Online paper chief says efforts were made to remove 'risky' postings
Prachatai.com online newspaper director Chiranuch Premchaiporn defended herself against charges of computer crime in court yesterday by testifying that her organisation had taken many measures over the years to remove postings deemed as "risky" and could
Chiranuch said systems were in place by which members of the now-defunct webboard at prachatai.com could unilaterally remove risky posts. Volunteers were also recruited to help monitor posts.
Webboard users were also later asked to register as members before using it, she told the Criminal Court.
She also added that prachatai staff met and discussed the situation after the military coup in September 2006 when there was a spike in the number of posts that could be deemed offensive or defamatory to the monarchy. Chiranuch told the court that some 2,800 to 2,900 opinions were posted on its webboard during the period after the coup.
"We asked police and the ICT [Ministry] to meet and come up with a guideline in administrating [the site]," said Chiranuch, who faces a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment if found guilty of not deleting 10 alleged defamatory postings about the monarchy "quickly enough".
Prosecution lawyers insisted in court yesterday that it was Chiranuch's duty as webmaster of the webboard to remove those remarks "right away" and added that the remarks were left on the webboard for one to 20 days.
Chiranuch insisted there weren't enough people looking through the barrage of postings but that prachatai had cooperated whenever the authorities asked it.
"In some cases, prachatai removed postings ourselves," she told the court.
US-based Freedom House released a statement on Tuesday condemning the trial and urged the Thai government to drop all charges against Chiranuch and amend the Computer Crimes Act (CCA) to conform to international human rights standards.
Sue Gunawardena, senior programme manager for Southeast Asia at Freedom House, said in the statement that the trial "should send a chilling signal to all who care about freedom of expression" because Chiranuch "is not even the actual 'perpetrator' of the alleged offence" but a "mere intermediary".
The "archaic" lese majeste law, coupled with the CCA, said Gunawardena, "gives Thai authorities carte blanche to clamp down on any form of expression they consider offensive and creates an environment in which self-censorship will increasingly becoming the norm".
The trial will continue on October 11.
