9 replies to this topic

[DOLLY]

"A Thai court on Monday sentenced an Australian writer to three years in jail after finding him guilty of insulting Thailand's revered royal family in a novel, a judge said.

Harry Nicolaides, 41, had pleaded guilty to the charge earlier on Monday. He has been in custody for nearly five months. "He was found guilty under criminal law article 112 and the court has sentenced him to six years, but due to his confession, which is beneficial to the case, the sentence is reduced to three years," a judge told the court. "He has written a book that slandered the king, the crown prince and Thailand and the monarchy," the judge added.

Article 112 refers to Thailand's harsh "lese majeste" laws protecting the monarchy from insult, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Nicolaides, who had previously worked as a university lecturer in northern Thailand, was detained at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport departure lounge on August 31 on an arrest warrant issued two-and-a-half years earlier.
The charge relates to a passage in a novel titled "Verisimilitude" published by Nicolaides in 2005 that was considered offensive to the Thai monarchy."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/13...ng-royal-family

ABC news online reported on Monday morning that Nicolaides was led barefoot into courtroom 811 in the Bangkok criminal court, chained by the leg and the wrist to another inmate.

[B.I.G.]

I was glad to see that both the BBC and CNN gave this case prominent and unflattering coverage on the news. The CNN reporter called the Thai prime minister's remarks trying to defend lese majeste as "rhetoric that will unlikely result in any reforms of an archaic system." Both networks showed the gaunt looking farang shackled together with other criminals, with leg chains, shaved head and bare feet. It certainly was not the kind of PR that the Thai tourist board wants to present to the word. I wonder if the Bangkok elite realize what a terrible image of Thailand these cases present to a world that prizes freedom speech over privilege.

[Gene]

The BBC report on the conviction was laced with critical comments including this comment: "given the recent political history of Thailand, there may well be more anti-royal sentiments than the government cares to admit." Now that's a mouthful. I wonder if the people who brought this prosecution think it was worth the international press coverage it's getting.

[mauRICE]

I wonder if the Bangkok elite realize what a terrible image of Thailand these cases present to a world that prizes freedom speech over privilege.

NEWSFLASH: They don't care! Of the few that might give a fleeting glance to this, it would be to buttress their disdain for farang: "Hey, look at the kii nok farang being dragged through our courts. How typical!" To the peasants, it would give rise to misplaced pride: "Hah! Thais are so powerful that even a farang ajarn gets thrown in jail like a common criminal for insults."

The irony is that the offence was two or three sentences written by the defendant regarding a certain persona whom every Thai gossips about and in far more colourful and incriminating language. But they are Thai and the defendant is farang hence different judicial standards apply.

I tell ya I stopped being bothered by the manifestations of Thainess a long time ago although every now and then their callousness still leaves me cold. For instance, when I was in Bangkok a few days after New Year's and my Thai friends were making jokes about Santika: "So, where did you go for New Year's? Obviously not Santika. Hahahaha!" And this from engineers, lawyers, lecturers, etc. TIT.

Anyway, I think this guy will be pardoned. When it does happen, you can bet your ATM cow that it will be milked for every PR opportunity possible to recoup some of the popularity some have lost in recent months.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our apologies to the poster, but this post has been edited to remove certain words which might invite unwanted attention from the internet programs supposedly being used by the thought police.

MOD 1

[J.Bell]

[attachmentid=406] I was surprised to see a huge larger than life photo of the sad face of this Australian staring through bars on the front page of the Bangkok Post this morning. Most of these lese majeste cases are either totally ignored by the Thai newspapers or hidden somewhere far from page 1.

The prominent front page display on the newstand gave me the impression that it was meant as a warning to all people living in Thailand to keep quiet when it comes to discussing certain things. As an expat living here for almost two years now, I found it very scary and totally opposite to some of the tourist fantasies I had when I first moved here to the Land of Smiles.

Attached Images

• 

[Sydney08]

The Organization known as Reporters without Borders has issued a statement "unconditionally condemning" the conviction of this Aussie citizen. According to some of my friends in Australia, the Australian government has been of little help in the case but there is a budding movement forming to urge all Australians to boycott tourism to Thailand until the conviction is reversed or Harry is pardoned.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=30031

[mauRICE]

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our apologies to the poster, but this post has been edited to remove certain words which might invite unwanted attention from the internet programs supposedly being used by the thought police.

MOD 1

But you have the changed the meaning of what I've written through your editing, and this is not the first time.

[mauRICE]

Well, this is what I said would happen in a previous post (although you might not nhave gleaned that from the creative editing of the powers that be on this board).

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/529938...-aussie-author/

Thai royals may pardon Aussie author

Thailand's palace is actively considering a pardon application from a Melbourne man jailed for criticising the royal family, his brother says.

Harry Nicolaides was arrested in Thailand last year and in January was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to "lese majeste" - the crime of criticising the royals.

The case sparked international attention and a campaign to have the Melbourne man freed.

Harry's brother Forde Nicolaides on Wednesday said a pardon was being considered.

"We know through the embassy that it is being considered. It is not complete yet, but it is being considered," he said.

In the past, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej has said he will free those accused of the crime.

Nicolaides got into trouble after writing a book, Verisimilitude, in which a few sentences were seen as criticising the Thai crown prince.

The book, which has since been published online, was a fictional account of life in Thailand that included a reference to the love life of an unnamed prince.

On Monday, the Bring Harry Home website (www.bringharryhome.com) was launched to raise the profile of the case and lobby the Australian government to demand justice for Nicolaides.

By Wednesday the site had attracted more than 6,000 signatures of support.

Other websites have also sprung up in support of the author, and a computer game offending the Thai king has been launched.

"Someone sent me the link (to the game), which I think is in poor taste," Forde Nicolaides said.

"This is the sort of thing that is emerging and I have said to the embassy that the best you can do is move this along quickly before more distasteful rubbish comes out."

[Haloi]

It's the old "good cop/bad cop" technique. They throw these people in jail for the exercise of what most civilized countries consider free speech, they make them suffer in sub-human conditions for many months without bail to await trial, they humiliate them at a trial by treating them as common criminals, jail them - and then expect the world to applaud them as humanitarians when they finally get around to pardoning them for going through the nightmare of living in a repressive society. Sorry, but I don't buy it.

[Harold]

Sorry, but I don't buy it.

I don't either. Based on what I have read about these cases, these pardons seem to be given only to farangs for their obvious PR value while Thais who are charged are presumably left to rot in jail without bail both before and after conviction. I don't think I have ever read a single story in the news here of a Thai being pardoned for Lese Majeste. If that's the case, it's very troubling.