About five military officers at 10.30 am on Thursday detained a land rights activist and active member of the Assembly of the Poor at his home in the Buriram Province, after a week of tension between the military and villagers over a land issue, according to the Assembly of the Poor.
Prom Jarana, 65-year-old land rights activist and active member of the Assembly of the Poor, a grassroots network which works to promote land rights, was taken from his home in Pakham District, northeastern Buriram Province by five military officers. The military did not inform him why he was arrested or where he would be detained.
According to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), Prom on Tuesday joined a delegation of the Assembly of the Poor to Bangkok. The delegation gathered at Thai Army headquarters to demand that the ruling junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), put an end to the ongoing forced evictions of villagers by army soldiers from six villages of Non Din Daeng District in Buriram. Also on Wednesday, Prom visited Kao Baat, one of the villages affected by the forced evictions in Buriram.
The Asian Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued a statement expressing “grave concern” over the arrest of Prom.
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