Head's In The Poo Again

[GungaDin]

Thailand: BBC reporter accused of lese-majeste (again)

A senior police officer has accused the BBC's correspondent in Bangkok, Jonathan Head, of insulting the monarchy again in an article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7762806.stm posted on the BBC's website on 3 December. Entitled "How did the Thai protesters manage it," the article raised the possibility that the People's Alliance for Democracy demonstrators who occupied Bangkok's international airport had the support of the royal family.

"This is the third lese-majeste complaint that Lt. Col. Wattanasak Mungkandee brought against Head in 2008," Reporters Without Borders said. "This is judicial harassment and is clearly designed to intimidate."

Wattanasak filed all three of his complaints in a personal capacity but Thai law requires that each of them must be formally investigated by the police. Harry Nicolaides, an Australian writer who was arrested in Bangkok on a lese-majeste charge on 31 August, is still being held after all of his requests for conditional release were rejected. He faces a possible 15-year prison sentence for criticising a member of the royal family in his novel Verisimilitude.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=29894edit: This item is not up for discussion, mod, please close.

thank you

gd

[londonthai]

an article from the bbc is accesible in thailand - ministry of technology and information did not block it, so officer's accusation won't stand much chance in court. The cop just hates this journalist, a personal vendetta than anything else. One day he might need to check his brain

[JetsetBkk]

...The cop just hates this journalist, a personal vendetta than anything else. ..

So all three complaints are from this same policeman? Certainly does seem odd. Mind you, a lot of posters on this forum don't like Jonathan Head.

[Thaddeus]

One day he might need to check his brain

You mean the day when he actually does some real detective work and tracks it down.

[Steve2UK]

...The cop just hates this journalist, a personal vendetta than anything else. ..

So all three complaints are from this same policeman? Certainly does seem odd. Mind you, a lot of posters on this forum don't like Jonathan Head.

Yep - but I did read that several other cops had been approached before this one and wouldn't play ball. Bangkok Pundit has been writing about it several times

http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/12/...nt-against.html

including this interesting snippet: 'All reliable sources indicate there is a single, self-appointed British "crusader" behind it. One must ask the question if you disagree so much about what foreign journalists are writing about Thailand, why not set up your own blog and critique them?' Or post about it on ThaiVisa..............

PS: I'm a Brit - and it wasn't me.

[sabaijai]

The BP reference is to a certain former FCCT regular - now banned from the FCCT - who appears to be on a bizarre personal crusade.

Good luck to Mr Head, who may take some solace in the knowledge that every foreigner thus far convicted of lese majeste in Thailand has been quickly pardoned by the King himself.

But as discussion of the royal family is proscribed by Forum Rules, we have to close this thread.