Insult the King, Go to Jail

No, this is not a story about the Bush administration. The Times of London reports:

An Australian novelist was jailed for three years by a Bangkok court on Monday, the latest in a growing number of Thais and foreigners prosecuted for the crime of “insulting” the family of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Harry Nicolaides, a 41-year old teacher and part time writer was convicted on the basis of a 103 word paragraph about the alleged sexual peccadilloes of the royal family, particularly Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

He could have received a sentence of as much as twelve years and his decision to reverse an earlier plea of not guilty persuaded the judge to hand down the minimum sentence possible for the crime of lèse-majesté, or insulting the monarchy.

“He has written a book that slandered the king, the crown prince of Thailand and the monarchy,” the judge told the court.

“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.”

Mr Nicolaides appeared emaciated and emotional as he was led into court in orange prison overalls and leg irons.

“This is an Alice in Wonderland experience,” he told reporters before the beginning of proceedings. “I really believe that I am going to wake up and all of you will be gone... I was aware that an obscure law existed, but I was not aware it would apply to me.”

His offence was to publish a novel entitled Verisimilitude in 2005, containing references to rumours about the “romantic entanglements and intrigues” of the Crown Prince. A few dozen copies were printed and only a few of these sold. But in August last year, he was arrested as he attempted to fly to Australia after several months teaching English at a university in the
northern city of Chiang Mai.

He joins a list of people, including several foreigners, to have been prosecuted for lèse-majesté. The present law was enacted in the 1950s but has never been invoked by members of the royal family themselves.

The International Herald Tribune reports:

Speaking to reporters before the verdict was announced, Nicolaides said he had endured "unspeakable suffering" during five months of detention. "I would like to apologize," he added. "This can't be real. It feels like a bad dream."

Nicolaides, who had been an English teacher in Thailand, was detained Aug. 31 as he was about to board a plane home, apparently unaware that an arrest warrant had been issued against him.

"At nighttime he's in a cell with at least 50 other people," Nicolaides's attorney, Mark Dean, said in an interview last month with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "The sanitary conditions, to put it mildly, are basic. People suffer from TB and HIV. There is violence within the cell."

A news release about the novel, posted on a blog called Costa del Gangster, called the book "an uncompromising assault on the patrician values of the monarchy." It said the book was "savage, ruthless and unforgiving" in revealing a society "obsessed with Western affluence and materialism."

Nicolaides reportedly printed only 50 copies of the book - a paperback, with a bright blue butterfly on the cover - and sold just 10. Long out of print, it is not listed on Amazon.com or other booksellers' Web sites.

"I think it's reasonable to say that just writing a simple paragraph in a novel, to expect that would land you in such serious legal trouble, must have come as a surprise for Harry," Andrew Walker, a fellow in the Asia-Pacific Program at Australian National University, said on ABC. "I think Thailand is trying to send a message to international media, to writers, to bloggers, to people who are putting material on the Internet that the royal family is out of bounds."

You can read more about the case in Australian newspapers here and here. A CNN video report is here. There's no mention of a wife or kids . . . but that would be beside the point anyway.

Lèse-majesté sounds so 18th-century to our American ears, don't it? Have no idea how anybody can help this poor fellow, but I'm sure going to include him in my prayers tonight. Bless him.

There's a lot that needs fixing about America right now, but thank God there's a lot that's still right about our country. Not since the Alien and Sedition Acts were repealed has it been a crime to criticize the President in writing or speech. Even Bush didn't dare bring that back.

Good thing too, because half the population would have been in jail the last 8 years, huh?

King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit. According to Wikipedia, "the lèse majesté laws are not really designed to protect the institution of the monarchy. In the past the laws have been used to protect governments, to protect military coups. This whole [royal] image is created to bolster a conservative elite well beyond the walls of the palace." Sound familiar?