IV. Testimony Suggesting Official Complicity in Human Trafficking 78 The trial led to the conviction of 62 traffickers.250 While the court convicted nine government officials, survivor and eyewitness testimony indicates broader involvement or complicity by Thai authorities in the trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshis through Thailand to Malaysia from 2012 to 2015. Testimony collected by Fortify Rights also suggests that at least some Thai authorities were aware of mass graves well before the authorities’ May 1 announcement about the existence of a mass gravesite. For example, a low-level Rohingya human trafficker, 42, who also worked closely with Thai authorities to combat trafficking, told Fortify Rights he had discovered graves alongside Thai authorities in 2013: Last year [in 2013], [Thai authorities] arrested a group of people, over 800 people, and they found 12 people were paralyzed. We saw the graves of the people who died. There were 30 to 35 graves. They were separate, individual graves. I went with the Thai [state agency redacted] and [name redacted] and [name redacted].251 The authorities did not publicize these earlier discoveries of graves, and there is no knowledge of any exhumation of the bodies or investigation into or accountability for the crimes committed in relation to these graves in Thailand. Likewise, an investigation by the Commission found that Malaysian authorities—specifically the General Operations Force—discovered what appeared to be a mass gravesite in Wang Kelian on January 20, 2015, more than four months before the authorities announced the discovery of the gravesite on May 25, 2015.252 In April 2015, Fortify Rights privately shared information about mass graves with senior Thai officials from the Foreign Ministry, and on April 22, Fortify Rights testified before U.S. Congress on human trafficking in Thailand, Malaysia, and other countries.253 Despite some measure of justice served through Thailand’s mass human-trafficking trial, many who were reportedly involved in the trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshis remain free or at large in the region and protections for survivors of human trafficking remain limited. From 2012 to 2015 and continuing to today, Thailand and Malaysia regard Rohingya as undocumented and unauthorized migrants who are in violation of immigration law and subject to arrest and detention. Neither country recognizes refugees by law or in practice. As a result, Thailand and Malaysia have detained thousands of Rohingya in immigration detention centers over the years.254 In order to facilitate deportation, a government of origin would have to agree to accept deportees. Myanmar does not recognize Rohingya as citizens, rendering Rohingya in Myanmar stateless. Without legal status or protection options in Thailand or Malaysia, Rohingya who are arrested are at risk of indefinite detention. Ammunition, Explosive Articles and Fireworks and Imitation of Firearms Act, and the Criminal Code, which could result in a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment. The evidence in the case included 80 Rohingya and Bangladeshi survivors of human trafficking, 36 unidentified bodies exhumed from mass graves near human trafficking jungle camps, and more than 500 witnesses. 250 “Thai General, Provincial Politicians Found Guilty in Trafficking Trial,” Reuters. 251 Fortify Rights interview with #39, Pattani Province, Thailand, September 16, 2014. 252 “Malaysia Migrant Mass Graves: Police Reveal 28 Sites, Some with Multiple Corpses,” The Guardian. 253 Testimony of Mr. Matthew Smith, Executive Director of Fortify Rights, House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 254 Fortify Rights and Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K., Everywhere is Trouble: An Update on the Situation of Rohingya Refugees in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, March 2016, http://www.fortifyrights.org/downloads/ EverywhereisTrouble.pdf (accessed on March 25, 2019).