An Australian journalist is to face a Thai criminal court on March 10 on criminal defamation charges brought by the Royal Thai Navy in a case centred on media freedom in Thailand, according to court documents.
Alan Morison, formerly of Melbourne and editor of on-line news website, 'Phuketwan', based in southern Thai resort island of Phuket, and journalist, Chutima Sidasathiam, face up to seven years jail if convicted on the charges and breaches of the Computer Crimes Act.
The Royal Thai Navy pressed the charges after Phuketwan republished a news story by Reuters Newsagency in July last year of an investigation into allegations of Royal Thai Navy involvement in the trafficking of Burmese Rohingya refugees whose vessels sail into Thai waters.
The Reuters investigation allegedly uncovered collusion between some navy officers and local traffickers, profiting from smuggling of the Rohingya, an ethnic minority from Myanmar's western Rakhine state.
Morison says he fears a tough prosecutor may order their immediate detention, but both he and Chutima were prepared to face jail.
