Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BANGKOK7421
2004-10-27 11:35:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bangkok
Cable title:  

RTG ADMITS DEATHS OF DETAINEES TAKEN AFTER

Tags:  PGOV ASEC PHUM PREL PTER TH 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 007421 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014
TAGS: PGOV ASEC PHUM PREL PTER TH
SUBJECT: RTG ADMITS DEATHS OF DETAINEES TAKEN AFTER
DEMONSTRATIONS IN NARATHIWAT

REF: BANGKOK 7391

Classified By: Political Counselor Robert Clarke. Reason: 1.4 (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 007421

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2014
TAGS: PGOV ASEC PHUM PREL PTER TH
SUBJECT: RTG ADMITS DEATHS OF DETAINEES TAKEN AFTER
DEMONSTRATIONS IN NARATHIWAT

REF: BANGKOK 7391

Classified By: Political Counselor Robert Clarke. Reason: 1.4 (d)


1. (U) Summary: Late on October 26, Royal Thai Government
(RTG) officials confirmed that 78 demonstrators (of over 1300
detainees) taken in custody after an October 25 clash with
security units at Tak Bai Police Station in Narathiwat
province died "in transit" to an army camp in Pattani. These
deaths brought the death toll from Tak Bai incident to 84
when added to the six demonstrators killed by gunfire at the
scene of the clash. According to the RTG report, about 80
percent of the 78 victims died of asphyxia and the remainder
from convulsions. Photographs taken at the site in
Narathiwat where the demonstrators were loaded onto army
trucks show them being laid on the truck beds and apparently
piled several stacks high on top of each other. Some Muslim
and other observers have warned that the deaths of the
detainees will lead to revenge and deepening violence in the
South. On October 27, Thaksin announced to the Thai Senate
that he will convene an inquiry into the death of the 78
Muslim protesters who were rounded up by police and military
troops and crammed into trucks. One unsubstantiated account
claims that some of the detainees died from beatings suffered
en route to Pattani. End Summary.

RTG OFFICIALS' GRISLY REPORT ON TAK BAI INCIDENT AFTERMATH


2. (U) At a hastily arranged press conference in Pattani
late on October 26, Dr. Pornthip Rojansunant, Deputy Director
of the Justice Ministry,s Central Institute of Forensic
Science (and the country,s most respected pathologist),
Deputy Permanent Minister of Justice Manit Suthaporn and
Major General Sinchai Nutsathit, Deputy Commander of the
Fourth Army Region, announced that 78 detainees had died
while being transported from Tak Bai Police Station in
Narathiwat to Pattani, a distance of about 120 kilometers,
the previous day. On the morning of October 27, in an
interview with Thai Channel 11, Dr. Pornthip repeated her
initial explanation of the causes of death by stating that

cursory autopsies indicated that about "80 percent" of the 78
victims died of asphyxia or suffocation. The remaining 20
percent, she said, appeared to have died from "convulsions."
Dr. Porthip also released frontal facial photos of the dead,
which showed multiple bruises. She stated that many of the
dead had twisted limbs and some had broken spines, indicating
they were crushed by the overcrowded conditions.


3. (SBU) Porntip said she had not conducted an
investigation of the trucks used (reported to be between 20
and 25 to transport 1300 detainees). Nor had she
investigated the procedures of detention and transport
employed by the Police and Army. However, pictures in the
press taken from video footage show that the detainees, with
their shirts removed and their hands tied behind them, had
been piled face down in the trucks and stacked in layers of
three. The military trucks are designed to transport
approximately 20 individuals normally seated in two rows on
either die of the flatbed trucks. During the press
conference, officials did not state the time it took to
transfer the detainees from Tak Bai to Camp Ingkhayyut
Borihan in Pattani by this method during the evening of
October 25. However, several sources indicate that the
transit time was between 4-5 hours along a 4-lane highway for
a trip that normally takes about 90 minutes.

THAKSIN ANNOUNCES INVESTIGATION


4. (U) Prime Minister Thaksin flew to Narathiwat on October
25 and praised the security forces for their actions in
controlling the demonstration at the police station. He said
that the government had "run out of patience against elements
instigating violence. He added that security forces should
forego the use of weapons in managing protests . He
reportedly said the security units at Tak Bai had taken the
correct step in firing their weapons in the air. "They did a
great job. They have my praise." These comments were made
before revelation of the detainee transport deaths. On
October 26, on initially hearing of the additional 78
victims, he reportedly said, "It's about bodies make weak
from fasting. Nobody hurt them." On October 27, Thaksin
announced to the Thai Senate that he will convene an inquiry
into the death of the 78 Muslim protesters who were rounded
up by troops and crammed into trucks. Thaksin told the
Senate that his government will set up a committee to
investigate why the detainees were apparently crowded into
trucks until they couldn't breathe. Thaksin told the
legislators that "We feel sorry. We tried to take care of
them well. They should not have died. There will be a
committee to investigate so that we can draw lessons from
this."


5. (C) A visiting NGO representative who met with Thaksin on
October 27 said that the Prime Minister had admitted that
"mistakes" had been made in the joint police-military
transport operation. He claimed that the phases that police
had used to break up the demonstration (negotiations, then
water hoses, and only then force) had been taken under his
instructions. On October 27, MFA Americas Director General
Nongnuth, echoing Thaksin's earlier reaction, told us that
the security forces had not realized how weak the detainees
were from fasting, and in addition had used the wrong type of
tarpaulin, a less air-permeable type, to cover the transport
trucks en route.

CONFUSION OVER ANNOUNCEMENT OF MASS DEATHS


6. (C) On October 27, Dr. Pornthip told the Embassy that the
hastily arranged press conference on Tuesday, October 26 at
C.S. Pattani Hotel was actually prepared for General Sirichai
Tunyasiri, Director of the Southern Border Provinces
Peace-Keeping Command (SBPPC) to give an official account of
the event to the public. But Sirichai didn,t show up at the
scheduled time and, therefore, she and her superior, Deputy
Permanent Secretary for Justice, Manit Suthaporn, and Fourth
Army Deputy Commander Maj. Gen. Sinchai Nutsathit had to
conduct the press conference themselves. A source in the
Thai military told the Embassy that Prime Minister Thaksin
wanted the medical team, not the military commander or the
Director of SBPPC, to disclose this information to the
public. Mr. Anusart Suwanmongkol, owner of the C.S. hotel,
observed that it was the first time that this kind of press
conference (normally held inside the nearby
Ingkayutthaboriharn military camp) was staged at a private
hotel.


7. (C) According to Dr. Pornthip, she examined the bodies of
the detainees on Tuesday, October 26, at 8.00 a.m. at Pattani
Provincial Hospital, confirmed the total number of 78 deaths
(not including 6 killed at the scene of the demonstration),
and had reached her conclusions about asphyxiation being the
primary cause of death. She also told us that although all
the bodies had bruising type wounds, there were no
penetrative or gunshot type wounds. As in her public
interview, she refused to comment on details surrounding the
loading and transporting of the 1,300 arrested demonstrators
or the conditions in the trucks. She maintained her version
that she only came to the hospital to examine the bodies on
the morning following the day of the incident. She stressed
that what she found upon arriving at the hospital were just
the dead bodies of 78 protesters and was thus not in a
position to comment on any circumstantial evidence or other
details.


8. (C) Poloff met October 27 with the news editor of the
English-language daily, the Nation. She told him that one
source had claimed that the first truckload of detainees,
reportedly filled with those identified specifically as
"trouble-makers," had arrived at the Ingkayutthaboriharn
military camp with its passengers either dead or dying from
beatings. This story has not been otherwise confirmed.

REACTIONS FROM MUSLIM AND HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS


9. (U) Muslim groups and human rights organizations in
Thailand have reacted strongly to this tragedy. Abdullahman
Abdulsomat, Chairman of Narathiwat provincial Islamic
committee described the government actions at Tak Bai as
"totally insane... Certainly, this will escalate further and
who knows what will happen next." Nideh Waba, Chairman of a
private religious schools association, reportedly warned that
"Those militants... will fight back harshly with suicide
attacks -- they (the government) have to kill thousands of us
or hundreds of thousands of our brothers here to prevent us
from standing up against this massacre. This is totally
unacceptable and the prime minister must take direct
responsibility for the consequences," Even more ominously
the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) published
on its Thai language website a threat of revenge from the
"Suicide Unit of Ramadan Sharif" for the incident and a
threat against the Senior Muslim Representative in Thailand,
the Chula Ratchamontri, if he makes any statements in support
of the RTG's action at Tak Bai. The PULO website features
photos of the incident, mainly featuring handcuffed young
Muslim males lying on the ground at the Tak Bai site with
Thai troops and police standing over them. Similar footage
was shown for a few hours on government owned television
stations on October 26.


10. (U) Thai National Human Rights Commissioner Jaran
Ditthapichai told journalists October 27 that the Commission
will send a letter to PM Thaksin to express its strong
concerns over the deaths and to demand that the government
implement appropriate measures to solve the Southern problem
carefully and peacefully.

11. (U) On October 27, local Thai NGOs circulated material
from the HongKong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
which charged that "this is another mass killing committed by
Thai security forces in southern provinces. Before this
event, the government's official figures showed that more
than 400 people had been killed since this January. The AHRC
is gravely concerned that the Thai authorities' repeated use
of violence against civilians badly affects the rule of law
in the country, and further encourages impunity of the police
and soldiers to get involved in further violence." This
statement was accompanied by an appeal to write PM Thaksin
and other RTG ministers in protest.

ESCALATING TENSIONS


12. (C) Comment: PM Thaksin has now promised to
investigate the deaths of the detainees, but he does not seem
to be moving quickly enough--or sympathetically enough--to
avert widespread Thai Muslim anger over the Tak Bai incident.
Many observers fear that a lasting backlash is inevitable
and will provoke further security clampdowns that generate
further violence in the South. Some fear a watershed
hardening of Muslim attitudes that will attract outside
radical groups that have apparently not been involved in
Southern violence to date. It remains to be seen how the
majority of Thai non-Muslims will react, but many of our
contacts have expressed shock at the tragedy and sympathy for
fellow citizens who died after participating in a
demonstration entirely within their constitutional rights.
End Comment.



JOHNSON