II. On Land: Abuses at Human-Trafficking Camps and Houses in Thailand and Malaysia 46 Unable to secure payment for his release, the traffickers sold him to a Thai-operated fishing boat captain who used him as slave labor at sea for more than five years before he escaped.133 He now lives precariously as a refugee in Malaysia. Likewise, witnesses during a 2016 human-trafficking trial in Thailand testified that the trade in Rohingya dated back to at least 2007.134 Using a hidden camera, filmmakers Jason Motlagh and James Hall also documented testimony from a human trafficker in Thailand who claimed about the trade in Rohingya, “This has been going on for ten years, but no one has been paying any attention.”135 Alleged human traffickers and Rohingya community members in Malaysia helping to raise money for the release of captives also told Fortify Rights about deaths in camps in Thailand and Malaysia. A mid-level Rohingya trafficker in Malaysia, 40, explained to Fortify Rights how he personally knew people who died in the camps: Recently, I helped two brothers. One man, I didn’t know he was coming to Malaysia. My relatives called me and said he was with [the traffickers] and told me to pay money. We couldn’t pay the money, and he died. What could we do? We collected as much money as we could. If the people reach the mountain, we have to pay to release them, or they will die. I know at least six people who have died . . . So many people are missing. Many have died, and many are missing. I know people are coming from the camp. There are people dying every day in the camps. They’re being buried in the mountain.136 Members of a human-trafficking syndicate in Malaysia also allegedly killed Rohingya who attempted to work with the police to combat human trafficking.137 For example, a 25-year-old Rohingya man and survivor of human trafficking told Fortify Rights he witnessed armed men—believed to be members of a human-trafficking syndicate—abduct two Rohingya men in two separate incidents in Malaysia in late 2013. He said the victims were believed to be engaging with Malaysian police. He said: [The traffickers] already killed many people [in Malaysia]. They killed three people here who tried to expose them. A man named [redacted] was trying to help the police find the brokers. He was taken from the mosque and was killed. No one found his body. I was there when [he] was taken. It was the month of Ramadan, on the 26th. I was at the mosque, and we were providing food to others when six or seven people arrived, showed ID cards saying they were officials, and took him. They had guns but weren’t wearing uniforms . . . Another man who was killed was [name redacted]. He was taken five months ago. The people came and showed ID cards, saying they were from the police department. It was in Suprajaya at the Sunway hotel.138 Mass Graves on the Malaysia-Thailand Border “The journey from Sittwe to Thailand was hell. Then it got worse.” —Rohingya boy, 16, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 2014 “People died every day. Some days more, some days less, but people died every day.” —“Noor Begum,” 20, Rohingya woman, August 2014 133 Ibid. 134 Fortify Rights, internal report on human trafficking case, trial monitoring notes, Rachada Criminal Court, Human Trafficking Division, Bangkok, Thailand, May 5 and 12, 2016. See also, Fortify Rights interviews with human traffickers and human trafficking survivors, 2013-2015. 135 “Outcast: Adrift with Burma’s Rohingya,” Al Jazeera. 136 Fortify Rights interview with #60, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 28, 2014. 137 Aubrey Belford, “Rohingya Refugees Say Traffickers in Malaysia Abuse and Kill,” Reuters, January 29, 2015, https:// www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-malaysia-rohingya/rohingya-refugees-say-traffickers-in-malaysiaabuse-and-kill-idUSKBN0L12NF20150129 (accessed March 25, 2019). 138 Fortify Rights interview with #68, Penang State, Malaysia, September 28, 2014.