The Harvard Crimson on Wednesday removed an article which talked about the pro-coup Thai elite trying to influence the Thai Studies programme at Harvard for the “personal safety of its author.”    Written by Ilya Garger, the article “Troubles with Thai Studies” raised concerns that by allowing the pro-coup Thai elite to influence the establishment of a permanent Thai Studies programme at Harvard, academic freedom may become compromised.    “Having overthrown a series

19 August 2014   Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights : Ravina Shamdasani Location: Geneva Subject: Thailand          We are seriously concerned about the prosecution and harsh sentencing of individuals in Thailand under the country's lèse majesté law. Such measures are adding to the larger pattern of increasing restrictions on freedom of expression in Thailand.

  After ASTV-Manager Weekly last week was reprimanded by the junta, the publisher of Matichon Weekly on Friday decided to halt distribution of its latest issue due to fear of a lèse majesté prosecution.   ASTV-Manager Online on Friday reported that it has been confirmed by the distributer of the weekly news magazine that Matichon has asked the distributer to stop distributing issue 1774 of the magazine for 15-21 August, but did not call in the ones which had been sold, adding that Matichon told the distributor that it “doesn’t want the publishi

  The Criminal Court on Thursday found a taxi driver guilty of lèse majesté based on his conversation with a passenger and sentenced him to two years and six months in jail.   The 43-year-old Yuthasak (last name withheld due to privacy concerns), the taxi driver, pleaded guilty before the court, according to iLaw.    The topic of the conversation which later landed the driver in jail was inequality in Thai society.    In June, the pol

  Ubon Ratchathani Court on Thursday sentenced a man to 15 years in jail for posting messages deemed lèse majesté on Facebook. The court initially sentenced him to 30 years, but since the defendant pleaded guilty, the sentence was reduced by half, iLaw reported.      The man, whose first name begins with P and last name begins with T, was found guilty on nine counts for nine comments insulting the King, Queen and the Crown Prince on Facebook between July 2011 and March 2012.