OVERVIEW
Residents of most industrialized
western countries are used to freedom of speech at some level, usually
restricted only when it has the potential to harm others. But some locations –
including some of the more popular countries for private-sector travelers –
restrict that freedom when it comes to speaking one’s mind about the host
government. Many of these places operate with a rule known as lèse
majesté, a “royal insult” literally translated
as “to do wrong to majesty.” This rule describes crimes committed
against the sovereign power, offenses that violate the dignity of a ruler, and
similar crimes insulting or bringing into disrepute the state and its
officials. In countries without monarchy, similar crimes under different names,
such as desacato (“disrespect of an
authority”), defamation, libel, contempt, insult, or attack of honor laws, and can similarly
result in fines, deportation, or even imprisonment.
The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
among others, has expressed concern over laws of lèse
majesté because it considers freedoms
of opinion and expression necessary foundations of free and democratic societies.
In some cases, refugees cite run-ins with home-country lèse
majesté laws in applications for
refugee status, a viable reason if they can establish a well-founded fear of
persecution. But lèse majesté doesn’t
only affect local citizens; foreign travelers are also subject to the rules,
and may find themselves having to answer to authorities for offhand comments,
social media posts, or even nonverbal cues. This report seeks to help security
managers understand how their traveling personnel can best navigate the
sometimes-confusing rules while they are abroad.
COUNTRIES WITH LÈSE MAJESTÉ LAWS
Thailand
Authorities may detain
individuals, including foreigners, for publicly
criticizing the ruling government or the monarchy. Thai law holds its
monarchy in the highest regard. Making a critical or defamatory comment about
the royal family is punishable with a three-
to 15-year prison sentence. Authorities consider acts that would not be a
legal issue elsewhere, such as purposely tearing Thai bank notes, a lèse
majesté offense; each carries an image of the King. The
government has arrested and sentenced nationals and foreigners alike for actions such as
wearing black on the king’s birthday, writing a sarcastic Internet post about
the king’s dog, and translating excerpts from an unauthorized
biography about the king titled, “The King Never Smiles” from English to
Thai and posting the excerpts online.
Those who express the royal
insult in private are not immune, either. Anyone can report someone else who
“defames, insults, or threatens the king, the queen, or the heir-apparent or
the regent.” The government aggressively pursues offenders of these laws. Many
who have tried to flee Thailand are members of the anti-military Red
Shirt movement—the populist United Front for Democracy Against
Dictatorship—that frequently denigrates the royalty and purposefully commits lèse
majesté violations. Earlier this year, three anti-government
activists turned up dead in the
Mekong River. Authorities in nearby countries, particularly Laos, may extradite
political dissidents seeking refugee status back to Thailand to face the law.
Personnel potentially labeled as political dissidents in Thailand should avoid
traveling to Thailand or surrounding countries in Southeast Asia.
Up until recently, Thailand had been
one of the strictest enforcers of lèse majesté.
However, it appears that the government under Thailand’s new king may be
turning a new leaf. Since 2016, the number of prosecuted cases of lèse majesté has fallen sharply, to only
three in all of 2018. Nevertheless, it remains a threat. This April, the
Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army threatened
to use the law against progressive intellectuals (in reference to the emerging
Anakot Mai party), if they attempted to challenge the current system of
constitutional monarchy.
Malaysia
Although Malaysia does not have lèse
majesté per se, the government
recently lifted a moratorium on enforcing portions of a 1948 Sedition
Act that allows the government to prosecute its critics. Additionally, the
country has reneged on promises to abolish laws that allow for detention
without trial. This July, Muslim preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin became the first to
receive punishment
from the current administration under the Sedition Act, for statements made
during the election of 2013, despite repeated government promises to repeal the
controversial law. His fellow political activists may also receive punishments.
Courts have acquitted some who criticized the government and judiciary, while
Wan Ji and those who criticized royalty have not been as lucky.
Cambodia
In February 2018, the National
Assembly of Cambodia adopted a lèse majesté law in an amendment to the
country’s criminal code. The law makes it illegal to defame, insult, or
threaten the king. The law applies both to individuals and media outlets. Offenses
carry a sentence of one to five years of jail time, in addition to fines
ranging from 2 to 10 million riel (about USD$500 to USD$2,500). Authorities have
used the law to prosecute offenses retroactively, trying at least 40 cases where
the offense occurred during the year leading up to the law’s passage. Among
these were the cases of two men, ages 50 and 70, arrested
for Facebook comments critical of the royal family’s dissolution of the
opposition party. Inconsistencies remain in sentencing standards, since the laws
are recently in effect. The effect on media outlets has also appeared, as the
government reportedly imposed exorbitant taxes on the small number of remaining
independent newspapers, who do not report from the government’s point of view, in
order to force
their sale.
Jordan
Jordan’s penal code article 195 criminalizes
the act of insulting the king, an offense punishable with prison sentences from
one to three years. The government has charged activists with violating this
law for things that they said during protests,
in forced writings,
and even in poems
posted online.
Kuwait
Kuwait frequently uses lèse majesté
laws to prosecute bloggers, opposition activists, and human rights defenders
critical of leadership, charging
critics with “undermining the status of the emir of Kuwait.” Criticizing
Kuwait’s allies—such as the heads of state of Saudi Arabia and Egypt—could also
land you in jail. One Kuwaiti woman received an 11-year prison sentence for
advocating regime change on Twitter. The laws apply to foreigners as well; the
government jailed
an Australian woman for two years for insulting the emir during a quarrel with
an airport employee.
Bahrain
In Bahrain,
Article 216 of the Criminal Code criminalizes offending constitutional
institutions or government agencies. Authorities may also detain someone for
offending a foreign government or institution to which Bahrain is sympathetic,
such as Saudi Arabia, as well as for supporting a foreign government or
institution to which Bahrain is not
sympathetic, such as Qatar.
Saudi Arabia
While Saudi Arabia is a monarchy,
the country does not have a formal written penal code, and instead applies
Sharia (Islamic law) as its national
law. Therefore, while there are technically no lèse
majesté laws, there are a few
vaguely worded regulations that are broadly applied. The Saudi Special Criminal
Court routinely detains and charges political dissidents on terrorism
charges or for other offenses like “breaking allegiance with the ruler,”
and has attracted criticism from the international community. Following review,
analysts have discovered several judgements where courts sentenced Shia protestors
to death solely based on confessions allegedly produced through torture.
Recent incidents include the detention of Zuhair Kutbi for expressing a desire
for peaceful reform, and the detention of 30 journalists who criticized
the Saudi government following journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
Europe
Several European monarchies,
including Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, and Monaco still have lèse majesté
laws on the books. The laws tend to carry harsher criminal penalties than other types of
defamation and insult laws, though the charges are typically not as extreme as
in other regions of the world. Sweden’s lèse majesté
law carries
a maximum prison sentence of six years, Netherlands’ up to five, and Denmark’s
four years. However, having a law on the books is different from pursuing
prosecutions. Most European countries no longer pursue prosecution for lèse majesté offenses.
The last country to do so was Spain, where authorities arrested and
jailed several rappers last year for lyrics
the government claimed violate the laws. In 2016, the Netherlands sentenced a
44-year-old man to 30 days in prison because he “intentionally insulted” the
monarch on Facebook, accusing him of being a murderer, thief, and rapist.
BE AWARE EVERYWHERE
Technically, lèse
majesté laws only appear in
countries with monarchies. However, there are several additional locations
where insulting the leadership could still land you in trouble. Turkey, North
Korea, and Venezuela use alternative laws or executive orders to punish
dissidents; some of these same laws can carry over to catch unwitting travelers.
Turkey
Turkey has historically
prohibited public denigration of “Turkishness,” Turkish government
institutions, the republic itself, or the founder of the republic, Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk. Turkey had regularly enforced this rule, including in several
high-profile cases involving journalists and the controversial issue of the
Armenian Genocide. Charges for “insulting the president” have increased
dramatically since 2014 (see table),
when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became president, due both to stricter enforcement and
the fallout of an unsuccessful coup attempt.
|
Year
|
Prosecutions
|
Convictions
|
|
2014
|
132
|
40
|
|
2015
|
1,953
|
238
|
|
2016
|
4,187
|
884
|
|
2017
|
6,033
|
2,099
|
The alleged crimes range
in severity; the government is even investigating crimes against Erdoğan from
before he became president. Most prosecutions demand pretrial detention
while defendants await trial. The government prosecutes adults and minors alike.
Authorities have detained minors for claiming Erdoğan’s administration
was corrupt, students for slogans shouted at protests, and members of
parliament for tweets insulting the president. The head of HSBC in Turkey came
under investigation at the
end of 2018 for having retweeted an offensive tweet in 2013. Authorities have
asked members of the public to report on one another, resulting in thousands of
detentions, including prominent figures like politicians and actors. In 2018,
Turkey was the world leader in jailing
journalists. It has purposefully gone after civil servants and academics who
voice support for the opposition. Turkish authorities may detain foreign
nationals; Turkey detained U.S. pastor Andrew
Brunson for two years on charges for spying and aiding terrorists before releasing
him in October 2018. German journalist Deniz
Yücel sat in prison for nearly a year on accusations of sedition and
“terrorist propaganda to incite the population.” This July, the Turkish
government arrested of a
Turkish-American University of California-Davis professor, in addition to hundreds
of other academics, for signing a petition in 2016 accusing the Turkish army of
massacring Kurdish civilians. It is important to note that all of these arrests
involve individuals speaking their own truths, rather than defaming the
Government or Turkey or its institutions; however, the government considered it
an offense to question its official line.
North Korea
North Korea obligates its
citizens to report disloyalty, and recently arrested a former official for criticizing
the Supreme Leader. Though difficult to obtain verifiable reporting on the reclusive
country, North Korea is widely known to execute political dissidents or anyone
who threatens Kim Jong Un’s power. North Korea imprisoned
U.S. college student Otto Warmbier for 18 months, allegedly for trying to steal
a propaganda poster. Authorities returned him to his family in critical
condition only days before his death.
Venezuela
Under Article 241 of the Criminal
Code of Venezuela, slander (oral
defamation) against a public official is punishable with 18 months to five years
of imprisonment. Venezuela uses the law disproportionally to target
journalists. Libel charges forced four prominent journalists to flee
Venezuela last year after publishing an article alleging irregularities in food
sales. Government agents have employed abusive methods
against detainees ranging from severe beatings to torture involving electric
shocks, asphyxiation, and other techniques.
Europe
As noted above, several European
countries still formalize penalties for criticizing leadership. Besides the
monarchies already noted, several countries without royal families also
maintain these laws. Switzerland penalizes the public insult of a foreign head
of state with up to three years in prison or a fine; Poland, Iceland, and Italy
maintain similar statutes. Germany only recently repealed
the lèse majesté section of its criminal code,
after a controversy
surrounding charges against a TV comedian who read an “insulting poem” about
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on air in 2016.
HOW TO PREPARE
U.S. employees traveling to
countries with lèse majesté laws may be accustomed to Western
standards where freedom of speech is limited only by the potential to bring
actual harm to others. Therefore, it is important for security managers to
impart a clear understanding of the potential consequences for violation of
laws and insult to monarchies or authorities as they vary by country. Sentences
can be violent in nature, even resulting in corporal or capital punishment.
In general, it is important to be
aware of the different legal codes in foreign countries and to abide by their
laws. Security managers should incorporate lèse majesté laws into
any pre-travel briefings, just as they would other location-specific issues. Authorities
can levy charges based on verbal and written offenses alike, and many find
themselves charged after posting their opinions on social media—sometimes years
after the fact, and many times when they had posted from abroad. Many of the
countries who prosecute for lèse majesté
do not have the same privacy protections as the United States. In some cases, the
government may be able to view even social media profiles with the most private
settings. Authorities have even used private messages sent over WhatsApp to
charge individuals. Noting a deference for the freedom of expression, it may
nevertheless be smarter to avoid implication of crime in any forum, no matter
how private it may seem.
Many organizations, like Reporters
Without Borders, International
Service for Human Rights, Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch, and United
Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights criticize
lèse majesté
laws for the limitations they place on freedom of speech. While it is safe to
criticize from outside of these states, doing so from within could result in arrest
and detention, and having a paper trail (such as social media postings or
academic publications) could imperil you if you were to travel to the country. U.S.
nationals detained in a foreign country may not be able to leave until legal
proceedings have concluded, even if the process takes years. For that reason,
it is important to impart the costs of lèse
majesté violations prior to
travel.
Finally, it is useful to study the
cultural context of a country before traveling there. Expanding cultural and
political understanding will help personnel avoid unintentionally offending the
leadership’s interests while abroad. A greater understanding of a country’s
culture will also bring a better understanding of the direction a country and
its laws are moving: for example, will authorities ignore an existing lèse majesté law, as is the case in much
of Europe? Are times are changing enough to warrant an excise of the law from
the books, as occurred in 2015 in Norway, and in 2017 in Morocco? Or is a
government moving in the opposite direction, taking a firmer stand to protect
its image, as has happened recently in Turkey, and was rumored earlier this
year in Malaysia? While it
is always advisable to heed local regulations, for those planning for
operations in the future, the evolution of culture and the law is sometimes
just as important to note.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
For additional information on
private-sector security abroad, contact OSAC’s Research & Analysis Unit and consider the following resources:
·
OSAC
Crime and Safety Reports
·
OSAC Report: How
Government Oversight of Media and Communications Affects Operations in Africa
·
OSAC Report: Bahrain:
It Matters What You Say
·
OSAC Report: Red Shirt
Leaders Accused of Sedition
**This report in no way serves as a guide to how foreign countries may act in any particular case.