drogon Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 Hope he is now "persona non grata" for the Thai immigration. Guess he got what he wanted -> "marketing" (maybe, if true, the stroke his mother suffered was not forecasted though?) By the way, similar "laws" (written or unofficial) do exist in many countries -> see recent "scandals" about the French president the monkey drawing and president Obama etc.... Anyway the law exists and no matter if you think it is unfair -> you are warned... "Mr Nicolaides's imprisonment violating a basic Australian sense of fair play." -> this I don't believe as until now the only two foreigners who tried to scam me were Aussies....Where is the fair play then? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7903019.stm?lss ------------------------------------------------ Thailand frees Australian writer Harry Nicolaides at court in Bangkok, Thailand, file pic from 19 January, 2009 Australia's government had lobbied for the release of Harry Nicolaides Harry Nicolaides, an Australian writer jailed in Thailand for defaming its monarch, has returned home after being pardoned by the king and set free. Mr Nicolaides, 41, had been sentenced to three years imprisonment in January. The charges arose from a passage in a largely unknown novel he wrote in 2005, of which only seven of 50 copies printed were ever sold. Mr Nicolaides was met by his family in Melbourne. He would next see his mother in hospital, his father told reporters. Speaking at the airport in Melbourne, Mr Nicolaides thanked the Australian people for their support, the Associated Press news agency reports. He told reporters he had been crying for eight hours, having only learnt moments before his flight that his mother had suffered a stroke while he was imprisoned. "A few hours before that I was informed I had a royal pardon... A few hours before that I was climbing out of a sewerage tank that I fell into in the prison," AP quotes him as saying. 'Dishonour' The Australian government had lobbied Thailand's royal family for his release. Before he was jailed in January, the Bangkok court said a passage about an unnamed crown prince in the author's self-published fictional book, Verisimilitude, had caused "dishonour" to the Thai royal family. The case had become a real cause celebre in Australia, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney, with Mr Nicolaides's imprisonment violating a basic Australian sense of fair play. Images on television of him wearing prison clothes and in chains shocked many Australian viewers, our correspondent says. According to Mr Nicolaides's lawyer, Mark Dean, the writer's release was the result of close co-operation between the Thai and Australian governments, our correspondent adds. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy but has severe lese majeste laws. Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdee told AP: "This is not the first time that a foreigner has been granted a royal pardon. It is within his majesty's power to do so." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 Hope he is now "persona non grata" for the Thai immigration. Guess he got what he wanted -> "marketing" (maybe, if true, the stroke his mother suffered was not forecasted though?) By the way, similar "laws" (written or unofficial) do exist in many countries -> see recent "scandals" about the French president the monkey drawing and president Obama etc.... Anyway the law exists and no matter if you think it is unfair -> you are warned... "Mr Nicolaides's imprisonment violating a basic Australian sense of fair play." -> this I don't believe as until now the only two foreigners who tried to scam me were Aussies....Where is the fair play then? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7903019.stm?lss You know that you are too long in LOS when you defend a law which does not exist in any other country of the world... (...and which is regularly being used suppress opposing opinions) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I see your point, but you still can't go to a place and shit on the laws just because you think they are stupid. This assclown seems to have had some sort of (failed) agenda in mind, maybe another book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamui Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I see your point, but you still can't go to a place and shit on the laws just because you think they are stupid. This assclown seems to have had some sort of (failed) agenda in mind, maybe another book? Even the fact that this guy is a dumbass does not validate this law. ---- The charges arose from a passage in a largely unknown novel he wrote in 2005, of which [color:red]only seven of 50 copies printed were ever sold[/color]. You wonder what's really behind the story. I mean you don't go necessarily to jail for killing someone in LOS, but for one sentence which obviously no one has ever read. If you would throw out every dumbass farang out of LOS, the Farang community would become much smaller very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Hippie Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 The law is as valid as any...to them anyway. It is only as good as those enforcing it. Seems most of the guys busted for Les Mejeste always get off far short of their sentence, which sort of tells me the authorities don't take the law very seriously either...beyond the show I mean. Weren't some Thais busted for this as well? Wonder how they fared...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Munchmaster Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 Not only that, but he was convicted because of "a passage about an (sorry - can't allude to people here - Mod 3) in the author's self-published fictional book". Good think that common sense prevailed, if that's what it was, as he should have never been charged in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I'm sure he'll be pounding away on the typewriter again soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drogon Posted February 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I agree with you Kamui but let's say there is a law in your country which says: "men entering women's lavatories will be jailed for 5 years" -> say I am a tourist/expat who knows fully well the law because the stupid law is in every tourist book. I enter the women's lavatories because I want to -> then I get caught and jailed. Wouldn' you say that I was stupid to do so knowing the law? This prick knew very well what would happen...so why did he do it except to get some fame/marketing? Would have served him well to stay in a cell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 It was exceedingly clear which crown prince he was referring to. In fact, if I remember right (sorry - can't allude to people here - Mod 3) also made it quite clear whom he meant. The "unnamed" argument is ridiculous. He should have known what would happen. Again the question - why did he do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AloyMak Posted February 21, 2009 Report Share Posted February 21, 2009 I agree with you Kamui but let's say there is a law in your country which says: "men entering women's lavatories will be jailed for 5 years" I don't think this case is as straightforward as that. If the guy was caught (sorry - can't allude to people here - Mod 3) , I think your entering the woman's bathroom analogy applies. So what about the editors of the Economist? Should they never set foot inside of Thailand in their life? None of the Thai people I've talked to about this thinks the law was applied justly in this case. Maybe they are just being polite to me and have different opinions when no farangs are around. Oddly enough, it seems to me the people who judge this man the harshest are expats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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