The professional membership of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT), is pleased with the withdrawal of charges against BBC Southeast Asia correspondent but remain concern with the use of vexatious litigation to deter legitimate journalistic activities, particularly since Thailand's defamation law carry criminal penalties.
Jonathan Head is the Southeast Asia correspond for the BBC, have been withdrawn by the plaintiff, a Phuket lawyer. The case was related to reports by Head in 2015 about rampant property fraud on the island that involved fraudulent notarisation of signatures. The FCCT understands the charges have been withdrawn unconditionally, but remains concerned by the use of vexatious litigation to deter legitimate journalist activities.
Head would face up to five years in jail if his report had exposed the Phuket properties stolen from them by a network of criminals and corrupt officials. The Head reports that the case related on the rampant property fraud on the island that involved the forged signatures on multiple occasion. The FCCT understands the charges that have been withdrawn unconditionally, and the lawsuit made to deter legitimate journalistic activities, particularly in Thailand, which carries defamation laws that carry criminal penalties.
The lawyer who brought the suit, Pratuan Thanarak further decide to drop the charges against Head on the first day of the trial on Wednesday. Criminal charges will be fined in Thailand and private citizens can launch their prosecution and are not forced to pay if they lose. Prosecution which most countries where and defamation is a civil crime in Thailand. Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand but they often get around it by putting assets in the name of Thais, or by setting up majority Thai-owned shell companies.
The 2015 BBC report detailed how a network of Phuket criminals, aided by corrupt officials, stole properties from foreigners by forging land title transfers. One of the victims who featured in the report, British national Ian Rance, is a joint defendant in the prosecution. He still faces a single defamation charge and up to two years in jail if convicted. Local news site Phuketwan closed down in 2015 after running out of money in its successful bid to defeat a suit brought by Thailand's navy.
Andrew Drummond, a British crime reporter, left the country the same year because of multiple cases brought by those he exposed, as did British labour rights activist Andy Hall in 2016. – AFP