By CS Thana
BANGKOK
The day after it denied trying to control the media, Thailand's military government has shut down Human Rights Watch's attempts to launch a report on alleged Vietnamese ethnic persecution.
HRW said in a statement that the junta had asked the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) to cancel Friday's press conference which outlined the Vietnamese government's "harassment" and "persecution" of its Montagnard Christian minority.
Meanwhile, police officers and a large police truck were stationed outside.
In a statement handed to the FCCT, the junta -- or National Council for Peace and Order -- said that the event could "damage relations between Thailand and Vietnam" and it would "undermine national security."
It was the third event to be been cancelled at the venue in the last month. Those previously banned included a seminar about human rights in Thailand and an event to discuss the country’s lese-majesty law.
On Thursday, junta leader-cum-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha denied being scared of the media.
"I'm not afraid of the press but I ask for fairness because I have never told the press not to speak or write anything. I am friendly with the media," Prayuth told reporters.
He added that he "did not have control over the media, nor do they have power over me."
His office later tried to explain his comments, saying that he was just joking.
On Friday, HRW responded by announcing its "disappointment" in an emailed statement.
"By stepping in to defend a neighbouring state’s human rights violations against a group of its people and interrupting a scheduled press conference, Thailand’s military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt for freedom of the press," it said.
"This action today is just the latest indication that Thailand is choosing to side with dictatorships in ASEAN while further stepping up repression at home."
According to the Human Rights report, the Montagnards are a Christian minority in Vietnam that face "religious and political persecution" for practicing what "the government calls 'evil way' religions."
The prime minister has often lashed out at the media during his time in power, once remarking that "we should just execute them all" in regards to media seen as being critical of the junta.
Next week, his government is to hold a meeting for local and foreign journalists to "create understanding" and educate them in asking questions that will not offend the PM.
In a U.S. State Department report released Friday, Thailand was singled out for its "persistent human rights problems" and the government's treatments of dissidents and the press.
