Military Influence, Policing Practices and Detention Risks in Thailand (2024)

Photo: Thailand - Nick Gray

Thailand has experienced two military coups since 2006 — in 2006 and 2014 — and the military's influence over civilian governance remains entrenched through a constitution drafted under junta rule and enacted in 2017. Despite formal elections in 2023, the military establishment blocked the most popular party (Move Forward) from forming a government, demonstrating the continued subordination of electoral outcomes to unelected power. Arbitrary detention, torture in custody, and the use of lèse-majesté law as a political weapon are well documented. This report draws on Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), and the UN Special Rapporteur on Thailand.

Lèse-Majesté: A Political Weapon

Thailand's Section 112 of the Criminal Code criminalises criticism of the monarchy with sentences of 3 to 15 years per count. The law has been weaponised against pro-democracy protesters who demanded reform of the monarchy during the 2020–2021 protest movement. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights documented over 200 individuals prosecuted under Section 112, with some defendants facing charges for social media posts, protest speeches, or even wearing crop tops at demonstrations. Multiple defendants have been denied bail and held in pre-trial detention for months or years.[1]

Military Detention and Torture

Following the 2014 coup, the junta (NCPO) issued orders authorising detention of civilians in military facilities for up to seven days without charge or judicial oversight — effectively enabling incommunicado detention outside normal legal protections. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented multiple credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment in military custody during this period, including beatings, hooding, stress positions, and threats against family members. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture confirmed these findings in a 2018 country visit report.[2]

Thailand's military has used its constitutional privileges to place itself above accountability — soldiers who torture detainees, commanders who order political prosecutions, and generals who intervene in elections do so with effective impunity.
Human Rights Watch, World Report 2024 — Thailand

Enforced Disappearances and Exiled Dissidents

At least nine Thai dissidents living in exile — primarily in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam — have been forcibly disappeared or killed since 2018. Their bodies, when found, showed signs of execution. Thai authorities have not prosecuted anyone for these killings. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has registered multiple cases involving Thai nationals, and the pattern of disappearances in neighbouring countries strongly implicates cross-border operations by Thai security services.[3]