Thai court increases the sentence of a rights attorney who called for royal reform

A well-known activist lawyer who was detained in Thailand was sentenced on Monday to an extra two years in prison by a Thai court because of comments he made at a protest in 2021, according to his counsel.

Human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, 39, was sentenced to two years and twenty days in prison and a punishment of 100 baht for royal insult, breaking an emergency order, and other offenses related to giving a speech at a political rally in 2021, according to his attorney Junjira Junpaew, Reuters.

“Arnon denied all wrongdoing,” according to Junjira Junpaew, and his legal team will appeal the conviction.

Arnon is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence for two convictions of royal insult, one stemming from a speech at a political rally in 2020 and the other from a social media post in 2021. September was the start of his sentence last year.

Arnon’s current sentence, which was mandated to run consecutively, is now set to last 10 years and 20 days, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal aid organization.

Lese-majeste, one of the harshest laws in the world, forbids any criticism of the monarchy and sets a maximum 15-year prison sentence for any offense against the king. Thailand is covered by this legislation.

The decision rendered on Monday is the third in a string of 14 cases brought against Arnon, a former attorney who is now the leader of a youth-led democracy organization that staged demonstrations in Bangkok in 2020 to demand monarchy reform.

Since 2020, lese-majeste offenses have been brought against at least 272 persons, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.