Arnon Nampa’s youngest child runs toward the sound of shackles.
The 3-year-old’s only memories of his father, a prominent human right lawyer and activist, are from seeing him in a courtroom – not from his work defending others, but from the numerous lese majeste cases against him, Thailand’s notoriously strict royal insult law.
“He remembers Arnon with his closely shaved hair, leg shackles, and prison uniform,” Arnon’s wife Pathomporn told CNN. “Every time we drive past the court, he says ‘We are going to see Dad’.”
Arnon has been sentenced to a combined 29 years in prison under lese majeste charges, and his struggle has made him a household name in Thailand where unquestioning reverence to the kingdom’s monarchy is both expected and enforced.
With four outstanding cases against him, the father of two could face more than 60 years behind bars for making speeches that called for reforms to the country’s powerful monarchy.
