Australian Jailed for "insulting" Royals
AN Australian writer has been sentenced to three years in jail for insulting Thailand's revered royal family in a novel.Harry Nicolaides, 41, had pleaded guilty to the charge earlier today. 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.
Article 112 refers to Thailand's harsh “lese majeste” laws protecting the monarchy from insult, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
Thailand has in recent months intensified the policing of laws against insulting the royal family. The country's lese majeste laws are some of the harshest in the world.
This is the great criminal Thailand has put behind bars:
Nicolaides, a Melbourne resident who lived in Thailand from 2003 to 2005 where he taught at the Mae Fah Luang University, has described his novel as a commentary on political and social life of contemporary Thailand.
"Tell my family I am very concerned," he told reporters, breaking down in tears.
He said he had endured "unspeakable suffering" during his pre-trial detention but did not elaborate
Nicolaides's brother Forde said he was concerned about his sibling's health.
"His health isn't that crash hot. He has had continuous flu-like symptoms since he has been incarcerated. He has lost a lot of weight. He can't eat the prison food," Forde said.
"He is generally unwell and has undergone a lot of mental trauma, as anyone would in a foreign country.
Not all the world accepts ideas like freedom of speech. Even nearby modern democracies who we trade with and holiday in year round.
Australian's overseas are necessarily expected to follow another countries law, and I doubt there is much the Australian government could do, even if it went in to bat for him. However here is a perfect example of where international law defending basic human rights is critically needed.
Here's a link to a copy of his novel. Here is the offending passage (as far as I can tell)
"From King Rama to the Crown Prince, the nobility was renowned for their romantic entanglements and intrigues. The Crown Prince had many wives - major and minor - with a coterie of concubines for entertainment. One of his recent wives was exiled with her entire family, including a son they conceived together, for an undisclosed indiscretion. He subsequently remarried with another woman and fathered another child. It was rumored that if the prince fell in love with one of his minor wives and she betrayed him, she and her family would disappear with their name, familial lineage and all vestiges of their existence expunged forever"
Three years for that. Poor Bastard.
This is why Politics matters. This is why words like Freedom still matter, however good our welfare system, or however mis-used by men like G.W.Bush.
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