BANGKOK (AFP)--Dozens of migrants from Myanmar who washed up in Thailand this week were convicted Wednesday of illegal entry and will be deported, police said, raising fears the migrants might face persecution back home.
The 78 Muslim Rohingyas - 66 men and 12 teenage boys - were intercepted just after midnight Tuesday and taken into police custody amid accusations that the Thai military have abused others in boats from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Col. Veerasilp Kwanseng, commander of the Paknam police station where the Rohingya were detained, said the 66 adults were fined THB1,000 each for illegal entry, but couldn't pay so were jailed for five days.
"They will stay in prison until the term is finished and then immigration will take them before processing their deportation," Veerasilp said.
The 12 Rohingya teenage boys who are under the age of 19 won't be jailed, but will be deported with the rest of the group, he said.
Accusations of mistreatment surfaced earlier this month after nearly 650 Rohingya were rescued off India and Indonesia, some claiming to have been beaten by Thai soldiers before being set adrift at sea.
Hundreds are still believed to be missing at sea.
Kitty McKinsey, spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, said that the fact that the 78 Rohingya were processed by police rather than the army was positive, but that they continued to press for access to the migrants.
The UNHCR has asked to see another group of 126 Rohingya reportedly detained in Thailand earlier this month, but authorities have denied they exist.
The Rohingya are stateless and face religious and ethnic persecution from Myanmar's military regime, forcing thousands of them to take to rickety boats each year in a bid to escape poverty and oppression, and head to Malaysia.
The Thai foreign ministry earlier Wednesday "categorically denied" reports that it had mistreated any migrants.
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Publié le 28 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones