Does Thai law prohibit insulting head of ISIS?
Re: “It’s not just our own monarchy that’s protected by Thai law,” Letters, January 2.
Somsak Pola’s alarming letter came as a wake-up call. If Thai law prohibits criticism of a head of state, does this mean I have to stop referring to Kim Jong-un as Short Fat Jong, to Barack Obama as Mr Big Ears, and to Vladimir Putin as Polonium Pute? What about the beheader-in-chief of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? Does he qualify as a head of state? Do I have to stop calling him Dirt Bagh?
There is also the question of dead heads of state. Are we not allowed to criticise Genghis Khan, Henry VIII or Ivan the Terrible?
(It’s okay if I use a penname, isn’t it? They can’t arrest me if I use a penname, can they? Can they?)
Anxiously,
John Smith
