A woman in Thailand gets a 43-year prison sentence for insulting the Thai king. 

A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a former civil servant to a prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country's strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy, according to foreign reports.

The Bangkok Criminal Court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country's lese majeste law for posting audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy.

The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but reduced it by half because she pleaded guilty to the offenses according to reports.

"Today's court verdict is shocking and sends a spine-chilling signal that not only criticisms of the monarchy won't be tolerated, but they will also be severely punished," said a a senior researcher for a Human Rights group.

Violating Thailand's lese majeste law - known widely as Article 112 - is punishable by three to 15 years' imprisonment per count. The law is controversial not only because it has been used to punish things as simple as liking a post on Facebook but also because anyone - not just royals or authorities - can lodge a complaint that can tie up the person accused in legal proceedings for years.

The former civil servant, known only as Anchan, posted audio clips from a podcast on social media. The 63-year-old said she had simply shared the audio files and had not commented on the content.

Thailand's lèse-majesté law, which forbids any insult to the monarchy, is among the strictest in the world.

After a three-year break, Thailand revived the controversial law late last year in an attempt to curb months of anti-government protests, with demonstrators demanding changes to the monarchy.

Anchan pleaded guilty to 29 separate violations of sharing and posting clips on YouTube and Facebook between 2014 and 2015.

Anchan is among a group of 14 people charged with lèse-majesté shortly after a military junta seized power in 2014, vowing to stamp out criticism of the monarchy.

The group is accused of uploading podcasts, popular in dissident circles, which questioned official accounts of the monarchy. The author of the podcasts served only two years in jail, and has already been released.

The trial was held behind closed doors and the evidence against the defendant kept secret for reasons of national security.

The definition of what constitutes an insult to the monarchy in Thailand is unclear and human rights groups say the lèse-majesté law has often been used as a political tool to curb free speech and resist opposition calls for reform and change according to foreign reports.

Source -foreign reports