Rape Case Rohingya Denied Access to Files, Evidence by Phang Nga Police

Khao Lak Police Station: the women have been refused their case file Photo by phuketwan.com

By Chutima Sidasathin and Alan Morison

Monday, June 24, 2013

PHUKET: A family refuge north of Phuket was being turned into a fortress today as the women and children inside faced death threats and local police appeared unwilling to expose the involvement of officers in people-trafficking.

A direct death threat was made at the weekend by a Thai man at the gates of the family refuge in the popular tourist destination of Khao Lak, where 61 Rohingya women and children are being housed.

The female director of the refuge has been issued with a gun and security cameras now record all activities around the perimeter of the shelter.

In trying to pursue allegations of abduction and rape, three women and two children and the shelter staff supporting them were today being given the run-around by police throughout the province of Phang Nga.

With people-trafficking in Thailand being highlighted in a US Trafficking in Persons report last week, one local officer has been accused of driving a vehicle used by traffickers to transport the Rohingya women and children, leading to the rape of one woman.

A Phuketwan reporter and four police accompanied three of the women and a child at the weekend on a replay of their abduction to the places where they were held prisoner over a period of days.

Destinations they visited included the home of a woman believed to be related to the policeman and the house on remote Yeepon island where the woman says she was raped on three successive nights.

The women made depositions at Khao Lak Police Station describing the alleged abduction and rape in detail.

But today, the Deputy Commander of Police in Phang Nga told the women at the centre that the case will have to be pursued at Kuraburi Police Station, further north.

When a representative from the shelter went to Khao Lak Police Station and asked for the depositions file so that the case could be pursued at Kuraburi Police Station, officers at Khao Lak refused to hand the file over.

A known Rohingya trafficker has been accused of the rape and is being held in Takuapa Prison on a charge of being an illegal immigrant.

The women absconded from the family centre on the promise by a well-known local trafficker that they would be reunited with families in Malaysia.

They recognised the driver of the vehicle when they first went to Khao Lak Police Station to report the rape - and saw the man there, in police uniform.

The case threatens to finally expose the people-trafficking that has become a local industry along the Andaman coast north of Phuket with the knowledge and probable involvement of police and Thailand's military.

Amnesty International's T. Kumar to Speak at the Islamic Society of North America's Convention

Amnesty International's T. Kumar to Speak at the Islamic Society of North America's Convention Advocacy Director T. Kumar to Speak on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) Contact: Carolyn Lang, clang@aiusa.org, 202-675-8759 /EINPresswire.com/ (Washington, D.C.) -- Amnesty International Advocacy Director T. Kumar will address the Islamic Society of North America's 49th Annual Convention "One Nation Under God: Striving for the Common Good," in regards to the minority community of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) on Saturday, September 1, at 11:30 am at the Washington DC Convention Center.

American Buddhists Promote 969 Movement With Website

Irrawaddy News: July 9, 2013 A group of American Buddhists has launched an English-language website promoting the 969 movement, in response to negative media surrounding the ultra-nationalist Buddhist campaign in Burma. The website aims to dispel “myths” about the movement, with a letter from nationalist monk Wirathu to a Time magazine reporter whose article about 969 was banned in Burma. “We’re not officially endorsed by Ven Wirathu at this time but will send a delegation to his monastery soon,” a spokesperson for the site said via email, adding that the group would create a nonprofit to coordinate “969 activities worldwide in response to religious oppression.”

Rohingya Activist Nominated for Human Rights Award

PHR congratulates Zaw Min Htut, a Burmese Rohingya activist, on his nomination for the 2011 US State Department Human Rights Defenders Award . Zaw Min Htut has been working for Rohingyas’ rights through the Burmese Rohingya Association of Japan since he fled Burma in 1998. Prior to that he was a student activist in Burma, and was detained for his participation in protests in 1996. In Japan, Zaw Min Htut has organized protests at the Burmese embassy and has written books on the history of Rohingya.

The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Search This Blog