For Immediate Release
Thailand: Army Secretly Detaining 17 Muslim Activists
Arbitrary Arrests Chill Rights Climate in South
(New York, April 4, 2015) – Thai military authorities should immediately
confirm the location of 17 student activists who were arbitrarily
arrested on April 2, 2015, in Thailand’s southern Narathiwat province,
Human Rights Watch said today. The activists should
be freed unless they have been charged by a judge with a credible
offense.
Soldiers conducted a warrantless search at about 5 a.m. on April 2
at four student dormitories in Muang district of Narathiwat province.
They forced at least 17 activists from the network of ethnic Malay
Muslim students at Princess of Narathiwat University
to give DNA samples and then took them into military custody. Human
Rights Watch has learned that the activists are being detained without
charge in Pileng, Buket Tanyong, and Chulabhorn Camps in Narathiwat
province. The military authorities have provided
no explanation for the students’ detention or said when they would be
released.
“Arbitrary arrests, secret detention, and unaccountable officials are a recipe for human rights abuses,” said
Brad Adams,
Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The use of martial law to detain
student activists shows how out of control the Thai military authorities
have become.”
The detained activists include Aseng Kilimo, Bahakim Jehmae,
Tuanahamad Majeh, Muruwan Blabueteng, Asri Saroheng, Ibroheng Abdi,
Sufiyan Doramae, Ismael Jehso, Abdulloh Madeng, Sagariya Samae, Usman
Oyu, Saidi Doloh, Tarsimi Madaka, Rosari Yako, Ahmad Yusoh,
Albari Aba, and Ridul Sulong.
Human Rights Watch has repeatedly raised serious concerns regarding the use of arbitrary arrest and secret military detention in
Thailand’s
southern border provinces. Order 3/2558, issued in accordance with
section 44 of the interim constitution, provides the military
authorities with broad powers and legal
immunity to detain people incommunicado without charge in informal
places of detention, such as military camps, for seven days. It does not
ensure either effective judicial oversight or prompt access to legal
counsel and family members.
The risk of enforced disappearances, torture, and other
ill-treatment significantly increases when detainees are held
incommunicado in unofficial locations and under the control of the
military, which lacks training and experience in civilian law
enforcement,
Human Rights Watch said. Those who committed crimes should be properly
charged, but all should be treated according to international human
rights standards and due process of law.
The cycle of human rights abuses and impunity contributes to an
atmosphere in which Thai security personnel show little regard for human
rights and separatist insurgents have committed numerous atrocities.
Since January 2004, Thailand’s southern border
provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat have been the scene of a
brutal internal armed conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives.
Civilians have accounted for approximately 90 percent of those deaths.
To date, not a single member of the Thai security
forces has been criminally prosecuted for serious rights abuses in the
south. Meanwhile, the Pejuang Kemerdekaan Patani insurgents in the loose
network of BRN-Coordinate (National Revolution Front-Coordinate)
regularly attack both government officials and
civilians.
“Violent insurgency is no excuse for the Thai military to resort to
summary and abusive measures against the Malay Muslim population,” Adams
said. “It’s very worrying that soldiers continue to arrest and detain
anyone they want.”
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Thailand, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/thailand
For more information, please contact:
In Bangkok, Sunai Phasuk (English and Thai): +32-484-535-186 (mobile); or
phasuks@hrw.org.
Twitter: @SunaiBKK
In Washington, DC, John Sifton (English): +1-646-479-2499 (mobile); or
siftonj@hrw.org
Twitter: @johnsifton
Thailand: Army Secretly Detaining 17 Muslim Activists Arbitrary Arrests Chill Rights Climate in South
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