Thai man serving record royal insult sentence faces new charges

Mongkol Thirakot, 31, was sentenced last year to at least 50 years in prison on royal defamation charges for posts made on his personal Facebook account several years ago. The record-breaking sentence came after several years in which Thailand ramped up use of the controversial legislation against pro-democracy protesters in what critics say is a tactic to silence dissent. "Police have charged him with three more counts of royal defamation over three Facebook posts from 2022," said Noppol Achamas from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).