KOH TAO MURDERS – WILL THAI POLICE BE ASKED TO INVESTIGATE THEIR OWN TORTURES?

Posted on by Andrew Drummond

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO POLICE:
‘ANSWER TORTURE CHARGES PLEASE’

One of many tasteless pictures appearing
on Thai Facebook pages

The two young Burmese men charged with the murder of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on the Thai island of Koh Tao were hit, suffocated with plastic bags, and threatened they would be drowned if they did not confess – the Thai National Human Rights Commission said today.


And if Thai police, who ignored four summonses in a row to a hearing in Bangkok, continue refuse to answer the charges, that will remain the record, said Human Rights Commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara.

The Human Rights Commission would take charges against police, but they cannot because the Thai Military Junta has abolished the 2007 constitution, which gave the commission its powers of prosecution.

The matter has been referred to Thailand’s FBI – the Department of Special Investigations – but the DSI cannot accept new cases without a board meeting and if they cannot find a loophole in the law – the matter may have to be passed back to Thailand’s controversial police force to investigate themselves.

So far the prosecutor on the island of Koh Samui has sent back, what Thai police claimed was a ‘textbook case’ three times for revision.  The police have 84 days from date of first court appearance to bring the Burmese, Zaw Lin and Win Saw Htan, both 21, to trial.

The National Human Rights Commission says it has also come across a conspiracy of silence over the murders.

NHRC committee member Pornpen Khongkachonkie told the ‘Nation’ newspaper in Bangkok.

“We haven’t been to Koh Tao. People who have been there tell us that in fact security cameras were widely available but after the crimes happened, no one knew where recordings from those cameras are. Those who agree to talk us don’t dare to give much information. And they prefer to talk in a place outside Koh Tao,” she said.

The NHRC actions are being made under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
The allegations made that the two Burmese would be thrown into the sea is credible.
“It’s a common way of dealing with bodies in the southern islands,” said Dr. Niran.

Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were brutally murdered on the island of Koh Tao in September. They had apparently been hacked to death with a garden hoe and other objects and David had also been drowned.
Police have arrested two Burmese for the offence but there is widespread disbelief in their investigation and a common view is they are covering up for local mafia.

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9 thoughts on “KOH TAO MURDERS – WILL THAI POLICE BE ASKED TO INVESTIGATE THEIR OWN TORTURES?”

  2. The case of torture has not been proven yet. I just wish you would at least state the facts and not embelish your story.

    1. The word that you are looking for is embellish, here's a definition – "make (a statement or story) more interesting or entertaining by adding extra details, especially ones that are not true".

      A lot of the article is made up of reporting what the Thai National Human Rights Commission said. How does quoting what a respected organisation said, constitute embellishment, when the actual news article is based on what they said?

      Are you disputing the fact, that the Thai National Human Rights Commission said what has been reported in the article? Or, are you implying that what the Thai National Human Rights Commission said, is an embellishment?

      Regardless of your reasoning, nothing can detract from the fact that the journalist has merely reported what the Thai National Human Rights Commission said, which in my opinion makes it highly relevant and essential to the article, and far from being an embellishment, it is merely the journalist doing his job by reporting.

  4. Black humour is one thing but that display of such arrant stupidity marks something else. Asians, and particularly Thai, seem to suffer from a dislocation from common humanity that no one else in my experience demonstrates. Ignorance, foolishness, a lack of empathy, say what you will, there remains the unpleasant feeling that these folk simply aren't of our species. Lumpen thugs within our own society in the West often exhibit obscene nastiness but invariably it is for a reason and to reinforce a wish to be set apart. This despicable behaviour as demonstrated on Thai Facebook accounts, and there are indeed many, is indicative of a much more worrying pathology – a puerile streak that is in fact a foundation for their superficial and hypocritical society.

  6. Some people enjoy taking drugs and being free on these islands. Murder is a no no sure, but please, let us hippies – young and old – have at least some place to feel free. Not everyone lives the same life. Yes, it`s the local Thai mafia behind the murders. No, you will never change it. Hands off our tiny trippy islands. It`s a shame these Thai punks have this power and do lock them up if you can (NOT) but please leave the white man to his peaceful mushroom taking, pot smoking and XTC fun. G. Giuliano

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