Jiradee (pseudonym), 36, who was accused by an ultra-royalist group of defaming the King in a conversation on Twitter, has been found not guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said today (29 April) that the Phatthalung Provincial Court found her not guilty because the prosecution could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that she used the Twitter account in question. It noted that the only evidence presented were the testimony and documents compiled by the accuser, with no other evidence or eyewitness linking Jiradee to the account. The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) was also unable to identify the user.

Jiradee was arrested while at work on 27 March 2025 by officers from the Crime Suppression Division. She was taken to Khuan Khanun Police Station in Phatthalung, where she was told that she was being charged with royal defamation.

The complaint against her was filed by Songchai Niamhom, leader of the ultra-royalist King Protection Group and a known serial royal defamation complainant who has filed at least 19 royal defamation and sedition complaints against activists and social media users with the police in several southern provinces. Many of the accused do not live in the south and so are forced to shoulder the burden of travel costs when having to attend court appointments.

Songchai claimed that, in September 2022, he saw a conversation on Twitter about good and bad people, which mentioned King Vajiralongkorn and Thaksin Shinawatra, and that one of the accounts involved belonged to Jiradee.

TLHR noted that Jiradee received a summons from Khuan Khanun Police Station in February 2023. She met with an inquiry officer who took her statement as a witness. The police did not contact her afterwards, so she believed the proceeding was over. She was not aware that an arrest warrant was issued for her in August 2023. The police arrested her over a year later.

As Jiradee lives in Bangkok, being required to frequently travel to Phatthalung to report to court affected her work. She requested that she instead be allowed to report online and permission was granted.

In June 2025, she was summoned by the police again and informed that she was being charged with violation of the Computer Crimes Act.

She was indicted in June 2025. The public prosecutor accused her of being one of the Twitter users involved in a conversation about the King and Thaksin.  The prosecutor claimed that it defamed the King.

Jiradee pleaded not guilty, stating that the Twitter account was not hers and the evidence presented by the prosecution did not establish who owns the account.