Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Thailand.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Thailand. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No attempt
has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Thailand U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/thailand/
[accessed 9 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Representatives of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and legal entities reported police and
military officers sometimes tortured and beat suspects to obtain confessions,
and newspapers reported numerous cases of citizens accusing police and other
security officers of brutality. In April brothers Yutthana
and Natthapong Sai Sa were arrested in Nakhon Phanom Province by the army’s northeastern antinarcotics
task force and taken to a military base for questioning. Yutthana
was later transferred to a hospital where he died, while Natthapong
was found seriously injured in a separate location. Seven soldiers confessed
to beating the two men during an interrogation to force them to admit to drug
trafficking. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Representatives of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and legal entities reported police and military
officers sometimes tortured and beat suspects to obtain confessions, and
newspapers reported numerous cases of citizens accusing police and other
security officers of brutality. In April brothers Yutthana
and Natthapong Sai Sa were arrested in Nakhon Phanom Province by the army’s northeastern antinarcotics
task force and taken to a military base for questioning. Yutthana
was later transferred to a hospital where he died, while Natthapong
was found seriously injured in a separate location. Seven soldiers confessed
to beating the two men during an interrogation to force them to admit to drug
trafficking. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/thailand/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? Counterinsurgency
operations have involved the indiscriminate detention of thousands of
suspected militants and sympathizers, and there are long-standing and
credible reports of torture and other human rights violations, including
extrajudicial killings, by both government forces and insurgents. The police and
military often operate with impunity, which is exacerbated by the absence of
any law that explicitly prohibits torture. Thailand:
Investigate Army Torture, Murder in Drug Case -- End Military Powers to
Arrest, Detain Civilians on Narcotics Charges Human Rights Watch,
Bangkok, 20 April 2020 www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/20/thailand-investigate-army-torture-murder-drug-case [accessed 27 April
2020] About seven
soldiers separately interrogated each of the men, demanding that they confess
they sold drugs in the community. Natthapong said
the soldiers repeatedly punched and kicked him and his brother and stomped on
their chests. He said the soldiers also lifted them up and slammed them to
the ground. Natthapong said that the
torture continued for about an hour. His brother lost consciousness and the
soldiers took him to Somdej Pra
Yupparat Hospital. He was pronounced dead from
severe brain and chest injuries, according to an autopsy report. The soldiers
detained Natthapong overnight, then
released him to his parents, who then took him to the hospital on the evening
of April 18. Natthapong suffered two broken ribs
and other chest injuries, as well as multiple bruises and cuts. Torture law must
pass Editorial, Bangkok
Post, 17 Dec 2018 www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1595366/torture-law-must-pass [accessed 19
December 2018] The call for laws
banning these two terrible crimes is old and widespread in the country.
Governments, including the current military regime, have lobbied or been
pressured to lobby against such a law.
Torture and brutality are unfortunately built into far too many of our
country's security systems. Police and military interrogators are known to
use torture to extract confessions. The number of times it has been used
could fill a book. In fact it has, several times over. Authorities, from
new police recruits up to the head of the military regime, know torture is
barbarous, and at least some of those who employ it are barbarians. How do we
know this? When presented with absolutely irrefutable proof of the use of
torture -- wounds, witnesses and even death -- torturers and their bosses to
the very top of the chain of command strongly deny it. They lie because they
are ashamed. In the most recent
and blatant example, three civil society groups documented more than 50
separate cases of torture in the deep South. They produced a bilingual
report, simply entitled Torture. The military units involved retaliated with
a striking and shameful campaign of incredible denial and intimidation
against the groups and, individually, their leaders. Military Targets
Outspoken Activist and Media for Defamation Human Rights Watch,
New York, 15 February 2018 www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/15/thailand-drop-cases-against-torture-victim [accessed 16 february 2018] The Thai military
should immediately withdraw criminal and civil defamation cases against a
human rights activist who spoke out publicly about his torture by security
forces in Thailand’s southern border provinces, Human Rights Watch said
today. The military has also brought defamation cases against prominent
online media that reported the case. The Thai military
arrested Ismae and held him incommunicado in
military detention in 2008 at the Ingkayuthboriharn
Camp in Pattani province. Ismae
said military interrogators electrocuted, punched, kicked, and beat him with
a stick until he passed out. They also poured water on him to make him
suffocate. Ismae said the torture was used to force
him to confess that he was involved in a separatist insurgency. In October
2016, the Administrative Court ordered the army to pay Ismae
compensation of 305,000 baht ($8,700) for emotional distress and physical
injuries suffered. No security personnel have been prosecuted for Ismae’s torture and mistreatment Torture and ill
treatment in The Deep South Duayjai, HAP and CrCF Torture situation in Pattani,
Jan 2016 [accessed 2 November
2017] DJ.04.2014 The interviewee is
a male, 30
years old. The incident occurred on 30 November 2013. Selatan ranger unit
brought 13 truckloads of men whereby about 50-60 people came to surround the
cordon, and arrested six young people. Then they went and searched every
house in the neighborhood. They came to search the place where I was living.
At that time I was cooking dinner with 5 friends and the landlord. Officers
also arrested myself and a friend who wasn’t a
local. They searched the house and arrested me. They used a white cable
plastic tie to restrain my wrists behind my back. Four-five officials stomped
on my back and ribs many times and then dragged me outside the house (before
this I had already surrendered by raising both hands). When I was outside
the house, they told me to stretch my legs and officials stood on my legs and
calves while I was lying face down. I was beaten on the head several times.
Afterwards, the officials found a gun in the house. It belonged to a friend.
The officials questioned me and smacked my head, then
the officials took me into the house alone. Approximately 13 officials
jointly kicked me and asked where the guns were. I said I did not know and
there was no gun. The officials threatened to shoot me if I did not give out
information on the guns, I replied that if I have
any guns, shoot me. The officials smacked, hit, and slapped me on my back
torso many times until I was so numb and I was drifting in and out of
consciousness. Thailand:
Investigate Alleged Torture in Military Custody Human Rights Watch,
New York, 18 March 2015 www.hrw.org/news/2015/03/18/thailand-investigate-alleged-torture-military-custody [accessed 6 April
2015] Four suspects in a
grenade attack on the Bangkok criminal court alleged that they were tortured
while being held in military custody from March 9 to 15, 2015, according to
the legal defense group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. The four – Sansern Sriounruen, Chanwit Chariyanukul, Norapat Luephon, and Wichai Yusuk – said
interrogators slapped, punched, and kicked them in the head, chest, and back.
They allege that they were also tortured with electrical shocks that left
marks on their skin. The suspects asserted that authorities tortured them to
extract information and to force them to confess to involvement in the late
evening attack on March 7 in which a grenade exploded in the parking lot of
the Bangkok criminal court. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] THAILAND ARBITRARY AND SECRET
DETENTION
- Since the coup, the junta has detained more than 300 politicians,
activists, journalists, and people that it accused of supporting the deposed
government, disrespecting the monarchy, or being involved in anti-coup
protests and activities. The NCPO held people in incommunicado
lockup in military camps. Some have been held longer than the seven-day limit
for administrative detention provided for under martial law. Kritsuda Khunasen, a United
Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) activist, was arrested by
soldiers on May 27, in Chonburi province and held
incommunicado until June 24. Kritsuda alleged that
soldiers beat her during interrogation and suffocated her with a plastic bag
until she lost consciousness. ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCES
- Prominent ethnic Karen activist Por Cha Lee Rakchongcharoen, known as “Billy,” was forcibly
disappeared after officials at Kaengkrachan
National Park arrested him on April 17, 2014 in Petchaburi
province. At time of writing, there was no progress in police investigation
to locate Billy and bring those responsible for his disappearance to justice. Myanmar suspects
tortured, rights panel says Chularat Saengpassa,
The Nation, 17 November 2014 www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Myanmar-suspects-tortured-rights-panel-says-30247901.html [accessed 2 December
2014] Two Myanmar men
facing charges of murdering British tourists on Koh
Tao were tortured, according to the ongoing probe by a subcommittee of the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC panel said
the suspects said they were slapped in the face and their heads were covered
with a plastic bag and then a second bag while in custody. They were told
they would face serious harm and be thrown into the sea if they did not
confess to the murders of the two Britons. Opposition activist
fabricated torture allegations, says Thai junta Andrew R.C.
Marshall, Reuters, Bangkok, 5 Aug 2014 www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/05/us-thailand-torture-idUSKBN0G51FN20140805 [accessed 5 August
2014] An opposition
activist's claims that she was tortured in military custody were "100
percent fabricated", Thailand's ruling junta said on Tuesday, after the
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an immediate
investigation. Kritsuda Khunasen, 27, was one of hundreds of politicians,
activists, academics and journalists held by the military after it overthrew
the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra
in a bloodless May 22 coup. Kritsuda was arrested five
days later and detained for 29 days at an unidentified military camp, where
she said she was blindfolded with duct tape, slapped, punched and hooded with
a plastic bag until she passed out. The Thai military
told Reuters it had investigated Kritsuda's claims
and found them to be untrue. "It is 100
percent fabricated," said Colonel Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for the National Council for Peace
and Order (NCPO), as the junta calls itself. "We checked with the
officials, and no such incidents took place. Human Rights in
Thailand Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org/node/104582 [accessed 14
February 2013] In the southern border
provinces, separatist insurgents attack civilians including government
teachers, and state security forces torture and “disappear” people with
impunity. AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 INTERNAL ARMED
CONFLICT
- The 2005 Emergency Decree on Public Administration in State of Emergency
remained in place throughout the year, with the government renewing its
mandate every three months. The decree allows immunity from prosecution for
officials who may have committed human rights violations – including torture. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=thailand+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 15 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 5 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/thailand [accessed 14
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] Pretrial
detention—often lasting up to 84 days in criminal cases—is a serious problem,
and trials frequently take years to complete. Prison conditions are dire,
with inmates and detainees facing shackling and abuse by police and military
personnel. State officials are rarely prosecuted for such acts. According to
an August 2008 International Crisis Group report, a range of paramilitary
forces and civilian militias operating alongside the military and police are
impeding efforts to defeat the insurgency in the southern provinces; despite
its reputation for human rights abuses and corruption, the “ranger”
paramilitary force has been tripled in size by the army since the violence
erupted in 2004. Reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and
torture by security forces in the south continued in 2008. Human Rights Reports
» 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61628.htm [accessed 14
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61628.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, NGOs and legal organizations continued to
report that some members of the police occasionally tortured and beat
suspects to obtain confessions. During the year there were newspaper reports
of numerous cases in which citizens accused police of using brutality,
threatening false charges, and extorting bribes. Investigations were
undertaken in most of the cases, including several in which the accused
police officers were suspended pending the results of internal
investigations. A Thai senator,
testifying as a character witness at the trial of four Muslim suspects
accused of membership in Jemaah Islamiya, said that
while in police custody bags were put over the suspects' heads, and they were
beaten on the back and the abdomen. The four were acquitted by the criminal
court in June and released from custody. Police opened an internal
investigation, but at year's end no criminal charges had been filed. In March 2004 five
suspects in the 2004 Narathiwat military camp raid
alleged that police beat and administered electric shocks to them in order to
obtain confessions. The suspects filed a formal complaint with the Ministry
of Justice through their lawyer, Somchai Neelapaichjit, who subsequently disappeared and was
presumed dead (see section 1.b.). Police opened an internal investigation of
the officers suspected of abuse, but at year's end no criminal charges had
been filed. There were no
reported developments in the internal police investigation into the November
2004 claim by a married couple that they were beaten and robbed while under
detention for 102 days without charge at the Lumpini
police station in Bangkok. In November 2004
police in Ayutthaya Province reportedly beat and applied electric shock to a
man's genitals to coerce a confession after arresting him for suspected
robbery; 23 members of the police were transferred to Bangkok in connection
with the incident, pending an internal police investigation. In December the
complainant reportedly withdrew his complaint following an out-of-court
settlement. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Thailand
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