UK activist accused of defamation 'spotted' at labour meet
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The Criminal Court yesterday gave a lawyer representing Natural Food, a major canned-pineapple producer, until May 7 to verify the whereabouts of Andy Hall, a British activist who has accused the firm of exploiting, underpaying and assaulting its factory
Natural Food is suing Hall for Bt300 million in damages and pursuing a criminal-defamation charge against him.
The firm’s lawyer, Somsak Torugsa, said Hall was spotted speaking at a labour event in Samut Sakhon province on Wednesday, and furbished photographs to the court as evidence. The court said it could not be certain if Hall, who was formerly a labour-related researcher at Mahidol University, is still in the Kingdom, as he failed to show up yesterday at the court.
Somsak urged Hall not to use international non-governmental organisations to pressure the firm, and to negotiate directly with Natural Food to prove his innocence in the court.
Human Rights Watch this week issued a statement expressing concern over Hall’s case, saying Natural Food’s pursuit of a criminal-defamation case violated the activist’s right to free speech and was having a chilling effect on investigations of alleged rights abuses by companies in Thailand.
Natural Food chairman Virat Piyapornpaiboon was at the court yesterday and told the media that Hall’s actions were tantamount to blackmail and making false accusations.
Somsak corrected Virat, however, saying the word “blackmail” was not applicable to the case.
The court will hear the results of the verification of Hall’s whereabouts at 9am on May 7.
