KHON KAEN: The mother of Jatupat Boonpattararaksa has been longing for his scheduled release from prison next month, and that day may have been brought forward with the granting of a royal pardon by His Majesty the King.
The activist, widely known as Pai Dao Din, is due for release on June 19 after he serving a jail term of two years and six months for lese majeste and computer crime.
The Military Court has dropped two illegal assembly cases against him and six other activists.
Jatupat is among the convicts granted pardons by the King to mark his coronation, and his mother Prim said on Friday she now hopes to see her son out of the provincial prison even earlier.
"If all the paperwork is complete, I hope he will return to the family earlier than the release schedule," she said.
Other political prisoners receiving the royal pardon include five leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy.
Mrs Prim said the family will perform a traditional bai sri soo kwan blessing ceremony for him, either in Khon Kaen, where he stayed while studying at Khon Kaen University, or his home in Phu Khieu district of Chaiyaphum.
Jatupat was arrested in 2016 and later convicted for sharing a biography of the King posted by BBC Thai on its Facebook account. He was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights award in South Korea a year later.
