British migrant workers rights activist Andy Hall talks to media as he arrives for his trial at the Phra Khanong Provincial Court in Bangkok on Tuesday.
AFP/Bangkok
The defamation trial of a British activist began on Tuesday in Bangkok after he co-authored a report alleging widespread labour abuses in Thailand's food industry, a prime supplier of cheap foodstuffs to Western supermarkets.
Andy Hall, 34, faces jail if convicted over lawsuits brought by Thai fruit processor Natural Fruit, after his report levelled accusations of forced and child labour, unlawfully low wages and long hours at one of its factories.
Natural Fruit is a major supplier to the European drink market. The migrant rights campaigner has accused it of trying to divert attention from the report's findings through its legal action.
Leading European food giants have called for the charges to be dropped, while rights groups have condemned the defamation proceedings from a Thai food industry that has faced a battery of bad headlines over recent months.
Prosecutors called their first witness on Tuesday as the trial, which is linked to an interview Hall gave to the Al-Jazeera television network, got under way.
Defamation is a criminal offence in Thailand and Hall, whose passport has been confiscated by Thai authorities pending the trial, could be jailed for up to a year if found guilty.
More serious charges under the computer crime act - which carry up to seven years in jail for each count - are due to be heard later in September.
The fruit processor is also seeking $10mn through a civil suit.
Hall has throughout stood by the report, accusing the company of trying to muzzle his findings.
"What I've revealed is just the tip of the iceberg... and they're cracking down," he told reporters before entering court.
"I don't believe there's any evidence against me to show that what I did was malicious or in some way against the company. I did it for the benefit of the workers," he said.
Hall, who was supported by a dozen labour rights activists in court, made his allegations in a report last year for Finnish rights watchdog Finnwatch.
A Natural Fruit factory in southern Thailand was investigated for a Finnwatch report called "Cheap Has a High Price" because it produced pineapple concentrate for Finnish supermarkets' own-brand products, according to the watchdog.
Finnwatch has called on Thailand, the world's largest pineapple producer, to change its approach "instead of issuing threats and exploiting workers".
On Tuesday Natural Fruit chairman Virat Piyapornpaiboon rejected the accusations against his company.
"The report caused damage to me and my company. Any accusations were not true... If true, why are there so many workers who want to work at my factory?" he said outside the court.
Thailand has long tapped the labour markets of poorer neighbours Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, whose migrants help keep major Thai industries from seafood to construction afloat.
But they often lack official work permits and are paid below the minimum wage.
