THAILAND

[Update on Rapid Action 9/16/08 and Rapid Action 1/20/09]

International PEN welcomes the release of Australian writer Harry Nicolaides, who was granted a Royal pardon on February 19, 2009, and is now back in Australia. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Harry Nicolaides was sentenced to three years in prison on January 19, 2008 by a court in Bangkok after pleading guilty to "lèse-majesté" ("insulting the monarchy") in his 2005 novel Verisimilitude.