Fourteen detained student activists have gone before a military court in Thailand in a case that has attracted international calls for their release and criticism of the military junta's strict controls on freedom of speech and assembly.
The university students, 13 men and one woman, were arrested on June 26 on charges of sedition and violating the junta's ban on political gatherings for leading a peaceful anti-coup rally in Bangkok. Each student faces up to seven years in prison.
They were taken from a Bangkok prison to a military court, which was to decide whether to extend their pre-trial detention for 12 more days. Under Thai law, people can be held a maximum of 48 days without formal charges.
University professors and students joined dozens of supporters to show support for the activists outside the court, across from the Grand Palace in Bangkok's historic quarter, in defiance of the junta's ban on political gatherings. Journalists were not allowed to enter the courtroom.
Thai media have called the case a "hot potato" for the military government, which has come under growing calls both inside and outside Thailand to release the students but does not want to be seen bowing to pressure.
Since overthrowing an elected government in May 2014, the nation's military rulers have jailed opponents who dared to speak out against them.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article