WHERE ARE THEY NOW? TWO THAI MUSLIMS CONVICTED IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 002540 SIPDIS NSC FOR WALTON E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL PTER TH SUBJECT: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? TWO THAI MUSLIMS CONVICTED IN CAMBODIA ON TERRORISM CHARGES IN 2003 BACK HOME IN YALA REF: 08 PHNOM PENH 968 (WHATEVER HAPPENED TO UMM AL-QURA?) BANGKOK 00002540 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE, REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Two ethnic Malay Muslim Thai nationals sentenced to life in prison in Cambodian court in 2003 after being convicted of providing material support to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) returned quietly to Thailand in July following negotiations between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. Both men are living freely back in their previous residences in Yala Province, teaching in the same private Islamic school at which they taught prior to going to Cambodia. Thai authorities have told us there are no grounds for charging them for any offenses in Thailand. ¶2. (C) Comment: The return and subsequent release of the only two Thais convicted anywhere on terrorism-related charges or with a connection to Jemaah Islamiyah has garnered little attention in Thailand -- including the Muslim majority South. The Malay Muslim separatist insurgency has distinctly local flavor, and to our knowledge, insurgents have never cited the conviction and incarceration of the two locals as a grievance or cause for their violence. The release of the two Thai follows a recent regional pattern in which those detained for association with JI have been released after years of incarceration. The current governor of Yala, Grisada Boonrach, confirmed to us in mid-August that he had met the two teachers after their return, and that he expected them to keep a low profile and resume their lives as religious teachers at their old school. End summary and comment. Wives Spearhead Appeals After Conviction in Cambodia -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Abdul Azi Haji Chiming and Muhammad Yalaludin Mading, Malay Muslim teachers from Yala province, southern Thailand, were teaching religion at the Um Al Qura Islamic school in Phnom Penh, in Cambodia when they were arrested in 2003 on charges of assisting Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) member Riduan Isamudding, also known as Hambali, and plotting terrorist attacks against foreign targets. A panel of five judges in a closed court proceeding convicted Chiming, Mading, and a Cambodian defendant in December 2004, sentencing them life imprisonment. Hambali and two others were tried in absentia and also given life sentences. At the time, human rights groups based in Thailand criticized the closed court proceedings and alleged the convictions were based only on evidence provided by the United States. In March 2008, the Cambodian Supreme Court upheld the life sentences imposed by the lower court (REFTEL). ¶4. (C) After the Supreme Court ruling, Chiming and Mading's wives publicly stated their intent to appeal for their husbands' extradition to Thailand, after which they said they would petition for a royal pardon. The wives' efforts included written pleas for assistance to our Embassy in Bangkok, Thai Princess Sirindhorn, and local officials, including then-Vice Governor Grisada. Chiming and Mading's cause was also supported by some local NGOs, which assisted the women in their appeals. One Thai official who reviewed their case told us in late 2008 that he had concluded their material support to Hambali had been unwitting; they were asked to help a fellow boarder at a Muslim boarding house, and had. Back Home and Free -------------- ¶5. (C) News reports indicated that, in early 2009, FM Kasit had passed on a request to the Cambodian government and King to consider clemency for the pair. Chiming and Mading subsequently returned quietly to Thailand in early July after six years in Cambodian custody. MFA Policy and Planning chief Songsak Saicheua told us in late July that their return was the result of prisoner exchange negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia. Phnom Penh elected to transfer the two men almost immediately rather than wait for approval from BANGKOK 00002540 002.2 OF 002 the Thai parliament for a formal prisoner exchange, he said. ¶6. (C) In mid-July brief articles appeared in the Bangkok and southern Thai press noting that Chiming and Mading had returned to Thailand. Thai officials we subsequently contacted said at the time that they did not know what they would do with the duo, since there were no grounds in Thailand to detain them further. In the end, it appears the pair were held for questioning by Thai authorities for about a week in the Bangkok area, another week in Yala, then released to go home to their families. Then-Vice Governor Grisada told us he had met the pair in early August, that they were back teaching at their old school, and that they were scheduled to meet Princess Sirindhorn when the latter travelled to the south September 22 to thank her for her interest/intervention in their case (note: if such a meeting occurred, it was private, without publicity). ¶7. (C) Apart from Grisada, a range of contacts in the southernmost provinces revealed little knowledge about the returnees' status when we visited Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat in mid-August. Contacts at Working Group on Justice for Peace, as well as the Cross Cultural Foundation -- NGOs that track human rights and judicial cases in the South -- told us they had heard the men had returned, but did not know their location or status. Likewise, the spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 said the men should be home, and the military was not involved in the case. Police in Yala told us they had no specific information about Chiming and Mading, apart from confirming there were no pending criminal cases or warrants for Chiming and Mading, allowing them to resume normal lives. JOHN