EDITORIAL BANGKOK POST: Impunity fuels South strife

When the government told the family of Abdulloh Esormusor — a suspected insurgent who died while in military detention — that they would receive compensation if their son was innocent, a terribly wrong message was sent.

Abdulloh was arrested on July 20 at his home in Pattani’s Sai Buri district and subsequently sent to Ingkayutthaborihan military camp for interrogation where he was found unconscious in a toilet early the following day. When he was admitted to Songkhanagarind Hospital in Songkhla, doctors said the 34-year-old had suffered a severe cerebral oedema, eventually resulting in his death on Aug 25. However, the cause of the brain swelling, which can be caused by oxygen deprivation, among other things remains unknown. According to military reports, Abdulloh was physically fit when he was taken to the detention centre.

Suspicions have mounted in the absence of evidence, especially closed-circuit TV footage which could have shown what happened that fateful night. Camp officials have said security cameras installed at the detention centre were “not functional” as the building was new and the contractor that installed the CCTV system had yet to hand over control to the army.

Abdulloh’s widow, who doesn’t believe the claims made by authorities, has turned to the opposition for assistance while human right advocates pile on the pressure for a probe to be conducted by independent groups.

On Aug 27, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, in a bid to appease critics over the suspicious death, insisted the government would pay compensation for Abdulloh’s death if proof is found that he was innocent. But how could Abdulloh defend himself? No lawyer or legal assistance was rendered to him during his interrogation.

Besides, compensation is one thing, justice is another.

What’s completely missing from the Deputy Prime Minister Prawit’s statements is a commitment to a fair probe of Abdulloh’s death. The government, while insisting that he was not beaten as there were no marks visible on his body, has remained silent about activists’ calls for an investigation by independent groups.

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It’s no secret that torture in the deep South is real.

Abdulloh’s widow said her husband “wasn’t the first injured, disabled or dead person to be taken out of Ingkhayutthaborihan military camp”. That’s the truth.

Another truth is that the army and other state authorities have adopted several tactics to silence critics and those who expose the reality of state torture. In 2017, the army slapped a lawsuit against three civil rights activists, including Anchana Heemmina, a human rights lawyer, for releasing a report about allegations of torture by security forces in the southernmost provinces.

In another blatant case, human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit, before his abduction by police in 2004 and subsequent torture, helped Muslim suspects in the southern provinces who complained about torture.

Instead of talking about conditional compensation, Gen Prawit and the government must realise they owe society an answer about what really happened. The government is obliged to guarantee a fact-finding probe, or even better, an independent investigation.

Even if Abdulloh was an insurgent, he still deserved a fair trial. The state should not have deprived him of his right to defend himself under the judicial process.

If he was innocent, compensation is not enough. Those responsible for his death must be punished. A culture of impunity is only fuelling the violence in this troubled region.