<p class="title">A blind woman was jailed for 18 months by a Thai court today for sharing a Facebook post deemed defamatory to the royal family, her lawyer said, the latest victim of a tough law that shields the monarchy from criticism.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nuhurhayati Masoe, 23, who hails from Thailand's Muslim-majority Yala province, was punished for publishing an excerpt from an article on the social media platform in October 2016.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She heard the article through an audio application for blind people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Judges said they sympathised with her because of her blindness but could not suspend the sentence as she has committed a serious offence," defence lawyer Kaosar Aleemama told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Her initial three-year sentence was halved to 18 months because she pleaded guilty, the lawyer added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is not possible to report the contents of the allegedly defamatory Facebook post as all media based in Thailand must self-censor or risk falling foul of the broadly-interpreted lese majeste law.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Thailand aggressively pursues critics of the monarchy under the law, which carries up to 15 years in prison per offence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The legislation specifically bars defaming the king, queen, heir or regent.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But it is freely used to silence any criticism of the monarchy, an opaque, ultra-rich institution that wields vast power behind the scenes in Thailand.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Most cases are shrouded in secrecy and heard in closed-door trials.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Defendants are rarely granted bail or acquitted, leading many to plead guilty in exchange for lighter punishments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lese majeste prosecutions have shot up since an arch-royalist junta grabbed power in 2014, with many charges lodged over critical commentary posted or shared on social media.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Record, decades-long sentences have also continued under Thailand's new king Maha Vajiralongkorn, who took the throne in late 2016 after the death of his deeply-revered father Bhumibol Adulyadej.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nuhurhayati will serve her sentence at the provincial prison in Yala, one of Thailand's southernmost provinces where Malay-Muslim insurgents are fighting the writ of the Thai state.</p>
<p class="title">A blind woman was jailed for 18 months by a Thai court today for sharing a Facebook post deemed defamatory to the royal family, her lawyer said, the latest victim of a tough law that shields the monarchy from criticism.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nuhurhayati Masoe, 23, who hails from Thailand's Muslim-majority Yala province, was punished for publishing an excerpt from an article on the social media platform in October 2016.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She heard the article through an audio application for blind people.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Judges said they sympathised with her because of her blindness but could not suspend the sentence as she has committed a serious offence," defence lawyer Kaosar Aleemama told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Her initial three-year sentence was halved to 18 months because she pleaded guilty, the lawyer added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is not possible to report the contents of the allegedly defamatory Facebook post as all media based in Thailand must self-censor or risk falling foul of the broadly-interpreted lese majeste law.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Thailand aggressively pursues critics of the monarchy under the law, which carries up to 15 years in prison per offence.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The legislation specifically bars defaming the king, queen, heir or regent.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But it is freely used to silence any criticism of the monarchy, an opaque, ultra-rich institution that wields vast power behind the scenes in Thailand.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Most cases are shrouded in secrecy and heard in closed-door trials.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Defendants are rarely granted bail or acquitted, leading many to plead guilty in exchange for lighter punishments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Lese majeste prosecutions have shot up since an arch-royalist junta grabbed power in 2014, with many charges lodged over critical commentary posted or shared on social media.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Record, decades-long sentences have also continued under Thailand's new king Maha Vajiralongkorn, who took the throne in late 2016 after the death of his deeply-revered father Bhumibol Adulyadej.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Nuhurhayati will serve her sentence at the provincial prison in Yala, one of Thailand's southernmost provinces where Malay-Muslim insurgents are fighting the writ of the Thai state.</p>