Sentencing of Andy Hall to 4 years in prison

Newinformation

THA003 / 0815 / OBS 067.3

Sentencing / Judicial harassment

Thailand

September 22, 2016

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT), has received new information and requestsyour urgent intervention in the following situation in Thailand.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliablesources about the sentencing of Mr. Andy Hall, a migrant labour rightsresearcher.

According to the information received, onSeptember 20, 2016, the Bangkok South Criminal Court handed down a four-yearsentence against Mr. Andy Hall and a fine of 200,000 Thai Baht (about 5,160 Euros), on “criminal defamation” and “computercrimes” charges. The court reduced the sentence to three years, with a two-yearsuspended term and a fine of about 150,000 Thai Baht (3,870 Euros).

The casedates back to February 2013 when the Thai pineapple processing company NaturalFruit brought charges against Mr. Hall for his contribution to a reportpublished by Finnish NGO Finnwatch, which alleged serious labour rights abusesby Natural Fruit (see background information).

Mr. Hall,who has paid the fine, has indicated that he will appeal the ruling.

This case isonly one of four criminal and civil lawsuits filed by Natural Fruit against Mr.Hall. Another three cases are still pending.

The Observatory firmly condemns the sentencingand ongoing judicial harassment against Mr. Andy Hall, as it clearly aims atsanctioning his legitimate human rights activities, and calls upon the Thaiauthorities to immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against him.

Backgroundinformation:

Since February 2013, the Thai pineappleprocessing company Natural Fruit has filed four criminal and civil lawsuitsagainst Mr. Hall for defamation and computer crimes in relation to Mr. Hall’scontribution to a report by the Finnish NGO Finnwatch that alleged seriouslabour rights abuses at the company’s factory in Prachuap Khiri Khan Provinceand in relation to an interview he gave to Al-Jazeera regarding the samereport[1].Published in January 2013, the report, Cheap has a high price: Responsibility problems relating to internationalprivate label products and food production in Thailand, gathered workerinterviews in order to document labour rights violations at the factory,including child labour, underpayment of wages, confiscation of migrant workers’travel and work documents, and failure to provide legally mandated paid sickdays, holidays, and leave[2].

On October 29, 2014, the Phra Khanong ProvincialCourt dismissed the criminal defamation cases related to the Al-Jazeera interview[3],due to Mr. Hall’s unlawful interrogation process under Article 120 of theCriminal Procedure Code[4].However, the Office ofthe Attorney General subsequently appealed the court’s dismissal of the case. On September 18, 2015, theCourt of Appeals upheld the Phra Khanong Provincial Court’s dismissal of thecase. In December 2015, Natural Fruit and the Attorney General were givenpermission by the Attorney General to appeal to the Supreme Court. In January2016, the Attorney General and Natural Fruit submitted their appeals on thecase to the Supreme Court. Mr. Hall’slegal team responded to the appeal, and the appeal decision verdict by theSupreme Court remains pending. If convicted in this case, Mr. Hall could faceup to one-year imprisonment and a fine (Case 3).

Natural Fruit filed a 300 million Thai Bahtcivil defamation lawsuit against Mr. Hall following the publication of theFinnwatch report case (Case 2). Negotiations between the two parties failed onOctober 30, 2014, following which the Nakhon Pathom Court postponedconsideration of this case until a verdict had been reached in the criminaldefamation and computer crimes case.

In September 2014, Natural Fruit also filed a100 million Thai Baht civil defamation lawsuit against Mr. Hall, related to theAl-Jazeera interview (Case 4). Thefirst hearing on this case took place on November 21, 2014 at the Phra KhanongProvincial Court. Mr. Hall submitted his defence, and further hearings followedin May/November 2015 and January/April 2016. This case was then also postponedpending a final decision in the appeal to the Supreme Court in the criminaldefamation case related to the interview.

With regard to the criminal case that led to hisconviction on September 20, 2016, the Bangkok South Criminal Court indicted Mr.Hall on January 18, 2016 under Article 14(1) of the Computer Crimes Act andArticle 328 (libel) of the Criminal Code (Case 1).

Ahead of the indictment, on January 13, 2016,the Bangkok South Criminal Court confiscated Mr. Hall’s passport and issued atravel ban against him. The order was handed down following a temporary bail[5]request submission. Mr. Hall was prohibited from leaving Thailand until thecourt ruled on the case, unless permission was granted (permission would havebeen granted on a case-by-case basis). On September 20, 2016, the Bangkok SouthCriminal Court revoked the order restricting Mr. Hall’s travel and returned hispassport.

Actions requested:

Please writeto the Thai authorities asking them to:

1. Dropall charges against Mr. Andy Hall and put an end to all acts of judicialharassment against him and against all human rights defenders in Thailand;

2. Guarantee in all circumstances the physicaland psychological integrity of Mr. Andy Hall, as well as that ofall human rights defenders in Thailand;

3. Conform with the provisions of the UNDeclaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly ofthe United Nations on December 9, 1998, in particular with its Articles 1,6(c) and 12.2;

4. Ensure in all circumstances respect forhuman rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international humanrights standards and international instruments ratified by Thailand.

Addresses:

Prime Minister of Thailand, Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha,Fax: +66 (0) 2 282 5131

· Minister of ForeignAffairs of Thailand, Don Pramudwinai, Fax: +66 (0) 2 643 5320; Email: minister@mfa.go.th

· Minister of Justice ofThailand, Gen Paiboon Khumchaya, Fax: +66 (0) 2 953 0503

· Mr. Wat Tingsamit,Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, Email:help@nhrc.or.th

· Permanent Mission ofThailand to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: + 41 22 715 10 00 /10 02; Email: mission.thailand@ties.itu.int

· Embassy of Thailand inBrussels, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 648 30 66; Email: thaibxl@pophost.eunet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Thailand in yourrespective country

[1] The first case relates to criminal charges for thepublication of the report, the second for civil defamation for the publicationof the report, the third relates to criminal charges for the interview and thefourth for civil defamation for the interview.

[2] See Finnwatch’s report at http://www.finnwatch.org/en/news/180-serious-human-rights-violations-behind-european-food-brands

[3] The case concerned an interview Andy Hall gave to Al-Jazeera in Myanmar.

[4] See the Observatory’s JointPress Release, July 20, 2015, and Joint Open Letter, August 8, 2014.

[5] The bail was equivalent to 300,000Baht (approximately 7,740 Euros).