Bangkok - Thailand's military installed government on Wednesday blocked a popular website that has been featuring a mocking video on the country's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Efforts to access to the YouTube website were diverted to a Ministry of Information website instead.
The blockage followed Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom's order to shut down any websites deemed to be violating the orders issued by the leaders of the September 19 coup d'etat that ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Sitthichai said the ministry had the authority to block any websites considered to have committed lese majeste or seen as a threat to national security.
A video clip was posted on the YouTube website late last month that mocked King Bhumibol, Thailand's king for the past 60 years, who will turn 80 this year.
Lese majeste is a crime in Thailand, punishable by imprisonment. Last month a provincial court sentenced a Swedish national to ten years in jail for defacing portraits of the king.
Thailand has been under the joint rule of a junta and its appointed government since October, 2006. The interim government has promised to step aside after a general election promised in December, this year.
