Thai police charge 14 student activists with 'sedition': lawyer

BANGKOK: Thai police Friday charged 14 students with "sedition", a lawyer said, which could see them jailed for seven years, after they staged a peaceful rally against the ruling junta's sweeping curbs on civil liberties. The pro-democracy campaigners from universities in Bangkok and the country's northeast are among the few public faces of dissent that remain in Thailand since the military seized power last year.

The severe charges follow a peaceful protest at the capital's Democracy Monument Thursday when the students made impassioned speeches and sang songs urging an end to junta rule, cheered on by dozens of supporters.