<p>Since seizing power in a 2014 coup, Thailand’s military authorities have allowed a culture of torture and other ill-treatment to flourish across the country, with soldiers and policemen targeting suspected insurgents, political opponents, and individuals from the most vulnerable sections of society, a new report by Amnesty International said today.&nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">While Thailand is making strides in anti-torture legislation, experts argue the government&rsquo;s continued prosecution of human rights defenders makes this formal progress hollow.</p><p>At a public panel convened at the Foreign Correspondents&rsquo; Club of Thailand on Wednesday, 24 August 2016, representatives from local and international organisations called upon the Thai government to drop charges levelled against three human rights defenders investigating torture in Deep Southern Thailand.</p>

<div> <div>Police in the restive Deep South of Thailand have accused three prominent human rights defenders of defaming the Thai army after the three published a report on the torture and inhumane treatment of Muslim Malay suspects in military camps. &nbsp; &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On Tuesday, 26 July 2016, police officers in Pattani Province accused Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, Somchai Homla-or, Advisor of the Duay Jai group, and Anchana Heemmina, President of the Duay Jai group, of defaming the Royal Thai Army. </div></div>

<p dir="ltr">Thailand has a grim and poor record of torture and enforced disappearances, which even in the last 10-15 years has barely improved, regardless of the international treaties and agreements it has signed onto. Experts, though, believe that improvements are coming, hopefully sooner than later.</p>

<div> <div>A civil society network has said that although Thailand ratified the Convention against Torture almost a decade ago, the situation regarding torture in the country has hardly improved. </div></div>

<p>On June 13, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights welcomed Thailand’s decision to enact the Prevention and Suppression of Torture Act. However, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) is currently suing three authors of a report published earlier this year on alleged military torture practices in the Deep South. Ignoring the 12 Core Values of Thai People is how to lose Thailand’s 4GW in the Deep South.</p> <p><strong>Thailand’s Fourth Generation War</strong></p>

<p>The army officer commanding the 6 soldiers who beat to death an army recruit in the Deep South was promoted to his post despite the fact that he was involved in the fatal torture of a Deep South insurgent suspect in 2012. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>A soldier in Thailand’s Deep South has died a few days after he was reportedly tortured at a military base for committing disciplinary offences. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="http://mgr.manager.co.th/South/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9590000034453">The Manager Online reported</a>&nbsp;on Monday, 4 April 2016, that 23-year-old Private Songtham Mutmat from Phayak Military Camp in Bannang Sata District of the restive Deep Southern Province of Yala, died at the provincial hospital. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Allegations of torture and ill-treatment committed by state authorities against the Malay Muslim minority in the restive Deep South are currently double the level reported after the 2014 coup d’état. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The <a href="http://th.macmuslim.com/?p=1025#more-1025">Muslim Attorney Centre (MAC)</a>, a civil society organisation providing legal aid in the Deep South, on Tuesday, 2 February 2016, published a report on allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Deep South insurgent suspects arrested and detained under special security laws in the region in 2015.</p>

<p>Thai authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the alleged torture of suspects in military detention, Human Rights Watch said today. To prevent further abuses, the government should immediately transfer all civilians detained at military facilities to officially recognized civilian places of detention.</p>

<p>A civil society human rights organisation has urged the Thai authorities to carry out an ‘independent’ investigation into the mysterious death in custody of a drug trafficking suspect.</p> <p>On Tuesday, 17 November 2015, the Cross Cultural Organisation (CrCF), a civil society human rights organisation, issued a public statement about the sudden death of Anan Koedkaew, 34, a drug trafficking suspect who died mysteriously three days after interrogation.</p> <p>Anan was arrested by investigators of Nakhon Ratchasima Provincial Police on 9 November 2015.</p>

<p>A mother is suing the Thai Ministry of Defence and the Royal Thai Army over the death of her son, who was allegedly tortured by army officers shortly before his death. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>According the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCf), a CSO promoting human rights and cultural diversity, on Wednesday morning, 26 August 2015, the Civil Court of Bangkok, Ratchadaphisek Road, heard testimony from plaintiff witnesses in the case of the alleged torture of Somchai Si-ueangdoi.</p>