Thailand Widespread Use of Torture - Amnesty 2002
Release
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/ASA390052002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\THAILAND
Original Report
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/asa390032002
Press Release
AI-index: ASA 39/005/2002 11/06/2002
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
Thailand: Widespread use of torture - from policing to
prisons
In a new report issued today, Widespread abuses in the administration of justice, Amnesty
International said that police and army officers use torture to extract confessions, or to punish and
humiliate suspects.
"Torture should not be accepted as normal behaviour - it is a gross abuse of power. The government
must do much more to publicly condemn it, and to investigate those responsible and hold them to
account," Amnesty International said.
The police and army use torture and ill-treatment in detention, shortly after arrest, during transport of
detainees, and in military drug treatment camps. Poor Thai people, migrants, and members of ethnic
groups are particularly vulnerable.
On 7 December 2001, two Akha tribesmen, Ateh Amoh and Ajuuh Cheh Cuuh Gooh, were seized by
soldiers from their village in Chiang Rai Province, and taken to the 11th Cavalry military camp in order to
be treated in an opium detoxification program. They were pushed into a small hole in the ground where
three other Akha men were already detained.
Soldiers then poured water, coal and ashes on the five men and left them there until the evening when
they were blindfolded and taken separately for questioning. One man escaped, and as punishment
Ateh Amoh and Ajuuh Cheh Cuuh Gooh were severely beaten. Ajuuh Che Cuuh Gooh died from the
beatings on 9 December and Ateh Amoh spent six days in the hospital being treated for a ruptured
lung and other injuries. Amnesty International calls on the government to expedite an effective
investigation and bring those found responsible to justice.
In August 2000, a man belonging to the Karen ethnic minority was tortured by the police during
interrogation for the murder of British backpacker Kirsty Jones. He was blindfolded and stripped naked,
and beaten by police, who also stood on his stomach. They demanded that he confess to the murder
while threatening to kill him. He refused to do so and was dumped on the side of the road.
Torture and ill-treatment in prisons is commonly carried out by "trusties" (prisoners who are given
privileges by prison guards) as a form of punishment for breaking prison regulations. However prison
guards are also directly involved.
Sinchai Saslee, a Thai prisoner in his mid-30s was beaten to death on 17 May 2001, apparently for
attempting to nail a water bottle to his cell wall. He and a guard began arguing about it when several
guards began beating him with batons, and kicking and punching him. Eventually he lost
consciousness.
The Amnesty International report also highlights harsh conditions in prisons, including extreme
over-crowding, lack of adequate food, sanitation, and medical care. Over-crowding has been an
escalating problem, as the authorities arrest more and more people on drugs charges. While Amnesty
International acknowledges the severity of the drug problem in Thailand, it also calls for adequate
provisions to be made for an increased prison population.
In addtion, prisons have a high rate of deaths in custody from diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis
and many prisoners receive no medical treatment at all. Continuous shackling in heavy leg irons of
death row prisoners is routine, even though it is not permitted under Thai law. Prisons are chronically
understaffed, partly because prison guards are so poorly paid.
"The Royal Thai government needs to ensure that the prison system is adequately funded in order to
improve conditions. Prison staff and other law enforcement officials also need to be trained in
international human rights standards," Amnesty International said.
Amnesty International's report makes several recommendations to the Royal Thai government,
including:
It should issue clear instructions to all officials not to torture or ill-treat anyone in their
custody.
All reports of torture should be impartially investigated and those found responsible
brought to justice.
The government should take immediate steps to improve prison conditions, including
abolishing in practice the use of prolonged shackling, and providing adequate space,
medical care, and food for prisoners.
The corrections department should ensure that the "trustie" system is no longer used.
For a copy of the report visit: http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/asa390032002
Video:
AI's Donna Guest on the release of the report, "Widespread abuses in the administration of justice"
Public Document
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Original Report
AI-index: ASA 39/003/2002 11/06/2002
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THAILAND
Widespread abuses in the administration of justice
I. INTRODUCTION
The practice of torture, and the existence of conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment have persisted in Thai detention centres and prisons for many years.
Torture has been used by the police as a means to extract confessions from criminal suspects
during pre-trial detention in both police stations and in other places after arrest. Torture of
convicted criminals by prison guards and ''trusties''(1) also occurs, particularly of prisoners from
Myanmar or Africa, although Thai nationals are also at risk. Punishment for infraction of prison
rules appears to be the main reason for these incidents of torture in prisons.
In addition continuous shackling in heavy leg irons, particularly of those prisoners on death
row in Bang Kwang Maximum Security Prison, is routine, although it is not permitted under
Thai law. Other problems relating to conditions of imprisonment include extreme over-crowding
and lack of adequate food, sanitation, and medical care. The Royal Thai Government does
not provide sufficient funding to the prison system, which contributes to poor conditions.
Torture and ill-treatment during and shortly after arrest are ongoing concerns to Amnesty
International. Abuses take place in various locations, including police stations, at the site of
the arrest, and in unofficial detention centres. Criminal suspects who are poor or members of
ethnic minorities appear to be most at risk. Refugees who are outside of camps and migrant
workers arrested for ''illegal immigration'' are equally vulnerable. Agents of such practices
include the police and the army.
The police, prison guards, and the army all appear to enjoy a degree of impunity in regard to
their treatment of people in custody, including people who have just been arrested, those in
pre-trial detention, and those in the prison system. Treatment in police lockups and prisons is
largely unmonitored and unreported by either local or international organizations, which also
contributes to a climate of impunity. Nevertheless Amnesty International has collected recent
and consistent information about torture and ill-treatment from a variety of reliable sources.
Several weaknesses in the Thai criminal justice system exacerbate both the persistence of
torture and poor prison conditions. Prison officials are paid very low salaries, which
discourages people from taking jobs in the prison system, causing prisons to be chronically
understaffed. Low salaries also contribute to bribery of prison guards by prisoners and the
abuse of power by a demotivated staff. The use of ''trusties'', which contravenes international
human rights standards, also permits abuses of prisoners to occur. Trusties are allowed, even
sometimes encouraged, to beat prisoners as a punishment for breaking prison rules. Finally,
there appears to be a weak chain of command in the prison system, so that the chief of a
prison block or building is not in practice accountable to the prison governor.
Currently the Corrections Department is under the control of the Ministry of the Interior,
although the government plans to shift it to the Ministry of Justice. The prison system is
administered by the Corrections Department. The Royal Thai Police was moved several years
ago from the Ministry of the Interior to the Prime Minister's Office. Thailand is somewhat
unusual in having a highly centralized national police department rather than provincial and
city police forces. Immigration Detention Centres, where illegal immigrants, including
asylum-seekers,(2) are routinely detained, are under the control of the Royal Thai Police.
Amnesty International has raised these issues on several occasions with the Royal Thai
Government, most recently during a visit to the Kingdom during February and March 2002.
The organization has also documented the practice of torture and ill-treatment, particularly in
the report Thailand: A human rights review based on the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (AI Index ASA 39/01/99), which was published in January 1999. During visits
to the country Amnesty International delegates have discussed problems of torture,
overcrowding and shackling with the Corrections Department, who have stated that budgetary
problems are a contributing factor, while reiterating that shackling is against Thai law.
Nevertheless continuous shackling of prisoners still occurs, in spite of prohibitions in
international human rights standards.
On 14 February 2002 high ranking Corrections Department officials escorted an Amnesty
International delegation on a visit to Lard Yao Women's Prison, Nonthaburi Province, on the
outskirts of Bangkok. On that day the Director of the Corrections Department opened a
childcare centre for female inmates' children on the prison grounds. Officials reported that
83% of the 6,056 women incarcerated there were convicted of drugs offences. Only 218
guards worked at this prison, which is a ratio of 27 prisoners to one guard. Corrections officials
acknowledged problems of overcrowding and the dangerously high prisoner to guard ratio. As
is the case with most prisons in the Kingdom, severe overcrowding is due to a very high level
of arrest and imprisonment of drug users and traffickers.
The delegation toured the prison kitchens, a creche, workplaces, bathrooms, clinics,
classrooms, and cells, which were clean and neat. In the face of severe budgetary restrictions,
prison staff, including a respected female governor, and the Corrections Department are doing
what they can to improve conditions. Amnesty International welcomes their efforts, and urges
the Royal Thai Government to ensure that adequate funds reach prisons in order to make
much needed improvements in conditions there.
II. TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN CUSTODY
Detainees in police or military custody are sometimes subjected to torture and ill-treatment,
usually in the form of kicks and punches or beatings with batons. Poor Thai people, migrants
from neighbouring countries, members of ethnic minorities, all whom are marginalised in
Thailand, are particularly vulnerable. Some of these people, who have been arrested on
criminal charges, are tortured to extract a confession, but others have been tortured or
ill-treated as a punishment for alleged drugs possession or simply because they were in the
country illegally.
Amnesty International is concerned about torture and ill-treatment by the police and the army
in various forms of detention, including shortly after arrest, during transport, and in military
drug treatment camps. It calls on both the Royal Thai Police, including immigration police, and
the Royal Thai Army to give clear instructions to all police and army personnel not to ill-treat or
torture persons in their custody. Both organizations should also initiate immediate and
impartial investigations into reports of such treatment by their personnel.
Tribal people
In the last year there have been increased reports of ill-treatment and killings by the
authorities of tribal people, who live mostly in northern Thailand. So-called hill tribe people,
numbering slightly less than one million, live in the mountains of Thailand and include the
Akha, Lahu, Lisu, and Karen groups. Many of them do not have Thai citizenship and face
discrimination with regard to education, health care, and other basic rights. At the same time
they are exploited as a tourist attraction while often being accused by the authorities and
others of destroying the environment(3) and using opium and other illegal drugs.
On 7 December 2001, two Akha tribesmen, Ateh Amoh, aged 34, and Ajuuh Cheh Cuuh
Gooh, aged 42, were forcibly taken by soldiers from their village of Ban Mae Moh, Mae Fah
Luang district, Chiang Rai Province, to the 11th Cavalry military camp in order to be treated in
a opium detoxification program. According to Ateh Amoh, they were pushed into a small hole
in the ground where three other Akha men were already detained. Soldiers then poured
water, coal and ashes on the five men and left them there until the evening when they were
blindfolded and taken separately for questioning. Mr. Ateh said:
''The soldiers never talked about the opium detoxification programme. They
tried to force me to admit the drug charges by electric shocks to my ears,
kicking my face and body, punching me hard in the body and hitting me with
a gun handle on my head and chest several times...When they felt that I
could no longer stand it because my body was soaked with blood, they took
me back to the hole and left me there for a night and a day.''(4)
One man escaped, and as a punishment Ateh Amoh and Ajuuh Cheh Cuuh Gooh were
severely beaten again. Ajuuh Che Cuuh Gooh died from the beatings on 9 December and
Ateh Amoh spent six days in the hospital being treated for a ruptured lung and other injuries.
Army Commander-in-Chief General Sarayud Chulanont acknowledged that some soldiers
used ''violent means'', including detaining drug addicts in pits, in treating tribal people alleged
to be drug users or traffickers in the Thai-Myanmar border area. He said that investigations
would be conducted and those found guilty would be transferred and punished.(5) Other army
officers claimed that Ajuuh Cheh Cuuh Gooh died from the effects of opium addiction. In
provinces bordering Myanmar there are a higher number of army units deployed as well as
immigration police and Border Patrol Police. Constant drug trafficking and occasional
skirmishes between various armed opposition groups and the Myanmar army affect these
border provinces, some of whom are quite rural, on a regular basis.
In another case Apha Wurh Zur, a 56-year-old Ahka man from Ban Mae Sam Lep village, Mae
Fah Luang district, Chiang Rai Province, was reportedly beaten to death by police on 17 May
2001 after being accused of drugs trafficking. He was believed to have been killed by a blow
to the back of his head. On 24 January 2002 Police Major General Wut Withitanont, Chiang
Rai provincial police chief, promised to investigate the incident. He urged the families of the
victims to file complaints and said that those found responsible would face criminal and
disciplinary charges.(6)
A man belonging to the Karen ethnic minority was tortured by the Thai police during
interrogation for the murder of a foreigner. After Kirsty Jones, a young British national, was
found murdered in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, in August 2000, a Thai tour guide from the
Karen ethnic minority was arrested. He had taken a group of tourists, including Kirsty Jones,
on a mountain trek that month. On 17 August he was arrested by police on the outskirts of
Chiang Mai and taken to an unknown location which he thought to be a hotel room. He stated
that he was then blindfolded and stripped naked, and beaten by police, who also stood on
his stomach. They demanded that he confess to the murder while threatening to kill him. He
refused to do so, and was eventually driven back to Chiang Mai and dumped on the side of
the road. He later said that ''They [the police] picked on me because as a Karen I am a
second class citizen.''(7)
Both Thai and international observers have stated that many murders in Thailand are solved
by confession, which are sometimes extracted through the use of torture. Thai police generally
receive very little training in professional investigation skills. Forced confessions are prohibited
under Article 243 of the 1997 Thai Constitution, which states, inter alia: ''Testimonies of an
individual which is caused by persuasion, promise, intimidation, deception, torture, force or
misconduct shall not be considered evidence.''
Refugees
Refugees are also vulnerable to torture, which includes acts of rape, and to other ill-treatment.
Over 125,000 members of the Karen and Karenni ethnic minorities live in Thai camps along
the Myanmar border and over 100,000 Shan refugees are also in Thailand, but are not
permitted to establish camps. The Royal Thai Government is not a state party to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, nor to its 1967 Protocol, and there is no legal
mechanism for someone to seek asylum. Nevertheless over the last five decades the
government has permitted hundreds of thousands of refugees from neighbouring countries to
seek refuge in Thailand as a country of first asylum.
However refugees have sometimes faced abuse by members of the Royal Thai Police and
Royal Thai Army. According to reports, on 17 March 2002 four Karenni female refugees from
Camp 2 near Mae Hong Son, northern Thailand, left their camp in order to gather vegetables.
They encountered a group of Thai soldiers, three of whom attempted to seize them. Two of
the soldiers seized a 20-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl. One of them took the women's
vegetable knife, threatened to cut the 20-year-old's throat with it and then raped her twice.
She and the other two women, who had fled into the forest, eventually managed to escape
and return to their camp after unsuccessfully searching for the 15-year-old girl. The latter
refugee was raped by two of the soldiers, but finally made her way back to the camp.
The three soldiers were transferred shortly after the incident, but it is not known if an
investigation is taking place or whether the soldiers will be brought to justice. Amnesty
International urges the Thai Government to initiate a prompt, effective, impartial, and
independent investigation and to bring those found responsible to justice. Members of the
police and security forces who have been found to have committed human rights violations
are sometimes transferred to inactive posts, but rarely, if ever, do they stand trial.
Migrant workers
The Royal Thai police frequently arrests migrant workers from Myanmar, who number in the
hundreds of thousands, for ''illegal immigration''. They are detained in immigration detention
centres, also run by the immigration police, and then sent to the Thai-Myanmar border.(8)
Although conditions at the main Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok have
markedly improved in the last two years, conditions in IDC's in some other areas, particularly
Chonburi province, remain poor.
On 31 August 2000 some 1,000 Burmese migrant workers were reportedly arrested after the
police raided a factory in Mae Sot, a town on the Myanmar border in Thailand's Tak Province,
and were taken to Mae Tao Immigration Detention Centre. Upon arrest several of the men
were beaten by police, and two of them sustained serious injuries for which they were
receiving medical treatment after their release. On 2 September 24 others were sent in a boat
across the Moei River, which marks the boundary with Myanmar. After some of them shouted
at the authorities in protest, they were beaten by the immigration police. Kyaw Min, a
24-year-old man from Dagon satellite town near Yangon, Myanmar, was kicked and hit in the
head. As a result he fell into the river and drowned. According to reports, his body was found
by the Myanmar authorities and he was given a funeral service. The family has received no
compensation for his death from the Thai Government, nor was any investigation known to
have taken place.
At the same factory in Mae Sot some 2000 Burmese workers were dismissed in December
2000 after a pay dispute with the new management. On 4 January 2001 approximately 100
police and immigration authorities surrounded areas where the dismissed workers continued to
hide after being forced off factory property where they had been living. According to reports,
police shot into the air and arrested some 120 workers who were then taken to the local police
station. Those who could not pay bribes were detained, some of whom were then sent to a
detention centre where they were randomly beaten before being repatriated to Myanmar.
Torture of an ethnic Thai man during pre-trial detention
Amnesty International raised another case of torture at the hands of the police in a letter to
the then Director General of the Royal Thai Police on 28 June 2000; however the
organization has never received a reply. According to detailed confidential.....(document exceeds length of page)
