The Thai government has been overthrown in a military coup.

The coup, headed up by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, has pledged its loyalty to the King of Thailand citing poor leadership by the current Prime Minister as the reason for the coup.

General Sonthi was accused in April of human rights violations.  He is said to have operated “black lists” containing the names of Thai citizens who were considered persona non gratis, sometimes for personal or political reasons.  The Asian Human Rights Commission described the black lists as “death lists”.

The General was given executive powers to deal with seperatists operating in the south of the country where the aforementioned human rights violations are supposed to have occured and he promised not to get involved in the politicis of the country.

The military have taken over military buildings and the naitonal media and have suspended the constitution and judiciary.  Thailand is now entirely under military rule.

Interestingly, although Thailand is a Bhuddist country, General Sonthi is a muslim.  Could this be the next state to fall to Islam?