As of 15 June, 336 writers have signed the petition to amend the lèse majesté law and to stop using the law to suppress the expression of political views.

The petition was started on 19 May by a group of 8 well-known young writers who sent an open letter asking their peers to join their call.  Shortly afterwards, however, one of them withdrew from the campaign for personal reasons.

The seven writers are Binla Sankalakhiri, Prabda Yun, Duangruethai Aesanachatang, Sakariya Amataya, Kittipol Sarakkanon, Woraphoj Phanpong and Wad Rawi.

In their video clip posted on the Vimeo website on 7 June, they said that those who had signed their open letter included senior and young writers, well-known artists and poets, winners of major national literary awards, columnists, editors, documentary writers, critics, translators, bloggers, copy writers, songwriters, cartoonists, etc.  The name list can be found here.  

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These signatories hold diverse beliefs and different political views, and their colour-coded political identification ranges from multi-coloured, orange, rainbow, black, white, reddish and red to pink, the writers said.

There are many more writers who support or agree with the campaign, but cannot give their names for various reasons.  This all the more confirms the belief that the lèse majesté issue is a problem which suppresses freedom of expression, they said.

The lèse majesté law needs to be reviewed and amended for Thai society to become a democracy which truly allows freedom of expression, they said. 

They hope that their voice will be heard by politicians and all members of the elite.

The group will close the sign-on petition and release a statement on 24 June at 11 pm.