Click to expand Image Members of the People's Party at a campaign rally at Samyan Mitrtown Hall in Bangkok, Thailand, January 11, 2026. © 2026 Teera Noisakran/Sipa USA via AP Photo (Bangkok) – Thai authorities will prosecute 44 opposition politicians for sponsoring a bill to reform Thailand’s lèse-majesté (insulting the monarchy) law, which could result in a lifetime ban from politics, Human Rights Watch said today.On April 24, 2026, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Position accepted a case from the National Anti-Corruption Commission that alleges 44 politicians from the now-dissolved opposition Move Forward Party had “failed to uphold and maintain the democratic system of government with the King as Head of State” by proposing a bill to amend the lèse-majesté law, section 112 of the penal code.“By prosecuting these opposition politicians, Thai authorities are sending a chilling message that the country’s abusive ‘insulting the monarchy’ law has become as sacrosanct as the monarchy it’s meant to protect,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This politically motivated case is yet another blow to Thailand’s teetering efforts to restore respect for human rights and democratic rule.”In addition to the former Move Forward Party members, the 44 accused include 10 newly elected members of parliament from the opposition People’s Party, including the party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut and other key members. The continued use of the lèse-majesté law, which carries a punishment of from 3 to 15 years in prison for each offense, is an excessive restriction on the right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said.Since the military coup in 2014, Thailand has prosecuted at least 1,997 people for exercising their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly, including at least 291 on lèse-majesté charges. Thai authorities have often detained critics of the monarchy for months before trial without access to bail.Criticizing the abusive use of royal insult charges to suppress free expression bears serious consequences in Thailand, Human Rights Watch said. In January 2024, the Constitutional Court ruled that the campaign by opposition politicians to amend the lèse-majesté law amounted to an attempt to abolish Thailand’s constitutional democracy with the king as head of state.On that basis, the Constitutional Court dissolved the Move Forward Party in August 2024 and imposed a 10-year ban from politics on the party’s executives. In February 2026, the Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced a prominent free speech activist, Pimsiri Petchnamrob, to 32 months in prison on a lèse-majesté charge for her speech referring to a 2017 statement by the United Nations expert on freedom of expression that royal insult laws should have no place in a democratic country.Any punishment of these 44 politicians, let alone a lifetime political ban, would seriously violate their rights to freedom of expression, association, and democratic participation protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Thailand ratified in 1996, Human Rights Watch said.The UN Human Rights Committee, the international expert body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR, has stated in its General Comment No. 34 that laws such as those for lèse-majesté “should not provide for more severe penalties solely on the basis of the identity of the person that may have been impugned” and that governments “should not prohibit criticism of institutions.”Thailand, a current member of the UN Human Rights Council, supported multiple recommendations regarding freedom of expression from its 2021 Universal Periodic Review but has made no progress implementing them. The Human Rights Council will conduct its next review of Thailand in November.“The UN and concerned governments should urge Thailand to promote free expression and other fundamental freedoms rather than suppress them,” Pearson said. “The Thai government could make a strong response by dropping the case against the 44 opposition politicians and beginning serious and open discussions of the lèse-majesté law.”