Arnon Nampa (อานนท์ นำภา), a Thai lawyer, poet, father and human rights defender, was recently imprisoned following conviction of violation of Article 112 in Thailand. At a protest on 3 August 2020, he made a call for frank, public discussion of the monarchy that transformed the struggle for democracy in Thailand. Those in power were fundamentally unnerved by his and others’ calls for democracy and so began to charge them with violation of Article 112, the measure of the Criminal Code that defines the crime and prescribes punishment for alleged lèse majesté.
Arnon is facing a total of fourteen Article 112 charges for speeches and peaceful expression of opinion in 2020-2022. On 26 September 2023, the first of his cases was decided and he was sentenced to four years in prison. By January 2025, six of his cases have been decided and his total sentence is currently eighteen years, ten months, and twenty days. All of these convictions are for peaceful expression and dissent.
Supporters of Arnon Nampha post regular updates on his case and his letters from prison in Thai to his public Facebook page. The Article 112 Project is translating these letters. Initially, we did so as individual letters and collections of 25 letters. After Arnon’s first year in prison, we collected and published the entire set of 139 letters he wrote during his first year in prison. Click below to download PDF collections of his letters. We will continue translating and publishing the letters as he writes them: check back here or on our social media for updates.