BANGKOK – A junta spokesperson has asked the international watchdog Human Rights Watch to look beyond human rights violations in Thailand and take stock of the junta’s overarching mission instead.

“Human Rights Watch should consider other issues, too,” said the spokesman, Maj.Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd. “They shouldn’t only look at the angle of human rights, otherwise they will not understand the world, they will not understand society. Looking at only one angle like that is idealistic. They should understand that we do everything to protect Thai people and our nation. If they understand this picture, they will understand the situation.”

Maj.Gen. Sansern was responding to HRW's demand that the junta investigate a claim that four men were tortured in military custody earlier this month. The four men said they were slapped, punched, kicked, and electrocuted by military officers who forced them to confess to participating in an alleged terror network.

The junta has repeatedly denied any use of torture and threatened to take legal action against those who spread the allegation.

"Everyone, including the chief of police and even the Prime Minister, answered in the same way that there was never any torture or beating of suspects," Maj.Gen. Sansern said yesterday. "The officers have clear evidence. There is no need to do such a thing. Soldiers and police don’t think it would help anything to do that. However, we are willing to investigate the issue."

Maj.Gen. Sansern also dismissed lawyer and anti-coup activist Arnon Nampha's plan to contact the United Nations’s human rights division to investigate the torture claim.

"Drawing the UN to get involved will not have any benefit. Please don't even try to do that, because this is an issue of our country. The UN doesn't know anything," Maj.Gen. Sansern told reporters, adding that the government has not been contacted by the UN about the incident so far. 

The four men who were allegedly torutured were arrested in connection with the grenade attack at the Criminal Court in Bangkok on 7 March, which caused minor damages to the parking lot but did not injure anyone. Police say an anti-junta "terrorist network" was behind the attack and reportedly plotted to plant bombs at five targets around Bangkok in order to draw a UN intervention.

At least 17 arrest warrants have been issued in relation to the alleged terror plot. All of the arrested suspects have been detained in army camps for up to a week, without access to lawyers, before being transferred to police. Under martial law, security officers can detain individuals without charges for up to seven days. 

On 19 March, the New York-based HRW released a statement calling for a "prompt and impartial" investigation into the torture claim.

"These serious allegations of torture in military detention are further cause for alarm about ongoing rights abuses under martial law in Thailand," said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director. "Only a prompt and impartial investigation that results in holding those responsible to account can resolve this matter."

HRW also urged the junta to end secret military detentions and repeal the martial law. The Thai junta has vehemently defended the use of the martial law as a means to maintain peace and order. 

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BANGKOK — A former Pheu Thai Party lawmaker has urged Thailand's ruling military junta to issue blanket amnesty to anyone convicted of "politically-related" charges over the past decade, a move attempted by the former government that sparked mass protests in 2013.

Somkid Cheukhon, a former Pheu Thai MP from Ubon Ratchani, said he was glad to see the junta express openness to granting demonstrators from both of Thailand’s political factions amnesty for charges or convictions related to their participation in protests. 

On Friday junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said he would not oppose an amnesty bill, as long as it did not extend to criminal charges or cases of lese majeste (insulting the monarchy). 

However, Somkid has urged the junta go further and pardon anyone facing legal action for "politically-related" events since 2005, including protest leaders and politicians.

He also suggested the amnesty cover all charges, including criminal ones.

"In order to make the country peaceful and end disputes between the two sides with an amnesty, you must not think small," Somkid told Khaosod. "Because if the small ones get amnesty and the big ones do not, the dispute won't be over."

He added, "And it should be done to cover incidents of criminal charges, too, because protesters who have been charged with criminal charges were motivated by political protests as well."

Somkid's suggestion resembles the so-called blanket amnesty bill pursued by the Pheu Thai Party when it was in power in 2013. Although originally described as a law that would only grant amnesty to protesters, the final draft of the bill called for the dissolution of all politically-related charges and convictions since 2005. 

Critics denounced the bill as thinly-veiled effort to waive the 2008 corruption conviction of Thaksin Shinawatra, a controversial former Prime Minister who has lived in self-imposed exile for the past seven years but remains the de facto leader of the Pheu Thai party.

The passage of the bill sparked mass anti-government protests that eventually culminated in the May 2014 coup d'etat.

Somkid also urged Gen. Prayuth to unilaterally enact the bill with the emergency powers granted to him under Section 44 of the interim charter.

"Gen. Prayuth can start right now by using his full power under Section 44," Somkid said, "Or he can order the NLA [the National Legislative Assembly] to deliberate the bill in three sessions at one go within one week, or one month." 

"If the NCPO really goes ahead with this, I can assure you that Pheu Thai Party will not criticize it," Somkid continued, using an acronym for the junta's formal name, the National Council for Peace and Order. "But if the government is not yet ready for a full glass of water, I will accept a half glass of water, too."

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BANGKOK — The chief of the Royal Thai Army has threatened to take legal action against anyone who accuses the military of torturing four terror suspects arrested earlier this month.

Gen. Udomdet Sitabutr insisted that the allegation was untrue, and stressed that all security officers performed their duties without violating human rights.

Gen. Udomet Sitabutr at the Government House in Bangkok, 20 March 2015.

"Especially the action of harming suspects. We strictly do not do that," Gen. Udomdet said at a press conference today. "The security officers are willing to be investigated."

"It is necessary for the army to take legal action, even though I personally do not want to do that," Gen. Udomdet said. "Whoever does a wrong thing, they have to be investigated and punished. Whoever does a good thing, we support them. I will take legal action because the army has been falsely accused." 

He was referring to the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights Center, which released a statement on 18 March accusing the military of torturing four men recently arrested in connection with an alleged "terrorism network" that plotted to stage bomb attacks in Bangkok. 

According to the lawyers, the four suspects were tortured into making false confessions by military officers from 9 – 15 March, when they were held for interrogation at an army barrack. Under martial law, which was imposed by the military junta that seized power in the May 2014 coup, security officers can detain individuals without charges for up to seven days. 

One of the four suspects, Sansern  Sri-unruen, told Prachatai news that he was slapped, punched, and kicked by soldiers during the interrogation. He also showed burn marks on his legs that he said were from electrocution, which military officers reportedly applied "30-40 times" because he refused to confess. 

Sansern and the three other suspects, Charnvit Jariyanukul, Norapat Luepol, and Wichai Yoosuk, have been accused of participating in a plot to "create chaos" and draw an intervention from the United Nations by staging bomb attacks around Bangkok. Police say the network was responsible for the grenade attack at the Criminal Court on the night 7 March. No one was injured in the explosion, which caused minor damages to the court’s parking lot.

At least 17 arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the case so far. 

Udomdet added that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice are currently working to extradite the alleged mastermind of the terror plot, a man named Manoon Chaichana who is believed to be living in the United States of America. Manoon has regularly uploaded videos under the pseudonym Anek San Francisco that criticize the Thai monarchy, a crime under Thailand's lese majeste law. 

Meanwhile, junta chairman and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said the torture allegation will be investigated by security officers, though he expressed skepticism that accusation is true. 

"What can they gain from beating the suspects? They gain nothing. Everything depends on the evidence," said Gen. Prayuth, whom Gen. Udomdet replaced as army chief in October 2014. "I ask you, don't only look at the torture issue. Look whether they are really guilty. There's evidence of their phone usage, their money transfers, but these people only talk about torture. I want you to look at both things. Tell me who is right and wrong."