A Spalding human rights activist has had a criminal conviction brought against him in Thailand quashed.
Since 2013 Andy Hall has been investigating the Natural Fruit Company Ltd’s treatment of migrant workers at its pineapple company in the south east Asian country on behalf of Finnish organisation that studies global business.
The interviews he conducted with workers for the report, which claimed that workers as young as 14 having to work long hours for poor wages, led to charges of “criminal deformation” and “computer crimes” and he was handed a four-year suspended sentence suspended for two years and 150,000 baht (around £3,000) fine in 2016.
Hall’s lawyers have taken it through the appeal court who today (Thursday, May 31) announced it was to quash the conviction.
A statement release by Finnwatch and posted on Andy Hall’s website said: “Bangkok South Criminal Court today read the verdict of Thailand’s Appeals Court ruling in favour of Andy Hall in a criminal prosecution by Natural Fruit Company Ltd which previously in 2016 saw Hall handed a suspended custodial prison sentence and fine.
“According to Andy Hall’s legal team the Appeals Court accepted all of the points made in Hall’s appeal in their entirety. The Appeals Court ruled that Hall had not acted unlawfully according to the prosecution’s accusations and promptly pronounced him acquitted of all the charges filed against him. The Court also ruled further that, based on all the evidence before it, Hall had indeed interviewed migrant workers from Natural Fruit’s factory and there was the real possibility of labour rights violations against migrant workers in the factory, as Finnwatch had alleged in a 2013 report.
“In today’s landmark ruling, Thailand’s Appeals Court also importantly ruled that Finnwatch and Andy Hall’s research was in the public interest for the benefit of consumers. In addition, the Court noted importantly that given the Thai Government’s 2017 amendments to Thailand’s notorious Computer Crimes Act, the computer crimes law retrospectively could not be used to prosecute Andy Hall alongside a criminal defamation prosecution.”
Sonja Vartiala, executive director of Finnwatch said: “The Appeals Court’s decision to acquit Andy Hall is much welcome. It is also a much-needed acknowledgement by Thailand’s justice system that Hall’s work – researching allegations of companies abuse of human rights of migrant workers – is legitimate, not a crime and in the public interest.”
The legal fight for Hall is not over however as Natural Fruit Company Ltd could still take the decision to Thailand’s Supreme Court.
Last month a different court ordered he pay 10 million baht (around £234,000) to the company over defamation, a ruling his lawyers are again appealing.
Earlier this month a group of human rights experts criticised the multiple civil and criminal cases against Hall for looking to expose human rights abuse.
