Eight Facebook Users Indicted For Mocking Thai Junta Leader

Faizan Hashmi Published August 23, 2016 | 05:41 PM

BANGKOK, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23th August, 2016) : A Thai military tribunal on Tuesday indicted eight people with sedition for running a Facebook page that mocked the kingdom's junta chief, making them the latest victims of the regime's crackdown on dissent. Thailand's generals have clamped down on politics and severely curbed free expression since their 2014 power grab, jailing scores of critics of the government and monarchy -- often for comments posted on social media.

The eight Facebook users were arrested in April by military raids in Bangkok and northeast Khon Kaen province, according to Human Rights Watch.

They now face up to seven years in prison for running a page that featured memes and doctored photos of junta leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha -- the former army chief who seized power two years ago.

"The court indicts all eight and will later call them in for a plea," the group's lawyer, Winyat Chartmontree, told AFP. They have been charged with sedition and violating the kingdom's computer crime act, two broadly-worded laws that are routinely used to silence critics.