“I have never felt so much excruciating pain, I thought they would kill me,” said Sirawith, popularly known as “Ja New”. In March this year, Thailand held its first election in eight years, following five years of rule by a military junta which took power in a coup in 2014. All of the activists violently targeted in recent months were attacked just prior to them staging protests against the deep flaws in the election process. Opposition activists in Thailand, peacefully fighting for democracy and an end to the military’s grip on power, are no strangers to intimidation. Several dissidents have gone missing or been murdered, with two turning up in the Mekong river their bodies stuffed with concrete in December.

Source: The Guardian July 22, 2019 00:11 UTC