Survivors of Thai expulsions tell of fiery 'torture' and naked humiliation

Survivors of the Thai military's former policy of casting boatpeople adrift have given fresh accounts of their mistreatment at the hands of Thai officers a year ago.

Two described being stripped naked by Thai officers. In one case, they were said to have been marched nude before members of the public as they were processed; in another, they were stripped and forced to stand near fires, producing excruciating pain.

It is the first time allegations of such treatment have been made by survivors of the now-disavowed Thai abandonment policy. The psychological effects of such humiliation on members of the Muslim Rohingya was devastating, Akhtar Hossain said.

'They beat up our boatman badly. Then they loaded us onto two boats where we were all forced to become nude. After some hours, when the boats reached a town, we were made to walk nude in front of tourists and local men and women. We had never faced such embarrassment and humiliation in our life. When some tried to hide their genitals by bending forward, they were kicked by the policemen,' Akhtar said.

Akhtar was among a group of 412 Rohingya boatpeople expelled by Thai officers in mid-December 2008.

He also described how one of the boatpeople was thrown overboard with his hands tied as the group was loaded onto a powerless barge before their fateful journey, which ended with only 103 survivors rescued by the Indian coastguard. His account matches a description contained in official transcripts of the interrogations of survivors by Indian security officers.