Police searched the house of a Media Selatan Radio journalist in the southernmost province of Pattani without a search warrant and asked for DNA samples of the occupants.

The police claimed that they wanted to search for illegal drugs and that they did not need a search warrant under martial law.

On Tuesday, five plainclothes policemen from Pattani Police Station investigation unit searched the house of Taweesak Pi, a journalist of Media Selatan, together with three other human rights activists from the Hak Asasi Patani (HAP), Adeonan Malase, Saidee Saga and Sofwan Sate, without a search warrant.

Police later asked for the IDs and family background of each occupant, took the fingerprints of the four and said that all the evidence collected would be sent to the Southern Border Provinces Police Operations Centre.

Left, Taweesak Pi, a journalist from Media Selatan, right, two policemen out of uniforms

The police then asked to take DNA samples from the occupants’ saliva. However, the four stated that taking DNA from persons who have not officially been declared suspects transgresses the law and they refused.

During the search, Taweesak called Muhammad Doeramae, editor of the Media Selatan journalist school, to act as witness to the search.