Thailand orders Facebook to remove posts about king News
Thailand orders Facebook to remove posts about king

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission [official website] of Thailand on Thursday ordered Facebook Thailand [official website] to remove a video of King Maha Vajiralongkorn and other posts by Tuesday or face legal action. The video claims to show the king in casual dress showing his tattoos and walking with a woman. The video was deemed illicit by the NBTC and ordered removed [Bangkok Post reports] from the social media site. Facebook has said[VICE report] it plans to comply with the request.

Free speech rights around the globe are still contested. Chinese human rights lawyers Xie Yang and Li Heping were released [JURIST report] from prison Tuesday after being detained for nearly two years on charges of attempting to subvert the country’s ruling Communist Party. Ireland Health Minister Simon Harris said [JURIST report] Monday that the country’s blasphemy laws were “embarrassing” and called for their repeal. A Tunisian court sentenced [JURIST report] British DJ Dax J to a year in prison in April for public indecency and offending public morality after the artist played a remix of the Muslim call to prayer in a nightclu

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.