The Foreign Ministry on Saturday responded to a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on Friday who expressed concerns over Thailand’s detention of pro-democracy activists, including a minor, under the lese majeste law.
Ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said Thailand’s lese majeste law is not aimed at curbing people’s rights to the freedom of expression nor the exercise of academic freedom or debate about the monarchy as an institution.
This type of law exists in many countries to protect the dignity of royal families in a similar way a libel law does for any Thai citizen.
Mr Tanee said this has been the precedent observed under the Criminal Code. But where lèse majesté charges are formally pressed, they are done so in accordance with…
