driver Monday, May 16, as they attempted to reach their boarding school run by human rights group Christian Freedom International (CFI), an official said. Details were still sketchy, but CFI President Jim Jacobson said all of those detained were "Karenni orphan students" who had spent their summer break in various refugee camps to see friends and existing relatives.
The Karen people of Burma are a predominantly Christian ethnic minority group who CFI and other groups say are being persecuted for their faith. "Many thousands have fled to refugee camps along the Burma/Thailand border [as] they are under the constant attack of the brutal military regime in power in Burma…"CFI said.
However "this morning something terrible happened as the students were coming back to Christian Freedom International School Vocational School in Mae Sot, Thailand, from their summer break," added CFI President Jacobson in a statement to BosNewsLife.
FLAT TIRE
"While attempting to bring our Karenni students out of the camps in Mae Hong Song Province the truck developed a flat tire near a Thai police check point. All the Karenni kids and our driver were arrested," he said.
Under Thai law "it is "okay" for refugee students" to be at the CFI school, "but transporting them to the school from a refugee camp is "prohibited"…sometimes," Jacobson claimed.
"Stateless children from Burma are in a "catch 22" situation, subject to whatever arbitrary law the Thais and United Nations want to enforce or negate," he said.
"SCARED KIDS"
"We have a lot of scared kids sitting in a Thai jail right now, along with our driver. We are making every possible arrangement for their release and safe transport to Christian Freedom International Vocational School."
Thai officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Jacobson said CFI, which provides aid and advocacy to persecuted Christians worldwide, has urged its supporters to "pray for their release, safety and ultimate freedom for the Christian Karen and Karenni of Burma."
The United States has been a fierce critic of Burma’s human rights record and imposed a trade ban after democracy icon and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was detained in May 2003. (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Thailand).
