Two journalists, including an Australian editor, went on trial in Thailand yesterday over a report they published implicating the navy in human trafficking, as the UN urged Bangkok to drop the case.
The trial comes after the region’s grim people-smuggling trade was dramatically highlighted in May, when thousands of migrants were abandoned at sea and in fetid jungle camps by traffickers following a Thai crackdown, a crisis that eventually forced a Southeast Asia-wide response.
The charges against Alan Morison and his Thai colleague, Chutima Sidasathian, of the Phuketwan news Web site, relate to a July 2013 article quoting an investigation by the Reuters news agency that said some Thai navy members were involved in trafficking Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar.
Photo: AP
The pair could face up to two years in jail for criminal defamation and five years for breaching the Computer Crimes Act if they are found guilty. The trial at Phuket Provincial Court on the southern island began with a testimony from R.N. Pallop Komlotok, a navy captain, who confirmed he filed the defamation case on behalf of the navy, said Siriwan Vongkietpaisan, a lawyer for the accused.
“He also confirmed that the Phuketwan quotes were lifted from [a] Reuters article,” she said.
Reuters has not been charged over its reporting — part of a series honored with a Pulitzer Prize last year — and rights groups have accused the navy of trying to muzzle the smaller Phuket-based English-language media outlet.
The court is due to hear testimony from another three witnesses called by prosecutors this afternoon with a verdict expected within 30 days.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the trial, Morison said: “We do not understand why the military government has not withdrawn the case. The initial pursuits against Reuters were dropped. We quote exactly the same paragraph... [They are pursuing us] for only one paragraph reproduced word-to-word from Reuters.”
The UN Human Rights Office yesterday urged Thailand to drop the charges against the two journalists.
“Freedom of the press, including freedom for journalists to operate without fear of reprisals, is essential in promoting transparency and accountability on issues of public interest,” it said in a statement.
Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch called the trial a “scathing indictment of the Thai government’s unwillingness to respect media freedom.”
“Prime Minister General Prayut should have ordered the Navy to stand down and withdraw the charges — but instead he effectively endorsed their effort to gag media critics, and in doing so, administered another body blow to what little remains of Thailand’s international rights reputation,” he added in a statement.
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