Family of dead imam files lawsuit against Defense Ministry

A Narathiwat court ruled on December 25, 2008 after an inquest that Yapa, 56, was tortured and killed by soldiers while being interrogated on March 20-21, 2008 at a task force headquarter in Narathiwat.

The Cross Cultural Foundation, a leading Thai human rights organization working in the restive deep South expressed hope that the civil law suit against the Ministry of would serve as a deterrent for future abuses.

Separately, New York-based Human Rights Watch on Thursday called on all conflicting sides to respect human rights defenders. HRW said the murder of human rights activist Laila Paaitae Daoh, who was shot on March 12 allegedly by insurgents in Yala's Krong Penang district, was a major set back for peace in the restive region.

Laila died the next day from bullet wound.

"Laila and her family had long received threats and had been targets of insurgent attacks. Alleged insurgents killed her

eldest son in 2004 and her husband and second son in 2006," HRW said in a statement Thursday.

The killing of Laila followed the March 7 shooting and burning of two Buddhist civilians in Pattani province. In addition to daily shootings and bombings, insurgents have allegedly committed at least five beheadings of civilians and security personnel since the beginning of this year, HRW said.

"Laila's brutal murder is part of ongoing efforts by insurgents to intimidate and attack Muslims who oppose insurgency or have supported Thai authorities," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Her death is a serious loss for those trying to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in the south."

Insurgents in government-declared "red zones" in the southern border provinces have in recent years used violence and

terror to try to keep other Muslims under their control. In Mu 1 village of Tambon Purong, Krongpenang district, Yala province, where Laila lived, villagers were warned not to work with Thai authorities and not to accept food or other assistance from the government.

Despite these pressures, Laila promoted coexistence between ethnic Malay Muslims and Buddhist Thais. Her eldest son was a village chief, while her husband and second son worked as volunteers with local authorities. She and her family actively advocated the belief that justice and well-being for ethnic Malay Muslims could be sought peacefully through human rights and judicial mechanisms instead of armed struggle. Laila was also instrumental in activities of the Women and Peace Group and Luk Riang, a prominent child rights group, in the southern border provinces.

"The killings of Paaitae Daoh family members were undoubtedly meant as punishment and as a warning to other Muslims," said Adams. "In this way, the insurgents spread fear throughout the southern Muslim community."

Since the outbreak of violence in the southern border provinces in January 2004, a number of human rights defenders have been harassed, arrested, tortured, "disappeared," and murdered, allegedly by the security forces. None of these cases has been successfully investigated to bring the perpetrators to justice.

HRW called on the "Thai authorities in the south should stop harassing human rights groups,saying these activities undercut Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Administration's stated commitment to make justice and human rights government integral to resolving the conflict in the deep South where more than 3,400 have been killed since January 2004.