A US citizen was jailed for two-and-a-half years yesterday for insulting the Thai monarchy, prompting the US embassy to speak out at the severity of the sentence and say it supported the freedom of expression everywhere in the world.
Thai-born Lerpong Wichaikhammat, 55, had pleaded guilty in October to using the Internet to disseminate information that insulted the monarchy, charges stemming from material posted on his blog in the US, where he has citizenship.
He was arrested in May during a visit to Thailand.
“The defendant is found guilty ... The court sentenced him to five years in prison. But he pleaded guilty. That makes the case easier, so the court decided to cut it in half to two years and six months,” a judge said at the criminal court in Bangkok.
Thailand has the world’s toughest lese-majeste laws protecting its monarch. The number of cases has jumped in recent years and sentences have become harsher, coinciding with a period of political turbulence in the country.
Lerpong’s lawyer, Anon Nampa, said there would be no appeal against the verdict.
“One month from now, we’ll submit a request for a royal pardon,” he added.
Other foreigners who have fallen foul of the lese-majeste law in recent years have tended to spend a short period in jail before being pardoned. Thais have not got off so lightly, one recently getting 20 years for text messages deemed offensive.
The consul general at the US embassy in Bangkok, Elisabeth Pratt, said Joe Gordon — the name Lerpong goes by — was a US citizen and would continue to get consular help.
“We’re very concerned over the severity of the sentence that has been imposed on Joe Gordon. We support the freedom of expression here in Thailand and internationally throughout the world,” she told reporters at the court.
Lerpong was also accused of providing a Web link to a biography by a US author of 84-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej that is banned in Thailand, where many people regard the king as almost divine.
Before the verdict was read out, Lerpong was allowed to speak to reporters.
“I’m not Thai, I’m American. I was just born in Thailand. I hold an American passport. In Thailand there are many laws that don’t allow you to express opinions, but we don’t have that in America,” he said.
Critics say the law is being abused to discredit activists and politicians.
The generals who overthrew former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 cited his alleged disrespect for the monarchy, among other reasons.
“Personally I don’t know Thaksin and usually I don’t get involved in politics,” Lerpong said. “I’m proud to be American.”
The Burmese junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is “in good health,” a day after her son said he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing. In an interview in Tokyo earlier this week, Kim Aris said he had not heard from his mother in years and believes she is being held incommunicado in the capital, Naypyidaw. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was detained after a 2021 military coup that ousted her elected civilian government and sparked a civil war. She is serving a
‘NO AMNESTY’: Tens of thousands of people joined the rally against a bill that would slash the former president’s prison term; President Lula has said he would veto the bill Tens of thousands of Brazilians on Sunday demonstrated against a bill that advanced in Congress this week that would reduce the time former president Jair Bolsonaro spends behind bars following his sentence of more than 27 years for attempting a coup. Protests took place in the capital, Brasilia, and in other major cities across the nation, including Sao Paulo, Florianopolis, Salvador and Recife. On Copacabana’s boardwalk in Rio de Janeiro, crowds composed of left-wing voters chanted “No amnesty” and “Out with Hugo Motta,” a reference to the speaker of the lower house, which approved the bill on Wednesday last week. It is
‘EAST SHIELD’: State-run Belma said it would produce up to 6 million mines to lay along Poland’s 800km eastern border, and sell excess to nations bordering Russia and Belarus Poland has decided to start producing anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War, and plans to deploy them along its eastern border and might export them to Ukraine, the deputy defense minister said. Joining a broader regional shift that has seen almost all European countries bordering Russia, with the exception of Norway, announce plans to quit the global treaty banning such weapons, Poland wants to use anti-personnel mines to beef up its borders with Belarus and Russia. “We are interested in large quantities as soon as possible,” Deputy Minister of National Defense Pawel Zalewski said. The mines would be part
Cozy knits, sparkly bobbles and Santa hats were all the canine rage on Sunday, as hundreds of sausage dogs and their owners converged on central London for an annual parade and get-together. The dachshunds’ gathering in London’s Hyde Park came after a previous “Sausage Walk” planned for Halloween had to be postponed, because it had become so popular organizers needed to apply for an events licence. “It was going to be too much fun so they canceled it,” laughed Nicky Bailey, the owner of three sausage dogs: Una and her two 19-week-old puppies Ember and Finnegan, wearing matching red coats and silver
RSS