Thai security forces are systematically torturing suspects in their fight against a deadly insurgency in the country’s Muslim-majority south, a report by Amnesty International said yesterday.
The rights group said it had found 34 cases of ill treatment, including beatings, people being buried up to their necks in the ground, subjected to electric shocks and having needles inserted in body parts including the eyes.
Four people had died after being severely beaten while in detention, it said.
PHOTO: AP
“Torture and other ill treatment is being systematically used by the Thai security forces in the southern insurgency,” Donna Guest, deputy director of Amnesty’s Asia Pacific program, said at the launch of the report.
“The government must stop torture and bring the torturers to justice,” she said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed since separatist unrest erupted five years ago in Thailand’s four southernmost provinces. Tensions have simmered since Thailand annexed the mainly Malay sultanate in 1902.
Most of the victims have been civilians or security forces killed by insurgents in a wave of bombings, shootings and beheadings of Buddhists and Muslims which erupted in 2004.
But Guest said that while the rebels had engaged in “brutal acts, nothing justifies the security forces’ reliance on torture,” adding that it was further alienating the local population.
The youngest victim of torture highlighted in the report was a six-year-old boy who was allegedly tortured with his mother.
Report author Benjamin Zawacki said the Thai security forces and government had officially condemned the use of torture but added that there may be a culture of “willful blindness” among the authorities.
Zawacki said he had heard of a total of around 100 cases of torture but only included those which Amnesty had documented in the report.
Amnesty urged Thai authorities to take urgent steps, including closing all detention centres in the south; allowing detainees access to lawyers and family members; and removing immunity for officials involved in torture.
It also called on the government to amend a 2005 emergency decree that provides much of the legal framework for counterinsurgency operations.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
CHARGES: The former president, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for a failed coup bid, as well as an assassination plot Far-right former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is running out of options to avoid prison, after judges on Friday rejected his appeal against a 27-year sentence for a botched coup bid. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 elections and was convicted in September for his efforts to prevent Brazlian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power after the polls. Prosecutors said the scheme — which included plans to assassinate Lula and a top Brazilian Supreme Court judge — failed only due to a lack of support from military top brass. A panel of Supreme Court judges weighing Bolsonaro’s appeal all voted to uphold
RSS