A Thai court adds over two years to a jailed lawyer’s prison term for insulting the monarchy, bringing his total sentence beyond 30 years.
BANGKOK: A Thai court has extended the prison sentence of jailed activist lawyer Arnon Nampa by two years and eight months for insulting the monarchy.
The ruling, reported by a rights group on Friday, brings his combined sentence to more than 30 years.
Arnon, 41, was a prominent figure in the unprecedented youth-led democracy protests in Bangkok in 2020. Those protests openly called for reform of the monarchy.
He has been in prison since September 2023 for violating Thailand’s strict lese-majeste law. The charges stemmed from his speeches at political rallies and social media posts made between 2020 and 2021.
Friday’s verdict was the 11th of 14 royal insult cases he currently faces.
Thailand’s lese-majeste law protects the palace from criticism and carries a maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years for each perceived royal insult. The punishment is widely condemned by international human rights groups as extreme.
According to the legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, at least 291 people have been charged with lese-majeste offences since the protest wave began in 2020.
