Last Updated on October 4, 2020, 9:05 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Aman from the US could face time in prison after he posted negative reviews of a hotel in Thailand. Yes, you read that right.
The New York Times said that Wesley Barnes, who is an English teacher in Thailand, had written a negative review for a hotel named Sea View Koh Chang resort on the island of Koh Chang.
He did so after the hotel charged him a USD 15 corkage fee after he brought his own bottle of gin to the restaurant.
The hotel said that Barnes had argued with the manager about the fee, and the hotel agreed on not charging anything extra.
However, he had posted a negative review for the hotel later.
Though, he did not know that it could end up costing him some prison time and his job.
The hotel was also not happy with his review.
An AP report said that Barnes could be in prison for seven years for violating the Computer Crime Act as posting allegedly false information online as well as defamation.
However, the sentence could be two years, according to The New York Times.
According to AP, Barnes said in a statement that he lost his job and he fears that he would go to prison.
He was arrested earlier this month and granted a USD 3,160 bail after he was jailed for two nights.
One of his reviews on the Tripadvisor website read, “Do not sleep here! Don’t support the modern-day slavery of Thai people.”
The website took it down after the hotel reported it.
However, Barnes posted another review and said, “Avoid this place as if it was the Coronavirus”.
Barnes said that he wrote the negative review because he saw the food and beverage director, whom he called the manager of the restaurant, treat a Thai employee abusively.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
