A 27-year-old business owner has been found guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for sharing two Facebook posts and given a suspended prison sentence of 3 years.

(Illustration by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights)

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported on Monday (30 October) that Manikhwan (last name withheld) was found guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for sharing two posts from the Facebook page KonthaiUk.

One of the posts contained a summary of an article titled “Why Thais are losing Faith in the Monarchy,” written by academic-in-exile Pavin Chachavalpongpun and published in the Washington Post. The other post claimed that a Thai Airways plane was parked on palace grounds and that the King was using taxpayer’s money flying around. The post was shared onto the anti-monarchy Facebook group Royalist Marketplace.

Manikhwan was charged after a complaint was filed against her by Uraphon Suntaraphot, who according to TLHR has filed at least 5 royal defamation complaints with the police in Samut Prakan’s Bang Kae Subdistrict.

Manikhwan said that in 2020, she received messages from an unknown Facebook user threatening to file a royal defamation complaint against her.

Manikhwan initially denied the charges. However, she decided to confess during the first witness examination hearing in August 2023. The Samut Prakan Provincial Court subsequently cancelled all remaining witness examination hearings and on Monday (30 October) found her guilty on both counts.

The court sentenced her to 3 years in prison for each count, but reduced her sentence to 1 year and 6 months because she confessed, bringing her total sentence to 3 years. It also suspended the sentence for 3 years because she has never committed a criminal offence. She is required to report to a probation officer every 2 months during the first 2 years and perform 48 hours of community service.