Author: AP
Publication: The Star
Date: June 4, 2004
URL: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/6/4/asia/8138372&sec=asia
A ruling party lawmaker surrendered
to police yesterday to face treason charges in connection with a deadly
raid on a military arsenal in January that marked a resurgence of separatist
violence in Thailand's Muslim south.
The charges against Muslim lawmaker
Najamudeen Umar, which he denies, have deeply embarrassed the government
of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin, who recently said he was
perplexed by what's happening in the south, has not defended the lawmaker.
Najamudeen went by car yesterday
to a police facility here along with four parliamentary colleagues from
his Thai Rak Thai party and presented himself for arrest to the deputy
national police chief, Lt-Gen Kovit Wattana.
Najamudeen was charged on March
23 with treason for alleged involvement in the daring guerilla raid on
an army camp in the southern province of Narathiwat on Jan 4, in which
four soldiers were killed and hundreds of guns stolen.
According to police charges, Najamudeen
took part in three secret meetings to plan the raid. They also have charged
him with conspiring to carry out an armed robbery and the murder of government
officials.
He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Najamudeen, who has denied involvement,
enjoyed parliamentary immunity from arrest while the legislature was in
session until its adjournment on Wednesday.
The Jan 4 raid marked the starting
point of an upsurge in violence in the Muslim-dominated south in which
281 people have been killed. The violence has been linked to Islamic separatists,
who want the region to break away from the predominantly Buddhist country.
"The investigators have concluded
the probe and the file is already in the hands of the public prosecutor,"
Najamudeen told reporters before driving to the police station.
He was expected to be formally charged
in court later yesterday.
"I am innocent and will deny all
the charges. I am still puzzled as to how I was implicated in this," he
said.
Najamudeen's lawyer, Mano Thongpan,
said he would seek bail.
Thaksin told reporters yesterday
that the martial law imposed in the southern provinces after the Jan 4
raid would remain in place, and blamed the violence on youths misled by
cultist Islamic religious teachers.
