Thailand Should Not Forget the Slaughter at Tak Bai, 10 Years Ago Today

BANGKOK: The Thai government has yet to bring to justice police and military personnel responsible for the deaths of scores of protesters in Tak Bai in southern Thailand in 2004, Human Rights Watch said today.

On October 25, 2004, army and police units fired on ethnic Malay Muslim protesters in the Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province, killing seven. Another 78 protesters suffocated or were crushed to death while being transported to an army camp in Pattani province.



The military detained more than 1200 people for several days without appropriate medical attention, and a number of severely injured protesters lost their limbs. In August 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that security personnel were blameless because they had only been performing their duties.

''Thailand's failure to prosecute security personnel responsible for the Tak Bai killings is a glaring injustice that brings the police, military, and courts into disrepute,'' said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. ''The Thai authorities' failure to deliver justice to southern Muslims has fueled conditions for the insurgency in the deep south.''
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