A Deep South civil society group has called for an independent investigation into the death of a suspect in custody.

The Civil Society Network for Peace (CSNP) of Thailand’s restive Deep South on Monday issued a statement on the death in custody of Abdullayib Dolah, 42, a suspect in the assassination of a Muslim cleric in Pattani Province.  

According to the authorities, Abdullayib was arrested in Nong Chik District of Pattani on 11 November 2015 and was transferred to Inkayuth military base in the province under martial law, which grants special power to the military in the Deep South.

The authorities alleged that he was a leader of an insurgent group in the province.

On Friday, 4 December 2015, the authorities announced that Abdullayib had died in custody. They later stated that they invited the family of the deceased, a local Islamic committee, and local physicians to investigate the cause of death, but no conclusion was made. Therefore, the authorities transferred Abdullayib’s body to Songkhla Hospital for postmortem examination.

The autopsy result has not as yet been announced by the hospital. 

A lot of doubt was cast upon his sudden death.

Khaosod English reported that according to Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Culture Foundation, an NGO group that campaigns for civil rights in the southern border provinces, Abdullayib’s family was surprised by the abrupt announcement because he was alive and well when they visited him on the Thursday before his death.

The Civil Society Network for Peace (CSNP) stated that in order not the let the incident to overshadow attempts to foster peace in the restive Deep South, the authorities must allow local communities and civil society groups to take part in the investigation into the suspect’s death.

An independent committee trusted by local communities in Pattani should be formed to carry out an investigation into the case, urged CSNP.

The group added that in the past, committees established by Thai state authorities to investigate similar incidents were not trusted because their members were not connected to local committees, resulting in entrenched distrust between local people in the Deep South and the Thai state.