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Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: OZschwitz editor ready for Thai jail over media laws Tue Dec 31, 2013 4:06 am | |
| Australian journalist Alan Morison has declared he is prepared to go to jail to defend media freedom in Thailand where defamation laws are being increasingly used to silence criticism.
''This is a clear issue of freedom of media and the military exceeding its role in using an onerous law unjustly,'' says Morison, 66, who edits and publishes Phuketwan, a small but popular news website on the resort island of Phuket.
A defamation lawsuit launched by Thailand's navy against Mr Morison and his colleague Chutima Sidasathian on Christmas Eve is one of about 1600 defamation cases that were initiated in the south-east Asian country in 2013, many of them by powerful interests.
Records show that of the defamation cases that proceed to trial in Thailand an average of 96 per cent lead to convictions, one of the world's highest rates for the crime. Advertisement
Mr Morison and Ms Chutima could face a maximum five years' jail and fines if convicted under the Computer Crimes Act.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-editor-alan-morison-ready-for-thai-jail-over-media-laws-20131230-3035k.html#ixzz2p2eGqknJ
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