Thailand: Human rights activist shot dead in the deep south

(Bangkok) – Unknown assailants shot and killed a prominent human rights activist in Pattani province, southern Thailand, on June 25, 2024, Human Rights Watch said today. Thai authorities should urgently conduct a transparent and impartial investigation into the killing of 45-year-old Roning Dolah and bring those responsible to justice.

At around 8:45 p.m. on June 25, two assailants on a motorcycle opened fire with assault rifles on Roning in front of his family in Pattani’s Yarang district, killing him instantly, his wife said. Local police said seven 7.62 mm and one 5.56 mm cartridge cases were found at the scene.

“The brutal killing of a prominent human rights activist underscores that anyone fighting for justice in Thailand’s deep south is at risk,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Thai authorities should urgently and transparently investigate this killing and bring all those responsible for Roning Dolah’s death to justice.”

On June 26, the Thai government’s Internal Security Operations Command Region 4 – responsible for counterinsurgency operations in the deep south – issued a statement offering condolences to Roning’s family and urging witnesses with information to come forward. However, no full criminal investigation into his killing was announced.

Roning was widely known in Thailand’s southern border provinces for helping ethnic Malay Muslims fight insurgency in Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces, who were victims of arbitrary arrests and torture by Thai security forces. He had previously been arrested and tortured in military custody, according to the Cross Cultural Foundation. Thai human rights groups used his reports and information he collected from other torture victims in their campaigns to demand accountability for military abuses and to advocate for Thailand’s Prevention and Combating of Torture and Enforced Disappearances Act, which came into force in February 2023.

Yet during the twenty years of armed insurgency in Thailand’s southern border provinces, not a single soldier or other member of security personnel has been prosecuted for the unlawful detention, torture or extrajudicial killing of suspected insurgents.

Thailand has an obligation under international human rights law to ensure that all human rights defenders and organizations can carry out their work in a safe and supportive environment, Human Rights Watch said.

Roning’s assassination is a crucial test of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s promise to promote and protect human rights in his speeches to the Thai parliament on September 11, 2023., and before the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September. Despite Thailand’s much-heralded national human rights agenda and the country’s efforts to be elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2025-2027 term, Thai authorities have done little to counter threats and violence, nor have they addressed strategic lawsuits by government agencies and non-state actors to report human rights abuses.

“The Srettha government should act immediately to change the climate of fear in Thailand’s deep south by showing that those responsible for Roning’s killing will be held accountable,” Pearson said. “Thai authorities should take concrete action to protect the right of ethnic Malay Muslims to speak out against state-sponsored abuses and demand justice.”