so been colbert gish was arrested on accusations of being the alleged mastermind of a year's long scheme to defraud her mother using so called psychics. she swindled some of brazil's most famous artwork. which nice fields on you believe me and laugh concluded in the preliminary check that all the characteristics of the paintings are compatible with the authentic paintings. police say, sabine and 6 other suspects physically threatened genevieve and forcibly kept her home for months. the victim went to the police after almost a year of abuse. for other people were also arrested. 2 suspects are still at large . all phase charges of embezzlement. robbery, extortion, false imprisonment and criminal association in basra, v o g 0. it's just over 100 days into the world comp and the final stadium here in kata is it to host it 1st match later on thursday. the sales stadium is the biggest of the a venue for cut her 2022 with the capacity of the 80000. it will host 10 world comp

games, including the final on december 18th. ah, hello, what, you know, 20. these are the headlines this our, the us state department who's calling for a demilitarized zone around ukraine's is f a ratio nuclear plant after it was shelled again on thursday and shelling at the russian control facility has bank fees of a potential nuclear disaster. the un security council will be holding an emergency meeting in about an hour to discuss the situation at the plant. a man who held employees hostage at a bank in the lebanese capital bay route has surrendered. he wanted to withdraw his own money from his account, but live on imposed restrictions on how much cut cash people can take out. as the economy worsens than a 100 has more from beirut. he laid down his arms after this, negotiate just help him with what we understand. he. he was given approximately

$35000.00 us dollars. he was the banding money. in fact, he visited the bank in the past in recent days, demanding $5000.00. he wanted money to pay for his father's hospital bill, and the bank refused to give him money. so he reached breaking points and he was very disgruntled, angry, and he entered the bank. so it's now over. but the crisis in lebanon is not over. as you mentioned, many people came here to support him to say that their money to is trapped and banks, and many people are struggling to make ends meet. an influential taliban figure has been killed in a suicide attack. and afghan was done, that's been claimed by i sold witnesses say, a disabled man approached rocky mullah connie in a seminary in cobbled, even detonated explosive, hidden in his prosthetic leg. and israeli military court has extended that attention of islamic jihad later by some al sadi by at least 6 days. last week, israel launched what he called preemptive strikes on garza targeting the

palestinian group. following saudis, arrest and sierra leone has imposed a nationwide curfew in response to anti government, protests. officials say several people have been killed including security personnel. alright. those are the headlines. i'm emily angling station now for inside story. ah, he seized power in a qu and later lead the government. but thailand's prime minister is under growing pressure to step down. what if he doesn't? could that lead to further unrest? this is inside story. ah.

hello and welcome to the program, my mamma, jim john, thailand. has seen political instability since its army chief to power in a coo 8 years ago. he eventually became prime minister, but his faced resistance from many ties who been demanding change. protesters are now calling on private channel chart to resign. students at the university in northern bangkok held protests on wednesday. they called for reforms to the monarchy and the government's resignation. authorities of crackdown on opponents, imposing a nationwide ban on protests in 2014, but many of defied that band in the year since leading to hundreds of arrests. the law my mainly yeah. long. i think the government don't really care about the people . it's like we don't exist, it feels like we're being abandoned and left behind. that's why we have come out to voice our concerns and hopefully put for a new government that truly cares about its people. come by, didn't i?

lemme tell me that i think change is inevitable. as the country moves forward, we must rely in our younger generation. these young people are smart, i've seen them since the beginning of the movement. the thing up and i think the movement has been very successful. people have been talking about things that have been taboo for indicates issues that vary swept under the rug. it's no longer a personal struggle, but it's the people's agenda. we have raised the ceiling. as we mentioned prior channel char let, a qu, in 2014, that overthrew a democratically elected government. he then served as prime minister under military administration until elections in 2019, when he was chosen to remain in power. opposition. parties said the process was wrecked. now, the political party channels overthrew is seeking a ruling from a constitutional court on whether prior to 5 years as head of a military jointer should count towards his 8 year constitutional term limit. the

legal movie is the latest attempt by opposition parties to reverse what they see as an illegitimate seizure of power. and nearly 2 thirds of ty, voters appear to agree. a recent poll suggest they want prime minister pro channel chart to leave office this month. ah. all right, let's go ahead and bring in our guest. they're all joining us from bangkok. j. donovan. nick is president of the law faculty at the college of asian scholars, the tenant pong silly rock, his professor and director of the institute of security and international studies at chu, long corn university. and soon i wasik is a senior researcher in the asia division of human rights watch a warm welcome to you all and thanks so much for joining us today on. and so i story and 13, and let me start with you to day of the p t p, which is the main opposition party in thailand. they're seeking a court ruling to try and in the prime minister's term sooner. they want to see it end up by august 23rd, i believe is the date they're looking for um, could you please explain this legal strategy and the case that they are attempting

to make in the constitutional court or the constitution? so we have an article in the constitution of 2017 i basically impose is a term limit on any prime minister, not to loss in office more than 8 years. so at issue here, mama, this is, you know, how do you count it? yes, i think they the opposition party, the, the, the various ha potemkin is people who are filing complaints and petitions. they are trying to count to 8 years from the time that prime is a unit of cease power and became prime minister back in 2014 in august on august 24th, 2014. so on august 24th this year. and this would be the time that he would have to leave off. it's now there are different ways of counting when he began some people, his people are saying that, you know, he should be counted when the constitution was promulgated in july 2017. and or

when the elections took place in 2019 went to office then at that time. so different ways of counting the 8. yes. i think that the prime minister he's is popularity. i think he's at a low point and he's been around a long time and people want change. so this mounting pressure and for him to to step aside to step down for a clean slate. are we not elections? and that's what we're hoping for. i think many people in thailand but on his supporters and his side is the ruling party. are they wanting to last all the way to the next election, which must be cold by march 2023. so now you know, the constitutional court is in the hot seat because he has to decide and remember to mohammed to and you know, our view is that the constitution of court has been deciding in favor of general. but yet, um, through the yes. so for example, in 2000, my teens in july, you know, his cabinets, sworn

a incomplete oath of office. incomplete oath of office. but they got away with it. the constitution of basically said he had no jurisdiction, even though it had to deal with the issues of the constitution. and then there were other cases where pretty much jennifer, you'd got his way through the constitutional court through the lesson commission through the anti corruption commission. so there is no reason to doubt this time, that the constitutional court will decide the same way. however, public pressure is mounting so to the judges will be under a lot of pressure to, to be fair and impartial. jade um, you know, in, on just now you mentioned something that i wanted to ask you about as well, which is the fact that there are different entities. and on the political scene in thailand that are, are counting how many years the prime minister has been in office differently and it gets a little confusing. you have some supporters arguing that his premiership began in 2017, which would mean that he could stay in power until 2025. you have others who say

that it began after the 2019 election, which, which means he should be able to stay in power in theory until 2027. from your vantage point, who is right, we're actually earth taking from 2 to 9 are facilitating. i was pointing out that there was an article under the constitution which article a $158.00. that toms to prime minister no more than 8 years. then there's another article, $264.00, which said that the cabinet in office prior to the coming into force of the constitution, the cabinet prior to the constitution is the cabinet and the constitution. that means that the cabinet and has been the cabinet ever since prior to the effective date of the constitution is also the cabinet under the constitution of 2017. so who is within the cabinet? it is the prime minister. ready which is general for you, as well as the other ministers. so counting general for you,

it has to be counted from 24th august, 2014 on all the way until this year, august the 23rd. then that is be the correct term. as i see counting towards a the, the terms under article 158 as well as linking to article 264. many people were counting that it starts 2017 because they said that the constitution came into port 6, april 2017. therefore it has to be counted on that date. but many others counted after the election when he was appointed by by is smashed, edith came around june, 2019. but for me, the correct interpretation will be that you have to bundle article $158.00 together with $264.00. therefore,

his term and the night the 23rd august of this year up tonight does the effort to remove the prime minister from office, have a lot of public support at this point. and if he is not removed, what happens then? what happens next? well does, since all dissatisfaction has grown significantly due to poor performance, and let's not forget that for you has no legitimacy from the beginning, because hispanic, to that, or for you a democratically elected government, he has no let it may se from the beginning. and now it is a critical challenger. wish he is. credential is being question based on constitutional rule. and these constitute rule is actually drafted by regular and he is out, cronies. so if he, if he's, you know, he's found it and is it kind of crumbling upon his own doing so

already. dad, you know, this week there was a resumption all political rally in bangkok in the, the, our skillet, a banker, a university. and, and, and, and there seem to be as some mission already among crow democracy who is odd that they are hoping there will be a quick end to regulate to them as cheating on and k. a just say that, you know, it could come in less than a week from now the of his term come to an in on the 23rd of august. this is very soon. and now democracy groups are not calling for a new street pro case what they are calling for is a free and fair election that will lead to landslide victory, all pro democracy political parties. and that will lead to. ready a jeannine kind

of transition of pile and back to democracy and doing the legacy of military wouldn't undoing declaring constitutional framework, undoing all those in students, institution that have protect it for you from accountability. so these seem to be there the game plan all pro democracy movements and i'll at the moment to get in on jade just mentioned that there were some protests that happened in the past a few days ago. and you know, there had been many youth lead protests against the prime minister. do you think that we're going to see more going forward? i think yes, we'll definitely see more going forward. i mean, if going forward means a in a months and years ahead. the reason we have protests and will continue to have protests is because people are unhappy. people are unhappy because the political system is unjust, unfair and, and partial to the one side. you know, basically i'm in this, this a controversy in crisis for youth on the 88 year term limit is ironic mohammed

because you know this dis, provision was written not against him, not it was not meant for him. it was meant for his exiled nemesis. someone like tuck, since, you know, what, who was living abroad is, is meant to prevent any individual from dominating electoral politics in thailand. but now that the constitution, the law in thailand now is about power is not about fan, isn't just, this is one who has the power and who, who is a power and how to keep power. so i would not be surprised if the constitution, of course somehow the size again in general, but use favor despite you know, j in the dr. jay's and, and, and mr. denies a comments that he last intimacy, that this is a violation of the constitution because of the various dynamics and the powers that be, i think has deal behind but yet. so that's why we can see more plots because people see it, especially young people, because you know, they look at their future and it's been, it's been taken hostage by the youth lead regime. and they want to do something

about it. we saw that 2 years ago and we'll see more of it. jade if anger continues to build and if the prime minister doesn't either step down or, or if the constitutional court rules in his favor that he can continue to serve. from your vantage point. does that mean that we're looking at the possibility of widespread instability or turmoil? yes, and you see the are now the demonstrators are not only calling on for you to resign . they are calling in 3 prongs. they are calling for a constitutional amendment. secondly, they calling general but you to resign and certainly which is which is not quite stable for the country. and then i think that may cause the tor mine again because they are calling for reform with him on those 2 other things. the constitution amendment in reform, monarchy doesn't have anything to do with general resigning or not. but because generally it's not dealing with anything that would be fair and would be seen from

the liberal point. we asked making something impartial and making something a fair and equitable so. so now he's dragging on on a on and in the constitution will be hurt as well as the monarchy. so i think you may see that things will get worse and worse and afterwards if they stay on you still have another issue about the lacrosse system, that they are trying to drag the electric system to the carlos system and then to the proportional system. they now back to the parlor system. so no one knows what really happened or what they really want. and people were saying that there was some parties are making agreement that ok, jennifer, you can stay on, but they want to parlor system because when they head on to the campaign to the election, they will win drastically there when lance light. so who knows what happened now?

everything will be in clarity. soon i, i want to ask you about another aspect of, of what's going on in thailand right now. just take a step back for a moment. in its 2022 world report human rights watch said, the tie government further repressed basic rights and crack down on the euclid democracy movement in 2021. what is the overall situation in thailand right now when it comes to human rights? well, let's not forget that thailand is still under emergency decree, enforced by general prayer. and this emergency decree can be aware of it. to the extent that all exist, all form of the exercise upon a mental freedom. freedom expression assembly association can be totally ban and dissemination information. so fashion or report by my watch can also be ban, hadn't, and unleashed as follows, information on this information. so he has a fairy point him too, which is jacqueline, in nature, in his hand,

already. and he has been using that, that explain why we have hundreds and hundreds of use the high bars our being charged for expressing that their opinions are that is sending wise against the government as, as k. a just say that they had 3 demands. not only those 3 demands of our private resignation in new constitution and reform when i get not only this tree demands have not been met or responded. they are being punished for making such demands. so this is the, the situation of, i'm almost all kind of a human rice landscape that thailand has become a dr. pony and repressive society. and the general i just grew. and how long can people put up with these? my answer. elliott's people are not going to tolerate this any more that explain why. there is their lives who came to the street. they reached their future and

there's nothing to lose any more dead. and he didn't talk about these youngsters. seeing that it is a fight for the better future to reclaim their rights, to be, to me in their own future. this is why there is being would be high bar there is being beaten up by police being at by police officers charges that can keep them the i barbara decker. this is the reason that this youngster are caking. and they see that if now they are pinning their whole death bed you it will be forced out of the office there be a new election if the expectation are not met. who knows what would happen next to it in on you mentioned, or in your answer a few moments ago you talked a little bit about former prime minister toxin and a and i wanted to, to ask you a little bit about that because you, you wrote a piece entitled, keeping democratic institutions week in which you, you wrote a bit about what had happened to the former prime minister and,

and one of the things you said in this piece was the worst thing one can do in, ty, politics is to run for office and when by a landslide, i just wanted to, to get your perspective on. what exactly that means, what did you mean when you wrote that? and the, the, the, the low cost of power, the way that power works. and these exercise in thailand is not through populum mandate. fundamentally, so you can have elections, you know, you read hat as, you know, 2 military coups over the past 2 decades and 3 constitutions over the last 25 years . we've had the dissolution of major a big political parties imagined in any country. that the major political parties are dissolved less than rides and time and again. so basically this is a way of keeping a democratic institution in parliament, political parties elected representatives, keeping them weak by dissolving the parties by banning politicians. and you know, and doing so allows the traditional institutions of the military, the bureaucracy,

the judiciary, the monarchy, to be strong. so basically, it is not possible. so fine thailand do have strong democratic institutions because traditional institutions will read. we assert themselves, and we've seen this time and again with the last 25 years. and we'll probably see some more of it. but there's a kind of a reckoning that i think it is coming along because the new demo demographics, younger generations, a, they don't want to put up with this anymore. and you know, we've gone past the cold war. we've had the change of the mona to the new monarch previous more not lasted for 47 decades. so now i think it is kind of a new thailand that the old power center is unwilling to recognize and accept. and therefore, we have a lot of tension and confrontation, demonstrations protests, and so far has been suppressed a repress. but over time, in the long term, it will be very difficult to avoid and to prevent this kind of reckoning from taking place afterwards. we can only hope that kind of will find some kind of

a compromised 4 way forward. i think if you live, if you listen to the message, the demands of these protests as well, they, they wonder, reform didn't want to revolution. i mean, this is a cut in all is good for compromise negotiations, a degrees of separation, very small. so if you can catch some kind of reform, so that the various political players and the political balance is sir, reach it in a new fashion that is satisfactory through young people, all the people, all kinds of people. and that's the way forward from tylen. jade. are there any indications out there? are there any signs of how the military is viewing all that is going on? i think it is observing what is going on right now, but it will take action, let's say after the election to say if the election is had. and then as to what's the, the liberal caught, the a, the majority of the lower house did. dad majority at the lower house might not

break down the prime minister. his you have to have also the mad a vote from descent. then if the conservative put together with the the senate, then they win the liberal pot. people come on the street, the demonstrator, it might be a riot, and then afterwards the military will take action then, and there may be an acoustic let me ask you also as since you mentioned the elections, i will, the elections actually happen according to the time table that is, that is laid out as expected. they're going to happen in march of 20202023. do think that's going to be the case. i might not be in march because march will be at the ending of the term of the parliament. then around 60 days as 30 the ending. okay, no more than that, $45.00 days, depending on whether or not the problem is the soft. if the parliament is the sock, then you have 60 days. if the parliament is ends with the actual terms,

then he will be $45.00 days. so march is the ending of a 24 march. okay, so 24th march. as the new counting from their $45.00 days, there will be the election. and then after that then the. ready the arctic situation may be occurring soon. i am. are you getting any, any indications that the cracks are emerging in, in the ruling coalition? and, and do you think that there's any chance that the prime minister might stepped out well for you? he is. i thing he is the to me into, to stay on. and 1st of all, he believe that or you know, against all the fast, he believed that he is the, the holder of, of national unity and stability, which i totally disagree. and is the cause of the vision is the cause of discontent . ah, but he seems to think otherwise. and, and he think that he has to stay on the power for the sake of the nation. but

people think differently, of course. and another thing is pallana going to horse d a p meeting later this year and for you it, it, he is something that he want to leave the high as he is a personal legacy that you know, he who is not, no one to have any kind of credential in diplomacy in international religion. managed to be the primary of thailand at the time of a meeting and meeting our hosting. whoa leaders. so this is something that you want to heave, so he will kind of bang every thing on the decision of the constitutional court, which up until now has been partial and making decision in practice fair. we're all along. so he's banking his hopes in that basket that the soon i also, and i may or i'm sorry to interrupt when we can or should i,

we only have about a minute left to just very quickly want to ask you from your perspective, do you think that elections are going to be happening early next year. well, election is it has to happen what it is, way. elation will have to happen. i long thing the military, well, there was station who otherwise they will stay as with the fierce resistance from that high population, we are now being the earliest in the region or our proven they are being bold, being curation and taking to the street over the past. 3 years and they will see something much bigger if the military there to stage a coup or someone there to the rail, the. com ly off the next election. all right, well we have run out of time to we're going to have to leave the conversation there . thanks so much. all of our guests. j. donovan, mc tenet on pong. so iraq and soon i shook and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al jazeera dot com,

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