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January 4, 2006

Thailand: Troops Accused Of Torturing Muslims

Today's Jurist Paper Chase relates that a report has just been released by Amnesty International. This claims that Thai troops, of which thousands are posted in the troubled mainly Muslim south, have used "harsh or inadequate counter-measures" against the insurgency.

More than a thousand lives have been lost in the insurgency in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, since January 2004, when the unrest started. Initially the attacks on civilians were dismissed by Thai authorities as the work of criminals and gangs, though now almost all killings are said to be the work of "militants", including several recent killings of Muslims said to be "collaborators".

The Amnesty document, entitled "Thailand: Locals trapped by escalating violence in the south", states:

The Thai authorities' response has included arbitrary detention, torture, and excessive lethal force. They have also failed to properly investigate attacks against both Buddhist and Muslim civilians. Young Muslim men have been "blacklisted" and assumed guilty with no reason given. Those detained are often denied access to a lawyer or interpreter. An unknown number of people have "disappeared", and human rights workers who try to gather information on such cases have faced anonymous death threats and other forms of intimidation.

The article explains how the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat had formerly comprised an independent sultanate, Pattani, which was annexed by Siam/Thailand in 1906. 80% of the population in the former sultanate of Pattani is Malay Muslim, who speak a dialect of Bahasa, and 20% are Buddhist.

The government has enacted martial law in an "Emergency rule" applied to the three southernmost provinces since 2004. This Emergency Rule was most recently extended on October 18 for a further three months. On November 2, two areas of Songkhla province, which is adjacent to the three troubled provinces, were also placed under military rule.

The article does not excuse the actions of Muslim militants, who wish to see the south break away from Thailand, and who have murdered several Buddhists. One Buddhist hamlet of only 24 households had seen seven people shot dead since February 2004. There have been direct attacks on monks and upon Buddhist temples.

Amnesty advises: "Leaders of armed groups must instruct those under their command not to attack civilians or their property under any circumstances, and publicly condemn such attacks."

In some instances, tragedies have happened as a result of lack of foresight. The BBC reports that in October 2004, following a demonstration in Narathiwat, about eighty Muslims were arrested. They were packed into army trucks, and 78 died as a result of the overcrowding.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 4, 2006 6:07 PM

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