A THAI court sentenced a woman to 43 years and six months in prison today — for sharing posts insulting the king on Facebook and Youtube.

The sentence is the longest ever issued for lese-majeste, the country’s draconian treason law that bans insulting the monarchy.

The woman, a retired civil servant identified only by her first name, Anchan, by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, is in her mid-60s and could spend the rest of her life behind bars.

She was arrested in January 2015, a year before she was due to retire from a 40-year career, for sharing posts that attacked the monarchy following its support for the military coup that brought current Prime Minister Prayuth Chanocha to power in 2014. 

She told media outside the court that she had hoped for leniency as she had only shared posts and had not commented or posted anything of her own.

“I thought it was nothing. There were so many people who shared this content and listened to it,” she said. “So I didn’t really think this through and was too confident.”

Lese-majeste carries a maximum sentence of 15 years per count, but the Bangkok Criminal Court found Anchan guilty on 29 counts. Human Rights Watch called her sentence shocking and spine-chilling.

Thailand has been rocked by huge protests in recent months questioning the unaccountable power and wealth of the monarchy, especially its role in legitimising successive military coups against elected governments.

Current King Maha Vajiralongkorn has also been attacked for spending the country’s coronavirus lockdown abroad in his Alpine palace in Germany, and for his string of wives and concubines.