Thailand

The mysterious death of an imam in Thai army custody last week has highlighted the plight of Muslim rebel suspects who say they have been tortured while detained for interrogation, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on March 26. Torture included ear-slapping, beating with wooden and metal clubs, forced nudity, exposure to cold, electric shocks, strangulation and suffocation with plastic bags, the rights body quoted freed detainees as saying in a statement. “Muslims in southern Thailand live in fear of the army storming in to take their men away to be tortured,” Brad Adams, Asia director at the New York-based agency, said. (Reuters)