Authorities arrested American lecturer Paul Chambers, who teaches at a university in Thailand, for criticizing its monarchy.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the United States was “alarmed” by Chambers’s arrest and called on Thai officials to “respect freedom of expression and to ensure that laws are not used to stifle permitted expression.”

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The department is “closely monitoring” the situation and actively assisting the detained American.

The charges stem from the description of an online webinar that Chambers spoke at. The description stated, among other things, that Thailand’s king has authority over changes to military leadership.

Chambers did not write the description, his lawyers said. Thai authorities arrested him Friday after he turned himself in. A warrant had been issued several days earlier under the country’s lèse-majesté laws, which prohibit defaming, insulting, or threatening the king or other members of the royal family.

The lecturer has denied the charges. “He clearly cannot be posting anything he wants on the website,” said Akarachai Chaimaneekarakate, a representative of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, which is representing Chambers. His visa has also been revoked. Chambers, who has lived in Thailand for more than 30 years, was “shocked” by his arrest.

Chambers is being held in a prison in Phitsanulok. A court has denied two of his bail requests, a decision he is appealing. He faces a prison sentence ranging from three to 15 years. Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws are rarely enforced against foreigners, even as courts are set to rule on hundreds of related cases this year.

The lecturer teaches civil-military relations in Southeast Asia at Naresuan University in northern Thailand. He published a paper last year on the relationship between the country’s monarchy and its military.

The State Department is concerned about the use of lèse-majesté laws concerning Chambers, Bruce said.

“This case reinforces our longstanding concerns about the use of lèse majesté laws in Thailand,” Bruce said, adding, “As a treaty ally of Thailand, we will closely monitor this issue and advocate for the fair treatment of Paul Chambers.”

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Chambers’s brother, Kit Chambers, expressed concern about his well-being in a statement to Dallas station NBC 5. “We don’t know why this has happened,” he said. “We just don’t.”

“We worry a lot about his health condition and how things are going there,” he added. “What the conditions are like in the jail, we don’t know.”