Thailand detains Thaksin's supporters amid media crackdown
Posted: 18 May 2007 1329 hrs

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BANGKOK - Military-run Thailand on Friday detained three supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra while launching a nationwide radio crackdown after closing three broadcasters which aired his comments.

The detentions were the first against dissidents since the military overthrew Thaksin's twice-elected government in September last year.

The men, aged in their 30s, were preparing for an anti-government rally in the former premier's home province of Chiang Mai, 650 kilometres (400 miles) north of Bangkok when they were seized, police said.

TV footage showed military officers putting one Thaksin supporter in the back of a pick-up truck. They also seized dozens of pro-Thaksin booklets at the scene.

The move coincided with the government's nationwide crackdown on 3,000 community radio stations after authorities shut down three Bangkok stations which broadcast telephone calls from Thaksin, who now lives in London.

"The public relations department is checking content on every community radio station to see whether it violates our national security," Phachern Khamphoe, deputy director general of the department, told AFP.

The former prime minister, 57, has remained in self-exile since the September coup.

While he has previously spoken to international media following the putsch, Thaksin's intervention this week marked his first contact with local media since the military takeover.

In the wake of the media crackdown, representatives from 13 community radio stations sent a joint letter to the government Friday, urging it to respect freedom of expression.

But the government reiterated its warning that authorities will take action if stations air comments from Thaksin.

The government will shut down "radio stations that broadcast content deems threat to our national security or could cause divisions among the public," said Thirapat Sereerangsan, a minister attached to the prime minister's office.

"I would like to warn all operators not to be manipulated by politicians," Thirapat, who is in charge of the public relations department, told reporters.

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai, where the three Thaksin supporters were detained, is among 35 provinces out of Thailand's 76 provinces that remain under martial law.

The restrictions remain in force across much of the rural north, the powerbase of ousted Thaksin, as well as in some southern provinces where a separatist insurgency rages.

The government lifted martial law in the remaining 41 areas, including Bangkok, in January.

While anti-government protests have become more frequent in the capital, no one has been detained for voicing opposition.

Thaksin called for early elections and voiced concern for the rural poor during the radio shows he called this week.

The ousted premier won support among farmers and low-income workers by injecting money into the rural economy.

Farmers account for roughly 60 percent of Thailand's 65-million population. - AFP/so/ir