Thai military courts harshly punish 2 for Facebook comments

The watchdog group iLaw said the Bangkok Military Court sentenced Pongsak Sriboonpeng on Friday to 60 years imprisonment, 10 for each message, but halved his sentence because he admitted wrongdoing.

A Thai man was jailed for 30 years today for “insulting” the monarchy on Facebook, in one of the toughest known sentences passed under the junta-ruled kingdom’s draconian lese majeste law. Military courts are used to prosecute defamation cases against the monarchy because the military government under Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha considers the matter to be one of national security.

Thai authorities rarely provide details of cases, leaving rights groups to follow prosecutions across the country.

The Thai king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, is protected by the strict law preventing people from criticising him. Now that number is at least 56.

“The vaguely worded lese majeste law criminalizes the peaceful expression of opinions and violates the right to freedom of expression”, Richard Bennett, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director said.

“It’s broken the record”, she said of the severe jail term.

Judges have also considerably extended the scope of the law, by including other members of the royal family – beyond the king, the queen, the heir or the regent specified in article 112 – and even monarchs who reigned centuries ago.

The newspaper reports that critics believe the “lese majeste” law has been used against political enemies of the royal elite and their military allies and now targets those opposed to the 2014 coup.