Thai Military Accused of Torture in Restive South

By AMBIKA AHUJA / AP WRITER

BANGKOK — Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Thailand's security forces of engaging in systematic torture, including beatings and electric shock that killed at least four people, during a campaign to defeat Islamic insurgents in the country’s restive south.

Survivors told the human rights group that the most common torture techniques were beatings and having plastic bags placed over their heads until they nearly suffocated, according to a new report released by the London-based group.

"The insurgents in southern Thailand have engaged in brutal acts, but nothing justifies the security forces' reliance on torture," said Donna Guest, deputy director of Amnesty's Asia-Pacific program. "Torture is absolutely illegal and, as the situation in southern Thailand proves, alienates the local population."

The report drew on testimonies from 34 people allegedly tortured between March 2007 and May 2008, as well as witnesses and victims' relatives.

While acknowledging isolated cases of abuse, Lt-Gen Pichet Visaijorn, the army's regional commander, said the torture of detainees was not tolerated and the military would not protect soldiers involved in human rights violations.

"We have a very clear policy that the use of torture is not acceptable and never has been," Pichet said. "The military operation in the south is done in line with a human rights standard that is accepted internationally."

More than 3,300 people have died since early 2004 as a result of the Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand, which flared after a lull of more than two decades.

Suspected insurgents target Buddhists and Muslims seen as collaborating with the government, including soldiers, police, informants and civilians.

The attacks—generally drive-by shootings and bombings—are seen to be intended to frighten Buddhist residents into leaving the only Muslim-dominated areas of Thailand, whose population is 90 percent Buddhist.