Two who picked up part of Reuters Pulitzer report face jail

If convicted, Alan Morison (left in the photo), editor, and Chutima Sidasathian (right), reporter, of Phuket-based Phuketwan news website face seven years in prison and a $3,000 fine. The charges were brought by a Thai Navy captain.

The Reuters story was part of a series that won journalists Jason Szep and Andrew R C Marshall a Pulitzer this week.

Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia director, said in a statement: “The trial of these two journalists is unjustified and constitutes a dark stain on Thailand’s record for respecting media freedom. The Thai Navy should have debated these journalists publicly if they had concerns with the story rather than insisting on their prosecution under the draconian Computer Crimes Act and criminal libel statutes. It’s now time for Thailand’s leaders to step in and order prosecutors to drop this case, and end this blatant violation of media freedoms once and for all.”

Asian Correspondent website said Morison, an Australian, expressed disappointment that Reuters had not been in contact with either him or Sidasathian, who is Thai, and had not taken a stronger stand on their case. “Chutima is surprised and shocked that nothing has been said in defence of media freedom and Phuketwan by the organisation she helped, with her usual generosity, to win the Pulitzer. I am deeply disappointed, and I expect many others will be, too,” he said.

It said a Reuters spokesperson asked for comment reiterated the organisation’s statement that, “We oppose the use of criminal laws to sanction the press - large or small, local or international - for publication on matters of public interest, like the Rohingya.”

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand congratulated Szep and Marshall for a series that exposed “the systematic abuse of Rohingyas in Myanmar [Burma] and in Thailand.” It added that “while a large media organization is being feted for its reporting, two poorly-funded local journalists are facing prosecution for their reporting of the same issue - and indeed for publishing material from a Thomson Reuters report.”

“These two journalists have done more than most to report accurately from Thailand the plight of Rohingyas,” the statement read. “They have also rendered invaluable assistance to journalists at Thomson Reuters and other local and foreign media organizations attempting to report this humanitarian crisis.”

Asian Correspondent said that a Reuters spokesperson, asked about Chutima’s contribution to the reporting effort on the winning stories, responded: “We retained Khun Chutima, a Phuketwan local journalist, in a very limited role to help us make appointments. She was not a member of the team of Reuters journalists who reported and investigated on these stories, nor did we report any information that should have been credited or otherwise attributed to Ms. Chutima.”

“Taking Phuketwan’s journalists to court is absurd,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk. “If the navy want to dispute the Reuters special report, which has just won a Pulitzer Prize, it can publicly give its version of events and demand the right of reply.” Ismaïl emphasised that Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act urgently needs reform, as it “is responsible for frequent violations of freedom of information by the authorities”.

He added that it is “essential that the international media operating in Thailand should give this trial extensive coverage despite government pressure to ignore it.” ■