Australian Writer Gets Three Years in Thai Prison

The defamation in question took place in a book published by Nicolaides in 2005. Apparently a small passage within the text makes reference to the wild private life of a prince who is not named. The book titled, Verisimilitude, sold approximately ten copies; of which only one is known to remain. Ironically this copy rests at the Thai National Library and is freely available to the public.

The case’s presiding judge indicated that parts of the book “suggested that there was an abuse of royal power”. The author was then charged under the country’s strict lèse-majesté laws, which call for a jail term of up to 15 years for anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir to the throne or Regent.”

The Australian author was arrested on Aug. 31 as he attempted to leave the country; apparently unaware that a warrant for his arrest had been issued. Nicolaides originally received a six year sentence but the term was commuted in response to the author’s plea of guilty. Before the issuing of the verdict Nicolaides took a moment to speak with the press saying that he would like to apologize and that “It feels like a bad dream.”

The Australian national had already spent five months in a Thai prison awaiting trial in conditions that the author himself described as an “unspeakable suffering”. Mark Dean, the writer’s attorney, described his client’s imprisonment in an interview granted to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "At nighttime he's in a cell with at least 50 other people. The sanitary conditions, to put it mildly, are basic. People suffer from TB and HIV. There is violence within the cell."

Nicolaides is only one of a number of lèse-majesté cases to surface in recent months. Over 3,000 websites have been blocked and a political activist was jailed for six years in November for an anti-monarchy speech given last July. Most cases are usually directed toward the civilian populace but it is not unheard of for these laws to be applied to foreigners.

The active enforcement of these laws is seen by many as a response to concerns over the eventual succession of Thailand’s king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is 81. The king, despite having no real political role, is considered to be a unifying force within the heavily fractioned nation. Many view the implementing of these laws as an attempt by the police and army to try to suppress anti-monarchy sentiment.

Plans are already being made to appeal for a royal pardon. According to Jonathon Head, the BBC correspondent in Bangkok, as a repentant foreigner Nicolaides does at least have a good chance of being pardoned by the king. Precedent exists due to a 2006 case in which a Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for vandalizing images of the king; but was then pardoned after serving only one month of his term.

By: Alberto Ramos Cordero

Sources:
ABC News, BBC News, International Herald Tribune, Radio Netherlands, The Daily Telegraph