Refugees say Thai navy towed boats to open sea, left them adrift

SABANG, Indonesia, Feb. 1 Kyodo -
The Thai navy dumped 583 mainly ethnic Rohingya refugees into four boats with
no motors, towed them to the open sea and left them adrift to fend for
themselves, according to firsthand accounts by two of the refugees who were
rescued off Indonesia.
''They put us all into four boats without engines, towed us for one and a half
days and then released the boats,'' a 22-year-old refugee, who declined to be
identified, discretely told Kyodo News from a naval camp in Sabang on Weh
Island, off the northern tip of Sumatra, over the weekend.
He said he left Mohesh Khali on the Bangladeshi coast on Dec. 17 in a boat
carrying 109 mainly Rohingya refugees from the border area of Bangladesh and
Myanmar, The boat was headed for Malaysia where they hoped to find a better
life.
But their boat was intercepted by the Thai navy around the end of December, he
said. He said he and the others were beaten up and tortured for three days
somewhere in Thailand before being forced back to the open sea.
''They did a lot of torture. They hung us by the legs and beat us with sticks
every day,'' he said.
According to him, the 109 refugees were joined by 474 refugees from other
intercepted boats, and the Thai navy forced all of them to the open sea in four
boats without motors and lacking food and water.
The boats were adrift at sea for about 10 days during which time they became
separated by wind and currents.
''We were so hungry that some of us resorted to drinking seawater or
rainwater,'' he said.
His boat with 193 refugees cramped into it was finally spotted and rescued by
Indonesian fishermen just off Sabang on Jan. 7 and most of the refugees were
sent to hospitals.
The fishermen who rescued them said they looked scrawny, suffered from
dehydration and could hardly stand, with some even fainting.
The 193 refugees are now staying temporarily in tents in a tightly guarded navy
camp on Sabang.
They appeared to be in good health when Kyodo News reporters visited over the
weekend. They could be seen playing soccer or netball, being provided with
simple meals and being given the opportunity to perform their Muslim obligatory
prayers.
The camp is strictly guarded and they are not allowed any direct contact with
the media. An Indonesian military official said that the refugees might be
deported to Myanmar and Bangladesh.
While the 193 are now safe in the camp in Indonesia, the fate of the other 390
refugees in the three other boats remains unclear.
Another refugee, 17, told Kyodo News that when the Thai navy sent the refugees
back to the open sea in the four boats, the refugees asked, ''Where will we
go?'' and a navy man replied, ''I don't know where you will go.''
It is unclear whether or not the Thai navy expected winds to carry the boats to
Indonesia or other countries.
The plight of the stateless Muslims was highlighted last month when the Thai
navy was first accused of towing nearly 1,000 of them out to sea and abandoning
them with little food and water. The Thai government has denied the allegation
of inhumane treatment but promised to look into the case
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has voiced strong concern over the
allegations and sought access to the Rohingya refugees still in Thailand to
determine their need for international protection.
The 22-year-old refugee whom Kyodo News spoke with said 200 of the 583 people
abandoned at sea were from Bangladesh and the rest from Myanmar.
Rohingya in Myanmar people face discrimination and abuse as they are not
officially recognized by the military junta as one of the country's more than
100 ethnic minorities. Refugees fear of being deported to that country, saying
they could be killed or jailed.
==Kyodo