Journalist’s conviction sparks Thai protest
Claire Cozens, press and publishing correspondent
Thursday July 15, 2004
The Committee to Protect Journalists has written to the Thai prime minister to express “grave concern” about the misuse of the country’s libel laws after a Times correspondent was sentenced to a six-month suspended jail sentence.The CPJ condemned a Thai judge’s guilty verdict against Andrew Drummond, who faced charges of criminal libel over a story he wrote for the Bangkok Post.
“The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned that Thailand’s criminal defamation laws are being used to suppress critical voices,” the organisation wrote in a letter to the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.
“As an organisation of journalists dedicated to defending our colleagues worldwide, CPJ urges your excellency to stop this pattern of press freedom abuses by working to eliminate Thailand’s outdated criminal defamation laws. Defamation should never be a criminal offence. Such laws only serve to intimidate the media and stifle dissent.”
Drummond was given a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay an £800 fine after a judge in the Pattaya criminal court ruled there was no evidence to support his claims in the Bangkok Post that club owner James Lumsden had attempted to defraud investors.
Mr Lumsden, 50, from Edinburgh, filed his libel suit following a report in the Bangkok Post alleging that he and a partner had cheated two Britons who had co-invested in their company - allegations that had already appeared in several British newspapers.
Drummond, who previously worked for the Observer and has made documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4, is to appeal against the decision.
The CPJ condemned the verdict, saying defamation “should be a strictly civil matter”.
“Journalists should never be criminally prosecuted for their work. Such protections are especially important for investigative journalists, who expose corruption and abuses of power,” it added.