3 Thai women jailed on lese majeste charges freed

By Max Constant

BANGKOK (AA) - Three women sentenced for insulting Thailand's widely revered monarchy under its draconian defamation laws were released from jail Saturday after spending between 12 months and eight years in prison.

The trio, including Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul -- nicknamed “Da Torpedo” for her fiery oratorical style, were included in a batch of 100 female prisoners who received a royal pardon, according to Weeranan Huadsri, a member of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which has been providing legal assistance to people sentenced under the extensive powers of the military junta who seized power in May 2014.

Charnchoengsilpakul was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2011 for a speech she gave in 2008 during a gathering of opponents of a September 2006 coup. A part of her speech was deemed “insulting to the King”.

She had already served five years of her sentence, and prior to that a further three years awaiting trial, according to the Bangkok Post on Saturday.

Also released was 27-year-old Pornthip Munkong, who was sentenced -- alongside actor Patiwat Saraiyaem -- to five years in jail in 2015 for directing a play named “The Wolf’s Bride”, which was deemed insulting to the monarchy.

The play took place at Thamassat University in October 2013, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the student revolt of October 1973, when the military brutally repressed mass demonstrations.

Saraiyaem, 24, remains in jail. Both sentences were halved after the duo pleaded guilty.

The third woman to be released Saturday, Thitinan Kaewjantranont, had received a jail term of two years for behavior deemed offensive in front of a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Her jail time was halved, however, as Kaewjantranont -- deemed mentally ill by doctors -- pleaded guilty.

Thailand has the harshest lese-majeste law in the world. Section 112 of the Thai criminal code punishes those who “insult, defame or threaten the king, the queen, the heir or the regent” with jail terms between three and 15 years.

In the last ten years, judges have tended to broadly interpret the law, with a man criticizing a 19th century king jailed, along with another who mocked a dog belonging to the current king on Facebook .

Since the 2014 coup, those accused of the crime of lese-majeste are sent to military courts. At least 57 people have subsequently been charged according to local rights groups Ilaw, with 44 of these because of online commentaries.

The cases took place despite the king himself speaking against the abuse of section 112 of the criminal code.

In a 2005 speech, King Bhumibol said, while speaking of lese-majeste cases: “actually I must also be criticized… Because if you say the king cannot be criticized, it means the king is not human”

“If you say the king cannot do wrong, it is akin to looking down upon him,” he added.

The 88 year-old king has been ailing and confined to a Bangkok hospital for several years.

His declining health is a cause of deep anxiety for the country who see him as a unifying factor.