British activist Andy Hall leaves Thailand amid safety concerns
Bangkok - British labour rights activist Andy Hall left Thailand indefinitely Monday, saying he was concerned about his safety, amid ongoing court cases against him filed by a pineapple processing company.
"Currently the situation in defending migrant worker rights for me and others...has rapidly deteriorated in Thailand with significantly increased risks and aggressiveness," Hall said in a statement.
"As a result, I want to ensure time for existing tense situations of conflict to reduce."
The Natural Fruit Company launched four separate criminal and civil cases against Hall, including two defamation claims for damages of Bt400 million (US$11.5 million), after he wrote a report in 2013 that alleged the company abused migrant workers.
Thailand's Supreme Court on Thursday cleared Hall of defamation in one of the lawsuits filed by the company.
The court threw out the charges related to an interview Hall gave to broadcaster Al-Jazeera in Myanmar in April 2013 saying it had no jurisdiction over offences committed in that country.
In a separate criminal case, a Bangkok court in September sentenced Hall to four years' imprisonment, reduced by one year and suspended by two years, and ordered him to a pay a fine of Bt150,000 after convicting him of criminal defamation and violation of a computer law by publishing defamatory content online.
In 2013, Hall wrote a report commissioned by an NGO, which alleged the company used underage labour, discriminated against migrant workers, confiscated workers' passports, provided unsafe working conditions and failed to pay for overtime.
