Police say journalists had been charged with collaborating in vandalising an historic website in an incident final yr.
Two Thai journalists who had been arrested for reporting concerning the vandalism of a temple in Bangkok with anti-monarchist graffiti have been launched on bail, a lawyer’s group has stated.
Nattaphol Meksobhon, a reporter from the impartial on-line information outlet Prachatai, and freelance photographer Nattaphon Phanphongsanon had been arrested on Monday, practically a yr after the incident in Bangkok.
The Royal Palace police station, which made the arrests, stated Meksobhon and Phanphongsanon had been charged with collaborating in vandalising an historic website.
Nutthaphol wrote a narrative and Natthapon took a video of the incident, which was broadly reported.
The offence is punishable by as much as seven years in jail and a 700,000 baht ($19,600) tremendous.
The 2 arrested males have stated they had been solely finishing up their jobs as journalists.
The costs contain a March 28, 2023, incident during which a 25-year-old activist spray-painted an anarchist image and the quantity 112 with a line by way of it on the outside wall of the revered Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is within the Grand Palace advanced.
The quantity 112 is a reference to the “lese majeste” legislation, which protects the royal household from criticism.
The Thai journalists affiliation defended the 2 journalists and stated they had been involved about “damaging media rights and freedom” within the nation.
“It was essential for journalists to cowl the information,” it stated.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin stated on Tuesday that the federal government is “truthful” on freedom of the press and stated it’s as much as the police to find out what is acceptable.
“The whole lot is dependent upon the legislation. There is no such thing as a harassment,” he stated.
The group Thai Legal professionals for Human Rights stated the 2 journalists had been held in a single day at separate police stations after their arrests and had been taken on Tuesday to Bangkok Legal Court docket, the place they had been launched on bail after posting a bond of 35,000 baht ($980) every.
The editor of Prachatai Information stated the journalists who lined the story went to the temple with out realizing prematurely that it will be graffitied.
“They had been overlaying the information as journalists,” Tewarit Maneechai stated.
He added that his colleagues had been unaware of their costs earlier than their arrest regardless of a warrant issued in Might.
“Their arrests created concern about information protection of delicate points,” he stated. Within the World Press Freedom Index in 2023, Thailand ranked 106 out of 180 international locations.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Phawat Wattasupat, deputy superintendent of Phra Ratchawang police station, instructed the Reuters information company that police had ample info to assist their arrests.
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