Prisoners jailed for insulting Thailand's king face abuse
Those convicted of abusing Thailand's revered king are beaten and shunned in prison
Locked up for breaking Thailand's most enduring taboo, the kingdom's "royal insult" prisoners say they face mistreatment from jail guards and are shunned even by common criminals.
They are viewed by supporters as prisoners of conscience, and in most countries would never have been locked up.
But in Thailand they carry the stigma of flouting one of the nation's most controversial laws: defaming the monarchy.
"Some of the wardens took me to a different part of the jail and ordered other prisoners to beat me," said Thantawut Thaweewarodomkul, who is serving a 13-year term for posting online content deemed offensive to the royals. The incident, which happened soon after he was incarcerated three years ago, left him with two black eyes, the 40-year-old said at the high-security Bangkok Remand Prison.
The former administrator of the Nor Por Chor USA website, linked to the red-shirt protest movement loyal to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he was convicted under controversial lèse-majesté and computer-crime laws.
He is one of nine lèse-majesté prisoners in the kingdom, according to the Office of the Human Rights Commission of Thailand, which says there have been 241 cases under the law since 2007, with an unknown proportion still under investigation.
Benjamin Zawacki, Southeast Asia researcher for Amnesty International, said lèse-majesté is seen as an "offence to society" and not just the four individuals it is designed to protect - the Thai king, queen, heir or regent.