Amnesty International Report 1997 - Thailand

Six suspected drug traffickers were reportedly extrajudically executed by police. One execution was carried out, the first in nine years. Ten death sentences were believed to have been imposed and some 100 people were believed to remain under sentence of death at the end of the year. Ten thousand Mon refugees living in Thai camps were forcibly repatriated to Myanmar. Burmese asylum-seekers continued to be arrested for "illegal immigration" and detained in harsh conditions.

In September, amid widespread allegations of corruption and economic mismanagement in the six-party coalition government, Banharn Silpa-archa resigned as Prime Minister and called elections for 17 November. The New Aspiration Party (NAP), won 125 parliamentary seats and its leader, Chaowalit Yongchaiyudh, formed a six-party coalition government.

In October, Thailand acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

In February, the Deputy Director General of the Corrections Department announced that leg-irons would no longer be used in the maximum security Bang Kwang Prison in Nonthaburi. In March, after the publication of the US Government's annual human rights report on Thailand, the government publicly acknowledged that police brutality existed and stated that police officers found guilty of torturing or executing suspected criminals should be dismissed.

Also in March, two staff members of Amnesty International were detained for almost two hours by police in Bangkok in connection with their participation in a press conference on the organization's human rights concerns in China.

In November, six suspected drug traffickers were shot dead in Suphan Buri province after they had given themselves up to the police. The police claimed to have fired in self-defence when attacked by the suspects, whose handcuffs had been removed so that they could indicate where weapons were hidden. After protests by human rights organizations and the victims' relatives, the Attorney General's office opened an investigation into the shootings.

Some 120 people under sentence of death had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment in June, under a royal pardon to mark the 50th anniversary of the reign of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The Royal Pardon did not include people convicted of drugs offences. Over a thousand people held for "illegal immigration", including some 750 Myanmar nationals, were released under the Royal Pardon, as was Surachai Sae Dan, a member of the Communist Party of Thailand, who had been convicted of murder and robbery in 1986.

In January, Prommas Leamsai, who had been convicted in the 1980s of murdering a policeman, was executed by firing-squad, the first execution to take place in nine years. Ten death sentences were believed to have been imposed during the year, and at the end of the year some 100 people were believed to be under sentence of death.

Some 10,000 Mon refugees who had been living in Thai camps were forcibly repatriated to Myanmar between December 1995 and May 1996. No international monitors were present.

Twenty-two Burmese asylum-seekers were arrested in May after a demonstration in front of the Myanmar Embassy. Most had been released by the end of the year.

Immigration officials and police continued to detain asylum-seekers and refugees from Myanmar and other countries in harsh conditions, including severe overcrowding and inadequate access to medical care. Detained asylum-seekers were not given an opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention as required by international standards. Burmese asylum-seekers convicted of "illegal immigration" were fined and imprisoned in immigration detention centres before being taken to the border between Thailand and Myanmar.

At least 5,000 Karen people and 20,000 Shan people from Myanmar fled to Thailand to escape forcible relocation by the Myanmar armed forces. The Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, a breakaway Karen faction allied to the Myanmar armed forces, attacked Karen camps inside the Thai border, killing at least one Thai civilian (see Myanmar entry). In August, Thai Forestry officials shot dead three Karen refugees from Myanmar near Mae La refugee camp, although the circumstances remain unclear.

In January, Amnesty International condemned the execution of Prommas Leamsai. In the same month, the organization published a report, Thailand: Two Burmese asylum-seekers still detained (see Amnesty International Report 1996). In September, the organization met a Thai Government delegation in London to discuss the protection of human rights in Thailand. In October and November, Amnesty International appealed to the authorities not to forcibly return asylum-seekers to Myanmar, where they faced serious human rights violations.