Academics launch campaign against lèse majesté law abuses

A group of academics, social activists, writers and students have launched a new campaign to push for amendments to Thailand’s draconian lèse majesté legislation in the hope of ending abuses of the law that they say violates the principle of free speech.

The Thai Criminal Code’s article 112 states: “Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years.”

The Campaign Committee for the Amendment of Article 112 (CCAA112) was established at a packed meeting at Bangkok’s Thammasat University on 15 January, in defiance of pressure from royalist groups.

Several academic and activist groups came together to launch the campaign, including the Midnight University, a scholarly website and online academic forum, writers groups such as People’s Poets and Sang Sumneuk Writers, Red Shirt activists and the Student Federation of Thailand.

“Hopefully the campaign will help all sides speak their mind without fear of reprisals,” said Worachet Pakerut, a Thammasat University associate professor of law, adding that article 112 had been used as a political tool by the government against rivals.

Among the committee members, a group of seven Thammasat University law lecturers known as the Nitirat group (Enlightened Jurists), proposed amendments to the lèse majesté law.

These include reducing article 112’s current penalties from the maximum 15-year jail sentence to around three years and removing a section from laws that deal with state security, with separate provisions to protect the institution of the monarchy.

The Nitirat group also wants to restrict the authority that can make accusations of lèse majesté so that the office of His Majesty (The King) Principal Private Secretary has the sole authority to file lèse majesté cases. Currently anyone can file a lèse majesté charge.

The group also wants more clarity on what constitutes an article 112 offence, and is demanding exemptions for criticism of the monarchy made in ‘good faith’ or factual claims made in the public interest.

Kritaya Archavanitkul, a professor at the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University, said the lèse majesté law had reduced freedom in Thailand, hence the need to amend it in line with international human rights standards.

Article 112 had become “a weapon for intimidation, harassment and incitement of hatred among people”, she said.

The campaign committee aims to gather at least 10,000 signatures from Thai citizens within 112 days, and pass them to parliament for consideration in drafting an amendment to the law.

Opposing Royalist group

However, in the same week, lecturers from five universities including Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus, Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) and Sukhothai Thammathirat announced the formation of a pro-monarchist group called Siam Prachapiwat (Siamese People’s Progress) apparently in reaction to the Nitirat group.

In their own manifesto they vowed to “preserve and promote” the monarchy and oppose changes to the lèse majesté law.

Banjerd Singkhaneti, dean of the graduate school of law at NIDA, insisted that Siam Prachapiwat was not formed to “engage in a showdown” with Nitirat but was offering “another option” to the people.

But the move to form a counter-group seems likely to polarise universities, observers said.

Political tool

According to David Streckfuss, an expert on lèse majesté, the number of lèse majesté cases in the courts has risen sharply since Thailand’s 2006 coup.

Statistics from his recent book Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, treason, and lèse-Majesté show that there were 33 lèse majesté cases in 2005, while in 2008 and 2009 there were 164 and 478 respectively.

Nithi Eawsriwong, a renowned Thai historian who also signed the committee’s petition, said the law had become a political tool open to abuse.

“Under the current political culture, abuses of this law were aggravated, such as the authorities’ refusal not to press the charge [out of fear of political reprisal]. Therefore the law must be amended to prevent further abuse,” he said, speaking via video-link at the committee launch.

The campaign, which currently has more than 100 signatures, mostly from Thai academics, comes in the wake of the controversial conviction under article 112 of Ampon Tannoppakul (61), who was sentenced in November to 20 years in prison for allegedly sending four text messages considered offensive to the queen, to the personal secretary of then Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The lèse majesté debate became even more heated when a Thai-American citizen, Joe Gordon, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years on 8 December, reduced from five years after he pleaded guilty of translating from a book called The King Never Smiles by Paul Handley, and posted the link on the internet.

A day after the conviction, United Nations human rights officials called on the Thai authorities to amend the law, saying it had “a chilling effect on freedom of expression”.

“Such harsh criminal sanctions are neither necessary nor proportionate, and violate the country’s international human rights obligations,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Geneva on 9 December.

No change under new the government

Despite expectations that the Yingluck Shinawatra government, which came to power with a landslide victory in July’s elections, would not resort to lèse majesté abuses, an academic and a first-year student have faced charges since the election.

Surapot Taweesak, a columnist, social critic and philosophy lecturer at Rajabhat Suan Dusit University in Hua Hin, was summoned in December to report to police in the north-eastern province of Roi Et to acknowledge a lèse majesté charge.

After two postponements, Taweesak will report to the police next month. He said it was safer to postpone the appointment during the current heated atmosphere surrounding article 112.

Taweesak, who has signed the campaign petition, said: “This campaign initiated to amend article 112 is considered a very important step. I just hope there will be more academics signing the petition,” he said, adding that the number of people involved was still small.

“There should be more forums to engage with the wider public to raise awareness of this campaign, and communicate with the people that are still left out.”

“In any case, I will continue to speak and write about the monarchy and its implications for Thai society, because I believe this is the right thing to do,” Taweesak told University World News.

Student charged

Nutthakarn Sakundarachat is now studying social work at Thammasat University after two universities refused her admission in 2010, although she had passed the admissions examinations

She told University World News that after the news of her being charged with lèse majesté was made public in December, she had had shoes thrown at her in class and had to change her name after an online and offline ‘witch-hunt’ caused by “hyper-royalism”. Some students went as far as demanding the university’s management expel her, she said.

Sakundarachat said the lèse majesté law had obstructed the student movement, by creating fear.

“Most of the subjects we talk about in the student movement are to do with politics and society, which cannot leave out discussion of the monarchy,” she said. “When I was charged with article 112, it became harder for us to do anything since students were afraid they could also be charged with lèse majesté.”

Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has said people have the right to sign a petition to submit amendments to the lèse majesté law to parliament, and that the government must declare its stand on whether the law is problematic.

But members of the Thai government have said there will be no change in the law. The government said recently that state agencies should improve the way they conduct lèse majesté cases.

Sakundarachat said that despite the lack of government interest in dealing with the issue, the campaign petition would put pressure on it to consider amendments to the law. She said she had not yet signed the campaign petition, as she would rather have the law abolished completely than amended.

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