Harry Nicholaides Freed

Harry Nicolaides, the Australian author imprisoned in Thailand on a charge of lese majeste has been freed. This message came via the Facebook group campaigning for his release:

Dear all,

Some fantastic news! Harry was granted a Royal Pardon by his Majesty the King of Thailand on Wednesday afternoon Bangkok time. The Nicolaides family is grateful to his Majesty the King for the decision he has made and to the relevant Thai authorities who dealt with the pardon application in an expeditious manner. Harry has been released from prison and has arrived back in Melbourne today. For a short time, Harry will not be speaking to any media as he will be initially focusing on regaining his health and rejoining with his family in Melbourne.

The last 6 months has been an extremely difficult and trying time for my family and our mission is now accomplished – we brought Harry home. I would sincerely like to thank everyone who has supported the family’s efforts and in assisting with encouraging the Australian government to take affirmative action to secure Harry’s release.

Best Regards,
Forde Nicolaides

Thanks all of you who signed the petition.

But according to The Herald Sun, his homecoming was tinged with sadness as his mother had had a stroke while he was in prison.

Postscript : (1/3/09)

Yes but ... was Nicholaides deliberately courting danger? A former colleague says he remembers the author talking about ways to achieve literary fame and rejecting advice not to publish the section that gave offense. :

In the end, Nicolaides was simply a literary speculator whose quest for fame and notoriety cost him dearly.

says Heath Dollar in The Sydney Morning Herald. [Links found via Literary Saloon]

Nicolaides accuses Dollar of trying to win a little fame on the back of his case. Dammit, is there no honour among ESL teachers and wannabe authors??

A Day in the Prison Life of Harry Nicolaides

Harry Nicolaides, the Australian author who has been imprisoned in a Thai jail talks to Andrew Marshall.about his conditions in prison [via Facebook] :

We’re woken at 6 and counted in the cell. Mine is 40ft long and 15ft wide, holding 50 or 60 prisoners, mostly Thais, mostly murderers and rapists. The cell has one toilet, which is a hole in the ground, and poor ventilation. I sleep in a face mask because tuberculosis and pneumonia are common. I’ve been in this jail for five months now since my arrest last September.

My book, Verisimilitude, was a rather clumsy first attempt at fiction — only 50 copies were printed, and seven sold. I love Thailand and respect the royal family. It was never my intention to offend anyone. I didn’t think what I wrote constituted lese-majesty. I’m an Australian who came to Thailand five years ago, and the passage in my book [alluding to the “romantic entanglements and intrigues” of the Thai monarchy] is no different from things I’ve heard Thai people say over and over again with impunity.

For breakfast I have a small carton of soya milk and a biscuit. Then the prisoners wash and shave around large troughs covered in mould and grime. The water’s changed once a week. Then there’s assembly. We stand to attention as the Thai flag is raised.

We’re asked to sit and pray to a large gold Buddha. I use the time to collect my thoughts and think about my loved ones. Then the guards subject us to long speeches in Thai. I imagine they’re about prison etiquette.

I’m taken upstairs with other foreigners to clean another cell block. Then we’re at leisure for a while. I used to walk around, but I can’t help but encounter the weak and the feeble — like men with TB, languishing on benches. It deadens me. So I try to spend my time replying to the many letters I receive. Letters keep me alive.

We are allowed one 30-minute visit a day, but not on weekends or holidays. The hardest part is walking back to my cell after a visit from family or friends. I break down when I think how they’re suffering.

At 12 the lunch bell rings. The food’s mostly fish bones in hot water, extremely spicy, with rice. I’ve tried it and felt unwell. I can’t afford to fall sick — the mental strain is enough — so my family send me some chicken and a salad every day. It arrives at about 2. There are 20 or 25 cats, who run into the mess hall before the prisoners. Some men put cigarettes in the cats’ mouths or do other unspeakable things to them. For others the cats are a source of comfort in a place full of bitter, twisted people and feelings.

I’m barefoot 80% of my day. It’s partly a security measure so we can’t leap over the electrified, barbed-wire fence, and partly Thai custom. But the floors are covered with fish bones, saliva and cat vomit, so the soles of my feet are black.

I am led to court in shackles and chains. It’s positively medieval. They’re degrading and they bruise and lacerate the ankles. They make you feel you’re guilty.

They say that it’s easy to get to someone in a prison like this, so I’m always on the alert. I’ve met some colourful characters, like Viktor Bout, the suspected Russian arms dealer. He’s an unassuming, softly spoken man. He gave me some garlic the other day — and a manuscript of his life story to edit.

I haven’t looked at it yet. Lots of people give me manuscripts about their lives and cases. They’ve misunderstood that I’m a BBC journalist, of all things.

At 4pm we’re locked in the cells until 6am. That’s a very long time. My patch is about a foot wide, the length of my body. I cannot move to the left or right without pressing on another person. I cannot stretch out my legs without kicking someone.

On the king’s 81st birthday I saw fireworks in the distance. Some Thai prisoners had tears in their eyes, praising a man they regard not just as their king but their father. I may not be a subject of Thailand, but I am a son, and I know what it means to love a father. I’m applying for a royal pardon. I pray the king learns of my plight so I might enjoy his grace, as all his subjects do.

We must make our own provision for dinner. When I’ve finished my chicken, Thais beg for my scraps. The fluorescent lights stay on at night, so I sleep with a cardboard box over my head. I toss and turn on a thin mat on the hard floor. “And this too shall pass,” other foreigners tell me. It’s an old adage and true. But time passes very slowly here.

A blog for the campaign to bring Harry home can be found here with links to the petition.

Another Case of Lèse Majesté

Least we find ourselves getting upset only over the case of a foreign writer ending up in a Thai jail, you might like to consider the case of Thai academic Giles Ji Ungpakorn who yesterday was informed that he is being charged with lèse majesté (and faces a maximum of 15 years in jail) because of 8 paragraphs in Chapter 1 of his book A Coup for the Rich. (The book is banned in Thailand but can be read here on PDF.)





Go read the eight paragraphs which can be found on his blog. This is legitimate political discussion, is it not, of the kind you must be able to debate in your own country? Take another look at Article 19 the UN's Declaration of Human Rights if you have any hesitation in answering that question!

In an email that I just received from Giles, he says that it was the Director of Chulalongkorn University bookshop who decided to inform Special Branch that his book "insulted the Monarchy". :

The bookshop is managed by the academic management of the university. So much for academic freedom!

It looks like the present regime is concerned with creating a climate of fear in which no dissent can be brooked, and is using the royal shield of lèse majesté to legitimise that oppression.

If you feel moved to action :

1. Write a letter of protest/concern to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Government House, Bangkok, Thailand. Fax number +66 (0) 29727751

2. Write a letter of protest/concern to the Ambassador, The Royal Thai Embassy, in your country.

3. Demand that Amnesty International take up all lèse-majesté cases in Thailand.

4. Demand the abolition of the lèse-majesté law.

Australian Author Imprisoned in Thailand

An Australian author and teacher, Harry Nicolaides, has been jailed for 3 years under Thailand's draconian law of lèse majesté - insulting the monarchy. (Do go watch the video footage and see the poor guy shuffling around in chains - completely shameful!)

Nicholaides self-published a novel called Verisimilitude four years a go which sold a total of 7 copies. (The only copy which is still known to exist apparently sits on the shelf of the Thai National Library, freely available to the public!) The book contained a short passage, just 103 words long, which describes the rather flamboyant private life of an unnamed Thai prince.

(I dug around and found the actual extract here if your curiosity is getting the better of you!)

Nicolaides admitted the charge of insulting the royal family, but said he was unaware he was committing an offence.

The writer is by no means the only one to be suffering from this outdated and draconian law which, it seems, is (suprise, suprise) being misued by politicians.

The Australian Embassy more or less ignored the case! I see nothing about Nicolaides plight on Sydney PEN's page (something that does surprise me!).

But PEN American Centre has launched a protest and lists addresses where appeals can be sent.

I join with them in :

• Expressing serious concern about the detention and charge against writer Harry Nicolaides;

• Calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a signatory.

Postscript :

Yusof found a PDF of the whole book (complete with library stamp!) - read and enjoy!

You can add your name to a petition to stop lèse majesté in Thailand here.