Posted on 10/26/2004 10:30:35 AM PDT by Destro
Thailand Says 78 Muslims Died in Army Custody
Tue Oct 26, 2004 11:05 AM ET
By Noppawan Bunluesilp
Thai soldiers apprehend hundreds of men after demonstrators clashed with police outside the Tak Bai police station in Thailand's Narathiwat Province, nearly 1150 km (715 miles) south of Bangkok, October 25, 2004. Almost 80 people died of suffocation in southern Thailand while being taken to detention at a military barracks after a violent demonstration, a justice ministry official said on Oct. 26. Photo by Stringer/Thailand/Reuters
PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) - Almost 80 Muslims died in military custody in southern Thailand, suffocated while being transported in trucks to an army barracks after a violent demonstration, officials said on Tuesday.
Only six people were previously believed to have been killed when troops and police opened fire to quell a riot outside a police station on Monday in the restive, Muslim-majority region.
The huge leap in the toll, and the manner of the deaths, are bound to add to tensions. One local Muslim scholar accused authorities of gassing the victims and called it a massacre.
Justice ministry official Manit Sutaporn said 78 people died of suffocation, making it the bloodiest day in the Buddhist kingdom since April 28, when troops and police shot dead 106 machete-wielding militants, also in the south.
"We found no wounds on their bodies," Manit told a news conference in Pattani, a provincial capital 1,100 km (700 miles) south of Bangkok, of the latest deaths.
He said the victims were among hundreds of Muslim men arrested after a 1,500-strong rally was dispersed outside a police station in Narathiwat province.
The deaths appear to have occurred while the detainees, who were stripped semi-naked after their arrest, were being taken by truck to barracks in Pattani, a journey that took five hours, Major-General Sinchai Nutsatit told the news conference.
"We have never seen this sort of torture in Thai history before. It is just like gassing them," said Ahmad Somboon Bualuang, an Islamic scholar from the Prince of Songkhla University in Pattani province. "It is a deliberate massacre. They rounded protesters up and crammed them into closed trucks. They died from lack of air."
Troops and police fired live rounds, as well as water cannon and teargas, to end a six-hour standoff with the crowd, which was demanding the release of six villagers accused of handing over government-issue shotguns to Islamic militants.
Shots were also fired from the crowd, officials said, adding that some of the protesters were under the influence of drugs or were frail because of fasting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Six protesters died at the scene, and 20 people were injured.
"This is typical," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said when asked about reports of scores dead. "It's about bodies made weak from fasting. Nobody hurt them." "DELIBERATE MASSACRE"
Human rights groups said the deaths in military custody raised alarming questions in the self-styled "Land of Smiles," where campaigners say basic civil rights are under threat from an administration increasingly known for intolerance.
One of Thailand's 11 National Human Rights Commissioners appeared less concerned.
"The government did not over-react. It has done the right thing," Pradit Charoenthaitawee told Reuters.
"These people are rebels, separatists with some help from foreigners. This part of the country has belonged to Thailand since our grandparents. We can't allow separation."
One reporter said he saw troops round up the protesters after 15 minutes of gunfire, forcing men to strip to the waist and lie face down with their hands behind their backs.
The soldiers led about 20 women and children in the crowd into the police station, and roped the men outside together. The reporter said some soldiers picked out suspected ringleaders and beat them with rifles and batons.
Soon after, the commander of the troops arrived and reporters were told to leave. They left before the protesters were herded onto trucks.
Security officials justified the use of force, saying they feared the police compound would be attacked.
Police also said they recovered seven automatic rifles, a pistol, four hand grenades and some machetes either dropped by demonstrators or thrown into a nearby river.
Security outposts have been common targets in the 10-month unrest that looks increasingly like a revived Muslim separatist movement in the deep south.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces are home to the majority of the country's Muslims, who make up 10 percent of the mainly Buddhist nation's 63 million people.
At least 440 people, including Buddhists and Muslims, have been killed in the unrest, which started in January when guerrillas raided an army barracks, killed four soldiers and made off with around 300 assault rifles.
With an election looming, Thaksin is under increasing pressure to resolve the trouble, which analysts fear could create a fertile breeding ground for militant networks such as Southeast Asia's al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah.
"It's all building up to the point where we're in serious danger of what is so far a rather serious law and order issue turning into a broader insurgency," said Steve Wilford of Singapore-based Control Risks Group.
Despite a curfew imposed in eight districts of Narathiwat province after Monday's unrest, militants set fire to a school building and burned tires on several highways.
"I AM"
Fine. Islam is an ideology of bigotry, intolerence, cruelty and murder. You should be ashamed to be associated with it.
How can 'queer Muslim' leaders guide the Ummah?? I think it is a very serious issue and feel that something should be done to help the misguided. ShukranAnswer: It is really shocking that people of this type are being given positions of honour in the Muslim community. This is indeed a sign of Qiyamah. These people are astray and will lead others stray. It is the responsibility of the members of these communities to ensure that these people are removed from their posts.
Homosexuality and lesbianism are completely forbidden in Islam.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Ml. Husain Kadodia
STUDENT: Darul IftaCHECKED & APPROVED: Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Your question is a sensitive one.It does not behove one person to issue a ruling on such a matter. It require one to exercise precaution and have broad consultation before arriving at a conclusion.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
What's the matter? They couldn't say "NO! Islam is a religion of peace. Violence is not the answer."???
I was shocked recently when I heard of the news that an American was beheaded by some Iraqis and this was shown on video to the whole world!! I just couldn`t digest it that a live human was slaughtered like an animal in front of the whole world!! This would certainly damage the already deterioting position of Islam in front of the west.It reminded me of a similar case of Daniel Pearl`s murder in Pakistan about 2 years back. This is really disturbing to see Muslims doing such acts of violence. I agree that the people of Iraq are also suffering at the hands of the invaders and the resistance they are lodging against them is legitimate but I don`t think that Islam permits this kind of violence. What do you say about it.
Answer: The incident that you have written about is indeed shocking. However, it is extremely important that we do not lose hold of the bigger picture because of our emotions. Doesn’t it seem strange that throughout the Iraqi war and so many months of oppressive occupation, it is only when the US army has come under fire from the entire world because of their gross indifference to humanity that only now the Iraqis decide to publicly execute an American?
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Videotaping the decaptition of prisoners is found around the world among muslim terrorists. This Imam did not denounce the practice. Did we "ask for it"?
This mob was protesting for the release of men who were charged with supplying stolen guns to terrorists. That would make them supporters of terrorism.
If they believed in man's law, they would allow the courts to determine if these men were guilty or innocent. Instead they wanted "democracy" (mob rule).
P.S. We bombed civilians in Nazi Germany as well as goosestepping soldiers. Even when their surrendered their uniforms after WWII, there were still "werewolves" physicially fighting the lost war in Germany for years.
Indietime
Since Oct 26, 2004
Your time here will be short, troll.
I'd like some of this action. $100.00?
No, it's called fighting back. Self preservation, self defense, you know.
Bullcrap. If I Don't hate you, how will I be able to shoot you if it becomes necessary? Not you necessarily, but trying to fight a war without hate is a war you are bound to lose.
In WWII we did a lot of things to engender hatred of the Japanese in order to be able to kill them dispassionately.
I could make a comment on some of the replys...but I'd get banned, so I'll just say
"It is easy to fly into a passion--anybody can do that--but to be angry with the right person and at the right time and with the right object and in the right way--that is not easy, and it is not everyone who can do it."
-- Aristotle
i seen this on cnn yesterday, funny how they fail to mention they are muzzies.
Do you denounce all of the beheadings perpetrated by your brethren?
Yes or No
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