Imprisonment in Thailand for ‘insulting’ 400-year-dead king?

This video from Thailand says about itself:

Sulak Sivaraksa on lèse majesté, nationalistic history, coup, and succession

6 November 2014

The self-proclaimed royalist Sulak Sivaraksa has faced at least three lèse majesté charges. The latest one filed against him at the age of 82 was brought by two retired generals who were not satisfied with Sulak’s speech on King Naresuan, a monarch who ruled Ayutthaya Kingdom about 400 years ago.

Prachatai’s Thaweeporn Kummetha interviewed Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and lèse majesté critic at his home in Bangkok.

In Thailand, there is draconian lèse majesté punishment for ‘insulting’ a living king or other royal. There is draconian lèse majesté punishment for ‘insulting’ a living king’s dog.

Now, things in Thailand are getting ‘curioser and curioser‘ as Alice used to say in Wonderland.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

One is not allowed to offend a king who died 400 years ago in Thailand

Today, 12:52

An 85-year-old Thai man may go to a prison cell for insulting a king who reigned 400 years ago. He appeared before the military court in Bangkok today and is accused of lèse majesté.

Sulak Sivaraksa three years ago in a speech at a university asked a question about what happened in 1593. He wondered if the story is true that at that time the Thai king Naresuan killed the Burmese crown prince in a personal duel on an elephant. This ‘battle of Nong Sarai’ is still commemorated every year.

Sulak, who has often expressed criticism about the rulers in Thailand, does not understand why he is still prosecuted for statements he made in 2014. “Maybe they do not like me because I never keep my mouth shut. I speak the truth. I have to be critical. That’s my job.”

People accused of lèse majesté in Thailand may be imprisoned between 3 and 15 years. There is nothing in the law about insulting dead kings, but according to Sivaraksa’s lawyer, it is just how someone interprets the law.

According to a human rights organization, since the army did a coup in Thailand in 2014, 138 people have been accused of lèse majesté.

What next? Will Theresa May in Britain now jail people for saying 16th century King of England Henry VIII had some of his wives beheaded (which is true), because Ms May wants ‘Henry VIII powers’ for herself?

This picture shows how Theresa May might look if she was Henry VIII, which she isn’t.

This 2015 French video, with English subtitles, asks itself whether French author Charles Perrault based his Bluebeard tale on King Henry VIII.

Five people accused by Thailand’s military junta of hoarding military weapons were charged on Thursday. The charges are a thinly veiled attempt to suppress political opposition and potentially to create a pretext for delaying or calling off elections promised for next year: here.