Doubts were raised if parts of the report sufficiently detailed restrictions on the right to assembly and freedom of the press.

The report stated that in November the government announced it would lift the ban on public assembly, but it was still not clear if this was officially revoked. However, it added: "The security forces did not take any action against demonstrators."

However, on December 10 last year, which was International Human Rights Day, rural members of the Assembly of the Poor (AOP) were harassed by the military in Nakhon Sawan and Ubon Ratchathani so that they would not attend a demonstration in Bangkok.

 "The military went in to harass and ask for leaders [of the groups]," said Baramee Chaiyarat, adviser to the assembly.

In another case, Karen villagers and AOP members in Chiang Mai were prevented from organising their New Year festival. And, more famously, democracy activist Chalad Vorachad was forcibly removed from the Democracy Monument in Bangkok on September 20 during a protest.

On the media front, the report stated that the junta's "announcement number 10" placed restrictions on the media with some 300 community radio stations closed down and "some Internet sites blocked".

According to Freedom Against Censorship Thailand, some 13,000 websites were blocked as of the end of last year, with the number now standing at 17,000.

No mention was made in the report about the fact that armed soldiers were dispatched to several television stations, including the Nation channel and the then iTV, and remained there for at least three months. Nothing was said about the junta's "request" for "cooperation" from the print media to not report about Thaksin Shinawatra or oppose the junta.

Boonthan T Veerawongse, director of AI Thailand, said a foreign team of researchers had been preparing the report on Thailand and that some information was "not conclusive" so it didn't appear in the report on Thailand.

 "It would be difficult to go into the details … but media and justice campaigners can forward information to us," Boonthan said.

Boonthan added that the public should not confuse "amnesty" and "impunity".

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas,

Pravit Rojanaphruk

The Nation