Rights group slams jailing of 2 Thai students for insulting monarchy

By Asian Correspondent Staff Feb 23, 2015

Rights group Amnesty International has called on Thailand’s junta to overturn Tuesday’s guilty verdict against two students accused of insulting the Southeast Asian nation’s revered monarchy in a 2013 theatre production.

A criminal court in Bangkok found the two university students, Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23 and Pornthip Munkong, 26, guilty of violating Thailand’s draconian ‘lèse-majesté’ law Monday, which criminalises insults against the monarchy.  Both of the accused, who have been in jail since last August, pleaded guilty to “damaging the monarchy” December and were each sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

“This is an assault on freedom of expression. It is appalling that Patiwat Saraiyaem and Pornthip Munkong have been jailed just for staging a play,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty’s research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

(MORE: Lèse majesté cases pile up under Thailand’s junta)

“Since taking power last year, Thailand’s military authorities have made unprecedented use of the lèse-majesté law to silence and target critics who are simply peacefully exercising their human rights.”

The conviction relates to their involvement in staging a play about a fictional monarch and his adviser, the ‘Wolf Bride’, at Thammasat University in October 2013.

“The pair should never have had to stand trial in the first place and the verdict should be overturned and sentences expunged. Their guilty plea should not be considered as an admission of criminal responsibility as the courts regularly reduce sentences for defendants who have pleaded guilty,” added Abbott.