Around the world: countries where insulting leaders is severely punished

In Turkey, criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, even slightly, carries legal consequences for thousands of people every year, between 2015 and 2019 6,000 people have been convicted for insulting the Turkish head of state. In Spain, insults to the crown are a crime that can carry significant fines and sentences of up to two years in prison. And in Thailand, a former public official was sentenced to 43 years in prison for sharing videos on social media in which the royal family of Maha Vajiralongkorn was defamed, the longest sentence for the crime of lese majesty.