Press freedom group criticizes Thai plan to deport photojournalists

A New York-based press freedom group said Saturday it was concerned about the Thai government's plan to deport two foreign photojournalists for illegally entering Burma.

Thailand-based John Sanlin, a Burmese passport holder, and Pascal Schatterman, a Belgian national, were arrested Thursday as they re-entered Thailand after illegally crossing into neighbouring Burma.
On Friday a Thai provincial court found both foreigners guilty of violating immigration laws, for which they were fined Bt500, taken into custody and told they would be deported.
"We call on Thai authorities to reconsider the deportation of journalists John Sanlin and Pascal Schatterman and take into consideration the prospect that Sanlin will suffer severe reprisals if he is forcibly returned to Burma," said Shawn Crispin, the South-East Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
"Thailand has long been a safe haven for exiled journalists to report freely on Burma. CPJ encourages the Thai government to maintain that important press freedom role for the region," Crispin said.
Both Sanlin and Schatterman had crossed into Burma to cover an escalating armed conflict between Burmese troops and ethnic Karen insurgents.
Thailand has provided refugee camps with international assistance for up to 150,000 Karens fleeing fighting in Burma for the past two decades.
The country has also offered sanctuary for scores of Burmese political activists and an estimated two million Burmese labourers.
There have concerns that the Thai government may become less tolerant of the large numbers of Burmese expatriates following Burma's general election of November 7, 2010, which could bolster the credibility of the military junta that has ruled the country since 1988.
The polls, criticized by western democracies for being neither free nor fair, were won by the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is packed with ex-military men.
The first parliament session is scheduled to convene on January 31.