A prominent American academic was detained on Tuesday ( Apr 8 ) and charged with insulting Thailand’s monarchy, his attorney told AFP. This was a rare instance of a foreigner abiding by the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste law.
Paul Chambers, who has taught South Asian politics for more than ten years in Thailand, is awaiting a choice on his loan demand, according to lawyer Wannaphat Jenroumjit.
He denied the charge, Wannaphat told AFP.
The lese-majeste laws protects Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his near relatives from censure, with each crime entangling him to 15 years in jail.
In response to an article that was linked to an on-line dialogue, the Thai army lodged a complaint against Chambers, a professor at Naresuan University in northeastern Thailand, earlier this year.
Halls also serves as a visiting scholar at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.  ,
In connection with an ISEAS webinar on defense reshuffles in October 2024, Chambers is accused of publishing a paragraph on the website of the Yusof Ishak Institute.
For more information, CNA has reached out to ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.  ,