The woman accused of lèse majesté for wearing black close to the King’s birthday last year has resigned from her job after being stigmatized by the public.
According to ASTV-Manager Online, Witoon Prasertcharoensuk, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Khon Kaen University in Thailand’s Northeast, revealed on Wednesday that Aree K., an employee of Srinagarind Hospital, the teaching hospital of Khon Kaen University, who was accused of lèse majesté, has resigned.
ASTV-Manager cited that the main reason for her resignation was that she received tremendous social pressure from the public after facing political cyber bullying for wearing black around the King’s birthday in December.
A total of three separate lèse majesté complaints were filed against Aree between 8-9 December 2014 by royalist groups in three different provinces after many royalists shared her personal information and bullied her for defaming the monarchy.
Apart from the picture of her and her friends wearing black, Aree also made two Facebook posts: “The fifth of December of every year to me is a day off. Thank you to the owner of the birthday that makes it a day off” and “Death is part of life. Everyone is born and will die. Accept it and we’ll be happy.” The posts were widely circulated online.
After the bullying and the report by ASTV-Manager Online, the army summoned her and detained her for interrogation regarding her controversial Facebook posts and pictures on 8 December 2014.
Military personnel also told her and her friends during detention to use the royal vocabulary to refer to the revered monarchy and to attend ceremonies to honour the monarchy in order to show that they love the King.
See related news:
Woman wearing black around King’s birthday accused of lèse majesté
3 lèse majesté complaints filed against women wearing black around King’s birthday
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