U.S. scholar leaves Thailand after charges of insulting monarchy are dropped

U.S. political science lecturer Paul Chambers, left, of Thailand's Naresuan University, stands outside the police station in Phitsanulok, Thailand, where he was arrested on charges of insulting the monarchy. (AP Photo, file)

BANGKOK — Thailand’s attorney general’s office has confirmed that it will not prosecute an American academic arrested in early April on a charge of royal defamation, his lawyer said Thursday. The offence is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Paul Chambers, who had been employed as a political science lecturer at Naresuan University in the northern province of Phitsanulok, departed Thailand after the ruling, said his lawyer, Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate, who declined to reveal his destination.

The attorney general’s office had already announced on May 1 that it did not intend to press charges against 58-year-old Chambers, an Oklahoma native, due to lack of evidence. But it had allowed the police in northern Thailand, which originally handled the case, to review its decision.

The group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which aided Chambers’ defense, said on its website that police contested the decision, which was then referred back to the attorney general, who in turn reaffirmed his own office’s decision to drop charges.

An appeal of the revocation of Chambers’ Thai visa, and another contesting his firing by Naresuan University are still pending, Akarachai said.

Chambers’ arrest drew concern from the academic community, especially from Asian scholars around the world, as well as from the U.S. government over free speech restrictions.

Thailand’s lese majeste law calls for 3-15 years imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent. Critics say it is among the harshest such laws anywhere and has also been used to punish critics of the government and the military.

The monarchy has long been considered a pillar of Thai society and criticizing it used to be strictly taboo. Conservative Thais, especially in the military and courts, still consider it untouchable.

Chambers has specialized in studying the power and influence of the Thai military, which plays a major role in politics. It has staged 13 coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, most recently 11 years ago. He was arrested on a complaint made by the northern regional office of the army’s Internal Security Operations Command.

One of its officers told a parliamentary inquiry that it filed the complaint based on a Facebook post that translated words from a website operated by ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, a think tank in Singapore, about a webinar on Thai politics that included as Chambers as a participant.

Chambers’ supporters said that the blurb for the webinar, which was cited in his charge sheet as evidence, was not written by him.