Lèse-majesté

[4] In the Dominate, or late Empire period (from the 3rd century CE), the emperors continued to distance themselves from the republican ideals of the Roman Republic, and increasingly equated themselves with the state.

Deified emperors enjoyed the same legal protection that was accorded to the divinities of the state cult; by the time Christianity replaced paganism in the Roman Empire, what was in all but name a monarchical tradition had already become well established.

On 31 January 2022, a woman in Belarus was handed an 18-month prison sentence for "insulting" the country's President, Alexander Lukashenko, and other authorities after pictures mocking the officials were found on her phone.

[7] There are no historical records of §115 having ever been used, but in March 2011, Greenpeace activists who unfurled a banner at a dinner at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference were charged under this section.

[9] Insulting a foreign dignitary, their representatives or family members, or desecrating their flag or anthem can be punished by up to two years of imprisonment according to the Penal Code §247 and §249.

Insulting a country, foreign head of state, its representatives or flag can be punished by up to two years of imprisonment according to the 95th article of the penal code.

[16] This includes personal offences made regarding their exercise of powers or otherwise, with no distinction between past or current events or between the public and private spheres.

[17] In 2019, former Northern League leader Umberto Bossi was sentenced to a year and 15 days in jail after using the racial slur terrone in reference then-president Giorgio Napolitano's southern origins,[18] but was later pardoned by the then president Sergio Mattarella.

In 1966, Dutch cartoonist Willem depicted Queen Juliana of the Netherlands as a window prostitute in the 1st issue of the Provo movement cartoon magazine, "God, Nederland en Oranje [nl]".

[23] In October 2007, a 47-year-old man was sentenced to one week's imprisonment and fined €400[24] for, amongst other things, calling Queen Beatrix a "whore" and telling a police officer that he would have anal sex with her because "she would like it".

[25] In July 2016, a 44-year-old man was sentenced to 30 days in jail for "intentionally insulting" King Willem-Alexander, accusing him of being a murderer, thief and rapist.

The man's act of writing "five years of shame" on the poster and drawing an "X" symbol on the president's image were not considered insulting by the judge in the final hearing.

[40] Later that year, Belgium denied the extradition to Spain of the Catalan rapper Valtonyc, prosecuted for allegedly insulting the king and incitement to terrorism.

[42] Any person who publicly insults a foreign state in the person of its head of state, the members of its government, its diplomatic representatives, its official delegates to a diplomatic conference taking place in Switzerland, or one of its official representatives to an international organisation or department thereof based or sitting in Switzerland is liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.

The protests turned violent after the activists reportedly chanted slogans against the Jordanian regime and insulted King Abdullah II and the Royal Court.

[46] In August 2014, Mohammad Saeed Baker, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's shura council, was arrested in Jordan and sentenced to six months in prison for lèse-majesté.

[48] In January 2009 a Kuwaiti-Australian woman spent six months in prison for allegedly insulting the Emir of Kuwait during a dispute with Kuwaiti immigration authorities.

[51] Under the counterterrorism law that took effect in 2014, actions that "threaten Saudi Arabia’s unity, disturb public order, or defame the reputation of the state or the king" are considered acts of terrorism.

[52] The offense may carry harsh corporal punishment, including lengthy jail terms and even death, with the sentences potentially determined on a case-by-case basis, owing to the arbitrary nature of the Saudi legal system.

[54] Mauritians are routinely prosecuted for statements deemed offensive to the members of the Jugnauth Government (which has been in power from 2015 till late November 2024).

[62][63] The couple was jailed for having shared a photo, on social media, of the spouse of the Prime Minister, Kobita Jugnauth, (also called Lady Macbeth)[64] hugging one of their (former) advisors.

[70] The cases of Yassine Belassal[71] and Nasser Ahmed (a 95-year-old who died in jail after being convicted of lèse-majesté), and the Fouad Mourtada Affair, revived the debate on these laws and their applications.

[76][77][78] In February 2018, the Parliament of Cambodia voted to make insulting any monarch punishable with between one and five years in prison, along with a fine of 2 to 10 million riel.

[85] In 2014, Ali Abd Jalil was detained and served 22 days in prison for insulting the royal family of Johor and Sultan of Selangor.

The Thai criminal code elaborates in Article 112: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years."

On 9 March 2015, a court sentenced her father Apiruj Suwadee and mother Wanthanee for insulting the royal family and lodging a malicious claim.

[94] Brazilian Law contains in its Penal Code three types of criminal offenses against the honor of people in general:[95] These penalties can be increased by one third when practiced against the President of the Republic.

[97] The inquiry has been heavily criticized by the media because of its use to censor articles published by newspapers,[98] including one about a member of the court being possibly named by Marcelo Odebrecht in a ramification of Operation Car Wash.[99][100] The criticized inquiry is still ongoing and has been used by the court to request other actions, including the investigation of some supporters of the former president of the country, Jair Bolsonaro, causing a crisis between the two branches of the Brazilian government.

[105] Many insults were scatological, drawing on the Swabian salute as in Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen, or sexual, as when a night-watchman in Vienna was arrested for claiming he slept with Hitler.

[112] The Sedition Act, enacted in 1798, forbade criticism of the President of the United States or of the Federal government; the law was denounced as unconstitutional by its opponents, but was never brought before the Supreme Court.