The somewhat touchy King of Thailand
Or, being charitable, his officials, as he has commented "Actually, I must also be criticised. I am not afraid if the criticism concerns what I do wrong, because then I know. Because if you say the king cannot be criticised, it means that the king is not human". (Source)
If Thai laws on 'offending the dignity of the sovereign' had applied in these parts in 1977, this
could have seen Jamie Reid cooling his heels in Pentonville until 2052. A Swiss man found guilty of the crime of offending etc faced upwards of 75 years for defacing portraits of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej ('Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power'). The Thai authorities erred on the side of clemency and only sentenced him to 20 years, reduced to 10 because he confessed. (Source)
As a footnote Bhumibol would appear to be as yet the only crowned head to have been born in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Doubtless there are sundry Kennedys prepared to rectify that, given a quarter of a chance.
If Thai laws on 'offending the dignity of the sovereign' had applied in these parts in 1977, this
could have seen Jamie Reid cooling his heels in Pentonville until 2052. A Swiss man found guilty of the crime of offending etc faced upwards of 75 years for defacing portraits of His Majesty Bhumibol Adulyadej ('Strength of the Land, Incomparable Power'). The Thai authorities erred on the side of clemency and only sentenced him to 20 years, reduced to 10 because he confessed. (Source)
As a footnote Bhumibol would appear to be as yet the only crowned head to have been born in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Doubtless there are sundry Kennedys prepared to rectify that, given a quarter of a chance.
Labels: Thailand
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on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 9:55 am.
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Vive la Republic.
It looks as if Charles Clarke is also advocating Royal no criticism of Nu Lab legistlation. If so I would like it extending to me as well !
TG - Yup, that's my position, although there have been plenty of elected heads worse than His Maj.
G - Looks like we're both in trouble.
Am I the only one who sniggered as I worked out that his name sounds a lot like "bummyboy"?
well thats me extradited
I don't imagine Thai prisons are much fun, but I expect there are worse places to be incarcerated.
Yes I hear syria is pretty unpleasent , Appatently the best places are either switzerland or holland and of course any scandinavian country.
I met an pakistani chap who could have wrotten a rough guide to the worlds prisons.
He likes the swiss ones best of all , really good food and free cigaretes, the only thing he didnt like was the fact that they are all underground.
He also liked the swiss judicial system , as long as you havent killed /raped anybody they just want you over the border asap rather than cluttering up their jails.
Sensible folk.
The King will pardon this chap.
I like the Swiss approach. Very sensible.
I'm just wondering what occasion he had to deface it in the first place. 25 years sounds pretty reasonable, really.
The Kennedys find it cheaper to bump off their enemies.
So do the Clintons. That's another reason Hillary will probably get the Dem nomination.
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