Thai man gets 2-year term for calendar said to mock king

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai man has been sentenced to two years in prison for selling calendars featuring satirical cartoons of yellow ducks that a court said mocked the country’s monarch. The legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights says Bangkok’s Criminal Court ruled that the calendar for 2021 contained pictures of yellow ducks in poses resembling and ridiculing Thailand’s king, diminishing his reputation. The defendant was charged under Thailand’s lese majeste law, which calls for up to 15 years’ imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent. The law has long drawn criticism for its harshness and its use for partisan political purposes. Pro-democracy activists in recent years have called for it to be amended or abolished.