A group that campaigns for journalists’ rights called on Thai police on Thursday to drop complaints against a British Broadcasting Corp journalist accused of slandering the country’s king.
BBC correspondent Jonathan Head has been accused of insulting the monarchy, or lese majeste, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Three complaints were lodged by police Lieutenant Colonel Wattanasak Mungkandee, who said he was acting in a personal capacity.
Authorities have yet to decide whether to formally charge Head.
“It is time for prosecutors and investigators in Thailand to immediately drop these outrageous and punitive charges against our colleague Jonathan Head,” said Bob Dietz of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Head’s reporting has raised important questions about Thailand’s deteriorating political situation and he should be allowed to report without fear of official reprisals.”
One complaint is related to a Dec. 3 article in which Head speculated about the relationship between the palace and the anti-government protest group that took over Bangkok’s main international and domestic airports for eight days.
In the earlier complaint in May, Wattanasak submitted as evidence 11 articles from the BBC Web site, even though some were not written by Head. He also submitted a photograph of Head shaking hands with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra before an interview in late 2001.
Thaksin, accused of corruption and abuse of power, was ousted by a September 2006 military coup. His critics also accused him of trying to usurp royal power and being disrespectful to the king.
The BBC, one of the world’s major newsgathering organizations, has in the past described the allegations as “completely unfounded.” When reached by phone on Thursday, Head said the BBC had no further comment.
CONDITIONS: The Russian president said a deal that was scuppered by ‘elites’ in the US and Europe should be revived, as Ukraine was generally satisfied with it Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said that he was ready for talks with Ukraine, after having previously rebuffed the idea of negotiations while Kyiv’s offensive into the Kursk region was ongoing. Ukraine last month launched a cross-border incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, sending thousands of troops across the border and seizing several villages. Putin said shortly after there could be no talk of negotiations. Speaking at a question and answer session at Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Putin said that Russia was ready for talks, but on the basis of an aborted deal between Moscow’s and Kyiv’s negotiators reached in Istanbul, Turkey,
Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said yesterday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species. Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae. As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom’s crucial fish-farming industry. Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000kg of blackchin tilapia from February to Wednesday last week, said Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, vice president of a parliamentary
A French woman whose husband has admitted to enlisting dozens of strangers to rape her while she was drugged on Thursday told his trial that police had saved her life by uncovering the crimes. “The police saved my life by investigating Mister Pelicot’s computer,” Gisele Pelicot told the court in the southern city of Avignon, referring to her husband — one of 51 of her alleged abusers on trial — by only his surname. Speaking for the first time since the extraordinary trial began on Monday, Gisele Pelicot, now 71, revealed her emotion in almost 90 minutes of testimony, recounting her mysterious
DEFIANT: Ukraine and the EU voiced concern that ICC member Mongolia might not execute an international warrant for Putin’s arrest over war crimes in Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin was yesterday visiting Mongolia with no sign that the host country would bow to calls to arrest him on an international warrant for alleged war crimes stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The trip is Putin’s first to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued the warrant about 18 months ago. Ahead of his visit, Ukraine called on Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague, and the EU expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant. A spokesperson for Putin last week said that the Kremlin