Revelations that at least one of the CIA videotapes which are alleged to show the waterboarding of suspected terrorist prisoners were shot in Thailand have led to an official letter of complaint to the US Embassy in Bangkok from the Alien Registration Division of the Department of Labour. 

The tape or tapes reportedly showed the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, after his capture in Pakistan in 2002 and his relocation to a secret CIA prison in Eastern Thailand.  Abu Zubaydah has variously been described as ‘a senior terrorist leader and a trusted associate of Osama bin Laden' by President Bush or ‘al-Qaeda's go-to guy for minor logistics such as travel for wives and children' according to Ron Suskind's book ‘The One Percent Doctrine', based on information reportedly from US intelligence sources.  Claims by the FBI's top Al-Qaeda analyst that Abu Zubaydah was ‘insane, certifiable, split personality' have been challenged by others.

The tapes of the waterboarding were reportedly kept at the US Embassy in Bangkok until a request from the CIA station head to destroy them in 2005, which was apparently acted on. 

The letter from the Alien Registration Division is reported to ask for the names of the CIA officials who carried out the waterboarding and any other acts of torture.  This is with a view to the prosecution of these officials under the Alien Occupations Act.

A spokesperson from the Department of Labour pointed out that torture is an integral component of police and national security work and as such is exclusively reserved for Thais.  ‘Foreigners can't expect to come to Thailand and just torture people,' said a Department spokesperson, ‘especially without a work permit.  If they want people tortured, they should ask the relevant Thai authorities to do it for them.'

When Prachatai took up the issue with the Special Interrogations Division of the National Police Office, an officer, requesting anonymity since he was not authorized to make official statements, said that there was no need for the CIA to conduct torture on Thai territory.  ‘We have fully developed torture facilities in Thailand and can guarantee a first-class service.'  He noted that waterboarding has long been part of the Thai security services' repertoire.  ‘In fact, we could probably teach the CIA a thing or two,' he added.

Further investigations revealed that a number of government agencies were involved in torture, each with their own methods and practices.  There was even some interagency rivalry in the field, with the Metropolitan Police, Provincial Police, Border Patrol Police and Special Branch each having their particular skills and competencies.  A similar situation was thought to exist among the armed forces, though some disputed whether the Rangers could be considered to be proper torturers.  ‘How can you call it torture when more than one half of their victims just end up dead?' asked one observer. 

Torture by the Provincial Police, for example, appears to be organized in a system of ‘centres of torture excellence'.  Court testimony, for example, has alleged that Police Lieutenant-Colonel Seubsak Pinsaeng, of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Provincial Police Station, headed a team of specialist torturers.  Cases where the torture of suspects was needed (other than the bog standard plastic bag over the head) would be referred to Pol Lt-Col Seubsak from police stations all over the province.  Ayutthaya Police Station was equipped with the necessary torture paraphernalia and its team were experienced in techniques of torture that left no marks on the prisoner's body, such as packing the victim's genitals in ice before applying electric shocks, so as to leave no burn marks.

Despite two court cases that recorded credible allegations of torture against Pol Lt-Col Seubsak a couple of years back, he is back in business, providing a valued service to all his fellow police officers whose clear-up rates need a bit of a boost.

The armed forces are thought to favour a more democratic approach where virtually every NCO is encouraged to incorporate torture into their normal suppression and intimidation activities.  A recent case in Pattani in December last year is typical of such activities, with allegations of beatings, exposure to cold and threats with violence.  Such a system, while broadly effective, is thought not to achieve the sophistication of the Provincial Police system.

The most recent exposure of numerous cases of torture by a Border Patrol Police unit has caused concern among the torture community.  While most torture is used for what are considered to be legitimate purposes - to extract false confessions, to terrorize minorities, or just to give the lads something to do of a Saturday night - the BPP unit used torture for personal gain.  ‘This just isn't on,' commented a well-informed observer.  ‘Thailand has an international reputation in torture.  This use of torture for self-enrichment just drags the name of torture into the mud.'