‘Thanet granted bail’:

A Thai military court granted bail on Friday to a student activist arrested while in hospital over Facebook posts criticising the junta and its officials, his lawyer said.

Rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International had called for the immediate release of 25-year-old Thanet Anantawong for medical attention.

“Thanet will be released from the Bangkok Remand Prison this evening,” his lawyer, Anon Numpa, said. Anon said he would take his client for a medical check as soon as he was released.

Since taking power in a coup in May 2014, Thailand’s ruling junta has stifled dissent, banned political gatherings and detained activists, journalists and opposition politicians at military camps for days of “attitude adjustment sessions”.