<p>ARTICLE 19 calls for an end to the use of defamation law against crtics of the Prime Minister and for the Thai government to decriminalise defamation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Tuesday (24 December), a court in Lop Buri sentenced former Voice TV reporter Suchanee Cloitre to two years to prison in a defamation lawsuit filed against her by the Thammakaset Company.</p>

<div>(BANGKOK, March 19, 2018)—Thailand’s Appeal Court should uphold a lower court’s ruling tomorrow to dismiss a criminal-defamation complaint against the Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) and four Thai journalists, Fortify Rights said today.</div> <div> </div> <div><img alt="" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4795/40208414564_990c0542ca_o.jpg" /></div> <div> </div> <div>Thai mining firm Tungkum Limited filed complaints against Thai PBS and four journalists in November 2015 in response to a news report that inclu </div>

<div> <div>The courts have dismissed defamation charges against a controversial motivational speaker who in a talk last year accused Isaan people of being disloyal to the late King Bhumibol.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>November last year, Thai social media was flooded with video clips of motivational speaker Orapim ‘Best’ Raksapon. She was reportedly subsidised by the Royal Thai Army to give lectures on the late King Bhumibol across the country. </div></div>

<p>She would not let the death of her uncle be forgotten as insignificant and has braved legal, physical and psychological threats in her fight against military-backed torture. Prachatai introduces Naritsarawan ‘May’ Keawnopparat, our Person of the Year 2016. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p></p>

<h2>Thailand: Drop Criminal Complaint Against Thai PBS</h2> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Government should protect press freedoms, decriminalize defamation laws</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><img alt="" src="https://i.vimeocdn.com/portrait/8001105_640x640" /></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>(Bangkok, October 3, 2016)—Thai gold-mining company Tungkum </div>

<div> <div>The Thai Military Court has dismissed a sedition charge against a red shirt who posted a rumour about the junta head, ruling that the post merely constitutes defamation, not the instigation of violence.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Tuesday, 17 May 2016, the Bangkok Military Court gave its ruling in the case of Rinda Parichabutr, a red shirt woman nicknamed “Lin,” 45, who was arrested on 8 July 2015 for spreading a false rumour through social networks that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the junta leader and Prime Minister, and his wife had deposited about 10 billion baht in a secret ba </div></div>

<div> <div>An environmentalist has been given a one-year suspended jail term because of a Facebook post criticising a coal ash project.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> </div> <div>On Thursday, 17 March 2016, Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Court sentenced Kumpol Jittanang, a marine environmentalist and coordinator of the Disaster Management Centre, Nakhon Si Thammarat, to one year in jail after finding him guilty of defaming an academic. The court also fined him 40,000 baht, iLaw <a href="http://freedom.ilaw.or.th/case/705#progress_of_case">reported</a>. </div>

<p dir="ltr" id="internal-source-marker_0.11728181895498724"><span>Thailand, against the advice of the UN and, many argue, in contravention of its obligations under international law to respect the right to freedom of expression, has a criminal defamation law on its books.</span></p>