The arrest of an American academic in Thailand on charges of criticizing the monarchy has alarmed U.S. officials, the State Department said on Tuesday. The case represents a rare detention of a foreign citizen under Thailand’s strict lèse-majesté laws.
The academic, Paul Chambers, a lecturer in civil-military relations in Southeast Asia at Naresuan University in northern Thailand, was arrested on charges under the lèse-majesté laws and the Computer Crimes Act, according to his lawyers, members of the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal aid group. Immigration authorities also revoked his visa, the group said on Wednesday, suggesting that he could be forced to leave the country.
The charges stem from a brief online description of a webinar last October about Thailand’s military and police forces where Dr. Chambers was the featured speaker, his legal team said. The text, which appeared on the website of a research institute in Singapore and has since been edited, described Thailand’s king as having authority over changes to the military leadership, according to the lawyers. They said that Dr. Chambers had not written the text.
Days after the webinar, a unit of the Royal Thai Armed Forces responsible for internal security requested more information from Naresuan University about the webinar and Dr. Chambers, his lawyers said.
A provincial court issued an arrest warrant for Dr. Chambers on March 31, his lawyers said, and he voluntarily reported to the police station in Phitsanulok, in northern Thailand, on Friday morning. A police officer at the station informed him that he had been accused of publicizing the webinar invitation, his lawyers said. The statement that the king had power over military reshuffles was false and insulting to the monarch, the officer said.
Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate, a representative for Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, said that Dr. Chambers denied the charges. “He clearly cannot be posting anything he wants on the website,” he said.
The lèse-majesté laws in Thailand are among the strictest in the world, and forbid defaming, insulting or threatening the king and other members of the royal family. Human rights groups have criticized the laws for suppressing free speech. Charges under the laws carry a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of 15 years.
While Thai courts are expected to rule this year on hundreds of lèse-majesté cases, it is rare for a foreigner to be arrested under the laws.
Dr. Chambers was being detained at a prison in Phitsanulok after a court denied two bail requests, Mr. Chaimaneekarakate said. He said that they were appealing the denials, and had 48 hours to appeal the decision to revoke his visa.
A scholar of democracy and international politics in South East Asia, Dr. Chambers published research last year on the political relationship between Thailand’s monarchy and military. He received a doctorate in political science at Northern Illinois University.
“He was shocked, of course,” Mr. Chaimaneekarakate said, adding that Dr. Chambers had lived in Thailand for more than 30 years.
The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, which hosted the webinar, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Royal Thai Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The State Department said on Tuesday that it was communicating with Thai authorities over Dr. Chambers’ detention.
“This case reinforces our longstanding concerns about the use of lèse-majesté laws in Thailand,” Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement. “We continue to urge Thai authorities to respect freedom of expression and to ensure that laws are not used to stifle permitted expression.”
Consular officers from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok have requested access to Dr. Chambers, she said. “As a treaty ally of Thailand, we will closely monitor this issue and advocate for the fair treatment of Paul Chambers,” she said.
