One Australian Arrested in Thailand In a defamation charges that he says MalaysiaThe government said that on Thursday he is a victim of international repression, in which Southeast Asia Countries cooperate in confiscation of dissidents or critics of the third countries.
66 -year -old independent scholar and writer Murray Hunter told The Associated Press that he believes that he was arrested improperly by the Thai police on Monday, which he wrote about Malaysia on his online substation newsletter in 2024, and he questioned how his case comes under Thai jurisdiction.
Concerns about cross-border suppression have been filed by groups such as Human Rights Watch and UN Rights experts, who in a July report “intensive concern about the increase in the reported in transitional repression … has expressed deep concern for dissatisfaction, criticism, or human rights to give human rights.
The United Nations Human Rights Council report stated that violations of suspected human rights include serious claims of extraordinary execution and the disappearance of the disappearance of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam has been rejected by all those countries.
Hunter, who lives in southern Thailand, was arrested on Monday at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok as he was to fly to Hong Kong. He was jailed overnight and then released on bail of 20,000 Baht ($ 620), pending the presence of the court 1 November 17. The allegation of defamation by publishing against him is a maximum jail term of two years and a fine of 200,000 BAHT ($ 6,180).
Hunter convicted the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission for registering a criminal defamation allegation against him. A copy of his charge sheet seen by AP recognizes that agency as a victim in the case, but says that the complainant was a person living in a hotel Bangkok Who did not name.
The Commission did not immediately respond to the request of comment on Hunter’s case. The Thai Foreign Ministry said it cannot comment immediately.
A joint statement issued by Malaysia’s Center for Independent Journalism and Free Speech Organization Pen Malaysia on Wednesday said that if the Commission had been involved in the arrest, demanding a cross -border arrest for political criticism goes against its safety for the freedom of Malaysia’s Constitution and freedom of expression.
“Although the government may refer to legal basis under existing restrictive laws, using Thai public authorities, silence will be silent to dissatisfied speech, it will be more of its powers and jurisdiction, and weaken the constitutional guarantee,” it said.
Hunter said that his case should be a cause of concern, because “if this can happen to me, now any journalist, where a body in another country complains against him to the Thai police, the same can be the results and can be picked up by a flight and can be put into a lockup.”