Writer held for 'insulting' Thai royals.

Kyler Mcclure

12 September 2008

King Bhumibol is revered by plenty in Thailand Till this month, few folk had ever heard of, not to mention read, a novel by formidable Australian writer Harry Nicolaides titled Verisimilitude. I feel persecuted, to be truthful I need to be given an opportunity to apologize and explain.

Harry Nicolaides But one passage in his forgotten novel has come back to haunt him. A warrant for his arrest was issued in March this year, but - such is the incessant privacy that surrounds all "lese-majeste" cases - he wasn't informed of this. He continued to go in and out of Thailand on visa runs, till 31 Aug, when he was caught as he was going to board a flight to Australia. Thai athletes held the king's image to mark their victories in Beijing He was able to raise bail of half a million Thai baht ( $15,000 ), but denied it on the grounds that he'd leave the country.

Oliver Jufer, a Swiss state, was pardoned by the Thai king in 2007 The clause in all up to date Thai constitutions ( there were seventeen since 1932 ) simply reads : "The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated. No person shall reveal the King to any sort of indictment or action." Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code reads : "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of 3 to fifteen years." Nowhere is there a definition of what constitutes an insult to the monarchy. Nor will the Royal Family ever invoke the law itself - "lese-majeste" beefs can be filed by anybody, against anybody, and they must be formally researched by the police. A drunk Swiss man who sprayed graffiti on the king's portrait ; a French passenger on Thai Airways who refused to switch off his reading light whilst sitting next to a princess ; and more lately 2 young Thais who failed to stand up for the king's anthem in the theatre. This increased sensitivity is comprehensible, as King Bhumibol is 80 years of age, and there's acute public stress over the succession and the untested capacities of the crown prince. Even if he is convicted and sentenced, during the past King Bhumibol has always quickly pardoned foreigners who have found themselves on the inaccurate side of this law.