SEAPA Alert: Thai academic calls for abolition of lese majeste law

SEAPA Alert: Thai academic calls for abolition of lese majeste law
14 January 2009

A Thai political scientist charged with insulting the monarchy
called for a campaign on January 13 to abolish the country's lese
majeste law, media reports said.

According to the Associated Press online, Ji Ungpakorn, a professor
at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University and a prominent activist,
said he has been charged with insulting the monarchy over a book he
wrote about the 2006 military coup in Thailand.

But Ji, who is the son of the late Central Bank Governor Puey
Ungpakorn, a respected civil servant in Thailand, called for "an
international and national political campaign to defend democratic
rights in Thailand and for the abolition of the Lese Majeste law."

According to Ji, the lese majeste law mandates a jail term of three
to 15 years for defaming the king, the queen or the heir to the
throne. "[It] restricts freedom of speech and expression and does
not allow for public accountability and transparency of the
institution of the monarchy."

AP quoted him as saying, "[It] is a tool by the military, and other
authoritarian elites, in order to protect their own interests." He
claimed he was being targeted for political reasons because he
criticized the military and its coup.

There has been a recent spate of complaints and prosecutions for
lese majeste and increased censorship of Web sites allegedly
critical of the institution. The new Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee said on January 6
that "The blocking of websites that disseminate content and
pictures which insult the monarchy is one of the government's
crucial policies".

The government reported that it has blocked 2,300 websites which
allegedly have messages that monarchy. Some 400 more await court
orders for their shutdown.


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