He questioned Thailand's monarchy dressed as Harry Potter. Now he's in jail for 34 years

Arnon Nampa dressed as Harry Potter at the protest in August 2020 Even before they come through the door, you can hear the prisoners walking towards the courtroom, the shackles round their ankles clinking with each step. The five who walk into the courtroom are familiar with the routine; they are facing multiple criminal prosecutions and have spent much of the past five years going back and forth to court. One of them, a small, bespectacled man with greying hair, opens his arms to hold his three-year-old son, who has been brought to court . This is Arnon Nampa, a 42-year-old human rights lawyer. His offence was to call for Thailand's powerful monarchy to be scrutinised and held accountable. He did this dressed as the eponymous young wizard at a Harry Potter-themed demonstration in central Bangkok in 2020. On Friday a court in Bangkok sentenced him to two years and eight months for violating Thailand's lèse majesté law, or article 112, under which more people have been jailed for perceived insults against the royal family than in all the other countries that have such laws combined. This is just one out of 14 cases brought against Arnon under the same charge, bringing the cumulative sentence he has received so far to more than 34 years. The verdict in two cases is still pending. "To me, this isn't a surprise," he later told reporters. "If the country was more open, we would be able to talk about these issues freely." A drawing 's 10-year-old daughter showing her father in prison The past six years have seen the most extensive use of lèse majesté in Thai history, in response to unprecedented student protests in 2020 which for the first time called for a public discussion of the role of the monarchy. Two hundred and ninety-four people, including 20 under the age of 18, have been prosecuted, receiving prison sentences of up to 50 years. Dozens of them are still on trial. Most of those charged under this law are denied bail and kept in jail, even though their court cases can last several years. The standard defence of the law given "reflects the culture and history of Thailand, where the monarchy is one of the main pillars of the nation, highly revered ". Article 112 of the Thai criminal code simply reads, "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years." In practice, though, the law has been interpreted to cover a much wider range of comment about the monarchy, and a much wider range of figures.