Thailand drops royal insult case against American academic
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Dr Paul Chambers, a political science lecturer, had been in legal limbo since his arrest in April on a lese-majeste charge.
X/MARK S. COGAN
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BANGKOK - A royal insult prosecution against an American scholar in Thailand that raised concerns in the US government has been dropped, his lawyer said on May 29, as the authorities confirmed the academic had left the country.
Dr Paul Chambers, 58, a political science lecturer, had been in legal limbo since his arrest in April
Thailand has one of the world’s harshest lese-majeste laws, setting jail terms of up to 15 years for anyone convicted of defaming, insulting or threatening King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his close family.
The prosecutor earlier in May dropped the case against Dr Chambers, but police appealed that decision. The attorney-general overruled the appeal earlier this week, said Dr Chambers’ lawyer, Ms Wannaphat Jenroumjit.
“The case is now concluded,” she said, adding the legal team was appealing the revocation of his work visa.
The US State Department had expressed alarm at the arrest of Chambers, saying the case “reinforces our longstanding concerns about the use of lese-majeste laws in Thailand”.
The charges against him, which came after a complaint by the royalist army, had stemmed from a blurb for an online academic seminar at which he was a speaker, according to his lawyers. The blurb was posted in 2024 on the website of a research institute based outside of Thailand.
Dr Chambers could not be contacted for comment on May 29.
Thailand’s Constitution enshrines the king in a position of “revered worship” and royalists regard the palace as sacrosanct.
A party that won the 2023 election was dissolved in 2024 over its campaign to amend the lese-majeste law, under which more than 280 people have been charged since 2020, according to the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights legal aid group, which also represented Dr Chambers.
Thai immigration police confirmed Dr Chambers’ passport had been returned to him and that he had left the country earlier on May 29.
“The case is closed as the attorney-general decided to drop it,” Police Major-General Sarawut Khonyai, a commander of immigration police in northern Thailand, told Reuters. REUTERS
