Uwazi

A Uyghur woman was arrested last month after she posted a video on social media complaining that authorities had seized her land in Xinjiang, leaving her without means to eke out a living, the security director of her village said.

The woman, identified only as Belikiz, 35, from Astana village in Kumul, called Hami in Chinese, said authorities confiscated her land at the end of 2023 to implement a policy of “concentrating lands in the hands of authorities.”

She expressed despair over the Chinese government’s unwillingness to resolve the issue in the video on Douyin, a Chinese video-sharing platform.

“Even if the land was allocated to us by the government, we’ve invested 3-4 years cultivating it,” she says in the video. “Why won’t the government advocate for us farmers? If you doubt my words, just look at those machines tearing up our farmlands.”

“How are we supposed to sustain our livelihoods and send our children to school?” she asked. “Isn’t there a country that can support us? Is there no organization we can turn to for help?”

‘Systematic confiscation’

For years, authorities in Xinjiang have seized land and property from Uyghurs to make way for development projects run by Han Chinese migrants. Those who lose land often have little or no recourse for adequate compensation or justice because of high levels of collusion between local officials and developers.

Uyghurs complain that the migrants have displaced them from their traditional homeland and deprived them of financial opportunities under harsh Beijing rule.

Police quickly deleted the video from Douyin not long after it was uploaded and arrested Belikiz on April 15, said Astana village’s security director, who declined to be named out of fear of retribution.

He said he learned of the woman’s arrest about 20 days later and that authorities apprehended her because of a complaint letter she previously submitted to the government about the issue.

It was unclear whether her arrest was directly related to the video addressing the land seizure, he added.

“The systematic confiscation of land from Uyghurs has been an ongoing issue for a long time,” said a Uyghur former police officer who now lives Sweden. “We owe our insight into these injustices to the courage of individuals who bravely share their stories through videos like these.”

‘Keep tormenting us’

Belikiz initially set up two bookstores after graduating from high school because she failed the national college entrance examination, the village security director said.

But when business endeavors were unsuccessful, she turned to farming, he said.

Belikiz had farmed on about 7-8 mu of land for the past 1-2 years. The Chinese unit of land measurement varies with location but is commonly equal to 0.165 acre, so she had less than two acres.

After area officials confiscated the land, which constituted all her capital, Belikiz recorded the video on Douyin about the issues she and other Uyghur farmers in Kumul and the rest of Xinjiang faced.

“Are they going to keep tormenting us just because the government is powerful?” she asked. “Wouldn't it be better if we were spared from all this suffering?”

The Uyghur former police officer who lives in Sweden noted that no land is safe from seizure.

“The Chinese government can seize land from individuals at any given moment, under any pretext,” he said, declining to be named for fear of retaliation.

Individuals cannot privately own land and natural resources, according to China’s constitution and land laws. The Constitution specifies that land in urban areas must be owned by the state, while land in rural and suburban areas must be owned by the state or by local collectives.

“The video depicting the anguish of a farmer woman in Kumul following the loss of her land is a stark reminder of this reality,” the former policeman said.

Other locations

Similar land-grab incidents also have occurred in Ghulja, a county-level city in northwestern Xinjiang, called Yining in Chinese.

Since the 2000s, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have carried out “development measures” by “concentrating lands in the hands of authorities.”

The policy allowed Han Chinese migrants to seize Uyghur farmland and force Uyghurs to work as laborers on the same plots.

“Regardless of the reason, openly voicing complaints against the Chinese oppressors or making any form of complaint is considered a violation of the law,” the former policeman said.

“While [Belikiz] managed to upload a video discussing her hardships, millions of others in our homeland cannot,” he said.

Zumrat Dawut, a former Uyghur internment camp detainee who was forcibly sterilized but now lives in the United States, said she managed to downloaded Belikiz’s video to her phone even though it had been removed from Douyin.

Dawut resorted to alternative methods to download the video and then uploaded it to Facebook so more people could view it.

“Reporters and media outlets following my feed inquired about the woman in the video, asking why she was crying and what had occurred,” Dawut told Radio Free Asia.

She expressed admiration for Belikiz’s courage, but voiced concern about potential consequences she might face.

Dawut urged human rights groups and Uyghur advocacy groups to monitor Belikiz’s situation and the repercussions she might face for speaking out.

“This woman has taken a tremendous risk to raise her voice,” she said.

The family of the missing veteran labor organizer in Bukidnon intensified its search efforts together with trade unions and rights groups.

William Lariosa, 63, a veteran labor organizer in the sugar and pineapple plantations of Bukidnon, has been missing since April 10. He was last seen in Barangay Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon. Eyewitnesses said that elements of the 48th Infantry Battalion forcibly arrested Lariosa.

His family, together with the union leaders and paralegals of Kilusang Mayo Uno – Southern Mindanao Region (KMU-SMR), Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), Anakbayan Southern Mindanao, and Kabataan Partylist, expanded their search to Quezon and Maramag, Bukidnon.

The family and other members under the banner of Surface William Lariosa Network said that they filed blotter reports in Butong Barangay Hall and Quezon Municipal Police Station. They also talked to the 48th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and residents in the nearby communities.

The search team also went to the 1003rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City on May 14, after receiving information that Lariosa was being held there.

However, the search team noticed that there were inconsistencies in the “Desaparecidos Form” signed by the military officer. The officer who introduced himself as Cpt. Labasa initially signed the form using the name Dexter Ramos. When asked for a duplicate copy, the officer returned the document with a different signature, under the name of Jhony Tumbayan, who was the camp’s security guard.

“This clear blatant usage of fake identity shows the 1003rd’s disregard for legal protocols and their lack of respect for the rule of law. Despite the persistent efforts of the family and the paralegal team, it is evident that state authorities are unwilling to engage or assist in locating Lariosa’s whereabouts,” Surface William Lariosa said.

It has been more than a month since his disappearance but Lariosa remains missing. The effect of his abduction rippled down to other organizers in the Southern Mindanao region. The United Nations (UN) has identified that enforced disappearance is a frequently used strategy to spread terror, not only to the close relatives of the disappeared but also to their communities.

CTUHR documented that Lariosa’s disappearance was followed by uninvited visits by men identifying themselves as military, to the homes of KMU regional labor leaders Paul John Dizon, Carl Anthony Olalo, and Melodina Gumanoy of the Nagkahiusang Kababaye ang Mamumuo sa Davao de Oro or NKMDDO.

“The labor activists were told to surrender to the government or they will face certain consequences. What is there to surrender, when labor activists are only calling for higher wages to lift workers out of poverty?” said CTUHR in a statement.

They also documented that three days after International Labor Day, red-tagging paraphernalia were seen in Davao City, targeting KMU. However, the pattern of harassment did not stop among their ranks.

Other staff members of the labor non-government organization Nonoy Librado Development Foundation Inc. (NLDFI) were also visited by individuals identifying themselves as military.

“Former NLDFI executive director Emma Ricaforte was interrogated by agents of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and shown a list of labor activists who will supposedly be sought out for a meeting,” CTUHR added.

Last May 10, friends, families, and supporters of William Lariosa gathered for a Holy Mass and solidarity program to mark the first month of his enforced disappearance. The network vows to continue searching for Lariosa and urges the government for his immediate surfacing.

“We are calling for the immediate surfacing of William and his safe return to us, free from physical and psychological torture,” the network said.

Meanwhile, KMU released an appeal for concerted action and solidarity from the international community, human rights groups, labor unions, and concerned individuals.

“Only through unified and sustained action can we secure justice for William Lariosa, protect labor rights activists facing escalating attacks, and uphold democratic rights and human dignity for all in the Philippines,” KMU ended in their appeal.

An Astana court on May 14 fined activist Elvira Bekzadina of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) opposition party 110,760 tenges ($250) on a charge of disobeying police. Police detained Bekzadina two days earlier when she was going to hold a public poll on the results of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's time in office since March 2019. Bekzadina rejected the charge, accusing the police of physically abusing her during her detention. In November, a court in Astana sentenced the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison on extremism charges that he also rejects as politically motivated.

A Kyrgyz court on May 14 sentenced government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) to five years in prison on a charge of making calls online for mass unrest. Shakir was arrested in August 2023, days after he criticized the government's decision to hand four spa centers near Lake Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan and called President Sadyr Japarov and the State Committee of National Security chief Kamchybek Tashiev to participate in public debates with him.

A prominent reformer at Vietnam’s Labor Ministry was arrested last month and charged with leaking state secrets, state media reported Thursday.

Nguyen Van Binh, director general of the ministry’s legal department, was arrested on April 24 and prosecuted for “having deliberately disclosed State secrets” under Article 337 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, according to Voice of Vietnam.

The 88 Project, a nonprofit focusing on free speech in Vietnam, said Binh’s phone has been inactive since April 15.

While the state broadcaster did not give further details about the arrest, The 88 Project said Binh’s arrest is part of a larger effort to crack down on human rights.

“The arrest of Nguyen Van Binh is part of a new wave of repression sweeping through Vietnam,” the group said in a report issued days before state media confirmed the arrest.

The group noted that Binh had been pushing the government to ratify International Labour Organization Convention 87 — which gives workers the right to form unions.

Vietnam has only a single state-affiliated union, and foreign trade partners such as Canada have for years been pushing Hanoi to ratify the 75-year-old treaty.

Before his arrest, Binh, a lawyer and unionist who had worked at the ILO, had long pushed to improve worker rights.

The group linked Binh’s arrest to Directive 24, a purported leaked Communist Party document that calls for “prevent[ing] the establishment of labor organizations” and deeper control of state security. The text was made public in March by The 88 Project, which termed it a “war on human rights.”

News of Binh’s arrest came just one day after the U.S. Department of Commerce held a hearing to consider whether to recognize Vietnam's economy as a "market economy."

The upgrade would take Vietnam off a list of 12 countries, including North Korea and China, whose heavy state influence marks them as planned economies. Were it to be removed from the list, Vietnam would be able to access U.S. trade preferences.

U.S. steelmakers, among others, have opposed the move — as have advocacy groups who say the country has fallen far short of protecting workers’ rights. A decision is expected to be issued in late July.

At Wednesday’s virtual public hearing, lawyers representing Vietnam argued that the country met all six of the Commerce Department’s criteria, including the right to collective bargaining.

"Vietnam has demonstrated that its performance on these statutory factors is as good, or often better, than other countries that have previously been granted market economy status," said attorney Eric Emerson, Reuters reported.

But Human Rights watch disputed that claim, saying in a statement that Hanoi’s labor laws fell far short of international standards.

“It’s patently false to claim that Vietnamese workers can organize unions or that their wages are the result of free bargaining between labor and management,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

“Not a single independent union exists in Vietnam and no working legal frameworks exist for unions to be created or for workers to enforce labor rights.”

Citizen journalist Fang Bin, who was jailed after filming from hospitals and funeral homes in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is now homeless after being evicted from an apartment he rented just last month.

Fang, who was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at a secret trial, was released last year and ordered back to Wuhan when he traveled to Beijing.

Back in Wuhan, Fang stayed for a while in Qiaokou district, where he was frequently questioned by local police as part of China's "stability maintenance" system that targets dissidents and activists before they have a chance to do anything, prompting him to leave the area.

Before his detention on Feb. 1, 2020, Fang was among a number of high-profile bloggers who tried to report on the emerging and little-understood viral outbreak from Wuhan. He described the pandemic as a "man-made" disaster, calling on people to resist government "tyranny."

He sent reports from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital and a funeral home in Wuchang, part of the three-city conurbation that makes up Wuhan, where he watched staff move out eight dead bodies in the space of five minutes, suggesting the death toll was far higher than the officially reported figure.

Last month, Fang found an apartment in Huangpi district, further out of town, and signed a one-year lease with a private landlord surnamed Ren on April 15, paying a year's rent and service charges up front.

Three days later, local officials found out that he had moved into the area, and put pressure on the landlord to terminate his lease, he told RFA Mandarin in an interview on Wednesday.

The landlord told him he was being evicted, saying he couldn't take the kind of pressure he was being put under.

"When [the authorities] found out that I'd moved to Huangpi from Qiaokou, they were against me living in Huangpi," Fang said. "They put pressure on the landlord to evict me."

"They cut off my power and water supply ... They want me to leave," he said. "I paid the rent and the service charge."

Fang said unidentified people had used "every tactic they could think of" to put pressure on the landlord, who didn't dare to say where the pressure was coming from.

"He said, 'I can't stand this any more — I'll give you your money back,'" Fang said.

A 'stability maintenance' target

Repeated calls to the neighborhood committee at Shekoujie Sub-district Office rang unanswered during office hours on Wednesday.

Fang believes local officials there didn't want him living in the district because he's a "stability maintenance" target, whom they fear could cause trouble for them.

Fang left on April 27, then regained entry to the apartment the following day, only to have the water and power cut off on April 29, he said. Then someone tampered with the door lock, shutting Fang out of the apartment entirely.

"They think that my living here would be dangerous or troublesome for them, due to stability maintenance and so on," he said. "They think I'll cause them trouble, be another thing they are responsible for."

Fang went incommunicado after a Feb. 1, 2020, livestream from Wuhan healthcare facilities, and made a couple more videos in the days that followed about his interrogation by police, before falling silent for three years, with no news of his fate.

He was sentenced in secret by the Jiang'an District People's Court, which didn't share any legal documents with his family, then served his sentence in the Xiaojunshan former juvenile correction facility, activists said at the time.

Fang’s disappearance came a few days after the detention of another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, who had been interviewing people involved with the new mega hospitals being built at great speed in Wuhan.

Fellow citizen journalist Kcriss Li continued reporting from the scene for a few more weeks after that, until his dramatic, live-streamed chase by police on Feb. 26.

Lawyer-turned-reporter Zhang Zhan was detained and taken back to Shanghai, where there are ongoing concerns about her health in prison following months of on-off hunger strikes and forced feeding.

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China called for Fang's release in its annual report in November 2022, along with all those detained for reporting on the pandemic in China.

Political activist Panupong Jadnok has been sentenced to three years in prison on charges of violating the lese majeste law and Computer Crimes Act, and a warrant issued for his arrest after he failed to appear in court for sentencing.

The Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced the 28-year-old to four years behind bars and reduced it to three years due to his cooperation during witness examination.

The defendant was found guilty for a message posted on Facebook on Nov 8, 2023, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The court said the message was viewed as offensive to the monarchy and His Majesty the King and in breach of the computer law.

The joint leader of the Ratsadon group had denied the charges.

He was not present in court for the judgement and a bench warrant was then issued for his arrest.

The ruling was postponed from March 28 after the defendant first failed to appear in court for judgement.

Panupong is known online as Mike Rayong.

Human rights alliance KARAPATAN decried the recent freezing of the bank accounts of a multi-awarded development non-government organization based in Leyte province.

In an order dated May 2, 2024, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered the Tacloban branches of PSBank and Metropolitan Bank to freeze the accounts of the Leyte Center for Development Inc. (LCDe), as well as the personal bank accounts of its executive director and members of its staff.

LCDe is a 36-year old development NGO based in Palo, Leyte that has won numerous awards for assisting poor and marginalized communities in Eastern Visayas, especially in disaster preparedness and response. Its funds are sourced from private donors and at least seven countries, and it has partnered with 23 local government units in Samar and Leyte.

According to the AMLC, its freeze order stems from alleged findings that LCDe executive director Jazmin Jerusalem and her staff had been providing funds to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). The AMLC also claimed that Jerusalem and the LCDe staff had earlier been designated as a “terrorist group/individual,” though no public information is available attesting to this designation.

“This is yet another example of the arbitrariness and anti-poor character of the Anti-Terrorism Council’s (ATC) designation of persons or groups as ‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist financiers’,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay. “This time, the ATC is focusing on LCDe which has long been providing much- needed assistance to the most impoverished rural communities of Samar and Leyte and had many times been acclaimed for it’s work, even by the Department of National Defense,” added Palabay.

“By freezing its accounts, the ATC has effectively sabotaged the LCDe ‘s projects in these communities and deprived them of the services that the LCDe has been providing,” she said.

“As in other cases of this nature,” said Palabay, “the AMLC based its unjust designation and freeze orders on the perjured testimonies of a so-called rebel returnee who claimed to have founded the LCDe in 2002, when the LCDe has, in fact, been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since 1988.”

“This case also amply demonstrates the real dangers of red-tagging and how it swiftly leads to terror-tagging,” said Palabay.

“Jerusalem has long been the subject of red-tagging and harassment by state forces in the course of her activism and development work. She was falsely accused of involvement in a ‘communist’ purge in Leyte in the 1980s even if she was still a college student in Cebu at the time of the alleged incident. In 2018, she was among some 600 respondents in the government’s proscription case against the CPP-NPA, which was eventually dismissed by a Manila court. Now, she is accused of being a terrorist. Where will this end? In her unjust arrest and detention, forcible disappearance or extrajudicial killing?” she stated.

“Karapatan demands an end to terror-tagging. Government bodies like the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), ATC and AMLC whose reason for being is to surveil, profile, red- and terror-tag human rights defenders, development workers and political activists must be abolished, and the fascist and anti-people policies that engendered them, revoked,” concluded Palabay.

A human rights group reported cases of harassment and surveillance on Cavite-based student Paolo Tarra.

Karapatan Cavite reported that in February 2024, two people claiming to be members of the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), along with village officials from Trece Martires City, approached and intimidated Tarra’s parents. One of them introduced himself as JR and claimed that they were military reservists.

They then tried to get Tarra’s personal information and documents like birth certificate, diplomas and photos by continuously harassing and intimidating his parents.

Tarra is a student leader at De La Salle University-Dasmariñas (DLSU-D). He is coordinator of the Coalition of Concerned Lasallians (CCL) and a human rights worker in Cavite and other parts of the Southern Tagalog region.

On May 3, Tarra’s parents were again approached by people claiming to be from NTF-ELCAC, including a so-called“supervisor. They showed photos of Tarra participating in various activities and insisted on personally speaking to Tarra out of fear that he might “go to the mountains.” They said that on their next visit, they would like to speak to his parents again with forms and documents for them to sign.

In a statement posted by Karapatan-Cavite, they said that “the NTF-ELCAC’s intention is clear – to intimidate and deceive Tarra’s family through blatant red-tagging to justify their surveillance of him,” emphasizing that, “since the establishment of the Executive Order 70, the NTF-ELCAC has continuously proven that it does not truly serve the people. Instead, it aims to suppress the people and silence dissent and activism in the country amid the worsening crisis the Filipino people are facing.”

“It is worth noting that on May 8, the Supreme Court declared in a ruling that red-tagging poses a significant threat to the constitutional rights of Filipinos to life, liberty, and security,” the group added.

Prior to the high court’s decision, at least two United Nations special rapporteurs, Ian Fry and Irene Khan, called for the abolition of NTF ELCAC over its gross rights violations.

Karapatan Cavite called for an urgent investigation on Tarra’s case and asked the public to support their campaigns in defending human rights and holding the NTF-ELCAC accountable for its human rights violations.

Nayapatrika national daily’s Jhapa based reporter Chiranjivi Ghimire received death threat for his reporting on May 4. Jhapa lies in Koshi Province of Nepal.

Reporter Ghimire shared with Freedom Forum that news with reporter Ghimire’s byline was published on web portal of the daily https://www.nayapatrikadaily.com/ on May 4. The news was about illegal extraction in the Mawa river with involvement of local representatives and the locals being threatened by contractors.

After publication of news, contractor Binod Thapa called Ghimire on mobile and threatened saying that he could do anything to Ghimire. Thapa also spoke foul during the call, according to Ghimire. Thereafter, reporter Ghimire filed a complaint at a local police office in Damak.

Reporter Ghimire further informed that Deputy Superintendent of Police Nisan Thapa has assured of calling the contractor to police station for further investigation. Ghimire added, “I am also discussing with fellow journalists and preparing to lodge a complaint against the contractor for his offensive behavior.”

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to reporter. The contractor should adopt legitimate ways to address his concern over news but threatening and speaking foul upon reporter is a gross violation of press freedom.

The West Kazakhstan region's police department told RFE/RL on April 30 that journalist Raul Uporov, who extensively covered ongoing unprecedented floods in the city of Oral, had been charged with hooliganism.

A day earlier, Uporov said on Facebook that police were forcibly taking him to a police station to officially charge him in an administrative case.

He later said that the case against him was launched over his online video about a move by the local Emergencies Department to ban journalists from visiting areas affected by the floods and filing reports from such places.

The department explained the move by citing "safety precautions," while Uporov harshly criticized the move in a video he made about the floods, which was posted on Instagram. Police said they considered some of the words used by Uporov in the video "vulgar" and filed a hooliganism charge against the reporter.

Meanwhile, the situation around floods caused by abrupt warm weather that led to massive snowmelt in late March remains complicated in the western Atyrau region.

The Kazakh Emergencies Ministry said on April 30 that rescue teams from 10 regions and military personnel remain in the Atyrau region to monitor the water level in the Ural River every hour.

The ministry said a day earlier that, among those who were forced to flee the flooding, 38,521 people had returned home, adding that some of the rescue teams and military personnel deployed to help flood-affected regions had started leaving as water levels begin to recede.

In all, about 120,000 people, including 44,000 children, had been evacuated from areas affected by the floods.

According to the ministry, 17,000 of its rescue experts and military personnel, as well almost 2,000 equipped vehicles, have been involved in the rescue efforts in the flood-affected regions of the Central Asian nation's northern regions.

At least five people died in Kazakhstan during the floods, while at least four have been missing since early April.

On 9 December 2023, Chhattisgarh police arrested four human rights defenders: Lakhma Koram, Ranu Podyam, Shankar Kashyap, and Samlu Koram. The arrests were due to their peaceful campaigns against human rights violations, militarization, and the forcible acquisition of land for corporate interests in Bastar District, Chhattisgarh. Since then, the human rights defenders have been detained in Jagdalpur Jail in Chhattisgarh.

Lakhma Koram, Ranu Podyam, Shankar Kashyap, and Samlu Koram have been vocal advocates against forcible land acquisition and the negative impact of large-scale mining companies on the land, environment, livelihoods, and housing rights of affected indigenous communities. They are associated with two peaceful protest movements: Morohnar Jan Andolan and Orcha Jan Andolan, which have been resisting iron ore mining, the construction of paramilitary camps in the region, and are advocating for the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 and the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act 1996, which require public consultation with the local community before approving mining projects on Adivasi lands.

On 9 December 2023, human rights defenders Lakhma Koram and Ranu Podyam were arrested by police while traveling to the Orcha Jan Andolan protest site. About an hour later, on the same day, Shankar Kashyap and Samlu Koram were arrested and falsely accused of having links to banned Maoist groups. The human rights defenders have been denied bail and are currently held at Jagdalpur Jail in Chhattisgarh.

The arrest of the four human rights defenders follows a pattern of escalating violations by security forces in Chhattisgarh against local communities and human rights defenders. On 24 November 2023, the Orcha Jan Andolan protest site was destroyed by officers from the District Reserve Guard. There are also reports of arrests, killings, and violence against community leaders, peaceful protesters, and human rights defenders, with impunity.

On 1 April 2024, Afghan human rights defender Ahmad Fahim Azimi was sentenced to one year of imprisonment by the Taliban court, in Kabul. The human rights defender is facing reprisals due to his advocacy for human rights, especially the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan.

Ahmad Fahim Azimi is an Afghan human rights defender who has advocated for the right to education of women and girls and has campaigned peacefully against the ban on girls' education by the de facto authorities. The human rights defender is the head of the Better Thinking Centre and director of the Digital Citizen Lab in Afghanistan. He has worked to promote girls' education, including supporting the Afghan girls’ robotics team.

On 1 April 2024, the Taliban court announced its verdict, sentencing Ahmad Fahim Azimi to one year of imprisonment. The human rights defender and his family were not present in court when the sentence was passed. The human rights defender’s family continues to advocate for his release and fair trial rights. An appeal against the conviction and sentence of Ahmad Fahim Azimi is currently before the Appellate Court, and there is no information to date about the human rights defender's release or condition in jail.

Ahmad Fahim Azimi was arrested on 17 October 2023 by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) District 40 at their office in Karta Char, Kabul. He was accused of assisting girls from the Afghan robotics team to leave the country and enabling and organising women’s protests in Afghanistan. The Taliban seized the human rights defender’s passport and devices, including laptops, flash drives, and documents, including study materials and organizational papers. The human rights defender was detained for 72 days at the GDI District 40 detention centre, during which time he was interrogated about his work and subjected to torture and solitary confinement. He was denied access to legal counsel or medical treatment during his detention. On 27 December 2023, Ahmad Fahim Azimi was produced before a Taliban court in Kabul and then transferred to the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul.

Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary arrest of Ahmad Fahim Azimi, his treatment in detention, and the denial of his fair trial rights. The imprisonment of the human rights defender is a reprisal for his commitment to women’s and girls' rights and his interventions to promote girls' education in Afghanistan. Front Line Defenders is concerned about the safety of Ahmad Fahim Azimi, his family, and his lawyers. His imprisonment and treatment have taken an immense toll on the human rights defender’s family, especially his elderly father, who suffered a stroke on 20 April 2024 and is in critical condition. Front Line Defenders calls for the immediate release of Ahmad Fahim Azimi and for the protection of his family, colleagues, and those advocating against his continued imprisonment by the Taliban.

At least four people were reported killed on Thursday during clashes between protesters and Taliban security forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Residents in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, held a demonstration after being told by Taliban authorities to vacate their homes for the construction of a customs clearing facility, according to witnesses and officials.

Protesters blocked a busy highway linking Afghanistan to Pakistan and refused to allow the destruction of their properties. Taliban security forces fired gunshots to disperse the crowd and clear the highway to allow trade convoys to resume their journey in both directions, eyewitnesses reported.

An area information and culture department spokesperson confirmed the clashes, saying residents "created chaos in response" to the official order. Arafat Mohajer said that the violence resulted in the death of a Taliban officer and "a number of people who were occupying the [state[ land [illegally]." He did not share further details.

Protesters refuted the official claims, saying they had the deeds and owned the land.

A resident in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, confirmed to VOA by phone that firing by Taliban security forces killed three protesters.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago and faced no public opposition to their hard-line policies until this month.

Last week, farmers and residents took to the streets in northeastern Badakhshan province to protest the eradication of poppy fields by the Taliban counternarcotics units.

Security forces opened fire to disperse the demonstrators, killing two people.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, has imposed a nationwide ban on poppy cultivation and production, usage, transportation and trade of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City on May 8 sentenced defendant Phan Tat Thanh, 38, to eight years in prison under Article 117 of the Penal Code for “making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” state media reported. The prosecutors claimed that Thanh’s activity “constitutes a serious crime which threatens national security” and that “it is necessary to impose a harsh punishment to deter similar activities.”

Phan Tat Thanh is a pro-democracy activist and an administrator of a dissident Facebook fan page called Nhật ký yêu nước (A Patriot's Diary). The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department detained him in July 2023 and charged him with violating Article 117 of the Penal Code. However, his family said Thanh had no longer engaged in pro-democracy activism but focused on building his business.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that court officials allowed Thanh's parents into the courtroom. However, they rejected requests from foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam, such as the Consulate General of Germany and the United States, to send representatives to observe the trial. Phan Tat Chi, Thanh’s father, said he was very frustrated since the sentence the court handed was higher than the recommendation of the Procuracy, which suggests between five to seven years of imprisonment.

Chi said that in his last words, Thanh pleaded not guilty and said that the investigators obtained his testimonies through forced confessions. However, the judge interrupted his speech and said, “This is not a forum for you to talk nonsense.”

Rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on May 7 called on the Vietnamese government to immediately drop all charges against activist Phan Tat Thanh and to release him, according to a statement sent to VOA News Vietnamese language service.

“Peaceful advocacy for democracy and human rights is not a crime,” said Patricia Gossman, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Vietnamese government needs to immediately release Phan Tat Thanh and drop all charges against him.” Gossman called on the government to immediately release all those imprisoned or detained simply for expressing peaceful political views.

Duong Noi provincial police have resumed harassing Do Thi Thu, the wife of Trinh Ba Phuong. They sent her a summons on April 25 asking her to answer questions about her Facebook posts. Phuong recently told his wife that he is feverish and aching, to the point that he has to lie down all day and cover himself with a blanket in spite of the heatwave.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc told his brother Tran Huynh Duy Tan on April 26 that the quality of the food in prison has gone down while prices are going up. After a three day hunger strike (sometime before this date), he had lost 2kg and currently weighs about 63kg. Since April 18, he and several others allegedly have been kept in what is known as a “tiger cage,” described by Dang Dinh Bach’s wife in the preceding paragraph. On April 19, when Thuc refused to be put in the tiger cage, he alleges that the guards dragged him in anyway, tearing up his shirt and causing bruises on his neck. Thuc asks that international observers, especially UN special rapporteurs, come visit the prison conditions and assess Vietnam’s latest response to the UPR.

Police and district guards blocked a march of around 60 Samrong Tbong community members living next to Boeng Tamok lake in northern Phnom Penh. This morning, authorities were violent and shoved community members who were walking to the Prek Pnov district hall to meet officials after six families received eviction orders signed on 8 May to make way for road construction.

Around 60 police and district security guards cordoned off community members, pushed them back, were violent with some of the members and prevented the group from walking to the district hall. Residents were forced to return to their homes escorted by security forces.

Samrong Tbong community members have faced repeated police harassment, criminal charges and threats of eviction as the government has parcelled off and filled in large swathes of Boeng Tamok lake, giving plots of land to various government ministries, officials and well-connected individuals.

Some community members were injured during an altercation in February with authorities who were filling the lake area people used for fish farming.

A surgeon was detained in Kabul on 20 March 2024 by Taliban intelligence personnel. He had reportedly recently criticized the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education while being interviewed on a television program. He was reportedly released on bail after guaranteeing he would end his criticism.

Pakistani authorities must swiftly and impartially investigate death threats and online harassment targeting prominent television anchor Hamid Mir and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

Mir, who hosts the flagship political show “Capital Talk” on Geo News and has survived at least two previous assassination attempts, told CPJ that he had received multiple death threats on social media and warnings that his life was in danger from two journalists familiar with the situation. Mir had reported the threats to the police last week in the capital, Islamabad, but they had yet to register a First Information Report needed to open an investigation.

On April 28, journalist Imran Riaz Khan posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he had been told that “preparations are being made to take actions” against Mir for his comments in support of freedom of speech in Pakistan, where journalists say they are often harassed and attacked by the military, political groups, and criminals.

Mir also told CPJ that he saw at least two people filming him last week while he was in his vehicle near his Islamabad home but they ran away when he approached them. Mir also reported this to the police.

On April 24, Mir filed a complaint to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which investigates cybercrimes, asking the agency to register a case against Jan Achakzai, the former information minister of southwestern Baluchistan province, for repeatedly insulting Mir on X, including calling him a “traitor.” In the complaint, reviewed by CPJ, Mir said that Achakzai’s “malicious attacks” undermined his credibility and jeopardized his safety.

On May 1, Achakzai said on X that he had been summoned to appear at the FIA’s Cybercrime Reporting Center on May 3. He criticized Mir for advocating for freedom of expression and for using his show to talk to separatists in Baluchistan.

“The threats and online hate campaign against one of Pakistan’s most prominent television anchors illustrate the severity of intimidation and pressure faced by journalists in Pakistan,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi . “Pakistani security agencies must immediately act against those trying to silence Hamid Mir and hold them accountable.”

Press freedom advocate

Mir has consistently advocated for press freedom in Pakistan.

On April 27, he filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the 2022 killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya. In February, Mir spoke out on “Capital Talk” against the detention of journalists Imran Riaz Khan and Asad Ali Toor. In 2021, Mir was suspended from his talk show at Geo News after criticizing the military at a rally in support of Toor, who had been beaten up by unidentified men.

Mir has survived at least two attempted assassinations — in 2014 he was shot and in 2012 his driver found explosives planted under his car. In 2011, Mir publicly shared a death threat that he received after criticizing the military, judiciary, and intelligence services.

Since 1992, 64 journalists have been killed in connection with their work in Pakistan, CPJ data shows. Pakistan ranked 11th on CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index, which ranks countries by how often the killers of journalists go unpunished.

On April 3, exiled Afghan journalist, Ahmad Hanayesh, was attacked by armed men in Islamabad. On March 14, Pakistani journalist Jam Saghir Ahmed Lar was shot dead in Pakistan’s central Punjab province.

CPJ’s text messages to information minister Attaullah Tarar and Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari, deputy Inspector General of Police in Islamabad, requesting comment on the threats against Mir did not receive any replies.

The Supreme Court this morning upheld the convictions of current and former casino union members, prolonging the incarceration of LRSU President Chhim Sithar.

The four-judge panel delivered its verdict the morning of 3 May upholding convictions for eight defendants. Their sentences range from two years to one year in prison, with Sithar being the only defendant currently serving her two-year sentence.

While Sithar is expected to be released later this year once she completes her sentence, today’s verdict puts five of the defendants at risk of immediate imprisonment. The five defendants — Chhim Sokhorn, Hay Sopheap, Kleang Soben, Sun Srey Pich, and Touch Sereymeas — were given 18-month prison sentences by the Phnom Penh Capital Court.

Two of the remaining defendants were given suspended sentences by a lower court.

The Phnom Penh Capital Court had charged nine defendants who were associated with the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) and they were convicted in 2023. The convictions under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code are related to the union’s ongoing peaceful strike.

Eight defendants appealed the Phnom Penh court’s verdict, which was upheld by an appeal court last October.

Union members have been on strike since December 2021 against NagaWorld casino’s decision to implement mass layoffs in the middle of a pandemic. The firings included all of LRSU’s senior leadership and a large number of its members. Since the peaceful strike commenced in 2021, workers have been subjected to physical, verbal and sexual assault by local authorities and security personnel.

Morm Rithy, the vice-president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC), was arrested last night outside of the confederation’s offices, after he was convicted in absentia of incitement and discrediting judicial decisions and sentenced to 18 months in prison early Tuesday.

In addition to serving as the vice-president of CLC, Rithy, 35, is the head of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation. His conviction relates to a 24 February 2022 Facebook video in which the union leader was critical of an arrest of a member of his federation at Jinbei Casino in Sihanoukville.

The verdict was announced without Rithy or his lawyer present, as his lawyer had requested a delay in the trial due to a scheduling conflict. The court found Rithy guilty of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code, as well as “Discrediting a Judicial Decision” under Article 523, and fined him two million riel (US$500).

Rithy’s imprisonment comes shortly before internal CLC leadership elections, which were scheduled to be held later this month.

Writer Lin Nhyo Thway, aka Kyaw Thu Lwin, a writer from Gyobingauk Township, Thayarwaddy District, Bago Region, was arrested by military junta forces and has been out of contact with his family for a week.

Many military junta forces arrived at the home of Lin Nhyo Thway, Gyobingauk Township, Thaekone Ward, at night on April 25th and beat and arrested him, according to a person close to his family.

“He still hasn’t been contacted. It is still unknow where he was taken. They (family) are enquiring about him, and I don’t know why he was arrested,” he told MPA.

A 30-year-old woman who is close to the family explained that Lin Nhyo Thway was among those who had been involved in protesting against the military coup in the past and was returning home due to poor health while fleeing.

“His health was bad from the beginning, and he has a neurological disease. Also, he was regularly taking medicine, and now his family is concerned about his health after being arrested and beaten and has stopped taking medication,” she said.

A political activist in Gyobingauk said that he strongly condemns the use of force by the junta troops, dishonorable arrests of unarmed politicians, and interrogation practices that cut off contact with their families.

“Deliberate psychological attacks to make citizens lose interest in politics and fear, and actions to keep citizens away from politics, are the depraved behaviors of dictators,” he said.

At least 20 innocent people have died after being arrested by military junta forces since the military coup in other townships, including Gyobingauk Township in Thayarwaddy District.

Mansoor Nekmal, the Editor in Chief of Khaama Press, was arrested on 17 February after being summoned to the de facto Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue. Khaama had recently published a story about the Taliban arresting women for not wearing ‘proper’ hijab. He was detained for approximately 24 hours.

WHRD Manije Siddiqi was reportedly sentenced to 2 years in prison in February 2024. Part of the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women, Manije had been in detention since her arrest on 24 September 2023. She was reportedly held by the intelligence agency for more than 2 months and then transferred to Pul-e Charki prison in early December prior to her sentencing in February. Manije was subsequently released on 6 April as part of an amnesty.

During her detention, fellow activists raised serious concerns about her health and claimed that she had been tortured. Just days before she was released, Manije appeared on an Afghan news program to talk about how well she had been treated while in detention. This statement was almost certainly given under duress as a condition for her release.

On 25 February 2024, Sanjay Hettimulla, a University of Kelaniya student and an Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) activist, was apprehended while attempting to leave the country. This arrest is linked to a case of false allegations of ragging that occurred on the university campus in the year 2022.

Two other student activists who were documented last year, Kelum and Dilshan, were arrested in relation to the same case and imprisoned for more than 5 months, and finally released on bail. These student leaders were all activists in the Inter-University Students' Federation (IUSF) who were very active in the recent people's struggle. This false accusation fed into the larger targeted repression of the student movement.

The incident in question was a clash between two student groups within the university. An internal university investigation clearly stated that this incident wasn't one of ragging, as was falsely claimed. The State however, continues to pursue this case and target activists of the IUSF.

A court in Thailand today sentenced one of the kingdom’s leading democracy activists to a further two years imprisonment on royal insult charges.

It is the latest charge levelled against prominent human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, who now faces more than 10 years in prison.

He is currently in jail after he was handed down a four-year sentence in January over three messages posted on Facebook in 2021, adding to the four years he was already serving for a prior lese majeste conviction.

Critics say the government has used the strict legislation to silence dissent, prosecuting scores under a tough law that protects King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his family.

The criminal court in Bangkok sentenced Arnon for two years and 20 days over his calls at a Harry Potter-themed rally in 2021 to amend Thailand’s royal defamation laws.

He was found guilty of four charges including violation of else majeste, defying the emergency decree, and using a loudspeaker without permission, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.

Thailand’s youth-led pro-democracy protests in 2020 saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets to make unprecedented calls to reform the monarchy.

Sentencing him, the criminal court also fined him 150 baht for use of the loudspeaker.

Arnon is among more than 150 activists who have been charged in recent years under lese majeste laws, often referred to as “112” after the relevant section of the criminal code.

Rights activists and environmentalists have expressed dismay over slapping terror charges on two Filipino activists, terming it an example of muzzling dissent and crackdown on rights-based activism in the country.

Fritz Jay Labiano and Adrian Paul Tagle have been charged with violating the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, media reports say.

Labiano is the coordinator of the rights group Kabataan Partylist in Quezon province, and Tagle is the coordinator of Tanggol Quezon, an advocacy group. If convicted, they face life imprisonment.

Six protesters were arrested by the police today during a protest action near the US Embassy in Manila.

The police barricaded the protesters in Kalaw but the protesters were able to pass through and march near the US Embassy. The police attempted to disperse the protesters, some of them were injured after they were hit with truncheons. Minutes later, the police used a water cannon against them.

During the program, activist leaders denounced the police dispersal and arrest of the six activists.

Gabriela Secretary General Clarice Palce said, “The police prevent us from getting near the US Embassy but American troops freely occupy our land and seas,” she said in Filipino, referring to the Balikatan exercise with the US.

Several journalists were reportedly illegally detained and abused in Punjab’s Gujrat district while covering local by-elections on April 21. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), urge the local authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into and ensure journalists are able to work without fear of harassment and obstruction.

On April 21, journalists covering by-elections in Punjab’s northern Gujrat city were reportedly illegally detained by both police and individuals in plain clothes, with law enforcement assaulting the media workers and damaging their equipment.

Among those affected were reporter Bilal Sikander and cameraman Mushtaq Danyal from 92 News, as well as cameraman Raees Dilawar from GNN News, and several other local media professionals. The journalists were taken into custody for several hours.

Sikander claims the group was taken to a police station, where he and his colleagues were intimidated, with police allegedly threatening to cause them serious harm to ‘ensure their silence’ throughout the by-elections. Both Sikander and Danyal sustained serious injuries to their arms and backs.

The journalists were released following intervention by the PFUJ and local union leaders. According to the affected journalists, they were denied medical attention and no investigation into their allegations of abuse has begun.

The PFUJ said: “Who so ever is behind the illegal abduction of journalists must be brought to justice. The PFUJ announce to move the court to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the abductors for justice.”

The IFJ said: “The Government of Pakistan must take action to thoroughly investigate the alleged abductions and harassment of a group of journalists in Gujrat. Further measures must be introduced to safeguard the rights of media workers and ensure impunity is not permitted to run rife.”