Aussie Arrested and faces a Lese-majeste charge.

[beer monkey]

BANGKOK (Reuters) - An Australian writer has been arrested in Thailand and faces a lese-majeste charge for publishing a novel deemed defamatory to the country's royal family, police and the Australian embassy said on Wednesday.

An embassy official identified the man as a 41-year-old from Melbourne and police named him as Harry Nicolaides, who was unaware there was an arrest warrant out for him when he tried to fly out from Bangkok to Australia on Sunday.

"An arrest warrant was issued in March for a book he wrote in 2005 deemed defamatory to the crown prince," Police Lieutenant-Colonel Boonlert Kalayanamit told Reuters.

He has been charged with lese-majeste, a crime that can carry a 15-year jail sentence in Thailand, and was being held at a remand prison pending further interviews, Boonlert said.

Nicolaides, a regular visitor to Thailand and briefly a resident, when he taught English and wrote for Australian newspapers, had not been granted bail, police said.

Police identified the novel in question as "Verisimilitude", described in publicity dated June 2005 on the phuket-info.com website as a "trenchant commentary on the political and social life of contemporary Thailand".

[Othello]

Must be a big book if it has taken 3 years to read

[BobHelm]

http://www.akha.org/content/bookreviews ... itude.html

Might be a great journalist, but sadly lacking in any experience of Thailand if he believes these sort of comments would be acceptable here....

[jackspratt]

Sadly, until these sorts of comments can be accepted here, Thailand cannot progress.

Let's see what happens in a year or two.

[BobHelm]

You could well be correct Jack.
an individual is held in high regard because of many things - one of which is that he actually deserves to be seen that way. Compared to the the countries surrounding Thailand it has had a "peaceful" existence for the last 50 years. Thailand has by passed the communist 'threat' that infected (& destroyed) many of its neighbours simply because a communist government would have had to dismiss an individual, something that would have been abhorrent to the great majority of Thais.
Coming from a Kingdom as well (UK) I fully understand what you imply about where does the "kingship" end....that is, I think, something for Thais to decide in the future...

[izzix]

typical aussie drunk and off his head on tinnies and sausages ,theyre all the same

[Bandung_Dero]

typical aussie drunk and off his head on tinnies and sausages ,theyre all the same

Your the man with the news links and the obvious 'know it all'. Show us where you get the idea this man is a drunk! - Wacker

[laphanphon]

if not mistaken, i read yesterday on net, though a forum, but asked and answered, that book was preread and authorized to be published in thailand. wrote it here and printed it here. can't find the link now, googled again and nothing but the arrest comes up. too lazy to search.

[Guns482]

It is incredible that a book purporting to be written in Thailand and authorised can be the subject of any offensive material to the Crown prince. It is normally a person ( not a Royal) who thinks that honour has been impinged.
While i love this Royal family and our own in the UK, some tolerance is required from Thai Authorities in dealing with supposed insults about their Royal Family.
We had a case latterly where Thailand was attempting to close a Internet link due to lese majeste offences.
I am sure that His majesty and his family often smile at the inferences but it is the lesser mortals who feel that they have to justify their positions.
If a member of the Roayla family complains YES, arrest, charge whatever, but one should ask do they ( the Roayl family ) feel insulted or threatened , if not why do anything.
In this country lese majeste charges are like confetti, recently people have been going to court in droves to file those charges against other people who may or may not have said anything.
In the 21st century the world is no longer able to be shut out. Which for some is unacceptable, and the fact it has taken 3 years for this reaction smacks of a jobsworth arrest rather than an percieved insult.

[philo]

I won't say a word - but the man is not your average tourist here. Read this:

http://www.phuket-info.com/harry/031209-travel11.htm

[Guns482]

Ok he is not the most intelligent person although, he pretends he is, however come whatr may the book was published by someone ( not him) and someone took 3 years to decide it was not right......Come on I ask you does that sound right to you.
matters not what was written or by whom or when but three years does rather stretch the imagination a bit what.

[BobHelm]

I quote some reviews of this book...

“The grim reality about generational debt bondage in the Third World
and the enslavement of Thai women into the sex industry are revealed
in VERISIMILITUDE. Towns in Northern Thailand whose populations have
been decimated by the AIDS virus have been left as dustbowls
littered with orphans, widows and stray dogs. This is the horror of
the truth not dissembled by politicians, deconstructed by academics
or finessed by journalists.”

“VERISIMILITUDE is an undisguised bold-faced assault on Thailand”s
presentation culture and its rank obsessions with the appearance of
truth and the semblance of reality. The truth is a casualty in a
climate of political chicanery, expedient educational practices,
routine self-aggrandisement and wholesale conformity. A post-modern,
allegorical twist on the timeless fable of The Emperor”s New
Clothes. Nothing is as it appears. Trust your instincts!”

“Polygamy, indentured servitude and the sexual exploitation of women
flourish in Thailand under an oppressive patriarchal social system.
In VERISIMILITUDE, the impunity of the nation”s ruling elite stands
unchallenged by the lower classes who imitate, like grotesque
acolytes, the predilections and peccadillos of their rulers.”

[BKKSTAN]

Sounds like Thailand didn't like the exposure in general!It would be interesting to read an excerpt that was specific to the charges,but that would constitute breaking the law when it was repeated!

Freedom of speech and thought will someday have to be allowed in Thailand ,if they ever want to become thriving democracy.I have never figured out what this specific charge does that is so harmful to the country,seems to me to be just the opposite!

[izzix]

Aussie refused bail in Thai royal insult case
Fri 12 Sep 2008, 8:56 GMT
[-] Text [+]

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The family of a Greek-Australian writer facing 15 years in jail for allegedly defaming Thailand's crown prince have appealed to Canberra to intercede after he was refused bail for a second time, his lawyer said on Friday.

Mark Dean, a Melbourne-based lawyer for 41-year-old Harry Nicolaides, said judges at Bangkok's Criminal Court deemed it to be a "very serious offence" and regarded him as a flight risk.

"His family is very concerned about his welfare," Dean told Reuters.

His relatives had written to Thailand's royal household, Dean said, apologising for any offence caused by his 2005 novel 'Verisimilitude', billed on the phuket-info.com website as an "uncompromising assault on the patrician values of the monarchy".

In newspaper interviews from the prison where he has been held since his September 3 arrest, Nicolaides said only 50 copies of the novel had been printed and only seven sold.

He also admitted to feeling suicidal in prison, and feared being beaten up by the 90 men with whom he shares a cell because they had found out about his alleged misdemeanour.

Lese-majeste, or insulting the monarchy, is a very serious offence in Thailand, where many people regard 80-year-old an individual Adulyadej as semi-divine. It is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Critics of the law say it is open to abuse since a complaint can be filed by anybody against anybody, no matter how minor the alleged disrespect.

Even though an individual himself has said he should not be above criticism, the police feel obliged to investigate every complaint that lands on their desks, fearful that dismissing apparently trivial cases might itself be disrespectful.

Nicolaides was a regular, long-time visitor to Thailand and had been teaching English at a university in the northern city of Chiang Mai, and writing the occasional article for regional newspapers and websites.

He was arrested at Bangkok airport as he tried to leave the country, unaware of a warrant issued in March, police said.

(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Alan Raybould)

© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved. | Learn more about Reuters

[izzix]

all this publicity will ensure the book becomes a best seller and give more attention the matter than would have otherwise been the case .
The worlds press will be keenly reporting on the story

[BKKSTAN]

all this publicity will ensure the book becomes a best seller and give more attention the matter than would have otherwise been the case .
The worlds press will be keenly reporting on the story

The other 43?Since an individual has said that he doesn't see it the same way as the police,I would like to see an individual publicly condemn this law and tell the Nation that any convictions will be immediately pardoned!It is used by many to stifle dissent and change needed for Thailand to grow as a Nation!

[laphanphon]

murderers get out on bail, but write a book, in english, that most thais won't read, and no bail imprisonment..............hmm

tho he might not make it out of jail...............probably considered good karme to kill the infidel, in the mind of buddhist prisoner already having a screwed up life, maybe come back as a dog, instead of a rat.

[Guns482]

Why doesn't someone ask the Royal family if they feel upset. if not, free him. if yes then throw the book at him,
As the article said the Police are afraid NOT to act as someone may see that as lese majeste, what a conundrum.
Only the Roayl family itself can stop this impasse.

[laphanphon]

an individual has said it many times, he welcomes critism, it's the only way to get educated past himself. i wish he would put that law to rest though.

[Guns482]

Agree, it is a law that is abused and used to defame anyone who objects to whatever.
lack of morals and ethics also do not help as many will enforce the letter rather than the spirit of this law in order to seek personal kudos with their peers.
Oh well respect the big boss I always say it is the others that I do not.