A court in the Thai capital found the images to be caricatured, ridiculing the country's monarch.
Thailand's Narathorn Chotmankongsin, 26, was sentenced to two years in prison for selling satirical cartoons of yellow ducks on social media that the court said made fun of the country's monarch.
This was reported by the human rights group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.
The Criminal Court of Thailand's capital Bangkok has ruled that the 2021 calendar featuring yellow ducks makes fun of Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn, humiliating his reputation.
Narathorna Chotmankongsin was charged under Thailand's lèse-majesté law, which carries between 3 and 15 years in prison for insulting a king, queen, his heir or regent.
Yellow rubber ducks were once the symbol of the pro-democracy protest movement in Thailand.
Criminalization of photographs of ducklings is a new extension of the content of the law. During the protests, protesters brought in giant inflatable ducks to add an element of fun and ridicule to the brutal tactics used by the authorities to quell the movement. Back then, ducklings were not considered a form of satire on the monarchy.
However, the court declared that the six illustrations in the calendar were made to ridicule the king.
The Legal Aid Group said the 26-year-old defendant, whom it identified as Ton Mai, had his sentence reduced to two years because he cooperated with the court.
On Wednesday, March 8, Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling on the Thai authorities to “return the sentence and immediately release Narathorn Chotmankongsin.”
“The indictment and three-year sentence of a man for selling satirical calendars shows that the Thai authorities are now trying to punish any activity that they believe offends the monarchy,” said Elaine Pearson, Asian director of Human Rights Watch, noting that Thailand is further away from becoming a rights-respecting democracy.
Thailand's Crimes Against Majesty Law has long been criticized for its harshness.
Recall that the monks of a Buddhist temple in Phetchabun province of Thailand did not pass a drug test, after which they were suspended from their services.
