Call for students to be freed in South

It also urged that the students be freed unless they are formally charged.

The activists, who are from a network of ethnic Malay Muslim university students, were forced to give DNA samples and taken into military custody, HRW said. The military authorities have provided no explanation for the students’ detention or said when they would be released, it said.

HRW’s Asia director Brad Adams said arbitrary arrests, secret detention, and unaccountable officials are “a recipe for human rights abuses”. 

“The use of martial law to detain student activists shows how out of control the Thai military authorities have become.

“Violent insurgency is no excuse for the Thai military to resort to summary and abusive measures against the Malay Muslim population,” Adams said. “It’s very worrying that soldiers continue to arrest and detain anyone they want.”

Meanwhile, 30 Muslim students at Ramkhamhaeng University called for lifting of martial law in the three southern border provinces hit by insurgency related violence.

During their gathering at the university, the group read their statement, blaming the martial law for increased human right violations in the restive region. They also cited the latest raid by the military as an example. 

Muhammad Saufir Asae, a leader of the group called Permas, also called for immediate release of the students being held after the incident. He said martial law in the three provinces was a cause for the unending violence.

Insurgency-related violence continued in the deep South yesterday. Two roadside bombs were detonated separately in Narathiwat’s Jor Ai Rong and Chanae district but didn’t result to any casualty.

The first bomb, planted in a 40kg cooking cylinder and detonated by a cell-phone, took place at 7.30am near a decorative arch on Ban Nam Won rural road in Tambon Chang Pheuk of Chanae district. As no patrolling officers nor people passing the spot at that time, Col Ekawut Khongkhakhet, commander of the 46th paramilitary ranger regiment, suspected the culprit aimed to create fear rather than harm anyone. The bomb scene was reportedly only one kilometre from the venue to host a social gathering of 15 Islamic religious schools in which Thais security officers and administrative officials would attend.

The second bomb, in a 20kg cooking cylinder and put near a power pole, took place at 10.30 am in Tambon Juap of Jor Ai Rong. It targeted a team of paramilitary rangers of a pick-up truck guarding soldiers repairing a road in Ban Lubohyoh Moo 7 and passing the spot. Police believed the blast, which slightly damaged the truck, was carried out by insurgents in attempt to create daily violence.

In Pattani, two Army Rangers were injured on Friday night when an unknown number of assailants fired assault rifles at their pickup carrying eight troops, police said yesterday. The rangers were on their way back to their camp after sending an ill villager to Yarang Hospital. The assailants fired from a roadside wood area.