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An anti-government protester in Hong Kong was found guilty Tuesday of terrorism and secession in a landmark ruling involving the first verdict delivered under the territory’s new national security law.

Leon Tong Ying-kit, 24, had pleaded not guilty to all charges in relation to an anti-government street protest last year. Tong had been accused of driving his motorcycle into police officers while carrying a flag with the phrase, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.”

Due to the security law charges, a three-judge panel was specially selected to preside over the case without a jury. After a mammoth 15-day trial, the panel returned with a guilty verdict.

Much of the case focused on how the slogan would be interpreted by the High Court panel. The now-banned phrase was a popular rallying call during Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-government demonstrations.

One of the judges, Esther Toh, said the defendant was aware of the meaning of the phrase the flag carried and ruled the slogan had a “natural and reasonable effect” of inciting others to commit secession, according to a report by the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Tong, a former waiter, has been refused bail since his arrest last year. He will be sentenced at a later date, but could face up to life imprisonment. His lawyers said no decision has been made as to whether they will appeal, according to local reports.

Eric Yan-ho Lai, a political and law analyst, told VOA in a phone interview that the ruling was “disappointing” because the judges had disregarded potential meanings of the slogan that were not secessionist.

“It’s a cherry-picking tactic by the judges, tried to pick one of many of the meanings to justify [the notion] Tong’s act is intimidating others for his own political agenda. It seems a very technical and formal approach to see this case,” he said.

The analyst, who is a Hong Kong Law Fellow at Georgetown University, added that international standards were not met in the case.

“Free expressions are not inciting imminent violence, should not be considered as a crime and should not be punished in Tong’s case,” he said.

Yan added that the verdict, which is seen as a departure from Hong Kong’s common law, sets a dangerous tone for future security law cases.

“If Tong received a much heavier sentence than other non-NSL [national security law] cases, say rioting or possession explosion articles … it would cause a strong impact of the common law in Hong Kong, when such acts could cause disproportionate sentencing, even to life in jail without the scrutiny of a jury trial,” he said.

July 1, 2020, marked the first full day of Hong Kong’s newly implemented national security law enacted by Beijing the night before. Thousands protested in the streets, though, opposing the law and the government. Hundreds were arrested, with at least 10 under the new security law, including Tong.

The legislation outlines four key prohibitions – secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion – and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Critics say the law has reduced Hong Kong’s unique autonomy promised when it was handed back to China from Britain in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the legislation would only target a minority of people. But nearly 13 months since the law became active, 100 people have been arrested and at least 60 charged, including media mogul Jimmy Lai and high-profile activist Joshua Wong.

On July 21, another former editor for a pro-democracy newspaper was arrested.

Apple Daily, founded in 1995 by Lai, was shut down after several of its executives were arrested for alleged violations of the security law. Hong Kong authorities then froze the company’s financial access, leaving the media outlet unable to pay its staff and vendors, forcing it to close. Western critics have depicted the media outlet’s closure as a blow to press freedom.

Last week, five members of Hong Kong’s Speech Therapists General Union were arrested for allegedly “conspiring to publish seditious materials” in connection with authoring children’s books. Authorities claim the books, which revolve around sheep, incite hatred toward the government. Two of the members have since been denied bail.

A Hong Kong-based lawyer who has represented defendants under national security law charges spoke to VOA about the arrests but requested anonymity for her protection.

“The question still is, these children’s books about sheep, [do they] bring into hatred or contempt or incite disaffection against the government of Hong Kong? Can it be treated just as criticism? How is it any different from a newspaper column?”“From a point of view as governance, the Hong Kong government wants to break up civil society groups and unions, and that is one way of targeting them,” the lawyer said.

Pro-democracy activist, Hang Tung Chow, the vice chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance political group, was recently arrested for allegedly inciting illegal assembly. Just hours before, Chow told VOA she believes the government is targeting civil society groups such as hers.

The public prosecutor decided yesterday (22 July) to indict 13 protesters facing lèse majesté and sedition charges for their involvement in the 26 October 2020 protest in front of the German Embassy in Bangkok.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that 12 of the protesters reported to the Office of the Attorney General (Southern Bangkok office) yesterday morning (22 July) and were informed that the public prosecutor had decided to file a case against the protesters.

The remaining protester, activist Nawat Liangwattana, will be reporting to the public prosecutor today (23 July).

The lawyers requested bail using the positions of 7 academics and 3 MPs from the Move Forward Party (MFP) as security. The Bangkok South Criminal Court granted them bail with the condition that they must not commit another offense relating to the monarchy. They must also come to every court appointment and may not leave the country without permission.

The decision to indict the protesters came after the public prosecutor postponed their hearing 3 times. According to TLHR, this is the 33rd lèse majesté case in which the public prosecutor has ordered an indictment.

TLHR also reported that at least 111 people are now facing lèse majesté charges after the law began once again to be used against protesters involved in the pro-democracy demonstrations in November 2020.

The 13 protesters indicted are Ann (pseudonym), Nawat Liangwattana, Benja Apan, Athapol Buapat, Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, Cholathit Chotsawat, Chanin Wongsri, Watcharakorn Chaikaew, Ravisara Eksgool, Suthini Jangpipatnawakit, Akkarapon Teeptaisong, Joseph (pseudonym), and Korakot Saengyenpan.

They face lèse majesté and sedition charges under Sections 112 and 116 of the Thai Criminal Code, as well as using a sound amplifier without permission under the Controlling Public Advertisement by Sound Amplifier Act for either reading a statement or giving speeches during the protest in front of the German Embassy in Bangkok on 26 October 2020, in which they submitted a petition calling for the German authorities to investigate King Vajiralongkorn’s use of power during his time in Germany.

Police officers searched a van belonging to We Volunteer, which was delivering equipment for the protest, including effigies, and bottles of fermented fish . They also checked We Volunteer member Rattaphum Lertpaijit’s ID card.

The officers wanted to take picture of Rattaphum’s ID card, claiming that they have to check whether he has an outstanding arrest warrant. They asked to search the car, but were refused. No one at the scene was found to have an arrest warrant, and the police did not present a search warrant.

The officers claimed that they had to check whether there was anything illegal in the van, and asked for the identity of the owner of the content. During the search, an officer asked whether the fermented fish was for throwing at the officers.

Piyarat said that because the officers opened the packages of bottled fermented fish, they had to buy the entire lot. He also claimed that the officers told them that they wouldn’t let them go if they didn’t sell them the fish.

Sunday’s protest took place at the Democracy Monument at 14.00 and was organized by Free Youth and its partner groups. The protesters planned to march to Government House to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, a reduction in the budget for the monarchy and military to increase Covid-19 assistance, and replacement of the Sinovac vaccine with mRNA vaccines. However, they were blocked from reaching the Government House by crowd control police armed with rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon trucks.

Three reporters were injured during the protest on Sunday (18 July), after being hit with rubber bullets, despite wearing visible press armbands and ID cards.

Thanapong Kengpaiboon from the online magazine Plus Seven was hit in the hip with a rubber bullet while covering the clash between protesters and crowd control police at the Phan Fa Lilat intersection at around 15.50.

Thanapong said that he was taking pictures of protesters trying to remove the razor wire used as blockade. He said that the police issued no warning before firing 3 – 4 rounds of rubber bullets into the area where he was standing, and that they announced only that they would be firing water containing dye.

He also said that was standing next to a wall with a group of other reporters, and that he was wearing the press armband issued by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA), which has been used to identify field reporters covering protests since 2020, as well as a press ID card.

Thanapong said he was lucky that he was wearing thick jeans, but there was still bruising where he was shot. He has been covering the protests since 2020 and has previously been hit with tear gas and water cannon blasts.

“I don’t know if it’s bad that I feel like I’m used to it, but I’m tired of it. Without notice, they fire into a group that they should know are reporters, because it wasn’t just me who was a reporter and was standing there, and they fired without any warning,” Thanapong said, adding that he wants to press charges against the officers and is looking for a way to do so.

Matichon TV photographer Peerapong Pongnak was also shot with a rubber bullet in his left arm. Matichon reported that Peerapong was shot at the Phan Fa Lilat Bridge, while he was covering the march to the Government House via Ratchadamneon Avenue, which was blocked by crowd control police and water cannon trucks.

Peerapong said that the police began firing water cannon blasts at the protesters and announced that they would be escalating their operation, but he did not hear the police announce that they were going to use rubber bullets.

A photographer from The Matter was also shot with a rubber bullet in the left arm and was taken to a hospital for treatment. The Matter later posted a picture showing the bruise on the photographer’s arm and stated that they were visibly wearing a press armband when they were covering the protest.

At the protest at Sanam Luang on 20 March 2021, during which crowd control police deployed rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon indiscriminately against the crowd, Prachatai reporter Sarayut Tangprasert was shot in the back by a rubber bullet while livestreaming from the Kok Wua Intersection. He was also wearing the TJA’s press armband. Journalists from Channel 8 and Khaosod were also injured by rubber bullets during the same protest.

Sarayut later filed a lawsuit with the Civil Court against the Royal Thai Police and Police Chief Pol Gen Suwat Jangyodsuk for unlawful dispersal of the protest by firing rubber bullets, blocking the route to the nearest hospital and using excessive force on working journalists. He also asked the court for an emergency inquiry for an injunction. However, the court dismissed the case on the ground that they cannot issue an order controlling the police’s action at future protests, while the investigation into the officers involved is under the authority of the police headquarters.

The protest on Sunday started at the Democracy Monument, before marching to Government House to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, the reduction of the budget for the monarchy and military to increase Covid-19 assistance, and replacement of the Sinovac vaccine with mRNA vaccines. However, protesters were met with crowd control police armed with rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon trucks. They were blocked from reaching Government House and gathered at the Nang Loeng intersection to burn mock body bags and a figure of Gen Prayut before announcing the conclusion of the protest.

Officials in Afghanistan said Friday an international award-winning journalist from India had been killed during pre-dawn fighting in embattled southern Kandahar province.

Danish Seddiqi, a Reuters photojournalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, was covering clashes between Afghan government forces and the Taliban in Spin Boldak district, which fell to the insurgents earlier in the week.

“Deeply disturbed by the sad news of the killing of a friend, Danish Seddiqi in Kandahar last night,” tweeted Farid Mamundzay, Kabul’s ambassador to New Delhi.

“The Indian Journalist & winner of Pulitzer Prize was embedded with Afghan security forces. I met him 2 weeks ago before his departure to Kabul. Condolences to his family & Reuters,” added Mamundzay.

Seddiqi last tweeted from Kandahar on July 13, when Afghan forces launched a counteroffensive to try to retake Spin Boldak.

The slain photojournalist was based in the Indian city of Mumbai and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for feature photography on the Rohingya refugee crisis.

"We are urgently seeking more information, working with authorities in the region," Reuters President Michael Friedenberg and Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said in a statement.

"Danish was an outstanding journalist, a devoted husband and father, and a much-loved colleague. Our thoughts are with his family at this terrible time.”

Seddiqi told Reuters he had been wounded in the arm by shrapnel earlier on Friday while reporting on the clash. He was treated and had been recovering when Taliban fighters retreated from the fighting in Spin Boldak.

Among other major events he covered were the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020, and the Nepal earthquake in 2015. At home, Seddiqi extensively reported on India’s COVID-19 pandemic.

Global and local media watchdogs list Afghanistan as one of the dangerous countries for journalists.

Spin Boldak is a major border crossing between landlocked Afghanistan and Pakistan, facilitating travel and trade activities.

The insurgents have recently captured Afghanistan’s seven trade routes with neighboring countries, including Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China, Iran and Pakistan.

The Taliban have stepped up battlefield attacks since the United States and NATO-allied militaries formally began withdrawing from Afghanistan on May 1, overrunning scores of districts and dramatically expanding insurgent influence to wide swaths of the country.

Activist Shinawat Chankrajang and another protester were arrested in front of the Ministry of Public Health on Friday (16 July) during a protest over the Covid-19 vaccination programme, while two other protesters and one police officer were injured.

On Friday afternoon (16 July), people gathered near the Ministry of Public Health to demand an explanation of the Covid-19 vaccination programme and to demand that the government provide the public with mRNA vaccines. They called on Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul to respond by 17.00.

During the protest, police officers lined up in front of the entrance to the Ministry and told the protesters that their gathering as an offence under the Emergency Decree and the Communicable Diseases Act. In response, Shinawat asked whether it is also illegal that Anutin is negligent and allowing Thai people to die every day, and demanded that Anutin answer whether the government will be able to supply the public with mRNA vaccines.

At around 15.10, Shinawat announced that they would be staying until 17.00, and the officers must bring them Anutin’s explanation about the vaccines in a voice clip or any other form of recording. The protesters also put up body-like figures on a table in front of the police line, while activist Thanadet Srisongkhram announced that the people need the Pfizer vaccine, not the Sinovac vaccine, which is ineffective. He also said that people are not lab rats and that they want vaccines they can choose.

At 17.00, the protesters marched up to the Ministry gates which were blocked by policewho announced that anyone breaking into the Ministry would be taken to the police station , and that if they do not comply, the police may use force. Officers began to surround the protesters, who were pushing and kicking the officers’ shields.

Police officers then tried to arrest Thanadet, so protesters tried to pull him away. During the clash, one of the plainclothes officers arresting Thanadet fell to the ground. After the clash, Thanadet was found to have an injury to his head. The officer was also reportedly injured

It was later reported that Shinawat was also arrested. He was taken inside the Ministry, so the protesters were not able to follow him. Another protester was also reported to be injured and was taken to an emergency room.

Shinawat and one other protester who was arrested were taken to the Khlong Ha Police Station in Pathum Thani. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that they were charged with sedition, holding a gathering of more than 10 people and causing a breach of peace, violating the Emergency Decree, assaulting an officer, and obstructing by force an official in the execution of their duty.

Both denied all charges. On Saturday morning (17 July), they were taken to the Nonthaburi Provincial Court for a temporary detention request. The Court approved the request, but granted them bail without requiring a security.

Police officers also confiscated the keys to the protesters’ speaker truck and refused to give them back despite demands from the remaining protesters, who pushed the truck to the gates. An officer then came to negotiate with the truck’s owner, who asked for his truck key back as his house key was attached to the truck key and he had to use the truck that night.

By 19.20, crowd control police joined the officers in front of the Ministry, while protesters were still gathering in the area to wait for the truck keys to be returned. The police said they wanted to search the truck, but the owner consulted a lawyer and was told not to let the police search the truck.

At 19.45, with the 21.00 curfew approaching, the police still had not returned the truck key and had brought a tow truck from inside the Ministry, so the protesters lay down in front of the truck and demanded that the police wait for a lawyer to arrive.

At around 20.20, following negotiations with the lawyer, the truck was towed away. TLHR later reported that the truck’s owner received a fine of 100 baht under the Sound Amplifier Act before he was released. His hand was also injured when an officer reached into the truck to pull the keys out.

Authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan have formally arrested a prominent rights activist on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge often used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), RFA has learned.

Xie Junfeng was detained last month after allegedly leaving his place of residence in violation of bail restrictions, his ex-wife Zou Haixia told RFA.

Police had recently told her the case against him was also based on comments he had made online, however.

"The police hinted when they called [before] that the 'picking quarrels, stirring up trouble' charge wasn't just based on his daily activities, but also on some of the comments he made online," Zou told RFA on Thursday.

"According to my understanding, the authorities have been questioning a lot of petitioners since Xie Junbiao was detained, trying to find out stuff about him," she said.

Xie, who has campaigned for the rights of the most vulnerable in society, as well as being a vocal public supporter of jailed Sichuan dissident Huang Qi, is currently being held in the police-run Shuangliu District Detention Center in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

His frequent interviews with foreign media organizations, including RFA, have also made him a thorn in the authorities' side, observers have said.

The authorities approved his formal arrest on July 14, and sent a formal notification to his father's home, Zou said.

"They warned me before that they were keeping track [of everything Zou did] and that the bill would be presented when the time came," she said. "They also warned me that I could be charged with the same crime for my comments online."

Second dissident prosecuted

Meanwhile, authorities in Chengdu's Pidu district have moved ahead with the prosecution of veteran dissident Chen Yunfei, who was detained by police four months ago on the same charge as Xie.

Chen is currently being held at the Pidu District Detention Center, awaiting trial for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" after he wrote an online article based on visits to Sichuan schools during the past two years.

He was detained on March 25, 2021, and formally arrested on April 30, 2021.

Chen has already served a four-year jail term on the same charge beginning in March 2015, after he organized and took part in a memorial service calling for justice for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre during the grave-sweeping festival of Qing Ming.

He was held incommunicado with no access to family or lawyers for six months, according to the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network.

He complained to his lawyer in January 2017 of having been held in restraints on two separate occasions for "refusing to properly greet officers at the detention center," the group said on its website.

Chen's close friend Zeng Rongkang said the allegations relating to Chen's research about schools in the province were simply a pretext to justify a political prosecution.

"This is all just for show, because [his actions] in no way constitute provocation in law, and no harm has come to the country," Zeng said. "This charge is being used up and down the country for pinning on people."

"I expect he will be sentenced again, but maybe not very harshly," he said.

A journalist working for Siem Reap Breaking News and arrested on Wednesday was charged with incitement and violations of the Covid-19 Law, the latter punishable by up to three years in prison.

Kouv Piseth, 32, was arrested by provincial military police in Battambang city on Wednesday for alleged incitement. The military police said the arrest was linked to Facebook posts from Piseth, but did not specify exactly what the journalist had said or done on the social media platform to warrant the arrest.

Duong Saron, a spokesperson for the Battambang court prosecutor’s office, confirmed on Friday that Piseth has been charged with incitement, under Article 495 of Criminal Code, as well as Article 11 of the controversial Covid-19 law for “obstruction of measure enforcement.”

While incitement carries up to two years in prison, the Covid-19 law violation carries a six-month to three-year prison sentence for intentionally obstructing or deterring the implementation of measures taken to curb the spread of the virus. It also carries a potential fine of about $500 to $2,500.

Chea Chanreaksmey, a spokesperson for the Battambang Provincial Court, did not say exactly how Piseth obstructed Covid-19 measures.

“Regarding the case, the investigating judge decided to place him in pretrial detention yesterday. Regarding the crime, I did not get more detail about the charges because it is in the process of investigation,” Chanreaksmey said.

In a June 27 Facebook post, Piseth questioned whether Chinese vaccines had been evaluated by the World Health Organization and if the vaccines should be used in Cambodia.

“Have the Chinese vaccines been evaluated by the WHO yet? If it has not, it should not be brought to inject because it has not been recognized,” the post said.

In May and June, the WHO approved the emergency use of the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines. The Cambodian government started using both vaccines before their formal approval.

Piseth had other Facebook posts accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of acquiring assets in the country by betraying the nation — an accompanying image has mansions and arrows pointing to forests, a gold mine, an island and other resources.

Rights groups have criticized the Covid-19 Law for being broad and for having severe prison sentences for violations. The incitement charge has been used by the judiciary as a catchall to prosecute any expression of dissent.

Phnom Penh police said last month that 11 people had been charged and jailed in the city under the law at the time, mostly for obstructing the implementation of lockdown rules.

A local protest leader from Mogok in Mandalay Region said on Tuesday that his wife and daughter have both been sentenced to three years in prison for incitement.

The two women, who were arrested exactly one month ago, were accused of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for allegedly inciting riots. Their sentences were handed down by a prison court in Mogok, protest leader Soe Htay said.

Writing on Facebook soon after learning about their sentences, Soe Htay said that his wife and daughter had taken part in protests against the junta’s numerous abuses, including arbitrary arrests, human rights violations, inhumane treatment of women and children, and killing of its own citizens.

Junta authorities in Mogok were attempting to arrest Soe Htay, who is a striking schoolteacher and local anti-regime activist, when they took his 44-year-old wife and two daughters into custody on June 13.

The younger daughter, Su Htet Wine, was still in detention when she turned five two weeks later. She was released on June 30, two days after her birthday.

Earlier this month, Soe Htay expressed concern about the health of his older daughter, 17-year-old Theint Sandi Soe, who was reportedly suffering from a potentially life-threatening condition.

According to Soe Htay, she was receiving weekly treatment for rheumatoid arthritis before her arrest. He said a person with connections to the place where she was being held had told him that she was mistreated while under interrogation.

Myanmar’s military routinely targets the families of individuals opposed to its rule, in some cases detaining the children or elderly relatives of those who manage to evade arrest.

According to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 76 people have been held hostage by the junta, with the youngest being just two years old.

The military council, which has designated AAPP as an illegal organization, has not commented on those cases.

Batticaloa-based Tamil journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan was interrogated by Sri Lankan’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) today.

Nilanthan, who is also the secretary of the Batticaloa Tamil Journalists Association, was summoned to the Batticaloa TID this morning where his statement were taken following intense interrogation lasting around three hours. He was asked whether he had any links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and was questioned extensively about his work.

“Do you have any connection with the LTTE? Were you a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)? Were any of your relatives in the LTTE? Have you helped the LTTE? Have you got any affiliations or are you in contact with former Batticaloa political head, Thayamohan?”

“Do you run the Battinaatham or Meenagam website? How many years have you been a journalist? Which media outlets do you work for? Which international media outlets are you working for?”

The journalist was also demanded by the TID to disclose his personal and financial details. He was asked a significant amount of questions about his accounts and the passwords and told to give full access to his Facebook account, Whatsapp account, email account, bank account and other personal details.

Nilanthan was also examined extensively about his sourcing of funds:

“Do you get money from abroad? Which money comes from which country? Who is who and who sent you the money? Do you own a charitable trust?”

Following the investigation, the TID told Nilanthan that he may be expected to attend another investigation. Nilanthan, who was shaken and distressed from the investigation stated, “They robbed me of the last bit of freedom I had”.

Selvakumar Nilanthan has previously been interrogated for his coverage across the North-East. Last year, he was probed for reporting on the military-assisted Sinhala settlements on Tamil cattle farmers’ land and was also threatened and arrested for reporting on local government corruption.

Saharat Sukkhamla, a novice monk who has often attended protests, has received a summons from Pathumwan Police Station on a royal defamation charge relating to a speech he gave at a protest on 21 November 2020.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported on Monday (5 July) that Saharat received a summons on a royal defamation charge under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. The summons states that the complaint against him was filed by Ratthanaphak Suwannarat, and that Saharat must report to Pathumwan Police Station on 12 July at 10.00.

TLHR said that the charge was related to a speech Saharat gave at a protest organized by the students’ rights group Bad Student on 21 November 2020.

Voice TV reported that on 25 February 2021, special branch police officers tried to disrobe Saharat, claiming a consensus of the Sangha Supreme Council of Thailand, the main governing body of the Buddhist order in Thailand, and an announcement from the National Office of Buddhism. The officers claimed that Saharat’s actions insulted the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, who is the head of the order of Buddhist monks, and that he caused conflict within the order.

According to Voice TV, special branch police officers and a representative from the National Office of Buddhism were waiting for Saharat in front of his residence, and left after they were unable to find him.

At least 103 people have been charged under Section 112 in 100 cases since November 2020, 8 of whom are under 18 years old. According to TLHR, 46 of the cases resulted from complaints filed by members of the public. Saharat is apparently the first monk charged under Section 112.

Mr. Nitin Verghese is a human right defender associated with the Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS), a tribal and Dalit Rights Collective which has been working for fourteen years in Madhya Pradesh.

On July 10, 2021, Mr. Nitin Verghese, along with eight other activists, visited the site where houses and fields of adivasis were being demolished. Upon reaching the spot, they saw four members of the affected families. Some of them were Budia wife of Lalu (40), her twelve-year-old daughter Pooja and son Ramlal along with Sheka son of Harsing. They were forcibly picked up and taken away by forest officials. When Mr. Verghese and others complained about this to the Deputy Forest Officer (DFO) Mr. Charan Singh, who was at the spot, they were also picked up and their phones snatched. The actions of the DFO are consistent with abduction, absolute disregard to the laws and rules to be followed in case of arrests. There is no official information confirming the place of detention, condition of detention, calls to relatives or colleagues of the HRDs and any communication with the legal services authorities. Even if Mr. Verghese and the other HRDs are to be placed under arrest, none of the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court with regards to the arrest have been followed. These guidelines are also a part of ‘The Wildlife Crime Investigation Handbook’ of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, which are applicable to forest officials. The Wildlife Crime Investigation Handbook states that the proceedings of the arrest should be recorded on an Arrest cum Personal Search Memo and the reasons for the

arrest should be mentioned in the Memo. All pages of the Arrest cum Personal Search Memo should be signed by the accused, the independent witnesses and the investigating officer or the officer making the arrest. Left hand thumb impression of the accused is also to be obtained on the last page of the Arrest cum Personal Search Memo. Copy of the same should be supplied to the accused under acknowledgment. It states that preferably the arrests should be made “in the presence of a relative or well-wisher of the accused or in the presence of two independent witnesses.” Furthermore, it states that intimation of arrest should be given immediately to a family member/relative/well-wisher of the accused, which has been suggested by the accused and also to the jurisdictional police station. If the intimation is given telephonically, the same should be confirmed in writing at the earliest.

On July 10, police in the northeast district of Thakurgaon opened Digital Security Act investigations into the three journalists, according to news reports and a police report, which CPJ reviewed.

Authorities are investigating Tanu, the Thakurgaon district correspondent for the news websites Jago News and Daily Ittefaq and the privately owned broadcaster Independent Television; Shuvo, a correspondent for the news website NewsBangla24.com; and Litu, a correspondent for the news websites Jugantor and Bangladesh Pratidin and the privately owned broadcaster News 24, according to those sources.

On the night of July 10, police arrested Tanu when he went to the local Sadar police station to inquire about the investigation; they then transferred him to the Sadar Hospital yesterday morning for treatment for respiratory issues, and released him on bail later that day, those reports said. Police handcuffed Tanu to a hospital bed while he received treatment, according to those reports.

Shuvo told CPJ via messaging app that he and Litu have not been arrested as of today.

“Bangladesh authorities should drop their Digital Security Act investigations into journalists Tanvir Hasan Tanu, Rahim Shuvo, and Abdul Latif Litu immediately,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “The Bangladesh government must repeal the act, cease harassing journalists, and allow them to do their jobs, which are a public service, not a crime.”

The investigations stem from a complaint filed by Nadirul Aziz Chapal, the superintendent of the Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital, who alleged that the journalists published reports about the hospital intended to defame and spread enmity and hatred, according to a copy of his complaint, which CPJ reviewed. CPJ called and texted Chapal for comment, but he did not reply.

The complaint referenced a July 5 article by Tanu in Jago News; a July 8 article by Shuvo in NewsBangla24.com; and a July 7 article in Jugantor, published anonymously, which Chapal alleges Litu authored. All three articles detailed allegations that Thakurgaon Sadar Hospital provided sub-standard food to COVID-19 patients.

Police are investigating the three journalists under sections of the Digital Security Act pertaining to the publication of offensive, false, or threatening information; propaganda; defamatory information; information that creates enmity, hatred, or hostility among different classes or communities; and abetment of an offense, according to the police report.

Each of those counts can carry maximum prison sentences ranging from three years to five years and maximum fines ranging from 300,000 taka ($3,540) to 500,000 taka ($5,900).

Aung Mya Than, a reporter for the Ayeyarwady Times, was arrested at 11:00pm on July 10 at his home in Maubin following his reporting of a bombing by unidentified perpetrators in his home town. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the military junta’s continuous abuse of the media and calls on the military to release Than immediately.

Than was one of 14 journalists released on June 30 from detention across Myanmar. He was arrested on May 25 on charges under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code and held for 36 days. He is currently being held at the Maubin City Police State, according to the Ayeyarwady Times’ editor-in-chief, Salai Thant Sin.

On the morning of his arrest on June 10, Than was reporting on a bombing by unidentified perpetrators in Maubin.

It is unclear when Than was released from detention and whether the Section 505(a) charges against him were officially dropped. Radio Free Asia reports that 26 reporters are currently in hiding due to warrants being put out for their arrest. Many others have been forced to leave their homes and seek asylum with friends or family because the military have allegedly raided their homes.

Section 505(a) of the Penal Code is a broad and vague law that effectively allows the military to arrest journalists for doing their jobs. The law criminalises all attempts to “hinder, disturb, damage the motivation, discipline, health and conduct of the military personnel and government employees” and these subjective phrases can and have been used to quell dissent during Myanmar’s civil war.

Since the start of the military coup in February 2021, 89 domestic and international reporters have been arrested and 37 are still detained, according to Reporting ASEAN. Out of the all the arrests, 28 of them have been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. The media have been explicitly targeted by the military junta for reporting on the frontlines throughout the coup.

On July 9, the People’s Court of Hanoi found political blogger Pham Chi Thanh (aka Pham Thanh) guilty of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code for his online posts criticizing the country’s authoritarian regime.

After two and half hours, the first-instance hearing ended with the final judgment of five and half years imprisonment followed by five years of probation, his lawyer Ha Huy Son said on his Facebook page.

According to the indictment, Mr. Thanh’s writing including a book titled Thế thiên hành đạo hay Đại nghịch bất đạo (Holder of Mandate of Heaven or Great Immoral Traitor) and other posts on his blog Bà Đầm Xoè contains the information defaming the authoritarian regime’s leaders and distorting the regime’s policies.

In his defense statement, lawyer Son pointed out a number of shortcomings of the state agencies involved in the case, including the Hanoi City’s Department of Information and Communication which verificated the content of Mr. Thanh’s writing. However, the judge did not pay attention to the lawyer’s defense statement.

Mr. Thanh is a retired reporter and editor of the state-controlled Voice of Vietnam Radio (VOV). He has written several books critical of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and its leaders, including late President Ho Chi Minh and incumbent General Secretary cum President Nguyen Phu Trong. His posts on his blog Bà Đầm Xoè are mainly critical of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and its leader Trong. His latest book Holder of Mandate of Heaven or Great Immoral Traitor talked about activities of incumbent General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam, which according to the author are harmful for the nation and beneficial for the red China.

On his blog Bà Đầm Xoè, Thanh also posted his writings on politics and social issues, including China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea) and the weak response of the Vietnamese Communist regime, systemic corruption, widespread environmental pollution, human rights violations, etc.

His arrest on May 21 last year is part of Vietnam’s intensified crackdown on local dissent before and after the 13th National Congress of the ruling party.

One day before the trial, the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement calling on Vietnam’s authoritarian state to release Mr. Thanh immediately and unconditionally since Mr. Thanh peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression.

Mr. Thanh is the 17th activist being sentenced in 2021, according to Defend the Defenders’ statistics. Among others are President Pham Chi Dung and Vice President Nguyen Tuong Thuy of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam who were also convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced to 15 years and 11 years in prison, respectively.

According to Amnesty International, Vietnam is the largest jailer of prisoners of conscience with 170 activists being jailed while the latest statistics of Defend the Defenders shows that Hanoi is holding at least 258 prisoners of conscience. Reporters Without Borders regularly ranks Vietnam among the worst five countries on press freedom withhigh number of jailed bloggers. Vietnam’s communist government always denies it has any prisoners of conscience, saying it imprisons only law violators.

Reporter with an online television, Hello Nepal, Milan KC was thrashed by police persons in Chitwan on July 8. Chitwan lies in the Bagmati Province of Nepal.

According to reporter KC, he was attacked while reporting a protest staged by the family members of a local Sujita Bhandari whose dead body was found in a forest some days back. They have been demanding fair investigation of the murder of Bhandari.

"While I was taking video of the police taming the protestors, one of the police persons baton-charged me. He did not stop even after I showed my identity card", said reporter KC.

KC sustained deep injury on his legs and his camera was damaged in the incident.

"One of the senior officials has, however, assured me of providing compensation to repair my camera", he shared.

Freedom Forum condemns the incident because it is sheer violation of press freedom and freedom of expression. The police must stop such atrocity on media persons who are bringing news to the public despite adversity caused by COVID-19. FF strongly urges the high level of Nepal Police to investigate the incident and take action against the police persons beating journalists.

A small-scale demonstration in Kazakhstan's largest city to protest rising prices and growing Chinese influence has ended in skirmishes with police.

The unsanctioned demonstration in central Almaty on July 6 was organized by Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of a group seeking to create the opposition Democratic Party.

Several dozen supporters came out in support of Mamai as they chanted for Nursultan Nazarbaev, the former authoritarian president who is still considered to rule the country from behind the scenes, to "leave."

The protest coincided with Capital Day, a holiday that lands on the birthday of Nazarbaev, who turned 81.

Mamai claimed that prices for necessary household goods are rising faster than the official inflation data and accused the government of deepening the country's dependence on China.

Police called on the protesters to end the unsanctioned rally and blocked their movement, resulting in skirmishes. A few people received minor injuries and at least three were detained, according to Mamai's wife, Inga Imanbai.

Mamai, who was convicted on money-laundering charges that he and his supporters say were politically motivated, has organized demonstrations in the past and been detained.

The activist has been trying to create the Democratic Party, but claims he is being foiled by the government, which he says only permits loyal parties to form.

His Democratic Party was legally registered by the Justice Ministry in December 2020, but the group was unable to hold a congress in February because party activists had been arrested and detained.

Kazakh law requires that a party's founding congress be attended by at least 1,000 people.

Kazakhstan has been run along an authoritarian line by Nazarbaev and his successor, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, since gaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

During their rule many opposition figures have been jailed or forced to flee the country.

The Chinese social media platform WeChat has deleted dozens of accounts belonging to LGBTQ+ groups at universities in recent days, social media posts have revealed.

Screenshots of notices sent to the holders of the deleted accounts said they had broken laws and regulations governing online content, amid concerns that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is now targeting gay content and activism.

Many of the accounts were deleted at around the same time on Tuesday evening, Reuters quoted one of the account-holders as saying.

Some of the accounts had disappeared by Wednesday, while others carried notices that they had been suspended due to regulatory violations.

Others were renamed "Unnamed Official Account."

An online post titled "Tonight, we are all unnamed official accounts" listed some of the affected groups, which included ColorsWorld at Peking University, Purple at Tsinghua University and RUC Sex and Gender Research Group at Renmin University.

Similar groups at Shanghai's Fudan University, Wuhan University, and Nanjing University also had their accounts shut down.

The move by censors comes after the cancelation of Shanghai's decade-old Pride event in 2020. The organizers, ShanghaiPRIDE, gave no reason for the decision, but local activists said the group had likely come under political pressure from the authorities.

The organization had previously been legally permitted to run the event by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

But ShanghaiPRIDE had also been involved in ongoing civil society activities in support of the LGBTQ community in China, including running seminars for the parents of LGBTQ people.

Activists said at the time that the cancellation of Shanghai Pride likely meant all LGBTQ+ groups would be affected.

The organizers of a planned LGBTQ+ conference in the northern city of Xian were forced to cancel in 2017 after official pressure.

Crackdowns by government censors

Government censors have since carried out a number of crackdowns on LGBTQ representation on social media, in books, comics, TV, and film.

In 2020, education authorities in Jinan, provincial capital of Shandong province, called for the "strengthening of political and ideological education" for students of foreign-invested schools, at both primary and secondary level.

The guidance was to include the view of homosexuality as "corrupt behavior imported from the West [that is] inconsistent with core socialist values."

Activists said the crackdown stemmed in part from a conservative attitude to sexuality under the indefinite rule of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, and partly from a fear that civil organizations are a threat to party rule.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, and removed from official psychiatric diagnostic manuals in 2001.

More and more highly educated urban Chinese have begun coming out in recent years, and while some find acceptance among their peers, social attitudes still strongly favor heterosexual marriage and children.

How many Chinese identify as LGBTQ+ is unknown. The country’s health and family planning ministry has estimated that there are between five and 10 million gay men in China, but activists say the actual number is far higher.

LGBTQ activists say there have been a growing number of anti-discrimination lawsuits filed by the community in China since around 2010, as well as some rare though unsuccessful bids to register same-sex marriages.

The Sadar Bazar police in Shahjahanpur have registered an FIR against Newslaundry journalist Nidhi Suresh pursuant to a defamation complaint filed by journalist Deep Srivastava. The FIR was filed at 3.43 pm on July 4.

Srivastava filed his complaint on grounds of defamation. The Uttar Pradesh police accepted it and filed an FIR under Sections 500 and 501 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was filed on the basis of a tweet by Suresh; it does not clarify which tweet.

It should be noted that the Supreme Court of India has held that for criminal defamation, the complainant must file a complaint before a magistrate under Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as the said offences under Section 500 and 501 of the Indian Penal Code are non-cognizable.

At 11.07 am on July 5, Suresh received a phone call from the investigating officer (without any formal notice) asking her to record a statement in Shahjahanpur on the basis of the FIR.

She received a second phone call at 6.05 pm the same day, asking that she “go to the station personally and give a written and oral statement”. When she said she was in Delhi, not Uttar Pradesh, the officer said, “You need to be here in person.”

On July 1, Suresh had reported on a woman named Ayesha Alvi who had petitioned the Delhi High Court on being “harassed” by the media after she converted to Islam. In her petition, Alvi had mentioned receiving a call from a mobile number and the caller “threatened that he will publish the news about my conversion and that I would get arrested and he demanded money from me and when we denied he threatened again. Thereafter he forcefully took 20 thousand rupees from us”.

This information reported by Suresh was in the public domain.

In her report, Suresh said that she called the number and the person “identified himself as Deep Srivastava, reporter at News18”.

The report said that Srivastava “told Newslaundry there was ‘no truth’ in the claim that he had extorted money from Ayesha. When asked if Ayesha had initially refused to give him a video statement, Srivastava said, ‘I can’t talk about this over the phone.’ He then cut the call.”

On July 3, the police headquarters of the Kashmir zone issued a legal notice to Varadarajan, editor-in-chief of the independent news website The Wire, indicating that police were considering legal action against the outlet for allegedly “propagating concocted stories” and “rumor mongering,” and requesting Varadarajan’s response to those allegations within one week, according to a copy of the order, which CPJ reviewed, and Varadarajan, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

The police document cites a June 7 article regarding the killing of a Kashmiri resident in police custody, and a June 28 article on the killing of a police officer in the region’s Pulwama district. Varadarajan told CPJ that The Wire stood by both stories.

“Jammu and Kashmir authorities’ notice threatening legal action against journalist Siddarth Varadarajan only adds to the ongoing targeted harassment of The Wire in obvious retaliation for its critical reporting,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Authorities should immediately withdraw the notice and allow The Wire and all media outlets to report freely on issues of public interest.”

Rohit Kansal, a Jammu and Kashmir government spokesperson, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app. CPJ also emailed Kashmir Police Inspector-General Vijay Kumar for comment, but did not receive any reply.

Last month, police in the state of Uttar Pradesh opened a criminal investigation into The Wire and three other journalists for allegedly sharing an unverified video that could cause social unrest, as CPJ documented at the time.

Previously, in April 2020, Uttar Pradesh police filed a criminal complaint against Varadarajan for allegedly spreading discord, enmity, and rumors during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Politicians and journalists on Sunday criticised the summons notice issued to anchorperson Nadeem Malik by the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Counter-Terrorism Wing to appear before it and cooperate in the case regarding the video scandal of former accountability court judge Arshad Malik.

According to the notice dated July 2, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the FIA has summoned the anchorperson under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code. "Please refer to your 'Nadeem Malik Live Programme' on Samaa News dated April 28, 2021, [that] revealed that you have important information which can be relevant for the agency to further investigate the above mentioned case and to link some relevant persons with this case," said the notice.

Malik was requested to appear at the FIA's headquarters on July 6 with "all relevant information, documents and evidence."

In the aforementioned programme, Malik said he was informed by two individuals, part of the FIA team investigating Judge Malik, that "the other party" — declining to identify it — had found an old objectionable video of the judge. The unidentified persons had summoned the judge and told him that the video would "come out in public view" if he didn't give a favourable decision in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference.

"Judge Arshad Malik then went and announced the decision and Nawaz Sharif was disqualified," the anchorperson had said, adding that he was quoting verbatim what he had been told by the sources. He had also said that he could not divulge on-air the full details that had been shared with him since they involved certain individuals from "very powerful institutions".

Reacting to news of the notice, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal "strongly" condemned it and hailed Malik as "one of the most professional journalists of Pakistan."

PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb said the notice was "highly condemnable and is yet more proof that this fascist regime won’t rest till the little remaining space for freedom of speech is eliminated", calling for the FIA to "immediately withdraw" it.

"FIA’s notice to Nadeem Malik, a reputable journalist, for personal appearance before the agency over his remarks on the notorious Arshad Malik case, is the latest example of unfolding fascism," said journalist Syed Talat Hussain. He claimed that the media was facing a "total assault".

Columnist and journalist Ansar Abbasi also praised Malik as an "honourable journalist" and said he became the "latest victim of [the] FIA’s misadventures against [the] media."

Meanwhile, Murtaza Solangi, executive editor of Nayadaur Media, called on Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah to take suo moto notice of the incident and summon the FIA officials for their "continued and consistent harassment of journalists".

Earlier this week, Justice Minallah, while hearing petitions filed against ongoing inquiries by the FIA’s cybercrime wing against journalists Bilal Ghauri, Asad Toor and others, had warned the investigation agency to exercise its powers judiciously or else the court would impose heavy cost on the officers for misuse of authority.

When the chief justice inquired from the FIA cybercrime wing’s director Babar Bakhat Qureshi about the number of pending complaints, Qureshi informed the court that they were in the thousands. The chief justice then asked him why the FIA was giving the impression that it was proceeding against only journalists.

“You need to dispel this impression, since crushing the dissenting voices is against the Islamic injunctions and norms of civilised society,” he had remarked. What is the Arshad Malik case?

In December 2018, Judge Malik had convicted Nawaz in the Al-Azizia reference, sentencing him to seven years in jail. However, he had acquitted the former prime minister in the Flagship reference.

In July 2020, after a year-long inquiry, the Lahore High Court’s administration committee had removed Malik from service on charges of misconduct relating to a video scandal that broke in 2019, and which sent ripples through political and legal circles.

The scandal was brought to the limelight by PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who had at the time come forward with video clips purportedly showing Malik confessing that he had been “pressured and blackmailed” to convict Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia corruption reference.

The former judge passed away in December 2020 after contracting the coronavirus.

The Government of Malaysia must end its intimidation of artists and human rights defenders and protect the freedom of expression, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said in a statement today.

On 2 July 2021, filmmaker Anna Har and cartoonist Amin Landak were questioned over an animated short film titled ‘Chili Powder and Thinner’, produced by the Freedom film Network (FFN), of which Anna Har is co-founder. The film depicts police brutality and torture in police custody in Malaysia.

Shortly after questioning, the police raided the FFN office and the home of Amin Landak,[1] confiscating desktop computers, a router and a laptop from Amin Landak’s house. They had earlier taken possession of Anna Har and Amin Landak’s mobile phones. The police also raided the office of human rights organisation and FORUM-ASIA member Pusat Komas, which shares an office with FFN, and seized a modem and router.

The two are being investigated under Section 500 for defamation; Section 505 (b) of the same code which makes it a criminal offence for ‘whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility’; and Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act (CMA) for improper use of network facilities or network service.

‘These laws are a part of a slew of repressive legislation frequently used to restrict the freedom of expression and information. These laws have also been increasingly used to intimidate critics and human rights defenders in Malaysia. The investigation of Anna and Amin, along with the police raids on FFN, Pusat Komas and on Amin’s home are clear forms of intimidation and harassment. Amidst a deteriorating civic space in Malaysia occurring at an alarming rate, these actions send a chilling message that anyone seeking to question the police will face reprisals,’ said Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

Allegations of the use of torture in detention by police are rife in Malaysia. A report by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia noted that at least 10 percent of detainees interviewed alleged that they had witnessed, heard or been victims of torture or other types of violence.[2]

Human rights organisation and FORUM-ASIA member Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), the co-creator of ‘Chili Powder and Thinner’, has documented allegations from detainees who had suffered beatings, sexual assault, solitary confinement and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment.[3]

Malaysian civil society organisations have also long called on the government to establish an independent commission to investigate cases of police misconduct including abuse and torture in police custody, to no avail.

‘Instead of addressing these grave allegations and taking steps towards holding perpetrators accountable, the government has instead chosen to crack down on defenders and artists who have spoken out. Laws such as the CMA and Sections 500 and 505 of the Penal Code criminalise expression, silence victims and reinforce a culture of impunity where acts such as police brutality remain unpunished,’ said Shamini.

FORUM-ASIA calls for the repeal of repressive legislation, and for the government to end the intimidation of artists and human rights defenders.

‘We condemn the government’s harassment and intimidation against the Freedom Film Network and its artists. We stand in solidarity with them and all human rights defenders who have continued to find ways to raise human rights violations despite an increasingly repressive environment in Malaysia. They amplify the voices of the most vulnerable, and ensure victims of State violations are not forgotten,’ Shamini said.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of Mai Phan Loi, a Vietnamese journalist who once ran an official law magazine but who, for the past five years, has provided his fellow citizens with reliable, independent information about economic, social and environmental issues. All charges against him must be dropped, RSF said. Hanoi police officially announced the investigation against Mai Phan Loi on 2 July, one week after he was initially arrested on 24 June, on a warrant with the extremely vague charge of “tax evasion,” which carries a possible seven-year prison sentence under article 200 of the penal code. It did not specify the nature of the alleged crimes or the amount supposedly evaded.

Loi made a name for himself in the Vietnamese blogosphere thanks above all to a series of interviews he conducted with experts on economic, social and environmental issues in Vietnam. Before that, he was the deputy editor of Phap Luat (The Law), a state-controlled magazine covering legal issues.

The authorities refused to renew Loi’s press card five years ago after he investigated the mysterious circumstances in which CASA 8983, a Vietnamese air force reconnaissance plane, disappeared in June 2016.

“We are not fooled by the tax fraud accusation brought against Mai Phan Loi,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “Everything indicates that it is just a pretext to silence a journalist who tried to do his job to inform his fellow citizens properly. We demand his immediate release and the withdrawal of this clearly trumped-up charge.”

Editorial freedom

The same charge of tax evasion was also used to arrest another expert on legal issues, Dang Dinh Bach, on the same day as Loi’s arrest.

As well as a journalist, Loi also made a name for himself as a defender of editorial freedom in the Vietnamese media. It was as such that he was included in a group of six civil society representatives who met then US President Barack Obama during Obama’s visit to Hanoi in May 2016.

Loi joins the growing list of Vietnamese journalists who began working for the state media and were arrested after later choosing to work freely and independently. The victims of the wave of arrests of such journalists, which began more than a year ago, include Pham Doan Trang, a recipient of the RSF Press Freedom Prize in 2019.

Vietnam is ranked 175th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

Police in the southern Kazakh city of Shymkent have detained more than a dozen activists, including three who have been on a hunger strike for weeks to push for the release of political prisoners.

Some 50 men in civilian clothes surrounded three hunger strikers and more than a dozen of their supporters on July 1 in front of the Shymkent city administration's headquarters and forcibly took them to a police station.

The chief of the city police department's anti-extremism desk, Ernar Altaev, who was at the site, refused to explain to RFE/RL why the group, which was also protesting court decisions to ban two political movements, was detained.

Two masked men at the site opened umbrellas with which they tried to block the cameras of RFE/RL reporters from recording the detentions, a method previously used by unknown individuals apparently associated with local authorities in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.

Dozens of activists have been on hunger strike since June 19 in several cities in the Central Asian nation, including Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Oral, Oskemen, and Shymkent. They have been demanding the cancellation of court decisions to label as extremist and ban the unregistered opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and the associated Koshe (Street) party.

Several activists in Kazakhstan have been handed prison sentences or parole-like sentences in recent years for their support or involvement in the activities of the DVK and Koshe, 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 an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.

Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings contradicts international standards as it requires preliminary permission from the 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.

Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, have detained several activists who have been involved in ongoing pickets in front of the Chinese Consulate to demand the release of their relatives held in China's Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Baqyt Sembai, a wife of one of the protesters, told RFE/RL that police arrested her husband and his mother while they were at home on July 1.

Baibolat Kunbolat, Sembai's husband, had been released from jail two days earlier after being detained for filming a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail after a court in Almaty found him guilty of "organizing an unsanctioned rally."

A court reduced his sentence by half after dozens of people protested his imprisonment.

Nurgul Ibraeva, the wife of the leader of the Real Volunteers of the Fatherland group, Bekzat Maqsutkhan, told RFE/RL that police also detained her husband on July 1. Maqsutkhan's group has been actively raising the issue of the plight faced by ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang for years.

Last week, several women were fined for their participation in the picketing of the Chinese Consulate in Almaty.

In recent years, many similar protests have taken place in Kazakhstan, with demonstrators demanding Kazakh authorities officially intervene in the situation faced by ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang.

The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.

China denies that the facilities are internment camps, but people who have fled the province say people from the groups are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities known officially as reeducation camps.

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans. Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.

Photojournalist Nimesh Jung Rai associated with www.nepallive.com- a news portal- was attacked by the police persons in the federal capital, Kathmandu, on July 3.

Rai was taking photographs of the torch rally organized by the agitated student wings of five major opposition political parties. The torch rally was begun from Minbhawan, Kathmandu.

As the rally moved toward the main road, the police began thrashing the protestors and also baton-charged the photojournalist Rai. Rai was beaten while he was shooting the protest.

Rai informed, “Although I produced my Press ID Card and showed camera, the police persons continued beating me.” He got injury on his knee with baton-charge.

Freedom Forum condemns the attack on photojournalist Rai. It is sheer violation of press freedom. The security persons must respect journalists’ right to free reporting. Suppressing journalists is the suppression of information and press freedom, which is not acceptable in democracy. The high authority of Nepal Police should instruct the lower level staffs on how they could respect journalists and separate journalists while taking control the protest.

One year after China imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong, police locked down Victoria Park, a former site of mass protest rallies and marches, and cordoned off downtown streets, while supporters of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hung flags along the streets and sang revolutionary songs.

Dozens of police in Causeway Bay surrounded and arrested veteran protester Alexandra Wong, a frequent participant in the 2019 protest movement, for waving a British flag, photos posted to social media showed.

A young boy was also chased by officers through the Fashion Walk mall before being dragged aboard a police vehicle, photos posted to Twitter on the 24th anniversary of the 1997 handover to Chinese rule showed.

Bystanders said he had apparently been targeted for carrying a bag that was yellow, the color used by the pro-democracy movement and two mass protest movements since 2014.

Police also arrested three activists from the group Student Politicism in Mong Kok at around 5.00 p.m. local time, on suspicion of "distributing seditious publications," according to a police statement and social media reports.

And barrister Chow Hang-tung, who heads a group that once organized an annual candlelight vigil marking the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre, was rearrested on suspicion of "inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly" under public order laws.

Hundreds of police took to the streets of Causeway Bay, arresting 19 people on suspicion of offenses that included "disorderly conduct," failing to heed police warnings, and "desecrating the national flag."

They also handed out 19 fixed penalties for breaches of a ban on gatherings linked to coronavirus restrictions.

Two women who were fined said they had only been in a group of two, when the maximum number allowed is four.

"We don't know how this happened. They pulled us to one side and said we had violated the gathering restriction order," a woman surnamed Ng told RFA. "There were just the two of us, nobody else."

"I don't know what the Hong Kong government is turning into."

Her friend, surnamed Lee, said she had been hit with a H.K.$5,000 fine "for no reason."

"We just came out to go shopping," she said. "I work hard as a cleaner and they just fine me H.K.$5,000 for no reason."

Protesters turn out in small groups

Despite a police ban on what had been an annual mass protest march on July 1, people turned out in small groups to chant slogans and wave flags and protest banners, police said in a statement on their Facebook page.

Later in the evening, a man allegedly stabbed a police officer in the district at around 10.00 p.m., the police said.

"The officer sustained injuries to the left side of his back and was sent to hospital for treatment, while the assailant was subdued on the spot," the statement said.

Rights groups hit out at the rapid deterioration of human rights protections since the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong by China's National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee.

Chinese and Hong Kong officials have said the law was needed to deal with an attempt by foreign powers to foment a "color revolution" in Hong Kong, a reference to the 2019 protest movement that began as mass, peaceful opposition to plans to allow extradition to mainland China.

But its sweeping provisions allowed China's feared state security police to set up a headquarters in Hong Kong, granted sweeping powers to police to search private property and require the deletion of public content, and criminalized criticism of the city government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Dozens awaiting trial

Dozens of opposition lawmakers are awaiting trial for subversion for taking part in a democratic primary, while at least seven journalists have been arrested for "colluding with a foreign power" in connection with opinion pieces in the Apple Daily newspaper, which was forced to close after its assets were frozen in a raid by national security police on June 17.

"Since the law has gone into effect, [the] authorities have used it to drastically curtail freedom of expression and other human rights far beyond what international human rights law permits," the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said in a joint statement with other rights groups.

"The Hong Kong government has accused the [Apple Daily] of publishing approximately 100 videos or articles that are suspected of violating the National Security Law while refusing to specify which videos and articles," it said.

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is currently serving a 14-month sentence for participating in pro-democracy protests in August 2019 while awaiting trial for "colluding with a foreign power" under the national security law.

"Shutting down the city’s most popular Chinese language newspaper and detaining its staff is the most obvious and emblematic violation of the right to freedom of expression in Hong Kong today," CHRD said in the statement, that was signed by Safeguard Defenders and Humanitarian China, among other groups.

It also cited the government's assertion of editorial control over public broadcaster RTHK, where a number of prominent journalists have been fired or sanctioned for producing content critical of the authorities.

The groups also cited constraints on academic freedom at Hong Kong's universities, with events canceled, debates modified, and lecturers reported by student informants over potential violations of the law.

Targeting the opposition

Eric Lai, research fellow at the University of Georgetown law school, said it was clear that the government is using the law to target the political opposition, with the majority of arrests under the law being of opposition politicians.

He said the refusal to release national security suspects on bail had interfered with the presumption of innocence that was previously a feature of Hong Kong's common law jurisdiction.

"We can't see any sign that they are presuming innocence, because a large proportion of defendants aren't being released on bail," he said.

"They have also changed the trial system by abolishing jury trials [in national security cases]," Lai told RFA. "The point of a jury trial ... is to make the trial more fair and open, but they are taking the opposite approach."

An independent Vietnamese journalist hunted by police for online writings called “anti-State” by authorities has been arrested after evading capture for more than a month, RFA has learned.

Le Van Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova, was taken into custody on Thursday by Hanoi police, state media reports said on July 1, adding that Dung had not resisted arrest and had shown a “cooperative attitude” when taken by police.

Speaking to RFA, Dung’s wife Bui Thi Hue confirmed news of Dung’s arrest, saying she had been informed of his capture by an acquaintance.

“I received the news from someone I know that my husband was arrested this morning,” Hue said. “They only told me about the arrest, though, and did not say they had seen it happen with their own eyes. I am just saying what I was told.”

Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova—owner of the Facebook-based online CHTV news channel—was away from home when police tried on May 25 to place him under arrest on charges under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code for reporting on corruption, land disputes, and other issues deemed politically sensitive by authorities.

Unable to arrest Dung, police left instead with a laptop computer and two mobile phones belonging to his wife Bui Thi Hue, Hue told RFA’s Vietnamese Service on May 25. Vietnamese authorities later issued a special warrant calling for Dung’s arrest, placing notices in major media outlets around the country.

Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code imposes penalties for “creating, storing, and disseminating information, documents, items, and publications opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and is frequently used by authorities to stifle peaceful critics of the country’s one-party communist state.

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.

ver 500 residents of Khori village who lined up on the border of Delhi and Haryana in Faridabad on Wednesday were stopped from protesting against the eviction orders of the Supreme Court. The court had ordered the eviction and the demolition of the residential colony in a bid to protect the green cover of Aravalli mountain range. In its judgement on June 7, the court had sought compliance reports from Haryana government officials within six weeks.

Section 144 was imposed in the village prohibiting the gathering of four or more persons following the apex court judgement. On Wednesday, at the congregation, the residents were expecting to show symbolic resistance and send out a message to the Haryana government that they cannot be evicted in the midst of the ongoing pandemic without any arrangements for rehabilitation.

As residents lined up to enter Ambedkar Park in their locality for the protest gathering, they were faced with enormous backlash from the police forces who later resorted to lathi-charge. The police said that they could not let a protest gathering take place in the view of the orders of the Supreme Court and the state government.

Sushil Kumar, a resident of Khori village who had come to participate in the gathering, said, “This is what they do to innocent people like us–we have no space to even raise our voice and share our anxieties. Today was so symbolic to us and we have been treated with lathis. If there is COVID scare associated with our gathering, does the same not apply to the 400 police persons stationed across our village?”

The police were seen dragging out protestors and using force on them. Two student activists from the group BCEM, Ravinder Kaur and Rajveer Singh, were also detained at the Surajkund police station amid the crackdown on protesters. The police while confirming their detention stated that the activists have been called in for questioning as they violated Section 144.

Breaking down during the protests, Sameena Khan, who has lived in the village for over two decades, said, “No one wants to stand in the scorching Delhi heat. All we want is for the roof over our heads to stay. For me, it is death first and then the house–I would rather die. The police are asking us to go back to our homes and not protest but they are taking away our homes too, where do we go?”

The anxieties of the residents continue to rise with their voices being suppressed and no clear means of rehabilitation in sight. While the date for the demolition has not been finalised yet, many fear that demolitions are scheduled to take place as soon as next week.

The residents, who are being labelled as encroachers, reiterated that they had bought the land from builders who worked in connivance with the forest department and the state police. “The BJP has betrayed us, they had promised to protect us, instead we have been used as scapegoats and vote banks. When we do come out to raise our voice this is what happens to us. We are being cornered from every side and asked to leave, but where do we go?” one of the protesters asked.

Post the SC order, electricity and water supply in the village remain snapped causing deep distress amid the rising heat in Delhi. The residents have been going as far as three kilometres away to the Lal Kuan area to get water supply.

The residents of Khori had previously staged a protest on June 11. However, about 100 persons now face charges for participating in the protest while others were detained. The charges against the residents include Sections 109, 114, 147, 149, 186, 188, 269, 283, 341 and 506 of the IPC, and Section 61 of the Disaster Management Act. The residents had gathered on the main road raising slogans against the state government and municipal corporation authorities. The arrests had led to the creation of an atmosphere of fear and anxiety.

Currently, the residents have pledged to keep their movement alive to demand answers from the state administration and refuse to leave their homes.

More activists have been jailed in Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, as police keep on rounding up activists amid preparations to mark the 81st birthday of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev in the tightly controlled Central Asian country.

Police in the western city of Oral detained activist Marua Eskendirova on June 30. Hours later, a local court found her guilty of taking part in unsanctioned rallies earlier this year and sentenced her to 10 days in jail.

A day earlier, a court in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, sentenced activists Nurlan Altynbaev and Aidar Syzdyqov to 10 days in jail each, and Aizhan Abenova to 15 days in jail after finding them guilty of violating laws on holding public gatherings earlier in the year.

The activists rejected the charges.

On June 28, two other activists, Marat Musabaev and Qaiyrgeldy Nurghaliev, were sentenced to 20 and 15 days in jail respectively on the same charges.

Local activists say that the incarcerations are connected to the call by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the leader of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, for a demonstration on July 6, the day the country's capital, Nur-Sultan, is celebrated in tandem with Nazarbaev's birthday.

Kazakhstan changed the name of its capital to Nur-Sultan in 2019 to honor Nazarbaev, who ruled with an iron fist from the nation’s independence in 1991 until 2019. The renaming of the capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan sparked protests across the country at the time.

Nazarbaev continues to wield considerable influence as chairman of the Security Council and enjoys almost limitless powers as elbasy -- leader of the nation.

Kazakh authorities have banned DVK and its associate, the Koshe (Street) party, labeling them as extremist organizations.

Dozens of activists have been on hunger strike in Nur-Sultan and several other cities in Kazakhstan, including Almaty, Oral, Oskemen, and Shymkent, since June 19, demanding the cancelation of court decisions to ban DVK and Koshe.

Under President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who was handpicked by Nazarbaev, Kazakhstan continues to clamp down on the freedom of speech and harass opposition members.

Police last year detained dozens of journalists and bloggers and launched criminal cases for alleged crimes such as spreading false information and inciting the public, according to Adil Soz, a local media watchdog.

On June 30, officials from the national Income Tax Department visited the offices of Newsclick in New Delhi and questioned its editor-in-chief, Prabir Purkayastha, and another editor, Pranjal, who uses one name, for five hours each, according to a report by the local newspaper The Telegraph and an editor with the outlet, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of official reprisal.

The tax officials questioned both editors in relation to a money laundering investigation, according to those sources. Delhi police previously opened a separate money laundering investigation into the outlet in August 2020, according to a police document reviewed by CPJ, and the Finance Ministry’s Enforcement Directorate is pursuing a third investigation into the outlet, also for alleged money laundering, according to that editor and The Indian Express.

During questioning, both editors were given summons from the Economic Offenses Wing of the Delhi police, ordering Purkayastha to attend questioning tomorrow and Pranjal on July 9, the editor said, adding that both journalists plan to comply.

A second Newsclick editor, who also spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal by authorities, said they believed that authorities had opened the investigations in retaliation for the outlet’s coverage of the nationwide farmers’ protests last year.

“The ongoing investigations into Newsclick and its editors by three government agencies are a blatant intimidation tactic aimed at chilling critical reporting,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities should drop the investigations, cease their harassment of Newsclick and its employees, and allow them to report freely.”

On June 23, the Finance Ministry’s Enforcement Directorate announced that it would provide the defendants with the specific allegations against Purkayastha and PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited, the website’s parent company, according to The Indian Express. The ministry had not provided that information as of today, the first editor told CPJ.

During the June 30 questioning, officials ordered Newsclick to submit a number of tax documents from the last four years by July 5, that editor told CPJ, adding that the outlet complied and sent some documents yesterday, and received permission from the Income Tax Department to send more by July 8.

Umakant Lakhera, president of the Press Club of India, told CPJ via messaging app that the organization supported Newsclick, which he said had “paid for its critical reporting” with the investigations.

PPK Newsclick Studio Private Limited, Purkayastha, and Pranjal have each filed requests to the Delhi High Court to drop the police investigation, the first editor told CPJ. Purkayastha and Pranjal have also filed for anticipatory bail and interim protection from police action, that editor said.

The Delhi High Court previously granted such protections to Newsclick’s parent company and Purkayastha in relation to the investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, according to The Indian Express, which said that the court yesterday extended those protections until July 29.

Previously, in February, the Enforcement Directorate raided Newsclick’s office in New Delhi, as well as the homes of Purkayastha, one other editor, and two members of its management, as CPJ documented at the time. Authorities seized the outlet’s equipment during those raids, including the communication devices of its directors and senior management, according to news reports.

In a statement issued in February, Newsclick’s editorial team wrote that the outlet had “nothing to hide” and was cooperating with authorities. The statement also accused authorities of attempting to “cow down an independent and progressive voice through a vindictive course of action.”

CPJ emailed the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate for comment but did not receive a response. Chinmoy Biswal, a Delhi police spokesperson, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app.

Pateshwari Singh, a journalist associated with Bharat Kanak and Jana Sandesh Times, was hit by a vehicle and beaten up on June 29 after publishing critical news about a politician in Uttar Pradesh. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliates, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the National Union of Journalists – India (NUJ-I) urge for the impartial investigation into the case.

The bureau chief of Bharat Kanak and the Ayodhya correspondent for Jan Sandesh Times was on his way from Tatarganj to JB Nagar Colony on the morning of June 29 when he was hit byblack car while riding his motorcycle in the city of Kotwali. Five to six unidentified assilants who were in the car then beat up Singh with canes and rods, leaving him critically injured. The assailants also snatched his mobile phone. He suffered serious head and skull injuries was rushed to a district hospital before being shifted to a private hospital.

According to a video shared on Twitter by Singh, during the assault the attackers talked of his critical news reports about Indra Pratap Tiwari, a local lawmaker with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Vikas Singh Deogarh, an associate of the lawmaker. He said the attackers threatened to kill him. “They would have killed me if some locals had not rescued me,” he added in the video testimony.

Singh had published news about the lack of development in Tiwari’s constituency. A few days before the attack, an elderly man had reached out to journalist Singh and advised him not to write critical news stories about the BJP lawmaker. Tiwari denied any involvement in the attack.

Following the incident, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed in Kolwali Police Station, Uttar Pradesh against unidentified persons. The FIR was registered under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), however doesn’t mention of the BJP lawmaker and his associate. Police say they have started an investigation on the case.

The brazen attack follows the killing of Sulabh Srivastava, a journalist with private television channel ABP News from Uttar Pradesh. He died under mysterious condition on June 13, a day after filing a complaint to Uttar Pradesh police seeking protection.

Kazakh authorities have detained another activist as they continue a crackdown amid preparations to mark the 81st birthday of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.

Aizhan Abenova informed her friends by phone on June 29 that police were taking her to a police station in Nur-Sultan. It was not immediately clear why she was detained.

A day earlier, police in Nur-Sultan detained two other civil right activists -- Marat Musabaev and Qaiyrgeldy Nurghaliev -- and charged them with violating laws on public gatherings.

Hours later, a city court sentenced Nurghaliev to 15 days in jail and Musabaev to 20 days in jail.

Local activists say that the incarcerations are connected to a call by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the leader of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement, for a demonstration on July 6, the day the country's capital, Nur-Sultan, is celebrated in tandem with Nazarbaev's birthday.

Kazakhstan changed the name of its capital to Nur-Sultan in 2019 to honor Nazarbaev, who ruled with an iron fist from the nation’s independence in 1991 until 2019. The renaming of the capital from Astana to Nur-Sultan sparked protests across the country at the time.

Nazarbaev continues to wield considerable influence as chairman of the Security Council and enjoys almost limitless powers as "elbasy" -- leader of the nation.

Kazakh authorities have banned DVK and its associate, the Koshe (Street) party, labeling them as extremist organizations.

Dozens of activists have been on hunger strike in Nur-Sultan and several other cities in Kazakhstan, including Almaty, Oral, Oskemen, and Shymkent, since June 19, demanding the cancellation of court decisions to ban DVK and Koshe.

One hunger striker in the southern city of Shymkent had to stop his protest on June 29 after his health deteriorated and an ambulance was called to treat him.

Under President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who was handpicked by Nazarbaev, Kazakhstan continues to clamp down on freedom of speech and harass opposition members.

Police last year detained dozens of journalists and bloggers and launched criminal cases for alleged crimes such as spreading false information and inciting the public, according to Adilsoz, a local media watchdog.

Peasant organizers Dana Marie Marcellana and Christian Relao were arrested by elements of the police and military, June 25 in barangay San Gabriel, San Pablo, Laguna, according to human rights watchdog Karapatan Southern Tagalog.

According to initial reports received by the group, elements of the Philippine National Police Regional Mobile Force Battalion – Region 4A, PNP San Pablo, and the military arrived at Marcellana and Relao’s house approximately 1 a.m. and arrested the two individuals. No warrants were issued for the two, but they were charged with kidnapping, murder, rebellion and illegal possession of firearms.

Marcellana and Relao are peasant organizers under the Katipunan ng Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (KASAMA-TK). According to KASAMA-TK, they are both active in peasant communities around Laguna and Quezon provinces. Additionally, Relao was a volunteer for Anakpawis Partylist Quezon in the last 2015 elections.

Dana is the eldest daughter of Orly and the late Eden Marcellana. Eden was the secretary general of Karapatan-TK and a staunch human rights defender. She was slain alongside KASAMA-TK Chairperson Eddie Gumanoy in April 2003 by soldiers under then-Colonel Jovito Palparan Jr. as part of Gloria Arroyo’s counterinsurgency plan codenamed Oplan Habol Tamaraw.

Orly, meanwhile, is the former spokesperson of KASAMA-TK and an active peasant organizer. He has been the target of multiple threats since his wife’s death. Dana herself was the victim of these threats: as a child, she was told by soldiers that she would be killed “once she turned 18.”

Marcellana and Relao’s arrests mark the sixth and seventh instance of an activist arrested in Laguna since March 2021. It is also the third time an organizer was arrested in the city of San Pablo, following the March 4 arrest of COURAGE organizer Ramir Corcolon.

Laguna has also experienced a marked increase in killings and enforced disappearances since March this year. Notably, labor leader Dandy Miguel was shot dead last March 28 on his way home in barangay Canlubang, Calamba, while another incident on May 21 in barangay Macabling, Santa Rosa resulted in the deaths of three individuals and the disappearance of former Kabataan Partylist Southern Tagalog coordinator Kemuel Ian Cometa. A June 9 incident in barangay Dela Paz, Luisiana also resulted in the slaying of Francisco Oblepias, Jr. at the hands of elements of the 202nd Infantry Battalion.

Progressive organization Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Laguna has initially called the arrests as “proof of the Duterte regime’s desperation to silence its critics.” Karapatan ST, meanwhile, is calling out the irregularity of the arrests and demands the immediate dismissal of the charges filed against the two.

Marcellana and Relao are currently inside the BJMP facility in San Pablo, Laguna

Human rights watchdog Karapatan decried the arrests of Farmers Development Center’s (FARDEC) program coordinator for Bohol Carmilo Tabada and United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) Pastor Nathaniel Vallente in Bohol and in what the group said is “a continuation of the crackdown in Southern Tagalog along with signs that these same dirty tactics are now being replicated for a crackdown on Bol-anon activists and human rights defenders.”

“The arrests of Carmilo Tabada and Pastor Nathaniel Vallente in Bohol and of Dana Marie Marcellana, and Christian Relao in Laguna today continue the alarming patterns we have raised before the Supreme Court — and these patterns in Gestapoesque raids, which have proven to be deadly especially during the ‘Bloody Sunday’ raids in Southern Tagalog, are now being replicated in Bohol. Clearly, their arrests are part of a systemic and desperate crackdown on dissent under the guise of the Duterte government’s brutal counterinsurgency campaign,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay said.

Tabada, also a barangay councilor, was arrested in his home in Trinidad, Bohol around 1 a.m. today. His family asserted that firearms and explosives were planted by the police and the military during the raid on his home. He is currently detained at the Trinidad Municipal Police Station. Tabada had been previously visited and threatened by intelligence agents to stop working for FARDEC, which was listed by Department of National Defense as a “communist terrorist front organization” along with other humanitarian organizations in a House panel briefing last November 5, 2019.

Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad summoned journalist Muhammad Bilal Ghauri for questioning for alleged defamatory remarks made through his YouTube channel. The International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) urges authorities to cease the intimidation of journalists who have a right to freedom of expression and questioning attacks on their profession.

The summon notice issued on June 22 under the Pakistan Electronic Crime Act (PECA), ordered Ghauri to appear before the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Islamabad at 11 am on June 25. But the notice failed to mention the specific accusation levelled against him.

According to a letter from M. Waseem Sikandar, a sub-inspector at the FIA, the summons was in response to a complaint filed by Syed Abbas Mohiuddin, a politician from Attock district and member of the provincial assembly. The letter warned that failing to adhere the notice’s order would result in further legal action under section 174 of Pakistan Penal Code.

Muhammad Bilal Ghauri, a contributor for the Urdu-language newspaper Daily Jang, has been on indefinite leave from his office since May 5 and he currently runs a show on YouTube about pertinent political and social issues. On June 21, he broadcast a show entitled ‘Major General Manzoor Ahmed's Petition’ which is linked to the FIA.

The Pakistani military is documented as putting increasing pressure on media houses for reporting that is critical to the Pakistani military and a number of journalists have been put on “leave” following such pressure on media companies. The imposition of “indefinite leave” on Ghauri for his reporting and the subsequent summoning by the FIA points to a clear pattern of intimidation by the military.

On May 31, journalist and vlogger Asad Ali Toor was also summoned on accusation of defaming a government institution thorough a social media post. So too, television talk show host, Hamid Mir, was taken off air on May 31 after a speech deemed as critical of the Pakistani military.

A court in Kazakhstan's largest city has sentenced a protester to 15 days in jail and fined two other demonstrators who picketed the Chinese Consulate for 135 days to demand the release of relatives they say are being held "illegally" in China.

The Almaty Specialized Inter-District Court on June 22 found Baibolat Kunbolat guilty of "organizing an unsanctioned rally" and sentenced him to 15 days in jail. Kunbolat has rejected the charge, saying he was not an organizer of the picket.

Two women, Gulbaran Omirali and Altynai Arakhan, were found guilty of taking part in the same "unsanctioned rally" and fined 145,000 tenges ($340) and 87,000 tenges ($200), respectively.

The day before, two other protesters were found guilty of "violating laws on public gatherings" and fined for picketing the Chinese Consulate in Almaty.

In recent years, many similar protests have taken place in Kazakhstan, with demonstrators demanding the authorities officially intervene in the situation faced by ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang.

The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been confined to detention centers.

China denies that the facilities are internment camps but people who have fled the province say people from the groups are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities known officially as reeducation camps.

Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans.

Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.

Three Mother Nature environmentalists were charged on Monday and placed in pretrial detention at Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison, as the mother of one of the activists said she was in shock but buoyed by support on social media, including from celebrities.

Sun Ratha and Yim Leanghy were charged with plotting, which carries a jail term of five to 10 years, and insulting the king, punishable by one to five years. Ly Chandaravuth was charged with plotting, according to municipal court spokesperson Y Rin.

Ratha was placed in pretrial detention at Correctional Center II, and Leanghy and Chandaravuth at Correctional Center I, Rin said.

A fourth activist was also arrested in Phnom Penh but has been released.

Ly Chanavy, Chandaravuth’s mother, said she could not see her son’s face at the court on Monday as he had been brought in through a back entrance. But she had earlier seen all three smiling as they were transferred to and from the court, she said.

“They smiled with tears,” Chanavy said.

She was uplifted by seeing strong support for them on social media, she added.

Thierry Chantha Bin, a France-born footballer on the Cambodian national team, shared a post about the activists with emoji of an upheld fist, Cambodian flag and a sproutling. Comedian Peypey Dy also shared the post.

Singer Kesorrr said: “Hope to get further information and hope that nothing bad happens to them.” Singer Jenny Vee added a message: “Can we join hands together one more time?” #justice4all #justice4Rotha #justice4Daravuth #justice4Leanghy”

“Although I’m upset and shocked, I get power from them, because people who have never paid attention to the environment before and never shared [about it], this time they’re sharing and posting, including singers and a footballer,” Chanavy said.

She said the three arrested environmentalists, including her son, had shown bravery.

“He told me that what he has done for society is [for] a clean environment, no polluted water and no impact on biodiversity, and for people’s health and to keep the forests — he thought this was not wrong,” Chanavy said.

The activists were filming sewage discharge on Phnom Penh’s Riverside at the time of their arrest. On Facebook, Mother Nature posted photos of the activists advocating for environmental issues.

Am Sam Ath, deputy director at rights group Licadho, said Mother Nature’s deported co-founder, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, was also charged with plotting and insulting the king.

The charges against the environmentalists were severe, Sam Ath said. “We see these charges as a serious threat and intimidation for youth that love and protect the environment and natural resources — this is to break their spirit.”

Interior Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak alleged last week that the group was using environmental issues to try to topple the government.

Three other Mother Nature activists were arrested for incitement last September and sentenced to 18-20 months in jail last month. The latest arrests came just a week after the U.S. ambassador met with Interior Minister Sar Kheng over previous prosecutions against environmentalists.

A court in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan, has sentenced an activist to 18 months in a minimum security prison for having ties with the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement amid an ongoing crackdown on individuals supporting the opposition group and its associate, the Koshe (Street) party.

Before handing down the sentence to 44-year-old Asqar Qaiyrbek on June 21, the court said it had found him guilty of organizing the activities of an extremist group and for taking part in such activities.

Qaiyrbek's lawyer, Gulshat Duisenova, told RFE/RL on June 22 that her client rejected the charges and will appeal the court decision.

Several activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed lengthy prison terms or parole-like "freedom limitation" sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of DVK and the Koshe Party, as well as for taking part in the rallies organized by the two groups.

Meanwhile, seven activists in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have been on hunger strike since June 20 to demand the cancellation of a court decision to ban Koshe.

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 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.

Journalist Bishwanath Simkhada, 30, a resident of Raskot Municipality-2 was given death threat by the cadres of All Nepal National Independent Student Union- Revolutionary (ANNISU- Revolutionary) for publishing news about their activity. The accused have been identified as Man Singh Shahi, 25, of Khandachakra Municipality-6 and Hikmat Jung Singh, 24, of Mahawai Rural Municipality-4.

According to the victim, the accused Shahi and Singh had threatened to kill him after he published the news of ANNISU- Revolutionary involving students of Dev Secondary School in their program. The title of the news was- 'Red salute at the age of studying life and the world' and it was published on April 20, 2021.

The involvement of the students in the political activities has been found time and again in the country. According to the Convention on the Child Rights, school and children are the zone of peace. Therefore, it is wrong to involve children in the partisan politics.

The victim had raised his voice against this violation of child rights and therefore received threat from the accused. The accused had used the number 9848348670.

Simkhada, a journalist working for Rajdhani Daily, Online News Khabar and a member of Education Journalist Group had received a call at around 4 pm on April 20. The accused had threatened to break his limbs like Dekendra Thapa, a journalist from Dailekh.

The district branch of the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Kalikot and Karnali Province Committee have issued a press release condemning the incident. A separate press release signed by FNCCI Karnali Province General Secretary Khagendra Bhattarai and District Branch Chairperson of Kalikot Bharatraj Bista was issued about the incident. Press Chautari Nepal Kalikot has also issued a press release. A press release signed by Press Chautari Nepal Kalikot District Acting Coordinator Ramesh Sunar has demanded the local administration to take legal action against those who threatened journalist Simkhada.

The student activist group Bad Student staged a protest at the Ministry of Education to call for gender equality and LGBTQ rights in the school system. The protest took place at 15.45 on Friday (18 June) and was broadcast live on Bad Student’s Facebook page. The group staged a performance symbolizing discrimination against LGBTQ students in Thai schools, and wrapped a rainbow Pride flag around the statue of King Vajiravudh in front of the Ministry building.

Police officers stationed in the area then pulled down the flag and pushed the group and reporters covering the event off the lawn in front of the building. Voice Online reported that the participant who climbed up the base of the statue to wrap it with the Pride flag was detained by two officers, who tried to take them away. However, the rest of the group stopped the officers and told them that they must state the charges before they can arrest the participant. The officers were not able to state the charges, and the participant was released.

On Saturday (19 June), Ministry spokesperson Kesthip Supawanich said that the group’s action has angered many people, and that the Ministry has communicated with other relevant agencies and found that the participant who wrapped the flag around the statue was 22 years old and is therefore not a minor and no longer in the school system. Kesthip said that the Ministry will be proceeding with the next steps against the group, and said that the students will not be allowed to hold another event inside the Ministry grounds.

Bad Student then issued a statement on their Facebook page condemning police officers for using excessive force against the participants and the Ministry for caring more about a statue than school safety, as the event was held to demand that the Ministry solve the issue of gender-based discrimination and violations of human rights against LGBTQ students in Thai schools.

“Gender diversity is no harm to anyone. If the Ministry of Education does not understand this principle, and even sees that gender diversity as a threat, it means that the Ministry of Education does not support gender diversity. If even the Ministry of Education is like this, how could there be gender equality in schools?” said the group. The group faced some obstacles before the beginning of the event. After group representatives met in front of the Ministry at 15.45, Ministry security personnel closed the gates, preventing the rest of their team from entering the Ministry grounds. Around 15 minutes later, around 20 uniformed police officers from Dusit Police Station began lining up in front of the Ministry.

Dusit Police Station Superintendent Pol Col Jatuphon Phonphakdi came to negotiate with the group and asked them to take their activities outside, telling them that they have to ask for permission before organizing an event on Ministry grounds. A representative of the group said that they have already communicated with Education Minister Trinuch Thienthong, who allowed the gates to be open. However, a Ministry official said that the group is still not allowed to hold their event inside the Ministry. After the group refused to leave, Pol Col Jatuphon threatened them with legal prosecution. Meanwhile, plainclothes officers took pictures of the participants. They were finally allowed to stage their performance after they spoke to the Education Permanent Secretary, who allowed them to stay on the Ministry grounds until 18.30.

The event concluded at 18.45, while around 10 police officers were still surrounding King Vajiravudh’s statue.

Freedom Forum has been alarmed over the threat issued to editor at Kantipur daily, Abdullah Minya, merely for writing news relating to environment and forest.

Former Minister of Forest and Environment, Prem Bahadur Ale, issued threat to senior deputy editor at Kantipur daily and former central member of FNJ, Minya, during a telephone call Minya made for interview yesterday. Minya is a noted environmental journalist.

"I know what you deserve. Wait, how I assault you," said Ale being angry in course of receiving information about his works during his ministerial stint. Ale was relieved of responsibility in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. News reports were rife about the irregularities in the ministry earlier.

The threat of physical assault on editor is a sheer violation of press freedom. In case the former Minister had any concern over the news content, he could take legal recourse as going to Press Council Nepal, but issuing threat for writing news is against press freedom. It has harassed the journalist.

The ex-minister must respect press freedom and journalists' right to free reporting.

Hong Kong’s media freedom faced another setback Thursday morning when over 500 police officers raided the city’s last pro-democracy newspaper for the second time in a year and made arrests under the national security law.

Five Apple Daily executives were arrested over alleged foreign collusion, including editor-in-chief Ryan Law, chief executive Cheung Kim-hung, chief operating officer Royston Chow, associate publisher Chan Pui-man and Apple Daily Digital platform director Cheung Chi-wai.

Company assets were also frozen, reportedly around $HK18m ($2.3 million). Next Digital Limited, the parent company of Apple Daily, suspended trading. Some journalists at the paper told VOA they worked from home.

Hong Kong’s national security unit says it has evidence that over 30 Apple Daily articles “played a crucial part” in calling for sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland China.

Next Media Union, which represents Apple Daily journalists, condemned the arrests.

“By merely suggesting some past news articles have breached [the national security law], they can treat editorial staff as criminals, journalistic work as crimes and [the] newsroom as a crime scene," the union statement said. "This is a blatant violation of freedom of press in the name of national security.”

But Eunice Yung, a barrister and pro-Beijing politician, disagreed, telling VOA those arrested were using Apple Daily’s platform as a “mouthpiece” to damage Hong Kong and China.

“It’s nothing about the freedom of press. For anyone, no matter [if it's] a person in charge of an organization or even the press, are ... under the umbrella of the national security law," she said. "There is no exemption for anyone in Hong Kong.”

Yung said there’s a difference between being critical of the law and breaking it.

“I think if you are asking foreign countries to sanction officials, this is another story,” Yung added.

Following anti-government protests in 2019, Beijing sought stability for Hong Kong, partially via a national security law that prohibits acts deemed as subversion, secession or foreign collusion.

Since its passage, the broadly worded law, which international rights groups have described as a tool for suppression, has been used to arrest and jail dozens of activists and outspoken critics, including Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai.

At a press conference, Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee said those arrested were using journalism as a tool to endanger national security.

“The suspects have been arrested on strong evidence that they’re conspiring to endanger national security. The action is taken against criminals,” he said, warning the public and media to cut ties with the Apple Daily executives.

Mark Simon, a former Next Digital executive who is now the representative for its major shareholder, responded to Lee’s comments.

“No society is free when a man like that [Secretary Lee] is in power,” Simon told VOA, adding he was “in awe” of Apple Daily journalists who remained working while the police raid was taking place.

Hong Kong journalism lecturer Sharron Fast was cited in local reports as saying Lee’s comments were “ominous.”

Apple Daily founder Lai, 73, a pro-democracy advocate and media tycoon, is serving multiple jail sentences following his role in anti-government protests in 2019 and is awaiting trial in a separate case that carries a life sentence.

Last August, dozens of blue-shirted police officers raided the news publisher as Lai was arrested at his home under the national security law on charges of foreign collusion. Some reports have said the charges relate to Lai’s requests for sanctions against Hong Kong and China.

Footage of Thursday's raid showed dozens of officers at the Next Digital office in the Tseung Kwan O district seizing journalists’ materials. The Hong Kong government said a warrant was issued allowing this to happen.

Former Democratic Party leader Emily Lau said it’s a blow to press freedom if media outlets can be raided this way, exposing journalists' sources in the process.

"If it can happen to Apple Daily, it can happen to other news organizations," Lau, a former journalist, told VOA. "This is a very, very worrying thing and is a big blow to press freedom and freedom of expression.”

Authorities added that some published reports dated to 2019, before the security law came into effect. Chinese officials previously said the law wasn’t to be applied retroactively.

“Up to now, it’s very unclear” whether past acts would be taken into account, Lau said. But Holden Chow, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, told VOA that previous acts could be cited in court as “evidence,” and that this practice could apply to other ordinary criminal offenses.

Apple Daily was defiant Thursday, vowing in a letter to readers published on its website that it was “standing firm.”

“In an era where the regime can draw arbitrary red lines, the staff of Apple Daily will remain in their positions and report the truth for Hong Kong people in a legal, reasonable and fair manner,” the letter read.

The paper also announced it was printing 500,000 copies of Friday’s edition.

One senior Apple Daily journalist identified only as “Lee” to protect his identity told VOA earlier this month that there was a feeling of inevitability that the publisher would eventually be forced to close. He said Law, the now-detained editor-in-chief, had told the staff to keep working if this kind of situation arose.

Speaking Thursday, Lee said one of his bosses informed their team to work from home and to log out of all email accounts.

Describing the atmosphere among employees, Lee said the raid made him feel “angry” but didn’t deter their day.

“Perhaps [when] all of us had experienced the last raid in August last year, we somewhat got used to arbitrary actions taken by the Hong Kong police and [we] work as usual now,” he told VOA.

A community representative in a Preah Sihanouk land dispute was arrested in a case in which three Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community members were also sentenced to jail last year, and which has previously been reported as involving Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly.

Sam Sophat, who the coalition said had represented 68 families in a dispute in Prey Nob district, was arrested on Sunday based on a court warrant from March, said district police chief Hour Yay.

According to a Supreme Court document, Sophat was found guilty by the provincial court on June 17 last year, alongside Sam Samol, Svay Sareth and Nhek Sara. The verdict was upheld by the Appeal Court and Supreme Court last year.

Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community director Theng Savoeun said the three others were members of the coalition, but had not been sent to jail.

He said they had all been sentenced under Article 97 of the Forestry Law, which lists 10 different crimes carrying jail terms of five to 10 years.

According to Savoeun, the case involved the Than Sour company and one of its developments in the area. The company could not be found on Commerce Ministry records, but the Phnom Penh Post reported in 2016 that the company was managed by Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly.

Preah Sihanouk Provincial court spokesperson Yem Bunareth declined to comment on the case and arrest.

Cheap Sotheary, provincial coordinator for human rights group Adhoc, said she had attended last year’s court trial, where Sophat and the others were accused of removing trees from land claimed by Than Sour. But Sophat had argued that he owned the land and that he had planted trees, not removed them. The case had been brought to court by the Forestry Administration, she said.

Sotheary added that Than Sour was involved in several land disputes in the area.

Long Lun, Sophat’s lawyer, said his client was also involved in several lawsuits, and he was not clear on the arrest.

Sophat’s brother Sam Sopheap said Sophat had been called into the commune police station then arrested by district officers.

“Five criminal police officers came to arrest him. They took him to the district police office and one hour later sent him to the provincial police and to the prison yesterday at 11 a.m.,” Sopheap said on Tuesday.

Savoeun, the CCFC director, said the dispute was about people living on forestry land, and the Forestry Administration should grant land to them rather than prosecute them.

Chhay Ly, the deputy prime minister, is also chair of the Council for Agriculture and Rural Development, a governmental body established in 1998.

Four members of the Mother Nature environmental group – Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth, Yim Leanghy and Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson – were charged on Sunday, according to pro-government local media, with plotting and insulting the king (lèse majesté) under Articles 453 and 437(bis) of the Criminal Code, which carry maximum sentences of 10 years and 5 years, respectively.

Ratha and Chandaravuth were arrested alongside another activist, Seth Chhivlimeng, in Phnom Penh. The three were arrested on Wednesday morning, apparently in relation to their activities documenting runoff draining into the Tonle Sap river in the capital’s Daun Penh district. Chhivlimeng was later released from detention after being detained for 24 hours at the Police Private Security Management department of the Ministry of Interior, while Ratha and Chandaravuth remained in detention.

Also on Wednesday, police in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district summonsed environmental activist Yim Leanghy for questioning and he was arrested after arriving at the police station. He was later transferred to Phnom Penh and was sent to court along with Ratha and Chandaravuth. Leanghy, Ratha and Chandaravuth face between 1 and 5 years in prison for insulting the king as well as a fine of between 2 and 10 million riel ($500 to $2,500), and they also face between 5 and 10 years in prison for plotting. Also charged with the same crimes was Spanish national Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who was deported from Cambodia in 2015 in relation to his activities as the co-founder of the Mother Nature Cambodia environmental movement.

Leanghy is a 32-year-old student who obtained a scholarship to study for a Master’s degree at the Royal University of Phnom Penh’s Institute of Foreign Languages. Ratha is a 26-year-old accountant who graduated from the University of Cambodia, where she was also studying on a scholarship. Chandaravuth is a 22-year-old law student in his 4th year of studying law at the Royal University of Law and Economics.

Last month, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced three other imprisoned environmental activists associated with the Mother Nature movement to between 18 and 20 months in prison for organising a peaceful, one-woman march to highlight the filling-in of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Tamok lake. Two other Mother Nature members, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson and Chea Kunthin, were also sentenced in absentia at the time.

Authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state must immediately drop their criminal investigation into journalists Rana Ayyub, Saba Naqvi, and Mohammed Zubair, and the independent news website The Wire, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Yesterday, Uttar Pradesh police filed a criminal complaint stating that they were opening a investigation into The Wire as well as Ayyub, a Washington Post columnist; Naqvi, a freelance journalist; and Zubair, co-founder of the fact-checking website Alt News, according to various news reports and a copy of the complaint, which CPJ reviewed.

The complaint alleges that the three journalists and the news outlet, as well as several politicians from the opposition Congress Party, shared an unverified video that could cause social unrest.

“Indian authorities singling out journalists, some of whom are known for critical coverage of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, for sharing and commenting on a video looks suspiciously like selective law enforcement and amounts to a serious attack on press freedom,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Uttar Pradesh police must withdraw their complaint immediately and stop harassing journalists and news outlets.”

On June 14, The Wire and many other leading news outlets reported on a widely shared video from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district, which allegedly depicted a group of Hindu men beating an elderly Muslim man, cutting off his beard, and forcing him to chant a Hindu slogan. Ayyub, Naqvi, and Zubair tweeted about the video, according to those news reports and the complaint.

The complaint, filed by an inspector at the Loni Border police station in Ghaziabad, accuses Ayyub, Naqvi, and Zubair of posting tweets police alleged were misleading and unverified.

The complaint states that police are investigating the three journalists and The Wire for violating Sections 153 (provocation to cause a riot), 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 505 (public mischief), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian penal code.

Each of those sections carry prison penalties of up to one year for convictions, except for criminal conspiracy, which carries up to two years, according to the Indian penal code.

In posts on Twitter after the criminal complaint was filed, Ayyub, Naqvi, and Zubair noted that their descriptions of the video were based on initial news reports.

CPJ texted Uttar Pradesh Police Director-General Hitesh Awasthy for comment but did not receive any reply.

Last year, Uttar Pradesh police filed opened criminal investigations into The Wire’s Siddharth Vardarajan for allegedly “spreading discord” related to the COVID-19 lockdown, as CPJ documented at the time.

Kea Sokun, a young Siem Reap rapper jailed for incitement over his nationalist lyrics, had his yearlong prison sentence upheld by the Appeal Court in Battambang on Wednesday.

Sokun was arrested last September in relation to his song “Dey Khmer,” or Khmer Land, which now has more than 4 million views on YouTube. The song spoke about “the bravery to stand up,” while also warning that “the other race is encroaching” — an apparent reference to long-standing, racially tinged fears related to the Vietnamese border that sparked protests and arrests last year. He was found guilty in late December.

Am Sam Ath, monitoring manager for rights group Licadho, said the NGO provided a lawyer for Sokun at the Appeal Court, which upheld the earlier Siem Reap Provincial Court verdict.

“There were a lot of challenges [made] — the key thing that the lawyer raised about this was the freedom of expression of people, including composing songs and singing songs, and that there was no intention to incite chaos in society or serve anybody’s interest. His intention was to earn money on YouTube,” Sam Ath said.

Sokun was talented, and officials should educate him rather than jail him so he can be an artist that contributes to society, Sam Ath said.

“The prosecutor still kept their stance that the song has an inciting nature and is a crime,” he said. “As civil society, we do not see it as a crime as charged. But we see that he has talent in composing songs and expressing his views.”

Sokun’s sister, Kea Channa, said the family was disappointed by the decision.

“He was just expressing his view about his country and the nation, but instead he was given heavy punishment,” Channa said.

Teang Sambo, spokesperson for the Appeal Court in Battambang, confirmed that the court upheld the verdict.

Earlier this week, the American Bar Association issued a report on the case, in which it said that “[t]he charge of incitement is so broad that the government can apply it in a variety of cases.”

“Together, Articles 494 and 495 form a vague charge that some say is left open to politically motivated misuse,” the association said.

In Sokun’s case, he was “held for an excessive period of time prior to his trial,” the prosecution did not “present any concrete evidence” that his songs actually incited crimes, and it failed “to prove Sokun’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt,” it said.

“The prosecution and court have failed in their legal obligations to perform their roles in finding the truth and providing justice duly in line with Cambodian law and the ICCPR,” or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the association said, and suggested bail for Sokun during the appeal process, among other recommendations.

The association’s senior staff attorney Waris Husain said the ABA had followed some trials in Cambodia over the past two years, including an espionage trial against two Radio Free Asia journalists and prosecutions against six top labor leaders.

“What we have seen recently is the use of Article 495 incitement to violence/crime being used against human rights defenders and those critical of the government. As the case involving Kea Sokun involved a charge like this, we decided to monitor and analyze the case leading to our fair trial report,” Husain said.

The Justice Ministry has repeatedly defended the courts’ independence and due process, and officials have said that free expression is restricted if it is ill-intended or harms society. The Culture Ministry has previously said in the context of Sokun’s case that it works to educate artists who produce improper works but takes stronger action if they do not listen.

“When it comes to arrests and such, it means that you’ve gone beyond the redline, and it’s come to affect social order and public order,” Culture Ministry spokesperson Long Bunna Sireyvath previously said.

Mr. Saddam Khan (26) is a correspondent in a daily newspaper “Jan Sandesh” in Elia, Chandauli, since last five years. He has written articles on various issues of public concern including on illegal mining in the area.

On the evening of June 10, 2021, Mr. Saddam Khan was at the government wheat selling centre in Janakpur-Gandhinagar area, when a stone-loaded tractor-trolley passed by. Being a journalist, Mr. Khan clicked photographs of that tractor-trolley with an intention to further research and publish them in a story in case of illegal transportation of stone. A man riding on a bike along with the tractor stopped him from taking photographs. The man identified himself as Mr. Komal Yadav and had an argument with Mr. Khan. During the argument, Mr. Khan called the SDM Mr. Ajay Mishra to provide information about the tractor transporting stone. Upon hearing the SDM being called on phone, Mr. Yadav rode away hurriedly. On June 12, 2021, news related to this incident was published in 'Jan Sandesh newspaper' with the heading “च"कया म' हो रहा प,थर. का अवैध खनन” (Illegal mining of stones in Chakia). The news article said that despite the administrative vigilance, the illegal mining of stones continued in the hilly area of Chakiya. According to this news article, as soon as dusk settles, tractor-trolleys laden with stones from illegal mining move to different areas of Chakia, Elia and Shahabganj. The entire mafia network is involved in this illegal activity and it is being alleged that the local police is also in collusion. Perhaps that is the reason why the illegal mining mafia are fearless. Villagers alleged that the illegal mining mafia does not fear the local administration. DFO Mr. Dinesh Singh’s statement was also included in the article, who was quoted as saying that two tractor-trolleys had been caught with illegal stones in the past. He

said that the forest department was keeping a close watch on the mining and transportation of illegal stones, however, asked for cooperation from the local police. He also said that the role of the local police was doubtful and questionable but the forest department is making continuous efforts to act strictly against the vehicles involved in such acts, their owners and mafia. On June 15, 2021, at 8 pm, Mr. Khan got a call from an unknown number. The caller identified himself as Mr. Yadav. He used abusive language on the phone, repeating the incident of taking photos, and threatened Mr. Khan with dire consequences. On June 16, 2021, at 10 pm, Mr. Khan filed an FIR No. 0063/2021 in the Elia police station against Mr. Yadav on the above incident in detail, The FIR included IPC Sections 504 Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and 506 Punishment for criminal intimidation. But no action was taken against the perpetrator by the police. Mr. Khan alleges that he sought information about 3-4 times from Mr. Mithilesh Tiwari, SHO, Elia police station on actions taken on the FIR, however, the SHO had one answer - the police is doing its work and the accused person was not found at home when the police went to arrest him.

Student activist Parit Chiwarak is now facing 20 counts under the lèse majesté law, after complaints were filed against him for Facebook posts he made about King Vajiralongkorn’s divorce from his ex-wife Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, and the use of Sanam Luang for funerals. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that Parit went to the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) on Tuesday (15 June) to hear the charges, after complaints were filed against him by Nopadol Prompasit, a member of the Thailand Help Center for Cyberbullying Victims, an online royalist group whose members have filed numerous lèse majesté charges against many netizens, claiming in one post that they have filed complaints with the TCSD against 90 people for posts made on Queen Suthida’s birthday which they see as insulting against the Queen.

The complaints against Parit were filed on 11 January 2021 and are related to two Facebook posts he made in December 2020. The first was on 8 December 2020 about King Vajiralongkorn’s divorce from his ex-wife Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, who now lives in the United States in exile with her four sons.

He also called for Princess Sirivannavari, the King's younger daughter, not to use taxpayer’s money to promote her fashion brand, and included in the post a link to a voice clip rumoured to be that of the king saying “I know I’m bad.”

The second post was on 31 December 2020 and mentioned how funerals are allowed to be held at Sanam Luang but people are not allowed to sell shrimp, referring to the shrimp sale organized by the volunteer protest guard group We Volunteer on 31 December 2020 which was dispersed by police.

Since the reign of King Rama I, which began in 1782, the area now known as Sanam Luang has been used as cremation sites for the funerals of kings, queens, and high-ranking members of the royal family.

Parit faces charges under the lèse majesté law, or Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, and the Computer Crimes Act. He denied all charges and requested that Sujarinee and her sons be brought in as witnesses and to have them testify on why they had to leave the country, who is involved in their exile, and whether they wish to return to Thailand.

This is Parit’s 20th count under the lèse majesté law. According to TLHR, at least 100 people are now facing lèse majesté charges since November 2020, 8 of whom are less than 18 years old.

A court in Kazakhstan's southern city of Shymkent has given a parole-like sentence to an activist after convicting him on charges of having ties with two banned opposition groups.

The Qaratau district court on June 15 found 46-year-old Nurzhan Mukhammedov guilty of having ties with the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and the Koshe (Street) party.

The court also found Mukhammedov guilty of insulting traffic police.

He was sentenced to two years of "freedom limitation" plus 140 hours of community service. He is also barred from being involved in public and political activities for three years.

Mukhammedov took part in the trial via a videolink from a detention center due to coronavirus precautions.

He denied having ties with the DVK or the Koshe party. But he admitted he had insulted traffic police, saying they were "illegally" attempting to violate his constitutional right to free movement.

Mukhammedov was arrested in January and went on trial on May 18. He was released from custody after his sentence was pronounced.

Mukhammedov held two hunger strikes while in detention to demand that all the charges against him be dropped.

He has been fined and sentenced to jail terms ranging from five days to 15 days over his previous participation in unsanctioned rallies. Human rights organizations in Kazakhstan have recognized Mukhammedov as a political prisoner.

Several Activists Sentenced

Kazakhstan's courts have issued prison sentences or parole-like sentences to several activists in recent years for their support or involvement in the activities of the DVK and the Koshe party. Other activists have also spent time in jail for taking part in unsanctioned rallies that were organized by the two groups.

The DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.

Kazakh authorities banned the DVK as an extremist group in March 2018.

Human rights groups say Kazakhstan's law on public gatherings contradicts international standards.

The law requires rally organizers to obtain preliminary permission from authorities. It also calls for the prosecution of those who organize or participate in unsanctioned rallies -- despite constitutional guarantees stating that citizens have the right to freely assemble.

Kannada actor and anti-caste activist Chetan Kumar said the Basavanagudi police in Bengaluru questioned him on June 14 (Wednesday) for four hours in the case where he was booked for allegedly "hurting religious beliefs through his recent tweets on Brahminism. The actor said that the police summoned him for his posts on social media, where he criticised Brahminism, quoting Dr BR Ambedkar and Periyar.

Following his four-hour interrogation, the actor took to Twitter and said, "I stood by truth and democracy. I am proud to contribute in my own small ways to the global movement for equality, justice and non-violence. Fight goes on!" On June 15, the actor received a notice from the Basavanagudi police station to appear for inquiry about his social media posts against Brahminism.

There are two first information reports (FIRs) registered against Chetan Kumar in two police stations — Ulsoor Gate and Basavanagudi police stations. According to The Hindu, while Brahmin Development Board filed the complaint with Ulsoor police station, a community organisation filed the complaint with Basavanagudi. He has been booked under section 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage reli­gious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Karnataka Brahmin Development Board had submitted a complaint against Chetan to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant. The Board claimed that the actor's views hurt "religious beliefs." The complaint against him read that Chetan's remarks were “making imputations prejudicial to national integration.” Shivaram Hebbar, the Minister of Labour Department, too, alleged that Chetan hurt the Brahmin community’s sentiments and insulted the Constitution. The Minister also called for action against the Kannada actor.

The actor had written posts against Brahminism two weeks ago, in response to actor Upendra's remarks that talking about caste perpetuates it. On June 6, the actor tweeted a photo of himself and captioned it, "Brahminism is the negation of the spirit of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity... We must uproot Brahminism — Ambedkar. While all are born as equals, to say that Brahmins alone are highest and all others are low as untouchables is sheer nonsense. It is a big hoax — Periyar."

Chetan's stand has earned him support from several Ambedkarites and anti-caste activists. Amid the complaints, Chetan Kumar said that he will continue to talk about caste. The actor said that he has been highlighting and placing the anti-caste ideas of Ambedkar, Periyar, and Kuvempu for a decade in a modern context.

Associate editor at https://annapurnatimes.com/ Gyanu Shrestha was issued threat of attack for publishing news in Ramechhap on June 14. Ramechhap district lies in Bagmati Province of Nepal.

Talking to Freedom Forum, editor Shrestha shared that she had published news about the misuse of vaccination drive where groups other than targeted people received vaccine on June 11. They shared photos taken during vaccination as well.

On this, a local teacher Khyaan Bahadur Shrestha called her by phone and threatened her of attack for publishing his pictures in the news. He also spoke foul on her and said that the photos tarnished his image.

Editor Shrestha, however, said that she had received those photographs from other sources which were also posted on Shrestha's own facebook page. She also confirmed that he along with others have misused the vaccination drive which was open only for people aged 60-64 years.

"I have filed a complaint at the district police station, the senior official has assured me of fair investigation", she informed.

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to the journalist for doing her job. Reporting on the social irregularities and malfunctions is the prior duty of a journalist and being intimidated merely for doing one's job is deplorable.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned to apologize for the misbehavior, threat and respect journalists' right to free press.

A Pakistani lawyer who won acquittal for a Christian couple on blasphemy charges has asked for a security detail after he received death threats by Muslim extremists.

Shafqat Emmanuel Masih and his wife, Shughufta Kausar Masih, had spent eight years on death row while waiting for a court to hear their appeal against an earlier blasphemy conviction.

The trial court had convicted the couple on flimsy evidence linking them to an English-language text message that had been sent to a local Islamic cleric. The couple is illiterate in their own language and does not speak English.

Their attorney, Saiful Mulook, said on June 14 that he and his family have been threatened repeatedly since a court earlier in June overturned the couple's conviction.

Mr Malook shared social media posts with the BBC which called for him to be "executed" for securing the acquittal.

Blasphemy is a deeply emotive topic in Muslim-majority Pakistan and is legally punishable by death.

While no one has ever been executed for the offence, dozens of people accused of blaspheming have been killed by vigilantes.

Human rights groups say the country's blasphemy laws often unfairly target religious minorities and can be used in personal feuds.

Earlier this month, the high court in Lahore quashed the convictions of Christian couple Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel, citing a lack of evidence.

The pair were sentenced to death in 2014 for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages insulting the Prophet Muhammad. They insisted they were innocent. Ms Kausar's brother told the BBC last year he doubted the couple were literate enough even to have written the messages.

The couple's lawyer, Mr Malook, previously also represented Asia Bibi, a Christian villager who spent eight years on death row in a case that attracted international condemnation.

Ms Bibi was eventually acquitted by Pakistan's supreme court in 2018 and subsequently flown out of the country. The legal ruling led to large and violent protests by thousands of followers of a hardline cleric.

But Mr Malook, who is the most prominent lawyer defending blasphemy cases in Pakistan, told the BBC that he considered the current threats against him the "most dangerous" he had ever received.

"Even this was not done during Asia Bibi's case," he said. "Now they [the extremists] think I am the only hurdle in their way."

He criticised the government for not providing him with adequate security. "Not even a clerk from the Pakistani government has contacted me," he said. Pakistani officials did not reply to a request for comment.

It is not clear how serious the specific threats are to Mr Malook, but in 2014 a lawyer representing another blasphemy defendant was shot dead. Rashid Rehman was sitting in his office when he was shot and two of his assistants were injured.

Blasphemy convictions in Pakistan by lower courts are often overturned on appeal. Human rights activists say more junior judges are intimidated into convicting suspects despite flaws in their cases.

Hearings at Lahore High Court in the case of Ms Kausar, a caretaker at a Christian school, and her paralysed husband Mr Emmanuel, had been repeatedly delayed.

Mr Malook suggested the judges were concerned at the possibility of being targeted themselves if they acquitted the pair. In April, however, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging Pakistan to reform its blasphemy laws, citing concerns over the Kausar-Emmanuel case in particular.

Mr Malook told the BBC that had case had not been highlighted internationally, he feared the appeal would've been delayed indefinitely.

A woman from Yangon Region’s Hmawbi Township who was beaten by soldiers after they found protest photos on her phone has had a miscarriage, according to local residents.

The woman, who was two months pregnant, was one of more than 40 people arrested in connection with a fire that broke out at a primary school in the village of Sein Shwe Kone on June 14.

She was arrested and beaten later the same day when a photo of her at a protest was discovered on her mobile phone.

“They found that picture and took her away. They used a device to check her phone, so that even deleted pictures were recovered,” a resident of the village said.

“She took photos during protest rallies. The authorities asked for the home addresses of those in the pictures. They used the phone to hunt the protesters,” the villager added.

The woman was released on June 16 and is currently receiving medical treatment, residents said. Myanmar Now was unable to contact her directly at the time of reporting.

A female resident said that the soldiers arrived a few hours after the fire broke out and demanded to know who in the village had ties to the National League for Democracy (NLD).

“The soldiers came and rounded everyone up. They asked a few people about the arson attack. When the villagers said they didn’t know anything about it, the soldiers wanted to know who in the village was associated with the NLD and who participated in protests. The soldiers beat the villagers until they got the answer,” the woman said.

Residents said that 10 people were arrested on the day of the fire and more than 30 others were taken into custody two days later. Anyone who was found to have liked posts about the NLD on Facebook was arrested, according to residents.

Many others in the village of roughly 1,000 people were also subjected to questioning.

“They said they would interrogate everyone until they found out who the arsonist was,” said one young resident who was among those who were temporarily detained.

“They said that if we tried to evade arrest, they would give our parents trouble. At night, I just had to sit at home and wait for my turn,” she said.

Another resident said that soldiers also examined the list of households in the village to see which ones had children who were not enrolled in school.

“Whenever they found a child who was not enrolled in the school, they beat the child’s parents,” said the villager.

Most of those who were detained were also subjected to beatings, residents said.

“First they hit them five times with a bamboo stick and asked them who the arsonist was. If they said they didn’t know, they were beaten 10 times with the stick. Then 15 and 20 times if they still said they didn’t know,” said one villager.

An activist in Hmawbi said that he could not confirm how many people had been released because some were reluctant to share information out of fear of re-arrest.

A state-run newspaper reported on June 18 that 56 textbooks, three dozen notebooks, and several pieces of furniture were destroyed in the fire.

Junta-controlled media has accused alleged terrorists with links to the NLD of bombing schools and carrying out attacks against teachers and students.

Local People’s Defence Forces loyal to the ousted NLD government have denied targeting civilians in their campaign to pressure the regime to give up power.

Chinese police detained prominent rights lawyer Xie Yanyi at the weekend, as he was investigating the sudden death of disabled petitioner Guo Hongwei in a prison in the northeastern province of Jilin.

Xie was carrying out research at the home of Guo's parents in Jilin's Siping city on Saturday when dozens of police burst in and detained him, he told RFA on Monday.

"Dozens of policemen broke into the apartment and grabbed me, taking me away to Ping'an police station," Xie said. "Then they confiscated my luggage, bag and phone, rifling through my things at will."

Xie told them they didn't have a warrant, and no legal basis for conducting a search, but they took away a large number of documents linked to Guo's trial, appeal, and subsequent complaints filed by his family, who regard his death as suspicious.

"They took away the case materials linked to Guo Hongwei's cases illegally; they just stole them, all of the files, all of the evidence," he said. "They also tried to lie to me, saying they hadn't done this."

Xie was forcibly escorted aboard a high-speed train and brought back to Beijing, where he is based, he said.

He said he was investigating Guo's family's concerns about their son's death because there was a lack of transparency on the part of the authorities.

"[One possibility is that] Guo Hongwei suffered some kind of direct harm [leading to his death]," Xie said. "Another is that he was refused necessary medical treatment for something."

"And then there is a third possibility, that he died unexpectedly due to some kind of medical condition," he said. "None of these can be ruled out."

Xie called on the authorities to share the full details surrounding Guo's death.

"It's the responsibility of every citizen to demand the truth, otherwise what happened to Guo Hongwei could happen to any of us," he said.

Cover-up suspected

Guo's father Guo Yinqi said the repeated refusal of the authorities to release any information about his son's death suggests they are covering something up.

"Why did they kidnap the lawyer and confiscate all of our evidence?" Guo Yinqi said. "Guo Hongwei's body is still in the funeral home, in cold storage."

Guo died on April 9 after surgery after undergoing two operations for cerebral hemorrhage on April 4 and 5.

His death came as he was serving a 13-year jail term in Jilin's Gongzhuling Prison, where he was transferred after his family complained that he was being tortured at Songyuan Prison.

The family was prevented from taking photos of his body when they went to identify it, and doubts remain around the refusal of prison authorities to order medical parole for Guo despite his systolic blood pressure readings of around 260 consistently during the last two years of his life.

While there was no indication of external, physical attacks on Guo's body, the family has called for a full investigation into his death to establish responsibility, including the release of medical imaging from the time of the surgery and surveillance camera footage.

The family has said Guo was tortured and held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell with no light or toilet facility during much of his time at Songyuan Ningjiang Prison in Jilin.

In May 2020, prison guard Lu Jiaxun locked him in a cell filled with peracetic acid, causing him choke, they said, yet the guard only received a small deduction from his bonus as punishment.

Guo Yinqi filed a complaint to the Jilin provincial prison administration bureau at the time of that incident, but has yet to receive a response.

Guo was transferred to Gongzhuling Prison on Nov. 26, 2020 where he was held incommunicado, with authorities citing pandemic restrictions as the reason for the ban on visits. However, phone calls weren't permitted either.

When he was finally admitted to the Jilin Guowen Hospital in early April, police told one of the surgeons operating on him that the previously healthy Guo had been in a similar condition for more than two months. He was already in a coma at the time of admission.

The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].

On June 2, 2021, Thet Htun Oo, a pro-bono lawyer and Central Executive Committee member of the Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar, was arrested while in court inside Myitkyina Prison, Kachin State, where he was assisting individuals who had been detained under Article 505(a). The charges against him are not known at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.

The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.

Action requested:

Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;

The Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) and the Cambodian Journalists Alliance (CamboJA) are deeply concerned that VOD reporters have been repeatedly stopped and intimidated by authorities while they are carrying out their professional duties.

On June 18, 2021, Prek Pnov district authorities with more than 10 members led by the district governor stopped and threatened a VOD videographer from the Cambodian Center for Independent Media who had gone to capture a temporary stopping place for Vietnamese people’s floating houses and fish farms after they were evacuated by authorities from a number of locations in Phnom Penh. In addition, the authorities also took photos of the videographer and his press card, and made a threat that he would be in trouble if any photos or videos were published.

This case came just a week after VOD reporters were blocked and threatened in a separate incident. On the morning of June 11, a VOD reporter and a videographer went to report the delivery of petitions by about 10 women, all wives of former CNRP activists, to the European Union. Daun Penh district authorities, with about 60 guards and officials, banned the reporters from taking photos and videos, warning that their equipment would be confiscated and they would be sent to the district hall if they dared to do so.

The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].

On June 10, 2021, Nilar and Hpone Myat Thu, were arrested in the border town of Myawaddy, Kayin [Karen] State, while they were attempting to cross into Thailand. They appeared in court a day after their arrest and, at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, were being held at Myawaddy’s central police station. The next hearing in their case is scheduled for June 25, 2021. The “incitement” charges against the two stem from their defense of political prisoners, including Kayin State’s ousted Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint and Hpa-An Technical High School Principal Cho Yu Mon, who were arrested after the February 1 coup for taking part in peaceful anti-junta protests.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.

The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.

Action requested:

Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;

Vietnam’s state media has reported that on June 9, the People’s Court of Quang Ngai province found a local resident named Cao Van Dung guilty of “Making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code.

Mr. Dung, 53, was reportedly sentenced to nine years in prison and three years of probation as the judge decided that from February 2019 he used his Facebook account “Dung Caovan” for writing and sharing many statuses with the content harmful for the regime and affects social orders.

He was said to have formed an online secret group named “Brotherhood for democracy and human rights for Vietnamese.” His hard sentence was likely also due to his participation in the mass demonstration on June 10, 2018 where tens of thousands of people gathered on streets in Ho Chi Minh City and other localities in the southern and central regions to protest the Cyber Security and the Special Economic Zones bills.

It is unclear when Mr. Dung was arrested. It is unknown Mr. Dung had legal assistance during his pre-trial detention and the first-instance hearing.

His conviction is the second within a week. One week earlier, the People’s Court of the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang sentenced Facebooker Dang Hoang Minh to seven years in prison followed by two years of probation. Mr. Minh was said to have posted numerous statuses on his Facebook account with the content harmful for the regime.

Vietnam’s authoritarian regime strictly controls the media and persecutes independent journalists and bloggers. Dozens of Facebookers and bloggers have been imprisoned while others are under regular harassment. The country has been placed in the groups of the countries in the bottom of the Press Freedom Index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for many years. In 2020, it was ranked 175th among 180 countries in the index.

In early 2021, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Vietnam is among the world biggest prisons for journalists, with 12 journalists and Facebookers being imprisoned.

According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam is holding at least 262 prisoners of conscience. Hanoi alway denies, saying it has jailed only law violators.

Soldiers shot a local protest leader and environmental rights defender in the leg as he rode on the back of a motorcycle in Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning before arresting him and taking him to an interrogation center, a source close to the activist said.

Man Zar Myay Mon was trying to escape from the village of Shanhtu–where he had been hiding–after regime troops arrived and carried out a raid at around 6am.

“The village school was set on fire at night, and the next morning the military showed up,” said a local source who is close to the activist and requested anonymity.

“He was leaving the village to go into hiding again but met with the military’s troops. They shot him in the thigh and he fell off the bike,” the source added.

The driver of the bike managed to escape, as did two others who were riding another motorcycle along with them.

Man Zar Myay Mon received treatment for his wound but was sent to the Monywa interrogation center in legcuffs, the source said.

“It seems he was targeted because of his reputation and leadership in the local civil disobedience movement and protests against the military,” a source close to the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA)—of which Man Zar Myay Mon is a member—told Myanmar Now.

The 28-year-old has been wanted by the regime since April, when he was charged with incitement under section 505a of the Penal Code after becoming a prominent leader of anti-coup protests in Chaung-U Township.

His family learned of his arrest at 7am on Tuesday and they have been unable to talk to or meet with him since. He is the son of the writer Myay Mon and has previously worked as a freelance journalist. In his work as an environmental and land rights defender, Man Zar Myay Mon carried out extensive research on the country’s notorious mining sector. He was also active in the protests against the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing.

In addition to being a member of MATA, a leading civil society network focused on the extractive sector, Man Zar Myay Mon also belongs to the Sagaing Region coordination unit of the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Court sentenced “Bright Shinnawat” to four months’ imprisonment for Contempt of Court for delivering a speech in front of the Criminal Court on 29 April 2021 without revoking his bail for the 19 September Rally case

8 June 2021 – the Ratchada Criminal Court scheduled an examination hearing for the case against Shinnawat “Bright” Chankrajang, a young activist from Nonthaburi province. He was charged with Contempt of Court for participating in the protest on 29 April 2021, demanding the Court to uphold the right to bail for Ratsadon Group leaders detained while awaiting trial for alleged violations of Article 112 of the Criminal Code (lèse-majesté).

Chawannat Thongsom, director of the Administrative Office of the Criminal Court, was the accuser in this case. The accusation report explains that on 29 April 2021, around 300 members of the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration joined an activity in which they submitted the letter of “royal injustice” to the Court and staged a public reading of the poem “Judicial Activism” on the staircase of the Criminal Court. During the event, they occasionally used an amplifier to shout out “Release our friends” among other phrases, thereby causing a disturbance inside the Criminal Court.

Shinnawat participated in the said demonstration and delivered a speech through the amplifier. In summary, he said that he would no longer respect the Court because Thai courts are murderers who fail to serve justice for democracy supporters. He further cursed those involved in incarcerating his fellow activists. Directly addressing the President of the Supreme Court, he stated that she must serve as the national guarantor of justice with the responsibility to ensure that the monarch governs Thailand’s democratic rule as the head of state within the remit defined by the constitution. The Court must recognize people’s rights and liberties and grant bail at the initial stage rather than authorize detention or postpone the consideration of bail requests. He questioned how the Court could be regarded as fair when those who carried out public activism for protecting national interests are put into jail, whereas those engaged in blatant corruption are still on the loose.

Meanwhile, the accused had filed a petition to the Court, denying all charges. The defense argued that Shinnawat only delivered the speech and participated in the rally at the Criminal Court’s staircase near the police’s fence. He did not use any force nor caused harm to the lives, liberties, or properties of the Court or anyone else. Moreover, his act of delivering the speech constituted a legitimate exercise of his freedom of expression; he merely criticized the use of judiciary powers that contradict the legal principle concerning temporary release in good faith. He was only arguing that the refusal of bail shall only occur for reasons laid out in Section 108/1 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Moreover, the demonstration was not organized in a manner that intends to delay the Court’s proceedings. On the contrary, the activity’s objective was to call for the Court to approve the bail requests from defendants in the case against activists involved in the “19 September: Return Power to the People” demonstration. On that day, there was no court trial either. The accused’s actions, therefore, did not constitute Contempt of Court.

Shinnawat further testified that he was also facing another charge of “insulting the Court” at the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct for the same action. Like the case against him currently examined by the Criminal Court, this charge could result in criminal punishments. As the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct has not yet delivered its decision, it could be said that the accused is facing double jeopardy.

Notes from the examination for the “Contempt of Court case” in Trial Room No. 805 At 10:00 am, Shinnawat and his lawyer arrived at Trial Room No. 805. The young activist was wearing a t-shirt screen-printed with the number “112” crossed out. The Court began the trial at 10:16 am by examining the accused and showing the videos capturing the demonstration to the accused. Then two witnesses were asked to take the stand, including Chawannat Thongsom, director of the Administrative Office of the Criminal Court (The accuser), and Shinnawat “Bright” Chankrajang (The accused).

The Court asked the accused if he had seen the videos of the demonstration recorded in the CDs submitted as evidence. Further, the Court inquired whether the videos were edited to distort the accused’s actions. Shinnawat admitted that he was the man in the videos and that they were not edited. However, they only captured some parts of what happened, not the entire activity.

The Court requested to confirm whether the videos recorded what really happened. Therefore, Shinnawat reiterated that the videos captured only some specific parts of what happened. Many other relevant activities were not present in the CD.

Then the Court inquired whether Shinnawat went on stage to give a speech or not. Shinnawat admitted that he really delivered the speech. His words quoted in the accusation report were also accurate. However, they were not all that he said on that day. The Court responded to Shinnawat, “The Court only cares about your insults, so the accusation report did not quote the entire speech.”

Shinnawat asked the Court back, “I would like your honor to ask about my feelings and motives driving me to say those things.” The Court replied that if Shinnawat disagreed with the ruling, he could file for an appeal at the Appeal Court or Supreme Court. Later, the Court showed Shinnawat the videos and turned on a high volume to help him identify the parts that were not his speech.

After watching the video, Shinnawat told the Court that the video only captured some sections of the activity. The Court then interrupted his statement and said Shinnawat should find a recording of the entire activity to show the Court his side of the story. Shinnawat then noted that even if the existing videos showed the actual occurrences, the Court should still be fair with him and incorporate complete footage into the list of evidence for this case.

The Court answered that the case is only concerned with insults and actions against the Court. However, if the accused wanted to object to the accusation, he must find evidence to show to the Court by himself. The accused’s failure to provide such proof prevents the Court from carrying out its duty as requested, and the Court would not allow the postponement of the trial on that day. The Court asserted that the examination must be carried out on that day only and the accused needed to secure evidence that demonstrates what happened. The Court’s only responsibility is to assess and rule whether the accused committed Contempt of Court while disorder took place in the Court’s premise.

Upon consultation with the accused, the defense lawyer affirmed the Court that the accused’s behavior did not constitute Contempt of Court. The Court then responded that the accused could exercise his full right to defend himself in court. Still, the Court would continue carrying out the examination to determine whether disorder took place in court. Meanwhile, Shinnawat attempted to request the Court to examine the motive behind his actions, not just the facts about what he did.

The defense lawyer also asked the Court for an opportunity for the accused to clarify his motive because he could face criminal punishment if found guilty. The Court, however, insisted that the accused needed to find his own evidence to demonstrate his sides of the story about what happened on that day. Then the Court of Justice’s Director-General will provide their opinions about the next steps and potential punishment for the accused. Finally, the Court compared the Director-General to a house owner and the judge to a homemaker. It further revealed that the director of the Administrative Office of the Criminal Court was the one who filed an incident report about the demonstration to the Director-General of the Criminal Court.

First witness: Chawannat Thongsom, Director of the Administrative Office of the Criminal Court, (The accuser) At 11:04 am, the Court began examining Chawannat Thongsom, Director of the Administrative Office of the Criminal Court, as the first witness. Chawanat stated that the incident took place during the day on 29 April 2021. On that day, the bail applications were filed for defendants charged for alleged violations of Article 112 (Black Criminal Case No. Aor 287/64), including Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Panassaya “Rung” Sitthijirawattanakul, and Chai-amorn “Ammy” Kaewwiboonpan. The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration posted on their social media accounts about this event and invited the followers come to the Court to give the three activists moral support. They planned on hosting activity to submit the letter of “royal injustice” to the Director-General of the Criminal Court and staged a public reading of the poem called “Judicial Activism.”

At around noon, a group of approximately 300 people gathered in the zone adjacent to the Criminal Court’s ground floor. Later, they started to use an amplifier to create deafening noises. As a result, Pol. Lt. Col. Sakchai Kraiweeradechachai, Deputy Superintendent for Crime Suppression at Pahon Yothin Police Station, intervened and informed the protestors about the current situation of the COVID-19 outbreak and legal requirements under the Emergency Decree. However, the protestors refused to listen to the authorities.

Later, Pol Col Prasopchok Iampinij, Superintendent of Pahon Yothin Police Station, made another announcement, asking the protestors to maintain order and only exercised their freedom within the scope of the Court’s permission. Still, the protestors denied cooperation with the authorities and continued their demonstration using the amplifier to give political speeches.

After a series of disorderly events took place, the inquiry team of Pahon Yothin Police Station carried out an investigation and remarked in their inquiry report that the perpetrators violating the laws on that day included Benja Apan, Shinnawat Chankrajang, and Natchanon Pairoj.

The Court asked the witness about what each of the accused did. The witness said that Benja threw pamphlets on the Court’s floor, ran up and down the Court’s staircase, and delivered a speech recorded in the videos and the police’s inquiry report.

The witness stated further that Shinnawat was one of the accused persons in this case. He was standing among the crowd of protestors in front of the Criminal Court, using a loudspeaker to say vulgar words, according to the inquiry report of Pahon Yothin Police Station, as well as the existing video recordings. The Court asked what Shinnawat said about the Court on that day. The witness then referred to Shinnawat’s statement documented in the accusation report, which writes, “On 30 April 2021, I will visit this Criminal Court and will no longer have any respect for the Court.” She added that he insulted the Court by calling it a “murderer,” according to the inquiry report of Pahon Yothin Police Station and the video recordings.

After receiving the report from Pahon Yothin Police Station, the witness informed and showed to the Director-General of the Criminal Court some photographs and two CDs with video recordings of this incident: one with a video recorded by Pahon Yothin Police Station and the other with another clip from the Criminal Court. Then the Director-General of the Criminal Court issued an order to call for an investigation into this case and initiate Contempt of Court charges.

The witness asserted that she had an obligation to inform the Director-General of the Criminal Court about this incident. After examining the inquiry report of Pahon Yothin Police Station, together with recordings inside the two CDs, she concluded that the accused caused a disturbance for the Court. She is directly responsible for taking care of this matter; therefore, she reported to the Director-General about what happened. She also noted she pressed Contempt of Court charges against six people involved in this rally. The examination hearings for some of the accused have been postponed. At the time, none of the hearings for Contempt of Court cases linked to the demonstration on that day has finished.

In response to the defense’s cross-examination, the witness acknowledged that the video recordings showed that the accused remained outside the Court’s premise while delivering the speech because an iron fence was guarding the venue. However, she argued that he was standing next to the iron fence near the Court’s pillars without walking up the staircase. Furthermore, according to the video recordings inside the CDs and the police’s inquiry report, the accused used vulgar language in his speech and stood with a group of around 300 protestors. Furthermore, even if the bail requests were not considered in trial on that day, the Court was administering other trials at the time of the rally.

The witness admitted to the defense lawyer that the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration came to the Court to submit its letter with a list of signatures to request the Court to grant bail for Parit and Panussaya. She also heard news reports about Parit’s symptoms that his stomach began to digest his body tissue due to his decision to go on hunger strike to call for the Court to grant bail for pro-democracy activists. However, she said she did not know whether the reports were accurate.

When the lawyer asked of the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration’s letter to the Court, which states that Parit might pass away if the Court continues to deny bail, the witness responded that she had not seen the letter. She further remarked that she did not know what the letter said because the Court did not send any representative to accept the letter. Later, the lawyer showed her the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration’s letter of “royal injustice” and a list of signatures to ask her if it was the document that Ms. Benja was throwing or not. Again, the witness said she did not know because the documents were not attached in the inquiry report, and she was not present at the incident.

The defense lawyer asked whether it was true that Parit’s mother went up to the fence and was told by court officials that she had to tell other protestors to leave the Court’s front area. Otherwise, the Court would not read its verdict. The witness said she was unsure whether the court officials received an order to do so because she did not speak with the Director-General about this matter. The lawyer followed up, asking whether Parit’s mother was requested to negotiate with the protestors. The witness said the authorities made such a request because of the disorder that took place at the time.

On the evening of that day, the witness added that she was not in the court area because she was working from home. Therefore, she did not know that there was any turmoil. However, there are video recordings in the CDs that could confirm that. When she arrived at the Court at 4:00 pm, the situation in front of the Court had de-escalated and become calm. The protestors were only waiting to hear whether the Court would grant bail. Meanwhile, some were still using the amplifier to deliver speeches outside the fenced area of the Court. Thus, she asked Parit’s mother to negotiate with them. According to her, once Parit’s mother did so, these protestors stopped their activity, and the peace was restored.

The witness informed the defense lawyer she did not notice whether Shinnawat was outside the fence when she arrived at the Court. She was doing work at her desk and did not walk to the front area of the Court. Therefore, she could not see what was going on in the rally. However, she saw his speech from the videos taken by Pahon Yothin Police Station and the Criminal Court.

The lawyer asked why the witness charge him in two separate cases with Contempt of Court and insulting the court for the same action. As the director of the criminal court’s office, the witness said that she has no power to initiate a Contempt of Court charge. Her only responsibility was to report to the Director-General. It was the Director-General’s decision to order the Court to press this charge.

Upon examining case documents, the lawyer shared that the defense found that Pahon Yothin Police Station submitted its inquiry report to the Office of the Court of Justice. Therefore, the witness was asked whether the police submitted the report with the intention to prosecute those involved in the incident with Contempt of Court. The witness admitted that the Deputy Superintendent of Pahon Yothin Police Station submitted an inquiry report to the Office of the Court of Justice. However, the witness said she was unsure whether the Office of the Court of Justice had previously filed a Contempt of Court charge to Pahon Yothin Police Station or not because it was not within her realm of responsibility.

Witness No. 2: Shinnawat Chankrajang (The accused) Before the accused begin testifying, the defense lawyer requested the Court to examine two witnesses, including Shinnawat (the accused) and Sureerat Chiwarak, Parit’s mother. Nonetheless, the Court denied the request and asserted that it only wanted to examine Witness No. 2 about the facts of what happened on that day. The Court only wanted to assess whether there was a disturbance of peace and report back to the Director-General, who would decide whether the defendant was guilty. The Court has no actual authority to rule on this case.

The Court asked Shinnawat if he was the person captured on camera in the videos on the CD and if he delivered a speech on that day. If so, the Court also wanted to know why he took those actions. Shinnawat admitted that he was in the incident, and the recordings were real. However, what appears in the videos on the CD does not capture the entire event. They lacked many factual elements that could have explained how the event unfolded. Before the witness began using vulgar language to curse at the Court, several incidents stirred the frustrations and anger of the protestors. Still, they were missing from the videos.

The witness further contended that the Court should have sent a representative to come down from the office and accept the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration’s letter. That hypothetical decision could have prevented the crowd from using insults against the Court or engaging in disturbance of the peace. He claimed that he used vulgar language because he did not want anyone to weaponize the Court. He would like the Court to uphold its gracious independence. When the witness spoke of the Court, he would often say that the Court need not take his side. The Court only should serve justice and carry out the legal proceedings properly.

When the witness was standing with other protestors on that day, they remained outside the Court and did not break into the fenced area. The amplifier used on that day was a small, portable one. Their size was not big. The witness did not know that it was prohibited to deliver political speeches and stage an assembly outside the Criminal Court. Therefore, he did not anticipate that his speech delivery outside the court building would constitute Contempt of Court.

He continued explaining that he got angry because he saw Judge Chanatip Muanpawong walked down to the ground floor of the Criminal Court. The judge also got into arguments with the protestors, thus escalating tension and leading to turmoil during the demonstration. The lack of clarity on whether the three activists would receive bail led to even greater disorder.

Judge Chanatip had an infamous record of denying bail requests and arguing with protestors. Therefore, the witness viewed his appearance as an attempt to escalate the situation and disturb the peaceful demonstration. The witness said he yelled out, “Murderer Court” because he saw a recent news report about Parit’s health conditions before attending the rally. Reportedly, Parit had fallen sick because of his hunger strike that caused his stomach to digest his own body tissue, leading to rectal bleeding. There were also news reports about the spread of COVID-19 in prison. The witness was concerned that if Parit did not receive bail, he might die in prison.

The witness asked the Court to examine the video clips thoroughly, and the Court would realize that his speech was well-intended. He insisted that he did not want the Court to receive more negative criticisms.

The witness answered the lawyer that he arrived at the Court at around 1:30 pm. At that time, the Court’s gate on the Ratchada Road side did not have any fence, and the authorities did not block anyone from entering the building. Around 100 people were waiting inside the Court, not 300 people as claimed by the accuser during her testimony. When he arrived at the Criminal Court, some protestors were already using the amplifier. He did not know to whom it belonged.

The witness spoke about the causes of the turmoil during the demonstration. He told the defense lawyer the protestors were not simply angered by Chanatip’s presence in front of the Criminal Court. There was another incident taking place simultaneously. At around 2:00 or 3:00 pm, a court official approached and told the protestors that the Court would not deliver its ruling if they did not leave the area. This order angered the crowd deeply.

Normally, the Court would send a representative to accept any petition letters from external parties. Thus, the defense lawyer asked the witness whether it was true that no one agreed to receive the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration’s letter. The witness said that he heard that a representative would come down from their office to receive an external letter to the Court in other cases. However, this time, nobody agreed to do so.

In response to the lawyer’s question about the charge of insulting the Court from the same incident, the witness said that this case remains in the remand stage, and he has denied all charges.

Lastly, the witness said that he knew Parit’s mother and saw her exiting the Criminal Court on the evening of that day. When the crowd got smaller, she told the protestors to leave the area in front of the Court, move outside the Court’s, and return home. The protestors agreed to follow the request from Parit’s mother.

At 12:30 pm, the Court finished examining both witnesses and scheduled for delivering the verdict at 2:00 pm.

Court sentenced the defendant to four months’ imprisonment without any suspension, stating that his references to the Court were vulgar and showed defiance of the law At around 2:20 pm, at Trial Room No. 805, Shinnawat was waiting to hear the Court’s verdict. Somyot Pruksakasemsuk also observed the trial in that afternoon because he was also one of the defendants charged with Contempt of Court from the same demonstration. Therefore, he would like to know how the procedures were. The trial room officials requested all observers to sit apart from one another as part of the Court’s social distancing measures.

Later, at 2:40 pm, the Court delivered its ruling, which indicated that the defendant used vulgar language to express contempt against the Court, and his actions showed defiance of the law. Therefore, the Court found him guilty of Sections 30 – 33 of the Criminal Procedure Code and sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment without any suspension.

The Court asked the Department of Corrections to immediately prepare to detain the defendant before bringing him to Trial Room No. 703 to consider whether to revoke his bail for another case.

Court decided not to revoke the defendant’s bail for the “19 September: Return Power to the People Demonstration” case, citing no impact from his conviction on the factual elements of the other case. However, a bail condition was added to prohibit him from participating in activities causing public disorder

At Trial Room No. 703, the Court only permitted Shinnawat’s family members, including his wife and toddler son, lawyer, and other observers, to attend the trial. Inside the room, there were four court police officers and one security guard. The Court began the trial at 3:23 pm. The lawyer started by informing the Court that the defense will appeal the Court’s decision to sentence Shinnawat to four months’ imprisonment for Contempt of Court, mainly because the defendant is facing double jeopardy from another case in which he was charged with insulting the Court. Moreover, the defendant said that he did not violate any bail conditions for the “19 September: Return Power to the People Demonstration” case because he had already paid the surety of 35,000 THB without agreeing to any additional requirements. This case also has nothing to do with the Contempt of Court case.

Later, the Court decided not to revoke Shinnawat’s bail for the 19 September 2021 case. It assessed that even though the defendant was found guilty of Contempt of Court, the decision to revoke bail must follow the rationales laid out in Section 108/1 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Notably, the defendant’s commission of Contempt of Court is not related to the judicial proceedings in the other case, therefore not impeding its trial. The offenses in both cases are also different, so it could be determined that the defendant may cause another danger of a similar nature. For these reasons, the Court decided not to revoke his bail.

The Court maintained its decision to allow for Shinnawat’s provisional release for the “19 September: Return Power to the People Demonstration” case. However, it added one condition prohibiting him from participating in any rallies that may cause public disorder.

For the Contempt of Court case, the defense lawyer filed for bail while the case remains pending appeal. Shortly after, at 4:00 pm, the Court granted bail for him upon providing the surety of 10,000 THB from the Ratsadonprasong Fund.

This is Shinnawat’s second Contempt of Court case. Previously, on 31 May 2021, the Court sentenced him and “Ford Red Path” Anurak Jentawanich to 15 days’ imprisonment and a 500-THB fine per person. Nonetheless, their sentences were suspended. In this case, their alleged violations occurred when they took photos of the courtroom while waiting for the judge to begin the indictment trial of the “19 September: Return Power to the People Demonstration” case on 8 March 2021.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) ‘s documentation record, from the beginning of the Free Youth Group’s demonstration to May 2021, at least 13 people have been charged with Contempt of Court in 13 cases, and at least 20 people with insulting the Court in three cases. Among these cases, seven Contempt of Court cases stemmed from the demonstrations on 29 and 30 April 2021, which called for the right to bail for Ratsadon leaders held in pre-trial detention. Today, the Court finished the examination and delivered its ruling for only one case against Shinnawat.

The Observatory has been informed about the denial of bail to Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika amid a COVID-19 outbreak in many Cambodian prisons. Mr. Chhun, a prominent labour rights defender, is the President of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), and a member of the Cambodian Watchdog Council (CWC) [1]. Ms. Kanika is a member of the youth group Khmer Thavrak [2] and an ex-member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

On June 8, 2021, Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika were denied bail by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which claimed that the crime for which they have been detained affects social security and is therefore unbailable. Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika were not present at the bail hearing as prison officers requested the court to suspend the transportation of inmates to tribunals due to public health concerns. Since mid-May 2021, many Cambodian prisons have been affected by an outbreak of COVID-19. These prisons include Phnom Penh’s Correction Centre 1 (CC1) and Correction Centre 2 (CC2), where the two human rights defenders remain detained, respectively. Rong Chhun and Sar Kanika have been denied access to their lawyers for over four months, raising concerns over their current health condition.

The Observatory recalls that Rong Chhun was arbitrarily arrested at his home in Phnom Penh on July 31, 2020. On August 1, 2020, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged him with “incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest” (Article 495 of the Cambodian Criminal Court) and ordered his pre-trial detention in CC1. Rong Chhun’s detention came following several public statements he made on behalf of the CWC in which he reported community land loss as a result of the demarcation of the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

Sar Kanika was arbitrarily detained in August 2020, amid a wave of arrests of human rights defenders and activists in relation to their planning of peaceful assemblies that were to take place at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh in September 2020 in order to demand the release of Rong Chhun. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged Sar Kanika with “incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest” and placed her in pre-trial detention in CC2.

The Observatory further recalls that Hun Vannak, Chhoeun Daravy , Tha Lavy, Koet Saray, and Eng Malai (aka So Metta), members of Khmer Thavrak, as well as Muong Sopheak and Mean Prommony, member and Vice-President of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), respectively, remain detained under the same charges in relation to the same acts. Their bail application was likewise rejected by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on May 18, 2021.

The Observatory strongly condemns the ongoing arbitrary detention of the above-mentioned human rights defenders and reiterates its deepest concern about the Cambodian authorities’ systematic legal harassment to target all critical voices, and about the serious deterioration of the human rights situation in the country, including through increasing obstacles to the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly in Cambodia.

The Observatory is further concerned about the risks for the health of all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in the overcrowded Cambodian prisons and calls on the authorities to immediately take all necessary measures to ensure their access to adequate healthcare and protective equipment, and reduce the prison population through the adoption of non-custodial measures.

The Observatory urges the Cambodian authorities to guarantee the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Rong Chhun, Sar Kanika, Hun Vannak, Chhoeun Daravy, Tha Lavy, Koet Saray, Eng Malai (aka So Metta), Muong Sopheak, and Mean Prommony. The Observatory also calls fortheir immediate and unconditional release, along with all other human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Cambodia, in order to protect their right to health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Actions requested:

Chaiamorn “Ammy” Kaewwiboonpan, lead singer of pop band The Bottom Blues, is facing another royal defamation charge for singing a modified version of his song “1 2 3 4 5 I love you” at a protest in front of the Thanyaburi Provincial Court in January 2021. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported yesterday (7 June) that Chaiamorn and activist Phromsorn Weerathamjare face royal defamation charges under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code for their participation in the 14 January 2021 protest in front of the Thanyaburi Provincial Court to demand the release of student activist Sirichai Natueng, who was arrested in the middle of the night on 13 January 2021 on a royal defamation charge for spray-painting portraits of members of the royal family.

During the protest, Chaiamorn and Phromsong sang a modified version of Chaiamorn’s song “1 2 3 4 5 I love you,” which has become one of the songs most commonly used in protests, often with the “I love you” in the refrain replaced with “Fuck you Too [Prayut Chan-o-cha]” or “Free our friends.”

TLHR reported that according to the police, participants during the 14 January 2021 protest replaced “I love you” with “Fuck you […].” TLHR did not disclose what the final word was, but said the police deemed that the modified lyrics were insulting to the king.

Phromsorn reported to Thanyaburi Police Station yesterday (7 June) and denied all charges, while Chaiamorn said he was unavailable and instead reported to the police today (8 June).

TLHR reported later today (8 June) that the public prosecutor has filed a case against the two activists. This is the 17th royal defamation case in which the public prosecutor has ordered an indictment since the law began to be used against pro-democracy protesters in November 2020.

The Thanyaburi Provincian Court granted bail for Promsorn and Chaiamorn with a security of 300,000 baht each. The court also required them to sign a letter promising not to run or tamper with evidence.

Chaiamorn posted on his band’s Facebook page yesterday (7 June) that this is “the first pop song to be charged under Section 112” and that he was notified of the charges while he was still being detained pending trial in another royal defamation charge at the Thanyaburi Remand Prison. He was in detention for 69 days before he was released on 11 May 2021 on condition that he does not participate in activities which are damaging to the monarchy – the same condition imposed on several activists charged under Section 112 and released on bail.

Phromsorn is facing a total of 3 counts of royal defamation relating to political expression, while Chaiamorn is facing 2.

Nepal Police misbehaved with Shyam Paswan, a Photojournalist at Birgunj television while reporting at the border area in Parsa on June 5. Parsa district lies in Province 2 of Nepal.

Talking to Freedom Forum, report Paswan shared that earlier on May 31, he had reported news about open cross-border smuggling amid the prohibitory order declared by the government to contain COVID 19. Following this, one of the police officers reported to be involved in smuggling called on reporter Paswan's mobile and threatened him for writing the news without his consent.

Thereafter, on June 5 reporter Paswan again reached the border area to report on the illegal transport of goods. Meanwhile, on-duty police persons asked him to show his identity card, license, and mobile.

He showed his identity card but they not only deleted the photos and videos from his mobile but also took him under control for 30 minutes at the local police station.

"After the incident, I have no courage to reach the site for further reporting.", Paswan said.

Freedom Forum condemns the incident as it is a gross violation of press freedom. Such intimidation to the journalists working frontline even during the pandemic is discouraging and severe violation of the free press and citizen's right to information. Journalists have right to expose the irregularities and issues of public concern.

Hence, FF strongly urges the security authority to address the issue and ensure a safe reporting atmosphere for the journalists.

The wives of Cambodian opposition activists jailed on “incitement” charges were roughed up by police as they staged a protest Friday outside the U.N.’s human rights office in Phnom Penh, demanding that the government drop the charges against their husbands and release them.

The group of about 10 women — known as the “Friday Wives” for their weekly rallies on behalf of their husbands from the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) — demanded the release of their spouses following reports that the men had been infected with the coronavirus in prison.

Several police officers roughly manhandled the women as they tried to pry large posters with their husbands’ images from their hands during the protest in the capital’s Chamkar Mon district, the women said.

Prum Chantha, one of the protesters, said it was beyond belief that police resorted to manhandling them while breaking up the group in front of the U.N.’s office.

“They dared to abuse us in front of the U.N office… This is very unjust for the family members of politicians,” she said.

The women submitted a petition to the U.N.’s human rights office to intervene, saying that they were concerned about the health and safety of their husbands because they have been banned from communicating with them for the last three months while the pandemic has spread rapidly in Cambodia.

They complained that their husbands are at risk for contracting the virus because they are being held in overcrowded prison cells and don’t have enough food to eat.

The women have said that authorities should allow them access to their detained spouses during the COVID-19 pandemic so that they can monitor their health.

Dos Kimteang, another protester, told RFA that the women did not violate any laws by gathering because they did not impede traffic or disrupt social order, and that they adhered to the Health Ministry’s guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“We never provoked any social chaos,” she said. “Please don’t abuse us and then accuse us of violating the law.”

‘They gathered without permission’

A coronavirus outbreak has surged unabated through Cambodia’s prisons in recent weeks amid a nationwide outbreak. As of Friday, the government reported a total 33,075 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 886 news ones, and 242 total related fatalities.

San Sok Seiha, spokesman for the Phnom Penh municipal police, said police prevented the women from gathering because they did not request official permission to assemble.

But when RFA asked him to cite the regulation that requires people to ask for permission to hold public gatherings, he refused to elaborate.

“They gathered without permission,” he said. “This county has laws, so authorities are obligated to implement them. We can’t let a few people to provoke problems in Phnom Penh city.”

On Friday, 20 civil society organizations and unions issued a statement repeating a call for the government to release all prisoners of conscience in light of the growing number of COVID-19 infections.

“In view of the reports of mounting COVID-19 cases within Cambodian prisons, compounded by prison overcrowding, we call on the RGC [Royal Government of Cambodia] to release all nonviolent prisoners of conscience as a mitigation measure to minimize the risk posed by the spread of the virus,” the statement said.

Soeung Sen Karuna, spokesman for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) who monitored the Friday Wives protest, said that the police crackdown on the women in front of the U.N’s human rights office indicates a further decline of human rights in the Southeast Asian nation.

“This is yet more evidence showing that … the authorities should consider their actions and coordinate them, so that people can express themselves and their demands,” he said. “It would give the government a better image.”

A court in Kazakhstan's northern city of Pavlodar has handed parole-like sentences to five activists for their links with the banned Koshe (Street) party amid an ongoing crackdown on individuals supporting the opposition group and its associate group, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK).

The court on June 4 handed an 18-month "freedom limitation" sentence to Nurgul Qaluova, while four other defendants -- Daryn Khasenov, Qaliasqar Amirenov, Zhanat Zhamaliev, and Maqsut Appasov -- received one-year "freedom limitation" sentences each.

Rights organizations in the Central Asian country have recognized the five as political prisoners.

Qaluova became well-known across Kazakhstan after she took part in a protest action in October by Kazakh women, who shaved their heads to demand political freedoms and democratic reforms in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.

Several activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed lengthy prison terms or "freedom limitation" sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of the Koshe Party and DVK, as well as for taking part in the rallies organized by the two groups.

DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government. Kazakh authorities labeled DVK 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.

Police in Hong Kong on Friday arrested the head of a rights group that organized candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre for three decades, for "publicizing" the now-banned event.

Chow Hang-tung, who heads the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was one of two people arrested for calling on others to join a banned vigil for the victims of the 1989 crackdown, when People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops mowed down mostly unarmed civilians with machine guns and tanks, ending weeks of peaceful protest on Tiananmen Square.

A 20-year-old food delivery worker was also arrested.

The pair were accused of publicizing the vigil, which has been banned by the authorities for two years running, on social media, detective senior superintendent Terry Law told reporters, but declined to give specific details.

Chow's arrest came after she told RFA she personally planned to go to Victoria Park on Friday and light a candle to remember those who died in 1989.

"I think lighting candles in Victoria Park shows that we haven't given up," she added.

While Victoria Park remained empty of mourners and protesters, police gathered instead in large numbers on the park's soccer pitches on Friday, throwing several layers of security around the area.

Local media said up to 7,000 officers were being deployed in case anyone tried to defy the ban.

Some people left flowers and candles at the feet of the Goddess of Democracy statue on the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) campus, while artists laid white mourning flowers in a road in the Causeway Bay shopping district to mark the 32nd anniversary of the massacre.

Police have warned that anyone dressed in black, or anyone seen chanting slogans or lighting candles could be seen as breaking the ban.

Support for allies grows

Former pollster Robert Chung said the numbers of police were "overwhelming and unnecessary."

"It is more likely to spark a backlash and push people away from any sense of patriotism," Chung said.

Chung Kim-wah of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) said Chow's arrest suggested the authorities are beginning to act in a more arbitrary manner.

CUHK student activist Yuen Tak-chi said he would mark the massacre anniversary this year despite boycotting it in previous years because he believed Hong Kong's political struggles to be distinct from those of mainland China.

But he said that, since the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020, the city's concerns are now closely aligned with the mainland Chinese democracy movement.

"We used to despise the June 4th vigil at Victoria Park. We thought it was pointless," Yuen said. "How could [the official verdict on the 1989 protests] ever be overturned?"

"But this form of resistance we despised in the past has now become a red line under the national security law," Yuen said.

He said the sacrifices made by mainland Chinese rights lawyers, some of whom lost their licenses for speaking out on behalf of the 12 Hong Kong activists detained and later jailed in Shenzhen, had made many in Hong Kong realize that they are all on the same side in the struggle against authoritarian government.

"To mourn the victims of June 4 is to show support and respect for our allies, [China's] human rights lawyers," he said.

Soldiers fired bullets at land protesters on Thursday in Kandal province, hitting one man in the shoulder, as a group of about 100 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldiers faced off against villagers involved in a land conflict in Kandal province, about five kilometres from Phnom Penh. The injured man remains hospitalised, while some local villagers resumed protesting on Friday morning.

The shooting occurred in Tuol Prich commune, Angk Snuol district, in an area that houses several military bases and outposts and has seen a boom in development in recent years. Villagers reported that the soldiers were from the nearby Thmat Pong military school. Videos of the incident show an excavator digging up land while local villagers try to stop it and block National Road 51. Uniformed soldiers can be seen advancing on the villagers and firing dozens of live rounds from handguns and assault rifles into the air, at the ground, and into the crowd of villagers, hitting one man in the shoulder.

The land conflict involves more than 150 hectares that have been farmed for many years by more than 300 local families from at least seven villages. Satellite data shows that the land around the location of the shooting has been farmed continuously since at least 2008, which is the earliest satellite imagery available on Google Earth. Government-produced maps dating from 2001 also mark the area as containing farmland. The Kandal provincial government issued a letter on Thursday saying that all of the land was state land, while some villagers have said they have farmed on the land since 1979.

There have been several shootings of land protesters by mixed forces including military soldiers in recent years. In January 2019, a man was shot in Preah Sihanouk province and left paralysed after mixed forces descended on protesters and opened fire during the enforcement of a Supreme Court decision over a land conflict in the province. In March 2018, three people were shot in Kratie after mixed forces fired into a crowd of 300 villagers protesting a violent eviction.

Several protesters captured the improper deployment of soldiers and excessive use of force using smartphones, and videos of the shooting were posted to Facebook.

On June 3, masked men in plain clothes grabbed Raghu, a reporter with the news website Tolivelugu, outside his home in Hyderabad, and forced him into an unmarked car with its license plates covered, according to news reports, CCTV footage of the abduction shared with CPJ by Tolivelugu senior reporter Magham Srinivas, and the journalist’s wife, Praveena, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

Later that day, police announced that Raghu was in custody, and a local court ordered him to remain in detention for 14 days pending an investigation into allegations that he participated in a clash between a local tribe and the police in Telangana’s Suryapet district in February, according to those news reports.

Srinivas told CPJ that Raghu covered those clashes as a journalist for the local broadcaster Raj News, where he worked at the time.

On June 4, Raghu’s family filed a petition with the Telangana High Court for his release, according to The Hindu. The petition was transferred to a local district court, and a hearing for his bail is scheduled for June 10, Praveena told CPJ.

“Police in the Indian state of Telangana need to be reminded that covering civil clashes is not a crime, but a normal part of reporting,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Police should immediately release Ganji Raghu, drop their investigation into his work, and apologize to him for the crude manner of his arrest.”

The February clashes with police stemmed from protests the tribe held in opposition to Saidi Reddy, a lawmaker in the state assembly with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi party, who allegedly encroached on their land, Srinivas said.

He added that Reddy had threatened Raghu in the past over his reporting, but did not provide details about those threats.

CPJ was unable to find contact information for Saidi Reddy; CPJ contacted Telangana Rashtra Samithi spokesperson Abid Rasool Khan for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any reply.

If charged and convicted of rioting, Raghu could face a fine and up to three years in jail, according to the Indian penal code.

CPJ texted Mahendra Reddy, Telangana’s director-general of police, and Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi party, for comment, but did not receive any responses.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has ordered the freezing of bank accounts of a peasant organization red-tagged by the government.

The order was made based on a claim by “witnesses” that the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women is involved in the financing activities of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

Amihan is an organization of peasant women and federation of peasant women’s organizations which brings to the fore the call for genuine agrarian reform, national industrialization, and an end to all forms of exploitation and discrimination especially against women in the countryside.

Zenaida Soriano, Amihan national chairperson, denounced the freeze order saying that it was arbitrary and they were not given a chance to answer the allegations against them.

Soriano related that when one of their staffs went to the bank on June 3, she was informed that their account has been frozen for undisclosed reasons. Then on June 8, Tuesday, they received a letter from the bank with an attached notice from the AMLC. On the same day, they received a notice from the Court of Appeals informing them of an extension of the freezing of their accounts for six months.

The freeze order was issued by the AMLC on May 5, under Resolution No. TF-38, Series of 2021, pursuant to Section 11 of Republic Act 10168 or the Terrorism Financing and Suppression Act of 2012.

The freeze order included two bank accounts of Amihan, including that of its chapter in Northern Mindanao Region, and bank accounts of eight other non-government and civil society organizations based in Mindanao.

“This action of the AMLC is a big mistake and not fair,” Soriano said in a statement, adding that the decision did not go through the proper legal process as they were not given the opportunity to explain and answer the allegations.

Soriano asserted that the resolution was “based on the unfounded allegation given by two witnesses claiming to be surrenderees that we are involved in financing the activities of the CPP-NPA.”

“We do not know the witnesses and they have no connection in Amihan’s national office,” Soriano added.

Soriano said that group was established on October 26, 1986 to address the issues faced by peasant women. It currently has 19 provincial chapters in nine regions nationwide.

“For 34 years, Amihan has led and joined campaigns for free land distribution and against land grabbing, production support for farmers and fisher folk, relief and rehabilitation for victims of calamities, food security and self-sufficiency and against militarization and other forms of rights abuses in rural communities, among others,” Soriano said.

The group believes that they were targeted by President Duterte’s administration for criticizing government policies affecting the people.

Amihan, along with rice watch group Bantay Bigas, led the campaign against the Rice Liberalization Law by holding discussions and consultations with rice stakeholders, petition signing, lobbying in Congress and protest actions.

They also conducted a series of donation drives last year to help peasant families affected by the lockdown in Rizal, Bataan, Isabela, Bicol and Cagayan as well as areas gravely hit by Typhoon Rolly and Ulysses. They also conducted ‘Suplay Pang-suhay sa Kabataan sa Nayon’ which distributed school supplies to peasant and fisher folk children in Eastern Visayas, Rizal and Cavite.

Despite the services that they have extended to marginalized groups in rural areas, Amihan leaders, organizers and members have fallen victim to rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, illegal arrest and detention, red-tagging and other forms of harassment and vilification, prompting the group to launch the #DefendPeasantWomen campaign last May.

As of March this year, the group claims that of the 300 farmers killed, 42 were peasant women like Nora Apique, Lucresia Tasic, Julie Catamin and Ana Mariz Evangelista.

Because of these attacks, the group drafted a House Resolution with the office of Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas to look into the said rights violations. On May 31, the Makabayan bloc filed House Resolution No. 1812 to look into the intensifying attacks and human rights violations committed against peasant women in the country.

Meanwhile, the group vow to challenge the freeze order up to the Supreme Court and will also question the constitutionality of section 11 of RA 10168.

Soriano said this “deprives legitimate organizations like Amihan the right to due process of law especially since it grants AMLC unbridled discretion and power to freeze bank accounts on the basis of the mere say-so of individuals who are used by the government through the NTF-ELCAC in targeting red-tagged organizations, without giving the latter opportunity for notice, hearing and to confront the supposed witnesses whose testimonies were the only basis of the freeze order.”

Before Amihan, the AMLC had ordered the freezing of bank accounts and assets of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines-Haran and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines. The AMLC also froze the accounts of peace consultant Vicente Ladlad after he was designated as a “terrorist” by the Anti-Terrorism Council.

Afghan authorities should launch a thorough and credible investigation into the killing of journalist Mina Khairi, determine if she was targeted for her work, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On the evening of June 3, in Kabul, the capital, unidentified attackers detonated an improvised explosive device attached to a van carrying Khairi, an anchor at the local broadcaster Ariana News TV, according to news reports and Ahmad Farshad Saleh, a news manager at Ariana News TV, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

The explosion killed Khairi, her mother, and two other passengers, and also injured the journalist’s sister, according to those sources; no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Saleh told CPJ that other employees at the station had recently received threats, but he was not aware of any threats made to Khairi.

“Afghan authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of Ariana News TV anchor Mina Khairi, determine if she was targeted for her work, and ensure that her killers face justice,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Establishing a safe environment for journalists in Afghanistan is critical to maintaining press freedom in the country, and holding attackers to account is the only way for authorities to show that they are taking these cases seriously.”

Khairi, 23, joined Ariana News TV in May 2017 and hosted general news and political affairs shows, Saleh told CPJ. Ariana News TV part of Ariana Television, a privately owned news and entertainment broadcaster, according to its website, which says that the outlet focuses on covering “education, health, children’s programming, women’s and world issues.”

Saleh said he believed that killing was an attempt by some group to create panic among journalists and dissuade them from reporting the news.

CPJ has documented the killing of at least one other journalist in Afghanistan this year, and is continuing to investigate the motive of that attack.

CPJ emailed the Kabul police for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.

Afghan authorities should launch a thorough and credible investigation into the killing of journalist Mina Khairi, determine if she was targeted for her work, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On the evening of June 3, in Kabul, the capital, unidentified attackers detonated an improvised explosive device attached to a van carrying Khairi, an anchor at the local broadcaster Ariana News TV, according to news reports and Ahmad Farshad Saleh, a news manager at Ariana News TV, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

The explosion killed Khairi, her mother, and two other passengers, and also injured the journalist’s sister, according to those sources; no group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Saleh told CPJ that other employees at the station had recently received threats, but he was not aware of any threats made to Khairi.

“Afghan authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of Ariana News TV anchor Mina Khairi, determine if she was targeted for her work, and ensure that her killers face justice,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Establishing a safe environment for journalists in Afghanistan is critical to maintaining press freedom in the country, and holding attackers to account is the only way for authorities to show that they are taking these cases seriously.”

Khairi, 23, joined Ariana News TV in May 2017 and hosted general news and political affairs shows, Saleh told CPJ. Ariana News TV part of Ariana Television, a privately owned news and entertainment broadcaster, according to its website, which says that the outlet focuses on covering “education, health, children’s programming, women’s and world issues.”

Saleh said he believed that killing was an attempt by some group to create panic among journalists and dissuade them from reporting the news.

CPJ has documented the killing of at least one other journalist in Afghanistan this year, and is continuing to investigate the motive of that attack.

CPJ emailed the Kabul police for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.

On 2 June 2021, border control authorities at the Fuzhou airport prevented Beijing-based human rights lawyer Tang Jitian from boarding a flight to Japan to see his ill daughter. The authorities told the human rights defender that the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau has imposed an exit ban on him because his travel abroad “may endanger national security”. Tang Jitian (唐吉田) is a Chinese human rights lawyer who has taken on human rights casesacross a range of areas, including land rights, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association. As a result of his persistent activism, his license to practise law was revoked in 2010. The human rights defender continued his human rights work since his disbarment and has been subjected to beatings, torture, surveillance, travel restrictions, and arbitrary detentions on multiple occasions. In November 2017, he tried to enter Hong Kong from Shenzhen to seek medical treatment, but the mainland border control authorities told him he was not allowed to leave because he “may endanger national security”. Tang Jitian’s 25-year-old daughter, who has been studying in Japan, fell ill in April 2021 with tuberculosis and has since been hospitalised in an intensive care unit. She is said to be in serious condition due to multiple complications triggered by tuberculosis.After his daughter was hospitalised, Tang Jitian obtained a visa to travel to Japan and contacted public security officers in Beijing to seek the lifting of his exit ban. However, the officers he contacted said they were discussing the matter with their superiors and failed to give him a definitive answer despite repeated follow-up. On 1 June 2021, the human rights defender flew from Beijing to Fuzhou. On the morning of 2 June 2021, he checked in his luggage and obtained his boarding pass at the Fuzhou airport for his flight to Japan, but was stopped and turned back at the border control area. The border control officers told the human rights defender that he was prohibited from leaving the country on the basis of article 12(5) of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, which grants the authorities the power to impose exit bans on Chinese citizens if they “endanger national security”. The officers did not provide any legal documents or any detailed explanation as to why and how his departure would endanger national security. They also initially refused to disclose the officials who ordered the exit ban. After Tang Jitian insisted on knowing who issued the order, the officers said it was the Beijing Public Security Bureau, but refused to disclose the names of the officials who made the decision.Chinese authorities have a history of imposing arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement,including both domestic and international travel bans, as well as forced temporary relocation during politically sensitive periods, in order to target human rights defenders. These restrictions based on such ill-defined concepts as “endangering national security” are inconsistent with the Chinese Constitution, which prohibits unlawful deprivation or restriction of citizens’ freedom of the person,and are also incompatible with international human rights standards protecting the right to freedom of movement.

Two reporters working for independent media outlets in Myanmar were jailed for two years on Wednesday for reporting on the demonstrations against the February takeover by the military junta, a family member of one of them and other sources said.

Aung Kyaw, a 32-year-old Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporter, was charged by the military regime with violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and sentenced by a court in Myeik Prison in the southern Tanintharyi region, his wife Nay Chi Moe told RFA.

The section pertains to the circulation of statements, rumors, or reports with the intent to cause military officers to disregard or fail in their duties, and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.

“I don’t know why he was sentenced to two years in prison under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code,” Nay Chi Moe said. “Our family was not allowed to hear the case held at the prison court.”

Junta forces arrested Aung Kyaw when they stormed his home on March 1. He streamed his arrest live on Facebook, and the arrest video has been watched millions of times since then, according to a statement issued Wednesday by DVB.

The day before his arrest, the journalist broadcast live news that soldiers raided and destroyed some houses in Myeik township.

Because Aung Kyaw’s attorney was under threat by the junta, he decided not to hire another lawyer and instead defended himself in court during his last two hearings, DVB’s statement said.

Aung Kyaw argued that non-criminal charges should have been brought against him under Myanmar’s Media Law, rather than the Penal Code, and that he subsequently would have been found not guilty because he was doing his work as a journalist. The judge refused to accept the argument, however.

“I have no confidence in the judiciary under the military council, so I will not appeal,” Aung Kyaw said after the verdict, according to his wife.

Nay Chi Moe said she would not submit an appeal.

“The 505(a) charge should not have been used against a journalist,” she said. “He did not want to file an appeal because he does not believe in the law. He said his case was meant to create a news blackout. It is totally unfair that he was given a two-year sentence under 505(a).”

Aye Chan Naing, DVB's executive director and chief editor, called the sentence “total injustice.”

“There is no reason our reporter Aung Kyaw should be jailed,” he said. “The legal system is so flawed, and it was an unlawful arrest.”

Situation is ‘deteriorating’

Aung Kyaw’s jailing followed that of Min Nyo, a DVB reporter based in Pyay, Bago region, who was sentenced to three years in prison on May 12.

“The military junta is illegally detaining Aung Kyaw and Min Nyo, and there is not a single reason to keep them in prison,” DVB said in its statement. “The junta has currently 57 journalists detained for doing their work. This is a clear violation of both national and international laws by the Burmese junta.”

In another sentencing Wednesday in Myeik, Zaw Zaw, a freelance journalist who works for the outlet Mizzima, was sentenced to two years in prison for violating Section 505(a) of the Criminal Code. RFA could not reach his lawyer or family for comment.

Myint Kyaw, a former Myanmar Press Council member, says the current situation of the press in Myanmar is at its worst under the military regime.

“The situation of the press is deteriorating,” he said. “It is likely to become even worse. No one can say for sure whether it will lead to a censorship regime as existed under the previous junta, but we can say it’s heading in that direction.”

“There had been no such situation like this for a decade with putting more than 50 journalists in jail in Myanmar,” he said. “Press freedom is in a free fall at the worst rate.”

More than 80 journalists have been arrested since the Feb. 1 coup, and over 50 of them face criminal charges wile detained in prisons across the country.

“Myanmar’s junta started with zero respect for independent journalism and has gone downhill from there as the military tries to stop any reporting on the atrocities it's committing every day against the people,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“The military’s move to go after journalists from respected Burmese media outlets like DVB and Mizzima is all about strangling any independent narratives about what’s happening in Myanmar, and trying to drag the people of the country back to the dictatorially imposed isolation that characterized the rule of previous military regimes in the country,” he said in a statement from Bangkok.

Correspondents say many journalists now are fleeing the country because of the junta’s crackdown on the media, with some going abroad to continue their reporting and others out of jobs and struggling to make ends meet.

Following the coup, the junta banned 11 independent news outlets, including DVB and Mizzima, from operating.

A court in southern Vietnam’s southern Hau Giang province on Wednesday sentenced a Facebook user to seven years in prison for posting writings said by prosecutors to have misrepresented state policies, Vietnamese sources said.

Dang Hoang Minh, 28, had been charged with “creating, storing, and disseminating information, items, and materials opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Criminal Code, state media reports said.

Reports by local media did not say when Minh—a resident of the Phu Khoi hamlet in Hau Giang’s Phung Hiep district—had been arrested or whether he had been represented by a lawyer at his trial.

Citing the provincial People’s Procuracy indictment against him, state media said Minh had posted several “untrue stories” concerning current and former leaders of Vietnam’s one-party communist government on his Facebook page from June to December 2020.

Former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, founder of the country’s communist party, was among the leaders Minh had defamed, prosecutors said, adding that Minh’s postings had been aimed at opposing the national government and ruling party and had caused “confusion and anxiety” to his readers.

Reporting by RFA shows that at least 21 Vietnamese citizens have been charged with political offenses involving social media posts since the beginning of the year, with 21 now serving prison terms following convictions under Article 117.

Among those jailed this year, former RFA blogger Nguyen Tuong Thuy, now in his 70s, was sentenced on Jan. 5 by a court in Ho Chi Minh City to an 11-year prison term following his conviction on charges under Article 117.

On Friday, April 23, a court in coastal Phu Yen province sentenced an independent journalist, Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu, to an eight-year prison term for writing “anti-state” stories and sharing them on social media.

And on May 5, a court in northern Vietnam’s Hoa Binh province sentenced land-rights activist Can Thi Theu and her son Tring Ba Tu to eight years in prison each for posting online articles and livestream videos criticizing the government for its handling of a deadly land-rights clash last year.

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.

Shahadat Hossain, a journalist for the Bengali language daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, was attacked on June 1 while reporting on a protest in Brahmanbaria railway station demanding the reopening of the railway. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the attack against Hossain.

According to news reports, Hossain was attacked at the railway station protest organized by the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL). The railway was closed following the nationwide anti-Modi protest against the killing and attack of Hefazat-e-Islam's activists by police and members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party.

Hossain told dainiksarod.com, “Bangaldesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader named Roman Mia (26), and his brother attacked me after knowing that I informed a Juba League leader about BCL’s attack on Muradul Islam, the gate keeper of the station.” Other journalists at the protest assisted Hossain and took him to Brahmanbaria General Hospital for treatment.

The incident was condemned by Brahmanbaria Press Club. District political leaders including BCL president, Rabiul Hossain Rubel, also expressed grief over the incident.

Hossain filed a case against Roman Mia at Sadar Model Police Station on the same day. In response to the complaint, Mia was arrested and appeared at court on June 2. According to Sadar Model Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Emranul Islam, police arrested, Zahirul Islam Jumman, another person accused of attacking Hossain

On March 25 and 26, more than 17 journalists covering anti-Modi demonstrations were assaulted by Bangladesh police as well as members of the Chhatra League.

A Pakistani television station Monday took a prominent journalist off air, removing him as host of a popular talk show after he criticized the country’s powerful military, the journalist and rights groups said.

The development comes just days after the journalist, Hamid Mir, made a fiery speech at a rally in support of a fellow reporter, Asad Ali Toor, who was beaten up by three unidentified men in his apartment in Islamabad.

Geo News TV did not comment on the changes regarding its “Capital Talk,” a five-days-a-week program during which Mir would invite guests to debate current events in the country. Journalists and press freedom advocates often accuse Pakistan’s military and its agencies of harassing and attacking journalists. The government insists it supports freedom of speech.

In a statement on Twitter, Amnesty International denounced the ban on Mir and asked Pakistani authorities to protect free speech. “Censorship, harassment, and physical violence must not be the price journalists pay to do their jobs,” it said.

Also on Monday, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan denounced Geo News for taking Mir off air. It said the action against him comes after he spoke fervidly against the escalation of curbs on freedom of expression in the country.

Local journalists’ groups, which document attacks or violations against journalists in Pakistan, say the period from May 2020 to April 2021 saw 148 such attacks.

Mir confirmed his removal in a text message to The Associated Press. He later tweeted that it was nothing new for him. “I was banned twice in the past,” said Mir, who had also in the past been fired by Geo News.

Mir was attacked in 2014 in the port city of Karachi, when a gunman critically wounded him. His family at the time blamed the country’s intelligence service for orchestrating the attack. The perpetrator was never publicly known.

Geo News’ move drew swift condemnation by journalists, politicians, and members of civil society groups. The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists asked the TV station to explain whether the step was taken under government pressure.

The station’s owner, Mir Shakilur Rehman, was arrested last year in a decades-old case related to allegations of tax evasion in a real estate purchase. He was freed months later on a court order.

Toor, the journalist beaten in his apartment, works for the Aaj News Pakistani TV. He later told police his attackers claimed they were from the Inter-Services Intelligence. However, the spy agency days later distanced itself from the attack.

On Friday, Mir along with dozens of Pakistani journalists attended a rally in Islamabad to condemn the attack on Toor. So far, authorities have not arrested anyone in connection with the attack and police say they are still investigating.

A popular blogger in China was sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday for "defaming martyrs" after he suggested that the number of Chinese soldiers killed during last year's border clash with India was higher than the official count.

In February, well over six months after the clashes, the Chinese military said four of its soldiers were killed in a skirmish with Indian troops in the disputed Galwan Valley.

Qiu Ziming posted on China's Twitter-like social media platform Weibo saying that the actual death toll on the Chinese side might have been higher.

He also said that the commanding officer survived "because he was the highest-ranking officer there" — a remark that outraged Chinese officials.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed with iron rods, sticks, and stones last June in what was the deadliest clash between China and India in more than four decades.

New Delhi said Chinese troops had intruded into its side of the territory, triggering tensions. China had denied the transgression and accused Indian troops of provocative behavior. Timeline of Qiu's case

Qiu was arrested on February 20, a day after his Weibo post. He was subsequently charged under a new provision of China's criminal law that bans the "defamation of martyrs and heroes."

The 38-year old was also ordered to publicly apologize through national media outlets within 10 days.

"I feel extremely ashamed of myself, and I'm very sorry," he was quoted as saying by the state-run newspaper The Global Times.

A court in the eastern city of Nanjing on Monday ruled that Qiu had "infringed on the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs ... and confessed to his crimes." China's new provision

Qiu is the first person to be jailed under the new provision which came into effect in March.

In 2018, China's national legislature passed a law making "defamation of martyrs and heroes" a civil offense.

This was made a criminal offense in February and police have since arrested at least six bloggers for allegedly defaming the dead soldiers in online comments of Qiu's post.

The crackdown highlights the political sensitivity of the border clash in China.

Hong Kong police have arrested an elderly democracy activist as she made a solo demonstration over China's deadly Tiananmen crackdown in a vivid illustration of the zero protest tolerance now wielded by authorities in the financial hub.

Alexandra Wong, 65, was detained on Sunday on suspicion of taking part in an unlawful assembly as she walked towards Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong.

Wong -- known locally as "Grandma Wong" -- was a regular fixture of the huge democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019.

She could often be seen waving a Union Jack flag, a symbol of her dissatisfaction with Beijing's rule since the city was handed to China by former colonial power Britain in 1997.

Protest is now all but outlawed in Hong Kong.

Authorities have used both the threat of the coronavirus and security concerns to ban demonstrations.

A vigil planned for this Friday -- the 32nd anniversary of Beijing's 1989 crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square -- has been denied permission for the second year in a row.

Authorities have cited the coronavirus, although Hong Kong is currently celebrating no local transmission cases of unknown origin for the last month.

Activists had also sought permission for a small Tiananmen-themed march on Sunday to the Liaison Office, which represents the central government in the city, but it was also denied permission.

Wong turned up anyway that afternoon holding as sign that read "32, June 4, Tiananmen's lament" and a yellow umbrella -- the latter a symbol of Hong Kong's democracy movement.

The South China Morning Post said the pensioner started chanting slogans in a park before heading towards the Liaison Office by herself, while being followed and filmed by police.

She was stopped twice.

"I'm only by myself, just an old lady here. Why stop me?" the Post quoted Wong as telling officers.

Soon afterwards she was arrested.

Police confirmed a 65-year-old woman surnamed Wong had been arrested for "knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly and attempting to incite others to join an unauthorized assembly."

Hong Kong's democracy movement has been crushed by a broad crackdown on dissent over the last year, including the imposition of a sweeping security law that criminalizes much dissent.

In the middle of the 2019 protests Wong disappeared for more than a year.

She resurfaced saying she had been detained by mainland authorities during a trip to Shenzhen, a neighboring city where she lived at the time.

For Hong Ly, the dispute over her family’s hectare of farmland in Kien Svay district was frustrating, but it became personal on Monday when authorities arrested her 40-year-old brother.

As the woman recounted his unexplained arrest on Wednesday, dozens of people huddled in the shade of her stilted house, discussing how authorities have disappointed them in their response to a yearlong land dispute and to the residents blocking National Road 1 in protest, and now for a new offense: the arrest of Hong Sok.

“He’s a gentleman. He never hurt anybody,” said Ly, 52.

A Kandal province land dispute that was supposed to be solved in 2017 has continued, as residents of three villages say they’ve been forcefully stopped from using their land, leading residents to block roads in protest of the dispute and one man’s arrest.

In less than an hour after reporters arrived, more than 60 people were murmuring to each other, occasionally raising their voices to explain the two-day protest and vent about the land they feel they’re losing to neighbors.

The dispute ignited on Sunday, when residents of Kien Svay district’s Banteay Dek commune decided to block National Road 1 in order to garner attention to their dispute, over about 3,000 hectares of farmland distributed among three villages.

The residents who were gathered under Ly’s house told VOD that they were awarded 1 hectare of land per family a few years ago, when Prime Minister Hun Sen intervened in their dispute with Lok Hour, a CPP lawmaker, and granted the area back to residents of Prek Pol, Kandal Krom and Samrong Thom villages. However, villagers said they never received titles for the area.

About 3 km away from their homes, past fields of rice, eggplants and other crops, the residents constructed a number of farm shacks to guard their land, marked with Cambodian and Buddhist flags. At the intersection of two dirt motorbike paths, residents hung large laminated posters of Hun Sen, deputy prime minister Sar Kheng and Hun Sen’s wife Bun Rany.

But since that government intervention, residents of another nearby village, Chong Ksat, have been trying to stop their community from using the farmland, explained resident Cheang Sinoun, 48. She said she had been able to clear and plow her land but wasn’t able to cultivate it, and some of her neighbors had been attacked with slingshots while trying to clear the land.

When asked why people would be attacking others for their land, Sinoun said she did not know, later adding, “I think someone hired the people to claim this land.” Powerful people have been interested in the area, she said.

Sinoun said a group of villagers — she couldn’t remember how many — gathered at the Kien Svay district office on Sunday at 8 a.m. to meet with officials, alleging that residents from another village were trying to prevent them from using land that was granted to them. They were ignored by district officials, so instead they went to block the national road at about 10 a.m. to demand attention. Sok, the arrested man, was with them during this protest.

“They threatened us to stop blocking the road. Police told us they could arrest us for blocking the road,” Sinoun said, saying this was the first time the frustrated residents took this action.

Recounting what she learned later from peers, Ly said her brother Sok had gone for a meal and coffee early Sunday evening, and was arrested at about 6:30 p.m. He participated in the protest, but Ly said she did not know why he was targeted, saying he wasn’t a community leader.

“We do not know whether someone called him [for a meal] to target him or not,” she said.

The residents then gathered again that night, blocking the road a second time, now to demand Sok’s release as well as for a solution to their dispute, Sinoun said.

“Only this way can break through to them,” she argued, saying authorities ignored their concerns before. “We are ignorant, but we don’t think it’s illegal.”

Sok’s 24-year-old daughter, Sok Kakada, said she saw her father briefly on Monday morning, when the residents reported to the Kien Svay district hall for a discussion. While others were worried about Sok’s health because he has diabetes, he told the crowd he was okay.

“We wanted to ask authorities” what Sok was charged with, Kakada said. “But they wouldn’t talk.”

Sin Siphoeun, another resident who joined the roadblock protest, said the authorities had promised protestors they would release Sok on Monday morning, but they had not. She called Sok’s short visit with the protestors an attempt by authorities to appease the angry residents, but she warned that they could block the road again. Siphoeun said she and her neighbors just wanted an explanation for his arrest.

“He has not killed anybody nor stolen anything from anybody, and what he has done was for all the people to find a solution, but [authorities] accused him of being a bad person and arrested him,” she said. “We’re not scared because we have not done anything illegal. … Why did they arrest [him] and what kind of offense did he commit?”

When asked about the dispute, Kandal’s deputy provincial governor, Nouv Peng Chandara, told reporters to check the provincial administration’s Facebook post from Monday, which said that residents who blocked the road had accepted the government’s mediation.

According to a Phnom Penh Post report from 2017, the Council of Ministers ordered the Land Ministry to return 2,997 hectares of land in Kien Svay and Sa’ang districts to villagers, with some 2,391 hectares taken from CPP lawmaker Hour.

Mao Phirun, a Kandal provincial councilor and former governor, said the land was returned to residents via a sub-decree in 2017 after Hour had taken the land illegally from residents. Hard titles from this area were made, he said, but people who were not granted land by the government could be jealous.

“People know it, and they have no land and they see other people’s land. … They have been provoked by other people,” he said.

“There are brokers behind this … the one who is behind it, they have been known [by the people], and the one who is being detained pushed the cyclo only to be crushed by the car,” he said. “[The protestors] will be the ones to bear the blow.”

On May 29, Zhanar Sekerbaeva and Gulzada Serzhan, co-leaders of the feminist group Feminita, were holding a private event to discuss gender equality in Shymkent, a city in southern Kazakhstan, when unidentified men tried to break up the gathering by harassing and filming participants.

A police officer arrived at the hotel where the event was taking place, but instead of trying to get the men to back off, the officer confronted Sekerbaeva. A video recording of the encounter posted on Facebook shows the officer forcibly grabbing Sekerbaeva and manhandling her into his car.

Sekerbaeva told Human Rights Watch that after she was shoved into the vehicle, another man opened the opposite door and tried to pull her out of the car by her hair. He was not successful, she said, but he did punch her in the face.

Ignoring the attack that happened in his own car, the officer took Sekerbaeva and Serzhan to the police station, threatening to press criminal charges for “offending a police officer.” Police held Sekerbaeva and Serzhan at the station for eight hours, interrogating them about what they were doing in Shymkent.

At around midnight, the police insisted the two activists leave Shymkent immediately. They were not charged. Sekerbaeva said she asked the police to allow them to travel back to Almaty, where they live, by train, but the police refused.

Instead, five police officers escorted Sekerbaeva and Serzhan to Almaty in a police vehicle – an eight-hour journey – telling them the reason they had been detained and were being driven back was “for their own safety.” A police officer even accompanied her to the toilet, Sekerbaeva said.

Embassies of the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom issued statements of “deep concern” over the attack on the feminist activists, and called on Kazakh authorities to respect equal rights for women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Kazakhstan.

The police’s response to Saturday’s events – targeting the activists rather than their attackers – shows just how urgent the need is for better protection of women’s and LGBT rights in Kazakhstan today.

Authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan are holding prominent rights activist Huang Xiaomin under criminal detention for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Huang was detained on May 29 by police in his hometown, the provincial capital Chengdu, his friends said.

"I heard from a friend he called using the police phone that he had been detained, and that this time he was looking at a sentence of more than three years in prison," a friend of Huang's who gave only a surname Li told RFA on Wednesday.

"What he did for them to detain him isn't clear yet," Li said. "We don't understand it."

Li said Huang had been writing about vulnerable groups of people fighting for their rights on Mala -- an online forum on Sichuan-related matters.

Huang is a former teacher at a bingtuan CCP party school near Kashgar, in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

He took part in the student-led pro-democracy movement that ended in the massacre of unarmed civilians by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on June 4, 1989.

In 2019, the Jinniu District People's Court in Chengdu handed down a two-and-a-half year jail term Huang for supporting a call for direct elections to choose the leader of the CCP.

Huang pleaded guilty to "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charged based on interviews given by Huang to foreign media organizations including RFA, in which he allegedly "attacked the government."

He was earlier sentenced in 2010 by Sichuan's Leshan County People's Court to two years and six months in jail for "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" for taking part in a street protest outside a court in February 2009.

Another friend of Huang's, Feng Gang, said his most recent detention was likely linked to his advocacy work for disadvantaged groups in Chengdu.

"He helped local human rights defenders and posted details of their cases online, especially to overseas websites, including Twitter and Facebook," Feng told RFA. "He also exposed local corruption and ... criticised the political and legal system."

He received a visit from local police after he gave an interview to RFA in November 2020 about CCP leader Xi Jinping's claim to have eliminated poverty in China.

"Huang has been a thorn in the sides of the local police in Chengdu," Feng said. "He has been detained around the 32nd anniversary of the June 4 crackdown, and ahead of the CCP centenary [on July 1], as part of the local stability maintenance plan."

Huang is also a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Association and one of the conveners of the Sichuan Pan-Blue Alliance, which is politically aligned with Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

A 14-year-old girl (name withheld) has been summonsed by the police in Phitsanulok on a royal defamation charge under Section 112 of the Criminal Code.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported last Friday (28 May) that the girl received a summons from Mueang Phitsanulok Police Station on a Section 112 charge and is required to report to the police on 1 June.

The complaint was filed against her by former Action Coalition for Thailand (ACT) MP candidate Nangnoi Assawakittikorn, who has previously filed complaints under Section 112 against activists Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, Anon Nampa, Panupong Jadnok, and Parit Chiwarak. She has also filed a libel complaint against a Facebook user for calling her a “slave of the dictator”.

The girl told Voice Online that a police officer delivered the summons to her house and it was received by her father. She said she does not know why the complaint was filed and does not know Nangnoi personally.

She also said that during the protests in Phitsanulok in 2020, she made comments about the royalist groups who were against the protests. One of her friends then commented about Nangnoi, who saw the comment. Even though she said the comment was not directly to do with Nangnoi, the girl was told by Nangnoi to meet at the police station.

Police officers then contacted her and told her that a Section 112 complaint had been filed against her, but did not show her an arrest warrant or a summons, so she decided not to speak to the officers until she received the summons last Friday (28 May).

Special Branch police also contacted the girl’s mother on 23 February, asking to discuss with her about sharing Facebook posts about the monarchy. The officers wanted the girl to delete the posts, saying that she would face no charges if she did so.

The girl said that she is surprised that an adult would press a politically motivated charge against a minor, and even use Section 112. However, she said that she will enter the judicial process and has already contacted a lawyer. She is likely to ask to postpone her appointment with the police, as her lawyer is unavailable on that day.

Accord to TLHR, the girl is the 7th person under the age of 18 to face charges under Section 112.

A timber company operating in Malaysia’s Sarawak state has threatened to take legal action against Penan and Kenyah Indigenous communities that are campaigning against the company’s certified-sustainable production plantations.

For more than a year, the Indigenous communities have been speaking out against Malaysian timber, plantation and construction conglomerate Samling Group and its subsidiaries. They allege the company has encroached on community land, has withheld key documents about the certification process, and failed to obtain free, prior and informed consent of affected communities during the certification process.

Samling has consistently refuted these allegations, saying it has followed all due and lawful processes in its certification process, and has met all document disclosure requirements.

Sarawak-focused environmental justice NGOs Bruno Manser Fund and the Borneo Project call the recent legal threats an attempt to silence the Indigenous communities who have spoken out.

In a letter dated May 26 and seen by Mongabay, Samling subsidiary Syarikat Samling Timber warned the Long Moh village community in Sarawak’s Miri division that it reserved the right to take legal action against parties alleging the company was involved in trespass, damage or destruction. According to Syarikat Samling, such allegations were “astonishing” given that the community is aware the company has the correct permits to operate in the disputed area, and has already accepted payments for a share of the timber harvested.

The threat of legal action comes after the Penan community complained through news articles that Samling, whose subsidiaries operate a certified-sustainable timber plantation in the area, was crossing into an area that was within their demarcated village.

Earlier this month, Penan and Kenyah communities filed complaints with the Malaysia Timber Certification Council, accusing Samling of failing to properly consult the communities and disregarding the way they use the land.

The Borneo Project and Bruno Manser Fund have partnered with grassroots groups like the Penan community NGO Keruan, whose CEO, Komeok Joe, is visiting communities bordering and within the Samling forest management units or FMUs (government-granted concessions that aim to use funds from timber production in parts of a concession to conserve forest in other parts of the concession) to take reports from the communities. The residents around two of Samling’s certified FMUs were nomadic up until the 1970s, Joe said. Now, the remaining untouched forest is vital to their lives.

“They tell me, ‘Even if they offer us millions in money [for the forest], we won’t accept, we want our land,’” he said of the Penan communities. “They want to fight for their rights.”

Samling Group operates three FMUs in Sarawak, in which 60% and 76% of the granted land is designated for timber production. The concessions are certified as sustainable timber producers by Malaysia’s Timber Certification Council, but critics of the program say that Malaysian Borneo’s decentralized governance and history of corruption make sustainable certification programs illusory.

Representatives of the Penan and Kenyah communities in May filed formal letters of complaint to the MTCC over its decision to certify the 117,941-hectare (291,439-acre) Ravenscourt FMU in Sarawak’s Limbang division and the 148,305-hectare (366,470-acre) Gerenai FMU in Miri division.

In their complaints, the communities, represented by grassroots Indigenous NGOs, allege that full environmental and social impact assessments for the timber projects have not been made publicly available; that Samling failed to properly consult them on the project; and that projects don’t consider how Indigenous communities use the land for their livelihoods.

However, filing an actionable complaint about an FMU is difficult, requiring an in-depth understanding of the certification process and its many players.

When asked about the legal warnings against Indigenous communities, Siti Syaliza Mustapha, senior manager of FMUs for the MTCC, called for open dialogue between parties over legal action whenever possible, adding that good communication is key to the certification process.

“We maintain that the best method for dispute resolution would be through open communication, mutual respect and understanding between the concerned parties,” Mustapha said. “Legal proceedings would be the least preferred option.”

According to Mustapha, the timber certification council she represents does not have the ability to grant or revoke FMUs, nor does it have the final say over whether to certify FMUs. Instead, the MTCC responds only to complaints about the standard-setting process.

Complaints regarding the decision to certify specific FMUs should be sent to the certifying body, Mustapha said. Under Sarawak law, these bodies are hired by the company that holds the concession for an FMU to conduct audits of the areas and eventually certify the planned FMU. For the Ravenscourt and Gerenai FMUs, Samling hired the Selangor-based testing, inspection and certification firm SIRIM QAS International.

Mustapha added that the MTCC encourages people to “make full use of the complaints mechanisms,” and that the council could provide assistance. She said the council in general takes complaints very seriously, without clarifying whether the MTCC was looking into this case after receiving the May complaints.

SIRIM QAS International’s audit of the Gerenai FMU says the concession follows the criteria set for forest management bodies, but the audit — conducted in 2019 and published in 2020 — flagged nine major and minor issues with the management. Among the problems, SIRIM QAS found via conversations at Indigenous community meeting houses that residents were not sufficiently consulted, and that most were not aware of a community relations committee that’s supposed to be established for communication on the FMU.

Thorsten Arendt, head of communication for the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, an international group for sustainable forest certification boards that counts the MTCC among its members, said the body had met with the MTCC, Indigenous communities and NGOs over Samling’s FMUs to discuss the certification process and their concerns. He noted that complaints against a national member like the MTCC could be appealed to the PEFC if it can’t be resolved at the country level, and could result in suspension or termination of PEFC endorsement if upheld.

While the Penan communities near the Ravenscourt FMU were informed about their new corporate neighbor from the village’s government-appointed leaders, Joe, the Penan community NGO leader, said Penan and Kenyah residents near the Gerenai FMU only found out about it after its certification.

Joe said community representatives came to him with a document informing local people of plans for an agricultural development, but when he looked into the case further, he found that it was actually an approval for the Ravenscourt timber production plantation.

“The logging companies and FMU [holders], they don’t do right by the communities. This is why the situation is worldwide,” he said, referring to the global attention raised by campaigns against the company. “It’s very simple to solve this issue if everyone respects the [Penan community’s] area.”

Peter Kallang, chairman of Sarawak-based environment and land rights NGO SAVE Rivers, says it’s clear the company had limited knowledge of the land when an auditor came to check Samling’s documentation of the Gerenai FMU. He says the auditor asked to see one salt lick — a place where animals go to lick salt and other essential minerals in a natural habitat — in Tanjung Tepalit village, but a Kenyah community member had to explain there are actually three salt licks within the village’s area.

“It means to say the [environment impact] assessment was not done correctly, so for the audit process, it puts a big question mark there,” he said.

Kallang also noted that the audit process is diluted by the fact that Samling pays the auditor, calling it a “conflict of interest” that would push the auditor to approve the company’s claims.

Joe, the Keruan CEO, emphasized how important the forest was to the Penan people, of which he is part. The untouched patches of forest in Sarawak are troves for food and medicine for Penan communities, and though many have adopted Christian beliefs, the forest still holds spiritual significance for their communities.

“We treat the forest as ourselves,” he said. “Before we go into the forest, we pray to our elders, so the spirits of the forest will protect us and give us what we want.”

Joe said he was bothered by the company’s claim that Penan people don’t use the forest. He said Samling probably drew this conclusion because the few community consultation meetings it had were held with English-speaking representatives in the city of Miri, but if company officials came to the forested villages, they would see differently.

“If there is a consultation, they need to make it proper,” he said. “Maybe the big boss from Samling or MTCC [should] go to the forest, sit down with the people, talk to the people, explain [their plans] to the people nicely.”

A Chinese human rights activist was reportedly lured from his home and detained by police on Friday, in a sign of a more severe environment for political dissidents in the run-up to the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party.

Wang Aizhong received a phone call on Friday from someone who claimed his car had been damaged, Chinese human rights blog Weiquanwang reported. When he left home to check on the vehicle, police took him away.

Up to nine police officers then presented a warrant to Wang’s wife and searched his home. They confiscated 29 books, two computers and a cell phone. Wang’s wife was later summoned to the local police station, where she was questioned about her husband’s contacts and remarks. Police reportedly warned her against speaking out.

A few weeks ago, public security officers prevented Wang from attending a dinner on May 5 with a group of entrepreneurs in Guangdong province. Police broke up the meal gathering and interrogated the attendees until the early hours of the following morning.

Wang is known for his involvement in the “Southern Street Movement,” a democracy reform movement originating in Guangdong. In May 2014, he was subjected to four weeks of administrative detention in the provincial capital city of Guangzhou on suspicion of “disorderly behavior.”

The activist has more than 39,000 followers on Twitter, which is officially banned in China, where the authorities frequently monitor dissidents’ accounts.

Three journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) were sentenced to seven months in jail and fined for entering Thailand illegally on May 28. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges Thai authorities to not deport the journalists and to support their efforts for political asylum.

The Democratic Voice of Burma was one of the first news organisations to be shut down by the military coup in March, following the military coup in Myanmar on February 1. The three journalists fled the country, but were consequently arrested during a police search in the northern city of Chiang Mai on May 9.

The three DVB journalists, along with their two other associates, were sentenced to seven months imprisonment and a 4,000 baht (USD 128) fine each.

Nadthasiri Bergman, a lawyer with the Human Rights Development Foundation (HRDF), told AFP that "By law, they can be deported within 72 hours." However, Bergman quickly added that because of the appeal letter the HRDF sent, immigration authorities could not deport them immediately.

On April 24, an ASEAN Summit on Myanmar took place, where the leaders of eight Southeast nations congregated to discuss the Myanmar political crisis but Thailand’s Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-O-Cha, was not in attendance. News reports suggested this was linked to the Royal Thai Army’s close relations with the military establishment in Myanmar.

ASEAN has continued in its principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of its members. Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and thus there is no legislation governing the treatment of refugees.

Since the February 1 coup, more than 80 journalists are among the more than 5,500 people arrested or detained by Myanmar’s security forces. Many remain in detention, amongst widespread accounts of torture and extrajudicial killings.

Senior NagaWorld union leaders all received dismissal notices amid the casino’s plan to lay off more than 1,000 employees, a union official said, in what some labor and civil society observers labeled an attempt to eliminate the active union from the workplace.

NagaWorld has begun a process of laying off 1,329 employees, which it has explained is due to declining revenues, according to the union. But the workers targeted for dismissal have been long-time union members, and on Thursday the union’s top leadership all received notice, said NagaWorld union vice president Chhun Sokha.

Sokha said on Friday that she and other leaders, including union president Chhim Sithar and more than a dozen core activists, received a dismissal message from the company on Thursday.

As of Friday, more than 600 employees — mostly union members — had received notice, she added.

Sokha said the company wants to eliminate protests, which the union has led. She said recent protests were about protecting workers rights.

“It is a violation of the freedom of association. We have the right to be an independent union, which has been registered and recognized by the Ministry of Labor. And now the company is terminating the leaders as well as the union activists, to make the leaders and activists unable to fulfill their obligations on behalf of workers,” she said.

She added that NagaWorld should not be allowed to do whatever it wanted, and the union was preparing a legal complaint to file to the Labor Ministry.

She said most workers had declined the redundancy compensation offered by the company so they could fight the dismissals together.

“They are also waiting to see what Naga wants to do to the union. They said as they already cut [the leaders], they might as well cut all 8,000 employees in the company. Then let’s wait and see how the company will operate without any employees working for them.”

Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said he hadn’t received any complaint from the union yet, but any dismissals of union leaders needed to be justified.

“In principle, union leaders cannot be fired unless they have made serious mistakes or violated any of the company’s internal regulations, or [due to] the actual financial situation of the company. We need to look at the facts and the root of the problem first,” Sour said.

NagaWorld chief operating officer Mike Ngai could not be reached.

International Labor Organization national coordinator Sophorn Tun, when asked if the ILO would be taking action in the case, said: “It will, as soon as it receives from the union of the workers affected a request detailing the circumstances of the case.”

He added that ILO staff have no authority to pronounce whether the case was a violation of labor rights or Cambodia’s Labor Law — “only its competent supervisory bodies, including the Committee on Freedom of Association [can do that].”

Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, said he believed NagaWorld’s layoff plan was not about Covid-19 economic disruptions, but a way to eliminate union activities. The NagaWorld union had been unafraid to strike and protest.

“I can say that there can be some discrimination against the union, and [the company] wants to take advantages of workers’ rights. For example, dismissing old workers, recruiting new workers, eliminating unions, et cetera,” he said. “Laying off unionists in particular sets a bad example for other employers.”

Pav Sina, president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said the company was taking advantage of the Covid-19 outbreak to “crush” the union.

“There is nothing other than intent to destroy the union,” Sina said. Dismissals due to genuine financial difficulties were fine, but “dismissals focusing on union activists, union leaders — these show that the real intention is to discriminate against the union.”

Cambodian Center for Human Rights executive director Chak Sopheap said mass layoffs amid Covid-19 went against the Labor Ministry’s advice to support workers during the crisis.

“If the termination refers to active individuals like union representatives, it means that the company has violated and harassed the union representative,” Sopheap said, calling it “revenge against active individuals.”

The casino and hotel company reported a net profit of $102 million in 2020 despite the Covid-19 crisis, down from more than $521 million in 2019.

Nabin Chaudhary, 30, of Jaleshwor, Mahottari correspondent of AP 1 Television was assaulted by Sanjeev Kumar Raya, Chairperson of the Local Road Consumers’ Committee because Chaudhary had taken a video of the poor quality of work done by the construction team of Raya. The road is in Pataili of Jaleshwor Municipality-5. The road here was pitched on May 26 and according to the locals, it had collapsed the next day. According to the victim and locals, the road was never pitched previously and later the municipality had decided to concretize the road before the end of the fiscal year. The municipality had allocated a budget of NRs. 400,000 and the construction work was completed on May 27. According to the locals, the road was pitched directly on the muddy foundation without fulfilling any construction protocols. The next day, the road was already in a bad condition. The locals had informed Chaudhary to visit and cover the incident. After monitoring the site, Nabin had gone to discuss the matter with the accused after gathering some information using his mobile phone. But he was assaulted and he escaped the place saving his life. The complaint was filed after the accused had seized the communication devices of the victim and deleted the video he had captured. Accused Raya had also confiscated Nabin's motorbike. The victim journalist lodged a complaint at the District Police Office on May 27, 2021, demanding for justice. Even after the complaint was filed, the road has been maintained twice but is still in a mad condition due to its quality and of course due to monsoon. The Mahottari branch of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) has shown serious concern over the incident.

The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].

In the evening of May 27, 2021, Ayeyar Lin Htut was arrested at the Hinthada District Court and charged with incitement under Article 505(a). At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, she was being held in Hinthada Prison in Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] Region. Ayeyar Lin Htut was representing political prisoners arrested following the coup.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.

The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.

Action requested:

Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;

ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;

Police in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi tried on Tuesday to arrest an independent journalist charged with reporting on corruption and other issues deemed politically sensitive by authorities, but missed him at home, taking away a laptop computer and two mobile phones instead.

Le Van Dung, also known as Le Dung Vova—owner of the online CHTV news channel—was not at home when officers from the Hanoi Police Department’s Investigation Agency arrived at around 1:30 p.m., Dung’s wife Bui Thi Hue told RFA on Wednesday.

“Around 20 officers came to our house and read a warrant to search our home and to charge and temporarily detain my husband Le Van Dung in accordance with Article 117 [of Vietnam’s Criminal Code],” she said.

Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code imposes penalties for “creating, storing, and disseminating information, documents, items and publications opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” and is frequently used by authorities to stifle peaceful critics of the country’s one-party communist state.

Dung was away from home when the police arrived and is now “temporarily safe,” Hue said, adding that officers searching the house found nothing belonging to her husband, but left with a laptop computer and two mobile phones of her own.

Hue said that she had not touched or looked at the warrant that was read to her and had to stand back from the officers because of COVID concerns.

“They documented their search, but I didn’t sign the document, and therefore they didn’t leave me with any papers,” she added.

Dung’s CHTV channel has used Facebook’s live-broadcast feature to transmit information on social issues such as land disputes and corruption, and to give ordinary citizens a chance to discuss matters of concern, drawing the attention of law enforcement and security agencies.

'Useful and good'

Writing on his Facebook page on May 25, Dung said he had received repeated calls since January to report to local authorities for questioning concerning a denunciation filed against him by the government’s Cybersecurity Department, alleging he had created videos with “anti-State” content.

Half of the 12 videos used by police investigators to accuse him showed signs of outside editing, though, Dung said.

“I think that I’ve done is useful and good for other people and for our country. We need to join hands and work to create a better society,” Dung said, writing on his Facebook page. “What I have done is in line with my responsibilities as a citizen.”

“I understand that by telling the truth, my family and I may suffer. But I will always do this, even if I am imprisoned for doing what my conscience tells me to do,” he said.

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.