Thailand’s Draconian Libel Laws Used to Suppress Freedom of Expression

FCCT panelists (left to right) Andrew Drummond, Dr Wyn Ellis,

Supinya Klangnarong, Dr David Streckfuss. 

Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand.  Bangkok.  November 6, 2013.  If one reads the daily newspaper as I do, with its lively discussions of many local issues and political personalities, it is tempting to think that Thailand has a free press, but sadly, that is not the case.  Journalists and other media readily admit that they are not free to say or report as they wish, and both politicians and private individuals acknowledge the climate of fear that prevails.  In its most recent report, Freedom House downgraded Thailand’s press freedom from “partly free” to “not free.” 

There are several ways that freedom of expression is limited and controlled in Thailand, and among them, Thailand’s libel laws play a big part.  Thailand appears to be unique in allowing individuals, including politicians, to pursue criminal libel actions against their critics.  Thus, a person can go to jail for saying or writing something that a politician or critic deems objectionable.  While it may be that the individual beats the charge, and  the court throws it out, the costs and disruptions caused by the case can be ruinous.  To avoid this, individuals and news organizations exercise self-censorship or quickly apologize.  Billionaire former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was known for using these strange libel laws to silence or inhibit his critics, who lacked his economic might.

There have been many panel discussions at the FCCT on this and related subjects, but this panel was particularly interesting and important because several panelists who have been caught in the web of legal proceedings were willing to tell their stories, which were scary.  One of the panelists, a journalist, has made a film about his case and the persons pursuing him and the film is readily available for viewing on the Internet. It was announced prior to this evening’s program, that the film would be shown as part of the panelist’s presentation, but the FCCT received a letter threatening the Club with criminal libel if it allowed the film to be shown.  Result:  the FCCT exercised self-censorship and decided to not permit the showing of the film.

Here’s some information on the panelists:

Dr David Streckfuss, an independent scholar and author of Truth on Trial in Thailand. Streckfuss is also one of the world's leading authorities on lèse-majesté, which features prominently in any discussion of libel in Thailand.

Supinya Klangnarong, one of Thailand's most prominent media rights' advocates is the youngest and only female among eleven Senate-appointed commissioners with the National Broadcast and Telecommunications Commission. Her single term there lasts six years. Supinya has also worked for the Campaign for Popular Media Reform and the Thai Netizen Network. She successfully defended herself against a 400-million baht defamation suit brought against her after a 2003 article in Thai Post concerning the business empire of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. She was a leading critic of restrictive media laws enacted by the unelected legislature of 2006 that followed Thaksin's ouster.

Dr Wyn Ellis is an academic who was taken to court nine times by the head of Thailand's National Innovation Agency after he revealed that his former boss had copied his work for a PhD at Chulalongkorn University. Ellis won his cases following a costly defence, but is currently in an anti-corruption witness protection programme following death threats and vandalism of his car.

Andrew Drummond is a British investigative journalist who is fighting off numerous cases brought against him by foreign businessmen in Pattaya for alleged libel and infringements of the Computer Crimes Act. Drummond has so far seen five cases against him dismissed in court, but this has been at considerable cost and only been possible with the help of crowd funding. The many threats made against him include posting his car registration, home address and children's school on the Internet. Drummond has made a 29-minute documentary on his experiences: Men in Suits and Influential People.