Harry Nicolaides was an Australian expatriate living in Thailand who wrote a book called ‘Verisimilitude’ which contained a paragraph of precisely 103 words allegedly insulting the Crown Prince of Thailand.

103 words can do a great deal of damage if widely distributed, however, in an echo of the infamous Ehrenfeld case, there were only seven copies of the book ever sold. Indeed, there were only 50 copies of the book ever published, moreover, this was a work of ‘fiction’!

Harry has now been jailed in Thailand for six years, of which he must serve three, under the obscure Lèse majesté laws, which govern insults publicly expressed against the Royal Family.

To add a note of farce to this act of censorship, the excellent FACT web site which campaigns against censorship in Thailand, has been obliged to moderate comments on its web site for the first time. Quelle ironie!

Coco
January 24, 2009 at 14:50

I think the UK are looking at this as some kind of test-case and yard-stick
to measure future prison sentences on.

I wonder what the average punter in the UK would get if they mention the
McCann name in the same sentence as saying there was not an abduction by
persons unknown?

Makes me wonder ……….

Gloria Smudd
January 24, 2009 at 00:04

What with my myopia, astigmatism and cloudy cataracts, I first thought his
book was called “Veryslimyservitude”. Silly old me. Obviously, the Crown
Prince of Thailand’s censors in chiefitude read the title and that particular
103-word paragraph very carefully before jumping to their conclusion to
prosecute.