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Thai police accused of beating stateless activist in custody

Sam Samat claims he was kicked repeatedly in the chest and subjected to homophobic insults
Thai police accused of beating stateless activist in custody
Published: February 17, 2022 05:16 AM GMT

A stateless democracy activist says he was physically assaulted by police officers in Bangkok who detained him for participating in a candlelight vigil for a 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed during an earlier protest last year.

Sam Samat, who was born in Thailand to a Cambodian mother who was not married to his Thai father and has no citizenship, has told a pro-democracy website that he and some other activists were arrested by riot police officers after lighting candles at a spirit shrine outside a police station in Bangkok.

The activist said he was taken inside the station where he was sat on a chair with his hands tied behind him and kicked repeatedly in the chest until he fainted.

Sam, who is queer, also told the website that officers had hurled homophobic insults at him and mocked him over his attire, which included high-heel shoes.

“Why the [expletive] would you come out and protest when you’re a katoey?” one officer allegedly taunted him, using a Thai slang word that translates at “ladyboy.”

“My feeling is that it’s an insult and a government official should not be saying something like this. It’s sexism,” the activist said.

It’s hard to prove cases of police brutality when they happen inside a station without [independent] witnesses

Before his ordeal Sam had attended a vigil for a 15-year-old boy who died after being shot in the back of the head while being a bystander at an earlier protest in Din Daeng, a working-class neighborhood of Bangkok. The teenager lingered in a coma for two months before he succumbed to his injuries.

Democracy activists have accused police of killing him, but officials have denied that any officers were involved in the shooting.

Sam has been charged with violating an emergency decree that prohibits anyone from attending larger gatherings, ostensibly to limit the spread of coronavirus.

He was released from prison on bail earlier this month after spending slightly over three months in jail on charges related to his political activism, which included destroying public property and being a foreign national who stayed in Thailand without permission.

The stateless activist’s claim of having been physically assaulted while in police custody is the latest such allegation made by young pro-democracy activists.

Two other activists have accused police officers of beating them up during interrogation sessions at the same police station in cases documented by the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group, including photographs of the injuries they suffered. Police have denied these allegations.

“It’s hard to prove cases of police brutality when they happen inside a station without [independent] witnesses,” a pro-democracy activist who asked to remain anonymous told UCA News.

“It’s your word against theirs and because they are the enforcers of the law, your word doesn’t matter.”

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