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Thai Muslim Teachers Held for Rebellion
A Thai court on Wednesday sentenced three Muslim teachers to 10 years each in prison for rebellion and criminal conspiracy charges related to their membership in an Islamic separatist group, but acquitted them of murder charges in a 2004 bombing, their lawyer said. The provincial court of Pattani, in southern Thailand, found Aduenan Seng, 26, Abhisit Mahama, 23, and Abdullah Dueramae, 31, guilty of the charges in connection with actions planned while members of the New Pattani United Liberation Organization, or New PULO, their lawyer Anukul Awaeputeh said. However, the three were acquitted of murder charges connected with a bomb planted near a market in the city of Pattani on Jan. 5, 2004, that killed two police explosive experts trying to defuse it. The court found insufficient evidence to prove the three men were involved in planting the bomb, Anukul said, adding that all three would appeal their convictions. More than 1,800 people have died in violence in Thailand's three southernmost, Muslim-majority provinces Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat since an Islamic insurgency flared in January 2004. Southern Muslims have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the Buddhist majority, especially in jobs and education. In the latest violence, a village headman, Da-oh Kadasae, was shot to death by two men Wednesday as he was riding his motorcycle in Yala's Raman district. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is scheduled to visit the restive south on Thursday, primarily to give moral support to some 200 Buddhists who fled their village and took refuge at a Buddhist temple for fear of being attacked by Muslim insurgents. Posted by: .com 2006-11-16 |
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