Early on February 8, Thai security forces searched the office of a Thai human rights organization called the Working Group on Justice for Peace (WGJP) in the southern province of Pattani. Twenty members of the police and military woke two young volunteers and then spent three hours searching the office, including several computers.

The army officer who led the raid claims the search was simply part of a broader sweep in search of militants. However, there is reason to believe the WGJP was singled out. According to the Bangkok Post, two days earlier the military's Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 had issued a warning "that southern militants may take the opportunity to disguise themselves as rights activists."   The warning came just weeks after the publication of several reports about human rights conditions in southern Thailand, including one released by the WGJP. The warning and raid may have been an attempt to stop human rights defenders from further reporting.

Thailand's three southernmost provinces, which have a large Muslim Malay population, have been the site of a separatist insurgency that has intensified since 2004. The WGJP is one of a small number of groups monitoring conditions on the ground. The chair of the WGJP is Angkhana Neelaphaijit, the wife of a lawyer who disappeared five years ago after filing a complaint alleging police had tortured his clients in the south. The group has become an effective advocate on the problem of enforced disappearances.

Please call on the civilian government and military officials in Bangkok and southern Thailand to:

• end public denunciations of human rights defenders
• cease any harassment of the Working Group on Justice for Peace and other groups active in southern Thailand.

Click Here to Take Action>>

Click Here to Learn More about Human Rights Defenders in Thailand>>