Harry Nicolaides

AUSTRALIAN Cypriot author Harry Nicolaides jailed for three years in Thailand jail for insulting the monarchy has been recommended for a royal pardon.

Nicolaides, 41, was sentenced on January 19 by a Thai criminal court for insulting the monarchy in his 2005 novel Verisimilitude, which contained references to an unnamed crown prince.

Thai corrections department officials told the Athens News Agency (ANA) a recommendation for Nicolaides to receive a Royal Pardon from King Bhumibol Adulyadej was underway.

The recommendation is supported by the Pardons Division of the Corrections Department.

The complete documentation is still to be completed as further evidence is pending from the court. Once the evidence is in, then it will be finished and will be signed by the Minister and then it will be submitted to the King.

Human rights lawyer Somchai Homla-or said the corrections department’s recommendation was very important in that it would clear the way for the granting of a pardon.

“I believe that with this recommendation (Nicolaides) will be granted a pardon from His Majesty. The recommendation from the department is very important,” Somchai-or said.

The Australian Government and embassy officials have for several months been lobbying for Nicolaides’ release and remain in close touch with Thai authorities.

A worldwide campaign for the release of Nicolaides continues by collecting signatures online.

Nicolaides was imprisoned after he pleaded guilty to lèse-majesté charges Thailand’s laws against lèse-majesté are among the strictest in the world

Thai law states: “Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years”.

Only seven copies of the 50 printed were ever sold

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.