Two Thai journalists have been arrested for their story about an activist spray painting an anarchist symbol and a symbol critical of “lese majeste” laws on a Bangkok temple wall almost a year ago, the police and their lawyers said on Tuesday.
Nattaphol Meksobhon, a reporter from an independent online news outlet Prachatai, and freelance photographer Nattaphon Phanphongsanon were arrested on Monday.
The two were charged with being accomplices to damaging a historical site and public vandalism, said Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing the men.
The allegations stem from their news coverage last March of an activist spray painting an anarchist symbol and the number 112 with a strike through it on the wall of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, located within the Grand Palace compound in Bangkok.
The number 112 is a reference to the “lese majeste” law that protects the palace from criticism and carries a maximum jail sentence of up to 15 years for each perceived royal insult, a punishment widely condemned by international human rights groups as extreme.
The graffiti incident was captured on video and widely reported by the media. Prachatai news editor Tewarit Maneechai said the two journalists went to cover the story without knowing in advance that the activist was going to graffiti the temple’s wall.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Phawat Wattasupat, deputy superintendent of Phra Ratchawang police station, told Reuters that police had sufficient information to support their arrests.
