On Feb 16, the Muslim Lawyers Centre told a seminar that during the past few years it had received hundreds of complaints from people in the three southern border provinces including 59 cases of torture during custody in the past eight months.

Two persons were killed. Sakariya Pa-o-mani, according to military personnel, was shot when a group of insurgents attempted to rescue him by attacking the military unit which was escorting him to the Bannang Sata Police Station in Yala on June 28, 2007. As-ari Sama-ae, again according to military personnel, resisted arrest and fell, striking his head, in early August 2007.

The latest complaint of torture arose from the arrest of 9 students in Yala in late January 2008 by Special Force 11.

Authorities most frequently accused of physical abuse are Special Force 11 and Military Ranger Regiment 41 in Yala, and the Ingkayutthaboriharn military base in Pattani, and most of the victims are residents of Bannang Sata district of Yala.

Torture or physical abuse mostly happened during the first three days of detention under Martial Law and the Administration in Emergency Situation Decree. Only the case of As-ari, however, was filed with police by his relatives.

The torture includes beatings, detention in a refrigerated room, and being forced to eat spoiled food.

The Muslim Lawyers Centre has not been informed by the authorities as to whether or not the abused have ever been compensated.

The seminar was joined by about 50 people including local politicians, academics, lawyers, and NGOs. A major concern raised in the discussion was that authorities did not trust local leaders, and did not include them in the process of investigation and making arrests.

Pattani Provincial Administrative Organization member Rofa Putan said that he himself was issued with an arrest warrant and accused of being a mastermind with 30 men under his control. The reason behind the arrest warrant was simple: a relative of one suspect pointed to him.

"In my village, there were arrest warrants issued at the same time for 30 people. The suspects had made a deal with the authorities that they would turn themselves in and the authorities promised to grant them bail. But they were put into jail. That made the villagers lose trust in the authorities."

Chair of the Village Heads Association in Sai Buri, Pattani, said that 38 people in his village were issued with arrest warrants without his knowledge.

An executive of a local private Islamic school said that village heads and local religious leaders are knowledgeable about people in their villages, but are ignored by the authorities. He noted with some irony that it was said among religious leaders that even babies still in their mother's wombs would be issued with arrest warrants once they are born.

Related news:

9 students arrested under Martial Law in Yala

Translated by Ponglert Pongwanan