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laserfusion [soylentnews.org] writes:

The first seastead in international waters near Thailand has been taken over [reason.com] by the Thai government. The government has threatened a death sentence for the residents, who were not on board at the time of the takeover.

According [bangkokpost.com] to the Bangkok Post, the Thai government thinks the act of floating around just outside their 12-mile coastal zone breaches “Section 119 of Criminal Code. The section concerns any acts that cause the country or parts of it to fall under the sovereignty of a foreign state or deterioration of the state’s independence. It is punishable by death or life imprisonment.”

Chad Elwartowski, one of the seastead’s two former inhabitants, writes in a Facebook post [facebook.com]: “This is ridiculous. We lived on a floating house boat for a few weeks and now Thailand wants us killed.” The “wants us killed” likely refers to that potential punishment for violating Section 119.

Ocean Builders’ (the company responsible for placing the seastead) post [ocean.builders] on the crackdown says that the seastead is “in the process of being demolished by the Thai navy” and reiterates that although “Chad and Nadia are safe for now…understand that Thailand is currently being run by a military dictator. There will be no trial if they are caught. They already demonstrated that by being judge jury and executioner of the historic very first seastead.”

Patri Friedman, founder of the Seasteading Institute, has written a Facebook post [facebook.com] on the issue.

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