A young man sold calendars with yellow duck cartoons in Thailand. He got 2 years in prison for insulting the king.
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Matthew Loh
Mar 9, 2023, 15:33 IST
A stuffed toy duck is seen during an anti-government demonstration in Bangkok on March 24, 2021.LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA/AFP via Getty Images
A man was sentenced to two years in prison in Thailand for selling calendars insulting the king.
The calendars featured cartoons of a yellow duck that prosecutors said referenced King Rama X.
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A 26-year-old lawyer was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison for mocking Thailand's king.
His offense — selling calendars displaying cartoons of a yellow duck, which prosecutors said were satirical references to King Rama X.
Attorney Narathorn Chotmankongsin was arrested by Bangkok police on December 31, 2020 in his home, per Human Rights Watch.
He'd been selling the duck calendars on the pro-democracy Facebook page Ratsadon, Human Rights Watch said. Insider checked the page on Thursday evening, Bangkok time, and it had been taken down.
A Thai court ruled that the ducks on Narathorn's calendars were a representation of King Rama X, citing how one page of the calendar showed a duck wearing a crop top and sunglasses, per TLHR. Prosecutors said the cartoon resembled photos of the king wearing a crop top, according to TLHR's report of the hearing.
Narathorn was originally given three years in prison, but his sentence was commuted to two years, TLHR said.
"This case sends a message to all Thais, and to the rest of the world, that Thailand is moving further away from — not closer to — becoming a rights-respecting democracy," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
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Thai authorities have in recent years come under fire from international rights organizations for a brutal crackdown on dissent against the monarchy.
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