Contrasting Thai Lèse Majesté Law with United States First Amendment Freedoms
SHOUT FOR FREEDOM TO CURSE AT THE KINGDOM: CONTRASTING THAI LÈSE MAJESTÉ LAW WITH UNITED STATES FIRST AMENDMENT FREEDOMS Sukrat Baber* I. INTRODUCTION A. Thai Lèse-majesté Law Lèse-majesté (or lese majesty) laws prohibit insults, defamation, and criticism towards royal sovereigns of States.1 In an age of rising transparency and fight for democracy, these laws are seldom enforced and seem to be disappearing in countries where they exist.2 However, Thailand’s lèse majesté laws, more than 100 years after their implementation,3 are still strongly enforced—more than 400 cases came to trial between 2006 and 2011.4 To avoid reprimand, citizens must at all times be wary of their public or even private discussions and published works relating to Thailand’s royalty. One need not look further than the codified law to understand the length and strength of its reach: Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code states, “Whoever, defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years.”5 * Sukrat Baber is a 2014 J.D. graduate of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Mr. Baber was inspired to write about this topic after he arrived in Thailand for an internship in the summer of 2012, and was advised that he was better off not speaking about the Thai king at all because almost any comment could be construed as insulting the revered king and cause social or legal issues. 1. See CRIMINAL CODE [CRIM. C.] B.E. 2499 (1956), s.
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