Thai govt to prosecute 300 detained Muslims

"I have received a report from General Sirichai Tanyasiri, head of the Southern Provinces Peacekeeping Command, that 300 of the detainees will be prosecuted," Thaksin said in his weekly radio address.

They will face charges including destruction of government property, staging a riot, and robbery, Sirichai said.

Local television showed the first of 900 other detainees being released last afternoon.

Security forces arrested about 1,300 people after the demonstration in Tak Bai, Narathiwat province on Monday.

Of those, 78 were crushed to death or suffocated after being piled into trucks. The government said six were shot dead at the protest and three others were found drowned in a river near the protest site, the foreign ministry said.

Under martial law, suspects can be detained for up to seven days without charge.

Meanwhile, Muslim men released yesterday after six days in Thai military detention told of being trapped under piles of other detainees when they were transported into custody following a riot last Monday.

One man in his mid-twenties said he was tied with his hands behind his back and had "five layers" of other detainees above him in a truck.

"It was very hot and I was suffering a lot. I was shocked after I learned that 78 people died," said the man, declining to be identified.

"Can you imagine being laid down on the floor and there are a lot of people on top of you? You can't even move. You can't even do anything," another man said, weeping. He also did not want to be named but described himself as a businessman.