A man convicted of hacking the Constitutional Court website and renaming it “Kangaroo Court” has been sent to prison after his appeal petition to the Supreme Court was rejected.

The Constitutional Court’s website was hacked on 11 November 2021 after it ruled that calling for monarchy reform is to be considered treason. It was renamed “Kangaroo Court,” (a court that ignores accepted standards of law and justice). The site's content was also replaced with a YouTube video of the song “Guillotine” performed by the American hip-hop band Death Grips. The site then went down for several days before coming back online.

On 14 November 2021, Wachira (last name withheld), a 33-year-old living in Ubon Ratchathani  was arrested and charged under the Computer Crimes Act with wrongfully accessing a computer system, wrongfully accessing computer data with specific security measures; damaging, destroying, or revising someone else’s computer data; and blocking, deferring, obstructing or interfering with the computer system of someone else and causing it to fail.

The Criminal Court in 2022 found Wachira guilty and sentenced him to 3 years in prison, reduced to 1 year and 6 months since he pleaded guilty. He was also ordered to pay 87,227 baht in damages to the Constitutional Court. The Appeal Court upheld the verdict.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said today (24 September) that Wachira’s petition to appeal with the Supreme Court was rejected. He will be sent to prison to serve his sentence.