URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEAL GENERAL URGENT APPEAL GENERAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

Urgent Appeal General

12 July 2007

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UG-005-2007: THAILAND: Hundreds of villagers rounded up and detained in southern Thailand

THAILAND: Arbitrary arrest & detention; emergency regulations; declining rule of law
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END EMERGENCY DECREE IN SOUTHERN THAILAND
http://thailand.ahrchk.net/edecree

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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by reports that hundreds of persons have been rounded up and detained at army camps in southern Thailand under emergency regulations, in violation of their fundamental human rights and ordinary domestic law. 

According to information from a number of sources, and reported from a press conference given by an army spokesperson, Colonel Akhra Thiproj, some 348 persons had been detained in an operations sweep between 23 June and 7 July 2007. As of July 7, ten of the persons were being held in detention by Police Region 9, Yala Province, and the others were in four army camps: Ingkhayuthboriharn, Pattani Province (100 persons); Rattanapol (132 persons) and Phrapokklao (51 persons), Songkhla Province; and, Kommalung Narathiwat Ratchanakarin, Narathiwat Province (55 persons).

Local human rights defenders had been able to visit only Ingkhayuthboriharn Army Camp and were concerned about overcrowding, as the facility is suitable for only around half the number of detainees. The army camps generally are not equipped to accommodate such numbers of persons in detention due to a lack of facilities and properly trained personnel. It was not yet known how many of the detainees, if any, had been able to meet relatives or lawyers.

According to Col. Akhra, the persons had been detained in an Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) operation under the Emergency Decree BE 2548 (2005) and would be interrogated within 28 days during which time they would be classified according to four categories:
1. Those against which there is sufficient evidence to begin criminal proceedings;
2. Those of which there is suspicion that they were involved in criminal activities but no firm evidence, who would be sent to a "re-education" centre;
3. Those against which there is no evidence or suspicion of wrongdoing, who would be released; and,
4. Those of which more time would be needed to make inquiries.

There is no information currently available on the criteria and methods that will be used to categorise persons according to these four classes.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Mass arrests and detentions in army facilities followed by attempts at identifying--through the use of military personnel--the innocence or guilt of detained persons amounts to a gross violation of fundamental human rights from which no derogation is permitted, even at times of emergency. Many United Nations experts have written on this in detail, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in his 2007 report.

Local human rights defenders have documented many credible reports of torture and other grave abuses of detainees in the army camps under the Emergency Decree provisions; however, in most cases risks to the victims and families have meant that public advocacy on the cases is impossible. One case that was taken up by the AHRC was that of Sukri Ar-dam: UA-144-2007.

The emergency regulations over the southern provinces were introduced by the former prime minister to protect security officials there from prosecution. The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings has commented that they enable army and police personnel to "get away with murder". The regulations have greatly inflamed the violence in the south since they were introduced over two years ago. They are set to be renewed for the ninth time within a few days.

For full details on the decree and violence in the south visit: http://thailand.ahrchk.net/edecree

For some recent comments on ISOC by the AHRC see: AS-157-2007

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the concerned authorities to call for the prompt release of these persons and the strict application of ordinary criminal procedure and institutions in addressing the violence in the south. Please also demand that the government of Thailand lift the Emergency Decree without delay, and refrain from introducing a national security law incorporating the same provisions as the decree.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Suggested letter:

Dear ________,

THAILAND: Mass arrests and detention in southern provinces

I am writing to express my concern at the arrest and detention in army camps of at least 348 persons in the southern provinces of Thailand in a sweep between 23 June and 7 July 2007. Colonel Akhra Thiproj, a spokesperson for the armed forces, is reported as having said that the Internal Security Operations Command-led operation under the Emergency Decree BE 2548 (2005), had resulted in ten persons being held in detention of Police Region 9, Yala Province, and the others were in four army camps: Ingkhayuthboriharn, Pattani Province (100 persons); Rattanapol (132 persons) and Phrapokklao (51 persons), Songkhla Province; and, Kommalung Narathiwat Ratchanakarin, Narathiwat Province (55 persons).

I am informed that local human rights defenders had been able to visit only Ingkhayuthboriharn Camp and were concerned about overcrowding, as the facility is suitable for only around half the number of detainees. They had also said that the army camps are not equipped to keep such numbers of persons in detention due to a lack of facilities and properly trained personnel.

According to Colonel Akhra, the persons would be interrogated within 28 days during which time they would be classified according to four categories: those against which there is sufficient evidence to begin criminal proceedings; those of which there is suspicion that they were involved in criminal activities but no firm evidence, who would be sent to a "re-education" centre; those against which there is no evidence or suspicion of wrongdoing, who would be released; and, those of which more time would be needed to make inquiries.

I take this opportunity to point out that the application of a state of emergency does not under any circumstances excuse the authorities from observance of certain non-derogable rights, such as the right to life and the right to enjoy the absolute prohibition on torture, and the procedures necessary to ensure their protection. Thus, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has written that

"There are peremptory norms which require that general safeguards concerning detention must be upheld even during a state of emergency. Many international precedents have identified many other non-derogable rights, such as the right to be informed of the reasons for arrest, providing safeguards against incommunicado or indefinite detention, the right to file a petition for habeas corpus, safeguards against abuses during questioning, and maintaining normal standards of proof. Also inherent in non-derogable rights are procedural measures intended to ensure their protection, as a result of which the provisions relating to those measures may not be derogated from." (A/HRC/4/25, 18 January 2007, para. 48)

Apart from blatantly violating the basic human rights of these detainees through their arrest and detention in this manner, the authorities of Thailand have put them at a high risk of torture and other gross abuse. I am aware that human rights defenders in Thailand have documented many credible cases of torture and assault in these camps, but that in most instances the victims have been too afraid to make their cases public.

I thus call for the immediate release of these persons from army custody and the proper application of domestic criminal law, in accordance with international norms, against those persons whom the authorities believe there are sufficient grounds to investigate and prosecute for alleged wrongdoing. Failure to employ the ordinary criminal standards, police and courts in the correct manner will only further weaken the institutions for the rule of law in Thailand, which have already been severely damaged by the 19 September 2006 coup and the subsequent regressive steps taken by its leadership.

In this respect, I also call on the government of Thailand not to renew the Emergency Decree over the southern provinces, and to refrain from introducing a national internal security bill that would grant the army commander power to implement similar measures at any time, anywhere in the country. The decree has been a manifest failure that has only resulted in further bloodshed and lasting distrust of the government and damage to its institutions in the south, and were such provisions given effect and placed in the hands of the army commander nationwide it would surely spell disaster for Thailand.

Sincerely,

_______________

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th

2. General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
Commander-in-Chief
c/o Royal Thai Army HQ
Ratchadamnoen Nok Road
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 2432-5
Fax: +662 280 2436

3. Mr. Charnchai Likitjitta
Interim Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: om@moj.go.th

4. Mr. Aree Wongaraya
Interim Minister of Interior
Office of the Ministry of Interior
Atsadang Road
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224-6320/ 6341
Fax: +662 226 4371/ 222 8866
Email: om@moi.go.th

5. Pol. Gen. Seripisuth Themiyavet
Acting Commissioner-General
Royal Thai Police
1st Bldg, 7th Floor
Rama I, Patumwan
Bkk 10330
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 251 5956/ 205 3738/ 255 1975-8
E-mail: feedback@police.go.th

6. Lt. Gen. Viroj Buacharoon
Commander
Fourth Army Area
Sirinthon Camp, Khaotoom
Yarang, Pattani 94160
THAILAND
Tel: +66 73 262 598
Fax: +66 73 262 572

7. Mr. Pranai Suwanarat
Director
Southern Border Province Administrative Center (SBPAC)
Yala Provincial Office
Muang District, Yala 95000
THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66 073 203 802

8. Mr. Pachara Yutidhammadamrong
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building
Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th

9. Prof. Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathum Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 219 2980
Fax: +662 219 2940
E-mail: commission@nhrc.or.th

10. Mr. Homayoun Alizadeh
Regional Representative for Asia-Pacific of OHCHR
UNESCAP
UN Secretariat Building, 6th Fl., Room A-601
Rajdamnern Nok Ave.
Bangkok 10200,
THAILAND
Tel: +662 288 1496
Fax: +662 288 3009

11. Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
(ATTN: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

12. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Att: Sonia Cronin
Room: 3-060
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9160
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR INDEPENDENCE JUDGES & LAWYERS)

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)