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       Thailand Imposes Longest-Ever Sentence for Criticizing Royalty

       An activist received 50 years in prison for sharing TV and film content on social media that violated the country’s law against defaming its monarchy.

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       The political activist Mongkhon Thirakhot flashes the pro-democracy gesture of a three-finger salute ahead of going to a court in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Rai, Thailand, on Thursday. Credit...Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, via Associated Press

       By Sui-Lee Wee

       Reporting from Bangkok

       Jan. 19, 2024, 7:08 a.m. ET

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       Over two months in 2021, an online clothing vendor shared 27 posts on Facebook that included clips from John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight,” a Fox animated series, and a BBC documentary. The content was deemed offensive to the monarchy, and this week his sentence was extended, to 50 years in prison.

       It is the harshest penalty to date imposed under a law that makes criticizing royalty a crime, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a group of lawyers providing assistance to people detained after the country’s 2014 military coup.

       Thailand has one of the world’s strictest lèse-majesté laws; it forbids defaming, insulting or threatening the king and other members of the royal family. Known as Article 112, the charge carries a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum sentence of 15 years. It is the only law in Thailand that imposes a minimum jail term.

       Even though a civilian government took office in September after almost a decade of military rule, there has been no letup in the number of prosecutions against people who have criticized the monarchy. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has said he would not amend or abolish the law, which observers say will only exacerbate the gulf in a nation that remains deeply polarized.

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       Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region. More about Sui-Lee Wee

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