tried to conceal the weapon and flee the scene.
The officers also provided as evidence their daily notes on the matter and reports of the raid police conducted to rescue the Laotians and arrest their Thai employers.
Another witness was a representative from the Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation, who presented photos of scars on the Laotians' bodies from injuries allegedly caused by the Thai men.
A representative from the Thai Social Development and Human Security Ministry who also testified said the eight Laotians were trafficked, beaten, and forced to perform hard labor in Thailand.
Attorneys representing the accused men denied all charges on behalf of their clients and said the evidence presented was based only on hearsay from the Laotians because the prosecutor had no photos of the alleged beatings.
Samak Thabthani, director of the Thai human trafficking prevention agency, told the court that he had provided assistance to the Laotians.
"I also repeated in court what the victims told me," he said after the trial. "The opposite side denied all charges, but our lawyers will be working hard on this case. As of now the next court hearing date is still unknown."
The eight Lao workers were not present in court because they had been sent back to Laos earlier this year after spending six months at a rehabilitation center.
Restrictions on migrant workers
The trial comes as hundreds of undocumented Laotians in Thailand recently fled the country after the Thai government on June 23 imposed new restrictions on illegal migrant workers, carrying a jail term of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht (U.S. $2,941).
Following a backlash from companies and migrant advocates, the decree was suspended for 180 days to give the migrants time to obtain the proper documents in Laos before returning to Thailand.
Laotians returning home have reported that some Thai border police are demanding money from them, however.
On Monday, Lao workers said officials charged them each 500 baht ($15) to 1,000 baht ($29) at the Thali border checkpoint in northeastern Thailand's Loei province before they were allowed to enter Laos.
Other illegal Lao workers were detained at a checkpoint in northeastern Thailand's Yasothorn province while traveling home by bus, according to one undocumented worker who declined to be named.
"After they got the yellow slip from the Lao embassy [in Thailand], they took a bus to Laos," he said, in a reference to the document Lao nationals need to be able to cross the border when heading home. The embassy charges each person 500 baht for the certificate.
"Once the bus arrived in Yasothorn province, they were detained by police," he said.
The police did not let them go and they took whatever money they had," he said, adding that his three friends had to hand over 10,000 baht ($293) to the police.
In another case, a Laotian returning home by bus said Thai police and soldiers stopped the vehicle and ordered more than 40 Lao workers to get off.
The authorities sent the workers to the immigration checkpoint in Palan commune in Natarn district of northeastern Thailand's Ubon Ratchathari province and collected 800 baht ($23) from each but did not provide receipts.
A Thai newspaper on Monday denied the veracity of the man's claim, saying that the Lao worker previously told it that before the decree took effect, Thai police at border checkpoints would charge each Laotian 500 to 800 baht before allowing them to cross.
Officials at Thai police checkpoints where the incidents allegedly occurred could not be reached for comment.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand and a rebel panel are close to selecting a district to serve as a test-case for a ceasefire crucial to the two-year-old peace process in the Deep South, the chief Thai negotiator told BenarNews on Thursday.
In a rare interview, Gen. Aksara Kerdpol indicated the Thai side was in the final stages of picking one district from a list of five identified by MARA Patani, a panel representing rebel groups in on-going informal peace talks, as the site for a "safety zone" – the official name for the limited truce.
"They already have proposed five areas and we will determine which one is most ready," Aksara said in a phone interview. He spoke one day after returning from a trip to Kuala Lumpur where he said he held "person-to-person" meetings with the Malaysian negotiations facilitator.
He said he also talked within the past month with members of MARA Patani.
MARA presented its list of districts after a joint technical team of officials from both sides conducted field surveys to identify potential candidates for the safety zone, Aksara said. He declined to reveal the names of the districts on the list.
"When we find one that is ready, we will announce it at the soonest, and they [MARA] can just simply endorse it later," Aksara told BenarNews.
BRN resistance to talks
Both sides have touted the safety zone concept as a confidence-building measure and first step needed to take the peace process beyond informal negotiations brokered by Malaysia since 2015. The talks are aimed at ending a decades-old separatist conflict in Thailand's Malay-speaking and Muslim-dominated southern border region that has left more than 7,000 people dead since the rebellion re-flared 13 years ago.
But the talks have not stopped the violence.
After the Thai and MARA delegations agreed in late February to a framework for setting up a limited ceasefire, at least 50 people have been killed and 138 others injured in shootings and bombings across the Deep South.
These are believed to have been carried out by hardcore fighters with the most powerful of the southern insurgent groups, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), who oppose talks with Thailand's military-controlled government in their current form.
BRN holds three seats on the MARA Patani panel, but, in a rare statement issued on April 10, BRN appeared to reject the negotiations.
Without naming MARA, BRN spokesman Abdulkarim Khalid said a panel negotiating on behalf of rebel factions lacked a mandate to do so. The BRN demanded a direct role in fresh negotiations witnessed and mediated by impartial members of the international community – an apparent swipe at Malaysia, the broker of the current talks.
In late June, Deputy Defense Minister Udomdej Sitabutr, who is Aksara's boss, told reporters Thailand might ask Malaysia for help in including all parties in the peace process, when he revealed that Thai officials had held discussions on "whether or not we have the right dialogue partners."
In Thursday's interview, Aksara said he recently talked with mainstream BRN members who have seats on MARA Patani.
"They are there, so I don't know who else was still left," Aksara said, seemingly dismissing speculation about whether the three BRN officials who sit on MARA – Awang Jabat, Sukree Hari and Ahmad Chuwol – truly represent BRN rank-and-file.
"We talked throughout Ramadan, at a person-to-person level, technical committee level and full delegation level. Yesterday, I have just met Dato, the facilitator," Aksara said, referring to his meeting this week in Kuala Lumpur with Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim, the Malaysian facilitator of the talks.
Before the interview with Aksara, BenarNews contacted Abu Hafez Al-Hakim, the Malaysia-based spokesman for MARA Patani, who said that another round of talks with the Thai delegation might take place toward the end of July, but no dates had been confirmed.
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Bomb disposal officers comb the scene of a car-bombing that injured people at the Big C department store in Pattani town, southern Thailand, May 10, 2017. [Mariyam Ahmad/BenarNews]
Razlan Rashid in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- A new law that went into effect Monday gives Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn sole authority over the Crown Property Bureau, which oversees the monarchy's lands and assets believed to be worth billions of dollars, reports said.
The law, announced in the Royal Gazette on Sunday, is the latest move by Thailand's legislature giving the new king greater control over matters related to the palace.
Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) ascended the throne in December following the October 2016 death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for seven decades.
The new law – allowing Vajiralongkorn to control real estate and other investments valued at $30 billion by Forbes magazine in 2011 – marks the first amendment in 69 years to laws governing crown property, according to Khaosod, a Thai daily newspaper.
The amendment was approved last week by the legislature tied to the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, a retired army general who seized power through a coup in May 2014.
The 12-section law included details outlining the king's authority.
Section four determined that royal property means "property belonging to the king before his ascension to the throne, property and assets that the government gives to the king and property the king obtains," according to the gazette.
Section six stipulated that "management, maintenance, provision of benefits and any other implementations that relate to the royal property shall be subjected to the king's will, if he wishes to assign the Crown Property Bureau or any person or entity as manager to the royal property."
The law gives the king sole power to appoint the committee overseeing the bureau, including its leader. Previously, the government's finance minister oversaw the bureau.
The amendments also allow property and assets owned by the crown to be subjected to tax, according to Reuters news service. Previously, the king's private property was subject to tax while crown property and assets were exempt, Reuters reported.
In April, Vajiralongkorn signed a new constitution after the government agreed to amendments allowing him to rule his kingdom while out of the country. The king has spent much of his adult life in Germany.
A few weeks later, he was given control of five agencies overseeing palace security and management, Khaosod reported on May 2. Those agencies are the Royal Household Bureau, Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary, Royal Thai Aide-De-Camp Department, Office of Royal Court Security Police and Royal Security Command.


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BENARNEWS- A Thai court convicted and sentenced a former three-star general and 61 other defendants Wednesday in Thailand's largest human trafficking case, which stemmed from the discovery of graves of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis near the Malaysian border in 2015.
It took 13 hours for a panel of judges at the Bangkok Criminal Court to read out a 500-page verdict and sentences for all 102 defendants, who were tried together on various charges related to involvement in a transnational human smuggling ring. Forty of the defendants were acquitted, court officials said.
Former Army Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen was among high-profile defendants and ex-officials who were found guilty. He was sentenced to 27 years for trafficking Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladeshis as part of a crime syndicate that was exposed through the unearthing of a mass grave in the jungle in southern Songkhla province.
Manas, who held a key post in maintaining security in Thailand's southern border region and preventing illegal migration there, participated in the smuggling of Rohingya and other undocumented people, the court found.
"The defendant number 54 [Manas], instead of pushing back or denying entry to those Rohingya migrants, cooperated with the human traffickers, unduly taking benefits from the trafficking ring," a judge ruled.
The discovery of the graves of 32 migrants led Thai authorities to launch a crackdown on illegal immigration and seal its maritime borders to boats smuggling in people from Bangladesh and Myanmar. This, in turn, caused a regional migration crisis that saw thousands of desperate Rohingya and Bangladeshis come ashore in nearby Indonesia and Malaysia in May 2015.
Manas' conviction was based on evidence that he had received a kickback from trafficking kingpin Pajjuban Aungkachotephan, (alias Ko Tong), a former chief executive of the southern Thai municipality of Satun and businessman who was also convicted on Wednesday.
Ko Tong, or "Big Brother Tong," owned resorts on the island of Lipe, and was accused of receiving trafficked persons and sending them to Malaysia.
Banjong Pongpol (alias Ko Jong), a former official in Padang Besar, a sub-district in Songkhla, facilitated their transfer to relatives in Malaysia or Myanmar after a fee of between 30,000 ($892) and 150,000 baht ($4,465) was paid, the court found. Many who were unable to pay the fee were tortured or killed, court officials said.
The two were sentenced to 78 and 75 years, respectively, but the court reduced their terms to the maximum 50 years stipulated under Thai law. Soe Naing (alias Anwar), a Rohingya man identified as the chief trafficker, was sentenced to 94 years, but this was reduced to 50 years.
Four policemen were also convicted. An army captain who served as an aide to Manas was acquitted.
Depending on their acts, each of the 102 defendants was subject to any of 16 charges ranging from being a member of international crime syndicate, to involvement in human trafficking, ransom, slavery, killing and rape.
Conviction on the crime syndicate charge carries a sentence of four to 15 years and a maximum fine of 300,000 baht (U.S. $8,927). Human trafficking charges carry a sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of up to 1 million baht ($29,759). Thai law calls for double punishment for government officials who are found guilty.
Reporters were not allowed inside the court room because of the number of defendants, but monitored the proceedings on closed-circuit television in nearby rooms.
'No one is above the law'
Wednesday's verdict and sentences mark a milestone in Thailand's efforts to eradicate human trafficking, and puts an end to impunity for Thai officials, Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch told BenarNews.
"Today's verdict is a major step in efforts to combat human trafficking in Thailand, now that we see the convictions of a senior army general, local politicians, influential tycoons and others complicit in trafficking of Rohingya," Sunai said.
"This should send a strong message that regardless of their status and affiliation, no one is above the law. Impunity of trafficking gangs is now being stripped off. This is the biggest case so far, but not the only case of human trafficking in Thailand. The government must leave no stone unturned," Sunai added.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha asked people to not blame the military despite the conviction of Manas.
"There are many people in this human trafficking network," Prayuth told reporters, according to the Reuters news agency. "Don't group all soldiers in the country as one."
'A long way to go'
Arraignments in the case began in November 2015, but not without controversy, and the trial opened in March 2016. Lead police investigator Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsirin resigned just days before the arraignments began, and sought asylum in Australia a month later after claiming that influential people in the government had ordered him to stop the probe.
Another human rights group, Fortify Rights, called on the government to ensure that those responsible be held accountable.
"This may be the end of an important and unprecedented trial, but it's been a rocky road, and it's not 'case-closed' for survivors of human trafficking here," Fortify Rights Executive Director Amy Smith said in a press release issued on the eve of the sentencings in Bangkok.
"Thailand has a long way to go to ensure justice for thousands who were exploited, tortured, and killed by human traffickers during the last several years."
Sunai, of Human Rights Watch, expressed concern for the migrants.
"On the other side of the coin, the plight of Rohingya continued after they were rescued. Apart from punishing the perpetrators, there needs to be measures to protect and assist the victims," Sunai said.
"Rohingya now either live in hiding or end up in squalid indefinite immigration lockup in Thailand, as the government does not allow them to get access to refugee status determination by the United Nations refugee agency."


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BENARNEWS- Thai police said Monday they had seized millions of dollars in assets belonging to the founder of AlphaBay, the world's most profitable dark web marketplace, where users traded illicit goods, including drugs and weapons.
Officials said they froze 726 million baht (U.S. $21.73 million) in assets – from luxury vehicles to crypto-currency – owned by Alexander Joseph Cazes, a Canadian who allegedly committed suicide on July 12 while in Thai custody prior to extradition to the United States.
Cazes, 25, and his Thai wife, Sunisa Cazes, were arrested at their home in Bangkok on July 5 at the request of the United States, deputy national police chief Gen. Chalermkiat Sriworakhan told a news conference.
The dark web is the term for content that exists on darknets, computer networks built on top of other networks that can be accessed only with specific software. Connections are re-routed through layers of servers, allowing users to remain anonymous.
Websites on the dark web are not indexed, meaning online surfers will not see them by doing a Google search.
Lt. Gen. Sommai Kongvisaisuk, chief of Thai police's Narcotics Suppression Bureau, told reporters that Cazes managed the world's biggest online merchant of drugs and illicit items from his home in Bangkok.
"The whole world was in his hand," Sommai said during the news conference.
Cazes was from Quebec, Canada, and launched AlphaBay in 2014 in Thailand, where he had been living for almost four years, officials said.
AlphaBay had more than 350,000 listings for illegal drugs, stolen and fraudulent identification documents, counterfeit goods, malware, firearms and fraudulent services around the time that it was taken down, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
It said AlphaBay took the place of Silk Road, another dark web marketplace shut down by the FBI in November 2013. Silk Road, which was then the largest marketplace, had only 14,000 listings when it was seized.
Thai officials said among Cazes's assets seized are a villa in resort Island of Phuket, valued at 200 million baht ($5.9 million), a house valued at 99 million baht ($2.96 million) in Bangkok, a 2013 Lamborghini Aventador, a Porsche Panamera, millions of dollars in digital currencies and computers.
Dealing with cryptocurrencies
Lt. Gen. Sommai said Cazes ran the AlphaBay website from his base in Thailand, designating what crypto-currencies, such as bitcoin and Z-cash, could be used for trading.
"There are more than 200,000 users worldwide. About 180,000 are drug users and more than 200,000 are clients of illegal items," Sommai said about AlphaBay.
"We seized huge amount of assets. I think he had tens of millions of baht in bitcoins that can be exchanged to other currencies. We seized 'physical' assets of more than 700 million baht ($21 million)," Sommai said.
U.S. officials said Cazes faced charges related to narcotics distribution, identity theft, money laundering and other crimes, while his wife, who remains in police custody in Bangkok, faces a money laundering charge.
Six countries – the United States, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Thailand – joined forces July 5 to 20 during the "Operation Bayonet," a law-enforcement operation to shut down AlphaBay's infrastructure, according to the news release from Thailand's Narcotics Suppression Bureau.
Sommai said Thai agencies, together with the FBI and the DEA agents, raided Cazes' home.
He said Cazes' death had little impact on investigation to identify more suspects.
Asked to explain what might have forced Cazes to take his own life, Sommai replied, "I guess just because world criminals would not feel safe when they are sent back."
He said Thai forensic experts have confirmed Cazes' death as a suicide.
Despite his technical skills needed to create a secret marketplace, U.S. officials said Cazes was brought down by his unencrypted laptop and a Hotmail address.
By his own accounting, based on documents found in his laptop, Cazes was worth about $23 million, including $12.5 million in properties and vehicles, according to CBC News in Montreal.
On Thursday, U.S. Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions described the AlphaBay shut down as "likely one of the most important criminal investigations of the year.
"Make no mistake, the forces of law and justice face a new challenge from the criminals and transnational criminal organizations who think they can commit their crimes with impunity using the dark net," he said. "The dark net is not a place to hide."


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BENARNEWS- Thai authorities have frozen bank accounts belonging to ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who faces a possible fine of U.S. $1 billion and conviction over a failed rice scheme during her administration, government officials and her lawyer said Tuesday.
Without offering an explanation Finance Ministry officials told reporters that they had frozen seven of Yingluck's accounts and planned to freeze another five.
"We will proceed as per the request with 10-year statute of limitation," said Reunrudee Suwanmongkol, director of the ministry's legal department. She declined to disclose the amount of money held in the accounts, citing confidentiality of the legal proceedings.
The ministry undertook the move while the 50-year-old Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister whose net worth is valued at about U.S. $17 million, stands trial on charges of negligence in the rice-subsidy scheme.
Apart from the billion-dollar fine, she faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of negligence for allegedly failing to stop graft related to the rice scheme. A verdict is due out on Aug. 25.
Yingluck's lawyer told reporters on Tuesday that authorities had locked seven accounts with Bangkok Bank out of his client's 12 bank accounts.
Yingluck turned to social media on Tuesday, describing the pre-verdict freezing of her accounts as a "judicial misguidance."
"The move reflects an attempt to judicially misguide the Supreme Court's verdict of the rice scheme trial prematurely," Yingluck told her 6 million Facebook followers. She said she was innocent of the charges.
A legal expert told BenarNews that the freezing of Yingluck's accounts was aimed at preventing her from transferring her money elsewhere ahead of the verdict.
The Supreme Court began Yingluck's trial in January 2016 by charging her with failing to prevent corruption in the rice scheme.
Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, the current prime minister who led a military coup that deposed Yingluck in May 2014, created committees to proceed with a separate civil case to force her to pay for damages resulting from the failed rice scheme.
During her three-year tenure, Yingluck adopted a strategy in which the government bought rice from farmers at inflated prices, stockpiling their crop in government silos to manipulate prices by reducing global supply. But the strategy backfired – the rice rotted and world prices never reached the anticipated price.
Thailand, one of the world's major rice suppliers, exported about 9.8 million tons valued at $4.6 billion in 2015, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association. China and the Philippines were the top buyers of Thai rice.
Thailand's 23 million rice farmers also form the country's largest constituent bloc, because they represent more than half of the country's eligible voting population.


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BENARNEWS- Thais participated in merit-making ceremonies Friday to mark the first birthday for King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) since he ascended to the throne in December 2016 following the death of his father two months earlier.
In front of Maha Vajiralongkorn's Dusit Palace in Bangkok, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha presided over a ceremony to wish the new  king a long life. Thousands of civil servants and ordinary people offered alms to 651 Buddhist monks, an auspicious number for the monarch's 65th birthday.
The military set off a 21-gun salute and other agencies held merit-making ceremonies. Earlier, Thais released 1,066 turtles as a tribute.
Merit-making ceremonies are a Buddhist tradition contributing to a person's growth toward prosperity.
But the king did not appear on television or at any of his Thai palaces, leading news services and others to question whether he was in the country. His father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died on Oct. 13, often appeared in public to celebrate his birthday with his countrymen during his seven-decade reign.
The Straits Times reported the king drew a set of cartoons that appeared on the cover of a booklet for a religious ceremony on Thursday.
"Happiness starts from our mind and a good attitude toward others," said one of his handwritten messages, printed alongside a depiction of a smiling family standing by a car, a house and pet dogs, according to the report. "If one is happy to devote oneself to the public, it makes others, and the public, happy."
Increasing power
Vajiralongkorn spent much of his adult life in Germany but returned to Thailand last year when his father's health failed. In April, he signed a new Constitution after the government agreed to amendments allowing him to rule his kingdom while traveling abroad.
Since then, he was given control of five agencies overseeing palace security and management. Those agencies are the Royal Household Bureau, Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary, Royal Thai Aide-De-Camp Department, Office of Royal Court Security Police and Royal Security Command.
Earlier this month, a new law gave him the power to control the Crown Property Bureau, which oversees the monarchy's land holdings and assets. Back in 1932, the People's Party took the bureau away from King Rama VII, when a revolution in Thailand ended an absolute monarchy and replaced it with a constitutional one. In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated the Royal Family's net worth at $30 billion.
The new constitution and other changes are seen as efforts to increase the king's power with the support of a junta led by Prayuth, who toppled the government of Yingluck Shinawatra in a military coup in May 2014.
Since seizing power, the junta has cracked down on Thais violating Lese-Majeste, the country's strict royal defamation law. One man faces 35 years in prison and at least 82 others have been charged. Many of those cases stem from social media postings.


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BENARNEWS- Thai officials on Monday publicly refuted reports that agents had abducted a hardcore activist linked to the pro-democracy Red Shirts who has lived in self-imposed exile in neighboring Laos for the past three years.
Wutthipong Kachathamkhun (alias Ko Tee) apparently was abducted while he, his wife and a friend were getting out of a car at a residence in Laos, according to Chupong Teetuan, a supporter of the Red Shirts and an anti-monarchist who lives in the United States.
"He was abducted Saturday night. His friend, Padet, and his wife were tied and left in a house," Chupong said in a YouTube video posted on Sunday. "My Laotian source said the kidnappers were definitely not Laotian officials," he said, adding that Ko Tee's wife and friend were able to free themselves.
Thai Army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Chalermchai Sitthisart rebuked the claims and denied knowledge of any abduction.
"As far as I talked to the Supreme Commander and the secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC), we do not have any knowledge on the issue. It is not our responsibility to trace how the claim happened," he told reporters in Bangkok.
NSC Secretary-General Taweep Netniyom had been assigned to deal with Laotian authorities and to shut down an underground online radio run by Ko Tee. He also sought to reach an agreement with Laos officials to have Ko Tee extradited to face trial in Thailand.
Jom Petchpradab, a former Thai journalist who lives in exile in the U.S., said friends of Ko Tee had filed a missing person's report at a local police station.
"Nobody knows where Ko Tee is now, or if he is still alive. But according to the informants, he is more likely alive and could have been transferred to Thailand," he said.
Jom posted pictures of clothes and straps allegedly used by the perpetrators to tie up Ko Tee's companions.
In Vientiane, a Laotian foreign ministry official and a police officer told BenarNews via telephone they had no information about Ko Tee or his whereabouts.
Links to Shinawatras
Ko Tee was linked to hardcore efforts tied to the Red Shirt movement, whose official name is the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. He aligned with Red Shirt leaders prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, who were toppled in military coups in 2006 and 2014, respectively.
He allegedly plotted online to assassinate Thai leaders and authorities seized a cache of weapons at his home in Pathum Thani province, on the outskirts of Bangkok.
Ko Tee has lived in self-imposed exile in neighboring Laos since June 2014 after he refused a summons from the Thai junta for so-called attitude adjustment.  Since taking power following the 2014 coup, the regime of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has summoned politicians and reporters for "attitude adjustment" sessions while in detention, after they spoke out against the junta.
The abduction claim broke out over the weekend as Red Shirt members warned the government of possible rioting on Aug. 25, the day Yingluck is to hear the verdict in her trial on negligence charges stemming from a rice-subsidy scheme implemented by her government. She is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday to make her final statement in the case against her.
Yingluck could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of failing to stop corruption related to the rice scheme, as well as pay a fine of $1 billion. Thai authorities have frozen some of her 12 bank accounts along with other assets of the nation's first female prime minister, whose net worth is valued at U.S. $17 million (566 million baht).


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BENARNEWS- Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra proclaimed her innocence Tuesday as she begged Thai Supreme Court judges to not let politics or Thailand's junta sway their upcoming ruling in her trial over a failed government rice-subsidy scheme.
Yingluck appeared before a panel of judges to give a closing statement in her trial on charges of criminal negligence in a multi-billion-dollar program, which her government launched to support the nation's 23 million farmers, a group representing more than half of the nation's voting population. Thailand's first female prime minister was toppled in a military coup in May 2014 led by the current prime minister, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, a retired army general.
"I did not do anything wrong," Yingluck told the court. "As an upcountry woman who saw farmers – the backbone of the nation – living in horrible conditions, I tried to help them out. And I did so with a rice subsidy program that practically proved they attained a better quality of life."
A verdict is due Aug. 25. Yingluck faces as many as 10 years in prison.
In September 2016, the Comptroller General's Department ordered Yingluck to repay 35.7 billion baht ($1 billion), as a result of a civil case related to the rice scheme, and, last week, authorities froze 12 of her bank accounts.
The charges against Yingluck, 50, stem from her administration encouraging rice farmers to store their crop in government silos and receive an advance of 15,000 baht (U.S. $450) per ton that they were to repay later. At the time, rice sold for 9,000 baht ($270) per ton. It never reached the advance price and supplies of the grain rotted in silos.
Some farmers who stored their rice received nothing because the government ran out of money to fund the scheme. A government committee appraised the loss at 178 billion baht ($5.3 billion), from 2012 to 2014.
'Victim of a deep political game'
Yingluck whose net worth is valued at about U.S. $17 million (565 million baht) said the case against her was politically motivated.
"The rice policy has been proven to benefit the economy at the grass roots level and nationwide. It did not cause losses. Which is why I intended to make this rice scheme work," she said in court Tuesday during her last opportunity to address the judges before the verdict. "I know that I am the victim of a deep political game.
"Before the court makes a decision, I beg your honors to judge as it is based on witnesses and evidence without listening to the chief of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), who holds the state power and the fate of the nation and who said publicly as if I were guilty," she said.
Prayuth, who heads the NCPO – the junta's official name – said he never tried to sway the judiciary in the case because it is independent from the executive branch.
"It is up to the court to decide. ... I have never influenced the judicial ring. They do their job with integrity. I have no command over them," he told reporters in Bangkok on Tuesday.
Rioting fears
Over the weekend, members of the Red Shirt movement, whose official name is the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), warned the government of possible rioting on verdict day.
The Red Shirts align themselves with Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who was toppled in a similar coup in 2006 and who remains in self-imposed exile.
Prayuth responded coolly to the riot threat.
"After the verdict, the political situation will not be up to me but the people and political factions. We need to move our country forward by the rule of law," Prayuth said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a political observer said the Red Shirt movement was impaired because many of their hardcore leaders were in jail for committing libel or instigating violence.
"Chances of violence are low, even if Yingluck is jailed," Sutin Wannabovorn told BenarNews.
Yingluck supporter Boonjerd Srisawat, who traveled to the court from the nearby province of Samut Prakan, said he could not predict the verdict, but said a conviction could affect the government negatively.
"It is like a chess game. There is the Red Shirt side and the Yellow Shirt (junta supporters) side, but they were both checkmated by the NCPO who took the power. If the court finds Yingluck guilty, it will add to the downward trend of the junta," Boonjerd told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Officials in Thailand and Laos said Tuesday they had no information about a missing activist linked with the Thai pro-democracy Red Shirts, while Human Rights Watch called for a full investigation into his alleged abduction in Vientiane over the weekend.
Thai activist Wutthipong Kachathamkhun (alias Ko Tee), who was living in exile in Laos since 2014, was allegedly abducted after getting out of a car in the nation's capital on Saturday.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported witnesses said they saw 10 armed men dressed in black clothes and balaclavas assault Ko Tee, his wife and a friend as they were about to enter Ko Tee's house in Vientiane. The assailants hit and shocked them with stun guns, tied their hands with plastic handcuffs, covered their eyes and gagged their mouths before driving off with Ko Tee.
"Wuthipong's shocking abduction by armed men in Vientiane needs to be fully investigated; it should not be treated with silence or swept under the rug," HRW Asia director Brad Adams said in a statement Tuesday.
"The Lao government needs to move quickly to ascertain the facts and publicly report their findings, including an assessment of Wuthipong's whereabouts and who might be responsible for this crime that was so boldly carried out in its own capital city."
No details
On Tuesday, Thai officials maintained that they had no information on Ko Tee's whereabouts. He is aligned with Red Shirt leaders former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra, who were toppled in military coups in 2006 and 2014, respectively.
National Security Council Secretary-General Taweep Netniyom said Thai officials could not confirm whether Ko Tee was alive or still in Laos, the Bangkok Post reported.
"He might have hid somewhere and sent a rumor or anything to spread among his network that the government did this," the newspaper quoted Taweep as saying.
"We have been trying to coordinate with Laos's government all along in every way to arrest him. But Laos has not been able to confirm whether Ko Tee has been living in Laos," he added.
Reports surfaced on Monday that Ko Tee's friends had filed a missing person report at a local police station.
Police in Vientiane said they had no information on Ko Tee's status, according to Radio Free Asia's Laos service, a sister entity of BenarNews.
Ko Tee has lived in Laos since June 2014 after he refused to obey a summons from the Thai junta for so-called attitude adjustment. Since taking power following a coup in May 2014, the regime of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has summoned politicians and reporters who spoke out against the junta for "attitude adjustment" detention sessions.
HRW request
In addition to calling for an investigation into Ko Tee's disappearance, HRW said the Lao government of Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, who took office in April 2016, had repeatedly failed to respond to the "country's serious human rights problems."
"In June 2016, Itthipol Sukpaen, an exiled Thai activist who broadcasted anti-monarchy radio programs, vanished in Vientiane. The Lao government failed to conduct a serious investigation," HRW said in a posting on its website.
The New York-based global rights watchdog also called on Laos to permit the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to open an office in Vientiane in order to provide protection for people fleeing political persecution in Thailand and elsewhere.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's Supreme Court on Wednesday declared former prime ministers Somchai Wongsawat and Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, along with two associates, not guilty of causing the deaths of two people and injuries to nearly 500 more during protests at parliament in 2008.
A nine-judge panel ruled for Somchai, the 69-year-old brother-in-law of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the three other defendants, saying the demonstration was not peaceful and therefore was not constitutionally protected. The two demonstrators were killed when riot-control police fired tear gas into the crowd that had stormed the parliamentary grounds on Oct. 7, 2008, when Somchai served as prime minister.
"The demonstrators aroused their fellows to besiege the parliament compound, therefore they were not peaceful. ... The defendants did not have any intention to order the police force to harm or cause fatality among demonstrators," one of the judges read from the verdict.
The verdict stated that anti-riot police dispersed the demonstrators properly and they could not predict the level of damage that tear gas could cause in such a tense situation.
Prosecutors have a month to consider appealing the verdict.
Somchai and Chavalit, who served as his deputy, along with then-National Police Bureau chief Gen. Patcharawat Wongsuwan and then-Metropolitan Police commander Lt. Gen. Suchart Meaunkhaew co-ordered officers to disperse members of the Yellow Shirts or the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who surrounded the parliamentary compound on that day on October 2008, the court found.
Yellow Shirt members are loyal to royalists including the junta, which seized control of the government in a May 2014 coup, while Red Shirts, a pro-democracy group, align with Somchai and others linked to Thaksin.
Chavalit served as prime minister during the Asian economic crisis of 1997, and Patcharawat is a younger brother of current Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan.
The four men left the courthouse through backdoors after the verdict, and were greeted by a few dozen Yellow Shirt supporters who booed and chanted: "Murderers, murderers!"
'Police shot at me with tear gas'
Before the verdict was handed down, a man who had been in front of the Metropolitan Police Bureau near parliament on Oct. 7, 2008, described how an explosion from a tear-gas canister tore off his right leg.
"The police shot at me with tear gas. They did not give us a warning. I have waited years to learn whether the court would find them guilty," Tee Saetiew, 73, told BenarNews.
PAD leader Weera Somkwamkid said the acquittal could be used to set a standard for crowd control.
"This verdict might set a standard in which authorities are not guilty for controlling demonstrators. People would not dare protest in the future," he told BenarNews.
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Tee Saetiew (center) who lost his right leg in the 2008 crackdown, speaks to defendant Suchart Meaunkhaew (in suit), prior to the verdict, Aug. 2, 2017. (Nontarat Phaicharoen/Benar News)
Turbulent politics
Thailand has been through two dozen coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. Thaksin took power in 2001, but was booted out by a military coup five years later, after being accused of corruption and disrespecting the monarchy.
After he was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in 2008 for graft tied to a land purchase, his Thai Rak Thai Party disbanded and he has been in exile abroad since.
Thaksin and his successors capitalized on popular policies to gain support from grass roots people including farmers who represent more than half of eligible voters. After an interim military-sponsored government ended and the country held new elections in 2007, the party returned as the People Power Party.
Two party leaders became prime minister – Samak Sundaravej followed by Somchai – but both were forced to resign.
Somchai replaced Samak on Sept. 18, 2008, but his term in office lasted only 75 days.
Somchai, who married Thaksin's sister, met with protests by thousands of conservative PAD demonstrators, who accused him of being the former prime minister's puppet. As he prepared to give a speech to parliament on the morning of Oct. 7, 2008, Yellow Shirt protesters stormed the compound.
Anti-riot police were able to escort cabinet members and parliamentarians into the parliament. The officials ended up trapped while protesters tried to break in, forcing the officials to flee over a back fence.
Meanwhile, police efforts to disperse the crowd lasted for hours and left two people dead and 471 injured, according to the government. Yellow Shirt supporters said a dozen people died.
Yingluck Shinawatra, a younger sister of Thaksin, was elected prime minister in 2011, but was forced from office by a military coup in 2014. She faces a verdict on Aug. 25 on charges of criminal negligence related to a multi-billion-dollar rice-subsidy scheme, which her government had implemented and could face 10 years in prison, if convicted.


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BENARNEWS- Facebook and YouTube complied with a court order and removed almost 2,000 web pages since early May that Thai government media monitors had deemed unacceptable, but authorities said Monday they still expected social media firms to take down another 1,786 URLs.
Thousands of web pages appearing on these and other social media platforms in Thailand were tagged for removal after being deemed to have violated national security laws and Lese-Majeste, a strict law that guards against defaming, insulting or threatening the king and other Thai royals, officials said.
Social media firms removed 1,940 pages out of 3,726 that were blacklisted because they contained prohibited and offensive material, Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), told reporters Monday.
"Facebook has removed 1,039 out of 2,556 URLs. YouTube took out 779 out of 779 links," Takorn said, referring to the "illicit" Web pages or links that were taken down by the two firms between May 1 and July 16.
Facebook did not respond immediately to emails sent by BenarNews for comment.
82 arrested, charged
Since the military seized power in a coup in May 2014, at least 82 people have been arrested and charged on suspicion of violating Lese-Majeste.
Some have been charged under the law for merely sharing or "liking" articles about the king on Facebook and other platforms that were seen as offensive or defamatory.
On June 9, a Bangkok military court convicted a 34-year-old man to 35 years in prison for posting content on Facebook deemed as insulting to the monarchy, a lawyer said.
Last month, the Digital Economy Ministry announced a law calling for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to remove illicit content within 24 hours after being notified, or face imprisonment. But the ministry did not clarify what constituted "illicit content."
ISPs, which function as local servers for the social-media and tech giants, had previously received an ultimatum from NBTC to block Web pages by Aug. 8.
In mid-May, Takorn gave Facebook a deadline to take down more than 130 posts on its network that were seen as in violation of Lese-Majeste and Thailand's Computer Crimes Act, threatening legal action that could lead to Facebook being banned in the country.
But when the deadline was met, Takorn toned down the threat to block access to Facebook, citing its cooperation in removing about 6,300 URLs over the past three years.
Facebook spokeswoman Clare Wareing, who is based in Singapore, told BenarNews in an email at the time that when government officials believe that an Internet posting violates their country's laws, they may ask the company to restrict access to that content.
"When we receive such a request, we review it to determine if it puts us on notice of unlawful content," she said. "If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted."
Rights advocacy groups view Thailand's threats to shut down Facebook as the newest effort by the junta to restrict online speech and free expression.
The threat against Facebook means that users "will be constantly looking over their shoulder in fear that they could be sent to jail for posting or sharing commentary about the monarchy," Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement in May.


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BENARNEWS- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Thailand and Malaysia on Tuesday as Washington sought to persuade Southeast Asian allies to help impede North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Tillerson travelled to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur after attending an annual summit of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Manila that also focused heavily on North Korea's latest missile tests last month.
The diplomatic push comes after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Saturday imposing new sanctions that could slash North Korea's annual exports, worth US$2.8 billion. The sanctions were levied in response to North Korea's two missile tests last month.
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters after a 45-minute meeting with Tillerson that bilateral trade between Bangkok and Pyongyang had plummeted as a result of Thailand's compliance with various U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea.
"As a result of our strict compliance, our trade with North Korea declined by 94 percent after U.N. sanctions took place, when comparing the first half of last year and this year," he said.
Trade between Thailand and North Korea was worth U.S. $900,000 in January to June 2017 versus $16.4 million in the same period of 2016, according to Thailand's Foreign Ministry.
Bilateral trade peaked at U.S. $126.3 million in 2014, Thai officials said. Thailand sent home appliances, computers, chemical, rubber and plastic products to Pyongyang and imported iron, steel and chemicals from the reclusive nation.
Beside its focus on cutting funding streams for North Korea, Washington also believes that North Korean front companies are actively operating in Thailand, and U.S. officials are urging Bangkok to shut them down, Susan Thornton, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told reporters travelling with the American diplomats.
She said Washington was also encouraging Bangkok to accept more North Korean refugees, as the kingdom has long been a transit route for defectors who journey through China, then enter Laos, Cambodia or Thailand, and often seek political asylum at the South Korean Embassy.
Thailand is among Southeast Asian nations – including Indonesia and Malaysia – that host a North Korean Embassy.
Criticisms from human rights groups
Tillerson, the highest U.S. official to visit Thailand since a military coup toppled a civilian government in 2014, was welcomed to Government House in Bangkok by Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.
In remarks at the U.S. ambassador's residence, Tillerson emphasized that Washington would mark its 200 years of relations with Thailand, its oldest ally in Asia, next year.
"I think that's significant because elections are scheduled here in Thailand next year, as well, to return the country to civilian control. We certainly hope those elections proceed as scheduled," Tillerson said, according to a transcript of his speech obtained by BenarNews.
"And I think it'll be meaningful that we're celebrating 200 years at a time when the country is returning to civilian control," he said.
Human rights groups criticized Tillerson's visit as an attempt to rebuild relations with the Thai junta despite its crackdown on government critics.
"It would be a practical mistake for Tillerson to not condition positive diplomatic relations on improvements in the protection of human rights," Matthew Smith, of the Fortify Rights group, told Reuters news agency.
"Nothing was discussed about human rights," the Associated Press quoted the Thai foreign minister as telling reporters.
Tillerson flew to Malaysia later Tuesday, the last scheduled stop of his Southeast Asian trip.
He was expected to hold meetings with Prime Minister Najib Razak and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi before departing Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Kuala Lumpur's ties with Pyongyang have not fully recovered from the shocking assassination of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a Malaysian airport in February.
Malaysia, South Korea and the United States believe North Korean agents were behind the hit, allegedly carried out by two young Southeast Asian women who smeared a banned nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face. Several North Korean suspects fled Malaysia shortly afterward.
Malaysia resisted North Korea's demands for the body for weeks, sparking a diplomatic row in which diplomats were expelled and Malaysian citizens briefly barred from leaving North Korea.
Hadi Azmi in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- A Thai court Wednesday sentenced a man to 20 years in prison for posting content online deemed as insulting the monarchy, his lawyer said, in the latest case of a person convicted of breaching Thailand's strict royal defamation law.
The defendant, a 59-year-old herb salesman identified by his lawyer only as Tara, was found guilty by a military court for re-posting on his website audio files of recorded comments by critic of the monarchy, the attorney said. The website promotes herbal medicines.
Tara's conviction under the so-called Lese-Majeste law came the same day that rights and free-press advocacy groups criticized the filing of sedition charges against a Thai journalist and two prominent political critics for Facebook posts that allegedly criticized the military government.
"Tara was convicted of six counts of Lese-Majeste. He was sentenced to five years for each count. Since he pleaded guilty, the jail term was reduced to 20 years," lawyer Sasinan Thamnitinan told BenarNews.
"He was a medical herb seller and never got involved in politics," she said.
Since the junta came to power after a military coup three years ago, at least 82 people have been charged under Lese-Majeste and at least 64 others have been charged for seditious speech, according to iLaw, a local legal advocacy group.
One count of Lese-Majeste carries a sentence of up to 15 years, while a person convicted of one count of sedition can go to prison for seven years. But it is common for Thai courts to reduce sentences if the defendant pleads guilty to the charges.
In June, a Bangkok military court handed the longest recorded Lese-Majeste prison sentence, ordering a Thai man to serve 35 years for Facebook postings that officials had considered as offensive to the monarchy. The original sentence was 70 years.
Calls for charges to be dropped
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned charges of sedition brought against Pravit Rojanaphruk, a journalist at the online news website Khaosod English, Pichai Naripthaphan, a former energy minister, and Watana Muangsook, a former social development and human security minister.
"The Thai junta's dictatorial reach has expanded well beyond traditional sources to social media like Facebook," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director. "These dubious charges for peaceful Facebook commentary should be dropped immediately."
On Tuesday, police charged Pravit with sedition and violating the country's Computer Crimes Act after he posted comments on his Facebook page criticizing military rule and the junta's slow response to recent flooding in northeastern provinces, HRW said.
Last week, police also charged former government ministers Pichai and Watana, accusing them of committing sedition and computer crimes for their Facebook commentary about Thailand's political and economic problems under Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha.
"I am keeping my fingers crossed, given the complex legal situation," Pravit said on his Facebook page after he was fingerprinted at the police headquarters on Tuesday.
In 2015, Pravit was summoned by Thai authorities for an "attitude adjustment" detention session for speaking out against the May 2014 military coup in Facebook posts.
Members of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance also protested the new charges brought against their colleague, Pravit.
"Pravit's posts are well within his right to express his opinion as a journalist and as a Thai citizen to criticize the government," the alliance said Wednesday in a statement urging the authorities to drop the charges that "encourage further self-censorship among the Thai journalist community."


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BENARNEWS- A Thai court on Tuesday sentenced a college student to two and a half years in prison for violating the nation's strict royal defamation law, in the first such case filed under Thailand's new king.
Jatupat "Pai" Boonpattararaksa, a 25-year-old student activist at Khon Kaen University and a critic of Thailand's military government, was arrested on Dec. 3 and charged under the so-called Lese-Majeste law after sharing on Facebook a BBC News profile of King Maha Vajiralongkorn that was deemed to be defamatory. Maha Vajiralongkorn became king on Dec. 1.
"The court sentenced Jatupat to 5 years but reduced it to two and a half years, because he pleaded guilty," Jatupat's lawyer, Krisdang Nuchjarus, told BenarNews at the courthouse in northeastern Khon Khaen province, 450 km (281 miles) northeast of Bangkok.
A two-judge panel handed down the verdict during a closed-door session that was attended by Jatupat's parents, his legal team and a few Thai officials.
Afterwards Jatupta's father, Viboon, told reporters outside the courthouse that his son chose to plead guilty in the hopes of getting a lenient sentence.
"My son did not receive justice," he said. "Pai pleaded guilty because, as we discussed, the court promised him a lenient punishment."
Jatupat, who appeared calm and relaxed during the sentencing, will serve two and a half years, minus his almost eight months of detention since Dec. 29, 2016, his lawyer said.
Thousands of people on social media had also shared a link to the BBC report.
Last year, police officials in Khon Khaen said they might use Jatupat's case as a template to prosecute more people violating the law on social media.
Under the Lese-Majeste law, one count of defaming, insulting or threatening the Thai royal family carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison. But it is common for Thai courts to reduce sentences after receiving guilty pleas from defendants.
"It appears that Jatupat was singled out, from thousands of people who shared the BBC article, and prosecuted for his strong opposition to military rule than any harm incurred by the monarchy," Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement condemning Tuesday's verdict.
"His guilty verdict and jail sentence show yet again how Thailand's draconian 'insulting the monarchy' law has been misused to punish dissenters," Adams said.
Since the military seized power in a coup in May 2014, at least 82 people have been charged under Lese-Majeste, according to iLaw, a rights advocacy group.
Those cases so far have resulted in 38 convictions – including the Jatupat case – and seven acquittals, iLaw said.
In June, a Bangkok military court handed the longest Lese-Majeste prison sentence, ordering a man to serve 35 years after the court reduced his original 70-year sentence.
"A chokehold on freedom of expression is being created in the name of protecting the monarchy," Adams said.
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Viboon Boonpattararaksa, father of Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, a university student convicted of violating Thailand's strict Lese-Majeste law, talks to reporters at the Khon Khaen criminal court, Aug. 15, 2017. [Nontarat Phaicharoen/BenarNews]


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BENARNEWS- Thai police on Wednesday killed a suspected rebel during a shootout in the nation's Deep South after seven men stole pickup trucks that they intended to convert into car bombs, officials said.
The suspects killed one of their hostages and wounded another, police said.
The gunfight occurred after the suspects seized six pickup trucks from a used-car dealership and took four employees hostage in Songkhla province's Nathawee district, 950 km (about 600 miles) south of Bangkok, officials said.
Police pursued the suspects and set up checkpoints in neighboring provinces.
During the pursuit, one of the vehicles ran out of fuel and the rebels opened fire at their four hostages, seriously injuring two, Col. Panyawat Pecthcum, chief of a local police station, told reporters. One died at a nearby hospital, while two others ran away unharmed and were rescued by residents.
"We were informed by a village headman that villagers rushed to the scene after hearing gunfire," Panyawat said, adding the villagers found two hostages suffering from gunshot wounds, but the gunmen escaped.
More than an hour later, authorites encountered one of the stolen vehicles at a checkpoint in Thepa district, said Maj. Gen. Piyawat Chalermsri, chief of Pattani Provincial Police Bureau.
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Police reported killing a suspected rebel during a shootout following a robbery at a car dealership in Thailand's Deep South, Aug. 16, 2017. [BenarNews]
"We were radioed ... about the robbery and the possibility of bad guys passing by this highway, so we tried to intercept them at various points," Piyawat told reporters as he surveyed the scene of the gunfight. "A pickup truck tried breaking the barrier, leading to a pursuit and a deadly shootout. One perpetrator was killed."
He said the truck was carrying a gas tank converted into an improvised explosive device.
"The perpetrators are Deep South insurgents who desire to continue sabotaging the region," he said.
About 30 minutes after the shootout, one of the stolen vehicles was found abandoned at a bridge in Pattani province's Nong Chik district, officials said. It exploded as government forces traveling on a military vehicle passed the bridge, slightly injuring four soldiers.
Officials said they believe the insurgents were planning to rig the stolen trucks into car bombs to attack targets in the Deep South.
Big C attack
In a similar attack on May 9, suspected Malay-speaking insurgents set off two car bombs near the Big C department store in Pattani town, wounding more than 80 people, officials said.
That attack overshadowed two-year-old peace talks between Thailand's military government and MARA Patani, an umbrella body representing rebel groups in the region. Since late February when the delegations agreed to a framework for setting up a limited ceasefire, at least 50 people have been killed and about 140 others injured in shootings and bombings across the Deep South.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 as a result of violence related to the conflict in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region.


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BENARNEWS- Thai officials announced Friday that they are investigating complaints about four development projects in the Deep South that local people say do not benefit them.
A fact-finding committee headed by a government representative said preliminary reviews of the projects found irregularities, including that many of the 16,000 sets of recently installed solar-energy street lights valued at 997 million baht (U.S. $30 million) do not work.
"We will not only punish the wrongdoers, but we would like to have sound projects that tangibly benefit the people," said Gen. Chamlong Khunsong, one of 13 members of a special delegation tasked by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha with resolving problems in the Deep South.
"For the projects that remain under warranty, the broken items must be fixed on time, otherwise the responsible parties must be held accountable," he told reporters following a meeting at the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center (SBPAC) in Yala.
He said the investigation stemmed from petitions filed by residents, and a detailed investigation would start in September.
Residents hailed the move as a gesture of sincerity in a region plagued by mutual mistrust between local people and government officials.
More than 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence associated with a separatist insurgency in Thailand's predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region.
$10 billion invested
The government has since injected about 332 billion baht ($10 billion) into security operations and infrastructure development to spur the economy and counter rebel influence. But locals have complained that the projects were tainted by corruption or did not respond to the region's needs.
A Pattani resident said that when people filed complaints to government agencies in the past they were treated as slanderers, further fueling their discontent.
"This is one of the factors that people find unjust, as they [government officials] claim they develop the area for locals... but the full budget never reaches the area. Some projects arrive at less than 30 percent. Before it hits the ground, it has passed through many units, provinces, districts, villages on the way – everybody needs to cut cake and eat until full," said the villager, who identified himself only as Waeyusof.
"To me, this is the first-ever probe in this region and I appreciate it because it is a gesture of the government's sincerity to solve a complex problem," he told BenarNews.
In September 2016, Prayuth set up a 13-member "forward government" including an ex-Army chief, former military commanders and civilian officials in the Deep South, and tasked it with monitoring developments in the region, including oversight of the SBPAC.
In addition to the street lights, the team will investigate a 172 million baht ($5.2 million) athletic field left in disrepair and a 142 million baht (U.S.$4.3 million) renovation project on the 300-year-old Talo Mano mosque in Narathiwat that former SBPAC officials awarded to a bankrupt company.
The fourth project to be probed is the purchase of an old hotel for 252 million baht ($7.6 million) to be used by SBPAC.
"It was good to set up a graft committee, but there are more projects they should probe and the investigation should go back to the beginning of certain projects," said another resident, who asked not to be named.


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BENARNEWS- A Thai lawyer has dropped charges against a Bangkok-based BBC correspondent in a criminal defamation case stemming from a report about a man losing his Phuket Island property through alleged fraud, the broadcaster announced Wednesday.
Journalist Jonathan Head had faced up to seven years in prison if found guilty on two charges against him. But a criminal defamation trial was set to continue against his co-defendant, Briton Ian Rance, the subject of a September 2015 report narrated by Head.
"The plaintiff has withdrawn his case against BBC journalist Jonathan Head, but as the trial of his co-defendant is continuing, we cannot comment further at present," a BBC statement said.
"All charges against me in Phuket defamation case have now been dropped. Great relief for me but case against co-defendant Ian Rance continues," Head said in a tweet.
Both men had appeared in a Phuket court early Wednesday for the start of the trial, at which the plaintiff called one witness, Rance told BenarNews earlier.
Rance alleged in the BBC report that his Thai ex-wife had forged his signature on documents that authorized the transfer of properties he owned on Phuket, a top destination for Western retirees.
Thai lawyer Pratuan Thanarak, who appeared in the BBC report, had filed charges against the two men, saying they had defamed him by alleging that he had notarized the forged signatures.
The courthouse in the southern province was the site of another high-profile court case in 2015, when the Royal Thai Navy sued two editors of the now defunct Phuketwan website for reprinting an excerpt of a controversial Reuters report on human trafficking. The two were acquitted after two years of litigation.
"The use of criminal defamation complaints in Thailand has a chilling effect on journalists who fear being bogged down in time-consuming and expensive litigation," Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement in February.


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BENARNEWS- A Thai lawyer has dropped all charges against a BBC journalist and the source for his 2015 report about property fraud, a day after their trial began.
Briton Ian Rance and BBC correspondent Jonathan Head no longer face defamation charges. Lawyer Pratuan Thanarak, dropped the charge he had filed against Rance Thursday morning, hours after withdrawing a similar complaint against Head.
"Charges against my co-defendant Ian Rance now also withdrawn. Relief for me but Ian's fight 4 justice & restoration of stolen assets goes on," Head tweeted Thursday.
In September 2015, Head reported about Rance, whose ex-wife had forged signatures on documents to illegally transfer property he owned on Phuket Island, a top destination for western retirees.
Pratuan said the two men had defamed him by alleging he had notarized the forged signatures. Thai law makes it easy for individuals to file criminal defamation complaints, which can carry lengthy sentences. Head could have faced seven years in jail, and Rance two, if found guilty.
Freed from charges, Rance expressed concern that the problem highlighted in the 2015 media report had not been solved.
"I am sad to reflect that many others, both Thai and foreign investors and business people, may be defrauded in a similar manner," he told Agence France-Presse.
The BBC welcomed the end of the defamation case.
"We're pleased with this outcome. Jonathan Head is an excellent and highly respected correspondent and we have stood by his journalism throughout," a spokesperson said. "We regret the case against Jonathan and Ian Rance was ever brought and we are pleased it is over."
In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said overuse of defamation was hobbling Thai media.
"The use of criminal defamation complaints in Thailand has a chilling effect on journalists who fear being bogged down in time-consuming and expensive litigation," CPJ Southeast Asia representative Shawn Crispin said.


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BENARNEWS- Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra fled Thailand through Cambodia, a source said Friday after she failed to appear in court to hear a verdict in a rice-subsidy scheme that could have sent her to prison for 10 years.
The Supreme Court rescheduled the verdict for Sept. 27 and issued a warrant for Yingluck's arrest as a top government minister said officials "may have helped her" leave the country.
A source close to an aide of Yingluck told BenarNews that she had traveled through Trat province, about 320 km (200 miles) south of Bangkok, before crossing into Cambodia to board a plane that took her to another country a few days ago.
"Her aide assisted and they went to Cambodia and assisted her flying from there," said the source who asked not to be identified and declined to name her final destination.
CNN, quoting a highly-placed source in Yingluck's Pheu Thai party, said she left Thailand on Wednesday and is now "safe and sound" in Dubai, one of the cities where her brother lives.
Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been living in exile for years after a military coup removed him from office in 2006.
Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, deputy prime minister, told reporters he could not rule out that she fled the country.
"It is not clear, but she was a former premiere, officials may have helped her out," he told reporters in Bangkok.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, a former army general who toppled Yingluck's administration in May 2014, said he had ordered security agencies to track her down.
Asked if Yingluck's vanishing act would weaken the movement supporting the Shinawatras, he replied: "I don't know. People are all Thais. Preference is idiosyncratic, but anyone stirring up (trouble) will face justice."
"This morning I felt glad that Yingluck was a brave woman to face the verdict, but I later heard she had ear fluid problem," he told journalists after reports surfaced that she ducked her court hearing. "I can only order security agencies to find out if she was really sick or where she is."
Yingluck's lawyer told the court that she had Ménière's, which causes vertigo and ringing in the ears, and could not appear for the verdict.
"I received her last contact at 8 a.m. that she had Ménière's disease. I don't know where she is," lawyer Norawit Lalaeng said.
"The court does not believe the defendant was sick enough to not be able to appear. Based on her behavior, it is believed the defendant intended to escape, therefore an arrest warrant is issued," Chief Judge Cheep Chulamon said during the hearing.
Before the court issued the arrest warrant, it ordered two of Yingluck's former commerce ministers to serve prison terms for their roles in the rice scheme. Boonsong Teriyapirom and Poom Saraphol were sentenced to 42 and 36 years in prison, respectively, for falsifying deals with China in 2013.
Yingluck has not been charged with corruption, but a conviction for negligence in the bungled scheme carries up to 10 years in prison and a life ban from politics.
About half an hour before the court's hearing started, a heavily tinted van previously used by Yingluck inched through thousands of supporters before turning away at the court's entrance.
"I don't believe that Yingluck fled because she was guilty. She helped people, she did not kill people," supporter Sombat Tubpom, 66, told BenarNews.
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Supporters display their "love gesture" to former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in Bangkok, Aug. 25, 2017. [Pimuk Rakkanam/Benar News]
Troubled rice-pledging scheme
Yingluck, 50, made history in 2011 when she became the nation's first female leader on a wave of popular support. The criminal charges stemmed from her administration's scheme to buy entire rice crops at prices well above the market rate.
In a bid to influence the world rice market, she encouraged rice farmers to store their crops in government silos and gave advance payments of 15,000 baht (U.S. $450) per ton. At the time, rice sold for 9,000 baht ($270) per ton.
The program, riddled with graft, failed as the global rice market tanked. Officials appraised the loss at 178 billion baht ($5.3 billion), from 2012 to 2014, when the government was left with warehouses full of overpriced crop that eventually rotted in silos.
Yingluck's popularity grew among the nation's 23 million farmers, a group representing more than half of the nation's voting population. But worldwide prices never reached the advance price.
In May 2014, Yingluck's term as prime minister abruptly ended when the constitutional court forced her to step down after finding her guilty of abusing power. During the same month, members of the Royal Thai Armed Forces launched a coup d'etat, the 12th since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.
In September 2016, the Comptroller General ordered Yingluck to repay 35.7 billion baht ($1 billion) from a civil case related to the rice scheme. Last month, authorities froze 12 of her bank accounts.
Yingluck, whose net worth is about U.S. $17 million (565 million baht), said the case against her is politically motivated. In court earlier this month, she proclaimed her innocence and begged the judges to not let politics or Thailand's junta sway their ruling.
"I did not do anything wrong," Yingluck told the court. "As an upcountry woman who saw farmers – the backbone of the nation – living in horrible conditions, I tried to help them out."
Political observers said Yingluck's self-exile with brother Thaksin would not lead to the demise of the Shinawatra political dynasty.
"If Yingluck really escaped, the government has lifted off political pressure, but the pro-Shinawatra Red Shirt movement still has potential successors," retired Lt. Gen. Nanthadej Meksawat told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's junta chief Monday rejected reports that government officials may have helped former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra flee the country ahead of a verdict in her trial on negligence charges stemming from a failed rice subsidy scheme.
The government did not allow Yingluck to leave as part of any deal to stop Red Shirt activists who are aligned with her opposition Pheu Thai party from stoking unrest if she were convicted, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told journalists.
"Who allowed her to leave? Who was that insane to have allowed her to leave? ..." Prayuth said during a visit to the Queen's Guard regiment in Chon Buri province.
"Don't you pay much attention to that. ... But we have to investigate how she exited and when. I have ordered the security officials to trace how she could have slipped away."
Yingluck, whose government was toppled in a military coup led by Prayuth three years ago, was due to appear at the Thai Supreme Court on Friday to hear the verdict in her trial. After she failed to show up, the court issued a warrant for Yingluck's arrest and postponed the ruling until Sept. 27.
Sources told the Bangkok Post on Friday that state officials were complicit in allowing Yingluck to leave the country and that "people of influence" had subsequently helped her travel from Cambodia to the Middle East.
"Let's just say the powers that be gave her the green light to go," said a source the Post described as close to "the upper echelons of power in Thai politics."
"If she had been convicted or jailed it would have caused more trouble and social unrest, so letting her leave was considered the best option," the source reportedly said.
Sources close to Yingluck and her party told BenarNews that she crossed into neighboring Cambodia before flying to Singapore, and from there possibly on to the United Arab Emirates. Last week, CNN reported that she had fled to Dubai, where her brother Thaksin, another former PM overthrown in a similar coup, has a home.
On Saturday, however, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen denied that Yingluck had entered his country.
Senior Thai police officials met Monday to discuss Yingluck's possible whereabouts and efforts to ensure she appears for the rescheduled verdict.
"Immigration police nationwide do not have records of her going out at any check points. But she could have slipped through non-governed border passes. ... We don't know where Yingluck is – inside or out of Thailand. We could not guess," Pol. Gen. SrivarahRangsipramanakul told reporters in Bangkok.
Police Maj. Gen. Apichart Suribunuya said Thailand would seek help from Interpol to locate Yingluck.
"Under the dictatorial grip of the NCPO, Yingluck could not have slipped unless a traitor turned one blind eye or helped Yingluck flee," said Weera Somkwamkid, a prominent former political activist opposed to the Shinawatras, referring to the junta's official name, the National Council for Peace and Order.
"She could not have escaped successfully, is it right? So the government must punish the traitor, otherwise it is the one to blame," Weera told BenarNews.
If convicted of negligence charges, Yingluck, 50, could be sent to prison for 10 years and banned from politics for life.
The charges stem from her administration's scheme to buy entire rice crops at prices well above the market rate.
In a bid to influence the world rice market, she encouraged rice farmers – a huge voting bloc – to store their crops in government silos and gave advance payments of 15,000 baht (U.S. $450) per ton. At the time, rice sold for 9,000 baht ($270) per ton.
The program was riddled with graft and it failed as the global rice market plummeted. Officials appraised the loss at 178 billion baht ($5.3 billion), from 2012 to 2014, when the government was left with warehouses full of overpriced crop that eventually rotted in silos.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand and a panel representing rebel groups from the Deep South held technical talks Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur focusing on efforts to bring about a limited ceasefire, but officials from both sides did not say whether they made much progress.
In February, a Thai government delegation and rebel organizations represented through the umbrella panel MARA Pattani agreed to a framework for setting up a ceasefire – officially known as a "safety zone" – in one district in Thailand's troubled southern border region.
Six months later, both sides still appear not to have settled on which one out of five potential districts will be picked for implementing a ceasefire, which would be aimed at helping end a conflict that has left nearly 7,000 people dead since 2004 in the Malay-speaking and predominantly Muslim Deep South.
"Yes, technical. The normal closed-door meeting. No statement," MARA Patani spokesman Abu Hafez Al-Hakim told BenarNews on Tuesday.
Thai chief negotiator Gen. Aksara Kerdpol did not attend the meeting, but confirmed it was held in the capital of Malaysia, which has served as a facilitator for the two-year-old informal peace talks between Thailand's military government and MARA.
"It is a technical meeting. ... I am awaiting the report ...," Aksara told BenarNews.
February's framework-deal on a limited ceasefire marked a breakthrough because it was the first time that both sides agreed to advance the safety-zone issue after they held several rounds of exploratory talks in Malaysia since 2015.
Abu Hafez said talks were ongoing.
"It's not finished. Need to continue, end of the month," he said.
Obstacles
The two sides agreed to send technical teams to visit the districts under consideration for a ceasefire, and then report back to a joint working group made up of officials from both the Thai government and MARA.
Thai officials said the military would shield MARA delegates who ventured into those districts during the negotiating period leading up to a ceasefire.
A Thai observer of the negotiations said the monthly technical talks faced obstacles.
"A notable example is immunity. A couple of MARA Patani members have arrest warrants against them and the Thai side is reluctant to state on paper that it gives them immunity from prosecution when they cross into Thailand because of the sensitivity of laws," the observer told BenarNews.
"There have been person-to-person talks once a month but it seems to not be often enough," the observer added.
Violence does not subside
Despite the talks, violence in the Deep South has not died down.
Since February, at least 50 people have been killed and 138 others injured in shootings and bombings across Thailand's southernmost provinces.
These attacks are believed to have been carried out by hardcore fighters with Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the most powerful insurgent group in the Deep South that opposes talks with Thailand's junta in their current form.
In July, Aksara said in a rare interview that the Thai side was in the final stages of picking one district as the site for the safety zone. He dismissed speculation on whether the three BRN officials who sat on MARA as part of the negotiating team – Awang Jabat, Sukree Hari and Ahmad Chuwol – truly represented BRN's rank-and-file.
Ahmad, who has served as a conduit between MARA Patani and BRN's governing council, is the reason why the Thai government is still negotiating, according to the observer.
"Thailand kept talking with MARA because of that. The question is do you want to talk with the insurgents at all or do you want let the violence go on as is?" he said.
Although BRN holds three seats on the negotiating panel, in a statement issued on April 10, its spokesman, Abdulkarim Khalid, appeared to reject the negotiations.
A panel negotiating on behalf of rebel factions lacked a mandate to do so and Abdulkarim demanded a direct role for BRN in fresh negotiations witnessed and mediated by impartial members of the international community, he said without naming MARA.


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BENARNEWS- A Thai soldier and a police officer were killed and 26 others including civilians were injured in roadside bombings and shootings in the Deep South early on Thursday, security officials said.
The violence began around 1:30 a.m. when a bomb exploded next to a utility pole in Yala's Kabang district. No one was injured and officials waited until daylight to send a crew to assess the damage.
Later, an explosive ordnance disposal team was dispatched to the scene. They were traveling through nearby Yaha district at around 9 a.m. when a second bomb exploded. As a security team rushed to the scene to aid those injured minutes earlier, another bomb exploded and militants began shooting at their vehicles.
"I believe the bombings were carried out by the insurgents," Yaha Police Station chief Col. Tawat Sunthornpoj told reporters as he inspected the ambush scenes.
The soldier and police officer died after being taken to a hospital, according to officials with the regional military command, ISOC 4. Of the 26 people wounded, four were seriously injured, they said.
Officials did not give a breakdown of how many people were hurt in each attack.
The attacks took place only two days after government officials and members of MARA Patani, a panel representing rebel groups, met in Kuala Lumpur to discuss technical issues involved in establishing a proposed "safety zone" in a Deep South district.
The peace talk efforts seek to resolve the 13-year-old armed conflict that has killed nearly 7,000 people in Yala and its neighboring southern provinces, Pattani and Narathiwat.
In August, police in the Deep South killed a suspected insurgent after seven men stole pickup trucks from a used-car dealership, intending to convert into car bombs. The suspects also took four employees hostage, killing one and injuring another.
In May, insurgents set off two car bombs near the Big C department store in Pattani town, wounding more than 80 people.


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BENARNEWS- In rare public comments Saturday on Thailand's Deep South peace process, the government's chief negotiator laid blame for slow progress on insurgents, while rejecting assertions that the most powerful rebel group was not part of the talks.
The comments came four days after a round of technical talks in Kuala Lumpur at which the two sides were said to be hammering out details for a limited ceasefire that has been on the table since the exploratory talks began in 2015.
"Deep South people are eager to participate in designing security measures because they are direct stake holders. [But] if the dissidents are not ready, the chance to include public participation in the process will be delayed," Aksara said in a statement sent to reporters.
"Though the dissident groups are not ready to specify a safety zone, the government has a mandate to provide 37 districts in Deep South with security anyway. That is because the government realizes the people's safety as the top priority," he said.
In subsequent comments to BenarNews, Aksara stressed that the talks were ongoing and that the full negotiating teams would meet again, although he would not say when.
"The safety zone issue will be addressed in the next full delegation talk. I don't have a date yet," he told BenarNews in a telephone interview.
'Key men are included'
He declined to name the district Thailand has chosen for the initiative from five proposed by MARA Patani. But he said further progress had been made on safety zone implementation in the talks last week and that "the technical teams were not to finalize the issue."
Ongoing violence and a lack of concrete outcomes in the talks have led to questions over whether MARA Patani, a panel representing insurgent groups at the talks, has control over fighters on the ground, particularly those belonging to the largest and most lethal group, Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN).
When it made its public debut in August 2015, three members of MARA Patani said they represented BRN. Aksara on Saturday refuted claims that those individuals do not have clout in the insurgent group.
"Some said the BRN members in MARA Patani are not the real deal. I don't agree. Many BRN key men are included," he said.
A source described as a "senior" BRN member told Reuters in an interview this week that the BRN representatives on MARA Patani were "former" members of the secretive group.
And in a rare statement in April, BRN spokesman Abdulkarim Khalid told the Asia Times that "the BRN was playing no part in the MARA Patani umbrella group."
Aksara said Abdulkarim Khalid "was serving his own agenda," since he was a negotiator in peace talks under former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that ground to a halt months before she was ousted by a military coup in May 2014.
BRN has said it is willing to participate in talks that are mediated by the international community and conducted without reference to the country's constitution, which states that the kingdom is indivisible.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence linked to a separatist movement in Thailand's southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – areas that were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate before being annexed by Bangkok in 1909.
A Thai soldier and a police officer were killed and 26 others including civilians were injured in roadside bombings and shootings in Yala province on Thursday.
In August, police in nearby Songhkla province killed a suspected insurgent after seven men stole pickup trucks from a used-car dealership, intending to convert them into car bombs, police said. The suspects took four people hostage, killing one and injuring another.
In May, insurgents set off two car bombs near the Big C department store in Pattani town, wounding more than 80 people.


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BENARNEWS- Echoing comments by the chief Thai negotiator, a MARA Patani spokesman insisted Monday that Barisan Revolusi Nasional rebels were on its negotiating panel in informal peace talks, and these were on-going despite a disagreement last week over a limited ceasefire.
Three current members of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) sit on the panel, and reports about the disagreement over the so-called safety zone that cut short the latest discussions was intentionally blown out of proportion to discredit the peace process in Thailand's Deep South, MARA Patani spokesman Abu Hafez Al-Hakim told BenarNews.
"Awang Jabat is the MARA Patani chairman ... Sukree Haree is the chief of the dialogue team while Ahmad Chuwo is also on the dialogue team. All of them are BRN members," he said.
MARA says it is an umbrella organization representing Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the most powerful of the insurgent groups in the Deep South, and other rebel organizations in informal talks with Thailand's military government that have gone on since 2015.
"At this juncture, some minor details of certain issues related to safety zones, especially from the Thai side, have not been satisfactorily addressed. More discussion and clarification are still needed, hence the implementation is a little delayed," Abu Hafez said.
"This situation is not abnormal in any peace process where dialogue partners differ in opinions. The correct approach is to continue dialogue, not walk away from it."
Responding to BenarNews, Abu Hafez supported comments made on Saturday by the Thai government's chief negotiator, Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, who had said that BRN members were part of the talks. Aksara also shot down a wire service report that "former" members of BRN served on the negotiating team.
"I won't want to comment on the Reuters report because that person [BRN member] didn't have the authority to speak on behalf of BRN, even though that person is a BRN member, and maybe he spoke in his personal capacity," Abu Hafez said, adding that three of seven members of a technical belonged to the insurgent group.
The negotiators did not say when the talks would resume.
The talks that have been going on in Kuala Lumpur for more than two years and facilitated by Malaysia have not yet led to a ceasefire that would be confined at first to one district in the Deep South, although the two sides had agreed to a framework on this safety zone in February.
Six months later, negotiators have not agreed on which one out of five potential districts would be picked for implementing a safety zone aimed at helping end the conflict, which has left nearly 7,000 people dead since 2004 in the Malay-speaking and predominantly Muslim Deep South.


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BENARNEWS- A Buddhist monk infamous for hate speech against Muslims has been detained by security forces, sources told BenarNews on Wednesday.
Phra Maha Apichart Punnajanto, a monk at Bangkok's Benchamabophit Temple, used social media to promote violence against Muslims in Thailand's Deep South because insurgents from the violence-scarred region are blamed for killing more than a dozen monks in the past 13 years.
He was detained by military officials in the southern province of Songkhla, Ruckchart Suwan, president of Yala-based Buddhist Network for Peace, told BenarNews by phone.
"I called Fort Senanarong, the military there said he was transferred to the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok. But when I called it, the police said nothing," Ruckchart said.
Fort Senanarong is an army base in Songkhla, and some of its districts are part of the Deep South region, together with Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces.
BenarNews was unable to reach the Crime Suppression Division of the Bangkok police for confirmation.
Dusit Promsin, a police colonel in Songhkhla, told the Associated Press that Phra Apichart had been detained there Tuesday because of videos he had posted online.
In a YouTube video uploaded on March 10, Phra Apichart said he wanted to see Deep South Muslims "in the same situation like Rohingya people, who were hunted, beheaded by Burmese, from children to older ones." Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to arson, rapes and killings by security forces and civilian militias in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, rights advocates say.
Phra Apichart also urged Buddhists to exact revenge on Deep South Muslims by burning mosques.
Buddhist Network for Peace and other non-governmental organizations called for authorities to clarify the status of the monk.
"Though the Foundation disagrees with hate speech regarding religions, the authorities' mishandling of religious figures may fuel the flame," Pornpen Khongkachonkiet of the Cross Cultural Foundation said in a statement released Wednesday.
"If the authorities are to tackle seditious speeches, they must carry it out in an open manner, under the framework of laws and human rights, with understanding of the sensitivity of the issue in Deep South, ASEAN and international level," she said.
Nearly 7,000 people have been killed since 2004 in violence linked to a separatist movement in Thailand's southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat – areas that were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate before being annexed by Bangkok in 1909.
Muslims live throughout Buddhist-majority Thailand, where a lack of understanding about the Deep South conflict and media focus on violence there, has fueled Islamophobia, experts say.
In June, Buddhists in northeastern Thailand filed a petition to stop a Muslim community's efforts to register a recently constructed mosque, citing fears of violence similar to that in the country's insurgency-stricken Deep South.


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BENARNEWS- In the latest sign of warming relations between Bangkok and Washington, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said Tuesday that he plannedto meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Oct. 3 to discuss bilateral issues including trade and regional conflicts.
Prayuth will be accompanied by a few members of his cabinet during the official visit from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4, according to Maj. Gen. Weerachon Sukhonthapatipak, the deputy government spokesman.
The prime minister said he would play a neutral role during his meeting with Trump.
"To visit the United States does not mean we chose a side," he told reporters at the Government House in Bangkok. "Don't view it as side-choosing. We are willing to meet all sides."
Prayuth confirmed his trip as the White House issued a statement saying that the two leaders would "discuss ways to strengthen and broaden bilateral relations and enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region."
"President Trump looks forward to reaffirming the relationship between the United States and a key partner and longstanding ally in Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand," the White House statement said.
The dual confirmation came after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Bangkok in August – the highest-level visit by a U.S. official since Prayuth, a former Royal Thai Army commander, took power during a coup on May 22, 2014.
Bilateral ties between the two nations had slumped as the Thai military junta jailed dissidents, outlawed street protests and ramped up prosecutions under Lese-Majeste, the nation's strict royal defamation law.
In response, the United States terminated $3.5 million in military aid programs to Thailand and followed that move with a watered-down Cobra Gold Exercise, the annual drill that symbolized America's strong military relations with its major non-NATO ally in Southeast Asia.
Although Prayuth met former President Barack Obama in February 2016 during an Association of Southeast Asian Nations-U.S. summit in California, a political observer said the junta leader's scheduled meeting with Trump would be more significant as it would bolster the Thai general's image.
Meeting could focus on China, North Korea
"Gen. Prayuth becomes the second military figure who turned into a premier and who was and is recognized by two U.S. presidents. Ex-President Nixon held former premier Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda in a high regard and Gen. Prayuth is recognized by President Trump," Sutin Wanabovorn, a Thai political observer told BenarNews.
"Trump is unorthodox, he doesn't care about the protocol and his recognition of Gen. Prayuth is a triumph for the Thai general," Sutin said.
Sutin said the bilateral meeting might focus more on China, North Korea and regional conflicts, rather than domestic Thai issues.
Thailand and the United States started bilateral ties after King Rama III and President Andrew Jackson signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1833, said Maj. Gen. Weerachon, the deputy Thai spokesman.
The announcement of Prayuth's visit comes two weeks after Trump welcomed Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to the White House amid a U.S. probe into a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal that has implicated the Malaysian leader.
Additionally, the White House confirmed a friendly discussion between Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in May, but has not provided details on when or if Duterte would visit Washington.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's Supreme Court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison for criminal negligence in a corruption-plagued rice subsidy scheme that cost the nation billions of dollars.
Yingluck, 50, who became Thailand's first female leader in 2011 and whose government was toppled in a military coup three years later, skipped her original Aug. 25 sentencing and was believed to have fled the country.
"The defendant was found guilty of the alleged offenses ... and was sentenced to five years imprisonment," Cheep Chulamon, chief of the nine-judge panel, said while reading the unanimous verdict.
One of Yingluck's lawyers, Norrawit Larlaeng, told reporters after the sentencing that she could not be contacted since she had failed to show up at court for the verdict last month, making it difficult to talk about their next step.
If her team of attorneys decides to appeal, she would be required to appear in court, he said.
Rungrawee Charoensuk, 48, a Yingluck supporter who waited outside the courtroom along with about 20 others, said the conviction had been widely expected.
"I thought it would be like this. Otherwise she would not flee," Rungrawee told BenarNews. "She told me she would fight all the way, but she must have known the result would be like this."
After overthrowing Yingluck's government in May 2014, Thailand's junta pursued criminal charges claiming that she had failed to stop corruption and losses of more than U.S. $5 billion in her administration's scheme to buy rice crops from farmers at prices well above the market rate. The program failed as the global rice market plummeted and the government was left with warehouses full of overpriced crop that eventually rotted in silos.
Authorities have frozen 12 of her bank accounts.
Yingluck attended dozens of hearings during the trial that lasted more than a year and pleaded innocent, accusing the junta of a political witch-hunt.
Whereabouts in question
Yingluck has not commented publicly on the verdict. Her social-media accounts have been inactive since Aug. 24, when she told her supporters on Facebook not to gather at the courthouse the next morning over concerns of possible violence.
Sources said Yingluck had escaped through the Cambodian border two days before the originally scheduled verdict.
They said Yingluck then flew in a private jet and stayed with her older brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in Dubai, where he is in self-imposed exile after he was toppled by a military coup in 2006. Instagram photos posted this week by one of Thaksin's daughters showed him in London.
After Yingluck's disappearance, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, who led the coup that toppled Yingluck, ordered security officials to investigate how she managed to escape. Last week, authorities said that three high-ranking police officials had admitted to helping her cross the border.
On Tuesday, Prayuth said he knew Yingluck's whereabouts and would reveal it after the verdict.
A day later, he spoke about Yingluck as he briefed reporters on his scheduled meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington next week.
"She is abroad," he said. Asked if she could be in a neighboring country, Prayuth replied: "Don't know. Don't you ask me."


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's government will not negotiate with southern insurgents who use violence to press it into accepting their demands, the chief Thai negotiator in peace talks with Deep South rebels said Friday. 

Gen. Aksara Kerdpol was reacting to a BBC Thai news report that quoted a Barisan Revolusi Nasional insurgent as saying that BRN would keep such pressure up to force Bangkok to agree to its terms. 

"There are many extreme groups. We won't talk with these kinds of groups that create violence to pressure the government to accept their terms and conditions," Aksara told BenarNews in a phone interview. 

For more than two years, Aksara has headed the Thai military government's delegation in a series of talks in Kuala Lumpur with various rebel groups represented by a panel known as MARA Patani, and that have been facilitated by Malaysia.

"Solving Deep South problems needs the comprehensive implementation of strategy, operations and tactics. The peace talks are the nation's strategy," Aksara said. "The idea is to denounce 'terrorism' by using peaceful solutions via peace talks." 

BRN, the most powerful of the rebel groups in Thailand's troubled southern border region, is represented on the panel, but a hardline faction has repeatedly denounced the current peace efforts. Among other things, it has demanded that BRN deal directly with the government in peace talks.

On Friday, BBC News's Thai-language service published a report in which it interviewed a man named "Yusuf," who said he was with the information department of Barisan Revolusi Nasional. Yusuf said BRN would keep fighting Thai security forces in the heavily militarized Deep South while aiming for a negotiated peace.

"BRN will continue with military operations until the Thai government opens up for both sides to jointly solve the conflict. The military operations are not the goal, but they are a way to achieve the goal," Yusuf told the BBC.

Security officials believe that hardcore BRN rebels have been behind violence that has gone on in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South, in the shape of bombings and shootings, despite the two-year-old peace talks with MARA Patani.

BRN is not known for claiming responsibility for such attacks, including a roadside bombing that killed four Thai soldiers and injured six others in Pattani province on Sept. 22. 

On Friday, two volunteers belonging to a local defense task force in Pattani's Mae Lan district were injured in a motorcycle bomb attack, officials said.   

In other developments in the far south on Friday, 700 marines came ashore in Narathiwat, another province in the Deep South, as they were deployed to replace troops that rotated out of the region last year, the military said. 

Almost 7,000 people have been killed in violence related to the southern insurgency since the decades-old conflict re-ignited in 2004.

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BENARNEWS- Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed ways to battle terrorism and improve bilateral trade as the leader of Thailand's military government paid a controversial visit to the White House on Monday.
The Trump administration's decision to invite Prayuth to the White House came three years after the now retired army general led a coup that overthrew the civilian-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
"We have a very strong relationship right now ... and it's getting stronger in the last nine months," Trump told Prayuth. Thailand is among America's oldest allies, and bilateral relations date back more than 200 years, to 1818.
"Our relationship on trade is becoming more and more important and it's a great country to trade with." Trump said. "I think we're going to try to sell a little bit more to you."
The visit was expected to bolster Prayuth's domestic and international image just days after the Thai Supreme Court convicted and sentenced Yingluck in absentia to five years in prison for criminal negligence in a corruption-plagued rice subsidy scheme.
But Prayuth's meeting with Trump – a rare instance of a Thai junta leader being honored in Washington – was overshadowed by one of the deadliest shootings in United States history, with police saying that at least 58 people were killed and more than 500 others injured by a gunman in Las Vegas overnight. The meeting between the two leaders also took place as much of the American public's attention was focused on hurricane devastated Puerto Rico.
Speaking through an interpreter, Prayuth touched on the two American tragedies.
"Of course, Thailand would like to take this opportunity to express my condolences to those victims and family of the shooting incident in Las Vegas last night," Prayuth said. "And I wish to express our solidarity with the American people."
"Moreover, I would also like to express my condolences to those victims and their family in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico who are affected by hurricane," he said, adding that his government and the Thai private sector had pledged financial assistance.
The Thai prime minister said he was optimistic about strengthening bilateral cooperation. The two leaders sat side by side in gold-tone chairs, as U.S. First Lady Melania Trump and Naraporn, Prayuth's wife, sat on couches facing each other, according to a transcript of the event released by the White House.
Last year, the United States had a trade deficit of about $19 billion with Thailand, America's 11th largest trading partner. The United States is Thailand's third largest source of imports, after China and Japan.
The United States and Thailand established relations in 1818 and formalized diplomatic relations after signing the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1833, according to the U.S. State Department.
Prayuth underscored the 200-year-old relationship.
"We work, of course, in hand on our security defense cooperation to help ensure that our citizens are safeguarded from terrorism and other threats," he said. "Of course, we will work closely in order to solve the regional issues of concern."
Policy shift
At least one political observer viewed Prayuth's visit as a reflection of a foreign policy shift by Washington since the Trump administration came to power.
"The visit reflects official recognition of the Thai government. It is very rare that the U.S. welcomes [the head of a] military government to visit the White House," Sutin Wannabovorn, a Thai political observer and former journalist, told BenarNews. "It enhances the political credibility of Prayuth at domestic and international level."
Since taking office in January, President Trump has met a slew of controversial leaders at the White House, including Egypt's strongman Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Malaysian leader Najib Razak. He has also praised Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
Before Prayuth's visit, the last Thai junta chief to visit the White House was Prem Tinsulanonda, who visited President Ronald Reagan there in 1984.
John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said the two leaders would not be expected to discuss the human rights situation in Thailand since Prayuth took power in 2014.
"The ugly political realities of the visit – that Thailand is ruled by a military junta and the Trump administration doesn't care – will be papered over with repetitions of old tropes typically trotted out during U.S.-Thailand diplomatic meetings," Sifton said in a statement issued on the eve of Prayuth's stop at the White House.
"Both sides will praise the nations' 'enduring' ties," he said. "Someone may even recount the old chestnut about King Mongkut offering to send war elephants to President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the U.S. Civil War."
Prayuth's Oct. 2-4 U.S. visit includes meetings with U.S. Congressional leaders and a gala dinner in Washington hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Business Council, Thailand's foreign ministry said.




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BENARNEWS- Thailand will hold a general election next year, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha told U.S. business leaders at a gala dinner in Washington.
Prayuth, who took over the Thai government after leading a military coup that overthrew then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014, did not announce a specific date for polls when he addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday night.
"What you want to see is democracy. It will certainly come, I assure you, next year, I will announce the election day," Prayuth told his audience that included business executives and government officials. "We have been talking for three years, you have seen our strong intention."
"It's not easy for Thailand," he said. "Next year, the election day will be announced, after other related laws are completed, following the road map. When the related laws are completed, we have 150 days, then we can announce [an election date]."
While meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, Prayuth assured the U.S. leader that he would set a firm date for elections in 2018.
"Indeed, it was me who initiated the discussion and assured him that Thailand will abide by its roadmap to return to democracy," Prayuth told Thai journalists following the meeting.
On multiple occasions over the past three years, the junta under Prayuth has postponed elections, which the military government has touted as central to its roadmap for steering Thailand back toward democracy.
Prayuth has rejected criticism that he has been ambiguous about a time-frame for elections.
"I did not mislead anyone or cover anything up," he told the reporters, according to the Bangkok Post. "I don't want anyone asking me about it anymore."
In his Tuesday speech at the chamber, Prayuth challenged his critics.
"I have never done any harm in anyone's business in Thailand, I have only made it better. My job is to solve all problems and find solutions to conflicts ... not wanting to use power, not wanting to violate human rights or set limits to people's freedom," he said. "Ninety percent of Thai people have not suffered because of me, but only a few people have because they go against the law."
Stronger security alliance
Bilateral cooperation on security issues were also on the agenda of Prayuth's meeting with Trump.
"We work, of course, hand-in-hand on our security defense cooperation to help ensure that our citizens are safeguarded from terrorism and other threats," Prayuth told reporters before the meeting at the White House.
A joint statement issued by the two leaders afterwards called for a stronger alliance on security-related matters and increased economic prosperity. Among security-related issues, Prayuth and Trump touched on the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh.
They highlighted the sea's importance as a major international shipping route.
"They also concurred on the need for a cooperative approach to ensuring a peaceful, stable and sustainable South China Sea," the joint statement said.
The leaders expressed "grave concern" about North Korea's unprecedented nuclear and ballistic missile tests and called for the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions to create a safe, denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
They also discussed humanitarian assistance to Rohingya affected by violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Prayuth and Trump said they welcomed "the Myanmar government's commitment to end the violence [and] ensure the safe return of displaced persons."
The joint statement also said the two nations would work together to strengthen Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking.
"We must counter human trafficking, which I think is a severe issue. I have managed to have either businesses or  officials be punished and to take care of victims, including those involved  in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing," Prayuth told the chamber.
He also touted efforts to grow Thai's economy.
"We are trying to increase our trade value in the next year to reach $8.5 billion," he said.
As part of that effort, Thailand's Siam Cement Group signed two memoranda of understanding to buy 155,000 tons of coal from U.S. companies.
Prayuth praised a group of more than 20 businesses that have invested about $6 billion and created 50,000 to 60,000 jobs.
"Today, we plan to increase our investment by $8.3 billion and employ more than 60,000 more.  We have started projects in petrochemical, agriculture, food processing and fishery products," he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon announced that Thailand would resume purchasing U.S. weapons after sales were suspended following the 2014 coup.
Among the weapons expected to be purchased are Black Hawk helicopters and Harpoon missile systems.


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BENARNEWS- Fugitive ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will face four charges, including royal defamation and computer-related crimes, Thailand's attorney general said Friday, a day after police announced a third warrant had been issued for his sister Yingluck's arrest.
Thaksin, 68, a former telecommunications tycoon, lives in exile after he was deposed in a 2006 military coup while attending the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He briefly came back and subsequently fled the country in 2008 just before a court sentenced him to two years in prison on corruption charges.
"We will contact the Technology Crime Suppression Division to issue an arrest warrant on Thaksin for royal defamation and violation of Computer Crime Act," Attorney General Kemchai Chutiwong told reporters.
"We will set up a committee to file the cases to the Supreme Court's politician figure's criminal section," Kemchai told reporters, without providing details on how Thaksin had violated the Lese-Majeste, the nation's strict royal defamation law.
Kemchai's statements came a day after Gen. Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, the deputy police commissioner, told reporters that a third arrest warrant had been issued against Yingluck Shinawatra for violating immigration laws by not using an official border checkpoint to travel out of the country.
Warrants against Yingluck
The Supreme Court issued the first warrant on Aug. 25, when Yingluck breached bail and skipped her sentencing in a corruption-plagued rice subsidy scheme. The second warrant came out on Sept. 27 when she was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for criminal negligence related to the botched rice program.
Throughout her trial, Yingluck, 50, has repeatedly claimed innocence, saying she was a victim of political persecution.
Yingluck was believed to have fled to Dubai after passing through the Cambodian border. She became the nation's first female leader in 2011, but a military coup toppled her government three years later.
Srivara, the deputy police chief, told reporters on Tuesday that the United Arab Emirates had confirmed Yingluck went from Dubai to England. On Thursday, Thai officials shrugged off local reports, quoting unnamed sources, that England has approved Yingluck's application for political asylum.
Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who serves as defense minister, told reporters he had no prior knowledge that Yingluck was seeking asylum.
The British Embassy's political office in Washington did not return calls from BenarNews for comment.
Thaksin, who travels frequently, owns homes in Dubai and London. His suspended court cases involved a bank loan scandal and charges of malfeasance for allegedly pushing for legal amendments to allow his own businesses to pay less taxes and fees.
Thaksin would be the highest-profile Thai to face Lese-Majeste, the law that prohibits defaming, insulting or threatening the Thai royal family. Conviction carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison.
Since the military seized power in May 2014, at least 82 people have been charged under Lese-Majeste, according to iLaw, a rights advocacy group. Those cases so far have resulted in 38 convictions and seven acquittals, the group said.


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BENARNEWS- Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced a potential timeframe Tuesday for general elections in 2018 that would be the first since his military government seized power in a coup three years ago.
Previously, Prayuth had discussed holding a national election before he pulled back on his comments, citing national security concerns and unfinished election laws. After meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House earlier this month, Prayuth told business leaders in Washington that Thailand would hold a general election next year, but did not announce a timeframe.
On Tuesday, he added clarity to his previous announcement.
"Around June 2018, we will announce an election date. And around November, we will hold the elections ... this is very clear," Prayuth told reporters at Government House in Bangkok, following his weekly cabinet session and a meeting of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the official name of the junta he leads.
The national election would be the first since the NCPO came to power in May 2014. Prayuth, a retired general, became prime minister after leading a military coup that overthrew then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The election announcement comes weeks after Yingluck fled Thailand in August before she was to appear in court to hear the verdict in a rice subsidy scheme during her tenure. A month later, she was sentenced in absentia to five years, while government officials said they were unsure of her whereabouts.
Yingluck's older brother Thaksin, another former prime minister, suffered a similar coup in 2006 and has been living in exile since 2008. Last week, the attorney general announced that he was filing a royal defamation charge against Thaksin.
Thaksin challenges charges
In a message posted on Twitter late Monday, Thaksin denied that he had insulted the Thai monarchy, and he threatened to take legal action against whomever used his name to defame to royal family.
"I was extremely concerned when I heard about the Lese-Majeste message that mentioned my name," he tweeted, adding that he never considered offending the royal institution.
Thailand's strict Lese-Majeste law prohibits defaming, insulting or threatening the Thai royal family. Conviction carries a penalty of three to 15 years in prison.
"I will ask my lawyer to sue everyone who claims I offended the royal institution," Thaksin tweeted.
Additionally, he ordered his lawyer to submit petition to the attorney general to reconsider the accusations against him.
Attorney General Khemchai Chutiwong told reporters on Friday that Thaksin would be charged under Lese-Majeste and for computer-related crimes, but without providing details.
Since Prayuth seized power in May 2014, at least 82 people have been charged under Lese-Majeste, according to iLaw, a rights advocacy group.
Prayuth: do not campaign
Announcing his plan for an election next year, Prime Minister Prayuth also admonished political parties to refrain from campaigning.
"The NCPO will consider lifting a ban on political activities at an appropriate time. Until then, all politicians and political parties shall maintain peace and order because it will impact the relaxation of the political restrictions," he said.
Sunisa Lertpakawat, a former deputy spokesman from Pheu Thai party, asked Prayuth to relax political activities after the royal cremation ceremony for the late King Phumipol Adulyadej, which is coming up later in October. Pheu Thai is the opposition party linked to the Shinawatras.
"There are many process that political parties have to prepare for the election. After October, Gen. Prayuth should allow people to express their political opinion to create political participation and get them ready for the coming general election," Sunisa told reporters.


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BENARNEWS- As they mark the one-year anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's death, Thais are preparing for a final expression of grief at his massive cremation later this month that will formally close the nation's yearlong mourning period.
One citizen, Meuk, who asked that only his first name be used, was shocked when he heard about his beloved king's death on Oct. 13, 2016. He had just finished his teaching duties and started making phone calls hoping the news was not true.
"I lost my mind," Meuk told BenarNews, his voice quivering during a phone conversation. "It was the worst loss in my entire life. My world stopped. He was more than family, he was everything in my life.
"Losing him was like losing someone you love the most, someone who made me become who I am today."
Meuk said he still cries when watching royal activities and documentaries about the king and viewing photo books.
"His voice and his pictures are stuck in my memory. I keep crying. It is the truth that I have to accept. I feel like I'm swimming in the ocean without seeing the shore," Meuk said.
The royal cremation ceremony day, Oct. 26, has been declared a national holiday. Shopping centers, cinemas, entertainment venues, the stock market and financial institutions will be closed to allow people to pay their final respects.
The Thai people have made several million artificial flowers for the ceremony. Additionally, heads of state and representatives of 50 countries plan to attend and the government has extended the mourning period until Oct. 30.
Nationwide grief
Many share Meuk's grief because of the late king's efforts to improve the quality of life through royal projects throughout Thailand during his 70-year reign.
"I'm still very sad, but I know I am better because of his existence. The king became my role model to do something for others," said Supaset Sivaburinmitra, a businessman from Kanchanaburi who contributed 10 percent of his revenue to Thai social welfare programs.
"I don't have time for being sad," he said, "but I have to step out and start doing something to carry on what he started."
Supaset recalled driving through a river with his friends to help build and repair dams in an effort to prevent flash flooding as they set out to follow the late King Bhumibol's philosophy of conserving the forest.
"We have to live in reality that he's gone. We had one year to get used to the sadness and move on by following his steps," Supaset said.
That reality is difficult for Thinnapat Chuengpaisal who still cries when talking about the late king.
She lived near the king's palace in central south Thailand several years ago. One day, she said, she sat along the road waiting for five hours when the monarch's car slowly drove by, with the king waving to his people.
She cried while shouting "Long Live the King" among thousands of people on the street and promised herself she would be a better person by following his teaching.
"My heart is broken. I went to a monastery for meditation practice to prepare for the royal cremation ceremony because I want to accept this and I don't want to be depressed," Thinnapat told BenarNews while trying unsuccessfully to hold back tears. "He is my inspiration."
Anniversary
Last year, about 12.7 million people paid their final respects to King Bhumibol at the Grand Palace and donated 889 million baht (U.S. $26.8 million) to be used for ongoing royal projects.
On Friday, King Maha Vajiralongkorn will attend a merit-making ceremony at the Grand Palace commemorating the one-year anniversary of his father's death.
At the exact moment it occurred, 3:52 p.m., public and private agencies, officials and civil service workers will stand for 89 seconds in silent tribute to the late monarch, who died a few months before his 89th birthday.
Public and private agencies, including hotels and airports across Thailand, have set up elaborate shrines decorated in black and white fabric with flowers surrounding the late king's portrait and condolence books. Black-and-white fabric adorns the tops of buildings and fences in major construction sites.
For the past year, Thais have worn black or dark clothing. Some cry in public, especially at the royal palace.
At least 10 exhibitions about the late king are on display in Bangkok along with many more across the nation.
The government has encouraged people to plant and decorate marigolds inside and outside homes, shopping centers and public areas in commemoration.


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BENARNEWS-Malaysian officials are banking on more Thai tourists hopping on a new fast train to cross the border into their country, although Kelantan state police are telling citizens to be careful when traveling to Thailand because of violence in its troubled south.
Representatives of Malaysia's Ministry of Tourism and Culture gathered with Thai officials and tour agents last week in Songkhla, a border province in Thailand's far south, to unveil the "Southern Thai Packages to Malaysia" travel program featuring low train fares to Kuala Lumpur.
The packages promote travel on the fast and direct KTM train from the railway station in southern Thailand's Hat Yai town to the Malaysian capital.
But Hasanuddin Hassan, the police chief of Kelantan, a Malaysian state that lies just across the border, on Wednesday warned local residents about crossing the frontier into Thailand's Deep South because of ongoing turmoil there.
"We do not want any unwanted incidents like that of a Kelantanese who was fatally hit by a stray bullet in Tak Bai," he told the state news agency Bernama. "The situation is still not peaceful and there are still blasts and shots which pose a danger to the public."
Thai media reported that Kelantan resident Wan Mohd Zain Wan Hussin was fatally shot Sunday night when suspected insurgents attacked a security checkpoint in Tak Bai, a district of Narathiwat, one of the provinces that make up the Deep South. Since 2004, Nearly 7,000 people have been killed in violence associated with a separatist insurgency in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region.
Malaysia's Consul-General to Thailand urged his countrymen to be careful when crossing the border.
"I would like to advise Malaysians who want to enter Thailand to use legitimate documents. This is important to avoid being detained by their authorities," Mohd Afandi Abu Bakar told BenarNews.
Special train fares
Meanwhile, five major Thai travel agencies have joined the promotional campaign that features a base package priced at 4,200 baht (U.S. $126). Malaysian officials expect that Thais will want to visit attractions including the Genting Highlands, the Cameron Highlands, Penang Island, Langkawee Island, Ipoh and the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
"Our target number of Thai tourists to Malaysia this year is 1.8 million people," Iskandar Mirza M. Yusof, director of corporate communications for the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, told BenarNews. The figure represents a slight increase from 1.78 million visitors in 2016 and about half the number of Malaysians who visited Thailand, 3.5 million, according to officials.
"The train goes directly to Kuala Lumpur," Yusof said, adding that travelers can avoid potential traffic jams in reaching the capital city.
Suthida Doloh, from Thailand's Yala province, told BenarNews that she enjoyed her train trip with friends to Kuala Lumpur in April.
"It was fast, only five hours to KL, convenient and I had great views of historical towns along the way. It was a great fun and I would like to make it again," Suthida said.
Hadi Azmi and Hata Wahari in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS-Child-sex abuse has been spreading at a phenomenal rate as pedophiles now stream their sexually exploitative materials through an overlay of online networks that cannot be easily accessed, a U.N. official told BenarNews.
More than 6,000 websites with child-related obscene content have recently been tracked down, but authorities believe there still are "a phenomenal amount" of inaccessible sites operated by pedophiles who use so-called dark nets, according to Neil Walsh, chief of the global program on cybercrime for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Dark nets are computer networks that can be accessed only with specific software that re-routes connections through layers of servers, allowing users to remain anonymous. Websites on the dark web are not indexed, meaning that online surfers will not see them through a Google search.
"Pedophiles sit in somewhere in the dark nets and access the Internet to release materials. The more we work harder to remove the contents, the more they make it harder to find it," Walsh said. "Still, there is phenomenal amount out there."
Walsh spoke to BenarNews while attending a conference in Bangkok titled "Effective Responses to Online Child Sexual Exploitation in Asia."
During the three-day event that started Tuesday, Walsh said the rising use of the Internet in Thailand had made the country the "webcam center for child pornography," stripping the Philippines of that notorious title.
The proliferation of smart phones in Thailand allows users easy access to illicit websites even from rural areas that have 4G signals, he said.
About 50 percent of Southeast Asia has Internet access, but the figure spikes to 58 percent in the Philippines, a hub for online sex abuse, while the number is growing in Thailand at about 67 percent, according to Reuters news service, which cited a recent study.
Thailand clamps down on pedophilia
UNODC, in a report released in August, noted the growing demand for livestreaming of child sex abuse in the Mekong region. It also underscored the shift in child-sex webcam centers from the Philippines to Thailand.
But a Thai police officer, who analyzes Internet crimes against minors, said online pedophiles could not hide in Thailand.
"After Thai government passed the law to fight child sexual abuse, we seriously enforced the rule of law, and those pedophiles escaped Thailand," said police Col. Santipatn Prommajul, chief digital intelligence analyst for the Thai Internet Crime Against Children Task Force.
"We deported many pedophiles from Thailand," he told BenarNews.
He blamed advances in technology, among other issues, for the growing cybercrimes.
At least 25 suspects have been prosecuted through the nation's amended Computer-Related Crime Act, which was adopted by the junta-appointed legislature in December 2016, Santipatn said. He said 18 of the cases involved child pornography.
He said Thai police has been working closely with the FBI, the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Virginia-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which provides the Thai police with weblinks to possible violations to the computer-crimes law.
Concerns on social media misuse
In a seven-day check on Bangkok, more than 3,600 individual Internet addresses had been identified sharing child exploitation material, Jon Rouse, a member of Taskforce Argos, an Australian police unit that targets online child sex abuse networks, told Reuters.
Rouse was also in Thailand to attend the conference in Bangkok.
Walsh told BenarNews that the UNODC had expressed its concerns about the misuse of online technology to sexually exploit children.
"The whole dynamic of online webcam has changed, where in the past we needed a camera to plug in to do this thing," he said. "But now, it's just a phone, laptop, tablet and that's how many webcams in your home."


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Thailand's military government says it plans to deploy drones to the insurgency-stricken Deep South for reconnaissance flights to alert army patrols and other security personnel to imminent rebel attacks and roadside bombings.
The military will deploy at least three unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, to carry out eye-in-the-sky surveillance in dozens of districts in the southern border region as a way to reduce casualties among more than 60,000 troops stationed there, officials said this week.
"I intend to use three to four drones ... in the 37 districts of the Deep South to do reconnaissance and attack-related intelligence work before the soldiers would reach the ground," Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr told reporters in Bangkok.
"The insurgents are not far away from the kill zone to trigger the bombs," he added.
The deputy defense minister touched on the plan to use UAVs while announcing that the government planned to allocate 13.2 billion baht (U.S. $397.5 million) for the next fiscal year in order to tackle unrest in the Deep South and other regional challenges.
Udomdej also heads a so-called forward cabinet appointed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha to deal specifically with matters in the far south.
Between October 2016 and September 2017, as many as 233 soldiers, policemen and defense volunteers have been killed in roadside bombings and other types of ambushes laid by insurgents in the Deep South, according to the regional office of Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).
Close to 7,000 people, including civilians, have been killed and 15,000 injured in violence associated with a separatist insurgency in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking border region since 2004. Since then, Thailand has spent some 300 billion (U.S. $9.03 billion) in trying to settle the conflict.
Since 2015, the Thai junta has engaged various rebel groups in the south in peace talks, but the two sides have yet to agree to a limited ceasefire. Lately, the Thai military has re-deployed units made up of troops who know the local language and culture, because they were born in or raised in the Deep South.
It is not yet known how much money will be budgeted for the acquisition of a fleet of drones, or what type or model of UAVs will be used  in surveillance flights.
"We have not had details in depth," Col. Pramote Prom-in, a spokesman for ISOC in the Deep South, told BenarNews, saying that plan was "still in the study stage."
Col. Sithisak Jenbanjong, the commander of the Army's 41stRanger Regiment, in the Deep South, welcomed the plan.
Last month, four army rangers were killed and five other soldiers and a civilian were injured in a roadside bombing in Saiburi, a district of Pattani province. The bomb exploded as soldiers approached a booby-trapped pick-up truck.
"I think it is a good idea," Sithisak told BenarNews.
"At least the insurgents would think twice before planting [a] bomb ... I wish the drones also had the ability to destroy the bomb," he said.
Plan questioned
But this is not the first time that drones have been deployed to the Deep South, according to Thai media reports. In September 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon announced that drones would be used to help safeguard railway routes in the Deep South from rebel attacks by helping land-based security forces guard the tracks.
However, the Nation, one of Thailand's leading English-language newspapers, published an editorial earlier this month questioning the wisdom and effectiveness of the government's plan to deploy more drones to the south.
"It is not clear how more drones would strengthen military capability. The [a]rmy has said it will use the drones to patrol high-risk areas to replace soldiers and reduce the number of casualties," according to the editorial.
"The use of drones would make sense if the Thai Army was fighting an enemy that they could identify. Patani Malay insurgents are not in uniform and do not control any geographical area in the region. Instead, they have captured the mental space of much of the local Muslim population who share the same historical mistrust of the Thai state," the newspaper said.


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Thailand on Wednesday begins five days of rituals bidding a final farewell to the kingdom's longest reigning monarch, topped off by the grandest cremation ceremony the country has ever witnessed.
Tens of thousands of Thais will gather along the processional route in Bangkok on Thursday while millions more will watch broadcasts of the cremation ceremony for King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), who led the nation for seven decades until his death on Oct. 13, 2016.
The ceremonies will end a year of national mourning for King Bhumibol, during which Thais dressed in black and white out of respect for him.
His son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, assumed the throne on Dec. 1 and will preside over the cremation ceremony in front of royals and high-level delegates from 42 countries, at the Song Tham Pavilion next to the crematorium, palace officials said.
King Maha Vajiralongkorn's sister, Princess Sirindhorn, will join him to lead the mile-long procession of honor from the Grand Palace to the cremation grounds beginning at 7 a.m. Thursday. Other royals, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and government officials, senior monks, soldiers, members of the Royal Guard, musicians and students will join the procession, according to officials.
The hearse that will carry King Bhumibol's Royal Urn, Phra Maha Phichai Ratcharot or "Great Victory Royal Chariot," was used in 1795 for the funeral of the father of King Rama I, and later to transport royals of the Chakri Dynasty. As many as 216 men will pull the 13-ton hearse of carved, lacquered and gilded wood that was rebuilt for the ceremony.
Sukanya Fezler, a restaurant owner in Switzerland who is returning to Thailand to attend the cremation ceremony, said she came back twice already this year to pay her respects to the late king, to whom she referred as "father."
"When I was tired from work in Switzerland, I could not talk to anybody ... but when I just looked at our father's image, I know how tired he had been, but he used his calmness to solve the problems," Sukanya told BenarNews.
"We have great teachings from our father, leading the way and giving energy to continue," she said.
Following the processional, King Maha Vajiralongkorn will oversee a merit-making ceremony – a Buddhist ritual – attended by his mother, Queen Sirikit. About 3,000 people, including royal guests, government officials and specially selected commoners will present sandal wood for a symbolic bonfire planned for 5 p.m. Thursday.
Key guests who will be seated at a special pavilion for the ceremony include Prince Andrew of Great Britain who will represent his mother, Queen Elizabeth. Secretary of Defense James Mattis is expected to represent the United States. 

The actual cremation is to begin at 10 p.m. Thursday after the guests leave, and is expected to take about five hours. About 300 rounds of heavy artillery, one for each minute of the cremation, will be fired off during the televised event.

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King Bhumibol Adulyadej's body will be cremated in the royal pyre (top center), Oct. 21, 2017. [Pimuk Rakkanam/BenarNews]



Crowds gather 

By the evening of Sunday, Oct. 22, thousands of Thais already began occupying space around the processional route. Government officials were expecting 200,000 people to gather by Thursday, while 70 million are expected to watch television broadcasts of the ceremony. Only about 40,000 people will be able to see the processional, officials said.

Malee Sukpitak, a Muslim woman from Satun province, traveled by train from the south and planned to spend nights on the sidewalk as she waited for the cremation ceremony, even though the government had arranged for people to spend the night in schools and temples.

"We were born in the reign of King Rama IX and would like to send his majesty off to heaven according to Islam, which is the same with Buddhism," she told BenarNews. "He had done a great deal for the nation.  

"Staying on the road, we don't think it is hard because we are willing to do it. At least we can tell our children about this, because they will not see this anything like this again," Malee said. "I have been praying for him too."

Other Thais will attend ceremonies at 84 crematorium replicas and 878 pyre sites across the nation.

Abdulloh Mali, a resident of southern Songkhla province, has been drawing King Bhumibol to cope with his sadness.
"Even though I know he is not going far, the king is in my heart every day.  I remember his face precisely. The closer we approach Oct. 26, the more I feel depressed," Abdulloh told BenarNews. 

Mourning period nears end

The five-day schedule includes a blessing and offering of alms on Wednesday and the cremation on Thursday. Ashes will be collected from the pyre and returned to the Dusit Maha Prasart Throne Hall in the Grand Palace on Friday where they will be blessed on Saturday, and then moved to their permanent home at the Chakri Maha Prasart Throne Hall in the Grand Palace on Sunday.

An official period of mourning ends Monday. 

Prayuth's military-led government constructed the cremation grounds for King Bhumibol on the Sanam Luang Field or the Royal Ground next to the Grand Palace. It has been the site for royal cremations since Bangkok became the capital of what was Siam in 1782. 

King Bhumibol and all Thai kings are believed to be divine Gods and were reincarnated from the universe where the Sumeru Mountain is at its center, according to ancient Thai beliefs influenced by Hinduism.
The crematorium, called Phra Sumeru after the mountain, is decorated with mythical figures of Deva and half-Deva along with animals of the heavenly Himmapan Forest. As a special recognition of King Bhumibol's 70-year reign, the crematorium roof is 70 meters (230 feet) high.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose name means "The Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power," was born in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1927, the youngest of three children of Prince Mahidol of Songkhla and a commoner, Sangwan Talapat.

King Bhumipol was the grandson of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), considered one of Thailand's greatest kings for reforms he instituted, including the abolition of slavery. Rama V made it his mission to modernize Thailand (Siam) and align it with Western standards.

Man arrested

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Thai military detained an anti-monarchist for posting a message on social media saying that he planned to wear red on Thursday. 

Political activist Ekachai Hongkangwan was arrested by 11 members of the military at his Bangkok home over an Oct. 20 Facebook post, "this 26th I will put on a red shirt and will do something nobody could expect," a human rights lawyer told BenarNews.

A pro-democracy group identifies itself by wearing red shirts while groups loyal to the monarchy wear yellow shirts.

"Military officials said they let him choose between going to Kanchanaburi province or go to a military camp. Ekachai chose to go to Kanchanaburi during the cremation ceremony," said the lawyer who asked to remain anonymous. "He is expected to return on the morning of Oct. 27." 

Issues around the monarchy are highly sensitive in Thailand. Since the junta seized power three years ago, Thai authorities have prosecuted dozens of people suspected of violating the nation's strict royal defamation law, known as Lese-Majeste.


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Thailand cremated its beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) on Thursday following an elaborate daylong ceremony whose grandeur reflected the scale of his 70-year reign.
The day began with a solemn procession viewed by hundreds of thousands of citizens who lined the streets around the Royal Grounds in Bangkok as millions more watched it on television and the internet.
The late-evening cremation followed hours of ceremony during the second day of a five-day ritual to mourn the monarch, and a build-up to it that had lasted more than a year since his death on Oct. 13, 2016. Smoke was seen billowing from the pyre after 10 p.m. (local time).
The late monarch's son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, presided over the cremation ceremony and was joined by his sister, Princess Sirindhorn, in leading the mile-long procession from the Grand Palace to the cremation grounds.
People lined both sides of the procession route, most of them sitting to view the ceremonial delivery of the Royal Urn to the crematory site. Many wept while bowing their heads to worship. Some held photos of the late King Bhumibol while others displayed pictures of the monarch that they placed on fabric so these would not touch the ground, out of respect for him.
Police officers, security guards, public servants and volunteers sat with heads bowed as the procession passed. Some soldiers in full uniform stood and bowed their heads.
"I applied to be a volunteer for the royal cremation ceremony because I want to give back to the country," Anong Chockdee, a resident of Bangkok, told BenarNews. "Working as a volunteer makes me happy and proud of myself, and this is last time to do something for my King."

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Dressed in black, mourners react as the procession for the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej passes, Oct. 26, 2017. (Nontarat Phaicharoen/BenarNews)

 
More than 300,000 people attended the royal procession, but only 150,000 were able to sit inside or close to the Royal Crematorium at the Sanam Luang Ceremonial Ground. The others watched from video screens set up near the site.
Prior to the cremation, heads of state and representatives from 42 nations paid their respects and placed sandalwood flowers in front of the Royal Urn.
Crowd began gathering on Sunday
Outside, people who began arriving on Sunday evening refused to move from their spots along the route, insisting they stay for the ceremony to send King Bhumibol to heaven. Many spent the night sleeping on the ground as they waited for the procession.
"I arrived in Sanam Luang on Oct. 24, but I had to go home because I was ill. But, I really have to attend this royal cremation ceremony, no matter how hard it is to get in here because the King sacrificed his comfort and worked hard to make Thailand become prosperous," said Sunee Yokakul, 51, of Nonthaburi, a province near Bangkok. "So, I have to be here to tell him that I'll follow his steps and be a good person."
At an estimated price tag of U.S. $90 million, the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha constructed the cremation grounds for King Bhumibol on the Sanam Luang Field or the Royal Ground next to the Grand Palace. It has been the site for royal cremations since Bangkok became the capital of what was Siam in 1782.
Those who could not travel to Bangkok attended ceremonies at 84 crematorium replicas and 878 pyre sites throughout the nation, including a replica in Narathiwat, a predominantly Muslim province in Thailand's Deep South. In neighboring Malaysia, mourners went to Buddhist temples to pray for King Bhumibol.

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Mourners line up to pay their respects during a simulated cremation ceremony in Narathiwat, Oct. 26, 2017. (AFP) BenarNews

 
'Incomparable Power'
Thailand's government spent months building the crematorium, called Phra Sumeru after the mountain, and constructing it to a height of 70 meters (230 feet), in recognition of King Bhumibol's seven-decade reign.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose name means "The Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power," was born in Cambridge, Mass., on Dec. 5, 1927, the youngest of three children of Prince Mahidol of Songkhla and a commoner, Sangwan Talapat.
Apart from construction workers, an army of artisans was deployed to craft and sculpt hundreds of statues and figurines of mythical creatures, such as the Deva and half-Deva, in decorating the crematorium complex.
On Friday, King Bhumibol's ashes will be collected from the pyre and returned to the Dusit Maha Prasart Throne Hall in the Grand Palace where they will be blessed on Saturday, and then moved to their permanent home at the Chakri Maha Prasart Throne Hall in the Grand Palace on Sunday, officials with the palace said.
The nation's official year-long period of mourning ends Sunday.
"He is our beloved King who would do everything for Thai people across the country, and that is why we love him so much, said Supanna Boonmawong, 48, of Bangkok. "I have to be here because I love him and want to see the members of royal family."

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A mourner prays at the Wat Chetawan Thai Buddhist temple in Petaling Jaya, outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Oct. 26, 2017. (Hadi Azmi/BenarNews)



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Two-year-old negotiations with southern rebels will proceed despite reports suggesting that the peace process likely has stalled, Thailand's chief negotiator said Wednesday.
But an insurgent in the troubled Deep South told BenarNews that rebel attacks would go on anyhow, and in spite of talks aimed at implementing a limited ceasefire.
Aksara Kerdpol, the government's chief negotiator, blamed local news media for causing public confusion after the delegation that he heads and representatives of MARA Patani, a panel representing insurgent groups in the Thai Deep South, failed in September to iron out disagreements on the creation of a "safety zone," or an area for a limited ceasefire.
"I reaffirm that the peace is going on, no problem. The other side did not have any problem with it either," Aksara, a retired army general, told BenarNews in a phone interview. "The media reports or analyses in recent weeks are based on outdated information."
The retired army general leads a team that has represented the Thai junta in Malaysia-brokered peace talks with MARA since 2015, but both sides have yet to implement a ceasefire after many rounds of closed-door meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
This has led some observers to question whether MARA's panelists have control over rebel forces operating in the Deep South, and whether they truly represent the rank-and-file of separatist groups such as Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), the most powerful of active rebel organizations. The talks have not stopped violence in the region.
'Other methods are just theater'
On Wednesday, a southern militant who identified himself only as "Sulaiman," said his group had received orders to keep mounting attacks against security forces.
"We have the upper hand for our goal for independence. We receive orders to continue with attacks regardless of the attempt on safety zone," he told BenarNews in a phone interview. "Sometimes nature disallows this, so we make a pause. There still are targets to attack."
"I personally think the armed struggle is the only effective method of fighting. Other methods are just theater," he said. "There is no other way to make the government treat people humanely but violence."
Responding to Aksara's latest comments, a MARA Patani spokesman based in Malaysia echoed that peace talks had not stalled.
"Although there is no [current] discussion together with the [Malaysian] facilitator, communication and discussion are still ongoing as we are preparing for the 'security zone,' and the Thais have been busy with royal funerals," Abu Hafez Al-Hakim told BenarNews, referring to last week's cremation in Bangkok of late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
In September, Abu Hafez had insisted in an interview with Benar that the BRN was involved in the current peace efforts.
"Awang Jabat is the MARA Patani chairman ... Sukree Haree is the chief of the dialogue team while Ahmad Chuwo is also on the dialogue team. All of them are BRN members," he said at the time.
'It will agree on safety zone'
In February, the government announced that it had reached a pact with MARA Patani. The agreement would involve a framework for setting up a safety zone or a ceasefire in one district of the Deep South.
Local media reports questioned the viability of the peace process after the two sides failed to finalize the agreement during the peace talks held in Kuala Lumpur in September.
Aksara told BenarNews on Wednesday that a Thai joint technical team had selected the district where a safety zone would be implemented.
But he declined to identify the district or divulge the date of his next meeting with the insurgents.
"MARA Patani still talks to us and it will agree on safety zone," he said.
Meanwhile, deadly violence in the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking Deep South has simmered on.
Between October 2016 and September 2017, as many as 233 soldiers, policemen and defense volunteers have been killed in roadside bombings and insurgent attacks in the Deep South, according to the regional office of Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).
The decades-old insurgency flared up again in 2004, when rebels began staging attacks to oppose Buddhist rule in Thailand's far southern border region.
During the past 13 years, almost 7,000 people have been killed in bombings and shooting incidents in the provinces that were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate before being annexed by Bangkok in 1909.


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There are no links between Islamic State (IS) militants and insurgents in Thailand's Deep South, according to a new study by the International Crisis Group (ICG).
Leaders in the country's predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region overwhelmingly reject the ideology espoused by IS, the Brussels-based group argues in the report, "Jihadism in Southern Thailand: A Phantom Menace," which came out this week.
There is no evidence to date that the Middle East-based extremist organization has made any inroads into the Deep South, partly because insurgents there are nationalists who seek to create their own independent state, ICG said.
"Fears of jihadist influence based primarily on the argument that 'things can change' must be weighed against evidence that there is no appetite among the leadership of existing militant groups for affiliation with ISIS or like-minded groups," ICG stated, using another acronym for IS.
Such fears have sharpened with the decline of Islamic State as it loses territory in its traditional Middle Eastern strongholds, along with the advent of IS-linked violence in Southeast Asia that has revealed "the possibility of a new era of transnational jihadist terrorism in the region," the ICG suggested in its report.
"Indeed, the Malay-Muslim insurgency is distinguished by its parochialism. The militant organization pursues national self-determination over a specific territory, seeking to join, rather than destroy, the international system," the report said.
ICG also warned Thai government officials against complacency toward the decades-old separatist conflict in the south, in which nearly 7,000 people have died since 2004.
Impatience with an ongoing peace process involving the government and MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing militant organizations in the region, could encourage splinter factions among the rebels to take extreme action, said ICG, a Belgium-based organization whose stated goal is to prevent wars and shape policy to build a more peaceful world.
To create the 31-page report, ICG researchers interviewed members of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and other southern Thai insurgent groups, Muslim leaders, academics, professionals, military and police officers, and several Malay-Muslim women in the Deep South and neighboring countries since mid-2016.
BRN power
BRN commands the overwhelming majority of fighters in the Thai Deep South. ICG reports that Malay-Muslim militants are suspicious of foreign operatives and have rejected proposals from outside militant groups to attack Thai tourist sites.
"Our field of struggle is different from theirs," ICG quoted a senior BRN member. This man had turned down an invitation to meet Abu Bakar Bashir, the imprisoned Indonesian spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaeda linked group that carried out bombings that killed 202 people in Bali, Indonesia 15 years ago.
The director of Deep South Watch, a non-government organization that monitors conflicts in the region, agreed.
"This side has Malay-Muslim nationalist ideology and is not focused on an international concept," Srisompob Jitpiromsri told BenarNews. "The Islamic State identity is universal. The two ideologies are not connected directly.
"The operations, violence, brutality, struggle and fighting of the Deep South are brutal, but will not harm civilians and innocent people because that would affect the feelings of people in the area."
Still, Srisompob said, the Deep South was not free of IS sympathizers.
"While there might be some people in the area who believe in ideas of IS, it seems to be more toward individuals than the ideology," he said.
ICG said the Southeast Asian nation could be a special destination. "ISIS reportedly has rewarded fighters with trips to Thailand for rest and relaxation."
A Deep South security officer, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was difficult to confirm reports of IS members in the border region.
"IS members who entered the area have tried to instigate the young teens in this area, but locals here should not want to join because they have different ideologies," the officer told BenarNews.
Faith a firewall against extremism
ICG said an overriding concern of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha's government is to shield the nation from damage that international terrorism could inflict on the tourism industry, which indirectly contributes 20 percent of the gross domestic product.
Because of this concern, the government must not only prevent attacks, but must play down threats, "keeping terrorism out of the headlines."
The ICG report also praised the government's protection of religious freedom that does not interfere with Muslim practices in the Deep South for helping keep the IS ideology from taking root there.
"Their faith is the firewall against extremists' influence," a senior leader of the Patani United Liberation Organization, another rebel group in the south, told ICG, praising teachings at local Islamic schools for creating an "immune system."
In its conclusion, ICG offered its suggestion for keeping the Deep South and the rest of Thailand free from IS incursions.
"Malay-Muslim militants and the Thai state have a common interest in keeping out ISIS and other jihadist groups. While for now, the conflict has not led to the pervasive disorder that jihadists have exploited elsewhere, it could evolve in ways that generate more promising conditions for jihadist intervention," ICG said.
"Stalemate or miscalculation could lead some militants to employ more spectacular violence, which in turn could lead to a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in Thailand, and a broader sectarian conflict," the report went on to say. "To avert this, and to fulfill their obligations to the people of southernmost Thailand, Bangkok and the militant fronts should seek compromise and a negotiated end to the conflict."


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Thai authorities should investigate the case of a 16-year-old Rohingya girl who died this month after spending more than three years in immigration detention facilities, Fortify Rights, a Swiss-based rights advocacy NGO, said Friday.
The girl, Zainab Bi Bi, died Nov. 2 at Hat Yai Hospital in Songkhla, a province along Thailand's southern border with Malaysia. Zainab, who suffered from a blood-clotting disorder, fainted and bled from her nose and ears on Oct. 27 while being held at the Sadao Immigration Detention Center (IDC) before being transferred to a hospital, the NGO said.
"Zainab Bi Bi's death is a tragedy that should spur Thai authorities to take immediate action to end the indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers," Fortify Rights Executive Director Amy Smith said in a news release.
"Instead of receiving the highest level of care and protection as a refugee child, Zainab Bi Bi died behind bars."
A police official said the girl could have suffered from a form of cancer.
Police Col. Sangkhom Tadso, the immigration chief in Songkhla province, told BenarNews that suspicious deaths warranted investigations.
"Death by unnatural cause must be investigated by Hat Yai Police who are in charge in the region," he said. "An autopsy is a common practice. No matter who died, investigators will do that."
Zainab Bi Bi's doctor said she might have had leukemia, according to the police official. 

"This Rohingya person was sick and sent to the hospital, while her sister who also was detained, went with her along with a police officer," Sangkhom said.
"After she felt better, she was transferred back to the detention center, but it turned out that she had a recurrent condition," he said. "She was in a hospital for several days until she died."
Smith's group alleged that the government detained the girl in shelters and detention centers after she became a victim of human trafficking from Myanmar to Thailand in 2014. Zainab Bi Bi received treatment at the hospital for a blood disorder several times in the months leading up to her death.
Thailand's far southern region is notorious as a route for the cross-border smuggling of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar. Two years ago, the discovery of jungle graves of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants on the Thai side of the frontier led to a government crackdown on human trafficking.
At the time, Thai authorities imposed a maritime blockade on boats smuggling people from Myanmar and Bangladesh. The move caused thousands of Rohingya people and Bangladeshi migrants to come ashore in neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, spurring a regional migration crisis.
16 detained
Fortify Rights said 16 Rohingya – seven women and nine men – are being held at the Sadao IDC, where the group documented inhumane conditions in 2016. Rohingya detainees said they were confined indoors 24 hours a day in overcrowded, unsanitary cells without access to adequate hygiene amenities, adequate food, exercise or appropriate medical treatment.
Additionally, at least three detainees, including a Pakistani asylum seeker, died this year at the Suan Phlu IDC in Bangkok, the group alleged.
"Thailand's immigration centers are notorious for failing to meet basic minimum standards," Smith said. "Detention cells are not a safe or appropriate place for refugee children.
"Zainab Bi Bi's death should not go unnoticed. Thailand needs to immediately reverse its appalling treatment of refugees."


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The Thai government vowed to locate and deport as many as 100,000 foreigners who overstayed their visas, a deputy prime minister said Monday, indicating that Islamic State (IS) militants and criminals from other countries could be among them.
Thai authorities are cracking down on all foreigners who have not left the country at the proper time because police officers and other security personnel are having difficulty identifying those who may be linked to IS or its ideology, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.
"We fear that there are IS infiltrators among them, so we started arresting those who overstay," said Prawit, who also serves as defense minister. "We arrested 100 of them in the South. We did arrest them where we found pockets of those who overstayed."
Thai police said officers have arrested criminals from across the globe, including a Nigerian with a forged visa and other documents, a Taiwanese gang that set up an illegal call center to solicit money from overseas and prostitutes from African and Arab nations.
Immigration police in Phuket reported rounding up 95 foreigners staying illegally in the province over three days last week, including 62 Indians, 11 Pakistanis and six Egyptians, according to the Bangkok Post. Of those, 70 had overstayed their visas and the others were determined to be illegal immigrants.
Prawit's announcement came less than a week after the Brussels-based International Crisis Group published a study saying there was no evidence of any ties between IS militants and insurgents in Thailand's Deep South, which encompasses three provinces and four districts of an adjacent province near the Malaysian border.
Leaders in the country's predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region overwhelmingly rejected the ideology espoused by IS, according to the report, "Jihadism in Southern Thailand: A Phantom Menace."
100,000 overstayed
About 100,000 foreigners who have overstayed their visas are in Thailand at the moment, Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Kongcheep Tantrawanich said over the weekend.
Thai authorities had stepped up measures to identify illegal foreigners by checking finger prints against police records to determine if they had committed crimes while in Thailand, he said.
"At this point, we don't know if they committed crimes or not. We charged them only with illegal entry or overstaying their visas, but if they were found leaving latent finger prints at crime scenes, we will prosecute them before sending them back," he said.
"In the South, we don't have a face-detection device. But the commanders realize its importance and we will have such a project in place because face detection is almost 100 percent reliable," Kongcheep said.
In addition, a more stringent visa screening process to counter crimes will be imposed, an immigrant police officer said.
"We can deal with consular offices overseas, giving them to information on most crime-sensitive regions. There could be 50 to 60 out of 100 applicants receiving visas" who have criminal issues, police Maj. Gen. Itthipol Itthisarnronachai told BenarNews.
Thailand expects more than 32 million tourist arrivals at the end of 2018.
Popular destinations including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket and Samui are affected by criminal activities ranging from drugs, arms trades, prostitution, human trafficking to economic crimes, officials said.


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Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk says he cannot accept Thailand's military government as legitimate, even though he is facing charges of sedition for criticizing the junta.
The 50-year-old former columnist for Thailand's Nation newspaper is facing two potential criminal cases under anti-sedition and computer-crimes laws. In 2014 and 2015, Thai authorities twice summoned him for so-called "attitude adjustment" detention sessions for posting critical content on Facebook.
Thailand needs a free press to heal deep societal divisions, Pravit told BenarNews in an interview from New York, where he was to receive an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
"The only way [forward] is to try to be open-minded and understand those who think differently from you ... and you can't do that if you don't have freedom of the press, or freedom of expression, or the tolerance for different political opinions," he said.
On Tuesday, Freedom House, another U.S.-based press watchdog, rated Thailand poorly for Internet freedom, noting this had declined to its lowest level in 2017 since the military seized power in a coup three years ago.
"Not true, Thailand is a very open country...," Prinya Hom-anek, a member of a parliamentary working committee on computer crimes, told BenarNews, reacting to the report.
"Freedom is not limited and the laws are not ineffective, as stated in the report. If it is that severely restricted, then more people could have been jailed," Prinya said.
Pravit spoke to BenarNews earlier this week.
BenarNews: You wrote in 2015 that people should not accept military rule as normal. Now it's the end of 2017. Has Thailand accepted it as normal?
Pravit: Thai society is deeply divided. ... There are people who vehemently support the military regime for the very reason that they believe the military regime is the lesser of two evils compared to the Yingluck/Thaksin Shinawatra administration. At the same time you get people who are apolitical.
But myself, as a journalist, I cannot just treat this military regime as another legitimate or normal government. ... [If] we allow them to normalize the situation, we would only end up inviting more military coups in the future ... this is not about hatred against any single individual in the military regime. This is a matter of principle.
BN: How can Thailand heal its divisions?
Pravit: Thailand's society is so deeply divided today. People just hate one another for the very simple fact that they have a different political belief. The only way [forward] is to try to be open-minded and understand those who think differently from you. ...
And you can't do that if you don't have freedom of the press, or freedom of expression, or the tolerance for different political opinions. ... I think Thai society will have to learn to live with people who think differently, to learn to tolerate freedom of speech, freedom of expression, press freedom, because these are the basic fundamentals of a free and dignified society.
BN: What is the latest on the two cases against you?
Pravit: The cases are still with the police as we speak. ...The cyber police, the technology crime suppression division, is handling it. We expect them to make a decision within the next month or two. If they forward it to the prosecutor, the prosecutor will take a while to consider the case. ...
Formally, they have told me that this has nothing to do with the military regime, although unofficially, when I reported to the police, they also mentioned that this has to do with the fact that I could not stop criticizing the military regime.
BN: What will your defense strategy be?
Pravit: My strategy is pretty simple. We will fight the charges as publically as possible ... I'm not fighting quietly. I'm maximizing this travail or experience as a learning opportunity to alert the public about the curb on press freedom and freedom of expression in the Kingdom.
BN: Besides summoning you for attitude adjustment and charging you with sedition, how has the military government affected your life and work?
Pravit: In May 2016, I was prevented from traveling to Helsinki to attend the World Press Freedom Day. ... To be fair to them, they have since lifted the ban. ... I did not have to seek their permission to travel to New York.
But having said that, because the military regime holds absolute power and we are being ruled not under a rule of law but under a rule by law, I think they could feel free to change things whenever they like. It's an arbitrary system of justice and governance that we are under. And this is really unpredictable, and it affects you.
BN: Would press freedom still be under threat if Thailand had a civilian government?
Pravit: Absolutely, though perhaps in a less direct way. ... I have no illusions, even under Yingluck or Thaksin Shinawatra administration, there has been a trend to either co-opt or neutralize the press. ... We just have to learn to teach or to enable politicians to accept greater scrutiny. Elections alone don't guarantee respect for press freedom ...
BN: Twenty-five years ago, Thailand had the freest press in Southeast Asia. How does media freedom in Thailand compare with other countries in the region now?
Pravit: [A]s you have mentioned, Thailand used to be on top, at least in Southeast Asia, when it comes to press freedom. Now we have fallen behind, due to two successive coups.
But I see lots of things that the Thai press, even those who may disagree with me, take some pride in the freedom and independence they have achieved over the past two and a half decades. And this is not something that could be taken away easily by the military regime today.
Even though we are facing repression, the situation is still far better than during the 1960s and '50s, under the Cold War, dictators at that time would just haul journalists to prison and let them languish in jail for years. That's no longer a possibility. ... I still have some hope that, in the long run, we will persevere, we will emerge victorious.
BN: Recently, the Thai royal palace issued a statement about the expulsion of a senior palace aide, Disthorn Vajarodaya. As a journalist working inside Thailand, what can you do with a statement like that? What can you not do?
Pravit: There's a huge pressure to censor oneself when it comes to anything mildly critical of the monarchy. This is a struggle that preceded the coup in 2014. ... The least one could do to even the situation is to say that there exists not just censorship but self-censorship.
So for example, at Khaosod English where I work, there are stories where we would sometimes [remind] the readers that we have to self-censor ourselves due to the Lese-Majeste law. ... I see that as a step forward, a growing acknowledgement by at least a minority of the Thai press to inform the public and remind them, that we are not free.
Wilawan Watcharasakwet in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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