Politics

BANGKOK — She worked at a hotel and said she’d never heard of the lese majeste law before police arrested her. When they told her the quickest way back to her young daughters was confessing to being Facebook user Rungnapha Khamwichai, she did so, without ever speaking to a lawyer.

BANGKOK — In hindsight, Pronthip “Kolf” Mankong says the play for which she spent two years behind bars wasn’t particularly good. In terms of artistic expression, she’s not proud of “The Wolf Bride,” the 2013 student production for which she was convicted of insulting the Royal Family.

BANGKOK — The Pheu Thai Party has accused the military government and junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha of not respecting due process by imposing a 35.7 billion baht (USD$1.03 billion) fine against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for losses incurred by an agricultural subsidy enacted by her administration.

BANGKOK — Every year freshmen in crisp uniforms press together on the campus of Chulalongkorn University. As one, thousands lower their heads to the ground in respect to statues of kings Rama V and VI in a swearing-in ceremony treated as a sacred ritual. Except this year.

BANGKOK — The son of an anti-corruption crusader was sentenced to three years in jail Wednesday for extensively developing protected forest land on Koh Samui 16 years ago.

NONG KHAI — All but one of 10 Uighur men who escaped from a detention facility in northeastern Thailand were apprehended Wednesday morning, but police were tight-lipped about what they were doing in Thailand.

BANGKOK — A provocative theatre troupe is again under scrutiny from the junta, saying it was told Tuesday that soldiers will be dispatched to watch their play tomorrow evening.

BANGKOK — A nephew of junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha received nearly 27 million baht in contracts from the army region his father once commanded, an investigative news agency reported Monday.

BANGKOK — A journalism nonprofit said Tuesday it is still waiting for responses from the military and national graft agency after it sued for details about the cost of royal monuments built by the army last year.

BANGKOK — When the chairwoman of an army wives’ club toured the countryside and handed out charity to the needy, photos of the event showed officials bow and curtsy to her. She was escorted by a phalanx of uniformed aides, who in one photo obediently held an umbrella for her.