Police in the restive Deep South of Thailand have accused three prominent human rights defenders of defaming the Thai army after the three published a report on torture and inhumane treatment against Muslim Malay insurgent suspects behind military camps.
On Tuesday, 26 July 2016, police officers in Pattani Province accused Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, Somchai Homla-or, Advisor of Duay Jai group, and Anchana Heemmina, President of Duay Jai group, of defaming the Royal Thai Army. The three denied the accusation and the police released them without bail, reported BBC Thai.
The complaint was filed on 17 May by the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 after the human rights defenders published the report, released earlier this year, on the torture allegations of ethnic Muslim Malays in the Deep South in 2014 and 2015. The report reveals more than 50 cases of torture allegations during that time.
Prior to the event, a number of domestic and international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty international, and Human Rights Lawyer Association, have issued statements demanding the ISOC to withdraw the complaint..
The Cross Cultural Foundation, Duay Jai Group, and Patani Human Rights Organization Network, which are the co-editors of the controversial report, told BBC Thai that they got funded by the United Nations for Victims of Torture. They had collected data from 2014 to 2015 by talking to torture victims. The report basically aims to bring justice to the victims by finding a proper legal remedy for them, without an intention to defame any organization in particular.
The three organizations also added that this lawsuit has proved that Thailand fails to follow the Convention Against Torture, which the country signed in 2006.
(from left to right) Somchai Homla-or, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, and Anchana Heemmina