Criticising the clown and the crown
Trump’s inauguration in the USA has dominated headlines this week – below, you’ll find our analysis of his executive orders, and how they could impact free speech. First though, I want to draw your attention to the other side of the world, specifically to Thailand. This week the South-East Asian country legalised gay marriage. But sadly this good news was balanced out with bad. The lawyer and activist Arnon Nampa was handed down a sixth conviction for a speech he made in a pro-democracy protest in August 2020, which violated the country’s lèse-majesté law. This makes it illegal to insult the Thai royal family, and is amongst the harshest globally.
Arnon’s words were a far cry from “off with their heads”. He even said it wasn’t about “toppling the monarchy” and instead about discussing how “the monarchy will exist in Thai society in a manner that is correct and legitimate for a democracy with the king as head of state”. For such a suggestion, Arnon will likely spend 18 years in jail, maybe more.
Arnon is not alone in being punished for his anti-monarchy activism. Just last week, a 33-year-old man, referred to as Sathaphon, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for raising his middle finger at the royal motorcade in May 2022.
Hundreds more are in prison on the same charge, many of whom were arrested following mass protests that erupted in 2020 when people took to the streets to call for democratic and royal reforms. In one particularly extreme case, a woman was sentenced to 87 years for allegedly sharing clips on social media of an online talk show that defamed the monarchy.
So it’s been a bad week for the country’s anti-monarchists. It’s also been bad for 48 Uyghur men who are in a Thai immigration centre, where they’ve been since 2014. They’re on hunger strike to protest against imminent deportation to China. These men didn’t travel to Thailand for a holiday. They went to escape the real and very extreme persecution they face in China. The conditions they’ve endured in Thailand are already inhumane. If repatriated to China, it’ll be even worse.
Thai authorities have denied plans to deport them, despite reports that the men have been asked to sign consent forms to be sent back (and despite the fact that in 2015, Thai authorities did deport 109 Uyghurs back to China, and Thai authorities were likely also involved in the disappearance of Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai, who later reappeared in a Chinese jail).
International pressure has grown this week from the UN and the new US administration over the fate of the 48. We support these calls. And we add our own calls; release Arnon and the others incarcerated for criticising the monarchy. Wearing a crown does not mean you are beyond reproach.
Jemimah Steinfeld
CEO, Index on Censorship
