BANGKOK — Thai police said Wednesday that they are investigating comments made by the US ambassador about a law that bans criticism of the monarchy, but don’t expect to bring charges because he has diplomatic immunity.
The police spokesman, Major General Piyaphan Pingmuang, said authorities are investigating a Nov. 25 speech by Ambassador Glyn Davies because they had received a complaint that it violated the same law by defaming the monarchy, known as lese majeste.
The diplomatic contretemps is the latest dust-up between Washington and one of its most durable allies in Asia. US criticisms of military takeovers in 2006 and last year have been mild, with only the softest sanctions applied, such as the cancellation of high-level meetings. But because the military actions were framed in part as a defense of Thailand’s much revered monarchy, royalists treat American concerns as interference and culturally insensitive.
Davies said in the course of a wide-ranging speech praising US-Thai relations that America is concerned about prison sentences given by military courts to civilians under the law. Since the military seized power in a coup last year, a number of people have received sentences of more than 25 years for comments on the Internet found to have violated the law. Davies also spoke out for freedom of expression.