The Bangkok Post has a story on a controversy that has blown up in Britain over the forthcoming royal wedding. It says: “The guest list for the royal wedding sparked controversy on Sunday after monarchs from countries with poor rights records were invited…”.
It adds:
Rights groups criticised Prince William and Kate Middleton for inviting foreign royals from Bahrain, Swaziland and other nations where authorities have violently suppressed pro-democracy protests in recent weeks….
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic hit out at inclusion of royals from not only Bahrain but also Saudi Arabia, Oman, Brunei, Qatar, Swaziland, Lesotho, Bhutan and Kuwait.
“This guest list reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of tyrants and their cronies,” Republic chief Graham Smith said.
Crown Prince Salman of Bahrain has quickly withdrawn.
Republic’s press release misses one important country from the list: Thailand. Princess Sirindhorn is said to be a royal guest.
Thailand’s current political crisis is directly attributable to palace political interventions that led to the 2006 military coup and to the death and injury to almost 2,000 people in April and May 2010. The current government maintains hundreds of political prisoners on the pretext that they have insulted a supposedly loved monarchy.
PPT calls on Republic to add Thailand to the list of despotic regimes that protect obscenely wealthy monarchs.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 