Army denies foul play against detained suspected militants
By Sumeth Panpetch
Two non-governmental organizations have demanded the closure of the interrogation centre at Inkhayuth Boriharn army barrack in Nong Chik district of Pattani, claiming that the interrogators there have grossly violated human rights by resorting to torture and solitary imprisonment to extract confessions from criminal suspects.
The demand was contained in a joint statement issued by the Cross Cultural Foundation and the Foundation of Muslim Lawyers Centre on the occasion of the international anti-torture day on June 26.
The two NGOs also made three other demands in the joint statement. These include:
- a demand to examine the use of emergency rule by officers especially against people or suspects asked to show up at the reconciliation promotion centre for interrogation and a demand for an end to torture or other inhumane acts.
- a demand for criminal or disciplinary action against the officers found to engage in activities deemed a gross violation of human rights.
- a demand for regular inspection of detention facilities under emergency decree or the martial law by an independent organization such as the National Human Rights Commission.
The two NGOs also said in the statement that there were at least six cases of detainees being held at the rehabilitation promotion centre who were denied visits by their families or who were given very brief visits each of which lasted only 1-2 minutes. They also cited the case of Sulaiman Nasae, a 25-year old suspect on security-related charges who was found dead by hanging in his detention cell at the reconciliation promotion centre on May 30 – seven days after his detention.
Mrs Amara Pongsapitch, the chair of the National Human Rights Commission, told a recent press conference that the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Sulaiman were suspicious and thus justified further investigation.
Reacting to the NGOs’ demands and the suspicion of foul play against Sulaiman, Lt-Gen Pichet Visaijon, commander of the Fourth Army Region and director of the Internal Security Operations Demand of the Fourth Region, asked why the victim’s family and representatives of human rights organizations did not question the victim’s death when they were present as forensic officials examined his body.
“If they had any doubt about the cause of the death, they should have made a protest instantly. Not that when his body was taken home and they claimed that his neck was broken or there were something unusual,” said the general.
“What do you think about those impartial people who took part in the examination of the victim. They are prosecutors and doctors who have their own code of conduct. If the officials were guilty as suspected, why they allowed others to join the investigation? We stand firm on our innocence. There was no cover-up whatsoever,” he maintained.
Lt-Gen Pichet insisted that the army did not have any policy of supporting the use of violence in the deep South “because we know that any side which resorts to violence will lose out.”
Regarding the proposed closure of the interrogation centre supervised by the reconciliation promotion centre, the 4th army region commander maintained that the centre had been instrumental in the efforts to resolve unrest problem in the region. Also, the centre has been able to gain some insights into the activities of suspected militants, he added.
He dismissed the suggestion that closed circuit cameras be installed at the detention cells to observe if any detainees are tortured or mistreated, saying that installion of the equipments might infringe on the rights of the detainees.
Meanwhile, the centre’s director, Col Piyawat Narkvanich, slammed the local NGOs of distorting facts about Sulaiman’s death. He claimed that representatives of the National Human Rights Commission did not have any questions about his testimonies about alleged mistreatments of detainees, including Sulaiman, held in the interrogation centre.
He said there were several people, including representatives from local human rights groups, witnessing the examination of the victim’s body by forensic experts and none of them raised any objection against the outcome of the examination.
He however admitted that some detainees were allowed very brief visits by their families because of security reason as the detainees might give tips of their families about the locations where they were to be taken to by authorites for on-site inspection.
Dismissing the allegation that the army has resorted to solitary confinement of suspects, Col Piyawat said that there are no prison cells in the camp but only rooms for each detainee. The private roomis equipped with a bathroom, a wardrobe and an electric fan and the room is not locked, he added.
The colonel also denied that torture was applied to extract information from the detainees. He said those who complained that they were tortured were mostly those whom the authorities had strong evidences of their wrongdoings. He demanded that the National Human Rights Commission investigate local NGOs for their alleged distortion of facts against the army.
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Captions :
1 Lt-Gen Pichet Visaijon
2 The interrogation centre at Inkhayuth Boriharn army barrack
3 Col Piyawat Narkvanich