From what I’ve heard, the reverence that Thais feel for their monarch is genuine and heartfelt in the vast majority of cases. But it’s also protected by a draconian law of lese majeste; as the Wikipedia explains, the crime of insulting the king has been used against several politicians and human rights activists. Now, an Australian has been caught by the law:
The family of an Australian writer facing 15 years in jail for allegedly defaming Thailand’s crown prince have appealed to Canberra to intercede after he was refused bail for a second time, his lawyer said. Mark Dean, a Melbourne-based lawyer for 41-year-old Harry Nicolaides, said judges at Bangkok’s Criminal Court deemed it to be a “very serious offence” and regarded him as a flight risk. “His family is very concerned about his welfare,” Mr Dean said.
His relatives had written to Thailand’s royal household, Mr Dean said, apologising for any offence caused by his 2005 novel Verisimilitude, billed on the phuket-info.com website as an “uncompromising assault on the patrician values of the monarchy”.
Continue reading ‘Australian sitting in Thai jail for writing novel’

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