Pakistan’s persecuted minorities: For Ahmadi refugees in Thailand, problems double back home

Pakistan

Pakistan’s persecuted minorities: For Ahmadi refugees in Thailand, problems double back home

By Abdul Manan
Published: July 5, 2011

A Pakistani refugee who is a member of the Ahmadiyya, an Islamic minority sect, carries his daughter as he is released from a detention centre in Bangkok June 6, 2011. PHOTO: REUTERS/ FILE

BANGKOK: Irfanul Mulk may have been able to find temporary shelter in Thailand, but those who forced him out of Pakistan are now flexing their muscles to bring him back.

Irfan, 27, left his village Taban in Punjab’s Sheikhupura district after he and his two brothers Furqanul Mulk, 21, and Umer Sultan, 31, were held under Pakistan Penal Code’s Section 298-C which prohibits Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslim or “in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims”. A police case was lodged against them but residents refused to calm down, and the three men decided to leave the country.

“When people of the village learnt about our detention and asylum applications, they approached the Sheikhupura District police chief and submitted an application seeking our repatriation to Pakistan calling us traitors who had maligned the country abroad,” Irfan told The Express Tribune.

Since then, the police have raided their home several times and their elder brother Haider Sultan, who stayed back in Pakistan, is facing constant threats.

Representatives of the Tehrik-i-Khatm-i-Nubuwat, an organisation that has repeatedly attacked the Ahmadiyya community for its religious beliefs, have even written to the US Embassy in Pakistan, warning them against giving American nationality to Irfan and his brothers.

But while Irfan and his brothers had to suffer at the hands of their neighbours, there are others who have been persecuted by their own families.

Syed Altaf Hussain Bukhari, the grandson of a renowned pir* whose shrine is located on the outskirts of Islamabad, moved to Thailand in November 2010 with his wife Sadia and their two children. They were forced to flee after his family cut off ties with them for having converted in 1996 to the Ahmadi faith and even subjected him to physical torture.

“When I announced that I was becoming an Ahmadi, my brothers and a cousin, who was the caretaker of the shrine at that point, immediately denounced their relationship with me,” he said. His brothers started telling followers that he was not their real brother as their father had adopted him. Pamphlets bearing his photograph were distributed in Sheikhupura, calling him liable to be murdered.

To protect his wife and children, Altaf, who survived the deadly attacks on Ahmadiyya worship places in Lahore in May 2010, left his ancestral village to move to Sheikhupura and eventually, in 2003, he moved to Lahore where they went into hiding.

Once his people back home learnt that he was seeking asylum in Thailand, they started threatening his father-in-law as well.

Shahid Mehmood, who fled from Multan where he had an established business, said that he had witnessed the beheading of two Ahmadi doctors in March 2009 and insisted on registering an FIR against a pir for instigating his followers to murder Ahmadis. “His followers would visit my shop daily and try to persuade me to withdraw the case,” says Mehmood. “I went to three senior police officers who threw the file in my face and told me that they were followers of [the pir] and could not dare to proceed against him.”

But after another Ahmadi man Rana Ataul Kareem was murdered in August 2009 and the case was traced back to the pir, Mehmood started to receive threats. In September 2010, Mehmood, his wife and four children, arrived in Bangkok.

Back home, Mehmood’s shops have been closed and his house has been sealed.

Many families decided to send younger members abroad while parents stayed back. Aamir Ali, 22, left his village Pasrur in Punjab’s Sialkot district along with his three sisters. But after news of them seeking asylum spread, villagers started to taunt their mother, who has had to regularly switch homes.

* The name of the pir is being withheld on the request of Bukhari.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/202641/pakistans-persecuted.../

Insecure minorities: Threatened at home, jailed abroad

Pakistan

Insecure minorities: Threatened at home, jailed abroad

By Abdul Manan
July 04, 2011

The refugees, all members of the Ahmadi community, had been in detention for more than six months. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

BANGKOK: Tahir Mehmood Adil, an Ahmadi from Sialkot, was kidnapped in 2009 by militants, held captive for 36 days and threatened with beheading. His cousin, Sajjad, negotiated successfully for his release. A few days later, however, Sajjad was shot dead and Adil received a text message saying he would be next.

That was when Adil fled to Thailand with his wife and three children. On arrival, he was arrested by Thai immigration authorities who tore up their asylum papers and took them to Bangkok’s notorious Immigration Detention Cell (IDC). The family was detained here for the next seven months in the most inhumane conditions.

Detained refugees

Adil is one of 96 such refugees from Pakistan whose fate hangs in balance as they are transferred from one detention centre to another, despite having their status recognised by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

By December 2010, the Thai immigration bureau detained 91 Pakistanis seeking asylum on grounds of religious persecution in their home country. Another 38 were detained in the early months of 2011.

Of the 131 Ahmadis at Bangkok’s Suan Phlu IDC, 35 were sent back in the last week of December. The remaining 96 refused to budge on grounds that it amounted to suicide. These persons were finally released with the support of the Thai committee for refugees in June.

The group now reports to the immigration bureau every month. Their situation has improved as compared to their time in the IDC but they are not allowed to leave their residence without permission from the local police.

Inhumane conditions

This group, including 34 children, now lives in two separate confinement centres and apartments in a Bangkok suburb. Each family has a single room. For them there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The refugees are awaiting resettlement to third countries, mainly the US.

The conditions at the detention centre were worse, says Adil as he looks back at his time there. The cells where they were detained were designed to hold around 40 but housed 150 detainees. Women and children were separated from the men.

The choice was clear. Stay in the IDC or go back to Pakistan. It is an unending battle. Two of the detainees who have been in IDC for 23 months were granted bail but the UNHCR refused to recognise their status. Two others who were at the last step of their resettlement process were told to repeat the entire process.

Painful process

Adil told The Express Tribune that everyone had a story to tell. He acknowledged that even though they were aware of Thailand not being a signatory to the UNHCR’s convention on refugees, their fate in Pakistan was one which would be worse and that is why they decided to come here.

Adil said that the process of seeking asylum and refugee status from UNHCR was lengthy and painful. He said interviews don’t take place for months, much beyond the mandatory three-month period. The resettlement is another lengthy process in which refugees are informed about their final destination.

Individual stories

The stories go on. Qamar and Mansoor who had been in the centre for the last two years had been granted bail but they were later refused refugee status. After their release, their resettlement process had slowed down.

One Rana Qamar had been detained along with his two children while his wife was in Pakistan. Qamar’s 11 year old daughter, Areesha, was detained for seven months all alone.

Another detainee, Adnan Rashid, said that he was in detention but his wife and two children were not. He feared for them.

Doctors who escaped targeted killings at home are also part of the group. Dr Hafeez Ahmad, who hails from Karachi said that after his colleagues, Dr Hameedullah Shah and Dr Najamul Hassan were shot dead he decided to leave. But not after shifting his clinic four times in a bid to discourage those targeting him.

Kashif Butt whose wife gave birth to their child in the IDC recalls his horrible experience. When his wife was taken to the nearby hospital, her legs were tied so she could not run away. In another case, a Pakistani woman’s feet were bound when she went in for a caesarean procedure.

Every day is a living hell for many. The Ahmadiyya Community representative in Thailand Imran Ahmad told The Express Tribune that the future of those family members who later joined their next of kin hangs in balance.

Despite all the frustration and the fear, most are fearful of returning to Pakistan. Some laugh and others cry at the mention of their home country. But all pray for their future and for those left behind.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2011.

Copyrighted © 2011 The Express Tribune News Network
URL: tribune.com.pk/story/202056/insecure-minorities.../

Refugee Agency slams arrests in Thailand

NATIONAL »

UNITED NATIONS

Refugee Agency slams arrests in Thailand

By SUPALAK GANJANAKHUNDEE,
NUNTIDA PUANGTHONG
THE NATION
Published on June 21, 2011

‘Deep concern’ over 32 locked up, including children

The United Nations refugee agency yesterday slammed Thailand for the arrest of 32 refugees over the past two weeks.

The refugees were arrested in a number of locations, including Bangkok.

“We are deeply concerned about these arrests, which just increase the sense of insecurity that refugees and asylum-seekers already feel,” said Jean-Noel Wetterwald, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional representative and coordinator for Southeast Asia, who is based in Bangkok.

Thirty-two asylum seekers and refugees, including many children, have been arrested since June 7 and the charges against them are unclear, the UNHCR said.

Six Pakistani asylum seekers and a Pakistani who had obtained refugee status were nabbed in Pathum Thani on June 7 and sent to Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre at Suan Phlu. The group included three children, two of whom were under five years old.

Two days later, on June 9, nine Ahmadi asylum-seekers, including two more children under five years old, were arrested in Ayutthaya. The UNHCR was able to secure the release of three other Ahmadi asylum-seekers who were rounded up in Bangkok on the same afternoon without them being charged or brought to court, it said.

The Ahmadi Muslim sect has tens of millions of members in 190 countries, with most followers living in the subcontinent and Africa.

Five other refugees and eight asylum-seekers - Ahmadis and Sri Lankans, including eight children - were detained on June 15 at a Bangkok bus stop and taken to the Bangkok detention centre, the UN said.

“We have long believed that refugees should not be locked up simply for being refugees,” Wetterwald said.

Thailand has long experience, starting in the 1970s, of dealing with refugees and asylum seekers from neighbouring countries. As at the end of last year, Thailand was sheltering 96,675 refugees, mostly from Burma, and the UN was discussing with the Thai authorities the verification of about 540,000 stateless persons in the country, the UNHCR said in its annual report on “Global Trends”, released yesterday.

However, Thailand, like many Asian countries, does not have a national asylum system. All foreigners who enter or live in Thailand without proper documentation are subject to arrest, prosecution, detention and deportation under immigration laws, even if they are registered with the UNHCR as asylum-seekers or refugees.

“An immigration detention centre is no place for refugees and asylum-seekers who have committed no crime, especially for children and women,” Wetterwald said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said the ministry acknowledged the UN’s concern, but said Thai immigration authorities had handled the arrests in accordance with normal legal procedures.

“For a long time, Thailand has treated them in accordance with our laws, on a humanitarian basis,” Thani said. “Thailand is ready to cooperate with the UNHCR, concerned countries and international organisations to solve the problem.”

As far as children are concerned, it is established policy not to separate them from their parents. As long as the parents are under arrest, they are allowed to take care of their children within the detention centre, Thani said.

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/REFUGEE...0158299.html

New Refugee Arrests Undermine Recent Progress

	Burma

New Refugee Arrests Undermine Recent Progress

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 By SIMON ROUGHNEEN

In this photo taken on Feb. 16, 2011, Rohingya boat people wait for medical treatment after being rescued, at a port in Aceh Besar, Aceh province, Indonesia. (Photo: AP)

BANGKOK — on June 7, the day after 96 Pakistani Ahmadiyah refugees and asylum seekers were freed on bail in what was hailed as a landmark new departure in Thailand’s dealings with refugees, six other Pakistani asylum seekers and one refugee were arrested in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok.

The seven were sent to Bangkok’s Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), site of the high-profile June 6 release, says the UN refugee agency (UNCHR). “We are deeply concerned about these arrests that just increase the sense of insecurity that refugees and asylum seekers already feel”, said Jean-Noël Wetterwald, UNHCR regional representative and coordinator for Southeast Asia.

The June 7 arrests were followed up on June 9 with the arrest of nine more Ahmadiyah asylum-seekers in Ayutthuya, with still more Ahmadiyah detained on June 15. The new arrests include children under five years old, as well as a number of Sri Lankan nationals. The Ahmadiyah are members of a minority Islamic group that is oppressed in Pakistan, where they are not recognized as Muslims and are often victims of sectarian violence.

Speaking on Monday evening at Bangkok’s Foreign Correspondent’s Club, Thailand National Human Rights Commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara described possible human rights violations at the IDC, such as detention conditions he depicted as crowded and unhealthy. One year ago today, Thailand assumed the Presidency of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Thailand has long been a destination for refugees fleeing oppression in south and southeastern Asia, and currently around 140,000 Burmese refugees are in Thailand, mostly in nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. Monday, June 20, was World Refugee Day, with Burma cited as the world’s fifth-highest source of refugees with 415,700 worldwide, around 200,000 of which are Rohingya.

The Rohingya are a Muslim people numbering around one million, mostly living in northern Arakan State in western Burma. They are denied Burmese citizenship and have long been persecuted. According to Refugees International, state and army land seizures, forced labor, arbitrary arrests and extortion of Rohngya are common.

More than 40 Rohngya are detained in Suan Plu IDC, which sits close to the main banking and finance district in Bangkok. Others are held elsewhere in Thailand, some of whom have languished inside detention centers for more than two years, although negotiations are taking place between refugee rights groups and the Thai authorities for the release of the Rohingya detainees.

In early 2009, allegations that the Thai army abandoned nearly 1,000 Rohingya at sea caused international anger, prompting then newly-installed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva to say he would investigate the claims. A diplomatic cable sent from the US Embassy in Bangkok, which was released early on Tuesday, outlined that prior to March 2009, the US sought to influence Thailand’s ‘pushback’ of Rohingya trying to enter Thailand by sea.

The American representatives, including then-Ambassador to Thailand Eric John, said they raised the issue with Thai officials and lawmakers, including PM Abhisit, resulting in what the Americans perceived to be a temporary respite in Thailand’s maritime pushbacks. The cable acknowledged the role played by media coverage, including that of The Irrawaddy, in pressuring the Thai authorities to relax the pushbacks.

After the advocacy push and media coverage, the next group of Rohingya arrivals to Thailand’s shores were well-treated, according to the US account. However, the Thai authorities cited their concerns that the granting of full refugee status to a party of 78 Rohingya being held at Ranong would prompt more refugees to come to Thailand in the hope of acquiring the same status and possible eventual third-country resettlement to a Western nation.

The cable mentioned US efforts to address the ‘root causes’ of the Rohingya problem, namely the human rights situation in Burma and Arakan State specifically. The US said it wanted Burma’s fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to pressure Burma into improving conditions in Rohingya-populated regions of Burma, measures that some analysts believe would reduce the numbers of Rohingya seeking refuge abroad.

On June 9, US Assistant Secretary for Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Eric P Schwartz reiterated the American position that “the solution to the Rohingya issue lies in Burma.” However, it is not clear that the US can convince Burma’s neighbors that Burmese Government policy toward Rohingya is the cause of their flight to Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia.

In early June, Bangladeshi Food Minister Abdur Razaque accused Western countries of being the root cause of the Rohingya refugee crisis, due to their pressure on his country to register more of the estimated 200,000 Rohingya. Only 28,000 are officially-recognized as refugees by Dhaka, with the rest living in dire conditions in squalid camps.

Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.
URL: www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=21536

Refugees are ‘still suffering’

News > Local News

Refugees are ‘still suffering’

Published: 21/06/2011 at 12:00 AM

Although Thailand has not ratified the Convention on the Status of Refugees, the Thai government still needs to provide basic rights such as access to bail and better shelter for refugees, according to a panel discussion yesterday on World Refugee Day.

Although 96 Pakistani refugees received bail on June 6 with assistance from the Refugee Freedom Fund, 200 of them remain at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) in Bangkok’s Suan Phlu area.

Speaking at the forum, National Human Rights Commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara said his commission had found likely human right violations at the IDC including arrest patterns and detention conditions, which he characterised as crowded and unhealthy, especially for children and women.

Thailand should avoid exposing refugees and displaced people to environments in which their basic human rights can easily be violated, Mr Niran said.

He called on Thai authorities to build a new refugee-friendly shelter outside the IDC. Dr Niran also called for interim measures that the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) could employ to screen these refugees.

The UNHCR said it was concerned about the arrests of Ahmadiyya and Sri Lankan asylum seekers in Pathum Thani, Ayutthaya and Bangkok.

“We have long believed that refugees should not be locked up simply for being refugees,” said Jean-Noel Wetterwald, the Bangkok-based UNHCR’s Regional Representative and Coordinator for Southeast Asia.

Thailand, like many Asian countries, does not have a national asylum system.

All foreigners who enter or live in Thailand without proper documentation are subject to arrest, prosecution, detention and deportation under immigration laws, even if they are registered with UNHCR as asylum-seekers or refugees.

Veerawit Tianchainan, director of the Thai Committee for Refugees, said the recently formed Refugee Freedom Fund, established a good foundation for assisting the remaining 200 Pakistani detainees and asylum seekers when it recently posted bail for 96 Ahmadiyya.

URL: www.bangkokpost.com/news/...still-suffering

A community marked for death

Opinion »

A community marked for death

Published on June 20, 2011

Re: “Ahmadiya people are safe in Pakistan” June 18, 2011

As a mainstream Pakistani Muslim I was shocked to read the rebuttal put forward by the Department of Consular Affairs, Embassy of Pakistan. They conveniently ignored the fact that Pakistan is the only state which has officially declared the Ahmadiya community as non-Muslims. Their freedom of religion has been curtailed through many ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments by myopic dictators like General Zia ul Haq and later right-wing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

On April 16, 1984, General Zia-ul-Haq, the former dictator (also the worst thing to have ever happened to Pakistan), issued the anti-Ahmadiya Ordinance, which effectively prohibited Ahmadis from preaching or professing their beliefs. The ordinance, which was supposed to prevent “anti-Islamic activities,” forbids Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslim or to “pose as Muslims”. This means that they are not allowed to profess the Islamic creed publicly or call their places of worship mosques.

Pray tell, where is the ‘freedom of religion’?

As a result of these black laws, which are completely against the wishes of the secular founder of the country Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Ahmadiya community, is threatened and hate-related literature is spread by fundamentalist religious groups to which Pakistan is no stranger.

Just last week a rights organisation said it feared large-scale targeted killings of Ahmadis in Faisalabad after pamphlets labelling members of the Ahmadiyya community “Wajibul Qatl” (‘liable to be murdered’), and inciting people to publicly attack followers of the faith, were openly and widely circulated in the city.

Living in denial will only worsen the already dreadful situation in the country.

Ahsan Arif Awan
Assumption University

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/A-community...

Embassy should have remained silent instead of lying

Opinion »

Embassy should have remained silent instead of lying

Published on June 20, 2011

Re: “Ahmadiya people are safe in Pakistan” June 18, 2011

I understand that it is the job of embassy staff to defend their country in foreign lands. However, there should be some decency to avoid complete fabrication of truth.

The Department of Consular Affairs, Embassy of Pakistan has the audacity to claim that lives of Ahmadi Muslims is not in mortal danger, and there is no persecution at state level of the Ahmadiya Muslim community.

Nothing could be further from the truth. A simple search on Google will list reports from the US, EU, UN and Asian human rights organisations that clearly document persecution faced by Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan on a daily basis.

The embassy should try to tell about the safety in Pakistan to widows and orphans of Ahmadis who were massacred in their own mosques. What will the embassy say to the old parents who had to bury their sons killed for being an Ahmadi Muslim?

Even as I write this letter, leaflets and posters are all being distributed in Faisalabad (one of the largest cities in Pakistan) that openly encourage Pakistanis to “kill all Ahmadis” in order to receive their high station in paradise. Is this the definition of Pakistan as a safe heaven for Ahmadis?

It is the state law that declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims thus encouraging killing of Ahmadis as apostates. If this was not enough, special ordinance was passed to ensure that any act of an Ahmadi Muslim to practise his or her faith becomes blasphemous in the eyes of the law.

In a country where a provincial governor and a minister of the state were killed in broad daylight for speaking against the blasphemy law, I am astonished how the counsellor affairs can sing songs about the safety of Ahmadi Muslims.

Shame on the Consular Affairs, it would have better to keep quiet!

Farhan Khokhar
Ontario, Canada

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Embassy...30158206.html

Immigration law is always top priority

News > Crime

Immigration law is always top priority

In-transit asylum seekers must still face Thai justice

Published: 13/06/2011 at 12:00 AM

Police will continue to arrest illegal immigrants who enter the country under the guise of refugees and claim human rights protection.

The migrants, mainly from North Korea and Pakistan, are using Bangkok as a transit point to resettle in a third country.

The city is a good channel for them as it houses the Asia-Pacific office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) where they can ask for refugee status, according to immigration police.

They are also given help by human rights advocates and even foreign diplomats.

“If we don’t arrest them, more illegal migrants will come to Thailand. This will lead to more crimes and human trafficking,” said Phongnakhon Nakhonsantiphap, deputy chief of investigation at the Immigration Bureau.

North Koreans who illegally enter northern Thailand from Laos are reportedly helped by human trafficking gangs to initially travel to China, from where they travel in cargo boats to Laos, according to investigations by the bureau and the Internal Security Operations Command.

Once in Thailand, officials from the South Korean embassy will contact them and facilitate the last leg of travel to South Korea, which is their final destination.

However, because their entry and stay in Thailand are both illegal, the North Korean immigrants must be prosecuted in court, according to the Immigration Bureau.

While the North Koreans claim hardship in their country as the reason for resettlement in South Korea, illegal Pakistani migrants, mainly from a minority Islamic sect, cite religious conflict as the main cause for them trying to get to Europe and America.

The Ahmadiyya, the name given to people belonging to the sect, want the UNHCR to grant them refugee status.

In some Islamic countries, they claim, the Ahmadiyya are killed as they are not accepted by mainstream Muslims.

Despite their plight, Pol Lt Col Phongnakhon said, if they are illegal migrants in Thailand, they have to be tried, fined and held at the Immigration Bureau.

On Dec 14 last year, immigration police arrested 96 Pakistani Ahmadiyya at a housing estate in Pathum Thani. All have since been prosecuted under Thai law.

However, they were later released on bail on human rights grounds, Pol Lt Col Phongnakhon said.

Last Monday, the group was helped by human rights advocates from the Thai Committee for Refugees Foundation.

The Immigration Bureau requires them to report to police every 30 days while waiting for the UNHCR’s response to their request.

In the meantime, the foundation has agreed to provide them with accommodation and occupational training.

Also, the bureau has adhered to the non-refoulement policy, a principle under international law not to send refugees to places where their lives and freedom will be threatened. They ask the illegal migrants where they want to go before being deported.

All insist they will not go back to Pakistan, Pol Lt Col Phongnakhon said.

According to an investigation, most of the 96 Ahmadiyya are well-to-do and entered Thailand legally. However, they were categorised as illegal migrants because they had overstayed their visas. The over-stay was caused by their wait for refugee status.

“Investigators have found they are not involved in criminal or terrorism activities,” Pol Lt Col Phongnakhon said.

But their appearance in large numbers has worried other residents in the housing estate, he said.

The Immigration Bureau has urged members of the public to call 1178 if they have information about illegal immigrants in their neighbourhood.

Operators of home or car rental services were also warned against helping the immigrants. People who provide accommodation for illegal immigrants could face up to 10 years in jail or a fine of 100,000 baht, while those providing them with transport risk five years in prison or a fine of up to 50,000 baht, he said.

URL: www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/241900/immigration...priority

Thailand frees 96 Pakistani refugees

World | Pakistan

Thailand frees 96 Pakistani refugees

Conditions in the overcrowded detention centre saw 150 people sharing cells for 30-40 people

APPublished: 00:00 June 7, 2011

Image Credit: AP

Pakistani refugees walk in line to a waiting bus after they were released from the immigration detention centre in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.

Bangkok: Almost 100 Pakistani refugees were freed Monday from Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration prison in an initiative spearheaded by Thai human rights activists.

The Thai Committee for Refugees said the release on bail of 96 members of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya sect was the first such large-scale release of refugees who Thai authorities treat as illegal aliens.

The group negotiated the release with the state National Human Rights Commission and immigration officials.

Children

The detainees, about a third of whom are children, were arrested last December even though all but two were granted official refugee status by the United Nations because they face persecution in their homeland, where they are considered non-Muslim.

“We are feeling very happy… like a bird in a cage when it comes out,” said Mahmoud, a freed 35-year-old refugee who declined to give his last name. “But we should not say about inside.”

Inhumane conditions

The committee said conditions in the detention centre had been described as “overcrowded, inhumane and unhygienic,” with more than 150 people having to share cells designed for 30 to 40.

“In the women’s cell there were times when women had to stand so that some of them could sleep,” said Anoop Sukumaran, coordinator of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network.

“The children were often sleeping next to the toilets, which were overflowing with faeces and urine. The conditions, to say the least, were horrific at some points.”

Thailand attracts thousands of refugees each year because it is easily accessible by land and sea, and borders several countries that are politically repressive and economically weaker.

Tougher stance

It has generally been welcoming to refugees, especially when they have been fleeing warfare in neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar.

In recent years, however, it has taken a harder line toward groups such as the Hmong from Laos and Rohingya from Myanmar, whom they see as economic migrants.

Those released Monday will stay in Bangkok until they are resettled in a third country.

URL: http://gulfnews.com/news/world/pakistan/thailand...818354

Detained in Thailand: Almost 100 Pakistani refugees released

Pakistan

Detained in Thailand: Almost 100 Pakistani refugees released

Published: June 7, 2011

The refugees, all members of the Ahmadi community, had been in detention for more than six months. PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK: Almost 100 Pakistani refugees were freed on Monday from Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration prison in an initiative spearheaded by Thai human rights activists, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The Thai Committee for Refugees said the release on bail of 96 members of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community was the first such large-scale release of refugees who Thai authorities treat as “illegal aliens”, according to AP.

The group negotiated the release with the state National Human Rights Commission and immigration officials.

The detainees, about a third of whom are children, were arrested last December even though all but two were granted official refugee status by the United Nations.

“We are feeling very happy … like a bird in a cage when it comes out,” said Mehnood, a freed 35-year-old refugee who declined to give his last name, as quoted by AP.

The committee said conditions in the detention centre had been described as “overcrowded, inhumane and unhygienic,” with more than 150 people having to share cells designed for 30 to 40 people.

“In the women’s cell there were times when some women had to stand so that others could sleep,” said co-coordinator of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network Anoop Sukumaran.

“The children were often sleeping next to the toilets, which were overflowing with feces and urine. The conditions, to say the least, were horrific at some points.”

Thailand attracts thousands of refugees each year because it is easily accessible by land and sea, and borders several countries that are politically repressive and economically weaker.

It has generally been welcoming to refugees, especially when they have been fleeing warfare in neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar. In recent years, however, it has taken a harder line toward groups such as the Hmong from Laos and Rohingya from Myanmar, whom they see as economic migrants.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2011.

URL: http://tribune.com.pk/story/183407/thailand...refugees/

Pakistani refugees freed on bail from Thai jail

World

Pakistani refugees freed on bail from Thai jail

AP
June 06, 2011

A Thai police officer stands next to Pakistani refugees who walk in line to a waiting bus after they were released from the immigration detention center in Bangkok, Thailand Monday, June 6, 2011. – AP

BANGKOK: Almost 100 Pakistani refugees have been freed from Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration prison in an initiative spearheaded by Thai human rights activists.

The Thai Committee for Refugees says the 96 members of Pakistan’s Ahmadi sect were freed on bail Monday in the first such large-scale release of detainees the authorities treat as illegal aliens.

The group negotiated the release with the state National Human Rights Commission and immigration officials.

The detainees, about a third of whom are children, were arrested last December even though all but two were granted official refugee status by the United Nations because they faced persecution in their homeland.

“We are feeling very happy … like a bird in a cage when it comes out,” said Mehmood, a freed 35-year-old refugee who declined to give his last name. “But we should not say about inside.”

The committee said conditions in the detention center had been described as ”overcrowded, inhumane and unhygienic,” with more than 150 people having to share cells designed for 30 to 40.

“In the women’s cell there were times when women had to stand so that some of them could sleep,” said Anoop Sukumaran, coordinator of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network.

“The children were often sleeping next to the toilets, which were overflowing with feces and urine. The conditions, to say the least, were horrific at some points.”

They will stay in Bangkok until they are resettled in a third country.

© 2010 DAWN Media Group. All rights reserved
URL: www.dawn.com/2011/06/06/pakistani...jail.html

Thailand Releases Pakistan Minority Refugees on Bail, Welcomed by Activists

South Asia

Thailand Releases Pakistan Minority Refugees on Bail, Welcomed by Activists

Daniel Schearf | Bangkok June 06, 2011

Photo: AP

Pakistani refugees walk in line to a waiting bus after they were released from the immigration detention center in Bangkok, Thailand, June 6, 2011

Thailand has released nearly 100 refugees of the Ahmadiyah Muslim minority after six months in detention. The group of religious minorities, including women and children, fled persecution in Pakistan only to be arrested in Bangkok. Their release is the biggest-ever secured by a Thai refugee activist group.

The 96 refugees were jubilant after Thai immigration police released them from a Bangkok detention center.

“We are so happy, Kingdom of Thailand. We are, no have words what we say, we only say thank you very much,” said Rana Haroon Siddique, one of the men released on bail.

Siddique and others were freed after the Thai Committee for Refugees worked with Ahmadiyah Muslim groups and other activists to help pay more than $150,000 in bail money.

The Ahmadiyah practitioners fled to Thailand from Pakistan, where they are persecuted as heretics to Islam. Earlier this year, police in Bangkok arrested the 96 during several immigration raids from December to February.

Those in detention included women and more than 30 children, as well as a pregnant woman who gave birth in detention. Refugee rights groups said they were being held in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions with more than 150 people sharing cells meant for a maximum of 40 people.

The U.N. Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, welcomed their release. Spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said they should not have been arrested in the first place.

“We welcome anyone getting out of detention,”she said. An immigration detention center is no place for any person, particularly elderly people, sick people, babies, children. We welcome any step that gets refugees out of detention. We do not think refugees should be locked up simply for being refugees in the first place.”

McKinsey says they worked with the detained group to fast-track their applications. She says all but two now have been recognized as refugees by the United Nations.

Thailand does not recognize refugees, making everyone without proper documentation subject to arrest and prosecution.

Police Lieutenant General Wiboon Bangthamai is commissioner of the immigration bureau. While he gave no indication authorities are planning to relax their stringent immigration policy, he indicated the dialogue with activists could help speed up the processing of refugees in detention.

He says, according to the law, if they enter Thailand illegally they must be arrested, but he says Thai authorities will continue to work with human-rights organizations on the issue.

While they are on bail, the Ahmadiyah are being housed in Bangkok until they are resettled to a third country.

URL: www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/south/Thailand...123225218.html

Pakistani refugees freed on bail from Thai jail

	June 6, 2011 Monday Updated 9.53 pm

SE Asia

Home > Breaking News > SE Asia > Story

Jun 6, 2011

Pakistani refugees freed on bail from Thai jail

Almost 100 Pakistani refugees have been freed from Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration prison in an initiative spearheaded by Thai human rights activists. – ST PHOTO: NIRMAL GHOSH

BANGKOK - ALMOST 100 Pakistani refugees have been freed from Bangkok’s overcrowded immigration prison in an initiative spearheaded by Thai human rights activists.

The Thai Committee for Refugees says the 96 members of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya Muslim sect were freed on bail on Monday in the first such large-scale release of detainees the authorities treat as illegal aliens.

The group negotiated the release with the state National Human Rights Commission and immigration officials.

The detainees, about a third of whom are children, were arrested last December even though all but two were granted official refugee status by the United Nations because they faced persecution in their homeland.

They will stay in Bangkok until they are resettled in a third country. – AP

URL: www.straitstimes.com/.../STIStory_676772.html

Thailand releases Pakistani refugees on bail

Breaking News »

Thailand releases Pakistani refugees on bail

05 June 2011

Thai immigration police Monday released on bail 96 Pakistani refugees of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community who had been detained for nearly six months.

“Today is our day of freedom,” said Mehmood, one of the released Pakistanis. “We thank God.”

The group was detained in December after arriving from Pakistan to seek resettlement abroad with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has a regional office in Bangkok.

The group claimed political persecution in Pakistan.

Among those released on bail were 34 children under the age of 12, and one infant who was born while his mother was detained.

Their release was made possible by the Thai Committee for Refugees, a non-governmental organisation that put up a 5-million-baht (166,666-dollar) bond for the refugees, who will be housed in Bangkok while waiting for the UNHCR to process the resettlement applications.

“We are glad to see Thai society rallying to protect refugees, who - having fled persecution in their homelands - are among the most vulnerable people in this country,” said James Lynch, UNHCR’s representative for Thailand.

“The UN refugee agency believes no refugee should be locked up simply for being a refugee,” he added.//DPA

URL: www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Thailand...30157111.html

Thailand to free Pakistan refugees

Asia Pacific News Saturday, 04 June 2011

Thailand to free Pakistan refugees

Posted: 04 June 2011 2034 hrs

A Thai soldier stands guard close by Government House in Bangkok.

BANGKOK: Thailand on Saturday confirmed it would release a group of almost a hundred Pakistani refugees and asylum seekers whom activists said includes several dozen children and a baby born in detention.

Ninety-six people, most of whom were arrested in December, will be released from a Bangkok detention centre on Monday, an immigration officer said.

The detained group are from Pakistan’s Ahmadi Muslim community, who suffer violence and persecution in their home country, according to the Thai Committee for Refugees, which helped organise the release.

Veerawit Tianchainan, the organisation’s executive director, said there were 34 children under 12 among those detained in cramped rooms that he said were filled with up to 150 people despite being designed to hold just 40 inmates.

He said one baby was born inside the facility and described conditions as “unhygienic and very crowded”.

“Children were separated from their mothers or fathers and that kind of condition, psychologically, is very very bad,” he said, explaining that families were split up because men and women are held apart.

The organisation has paid a five million baht ($165,000) bail bond and undertaken to provide for the welfare of the Ahmadis as they await the results of resettlement applications, mainly to the US.

“I think that back in Pakistan the Ahmadi were outcast by the Islamic institutions… there was a lot of physical abuse,” he said, adding that the group will now be housed in a Bangkok suburb.

Ahmadis are considered by many Muslims to be heretics and the Pakistani government has officially declared them as non-Muslim.

Ninety-nine Ahmadis were killed in the country in 2010 – more than the total number of the minority group killed in the previous 14 years – according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in its annual report released in April this year.

“We had unprecedented killings of Ahmadis in 2010 and the government hasn’t got the guts to console and sympathise with them,” HRCP secretary general I.A. Rehman said at the time.

Veerawit said the agreement to release the group was a “historic development” as it was the first time such a large number of refugees had been freed at once and praised the Thai immigration bureau for being “very cooperative”.

Rights groups had slammed the decision to arrest the Ahmadis in the first place as almost all were believed to be either recognised refugees or awaiting confirmation of their status.

—AFP/wk

Copyright © 2011 MediaCorp Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
URL: www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1133213/1/.html

International community must intervene for the release of 85 Ahmadi refugees mistreated in Thailand

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN/THAILAND: International community must intervene for the release of 85 Ahmadi refugees mistreated in Thailand

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-019-2011
January 31, 2011

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN/THAILAND: International community must intervene for the release of 85 Ahmadi refugees mistreated in Thailand

A group of 85 persons have been in detention in Bangkok since December 14, 2010 despite the fact that they are already registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok. Of the 85 persons, 17 of them have reportedly had their applications accepted and have been granted refugee status. The group includes 38 women and girls, among whom there is at least one pregnant woman. It also includes at least 38 children, including 26 aged under 10 years. There is also a number of babies and elderly one of whom is 60 and is suffering high blood pressure and another person with a heart condition.…

The group belongs to the Ahmadiya community who fled from Pakistan to take shelter in Bangkok, Thailand, after undergoing continuous persecution and killings, particularly after the attacks of Muslim extremists on their two Mosques in May 2010 in which more than 100 persons were killed. They left their country to register as refugees with the UNHCR and seek asylum.

Sadly instead of the compassion and humanitarian assistance they urgently need they have instead suffered serious violations of their human rights. This may be seen in the treatment of those in the detention centre. The hygiene and sanitation conditions are appalling. Medical and nutrition facilities are almost non-existent. The detainees are being fed by the local Thai community and the sick children have little medical care. Women have been assaulted and the one who was pregnant was taken to hospital for delivery in handcuffs and heavy chains and kept in such restraint throughout her delivery. On return to the detention centre she was kept in chains and locked up in a toilet for a whole night.

They were all genuine refugees as defined in the UNHCR 1951 convention. They also had the right to flee to another country under article 14 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights. On registration they were all issued with a protection certificate as a proof of identity for the Thai Government to allow them to remain in the country until their asylum application was determined. However, in total disregard of the UNHCR convention and the international Code of Conduct, the Thai Police raided the lodgings of the refugees and arrested them, heavily fining them for overstaying in the country. Following this they were placed in a detention centre indefinitely.

It is extremely perturbing that the Thai government took this action against the members of a law abiding peaceful community who had fled from Pakistan where they were constantly being prosecuted under the blasphemy laws, the mandatory punishment for which is death.

All those arrested possessed protection certificates issued by the UNHCR which were supposed to be honoured by the Thai Government, even if it is not a signatory to the UNHCR 1951 convention. It is a situation that needs to be taken up seriously with the Thai government by the world community. How can the Thai Government, as a full member of the UN and the current president of the UNHRC, fail to cooperate with, support and honour the work of a UN organisation it has allowed to operate from its country.

The Asian Human Rights Commission is appalled by this situation urges the chairperson of United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Swedish Parliament and the European Union to raise the issue with the Government of Thailand and take appropriate action for the immediate release and care of the detainees in Bangkok.

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2011statements/3062

Rights groups’ concern over Thailand asylum arrests

Rights groups’ concern over Thailand asylum arrests

Wed, Dec 22, 2010
AFP

BANGKOK - An elderly Chinese dissident and more than 30 children are among a host of refugees and asylum seekers arrested and detained by Thai immigration authorities, rights groups said Wednesday.

Journalist and activist Sun Shucai, 87, “is not getting enough food” in the Bangkok detention centre where he is being held, according to media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

“We are very concerned about Sun’s health as the conditions in the detention centre are poor. We fear that a man his age may not be able to endure this ordeal,” the group said in a statement.

Sun, who served 14 years of hard labour in eastern China for writing critical articles, was arrested on December 8 despite holding papers from the UN saying his application for refugee status was under consideration, it added.

Reporters Without Borders said a judge fined the dissident 3,000 Baht (100 dollars) the day after his arrest and ordered the authorities to examine the possibility of deporting him.

Concerns about him came as rights organisations raised fears over the detention of 86 people of Pakistani origin who were arrested on December 14.

A statement from 26 rights groups sent by the Asian Human Rights Commission said they were “deeply concerned and shocked” by the detention of the group, which they said included more than 30 children.

The groups believe that almost all the detainees are either recognised as refugees or are awaiting confirmation of their status.

According to the statement all those arrested are Ahmadiyya Muslims, a group subject to “systematic persecution” in Pakistan.

“This targeted detention by Thai officials of a particular community from their homes is particularly concerning and disturbing,” the rights groups said.

Thai immigration authorities and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok were both unavailable for comment.

Reporters Without Borders said Sun had a long history of political activism and was sentenced to 14 years in 1956 for criticising China’s Maoist revolution.

Once freed he was assigned to work in metallurgical plant, but he resumed his dissident activity in 1998, writing articles critical of the ruling Communist Party.

“Sun’s only crime is to have sought refuge in a safe place because his defence of human rights was exposing him to reprisals in China,” the group said.

©2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved

URL: http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20101222-254268.html

PAKISTAN: Statement of concern on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Thailand

Asian Human Rights Commission — Statement

PAKISTAN: Statement of concern on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Thailand

Dear friends,

We wish to share with you the following statement from 26 Human Rights Organisations.

Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong

___________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FST-101-2010
December 22, 2010

A Statement from 26 Human Rights Organisations forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission

PAKISTAN: Statement of concern on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Thailand

Date: 15/12/2010

We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned and shocked at the arrest and detention of 86 refugees and asylum seekers of Pakistani origin in Bangkok. These vulnerable people were arrested from their homes in a dawn raid and taken to the Bangkok Detention Centre.

We have information that indicates that almost all the detainees have either been recognized as refugees by the UNHCR or have registration documents as their cases for Refugee Status Determination is under way. They all belong to the Ahmadiyya faith. The persecution of Ahmadis has been particularly severe and systematic in Pakistan, which is the only state to have officially declared the Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and are persecuted for professing their religion. The systematic persecution of the community in Pakistan is well documented.

This targeted detention by Thai officials of a particular community from their homes is particularly concerning and disturbing.

We have been informed that the detainees include more than 30 children who have been detained along with their parents.

Thailand has been generous and accommodating of those who have sought refuge within its borders. It has been compassionate and understanding of those in need of protection from persecution. These detentions however are a blot on the tolerant and compassionate image of Thailand.

Thailand is the President of the UN Human Rights Council, and it is highly unbecoming of the President of the Human Rights Coucil to sanction a flagrant violation of basic human rights. International human rights standards prohibit arbitrary, indefinite and non-reviewable detention. Refugees and asylum seekers should not be detained or penalized because they were compelled to enter a country irregularly or without proper documentation.

In addition, Thailand, which has signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, must ensure the best interest of all children, that they are protected and are not detained for migration-related purposes in the first instance.

These refugees and asylum seekers are NOT criminals, they need to be protected and not victimised.

We strongly urge the Thai government to reconsider its ill advised action and release the 86 detainees.

We hope the Thai government will adhere to the high standards of compassion and human rights through the unconditional release of the detainees.

Signed by 26 human rights organisations as seen below:

	Name Of organisation	Country
1.	Asylum Access	USA
2.	Asylum Access Thailand	Thailand
3.	Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights	Egypt
4.	Fahamu Refugee Programme	UK
5.	Forum Asia	Regional
6.	Glo Foundation	India
7.	Healthy Equity Initiatives	Malaysia
8.	Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre Limited	Hong Kong, China SAR
9.	INHURED International	Nepal
10.	International Detention Coalition	International
11.	Khmer Kampuchaa Krom Human Rights Association (KKKHRA)	Cambodia
12.	Korean Public Interest Lawyers Group GONGGAM	Republic of Korea
13.	Libyan League for Human Rights	Libya
14.	Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service	Unied States of America
15.	Mapendo International	USA
16.	NANCEN	South Korea
17.	New Zealand National Refugee Network	New Zealand
18.	OfERR	India
19.	Peoples Empowerment Foundation	Thailand
20.	PPR Nepal	Nepal
21.	Refugee Council of Australia	Australia
22.	Thai Committee for Refugees (TCR)	Thailand
23.	The Arakan Project	Regional
24.	the National Human Rights Society of Malaysia (HAKAM)	Malysia
25.	The other Media	India
26.	U.S. Committee for Refugees and immigrants (USCRI)	USA

# # #

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984. The above statement has only been forwarded by the AHRC.

URL: www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/3005/

THAILAND: Officials detain babies, children and pregnant women among asylum seekers

Asian Human Rights Commission — Urgent Appeals

THAILAND: Officials detain babies, children and pregnant women among asylum seekers

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION — URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-182-2010
21 December 2010

THAILAND: Officials detain babies, children and pregnant women among asylum seekers

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has obtained information that immigration authorities have taken into custody at least 85 persons from Pakistan who are seeking asylum. The group includes babies, small children, pregnant women, and the sick and elderly. The persons have registered with the United Nations for asylum and so far 17 have reportedly been officially recognized as refugees. No reason has been given for their detention; however, it comes at a time that authorities in Thailand are reportedly targeting asylum seekers for forced repatriation, especially to countries in South Asia.

CASE NARRATIVE:

On 14 December 2010, immigration authorities in Thailand raided the residences of a group of at least 85 persons from Pakistan who have been registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok, 17 of whom have reportedly had their applications accepted and have been granted refugee status, and took them into custody at the immigration detention facilities in Bangkok.

The group includes at least 38 women and girls, among whom there is at least one pregnant woman. It also includes at least 38 children, including 26 aged under 10 years, among them a number of babies. And it includes a 60-year old with high blood pressure, and a 53-year old with a heart condition. A list compiled of the detainees is available hereunder:

No.	NAMES	NI No.	AGE	GENDER	HEALTH CONDITION	STATUS
1	Mr. A Sallam Muneer	23351	53 Years	M	Heart Patient	Asylum Seeker
2	Mrs. Ghazala A Sallam	23351	42 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
3	Ms. Maria Sadaf	23351	18 years	F		Asylum Seeker
4	Ms. Asma Hilya	23351	17 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
5	Ms. Tayyaba Bushra	23351	15 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
6	Mr. Mohammad A.Sallam	23351	10 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
7	Mr. Azhar Ahmad Khalid	23451	39 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
8	Mrs. Saima Naureen Azhar	23451	37 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
9	Mr. Hamza Khalid	23451	12 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
10	Mr. Raza Khalid	23451	10 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
11	Mr. Usman Khalid	23451	9 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
12	Mr. Rizwan Khalid	23451	4 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
13	Mr. Rana Haroon Siddique	22781	41 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
14	Mrs. Dilshad Nazil	22781	37 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
15	Mr. Rana Amar Farooq	22781	9 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
16	Mr. Rana Aashir Ahmad	22781	6 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
17	Mr. Umer Sultan	23149	30 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
18	Mrs. Zahida Umer	23149	30 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
19	Mr. Irfan Ul Mulk	23150	26 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
20	Mr. Sakhawat Ali	23627	Aprox 35	M		Refugee
21	Mrs. Sakhawat Ali	23627	30 Years	F		Refugee
22	Son of Sakhawat Ali	23627	7 Years	M		Refugee
23	Daughter of Sakhawat Ali	23627	5 Years	F		Refugee
24	Daughter of Sakhawat Ali	23627	3 Years	F		Refugee
25	Son of Sakhawat Ali	23627	3 Months	M		Refugee
26	Shaikh Tahir Ahmed	22875	60 years	M	B.P Patient	Refugee
27	Mrs. Shaikh Tahir Ahmed	22875	55 Years	M	Asthma Patient	Refugee
28	Mr.Anas Ahmed	22885	25 Years	M		Refugee
29	Ms.Aaina Tahir	22886	23 Years	F		Refugee
30	Daughter of Shaikh Tahir Ahmed	22875	16 Years	F		Refugee
31	Mrs. Mansoora Rizwan	22870	30 Years	F		Refugee
32	Mr. Monis Ahmed	22870	3 Years	M		Refugee
33	Mr. Dr Hafeez Ahmed	23059	45 Years	M		Refugee
34	Mrs. Amtul Rauf	23059	40 Years	F		Refugee
35	Mr. Mubbashir Ahmed	23059	15 Years	M		Refugee
36	Ms. Samreen Ujala	23059	12 years	F		Refugee
37	Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmed	23706	22 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
38	Mr. Ch. Aadil Zia Kahloon	23003	45 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
39	Mrs. Fouzia Aadil	23003	45 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
40	Ms. Tina Aadil	23003	17 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
41	Mr. Sajid Ahmed	23003	16 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
42	Mr. Taymour Aadil	23003	10 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
43	Ms. Saman Aadil	23003	7 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
44	Mr. Munawer Ahmed Cheema	23474	50 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
45	Mrs. Mussawara Jabeen	23474	44 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
46	Mr. Ghazanfar Ahmed Cheema	23475	24 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
47	Mr. Tasawar Ahmed Cheema	23476	26 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
48	Mrs. Amtul Qadoose Faiza	23476	29 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
49	Ms. Amtul Musawar Mahima	23476	4 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
50	Mr. Tahir Mehmood (Ex. Murrabi)	23426	35 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
51	Mrs. Sofia Almas	23426	26 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
52	Mr. Hashir Ahmed Tahir	23426	7 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
53	Mr. Yasir Ahmed Tahir	23426	6 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
54	Mr. Faris Ahmed Tahir	23426	13 Months	M		Asylum Seeker
55	Mr. Khalid Shafiq	23501	34 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
56	Mrs. Samina Shafqat	23501	32 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
57	Ms. Manahal Khalid	23501	9 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
58	Mr. Faiz Ahmed Khalid	23501	6 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
59	Mr. Fahad Khalid	23501	2 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
60	Mr. Adnan Sohail	23324	29 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
61	Mrs. Hina Adnan	23324	29 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
62	Ms. Tashfa Adnan	23324	5 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
63	Ms. Qanta Adnan	23324	3 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
64	Ms. Salmana Adnan	23324	3 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
65	Mr. Ahsan Yaqoob	23677	25 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
66	Mrs. Saba Arooj	23677	20 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
67	Mr. Sadeed Ahmed	23677	10 Months	M		Asylum Seeker
68	Mr. Mohammad Yaqoob	23835	57 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
69	Ms. Razia Sultana	23835	50 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
70	Mr. Nouman Ahmed	23836	19 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
71	Mr. Hanif Ahmed Sindhu	24239	44 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
72	Mrs. Lubna Hanif	24239	33 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
73	Ms. Qurrat ul ain	24239	9 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
74	Mr. Vishal Ahmed	24239	7 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
75	Ms. Alisha Eman	24239	1 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
76	Mr. Jameel Ahmed Arif	24237	34 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
77	Mrs. Aneela Arif	24237	25 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
78	Mr. Mohammad Osaf Ahmed	24238	19 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
79	Mr. Nayyar Ahmed	23915	24 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
80	Mrs. Salma Ghazala	23915	23 Years	F	Expected Delivery	Asylum Seeker
81	Mohammad Iqbal	23815	45 Years	M		Asylum Seeker
82	Mrs. Mohammad Iqbal	23815	40 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
83	Daughter of Mohammad Iqbal	23815	8 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
84	Daughter of Mohammad Iqbal	23815	4 Years	F		Asylum Seeker
85	Son of Mohammad Iqbal	23815	16 Years	M		Asylum Seeker

* NI number means UNHCR ID No.

According to the information that the AHRC has received, the raid was coordinated across a number of locations near Bangkok where the persons had been residing. Despite this, the immigration authorities did not explain why they were taking the group into custody. The raid comes at a time that authorities in Thailand are reportedly hunting for and forcibly repatriating asylum seekers from South Asia, including from Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The detention centre where the group is being held is notoriously overcrowded and unhygienic. According to a recent visitor to the facility, the detainees are being held like “fish in a can” and are not even able to all sit down at the same time.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The members of the group for whom this appeal is being issued are Ahmadiyya Muslims who have sought asylum on the basis that they face religious persecution in Pakistan. Since they applied for asylum in Bangkok they are reported to be living in very difficult conditions, lacking any sources of income and surviving on assistance that was mainly provided by the Jesuit Refugee Service. The people had reportedly been living peaceably, awaiting the outcomes of their applications for asylum, and their detention while the process is ongoing is completely unjustified.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the persons listed below to call for the immediate release of these persons from custody and the respect of their right to seek asylum in Thailand and complete the process that they have begun with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia concerning these detainees.

To support this appeal, please click here: Send an Appeal Letter

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ___________,

THAILAND: Immigration Police detain babies, small children and women among group of registered asylum seekers and recognized refugees

Details of victims: At least 85 asylum seekers of Pakistani origin, a list of names and details posted online at: link

Details of alleged perpetrators: Immigration Police Division, Royal Thai Police

Date of incident: 14 December 2010 to present

I am writing to express my alarm at information I have received that Thai Immigration Police have taken into custody at least 85 persons of Pakistani origin who have fled to and have been staying in Bangkok for the purpose only of obtaining asylum and resettlement in third countries, among whom there are many women, small children and infirm people.

According to this information, on 14 December 2010, immigration authorities in Thailand raided the residences of persons from Pakistan who have been registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok, 17 of whom have reportedly had their applications accepted, and have been granted refugee status, and took them into custody at the Immigration Detention Centre at Suanphlu in Bangkok.

The group reportedly includes at least 38 women and girls, among whom there is at least one pregnant woman who is expecting to give birth to her child. It includes 38 children, including 26 aged under 10 years, among them a number of babies. It also includes a 60-year old with high blood pressure, and a 53-year old with a heart condition.

I am aware that the conditions in the detention centre are under normal conditions overcrowded and unhygienic. According to the report of one person who visited the facility recently, detainees are staying like “fish in a can”, and there is not even enough room for everyone to sit at the same time, let alone to lie down or move about at all.

I am appalled to hear that children and young women especially are being held in such circumstances, and am aware that aside from this group there are other women and children being held in the atrocious conditions at this facility: according to a report by a recent visitor to the detention centre, there are at least five women in advanced stages of pregnancy, from Sri Lanka and Pakistan, locked up there at present.

The raids on the residences of the asylum seekers at four locations, namely Prueksa 9, 11 and 12, Klong Sam, Prathumthani; and Sapanmai, Jaralsanitwong and Intamara in Bangkok were coordinated and planned, as the immigration personnel brought enough vehicles to take away all the persons. Despite this, the officials reportedly did not explain why they were taking the group into custody. As the asylum seekers had been staying peaceably, awaiting the outcome of their applications, the only conclusion to be had is that this is part of a programme being carried out by the authorities in Thailand against asylum seekers and refugees.

In light of the above, I call for the immediate release of these persons and for them to be allowed to remain in Thailand pending the outcomes of their applications for asylum. I call for appropriate medical treatment to be given to the ill and pregnant among them, and for the concerned authorities to take other measures as necessary for their security and wellbeing.

In this regard I draw the attention of the government of Thailand to its legally-binding obligations under international treaties, specifically under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture, both of which it has joined voluntarily. Under article 9 of the ICCPR, it is prohibited for the authorities in Thailand to detain anyone arbitrarily, and anyone who is detained has a legal right to be informed of the reasons and to challenge their detention in a court of law. Furthermore, under article 10 of the same treaty, “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”

Finally, the government would be aware that under article 3 of the Convention against Torture, it is prohibited from forcibly repatriating any person to a country where he or she is in danger of being subjected to torture; therefore, it is incumbent upon the authorities in Thailand to ensure that where any persons among those seeking asylum have legitimate reason to fear that they would be subject to torture if repatriated, the appropriate steps be taken to make sure that they are not under any circumstances forced to go back to their country of origin.

Yours sincerely,

______________________
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva
Prime Minister
c/o Government House
Pitsanulok Road, Dusit District
Bangkok 10300
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 288 4000 ext. 4025
Tel: +66 2 288 4000
E-mail: spokesman@thaigov.go.th or abhisit@abhisit.org

2. Mr. Chaowarat Chanweerakul
Minister of Interior
Office of the Ministry of Interior
Atsadang Road, Ratchabophit
Pranakorn, Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 226 4371/ 222 8866
Tel: +66 2 224 6320/ 6341
E-mail: om@moi.go.th

3. Mr. Peeraphan Saleeratwipak
Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building
22nd Floor Software Park Building,
Chaeng Wattana Road
Pakkred, Nonthaburi 11120
THAILAND
Fax: +662 502 6734 / 6884
Tel: +662 502 6776/ 8223
E-mail: om@moj.go.th

4. Mr. Kasit Piromya
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affair
443 Sri Ayudhya Road
Bangkok 10400
THAILAND
Fax: +662 643 5318
Tel: +662 643 5333
E-mail: om@mof.go.th

5. Mr. Jullasingha Wasantasingha
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Lukmuang Building, Nahuppei Road
Prabraromrachawang, Pranakorn,
Bangkok 10200
THAILAND
Fax: +662 224 0162/ 1448/ 221 0858
Tel: +662 224 1563/ 222 8121-30
E-mail: ag@ago.go.th or oag@ago.go.th

6. Pol. Gen. Wichean Potephosree
Royal Thai Police
1st Bldg, 7th Floor
Rama I, Patumwan
Bkk 10330
THAILAND
Fax: +66 2 251 5956/ 205 3738/ 255 1975-8
E-mail: feedback@police.go.th

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrc.asia)

URL: www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2010/3613/