Student Shares BBC Article About King, Gets Jail For The Crime

Thailand:  A student activist has been sentenced to jail for two and a half years on 15 August for posting on Facebook a BBC article that criticised the King.

Jatupat Boonpattaraksa, a former law student, is an activist and known to criticise the monarchy system of the government. Last year he posted a BBC Thai language profile of the king on social media, which was shared by over 2,000 people.

The article was deemed offensive and Jatupat was charged with Royal Insult and a computer crime law and arrested in December last year.

He pleaded guilty to the charges against him earlier on Tuesday, prompting the court to bring forward its verdict.

“The court sentenced Pai to five years in prison, reduced to two and a half years,” Kissandang Nutcharat, Jatupat’s lawyer, told Reuters.

“Pai confessed... He knew that if he tried to fight the charges it would not be of any use.”