Earlier this month, the prominent American academic Dr. Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Naresuan University in Phitsanulok, Thailand, was arrested on charges of insulting the Thai monarchy (lese-majeste). In addition to causing international headlines and earning a quick response from the U.S. State Department, the arrest represents a dangerous new development in Thailand’s usage of politically motivated charges to silence criticism and dissent, but has multiple and dire consequences for the 58-year-old Chambers.
Chambers, the author of numerous books including “Praetorian Kingdom,” on the history of the Thai military, was accused by the Royal Thai Army of criticizing the monarch in connection with a blurb that was posted on the website of Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in connection with a webinar he was scheduled to give about the Thai military’s annual reshuffle in October, an analysis Chambers has regularly conducted for several years. Chambers claims that he neither wrote nor posted the blurb, and in any case, it is unclear how it breached the lese-majeste law. Nonetheless, if convicted of lese-majeste and a related charge of violating the Kingdom’s Computer Crime Act (CCA), Chambers faces a maximum of 15 years in prison on the lese-majeste charge and as many as five years for violating the CCA. While he was able to post the 300,000 baht ($9,000) in bail, he is now bound to an electronic monitor as he awaits criminal proceedings.
First, Chambers faces the strong possibility of never being able to live or work in Thailand again. His work visa was immediately revoked upon charges, while his office was searched, and his computer was seized by Thai authorities. While Chambers had been the target of royalist, military, and conservative groups in the past for his critical analysis of civil-military relations, his arrest marks a turn as it represents a rare arrest of a foreign academic. Fellow American scholar David Streckfuss, the leading expert on lese-majeste, was targeted in 2021 and lost his job at a Thai university, but still resides in Thailand. However, an unwarranted deportation of Chambers and the loss of his university position would be the least damaging outcome.
First, the chance of a fair trial could be slim. In 2023, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (THLR) reported that of 100 defendants charged with lese-majeste (or Article 112) between November 2021 and the end of October 2023, 79 were convicted, while only 21 were acquitted. Worse, if the expectations are that the court might take into account Chambers’ age, there have been children charged under the same law. Between July 2020 and November 2023, at least 286 children have been charged and/or prosecuted because of their speech activities, including 20 children for insulting the monarchy. Whereas no children are spared prosecution, health or age are also often ignored. In 2011, Ampon Tangnoppakul, a 61-year-old retiree, was convicted on lese-majeste charges and was sentenced to 20 years for sending four short SMS messages deemed inflammatory. He died in prison of liver cancer.
If Chambers is convicted, he would be sent to one of Thailand’s many prisons, which are often the subject of human rights complaints from several international organizations, on grounds of limited access to health care, severe overcrowding, poor nutrition, diet and sanitary conditions, and arbitrary acts of discipline. According to a 2025 report by the International Federation for Human Rights, 71 percent of Thailand’s prisons are well beyond their capacity. The United Nations has warned for years that prison overcrowding is among the top concerns for the Committee Against Torture and the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls. The U.S. State Department in 2023 warned of “abusive physical conditions,” citing the case of an inmate who struggled to access her medication and was moved to a new facility only after losing 10 percent of her body weight through a hunger strike.
In a communication to 112 Watch, an advocacy organization calling for the amendment of Thailand’s lese-majeste law, Kit Chambers, Paul’s brother, noted that after his arrest, Chambers was detained in a local prison overnight that “was absolutely awful” and that he “could not bear to go back.” His family fears that if no settlement is reached between U.S. diplomats and Thai authorities, he will likely be found guilty.
Judging by the past conviction rate for similar charges, the odds are against him, but the Thai judiciary is rife with allegations of corruption and political malfeasance. Thailand’s High Courts have used flimsy legal grounds to dissolve entire political parties on grounds of lese-majeste, including the Future Forward and Move Forward parties in 2020 and 2024. Their leaders were banned from political activities and many faced individual charges of their own. It is often the vagueness of the law itself that allows authorities to charge individuals and quickly reach criminal prosecution.
This is the fate that awaits Chambers without intervention or a just settlement. Allowing foreign academics to be targeted by a regime that professes to be the “Land of Smiles” and aims to build its “soft power” sends a dangerous message to others working in Thailand or in the region. If Paul Chambers is both silenced and imprisoned, it will ultimately lead to more of the same.
Who would be next?
