BANGKOK -- Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha may have inadvertently set the stage for a public debate on Thailand's lese-majeste law, which critics say has been weaponized by the kingdom's ultra-royalists and archconservatives to crush free speech.
Considered taboo even among far-right groups, Section 112 of the criminal code threatens jail terms of between 3 to 15 years for anyone who "defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent."
