Bangkok, April 26, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by Thailand’s Ministry of Culture to reverse its earlier imposed ban on the locally produced documentary Fah Tam Pan Din Soon (Boundary).
“The ministry’s reversal of its censorship order against director Nontawat Numbchapol’s documentary is a step in the right direction,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “We would encourage government authorities to reconsider their banning of various other politically-oriented films, books and websites currently censored.”
The ministry cited a “technical mistake” in its earlier ruling against the politically oriented film, according to local news reports. The reversal, the first of its kind in Thailand’s history according to local reports, was conditional on the removal of a segment of ambient sound from the film where a background speaker mentions the monarchy, a sensitive issue in Thailand’s political context.