Thai military faces questions over death of suspect in southern insurgency

 

Security investigate the checkpoint that was attacked by insurgents at Pattani, southern Thailand, July 24, 2019. REUTERS/Surpan Bonthanom

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Rights activists and relatives urged Thailand on Monday to investigate the death of an insurgent suspect who went into a coma after interrogation at an army camp in the southeast Asian nation's largely Malay-Muslim south.

 

Hundreds of people turned out for the funeral of Abdulloh Esormusor, 34, in Pattani, one of three provinces where violence has killed nearly 7,000 people since 2004 as insurgents demand greater autonomy from largely BuddhistThailand.

 

The military has said it appointed an inquiry panel to investigate accusations of torture in the case, which has stoked widespread anger, but Abdulloh's family voiced doubt.

 

"There has been no progress in the inquiry so far and we want transparency about what happened," the dead man's cousin, Mohammatrahamat Mamu, told Reuters.

 

Abdulloh died on Sunday from severe pneumonia and septic shock, the Songlanagarind hospital where he was being treated said in a statement. He had been found unconscious with fluid on the brain on July 21, following the interrogation.

 

In a letter to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha this month, the family pleaded for justice and denied that Abdulloh had any links to insurgent groups, Mohammatrahamat added.

 

The Thai military have rejected allegations of torture and urged the public to wait for the result of the official inquiry.

 

"We conduct ourselves on the basis that we are all Thai people and we are not out to kill each other," Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the internal security operations command in southern Thailand, told Reuters.

 

Opposition parties have said they plan to ask the government to clarify the facts regarding Abdulloh's cause of death in parliament this week.

 

The case raised serious issues about rights violations in military detention, an official of New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

 

"The death of Abdulloh Esormusor is an important test case for the Thai government on whether it is willing and able to address serious rights violations in military detention," its senior Thai researcher, Sunai Phasuk, told Reuters.

 

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-08-26

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

8 minutes ago, webfact said:

The Thai military have rejected allegations of torture and urged the public to wait for the result of the official inquiry.

5555555

regards Worgeordie

The Thai military have rejected allegations of torture,

 

They would do wouldn't they?

Beware of reprisals over the death now... Let's hope if there are some they don't harm many people like the recent bomb attacks when he was beaten. These self departmentory investigations tend to find no blame on the department itself to the extent that would ease tensions and reprisals. They have had enough time to find out who did it, so just be aware of surroundings and suspicious characters. Just sayin'!

 

Did you do it?

 

No.

 

OK, next!

"We conduct ourselves on the basis that we are all Thai people and we are not out to kill each other,"

Gotta be one or the other, but not both

Guess he's never driven here, had electrical work done, eaten food grown here, etc etc

16 hours ago, webfact said:

The military has said it appointed an inquiry panel to investigate accusations of torture in the case,

only thing they did or will do is issue a statement to the press that they did something

The only thing the Thai Military have ever been really good at is rescuing people from floods and SLOP{ING SHOULDERS...………….Not me guv is the cry and  we are PERFECT ……..Yea really ?????

 

Un-accountable to anyone except their Generals ( Past and Present ) who will NEVER find fault in any event . 

Edited August 27, 20196 yr by Khun Paul

...and once again TV experts have the case closed without a single shred of evidence!!! Glad we have the experts to solve the problem!!

8 minutes ago, bizboi said:

...and once again TV experts have the case closed without a single shred of evidence!!! Glad we have the experts to solve the problem!!

Don't really need any expert to know that the military is culpable to the death by a simple logic called substantial precedent. The quick denial by General Richard Mille was the other big clue. 

18 hours ago, worgeordie said:

5555555

regards Worgeordie

Suicide !

The Thai military needs to be facing alot of questions. The more the better. For too long the people have accepted the nonsense of these incompetents. Both with the way they conduct the military and the way they govern the nation. Frankly, they are not needed at all for the latter, and barely needed for the former. 

21 hours ago, webfact said:

"We conduct ourselves on the basis that we are all Thai people and we are not out to kill each other,"

Except when it comes to military conscripts.

Cases of conscripts dying under unusual circumstances during military training seems "par for the course."