In Thailand, a prominent activist jailed and made famous over his public call for reforms to Thailand’s powerful monarchy was given four more years in prison for another violation of the country’s royal insults law, a legal aid group said on Thursday.
Arnon Nampa, 39, a lawyer, was found guilty of lese majeste over two social media posts made in 2021 and of violating the country’s computer crimes act, said the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which represents Arnon and dozens of others charged with royal insults.
Lese Majeste Laws
The court could not immediately be reached for confirmation of the decision.
Arnon was already serving a 10-year sentence for three other royal insult convictions and for violating a decree that banned public gatherings during the pandemic. He has been charged with 10 other counts of insulting the monarchy.
In Thailand, the lese majeste law is among the strictest of its kind in the world and is designed to shield the monarchy from criticism, with prison term of up to 15 years for each perceive insult of the crown.
Hundreds of people have been charged under the law, some given jail terms of several decades.
Arnon, who denies wrongdoing, was one of the leaders of the youth-led demonstrations in 2020 that made taboo-breaking calls for reform of the monarchy, an institution considered sacrosanct by many Thai conservatives.
Arrest warrants have been issued for two protest leaders charged with lese majeste, who have not shown up at court for their verdicts, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
The lese majeste laws have been used with increasing frequency by the military dominated government since it took over in 2014. Arnon has demanded a national conversation on the role of the monarchy in today’s Thailand.
Move Forward, the party which won the recent elections, has demanded that the lese majeste laws be amended, which the military has used as a pretext to block it from forming the government.
