The State Department characterized the charges as “alarming.”
The U.S. State Department is working to get access to an American citizen who was arrested in Thailand on charges of criticizing the country’s monarchy.
Dr. Paul Chambers, a professor at Naresuan University in northern Thailand, frequently gives lectures on civil-military relations in the region. Dr. Chambers has lived in Thailand for more than three decades and is well aware of the country’s lèse-majesté laws that criminalize written or oral speech that is critical of, insulting toward, or causes embarrassment for the Thai King or royal family.
The charges stem from a blurb on a website describing a webinar about military staffing changes. The blurb mentions the involvement of the King in such staffing reshuffles, stating that he has authority over such changes. Dr. Chambers’s lawyers assert he did not write the blurb and was unaware of its existence.
Thailand has some of the world’s strictest lèse-majesté laws, which allow prison sentences up to 15 years. It is rare for foreign nationals to be charged under Thai lèse-majesté laws.
Chambers is scheduled to appear in court next week and told CNN he has been held in pre-trial detention with little information about why he was being charged. He has also been denied bail, and Thai authorities have revoked his work visa, both decisions which his lawyers are appealing. The State Department characterized the charges as “alarming.”
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“We are in communication with Thai authorities regarding this case,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. “As a treaty ally of Thailand, we will closely monitor this issue and advocate for the fair treatment of Paul Chambers. We have requested access to him to ensure his well-being and to provide any necessary support.”
In Thailand, only a handful of cases were brought under the laws until 2006, but they have been employed as a tool to stifle dissent during military coups. In 2013, Thailand’s supreme court expanded the scope of the law to include past monarchs or the country’s system of monarchy itself. Thai courts currently rule on hundreds of cases brought under the law each year, and in 2024 handed down a record 50 year sentence to a Thai political activist who shared online clips critical of the Thai royal family, including clips from the American cartoon series American Dad, and a BBC documentary about the Thai royal family.
The State Department’s consular information pages for travelers intending to travel to Thailand have long included warnings that Americans in Thailand are subject to the country’s lèse-majesté laws: “Thais hold the monarchy in the highest regard. Making a critical or defamatory comment about the royal family is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 15 years per offense. As an example, purposely tearing Thai bank notes, which carry an image of the King, may be considered a lèse majesté offense.”
Lèse-majesté laws, or laws that consider the insult to a monarch or head of state to be a criminal offense, are uncommon but not extraordinary. Several European democracies, including Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Iceland, and the Netherlands, still have such laws on the books—which also prohibit defamation or outrageous insults to foreign heads of state. The laws in these countries are also debated but are occasionally enforced for egregious offenses. There are no lèse-majesté laws currently in force in the Americas.
