[prisoner-rights] Thailand urged to join UN Torture Convention to stem growing abuses

PRESS RELEASE
AHRC-PL-94-2004

(Hong Kong, November 12, 2004) The government of Thailand should join and
implement the U.N. Convention against Torture
[http://www.hrea.org/erc/Library/display.php?doc_id=959] without delay in
order to stem the growing number of serious rights violations there, the
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said today.

"A strong law prohibiting torture in Thailand, combined with public
education programmes, could dramatically reduce the incidence of gross
human rights abuses," said the executive director of the AHRC, Basil
Fernando, in a letter to the Thai minister of justice.

The Hong Kong-based regional body wrote to the minister over a series of
recent incidents involving police and army personnel, all of which could
have been addressed through a ban on torture, and strong punishment of
perpetrators.

In one case, a 17-year-old and her husband were detained in a Bangkok
police station for 102 days, during which time she gave birth. They were
finally released under a court order.

The AHRC director described the case as speaking to "an institutional
tolerance of gross human rights abuse", and has called upon the ministry
of justice to ensure that the police station chief be held responsible.

"It defies belief that Pol. Col. Suwat could not have known that people
were being held in prolonged detention in his police station, and that a
young woman gave birth unattended there," said Fernando.

"The superintendent was either complicit in the abuse or utterly
incompetent and unsuited for his post; in either case action must be taken
against him," he said.

In another recent case, 23 police officers have been transferred during
inquiries into a torture case in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok. The
officers are alleged to have brutally abused a man in order to have him
confess to a robbery.

"The practices of inflicting wounds on sensitive parts of the body and
applying electric shocks to the testicles and penis suggest the work of
seasoned and experienced professional torturers who have engaged in such
practices many times before," wrote Fernando with regard to the case.

"The AHRC has repeatedly expressed concern that torture is widespread
among state security agencies in Thailand, however, up until recently
intimidation and limits to freedom of expression in the media have meant
that it was not publicly discussed," he added, referring to another recent
case.

In the letter Fernando applauded early steps to hold the police officers
criminally liable for their actions, but contrasted these with the
apparent lack of progress over the deaths in army custody of at least 78
persons in the southern Narathiwat province on October 25.

"It is unclear to the AHRC as to whether or not there is a specific reason
for the seeming difference in treatment of police and army personnel,"
said Fernando, noting that there was no evidence of pending criminal
inquiries against the army officers involved in the Narathiwat killings.

The AHRC director urged the minister of justice to take a lead role in
bringing the army officers responsible for the killings in Narathiwat to
court.

"The Office of Attorney General should already be commencing criminal
proceedings against the alleged perpetrators of the 78 custodial deaths,
for which there can be absolutely no excuses," he said.

"Arguments to suggest that the deaths were accidental, were caused by
poorly trained personnel, or were due to other extenuating circumstances
are totally unacceptable, and in light of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a party, utterly
irrelevant," he added.

Fernando stressed that criminal prosecutions should not be postponed until
after politically appointed inquiries into the killings were complete, as
to do so would allow the perpetrators more opportunities to escape
liability.

"It is the primary responsibility of Office of Attorney General to ensure
that all deaths in custody and extrajudicial killings are fully examined,
the perpetrators identified, and held to account for their actions; these
things must be done at once," he said.

Each of these cases would fall under the provisions of the Convention
against Torture were Thailand a party, making the perpetrators subject to
much stiffer penalties than they face under the current laws in the
country, he concluded. Under amended laws, greater compensation,
protection and rehabilitation could also be provided to the victims and
their families.

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About AHRC The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional
non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues
in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.