Arnon Nampa jailed 34 years after Harry Potter protest

A Bangkok court on Friday added a two year and eight month sentence for Arnon Nampa after he questioned Thailand's monarchy while dressed as Harry Potter at a 2020 protest, bringing his cumulative punishment across 14 lèse majesté cases to more than 34 years. Arnon is a 42-year-old human rights lawyer who has spent much of the past three years in Bangkok Remand Prison and has two further verdicts pending. Thailand has prosecuted 294 people under its lèse majesté law since 2020, including 20 people under 18, with individual sentences reported as high as 50 years. Article 112 of the Thai criminal code prescribes three to 15 years' imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir apparent or regent, but rights groups and lawyers say courts apply the law broadly and ambiguously. Most people charged under Section 112 are denied bail and remain in jail through trials that can last several years, rights defenders say. From his cell Arnon has continued to write to his children and to say the verdict was not a surprise while urging public discussion about the monarchy's role to be possible in a more open country.