Thai minor held over ‘royal insults’: HRW

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has been detained in a Thai army prison under a draconian and increasingly wielded royal defamation law, Human Rights Watch said yesterday, as it decried the secrecy surrounding the latest series of arrests.

The law in Thailand forbids any criticism of the monarchy and punishes transgressors with up to 15 years in jail for each offence. Use of the law has skyrocketed since an ultraroyalist junta seized power in 2014. There have been a flurry of cases in recent weeks, many linked to social media posts about Thailand’s new king MahaVajiralongkorn, who ascended the throne late last year.

Royal insult cases are typically shrouded in secrecy with media forced to heavily self-censor details. But the latest detentions have been especially opaque.

Thai human rights groups and local media say a group of between four to seven people, including a minor, were arrested in northeastern Thailand on May 15 for allegedly burning a portrait of Vajiralongkorn’s late father Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which often provides legal representation to lese majeste suspects, said the group was taken from Khon Kaen province to a notorious army prison on a Bangkok barracks and that they had been held incommunicado since.

In a statement yesterday, Human Rights Watch said their researchers had confirmed the names of four of the suspects – 14-year-old Abhisit Chailee; Jirayu Sinpho, 19; Akkharapong Ayukong, 19; and Ratthathammanoon Srihabutr, 20.

Brad Adams, the group’s asia director, said that the latest arrests “should set off alarm bells”.

“None of the four youths arrested should have been denied access to a judge and placed in an incommunicado military detention, whatever the charge against them,” he said.