MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – Two international human rights organizations have voiced concern over the alleged torture and sexual harassment of a female activist supporting the deposed Thai government while in military custody.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) stressed “the Thai junta’s alleged torture of a detained activist is further cause for alarm that rights protections are not on the military’s agenda.”
The case of Kritsuda Khunasen, a 27-year-old student activist who was working for a key member of the pro-government Red Shirts group, sparked outrage after the woman blew the lid off gruesome torture practice at Thai military camps, where some of the detainees are said to be held.
In a video interview released on August 2, Khunasen described how she was blindfolded, suffocated and assaulted during her 29-day detention with the military. A female soldier who handled her confessed to the activist Kritsuda would never get out alive if she saw the faces of her tormenters.
“They put a plastic bag over my head and wrapped a piece of cloth around it to suffocate me. I felt as if I was dead before they let me breathe again. They did that to me again and again until I passed out,” the student said.
Kritsuda Khunasen has fled the country and is now seeking refugee status in Europe.
The UN human rights authority said it was “very concerned by the methods of arrest and detention of politicians, activists, academics and journalists following the military coup in Thailand in May this year.”
According to OHCHR data, more than 700 people have been arrested by the so-called National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), a group of Thai military who seized power in the country after the May 22 coup.
While most of them were released within a week, an unverified number of people were detained for more than seven days without access to lawyers and their families, the watchdog said.
The Thai junta’s response to Kritsuda’s accusations has been dismissive, with the military claiming her allegations came in an attempt to justify her asylum request.
