An Australian man deported from Thailand after supporting anti-government Red Shirt protesters says he was beaten in prison and feared the Thai government would plant drugs on him.

With just two months to go to the general elections that the military government plans to hold on 7 November, there are still no grounds for thinking that the Burmese and foreign media will be able to cover the campaign and polling freely. Prior censorship remains in effect and that rules out any possibility of a democratic election. Without press freedom, the election will just be a sham.

With the mainstream media mostly giving the National Reform Committee a blank cheque in terms of soft PR and uncritical reporting of its activities, it has been alternative media outlets like prachatai.com that have voiced criticism.

Two members of the reform committee - noted historian Nidhi Eoseewong and scholar-monk Venerable Phra Paisarn Visalo - recently came under fire on the news website.

Prachatai talked to Thaksin’s lawyer Robert Amsterdam in about mid-August.  The transcription below has been edited and some parts are missing, as the interview was done over the phone.

Almost 4 months after the crackdown, many red shirts are still detained in prisons around the country.  The exact number of detainees, as well as their names, is not known.  The official figure revealed by the secretary to the Minister of Justice is 209.

Narathiwat Provincial Court has dismissed the case of Imam Yapha Kaseng on the grounds that it is not under its jurisdiction, and told his wife to turn to the military courts instead.  However, individuals cannot bring cases to a military court; only the authorities can do so.

The scale of the flooding in Pakistan is difficult to grasp. An area equal to that of the United Kingdom has disappeared under water. Mercifully the number of fatalities (estimated at over 200,000 and still rising, with the threat of epidemics and starvation on the horizon) is so far lower than other recent disasters. But the number of people made homeless, and consequently more or less resource-less, is already greater than that of the 2004 tsunami and the earthquakes in Kashmir in 2005 and Haiti earlier this year, combined. Estimates of the damage to infrastructure – bridges, roads, railways, schools, hospitals and other public services – run to over $4 billion. The cost in lost output, crucially including food crops, is still too large to count.

Amnesty International is calling on the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution ensuring the urgent establishment of an international commission of inquiry into serious human rights violations committed in Myanmar, including crimes against humanity and possible war crimes.

Conor David Purcell, an Australian national who was arrested and convicted for his involvement in the red-shirt rallies in April and May and was ordered to be released on 20 Aug, is still being detained at the Police Immigration Division at Soi Suan Phlu because he has no money for the air fare home.

Purcell went on stage and gave speeches during the red-shirt rallies in Ratchaprasong, and was arrested on 27 May.    

A Malaysian editor was charged on 2 September 2010 with publishing false information on his satirical blog, media reports said.

The Associated Press said Irwan Abdul Rahman, better known as blogger "Hassan Skodeng," and editor of the "Malay Mail" newspaper's lifestyle section was accused of publishing online content deemed "obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with malicious intent."

The Burma Army continues to launch deliberate military attacks that target civilians and undermine humanitarian conditions in upland areas of Karen State, according to the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), which today released the report Self-protection under strain: Targeting of civilians and local responses in northern Karen State.  Drawing on over 212 interviews and 85 field documents submitted by KHRG field researchers since January 2009, the report makes clear that civilians contending with attacks need increased humanitarian support.  This support must be designed to strength

The CRES spokesperson told a press conference that certain print media have distorted information causing anxiety and rifts among the public, and presented news affronting the monarchy.  The CRES will take legal action against them or close them down if necessary.

A grenade believed to have been fired from an M79 grenade launcher exploded in front of the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand in Bangkok on 31 August 2010, media reports said.

I first joined the Pattani Peace Walk on 26 July 2010, and covered a distance of 28 kilometers from Prachuab Khiri Khan town to Tab-sakae district over the course of one day. I surprised myself with how much I could actually walk in a day. Life in Bangkok is different. I leave home every morning with my car key to start the engine. Then, after driving to work, I walk not even 20 steps to my office from the car.

The Network of Volunteer Citizens to Protect the Monarchy on Facebook has met the DSI Director, and provided a video clip of Tom Dundee speaking at a red-shirt rally, which they say constitutes lèse majesté.

In a submission to the 14th session of the Human Rights Council, the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) described the use of arbitrary orders for interrogation of civilians in army camps and other facilities under emergency regulations during the violence between state forces and antigovernment protestors in Thailand in April-May 2010 (A/HRC/14/NGO/42, 17 May 2010).

In barely two months time elections will be held in Burma generating significant attention worldwide. The Union Election Commission (UEC) has announced on 13th August that the “multiparty elections in Burma will be held on November 7, 2010.” There have been a number of developments in the days preceding the announcement of the Election date, which deserves serious attention from all democracy supporting citizens of the world.
 

There have been several cases of enforced disappearance in the southern border provinces, with the latest case being that of Doromae Laelae, 46, in March 2010 in Pattani.  The case of Mayateng Marano, a janitor at Bang Lang village school, Bannang Sata district, Yala, was brought to court after he had been missing for two years, in accordance with Section 61 of the Civil and Commercial Code, and the provincial court declared him to be a missing person.

Pathum Wanaram Temple has cancelled the booking by a group of red shirts to hold a religious ceremony to mark 100 days since the crackdown in May.  The abbot claims to have been pressured and criticized for siding with the red shirts.