A quote about Thai navy collusion with smugglers of members of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has led to a lawsuit against two journalists. Photo courtesy of U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office/ Flickr.
PHUKET , Thailand, July 14 (UPI) -- The trial of two journalists, charged with defamation of Thailand's navy over a human trafficking story, began Tuesday in Phuket.
Alan Morison, an Australian, and Chutima Sidasathien, a Thai, are accused of violating Thailand's Computer Crime Act in republishing a single paragraph of quotes from a news agency article on their Phuketwan website. The award-winning article, published in 2013, concerned human trafficking of the oppressed Rohingya minority from Myanmar to Thailand and then to Malaysia, as they paid smugglers to take them away from persecution and lack of economic opportunity.
The paragraph, a quote from a smuggler, said members of the Thai navy, as well as police in Thailand's Phang Nga region, typically receive 2000 bhat ($58) per Rohingya for ignoring their travel through Thailand.
The Royal Thai navy, in a statement, denied the published claim, saying in a statement, "The information is false and untrue. The journalists must be correct and recheck their information before publishing the story to make sure there is no danger to others. The reputation of the Royal Thai navy was damaged and made people look down on the navy."
Morison noted "we were ambushed so long after the event is proof the Royal Thai navy wanted to pursue us and wipe out Phuketwan." The website has since closed because of the uncertainty over the outcome of the trial.
The case comes to trial after dozens of bodies were discovered in May at several camps along the Thai-Malaysian border, where traffickers held migrants, the majority of them Rohingya.
Human rights activists have accused Thai officials of collusion with the trafficking industry, and the trial is closely watched by global humanitarian organizations. One, the New York-based PEN American Center, urged the Thai government 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."
The trial is expected to take three days, with a verdict expected in a month. Morison has refused opportunities to apologize; he and Sidasathien could each receive jail terms of seven years if found guilty.
