Media groups say charges against ‘Prachatai’ reporter should be dropped

However, a National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) spokesman said authorities arrested the reporter because of his actions and his occupation was irrelevant.

Taweesak Kerdpoka, a reporter for online news agency Prachatai, was charged with violating Article 61 of the Referendum Act, which prohibits distributing “false”, “rude”, “inciting” or “intimidating” messages regarding the August referendum on the draft charter. 

He was arrested along with three activists of the anti-junta New Democracy Movement (NDM) after police learned Taweesak and the activists were in a pickup truck that contained leaflets with anti-draft messages.

Lawyer Arnont Nampa said the five were released yesterday on Bt140,000 bail each.

In a joint statement signed by Pramed Lekpetch, vice president for rights and freedom of the Thai Journalists Association, and Supan Rakchuea, Thai Broadcast Journalists Association vice president, the organisations said there was no evidence indicating that Taweesak had done anything wrong. 

“Taweesak just went along with the NDM activists’ car and it was normal practice for journalists to do so in order to cover an event in time,” they said. 

The media organisations also urged the government to protect the rights and liberty of the media when covering news during the run-up to the referendum rather than suppress journalists.

NCPO spokesman Winthai Suvaree said police charged the reporter because he was involved with the activists and his profession was irrelevant. The reporter, 25, travelled with the NDM activists to cover an event at Ban Pong Police Station in Ratchaburi on Sunday. The activists were there to show moral support for a group of 18 red-shirt figures who reported to police after receiving summons. 

The 18 people have been charged with attending an illegal political gathering after being involved in the red-shirt anti-fraud centres, which were supposed to be set up to monitor the upcoming referendum.

When the three NDM activists and Taweesak were about to leave the police station, an officer searched the car they travelled in and found “Vote No” stickers and booklets with content opposing the draft. The four were arrested but refused to submit to fingerprinting, saying they had done nothing wrong. 

Meanwhile, Panuwat Songsawatchai, a student at Maejo University who was among the 18 red-shirt figures, was arrested on Sunday evening at home and also charged under Article 61. 

Panuwat and the other four were detained overnight on Sunday.

The charges carry penalties of up to 10 years in jail, a fine of up to Bt200,00 and a five-year suspension of electoral rights.

All five were brought to the Provincial Court of Ratchaburi yesterday where police requested a 12-day detention order, but all five were released on bail.

Sunai Phasuk, a researcher at Human Right Watch in Thailand, said the case emphasised that the junta was trying to suppress the “Vote No” campaign and the media.

“The junta is enhancing threatening measures against opponents, both activists and the media,” he said. Angkhana Neelapaijit of the National Human Rights Commission said police had to prove whether the reporter had committed a crime, adding that if Taweesak was covering the event, his rights as a journalist should be protected and he should not have been charged.

Prachatai managing editor Chuwat Rerksirisuk said he believed the reporter was innocent, adding that Taweesak had been assigned do investigative reporting about the NDM and other student activist groups and may have been targeted by the authorities. 

Prachatai is considered an anti-dictatorship news website and often features coverage about the military-installed government’s alleged abuses of power.

Chuwat said Taweesak’s |case meant other reporters covering such events risked being arrested.