Thailand: Investigate Krue Se Mosque Raid

Thailand: Investigate Krue Se Mosque Raid
27 Apr 2006 22:03:10 GMT

Source: Human Rights Watch

Background CRISIS PROFILE-Why is there conflict in Thailand?


(New York, April 28, 2006) ? Two years after the Thai army raid on Krue Se
mosque in Pattani, which left 32 insurgents and three Thai security
officers dead, the government has yet to initiate criminal investigations
into the events, Human Rights Watch said today. An independent judicial
inquiry into the events at Krue Se and 10 other armed clashes the same day
is necessary to provide justice for the victims of human rights abuses,
Human Rights Watch said. This would also address the wider problem of
impunity for government forces in the south, and function as a
confidence-building measure for the Muslim community.

"The Krue Se raid stands as testament to the failure of Thailand's leaders
to make justice a priority in the south," said Brad Adams, Asia director at
Human Rights Watch. "The authorities have ignored the recommendation of the
fact-finding commission to start judicial proceedings against those
responsible."

On April 28, 2004 Islamic insurgents launched well-planned and almost
simultaneous pre-dawn attacks on 11 government locations and security
checkpoints in Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces in southern Thailand.
Thai authorities reported that 107 insurgents and five members of the
security forces had been killed. These were the bloodiest clashes since a
new wave of separatist insurgency was launched in Thailand's
Muslim-dominated region in January 2004.

Viewers in Thailand and abroad watched a live broadcast from Tambon
Tanyongluloh in Pattani province, where assailants attacked a police and
military checkpoint and then seized Krue Se mosque. The army and police
surrounded the mosque and made various attempts to enter it, but were met
with gunfire. Tear gas was used to no avail. Finally, after a nine-hour
siege, the army launched a final attack. All insurgents inside the mosque
were killed.

A commission appointed by the government found that the violence was
started by the insurgents, but that security officials acting under the
orders of Gen. Pallop Pinmanee had used excessive force and heavy weapons
disproportionate to the threat posed by the assailants. The commission,
citing United Nations standards for the use of force and firearms,
concluded that, "Because the deaths of the insurgents were inflicted by
actions of state officials who claimed they were fulfilling their official
duties, the process of verifying this must be conducted through the justice
system."

Human Rights Watch has obtained an unabridged copy of the July 2004
"Independent Commission of Enquiry into Facts about the Krue Se Mosque
Case" ? only a censored version of the report had been released to the
public. The report names the responsible military and police officials at
the scene. In addition to the above, it concluded that:
All those killed in the mosque were insurgents and none were "innocent".
The security officials were faced with a highly dangerous and volatile
situation, but were not properly trained or prepared to handle such an
incident.
The insurgents were not as heavily armed as the military claimed.
The crowd of civilians that gathered near the standoff at the mosque did
not pose a threat to security officials.
Gen. Pallop had ignored a directive from Chavalit to resolve the situation
by surrounding the mosque and entering into negotiations.
The commission noted that "the tactic of laying siege to the mosque,
surrounding it with security forces, in tandem with the use of negotiation
with the assailants, could have ultimately led to their surrender."

After the raid, Gen. Pallop was ordered by Deputy Prime Minister
Yongchaiyudh to leave the south immediately, for disobeying orders not to
storm the mosque. He subsequently tendered his resignation, but Chavalit
and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra rejected the offer. Gen. Pallop
remains on active duty as the Deputy Commander of the International
Security Operations Command. No military or police official has been
disciplined or prosecuted for the events at Krue Se or elsewhere on April
28, 2004.

"The report is a serious and balanced description of events, though because
of political pressure it was overly cautious in determining individual
responsibility for abuses," said Adams. "The report called for justice to
be done to help repair relations with the local population. This has not
happened." The report offered no opinion about the veracity of widespread
allegations that security forces executed some insurgents who had survived
the final government assault on the mosque. Human Rights Watch said it is
particularly important that an independent judicial inquiry address this
issue.

When the commission's report was released, the prime minister said mistakes
needed to be used as "a lesson" to avoid making the same mistakes again.
"The Krue Se incident could be taken as a lesson in training our officials
to look for more peaceful methods," Thaksin said. Yet he also said he would
not blame officials in charge under such tense circumstances, sending a
signal that officials should not undertake serious investigations. Lessons
were not learned quickly enough. On October 25, 2004, Thai security forces
brutally cracked down on demonstrators in Tak Bai district, Narathiwat
province. Seven protesters were shot dead, and at least 78 others were
suffocated or crushed to death as they were being detained and transferred
to detention facilities.

Human Rights Watch also pointed out that although there were 11 armed
clashes in three provinces that day, the Thai government has only appointed
a commission to investigate the Krue Se incident. There have been no
investigations into the scores of deaths in the other 10 cases, to
establish the responsibility of the insurgents or the government for
possible abuses.

Lawyers for relatives of the insurgents told Human Rights Watch that
prosecutors have used delaying tactics to avoid serious investigations or
bringing charges against military and other officials. Soldiers and police
officers summoned in civil suits have not appeared, claiming that they had
to work on other assignments or had been relocated to other provinces.
Public prosecutors have delayed proceedings, using excuses such as not
having documents ready.

In an attempt at reconciliation, the government has offered compensation to
the families of all who died at Krue Se, including the insurgents. Human
Rights Watch commended this move, but pointed out that compensation was not
a substitute for serious investigations and appropriate prosecutions. Many
state officials ? in Bangkok and in the southern border provinces ? have
suggested to Human Rights Watch that financial compensation is sufficient.

"If crimes have been committed, financial compensation alone does not equal
justice," said Adams. "There is now a widespread frustration among Muslim
communities in southern Thailand that the security forces can operate with
impunity and that the authorities try to buy their way out of legal
accountability."

To avoid a repetition of the events at Krue Se, Human Rights Watch called
on the Thai government to ensure proper adherence to and training in the
U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement
Officials ? which require, whenever the use of force is unavoidable, that
law enforcement officials act in proportion to the seriousness of the
offense with an objective to minimize damage and injury.

After the Krue Se incident, in 2004 the Thai National Security Council
published a list of measures it said should be taken to address the
resentment in the south against injustice and human rights abuses by Thai
authorities. They conceded that government abuses were among the factors
fueling an increasingly brutal insurgency in the southern border provinces.
Militants have carried out a string of bombings, the beheading of
Buddhists, attacks on teachers and civil servants and arson of schools.

Among the measures were:
State officials must endeavor in any way they can to build trust among the
locals and officials, and among the locals themselves. They should
encourage people from different religions to live together in peace. They
should revamp the bureaucratic system in the region and include mechanisms
to facilitate the understanding of the differences in ideas, religion and
culture in the area.
The state must ensure that it will provide security as well as justice for
the people in the area.
In particular, state officials must treat suspects or anyone connected with
criminal proceedings in a fair and transparent manner.
Officials who are problematic must be removed or transferred.
The state must give clear progress reports to the public on cases that are
related to the problems in the south, such as that of lawyer Somchai
Neelapaijit.
Victims from the violence, be they state officials or local citizens, must
be compensated by the state.
"The Thai National Security Council's proposals are very sensible," said
Adams. "It is time for them to be implemented."


HRW news

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