Thailand

The Bangkok home of TV host Teemah “Judd” Kanjanapairin was the target of a petrol bomb attack. Reporters Without Borders believes that Teemah, host of a political programme on an opposition TV station, was deliberately targeted.

On 18 December 2013, two journalists based in Phuket, Thailand were charged under the country’s controversial Computer Crimes Act for relaying a report implicating the Thai Navy in human trafficking.

SEAPA expresses concern over the escalation of violence against media workers covering anti-government demonstrations in Bangkok, Thailand with at least two physical assaults reported during rallies on 22 December 2013.

Amid continuing turmoil and opposition protests that often target news media, Reporters Without Borders has compiled an assessment of the state of media freedom in Thailand and the threats to its news providers.

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance is disturbed by an anti-government protest leader’s call for television stations to stop broadcasting government news and to only air statements by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee.

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance expresses deep concern over incidents at the recent protests in Bangkok, which saw media being attacked for their role in reporting unfolding incidents in Thailand.

An appeal court in Bangkok, Thailand upheld Prachatai news website editor Chiranuch Premchaiporn’s May 2012 conviction on a charge of lèse-majesté for failing to remove anti-monarchist comments from the site quickly enough.

An improvised explosive device detonated near a Thai army foot patrol in the province of Narathiwat. Some press freedom advocates say these types of bomb attacks are designed to injure those who investigate Thailand’s insurgency-related violence.

Thailand’s Computer Crime Act of 2007 already authorises the government to arrest journalists and bloggers for political reasons. If a newly proposed amendment were adopted, the government would have even more latitude to muzzle the independent and opposition media.

On October 18, 2013, the House of Representatives Vetting Committee expanded a more limited amnesty bill already under consideration to include leaders from past political protests, soldiers, and authorities who carried out the crackdown on protesters.

A political news editor at Thailand’s Public Broadcasting Service was harassed and questioned in connection with comments he posted to his personal Facebook page that speculated about a possible military coup.

Justice must be pursued for Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi, SEAPA stressed, after a Bangkok Court ruled that Thai security forces were responsible his death in 2010 during a crackdown on protesters.

An attack on the “Thai Rath” daily newspaper came a few days after one of the paper’s cartoonists posted a controversial comment on his Facebook page about Thailand’s prime minister.

A Thai Justice Ministry official recently announced that military personnel would not be held responsible for casualties during the government’s crackdown on street protests in 2010, despite overwhelming evidence that soldiers shot civilians.

Prominent activist Andy Hall is facing a defamation complaint in Thailand by a fruit processing company over an investigative report about serious labour rights violations; the authorities should investigate the alleged abuses against migrant workers, not the “messenger”, says Human Rights Watch.

A Thai court handed down a prison sentence to a citizen under the lèse majesté laws, for the man’s handling of press material deemed insulting to the monarchy.