Minister: No secret CIA torture prisons in Thailand

There have been no secret jails used by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to detain and torture suspected members of al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups in Thailand, Prime Minister's Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana said on Thursday.

Suwaphan: Whatever was mentioned in the report occurred many years back.

Mr Suwaphan, who is also head of the National Intelligence Agency, was commenting on stories about a US Senate report that refers to alleged CIA torture of terrorist suspects at facilities said to be in Thailand.

Asked if he meant that the CIA report was inaccurate, Mr Suwaphan said he had not seen any part of the report that mentioned Thailand.

He said this was an internal affair of the United States, involving the committee on intelligence and security, the Senate and the CIA, and Thailand had nothing to do with it.

Whatever was mentioned in the report occurred many years back, he said.

"The current cooperation between the US and Thailand is based on national sovereignty. There are no policies or any practices which are against the law. I can assure you that that there are no secret jails or torture in Thailand," he said.

Asked how Thailand would be affected by the report, Mr Suwaphan said anyone who reads the news would be aware that the US has issued a warning to its citizens and interests in foreign countries who might be affected by the contents.

The report has created a huge controversy in the US. What could be affected are US interests in Thailand, and this is a matter for US security agencies, he said.

Asked whether the CIA had asked the Thai government for cooperation, such as the setting up of an operations base in Thailand, Mr Suwaphan said there had been no such request.

Asked what Thailand would do now that US citizens in Thailand have been warned to take precautions, Mr Suwaphan said: "We have to step up security measures."

He said there have been no reports from Thai intelligence services of a possible threat, "but we will not be careless".

Asked whether Thailand would have to explain anything to the US, Mr Suwaphan said this question should be put to the Foreign Ministry.

ACM Monthon Satchukorn, the air force spokesman, said he remembered a report by a foreign news agency around 2007 about the CIA having secret jails to detain and torture suspected terrorists in Thailand.

He said according to the report one of the secret facilities was in an area under the jurisdiction of the air force in Udon Thani province. The report referred to what was a relay station of the Voice of America (VOA) radio service in Ban Dung district of Udon Thani province.

The media was allowed to examine the VOA station and nothing unusual was found there, ACM Monthon said.