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Thailand’s Junta Accused of Using “Lese Majeste Law” Like Spanish Inquisition

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A Thai national flag flutters in the wind behind a statue of King Rama VII in front of the parliament building in Bangkok

A Thai national flag flutters in the wind behind a statue of King Rama VII in front of the parliament building in Bangkok

 

BANGKOK -Northern Thailand Red-Shirt leader and veteran political activist Jaran Ditapichai , has been charged with lèse majesté article 112 in connection with the play ‘The Wolf Bride’.  This is one of four charges filed against him since the 2014 Military coup in Thailand.

Jaran, who is now in self exile in Europe, has been accused of defaming the King because he was the head organizer of the 40th Anniversary of the 14 October 1973 student uprising, where ‘The Wolf Bride’ was performed in October 2013, according to a source.
Jaran Ditapichai in Paris France

Jaran Ditapichai in Paris France since 2014

 

Members of a theatre group say the ruling junta has mired the kingdom in a witch-hunt like the Spanish Inquisition as it ramps up prosecutions under the country’s notorious lese majeste laws.

Two Thammasat University students are already in custody for roles in a performance of The Wolf Bride – a satire set in a fictional kingdom, which sparked a cascade of complaints for allegedly slandering Thailand’s royal family.

Police are hunting at least six others for violating “112”, the feared article of the Thai criminal code which carries up to 15 years in jail for each count of insulting, threatening or defaming the king, queen, heir or regent.

Of those on the wanted list have fled Thailand, joining dozens of academics, activists and political opponents of the coup in self-exile amid a surge in “112” cases since royalist generals seized power in May2014.

“There’s a fog over the kingdom,” a member of the activist “Prakai Fai” (Sparking Fire) theatre group at the centre of the controversy told AFP from outside of Thailand, requesting anonymity.

“But we have to accept that Thailand still has laws that block critical opinions, laws that shut people’s mouths.”

Student's Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Porntip Mankong, 26,

Student’s Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Porntip Mankong, 26,

 

The Wolf Bride was performed in October 2013, several months before the coup, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a student uprising at Bangkok’s liberal Thammasat University.

Student’s Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and Porntip Mankong, 26, face jail after pleading guilty to a breach of article 112 for their roles, as an actor and co-producer respectively.

They have been in custody since their arrest in August.

The case is just one of many driven through by a junta which says it must champion the monarchy, while simultaneously reshaping Thailand’s political landscape.

But the military has led Thai society down a dark path similar to the Spanish Inquisition, according to the Prakai Fai member, deliberately blurring the lines between political dissent and perceived attacks on the monarchy.

“Anyone can report on anyone else, Thailand’s article 112 is being used as a tool to get rid of opposition.”

Taking their cues from the junta, groups of royalist volunteers are scouring social media for potential violations – joining the ranks of state-trained “cyber-scouts” who patrol the Internet.

The self-appointed Rubbish Collectors’ Organisation and the Royal Monarch Alert Protection Network, which complained to police about The Wolf Bride, both have hotlines to report possible breaches of the law.

In this atmosphere of surveillance, lese majeste charges and convictions are rising.

The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights said 18 new arrests have been made since the coup, echoing Amnesty International who describe the number of new charges as “unprecedented”.

Those figures came before the arrest of several senior police officers, including relatives of former Princess Srirasmi, in a corruption probe.

Many of them have been charged with royal defamation while Srirasmi has been stripped of her title, a royal name she acquired through her marriage to the Crown Prince.

Recent 112 convictions include a taxi driver jailed for two and a half years after his passenger recorded their conversation on a mobile phone, while a complaint has been levelled at a prominent historian for a speech on a Thai king who ruled more than 400 years ago.

“We can expect more and more cases,” says David Streckfuss, a Thailand-based analyst, who has written widely on lese majeste.

“The most disturbing thing is it has spurred on citizens to make complaints,” he said, adding the kingdom was now an “informer state”.

The army says it was forced to seize power to end protests against the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra the sister of billionaire tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra. The Shinawatra clan have won every election since 2001.

The lese majeste law, one of the most draconian of its kind anywhere, prevents that uncertainty fanning out into open criticism of the monarchy.

But it also smothers debate on the validity and application of the legislation.

Even the details of cases are difficult to report, obscuring much of the legal process from the public, while judges — and now military courts — have discretion over convictions and sentencing.

Domestic and foreign media, including AFP, routinely self-censor all reporting linked to the Thai monarchy to avoid falling foul of the law.

Police say many scenes in The Wolf Bride appeared to be defamatory.

“But we cannot tell you what they were,” national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said.

Red Shirt intellectual, Jaran Ditapichai, who commissioned Prakai Fai for the Thammasat University commemorations, concedes he is unsurprised to have also been accused of violations of 112.

Speaking from self exile in France, where he has been granted political asylum, he said such legal moves aim to denigrate political opponents of the junta and send a clear message to the Thai public.

“When you are charged with 112 you can never go back to Thailand,” he said. – AFP

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