Thailand’s authorities must stop targeting pro-democracy protesters with draconian legal action and instead enter into dialogue, UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Assembly Clement Voule said, warning that the country risks sliding into violence.
Voule said he had written to the Thai government to express alarm at the use of the fierce lese-majeste law against dozens of protesters, including students as young as 16.
“It is legitimate for people to start discussing where their country is going and what kind of future they want,” Voule said of the protests. “Stopping people from raising their legitimate concerns is not acceptable.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
So far, 37 people face charges of insulting the monarchy for alleged offences ranging from wearing traditional dress deemed to be a parody of the royals to giving speeches arguing that the power and wealth of the king should be curbed.
The lese-majeste law has not been used since 2018, apparently at the request of the monarch, but it has been revived after months of youth-led protests that have called for a more accountable royal family. The law is notorious for its arbitrary use, sweeping defamation criteria and for the severe sentences that can be imposed on those found guilty.
Anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent” can face between three and 15 years on each charge.
Police and prosecutors are often reluctant to reject complaints filed under the law, because it is so politicized they fear being accused of disloyalty, rights experts said.
Earlier this month, a royalist group called on its supporters to begin reporting others, prompting fears of a witch hunt.
Prominent protest leaders face an unusually high number of charges. This includes the student activists Parit Chiwarak (12 charges) and Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul (six charges) and the human rights lawyer Anon Nampa (eight charges), who have given speeches calling for the power of the royals to be curbed.
A government spokesperson said Thailand’s lese-majeste law was not aimed at curbing people’s rights to freedom of expression and that the law was similar to libel law, adding that the government supported the constructive exchange of viewpoints.
The recent cases come after months of demonstrations in which protesters have made unusually frank and public calls for reform to the monarchy.
Parit said the targeting of demonstrators with lese-majeste would only increase sympathy for their cause.
“They [authorities] argue that they are doing their duty to protect the monarchy,” he said. “I must ask them: are they really sure they are protecting the monarchy, or are they ruining it?”
Parit said that he did not believe he would go to prison.
“They won’t dare,” he said.
Parit has refused to acknowledge some complaints against him and, instead of signing his name on legal documents, wrote “Down with feudalism.”
Voule said that there needed to be a space for dialogue.
“If this is not possible now I’m afraid the country will move towards violence that we do not want to see,” he said.
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