Journalists Not Guilty İn Thai Navy Defamation Trial

A Thai court has dismissed charges against two journalists accused of defaming the Thai navy in a 2013 report on the smuggling of Rohingya through southern Thailand, ruling that the text was not libellous as it was written to serve public interest and not a personal attack.



Alan Morison, a 67 year-old veteran Australian journalist and editor of news website Phuketwan, and Chutima Sidasathian, a 34-year-old Thai journalist working for the website, were acquitted Tuesday of a criminal defamation charge brought by the navy and a count of violating the Computer Crime Act.



Sidasathian applauded the verdict soon after, saying that she was happy "that the court has done its duty perfectly".



"It benefits the freedom of expression of Thai media, foreign media and the people… I also believe that this case will have a positive outcome on other on-going lawsuits on libel and Computer Crime Act charges," she said, according to Khaosod website.



The offending paragraph drew on a Reuters report on Myanmar's Rohingya boatpeople. The report went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. 



The excerpt "ed a human smuggler saying how some Navy officers benefitted from the smuggling of Rohingya through Thailand.



Although a small news outlet, Phuketwan has been a leading source of information on the smuggling of Rohingya.



In 2009, it broke a story about numerous Rohingya dying after their vessel was pushed back to sea off the southern coast.



The pair had faced a cumulated maximum jail-sentence of seven years. - Krung Thep