Economist issue not distributed in Thailand

The Guardian reports:

last night the Economist said it had taken the decision because the issue would have put the distributors in peril. "We decided not to distribute the Economist in Thailand last week out of consideration for our local distributor, who would otherwise have risked breaching Thai laws," it said.

Asia Books said it decided not to import the edition after seeing advance extracts. "We considered it is sensitive and not appropriate, and also risks insulting the monarchy," said a staff member.

The article was still available yesterday on the Economist website, which has not been blocked like others deemed to host content insulting the king.