Thailand sentenced two students to jail yesterday for two-and-a-half years for insulting the monarchy in a university play, in a case that drew dozens of activists to a protest outside the court in defiance of a ban on demonstrations.
The country has been under martial law since a coup in May last year. The convictions come amid anxiety over the health of ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, and the issue of royal succession.
Thailand’s lese-majeste law is the world’s harshest and makes it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen or heir to the throne or regent. The junta has stepped up a campaign against perceived insults to the monarchy since it took power.
Photo: EPA
Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Pornthip Munkong, 26, were both convicted on a count of lese-majeste, which carries a maximum of 15 years in prison.
“Both suspects violated the 112 law and receive a five- year prison sentence ... reduced by half,” a judge said, referring to the penal code section.
The term was cut because both confessed, the judge said.
Photo: EPA
Patiwat appeared in court in leg irons. The pair were arrested in August over a satirical play they put on more than a year earlier at Bangkok’s Thammasat University.
The play, called The Wolf Bride, marked the 40th anniversary of an October 1973 military crackdown on a pro-democracy student protest at the university. Set in a fictional kingdom, it featured a fictional king and his adviser.
In Thailand, lese-majeste complaints can be filed by anyone, against anyone, and are always investigated by police.
Pornthip, who directed the play, said she was not afraid of prison.
“I’ve learned many things — dancing, playing music and I’ve made many friends,” Pornthip told reporters before the verdict, referring to her time in detention since her arrest.
About 40 student gathered outside the court wearing white shirts with the words “We are friends” in Thai and English. Some raised a three-finger salute that has come to represent opposition to the junta.
The declining health of King Bhumibol, the world’s longest-reigning monarch, has formed the backdrop to Thailand’s 10-year political crisis spawned by competition for power between populist former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the establishment dominated by the royalist military.
The king has long been seen as a figure of unity above the political fray. Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn has yet to command his father’s level of popular support.
Pornthip’s mother, Nuan Mungkong, told reporters the pair would not appeal: “We want this matter over.”
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS