Law and judiciary

On a raid this month, Wildlife Alliance’s WRRT seized 71kg of bushmeat, 10 live Asian leaf turtles, and more than 50kg of turtle carapaces and plastrons from a restaurant in Koh Kong province. The team released the turtles back into the wild and destroyed the wildlife ...

Thai Airways International (THAI) is headed for bankruptcy court to pave the way for a much-needed rehabilitation for the octogenarian, near moribund national carrier, which in its glory days operated under the smug “Smooth as Silk” logo. Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s Cabinet approved the plan ...

Police in Myanmar have seized South East Asia’s biggest ever haul of synthetic drugs, the scale of which they described as “off the charts”. More than 200m methamphetamine tablets, 500kg of crystal methamphetamine and 300kg of heroin were found in raids in north-east Shan state. Thirty-three people ...

Cambodia’s three-year-long “war on drugs” campaign has led to a litany of human rights abuses and the overcrowding of prisons and detention centres, human rights watchdog Amnesty International has announced in a new report. Released during the weekend, the report titled “Substance Abuses” documents the government’s ...

Before lockdowns, curfews, and safe distancing, Thodsapone Kitta would go door to door, visiting low-income families in Thailand’s northern Nan province, a poor, mountainous region home to hill tribes and rural farmers where people are vulnerable to trafficking. For Thodsapone, a member of The Freedom Story, ...

The draft law on public demonstrations in Vietnam, which has been planned for nine years now, will not be submitted to the parliament for discussion in its upcoming session. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a request by the Ministry of Public Security to postpone ...

Thailand is extending the state of emergency for a month until May 31, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced on Tuesday (April 28), even as new coronavirus cases in the country have been on a decline for the past few weeks. “The extension is necessary. Many orders especially in ...

The 92nd Mekong River joint patrol by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand concluded on Saturday morning (April 25) as three Chinese law enforcement boats returned to Guanlei Port in the southwest Province of Yunnan. A total of 109 law enforcement officers from the four countries participated ...

The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry is seeking to postpone the enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), due to take effect late next month, saying state and private organisations will be too burdened to comply during the pandemic. The PDPA was published in ...

Legislation authorizing a state of emergency to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Cambodia risks violating the right to privacy, free speech, and peaceful assembly, a United Nations expert said Friday, as lawmakers gave their final approval of the bill. “Emergency measures must be necessary ...