Reporters Charged With Defamation Remanded on Bail in Thailand

21 April 2014

Two journalists were remanded on bail in Thailand on Thursday on charges of criminal defamation and other offenses in connection with a story they published on the trafficking of Muslim minority Rohingya people from Burma. Alan Morison, an Australian, and Thai national Chutima Sidasathian published a story last July for the Phuketwan news website about Rohingya boat people, which contained excerpts from a Reuters Special Report that detailed how some Thai navy personnel worked with people smugglers to profit from the exodus. A criminal court on Phuket ruled the case against the two journalists should proceed and set the first hearing for May 26. —Reuters