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Alert

Journalist considers going into exile to avoid government harassment

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has expressed concern about the Thai authorities' hounding of Anchalee Paireerak, a producer and journalist with the community radio station FM 92.25. On 23 June 2005, she said she was planning to leave Thailand and study abroad to escape government harassment.

"The government has been harassing us in every way. We've been picked on from the beginning," she said. "At first, the government said our antenna was too high, making our signal interfere with the main radio stations. So we took down the antenna and broadcast through the Internet, which affected no one, but the government still shut down the website," she told the daily "The Nation".

On 22 June, Anchalee reportedly received a warning strongly recommending that she leave the country. "I don't want to live in fear, so I'll study again and do other, non-political things," she said.

The House Committee on Justice summoned Anchalee, who described the threats she had received. The committee also summoned Surachai Nilsaeng, a cyber inspector from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry, to testify about the closure of the radio station's website. He declined to attend, however, saying he was too busy.

Anchalee told the committee she had been instructed by the Public Relations Department on 20 June to "improve" her radio station's programming. The same department also accused host Samarn Sri-ngarm of "using impolite words" and "fomenting divisions in society."

Anchalee said that the cyber inspector sent her a letter the following day saying the website would have to be "made legal" before it could continue broadcasting.