Is Jonathan Head going down for lese majeste?
Atrocious title to this blog post aside, Jonathan Head, the BBC’s Thailand correspondent, could be in serious trouble. Thanks to New Mandala and Andrew for covering this. From IHT:
A police officer filed a criminal complaint Tuesday seeking to have a journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation charged with insulting Thailand’s king. Lt. Col. Wattanasak Mungkandee said he filed a complaint against British reporter Jonathan Head in connection with remarks he allegedly made when moderating a panel discussion last year about Thailand’s monarchy. Insulting the monarchy, known as the crime of “lese majeste,” carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
More from The Nation:
A police investigator has filed a lese majeste complaint against a BBC reporter over comments he made in a short speech on “Coup, Capital and Crown” at the Foreign Correspond-ents’ Club (FCCT) in Bangkok in December.
I wasn’t at the FCC on the night in question, but it seems that even those who were are having trouble recalling what was said. Col Wattanasak doesn’t appear certain and we are now waiting on a translation of the night, from English to Thai, to be presented as evidence.
I’ve seen Jonathan at the FCC several times and I’ve always admired and respected his work. It’s absurd to think that he could be jailed for 15 years.
The uproar this would create from all corners of the globe would dwarf the commotion caused when Oliver Rudolf Jufer was imprisoned – and then released – for defacing a picture of HMtK. Can you imagine how far this would set back Thailand’s media after all the problems that governments have caused in the past?
April 11th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Have a look at this summary of that night at the FCCT from Real Life Thailand:
http://reallifethailand.blogspot.com/2007/12/coup-capital-crown-report-from-fcct.html
I think the fact that we don’t know for certain what is supposed to have been said is because until the charges (if any) are official anyone who repeats those words will face similar charges. Don’t quote me on this but I think some kind of legal protection exists in terms of reporting the comments once court action is instigated.
Those of us working in the media know exactly what can and cannot be said, or even intimated. That goes for the Thai media as much as foreign media. The same rules apply.
April 11th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Yes, I’ve been reading that we may not actually ever know what was said.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
The conference seems to have been designed to generate controversy. Why is anybody surprised that they got it?
April 21st, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I heard Tesco are now suing Thai newspapers and academics, does this have anything to do with it? Lese Majeste all over the BBC websites
May 1st, 2008 at 6:25 pm
The Internet makes detective work easy, a quick look at the BBC website and the videos on this channel http://www.youtube.com/user/Jakapob and you know that something is going on. These cases seem like real evil attacks on the Thai monarchy to any bystander.
I think the more recent Cinema Chotisak and Thaksin the Flag stories are an attempt evil forces to misuse the Lese Majeste law and help hide the real cases of organised political crime and media fiddling by Jakrapob and the BBC filed by this Colonel Boong chap which is the real can of worms.
Jakrapob is apparently attacking and squeezing the media hard to keep his own evil activities from making headlines - it looks like we have a Thaksin Dictatorship here in Thailand once again, I remember Thaksin saying in the videos to vote for PPP :)
Strange that the Democrats and Thailand’s Special Branch ignore this evil plot and pursue stupid unknown photocopy rubbish! Although Thaksin still has power in Thailand it will be interesting to see how he escapes this time - can money still talk to the police?