Dear ,
In just 4 days activist Andy Hall will find out if he faces time in prison for reporting on labour rights abuses in the Thai pineapple industry.
Please send an urgent message now calling on the Thai authorities to drop the charges against him.
Andy Hall has been trapped in a nightmare for the last two years. In 2013, a report including some of his research was published which included allegations of worker abuse and slavery-like practices in the supply chain of Natural Fruit, a Thai company that processes pineapples and supplies retailers around the world.
Instead of looking into the allegations, Natural Fruit targeted Andy. He was hauled into court on charges of computer crime and criminal defamation. On Monday Andy will find out if he will be indicted: if he is, he faces 7 years in prison and more than $11 million in damages.
We don’t need to tell you how unjust this is. In Andy’s own words: “This is about persecution. It's a political case to try and silence me... I'm someone that's revealing things that the government and the industry don't want me to reveal."1
The Walk Free community and many other organisations around the world have been keeping up the pressure on Natural Fruit to drop the charges for months — we’ve shone a spotlight on Andy’s unacceptable treatment and in October last year one of the charges against him was dropped.
But Natural Fruit have shown no signs of giving up. That’s why we now need to turn our attention to the Thai government. The authorities are already facing global scrutiny for not doing enough to protect workers from abuse — the latest US Trafficking in Persons report gives Thailand the lowest score for action to tackle trafficking.2
Show your support for Andy and migrant workers that remain vulnerable to modern slavery in Thailand: take action to demand that these charges are dropped NOW.
With hope and determination,
Zoe, Leena, Jayde, Alex and all of the Walk Free team
P.S. We considered not sending this message because of the awful bombing in Bangkok just a few days ago — our hearts go out to everyone affected by those horrific events. However, Andy's case is at a critical turning point and we can't stand by while activists like him are facing prison time in Thailand. It’s vital that we continue to show that we can’t be silenced and that we stand in solidarity with Andy and migrant workers in Thailand who must be able to speak out when they suffer abusive conditions.
1
2 http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/tip2015statements.html

Walk Free is a movement of people everywhere, fighting to end one of the world's greatest evils: Modern slavery.

(Recieved in A email)


Who is Andy Hall

Andy Hall is a British human rights defender and a migrant worker specialist. Andy has lived as a resident in Thailand for over a decade since June 2005.

From January 2013 until June 2014, Andy lived outside Thailand in Yangon, Myanmar advising the Myanmar government in migration. He planned to work long term in Myanmar on this work.

Following confiscation of his British passport by Prakanong Court in June 2014, Andy however had to remain in Thailand until cases prosecuted by Natural Fruit Company Ltd. against him were completed. He was only allowed to leave Thailand for short periods of time and only following permission from the courts given his entry and exit from Thailand were blocked by the Immigration Department. A career in Myanmar therefore came to an end.

Once the CASE 3 against Andy was dismissed his passport has been returned to him but again his freedom of movement is under threat from an indictment expected in CASE 1 against him in August 2015 when his passport may well be taken from him again and his freedom of movement restricted.

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