14-3-2024 (BANGKOK) A transgender woman, known only as “Maggie,” has been handed a 25-year prison sentence for royal defamation and related computer crimes, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).
The Southern Bangkok Criminal Court issued its ruling on Thursday, convicting the 26-year-old defendant for 18 messages posted on Twitter between December 2022 and October 2023 that touched on the royal institution.
According to TLHR, 14 of the messages violated Section 112 of the Criminal Code, also known as the lese-majeste law, as well as the Computer Crime Act. The remaining four messages violated only the Computer Crime Act.
The court sentenced Maggie, a native of Yasothon, to three years for each of the 14 counts, totaling 42 years, and two years each for the other four convictions, resulting in a cumulative sentence of 50 years. However, due to the defendant’s confession, the sentence was reduced to 25 years, as reported by the lawyers.
Maggie has been in custody at Bangkok Remand Prison since her arrest by Special Branch police on October 20 last year. Her lawyers revealed that her mobile phone was confiscated, leaving her unable to contact anyone, and she was initially interrogated without legal representation.
When presented with the charges against her, Maggie claimed that she signed a confession out of fear, according to her lawyers’ statement.
Born into a farming family in Yasothon, Maggie had only completed education up to Grade 9. She later moved to Bangkok, where she worked in a restaurant. However, she lost her job during the pandemic and struggled to make ends meet while working part-time at a department store.
As someone affected by government policies, Maggie expressed to her lawyers that she developed an increasing interest in politics in 2018. In 2020, she started participating in some of the pro-democracy rallies that emerged in opposition to the military-linked administration.
Data from TLHR indicates that, as of February 29 this year, 1,951 individuals have faced prosecution for political participation and expression since the beginning of the Free Youth protests in July 2020. Among them, at least 268 individuals face lese-majeste charges under Section 112, while 150 have been charged with sedition under Section 116.
