By Pravit Rojanaphruk, The Nation |
<p>Red-shirt media and those identified as sympathetic to red-shirt protesters suffered heavy censorship yesterday as the government exercised its power under the emergency decree to cut communication lines among the red shirts, leaving society with only what the state views as correct and appropriate.</p>
<p>It was a bid to reduce the crowd - but it invited more red shirts to the main protest venue at Rajprasong intersection and elsewhere.</p>
By The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) |
<p>The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) expresses concern over the declaration of a State of Emergency in Bangkok, particularly in how the broad powers granted the military under such a declaration could render the free press and freedom of expression vulnerable to political and security objectives.</p>
By Achara Ashayagachat, Bangkok Post |
<p>Chiranuch Premchaiporn, webmaster of independent Thai online news portal Prachatai, was granted bail this afternoon after the prosecutors eventually filed a lawsuit against her under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act.</p>
By Reporters Without Borders |
<p>(23 March) - Reporters Without Borders welcomes the complaint that online journalist Frank G. Anderson filed criminal charges on 20 March against two men who have accused him of defaming them in online articles about the lèse majesté charges they have had brought against many Thai citizens. As far as we know, this is the first time that a journalist has countersued in response to lèse majesté-linked charges.</p>
By Jon Dent |
<p>This was a busy week on the frontlines of personal freedom, particularly in regards to free speech. Tying together several key events were government’s increasingly sophisticated restrictions on our human rights, and the efforts to push them back. For obvious reasons, freedom of speech is dear to this writer, and this week’s post addresses the past week’s developments.</p>
<p>The translation of a Bloomberg news report was posted on the Prachatai webboard jus after 6 pm, after the Thai stock market had already slumped and closed on 14 Oct. The news report in question is Richard Frost’s <em>Thai Stocks, Baht Slump on King’s Health Speculation</em>, whose title indicates that the ‘slump’ had already taken place.</p>
<p>Theeranan Wiphuchanin, using the alias BBB, posted her translation at 18:09. </p>
By Freedom Against Censorship Thailand |
<p>We have just discovered free Thai language news site <a href="http://liberalthai.wordpress.com/">Liberal Thai</a> blocked by a transparent proxy redirecting users to Thailand’s ICT ministry.</p>
<p class="rteleft">On 24 Sept, Prawase Praphanukul, lawyer for Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, together with a group of activists, submitted letters to the embassies of the US and Australia, and the offices of the EU and the UN in Bangkok, asking those countries and organizations to call on Thailand to stop the imprisonment of political prisoners.</p>
<p>Da Torpedo’s lawyer has submitted complaints to the Corrections Department, asking for an explanation of what he alleged as discrimination against his client, including putting her in solitary confinement as a punishment and labeling her as a lèse majesté convict. He also suspected warders of eavesdropping on his talks with his client, and prying into confidential documents.</p>
By Marwaan Macan-Markar, IPS |
<p>BANGKOK, Aug 31 (IPS) - Thailand’s draconian lese majeste law is steadily emerging as a testing ground for the principles that renowned international human rights lobbies stand for.</p>
<p>9,600 web pages have been blocked. The 2007 Computer Crimes Act will be amended to allow Internet Service Providers to immediately block ‘offensive’ web pages on sight or upon complaint without court orders or requests from the MICT, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry says.</p>
By Reporters Without Borders |
<p>Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the recent creation of a police taskforce to monitor websites and identify those posting content that violates Thailand’s draconian lese majeste law.</p>