The Thai Administrative Court has dismissed a sedition complaint filed against the Thai junta for issuing an order to prohibit certain people from traveling overseas.
According to Post Today News, the Central Administrative Court on Monday, 3 August 2015, dismissed a complaint that Watana Muangsook, a former Minister of Commerce of the Pheu Thai Party, recently filed against the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
Watana filed the complaint against the NCPO for issuing an order which prohibited him from travelling to Singapore as planned on 15 July 2015.
The NCPO’s travel ban or NCPO Announcement No. 21/2014 was issued on 23 May 2014. It prohibits 155 individuals, most of whom are Pheu Thai politicians, anti-establishment red shirts, and anti-junta academics and activists, from travelling overseas without permission from the NCPO.
The accuser pointed out that the travel ban contradicts the principles of human rights and the democratic system with the monarch as the head of state as the Interim Constitution stipulates. Watana added that the travel ban is unlawful and was intended to limit the rights and freedoms of dissidents.
However, the court ruled that the NCPO announcement is lawful under the Interim Constitution. Therefore, the charge was dismissed.
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