Giles Ji Ungpakorn

Abdullah Isomuso, a Patani activist, has now died of injuries suffered at the hands of the Thai military and Prayut’s junta. He was murdered by the Thai military-run state.

This is what I posted on this site at the end of July…

“Abdullah Isomuso, 32, was found unconscious inside his holding cell in the notorious “Fort Ingkhayut” military base in Patani. He was arrested the day before, suspected of involvement in an anti-Thai government insurgent group.

Local Malay Muslims in Patani have been fighting a war of liberation against the brutal Thai imperialist state for decades. [See https://bit.ly/2bemah3 ].

Doctors found an accumulation of excess fluid inside his brain, suggesting he suffered from a prolonged shortage of oxygen. No sign of physical violence was found on the surface of his body. This is in keeping with the belief that Abdullah Isomuso had been tortured by security forces at Fort Ingkhayut. Instead of water-boarding, he may well have had some kind of bag put over his head to deprive him of oxygen. He became brain-dead.

Previously the legal rights group iLaw reported that a Bangkok detainee of the military was tortured by using a plastic bag over her face. [See https://bit.ly/2Yd9wGS ].

Abdullah Isomuso’s wife, Sumaiya Minka, said she was only informed of his condition when she went to Fort Ingkhayut to visit her husband, at which she was told instead to go to a hospital’s ICU ward. The military told her that her husband had “fallen down” in his cell.

Relatives and friends of Abdullah Isomuso, who attempted to visit him in hospital, were filmed and harassed by security forces.

It is no surprise that in parliament Generalissimo Prayut defended all the actions of these soldiers at Ingkhayut camp and attacked people who claimed that Abdullah Isomuso had been tortured, saying that they had “probably watched too many films”. He also complained about too much emphasis on “human rights”.

Lt. Gen. Pornsak Poonsawat, the 4th Army Region commander, promised to set up a committee to investigate the incident. But we should not expect any truth to come out of this military investigation. When reporters asked about the CCTV inside the Ingkhayut camp, they were informed that “they were all out of action”.

CCTV cameras at various sites where extrajudicial killings by police and the military take place are usually “out of action”. This not only occurs in Patani, but also in the north, where members of minority ethnic groups are regularly gunned down. In 2017 Chaiyapoom Pasae, a 17 year old Lahu activist, was killed in cold blood and apparently there was a fault with the CCTV cameras. [See https://bit.ly/2o4Wq99 ].”

Thai state criminals, including Generalissimo Praytut, have a long history of impunity. It is very unlikely that anyone will be brought to account for this murder.

The struggle by the Muslim Malay people of Patani against the Thai imperialist state should be supported by all those who believe in social justice and until we overthrow the present parliamentary military dictatorship there can be no justice or peace!!