Australian journalist Alan Morison has been forced to shut down his news website in Thailand as he and a Thai colleague face trial on serious criminal charges today, 14 July, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on 12 July.
The award-winning Phuketwan site has led reporting on the plight of the Rohingyas.
Morison, 67, has announced that Phuketwan will close this week and may never resume because of uncertainty over criminal defamation charges brought against himself and colleague Chutima Sidasathian by the Royal Thai Navy.
Morison and Chutima face up to seven yearsin jail on charges that relate to a single paragraph republished in Phuketwan in July 2013 from a Reuters Pulitzer Prize-winning report on the trafficking of Rohingya migrants.
Eight human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty, and journalist groups last week appealed to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to drop the charges, saying in a joint letter the legal action threatens the right to freedom of opinion and expression that is supposed to be the bedrock of Thailand's democratic society.
A verdict is expected in about a month.