On June 26, , on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture , the government created a committee to receive complaints and investigate allegations of torture and enforced disappearance. But without a law recognizing these crimes, the new body can do little beyond providing compensation for victims and their families. However, on February 28, the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly decided to indefinitely suspend its consideration of the Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Bill , and the government has not clarified whether the bill will be reintroduced. Brad Adams Asia Director. Torture has long been a problem in Thailand, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases in the southern border provinces , in which police and military personnel allegedly tortured ethnic Malay Muslims in custody. The most common forms of torture have been ear slapping, punching, kicking, beating, using electric shocks, and near strangulation or suffocation with plastic bags. There are also credible reports of torture being used as a form of punishment of military conscripts , which have resulted in some deaths. Since the May military coup, many individuals taken into incommunicado military custody have alleged being tortured or otherwise ill-treated while being detained and interrogated by soldiers.
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The attack comes as rage boils over the case of a Muslim rebel suspect who was left in a critical condition after spending several hours in a notorious army interrogation unit. Four days prior to the attack, rebel suspect, Abdulloh Esormusor, was left unconscious after being arrested under martial law and taken to a notorious military camp in Pattani. Rebel groups suspect "foul play" in Abdulloh's case and have called for an international probe. Thailand's army is investigating how he came to be hospitalised with brain swelling hours after arriving at the Inkayuth camp. Inkayuth is the Thai army's biggest detention centre in the south, where rebel suspects are taken for questioning and held under the emergency laws governing the conflict-scarred region. An army statement said the camp doctor recorded the suspect arriving in good health, but said he was later found unconscious after being held in the "interrogation centre". The army has vowed to punish anyone found guilty of abuse. In , Irish-based human rights organisation, Front Line Defenders, interviewed Ismael Teh who claimed he was tortured back when he was a university student in They forced me to take my clothes off and left me in a cold room. While numerous complaints of torture have been made against the army, no military personnel have ever been successfully prosecuted for abuses.
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New York — Thai authorities should drop trumped-up criminal proceedings against a woman who has sought justice for her army conscript uncle, who was tortured to death by soldiers in , Human Rights Watch said today. Naritsarawan Kaewnopparat faces defamation and computer crime charges for publishing online details of army torture of her uncle. She was taken to the Muang Narathiwat police station and questioned about her Facebook page.
High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an immediate investigation. Kritsuda Khunasen, 27, was one of hundreds of politicians, activists, academics and journalists held by the military after it overthrew the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a bloodless May 22 coup. Kritsuda was arrested five days later and detained for 29 days at an unidentified military camp, where she said she was blindfolded with duct tape, slapped, punched and hooded with a plastic bag until she passed out. The allegations come amid muted criticism of the junta after it last week appointed an interim assembly whose members were mostly acting or retired soldiers and police. Junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha has promised to install a government by September and hold elections by late High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. She said her hands remained tied during detention, even when she visited the bathroom. She said in her video interview that her interrogators asked about funding for red-shirt prisoners and weapons. She said they were probing for connections between her and self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup.
