On 4 November, the Criminal Suppression Division (CSD) of the Thai police invited members of the media to attend a press conference at their provincial police headquarters in Narathi-wat. When the journalists assembled, police officers issued them with summonses telling them to surrender video equipment showing scenes of a recent demonstration. The journalists were questioned for up to four hours

The demand is apparently related to a police crackdown in Tak Bai on 25 October in which 85 Muslim protestors died – seven from gunfire while the remaining 78 were either crushed to death or suffocated in army trucks while being taken to Pattani. Three days after this incident, on 28 October, the Nation Multimedia Group published a photo showing troops firing live rounds into the crowd. The image contradicted government claims that troops had merely fired into the air.

It is believed that the CSD is interested in discovering the identity of the cameraman who took the picture. On 2 November, an independent council was formed to investigate the deaths of the protestors.

“I find the police’s use of subterfuge to try and compel the media to assist them extremely worrying,” said IPI Director, Johann P. Fritz.

“Instead of seeking information from the journalists, the police should have written to the media organisations for the material. This, in turn, would have initiated a legal process allowing for the relative merits of the case to be discussed. By trying to circumvent this procedure the police have ignored the proper legal process and the fair administration of justice.”

“I am also concerned about the pressure placed on the media. The journalists were forced to field questions for long hours in a police station without access to legal representation. This appears to have been a deliberate policy and implies that the police believed their best chance of obtaining the media’s co-operation was to try to intimidate them,” commented Fritz.

“The claims of the police that this is a misunderstanding are somewhat spurious. I find it difficult to believe that so many journalists could have been misled if the invitations to attend the police headquarters were not intentionally misleading.”

“I also find it strange that the CSD are continuing with their own investigations. An independent committee has been formed and it should be left to this body to decide whether a request should be made to the media.”