Well-wishers pray for the health of Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the Siriraj hospital in Bangkok on Oct. 8, 2014.CHAIWAT SUBPRASOM/Reuters
A military court in junta-ruled Thailand sentenced a Web editor to 4 1/2 years in jail Monday for publishing an article five years ago that it said defamed the nation's king.
The punishment is the latest manifestation of an intensified crackdown on alleged criticism of the monarchy that has been waged by authorities since the army seized power in a May 22 coup.
Thailand's lèse-majesté law is considered the harshest in the world, with those accused of defaming, insulting or threatening the monarchy facing jail terms ranging from three to 15 years.
The sentence against Nut Rungwong was cut in half because he pleaded guilty to the charge, according to an official in the army's Judge Advocate General's department who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Rungwong edited the Thai E-News website, which is now blocked by censors. The article, published on the website in 2009, was written by Giles Ji Ungpakorn, a radical Thai intellectual and former university political scientist who fled to Britain the same year.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, turns 87 on Dec. 5, and concerns about his ailing health have risen markedly in recent years.
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the former army chief who led a coup in May and was appointed prime minister in August, is a self-proclaimed royalist and has vowed to root out critics of the monarchy.
Also on Monday, a Thai police spokesman announced that seven policemen have been charged for offences ranging from accepting bribes to insulting the monarchy.
Police Lieutenant General Pongpat Chayaphan, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, and his deputy Police Major General Kowit Wongrungroj were accused of using the royal establishment for personal benefit, said police spokesman Lieutenant-General Prawut Thavornsiri.
It is rare for civil servants, much less senior police officers, to be charged with the crime of lèse-majesté, said David Streckfuss, a Thailand-based scholar who monitors such cases. "In the political turmoil of this past decade, lèse-majesté has been used almost exclusively to silence the threat posed by the red-shirt movement to the Bangkok establishment," said Streckfuss, referring to supporters of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, Thaksin.
A total of twelve people have been charged in relation to the case that involves the seven police officers, Prawut told Reuters.
With a report from Reuters