Testimony begins in trial of journalists charged with defaming Thai navy

[SuperStylin]

Testimony begins in trial of journalists charged with defaming Thai navy with report into people trafficking network

Australian editor and Thai colleague charged by Thai navy over a report about trafficking in a case that has drawn international condemnation

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 15 July, 2015, 1:01am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 15 July, 2015, 1:01am

Associated Press in Phuket

Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathien, who have won awards for their reporting on the plight of the Rohingya, address the media outside court on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Testimony started on Wednesday in a criminal defamation lawsuit the Thai navy has filed against a small news website over a report it posted alleging naval forces accepted money to abet or turn a blind eye to the seaborne trafficking of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

Denying the allegation, the navy also charges the two journalists from the Phuketwan website with violating Thailand's Computer Crime Act by publishing the article online. If found guilty, Australian editor Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathien could each face up to seven years in prison and fines totalling 300,000 baht (HK$68,300).

The case has drawn criticism from human rights and press freedom groups around the world.

The New York-based literary and rights advocacy group PEN American Centre recently urged the government of Thailand to "refocus its energies on curbing collusion in human rights abuses by members of its own navy, rather than frivolous attempts to camouflage them by shackling the press".

Human rights activists and foreign governments have long accused Thai authorities of collusion in the trafficking of Rohingya boatpeople but police, military and government officials have denied the allegations. Recent publicity about the discovery of dozens of bodies at trafficking camps caused a major Thai government crackdown, and several dozen people were arrested, including Thai army general Manat Kongpan and local officials.

The defamation action has been taken on the basis of 41 words that Phuketwan excerpted from an extensive story published by the international news agency Reuters in July 2013.

The Reuters story was one of a series about persecution of the Rohingya that won the agency the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Reuters was not sued.

But it was Morison and Chutima who helped draw global attention to the plight of the Rohingya in 2009. Their reporting for the South China Morning Post on the issue won a series of major journalism awards, after they revealed that Thai authorities had been keeping Rohingya captive on a remote island, before towing them out to sea aboard unpowered boasts and casting them adrift. Hundreds died as a result.

Phuketwan said last month that most of the legal costs of the case were being met by the London-based Media Legal Defence Initiative. But the navy's action threatens to sink the website, according to a note it recently posted.

"Our reporting on vital matters about Phuket and Thailand will come to an end next week and may never resume," it said. "Phuketwan's future is uncertain because of a highly controversial criminal defamation action." Morison, 67, a native of Melbourne, Australia, said the two journalists had "been waiting a long time for this to happen purely because we refused to acknowledge that we've done anything wrong".

"More than once we've been asked to apologise and we've resisted that at every opportunity," he said.

The Royal Thai Navy has ignored calls for the charges to be dismissed.

The court is expected to set a date for the verdict after three days of hearing witnesses from both sides this week.

"The trial of these two journalists, who just did their job … with a great deal of professionalism, poses a great danger to all those independent voices in Thailand," Benjamin Ismail, of Reporters Without Borders, said.