Pineapples and human rights - Andy Hall's trial
Posted: Fri May 20, 2016 2:46 pm
Andy Hall's trial started yesterday. He is being pursued for defamation by the Natural Fruit Co, for data he collected on migrant workers' conditions in their pineapple factories. The company's owner has high connections. I read somewhere that the trial is expected to last several weeks.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05 ... -starts-o/British activist faces jail threat in Thailand as trial starts over worker abuse research .
By Philip Sherwell, Bangkok
19 May 2016 • 2:03pm
A leading British human rights activist has gone on trial in Bangkok on charges that carry up to seven years in jail for exposing allegations of labour abuses at a Thai company.
Andy Hall has been pursued through the Thai courts relentlessly since early 2013 in a series of cases brought by Natural Fruit Company, a pineapple juice business that supplied European and US markets.
Mr Hall, a Thai speaker who has lived in the kingdom for 11 years, is one of the country’s most prominent campaigners for the rights of migrant workers in the seafood and agricultural industries.
As he went into court on Wednesday, the 37-year-old told The Telegraph: “I’m very disappointed this case has been allowed to reach trial. It reflects badly on Thailand that I’m being pursued through the courts for just conducting research, though I also remain confident that I will be cleared.”...
His legal troubles follow his work as a freelance research for Finnwatch, a Finnish campaign group, investigating working conditions for migrant workers in Thailand.
The report, Cheap Has a High Price, published in 2012, disclosed allegations of abusive conditions, illegally low pay and discrimination made by Burmese labourers at the Natural Fruit canning facility.
The company denies the allegations and lodged defamation cases within weeks. ..