A Thai man was jailed for 30 years on Friday for “insulting” the monarchy on Facebook, in one of the toughest known sentences passed under the junta-ruled kingdom’s draconian lèse-majesté law.
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is protected by one of the world’s strictest royal defamation rules under which anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
On Friday Bangkok’s Military Court found Pongsak Sriboonpeng, 48, guilty of posting messages and pictures defaming the monarchy in six posts on the social networking website. He was sentenced to 10 years on each count with the 60-year jail term halved after he pleaded guilty, his lawyer Sasinan Thamnithinan told AFP.
“It’s broken the record,” she said about the severe jail term, adding that because Pongsak was arrested while Thailand was still under martial law there was no right to appeal the sentence passed by the military court.
Lèse-majesté convictions have surged since Thailand’s generals seized power from an elected government in May 2014.