Thai man jailed for 30 years over facebook posts

48-year-old Pongsak Sriboonpeng has been jailed for 30 years under Thailand's harsh lese majeste laws for making Facebook posts that were critical of Thailand's monarchy. It's one of the severest sentences ever passed under the law and he was actually sentenced to 60 years but received a 50 per cent reduction for pleading guilty. He has no right of appeal.

It breaks the record set in April when a businessman was jailed for 25 years for Facebook posts deemed 'defamatory' to the monarchy.

Human rights groups say the law is being used as a political weapon to silence critics of the royalist elite and the military junta supporting them, since a military coup in Thailand in 2014. It seems worrying to me that the thousands of young, Facebooking tourists visiting Thailand each year are probably totally unaware these laws exist and could easily fall foul of them if they post something critical while in the country.

I haven't posted this in Crimes as it just doesn't fit any US/Australian/European criteria for a criminal act and it doesn't seem right to put it there, in my opinion.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crime/648284/facebook-poster-jailed-record-30-years-for-lese-majeste

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says it is appalled at the long prison sentences given to people convicted in Thailand of insulting the monarchy, and is calling for the immediate release of all people jailed for exercising freedom of expression.

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http://asiancorrespondent.com/134747/un-rights-agency-appalled-by-thailands-lese-majeste-jailings/

Along with Pongsak (who was actually caught through a sting set up by the military) a 29-year-old female also received a long prison term for a 'defamatory' Facebook post. Her 56-year sentence was reduced to 28 years as she pleaded guilty.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), the military court of the northern province of Chiang Mai on Friday afternoon, 7 August 2015, sentenced Sasiwimol (surname withheld due to privacy concerns), a 29-year-old employee of a hotel in the province, to 56 years in jail for allegedly posting six lese majeste messages under the Facebook identity ‘Rungnapha Kampichai’.

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http://asiancorrespondent.com/13465...cord-prison-sentences-for-insulting-monarchy/

A potted history of the Thai royal family and succession struggles, for those who want to know more.

http://www.zenjournalist.com/2012/10/a-brief-guide-to-thailands-royal-succession/

Photo:
http://www.catandnat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Thai-royal-family-1014x586.jpg

zwiebel said:

I haven't posted this in Crimes as it just doesn't fit any US/Australian/European criteria for a criminal act and it doesn't seem right to put it there, in my opinion.

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It should go to the Crimes against the freedom of speech and other human rights -forum.

Boy and I thought Canada was bad! Here in Toronto a twitter user is facing a potential 18 month prison sentence for simply disagreeing on twitter with a group of vindictive feminist activists.

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-c...l-could-have-enormous-fallout-for-free-speech

The BIG lesson to take away from these types of stories is that you should NEVER EVER use your REAL identity online. In the case of the man in Thailand had he used an alias he would have been safe as Facebook would never have revealed his identity (IP address) to Thai authorities under the circumstances (at least I hope they wouldn't!) . Likewise in the Toronto case the twitter user used his REAL identity and even tweeted pictures of himself and family making it easy for the corrupt, immoral, incompetent and unethical Toronto Police to establish his identity. Had he used an alias he would never have been arrested and persecuted.

It looks like the female did use a false identity on Facebook, because the name she posted under isn't the same as her first name (which is the only one revealed and something else that seems odd; that a person can be jailed for 28 years with no-one knowing who they are).

I'm not sure if FB would reveal an identity, but pages have proved easy to hack in the past so maybe authorities found her that way.

Don't know if there's any connection but Thailand just passed a law banning/curbing any public assembly or protest this morning.

http://abcnews.go.com/International...ublic-assembly-takes-effect-thailand-33053425