US embassy cable - 05BANGKOK5419

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 005419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PROP, SOCI, KPAO, TH 
SUBJECT: MORE CONCERNS ABOUT FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AS RTG 
RADIO STATION, SUES LEADING ENGLISH-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER 
 
REF: BANGKOK 04723 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Two recent moves by the RTG against media 
operations critical of Prime Minister Thaksin's government 
have renewed concerns within the human rights community that 
the government is once again resorting to legal measures to 
intimidate the country's press.  After being warned twice, 
and seeing its website shut down in June, community radio 
station 92.25 was raided on August 9 and formally charged 
with violating national broadcasting regulations.  On August 
15, RTG authorities filed a criminal libel lawsuit against 
the Bangkok Post after the newspaper published a story on 
August 9 (which it retracted one day later) alleging serious 
structural problems at Bangkok's new airport. The 
government's lawsuit, which seeks 1 billion baht in damages 
and a series of apologies, will be heard in September.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
2. (U) Controversial community radio station Khon Rak 
Prachathipatai (People Who Love Democracy) FM 92.25 was 
raided in the afternoon of August 9 by thirty officers from 
the Royal Thai Police,s (RTP) Crime Suppression Division, 
the Public Relations Department and the National 
Telecommunications Commission. The station was charged with 
(a) transmitting radio frequencies and possessing radio 
transmitters without permission, (b) interfering with 
mainstream airwaves and (c) a criminal charge of interfering 
with aviation transmissions. The station was also verbally 
accused of "broadcasting false information", although the 
authorities stopped short of charging the station with 
slander. Officers also confiscated the station's transmitter 
(effectively closing the station down) in a search that 
lasted approximately two hours. Thai authorities also 
confiscated the station ID cards of some members of staff, 
who were told they would be arrested if they continued 
broadcasting. A spokesman for the Thai Prime Minister's 
office defended the government's actions, arguing the station 
had already been warned about these violations in April and 
June. The station insists they had already adjusted their 
broadcasts to comply with the regulations. 
 
WARNING SIGNS LAST JUNE 
 
3. (SBU) 92.25 is no stranger to trouble. Its website was 
briefly shut down on June 20. Embassy contacts believed the 
station would cease being a target of government enmity after 
the departure of controversial radio host Anchalee 
Paireeraka. Ms. Anchalee, a prominent political activist and 
fierce critic of the Thaksin administration, frequently 
accused the government of corruption in her programs. She 
quit on June 23, alleging that she had been followed and 
physically threatened and was quitting "to save (her) life." 
In a July 2005 meeting, Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch 
(HRW) told Poloffs that Anchalee personally believed that she 
was the government,s primary target and that the station 
would be left alone after she quit.(Reftel A) 
 
CRITICS RAISE CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS 
 
4. (U) As of August 22, the station was not back on the air. 
A Thai language statement on the station's website stated 
that the Government's actions had violated the rights of the 
people and may have violated the Thai Constitution. The 
Association of Thai Radio and Television Journalists also 
issued a statement on August 10 criticizing the raid, and 
asserting that the government had "come close" to violating 
the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of the 
press. Dr. Ubonrat Siriyuwasak, a media expert at 
Chulalongkorn University, told Poloff she was worried this 
raid was marked the beginning of a government campaign to 
close down all of the nation's 2000 community radio stations. 
 
BANGKOK POST UNDER SUIT 
 
5. (U) On August 15, government-affiliated Airport Authority 
of Thailand and the New Bangkok International Airport filed a 
criminal libel suit against the parent company of the Bangkok 
Post, one of Thailand's two prominent English language 
dailies. The legal action was in response to an August 9 
front-page story reporting the existence of severe cracks on 
the new airport's runways and that US experts had said it 
would have to be re-built. The paper quickly admitted that 
the source for the story had clearly been wrong, and printed 
a retraction the next day, but the RTG was not assuaged. In 
addition to criminal and civil damages, the plaintiffs are 
demanding the defendants pay for a massive series of 
advertisements in the international print and broadcast media 
publicizing the trial's verdict. A Thai court accepted the 
lawsuit for consideration and scheduled preliminary 
examinations for September 19. 
 
6. (U) In the meantime, the Bangkok Post has launched an 
internal investigation into the matter, with results expected 
to be announced this week. International press freedom groups 
have roundly condemned the lawsuit, including the Southeast 
Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), which released a statement 
announcing that "the government's course of action is to 
harass the press. This...will have a chilling effect on press 
freedom in Thailand."  The English language "Nation" 
newspaper has also been highly critical of the lawsuit 
against its arch-rival, calling the government's action "a 
very rare and staggering legal move." 
 
7. (SBU) COMMENT. The lawsuit against the Bangkok Post and 
the closures of the radio station and the website on legal 
technicalities appear to many here to be evidence of the 
RTG's continuing resort to use the legal system to "punish" 
media enterprises critical of the government. The raid on the 
radio station, involving thirty law enforcement personnel, 
appeared gratuitous. In light of these recent developments, 
some editors, broadcasters and NGOs may be tempted to 
self-censor themselves to avoid incurring the wrath of the 
RTG. Though some in the government may claim "victory", it 
rings hollow- a cowed press is hardly in the country's best 
interest. END COMMENT. 
BOYCE