Thailand has some of the strictest laws in the world in terms of criticizing the monarchy, and offenders can be imprisoned for up to 15 years. Thai officials responsible for monitoring defamation of the royal family consider of information criticizing the monarchy criminal, according to The Daily Mail.
The 2006 鈥渦nauthorized鈥� biography of Thailand鈥檚 King Bhumibol Adulyadej 鈥� 鈥淭he King Never Smiles鈥� by Paul M. Handley 鈥� was banned in Thailand, and the website advertising the book was blocked in the country.
Thailand's lese majeste laws are so strict that in 2011, a US citizen visiting Thailand was sentenced to prison for two and a half years for allegedly posting excerpts of 鈥淭he King Never Smiles鈥� online. Joe Gordon, a US citizen who was born in Thailand but lived in North America for 30 years, translated part of the banned text into Thai and posted it on his blog. He was arrested five years after publishing the blog post, on a visit to the kingdom of Thailand for medical treatment.
