Rohingya News Agency‏ ‏‎–(bangkokpost):‎ Press freedom advocacy groups have called for the navy to drop criminal defamation ‎lawsuits against two Phuket-based journalists, labelling the case a form of ‎intimidation.‎

The journalists, both from the Phuketwan news website, were charged on Wednesday ‎under the Computer Crimes Act for relaying a report implicating the navy in the ‎trafficking of Rohingya migrants.‎

The journalists, Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, appeared before Phuket ‎police to be fingerprinted after receiving summonses for their article, published on July ‎‎17, headlined "Thai military profiting from trade in boatpeople, says special report".‎
The report quoted heavily from a story by international news agency Reuters.‎
Barb Burg, Reuters' global head of communications, said from Singapore that "our ‎story was fair and balanced and Reuters has not been accused of criminal libel".‎
The article describes the role of security authorities - not just Thai and not just the ‎navy - who profit from the exodus of Rohingya from Rakhine state in eastern ‎Myanmar to escape persecution and violence.
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The Third Naval Area Command, which oversees the Andaman coast, filed the ‎criminal charges under Section 14 of the Computer Crimes Act, accusing the ‎journalists of damaging its reputation.‎
Morison and Chutima are scheduled to appear before court on Tuesday for ‎indictment. ‎
If found guilty, they face jail terms of up to five years and/or fines of up to 100,000 ‎baht.‎
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (Seapa) condemned the navy's action, saying it is ‎a form of intimidation against members of the media who publish critical stories ‎against state authorities.‎

‎"If the Thai navy wants to disprove its tolerance of the acts of its personnel described ‎in the article, a better approach would have been to conduct or allow an impartial ‎official investigation into the matter," Seapa said.‎
Targeting a small online news outlet for publishing what is essentially a humanitarian ‎story reflects a bully's strategy to silence critics, it said.‎
‎"The navy is using its authority for the wrong purpose of silencing critics instead of ‎for upholding accountability of the conduct its forces and its overall duty to respect ‎human rights," Seapa added.‎

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also urged the navy to drop the lawsuits.‎
‎"Unless the navy withdraws the case, its impact will be felt far beyond those reporting ‎on abuses against the Rohingya, and could have a choking effect on all investigative ‎reporting in Thailand," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.‎
‎"The Thai navy should understand that in a democratic society, media scrutiny of the ‎security forces must be possible," Mr Adams said.‎