Reuters will defend 'vigorously' if Thai police move to arrest journalists

Reuters journalists will be summoned in the next few days to acknowledge the charges, according to Agence France-Presse.

“If they do not come, arrest warrants will be issued,” said Lieutenant Somkid On-Jan of Phuket’s Vichit Police Station, according to AFP.

Stuart Grudgings and Jason Szep wrote an article about Thai authorities selling members of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Myanmar to human traffickers. The story was part of a series that won Reuters' first Pulitzer Prize for text.

“We’re aware that a captain in the Royal Thai Navy filed a criminal complaint against Reuters and two Reuters journalists, Stuart Grudgings and Jason Szep, arising out of the Rohingya coverage, and that the complaint alleges violations of the Computer Crimes Act,” David Crundwell, Thomson Reuters’ head of corporate affairs, said in an e-mail. “If necessary we will defend our story, along with our right to publish, vigorously.”

Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act bans any online criticism of the Thai royal family and any materials considered a threat to national security.​

Alan Morison, editor, and Chutima Sidasathian, reporter, of the website Phuketwan excerpted 41 words of the Reuters report and have already been charged. They are due in court on 26 May.

Reuters hopes “the Captain and the Navy will reconsider the lawsuit against Reuters in light of the Thai officials’ subsequent acknowledgement of the seriousness of the problem, their efforts to combat trafficking, and Reuters’ contribution to the authorities having released 900 trafficking refugees from trafficking camps in Thailand,” Crundwell wrote. He added:

“Thomson Reuters, and Reuters News, are governed by our own Trust Principles, dedicated to preserving Reuters’ independence, integrity and freedom from bias in the gathering and dissemination of information and news. We stand by the fairness and accuracy of our Rohingya coverage, and we support the principles of a free press everywhere in the world - and the rights of journalists to go about their jobs without fear or hindrance in reporting the truth.” ■