Prachatai journalist facing charges resolved to report on abuses of power

“It’s like I am threatened when dozens of cameras turn to film me when I meet my friends who are, ‘unfortunately’, anti-coup activists,” said Taweesak, a reporter with the Prachatai online news agency. “My gut tells me that as a journalist, I have to distance myself from my fellows. Otherwise, I could be counted as an anti-junta activist.”

Taweesak, 24, was charged along with three pro-democracy activists from the New Democracy Movement (NDM) for allegedly breaching the ban on campaigning against the draft charter that voters approved in the August referendum. Section 61 of the Referendum Act, which was draft specifically to apply to the August 7 referendum, placed strict limitations on campaigning against the charter. 

Several weeks ago, Taweesak and the activists he was charged with pledged to fight to prove their innocence after public prosecutors forwarded their case to the Ratchaburi Provincial Court in late August.

After being detained in July, the young reporter made headlines as the only journalist who had been arrested while performing his duty.

Hours before Taweesak was detained, he accompanied three anti-coup activists to Ratchaburi province, but he insists that he just wanted to cover events as the activists visited the Ban Pong police station to show moral support for 13 red-shirt activists who had been charged with violating the junta’s ban on political gatherings.

As the activists and Taweesak were about to leave the station, police searched their vehicle and found pamphlets described as “anti-charter” and “Vote No” stickers. All four were accused of disseminating “false”, “intense”, “provoking” or “intimidating” messages in order to incite unrest or influence voters, which was proscribed by Section 61 and carried penalties of up to 10 years in jail.

The four told police that they had not distributed the pamphlets, and Taweesak tried to show his media credentials, but to little avail.

“It seems the police did not know Prachatai. They did not believe me when I showed my press ID card and asked them call my office to verify my identity,” Taweesak told The Nation.

He was subsequently arrested along with the activists and all four were detained for a night before being temporarily released on bail.

Taweesak believes he has become a target following the high-profile arrest.

While professional journalists are subject to stricter scrutiny of their ethics in line with normal practices of the job, there has been speculation promulgated by supporters of the junta that Taweesak and his publication have lent support to the NDM. His trip to Ratchaburi has been characterised as a partisan act, not just a reporter doing his job.

As such allegations mounted, police searched Prachatai’s offices in Bangkok, apparently in a bid to find evidence that the publication was engaged in partisan or unethical behaviour.

In addition to the raid, Taweesak said police had been watching him and days after he was released on bail as he had spotted a distinctive police car parked opposite his apartment. 

The authorities’ actions have raised new questions about the state’s arbitrary use of power to stalk and persecute citizens, Taweesak said.

“It just made me a bit nervous,” Taweesak said, but he added that the authorities would not intimidate him.

In addition to the scrutiny by security authorities, the media has also kept the reporter in the spotlight.

In the course of his work, Taweesak has attended events to cover the news and encountered friends who are members of the pro-democracy movement. While he has engaged in normal everyday conversations with his friends, his media colleagues immediately turned their cameras on him to make him the focus of the story instead of just another reporter covering his beat.

“I knew then that it would be in the news if I kept talking to me friends. What should I say to my friends who approached me and said hello? Should I say ‘get out man, don’t talk to me’?” asked the young reporter hesitantly.

Taweesak said his family and neighbours had also treated him differently, and sometimes negatively, since the case went public. His mother has even asked him to quit his job, saying she was worried because her son could face 10 years in prison if he is convicted.

“That penalty is incredibly high for such an offence. We did not commit any crime. Even I, who just went there to report, is one of the accused. How on earth does a reporter face a decade-long jail term because of his duty?” asked Taweesak.

Despite threats to his professional and personal life, the young reporter said the case had motivated him to report more on authorities’ abuse of power and irregularities in the rule of law. “People might think I would be more selective when choosing issues to cover. But the case has encouraged me to more intensively cover the state’s abuse of power.”