'Thais Tortured Us,' Say Rescued Rohingya Boatpeople

The boatpeople are now being held in a jail in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, between Phuket and India.

Accusations of torture by the Thai military come as mystery surrounds the policy of Thailand's new government towards the Rohingya, a Muslim minority denied citizenship in their Burmese homeland.

Phuketwan revealed on Friday that Rohingya boatpeople who have been held on Phuket and in other parts of Thailand now appear to be being ''repatriated,'' but their destination has not been revealed.

The covert process leaves many questions unanswered. Today's revelation of a fresh ''pushback'' applies pressure on the new Thai government to provide comprehensive answers.

Governments in Burma, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and India have failed to find a solution to the issue of the stateless Rohingya since Phuketwan journalists, working with the South China Morning Post, first revealed the secret ''pushbacks'' from Thailand in January 2009.

Today's claims are likely to provide the newly elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra with an international test of its human rights policies.

Rohingya told the Post that on January 13 they were intercepted by the Thai Navy off the coast near Phuket. They said the group was held in detention for five days, before being towed far out to sea.

"We were given around 250kg of rice, 5kg of dry fish and some vegetables, and some packets of charcoal when we were left at sea," said Sheikh Montaz, 38, who told the Post he came from Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.

"They gave us only about 100 litres of water. We cried for more water. They did not care.

"We had no matches to light our oven. We just kept praying to Allah to keep us alive."

After more than two weeks adrift, the men were picked up by the Indian coastguard and taken to Port Blair, capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, joining 190 other Rohingya boatpeople who have been in detention since early 2009.