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BENARNEWS- Malaysia's government announced Wednesday that it had started handing out more than 24 million face masks nationwide to help contain the coronavirus, as health authorities confirmed that COVID-19 infections had surged past 4,000.
Confirmed coronavirus infections have been reported in 212 countries and territories since China detected its first cases in December. As of Thursday, officials in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines have confirmed a cumulative total of 13,314 cases, with 517 deaths for the four Southeast Asian neighbors. 

"A total of 24.6 million face masks are in the process of being distributed to the State Disaster Management Committee for distribution to the districts," Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a statement, underscoring a change in the global stance on the wearing of masks and face coverings as the latest step to try to slow the spread of coronavirus.
The process of distributing four face masks per household has started in Peninsular Malaysia and would begin in Malaysian Borneo on Friday, Ismail said, adding that special air force flights would speed up shipments.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced his government's initiative to distribute face masks on March 23, after health officials warned of a "tsunami" of infections if people did not follow restrictions on movement.
"I want to say, we will distribute it freely to all Malaysians in need," Muhyiddin told a news conference at the time. "It is a government contribution."
Malaysia, the world's largest maker of medical gloves, has no shortage of protective equipment for its health workers, Noor Hisham Abdullah, the director-general of health, said during a news briefing on Wednesday. The country has imposed a lockdown until April 14 to contain the pandemic.
Noor warned in a Facebook post last month that Malaysia was facing a slim chance of breaking the chain of infections.
"Failure is not an option here," he said. "If not, we may face a third wave of this virus, which would be greater than a tsunami, if we maintain a 'so what' attitude."

With 4,119 confirmed infections and 65 deaths as of Wednesday, Malaysia remained the country with the third-highest caseload in Asia, behind China and South Korea. The Philippines reported 106 new cases, taking its tally of cases to 3,870 with 182 deaths.
Tighter restrictions in Indonesia
Next-door neighbor Indonesia has ordered its citizens to wear face masks when they leave their homes.
The country has only identified 2,956 coronavirus infections with 240 fatalities, despite recent comments from Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan that some of 283 dead people who were buried in the capital in March alone could have been victims of the virus.
Baswedan told reporters on Wednesday that tighter restrictions would be imposed in the Indonesian capital starting on Friday, including a ban on gatherings of more than five people and the closure of places of worships.
"If there are more than five people in a gathering, they will be prosecuted," he said.
Almost 1.5 million people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world and more than 87,400 have died, according to the latest data compiled by disease experts at Johns Hopkins University.
Health authorities across Southeast Asia have linked hundreds of suspected infections to gatherings organized by the India-headquartered Tablighi Jamaat missionary movement at a mosque outside of Kuala Lumpur in late February and early March, and at a religious gathering in New Delhi last month.

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Koreeyoh Samae (right) helps Rokeeyoh Abu check if money from government aid was transferred to her bank account, in Yala, Thailand, April 8, 2020. [BenarNews]

In Bangkok, Thai health authorities reported 111 new infections on Wednesday, bringing the country's total coronavirus cases to 2,369. Officials also reported three new deaths – a Russian, an Indian and an American – bringing the nation's accumulated toll to 30.
As part of financial packages to help cushion the pandemic's economic impact, Thai officials said Wednesday that 280,000 people who were not enrolled in the nation's social security program had received their first monthly subsidy of 5,000 baht ($153).
The subsidies will be distributed for three months and are aimed at helping about three million self-employed Thais. In late March, the government asked Thai citizens to sign up online for the package, which would allow recipients to apply for an additional 10,000 baht ($305) in loans. But 24 million people signed up within the first few days, officials said.
Korn Chatikavanij, a former finance minister, told BenarNews that the economic benefit should be expanded to cover 24 million people.
"There are about five million people who are in the social security system and seven million people who are outside the social security system. There are also 12 million farmers, and how about those company employees whose salaries were either reduced or were stopped? They should have been compensated too," he said.
Meanwhile in Bangladesh, where the government has faced criticism for its slow testing of suspected infections, authorities on Wednesday sealed off the industrial city of Narayanganj and more than 50 neighborhoods in nearby Dhaka, the capital, to contain the pandemic.
Bangladeshi health authorities reported 54 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the South Asian nation's confirmed COVID-19 infections to 218, with 20 fatalities so far.
"After Dhaka, Narayanganj is the hotspot of coronavirus infections in Bangladesh," Mohammad Salim Reza, the additional deputy commissioner of Narayanganj, told BenarNews, referring to the city about two million people.
"We have sealed off city corporation areas and adjacent sub-districts," he said. "No people will be allowed to enter or leave. The army, police and other law enforcement agencies have been patrolling the areas under lockdown."
He said health authorities had confirmed 37 COVID-19 infections, including six deaths, in Narayanganj.
Mariyam Ahmad in Pattani, Thailand, and Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- About 150 Cambodian migrant workers and students urged their government to allow them to return home from Malaysia where they were left stranded after Prime Minister Hun Sen refused to accept them, citing fears they could be infected with COVID-19.
Sobri Salleh, one of the students, told Radio Free Asia (RFA), a sister entity of BenarNews, that he and the others learned of Hun Sen's decision on Tuesday as they were prevented from boarding planes to Cambodia at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Members of the group broke down and cried, he said, as many had already spent hundreds of U.S. dollars on their flights and packed up their lives in Malaysia – where authorities have confirmed 4,228 infections and 67 deaths – with the expectation of returning home for good.
"There are students, workers, and tourists – some of whose visas are about to expire," Sobri Salleh said.
"Many of the workers no longer have jobs [because of the economic impact of the outbreak], so they want to return home. If they can't go home, they won't have enough money to meet their needs [in Malaysia]."
Of the 150 Cambodians, about 10 refused to leave the airport until late Tuesday when officials from Cambodia's embassy met with them and asked them to leave. The embassy did not provide food for them and Sobri Salleh said he spent his own money to ensure everyone had something to eat.
Another student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that she was willing to submit to a two-week quarantine if she is allowed to return home.
"In Malaysia now, there are no jobs – they are only helping their own people," she said.
RFA spoke with an official at the Cambodian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur who refused to comment about the situation, but the embassy later released a statement saying that the 10 people who refused to leave the airport have been provided temporary shelter until the issue is resolved. The embassy also asked Cambodians in Malaysia to "remain patient."
Hun Sen on Tuesday had told members of the media in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh that he would not allow the 150 Cambodian nationals to return home from Malaysia because "we don't know who among them has COVID-19," referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Dy Thehoya, senior program officer at Cambodian rights group the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, said the government should reconsider banning its citizens from returning to Cambodia, saying that they will face severe hardships if forced to stay in Malaysia.
"How much does the government need to spend to bring them home?" he asked.
"They pay taxes to the government, so when they are in trouble, the government should help them ... The government is obligated to protect its citizens. Most governments only ban foreigners [from entering], not their own citizens."


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BENARNEWS- The Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments on Friday extended curbs on people's movements to control surging coronavirus infections within their borders, as the global death toll linked to the pneumonia-like disease broke past 100,000 with almost 1.7 million confirmed cases.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's most populous nation, meanwhile imposed a partial lockdown in the capital Jakarta and declared its toughest social-distancing rules to blunt the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Let me remind you that the war on COVID-19 is not yet over. The fight is still on," Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a nationally televised speech.
"We must be ready to face this situation for a considerably longer period of time," he said in announcing that the so-called Movement Control Order (MCO) would be extended until April 28. "It might continue on for several months before we are truly able to eradicate this outbreak 100 percent."
Malaysia reported three new deaths Friday, taking the nation's toll to 70, with 4,346 cases of infections.
Globally, almost 1.7 million confirmed cases have been recorded, with 101,526 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center. At least 177 countries have reported infections.
The MCO, which started on March 18, was initially scheduled to end on March 31 but was pushed back to April 14. Under the order, schools and nonessential businesses have been closed, with people being required to stay at home.
The prolonged movement restrictions have had negative ripple effects on business activities in South and Southeast Asia, but leaders have undertaken separate moves to cushion the pandemic's impact by preparing multibillion financial packages to stabilize their economies.
In his speech, Muhyiddin said several sectors of the economy would be re-opened in stages and a special cabinet panel would be formed to prepare a list of affected industries.
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Bangladesh prolongs 'public holiday'
In Dhaka, Bangladesh's government ordered citizens to stay at home on Friday evening, augmenting for a third time orders that restrict their movements as measures to protect the public from the virus.
The ministry of public administration issued a notification banning the movement of people after 6 p.m.
"We have extended the public holiday until April 25 to contain the spread of coronavirus," Farhad Hossain, state minister for public administration, told BenarNews, referring to the lockdown. "We have also restricted the movement of people between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. up to April 25."
He said people involved in providing emergency services, such as food, medicine, water and electricity, among others, would not be covered by the lockdown.
"We are not sure how long we need stay at home. Everything depends on the improvement of coronavirus situation," he said.
On Friday, Bangladeshi health authorities recorded the country's second-highest daily tally of coronavirus infections with 94 new cases, taking the national tally to 424. Officials said six new deaths pushed the death toll to 27.
"During the past 24 hours, 94 people were detected with COVID-19," Dr. Meerjady Sabrina Flora, the director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), told reporters.
Jakarta imposes partial lockdown; death toll tops 300
In Indonesia, authorities banned gatherings of more than five people and ordered residents to stay at home on Friday.
The Jakarta police department said it had mounted 33 checkpoints across the city of 10 million people to oversee the large-scale social restrictions, which will be in force for two weeks.
"This is to ensure that Jakarta residents comply with the rules," Jakarta Metropolitan Police spokesman Yusri Yunus said in a statement.
Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan said the measures included closures of schools, places of worship, and businesses, except for establishments providing essential goods and services, such as grocery stores, pharmacies and telecommunications.
"For the next two weeks, all Jakarta residents are expected to stay home, reduce or even eliminate outside activities," Anies said.
Restrictions include a ban on motorcycle taxis from carrying passengers and people from dining in restaurants. Violators could face fines of up to 100 million rupiah (U.S. $6,325), he said.
Indonesian health authorities reported 26 new coronavirus deaths, taking the nation's toll to 306, the highest toll for an Asian nation outside China.
More than half of the deaths and 3,512 infections are from Jakarta, the nation's COVID-19 epicenter, officials said.
On Thursday, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo ordered all civil servants and security force members not to travel to their hometowns next month to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.
Jokowi said his government was evaluating whether to impose the prohibition on the rest of the nation. Indonesia employs about 4.4 million civil servants and 1.3 million police and soldiers, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The central government has faced criticism on social media over its reporting of coronavirus deaths, with independent health analysts saying the number could be much higher.
More than 770 suspected coronavirus victims had been buried in Jakarta cemeteries under COVID-19 protocols requiring bodies to be wrapped in plastic, according to news service Agence France-Presse. That number is five times more than the official 142 dead in the Indonesian capital, AFP reported Friday.
Thai workers stranded in Malaysia
As a result of Kuala Lumpur's decision to extend its lockdown, about 100,000 Thai workers, most of them employed in eateries and the restaurant industry, would be required to remain in neighboring Malaysia, officials said Friday.
"They had intended to come back home right after the end of the original scheduled lockdown, but when it was extended until April that means their troubles were doubled," Mongkol Sinsomboon, the Thai Consul-General to Kota Bharu, told BenarNews. "They don't have jobs, no income, only expenses."
In Thailand's far south, Chonthan Sangpoom, vice director of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center, said the workers were required to stay in Malaysia.
"Those workers in Malaysia must stay there until the borders are opened again," Chonthan told BenarNews.
Thai embassy officials and Thai volunteers in Malaysia said they were scrambling to gather basic relief supply for the stranded workers.
Thailand's cabinet early this week approved borrowing to fund U.S. $58 billion in financial packages to help the health sector combat COVID-19 and assist businesses bounce back from the economic shock inflicted by the pandemic.
Pimuk Rakkanam in Bangkok contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- A Feb. 20 car-bomb attack in Thailand's Narathiwat province has shattered trust needed to re-start Deep South peace talks "like a sand castle," a military spokesman there said.

"We try to build trust but sometimes it is like we are building a sand castle. We shape it up but when they use violent means such as a bomb, mutual trust is definitely shattered," Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, Forward, told BenarNews by phone from the Deep South last week.

Thailand's junta-led government has been looking to open a new round of talks with Muslim separatist rebels in the southernmost three provinces. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha picked former Army Chief of Staff Aksara Kerdphol to lead government efforts to communicate with the rebels and other stakeholders in the restive region. 

Before the military seized power last May, two rounds of Malaysia-mediated peace talks had stalled under the previous, civilian-led government. Since 2004, rebel groups have fought to carve out a separate state from Narathiwat and two other Muslim-dominated provinces in far southern Thailand. More than 6,300 people – mainly civilians – have died in the conflict, according to AFP. 

In trying to re-open the door to talks, the junta has changed the rhetoric from "negotiations" to "dialogue" so as to create an informal air around them.

"Peace talks are not a trade bargain that can be concluded at once," Pramote said.

The path the government is pursuing consists of three steps, he said: building trust, ratifying an agreement and laying out a roadmap to peace.

But the recent car-bombing outside a karaoke bar in Narathiwat town, which injured 17 people and damaged surrounding buildings, has eroded that first step, the spokesman suggested.

"The incident is an attempt of a pro-violent movement who are trying to ruin the southern peace dialogue, to damage the economy, to instigate fears among people and, importantly, to undermine the state's authorities," Pramote said earlier, in a news release issued the day after the attack.

Two more bombs at blast site

The bombing occurred on the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which is observed in Thailand. No one died in the attack.

"A car bomb was detonated by remote control outside a karaoke bar," Anurut Kritsakaraket, police commander of three southern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, told AFP.

The bar was closed at the time of the attack, but the explosion wounded a group of people who were eating nearby, one of them seriously, he added.

A bomb disposal team defused a second bomb, which was hidden on a motorcycle parked nearby, and a smaller homemade device 500 meters from the blast site, AFP reported.

Authorities are hunting at least five suspected militants behind the attack, according to Thai media reports. 

On Feb. 23 police identified a man named "Abdullah", who was wanted for a drive-by shooting in Pattani province in 2014, as the prime suspect, the Bangkok Post reported.

"The police are processing evidence. We found sufficient evidence and connections of mayhem. I anticipate [issuing an] arrest warrant soon," Pramote told BenarNews. 

Security stepped up

Meanwhile, authorities in the Deep South are stepping up security ahead of the annual festival honoring the Goddess Lim Ko Niao, which people of Chinese descent in the region celebrate. It is set to take place from March 1-8.

Since the attack in Narathiwat, the military has increased security measures through the so-called village self-defense force, which is made up of Interior Ministry personnel and volunteers, Pramote said. The military instituted this force as a way to shield the civilian population in the Deep South from militant attacks. 

Under this arrangement, more than 10,000 people have been mobilized to keep the peace in 37 restive districts in the Deep South.

The Feb. 20 attack occurred amid reports of a reduction in militant-perpetrated violence in the region.

On Feb. 25, the Bangkok Post published an editorial that took aim at such statistics touted by the government.

"Another round of vehicle bombs in Narathiwat province last week has shown this government has no more control of the Deep South's violence than any of its predecessors," the newspaper opined.

"The military regime has been touting statistics that 'prove' that violence in the South has diminished since last May. The numbers are correct, as presented," the editorial went on to say.

However, it added, "The value of fewer attacks is largely lost on Narathiwat and its three neighboring provinces. People there will be impressed when attacks reach zero, and separatists agree to stop their violent ways."

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BENARNEWS- The Thai military says it has shut down a video posted on Facebook by a suspected Islamist who threatened to expel non-Muslims from Thailand's Deep South region by the end of April.

Authorities are still looking for the lone speaker in the video, whom they identified as Tonkusai Rebat at a news conference in Pattani province on Wednesday (March 4). 

He is a former student at an Islamic school in southern Thailand and an active student at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, Forward, told reporters. 

But authorities said they were not sure this was his real name. It was also likely that the masked man in the menacing 1:49-minute video was lying about his claim of being a descendent of Prophet Muhammad, Pramote said.

"Sympathizing elements and organizations in the areas use social networks to distort the facts, and I forewarn people at the receiving end to carefully consider the merit of the message, and don't fall victim to be part of (violence)," he said.

"The ISOC 4 continues to adhere to a peaceful solution ... fair enforcement of laws, and respect [for] human rights, and is pushing forward for peace talks for the Deep South."

The authorities will catch the man and bring him to justice, the ISOC regional spokesman added.

In the video disseminated via Facebook on Monday, the speaker called himself a member of the Mujahideen Rebat al-Fatani, which would "expel the intruding non-Muslims (Kafir) in order to establish [Patani] Darussalam" by April 30.

The man's Facebook page has since been taken down, Pramote said.

Since 2004, Thai forces have battled separatists in the Muslim-dominated Deep South, which is made up of three provinces near the Malaysian border.

Military: Be Wary of Social Media

The military also warned the public to be wary of extremist messages posted via social media, because these distort the truth and undermine national security. 

Commenting on the issue, one expert on the restive Deep South said there was no evidence that international terrorist groups were linked to any regional separatist movements.

"However, there will be some who will try raising their leverage by enticing the public," said Lt. Gen. (Retired) Nanthadej Meksawat, former chief of Southern Special Operations.

"Other than that, I would take the man with a grain of salt," he said, referring to the self-proclaimed member of Mujahideen Rebat al-Fatani.

Ruslan Sala, a native of Pattani, told BenarNews in Muang District, "I don't believe that the man represents a movement in the southern Thai areas, and I don't believe in the essence of the video. To expel Thai officials and Buddhist Thais by April 30 is impossible."
Tonkusai's remark referring to Prophet Muhammad is insulting to Islam, he added.


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BENARNEWS- Bangkok is close to opening a new round of Malaysia-mediated talks aimed at solving the separatist conflict in Thailand's Deep South region, according to a security official who works on the issue.  

"The Thai authorities are ready for a talk with the 'dissidents' but have yet to set a date pending preliminary, low-profile, communications with all parties involved, paving a way to the meetings," Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonthong of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) told BenarNews. 

"The entire process of talks consists of three steps: government-to-government level, leadership level and operative level. We need to deal with them from top to bottom, otherwise the operatives will not dare come out, as they fear arrest if the top levels don't agree to allow it in the first place," Nakrob said.

"The talks will be held in Malaysia like the last two times, facilitated by Malaysia."

According to Nakrob – and in contrast to other reports – the southern resistance movements operate under the same umbrella and are well connected. 

In late February, Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for ISOC Region 4, Forward, told BenarNews that a Feb. 20 car-bomb attack in Narathiwat had "shattered" the trust needed to restart peace talks.

"We try to build trust but sometimes it is like we are building a sand castle. We shape it up but when they use violent means such as a bomb, mutual trust is definitely shattered," he said.

The bombing outside a karaoke bar in Narathiwat town injured 17 people and damaged surrounding buildings.

Ideological figurehead

In 2013, the then-civilian-led government negotiators met with leaders of the insurgents in Kuala Lumpur but the talks were widely criticized for "not hitting the nail on the head."

Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) chief Hassan Bin Toyib, who led the four-man rebel negotiating team, had an ambiguous place in the insurgency's hierarchy and was not regarded as one of its key leaders, an expert told BenarNews. 

Retired Lt. Gen. Nanthadej Meksawat, former chief of Southern Special Operations, said the next set of negotiations should focus on influential leaders Spa-ing Baso or Masae Useng, and field operatives.

Both Spa-ing Baso and Masae Useng have lived in exile in Malaysia for a long time. 

"The key ideological figure is Spa-ing Baso. Despite his age, his ideology has strong influence on his disciples who are active in the south," Lt. Gen. Nanthadej said.

"For the second type of operatives – the mercenary type of terrorists working for money – government field officials normally know who they are, and they should be ready for talks as well. But many of them have been charged with criminal offenses, which may hinder peace attempts," he added.

Broadening the talks

Angkhana Neelapaijit, whose lawyer husband disappeared 11 years ago, said negotiations should involve all parties including local operatives, civil society and women. But, in the past, only senior officials were brought to the table. 

"It was worrying to have only leaders at the table because we don't know if they are able to control the mechanism of the movements," Angkhana argued. 

"The government should involve local operatives. The government has quite a lot of information about them, but needs to be careful to respect human rights, to lawfully enforce laws and to improve the quality of life of those who are at risk of taking sides with the extremists," Angkhana added. 

Her husband, Somchai Neelapaijit, was pulled from his car by police officers in Bangkok in March 2004 and never seen again. At the time, he was heading a high-profile lawsuit alleging torture of Muslim suspects in the Deep South at the hands of police, according to Human Rights Watch.

The March 2 release of a Facebook video, in which a masked speaker threatened to expel non-Muslims from the Deep South, had only added confusion to a volatile situation. The Facebook page has since been taken down, Angkhana said.

"It is confusing seeing everyone claiming legitimacy and leadership" of the insurgent movement she said. 

"Islam is a religion of peace and can coexist with other religions. But now it is full bigotry, and Islam is interpreted in extremes such as the decapitations carried out by IS [the Islamic State]."  


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BENARNEWS- A bomb explosion in front of Rue Soh railway station in Thailand's restive southern province of Narathiwat on Sunday killed one soldier and injured nine other people, security officials said.  

Police Colonel Reungsak Bangdang, Rue Soh police station chief, told a BenarNews reporter that a bomb attached to a motorcycle went off at the railway market Sunday morning while people were shopping from vendors in the vicinity.  

"Soldiers from Narathiwat 11 Task Force were shopping for food and necessities but a bomb hidden on a motorcycle was remotely detonated resulting in 10 injuries, among them 7 villagers," said Pol. Col. Reungsak.

All were rushed to hospital in nearby Yala province, he said.

Early Monday, Sergeant Taweerat Onkwanpet, the only person seriously injured by the blast, died of his wounds, officials said.  

Waho Jeh, 52, who witnessed the explosion from a distance, said he thought at first the explosion was a training exercise by an explosive ordnance disposal unit.

"I came to the market with my wife and once I heard it and knew people were injured, I didn't dare go near because there might be sequential bombs," he said. "The government thinks incidents of violence are the works of separatists but there are opportunists exploiting the situation."  

Security officials believe that Sulaiman Kuwaekama, also known as Pado Khori, 40, masterminded the bomb attack, Narathiwat 11 Task Force personnel told a BenarNews reporter at the scene.

He is a prominent insurgent in Narathiwat's Rue Soh district who coordinates acts of violence with nearby networks in Narathiwat and Yala's Raman and Sukirin district.

Police said the motorcycle used in Sunday's blast was stolen from a teacher in Joh-I-Rong district who was shot dead by insurgents while riding home in 2012.

According to Deep South Watch, a monitoring group based at Prince of Songkla University in Pattani, 6,321 people died and 11,408 more were injured in violence in Thailand's southernmost provinces between January 5, 2003 and January 15, 2015. 




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BENARNEWS- The wife of a Thai Muslim lawyer, who was kidnapped off a busy street in Bangkok 11 years ago, is calling on authorities to open a new investigation into his case, saying she cannot trust the acting investigators.
Thursday marked the 11th anniversary of the abduction of attorney Somchai Neelapaijit.
He had been handling a lawsuit against police on behalf of Muslim suspects in a criminal case that originated in Thailand's Muslim-dominated Deep South region. The plaintiffs alleged that police interrogators had tortured them.
"Today, on the occasion of the 11th anniversary, we want to come here to mark the incident, to recall what happened and we want to demand justice," Angkhana Neelapaijit, Somchai's wife, told reporters as she visited the location on Ramkhamhaeng Road where he was pulled from his car on March 12, 2004, never to be seen again.
"Ten, eleven years [ago], the DSI took on the case but without any progress because the wrong-doers are police," she added, referring to the Thai Department of Investigation.
DSI responds
On Wednesday, the eve of the anniversary, Angkhana met with DSI Director-General Suwana Suwanjutha in Bangkok to request that the agency launch a new probe into the case.
During the meeting Angkhana was told that the original case file, which was reported missing two years ago, had not in fact been lost.
In 2013, Police Col. Nirund Adulyasak, the top cop assigned to the case, told Thai media that the file went missing when demonstrators opposing the government of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra broke into the DSI's Bangkok offices.
"I met the director-general of the DSI, asking about the case file, and her subordinates told her that the file is still there, but they didn't show me any evidence to prove that it still exists," Angkhana told BenarNews.
DSI officials also told her that Nirund's related statements to the press two years ago were erroneous, she added.
"So, I cannot trust the current probing panel, which also didn't follow up on anything," she said.
In response to Angkhana's allegations, DSI Deputy Spokesman Police Maj. Col. Woranan Srilam told BenarNews that investigative teams assigned to the case were reshuffled through bureaucratic changes within the agency.
"The investigators were still working on the case and the report of the case file missing was not true. The DSI kept evidence in separate places," Woranan said.
"What we are going to do is take a careful look at the existing reports and evidence, and discuss with the attorney-general, who has legal expertise, which direction the investigation or proceeding will go," he added.
Visiting Ramkhamhaeng Road
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On Thursday, Angkhana and one of her daughters, Pratubjit Neelapaijit (pictured), marked the anniversary by going together to the spot where Somchai was snatched from their lives 11 years ago.
"Today we want to come here and tell [the public] that there was a man [who went] missing from this area. Here in the capital city, there is a big street, a lot of cars passing by, where and when Somchai was abducted...," Angkhana told reporters.
"Today is the 11th year anniversary that Somchai Neelapaijit was abducted from this area. I have to frankly say that I've never stopped at this spot but only passed by. was not strong enough to come here and look, not courageous enough to walk around this spot," she added.
Allegations of police brutality
At the time of his abduction, Somchai Neelapaijit was heading a high-profile lawsuit alleging torture of Muslim suspects at the hands of police in the Deep South, according to the U.S.-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW).
His clients were suspects in the looting of a military barrack in January 2004, the starting point of the now 11-year-old separatist insurgency in the far southern region.
After Somchai's abduction, five police officers were arrested and charged with "robbing and assaulting" the missing lawyer.
On March 11, 2011, the Court of Appeal, the second of Thailand's three-tiered judicial system, acquitted four of the five defendants, according to the Muslim Attorney Center Foundation.
Angkhana has been trying to push the proceedings to a murder or abduction case.
"They said the findings are difficult to turn it into murder case because Somchai's body was not found, but the investigation can be based on the ground of enforced disappearance," she told BenarNews.
"The fact of the matter is that there was a group of people abducting him, so [traces] may be found out from telephone logs of those suspiciously involved in the abduction to see what happened," she added.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the DSI deputy spokesman as Police Lt. Col. Woranan Srilam.


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BENARNEWS- Three men were killed Friday in separate shootings in Thailand's Deep South region, as a local insurgency group marked its 55th anniversary.

The attacks came as authorities in the predominantly Muslim far southern region were bracing for possible violence connected to the birthday of the separatist Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani – better known as BRN – which was founded on March 13, 1960.

Police had yet to determine if separatists were involved in two of the killings earlier on Friday. 

But police in Yala province believe that rebels took part in the third fatal shooting, which occurred at 8:40 p.m. Friday (local time) in Kabang district.

The victim, a disabled man identified as Kriya Ledsipoh, was shot multiple times in his abdomen as he rested at his home, police said.

Kriya later died at a local hospital. 

Village leader slain

One of the other victims of Friday's violence lived in another part of Yala.

Sa-ari Bahostar, 42, was an assistant village headman of Moo 4 (village No. 4) in Tambon Baro, Yaha district.

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed him as he was leaving a local mosque after Friday prayers.
Sa-ari died on the spot. Before it was removed, his body was covered in a white sheet shaded by a matching umbrella.

Yaha District Chief Kongsakul Chantarat said he believed Sa-ari may have been the victim of a personal conflict. 

"The suspects are likely the people in the same village," Kongsakul told BenarNews.

In neighboring Yala province, a third man, a former paramilitary identified as Marohki Maelae, was fatally shot by unknown gunmen as he drove his pickup truck in Baan I-kuleng village, Sisakorn district.

A violent week

Friday's killings followed the violent deaths this week of at least two other people in the Deep South.

On Thursday in Pattani province, 20-year-old Ilham Guta was fatally shot by unknown assailants as he worked in a shop in Tambon Kolotanyong, Nongjik district, police said.

Five days earlier, a bomb exploded at a railway station in Rue Soh, Narathiwat province, injuring 10 people. On Monday, one of the casualties, a ranger identified as Sgt. Thaweerat Onkwanpet, died of his wounds from the blast. 

Authorities step up security

Meanwhile, police and security forces in southern Thailand were preparing for the possibility of violence around the BRN's 55th anniversary.   

In Songkhla province, authorities were mobilizing additional security personnel to guard seven districts at risk of insurgent attacks, Police Col. Triwit Sriprapa said.

Security forces were watching out for 10 vehicles that had been identified as potentially being rigged with bombs. Last week, authorities had alerted the public by circulating images of the suspicious vehicles. 


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BENARNEWS- A Malaysia-based leader of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), a southern Thailand separatist group, is orchestrating a serial bomb plot in the country's restive Deep South region, a senior security official told BenarNews.
Thai intelligence has detected a planned BRN mission to bomb "high net-worth" commercial targets in Thailand's three southernmost provinces – Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala – as well as nearby Songkhla province, an officer with the security forces, who asked not be named, said Monday.
Doonloh Wae-mano, a 60-year-old member of the BRN's supreme council who is also known as Pohsuloh, is the alleged mastermind of the plot to launch car and motorcycle bomb attacks on five targets, the official said.
Doonloh is coordinating the plot from his base in Kelantan, a Malaysian state that lies across the border from Narathiwat. Young supporters of the BRN in the Deep South – known in Malay as Permudor – have picked the targets and will be carrying out simultaneous bombings, the source said.
"They are ready and awaiting a go-ahead signal. The security forces, however, have no indication when," the officials said without being more precise.
Tense atmosphere
The alleged bomb plot was revealed three days after the BRN marked its 55th anniversary on Friday.
In anticipation of an uptick in insurgent attacks around the anniversary, police and security forces in the Deep South last week mobilized additional security personnel to guard seven districts at risk of being attacked, Police Col. Triwit Sriprapa said.
Security forces were watching out for 10 vehicles identified as potentially being rigged with bombs. Officials also circulated images of the suspicious vehicles among the public.
Reports of the shootings deaths of three men in a trio of incidents in the region were reported Friday, but it wasn't clear whether insurgents carried out the shootings in two of the three cases.
Yet more violence was reported within the past 48 hours.
On Sunday, Anus Kama-useng, 29, a resident of Yala province, was shot in the back of the head as he rode his motorbike with a friend in Raman district, police said.
Five gunmen on two motorcycles stopped the pair and opened fire on them, injuring Anus, who later died at a local hospital. His friend managed to escape.
On Monday, a female vendor, Demoh Makea, was shot dead as she rode a motorcycle to a market in Baan Bayo village, in Narathiwat's Ra-ngae district.
Police have yet to pinpoint a motive in either shooting.
But security officials suspect that an M-67 hand grenade found along Route 3408 in Yala later on Monday belonged to a group of rebels preparing for an attack.


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BENARNEWS- Thai Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan travelled to Pattani province Thursday to promote the construction of a halal food industrial estate, which the government is touting as part of its effort to boost the economy of Thailand's troubled Deep South region.
The government-backed project, which is to be built on 69 acres in Panare district, has stalled for the past 12 years mainly because of unrest fuelled by a long-running separatist insurgency.
Twice, rebels have tried to stop the project by burning down buildings on the construction site, locals say. The only finished structure is a one-stop service center and administrative building.
When the U.S. $35 million (1.14 billion baht) project is finally finished in 2017, as the government hopes, the estate will process halal foods and produce halal garments.
Because the Deep South is predominantly Muslim, the government in Bangkok hopes to create jobs in the region by building up a local halal industry.
The estate will be developed along a coastal highway that overlooks the Gulf of Thailand. Its various plants will process and can halal-certified crispy fish, chicken and other sea foods, among other halal products.
The completed project will promote peace in the region and serve as a springboard to improve the lives of people in the region, so they won't need to find jobs abroad, Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, who is both deputy prime minister and defense minister in the junta-led government, told a local audience Muslim clerics and residents.
Other hitches
However, the project has yet to attract investors, and locals who sold plots of land that make up the 69-acre lot are still waiting for the government to pay them for the purchase.
Panare resident Maladee Jeh-wae is among those waiting for the payment. In his view, this is one of the reasons why the project has been held up, he told BenarNews.
"This is a good chance for seven land owners to address their problems to the deputy prime minister, and we hope for solutions," Maladee said.
The government has passed a budget resolution and will settle its outstanding debt to the landowners by the end of March, said Luechai Jaroensap, the deputy provincial governor.
The project, nevertheless, gives locals reason to hope for future economic prosperity, said Ardae Woha, a kamnan (village cluster head) in Borai sub-district.
"I am personally pleased with the development in which our children will have jobs locally and won't need to go to neighboring countries," Maladee said for his part. 


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's Criminal Court on Friday sentenced four men from the Deep South to 66 years and eight months in prison, in connection with a 2013 bombing in Bangkok that injured seven.

Affaham Sa-a, Kamphi Latae, and Ilroheng Vaemae, of Pattani province, and Idris Sapator, of Narathiwat province, were found guilty of attempted murder; making, owning and using explosives; and carrying weapons in public places, according to The Bangkok Post.

Each man will serve only 50 years, the maximum under Thai law, according to The Nation.

The blast on May 26, 2013, outside a beauty shop on Ramkhamhaeng Soi 43/1 injured seven people and cause about 402,000 baht (U.S. $12,320) in damage, the Post said. Footage from security cameras showed all four men at the site of the blast shortly before it occurred.

The men confessed to the charges under police interrogation but denied them in court, the Post said.

Roadside bomb

Meanwhile, Thai security forces on Friday stepped up security measure in the southern-most provinces after a criminal court handed a death sentence to a suspected insurgent who took part in a roadside bomb attack three years ago. 

On Thursday, a Pattani criminal court sentenced Ahama Hayeebaso to death on grounds of collaborating in an act of terror. He was found guilty of taking part in a January 2012 roadside bomb attack in Pattani's Mayo district that killed two soldiers.

The defendant has the right to appeal but it was not immediately clear if he would do so.

The forward office of Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 (ISOC), in Pattani's Yaring district, instructed government security forces personnel and civilians to stay alert in case of retaliatory attacks.

Also on Friday, Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, the 4th Army Region Commander, visited Muang district of Narathiwat to give moral support to local residents affected by a Feb. 20 car bomb that injured twelve and damaged nearby structures and vehicles. 

Prakarn urged residents to participate in protecting their community.

"You don't need to go fight but stay unified ... learn how to live happily in your community and to prevent the perpetrators from infiltrating to do harm to the community," he said.

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BENARNEWS- Thailand this week made two breakthroughs in fighting international crime on its territory, arresting two Southeast Asians who allegedly ran an African ivory smuggling ring, and also apprehending an Iranian man suspected of running one of the country's most extensive counterfeit passport rackets.  

On Thursday, Thai authorities took into custody two alleged kingpins of a transnational ivory ring.

They were arrested in connection with the Dec. 31 seizure in northeastern Surin province of 51 pieces of African ivory worth about 5.8 million baht (U.S. $176,000), the Associated Press reported, citing national police.

The suspects, identified as Boon Ching Teo, a 51-year-old Malaysian, and Sirichai Sridanont, a 50-year-old Thai, are accused of trading in African ivory and smuggling the contraband across Thailand's southern border, AP said, quoting national police chief Gen. Somyot Pumpanmuang. 

The two face a maximum of four years in prison, if convicted.

Thailand, which is one of the top Asian markets for the illegal trade in ivory poached from slaughtered African elephants and rhinos, risks being sanctioned internationally for not doing enough to combat such trafficking, according to AP.

On Friday, the Southeast Asian office of TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring network, praised Thai authorities for pulling off the bust.

"It is heartening to see positive enforcement efforts made by Thailand in recent months," TRAFFIC's regional program manager Kanitha Krishnasamy, based in Selangor, Malaysia, said in a news release. 

TRAFFIC also reported an announcement made a day earlier by James Dawos Mamit, Malaysia's deputy minister for Natural Resources and the Environment, who said that customs officials had seized 4,624 elephant tusks between 2011 and 2014.

The deputy minister also revealed that two Malaysians and a Chinese citizen were convicted under national laws for illegal ivory possession and trade, TRAFFIC said. 

The Chinese national was sentenced to two months in jail and a fine of 250,000 ringgit (U.S. $76,000) for possessing and exporting 16 pieces of ivory; one of the Malaysians was fined 200,000 ringgit (U.S. $60,000), or 36 months in jail, for possessing nine elephant tusks; and the other Malaysian was fined 2,000 ringgit (U.S. $610) for possessing two elephant tusks, according to TRAFFIC.

Facilitating illicit travel

On Wednesday, Thai police announced the arrest of the Iranian national, identified as 45-year-old Murel Gurat, AP reported.

For more than a decade, he had led one of the country's biggest passport forgery rackets and his arrest was the outcome of a two-year investigation, AP quoted authorities as saying.

Gurat was arrested Sunday during a raid in coastal Chonburi province.

Police and officials with the Department of Special Investigation seized forgery equipment and 1,053 stolen passports from more than 60 countries, AP quoted police Col. Songsak Raksaksakul, the agency's commissioner for transnational crimes, as saying.

"You never saw more than 1,000 passports from 65 countries that went missing show up here in one place. This is the evidence that showed that this network was well connected to other groups all over the world," Songsak told a news conference.

Most of the forged or stolen passports were European. The ring led by Murel purchased and doctored passports for people intending to travel to a third country for illicit reasons, AP reported, citing officials.

The Thai authorities are especially worried that fake passports are winding up in the hands of terrorists and others involved in transnational crime.

In Indonesia, for example, four Uyghur men from China's Xinjiang province with alleged ties to the Islamic State (IS) are in custody and awaiting trial on charges of raising money to help Indonesian radicals travel abroad to join the jihadist group.

The four are accused of using false Turkish passports purchased in Thailand to enter Indonesia illicitly via Malaysia.      

Gurat is facing multiple charges, including forging passports and false documents, as well as receiving stolen property, AP reported. The offenses carry a maximum of 10 years in prison. 

By BenarNews staff with details from news reports.

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BENARNEWS- The separatist insurgency in Thailand's Deep South region is cutting into its important rubber industry, by preventing plantation hands from working at night and affecting prices on latex yields, locals say.

Because insurgents tend to operate under cover of darkness, it is too dangerous for rubber farmers and plantation workers to go out at night and tap rubber trees, when temperatures are cooler.

"We are afraid to go out at night," Masobree Abu, 37, a resident of Yala, one of the region's three provinces, told BenarNews. "Since the violence broke out, black-clad men [have appeared] in the rubber plantations, but we don't know who is who."

"The violence has changed our normal nighttime rubber tapping. We can't go to work while it's dark," he added.

This problem is causing planation workers to tap rubber trees for sap during the daylight hours, when temperatures heat up. As a result, they are suffering economically because they earn less money on latex tapped during the day.

The sap of rubber trees coagulates more quickly in warmer temperatures, which makes it inferior to latex tapped at night. 

Yala residents whose livelihoods depend on the agricultural industry have seen prices on latex yields plummet in recent years, said local rubber farmer Ibraheng Jeyusoh, 57. 

He has seen his daily wages for tapping rubber drop to 80 baht (U.S. $2.46 dollar) from 200 baht (U.S. $6.15).

"We barely make ends meet and we cannot cut more corners," he told BenarNews.

Ibraheng and other rubber industry workers in the area now are only getting 10 baht (U.S. 31 cents) per kilo of latex, he said. 

"Our kids skip lunch, just eating breakfast in the morning, going to school and enduring hunger until they arrive home to eat again," Ibraheng added.

On the rebound?

According to figures from the Thai government's Office of Rubber Replanting Fund, prices for ribbed stock sheet rubber trading in Hat Yai, the regional rubber market, have fallen steadily during the past four years. In 2011, the per kilo price averaged 132.43 baht (U.S. $1.70) , but it had dropped by more than two-fold to 57.86 baht (74 cents).

Yet provincial officials expect rubber prices to begin rising again sometime this year.

The price for rubber will rebound in the second quarter, which will begin in April, predicts Yala Industrial Officer Pitak Boonkongkaew.

"The woefully low price ranges have resulted in less supplies into the market and into rubber processed factories, simply because the prices were way too low for the farmers," Pitak told BenarNews.

"In my view, in the second quarter, the rubber supplies will remain relatively low but the factories will be looking for more procurement to fulfill their stockpile. I believe the prices of raw latex and rubber sheet will be heading into a better perspective," he added. 

According to the Department of Agriculture's Rubber Research Institute, Thailand produced more than 4.3 million tons of rubber products in 2014.

About 3.8 tons of this output was exported to China – the biggest destination for Thai rubber – followed by Malaysia, Japan and the European Union. Last year's exports totaled about 315 billion baht (U.S. $96.9 million).

Thirty-four percent of the Deep South's population of 1.4 million people is employed in the agricultural sector. 


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BENARNEWS- Thai security forces on Wednesday killed four people they said were suspected insurgents, and captured 22 others in Thailand's Deep South, a military official said.
Shots were exchanged as members of the 41st Paramilitary Task Force sealed off a target at Baan Toh Sud village in Tung Dang district, Pattani province, just before sunset, a military source told BenarNews.
Although the suspects continued to fire, security forces captured 22 people and seized a weapons cache, according to the official, who asked not to be named.
The 22 were being held at the task force's base for questioning. No more details were immediately available.
Intelligence units had been tracking suspected insurgents Uzman Sama, Anwar Due-ramae and Makurosi Maeloh since March 22, the military source said, in the belief that they were preparing to carry out an attack.
The Internal Security Operation Command 4 (ISOC), which is responsible for Thailand's southern region, had forewarned of possible attacks around the 55th birthday of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist group, on March 13.


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BENARNEWS- Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Wednesday threatened to "execute" members of the media who report too critically about the junta-led government and other Thailand-related stories.

"You don't have to support the government, but you should report the truth," Reuters quoted the former Thai army chief as telling reporters in Bangkok. 

His comments came during a testy exchange with journalists before he boarded a flight to Brunei.

When a reporter asked Prayuth whether the government would shut down the media, the general replied, "Don't pick a fight with me, don't make me go to war with the media," Khaosod English reported.

"We'll probably just execute them," an unsmiling Prayuth told the press pool that was trailing him, referring to journalists who veered from the official line, according to Reuters.

Slave labor-produced seafood?

On Wednesday, the prime minister also took issue with media reports alleging that human trafficking and slavery were tied to Thailand's important seafood industry. Thailand is among the world biggest exporters of fish and fishery products, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"Please don't escalate the news," Khaosod quoted Prayuth as saying.

"The media should consider the impact the news will have on the country," he added. "It may cause problems and affect national security ... If this news gets widely published, [it could raise] problems of human trafficking and IUU [Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing]." 

According to Khaosod, Prayuth said the government would summon Thapanee Ietsrichai, a local reporter, for her reporting for Channel 3 television about Thai men languishing aboard alleged slave ships.

Prayuth's outburst came after the Associated Press published an investigative report on Tuesday, which alleged that people – mostly Burmese nationals – were being enslaved in Benjina, a remote town in eastern Indonesia, as part of the supply chain feeding Southeast Asia's seafood industry.

The people interviewed by AP had been trafficked to Indonesia via Thailand and forced to fish, the investigation alleged. Part of their catch is processed at factories in Thailand, AP reported.

Lashing out pro-Shinawatra news outlets

The junta headed by Prayuth seized power in a coup last May against the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. When it fell from power, her administration was mired in political turmoil amid massive anti-government street demonstrations in Bangkok.

During his reported outburst on Wednesday, Prayuth also took aim at Matichon, a Thai-language daily newspaper, accusing it of backing Yingluck's brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who also had been deposed in a coup.

"Don't think I don't know that your writing is pro the previous administration," he told a Matichon reporter at the airport, according to Reuters. 

"Write your news well," Khaosod quoted the prime minister as saying about Matichon. "Don't write news that supports the other side too much."

By BenarNews staff with details from news reports.


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BENARNEWS- Lawmakers in Thailand – which is under international pressure and the glare of news reports exposing the enslavement of foreign migrant workers in its lucrative fishing industry – on Thursday adopted a tougher set of punishments for human traffickers.
The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted 160-3 to amend the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in a third reading in order to impose harsher penalties on human traffickers, as well as improve inspection and witness protection programs, the Bangkok Post reported.
Under the amendment, violators can face life imprisonment or capital punishment in cases where their victims die, according to Reuters. Those found guilty of gravely harming victims can face 20 years in prison and fines of up to 400,000 baht ($12,281).
"If the trafficked person dies in the hands of the trafficker, then the sentence can now be life in prison of even the death penalty," Reuters quoted Police Gen. Chatchawan, the head of a committee that drafted the bill, as saying.
Calls for action from abroad
The Thai parliament passed the amendment a day after the United States and members of the American business community called on Thailand to go after people and companies in its seafood industry who allegedly force trafficked foreign migrants to work on its fishing fleets, according to the Associated Press.
On Wednesday, AP published a major expose on the enslavement of migrant workers in the Southeast Asian fishing industry.
AP's investigation revealed that hundreds of men – mostly migrant workers from Burma – had been trafficked via Thailand to a remote island in Indonesia, where they were forced to fish. Part of their catch was processed at factories in Thailand, AP reported.
A significant portion of trafficking victims are found in the seafood industry, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said while briefing reporters in Washington on Wednesday.
"So for several years, the international community, including the United States, has expressed concern publicly – also directly, of course – over the forced labor of foreign migrants in the Thai fishing and on-land seafood industries," Psaki said, according to an official transcript.
"And we continue to call on the Thai Government to take significantly greater steps to protect foreign migrants in the fishing and shrimp industries and to punish those who are enslaving workers."
Thai government responds
After AP's report came out, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying that 1.6 million foreign migrant workers, most of whom worked in the seafood industry, were registered with the government and enjoyed the same workplace protections as their Thai counterparts, according to AP.
The government also would monitor the industry more closely by installing surveillance systems on more than 7,700 fishing boats by June, AP reported.
It further noted that Thailand's largest seafood firm, Thai Union Frozen Products, announced it had immediately cuts ties with a supplier named in the report.
The legislature's amendment to the trafficking law also followed a diatribe against the media from Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha a day earlier.
He warned journalists not to report negatively about Thailand's military-controlled government, the Thai fishing industry and other issues related to the country.
He went so far as to say that he would "execute" journalists whose reports were too critical of the government.
During his outburst on Wednesday, Prayuth apparently did not mention the AP report.
But he did call out a local television reporter, Thapanee Ietsrichai, for her own investigative reports about the alleged enslavement of foreigners working aboard Thai vessels fishing in waters off Indonesia.
"Please don't escalate the news," Khaosod quoted the prime minister as saying. "The media should consider the impact the news will have on the country."
"Let me tell you now, Thapanee will have to come see officials," he added.
By BenarNews staff with details from news reports.


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BENARNEWS- Thai security forces on Tuesday arrested three suspected insurgents in Pattani province, but a bomb injured two security personnel elsewhere while their unit was out on daily patrol.

The arrests came on the heels of an intelligence report that a Malaysia-based leader of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) separatist group, Doonloh Wae-mano (also known as Pohsuloh), was orchestrating a serial bomb plot in Thailand's Deep South region. 

In response, a joint force of military, police and civilian personnel launched a search operation in villages in Pattani's Mayo district, Police Col. Jiraset Dao-ngerntrakul told BenarNews.

The sweep netted three suspected members of a BRN fighting unit known in the Malay dialect as Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK).

"We nabbed Sulkilfli Kaso, 28, who acts as logistic personnel, procuring weapons and supplying them to the members to attack innocents and officials. He was in Tambon Krasoe," said Jiraset, with the Mayo police station.

A second suspect, Abdulmanah Dueras, 31, was arrested from a different house in the same Tambon (village cluster). Police traced him thanks to a tip from two RKK members in custody who are charged with the arson of a school in Baan Krasoe late last year. 

A third man, Masakri Mayi, 27, was arrested elsewhere in Mayo district. Police said he had connections with insurgents in Pattani's Mayo, Yaring and Muang districts.

The men are being held for questioning by the 43rd Paramilitary Military Task Force, Jiraset said. 

Thailand's martial law allows authorities to detain suspects for up to seven days for interrogation.

Tuesday blast

In the afternoon, a motorcycle bomb exploded as a patrol squad from the 44th Paramilitary Task Force arrived at Baan Kalapotok in Pattani's Saiburi district, security sources told Benar News at the scene.

Two people were injured: Lance Cpl. Thanee Somrup and ranger Akarat Chuworathayee.

They were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Narathiwat province, six armed men dressed in fatigue pants and black shirts were spotted in the Budo mountains by local villagers, police in Yi-ngor district said.

Police believe the insurgents came down from the jungle along the Thai-Malaysia border to take delivery of supplies, as part of the attack plot reportedly masterminded by a BRN leader based in Kelantan state, Malaysia.  


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BENARNEWS- Thai police Monday announced the arrest of 76 suspected illegal migrants from Burma, including a half-dozen from that country's persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

The migrants were travelling together on a train bound for Malaysia when authorities stopped them in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, news services reported. 

"They were sitting with Thai passengers and upon inspection by authorities were found to have no travel documents," Reuters quoted Col. Anuchon Chamat, deputy commander of provincial police, as saying.

"It seems they wanted to go to Malaysia for work and had boarded the train at different locations along the route. It is difficult to say whether traffickers are among them," he added.

The six Rohingya, all males in their 20s, and the Burmese nationals – mostly adults and a handful of children – are being held at an immigration center in Muang district, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Agence France-Presse reported.

"The Rohingya said, via a translator, that their relatives in Malaysia paid around 70,000 baht ($2,150) each to Myanmar agents (for their passage) – but the Myanmar ones said they did not pay anyone," Railway Police Sub-Inspector Kraisorn Boonlum told AFP, using the other name for Burma.

The 76 were charged with illegal entry and most of them will be sent back to Burma, officials said.

Pending deportation, the six Rohingya will remain in Thai detention until authorities determine their nationality.

Thai officials said they were also investigating whether the six were victims of human trafficking.

In January, 98 suspected Rohingya victims of trafficking were found in pickup trucks in southern Thailand, Reuters reported.

Stateless 

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic minority concentrated in Burma's Rakhine State.

According to AFP, there are around 800,000 Rohingya; the U.S. Campaign for Burma puts the number at 1.33 million. They are stateless in Burma, denied citizenship and erroneously described as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Since 2012, thousands of Rohingya have fled a conflict in Rakhine state. Many have sought refuge in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, AFP reported. 

This week's mass arrest followed the rounding up by the 437th Border Patrol Police Company of 36 Burmese immigrants in a remote area along the Thai-Malaysian border in Songkhla province earlier this month, according to a BenarNews correspondent based in southern Thailand. 

The detention of the 76 Burmese also came days after Thailand's National Legislative Assembly adopted a tougher set of penalties by amending the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. 

Traffickers can now face life imprisonment or capital punishment in cases where their victims die, Reuters reported. Those found guilty of doing serious harm to victims can face 20 years in prison and fines of up to 400,000 baht ($12,281).

By BenarNews staff with details from news reports.

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BENARNEWS- A fact-finding team was sent Tuesday to the site of a deadly military raid in Pattani province last week, after local residents said that four men killed in the operation were, in fact, innocent and had no connection to the Deep South insurgency.

Four people were killed and 22 others captured at Toh Sud village, in Pattani's Tung Yang Daeng district, during a series of shootouts that lasted into the evening on March 25, security officials told BenarNews at the scene that day.

The military launched the operation based on intelligence that an armed separatist cell in Toh Sud was plotting attacks in the province, officials said.

Two of the dead were identified as students at Fatoni University. On Friday, it released a statement saying they were not members of separatist groups and had never been implicated in crimes. 

Nasae Dokoh, Toh Sud village headman, said he believed that weapons seized at the time didn't belong to the dead. 

"I could not access the shootout scene for some time until the security forces cleared the area, and every single dead [person] was seen with weapon(s) by their side," he told BenarNews.

"I believe they were innocent and the presence of weapons was suspicious," Nasae added.

'Transparency'

In response to the public outcry, the Internal Security Operation Command 4 (ISOC 4) has set up a 15-man fact-finding committee, which includes local civilians, Islamic clergy, government officials, police and members of the military.

The committee was scheduled to compensate families of the dead with the sum of 500,000 baht (US$15,625) each, ISOC officials said. 

Prasit Meksuwan, a civil society member who is on the committee, said the mystery centered on whether the dead men had weapons and exchanged fire with security forces.

"The locals expressed an outcry about the accusation that the dead had weapons in their hands. But the probing panelists must stay by the truth, and the wrongdoers must pay the price," Prasit said, adding that the full report would be finished by April 2.

The investigative team will talk with members of the security forces on Wednesday to get their account of the incident.

"We are genuinely committed to resolving the problems through peaceful means. When the public has a doubt, we need to launch a probe into it with transparency. We must prove what really happened, therefore we have set up a committee involving all parties," Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the Fourth Army Region, said Tuesday.

From March 28 to 31, there were additional shootings in all three Deep South provinces, resulting in five injuries and one death, according to police sources. 

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BENARNEWS- Police in southern Thailand's Pattani province said Thursday seven military members would likely be charged in the killings of four men in Tung Yang Dang district on March 25. 

Security forces surrounded Toh Sud village that day and had what they described as a shootout with suspected insurgents in which four men were killed and 22 taken prisoner. But locals and human rights advocates later claimed the four were innocent and carried no weapons when they died.

Police Major Gen. Krisakorn Pleetunyawong, superintendent of the provincial force, said investigators had compiled a list of five suspects and were still trying to identify two others. Police expect the suspects to surrender at a location and date that have yet to be determined, he told reporters. 

"They will probably be charged with killing – but whether it was done in the line of duty or not, they will have to testify later," Agence France-Presse quoted him as saying.

Thursday's statements by provincial police contrasted with information from an official fact-finding committee probing the claim that the four men were unarmed and innocent.

On Wednesday, the 15-member committee said four members of the military and three police officers had taken part in the deadly shootings at Toh Sud.

The security forces fired first, in violation of their rules of engagement, a source who observed the committee's close-door sessions told BenarNews. 

According to that person, the troops may have been relying on faulty intelligence when they raided the village on March 25.

"The committee made an observation that the inaccurate intelligence and a lack of cross-checks, as well as poor situational control, might have been the combined causes for the shootout, which ended in four fatalities," the source said.  

The regional military command appointed the committee, which comprises government officials, police, military, civilians and Islamic clerics.

The committee is expected to announce its findings on Friday.

Multiple shots

According to a local doctor, an autopsy on one of the dead men revealed that he was shot more than once and with bullets fired from different guns.

"One of the four dead suspects was wounded by two calibers of projectiles, according to the autopsy. He was running, wearing slippers," Dr. Aran Rohga, director of Tung Yang Dang Hospital, told BenarNews.

Of the four slain men, two were residents of Toh Sud and the other two were students at a local campus, Fatoni University.

Ismail Lutfi Chapakiya, the school's rector, denounced the use of lethal force.

He called for a non-violent solution to the separatist insurgency that has afflicted Pattani and other parts of Thailand's Deep South region. 

"Everyone who works in this area must learn about non-violent means because the way of non-violence is the best solution to the problem," Lutfi said. 

In other news from the Deep South, four remote-controlled bombs were set off early Thursday morning in Pattani's Muang district.

One person was injured in the bombings in and around Pattani town that mostly targeted local businesses. One of the bombs exploded near utility poles, causing a power outage, according to news reports.

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BENARNEWS- Four men killed by security forces during a raid on a village in Thailand's Pattani province last month were not insurgents or linked to a regional separatist rebellion, a military-appointed fact-finding committee said Tuesday in announcing its results.

The 15-member panel recommended that seven security force members who shot dead the men during the March 25 raid on Baan Toh Sud be prosecuted and that families of the four be compensated financially, committee representatives told a news conference in Pattani town. 

"The committee agreed that the four were not militants, nor the supporters of the insurgents," Waedueramae Mamingji, a cleric who chairs the Pattani Islamic Conference and who sat on the committee, told reporters.

Security forces were acting on intelligence that insurgents were in the area, they said at the time.

The military operation was lawful, the panel found, but it remained unclear whether the four men were armed or whether they traded shots with government forces, as initially stated by military sources.

Forensic tests would be needed to determine whether the four left fingerprints on weapons recovered from the scene and whether gunpowder traces were on their hands, Waedueramae said.

On Tuesday, Police Major Gen. Krisakorn Pleetunyawong, the provincial police chief, said that his office had summoned the seven security personnel, who allegedly killed the men, to turn themselves in. He said he expected them to surrender next week. 

The Bangkok Post identified the four slain men as Suhaimee Seniae, 32, Kholid Samaeng, 24, Madaree Maeroh, 23, and Saddam Wanu, 23. The three younger men were university students in the region, according to the Post.

General issues apology

Meanwhile, Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, who commands the 4th Army Region and who appointed the fact-finding committee, apologized for the killings of the four men, who were initially described as suspected insurgents.

A source who observed the fact-finding panel's discussions told BenarNews that erroneous intelligence may have led to the village being wrongly targeted in the raid. 

"As the commander of the Internal Security Operations Command 4, I apologize for what happened," Prakarn said. "I apologize to the citizens and the families of the dead, and I admit responsibility for this mishap."

On Tuesday, each of the families received 500,000 baht (USD $15,625) in compensation. 

Sagareeya Samaeng, the father of one of the men, said he was satisfied with the results of the committee's probe into the events at Baan Toh Sud on March 25.

"Today I feel good because the investigation's findings absolved him from the accusation. He is not guilty. I leave the further proceeding to the public attorney," Sagareeya told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Muslim leaders and government officials in Thailand's Deep South on Tuesday attended religious rites for four Buddhists who were murdered at a house in Narathiwat province on Sunday night.
In Yaha district in neighboring Yala province, more than a thousand people held a prayer for peace.
Investigators have concluded that a key insurgent leader, Sarahan Hama, was behind the murders of the four Buddhists, Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, who heads the 4th Army's regional command in the Deep South, told reporters Tuesday.
"We think the culprits were led by Sarahan Hama, who operates in the adjoining areas of Sukirin and Janae districts. We received a useful tip off and believe we can arrest them soon," Lt. Gen. Prakarn said Tuesday.
The four victims, who were reportedly tied up and executed, were among eight civilians killed by gunmen across the Deep South since Sunday morning.
Since 2004, at least 6,000 people have died in a separatist insurgency in the region, which consists of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala provinces, and some districts in Songkhla province.
The attack Sunday night in Narathiwat's Sukirin district took place in a house occupied by government workers involved in a state-run project to compensate victims of violence in the region. The victims have been identified as Aree Rattana, Somnuek Rattana, Joon E-ern and Dam E-ern.
Among those paying respects to the four was Waedueramae Mamingji, chairman of the Islamic Committee for the Deep South.
A day earlier, Mamingji, who also chairs the Islamic committee in neighboring Pattani province, had issued a statement condemning the killings of the four-non Muslims.
He reiterated that condemnation on Tuesday.
"It is brutal, inhumane. To cause the others to die and to also destroy the bodies is a sheer shame," Waedueramae told the victims' families.
"All must jointly condemn the use of violence against our brothers in the south. All should share significant information and jointly help develop the community for peace, because we are brothers," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Insurgents from Thailand's Deep South region did not carry out last week's bombing on the resort island of Koh Samui, the Thai deputy prime minister told reporters in Bangkok on Friday.

But in southern Thailand, security officials revealed that three people in custody in connection with the car-bomb attack were Deep South natives and a group of suspects had driven from that restive region to the Koh Samui area in three vehicles.

"It was not the work of the insurgents from the Deep South. It was not the expansion of the activities by the insurgency from the Deep South," Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan said at Government House.

"At Koh Samui island, police are speeding up the prosecution process. We know all the culprits," he added during a news conference, at which he presented a laundry list of the military-led government's achievements during its first months in office.

Earlier, authorities had said that a truck used in the bombing at a shopping mall on the island had been stolen in Yala province – which is part of the Deep South. The April 10 bombing at the Central Festival mall injured seven people.

Prawit did not mention the bomb-rigged truck but he hinted that the attack on the popular tourist destination was politically motivated.

"We need to speed up the case because there is a complex network with connections from south to north and vice versa, plotting everything," Prawit said.

Growing Deep South connection

Meanwhile, a bomb disposal expert in southern Thailand told BenarNews the bomb was homemade and was rigged in the manner used by insurgents from the far south.

"The bomb was composed of 50 to 80 kilos of explosives," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The bomb was housed in a cooking gas tank and detonated by remote control with a cellphone, he said.

On Friday, authorities announced that they had found a third vehicle used in the Koh Samui plot. 

A group of suspects had driven three vehicles from the Deep South to the pier at Don Sak, in Surat Thani province.

At a ferry terminal there, two of the vehicles stayed, while a third one, which was rigged with the bomb, boarded the ferry for the sea crossing to Koh Samui, regional police told BenarNews.

In Surat Thani, Army Maj. Gen. Kuerkoon Innachak, who is leading a military investigation into the bombing, told reporters that seven security guards who worked at the mall were taken into custody and questioned on Tuesday.

Four of them later were released, but three men are still in custody. All three are from the Deep South, Kuerkoon said, adding that one of them was heavily involved in the plot.

None of the suspects have been charged, he said.

Expert: Rogue southern separatists may have been involved

Prawit's rejection of the theory that southern separatists may have been behind the bombing followed speculation in the media about whether the rebels were exporting their mission north of the Deep South's borders.

Since 2004, more than 6,000 people in the predominantly Muslim region, where people speak a Malay dialect, have died in the conflict.

"If the attacks were perpetrated by Malay insurgents, it would represent an important escalation of the conflict in Southern Thailand," Zachary Abuza, an expert on terrorist movements in Southeast Asia, wrote in an article published in The Diplomat on Monday.

"In just the six years since January 2009 alone, there have been more than 1,000 bombings, but they have remained confined to the Malay-dominated provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, Pattani, as well as the four districts of Songkhla. Insurgents have rarely ventured out of that area," he added. 

Lt. Gen. Nanthadej Meksawat, a retired security officer who covered the Deep South, said he believed that "rogue elements" from the southern insurgency may have been hired to carry out the attack. 

Last Friday's bombing took place on the fifth anniversary of a Red Shirt protest in which some pro-opposition demonstrators were killed at the hands of government forces.

"Rogue elements with connection with politicians would do it for money," Nanthadej told BenarNews. 

National politicians with connections to the opposition are known to hire insurgents in the Deep South for their political purposes, he said.

However, in his view, it is unlikely that mainstream insurgents would expand their ideological mission outside the region. 

"The insurgents with ideology wouldn't cross the line of their territory because their fellow Muslims in the Deep South may fall under suspicion by the authorities and they may be subjected to search operations," he added.

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BENARNEWS- A student activist from Thailand's insurgency-hit Deep South says a Thai newspaper wrongly tied him and his organization to an investigation into a recent bombing on the island resort of Koh Samui.

"I'm in the process of considering a lawsuit against Thai Rath," Suhaimi Dulasa, president of the Federation of Students in the Deep South (PERMAS), told BenarNews on Monday, referring to an article published Friday in the country's biggest Thai-language paper.

The Thai Rath said security forces were investigating a series of meetings PERMAS held on the island prior to the bombing. It cited an anonymous source from Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, the Thai military command with responsibility for the Deep South.

"Members of the PERMAS, led by Suhaimi, on several occasions travelled to Samui island to hold meetings to perform 'unclassified' activities at a Muslim community on the resort island. The security forces are investigating the meeting agenda [to determine] whether they have a connection to the bomb attack," the article said.

Suhaimi, who vehemently denies the report, on Monday went to the Yala province offices of the Muslim Attorney Council (MAC), a legal aid group, to consult with its lawyers about possibly suing Thai Rath for libel.

"I've never been to Koh Samui or that community," Suhaimi said. "To say I had such meetings took place is a wrong accusation." 

A reporter for Thai Rath could not be reached for comment Monday night.

More arrests reported

Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the forward office of ISOC, told reporters that neither ISOC Region 4 or the Bangkok-based ISOC ever implicated Suhaimi.

"In daily meetings at ISOC Region 4, we have never addressed that PERMAS had a hand in the bomb attack," Pramote said.

"I confirmed that Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr, the Army commander-in-chief and the deputy minister for defense, and Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, have never mentioned such incidents, and I believe the opinion was of one individual and it has nothing to do with the ISOC 4 and the parent ISOC," he added.

On April 10, a car-bomb explosion in a parking lot at a shopping mall on Koh Samui injured seven people. 

The Nation newspaper reported Monday that a 33-year-old teacher from Pattani province – one of the provinces in the Deep South – was among two more suspects arrested in connection with the bombing.

Their arrests bring to five the number of people taken into custody by police in Surat Thani province. The other three are security guards who worked at the mall.

The Nation also quoted police as saying that they were trying to find three other vehicles involved in the bombing, but these were now believed to be somewhere in the Deep South. 

Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have died in a separatist insurgency in Thailand's predominantly Muslim far southern region.

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan said that insurgents from the Deep South did not carry out the bombing.

"It was not the work of the insurgents from the Deep South. It was not the expansion of the activities by the insurgency from the Deep South," he told reporters at Government House in Bangkok.

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BENARNEWS- Malaysia-brokered peace talks between Thailand and insurgents from its Deep South region likely will resume next month for the first time in more than a year, Thai Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr said Wednesday.
The Thai military was close to sealing an agreement to open a "dialogue" with southern separatists, he told reporters in Bangkok.
"The new round of dialogue will take place soon, probably in May. Our negotiating teams have been conducting low-profile, pre-arrangements for it," Udomdej said on the sidelines of a news conference about national security matters alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan.
Later, a senior military official who is close to the negotiations said he was involved in efforts to persuade all five Deep South insurgent groups to participate at the talks in Kuala Lumpur, but these meetings would be behind closed doors.
"The talks with the dissidents will likely happen in May in Malaysia," Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), told BenarNews by phone.
However, Nakrob declined to reveal names of people who might represent the insurgents at the talks, saying this information was classified.
Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the separatist insurgency in Thailand's far southern provinces, which are predominantly Muslim and whose population speaks Jawi, a Malay dialect. The Deep South borders Malaysia.
The upcoming talks would also mark the first attempt by Thailand's military-ruled government, which seized power last May, to seek a negotiated settlement to the southern conflict.
The last round of talks took place under a civilian-led government, with Malaysia acting as a mediator. But they stalled in December 2013.
Hassan Bin Toyib, chief of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) – one of the main rebel groups – headed the insurgency's four-man delegation to those peace talks.
Mistakes made in Deep South raid: Prawit
During Wednesday's news conference at the Ministry of Defense, the deputy prime minister and army chief spoke about a raid by government forces in Pattani province on March 25, in which security personnel killed four civilians in the village of Toh Sud.
According to an official probe into the shootings, the raid was based on flawed military intelligence.
The military appointed a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident, after receiving public complaints that the four men were innocent.
The unit that raided the village made a mistake and did not intend to kill innocent people, Prawit told reporters.
"We went there at night time, which we admitted was not right," Prawit said. "And when we had been in there and with misunderstanding, the personnel involved took responsibility by admitting a tactical error."
On April 7, when the fact-finding committee publicized its findings on the incident, Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, chief of ISOC's regional command in the Deep South, told reporters that the military would use the case to examine whether it needed to improve its intelligence-reporting procedures and rules of engagement.
"I think we have to go back and further review the work of the intelligence. We will work transparently and be straight forward under the law and human rights principles," he said.
Earlier this week, six of the seven security personnel who were implicated in the killings at Toh Sud presented themselves at a police station in Tung Yang Dang district, but legal proceedings against them have yet to begin.
On Wednesday, Udomdej acknowledged that rules of engagement were breached during the raid on Toh Sud.
"Normally, we would secure the perimeter and have religious leaders witness the scene," he told reporters, adding that "Now the Muslim leaders, however, understand the situation that some procedures were overstepped due to the hectic atmosphere."
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr disclosed news about peace talks with the southern residents during a press conference. It also erroneously implied that all of the five southern insurgent groups had agreed to take part in the upcoming talks, and it gave the wrong date for when peace talks were last held.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's restive Deep South region has a long history of peaceful co-existence between different religions and ethnicities, according to some of its oldest residents.
Among the 1.7 million people who live in Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces, 171 are at least 100 years old, according to the Public Health Ministry, which discovered the surprisingly high number in a 2014 census of the Deep South.
The culture of Thailand's far southern region combines influences of Muslim Malay Patanis, Buddhist Thais and descendants of immigrants from mainland China. Together, they have largely lived in peace and harmony for centuries, some local centenarians say.
Nevertheless, the re-emergence in 2004 of Patani separatists – or in their terms, liberation fighters – has caused unrest for over a decade now.
The resumption of violence baffles 104-year-old Tuanbuesa Waebuesa, a native Muslim of Yala.
"I've been through a hard time including World War II, but I don't see any reason why this violence continues to happen," he told BenarNews.
In his eyes, a thin line exists between liberation ideology, black market business, drugs and organized crime.
"Perhaps when the problems exist, that creates a comfortable condition for personal gain, gangland-style," he said
"The most important things for our youths are that they stay away from drugs abuse and political violence," Tuanbuesa added.
According to the book "Ancient Cities Above The Kingdom of Siam," Patani Darussalam was established in the 15th century by Sultan Ismael Sah, who converted from Buddhism to Islam.
Patani Darussalam encompassed the region that is made up today of Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala and four districts of Songkhla province.
Bangkok completely annexed Patani Darussalam during the reign of King Rama V [1868 – 1910].
A Chinese perspective
[https://www]
In 1948, the Malay Patani rose up against the Marshall Plaek Pibulsongkram regime in the foiled Dusun Nyor Rebellion. That defeat set the stage for a new chapter of secession attempts which emerged in the late 1950s.
Despite that, Ung Chu Bung, 103, who migrated to Yala from mainland China, saw the bright side of the Deep South.

"When I was young I found love among relatives and friends, be they Muslims, Buddhists or Chinese," Ung Chu Bung said, "We shared good times and bad times over the years."
"Regardless of unrest, I still truly believe that people here still love each other," she said.
"There are too many bad people wedging us apart, so the younger generation must not fall victim to such attempts," Ung Chu Bung told BenarNews.
A Buddhist view
[https://www]
Dang Seedang, a Buddhist, shared Ung Chu Bung's outlook, saying that religious differences should be no obstacle to harmony.
"In the past, the older generation lived in peace and harmony without discrimination," said the 103-year-old resident of Pattani.

"We are all brothers and sisters and religion is not a barrier. Only if we learn how to love and harmonize, the problems of violence, drugs, personal gain and so on will subside," Dang said. 


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BENARNEWS- Reeling from the discovery of 32 bodies of trafficked migrants in southern Thailand, the junta in Bangkok on Friday sought the cooperation of Malaysia and Myanmar to help combat the growing human smuggling problem in the region.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, in a late televised address, acknowledged the involvement of government officials in lucrative human trafficking syndicates, as a mayor and deputy mayor were arrested and about 50 police officers transferred from their posts from the country's troubled south.

"I have ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to liaise with Malaysia and Myanmar to hold a meeting to resolve this," Prayuth told journalists, according to the Reuters news agency. "We think this meeting can be held by the end of this month."

Following the discovery last week of 32 bodies believed to be those of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state and Bangladesh at two locations in Songkhla province, 30 more suspected migrants' graves were found Thursday but authorities have yet to exhume any bodies from that site. 

Southern Thailand is notorious as a transit point for the trafficking into Malaysia of Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority in Myanmar fleeing persecution.

Bangladesh's envoy in Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem said her country was also willing to cooperate with Thailand to stem the problem.

"Bangladesh will talk soon with the Thai government about cooperation between the two countries for joint action to curb human trafficking," she told BenarNews by phone Friday.

She gave the interview before travelling to Songkhla, where she met with the governor, the provincial police chief and two Bangladeshi trafficking victims.

In another development Friday, 60 Bangladeshi migrants were detained after they were caught trekking in a rubber plantation in Rattapum district in Songkhla , said Police Col. Polahol Ketkaew of the local border patrol.

Suspected traffickers killed in Bangladesh

Meanwhile in Dhaka, State Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that the Bangladeshi government would crack down on people-smuggling.

"Law and enforcement agencies will go after traffickers ... who are smuggling Bangladeshi men or Rohingya using Thai routes for trafficking into Malaysia, and bring them to justice," he said.

On Friday, Bangladeshi police shot and killed three suspects, who were accused of trafficking thousands of Bangladeshis and Burmese, during a shootout in Cox's Bazar district, near the Myanmar border.

The three men had operated human trafficking networks in Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia, Agence France-Presse quoted Ataur Rahman, a police chief in the district, as saying.

"The three are the most notorious human traffickers to have been operating along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for years," Rahman said.

More arrests in Thailand

In southern Thailand, several local officials and a Burmese national have been arrested on human trafficking charges in connection with the discovery of the bodies of trafficked migrants.

National police on Friday announced that the mayor of Padang Besar – a sub-district in Songkhla where the bodies were found – had been arrested in connection with the case. Padang Besar's deputy mayor was taken into custody a day earlier on similar charges.

In announcing the arrest of Mayor Banjong Pongpol, national police chief Gen. Somyos  Poompanmuang warned that no one would be spared in the pursuit of officials linked to human smuggling, the Associated Press reported.

"If you are still neglecting, or involved with, or supporting or benefitting from human-trafficking networks – your heads will roll," AP quoted Somyos as telling reporters in Bangkok.

On Friday afternoon, Somyos went to Trang province in the south, where he announced the arrest of a seventh suspect in the case, Supoj Meuansew, an alleged hitman connected to human traffickers.

Supoj was arrested on charges of murder and human trafficking, and was a "key suspect" in the ring that Banjong allegedly belonged to, Somyos said.

UN: 'Sharp increase' in perilous sea crossings

In Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that the number of illegal migrants undertaking dangerous sea journeys in and around the Bay of Bengal had risen sharply in the first quarter of 2015.

According to UNHCR estimates, some 25,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis boarded smugglers' boats during the first three months of the year – almost twice the number that had undertaken such crossings in the region during the same period last year.

UNHCR issued a statement welcoming the Thai government's proclaimed crackdown on human smuggling, but the agency said it was appalled by the deaths of the migrants whose bodies were found in Songkhla.

"Considering the growing scale and severity of the boat exodus, UNHCR calls on countries in the region to work more closely together to counter the smuggling and trafficking of vulnerable people," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

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BENARNEWS- Former insurgents in Thailand's Deep South region and a young supporter of armed separatists are expressing skepticism about prospects of the military-led government holding peace talks with rebel groups next month in Malaysia.

"What do they want us to come out for?" an ex-member of Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), one of the main separatists groups in the Deep South, told BenarNews.

"Most importantly, they need to talk to the [resistance] leaders in Thailand," he said, adding, "The military just wants to talk to the less important leaders in Malaysia who are ranked number three or four in the real-world hierarchy."

This week, Thai Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr told reporters in Bangkok that the military was close to clinching a deal to open a Malaysia-brokered "dialogue" with southern separatists, and this could start sometime in May.

The talks likely will take place in May in neighboring Malaysia, Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonthong, who is closely involved in efforts to bring about a new round of talks with southern rebel groups, told BenarNews on Wednesday.

The talks would be the first since 2013 and the first held under Thailand's junta, which overthrew a civilian-led government last May. 

'They don't trust the military'

The ex-BRN member and the other sources from the south all spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said the Thai military was pursuing all means – both covert and overt – to try and persuade separatists to come to the negotiation table, but that "most of BRN's members do not want to talk because they know what will happen after that."

He was alluding to the last round of Malaysia-brokered talks that collapsed in December 2013, in which the rebel side was represented by BRN leader Hassan Bin Toyib.

"The Thai government is not sincere. The demands by Hassan Bin Toyib then were not honored," the source said.

Another southerner, a youth who supports the insurgency, also expressed pessimism about the prospective talks.

"The youths wouldn't want to talk because we don't believe the military. It is risky to talk and the family might be disturbed. Staying in the shadows like this is enough good, and we have peace of mind," he told BenarNews.

A third source, an ex-BRN member in Malaysia, where many BRN supporters live in exile, said that on April 9 he had seen Gen. Aksara Kerdpol – the government's appointed lead negotiator – come to Malaysia.

According to the source, Aksara went there to take part in a closed-door meeting with low-level representatives of BRN and two other Deep South separatist groups: the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) and Barisan Islam Pembebasan Patani (BIPP).

"They [the Thai military] want to talk to key leaders of various groups but none of them dare come out because they don't trust the military," the ex-BRN member in Malaysia told BenarNews.

Two die, eight hurt in fresh violence

Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the insurgency gripping various Muslim-dominated provinces and districts that make up the Deep South.

On Friday, more deadly violence there was reported.

Two women were shot dead on a local highway and at least eight others were wounded in a series of suspected rebel attacks across the region.

Unidentified assailants shot the women – members of the Akha tribe of Chiang Mai province, in northern Thailand – in Tan To district, Yala province, as they rode a motorcycle on the Betong-Yala road, police said.

The victims were identified as Buser Mayer, 48, and Busue Mayer, 17, said Col. Chatchai Chanasit, chief of the Bunnang Star police station. 

In Narathiwat province, a father and his three children, aged between four and 10, were injured when a roadside bomb exploded as they rode a motorbike near the entrance to Sadej beach, in Tak Bai district, police said. 

The four victims of that attack were taken to Prince of Narathiwat Hospital, but their conditions were unknown.

In Mayor district, Pattani province, an armored military vehicle was struck by a claymore landmine on Route 4092. Four soldiers and security volunteers were slightly injured by the blast, police said.

Infamous days

The attacks came days ahead of April 28, which will mark anniversaries of two important dates in Deep South history.

On April 28, 1948, the Thai government quelled a Patani Malay uprising at Narathiwat's Dusun Nyor tambon. And on April 28, 2004, the military killed insurgents at Pattani's Krue Seh mosque.

"Every year the insurgents have tried to instigate violence during these days, and again this year, officials must be well cautious," an official, who asked not to be named, told BenarNews.

Separately, Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Region 4 field office of the Internal Security Operation Force (ISOC), condemned Friday's attacks. 

"The incident displayed reckless attempts to hurt the innocent citizens, especially the impact on the children. This is extreme, inhumane and deserves far-and-wide condemnation," Col. Pramote told reporters.

"I don't want anyone to have an impression that the insurgents carry out attacks to mark milestones of uprising. They do that every single moment they can," he said.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the date for when peace talks last took place.


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BENARNEWS- Thai authorities have hauled in a record seven tons of smuggled African ivory in the last eight days, worth some $12 million and destined for sale in Laos, customs officials say.

On Saturday, officials found 511 pieces of ivory stashed in crates of tea leaves from Kenya, according to a statement issued by Thai Customs on Monday.

The shipment passed through Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore before arriving in Thailand at Laem Chabang Port in Chon Buri province, the statement said.

"After crossing the Lao border, the tusks would be distributed to buyers from China, Vietnam and Thailand," it said.

Saturday's haul followed the seizure on April 20 of 739 tusks buried in bags of dried beans from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last week's haul was described as Thailand's biggest ivory seizure ever.

That shipment passed through Malaysia and was stopped at a port in Bangkok. 

Each shipment was valued at around $6 million.

"We have been following the (shipment) for two months. Intelligence reports said ivory from Africa might be smuggled with other products to go through the Laotian border," Thai Customs director-general Somchai Sujjapongse told reporters at the time, according to the Associated Press.
Last month, Thai authorities arrested a Malaysian and a Thai who were alleged kingpins of a transnational ivory trafficking ring. The two were suspected of trading in African ivory and smuggling the contraband across Thailand's southern border. They were arrested in connection with the seizure, last December, of 51 pieces of African ivory in northeastern Surin province. 

Laos "is increasingly being used as a major transit point for such large volumes of illicit ivory and other wildlife products," Chris Shepherd of the conservation group TRAFFIC told Agence-France Presse.

"The increase in large-scale seizures is of great concern. Whether the ivory is coming from freshly killed elephants, or from stockpiles of ivory in Africa, needs to be investigated," AFP quoted him as saying. 

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global regulator, has threatened to ban Thailand's wildlife business if it fails to curb the trade in tusks on its soil, AFP said.

Thai law permits the sale of registered ivory from domesticated Thai elephants, AFP reported. But, experts say, criminal gangs launder illegal African ivory through the kingdom.

By BenarNews staff with details from news reports.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that a second seizure of ivory took place in Ubon Ratchathani province, eastern Thailand.


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BENARNEWS- Buddhist and Muslim women activists gathered in Pattani on Tuesday, the eleventh anniversary of a bloody clash at Krue Se mosque, to call for an end of violence against innocents in Thailand's insurgency-ridden Deep South.

The use of violence to solve the region's problems has perpetuated a cycle of retribution killings in which women and children often are the victims, 21 advocacy groups under an umbrella organization, the Working Group for Southern Women, told a news conference at Park View Resort.

For example, they said, after security forces shot dead four young Muslim men in Pattani's Tung Yang Dang district on March 25, 13 civilians were killed in follow-on attacks, including nine women and girls.

"We demand a safe zone for children and women," said Patimoh Po-etae-daoh of WEPEACE. "Please stop violence in public areas such as markets, schools, hospitals and religious establishments."

"Everyone on the ground must have tolerance, and government officials must adopt a peaceful approach," she added. 

After the press conference, the activists travelled to key places, including Krue Se Mosque, to campaign for peace.

The groups said they were hoping to participate in possible talks between insurgent leaders and the Thai military, should those talks take place in May.

In Bangkok last week, Thai Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr announced that dialogue between Thailand and southern insurgent groups would resume for the first time in more than a year in Malaysia, "probably in May".

The cycle of violence

The women were gathering in Pattani on the anniversary of two important dates in Deep South history.

On April 28, 2004, separatists launched widespread attacks in Pattani, Songkhla and Yala provinces to mark the foiled Dusun Nyor Rebellion, which took place on the same day in 1948. 

The attacks in 2004 resulted in 108 fatalities on both sides. 

That year's uprising – better known as the Krue Se incident – came to a close with a military raid on 32 insurgents hiding in the 400-year-old mosque, which is a landmark for Malay Patani people. All 32 were killed before sunset. 

Their deaths marked one of the foundational incidents of the current uprising, which has dragged on for 11 years and claimed more than 6,000 lives. 

According to the book "Ancient Cities above the Kingdom of Siam," Krue Se Mosque was built in the early 17th Century during the reign of Queen Rayaberu of Patani Darussalam, the predominantly Muslim region known today as Thailand's Deep South.

Patani Darussalam was colonized by the Kingdom of Siam until it annexed the region under King Rama V [1868-1910].

Historian: Krue Se was not burnt by Siam

According to Dr. Krongchai Hattha, a historian at Prince of Songkla University's Pattani Campus, recent findings show that the Krue Se Mosque was never burnt, as stated in many tales of Patani Darussalam.

After the 2004 incident, which caused damage to the mosque structure, the university's Fine Arts department repaired the mosque and conducted a carbon test on the soil. Krongchai disclosed the results to BenarNews.

"The soil foundation of the Krue Se mosque contained no carbon particles to prove that it was burnt or even struck by lightning," Krongchai said. 

"The materials used for construction of the mosque contained cement similar to that found in the city walls. The mosque's dome-shaped rooftop caved in because the cements were mixed with mollusk shells, which was flimsy," Krongchai explained.

Wedged apart

Koriyah Hali, whose father was killed in the Krue Se incident 11 years ago, embraced the findings, but said some might reject it despite the scientific evidence.

Koriyah – who came to Krue Se Mosque a day before the anniversary to pray for her late father – agreed that stories about the past could cause rifts among people.

"In the past we didn't take a second to think whether the information imparted was true or not, or whether it was possible or reliable. We therefore are wedged apart. Someone gains from it, while we are suffering," she said. 

In spite of her own personal loss, she condemned the idea of revenge attacks.

"Killing is sinful and Allah wouldn't take a killer to his kingdom. We Krue Se victims would not commit sin but follow the predestination and will of Allah," she said. 


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BENARNEWS- Police in southern Thailand on Friday discovered 31 graves at a camp in the jungle on the Malaysian border, believed to contain the bodies of Rohingya Muslims, officials said.

They found the corpse of another Rohingya on the ground at the site, and rescued a lone survivor said to be from Bangladesh.

The 32 were being smuggled by human traffickers and may have starved to death, police believe.

Thailand's far southern region is notorious as a transit point for trafficking of illegal migrants, including Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority fleeing persecution and conflict in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. 

The camp in Padang Besar subdistrict of Songkhla province was just 300 meters (984 feet) from the Malaysian border, police said. 

One hour trek through the jungle 

Col. Weerasant Tarnpiem, Padang Besar's police chief, said his station had received a request from a Rohingya aid group in Songkhla to rescue some Rohingya being held captive by a gang.

"Today, 88 policemen trekked to the camp for an hour into the jungle. We found 34 shelters, including bedrooms, rest rooms and a kitchen. It looked like [the camp] had recently been abandoned," Weerasant said.

"The police found a survivor named Thu Don Kha, 26, a Bangladeshi citizen, who was sick. He told the police there were over 100 Rohingya detained in the camp. But brokers took them for escape. The police also found a dead man and more than 30 graves of Rohingya, both older and newer," he added.

Five bodies were removed from graves at the site on Friday, according to the Mai Khom Rescue Foundation, a local group that was at the scene and which helped exhume the corpses. It photographed at least two plastic-wrapped bodies and posted the pictures on Facebook.

A worker with the group said the lone survivor, who was very weak and emaciated, was taken to a local hospital.

The six bodies recovered from the camp were taken to Hat Yai, the provincial capital, for autopsies, Mai Khom Rescue Foundation said.

Exhumations were to resume on Saturday, when a forensics team from Bangkok was due to arrive on scene, according to messages posted online by the foundation. 

Rohingya trafficking route

Friday's macabre discovery in the jungle along the Thai-Malaysia border followed the March 30 arrests, in the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat, of 76 illegal migrants from Myanmar, including six Rohingya.

Thai authorities caught the 76 on a train bound for Malaysia.

The Rohingya are an ethnic minority concentrated in Myanmar's Rakhine State.

They are stateless in Burma, denied citizenship and often erroneously described as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Since 2012, thousands of Rohingya have fled a conflict in Rakhine, according to Agence France-Presse. 

Many seek refuge in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, travelling through Thailand and paying traffickers huge sums of money to facilitate their illegal journeys.

A few days before the 76 Burmese migrants were arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand's National Legislative Assembly voted to toughen the nation's anti-trafficking law and impose harsher penalties on human traffickers.

In Padang Besar on Friday, a local resident told BenarNews that people who lived in the area knew of a camp in the jungle, where Rohingya would stay before they crossed into Malaysia.

"After entering Malaysia, they will wait inside Malaysia at a certain camp for further pickup. Each migrant paid the brokers 50,000 baht (U.S. $1,505), as far as we've heard," the resident said.



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BENARNEWS- Three local officials were among four suspects in police custody on Monday in connection with the discovery of 26 bodies at a human trafficking camp along the Thai-Malaysia border.

The dead were victims of a transnational trafficking ring comprised of Thai, Malaysian and Burmese nationals, according to Thai police.

They said the bodies recovered from the site – mostly exhumed from shallow graves – belonged to Muslim Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, and there could be three to five other graves nearby. 

But a report in the Bangkok Post on Monday quoted a Bangladeshi man, the only person found alive at the camp on Friday, as saying he had witnessed 40 people die there, including 10 fellow Bangladeshis. 

The camp was located in Padang Besar, a sub-district of southern Thailand's Songkhla province. 

The newspaper also quoted a Rohingya community leader in Thailand alleging that thousands of Rohingya were being kept in at least 60 detention camps in the mountains along the border.

"The discovery of the detention camp [in Padang Besar] is just the tip of the iceberg," Abdul Kalam, former president of the Rohingya Association of Thailand, told the Post. 

Suspects charged

At a press conference Monday in Hat Yai, National Police Chief Gen. Somyos Poompanmuang presented three of the four arrested suspects: Arsun Inthanu (also known as Bung Sun), a 42-year-old municipal councilman in Padang Besar; and Ro-a Sonyalae, 41, and Ali Lamoh, 47, both assistant village headmen in the sub-district.

The fourth suspect, identified as 40-year-old Burmese national Saw Naing Anu (also known as Anwar), was arrested in Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Police have issued arrest warrants for four more suspects, who also include local officials.

All four suspects in custody have been charged with human trafficking, illegal detention and holding people for ransom.

"This criminal syndicate is a trans-boundary one comprising Thais, Burmese and Malaysians, who have conducted such criminal activities for three to four years," Somyos told reporters. 

Altogether the remains of 26 people – 25 male and one female – were recovered from the site since Friday. 

"For the causes of deaths, we are still awaiting the forensic examination but we suspect sickness and food shortages," Somyos added.

On Sunday, the Reuters news agency reported that initial forensic examinations of the bodies showed no signs of violent death. 

Reaction from Malaysia, Bangladesh

In neighboring Malaysia, Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said his government had seen no evidence of a Malaysian connection to the Padang Besar case.

"There is no proof that citizens of this country are involved at the moment in this syndicate because the laws here are very strict," he told BenarNews.

''I have asked ministry officials to check with the Thai authorities, but so far we have not received any detailed information," he added.

In Dhaka, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Khaleda Begum told BenarNews that Bangladesh's embassy in Thailand was trying to meet with the lone survivor to get more information and determine whether other Bangladeshis were kept at the camp in the jungle.

"The Thai Foreign Ministry gave assurances to cooperate on that, so we are trying to meet him very soon," she said.

'We are helping them'

Some1.3 million Rohingyas are stateless and vulnerable in Myanmar, with many denied citizenship, evicted from their homes, and left victims of land confiscation.

Since 2012, thousands have fled communal violence in western Rakhine state, where the Rohingya population is concentrated. In an attempt to reach Muslim Malaysia, many travel through Thailand, paying traffickers hefty sums to get them across the border.

In Songkhla, a local man who spoke to BenarNews on condition of anonymity said that he was involved in facilitating illegal migration.

"We who do this think we are helping them to travel to the third countries because, at home, they are persecuted," the man said. "They were not lured into traveling but they are willing to do so [in order] to meet and live with relatives in more convenient places."

"It's not human trafficking but, I admit, it's illegal," he added.

Hata Wahari in Kuala Lumpur and Shahriar Sharif in Dhaka contributed to this report.

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BENARNEWS- Authorities in Thailand said they found 30 more graves of suspected illegal migrants in the south of the country on Thursday, amid a deepening human trafficking scandal that has seen a deputy mayor arrested and about 50 police officers transferred from their posts.
Forensics teams will dig up the graves in Hat Yai district in Songkhla province on Friday, police said.
So far, the authorities have found the bodies of 32 migrants. They were recovered from two sites in a jungle in the province's Padang Besar sub-district near the border with Malaysia.
Thai border patrolmen stumbled on the new graves at a burial ground in the village of Baan Chalung, while they combed Khao Kaew mountain as part of a governmental crackdown on human trafficking.
Villagers said the graves were in what they believed to be a former camp for trafficking stateless Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar. Members of this minority undertake perilous journeys by sea and land to escape religious and ethnic persecution as well as search for jobs.
"Previously in this vicinity, there used to be one of the big trafficking camps for Rohingya in Songkhla province," a resident of Baan Chalung told BenarNews.
Thailand's far southern region is known as a major transit point for the trafficking into Malaysia of Rohingyas.
Abdul Mabud, a member of the Burmese Rohingya Association of Thailand, told BenarNews he had reason to believe that several hundred Rohingya were now traveling by sea toward Thai shores.
He expressed fear that the passengers on the vessels in the Andaman Sea could be blocked from coming ashore and that the lives of his fellow Rohingya could be in danger.
"There are some people afloat on boats in the sea. They cannot dock at Phang-nga or Satun and they might be killed and thrown into the water," Mabud said, referring to two other provinces in southern Thailand.
Officials implicated, cops disciplined
At least five people, including a Burmese national and four local officials from Padang Besar, have been arrested since Monday on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking.
Among them is Padang Besar Deputy Mayor Prasit Laemleh, who turned himself in following a warrant of arrest issued on him.
Deputy National Police Chief Gen. Ek Angsananond told a news conference in Hat Yai on Thursday that Prasit had denied charges of being involved in human trafficking, illegal detention and holding people for ransom.
Altogether there are 18 suspects in the Padang Besar case, 13 of whom are at-large and have warrants out for their arrests, Maj. Gen. Puthachart
Ekachan, deputy superintendent of the police bureau 9 command, told reporters.
Some 50 police officers serving in the south have also been transferred out over alleged links to human trafficking.
Among them were 30 cops from Ranong, Satun and Songkhla provinces, National Police Chief Gen. Somyos Poompanmuang said Wednesday.
"I will not allow these kind of camps to exist in Thailand," Agence France-Presse quoted Somyos as saying.
Rohingya arrested
Following the discovery of the 30 graves on Thursday, Border Patrol Police found an abandoned human trafficking camp in a rubber plantation in Rattapum district in Songkhla and arrested 15 undocumented Rohingya migrants trekking through the jungle.
According to the Bangkok Post, 17 other undocumented Rohingya were arrested in the area a day earlier.
The operations carried out by the border patrol were part of an effort by Thai authorities to cut off routes used by traffickers to smuggle in people, Gen. Ek told reporters.
"The seal-off operation covers the [point of] origin in Satun province, both seashores and inland trails, where Rohingya dock on the beaches and then trek through the natural trails to Songkhla province. Police, military and civilian officials are patrolling around," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Reeling from the discovery of 32 bodies of trafficked migrants in southern Thailand, the junta in Bangkok on Friday sought the cooperation of Malaysia and Myanmar to help combat the growing human smuggling problem in the region.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, in a late televised address, acknowledged the involvement of government officials in lucrative human trafficking syndicates, as a mayor and deputy mayor were arrested and about 50 police officers transferred from their posts from the country's troubled south.

"I have ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to liaise with Malaysia and Myanmar to hold a meeting to resolve this," Prayuth told journalists, according to the Reuters news agency. "We think this meeting can be held by the end of this month."

Following the discovery last week of 32 bodies believed to be those of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state and Bangladesh at two locations in Songkhla province, 30 more suspected migrants' graves were found Thursday but authorities have yet to exhume any bodies from that site. 

Southern Thailand is notorious as a transit point for the trafficking into Malaysia of Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority in Myanmar fleeing persecution.

Bangladesh's envoy in Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem said her country was also willing to cooperate with Thailand to stem the problem.

"Bangladesh will talk soon with the Thai government about cooperation between the two countries for joint action to curb human trafficking," she told BenarNews by phone Friday.

She gave the interview before travelling to Songkhla, where she met with the governor, the provincial police chief and two Bangladeshi trafficking victims.

In another development Friday, 60 Bangladeshi migrants were detained after they were caught trekking in a rubber plantation in Rattapum district in Songkhla , said Police Col. Polahol Ketkaew of the local border patrol.

Suspected traffickers killed in Bangladesh

Meanwhile in Dhaka, State Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that the Bangladeshi government would crack down on people-smuggling.

"Law and enforcement agencies will go after traffickers ... who are smuggling Bangladeshi men or Rohingya using Thai routes for trafficking into Malaysia, and bring them to justice," he said.

On Friday, Bangladeshi police shot and killed three suspects, who were accused of trafficking thousands of Bangladeshis and Burmese, during a shootout in Cox's Bazar district, near the Myanmar border.

The three men had operated human trafficking networks in Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia, Agence France-Presse quoted Ataur Rahman, a police chief in the district, as saying.

"The three are the most notorious human traffickers to have been operating along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for years," Rahman said.

More arrests in Thailand

In southern Thailand, several local officials and a Burmese national have been arrested on human trafficking charges in connection with the discovery of the bodies of trafficked migrants.

National police on Friday announced that the mayor of Padang Besar – a sub-district in Songkhla where the bodies were found – had been arrested in connection with the case. Padang Besar's deputy mayor was taken into custody a day earlier on similar charges.

In announcing the arrest of Mayor Banjong Pongpol, national police chief Gen. Somyos  Poompanmuang warned that no one would be spared in the pursuit of officials linked to human smuggling, the Associated Press reported.

"If you are still neglecting, or involved with, or supporting or benefitting from human-trafficking networks – your heads will roll," AP quoted Somyos as telling reporters in Bangkok.

On Friday afternoon, Somyos went to Trang province in the south, where he announced the arrest of a seventh suspect in the case, Supoj Meuansew, an alleged hitman connected to human traffickers.

Supoj was arrested on charges of murder and human trafficking, and was a "key suspect" in the ring that Banjong allegedly belonged to, Somyos said.

UN: 'Sharp increase' in perilous sea crossings

In Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that the number of illegal migrants undertaking dangerous sea journeys in and around the Bay of Bengal had risen sharply in the first quarter of 2015.

According to UNHCR estimates, some 25,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis boarded smugglers' boats during the first three months of the year – almost twice the number that had undertaken such crossings in the region during the same period last year.

UNHCR issued a statement welcoming the Thai government's proclaimed crackdown on human smuggling, but the agency said it was appalled by the deaths of the migrants whose bodies were found in Songkhla.

"Considering the growing scale and severity of the boat exodus, UNHCR calls on countries in the region to work more closely together to counter the smuggling and trafficking of vulnerable people," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said.

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BENARNEWS- The Thai government on Tuesday announced that it would host a summit May 29 to address illegal migration in the region, as a crisis triggered by its crackdown on human smuggling has grown increasingly dire for migrants themselves.

International organizations warned that thousands of men, women and children could be crammed aboard boats drifting at sea between Myanmar and Malaysia, and pleaded with governments in the region to assist them.

"What we're hearing from these people is that they've been stuck out at sea for weeks and months and then the smugglers just deserted them, left them with very little food and water, no fuel for the engines," Jeffrey Savage of the Jakarta office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told Reuters.

Thailand's crackdown has halted departures of boats from the Bay of Bengal, but those still at sea have been there "for weeks or even months," International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesman Joe Lowry said.

"Up to 8,000 people are at sea, of which more than 1,000 have landed," he said.

On Tuesday, Bangladesh rescued 116 Malaysia-bound migrants from a Thai-owned boat abandoned by its crew off the coast of Myanmar, according to Reuters.

But Malaysia, overwhelmed by the arrival of 1,158 migrants since Sunday, announced it would turn away migrant vessels unless they were sinking.

Seaworthy boats would be supplied provisions and sent away, the Associated Press quoted Tan Kok Kwee of Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency as saying Tuesday. 

A day earlier, Indonesia turned a migrant boat back to Malaysia after fishermen had rescued close to 600 migrants from the Strait of Malacca on Sunday.

Unprecedented

Thailand – usually a major transit hub for regional migration – has been turning away the boats since its junta declared a clean-up of human smuggling on its soil.

The clampdown followed the discovery earlier this month of dozens of graves of migrants, believed to be Rohingya Muslims, on the Thai-Malaysia border.

In a statement Tuesday, Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was calling a summit in Bangkok on May 29 to address "the unprecedented increase of irregular migration across the Bay of Bengal in recent years."

Senior officials from 15 countries will attend, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, it said.

"The increasing complexity of the problem demands a multi-faceted approach. Countries of origin, transit, and destination must work together to address the problem comprehensively," the statement said.

For its part, Malaysia said it would soon hold talks with Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand to "find solutions" to the influx of migrants in Langkawi island – off its northwestern coast near Thailand – since May 10.

Of these 486 were from Myanmar and 672 were from Bangladesh, the state-run Bernama news agency quoted Home Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Alwi Ibrahim as saying.

73 smuggling camps

In other developments, authorities in southern Thailand have found 73 people-smuggling camps in the Khao Kaew mountain range along the Thai-Malaysia border since May 1, when the first graves were discovered in Padang Besar sub-district of Songkhla province, officials said Tuesday.

"This morning the combined force of military, police and civilian officials found a fresh, big camp, that can accommodate a thousand people, some 900 meters [2,953 feet] from the border," Police Gen. Ek Angsananon told a press conference in Hat Yai.

"The structures there still looked new with a trace of being used; some clothes were left lying around. We believe that the brokers and the illegal migrants have just left this camp recently before being discovered," he said.

The total number of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis found thus far was 276, Ek added. After interviews, police identified 63 of them as human trafficking victims.

The rest were illegal immigrants and traffickers, he said. 

By BenarNews staff with details from news reports.

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BENARNEWS- Six rebel groups from Thailand's restive Deep South region have established an umbrella group in preparation for upcoming peace talks with the government, sources close to the process told BenarNews.
The new round of Malaysia-brokered negotiations will take place at the end of this month or early next month, according to a Thai security official and a former Southern rebel who both spoke on condition of anonymity.
"I recently talked to my PULO friend in Malaysia and he said that the new round of talks will certainly take place in Malaysia in late May or early June," a former member of the Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) rebel group told BenarNews.
The talks would be the first since December 2013 aimed at solving the long-running separatist insurgency in the predominantly-Muslim Deep South, where more deadly violence was reported this week.
On Tuesday, a vice president of Khao Toom sub-district in Pattani province, 48-year-old Umah Kuteh, was killed in a roadside shooting and, in nearby Yala province, suspected separatists burned six motorcycles belonging to civilians, local news outlets reported.
Elsewhere in Pattani, a security volunteer was shot dead in Baan Namsai village Tuesday night as he rode his motorcycle home in Mayor district. On Wednesday night, security forces killed a suspected insurgent during a shootout with a group of armed men hiding out in Baan Budon, another village in the district.
Secret meeting
According to the Thai security official, this past weekend Malaysia's Joint Working Group-Peace Dialogue Process (JWG-PDP) called a secret meeting of representatives of southern insurgents groups residing in Malaysia, and they agreed to form an umbrella body to unify six rebel groups at the upcoming peace talks.
The umbrella, known as the MARA Patani, includes three factions of PULO as well as the Barisan Islam Perberbasan Pattani (BIPP), Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and the Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Pattani (GMIP) rebel groups, the official said.
"The six groups agreed to establish MARA Patani so that all sides of dissidents could establish in-communication swiftly with unity," the source told BenarNews.
"This is the first official meeting of the MARA Patani following an informal meeting in Indonesia," the official added. "All six agreed that the MARA Patani would be the top-tier organization to negotiate with the Thai government."
In Bangkok, Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), who has been involved in back-channel efforts to bring about the talks between Thailand's military-led government and the southern rebels, confirmed that a new round of dialogue would start within the coming weeks.
"There will be a peace talk in late May or early June," Nakrob told BenarNews. "There will be a positive result out of the dialogue."
Past talks
Before the Thai military seized power in a coup last May, at least two rounds of peace talks took place between southern rebel groups and the then civilian-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
They began after Thailand's National Security Council signed an agreement with Barisan Revolusi Nasional in Kuala Lumpur in February 2013, which paved the way for talks.
But they stalled in July 2013 when both sides accused one another of violating the terms of a Ramadan ceasefire. The talks took another hit in December of that year, when the government rejected five demands presented in a YouTube video by BRN negotiator and chief Hassan Bin Toyib.
One of these demands was that Thailand grant the Deep South sovereignty and recognize the "Patani Malay Nation," which was unacceptable to Bangkok.
In March 2014, both sides expressed hope that the peace talks would resume but the overthrow of Yingluck's government disrupted prospects for a fresh round of negotiations.
Since January 2004, more than 6,000 people have been killed and more than 11,000 injured in the conflict in Thailand's far southern region, according to statistics compiled by Deep South Watch.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly placed Mayor district in Songkhla province.


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BENARNEWS- Southern insurgents mounted a string of bombings in Yala province on Thursday night to avenge Wednesday's killing of a comrade by government forces in nearby Pattani province, the Thai military said.

A series of explosions around Yala municipality injured 14 people, and they occurred as Thailand's military-led government was preparing to open peace talks with southern insurgent groups in Malaysia later this month or in early June.

Six groups have agreed to take part in Malaysia-brokered talks aimed at ending the decades-old separatist insurgency in Thailand's predominantly Muslim Deep South.

"Tonight's attacks are the retaliation by the insurgents for last night's incident," Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the 4th Army Region, told reporters Thursday, referring to a shootout in Pattani's Mayor district that led to the arrests of two suspected insurgents and the killing of third one, identified as 28-year-old Nie-duereh Jehae.

That incident came in the wake of the shooting deaths of a security volunteer and a sub-district official elsewhere in Pattani.On Thursday night, as many as 25 crude bombs were placed at 14 spots in the area but not all of them went off, sources said. They were either pipe-bombs or some other type of home-made explosive.

"With regard to the town-wide attacks in Yala [municipality], we found no one killed. The bombs used in attacks are all small ones .... I believe they wanted to stir up unrest," Yala Gov. Samart Waradisai said.

People injured by the blasts, including an 11-year-old boy, were rushed to a local hospital.

'High-profile criminal'

Nie-duereh, the suspect gunned down on Wednesday night, commanded a rebel platoon in the area and he had led some big attacks, Colonel Promote Prom-in, spokesman for the forward office of the Internal Security Operations Command 4 (ISOC-4), told a press conference earlier on Thursday.

"He is the chief of an operational squad and led several attacks, including the killing of four soldiers in July 2012," Colonel Promote said.

Nie-duereh also was involved in cases of arson at six schools in the province last October, Promote added.

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BENARNEWS- Some savvy businessmen in Thailand have started a new airline to tap an unmet demand in the country's predominantly Muslim southern border provinces: providing direct flights to Saudi Arabia for pilgrims traveling to Mecca and other Islamic holy cities.

Muslims from Thailand's Deep South who undertake the Hajj pilgrimage – one of Islam's five pillars – and the minor Umrah pilgrimage usually must fly north and change planes in the Thai capital for onward flights to Saudi Arabia.

But the entrepreneurs behind newborn Fatonee Airlines plan to make it a little easier for southern pilgrims to undertake the life-altering Hajj – and offer them Muslim-friendly halal in-flight services to boot.

"Every year, more and more people from the southern border provinces have to travel to Bangkok to catch flights to attend the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia," said Jay Khan, one of six executives behind the new venture, which is based in Pattani province with its operational hub located at the airport in neighboring Narathiwat province.

"So I think we should provide them with an opportunity to fly direct from Narathiwat to Jeddah, which is faster and more economical as it is mostly over open ocean," he told BenarNews. Khan previously worked for British Airways and Saudi Arabian (Saudia) Airlines, and he is a senior vice-president for Bangkok-based Business Air.

There is a constant demand from the region for flights catering to Muslim travelers heading to Saudi Arabia, according to Fatonee Airlines executive Pornchai Pettonkham. 

In addition to those going there during the Hajj season, no fewer than 20,000 Thais travel from the Deep South to the kingdom to undertake Umroh pilgrimages, which can take place at any time of the year, he said.

Thailand currently has a Hajj quota set by the Saudi government of 8,000 pilgrims over the three-month Hajj season. There is no such quota for Thai Muslims wanting to travel to the Holy Land for Umroh, he explained. 

Missing ingredient: an airplane

Fatonee Airlines officially launched earlier this month, and its first flights to Saudi Arabia are expected to take off in September – in time for this year's Hajj season.

But the fledgling carrier has no fleet to speak of as of yet.

Parent company Fatonee Airline Systems is trying aggressively to finance the acquisition of its first airplane, and is eying a 290-seat Boeing 767. The company has yet to determine whether it should purchase or lease a plane.

At the airline's launch in Pattani on May 2, its executives kicked off a campaign to attract investors to the new venture.

They aim to raise 300 million baht (U.S. $8.93 million) in the first six months of the company's existence. It is issuing shares and requiring investors to buy a minimum of 100 shares, or a total investment valued at 1,000 baht (U.S. $30).

Fatonee also is exploring the possibility of a partnership with Business Air, a company that offers charter flights and has a fleet of 767s. If successful, this would allow Fatonee to bypass the long and complicated process of registering as a new airline with the Thai Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), company Chairman Ismaae Waemustofa said.

The airline plans to begin with flights direct to Jeddah from both Narathiwat and Bangkok. It has been promised four slots per week at King Abdulaziz International Airport near Jeddah, Pornchai said.

The company may eventually operate a Jeddah-Bangkok-Narathiwat-Jakarta route, as well as offer service to Seoul, South Korea.

"With the terms of the ASEAN Economic Community [AEC] soon to go into effect, we will also be very well placed to attract Malaysians wanting to fly to Jeddah from neighboring states, such as Kelantan, rather that travel all the way to Kuala Lumpur," Pornchai told BenarNews. 

Apart from catering to Muslim travelers, the airline has plans to acquire a turboprop plane in order to offer direct flights between the Deep South and the southern Thai island of Phuket. It is now only accessible by air from the Deep South via commercial flights through Bangkok.

The pride of Patani

The idea of starting Fatonee came about through the creation of a regional Muslim Chamber of Commerce a few years ago, said Ismae, the company's chairman. The chamber's members are Malay-speaking Muslim businessmen from Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces, as well as some parts of Songkhla province, he said. 

"We discussed logistics and several members expressed the need for better air transport options in the region, especially with the terms of the ASEAN Economic Community set to take effect at the end of the year," Ismae said.

"As you know, the region is 80 percent Muslim, and we believe that Narathiwat International Airport has great, under-utilized potential, not just for Thais but also for people from neighboring states such as Kelantan in Malaysia," he said.

The airline's name, Fatonee, is the word that Malay-speaking people use in identifying the region known as the Deep South, an insurgency-stricken region that was formerly as Patani before Thailand annexed it in the early 1900s. 

"The name Fatonee Airlines was chosen because this is how our region is known to other Malay-speaking peoples of the ASEAN region, who know it historically as a great center of learning in the past," he told BenarNews.

"This is a matter of history for us. It is important because there are many Malays in this region who have a [defeatist] attitude. They think 'it's impossible'. But if we can make this dream come true, it could serve as a positive turning point for us," he added.

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BENARNEWS- Allegations of human trafficking, illegal fishing practices and threats of trade sanctions by the European Union (EU) hung heavily in the air during a two-day meeting of fisheries experts this week in the southern Thai town of Songkhla.

The Thai Department of Fisheries (DoF) organized the gathering of representatives from the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), but the Malaysian government was unable to send a delegation.

The Thai and Indonesian sides agreed on a number of points to harmonize live aquatic animal certification procedures, Malinee Smithrithee, director of the department's Foreign Affairs division, told BenarNews.

These points would be passed on to their Malaysian counterparts for review and discussion, she said.

Yellow card

The growth triangle is a self-described "sub-regional cooperation initiative" formed in 1993 to promote economic growth in 14 provinces in southern Thailand, 10 provinces of the Indonesian island of Sumatra and eight states of peninsular Malaysia.

The affected areas have a combined population of more than 70 million people, many of whom rely on fishing as a livelihood and source of food.

Thailand was strongly affected by the recent EU issuance of a so-called "yellow card" for failing to regulate its fishing industry in a sustainable way, said Songsang Patavanich, director of the Thai Overseas Fishing Association. 

The warning gives Thailand just six months to show improvement on illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing practices – or face a crippling ban on exports to the huge European market. 

The ban would have effects outside Thailand, because many Thai fishing vessels operated with Indonesian partners and foreign crew, especially from Myanmar. 

"As a result of the EU action our government, which has absolute power, has imposed strict new policies and now all Thai fishing boats will have to follow our regulations; they have to report when they leave port and when they return. They have to report what they have caught, as well as labor information in order to avoid human trafficking," he said. 

In March, an Associated Press investigative report exposed slavery and forced labor in the Thai fishing industry. This month, a sudden influx of at least 3,000 illegal migrants into Malaysia and Indonesia laid bare the extent of maritime migrant smuggling in the region.

The strict new rules were presented by the Fisheries Department in one of the many booths at a nearby convention hall exhibit. 

They include the 'Port-in, Port-out' system launched nationwide on May 6, GPS monitoring, and mandatory licensing and registration of all vessels over 30 meters. 

Social responsibility

The conference concluded Friday afternoon with a panel discussion on "Potential IMT-GT Fisheries Cooperation Toward Sustainability in ASEAN" with input by representatives from all three sessions. 

Heading the Indonesian delegation was Herwindo Suwondo, chairman of the Indonesian Fisheries Federation.

He said the growth triangle had to adopt key characteristics of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) – the terms of which go into effect at the end of this year – to create a single trading bloc and increase the region's global competitiveness. 

"Trading in goods and services has to be implemented by elimination of all tariffs, removal of all non-tariff barriers, including subsidies, restrictions and sensitive industry classification. We need to create simplified, harmonized trade and customs procedures and facilitate cross-border interactions, subject to domestic regulations," he said.

But social responsibility is part of sustainability, he said.

"Our country and many others are aware of IUU fishing issues, sustainable fisheries, human slavery and human trafficking as well. As an industry, we must be mindful that we live in an increasingly transparent world, one in which information is shared globally at the high speed.

"So, whether we like or dislike this fact, we have to commit to the social responsibility among ASEAN countries and the sustainable fisheries globally," Herwindo said.

He conceded that eliminating IUU fishing practices in the growth-triangle area would be no easy task. 

"The most important first step is requiring traceability standards for the entire industry. The next step is to focus on really bad guys who are not playing by any rules, shutting them out of the marketplace if we can."

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BENARNEWS- Representatives of 17 nations are scheduled to gather in Bangkok on Friday for an unprecedented one-day meeting on irregular migration, but U.N. officials say front-line states need to deal with problem urgently rather than merely talk about it.

The countries most affected by the current migrant crisis need to go after human trafficking rings, and they must make it a top priority to rescue and deliver humanitarian aid to thousands of people still stranded at sea, according to U.N. officials based in Bangkok.

"Nobody knows where this is going to end at this point ... but the criminal element really needs to be taken seriously," Jeremy Douglas, regional representative for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), told BenarNews.

"Protection of human life is paramount" in the burgeoning crisis around illegal migration, he said.

"There's definitely a challenge when this isn't prioritized by institutions like police organizations, or it's not given attention, or, potentially, police organizations are infiltrated by criminals," Douglas said.

"We need to get all of the law enforcement working on the same page, connected and countering these groups, because it's quite serious that they're [human trafficking syndicates] able to operate for so long, carrying so many thousands of people from country to country to country. That's a pretty serious criminal enterprise that can do that," he added.

Comprehensive approach needed

Cracking down on people-smuggling rings is just one piece of a complex problem that requires coordinated international action, said Vivian Tan, spokeswoman for the regional office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"This is clearly a regional problem that needs regional solutions. It's good that countries in the region are now coming together to talk about this common challenge, so that's a good start," Tan told BenarNews.

"But it really needs to be a comprehensive approach. It cannot be just about law enforcement or just cracking down on smuggling rings, because that alone will not work."

Countries in the region must make it a priority to save people still stranded at sea and to rush food, medicine and other necessities to them, she said. 

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an estimated 4,000 illegal migrants were still at sea as of Monday, and some 3,200 people had landed in Malaysia and Indonesia since May 4.

The problem cannot be solved unless these countries "also address the root causes, because unless you give people better conditions in Myanmar and Bangladesh, they will continue to leave and risk their lives on smugglers' boats," Tan added.

Myanmar is widely seen as a source of the problem, because it does not recognize Muslim Rohingya, who come mostly from western Rakhine state, as citizens.

"Malaysia will seek assurances from Myanmar's government in tackling the crisis, while also stressing the importance to identify and solve the main cause of the problem," Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said, outlining his government's agenda for the Bangkok meeting.

"We will also ask Myanmar to continue its support and implement programs for economic and social development in the region, '' he told BenarNews.

Unprecedented

Friday's meeting will mark the first time that nations from across the region come together to talk about human trafficking and illegal migration.

Dubbed the "Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean", the event will bring together 17 countries, according to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They are Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. 

Delegations from the United States and Switzerland will attend the meeting as observers, and UNHCR, UNODC and IOM also will participate.

"The Special Meeting is an urgent call for the region to comprehensively work together to address the unprecedented increase of irregular migration across the Bay of Bengal in recent years," the ministry said in a news release.

Thailand announced the meeting on May 12, amid a governmental crackdown on human trafficking that caused boatloads of illegal migrants to seek landing points farther south.

Eight days later, the Indonesian and Malaysian governments announced that they were dropping their policy of pushing back boats, and would grant migrants temporary shelter for up to a year. But Thailand has not agreed to take in more migrants.

Jungle camps

Both Malaysia and Thailand have discovered smuggling camps and migrant graves in the heavily forested mountains along their border.

Thailand has arrested local officials on suspicion of human trafficking, including a mayor and deputy mayor in Songkhla province.

On Wednesday, Malaysia announced the arrests of a dozen police officers suspected of links to trafficking rings, but they have yet to determine whether the suspects were connected to the 28 camps and 139 graves found in northern Perlis state.

"Four have been arrested by police for suspected involvement with trafficking syndicates and another eight have been arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission recently," Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said.

Residents in the remote area where the camps were found were not surprised, although Malaysian officials claimed to be.

"I have lived here for 30 years and I have seen many Rohingya, and they are always in bad shape," Perlis resident Sani Hashim, 80, told Agence France-Presse.

Emaciated migrants would approach his small farm begging for food, water and clothing, he said.

"We do what we can. And if they are not able to stand or walk, we call the authorities who take them away," AFP quoted him as saying.

Uayporn Satitpanyapan and Hata Wahari contributed to this report.

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BENARNEWS- Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said Wednesday that elections would take place in September 2016, if a new draft of the constitution passed a national referendum.

Speaking to 12 visiting U.N. ambassadors at Government House in Bangkok, Prayuth said Thailand was on the road back to democracy and that the military-controlled government would not use violence in trying to solve country's troubles. 

"The Prime Minister expects the elections will be held in September (2016)," Deputy Government Spokesperson Maj. Gen. Weerachon Sukhontapatipak told reporters after the meeting.

The announcement represents another setback to prospects of democracy returning to Thailand.

Prayuth led a bloodless coup last May, and at the time said that elections would be held within 15 months.

The timetable has been delayed so that a constitution written after the coup could be put to the public in a referendum.

Earlier, the junta had said that an election probably would happen in the early to middle part of 2016, but a referendum on a new constitution did not factor into that timetable, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday.

A year after the coup

Thailand just marked the first anniversary of the May 22, 2014 coup that toppled the civilian-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The coup was led by Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, who was then the Thai army's commander-in-chief.

The coup took place amid the turmoil of months-long protests in the streets against Yingluck's government. In 2006, her brother, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, also was overthrown by the military.

Soon after Yingluck's removal from power, the National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) – as the junta was then known – announced a three-staged road-map to restoring the country's system of government to a full-fledged democracy that would consist of political reconciliation and reforms, followed by general elections.

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BENARNEWS- Myanmar joined 16 other nations in Bangkok on Friday in agreeing to address the root causes of a Southeast Asian illegal migration crisis, but the head of its delegation said his country should not solely be blamed as a source of the problem.

"Each and every sovereign state has its own challenges," Htin Lynn, special representative of Myanmar's foreign ministry, told a special meeting on irregular migration.

"Some of them, if not all, fall within the domestic jurisdiction  ... Finger pointing will not serve any purpose. It will take us nowhere," he said, adding that on "this issue of illegal migration of boat people, you cannot single out my country."

Htin was responding to comments earlier in the day from Volker Turk, the assistant high commissioner for protection at the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR).

"There is no solution without addressing the root causes...," Turk had said. "Among other things, this will require full assumption of responsibility by Myanmar towards all its people."

"Granting of citizenship is the ultimate goal and we welcome some initial steps that were taken in this regard," he had added. "In the interim, a legal status for all habitual residents recognizing that Myanmar is their own country is urgently required."

'Sad reality'

Southeast Asia has faced a humanitarian crisis this month as more than 3,000 Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar have come ashore in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Myanmar's western Rakhine state is the traditional home of Rohingyas, but many are fleeing persecution in the Buddhist-dominated country, whose government does not recognize them as citizens.

Leaders of neighboring countries most impacted by the surge in illegal migration refrained from direct criticism of Myanmar, in keeping with a regional policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states.

"This current crisis highlights the sad reality that people are still compelled to leave their homes and loved ones due to diverse causes," Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Gen. Thanasak Patimaprakorn told the gathering. 

"Irregular migration has become increasingly complex and demands comprehensive solutions. We must not solve one problem just to find out later that it has, in fact, created another," he added.

On May 20, Thanasak joined his Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts at a trilateral meeting in Malaysia to discuss the matter, but the two other foreign ministers were no-shows at Friday's meeting hosted by Thailand.

A crackdown on human trafficking by Thailand's military-controlled government earlier this month forced boatloads of illegal migrants to sail farther south in search of landing points.

On Friday, Myanmar's navy seized a boat packed with 727 illegal migrants off the country's southern coast, according to news reports.

'A sense of security and belonging'

The frontline states of Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh on Friday joined other affected countries in agreeing to share resources to combat human trafficking and to step up efforts to help thousands of illegal migrants stranded at sea. 

But the agreement made no mention of the word "Rohingya."

Host-country Thailand and delegations from 16 Asian and Pacific nations pledged to establish a joint task force and share intelligence on people-smuggling, intensify maritime search-and-rescue operations for migrants' boats, as well as address "root causes" of irregular migration.

Myanmar, Bangladesh and Indonesia agreed to help to improve the livelihood of "at-risk communities".

According to a clause that spells this out, such improvements would include providing development aid to at-risk areas, as well as "enhancing a sense of security and belonging, promoting full respect of human rights and adequate access of people to basic rights and services, such as housing, education and healthcare."

In Indonesia, meanwhile, government officials announced that they would move to deport hundreds of Bangladeshi migrants who had come ashore on western Sumatra island this month.

Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, who led his country's delegation at the meeting in Bangkok, said those citizens would be repatriated within a month. 

U.S., Australian assistance

The meeting in Bangkok also produced commitments of financial assistance from the United States and Australia to help stem the crisis.

The American government said it would commit U.S. $3 million toward humanitarian efforts by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

Australia committed AU $5 million to promote livelihood and development programs in Rakine and in Cox's Bazar, a district in southeastern Bangladesh where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees are concentrated.

"What we need to do is look at ways to save lives, keep people safe, and then try to make changes at the source so that people don't feel the need to flee and turn to criminal gangs for their transportation needs," Anne C. Richard, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, told the meeting.

"We all are really hoping that people who have fled Burma [Myanmar] can go home and live in a peaceful, stable, democratic Burma."

On Friday, the U.S. military also received permission from Thailand's government to conduct reconnaissance flights in Thai airspace to search for stranded migrants' boats.

Shahriar Sharif and Nurdin Hasan contributed to this report.

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BENARNEWS- A Thai three-star general is wanted on suspicion of deep involvement in a human trafficking ring stretching from Thailand to Myanmar, Bangladesh and Malaysia, police said Monday.

A court in southern Thailand's Songkhla province charged Army Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen with four offenses under the nation's anti-human trafficking and immigration laws, and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Manas, who was also suspended by the Royal Thai Army on Monday, is the highest-ranking military officer implicated in a human-trafficking scandal that emerged from last month's government crackdown on people smuggling.

An ensuing blockade on smugglers' boats trying to land on Thai shores caused at least 3,000 illegal migrants to come ashore in nearby Malaysia and Indonesia.

Manas is the 85th suspect named in investigations related to the crackdown, launched following the discovery of graves of illegal migrants in Padang Besar, a provincial sub-district on the Malaysian border.

According to Thai news reports, Manas is seeking assistance from a military lawyer to defend himself against the charges. 

Manas, 58, was involved in the trafficking of Rohingya Muslim migrants from Myanmar since 2013, Police Gen. Ek Angsananond told reporters in Hat Yai, Songkhla.

"He is wanted for collaborating with altogether three persons to conduct an act of human trafficking, providing assistance to illegal migrants, detaining others and holding others for ransom," Pol. Gen. Ek told reporters.

In their investigation, police gathered evidence of payments made to Manas' bank accounts from alleged traffickers, Ek said.

Police are also seeking the extradition from Myanmar of a Thai citizen, Nattapat Saengthong (also known as Ko Mik), on suspicion of involvement in human trafficking, Ek added.

Past duties in the south

Lt. Gen. Manas had extensive previous experience in southern Thailand, a major transit point for the trafficking of Malaysia-bound Muslim migrants.

In 2009, he was assigned to the southern port province of Ranong as one of the key army officers tasked with countering an influx of Rohingya and other ethnic minorities from Myanmar.

Thailand was then criticized for not letting Rohingya come ashore and diverting them to third countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

"Nothing is wrong when friends wanted to go to the third countries, and we just facilitated them by giving them food, water, supplies and fuel," Manas told a seminar on illegal migration at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University in February 2009.

Nearly 800 detained

Since the crackdown started in early May, Thailand has detained 779 illegal migrants, said Col. Banpot Poolpien, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC).

Thailand was continuing to patrol waters off its western coast in search of boatloads of migrants that may still be stranded at sea, Banpot said.

"We focus on humanitarian assistance but if any entered the country illegally, we will handle them according to immigration law," he said.

A Malaysian media report, meanwhile, suggested that migrants were still on the move in southern Thailand. 

Some 500 illegal migrants were waiting to cross into Malaysia from Danok, an area in Songkhla province of Thailand, along the border between the two countries.

They were waiting to enter Malaysia at Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kubang Pasu District, Police Supt. Abdul Rahim Abdullah said Monday, according to the state-run Bernama news agency.

"Instruction has been issued for the General Operations Force, Anti-Smuggling Unit and the Bukit Kayu Hitam Police Station to boost security measures," Abdul said.

In other developments, authorities in Myanmar on Monday were holding a boat carrying more than 700 migrants off its coast, after Myanmar's navy intercepted the vessel in local waters on Friday, the Reuters news agency reported.

"The government is checking their identity, asking what they want to do and where they want to go," Reuters quoted government spokesman Ye Htut as saying.

But he did not give details about the vessel's coordinates.

And in eastern Indonesia, 65 migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka came ashore Monday on Rote island after the Australian navy intercepted their vessel and turned it away, according to Agence France-Presse.

"According to their testimony, they were pushed back by the Australian navy and immigration after they were interrogated," AFP quoted Hidayat, a local police official, as saying. "They said they were on their way to New Zealand."

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BENARNEWS- A Thai three-star general prepared Tuesday to turn himself in on human trafficking charges, and Malaysian authorities said they would begin on Wednesday to excavate 91 more graves of suspected migrants at a new site in the jungle along the northern border with Thailand.

On Tuesday night (local time), Army Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen was en route to Padang Besar in Songkhla province to surrender to local police, according to the Bangkok Post.

"I would like to ask the society not to jump to conclusions that I am guilty," the Post quoted him as saying.

"I would like it to see information from both sides and let the court decide," he said. "I am asking for justice ... because I can explain this and I am ready to defend myself."

On Monday, a court in Songkhla province charged Manas with four offenses under the nation's anti-human trafficking and immigration laws, and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Manas is the highest-ranking officer implicated so far in a crackdown on human trafficking by the military-led government that followed the discovery of graves in smuggling camps near the Malaysian border.

The crackdown also precipitated a Thai naval blockade on boatloads of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh trying to land in Thailand, which led to thousands of them coming ashore in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Earlier Tuesday, Manas went to the Royal Thai Army's southern regional headquarters in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, where he appeared before an army-appointed inquiry committee to answer questions about the allegations against him, the Post reported.

In the meantime, the army has suspended Manas, Commander-in-Chief Udomdesh Sitabutr said.

"There was no expanded investigation on any other persons within the army yet, and we have not found a network of Lt. Gen. Manas yet, if it exists," Udomdesh told BenarNews.

The army will let Manas defend himself in court but, if he is convicted, he will be further disciplined, Udomdesh said.

Manas is charged with collaborating in human trafficking, providing assistance to illegal migrants, detaining others and holding them for ransom, police said.

Across the border

On the Malaysian side of the border, authorities will begin to dig up 91 graves of suspected migrants in another corner of Perlis state, the state-run Bernama news agency reported Monday.

Thai police have given Malaysian police permission to access the graves via Thai the side of the border, because it is difficult to reach from the Malaysian side.

The newly discovered graves are located in the Mata Ayer Forest Reserve in Lubuk Sireh.

Last week, Malaysia announced the discovery of 28 abandoned traffickers' camps containing 139 migrants' graves in Wang Kelian, Perlis, about two hours by foot from the new site.

As of Sunday, the remains of 35 people had been recovered from the Bukit Wang Burma forest in Wang Kelian, Bernama quoted a police official as saying.

Nasueroh contributed to this report.

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BENARNEWS- Gunmen shot dead four soldiers in southern Thailand's Yala province on Wednesday as the servicemen drove back to base from a sporting event, officials said.

And in neighboring Pattani province, eight soldiers were injured – one of them seriously – in a roadside bombing on Wednesday night. 

The four soldiers who were killed wore plainclothes and carried guns, but they were ambushed from behind by unidentified gunmen in a truck who followed their car and opened fire on them, officials said.

The assailants had also put spikes in the road to blow out the car's tires, according to an initial investigation by police.

The soldiers were returning to their base after an event at Central Stadium in Yala's Raman district, said Lt. Col. Isara Chantaprayom, commander of the 41st  Paramilitary Task Force to which the four soldiers belonged.

The shooting occurred four days after gunmen killed two other soldiers in Pattani.

Officials suspect that the people who carried out Wednesday's killings were separatist insurgents.

"The incident is another deliberate act of violence," Isara told reporters.

The gunmen took the soldiers' weapons with them after killing them, he said, noting that they made off with three M-16 assault rifles and a .380-calibre pistol.

The slain soldiers were identified as Sgt. Tanong Meechaichana, Sgt. Adisorn Sangkowit, Pvt. Teerakom Krairith and Pvt. Teeranai Luansing.

Pattani blast

In Wednesday's attack in Pattani, a bomb exploded on Route 42 in the Tuyong sub-district, as a truck carrying soldiers passed by, officials said.

The explosion also started a fire that burned the vehicle completely.

The eight soldiers who were wounded in the explosion were rushed to Nong Chik hospital in Pattani.

Yala and Pattani are part of a restive region in far southern Thailand known as the Deep South. 

Since 2004, some 6,500 people – mostly civilians – have been killed in the insurgency, according to Deep South Watch, a regional watchdog group. Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country but the Deep South is predominantly Muslim.

Resistance in the region to Bangkok's rule has lasted for decades.

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BENARNEWS- A three-star general is in Thai police custody on charges related to human trafficking, after he turned himself in to authorities in Bangkok on Wednesday.

Royal Thai Army Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen appeared at National Police headquarters before being flown to Songkhla province in southern Thailand, where the charges were formally read to him. 

"Lt. Gen. Manas, the suspect in an arrest warrant, travelled here to turn himself in to defend himself," National Police Chief Gen. Somyos Poompanmuang told reporters in Bangkok.

"We discussed the legal procedure and we will send him over to Pol. Gen. Ek Angsananond, who is in charge of this case, before handing him over to the interrogator at the regional police bureau 9 [in Songkhla]."

By responding to the warrant for his arrest, the 58-year-old Manas became the highest-ranking figure implicated to date in a human trafficking scandal that has rocked Thailand since early May.

That's when authorities discovered the bodies of 32 illegal migrants at abandoned people-smuggling camps hidden in the jungle in Songkhla near the Malaysian border. A subsequent crackdown by the Thai junta on human trafficking led to thousands of illegal Bangladeshi and ethnic Rohingya migrants coming ashore in Malaysia and Indonesia, after Thailand mounted a naval blockade on smugglers' boats trying to land on its shores. 

84 suspects

"There is no report that Lt. Gen. Manas has submitted a bail request, but I with treat him with honor because he is a senior officer," Ek said after Manas had arrived in the south. 

The army general did not speak to reporters as he walked into the regional police bureau. On Tuesday, he had proclaimed his innocence and told the media he was ready to defend himself in court.

Manas stands accused of being involved with a transnational human trafficking ring operating in Songkhla, and whose network allegedly stretched from Thailand to Myanmar, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

He is charged with collaborating in human trafficking, providing assistance to illegal migrants, detaining others and holding them for ransom.

"With regard to the development of the [human trafficking] cases, 84 arrest warrants have been issued," Ek said, adding that 52 of the suspects had been arrested or had turned themselves in, while 32 others were at-large.

Corpses on the beach

In related news on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that dozens of corpses had drifted to shore last month in Myanmar's western Rakhine state – which is where most Rohingya Muslims come from.

"Some were believed to be Rohingya Muslims trying to escape trafficking ships, while others were Bangladeshi," AP reported.

At least 47 bodies had washed up on local beaches and in the mouths of rivers between May 12 and May 24, the news agency quoted Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, a human rights advocacy group, as saying.

She suspected that those people had drowned while trying to swim to shore after escaping from boats, according to AP.

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BENARNEWS- National security officials in Thailand are voicing concern about the influence of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Southeast Asia, and they are monitoring jihadists from other parts of the region who pass through the country on their way to the Middle East.
"We keep an eye on their movements because they are sheer, extreme terrorists," Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, who is leading Thai governmental efforts to hold peace talks with southern Muslim rebels, told BenarNews.
At least five IS supporters and recruits from neighboring Malaysia have transited through Thailand this year via its restive Deep South region while heading to Syria and Iraq, according to another Thai security official who requested anonymity.
"In the past months, we received requests from the countries of origin to verify whether five Malaysians and one Australian had traveled through Thailand," the official told BenarNews.
"We found that one Australian and five Malaysians traveled through Thailand and finally turned up in Syria," he added.
In transit
The Malaysians entered Thailand via a border crossing in Sadao, a district in the far southern province of Songkhla. There, they boarded buses to Bangkok and then traveled on to Vietnam, where they caught flights to the Middle East from Ho Chi Minh City, the source said.
"They traveled by land to avoid the attention of Malaysian authorities," he said, adding it was more conspicuous for the Malaysian IS recruits to fly directly to Turkey – a gateway to Syria for many jihadists – from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The Australian recruit flew directly from Australia to Bangkok before catching a connecting flight to Turkey.
National Security Council (NSC) Director-General Anusit Konakorn said he discussed the regional threat posed by IS with his Malaysian counterpart during a meeting in April in Malaysia.
At least 540 Indonesians and 63 Malaysians have joined IS's Mideast ranks, Indonesian and Malaysian government officials say.
"Thailand and Malaysia shared the view of concern," Anusit told reporters on June 2.
"The ease of inbound and outbound travel around Southeast Asian nations opens a convenient door for recruitment of IS prospects from within the region," he added.
'Thailand must be aware'
According to a Thai counterterrorism expert and retired military officer who spent years working to deter the threat posed by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate, IS represents an even more potent menace.
Unlike al-Qaeda, IS has established a self-declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria that its forces control, Lt. Gen. Nanthadej Meksawat said.
"IS has managed to establish a strong base and has no need to go into hiding, making it easy for faithful IS ideologists to come join it," Lt. Gen. Nanthadej told BenarNews, noting that Thailand had no full-fledged counterterrorism apparatus to deal with such a threat.
"Secondly, IS has resources that [allows it] to operate not only in guerrilla warfare but conventional warfare as well," Nanthadej said.
IS also targets civilians and "Thailand must be aware of that approach," he added.


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BENARNEWS- Pakistan has released four of five Thai Muslim students held since Monday on suspicion of trying to smuggle a handgun arm from Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, but the owner of a bag with a pistol and ammunition in it remains in custody, Thai officials said Friday.

An initial investigation has found no connection between the students and the Islamic State (IS) or insurgents in southern Thailand, National Security Council Director-General Anusit Kunakorn told reporters in Bangkok.

"Today, four of them will return to Thailand ... The owner of the luggage with the gun, who was from Pattani, remains under interrogation," Anusit said.

"According to initial findings, we confirm that the students and their families have no connection with either IS or insurgents in the south." 

A more in-depth investigation would follow, he added.

"We will talk to them to try to find a clue on whether or not they have a connection [with those groups] at all," Anusit added.

In past decades, Pakistan has been a "Mecca" for Muslims from Thailand's predominantly Islamic Deep South region who travel to the South Asian nation to train for guerrilla warfare, according to a Thai military official who asked not to be named.

That history must be taken into account when investigating whether any of the students are involved with IS or southern insurgent networks, he told BenarNews.

Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have been killed in a separatist insurgency taking place in provinces and districts in Thailand's far southern region, including Pattani.

Sheepskin box

According to reports, the five students were scheduled to depart for Bangkok on Monday aboard Thai Airways Flight 346. They were arrested after an X-ray at a security checkpoint revealed a 9-mm handgun and ammunition in the luggage of Tuan-abdulrosa Logi, 28.

The four released on Friday were identified as Sakriya Songlong, 18, Techit Boonmalert, 18, Abhisit Mad-ud, 17 and Farooq Sutog, 20. 

Tuan-abdulrosa (pictured), a native of Pattani, remained in custody in Islamabad, Anusit told reporters.
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Tuan- abdulrosa was studying at a religious school in Swabi, a district in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to his mother, Mariyae Muso.

His sister, Tuan-Habiya Logi, told BenarNews on Thursday that her brother had telephoned her before his scheduled departure on Monday to arrange a meeting in Songkhla province, 100 km (62 miles) north of his hometown in Pattani.

Her brother told her that a Pakistani religious teacher (ustaz) had given him a sheepskin box to pass on to a Thai ustaz, she said. Tuan-Habiya said she believed that her brother didn't know that a pistol and ammo were in the box.

Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, Thailand's deputy prime minister and defense minister, told reporters he did not believe the students were involved in terrorism, despite concerns that IS might try to recruit Thai Muslims.

"We have long feared students might be indoctrinated. I don't prematurely believe they have anything to do with IS, but we need to clear it up through an investigation," Prawit said.

"I don't understand why he [attempted to bring] a gun onboard despite prohibitions. I cannot tell but we need time to investigate," Prawit said. 

Puangpetch Sisutcharit contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- A 9-year-old Muslim Uyghur girl living in Turkey has called for help from the international community to be reunited with five family members, who have been detained in Thailand for more than a year after illegally entering the country while escaping persecution in northwestern China's Xinjiang region.

Rahlia – who escaped from a Thai immigration detention center in September along with her then-pregnant mother and three of her siblings – said she had not spoken with her father, two other siblings, uncle or cousin for eight months, and asked for assistance in bringing them to Turkey.

"We traveled from [Xinjiang's] Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) city to Cambodia, Cambodia to Vietnam, Vietnam to Thailand, Thailand to Malaysia and Malaysia to Turkey – using back roads the entire way," she said.

"But my father, my uncle, my cousin and some of my siblings are still in Thailand."
The Uyghurs are a Muslim minority within China, and mostly live in the western Xinjiang region. Uyghurs also are spread across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkey.
Rahlia said she had been happy during the eight months since resettling in Turkey's Kayseri province, where she was attending school. But she misses her family members dearly and recently sent a letter (pictured below) to her father at the Thai refugee detention center.

"I wrote a letter to my father because I miss him and my brothers so much," she said.

"I wish we could be reunited—even spending one day together with them would be sufficient for me. Please bring my relatives to me. That is all I hope for and that is what I will pray for."
In her letter, Rahlia asks her father to endure while they wait to see one another again.

"Since we separated, I am left with a saddened heart. But father, be patient and I will be patient and, if Allah wills it, we will unite again for sure," the letter reads.

"Father, if we cannot reunite in this life, we may join one another in heaven ... Being patient is very important in this journey, but I miss you so much."

Rahlia's family members are among about 70 Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uyghurs held in a government-run refugee detention center in Padang Besar, a sub-district in southern Thailand's Songkhla province, since March 2014. Visitors have described the facility as cramped with unhygienic conditions.

Many have complained of worsening conditions and poor food quality, and detainees held a hunger strike in January to demand that authorities improve the situation at the facility. One ethnic Uyghur boy detained there died last December after contracting tuberculosis.

The 70 detainees  - and some 300 others being held at centers in the Thai cities of Bangkok, Rayong and Trat – have remained in limbo more than a year into their detention, with Beijing demanding they be repatriated to China. 

Brazen escape
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Rahlia's mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that her family had traveled into Thailand from Vietnam on March 10 last year and were among a group of 220 Uyghurs detained 12 days later while in hiding in the forest.

She said Thai authorities placed them in the two-story Padang Besar center and promised to release them within six months. But when they were not freed, she escaped the facility along with three of her children and carrying her unborn baby.

"We escaped, walked through the woods despite our hunger, and entered Malaysia, where we then went on to Turkey," she said.

"The good people of Turkey are helping us with our expenses. There are at least 500-600 Uyghurs here. We have mosques to pray at, schools to attend, and other members of the Uyghur community visit with us."

But she lamented her detained family members, who she said she had been unable even to speak with by telephone since authorities beefed up security measures at the Padang Besar center in the wake of their escape, and called on Thailand to allow them to be reunited in Turkey.

Risking everything

During the last two years, Uyghurs have been leaving China in droves to escape persecution and repression by authorities who consider them separatists and terrorists and have cracked down on their religion and culture.
Chinese authorities have blamed an upsurge of violence in Xinjiang since 2012 on terrorists and Islamist insurgents seeking to establish an independent state.

Last month, a representative of a Uyghur organization said that Uyghurs from all parts of Xinjiang are relying on networks of Chinese smugglers to take them across the border into neighboring Southeast Asian countries en route to their final destination Turkey, citing those detained in Thailand, a key way station.

He said the Uyghurs were willing to "risk everything because of the persecution that the Chinese government has brought upon them," he said, adding that it was becoming "impossible" for Uyghurs to enjoy human rights in China.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand is winding down an investigation into human trafficking rings that operate out of its southern provinces, around the time the U.S. State Department is expected to release its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP).
This year's TIP is due out any day now, reports say. Last year, Thailand was dropped to Tier 3, TIP's poorest rating for a country's performance in meeting human rights standards.
Thai officials are hoping the American government will bump up Thailand's rating this year, given its crackdown on trafficking since May. However, the TIP report usually covers the period that starts on April 1 of the preceding year and ends on March 31 of the following year.
In recent days, Thai officials have affirmed the government's seriousness in cracking down on people smuggling.
"The government is showing clear intentions to seriously and efficiently combat and tackle the human trafficking issue," Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha declared on June 6 in a ceremony marking the country's inaugural National Anti-Human Trafficking Day.
"The human trafficking issue is not one that we can solve in a short time span," The Rakyat Post quoted the retired army general as saying. "It is a complex issue that has accumulated over a long period of time."
Efforts to tackle criminal trafficking enterprises cannot be limited to Thailand, Surapong Kongchantuk, chairman of the Lawyers Council of Thailand's human rights subcommittee on ethnic minorities, told BenarNews.
"We need to expand the investigation abroad to see who used ships to load them [migrants], [and] the connection to Burma, Bangladesh and Malaysia, which relayed these trafficked people to the destination," Surapong said, using another name for Myanmar.
"It is transnational crime and the investigation must cover all in these countries."
More military arrests possible
Within Thailand, 89 arrest warrants have been issued in a human-trafficking case that stems from last month's discovery of the bodies of 32 illegal migrants in the jungle in Songkhla province's Padang Besar sub-district, which lies along the Thai border with Malaysia.
A Thai three-star general tops the list of 56 people already in custody, while 33 are at-large.
Now, three other army officers, including two colonels, could soon join Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen – the lone military officer implicated in the case to date – in custody, according to a police investigator.
"There is a report about more high-ranking officials being wanted. They are two colonels and one captain," Police Maj. Gen. Paween Pongsirin told reporters in Hat Yai, Songkhla province, earlier this week.
"Additional arrest warrants will be issued according to their guilt and no one will be spared."
He added that police hoped to wrap up their investigation by June 24 at the latest.
Manas, who denies all 13 trafficking-related charges against him, is considered a kingpin in the case.
The army has suspended Manas, pending the outcome of the criminal case against him, Thai Army Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr told reporters in Bangkok last week.
"It doesn't matter that he is a senior military officer," Udomdej added. "He must go through proper judicial procedures."
Resort owner implicated
Another alleged ring leader in custody is Pajjuban Aungkachotephan, the former chief executive in Satun. The coastal province, along with Songkhla, serves as a major transit point for trafficking Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladeshi migrants into Malaysia.
Until the recent crackdown by Thai authorities, boatloads of these undocumented foreigners reportedly would land at points along the Thailand's western coast, and then travel overland to Songkhla, where they would try to cross over into Malaysia.
The authorities accuse Pajjuban, a wealthy man who owns resorts on the island of Lipe, of masterminding a people-smuggling gang that operated out of Satun. His wife, Tasanee Suwanarat, is another one of the 56 people who have been arrested.
Since the start of the crackdown, Thai police have confiscated more than 200 million baht (U.S. $5.9 million) worth of assets from suspected traffickers, according to Khaosod, a Thai daily newspaper, which cited Pol.Gen. Aek Angsananont, deputy commander of the Thai Police.
Three Mercedes-Benz's and seven fishing boats registered to Pajjuban have gone missing since his arrest, the Khaosod report said.
"We received good cooperation by all parties, including the military, civilian agencies, the department of special investigation and the anti-money laundering office. And we believe we have established strong evidence to punish all suspects," Police Maj. Gen. Paween said.
Rohingya crime boss
Meanwhile, a Rohingya man named as "Yassin" is wanted by Malaysian authorities and is believed to operate on both sides of the border, according to media reports from Malaysia.
Traffickers circulate among the general population of detained Rohingyas, which has the effect of intimidating potential witnesses in trafficking cases, said Chalida Tajaroensuk, director of the People's Empowerment Foundation, a Thai NGO.
"According to some Rohingya aid workers, there are some Rohingya traffickers mingled among the Rohingya victims now under the care of a home in Songkhla for children and women, which makes them unable to tell the real account of what was going on to the investigating authorities," Chalida said.
"There are many wrong-doers [who] remain unaccounted for."
On Wednesday, Thai police announced that they had placed 236 people who could testify as witnesses into protective custody, after these people received death threats from alleged trafficking-ring operatives, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Rights watchdog: A long way to go
Commenting on Lt. Gen. Manas' arrest, Phil Robertson, the deputy director of the Asia division for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said it marked "an important step towards accountability for the trafficking of the Rohingya in Thailand."
"But it is hardly sufficient to justify the expansive claims of 'progress' on anti-trafficking that some in the Thai government have been making to the U.S. and the international community," Robertson told BenarNews.
"Lt. Gen. Manas is widely believed to have been at the center of the networks trafficking the Rohingya, but there are likely persons above and below him who still have not been rounded up," he added.
"No one should forget that the areas where those 'ransom for release' camps were operating on the border were in high security zones controlled by the military and police, and so could not have existed without the connivance of at least some persons in those units."
Nasueroh and Uayporn Satitpanyapan contributed to this report.
An earlier version of this report incorrectly identified Chalida Tajaroensuk as president of the People's Empowerment Foundation, and misspelled Tasanee Suwanarat's name.


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BENARNEWS- Thai officials trying to restart peace talks with southern rebels are having difficulty getting different insurgent factions to the negotiating table, a person closely involved in the process told BenarNews.

Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, of the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), said in a phone interview on Friday that he was nevertheless pressing on with efforts to get a new round of official talks going with separatists from Thailand's Deep South region.

The process was still in the delicate stage of confidence building, as he described it.

"There is a need to build triangular trust among Thailand, Malaysia and the various dissident groups," Nakrob said.
Last month, he had told BenarNews that Malaysia-brokered peace talks were expected to take place in late May or early June. In April, Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr told a news conference that the talks likely would happen sometime in May.

A fresh round of talks was being held up because elements among the "dissident" groups with different views had yet to agree to come back to the table, Nakrob said.

"We need to build mutual trust," he said, "And to verify that they are legitimate representatives. I didn't know who is who and what type of person they are."

Secret meeting

According to a Thai academic involved in previous rounds of peace talks, Thai government negotiators held a secret meeting early this month with rebel-group representatives in Kuala Lumpur. 

They were trying to broker a ceasefire ahead of the talks, but the two sides came away empty-handed.

"As far as I know, there was a meeting on June 8 or 9, between the Thai government representatives and those of MARA Patani, in Kuala Lumpur," Srisompob Jitpiromsri, an assistant professor and director of the Center for Conflict Studies and Cultural Diversity at Prince of Songkla University in Pattani province, told BenarNews.

Srisompob was referring to an umbrella group, MARA Patani, which was established recently among six rebel groups in order to negotiate with the government as a united front.

The umbrella consists of three factions of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) and three other rebel groups: the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), Barisan Islam Perberbasan Patani (BIPP), and Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Patani (GMIP).

These are separatist groups that have been fighting the Thai government in order to bring about the predominantly Muslim Deep South's secession from the kingdom. The region comprises the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and some districts in Songkhla province.

According to Srisompob, the secret talks in Kuala Lumpur focused on a proposed truce during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which started Thursday.

"There was a talk of a 'ceasefire' during Ramadan period but both sides could not strike such an agreement. We cannot say that there was an agreement to cease fire during Ramadan," he said. 

Ramadan-time amnesty

Maj. Gen. Nakrob would not confirm that a pre-talk meeting with various rebel groups had taken place in Malaysia earlier this month.

But he acknowledged that the government tried to persuade the rebel side to agree to a truce as a precursor to peace talks.

"I talked about the truce, not only for the Ramadan time but for any other activities for the sake of unity of human races and their beliefs," he said.

As many as 473 southern rebels, however, did agree to take part in a Thai military program granting temporary immunity from arrest so they could come out of hiding and reunite with their families during Ramadan, officials said.

The temporary immunity was granted on condition that they not commit acts of violence during the Muslim holy month, Thai officials said. 

The program kicked off at a ceremony in Narathiwat on Monday.

Past talks

A new round of talks would be the first under the Thai junta, which seized power from the civilian-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014.

The last round of talks took place under her watch, but they stalled in December 2013. 

Thailand signed an initial agreement with BRN in Kuala Lumpur in February 2013, which paved the way for two consequent rounds of talks. 

That process hit a snag when BRN chief negotiator Hassan Bin Toyib later announced five demands via a video posted on YouTube that the government rejected.

Those demands called for the government to grant all territory within the Deep South sovereignty and to recognize the "Patani Malay Nation."

The rebels' demands were too extreme and left no room for progress in the negotiations, Srisompob said.

"There were no adjustments to the terms or demands. For instance, the demands on identity (of Patani Malay), self-ruling or autonomy, the ones they have been asking for a long time," he said.

'Our ultimate goal'

In a separate interview, an insurgent based in Pattani's Nong Chik district said that secessionists rejected the concept of autonomy, or Patani Maha Nakhon , and would accept nothing less than sovereignty over the land. 

"For our organization, there is no such thing as Patani Maha Nakhon as being pitched by the civil society," the rebel, who spoke on condition of anonymity and that he not be identified by affiliation, told BenarNews. 

To prove its sincerity in building up mutual trust ahead of any new peace talks, the Thai government should release insurgent Sama-ea Sa-ae, also known as Hayee Isama-ea Thanam, by the end of Ramadan, the rebel said. 

"The land is our ultimate goal. The promoters of the autonomy idea are putting their words into Patani Malay people's mouths," he said.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a statement made by Army Chief Gen. Udomdej Sitabutr at a news conference to Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, Thailand's deputy prime minister and defense minister.


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BENARNEWS- A court in Southern Thailand on Monday indicted five suspects in connection with a series of bombings that injured 18 people last month in restive Yala province, according to a Thai military official.

One of the suspects, Saidee Takuenae, was also connected to an April 10 bombing on the resort island of Koh Samui that hurt seven people, 41st Paramilitary Regiment commander Col. Isara Chantapayom told BenarNews.

"Saidee Takuenae was arrested on suspicion of having a hand in bomb attacks on Yala town during May 14-16, and he was found in connection with a theft of a car on March 31 that was later used in a car bombing at Koh Samui on April 10," he said.

After the attack in Koh Samui, Deputy Prime Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan said insurgents from Thailand's Deep South region had not carried out the bombing. Yala is part of the Deep South, where a separatist insurgency has claimed more than 6,000 lives since 2004.

The other four suspects in the Yala case were identified as Abdulfahrid Sacoe, Sobree Kaso, Yazfrey Heyeeputa and Sukree Niloh.

Purely domestic

Despite the ongoing violence, there is no hard evidence of Muslim insurgents from the Deep South joining the Islamic State (IS) or other international terror networks, the U.S. State Department said in its "Country Reports on Terrorism 2014," released Friday.

"While Thai officials have long expressed concern that transnational terrorist groups could establish links with southern Thailand-based separatist groups, there have been no indications that transnational terrorist groups were directly involved in the violence in the south, and there was no evidence of direct operational links between southern Thai insurgent groups and regional terrorist networks," the report said.

Panithan Wattanayakorn, an advisor to the Thai Ministry of Defense, said the report contained a positive assessment of Thailand's performance in combatting terrorism.

"They said our counterterrorism cooperation continued to be productive. That is good in general," Panithan told BenarNews.

The State Department report, however, noted some weak spots. 

Among them, it pointed to a flawed judicial system in which "most terrorism prosecutions fail to prove the necessary element of specific intent." This has created a situation where such cases tend to result in deportations or convictions on less serious charges, according to the report.

Panithan acknowledged that the justice system could be improved, but he cited the recent acquittal of two suspects from the Deep South as an example of defendants receiving a fair trial.

"To date, the justice system as a means to solve the problems has improved in practice," Panithan said, but admittedly added that it could have been better.

"While it looks good, it is not at the level we are looking for," Panithan said.

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BENARNEWS- The U.S. State Department will soon release its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) for 2015, but a Thai official said Tuesday that Thailand wasn't expecting a promotion from the bottommost Tier 3 rank, despite its recent crackdown on people-smuggling.

"We don't expect to be lifted off Tier 3 because when we cracked down on trafficking, the U.S. had almost completed compilation of its report," Panithan Wattanayakorn, an advisor to the Thai Ministry of Defense, told BenarNews.

"The prime minister and the deputy prime minister said we would try to do our best under limited time. We tackle the issue by restructuring the way we handle trafficking issue. We placed this issue as a high priority," he added.

The TIP gauges how each country performs in a given year in combating human trafficking on its territory. The annual report covers the period from April 1 to March 31 of the following year. 

Thailand launched a crackdown on human trafficking in early May, after Thai authorities discovered the bodies of 32 suspected illegal migrants at abandoned people-smuggling camps in Padang Besar, a sub-district in southern Songkhla province.

Case closed

On Tuesday, National Police officials announced they were closing out investigations into human trafficking rings that followed the macabre discovery on its southern border. They also handed the case files over to the attorney-general's office for judicial proceedings against more than one hundred suspects named in the case. 

"With regards to the cases, a total of 119 arrest warrants have been issued. Fifty-six are in custody, while 63 managed to escape," Deputy Police Chief Gen. Ek Angsananond told a news conference in Bangkok.

"On June 22 alone, arrest warrants were issued for 30 individuals suspected of having connections with the networks, including both Thai and foreign nationals. Their networks are in Songkhla, Satun and Ranong [provinces]," he added. 

The 56 suspects in custody include a three-star army general, a former chief executive of Satun province, as well as a mayor and deputy mayor in Songkhla.

Tier 3 implications

The State Department says it assigns a Tier 3 ranking to countries whose governments do not fully comply with minimum standards spelled out in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), a U.S. law, and "are not making significant efforts to do so." 

Tier 3 countries may be hit with "certain restrictions on bilateral assistance, whereby the U.S. government may withhold or withdraw non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign assistance," according to last year's TIP report.

"In addition, certain countries on Tier 3 may not receive funding for government employees' participation in educational and cultural exchange programs," it noted.

Apart from TIP, Thailand could face sanctions from the European Union over how it has dealt with human trafficking.

The country's seafood industry employs thousands of migrant workers, and a recent investigation by the Associated Press exposed slave-like labor conditions in the sector. Thailand was hit hard by the recent issuance of an EU "yellow card" for failing to regulate its fishing industry in a sustainable manner. 

The warning gives Thailand just six months to show improvement on illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing practices – or face a crippling ban on exports to the huge European market.

On Tuesday (Bangkok time), Poj Aramwattananont, vice chairman of the Board of Trade and president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, told reporters in Bangkok that the government had imposed "tangible measures for combating problems related to illegal employment," according to a news release from the Thai embassy in Washington D.C.

"We expect that the U.S. and E.U. will fairly consider upgrading Thailand's status during the upcoming revisions," Poj said. 

Upgrade 'not warranted': rights groups

However, rights and anti-trafficking advocates say Thailand has not done enough – despite the crackdown – to deserve a promotion from Tier 3.

"An upgrade to the Tier 2 Watch List or Tier 2 is not warranted, and would effectively reward Thailand for a propaganda campaign that leaves the estimated three to four million migrant workers in Thailand, who comprise about 10 percent of the country's workforce, increasingly vulnerable to forced labor," Melysa Sperber, director of the U.S-based Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, told BenarNews.

Thailand, in the past year, has done too little to merit an upgrade in the TIP rankings, according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

"The reality is that not much has changed in Thailand to protect migrants and prevent Cambodian or Burmese men being trafficked on to fishing boats, Lao and Chinese women and girls being duped into brothels, or migrant kids ending up in debt bondage and worse in a variety of economic sectors," he told BenarNews.

"There's been no real dent in police corruption and connivance with traffickers except in the high publicity case of the Rohingya smuggling rackets," he said.

He predicts that Thailand will remain relegated to Tier 3.

"What will be important is that the Thai government should quickly get over any rebuff and redouble their efforts, and seriously investigate and apprehend anyone involved in trafficking rackets, regardless of status, rank or affiliation," Robertson added. 

"Bangkok needs to realistically aim for and work towards getting the upgrade in 2016, when one hopes they will have compiled a record that shows they earned it."

Nasueroh contributed to this report.

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BENARNEWS- The Vietnamese government succeeded Friday in persuading Thailand to shut down a news conference in Bangkok, where a human rights group was scheduled to release a report detailing persecution of the ethnic Montagnard minority in Vietnam's Central Highlands.

The same day, Thai authorities arrested 14 students who had been staging anti-junta protests in Bangkok this week in defiance of a ban by Thailand's junta on public gatherings.

"The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) received a written order from the Royal Thai Police at 10.34 am on Friday 26 June, issued on behalf of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), to cancel a press conference by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) for the release of its new report," the FCCT said in a statement.

"The FCCT complied with the written request, which was also sent to HRW."

The Royal Thai Police had received a request from Vietnam to keep a close watch on the event, according to Col. Pornchai Chalordet, superintendent of the Lumpini Police station.

The cancellation reportedly marked the third time in June that Thai authorities had ordered press-related events to be cancelled at the club.

At least a dozen police officers and a police truck were waiting outside the FCCT, and police announced the cancellation minutes before the news conference was scheduled to start.

HRW expressed disappointment at the Thai government's action that blocked the news conference at which it planned to release its 33-page report on Vietnam's alleged mistreatment of Christian Montagnards. The report has since been released on its website.

"By stepping in to defend a neighboring state's human rights violations against a group of its people and interrupting a scheduled press conference, Thailand's military junta is violating freedom of assembly and demonstrating its contempt for freedom of the press," Phil Robertson, HRW's deputy Asia director, said in a statement released after the cancelation. 

"This action today is just the latest indication that Thailand is choosing to side with dictatorships in ASEAN while further stepping up repression at home."

On Thursday afternoon, Khun Sek Wannamethee, director-general of the Thai Department of Information, had called HRW's office in Bangkok to "consult" with it about the news conference, Robertson alerted reporters in an email sent earlier on Friday.

"He [Khun Sek] stated it was a 'sensitive' matter that could impact on Thai-Vietnam relations and added that the Vietnam PM was coming on a visit to Thailand soon, and asked whether this couldn't be done somewhere else, like Singapore," Robertson said in the email.

Encroachments on freedoms

Friday's cancellation marked the latest infringement on freedom of the press in Thailand, where the military seized power from the civilian-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014.

The junta then imposed martial law and, earlier this year, replaced it with absolute power by invoking Article 44 of Thailand's interim constitution.

According to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHCR), Article 44 empowers the military, among other things, to restrict the press and freedom of public assembly by arresting groups of five or more people who gather for protests.

On Friday, Thai police took 14 students into custody for allegedly staging a series of protests against the junta's rule.

"We've caught them all, according to the arrest warrants, and the next step is to tell them what they are accused of," Reuters quoted Wutthichai Suponthawit, deputy superintendent of the Samrat Rat police station in Bangkok, as saying.

"We will now jail them."

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BENARNEWS- Thai Army Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong is closely involved in delicate back-channel efforts by the Thai government to reopen peace talks with southern rebels.
Thai officials have had difficulty persuading various insurgent factions from Thailand's Deep South region to return to the negotiating table, he told BenarNews earlier this month.
Since April, Thai officials have held at least two secret pre-talk meetings in Kuala Lumpur with representatives of rebel groups. But there was a need "to build triangular trust" among Thailand, Malaysia and the different rebel groups, Nakrob said on June 19.
The predominantly Muslim Deep South – made up of the southern border provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as several districts in Songkhla province – has been in the throes of a separatist conflict that has claimed at least 6,000 lives since 2004.
Should the talks resume any time soon, they would be the first under Thailand's junta – which seized power in May 2014 – and the first since that last round ended in December 2013.
On Friday, Maj. Gen. Nakrob sat down for an interview with BenarNews at his office in Bangkok. He spoke about the current efforts underway to reopen the talks, Malaysia's role as a peace broker, as well as the crucial fact that key insurgent leaders live there.
Here are highlights from the interview:
BenarNews: Which are the separatist groups currently carrying out violence in the Deep South? Is it correct that they will talk with the government under an umbrella group, MARA Patani?
Nakrob: I would like to tell you that the problems in the south have long existed and there are several organizations. They are not legitimate organizations, they have mere organizational names.
At present there are several groups. There are almost ten of them, being active or inactive. Perhaps you know that among the ISOC [Internal Security Operations Command] circle, and the peace talks' circle, as per the prime minister's policy we've tried to find those active ones from the most active to the least. And there are six of them.
BenarNews: What progress has the team made and when will the next round begin?
Nakrob: ...Our prime minister [Prayuth Chan-o-Cha] met with his Malaysian counterpart [Najib Razak] in January. After that he kicked-off [pre-talk negotiations], agreed to have Malaysia as a facilitator and assigned Gen. Aksara [Kerdpol] to lead the Thai team for talks.
Since then, we have continually followed up. At the early stage, there have been meetings, discussions and getting to know each other .... We are now at the stage of building trust.
BenarNews: After the latest meeting do you feel that each side is open to building trust?
Nakrob: It's natural that at the first meetings, each side kept their feelings to themselves. We must dine and talk and break the ice. And that will improve the relationship at the next step. At the beginning, all were conservative.
But ... [Malaysia] is the facilitator that glues us together, which is very effective. We trust Malaysia and so do the dissidents living there. When we met the dissidents, Malaysia brought us together perfectly.
BenarNews: There are some dissidents who claim that the kingpins or big fish are in Thailand. So why did you reach out to those in Malaysia? What's your take on that?
Nakrob: ... One reason we cannot solve this problem with ease, or to make it easy, is that everyone must admit that most dissidents are residing in Malaysia. They can cross the borders. Most of them with whatever organizational names are not living in Thailand but in Malaysia ....
It is hard to solve the problem because of support from within Malaysia. The ability to cross the border, to go into hiding, these make it hard for us to solve the problem.
But when we analyzed it and found out that if we reached out across the border, we could solve it. We, security officers, think that we need to reach out to them there.
For those who are in Thailand, we can open talks at any time within our country, if they claim they are genuine dissidents and are ready to talk. It is hard for us if they don't speak up.
The major leaders are all in Malaysia. So if we can talk with Malaysia and the dissidents who live there, and if we can curb all supports [for them], all our internal issues will be easy to control. This is our working principle ....


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BENARNEWS- A group of 173 ethnic Uyghur women and children have arrived in Turkey for resettlement after being detained for more than a year by Thai immigration authorities, sources said Wednesday.
Thailand had detained the Uyghurs for entering the country illegally while fleeing persecution in northwestern China's restive Xinjiang region.
Seyit Tumturk, vice president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, said the group had arrived at the airport in Istanbul early on Tuesday.
"They make up a portion of the Uyghurs who were arrested in March 2014 in Thailand," said Tumturk, who is also chairman of the East Turkestan Culture and Cooperation Association, a Uyghur organization based in Turkey.
"They are mostly women and kids – around 120 kids and about 50 women. Hopefully, the men [still in detention] will be granted this kind of chance in the near future."
After landing at the airport around 6 a.m., the Uyghurs' documentation was quickly processed and they were able to "enter into Turkey safely," he said.
Some were staying in Istanbul and others headed to Kayseri province, where many Uyghurs have settled.
The Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) network quoted Gungor Yavuzarslan, president of the International Journalists Association of Turkish-Speaking Countries, as confirming Wednesday that 173 Uyghurs had arrived in the country a day earlier.
He called their acceptance a "diplomatic victory for Turkey on the international stage."
A Uyghur scholar living in Ankara, the Turkish capital, also confirmed the group's arrival, but said that Turkish officials had sought to play down the move amid ongoing internal political negotiations.
"I am aware of this news, but the Turkish government is trying to form a coalition [between the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement party (MHP)] following the parliamentary election, so they do not want to publicize it," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier on Wednesday, Thai lawyer Worrasit Piriyawoboon said 171 Uyghurs had left Thailand on a flight for Turkey "two days ago," citing a source from the Thai Immigration Police Bureau.
The reason for the discrepancy in the number of Uyghurs who had departed for Turkey was not immediately clear.
"I had filed a court appeal for the release of the 17 members of the Telkimakan family [who were among the detainees], but now some of them have been freed, so an immigration official asked me to drop the appeal," Worrasit said in Bangkok.
"However, to my surprise, a couple from the family – Ashan and Rukiye, who testified in a Thai court for their release – are still in custody."
He did not provide specific information about which of the family's members had been included in the group that flew to Turkey.
Detention centers
The Uyghurs who arrived in Turkey were among about 370 Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uyghurs held since March 2014 in Thai government-run refugee detention centers in Padang Besar – a sub-district in southern Thailand's Songkhla province – and the cities of Bangkok, Rayong and Trat. Visitors have described the facilities as cramped and unhygienic.
Many have complained of worsening conditions and poor food quality. In January, detainees held a hunger strike to demand that authorities improve the situation at the Padang Besar facility.
An ethnic Uyghur boy detained there died last December after contracting tuberculosis.
The detainees had remained in limbo more than a year into their detention, with Beijing demanding they be repatriated to China.
Xinjiang exodus
During the last two years, Uyghurs have been leaving China in droves to escape persecution and repression by authorities who consider them separatists and terrorists, and have cracked down on their religion and culture.
Chinese authorities have blamed an upsurge of violence in Xinjiang since 2012 on terrorists and Islamist insurgents seeking to establish an independent state.
According to Tumturk, Uyghurs from all parts of Xinjiang rely on networks of Chinese smugglers to take them across the border into neighboring Southeast Asian countries en route to their final destination Turkey.
Tumturk cited those detained in Thailand, a key way station.
"China deprives them of their human dignity, their human rights, and religious freedom in every possible way, so they head to Turkey to live like human beings," he said.
"Unfortunately, some of them were arrested in Thailand in March 2014. So we are thankful to the Turkish government for bringing [many of them] them to Turkey. It is a big relief."
On Tuesday, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it expressed "deep concern" to China about reports that the country had imposed a fasting ban on Uyghurs during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, according to the Turkey-based Daily Sabah.
In January, Turkey had accepted more than 500 Uyghurs who sought refuge in the country, the report said.
In recent years, several Asian nations – including Thailand – have bowed to demands by Beijing to repatriate Uyghurs fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, despite warnings from rights groups and the Uyghur exile community that they may face prison sentences upon their return.
Pimuk Rakkanam contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Thousands of Thai fishing boats stayed docked Wednesday as operators scrambled to meet new regulations aimed at avoiding a European ban on seafood imports from Thailand. 

A trade group representing Thailand's multi-billion dollar seafood said it would obey a governmental order requiring all fishing boat operators to be licensed and registered. But it pleaded for the authorities to grant an extension on a compliance deadline that expired Wednesday.   

"I agree with the new fisheries order because it will be beneficial to the fishermen and the country in the long run. But we want the government to extend the timeframe for registration," National Fisheries Association of Thailand President Phubet Chanthanimi said during a meeting in southern Pattani province.

Fishermen in coastal Pattani, however, would not stage a blockade to protest against the government's measures to regulate the nation's 200 billion baht (U.S. $5.9 billion) seafood industry, he added.

"After the meeting we felt satisfied, but the association's members may get together again on July 3 or July 4 in front of the provincial hall to show our stance," Phubet told reporters.

More than 2,000 fishing boats in Pattani and neighboring Narathiwat remained in port as the deadline passed.

"About 80 percent of all the fishermen, they're coming back to shore" in order to comply with the new regulations, Agence France-Presse quoted Thai Overseas Fisheries Association President Aphisit Techanitisawad as saying.

European warning 

Thailand, the world's third biggest seafood exporter, is imposing the new measures because it faces a potential ban on seafood exports to the European Union – the world's single largest market for imported fish and fishery products, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

On April 21, the EU hit the Southeast Asian nation with a "yellow card" for "not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal fishing," according to the European Commission.

The European bloc gave Thailand six months to show improvement on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing practices (IUU).

Some 80,000 migrants were working in the Thai seafood industry, and a deadline for registering migrant workers expired on Tuesday, AFP reported, citing a labor ministry official.

The industry has also faced criticism from human rights groups for employing victims of human trafficking. In March, the Associated Press published a year-long investigation into the Southeast Asian seafood trade that exposed the alleged enslavement of foreign migrants on fishing boats.

PM: No extension 

The industry needs more time to comply because some 4,000 illegal fishing boats are operating out of Thailand, Phubet said. According to the Marine Fisheries Research and Development Bureau, some 57,141 vessels are based in Thailand's 23 seaside provinces. 

In Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Wednesday rejected such calls for an extension, saying that delaying regulation of the seafood industry could harm the country's trade with Europe.

"I'm keeping an eye on it. If we are pressured to postpone the mandate and we fail the [EU's] assessment, shall we all be responsible for the loss of 200 billion baht worth of goods that can't sell?" Prayuth said, according to local news reports.

"That would finally mean all fishing boats couldn't fish anymore, so don't protest to make it worse," the prime minister added.

According to the Thai Department of Fisheries, Thailand's seafood exports to the EU alone are worth 30 billion baht (U.S. $887.4 million) annually.

New rules

The government adopted a new law, the Fisheries Act, just a week after the EU issued Thailand the yellow card warning. Soon after, the government notified the industry that it had till July 1 to meet the new rules.

All fishing boat operators must now fulfill several requirements: each boat must be licensed and registered with the authorities; be equipped with a vessel monitoring system; and carry safety equipment and copies of employment contracts.

Entrepreneurs who fail to comply with the law could face a year in prison or a 100,000-baht (U.S. $2,950) fine, if arrested and convicted.

Seafood giant backs measures

Thailand's biggest seafood company, Thai Union Frozen Products (TUF), said Wednesday that it was committed to complying with the government's measures to raise industry practices to international standards.

"The government sector must address it seriously to police the fishing, to contain the already-damaged image," Sasinan Allmand, TUF's corporate communications chief, told BenarNews in a phone interview.

In its investigative report, AP named Thai Union Frozen Products as among companies that had sold seafood products harvested by slave laborers working aboard fishing boats in Indonesia.

"We are the leading exporter in sea foods, and we'd like to see the government seriously and sustainably handle the issue. We have a significant market share in world market and we must stand up with grace," Sasinan added. 

"If that would cause a rise in overhead costs, we all take the burden [so] as to comply with international standards. We should aim at the collective interest to make the industry sustainable," she said.

Pimuk Rakkanam contributed to this report.

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BENARNEWS- Two editors of an independent news website that has chronicled the hardships of Rohingya refugees in southern Thailand will stand trial next week on defamation charges brought by the Royal Thai Navy.

Phuketwan.com editors Alan Morison and Chutima "Oi" Sidasathian could go to prison for reprinting a paragraph from a report by Reuters that implicated Thai navy personnel in human trafficking, and which was part of an investigative series that earned the news agency a Pulitzer Prize last year.   

Morison and Chutima each face up to seven years in prison – plus fines – if convicted. They were charged in April 2014, including on charges of breaching Thailand's Computer Crime Act of 2007, which bars circulation of material deemed detrimental to national security.

Their trial is set to open at Phuket Provincial Court on July 14.

Morison and Chutima say they are willing to face jail time to uphold the cause of press freedom in Thailand.

''We are being forced to fight for the right to a free and unfettered media. Everybody except the government can see the failings in this case," Morison, a 66-year-old Australian expatriate and co-founder of Phuketwan ("Sweet Phuket"), told BenarNews.

Reuters off the hook

The criminal case stems from Phuketwan's decision to reprint an excerpt from the report that Reuters published in July 2013, which implicated navy personnel in the trafficking of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar through Thailand.

''A Reuters investigation, based on interviews with people smugglers and more than two dozen survivors of boat voyages, reveals how some Thai naval security forces work systematically with smugglers to profit from the surge in fleeing Rohingya,'' the excerpt reads.

The British news agency stood by its story after the Thai navy complained about the report's accuracy.

According to the Bangkok Post, naval officers also threatened to sue Reuters as well, but later backed down and focused instead on going after the editors of Phuketwan, which is based on the island of Phuket.

Dogged reporting

Phuketwan has been covering human trafficking and the plight of Rohingya for years –long before a scandal broke this year in southern Thailand, in which 119 people, including a three-star Thai army general, were implicated in alleged people-smuggling rings.

Morison and Chutima first found out about the trafficking of Rohingyas – a stateless Muslim minority fleeing persecution in Buddhist Myanmar – during a trip along the coast north of Phuket in 2008. 

Since then they have developed extensive contacts and posted many stories about the Rohingya. The website's coverage of the issue picks up during each "sailing season," from November to April, when migrant-boat traffic resumes following annual monsoons. 

The two were charged before the Thai military seized power in a May 2014 coup.

The junta has not intervened in the Phuketwan case, but it has clamped down on free speech. In Bangkok last month, Thai authorities arrested 14 anti-junta demonstrators and shut down three press-related events at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT).

''There is still a chance for the government of Thailand to settle this issue honorably and honestly. But time is running out," Morison told BenarNews.  

"If the government wishes to sacrifice its reputation and its tourism industry to a commitment to old-fashioned face-saving, that would be very sad. We hope common sense prevails.''

International attention

The defamation case has injected new life into the website, which was on the brink of shutting down due to financial troubles last year, before the Navy pressed charges against Morison and Chutima.

In fighting the case the two have received financial help from groups such as the Andaman Community Rights and Legal Aid Centre, and the London-based Media Legal Defense Initiative. 

Their legal team reportedly comprises more than 10 Thai lawyers from groups including the Human Rights Lawyers' Association, iLaw and SR Law.

"This gagging of independent voices has become widespread in Thailand, where free expression violations are on the rise as the military junta tightens its grip on civil society and the media," Karin Karlekar, director of Free Expression Programs at the PEN American Center, said in a statement on June 30.

"Phuketwan is one of the only news sources in Thailand committed to pursuing the story of the Rohingya, whose plight has become a matter of urgent international concern," she added.

Last month, an editorial in the Bangkok Post called on Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha to drop the case against Morison and Chutima and reprimand the navy officers who brought charges against them.

"It is unjust that a citizen or business should face prison because of criticism of an arm of government," it said.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Alan Morison and Chutima "Oi" Sidasathian were married.


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BENARNEWS- A military court has ordered the release of 14 Thai students who were detained almost two weeks for participating in peaceful anti-government protests, but they still may be prosecuted for sedition, lawyers for the group said.

A military court on Tuesday ordered the release of the young activists – 13 men and a woman –
when it rejected a request from police to hold them for another 12 days, pending trial.

"They will be released by Wednesday morning because the current custody detention remains in effect until this upcoming midnight," Sasinan Thamthitinand, one of the attorneys representing the activists, told BenarNews by phone on Tuesday.

"The officers at Samranraj station police requested another pre-trial detention but a lawyer and students also requested the police motion be dropped. The military court dismissed the police's request," added Sasinan, who works for the advocacy group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

"The charges are not dropped, pending the order to prosecute or not, which will be made by military prosecutor," the group said in a statement Tuesday.

The 14 were arrested on June 26 for taking part in a series of protests marking the first anniversary of a military coup that toppled the civilian-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in May 2014.

Each of the activists was charged with sedition under Section 116 of the Criminal Code as well as violating a ban on political gatherings instituted by the National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) – the junta's official name.

In April, the council lifted martial law but replaced it with absolute power by invoking Article 44 of the interim constitution. That clause gives the military sweeping powers, including censoring the press or banning public gatherings of five or more people.

If the case goes to trial and they are convicted, the activists could face years in prison. The sedition charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years, and the charge of violating the NCPO's public assembly ban carries up to six months.

'They are free'

After Tuesday's court session in Bangkok, the activists' head lawyer, Krisadang Nutcharas, said the students had the right to go back out into the streets and protest again.

"They are free, they can go wherever they want because they are presumed innocent," he told reporters outside the military courthouse.

"[Their] unconditioned release enables the students to continue the campaign, it's their rights," he added. "The government shall not prevent them from doing so, and they don't need to report to the military court because they are not obligated by the court order now."

The students were identified as Rangsiman Rome, Wasant Sadesit, Songtham Kaewpanphruek, Payu Boonsopon, Apiwat Suntararak, Rattapol Supasophon, Supachai Pookhlongploy, Apisit Sapnapaphan, Panupong Sritananuwat, Suvicha Pitungkorn, Pakorn Areekul, Chatupat Boonyapatraksa, Pornchai Yuanyee, and Chonticha Chaengreo.

Government officials, however, warned that the case was still not over for the 14.

"Even though they will be released, it doesn't mean the case is concluded," the Associated Press quoted a deputy governmental spokesman, Sansern Kaewkamnerd, as saying.

PM: 'They should have learnt the lesson'

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha also reportedly reacted to Tuesday's decision by the military court.

"The military court handed down a release of 14 students. It's up to the law and the court has mercy, but they [the students] need to think if they will get away with it again," Prayuth said, according to Wassana Nanuam, a military affairs reporter for the Bangkok Post who posted the comments on her personal Facebook page.

"They should have learnt the lesson to not do it again," she quoted him as saying.

The junta's decision to bring a sedition charge against the 14 drew protests from the United Nations, European Union and human rights groups.

"Thailand's junta should immediately stop arresting and prosecuting student-activists," Brad Adams, Asia director for U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement issued a day after the 14 were arrested.

"While insisting they aren't dictators, the Thai generals have used the military courts as a central feature for their crackdown against peaceful criticism and dissent."

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BENARNEWS- The Thai government and southern rebels are unlikely to make any major peace-making breakthrough in Thailand's current political climate, according to a report released Wednesday by an international NGO specializing in conflict resolution.

Talks, should they occur, can still be fruitful if they focus on modest goals aimed at building a durable foundation for a long-term peace process, the International Crisis Group said.

"In its current state, the peace dialogue is going nowhere," said Matt Wheeler, Southeast Asia analyst for the group.

"The military government's authoritarianism and centralization of power cast doubt on its ability to make the necessary compromises, while the separatists lack the commitment, political capacity and coherence needed for negotiations to succeed," Wheeler added in a statement.

The junta in recent months has engaged in back-channel, pre-talk meetings aimed at persuading various southern insurgency groups to return to the negotiation table. 

In its 38-page report, titled "Southern Thailand: Dialogue in Doubt," the Crisis Group argues that both sides need to be realistic and set "modest goals" for opening a dialogue.

"Given the current adverse environment for conducting substantive talks, the actors should concentrate for now on establishing a durable framework and institutions that can carry such negotiations forward when that environment becomes more favorable," the report says.

Those goals could include establishing acceptable designations for all parties and communication protocols, it said, adding: "Agreement on procedural issues would represent genuine progress in what will be a long process."

The last round of Malaysia-brokered talks, held under a civilian-led government, stalled in December 2013. Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), one of the main armed separatist groups, insisted then that Bangkok grant sovereignty to the Deep South and recognize the "Patani Malay Nation," among other demands. 

Since 2004 more than 6,000 people have died in the conflict in the predominantly Muslim region that borders Malaysia.

Lowering expectations

The Brussels-based Crisis Group carries out field research into wars around the globe, and works to prevent and resolve conflicts as well as influence peace-making policy, according to its website.

Its latest report on Thailand examines the last round of peace talks, the current situation on both sides, and offers recommendations for getting talks back on track.

The previous round "changed the conflict's dynamics" because the government of then-Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra acknowledged the insurgency's political nature and committed itself to a dialogue with the rebels, the reports says. 

But it tamps down expectations for a major breakthrough this time around.

"The military government has formally committed to dialogue, but after a year in office, there is no evidence of progress. Officials insist that they are quietly making secret overtures to potential militant interlocutors," the report says.

According to the Crisis Group, several obstacles are holding up a resumption of talks: lack of unity on both sides; the difficulty of persuading hardcore elements of the BRN to participate; junta-imposed restrictions on civil liberties; and the government's reluctance to consider devolution of power.

"Although it has vowed to pursue talks, the junta rejects pluralism and political debate, promoting 'Thainess' and 'unity' concepts that are unlikely to reduce tensions in the south," the report says. "Resolution of the conflict demands a new relationship between the state and society in the region, which will most likely require greater political decentralization."

The BRN, on the other hand, remains open to peace talks but isn't convinced that the junta is serious enough about coming to the table, according to Don Pathan, an expert on the Deep South and founder of the Patani Forum, a group that promotes free speech in the region.

"For the time being, it doesn't see any real commitment or seriousness from the current Bangkok government and believes that 'peace process' is an empty phrase designed for domestic and international consumption," Pathan wrote in an op-ed piece published in The Nation newspaper on June 27.

Prepared for Failure

Meanwhile, officials closely involved with Thai efforts to bring about a new round of talks have gone on the record in the Bangkok Post, saying the government hoped to strike "a joint declaration for peace talks with insurgent groups in the far South before the end of the year."

But Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, who heads a governmental team in pre-talk negotiations, earlier this month cushioned the Thai public for the possibility that those efforts could end up going nowhere.

"... Should the talks turn out to be a failure, all security agencies must take collective responsibility," Aksara told the Bangkok Post in an article published on July 1.

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BENARNEWS- More than 90 ethnic Uyghurs, including women and children, are facing immediate deportation from Thailand, where they have been detained for more than a year for illegally entering the country while fleeing persecution in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, a Uyghur exile group said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) cited a source as saying the Uyghurs, who were detained by Thai immigration authorities, were transported from five detention centers across Thailand Wednesday to a military airport close to the capital Bangkok. 

The move to deport the Uyghur detainees was also reported by Turkish newspaper Yenisafak, quoting a social worker who had assisted a group of the Uyghurs detained in Bangkok.

"We have learned that Uyghurs were taken to the military airport in handcuffs with three military vehicles," Bilal Degirmeci of the Turkish aid group Cansuyu, told the paper.

"[The authorities] said 50 male and 25 female detainees were taken from the Bangkok detention center."

According to the WUC's source, the women and children from the five detention centers had already been taken on board, while the men had "resisted getting on a plane heading to China" amid a heavy Thai army presence at the airport.

The Thai army is using "a special chemical gas" to knock the men unconscious and force them onto the plane, the source said.

Thai authorities could not immediately be reached to confirm reports of the deportation.

The WUC said it was "gravely concerned" about the fate of the Uyghurs, noting that the consequences of their repatriation were likely to include criminal allegations used to justify punishments that would be inflicted on them upon their arrival in China.

"It is anticipated that the Chinese government is behind this covert, and indeed heinous, operation which aims to bring these Uyghurs back to harsh punishment, which possibly includes capital punishment," the WUC said.

The WUC urged the international community to take action to prevent the forced deportation, which it called a "violation of international principles and laws."

Recent resettlement

Reports of the forced deportation came despite the resettlement in Turkey last week of 173 women and children from among the detainees in Thailand, following long-lasting negotiations between the two countries.

The Uyghur arrivals in Turkey were among about 370 Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uyghurs held in Thai government-run refugee detention centers in Padang Besar—in Songkhla province's Sadao district—and the cities of Bangkok, Rayong and Trat, since March 2014 in what visitors have described as cramped and unhygienic conditions.

Many have complained of worsening conditions and poor food quality, and detainees held a hunger strike in January to demand authorities improve the situation at the Padang Besar facility. One ethnic Uyghur boy detained there died last December after contracting tuberculosis.

The detainees had remained in limbo more than a year into their detention, with Beijing demanding they be repatriated to China.

During the last couple of years, Uyghurs have been leaving China in droves to escape persecution and repression by authorities who consider them separatists and terrorists and have cracked down on their religion and culture. Chinese authorities have blamed an upsurge of violence in Xinjiang since 2012 on terrorists and Islamist insurgents seeking to establish an independent state.

Several Asian nations—including Thailand—have bowed to demands by Beijing to repatriate Uyghurs fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, despite warnings from rights groups and the Uyghur exile community that they may face prison sentences upon their return.

According to the WUC, the whereabouts of all the Uyghurs who were previously deported from countries neighboring China—including Thailand—remain unknown.

"There is no transparency, let alone due legal proceedings, applied to the cases of the Uyghurs deported," the group said in its statement.

"It is highly likely that the fate of these Uyghurs at the Thai military repeats, tragically, the fate of those Uyghurs who exposed to the very persecution from which they struggled to escape at all costs, if no international intervention is made."

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BENARNEWS- Thailand said on Thursday it had forcibly repatriated nearly 100 Uyghurs to China, a move that drew criticism from human rights groups and protests in Turkey over the expulsion of the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that suffers harsh repression under Chinese rule.
Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Thailand's prime minster, told reporters his country was "not part of the dispute" between China and Uyghurs and had received guarantees from Beijing that the Uyghurs forced onto planes late on Wednesday would be treated fairly.
"They will be provided with justice and safety. China confirmed they will be given access to fair justice," Prayuth told reporters at the government house in Bangkok.
"If they are not implicated in any offenses, they will be released and given land for making a living. But if any are implicated with crimes, they will be tried," he said.
'Shocked'
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it was shocked at the deportation of a group believed to include women and children who did not wish to return to China.
"While we are seeking further clarifications on what happened exactly, we are shocked by this deportation of some 100 people and consider it a flagrant violation of international law," said Volker Turk, UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, in a statement issued by the U.N. agency.
"I strongly urge the Thai authorities to investigate this matter and appeal to Thailand to honor its fundamental international obligations, notably the principle of non-refoulement, and to refrain from such deportations in the future," he added.
On Wednesday, the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) warned of the impending repatriation and appealed for international intervention.
The WUC said it was "gravely concerned" about the fate of the Uyghurs, noting that the consequences of their repatriation were likely to include criminal allegations used to justify punishments that would be inflicted on them upon their arrival in China.

"It is anticipated that the Chinese government is behind this covert, and indeed heinous, operation which aims to bring these Uyghurs back to harsh punishment, which possibly includes capital punishment," the WUC said.
The forced deportation came despite the resettlement in Turkey last week of 173 women and children from among the detainees in Thailand, following long-lasting negotiations between the two countries.
Maj. Gen. Weerachon Sukhontapatipak, deputy spokesperson for the Thai government, said in Bangkok the repatriation was 'in line with a citizen verification procedure, which indicated them as Chinese and they must follow China's justice."
The earlier release of Uyghurs to Turkey was a different matter, he told reporters at a news conference.
"In regards with the 170 Uyghurs Thailand sent over to Turkey late June, this is an indication for Thailand's compliance with international-standard citizenship verification process. They are verified being Turkish, so they were sent to Turkey," said Sukhontapatipak.
"We admitted it is a very sensitive security issue. However, Thailand has continual discussions with both China and Turkey," he added.
"There are about 50 Uyghur who are pending citizenship verification completion," said Sukhontapatipak.
Leaving China in droves
In Turkey, local protesters responded to the expulsion by smashing windows and ransacking parts of the honorary Thai consulate in Istanbul.
"Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, has had a direct phone conversation with the Turkish prime minister and asked him to maintain security for the Thai diplomats and Thai citizens in Turkey. He has great concerns on the issue." Sukhontapatipak said.
The detainees had remained in limbo more than a year into their detention, with Beijing demanding they be repatriated to China.

During the last couple of years, Uyghurs have been leaving China in droves to escape persecution and repression by authorities who consider them separatists and terrorists and have cracked down on their religion and culture.
Chinese authorities have blamed an upsurge of violence in Xinjiang since 2012 on terrorists and Islamist insurgents seeking to establish an independent state.

Several Asian nations—including Thailand—have bowed to demands by Beijing to repatriate Uyghurs fleeing persecution in Xinjiang, despite warnings from rights groups and the Uyghur exile community that they may face prison sentences upon their return.


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BENARNEWS- The Thai government on Thursday rejected a claim by the World Uyghur Congress that at least 25 men among a group of nearly 100 Uyghurs had been killed when they resisted moves by authorities to forcibly repatriate them to China.
Thai authorities confirmed Thursday they had forcibly repatriated nearly 100 Uyghurs to China, a move that drew criticism from human rights groups and protests in Turkey over the expulsion of the Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that suffers harsh repression under Chinese rule.
In a statement, the WUC had asserted that it has "direct information over the phone from a source on the ground in Thailand who indicated that at least 25 men were also killed trying to resist boarding the plane."
But Thai government deputy spokesman Weerachon Sukhontapatipak said "there was no such thing as claimed by WUC."
The Munich-based WUC appeared to have removed the claim about the killing hours after publishing the statement on its website Thursday. The group had a day earlier accurately reported the impending expulsion of the more than 90 Uyghurs.
Another Thai government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also dismissed the WUC claim.
"It is not true. There was no killing as claimed by the WUC," he said, adding that Thai authorities could provide video evidence to show that there was no deaths in the run up to the repatriation.
"I believe we can prove this with sort of evidence,  perhaps video footage, which I believe we may have during the operation,"  he said.
Initial report of 25 shot dead
The WUC said in its statement that a first plane was loaded primarily with women and children, along with a small group of men, and departed without incident.
"The second plane, however, was "intended to transport around 65 men, but authorities faced some resistance from the men in doing so."
It said that in the process 25 men were killed. Later, the paragraph on the killing was removed from its statement on its website.
Wednesday's forced deportation followed the resettlement in Turkey last week of 173 women and children from among the detainees in Thailand, following long-lasting negotiations between the two countries.
Figures given for the overnight deportation through a military section of Bangkok's main airport have ranged from 90 to 108. Thai officials said another 50 Uyghurs remained in the country awaiting determination of their status.
The Uyghur arrivals in Turkey were among about 370 Turkic-speaking, Muslim Uyghurs held in Thai government-run refugee detention centers in Padang Besar – in Songkhla province's Sadao district – and the cities of Bangkok, Rayong and Trat, since March 2014 in what visitors have described as cramped and unhygienic conditions.

Many have complained of worsening conditions and poor food quality, and detainees held a hunger strike in January to demand authorities improve the situation at the Padang Besar facility. One ethnic Uyghur boy detained there died last December after contracting tuberculosis.

The detainees had remained in limbo more than a year into their detention, with Beijing demanding they be repatriated to China.
Amnesty: 'Despicable act'

Thailand, run by a military junta that has suspended democracy and is accused of human rights abuses, appeared uncomfortable being caught in a dispute among China, the Uyghurs who have been fleeing repression in increasing numbers and Turkey, which has offered hundreds of Uyghurs safe haven in recent years.
"(If) they (Uyghurs) want to fight their way, just do it, but why cause friction between Thailand and Turkey, China or Uyghurs?" Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Thai prime minster, told reporters in Bangkok on Thursday.
Prayuth also said the repatriated Uyghurs "will be provided with justice and safety. China confirmed they will be given access to fair justice."
Those Chinese pledges are not taken seriously by human rights experts, who point to decades of systematic repression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as that region is formally called.
"This is akin to sentencing them to the worst punishment imaginable. Time and time again we have seen Uyghurs returned to China disappearing into a black hole, with some detained, tortured and in some cases, sentenced to death and executed," said Nicholas Bequelin, Regional Director for East Asia at Amnesty International.
"Deporting these people is a despicable act, and illegal under international law. If the Thai authorities go ahead with any further deportations, they will be putting the lives of many at risk," he said in a statement issued by the London-based rights watchdog.
The U.S. State Department also condemned Thailand's move, saying it put the 100 or more Uyghurs in a position "where they could face harsh treatment and a lack of due process."
In a statement from Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby urged Thailand "not to carry out further forced deportations of ethnic Uyghurs" and called on China to "uphold international norms and to ensure transparency, due process, and proper treatment of these individuals."
In recent years, hundreds of Uyghurs have been leaving China to escape persecution and repression by authorities and loss of land to settlers from eastern China.
Chinese authorities have blamed an upsurge of violence in Xinjiang since 2012 on terrorists and Islamist insurgents seeking to establish an independent state, and have cracked down on Uyghur religion and culture.


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BENARNEWS- Shortly after suspected insurgents attacked a village protection post in southern Thailand on Friday, injuring 18 people, six of them seriously, a regional army commander called for shoring up the base's defenses against further attacks.
Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the 4th Army Region, which encompasses the restive Deep South, said he was calling a meeting between military officials, police and villagers to figure out how to do this.
Prakarn said he also ordered the all-volunteer village protection units in the affected tambon (cluster of villages) to review emergency operating procedures and work to develop and install a warning system.
The attack, which took place around 1 a.m. (local time) in Pulae village, in Yala province's Yaha district, targeted the post defending Tambon Baroh.
At least 15 insurgents were involved in the early morning raid, according to a witness in the village, but Agence France-Presse quoted a provincial police commander as saying that as many as 30 to 40 people attacked the post.
The insurgents used M-79 grenades and fired at the volunteer force, Police Maj. Gen. Tanongsak Wangsupha, the superintendent of Yala police, told reporters.
"We found out that the building was shot at with M-79s and assault rifles, riddling the building, followed by arson, which did more damage. They also destroyed several surveillance cameras as well," Tanongsak said.
No injuries were reported among the insurgents, but an assistant village headman was among the 18 volunteers who were wounded. The six seriously injured were listed in stable condition at a hospital in Yala town, officials said.
After attacking the post and engaging in a shootout with the volunteers, the militants made off with seven guns, Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the forward office of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, told reporters.
The attack was well-planned, authorities said. When the rebels fled, they laid spikes across the road and cut down trees in its path to block it, officials said.
Possible motives
The government arms such all-volunteers units, which are scattered across the Deep South and whose ranks comprise civilians who live in local tambons. The volunteer defense forces help the Thai military fend off separatist insurgents in the predominantly Muslim region.
Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have died in violence related to the insurgency.
"The rebels want to re-assert their power as now villagers are co-operating with state authorities," the police superintendent said, according to AFP.
Another police officer, who asked not to be named, told BenarNews that a local rebel commander, Hubaidilah Rommueli, was believed to have led the raid.
Separately, a resident of Pulae village said that insurgents may have carried out the attack to avenge the January killing of a comrade.
The dead insurgent, Sadu-ee Stapo, had been betrayed by a friend of his in the local village protection force, who had allegedly given up Sadu-ee to the authorities, the villager said.
Security forces shot Sadu-ee dead on Jan. 30.
"I believe the assailants were exacting revenge for death of Sadu-ee Stapo, an insurgent leader in Tambon Baroh, whom his close friend lured to be killed by the securities force," the villager told BenarNews.
Recent violence
Friday's attack followed some deadly incidents carried out by suspected insurgents across the Deep South since near the end of Ramadan in July.
Last Saturday, a Buddhist monk and a policeman were killed in a bombing in Pattani province, which injured another monk, two other officers and three civilians.
On July 16, in Narathiwat province, two soldiers were shot dead and then their bodies were burned.


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BENARNEWS- Two people were killed and 11 others injured in a series of night-time bombings in Thailand's southern border on Friday, after security officials warned of a possible surge in attacks by Muslim rebels in the final days of Ramadan.
Friday night's attacks – motorcycle bombs and hand grenades thrown from passing vehicles –took place in Padang Besar, a sub-district of Songkhla province, and Su-ngai Kolok, a border town in Narathiwat province, officials said.
In Padang Besar, a motorcycle-rigged bomb went off at a market, killing two women and injuring three other women who were dining there, according to local police. 
Police identified the dead women as Aron Thammakhan and the second victim only by her nickname, "Preaw."
And, in coordinated attacks in Su-ngai Kolok, four bombs exploded at a local nightspot, injuring eight people, one seriously. A fifth bomb was found in the vicinity but authorities were able to defuse it.
"We believe the insurgents are behind the coordinated attacks," Pol. Lt. Col. Jaripat Thongdaeng said.
The two sites targeted in the attacks lie in a predominantly Muslim region near the Malaysian border known as the Deep South. For at least a decade, a separatist insurgency has gripped the region, claiming the lives of more than 6,000 people since 2004.
The bombings occurred amid reported efforts by Thailand's military-led government to persuade various southern rebel groups to engage in peace talks.
The spate of bombings was the worst to hit the Deep South since mid-May, when a string of bombs went off over the course of three days in Yala province, injuring at least 14 people.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attacks.
'Twisted teaching'
Earlier on Friday, Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the forward office of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, held a press conference where he reiterated an earlier warning that the public should watch out for rebel attacks in the last 10 days of Ramadan. This year the Islamic holy month of fasting will end on July 17.
Rebels who carry out such attacks are twisting the tenets of Islam laid down in the Quran, he said.
"The situation in the last ten days of Ramadan will be worse due to the twisted teaching that [good deeds] will be doubled by killing and bombing people and government officials," Col. Pramote said.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand's junta is trying to meet again with southern rebel groups next month to pave the way for official peace talks, but a majority of insurgents are uninterested, according to a leaked military document.
"Most operatives in the field don't agree with the peace talks because they don't believe this attempt is sustainable, and talking with military will only cause them to have disadvantages," says a progress report obtained by BenarNews from a Thai military official who requested anonymity.
The 11-page report, which details back-channel efforts to persuade various insurgent groups and factions from the country's Deep South to return to the negotiating table, notes that the two top leaders of the main rebel group's military wing are staying away from the peace process.
"At present, the most problematic group is BRN [Barisan Revolusi Nasional]," the report says. "Some of the seniors/older generation agreed with the talks but they are fading out and their roles are not significant anymore.
"The other side of its military, which has been controlled by Sapae-ing Basoh and Doonloh Waemahoh – including the youth – do not agree with the talks," the report adds.
Young combatants "believe they have the upper hand over the government in the fight, and the fight is not yet over. Also, their goal is independence, which conflicts with the peace talks."
A report published last week by International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO engaged in conflict prevention and resolution, said that both the Thai military and rebel sides lacked unity on the issue of peace talks, and it was also difficult to persuade hardcore elements of the BRN to agree to participate in them.
A BRN demand that Thailand grant sovereignty to the predominantly Muslim Deep South and recognize the "Patani Malay Nation" was a sticking point that led to the last round of peace talks stalling in December 2013 under a civilian-led government.
The report also says insurgents are skeptical about negotiating with the junta "because it is an interim [government] and they don't know whether the new government will have the will to follow suit."
Government pressing on
The country's military-led government, meanwhile, is trying to set up another pre-talks meeting in Malaysia with representatives of various rebel groups, according to an official close to the efforts.
"(We) have been contacting various dissidents. Despite not being so sure, we expect to have a new round of pre-talks in Malaysia in August," Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong told BenarNews.
Bangkok's goal is to negotiate with the rebels and get them to agree to a road map to peace before year's end or in early 2016, he said.
Insurgency-related violence in the Deep South should not be seen as an obstacle to efforts to bring the southern rebels back to peace talks for the first time since December 2013, Nakrob said.
Deadly weekend
This past weekend saw a surge in bombings in the region suspected to have been carried out by separatist rebels.
Overnight Friday to Saturday, at least six people were killed and 11 injured in a series of bombings and resulting fires in Songkhla province's Padang Besar sub-district, Narathiwat province's Su-ngai Kolok district, and Yala province's Than Toh district, military officials said.
On Monday, two bombs went off in Pattani province, injuring four security officers. Elsewhere, three people were injured – two fatally – in separate shootings in Narathiwat. Military officials in the Deep South had warned of a possible spike in rebel attacks in the final days of Ramadan.
Meeting in Malaysia
The progress report confirms that the government is trying to arrange another pre-talk meeting in Putrajaya – Malaysia's federal administrative center – for some time in August.
Two other pre-talk meetings took place last month, according to the report. The first was in Putrajaya on June 8 and the second took place a week later at Fort Kulayaniwattana in Narathiwat.
The next meeting, according to the report, will bring together 10 Thai participants and 10 representatives of MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing six rebel factions and groups, including BRN.
"The new talk in Putrajaya will be aimed at achieving Terms of Reference (TOR) of negotiation. It will discuss protocols – before, during and after talks – for participants to follow," it says.
"The number of participants and the name of each individual representative will be identified. Immunity will be given to those wanted by Thailand."


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BENARNEWS-
Two southern Thailand journalists will find out on Sept. 1 whether they will be acquitted or convicted on a criminal defamation charge, after their three-day trial at the Phuket Provincial Court ended Thursday.

For a second day running, prosecutors declined to cross-examine witnesses for the defense, including the two defendants, and they also waived the right to sit any representatives on the prosecution's bench in order to monitor the courtroom proceedings.

"If the prosecutors could not be bothered to come and cross-examine the main defense witnesses, their flimsy arguments were clearly no match for what was a well-argued and solid defense," Benjamin Ismaïl, head of the Asia-Pacific bureau of Reporters Without Borders, who attended the trial as an observer, said in a statement.
Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian, editors of Phuketwan, a news website based on the southern Thai island of Phuket, are accused of defaming the Royal Thai Navy in a July 2013 article that linked naval personnel to people-smuggling.

The particular paragraph that sparked their legal troubles was an excerpt of a Reuters report on human trafficking.

The two have also been charged under Thailand's Computer Crimes Act of 2007 for disseminating the alleged defamatory content via the internet. If convicted of both charges, Morison and Chutima could each go to prison for up to seven years.

Rohingya witness 

Among those who took the stand Thursday was Abdul Kalam, a Rohingya Muslim who heads a Thai-based foundation dedicated to assisting Rohingyas who transit through Thailand from Myanmar to Malaysia on sea and land journeys that are often arranged by human traffickers. 

Speaking in fluent Thai, Kalam told the judge he was living legally in Thailand and working in the food industry. 

He also assists Thai officials as a translator and has interviewed scores of Rohingya refugees. 

Refugees told him that they had witnessed "navy vessels" intercept their boats in the waters of Thailand's Ranong, Phang Nga, Phuket and Satun provinces, and then telephone the leader of a trafficking ring, who was an ethnic Rohingya.

After several hours, the ringleader would appear and "buy" the refugees before coordinating to smuggle them into neighboring Malaysia, Kalam testified. 

When the judge asked him "which navy" was involved, Kalam replied, "The Royal Thai Navy."

Lost in translation

After the trial, Morison, the founder of Phuketwan, told BenarNews that he was pleased with how the trial had put a spotlight on press freedom in Thailand and the plight of Rohingya refugees, which his website has covered diligently. 

He said he hoped for a verdict that would be fair and acceptable to both sides. 

Morison contends that the case boils down to some mistranslated words.

The Thai navy mistranslated into the Thai language the offending excerpt from the Reuters' report, which was published in English on Phuketwan, he alleges. 

The original English version stated that "Thai naval forces" were involved in human smuggling, whereas the translated version implicated the entire "Royal Thai Navy," according to Morison.

Cmdr. Thanom Lumzaie, deputy chief of the Third Naval Command's Judge Advocate Division, explained the navy's case against Phuketwan. 

"Once we saw the article appear on the Phuketwan website, we deemed it as defamatory and proceeded with legal and English-language experts before filing a formal complaint with Wichit district police," he said on Wednesday, Day Two of the trial. 

Since the alleged defamatory statement was disseminated via the internet, charges were also filed under the Computer Crimes Act. 

"It is just like when you post something on Facebook that ruins another party's reputation. If that person seeks justice, you face the possibility of being sued. It is that easy," Thanom said.


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BENARNEWS- Thai authorities on Wednesday eased restrictions on certain types of fishing boats, allowing them to fish again until early August but requiring them to change their equipment afterwards in order to comply with European Union (EU) rules for seafood imports.
Failure to do so in meeting an EU deadline set for late October could lead to a ban by the European bloc on Thailand's multi-billion dollar seafood industry, which could harm the economy and cause job losses in the sector.
Under the move, licensed and registered boats equipped with push nets – which had been grounded since July 1 – are being be permitted to fish till Aug. 7. The controversial practice of push-net fishing, where a boat sweeps the ocean floor with a triangular net that has a rigid frame, is seen by ocean conservationists as environmentally destructive.
Now, only licensed boats that carry such equipment will be permitted to fish on condition that they eventually switch out their nets with ones that have larger holes.
Wednesday's decision followed a meeting between the Command Center for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF) – a governmental ad hoc body set up to deal with the issue – and concerned officials and seafood industry representatives.
Chaired by Adm. Kraison Chansuwanit, the Royal Thai Navy's commander in-chief, the meeting in Bangkok also resolved to consider a limit on the number of fishing boats that could operate in the area as well as zone fishing boats.
'Whatever it takes'
In response to a warning issued by the EU on April 21, the Thai government on July 1 began requiring all fishing boats to be licensed and registered.
The EU handed Thailand a "yellow card" for "not taking sufficient measures in the international fight against illegal fishing."
It gave Thailand six months to show improvement on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing practices (IUU).
Of Thailand's 200 billion baht (U.S. $5.9 billion) industry, 32 billion baht (one billion dollars) worth of sea food products are exported to the European markets.
Under the Thai government's new regulations for the fishing industry, each boat must be licensed and registered; be equipped with a vessel monitoring system; and carry safety equipment and copies of employment contracts, among other things.
Nearly a month later, according to a trade group representing the seafood industry, some 3,000 fishing vessels out of some 57,000 in the country's 23 provinces, still have failed either to register or obtain licenses.
"There are a little more than 3,000 vessels nationwide trying to obtain the required registration," National Fisheries Association of Thailand President Phubet Chanthanimi told BenarNews by telephone.
"What vessel owners want right now is that whatever it takes, they will just do that so that their vessels can operate in the sea again," Phubet said.
Flawed management of fisheries
However, according to experts, the government's efforts to confront illegal fishing are aimed at complying with IUU standards for commercial entrepreneurs, but they are not likely to help Thailand's traditional fishermen.
"The government effort focuses on IUU compliance but it doesn't include the issue of destructive fishing practiced by commercial vessels, especially those trawlers catching all sizes of fishes and others," Supaporn Anuchiracheeva, an expert with the Earth Net Foundation, a Thai NGO, told BenarNews by phone.
Thailand's fisheries have long suffered from destructive overfishing by fleets of commercial vessels whose hauls feed European markets, by using push-nets and trawlers that sweep all kinds and all sizes of living organisms from the seabed. Only one-third of those catches are edible, while the rest is used for animal feed.
"The government should have banned the illegal equipment and methods such as push net, trawler and light-casting fishing, which are destructive," Supaporn added.
According to the Thai Frozen Foods Association, the harvest rate in Thai territorial waters dropped from 300 kilograms an hour in 1961 to only 25 kilos in 2011.
Supaporn said she opposed the concept of limiting the number of vessels by basing it on the calculated maximum sustainable yield, because that is only applicable to the Western way of commercial fishing.
"I don't agree with that because no matter how big the number of traditional boats is, they don't cause damages to the resources as much as the commercial fleets do. It's all about being considerate," she added.
Labor issue
Meanwhile, labor activists say that Thailand should enforce transparent work agreements between workers and fishing entrepreneurs in order to comply with international standards as well as solve manpower shortages in the industry.
Sompong Srakaew, executive director of Labor Rights Promotion Network Foundation, another local NGO, said the wages for deckhands should be equal or even double that of Thailand's daily minimum wage, and should also apply to workers of all nationalities.
"The work contract should clearly spell out the job description, how long each fishing session will last, where the vessels go, and when they will come ashore," he said.
If the workers are well paid, between 300 baht (U.S. 8.63) and 600 baht (U.S. $17.27) a day and the job contract is clear, even Thai workers could be interested in the sector, which would also solve the labor shortage problem, Sompong said.
Thai vessels allegedly have used slave labor, and media outlets recently exposed the plight of migrant workers working in such conditions.
Nasueroh and Natalie contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand announced Friday that it would prosecute 72 suspects arrested in connection with a human trafficking scandal, including a three-star general who is an alleged kingpin of a transnational people-smuggling ring.
The announcement by the Thai Office of the Attorney General (OAG) came three days before the U.S. State Department was due to release its annual Trafficking in Human Persons Report, which ranks how countries worldwide perform in combatting people-smuggling syndicates.
Thai officials have said they expected the State Department to keep Thailand in Tier 3 – the lowest ranking on the TIP report that can trigger economic sanctions against a country.
OAG spokesman Wanchai Roujanavong told a news conference in Bangkok that state prosecutors had agreed to pursue charges against the 72. As many as 120 people, including four policemen, a mayor and deputy mayor, a village headman and seven local administrative officials, have been implicated in the case.
"On July 23, the Office of the Attorney General issued an order to indict 72 suspects on 16 charges and drop a case against one dead suspect," Wanchai said.
Also on Friday, the Associated Press reported that Thai officials had arrested a Malaysian national and two Thai women in connection with a separate human trafficking case. The three are suspected of using Facebook to lure Thai women to work as prostitutes in Kuala Lumpur, the Associated Press reported.
The Malaysian – identified as Kheng Hsiang Low – and the two Thai women could be charged with human trafficking, forcing women into prostitution and being involved in a transnational crime network, the AP quoted Thai Police Lt. Col. Komvich Padhanarath as saying.
A second Malaysian is wanted in connection with the case. Over a five-year period, the syndicate trafficked six Thai women into Malaysia and forced them to be sex workers, he said.
Handle with care
Of the 120 suspects in total implicated in the larger human trafficking case, 32 – including 24 Thais, three Bangladeshis and five people from Myanmar – are on the run.
Fifteen other suspects are in custody but the attorney-general's office still does not have enough evidence to indict them, and prosecutors recommended that investigators gather more evidence, according to Wanchai.
"We believed there are several more people involved in this case. The Office of the Attorney General gives top priority to the case, which involves foreign relationships and it took place in several areas beyond the borders," he said.
The key charges include being involved in human trafficking, participating in a transnational criminal syndicate, bringing in and helping illegal migrants, and neglecting official duties.
AP on Friday quoted Deputy Police Chief Gen. Ek Angsananond as saying that the probe into the case was the "biggest into human trafficking" in Thai history.
Given the gravity of the case, the OAG would object to bail being granted to any of the suspects who were in custody, Wanchai said.
"Moreover, it involved several government officials and gangsters," he added. "Therefore we need to handle it with care and be meticulous."
The most prominent of the suspects who were to be charged was Royal Thai Army Lt. Gen. Manas Kongpaen, who denied any involvement with a transnational people-smuggling ring before he responded to a warrant for his arrest and turned himself into police in early June. Manas previously oversaw the army's anti-human trafficking operations in southern Thailand.
Seeking extradition of foreign fugitives
The attorney general's office was sending its recommendations to prosecutors in Nathawee district, in southern Songkhla province, and forwarding the case files to a court there that has jurisdiction over the case.
The human trafficking scandal emerged during a Thai crackdown on illegal immigration that was triggered in May, when the bodies of 32 suspected illegal migrants were discovered at traffickers' camps abandoned in the jungle in Songkhla, near Thailand's border with Malaysia. Southern Thailand has long been a transit point for Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar trying to make it to Malaysia by sea and land.
The crackdown also consisted of a Thai maritime blockade on people-smuggling boats in the Andaman Sea, which caused thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants – who had faced desperate conditions on the high seas – to come ashore in Malaysia and Indonesia.
"For those fugitives who remain at-large abroad, the OAG will cooperate with the police to seek extradition according to extradition law," Wanchai said.


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BENARNEWS- With a Friday deadline looming, Thailand's Department of Fisheries (DOF) is urging owners of more than 12,000 unlicensed fishing boats to register their vessels in time to comply with new national regulations and European Union (EU) seafood industry standards.
As of Wednesday, one fifth of the nation's fishing fleet – which totals 57,141 boats – still had not registered with or obtained operating licenses from the department, a DOF official told BenarNews.
"There are 12,270 vessels that are not registered yet," said Orathai Rojreungnond, a DOF spokeswoman.
In addition, 880 vessels that are already registered and licensed to fish have gear now considered illegal under Thailand's new rules for the fishing industry, she said.
These boats will be required to switch out equipment in order to meet the regulations, but will have till Aug. 7 to change their gear.
On Monday, DOF Director-General Chumpol Sa-nguansin convened a tele-conference call with fishery officials in Thailand's coastal provinces in an effort to speed up the registration process.
The department is aiming to build a database that would allow it to keep track of the number of fishing boats and monitor them so as to ensure they are using legal fishing techniques and meeting labor standards.
Stiff penalties
Under the new rules, it is illegal for fishing boats to sail out to sea and fish unless they have registered with the authorities and have reported their departures and arrivals in and out of port. Boat operators can face stiff penalties if their vessels are caught fishing illegally.
"The punishment, in general, will be given a maximum three-year imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 baht (U.S. $8,500)," Orathai said.
Thailand began regulating its fishing industry on July 1, following a "yellow card" warning issued by the European Union in late April. The EU has threatened to ban imports of seafood from Thailand – whose seafood industry represents a multi-billion dollar trade – unless the country demonstrates improvement on eliminating illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing practices (IUU) within six months.
All fishing boat operators must now fulfill several requirements: each boat must be licensed and registered with the authorities; be equipped with a vessel monitoring system; and carry safety equipment and copies of employment contracts.
Room to breathe
Thai fishermen say they are having difficulty adjusting to the new regulatory environment. It can cost as much as 3 million baht (U.S. $85,800) to replace illegal gear, such as environmentally destructive push-nets, with gear that meets European specifications, they say.
Among these fishermen is an owner of vessels in southern Pattani province, who asked not to be named.
"I have been out to the seas since my childhood, without documents, without regulations," he told BenarNews.
He said he wasn't aware whether his past fishing practices had broken the law, and he asked the government to help fishermen like him make the transition to compliance through a soft loan.
"It is alright to have a new fishing order but the government should give fishermen room to breathe," he said.




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BENARNEWS- Shortly after suspected insurgents attacked a village protection post in southern Thailand on Friday, injuring 18 people, six of them seriously, a regional army commander called for shoring up the base's defenses against further attacks.
Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the 4th Army Region, which encompasses the restive Deep South, said he was calling a meeting between military officials, police and villagers to figure out how to do this.
Prakarn said he also ordered the all-volunteer village protection units in the affected tambon (cluster of villages) to review emergency operating procedures and work to develop and install a warning system.
The attack, which took place around 1 a.m. (local time) in Pulae village, in Yala province's Yaha district, targeted the post defending Tambon Baroh.
At least 15 insurgents were involved in the early morning raid, according to a witness in the village, but Agence France-Presse quoted a provincial police commander as saying that as many as 30 to 40 people attacked the post.
The insurgents used M-79 grenades and fired at the volunteer force, Police Maj. Gen. Tanongsak Wangsupha, the superintendent of Yala police, told reporters.
"We found out that the building was shot at with M-79s and assault rifles, riddling the building, followed by arson, which did more damage. They also destroyed several surveillance cameras as well," Tanongsak said.
No injuries were reported among the insurgents, but an assistant village headman was among the 18 volunteers who were wounded. The six seriously injured were listed in stable condition at a hospital in Yala town, officials said.
After attacking the post and engaging in a shootout with the volunteers, the militants made off with seven guns, Col. Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the forward office of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, told reporters.
The attack was well-planned, authorities said. When the rebels fled, they laid spikes across the road and cut down trees in its path to block it, officials said.
Possible motives
The government arms such all-volunteers units, which are scattered across the Deep South and whose ranks comprise civilians who live in local tambons. The volunteer defense forces help the Thai military fend off separatist insurgents in the predominantly Muslim region.
Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have died in violence related to the insurgency.
"The rebels want to re-assert their power as now villagers are co-operating with state authorities," the police superintendent said, according to AFP.
Another police officer, who asked not to be named, told BenarNews that a local rebel commander, Hubaidilah Rommueli, was believed to have led the raid.
Separately, a resident of Pulae village said that insurgents may have carried out the attack to avenge the January killing of a comrade.
The dead insurgent, Sadu-ee Stapo, had been betrayed by a friend of his in the local village protection force, who had allegedly given up Sadu-ee to the authorities, the villager said.
Security forces shot Sadu-ee dead on Jan. 30.
"I believe the assailants were exacting revenge for death of Sadu-ee Stapo, an insurgent leader in Tambon Baroh, whom his close friend lured to be killed by the securities force," the villager told BenarNews.
Recent violence
Friday's attack followed some deadly incidents carried out by suspected insurgents across the Deep South since near the end of Ramadan in July.
Last Saturday, a Buddhist monk and a policeman were killed in a bombing in Pattani province, which injured another monk, two other officers and three civilians.
On July 16, in Narathiwat province, two soldiers were shot dead and then their bodies were burned.




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BENARNEWS- Thailand has opened a bureau in its southern border provinces to assist people who have had to leave their land because of insecurity stemming from a regional insurgency.

The new service, known as the Land, Assets and Livelihood Assistance Office (LALAO), was established in early June. It works under the auspices of the Southern Border Provinces Administration Center, or SBPAC, which oversees efforts aimed at restoring peace in the region.

"This issue goes back three years, when the cabinet had a policy to provide assistance to those who were afraid to continue living in areas where they had landholdings, which they formerly depended upon for their livelihoods, and instead decided to move their families elsewhere," SBPAC Deputy Director Piya Kijthavorn told BenarNews.

"SBPAC Secretary-General Panu Uthairat saw the need to help those in need as soon as possible, so he ordered the establishment of LALAO in the southern border provinces to accomplish this."

More than 6,000 people have been killed since 2004 in separatist-related violence gripping Thailand's predominantly Muslim Deep South.

Unrest cuts into livelihoods

Surveys confirm that migration and land-use changes have occurred in the region since the violence flared up in early 2004.

Actual migration figures are difficult to pinpoint because many people leave during periods of heightened tension, then return when the security situation is thought to have improved.

Most Buddhists and Muslims living in insurgency-affected areas have maintained the ability to practice their religion and traditional ways of life, according to SBPAC research. 

A key finding, however, was the high degree to which the unrest affected people's ability to keep pursuing normal livelihoods.

"Our village used to have equal numbers of Thai Buddhists and Malay Muslims living together, but since the unrest began many families have vacated their homes," Mayakee Saraya, assistant chief of Ban Buesu Village 6, in Yala province, told BenarNews. 

"Most of them moved to the provincial capital district and hired third parties to come in and work the rubber plantations for them."

"The families that moved away never come back," he said. "Many families have also arranged for army personnel stationed in the area to look after their plantations for them."

"It is a sad situation. Some of the families also have problems with the workers not paying them as agreed. This is yet another source of hardship. Having a state agency come in and help might help to solve problems, at least in the initial stages," Mayakee added.

Over the years, many of these villagers have contacted SBPAC asking if it would rent or purchase their properties. But SBPAC has no mechanism or legal right to conduct such transactions, SBPAC official Kitti Saengpongchawal explained.

Instead, the center has ordered each province to set up a LALAO Operations Center in every district to assist landowners who abandon their land, or to bring in third parties to cultivate it.

Mediation

Since the Yala-headquartered center opened in early June, it has received 247 requests involving a total area of 3712 rai (593 hectares or 1,468 acres). 

It recently resolved a case filed by petitioner Saikhim Siriporn. She owns a 56-rai (8-hectare or 22-acre) rubber plantation in Yala's Bannang Sata, the district that had the highest number of reported insurgency-related incidents of violence in 2014, according to the Deep South Watch monitoring group. 

"She complained that her workers were not splitting profits fairly with her," Assistant District Officer Arthit Koong-ooy, who oversees assistance efforts in Bannang Sata, told BenarNews.

"As she was also concerned for her safety, SBPAC first arranged a meeting between her and the district chief to discuss ways to assist in solving the problem. Then district officials and volunteer security forces escorted her to the plantation, where they had arranged a meeting between her and her workers to discuss the issue and find a solution," Arthit added.

With state officials acting as mediator, both sides were able to work out a compromise, he said.

Saikhim's land is in Ban Buesu village. She had lived there since her birth and her family owned 3,000 rubber as well as fruit trees. But after the insurgency broke out more than a decade ago, she moved her family out of the area because they no longer felt safe there.

"I left the plantation operation in the hands of one of my workers, who got help from some of my neighbors' workers. For the first five years, he delivered my share as usual, but after that something went awry. I wasn't getting my fair share," she told BenarNews. 

The new assistance program helped her to solve the problem after she took her complaint to the SBPAC, she said.

Another local who abandoned her 80-rai (12-hectare or 32-acre) rubber plantation in the same village, leaving it in the hands of workers, gave her name only as "Wanpen." 

"In the past I tried numerous times to find a way of selling my land back to the state on a consignment basis, but they never accommodated me," she told BenarNews.

"We really want to sell the land back to the state, but the state has no policy about this. On behalf of my family and many of our neighboring families who are suffering similar hardships up to this day, I would like the current government to help solve problems faced by Thai Buddhists in this area."

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BENARNEWS- A U.S. citizen is facing prosecution in Thailand on charges of human smuggling after reportedly helping seven North Koreans enter the kingdom from Laos.

Isaac Byungdo Lee, 41, was arrested Monday in the northern province of Chiang Mai under an arrest warrant issued in late July "for a crime he committed in June," Police Lt. Col. Patipat Suban Na Ayudhya told BenarNews.

He was taken to Nong Khai province on the Laos border "where he committed crime" and will be brought to court there for indictment "as soon as possible," Patipat added.

"He was charged with co-smuggling in illegal migrants into the kingdom."

Lee could face up to five years in jail on the smuggling charge, according to the Chiangrai Times, a local news outlet in northern Thailand.

The arrest came a week after the U.S. State Department gave Thailand a failing grade for a second year running in its 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, in which it ranks countries according to their efforts to combat such crimes.

"The Government of Thailand does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and is not making significant efforts to do so," the report said. 

Confessed

Lee is a Christian missionary who has lived in Chiang Mai for 19 years, according to reports.

He was arrested after being linked to a car used to pick up North Koreans from the Lao border in mid-June.

"CCTV footage showed seven North Koreans entering Thailand along the Laos border on June 17. They were picked up by a car on the Thai side," Pol. Col. Pallop Suriyakul na Ayutthaya, chief of the Nong Khai Immigration Bureau, told Agence France-Presse.

The license plate was traced to a rental company, and then to Lee, it said.

Five were dropped off near a police station and two were taken to Chiang Mai with the goal of boarding a plane to the United States, according to The Bangkok Post.

All seven are now being detained in Nong Khai, AFP said.

Lee confessed to helping the North Koreans cross the border after receiving a call to assist them from a Korean man in Laos, Pallop told AFP. 

"We are aware of reports that a U.S. citizen was arrested on human smuggling charges in Thailand. Due to privacy considerations we are unable to comment further," Melissa Sweeny, an information officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, told BenarNews. 

Thailand and several other Southeast Asian countries are a common transit country for North Korean defectors who escape their homeland via China with the aim of eventually resettling in South Korea. 

"I was surprised why North Koreans came this way. Perhaps the officials in one neighboring countries became strict so that they came through another country," Patipat told BenarNews.

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BENARNEWS- In the first meeting of its kind, officials from Thailand's military-controlled government met Tuesday with NGOs in the restive Deep South to discuss how to gather evidence, including DNA and fingerprints, from suspected insurgents.
"I accept sage advice from all parties on how officials can implement this on the ground. Our officials are trying to adhere to human rights principles, as well as religious guidelines, when they search for targets," Lt. Gen. Prakarn Cholayuth, commander of the 4th Army Region, told the meeting in Pattani province.
The meeting was a rare occasion when the Thai military openly addressed the controversial issue of taking DNA swabs, fingerprints and other evidence from people suspected of links to the southern insurgency. Since 2004, a separatist insurgency in Pattani and other border provinces that comprise Thailand's Deep South has claimed more than 6,000 lives.
The issue has drawn criticism from rights advocates who have complained about authorities gathering DNA evidence, for example, by swabbing people's cheeks without their consent.
"Some had to sign a release form without their genuine consent even though they didn't understand the Thai script," a former suspect who had been subjected to such treatment told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.
In early April, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch alleged that officials from Prakarn's command had forced some 17 student activists from Princess of Naradhiwas University in nearby Narathiwat province to give them DNA samples. The students had been detained as part of an investigation into a car bombing in Narathiwat on Feb. 20.
DNA: A weapon against insurgents
In May, the Reuters news agency reported that DNA swabs were part of a new strategy by the junta to contain the southern insurgency. Since the new strategy was put into place, police in the Deep South have collected DNA samples from more than 40,000 people, Reuters quoted Maj. Gen. Anurut Kritsanakaraket, commander of the Southern Border Provinces Police Operation Center, as saying.
Apart from the controversy around consent, evidence collection techniques have at times offended religious sentiment in the Deep South, where a majority of the population is Muslim.
There have been complaints about authorities using dogs to sniff around religious sites and religious objects like the Quran, according to Tobrani Wisoot Binlatah, who heads the southern office of Sheikhul Islam, an organization that represents Thai Muslims.
Such a practice is unacceptable to Muslims, Tobrani told BenarNews. He did not attend Tuesday's meeting, but Cross Cultural Foundation Director Pornpen Kongkajornkiat was there.
"It is up to the authorities to handle this issue with transparency to gain back public confidence. If people volunteer to have samples taken from them, that's fine. But if not, that could create conditions for trouble to arise," Pornpen told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- A bomb blast during evening rush hour Monday at a Hindu shrine in central Bangkok killed 19 people and injured more than 100 others, police and medical personnel said.
The device – a pipe bomb packing three kilograms of TNT, according to police – was planted inside the shrine, which is popular with both tourists and local people and located at the heart of the tourism district of Bangkok, surrounded by shopping malls and upscale hotels.
There was no immediately claim of responsibility for the blast. Thai officials said it was too soon to say whether the attack was politically motivated, or an act of terrorism.
"The perpetrator knew there are a lot of foreign tourists around there, and expected a lot of death," national police chief Pol. Gen. Somyos Poompanmuang told a press conference late Monday.
"They purposely planned to take lives."
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said the attack was aimed squarely at Thailand's economy, including tourism, one of its few bright sectors.
"It was clear that the perpetrators intended to destroy the economy and tourism, because it occurred in the heart of the business district," the Bangkok Post quoted him as saying.
A very loud bang
Five foreigners were among the dead, according to the Thai News Network (TNN).
Two of them were Malaysians, according to the Malaysian government news agency Bernama. The others dead were believed to be two from China and one from the Philippines.
Many of the wounded were from China and Taiwan, reports said.
At least 117 people were injured by the explosion and rushed to 15 different hospitals around Bangkok, according to the Erawan Emergency Center, which coordinates emergency response in the Thai capital.
"I heard a very loud bang, it made the whole building shake so I ran outside to see what had happened," Panupan Chansing, 20, a hotel worker at the nearby Grand Hyatt Erawan, told AFP.
"I saw bodies lying on the ground and I saw vehicles on fire. I feel very sad and sorry that this has happened to Thai people... I'm scared."
U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "shocked" to learn of the explosion and loss of life. "He hopes that those responsible will be brought to justice," said a statement attributed to his spokesman.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said that country would be in close contact with Thai authorities investigating the attack.
"The United States condemns this deplorable act of violence, and our thoughts are with the victims, their families and loved ones, and the Thai emergency personnel responding to the incident," he said in a statement.
Bitterly divided
The bomb exploded inside the Erawan Shrine at Rajaprasong Intersection at 6:55 p.m, according to close circuit television footage. The small stand-alone shrine set among shopping malls is popular among Thais and East Asian tourists and worshippers.
It is located at a major intersection that has been the site of demonstrations by Thailand's bitterly divided political factions, as well as people protesting Thailand's military junta.
A long-running political conflict in Thailand pits a middle class and royalist elite based in Bangkok against rural and working-class voters, many of whom are part of the Red Shirt movement loyal to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
In May 2014, the military ousted the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, after months of demonstrations and political unrest. The military junta lead by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha has banned political protests.
Small bomb blasts have occurred in Bangkok periodically in recent years during periods of political tension, with each side accusing the other of orchestrating the violence.
Recent tensions stemmed from statements by the military junta that it may not hold elections until 2017 and that it would push for a constitution that will enable emergency rule for any elected government.
Thaksin called on his supporters on YouTube last week to reject the draft constitution, expected to be voted on next month by a special National Reform Council. If it passes, it is supposed to go to a public referendum around January.
Another source of recent tension, according to the Associated Press, is the annual military promotion list, with the junta's top two leaders — Prime Minister Prayuth and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit — widely believed to be supporting different candidates.
The reshuffle, which comes into effect in September, has traditionally been a source of unrest, as different cliques in the army, usually defined by their graduating class in the military academy, seek the most important posts to consolidate their power, AP reported.
A Muslim insurgency seeking autonomy or independence for Thailand's southernmost provinces has claimed close to 6,000 lives over the past ten years but violence in that conflict is almost exclusively confined to the Deep South: Yala, Narathiwat, Pattani and parts of Songkhla province.


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BENARNEWS- Thai police on Tuesday released footage of a man they believe carried out the bombing of a popular Hindu shrine in central Bangkok, which Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha is calling "the worst incident" of its kind in Thailand.
In grainy footage culled from a security video at the Erawan Shrine, a slender man in a yellow T-shirt sits on a bench, removes his backpack, stands, then walks away 15 seconds later without the backpack. The date stamp on the footage is 6:40 p.m. on August 17.
The explosion fifteen minutes later at the crowded shrine killed 20 people and injured 125, according to the latest figures from the Erawan Emergency Center Tuesday.
"The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber," police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Prayuth called Monday's attack at a busy intersection "the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand."
"There have been minor bombs or just noise, but this time they aimed for innocent lives," the AP quoted him as saying. "They want to destroy our economy, our tourism."
"Today there is a suspect ... we are looking for this guy," Prayuth told reporters.
Police could not confirm the nationality of the suspect, who, to many viewers, did not appear to be Thai.
"We never mentioned yet that the suspect is a foreign national. We give weight to all possibilities. We wait until we complete collecting evidence," national police chief Somyos Poompanmuang said.
Second scare
Still traumatized by Monday night's carnage, Bangkok residents got a follow-on scare at midday Tuesday when someone hurled an explosive device into the Chaophrya River, near Sathorn Pier, where commuters board ferries to cross the river.
The explosion created a plume of water and sent people running, but no-one was hurt.
The device used was similar to the one used at the shrine, Prawut, the police spokesman, told reporters.
"From initial inspection it is a pipe bomb and is similar to the one last night," he said.
Explosive ordnance disposal police and staff of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration worked at the Erawan Shrine until midday, collecting evidence and removing debris.
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Pol. Col. Kamthorn Auicharoen, the EOD police officer in charge at the scene, told BenarNews he could not immediately identify the type of explosives used in Monday's blast.
"We cannot come to a conclusion yet whether the bomb stuffed inside the pipe was TNT or Composition-4, but the weight was between 3 to 5 pounds," he said.
More than half of the people killed were foreign nationals. According to the latest police tally cited by AFP, they included three Chinese, two Hong Kongers, an Indonesian, four Malaysians, one Singaporean and six Thais. The other three had yet to be identified.
The Malaysian victims were all members of one family – a man, his four-year-old-daughter, his brother-in-law, and his mother-in-law, according to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.
As evening fell Tuesday, 67 bombing victims remained hospitalized, the ruling National Council for Peace and Order said. Their conditions were not made public.
"The Royal Thai Government and I wish to express our sincerest condolences to the families of the victims," the Thai prime minister said Tuesday in a televised address.
"From this incident, it is apparent that there are active individuals or groups that harbor the intention to damage Thailand, who maybe pursuing political gain or other intentions by damaging economy and tourism. The Royal Thai Government shall expedite all investigation efforts to find perpetrators and bring them to justice" Prayuth said.


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BENARNEWS- Thai officials believe the main suspect identified to date in the Bangkok shrine bombing is foreign and did not act alone.
The South Bangkok criminal court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for a "foreign man" and linked it to a forensic police sketch of an individual caught on security camera leaving a backpack at the Erawan Shrine moments before a bomb blast there.
The unnamed suspect is charged with premeditated murder and possession of unlicensed weapons in connection with the Aug. 17 explosion, which killed 20 and injured 125.
Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri, a spokesman for the National Police Bureau, told reporters the suspect is likely still in Thailand.
After leaving the shrine, "he hired a motorcycle taxi to take him to Sla Daeng intersection, but there was no evidence that he has travelled abroad," he said.
The security video shows two possible accomplices standing near the man, who left the shrine shortly after he did, Prawut said.
"It's a network"
Police are reviewing older footage from security cameras surrounding the shrine, a beloved landmark located at a major intersection in an upscale part of Bangkok, and popular with both locals and foreigners who pay respect to the Hindu god Brahma and ask for favors.
"We will track back one to three days before the attack because any perpetrators must observe the target before executing the plan," national police chief Somyos Poompanmuang told reporters.
Police have placed a one million baht (U.S. $28,145) bounty on the suspect's head.
"If citizens or anyone can give us information or clues that lead to the arrest of this man, I have set a reward of one million baht," the Associated Press quoted Somyot as saying.
"He didn't do it alone, for sure. It's a network," he said.
"Now in danger"
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-Cha dismissed speculation in local media that the bombing was carried out by Uyghurs exacting revenge for the recent forced repatriation to China of 109 Uyghur refugees.
"It is not possible [Uyghurs] used violence to exact revenge. If so, there must be someone coming out to claim responsibility. Don't prematurely jump to conclusions," he said.
He appeared more concerned that the attack was related to Thailand's internal affairs.
"If these bombs were politically inspired, the country is now in danger. And if these people remain at large, there will be more threats, and we need to focus on the political arena," he said.
Small bomb blasts have occurred in Bangkok periodically in recent years during periods of political tension, with each side accusing the other of orchestrating the violence.
A long-running political conflict in Thailand pits a middle class and royalist elite based in Bangkok against rural and working-class voters, many of whom are part of the Red Shirt movement loyal to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
In May 2014, the military ousted the civilian government of Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister, after months of demonstrations and political unrest.
Recent tensions stemmed from statements by the military junta that it may not hold elections until 2017 and that it would push for a constitution that will enable emergency rule for any elected government.
Another source of recent tension, according to the Associated Press, is the annual military promotion list, with the junta's top two leaders — Prime Minister Prayuth and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit — widely believed to be supporting different candidates.
"Helpless"
Meanwhile, the bodies of four members of a Malaysian family who died in the bombing arrived in their home state of Penang on Wednesday.
Seven family members had taken the train to Bangkok for a holiday while the young adult son was on leave from school in Taiwan.
A fifth member was also killed in the blast, but authorities were still conducting postmortem on her remains, relatives said.
Neoh Hock Guan, 55, a cake seller in the city of Butterworth, survived the bombing but lost his wife, sister-in-law, son, son-in-law and four-year-old granddaughter.
"I was lighting up the prayer stick for prayers with my family members. Suddenly there was a huge explosion and I was thrown away," he told reporters in Butterworth.
"Upon getting back on my feet, I looked for my family and saw my daughter was safe but my son-in-law and my son were dead. Then I saw my wife lying in a pool of blood and fighting for her life. I was totally at a loss. All I could do at that time was cry for help."

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BENARNEWS- Representatives of Thailand's southern insurgents and government peace negotiators will meet for another round of "pre-talks" in Malaysia on Tuesday, a former insurgent told BenarNews.
The meeting will be the third closed-door meeting held since June in what Thai officials describe as a "confidence-building phase" in the effort to restart peace talks.
Two days later, MARA Patani – the umbrella group representing southern "dissident" groups in the talks – will hold two media encounters.
"There has been an appointment for the peace dialogue panel led by Gen. Aksara Kerdpol and MARA Patani in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Aug. 25," a former Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) leader told BenarNews, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Then on Aug. 27, the members of MARA Patani will have a roundtable-style talk with some ten media outlets from Thailand's Deep South and from Bangkok," he added.
That afternoon, MARA Patani will give a press conference to Thai, Malaysian and Malaysia-based foreign media, he said.
'Assess the situation'
MARA Patani was formed in May this year, at a meeting chaired by Malaysian mediator Ahmad Zamzamin Hashim in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital.
At that meeting, six insurgent groups agreed to attempt to negotiate jointly with the government of Thailand in the lead-up to peace talks.
The groups are three factions of PULO, Barisan Islam Perberbasan Patani (BIPP), Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) and Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Patani (GMIP).
Since 1959, a variety of groups in Thailand's mostly Muslim Deep South – the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and four districts of Songkla province – have been waging a low-grade insurgency in a bid to secede from the Kingdom.
More than 6,000 people have been killed and 10,000 injured in violence in the Deep South since the insurgency flared again in January 2004.
The upcoming encounter will be the third round of pre-talks between the two sides, after two sessions in June, according to Asst. Prof. Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of the Center for Conflict Studies and Cultural Diversity at Prince of Songkla University in Pattani.
"This time the Thai dialogue panel and the MARA Patani will talk and assess the situation in the past few months, how they lived up to making the atmosphere conversation-friendly," he said Friday.
Srisompob confirmed that MARA Patani would make its media debut on Aug. 27. That appearance would mark the first time the rebels have made public statements about their aspirations during current peace-talk efforts.
Steps toward peace
In July, Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong of the Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC), the secretary of the Thai dialogue panel, told BenarNews that the peace process comprises three phrases.
The first and current phase is confidence-building, he said. The second is agreeing to solve problems faced by the Patani Malay population of the Deep South. The third is laying out roadmaps to reconcile grievances, based on identified problems.
"First mutual trust, where we are at, and second agreement to fix each of the problems, for example why some needed to escape, what made them feel uncomfortable," Nakrob said.
"We haven't reached the second phrase yet, so I cannot detail well what the agreement will look like," he added.
Asked if the agreement would include a ceasefire, he said, "we will focus on solving the problems the people have."
'Too extreme'
Srisompob, the professor at Prince of Songkla University, took part in the last round of Deep South peace talks, under the civilian government of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Those talks stalled in December 2013.
Thailand signed an initial agreement with BRN in Kuala Lumpur in February 2013, which paved the way for two consequent rounds of talks.
But the talks hit a snag when BRN chief negotiator Hassan Bin Toyib later announced five demands via a video posted on YouTube that the government rejected.
The video called for the government to grant all territory within the Deep South sovereignty and to recognize the "Patani Malay Nation."
The rebels' demands were too extreme and left no room for progress in the negotiations, Srisompob said.
"There were no adjustments to the terms or demands. For instance, the demands on identity (of Patani Malay), self-ruling or autonomy, the ones they have been asking for a long time," he said.


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BENARNEWS- A Tunisian group over the weekend and Monday posted jihadist messages and images of persecuted Rohingya Muslims, as it launched a cyber attack on six public websites in Thailand, including those of four provincial governments, according to news reports.
The online attacks, mounted by a group calling itself "Fallag Gassrini and Dr. Lamouchi" – but which is also known as the Fallaga Team – began Sunday evening (local time) and spilled into Monday, news outlets reported.
"The hacker just posted materials on our page, but they didn't mess with our other contents," Bamrung Reunbanterng, chief technician for Lamphun province, whose website was among those targeted in the attack, told BenarNews on Tuesday.
"We are trying to recover it," Bamrung added.
By early Wednesday morning (local time), Lamphun's website was back up and running normally.
Along with Lamphun province, the hackers targeted Lamlukka Hospital in Pathum Thani province and the printing house of Mahasarakham University, starting on Sunday night, according to the Prachatai news website.
On Monday morning, sites operated by the governments of three more provinces – Tak, Sing Buri and Sa Kaeo – all went blank, Prachatai reported.
As of Wednesday morning (local time), the websites of the Sing Buri provincial government and university printing house were the only two of the four targeted sites that were still not accessible online.
Also on Wednesday, The Nation newspaper in Thailand quoted National Security Council Secretary-General Anusit Kunakorn as saying that it would investigate the Tunisian huckster group's claim that it had carried out the cyber attack.
However, a Prachatai report on Wednesday quoted the Thai Computer Emergency Response Team (ThaiCERT) as saying that the "Fallaga Group" had carried out as many as 106 cyber attacks against Thai website, which dated back to May. ThaiCERT is an agency within the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology.
'Just for the Muslims of Burma'
According to the Bangkok Post, photos of Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar and Muslim children victimized in bombings were posted on all six websites during this week's attack.
The infiltrators claimed they had launched the attack "just for the Muslims in Burma," according to Prachatai.
The hackers also left messages including "You have to give respect to our people" and "We, the Fallaga team, are Muslims," the Post reported.
Thailand is a transit country for Rohingya Muslims who try to flee to Malaysia from Myanmar. In May, Thailand turned away boatloads of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi migrants who were trying to land on local shores illegally.
Thai authorities enforced the maritime blockade as they cracked down on illegal immigration, following the discovery of graves in the southern jungle thought to contain the remains of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants and victims of human trafficking.
The Bangkok Post quoted an official at the Ministry of Information and Technology Communication as saying that the hacking was "conducted simultaneously worldwide, using the Linux command line."
At press time, however, there were no reports of cyber attacks launched by the same group since Sunday in any other countries.
Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency quoted a spokesman for the ministry as saying that the hackers had not accessed governmental data while hacking into the sites.
And, according to Reuters, police did not believe that the cyber attack was connected to last week's bombing at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok that killed 20 people and injured 125.
Fallaga who?
Fallaga Team is a Tunisian Islamist hacker group that has targeted French, Tunisian and Israeli websites in previous attacks, according to the Cyber & Jihad Lab (CJL), a website that monitors jihadist groups that launch cyber attacks.
Fallaga Team has thousands of followers on its social media sites, according to a profile of the group on the CJL website.
"According to a public statement by one of its members posted on Facebook, Fallaga is an Islamist group specifically opposed to secularism and atheism, and while it claims to not be an extension of the Islamic State [...], its Facebook page states that it shares similar religious and political ideals," CJL said.
"Fallaga participated in #OpCharlieHebdo on Twitter, and explicitly supports the recent attacks in Paris," it said, referring to the January 2015 massacre by suspected Islamists at the offices of the satirical French publication Charlie Hebdo.


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BENARNEWS- Thai governmental officials met Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur with representatives of southern rebel groups, with both sides presenting and agreeing to conditions for future peace talks, a Thai delegation member told BenarNews.
"There are a lot of details that we discussed but, in general, we agreed in principle to each side's three proposals," Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong said on his return to Bangkok, following Tuesday's closed-door meeting with MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing various southern Thai rebel organizations in pre-peace talk negotiations.
"These three terms – ours and theirs – can be done," he added.
The senior army officer has been directly involved in efforts by the Thai junta to persuade insurgent groups from the Deep South region to return to the negotiations table for the first time since peace talks stalled in December 2013 under a civilian-led government. As it did back then, the Malaysian government is brokering the current peace-making efforts.
According to a Malaysia-based source close to the rebel groups and factions, Tuesday's meeting took place at a "police safe house" in Kuala Lumpur.
"The talks, which lasted four hours, went well as usual. Both sides have gained more trust in each other. That is good for the peace process in Deep South," the source told BenarNews by phone, on condition of anonymity.
The terms
According to Nakrob, the government has brought three proposals to the talks this far. They are creation of a "safety zone" in the Deep South; economic development, driven by the region's predominantly Muslim population; and "justice for all".
For its part, Nakrob said, the MARA Patani side demanded that the Thai government make the Deep South a priority on its national agenda, recognize MARA Patani as a legitimate organization, and ensure immunity from prosecution for its negotiators.
"We accept MARA Patani, as we talk to them," Nakrob said.
He gave no further details about the terms discussed thus far.
Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have been killed and 10,000 injured in violence related to the separatist insurgency in the southern border provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala, as well as four districts in Songkhla province, collectively known as the Deep South.

Rebel faction drops out
One of three factions of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO) was not represented at the meeting, and has pulled out of pre-peace talk negotiations, the anonymous source said.
The PULO P4 – better known in Thailand as "old PULO" and led by Samsuding Khan – had taken part in two other MARA Patani-led meetings with Thai officials in June, according to the source.
As a result, MARA Patani now represents the two remaining PULO factions and three other rebel groups: Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Patani (GMIP) and Barisan Islam Pembebasan Patani (BIPP).
The umbrella group was formed in May to act as a united front in a potential resumption of formal peace talks. On Thursday, MARA Patani representatives are to hold a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, at which the group will formally introduce itself to the media.
"As far as I know, initially the Thai dialogue panel will also have a press conference after MARA Patani makes its debut to the press on Aug. 27," the unnamed source added.
Flexibility needed, expert says
Commenting on the junta's efforts to persuade the rebels to re-open official peace talks, one expert said that the Thai government needed to be willing to "make political concessions, otherwise the peace dialogue will be meaningless."
"Right now, there is still concern on the insurgent side whether this peace dialogue could really be a platform for negotiations on any substantial matters, or it's just the usual military tactic to identify leaders for further suppression," Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat told BenarNews.
Rungrawee is a former Associated Press reporter and former analyst with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO that engages in conflict prevention and resolution worldwide.
"Insurgent groups have a wide range of opinions, ranging from autonomy to independence. They have not dropped their demand for independence but some insurgent groups have expressed their willingness to consider autonomy as a solution," she said.
"The common ground between the Thai government and the militants needs to be negotiated through the peace process, which is now still in its infancy."
An earlier version incorrectly reported that, among its demands, MARA Patani asked the Thai government to ensure fair justice for people in the Deep South.


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BENARNEWS- In a rare ruling in Thailand's restive Deep South, a court has ordered the Prime Minister's Office to compensate the mother of a man who died of injuries from alleged torture while the military held him eight years ago.

At the courthouse in the capital district of southern Songkhla province, the Supreme Administrative Court on Aug. 21 ruled in favor of plaintiff Baedoh Sama-ae, saying that the use of excessive force had led to the death of her son, 26-year-old Ashari Sama-ae, on July 22, 2007.

The criminal lawsuit was under appeal, but the court upheld a lower court's ruling dating to January 2012, in which the Prime Minister's Office was ordered to pay Baedoh 534,301 baht (U.S. $14,998) in damages for her son's death. 

Last week's Supreme Administrative Court decision gave the Prime Minister's Office 60 days to pay her the aforementioned sum, plus 7.5 percent in accrued annual interest dating to July 17, 2008.

"After the court ruled that the Prime Minister's Office pay me damages, I feel like the dark skies have cleared and that all the time I spent fighting this case has not been wasted," Baedoh, a resident of neighboring Yala province, told BenarNews after her legal victory.

However, in handing down its decision, the court noted that Ashari's arrest on July 21, 2007 was justified under Thailand's Martial Law Act. The law is in force in the Deep South, a predominantly Muslim region where more than 6,000 people have died in an insurgency since 2004.

The court ruled against the Prime Minister's Office, but dismissed similar criminal charges against the three other defendants in the case: the Ministry of Interior, the Royal Thai Army and the Royal Thai Police.

Suspicious bruises

Ashari Sama-ae was among a group of suspected insurgents who were arrested by police and army special forces at a rubber plantation in Krong Pinang district, Yala, in July 2007.

A day later, he died at a local hospital after soldiers transferred him there from the Ingkhayuthaborihan Army Base in nearby Pattani province. Doctors gave the cause of death as a brain hemorrhage and noted multiple bruises to Ashari's head and chest.

Eventually, the other people who were arrested alongside Ashari filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). In it, they detailed their own injuries and supported the plaintiff Baedoh's charge that her son had died of torture. 

History-making case: NGO

The case is rare, if not unprecedented, because few people from the Deep South win lawsuits against the government in cases involving alleged torture and excesses committed by members of Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command.

In June 2013, Baedoh received 7.5 million baht (U.S. $210,000) for her son's death, as part of payouts made by the then government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to Deep South families that had lost loved ones to regional violence.

But that payout did not stem from her lawsuit against the government, according to the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), an NGO that provided Baedoh with legal assistance in pressing the suit.

"This case is the case that many teams helped in making history," the CrCF said in a message posted on Facebook after the latest ruling.

Despite "the fact that everyone wants us to keep quiet" on the issue of torture carried out by the Thai security services, "we will not keep silent," CrCF vowed.

Widespread reports of the torture of suspected insurgents in the Deep South, extrajudicial killings and apparent impunity for security forces that patrol the region fuel local resentment against the Thai government.

The Aug. 21 ruling in the Sama-ae case came days ahead of Tuesday's meeting in Kuala Lumpur between Thai officials and southern rebel groups, at which the Thai delegation agreed to ensure "fair justice" in the Deep South as a pre-condition for potential peace talks.

Test case

Reacting to the court's ruling, New York-based Human Rights Watch said Wednesday that the judgment cast light on the government's "failure to prosecute soldiers who commit grave abuses in Thailand's troubled deep south border provinces."

"The case is a critical test of Prime Minister Chan-o-cha's vow to bring justice" to the region, the rights watchdog said in a news release, in which it noted that authorities had failed to prosecute any of the soldiers who allegedly tortured and killed Ashari.

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BENARNEWS- Independence remains the overarching goal of southern insurgents negotiating with Thailand to restart Deep South peace talks, but they did not broach the topic during a closed-door meeting with Thai officials in Kuala Lumpur this week, the head of the rebel delegation said Thursday.

"This indeed is the demand that has been made for decades and it has never been dropped from the goals of the struggle," Awang Jabat, chairman of MARA Patani, an umbrella group representing various Deep South rebel organizations and factions, told reporters.

He and other representatives of rebel groups were briefing the media in Kuala Lumpur about what had ensued at a Malaysia-brokered meeting on Tuesday with a Thai governmental delegation, led by Gen. Aksara Kerdpol.

At Tuesday's meeting, according to rebel chief negotiator Sukree Haree, MARA Patani laid down three conditions for the resumption of peace talks: that Thailand place the Deep South peace process on its national agenda; recognize MARA Patani as a legitimate negotiating body; and guarantee immunity for its negotiators.

"With every new government, we needed to make a new start ...," Sukree told reporters, referring to the military junta that came to power in a May 2014 coup. Peace talks with the previous, civilian-led government stalled in December 2013. 

"We want a clear answer from this government to ensure continuity," Sukree said.

He also issued a warning.

"If either side is insincere, there shall be more violence. And if our three terms are not honored, there will be violence without any side claiming responsibility," Sukree said.

Responding to MARA Patani claims that the government had yet to respond to its demands, Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, a member of the Thai delegation, told BenarNews that "the terms were received and will be considered along the process."

Earlier, Nakrob had said that the Thai negotiating team had presented its own set of three proposals to MARA Patani in order to move ahead with formal peace talks: the creation of a "safety zone" in the Deep South, economic development driven by the local populace, and "justice for all."

Main agenda

MARA Patani has not talked about independence in a series of meetings to date this year with Thai negotiators, Awang said.

"The demand was not expressed in peace talks at this time, but it is the main agenda of our group," said Awang, who heads the military wing of the Barisan Nasional Revolusi (BRN) rebel group inside Thailand.

"Whether or not we put it on the table depends on negotiations going forward," he added. 

"MARA Patani stresses, whether the agenda of an independent state can be achieved, can only be decided by the Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand ... only they can decide whether they want to be independent, an autonomous region or under the existing government," he said.

MARA Patani was established in May as a united front through which rebel groups could negotiate with the government.

He said conditions were not right for the declaration of a ceasefire in Thailand's predominantly Muslim southern border regions, where a decade of ongoing violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives.

"MARA Patani is aimed at a peaceful mean of fighting. As for the current fights with forces and arms, we will need to reach a stage where both sides can stop such violent means, it is up to how we can build mutual understanding and trust," Awang said.

New direction

In a departure from past peace talks, MARA Patani would allow NGOs and other civil society groups to participate in efforts to end the conflict, he said.

However, while the umbrella group was formed to unify rebel groups in negotiations with the government, not everyone among the rebel ranks is backing this approach, Awang conceded.
"I believe there are some people who do not agree with the talks, but the talks will be going on," he said.

The MARA Patani group that unveiled itself in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday consisted of seven men representing five southern Thai rebel groups and factions: BRN was represented alongside Gerakan Mujahideen Islami Patani (GMIP), Barisan Islam Pembebasan Patani (BIPP) and two factions of the Patani United Liberation Organization (PULO).

A third PULO faction, PULO P4, had pulled out of the umbrella group after participating in MARA Patani's earlier secret negotiations with Thai officials.

No more games: Thai officer

Meanwhile, a Thai military official stationed in the Deep South reacted cautiously to news about MARA Patani's first public appearance.

"The public exposure of MARA Patani is a good thing but it must come out of inner sincerity, not just playing a cat-and-mouse game," Col. Isra Chantaprayom of the 41st Paramilitary Task Force told BenarNews.

"MARA Patani leaders must let their Fatoni warriors know, and send the message out and gauge whether those on the ground agree or disagree on what MARA Patani is doing," he added. 

"The terms for MARA Patani shall be answered soon. People here have had enough."

Nasueroh contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- This week's closed-door meeting in Malaysia between a Thai governmental delegation and a group representing various southern rebel groups could mark a new beginning toward resuming formal talks aimed at ending an insurgency, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives since 2004, analysts said Friday.

They are particularly optimistic about the latest efforts because of how negotiators from the rebel side appeared before the public for the first time afterward. In their view, this shows a willingness to find a lasting solution to the separatist conflict in Thailand's Deep South region.

"Some of the representatives here were also involved in the peace dialogue during the Yingluck [Shinawatra] government in 2013 but, at that time, they did not open themselves to the media," analyst Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat told BenarNews.

"This indicates there is room for negotiation as it means that [MARA Patani] will be accountable to the people as they have been publicly identified," said Rungrawee, a former Associated Press reporter and analyst with the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO engaged in conflict prevention and resolution worldwide.

She was referring to southern rebel leaders who had introduced themselves publicly in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday as representatives of MARA Patani, a new umbrella body negotiating on behalf of various rebel groups in talks with the Thai government.

"However, the Thai government will have to be ready to discuss the issue of self-governance and the restructuring of power-sharing between Bangkok and Patani. Otherwise, the process will be useless," Rungrawee added.

'Real deal'

Among the members of the rebel delegation to whom Rungrawee alluded was Sukree Haree, MARA Patani's chief negotiator who is a senior leader of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) rebel group.

He had been part of a negotiating team in the last round of official talks with the government, which stalled in December 2013, but this member of a younger generation of insurgents had not revealed himself in public then, Rungrawee noted.

Sukree is the "real deal," according to Srisomphob Chitpiromsri, director of Deep South Watch, an NGO based in Pattani province that promotes dialogue and efforts to end the separatist conflict in the region. 

"There might be skepticism about whether they are real representatives of resistant groups, especially from BRN. But there are four BRN members who appeared on the MARA Patani panel. It is a confirmation that BRN accepts and sees the benefits of the talks," Srisomphob said in an interview with Deep South Watch staffers, which was published Friday on the NGO's website.

"In the short term, we won't see a clear picture of the struggle, but this may be a watershed," he said. "For instance, (secret) meetings before Ramadan yielded less violence. It reflects both sides' efforts, when at the table, that they really want to jointly solve the problems."

Srisomphob added: "I believe the violence will wane after sometime. But then again, we can't pin hope on that because there are still some elements who disagree with the talk."

Kuala Lumpur developments

During a one-day meeting brokered by the Malaysian government, a Thai delegation headed by Gen. Aksara Kerdpol convened on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur with MARA Patani to hash out conditions for a formal resumption of peace talks.

Two days later, members of the rebel delegation introduced themselves to reporters and briefed the media about Tuesday's meeting.

MARA Patani Chairman Awang Jabat said then that independence remained the rebel side's primary goal in the negotiations, but they were open to other ways to settle the long-running conflict.

"MARA Patani stresses, whether the agenda of an independent state can be achieved, can only be decided by the Malay Muslims of Southern Thailand ... only they can decide whether they want to be independent, an autonomous region or live under the existing government," Awang told reporters.

Thai negotiator comments

Among their conditions, the rebels demanded that the Thai government place the Deep South peace process on its national agenda; recognize MARA Patani as a legitimate negotiating body, and guarantee immunity for its negotiators.

In Bangkok on Friday, General Aksara talked to reporters about the meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

"We are looking for cooperation from dissident groups. They always proclaimed themselves the representative of people in the Deep South. If so true, please cooperate with us," he told reporters.

"Tell the public we want things to go this way and the people will express the truth, if that is what they want."

The Thai government was exploring the rebel demand of immunity being given to MARA Patani negotiators, because this was a legal matter that needed to go through various governmental agencies, he added. An inter-agency working group would be set up to study this issue, Aksara said.

'Give peace a chance'

Meanwhile, residents of the Deep South who lost loved ones in the insurgency are reacting positively to this week's news out of Kuala Lumpur.

Yamae-a Manahing, whose husband was killed by a stray bullet in Yala province in 2008, said MARA Patani's debut in front of the media was a promising development.

"It will be good if those people can stop the violence because, for eleven years, thousands of women were turned into widows, kids into orphans. Give peace a chance, if they may," Yamae-a told BenarNews.

In nearby Pattani province, Aeda Bue-raheng lost a sibling to the violence three years ago. Her younger brother, a civilian, was shot and killed by the military in early 2012, she said.

"I have an impression that the violence comes from the government side," Aeda told BenarNews.

"I don't know if those members of MARA Patani truly represent the operatives in the field. But if they try to make peace, it is a good thing," she added.

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BENARNEWS- Thai police on Saturday arrested a "foreign man" in the deadly Aug. 17 bombing of a Hindu shrine in central Bangkok.
Security forces found bomb-making materials and blank passports in the apartment where the suspect was apprehended in Nongjok district, a suburb of Bangkok, officials said.
"Since this morning, the police and military have a joint search for suspects. We found a male suspect and held him for having bombs in his possession," police spokesman Prawuth Thavornsiri said on national television.
The 28-year-old "foreign man" had "explosive devices and components such as detonators, arrays of ball bearings, and iron pipes, as well as a big number of passports of a country," Prawuth added.
A passport seized from the suspect and bearing his photograph identified him as a Turkish national named Adem Karadag.  An image from the passport was shown on screen during the televised police statement.
[https://www]
But Prawuth said authorities had not yet confirmed the suspect's nationality or identity.

"The passport you see is fake," the Associated Press quoted him as saying. "We don't know if he is Turkish or not."
'Looks like' prime suspect
The Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok's upscale Rajaprasong district killed 20 people and injured another 125. An explosion the following day at the Sathorn passenger pier in Bangkok harmed no one.
Police had earlier issued an arrest warrant for an unnamed "foreign man" and linked it to a forensic police sketch of an individual, who had been filmed by a security camera leaving a backpack at the shrine moments before the blast.
Police believe the suspect – who was being held at a military facility on charges of possessing illegal explosives – was involved in both attacks.
"We found a connection to both bombs, Rajaprasong and Sathorn," Prawuth said, adding that the detained man "looks like" the prime suspect, according to Reuters.
Police released a photograph of the man, barefoot and with his hands apparently bound behind his back, in what appears to be a kitchen.
[https://www]
'There are some more'
Police are hunting for other suspects, a security official told BenarNews, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The man "crossed the border from Cambodia via Sakaeo province. There are some more we are hunting for," he said.
To date, no one has claimed responsibility for the Bangkok bombing.
In a press conference earlier Saturday, Thai National Police Gen. Somyos Poompanmaung insisted that the attack on the Erawan shrine was "not an international terrorist act."
The likely motive was "taking personal revenge for his comrades," he said, according to Reuters. He did not elaborate.
"We cannot give more information at this stage as the suspect is a foreigner, and more interrogation is needed," he said.
An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the spokesman for national police.


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BENARNEWS-Authorities in Thailand issued arrest warrants Monday for two additional suspects in the deadly bombing of a Hindu shrine in Bangkok on Aug. 17, including a Thai woman.
Police were searching for an unnamed foreign man and a Thai national identified as 26-year-old Wanna Suansun, National Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri announced on national television. He displayed a photo of the woman, and a sketch of a man with a thin mustache.
Twenty people were killed and as many as 125 injured in the attack on the Erawan Shrine, a religious site in Bangkok's Rajaprasong district that is popular with tourists from China and other Asian countries. 

A joint police and military search on Sunday of an apartment in Min Buri, a northeastern district in Bangkok, led to the discovery of explosives and other materials that could be used to build bombs, Prawut said. These included black powder, Urea fertilizer, remote-controlled triggering devices, bolts and nuts, light bulbs and wristwatches.

Information that led to the raid came from the interogation of a foreign suspect who was taken into custody Saturday in connection with the bombing, Prawut said.

"At the time of search, the tenant was not there and the man residing in the apartment, as per the sketch, was not there," he said.

"The tenant's name is Wanna Suansun, aged 26, and the person who eventually resided there is a foreign man who looked like [the person] in the sketch."

In Turkey?

According to news reports, the woman's relatives told police she had left the country months ago and was now living in Turkey.

"They said Wanna lives in Turkey with her Turkish partner and her child. She has not contacted them for a while," Reuters quoted Taracha Thompat, deputy police chief for Phangna province, as saying.

Col. Winthai Suwaree, the spokesman for the National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) – the official name for the Thai junta – joined the police spokesman during the broadcast.

"Officials involved in the case confirmed that they have not ruled out any possible causes, and they will wait until information compiled from witnesses, physical evidence and forensic examination results are complete," Winthai said.

Meanwhile, at the NCPO's situation monitoring center in Bangkok, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters that the first suspect in custody was "certainly not a scapegoat."

"The arrest was a result of security personnel's investigation based on witnesses and evidence," he said.

Turkey: Ready to help

The first suspect was identified as a 28-year-old foreigner.

He was arrested after authorities raided his apartment in Nongjok district, a Bangkok suburb, and allegedly found bomb-making components as well as a stash of passports from a foreign country.

A counterfeit Turkish passport bearing the suspect's photograph and identifying him as Adem Karadag was seized from him, officials said.

After his arrest, the Turkish embassy in Bangkok issued a statement in which it reiterated its "solidarity with Thailand."

"Turkey stands strongly against all kinds of terrorist acts, regardless of its source, origin and motive. Turkey continues to fight against terrorism," the statement said.

"Concerning the speculative news reports linking Turkish citizens to the Erawan Shrine bomb attack, Turkey has already conveyed its stand against terrorism to the Royal Thai Embassy in Ankara and expressed its readiness to cooperate with Thai authorities, if they have any concrete information as to these speculations," the embassy added.


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BENARNEWS- Thailand has arrested a second foreign suspect in the bombing of a Hindu shrine in central Bangkok last month, but authorities are still searching for others involved in the plot, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha said Tuesday.
"It is good if we can find them, who did it," Prayuth told reporters in Bangkok, saying the investigation into who carried out Thailand's deadliest-ever bombing was moving along slowly but surely.
"Today we arrested another one, which is important and is likely connected with another we arrested the other day. As far as we know, they are not Thais," he added, referring to Tuesday's arrest of a suspect near the Thai-Cambodian border.
The military arrested a "prime suspect" in the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan Shrine around midday in Aranyaprathet, a town in Thailand's eastern Sakaeo province, National Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters separately.
"The security forces arrested him while he was trying to cross the border," Prawut told a press conference at the National Police Bureau on Tuesday evening.
The suspect's nationality was not yet known, according to Prawut. The man was flown to Bangkok and was being interrogated with the help of a "native language translator," he said.
The suspect resembles the police sketch of a man in a yellow shirt who was filmed leaving a backpack at the Erawan Shrine moments before an explosion there killed 20 and injured more than 125, the police spokesman said.
"His face and appearance is similar so the security forces arrested him for illegal entering and exiting the country," Prawut said.
Local reports said the man was being held and interrogated at the Military Circle 11 in Bangkok.
Police will use fingerprinting, DNA tests and witnesses to identify the man, Prawut said.
"Based on initial evidence we have, we confirmed that he is the key perpetrator in the same gang with another suspect we already have arrested, and he is part of the group that attacked Bangkok with two bombs. We are confident to confirm [this]," he said.
A second explosion that harmed no one took place Aug. 18 near a busy commuter pier in Bangkok.
Seven suspects
A total of seven arrest warrants have now been issued in connection with the attacks, Prawut said.
The first arrest took place Saturday, when a 28-year-old man was picked up during a raid by authorities on an apartment in suburban Bangkok.
Officials said they recovered bomb-making components and a stash of passports from a foreign country from the apartment. They also seized a Turkish passport bearing the suspect's photograph and a name – "Adem Karadag" – but Thai officials said the document was fake.
Interrogation of the first suspect led authorities to issue arrest warrants for an unidentified foreign man and a 26-year-old Thai woman identified as Wanna Suansan. Her whereabouts are unknown, but news reports quoted her relatives as saying that she was now living in Turkey.
Arrests warrants are out for four others: an unnamed man in a blue shirt linked to the Aug. 18 bombing at the Sathorn riverside pier; another unidentified foreign man; and two suspects named as Ahmet Bozoelan and Ali Johan.
'We don't want to point fingers'
After the first suspect's arrest, the Turkish embassy issued a statement saying that Ankara was ready to assist Thai authorities in apprehending those who carried out the bombing at the shrine.
In his remarks Tuesday, Prime Minister Prayuth indicated that Thai authorities were still trying to determine whether there was a Turkish connection to the attack.
"But we should not talk too much, otherwise it would jeopardize relationships," Prayuth said. "If it becomes clear that [Turks] did it, in the future we can ask for Turkey's cooperation.We don't want to point fingers at each other," Prayuth said.
"There have been contacts with the embassy. It said there was no Turkish involvement, but the possibility is higher every day," the Thai leader added.


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BENARNEWS- A court in southern Thailand on Tuesday acquitted two local journalists of defamation charges brought by the Thai navy, in a case with implications for press freedom in the kingdom that attracted international interest.

Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison, editors of the Phuketwan website, were found not guilty of criminal defamation and breaching Thailand's Computer Crimes Act for including a 41-word excerpt from a Reuters news report within an article published by the Phuket-based site in July 2013.

The Phuket Provincial Court ruled that the controversial excerpt, which linked the Royal Thai Navy to human trafficking, did not qualify as criminal defamation because the defendants had merely reproduced the words of another news organization, and there was no proven intent to defame the navy.

In addition, the Computer Crimes Act was not intended to be used in such cases, the court said in handing down the verdict.

The two defendants had been charged under the act for disseminating the alleged defamatory content via the internet.

"The news presented by the Reuters news agency does not appear to be false or constitute to causing panic or affecting national security," a Reuters report quoted provincial Judge Chaipawat Chaya-anandpat as saying when he read out the court's decision.

'Victory for common sense'

Had the court convicted them of both charges, Chutima and Morison could each have faced seven years in prison.

The ruling was "a victory for common sense and the Thai justice system," Morison, who is Australian, told BenarNews.

"We hope this represents the start of a more mature approach between the military and the media in Thailand. This was a case brought by a couple of naval officers using a bad law, when a phone call would have solved the problem on the same day," he said. 

"Persecuting the media is not the answer. Being more open about what is happening, and working with the media, is the answer."

When the judge delivered the verdict, Chutima collapsed in her mother's arms.

"This is really an important day for the Thai justice system," Chutima told BenarNews later.

Phuketwan ("sweet Phuket), a small and independent news operation co-founded by Morison and Chutima, had covered the issue of human trafficking in Thailand and the plight of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar for years before the navy took their publication to court over the July 2013 article.

Morison said he had spent a significant portion of his life savings on legal bills in defending the case, and that he and Chutima would now have to figure out Phuketwan's future.

Reuters was not charged in this case, but the excerpt in question came from a report from the worldwide news agency, which was part of an investigative series on human trafficking in Southeast Asia that earned it a Pulitzer Prize last year.

"We are pleased at the court's verdict in the case today as Reuters wholeheartedly supports the principles of a free press, and the imperative of journalists across the world to publish independent and reliable news," company spokesman David Crundwell told reporters from Reuters in an email.

Prosecution absent again

The prosecution now has 30 days to appeal the court's ruling, but lawyers for the plaintiffs did not appear at Tuesday's session.

After showing up for the first day of the three-day trial in July, the prosecution declined to question Chutima and Morison on the witness stand on the second day and lawyers representing the navy didn't even appear in court on the third day.

Kingsley Abbott, an adviser with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), was among many international observers who were in the courtroom for the verdict.

"Certainly it's a very welcome verdict, one in the right direction for Thailand. We hope that the prosecution does the right thing and decides not to appeal this case," he said. 

Afterwards, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement from Bangkok.

"CPJ is relieved by today's court decision to drop criminal charges against Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian," said Shawn W. Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative.

"Authorities should follow up on today's verdict by scrapping the draconian laws, including the Computer Crime Act, that are too often abused and misapplied to threaten reporters and stifle free speech."

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BENARNEWS- Fingerprints taken from a second suspect in the Aug. 17 bombing of Bangkok's Erawan Shrine match those left on a bottle of explosives, which was found in an apartment of another suspect who is also in custody, Thai police said Wednesday.
In addition, police said that an arrest warrant was out for an eighth suspect in Thailand's deadliest terrorist bombing, which killed 20 people and injured more than 125 at the Hindu shrine at Bangkok's busy Rajaprasong intersection.
"Today, the fingerprint examination by the forensic department confirmed that the suspect left latent fingerprints on a bottle that contained explosive substance at the Poon Anant apartment," Police Lt. Gen, Prawut Thavornsiri told a televised press briefing in Bangkok.
He was referring to the second suspect, an unidentified foreign man (pictured) who was arrested Tuesday in eastern Sakaeo province, on the Thai-Cambodian border. According to police, the man was trying to cross into Cambodia.
"We can confirm that the suspect was involved with the bomb attack," Prawut told reporters, referring to the second suspect and adding that he was part of the same gang that carried out a bombing at the Sathorn riverside pier in Bangkok on Aug. 18, in which no one was injured.
Located in Nongjok district, a suburb of Bangkok, the apartment in the Poon Anant complex was where the first suspect, a 28-year-old foreigner, was arrested Saturday.
"He could have been the one who brought the bomb out of the room, or the one who brought the bomb to the bombing site. We are examining the evidence and biometrics found at the site. We are trying to match them," Prawut said of the second suspect in custody.
Officials said they found bomb-making materials and parts in the Poon Anant apartment, along with a stash of passports from a foreign country. The first suspect in custody carried a Turkish passport, which was fake, according to officials.
Seven foreigners
So far, Thai authorities have announced the arrests of two of out of eight suspects in the Erawan Shrine bombing, seven of whom are foreigners from undisclosed countries.
The lone Thai suspect is a 26-year-old woman, Wanna Suansan, who reportedly is in Turkey.
A Sunday raid of her apartment in Min Buri, a Bangkok district, uncovered explosives and other bomb-making material, including Urea fertilizer.
A warrant has now been issued for the woman's husband, a foreigner who is the eighth suspect in this case.
At this stage of the investigation, Thai authorities have not been able to verify the nationalities of the foreign suspects, but the priority is to keep the public safe, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters Wednesday before boarding a flight to China.
"The nationality verification must be done by the country a suspect claims he is from," Prawit said.
"The most important thing is we need to find out who are in the gang .... How they are connected is very much more important," he added.


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BENARNEWS- A new online video from one of southern Thailand's main rebel groups reveals potential internal divisions over current efforts to re-start formal peace talks with the Thai government, an expert on the separatist conflict told BenarNews.
In a six-minute video uploaded to YouTube on Monday, a spokesman for the "information department of Barisan Revolusi Nasional," one of the longstanding rebel groups in Thailand's Deep South, read out a declaration stating that "independence for Patani" remained BRN's "highest objective."
The video is significant because it is the first released by one of the southern insurgent groups since peace talks stalled in December 2013.
"This statement belongs to parts of BRN who support an old-school way of fighting with violence, and this is an announcement of its stance," Srisomphob Chitpiromsri, director of Deep South Watch, an NGO based in Pattani province that monitors the conflict in the region, said Tuesday.
Pattani is one of the provinces in Thailand's southern border region where a large majority of the population is Muslim and Malay-speaking. Since 2004, more than 6,000 people have been killed and 10,000 injured in violence associated with the insurgency.
"It is a reflection that, within BRN, there are differences on the peace-talk process. But I believe the statement will not affect the dialogue," Srisomphob added.
He was referring to back-channel efforts since April that aim to start formal peace talks between the rebel side and Thailand's military-controlled government, which seized power in May 2014. The last round of official peace talks took place in 2013 under a civilian-led government.
Last month, a new group called MARA Patani introduced itself as an umbrella body that would represent various Deep South rebel organizations and factions as a unified front in future peace talks.
MARA Patani Chairman Awang Jabat and its chief negotiator, Sukree Haree, are senior BRN officials.
After the last session of closed-door talks in Kuala Lumpur with a Thai delegation headed by Gen. Aksara Kerdpol, Awang stated at a news conference there that independence remained the overarching goal of MARA Patani's constituent members.
'One language, one nation'
The video features a lone speaker, who identified himself as Abdul Karim Khalib in videos released by the BRN in 2013.
The new video does not mention MARA Patani, but it questions the integrity and trustworthiness of the Thai side, accusing Thailand of "deception" and ""manipulation" in the past.
"The peace talks cannot be trusted not to repeat the deception the colonizers carried out in the past, because the colonizers are known for manipulation and terrorism," Abdul says.
Abdul had been part of the rebel delegation in the 2013 negotiations, which were brokered by Malaysia. But he did not appear alongside the seven men representing MARA Patani in Kuala Lumpur.
In the video, Abdul claims that a colonial policy of "divide and rule" has controlled the so-called region of Patani since the year 1786.
"As long as the political ideology of the colonizer doesn't change, and acknowledge the right of self-determination of the Patani Malay people according to U.N. [General Assembly]Resolution 1514, the revolution of the Patani Malay people will continue, until the Patani Malay people achieve freedom," the speaker warns.
"Finally, we state that this declaration is a recognition of our united stance: one nation, one language and one country. No right. No left. Independence or Syahid [glorious death]," he adds.
'Genuinely sincere'
On Wednesday, Patani United Liberation Organization President Kasturi Mahkota, who is a MARA Patani member, told BenarNews that the video featuring Abdul Karim Khalib did not appear to criticize the peace-making efforts of the umbrella group.
"The video did not show the slightest resistance to MARA Pattani. It only refers to the resistance against the Thai side," Kasturi said in an email.
"So, for me and PULO, the dialogue process is not affected and will continue as usual.
Earlier, Maj. Gen. Nakrob Boonbuathong, a Thai army officer who is closely involved in governmental efforts to persuade the rebels to come back to the negotiating table, had struck a similar note, saying the video "should not have any impact on the peace talks."
"The Thai government has genuine sincerity toward the peace talk process," Nakrob told BenarNews on Tuesday.
"I don't know when this clip was recorded. It didn't criticize MARA Patani. If it doesn't agree with MARA Patani, the clip should have mentioned it by name."
At the Aug. 25 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, MARA Patani laid down several conditions for going ahead with a new round of talks. The rebels demanded that the government recognize MARA Patani as a legitimate negotiating body, as well as guarantee immunity for its negotiators.
The issue of immunity for members of the rebels' negotiating team is a delicate one, Nakrob said.
"We cannot set an 'official talk' yet because subcommittees are pondering the three terms raised during the latest pre-talk," he said.
Hata Wahari contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Police in Malaysia have arrested two Malaysians and a Pakistani as part of an investigation into the deadly Aug. 17 bombing in Bangkok, broadening the probe's international footprint.
The three were arrested after entering Malaysia last week, on suspicion of terrorist-related activities under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act of 2012 (SOSMA), Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told a news conference Monday.
He would not say how they entered Malaysia or where they were arrested – only that closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance played a role.
"The three were identified through the sharing of information between the Royal Malaysia Police and the Thai Police," he said.
"However, we will not hand over the suspects to Thailand as of yet, because we need to do further investigations in order to determine the authenticity of information on whether the main suspect is in our country and if there is a possible terror network," Khalid added.
The arrests bring to five the number of people taken into custody thus far in connection with the Bangkok bombing. In Thailand, two foreign male suspects have been arrested and charged with possession of explosives.
One of the Malaysian suspects is a woman, police said. And, in a Sunday raid on a dormitory in Bangkok's Din Daeng district, authorities took three other women in for questioning as part of the probe, the Bangkok Post reported.
Last week, Thai police said that one of the suspects, identified as Yusufu Mieraili (pictured), had confessed to delivering a backpack bomb to a man in a yellow shirt, who was filmed planting the device at the Erawan Shrine moments before the blast.
The attack on the Hindu shrine killed 20 people and injured another 120 during the evening rush-hour at Bangkok's busy Rajaprasong intersection.
Bangladesh connection
Also on Monday, Thai police told reporters that the suspected mastermind of the blast – whom they have named as Chinese passport holder Abu Dustar Abdulrahman, or "Izan" – was now in Turkey.
Thai police had earlier said that they believed Izan had fled to China on the eve of the attack. But a Bangladeshi official on Monday confirmed to BenarNews that he had landed in Dhaka on Aug. 16 and exited the country two weeks later.
"Based on information from the immigration authorities, the suspect came to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a Bangladesh Biman airlines flight from Bangkok on Aug. 16 at 11 a.m.," Bangladeshi Assistant Inspector General of Police Nazrul Islam told BenarNews.
"The Chinese passport holder left Dhaka on a Jet Airways flight at around 10 a.m. His boarding pass said his final destination was Beijing," the Bangladeshi official added, specifying Aug. 30 as a departure date but declining to comment further.
"He departed Dhaka on Aug. 30 for Delhi by Jet Airways," the Associated Press quoted Thai National Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri as saying Monday.
"From Delhi, he continued his travel to Abu Dhabi, and from Abu Dhabi he traveled on Aug. 31 to Istanbul. This is his final destination. It's clear."
A senior Turkish government official denied this.
"There is no record of the suspect having entered Turkey," the official told the AP on condition of anonymity. "Nor have the Thai authorities informed us that a terrorism suspect was traveling to Turkey."
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing – Thailand's deadliest terrorist attack – and Thai authorities have yet to reveal a motive.
Shahriar Sharif contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Police in Malaysia have arrested two Malaysians and a Pakistani as part of an investigation into the deadly Aug. 17 bombing in Bangkok, broadening the probe's international footprint.
The three were arrested after entering Malaysia last week, on suspicion of terrorist-related activities under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act of 2012 (SOSMA), Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told a news conference Monday.
He would not say how they entered Malaysia or where they were arrested – only that closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance played a role.
"The three were identified through the sharing of information between the Royal Malaysia Police and the Thai Police," he said.
"However, we will not hand over the suspects to Thailand as of yet, because we need to do further investigations in order to determine the authenticity of information on whether the main suspect is in our country and if there is a possible terror network," Khalid added.
The arrests bring to five the number of people taken into custody thus far in connection with the Bangkok bombing. In Thailand, two foreign male suspects have been arrested and charged with possession of explosives.
One of the Malaysian suspects is a woman, police said. And, in a Sunday raid on a dormitory in Bangkok's Din Daeng district, authorities took three other women in for questioning as part of the probe, the Bangkok Post reported.
Last week, Thai police said that one of the suspects, identified as Yusufu Mieraili (pictured), had confessed to delivering a backpack bomb to a man in a yellow shirt, who was filmed planting the device at the Erawan Shrine moments before the blast.
The attack on the Hindu shrine killed 20 people and injured another 120 during the evening rush-hour at Bangkok's busy Rajaprasong intersection.
Bangladesh connection
Also on Monday, Thai police told reporters that the suspected mastermind of the blast – whom they have named as Chinese passport holder Abu Dustar Abdulrahman, or "Izan" – was now in Turkey.
Thai police had earlier said that they believed Izan had fled to China on the eve of the attack. But a Bangladeshi official on Monday confirmed to BenarNews that he had landed in Dhaka on Aug. 16 and exited the country two weeks later.
"Based on information from the immigration authorities, the suspect came to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a Bangladesh Biman airlines flight from Bangkok on Aug. 16 at 11 a.m.," Bangladeshi Assistant Inspector General of Police Nazrul Islam told BenarNews.
"The Chinese passport holder left Dhaka on a Jet Airways flight at around 10 a.m. His boarding pass said his final destination was Beijing," the Bangladeshi official added, specifying Aug. 30 as a departure date but declining to comment further.
"He departed Dhaka on Aug. 30 for Delhi by Jet Airways," the Associated Press quoted Thai National Police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri as saying Monday.
"From Delhi, he continued his travel to Abu Dhabi, and from Abu Dhabi he traveled on Aug. 31 to Istanbul. This is his final destination. It's clear."
A senior Turkish government official denied this.
"There is no record of the suspect having entered Turkey," the official told the AP on condition of anonymity. "Nor have the Thai authorities informed us that a terrorism suspect was traveling to Turkey."
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing – Thailand's deadliest terrorist attack – and Thai authorities have yet to reveal a motive.
Shahriar Sharif contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Journalists and free press advocates Monday called on Thailand's military-controlled government to release a well-known newspaper columnist detained as part of the junta's "attitude adjustment" program that targets dissenters. 

The government confirmed that Pravit Rojanaphruk, a senior reporter and columnist for The Nation, had been picked up. A spokesman for the government said he could be incarcerated for up to a week and asked to sign a document, failing which "he would be charged with sedition."

"It is only fair that Pravit be released as soon as possible, if the NCPO does not have sufficient evidence to warrant his detention," Jintana Panyaarvudh, the paper's managing editor, said in an open letter to the National Council for Peace and Order – the official name for the Thai junta –published Monday.

"Detaining journalists without clear charges can raise concerns over media freedom in Thailand and give rise to questions about ... NCPO's sincerity in restoring democracy as it claims," he added.

Newspapers executives and Pravit's relatives have been unable to contact him and are worried about his safety and welfare, Jintana said.

Pravit had previously been held for a week in May 2014 after being summoned by the junta, according to reports.

The junta seized power in May 2014. Earlier this year, the NCPO ended martial law but instead invoked Article 44 of Thailand's interim constitution. The article gives the junta absolute power and allows it to curb the press and arrest protestors, critics say.

According to Agence France-Presse, the junta has required "scores of politicians, journalists and citizens to attend so-called "attitude adjustment" sessions. These are brief periods of incarceration that can last up to a week, AFP reported.

Associations representing domestic and foreign journalists also expressed alarm at Pravit's detention.

"Keeping him in detention without any formal charge or clarification is against the principles of freedom of the press and the people's basic rights according to the Article 4 of the Interim Constitution," Manop Thiposoth, vice chairman for Press Freedom and Media Reform at the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), said in a statement.

Yet, while calling on the junta to "exercise its power carefully," he cautioned journalists to be careful with their reporting.

"The TJA insists and calls on all professional media to work responsibly and professionally," Manop said.

For its part, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) said it was "very concerned to learn of the detention of journalist Pravit Rojanap[h]ruk by the Thai military authorities." 

"The detention of journalists or anyone else for the peaceful expression of their views violates Thailand's obligations under international human rights law," the FCCT said.

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BENARNEWS- Thai authorities on Tuesday freed Pravit Rojanaphruk, a senior reporter and columnist for The Nation, after holding him since Sunday for an "attitude adjustment," the newspaper said.
To win his release, Pravit, a frequent critic of Thailand's military-led government, had to sign a document in which he agreed "not to lead, participate, or assist any anti-coup movement," the paper reported.
"Released by Thai junta already. Thanks to friends, colleagues & supporters. My ideology is intact. Will talk more later. #Thailand," Pravit said Tuesday night (local time) in a message posted on Twitter.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – the official name for the junta that came to power in May 2014 – lodged a pending police complaint against Pravit, which would be activated if he violated the council's orders again, a source told The Nation.
Pravit was freed along with two opposition MPs who were also being held under the junta's so-called "attitude adjustment" program and were made to sign a similar document, the paper said.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for U.S.-based watchdog group Human Rights Watch, said the NCPO had freed Pravit due to international pressure and that "no one should be fooled" by the gesture.
"The reality is Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth [Chan-o-cha]wants to stifle critical statements about the government and is prepared to use arbitrary, incommunicado detention and intimidation to achieve that," Robertson told BenarNews.
"What this means is that governments that care about human rights in Thailand need to be loud and clear in demanding an immediate end to such abusive detention of critics."
'Invited'
Pravit was detained Sunday after receiving an "invitation" to discuss with authorities statements that could "cause confusion to the public," junta spokesman Col. Winthai Suvaree told local reporters Monday, according to the Associated Press.
"Freedom can't be maintained if we're not willing to defend it. #Thailand," Pravit had tweeted before his detention.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told The Nation that Pravit had been summoned because of "provocative and divisive" posts on his personal Facebook account.
Rights groups and associations representing domestic and foreign journalists responded with alarm to the detention.
Pravit is a "prominent champion of freedom of expression," who has criticized the junta and as well as the civilian-led government that preceded it, The Guardian reported.
Since seizing power, the junta has used the "attitude adjustment" to detain and interrogate hundreds of dissenters, the British newspaper said.
Pravit's detention was his second since Thai authorities held him for a week in the days following the May 2014 coup.
On Tuesday, The Nation quoted Prayuth as warning that Pravit and others summoned for "attitude adjustment" had to comply with the agreement they had signed by "informing the NCPO when planning to travel abroad."
The NCPO has authority to freeze their bank accounts if it finds their movements suspicious, the paper quoted him as saying.
"I will agree with them no more," Prayuth warned, according to The Nation. "If they repeat it again, they have to go to court. There'll be no more negotiation."


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BENARNEWS- Elections in military-ruled Thailand won't take place for at least another 22 months, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha announced Wednesday, delaying an electoral timetable yet again and setting back prospects for restoring democracy in the kingdom.
"The next general election could be organized around July 2017," Prayuth told reporters, according to Reuters. "It would not be much earlier than this, though the government has tried to speed up all the work."
A general election could only take place in mid-2017 at the earliest, Thai officials said, because a junta-appointed body, the National Reform Council (NRC), 10 days ago had rejected a new constitution drafted by the junta.
After seizing power from a civilian-led government in May 2014, the junta promised to bring back civilian rule through elections within 18 months, according to Agence-France Presse.
Then, this past May, Prayuth announced that elections would only take place in September 2016, but on condition that a constitutional draft passed a nationwide referendum.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said the process of drafting another version of the constitution was expected to take 20 months.
"The total number is 20. Hopefully in June 2017 we will have the general election. And not long, one month after that, we will have the new elected government," AFP quoted Wissanu as saying at a briefing in Bangkok for foreign diplomats.
Should Prayuth stay in office till then his regime would have held onto power for longer than any other Thai junta since 1969, AFP noted.
But Prayuth himself has asked for the drafting of a new charter to be sped up, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters.
"The prime minister doesn't want to stay on longer, he even asked for the shortening of the whole process," the foreign minister said, according to AFP.
Since 2001, populist parties have won every democratic election, but Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister Yingluck were both toppled in their roles as prime minister in coups launched by the military in 2006 and 2014, respectively.


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BENARNEWS- An insurgency has gripped Thailand's Deep South for more than a decade but, despite all that, officials are trying to package its beaches, wildlife preserves and cultural riches as a magnet for tourists, whose presence would boost jobs in the impoverished region. 

In fact, tourists are already coming to Narathiwat, Pattani, and Yala provinces, and southern districts that make up the predominantly Muslim Deep South, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Last year, 1.3 million tourists – both foreign and domestic – visited the region and spent more than 5 billion baht (U.S. $140.3 million) during their stays, according to TAT figures.

"By the end of this year, we expect to see a 10 percent increase in tourist arrival figures compared with 2014," Aman Madadam, the director of TAT's regional office, in Narathiwat town, told BenarNews.

"The only major obstacle to tourism development in the region is the unrest, which has eroded confidence among many potential tourists considering visits to Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat." 

The tourism industry is one of the most important sectors of Thailand's economy. In 2014, as many as 24.77 million foreign visitors visited the country, pouring 987 billion baht (U.S. $27.7 billion) into the national economy, according to the TAT.

Tourism in the Deep South represents a small slice of that pie, but Madadam pointed to an encouraging new trend: the number of foreign tourists visiting the region now outnumbers Thai tourists coming from other parts of the country to vacation there, he said. 

The trend is spearheaded by Malaysian tourists crossing into southern Thailand at border checkpoints in Sungai Kolok district, Narathiwat, and Betong district, Yala. 

Deep South 'has it all'

Many tourists come for important religious or cultural events, because the region has deep historical ties with the ethnic Chinese and Muslim communities in Malaysia. 

Among the events attracting tourists are the annual Lim Ko Niew Goddess Shrine Fair in Pattani Town, which takes place 15 days after the traditional Chinese New Year; the New Year's celebration at the Toh Moh Goddess Shrine in Sungai Kolok; and the annual Ko Leh Boat Races on the Bang Nara River in Narathiwat.

Muslim tourists come to enjoy Hari Rayor activities that mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan, as well as Islamic religious ceremonies at the 390-year-old al-Hussein Mosque in Narathiwat's Bajoh district.

The government is now spending 200 million baht (U.S. $5.6 million) to renovate the structure, the oldest wooden mosque in Thailand. Officials are hoping to finish the project – part of a regional tourism development plan – by year's end.

In addition, the region boasts natural touristic draws. Popular beaches include the strand at Bu Dee Beach in Pattani and Narathat Beach in Narathiwat. The region's many national parks and other protected reserves include the Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary in Waeng district, Narathiwat. A birdwatcher's paradise, it is home to no fewer than seven of the 13 known species of hornbills.

"I am still really impressed when I travel here, and, the next time, I plan to take my family along with me as well," Somporn Phumdokmai, a tourist who lives in Bangkok, told BenarNews.

Before the unrest flared up in 2004, he had vacationed in Narathiwat and Yala many times before. When violence broke out, he thought twice about returning to the region out of concern for his safety.

But after coming back the first time, he said he realized that he was relatively safe because the unrest was confined to certain areas. 

"Many touristic attractions in Narathiwat are really beautiful and interesting. Narathiwat has it all – the sea, hills, jungles and waterfalls. Much the same can be said about Yala and Pattani," he said.  

"The region also has an interesting history, which gives the people here their unique identity. With so much virgin forest and the cultures of Chinese, Malays and Thai Buddhists, there is really so much to see and experience." 

Conflict remains a hurdle

To meet its goal of boosting regional tourism by 10 percent this year, the regional TAT office is working with tour operators and other private-sector companies to promote special packages to Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat. 

Local businessmen are hoping that more tourists will come, but they recognize that the local tourism industry can only take off if and when the separatist conflict – which has killed more than 6,000 people since 2004 – finally is settled.

The Thai government is now negotiating with various Deep South rebels groups in an effort to resume stalled official peace talks.

"Despite violence, there are some tourists from Malaysia and Singapore," Naseh Amandee, owner of Naseh Seafoods in Narathiwat, told BenarNews.

"But if the government is able to solve problems, the industry could grow easily. We operators of restaurants, hotels, taxi and so on would all benefit from such an achievement," he added.

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BENARNEWS- Some 1,000 scholars, diplomats, social workers and students took part Wednesday in an international conference in Thailand's violence-wracked Deep South aimed at fostering peace in the region, where at least five people died in continued fighting this week, according to officials and police.
The participants from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines – three Southeast Asian nations hit by Muslim insurgencies – agreed to forge a network among academics for research and other activities that promote peace-building and conflict resolution using various models.
They said the resolution of long-running conflicts in Indonesia's Aceh province and an ongoing peace deal in the southern Philippines offered hope for an end to the insurgency in Thailand's predominantly Muslim southern border region, which has left more than 6,000 people dead and 10,000 injured since 2004.
"The reason for us to link [the conflicts] in Mindanao and Aceh with what is happening here is to open a forum to exchange knowledge and experience .... We face similar conflicts but have different approaches to the peace process," said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of the Center for Conflict Studies and Cultural Diversity at Prince of Songkla University, which was one of the organizers of the conference in Pattani.
"I believe if we share our knowledge, we may form a template for future conflict resolutions based on our experience from these three areas," Srisompob said in his opening remarks at the conference, titled "TriPeace via ASEAN Muslim Society: Muslim Societies, Knowledge and Peace-building in Southeast Asia."
The Prince of Songkla University and People's College, another institution in southern Thailand, as well as Thailand's Fatoni University, the Mindanao State University in the Philippines and Universitas Islam Negeri Al-Raniry in Indonesia, signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the peace-building effort.
The cooperation will include annual peace-building conferences in each of the three countries. The next meeting will be held in Mindanao, the Philippines, he said.
"Such cooperation not only leverages the status of academic work on conflicts and peace study but it will help develop Islamic studies and bind them to societal changes amid conflicts," said Sukree Langputeh, the vice president of Fatoni University.
Aside from sharing and exchanging knowledge among Muslim and non-Muslim academics about Islamic dynamics in conflict areas, the conference also aimed to generate debate on "controversial topics and issues about conflict and peace from Islamic perspectives," among other objectives, according to a statement posted on the website of Deep South Watch, a think-tank linked to the University of Pattani.
"It is expected that the experiences of guest speakers from international and national communities will greatly contribute to local insights on peace processes, bringing about enhanced peace-building platforms for the southernmost region of Thailand," the statement said.
Last month, Thai officials and a coalition of Muslim rebel groups held informal talks in Malaysia in an effort to contain the endless violence in southern Thailand. But there was no major breakthrough.
A violent few days
Over the last three days, five people – three of them security personnel – were killed and two others injured in a spate of shootings in Thailand's far south.
In Narathiwat province, two border patrol policemen in Tak Bai district, a member of the paramilitary force in Ra-ngae district, and a villager in Ruesoh district were all shot dead in separate incidents, according to police. In addition, a resident of Bannang Sata district in Yala province was gunned down.
On Monday, leaflets were distributed encouraging the people of Pattani province to take up arms against the government, police said.
Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces border Malaysia and were part of a Malay Muslim sultanate annexed by mostly Buddhist Thailand over a century ago.


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BENARNEWS- A U.S.-based human rights group called on Thai authorities Thursday to probe and prosecute an army officer implicated in the alleged death of a Muslim cleric at the hands of security forces in Thailand's restive Deep South in March 2008.
The case of the torture and killing of Yapa Kaseng, 56, an imam from Narathiwat province represents "a major test of the Thai government's commitment to justice for military abuses" that have occurred in Thailand southern border region, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a news release.
Sub-Lt. Sirikhet Wanitbamrung, the officer implicated in Yapa's death seven years ago, now faces the prospect of being disciplined militarily or prosecuted after the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) recommended on Sept. 21 that the army and criminal prosecutors take legal action against him, according to reports in local newspapers.
"Imam Yapa's death is a test case for the Thai authorities and army on whether they are willing to punish abusive troops for serious human rights violations," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.
"No more cover-up and delay – the new commission findings demand an immediate response."
The officer, who is with the 39th Special Taskforce Unit stationed at Wat Suan Tham, in Narathiwat's Rueso district, is accused of beating Yapa to death after soldiers detained him on March 20, 2008, over his alleged involvement in the Deep South insurgency, the Bangkok Post reported.
The case was tried at a provincial court later that year, the paper said. In December 2008, the court found that soldiers had tortured and killed the cleric over the course of two days of interrogation at a local military camp, according to the Post.
But no one has been prosecuted or convicted in the case. During the inquest, a doctor at the hospital in Rueso district testified that an autopsy on Yapa's corpse had revealed fractured ribs, other broken bones and punctured lungs, the paper reported.
Counter-productive measures: HRW
Narathiwat, along with Pattani and Yala provinces and four districts in Songkhla province, comprise the predominantly Muslim and Malay-speaking region known as the Deep South, where there is a heavy military presence. A separatist insurgency waged by different armed groups and factions has wracked the region for years, claiming at least 6,000 lives since 2004.
This week, five more people were the victims of ongoing violence there, despite recent efforts by the Thai government and rebel groups to reopen formal peace talks. They were killed in a series of shootings in Narathiwat and Yala, including in Imam Yapa's home district of Rueso.
The Yapa case exposes a broader problem with Thailand's counter-insurgency operations in the south, Human Rights Watch said. According to the rights watchdog, many former detainees in the Deep South reported to HRW that their interrogators – soldiers in uniform or civilian clothes – had tortured them.
"As a priority, the Thai government needs to overhaul the counterinsurgency strategy that encourages abuses and then fails to provide effective redress for victims," said Adams, of HRW.
"By relying on repressive measures to battle rebel forces, the Thai authorities have created a fertile ground for the insurgency to expand, precisely the opposite of what they intended."
Newspaper speaks out on case
The Nation, a Thai English-language newspaper, echoed this point in an editorial published on Sunday.
"Many feared that the killing of Islamic leaders, be it Imam Yapa or others who have been shot dead by government or pro-government death squads, would radicalize the insurgents, who have over the past 11 years pretty much kept their campaign of violence against the state to the Malay-speaking region," The Nation opined.
Pointing to the case's slow pace, the paper's editorial board questioned the seriousness of Thai authorities in delivering justice to Yapa's family.
"Seven years later, the NACC has got around to making a recommendation as to what legal action should be taken. The fact it took this long to come to this point reflects poorly on
Thailand's justice system, which this and previous governments consistently vowed to improve and made accessible to all parties and stakeholders," the editorial said.
"But from the look of how the state treats this and other similar cases, such promises appear to be little more than lip service."  


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BENARNEWS- A group of Thai cyclists got a warm welcome in Thailand's southernmost provinces this week as they wrapped up a grueling 2,674-kilometer ride to raise money for a vocational school in the troubled Deep South region and promote national unity.
Thirty-four cyclists riding under the project name Pun Ruamjai Thai('Cycle for Thai Unity'), rolled into the southern border district of Betong, in Yala Province, on October 1, 38 days after departing Mae Sai District in northernmost Chiang Rai.
The ride had multiple objectives, including helping people across Thailand learn more the Deep South, a predominantly Muslim region where violence linked to a separatist insurgency has claimed more than 6,000 lives in the past decade.
"All too often people in other parts of the country only hear negative news about the situation in the three southernmost border provinces through the media," Col. Chatchai Kuekit told BenarNews a few days earlier, in Ranode District of Songkhla Province.
Chatchai, a participant and organizer of the tour, is also a spokesman with the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 in Yala, the Thai military command with responsibility for the Deep South.
"We want to get truth out about the real situation there, directly from one Thai to another -- without having to pass through the media," he explained.
Carefully selected
To achieve this, people were picked to take part in the journey not for their cycling abilities, but for other skills such as public speaking. The group was also carefully selected on a geographical basis to ensure all regions of the country were equally represented.
After each day's ride, tired participants took to the stage to talk to local people and share their experiences for a few hours before bivouacking, typically in an army base or other government installation.
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Riders Col Chatchai Keukit (purple) and Mahamazulkiflee Sni (yellow) are pictured at the Burapachan Arts and Cultural Center in Ranode, Songkhla. [BenarNews]
Mahamazulkiflee Sni, 21, a native of Bajoh District in Narathiwat, was one of four people on the ride who graduated from the royally-sponsored Pradabos Foundation vocational training program in Yala's provincial capital district.
"The Pradabos Foundation was initially set up by HM The King 40 years ago in Samut Prakan province [outside Bangkok], but six years ago they opened a center in the southern border provinces to help young men like myself, who had limited access to formal education, gain vocational skills and find work," he said.
The foundation offers 100,000-baht scholarships for qualified candidates, men aged from 18 to 25, to take part in a one-year training program in automobile, motorbike and agricultural equipment repair.
"After I learned about the project I was really motivated to take part, even though I didn't even know how to ride a bicycle," Mahamazulkiflee said.
Fundraising associated with the ride was conducted by the Foundation and the final amount was not yet known, Chatchai told BenarNews.
Arduous
During their journey, the cyclists collected small soil samples from the flagpole area at each of the 27 schools they visited. These were used in the planting of nine royal rajapreuk trees at a school in Betong.
They also collected postcards at each stop to try and establish pen-pal relationships between Thais living in other parts of the country with their compatriots in the Deep South.
Six of the original 40 riders dropped out in Songkhla, including five in the city of Hat Yai, the gateway to the Thai Deep South.
"We began to feel under a lot of stress after reaching the 2,000 kilometer mark; they were getting much more strict with us," said north Thailand representative Suni Chaiyakun, who operates an independent tour guide business in Wianpapao District of Chiang Rai.
Chatchai confirmed by telephone that only riders who "adhered with the rules" made it all the way to the final destination, the border checkpoint with Malaysia outside Betong Town.
The remaining 34 rolled on schedule into remote Betong Town, where they were greeted by scores of flag-waving Thais, both Muslim and Buddhist.
The final leg of the journey was also the most arduous, as the ride from Yala Town to Betong is hundreds of miles of curving, hilly roadsides punctuated by heavily fortified road checkpoints in district like Bannang Sata, which had the highest incidence of insurgency-related incidents in 2014.
Uman Jehsoo, a native of Betong who took part in the ride, told BenarNews after the finish, "I am proud to have been chosen to represent the people of Betong and the entire Deep South region in this activity to support the work of the Pradabos Foundation here in the southern border provinces.
Throughout the entire 2,674-kilometer journey we enjoyed an experience of friendship, caring and great support, as shown by all the cards and letters collected by the organizers along the way," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Agence France-Presse on Tuesday named Thai journalist Mutita Chuachang the winner of its 2015 Kate Webb Prize for her coverage of royal defamation cases in Thailand, which few local reporters dare touch.
The prize, named after an AFP war correspondent, honors reporters who excel under difficult conditions while covering stories in Asia, the French news agency said in a statement.
Mutita, a 33-year-old reporter for Prachatai, an online news operation that publishes in Thai and English, was named this year's winner "for her powerful and persistent reporting" on lese majeste cases, it said.
"We are recognizing Mutita for her efforts to present a balanced, in-depth coverage of sensitive topics in Thailand, which can be difficult in an extremely dynamic political environment," AFP Asia-Pacific Director Philippe Massonnet said.
The award carries 3,000 euros (U.S. $3,400) in prize money, the agency said.
Court cases emanating from the lese-majeste law, enshrined in Article 112 of the kingdom's criminal code, have proliferated under Thailand's 16-month-old military government. People convicted of defaming any of the royals can be sent to jail for 15 years per count.
"Cases are often cloaked in secrecy with many defendants tried in military courts – without the right to appeal – since the arch-royalist Thai junta seized power in 2014," AFP said.
"The offense also carries widespread social opprobrium in the sharply hierarchical society where reverence to the monarchy – led by 87-year old King Bhumibol Adulyadej – is a given."
'Interesting and sincere views'
A graduate of Bangkok's Thammasat University, Mutita has been covering royal defamation cases since 2008, according to Prachatai, which on Tuesday reported the news of her award.
"I've become interested in the cases related to Article 112 because it's a crucial issue of Thai politics. I found that the mainstream [Thai] media reported about this stuff like a crime story. They don't give much importance and even prejudge the suspects," Mutita told Prachatai.
"Because I didn't prejudge them, I got lots of interesting and sincere views from them and also found weaknesses in the Thai justice system. The cases multiplied over time. It clearly shows that this country has problems with freedom of expression."
According to research done by the Paris-based Worldwide Human Rights Movement (FIDH), in the year after the junta took power on May 22, 2014, at least 47 people were detained under Article 112.
"Eighteen people have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from one to 50 years, for a combined total of 159 years – an average of eight years and eight months each. In most cases, defendants saw their sentences halved because they pleaded guilty to the charges," FIDH reported on May 20, 2015.
AFP was to present the award at a ceremony in Bangkok next month, according to Prachatai.


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