Officials search the surrounding areas that
might be hiding 11 of 17 Rohingya migrants that escaped immigration
custody in Rayong.
Patcharapol Panrak
Immigration police and provincial officers recaptured only six
of 17 illegal Rohingya migrants that escaped immigration custody in
Rayong where they’d been kept for more than six months.
More than 100 officers searched for the 11 ethnic Muslims from Myanmar
after their escape where another 100 Rohingyas have been held since
early this year after seeking refuge in Thailand.
Immigration officials said the Rohingya detainees cut metal bars on the
second floor of the Maptaput Immigration Prison before climbing down the
building at about 4 a.m. Aug. 17. They said the migrants are believed to
be hiding in the province and local officers have distributed photos of
the escapees to people in nearby communities in hopes to recapture them.
Thai officials claimed they rescued the Rohingya
Muslims from human trafficking gangs and sent them to several
immigration detention centers around the country for their safety. But
the aliens have been held in overcrowded conditions for months on end as
Thailand’s leaders struggle with what to do with them. Many have tried
to escape.
Thailand has come under increasing international pressure over its
treatment of Rohingya detainees, with organizations such as Human Rights
Watch alleging widespread human-rights abuses for keeping the illegal
immigrants in “unsafe” and “inhumane” conditions.
On Aug. 20, HWC issued a statement calling on Thailand to release the
1,839 Muslims being held, blasting an Aug. 13 government proposal to
transfer the asylum seekers from prisons to refugee camps on the
Thai-Myanmar border.
“Despite the fact that many Rohingyas fled ‘ethnic
cleansing’ and crimes against humanity last year in Burma’s Arakan
State, the Thai government refuses to consider Rohingya as refugees,”
HWC said in a statement. “Many immigration detention centers are
severely overcrowded and lack access to medical services and other basic
necessities. Rohingya men are restricted to extremely cramped conditions
in small cells resembling large cages. (And) Thai and Rohingya human
traffickers have gained access to the government shelters and sought to
lure out Rohingya women and children.”
Flying in the face of such allegations, Rayong Immigration Police
Superintendent Col. Prasanth Khaemaprasith claimed the detainees kept
six months in Rayong were treated well.
“Police had taken good care of them, gave them food, time to exercise,
and checked for illnesses,” he said. “They should not have escaped
because they were not being bullied or mistreated.”
