The lawyers representing an American academic accused of insulting the Thai monarchy said on Thursday that they feared he could soon be deported after his visa was revoked.
The academic, Paul Chambers, was released early Thursday on bail as the authorities decided whether to indict him, said Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate, an attorney for Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing Dr. Chambers. The Thai authorities confiscated his passport and placed an ankle monitor on him. His visa was revoked on Wednesday.
“He should not have spent a single second in prison in the first place,” his lawyers said in a statement on Thursday, adding that they hoped the authorities would not deport him during the two-day window they had to appeal the revocation of his visa. “Unfortunately, the storm has not passed.”
Dr. Chambers, a lecturer in political science at Naresuan University in Thailand, was detained on Wednesday on lèse-majesté charges and jailed in northern Thailand.
Dr. Chambers denied the charges, and a court initially rejected his request for bail. An appeals court granted his release, and he was freed on Thursday at around 1 a.m. on bail of 300,000 baht, or about $8,800, his lawyers said in a statement.
The charges were centered on a brief online description of a webinar from October about Thailand’s military and police in which Dr. Chambers was a featured speaker, his lawyers said.
The text, which appeared on the website of a Singaporean research institute and has since been edited, described Thailand’s king as having authority over changes to the military leadership, the lawyers said. They said Dr. Chambers had not written it.
A representative for the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, the Singaporean organization that hosted the webinar, said in a statement on Thursday that it was concerned by the arrest of Dr. Chambers, adding that it valued his contributions.
Pushing for his release, his lawyers argued to the appeals court that Dr. Chambers had not published any material that could be defamatory to the king, and that he did not pose a flight risk as he had strong ties to Thailand after living there for the past three decades.
Dr. Chambers can’t leave Thailand without court approval and must report to the immigration bureau every 30 days, Mr. Chaimaneekarakate said.
Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws are among the world’s strictest. Charges under the laws, which forbid defaming, insulting or threatening royalty, carry a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of 15 years. It is rare for a foreigner to be detained under the laws.
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