A Thai law student Jatupat Boonpattararaksa arrested for sharing a critical article about his country’s new king that was posted on Facebook is this year’s winner of South Korea’s most prestigious human rights award.
Organizers for the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights said the parents of Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattararaksa will receive the award on his behalf.
Under Thai law, insulting the monarchy is a crime that carries a prison term of three to 15 years. Critics say the country uses the law to silence political dissidents.
Gwangju Prize, which rewards contributions in human rights and democracy, was created in 2000 to honor a democratic uprising in Gwangju in May 1980 that South Korea’s then-military dictatorship violently suppressed, leaving hundreds dead.
| Year | Awardee | Country |
| 2017 | Jatupat Boonpattararaksa | Thailand |
| 2016 | Nguyen Dan Que | Vietnam |
| Bersih | Malaysia | |
| 2015 | Latifah Anum Siregar | Indonesia |
| 2014 | Adilur Rahman Khan | Bangladesh |
| Mothers of Khavaran | Iran | |
| 2013 | H.I.J.O.S | Argentina |
| 2000 | Xanana Gusmão | East Timor |
| 2001 | Basil Fernando | Sri Lanka |
| 2002 | Korean Association of Bereaved Families for Democracy | South Korea |
| 2003 | Dandeniya Gamage Jayanthi | Sri Lanka |
| 2004 | Aung San Suu Kyi | Burma |
| 2005 | Wardah Hafidz | Indonesia |
| 2006 | Malalai Joya | Afghanistan |
| Angkhana Neelaphaijit | Thailand | |
| 2007 | Irom Chanu Sharmila | India |
| Lenin Raghuvanshi | India | |
| 2008 | Muneer A. Malik | Pakistan |
| 2009 | Min Ko Naing | Burma |
| 2010 | Sushil Pyakurel | Nepal |
| 2011 | Binayak Sen | India |
| 2012 | Mun Jeong Hyeon | South Korea |