June 13, 2013
Zoe Daniel
There are new allegations that the Thai navy is involved in the human
trafficking of Rohingya Muslims trying to flee religious violence in
western Myanmar. The ABC has tracked down Rohingya Muslims in Malaysia
who claim they were intercepted, brutally beaten and then sold to
traffickers by the Thai military.
ASHLEY HALL: There are new allegations that the Thai navy is involved in
the human trafficking of Rohingya Muslims trying to flee religious
violence in western Myanmar.
Earlier this year, the ABC reported eyewitness claims that the Thai
military had been involved in the shooting of Rohingya who had arrived
on the shores of Thailand by boat.
Now the ABC has tracked down Rohingya Muslims in Malaysia who claim they
were intercepted, brutally beaten and then sold to traffickers by the
Thai military.
South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel reports.
ZOE DANIEL: His story is frighteningly familiar. He fled religious
violence and anti-Muslim sentiment in western Myanmar, but on his
journey to Malaysia the boat he was on reached Thai waters and was
intercepted by the Thai navy.
ZAFAR AHMAD (translated): The navy arrested us and took us to an island,
they took us into a forest, then they took our clothes so we had only
underwear. They beat us and asked us why we came to this country. A few
days later, another boat arrived and the people on it joined us.
ZOE DANIEL: Zafar is a Rohingya asylum seeker. He says the boats then
had their engines removed and, under the Thai navy's push back policy,
more than 200 passengers were put back on board and towed out to sea,
then left to drift.
Seemingly, one boat made it all the way to Sri Lanka, making headlines
when it landed. Ninety-six people had died on the way due to lack of
food and water.
His boat made it back to Thai shores, towed in by a fisherman, but then the passengers were captured and sold by villagers.
ZAFAR AHMAD (translated): We spent 12 days on the sea and 12 people died
before the fishing boat helped us. Then Thai Muslims gave us food while
we were in the jungle but after that they sold us.
ZOE DANIEL: Earlier this year PM revealed allegations that shots were
fired and at least two asylum seekers were killed after a boatload of
Rohingya was intercepted by the Thai navy off Phuket.
The navy denied shooting people who had jumped into the water in an
attempt to escape, along with further allegations that the navy had sold
captured Rohingya to human traffickers.
But now we've tracked down more Rohingya men who make similar trafficking claims.
AN SARRULLA (translated): The navy allowed us to the shore, they spoke
Thai, I did not understand. We asked for food. I don't not know if they
understood but they beat us instead.
NURUL AMIN (translated): The navy beat me the whole night and then I was
handed over to some Thai people in the morning. I was beaten a lot. I
was then transferred again to traffickers and they beat me almost 12
times.
ZOE DANIEL: An and Nurul are new arrivals to Malaysia. If true, their
claims confirm that trafficking involving the Thai navy continues,
despite repeated denials by Thai authorities.
AN SARRULLA (translated): They were in uniform. They had guns in their
hands. We did not know then, but we knew about it later: that we were
sold.
ZOE DANIEL: Thousands of Rohingya have been living in camps since
fighting broke out between Buddhists and Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine
state last year, many heading to Malaysia because it's a Muslim country.
Thousands are also in detention in Thailand, being held in appallingly
squalid conditions. The Thai government has said they can't stay more
than six months.
Yet they continue to come.
Nineteen-year-old Shabin describes fleeing from Myanmar to Bangladesh,
before taking a known route to a docked ship that runs a business in
human cargo because it was the only way out.
SHABIN ISLAM (translated): We were beaten on the ship, it was a
trafficking ship. We had to stand in the sun in the day time. We could
only sit at night. If we wanted to sleep, we would be hit by a stick and
wire. The traffickers tied us with rope on our necks. We, 32 people,
were tied together. They were afraid we would run away.
ZOE DANIEL: The ship was eventually stopped by the Thai navy and the
passengers handed over to yet more traffickers. Those who got away paid
their way out. It's believed those who couldn't pay were sold on as
bonded labourers.
In Bangkok this is Zoe Daniel for PM.
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