Thread: Australian Stuck in Thai Jail

Originally Posted by bkkpirate

I can't find the thread that was started in September when Harry was first arrested.

That's because you need more posts to access the members area.

Originally Posted by EmperorTud

Originally Posted by bkkpirate

I can't find the thread that was started in September when Harry was first arrested.

That's because you need more posts to access the members area.

However, I read the thread last week with Harry's book jacket photos in it. As well as the link to what he wrote for that Oregon NGO.

Did the thread move by any chance?

Thailand's Foreign Ministry's latest plan is to 'educate' foreigners on the severity of the lese-majeste law. Not sure how they intend to achieve this.



Thailand's government wants to launch a campaign to teach foreigners about its strict monarchy protection laws.

The country's justice ministry is planning the education program in response to the international backlash against the imprisonment of Australian writer Harry Nicolaides, who was last week sentenced to three years in jail for slandering the royal family.

An official said: "The ministry has an idea to seek cooperation from the foreign ministry to ask all Thai embassies abroad to educate foreigners about lese majeste laws.

She said foreigners misunderstand the complicated laws, mistakenly believing the crime is not serious and carries a light sentence.

In fact, insulting the Thai royal family carries a maximum jail sentence of 15 years and some MPs are pushing to increase it to 25 years.

The official said protecting the royal family was the "government's priority" but activists say the recent increase in lese majeste investigations is designed to stifle dissenting voices.

Thai authorities have banned nearly 4,000 websites in recent months for allegedly insulting the crown.

More than 17 criminal cases of defaming the royal family are currently active.

Nicolaides, a 41-year-old university lecturer from Melbourne who has lived in Thailand for several years, was accused of insulting the king, the crown prince and the monarchy in his 2005 self-published novel that sold just seven copies.

The offending paragraph described a fictional prince who becomes embroiled in scandalous gossip. The judge said it "suggested abuse of royal power".

His lawyer and the Australian government have requested a royal pardon.

Originally Posted by bor

suggested

Criminal, really!

Originally Posted by sabang

He'll be kept there to suffer, and then granted a royal pardon.

The Judiciary are soooo busy right now.

Will the King smile on Harry?

03-02-09


CJ Hinke of FACT comments:
I found these two 2008 threads on New Mandala (http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/) to be fascinating reading. (Don’t know how we missed them!)
The first is an interview with Paul Handley, author of the notorious banned book, The King Never Smiles (http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/2007/09/19/interview-with-paul-handley/). Comments are by Thais in Thailand, Thai and Western academics in the field of Thai studies, expatriate Thais and foreign academics and observers living in Thailand and abroad.
The comments are a liberal mixture of fact, opinion, speculation, gossip and innuendo about the Thai monarchy. The second thread continues with further comments by both Thais and foreigners with the author’s responces (http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/2007/09/28/paul-handley-replies-to-comments/).
The most fascinating item was, for me, a hallmark of Royal myth which, repeated so often, has come to be regarded as truth.
We have all heard that His Majesty pardoned Swiss national Oliver Rudolf Jufer following his conviction and sentence to ten years in prison for lèse-majesté in 2007. While drunk, Jufer, a resident of Chiang Mai for 10 years with his Thai family, defaced public portraits of the King by spray-painting on the King’s birthday. This was obviously a case of drunken vandalism which may, or may not, have really been directed at the King and be merely vandalism due to drunkeness or mental illness.
A poster to this thread has commented that the Swiss Embassy petitioned the King with official information that Jufer was mentally ill which resulted in Royal pardon and deportation. (We have no further information on what has become of his Thai family.)
Perhaps because the Jufer case is so recent, most people in Thailand now believe it is the King’s normal practice to pardon all those convicted of lèse-majesté. Certainly to do so would be a clear message that His Majesty does not support the lèse-majesté laws and their flagrant application.
This rumour has been repeated so many times (I have been guilty of spreading it myself on FACTsite) that it has been given the ring of truth about Royal compassion. Perhaps it is what we want, or need, to believe.
However, the poster goes on to say that the King has never pardoned anyone else, Thai or foreigner, serving a lèse-majesté sentence.
In short, we don’t know what to believe.

Originally Posted by bor

Thailand's government wants to launch a campaign to teach foreigners about its strict monarchy protection laws.

Excellent idea.
That will finally scare away all tourists and foreign investors and give this country's elite the utter misery it deserves.

Dang Straight!

Bout time folk woke up to what this country really really is.

However, the poster goes on to say that the King has never pardoned anyone else, Thai or foreigner, serving a lèse-majesté sentence.

Surely that's easy enough to research.

Originally Posted by Chairman Mao

However, the poster goes on to say that the King has never pardoned anyone else, Thai or foreigner, serving a lèse-majesté sentence.

Surely that's easy enough to research.

Have a go. I have tried google with these tags, but haven't got any luck.

lese majeste released jail prison thailand

Swedish guy in CM recently ?

guess it's a time-line thing ?

I think one of the things that people don't bear in mind, is that HM is an elderly, frail man. I would think that mostly, he really only deals with papers that are put in front of him, and may well be out of touch. Cases of LM may well NOT be put in front of him, you can imagine a bucket load of courtiers and others who think they know best for HM.

Direct appeals to him may, or of course may NOT actually get to him. I have always thought that a lot is done "in his name" that he may have no clue or inkling about whatsoever.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

I have always thought that a lot is done "in his name" that he may have no clue or inkling about whatsoever.

And that's exactly what you're meant to think.
Clever, isn't it

^ yep, I agree.

^ ^^ Yup . . . Google Pavlov and extrapolate

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by nidhogg

I have always thought that a lot is done "in his name" that he may have no clue or inkling about whatsoever.

And that's exactly what you're meant to think.
Clever, isn't it

Sometimes a doddering old man is just that.

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by nidhogg

I have always thought that a lot is done "in his name" that he may have no clue or inkling about whatsoever.

And that's exactly what you're meant to think.
Clever, isn't it

Sometimes a doddering old man is just that.

Been in his 80s all his life, has he?

Surprised no-one posted this link to te man himself talking about his life behind bars:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5604466.ece

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by nidhogg

Originally Posted by DrB0b

Originally Posted by nidhogg

I have always thought that a lot is done "in his name" that he may have no clue or inkling about whatsoever.

And that's exactly what you're meant to think.
Clever, isn't it

Sometimes a doddering old man is just that.

Been in his 80s all his life, has he?

No. But is not part of the problem an increase in LM cases?