Andy Hall leaves, 'fears for his safety'

Andy Hall won an acquittal from the Supreme Court on one charge of defamation last week, but says he can no longer deal with the 'corrupt mafia system' in Thailand. (File photo)

Prominent British rights activist Andy Hall left Thailand early on Monday, saying he feared for his safety amidst legal problems and growing harassment from companies that have been "irrational, vindictive and aggressive".

Mr Hall, who has worked on the rights of migrant workers in Thailand for 11 years, has recently faced defamation lawsuits by companies he has accused of labour violations.

"The situation is not good right now," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone on Sunday before his flight, speaking from Mahachai, a town near Bangkok and the centre of Thailand's seafood processing industry.

"It's rapidly deteriorating. It doesn't feel safe. There are people who are intent on wearing me down. I've worked with so many companies in Thailand, and it's rare to have a company that is so irrational and so vindictive. It's enough to wear anyone down."

In September, Mr Hall was handed a suspended three-year jail term and fined 150,000 baht ($4,300) for criminally defaming Natural Fruit Company, a pineapple wholesaler that supplies the European Union.

Rights groups called the verdict an alarming precedent in the fight against labour exploitation.

Emboldened by the ruling, a chicken farmer who lost his EU contracts and had to shut down his 1.6 million-chicken operation after Mr Hall exposed alleged labour violations on one of his three farms, said he planned to pursue his own defamation case and has hired the Natural Fruit lawyer.

Supported by Mr Hall, the chicken farm workers had sued the farmer in September, alleging forced overtime, unlawful salary deductions, confiscation of their passports and limited freedom of movement. They demanded $1.3 million in compensation and civil damages.

The chicken farmer countered with defamation lawsuits against 14 of the migrant workers, Mr Hall said, adding that he didn't know if suits had been filed against him or the non-governmental organisation he co-founded, the Migrant Worker Rights Network.

Thailand, one of the world's key food exporters, employs an estimated 3 million migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar. Many migrants face labour violations, such as unpaid wages, confiscated travel documents and limited freedom of movement.

Mr Hall's legal problems began after he conducted research for Helsinki-based Finnwatch for a 2013 report called "Cheap has a high price". A company in the report, Natural Fruit, filed four defamation cases against Mr Hall.

One case related to an interview Mr Hall gave to Al Jazeera in Myanmar in 2013 about the legal fallout of the Finnwatch report. A court in Bangkok dismissed the charges, but Thailand's attorney general and Natural Fruit appealed.

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected that appeal. The verdict had originally been scheduled to be read on Nov 25, but Mr Hall said he requested the court to move the date forward because of his increasingly precarious situation.

"It's time for the good companies, the good actors, to speak to these people. I work with a lot of good companies ... I fear for my safety because of the unstable situation. I don't want to be here another three weeks," he said.

"My work is not productive at the moment. It's like walking on broken glass. I don't feel secure to be working here. Why would you want to put yourself in this situation where you're just being worn down and stuck in the court system?"

'CORRUPT, MAFIA SYSTEM'

Because of the cases, Mr Hall has had his travel restricted since June 2014 and his passport confiscated by two different courts. He was unable to live outside Thailand and had to ask the court's permission each time he left the country..

"You're at the whim of this corrupt, mafia system, and you can't get out of it ... I've done everything I'm legally obliged to do, and now is the time to step away and see if this will get better."

He said once the chicken farmer filed criminal defamation charges against him, he would be subjected to travel restrictions again - another reason to leave now.

"The reason I'm leaving is they said in court they're going to file a new criminal case against me, because it comes with all the restrictions - I'm not willing to be subjected to that criminal process again, and I'm also leaving because of the security issues."

Meanwhile, he said there had been a clear impact on civil society and freedom of speech, as many watchdogs and activists have warned.

"No one dares to say anything about anyone doing anything wrong in Thailand. They just say it's 'a factory', or 'a company' in Thailand," he said.

"I want to come back, but it's a matter of do I have enough support and encouragement to come back? Now I feel very uncomfortable," he said.

Mr Hall left on a Paris-bound flight that departed from Bangkok shortly after midnight on Monday. He has not specified a return date.