Readers will recall the case of the exceedingly dangerous 15 year-old, Thanalop Phalanchai, also known as Yok or sometimes Jade or even as Comrade Sleepless. She so threatening to the palace, regime, police, judges, and the rest of the ruling class that she had to be charged with lese majeste and locked up.

Clipped from Prachatai

Since she was released, Thanalop hasnt been quiet. Her latest campaign in to use her school as a way to raise concerns that were once the catch cry of Bad Students: reform schools and what passes for an education system. She, like the Bad Students also demands social change.

When she first returned to school, there were videos on social media (wish we could find the link ) where she was harassed by police, security guards, and teachers and administrators, making it as difficult as possible for her to enter and get back to her studies at the prestigious Triam Udom Suksa Phatthanakan School. She was eventually permitted to ret...

Thai Lawyers for Human rights have released their monthly accounting of political arrests and charges.

Election month, May, saw an increase of 12 people and 15 cases.

In total, since 18 July 2020, TLHR counts at least 3,851 instances of political prosecutions. This gruesome tally includes 215 cases involving 286 children and youths under 18 years old, including 43 below 15 years old and 243 between 15 18 years old.

The group also reports there are at least 250 individuals in 269 lese majeste cases. PPT was recently told we cant verify it that every single complaint of lese majeste in 2022 was taken to prosecution.

It was only a day or so ago that PPT posted on a lese majeste case brought against a critic of King Vajiralongkorns company Siam Bioscience.

Now Prachatai reports that the Supreme Court has upheld an Appeal Court order to ban Thanathorn Juangroongruangkits video clip Royal Vaccine: Who benefits and who doesnt?, saying that the clip attracted several comments which may affect national security. The clip criticized the governments COVID-19 vaccine procurement, including the role of Siam Bioscience.

The courts decision came after Thanathorn appealed against a court order to ban the video from his Progressive Movements online platforms.

Prachatai report the sequence of events, worth reproducing and remembering:

The complainant, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), claimed that the video clip contained content that violates the royal defamation [lese majeste] law and the Computer-Related Crime Act....

Readers who have missed Andrew MacGregor Marshall in recent months will be pleased to know he is back.

At Secret Siam, Marshall has posted The last stand of the dinosaurs. The post begins: The Move Forward partys stunning election victory has changed Thailand forever. The traditional elite will try everything they can to keep them out of power.

It is a very long read, but worth it.

Readers will recall the case of Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, indicted in 2021 for a livestream lecture on 18 January 2021 where Thanathorn was critical of the governments vaccine mismanagement. Some of his remarks were deemed to offend the monarchy. This seems to be because he questioned the governments AstraZeneca vaccine strategy, where the vaccine was being produced by Thai firm Siam Bioscience, which is owned by the king.

Now there is another case related to Siam Bioscience. Wave (pseudonym), a 30 year-old man has been indicted under Article 112 and for computer crimes over his criticism of Siam Biosciences COVID-19 vaccine production in 2021.

Wave was indicted on 13 June 2023 for his Facebook shares and posts criticizing Siam Bioscience for allegedly using taxpayer money in COVID-19 vaccine production.

The latter point is, of course, factual. Siam Bioscience was supported with taxpayer funds. It remains opaque whether Siam Bioscience actually produced large quantities of the vaccine and whether these were much used.

Wave acknowledged the charge at the Technology Crime Suppression Division on 23 May 2022. He rejected the accusation and was not apprehended.

The indictment states that on 12 May 2021, Wave publicly shared and posted on Facebo...