Thailand drops cases against 92 Muslim protesters

BANGKOK, Nov 3 (Reuters) Thailand has dropped charges against 92 Muslims involved in a 2004 protest in the rebellious far south that led to 78 Muslims dying in army custody, the Attorney General's office today said.

Lawyers and rights activists welcomed the move and urged the government to speed up other cases they said resulted from the hardline policies of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as prime minister in a bloodless September 19 coup.

Attorney-General Patchara Utithamdamrong had signed the order dropping charges of instigating public disorder and disobeying authorities against the 92, who were freed on bail, spokesman Attapol Yaisawang told Reuters.

''The order was sent today to the provincial prosecutors office in Narathiwat and we expect the prosecutors to ask the court to withdraw the charges on Monday,'' Attapol said.

On October 25, 2004, police and soldiers trying to disperse a rally shot dead seven Muslim protesters in front of the police station in the Narathiwat town of Tak Bai, near the Malaysian border.

Another 78 were crushed or suffocated to death after they were stacked ''like logs'', in the words of one survivor, in the back of army trucks and transported to an army camp.

A government-appointed probe found the methods used to disperse the demonstration inappropriate, but army officers in charge of the operation were not punished.

The general in charge of the south during the incident was later transferred to a less responsible post in Bangkok, where he was promoted under Thaksin.

JOY AT APOLOGY The cases against the 92 were dropped a day after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont apologised for Thaksin's iron-fisted policies blamed for stoking unrest in the region, where more than 1,700 people have been killed in nearly three years of violence.

Coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the first Muslim to lead the Thai army, said the apology demonstrated sincerity in resolving an injustice.

''The southern problem is mainly about people's hearts and minds.

The apology was meant to show the government's sincerity for its people and I hope that we should be able to receive some positive responses,'' he told reporters.

It also drew a warm welcome from Malaysia, whose relations with Bangkok were strained by Thaksin's frequent accusations that it allowed militants refuge.

''I think his step is a step in the right direction and it is an attitude of humility. I think he had created the right environment for them to find solutions,'' Malaysia's Bernama news agency quoted Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar as saying.

A Thai rights group helping the 92 said it was happy with Surayud's apology and the dropping of the cases, but it would continue to pursue civil cases demanding 103 million baht in compensation from the government.

''The apology has drawn tears of joy from many villagers in the Muslim south, but the government must try to bring the answer to other cases committed by state officials, too,'' said Angkhana Neelaphaijit of the Working Group on Justice for Peace.

Other cases included the disappearances of dozens of Muslims in the region, said Angkhana, whose lawyer husband vanished more than two years ago while defending Muslim insurgent suspects.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission said the apology should be followed by the arrest of guilty officers involved in the death of innocent Muslims.

''The apology by General Surayud will be meaningless without those responsible being prosecuted and tried in courts of law,'' it said in a statement.

Attapol said that among the 92 arrested in 2004, 58 had been put on trial but no verdicts had been reached. Two suspects died during the court proceedings.

REUTERS SY VV1504