Patiwat Saraiyaem (L), 23, and Porntip Mankong (2nd L), 26, hold hands as they leave the Bangkok's Criminal Court after being sentenced on charges of lese majeste. Reuters
AFP/ Bangkok
Two young Thais accused of defaming the monarchy in a university play were jailed for two and a half years on Monday, as the ruling junta intensifies a crackdown under the controversial lese majeste law.
Student Patiwat Saraiyaem, 23, and activist Porntip Mankong, 26, were sentenced after pleading guilty to defamation following their arrests last August, nearly a year after "The Wolf Bride", a satire set in a fictional kingdom, was performed.
The pair were originally sentenced to five years in prison each but the term was reduced to two years and six months due to their confessions, said a judge at Ratchada Criminal Court in Bangkok.
"The court considers their role in the play caused serious damage to the monarchy and sees no reason to suspend their sentences," he said.
The pair had each been charged with one count of lese majeste linked to the performance at Bangkok's Thammasat University, which marked the 40th anniversary of a pro-democracy student protest at the campus that was brutally crushed by the military regime in October 1973.
After the sentencing the pair's lawyer Pawinee Chumsri said the two "would not appeal" the ruling.
Police are hunting for at least six others involved in the play for allegedly violating "112" -- the feared section of the Thai criminal code which carries up to 15 years in jail for each count of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent.
Of those on the wanted list, at least two have fled Thailand, joining dozens of academics, activists and political opponents of the coup in self-exile amid a surge in royal defamation cases since the military seized power in May.
Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, is revered by many in the country as a demi-god and shielded by one of the world's most draconian royal defamation laws.
The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) said at least 40 people have been arrested since the coup -- seven of them have already been sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison.
