This is what I wrote this afternoon, but after I finished writing
it, I have learnt that my friend has now been released from the detention
center. So what I wrote below is not up-to-date, but I still want to share what
I wrote anyway:
First of all, I want to apologize to all of you for causing an
unnecessary alarm yesterday. I have visited a friend who was taken away by Thai
soldiers on Saturday. He is now detained in the Crime Suppression Division,
which belongs to the Police. He said that he deleted many things in his
Facebook page by himself after he was captured. So it is not the soldiers who
deleted things in his Facebook page as I had wrongfully assumed in my Facebook
status yesterday. I’m truly sorry that I jumped to conclusions too quickly and
might have caused an unnecessary alarm.
However, he said that his cellphone and other detainees’ cellphones
have been seized, and the authority can now access all the information in their
cellphones, including LINE and FACEBOOK. I now mean the authority “CAN ACCESS”
it, but I don’t say that the authority “HAS DONE” it.
There are about 11 detainees in this detention center. My friend
and other detainees’ morale are very low. They have been told that they will be
detained for 7 days after they have been captured, but they are not sure if
they will be released after that or not. They have not been beaten, but they
said that there was a man who was severely beaten brought in here for a while,
but then that severely-beaten man was taken to an unknown place. And they are
worried for this man very much, because they don’t know who this man is, and
don’t know how safe he is now.
My friend was captured by the soldiers on the skywalk near
Mahboonkrong Center on Saturday. According to my friend and a witness, there
were some people protesting the coup at that time. Then the soldiers started
taking away some protesting people. My friend couldn’t stand watching this, so
he said loudly,”What are you doing now? Why weren’t you here a few months ago?”
And then the soldiers told him to go home. But my friend said that the skywalk
should be the place for civilians, and soldiers should be in their barracks.
Then the soldiers took my friend away. In my opinion, my friend has done
nothing wrong at all. But now he has been detained since Saturday, and may be
detained for 7 days.
According to other detainees’ account, they have all been unfairly
arrested. A young man was arrested for holding up a piece of paper to protest
the coup. An old man said that he was arrested on Sunday at McDonald’s, after he
had said to a soldier, “Do you know that the gun you are holding now comes from
the tax paid by the people?” Many detainees now warn that if you are gonna
protest the coup, you should not say anything at all to the soldiers.
Many detainees wish that they will be released as soon as possible.
They said that they don’t want to be a hero at all. Now they just want to live
a normal life and carry on their daily activities as before. They hope that
some media attention and the pressure from foreign countries may help get them
released.
Anyone who wants to visit these detainees can go to the Crime
Suppression Division. They can be visited at 0800-0900, 1200-1300, and 1700-1800hrs.
They said that they have enough food here, but people can bring in some books
or newspaper for them to read. The temperature inside the cell is extremely
hot. But I am very impressed by the attitude of the police who work here. The
police here are very very helpful.
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