The following letter was sent to Thai authorities urging a thorough and impartial investigation into the murder of Ma-Usoh Malong. Mr. Ma-usoh was a retired man who is suspected to have been killed as a warning to his activist wife and to others who were working on bringing the perpetrators of the Tak Bai shooting to justice.

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H. E. Mr. Suvidhya Simaskul
Ambassador
Royal Thai Embassy in Japan
3-14-6 Osaki, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 141-0021

General Surayud Chulanont
Interim Prime Minister

General Sonthi Boonyaratglin
Interim Deputy Prime Minister

Mr. Charnchai Likitjitta
Interim Minister of Justice
Office of the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice Building

Mr. Aree Wongaraya
Interim Minister of Interior
Office of the Ministry of Interior

Pol. Gen. Seripisuth Themiyavet
Commissioner-General
Royal Thai Police

Mr. Pachara Yutidhammadamrong
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General

Professor Saneh Chamarik
Chairperson
National Human Rights Commission of Thailand

RE: Concern over the murder case of Ma-Usoh Malong in Tak Bai

Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center is a Tokyo-based non-governmental organization working for human rights and gender justice. We would like to express our deep concern regarding the killing of Ma-Usoh Malong in Tak Bai, Thailand, on 10 October 2007, and to urge relevant authorities to ensure that their is an impartial investigation in the case and that the perpetrators are prosecuted, while ensuring safety of his family and those involved in the efforts for seeking justice for victims of the Tak Bai shooting on 25 October 2004.

Mr. Ma-usoh was a retired man who did not participate in any activities that would make him a target of this attack; however, his wife has worked actively on the Tak Bai shooting and the subsequent deaths in army custody of 78 persons. We are concerned that his killing was intended as a warning to his wife and to the persons with whom she is actively involved in trying to obtain justice.

In this connection, we urge the concerned authorities to ensure that:
– A full and impartial investigation into this incident is conducted to identify and punish the perpetrators in accordance with the law;
– The family of the victim and other concerned persons be protected; and
– The family of victim be compensated properly.

We also take this opportunity to remind you that to date not one single government official has been held to account for the killing of 85 persons and other gross injustices arising out of the Tak Bai incident, despite three senior officers―Lietenant General Pisarn Wattanawongkiri; Major General Sinchai Nutsathit, and Major General Chalermchai Wirunpeth―having been identified as responsible by a government-appointed special inquiry.

Finally, we also call for the revocation of the Emergency Decree BE 2548 (2005) over the southern provinces, which has done nothing to reduce the conflict there but rather has further inflamed it by, in the words of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, making it possible “for soldiers and police officers to get away with murder” of exactly this sort.

Sincerely yours,
The Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center