<p>A capacity crowd of supporters filled the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; trial of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of Thailand&rsquo;s independent online news portal Prachatai, which continued into its seventh day at Bangkok&rsquo;s Criminal Court. Yesterday&rsquo;s animated senior judge, The Honourable Kampol Rungrat, was joined by a second, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) reports.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders is very worried about Chiranuch Premchaiporn, the head of the news website Prachatai, whose trial in connection with comments posted on her site resumes today. Also known as Jiew, she is charged under articles 14 and 15 of the Computer Crimes Act.</p>

<p>International concern for human rights in Thailand has been made clear in an open letter to Thailand’s Prime Minister, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra.</p> <p>112 international scholars have signed a letter calling for reviews of lese majeste and computer crimes laws in Thailand. The letter draws attention to human rights issues and the political use of lese majeste (Article 112 of the Criminal Code) and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act.</p>

<p>U.S. citizen and l&egrave;se majest&eacute; prisoner Joe Gordon is &ldquo;learning a lot about Thai politics, in prison,&rdquo; and intends to mount a serious charge against the Thai Government in light of his ongoing incarceration.</p>

<p>Norawase Yotpiyasathien, 23, a business administration student who graduated this summer from Kasetsart University, was arrested last week for his online blog posts. He is the youngest and the latest victim of Thailand's l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law, and his arrest has caused deep dismay among many students.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders condemns the continuing detention of the journalist Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, who was held for more than the 84 days allowed under the criminal code before being formally charged on 26 July on two l&egrave;se-majest&eacute; counts. No date has been set for his trial, at which he could get a combined sentence of up to 30 years in prison.</p>

<p>Late last month, Joe Gordon, a Thai-American citizen, was again denied bail on charges relating to lese-majeste and the Computer Crimes Act (CCA). The decision marks the seventh and final appeal for bail during the period of his pre-trial incarceration. </p>

<p>In a sign of increasing online witch-hunting against its political opponents, ASTV-Manager daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), on Monday produced the picture and name of the latest man charged under lese majeste laws.</p>

<p>On 8 Aug, the Criminal Court granted bail to Norawase Yospiyasathien who had been arrested and detained by police three days earlier for l&egrave;se majest&eacute;.</p>

<p>A 23-year-old university graduate was detained on Friday for alleged lese majeste - offending the monarchy - in messages written on his blog, prachatai.com on-line newspaper reported yesterday.</p>

<p>The Criminal Court decided yesterday to take up two lese majeste cases against Red Power magazine editor Somyos Prueksakasemsuk, who insists he is innocent.</p>

<p><strong>The right to freedom of speech and political opinions shall not be abrogated and misconstrued as a violation of l&egrave;se majest&eacute;</strong></p> <p>We, a coalition of three hundred and fifty-nine Thai writers, whose names are signed herein, declare that our right to freedom of speech within the Thai democratic constitution is being undermined, breached and endangered when it is construed to be a violation of Article 112 of the Criminal Code. We believe this to be an unjust and wrongful act of aggression fabricated by various parties to suppress and deny us our right to express political viewpoints by threatening to press charges, prosecute, imprison, and inflict physical harm simply to serve their self-interest and enhance their political power.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p>