Thailand’s lese majeste laws linked to political persecution
In the ‘Land of Smiles’ insulting the King can get you 15 years in prison.
It is now almost 90 days since a US citizen, Joe Gordon, was arrested under Thailand’s draconian lese majeste laws. His crime was allegedly posting a link on his blog to a Thai translation of a controversial book. He is also charged with doing the translation as well.
The book in question was the 2006 Paul Handley biography of the Thai king ‘The King Never Smiles.’ It is a book banned in Thailand for raising issues that contradict the carefully constructed state and military-led propaganda that surrounds Thailand’s king. Accordingly, it violates Thailand’s Article 112, which mandates up to 15 years in jail for ‘whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent.’
Putting aside the issue of being arrested for just doing a translation, what is worrying about Mr Gordon’s crime is that both the link and the translation seem to have been posted in 2007 from his home in Colorado, USA. Mr Gordon is a naturalised US citizen who has lived in the US for 30 years.
But he is also Thai-born. This meant that when he was visiting his former home town in the northeast region of Thailand in May of this year he was arrested. He has since been refused bail (despite accused murderers in Thailand getting bail while awaiting trial). Today, despite having a bad medical condition, he faces the very real possibility of up to 15 years in prison.
For weeks the US Embassy in Bangkok were effectively silent on Mr Gordon’s incarceration. Kristie Kenney, the US Ambassador to Bangkok, has been criticised by Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk for stopping a question to US Senator John McCain about the case. Pravit recounts what happened in this YouTube clip from 2mins 55secs.
Yesterday, however, after formal charges were finally laid against Mr. Gordon, an Embassy spokesperson issued a statement regarding the case. The US is ‘disappointed’ and urges the Thai authorities ‘to respect freedom of expression.’
Unfortunately Mr Gordon’s case is only one of dozens of lese majeste cases currently underway in Thailand. Nearly all of the present slew of lese majeste cases began during PM Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrat Party rule (Abhisit’s party was recently defeated in Thailand’s July 2011 general election).
This has raised concerns that the lese majeste laws are not being used just to target those critical of the King, but also the government of the day. Many human rights commentators have been deeply critical of this use of article 112 – the official name of the lese majeste law. They also view PM Abhisit rule’s failure to moderate its use as having been driven by political expediency.
‘We are strongly opposed to Thailand’s lese majeste laws,’ said a spokesperson for the London-based freedom of expression advocates, ARTICLE 19. ‘We believe it is a violation of international law on free expression that is being utilised to protect the Thai government and state from criticism. It is very clear to us the law is being used by the Thai state to stifle political dissent.’
The Thai-based academic and writer, David Streckfuss, an expert on Thailand’s lese majeste law, is also clear about what is going on. ‘Prior to the 2006 coup, lese majeste was used in a much more focused way,’ says Streckfuss. ‘Specific persons were targeted, usually politicians or political movement leaders, by specific accusers, again, usually politicians or political movement leaders. By 2008, the target had become bloggers or speechmakers of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.’
This change of focus regarding the use of 112 to target the UDD or ‘Red Shirts’ – a development that evolved at the same time as the pro-democracy Red Shirts emerged as a mass movement – brought a spike in the numbers of arrests. Data gathered by Streckfuss is revealing.
‘In 2005, 33 charges came before the courts,’ he says. ‘This number jumped to 164 in 2009, and then tripled to 478 cases by 2010. It would be accurate to say that lese majeste charges or cases increased significantly after the 2006 coup, and particularly under the last government of Abhisit Vejjajiva.’
Other high profile 112 arrests during Abhisit’s period of rule involved the arrest of labour-organiser Somyot Preuksakasemsuk and Surachai Sae Dan. Both are committed Red Shirt activists with a long history of engagement with leftwing politics. They were arrested in the run up to the July 2011 general election in what many considered a politicised use of the lese majeste laws.
In addition, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, editor of the liberal news website, Prachatai, is due to have her trial for lese majeste offences recommence on September 1st. She faces up to 50 years in prison. And activist and academic Somsak Jeamtheerasakul (who was interviewed by Fergal Keane in the recent BBC This World documentary, Thailand: Justice Under Fire) is not only under investigation, but has also told the Bureau he has received threatening phone calls.
In one of the worst examples of the abusive application of lese majeste Daranee “Da Torpedo” Charnchoensilpakul is into the 4th year of an 18 year sentence handed down to her in a secret closed trial. There is evidence she has been singled out for unusually punitive measures during her time in prison and has been denied external medical care for an extremely painful jaw infection.
With Thailand’s first female PM, Yingluck Shinawatra (youngest sister of ousted PM Thaksin), presently forming the new, democratically elected Thai government, the hopes of many are resting on her ability to reform the lese majeste law. She has promised she will look into ways to stop 112 being abused and it would certainly be a significant and positive step if her government actually achieve this.
The Bureau will be keenly following this story to see if she keeps to her word.
UPDATE: New update on lese majeste bail application for Somyot and Surachai – it seems MPs from Prime Minister Yingluck’s party tried to help get them out. Read the Bangkok Post article here.
