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SCMP’s Asia desk

The US State Department on Wednesday reacted to the arrest of a leading American academic based in Thailand, saying it was “alarmed” at his detention for alleged infringement of the country’s hardline royal insult law.
Paul Chambers, a political analyst at the Naresuan University who has written several books on the Thai military and the kingdom’s complex power arrangements, was arrested on Tuesday after reporting to police to face charges of lèse-majesté – or royal defamation – and violating the Computer Crime Act, both serious criminal offences in the country.
Each conviction under the lèse-majesté law is punishable by three to 15 years in prison.
Foreigners are rarely arrested under Thailand’s royal defamation law – known locally as “112” after its section in the criminal code – but bail is often denied in such cases, reflecting how seriously Thai authorities regard the protection of the monarchy, the country’s apex institution.
The US Department of State “takes its responsibility to assist US citizens abroad seriously and we are in communication with Thai authorities regarding this case,” it said in a statement shared by the US Embassy in Bangkok.

“This case reinforces our long-standing concerns about the use of lèse-majesté laws in Thailand. We continue to urge Thai authorities to respect freedom of expression and to ensure that laws are not used to stifle permitted expression,” it said, adding the embassy was providing support to Chambers.
Chambers’ arrest comes as Thailand is seeking urgent relief from the steep 36 per cent tariffs on its exports announced by US President Donald Trump last week, which economists warn could force the government to lower its growth targets if left unaddressed.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights told the Associated Press that the 58-year-old Chambers was taken to a provincial court for a pretrial detention hearing, where he was denied bail.
The court cited the “severity of the potential punishment”, his foreign citizenship and a police objection to his release as reasons for the decision, the group said.
The exact basis of the allegation has not been made public but appears to be linked to comments Chambers allegedly made during a webinar in 2024.


Much of Chambers’ work has examined the internal politics and financial networks of Thailand’s arch-royalist military, which has launched 13 coups in the country’s modern history and has repeatedly resisted ceding lasting control to civilian governments.
Thailand’s lèse-majesté law – widely considered the harshest of its kind – criminalises any perceived insult to the monarchy, with penalties of up to 15 years in prison per offence. Since mass anti-establishment protests erupted in 2020, dozens of young pro-democracy activists have been jailed or charged under the statute.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, more than 270 people – most of them student activists – have been prosecuted since those protests, which shattered a long-standing taboo on openly questioning the monarchy’s role in Thai politics.


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US ‘alarmed’ at arrest of American academic in Thailand for alleged royal defamation

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The US State Department said Paul Chambers’ arrest ‘reinforces long-standing concerns about the use of lèse-majesté laws in Thailand’


The US State Department said Paul Chambers’ arrest ‘reinforces long-standing concerns about the use of lèse-majesté laws in Thailand’.


Royalty

Thailand protests

Human rights

US ‘alarmed’ at arrest of American academic in Thailand for alleged royal defamation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The US State Department said Paul Chambers’ arrest ‘reinforces long-standing concerns about the use of lèse-majesté laws in Thailand’

The US State Department said Paul Chambers’ arrest ‘reinforces long-standing concerns about the use of lèse-majesté laws in Thailand’