<p>On 14 December 2011, Sittisak Wanachakit, Justice Court spokesperson, made an extensive comment, published on <a href="http://www.bangkokbiznews.com/home/detail/politics/analysis/20111214/424435/news.html">กรุงเทพธุรกิจ</a>, on the case of Ah Kong, the 61-year-old man recently sentenced to twenty years in prison under Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code (the les&egrave; majest&eacute; law: &ldquo;<em>Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years</em>&rdquo;) and the 2007 Computer Crimes</p>

<p>One of the reasons why so many people are passionate about the lese-majeste law is that they regard His Majesty the King as the &quot;father&quot; of all Thais.</p>

<p>Deputy Prime Minister Pol Capt Chalerm Yubamrung is set to begin his crackdown on websites offensive to the monarchy, and has sought a budget of 400 million baht to buy new equipment to block foreign websites.</p>

<p>On 10 Dec, about 100 activists gathered at the Victory Monument to join a &lsquo;Fearlessness Walk&rsquo; to protest against the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law.</p>

<p><em>The attorney who's represented Amphon Tangnoppakul and Joe Gordon on lese majeste charges says he's standing by his principles</em></p> <p>Red-shirt attorney Arnon Nampa, who specialises in cases related to lese majeste, recently shot into the spotlight when his 61-year-old client Amphon &quot;Akong&quot; Tangnoppakul was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Amphon allegedly sent four SMS text messages deemed defamatory to Her Majesty the Queen and the monarchy to a personal secretary of then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.</p>

<p>9 December 2011 &ndash; The United Nations human rights office called on Thai authorities to reform laws that jail people convicted of insulting senior members of the country&rsquo;s royal family, saying they were having a chilling effect on freedom of expression.</p>

<p>Dual Thai-US citizen Joe Gordon was sentenced to two and a half years in prison yesterday under the lese-majeste law and the Computer Crimes Act for translating parts of a banned book about the King and posting them on the Internet while in the United States, prompting an immediate expression of concern from a locally based US official.</p>

<p>Reporters Without Borders is shocked by the two-and-a-half-year sentence imposed on American blogger Joe Gordon by a Bangkok court today for insulting the Thai royal family and deplores the increase in so-called l&egrave;se-majest&eacute; crimes in Thailand.</p>

<p>On 8 Dec, the Criminal Court sentenced <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/search/node/Joe%20Gordon">Joe Gordon</a>, a Thai-born American citizen, to 5 years in jail for l&egrave;se majest&eacute;, but reduced the jail term by half as he had pleaded guilty.</p>

<p>Suraphot Thaweesak, a university lecturer and Prachatai columnist, has received a summons to report to the police in Roi Et province in the Northeast as a result of a local yellow shirt&rsquo;s complaint against him for his comments on the Prachatai website.</p>

<p>Article 19, the international human rights organization on freedom of expression, has recently published a statement calling for the reversal of Thailand&rsquo;s latest l&egrave;se majest&eacute; conviction, 61-year-old grandfather Amphon, or the &ldquo;Ah Kong&rdquo; case.&nbsp; Amphon was sentenced 20 years for allegedly sending four vulgar SMS to the personal secretary of Abhisit Vejjajiva, then Prime Minister.</p>

<p>Singapore-based political scientist Pavin Chachavalpongpun, launched an on-line campaign on Wednesday to free Thailand's latest lese majeste law prisoner 61-year-old Amphon Tangnoppakul, aka Akong, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last week for allegedly sending four SMS messages defamatory to the Queen and the monarchy to personal secretary of then Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. The campaign is catching on and Pravit Rojanaphruk asked Pavin through the internet as to why he is doing it and what's his expectation.</p>