KALADAN NEWS

Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Uncertain Future of Rohingya Prisoners in Thailand

Chittagong, June 29: Rohingya prisoners are facing an uncertain future in Thailand jail, as they have no alternative ways for their release, said Zahir, a Rohingya who is now living in Bangkok. 

Thirty-eight (38) Burmese Rohingyas are imprisoned in the Immigration Detention Center (IDC) of Bangkok in November 2002.They were arrested by Thai police while crossing Burma-Thai border with a small boat through Ranong, a border town of southern Burma, he further said. 

After the incident, Thai police lodged cases against them as they were illegal immigrants to Thailand and were kept in IDC at Bangkok. It is almost two years have been passed, no result has been found yet for their release, said another Rohingya from Bangkok. 

Due to non-acceptance of Rohingya prisoners by Burmese diplomat in Bangkok, the prison authorities are facing problems to release them or to push back to Burma. After the frequent request of concerned authorities of Thailand, Burmese diplomat once went to the prison and recognized 12 of 38 as Burmese citizens but denied to accept them back to Burma. Following that nobody comes straight forwards to release the prisoners till writing of this report, he further added. 

Similar request was made to Bangladeshi diplomat by Thai concerned authority to verify whether its citizens or not. So, he went to the prison and found no any Bangladeshi was there. He was very sad and sympathized to the Rohingya prisoners and said, “ If we got a very simple evidence, we will accept you. Otherwise, it is not possible to report to our government, said Ko Kyaw Min from Bangkok. 

Though there were similar prisoners from its neighboring countries such as; Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the concerned diplomats came abruptly when they heard news and took back their nationals except Burma and Laos, he further added. 

Sometimes, Thai authorities mistakenly verify to some prisoners at their nationals, looking their faces and colors. Sometimes, the victims themselves didn’t name their original country for fear of harassments in Burma if they have been sent back to Burma by Thai authorities, according to MAN news. 

A Rohingya trader in Bangkok declined to mention his name said, “There is no freedom of movement, even one villager needs traveling pass to go to one village to another and there is no earning sources to maintain families. Therefore, Rohingyas are compelled to flee their homeland to neighboring countries. If they were arrested in any country, they will become stateless, as the Burmese authorities and other country don’t recognize them as citizens.” 

It may be mentioned that there are many Rohingya prisoners in neighboring countries of Burma like Bangladesh and Malaysia where prisoners are facing uncertain future. Similarly, in Cox’s Bazar prison of Bangladesh, almost 25-30 percent of prisoners are Rohingya to whom no legal support is provided from any quarter. # # 

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