Uwazi

Detained protest leader Arnon Nampa has fallen ill with Covid and been moved for medical treatment, his Facebook page and news reports said Thursday.

The protest leader is in Bangkok Remand Prison awaiting trial on charges of sedition and lese-majeste for organizing and making speeches at pro-democracy rallies.

The Facebook post said he has been moved to Medical Correctional Institution. An earlier post on Wednesday said Arnon had a fever and has been feeling nauseated for the past three days.

Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in Thailand also posted on his personal social media accounts that Arnon has contracted the virus.

A call to his lawyer went unanswered.

If confirmed, Arnon would be the second protest leader to have contracted coronavirus in jail while awaiting their trial after Chukiat “Justin” Sawangwong tested positive for the virus last month.

Arnon had been tested for Covid-19 and the results were pending, according to a local news report.

In addition from Arnon, who was detained February 9, there are 22 other pre-trial detainees charged with violations related to political protests. Of those, 10 are being charged with lese-majeste.

Arnon was one of the first protest leaders to break the taboo of making speeches about the need to reform the royal institution last year. He is facing now 12 lese-majeste cases.

Three Mother Nature environmentalists were sentenced to jail for 18 to 20 months for incitement over their activism, while two others, including the group’s founder, were also found guilty in absentia.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced the verdict on Wednesday morning in a courtroom newly equipped with transparent screens and other Covid-19 preventative measures. Judge Li Sokha, wearing a mask, read out the verdict as the three defendants, Phuon Keoreaksmey, Long Kunthea and Thun Ratha, stood up holding hands.

Sokha said that based on the evidence, witnesses and the answers of the defendants, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court concluded that the three were guilty of incitement.

Ratha was handed 20 months in jail and a fine of 4 million riel, or about $1,000, for incitement to disturb social security. Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, the group’s co-founder who has been deported from Cambodia, was given the same sentence for being an accomplice.

Keoreaksmey, Kunthea and another activist tried in absentia, Chea Kunthin, were given 18 months and the same 4 million riel fine.

The court also issued arrest warrants against Gonzalez-Davidson and Kunthin and ordered the confiscation of materials belonging to them.

Ratha said aloud to reporters as he departed the courtroom: “This is very unjust. Sentencing people who just care about nature … they are very eager for trials.”

“The Khmer court is like this. Please tell people that we are still strong,” he said.

Defense lawyer Sam Chamroeun said he would discuss the verdict and a possible appeal with his clients.

Kunthea, Ratha and Keokeaksmey were arrested in September while planning a one-woman march by Kunthea to raise awareness about the infilling of Boeng Tamok, one of Phnom Penh’s last lakes.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Information said local and foreign media coverage of the red zone has “confused the public and provoked social chaos that will lead to more COVID-19 spreading.”

“In order to protect social security and prevent COVID-19 from spreading, the Ministry of Information is advising journalists to halt all actions immediately,” it said in a statement issued Tuesday. “In the event that people continue to ignore this notice, [we] will take legal action.”

Ministry spokesman Meas Sophorn told RFA that journalists who went to “red zone” areas and broadcast live via social media made comments without any medical foundation that might risk the spread of the highly contagious virus. He also said that some reporters chased ambulances during live broadcasts.

“If they comply with the law, then they can continue their work,” he said.

Journalist Leng Det said even though he supports the ministry’s order, he wants the media to work with authorities so reporters can provide accurate news.

“In order to get accurate news, we need many sources,” he said. “We don’t have to chase ambulances and police to tell the news.”

Nop Vy, executive director of the Cambodian Journalists Alliance, said preventing the media from covering news in red zones will not be in villagers’ best interest, and he insisted that those who have received training on reporting on the coronavirus pandemic be allowed to cover news freely.

“I am very concerned that the ministry will completely ban journalists [from covering the red zone],” he said. “So far, journalists have broadcast about food shortages and people’s appeals to get food aid into the red zone. This has shown that journalists have contributed to disseminating news.”

College students altogether with the element of civil society organised a demonstration to express their notion in front of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia to commemorate Indonesia’s Educational Day on 2 May.

The rally was giving the oration and the symbolic action of giving ‘red card’ to the Ministry. The ‘red card’ expresses dissatisfaction with the mass action to the Ministry of Education and Culture which had been failed to errands their duty of educational services during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The rally went well and orderly until 16.52. Yet, the rally was dissolved forcefully by the police officer around 16.52, when the mass action was waiting for their friends who were having negotiation with the member of the Ministry of Education and Culture inside the ministry building.

The police officer continuously using excessive excuse to dissolve the mass action. Noticeably, they were using a water cannon and aim the mass action, also the other things, such as, forceful arrest and seize the sounding commando’s car of mass action which belongs to FSBN-KASBI (The Congress Alliance of Labour in Indonesia). It hasn’t stopped yet, the police were intimidating with violence to the mass action who were taping the dissolving scene and the violation act by the police.

The police officer continuously using excessive action to dissolve the mass action. Noticeably, they were using a water cannon and aim the mass action, also the other things, such as, forceful arrest and seize the sounding commando’s car of mass action which belongs to FSBN-KASBI (The Congress Alliance of Labour in Indonesia). It hasn’t stopped yet, the police were intimidating with violence to the mass action who were taping the dissolving scene and the violation act by the police.

For the record, the demonstration is considered as one of the human rights which allow us to express our notion in front of the public, freely. It is written and protected by the Law and Article 9 of 1998, also in the other regulation of law. For that reason, the excessive power of action, the violation and the forceful arrest by the police officer are being charged as the violation of the law. Eventually, it will reveal the repressive actions of the government who ought to protect their people that conduct mass action in the public.

Two progressive leaders were arrested by state forces in simultaneous early morning raids in the provinces of Camarines Sur and Albay in Bicol region.

Sasah Sta. Rosa, spokesperson of youth group Jovenes Anakbayan was arrested at her home in Villa Obiedo, Cararayan, Naga City, Camarines Sur.

Anakbayan Naga City said in a Facebook post that at least 10 armed men came to Sta. Rosa’s house at 3 a.m. supposedly to serve a search warrant. They forced the family outside the house, then after 40 minutes, came out with a grenade, guns and a red flag.

In the same manner, in Albay, a team who identified themselves with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) served a search warrant to Pastor Dan Balucio, 61, of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and spokesperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Bicol. The warrant was issued by Judge Edgar Armes, vice executive judge of the Regional Trial Court of Legazpi City. Karapatan Bikol said the Balucio family were made to lie on their stomach on the ground, while the police entered the house.

The Philippine National Police claimed they found a Remington .45 caliber pistol, seven bullets, two M-14 rifle magazines, a hand grenade, and a red flag at Balucio’s home.

Sta. Rosa is currently detained at the Naga city police substation 2. Balucio is detained at CIDG-Albay.

Police also raided the house of Justine Mesias, senior editor of student publication Cassipi Online and Youth Act Now Against Tyranny-Bicol spokesperson, in Daraga, Albay. at least 40 operatives from the PNP and CIDG forcibly entered the residence, pointed their guns at members of the Mesias family, and went through their belongings for two hours. A gun and explosive were allegedly found by the police and military in the said house. Mesias was not in the house at the time of the incident.

The arrests came just two weeks after two other Bicol activists were freed and acquitted of trumped-up murder charges. Jenelyn Nagrampa-Caballero, Gabriel’s national vice chairperson, and Pastor Dan San Andres, also of the UCCP and Karapatan-Bicol’s spokesperson, were arrested in July last year.

Human rights group Karapatan likened the incidents to the pattern of police raids in the operations conducted in Negros, Iloilo, Metro Manila, Central Luzon and the Bloody Sunday raids in Southern Tagalog.

Karapatan called on the Commission on Human Rights to conduct an investigation and the Supreme Court and the Department of Justice to immediately act on what it calls “disturbing pattern of use of the courts to judicially harass human rights defenders.”

Twelve activists including youth leaders and a campus journalist have been released two days after they were arrested in Castillejos, Zambales on their way to a Labor Day protest.

Youth activists from the League of Filipino Students (LFS) Zambales and a journalist from College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) Central Luzon, along with their driver, were detained on Monday for “lack of social distancing.”

According to CEGP, the police threatened to expose the victims’ personal information and posted their photos on a Facebook page called “Makatarungan Battalion.” In its post, Makatarungan Battalion labeled the activists’ placards with calls such as “Stop the attacks” and “Solusyong medikal, hindi militar” as “anti-government slogans.”

“Even with legitimate calls and demands for a systematic solution to the pandemic, these organizations and the people involved are still branded with hostility,” CEGP said.

CEGP added that posting photos of the victims and their vehicle’s plate number without their consent violates their right to privacy.

The police and military also forced the victims to sign a document linking them to the Communist Party of the Philippines – New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), CEGP said.

Kabataan Partylist said the Duterte government has chosen to address calls for a safe return to school, economic aid and a comprehensive Covid-19 plan with violence and repression.

LFS-Zambales called the arrest a “manifestation that the police and the military, who are fascist and mercenary in nature, shouldn’t be relied on to interpret terrorism.”

CEGP said, “As legitimate organizations are red-tagged and members are silenced and arrested, the point becomes clearer: that the Duterte administration cannot take truthful criticism and is hiding behind the state forces to stifle and arrest those who dare to speak up.”

The activists have been released on bail amounting to almost P72,00 collected through donation campaigns.

In a Facebook post, Free Zambales 12 Network said they will continue to campaign for the release of many other victims of illegal arrest and detention in the “government’s militaristic pandemic response.”

“As long as the current administration considers it a crime to forward the people’s demands during a pandemic, it only proves that its pandemic response is a failure and its only way of addressing it is attacking critics and progressives,” Kabataan Partylist said

Authorities at a second Hong Kong university have cut ties with the student union, saying that it had become a “platform for political propaganda” following its involvement in recent protest movements.

“The Hong Kong University Students’ Union (HKUSU) has become increasingly politicized in recent years, utilizing the University campus as a platform for its political propaganda,” the University of Hong Kong said in a statement on Friday.

“It has repeatedly made inflammatory and potentially unlawful public statements and unfounded allegations against the University,” it said.

“The university strongly condemns HKUSU’s radical acts and remarks,” the statement said.

It said the university would stop collecting membership fees on behalf of HKUSU and would “enforce its management rights” over the facilities currently used by the union.

“The University may also take further actions, if necessary,” it said, citing the need to protect “national security.”

A draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party from July 1, 2020, has targeted dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists for “subversion” after they organized a primary election in a bid to win more seats in the city’s legislature.

The law bans words and deeds deemed subversive or secessionist, or any activities linked to overseas groups, as “collusion with foreign powers,” including public criticism of the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party.

Students oppose appointments

The HKU announcement comes after the union strongly opposed the appointment of two mainland Chinese scholars as vice presidents, saying that they would help to assert Chinese Communist Party control over the city’s oldest university.

Max Shen, who has previously been listed as a member of a Chinese Communist Party committee at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, and his former Tsinghua colleague Gong Peng started their jobs as vice presidents of research and academic development respectively from January 2021.

The severing of ties with the union comes after an article in the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, denounced HKUSU for smearing the government’s attempts to win public support for the national security law.

It called for “strong medicine to remove the malignant tumor in the ivory tower.”

Labour Party chairman and former HKUSU president Steven Kwok said the university’s action against the union appeared to have been triggered by the People’s Daily article.

“I think their actions were instigated by [authorities in] mainland China,” Kwok told Radio Free Asia. “It’s all part of the current political situation and carrying out Beijing’s wishes.”

The Chinese University of Hong Kong severed ties with its student union Syzygia on Feb. 26, banning the union from using university facilities or staff and accusing it of failing to clarify “potentially unlawful statements and false allegations.”

‘Getting rid of anything risky’

Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said universities have been tripping over themselves to demonstrate loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party since the national security law took effect.

“They are minimizing their risk by getting rid of anything risky,” Lau said. “This is an active form of adaptation to the politicization process being instigated by mainland China.”

He said the recent moves by the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong show the ever-widening damage to freedom of speech and academic freedom in Hong Kong.

“The university management are the ones damaging HKU’s rankings and reputation, not the students,” Lau said, referring to the University of Hong Kong.

Former student activist Joshua Wong — currently serving a prison sentence on public order charges linked to the 2019 protest movement — pleaded guilty in a Hong Kong court on Friday to “taking part in an illegal assembly” in connection with a vigil commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Victoria Park last year.

Wong, together with pro-democracy district councilors Lester Shum, Tiffany Yuen, and Jannelle Leung, pleaded guilty to the charges, with sentencing expected on May 6.

Wong, Shum, and Yuen also face “subversion” charges under the national security law after they took part in the democratic primary for the canceled Legislative Council election in 2020. All three were returned to custody following the hearing.

Kandal provincial authorities have told farmers to stop posting photos of vegetables spoiling in their fields without a market amid lockdowns as they were affecting morale, an official said.

Hor Sophal, deputy director of the Kandal department of agriculture, said his department had visited farmers in Sa’ang district on Friday. There were in fact vegetables that farmers could not find a market for due to the Covid-19 crisis and lockdowns in the major markets of Phnom Penh and Takhmao city, he said.

But the officials had told the farmers to stop posting pictures publicly because it affected the morale of other farmers and affected society, Sophal said.

“This is his second time, so we went to instruct him, and now he took note and said [he would] stop posting in public,” he said about Tai Song, one farmer who had been posting photos to Facebook.

Song has uploaded pictures about having to clear and throw away his vegetables amid the lockdown’s closure of markets.

Song told VOD that he had been pressured to sign a contract saying he would stop.

“I’m very disappointed and have nothing to say to them,” Song said. “I asked them to go take a look at the vegetables in my village, but they didn’t go to look. Hundreds of hectares of sugarcane will be plowed in the future as well, and there’s no less than thousands of tons of vegetables that they did not help to find a solution for. They just ordered me.”

“They no longer allowed me to post and use Facebook extensively. Me!” he continued. “I’m just a normal farmer. … I don’t know what they think that they ordered me like this.”

Another farmer, who gave his name only as Bunly, said several farmers had posted the photos so that authorities are aware of problems and can help find solutions.

“They came down to hide the difficulties of the farmers, so we don’t know what to say when they spoke those words. We are discouraged because we give them information so that they can help solve it, but instead they say that [our] posting is [intended] to pollute society,” he said. “There should be encouragement to farmers who are smart in urging superiors to help find a market. But they turned on us to tell us to end the sharing, and not say that there is no market. But every day, there really is no market.”

The letter Song signed says the farmer must first provide information to local authorities, not post it publicly. This is to avoid sharing incomplete information, misleading the public and undermining the efforts of officials, the letter says.

Photos showing the destruction of vegetables affect public morale and feeling, and the photos can incite discrimination, the letter says.

Incitement to discriminate is a criminal charge that applies to inciting malice or violence against a particular ethnicity, nationality, race or religion, and carries a prison term of up to three years.

About 100 residents in a Phnom Penh lockdown zone protested for food on Thursday night, according to a witness, as the local commune chief labeled the protesters an “opposition group” who are “not poor” and “give the authorities headaches.”

Stung Meanchey II commune chief Touch Sam Ol, in Meanchey district, said the protest was in Phneat village, and authorities would be distributing food to the residents on Friday morning.

“We hadn’t been able to [distribute food] in time for them because there have been too many and the supplies have not arrived on time, and there has been only rice so we couldn’t distribute just rice,” Sam Ol said late Thursday.

However, he said there was a “mastermind” behind the protest.

“In short, they are an opposition group and they are not poor,” he said. “The majority are rich, and firstly they were angry with us because we blocked the road … and they could not earn money to support their living.”

A few of the protesters had even received gifts of food from the state already, he added. “It gives the authorities headaches,” he said.

He also denied that the residents were hungry.

“The most important issue is the blocking of the road, which means they cannot do their business,” he said. “So they linked the blocking of the road with starvation.”

Stung Meanchey II is part of Phnom Penh’s red-zone restrictions due to high numbers of Covid-19 cases linked to garment factory workers living there. The government shut down markets and initially said the Commerce Ministry would take over all food sales in red zones, though local authorities have since allowed some vendors to sell in open, outdoor areas. The government has also set up a Telegram group so people in need can ask for donations for food, and it has been flooded with thousands of messages.

Mao Thora, a restaurant worker near Thursday’s protest, said about 100 people had gathered on the street, some carrying banners saying “My village is starving.”

The protesters had said the village had yet to receive food donations from the state, and without the ability to run their businesses they couldn’t pay rent, according to Thora. Some were workers who could not get to their workplaces, while others were small business owners who had been forced to suspend their operations, she said.

“It was crowded so I did not go very close to them since I am afraid of infection since I am in the red zone. They gathered and protested to demand that the authorities quickly provide food donations for them,” she said.

The Criminal Court has once again denied bail for 7 activists detained on royal defamation charges under Section 112, one of whom is Parit Chiwarak, whose health is reported to be rapidly declining due to his hunger strike.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that its lawyers went to the Criminal Court today (29 April) to request bail again for Parit Chiwarak, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, Anon Nampa, Chukiat Sangwong, and Parinya Cheewinkulpatom, who are detained pending trial on royal defamation charges under Section 112.

Parit, who has been detained for 80 days so far, has been on a hunger strike for the past 45 days to protest against the denial of bail for detained activists.

Lawyer Kritsadang Nutcharat said that one of the reasons for requesting bail is concern over the spread of Covid-19 in prisons, because even the court is concerned that the virus will spread among court officials. He also said that there is no more reason to keep the activists in detention, and that it would be acceptable if the court set a condition related with their trial. He also mentioned that the court previously granted bail for activists Jatupat Boonpattaraksa and Somyot Pruksakasemsuk.

He also said that he visited Parit on 28 April and spoke to him through teleconference. During the visit, Parit told Kritsadang that he has not been able to sleep, his skin is dry, and that he suffers from nausea and fatigue. Blood was also found in his stools, but he has not been sent to the Medical Correctional Institution to have his condition assessed.

Kritsadang said that, in addition to the bail request, they have also requested that the court allow Parit to be taken to Rama 9 Hospital for 30 days, because the hospital is better equiooed than the Medical Correctional Institution, and that the court may continue to detain him after the 30-day period, but the court has already dismissed that request.
Parit’s mother Sureerat Chiwarak also told reporters after she filed the bail request for her son that, while the Department of Corrections has denied that Parit's condition has worsened, she learned about his condition from what Parit said and Parit knows his own condition best.

She also said that she does not want him to be treated at the Medical Correctional Institution, where many inmates with Covid-19 are being treated. She would like her son released so she can care for him herself, and asked how the authorities will take responsibility if anything happens to him.

"I will fight to the very end. I will not lose my son," Sureerat said.

Meanwhile, a crowd of supporters started forming in front of the Bangkok Criminal Court building on Ratchadapisek Road at 12.00. At 13.45, student activist Benja Apan and a group of other students came to the Criminal Court to submit an open letter demanding the release of detained activists, signed by over 10,000 people.

Benja said during a speech in front of the court building that the students acted because they would like society to improve and for the monarchy to co-exist with society under the law. They are not a threat to national security. They are living humans and are students in their 20's.

Benja called on the court to grant bail to the detained activists and release them, because they have not yet been declared guilty and should have their humanity returned to them.

At 15.02, since judge Chanathip Muanpawong did not come to receive the letter, Benja scattered pieces of paper printed with the names of 11,035 people who signed the letter on the steps to the court building, but was blocked from going inside by court officials.

The crowd waited in front of the court building throughout the afternoon. At 16.50, Benja announced to the crowd that the court has postponed the decision on the bail requests to Friday morning (30 April), and that the hearing will be held online.

She demanded that the court read the ruling in person that evening, and said that the student activist group United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD) will also be moving their 'Stand Against Detention' event to the Criminal Court.

At 17.00, riot control police were seen lining up behind the Criminal Court building. They were seen arriving in several buses at around 16.30. However, their buses were blocked by the crowd and left the court after being stopped for around 5 minutes.

At 18.05, TLHR reported that the court denied bail for the activists on the ground that there is no reason to change existing court order.

The ruling was signed by judge Tawan Rodcharoen. Judge Tawan delivered the verdict in the Joe Gordon lèse majesté case in 2011. The Thai-born dual Thai-US citizen was convicted for translating parts of a banned book about the late King Rama IX and posting them on the Internet while in the United States. After repeated bail requests were denied, he pleaded guilty and was given a 5-year sentence, reduced by half because of his guilty plea.

The crowd then moved to the footpath in front of the Criminal Court, where they lit candles and gave speeches to protest against the denial of bail for detained activists and said they will stay until the activists are released.

However, the UFTD announced at around 22.00 that the activities have ended for the day and for people to return tomorrow (30 April).

Today, the Saryarkinskiy District Court in the capital, Nur-Sultan, convicted Utepova of participating in two banned political groups, sentenced her to one year of “restricted freedom,” and banned her from conducting “public and political activities” for two years, according to news reports, a video recording of the court proceeding, and the journalist and her lawyer, Galym Nurpeisov, both of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Utepova denied the charges, and she and her lawyer told CPJ that they believe the case was an attempt to silence her reporting critical of state authorities. Utepova said she plans to appeal the ruling.

Utepova worked as a correspondent for the Kazakh news website Newtimes.kz until 2019, when she started the independent political news and commentary outlet Aigul TV, which has about 8,000 subscribers on YouTube and 1,000 on Instagram, according to CPJ research. She also posts political news and commentary on her Facebook page, where she has about 8,000 followers.

“Kazakh authorities’ conviction of journalist Aigul Utepova on trumped-up charges once again demonstrates how the country’s laws banning so-called extremist groups are routinely used to stifle political dissent,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities should overturn this baseless sentence on appeal, and ensure that Utepova’s rights to conduct investigative journalism and express critical opinions are fully respected.”

The year of “restricted freedom” bars Utepova from leaving her home except for work and to complete 200 hours of compulsory labor, which was also issued as part of her sentence, according to the journalist, her lawyer, and the court video.

The two-year ban on public activities effectively makes it illegal for Utepova to work as a journalist during that time, according to those sources. Nurpeisov told CPJ that Utepova will be placed on the state’s unpublished list of “extremists,” which could prevent her from accessing her bank accounts for six years.

Nur-Sultan police arrested Utepova on September 17, 2020, and authorities charged her with participating in two banned political groups, the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan and Party of the Street, according to CPJ’s research; she has been held under house arrest since then. Both organizations are designated “extremist” in Kazakhstan but have been classified as “peaceful opposition movements” by the European Parliament.

From November 23 to December 11, authorities held Utepova in the City Center of Psychological Health in Nur-Sultan for a mandatory mental health evaluation, which she told CPJ she believes was retaliation for her journalistic work.

During Utepova’s trial, prosecutors cited social media posts by Utepova that allegedly supported those banned organizations and exiled politician Mukhtar Ablyazov, whom Kazakh authorities accuse of involvement in both groups, according to case documents reviewed by CPJ and video recordings of the court proceedings.

Utepova and her lawyer argued that the prosecution had failed to prove that Utepova had supported those groups, let alone participated in them, and said that she covered their activities as a journalist. They also said that allegations that Utepova supported the Party of the Street prior to a May 2020 ban on the group, which came into force the following month, were irrelevant, because the group was not banned at the time.

Utepova and her lawyer also challenged the prosecution’s heavy reliance on testimony from a doctoral student, whom Nurpeisov argued was not qualified to give expert testimony. Nurpeisov further objected that experts were appointed by the prosecution rather than a court, in contravention of a decree by the Supreme Court. In the court video, Judge Ibragim Alkenov is seen concluding that Utepova’s guilt was “fully demonstrated” by the evidence and the “expert” testimony.

According to news reports, studies, and Nurpeisov, who regularly defends individuals charged with affiliating with extremist groups, acquittals in such cases are extremely rare.

CPJ emailed the Kazakh Ministry of Interior for comment, but did not receive any response.

Student activist Wanwalee Thammasattaya has been detained pending trial on a royal defamation charge relating to a protest on 6 December 2020.

On Tuesday (27 April), the public prosecutor filed a case against Wanwalee and activist Chukiat “Justin” Saengwong in a royal defamation charge relating to speeches given during a protest at Wongwian Yai on 6 December 2020.

Thanakorn (last name withheld), 17, is also facing charges in the same case, but as he is a minor, his case is being processed by the Central Juvenile and Family Court. He will have to report to the prosecutor on 24 May 2021 to hear whether the prosecutor will file a case against him.

Meanwhile, Chukiat is currently being detained pending trial on another Section 112 charge. He has been in prison since 23 March.

The complaints against them was filed by Chakrapong Klinkaew, leader of the royalist group People Protecting the Institution.

The Thonburi Criminal Court ordered Wanwalee to be detained pending trial, and denied her request for bail with a security of 200,000 baht on the ground that the plaintiff objected to granting her bail and that she is likely to flee, since she is facing several counts on the same charge.

Wanwalee is facing 2 other counts under Section 112 for a speech given at a protest in front of the Siam Commercial Bank headquarters on 25 November 2020 and for posting a picture of a protest banner containing a message about the monarchy on her Facebook page on 21 November 2020.

Wanwalee is being detained at the Thonburi Women Correctional Institution, making her the 17th person to be detained pending trial in cases relating to political expression.

Of these 17 people, 10 are being detained pending trial on a Section 112 charge. Other than Wanwalee and Chukiat, Parit Chiwarak, Anon Nampa, Chaiamorn “Ammy” Kaewwiboonpan, Parinya “Fort” Cheewinkulpatom, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, Panupong Jadnok, Piyarat Chongthep, and Phromsorn Weerathamjaree are currently in detention.

Myanmar’s military junta should immediately stop threatening the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a leading human rights monitoring group, Human Rights Watch said today. The group has documented security force abuses since the February 1, 2021 coup, including killings of protesters, arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, and unjust court convictions.

On April 26, the Home Affairs Ministry of the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) accused the AAPP of operating illegally because it was not registered as an organization. The junta’s announcement threatened “severe action” against the group for causing “State service personnel and public panic” that will “incite the occurrence of more riots” and “harm State stability, rule of law and restoration of law and order.” “While the world’s media and diplomats regularly cite the AAPP’s daily updates on the military crackdown, Myanmar’s generals are desperately trying to silence the group to keep the truth from getting out,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The threats are part of the junta’s shroud of silence and censorship, targeting frontline groups like AAPP, arresting journalists, and shutting down the internet.”

The junta’s efforts to target the AAPP are illustrated in the 115-page briefing paper, obtained by Human Rights Watch, that the junta leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, presented to leaders at the ASEAN summit in Jakarta on April 24. Min Aung Hlaing claimed, without providing evidence, that the AAPP uses “data” that “appeared in fake and hoax news.” He added that the junta was “very upset” that “world media and international organizations restated” that information.

Responding to the allegations, AAPP Secretary-General Bo Kyi, a recipient of the Human Rights Watch Alison des Forges Defender Award in 2009, told The Irrawaddy magazine that: “I think it is just a political move as international governments, media and UN are referencing our data … The key issue is the violence they have committed, their killing and arrests. Instead of solving those problems, they are targeting a group like ours which is revealing the true events.” The AAPP told Human Rights Watch that the military’s threats have forced them to close their office in Yangon and compelled their staff to go into hiding and work from undisclosed locations. The junta has also arbitrarily arrested journalists to prevent reporting on the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement’s broad-based resistance to the coup and the security force abuses. UNESCO reported that the junta has arrested at least 71 journalists since the coup. The AAPP says that 48 journalists are currently known to be in detention, most in undisclosed locations without access to their families or legal counsel. Many other journalists have fled to border regions controlled by ethnic groups, or to neighboring countries.

The junta has brought charges against numerous journalists and activists under revised penal code provisions adopted on February 14. The State Administration Council inserted a new provision, section 505A, that could be used to punish comments regarding the illegitimacy of the coup or the military government, among others. The new section would criminalize comments that “cause fear,” spread “false news, [or] agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a Government employee.” Violation of the section is punishable with up to three years in prison. The law arbitrarily interferes with the exercise of rights protected under international law, including freedom of expression.

The junta has also increased pressure on independent media outlets by revoking their operating licenses. On March 8, the State Administration Council announced that it had cancelled the licenses of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Khit Thit Media. While these media groups have continued to report on events, they do so at great risk since journalists working for these outlets face immediate arrest if they are discovered doing their jobs as reporters.

“Groups like the AAPP and the independent media are playing a critical role holding Myanmar’s junta accountable, and they need to be able to continue their work,” Robertson said. “Governments concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar should be offering public support for these organizations and their brave staff members.”

On April 25, union officers from manufacturing company Sun Logistics, Inc. were visited by police officers to “urge” them to disaffiliate their union from the labor federation Organized Labor Associations in Line Industries and Agriculture (OLALIA-KMU). According to the police, the unionists will be “arrested like Nedo” should they fail to comply.

Arnedo “Nedo” Lagunias was an officer in Honda Cars and a current officer of Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Engklabo (AMEN). On March 4, police officers conducted a raid in his home and charged him with illegal possession of firearms and explosives. He is currently detained in Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba.

The junta’s forces raided a monastery in Sagain Region’s Yinmabin township on Saturday afternoon in search of a monk who has led anti-coup protests in the area.

Soldiers destroyed a bamboo building in the compound and confiscated 20 computers that were being used to teach students IT skills during the raid at Thabyay Aye village.

The monk they were searching for, Thaw Pa Ka, was not at the monastery at the time.

“The compound is covered with military boot prints,” Thaw Pa Ka told Myanmar Now. “A load of them showed up and started searching the place, even in the toilets.”

They also searched through boxes where novice monks kept their belongings, he added.

Thaw Pa Ka took part in the Saffron Revolution in 2007. He has lived in Thabyay Aye for about 10 years.

Saturday’s raid was the second time this month that the regime’s forces have tried to capture the monk.

Chukiat ‘Justin’ Sangwong, a leading figure in the Thai pro-democracy protests, has tested positive for Covid-19 while in detention as a suspect under the lèse majesté law, the Department of Corrections confirmed on 24 April.

According to the Department, Chukiat was taken to the Medical Correctional Institution on 24 April for treatment and his contacts have been isolated.

Thawatchai Chaiwat, the Department spokesperson, said that 9 officers and 26 detainees had been in contact with Chukiat. However, they have all tested negative according to results released on 25 April.

The detainees in close contact with Chukiat include leading figures in the democratic movement such as Parit Chiwarak, Anon Nampa, and Chai-amorn Kaewwiboonpan. Had they been infected, they would have added to the total of 1 officer and 9 detainees infected in Bangkok Remand Prison.

Among people at risk, Parit Chiwarak is of special concern. He was reaching the 42nd day of a hunger strike to demand the release of political activists on bail.

Sureerat Chiwarak, his mother, said before her son’s test result came out that she was consulting with his lawyer to immediately request bail again. Bail for Parit has already been rejected 10 times for what the court claims to be the possibility of re-offending against the sedition and lèse majesté laws.

Another leading figure of the democratic movement, Jatupat ‘Pai’ Boonpattararaksa, slept near to Chukiat before he was released on bail on 23 April. He and the court officers who processed his bail were ordered by the Department to report their health status and refrain from travelling.

Even though all others have tested negative, Thawatchai said that they will be put into 14-day quarantine just to make sure they are safe. To step up control measures, the Department will check a new detainee twice before and after a 3-day quarantine, seek vaccines for correctional officers, and check them every 14 days to ensure their safety.

In the wake of Chukiat’s infection, the Department said on 24 April that they will also prepare a field hospital to isolate those infected with mild or no symptoms.

Chukiat Sangwong, also known as Justin for his love of the style of Justin Timberlake, was arrested on 23 March under the lèse majesté law. Police claimed that he committed a lèse majesté offence when the student group REDEM held a protest on 20 March.

Concern over the outbreak in Bangkok Remand Prison was raised when Anon Nampa told his lawyer to spread the news on social media on 22 April. Anon’s lawyer also said on social media that Chukiat’s friends were also worried that he might be infected.

In response, Bangkok Remand Prison released a statement saying that Chukiat had a high fever on 18 April. However, it was found on 21 April that he had an abscess at the nape of his neck and was treated accordingly.

There was no mention of Chukiat being infected except that he, like other new detainees, was already under 14-day quarantine and examined medically twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. Bangkok Remand Prison said that the measures were in compliance with orders of the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Justice. However, the situation changed when the Chukiat’s positive result came out.

In Thailand, Chukiat is one among many who have been infected in the third outbreak. According to the government’s daily reports, Thailand saw an exponential increase from 26 new cases on 1 April to 2859 on 24 April. This time the outbreak is more worrying due to the severity of new variants and the government’s delay in delivering vaccines. Among the first cases in the third outbreak was Minister of Transport Saksayam Chidchob, who allegedly became infected in contact with female entertainers at a night club in Thong Lor.

During the weekend of 23 April 2021, a judge informed the family of human rights defenders Cai Wei and Chen Mei that their trial, originally scheduled to start on 26 April 2021, had been postponed a second time until after the Labour Day holiday in May. The court did not provide a new date.

On 21 January 2021, lawyers assigned by the authorities to represent human rights defenders Cai Wei and Chen Mei informed their families that the Beijing Chaoyang District Court has postponed the deadline for holding a trial to 29 April 2021, citing the pandemic as a reason. The previous deadline for holding the trial of the two human rights defenders was 29 January 2021.

The families of the human rights defenders have questioned the validity of the pandemic as a reason for postponement. According to the official website of the Beijing judiciary, at least eight public trials are scheduled to take place at the Chaoyang District Court between 25 January and 2 February 2021, and many more public trials in other courts in Beijing between 22 January and 22 February 2021.

On 22 September 2020, a lawyer assigned by the Chinese Government to represent human rights defender Chen Mei informed Chen's mother that he and fellow human rights defender Cai Wei have been indicted and their case has been sent for trial to the Chaoyang District Court in Beijing.

Since their detention in April 2020, Chen Mei and Cai Wei have not been allowed access to the legal counsel chosen by their families. Instead, the Government claimed that both defenders have "voluntarily" sought and received legal representation through the State legal aid programme.

Chen Mei's family have submitted a complaint to the Chaoyang District Judicial Bureau against the law firm to which Chen Mei's two Government-assigned lawyers belong, contending that they have violated laws and regulations governing the conduct of lawyers by representing clients who do not need legal aid and whose families have expressly rejected their representation.

A court in Vietnam sentenced a journalist to eight years Friday for writing anti-state stories and sharing them on social media, her lawyer told RFA.

The People’s Court in the south-central coastal province of Phu Yen convicted Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu of violating article 117 of the Vietnamese penal code for “creating, storing and disseminating information and materials against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

“The trial lasted three hours, which is quite fast. The prosecution carried a sentence range of five to 12 years and I think the 8-years is pretty harsh,” Nguyen Kha Thanh, Dieu’s lawyer told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“Ms. Dieu had a clean criminal record. This is her first offense,” Thanh said.

A former employee of a state-run newspaper, Dieu was arrested in August 2020, for managing a Facebook profile called “Tuyết Babel” and a YouTube account under the name “Tuyết Diệu Trần." According to the Vietnam News Agency, which cited the indictment, Dieu had used the websites to disseminate 25 news stories and nine videos deemed to be against the state.

She also stored seven other anti-state stories on her laptop and had published online written materials in support of democracy activist Nguyen Viet Dung, currently serving a six-year sentence for disseminating anti-state materials, including photos of himself in military garb in front of the flag of South Vietnam, defeated when the communist North unified the country in 1975.

After Dieu’s arrest, she was not allowed to contact anyone for months and could not meet her lawyer until November 2020.

“She pleaded innocent, saying that there were no victims of what she did. She did not accept the accusations as the trial failed to find a person harmed by her actions,” said the lawyer.

“But the court said her actions caused harm to the nation, a common tactic that allows them to not have to show any specific harmed individuals,” he said.

Thanh said as a regular citizen, Dieu’s writings were not done with the intention of opposing the government, and an individual’s writings are not strong enough to topple an entire government.

“In my view what she was doing was not in opposition to the authorities. I guess Ms. Dieu wrote those things because she was upset or something. She should have been charged with an administrative violation or for insulting an organization,” Thanh said.

Harsh forms of persecution

With Vietnam’s media all following Communist Party orders, “the only sources of independently-reported information are bloggers and independent journalists, who are being subjected to ever-harsher forms of persecution,” the press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says in its 2021 Press Freedoms Index.

Measures taken against them now include assaults by plainclothes police, RSF said in its report, which placed Vietnam at 175 out of 180 countries surveyed worldwide, a ranking unchanged from last year.

“To justify jailing them, the Party resorts to the criminal codes, especially three articles under which ‘activities aimed at overthrowing the government,’ ‘anti-state propaganda’ and ‘abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to threaten the interests of the state’ are punishable by long prison terms,” the rights group said.

Vietnam’s already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply last year with a spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers, and Facebook personalities as authorities continued to stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress in January. But arrests continue in 2021.

On April 23, the People’s Court in Phu Yen province convicted Dieu under Article 117 of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “creating, storing and disseminating information and materials” against the state, and sentenced her to eight years in prison, according to news reports.

Dieu, a former state newspaper reporter who as an independent journalist posted news and commentary on Facebook at “Tuyet Dieu Babel” “and “Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu Journalist” (which has been taken down), and the YouTube channel “Tuyet Dieu Tran,” was convicted in relation to 25 news stories and nine videos deemed to be anti-state, news reports said.

“Vietnamese authorities should reverse this outrageously harsh sentencing of independent reporter Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu and immediately and unconditionally set her free,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must stop treating journalists as criminals and allow them to report freely without fear of cruel and unusual punishment.”

Dieu was first arrested on August 21, 2020, and held in pretrial detention until her court hearing, according to CPJ research. Her lawyer, Nguyen Kha Thanh, said she pleaded innocent to the charges and that the trial lasted only three hours, news reports said. It was not immediately clear from the reports if Dieu plans to appeal the conviction. CPJ could not immediately locate contact information for Thanh.

Dieu’s reports on Facebook and YouTube covered socio-economic topics including corruption, the environment, and human rights, according to The 88 Project, an advocacy group that monitors the status of Vietnamese political prisoners.

The Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Dieu’s conviction sent through its website.

Vietnam is among the worst jailers of journalists worldwide, with at least 15 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s annual prison census on December 1, 2020.

Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, a writer and former political prisoner also called Gangme Thak, was arrested in Sertha on March 23, Jigme said, adding, “Kyab had not committed any crime, and the Chinese government has not shown any valid reason for his arrest.”

Political activist Gangbu Yudrum was taken into custody on March 22, with no reason given for his arrest, Jigme said.

Yudrum had previously served a three-year prison term beginning in 2008 for his role in a protest in which he raised the banned Tibetan national flag and called for the return to Tibet of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

He was arrested again in 2012 and released in 2014, receiving a warm welcome from people in his village, who hailed him as a “Tibetan fighter for the truth.” Upon his release, he wrote and distributed copies of a letter to local Tibetans urging them to work to free Tibet from Beijing’s rule.

Two of the six recently detained Tibetans have not yet been identified, and the whereabouts of all six are still unknown, Jigme said.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago, and the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers later fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against China’s rule.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

A court in southern Vietnam’s Can Tho City on Thursday sentenced a Facebook user to two years in prison for posting articles and livestream videos criticizing Vietnam’s communist government online, family members and media sources said.

Le Thi Binh, born in 1976, was arrested in December and charged with “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to threaten the interests of the state” under Article 331 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code. Her elder brother, Le Minh The, had completed a two-year jail term on the same charge in July.

Binh’s lawyer argued at trial for a reduced sentence of 12 months, Binh’s son Nguyen Chi Thanh told RFA after the trial, “But the prosecutor recommended two and a half years, and my mom was finally sentenced to two years in prison.”

Quoting the indictment against her, state media said Binh had used her Facebook page from October 2019 to November 2020 to livestream, post, and share posts “conveying bad and reactionary viewpoints and ideas” aimed at opposing and defaming Vietnam’s Communist Party and party and state leaders.

Binh had also “seriously insulted” Communist Vietnam’s founding leader Ho Chi Minh in her posts and called for a multiparty and pluralistic state to replace the current political regime, state media said.

Binh’s arrest and jailing is only the latest in a continuing series of arrests of independent journalists, publishers, and Facebook personalities after authorities began last year to stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress in January.

With Vietnam’s media tightly controlled by the country’s ruling Communist Party, “the only sources of independently-reported information are bloggers and independent journalists,” the press freedoms watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its 2021 Press Freedoms Index.

Measures now taken against them include jailings under vague charges in the criminal code and assaults by plainclothes police, RSF said in its report, which placed Vietnam at 175 out of 180 countries surveyed worldwide, a ranking unchanged from last year’s.

Also ranked low in this year’s survey were Vietnam’s neighbors Laos at 172, Cambodia at 144, and Myanmar, whose ranking at 140 represents a one-point drop from last year’s score, RSF said.

Bao Choy Yuk Ling, a freelance producer with Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), was convicted on April 22 of “making false statements” to obtain government data for her investigative report. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) strongly condemns Hong Kong authorities’ use of legal action to target members of the press.

Choy was charged with two counts of “knowingly making a false statement” to obtain car license plate records from the government’s database. The 37-year-old was fined HKD $6,000 (USD $773) on April 22 for the offenses to which she pleaded not guilty.

The data was used for an episode of RTHK’s documentary programme, Hong Kong Conncetion, that exposes the Hong Kong police’s delayed response to a mob attack on pro-democracy protesters and civilians in Yuen Long, Hong Kong on July 21, 2019.

The prosecution of Choy has shocked Hong Kong media, as it had been a common practice for journalists to obtain government data when reporting.

The court, however, determined on April 22 that Choy had used the data for her report instead of the “traffic and transport related purposes” justification that Choy provided to authorities for permission to access the data and was therefore punishable.

The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) and seven other media groups and trade unions have issued a joint statement to express their indignation. The statement also warned that legal attack on freedom of the press sends a chilling effect in Hong Kong’s media.

Members of diverse people’s movements across India, including many prominent activists, including Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, have asked the government to withdraw the FIR filed against activist Prof Kusumam Joseph. The FIR was filed against her for posting an appeal on Facebook to the government to ensure food and kits for dalit and adivasi families at Arippa in Kollam.

Her FB post highlighted the dire situation of over 160 families, including older people and children, who are part of communities struggling for the right to cultivable land on which they had built their huts for over a decade. Their condition had aggravated during the Covid-induced lockdown. Kusumam had posted the appeal in April 2020 and Kulathupuzha police had registered a case against her based on the complaint by Kulathupuzha gram panchayat secretary on April 18, this year. But, Kusumam was notified about the FIR only on April 28 through a notice asking her to surrender her mobile phone within 72 hours, said the activists.

The FIR is based on a facebook appeal by her to the state government in April 2020, to ensure food kits for Dalit and Adivasi families in Arippa, Kollam District. Deeming it completely arbitrary act of the administration and seeking immediate intervention of chief minister of Kerala they demanded for the withdrawal of the impugned FIR.

Prof. Kusumam Joseph is a respected retired academic in the educational and social circles of Kerala. She has been an active human rights defender, environmental crusader and has also previously been the Kerala state-coordinator and currently one of the Convenors of the National Alliance of People’s Movements. As per information available, the Kulathupuzha police, based on the complaint of Panchayath Secretary, Kulathupuzha Gram Panchayat registered Cr. 415/2020 on 18th April, 2021, under section 153 of IPC and Sec.118(b), 120 (b) of Kerala Police Act. However, Kusumam herself was notified of this FIR only on 28th April, 2021, through a notice asking her to surrender her mobile phone within 72 hours.

During the beginning of the pandemic, in April 2020, Ms. Joseph made a public demand on facebook that the Kerala Government ensure food kits for Dalit and Adivasi families in Arippa, Kollam. Her facebook post highlighted the dire situation of more than 160 families, including older people and children, who are part of communities struggling for the right to cultivable land on which they had built their huts for over a decade.

With the lockdown declared due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they had lost all means of subsistence and their income. While acknowledging the efforts of the Kerala Government to provide food kits for those in need including migrant workers and even birds and animals, Prof. Kusumam Joseph drew attention to the failure of the State to ensure food security for the Dalit and Adivasi people at Arippa, even after the local authorities received multiple requests from different quarters. Her demand for immediate supply of food grains to the affected people was in line with the promises made by the Kerala government that the people in Kerala will not be allowed to starve.

The case against Prof. Kusumam claims that ‘by concealing the Government’s social security measures she incited insurrection among communities’! It was alleged that her post constituted ‘wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot.’ This is a malicious accusation made against an activist who was fighting to ensure basic necessities for survival for communities already living under precarious circumstances. The attempt to suppress her voice, using police force is a disappointing departure from the principles of a state claiming to fight for all working classes and oppressed sections including Dalit, Adivasi and minority peoples.

They appealed that the Kerala government withdraws the pending FIR/s against Prof. Kusumam Joseph, that the govt upholds the principles of democracy, including the right to protest and the right to publicly hold government agencies responsible for denial of social entitlements and rights.

The Kerala government must guarantee that activists and human rights defenders are not targeted and persecuted for bringing issues to public notice, and instead state mechanisms are employed to address the violations of human rights they point out. Towards this end, police and administrative personnel must be given necessary training and direction.

Yesterday, police in the southern city of Can Tho arrested the three journalists as part of an ongoing investigation into Truong Chau Huu Danh, founder of the independent Bao Sach (“Clean Newspaper”) Facebook-based news outlet, according to news reports. Authorities also seized documents relating to their work during the arrests, those reports said.

Nha, Giang, and Bao worked as reporters for Bao Sach before its Facebook page was deactivated following Danh’s arrest in December 2020, according to those reports and CPJ documentation from the time.

Danh is accused of violating Article 331 of the penal code, which bans “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State” and carries potential seven-year jail terms, according to CPJ’s coverage from the time, which called for his immediate release.

CPJ could not immediately determine whether Nha, Giang, and Bao are also accused under Article 331 of the penal code.

“Reporters Thanh Nha, Doan Kien Giang, and Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao should all be immediately and unconditionally released,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnamese authorities must stop jailing journalists for their work, and should ensure that members of the press are able to work for independent outlets without fear of arrest and legal harassment.”

Bao Sach had more than 100,000 followers on Facebook at the time of Danh’s arrest last year; it covered topics including protests over alleged illegal toll collectors on local highway systems, and posted images of government officials arrested over their suspected involvement in such a scheme, as CPJ documented at the time.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment on the reporters’ arrests and the status of Danh’s case, filed through its website.

Vietnam is among the worst jailers of journalists worldwide, with at least 15 behind bars when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2020.

A court in southern Kazakhstan has handed a parole-like sentence to an activist for supporting the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, one of several activists sentenced for supporting the opposition group in recent years.

The Court No. 2 in the southern city of Qyzylorda on April 20 sentenced Muratbai Baimaghambetov to two years of "freedom limitation" and 170 hours of community work.

Baimaghambetov, who was arrested in September 2020, told RFE/RL that he will appeal the sentence.

The activist is known for his rights activities in the region.

While in pretrial detention, human rights organizations in Kazakhstan recognized Baimaghambetov as a political prisoner.

Several activists in the Central Asian nation have been handed "freedom limitation" and prison sentences in recent years for their support or involvement in the activities of DVK and its associate, Koshe (Street) party, as well as for taking part in unsanctioned rallies organized by the two groups.

DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities labeled DVK as extremist and banned the group in March 2018.

Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies even though the nation’s constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.

Pakistani police Wednesday opened an investigation into the shooting and wounding of a former prominent journalist and head of the state media regulator, who has been a vocal critic of the military and its alleged meddling in politics.

Absar Alam, who is in his 50s, was shot Tuesday at by an unknown person in a park close to his home in Islamabad, police said in a statement.

He headed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) for two years under former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had fallen out with the military before he was sacked by a court on corruption charges, which he denies.

Alam was shot in the ribs and was hospitalized but out of danger, police said.

"I have not lost my spirit, and I will not lose my spirit," Alam said in a video message he recorded in a car on his way to hospital after the attack.

Prime Minister Imran Khan's relations with the press and broadcasters have become increasingly strained since he took office after the 2018 election.

Opponents say Khan secured office with the help of a crackdown on the media by the military, which has a history of involvement in Pakistani politics, including staging coups to oust civilian governments.

The military denies meddling in politics or involvement in the shooting.

"We vehemently deny this. The military has nothing to do with this," the military's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) wing told Reuters.

Activists say the crackdown on the media since 2018 has left 3,000 journalists and other media workers jobless.

Alam alleged in a tweet over the weekend that the current chief of the military's ISI spy wing called him when he was PEMRA chief to reinstate live coverage by a local TV channel of an Islamist group. The Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) choked Islamabad in 2017 with protests aimed at cartoons published in France depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

The TLP called an end Tuesday to the violent nationwide anti-France protests after the government called a parliamentary vote on whether to expel the French ambassador over the same issue.

Amnesty International and the Community to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on authorities to investigate the shooting and find those responsible.

The shooting "highlights the dangerous climate that all members of the press face in Pakistan if they dare to criticize the country's powerful military," said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Pakistan among the five deadliest countries for journalists in 2020, when four journalists were killed.

Abu Tayyab, a senior television journalist, was arrested by police on April 20 under the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA) for writing social media posts about alleged corruption by Khulna City Corporation (KCC) mayor, Talukder Abdul Khaleque. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges the KCC mayor to drop all charges against the journalist.

Tayab, Khulna bureau chief of NTV, a private television channel, was arrested on April 20 following the filing of a case against the journalist under the DSA on April 19. Tayab is accused of spreading ‘negative propaganda’ on his Facebook account and of defaming the KCC mayor, who is also the president of Awami League's city unit, by publishing false news stories regarding the mayor’s alleged corruption.

Following his arrest, Tayab faced Khulna Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on April 21. The court Magistrate, Tariqul Islam, rejected the bail petition filed by the journalist’s lawyer.

Bangladesh’s DSA, adopted in October 2018, puts dangerous restrictions on freedom of expression and is regularly used by authorities to silence criticism. During 2020, arrests under the DSA increased significantly to crackdown on Covid-19 ‘rumours’. Bangladeshi writer, Mushtaq Ahmed, was detained under the DSA in May 2020 for posting criticism of the government’s response to Covid-19 on Facebook; he died in police custody on February 25, 2021.

Filipino netizens are up in arms over what appeared to be harassment as police officers were seen roaming near community pantries, a growing mutual aid movement in the country as many experience hunger and subjected to poor social protection amid the pandemic.

In a now-deleted Facebook post, one of the organizers of the community pantry in Pandacan shared that two police officers approached their community pantry, asked them to answer a profiling sheet, and took a photo of them.

Faith-based humanitarian worker Patis Mungcal, in a tweet, said two cops also visited their community pantry, pointing out that they should quickly replenish their supplies for everyone in the queue and abide by health protocols.

In a statement, urban poor group Kadamay said police presence is “definitely not needed” in the community pantries, adding that their atrocious record will scare away people who badly need food.

“The fear of being jailed and harassed is a legitimate one,” Kadamay Secretary General Mimi Doringo said.

On Labor Day last year, 10 relief workers providing warm meals in Marikina were arrested. Also last year, a former lawmaker and several peasant activists were also arrested while on their way to provide much-needed relief goods to Bulacan farmers who lost their livelihoods due to the lockdown. Community pantries are being set up in many parts of the country, as part of a mutual aid initiative among the poor. The movement adopted the phrase, “magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan” as their rallying call.

The Myanmar military detained Japanese freelance journalist, Yuki Kitazumi in Yangon on April 18 for allegedly disseminating ‘fake news’. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemn the continued threat to journalists across Myanmar and calls for the immediate release of all detained journalists.

Yuki Kitazumi, a freelance journalist and owner of Yangon Media Professionals, a media production company, was arrested at his home in Yangon and transferred to Insein prison overnight.Myanmar state television stations reported, Kitazumi was charged with spreading ‘fake news’ under article 505(A) of the Penal Code.

While not providing a name, the Japanese government confirmed a journalist in his forties was detained on April 18. Japanese Embassy officials said they are unable to visit him in detention, and chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato asked ‘Myanmar authorities to explain the arrest and release him as soon as possible.’

Article 505(A) of Myanmar’s penal code is a new amendment made by Myanmar’s State Administrative Council, a body set up by the military after the coup on February 1. The amendment was announced on February 14 and criminalises comments which “cause fear”, spread “false news, (or) agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee.”

Kitazumi was previously detained and released the same day on February 26 while covering protests. According to Reuters, Kitazumi was the first foreign reporter to be detained since the military-coup on February 1.

Two anti-coup protesters were killed in northern Myanmar over the weekend as the military continued its push to crush resistance to its rule. One person was reported dead in the northern Shan State town of Kyaukme on Saturday, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, a 25-year-old government employee who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, was shot in the head as he was leaving the monastery where he had temporarily ordained as a monk during the Thingyan holidays.

According to local sources, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, who worked for the Department of Electrical Power, was shot near Kyaukme’s Wailuwun monastery at around 9pm on Saturday.

“He was on his way to his teacher’s home. He had just left the monkhood because it was the end of Thingyan,” a Kyaukme resident told Myanmar Now.

There were numerous witnesses to the incident, the source added, noting that it occurred in the centre of town.

A doctor who treated him said he died from a bullet wound and would be cremated on Monday.

The troops who killed him removed his body from the scene soon after the shooting. Family members were told they could collect it on Sunday. However, according to a local news agency, his mother was forced to sign a release before she was allowed to claim his body stating that her son had been stabbed to death and that the military was not involved in his killing.