(Bangkok) – Successive Thai governments have failed to bring to justice former officials charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the deaths of 85 people, as well as injuries to hundreds following the violent dispersal of ethnic Malay Muslim protesters in Tak Bai district of Narathiwat province two decades ago, Human Rights Watch said today. The 20-year statute of limitations ended on October 25, 2024, preventing new legal action.
On October 25, 2004, various Thai military and police units dispersed thousands of protesters demonstrating outside the Tak Bai police station in southern Thailand. Seven protesters were shot dead. The army crammed about 1,300 people into 26 military trucks to take them to an army detention facility over 150 kilometers away in neighboring Pattani province, causing 78 to be crushed to death. The army held the others for several days without appropriate medical attention, leading to amputations and other severe injuries.
“For 20 years, successive Thai governments have failed to prosecute those responsible for the horrific deaths and injuries at Tak Bai,” said Sunai Phasuk, senior Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Yet the victims of this violent crackdown and their families have never given up on their quest for justice.”
In August and October 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed 20 people who had attended the Tak Bai protest, women whose family members were killed or injured, and lawyers representing victims or their families. Human Rights Watch corroborated this information with official documents, news reports, and accounts gathered by civil society organizations and academic researchers.
In December 2004, the fact-finding committee appointed by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra concluded that the methods used to disperse the protesters were inappropriate, and did not conform with international guidelines and practices. The committee also found that commanding officers failed to supervise the transportation of the detained protesters, leaving the task to inexperienced, low-ranking personnel.
Following the September 2006 military coup, then-Prime Minister Gen. Surayud Chulanont publicly apologized for the Tak Bai incident and promised to hold the responsible officials to account. But over the past two decades, Thai authorities have failed to hold officials responsible for the massacre accountable despite overwhelming evidence against them.
On May 29, 2009, the Songkhla provincial court ruled in the post-mortem inquest that 78 protesters died from suffocation while being transported in military custody; without mentioning the circumstances under which they died and without identifying who was responsible. The victims’ families challenged this ruling. On August 1, 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the Songkhla provincial court’s ruling, and concluded that the security personnel were performing their duties and did not bear legal responsibility.
Survivors of the Tak Bai massacre and relatives of those who died have continued to seek criminal justice. On April 25, 2024, the Tak Bai victims and their families filed criminal lawsuits directly with the Narathiwat provincial court. On August 23, the court indicted seven former senior officials, including Gen. Pisal Wattanawongkiri, then the Fourth Army Region commander; Maj. Gen. Chalermchai Wirunpeth, then the Fifth Infantry Division commander; Pol. Lt.-Gen. Wongkot Maneerin, then the Police Forward Command Center director; Pol. Lt.-Gen. Manot Kraiwong, then the Provincial Police Region 9 chief; Pol. Col. Saksomchai Phutthakul, then the Tak Bai district police station superintendent; Siva Saengmanee, then the Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command deputy director; and Wichom Thongsong, then Narathiwat provincial governor.
Thailand’s attorney general brought another criminal case on September 18. A murder charge was filed against Maj. Gen. Chalermchai and seven other government officials – including Sub-Lt. Natthawut Loemsai, Lt. Wissanukorn Chaisarn, Sgt. Maj. Rattanadet Srisuwan, Lt.-Col. Prasert Mutmin, Lt. Rithirong Promrith, Wissanu Lertsonkhram, and Piti Yankaew – responsible for driving and guarding the trucks transporting those arrested after the Tak Bai protest dispersal to the army camp.
All 14 defendants in both criminal cases have fled and are now facing arrest warrants. Their current whereabouts are unknown, except for Pisal and Siva. Pisal requested leave from his duty as a Pheu Thai Party member of parliament to receive medical treatment in the United Kingdom from August 26 to October 30. Siva went to Japan on August 22.
The armed conflict between separatist insurgents led by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional and the Thai government in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla provinces in southern Thailand has resulted in more than 7,000 deaths since January 2004. The insurgents have, over the years, frequently targeted civilians as well as military forces.
The government has continually failed to prosecute members of its security forces responsible for torture, unlawful killings, and other abuses of ethnic Malay Muslims. In many cases, Thai authorities have provided financial compensation to the victims or their families in exchange for their agreement not to speak out against the security forces, or file criminal cases against officials.
Thailand’s new Prime Minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, whose father was prime minister at the time of the Tak Bai massacre, should act on her pledge to strengthen the rule of law in Thailand, by urgently passing an amendment to article 95 of Thailand’s Criminal Code, which governs the statute of limitations for criminal offenses. There should be no statute of limitations for serious violations of human rights under international law, Human Rights Watch said.
“The Tak Bai massacre is just one of many cases over the past two decades in which those responsible for grave abuses in southern Thailand have escaped prosecution,” Phasuk said. “Prime Minister Paetongtarn should prevent a recurrence of such injustice by removing the statute of limitations for serious human rights violations.”
Names have been withheld or replaced with abbreviations to protect the identities of ethnic Malay Muslims interviewed.
Tak Bai Protest
On October 25, 2004, from about 6 a.m., more than 1,000 ethnic Malay Muslim men, women, and children gathered in front of the Tak Bai district police station. Some of them said they were there to protest what they believed to be the unjust detention of six village defense volunteers who were arrested for allegedly providing government-issued weapons to separatist insurgents. The protesters called for the detained men’s immediate release. Others said they went to Tak Bai to go to the market or for other reasons and got stuck in the crowd. Some said they were bystanders, watching what was going on.
DE, who attended the protest, said:
My friends telephoned me that morning. They asked me to join the protest in front of the [Tak Bai] police station. They told me they needed help to press the authorities to release the six village defense volunteers. They said those men were innocent. I went to the police station with my nephew. There were thousands of people; men, women, and children. They repeatedly shouted, “Free the innocent! We will not leave if they are still detained.”
YZ went to the Tak Bai market with her son and could not leave after the protest broke out:
I went to the market with my son. But there was a protest at the police station. We asked people there what they were doing. They said they were protesting to try to free the defense volunteers. We didn’t take part in the protest. But we couldn’t make our way back home because there were so many people. Then I bumped into my husband. He was joining the protest.
MN explained how he ended up in the protest:
Around 8 a.m. I received a phone call from my friends. They told me a protest was going on at the Tak Bai police station. I was simply curious and went with them to see what happened. My wife also went with me. But then we got stuck in the crowd and couldn’t leave. There were so many people shouting; they wanted the defense volunteers immediately released.
The government fact-finding committee found that the Thai authorities were suspicious of the protest because intelligence from the Southern Border Provinces Peace Building Command (SBPPBC) warned that separatist insurgents led by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional had mobilized people from Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and Songkhla provinces to incite unrest in Tak Bai district, using the arrest of the six village defense volunteers as the trigger.
Around 9 a.m. police set up checkpoints but were unable to intercept the crowd heading to join the protest. There were several rounds of unsuccessful negotiations with the protesters by local officials, community leaders, and religious leaders.
By around 10 a.m. the crowd attempted to break into the Tak Bai police station. Some of the men – whom Thai authorities believed to be the protest leaders – incited the protesters to throw bricks and pieces of wood at the police and soldiers. Police and soldiers responded by firing warning shots with live rounds in the air. The crowd briefly dispersed.
YZ said that the confrontation escalated and turned violent:
I heard someone shout, “Allahu Akbar!” After that, the protesters threw bricks and sticks into the police station. Around 10 a.m. I heard gunshots. They seemed to be warning shots. The protesters retreated, but quickly regrouped. I told my son that we should leave, but he wanted to stay and follow the situation.
By around 11 a.m., SBPPBC Deputy Director Siva arrived at the protest site and told the crowd that bailing the detained village defense volunteers could be a solution to the standoff. But the protesters, who wanted the six defense volunteers to be immediately and unconditionally released, rejected his offer.
DE said:
There was a group of men – using shirts to cover their faces – who appeared to be leading the protest. They urged the protesters not to accept any conditions that the authorities proposed to resolve the confrontation; insisting that the defense volunteers must be immediately released. The protesters hurled bricks and sticks into the police stations. They tried to push through the barricades and go inside the police station. The police and soldiers fired warning shots in the air. The situation became very tense.
Around 11:45 a.m. the protesters again attempted to break into the Tak Bai police station. In response, police and soldiers fired warning shots with live rounds in the air. Meanwhile, Siva and other Thai government officials – including Pisal, Wongkot, Wichom, Manot, and Chalermchai – mobilized the security forces to disperse the protesters. Chalermchai, under the supervision of Pisal, oversaw the dispersal.
Violent Crackdown
At around 3 p.m. Pisal gave a dispersal order under martial law authority. The security forces first used water cannons from fire trucks and pushed the protesters away from the Tak Bai police station. Then tear gas was deployed, followed by gunshots. The SBPPBC claimed that the crowd control units fired warning shots in the air, but the fact-finding committee found that some of them fired their guns directly at the protesters. The dispersal operation ended after about 30 minutes.
DE described being shot:
After 3 p.m. they began to attack us with water cannons and tear gas. I looked for somewhere safe. Then I heard a lot of gunshots. It was nonstop. I ran to the nearby playground, thinking I might be able to hide behind flowerpots there. As I was running away, a bullet hit me. I was shot in the back. The bullet went through my ribcage and came out on the side of my chest. I fell to the ground – knocking my head – and passed out. I woke up in the hospital.
WY described the dispersal of the protest:
When the police and soldiers opened fire, I was stuck in the crowd. Many people were stuck in front of the police station. We cried and repeatedly begged, “Stop shooting. Enough. Please stop.” But the shooting continued. Some of the police and soldiers fired directly at the protesters. I saw several people got hit. We tried to escape to the river. We lay down on the ground. Women and children were staying underneath the men. When the shooting was over, soldiers came to where I was hiding. They told me to stand up. My son was arrested. Fortunately, he wasn’t shot. Women and children were not arrested. We were later fed and sent home.
Seven protesters were shot dead. Five of them had gunshot wounds to their heads.
YZ described her flight from the crackdown:
There were gunshots all the time. My husband told me the riverside should be safer. So, we crawled together to the river. He stayed on top of me, using his body to protect me. We tried to stay as low as possible. I saw one older man get shot in the head. He died on spot.
She said that after they were dispersed, she was separated from her husband:
Women and children were kept in the police station parking lot, while the men were arrested. Their shirts were removed. Their hands [were] tied behind the back. Some of them were kicked and beaten by soldiers while they were waiting to be loaded onto military trucks. That was the last time I saw my husband alive. Later that evening, women and children from my village were sent back. We were not arrested. Soldiers gave us food and water before sending us back to our village.
Mistreatment and Neglect of Detainees
According to official documents collected by the fact-finding committee, the security forces arrested 1,370 people at the police station. Women and children were separated from male detainees. Male detainees were ordered to lie face down on the ground and remove their shirts. Soldiers used the detainees' shirts or ropes to bind their hands behind their backs. Soldiers kicked, punched, or struck some of the male detainees with rifle butts.
Pisal told the fact-finding committee that because the protest leaders could not be identified among the detainees, he ordered soldiers to transport all detainees to the Ingkhayuthboriharn army camp in Pattani province, about 150 kilometers from Narathiwat province. According to the SBPPBC, 26 military trucks were used for transporting the detainees. Each truck transported about 50 detainees, with 4 soldiers assigned to keep them under control.
The military ordered the detainees to lie face down on top of each other, stacking them in three to five layers. The soldiers kicked or used rifle butts to strike detainees who made noise or called for help while the trucks were moving.
MN said soldiers brutally mistreated him and others who got arrested:
I had my shirt removed and hands tied behind my back. Soldiers ordered me and other men to crawl on our stomach to the waiting truck. They kicked us and hit us with their rifle butts along the way. When I got on the truck, soldiers ordered me to lie down. The metal floor was very hot – like a grill – and I was burned. I cannot breathe. Then they put other men on top of me, piling up about five layers.
He described a seven-hour trip to the army base:
I think the truck left Tak Bai around 5 p.m. and arrived at the army base in Pattani province just before midnight. We were screaming in pain. Some of us asked for water and complained that they were suffocating. Soldiers kicked them and told them to be quiet. By the time we arrived in Pattani province, many of us on the bottommost layer had died.
FG described his ordeal:
Soldiers kicked me as I was getting on the truck. When I got on that truck, they then told me to lie on top of other protesters. I was on the third layer. I think there were two or three more layers on top of me. I was in pain, getting crushed. It was very difficult to breathe. But soldiers kicked and slapped anyone who made noise, begged for water, or asked for help. It was a long drive from Tak Bai district to Pattani province. Eventually, the noise went quiet as people stopped breathing and died around me.
The SBPPBC reported that 78 detainees were found dead upon arrival at the Ingkhayuthboriharn army camp. The post-mortem investigations concluded that the cause of death was asphyxiation caused by pressure on their chests. Some of the deceased had seizures as a result of rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of muscle tissue) and blood chemical imbalance.
Some also had injuries from blunt force trauma. These conditions – combined with Ramadan fasting, dehydration, and physical exhaustion – contributed to the deaths. The survivors were held in army custody for several days without appropriate medical attention. Many suffered severe muscle failures that required amputations.
Compensation, but Not Justice
The families of the victims filed a civil lawsuit against the Ministry of Defense and the army for financial compensation. On March 20, 2007, a total of 42 million Thai baht (US$1.25 million) compensation was paid to 79 plaintiffs. In the settlement agreement, the plaintiffs were required to declare that they were “satisfied with the compensation and no longer wish to pursue any further civil and criminal lawsuits.” Some families felt they were pressured to accept this condition and feared that it would prevent them from pursuing criminal justice guaranteed under Thai criminal procedures.
In 2012 the then-Yingluck Shinawatra government approved additional compensation, which amounted to 7.5 million Thai baht ($222,285) each for the families of those who died. Those whose injuries resulted in permanent disabilities each received 4.5 million baht. Other victims received compensation within the range of 225,000 baht ($6,700) and 1,125,000 baht ($33,600) depending on the severity of their injuries. Those who were detained and subsequently charged received 30,000 baht ($900).
While compensation is a critical step in providing redress, many victims and their families said they longed for criminal justice.
EF, who lost her son, said: “No amount of money was worth his life. I still want to hold someone responsible for my son’s death. But what I have is injustice that continues until today.”
NM said the compensation cannot make up for the death of her husband:
I divided the 7.5 million Thai baht compensation money for my children’s education and for supporting my family. But our lives have become difficult without my husband. My children are growing up without their father to guide them. Soldiers have guns. They think they can do anything to people like us. This must end. I am seeking justice. My husband was unjustly killed. I want to see those responsible for my husband’s death get punished.
DE said that he has continued to pursue justice for himself and other Tak Bai protesters:
I’m not afraid to speak out. I received compensation money. But it cannot make what happened to me disappear. I was shot and my friends were killed. Where is justice? Prime Minister Surayud apologized. But that was not good enough. No one has ever admitted that they were responsible for the violence.
Renewed Efforts for Justice
RS said she prayed for justice for her husband and others who lost their lives in the Tak Bai protest crackdown:
I filed a criminal case together with other families. I pray to God every day that those responsible for my husband’s death will be punished. But they have escaped, not showing up in court. Time is running out now.
ST said she filed a criminal case for her son who had died after the dispersal of the protest:
I filed a lawsuit seeking criminal prosecution for those officials responsible for my son’s death. I wanted to make them know that what they did was wrong; loading people on the truck on top of each other and they were crushed to death. Who did that should be brought to justice. They should be punished.
LM, whose leg was amputated after suffering injuries following the protest dispersal, said he has persisted in pursuing justice:
I will never forget what happened in Tak Bai. For 20 years, I have been living in agony. I want justice. I live to seek justice for those who died on that day. I speak out for them and for myself. That is the reason why I filed a criminal case against those officials responsible for the massacre.
Ratsada Manurassada, the lawyer representing the Tak Bai victims and their families, said:
Criminal prosecution for the Tak Bai massacre will show that no one is above the law. But our hope for justice is fading away as those responsible for the tragedy remain unpunished and it looks unlikely that the Thai authorities will ever be able to arrest them.
