Joe Gordon, American Citizen, Charged With Insulting Thai Monarchy

BANGKOK — A lawyer says an American citizen has been formally charged with insulting Thailand's monarchy, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

Lawyer Anon Numpa says his client, Joe Gordon, was charged with lese majeste for allegedly translating parts of an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and writing articles that defamed the royal family.

Gordon was arrested in May and was detained for the maximum 84 days that a suspect can be held without charge.

The website Prachatai.com says Gordon denied the charge. It says he was born in Thailand but lived in the U.S. state of Colorado for about 30 years before returning to Thailand earlier this year.

U.S. Embassy officials were not available for comment late Thursday.

Comments

[kirazmazzone]

03:18 PM on 09/01/2011

Dear Joe Gordon,
When did you realize you were dumber than a doorknob?

[Rouvey]

09:26 AM on 08/23/2011

The King looks very papal....

[Rouvey]

09:22 AM on 08/23/2011

He's on his way to "BROKEDOWN PALACE"!!!!

[loki]

04:39 AM on 08/23/2011

I'm assuming being of Thai decent, and having moved back there recently, he knew the rules and laws. as the old saying goes, when in Rome, do as the romans do. He didnt. He is paying the price.

[European1919]

05:05 AM on 08/23/2011

Same old, same old ... people over here complaining about muslims not conforming to western lifestyle and then plonkers like him really putting their foot in it with the Thai - who are usually a very friendly and relaxed people.

[Spilford1]

05:44 PM on 08/22/2011

The Thai people love their king. They don't like the king's son, but they like his grandson.

[Ren Martin]

05:05 AM on 08/21/2011

Joe Gordon is born in Thailand and changed his name when he emigrated to the USA. His crime was allegedly posting a link on his blog to a Thai translation of a controversial book. He is also charged with doing the translation as well.

The book in question was the 2006 Paul Handley biography of the Thai king ‘The King Never Smiles.’ It is a book banned in Thailand for raising issues that contradict the carefully constructed state and military-led propaganda that surrounds Thailand’s king. Accordingly, it violates Thailand’s Article 112, which mandates up to 15 years in jail for ‘whoever defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir to the throne or the regent.’

He should have known better...

[Myrddin Wyllt]

10:22 AM on 08/21/2011

"Should have known better" ?

You mean that like the freedom fighters in Tunisa, Egypt, Libya and Syria he should have known better than to challenge a dictatorship that censors criticism?

The Thai monarchy is not the benevolent institution it pretends to be. It has repeatedly sided with the military to oust elected governments it finds inconvenient. So democracy in Thailand amounts to the right to elect a government that the King and the military approve of.

Nor is the reverence of the monarchy a deep seated cultural tradition. It was invented by the CIA in the 1950s when they advised the king to establish a cult of personality to avoid democratic pressures that might lead to communism.

[Ren Martin]

12:17 PM on 08/21/2011

I do not sympathize with monarchy in general at all. However, one does have to respect the law of the land, no matter how unjust those laws might be, What about me, being Dutch, would come to the USA to advocate free availability of marijuana, as it is in Holland, of course smoking it wherever I came. A noble cause no doubt, that will land me in jail for sure, and people would say "he should have known better".

[kwaut lizard]

01:08 AM on 08/22/2011

Thai National Police Chief General Kowit Wattana said before the book, The King Never Smiles published by Yale University Press, has "contents which could affect national security and the good morality of the people."

That's about as vague as you can get.

Royalist Thai talk-show host Sondhi Limthongkul informally criticized the book as "full of gossip" and called Paul Handley "aggressive", "highhanded", "sassy", "derogatory to Asians", and "insolent even to his own parents". Social activist and political scientist Giles Ungphakorn reviewed the book for Prachatai online newspaper and praised the book for its evidence-backed analysis.

The controversy centers around the book stating that the royalists wanted to create a system whereby the state would be ruled by a traditional dhammaraja (monarch who rules with dharma) that would play a significant role in shaping policy. That after 1945, the royalists were completely resigned to the loss of the absolute monarchy and focused on building a constitutional framework for the monarchy which disagrees with the view that the absolute monarchy had been completely discredited in Thailand as a viable political philosophy.

Hardly the stuff for oppressing an author.

[Iain Banks]

05:03 AM on 08/21/2011

A great man once said "the greatest threat to democracy is the notion that we have it". That applies to Thailand, India, the USA, etc

[Michael Falcon]

01:07 PM on 08/20/2011

I hate this stupid Thai King, who think he is, a God!

[Marcus047]

10:11 AM on 08/20/2011

Again? This seems to happen regualrly with american tourists and expats in thailand. Here's a hint people: If you travel to a country that has a monarchy, no matter how much you hate the idea, shut up about it and remember that you're in someone else's country. Show some respect.

[OneFish]

12:40 PM on 08/22/2011

Respect is certainly NOT due, but pragmatism is usually a good policy...

[Observer111]

08:12 AM on 08/20/2011

if an american was arrested in Syria or Russia for speaking badly of a president, it would be all over the news as a major event proving despotic nature of the regime...when it happens in Thailand, it's biz as usual because the country is not on US hit list. Hypocrisy rules

[factsaboutchina]

03:04 AM on 08/20/2011

The King of Thailand has an entire palace devoted to the discarded members of street hookers.

[theHOLEtruth]

05:25 PM on 08/19/2011

If he lived in Thailand he'd know that under NO circumstances does anyone speak negatively about the monarch-any tourist knows that. Some Americans have this attitude that they can exercise their constitutional "freedom of speech", "pushing the envelope" and challenge authority mindset outside the US frontier with impunity.

It doesn't work that way.

[Ren Martin]

05:06 AM on 08/21/2011

He is Thai, he is born in Thailand, he changed his name when he emigrated to the USA

[kwyang]

05:20 PM on 08/19/2011

A monarchy that has to be protected from criticism is an insult to any pretensions of democracy in Thailand. Love that has to be won with truncheons is not true love from the people.

[Iain Banks]

05:00 AM on 08/21/2011

Who said Thailand was a democratic country?

[hagagaga]

03:22 PM on 08/19/2011

Joe Gordon is my favorite person right now.

[MIKEinNYC]

01:48 PM on 08/19/2011

I didn't realize that they were that bad in Thailand. I'm gonna quit eating their imported Pad Thai in protest.