An ethnic Malay Muslim human rights activist has been arbitrarily detained in the conflict-ridden southern border region of Thailand under the government’s antiquated 1914 Martial Law Act.
Burhan Buraheng was arrested from his home on August 1st and transferred to a military camp. He hasn’t been charged with a crime and has been refused access to a lawyer or any other safeguards against mistreatment.
“The Thai authorities’ arrest of a well-known rights activist without any apparent basis sets off alarm bells given the countless reports of mistreatment by the military in the deep south,” said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government should immediately remove Burhan from military custody, give his lawyer and family access, and release him unless he is credibly charged.”
In the south of Thailand, where separatists and the Thai military wage brutal armed conflict with each other, the Martial Law Act has long been used to violate the basic human rights of detainees as well as grant vast immunities for military officials to commit all kinds of abuses.
Under that law, the Thai military can hold individuals without charge for up to seven days in informal locations. The 2005 Emergency Decree on Public Administration in State of Emergency allows for the military to extend arbitrary detention for another 30 and can be renewed as many times as they want, making indefinite detention without charge a simple rubberstamp for officials.
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