ABSTRACT
OnMarch 11, 2006, theUS-basedHumanRightsWatch urged the then Thai Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinnawatra, to set up an independent commission to investigate the disappearance of Somchai Neelapaichit, a prominent Muslim lawyer who mysteriously disappeared from the streets of Bangkok on March 12, 2004, and generally believed to be killed by the authorities.1 Somchai’s disappearance and later trial of the police officers involved prominently appears in theUSDepartment of State’s Human Rights Report which calls into question Thailand’s human rights record.2 In its report on finding ways to end violence in Southern Thailand presented to the government and the Thai public, the National Reconciliation Commission, considers the disappearance of Somchai as a case which has weakened the relationship between the people, especially Muslim minorities, and the Thai state further since he was a Muslim lawyer working to primarily defend accused Muslims within, and therefore with respect for, the country’s legal framework.3
