The military has attempted to censor the anti-establishment Same Sky (or Fah Deaw Kan in Thai) publishing house again by banning its t-shirt models, one of which with a dinosaur, with possible charges of lese majeste. Earlier the military pressured its embattled editor to delete Facebook statuses on the military’s attempt to censor.
The military asked for the samples of three T-shirts models for inspection:
- White t-shirt with logo of Jurassic Park with messages “The Lost World of Monarchical Absolutism.” The image was derived from the theme of Same Sky Journal published in 2012.
- Blue t-shirt with a tree in the middle. The root of the tree reads “Constitutional Monarchy” that grows into a tree with messages “Absolute Monarchy” It is the image from the journal published in 2011.
- The last one is on the cult symbol of “Khun Sab Sueng” or Mr. Grateful with his mout shut. The symbol of Khun Sab Sueng, normally shown when he is crying, has been used by the anti-establishment to mock the ultra-royalists.
From Left: Blue t-shirt with a tree in the middle. The root of the tree reads “Constitutional Monarchy” that grows into a tree with messages “Absolute Monarchy” , White t-shirt with logo of Jurassic Park with messages “The Lost World of Monarchical Absolutism” and Khun Sab Sueng” or Mr. Grateful with his mout shut.
Jaran Homtianthong, the president of the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand which is the organizer of the annual Book Expo Thailand 2014, held at the Sirikit Convention Centre, Bangkok, revealed with the BBC Thai Service that three military officers and policemen on Sunday asked him to request the Same Sky to stop selling the T-shirts models at the fair.
The military claimed that t-shirts could be deemed defaming the revered Thai monarchy.
On the same day, Thanapol Eawsakul, the editor of Same Sky journal and publishing house, stated that the military ordered him to delete a Facebook status which stated that the military officials has come to search the Same Sky’s booth, claiming that some of the books have contents that could be deemed as defaming the monarchy as well.
Jaran, however, said to the military that he will not infringe upon the Same Sky rights and he has no rights to judge if the t-shirts could be liable for lese majeste or not.
“Thanapol, the editor of Same Sky journal, was arrested and released twice already without being judged by the court. He has the right to set up the booth. If I infringe upon his rights then i would be guilty because he did not do anything wrong,” the BBC Thai Service quoted Jaran as saying. He added that he was not surprise that this might happen because the martial law is still in place.
In 2006, Same Sky and Thanapol were threatened with lese majeste because of the journal issue “The Monarchy and the Thai Society” aka “The Coke Issue,” which was banned by the Thai authorities. Because of issue, Thanapol was charged with Article 112 but the police did not file the case.
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