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Thailand's military junta forces cancellation of press freedom conference

Germany’s Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung foundation had planned a forum discussing media restrictions but called it off after request from junta

The move is the latest sign of defensiveness by the army, which installed an interim civilian Cabinet but reserves ultimate power for itself. On Wednesday, a foreign ministry spokesman complained that a visiting US State Department envoy had hurt the country’s pride by calling for an end to martial law.

Germany’s Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a foundation promoting social democracy worldwide, said on its Facebook page that it would comply with a request from the junta to postpone Friday’s presentation of a study on media freedom inThailand.

Requests from the junta are tantamount to orders.

The junta, officially called the National Council for Peace and Order, threatens critics with arrest under martial law. It is seeking to strengthen already harsh laws governing communication on the Internet and comments on the country’s monarchy.

Manop Thip-osod, a spokesman for the Thai Journalists Association, said the group was sorry to see Friday’s event postponed and was concerned about freedom of expression in the country. The association was a co-sponsor of the event, which was to have included a panel discussion.

“This is the launch of an academic work on the media that the NCPO should think about and check carefully, because to block such an event does not bode well for the country’s image, which is being monitored by the international community,” Manop said.

Junta spokesman Col. Winthai Suvaree said the event organisers should have provided the authorities with information about the event in advance, but because they didn’t they were asked to postpone it because “we are still in a sensitive time.”The German foundation declined to comment beyond its Facebook statement. However, Manop said that according to the foundation, the military authorities said the event could cause damage and be very sensitive.

While the junta has indicated that it considers almost any criticism of its actions to be potentially destabilising, such language usually refers to cases of criticism of the monarchy.

Criticism of the monarchy is punishable by three to 15 years in prison under Thailand’s longstanding lese majeste law. After last May’s coup, the junta began prosecuting such cases in military courts, with no avenue of appeal. The growing number of such cases, frequently involving Internet postings, has drawn great concern from local and international rights defenders.

In other junta actions Thursday, members of the ousted government who criticised recent actions against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra barring her from political office for five years and threatening her with criminal prosecution for a rice subsidy policy were told to report to military authorities for an “attitude adjustment.” They were not detained.

Members of the interim Cabinet installed by the junta have said elections are not expected until 2016, drawing further concern from rights advocates and governments such as the United States.

In an annual report this week by US-based democracy watchdog Freedom House, Thailand was judged to have fallen into the category of “Not Free” from a designation of “Partly Free” a year earlier. The group said Thailand was especially weak in political rights and civil liberties.

Thai officials regularly shrug off such criticism, saying foreigners do not understand Thailand and strong measures are needed to eliminate corruption from politics in order to strengthen democracy.

The junta’s critics believe it is acting mostly to eliminate the powerful political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed by a military coup in 2006 after being accused of abuse of power and disrespect for the monarchy. Thaksin remains widely popular in Thailand’s north and northeast.

Two Thais jailed for 'insulting' royal family in university play

Activists sentenced to two and half years in jail as the junta intensifies its crackdown on slurs against the royals under controversial lese majeste law

Two young Thais accused of insulting the monarchy in a university play were jailed for two and a half years on Monday as the ruling junta intensifies its crackdown on perceived royal slurs under the kingdom’s controversial lese majeste law.

Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Porntip Mankong, 26, were sentenced after admitting defamation after their arrest last August, nearly a year after The Wolf Bride, a satire set in a fictional kingdom, was performed at Bangkok’s Thammasat University.

The pair were originally sentenced to five years in prison each but the term was reduced to two years and six months due to their confessions, said a judge at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok.“The court considers their role in the play caused serious damage to the monarchy and sees no reason to suspend their sentences,” he said.

They were each charged with one count of lese majeste linked to the play, which marked the 40th anniversary of a pro-democracy student protest at the university that was crushed by the military regime in October 1973.

After the sentencing the pair’s lawyer Pawinee Chumsri said the two “would not appeal” the ruling.

Police are hunting for at least six others involved in the performance for allegedly violating “112” – the feared section of the Thai criminal code which carries up to 15 years in jail for each count of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent.

Of those on the wanted list, at least two have fled Thailand, joining dozens of academics, activists and political opponents of the coup in self-exile amid a surge in royal defamation cases since the military seized power in May.

Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is revered by many in the country as a demi-god and shielded by one of the world’s most draconian royal defamation laws.The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights said at least 40 people have been arrested since the coup – seven of them have already been sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison.Rights activists as well as local and international media are forced to censor discussion of cases as even repeating details of charges risks breaking the law.

Under junta rule Thailand has seen a rapid deterioration in civil rights with the military crushing any criticsm of the coup from banning protests and censoring the media to arresting and detaining opponents.The Wolf Bride was performed in October 2013, several months before the coup, but the case is just one of many driven through by the junta, which is bolstering its self-designated role as protector of the monarchy.

Critics say the lese majeste law has been used as a tool to suppress political dissent, noting that many of those charged have been linked to the opposition Red Shirt movement.

Before the ruling, Andrea Giorgetta from FIDH said the surge in lese majeste cases looked set to continue.

“We’re expecting a lot more people to go to jail in the next month. Almost all cases have been backdated (for alleged offences) before the coup,” he told AFP. “It’s a very grim situation for rights in Thailand.”

Recent 112 convictions include a taxi driver jailed for two-and-a-half years after his passenger recorded their conversation on a mobile phone, while a student, 24, was sentenced to the same period of time for defaming the monarchy in a message posted on Facebook.

Analysts say the most recent chapter of Thailand’s long-drawn political turmoil is fuelled by anxieties over who will run the country when the more than six-decade reign of the ailing king, the world’s longest-serving monarch, eventually ends.

Discussion on succession is also restricted in Thailand under the lese majeste law.