Thai activist's mother arrested for not condemning royal insult

BANGKOK (AFP) - 

Thai police have arrested a leading activist's mother for failing to condemn Facebook messages that criticised the monarchy, her legal team said Saturday, in a move a rights group described as an "outrageous twist" of the kingdom's royal insult law.

The arrest comes amid a heightened crackdown on dissent by the junta ahead of an August 7 referendum on a new constitution it scripted and is determined to see pass.

Prosecutions under Thailand's royal defamation law -- known as lese majeste -- have surged since the generals seized power two years ago.

The boundaries for what counts as an insult have also expanded dramatically, with authorities making arrests over even vague references to the royal family.

But human rights lawyers said police took a step further Friday night by charging Patnaree Chankij, 40, for simply receiving messages that criticised the monarchy in a private Facebook chat.

"She just received the messages. She didn't say anything in her own words about the royal family," Poonsuk Poonsukcharoen, one of the human rights attorneys representing Patnaree, told AFP.

Police denied a request for bail citing the seriousness of the crime, which carries up to 15 years in prison for each offence.

She is scheduled to appear before a military tribunal on May 8, the court told AFP.

Patnaree is the mother of prominent student activist Sirawith Seritiwat who has been at the fore of small but persistent anti-junta demonstrations.

She herself has not participated in the protests, which are banned by the junta and often end in arrests.

Human Rights Watch said the charge against her was a "new low".

"Prosecuting someone for her vague response to a Facebook message is just the junta's latest outrageous twist of the lese majeste law," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.

At least nine people have been detained in the past two weeks for online criticism of the junta or monarchy -- including an activist who allegedly sent the messages to Patnaree.

The military government says it is seeking to end the political turmoil that has dogged the kingdom for the past decade.

But critics say the generals are more concerned with enshrining their influence and weakening the political bloc led by ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup and is hated by Bangkok's military-backed elite.

But his parties have continued to dominate elections with broad support from people in the country's rural north.

© 2016 AFP