CNN \u2014 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A prominent American academic working in Thailand could face years in jail after being charged with insulting the monarchy, in a rare case of a foreign national allegedly falling foul of the kingdom\u2019s strict lese majeste law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University in central Thailand who writes analysis on the kingdom\u2019s military and politics, was formally charged when he presented himself to police on Tuesday, and appeared in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thailand<\/a> has some of the world\u2019s strictest lese majeste laws, and criticizing the king, queen, or heir apparent can lead to a maximum 15-year prison sentence for each offense. Anyone can file a lese majeste complaint and sentences for those convicted can be decades long, with hundreds of people prosecuted in recent years<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chambers\u2019 lawyer, Wannaphat Jenroumjit, said a warrant for his arrest was issued last week after a complaint was filed by a regional army command. Alongside lese majeste, Chambers is also facing charges under the Computer Crimes Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was accused of publishing a blurb on (Singapore\u2019s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies) website in connection with an ISEAS webinar in October 2024 about military reshuffles,\u201d said Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate, advocacy lead for Thai Lawyers for Human Rights and part of Chambers\u2019 legal team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe denied all charges. He neither wrote nor published the blurb on the website,\u201d said Akarachai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking ahead of Tuesday\u2019s court appearance, Chambers told CNN he had been told little about why he was charged and feared he \u201ccould be imprisoned for 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chambers is being held in custody after being denied bail. His lawyers have submitted another bail request in an effort to prevent him from being held in pre-trial detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chambers is a scholar, author and lecturer at Naresuan University\u2019s Centre of ASEAN Community Studies, and frequently contributes insights to news articles on Southeast Asia, including to CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n dvocates say the charges pose \u201ca grave threat to academic freedom in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnlike other lese majeste cases, this case involves an extremely well-established academic whose work focuses very deeply on the civil-military relations in Thailand and whose expertise is widely acknowledged within the academic community,\u201d said Akarachai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US Department of State said on Monday that it was \u201cconcerned\u201d by the reports of Chambers arrest and is providing consular assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe United States strongly supports freedom of expression around the world. We regularly urge Thai authorities, both privately and publicly, to protect freedom of expression in accordance with Thailand\u2019s international obligations,\u201d a State Department spokesperson told CNN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thailand\u2019s conservative, military-backed establishment has ruled the country on and off for decades, and critics say it routinely uses laws like lese majeste, sedition, and the computer crimes act to silence criticism and opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The military has long had an outsized influence<\/a> over the country\u2019s politics, despite Thais repeatedly voting overwhelmingly in support of the military\u2019s political and progressive opponents<\/a>. It has staged 13 successful coups since absolute monarchy rule ended in 1932, the latest in 2014 that ushered in just under a decade of military or military-backed rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CNN \u2014 A prominent American academic working in Thailand could face years in jail after being charged with insulting the monarchy, in a rare case of a foreign national allegedly falling foul of the kingdom\u2019s strict lese majeste law. Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University in central Thailand who writes analysis on the kingdom\u2019s military and politics, was formally charged when he presented himself to police on Tuesday, and appeared in court. Thailand has some of the world\u2019s strictest lese majeste laws, and criticizing the king, queen, or heir apparent can lead to a maximum 15-year prison sentence for each offense…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46100"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46102,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46100\/revisions\/46102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}