II. On Land: Abuses at Human-Trafficking Camps and Houses in Thailand and Malaysia 52 Despite witnessing such punishments, Mohammed Khan himself later attempted and successfully escaped from the camp in 2013: The brokers asked for 7,000 Malaysian Ringgit (US$2,000) from us by beating and torturing us. We refused to give [money] by saying that we had lost everything. They said, “If you don’t have money to pay, you have to work in Malaysia and have to give the money up.” They beat and forced us to make phone calls to our families. When we could no longer stand the torture, we ran away from that place. We swam and crossed small streams, got on a small boat, and went to a pier . . . A car picked us up and sent us to a place. The driver told us not to walk on the road and said the police may arrest us. We walked until the evening and slept in the plantation. We entered a Thai house and asked for help and were refused. We walked again, and we did not stay near that house because they may arrest us. After that, we arrived here. The owner of this house understood the situation and gave us shelter. We arrived on Thursday and now have been here three days.175 Members of the criminal syndicate also threatened families, friends, and associates of the captives with violence. For example, “Abdul Mahid,” a 50-year-old Rohingya man living as a refugee in Malaysia, received a threatening call from traffickers demanding payment of 6,200 Malaysian Ringgit (approximately US$2,000) for the release of 24-year-old “Abdul Rahman,” an associate of Abdul Mahid. Abdul Mahid told Fortify Rights: “[The traffickers] said, ‘It is easy for us to kill you. We will also kill the boy in our custody.’ He was crying and they were beating him.”176 Rohingya families in Myanmar explained to Fortify Rights how they received phone calls from traffickers and loved ones held captive in trafficking camps in Thailand and Malaysia requesting money. A 40-year-old Rohingya man in Sittwe Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar explained to Fortify Rights how traffickers were holding his son captive in a camp in Thailand in 2015: After two or three days, [traffickers] called us and told us to transfer money to an account in Western Union bank. “We can’t send money to the bank,” we said. “We’re just trying to find someone who can rescue my son,” we said. My son told me he was going to die. We asked one of my relatives in Malaysia to rescue my son from this. We didn’t pay any money. We asked our relatives to rescue him. [My son] explained to me a little bit about his suffering. When they arrived in Thailand, the brokers kept him in a jail. They built it with wood in the mountains, and they gave him some rice—once every three or four days—and a little water. They beat them badly. They were trying to get money from others and us in exchange for his freedom.177 A prominent member of the Rohingya community in Myanmar told Fortify Rights how he made several payments to traffickers to obtain the release family members and others from the humantrafficking camps in Thailand: When I call them, my relatives say the brokers always torture them very brutally. They are in a difficult situation. They asked me to free them from the hands of the brokers by giving money. They said the broker was beating them severely and often didn’t provide food. They said they were starving and in a difficult situation. They said the broker keeps them in a room surrounded by iron fences and, in the middle, there are iron chains. Twenty people were taken to Malaysia [from the human-trafficking camps] yesterday [October 28, 2013] after their relatives transferred money.178 Fortify Rights recorded phone calls between those being held captive in Thailand and their family members. During these calls, those in captivity described to their family members various acts of 175 Ibid. 176 Fortify Rights interview with #21, Johor State, Malaysia, August 15, 2014. 177 Fortify Rights interview with #98, Rakhine State, Myanmar, March 4, 2015. 178 Fortify Rights interview with #32, Yangon, Myanmar, October 29, 2013.