Prominent Thai figures, including a journalist, academic and artist, have issued declarations, opposing the detention of activists Tantawan Tuatulanon and Nutanon Chaimahabut and calling on the courts to grant them provisional release.

<p>Police officers raided the 1932 People Space library at Wat Tong Noppakun in Khlong San on Sunday (23 January 2022) and seized a book and other objects before returning them, claiming that an officer took the book&nbsp;to give to his son.</p>

<div>Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned Thai social critic, reflects on his latest&nbsp;lèse majesté case and his experience petitioning to the King.&nbsp;</div> <p></p>

<div> <div>A royalist academic said he had no other choice but to petition the King to encourage the junta to end a prosecution against him for lèse majesté.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>After a military prosecutor dropped a royal defamation charge against Sulak Sivaraksa, the renowned social critic and historian posted on 24 January on his Facebook page an article entitled “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sulak.sivaraksa/photos/a.10151360922012798.1073741826.114459752797/10155754777807798/?type=3&amp;theater&amp;ifg=1">Lessons from the latest political lawsuit of S. </a></div></div>

<div> <div>If you asked me if the decision by a military prosecutor to drop the lèse majesté charge against renowned historian and social critic Sulak Sivaraksa is good news, I’d say, ‘yes it’s good that the old man does not have to spend time in jail’. But if you asked me if this is a good sign for the state of freedom of expression in Thailand, I’d say ‘no, it’s not.’&nbsp;</div> </div>

<div>All charges were dropped Wednesday morning against Sulak Sivaraksa, renowned social critic and historian, who questioned whether an ancient story of a Thai king’s elephant battle was apocryphal.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Sulak&nbsp;walked out of a military courtroom just before 10am after charges of royal defamation and computer crimes were dropped three years after he publicly suggested a story involving 17th century King Naresuan didn’t actually happen.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><em>Read more at <a> </a></em></div>

<div> <div>A rock singer’s charity campaign has sparked debate over the ethics of donations, while a senior academic is facing a lèse majesté lawsuit for criticising King Naresuan, who ruled the kingdom of Ayutthaya 400 years ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Thailand’s lèse majesté law is notorious for its excessive punishments and broad interpretations. </div></div>

<p>An online campaign has been started to call on the Thai authorities to drop a royal defamation charge against a well-known intellectual accused of defaming an ancient Siamese King.</p>

<p>The police have decided to press royal defamation charges against Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and lèse majesté critic, over a public speech about King Naresuan, who ruled the Ayutthaya Kingdom 400 years ago.</p> <p>On 9 October 2017, Puangthip Boonsanong, a lawyer representing Sulak, said the police took Sulak, 84, to the Military Court of Bangkok and submitted to the military prosecutor the case file in which he is accused of violating Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lèse majesté law.</p> <p>The military prosecutor will decide on 7 December 2017 whether to indict.</p>

<p>The police have permitted a renowned royalist intellectual accused of lèse majesté to postpone hearing the charges against him.</p> <p>On 28 February 2017, a defence lawyer representing Sulak Sivaraksa, a renowned royalist and lèse majesté critic, submitted a request to police officers of Chanasongkram Police Station in Bangkok asking for a postponement a hearing about the lèse majesté charges. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>The inquiry officers permitted a postponement for the time being.</p>

<p>Thai police have summoned a 25-year-old anti-junta citizen from central Thailand for declaring that he will not turn up for the 7 August referendum on the junta-sponsored draft charter while a renowned anti-lèse majesté intellectual has also said that he will not participate in the referendum.</p> <p>At 11 am on Thursday, 4 August 2016, Wasin Wainiya, a 25-year-old man from the central province of Nonthaburi, reported to Mueang District Police Station in the province.</p>

<div>Thai Police said nine people including two of Thailand’s leading scholars, Sulak Sivaraksa and Somsak Jeamteerasakul, are likely to face lèse majesté charges over a televised academic discussion on the lèse majesté law.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><a href="https://web.facebook.com/BBCThai/photos/a.1527194487501586.1073741828.1526071940947174/1747208862166813/?type=3&amp;theater">BBC Thai</a> reported that Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, Deputy Police Chief, on Wednesday, 9 March 2016, said that nine people and two corporations involved in airing a talk show in 2013 called Tob Jod (The An </div>