The junta responded to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR)’s criticisms on suppression of freedom of expression and assembly, after the police forced cancellation of a TLHR’s planned talk on human rights.
On Friday 5 June, Col Winthai Suwaree, the spokesperson of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said that the TLHR didn’t cooperate with the NCPO in the first place.If the NCPO had consider the report to make sure that its content is truthful and not inciting conflicts, then the event could be held, Winthai said.
The NCPO’s spokesman added that the NCPO need to know the detail first, before any public event will be held. He also said that the TLHR used to report false information before. In many cases, the TLHR had lend hand to the people who are against the NCPO instead of the government officials, Krungthepturakij News reported on Winthai’s briefing.
The NCPO’s response was due to the TLHR’s statement on the event cancellation released on Thursday. The report said that there were authorities’ interruption to at least 71 public events during the first year of the coup. The TLHR stated that such suppression strongly violated human rights and will not lead to the establishment of democracy.
On Thursday 4 June, TLHR planned to launch a report on the human rights situation after the coup at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) in central Bangkok. The police sent a formal letter to the FCCT “asking for cooperation” that the event should not be held due to the fact that it may cause disturbance and instability of the current situation.
Nevertheless, about 20 people from Thai and foreign media and representatives of embassies and international organizations still showed up and the event to give moral support to the TLHR and the FCCT.
Despite the police’s demand, the TLHR held a press briefing in front of the FCCT to clarify about the cancellation at 6pm.
“It was an irony. Since after a year the situation should be better but turned out to be worse. It’s like a dead end,” Yaowalak Anupan, the head of TLHR told media and observers under a close watch of plainclothes policemen.
Jonathan Head, President of the FCCT and a correspondent for BBC News, told Matichon Online that as the president, he felt uneasy since the FCCT honors freedom of expression and intended to open the space for discussion, but as the junta sent a formal letter to the FCCT, the club had to comply.