Relatives of detained Thammawitthaya teachers stage protest in Yala
About 50 people yesterday gathered at Yala city hall to lodge a petition with provincial authorities over the prolonged detention of 19 religious teachers and a boat driver who were arrested nearly two weeks ago after returning from a meeting on Satun Island.
The group, who are relatives of the teachers, met Nataphol Wichianpret, the deputy Yala provincial governor, seeking clarification over the detention.The teachers and a driver were detained for questioning 12 days ago on suspicion of being involved in various attacks in the restive South. They all teach at Thammawitthaya School, a major religious school in Yala whose founder, Sapae-ing Baso, is on the run for allegedly masterminding violence in the region. Sarina Doloh, the wife of a detained teacher, said she was worried about the wellbeing of her husband and other teacher colleagues as they have been in custody for too long. The teachers had done nothing wrong as they had gathered at the island merely for a seminar on educational development, she said. Pol Colonel Somkuan Khampeera, chief of the detention centre in Yala, said officials had the authority to detain the group for a maximum of 30 days without charge, in accordance with the Emergency Law. The officials still need to obtain more information about their activities on the island, he said. More than 1,200 people have been killed in the deep South since an eruption of violence at the beginning of 2004. The government has blamed the violence on separatists who infiltrated religious schools in the three southernmost provinces. Academic Srisompob Jitpirom-sri at Prince of Songkhla University said the situation in the region has not improved due to the government's aggressive approach and deployment of massive numbers of troops. The government's move to find a quick fix solution has created mistrust between local officials and local residents and made the situation more complicated, he said. The NationYala
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