<p class="rteleft">It is recognized that human beings, regardless of origin or status, should have human dignity, liberty, and equality, and show reasonableness and tolerance toward differing opinions, and that in a democratic society, the right to freedom of expression is indispensable and any restriction of this freedom must be in proportion to necessity and not of a form that conflicts with the essence of this freedom.</p>

<p>These days any online search in Thai or English for Article 112 usually leads to updated news from one day to the next. We just learned, for example, from <a href="http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/NHRC-needs-rest-of-year-to-consider-lese-majeste-l-30173657.html">The Nation</a> that Thailand&rsquo;s lackluster human rights commission will need all this year to define its position on an issue worthy of such attention several decades ago.</p>

<p>So who is Kan-thoop? Kan-thoop is a name that is familiar to those who have closely followed Thai politics over the past two years, especially if they are embedded in the social media.&nbsp; </p>

<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>He was born normal,<br /> neither physically nor emotionally disabled. <br /> He can love and be loved,<br /> He can hate and be hated,<br /> as an ordinary man.</p>

<p>On 23 November 2011, <a href="http://prachatai.com/journal/2011/11/37991">Ampon Tangnoppakul</a> was sentenced to 20 years, the longest known sentence to date under the Computer Crimes Act of 2007. His alleged crime? Allegedly sending four SMS messages with allegedly anti-monarchy content to the personal secretary of the former prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva. As Prachatai has reported, the sentence was delivered via videolink as flooding made it unfeasible for Ampon to be brought to the Criminal Court to hear the sentence.</p>

<p>Whenever Mrs Hilary Clinton visits any country, a meeting with those leaders is always a must in her programme. Normal practice for others too, courtesy call by foreign minister to a leader in the visited nation is a good protocol reflecting close and good relations between the two sides.</p>

<p>Prachatai has monitored the <a href="http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/2826">case</a> closely, writing that &quot;the Thai-born American citizen was arrested by the Department of Special Investigation in late May this year for allegedly translating the banned book &lsquo;The King Never Smiles&rsquo; and placing links to download the translation on the internet, violating the l&egrave;se majest&eacute; law and the 2007 Computer Crimes Act.&quot;</p>

<p>Six years ago, a taxi driver, Nuamthong Praiwan, slammed his taxi into a military tank near a military headquarters in Bangkok. The seriously injured driver told the press he wanted to protest against the coup committed on 19 September that year. Then, the Deputy Spokesperson of the coupmakers, the misnomer, &ldquo;Council for Democratic Reform (CDR)&rdquo;, lashed out against the driver claiming that in thiscountry &ldquo;no one dares to die for democracy.&rdquo; In protest of the slanderous remark, on 31 October, Uncle Nuamthong hung himself to a flyover on Vipavadi Rd.</p>

<p>Migrants are one &lsquo;at risk&rsquo; group of people in the terrible floods that are affecting Thais and Thailand at this time for which the government needs to have a clear policy and response.</p>

<p>Once again, London-based freedom of expression activists, <a href="http://www.article19.org">ARTICLE 19</a>, are taking the lead in pushing the international agenda for the repeal and reform of Thailand's draconian lese majeste law. In addition, in the interview below, they have also called for the immediate release of ALL of Thailand's lese majeste prisoners.&nbsp; But the most surprising development - which ARTICLE 19 have highlighted in their most recent press release - is the Thai Foreign Ministry's quite extraordinary comments on l&egrave;se majest&eacute;.</p>

<p>Here is the gist of the Constitutional Court&rsquo;s ruling on the constitutionality of Section 177 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Previously, Da Torpedo&rsquo;s attorney challenged in the Lower Court (Criminal Court) that the holding of her trial on l&egrave;se majest&eacute; charges in closed doors is in breach of Section 29 and Section 40(2) of the 2007 Constitution (concerning the rights to fair trial).</p>