Thailand lèse-majesté case: UN declares detention arbitrary and demands immediate release.

04/02/2016
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Bangkok Post / Thanarak Khunton

Pornthip Munkong aka Golf was accused of “lèse-majesté” for performing in a political play called Jao Sao Maa Paa [‘Wolf’s Bride’] in October 2013. Under Thailand’s stringent Criminal Code, “whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir to the throne or the Regent shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years.” Golf was arrested on 15 August 2014 at Hat Yai Airport and has been detained ever since. On 23 February 2015, the Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced her to two and a half years in prison

FIDH brought the case before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) in July 2015. On 2 December 2015, the UNWGAD found Golf’s detention arbitrary and requested that Thailand immediately release her with compensation. Golf is the third Thai lèse-majesté detainee whose deprivation of liberty has been declared arbitrary by the UNWGAD.

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