The court on Monday also sentenced three other defendants to life imprisonment and another man to a 40-year jail term in connection with the bombings, said Isoc Region 4 front command spokesman Colonel Pramote Phrom-in at a press conference held near the Pattani Central Mosque.

The 10 defendants were accused of terrorism, criminal association to launch bomb attacks and other related charges linked to various violent incidents in 2016 as well as subsequent seizures of guns and bomb-making components that year.

The violent incidents cited were: the October 24 bombing of “Berm Nakhon Pathom” noodle shop in the Pattani Night Market area that killed a 60-year-old woman and left 18 injured; the June 19 bombing of JP furniture shop; the June 18 bombing of two fishing trawlers; and the July 3 bombing in front of Sri Putri shop near the Pattani Central Mosque that injured two policemen and one civilian.

Addressing the crowd, which included the families and relatives of those killed and wounded in the bomb incidents, Pramote said nine defendants had originally received death sentences but three had cooperated and provided useful information during trial hence their punishment was commuted to life imprisonment.

Ibroheng Yusoh, Amree Lueyoh, Santi Chantharakul, Ayub Poh-lee, Isma-ae Tuyong, and Nironing Niday were given the death sentence while Masan or Hakim Salae, Abdulloh Hayee-uma, and Ruslan Waehayee got life imprisonment.

Another defendant Hamit Jehma was sentenced to 40 years behind bars.

The Bangkok-based Siriraj Hospital made the announcement at a press conference yesterday.

The actual operation, which has changed the life of 26-year-old Rachanon Rungsawang for the better, took place late last year. The results were good and he was discharged from the hospital on February 23.

“I would like to thank doctors, nurses, organ donors and all those involved in my treatment. I am grateful that you have given me a new life,” Rachanon said.

Having developed kidney problems at the age of eight, Rachanon needed haemodialyses by the time he entered university. After his graduation, he had no chance of getting a job because of his poor health. He felt easily tired after exertion and had a swollen abdomen due to a large amount of fluid accumulation. His symptoms did not improve with dialysis and medication, and frequent drainage of abdominal fluid was needed. He was subsequently diagnosed with heart failure due to a problem with |his heart muscle, which led to |cirrhosis of the liver.

He was transferred to the heart failure clinic in Siriraj Hospital on August 24 last year, where doctors recommended a combined heart-liver-kidney transplant.

“I decided to undergo the operation because without it my life was just a suffering,” he said.

Following the successful operation, Rachanon said he could now live a normal life.

“I can have three meals a day, go to work, and even take care of my grandma. I can take my grandma to a market on my motorcycle,” he said happily.

Siriraj Hospital’s director Assoc Prof Visit Vamvanij attributed the success to a multidisciplinary team consisting of transplant surgeons, cardiologists, nephrologists, hepatologists, anaesthesiologists, pharmacists, transplant coordinators, nurses and all supporting workers.

“The transplant involved complex procedures,” he said.

Assoc Prof Yongyut Sirivatanauksorn – the vice-director of Siriraj Hospital, the chairman of Siriraj Organ Transplantation Centre and a liver transplant surgeon – said the operation took 12 hours and 5 minutes, starting with the heart, followed by the liver and the kidney.

Professor Prasit Watanapa, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said this first combined heart-liver-kidney transplant is not only a feather in the cap for Siriraj Hospital, but also a reflection of Thailand’s potential to become an excellent medical centre that always provides high-quality medical services with international standards to everyone.

“Siriraj Hospital carried out the first kidney transplant in 1973,” he said.

He said the hospital has to date performed 1,298 kidney transplants, 321 liver transplants and 67 heart transplants.

Siriraj Hospital is now one of the largest transplantation centres in Thailand and in Southeast Asia. Transplantation is now the standard treatment for patients with end-stage organ functions. Transplantation is mostly done with a single organ; however, some patients with more than one organ failure would need two or more organs (multi-organ) to be transplanted at the same time.

Prasert said organ transplants would not have been possible without someone agreeing to donate their organs.

Rachananon’s mother, Sopa Rungsawang, said she would encourage her son to enter the monkhood and make merit for his organ donors.

“Thanks to them, he is no longer in suffering,” she said.

“I will meet their representatives for discussions on Sunday, not to listen to their opinions because that part is already done,” he said.

Suwaphan was speaking after Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha asked him to head a panel to promote public understanding about the ongoing construction.

Built at a cost of nearly Bt1 billion, the project is now almost complete. It has caused an uproar, though, as environmentalists believe the structures have eaten into forest zones.

However, according to law the buildings are not inside the adjacent Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.

Opponents of the construction have demanded that the buildings be demolished.Thousands of people joined a rally to support this stance on April 29. On Sunday, another rally is to be held.

Saowakhon Sriboonruang, a Chiang Mai resident, said she agreed with the demand for the demolition of the court judges and court officials’ buildings at the controversial site.

Regarding the idea of resolving the dispute via a public referendum, Saowakhon said such an option would only prolong the dispute.

“Why doesn’t the government simply end the ongoing construction to settle the dispute? End it and then consider demolishing the structures,” Saowakhon said.

Meanwhile, social media users responding to a government survey are almost universally in favour of demolishing the residences built for judges on Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai and letting the forest grow back.

As of press time yesterday, the survey asking for “one comment about the solution to the problem of justice officials’ housing project” had drawn more than 18,000 responses. The survey is posted on the Facebook page of the Government Spokesman Bureau, @ThaigovSpokesman.

More than 6,000 Facebook users shared the post within 24 hours of its appearance on Tuesday just before noon.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had pointed out earlier that the judges’ residential estate had been established in accordance with the law, but the government was concerned that it had caused a public outcry and wanted citizens to suggest a solution.

The resulting opinion poll on Facebook insists that only one comment be posted and it must not be offensive, defamatory or seek to politicise the issue. Most of the comments agree with the stance of the network formed to oppose the housing estate – that all buildings erected beyond the former forest line be demolished – but some respondents side with the government, wanting the project left as is.

The majority see the project as visual pollution, an invasion of a “sacred” mountain, destruction of pristine headwater forest and an unreasonable expenditure for such an obscure use.

“We should entirely demolish it and not regret the money already spent, because we need to rebuild the foundations of our society,” a Facebook user posting as Seree Pansang commented. “If the authorities need official residences for judges, they should not be so luxurious.”

“Amornsak Kit” said the authorities, especially Court of Justice officials, should be role models for others when it comes to protecting the environment and remove all structures that encroached on the forest, which is an important “lung” allowing residents of Chiang Mai to breathe clean air.

“Ente Vogel” was among posters urging the government to let the buildings stand because so much money had been invested, but to turn the site over to the public to use.

“Hamich Teenrabirt” said razing the buildings and restoring the forest would be a further huge expense and waste the money already invested. He suggested letting the project stand but making it less visually obtrusive by planting trees among the buildings.

The team of researchers, led by globally renowned gene therapist Professor Dr Philippe Leboulch of the University of Paris and Harvard Medical School, revealed that this new technique to cure thalassemia is expected be available to the general public in France by next year. Patients in Thailand will have to wait a little longer, as gene therapy for treating thalassemia is still in the clinical trial process.

The results of the trial on 12 patients by a group of Thai and French scientists were published in the April 19 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Beta-thalassemia has been especially frequent in Thailand and Southeast Asia, and approximately 3,000 babies are born each year in Thailand with a severe form of beta-thalassemia that requires life-long, monthly transfusions. Even with this treatment, complications frequently occur, resulting in a decreased life expectancy. Beta-thalassemia imposes an enormous financial burden on affected nations.

After Leboulch published the proof of principle of the efficacy of the treatment on single beta-thalassemia and sickle cell patients, he collaborated with Dr Suradej Hongeng and Dr Suthat Fucharoen from Mahidol University in major worldwide phase-two trials to evaluate the gene therapy approach, called LentiGlobin, in a large cohort of patients.

The therapeutic vector integrates permanently a corrective normal beta-globin gene into the patients’ blood stem cells, after the defective cells have been first eliminated.Twelve patients with severe beta+- or betaE/beta0- thalassemia – the most common in Thailand – are now free of having transfusions after they were injected with an effective dose of cells that had received the vector, Leboulch said.

He revealed that the result of trials on humans was very promising, as all 12 thalassemia patients had been cured. It is expected that the therapeutic effect will last for the rest of their lives. Nevertheless, he stated that the safety profile of LentiGlobin, which remains under investigation, has been consistent with myeloablative conditioning with the chemotherapy agent busulfan.

Leboulch said that European countries would be the first to adopt this new thalassemia treatment, with French people having access by next year.

The cost for curing thalassemia with this new technique was not yet finalised, but he insisted that government health policy would play a major role in keeping it affordable for the general public.

“We are delighted that our patients are doing fantastic, no longer requiring blood transfusions, whereas they were previously transfused monthly since early childhood. They go to school or work, play sports, and now live a normal life,” said Dr Suradej.

He pointed out that existing treatments for thalassemia are expensive, have many side effects, and cast a heavy burden on our health system. The cost of constantly giving blood transfusions to one person for 30 years is up to Bt10 million, and it is estimated that 40 per cent of the stock at Thai Red Cross’s blood bank is used for thalassemia patients.

The only curative treatment currently available is transplantation of donor blood stem cells from a healthy, compatible donor. However, only about 25 per cent of patients can find a suitable donor.

THE SOCIAL Development and Human Security Ministry is poised to fire two senior officials for their role in the embezzlement of state funds for the destitute.

Following their dismissal, they very likely will also have to pay compensation for damage caused.

These two officials have not been identified by name. But at the time of wrongdoings, one of them headed the Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute and the other was the centre’s social-welfare chief.

“A panel investigating them for grave disciplinary offences has concluded that they should be fired,” Social Development and Welfare Department director-general Napa Setthakorn said yesterday.

The nationwide investigation into the disbursement of state funds for the underprivileged started after a university student, who detected irregularities at the Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute during her internship there, blew the whistle.

In the wake of the scandal, the ministry’s permanent secretary Puttipat Lertchaowasit and deputy permanent secretary Narong Kongkham were transferred. As the investigation hinted at possible wrongdoing, the Cabinet last month ordered that they be dismissed from service unless the investigation clears their name in the end.

According to Napa, authorities have now uncovered clear evidence against the former director of Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute and its former social-welfare chief.

“They had apparently engaged in document forgery and made just partial payments to qualified recipients. Such actions were strongly suggestive of corruption. They were by no means just about failure to fully comply with the rules,” Napa said.

Social Development and Human Security Minister General Anantaporn Kanjanarat heads the ministry’s civil-service panel, which will convene tomorrow and consider the proposed dismissal of the two accused officials.

These officials have been suspended from duty since early April, without the right to receive salary or welfare.

The dismissal, as recommended by the investigation panel, will also strip them of the right to any severance pay or pensions.

“A panel will also be established to calculate damage caused by the offending officials so as to specify the amount of compensation they should be required to pay,” Napa added.

She said two other officials at the Khon Kaen Protection Centre for the Destitute were now being investigated for non-serious offences. “The probe has not yet concluded,” she said.

Asked about the alleged corruption at the Chiang Mai Protection Centre for the Destitute, Napa said the ministry’s probe should conclude before the end of this month.

The ministry has conducted separate probes, as the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) has also looked into the alleged irregularities.

At present, the PACC has officially made accusations against 156 officials at 35 centres run by the ministry.

“Of them, 20 are now facing disciplinary action while the rest will face legal action,” Napa confirmed.

Meanwhile, the director of the Samut Prakan Protection Centre for the Destitute, Tanittha Jantanarirk, handed a petition to Prime Minister and National Council for Peace and Order chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha via a government complaint-receiving centre in Bangkok yesterday.

“I believe the former permanent secretary [Puttipat] should face both disciplinary and legal punishment,” she said.

Tanittha complained that officials at places that refused to engage in corrupt practices had received just a meagre budget.

“Samut Prakan’s population is at about 1.2 million but my centre has received just Bt700,000 in budget. Surprisingly, another centre has received more than Bt60 million in budget despite the fact that the local population in their jurisdiction is just 300,000,” she said.

President Premchai Karnasuta, his close aide Yong Dotkrau, driver Thanee Thummart, and cook Natee Riemsaen showed up in court in Thong Pha Phum district. They are out on bail after being arrested by forest rangers in Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary in early February at their campsite. Seized from the site were the remains of a butchered black leopard and other protected wild animals as well as rifles.

They are facing six charges relating to poaching in the wildlife sanctuary, which carry jail terms and fines. Premchai and Yong are also charged with attempted bribery.

The four had been freed on bail of Bt150,000 each.

The court yesterday increased the bail amount for Premchai, Yong and Natee to Bt400,000 each. They will also need court approval to travel abroad.

They have been ordered to appear before the court on May 21.

It was reported that the four defendants denied charges of colluding to kill the leopard.

Pol Lt-Colonel Amnart Sujaritchai, the deputy Thong Pha Phum public prosecutor, asked the public to have faith in the justice system, saying the process will be transparent and as per the law.

His comments seemed to be aimed at assuaging public anger that Premchai, a billionaire and an influential businessman, may be able to evade prosecution due to his strong connections with those within government.

His listed firm has won concessions from governments for many years. The public has started a series of campaigns to ensure that Premchai is prosecuted for his alleged offences and that death of the big cat will not be in vain.

Speaking to reporters later, Premchai insisted on his innocence but declined to answer queries on whether he had shot the leopard.

ACTIVISTS demanding the right to protest appealed to the United Nations for help after land rights campaigners faced intimidation from the military yesterday to prevent them from joining peaceful demonstrations in Bangkok.

It was reported that at least three prominent members of the rights movement People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move) Prayong Doklamyai, Sukaew Fungfu, and Rangsan Saensongkwae – were arrested on charges of violating the Public Gathering Act and causing public disorder in Lamphun province but later released.

At about 3.40pm yesterday, a minor confrontation took place as dozens of police, soldiers and administrative officials turned up to arrest Prayong, Sukaew and Rangsan.

These activists were among the crowds of demonstrators.

There was some pushing and shoving, as demonstrators tried to prevent officials from dragging their leaders away.

Soldiers said these men had violated a junta order, which bans actions that may undermine public order or economic systems, and the Public Assembly Act.

Finally, officials managed to push the three men into a police vehicle that quickly sped away.

Officials also tore down demonstrators’ banners.

More than 100 members of P-Move in the northern region were stopped on Tuesday night during their journey to join the protest in Bangkok.

P-Move members from Lamphun were detained at the police checkpoint in Mae Tha district, while another group of P-Move activists from Chiang Mai were summoned to Kawila Military Base for questioning and then forced to remain at home.

All of them intended to attend the prolonged protest in Bangkok alongside land rights activists from across the country to push for long-delayed solutions to land rights issues, disparity in society, and unjust governmental policies, which resulted in greater difficulties and rights violation of poor people across the country.

Prayong told The Nation yesterday afternoon, “The military tried to stop the people from joining the protest in Bangkok on the pretext of keeping public order, so they summoned all P-Move protesters from Chiang Mai to Kawila Military Base and asked them to give a signed assurance that that they would not participate in the protest,” Prayong said.“Then, the Army offered Bt20,000 to the protesters as compensation for their travel expenses to Bangkok and the soldiers escorted all of them back to their residences to ensure they would not take part in the protest.”

However, he revealed that P-Move members from Chiang Mai and Lamphun would not give up their efforts and would discuss their next move.

The Farmers Union of the northern region and P-Move have issued a statement condemning the military and authorities’ intervention preventing them from exercising their right to peacefully demonstrate, as this right is guaranteed by the Constitution.The statement said the authorities also have the obligation to facilitate and provide security for the public gathering.

The groups asked Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha to stop all intimidation of the protesters and urged the National Human Rights Commission and UN to send representatives to monitor the protest so that their rights would be protected.

P-Move representatives also went to the UN office in Bangkok to submit a petition and urged them to reach out to Thai authorities and related agencies to ensure freedom of expression and better protection for every human rights defender.

In the letter to UN Resident Coordinator Luc Stevens, the group asked the UN to help them on two issues: working with Thai authorities to facilitate the social movement of P-Move, and cooperating with Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to come out with better protection measures for human rights defenders.

UN Human Rights Asia expressed concern yesterday with regard to the restrictions imposed on civil society groups on Labour Day in the country.

“As party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Royal Thai Government must ensure that these rights are fully respected, ” said Cynthia Veliko, OHCHR Southeast Asia regional representative today.

Deputy police chief Pol General Chalermkiat Srivorakhan and Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) head Lt-General Sommai Kongvisaisuk announced the four cases at a press conference yesterday at the NSB head office in Bangkok:

Some 490 kilograms of dried marijuana worth Bt15 million in street value were seized in Bung Kan province on Saturday, but the four suspected Laotian smugglers managed to flee.

Four Nakhon Phanom men aged 27-53 were arrested with 598 kilograms of dried marijuana and three kilograms of highly concentrated hashish oil at a gas station in Udon Thani province on Saturday.

The hashish oil is worth Bt500,000 per kilogram, as it is the most potent form of marijuana – one kilogram is extracted from 100 kilograms of fresh marijuana. The hash oil was believed to bound for the South before being smuggled to Europe and the US, according to Sommai.

The Udon Thani bust stemmed from a previous operation in March that seized 1,380 kilograms of marijuana in Nong Khai province, he added.

A Bangkok resident, Pornchai Buayaem, 24, was arrested with 106,000 meth pills, 200 grams of “ice” and 850 grams of ketamine in Taling Chan district on Friday. A tip-off suggested that Pornchai was transporting the drugs after collecting the large batch on the orders of a drug ring, to store at his relative’s house. Pornchai allegedly confessed to have transported drugs three times before and claimed to have been paid Bt50,000 on each occasion.

Two male suspects were arrested with 5,196 gram of “ice” in a police sting operation on Thursday. The first suspect was apprehended when delivering the drugs at a shopping mall’s parking lot in Samut Prakan province and his accomplice was subsequently nabbed at a mall in Pathum Thani province.

Dr Pisit Sriprasert, inspector general of the Public Health Ministry, said on Wednesday that this was a case of mistaken identity regarding two female patients, who were both 83 years old, terminally ill and dependant on ventilated oxygen via a tracheotomy.

Pisit explained that when one of the women’s conditions worsened and doctors requested her family’s permission to enlarge the hole in her windpipe to increase oxygen intake, her three children made the decision to release her from hospital and allow her to die at home to limit further suffering.

Pisit said the two women were both placed in the emergency room at Nakhon Pathom Hospital in nearby beds and, as they were in a similar condition, the family mistook the wrong patient for their mother and she was then sent home to Bang Pong district in Ratchaburi at 7:30am on April 26.

The hospital realised at 9:40am that the wrong patient had been discharged and she was returned to the hospital at noon on the same day.

Pisit said that the officials responsible for discharging the patient would face punishment.

The case of mistaken identity came to light when Jidarat Huangsuwan, 27, filed a complaint with Muang Nakhon Pathom police on Tuesday.

Jidarat told the police that she believed that the hospital was responsible for the mistake that led to the death of her grandmother, La-or Suranan.

Jidarat said that when La-or was admitted to the hospital on April 22 her condition was severe and required close monitoring.

Born Cheery Hoffmann in Bangkok, Sawalee was one of Thailand’s first look Krung” singers, having a non-Thai parent.

In a career that spanned six decades, she recorded more than 1,500 songs and earned

four Golden Record awards. Her most popular hits include “Jamluey Rak”, “Sanam Arom” and “Poi Chan Pai”.

The Culture Ministry named her a National Artist in music in 1989.

Sawalee also acted onstage, on television and in films including “Datchanee Nang”.Her most memorable theatre role was in “Baan Sai Thong” in 1951, in which she also sang the title song.

Funeral rites will take place at Wat Thatthong from April 3-8 at 7pm.

After 100 days, the family, supported by the Culture Ministry will host the cremation.