FOREIGN: 14 Students Held, Face Seven Years in Jail for Rally
Fourteen Thai students were taken into custody early Saturday after
staging an anti-coup rally on charges that could see them jailed for
seven years, police said, as the ruling junta escalates its chokehold
on dissent.
The pro-democracy campaigners are among the few activists that have
dared to publicly challenge Thailand's military rulers, who imposed
severe curbs on civil liberties after seizing power from an elected
government last year.
Their arrests Friday followed a peaceful protest calling for an end to
junta rule at Bangkok's Democracy Monument a day earlier, where
spirited speeches and songs were met with claps and cheers from dozens
of supporters.
Thailand's generals have banned all political gatherings and criticism
of the junta, frequently arresting critics and censoring the media.
Colonel Chumphol Chanchanayothin, superintendent of a police station
in the capital's historic area, said the students were taken to a
remand prison in northern Bangkok in the early hours of Saturday. They
have each been charged with "violating national security", he told
AFP, an offence under section 116 of Thailand's criminal code that
carries up to seven years in jail. A lawyer for some of the activists
and rights groups have described the charge as "sedition".
The students were also charged with "breaching the NCPO (junta) order"
against public gatherings but "face a maximum of seven years in jail",
Chumphol said. The students arrested Friday study at universities in
Bangkok and the northeast and are part of groups that have staged
small but symbolic acts of protest against the military regime.
Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch told AFP the charges reflected "a
serious escalation of repression" under the junta and showed it had
"no intention" of returning democracy to the country. "This is the
most heavy-handed response by the military regime to peaceful assembly
yet," he said. "There is no space to express disagreement… what is
waiting for Thailand is a deepening of dictatorship," he said, as the
rights group called for all charges against the students to be dropped
and for their immediate release. Last month seven of the 14 charged
participated in a prominent anti-coup rally to mark one year since the
takeover in the capital, quashed only when police dragged away and
held overnight dozens of students in angry scenes. The other half of
the detained group, who study in the northeastern city of Khon Kaen,
also staged an anti-coup rally last month and have been dubbed the
"Magnificent Seven" on social media. On Wednesday, one of the Bangkok
activists from last month's protest was charged with illegal assembly
for that rally, the same day the 14 students charged Friday filed
complaints against police alleging maltreatment by authorities back in
May.
Police did not charge the group of 14 then and unusually held back
from the rally Thursday, which also drew dozens of journalists. They
arrested them late Friday afternoon, hours after encircling a house
where they had been seeking refuge. Thailand's generals claim the May
2014 coup was essential to restore order to the country after months
of often violent protests against the elected government of Yingluck
Shinawatra. But opponents say it was the latest manoeuvre by
Bangkok-based royalist elites, backed by large swathes of the
military, to scupper democracy in the kingdom. The junta had promised
to hold new elections within 15 months of the coup but the timetable
has repeatedly slipped with polls no longer expected before September
next year.
staging an anti-coup rally on charges that could see them jailed for
seven years, police said, as the ruling junta escalates its chokehold
on dissent.
The pro-democracy campaigners are among the few activists that have
dared to publicly challenge Thailand's military rulers, who imposed
severe curbs on civil liberties after seizing power from an elected
government last year.
Their arrests Friday followed a peaceful protest calling for an end to
junta rule at Bangkok's Democracy Monument a day earlier, where
spirited speeches and songs were met with claps and cheers from dozens
of supporters.
Thailand's generals have banned all political gatherings and criticism
of the junta, frequently arresting critics and censoring the media.
Colonel Chumphol Chanchanayothin, superintendent of a police station
in the capital's historic area, said the students were taken to a
remand prison in northern Bangkok in the early hours of Saturday. They
have each been charged with "violating national security", he told
AFP, an offence under section 116 of Thailand's criminal code that
carries up to seven years in jail. A lawyer for some of the activists
and rights groups have described the charge as "sedition".
The students were also charged with "breaching the NCPO (junta) order"
against public gatherings but "face a maximum of seven years in jail",
Chumphol said. The students arrested Friday study at universities in
Bangkok and the northeast and are part of groups that have staged
small but symbolic acts of protest against the military regime.
Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch told AFP the charges reflected "a
serious escalation of repression" under the junta and showed it had
"no intention" of returning democracy to the country. "This is the
most heavy-handed response by the military regime to peaceful assembly
yet," he said. "There is no space to express disagreement… what is
waiting for Thailand is a deepening of dictatorship," he said, as the
rights group called for all charges against the students to be dropped
and for their immediate release. Last month seven of the 14 charged
participated in a prominent anti-coup rally to mark one year since the
takeover in the capital, quashed only when police dragged away and
held overnight dozens of students in angry scenes. The other half of
the detained group, who study in the northeastern city of Khon Kaen,
also staged an anti-coup rally last month and have been dubbed the
"Magnificent Seven" on social media. On Wednesday, one of the Bangkok
activists from last month's protest was charged with illegal assembly
for that rally, the same day the 14 students charged Friday filed
complaints against police alleging maltreatment by authorities back in
May.
Police did not charge the group of 14 then and unusually held back
from the rally Thursday, which also drew dozens of journalists. They
arrested them late Friday afternoon, hours after encircling a house
where they had been seeking refuge. Thailand's generals claim the May
2014 coup was essential to restore order to the country after months
of often violent protests against the elected government of Yingluck
Shinawatra. But opponents say it was the latest manoeuvre by
Bangkok-based royalist elites, backed by large swathes of the
military, to scupper democracy in the kingdom. The junta had promised
to hold new elections within 15 months of the coup but the timetable
has repeatedly slipped with polls no longer expected before September
next year.
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