<p>Years and years ago, when I was still trying to figure out who really ruled the world (I now know – it’s misogynistic, racist, bigoted braggarts with strange hair and an even stranger attitude to the truth), an unusual thing happened in Thailand.&nbsp;</p> <p>The civilian government of the day suddenly found a sliver of spine and tried to tell the military that their lethal-toys-for-the-feral-boys budget might not be as excessive as they wished.&nbsp; Predictable outrage from personages with starch-pressed uniforms and ditto minds.</p>

<div> <div>A fraudster has been arrested for lèse majesté after deceiving villagers into thinking she was a volunteer nurse under one of the late King’s royal projects.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 11 November 2016, police officers in Nakhon Sawan Province arrested Wandi Laikhlaidok, 48, for defamation, fraud and lèse majesté. </div></div>

<p>Perhaps I should take the opportunity of these troubled times to clear my conscience.</p> <p>It was the coronation of the person who has taken over the mantle of the longest-reigning monarch in the world.&nbsp; I was a pre-schooler still trying to figure out how the world worked.</p> <p>One thing that I couldn’t figure out was why, if I wasn’t old enough for real school, I still had to go to Sunday school.&nbsp; Only much later in life did I learn the delights of the Sunday afternoon naps that my father enjoyed while I was sent to The Schoolroom.</p>

<div> <div>Thai police commander has demanded that Thai people stop harassing lèse majesté offenders, adding that 12 people have been prosecuted since King Bhumibol’s death. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 19 October 2016, Chakthip Chaijinda, Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police, asked the public to report lèse majesté cases to the police, rather than harassing suspected offenders. </div></div>

<div> <div>The junta has issued an order abolishing military court trials of civilians who commit crimes against national security, including sedition and lèse majesté cases.</div> </div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://122.155.92.12/centerWeb/Uploads/Image/2559/04/22/PNPOL590422002004101_22042016_070803.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 357px;" /></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div> <div>On 12 September 2016, the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Head Order No. 55/2016 was published in the Royal Gazette. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">French edition of Marie Claire magazine has been banned because of an article related a member of Thai royal family. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong><em>Paris-Geneva, April 30, 2015 - Thailand’s Supreme Court must immediately release on bail human rights defender Somyot Phrueksakasemsuk and expedite his appeal trial, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint program, said today.</em></strong></p>

<p>The Appeal Court on Wednesday sentenced a 66-year-old bookseller to three years in jail under the lèse majesté law for selling a banned book with the jail term reduced by one third.</p> <p>Bangkok’s Southern Criminal Court on Wednesday morning overturned the Court of First Instance’s ruling to acquit a defendant accused under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, known as the lèse majesté law, and sentenced him to three years imprisonment. The defendant prefers to be referred to as defendant U. due to privacy concerns.</p>

<p>The Thai junta is trying hard to press other countries to extradite political exiles for allegedly defaming the revered Thai monarchy, saying that they should think twice about their long term relations with Thailand, after claiming that the exiles caused the biggest single day loss on the Thai stock market.</p>

<p>An ex-lèse majesté suspect charged with disobeying a junta order pleaded guilty to failing to report to the junta in June, despite the fact that he had earlier been arrested by the junta.</p> <p>Nut S., an anti-coup activist accused of defying the coup order which summoned him to report to the coup-makers in June, pleaded guilty during the trial at the military court in Bangkok on Wednesday morning.</p>

<div>The Thai junta leader has ordered the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) to deploy harsher measures on lèse majesté websites.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According <a href="http://www.dailynews.co.th/Content/politics/287655/“ประยุทธ์”กระทุ้งไอซีทีจัดการเว็บหมิ่นสถาบัน">Daily News</a>,&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 12px;">Prayut Chan-o-cha, head of the Thai junta, urged the MICT during a high level meeting at the Government House on Monday morning to closely monitor lèse majesté websites and other websites that might affect public morale.</span></div> <div>&nbsp; </div>

<p>A prosecutor and several others filed lèse majesté complaints against the Secretary-General of the&nbsp;<a href="http://1king1heart.net/th/inspiration.php">Office of The Under Royal Graciousness</a>&nbsp;[sic] for embezzling money through a false royal project. &nbsp;</p>