--- description: A Thai man faces up to 37 years in prison for mocking the king's dog over social media title: Thai Man Faces 37 Years in Jail for Insulting King's Dog image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18dd207830564134/69887553cd1bba0d3c6fe866/h_02787988.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Thailand](/tag/thailand/) ## Thailand Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Thai Man Faces Nearly 40 Years in Jail for Insulting the King's Dog by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 15, 2015 9:11 AM CUT  Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej sitting in a wheelchair and accompanied by his favorite dog as he appears to the public at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on June 2, 2011 Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej sitting in a wheelchair and accompanied by his favorite dog as he appears to the public at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on June 2, 2011STR/EPA by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 15, 2015 9:11 AM CUT A Thai man faces up to 37 years in prison for mocking the king’s dog over [social media](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/world/asia/thailand-lese-majeste-tongdaeng.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined"), an apparent violation of Thailand’s stringent laws against insults aimed at the country’s monarchy. Authorities arrested factory worker Thanakorn Siripaiboon at his home in suburban Bangkok last week and charged him with writing a “sarcastic” Internet post about Tongdaeng, the mongrel owned by King Bhumibol Adulyadej, as well as with sedition and insulting the King, reports the New York _Time_s. The Thai military, which seized control of the country in a coup last year, did not specify the exact insult Thanakorn used. Tongdaeng, whose name means _copper_, is beloved in Thailand, the _Times_ reports. Last week, [the No. 2 film](http://www.afp.com/en/news/thai-kings-dog-spells-box-office-magic "undefined") at Thai box offices was _Khun Tongdaeng: The Inspirations_, an animated picture inspired by a book King Bhumibol wrote in 2002 about his pet. Thanakorn’s case is the latest concerning a breach of Thailand’s controversial lèse majesté laws — the scope of which, experts say, has broadened considerably in recent years. Last December, two Thai students in their 20s [pleaded guilty](http://time.com/3650981/thailand-lese-majeste-article-112/ "undefined") to insulting the monarchy after staging a play about a fictitious king. Journalists on Twitter [noted](https://twitter.com/zenjournalist/status/676636457902018560 "undefined") that the _Times_ report on the charges against Thanakorn did not appear in editions of the newspaper printed and sold in Thailand. It is the third time this month a blank space has appeared in lieu of content in the Thai edition, the _Guardian_ [reports](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/04/thai-printer-blanks-another-international-new-york-times "undefined"): once on Dec. 1, replacing[ a story on the struggling Thai economy](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/world/asia/thailand-economy-tourism.html?ref=topics "undefined"), and again three days later, instead of[ an opinion piece](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/04/opinion/the-thai-monarchy-and-its-money.html?ref=topics "undefined") on the Thai royal family’s wealth. In each instance, the newspaper noted that the articles were “removed by \[their\] printer in Thailand” and that “editorial staff had no role in \[their\] removal.” ### The Rohingya, Burma's Forgotten Muslims by James Nachtwey  More than 140,000 minority Rohingya Muslims have been forced to live in camps, where disease and despair have taken root. Abdul Kadir, 65, who has a severe stomach ailment and malnutrition, is cared for by his wife in one of the camps. James Nachtwey for TIME  Relatives weep at the funeral of a woman who died at 35 of a stomach disease; she left five children behind. James Nachtwey for TIME  A mourner weeps as she sits by an internee's coffin. The Rohingya lack medical care since most NGOs are now barred from the camps. James Nachtwey for TIME  Two men are seen mourning at the funeral of a woman who died from stomach disease. James Nachtwey for TIME  Internees in one camp operate brick kilns to earn money. Adults are paid about $2 a day; children, half that amount. James Nachtwey for TIME  Thek Kay Pyin, 7, is among the Rohingya Muslims interned in Rakhine state, on the northwest coast of Burma. He is seen here working at a brick kiln where he earns $1 a day. James Nachtwey for TIME  Children working at a brick kiln where they earn $1 a day. James Nachtwey for TIME  Workers at a brick kiln are seen tossing bricks. James Nachtwey for TIME  At the camp, mourners are seen at a funeral for a 16-year-old girl who drank poison. James Nachtwey for TIME  Suffering in the camps continues unabated. James Nachtwey for TIME  Children learning the Quran at a madrassa in one of the camps. James Nachtwey for TIME  A child suffering from malnutrition in one of the camps is held by its mother. James Nachtwey for TIME  At a government-run hospital in Da Paing, a mother watches over her 45-year-old son Abdul Salam, who suffers from diabetes. James Nachtwey for TIME  A child suffering from stomach worms with her mother at a pharmacy waiting for treatment. The owner of the pharmacy is neither a doctor nor a pharmacist but does his best to help people. International NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders have been expelled from the camp by the government, leading to a soaring crisis in health care. James Nachtwey for TIME  Malnutrition among the camps' children is commonplace. In June a top U.N. aid official who traveled to Rakhine said she had never before “witnessed \[such\] a level of human suffering. James Nachtwey for TIME  Fishermen tend their nets before going out into the Bay of Bengal to fish, one of the main sources of food and livelihood for the Rohingya. James Nachtwey for TIME  A blind beggar on railway tracks between two IDP camps. James Nachtwey for TIME  A boy using an umbrella as a sun shield jumps across a drainage canal behind a row of latrines at Baw Du Pha camp. James Nachtwey for TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4148911/thailand-bhumibol-tongdaeng-lese-majeste/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4148911/thailand-bhumibol-tongdaeng-lese-majeste/"},"headline":"A Thai Man Faces Nearly 40 Years in Jail for Insulting the King's Dog","datePublished":"2015-12-15T09:11:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:45.415Z","description":"Thai military courts said he wrote \"sarcastic\" posts on social media","url":"https://time.com/4148911/thailand-bhumibol-tongdaeng-lese-majeste/","keywords":["Thailand","Social Media","Monarchy","facebook","Bangkok","New York Times"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18dd207830564134/69887553cd1bba0d3c6fe866/h_02787988.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18dd207830564134/69887553cd1bba0d3c6fe866/h_02787988.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej sitting on a wheelchair and accompanied by his favorite dog at Siriraj Hospital.","caption":"Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej sitting on a wheelchair and accompanied by his favorite dog at Siriraj Hospital.","creditText":"STR/EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/thailand/","name":"Thailand"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4148911/thailand-bhumibol-tongdaeng-lese-majeste/","name":"A Thai Man Faces Nearly 40 Years in Jail for Insulting the King's Dog"}}]}] ```