Thai man jailed 25 years over Facebook posts deemed 'insulting to monarchy'

A military court yesterday jailed a man for 25 years for posting pictures on his Facebook page that were deemed insulting to the monarchy, in one of the toughest such sentences in recent years.

Tiensutham Suttijitseranee, a 58-year-old businessman, was found guilty of posting defamatory content in a closed-door court sentencing, his lawyer said.

"The court decided that because he posted five pictures with captions last year that the court deemed defamatory, he would be sentenced to a total of 50 years; 10 years for each picture posted, reduced by half to 25 years," lawyer Sasinan Thamnithinan said.

The term was halved because Tiensutham pleaded guilty, the lawyer said, adding the court did not allow his relatives and reporters to attend the verdict.

Since the coup, all lese majeste cases have been tried by military tribunals.

There have been 20 new cases involving royal defamation after the coup, Deputy National Police chief General Jaktip Chaijinda said. - Reuters