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THAILAND: Two killings of human rights defenders in the south

October 23, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

24 October 2006
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UA-348-2006: THAILAND: Two killings of human rights defenders in the south

THAILAND: Attacks on human rights defenders; impunity; failure of rule of law; emergency regulations; martial law; military rule
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) regrets to inform you of two recent killings of the human rights defenders in the south of Thailand. Both had worked for justice to assist victims of state violence in the area. Their deaths come at a time of worsening violence in the south that is set to continue in the absence of civilian government in Thailand. One of our major concerns is that civil society's ability to respond to such violations is very limited under the military junta's suppression of freedom of expression and assembly since the military coup in this September.??

DETAILS OF CASES:

On 20 October 2006, Mr. Muhammad Dunai Tanyeeno was shot dead near his house in Village no. 1, Jaroh, Paiwan sub-district, Tak Bai district, Narathiwat province. According to his family, Mr. Muhammad Dunai was killed soon after he went out on his bicycle after receiving a phone call.?

Mr. Muhammad Dunai was the village headman, and had been closely working with the coordinator of the Tak Bai case (name withheld for the security reasons) in assisting villagers who have been persecuted by the state since the 25 October 2004 killing of 84 persons by soldiers and police after a protest outside the Tak Bai police station, 78 of them while in custody (See further: UA-143-2004, UP-65-2004, AS-43-2004, AS-44-2004 and AS-265-2006). He was also assisting 58 Takbai protesters who are facing trial (See further: UP-094-2006, UP-126-2006 and UP-178-2006).

Before his killing, Mr. Muhammad Dunai was reportedly contacted by two unknown military officials who wanted to meet with the coordinator of the Tak Bai case and the affected families. He was also involved in organizing a meeting on October 3 between the villagers who were affected by violence in south and the newly-appointed army commander of region.?

In another case, on 16 October 2006, Mr. Hassan Yamalae (35), the village headman of Village no.3, Talo of Yata sub-district in Raman district, Yala province, and his colleague Euramae Lehmoh (39) were shot dead while returning on a motorcycle on the main road from shopping in Raman district. On September 13 between 12:30pm and 2:00pm, over 100 police and army forces had raided his village to search for suspects and materials for making bombs. Five villagers were arrested after being brutally assaulted, while the security forces fired live ammunition into village houses.

Before his killing, Mr. Hassan attended a meeting with staff of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand and local human rights group, the Working Group on Justice for Peace and his villagers reportedly complained about the brutality of the security personnel during the raid on September 13.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The AHRC is gravely concerned by the increasing attacks on human rights defenders in southern Thailand. According to the Working Group on Justice for Peace, other two human rights defenders have been injured within the last month in the same area. We are concerned that these brutal killings and attacks are a threat to all victims of state violence in the south who are calling for justice.

October 25, 2006 will be the two-year anniversary of the Tak Bai tragedy. There are many calls to withdraw the charges against the 58 accused. In contrast, there has been no reduction of violence in the south since the takeover by the military junta on September 19 and the military government has also extended emergency regulations that have been condemned by a UN human rights expert (AHRC-PL-056-2006). The AHRC is gravely concerned that under martial law imposed on the whole nation, violence can be stirred up by the security forces in the absence of measures to counterbalance them. This is exactly opposite to what they military junta has falsely claimed (See further: AS-258-2006).

The AHRC is particularly concerned that civil society's ability to respond to such violence is now very limited as people's fundamental rights including the freedom of expression, media freedom and freedom of assembly have been restricted since the 1997 Constitution was abolished after the coup. To know more about this issue, please refer to earlier AHRC statements and urgent appeals:

UP-194-2006: THAILAND: Join protest for media freedom and 1997 Constitution
UP-190-2006: THAILAND: Websites and radio stations shut down by military junta
AS-246-2006: THAILAND: 1997 CONSTITUTION - Celebrating 11 October 1997
AS-242-2006: THAILAND: MILITARY COUP--Constitutional fictions
AS-238-2006: THAILAND: MILITARY COUP - How to make courts independent?
AS-229-2006: THAILAND: MILITARY COUP - Misunderstanding the coup

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the interim Government of Thailand and call for its immediate intervene into the incidents. Please also urge it to restore the 1997 Constitution, withdraw martial law and other emergency regulations and step down to return political power to the real civilian government.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear _________,

THAILAND: Two killings of human rights defenders in the south

CASE 1:
Name of the victim: Mr. Muhammad Dunai Tanyeeno; aged 40; village headman of Village no. 1, Jaroh, Paiwan sub-district, Tak Bai district, Narathiwat province; married with 8 children
Date of killing: 20 October 2006
Place of killing: Near his house in Village no. 1, Jaroh

CASE 2:
Name of the victim: Mr. Hassan Yamalae; aged 35; village headman of Village no.3, Talo, Yata sub-district, Raman district, Yala province
Date of killing: 16 October 2006
Place of killing: the main road in Raman district

I am deeply concerned by the increasing attacks on human rights defenders in southern Thailand. The two cases aforementioned are the latest incidents that I was informed.

To briefly speak about the cases, Mr. Muhammad Dunai Tanyeeno was shot dead near his house in Village no. 1, Jaroh of Paiwan sub-district, Tak Bai district, Narathiwat province on 20 October 2006, soon after he went out on his bicycle after receiving a phone call. He was the village headman and had been actively involved in assisting villagers who have been persecuted by the state since the 25 October 2004 killing of 84 persons by soldiers and police. He was also assisting 58 Tak Bai protesters who are facing trial. I was informed that before his killing, Mr. Muhammad Dunai was reportedly contacted by two unknown military officials who wanted to meet with the coordinator of the Tak Bai case and the affected families.

I was also informed that on 16 October 2006, Mr. Hassan Yamalae, the village headman of Village no.3, Talo of Yata sub-district in Raman district, Yala province, was shot dead together with his colleague Euramae Lehmoh (39) while returning on a motorcycle on the main road from shopping in Raman district. He and his villagers had reportedly complained during a meeting with staff of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand about the brutality of the security personnel during the raid on his village on September 13. It is reported that 5 villagers were arrested after being brutally assaulted, while the security forces fired live ammunition into village houses.

I was further informed that two more human rights defenders have been injured within the last month in the same area. I am deeply concerned that these brutal killings and attacks are a threat to all the victims of state violence in the south who are calling for justice.

October 25, 2006 will be the two-year anniversary of the Tak Bai tragedy. However, there has been no reduction of violence in the south since the takeover by the military junta on September 19.?In contrast, the government has also extended emergency regulations, while martial law imposed on the whole nation. I am deeply concerned that violence can be stirred up by the security forces in the absence of measures to counterbalance them.

I am also particularly concerned that civil society's ability to respond to such violence is now very limited as people's fundamental rights, including the freedom of expression and assembly have been restricted since the 1997 Constitution was abolished after the coup.

Under the circumstances, I strongly urge you to order an immediate, impartial and thorough investigation into these cases, find out the actual circumstances of the incidents and bring those responsible to justice as soon as possible. I also urge you to take all possible measures to prevent further killings and attacks of human rights defenders in the southern Thailand as well as to reduce violence continued in the same area.

I further urge the interim Government of Thailand to restore the 1997 Constitution so that people's fundamental rights, including the freedom of expression and assembly can be fully exercised. Martial law and other emergency regulations must be withdrawn immediately and the real civilian government should be established without delay. The violence in the south and other human rights violations will only become worse in the absence of a civilian government in Thailand.?

Yours truly,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 280 1404/ 3000
Fax: +662 282 8631/ 280 1589/ 629 8213
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th?

2. Mr. Charnchai Likitjitta
Interim Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi
Bangkok 11120
THAILAND
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
Fax: +662 502 6699/ 6734 / 6884
Email: ommoj@moj.go.th

3. Mr. Pachara Yutidhammadamrong
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building
Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th

4. Prof. Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand
422 Phya Thai Road
Pathum Wan District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Tel: +662 2219 2980
Fax: +66 2 219 2940
E-mail: commission@nhrc.or.th 

5. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Att: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)

6. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-348-2006
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.