Thai woman jailed for 43 years for lese-majeste freed

BANGKOK – A Thai woman who received one of the kingdom’s longest royal insult sentences was freed from prison on Aug 27 under a mass pardon marking the King’s birthday.

Ms Anchan Preelert, 69, was jailed for 43 years in 2021 after sharing online audio clips on YouTube of an underground podcast host known as “DJ Banpodj”, a fierce critic of the monarchy.

Thailand’s lese-majeste law, known as Article 112, shields the king and his family from any criticism, with each offence punishable by up to 15 years in jail.

Rights groups and critics say the law is overused, and interpreted so broadly that legitimate debate is stifled.

Ms Anchan, a former civil servant, was first arrested in 2015 under the military government ruling Thailand at the time.

She was initially sentenced to 87 years – three years for each of the 29 counts of lese-majeste she faced – but the court halved it because she confessed.

Ms Anchan posted the offending clips 29 times, and under the law each one was treated as a separate offence, so she was hit with 29 counts.

After around eight years behind bars, Ms Anchan walked free on the morning of Aug 27 along with 84 other inmates granted clemency from the Central Women’s Correctional Institution in Bangkok.

Wearing a white T-shirt and a purple scarf, she bowed to supporters who gave her flowers and held signs reading “Welcome Home”.

“Eight years I was in there… it’s a bitter feeling for me,” she told reporters.

Ms Anchan’s sentence was the longest ever imposed for lese-majeste until 2024, when it was overtaken by Mr Mongkol Thirakot, a 32-year-old online retailer. He was sentenced to at least 50 years over Facebook posts deemed insulting the monarchy.

Several rights groups including Amnesty International welcomed Ms Anchan’s release as a rare reprieve for political prisoners in Thailand.

In July, Thai lawmakers rejected an amnesty Bill for royal insult convicts, a move condemned by rights groups as a setback.

More than 280 people have been prosecuted under Article 112 in the last five years, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a group that provides legal services in many lese-majeste cases.

Prosecutions soared in the wake of mass street protests led by students in 2020, some of whom made unprecedented public criticism of the King. AFP

ThailandThai politicsPolitics and governmentRoyal families