Thai pair jailed for defaming monarchy as junta crackdown intensifies

Two young Thais accused of defaming the monarchy in a university play were jailed for two and a half years on Monday, as the ruling junta intensifies a crackdown under the controversial lèse majesté law.

Student Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and activist Porntip Mankong, 26, were sentenced after pleading guilty to defamation following their arrests last August, nearly a year after The Wolf Bride, a satire set in a fictional kingdom, was performed.

The pair were originally sentenced to five years in prison each but the term was reduced to two years and six months due to their confessions, said a judge at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok.

“The court considers their role in the play caused serious damage to the monarchy and sees no reason to suspend their sentences,” he said.

The pair had each been charged with one count of lèse majesté linked to the performance at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, which marked the 40th anniversary of a pro-democracy student protest at the campus that was brutally crushed by the military regime in October 1973.

After the sentencing the pair’s lawyer Pawinee Chumsri said the two “would not appeal” the ruling.