78 Muslim Protesters Died While in Custody, Thai Authorities Say

At least 78 Muslim protesters arrested in southern Thailand died, most from suffocation and dehydration, after they were crammed into sweltering military trucks and held for at least five hours, authorities said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has led a military crackdown on Muslim separatists in the south, acknowledged that some detainees had died but blamed the deaths on their fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

“There are some who died because they were fasting, and they were crammed in tight,” Thaksin said. “It’s a matter of their bodies becoming weak. Nobody did anything to them.”

The victims were among more than 1,300 protesters arrested during a violent demonstration Monday outside a police station in Narathiwat, one of Thailand’s southernmost provinces. The crowd was protesting the arrest of six men who allegedly supplied weapons to Islamic militants.

Pornthip Rojanasunan, a Justice Ministry forensics expert who has a reputation for independence, examined the bodies in Pattani, a city about 50 miles away in a neighboring province to where they had been trucked. She said that 80% had died from suffocation and others from dehydration. Some may have been gagged, she said, and two or three suffered broken necks.

Justice Ministry official Manit Suthaporn contended that fasting contributed to the deaths but acknowledged that the prisoners were kept for hours in the hot vehicles.

“They were in the trucks for five to six hours, and it was crowded,” said Manit, according to news agencies. “They might have been so crowded in the trucks that they suffocated, and because they were weak [from fasting] they died.”

The prime minister initially praised the security forces, but after the number of fatalities became public he said authorities had erred in the way they handled the prisoners.

“I regret the loss of lives in a way that should not have happened, due to suffocation,” he said today. “I will order a committee to be set up to investigate the situation.”

Muslim leaders and human rights advocates accused the government of mishandling the protest and said they feared that the deaths could lead to an escalation of violence.

“I am in shock,” Abdulraman Abdulsamad, chairman of the Islamic Council of Narathiwat, told Associated Press. “I cannot say what is going to happen, but I believe that hell will break out.”

In neighboring Malaysia, a predominantly Islamic country with close links to the Muslims of southern Thailand, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi expressed concern that the incident could lead to more bloodshed.

“We hope the government of Thailand will be able to manage this crisis so that it will not spread and inflame further violence,” Abdullah said.

Anti-government sentiment has simmered for decades in the three Muslim-dominated provinces of southern Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country. More than 400 people have died this year in escalating violence as the separatists have become better organized and the military has struck back.

Militants have staged numerous hit-and-run attacks, killing police officers, soldiers, Buddhist monks and government officials. In a single day in April, police and soldiers retaliated by killing 108 militants who simultaneously attacked a dozen police stations with swords and a few rifles. There were no wounded.

Monday’s demonstration outside the police station turned ugly as the protesters hurled rocks and police and soldiers fired tear gas and water cannons at the crowd. Initially, six protesters were reported killed in the violence.

Witnesses said male detainees were stripped of their shirts and, with their hands tied behind their backs, were forced to slither across the ground to the waiting trucks. According to news agency reports, some were clubbed as they crawled.