Thailand: Student blogger ‘witch hunted’ on Facebook
Written byMong Palatino
Suluck Lamubol writes that the first student blogger who was charged with Lese Majeste in Thailand was ‘witch hunted’ by a Facebook group called Social Sanction. The group's objective is “to increase public awareness of corruption and create pressure to combat it and to stop the crime of lese majeste”.
Written byMong Palatino
1 comment
The sad thing about this case is that it was the vice rector for students affairs who formally brought the charges against the former student. Universities are supposed to be places where open discussion about different ideas is tolerated and encouraged. This shows that there is still a strong atmosphere of censorship within Thai academia. Recently, there was another case where a US citizen was charged for lese-majeste in Thailand for a link he posted to a banned book about the Thai king on a blog. He is currently in jail awaiting trial, as process that could take years, and has been denied bail. The US embassy is unable to help him. Foreigners should exercise extreme caution when discussing the royal family in Thailand. Any foreigner in trouble should immediately contact their embassy and hire a Thailand Lawyer that will take their case.