BBS vows to continue fight against “Muslim extremism”

 July 2, 2014 

• Denies alleged links with Defence Secretary; says anyone can arrest BBS members but it won’t solve problem
• Reiterates claim it didn’t incite violence in Aluthgama, level serious charges against Beruwala
• Challenges Ranil to expose culprits; blames Opposition and select Ministers; claims intl. conspiracy afoot

By Chamitha Kuruppu
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) yesterday reiterated it would continue to fight against Muslim extremism, which it said was an emerging threat to the country’s stability, and added that it would not stop raising its voice against such organisations.
Addressing the media, the controversial organisation also denied alleged links with the Defence Secretary, stressing that the BBS did not receive any backing from Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

BBS Chief Executive Officer and Media Spokesman Dilantha Vithanage said that there was an ongoing conspiracy by the UNP, a top powerful embassy in Colombo and some Muslim extremist groups.  He also asserted that BBS had always tried to maintain peace and stability in the country and the BBS has been struggling during the past two weeks to maintain peace in this country. “If we wanted to attack innocent Muslims, we could have avoided our presence and we wouldn’t have gone there. We could have easily allowed clashes between Muslims and Sinhalese, but we intervened because we wanted to maintain peace in this country,” Vithanage said.
“What GnanasaraThero said on that day was that if Muslims attack our clergy we are compelled to boycott Muslim businesses. But what was reported to the outside world was totally opposite to what he said. We totally criticise this and need to mention that this is an international conspiracy,” he added.
“If the consequences of the violence could be mitigated by arresting BoduBalaSena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero or members of the BBS, then they could arrest him today, but that is not the answer; that will not solve the issue,” Vithanage told the media.
Vithanage and Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero also alleged that it was Ministers RajithaSenarathne and Vasudeva Nanayakkara and members of the Opposition including Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Mangala Samaraweera who tried to put the blame on the BBS over the recent clashes that occurred in Aluthgama without finding the root cause of the incident.
Vithanage challenged Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to reveal the names of the people behind the Aluthgama clashes.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Education and Research Section of the BBS said that if the Government wanted to arrest Gnanasara Thero or any member of the BBS, then it should turn all the buildings of this country into prisons and all the coconuts trees to gallows, adding that “there are thousands willing to go to prison if Gnanasara Thero is arrested”.
Vithanage denying the widely-discussed alleged links of the BBS with Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the Galle ceremony attended by the Defence Secretary as Chief Guest was a project by Kirama Wimalajothi Thero and had no connection with the BBS.
According to Vithanage, a German national had donated the building to the BBS but the organisation had requested that it be given to the Buddhist Cultural Centre to run as a training institute.
“Just because he (Gotabaya Rajapaksa) attended that function, you can’t say he is behind us,” Vithanage said.
He also charged that Beruwala was a terrorist hotspot, that there had been several deaths annually due to clashes among the Muslims and that there was a terrorist training centre in Beruwala.

Ranil draws nexus between Government and BBS  Aluthgama media blackout to cover Government sins: Ranil  Says Govt. teams colluded to take BBS to Aluthgama  Claims Govt. sent letters to print and electronic media banning Aluthgama coverage Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday hit out against the Government’s unofficial media blackout of the Aluthgama religious violence and charged that the regime was complicit in permitting the Bodu Bala Sena rally in the area to go ahead on 15 June. During a meeting with media activists and journalists at his Jawatte office yesterday, Wickremesinghe claimed that the Government had issued letters to all print and electronic media about reporting on the communal clashes in the two southern towns. “The letters said that if print media did not comply, lawsuits would be filed and in the case of electronic media, broadcasting licences would be revoked,” the Opposition Leader told the journalists and activists. Wickremesinghe went on to say that journalists and editors were aware of how to report incidents like the clashes in Aluthgama in a sensitive manner, so as not to incite further tensions. “This censorship was not to maintain the peace, it was to cover the Government’s sins,” he charged. The Opposition Leader claimed that certain Government teams had colluded to send the Bodu Bala Sena group into the Aluthgama area on 15 June, before the clashes erupted. “It was filth that was spoken about at that rally, not Buddhism,” Wickremesinghe said in his strongly-worded remarks. He said that the Government had done everything in its power to prevent news of the massive damage caused by the violence to life and property, but in the meanwhile it had ensured the Bodu Bala Sena got ample space to air its views in the media. The Opposition Leader claimed the Government was aiming to portray an assault on a Buddhist monk as being the reason for the clashes, but this was in fact not the case. “The Government tries to portray that the Sinhalese people of the area had been angered by the assault on the monk. But it was not the Sinhalese of Dharga Town who engaged in the violence that night, it was outsiders,” he asserted. (DB)

Lankadeepa Caught Lying: “Sniffer Dog Visiting Shop Owner”

July 3, 2014 

Lankadeepa, the blue riband publication of the Wijeya Newspaper group was caught lying with regard to theAluthgama riots in one of its lead stories published on June 26th in which it said that a “shop owner who set his shop on fire was caught making a false complaint”.

The story was a lead story under the title “Shop owner burns shop and complaints to the Police”

The lead story which was widely circulated in the social media and proved invaluable ammunition to forces which supported the Buddhist extremism purportedly stemmed from a statement by the Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana.

However, the owner of the shop while denying each and every assertion made by the newspaper in its lead story instead said that he lighted a matchstick on June 15 in the night to locate the padlocks for the three shops.

“I was informed at around 10.30 that my shop was set on fire and I came here and lit a matchstick because I couldnt find the padlock. I lit it in front of everybody who was here. When I walked in a part of the shop was on fire and I found two petrol bombs in it” he said.

An emotional shop owner said that the sniffer dog did not identify him.

“I used the matchstick to open the padlock, this is all built from hardwork I don’t owe a red cent to any bank or anyone. I have two vans and my own house and have earnt all this through hardwork. After the paper article even the Police never questioned me. The Police also had no suspicion.” he said while tearing.

He further iterated that the switchboard is located inside the shop and there was no electricity which is why he had to use a matchstick to locate the keys for the padlocks.

The Lankadeepas sister publication, “ADA” is also accused and widely viewed as a newspaper which empathises with the Bodu Bala Sena Rhetoric and Sinhala Extremism.

In stories carried out daily since the violence, and preceding the violence the ADA newspaper took a stoic supportive stand to the actions of the BBS.

Both newspapers have not condemned the BBS for its actions and the resulting violence and instead portrayed a picture that was out of sync with what was actualy taking place in Aluthgama,

In another lead story the Lankadeepa also said that there were petrol bombs and machets found in Dharga town a Muslim populated area, completley ignoring the ground realities of how such petrol bombs came in to place in the town.

Instead the Lead story gave a portrayal of the Petrol Bombs being hidden by Muslim youth when in fact they were bombs that were found following the riot and were dumped by the roadside.

CID grills BBS monk for four hours

By Dharisha Bastians-July 3, 2014 

• Monk says officials were cordial

• CID officers question Gnanasara Thero about his Aluthgama speech

• No information to give about violence after rally: BBS CEO

• Police to record statements of two BBS speakers at controversial rally

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero (right) leaving the Crime Investigation Division (CID) after the monk’s statement on the incidents that occurred in Aluthgama was recorded by the CID – Pic by Nisal Baduge

Controversial Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was interrogated by the CID for four hours yesterday, as calls mount for action against the monk for allegedly inciting religious violence during a rally in Aluthgama two weeks ago.
Bodu Bala Sena Chief Executive Officer Dilantha Withanage told the Daily FT that the monk was taken in for “thorough” questioning at 2 p.m. and released by the CID at 6:20 p.m.
“They asked him about his speech in Aluthgama and recorded his statement,” Withanage explained.
He added that while the CID had posed questions to the controversial monk about the violence that erupted following the BBS rally, Gnanasara Thero had been unable to offer any information.
“We had nothing to do with those incidents, so we had no information to share,” Withanage said.
Gnanasara Thero had been “thoroughly” questioned, the BBS official said, while the monk insisted following the interrogation that CID officials had been cordial.
The monk told media personnel that he had informed CID officials that it was SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem and former Deputy Mayor of Colombo Azath Sally, who were responsible for inciting religious tensions in the country.
Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said the monk had been questioned about his speech by the CID, and added that Sihala Ravaya monk Akmeemana Dayaratne Thero had also been interrogated and statements recorded on 30 June.
“Many questions were asked about his speech at the rally and what happened afterwards,” SSP Rohana added.
The Police Spokesman said that the statements of at least two BBS members who made speeches at the rally would be recorded by the CID.
Violent religious clashes in Aluthgama and Beruwala on 15 June, soon after a Bodu Bala Sena rally left four dead and scores injured and caused widespread damage to property, much of it owned by Muslim residents in the area.
In a speech at the rally peppered with derogatory remarks about Muslims, Gnanasara Thero vowed to “finish” anyone who laid a finger on the skin of a Sinhalese and threatened to “end” Dharga Town, where most of the violence took place, “within a single night”.
Muslim Ministers, politicians and civil society groups pleaded with the authorities to prevent the BBS meeting from going ahead on 15 June, after tensions had already flared in the area following an alleged assault of a Buddhist monk and his driver in the area by three Muslim youth on Poson Day.
The attack on the monk was never proven with medical records, but the Government and the Police have persisted in alluding to the assault in reference to the subsequent rioting three days later.

Dynastic Politics In Sri Lanka

| by Laksiri Fernando 

"The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law." - Article II, Section 26, Constitution of the Philippines (1987)

( July 3, 2014, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) DA Rajapaksa became prominent as a key founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), along with SWRD Bandaranaike, largely because after their breakaway from the UNP in 1951, with five other MPs, they were the only two who could retain their seats at the 1952 parliamentary elections. SWRD was assassinated in 1959 and DA died in 1967. I had occasion to deliver memorial orations for both of them, for SWRD Bandaranaike in 2004 and DA Rajapaksa in 2010.

Dynastic Politics in Sri Lanka by Maria Anderson

SPC Chief under investigation 

Defends his actions
BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody-July 3, 2014 

The Chairman of the State Printing Corporation (SPC) Jayampathi Bandara Heenkenda is under investigation over allegations of financial irregularities, owing to an internal document being leaked to the public.
The document had been leaked for reasons of political gain or a personal grudge, Heenkenda remarked.
The SPC comes under the direct purview of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information.
 
The Chairman of the SPC quashed rumours, that had been circualted in the media, to the effect that the Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) had instructed Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media and Information, Dr. Charitha Herath, to ask him to resign.
 
Dr. Herath said the Ministry was looking into the matter as there were some issues.
The Chairman of the SPC, with over 15 years experience as a printer, told Ceylon Today newspapers had already passed judgement on his case with regard to his Rs 10 million worth official vehicle, which the Secretary of the Department of Public Enterprises had given him permission to obtain.
 
"When I took over the SPC in 2010, it was running at a loss and was also put up for sale on the PERC. Since then, Karu Jayasuriya, the Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) at the time praised my efforts of having quadrupled the income and we managed to get a net profit of Rs 140 million in 2013. On one occasion, a crucial machine broke down and if we followed the rules, regulations and official 'on paper' procedures laid down to fix the problem, it would have taken three months to solve and therefore I decided on my own to get an Indian engineer down but although the final result was good and saved time, the manner in which it was done was wrong," Heenkenda added.
 
Sometimes, when working in the government doing government service, rules and regulations in circulars issued have to be bent, broken or done away with in order to make these State institutions profitable, but auditors only see and query as to how we managed to reap these profits strictly from an auditor's angle and an auditing framework, he opined.
 
Heenkenda observed that he had managed these feats only with another Director without the addition of any material wealth like machines and without hiring or firing any employees other than the existing ones.
He noted that only the Minister of Mass Media and Information, Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella, could ask him to leave.
Government factories and services become inactive if all the rules and regulations of the country are going to be followed by officials who have a short-term in their positions, Heenkenda emphasized.

NPC chair writes to MR over security

By admin on July 2, 2014

The chairman of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) C V K Sivagnanam, has written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa urging him to continue giving police security to members of the council.

Sivagnanam said that four members of the council had raised concerns over their police security being withdrawn and the issue was raised at an NPC sitting recently.

Sivagnanam urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to instruct the Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order and the Police Chief to reinstate the police security for the four members and also for others in the NPC who need security.

Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana had said last week that the police security had been withdrawn on the basis that the provincial council members must make a request to the Ministry of Law and Order to obtain such security.

He said that police security had earlier been provided by the Ministry of Defence when the police operated directly under the Defence Ministry.

However now that the police is under the Ministry of Law and Order the provincial council members must put forward a fresh request for security, the police spokesman said. (Colombo Gazette)

Govt. attempt to politically-victimize Daya Gamage again fails

 

Thursday, 03 July 2014 

A government attempt to politically victimize Daya Group chairman and UNP national organizer Daya Gamage again failed when the court confirmed an earlier verdict to dismiss a petition filed by the Urban Development Authority seeking the removal of certain constructions of Daya Apparel factory building in Ampara, political analysts point out.

Previously, the government brought in an expropriation act to take over his Sevanagala Sugar Factory.

However, an attempt by his political opponents to get the annual Poson festival at Digawapi sacred area organized by him completely banned, was aborted, said the political analysts.

Ampara high court judge Damith Totawatta today confirmed an earlier verdict to dismiss a petition filed by the UDA seeking the removal of certain constructions of Daya Apparel factory building.

On September 05 last year, Ampara additional magistrate Stella Primky dismissed the UDA petition, saying it had not been filed in accordance with the law and the submissions by the petitioner were contradictory.
The factory which provides a livelihood for more than 5,000 youths and earns a large amount of foreign exchange for the country has been built with Board of Investment approval, the court was told.

Facebook Apologizes For Running Secret Psychological Experiment

( July 3, 2014 , New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) Facebook which is the world’s largest social networking site is run by Jews. So with that in mind, it should not be a surprise that they would do something like this. They just can’t help themselves.

Apparently the Jew COO Sheryl Sandberg thinks they can just get away with this deception by issuing an apology. It doesn’t look like it will be that easy, but since Facebook can buy a dream team of Jew lawyers they’ll probably escape this mostly unscathed.

From USA Today:

Facebook’s No. 2 executive Sheryl Sandberg apologized on Wednesday for the psychological experiment the giant social network conducted on nearly 700,000 unsuspecting users.

She said the experiment which tested whether Facebook could manipulate users’ emotions was “poorly communicated.”

Sandberg made the comments while on a visit to New Delhi, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sandberg is in India meeting with businesses that advertise on Facebook to generate more revenue from emerging markets.

Her apology came as British data protection authorities said Wednesday that they are investigating the Facebook experiment. They are working with authorities in Ireland, headquarters of Facebook’s European operations. French authorities are also reviewing the experiment.

Facebook's Sandberg apologizes for news feed experiment

Jessica Guynn, USATODAY1:03 p.m. EDT July 2, 2014

(Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook's No. 2 executive Sheryl Sandberg apologized on Wednesday for the psychological experiment the giant social network conducted on nearly 700,000 unsuspecting users.

She said the experiment which tested whether Facebook could manipulate users' emotions was "poorly communicated."

Sandberg made the comments while on a visit to New Delhi, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sandberg is in India meeting with businesses that advertise on Facebook to generate more revenue from emerging markets.

Her apology came as British data protection authorities said Wednesday that they are investigating the Facebook experiment. They are working with authorities in Ireland, headquarters of Facebook's European operations. French authorities are also reviewing the experiment.

USATODAY

UK investigates Facebook news feed experiment

"This was part of ongoing research companies do to test different products, and that was what it was; it was poorly communicated," Facebook's chief operating officer said of the one-week experiment in 2012. "And for that communication we apologize. We never meant to upset you."

The research was published in the March issue of the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

Justice crawls; highway cop quits

Editorial-July 2, 2014

Police Constable Suminda Saman, who came under a goon attack recently, has tendered his resignation. He claims he was assaulted and his car burnt because he had booked Deputy Minister Hemal Gunasekera’s driver on the Southern Expressway for speeding and had a nasty brush with the politician as a result. He has told a television channel he has no faith in the on-going police investigations and he fears for his safety. Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana has said the investigations will take another week or so.

The knee-jerk reaction of a section of the police bigwigs to the assault on the constable was to create a sneaking suspicion, in the minds of the public with the help of some malleable members of the Fourth Estate, that the victim was not telling the truth. A rumour was floated that he had his car set on fire and made a false complaint so as to migrate to the US to join his sibling resident there. The victim has vehemently denied this allegation.

Attacks on Opposition activists and media personnel who refuse to toe the government line are readily dismissed as being orchestrated by the victims themselves to seek political asylum in the Occident. True, there are some racketeers who use such ruses to migrate to greener pastures, but generalisations have to be avoided. No sooner had a controversial monk complained that he had suffered genital injury at the hands of a group of thugs who, he said, had abducted and assaulted him severely before leaving him on a road recently than he was arrested. The police claimed his injuries were self-inflicted and he had tried to fan the flames of ethnic violence in Aluthgama. They had the monk vilified, tried and even ‘found guilty’ by a section of the media. What are courts there for? Whether the monk has told the truth or made a false claim is a matter for the learned judges to decide; the matter is now before courts. Will the police who swing into action against those suspected of instigating racial hatred explain why they have not so far arrested rabble-rousers responsible for the Aluthgama violence which destroyed several lives and properties worth billions of rupees?

The tardiness of the police in conducting investigations is suggestive of an attempt at a cover-up for political reasons. The guardians of the law are known for their remarkable turn of speed which becomes manifest only when they are prodded by powers that be into speeding up probes. One may, therefore, argue that had there been no political involvement in the attack on the traffic cop, the police would have traced the culprits in next to no time.

It was only the other day that a judge censured the police for releasing a politician wanted for assaulting a constable on duty and forcibly removing a tractor with illegally mined sand taken into police custody. He asked how an ordinary citizen could expect the police to ensure his or her protection when they let down their own kind in that deplorable manner.

The Police Department is Sri Lanka’s Augean stables, the cleaning of which requires a Herculean effort, but it is not short of good, efficient men, women and officers and the onus is on the police bigwigs to create an environment for them to carry out their duties and functions without groveling before politicians.

The only way the police could allay serious doubts in the minds of the public as regards the investigations into the attack on PC Saman is to reveal, without further delay, what really happened and take legal action based on their findings. The policeman’s resignation is a damning indictment of the police top brass.

Tamil Nadu: Security Increased in Two Coastal Districts on Terror Alert

: July 03, 2014 

Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu:  Security along the shores in Kanyakumari and Tuticorin districts has been scaled up after an intelligence alert that six militants, trained in Pakistan, were planning to infiltrate into the country through Sri Lanka, police said today.

Armed police personnel had been deployed at several places along the coast while additional check posts installed at important points, including Kulachel and Thengaipattinam, from midnight yesterday in view of the alert, a police official said.

The Kanayakumari Amman temple, Vivekananda Rock and Tiruvalluvar statue, main attractions of tourists in Kanyakumari, have come under the guard of armed personnel.

People have been advised to inform the police if they come across any stranger and suspicious movement of persons.

Vehicles were subjected to checking at various check posts and by Mobile Police Patrol teams, the official said.

Police also conducted checks in the hotels and boarding houses to find out if they were maintaining proper records of those checking into the hotels, and also were cross verifying the facts, police officials said.

Fishermen have been advised to go into the sea in groups and avoid fishing at forlorn places as information has been received that terrorist elements could strike at them and hijack their boats.

Round-the-clock vigil would be maintained throughout this month, they said.

Abuse & Marginalization Of Women

| by Ruwantissa Abeyratne

“Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives’ mouths.”

- Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society

( July 3, 2014, Montreal , Sri Lanka Guardian) It has been said that Aristotle, one of the greatest thinkers of all time, was convinced that women were inferior to men. He based this erroneous theory on the even more fallacious view that it was the man’s semen which formed the foetus while the woman’s role in procreation was that of a mere inanimate receptacle.

Abuse & Marginalization of Women by Maria Anderson

Palestinians, Israelis and an eye for an eye: why it never stops - See more at: 

Thursday 03 Jul 2014
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith The Lord.”
Romans 12;19

It’s not often that I’m moved to quote the New Testament but it seems appropriate here in the Holy Land where no-one takes any notice of it. Here many think that vengeance is not God’s but theirs to exact. This is an Old Testament sort of place where they prefer “an eye for an eye”.

Here’s the story so far. On Tuesday, the bodies of three Jewish yeshiva students – 19-year old Eyal Yifrach, and 16-year olds Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar – were found near Hebron. They had been kidnapped and murdered, allegedly by two Palestinian men, who remain on the run. The suspects are associated with Hamas, but were not believed to be acting on orders from the leadership. Israeli forces have destroyed their family homes as punishment for the killings.

When the bodies were found, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu talked of vengeance against Hamas, as well as bringing the murderers to justice.

Yesterday, just after the dawn prayer, a 16-year old Palestinian boy, Mohammed abu Khadeir, was bundled into a van driven by unknown men just outside his local mosque in Palestinian east Jersualem. His burnt body was later found in a forest in the Jewish western part of the city. The Israeli police suspect this was what they call a “nationalist issue”, in other words a crime of revenge by extremist Israelis.

Visiting Mohammed’s family yesterday I was struck by how the different generations responded. His mother, Suha, sitting with other older women in the family, distraught by grief, immediately focused on revenge.

“For three people, they turned the world upside down. But nobody cares about my son,” she said. “They destroyed their houses in Hebron and damaged the city just because of those three Israelis. I want to avenge my son, to do the same and demolish the houses of those who killed him.”

But his cousin, 19-year old Thawra, a nursing student in a pale pink headscarf, said: “If you want to keep avenging your people you’re never going to stop.”

I’m sure there are many young Israelis who think like her, but a Facebook page titled  “The People of Israel Demand Vengeance!” featuring young people holding up signs threatening violence against Arabs, has garnered more than 32,000 ‘likes’. Police, who are investigating, seem to have taken it down.

According to the Times of Israel, a post uploaded by the group’s administrators on Wednesday stated: “Many have been asking if vengeance means killing innocent people. No… The goal of this group is to avenge the blood of those kidnapped, Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, of blessed memory. To catch the terrorists who kidnapped and killed them, and exact vengeance.”

Yesterday, I watched as Palestinian youths, angry about the death of Mohammed Abu Khadeir, threw rocks at Israeli police who responded with baton rounds. I felt as if I was in a time warp, back in the early 2000s covering the Second Intifada.

By the end of the day I was in despair – the rest of the world may move on, but here nothing changes. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict doesn’t have the same international import as it used to have, because other forces are shaping the Middle East. We have learned that they can carry on killing and counter-killing without it affecting the rest of us too much. But they keep going whether we report it or not.

The “cycle of revenge” is a cliche used by lazy journalists. I know that there is much more to it than that, and I am especially well aware of the persistent suffering of Palestinians imprisoned in Gaza. But it’s not journalists who perpetuate the language of revenge, it’s Palestinians and Israelis, and that’s one major reason nothing ever seems to change around here.

Follow @lindseyhilsum on Twitter. 

Labor activist to face criminal charges in Natural Fruit trial set for Sept.

Andy Hall was questioned at Bang Na police station in Bangkok in September. Image via Andy Hall's Twitter account:

By Casey Hynes Jul 03, 2014

Labor rights activist Andy Hall’s nasty battle with the Natural Fruits Company continues to drag on. On Wednesday, Prakanong Court set the date for a criminal defamation case against Hall to go to trial Sept. 2, according to Phuketwan. The corporation initiated legal action against Hall after he worked with a Finnish rights group to expose poor labor conditions in Natural Fruits’ factory. Hall’s report included interviews with Burmese workers employed in the Thai factory, and was compiled for Finnwatch.

The report, Cheap Has a High Price, included “in-depth interviews with … the workers of the factories – the majority of whom are migrants from neigbouring countries” who “– “described the use of forced and child labour, unlawfully low wages, excessive overtime, abuse by managers and unsafe working conditions,” according to Finnwatch. The full report examined conditions at three companies: Natural Fruit, and Thai Union Manufacturing and Unicord. The latter two are involved in the tuna industry.

Natural Fruits’ most recent charge against Hall is a criminal defamation suit regarding an interview he did with Al Jazeera. Previous charges were made under Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act and civil defamation laws. Marta Kasztelan reported for Asian Correspondent in 2013 that if he is found guilty, Hall faces seven years in prison and could be forced to pay $10m in damages.

Hall plead not guilty at the July 2 hearing, according to his website. A post published July 3stated, “Despite long talk with judges on legality, they refused to allow Hall to keep his passport because as a ‘foreigner’ he was a flight risk. No case specific reason but their general practice.” In a June 30 statement from his site, Hall said: “No meaningful negotiation is likely to occur on 2nd July unless Natural Fruit agrees to drop all charges against me. I have done nothing wrong and welcome the courts deliberations on this case, its consideration of all the evidence, and expect to be found not guilty of all charges against me.”

Hall has listed Burmese political leader and icon Aung San Suu Kyi, “government ministers, migrant leaders, academics, rights activists, industry leaders,” and his PhD supervisor as witnesses in the case.

A press statement posted on Hall’s site June 30 stated,

The British Embassy in Bangkok has provided no recent assistance to Hall despite numerous requests and the UK governments recently strengthened human rights defenders policies to be implemented stringently by overseas missions. The UK Government did not send officials to assist Hall during his formal arraignment and detention nor to previous police station interrogations of which they were aware. The Consul at the Bangkok Embassy advised Hall confiscation of passports by Thai courts was usual practice to which they would generally not interfere.

However, Phuketwan reported that officials from the British and Finnish embassies attended the July 2 hearing.