ID :
40444
Tue, 01/13/2009 - 16:34
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/40444
The shortlink copeid
SYSTEMATIC TORTURE BY SECURITY FORCES, CLAIMS AMNESTY
By D. Arul Rajoo
BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Thai security forces battling insurgency in Muslim-predominant Southern Thai provinces practise systematic torture, with abuses occuring at two detention facilities and at least, 21 other unofficial detention sites, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
Amnesty's Benjamin Zawacki said since insurgency resumed after attacks on an
army depot in Narathiwat on Jan 4, 2004, a new phase of violence and
counter-insurgency had been marked by widespread and escalating human rights
abuses by all sides.
He said Thai security forces had systematically relied on torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in their efforts to obtain
information and extract confessions to compensate for poor intelligence and
evidence-gathering, and intimidate detainees and their communities into
withholding or withdrawing support for the insurgents.
"In several cases documented by us, security forces tortured detainees to
death...but not even one soldier or policeman was prosecuted by the state,"
Zawacki told a press conference during the launch of the 'Thailand: Torture
In The Southern Counter-Insurgency' report by the human rights group here
Tuesday.
He said although torture was reported as early in 2004 and increased
significantly since mid-2007, there was no evidence to show that the use of
torture or ill-treatment was due to a state policy.
More than 3,500 people have died since January, 2004, when insurgents
resumed their campaign to seek independence for Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
More than 66 per cent of those killed were civilians, and just over half of the
dead were Muslims.
"Anti-government forces have been particularly, brutal. Since 2005, the
insurgents have engaged in bombings of civilian areas, beheadings and drive-by
shootings of both Buddhist and Muslim security forces and civilians, including
local officials seen as cooperating with the government," the report said.
Amnesty said while the Thai Government had the right and duty to protect its
citizens from such abuses, its heavy-handed security response -- with some 45
per cent of Thai military forces currently stationed in the south -- had led to
widespread human rights violations and alienated the local population.
According to Zawacki, the number of reported torture had decreased slightly
since the widely-publised death of an imam in custody in March, 2008 but it was
still happening.
He said the systematic torture was attributed to the provisions of martial
law and the Emergency Decree which provided immunity from prosecution for
officials involved in the abuses.
"As most torture occurs in the first three days of detention, authorities
must allow lawyers, family members and medical personnel to visit the detainees
during this period to act as a sort of monitoring mechanism," he said.
BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- Thai security forces battling insurgency in Muslim-predominant Southern Thai provinces practise systematic torture, with abuses occuring at two detention facilities and at least, 21 other unofficial detention sites, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
Amnesty's Benjamin Zawacki said since insurgency resumed after attacks on an
army depot in Narathiwat on Jan 4, 2004, a new phase of violence and
counter-insurgency had been marked by widespread and escalating human rights
abuses by all sides.
He said Thai security forces had systematically relied on torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in their efforts to obtain
information and extract confessions to compensate for poor intelligence and
evidence-gathering, and intimidate detainees and their communities into
withholding or withdrawing support for the insurgents.
"In several cases documented by us, security forces tortured detainees to
death...but not even one soldier or policeman was prosecuted by the state,"
Zawacki told a press conference during the launch of the 'Thailand: Torture
In The Southern Counter-Insurgency' report by the human rights group here
Tuesday.
He said although torture was reported as early in 2004 and increased
significantly since mid-2007, there was no evidence to show that the use of
torture or ill-treatment was due to a state policy.
More than 3,500 people have died since January, 2004, when insurgents
resumed their campaign to seek independence for Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat.
More than 66 per cent of those killed were civilians, and just over half of the
dead were Muslims.
"Anti-government forces have been particularly, brutal. Since 2005, the
insurgents have engaged in bombings of civilian areas, beheadings and drive-by
shootings of both Buddhist and Muslim security forces and civilians, including
local officials seen as cooperating with the government," the report said.
Amnesty said while the Thai Government had the right and duty to protect its
citizens from such abuses, its heavy-handed security response -- with some 45
per cent of Thai military forces currently stationed in the south -- had led to
widespread human rights violations and alienated the local population.
According to Zawacki, the number of reported torture had decreased slightly
since the widely-publised death of an imam in custody in March, 2008 but it was
still happening.
He said the systematic torture was attributed to the provisions of martial
law and the Emergency Decree which provided immunity from prosecution for
officials involved in the abuses.
"As most torture occurs in the first three days of detention, authorities
must allow lawyers, family members and medical personnel to visit the detainees
during this period to act as a sort of monitoring mechanism," he said.
