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U.S.-trained Thailand death squads go on. 1000's dead. Drug war and more. Akha Foundation.

by eco man
The Killing Fields of Thailand. Very latest info from Thailand. Many still being killed. U.S. continues training and funding. People being killed randomly. With complete impunity. No justice system. Some historical background included in this info, too.

Here is latest info on U.S.-trained Thailand death squads. Please forward this widely. Edit in any way.

Message below was in reply to this message sent to several lists:
Drug War feature page. Portland, Oregon Indymedia. No sheep need apply!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction/message/848

----------------

Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 02:03:11 -0700 (PDT)
From:  Matthew McDaniel
Subject: Re: [cia-drugs] Drug War feature page. Portland, Oregon Indymedia. No sheep need apply!
To: "eco man"

Yes, noted it and replied to it.
 
Thanks for the tip.
 
Matthew

The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO Box 16
Maesai, Chiangrai, 57130 Thailand
Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO BOX 6073
Salem OR 97304 USA Inquire to donate while in Thailand

-----------------------

-----------------------

Here is the Matthew McDaniel reply to a Portland Indymedia article that he is referring to in the message above:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/03/46977.shtml

------Reply begins------

Valki has understated the case 28.May.2003 02:01

Matthew McDaniel        "" akha@akha.org
 
Valki has understated the case. There have now been more than 2274 people murdered and if you think the Chinese Haw did this you need hooks for ears so you can pull your head out of your ass.

Having lived here and worked in the drug corridor for more than 12 years with the Akha hill tribe I can say that Thailand's government is one of the most brutal in the world. The fact that they use prostitution as an opiate on the foreigners to keep their eyes closed is not missed.

Extra judicial murders of hilltribe people is common, I document them regularly and am in constant contact both with UN personell and individuals of foreign governments. The web site www.akha.org has the pics of only a few of these brutal murders.

If you are here to get laid or get your ass tatooed you need read no further.

Brutal oppression forces many Akha girls and other hill tribe girls into prostitution to keep their families alive.
Most foreigners avail themselves of these means while ignoring what put these girls there. Conditions their daughters will never live under.

Men and women have been shot in bed, shot out of their vehicles, shot so many times they lost their skulls and bowels.

A person doesn't have to be in Thailand for a long time or take a friggin thai cooking class to know what is going on here.

Any seasoned traveler should be able to see in a moment.

A witness against Thaksin's income tax evasion (Shin Sat) was murdered.

Murder with guns is common place here over most disputes. Most cases are never investigated and never solved.

The police arrest, make up a report, doesn't matter if you can disprove it, full of lies, it flies, and no one, the judge, no one, questions it. The courts are a joke, justice is a joke in Thailand.

I have hilltribe coming to my house daily complaining of false arrest, abuse, murder. A Lahu woman was stopped at the checkpoint near my house. The soldiers took her away to play, killed her with a knife.

Yesterday, the forestry arrested eight hill tribe for the federal crime of Thailand. 50,000 baht bail. One was a 19year eight month pregnant woman. Farming her corn.

They beat, burn, cut, and decapitate people. There is no one to appeal to.

You should know what the hell your are talking about before you open your friggin mouth. Valki understated the case.

The US White House Office on National Drug control Policy administrator Mr. Crane in January promised Thailand more funds for doing a great job. The killing was started in February. Once again, American Trained personell including Task Force 399 of Mae Rim Chiang Mai.

Were the funds cut? No, just this rubbish about disapproval. Cobra Gold also went on as usual.
The government admits it got hundreds of the wrong people.

Where were you, eating yogurt on Koh Sahn Road?

No more morons please,

Matthew McDaniel
Maesai, Thailand, The Akha Heritage Foundation
 
"" http://www.akha.org
"" 66-1-884-8111
"" Po Box 16, Maesai, Chiangrai, Thailand 57130
 
-----Reply ends------
 
----------------------------
 
An email from Matthew McDaniel to the CIA-drugs list.
 
 
From:  Matthew McDaniel <akha@a...>
Date:  Wed May 28, 2003  4:12 am
Subject:  Akha Journal: War Against Farming, UN Envoy: Climate of Fear Thailand NGO's

 
Dear Friends:
 
A number of important comments.
The UN Envoy Ms. Hina Jilani with whom I met on Saturday has the following report on Thailand's treatment of human rights workers under the Thaksin Government.
 
War Against Farming:
 
Day before yesterday I was called by Lahu and Akha villagers to try and help rescue their family members from a band of wilding Forestry Soldiers.  The incidents occurred at 12 noon when three trucks grabbed hilltribe women and men from along the road side fields, some just eating lunch, and took them to a forestry center to make them sign "confessions" and then on to Ampur Mae Faluang Jail where the Ampur and Police all claim they know nothing of nothing that goes on in the Ampur, just run the buildings.  8 Villagers were seized for the crime of farming no less, fields they have farmed for years, weeding their knee high corn.  Four women, four men.  Most of them young, young people not selling drugs, this is a crime too in Thaksin's Thailand.  One woman of 19 is eight months pregnant and has already spent her second night in jail for being a farmer.  The undesireable bastard at forestry who is responsible for these SS like tactics is Mr. Hoh Nah Gkay Gkah.  He was the same fellow who tried to deceptively force the relocation of Huuh Mah Akha and in fact, some of these arrested were a few of those who did relocate from Huuh Mah Akha and were only working their promised fields, fields Mr. Hoh Nah Gkay Gkah promised them.  But this is the new war on dark forces in this country.  After two days of negotiating the Ampur congratulated himself that any of these young people could bail themselves out for 50,000 baht.  A very large sum for a foreigner, let alone a hill tribe person where wages are 400 and 500 baht a month.  More than $1,000 US. 
   Since no one could afford that they would all be taken to the Chiangrai Prison where just waiting for a court date is over one year.
   If a hilltribe person has 10,000 baht the army or police assume they have been selling drugs and take it away from them.
   I don't know how many of you follow this list, but if you go back in the archive you will see that there is an endless line of abuse aimed at the Akha and other hilltribe by the Thai government.
  We would recommend that all international cooperation or aid have linkage to human rights in Thailand.
 
Incident 26 May, 2003
At the villages of Huuh Yoh, Huuh Yoh Pah Soh, Huuh Yoh Lisaw and Loh Lay villages.
Arrested for the high crime of farming their corn:
 
1. Mr. Ah Soh Cheh Muuh 38 Loh Lay village, Akha
2. Ms. Meeh Purh Rgoeuh Zurh 19, Huuh Yoh Akha Village, 8 months pregnant.
3. Ms. Shoh Furh Sheh Dzaw, 28, Huuh Yoh Lisaw
4. Ms. Ah Leh Seh Leeh, 25, Huuh Yoh Lisaw
5. Ms. Nah Myoh Seh Leeh, 30, Huuh Yoh Lisaw
6. Mr. Loh Hah Murh Leh, 17, Huuh Yoh Pah Soh Akha
7. Mr. Ah Poh Yeh Saw, 17, Huuh Yoh Pah Soh Akha
8. Mr. Leeh Sauh Byurh Cheh, 30, Huuh Yoh Pah Soh Akha
 
I would recommend, that as in the past, you contact your Thai Embassy and complain specifically about this incident with the forestry department in Ampur Mae Faluang, Chiangrai Province, Thailand.
 
As well I am recommending any boycott of Thai goods and restaurants for the duration.
 
Matthew McDaniel"photo
 
 

HUMAN RIGHTS: UN envoy cites climate of fear

Published on May 28, 2003

Government-sponsored harassment and intimidation of human-rights defenders and NGOs has diminished Thailand's reputation and impeded its progress in the areas of democracy and human rights, according to a UN special envoy on human rights.

Hina Jilani yesterday wrapped up a 10-day visit to the Kingdom during which she held talks with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other senior cabinet members, as well as human-rights activists.

"I have sensed a level of insecurity among human-rights defenders which ranges from general unease to actual fear," she said.

Jilani also interviewed NGO representatives and travelled to Songkhla and Chiang Mai provinces to meet officials, human rights activists, environmental groups and villagers.

She said a "climate of fear" was created by public statements against NGOs made at the "highest level of government", by blatant state attempts to cut off their foreign funding and by the use of the state security apparatus and judicial process to harass human-rights defenders through false or unjust prosecution.

Jilani was apparently referring in part to a security advisory from Thaksin that suggested the Foreign Ministry should try to stop foreign funding of NGOs in Thailand.

"I am deeply concerned about an attempt to interfere with NGO's access to foreign funding. I am told that the Interior Ministry instructed the Foreign Ministry to approach the donors with a request not to fund the NGOs," she said.

"I must remind the government that the foreign funding is from the international co-operation and such a thing can only be seen as an obstruction to human rights."

The UN envoy said Thaksin informed her that these actions were not in line with government policy. She said the situation could seriously affect Thailand's reputation as a democracy and a protector of human rights.

Jilani gave examples of the government's harassment and intimidation of those using their freedom of _expression to protest.

She singled out legal action taken against protestors of the Thai-Malaysia gas pipeline project after the police last year used force to stop them from demonstrating in Songkhla's Hat Yai district. Protestors and police were injured in the incident.

In Hat Yai, the envoy was told how state security forces used excessive force to stop people using their freedom of protest.

Jilani said she was also deeply concerned about the intimidation of NGOs and journalists by the Anti-Money Laundering Office, which was secretly assigned to scrutinise their finances.

She cited a published statement by a Senate Committee charged with investigating the activities of NGOs and human-rights defenders.

In the statement, the committee detailed the money each NGO received from foreign sources. It named human-rights activists and implied they received foreign money to campaign against the government.

Human-rights activists told the envoy that they were working in an atmosphere of fear, particularly those campaigning against government-supported projects.

Jilani said she was "deeply concerned" about a public statement which linked NGOs to "the mafia" and described their activities as having "dark influences."

Jilani said she had not looked into the government's three-month war on drugs, in which more than 2,000 people were killed by police, but said it was difficult to give credibility to the government's explanation that police killed those people in self-defence.

She said it did not seem possible that there was no connection between the alleged killings and the practises of the security forces.

The envoy felt the level of openness and tolerance in Thailand seemed to be diminishing.

"Obviously the message is that the [Kingdom's] reputation is under threat. Nevertheless, I think the damage is still limited," she said.

Her recommendations and conclusions would be included in a UN report due to be released in the coming months.

There should be immediate measures put in place to ease the climate of fear, Jilani said, adding improvements were needed to provide better protection for human-rights activists.

Marisa Chimprabha

The Nation




The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO Box 16
Maesai, Chiangrai, 57130 Thailand
Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
The Akha Heritage Foundation
PO BOX 6073
Salem OR 97304 USA Inquire to donate while in Thailand
 
------end of forwarded email--------
 
----------------------------
 
-----Portland Indymedia article below that started it all-----
 
 
newswire article
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/03/46977.shtml

Police State Terror in Thailand

I am a Portland activist that has been traveling in Southeast Asia for around three months. Recently in Thailand, the Prime Minister with the military elite who run the country have declared an open war against "drug dealers." This war has turned into a terror campaign that has already left over a 1000 people murdered by special police/military death squads, just within a weeks time. There are police and military checkpoints everywhere, searching for the people on the "death list." The military command of Thailand has just closed down the INN news service due to its reporting of the murders.
As I was traveling through the Golden Triangle, which is in the north of Thailand and in the border area that it shares with Burma and Laos, public transportation was being harrassed due to numerous police and military checkpoints. I personally experienced this, with the buses that I took to get around from city to city, were being stopped various times by special police and military units. At first, I reached to show them my passport, but it seemed that they were more concerned with the local bus riders. Apparently, they had a list of people to detain. I saw a few detainees on the sides of the roads. I thought of what might have happened to them.

Now I can only think the worse: murder. The news has come out, especially in the Bangkok Post and in INN (International News Network) with stories of the police and military in their war against Methamphetamine sellers. So far, the number of victims in this terror campaign has reached to over a 1,000 deaths - within only a weeks time! The campaign has included an insiduous ploy of declaring an amnesty for some of the sellers and then murdering them in prison. There have also been attacks on people's homes and then assassinating all the adults of the house. The Bangkok Post even showed a photo of a young girl after discovering her parents murdered in their own home.

The Prime Minister and the military elite who run this country and have been known to be some of the worst Heroin dealers in the world. They were first involved in the drug trade through the US government supported KMT drug lords(anti-Chinese Communist units) around Burma in the 50s and 60s; and then later through the US government's CIA front of Air America during the Indochina conflict in the 60s and 70s. In Thailand, the law means nothing: the exception is the will of bribery and extortion. The semi divine King of Thailand has been mysteriously quiet during these disturbances. Now the streets are filled with police and military units that are making many foreigners nervous. The last military coup d'etat was in 1993. The other day, the military junta closed the INN news service declaring its journalism "a crime against the Nation"; consequently, censorship is in order for all news and media outlets in Thailand. Due to this new information blackout, it is quite necessary that concerned travelers in Thailand report on these dangerous times.

Thailand has recently been in a severe Asian economic crisis; meanwhile, the corruption has gotten worse. Extreme Capitalism has taken a toll on the people. The streets are by the day more scattered with beggars, indigent victims and children selling flowers and candy; there is no social safety net here. Nevertheless, the IMF, WTO and the World Bank have declared Thailand to be an "economic giant" of Asia. Thailand does have a history of severe repression. In the 1970s there was a University student movement that was savagely repressed with around 3,000 unexplained murders by CIA trained military death squads. This story is once again being repeated.

------end of Portland Indymedia article that started it all--------

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Portland Indymedia drug war page:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/topic/drugwar/

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Is this the future of our own "War on Drugs"? May 7 2003 Associated Press (AP) article on Thai killings.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2003/05/264281.shtml

2,274 dead in Thai drugs crackdown
Wednesday, May 7, 2003 Posted: 7:00 AM EDT (1100 GMT)

<snip>

----end of AP excerpt----

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You can reply to any of the articles posted at the Portland Indymedia site. Comments are posted with the articles.
http://portland.indymedia.org

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*Terrorism of USA. Death Squads, Drug War. LINKS worldwide. Revised. Millions killed over decades. Mostly US-run or US-aided terrorist death squads worldwide. Other death squads, too. Today's death squads, and older ones such as the US-run Phoenix Program during the Vietnam war. Terrorism and corruption at all levels of politics, police, society, media, business, unions, government, etc.. Lists in alphabetical and chronological order. Huge LINKS list. 
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/squads.htm and  
http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/squads.htm 

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