BANGKOK: A Thai court on Tuesday ordered the suspension of an online TV station critical of the government, which has accused it of violating emergency measures aimed at ending three months of protests.
Voice TV had also been found to have breached the Computer Crime Act by uploading “false information,” digital ministry spokesman Putchapong Nodthaisong told reporters.
Thailand has drawn criticism from rights groups for banning demonstrations and the publication of news seen as damaging by the government as it tries to end the protests against Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and the powerful monarchy.
Rittikorn Mahakhachabhorn, Editor-in-Chief of Voice TV, said it would continue broadcasting until the court order arrived.
“We insist that we have been operating based on journalistic principles and we will continue our work presently,” he said.
Thailand said on Monday that three other media organizations are under investigation.
Voice TV is owned in part by the Shinawatra family of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck, who was overthrown by Prayuth in a 2014 coup. Both fled Thailand to escape corruption cases they branded political.
Street protests since mid-July are the biggest challenge in decades to the monarchy under King Maha Vajiralongkorn and to Prayuth, who rejects accusations of engineering an election last year to keep power.
The demonstrations have been largely led by youths and students in contrast with a decade of street violence between supporters of Thaksin and conservative royalists before Prayuth seized power.
Protests have only gained momentum since the government announced a ban last Thursday and arrested dozens of protesters, including many of the main leaders.
A lawyer for two of them, Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak and Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, said they would be arrested again on Tuesday as soon as they had been freed on bail granted by a court over earlier charges related to the protests.
Prime Minister Prayuth has said he will not quit in the face of the protests.
His cabinet agreed on Tuesday to hold an emergency session of parliament next week about the crisis. Prayuth’s supporters hold a majority in the parliament, whose upper house was named entirely by his former junta.
Thailand suspends TV station over protests coverage
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Thailand suspends TV station over protests coverage
- Thailand said on Monday that three other media organizations are under investigation
- Protests have only gained momentum since the government announced a ban last Thursday and arrested dozens of protesters
Hezbollah says Israeli strike killed Al-Manar TV presenter in southern Lebanon
- The Israeli military said later on Monday that Al-Din was a Hezbollah militant who recently worked to rehabilitate the group’s artillery capabilities in southern Lebanon
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Monday that an Israeli strike in the country’s south killed TV presenter Ali Nour Al-Din, who worked for the group’s affiliated Al-Manar television station.
The group said the killing portends “the danger of Israel’s extended escalations (in Lebanon) to include the media community.”
The Israeli military said later on Monday that Al-Din was a Hezbollah militant who recently worked to rehabilitate the group’s artillery capabilities in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024 to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which culminated in Israeli strikes that severely weakened the Iran-backed militant group. Since then, the sides have traded accusations over ceasefire violations.
Lebanon has faced growing pressure from the US and Israel to disarm Hezbollah. The group’s leaders fear that Israel could dramatically escalate strikes across the battered country, aiming to push the Lebanese government for quicker action to confiscate Hezbollah’s arsenal.
