Our close Asian ally, Thailand, continues to crush both free speech and political dissent under its draconian criminal code. Mechanic Thanakorn Siripaiboon, 27, is facing a potential of 37 years for allegedly insult King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, by “liking” a humorous photoshopped photo of the King’s dog and passing it along to his over 600 “friends.” That’s all it take in Thailand to face 37 years in jail . . . insulting the King’s dog. It is all part of what is called lèse-majesté governing royal insults but this is the first known extension of the law to royal pets.
The mechanic, 27, faces charges including sedition, lese majeste and more generic ‘computer crimes’. Colonel Burin Thongprapai described the criminal conduct as follows: “On December 2, he clicked the ‘like’ link on a doctored photo of the king and shared it with 608 friends. He is in military custody and good condition.”
This absurd charge comes on the heels of an investigation of American ambassador, Glyn T. Davies, after he gave a speech to foreign correspondents praising the king but criticizing the “lengthy and unprecedented prison sentences” handed down by Thai military courts on lèse-majesté charges.
Now it appears that in the authoritarian Thailand every royal dog has its day . . . in court.
It is apparent by some of the posters here that I was correct, Americans couldn’t find Thailand or even SE Asia if they were stuck up their butts where their heads are now. They know absolutely nothing about Thailand. To reiterate, the King (born in America) had nothing to do with this or any of the lèse-majesté charges. In fact the King has spoken in the past about removing or loosening the lèse-majesté laws. It is the General and the military dictatorship that we currently live under. Many, if not most Thais supported his coup against an extremely corrupt government being run by a fugitive from Thai justice in another country, not so now. “Winter is coming” for Thailand and it won’t be pretty. Oh and thanks for the LACK of understanding from some of our posters.
If something this bad can happen when the King’s pet dog is involved, imagine what will happen if a situation involves the King’s pet peeve.
Sorry, entered too soon and no edit, you know not of what you speak. It’s late here, ok no excuse.
Not unless an elected gov’t is in “power”. The King, who is a good man, has not long to live, although we can’t speak about that, and no matter what our “dear leader” says, he has no plans to relinquish power. Thailand is an extremely complicated country and dear leader thinks this in the 19th century and he can play 2 powers, America and China, against each other, WRONG! China will eat him alive. Paul, you know what of what you speak. In fact you know nothing.
sgtsabai:
The question that comes to my mind, at risk of being tried in a Thailand court in absentia, is if the govt keeps changing, does that mean the dog liking defendant will get his sentence vacated?
Their country, their rules.
Thank you fnn. The King is rightly respected and honored here, as he should be. It is the military dictatorship that has become the real problem. I will say no more on that subject, understand? Thailand will implode soon. It has changed so much since I first came, a return to SE Asia, in early 2002. On the other hand most people in America can’t find Thailand, or hell SE Asia where we fought an illegal, immoral war not all that long ago. And lost. Yea, I know about that. An expense paid vacation to sunny SE Asia courtesy Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children. As my Thai wife would say say, if you know not what you talk about, sow wow-zip your mouth.
The king has nothing to do with this. Thailand is under military rule. For some reason Thailand is under military rule most of the time. That latter fact is what the NYT should be trying to explain to us.
Nick: I read your sentence again. The dog is not an “a hole” the owner (the King) is. Sometimes when I stick up for a dog I pass over some things. Especially during Dog Passover which is this week.
Ok Nick: No one needs to deride a dog just because it is owned by some King in some place called Tieland. A dog’s home is his castle and this human involved here did offend some other humans regarding the King Dog. Now if Thailand would make the Dog its King then things would be better. That old goat that they have now is not fit to be man or beast.
People in this country need to flood social media deriding this a-holes dog.
John Oliver did a hilarious bit on insulting the king of Thailand and other monarchs. It’s online; one can google “John Oliver, Thailand King” to find it.
I consider Oliver to be one of the funniest guys around.
Our political leaders must be salivating at the thought. But then you know the King’s feelings were hurt and the dog was inconsolable sooooooo maybe he should go to jail! Not.