User:Siobhan Murphy ionannas/sandbox

= Chonthicha Jaengraew =

Introduction
Chonthica Jaengraew is a woman human rights defender from Thailand, a master student at the Institute for Human Rights and Peace Studies. Mahoil University. She was born 16 December 1992 in Pak Kret, Nonthabrul Province.

Activisim
Chonthica Jaengraew was an environmental activist until the military coup in 2014. She has been working civil and political rights since 2014 military coup. She has organised small scale protests, together with other students concerning the rule of law, democracy and to call for the ending of unlimited use of powers by the military government. In 2015, she was arrested with other members of a group known as Dao Din. The group set up to free Thailand from dictatorship.

She co-founded three pro-democracy organisations, Thai Student Centre for Democracy, New Democracy Movement, and the Democracy Restoration Group. According to Amnesty International following the 2014 coup university staff received orders from the army and education ministry to monitor student activities and report activities which criticised military authorities and to prohibit and limit restrict student engagement in political activities. Armed troops also visited university lecturers and rectors to ensure compliance.

Peaceful protests in Bangkok, were marred by violence, as observed by Human Rights Watch. '''The security forces beat, kicked, and slapped the demonstrators without provocation. Some members of the security forces lifted the students up and threw them on the ground. Others grabbed the students by their hair and dragged them away. Kaewpanpruk, one of the students facing charges, was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment after he was found lying unconscious on the ground'.''

Criminal proceedings
In June 2015, Chonthica Jaengraew was imprisoned for 12 days for marking the first year anniversary of the military coup. Amnesty International says that she faces criminal proceedings.

Chonthica Jaengraew was one of sixteen students arrested on 26 June 2015, according to [[Amnesty International]. Plainclothes officers arrested the sixteen students and charged them of violating a ban on political gatherings. The National Council for Peace and Order’s Order 3/2015 criminalises peaceful political gatherings of five people or more. They had participated in two peaceful protests in Bangkok and Khon Kaen in Notheast Thailand on 22 May to mark the anniversary of the 2014 military coup. She was also charged with sedition under Section 115 of the Thai Penal Code, which carries a 7 year prison sentence.

These arrests provoked international condemnation by human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International and a student-led campaign called International Solidarity for Thai Students and Teachers.

In 2018, she faced charges of breaching the ban on political gatherings of five or more. She was arrested because of her leadership of the New Democracy Movement who was reported to have participated in the protest calling for a general election. Six other student activists were arrested.

Other Risks
She has faced online and offline harassment and threats.