64 Dictating the Internet: Military courts have been shown to impose highly disproportionate punishments on individuals than civilian courts – including between 25 to 35 years’ imprisonment terms (see cases below).203 They also do not meet the requirements of the right to a fair trial by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, guaranteed under article 14 of the ICCPR, which only allows for the use of military courts in a narrow range of circumstances. As the UN Human Rights Committee has noted, “the trial of civilians in military or special courts may raise serious problems as far as the equitable, impartial and independent administration of justice is concerned” and generally must be avoided.204 In “exceptional” cases where they are used, they must be limited to “cases where the State party can show that resorting to such trials is necessary and justified by objective and serious reasons, and where with regard to the specific class of individuals and offences at issue the regular civilian courts are unable to undertake the trials.”205 In addition, trials must be “in full conformity with the requirements of article 14 and … its guarantees cannot be limited or modified because of the military or special character of the court concerned.”206 In response to calls for the amendment or repeal of article 112, the Thai government has often responded to justify harsh penalties imposed under the law as necessary for “national security”, “public order” and “social security”, without clarifying how the law protects Thailand’s territorial integrity.207 ILaw – an independent free expression monitoring organization – has noted that “dubious and unclear over-interpretation” of the law has created a “climate of fear”, self-censorship and even misuse of the law as 203 See OHCHR, ‘Thailand: UN rights expert concerned by the continued use of lèse-majesté prosecutions’, 7 February 2017 (‘OHCHR, 7 February 2017’), https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21149&LangID=E; OHCHR, ‘Press briefing note on Thailand’, 13 June 2017 (‘OHCHR, 13 June 2017’), Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21734&LangID=E; Indeed, an elderly person sentenced to 20 years in prison for lèse-majesté died in prison in 2012. See Asian Correspondent, ‘Thai grandfather sentenced to 20 years for lese majeste dies in jail’, May 2012, Available at: https://asiancorrespondent.com/2012/05/thai-grandfather-sentenced-to-20-years-for-lesemajeste-dies-in-jail/ 204 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 32, CCPR/C/GC/32, 23 August 2007, (‘CCPR/C/GC/32’), para 22. Principles 2 and 5 of the UN Draft Principles Governing the Administration of Justice through Military Tribunals also clarifies that “military courts should, in principle, have no jurisdiction to try civilians”, and that even where non-civilians are tried, “military tribunals must in all circumstances respect the principles of international law relating to a fair trial.” See Commission on Human Rights, Report submitted by the Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Emmanuel Decaux, E/ CN.4/2006/58, 13 January 2006. 205 CCPR/C/GC/32, para 22. 206 Ibid. 207 See Thailand’s responses No. 52101/804, No. 52101/163, No. 52101/109 in 2014, 2016 and 2017 to Communications from Special Rapporteurs seeking clarification on lesè-majesté cases, Available at: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32816; https:// spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=32797; https://spcommreports. ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadFile?gId=33367