[Thailand] Swiss man jailed for 10 years for insulting Thai king

ethnocentrism is a wonderful thing.

In my opinion if you know the laws, you break them, then tough luck. There are laws in some places that seem weird to us or unfair, but the fact that a country isn't a carbon copy of your own hardly gives you a position of authority on what makes a law good or not.

 

Not sure if you've ever been to Thailand... but they don't have freedom of speech. I'm not sure that everyone needs nor wants a western style democracy either.

Moreover a very big reason why Taksin was overthrown was because of his continual selling off of national interests to foreign ownership to line his own pockets.

Thailand has always been run essentially by the monarchy and the military. Even given that the average person on the street would most likely choose their king over democracy any day.

 

Are you for real?
If you apply that same logic to your own country then there are any number of people who've broken British law in Britain that should be set free.
Makes absolutely zero sense.

err.. you seem to be missing the point.

If this British woman knowingly and willingly went to an Islamic country under Sharia law and broke their laws... then she has no one to blame but herself.

Foreign dope smugglers often get execution in SE Asia... but in the west it's rare if ever that dope smugglers are executed. So now... by your logic we should be intervening all over the place to help people that knowingly and willfully broke the laws of the countries they were in.

Patently absurd.

 

Even though its a blatent human rights violation? In fact, the British government tries to, and has succeeded in, getting British citizens released from Guantanamo Bay.

No, by my logic governments would get involved when their own citizens were concerned. Wasn't there a case recently of a woman in exactly that position? (dope smuggling), i'm pretty sure she was Australian and was arrested in Indonesia but i can't really remember, and i'm pretty sure the Australian government was working hard to get her deported back to them.

Also, just look at the Bulgarian nurses sentenced to be executed in Libya. Pretty much the entire Western world is involved in that one.

 

I don't think 10 years for defacing a kings portrait is a human rights violation.
Execution for dope smuggling is also not a human right violation.
If either is... would you please cite the existing international laws that say so?

This is often more down to politiking than it is to law.

It still doesn't change the fact that in the Thai king issue and in the hypothetical issues brought up... someone has gone into the country and knowingly and willingly broke their laws. Why should they get any special treatment?

Again - any number of foreigners end up in the UK and break laws... do they get special treatment over the average British citizen?

You're referring to Schapelle Corby who was sentenced to 20 years for smuggling dope into Bali.

She did the crime... now she's got to do the time.
Plain and simple. Why should she get any special treatment?


With regards to the Swiss man who defaced the Thai kings portrait... I frankly surprised he wasn't attacked and beaten to death. If you'd been living in Chiang Mai for tens years... you'd have a pretty good idea of exactly with what sort of reverance the Thai's hold their king.

 

i always thought that schapelle had a pretty airtigh case, i mean who the hell smuggles drugs from australia INTO bali?

 

good thing it wasn't in a middle eastern country.

Or even in Korea. They could use a good body for as a punching bag.

 

I would like Britain and other Democracies to pass comment when any woman is being murdered by the state for breaking unjust laws (like the Iranian teenage girl sentenced to death for stabbing a guy who was raping her). I think you get a beating for not covering your face though, not killed in countries where they use this aspect of Sharia law.

 

LMAO, Their acting like their doing him a favor

In Australia you'd just get community service or a fine.

 

You seem not to grasp the situation.

Without the plea bargain... they could have strung his ass up for a hell of a lot longer. So he did himself a favor by admitting guilt.

It's Thailand... get it?
Not Australia.

 

He'd be dead by the time he gets out anyway ( If he did 20 years ).
His life is already ruined, Sounds like some homeless guy going crazy with a paint can.

If he does the crime he does the time. They know the laws full well, and they still do things like this. Serve him right.

 

Barring possible laws that say that you have to give up your citizenship when you accept the crown in another country, or voluntarily rejecting his citizenship, did you know the King of Thailand is an American?

Born December 5, 1927 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He also seems to have spent a great many years in Switzerland, basically returning to Thailand to become king in 1945.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

 

The above is certainly relevant for anyone who has never been to a English-isn't-the-primary-language country. I am thinking of a drunken foreigner doing that sort of thing in Turkey to a portrait of Ataturk. Someone in that situation would be extremely fortunate to have the option of being alive to plead guilty or not. In Thailand this fellow is lucky not to have to plead guilty from the intensive care ward.

You have to play by the rules if you're a guest. People need to educate themselves on the culture of any country that they travel to. It will be a better way to get along with people you're visiting and a good way to know your limits. Umm, but a guy who has been there for ten years and done something this utterly stupid.......there's not much hope for him.

 

Not all that strange really.
This is not all that uncommon for Kings and the ultra elite. Most if not all of them have not been educated in their home countries. Or if they had to a certain extent most all would have gone to tertiary education somewhere in the west. The list of the worlds dictators could pretty much be roll call in the western Ivy League schools. Sandhurst has had any number of international rulers, princes etc. graduate over the years as well.

I'm not sure what you're getting at when you mention 'barring laws that say you have to give up your citizenship when you accept the crown of another country... etc.' - those sorts of laws do not come into play normally in a situation like this as they're aimed more at indviduals who want two or several citizenships. Some countries make this possible... other countries have strict rules. So the law applies to people seeking citizenship under another ruler not the breaking of laws in another country.

 

The US has a law about citizens not serving in a foreign fighting force and as the Thai king is head of their armed forces he is covered by it. I had great pleasure in informing a soldier I served with of this when he was boasting about his dual citizenship UK and US, the obnoxious little toad was from the Virgin Islands. American mum and Brit dad.

 

err... I must have missed the part where this Swiss dude was actually American and serving in the Kings army...

Just because one follows (or as is the case doesn't follow) Thai law doesn't now somehow mean they are fighting in the Thai army or for the Thai king.

I guess I missed your point completely.

 

I was reffering to the Thai King being American not the Swiss dude - you are right you missed it

 

ah right... but Americans can hold dual passports and citizenships. It's common. Additionally the Thai King comes from the linage of Thai royal family... so it's not an issue of where he was born actually... he's Thai. I don't think you're going to find anyone who's going to kick up a fuss where he was born.

 

Yeah I was only to replying to the dual nationality thing, you can't hold an American nationality if you are in the Brit Army for example, I do not know how you go about getting it back after you have finished your service. Same for Americans from Turkish families who get caught for national service when they are in Turkey. I think the rules about foreign military service are in the constitution but I may well be wrong. It really affected guys in the Escadrille Lafayette in WW1 in a famous case.

 

Interesting. I know there were a handful of yanks that went to fly for Britian during the early stages of WWII - when the Americans hadn't yet entered into the picture.

An uncle on my mom's side flew for Britain as a bombadier and then later flew as a bombadier in a b-24 Liberator for the American airforce in the same war.