THAILAND: Writer sentenced for insulting the monarchy

20 January 2009

RAN 46/08 - Update #1

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN protests the three year prison sentence handed down to Australian writer Harry Nicolaides, for ‘lèse-majesté' (insulting the monarchy) in his 2005 novel Verisimilitude. International PEN demands the immediate and unconditional release of Harry Nicolaides, as it considers his sentence to be in breach of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression and to which Thailand is a state Party. International PEN also calls the Thai authorities to decriminalise the offence of ‘lèse-majesté, which is apparently being used to stifle legitimate discussion of the monarchy.

According to International PEN's information, Harry Nicolaides was sentenced to three years in prison by a court in Bangkok on 19 January 2009, after pleading guilty to ‘lèse-majesté', under Article 112 of the Criminal Code. He was initially sentenced to six years in prison, but due to his confession the term was reduced.

Harry Nicolaides, aged 41, was arrested at the Bangkok airport when he was about to board his plane to Australia on 31 August 2008. The sentenced is related to a passage in Nicolaides' novel Verisimilitude which is considered to be insulting to the Thai king's eldest son. It is said that in the 300-page book, only three lines refer to the crown prince, and that he is not even mentioned by name.

‘Lèse-majesté' laws in Thailand provides a prison sentence of three to fifteen years for defaming the king, the queen or the heir to the throne. Nicolaides is among a growing number of people to be prosecuted under this legislation, including Ji Ungpakorn, a political scientist and professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn university, who was charged by the police with ‘lèse-majesté' on 20 January 2009. The Public Prosecutor will take the final decision as to whether to bring Ji Ungpakorn to trial. The charges are linked to a book Ji Ungpakorn published in 2007 entitled A Coup for the Rich about the military coup of 2006 in Thailand. Ji Ungpakorn has called for the abolition of ‘lèse-majesté' laws and has launched an online petition. For more go to : http://wdpress.blog.co.uk/

For the previous WiPC alert on Harry Nicolaides, please see: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/index.cfm?objectid=6B50DA03-E0C4-ED84-0281D075BBE70AE7