Web designer sentenced to 13 years for lèse majesté-Bangkok Post

[FACT comments: Let’s get something straight—Tantawut was not the NorPhorChorUSA’s webmaster which makes his conviction spurious in the extreme. We attended some of Tantawut’s trial last month and, from our own commonsense observation, we find his conviction beyond belief. In the trial sessions we attended, Tantawut’s defence clearly proved he was not the webmaster for the NorPhorChorUSA website—he had no administrator or password access to the site. Tantawut was only hired as the website’s designer and provided no content to the site. Police and govt witnesses proved no evidence to the contrary.

However, Tantawut’s real crime was living in Thailand, making him an easy target, unlike the NorPhorChor’s real webmasters who all lived overseas. After all, someone needed to be punished to send a clear message to Thai netizens not to cross the imaginary lèse majesté line. 98% of those charged with lèse majesté in Thailand are convicted simply because of blind justice. As he sought to prove his innocence, even after 10 months in gaol without bail, rather than cave in and plead guilty out of fear and shame, Tantawut received no dispensation from the courts. Shame on Thailand!]

Webmaster gets 13 yrs for lese majeste

Bangkok Post: March 15, 2011

[Nick Nostitz]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/226791/man-gets-13-years-for-lese-majeste

The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced the webmaster of a United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) website to a total of 13 years imprisonment for lese majeste and violating the Computer Crimes Act.

The court found Thanthawut Taweewarodomkul, who was in charge of the website <www.norporchorusa.com>, guilty of lese majeste for posting articles which were deemed insulting to the high institution between March 13 and 15 last year.

Thanthawut given a 10 year jail sentence for lese majeste and three years for violating the Computer Crimes Act.