Not Guilty: Phuket court dismisses defamation charges against journalists

A Phuket court has dismissed defamation charges filed by the Thai Navy over a report implicating the kingdom's navy in human trafficking.

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Alan Morison, right, Australian editor of the website Phuketwan and his colleague Chutima Sidasathien speak to the media ahead of their appearance in court to face charges of violating Thailand's Computer Crime Act in Phuket. The court has now dismissed those charges. (AP Photo/Thanyarat Doksone)

Not Guilty: Phuket court dismisses defamation charges against journalists

A Phuket court has dismissed defamation charges filed by the Thai Navy over a report implicating the kingdom's navy in human trafficking.

"The court has acquitted (the pair)," their lawyer Siriwan Vongkietpaisan told AFP shortly after the verdict was delivered at Phuket Provincial Court.

"Phuketwan had only presented their (Reuter's) information that had already been published on their website," she added.

The news agency DPA reports that the court ruled that the Computer Crimes Act of 2007 could not be used to prosecute charges of defamation against Australian Alan Morison, 67, and Thai citizen Chutima Sidasathian, 34.

It also said they did not commit defamation in any event.

From an earlier AFP report:

The charges against Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathian, of the Phuketwan news website, relate to a July 2013 article quoting an investigation by the Reuters news agency which said some Thai navy members were involved in trafficking Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar.

The navy sued Phuketwan for defamation in response to their article.

The pair could have faced up to two years in jail for criminal defamation and five years for breaching the Computer Crimes Act.

Reuters has not been charged over its reporting – part of a series honoured 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.

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