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Government shuts UDD's mouthpiece

* Published: 8/04/2010 at 05:34 PM
* Online news: Politics

The government Centre for Public Administration in Emergency Situations (CPAES) on Thursday said it had succeeded in totally shutting off the United Front for Democracy's mouthpiece, the satellite-based People Channel TV (PTV) station, and was also closing down pro-UDD websites and radio stations.

The government would also move against print media which had disseminated misinformation, acting government spokesman Panithan Wattanayagorn said in a televised address.

PTV logo

Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtoey said there had been progress on many areas, including the ban on the spread of disinformation intended to incite breaches of the law through various media including the PTV.

The govenrment had worked throughout the night to ensure PTV was finally shut down.

"It was very difficult for the government to cut PTV's signal last night, because the station has access to different means to communicate and it also uses more than two satellites," Mr Sathit said .

"Some groups of businessmen and people from the old political clique who have links with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra are helping the red-shirt station," he said.

The red-shirt movement had been attempting to get PTV back on air, but the government would continue to stop them.

The UDD this morning asked the government to allow the reopening of the People Channel, which carries its message red-shirt supporters nationwide.

One protest leader, Natthawut Saikua said without the guidance of the UDD leaders via PTV, the rural red-shirts might take matters into their owns hands.

He said the reds would continue to rally at Ratchaprasong intersection irrespective of the enforcement of the emergency decree.

He insisted that another major rally would begin on Friday at 9am as planned. The rally would be prolonged and would certainly draw a huge crowd. The protest activities would be at a higher level than before, he said.

UDD core leader Weng Tojirakarn said the red-shirt supporters would rally outside ASTV if the government allowed the satellite-based television station of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to continue going to air.

“While the People Channel of the red-shirts has been shut down, nothing has happened to the ASTV station of the yellow-shirts. This shows that the government does have double standards,” Mr Weng said.

Continued here: http://bangkokpost.com/news/thaksin-judgement-update/174060/red-mouthpiece

For anyone not familiar with the MICT of Internet Censorship in Thailand, here's a snippet from an article that appeared in the Bangkok Post on January 6, 2010:

Suwicha Thakhor became the first casualty of the controversial Computers Crimes Act when the Criminal Court sentenced him to 20 years for posting an altered and defamatory photo of His Majesty the King on his blog; a weeping Suwicha was hauled away after the court reduced the prison term to 10 years in exchange for his guilty plea; he would have faced a maximum sentence of 15 years if he had been charged with lese majeste, but police filed four separate charges for four separate photos, and each carried a maximum sentence of five years.

The webmaster of (exteen.com) blog was summoned by police, twice, for interrogation over a comment that might have been offensive; it was posted almost two years before Suppression Division police arrested broker-friendly Thiranant Wipuchanin and Katha Pajajiriyapong for using their computers to spread rumours about the health of His Majesty the King in the infamous Stock Exchange of Thailand manipulation of mid-October; it was the most egregious use known of the Computer Office Act of 2007, which has been used to block tens of thousands of websites for "offences" like criticising the government, and for jailing people who accessed nasty videos on YouTube.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/techscoop/30563/last-one-in-again