An unidentified driver of Niphon Promphan, secretary of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is seen in a car after being attacked by supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra the Interior Ministry after they stormed it on April 12, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. - Photo by 
Getty Images
Getty Images
Red-shirted anti-government protesters and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra pull Niphon Promphan, secretary of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, center, out of his car after attacking him at Interior Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, April 12, 2009.
Supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attack the car of Niphon Promphan, secretary of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, at the Interior Ministry after they stormed it on April 12, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.
BANGKOK - 13 April 2009
A supporter of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra waves the national flag in front of a burning bus near the Government House in Bangkok April 13, 2009. Thai troops fired at crowds of anti-government protesters in central Bangkok on Monday and demonstrators fought back with firebombs and rocks, propelling Thailand deeper into political crisis.- Photo by Reuters Pictures
A supporter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra waves a national flag in front of a torched bus during a protest in Bangkok April 13, 2009. - Photo by Reuters Pictures
Members of the Thai military take position as they try to clear supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during a protest - Photo by Getty Images
Getty Images
A girl poses with soldiers in Bangkok April 13, 2009. Thai troops fired at crowds of anti-government protesters in central Bangkok on Monday and demonstrators fought back with firebombs and rocks, propelling Thailand deeper into political crisis. - Photo by Reuters Pictures
A Buddhist monk talks to a soldier keeping watch on supporters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra at the royal plaza in Bangkok April 13, 2009. - Photo by Reuters Pictures
KRUE SE MOSQUE (Masjid Kerisik) - 28 April 2004
Krue Se Mosque Tragedy
"Berpuluh orang kita mati tapi seorang askar pun tak masuk penjara. Kerajaan tukar ganti tapi mana ada depa ingat susah kita (Scores of our people have died but not even one soldier has been jailed. The government has changed hands but they have no consideration for our plight)," he said, recalling the incident of Oct 25 2004, during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which happened not far from his shop.
Then, hundreds of Muslim men and women had gathered to protest in front of the Tak Bai police station to demand the release of detained relatives and friends.
Soldiers and policemen, inexperienced in handling large crowds, shot dead five people and arrested hundreds of others, stacking them up one on top of another in the back of military trucks, an action which drew international criticism. Click for full article
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KRUE SE MOSQUE (Masjid Kerisik) - 28 April 2004
Krue Se Mosque Tragedy
By D. Arul Rajoo
BANGKOK, April 28 (Bernama) -- A delay in bringing to court military officers involved in the Krue Se Mosque tragedy four years ago, and similar delays in other investigations into military abuses in the restive Southern Thai is denying justice to the victims, a prominent human rights proponent said Monday.
Speaking on the anniversary of the Krue Se incident where 32 people were shot dead inside the 300 year-old mosque in Pattani, Angkhana Neelaphaijit said although an inquest found that three army officers were responsible for the deaths, the prosecutors had yet to charge any of them.
"It has been more than a year but the prosecution has yet to bring the case to court. I told them that justice delayed is justice denied," she said in an interview here today on the incident which further escalated the violence in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat where more than 3,000 people have died since January, 2004.
Angkhana, the chairman of the Bangkok-based Working Group on Justice for Peace, said although family members of the victims could bring the case to the court themselves, they were too poor or afraid of the authorities.
One of the three officers is General Pallop Pinmanee, the then-deputy director-general of the Internal Security Operations Command who ordered military forces to storm the mosque in a tense stand-off with 32 suspected insurgents hiding inside, but had maintained that he had no other choice at that time.
On April 28, 2004, more than 100 militants carried out attacks against a dozen police outposts across Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces. According to official statement, 107 insurgents and five security personnel were killed in the bloodiest clashes since separatists resumed their campaign for independence in January, the same year.
Angkhana, whose husband and top human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit mysteriously disappeared on March 12, 2004, said similar delays were occuring in other cases, including the killing of the entire Sabayoi Youth football team on the same day.
"In court, we heard that most of them had gunshot wounds on the back and head. We asked the court to speed up the cases but many police witnesses are delaying it...it has been postponed many times as they (police) say they have other things to do," she said.
Angkhana said whenever there was a case involving police or military, the investigations tended to be slow, adding that in some cases military personnel had approached a victim's family to withdraw the report.
She said the Thai Government was also not doing much to help family members of the Krue Se victims as they were seen as people with ties to the militants.
"Most of them are poor and uneducated. How do you expect the children to grow up and without education...this is not good for their future and reconciiiation," she said.-BERNAMA
TAK BAI - 25 October 2004BANGKOK, April 28 (Bernama) -- A delay in bringing to court military officers involved in the Krue Se Mosque tragedy four years ago, and similar delays in other investigations into military abuses in the restive Southern Thai is denying justice to the victims, a prominent human rights proponent said Monday.
Speaking on the anniversary of the Krue Se incident where 32 people were shot dead inside the 300 year-old mosque in Pattani, Angkhana Neelaphaijit said although an inquest found that three army officers were responsible for the deaths, the prosecutors had yet to charge any of them.
"It has been more than a year but the prosecution has yet to bring the case to court. I told them that justice delayed is justice denied," she said in an interview here today on the incident which further escalated the violence in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat where more than 3,000 people have died since January, 2004.
Angkhana, the chairman of the Bangkok-based Working Group on Justice for Peace, said although family members of the victims could bring the case to the court themselves, they were too poor or afraid of the authorities.
One of the three officers is General Pallop Pinmanee, the then-deputy director-general of the Internal Security Operations Command who ordered military forces to storm the mosque in a tense stand-off with 32 suspected insurgents hiding inside, but had maintained that he had no other choice at that time.
On April 28, 2004, more than 100 militants carried out attacks against a dozen police outposts across Pattani, Yala and Songkhla provinces. According to official statement, 107 insurgents and five security personnel were killed in the bloodiest clashes since separatists resumed their campaign for independence in January, the same year.
Angkhana, whose husband and top human rights lawyer Somchai Neelaphaijit mysteriously disappeared on March 12, 2004, said similar delays were occuring in other cases, including the killing of the entire Sabayoi Youth football team on the same day.
"In court, we heard that most of them had gunshot wounds on the back and head. We asked the court to speed up the cases but many police witnesses are delaying it...it has been postponed many times as they (police) say they have other things to do," she said.
Angkhana said whenever there was a case involving police or military, the investigations tended to be slow, adding that in some cases military personnel had approached a victim's family to withdraw the report.
She said the Thai Government was also not doing much to help family members of the Krue Se victims as they were seen as people with ties to the militants.
"Most of them are poor and uneducated. How do you expect the children to grow up and without education...this is not good for their future and reconciiiation," she said.-BERNAMA
Then, hundreds of Muslim men and women had gathered to protest in front of the Tak Bai police station to demand the release of detained relatives and friends.
Soldiers and policemen, inexperienced in handling large crowds, shot dead five people and arrested hundreds of others, stacking them up one on top of another in the back of military trucks, an action which drew international criticism. Click for full article
Click Tak Bai report
more gallery of Tak Bai Tragedy
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