[attachment=0:2zadbtrd]1388366583723.jpg-620x349.jpg[/attachment:2zadbtrd]Australian journalist prepared for Thai prison over Thai navy row
http://www.theage.com.au/world/australi ... hv75m.html
Date December 30, 2013 - 12:27PM
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Australian journalist Alan Morison and his colleague Chutima Sidasathian both charged with defamation in Thailand. Photo: Supplied
Bangkok: Australian journalist Alan Morison has declared he is prepared to go to jail to defend media freedom in Thailand where defamation laws are being increasingly used to silence criticism.
тАШтАШThis is a clear issue of freedom of media and the military exceeding its role in using an onerous law unjustly,тАЩтАЩ says Morison, 66, who edits and publishes Phuketwan, a small but popular news website on the resort island of Phuket.
A defamation lawsuit launched by ThailandтАЩs navy against Mr Morison and his colleague Chutima Sidasathian on Christmas Eve is one of about 1600 defamation cases that were initiated in the south-east Asian country in 2013, many of them by powerful interests.
Court records show that of the defamation cases that proceed to trial in Thailand an average of 96 per cent lead to convictions, one of the worldтАЩs highest rates for the crime.
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Mr Morison and Ms Chutima could face a maximum five yearsтАЩ jail and fines if convicted under the Computer Crimes Act.
If convicted on criminal defamation charges they could be jailed for up to two years.
The navyтАЩs unprecedented action has prompted criticism from the United Nations, human rights groups, non-government organisations and media outlets and unions both in Thailand and other countries.
The charges relate to a story published in Phuketwan in July 2013 that quoted a Reuters news agency investigation alleging that some members of the Thai military were involved in networks smuggling Muslim Rohingya boat people from Myanmar.
No action has yet been filed against Reuters, a multinational company, although the navy has said charges against two of its reporters are expected to be laid shortly.
Phuketwan has closely followed the plight of the Rohingya who have been described by the UN as among the worldтАЩs most persecuted people.
Mr Morison says he and Ms Chutima have discussed the possibility of going to jail on the principle of media freedom in what would be a David-and-Goliath fight against the navy which has 70,000 active personnel.
тАШтАШThese are trumped up charges. There is an important principle at stake,тАЩтАЩ he says.
тАШтАШThe Rohingya have no spokesperson, no leader, but through PhuketwanтАЩs ongoing coverage the torment of these people continues to be revealed.тАЩтАЩ
Mr Morison, a former senior Age editor, sold his apartment in Melbourne and set-up Phuketwan, which provides local and foreign news coverage for Phuket where an average 20,000 Australians holiday each month.
If Mr Morison is jailed he would be one of the first editors to be incarcerated in the country since the Bangkok PostтАЩs Michael Gorman was jailed for three months over defamation proceedings in the early 1980s.
тАШтАШThe Thai navyтАЩs lawsuit is a reckless attempt to curtail journalistsтАЩ reporting on alleged human trafficking by its officers,тАЩтАЩ says Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
тАШтАШUnless the government withdraws the case, its impact will be felt far beyond those reporting on abuses against the Rohingya тАУ and could have a choking effect on all investigative reporting in Thailand,тАЩтАЩ Mr Adams says.
David Streckfuss, an American academic who is an expert on Thai laws, told a recent forum at the Foreign CorrespondentтАЩs Club of Thailand that use of defamation laws тАШтАШhave become a kind of way of controlling political discourse in ThailandтАЩтАЩ.
Andrew Drummond, a British investigative reporter in Thailand, said up to 30 foreigners have fled the country following threats of defamation that would involve years of litigation in the courts and thousands of dollars in bail payments.
Many of them had been swindled by criminals making the threats, he said.
Mr Morison and Ms Chutima, a respected Thai journalist, have formally denied the charges that could take years to be heard in Thai courts.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian- ... z2ow5eGk8l
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