Emotional reunion at Bang Kwang prison
It was indeed a happy and emotional reunion for several Muslim families, including of Abdul Roning, at Bang Kwang maximum security prison in Nonthaburi on July 1.
Abdul Roning is serving life imprisonment at the prison after he was convicted by the Supreme Court for involvement in militant attacks of checkpoints and police stations in Pattani’s Mae Lan district on April 28, 2004 in connection with the Krue Se incident. He is one of dozens of alleged militants being held in custody at the prison while on trial or after they were convicted by the court.
"I really want this programme to be held twice a year so that I will be able to see my wife and daughter," said Abdul Roning in reference to the family reunion programme organized by the Southern
Border Provinces Administration Centre to allow the detained militants to meet with their loved ones. About 200 people joined the programme.
"I am very happy to see dad – so happy that I cried. I want this programme to be held every year because we ourselves cannot afford the expenses to travel all the way from home to see my dad at the prison here,” said Abdul Roning’s daughter. “Thanks a lot for allowing me and mum to meet with my dad," she added.
His wife, Mrs Leeteenor, said that said that ever since her husband was arrested in 2004 she managed to pay only 7-8 visits on him with the help of various charity and civil society organizations. She said that she did not hesitate when SBPAC initiated the programme and arranged the visit to Bang Kwang prison in Nonthaburi.
"It amounts to the return of justice to my family and several other families," she said, adding that she hoped her husband and the other detainees would be moved from Bang Kwang to prisons in the deep South so that they would be able to visit their loved ones.
During the trial, Abdul Roning told the court that he was not involved in the violence but was hired by someone to drive a group of rubber tappers to Mae Lan district of Pattani on April 28, 2004. But the court dismissed his claim and sentenced him to death before the Supreme Court commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.
The SBPAC has been coordinating with the Corrections Department to relocate the detainees to prisons in the deep South. 57 detainees are eligible to be relocated whereas six others will be moved to a prison in Songkhla because their cases have already been finalized.
SBPAC secretary-general Thawee Sodsong said that the reunion programme would be the last because most of the detainees would be relocated back to their hometowns to serve their terms before the start of the Ramadan fasting month.
He described the reunion programme as part of the rehabilitation plan to help the detainees on security-related charges and their families. He disclosed that he had proposed the Justice Ministry to include detainees or prisoners serving life imprisonment or jailterms exceeding 30 years in the relocation plan so that they would be moved from Bang Kwang to prisons in the far South to be near their families.
Mrs Kamnoeng Charnlekha, representing the women’s network in the deep South, said that most detainees wanted to be able to pray on Fridays. And during the Ramadan, she said that families wanted the Corrections Department to allow food to be sent to the detainees.
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Caption : Bangkwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi Province.