Friday, April 18, 2014

Journalists in Thailand face prison for quoting Pulitzer-prize report about Rohingya abuse...

A navy captain, in a statement to local media, threatened to charge Reuters as well for its prize-winning series. However, the issue is being seen as a cudgel being used to intimidate local publications from reporting on widespread military excesses and corruption.

The two journalists are Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, the editor and reporter, respectively, for Phuket Wan, a small English-language website on the resort island of Phuket, which in the past has mostly covered local problems and tourism issues. However, the two have reported aggressively on the mistreatment of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar that has come under savage attack by the country’s majority Buddhist population. Tens of thousands have fled Myanmar, making Thailand their first stop.

“Phuket Wan thanks everybody for their support and hopes all goes well in Phuket Provincial Court on Friday morning,” the publication said Thursday in a statement. “We aim to be back reporting as soon as we possibly can, hopefully Friday afternoon.”

There have been widespread reports of abuse of the Rohingya by the Thai Navy including human trafficking and towing boats back out to sea to leave their refugee passengers exposed to peril. Although the bulk of the Thai media including English-language publications in Bangkok have given the Rohingya short shrift, Phuket Wan has regularly reported on their plight. Full story...

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  2. Thai editor gets 10 years jail for royal insult...
  3. Thailand secretly supplies Rohingya refugees to trafficking rings...
  4. Thailand's shocking treatment of immigrants, refugees...
  5. Turkey again named world’s leading jailer of journalists...

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