BANGKOK, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- An Australian writer living and teaching in Thailand has been charged with insulting the Thai royal family in a novel published five years ago.
Harry Nicolaides of Melbourne was arrested Sunday at the airport in Bangkok, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. He was charged with lese majeste, the crime of injury to a monarch, and has been refused bail.
Nicolaides had been teaching at Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand.
"He loves the place, he likes to work there," his father, Takis Nicolaides, told the Australian newspaper The Age. "He's not a troublemaker. … I hope they will consider that he hasn't done it intentionally."
Thailand has extremely strict laws about insulting its king and his family. Nicolaides could face up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted.
