No U S Torture cells here

Bangkok Post

The Foreign Ministry yesterday issued a third denial that Thailand had ever allowed the United States' Central Intelligence Agency to operate a secret prison here. It said no associate of terrorist chief Osama bin Laden had been tortured or killed in a cell here, as reported in the US press on Sunday.

The latest denial follows a story on the front-page of the New York Times that claimed Abu Zubaydah, an Osama bin Laden henchman, was interrogated and tortured in a "safe house" in Thailand in the spring of 2002. The article, citing "sources from a number of government agencies", said Zubaydah died of infected wounds in Thailand.

But Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Kitti Wasinondh reiterated yesterday "we have never allowed any secret prison in Thailand". The government had checked with all concerned agencies at all levels to verify the report and found there was no such place in the Kingdom, Kitti said.

US President George W Bush acknowledged last week the CIA had operated secret prisons abroad as part of the "war on terror".

While denying the existence of a secret prison here, Kitti said Thailand cooperated with the US in the war against terrorists.

The New York Times article is not the first that has reported Thailand has been used to hold terrorists. The Washington Post reported last November that the CIA operated secret prisons in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several European states.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra flatly denied the claim last year. He said in November that Thailand had only made one terrorist arrest - the Indonesian known as Hambali - and he had been sent to the US long ago. "We don't have any secret jails or whatever, so we totally deny it," he said at the time.

Thai and US officials arrested Riduan Isamuddin, also known as Hambali, in the central province of Ayutthaya in mid 2003. Hambali was believed to be al-Qaeda's point man in Asia and one of the masterminds behind the Bali bombing in October 2002 that killed 202 people.