PHUKET: Four Rohingya who can no longer walk are beng treated at a Phuket hospital after being kept prisoners in a confined space in cells for months.
Phuketwan photographed two of the young boatpeople yesterday in wheelchairs inside Vachira Phuket Hospital, the largest public hospital in Phuket City.
Two more Rohingya were admitted the previous day, suffering from conditions associated with atrophy of muscles caused by confinement without space to stretch or exercise.
The four are among 38 Rohingya males being held in two small cells at the Phuket Immigration Centre in Phuket City.
Seven Rohingya are said to have aleady died since January under similar cramped conditions in Sadao, in Songkhla province, according to Amnesty International.
Secret television footage earlier this year revealed horrific conditions at a third Immigration centre in Phang Nga, north of Phuket.
Conditions are believed to have improved at Phang Nga where more than 260 inmates are now allowed to leave their cells in small numbers to exercise.
Conditions in Phuket are believed to be worse. Phuketwan has seen the two cells and prisoners in those cells have no access to sunlight or exercise.
The cells have the most basic toilet and showering facilites imaginable. When the Phuket Imigration Headquarters was upgraded several years ago, the condition of the cells remained unchanged.
With almost 20 prisoners per cell, there would be little room to move or stretch. The condition of the prisoners is made worse because as Muslims, the boatpeople are now marking Ramadan by fasting from dawn until dusk.
This group of captives were apprehended on Lon Island, just off Phuket, on March 23.
Although others among the 2000 Rohingya being held in Thailand have been captive since January, the Phuket group were at first held by Indian authorities for 40 days before being ''helped on'' with food and water to another destination.
Despair is growing among the detainees with the six-month deadline imposed by the Thai Government for a decision on their status and future approaching next week.
''Hopelessness is overwhelming them,'' a source told Phuketwan yesterday. ''The four who can no longer walk are all young, in their teens.
''They expected to be at sea for 10 days or a fortnight before reaching Malaysia and starting a new life there.
''Now they are being punished without a crime. They are told nothing. They are slowly losing the will to live.''
At least two deaths in custody occurred when a boatload of Rohingya were kept in Immigration cells in Ranong, the port on the border with Burma, for an extended period in 2009.
Television footage taken when the survivors of that group were tranferred to a better equipped centre in Bangkok showed men bent double and barely able to shuffle because of confinement in cramped spaces without sunshine or exercise.
That group were kept in detention in Thailand for two years as a warning to others that Thailand offered them no sanctuary.
Since the fresh violence and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Burma's Rakhine state began in June last year, an estimated 30,000 to 34,000 men, women and children have fled by sea, about four times the number in the previous 12 months.
Even greater numbers of Rohingya are expected off the coast of Thailand from October this year, when the safe ''sailing season'' begins again.
Although the Thai Navy rejects accusations that it has been paid for smuggling Rohingya, boatpeople and villagers along the Andaman coast say Thai military and police have become increasingly involved in the highly profitable trade.
Phuketwan photographed two of the young boatpeople yesterday in wheelchairs inside Vachira Phuket Hospital, the largest public hospital in Phuket City.
Two more Rohingya were admitted the previous day, suffering from conditions associated with atrophy of muscles caused by confinement without space to stretch or exercise.
The four are among 38 Rohingya males being held in two small cells at the Phuket Immigration Centre in Phuket City.
Seven Rohingya are said to have aleady died since January under similar cramped conditions in Sadao, in Songkhla province, according to Amnesty International.
Secret television footage earlier this year revealed horrific conditions at a third Immigration centre in Phang Nga, north of Phuket.
Conditions are believed to have improved at Phang Nga where more than 260 inmates are now allowed to leave their cells in small numbers to exercise.
Conditions in Phuket are believed to be worse. Phuketwan has seen the two cells and prisoners in those cells have no access to sunlight or exercise.
The cells have the most basic toilet and showering facilites imaginable. When the Phuket Imigration Headquarters was upgraded several years ago, the condition of the cells remained unchanged.
With almost 20 prisoners per cell, there would be little room to move or stretch. The condition of the prisoners is made worse because as Muslims, the boatpeople are now marking Ramadan by fasting from dawn until dusk.
This group of captives were apprehended on Lon Island, just off Phuket, on March 23.
Although others among the 2000 Rohingya being held in Thailand have been captive since January, the Phuket group were at first held by Indian authorities for 40 days before being ''helped on'' with food and water to another destination.
Despair is growing among the detainees with the six-month deadline imposed by the Thai Government for a decision on their status and future approaching next week.
''Hopelessness is overwhelming them,'' a source told Phuketwan yesterday. ''The four who can no longer walk are all young, in their teens.
''They expected to be at sea for 10 days or a fortnight before reaching Malaysia and starting a new life there.
''Now they are being punished without a crime. They are told nothing. They are slowly losing the will to live.''
At least two deaths in custody occurred when a boatload of Rohingya were kept in Immigration cells in Ranong, the port on the border with Burma, for an extended period in 2009.
Television footage taken when the survivors of that group were tranferred to a better equipped centre in Bangkok showed men bent double and barely able to shuffle because of confinement in cramped spaces without sunshine or exercise.
That group were kept in detention in Thailand for two years as a warning to others that Thailand offered them no sanctuary.
Since the fresh violence and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in Burma's Rakhine state began in June last year, an estimated 30,000 to 34,000 men, women and children have fled by sea, about four times the number in the previous 12 months.
Even greater numbers of Rohingya are expected off the coast of Thailand from October this year, when the safe ''sailing season'' begins again.
Although the Thai Navy rejects accusations that it has been paid for smuggling Rohingya, boatpeople and villagers along the Andaman coast say Thai military and police have become increasingly involved in the highly profitable trade.
It is clear that Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Australia, India does not want these people. Why don't their fellow Muslim countries take them, in this region Malaysia and Indonesia. The tiny Jewish state offers Israeli citizenship to anyone that can prove they are a Jew from absolutely any where. They airlifted people from Ethiopia who are clearly very different looking being of African decent but still did so as there was proof they were Jewish. They were also mostly very poor.
Posted by Fiesty Farang on July 20, 2013 14:51
Editor Comment:
This is repression, persecution, ethnic cleansing and looming genocide in a country where tolerance should be obligatory. Just as Muslims live contentedly among Buddhists all along Thailand's Andaman coast, so people of different religions should be tolerated in Burma. Comparisons with Israel are not valid.