Two Phuket-based journalists will seek help from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today as prosecutors weigh whether to charge them with defamation for their report implicating the Royal Thai Navy in smuggling Rohingya refugees.
Alan Morison, editor of the news website Phuketwan, and reporter Chutima Sidasathien will travel from Phuket to Bangkok to meet commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara today. They believe a lawsuit against them, brought under the Computer Crimes Act, would pose a threat to media freedom in Thailand.
“We need a set of principles to protect press freedom as the act is threatening the survival of the media and the development of this industry's professionalism,” said Ms Chutima, also a PhD student at Walailak University in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
If found guilty, the pair could face five to seven years in prison and/or a fine of up to 100,000 baht.
The charges focus on a single paragraph in a report by Reuters on July 17, 2013.
The report was partially republished by online media outlets, including Phuketwan, later that same day.
Phuketwan, which has long investigated the plight of the Rohingya, ran an excerpt from a Reuters article entitled "Thai military profiting from trade in boat people, says special report", indicating some naval officers might be involved in trafficking the Rohingya.
The navy said the article defames them.
On April 17, Phuket prosecutors will summon the pair to hear whether they will be charged following an earlier postponement of the decision.
The International Business Association of Phuket has invited Mr Morison and Ms Chutima to speak on April 11 as the private sector is concerned the lawsuit could bankrupt the small media enterprise, “Big Island Media”, which owns the Phuketwan website.
Mr Morison, a long-term Thai resident, comes from Australia.
In that country, campaigns are also under way to have the lawsuits against him withdrawn.
On April 22, the pair will speak at Sydney University while on April 28 they will appear on the ABC TV programme, The World.