Thailand: Activist who dressed like royal jailed for two years

Jatuporn ‘New’ Saeoueng, 25, wore a pink dress at a demonstration in Bangkok in 2020.

She claimed she had simply worn traditional dress but Thailand has very strict laws on insulting the country’s monarchy.

Rights group say that since King Maha Vajiralongkorn came to the throne in 2019 the authorities have made greater use of lèse-majesté laws to silence a protest movement in the country.

At least 210 protestors have been charged with lèse-majesté offences following a three-year period in which the law was not enforced at all.

Ms Saeoueng was sentenced to three years in jail but this was immediately reduced to two.

She said before the ruling: “I have no intention to mock anyone. I dressed for myself on that day, for a version of myself in a Thai tradition dress.”

A former civil servant was sentenced to 43 years in prison last year after it was ruled he had been critical of the royals on social media.