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  • Jonathan Head

    Defamation Suit Hits Veteran BBC Correspondent for Reports on Fraud
    Pravit Rojanaphruk
    07 February 2016


    BBC correspondent Johnathan Head, at right, confronts Phuket lawyer Pratuan Thanarak in a scene from a September video report for BBC Two.

    BANGKOK The Phuket property nightmareDefrauded by my wife and criminals in Thailand
    http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

  • #2
    See Also :

    The Phuket property nightmare

    http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...erty-nightmare
    http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

    Comment


    • #3
      https://www.facebook.com/andrew.drum...c_location=ufi
      http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

      Comment


      • #4
        BBC journalist faces five years jail for Thailand reporting
        February 23, 2017


        BBC journalist faces five years jail for Thailand reporting

        Bangkok (AFP) - A British journalist with the BBC faces up to five years in a Thai jail after a lawyer brought a criminal defamation case against him over an investigation into fraud on a popular tourist island.

        Rights groups say the case exposes how Thailand's broad defamation and computer crime laws scupper investigative journalism and make it difficult to expose wrongdoing in a country where corruption is endemic.

        The prosecution was sparked by a September 2015 report by Jonathan Head, the BBC's Southeast Asia correspondent, looking at how two foreign retirees were scammed out of their properties in Phuket.

        Head appeared in a Phuket court on Thursday alongside one of the retirees, British national Ian Rance who is a joint defendant in the prosecution. Both pleaded not guilty.

        The man bringing the prosecution is Pratuan Thanarak, a Phuket lawyer who featured in the BBC's report looking at how Rance lost lucrative properties.

        Rance retired to Phuket in 2001, married a local woman with whom he had three children and bought what he said were some $1.2 million worth of properties.

        Under Thai law foreigners cannot own land. But many get around that provision by placing properties in the name of a company they own or with locals they trust.

        In 2010 Rance discovered his wife had forged his signature to remove him as director and sell the properties with the help of a network of money lenders and property agents on the island.

        She was jailed for four years over the scam.

        The BBC's Head reported that Pratuan, the lawyer, admitted to notarising Rance's signature without him being present.

        Pratuan filed a defamation case alleging the reports caused him to be "defamed, insulted or hated", according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.

        - 'Legal blood sport'-

        Rance and Head face one charge of criminal defamation, which carries up to two years in jail. Head faces an additional charge under Thailand's Computer Crimes Act, which has a five year maximum jail penalty.

        Head has had to surrender his passport to the court leaving him unable to work across Asia as he fights what could be a two year court battle.

        In a statement the BBC said it "stands by its journalism" and that they "intend to clear the name of our correspondent".

        Unlike most countries where defamation is a civil crime, in Thailand it is a criminal offence.

        Private citizens can launch their own cases and they are not forced to pay costs if they lose.

        Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch's Asia director, said the case against Head and Rance showed "exactly why having criminal defamation laws is such a bad idea", adding the powerful can "engage in game of legal blood sport by dragging people through the Thai court system".

        Writers often find themselves on the receiving end of costly suits.

        Local news site Phuketwan spent years defending itself from a suit filed by Thailand's navy after it alleged official complicity in human trafficking.

        The site eventually won in 2015 but had to close down because funds were exhausted.

        Andrew Drummond, a British journalist who spent years writing about Thailand's criminal underworld, left the country the same year after a slew of defamation cases and threats were made against him by people he exposed.

        British rights activist Andy Hall also left Thailand in 2016 after multiple defamation cases were filed against him -- both by prosecutors and private citizens -- over a report he helped research highlighting abuses in the country's lucrative fruit export sector.

        au.news.yahoo.com
        http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

        Comment


        • #5
          BBC to fight for correspondent Jonathan Head's freedom in Thailand
          Lindsay Murdoch
          February 26 2017


          Bangkok: The BBC says it will fight allegations against one of its most experienced foreign correspondents in a defamation case in a Thai court that carries a possible five-year prison sentence.

          Rights groups say charges brought against Jonathan Head, the BBC's Bangkok-based South-east Asia correspondent, expose how Thailand's computer crime and defamation laws scupper investigative journalism and are a threat to freedom of speech.


          Jonathan Head faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
          Photo: Screenshot/BBC Computer Crimes Act, which has a five-year maximum penalty.

          Mr Pratuan filed a case alleging Head's report caused him to be "defamed, insulted or hated". Head reported that Mr Pratuan admitted to notarising Mr Rance's signature on a document without him being present.

          The BBC report detailed how Mr Rance had lost $US1.2 million in properties through alleged fraud since retiring to Phuket in 2001 and marrying a Thai woman with whom he had three children.

          The report detailed allegations that in 2010 Mr Rance's wife had forged his signature to remove him as director of a company owning the properties, with the help of a network of money lenders and property agents. She was jailed for four years.

          BBC lawyers argued at a pretrial hearing in December 2016 that translations of the BBC reports presented by Mr Pratuan were "significantly incorrect".

          Several cases of defamation have been brought against journalists and activists in Thailand.

          In 2015 a Phuket court dismissed a defamation and computer-crime lawsuit against Australian journalist Alan Morison and his Thai colleague Chutima Sidasathian by the Royal Thai Navy over their coverage of the trafficking of Rohingyas from Myanmar.


          Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, second from left, at the courthouse in Phuket after their acquittal.
          Photo: Dan Miles

          Morison, a former senior editor at The Age, fought a 30-month legal battle that forced him to close his award-winning Phuketwan online news service and cost him much of his life's savings. Morison and Chutima had faced up to seven years' jail on the charges that were condemned by human rights and media groups across the world.

          British rights activist Andy Hall left Thailand last year after multiple defamation cases were filed against him over a report he helped research highlighting alleged abuses against migrant workers.

          Andrew Drummond, a British journalist writing about expatriate criminal networks in Thailand, left the country in 2015 after fighting a dozen defamation cases and receiving threats.

          brisbanetimes.com.au
          http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

          Comment


          • #6
            C6ODvVOVMAEN_VZ.jpg

            .....
            http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

            Comment


            • #7
              Waiting to see if Head's Thai hi so friends , that got him off his last LM charge some years back, step forward again to get him off this one

              Comment


              • #8
                BBC journalist Jonathan Head on trial in Thailand over unusual defamation case
                Wednesday 23 August 2017

                Southeast Asia correspondent faces up to five years in jail over 2015 report detailing how foreign retirees had properties stolen by a network of criminals


                a.jpg
                BBC foreign correspondent Jonathan Head arrives at court to fight defamation charges brought against him by a Thai lawyer.
                Photograph: Kritsada Muenhawong/AFP/Getty Images

                A British BBC journalist has appeared in a Thai court for the start of a criminal defamation trial BBCThailand
                http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

                Comment


                • #9
                  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41023226

                  Charges have been withdrawn against a BBC journalist in a criminal defamation case in Thailand.

                  Jonathan Head faced up to five years in jail if he had been convicted.

                  He and a co-defendant appeared in court in Phuket at the start of the trial on Wednesday. Both pleaded not guilty.

                  "The plaintiff has withdrawn his case against BBC journalist Jonathan Head, but as the trial of his co-defendant is continuing, we cannot comment further at present," a BBC statement said.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    BBC must be held accountable to the license fee payers and quickly explain what has gone on here

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Royalist youth group calls for dismissal of BBC reporter for criticising royal cremation
                      Thu, 02/11/2017

                      A youth group has called for the dismissal of a BBC reporter who questioned Thai royalist propaganda.

                      On 2 November 2017, members of a group called Young Thai Blood filed a petition at the British Embassy in Bangkok, urging the UK government to dismiss Jonathan Head, South East Asia Correspondent for BBC News.

                      The petition came after Head interviewed Narisa Chakrabongseposted on his FacebookThe members Young Thai Blood in front of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Thailand
                      (Photo from Khaosod)

                      prachatai.com
                      http://thailandchatter.com/showthrea...ll=1#post45112

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        This is so painfully obvious. Head understands things perfectly well but wanted a knowledgeable Thai to describe the love to his non-Thai audience.

                        The pig ignorance and childish anger of Thais like these ruins the country.
                        Last edited by Exexpat; 11-03-2017, 06:38 AM.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Double post.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Head should know better, you don't ask those kinds of question to a Thai or to a Thai audience

                            what kind of answer was he expecting ??? is he simply stupid or just provoking ?

                            Thais are retards, you don't play silly games with retards, so the responsibility is on Head for this

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              He's a news reporter wanting a first hand description of the behaviour of a population during a news event.

                              So the rest of the world isn't allowed to know why Thais feel the way they do?

                              Comment

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