Academics: arrest of 14 anti-coup activists "barbaric"

A group of almost 300 academics denounced the junta’s arrest of 14 anti-junta activists, mostly university students, as “barbaric.”
 
The Network of Academics Concerned about Arrested Students, consisting of educators from all across Thailand, declared in a statement released Tuesday, June 30, that “only a tyrant would react using brute force and enforcement of barbaric laws on students using their citizens’ rights to call for reinstatement of internationally-held values and governance.”
 
The statement praises the activists’ pro-democracy protests over the past month, saying that they are “bravely fulfilling their roles as students in creating a true democracy for Thai society.” Moreover, the group denounces the arrest as “unlawful and illegitimate, since the junta is unlawful and illegitimate in the first place.” Finally, the report calls for the immediate release of the activists without condition.  
 
On 26 June, the military issued arrest warrants for the 14 activists of the anti-junta Neo Democracy Movement. They are charged with the disturbing peace and/or violating NCPO Order No. 3/2558 which bans any political gathering of more than five. The activists are currently detained at Bangkok Remand Prison. (See the timeline of events relating to the NDM here.)
 
The Network of Academics Concerned about Arrested Students currently consists of 281 educators and counting. The Network includes notable academics from local and foreign universities such as Chulalongkorn, Thammasat, Chiang Mai, Burapha, Mae Fah Luang, Silapakorn, Ramkamhaeng, Columbia, and the University of Sydney. 

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