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Thailand plans to 'educate' foreigners on royal insult: official
AFP - Tuesday, January 27
BANGKOK (AFP) - - Thailand's justice ministry wants to launch an overseas campaign to educate foreigners about its laws protecting the monarchy, an official said Monday, after an Australian was jailed under the harsh rules.
Harry Nicolaides, 41, was sentenced to three years in jail after pleading guilty last week to lese majeste -- slandering the royal family -- in a novel he self-published in 2005.
"The ministry has an idea to seek cooperation from the foreign ministry to ask all Thai embassies abroad to educate foreigners about lese majeste laws," an aide to the justice ministry told AFP.
"Foreigners misunderstand the lese majeste laws," she said, adding that they mistakenly believe the crime is not serious and carries a light sentence.
In fact, lese majeste carries a maximum jail sentence of 15 years -- one of the harshest in the world for the crime -- and some MPs from the ruling Democrat Party are pushing to increase it to 25 years.
Nicolaides was not the first foreigner to fall foul of the laws.
Swiss national Oliver Jufer was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2007 for defacing pictures of deeply-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He was later given a royal pardon and deported from the country.
The aide said protecting the royal family was "this government's priority." The slew of recent lese majeste investigations has been criticised by activists as a ploy to stifle dissenting voices in Thailand.
Thai authorities have banned nearly 4,000 websites in recent months for allegedly insulting the crown. Police have said that more than 17 criminal cases of defaming the royal family are currently active.
The justice ministry's plan is now awaiting cabinet approval, the aide said.
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