A 58-year-old human rights lawyer has been sentenced to 16 months in jail after calling for people to overthrow the government "dictatorship" on social media last year.
Prawet Prapanukul posted the messages on Facebook between Jan 25 and April 23 of last year. He also called for the the country to become a republic and be governed under a federal system.
His Facebook page had 2,574 followers and 4,769 friends at the time. The Criminal Court yesterday convicted the lawyer of violating Sections 116 and 368 of the Criminal Code, which involves sedition and refusing to comply with official orders, respectively, as well as breaching the Computer Crime Act.
Prosecutors also accused the lawyer of committing lese-majeste, but the court dismissed the charge. Prawet said he would not appeal the prison sentence.
