A Thai court dismissed a defamation charge against a British activist yesterday in a case linked to a report he co-authored alleging severe labor abuses in Thailand’s food industry, a key supplier to Western supermarkets.
Andy Hall, 34, had faced up to a year in jail if convicted of defamation — a criminal offense in Thailand — after Thai fruit processing giant Natural Fruit made the complaint against him.
Hall’s report investigating working conditions at a Natural Fruit factory in southern Thailand leveled accusations of forced and child labor, unlawfully low wages and long hours.
Photo: Reuters
It also redoubled attention on Thailand’s food industry, which has in recent months faced a cascade of allegations of mistreatment of its mainly migrant labor force.
A judge at the Bangkok court said the police probe, which stemmed from an interview with television network al-Jazeera, was flawed, as it did not involve a Thai state prosecutor from the start.
Delivering her ruling, the unnamed judge described the investigation as “unlawful” and said “the plaintiff has no legal right to file a complaint... so the court dismisses the case.”
Natural Fruit, a major supplier to the European drink market, has denied the allegations in Hall’s report, but Hall stands by his research and has accused the company of trying to distract from the report’s damning findings through legal action.
Beaming and shaking hands with supporters outside the court, Hall hailed the ruling as “a real victory for migrant workers.”
“The workers who have fought with me now have much more faith in the system,” he told reporters.
The case related to Hall’s interview with al-Jazeera over his report for Finnish rights watchdog Finnwatch.
More serious charges await under the computer crime act — which carry up to seven years in jail for each count — and are due to be heard next month. The fruit processor is also seeking US$10 million through a civil suit.
After the ruling, Finnwatch called for the remaining cases against the British activist to be dropped and urged Thai authorities to turn their focus on legal action against firms who “are violating labor rights.”
Prominent European food firms have also called for the charges to be dropped, while rights groups have criticized the defamation proceedings from a Thai food industry that has faced a slew of bad headlines over recent months.
Accounts have circulated of abuse — particularly in the fishing industry — of illegal immigrants held captive and forced into unpaid labor, sometimes on boats at sea for years on end without receiving any payment for their work.
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