The circular purports to be from Thai human-rights activists and has been emailed to international organisations.

It says the military overthrow last month "in this case helped to relieve the country of a leader [Thaksin Shinawatra] who had ceased to be democratic in his function. "To that extent, the coup has been welcomed by the people," the unattributed statement read.

The emailed message claims to be "based on interviews held with activists working for the promotion and protection of human rights in the country".

However, rights workers from several leading organisations including Forum Asia, Amnesty International (Thailand), the Asian Network for Free Elections (Anfrel), the Union for Civil Liberty and the Co-ordinating Committee of Human Rights Organisations in Thailand said they were not contacted or interviewed as the statement claimed.

They did not know who published the statement, which had been distributed internationally. The email claims to be a "summary for foreign friends" and purports to objectively analyse reasons leading to the coup.

It lists human-rights violations during the Thaksin Shinawatra administration preceding the coup and claims civil society accepts the coup as a lesser evil [than the Thaksin regime].

"I don't see the Council for Democratic Reform [CDR] as a lesser evil than Thaksin. It is a different form of destroying [democracy and human rights]" said Somsri Han-anuntasuk, coordinator of Anfrel.

Somsri said human-rights groups in Thailand shared this view and had shown their clear opposition to the coup.

Pokpong Lawansiri - who also represents the 19 September Network against the Coup d'etat - said the statement failed to address the voices of human-rights groups protesting the takeover. "I agree Thaksin was evil but I don't agree that the CDR is a lesser evil," he said. The CDR had violated more rights than Thaksin, he said.

He cited the 300 community radio stations that had been shut down in the two weeks since the coup. "It is true Thaksin abused the Constitution and human rights but people still had the right to protest against the government or file their grievances against it and its agencies in court," said Pokpong.

The CDR did not allow people to protest even on the Internet, he said.

The shut down of websites including <19sep.net> and <www.midnightuniv.org> was clear evidence of the CDR's violation of human rights, he said.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation