Thais given harsh terms for insulting monarchy

BANGKOK Two military courts handed down Thailand’s harshest sentences in recent decades for insulting the monarchy, punishing two Facebook users Friday in the latest cases involving comments posted online.

A man in Bangkok was set to prison for 30 years for six Facebook postings, and a mother of two young girls in the northern province of Chiang Mai was handed a 28- year term for seven postings, said iLaw, a watchdog group that monitors such cases. Their original sentences were halved because they admitted their guilt to the court.

Bangkok Military Court chief judge Maj. Gen. Panomthep We-saratchanun said the trial of Pongsak Sriboonpeng was conducted behind cl osed doors because “what he wrote was beyond rude. Even the prosecutor did not want to read them out loud.”

Thailand’s lese majeste law is considered the world’s harshest, with those accused of defaming, insulting or threatening the monarchy facing prison terms ranging from three to 15 years on each count.

Critics says it is often used as a tool to smother social and political dissent, and note that 87- yearold King Bhumibol Adulyadej himself proclaimed in a public speech last year that he is not above criticism.