The family of an insurgent suspect recently detained in the restive Deep South has alleged that the suspect might have suffered ill treatment in military custody.
According to the Federation of Patani Students and Youth (PerMas), on 31 December 2015, security officers from an unidentified unit seized Abdul-rohim Roya from his house in Ra-ngae District of the Deep South province of Narathiwat.
After being taken to a local military base, Abdul-rohim was transferred to Ingkayut Borihan Military Base in Pattani and has been held there since.
The family of the suspect reported that the authorities told them that Abdul-rohim was summoned only for a discussion. However, on the fourth day of his detention, the authorities reportedly asked the family to convince the suspect to confess to an explosives attack targeting military officers and teachers which took place on 30 December 2015 in Mueang District of Narathiwat.
The officers and teachers were unharmed in the attack.
The family of the suspect reported that on the third day of his detention, Abdul-rohim said that he was taken to a room that was colder than other detention facilities where he was previously detained.
The family added that the suspect seemed frightened while they visited him at the military base under close monitoring by officials.
At the same military base on 4 December 2015, Abdullayib Dolah, 42, a suspect in the assassination of a Muslim cleric in Pattani Province, died in custody.
On 15 December 2015, Dr Tanarat Boonriong, Director of Songklanagarind Hospital in Hat Yai District of southern Songkhla Province, told the media at a press briefing held jointly with the military that the body had sustained no injuries and that there was no evidence that he was physically harmed.
Kitisak Sripong, another physician, however, said that the autopsy was not complete since the family of the deceased did not permit physicians to perform an internal post-mortem examination of the body.
Despite the authorities’ findings, Kuro-samo Tuwaeboesa, Abdullayib’s wife, maintains that her husband died from ‘unnatural’ causes and suspected that her late husband might have died from torture.
