Deep South

25 Sep 2017
This year’s university initiation season has been inaugurated with the message that “touching someone else’s genitals can create love and unity.” Meanwhile, an anti-Islam monk has been disrobed for inciting violence against Muslims. Too much love at a Thai university   The beginning of the university year in Thailand is marked by reports of physical, mental and sexual abuse against freshman students during initiation activities.
10 Aug 2017
After an angry soldier shot at a Muslim student, a Vice President of Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Pattani campus, has called on the authorities to ensure the safety of the campus area while the leader of the student union has called for legal action against the shooter. On 9 August 2017, Bordin Waelateh, Vice President for Student Development, Pattani Campus, called on security officers in the restive Deep South to maintain campus areas as ‘safety zones’.
12 Jul 2017
The director of an influential Malay community radio station in the restive Deep South has passed away. At around 3 am on 11 July 2017, Waehama Waekuejik, director of Media Selatan, a local radio channel with a large following among grassroots villagers in the Deep South based in Pattani, passed away. Waehama had been battling colon cancer for the last three years. He played an important role in shaping Media Selatan, which is known for reporting on critical issues in the Deep South related to politics and violence in the region since its founding in 2008.
6 Jul 2017
The military has intimidated a human rights defender in the restive Deep South, ordering her not to post comments on Facebook about human rights violations. On 1 July 2017, six men believed to be military officers in plainclothes visited the shop of the family of Anchana Heemmina, president of Duay Jai, a local human rights advocacy group in the Deep South, according to the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF).
21 Jun 2017
Despite an earlier agreement, the military has not withdrawn its complaints against three human rights defenders who exposed torture in Thailand’s Deep South.   
16 May 2017
Unknown group of men has abducted a school director in the restive Deep South. At night on 14 May 2017, a group of men abducted Daho Ma-taworn, director of Ta-Deeka School of Tung Po Village in Saba Yoi District of Songkhla Province while he was on his way home. At around midnight, Daho called his wife and told her that a group of masked men put a gun against his head before blindfolding him and took him to an unknown location.
9 May 2017
Update: At least 60 people have been injured from the explosions at Big C department store and about 100 vehicles have been damaged. The first bomb exploded inside the department store while the second followed about 20 minutes later. According to the Bangkok Post, another suspicious object was found at the Diana department store in Muang district, though nothing dangerous was detected Twin bombs have exploded at the Big C department store in Pattani town, injuring about 40 people.
20 Apr 2017
If the Thai government wants its education reforms to succeed, it must collaborate with local religious institutions, an expert has argued. Yet Thailand’s new constitution deliberately eradicates the role of local religion in the country’s education system.
10 Apr 2017
Human rights activists are calling upon people to fight for gender equality and respond to serious violations of LGBT rights in Deep South.
3 Apr 2017
Civil society groups have urged an end to the culture of impunity after the latest summary killing in the restive Deep South while an insurgent group condemned the killing. Soldiers and paramilitary officers in Rueso District of Narathiwat on 29 March 2017 summarily killed Isma-ae Hama, 28, and Aseng Useng, 30.
10 Mar 2017
I took a taxi from Kuala Lumpur's bustling shopping centre at the Petronas Twin Towers in the heart of the city. It was taking me along one of the busy highways which cuts through the city to a tom yam restaurant. Thai food is very popular in Malaysia but what most people are unaware of is that most of the owners and workers of the thousands of tom yam restaurants across Malaysia are Patani Malays from across the border in Thailand's Patani region of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.
7 Mar 2017
The Thai military has dropped criminal defamation charges against three human rights defenders who exposed torture in Thailand’s Deep South. On 7 March 2017, Col Pramote Promin, Deputy Spokesperson for Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, said the military has withdrawn criminal defamation charges against Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Director of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF); Somchai Homla-or, Advisor to the CrCF; and Anchana Heemmina, President of the Duay Jai group.

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