Foreign media club's board in Thailand charged with lese majeste PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Media Alert - Media Alert
Thursday, 02 July 2009 06:49


The entire board of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) was charged with lese majeste on 30 June 2009, media reports said.

"The Nation" said Laksana Kornsilpa, 57 years old, a translator by profession, filed a complaint against the 13-man board with the Lumpini police.

ASTV Manager website quoted Laksana as saying she filed the complaint because the FCCT board made a decision to sell DVD copies of Jakrapob Penkair's controversial speech at the club in 2007.

She alleged that the whole board "may be acting in an organised fashion and the goal may be to undermine the credibility of the high institution of Thailand".

The FCCT was also accused of translating into English the statements made by two leaders of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD), Veera Musikapong and Nattawuth Saigua. Their statements, Laksana alleged, are deemed insulting to the royal family.

The website also reported that Laksana claimed that some major local newspapers may also be involved in a scheme to undermine the monarchy.

"The Nation" quoted FCCT president Marwaan Macan-Markar as saying that the board members have decided not to give separate interviews. Instead, it issued a statement saying: "The FCCT will cooperate with such an inquiry [by the police]."

The board is composed of Marwaan Macan-Markar of Inter-Press Service, president; Jonathan Head, BBC, first vice president; Patrick Barta, "Wall Street Journal", second vice president; Dominic Faulder, treasurer; Jim Pollard, "The Nation", corresponding secretary; Henry J. Silverman, Global Spectrum, recording secretary; Daniel Ten Kate, Bloomberg, director; Karuna Buakamsri, Thai PBS, director; Anasuya Sanyal, Channel News Asia, director; Stuart Raj, Kogneit Company Ltd, director; Greg Lowe, "The Business Times", director; Justin Moseley, Consortium UK, director; Nirmal Ghosh, "The Straits Times", past president.

"The Nation" quoted a source within the FCCT, who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was "surprised" at the latest allegation, which came after two years of the speech being made, adding that "it places Thailand in a very poor light".

The source explained that DVD copies are made largely for club members who missed interesting talks and sales are restricted solely to FCCT members.

Only a few copies of the Jakrapob talk are said to have been sold because a manuscript of his speech had circulated in Bangkok shortly after he was charged, and the video can be downloaded free from some websites.

Article 112 of Thailand’s Criminal Law allows anyone to file a complaint with the police against anyone he or she deems to have defamed the monarch and members of the royal family. The police's investigation process to determine the charge could take years.

If convicted, the accused could face up to 15 years' imprisonment.



< Prev   Next >