- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 16, 2022
- Event Description
An opposition activist in Kazakhstan's southern city of Shymkent has been sentenced to seven years in prison on terrorism charges that he rejects.
The Al-Farabi district court sentenced Erulan Amirov on May 16 after finding him guilty of inciting social hatred, propagating terrorism, and involvement in the activities of a banned organization.
After his sentence was pronounced, Amirov said, "I do not know why I am in custody."
An RFE/RL correspondent said a bruise could be seen on Amirov's head, but when asked about it, the activist answered that he was "scared" to talk about it.
Amirov's mother, Sharipa Niyazova, said the court ruling will be appealed.
Amirov, who went on trial in January, was arrested in April last year. But his family only learned that he was being held in a detention center in Shymkent in December after what a Kazakh human rights group said was attempt to commit suicide.
Niyazova says her son suffers psychiatric disorders.
Kazakh human rights organizations have designated Amirov as a political prisoner and have demanded his release.
The charges against Amirov stemmed from his posts on social networks criticizing Kazakh authorities and for his participation in unsanctioned protest rallies organized by the banned Koshe (Street) political party.
Many activists across the Central Asian nation have been handed prison terms or parole-like restricted freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of the Koshe party and its affiliate Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement.
DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.
Human Rights Watch earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.
The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- May 13, 2022
- Event Description
Pakistan’s first transgender lawyer Nisha Rao sustained injuries after being attacked in Saddar, Karachi by four men.
Trans Pride Society, an NGO founded by Nisha Rao, narrated the incident calling it a ‘heinous crime.’ It said Nisha was attacked during a visit to members of the transgender community in Saddar by four men on two motorbikes as she got off a rickshaw to walk towards her friend’s apartment.
It said the aggressors beat and stole her belongings. One man used a ring to pierce Nisha’s scalp while his accomplices stole her handbag and mobile phone.
Nisha is a strong advocate for the transgender community and spends her time working as a lawyer in the City Court of Karachi where she fights for the rights of transgenders, in addition to attending Karachi University where she is receiving her Masters of Law degree.
“Serving and empowering the transgender community is Nisha’s biggest determination in life and it is crimes like these that make her fear the fragmented society we live in,” the statement said. It cannot be known whether it was a targeted attack and the identity of the perpetrators remains unknown.
The trans community and lawyers have demanded police take immediate action and arrest the culprits. In April 2021, five transgender persons were killed and eight sustained injuries in separate attacks.
Nisha Rao is Pakistan’s first trangender lawyer to be accepted into an MPhil programme to study law at Karachi University.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- LGBTQ+/ Non-Binary
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, SOGI rights
- HRD
- Lawyer, NGO staff, SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- May 11, 2022
- Event Description
On 11 and 12 May 2022, Hoa Binh province police repeatedly called Mr Trinh Ba Khiem - Mrs Theu's husband - to come to their office 'to work'. This was the third time 64-year-old Mr Khiem was summoned to the police office regarding the statuses, video clips... he posted on his Facebook since the arrest of his wife Mrs Can Thi Theu and his two sons Trinh Ba Phuong and Trinh Ba Tu. Mr Khiem told RFA Viet: 'In the second working session I had with Hoa Binh province police, they questioned me, why did I say on social media that the communist regime killed people; I told them, that was correct, [the communist regime] killed [land petitioner] Mr Le Dinh Kinh [in an ambush on Dong Tam village in Jan 2020]...
'The police also told me, I am not allowed to publish on social media unverified articles, they asked me to stop live streaming on social media.'
Mr Khiem said he refused to comply with the police's demand, and asserted that he would continue to speak out on social media and to fight for justice for his family members.
'They demanded me to stop [all those activities], otherwise I will be jailed with a heavy sentence.'
On 11 May, before going to the police office, Mr Khiem told RFA Viet: 'I am never afraid of the communist louts. In my struggle [for my rights] , it is the communist regime that commits criminal offences, the communists must defend themselves before me, I never have to defend myself before them.'
Coming home after his working session with the police, he said:
'[The police] persuaded me not to live stream bad mouthing the regime, otherwise they will put me in jail. The communist regime's police really want to arrest me, that is my assessment.'
In the working session on 12 May, Mr Khiem informed that the police changed tack. Instead of banning him from speaking out on social media. they persuaded him not to use the word 'communist' in his speech.
'That was their demand, they didn't like that word; in the view of this communist regime, the Communist Party is always correct, only individuals make mistakes, if you call them all 'communists', they don't like it at all, they said, you bad mouth the regime and the state by saying that.'
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
News summarised from Vietnamese article: VoA Vietnam
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- May 11, 2022
- Event Description
Responding to the arrests under Hong Kong’s national security law of four trustees of the defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Erwin van der Borght said:
“Even by Hong Kong’s recent standards of worsening repression, these arrests represent a shocking escalation. Some of the city’s most respected pro-democracy figures, whose activism has always been entirely peaceful, are now potentially facing years in jail. There could be few more poignant examples of the utter disintegration of human rights in Hong Kong.
“The targeting of these four activists, among them a 90-year-old cardinal, for enabling legal and humanitarian support for protesters lays bare the Hong Kong government’s callous disregard for the basic rights of its citizens.
“By attempting to criminalize the provision of legal, economic and medical aid to those in need, the authorities are undermining the rights to fair trial and other human rights of all people in Hong Kong.
“The trustees’ so-called crime of ‘collusion with foreign forces’ once again highlights how the vagueness of Hong Kong’s national security law can be weaponised to make politically motivated, or simply malicious, arrests.
“The Hong Kong government must stop pursuing criminal charges against members of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund and others who are being targeted simply for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association or assembly.”
Background
Cardinal Joseph Zen (90), barrister Margaret Ng (74) and singer Denise Ho (45) were arrested on Wednesday, accused of “collusion with foreign forces” under Hong Kong’s national security law. Scholar Hui Po-keung was arrested at Hong Kong airport on Tuesday while attempting to leave Hong Kong, while a fifth trustee, Cyd Ho (67), is already detained for other offences. All except Ho were released on bail on Wednesday.
The five were trustees for the defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided financial support for legal assistance to people prosecuted for their participation in the 2019 mass protests.
The fund ceased activities in September 2021 after it became known that it was subject of an investigation by the Hong Kong police’s National Security Department
The fund’s name “612” stems from the date 12 June 2019, when the police used unnecessary and excessive force against largely peaceful protesters who demonstrated against the later-retracted extradition bill.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- May 11, 2022
- Event Description
NagaWorld labor negotiations remained at a stalemate as fired union workers continued to attempt to protest outside the casino complex.
Workers have continued their protests in Phnom Penh and have been met with severe police action, including protesters getting kicked while being shoved onto buses outside the NagaWorld 2 casino on Wednesday. Around 130 workers were again confronted by police, terminated worker Mam Sovathin said.
Kong Sokhom, another protesting worker who still works at the casino, said she was initially shocked when a police official pinched her hard and had to be pulled away by his colleagues.
“I laughed after that. He pinched me and then pushed me on the bus. And some authorities had to pull him out,” she said.
Sokhom said protestors were returning to the casino almost every day, only taking short breaks to rest. The authorities continued to take them on buses near Phnom Penh Safari park and then dropping them off at the new Freedom Park in Russei Keo district.
At the same time, five union representatives met with NagaWorld and the Labor Ministry on Wednesday, the eighth negotiation meeting to end without a resolution.
Union president Chhim Sithar, who was recently re-elected to head the union, was not optimistic heading into the meeting, saying there was no compromise in sight. Her outlook had not changed after the meeting ended Wednesday evening.
“It is like before. The company still rejects all of our requests. There was no result,” she said.
The union has asked NagaWorld to find jobs for 200-odd terminated workers, a demand workers say the casino has refused during the negotiations.
The union also delivered the results of its 10-day leadership election to the Labor Ministry on Monday. The ministry will now have to re-register the union, and Heng Sour, a ministry spokesperson, did not respond to requests for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- May 10, 2022
- Event Description
Joseph (pseudonym) was arrested around 10.00 today (10 May) while leaving his house to join the activists submitting a petition to the US Embassy calling for the release of detained activists and the repeal of the royal defamation law. The police officers who arrested him presented an arrest warrant on a royal defamation charge resulting from a speech he gave at the protest at the King Taksin the Great Monument at Wongwian Yai on Chakri Memorial Day (6 April).
During his speech, Joseph talked about the history of how the ruling class in Southeast Asia come to power, especially in the ancient kingdoms located in the area currently known as Thailand, and how the Chakri dynasty came to rule Siam.
Activist Somyot Pruksakasemsuk from the activist network Citizens for the Abolition of 112 said that Joseph was a member of the network and that he came up with the idea that the network should petition embassies to demand the release of political prisoners.
Somyot said that Joseph’s speech was about the history of Chakri Memorial Day, noting that previous court rulings stated that speaking about history does not constitute an offense under the royal defamation law, leading him to speculate that Joseph was arrested to prevent yesterday’s protest at the US Embassy.
“We’ll keep going, and we will let the world know about this, especially the US, which is a country from which we will campaign the use of social sanctions against the judges, the police, or anyone related to the justice system,” Somyot said.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that after his arrest, Joseph was taken to the Police Club on Vibhavadi Road, even though the charge against him is under the jurisdiction of Buppharam Police Station in Thonburi. He was then taken to the Thonburi Criminal Court for a temporary detention request and was later granted bail on a 200,000-baht security.
The Court also set the conditions that he must not participate in activities which damage the monarchy or cause public disorder, and must not leave the country.
Joseph was previously charged with royal defamation and sedition for reading out a statement during the 26 October 2020 protest in front of the German Embassy.
Another activist has been arrested and charged with royal defamation for a speech given at the Chakri Memorial Day protest on 6 April 2022.
Mint (pseudonym) was arrested on Tuesday evening (10 May). She said that she and other activists were eating at a restaurant on Chaeng Wattana after the protest at the US Embassy when around 10 police officers came to present an arrest warrant, leading her to speculate that the officers had been following her since the event at the Embassy.
She was taken to the Police Club on Vibhavadi Road, where she was detained overnight before being taken to court for a temporary detention request. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), Mint was charged with royal defamation, violation of the Computer Crimes Act, and using a sound amplifier without permission.
TLHR also reported that, according to the inquiry officer from Buppharam Police Station, three people are being charged for speeches given during the Chakri Memorial Day protest: Mint, student activist Sopon Surariddhidhamrong, and Joseph (pseudonym).
Joseph was arrested on Tuesday morning (10 May) and charged with royal defamation. He was later granted bail on a 200,000-baht security and was given the same conditions later given to Mint. TLHR said that his speech did not mention the current king, and that, in his testimony, Joseph said that several writers and academics have discussed the execution of King Taksin, such as Sulak Sivaraksa, Nidhi Eoseewong, and Sujit Wongthes. He also mentioned a previous court ruling that the royal defamation law does not cover former kings.
Sopon is currently held in pre-trial detention on another royal defamation charge resulting from a speech he gave at a protest on 22 April 2022. He was arrested on 1 May and subsequently denied bail. TLHR said that the police will visit Sopon in prison next week to notify him of the charges.
The inquiry officer said that Mint was charged for her speech, in which she said that King Taksin was not beaten to death with a sandalwood club or allowed to enter monkhood as history books have it, but was beheaded on order from King Phutthayotfa Chulalok, who ascended the throne as the first monarch in the Chakri dynasty after he seized power in 1782. She also spoke about the creation of the Equestrian Statue of King Chulalongkorn.
On Wednesday (11 May), Mint was granted bail by the Thonburi Provincial Court on a 200,00-baht security. The Court gave her the conditions that she must not participate in activities which are damaging to the monarchy or cause public disorder, and prohibited her from leaving the country.
Mint, Joseph, and Sopon are among 194 people currently facing royal defamation charges for participating in pro-democracy protests in 209 cases. Of this number, 43 cases are related to speeches given at protests.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- May 10, 2022
- Event Description
Several dozen women's rights activists have protested a Taliban order making it mandatory for women to wear the all-covering burqa, including face veils, when they are in public.
The women marched through the streets of the capital, Kabul, on May 10 holding signs calling for justice despite intimidation attempts by Taliban operatives, who threatened them with violence.
"We were faced with harsh behavior by the Taliban. It was terrifying...They even told us if we move one step forward, they will fire 30 rounds at us," one women said in a video made by the group, called Afghanistan's Powerful Women's Movement.
The decree, announced on May 7, calls for women to only show their eyes and recommends they wear the head-to-toe burqa. Head scarves are common for most Afghan women, but in urban areas such as Kabul, many do not cover their faces.
Failure to comply will result in a woman's father or closest male relative being reprimanded, imprisoned, or fired from employment.
It immediately sparked criticism from many Afghans and the international community amid an outcry over the erosion of human rights in the country, especially for women and girls.
"Under the latest draconian decree, Afghan women are ordered to follow full veil and avoid unnecessary movement. This violates fundamental human rights of women to chose what to wear & move freely," Amnesty International's South Asia department said in a tweet a day after the measures were announced.
"Despite continued assurance of Taliban de-facto authorities that they respect women & girls rights, millions of women & girls are exposed to systematic gender based discrimination," it added.
The UN Security Council will meet on May 12 to discuss the order.
Deborah Lyons, UN special envoy for Afghanistan, is to brief the 15-member council, according to Norway's UN mission, which requested the closed-door meeting "to address the increased restrictions on human rights and freedoms of girls and women."
Girls have been banned from school beyond the sixth grade in most of the country since the Taliban’s return last August. In March, the Taliban ordered girls' high schools closed on the morning they were scheduled to open.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest, Women's rights
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- May 9, 2022
- Event Description
he Hanoi police have resumed investigation against blogger Le Anh Hung, taking him back to their temporary detention center from the city-based mental hospital.
According to the decision of the capital city’s Police Department on May 9, the compulsory mental treatment was stopped by the city’s People’s Procuracy on the same day and he was transferred back to jail on May 10 for further investigation on the allegation of “abusing democratic freedom” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.
The investigation is expected to end soon and the first-instance hearing will be carried out in coming months, according to his lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng.
Mr. Le Anh Hung, a political blogger of Voice of America, was arrested on July 5, 2018 for his postings on Facebook on which he accused many senior communist leaders of criminal activities and working for China against the country’s interests. Ten months later, on May 4, 2019, he was sent to a mental hospital for compulsory treatment.
He was reported not to agree with the treatment, denying to take medicines provided by the mental facility. However, he was beaten and forced to take medicines after being tied to his bed, according to his family.
Le Anh Hung was moved from the National Psychiatric Ward in Hanoi, where he was admitted in April 2019, and returned to prison last week so that the criminal prosecution against him could resume. A member of the Independent Journalist Association of Vietnam, Hung was arrested in July 2018 and charged with “abusing democratic freedoms.” However, he has yet to be tried. During his unusually long pre-trial detention period, now entering its fourth year, Hung has often complained of physical and psychological abuse and has had to go on several hunger strikes to protest the abuse.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- May 9, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Sri Lanka must immediately rescind the emergency regulations and shooting orders that provide excessive powers to the police and military, and take immediate steps to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of peaceful protestors, Amnesty International said today.
The authorities must also refrain from using the state of emergency as a pretext to curb the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, including at the protest sites such as “Gotagogama” in the country.
Following the President’s proclamation of a State of Emergency on 6 May along with a country-wide curfew from 9-12 May, backdated emergency regulations were published overnight on 9 May. They give sweeping powers to the police and the armed forces to search and make arrests of “suspects” without due process safeguards. On 9 May, protesters peacefully demonstrating in front of the Presidential Secretariat since over a month were violently attacked by pro-government supporters after being allegedly incited to violence by top party leaders at Temple Trees, the Prime Minister’s official residence in Colombo. The police stood largely as bystanders to the violence, doing little to effectively protect the peaceful protesters and their protest site, despite having used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protestors just days before on 6 May.
“Authorities in Sri Lanka should carry out a prompt, thorough, impartial, independent, effective and transparent investigation into the reports of violent attacks on peaceful protesters. Authorities should bring to justice those suspected to be responsible and ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims,” said Yamini Mishra, South Asia Regional Director at Amnesty International.
“The attacks look like a deliberate decision by the Police to allow pro-government groups to physically assault peaceful protesters, destroy structures and wreak havoc at the ‘Gotagogama’ protest site. The authorities have an obligation to provide an enabling environment for the protesters to peacefully exercise their human rights, and to end the violent attacks on protesters,” added Yamini Mishra.
Elements of anti-government groups retaliated to the attack on 9 May by beating up pro-government supporters and destroying buses believed to have transported them. This escalated into targeting of parliamentarians with damage to their vehicles and arson against their homes, businesses, and party offices. According to authorities, nine people have died and over 220 people have been injured in the violence that erupted. Additionally, 41 vehicles had been set on fire, 61 vehicles were damaged, and 136 incidents of property damage were recorded.
“Justice and accountability from the Sri Lankan authorities is the need of the hour. An effective and transparent inquiry is necessary to bring those responsible for the violence to justice. The country is headed towards a deepening crisis while accountability and solutions for the economic crisis – key calls by the protesters – go completely unaddressed. Right now, Sri Lanka is a tinderbox, and any move to impermissibly restrict human rights through sweeping emergency powers granted to law enforcement agencies, including the armed forces, – will lead to further repression,” said Yamini Mishra.
The Emergency Regulations lack due process safeguards, such as the right to be informed of the reason for arrest, and the issuance of an arrest receipt at the time of arrest informing family where they would be detained. Access to legal counsel is subject to conditions. The offences are broad and can be used to bar trade union strike actions, give powers to the President to shut down public processions, restrict access to public spaces, restrict the right to freedom of expression including the right to information, freedom of movement and peaceful assembly.
Further, the Regulations provide powers to use armed force against anyone who does not comply with orders. The Regulations come with hefty penalties including life imprisonment for ordinary penal offences. There is also no access to bail for offences under the Regulations, except under “exceptional circumstances.” Persons authorised by the commanders of the armed forces are empowered by the Regulations to remove suspects from detention for a period of seven days at a time. Sri Lankan authorities are accused of multiple instances of custodial torture in the past, making these provisions dangerous and raising the possibility of misuse of these powers.
On 10 May, the Defence Ministry issued a notice saying the Armed forces have been ordered to open fire at anyone looting public property or causing harm to others- a move that has been called “illegal” by some parliamentarians. The cabinet remains dissolved following the PM’s resignation on 9 May.
“The shooting orders provide a license to kill. Violent mobs should be contained, however lethal force must not be the first resort. Any restrictions on human rights during times of emergency must be necessary and proportionate to the exigencies of the situation and must not be used as a tool against freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, right to personal security, liberty and freedom from arbitrary detention. Further, any derogations from human rights guarantees under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a state party, should be formally communicated with a clear explanation of the reasons for them to other State parties,” said Yamini Mishra.
Sri Lanka has a history of human rights violations implicating the Military, including custodial torture under consecutive emergency situations in the past. This pattern of violations of human rights must end.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- May 6, 2022
- Event Description
Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Friday declared a state of emergency giving security forces sweeping powers for the second time in five weeks to deal with escalating anti-government protests.
A spokesman for the president said he invoked the tough laws to "ensure public order" after trade unions staged a nationwide strike Friday demanding his resignation over a worsening economic crisis.
Months of blackouts and acute shortages of food, fuel and pharmaceuticals have caused widespread suffering across the South Asian island nation of 22 million people.
Public anger has sparked sustained protests demanding the government's resignation over its mismanagement of the crisis, Sri Lanka's worst since independence in 1948.
Thousands of student protesters had been camped on the road leading to the legislature, which is on a man-made island on a lake in the capital Colombo, since Thursday.
Officers fired a barrage of tear gas followed by water cannon from two trucks, but the crowd quickly reassembled behind police barricades set up to block access to the parliament.
It was the second time police tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas, after an earlier unsuccessful attempt on Thursday afternoon.
Millions of workers stayed off the job on Friday in a strike organised by the country's trade union movement, with all but one scheduled train service cancelled.
Privately owned buses were off the roads while industrial workers demonstrated outside their factories and black flags were hung across the country in an expression of anger against the government.
"We can pinpoint the policy blunders of the president that led to this very sorry state of our economy," said trade union leader Ravi Kumudesh. "He must go."
Private buses, which account for two-thirds of the country's fleet, were also off the road, Private Bus Operators Association chairman Gemunu Wijeratne said.
"We are not providing services today, but if groups of people want to join the anti-government protests within a radius of 20 kilometres, we will give our buses free of charge," Wijeratne told reporters in Colombo. No resignation
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has insisted he will not step down despite escalating demonstrations across the island, including a protest that has been camped outside his seafront office for nearly a month.
Sri Lanka's economic crisis took hold after the coronavirus pandemic hammered income from tourism and remittances.
Unable to pay for fuel imports, utilities have imposed daily blackouts to ration electricity, while long lines of people snake around service stations for petrol and kerosene.
Hospitals are short of vital medicines and the government has appealed to citizens abroad for donations.
Last month Sri Lanka announced it was defaulting on its $51 billion foreign debt, and finance minister Ali Sabry warned this week that the country will have to endure its unprecedented economic hardships for at least two more years.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- May 5, 2022
- Event Description
Tran Hoang Huan was sentenced to eight years in prison plus three years of home surveillance for postings on Facebook that allegedly violated Article 117 of the Criminal Code. Huan, 34, was accused of making 186 posts and 60 statuses that “distort and defame the people’s government,” and 21 articles that “are lies which created confusion among the citizens.” The trial, which was televised, did not appear to show any lawyer representing Huan.
On May 5, the People’s Court of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang convicted a local citizen named Tran Hoang Huan of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code for his online posting. During a short trial which lasted a few hours, the court sentenced him to eight years in prison and three years of probation. Huan, who was arrested on April 8 last year, was accused of disseminating 186 articles on Facebook from early September 2020 to early April 2021 with the content criticizing the regime and defaming its leadership.
Before being arrested, in 2020, he was fined VND12.5 million ($560) for posting articles on Facebook unwanted by the regime. He was also summoned to a police station many times where he was forced to pledge not to post critical statuses, according to the state-controlled media.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- May 4, 2022
- Event Description
esponding to the news that atleast 12 peaceful protesters were unlawfully arrested today by police officers for demonstrating outside the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s South Asia Regional Director, said:
“These protesters have the right to demonstrate peacefully outside the Parliament of Sri Lanka and to express themselves and speak with their MPs as the country’s economy crumbles. The charges against all the protesters must be dropped as they were detained solely for peacefully exercising their human rights.
“Any restrictions placed on these rights must be necessary, proportionate and provided by law. Today’s arrests were undoubtedly arbitrary and unlawful. After they arrested protesters recently in Mirihana, the Sri Lankan authorities subjected them to ill-treatment in police custody and refused to allow access to legal counsel. It is crucial that the authorities do not commit the same rights violations with the protesters arrested today.”
“Excessive use of force, intimidation and unlawful arrests seem to be a pattern in which the Sri Lankan authorities’ respond to dissent and peaceful assembly. These repressive actions clearly do not meet Sri Lanka’s obligations under international human rights law.”
Background
On 4 May, the police arrested 12 people near the Parliament of Sri Lanka for allegedly obstructing the vehicles of MPs.
In footage seen by Amnesty International, a small group of protesters can be seen holding up placards that called for MPs to support a motion of no confidence that was tabled in parliament today. The protesters were then forced into a police bus.
The protestors were later released on bail.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- May 3, 2022
- Event Description
The South Bangkok Criminal Court on Tuesday (3 May) ordered bail for monarchy reform activists Baipor and Netiporn to be revoked, saying that they violated their bail conditions by causing public disorder.
Baipor and Netiporn are members of the monarchy reform group Thaluwang and were charged with royal defamation for conducting a public poll on whether people think royal motorcades cause problems on 8 February 2022 at Siam Paragon shopping mall.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the Court revoked their bail because they participated in another poll on land expropriation on 13 March 2022 at the Victory Monument, which the Court said caused public disorder. The Court claimed that because the group posted on the Thaluwang Facebook page an invitation to people to join the “protest,” a large number of people would join the event and cause public disorder, and that a clash took place between Thaluwang supporters and members of a royalist group gathering nearby.
In the 13 March 2022 event, the activists walked on the skywalk around the Victory Monument and conducted a poll asking “Would you give up your house to the royal family?” Meanwhile, the ultra-royalist group People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy gathered next to the monument to sing the national anthem and King’s anthem.
A small group of Thaluwang supporters argued with the royalist protesters gathered there, but no major altercation took place as activist Sam Samat and other Thaluwang supporters defused the situation.
Baipor said before going to the hearing that Thaluwang’s polls are open for everyone to participate, and that conducting polls is about raising questions about social issues, not just those relating to the monarchy. She said that it is a good thing that other groups are also conducting public polls, and that, if she is detained, she would like more people to raise questions about various issues in the country.
The order revoking their bail was signed by Judges Santi Chukitsappaisan and Puttawat Rintarasri.
Baipor and Netiporn are currently detained at the Women’s Central Correctional Institution. They are among 11 people currently detained on charges relating to political expression. Of this number, 5 are detained on royal defamation charges while their cases are still at the inquiry level: Baipor, Netiporn, Tantawan Tuatulanon, Sopon Surariddhidhamrong, and Weha Saenchonchanasuek. Activist shaves head to demand right to bail
After Baipor and Netiporn were taken to the Women’s Central Correctional Institution, 17-year-old activist Benjamaporn or “Ploy”, also a Thaluwang member, shaved her head to protest the activists’ bail revocation and demand the right to bail for detained activist.
Benjamaporn wore a school uniform and taped a piece of paper to her chest saying “This young person behaved in violation of the law by raising questions about the monarchy, causing dishonour to, defaming, and threatening one of the country’s main institutions. Please condemn this young person.”
The sign is a reference to Benjamaporn’s first demonstration, in which she protested outdated haircut and uniform regulations in Thai schools by sitting under a staircase at the Siam BTS station in a school uniform with a sign saying “This student violated school rules by leaving her hair longer than her ears and having fringes, destroying Thai students’ characteristics. Please punish this student,” and inviting people to cut her hair.
After shaving her head, Benjamaporn flashed the three-finger ‘Hunger Games’ salute. She picked up a piece of her hair and said that the braids she was wearing before the demonstration were done for her by Netiporn before they went to court that morning.
Benjamaporn said that the loss of her hair cannot be compared to the loss of lives from the economic recession, the lives of young people lost to the education system, the juvenile detention centres, or the life of 15-year-old Warit Somnoi, who was shot during a protest at the Din Daeng Intersection and died after several months in a coma.
She asked people to remember those who are unjustly imprisoned and those who died and not let them be forgotten by political history. She also asked that adults listen to young people and stand with them to call for justice, freedom, and equality.
“Young people have tried their best to speak out, but there are many adults who are still choosing not to listen to their voice. Actually, it is an adult’s responsibility to listen to the voice of young people and come out to stand alongside them, not just discard youth, not just discard children so that they have to run away from home and be without a place to live, without even a dream and having to struggle by themselves. In the end, the destination of people who come out to fight and ask questions is prison and death. Such things happen, and such things should not happen,” she said.
Benjamaporn said she is tired and feels discouraged, but she is not giving up. She asked people to continue following Thaluwang’s activities and support young people.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Thailand: three pro-democracy WHRDs arrested
- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- May 1, 2022
- Event Description
Pakistan authorities must conduct a swift and impartial investigation into the police assault of journalist Jahangir Hayat, as well as the detention of Hayat and his family, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On May 1, police officers in the Icchra area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, assaulted and detained Hayat, a chief reporter for the privately owned daily newspaper Daily Business, according to a report by his outlet, video of the incident shared on social media, and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone.
Police also detained Hayat’s wife and seven-year-old daughter, and released the family after about 45 minutes, according to those sources.
Hayat told CPJ that he believes the assault and detention were acts of retaliation for his work as a journalist, including his reporting on crime and alleged police malfeasance, which CPJ reviewed.
“Punjab police officers’ assault and detention of Jahangir Hayat, as well as their detention and harassment of his family, underscores the significant dangers that Pakistani journalists face for simply doing their jobs,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into this incident, hold the perpetrators accountable, and demonstrate that such attacks will not continue with impunity.”
Hayat and his family were walking to their motorcycle when the journalist noticed that speedometer of his motorcycle had broken; he approached a police van nearby for help because he thought it had been vandalized, he said.
Hayat told CPJ that he showed the officers his press card as a form of identification, and the officers then recognized him, cursed at him, and one officer, whom Hayat identified as the station house officer of the Icchra Police Station, said he would “get rid of his journalism.”
Icchra Police Deputy Superintendent Zakaria Yusuf then arrived at the scene and ordered the officers to detain the journalist, Hayat told CPJ, saying the officers hit him in the ribs with their pistols, grabbed his neck, and threw him into a police vehicle, and escorted his wife and daughter into the vehicle as well.
The officers held the family in that vehicle for about 45 minutes and then brought them to the Icchra Police Station, where authorities released them without charge after a group of journalists gathered at the station’s gate, Hayat said.
The journalist sustained injuries to his ribs and neck from the attack, for which he took painkillers, he said, adding that his daughter was traumatized from the incident.
On May 9, Hayat registered complaints with the offices of Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Kamyana, Senior Superintendent of the Lahore Police Operations Mustansar Feroze, and Inspector-General of the Punjab Police Sardar Ali Khan, the journalist said, adding that no action had been taken against the officers involved in his detention and assault.
Following publication of this article, Feroze told CPJ via messaging app that police had opened an inquiry into the incident, and would make its findings public upon its conclusion.
CPJ was unable to identify contact details for Yusuf. Kamyana and Khan did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- May 1, 2022
- Event Description
Student activist Sopon Surariddhidhamrong was arrested on Sunday night (1 May) on a royal defamation charge resulting from a speech he gave at a protest on 22 April 2022 and subsequently denied bail.
Sopon, a 23-year-old radiological technology student, was arrested while he was leaving the Labour Day event in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC). Witnesses said that, at around 21.20, Sopon got into a taxi to leave the event. A police truck then blocked off the taxi, after which officers came to read him an arrest warrant on a royal defamation charge. The officers also asked him to get out of the taxi and into the truck, or an officer would ride in the taxi with him to Samran Rat Police Station.
Nearby participants in the Labour Day event then came to negotiate with the officers. They also formed a cordon around the taxi to prevent the officers from taking Sopon until a lawyer arrived. At around 22.05, Sopon and a group of protesters got into the police truck for Samran Rat Police Station.
The police blocked the entrance to the police station with metal fences, while a crowd of supporters gathered outside. At around 23.30, the police said they were taking Sopon to the Police Club on Vibhavadi Road. Sopon insisted that the police interrogate him at Samran Rat Police Station and not at the Police Club because the protest which led to the complaint against him did not take place in the Police Club’s jurisdiction and the announcement making the Police Club a restricted area has already been repealed.
However, at 2.00 on Monday (2 May), the police took Sopon to the Police Club. They also did not allow his lawyer to travel with him, forcing the lawyer to travel separately and wait in front of the Police Club before being allowed to meet him.
The officers initially did not say what the charges resulted from and would not let anyone take pictures of the warrant. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported later that Sopon was charged with royal defamation and using a sound amplifier without permission for a speech he gave during a protest march in the Ratchadamnoen area on 22 April 2022. Anon Klinkaew, a member of the ultra-royalist group People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy who filed the complaint against Sopon, said the speech defamed Queen Suthida.
Sopon was detained at the Police Club overnight. On Monday morning (2 May), the police took him to court via teleconference for a 12-day temporary detention request. The inquiry officer opposed bail on the grounds that the charges carry a high penalty and because, since Sopon is a monarchy reform activist on police watchlist, many royal ceremonies will be taking place in May.
TLHR said that the Court denied him bail because he was previously granted bail on a contempt of court charge resulting from a protest on 2 May 2021 at the Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court following bail rejections for several activists detained pending trial at the time on royal defamation charges. The Court therefore believes that if Sopon is released, he is likely to run or repeat his offense, and so denied him bail. The name of the judge who denied bail was redacted by court officials. Sopon is now detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison.
TLHR noted that the police only took 6 days after the complaint against Sopon was filed to issue an arrest warrant without first issuing a summons, and that this is Sopon’s first royal defamation charge.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 28, 2022
- Event Description
Three activists from the monarchy reform group Thaluwang were arrested yesterday (28 April) on a royal defamation charge after police officers raided their apartment.
Activist Supitcha Chailom went live on her personal Facebook profile saying that she was with Netiporn Sanesangkhom and “Baipor” or Nutthanit (last name withheld), and that police officers were outside their apartment door with an arrest warrant for them. She said they would not open the door until they felt safe and barricaded the door.
The activists stayed inside the locked room until a lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) arrived at around 16.40. They also stayed live on Facebook and only opened the door once they got confirmation that the police would not search their apartment.
During the live stream, Supitcha said that an employee of the apartment building was arranging for a locksmith to come take the digital lock out of the door. Netiporn said that their apartment building is likely to be collaborating with government agencies, since the police previously parked their cars on the apartment premises. She also speculated that there are police officers on the apartment committee and that this is why they facilitated the police operation.
She later said that plainclothes police have been stationed under her apartment building since the morning, and that the officers who came up to her room did not state their names or what warrant they have, only saying that they wanted to search the room because there is an arrest warrant.
The activists were taken to Bang Sue Police Station. However, once they arrived, the vehicle containing Supitcha and Nutthanit turned out of the police station towards Soi Inthamara 4. The activists then insisted on going back to the police station, where their lawyer was waiting. The car stopped in front of a condominium building for a few minutes before taking them back to the police station.
TLHR said that there is an arrest warrant out for the three activists on a royal defamation charge issued by officers from Bang Sue Police Station. At the police station, they were later told that the charge resulted from an event on 18 April around the Chatuchak MRT station, during which Thaluwang conducted a poll on whether people agree with the government allowing the King to use his powers as he pleases.
TLHR also said that Technology Crime Suppression Division officers came to the police station asking to check the activists' phones. However, since they could not present a warrant, the activists refused to comply. Meanwhile a crowd was gathering outside to show support for the activists.
Supitcha, Netiporn, and Nutthanit were detained overnight at Bang Sue Police Station. They were taken to court for a temporary detention request via teleconference this morning (29 April) and were later granted bail using a 90,000-baht security each.
The Court prohibited them from participating in activities which damage the monarchy or cause public disorder and gave them a curfew of 16.00 – 6.00. They must also wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and report to the court every 30 days.
Supitcha and Nutthanit, along with activist Benjamaporn Nivas, were arrested last Friday (22 April) while on their way to Cha-am on charges of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act.
As Thaluwang members, Supitcha, Benjamaporn, and Nutthanit have conducted public polls on questions relating to the monarchy, such as whether people are affected by royal motorcades, whether they would like their tax money to be used to maintain the monarchy, and whether they agree with the government allowing the King to use his powers as he pleases.
Nutthanit and Netiporn were previously charged with royal defamation, sedition, and refusing to comply with an officer’s order for conducting a poll on royal motorcades at Siam Paragon shopping mall on 8 February 2022. Yesterday was the third time they have been charged with royal defamation.
On 28 December 2021, Nutthanit was also among three activists arrested for holding up banners with the message “Abolish Section 112” at Wongwian Yai, where a crowd of people were waiting to see King Vajiralongkorn and his entourage. At that time officers pushed them around and tried to silence them by placing their hands over their mouth, causing minor injuries. They were charged with causing a public commotion and failing to comply with police orders and received a 1000-baht fine.
Supitcha has been previously charged with royal defamation for a speech given at a protest in Songkhla on 30 November 2020. Yesterday was also her third royal defamation charge.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Thailand: three pro-democracy WHRDs arrested
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Apr 27, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Afghanistan has sentenced a journalist to one year in prison on charges that free press advocates say included criticism of the Taliban government in his social media posts and "espionage." A Taliban spokesman said he was sentenced for “criminal misconduct.”
Khalid Qaderi, a poet and reporter with Radio Nowruz in the western Afghan city of Herat, has been in custody since his arrest in mid-March. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) alleged in a statement issued Thursday that he was tried and sentenced last week by a Taliban military court, something the Taliban denied.
The IFJ said the young Afghan journalist was accused of posting content critical of the Taliban, including his radio broadcasts, on Facebook. It quoted Qaderi telling the court, "I realized my errors, and I deleted the posts from my Facebook page."
The IFJ denounced what it said was "the arbitrary sentencing" and urged the Islamist Taliban to cease their persecution of journalists for their independent reportage. This would be the first reported case of a journalist being tried by a military court since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last August.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Thursday confirmed the sentencing of the journalist but insisted Qaderi's arrest had nothing to do with his "journalistic work," nor was he tried by a military court.
Mujahid claimed while speaking to VOA’s Afghan Service that a "civil" court in Herat had imposed the sentence on Qaderi for "criminal misconduct." The spokesman did not elaborate.
"Under Taliban rule," the IFJ said, “Afghan journalists have continued to face draconian restrictions, threats to freedom and arbitrary arrests.” The group called for the Taliban to immediately release the journalist from prison.
The Taliban insist they support media activities in Afghanistan within the law, but an estimated 1,000 journalists have fled the country since the Islamist group returned to power almost nine months ago, citing threats, harsh restrictions on media and economic upheavals.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in a report issued Thursday that the Taliban continue to persecute religious minorities and punish Afghans in accordance with the group's extreme interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia.
"The Taliban takeover and U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 led to a mass exodus, heightened by a violent crackdown on civil society, targeted killings, beatings and detentions, severe restrictions on women's rights, diminished local media presence, and an increase in violent, targeted attacks claimed by Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K)," the U.S. government entity said.
The USCIRF monitors the conditions of refugees who have fled severe violations of religious freedom and the U.S. government's policy responses.
Women's rights
Last week, the Taliban government decreed that women must fully cover their faces and bodies when in public, ideally with the traditional all-covering burqa, in one of the harshest restrictions the Islamist group has imposed on Afghan women since seizing power.
The edict advised women to leave their homes only in cases of necessity and warned that violations could lead to the punishment of their male relatives. The move drew widespread international condemnation and demands for its reversal.
The Taliban defended the female dress code, saying it is in line with Islamic and Afghan traditions. The group also has not yet allowed secondary schoolgirls to resume classes, ignoring domestic and international demands to lift the ban.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Thursday that its chief, Deborah Lyons, in a series of meetings with Taliban leaders this week, called on them to respect and ensure women's fundamental rights.
"The international community's ability to engage with the Taliban as credible actors requires them to make good on commitments for all girls to return to school, as well as to ensure women can work, access basic services and have free movement without impediments," UNAMA wrote on Twitter.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 26, 2022
- Event Description
Indigenous community representatives who say they filed a complaint against a company for encroaching on community forests have been summoned to court over defamation and incitement.
The court summons names the complainant as Kak Ratana from the company Villa Development, and orders Kroeung Tola, Phlek Phirum, Phlek Navy and Khveng Tum to appear at the Mondulkiri Provincial Court on April 26 for questioning over defamation and incitement.
Phirum said on Friday that she had not heard from the courts or received the summons, but knew the company since she had filed her own complaint against it in recent weeks.
“We are protecting our land. They are planning to clear 100 hectares,” Phirum said. “We make a living on that land.”
The community had already lost around 1,000 resin trees in the area, she said. “If we lose all of them, what can we do?”
She said Villa Development was a rubber plantation that arrived to the area in 2008, and it had encroached on community forests since 2012.
A phone number for Ratana listed with the Commerce Ministry did not connect.
Tola, a prominent activist and coordinator for the Mondulkiri Indigenous People Network who has faced previous legal actions against him, including fines for defamation, told VOD that he planned to appear at the court because the representatives did not “incite or defame.”
Phirum has also faced previous legal troubles, including a reported conviction for aggravating a land issue under the Land Law, for which she, Navy and Tum purportedly received two-year jail sentences but were not taken into custody.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Agricultural business
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 26, 2022
- Event Description
Five people from three activist groups were prevented from riding bicycles in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to commemorate the 10th death anniversary of prominent environmentalist Chut Wutty.
Wutty was shot dead 10 years ago while showing journalists forest destruction in the western province of Koh Kong. The activists planned to ride bicycles from Independence Monument to the ministries of justice and environment.
They were first followed by district security guards and police officers to Wat Botum park in central Phnom Penh, and then prevented from starting the bicycle ride.
The activists are Khmer Thavrak’s Chhoeun Daravy, Chhem Sreykea and Yong Sokhlai, Mother Nature’s Phuon Keoreaksmey and Eng Malai from the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association. Two other activists, Hun Vannak and Svay Samnang, were also present to broadcast the bicycle ride on social media.
“We were only talking with them about why they took our bicycles, why they prohibited us from walking, or going anywhere else, asking us to stay in one place,” said Malai.
There was some shoving by security personnel when the activists attempted to leave the area. Authorities also unsuccessfully tried to take the camera of a VOD reporter.
Security personnel told the activists they could leave only after senior officials gave them the go-ahead, Malai said, adding that they planned to go to a small shrine on the riverside to offer blessings for Wutty.
“[Their] message is that this is anarchy, and they are restricting our freedoms,” she added.
Keoreaksmey was previously part of another group of activists who were attempting to cycle from Koh Kong to Phnom Penh to raise awareness about Koh Kong Krao and urge the government to preserve the undeveloped island as a national park. The group was also stopped by police and they had to continue their journey on foot.
At Tuesday’s event, the five activists were dressed in shirts adorned with Wutty’s image and wore helmets adorned with leaves. Keoreaksmey said the authorities wanted to take their shirts too.
“There is not any law that says wearing hats with tree leaves or wearing a shirt with Chut Wutty’s photos is illegal,” she said. “They demanded something from us that we could not do for them.”
Phnom Penh City Hall spokesperson Met Measpheakdey said that people needed permission before conducting activities in public.
“Every public activity for any purpose must be approved by the authorities,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Apr 26, 2022
- Event Description
Background
Dinh Van Hai, a disabled person, is living in Duc Trong district, Lam Dong province. History of Activism
Dinh Van Hai, with his deep knowledge on international, criminal, civil and land rights, often shares his views on national and international issues. He participated in many demonstrations on national sovereignty and the environment and also protests against human rights violations by the authorities, especially violent attacks against activists.
Mr Hai was arrested in Oct 2021, charged with conducting “anti-state propaganda” pursuant sec 117 of the penal code for his Facebook postings that were critical of the regime's environmental and social policies.
On 26 April 2022, he was sentenced to 5 years jail plus 3 years probation by Lam Dong province court.
His relative (name withheld due to security concern) informed RFA Viet that his family didn't receive any official notification about the hearing. They were only aware of it via a person who provided legal assistance for the disabled, as Mr Hai was disabled.
According to the relative, Mr Hai stated before court that what he did was towards a more progressive, developed, better society, it wasn't his intention to oppose the Party and the state. He also expressed his wish for a multi-party system so the people can participate in a free election.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Apr 25, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has jailed eight activists over their participation in a rally demanding the immediate release of political prisoners in the Central Asian nation.
On April 25, the Almaty City Administrative Court sentenced Aigerim Tileuzhan, Alina Bermenqul, Bauyrzhan Atinbaev, Beken Beisalieva, Qonai Abdiev, and Doszhan Quanysh to 20 days in jail for the demonstration.
Ravqat Mukhtarov and Maira Ghabdullina were each handed 15 days in jail. Three more activists, Bulbul Berdiqozhanova, Esenbai Khodzhiev, and Bayan Shyrynbekova were each fined 91,890 tenges ($205).
All of the activists pleaded not guilty, but the court convicted them of taking part in an unsanctioned public event.
The activists were among dozens of protesters who gathered a day earlier in the city center and demanded the release of hundreds of men and women who were arrested during and after deadly anti-government protests in early January.
Protests in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic’s western region of Manghystau over abrupt gas-price hikes turned into unprecedented demonstrations that turned violent across the nation.
Authorities have said that at least 230 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, died during the unrest.
Human rights activists insist the number of the people killed during the violence is likely much higher.
- Impact of Event
- 11
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- Apr 24, 2022
- Event Description
Attacks against Pakistani media workers continue to escalate, with senior journalist, Zia-Ur-Rehman Farooqi fatally attacked by ‘land-grabbers’ in the Punjab province, and veteran journalist Khawar Mughal tortured by members of the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) political party at a public meeting in Lahore. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), condemn the attacks and urge the newly formed Pakistani government to apprehend the perpetrators and implement security mechanisms to better protect journalists in Pakistan.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed on March 24 at Kuhna Police Station Khanewal, several assailants stopped and threatened a car carrying media reporters, including Zia-Ur-Rehman Farooqi, a correspondent for 7 News in the Khanewal district of Punjab.
Armed individuals opened fire on the journalists, hitting Zia-Ur-Rehman in the head. The other journalists in the car managed to escape unharmed, while the assailants fled the scene. Zia-Ur-Rehman was brought to the District Head Quarter Hospital in Khanewal, before being shifted to Nishtar Hospital Multan for further treatment. The journalist died of his injuries on April 28.
Zia-Ur-Rehman was allegedly attacked for his critical reporting of land grabbing schemes in the area, with the FIR lodged under Section 7 of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act and the country’s penal code.
In another incident, renowned journalist Khawar Mughal, of 92 News, was tortured during a public gathering in Lahore by members of the PTI political party. An FIR was lodged at Lari Addah Lahore police station against Mughal’s assailants, who tortured him before stealing his media firm logo and breaking his microphone and camera.
At PTI public events in Islamabad and Karachi, journalists were tortured and female journalists, including Zamzam Saeed of Samaa TV, were the subject of targeted harassment.
Gharida Farooqi, a distinguished journalist and anchorperson, was harassed by PTI members on social media and through online assaults, cyberbullying, character assassination, and threats of death and rape.
"I've reported to the FIA regarding rude, harassing, disparaging banners against me held at Lahore Public meeting and put up on social media," Farooqi told the IFJ. “From now on, there will be no tolerance. Anyone who spreads false information about me will now be reported to the FIA. I expect the FIA to take speedy action against all of the perpetrators."
The PFUJ strongly condemned the armed attack on journalist Zia-Ur-Rehman Farooqi and asked that Punjab Police arrest and detain the offenders. Rana Muhammad Azeem, PFUJ Secretary General, demanded the perpetrators be arrested, or else a nationwide demonstration would be called.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 23, 2022
- Event Description
Independent photojournalist Natthaphon Phanphongsanon was attacked by 4 men near the Democracy Monument after a protest. Another journalist and a bystander were injured by pro-monarchists in another incident that took place shortly afterward.
The 4 men, who were wearing vests and casual clothes, approached Natthapon, who was about to leave the area on his motorcycle, asking to see the pictures on his mobile phone, but Natthaphon refused. He was subsequently attacked and hit with batons.
The attack took place after a protest by the activist group Draconis Revolution around the Ratchadamnoen area between 16.00 - 20.30. During the event, a group of pro-monarchy supporters could be seen gathering at the opposite side of the Monument.
At one point, there was a confrontation between the two groups as one member of the pro-monarchy group aggressively approached the protestors. The police came in to settle the situation after several minutes of verbal exchanges and taunts.
According to an interview with Thai Media for Democracy Alliance (DemAll), Natthapon said he met one attacker as he was leaving the McDonald restaurant after finishing his work after the protest ended. As he was attacked, he ran back into the restaurant.
DemAll managed to access the CCTV footage from the restaurant. It can be seen that the man approached Natthapon and another two men later surrounded him shortly before the attack took place. Luckily, Natthaphon’s safety helmet saved his head from injury, but his shoulder and arm were directly hit.
Natthaphon filed a complaint to the police over the assault. However, as he was trying to access the CCTV footage at McDonald, two men in private clothes with pistols approached him, claiming to be police officers, asking him not to collect the footage and instead go to see a doctor.
The two left the scene as Natthaphon’s friend made a phone call to the police station responsible for the area to ask whether they had dispatched officers or not, and the answer was no.
As Natthapon was giving an interview to the media in McDonalds, Akkhrawut Kraisisombat, a leading figure from Vocational Students Protecting the Institution, a pro-monarchy group with vocational training backgrounds, together with a two to three followers explained that the attackers were not affiliated with his group and that they wanted the media to remove any accusation of him being involved in the incident.
As the explanation dragged on, quarrels arose and the restaurant staff told the people to talk outside. Shortly after another fight broke out when one of Akkrawut’s group punched a man in the eye, causing bleeding from the eyebrow. One journalist from Political24 who was livestreaming the event was also punched in the hand.
Since the surge of mass protests calling for political and monarchy reform in 2020, the media have rarely been a target of civilian groups who hold different political opinions, and have been most at risk of being from the victims of police operations to disperse protests. This incident has raised concerns about the safety of the media whose job is to present information from the field to their audiences.
Like many others, Natthapon has covered the protests as a citizen photojournalist. He has been a target for public naming and shaming on the pro-monarchy Facebook page Dr.X for covering the protest where the public were asked their opinions about royal motorcades. Despite being wrongly identified as a news agency employee, Natthapon’s name was mentioned along with other citizen journalists and reporters.
On 23 April, Teeranai Charuvastra, Thai Journalists Association (TJA) Vice President for media rights and liberties and reform stated that he and his colleagues are closely monitoring the situation and demanded that the police quickly investigate the incident and inform the public directly about the result.
He expressed concern that the assault had taken place as Natthapon was about to leave the scene as this may cast doubt as to whether the attack had anything to do with him being a journalist and that media practitioners would be afraid for their safety if the investigation result is not clear and the perpetrator could not be brought to justice.
The TJA Vice President also stated that the media, either with official affiliation or independent, have the legal right under the constitution to report information without being harassed and it is the authorities’ duty to protect the exercise of this right.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 22, 2022
- Event Description
Three members of the monarchy reform activist group Thaluwang were arrested earlier today (22 April) on charges of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act.
Activists Supitcha “Maynu” Chailom, Benjamaporn “Ploy” Nivas, and “Baipor” or Nutthanit (last name withheld) were stopped by highway police on Phet Kasem Road, Phetchaburi, while on their way to Cha Am, a beach town in Phetchaburi and a popular tourist destination. The police checked their identification before presenting arrest warrants on charges of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act.
The warrant was issued by the Criminal Court and the Central Juvenile and Family Court on a request from the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).
The three activists were detained at a nearby highway police service centre before being taken to Bangkok. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that while they were detained, the police presented a search warrant for their electronic devices. Officers also tried to search their car despite not having a warrant for it.
TLHR also said that the police also searched the three activists’ residences and confiscated a laptop, a mobile phone, several t-shirts used during the group’s activities, and signs and stickers the group used to conduct their polls.
The search took place at 9.00, when the activists were already in police custody. The officers were let into the activists’ apartments by the buildings’ juristic persons.
As Thaluwang members, Supitcha, Benjamaporn, and Nutthanit conducted public polls on questions relating to the monarchy, such as whether people are affected by royal motorcades, whether they would like their tax money to be used to maintain the monarchy, and whether they agree with the government allowing the King to use his powers as he pleases.
Nutthanit, 20, has previously been charged with royal defamation, sedition, and refusing to comply with an officer’s order for conducting a poll on royal motorcade at Siam Paragon shopping mall on 8 February 2022. On 28 December 2021, she was also among the three activists arrested for holding up banners with the message “Abolish Section 112” at Wongwian Yai, where a crowd of people were waiting to see King Vajiralongkorn and his entourage, during which officers pushed them around and tried to silence them by placing their hands over their mouth, causing minor injuries. They were charged with causing a public commotion and failing to comply with police orders and received a 1000-baht fine.
Supitcha, 18, is from Chiang Mai and has been previously charged with royal defamation for a speech given at a protest in Songkhla on 30 November 2020, while 17-year-old Benjamaporn previously campaigned against human rights abuses in schools with the student rights group Bad Student. She was charged with violation of the Emergency Decree for participating in a protest at the Ratchaprasong Intersection on 15 October 2020.
All three activists were released on bail at around 18.00. The Criminal Court granted bail for Supitcha and Nutthanit using a 100,000-baht security each, and gave them the conditions that they must not participate in activities that can cause public disorder or damage the monarchy or repeat their offense. They must also report to court every 30 days.
Meanwhile, the Central Juvenile and Family Court granted Benjamaporn bail using a 20,000-baht security.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 22, 2022
- Event Description
Three cadres of the Islamic Student Association (HMI) were arrested by police in front of the State Palace, Central Jakarta. These three HMI cadres were arrested during a demonstration to protest the arrest of a robbery case in Bekasi with the defendant Muhammad Fikry, who is also an HMI cadre.
"Yes, three people (Akmal Fahmi, Andi Kurniawan, and Imam Zarkasi) are still being held. I am still at the Central Jakarta Police, Kemayoran," said Head of Defense and Security Division of PB HMI, Arven Marta, when contacted by reporters, Friday (22/4). /2022).
Arven explained that the arrest occurred when HMI held a demonstration in front of the State Palace on Friday (22/4), at 15.30 WIB this afternoon. The HMI demonstration throughout Jabodetabek was protesting the arrest of one of its cadres, M Fikry, who was considered a victim of the wrongful arrest of a robbery case in Babelan, Bekasi Regency.
"We took action at around half past four in the afternoon. This is because of the problem that our cadres in Bekasi were criminalized, accused of being robbers. Therefore, our alliance from the Jabodetabek HMI went down together at the palace. Indeed, the goal is to pay attention to the issue of human rights cases and victims of wrongful arrests. ," he continued.
Arven said the location for their demonstration coincided with a state official's event. They were asked to move the location of the demo.
"However, the location of the action coincided with an event by a high-ranking state official, so we were asked to shift, because it did not comply with the protocol, which was referred to as a vital object," said Arven.
According to Arven, when the HMI mass was moving to move locations, there was pushing between HMI cadres and the police. Clashes are unavoidable.
Arven explained, three people were arrested in the incident. He said dozens of other cadres were injured.
"So that three people from HMI were arrested and dozens of other friends were injured," he said. Police Explanation
Head of Criminal Investigation Unit for Central Jakarta Metro Police AKBP Wisnu Wardana confirmed that his party had secured 3 HMI cadres.
"We are still investigating," said Vishnu.
Wisnu explained, the initial chronology of the arrests of these three HMI cadres. Initially, the HMI mass numbered about 20 people demonstrating in front of the palace without any notification.
"The mass of the unras action from the HMI group was about 20 people without giving notification of the action to the police," said Wisnu.
On the other hand, HMI held a demonstration at the location of a vital object, namely in front of the State Palace. Which is in accordance with Law Number 9 of 1998 concerning Freedom of Expression of Opinions in Public, demonstrations may not be held at the location of a vital object or a radius of 500 meters from a vital object.
"The police have appealed humanely for the mass action to disperse but it was ignored, so that strict and measurable police action was taken against the mass action so that we arrested three people," said Wisnu.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 21, 2022
- Event Description
Seven students from Yangon’s Dagon University who went missing over two days last week are believed to have been abducted by the military, a leader of the university’s student union said.
On April 21, five of the students disappeared after one revealed in a phone call with Dagon University Student Union chairperson Min Htet Han that a military truck was entering their street in Bahan Township.
The students were identified as Khant Zin Win, Thura Maung Maung, Zaw Lin Naing, Thiha Htet Zaw and Hein Htet.
The next day, two of their colleagues—Thet Paing Oo and Khant Lin Maung Maung—also reportedly went missing.
“We highly suspect that they were taken by the junta. Their families are also asking at the township police stations because they suspect the same thing, but we are still unable to find anything out,” Min Htet Han told Myanmar Now.
None of the students were members of the student union, but they had taken part in anti-coup protests, he said, adding that their disappearance has been reported to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The military council has not responded to Myanmar Now’s calls for comment concerning the missing students.
“We’re worried for their lives,” student union chair Min Htet Han said. “Many incidents like this have happened before, and so many people have died during interrogations without anyone knowing. We are extremely worried because we don’t even know where they are being held or what charges they are facing.”
“Their families at least have the right to know where they are,” he added.
The student union from the Yangon University of Economics also released a statement identifying one of their students, Htet Paing Soe, as also having been detained by the junta on April 21.
At the time of reporting, the AAPP had confirmed that nearly 1,800 civilians had been killed by the military council since the coup, and verified that more than 10,000 people were still in detention.
The actual figures may be much higher.
Even following brutal crackdowns on protests by the junta’s armed forces following the coup in February last year, youth across Yangon have continued demonstrations in opposition to the military.
Several attacks targeting members of the junta’s administrative mechanism have also been carried out by guerrilla forces in the commercial capital.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 21, 2022
- Event Description
A resident in Labuan Bajo was arrested by officers from the Resort Police [Polres] of West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Thursday (21/4) while trying to block an attempt to clear a road for the National Strategic Project [PSN].
Paulinus Jek, the name of the resident, is a member of the Racang Buka Community. He was arrested for trying to block an excavator when the eviction arrived at his teak plantation.
The Racang Buka Community is one of three groups of residents in Labuan Bajo whose land was allegedly taken by the Implementing Agency for the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority [BPOLBF] for the tourism business.
The road that passes through his garden will open access to an area of 400 hectares in the Bowosie Forest which will later become a project site by the Tourism Authority of Labuan Bajo Flores [BPOLBF] to be developed into a tourism business area.
Together with other residents of the Racang Buka Community, Paulinus has tried to resist the eviction. This is because they have controlled and resided in the area since 1999. They have made various efforts to gain recognition from the state.
However, their efforts went unanswered, and the eviction for the opening of the road was carried out on Thursday, April 21 under the guard of about 50 police and several members of the TNI. There are officers wearing official uniforms, some wearing civilian clothes while carrying long-barreled weapons.
Paulinus's arrest began with his shouting so that the teak trees would not be evicted.
"Don't evict my teak. Don't," he said, pointing and walking towards the excavator.
His scream was then followed by other residents. "This is our plant," shouted a resident.
"We are humans, sir. Please communicate. We are not animals," added another resident.
The actions of Paulinus and several other residents had made the excavator stop. However, the Head of the Mabar Police OPS Division, Robert M. Bolle, asked the heavy equipment operator to continue the work.
"Don't be silent. Forward, forward," he said.
Paulinus continued to protest and questioned the presence of the officers at the place.
"How much did you get paid. How much did the police get paid?" Paulinus shouted, pointing at the police in front of him.
Robert responded to his words with an arrest warrant.
"Secure him. Secure him. Take him. Arrest the others," he ordered to which several police personnel responded immediately.
Paulinus who was standing right in front of the excavator was immediately dragged away. He was struggling to get free from the police ambush. After Paulinus was arrested, the eviction was continued, under tight security by the army and police.
At 13.00 WITA, Paulinus was released and rejoined the residents.
The refusal of residents in the vicinity of the Bowosie Forest, as well as other civilian elements to the project, which is part of the national strategic project, was carried out because they considered the eviction site to be a buffer forest area for the city of Labuan Bajo. In addition, some areas are community gardens.
Racang Buka residents who enter the area of Gorontalo Village, Komodo District have inhabited the area since the 1990s.
They have made various legal efforts to legally inhabit at least 150 hectares of the Bowosie Forest in the southern part through a scheme to free forest areas into settlements and agricultural land.
Their step was answered by the government through the Decree of the West Manggarai Forest Boundary No. 357 of 2016, but only about 38 hectares were granted, which was designated as an area for Other Use Areas [APL].
While the residents were only given 38 hectares, the other part of the forest that they requested to become their rights is now part of the area handed over by the government to BPO-LBF through Presidential Decree 32 of 2018.
The Head of Operations Section [Head of OPS] West Manggarai Police, AKP Robertus M. Bolle stated that his presence at the eviction site was only to provide security at the order of the Chief of Police and the request of the Implementing Agency for the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority [BPOLBF].
"We carry out security duties with a letter of assignment from the police chief. The basis for that is an application from the Flores Labuan Bajo Authority Implementing Agency [BPOLBF] for security related to the opening of roads on government land. So that's the basis," he said.
"So, we are here to carry out security. Only security. Both from the workers and from the community itself," he added.
Regarding the arrest of the residents of Paulinus, he emphasized that this step was taken to prevent a bigger problem from being avoided.
"Persuasion has been done, communication has been good, we have to be a little strict with this activity. There is no pushing. But there is one of our brothers who gave his life in the excavator. We secure him so he doesn't get hurt. We move him from the location that threatens his life. , said Robert.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 20, 2022
- Event Description
Junta soldiers drove a vehicle into a crowd of protesters in Yangon on Wednesday afternoon, missing the marchers but smashing into a car carrying three women taking part in the demonstration, a witness told Myanmar Now.
After the collision, the troops took the women away, said Zaw Htet, a protester from Youth Union, one of the groups involved in the flash mob demonstration. “They held the women at gunpoint and made them sit in formation,” he said.
The women, aged 23, 25 and 30, were trying to escape in the car when they were hit, said Zaw Htet, adding that he did not know where the soldiers took them.
Two of those detained–Khine Thinzar Aye and Ei Phyu Phyu Myint–are members of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar, the union said on Wednesday. The identity of the third woman has not yet been revealed.
At around 4:25pm, just minutes after the protest started on Thanthumar road in South Okkalapa, some ten troops riding in a double cab pickup truck came hurtling towards the crowd of roughly 30 people.
“We saw them speeding towards us from Myittar street just minutes after the protest started and we dispersed to the sides of the road,” he said. “That was the only reason this didn’t end up the same way as it did on Panbingyi street.”
In December, junta forces drove into a crowd of anti-coup protesters on Yangon’s Panbingyi street, injuring and then arresting several. Witnesses initially told Myanmar Now that five were killed, but it is now unclear if there were fatalities.
Wednesday's protest was organised by the Anti-Junta Alliance Yangon, a group of students’ unions and youth organisations from the city.
The crowd chanted: “The oppressors are becoming more cruel,” and “Those who value justice, wake up!”
“We just wanted to notify people that the military cares for no one’s rights or needs as long as they get to rule the country,” said Zaw Htet.
Regular flash mob protests against the military have continued in Yangon even after soldiers massacred hundreds of peaceful protesters across the country last year.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 20, 2022
- Event Description
Monarchy reform activist Tantawan Tuatulanon’s bail was revoked today (20 April), after the Criminal Court claimed she has broken her bail conditions by going near a royal motorcade and posting about the monarchy on Facebook.
The Ratchadapisek Criminal Court ruled to revoke bail for Tantawan, claiming that she intended to cause disorder by going near a royal motorcade and that her Facebook posts are a repetition of her offence. The order was signed by judge Parit Piyanaratorn, Deputy Chief Justice of the Criminal Court.
Tantawan, 20, was charged with royal defamation, resisting officers, and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for live broadcasting before a royal motorcade on 5 March, during which she questioned the priorities of the police and the King as farmers protesting in the area at the time were forced to move to clear the route.
She was arrested again on the evening of 5 March on Ratchadamnoen Nok Road, the route of King Vajiralongkorn’s motorcade, by about 60 officers. She was initially taken to Phaya Thai Police Station before being moved to the Police Club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road since the police feared her supporters would stage a demonstration in front of the police station.
Tantawan was detained in the Narcotics Suppression Bureau located inside the Police Club from 5 March to 7 March when she was granted bail on a 100,000-baht security and the conditions that she must not repeat her offense or participate in activities which damage the monarchy, and must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Police from Nang Loeng Police Station asked the court to revoke her bail in late March, claiming that she violated her bail conditions by driving into an area where a royal motorcade was scheduled to pass on 17 March, and for posting on her Facebook page comments about royal motorcades and about being harassed by the police.
At around 11.40, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that the police notified them that they will be taking Tantawan to the Central Women's Correctional Institution immediately, even though her lawyer has yet to file another bail request for her.
Meanwhile, Tantawan posted on her Facebook following the court ruling: "Please continue the fight. When you go out to fight, please think of me."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 19, 2022
- Event Description
More than 100 unionists returned to strike against NagaWorld on Tuesday following failed negotiations and the holiday weekend, and they were yet again put on buses and toured around Phnom Penh’s outskirts.
Shortly after workers arrived near the Australian Embassy a little after 2 p.m. Tuesday, a total of 106 strikers were immediately loaded onto public buses and driven as far as the zoo in Chroy Changva district before being dropped off at 4 p.m. near the relocated Freedom Park, according to unionists.
Chan Bora, 37, who is still employed by NagaWorld, said Tuesday afternoon’s protest proceeded as it had before their nine-day break.
She said they unsuccessfully tried to “get in front of the company” by rallying at the park in front of NagaWorld 1, as they had in the early days of the strike.
“I know that when I come, I will be pushed onto the bus. But if we don’t come, they will think that we stopped, so we keep coming,” she said.
When asked how she was feeling to be back on the bus, Bora started crying: “I’m scared of the force from the authorities. If they want us to get on the bus, I will follow. I don’t want to be pushed and forced.”
Negotiations between NagaWorld and the unionists are set to resume on Thursday at the Labor Ministry, after talks stalled once again two weeks before.
Bora said she felt the solution should be simple.
“Two-hundred workers want to go back to work, which is easy to solve if the company wants, because they are full of experience, and this problem will continue if the company won’t solve this.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Apr 19, 2022
- Event Description
The Taliban must immediately investigate the detention and beating of Afghan journalist Reza Shahir, return his equipment, and cease harassing journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, April 19, armed Taliban members stopped Shahir, a reporter for the independent TV station Rahe Farda, while he was covering a suicide attack at a school in western Kabul, and proceeded to beat and detain him, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.
Shahir told CPJ that he reached the scene of the explosion before authorities, and when Taliban forces arrived at the scene, two members confiscated his camera and cellphone, punched him in the head and arms, beat him on the feet with their guns, and blindfolded him and took him away from the attack site.
They held Shahir for about three hours and accused him of being connected to the attack, and then released him without charge. After his release, Shahir asked Taliban officials at the Kabul police headquarters to return his equipment and said they refused, saying they would assess the content recorded at scene of the explosion.
“The Taliban must cease its routine arbitrary detention, abuse, and harassment of Afghan journalists,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “A lack of safety and growing unpredictability for journalists has become a sad trademark of Afghanistan under Taliban rule. If authorities want to show that they care about the media, they must investigate the recent harassment of journalist Reza Shahir, return his equipment, and hold those responsible to account.”
Shahir sustained light injuries to his feet during the beating, he told CPJ, adding that he did not know the location where he was held and questioned.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Apr 19, 2022
- Event Description
Karapatan condemns in the strongest terms the shooting incident against indigenous Manobo-Pulangiyon leaders and community members in Quezon, Bukidnon earlier today during their consultation meeting with presidential aspirant Leody de Guzman and senatorial candidates Roy Cabonegro and David D’ Angelo. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook and several were reportedly injured, including a local peasant organizer and a Manobo-Pulangiyon leader.
This act of violence is not merely a flagrant violation of election gun bans: it is a shameless attack which clearly aims to intimidate the indigenous Manobo-Pulangiyon community from asserting their rights to ancestral domains against land-grabbing. That this attack was committed in broad daylight speaks of the brazenness and impunity enjoyed by its perpetrators as well as of other cases of land-grabbing against indigenous communities in Mindanao. It also threatens the safety and integrity of our elections.
We call on the Commission on Elections to immediately investigate this incident. The perpetrators of this incident should be held accountable. We also call on all candidates in the upcoming elections and all freedom-loving Filipinos to condemn this attack and to stand in solidarity with our indigenous brethren in their struggle for their rights to their ancestral domains and self-determination, and in asserting the call for free, safe, and fair elections.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of Religion and Belief, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Apr 19, 2022
- Event Description
Vietnamese citizen journalist and political prisoner Le Trong Hung was allowed to see his wife for the first time since his arrest more than a year ago, a 40-minute meeting last week, his wife told RFA.
Born in 1979, Hung is known for livestreaming on Facebook and YouTube videos on controversial social and political issues, particularly land rights cases that have been at the center of controversies in Vietnam.
He was arrested in March 2021 on charges of “disseminating anti-State materials” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code shortly after nominating himself to run for Vietnam’s National Assembly elections in defiance of the ruling Communist Party and sentenced in December to five years in prison and five years of probation.
Hung was able to see his family on April 22, three days after an appeal’s court in Hanoi upheld his sentence in a hearing that neither his lawyers nor his family were informed about in advance, said Hung’s wife, Do Le Na.
“My husband said that on April 19, the trial day, he was ‘kidnapped; and sent to the court. He did not agree to stand the trial as he hadn’t got a chance to see his lawyers,” she told RFA.
Her 40-minute meeting was closely monitored, Na added.
“They repeatedly reminded me and my husband not to mention the appeal trial,” she said. “They warned that our talk over the phone would be stopped and we would be kicked out if we talked about the trial.”
Na said that she would keep fighting for her husband.
“I myself will keep speaking up and reaching out to human rights organizations and civilized countries which pay attention to the human rights situation in Vietnam. I want to point out how my husband has been treated and expose all of the Vietnamese government’s wrongdoings.”
Before his candidacy, Hung was a chemistry teacher at Xa Dan junior high school in Hanoi, but he quit teaching after unsuccessfully petitioning for reforms to the educational system.
He had also participated in protests for environmental conservation, as well as sharing news about protests in Myanmar and the cases of other activists targeted by Vietnam’s government.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 18, 2022
- Event Description
Sitanun Satsaksit, sister of missing activist in exile Wanchalearm Satsaksit, was included on a police special ‘red level’ watchlist, said the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF) today (22 April).
The CrCF said that a document was released on Monday (18 April) containing a list of people who are on the police’s list of “Special surveillance subjects (red level)”. The list included Sitanun and another activist, and the CrCF speculated that the list was compiled by a national security agency and sent to provincial police in order to have these people monitored.
Sitanun’s brother Wanchalearm went missing on 4 June 2020 while living in exile in Cambodia. For the past two years, Sitanun has been calling for justice for him. She has submitted petitions to government agencies and joining pro-democracy protests to campaign against enforced disappearance.
She is currently facing 2 charges of violating the Emergency Decree for speaking about her brother’s disappearance at a protest in September 2021 and for joining a group of other activists to submit a petition on human rights violations in Thailand to UN representatives in Thailand.
Meanwhile, Wanchalearm’s fate remains unknown and no progress has been made in the investigation into his disappearance.
The CrCF said that the watchlist is unlawful and a violation of Sitanun’s privacy and safety, and its lawyer, acting on behalf of Sitanun, will be sending a letter to police headquarters requesting an investigation into which agency complied the document, what its purpose is, and what the agency in question intend to do with Sitanun.
The request also asked the police to investigate whether the document has been sent to the local police near Sitanun’s residence, and if police headquarters is involved in the document’s compilation and in monitoring her activities, they must immediately cease their actions.
The CrCF called on the authorities to stop the legal prosecution of Sitanun, who is a human rights defender and is currently facing charges for participating in pro-democracy protests and demonstrations to call for justice for her brother. It also said that it will be sending copies of the letter to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC); the parliament Standing Committee on legal affairs, justice, and human rights; and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR).
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Thailand: WHRD charged with Emergency Decree violation
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir must stop prosecuting The Kashmir Walla’s staff and contributors for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
The State Investigation Agency (SIA) in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir arrested Abdul Aala Fazili, a former contributor to privately owned news portal The Kashmir Walla, on Sunday, April 17, in relation to a November 2011 opinion article, according to news reports. The SIA and Kashmir police also raided The Kashmir Walla office, the home of editor Fahad Shah—who was arrested in March—and Fazili’s home, seizing electronic devices including laptops.
According to the Indian Express, the SIA claimed that Fazili’s 2011 opinion piece supporting Kashmir’s separation from the Indian state was “highly provocative, seditious and intended to create unrest” and written to propagate “the false narrative which is essential to sustain [a] secessionist cum terrorist campaign aimed at breaking the territorial integrity of India.” The SIA did not give any information as to why it was acting now on the article.
“The Jammu and Kashmir authorities’ vindictive campaign against journalists has reached the point of absurdity with the arrest of former Kashmir Walla contributor Abdul Aala Fazili over an 11-year-old article,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, from Washington, D.C. “Indian authorities must drop its investigation into Fazili and immediately release him.”
Fazili is a former contributor to The Kashmir Walla who is currently a research scholar at Kashmir University, according to those news reports.
According to a statement by The Kashmir Walla, the SIA and Kashmir police raided Shah’s home and the outlet’s office for three hours on April 17. According to the outlet, officials seized two reporters laptops, a computer from the multimedia department, six hard drives, and five CDs. Officials also searched reporting notebooks and phones of two reporters who were present in the office during the raid.
The SIA accused Fazili of violating four sections of the Indian penal code, including criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting to wage war against the Indian government, sedition, and making assertions prejudicial to national integration, and two sections of the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for unlawful activities and terrorism, according to The Kashmir Walla.
Under the UAPA, Fazili could face up to seven years imprisonment. If found guilty of violating the four sections of the penal code, he faces a life sentence.
After the publication of this article, CPJ obtained a copy of the police force’s first information report, a document which opens an investigation.
That report only identifies Fazili by name, and says that police are also investigating the The Kashmir Walla’s editor, who it does not identify, for allegedly conspiring with Fazili and “endorsing the contents” of that 2011 article. It also says police are investigating an unspecified number of other people associated with The Kashmir Walla for alleged conspiracy-related violations of the penal code and the UAPA.
If charged and convicted of criminal conspiracy under the penal code, the accused could face up to six months in prison and a fine. Convictions for terrorist conspiracy under the UAPA can carry life imprisonment.
CPJ was unable to confirm Fazili’s current whereabouts. Shah is currently in preventive custody in Kupwara District Jail after he was granted bail in two investigations where he has been accused of violating the UAPA and other Indian laws, as CPJ documented and news reports.
Dilbag Singh, the director-general of the Jammu and Kashmir police, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app. CPJ could not locate contact information for the SIA’s spokesperson.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2022
- Event Description
Land rights activist Sat Pha, who was convicted of incitement last August in relation to a protest one year earlier outside the Chinese embassy, has fled Cambodia saying a death threat was posted on her door in Phnom Penh.
Pha was released in November with several other activists after serving a year in pre-trial detention and prison. Since her release, the former prisoner of conscience had been active in protesting the charges against Cambodian-American lawyer Seng Theary. Theary, an activist, is one of 139 supporters of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party who are being tried, en masse, for plotting to overthrow the government — charges rights monitors maintain are politically motivated.
“Upon my release from prison, I continue to struggle to fight injustice and have received verbal threats, including a death threat posted on my front door,” she told CamboJA via text message.
Pha said that she left Phnom Penh on Sunday and entered Thailand through an illegal crossing in Banteay Meanchey province.
“I am worried about my personal security if I remain in Cambodia,” she said. She added that she hopes the UN Refugee Agency can provide her with asylum status and find a third country for resettlement as she may face security threats in Thailand too.
A photo shared by Pha showed a note reading: “If you are still strong, be careful of disappearing.”
Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said he knew nothing of the death threat and suggested that perhaps the activist had forged the note.
“We do not know if it is true or not, related to the note posted,” he said.
“There are no death threats, and what would she have been threatened for because she wasn’t involved to commit or impact [national] security,” Sopheak said, noting that she already had been convicted and imprisoned.
“It might be her trick that she has posted herself to seek political asylum,” he said.
Pha denied the allegation, saying it was unsurprising a ruling party official would suggest it.
“I believe that because he is a CPP official, he will say that because he has never accepted their mistake.”
Am Sam Ath, operation director at rights group Licadho, called on the authorities to thoroughly investigate the threat.
“We beg authorities to investigate and find out the truth for the victim to avoid an accusation of politically motivation or political discrimination,” he said.
He noted that harassment of former opposition activists and supporters is not uncommon and that authorities rarely investigate.
In August 2021, Pha was sentenced to 12 months in prison along with nine others who protested outside the Chinese embassy in October 2020, calling for the Cambodian government to respect the Paris Peace Agreement and oppose a Chinese military presence.
A longtime activist, Pha was among the thousands of families evicted from the Boeung Kak lake area to make way for the development project of Shukaku Inc.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death threat, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Land rights defender, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2022
- Event Description
The alleged hacking of cellphones happened to a number of student activists in Kediri who held a demonstration in front of the Kediri City DPRD Office, Monday (11/4/2022).
The hacking occurred allegedly related to student demonstrations. Because the cellphone numbers belonging to a number of activists were asked to enter a verification code.
Chadifan, as the commander of the demonstration team, said there were hacking attempts by irresponsible parties.
A student of the Study Program Outside the Main Campus (PSDKU) Universitas Brawijaya Kediri told a number of media crews that his cellphone suddenly received a notification from another device that was trying to log in to his WhatsApp account.
According to him, the piracy of cellphones is evidence of the ongoing crisis of democracy in Indonesia.
"We are verifying the code. What we have done is two number or two-step verification. If there is an attempt we need to re-enter, this means hacking or logging in from another device so we need to confirm who is my login or not," said Chadifan after the demonstration in front of the Kediri City DPRD Office. In fact, a friend's number at Brawijaya University Malang has also been hacked and is still not functioning again. Even though there have been hacking attempts by other parties, Chadifan admitted that he still has no plans to report the case to the police.
It is suspected that the hacking of the student's cell phone number was related to the student demonstration movement to address the latest issues raised by students.
Meanwhile, the Head of Operations at the Kediri Police, Kompol Abraham Sisik, admitted to a number of media crews that so far the officers had not received any reports.
“There is no hacking of cellphones in Kediri. We ensure that the demonstration in Kediri is safe and orderly. Students are like our own children and younger siblings. We oversee it from the beginning, until the end of the demonstration. They expressed their gratitude to the police,” he said. To secure the student demonstration, the Kediri City Police deployed 410 personnel. Officers also escorted students and carried out traffic engineering during the demonstration which took place on Jl Mayor Bismo, Kediri City.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Nepal
- Initial Date
- Apr 15, 2022
- Event Description
Policepersons assaulted reporters while reporting a protest in Butwal on April 15. Butwal lies in Lumbini Province of Nepal.
Journalists Sharan Kumar Karmacharya (www.khabarkura.com), Dinesh Shrestha (www.khabarkura.com),DB Sushling (http://www.globalawaj.com/), Santa Kumar Shrestha (Editor, https://samatalonline.com/) and Bijay Gyawali (https://jagaranpost.com/) were reporting on a protest being waged by the locals demanding fair probe on suspicious death a woman on Wednesday (April 13) in front of the Area Police Office.
The clash occurred among protestors and police persons while taming the protest. Meanwhile, the police person incharge at the protest grabbed journalist Karmacharya by beck and said, "We do not care about any journalist", when Gyawali tried to show his press ID card to the police.
According the media reports, police persons seized mobile phone of Sushling and threatened him to delete the recordings, threw the microphone of journalist Gyawali, and beat journalist Santa Shrestha with baton on his legs.
Freedom Forum condemns the police hostility to the journalists while doing their job. It is gross violation of press freedom. Nepal police should be aware of the journalists' right to free reporting and ensure their safety while taming the protest.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 15, 2022
- Event Description
A network of civil society organizations dealing with children’s rights filed a complaint on Monday (18 April) with the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS), after Ministry officials were reported to be involved in the detention of 3 teenage activists on 15 April.
On 15 April, 3 teenage activists, one of whom was a 13-year-old girl, were detained while eating at the McDonald’s next to the Democracy Monument, possibly because a demonstration was scheduled to start there later in the day.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that the group was detained by 30 - 40 police officers and MSDHS officials, and were taken to the Ministry. Police officers also tried to confiscate their phones, claiming that they have the authority to do so on Ministry grounds, but the three activists were not charged, which TLHR said amounts to wrongful detention.
The activists were later taken to the Police Club on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road. They were released in the evening without charges.
One girl said on a live broadcast on the Facebook page Friends Talk that she went to eat at the McDonald’s next to the Democracy Monument, but was then asked by plainclothes police to leave because a royal motorcade was scheduled to pass the area. She insisted she was not planning any demonstration, and that she should not have to leave because she had done nothing wrong. Officials from the Ministry then came to talk to her before she was forcibly taken away by police officers. She also noted that the police told her parents she was “asked” to go with them when in fact she was carried out of the shop.
The girl said that the officers originally told them that they would be taken to the Bangkok City Hall, but they were instead taken to the MDSH. Once there, they were moved again to the Police Club since the officers were afraid that protesters would come to the Ministry. She also said that, once they arrived at the Police Club, their phones were confiscated, although they were later returned.
She also said that the police told her parents she tried to obstruct a royal motorcade when in fact she was just eating in the McDonald’s, and that Ministry personnel also told her parents that she was campaigning about the Ministry.
Although the MDSH is responsible for child welfare and has the authority to detain minors if they are committing a crime, the girl said that what Ministry personnel did to her should not be called protection.
“They said that they are protecting children, but what they did was dragging me and ordering to have me detained. MDSH officials watched me being carried into a police vehicle. They kept their arms by their side and just watched,” she said, noting that officials were dragging her by the arm while detaining her.
Following their release, 2 of the activists went to Chana Songkhram Police Station to file a complaint against the officers who arrested them for misconduct, confinement, taking children away from their guardians, and assault.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 12, 2022
- Event Description
The authorities in Thailand should urgently investigate an incident intended to intimidate a prominent human rights defender, Human Rights Watch said today.
On April 12, 2022, at about 6 a.m., an unidentified assailant threw a pair of 9-inch-long scissors at the house of Angkhana Neelapaijit in Bangkok, making a hole in her front door. Security camera footage showed what appeared to be a woman wearing a face mask and a dark t-shirt with the Thai numeral 9 standing in front of the house, throwing the scissors, and then running away. Angkhana, 66, is a former commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand and a newly appointed member of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
“Violent acts intended to intimidate a well-known figure like Angkhana not only pose a threat to her and her family, but send a spine-chilling message to the entire Thai human rights community,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government should respond immediately by undertaking a serious investigation to ensure that everyone responsible for this incident is held accountable.”
Angkhana told Human Rights Watch that she and her family felt vulnerable after the Justice Ministry canceled her protection under the government’s witness protection program on April 1. The authorities claimed the service was no longer needed because Angkhana’s life would no longer be in danger after the Department of Special Investigation ended its investigation of the enforced disappearance of her husband, the prominent human rights lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit.
“The Thai government should not ignore this disturbing incident, which appears to be a response to Angkhana’s effective human rights advocacy,” Pearson said. “Foreign governments and the United Nations should press the Thai government to urgently act to protect Angkhana and other human rights defenders in the country.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 11, 2022
- Event Description
Hong Kong veteran journalist Allan Au was arrested by national security police on Monday morning, local media reported. A source close to the matter confirmed the arrest with HKFP.
iCable, Now News, and Sing Tao cited sources saying that Au was arrested for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious materials, under colonial-era anti-sedition legislation. The former two outlets reported that Au’s arrest was linked with the Stand News case.
The 54-year-old journalist, who worked as a senior producer at TVB News and a radio host on RTHK, was also a columnist for outlets including Stand News and Ming Pao. Au was fired from RTHK in June last year amid a government-directed editorial overhaul.
As a Chinese University professional consultant at the School of Journalism, he specialised in “media censorship and self-censorship,” according to the university’s website. He also amassed a host of journalism awards since 1997.
When asked for a reaction by reporters following an event on Monday morning, Hong Kong leadership hopeful John Lee said that the Basic Law protects freedom of press and speech: “There has not been a change in its wording.”
Lee said that, as long as people are staying within “the legal framework,” their freedoms will be “sufficiently guaranteed.”
The police said in a statement published on Monday afternoon that officers from the national security department arrested a 54-year-old male in Kwai Chung on Monday for alleged “conspiracy to publish seditious publication.” The arrestee was not named in the statement. Stand News case
Stand News, an independent digital media outlet with a pro-democracy slant, folded in December last year after seven people linked to the outlet were arrested.
Two people – the platform’s former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting chief editor Patrick Lam – were charged under the colonial-era legislation, and both have been denied bail since the end of December last year.
Chung and Lam were set to appear in court on Wednesday as the court was scheduled to handle the prosecution’s application to transfer the case to the District Court.
The anti-sedition legislation, which was last amended in the 1970s when Hong Kong was still under British colonial rule, falls under the city’s Crimes Ordinance. It is separate from the Beijing-imposed national security law, and outlaws incitement to violence, disaffection and other offences against the authorities.
HKFP has reached out to the police for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Academic, Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 11, 2022
- Event Description
Rumors that Indonesia might postpone the scheduled 2024 presidential elections caused thousands of students around the country to march in protest on Monday.
The students say postponing the vote would allow President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi as he goes by, to remain in office beyond a two-term limit. Widodo has denied the rumors.
"This needs to be explained so that there are no rumors circulating among people that the government is trying to postpone the election, or speculation about the extension of the president's tenure or a related third term," Widodo said at a Cabinet meeting on election preparations.
In front of the parliament building in Jakarta, police used tear gas and water cannons to try to end the protests. Most left after some politicians met with them and vowed to protect the constitution.
However, some politicians reportedly support an extension for Widodo, saying he needs more time to fix the country’s economy, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We demand that the lawmakers do not betray the country's constitution by amending it," Kaharuddin, a protest coordinator, said. "We want them to listen to people's aspirations."
Another protester, Muhammad Lutfi, blamed the country’s elites for trying to delay the elections.
A two-term limit for the president was established in 1999 as the first amendment to the country’s constitution. That came one year after pro-democracy protests caused dictator Suharto to step down after leading the country for decades.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 11, 2022
- Event Description
Local police claimed soldiers were on holiday, not shooting at patrollers in a Kampong Speu community forest, as residents allege they were again targeted by soldiers last week.
Nov Norn, Trapaing Chor commune police chief in Oral district, acknowledged victims’ accounts that they had been shot at inside the “Metta” community forest last week, but downplayed the incident.
Though residents said it was soldiers who had shot at them, Norn said he had been told the area’s soldiers were on holiday.
“We asked the superiors in relation to the soldiers. We were not involved, and will let the inspection team investigate because this case is related to the military court,” he said. “It was not soldiers. It was just shooting to threaten, and shots to break the trailers’ tires. There were no injuries in the shooting.”
The forest has been mired in dispute since it was given to the military last year, taking away a community asset that local residents say they have worked to protect for decades. Among the forest’s defenders is a monk who has been living in the woods for years, and who was also allegedly shot at by soldiers last month.
Resident Khoeun Kea said six soldiers shot at him and his brother on April 11, destroyed their trailer, and beat his brother. He filed a police complaint two days later that the incident amounted to an attempt on their lives. But he had yet to be questioned for any further information, he said.
“I asked the relevant authorities to investigate and arrest the perpetrators to punish them under the law because this was an act of manslaughter,” Kea said.
Norn, the commune police chief, however, said the violence had been merely a conflict between individuals, and it was hired workers — not soldiers — who fired guns.
Oral district police chief Buth Buntheoun hung up after a reporter introduced himself.
Khorn Sarith, another local resident, said it was not an isolated incident. Soldiers had also fired at him when he and other community members protested against them clearing the forest in the past, Sarith said.
There have now been several incidents of shooting and violence, including some injuries. But police have not responded, he said.
“Soldiers have done whatever they want, and legal action has not been taken,” Sarith said.
Ten community representatives are instead facing court prosecution over their protests, residents said.
Vann Sophat, a land monitoring official at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said warning shots, threats and violence were clearly illegal and violated human rights.
“We see that Cambodians who are affected by land or other rights violations are suffering worse and worse because there is a culture of impunity for law enforcement officials, especially the armed forces.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 11, 2022
- Event Description
The Central Coordinator of the Student Executive Board or BEM SI, Kaharuddin, said that his house in Riau was visited by unknown people after the April 11, 2022 demonstration in front of the Indonesian Parliament Building, Central Jakarta. The unknown person came to his house when Kaharuddin was in Jakarta.
"On the evening of April 11, a neighbor saw (an unknown person). He asked for his home address and wanted to tell his parents that there was no news of Kahar in Jakarta. It seems he wants to panic the parents," said Kaharudin when contacted by Tempo, Wednesday. , April 13, 2022.
In last Monday's action, Kaharuddin was the most vocal student delivering oration in front of the DPR RI Building. The Riau University student who was also a student representative met with three Deputy Chairmen of the Indonesian House of Representatives, namely Sufmi Dasco, Rahmat Gobel, and Lodewijk F Paulus, and the National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo.
Kaharudin explained that threats also came to him ahead of the April 11 action. He admitted that he received a call from an unknown number threatening to harm Kahar before the April 11 demonstrations began.
Kaharuddin said that threats like this have often happened every time BEM SI will hold a national action. However, this is the first time that the perpetrators have carried out a mode of action by making parents worried.
This effort to stamp out this action also happened to other members of BEM SI. Kaharuddin said that several campuses in the area even summoned the BEM the day before the action started. Several other students also admitted to being terrorized before the action started.
Kaharuddin said that his Instagram social media had also been hacked since 7 April 2022 until now. After being hijacked, his social media spread information on the cancellation of the April 11, 2022 action. "Yesterday I reported it to Safenet (about the hacking)," said Kaharuddin.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Online Attack and Harassment, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Internet freedom, Freedom of expression Offline, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 11, 2022
- Event Description
The alleged hacking of cellphones happened to a number of student activists in Kediri who held a demonstration in front of the Kediri City DPRD Office, Monday (11/4/2022).
The hacking occurred allegedly related to student demonstrations. Because the cellphone numbers belonging to a number of activists were asked to enter a verification code.
Chadifan, as the commander of the demonstration team, said there were hacking attempts by irresponsible parties.
A student of the Study Program Outside the Main Campus (PSDKU) Universitas Brawijaya Kediri told a number of media crews that his cellphone suddenly received a notification from another device that was trying to log in to his WhatsApp account.
According to him, the piracy of cellphones is evidence of the ongoing crisis of democracy in Indonesia.
"We are verifying the code. What we have done is two number or two-step verification. If there is an attempt we need to re-enter, this means hacking or logging in from another device so we need to confirm who is my login or not," said Chadifan after the demonstration in front of the Kediri City DPRD Office. In fact, a friend's number at Brawijaya University Malang has also been hacked and is still not functioning again. Even though there have been hacking attempts by other parties, Chadifan admitted that he still has no plans to report the case to the police.
It is suspected that the hacking of the student's cell phone number was related to the student demonstration movement to address the latest issues raised by students.
Meanwhile, the Head of Operations at the Kediri Police, Kompol Abraham Sisik, admitted to a number of media crews that so far the officers had not received any reports.
“There is no hacking of cellphones in Kediri. We ensure that the demonstration in Kediri is safe and orderly. Students are like our own children and younger siblings. We oversee it from the beginning, until the end of the demonstration. They expressed their gratitude to the police,” he said. To secure the student demonstration, the Kediri City Police deployed 410 personnel. Officers also escorted students and carried out traffic engineering during the demonstration which took place on Jl Mayor Bismo, Kediri City.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Apr 10, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir must immediately and unconditionally release Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan and cease detaining journalists for their work and subjecting them to legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
On Sunday, April 10, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir re-arrested Sultan, a journalist with the monthly magazine Kashmir Narrator, under the 1978 Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act days after he was granted bail in a separate case, according to various news reports and Sultan’s lawyer, Adil Pandit, who spoke to CPJ by phone.
The Public Safety Act allows for suspects to be held for up to two years in preventative detention without trial, according to those sources. Pandit told CPJ that the grounds for Sultan’s detention under the Public Safety Act were unclear, and he was expecting a copy of the detention order from an executive district magistrate soon.
“We urge police in Jammu and Kashmir to respect the decision of the judiciary, which has found no evidence to justify holding journalist Aasif Sultan in jail,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Sultan should be released at once, having already spent over three and a half years in jail without being convicted of any crime, and authorities must cease weaponizing preventative detention and anti-terror laws against journalists to muzzle their work.”
Police arrested Sultan in August 2018 for allegedly harboring terrorists in violation of the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, shortly after he published an article about Burhan Wani, leader of the armed Hizbul Mujahideen group, who was killed by Indian authorities in 2016, sparking anti-government protests in Kashmir.
On April 5, 2022, a special court of the National Investigation Agency, which handles terror-related cases, granted Sultan bail in that case, claiming that the state had failed to provide evidence linking him to any militant organization, Pandit told CPJ.
However, authorities kept Sultan at the Batamaloo Police Station in Srinagar, and then re-arrested him under the Public Safety Act, Pandit said, adding that authorities said they would move the journalist to Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal jail, about 200 miles from Srinagar.
Sultan’s father, Mohammad Sultan, told CPJ by phone that, before he was re-arrested, authorities at the Batamaloo Police Station insisted that the journalist would be released soon.
In January, police similarly re-arrested Sajad Gul, a journalism student and trainee reporter at the online news portal The Kashmir Walla, under the Public Safety Act after he was granted bail in a separate criminal conspiracy case, according to news reports. On March 14, police re-arrested Fahad Shah, editor of The Kashmir Walla, also under that act, after he was granted bail in a number of separate criminal and anti-terror cases, according to a statement by his outlet.
In August 2020, CPJ joined nearly 400 journalists and civil society members in calling on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release Sultan. In February 2022, CPJ joined 57 press freedom organizations, rights groups, and publications in calling on the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir to release all arbitrarily detained journalists, including Shah, Gul, Sultan, and freelance photojournalist Manan Dar.
Dilbag Singh, the director-general of the Jammu and Kashmir police, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Apr 10, 2022
- Event Description
Traffic police taking money from motorists detained and threatened a citizen journalist, ordering him to delete his photos and videos of the bribery, the journalist alleged.
Suon Vutha said he was on his way from Kampot to Phnom Penh on Sunday when he reached a checkpoint in Kandal’s Loeuk Dek district. He saw taxi vans overflowing with passengers, but traffic police were taking money to look the other way, Vutha said.
“Some of them were overcrowded, so they just gave 20,000-30,000 riel [$5-$7.5] to the traffic police. They let them go without any direct law enforcement,” he said.
Vutha pulled out his phone to take videos, and he was taken in for questioning for more than an hour. Officers demanded to see his “mission letter” as well as ID, and ordered him to delete his videos and sign an agreement to stop.
“It’s a threat to the people,” he said. “I filmed this in public. I did nothing wrong. And he threatened to send me to the district authorities to build a case to take to court.”
“He said I was wrong to film authorities while they operated.”
Vutha said he eventually signed the agreement and deleted his images so he could get away.
Vutha is a member of a citizen journalists training program with the Cambodian Center for Independent Media. CCIM is VOD’s parent organization.
Loeuk Dek district governor Am Thou defended the police’s actions, saying that the orders to delete the videos were not a threat because the journalist had failed to request and receive cooperation from authorities at work.
“The press must ask for cooperation from that place. No matter what the place is, please show up with enough rights to do so,” Thou said. “If you sneak up and take photos, it means that you are taking the negative points to do something bad, and we, the authorities, are not prepared.”
Thou added that if there was any bribery, both the motorists and police would be at fault.
However, Information Ministry spokesman Phos Sovann said anyone could take photos or videos in public. Exceptions were areas that authorities had enclosed off to preserve evidence or conduct important inquiries, he said.
Traffic officers would be overstepping if they ordered journalists to delete videos and threatened to send them to court, and would be infringing on journalists’ work, Sovann added.
Cambodian Journalists Alliance director Nop Vy agreed, saying orders to delete images taken in public places were a violation of civil liberties.
“It is only if such threatening actions are investigated and prosecuted or punished with administrative fines that it will be possible to prevent such threats from repeating in the future.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Apr 10, 2022
- Event Description
The family of a church worker who was arrested in Cagayan De Oro denied the claims of authorities that there were firearms and ammunition found in his home.
Aldeem Yañez, a member of Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), was arrested when combined members of the Philippine military and the Philippine National Police raided his home early morning of Sunday, April 10.
The Promotion of Church People’s Response described Yañez’s arrest as an “established pattern where authorities have planted firearms and ammunition during the operations.”
In a video uploaded in social media, Yañez’s mother, Kathleen, said that her son is known as a good man in their village and in the IFI national office, dedicating his life to serve the marginalized.
She thanked all those who are supporting their Yañez and their fight for justice and the truth.
On Monday, April 11, church groups held an online indignation rally to condemn Yañez’s arrest.
Last June 4, 2018, Yañez was among 13 activists and church workers who were arrested during a program consultation of the IFI’s Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development regarding issues of farmers and the lumad communities in General Santos City, South Cotabato.
IFI priest Fr. June Mark said that the allegations against his brother is impossible because he has been taking care of their sick father at their home for the past months. “Who in their right mind will bring firearms and ammunition in this kind of situation? He also does not have a record of being a gun smuggler or drug dealer for him to bring firearms and ammunition where our parents live,” June Mark said.
“He is not a priest like me, or bishop like my other brother but he is eager to serve the people. Guitar is his most favorite instrument of proclaiming the good news as well as what we can call a weapon of resistance as an activist, not guns and ammunition as claimed by the state agents,” he said.
In a statement, IFI Supreme Bishop Rhee Timbang decried what he described as a “grave abuse of police and the military power and the cooptation of the civil courts.”
“We root this in the tyrannical rule of the present dispensation which has no regard and respect for the law, human rights, social justice and human dignity,” Timbang said in a statement.
Yañez is currently detained at Camp Evangelista, Patag, Cagayan de Oro City with charges of illegal possession of firearms.
Timbang said Yañez is in good standing as a member of the IFI. “He is active and committed in his participation to the life and work of the Church as being a consistent church youth leader in the parish, diocesan, regional [Mindanao], and national level,” Timbang said adding that Yañez also served as the national youth president of the church.
Yañez also served as a volunteer staff of Visayas-Mindanao Regional Office for Development (VIMROD), a development program of the IFI, and of Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP).
“He is a musician and songwriter of many church songs used popularly within and outside the IFI,” Timbang said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Apr 9, 2022
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have detained four opposition activists who staged a protest performance in front of the Russian consulate against the mass killings of civilians by Russian troops in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.
Four members of Oyan, Qazaqstan (Wake Up, Kazakhstan) -- Asem Zhapisheva, Tamilya Anchutkina, Darkhan Sharipov, and Aqbota Sharipzhanova -- holding Ukrainian flags, laid down with their hands behind their backs in front of the Russian Consulate on April 9,
They were evoking images that have emerged from Bucha, outside Kyiv, where hundreds of civilians were found dead after the withdrawal of Russian forces.
Many were found lying in the street, their hands tied behind their back.
The four were bundled away by police and taken to a nearby police station, where they were released several hours later after being interrogated.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 8, 2022
- Event Description
A Mandalay-based lawyer known for helping farmers in land disputes with the military was “brutally” beaten by soldiers in front of his wife and children before being taken away earlier this month, a friend of his has said.
Five vehicles full of junta troops arrived at the Chanayetharzan Township home of Si Thu, 40, on April 8 to abduct him. He has not been seen or heard from since and the military has not told the family where he is being held.
“He was beaten brutally in front of his family,” said the friend, who is also a lawyer and asked not to be named. “They only stopped beating him when the wife and the children started begging the soldiers.”
From 2019 Si Thu worked pro bono on the case of a group of residents who were opposing the construction of a cement factory in the village of Aung Tha Pyay. Police shot a man in the leg during a 2020 raid targeting those protesting the factory.
The lawyer also represented farmers in Pyin Oo Lwin who tried to prevent the military from seizing their land in late 2020.
At least 20 people were arrested in Mandalay last week for their opposition to the military, according to local sources.
Three young anti-coup activists from the city, including a protest leader named Thura Aung, have been held in junta custody since January. Activists from the Mandalay Strike Committee say they are worried for the detainees’ lives.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Land rights defender, Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 8, 2022
- Event Description
The trial of Wang Aizhong, a social media activist who highlighted vulnerable communities, was set to take place on April 12 at the Guangzhou Tianhe District Court on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” but the trial was canceled four days before the scheduled date. The court refused to provide Wang’s lawyer with any rationale for the sudden cancelation, including refusing to confirm whether it was COVID-related.
The police have told Wang Aizhong’s wife that he was detained because of his social media posts and for giving foreign media interviews. While in detention, Wang has lost 10kg due to poor nutrition and he has been prevented from purchasing extra food or toiletries from the commissary.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2022
- Event Description
Vietnamese authorities should drop all requirements that journalist Phan Bui Bao Thy attend mandatory “re-education” classes, let him work freely, and stop using arbitrary anti-state laws to harass and detain journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
On April 7, the People’s Court of Quang Tri sentenced Thy to one year of “non-custodial re-education” for allegedly defaming state leaders on social media, according to news reports. That sentence allows Thy to live outside of a prison, but under state supervision that requires him to attend classes on local laws and regulations for the duration of his sentence, according to reports.
The ruling, handed down after five days of deliberations, cited 79 posts allegedly published by Thy and Le Anh Dung, a local businessman, on the Facebook pages Hoang Le, Quang Tri 357, and QUANG TRI 357 between April 2020 and February 2021, according to those reports, which said the posts infringed on the “reputation, honor and dignity” of provincial leaders.
Dung was sentenced to 18 months of the same punishment, those reports said.
“It is Vietnamese authorities, not journalist Phan Bui Bao Thy, who need a ‘re-education’ on the importance of a free press in a just, fair, and democratic society,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must immediately stop punishing and jailing journalists on spurious anti-state charges.”
Thy, the bureau chief of the state-run Giao Duc Va Thoi Dai (Age and Education) news magazine, was first detained on February 10, 2021, in Vietnam’s central Quang Tri province, as CPJ documented at the time.
At the time, CPJ was able to review the page Quang Tri 357, which had about 2,300 followers and featured posts accusing Quang Tri provincial leaders of misusing funds meant for local infrastructure and property projects. The Facebook pages allegedly linked to Thy and Dung have since been taken down or set to private.
Thy was held in pretrial detention until his conviction under Article 331 of Vietnam’s penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “abusing freedom and democracy to infringe on the legal interests of the state, organizations, and individuals,” according to those news reports.
CPJ emailed the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and called the Quang Tri People’s Court for comment, but did not receive any replies.
Vietnam is among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, with at least 23 members of the press, including Thy, behind bars for their work at the time of CPJ’s 2021 prison census.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2022
- Event Description
Xing Wangli, a rights activist in the central Chinese province of Henan, has been put on trial behind closed doors on charges of "defamation" after he supported human rights attorney Jiang Tianyong, who remains under house arrest following his release from prison.
Xing, who is currently being held at Henan's Xi County Detention Center, stood trial by video link at the Xi County People's Court on April 7 on charges of "defamation" after he posted an open letter accusing a local propaganda official of corruption and intimidation.
The court building was closed for business on Thursday, with a large police presence on the streets outside.
More than a dozen fellow activists went to support Xing, but they were prevented from approaching the building by court police, who deleted photos of the scene from their mobile phones.
Xing has been denied permission to meet with his lawyer, who didn't receive a copy of the indictment until March 21, the U.S.-based rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation said in a statement on its website.
The authorities cited disease prevention restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.
Blunt-force head injuries
Xing's wife Xu Jincui was at the court to observe the trial, which was closed to journalists or members of the public.
"The prosecution accused Xing Wangli of continuing to speak out about the unusual deaths of two petitioners in Xi county: Diao Yanfang and Feng Guohui," Xu told RFA. "[They] claimed that Xing Wangli instigated his son to participate in rights protection activities."
"But more importantly, Xing Wangli said that the serious injuries he suffered were directly linked to three well-known local officials," she said.
Xing suffered serious head injuries in 2016 while being held at Xi County Detention Center. He later said they were the result of an attack with a blunt weapon.
He has repeatedly requested an official probe into the incident via the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Xing's son Xing Jian, who now lives in New Zealand, said the authorities have claimed that the injuries were the result of a fall during a botched suicide attempt, and he said the video presented by the prosecution as evidence had likely been tampered with.
He said he believes the current prosecution was sparked by his father's attempt to visit Jiang Tianyong.
"After my father was arrested, my mother was illegally detained many times by the local stability maintenance personnel," Xing Jiang said. "During this period, these stability maintenance personnel also told my mother many times not to interact with [Jiang] in future, otherwise there will be endless trouble for her."
"The authorities believe that lawyer Jiang Tianyong tried to subvert state power, saying that he is anti-party and anti-state, but I don't think a regular lawyer could do that," he said.
'Picking quarrels and stirring up trouble'
He said an unidentified driver had scraped Xing's lawyer's car in the court parking lot on Thursday.
"[That kind of] psychological pressure would affect his performance in court," Xing Jian said.
Xing was originally detained on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" in May 2021 after he tried to visit Jiang, who remains under house arrest, in April 2021.
He was formally arrested in June 2021, but for "defamation," and indicted by the county prosecutor in January 2022.
While defamation cases in China have previously been private prosecution cases, new guidelines issued in 2013 paved the way for it to be brought as a criminal charge against people accused of "spreading disinformation or false accusations online can constitute criminal acts.
If a post deemed to contain disinformation or false accusations accrues more than 5,000 views or 500 reposts, then it is considered a "serious circumstance," according to the U.S.-based rights group, the Duihua Foundation.
Jiang was "released" from prison in February 2019 at the end of a two-year jail term for "incitement to subvert state power," a charge often used to imprison peaceful critics of the government.
He was allowed to return to his parents' home in Luoyang, but remains under close surveillance and heavy restrictions.
Jiang's U.S.-based wife Jin Bianling has repeatedly expressed concern for her husband's health after he was tortured by cellmates during his time in detention.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2022
- Event Description
Frontliners led by the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) filed charges against the anti-insurgency task force’s spokesperson Lorraine Badoy before the Office of the Ombudsman on Thursday, April 7, World Health Day.
The group, together with union leaders from different government hospitals, filed their complaint on the same day when Badoy tagged the AHW along with other progressive groups as a “creation of the CPP-NPA-NDF” to infiltrate the government.
Speaking to members of the press, Antonio La Viña, who serves as counsel for the health workers, said they are filing the complaint against Badoy to make her stop her red-tagging activities.
“As we can see, all those who are doing good things are being red-tagged, even Vice President Leni Robredo and her supporters,” La Viña said in Filipino, adding that red-tagging should be stopped.
“USec. Badoy insulted and demeaned our dignity as leaders and damaged the good reputation of our organization,” said Robert Mendoza, AHW national president, adding, “As we fight the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been at the forefront in consistently and wholeheartedly serving the Filipino people as we also fight for our safety, protection and welfare.”
After red-tagging AHW, Mendoza said that last April 12, 2021 Badoy accused him and Benjamin Santos Jr., AHW’s secretary general as operatives and cadres of the CPP-NPA-NDF.
In a position paper, Filipino Nurses United said that some of their colleagues experienced threat, harassment and vilification from state forces.
“There have been instances when hospital workers engaged in union activities were stalked in their workplaces and/or red-tagged and caricatured in social media to denigrate their persons and even portray them as enemies of the state,” the group said.
In a statement, Santos asserted that vilifying their organization is putting their lives in imminent danger, citing cases of leaders of legal organizations who, after being red-tagged, were arrested due to trumped-up charges or are even killed.
In December 2020, Dr. Mary Rose Sancelan and her husband were killed in Guihulngan City, Negros Oriental. This after her name was included in a hitl ist tagging her as JB Regalado, spokesperson of the New People’s Army in Central Negros. However, Sancelan was working as city health officer and head of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) in the province.
Community health workers and human rights defender Zara Alvarez was also killed in Bacolod City. She was also relentlessly red-tagged by the state forces.
Recently, Dr. Natividad Castro who was also red-tagged and arrested, but fortunately was released from prison after the court dismissed the charges against her.
Another health worker, 72-year old Vilma Yecyec, remains in prison after authorities arrested her last February of this year. She is accused of being a member of the NPA.
FNU said that red-tagging by the State is a “blatant violation of one’s right to speak up about issues and concerns affecting our role as health care providers.”
“When we raise our grievances about work life conditions, for instance, and assert our rights to fair wages and humane work conditions, we are justly exercising our fundamental rights to free speech as an organization. But an extreme response by some state forces is to stifle the exercise of legitimate rights, sow fear by red-tagging, hurl trumped-up charges to exact arrest and worse, as has happened, even physically eliminate the targets,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the AHW assert the legality of their organization which, for the past four decades, has championed the rights not only of health workers but also of the people’s right to health.
The group is also behind the legislation of significant laws such as Republic Act 7305 or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers that ensures the benefits and well-being of government health workers. It also significantly contributed to the proclamation of May 7 as “National Health Workers Day” under Republic Act 10069.
“AHW also played a major role in fighting for salary increase and just benefits of both public and private health workers and made various concerted efforts to seek and improve the living and working conditions of public and private health workers,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza said the AHW was also established in accordance with Executive Order No. 180, s.1987, otherwise known as the Public Sector Unionism. It is also registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and its member organizations are registered and accredited by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
“For the longest time, the so-called ‘modern-day heroes’ have been fully committed to render service to our country, even risking their lives in battling the deadly virus. Yet, they remain overworked and underpaid while the promised COVID-19 benefits were not equally and fully provided to them,” said Mendoza.
“Instead of addressing and supporting our just call for safety, protection, rights and welfare, Usec. Badoy managed to red-tag us. This is grave misconduct and conduct unbecoming of a government official and as a medical doctor. She has no sympathy with us as her colleagues in the health profession,” Mendoza added.
Santos said filing a case against red-taggers is one way of protecting their loved ones and their organization.
“Thus, we earnestly urge the Office of the Ombudsman to issue an immediate preventive suspension and ultimately dismiss USec. Badoy from the service, cancel her civil service eligibility and permanently disqualify her to enter any government service,” Santos said.
Prior to this filing by AHW, several groups and individuals have already filed complaints against Badoy at the Office of the Ombudsman after her relentless red-tagging of Robredo, her supporters and groups who are supporting her candidacy.
Groups maintained that Badoy, as a government official, should not be using government resources in attacking the opposition.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2022
- Event Description
A Tibetan activist traveling to promote language rights in Tibetan areas of western China has been denied shelter, RFA has learned, after authorities ordered hotel operators in the region to turn him away.
Tashi Wangchuk, a former political prisoner aged around 35, had been traveling in China’s Qinghai province since April 6, a Tibetan living in the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service in an exclusive interview earlier this week.
“On his way from Yulshul to Siling, he had stopped by various Tibetan schools in Golog, Rebgong and Malho to advocate for the use of Tibetan language in Tibetan schools,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“But he was denied accommodation and dismissed from hotels in Rebgong [In Chinese, Tongren] and Malho [Huangnan]. We don’t have any information about his present whereabouts, and it’s dangerous to talk about this,” he added.
Wangchuk was later confirmed by RFA to be staying at his brother's home in Siling, where officials are requiring anyone traveling to the area to enter a 15-day quarantine for COVID-19. Sources said authorities continue to monitor his movements.
A resident of Qinghai’s Yulshul (Yushu) municipality, Wangchuk was released on Jan. 28, 2021, after completing a prison term for “inciting separatism” and is now subject to near-constant monitoring by authorities.
While traveling, Wangchuk had posted photos and videos of his visits to Tibetan schools in Darlag (Dali) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and in Rebgong, where Chinese authorities have clamped down on the use of the Tibetan language in teaching, RFA’s source said.
“However, only 30 minutes after checking into a hotel in Rebgong on April 7, the hotel told him to leave after they were instructed by county police not to let him stay, and his attempts to find a hotel on April 8 and 9 also failed after police told the hotels not to give him accommodation.”
When Wangchuk went to a police station in the Malho prefecture to complain, he was denied entry to the station and told no one there could talk to him, the source said. “And later he even went to Rebgong county’s Commission for Discipline Inspection to file an appeal, but it was closed.”
“After April 10, all the details that he posted on his Weibo social media account were deleted by the Chinese authorities, so it’s difficult to learn anything now about his well-being,” he added.
Also speaking to RFA, Pema Gyal — a researcher at London-based Tibet Watch — said that former political prisoners in Tibet are kept on Chinese government black lists and often have trouble finding jobs or accommodation in hotels.
“We are, of course, very concerned about Tashi Wangchuk at the moment,” Gyal said.
While China claims to uphold the rights of all minorities to access a bilingual education, Tibetan-language schools have been forced to shut down, and school-age children in Tibet regularly receive instruction only in Mandarin Chinese.
Similar policies have been deployed against ethnic Mongolians in China’s Inner Mongolia and Muslim Uyghurs in northwestern China’s region of Xinjiang.
Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago.
Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship, Online Attack and Harassment, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Internet freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Apr 6, 2022
- Event Description
Responding to the Delhi Court order this morning directing Amnesty International India’s Board chair, Aakar Patel, not to leave the country without prior permission, Amnesty International‘s Deputy Secretary General, Kyle Ward said:
“The continued denial of Aakar Patel’s right to freedom of movement and freedom of expression is outrageous. The criminalization of activists and human rights defenders for making ‘a lot of noise’ and criticizing the authorities must stop. The Indian authorities must immediately revoke the travel ban on Aakar Patel.
“This is part of the wider crackdown and repression of civil society in India that we have seen over recent years. Amnesty International once again calls on the Indian authorities to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the human rights of all human rights defenders and civil society organizations. Those working to promote the human rights of other people must be allowed to carry out their activities without any hindrance or fear of reprisals.”
Background:
On 6 April 2022, Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Board chair was prevented from leaving the country by immigration authorities to attend speaking engagements on the attacks on the civil society in India organized by several US universities. This was based on the ‘Look Out Circular’ issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On 7 April 2022, a Delhi court order directed the CBI to withdraw the Look Out Circular against Aakar Patel and issue him a written apology
Later in the day, Aakar was stopped again by immigration authorities from travelling out of the country.
On 8 April 2022, interim relief was granted to the CBI which had sought revision of the Delhi Court order and the Delhi Court ordered Aakar Patel not to leave country without prior permission.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Apr 6, 2022
- Event Description
Activist Tantawan Tuatulanon was blocked from going near the Temple of the Emerald Buddha yesterday (6 April) after she intended to wait for a royal motorcade.
King Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida were scheduled to travel past the area to pay respect to the Monument of King Phuttayodfa Chulalok, or King Rama I, at Memorial Bridge, on the occasion of Chakri Memorial Day, an annual public holiday held on 6 April to commemorate the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty.
The King and Queen were also scheduled to attend a religious ceremony at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Their royal motorcade was greeted by a crowd waiting along the route.
While passing through a checkpoint, Tantawan was stopped by police officers, who checked the identification of both Tantawan and a Prachatai reporter covering her activities.
The police told Tantawan that they could not allow her to pass and join others waiting to receive the King and Queen because she is facing a national security charge. They claimed that they did not have the authority to decide whether she can be let through without consulting the organizing committee. Another person waiting for the royal motorcade nearby also said that Tantawan had to be watched even if she was allowed through because she has broken the law, so Tantawan asked them if they are aware that she is facing a royal defamation charge merely for conducting a poll about whether people are affected by royal motorcades.
Tantawan is facing two royal defamation charges, one for conducting a poll on royal motorcades at Siam Paragon on 8 February 2022 and another for live streaming near a royal motorcade route on 5 March and questioning the authorities for clearing the road in preparation for a procession by removing protesting farmers who had been living in a makeshift shelter on the footpath for 3 months.
She was granted bail on all charges. However, the police have requested that her bail be revoked, claiming that she violated her bail conditions by posting about the monarchy and royal motorcades on social media. The police also claimed that Tantawan and her friends tried to drove to an area close to a royal motorcade on the evening of 17 March 2022. The Ratchadapisek Criminal Court has scheduled a hearing on 20 April 2022 during which it will rule whether her bail will be revoked.
While Tantawan was waiting at the checkpoint, she was approached by a woman wearing a yellow shirt. After seeing a "Ku Kult" sticker on Tantawan's mobile phone, the woman asked if she worked for the Ku Kult Facebook page.
The woman then asked Tantawan if she knew that the man who put the sticker onto a portrait of King Vajiralongkorn was convicted on a royal defamation charge. Tantawan then asked the woman if the conviction was reasonable, but the woman continued to argue with her and said that normal people are not affected by the royal defamation law.
A Prachatai reporter covering Tantawan's activity was filming the argument on his mobile phone. The woman then tried to slap the phone away, despite the reporter insisting that he had not filmed her face. The woman then walked away while saying "Ku Kult is a Facebook page that insults the King".
At around 17.30, at another protest at the King Taksin the Great Monument at Wongwian Yai, one of the activists announced that Tantawan was being held at a checkpoint along the royal motorcade route and that protesters would march to Memorial Bridge to meet her.
As the march approached Memorial Bridge, police officers lined up to block the bridge and prevent traffic from taking the bridge. The Buppharam Police Station Superintendent then announced that the protesters were violating the Emergency Decree and must disperse immediately.
The Superintendent also said that the police would bring Tantawan to meet the protesters at a park near Phra Pok Klao bridge. However, at the time, Tantawan was still waiting at the checkpoint. The police never took her into custody during the entire evening. She later left the checkpoint with a friend at around 20.30.
At 18.45, the police began letting motorcycles onto Phra Pok Klao Bridge. Officers were stopping motorcycles taking the bridge and asking each person where they were going before letting them through. Other vehicles were not allowed through until 19.00.
While protesters are gathering at Memorial Bridge and Tantawan was waiting at the checkpoint, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Tanruetai, a 16-year-old activist, was detained at Samranrat Police Station after police officers found a “Long live the King” banner in her bag.
Tanruetai said that the police forced her to sign a log of her activity, but did not notify her if she is being charged, so she refused to sign any document and left the police station at around 19.35. She told TLHR that she was detained in the Bangkok City Hall area.
TLHR also said that another teenage activist was detained from the Sanam Luang area and taken to Royal Palace Police Station. The officers claimed that they would record her detention and release her without charging her. The activist refused to participate in the procedure and left the police station at around 19.35.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2022
- Event Description
Vietnamese authorities should release journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam immediately and unconditionally, and stop imprisoning members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
On Tuesday, April 5, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced Nam to three years, six months in prison under Article 331 of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “abusing freedom and democracy to infringe on the legal interests of the state, organizations, and individuals,” according to news reports.
According to those reports, the charges stemmed from Nam’s critical reporting on how authorities handled a corruption case at the Vietnam Internal Waterways Agency, which he posted on his personal Facebook page, which has about 7,800 followers. Nam, a former state media reporter, also frequently posted criticism of Communist Party officials, reports said.
“Vietnamese authorities must free journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam, who was wrongfully sentenced to prison for doing his job as an independent journalist,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must stop treating journalists who report in the public interest as criminals, and should ensure that members of the press do not face prison for their work.”
CPJ could not immediately determine whether Nam intends to appeal the conviction. He was first detained on April 3, 2021, in Ho Chi Minh City, and was held in pretrial detention until his conviction and sentencing on Tuesday.
CPJ emailed the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and called the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court office for comment, but did not receive any replies.
Vietnam is among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, with at least 23 members of the press behind bars for their work at the time of CPJ’s 2021 prison census.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Vietnam: media worker arrested on catch-all charges
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2022
- Event Description
On April 5, Win Naing Oo, a reporter for Myanmar news outlet Channel Mandalay, was sentenced to five years in prison for alleged incitement under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law. The International Federation of Journalists condemns the sentencing of the journalist and calls on Myanmar authorities to immediately revoke the charges against him.
A court inside Obo Prison sentenced Win Naing Oo, the former chief correspondent at Channel Mandalay, to five years in prison under Section 52 (A) of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law.
Under the law, “whoever is convicted of committing [acts of terrorism] shall be sentenced to a minimum of three-year imprisonment to a maximum of seven-year imprisonment”.
The journalist was sentenced along with three others, Min Thwe, Kyaw Oo and Zaw Min Oo, who were also charged with terrorism.
According to Myanmar Now, the junta has not released any other information regarding Win Naing Oo’s case, including his connection with the other accused.
Authorities first arrested Win Naing Oo and his wife, Thu Thu, on August 31, 2021 at a mango farm in Sintgaing, Mandalay. He was charged with incitement under Section 505 (A) of Myanmar’s Penal Code on September 15, 2021.
The journalist was set to be granted amnesty by the Obo Prison court, however, just before he was to be released, the offer was retracted and he was instead sentenced to prison.
This is not the first time Win Naing Oo has been targeted by the military junta. In 2019 the journalist was charged with defamation under Section 66 (D) of Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law for a story on the military’s confiscation of land near Pyin Oo Lwin.
Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law has been criticised in the past for being “overly broad”, and a way for the junta to justify the arrest and jailing of journalists in the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: two more media workers detained
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2022
- Event Description
Ma Wai, a 35-year-old single mother, was in an especially good mood on the morning of April 5 as she prepared to send packages of chicken and rice to her son’s kindergarten to celebrate his third birthday.
Then a group of soldiers arrived at her home on Mahar Thukhita street in Yangon’s Insein Township.
Her brother, 30, and elderly parents, both in their 70s, received the news shortly after the troops blindfolded Ma Wai and took her away. Having heard multiple stories of the junta targeting the family members of anti-coup protesters, they decided to go into hiding.
But they never imagined the soldiers would be so cruel as to take Ma Wai’s young son.
They calculated that it would be safer to leave Thant Hpone Waiyan at the Best Choice Kindergarten with his teachers and friends. But troops arrived shortly after taking Ma Wai to kidnap the toddler too, a relative who would like to remain anonymous told Myanmar Now.
“It doesn’t make sense,” the relative said. “They’d already taken the mother. There was no reason for them to take the child as well.”
Friends of the family speculated that the soldiers took the boy in order to psychologically torment Ma Wai as a means of extracting information from her. The whereabouts and status of the two are unknown.
Thant Hpone Waiyan was Ma Wai’s only son. As well as caring for him, she had the role of breadwinner in her family and ran her own small ecommerce business. Ma Wai has worked to make money for her family since she was just 10 years old, when she would sell food.
After her husband left her while she was pregnant with Thant Hpone Waiyan, she took out loans to support her family.
“She had been making money for her parents and her brother. Even when she was married, she let her husband stay home while she went out to work. She’s such a bright and honest woman who can’t stand injustice,” said the relative.
“The family has now lost the person they rely on the most and the child they love the most. Everyone’s shaken to the core,” he added.
Myanmar Now was unable to contact Ma Wai’s parents or brother for comment. Their names have been withheld for their security. None of Ma Wai’s family members are politically active. Her father used to work as a driver.
Ma Wai, a graduate of the Yangon Technological University, has never sided with a political party, but after last year’s coup she was so angered by the military’s actions that she joined street protests.
“She wasn’t a fan of any political parties but she took part in the protests solely because it was unfair and she just couldn’t stand by and watch,” said a friend of Ma Wai’s.
Ma Wai’s relatives have received no information about her or her son since they were taken, and they dare not come out of hiding in search of her for fear of being detained themselves.
“The family doesn’t dare to follow her as there’s a risk that the military would arrest the family as well,” said the friend. “It’s hard as her parents are both very old now. They’re in a very tight situation.”
The junta has denied kidnapping Ma Wai’s son. Military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told Radio Free Asia on April 7 that reports of Thant Hpone Waiyan’s detention were “nonsense”.
“We haven’t arrested any child.,” he told the broadcaster. “There was absolutely no such incident.”
In January Zaw Min Tun admitted the junta had detained some children “out of necessity”.
Since seizing power in last year’s coup, the junta’s forces have killed 132 children and detained another 216, two of whom are facing death sentences, according to figures from the underground National Unity Government (NUG).
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2022
- Event Description
On April 5, Kadamay-Negros education officer Iver Larit is reported missing after he left his residence in Bacolod City. According to Karapatan, Larit left his house around 9:00 a.m. that day but he reportedly did not arrive at an appointment with an urban poor community which he was helping to organize against threats of demolition. By 10:00 a.m. Larit’s son could no longer reach him through his mobile number.
Larit is a former political prisoner and has been a target of harassment and other attacks throughout the years, Karapatan said. In 2011, he was detained for eight months over a trumped-up robbery-in-band charge. He was eventually released after the court dismissed the charges against him due to lack of substantial evidence.
Karapatan said Larit’s name was also included in a ‘kill, kill, kill’ list of activists in Negros which was sent to the Karapatan national office’s public information desk through a text message just mere hours after the Bloody Sunday raids throughout the Southern Tagalog region last year.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Apr 4, 2022
- Event Description
Reporter Loknath Dalei was allegedly assaulted and mistreated by police officers from Nilagiri police station on April 6, for his prior reporting on the district’s alleged corruption. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply concerned by the journalist’s assault and urges the authorities to expedite their investigation into the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.
According to India Times, Loknath Dalei, a reporter for Kanak TV in Balasore, attended Nilagiri police station regarding about a minor motorcycle accident on April 4. At the station, the journalist was confronted by the Inspector, Droupadi Das, who proceeded to assault him.
"The police made me sit for five hours. When I tried to get in touch with my friends, the local police officer thrashed me and I fell down. I almost fainted. Later on Wednesday evening, I was admitted to the Balasore district hospital," Dalei said in a statement to The Telegraph.
Dalei fell unconscious after the attack and was sent to the Balasore District Hospital that evening, where he was chained by police officers and left without a bed.
“Nearly seven guards carrying guns are guarding me [to the hospital]. On Thursday morning, two constables came and put iron shackles on my leg as if I would flee from the hospital”, Dalei said.
The journalist claims he was targeted for previous reports he had published on the police district’s alleged corruption.
Photos and videos of Dalei’s condition went viral on social media, with India’s Minister of Education and Skill Development, Dharmendra Pradhan, condemning the actions of the police officers.
Following public outcry, the Balasore Superintendent of Police, Shri Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, informed reporters that an investigation into the incident would be undertaken, and that “strict action will be taken against those found guilty”.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Restrictions on Movement, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Apr 3, 2022
- Event Description
Police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesting students in central Sri Lanka on Sunday, a federal lawmaker said, as soldiers manned checkpoints in the capital to enforce a curfew imposed to curb public outrage triggered by an economic crisis.
Lakshman Kiriella, MP from the second-largest city, Kandy, said police used tear gas to scatter students protesting against the government near the University of Peradeniya.
"These students have come out in defiance of the curfew and police have fired tear gas to disperse them," said Kiriella, from the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party. The university is on the outskirts of Kandy, where the students had been held back by police, he said.
Police officials in Kandy did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on Friday as the Indian Ocean island nation grapples with rising prices, shortages of essentials and rolling power cuts. On Saturday, the government implemented a countrywide curfew as protests turned violent. It is to run until till 6 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Monday.
Critics say the roots of the crisis, the worst in several decades, lie in economic mismanagement by successive governments that amassed huge budget shortfalls and a current account deficit.
The crisis was accelerated by deep tax cuts Rajapaksa promised during the 2019 election campaign and enacted months before the COVID-19 pandemic, which wiped out parts of Sri Lanka's economy.
SOCIAL MEDIA RESTORED
In the capital Colombo on Sunday, some two dozen opposition leaders stopped at police barricades on the way to Independence Square, some shouting "Gota(baya) Go Home".
"This is unacceptable," said opposition leader Eran Wickramaratne leaning over the barricades. "This is a democracy."
Small groups in Colombo were standing outside their homes to protest, some holding handwritten banners, others with national flags.
In the afternoon the government lifted a block it had placed on social media platforms hours earlier. Access to Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Instagram had been blocked nationwide, said internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks.
Minister for Youth and Sports Namal Rajapaksa, the president's nephew, said in a tweet he would "never condone the blocking of social media".
Emergency powers in the past have allowed the military to arrest and detain suspects without warrants, but the terms of the current powers are not yet clear.
Soldiers with assault rifles and police manned checkpoints in Colombo on Sunday.
Nihal Thalduwa, a senior superintendent of police, said 664 people who broke curfew rules were arrested by the police in the Western Province, the country's most populous administrative division, which includes Colombo.
Western and Asian diplomats based in Sri Lanka said they were monitoring the situation and expected the government to allow citizens to hold peaceful demonstrations.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Apr 2, 2022
- Event Description
Local sources in Bamiyan province have confirmed that the Taliban insurgents have arrested 11 women accused of disrupting the support program arranged by the Taliban in the center of the province. The women were arrested on Saturday, April 2.
The sources told Hasht-e Subh that three of the arrested women are charged with taking down the banners and eight others are arrested on charges of disrupting the program.
Initially, the Taliban militants did not accept the claim, but later in another statement by the local Taliban, they have accepted the claim.
Last week, the Taliban rebels had arranged a program to show on the screen women supporting their de facto government. But the scenario changed as the women figured out the motive behind the program and demanded the reopening of schools’ doors to girls.
The women left the program by tearing down the banners and shouting against the Taliban’s policies and ideologies.
Since the Taliban have regained power in August 2021, they have been using women as the weak point of the international community to gain political negotiation power, but they have failed.
It is for 200 days since the Taliban have closed the education doors to girls. The rebels had promised to reopen the education doors to girls in spring 1401 (the beginning of the school year in Afghanistan). In contrast, they have backtracked on their commitment in the very last minutes arguing that girls’ uniforms are not aligned with Islamic values, saying that education doors to girls would remain closed until a plan is drawn up in accordance with Islamic law for them to reopen.
Bamiyan is a wonderland with a magical landscape that has housed the great statues of Buddhas. The province used to be one of the supporters of democracy for the last 20 years with zero cases of insurgency. But with the rise of the Taliban, the province has now lost the image of being a sample of democracy and civilization.
- Impact of Event
- 11
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Apr 2, 2022
- Event Description
The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary detention and acts of torture and ill-treatment while in custody of journalist Mr. Kanishk Tiwari in the town of Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh State. Mr. Tiwari reports on local issues through his YouTube news channel MP Sandesh News 24, where he scrutinises the activities of local politicians and the police department and reports on human rights violations and social issues.
In the evening of April 2, 2022, Kanishk Tiwari went to the Kotwali Police Station, Sidhi, Madhya Pradesh State, to cover a peaceful protest for the release of Mr. Neeraj Kunder, a theatre artist who had been arrested earlier that day for allegedly running a fake Facebook profile of the nephew of a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Kedar Nath Shukla.
The police violently dispersed the 40 people who had gathered in front of the police station, beating them with sticks. Nine individuals were arbitrarily arrested, including Mr. Tiwari, who was reporting on the excessive use of force by the police against the protesters, and forcefully brought inside the Kotwali police station, where they were detained overnight.
Throughout the night, Mr. Tiwari and the eight peaceful protesters were verbally and physically tortured. According to them, Mr. Amar Singh Kallu, a close associate of Mr. Shukla, arrived at the site and started beating Mr. Tiwari with a pipe, while the policemen stood by and watched. Mr. Tiwari reported that the eight peaceful protesters and himself were taken one by one to a room where they were beaten with sticks, plastic pipes, punched, kicked and slapped by the policemen. While they were being beaten, Mr. Kallu, also present in the room, was making video calls to show the beatings to an unknown person. Then, the nine were regrouped, beaten once more and stripped of their clothes. The policemen ripped off from some of the men’s chests their janeu, a sacred thread worn primarily by men of the Brahmin caste.
They were left in their undergarments all night and paraded around the police station. A police officer from the Amiliya Police Station threatened Mr. Tiwari that he would be paraded naked through the whole town of Sidhi if he did not stop publishing critical information about the local police and Mr. Shukla.
On April 3, 2022, the nine men were formally arrested under Sections 151, 152, 153, 186, 341, 504 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (“knowingly continuing in assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse”, “obstructing a public servant when suppressing a riot”, “provocation with intent to cause riot”, “obstructing a public servant in discharge of public functions”, “wrongful restraint”, “intentional insult intended to provoke breach of peace” and “acts by persons with a common intention”, respectively). They were kept in their undergarments until almost 2pm, when they were produced before a magistrate and released on bail pending investigation at around 7pm on the same day.
On April 7, 2022, a video went viral on social media, showing the victims standing half naked in the Kotwali police station. After the video triggered public outcry, two policemen, Mr. Soni and Mr. Parihar, from Kotwali Police Station and Amiliya Police Station, respectively, were suspended. According to the media, when asked about the video, senior police officials termed this as a normal police process to prevent unwanted measures by the detainees. At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, no criminal complaint has been registered against the police officials involved into the above-mentioned acts of torture and ill-treatment against Mr. Tiwari and the eight peaceful protesters.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Torture, Vilification, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Apr 1, 2022
- Event Description
A total of six students participating in the demonstration against the extension of President Joko Widodo's term of office were hacked. Their WhatsApp number was hacked.
BPP Spokesperson, Delpedro Marhaen Rismansah, who is also an orator at the demonstration in the Harmoni area, Central Jakarta, said the hack was in the form of taking over WhatsApp accounts.
"So the WhatsApp account asked for verification again. We asked for the code not to enter again, then the WhatsApp account exited," said Pedro to Suara.com, Friday (1/4/2022).
It is clear that the hack took place a few days before their demonstration. The first hack was experienced by the Chair of the University of Indonesia's BEM on March 29, 2021.
Then the next day experienced by the management of BEM throughout Indonesia. Then on March 31, three administrators of the Student Political Block also experienced it.
"And today one person, during our long march from Trisakti University. So a total of six people," he said.
Pedro also suspected that the hacking was an attempt to defuse the demonstration they held today.
This afternoon, hundreds of students held a demonstration in the Harmoni area or precisely behind the State Palace area. They protested against the postponement of the election which would have an impact on the extension of President Joko Widodo's term in office.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Mar 31, 2022
- Event Description
Several journalists were assaulted and at least six were taken into custody by police personnel from Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force (STF) on March 31, while covering a protest in Mirihana, within the Nugegoda suburb of Colombo. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Sri Lankan affiliates, the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union (FMETU) , Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association (SLWJA) and the Free Media Movement (FMM), strongly condemn the journalists’ assaults and detainments and urge Sri Lanka’s government to allow journalists report independently and without fear.
On March 31, officers from the STF reportedly assaulted several journalists and detained at least six during a mass public protest outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence in Mirihana.
According to the FMETU, Avanka Kumara and Chatura Deshan, from Sirasa TV, Sumedha Sanjeewa Gallage, Pradeep Wickramasinghe, and Nissanka Werapitiya, journalists from Derana TV, and Waruna Wanniarachchi, a reporter for Lankadeepa newspapers, were amongst those arrested and assaulted while reporting on the protests.
Members of the president’s media division also threatened journalists to cease reporting, including senior journalist Tharindu Jayawardena. The FMETU further reported that staff and journalists were harassed and arrested despite providing authorities with identity documents. The SLWJA reported that camera and other equipments of few journalists and media workers were also severely damaged.
According to Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), Thisara Anurudda Bandara, a 28-year-old social media activist, was also detained and is being held at the Mutwal police station in Colombo.
Gallage, one of the assaulted journalists, reported that he was denied access to the hospital for treatment despite repeated requests. Detained journalist Awanka Kumara said that police attacked him despite knowing he was a reporter. According to JDS, some of the arrested journalists are to be released on bail following an intervention of more than 300 lawyers.
The Mirihana protestors accused President Rajapaksa of mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy and causing economic crisis with severe inflation, daily blackouts, a shortage of fuel and essential items.
On April 1, the Rajapaksa government declared a state of emergency, imposing a nationwide curfew following the protests. At least 600 protesters, including civil society members, journalists and rights activists have been arrested to date. The Sri Lankan Telecommunications Regulatory Commission also proceeded to ban all social media, including Facebook, Messenger, YouTube, WhatsApp, Viber, Twitter, IMO, Instagram, Telegram, Snapchat, and TikTok on April 2. The ban was lifted after 15 hours.
During the state of emergency, the Sri Lankan government was granted the authority to detain anyone, seize personal property, search any premises, and amend and suspend any laws, in the name of maintaining public security.
On April 1, the FMM submitted a letter to the Inspector General of Police demanding the authorities respect and maintain international human rights standards during the ongoing state of emergency. The FMM have named Gotabaya Rajapaska’s presidential term a “dark period” in Sri Lankan history, with increased suppression of free speech and press freedom.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 31, 2022
- Event Description
Responding to the arrests of six people in Hong Kong this morning on “sedition” charges after they “caused nuisance” during court hearings, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Erwin van der Borght said:
“These ludicrous ‘sedition’ charges against six Hongkongers – apparently because they clapped during court hearings – mark yet another new low for human rights in the city.
“The Hong Kong authorities’ grotesquely disproportionate response to a small and peaceful act of defiance shows how they will stop at nothing to root out even the faintest murmurings of dissent.
“These arrests also provide further evidence that Hong Kong’s national security police, who have virtually unchecked investigation powers granted by the city’s national security law, are increasingly involved in handling cases unrelated to national security.
“The Hong Kong police must stop abusing overly broad sedition charges to silence peaceful expression. There is no context in which the act of clapping should be considered a crime.”
Background
Hong Kong national security police today arrested six people on suspicion of “causing nuisance” during different court hearings between December 2021 and January 2022. They are facing charges of “sedition” which carry a two-year prison sentence.
In the hearing of activist Chow Hang-tung on 4 January 2022, several members of the audience were asked to leave the court after they clapped during her speech supporting of victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing.
Leo Tang King-Wah, one of those arrested, is the former vice-chair of the disbanded Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). On 31 March 2022, police took him and two other former members of the HKCTU for interrogation after the HKCTU allegedly failed to hand in information demanded by the national security police.
Since 2020, the Hong Kong government has weaponized colonial-era sedition laws to prosecute political activists, journalists and authors.
In July 2021, five speech therapists were arrested and later charged for conspiring to publish “seditious materials” after publishing a series of children’s books.
In December 2021, executives and board members of the defunct media outlet Stand News were arrested for “seditious publications”.
In March 2022, political activist Tam Tak-chi was convicted under sedition charges for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 31, 2022
- Event Description
Translation types Text translation Source text 4,803 / 5,000 Translation results Oktovianus Tabuni from the Gratia Legal Aid Post in Nabire said the police had forcibly dispersed a mass demonstration against the planned expansion of Papua Province and Papua Special Autonomy at Karang Tumaritis Market, Nabire, Thursday (31/3/2022). However, some of the participants in the same demonstration managed to deliver a statement of their position at the Office of the Regional People's Legislative Assembly or DPRD Nabire. The demonstration in Nabire followed the call for the Papuan People's Petition (PRP), a petition that garnered support from the Papuan people to reject Papua's Special Autonomy Volume 2, and to demand the right of self-determination for the Papuan people. PRP is supported by 116 grassroots movement organizations, youth, students, communities/paguyuban. There are at least 718,179 Papuan people who have expressed their support for the Papuan People's Petition. Since last week, the Papuan People's Petition has called for simultaneous demonstrations to reject Papua's Special Autonomy, the plan for the expansion of Papua, and to demand the right to self-determination. The PRP's appeal called for a demonstration to be held on April 1, 2022, but the demonstration in Nabire took place earlier on Thursday. The participants of the demonstration gathered in a number of locations since 09.00 WP. Oktovianus Tabuni said that since Thursday morning, residents who will take part in the action have gathered in four different locations. The four locations are Pasar Karang Tumaritis Nabire, in front of the Satya Wiyata Mandala (Uswin) Nabire University campus, in front of the Jepara II Wadio Hotel, and the SP1 Nabire intersection. “The crowd that gathered at Wadio, in front of the Jepara II Hotel and at the Uswim campus, disbanded, because there were so few people who joined there. They then joined the crowd that had gathered at the Nabire DPRD office, which was located in Kali Bobo. Meanwhile, there were many who gathered at the SP1 intersection, and had a chance to have a dialogue with the police because they asked the Nabire DPRD members to be presented to accept the aspirations of the Papuan People's Petition, "said Tabuni. Demonstrations also took place at the Karang Tumaritis Market. According to Tabuni, members of the Nabire DPRD, Sambena Inggeruhi and Cahaya Tambroni, had time to meet the protesters at the Karang Tumaritis Market. “Members of the Nabire DPRD, Sambena Inggeruhi and Cahaya Tambroni, were present at the Karang Market to receive their aspirations. However, the coordinator of the action [at Karang Tumaritis Market] rejected the DPRD members, because the masses asked to march as well as read their aspirations directly at the Nabire DPRD office,” said Tabuni. However, the police refused the request, and forbade the masses at Karang Tumaritis Market to march to the Nabire DPRD office. “When the crowd was about to walk, there was chaos after the police tried to arrest the coordinator of the action and kick the demonstrators. There was a commotion and chaos at the Karang Tumarits Nabire Market,” said Tabuni. Tabuni said police then fired tear gas and warning shots. Tabuni said he received information that three to five people were arrested by the police, including the coordinator of the action at the Karang Tumaritis Market, and were being interrogated at the Nabire Police Headquarters. Although the demonstrators at Karang Tumaritis Market were dispersed by the police, Tabuni said the demonstration of the Papuan People's Petition at the Nabire DPRD Office was peaceful. "The protesters at the Nabire DPRD office have read their statement," said Tabuni. Limiting the rights of Tabuni residents to criticize the police for preventing Nabire residents from joining the Papuan People's Petition demonstration. He reminded that the freedom to express opinions in public is the right of every citizen guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. “The police also fired shots, that was a bad treatment. It should be the mass police who want to join the masses in the Nabire DPRD, in trucks so they don't get into chaos," said Tabuni. Separately, the Director of the Papuan Legal Aid Institute, Emanuel Gobay, stated that the demonstration of the Papuan People's Petition in Karang Tumaritis Nabire became chaotic because the police tried to arrest one of the coordinators of the action. He asked the Nabire Police Chief to take action against the police who came to the crowd and tried to arrest the coordinator of the action, because this action made the crowd angry and caused chaos. "[There was a policeman who] pulled one of the participants in the action. And [there was] a police officer who kicked the protester and beat him," said Gobay. General. The action of the police kicking and hitting demonstrators also fulfills the criminal element of beating as stipulated in Article 170 of the Criminal Code.
Translation types Text translation Source text 2,207 / 5,000 Translation results The demonstration by the Nabire Student and Papuan People's Solidarity (SMRP) was forcibly dispersed by the police, Thursday [31/3/2022] The video footage showing the repressive actions of the security forces has gone viral on social media. In the video, the action of Papuan students and people in Nabire withdraws the Special Autonomy and rejects the DOB. The gathering point for the coral market is disbanded with gunfire and tear gas. It was seen that 2 people were arrested by armed violence apparatus, while the protesters took shelter in the market and in the market aisles. Police in full force while firing shots conducted a search inside the Karang market. Disbanded due to pandemic reasons According to the information compiled by Kabar Mapegaa, the demonstration by hundreds of Solidatitas students and the Papuan people was initially peaceful. Not long after, the police asked the students and the Papuan people who were holding the demonstration in Karang Tumaritis to immediately disperse. The reason is that the crowd action carried out is considered to have the potential to cause the transmission of Covid-19. However, the warnings of disbandment by the police were not heeded by the mass action of students and the Papuan people. The actions of the Papuan students and people who were still holding out at the location were finally forced to disperse with firearms and tear gas during the forced dispersal. The mass action of the Papuan Students and People who tried to survive was finally carried out by repressive actions by the police. Two people from the mass protest were reportedly arrested by armed violence officers Police do an evaluation After the video showing the police's repressive actions against Papuan students and people went viral on social media, Nabire Police Chief AKBP I Ketut Suarnaya, S.I.K., S.H, spoke up. Suarnaya admitted that he regretted the repressive actions taken by his members. Moreover, previously the members had been ordered to act humanely in carrying out security. Therefore, his party will conduct an internal evaluation and are ready to take firm action against the guilty members. "There are still unscrupulous people's behavior, of course we will take firm action," said Suarnya.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest, Right to self-determination
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 30, 2022
- Event Description
An anti-dictatorship protest leader from Sagaing Region’s Chaung-U Township was handed a two-year jail sentence for incitement on Wednesday in a junta court inside Monywa Prison, where he had been detained for nearly 10 months, according to a source close to the activist’s family.
Twenty-nine-year-old Man Zar Myay Mon was arrested by the military from Shanhtu village in early June of last year, where he had been on the run from the junta’s forces. He endured a violent interrogation in which he had his fingers broken, a relative told Myanmar Now.
He was charged with five counts of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code.
“He still has to face four more charges,” the family friend told Myanmar Now.
Wednesday’s charge was based on a case filed by police Maj Aung Than Myint, and included two other defendants. Their time already served will be deducted from their prison sentence, the court ruled.
Three of Man Zar Myay Mon’s four other incitement charges were also filed by police officers, and one by a man simply identified in police records as “Aung Baw.”
Further details about those cases were not available at the time of reporting.
The military council issued a warrant for his arrest on April 27, after he had led multiple demonstrations in Chaung-U. He had also taken part in the Letpadan students’ strike in Sagaing in 2014.
Man Zar Myay Mon had previously worked as a freelance journalist, and is an environmental and land rights activist who has researched Myanmar’s mining sector. He is a member of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability and the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative for Sagaing.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are nearly 10,000 people in detention who have been arrested since the coup. More than 880 have been formally sentenced to prison time.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 30, 2022
- Event Description
Uttar Pradesh police have arrested three journalists in the state’s Baila district after they broke the news about a school exam question leak. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliate, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU), urge the Indian authorities to immediately release the journalists.
Journalists Ajit Ojha and Digvijay Singh, associated with Hindi daily Amar Ujala, and Manoj Gupta of Rashtriya Sahara, were arrested on March 30 for their reporting on the leak of a Class 12 ‘English’ paper, scheduled to take place the same day.
The paper was leaked alongside the answer key of a Class 10 Sanskrit subject scheduled for March 29. Both Uttar Pradesh Board examinations were cancelled in 24 of the state’s 75 districts.
The local administration accused the three journalists of being involved in a scheme to lead the papers, and they were arrested along with over 30 others in connection with the case.
Uttar Pradesh Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the journalists at Ballia police station. The charges include ‘cheating and dishonesty inducing delivery of property’, under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 420, ‘unauthorised possession and disclosure of question papers’, under Uttar Pradesh’s Public Examination Act, ‘dishonestly receiving stolen computer resource or communication device’, under Section 66B of the Information Technology Act.
Following the arrests, local journalists held a protest in front of the Ballia police station demanding the reporters’ immediate release. Members of the Working Journalists of India deemed the arrest a strategy to hide the administration’s failure and organized demonstration in GPO Park in Hazratganj, Lucknow on April 7.
Ojha and Singh argued on social media that their arrests were retaliation for their critical reportage. Singh claimed to be held for not revealing his source to police, while Ojha also said that policemen vandalised his office and harassed his colleagues.
Cases are commonly filed against journalists in India under various pretences. In March, Fahad Shah, editor of The Kashmir Walla, who has faced multiple charges since his initial arrest on February 4, was sentenced under Jammu and Kashmir’s Public Safety Act.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 30, 2022
- Event Description
A married couple who were arrested last year for protesting against the junta in southeastern Myanmar’s Dawei Township have each been hit with heavy prison sentences, a friend of theirs has said.
Zay Lin Oo and his wife Hnin Su Hlaing, both in their 30s, were detained at a rally on Kyan Mar Yae street in Dawei on March 31, two months after the military siezed power in a coup, a report published by the Dawei Watch media outlet said.
On Wednesday Zay Lin Oo was sentenced for multiple alleged crimes, including murder, that added 15 years to the sentence he was already serving. He now faces a total of 21 years in prison.
In November, a judge at the Dawei Prison Court named Myint Myint San gave Zay Lin Oo six years in prison for various charges including inctiment and breaches of weapons control laws. Hnin Su Hlaing received a four-and-a-half-year sentence on similar charges.
The couple have been separated from their 10-year-old son as a result of their detention, and the boy is now staying with his grandparents, the friend told Myanmar Now.
The boy is their only child and they have not been allowed any visits from him, added an officer from the Dawei Political Prisoners Network.
A 30-year-old former political detainee who met Zay Lin Oo in prison said Zay Lin Oo was not guilty of murder and was charged in place of someone else. Myanmar Now was unable to gather further information about the case.
The officer from the Dawei Political Prisoners Network, who also met with Zay Lin Oo in prison, said Zay Lin Oo had been kept in an isolation cell for two months for taking part in protests inside the prison.
“He was brutally tortured during his interrogation,” the officer added. “His face had so many bruises. He was badly beaten on his legs and arms and back before he arrived at the prison. He has been very active about asking for prisoners’ rights as well.”
Zay Lin Oo did charity work helping the victims of natural disasters across Myanmar, according to his friends.
As of March 6, 175 men and 38 women have been sentenced at the Dawei Prison Court for their opposition to last year’s coup, according to figures from the Dawei Political Prisoners Network.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2022
- Event Description
The stalemate between NagaWorld executives and laid-off workers continued as a fourth negotiation meeting at the Labor Ministry failed to deliver a resolution.
The meeting was held Tuesday afternoon as more than 200 NagaWorld workers were again met with violence as they attempted to resume their demonstration, and were again packed into buses and driven around the capital.
Outside the Labor Ministry, Sun Sreypich, one of the workers’ negotiators, said the meeting had discussed the reinstatement of workers for over two hours — a point workers have said is a top priority for negotiations.
She said NagaWorld was against reinstating workers because the company had already decided on the redundancies.
She claimed that there were around 350 people who wanted to voluntarily leave the casino and that around 200 workers could be swapped in for people choosing to quit. Sreypich recalled that NagaWorld had indicated that it wanted to further reduce staff, and suggested the swap system would result in a reduction of around 150 workers.
“We talked again and again. I can say I bargained with them to accept the first point,” she said, referring to the demand for reinstatement.
She added that the ministry said another meeting would be scheduled for next week. The ministry had previously said there would be only three meetings and that the parties could then approach the courts, but also scheduled today’s meeting.
Around 220 workers made their way to the casino complex Tuesday afternoon, where video footage uploaded to social media showed them shoved and pushed against security personnel, including plainclothes security officials.
One official routinely seen at the protests was seen on video slapping a worker on the head and then trying to drag away the same worker.
“They solve it at the Ministry of Labor, why don’t you go to resolve it? There are illegal strikes every day and every day I am very bored,” he is heard shouting at workers in one video.
Later, police released photos of the security officer with scratch marks on his arms. The same officer has harassed journalists and human rights monitors at the protests.
Tim Satya, one of the detained workers, said it was worrying that the authorities were escalating the violence used with strikers.
“It is my first time seeing the bad actors from the authorities pushing women workers in front of my face. They don’t listen to us that we have a problem with NagaWorld,” she said.
“They have a big body and pushed me and others. I am shocked and I am afraid but I and the others will still keep striking everyday.”
Meanwhile at the Appeal Court on Tuesday afternoon, judges denied a motion from eight NagaWorld unionists — who were released earlier this month — asking for the investigating judge in their case to visit the protests and for workers to be questioned in the presence of the authorities alleging their involvement in incitement.
Sam Chamroeurn, the workers’ lawyer, said the court had upheld the lower Phnom Penh court’s decision to deny the motions.
Khlaing Soben, one of the workers who attended the hearing, said it was not surprising their motion was denied. “We knew beforehand that there would be no justice for us,” Soben said.
Court spokesperson Sreng Souyeat could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kyrgyzstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2022
- Event Description
Kyrgyzstan authorities have stepped up the harassment of journalists and independent media with a slew of criminal investigations into their work in recent months, Human Rights Watch said today.
On March 29, 2022, following a motion by the Prosecutor General’s Office, a Bishkek district court found that a privately owned media outlet, Next TV, was “extremist” for reposting a commentary by a Ukrainian media outlet, Ukraine Now. The post implied that Kyrgyzstan would lend its military support to Russian forces in Ukraine. The court sent Next TV’s director, Taalaibek Duishenbiev, for pretrial detention on charges of inciting inter-ethnic hatred for reposting the commentary.
“The Kyrgyz authorities say they protect freedom of expression, yet try to silence critical voices and clamp down on independent media through criminal investigations and bogus charges,” said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should release Taalaibek Duishenbiev, and drop all unfounded charges against him and other media targets that violate the right to freedom of expression.”
On March 3, the State Committee on National Security (SCNS) initiated a criminal investigation into Next TV for reposting the article, and police raided the office, detaining Duishenbiev, confiscating equipment, and ultimately sealing off the office. Both the prosecutor and the security agency can bring charges, but the security agency brings charges relating the threats to national security.
On March 5, a Pervomaiskiy district court ordered two months of pretrial detention for Duishenbiev and said he would face charges of inciting interethnic hatred, under article 330 of the Criminal Code, for reposting the commentary on the channel’s social media accounts. If convicted, Duishenbiev faces up to seven years in prison. On March 24 the Bishkek city court upheld the district court’s pretrial detention order. This decision cannot be further appealed.
Next TV’s lawyers appealed the decision to seal off the outlet’s office. But on March 22, the district court dismissed the appeal, leaving the outlet’s staff without access to the equipment and materials they use for their work.
Also on March 22, the Prosecutor General’s Office submitted its motion to the same Pervomaiskiy district court seeking a declaration that the reposting of the commentary was “extremist.” It also sought an order to stop Next TV from operating or distributing its media products on other online and offline news platforms.
On March 29 the district court ruled that the reposting was “extremist,” but dismissed the motion to prohibit the outlet’s work. The station’s lawyers are appealing the “extremist” determination to the Bishkek city court.
On March 5, the Kyrgyzstan ombudsperson, Atyr Abdrakhmatova, called on the courts to look into the legality of the security services’ closure of Next TV’s office.
Next TV is the third media outlet targeted by Kyrgyzstan authorities in recent months. On February 1, the Pervomaiskiy district prosecutor’s office initiated a criminal investigation into the reposting by Kaktus.Media of an article by a Tajik media outlet, Asia Plus, about a Kyrgyz-Tajik border skirmish on January 27. The Tajik article incorrectly alleged that Kyrgyz soldiers fired the first shots, provoking the response by Tajik military.
The prosecutor’s office said that these allegations constituted a criminal offense under Article 407 of the Criminal Code, “propaganda of war” and distribution of information aimed at “provoking aggression of one country against another or igniting a military conflict.” The investigation is ongoing. The penalty for conviction is a fine of up to 100,000 Kyrgyz soms (US $1,180) or up to five years in prison.
On January 22, Bishkek city police detained an investigative journalist, Bolot Temirov, director of Temirov Live, an independent online outlet, and former co-host of Factcheck.KG, a project that works to refute false claims and propaganda, on charges of illegal drug manufacturing. The police also searched his office and confiscated computer processors, hard drives, and documents. Temirov was released that same day with instructions not to leave the country. Temirov maintains that drugs allegedly found during the search were planted.
Many in the Kyrgyz media view the case as retaliation for his team’s investigation into dubious fuel export schemes related to the State Committee for National Security’s leadership. The report of that investigation had premiered on the outlet’s YouTube channel just two days before the authorities raided his office and detained him.
On January 31, Kyrgyzstan’s Institute of Media Policy called the drug manufacturing charges against Temirov Live and calls for investigation into Kaktus Media’s reposting a “massive attack” on freedom of expression. On February 15, dozens of journalists, media outlets, and expert organizations signed an open letter on the issue.
This harassment of investigative journalists and independent media outlets is taking place against the backdrop of other efforts to censor freedom of speech. On February 21, the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Politics submitted for public consideration a draft decree to carry out the law On Protection from False Information, signed by President Sadyr Japarov on August 23, 2021. Human Rights Watch had previously reported that the law paves the way for state-managed censorship and runs counter to Kyrgyzstan’s national and international human rights obligations.
The draft decree would allow a person alleging that an outlet has published false information to ask the owners of the website or the social media page to take down the information. If they refuse, the person would be able to ask a to-be-established Communications Regulation and Supervision Service under the Ministry of Digital Development to suspend the website or page for up to two months.
The Kyrgyz Association of Telecom Operators has said that this decree would be impossible to carry out, and that it would undermine the Electric and Postal Communications law, which says that only a court can order restrictions on access to information if it rules that the information infringes on a person’s honor and dignity.
“Investigative journalism is an important cornerstone of a free and democratic society, and Kyrgyz authorities should immediately stop trying to stifle it, whether through bogus criminal investigations or oppressive laws,” Sultanalieva said. “They cannot just pay lip service to the importance of freedom of expression, but need to demonstrate they are upholding their international human rights obligations.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2022
- Event Description
Indian authorities should immediately reverse their decision to block journalist Rana Ayyub from traveling outside India, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in the western city of Mumbai stopped Ayyub, an investigative journalist and a Washington Post commentator who has frequently criticized the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s policies and politics, and told her she was not allowed to travel to London, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by messaging app.
Airport officials told Ayyub that she could not leave the country because she is the subject of a recently opened money laundering investigation and that the Enforcement Directorate of the Indian finance ministry was sending her a summons to appear on April 1, 2022, Ayyub told CPJ. Ayyub received the emailed summons one hour before her flight departure.
“Preventing Rana Ayyub from traveling abroad is another incident in a growing list of unjustified and excessive actions taken by the Indian government against the journalist,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, from Washington, D.C. “Indian authorities should immediately cease all forms of harassment and intimidation against Ayyub.”
The Enforcement Directorate froze Ayyub’s bank account in February and accused her of laundering money that she raised to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ayyub has denied the allegations and called it an attempt to intimidate her. The account also included income that Ayyub earned writing for The Washington Post and a newsletter on Substack, according to a Substack post by Ayyub.
Ayyub was flying to London to speak at an event about online violence against female journalists organized by the International Center for Journalists, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, according to those news reports. Ayyub has been subjected to intense online trolling and received numerous threats, as CPJ has documented.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, which oversees the country’s immigration authorities, and the Enforcement Directorate did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via email.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2022
- Event Description
The Observatory has been informed about the ongoing arbitrary detention of prominent human rights defender Mr. Khurram Parvez, as well as the recent raid on his house. Mr. Parvez is the Coordinator of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) [1] and the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) [2], and Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) [3]. Mr. Parvez is also a distinguished scholar with the political conflict, gender, and people’s rights initiative at the Center for Race and Gender at University of California, Berkeley.
On March 27, 2022, officers from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), assisted by the local police, raided Mr. Parvez’s residence in the Sonwar Bagh area, in the city of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, seizing unrevealed documents related to financial transactions. This raid was conducted in connection with an investigation launched in October 2020 into several NGOs and trusts in India and abroad pursuant to Articles 120B, 124A of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 17, 18, 22A, 22C, 38, 39, and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). According to the First Information Report (FIR) in this case, “the NGOs, trust and societies and their members, by words and written means, publish anti-national and incriminating material to bring into hatred, contempt and disaffection towards the Government of India”.
The Observatory recalls that on October 28, 2020, officials from the NIA, assisted by local police and central reserve police forces officials, conducted nine simultaneous raids in Srinagar and another one in Bandipora, in Jammu and Kashmir, on the premises of several NGOs and the houses of JKCCS members, including Khurram Parvez’s.
On March 24, 2022, Mr. Parvez’s pre-trial detention period in another case was extended by 50 days by the NIA Special Court in New Delhi, with the approval of Judge Praveen Singh under Section 43d(2) (b) of the UAPA. This section allows for the extension of the detention period for up to 180 days should the investigation agency be unable to complete the investigation of a case within a period of 90 days.
The Observatory recalls that on November 22, 2021, after his house and the JKCCS office in the city of Srinagar were raided for approximately 14 hours and his electronic devices and several documents seized, Khurram Parvez was taken into questioning to the premises on the NIA in Srinagar, in relation to an alleged terror funding case. Khurram Parvez was taken to New Delhi on November 24, 2021, where he remained detained under NIA’s custody until December 4, 2021. On that day, he appeared before the NIA Special Court in New Delhi. Judge Parveen Singh ordered his pre-trial detention in the Tihar maximum security prison, where he remained detained at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal.The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the high risk of torture and ill-treatment he faces while in custody.
The Observatory strongly condemns the raids on Khurram Parvez’s house as well as his ongoing arbitrary detention on trumped-up charges.The Observatory reiterates its concern over the misuse of the UAPA by the Indian authorities to target human rights defenders and silence dissent and condemns all acts of harassment and persecution of human rights defenders in India.
Moreover, the Observatory recalls that the arbitrary detention of Khurram Parvez takes place in a context of an increased crackdown on civil society by the Indian government, notably by bringing politically motivated criminal cases against human rights defenders, student activists, journalists, and other critics of the government under sedition, terrorism, and other repressive legal provisions, with the aim to silence critical voices in the country
The Observatory urges the authorities of India to immediately and unconditionally release Khurram Parvez and drop all charges against him, as his detention is arbitrary and only aimed at punishing him for his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2022
- Event Description
On Sunday, March 27, a group of around 10 men assaulted Rana, a reporter for the privately owned newspaper Daily Ausaf, in the Bhakkar district in the northeast Punjab province, according to a bystander’s video of the incident; a statement by the National Press Club in Islamabad, Pakistan; a statement by the Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists, and Rana, who spoke to CPJ by phone.
Rana told CPJ that on March 22, he published a report, which he has since deleted, on his Facebook page – which has around 35,000 followers– alleging that relatives and political associates of Ameer Muhammad Khan, a member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) for the ruling Tehreek-e-Insaf party in Punjab province, were engaging in criminal activities. Rana said that in response to his report, police raided the home of one of Khan’s close political associates, who is also a member of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party.
On March 27, Rana was shopping in a local store when a group of 10 of Khan’s relatives and political associates pulled him onto the street and held him by his wrists, repeatedly whipping him with ropes, and pouring a chemical usually used for painting on his eyes and ears, the journalist told CPJ. Rana said he lost consciousness five minutes into the attack, and the attackers then left the scene.
On the day of the attack, police registered a first information report, which opens an investigation, against 10 individuals, six of whom are named, at the local Kallur Kot police station, according to a copy of the report reviewed by CPJ.
“Police must launch an immediate investigation into the assault against journalist Zahid Shareef Rana and not allow any possible political pressure to derail it,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Authorities need to put an end to Pakistan’s long record of impunity for crimes against journalists, including beatings, disappearances and murder. With the attack on Rana caught on video, police can offer no excuse for a failed investigation.”
Rana said he received medical treatment at a local hospital following the attack, adding that he sustained lesions all over his body and has lost hearing from the chemical poured into his right ear.
Rana told CPJ that he was previously targeted on January 5 after conducting a live interview with an opposition politician with the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party, who accused Khan of corruption and abuse of power.
Rana said that about an hour after the interview aired, a car repeatedly attempted to ram into the vehicle he was traveling in, hitting the back twice before his friend managed to drive away. Rana, who documented the incident on his Facebook page at the time, said the car’s license plate was publicly registered to Khan’s first cousin.
The same day, police at the Kallur Kot station registered a first information report about the incident, Rana said, adding that the perpetrators have not yet been brought to justice.
CPJ emailed the office of MPA Khan and the Bhakkar district police office but did not immediately receive any replies.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 28, 2022
- Event Description
A freelance journalist based in Myawaddy, Karen State—across the border from Thailand—has been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement, according to a family friend.
While the reason for his arrest has not been confirmed, the source said that Nay Naw, also known as Myo Naung Naung Zaw, was accused of incitement after a March 27 report he published on social media.
He wrote that two trucks were shot at and set on fire near the Taw Naw waterfall along the section of the Asian Highway that connects Myawaddy with Kawkareik, and noted that “serious battles” were taking place in the area between the Myanmar army and resistance forces.
The friend said that he learned of Nay Naw’s arrest on Tuesday through another social media post by an account under the name of Thurin Min Tun, who said that the journalist had been detained on Monday. Further information about this individual was not available at the time of reporting.
“They said he reported false news and charged him under Section 505a,” the source said.
Nay Naw reportedly went to the Myawaddy police station on Monday after being summoned twice, and was taken into junta custody.
It is not known where he was being held at the time of reporting. His family has not been allowed to see him.
Nan Paw Gay, the editor-in-chief of the Karen State-based KIC news organisation, said that Nay Naw had worked as a freelancer but contributed to KIC.
“We only saw that all his news stories sent to us were based on facts. He always based his news stories on evidence. He did not accuse anyone of anything without evidence,” she said.
A total of 115 journalists have been arrested by the military council since the February 2021 coup, and 39 were still in detention at the time of reporting, according to data compiled by journalists. Three media workers have died during interrogations or in fighting.
Myanmar has more detained journalists than any other country in the world, except China, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Journalists and activists are frequently charged with violating 505a; the section was amended by military chief Min Aung Hlaing weeks after staging a coup and prohibits the spreading of false information, causing fear, or calling for action to be taken against government employees. It is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment.
At least 1,315 people have been detained under Section 505a, according to records compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Four journalists—from Kamayut Media, Mizzima, Mandalay Free Press, the Ayeyarwady Region-based Myanmar Herald—were given two-year prison sentences by junta courts for incitement in March alone.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 28, 2022
- Event Description
An engineering student who was maimed by soldiers while taking part in an anti-coup protest in Magway last year was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour on Monday.
Hlyan Phyo Aung, 23, had been charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code.
The sentence, which was handed down by judge Swe Aye Nyein at a special court inside Magway Prison, was the maximum for the alleged offence.
It comes almost exactly a year after Hlyan Phyo Aung was arrested during a protest in his hometown of Magway on March 27, 2021.
Immediately after his arrest, he was hospitalized to have his hand, which had been shot at close range by soldiers cracking down on the protest, amputated.
Two months later, he was transferred to Magway Prison, despite requiring treatment for an eye injury caused by the gunshot.
According to a source close to his family, Hlya Phyo Aung later lost the sight in his right eye and is now having trouble seeing through his left eye.
“He went completely blind in his right eye and now sees lines in his left eye. He says it’s just like static on TV. At least the blind eye is in stable condition. This is actually worse,” said the source, who did not want to be named for security reasons.
Hlyan Phyo Aung was one of 37 people arrested during the crackdown on the protest in Magway. Although 30 were later freed despite facing similar charges, he was repeatedly denied bail and excluded from a mass release last July.
“The family couldn’t even attend his court hearings. They just drove them away. They only got to see him from afar,” said the family friend.
It was only when they were called to testify on his behalf, nine months after his detention, that Hlyan Phyo Aung’s family was able to see him again, he added.
The friend also said that he had heard Hlyan Phyo Aung was being forced to harvest watercress inside the prison, and was having trouble receiving medications sent by his family.
Myanmar Now was unable to confirm this information.
Hlyan Phyo Aung was one of seven people—five men and two women—who received similar sentences inside Magway Prison on Monday.
No details were available about the other prisoners, only four of whom—Nyein Pyae Sone, Phyo Maung, Ye Moe Aung, and Saw Min Htet—could be identified by name at the time of reporting.
The underground National Unity Government has publicised Hlyan Phyo Aung’s treatment as part of plans to submit evidence against the regime to the International Criminal Court.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2022
- Event Description
The family of a 19-year-old activist from Mandalay is concerned for his well-being after being unable to contact him or obtain information on his condition or whereabouts since his arrest by junta forces on March 27.
Kyaw Swar Win, who also goes by the name Felix, was beaten and taken into military custody during a roadside inspection by troops in Amarapura Township, according to a friend.
The friend alleged that the military was attempting to track the teen’s contacts through his phone.
“He got arrested while getting his phone checked on the road. When I called him to remind him that we were meeting up, I only heard the voices of the soldiers who asked me where we were,” he told Myanmar Now. “They were trying to lure us to them.”
The friend said that he had heard that Kyaw Swar Win was being interrogated and passed out while being abused.
“His family is worried for his life,” he added.
“I heard that he even passed out during the interrogation and that he hasn’t come round properly. His family is also very worried for his life.”
Anti-dictatorship strike committees in Mandalay released a joint statement on Monday demanding that the military take full responsibility for any emotional or physical abuse Kyaw Swar Win was forced to endure.
Sources from the strike committees also said that three people, including protest leader Thura Aung, who were arrested in Maha Aungmyay Township in late January, were also held at an undisclosed location for two months without being transferred to Mandalay’s Obo Prison.
Myanmar Now was unable to obtain comment from the victim’s family or the military council.
Daily protests continue to occur in Mandalay after starting five days after the February 1, 2021 coup. The demonstrations have been met with violent crackdowns by the junta’s forces.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Mar 26, 2022
- Event Description
The Taliban must cease detaining journalists for their work and lift all bans on news outlets’ operations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
Since Saturday, March 26, Taliban forces have detained and then released at least seven journalists and media workers, and have ordered local outlets to stop airing content from three international broadcasters, according to news reports and people who spoke with CPJ.
“The Taliban must immediately release all the journalists who remain in their custody, and stop detaining members of the press once and for all,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Such arbitrary detentions and recent bans on programming by several major international outlets are destroying the once-thriving media sector of the country and depriving the Afghan people of access to essential information.”
On Saturday, Taliban forces in Kandahar detained the independent local broadcaster Zema Radio’s director, Mirwais Atal, after raiding his home, according to media reports and the Afghanistan Journalists Center press freedom group. Authorities held Atal for about 15 hours before bringing him back to his home to retrieve his phone; they then transferred him to an undisclosed location, according to those sources.
At a meeting with local media executives the following day, the deputy director for media and public affairs at the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence, Jawad Sargar, said that Atal was detained due to his “feministic viewpoints,” according to two senior media executives who attended that meeting and spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity.
Prior to his arrest, Atal had published commentary on his personal Facebook page, where he has about 5,660 followers, praising local protests by female students against Taliban orders to close girls’ schools.
On Monday evening, the AJC reported that Atal had been released from custody.
Also on Saturday, Taliban intelligence agents in Kabul’s District One detained Sarwar Hashemi, a journalist with the independent local broadcaster Salam Watandar, while he was covering a protest against the school closures, according to Salam Watandar and the AJC.
Authorities interrogated Hashemi for about six hours and then released him without charge, according to those sources.
During the Sunday meeting with local media executives at the Kandahar General Directorate of Intelligence office, Sargar ordered all major local broadcasters to cease airing music and entertainment live shows, as well as any programming that he claimed was against national and Islamic values, according to the two executives who spoke to CPJ.
Those executives said that Sargar gave them a two-hour deadline to comply, but the executives refused and demanded a written directive from the Taliban senior leaders or ministries.
On Monday, Taliban intelligence agents raided the Kandahar-based independent radio station Millat Zhagh and detained news manager Farid Alizai, producer Rahimullah Noori, and technical chief Mahmood Mehraban, and shut down the outlet and sealed its office, according to the AJC and a senior executive with the outlet, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation by the Taliban.
Authorities accused the three of failing to abide by Sargar’s ultimatum, according to those sources. On Monday evening, the journalists were released, according to a report by the AJC.
In additional raids on Monday to enforce Sargar’s order, Taliban intelligence agents in Kandahar also detained three other employees of independent local broadcasters: Sanga Radio manager Agha Sher Menar, Zema Radio administrative manager Waris Noori, and Radio Tabassum producer Samiullah Wahdat, according to the AJC and media reports which CPJ reviewed but have since been taken down.
Authorities held the three for several hours and then released them on bail, after forcing them to sign letters vowing to abide by the Taliban’s directives, Kandahar Press Club director Jawed Tanwir told CPJ via messaging app.
Separately, Taliban authorities on Sunday barred local broadcasters from airing Pashto, Persian, and Uzbek programming from British public broadcaster the BBC, the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America, and German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, according to media reports and statements from the BBC, VOA, and DW.
The Shamshad, Ariana, and Arezo broadcasters have aired programming from the BBC, while TOLOnews has aired VOA programming, and Shamshad, Ariana, and TOLOnews have aired programming from DW, according to those reports.
The latest attacks on press freedom in Afghanistan coincide with a reported effort by Taliban leaders to turn back the clock to the repressive policies of the 1990s.
CPJ contacted Sargar for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any response. CPJ has documented the increasingly prominent role of the General Directorate of Intelligence in controlling news media and intimidating journalists in Afghanistan.
CPJ is also investigating reports that the Taliban had detained Radio Nawroz journalist and poet Khalid Qaderi; CPJ was unable to immediately determine if he was being held for his work as a journalist.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Initial Date
- Mar 25, 2022
- Event Description
The five villagers detained by soldiers on Sunday had not been formally arrested but were taken away for “re-education” because they had gathered others to stage a protest and cause disruptions, Phouvone said. “Thus, the officers had to assert their control and prevent more problems.”
Sources told RFA on Tuesday that the five now held are being questioned by military authorities, with no word given yet on when they may be released.
“The military will release them later, but they may still end up being held for a while,” a Naxaithong district official said. “Their families have asked the military for permission to visit and bring them some food, but their request was denied.
“The military officers haven’t said when they’re going to release the villagers. But some rumors say they might be freed sometime after the Lao New Year on April 15,” a district villager added.
Reached for comment, family members of some of those now held declined to speak about the case, fearing retaliation by authorities, while one family member was ordered on Monday to delete a video he had taken of the arrests.
An official of the People’s Council, meanwhile, said his office had received no reports of the conflict or arrests.
“A report may have been sent to the economic committee, though, because the conflict involves land,” he said.
Some of the families living on the 25-hectare area of land now claimed by the army had inherited the land from their parents even before the 1975 communist takeover of Laos, and had paid property taxes on the land ever since, another villager told RFA.
“The military says that the land belongs to the army, but everybody knows that the land belongs to the villagers,” the villager said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. “Before building anything, the military should at least have asked for approval from the village authorities, but in this case they began building things without any warning,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 24, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Kazakhstan has sentenced an activist to three years of restricted freedom for openly supporting the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement and its associate, the unregistered Koshe (Street) party, amid an ongoing crackdown on supporters of the two opposition groups.
A court in the northwestern city of Oral handed the parole-like sentence to Murat Sapiev on March 24 after finding him guilty of organizing and taking part in unsanctioned rallies for the DVK and Koshe party in 2020-21.
The court also banned Sapiev from involvement in public and political activities for five years.
Sapiev rejected the charges, saying he used his right to express his thoughts and opinions. His lawyer said no decision had been made on an appeal.
Many activists across the Central Asian country have been handed lengthy prison terms or restricted-freedom sentences in recent years for their involvement in the activities of DVK and Koshe and for taking part in rallies organized by the two groups.
The DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan's BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the 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 constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.
The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 24, 2022
- Event Description
On March 24, the local Nam Dinh Provincial People’s Court held an appeal hearing for Vietnamese activist Do Nam Trung, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and four years of probation on charges of “distributing anti-state propaganda” last December under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal code. The appeals court announced its decision on the same day, upholding Trung’s previous sentencing.
Do Nam Trung, 40, is an activist famous for his work on the promotion of freedom of expression, human rights, and democracy in Vietnam. His activism includes his participation in and calling for protests opposing China’s actions in the South China Sea, which resulted in his arrest and 14-month incarceration in 2014.
After being released from prison, the Nam Dinh-based activist continued his role as an activist, which included demanding the suspension of Taiwan-based Formosa Steel Plant’s operations following its environmental scandal, helping rescue people living in flooded and landslide-prone areas, calling for the boycott of corrupt toll booths, as well as working with victims of land confiscation in Vietnam and informing them about their rights.
Trung was also a frequent target of coordinated harassment from the government-backed army of cyber trolls. Trung’s Facebook account, which he used as a platform to report his activities, had been constantly under mass reporting by Vietnam’s online Force 47 and often resulted in a temporary suspension of his account.
According to Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet, Trung’s partner, his parents and sister were able to enter the courthouse while she was not. The court insisted that only “family members” were allowed inside.
Previously, Tuyet wrote on her Facebook account that Do Nam Trung’s overall health remained stable and that his condition while in detention was acceptable. He also received full COVID-19 vaccinations, she added.
Prior to the Nam Dinh activist’s trial last year, rights advocate Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a press statement urged the Vietnamese authorities to “immediately release the human rights activist Do Nam Trung and drop all charges against him.”
“Do Nam Trung is the latest victim of Vietnamese government retaliation against citizens who refuse to remain silent in the face of injustice and rights abuses,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW. “Global pressure on the Vietnamese government is needed to repeal this abusive criminal law that blatantly violates the right to free expression.”
Trung’s appeal hearing took place only one day after the Hanoi People’s Court tried independent journalist Le Van Dung. The court sentenced Dung to five years in jail and five years probation.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 24, 2022
- Event Description
Responding to former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) leader and student activist Umar Khalid being denied bail yet again while facing charges under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) simply for peacefully voicing his dissent against the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board, Aakar Patel, said:
The repeated denial of bail to Umar Khalid is a huge blow to everyone exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country. Umar’s continued detention for over 18 months comes against the backdrop of a rapidly shrinking space for critical voices and sets a chilling precedent for anyone whose views the authorities disagree with. Aakar Patel, Amnesty International India’s Chair of Board
“The repeated denial of bail to Umar Khalid is a huge blow to everyone exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in the country. Umar’s continued detention for over 18 months comes against the backdrop of a rapidly shrinking space for critical voices and sets a chilling precedent for anyone whose views the authorities disagree with.”
“Khalid’s continued detention under UAPA runs absolutely counter to the international human rights law and standards. Amnesty International India calls on the Indian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Khalid and all other human rights defenders arbitrarily detained solely for expressing their opposition and peacefully protesting against the CAA.” Background
On Thursday, a Delhi Court denied bail to student activist Umar Khalid in connection with a case alleging a larger conspiracy into the February 2020 Delhi riots.
Khalid was arrested on 13 September 2020. He was charged with allegedly damaging public property, committing unlawful activities, raising funds for terrorist acts, and conspiring to defame the Indian government.
In 2021, he was granted bail in other criminal cases but continued to be imprisoned due to charges under the Unlawful Prevention (Activities) Act (UAPA) – India’s draconian anti-terror law which is characterized by slow investigative processes and stringent bail provisions.
Indian government routinely uses UAPA to intimidate and harass those who are critical of the authorities. It is a tool that effectively criminalizes peaceful dissent by ensuring human rights defenders and other critical voices face many years behind bars.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 23, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Hanoi on Wednesday handed down sentences to a journalist and a relative who tried to hide him from authorities.
Le Van Dung, an activist and independent journalist who publishes to Facebook and YouTube, was sentenced to five years in prison and five years’ probation for “propaganda against the state.”
The court handed Dung’s 66-year-old uncle Nguyen Van Son an 18-month suspended sentence for helping the journalist hide from police.
Dung denies the charges, according to his lawyers and family.
Ha Huy Son, one of the lawyers representing Dung, described the court’s decision as an “unjust verdict, with no basis.” He added that they will appeal.
Dung, a 51-year-old journalist also known as Le Dung Vova, was arrested for his reporting in June 2021.
He posted videos and articles to social media about corruption and land confiscations, and commented on political and social issues.
An indictment cited by state media alleged that Dung “made and posted to the internet 12 video clips” between March 2017 and September 2018 that included propaganda against the state, defamed the government, spread false news, caused confusion, and were insulted the “honor and prestige of the Party and State leaders.”
Vietnam’s state-run radio Voice of Vietnam quoted part of Dung's statement to the court, in which he said it makes no sense to argue about the legal system in Vietnam.
His lawyer, Ha Huy Son, gave VOA the full statement.
In it, Dung said that the accusations against him have “no legal basis. It does not follow a standard or a rule. I am not guilty.”
A second lawyer, Dang Dinh Manh, wrote on Facebook after the trial that while Dung admitted posting content to social media, “he has consistently rejected the views that the statements in the clips are illegal.”
Dung’s wife, Bui Thi Hue, told VOA that she and his mother were not allowed to attend the trial, even though the court said it was “open to public.”
The Hanoi People’s Court did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comments.
Human Rights Watch earlier said Vietnam should drop the charges and that Dung is one of more than 60 people being prosecuted for speaking out.
“Vietnamese authorities persist in treating any sort of criticism of the government as a grave threat to be prosecuted with long prison terms,” the rights group’s deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said on Tuesday.
“International donors and trade partners of Vietnam should press Hanoi to listen to its critics instead of persecuting them,” he added.
With limited space for independent reporting in Vietnam, many independent bloggers and journalists use social media to report or comment on sensitive issues.
The country has one of the worst records on the global press freedom index, ranking 175 out of 180 countries where 1 is freest. Accusations of propaganda against the state and abusing freedoms are regularly used to jail critics, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says.
Many face lengthy sentences.
An activist arrested in July on propaganda charges lost his appeal against the sentencing on Thursday.
The appeals court in Nam Dinh province upheld a sentence of 10 years’ prison and four years’ probation for rights activist Do Nam Trung, his lawyer told VOA.
“This is an unjust judgment,” said the lawyer, Dang Dinh Manh. He added that under Vietnam’s penal code, violations of speech should be punished only under civil charges.
“Trung has held the view that his statements in his video clips and articles are exercising his right to freedom of speech as provided by the constitution, and therefore he believes that the verdict is wrong”, Manh said.
Trung, 40, was arrested on July 6, 2021, for posting six video clips that authorities said were “distorting content” and “defaming the government,” according to state-run media.
A court in December sentenced him to prison.
“Vietnam routinely prosecutes people for simply expressing their views critical of the government, making it one of the most dangerous countries in Southeast Asia to be a human rights activist,” said Robertson of Human Rights Watch.
“Authorities should immediately and unconditionally release [Trung] for speaking his mind about the government. Vietnam should also immediately repeal the rights-abusing charge of ‘propaganda against the state,’ which has been used so frequently to target government critics,” he added.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 23, 2022
- Event Description
About the Human Rights Defender: Ms. Jayeeta Das is a senior activist residing in Nadia district of West Bengal. She has participated in many people’s movements in the past two decades, including the Nandigram movement against forcible land acquisition and state repression and movements demanding justice for rape and murder victims. Mr. Pratik Bhowmik and Mr. Hasibur Sk are residents of Murshidabad district and members of Shramik Krishak Aikya Mancha, an organisation that works towards protecting the rights of workers, farmers and other marginalised groups in West Bengal. They have organised several public meetings and demonstrations and were actively involved in addressing the issues of migrant workers during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Details of the Incident: On March 23, 2022, at around 10.30 PM, Mr. Pratik Bhowmik and Mr. Hasibur Sk were illegally detained by personnel from the Nowda Police Station when they were returning home from a nearby village. They were kept at the Nowda Police Station till the morning of March 25, but not told about any case against them or their arrest. While in detention, police forced them to sign a seizure memo claiming arms were found on them. Mr. Hasibur Sk was also beaten up by police officials on one occasion. On March 24, 2022, more than 12 hours after Mr. Bhowmik and Mr. Hasibur’s illegal detention and arrest, the Nowda Police Station registered an FIR against the HRDs under Sections 25 and 35 of the Arms Act. However, the police falsely claimed the HRDs were arrested on March 24 at around 3.30 PM. They were produced at the Berhampore court on March 25 and were remanded in police custody for seven days. On March 29, 2022, around 12 PM, personnel from Haringhata Police Station in Nadia district apprehended Ms. Jayeeta Das from the Boro Jaguli area. They ordered her to get into the police vehicle without providing any reason and took her to an empty house, where she was detained for nearly seven hours. She was not provided any reason for her detention or allowed to inform her family members or lawyer. At around 7 PM, personnel from the Special Task Force of Kolkata Police reached the spot and informed she was being arrested in FIR no 1/2022. They took her to Kolkata where she underwent a medical examination. On March 30, Ms. Das was produced at the Bankshall Court, and remanded in police custody for 14 days. On April 2, when Mr. Bhowmik and Mr. Hasibur were produced at the Berhampore court, the Special Task Force prayed for their remand, which was granted. On April 3, an arrest warrant was issued against the duo in connection with FIR no 1/2022 by the Bankshall Court in Kolkata, and they were remanded in police custody. On April 7, all three HRDs were booked under Sections 17, 18, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act following approval from the City Sessions Judge. They continue to remain in police custody.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
Case shared by FORUM-ASIA member People's Watch
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 22, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Phnom Penh again rounded up more than 100 striking NagaWorld Casino workers Tuesday, in the latest in a series of brutal mass arrests since the strike started more than three months ago.
Hundreds of security forces violently pushed about 140 striking workers onto 140 buses as they attempted to demonstrate near the casino to demand it reinstate laid-off workers and recognize their union.
“The authorities rushed in with anger,” An SreyPe, who was among the protesters, told RFA’s Khmer Service. “They assaulted and cursed the women among us, but our demands continue to be the same. We will protest until we have a solution.”
An SreyPe said she was injured when the authorities pushed her against the bus and her leg was caught in the door. They also sexually assaulted her in the process, she said, but did not elaborate.
Another protester said that the authorities used excessive force and confirmed they were specifically targeting women.
“Their punches are not meant to prevent a protest. They intended to hurt us,” said Srey No. Authorities hit her in the face during the crackdown and she suffered black eyes. “I am sad. We are only fighting for our livelihoods.”
Thousands of NagaWorld workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of eight jailed union leaders, three other jailed workers and 365 others they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino, which is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Cambodian authorities have called the strike “illegal” and alleged that it is supported by foreign donors as a plot to topple the government. But a series of mass arrests in recent weeks have been attributed to alleged violations of pandemic health regulations in Cambodia’s capital. Activists said the charges were trumped up to break up the strike.
The eight union leaders have since been released on bail but still face charges.
Authorities on Tuesday forced the 140 workers into buses around 2 p.m. and drove them around Cambodia’s capital, preventing them from leaving the buses. The workers were finally released around 6 p.m. on the outskirts of the city.
In previous arrests, the strikers were taken to quarantine facilities in Phnom Penh or its suburbs.
RFA was unable to reach Phnom Penh police spokesman San Sok Seiha for comment Tuesday.
The workers are continuing to protest because there has been no solution, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA.
“Our concern is that because there is no solution, the workers will continue their protest and more arrests will be made,” he said.
The union and the casino will meet Wednesday for talks. The Ministry of Labor urged parties to file complaints to the court if there is no solution.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Mar 22, 2022
- Event Description
Two citizen journalists have been charged with royal defamation and sedition for live broadcasting an event at Siam Paragon on 8 February 2022, in which activists conducted a poll on whether people think they face trouble from royal motorcades.
Worawet (last name withheld), who runs the Facebook page Free Our Friends, and Nui (pseudonym), who runs the YouTube channel “Sakdina Sua Daeng,” reported to Pathumwan Police Station yesterday (22 March) after receiving a summons on royal defamation and sedition charges under Sections 112 and 116 of the Thai Criminal Code.
In addition to the two charges, they were also charged with resisting officials and refusing to comply with an officer’s order.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that they were charged for participating in the activist group Thaluwang’s royal motorcade poll at Siam Paragon on 8 February. The inquiry officer said they were live broadcasting the event, and that participants in the poll were trying to push through a police blockade near Sa Prathum Palace. Nui was also accused of shouting profanities at police officers trying to take hold of a female activist and charged with insulting an official on duty.
According to TLHR, the inquiry officer did not say how their actions constitute an offense under Sections 112 and 116.
Despite reporting to the police after receiving a summons, the police took them to court for a temporary detention request, claiming that the investigation has not been concluded and that the police still need to interview 10 other witnesses and wait for their criminal record check.
The inquiry officer also opposed to granting them bail, claiming that they have “committed an offense” together with activist Tantawan Tuatulanon, and that they are likely to tamper with evidence or cause other damage, but did not say what exactly they meant by such actions.
The South Bangkok Criminal Court granted them bail on a security of 200,000 baht each and set the conditions that they do not repeat their offense in a manner that could damage the monarchy, join activities which can cause public disorder, or post on social media invitations to people to join protests. They must also wear electronic monitoring bracelets.
The 7 activists who conducted the poll, one of whom is 14 years old, have also been charged with royal defamation, sedition, and resisting arrest. TLHR said that, despite reporting to the police after receiving a summons, they were taken to court for a temporary detention request and were later released on bail.
The activists were set the conditions that they must not engage in activities which damage the monarchy, or post on social media invitations to people to participate in protests or activities that cause public disorder. They must also wear electronic monitoring bracelets and are not allowed to leave the country without court permission.
TLHR reported yesterday (22 March) that the police have filed a request with the court to revoke the bail for Baipor and Netiporn, two activists charged for the royal motorcade poll, but it is unclear what they are using as grounds for bail revocation. Their bail hearing has been scheduled for 19 April 2022.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 22, 2022
- Event Description
A video report alleging a Battambang timber factory was illegally processing luxury wood has landed a local journalist in court.
Lim Phally, a reporter for Los Seng News, said he had asked for a delay for court questioning that was scheduled today.
He was sued after a livestream report from January 16 about a local businessman he claims was trafficking timber, he said.
“We saw him actively transporting timber in and out of Battambang every day. When our reporters went to cover it, he complained against us, accusing us of defamation and disseminating [false] information — even though I have documents, videos and photos of him carrying wood.”
The January 16 video shows Phally going to video the businessman’s wood processing factory and commenting that luxury wood was found in the factory, and that it was illegal, calling for an investigation.
“This machine is legal only for local wood,” he says in the video, claiming the luxury wood was imported.
Battambang provincial forestry department director Chhim Vachira said the factory was licensed and had been inspected.
All the wood transported to the factory had a valid permit, Vachira said.
“Without being legal, they would not be able to run. So in my opinion, if it was not legal, it would not be possible to be open in the center of the city.”
Provincial court spokesperson Duong Savorn could not be reached for comment.
The Cambodian Journalists Alliance says in its latest monitoring report that 93 journalists faced harassment in 51 incidents last year. Thirty-two journalists were arrested and 10 faced other legal action, the report says.
The government, meanwhile, has complained of the dissemination of false information that could disrupt social order or hurt Cambodia’s reputation.
Los Seng News is also facing court action in Kampot province after its reporters covered a land dispute, while the outlet’s publisher, Los Seng, last year said he was facing pressure from officials over covering the at-times violent land dispute in Kandal province related to Phnom Penh’s new under-construction international airport.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Agricultural business
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2022
- Event Description
According to the International Press Institute, Hanthar Nyein was sentenced on March 21 in a military-run court inside Yangon’s Insein Prison. The court charged the journalist for incitement under Section 505(A) of the Myanmar Penal Code.
On March 22, Than Htike Aung was handed the same charge, but was sentenced in Dekkhina District Court in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital. Section 505(A) of Myanmar’s Penal Code criminalises the circulation of any information that is deemed “false news” against the military regime. Both journalists pleaded not guilty.
Radio Free Asia reported that Ye Yint Tun, a reporter for the Myanmar Herald, was also sentenced for two years on March 23 under Sections 505(A) and 505(B) of the Penal Code.
The sentencing of the three journalists comes one year after their original arrests. Hanthar Nyein, co-founder of Kamayut Media, was arrested on March 9, 2021, during a military raid of the news outlet’s office in Yangon.
“They said Kamayut Media had incited riots and rallied people to protest. However, Hanthar Nyein appealed to them that he had just reported the news in accordance with journalistic ethics,” Hanthar Nyein’s lawyer said.
Than Htike Aung, a news editor affiliated with independent media outlet Mizzima, was arrested on March 19, 2021, in Naypyitaw whilst reporting on a court hearing. Authorities arrested Ye Yint Tun on February 28, 2021, whilst he was covering a protest in Pathein.
Section 505(A) of the Penal Code has been heavily criticised in Myanmar, with activists arguing that it is a “legal catch-all for bringing criminal charges against a broad range of individuals deemed to pose a challenge to the military regime”, and thus justifies the arbitrary arrest of journalists.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2022
- Event Description
Often highlighting the alleged illegal mining of PT. Rajawali and CS8 along with the alleged involvement of police officers, activists in Southeast Sulawesi were terrorized by unknown people (OTK)
It is known that the company is not registered with MODI ESDM and does not have an IPPKH, in fact the Southeast Sulawesi Forestry Service Signpost has been installed which explains that the area is included in a forest area and the KLHK Gakum Sign and Tipidter Police Headquarters regarding the prohibition of activities in the area.
One of the activists who is the Chairman of the Mining Circle Network (JLP) Wawan Soneangkano who often highlights companies operating in the Marombo Block, Lasolo District, North Konawe Regency several times has received terror from the autocrats.
"We suspect the company and its backers are uncomfortable with our spotlight, so some people who are suspected to be company people terrorize over the phone," he said.
Wawan also explained that the terror had worsened after he previously filed a complaint regarding the alleged involvement of SGT police officers in the Southeast Sulawesi Regional Police.
"On March 21, 2022, at 18:32 to be exact, I got a call from one of the people claiming to be part of the company that I complained to at the Southeast Sulawesi Regional Police as well as a member of the police who I complained about in a conspiracy alleged to be illegal mining, namely CPT as the main director and SGT Police Officer. During the conversation, the person claiming to be from the company used language to warn me to be careful, and said that I should stop investigating the alleged Illegal Mining of PT. CS8 which does not have that IUP. If not I will report back. Even the person who claimed to be from the company said he would meet me at the Southeast Sulawesi Regional Police so that I could no longer go home or go straight to prison. After that the phone died. After the phone died, I tried to search for the number through the application. And after that, I also found out that the person who had just finished calling me was named Pak Dydit,” he explained.
He also regrets his complaint regarding the alleged illegal mining of PT. Rajawali and CS8, which have entered their third month, have not made any progress, and for this reason, they will complain to the Criminal Investigation Unit at the National Police Headquarters.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Suspected non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Event Description
After months of near-daily striking, negotiations resumed in the NagaWorld labor dispute on Friday, though workers said little progress was made.
The Labor Ministry hosted worker representatives and the casino corporation for negotiations on Friday, a potential step towards ending the stalemate in the long-running dispute. The meeting came after 11 union leaders and workers were released from prison on bail this week to facilitate the negotiations.
Sun Sreypich, one of the worker representatives, said there were “no good results” to report from the meeting and that the ministry was focused on ensuring “unity” as negotiations proceeded.
“Today we don’t have positive results yet but the ministry is preparing the next meeting, at which point we should resolve problems,” she said.
Chhim Sithar, the union’s president who also attended the meeting, said the ministry only laid out the dispute resolution procedures, including the arbitration process.
The meeting would resume on Monday, Sithar said, and the ministry wanted to focus on a ruling by the Arbitration Council, but that workers would continue to push for reinstatement and dropping of charges against union leaders and members.
“If we do not drop the charges, we cannot accept that. This is our position that the ministry addresses these points,” she said.
Last year, the Arbitration Council refused to rule on the mass layoff of more than 1,300 workers, and had punted the decision to the Labor Ministry’s inspectorate. The council only directed the casino to correctly calculate seniority pay, unused annual leave and indemnity payments.
Early on in the strike, workers said a NagaCorp representative had suggested the company’s board of directors would consider reinstatement demands from around 300 workers who were holding out from accepting compensation packages to return to their jobs.
The Labor Ministry released a statement Friday evening, suggesting that the parties hold three meetings to resolve the dispute. The statement adds that the union requested that charges against the 11 released workers be dropped and to consider the reinstatement of fired workers, whereas NagaWorld said they regretted that the protests were continuing even though union leaders had said they would ask workers to end their strike action.
The 11 union leaders and workers had signed letters, released earlier this week, asking for bail and asking other workers to end the protests to facilitate negotiations. Protesters have refused to comply with their leaders’ requests so far.
Labor Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour pointed to the statement when asked for comment on Friday.
Even as the negotiations were taking place, more than 100 protesters were again rounded up from outside the NagaWorld casino and taken to the new Freedom Park in Russei Keo district and kept in public buses for over four hours. Workers were still being held in the buses as of 7 p.m.
Tim Satya, one of the workers, said they didn’t know why the buses had stopped at Freedom Park or why workers weren’t allowed to disembark. Until Friday, protesters appearing near the casino had been bused to a quarantine center in Prek Pnov instead.
“We haven’t gotten off the bus. We are on the bus and standing and screaming from the bus,” she said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of association, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Event Description
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) confirmed that three of their Mandalay-based members were charged last Friday by the junta with violating Myanmar’s counterterrorism law.
The individuals, who were arrested on March 2 in Amarapura Township, include Aung Myo Ko, chair of the student union at the Mandalay Education College; Thiri Yadanar, upper Myanmar secretary of the ABFSU; and Kyaw Zin Latt, a middle school teacher from Singu Township.
ABFSU chair Aung Pyae Sone Phyo said that the activists had been helping families of detained students send care packages to their loved ones in prison.
“They were actually a part of the democratic movement before but they stopped doing that. They just focused on sending care packages to the detained students and helping the detained students contact their families in distant places,” he told Myanmar Now.
The three detainees—all in their 20s—have been held at the township police station since their arrest, and were formally accused on March 18 of violating Section 50j of the counterterrorism law for funding “terrorist” organisations. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, Aung Pyae Sone Phyo told Myanmar Now.
A second charge was also added to their cases for being alleged accessories to terrorist acts, as is outlined under Section 52a of the law, and carries a seven-year sentence.
The three student activists are also reportedly being investigated for incitement charges under Section 505a of the Penal Code, but Aung Pyae Sone Phyo noted that the final charge had not yet been formally filed.
“[The military] started by arresting protesters on the streets and now they’re arresting people who are helping the detained civilians. They clearly want to instill fear into the people so that they don’t dare to revolt,” the ABFSU chair said.
The military council has not released any information on the charges allegedly brought against the student activists.
Protests have continued in Mandalay more than one year after the military coup in February 2021. The junta continues to make frequent arrests of dissidents in the region, questioning civilians in public, and sealing off houses belonging to anti-dictatorship figures.
“They are going to decimate each and every one of their opponents. That is why we have been revolting against the junta from the time of Ne Win until Min Aung Hlaing,” Aung Pyae Sone Phyo said, referring to the military leader who seized power in a 1962 coup and the current army chief.
“It’s also essential that we, the people, hold our heads high and keep fighting back,” he added.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: two pro-democracy students, a teacher arrested
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Event Description
A Lumad council leader was arrested by state forces last March 18, Friday.
In a statement, the Save Our Schools Network said that Lumad leader Edwin Oribawan Sr. was arrested by combined forces of the Philippine National Police and the 72nd Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army at 4:00 a.m. in sitio Aguila, Kabalantian, Arakan, North Cotabato.
The group said authorities forcibly entered the residence of Oribawan, threatening his daughter and two other children.
“They held them at gunpoint while asking about their father’s whereabouts. At 5:00 a.m., elements of the 72nd IBPA illegally arrested and handcuffed Oribawan. The elements of the PNP and 72nd IBPA planted bullets in order to prove their allegations,” the SOS Network said.
Oribawan was then brought to the Arakan Police Station and was reportedly charged with attempted murder, rebellion, and use of illegal drugs.
SOS said Oribawan was also instrumental in the establishment of the Mindanao Interfaith School Foundation, Inc. (MISFI) in Arakan, North Cotabato and was part of its Parents Teachers and Community Association (PTCA).
This was also not the first time that Oribawan was falsely accused by the authorities. In 2017, the SOS Network said he was falsely implicated in an ambush in sitio Gambodes.
The group condemned the illegal arrest of Oribawan.
“We also urge everyone to stand with us in condemning the intensified attacks on Lumad schools and communities,” the group said.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Indigenous peoples' rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Event Description
A peasant youth organizer was arrested by soldiers in Quezon province, March 18.
Carlo Reduta, a member of the peasant organization Coco Levy Funds Ibalik sa Amin (CLAIM Quezon), was arrested by elements of the Philippine Army’s 85th Infantry Battalion at barangay Cawayan, Gumaca, Quezon province while engaged in field work with the local farmers in the area. He was charged with violations of Section 4 of the Anti-Terror Act, murder and frustrated murder and is currently detained at the Gumaca Munipical Police Station, according to Karapatan-Southern Tagalog.
Section 4 of the Anti-Terror Act defines acts of terrorism, which implicitly includes “advocacy, protest, [and] dissent” which are intended to “cause death or serious physical harm to a person, … endanger a person’s life, or … create a serious risk to public safety.”
Reduta comes from a family of coconut farmers and peasant organizers. According to human rights watchdog Karapatan Southern Tagalog, the Redutas have “a long history of being victims of state terrorism, surveillance, and harassment from the military.”
Reduta’s father Maximo is a longtime political prisoner who died due to illnesses last 2021. Maximo passed away at the Gumaca District Jail without seeing freedom. He was the third political prisoner from the Southern Tagalog region to die while imprisoned under President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
Carlo also has a brother who faced similar charges. According to Karapatan ST, those charges were eventually dismissed.
Under CLAIM Quezon, the Reduta family pushed for the rights of coconut farmers in the province, including the return of the coco levy funds stolen by the Marcos dictatorship and its cronies during Martial Law. As of 2021, these funds now amount to some P75 billion.
The coconut industry remains an important part of agricultural life in Quezon and a major source of export income for the Philippines – in 2017, total exports from the industry amounted to over 70 percent of coconut production and were worth over 1.5 trillion USD.
Despite this, however, attacks against coconut farmers and CLAIM members in particular have intensified under the Duterte administration. Last March 6, CLAIM member Felizardo Repaso and his wife received threats and repeated harassment from military units, including surveillance and visits to their home in Atimonan.
Last August 30, 2021, at least 50 CLAIM members were forced to ‘surrender’ as members of the New People’s Army in a ceremony headed by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), an inter-agency task force and the centerpiece of the Duterte administration’s “whole-of-nation approach” in attempting to solve the over five decades’ long revolutionary war waged by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
In November 2020, CLAIM General Luna chapter President Armando Buisan was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in a hit and run operation. The Philippine Army’s 201st Infantry Battalion claimed that Buisan was an “NPA supporter” and a member of the NPA’s “milisyang bayan” (people’s militia).
Given the Reduta family’s history of encounters with the police and military, Karapatan ST said that they are “deeply worried about Carlo’s condition, especially the threat of mental torture, harassment, and repeated jail transfers in an attempt to ensure that the family doesn’t see him while he is under police custody.”
Both Karapatan ST and the Reduta family maintain that the charges against Carlo are “trumped up.” Karapatan ST is calling for Reduta’s immediate release and the junking of the Anti-Terror Law.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Event Description
Human rights groups the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS), and 23 organisations condemn the judicial harassment of human rights defenders Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti.
‘We call on the police to put an end to the judicial harassment of Fatia and Haris for sharing the research conducted by civil society. The Indonesian government must fulfill its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its Constitution that safeguards freedom of expression and opinion,’ FORUM-ASIA said.
On 18 March, Fatia and Haris were named suspects in an alleged defamation case filed by Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, after they revealed the Minister’s controversial involvement in business operations in the gold mining sector in Papua Province’s Intan Jaya Regency[1]. The following day, Fatia and Haris were summoned by the police for questioning.
Luhut filed a criminal and civil lawsuit for IDR 100 billion (USD 7 million) against the human rights activists last year, which stemmed from an investigative report Haris posted on YouTube, mentioning Luhut. The Minister cited the Electronic Information and Transaction Law, an ambiguous law that criminalises free speech in the country.
The report divulged that Luhut was affiliated with PT Madinah Qurrata’ain, a mining company, which holds the Derewo River Gold Project in Intan Jaya Regency. Luhut is a shareholder of PT Toba Sejahtera, whose subsidiary PT Tobacom Del Mandiri or PT Tambang Raya Sejahtra is said to have acquired a 30 per cent stake in PT Madinah Qurrata’ain[2]. Intan Jaya Regency is a conflict-ridden area in Papu. Frequent clashes between the Indonesian security forces and armed groups in the area have resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians and displaced thousands of residents.
Given this alarming development, it is likely that an arrest warrant could be issued against Fatia and Haris at any time. This is not the first time Fatia and Haris were targeted by state forces over charges filed by Luhut. Early this year, police officers arrived to fetch Fatia and Haris at their respective houses for interrogation[3]. FORUM-ASIA and many organisations denounced Luhut’s judicial harassment of Fatia and Haris, which clearly aimed to silence the activists.
The plight of Fatia and Haris highlights the country’s trend of repressing human rights defenders for holding public servants accountable within Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s government. Last August, Presidential Office Chief of Staff Moeldoko filed a defamation complaint against two activists of the Indonesian Corruption Watch for exposing Moeldoko’s involvement in racketeering the government’s Ivermectin rollout and rice export program.[4]
‘We urge the Indonesian government to immediately drop the charges against Fatia, Haris, and other activists and cease any efforts by public officials to criminalise the fair criticisms of human rights defenders and civil society organisations. Cases like these further erode the country’s civic space landscape and deteriorate the country’s compliance with international human rights standards. Despite these threats, we will continue to monitor the performance of public officials and call them out for their wrongdoings,’ said the groups.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Mar 17, 2022
- Event Description
A 19-year-old man in Ubon Ratchathani said he received on 17 March 2022 a summons on a royal defamation charge, possibly for a protest sign he used during a protest on 15 August 2021.
Kittipon Thaingamsil said two plainclothes officers came to his home to deliver a summons from Muang Ubon Ratchathani Police Station on a royal defamation charge ordering him to report to the police station on 24 March 2022.
Kittipon told Prachatai that he believes he has been charged because he posted a picture of himself standing in front of a portrait of King Vajiralongkorn while holding a sign saying “I’m starving during the reign of King Rama X” and a flag with three lines symbolizing the three-finger salute, a recognized symbol of the pro-democracy movement, during a “car mob” protest on 15 August 2021 in Ubon Ratchathani. He said he has no hidden agenda but was only expressing his living conditions at the time.
The 19-year-old has a vocational certificate in computer graphic design. He is currently unemployed and lives with his grandmother and sister.
Kittipon said he joined several protests in Ubon Ratchathani, including the Stand Against Detention protests to demand the release of detained activists. He was previously charged with violation of the Emergency Decree for participating in a “car mob” protest on 1 August 2021, and with violation of the Traffic Act, the Sound Amplifier Act, and the Communicable Diseases Act for participating in the 15 August 2021 protest.
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), at least 182 people have been charged with royal defamation under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code for their political expression since November 2020. Many activists are also facing several counts of the charge, such as Parit Chiwarak, who is facing 23 counts; Anon Nampa, 14 counts; Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, 10 counts, Panupong Jadnok, 9 counts; and Benja Apan, 7 counts.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 17, 2022
- Event Description
Bui Van Thuan’s wife received a letter from him for the first time since he was arrested on August 30 last year. Thuan said he’d had two shots of the Pfizer vaccine and was in generally good health due to regular exercise. But since last October he’s been having joint pains that doctors have looked at but couldn’t do anything about. Thus every 10 days or so he needs to take antibiotics and pain medication.
Later in the month, Trinh Nhung, Thuan’s wife, received a summons from the Thanh Hoa Police Department in order to discuss details related to the case of Bui Van Thuan, who allegedly stored documents and “items that oppose the state” on his computer.
Mr Thuan was arrested since Aug 2021. Since then, his wife Mrs Trinh Thi Nhung continued to update about his situation on social media and lodge grievance letters to authorities to demand that his rights are protected.
On 17 Mar [2022], Mrs Nhung was summoned by Thanh Hoa province police investigation bureau. In this working session, the police threatened her for fighting for her husband's rights.
Talking to RFA Viet, Mrs Nhung said:
'The investigators told me I should cut down on publishing articles about my husband on the net, they can arrest me any time, they said they had good basis to arrest me. They said I should not publish my police summon on the net, it was not a right thing nor a good thing for me to do.'
She said investigators had asked leading questions to her many times in the working session. They wanted her to confirm her husband's Fb account and her own Fb account, she refused and was again threatened of arrest.
'[Investigators] told me, for me to refuse to provide my private information and my husband's information meant I wasn't cooperative, they could arrest me for not cooperating with the investigation office.'
Before his arrest, Mr Thuan was known for his reports and comments about officials' power game with biting humour. Since his arrest, his family hasn't been allowed to contact him.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 16, 2022
- Event Description
Cambodian police on Wednesday arrested around 200 workers striking outside the NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh, crowding them into buses for transport to a COVID-19 quarantine center outside the city, Cambodian sources said.
Hundreds of officers both in uniform and plain clothes used force against the workers, who were still being held at the center as of 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday, sources said.
“The strikers were physically abused by the authorities, who also took our cell phones,” one worker named Chantha told RFA, saying city authorities are siding with the NagaWorld company to prevent striking workers from entering casino buildings.
NagaWorld workers will continue their protests until their union is recognized and solutions are found to the now months-long labor dispute, she said.
Wednesday’s arrests follow the release on bail on Monday of eight union leaders and members, with three others still held in detention and workers vowing to continue an online campaign demanding that charges against all 11 be dropped, sources said.
Thousands of NagaWorld workers walked off their jobs in mid-December demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of 365 workers they say were unjustly fired from the casino and hotel, which is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Chhim Sithar, leader of the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld, and seven colleagues were later arrested and charged with inciting social unrest, with Cambodian authorities calling the strike illegal and part of a plot promoted by foreign donors to topple the government.
Speaking to RFA in an interview on Wednesday, Chhim Sithar said that she and the others released on Monday have called for striking workers to be allowed to return to work and are urging those laid off to remain at home until a legal settlement of their status is in place.
These statements show a softening of the union’s stance, she said. “We have made a lot of concessions, especially by asking the workers to return to work. There should be some benefit on all sides.”
Asked why the striking workers had continued their protest on Wednesday in spite of the union’s call for them to return, Chhim Sithar said the NagaWorld workers were free to make their own decisions without union interference.
Chhim Sithar denounced as “fake” another labor union recently established by NagaWorld, saying casino owners have consistently opposed the independent representation of workers’ rights.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor meanwhile said on Wednesday that a previously missed meeting with workers’ representatives to help resolve the labor dispute would now be held on Thursday.
Also speaking to RFA, Am Sam Ath — deputy director of the Phnom Penh-based Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights — said that the striking NagaWorld workers have continued their protest because they feel their dispute with the casino can never be resolved while three of their union representatives are still detained.
“The court should drop all charges against the workers’ representatives so they are able to represent the workers during talks,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of association, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Nepal
- Initial Date
- Mar 15, 2022
- Event Description
Nepal Police arrested a reporter at https://www.purbicommand.com/ Samjhana Rai along with two youtubers while covering a protest in Biratnagar on March 15. Biratnagar lies in Province-1 of Nepal.
Talking to Freedom Forum, editor of the online news portal Saroj Basnet said that reporter Rai was taking video of a protest by the locals demanding justice to the families of an 18-months old child who was raped and murdered few days ago.
Though the police have arrested the accused, locals have been protesting, demanding compensation to the victim families and severe punishment to the perpetrators.
"I met reporter Rai in the District Police Office today (March 16) and requested the officials to release her as she was just reporting the event but the officers said that they would instead file a case of public offense against the reporter and youtubers for publishing news with names of the victim's parents", added Basnet.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident. Arresting a journalist for covering news is sheer violation of press freedom. The statement of the police also depicts that they have deliberately arrested the reporter among the protestors. Together, journalists should maintain the privacy of victim, considering the sensitivity of the issues.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Bangladesh
- Initial Date
- Mar 15, 2022
- Event Description
The Bangladesh authorities should immediately conduct an independent and transparent investigation into the death in custody of an Indigenous political activist, Human Rights Watch said today. Any officers found responsible for Nabayan Chakma Milon’s torture and death should be held accountable.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission, an independent rights group in the region, said that soldiers detained Milon in Dighinala sub-district on March 15, 2022, at 3:30 a.m. while he was recovering from a medical procedure. Witnesses saw the soldiers beating and kicking Milon for over an hour until he was “half dead,” barely conscious, and appearing to have broken limbs. The soldiers then took him away in a military vehicle. Nearly four hours later, soldiers brought Milon to Dighinala Upazila Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“Nabayan Chakma Milon’s tragic death is just the most recent case in a pattern of abuses by the Bangladesh military in the Chittagong Hill Tracts,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately open an independent and transparent investigation into Milon’s death as well as other cases of military abuse in the CHT that the government has persistently ignored.”
Milon was a member of the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), an ethnic political party with some armed factions in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The party was formed in 1998 by Indigenous groups that were dissatisfied with the terms of the 1997 Peace Accords signed between the Bangladesh government and the armed insurgent group Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS), ending a twenty-year conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts over Indigenous autonomy and land rights. Under the 1997 Peace Accords, the Bangladesh government committed to military withdrawals and transfer of authority to representative Hill District Councils, including over local police, land management, and environmental protection.
The 1997 peace agreement has never been fully carried out. Nearly 25 years later, much of the region remains under military occupation, and most of the commitments laid out in the accord have yet to be realized. Instead, Indigenous rights groups in the Hill Tracts say that the military presence has increased in recent years.
A witness whose name is withheld for his protection told activists that the soldiers took turns beating Milon in an effort to get the password to his computer. The witness told activists that the soldiers repeatedly kicked Milon on his thighs and testicles and beat him with a wooden baton. “When he couldn’t stand up, they threw water on him,” he said. Eventually Milon lost consciousness, at which point the soldiers carried his body out on their shoulders. “He was almost dead at that time,” he said.
Another witness said that the soldiers had tied up Milon’s arms and legs and were beating him with sticks and guns: “They were kicking him like a football with their boots, beating him up with sticks. His arms and legs were broken; he was half-dead.”
Thorough investigations into abuses against Indigenous activists in the Hill Tracts are rare, and those responsible are almost never held to account. Three years after the disappearance of Michael Chakma, an Indigenous rights activist, the government has ignored appeals from his family, as well as inquiries from the High Court, the National Human Rights Commission, and the United Nations Committee against Torture. In January 2020, the police finally responded to an order from the High Court by simply stating that they “could not find anybody named Michael Chakma in any prisons in Bangladesh.”
The Bangladesh military and other branches of law enforcement commit widespread abuses against Indigenous people living in the Hill Tracts, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, and land-grabbing, with little redress.
“Nearly 25 years after the signing of the Peace Accords, the Bangladesh government has so far been correct in assuming the international community will ignore abuses in the Chittagong Hill Tracts,” Adams said. “The Bangladesh military should not be allowed to continue to rape, torture, and kill Indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts with impunity.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 15, 2022
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Cambodia’s information ministry to immediately restore the licences it withdrew from three online media outlets for alleged ethical violations after they covered corruption cases. The ministry failed to follow procedure when it revoked the licences and its accusations are spurious, RSF says.
With no prior warning and no possibility of appeal, the three news outlets – Bayong Times, Khmer Cover TV (KCTV) and Cambodia Today – learned that their licences had been rescinded in a letter issued by the information ministry on 15 March accusing them of violating journalistic ethics and their contracts with the ministry.
By way of ethical violations, what the three news sites have in common is having recently published investigative stories about the rampant corruption within Cambodia’s political and economic elites.
Cambodia Today editor Touch Yuthea told RSF he suspected that the withdrawal of his licence was a “personal decision by senior ministry officials in charge of licences” in response to a story about a corrupt contract bidding process at the labour ministry.
Brazen intimidation
“The decision to revoke the licences of Bayong Times, Cambodia Today and KCTV is a gross violation of the freedom of publication as enshrined in article 41 of Cambodia’s constitution,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “This is brazen intimidation, and we call on the government to immediately restore the publication licences to these three outlets. Press freedom must not be the collateral victim of the actions of a few corrupt officials.”
Bayong Times publisher Tel Samuth told RSF: “I think cancelling these media outlets will serve to scare many other outlets into ceasing to report the truth.” He added that the information ministry had also violated standard procedure by failing to issue at least two warnings and enter into negotiations before revoking the licences – the procedure established in article 10 of the press law.
When reached by RSF, information minister Khieu Kanharith’s office refused to make any comment. Meanwhile, the ministry has reportedly told the editors of the three publications that they could recover their licences if they “correct” their articles and delete certain content.
Last October, RSF accused the defence minister of abusing his authority by ordering officials to “punish” provincial website operator Youn Chhiv for publishing an investigative report about illegal land seizures. He was sentenced to a year in prison just two days after his arrest.
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government embarked on an unrelenting offensive against independent media outlets in 2017 in order to maintain its grip on power, as RSF detailed in a report published in February 2018.
Cambodia is ranked 144th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Censorship, Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 14, 2022
- Event Description
Thugs with steel pipes attacked members of the Yao ethnic minority community in Vietnam’s Lao Cai province on Monday as they protested the construction of a hydropower plant they said would block the water source they rely on for salmon farming.
Residents are trying to block construction of the project because they say it has contaminated water on a nearby spring, killing their fish, and Vietnamese project developer May Ho Energy Company Ltd. has not offered inadequate compensation to cover their losses.
“The company has been carrying out the construction work without paying [enough] compensation to local residents,” a resident surnamed Lo told RFA by text message.
But when members of the Dao Do (Red Yao) community gathered to stop work on the plant in a hamlet of Sa Pa town, the company hired thugs to “suppress them,” Lo said.
“Being beaten, the residents had to resist,” he said. “Because the thugs all used steel tubes, the residents had to pick up bricks [to throw] to fight back.”
A video shot by a protester shows dozens of people in plainclothes with steel tubes approach and attack local residents who had gathered peacefully.
The incident quickly escalated and turned into a clash when the locals fought back.
Vuong Trinh Quoc, who is the chairman of the town’s People’s Committee, told state media that locals assaulted construction workers, leaving eight workers injured.
Many residents, including Lo, denied the report and said they were not the instigators. He expressed anger about the incident on social media after seeing Quoc’s statement in the media.
Another resident who gave her name as May also said that those who had assaulted locals were thugs hired to attack them.
RFA could not reach Quoc for comment, but later contacted Pham Tien Dung, vice chairman of the town’s People’s Committee, who said he was not authorized to speak with the media about the incident.
RFA could not reach the local representative of the May Ho Energy Company for comment, despite making several calls.
The private company registered in April 2017 received a project license for construction of the hydropower plant in May 2021. Building work began the following month.
The project falls under a category that allows the state to appropriate land for the purpose of national development, according to a report by state-run Vietnam News Agency.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 14, 2022
- Event Description
The Public Safety Act (PSA) dossier against incarcerated Kashmiri editor Fahad Shah accuses him, among other things, of “having radical ideology right from your childhood”, and not reporting on stories “related to good governance, or positive intervention by” the Indian government.
The document, which is undersigned by District Magistrate Srinagar, and forms the basis of Shah’s further internment under the controversial preventive detention law, offers a crucial insight into the Jammu & Kashmir government’s ways of looking at journalists in Kashmir at a time when critics accuse the administration of trying to throttle independent media.
“There have been many occasions when you have promoted separatism through your articles, tweets and social media posts, thus clearly trying to advance your own radical ideology,” the dossier reads. “You have been found guilty of misguiding common masses by circulating fake news against the government and its policies. A journalist is one who lifts the curtains of darkness, but you are always trying to bring the people in dark by misrepresenting facts.” A Series of Arrests
Shah was arrested on 5 February following a story regarding a gun battle in Naira village in Pulwama, in which four militants were killed. The family of one of the militants, Inayat Mir, had claimed that he was innocent.
This claim was reproduced in the story published in The Kashmir Walla, the publication that Shah heads. He was slapped with the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and also charged with sedition (Section 124A of the IPC), and incitement to offence (Section 505 of the IPC).
When police remand of Shah was prolonged, Shah’s lawyers moved to a special court designated under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act.
When the court issued an interim bail on 26 February, he was released from the Pulwama police station but placed in the custody of Shopian district police under a different FIR 06/2021 pertaining to a story in which the army was accused of forcing students of a religious seminary in Shopian to celebrate a Republic Day function. The Army has denied allegations of coercion.
Earlier this month, Shah was again granted bail by Shopian magistrate Sayeem Qayoom on the grounds that “in a barbaric society you can hardly ask for bail, in a civilised society you can hardly refuse it. In other words, ‘bail is a rule and its refusal is an exception’.”
However, just moments after getting the bail, he was arrested the third time under FIR 70/2020 regarding the publication’s reporting on a gunfight in the Nawa Kadal area of Srinagar. 'Anti-India Modus Operandi', 'Scheming Person'
On 14 March, Shah was lodged at police station Safa Kadal when the police from Soura, a different police jurisdiction in the city, came to take his custody. This was his fourth arrest in the past 40 days.
“Sensing that the Hon’ble Special Court may grant bail as the allegations levelled against the accused do not prima facie connect him with the commission on any offence, the authorities have taken recourse to J&K Public Safety Act,” said Shah’s lawyer, Umair Ronga, on Twitter.
Shah is presently lodged at the district jail in Kupwara in north Kashmir.
Shah’s PSA document, which is with this reporter, also blames him for imperilling the security of the nation as his “stories mostly highlight the allegations of Kashmir conflict and Indian State highhandedness”.
This kind of journalism, the document suggests, exposes Shah to charges of disseminating “a particular narrative which is in line with ISI/separatist propaganda”, it reads. “Over the last two years, you have followed a very selective/particular pattern of disseminating anti-India sentiment in a very subtle manner mostly though some of the stories are brazenly provocative as well.”
Shah has been accused of operating along a certain “modus operandi” that stipulates publishing “one to two stories per month which are based entirely on the victimhood narrative that portrays anti-India sentiment, glorifies stone pelters, terrorists, and justifies separatism and violence”.
The document states that Shah has been deemed as a “hard-headed and scheming person … who is ... creating fears among the majority population based on radical and unethical journalism”. 'Instigating Bent of Mind'
The invocation of the PSA became “imperative”, the document states, as Shah failed to make amends after the administration tried resorting to substantive laws to prevent him from committing “illegal and anti-national activities”.
Most interestingly, the document accuses Shah of possessing an “instigating bent of mind”. And because Shah is “well-qualified”, it reads, he can “brainwash people easily”. Other incriminating details include having a “good number of followers on social media”.
The issue of diminishing press freedom in Jammu & Kashmir is an enduring one, with rights groups accusing the Narendra Modi-led Central government of arm-twisting regional reporters into self-censorship.
A delegation of the Press Council of India visited the state last year in October following a request by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who had solicited a fact-finding mission to probe the allegations of harassment and persecution of media personnel.
The fact-finding report, which came out recently, makes a number of observations, including the fact that Jammu & Kashmir’s Lt Governor perceived a large number of Kashmir journalists as having an ‘anti-national’ persuasion. “He conceded that when he was first appointed, he used to encourage open press conferences, but now had gone back to a ‘selective engagement’ with preferred journalists,” the report observed.
In its recommendations, the report suggests that “the security establishment cannot label writing against government policies, or quoting a family or civilian sources in a story about excesses of the armed forces, or tweeting a point of view as ‘fake news’ or ‘anti-national activity’ and then arresting the journalist for sedition”.
It suggests that it was not the business of journalists to support government policies or development work. “A journalist’s job is to report the news as it happens, even if it is unpalatable to government officials,” the report reads. “The tendency to see all critical reporting and opinions as ‘anti-national’ must stop. A conflict zone has many players and many aspects of events that unfold. A journalist cannot and should not ignore the government version; at the same time, he is not the spokesperson of the government.” PSA Remains a Kashmir-Specific Law
Critics and rights advocates say that Fahad Shah’s PSA dossier reveals the prevalence of institutional malice against journalists in Kashmir. “The Supreme court has referred to administrative detention laws, which are laws under which people are kept in jail without a crime, and the court has called it a lawless law,” said Aakar Patel, former chair of Amnesty International India and author. “It gives the state the authority to jail the people it does not like without the commission of a crime.”
Patel said, “On the one hand, the Modi government says it abrogated Article 370 to make laws uniform across India, yet they haven't repealed the PSA, which is a Kashmir-specific law. The PSA doesn’t exist in any other part of the country. The victimisation of Kashmiri journalists, especially Fahad, should stop immediately.”
Geeta Seshu of the Free Speech Collective said that the arrest of journalists in Kashmir is having a “chilling effect” on news production from the region. “Very severe laws like the Public Safety Act require some kind of substantial evidence, especially when you are denying civil liberties to an individual. I am unsure what to make of something like ‘he was a radical from childhood’. What does it even mean?” she asks. “In Kashmir, so many young people are exposed to very stark realities of the conflict on a daily basis. Instead of using a draconian law like the PSA, we need to ask what other avenues the government explored to address what they call the problem of ‘incitement and fake news’.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 12, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh opposition leader Zhanbolat Mamai has been placed in pretrial detention on a charge of insulting law enforcement officers and distributing "false information."
Mamai's wife, Inga Imanbai, wrote of Facebook on March 14 that a court in Almaty ruled that her husband must stay in pretrial detention for at least two months.
Mamai, the leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, was sentenced on February 25 for organizing an unsanctioned public event to commemorate the victims of the January anti-government protests around Kazakhstan that claimed the lives of at least 230 people.
Mamai was expected to be released on March 12 after serving a 15-day jail term. However, he was not released and faced the additional charges.
Mamai is known for his harsh criticism of the country's authoritarian government.
He has been trying to register the Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, but claims he is being prevented by the government, which he says only permits parties loyal to the political elite to be legally registered.
According to Imanbai, about a dozen of Mamai's supporters launched a hunger strike, demanding his immediate release.
Kazakhstan has been run by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his successor, Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
During their three-decade rule, several opposition figures have been killed, and many jailed or forced to flee the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: demonstration met with violence, arrest
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh again detained more than 100 striking NagaWorld Casino workers Friday, in the latest in a series of brutal mass arrests since the strike started more than three months ago.
Some of the 158 strikers who were detained this time told RFA’s Khmer Service that they were forced into buses and taken to a quarantine facility on the outskirts of town but were not allowed to leave the buses for several hours, enduring extreme heat until the point that some of them began to vomit.
“It was awful. We are just workers. They used such brutal measures. The authorities pushed me into a truck and my arm was injured when they detained me,” Pov Raksmey told RFA.
Lay Sopheaktra, another detained worker, told RFA that she felt the authorities wanted to torture the workers so that they would not dare to gather for more protests.
“I am very sad that we are protesting for our jobs, but the authorities are denying our rights and assaulting us,” she said.
Thousands of NagaWorld workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of eight jailed union leaders, three other jailed workers and 365 others they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino, which is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Cambodian authorities have called the strike “illegal” and alleged that it is supported by foreign donors as a plot to topple the government. But a series of mass arrests in recent weeks have been attributed to alleged violations of pandemic health regulations in Cambodia’s capital. Activists said the charges were trumped up to break up the strike.
RFA reported Wednesday that 147 of the fired workers accepted compensation, but the remaining strikers are still calling for their union leaders to be released and for the company to negotiate with them.
RFA attempted to reach Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesman San Sok Seiha for comment about Friday’s arrests, but he was not available.
A Cambodian labor advocacy group told RFA that the authorities have used similar tactics to break up peaceful protests.
“The authorities and NagaWorld Casino need to seek a solution. If they continue violence, the crisis will be deepened,” said Khun Tharo, the labor program manager for Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights
He urged the Ministry of Labor to intervene the release of 11 union leaders and workers who are being jailed to allow the workers and the NagaWorld to resume talks.
The workers arrested Friday said authorities released them from the quarantine center after detaining them without medical attentions for a few hours. They said they will continue their fight if there is no solution.
RFA reported Tuesday that Cambodia’s Minister of Interior Sar Kheng was planning to lead a meeting of governmental officials on Wednesday to resolve the dispute.
Also on Wednesday, Phnom Penh authorities released around 200 strikers detained a day earlier while they were protesting.
On Thursday, an appeals court denied bail to the eight union leaders on the grounds that their case is still under investigation by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kyrgyzstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2022
- Event Description
Kyrgyz authorities should immediately repeal restrictions that prohibit any gatherings in front of the Russian Embassy in Bishkek, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should also cancel fines imposed on three human rights defenders detained on March 17, 2022, who were peacefully protesting outside the Russian Embassy.
The ban, which also applies to the parliament, government buildings, and the central square from March 11 to April 11, 2022, was imposed by a Bishkek district police department. Pervomaiskiy District Court upheld the ban on March 16, ruling that all gatherings during this period should be held at an alternate location in the city.
“The Kyrgyzstan authorities apparently want to keep protesters out of the public eye by barring them from prime locations,” said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “People have a right to peacefully express their concerns even if it makes the authorities uncomfortable.”
The ban is disproportionate by preemptively banning assemblies in those prime locations, regardless of their nature, Human Rights Watch said. It is incompatible with respect for freedom of assembly, as protected by Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations, and its own constitution.
The decision has never officially been made public. It came to light later on March 11, when plain-clothes police detained two activists, Dinara Erkimbayeva and Lesya Khmet, who were picketing outside the Russian Embassy.
When confronted by police for allegedly violating the ban, the activists asked to see the court’s decision, but the police officers were unable to produce it. Instead, the police took Erkimbayeva and Khmet to the Pervomaiskiy district police center and accused them of disobeying police orders but did not follow through with formal charges.
Erkimbayeva and Khmet’s lawyer, Dmitry Kabak, told Human Rights Watch that they appealed the district court’s decision, but the Bishkek City Court rejected it on March 16. On March 17 the activists appealed to the Supreme Court and are awaiting a hearing date. Also on March 17, three other human rights defenders, Aziza Abdirasulova, Dinara Oshurakhunova, and Ondurush Toktonasyrov, held a picket outside of the Russian Embassy to protest the unlawful restriction of freedom of assembly and to express solidarity with Ukraine. The police detained them and took them to the district court to be charged with hooliganism and disobeying police orders, in violation of articles 126 and 128 of the Code of Offenses respectively.
On March 18, Pervomaiskiy district court found Oshurakhunova not guilty of hooliganism, but all three were found guilty of disobeying police orders and each fined 3000 Kyrgyz soms (approx. $US 30). They plan to appeal, their representative said.
The district police called in their lawyer, Nurbek Toktakunov, for questioning. The police told him he was being charged with hooliganism for allegedly speaking ill of the judges on the court. The district court found him guilty on March 24 and sentenced him to five days in detention. He is appealing the conviction.
The country’s constitution forbids any restrictions on freedom of assembly, including any interference with the date, duration, and place of assembly, except as provided for by law. The Law on Peaceful Assemblies provides that a gathering can only be banned on the basis of a court finding that it has an unlawful purpose such as war propaganda or incitement of ethnic, racial, or religious hatred, or is a threat to national security, public order, or to the rights and freedoms of other people.
In line with standards under international human rights law, the Law on Peaceful Assemblies, also requires that any restrictions, such as those related to time, location, or size of gatherings must be for a legitimate purpose, proportionate to that purpose, and demonstrably necessary to achieve their goal. However, the district court issued its decision upholding a blanket ban on all meetings in front of the Russian Embassy and other political buildings, without doing the required analysis to justify such a broad ban, Human Rights Watch said.
The Ombudsperson of Kyrgyzstan, Atyr Abdrakhmatova, expressed her opinion that the ban is incompatible with the constitution and Kyrgzstan’s international obligations, in particular article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), as interpreted by the UN Human Rights Committee.
The committee, in its General Comment No. 37, warned against bans on assemblies taking place near courts, parliaments, or other official buildings, and noted that any “restrictions on assemblies in and around such places must be specifically justified and narrowly circumscribed.” The committee has underscored that “peaceful assemblies should not be relegated to remote areas where they cannot effectively capture the attention of those who are being addressed, or the general public.”
On March 23, Dastan Bekeshev, a member of parliament, posted screen shots of the district court’s decision on his public Telegram channel. The court referred to an official note of protest submitted by the Russian Embassy to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 5, concerning anti-war demonstrations since February 24, the date Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started, and alleged complaints by residents near the Embassy about protests. The court imposed the ban on grounds of public order but does not set out the legal rationale to justify the ban that is so broad as to cover all peaceful meetings outside the Russian Embassy, parliament, government buildings, and the central square.
The ban should be repealed, the convictions of Oshurakunova, Abdirasulova, Toktakunov, and Ondurushev vacated, and the fines canceled, Human Rights Watch said.
“This unjustified ban on all peaceful assemblies in front of the Russian Embassy is not just about the right to freedom of assembly, but also the right to freedom of expression,” Sultanalieva said. “Kyrgyz authorities should repeal the ban and not try to impose other restrictions which are incompatible with their domestic and international human rights obligations.”
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Lawyer, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2022
- Event Description
As many as 90 Papuan students were detained by the police following riots against the formation of a new autonomous region (DOB) or the expansion of Papua in front of the Ministry of Home Affairs office, Central Jakarta, Friday (11/3). As of 21.30 WIB, 89 of them have been sent home.
"A total of 89 have been repatriated, but one has not been repatriated because it is related to the beating of an Intel Head," said Head of Public Relations of the Polda Metro Jaya Kombes E Zulpan when contacted, Friday (11/3).
Previously, Papuan students held a demonstration against the new autonomous regions (DOB) in front of the Ministry of Home Affairs Office, Jakarta. The action turned violent and resulted in 4 police personnel being injured. Eight protesters were also reported to have experienced the same thing.
Dozens of students were then secured and collected at the Metro Jaya Police Headquarters for data collection.
Zulpan said that his party was still conducting an investigation related to the beating of the Intel Head of the Central Jakarta Metro Police AKBP Ferikson Tampubolon. Strict action will be taken against the perpetrators.
"The police will enforce the law against acts of violence committed against officers on duty," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2022
- Event Description
Hari ke empat aksi unjuk rasa (demo) buruh PT Wahana Graha Makmur (WGM) di Kantor Unit Pelaksana Tekhnis (UPT) Pengawasan Wilayah III Dinas Tenaga Kerja (Disnaker) Sumatera Utara di Jalan Adam Malik, Kota Siantar, dibubarkan aparat kepolisian secara paksa, Jumat (11/03/2022).
Aksi pembubaran paksa oleh aparat Polres Siantar dibantu personil Sat Pol PP Pemko Siantar dan TNI tersebut, sebabkan sejumlah bayi dan anak dibawah umur menjadi korban.
Meski tidak ada terpantau bayi dan anak dibawah umur dari Kabupaten Dairi tersebut alami kekerasan secara fisik, namun mental anak-anak tersebut dikhawatirkan terganggu.
Sebab, sejumlah bayi dan anak dibawa umur tersebut harus menyaksikan kekerasan, berupa pembubaran secara paksa. Dimana, beberapa pengunjukrasa ditarik, digotong dan diseret.
Serta, para anak tak berdosa itu, juga dipaksa untuk menyaksikan pengunjuk rasa (juga orang tua mereka) melakukan upaya perlawanan. Baik dengan suara, maupun rontahan.
Suara tangisan bayi dan anak terdengar lirih, diantara teriakan marah dan suara tangisan pengunjuk rasa, maupun suara tegas berupa perintah dari sejumlah oknum perwira polisi kepada anggotanya.
Bahkan, disaat aksi tarik-menarik antara aparat dengan pengunjukrasa berlangsung, seorang anak berusia sekira 2 tahun, nyaris terinjak.
Aparat Polres Siantar bersama Sat Pol PP dan TNI membubarkan aksi warga Dairi di Kota Siantar, agar pengunjuk rasa dapat dipulangkan ke Dairi. Sehingga tidak lagi melanjutkan aksi menginap di Kantor UPT Pengawasan Wilayah III Disnaker Sumatera Utara.
Sebelum dibubarkan, secara bergantian Kabag Ops Polres Siantar Kompol Lamin, perwakilan UPT Pengawasan Wilayah III Disnker Sumut Ardiles Silitonga, Ketua Lembaga Perlindungan Anak Siantar Simalungun Ida Halanita Damanik, dan perwakilan Disnaker Dairi memberikan pemahaman dan informasi kepada pendemo.
Saat itu, Ardiles Silitonga menyampaikan penolakan PT WGM untuk menjalankan penetapan dari Kepala UPT Pengawasan Wilayah III Disnaker Sumut Bangun Hutagalung, dengan sejumlah alasan.
Penetapan itu sendiri, ungkap Ardiles, sudah dua kali dilakukan UPT Pengawasan Wilayah III Disnaker Sumut. Penetapan kedua, tenggang waktunya akan berakhir pada 21 Maret 2022.
Sebut Ardiles, bila penetapan tidak dilaksanakan PT WGM, maka sengketa buruh dan pengusaha PT WGM akan dibawa ke ranah hukum, dengan meminta Penyidik PNS (PPNS) Disnaker Sumut untuk menggelar penyidikan.
Sementara itu Kapolres Kota Siantar AKBP Sutan Boy Binanga Siregar mengatakan, aksi unjuk rasa buruh PT WGM di Siantar dilakukan tanpa pemberitahuan ke Polres Siantar dan kepada Satgas Penanganan Covid-19 Kota Siantar.
Tindakan kepolisian terhadap pengunjukrasa, menurut Boy Sutan Binanga sudah dipertimbangkan, dan telah sesuai dengan ketentuan peraturan.
“Yang kami lakukan sudah kita pertimbangkan, sesuaikan dengan aturan. Ya, bahwa mereka datang ke Pematangsiantar ini pun, tidak ada melakukan ataupun melaporkan kepada kepolisian maupun Satgas Covid untuk datang kesini melakukan demo atau pun menginap,” ucap Boy Sutan Binanga.
Sehingga, lanjut Boy Sutan Binanga, polisi pun melakukan upaya memulangkan pengunjukrasa ke Dairi. Hal itu mengingat, Kota Siantar saat ini sedang diterapkan PPKM Level 3.
“Kami melakukan upaya-upaya sesuai dengan prosedur. Bahwa saudar-saudara kita ini tidak mempunyai izin. Dan untuk Kota Pematangsiantar sendiri, itu sedang diberlakukan PPKM Level 3. Sehingga kita berupaya dengan SOP, tentunya dengan SOP, supaya mereka bisa kita kembalikan ke Dairi,” ujar Boy Sutan Binanga. (*)
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2022
- Event Description
Veteran democracy activist Mya Aye, who was arrested on the day of the military coup in February last year, was sentenced to two years in prison by a junta court on Thursday as he marked his 56th birthday.
The activist was a prominent leader of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and was among the first people to be detained by the new junta last year.
He was sentenced at a court inside Insein Prison, where he has been detained since his arrest, under Section 505c of the Penal Code for “inciting hate towards an ethnicity or a community,” his lawyer Thet Naung said.
A judge from Yangon’s Mingalar Taungnyunt Township Court handed down the sentence, he added.
Mya Aye was arrested at his home in Mingalar Taungnyunt on February 1 last year and charged in mid-March, Thet Naung said, adding that his client would have around a year deducted from his sentence for time served.
Mya Aye needs medical attention for a wound on his foot and for a heart condition, the lawyer said. In October last year, he was admitted to a hospital outside the prison for several days because of an infection in the foot.
“He’s not in very good health,” Thet Naung said. “We asked the court to let him go to an outside hospital [again] but he was not allowed in previous court hearings.”
The charge against Mya Aye relates to an email he sent to a Chinese official seven years ago about Myanmar’s peace process.
He wrote in the email that because of government propaganda and Burmese ethnonationalism, people in Myanmar believed that China was interfering in the peace process and had backed Kokang rebels in their fight against the Myanmar military, according to his case file.
“The plaintiff couldn’t even submit solid evidence against him. He was arrested unjustly and sentenced unfairly,” Thet Naung said.
Mya Aye did not call any defence witnesses but testified for himself, the lawyer added.
Mya Aye spent a total of 12 years behind bars for his role in the 1988 uprising and the 2007 Saffron Revolution. After his release in 2012 he remained politically active, often drawing the military’s anger.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Insein Prison last week indicted freelance journalist Soe Yarzar Tun under Section 52a of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years, lawyers have told Myanmar Now.
The reporter was detained in Bago Region’s Thone Sel Township on March 10, just days after he escaped arrest when fifty soldiers raided a monastery in Bago where he was practising as a monk.
He was held at the Phayar Lay Interrogation Center in Yangon’s Hlegu Township and then sent to the local police station, a family member said, adding it was likely the journalist was tortured under interrogation.
“We sent him some food and some money when he was being held at the Hlegu Central Police Station but we weren’t allowed to see him,” the relative said. “We managed to communicate through hand signals from afar and he signalled back at us from behind bars.”
The relative speculated that the junta filed a terrorism charge based on information found on the journalist’s phone after his arrest.
In March last year he was arrested while covering anti-coup protests and charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code. He was released on June 30.
The date of next court hearing for the terrorism charge is not yet known, a group of lawyers helping political prisoners said.
A total of 115 journalists have been detained since last February’s coup, and 39 of them are still in prison.
Another three journalists–Sai Win Aung, Pu Tuidim and Soe Naing have been killed by the junta’s forces since December, according to the International Federation of Journalists
Last year, Myanmar had the second-highest number of journalists behind bars in the world after China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Bangladesh
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2022
- Event Description
On 11 March 2022, the Khalishpur-Daulatpur Jute Mill Joint Factory Committee announced a protest rally in Khulna City demanding the launching of state-owned jute mills, payment of arrears and withdrawal of cases filed against Khalishpur Jute Mill workers. On the day before the programme, at around 2:30 pm on 10 March, the police came on an easy bike to the road adjacent to Khulna Circuit House, in plainclothes, and picked up Monir Hossain, President of Khalishpur-Daulatpur Jute Mill Joint Factory Committee and Organizing Secretary of Khalishpur Jute Mill Workers Union. Monir Hossain informed Odhikar that when he asked them for the reason behind his arrest, the police abused him. He was first taken to the Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP) office and later detained at the Boyra Police Outpost. He wanted to drink water but he was not given water till half past two at midnight. Alamgir Kabir, General Secretary of the Committee, was also arrested from the Khalishpur Jute Mill gate at around 8:00 pm on 10 March. Both were taken to Khalishpur Police Station on 11 March at noon. After 29 hours of detention, they were released on 11 March at around 7:00 pm. Monir Hossain also informed Odhikar that they had called a meeting in front of the Khalishpur Jute Mill gate on 15 March with the same demand but the police did not allow them to assemble.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to political participation, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 9, 2022
- Event Description
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, the Pasangkayu Police, West Sulawesi arrested five farmers who were involved in the struggle of the Kaili Tado indigenous people in Kabuyu Hamlet, Mertasari Village, Pasangkayu Regency, West Sulawesi. The five farmers were previously reported by the PT Mamuang truck driver, Andi Alamsyah, in the case of alleged criminal acts of threats as referred to in Article 335 Paragraph (1) 1st of the Criminal Code. This arrest was made after the police issued a second summons to five farmers, in which the first police call was not received by the farmers.
The five farmers were intercepted on their way to get legal assistance, after being successfully stopped by the police, they were taken to the Pasangkayu Police Station at 10.00 WITA on the grounds that a BAP (Minutes of Investigation) process would be carried out by the police for the previously reported threatening actions.
The five farmers are Agus (male, 66 years old), Suarka (male, 66 years old), Lodra (male, 58 years old), Halima (female, 55 years old) and Dedi (male, 30 years old). ). After going through a lengthy BAP process, three of the five people who were originally witnesses are now named suspects, namely Dedi, Agus, and Suarka.
Since the entry of PT Mamuang in their area in 1991, the lives of the people in Dusun Kabuyu have undergone significant changes. Initially, the people in Kabuyu Hamlet managed their ancestral land for productive agricultural land. The community grows rice, corn, cocoa, coconut and various other types of crops to support their livelihoods. However, since PT Mamuang came to their area, the community is only allowed to manage a narrow land on the banks of the Pasangkayu river. They lost their management area because it was taken over by PT Mamuang. Since the start of the company's operations, PT Mamuang has planted outside their HGU. This is evidenced by the oil palm plantations planted along the Pasangkayu watershed at a distance of less than 50 meters from the river bank. PT Mamuang was proven to have violated Government Regulation No. 38 of 2011 concerning Rivers, which stipulates that oil palm companies are not allowed to plant within the border line, which is 50 meters from the river bank.
PT Mamuang, a subsidiary of PT Astra Agro Lestari, the second largest palm oil company in Indonesia, has a long list of criminalizations committed against farming communities. According to WALHI records, since 2017 PT Mamuang has criminalized 7 farmers who have lived in the plantation area for a long time, fighting over their housing because it was confiscated by PT Mamuang. In the criminalization effort carried out by PT Mamuang, it was reported that the indigenous Kaili Tado community was struggling to find a place to live amidst the onslaught of palm oil investment by PT Mamuang. Since PT Mamuang entered community territory in 1991, PT Mamuang has planted 100 hectares outside their HGU, which is the customary land of the Kaili Tado community. For nearly 32 years, a total of 107 households (KK) in Kabuyu have lived in the midst of a crisis of limited living space, marginalized by PT Mamuang's palm oil investment. They live and farm on the banks of the Pasangkayu river and become the “living embankment” of PT Mamuang's plantation. The deprivation of the living space of indigenous peoples is the initial pattern of the destruction of investment controls, taking advantage of limited access to information and poor conditions closing civil rights to recognize citizen entities, which has been the opening for ASTRA Investment to seize community land since 1991.
The community's resistance in Dusun Kabuyu to reclaim their land began in 2003, when the community realized that PT Mamuang had been planting outside their HGU, such as oil palm located along the Pasangkayu watershed less than 50 meters from the riverbank. Since then, the people of Kaili Tado have slowly occupied the oil palm land planted by PT Mamuang and managed the land around their area. Resistance was also conveyed by taking action against companies and local governments to demand the return of their land. In 2006, the company then mobilized a number of police and company thugs (centeng) to oppress and intimidate the public into silencing their three-year resistance.
In early January 2022, the Indonesian government issued Decree No. SK.01/MENLHK/SETJEN/KUM.1/1/2022 concerning Revocation of Forest Area Concession Permits, although PT Mamuang's concession is not included in the list of companies whose forest permits were revoked despite problems, the indigenous people of Kaili Tado consider this moment to reclaim their land . After the issuance of the decree, they returned to occupy another area previously planted by PT Mamuang which is believed to be customary land and is outside the HGU area of PT Mamuang. After two months of occupation, on February 27, 2022 PT Mamuang, with complete escort from the Pasangkayu Police, isolating Kabuyu Village by cutting off a number of road access for the Kaili Tado community by making a ditch to close the road. They also intimidated the Kaili Tado indigenous community by mobilizing a number of thugs.
It is important to note that the rampant criminalization carried out by palm oil companies does not only occur in Kabuyu or is carried out by PT Mamuang. Conflicts that often occur and are unavoidable in the circle of oil palm plantations do not escape the government's fault in ensuring all requirements are met. For example, in the process of issuing oil palm plantation permits, each company is required to fulfill a number of requirements such as IUP, INLOK (Location Permit), Land Acquisition, and HGU (Hak Guna Usaha). However, in each stage of the licensing process there are requirements that are not completed at each stage of the licensing process, causing problems in the next licensing process. This is also due to the weak principle of FPIC (Free Prior Informed Consent) free, free consent given by communities affected by oil palm companies.
Responding to frequent criminalization by PT Mamuang, Khairul Syahputra, Head of the Campaign and Advocacy Department of WALHI Central Sulawesi stated, “Almost half a century ASTRA Group in Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi has been doing oil palm plantation business by robbing people of their livelihood space, and causing structural poverty for the people. community in the circle of investment. The massive land conflict between the community and ASTRA today is an accumulation of business impacts that started with land grabbing. Criminalization and intimidation are used as weapons by ASTRA to quell the resistance of the people who today demand the return of their rights." Obviously.
“WALHI urges ASTRA to return community lands that have been confiscated and stop all attempts to criminalize and intimidate residents. WALHI also urges the government to undertake reconstruction and re-audit all acquisitions of ASTRA land permits in Central Sulawesi and West Sulawesi.” added Khairul.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Agricultural business
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Mar 9, 2022
- Event Description
Translation types Text translation Source text 3,709 / 5,000 Translation results The terror acts still haunt the residents of RW 11 Tamansari Village, Bandung City who reject the row house construction project (rudet).
Residents are haunted by acts of terror by unknown people who destroy their homes.
A resident or anti-eviction activist from the Tamansari Bersatu Forum, Eva Eryani Efendi reported that the destruction by unknown persons was most recently discovered on 19 and 23 March 2022. A fish pond and windows of his house were broken.
However, no valuables were lost, Eva also suspected that the perpetrator did not intend to steal but sent a threatening signal.
Eva used to open a confectionery business at home, since the eviction of Tamansari in 2019 she lost her livelihood and is now a daily laborer at a sewing house in Bandung. The destruction usually happens when Eva is out of the house for work.
"We found that our house, our fighting post was damaged by unknown people. The atmosphere of the dwelling became chaotic," he said recently.
To Suara.com, Eva showed the broken window. Now it's been patched again. There was also a fish pond barrier that was also damaged, the water was dry and the fish disappeared. In fact, it is one of the residents' self-help food sources.
Similar damage had occurred on February 11, 2021. The vegetable garden managed by the residents was ransacked by a group of people.
At that time, there were also attacks and intimidation not only against residents but also legal assistants and a journalist. Some of them were injured and taken to the hospital.
The incident has been reported to the Bandung Police. However, according to Eva, a year has passed and the handling of the case has not progressed.
For this experience, Eva is pessimistic and disappointed. The reason is that this time the residents chose not to report the recent incident.
"If you report to the police a case that has not continued at that time, no one has been declared the perpetrator, so for this case I will not report to the police because it is useless to report to the police, where there has been no progress in the past," said Eva.
In addition to criticism of the police's performance, Eva said, the choice not to report is also a symbol of criticism of the treatment of Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, who reported human rights activists Haris Azhar and Fatia to the police.
It is known that Haris Azhar is the director of Lokataru and Fatia Maulidiyanti is the coordinator of KontraS. They have been named as suspects based on Luhut's report.
The report that was sent to the two of them originated from the video content of Haris and Fatia on YouTube. There, they alluded to the allegation that Luhut was involved in the mining business in Papua.
Eva could not stand to speak up for Luhut's actions, which she said were a form of criminalization or repression against civilians, especially human rights defenders, including those who often fight for land rights.
"This country with a government that is now so brave (oppresses) to its people, to its citizens they use power," he said.
Eva believes that what Haris and Fatia convey is data from a research result. Luhut should have responded with research or scientific data, not a report to the police. According to Eva, Luhut is childish.
As a satire, Eva gave diapers and pacifiers to the minister, who is often called Lord Luhut.
"I'm really angry. I want to give him a diaper with a pacifier, right. Yes, it's because it's childish," he said. "Even if I have to be in front of Luhut, I'll say it like that, okay, if you say the ITE Law is geus weh wanina ka me, I'm sorry that you've been arrested, ambeh loba deui my suffering. )," said Eva. More about this source text Source text required for additional translation information Send feedback Side panels
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property
- HRD
- Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2022
- Event Description
Recently, Li Yu, a human rights activist, suffered a severe and constant cough due to complications from asthma. Local national security officers surveil her and took Li Yu to small clinics to treat her with shots and medication. Her symptoms did not improve. Li Yu wanted to go to a hospital, but they rejected her request. She posted a video, asking for help and calling on people to follow her situation.
In the video, Li Yu held her ID, saying, “Hello all, my name is Li Yu. I am an advocate and a single mom. I was imprisoned twice on a charge of provoking trouble and picking quarrels for six years total. My son is 8 years old.”
Then, Li Yu coughed harshly.
I was kidnapped by the local government in Dadong village, Fangshan district, Beijing in November 2021 because I raised my voice for Zhang Zhan. I was forced into the two-week quarantine on the excuse of COVID-19. On December 29, I was kidnapped by the local government again in Dadong village, Fangshan district, Beijing city because I spoke up for Li Tiantian. I was forcibly quarantined for 21 days on the excuse of COVID-19. The quarantine was over on January 20, 2022.
Today, authorities installed a surveillance camera at my home in my hometown. They also used a rented home to watch me in my house, and they don’t let me leave. If I want to go out, I should get permission from superiors and apply, and I can’t leave without their permission.
I met with my son, who I have not seen for many years, during the Winter Olympics and the National Two Sessions. The meeting was only 10 minutes. I was forced to give up all my social apps including my Twitter account because I spoke up for the chained woman on Twitter. In addition, all my tweets were deleted through different tech approaches, and I was barred from staying in contact with others. On March 8, I was forced to travel.
After I returned to a medium-risk area, I was required to quarantine at home for 14 days in Zaozhuang. I had a COVID test every other day because of my cough, but I didn’t receive any medical treatment. The stay-home quarantine was over on March 24. I had a constant cough because of complications from asthma, and I was not given money for medical treatment. I don’t know why my hometown, Zaozhuang, put me in quarantine again and again. Now, I am not allowed to go anywhere because of the pandemic. I have been banned from visiting Beijing for 3 months, and they have not given me an answer to my appeals. I want to live, I want to survive, I want to live a normal life, I want to see my son, I want my custody back. Please follow my case.
Li Yu is a human rights activist residing in Zaozhuang, Shandong. In 2008, she started to protect her rights because her home and farm were destroyed. Afterward, she was detained twice by Chinese authorities for attending events commemorating Tiananmen Square Massacre, and her imprisonment totaled 6 years. She gave birth to a child before the second conviction, they stripped Li Yu of parent custodial rights. Her child was sent to an orphanage.
Li Yu, escorted by multiple government personnel, visited her son for the first time in three years. Her son will turn 9 years old soon. They allowed Li Yu to see her son for over 10 minutes.
On March 8, 2022, International Women’s Day, Li Yu wore a mask with the image of the chained lady and a chair on her neck, calling on the government to investigate the case. She recorded it and uploaded it to social media.
Afterward, Zaozhuang national security officers threatened and surveilled Li Yu. National security officers demanded that Li Yu stay at home for three months. They warned her not to post anything on WeChat or social media.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Online, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Mar 7, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Phnom Penh arrested another 180 striking employees of the NagaWorld Casino Monday as the fight against the Hong-Kong based company enters a third month.
Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of several jailed union leaders and 365 workers they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino, which is owned by a Hong Kong-based company believed to have connections to family members of Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Cambodian authorities have called the strike “illegal” and alleged that it is supported by foreign donors as a plot to topple the government. But a series of arrests in recent weeks have been attributed to alleged violations of pandemic health regulations in Cambodia’s capital. Activists said the charges were trumped up to break up the strike.
On Monday, dozens of security officers forced the 180 strikers onto buses and transported them to a quarantine center in the city’s suburbs for processing. The workers maintain that they have been following quarantine rules.
“The authorities accuse us relentlessly. I ask where is the will to find a solution for the people who have been exploited by foreign companies? Where is the justice for the Cambodian people?” Miech Srey Oun, a worker who has now been arrested twice, told RFA’s Khmer Service.
“The company tried to turn our dispute with the company over to the authorities, even though we, the workers, had a dispute with the employers only, not with the authorities,” she said.
Miech Srey Oun said that a bus released the workers into the hot sun. The strikers were not given food and water, she said.
Chinn Usaphea, another striking casino employee, told RFA that the strike is a last resort. She and her coworkers exhausted all other options in hope of resolving their dispute with NagaWorld. She is now calling on Hun Sen to step in and solve the dispute.
“As citizen, I would like to ask the Samdech father Hun Sen to look at his children in NagaWorld, because we need to be stable in the workplace and to have unions in the workplace,” she said.
“He should tell the relevant ministries to stand neutral to encourage the NagaWorld employers to come out and deal with their grieving staff to end this long-standing dispute,” she said.
RFA could not reach Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Met Meas Pheakdey and Ministry of Labor spokesman Heng Sour for comment.
The authorities should release the detained union representatives and let them solve the issue with NagaWorld, Ny Sokha, president of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA.
Once the union leaders are free, they can negotiate and the strikers would have no reason to demonstrate, he said.
He noted that the government, which has called for talks to end the war in Ukraine, could handle this much smaller dispute.
“This is such a small thing compared to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. So, I think the government is not so incompetent that it cannot solve the NagaWorld issue,” he said. “But this depends on the will of the government to solve the problem. That requires will of the government to uphold justice for the workers, who need help from the government.”
On March 4, two NagaWorld strikers were placed under judicial surveillance in connection with allegations that they had prevented other NagaWorld workers from taking COVID-19 tests, which the two workers denied.
As one of the largest casinos in Phnom Penh, NagaWorld had a total of over 8,000 workers before the strike. The number has been reduced to slightly over 6,000 after the cutbacks that caused the strike.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 7, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Hong Kong have revoked bail for former healthcare union chief and democracy activist Winnie Yu, putting her back behind bars on International Women's Day.
Yu, 34, had been out on bail awaiting trial for "subversion" under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020.
She is among 47 defendants charged with the same offense in connection with an unofficial democratic primary election in the summer of 2020 that was deemed to be an attempt to overthrow or undermine government power because it aimed to maximize the number of pro-democracy members of the city's Legislative Council (LegCo).
Soon after the primary, the government announced that LegCo elections slated for September would be postponed to December 2021, and rewrote electoral rules to ensure that only candidates loyal to the government and the CCP would be allowed to stand.
The Hong Kong national security police issued a statement on March 7 saying that a 34-year-old woman had her bail revoked "on suspicion of violating her bail conditions."
Media reports later identified the woman as Yu, a nurse and founder of the now-disbanded healthcare union, the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, for public sector healthcare workers.
Yu was arrested after reporting as required to her local police station, the reports said.
She had been granted bail by the High Court on July 28, 2021 on condition that she refrain from "directly or indirectly making, distributing or reproducing in any way any remarks or related acts that violate the national security law or that amount to crimes of national security under Hong Kong law."
Yu was also proscribed from "directly or indirectly organizing, arranging or participating in public or private elections of any level in any way, except by voting, contacting foreign officials, parliamentarians or members of parliament at any level and other persons serving the above in any way, directly or indirectly, and leaving Hong Kong."
Yu's bail was revoked because of posts she made to social media criticizing the government's handling of the current wave of COVID-19 in the city, which has left nearly 3,000 people dead and hospitals overwhelmed.
The national security law judge at the bail hearing found that Yu had violated the conditions of her bail, and couldn't be sure she wouldn't do so again.
As Yu left the court, she called out to her supporters in the public gallery: "Take care of my cat for me!"
Her jailing came as top Chinese lawmaker Li Zhanshu praised the electoral changes that followed the democratic primary, saying they ensured the city is being "administered by patriots."
"The new system provides fundamental political and institutional safeguards for good governance of Hong Kong," Li told the annual session of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).
Meanwhile, Hong Kong politician Tam Yiu-chung, who sits on the NPC standing committee, said Li's comments suggested that further electoral changes could be in the pipeline.
"There’s no mention of any concrete details," Tam said in comments reported by government broadcaster RTHK. "I believe maybe something is still being studied. If the NPC standing committee needs to enact laws, we’ll do it."
"These are matters for the central government to decide," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Bangladesh
- Initial Date
- Mar 6, 2022
- Event Description
Human rights defenders (HRD) associated with Odhikar have been under surveillance and subjected to various forms of intimidation and harassment due to them speaking out about human rights violations and their contact with family members of the victims. An HRD associated with Odhikar was approached by members of RAB near his home on 26 February 2022, who wanted to talk to him, but the HRD did not want to talk to them as it was late at night. The RAB members left. On 6 March at around 12 o'clock in the night, his frightened wife called him when he was working in the newspaper office, and told him that some RAB members had come to their house to look for him. When he called the RAB members on cell phone asking them to meet him at day time, they left. At around 9:00 pm on 7 March, that same HRD was called from his office to a dark place by a RAB member. There, another man claiming to be a member of RAB’s Intelligence Unit (name and designation was not disclosed) wanted to know about his contacts with the victim-families and the meetings organised by Mayer Daak, a network of the families and relatives of the disappeared.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kyrgyzstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2022
- Event Description
The Kyrgyz authorities have ordered pretrial detention for the director of the NEXT television channel over the airing of a controversial report in which an interviewee alleged the existence of an agreement between Bishkek and Moscow to send troops to Ukraine.
A Bishkek court ruled on March 5 that Taalai Duishembiev must remain in detention until at least May 3.
Duishembiev's lawyer, Timur Sultanov, vowed to appeal the ruling.
On March 3, the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said it had launched a probe against the TV channel for inciting ethnic hatred.
The report in question quoted the exiled former chief of the Committee for National Security (KNB) of neighboring Kazakhstan, Alnur Musaev, as saying that Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had agreed to support Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by sending troops to help Russia.
There has been no evidence of Tajik or Kyrgyz troops fighting in Ukraine since the invasion was launched on February 24.
The station's owner, Ravshan Jeenbekov, has rejected the charge, insisting that the report quoted Musaev directly while giving other people's views on the issue as well.
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry has rejected the report and has called on local media outlets to base their reporting on the ongoing war in Ukraine solely on official government statements.
On March 5, Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev, who met Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow the same day, called Russia a strategic partner with "especially privileged ties based on mutual trust and understanding on bilateral level and in frames of integrational unions and international organizations."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2022
- Event Description
More than 100 Vietnamese villagers demanding title to their land were attacked and beaten on Saturday by assailants wearing civilian clothes while police looked on and refused to intervene, according to local sources.
The attack in Dien Ban town in central Vietnam’s Quang Nam province came after petitioners set up tents and raised banners in front of the town’s People’s Committee headquarters, asking for their right to land for which they paid five years ago, sources said.
Roads leading to Dien Ban had already been blocked to prevent access to the town center when protesters arrived, a petitioner named Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam told RFA on Monday.
“However, a large number of us managed to push our way through and reached the place where we raised our banners and set up mats and blankets, planning to stay there till today.”
A group of around 30 men wearing face masks, helmets and civilian clothes then arrived and attacked the group, beating petitioners including children and elderly women, Tam said.
“They even sprayed us with fire extinguishers and took away our tents, illegally detaining protesters and taking them to a nearby police station,” she added.
Traffic police present at the scene did nothing to prevent the assault, Tam said, noting that the unidentified attackers appeared to be working in coordination with local authorities to attack and disperse the protest.
“After all, the roads to the town center had been cordoned off, so how could they get to where we were?” she asked.
Thugs associated with the police have frequently been used by Vietnamese authorities in the past to break up land-rights protests or attack political dissidents or members of unsanctioned religious groups, sources say.
Saturday’s protest was the latest attempt by petitioners to secure title to land lots purchased from the Bach Dat An Stock Company, which accepted villagers’ payments for the land but have yet to acknowledge ownership, sources say.
A March 5 report by state-owned newspaper Lao Dong (Labor) said that petitioners had set up tents and raised banners in front of the People’s Committee headquarters, but had taken down the tents themselves and dispersed quietly on their own.
No mention of the assault on protesters was made in the article, which quoted the committee’s deputy chairman.
Calls seeking comment from Dien Ban Town Party Chief Dan Huu Lien and Village Chairman Tran Uc were not picked up this week.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Land rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2022
- Event Description
The state’s strict stance guarding royal processions has been underlined once again as an activist was arrested and charged with lèse majesté and violation of the Computer Crime Act for live-streaming herself at a royal procession and questioning the priorities of the police and the King as protesters were cleared from the route.
On 6 March, Nang Loeng Police Station charged Tantawan ‘Tawan’ Tuatulanon, 20, an activist on the issue of monarchy reform and abolition of the lèse majesté law, with 5 counts of resisting officers, violating the Computer Crimes Act and royal defamation for her actions on 5 March. She was sent to court for a temporary detention order on 7 March.
On the evening of 5 March, Tantawan was arrested on Ratchadamnoen Nok Road, the route of King Vajiralongkorn’s procession.
Her Facebook livestream shows her questioning the way the authorities cleared the road in preparation for the procession by removing protesting farmers who had been living in a makeshift shelter on the footpath for 3 months, demanding that the government solve the agricultural debt problem, a promise they had made 2 decades ago.
In her live broadcast, Tantawan expressed her excitement at seeing real horses from the cavalry and questioning the perspective of the King and police in clearing the protesters away from the scene instead of coming to listen to their grievances. Her insistence on broadcasting live despite police orders for her to stop led to her arrest 49 minutes into the broadcast.
The broadcast included phrases like “What route is this? Can I see the horses? Can I look at the horses? Can I come for a close look?”, “The farmers’ protest has to move … so you should know that the farmers’ protest must be moved because one person is coming”, and “Let’s remember that the farmers’ protest has to move. Instead of going to listening to their problems, they have chased them off just because one person is coming. So let’s remember, between the people and the monarch, who is more important.”
The broadcast was deemed by the police to negatively affect the King, possibly causing viewers to hate the King and to misunderstand the situation because the farmer protesters willingly stepped aside ahead of the procession.
The arrest was made by about 60 police officers ahead of the motorcade's arrival. Tantawan was taken to Phaya Thai Police Station while still live broadcasting the incident in the police vehicle. Fearing that her supporters would follow her, the police decided to move her to the Police Club on the outskirts of Bangkok in Lak Si.
Tantawan was detained in the Narcotics Suppression Bureau located inside the Police Club from 5 March to 7 March when she has been granted bail on a 100,000-baht security and the conditions that she must not repeat her offense or participate in activities which damage the monarchy, and must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
While waiting for the result of her bail request, officers from Pathumwan Police Station came to notify Tantawan that they have charged her with royal defamation and sedition for conducting a poll on royal motorcades at Siam Paragon on 8 February 2022.
It must be noted that it took almost 2 hours for a lawyer to meet Tantawan after arriving at the Police Club despite the right in the Criminal Code for those arrested to meet a lawyer.
According to Tantawan and her friend who was able meet her before the investigation process, Tantawan was detained with drug-related crime suspects. The royal defamation and Computer Crime offences added to the charge sheet on Sunday, a day after she was charged while detained in the Police Club with resisting officers. The bail process was therefore suspended due to the gravity of the charges.
Throughout her detention, people could be seen in front of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau facility waiting for her release. Red ribbons were tied to the locked entrance gate as a symbol of support.
A royal defamation offense stemming from Tantawan’s live broadcast raised questions about how the law is being given an even wider interpretation by criminalising people who dare to cross the long-time taboo against criticizing the monarchy.
Anon Nampa, human rights lawyer and famous monarchy reform advocate posted on Facebook that the police charge was an insult to the judicial system. The police will be held responsible if the Thai judicial system begins to look untrustworthy in the eyes of the world.
Somsak Jeamteerasakul, an exiled academic well-known as a monarchy critic, posted the charge sheet, highlighting the allegedly offending phrase “...between the people and the monarch, who is more important.”
According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), 83 activists and civilians have reported police surveillance and harassment before or during royal processions countrywide in January and February 2022. In 2021, TLHR reported 291 similar cases.
TLHR cited the royal processions as the main reason for the harassment because the police often asked if any action would be staged along the routes of royal processions. The police also put heavy restrictions on targeted individuals to keep them away from the vicinity of royal processions.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 5, 2022
- Event Description
The Vietnamese authorities stopped several pro-democracy supporters from attending an event in Hanoi in support of Ukraine on March 5, 2022, following the Russian invasion, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ukrainian Embassy was holding “a charity bazaar dedicated to raising funds for people in need in Ukraine.”
The Vietnamese government routinely violates freedom of movement and other basic rights by subjecting activists, dissidents, human rights defenders, and others to indefinite house arrest, harassment, and other forms of detention to keep them from attending protests, criminal trials, meetings with foreign dignitaries, and other events. At times, the authorities detain people just long enough to make them miss the event.
“Vietnamese security agents frequently restrict activists’ movements, blocking them from leaving their homes or neighborhood to prevent them from attending an event the government considers problematic,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Now the Vietnamese government has extended its policy of repressing activism by preventing people from showing support for the embattled people of Ukraine.”
Hoang Ha (known as Song Que), a rights supporter, reported that the evening before the Ukrainian charity event, security agents from ward and district levels asked her whether she planned to attend. On the morning of March 5, a security agent in civilian clothes prevented her from leaving her house even though she promised that she would only go to a friend’s house for lunch.
Dang Bich Phuong wrote on her Facebook page, “Ukrainian people, please sympathize with us. When we express our support for you online, our accounts got blocked. When we tried to take to the street to support you, they blocked our doors. At least, Ukrainian people enjoy more freedom than we do.” Among six friends that Dang Bich Phuong had invited to her house for lunch before heading to the charity event in the afternoon, only three were allowed to go to her house. Each of them brought along a “tail” of two security agents who were apparently told to prevent them from going to the bazaar after lunch. Dang Bich Phuong wrote that, when she went down to pick up the food she ordered, she saw “a row of six guys sitting in the lobby.” As a result, Dang Bich Phuong and her friends realized they would not be permitted to go to the bazaar.
Security agents prevented at least eight democracy campaigners from going to the Ukrainian Embassy’s event: Nguyen Xuan Dien, Hoang Ha, Nguyen Nguyen Binh, Nguyen Khanh Tram, Nguyen Van Vien, Pham Thi Lan (wife of political prisoner Nguyen Tuong Thuy), Dang Bich Phuong, and Nguyen Hoang Anh.
During the March 2, 2022 vote at the United Nations General Assembly on passage of a resolution calling on Russia to end its military offensive in Ukraine and denouncing Russia’s violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, Vietnam abstained.
As Human Rights Watch detailed in its February report, “Locked Inside Our Home: Movement Restrictions on Rights Activists in Vietnam,” the Vietnamese government frequently uses various methods to keep people under house arrest, such as stationing plainclothes security agents outside homes, using padlocks to lock people inside, erecting roadblocks and other barriers to prevent people from leaving their homes and others from entering, mobilizing neighborhood thugs to intimidate people into staying home, and applying very strong adhesives – such as “superglue” – on locks.
In a separate case on March 2, the poet Thai Hao left his house in Thanh Hoa for the airport. He planned to fly to Ho Chi Minh City to receive an award for poetry at an informal ceremony organized by the literary group Van Viet. Thai Hao reported that prior to his trip, security agents went to his house and “advised” him not to go. He was determined to go, but before he could get very far, uniformed police stopped him on the road. Two men in civilian clothes then crossed the street and attacked him, hitting him in the face.
Initially, the uniformed police did not intervene. Only when Thai Hao yelled repeatedly for help did the police at the scene tell the two men to stop hitting him. The police fined Thai Hao for violating traffic laws and took him to the police station, keeping him there for three hours. Thai Hao missed his flight and had to return home.
Hoang Hung, a poet involved in organizing the informal Van Viet gathering, wrote that the authorities prevented all invitees who lived outside of Ho Chi Minh City from attending the event. Those who lived in Ho Chi Minh City met at a café on March 3, surrounded by plainclothes security agents. When one participant raised a piece of paper with the names of the awardees, a security agent snatched the paper out of his hand.
On March 7, Van Viet published a letter that “denounces the government’s obstruction of its awards and harassment of its recipients.”
“Vietnamese police and security officers harass and abuse critics and rights activists in the most blatant ways, always with total impunity,” Robertson said. “Concerned governments should urgently condemn this litany of abuses and call for an end to the authorities’ violations of people’s right to freedom of movement because of their beliefs and speech.”
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Mar 4, 2022
- Event Description
Sayed Baqir Mohseni, a political analyst and critic of the Taliban, who was detained by the group two days ago has been released, local media citing the sources reported.
Sayed Baqir Mohseni, a political analyst and critic of the Taliban, who was detained by the group two days ago has been released, local media citing the sources reported.
According to local media, Mohseni's relatives claimed that he has been released from the Taliban intelligence agency's custody. Mohseni disappeared on Friday. However, Taliban security has not yet commented on the incident.
As soon as the news of Sayed's disappearance went out, a number of social media users have called for the release of Mohseni, a university professor and critic of the Taliban. They called him the voice of Afghanistan.
During a TV interview, Mohseni blamed the Taliban for insecurity, corruption and waste of resources in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.
In a video message posted on Facebook, Mohseni said there was no prove of “suspected issues” and that doubtful matters were resolved through talk.
The Islamic Emirate cannot be reached for comment.
Mr. Mohseni is a university lecturer and an outspoken critic of the Islamic Emirate and other governments been before.
His arrest has sparked widespread reactions from rights groups and social media users in and outside the country.
Following his arrest, hashtags went viral on social media, calling for his release.
There were also reports of the arrest of a freelance journalist and a woman named Nadima, who had returned from Canada to Afghanistan.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Academic
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Mar 4, 2022
- Event Description
An FIR was registered against journalist and author Rana Ayyub in Dharwad district of Karnataka for allegedly referring to anti-hijab protesters in Karnataka as 'Hindu terrorists' during a television interview. The FIR was registered under section 295 A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) of the Indian Penal Code after a complaint by Ashwath, a volunteer of the Hindu IT Cell, an organisation that claims to protect Hindus by legal means.
In his complaint, Ashwath claimed that Rana Ayyub called anti-hijab protesters in Karnataka 'terrorists' in an interview with the BBC. The complaint quoted Rana Ayyub as saying, "These girls have been wearing the hijab for a long time, so why suddenly has this group of young students, young terrorists for that matter, who are hoisting a saffron flag in an educational complex in Karnataka, why are male students holding a saffron flag in an educational institution, what does that mean?"
Though the complaint was sent to the police station on February 21, an FIR was registered only on Friday, March 4 at the Vidyagiri Police Station in Dharwad. The Hindu IT Cell had claimed that at least five similar complaints were filed against Rana Ayyub over her comments in the video. The video interview mentioned in the complaint is from a YouTube account called 'rana ayyub' and it was uploaded on February 10. In the video, Rana Ayyub is discussing the recent controversy over disallowing the hijab in educational institutes in Karnataka.
Responding to the FIR, Rana Ayyub took to Twitter to say, "Another case has been registered against me, in Karnataka, by the same Hindu right wing group, for ‘hurting Hindu sentiments’ in my interview on the Hijab ban and the intimidation of Muslim women. To the government and its cronies, THIS WONT STOP ME FROM SPEAKING THE TRUTH."
Last year, a co-founder of the Hindu IT Cell had filed a police complaint in Uttar Pradesh against Rana Ayyub accusing her of "illegally acquiring money from the general public in the name of charity". The complainant mentioned three relief campaigns on Ketto that were crowdfunded by Rana Ayyub.
An FIR was registered in the case, and the Enforcement Directorate last month locked assets worth over Rs 1.77 crore belonging to Ayyub.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 3, 2022
- Event Description
CHRD condemns the detention of a Chinese citizen who has attempted to engage in peaceful assembly to reflect his views on foreign policy issues, namely the military conflict in Ukraine. CHRD also condemns the Chinese government’s widespread use of censorship on social media regarding the conflict in Ukraine, particularly as most of the reported censorship incidents have tended to silence anti-war views.
On March 3, police from Shaoyang, Hunan province took away and administratively detained activist Peng Peiyu on the charge of “disturbing public order.”
On March 2, Peng planned to go to the Russian embassy in Beijing to conduct an anti-war demonstration, but was detained upon reaching Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan. Before being administratively detained, Peng was able to phone a friend, saying that police had told him that they might take other measures against him—presumably meaning criminal detention followed by arrest.
On March 1, Peng Peiyu had published an online post titled “A Citizen’s Call to Launch an Anti-War Demonstration.”
In the statement, Peng expressed his views about “Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine and dictator Putin’s anti-humanistic and brazen threat to use nuclear weapons” as well as his expressing “…regret to the entire world for the way in which the Chinese internet has praised dictator Putin’s anti-humanistic behavior”.
The detention is not the only of its kind in China. A pro-peace demonstrator in Hangzhou staged a one-person protest and was immediately taken away by the police.
“Peng Peiyu and other Chinese citizens have the right to engage in peaceful assembly and to express their views on foreign policy. Peng should be immediately and unconditionally released”, said William Nee, CHRD’s Research and Advocacy Coordinator.
Censorship in Overdrive
In addition to the detention of Peng Peiyu, the Chinese government has gone into overdrive with online censorship about the conflict, often favoring censoring views the criticize Russian aggression or that seek peace.
At times these censorship instructions have been explicit , as an internal memo at Beijing News told its employees to “ (d)o not post anything unfavorable to Russia or pro-Western.”
As a commentary in Rights Defense Network noted, “reading through many WeChat posts from the mainland, from the beginning, it wasn’t hard to find a lot of pro-Russia and anti-war views being expressed, but starting from February 27, many anti-war articles mysterious disappeared. As long as its anti-war, it will garner the label from internet administrators of “being against the relevant laws and regulations” thus censoring it, and even an article discussing China-Russia border issues was prohibited from sharing in WeChat”.
There has been censorship from the affected countries of the conflict that could limit the ability of the Chinese public and policymakers from having a more nuanced understanding of the situation. For example, WeChat took down a detailed first-person account posted on February 26 of an anti-war demonstration that took place in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. An example of alleged WeChat censorship was posted online by a Chinese man in Ukraine. His account had been restricted for a day for allegedly violating WeChat’s Acceptable Use Policy.
Censors deleted anti-war statements, such as a statement by five prominent scholars that expressed support to the Ukrainian people in defending their country and called for an end to the war. The statement noted that “(a)s citizens of a country that has suffered from ravages, broken families, starving people, and been compelled to give up part of its national territory….we recall that these kinds of sufferings and humiliations forged our own historical consciousness, and we share the pain of the Ukrainian people as if it were own”. A joint statement from more than 130 alumni of prestigious universities in Beijing that condemned the war was censored.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Mar 2, 2022
- Event Description
A pro-democracy Hong Kong radio DJ was convicted of seditious speech on Wednesday under a British colonial-era law that authorities have embraced as China flattens dissent in the business hub.
Tam Tak-chi, 49, is among a growing number of activists charged with sedition, a previously little-used law that prosecutors have dusted off in the wake of massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Tam's trial was the first since Hong Kong's 1997 handover in which a sedition defendant fought his case by pleading not guilty and went through a full trial.
Two previous recent prosecutions were wrapped up after guilty pleas.
As a result, Tam's conviction is a legal watershed because it sets precedents for a host of upcoming sedition prosecutions as China remolds Hong Kong in its own authoritarian image.
Better known by his moniker "Fast Beat," Tak hosted a popular online talk show that backed democracy and was highly critical of the government, often using colorful language.
He was a regular presence at protests and often set up street booths to deliver political speeches.
Prosecutors focused on the street booths, with Tam convicted on seven counts of "uttering seditious words" as well as other charges such as disorderly conduct and disobeying a police officer.
Authorities said Tam incited hatred against the authorities by chanting the popular protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times" 171 times, cursing the police force some 120 times, and repeatedly shouting "Down with the Communist Party.”
"The attack on the Communist Party is only part of the seditious words uttered by the accused," district judge Stanley Chan said in his verdict.
"Looking at what he (Tam) said, it's far beyond criticizing and theorizing," he added.
Sedition is separate from the sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020.
But the courts treat it with the same severity and there are plans to make sedition one of a number of new national security crimes later this year, meaning it will soon carry a much longer jail term.
Tam was arrested in September 2020 and denied bail, as happens in most national security cases.
His trial began in July 2021 but was delayed for a landmark High Court ruling in which judges declared the popular protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong" was secessionist and therefore illegal under the new security law.
That ruling legally crystallized the reality that certain views and slogans are now forbidden in Hong Kong under the security law.
In Hong Kong, sedition is broadly defined as any words that generate "hatred, contempt or disaffection" towards the government or "encourage disaffection" among residents.
It carries up to two years in jail for a first offense.
First penned by colonial ruler Britain in 1938, it was long criticized as an anti-free speech law, including by many of the pro-Beijing local newspapers now praising its use.
By the time of the 1997 handover, it had not been used for decades but remained on the books.
On the same day Tam was convicted, police charged two men aged 17 and 19 with "uttering seditious words" in a separate case concerning a campus protest in 2020.
In recent months, sedition charges have been brought against pro-democracy unionists who produced euphemistic children's books about a village of sheep defending itself from wolves; journalists from now-shuttered pro-democracy news outlets; and a former pop star turned democracy activist.
In January, a man was jailed for eight months and a woman 13-and-a-half months after pleading guilty in two separate cases over seditious leaflets.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 2, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has sentenced rights activist and journalist Aigerim Tleuzhanova to 15 days in jail over her participation in an unsanctioned mass gathering to commemorate victims of the deadly unrest in January.
Tleuzhanova was sentenced on March 2 after a court found her guilty of violating the law on public gatherings.
Tleuzhanova pleaded not guilty, saying that she was at the gathering in Almaty's central square on February 13 as a journalist.
Rights lawyer Erlan Qaliev said to RFE/RL that Tleuzhanova was covering the gathering for the Elmedia television channel.
Also on March 2, another activist, Marat Turymbetov, and a well-known businessman, Bolat Abilov, were fined 150,000 tenges ($312) each for organizing the February 13 event.
Kazakh authorities say 227 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed across the country after a peaceful demonstration in the tightly controlled Central Asian state's western region of Manghystau on January 2 over a fuel-price hike led to widespread anti-government protests.
Human rights groups say the number of those killed was much higher, providing evidence that there were peaceful demonstrators and persons who had nothing to do with the protests among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
Authorities say some 800 people have been arrested over the unrest and an investigation is under way. There are reports that those in custody have been tortured in custody.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said on March 2 that 62 people arrested over the deadly unrests had been sentenced to prison.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 2, 2022
- Event Description
A major students’ union has said it fears for the lives of two students and a teacher who were arrested in Mandalay last week for involvement in the movement against the junta.
Student activists Aung Myo Ko and Thiri Yadanar were detained on Wednesday evening along with Kyaw Zin Latt, a teacher taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) said.
A large number of soldiers raided Thiri Yadanar’s home in Amarapura Township to make the arrests, said the union member, who asked to remain anonymous. “They were arrested while the three of them were meeting at Thiri Yadanar’s house,” he said.
“I think they were tipped off by someone. Aung Myo Ko was beaten during his arrest. I heard the house was sealed off as well,” he added.
Aung Myo Ko is the chair of the Mandalay Education Degree College Student Union, while Thiri Yadanar is secretary of the ABFSU in upper Myanmar. Kyaw Zin Latt is a teacher at the Magway Tayar Middle School in Singu Township. The three are all in their 20s.
Before their arrests, they had been helping the families of activists detained at Obo Prison to send care packages to their loved ones, the ABSFU member said.
He added that the three are being interrogated at the Amarapura Township Police Station and that he was worried the military would falsely accuse them of being involved with the People's Defence Force (PDF) and file unfounded charges against them.
“They were only involved in the actions of the ABFSU,” he said. “They have no affiliations with the PDF at all. I heard anti-terrorism charges are going to be filed agaisnt them. We are very worried about their safety and for their lives.”.
Police and military officials could not be reached for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Nepal
- Initial Date
- Mar 2, 2022
- Event Description
Freedom Forum has been concerned over digital harassment meted out against a noted journalist and rights activist Ms Babita Basnet for her article published on March 2.
Ms Basnet had written an opinion article, stressing the need of reviewing law on rape . It was published on www.ghatanarabichar.com on March 2.
With its publication, campaign on social media (Facebook and Twitter) was launched in protest of Basnet and her opinion. Even a coordinated camapaign in Twitter was spread with a hashtag #BoycottBabitaBasnet, thereby meting out digital harassment on rights activist and journalist Basnet.
Talking to FF, journalist Basnet shared that the movement had seriously disturbed her. “I wrote the article based on one of my own case studies and it does not target any individual, group or gender. But, whatever I am facing now for practicing my right to free press and free expression harassed me much. I think it is a deliberate move to ruin my career”, she observed.
To this, Chief Executive at FF, Taranath Dahal viewed, “Every citizen has the right to agree or disagree on anyone’s opinion. Both agreement and disagreement are their rights to free speech. But spreading harsh messages through coordinated campaign and boycotting the opinion writer is sheer instance of intolerance. Such intolerance not only harasses the opinion writer but also affects free speech atmosphere.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Mar 1, 2022
- Event Description
Vietnam’s security forces continue political suppression which started in late 2015, arresting Ho Chi Minh City-based human rights activist and civil society campaigner Tran Van Bang (aka Tran Bang) on March 1 and charged him with “conducting anti-state propanda” under Article 117 with potential imprisonment of between seven and 12 years, even 20 years in prison.
According to local activists, the HCM City’s police broke into his private residence in the Tuesday’s morning when he was alone at home. The state-controlled media reported that police also conducted a house search and confiscated a number of documents with “anti-state” content.
Citing information from the city’s Police Department, the state-controlled newspapers reported that the local police probed the case on November 24 last year.
Like other political cases, Mr. Bang, 61, likely will be held incommunicado for at least four months during the investigation period.
Before being arrested, Mr. Bang was summoned by the local police twice and he warned his friends that he would be arrested soon.
In late 2021, he announced to close his Facebook page Tran Bang to focus on his health. He reportedly has a number of health issues in recent years, including eye vision but has not been treated properly due to Covid-19 pandemic and social isolation due to the deadly outbreak.
Mr. Bang, an engineer in construction, has been involved in social affairs more than a decade ago. He is among well-known government critics, and often gives interviews to foreign media such as Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and BBC.
He has actively participated in peaceful demonstrations in HCM City and Hanoi since 2011 to protest China’s violations of Vietnam’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea). He was detained many times by security force, and in a protest in 2015, he was brutally beaten by security forces.
Bang has been the second activist being detained and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda” since the beginning of 2022. On January 10, blogger Le Manh Ha got arrested for his posts on Facebook on a number of issues, including systemic corruption and land grabbing across the country.
According to Defend the Defenders’ latest statistics, Vietnam is holding at least 254 prisoners of conscience, including 37 in pre-trial detention. Hanoi always denies holding prisoners of conscience but only law violators. Among them are 12 activists in pre-trial detention and 50 convicted activists alleged of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the Penal Code (1999) or Article 117 of the Criminal Code (2015), the controversial accusation the international community has urged Vietnam’s authoritarian regime to remove from the country’s law because it has been used for decades to silence peaceful government critics.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
Case shared by Defend the Defenders Vietnam
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Feb 28, 2022
- Event Description
Background
Tuan was born in Quang Nam Province and currently lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City. He graduated from the history program at the University of Da Nang, and now is also pursuing a law degree at Hanoi Law University.
Profile photo source. History of Activism
Tuan is a young professional that showed his concern for human rights in Vietnam starting at a very young age. He has participated in the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam since 2015 and joined many collective movements across the country. According to journalist Pham Doan Trang, Tuan has always dreamed of writing the first historical book on the democratization of Vietnam.
Details of Imprisonment
According to certain news sources in Vietnam, the authorities intend to combine the cases of Pham Chi Dung, Pham Chi Thanh, and Le Huu Minh Tuan into one case with Le Huu Minh Tuan acting as an accomplice. All are members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam.
October 2020:
The government has finished its investigation of Nguyen Tuong Thuy and Le Huu Minh Tuan. Thuy’s wife said their lawyer will be Nguyen Van Mieng. Some observers expected that the trial would be held soon.
November 2020:
Lawyers for jailed journalists Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Le Huu Minh Tuan say they have finally received paperwork that allows them to start working on the cases on behalf of their clients, after the Procuracy office finished its investigation. Attorney Nguyen Van Mieng reported that since their arrests, the three men have not yet been allowed to talk to a lawyer. He also said the men were allowed to receive supplies sent by their families on November 6, but he was not able to see them due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Attorney Nguyen Van Mieng, lawyer for Pham Chi Dung, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Le Huu Minh Tuan, said the order for their temporary detention was signed on November 12, 2020, allowing for three months and 15 days of additional detention. It is thus expected that their first instance trials will take place toward the end of January 2021. Dung said that after reading the 12-page indictment against him, “I could not see where I broke the law.” Thuy said, “Of the 45 articles attributed to me, some weren’t even mine.” He said he’d appeal the indictment within 15 days.
January 2021:
Three members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) were sentenced to a total of 37 years in prison after a trial lasting half a day. Pham Chi Dung, 55, received 15 years; Nguyen Tuong Thuy, 69, received 11 years; and Le Huu Minh Tuan, 32, received 11 years. All three were convicted of “anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code. Thuy is known to be in poor health; the long sentences could cause serious health problems. You can read our analysis of the trial here. Before his sentencing, Thuy made this statement: “All my articles are just yearnings for our people and our country. In the future, activities like mine will be considered perfectly normal.” Dung said, “A harsh sentence for independent journalists like us will show the world what ‘freedom of the press’ looks like in Vietnam. It’ll also create problems in international relations during this difficult period.”
The authorities accused the three of writing “reactionary content,” of publishing articles that “distort the truth, incite individuals to rise up and overthrow the people’s government, or even incite hatred and extremism.” However, a video of Tuan highlights the peaceful nature of his work and aspirations. He contends that he joined the IJAVN, a purely civil and professional entity, to pursue the rights enshrined in Vietnam’s Constitution. He also emphasizes, explicitly, that his objective is never to topple the current regime. Please watch and share this video of Le Huu Minh Tuan speaking in his own words.
Update, late January: Le Huu Minh Tuan has decided to appeal his prison sentence. He appears to be in good health and spirits, according to his lawyer, Dang Dinh Manh.
June 2021:
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued an opinion on Le Huu Minh Tuan, in which they found Le Huu Minh Tuan’s detention to be arbitrary and called for his immediate release.
The WGAD also noted that this case is one of many cases brought before the Working Group in recent years concerning arbitrary detention in Viet Nam. These cases follow a familiar pattern of arrest that does not comply with international norms, which is manifested in the circumstances of the arrest, lengthy detention pending trial with no access to judicial review, denial or limiting of access to legal counsel, incommunicado detention, prosecution under vaguely worded criminal offences for the peaceful exercise of human rights, and denial of access to the outside world. This pattern indicates a systemic problem with arbitrary detention in Viet Nam which, if it continues, may amount to a serious violation of international law.
February 2022:
On February 28 an appeals court in Ho Chi Minh City upheld the 11-year sentence for Le Huu Minh Tuan, a member of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), on charges of “anti-state propaganda.” The open trial lasted only half a day and Tuan’s family was not allowed inside the courtroom. Tuan’s sister, Le Thi Hoai Tam, told VOA that Tuan was not allowed to see his lawyer, Dang Dinh Manh, before the trial due to “pandemic reasons.” According to his lawyer, Tuan stated in court that he only exercised his basic freedoms of expression and of the press according to Article 25 of the Constitution.
We talked to Le Thi Hoai Tam, Tuan’s sister. Like many other families of political prisoners in Vietnam, they have faced harassment from the law enforcement to visit and send Tuan necessities. Ms. Tam calls on the international community to speak out forcefully for the release of Tuan and members of the Independent Journalist Association. Watch the interview to learn more about Tuan and his personality through the eyes of his sister and the family.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 28, 2022
- Event Description
On 28 February 2022, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate, in Shandong province, formally indicted woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for “inciting subversion of State power” under Article 105(2) of the Criminal Law.
In the indictment sent to the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court, the prosecutors accuse Li Qiaochu of “being deeply influenced by the subversive thoughts” of her partner and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong and for helping him to set up a blog to publish writings that “propagate thoughts that subvert State power and overturn the socialist system”. The indictment provides no further description of these writings nor does it explain precisely how they would subvert State power. “Incitement to subversion of State power” is punishable by imprisonment of five years or less. However, if a defendant is deemed to be a “ringleader” or whose offence constitutes “major crimes—concepts that are not defined by the Criminal Law—they could be sentenced to more than five years in prison.
In a letter to the Chinese government in April 2021, UN Special Procedures have criticised the vague and broad provisions of China’s Criminal Law, including article 105(2), and believe they fail to meet the principle of legal certainty. The UN experts also raised concerns about Li Qiaochu’s detention, stating that the charge against her appears to be related to the legitimate exercise of her right to promote and defend human rights, and of her right to freedom of expression and association.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2022
- Event Description
Artist Mr. Zhang Yu is a Christian of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church. On the morning of February 27, he received a text message from his older brother. Prior to that, Youyang Police Station called his elder brother to inquire about Zhang Yu’s whereabouts. Mr. Zhang suspected it was because he voiced his concern in public over the chained woman in Feng county (in Xuzhou). He said ”I expected this to happen. The government’s retaliation has begun.”
The “chained woman” became a popular story in China of a woman who was subject to sex trafficking. As reported by NPR, the case has captured the attention of the public, attracting fierce backlash and investigation.
Mr. Zhang posted on social media that he waited for the government’s investigations group to reach him. He made the following four comments:
I will not disappear voluntarily I will not travel to other provinces soon I will not confess unless I am forced by external forces I will update my WeChat Moments at least twice a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. If I do not post an update, it means something happened to me.
At around 10 p.m., Dali police called and asked him to go to the police station. He said the officers did not treat him poorly. They just wanted to see him in person and “remind” him to think about his comments about the chained woman in Feng county. Then they allowed him to leave. He updated his WeChat Moments to let his friends know he was safe.
Zhang Yu is a Christian of Early Rain Covenant Church. He graduated from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, actively involved in photography, painting, performance art, and multimedia art. He also writes poetry and articles.
One week ago, he was invited to attend the “Renew China” online prayer meeting organized by Christians. The live-streamed prayer meeting focused on the chained woman case in Xuzhou. He talked about his opinions and concerns and presented supporting materials to discover the truth.
Recently, Yagu village (in Zilijia township, Fugong county, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture) drew a lot of attention. Mr. Zhang Yu has shot a lot of women portraits in Fugong county. Some of the pictures were taken in Zilijia township. Based on his knowledge about the region, he publicly challenged Xuzhou (Jiangsu province) officials on their investigation results of the chained woman case. Xuzhou government claimed the chained woman is “Xiaohua Mei,” a girl from Zilijia township who was abducted and went missing many years ago. According to Zhang, the Xuzhou local government claimed the chained woman as the missing girl “Xiaohua Mei” because the region is so remote that nobody would ever know enough to argue against it. Mr. Zhang also posted content about the geography and culture of the region on social media, indirectly uncovering the Xuzhou officials’ plot.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2022
- Event Description
The Commission on Human Rights condemned the ambush of Infanta, Quezon mayor Filipina Grace America on Wednesday as it vowed to launch its own probe into the attempted killing.
To recall, local police reported that the mayor was on her way home from church when her vehicle was repeatedly shot by unidentified gunmen in Poblacion Uno, Infanta, Quezon on Sunday, February 27.
In a statement, the CHR said that it launched its investigation "in hopes that our independent investigation may help in holding perpetrators to account."
"It is deeply alarming that violations of human rights are becoming more brazen—committed in broad daylight and without regard for human life," lawyer Jacqueline de Guia, CHR spokesperson said.
"Under a democratic society, any dispute—may it be politically-motivated or otherwise—should never be settled through the barrel of a gun."
America is running for re-election in Infanta.
She and her office also voiced strong opposition to the construction of Kaliwa Dam, which advocates say will submerge parts of Quezon and Rizal provinces, threaten wildlife and biodiversity, and displace indigenous communities in the area.
She is still recovering after sustaining gunshot wounds in different parts of her body, the Philippine National Police.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2022
- Event Description
Hours after being granted bail by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Saturday, journalist Fahad Shah was arrested again in another case and shifted to a different police station in south Kashmir’s Sophian district, his lawyer Omair Ronga said.
As the family and friends of Shah were waiting outside Pulwama police station for his release on Saturday, police informed them that he has been arrested in another case registered at Imamsahib police station in Shopian, the lawyer added.
“Pulwama police handed him over to a police party from Shopian. Though we were not served any notice recently in this case, they (police) have simply changed the custody,” said Ronga.
Shah, 33, was arrested on February 4 for allegedly glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news and inciting people of Jammu and Kashmir. Police have claimed that three separate first information reports (FIRs) were registered against Shah, who runs a news portal and magazine — Kashmiri Walla — in the last four years.
“Fahad Shah is wanted in 3 cases for glorifying terrorism, spreading fake news & inciting general public for creating L&O situations: FIR No. 70/2020 of PS Safakadal Srinagar, FIR No. 06/2021 of PS Imamsahib, Shopian & currently has been arrested in FIR No. 19/2022 of PS Pulwama,” Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range, Vijay Kumar had said soon after Shah’s arrest.
Earlier on Saturday, the NIA court granted interim bail to Shah till March 12. “The police have been informed of the court decision through a docket and we are waiting for his release,” Ronga told HT.
Shah’s arrest triggered widespread condemnation and demands of his release by national and international media and human rights activists and organisations.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Bangladesh
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2022
- Event Description
A Dhaka tribunal yesterday framed charges against cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore and six others in a case filed under the Digital Security Act for anti-government activities and spreading rumours.
The six others are Hungary-based entrepreneur Zulkarnain Saer Khan alias Sami; Swedish-Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil, editor-in-chief of Netra News; Minhaj Mannan Emon, former director of Dhaka Stock Exchange; Didarul Islam, an activist; Ashik Imran; and Shapan Wahed.
Emon and Islam, now on bail, pleaded not guilty and demanded justice after Judge Mohammad Ash Sams Joglul Hossain of Dhaka Cyber Tribunal read out the charges.
Earlier in the day, the tribunal cancelled the bail of Kishore and issued an arrest warrant as he was absent at the court for two consecutive dates.
The tribunal also dismissed two petitions submitted for dropping the names of Minhaj and Didarul from the case.
The tribunal set April 7 to launch the trial in the case.
Among the accused, Sami, Tasneem, Ashik and Shapan are absconding.
On June 13 last year, Sub-inspector Afchhar Ahmed of the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police submitted the supplementary charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.
Names of the late writer Mushtaq Ahmed, US-based journalist Shahed Alam; Germany-based bloggers Asif Mohiuddin and Philip Schuhmacher were dropped from the charge sheet.
Mushtaq died at Kashimpur High Security Jail on February 25 last year.
On May 6 of 2020, Rab Assistant Director Abu Bakar Siddique filed the case against 11 people with Ramna Police Station under the DSA.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Feb 26, 2022
- Event Description
Activist Tantawan “Tawan” Tuatulanon was arrested on Saturday (26 February 2022), after she conducted a poll on whether the royal defamation law should be repealed and attempted to deliver the poll result to the Grand Palace.
Carrying red and blue ribbons, Tantawan asked passengers on the BTS sky train, the MRT underground and public buses to vote on whether the royal defamation law, or Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, should be repealed by tying a ribbon to the handrails on the train or bus, red if they want the law repealed, blue if they think it should remain.
Throughout the afternoon, Tantawan took the BTS from the Victory Monument station to the Kan Kheha station, before transferring to the MRT and travelling to the Sanam Chai station. After a small clash with police officers at the Sanam Chai station entrance, she boarded a public bus and continue conducting her poll on the way to Sanam Luang. During her journey, a majority of passengers were seen taking red ribbons and tying them to handrails.
Since November 2020, the number of people charged with royal defamation has risen rapidly. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), at least 173 people have been charged with royal defamation for political expression and participation in pro-democracy protests. Several protest leaders are facing multiple counts, including Parit Chiwarak, who is facing 23 counts; Anon Nampa, 14 counts; Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul, 10 counts; Panupong Jadnok, 9 counts; and Benja Apan, 7 counts.
An online petition to repeal the royal defamation law was launched in November 2021 and gained over 100,000 signatures within 24 hours of its launch. It gained over 240,000 signatures before becoming inaccessible. Any attempt to access the site was redirected to a screen saying that it has been suspended by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society for violating the Computer Crimes Act. If accessed via https URL on the Google Chrome browser, the browser shows a privacy warning.
While on her way to the Grand Palace, intending to deliver the result of her poll, Tantawan was arrested by police officers near the Ministry of Defence and was carried away by a group of women police officers.
She was taken to Samranrat Police Station where THLR reported that her hands were restrained with cable ties, and she was denied access to a trusted person to go inside the police station with her. Tantawan’s friends had to negotiate with the police to be able to see her.
After spending three hours in detention, she was charged with refusing to comply with an officer’s order under Section 268 of the Criminal Code, and received a fine of 5000 baht. TLHR said that her phone was confiscated while she was detained, and that there were bruises on her hands from the cable ties.
Tantawan said that her intention was to go to the Grand Palace. She said that all she has was ribbons and would not have been able to cause any harm, and that she only intended to show that a large number of people wanted to have the royal defamation law repealed and that the online petition for the repeal has been blocked.
She also said that police officers were talking on the phone while she was being taken to the police station, and that she heard them asking the person on the phone what charge they should file against her. She said that when she was detained on the police van, the officers could not tell her which law she had violated.
Nevertheless, Tantawan said that she will continue her campaign, and that she considered Saturday’s event a success since most participants in the poll wanted the royal defamation law repealed.
Tantawan previously conducted a poll at Siam Paragon shopping mall on 8 February 2022 on whether people think they face trouble from royal motorcades, along with activists from the Thaluwang (“Through the palace”) group, which she has since left. She is now campaigning independently.
During that event, two activists walked around the mall holding a piece of paper saying “Do you think royal motorcades cause problems?” on which people could place a sticker to cast their vote. The event faced obstruction from mall security, who stood in front of the activists, as well as announcements that the mall is a private area and permission must be granted before any event can take place or the management will press charges. They also followed the activists while they were inside the mall, but despite the blockade, people continued to vote on the activists’ poll.
After completing their activity inside the mall, the activists walked to nearby Sa Pathum Palace, Princess Sirindhorn’s residence, intending to deliver the result of the poll. They were blocked by police officers near the palace entrance. Plainclothes officers took hold of one of the activists from behind and tore the cardboard poll sign out of her hands.
A 22-year-old woman who participated in the royal motorcade poll also said that police officers visited her at home after the event. She was not one of the organizers, but went to observe the event and take pictures. She admits that she became directly involved in the proceedings when police officers tried to stop the event and a small clash took place. She said that this was the first time she had been visited by the police.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Country
- Singapore
- Initial Date
- Feb 25, 2022
- Event Description
The sentencing of Singaporean activist Jolovan Wham highlights the increasingly repressive space for activists and human rights defenders in Singapore, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, and Think Centre in a joint statement today.
On 25 February 2022, Jolovan Wham was fined S$3,000 (approximately USD$2,200) after being found guilty of violating the Public Order Act in January. In 2018, Wham held a one-person protest outside of the former State Courts building by holding a sign urging for charges against The Online Citizen editor Terry Xu and writer Daniel De Costa to be dropped for alleged defamation over an article on corruption. Wham uploaded his photo with the sign on Facebook. In its ruling last month, the court reasoned that Wham was aware that holding assemblies without official permission was prohibited.
‘Wham’s conviction merely for exercising his right to free expression is part of a wider pattern of harassment and intimidation against activists and defenders in Singapore. The continuous judicial harassment he is subjected to is meant to intimidate Singaporeans into silence,’ said FORUM-ASIA.
In recent years, Wham has faced harassment over his activism. Last year, Wham faced a separate charge for illegal assembly under the Public Order Act for holding a cardboard with a smiley face drawn on it in front of the Toa Payoh Central Community Club in Singapore. He was also fined a total of S$8,000 for organising a silent protest on the MRT train in 2017 on the 30th anniversary of the detention of activists under the draconian Internal Security Act. In 2019, he was convicted for violating the Public Order Act after organising an event titled ‘Civil Disobedience and Social Movements’ without a permit. In 2018, he was also charged with contempt of court over his dissent in a court decision on political cases.
In 2021, CIVICUS Monitor which ranks countries based on their civic space rating downgraded Singapore’s civic space from ‘obstructed’ to ‘repressed’ due to the deterioration of freedom of speech and the media, and the use of repressive legislation against critics, journalists and civil society.
‘The recent sentencing of Jolovan Wham reaffirms our position to downgrade Singapore’s civic space, which has consistently shrunk in recent years. Beyond the targeting of Wham and other activists, the government has imposed a crackdown on fundamental freedoms including through the use of repressive laws including the Public Order Act, POFMA and FICA,’ said CIVICUS.
Singapore’s 2009 Public Order Act defines the ‘assembly’ as including ‘a demonstration by a person alone’, and penalises individuals who organise assemblies without permission to a fine of up to $5,000. Journalists and critics have faced defamation charges for publishing information about State actors under overly broad legislation while the Protection Against Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) has been used to target the opposition, activists and critics. A new Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA) passed last year, provides the government powers to target individuals seen to be acting on behalf of a foreign national.
‘The string of charges and conviction of Jolovan is a sad and stark reminder that Singapore remains a repressive State. Years of oppressive laws have conditioned Singaporeans to be fearful without safe spaces to express their thoughts on social and political matters. The international community must do more to hold the Singapore government accountable for judicial harassment against human rights defenders,’ shared Think Centre.
During Singapore’s third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2021, States urged Singapore to revise legislation restricting the right to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and associate and ensure the full enjoyment of the fundamental rights. Singapore, however, rejected the majority of recommendations related to civic space.
‘Singapore’s continuous refusal to address its worsening human rights situation should raise concerns within the wider international community. Its political and economic influence in Southeast Asia risks further perpetuating and reinforcing such authoritarian trends in other countries. Singapore must end its judicial harassment of Wham and other defenders, repeal its repressive laws, and commit towards taking genuine steps to improve and widen its civic space,’ said the groups.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Feb 24, 2022
- Event Description
The military said that five alleged New People’s Army (NPA) rebels were killed after a series of encounters with soldiers in Davao de Oro on Thursday morning, February 24. Two of those slain, however, were known teachers of Lumad schools.
Captain Mark Anthony Tito, information officer of the Army’s 10th Infantry Division, identified one of those killed as activist and volunteer community school teacher Chad Booc, who gained prominence after he and several others were accused of training Lumad “child warriors” at the University of San Carlos Talamban campus in Cebu City in early 2021. The university denied that the children received military training in its campus.
Tito said the other one who died was Jojarain Alce Nguho III, a volunteer teacher at the Community Technical College of Southern Mindanao in Barangay Lapu-lapu, Maco, Davao de Oro.
The military referred to the two as among the alleged NPA members killed in a series of encounters with soldiers in Purok 8, Barangay Andap, New Bataan town in Davao de Oro on Thursday.
Tito said the soldiers did not immediately know that Booc was one of the casualities. “The soldiers did not know it was Booc until he was positively identified by one former rebel,” he added.
Tito said civilian residents had alerted soldiers of the 1001st Infantry Brigade to the presence of rebels foraging for food in a hinterland village.
“The firefight started at around 4 am and lasted throughout the morning. There were three encounters in the forested section of the village,” Tito said.
Tito said that based on the documents found at the scene, the estimated 20 rebels apparently belonged to the NPA-Southern Mindanao Regional Committee and its regional operational command. He said they fled after the firefights and left behind the slain victims.
Also found in the area were an M653 rifle, a caliber .45 pistol, a grenade, and an anti-personnel landmine, according to Tito.
Booc graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. After he graduated, Booc volunteered as a Mathematics teacher at the Alternative Learning Center Agricultural Development (ALCADEV), a school for lumad children in Lianga, Surigao del Sur.
The military has repeatedly tagged ALCADEV and other lumad schools as NPA fronts, and the government has since closed down the schools in Mindanao.
Police in February 2021 charged Booc and several others for allegedly trafficking children in Cebu City. The court dismissed the charges and Booc was released from jail. ‘Bloody massacre’ of civilians
Save Our Schools Network (SOS) condemned the incident as a “bloody massacre” of civilians.
SOS said in a statement on Friday that according to residents of Barangay Andap in New Bataan, there was “no encounter between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the New People’s Army” in the area.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 23, 2022
- Event Description
The Preah Vihear Provincial Court has summoned a forest activist for questioning for incitement over an unspecified complaint, which the activist believes is related to mobilizing people to patrol and protect the forest.
Investigating judge Pheng Kosal ordered Het Nay, a representative of the Prey Preah Roka Forestry Community Network, to appear at the court on February 23 for questioning for incitement. The accusation dates to 2020, the summons says, without specifying the nature of the complaint.
Chheb district governor Sok Sandara said he did not know the details of the complaint either, but Nay was well-known for being uncooperative with authorities and demanding community land from Chinese companies in the area.
“Nay has a tendency. He considers the Prey Preah Roka forest as his forest, regardless of the ministry’s authorizations. Whether community land or companies’ economic concessions, he always claims it’s his land. He does not cooperate with the village, commune, district or provincial authorities. He seems to have a different opinion from us,” Sandara said.
Nay patrolled in the forests without respecting local authorities, he added.
Nay told VOD on Tuesday that he was ready to testify though he did not know the identity of the complainant or the alleged offense.
He believes the case came after he mobilized people in the community, including monks, to patrol and prevent community forest crimes. He was particularly active in 2020, he said. Authorities had prevented people from meeting and discussing the actions, he said.
The activist called on the court to drop the charges, saying that all he did was protect the forest.
“This accusation against me is because someone hates us. They hate us as a forest protector who prevented them from logging,” he said. “The destroyers of the forest have many people. They have many factions. They have found a way to stop and prevent us from entering to protect the forest and protect the trees.”
Another activist in the Prey Preah Roka Forestry Community Network, Pean Sophat, said he saw the summoning of Ney as a threat to discourage the community from patrolling the forest.
“He did not incite anything. He just facilitated participation in protecting the forest to protect nature, which is in the common interest,” he said.
Rights group Adhoc’s Preah Vihear provincial coordinator, Lor Chan, said the case against Ney had initially been for fraud when it was in the hands of the court prosecutors, but had changed to incitement after it reached the investigating judge.
Prey Preah Roka, a sanctuary covering more than 90,000 hectares, has seen significant deforestation as community patrollers have been suppressed, a recent report said. A visit to the forest found marks of cuttings and clearings scattered through the sanctuary.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Nepal
- Initial Date
- Feb 23, 2022
- Event Description
Umesh Shrestha, editor of Nepal Fact Check, was summoned and harassed by officers from Nepal Police's Cyber Bureau after publishing a report on the dissemination of ‘fake news’ regarding the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal Compact fund. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and its Nepal affiliate, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), condemn the arbitrary harassment of journalists for their work and call for an investigation into the incident.
According to a blog post published by Shrestha, on February 22, officials from the Nepal Police Cyber Bureau in Kathmandu summoned Shrestha under the pretense of a 'discussion'. Upon his arrival on February 23, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pradin Tamrakar harassed him and accused him of spreading misinformation regarding the MCC fund, a United States subsidised fund aimed at improving infrastructure in Nepal.
Shrestha, who is the founder of independent blog MySansar and an editor of Nepal Fact Check, a platform that investigates the content of Nepali media for false or misleading information, alleged that DSP Tamrakar threatened him with arrest.
According to Shrestha’s blog, the journalist was summoned by the Cyber Bureau following an article he published which documented a number of YouTube channels, news sites, and social media users in Nepal who spread misinformation regarding the MCC fund. The report also suggested measures to curb the spread of ‘fake news’.
“It is unfortunate that police harassed me even without knowing the content of my article. They asked me who provided the authority to write such an article. They treated me like a criminal. They were not ready to listen to me. They even threatened me with an arrest and tried to snatch my mobile phone when I tried making a call seeking help”, Shrestha said.
Shrestha was eventually released from the Bureau on February 23 after a one and half hour inquiry.
The MCC, an United States grant signed in September 2017 aimed at enhancing infrastructure in Nepal including electricity transmission lines and railroads, fell into recent controversy following multiple interpretations of some the agreement’s provisions.
According to the FNJ, a total of 32 cases of harassment and threatening of journalists from both state and non-state actors were documented in 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 23, 2022
- Event Description
About 30 NagaWorld strikers spent the night at a Prek Pnov quarantine center waiting for a Covid-19 test that eventually happened Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, police and health officials continued to detain protesting NagaWorld workers near the casino complex in Phnom Penh. That afternoon, authorities took 39 workers to the Prek Pnov facility. But unlike Monday’s batch of 64 detainees, health officials did not test the workers the same day as their detention, nor make them sign contracts to leave.
However, health officials began testing workers at about 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to worker accounts and Facebook livestreams recorded at the facility. In those streams, workers can be seen keeping track of tests performed.
After the tests were conducted, officials can be heard saying four workers had tested positive, with the group asking for those people to be tested again. Ros Lyheng, a NagaWorld worker at the quarantine center, confirmed there were four positive cases.
“I don’t have anything to suggest besides testing the four people again. If they test again, they are positive. Please take them but we just want to [test] again,” said Srey Pov, one of the workers seen in the livestream.
A health official replied saying that was not possible and that the four workers were being placed in a separate area.
Of the 64 workers tested on Monday, two people tested positive and were sent to hospital for treatment.
Phnom Penh city spokesperson Met Measkpheakdey refused to answer questions Wednesday morning and sent reporters a copy of a City Hall statement released Tuesday night. He did not confirm the test results from the group of 39 workers.
The statement the spokesperson referred to describes “anarchic” gatherings of NagaWorld strikers disobeying city-issued health guidelines.
“City Hall has eagerly appealed to demonstrators to stop illegal activity. They still violated under the pretext of holding a strike to find labor solutions by gathering through social networks and other means, and ignored health measures while Omicron transmission is spreading in the community with three digits,” the statement read.
The capital administration said it would no longer educate the workers and would instead impose fines of $250 to $1,250 going forward, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, workers complained about the conditions at the testing facility, saying the Prek Pnov center lacked basic facilities. The workers detained there said the space was divided into narrow cubicles with cots, as well as dirty linen and bedding that was left outside the rooms.
Photos posted by the workers show them sleeping on mosquito nets outside the rooms at the quarantine center.
Lyheng, one of the workers, said health officials made them complete forms but would not say anything else or address their concerns with the conditions at the facility.
Authorities on Thursday continued to detain NagaWorld workers attempting to resume their strike, with local rights groups criticizing what they described as excessive use of police force including sexual harassment against the strikers.
There have been more than 150 detentions from NagaWorld unionist attempts to resume their strike at the casino complex. Union members confirmed on Thursday that an additional 27 people were detained and taken to the same quarantine center in Prek Pnov that officials have used this week to confine workers and test them for Covid-19.
Thursday’s arrests followed the same strategy used by police over the past few days of shoving, carrying and dragging the workers who appeared near the casino into waiting city buses. Videos from today’s detentions show police officers wearing personal protective equipment pushing women into a bus, crushing some of them against the vehicle’s stairs.
Civil society groups also released a statement condemning the use of “state-sponsored violence” and Covid-19 measures against the workers to end their strike. The groups expressed concern over tactics used by security personnel, which they said includes sexual harassment.
According to the statement, a male police officer grabbed one worker and “squeezed her breast” as she was forced into a bus on Tuesday. The groups also pointed to the alleged use of lewd language and threats of sexual assault made by a security official against a union member in late December.
“In these challenging times, women need increased guarantees to exercise their rights and support, and civil society cannot remain silent in the face of the violence committed against them, all the more when such abuses are committed by the very authorities whose mission is to protect them,” reads the statement.
Ou Tepphalin, who heads a service and entertainment worker federation, said the police were being heartless in their behavior, especially in relation to the allegations of sexual harassment.
“It is unfortunate that when the authorities wear the security uniforms, it seems that the exercise of rights is reduced and the perpetrators are not afraid of the law,” she said, during an online press conference by rights groups.
Phnom Penh police chief Sar Thet denied that any officers were intentionally touching the workers inappropriately, and blamed the physical skirmishes on workers’ reluctance to follow authorities’ instructions.
“No one intended to touch her breast,” he said, referring to the allegation in the statement. “I think we don’t have the intention to do this and I believe that no one wants to do that.”
As of Thursday morning, about 75 detainees brought on Tuesday and Wednesday remained at the Prek Pnov center.
Authorities had brought 39 workers there on Tuesday, of which four tested positive and were taken to a hospital. Of the 51 detained on Wednesday, three tested positive on Thursday morning and were taken for treatment. The rest of the detainees were still at the center as of Thursday evening.
Workers say officials have demanded the detainees sign contracts pledging to end their striking or pay fines of $1,250. The workers have refused this, instead choosing to remain at the facility. However, on Thursday 35 workers were released and allowed to return home, said striker Ros Lyheng, who is part of the group.
“They did not have a car to pick us up, they told us to find our own way [home],” Lyheng said. “Doctors told me if you want to have a bus for you, you should sign a contract.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement, Sexual Violence
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 23, 2022
- Event Description
Jiang Tianyong, a prominent human rights lawyer in mainland China, has been in his hometown of Henan for nearly three years after his release. He is still under strict surveillance and illegal house arrest by the Chinese authorities.
Jiang Tianyong’s wife, Jin Bianling, tweeted on February 23:
At 3:00 pm Beijing time on February 23, people from the village committee of Jiang Tianyong’s hometown took [Jiang’s] parents to the village headquarters, stating that the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission requested a meeting with them. Zhang Jiawen, domestic security police of Xinyang City, Zhang (full name unknown) from the Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Sun Zhanghong of the Luoshan County’s Public Security Bureau, Secretary Huang and Wan (full name unknown) of Lingshan Town were already there. It is said that if Jiang Tianyong wants to work locally or in Zhengzhou (Henan), they can arrange it; if he stays locally, the surveillance will continue as usual, and he will continue to be monitored like he always has; he is prohibited from going to Beijing or leaving the country. It is so unreasonable. Jiang’s parents left in anger.
Jiang Tianyong is over 51 years old, a native of Luoshan county, Henan province. He is a Christian and a human rights lawyer who was based in Beijing. He has participated in the Chen Guangcheng case, the Gao Zhisheng case, and many other cases to defend human rights. Due to his active participation in those cases, he has been under constant surveillance.
He was secretly arrested by Changsha police in November 2016 for assisting the “709 lawyers” and the families defending their rights. On December 1, 2016, Changsha police charged Jiang Tianyong with “inciting subversion of state power.” He was placed under residential surveillance at a designated location on November 21, 2017, by Changsha police. The Changsha Intermediate People’s Court then sentenced him to 2 years in prison, deprived of political rights for three years; his sentence was set till February 28, 2019.
In prison, Jiang Tianyong was forced to take medicine for a long time, which caused his memory to decline and his body to gain weight and become weak.
He has finished his sentence, yet Jiang Tianyong was placed under semi-house arrest in Xinyang, Henan province. The authorities built a shed near his house and sent people to follow and monitor Jiang Tianyong every day in turn. There are more than a dozen surveillance cameras around Jiang Tianyong’s house, and those entering and leaving his house must register and be checked. As soon as Jiang Tianyong leaves his parents’ house, the person on duty to monitor him will follow him closely and harass him.
ChinaAid has been following and reporting the violation of lawyer Jiang Tianyong’s rights for a long time. We will continue to pay close attention and pray for him as always.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Feb 23, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Uttarakhand and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir must release journalists Kishor Ram and Fahad Shah immediately and cease arresting members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On February 23, police in the northern state of Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district arrested Ram, a reporter with the privately owned news website Janjwar, according to news reports and Ram’s editor Ajay Prakash, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.
Separately, on Sunday, February 27, police in Jammu and Kashmir arrested Shah, editor of the privately owned news portal The Kashmir Walla, hours after he was granted interim bail in another case, according to news reports.
Both journalists remained in detention as of Tuesday evening, according to those sources.
“The arrest of Kishor Ram and re-arrest of Fahad Shah show India’s escalating intolerance toward journalists who are simply doing their jobs,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, in New York. “Authorities must immediately release Shah and Ram, drop any investigations into their journalistic work, and create a safe and free atmosphere for journalists to report the news.”
A police first information report, which CPJ reviewed, accused Ram of promoting enmity between castes in two articles: one featuring interviews with relatives of a murdered man in the Dalit community, the lowest strata of the caste system, and another that included an interview with the father of a Dalit girl who was allegedly raped.
Ram himself belongs to the Dalit community, and covers news and human rights issues affecting the community, according to Prakash and those news reports.
If charged and convicted of promoting enmity under the Indian penal code, Ram could face up to three years in prison and an unspecified fine.
CPJ emailed Uttarakhand Police Director-General Ashok Kumar for comment, but dd not receive any reply.
In Shah’s case, police previously arrested him on February 4 for allegedly publishing “anti-national” content, and began investigating him for sedition and making statements causing public mischief under the Indian penal code and the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, as CPJ documented at the time.
Shah was granted bail in that case on Sunday, but was then re-arrested in relation to The Kashmir Walla’s reporting on alleged official pressure on a Kashmir school, according to a report by his outlet.
Police accuse Shah of violating two sections of the Indian penal code in that reporting: provocation with intent to cause a riot, and publishing statements conducive to public mischief, according to The Kashmir Walla. Each of those offenses can carry a prison sentence between six months and three years and an unspecified fine, according to the law.
Similarly, police released The Kashmir Walla trainee reporter Sajad Gul on bail on January 15, but re-arrested him the following day in a separate case, according to news reports.
CPJ texted Jammu and Kashmir Police Director-General Dilbag Singh for comment, but did not receive any reply.
On February 14, CPJ joined 57 publications, press freedom groups, and human rights organizations in a letter to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha demanding Shah’s release, along with Gul and journalists Aasif Sultan and Manan Gulzar Dar.
In an unrelated incident on February 7, Uttarakhand police commandeered a taxi Prakash had rented while covering local elections and, after he identified himself as a journalist and protested the seizure, police detained him for about nine hours, according to Prakash and news reports.
Police opened an investigation into Prakash for allegedly obstructing public servants from doing their jobs, according to the journalist and police documents reviewed by CPJ. If charged and convicted, he could face up to three months in prison or a fine of up to 500 rupees (US $7), according to the penal code.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Feb 23, 2022
- Event Description
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) in Indonesia has described the hacking and disinformation attacks against its chairperson Sasmito Madrim as a threat to press freedom and freedom of expression.
This statement was originally published on aji.or.id on 25 February 2022.
The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the hacking and disinformation attacks against AJI Chairperson Sasmito Madrim. AJI believes that such tactics should be regarded as an assault against AJI as an organization and its activists in their fight for freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
On February 23, 2022, around 6.15 PM (Western Indonesia Time), an unknown party simultaneously hacked the WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook accounts and the personal mobile number of Sasmito. His Whatsapp account was the first to be hacked when the instant messaging application notified Sasmito on his mobile phone that his number had been registered to another device.
Around 7 PM, the hack had spread to his Instagram and Facebook accounts. The hacker then deleted all of his Instagram posts before uploading Sasmito’s personal contact information. Meanwhile, on Facebook, Sasmito’s profile picture was changed to a pornographic image. Afterward, his mobile number could no longer receive calls and SMS messages.
AJI’s internal digital safety team has made efforts to restore those accounts and has successfully recovered Sasmito’s Facebook account. Meanwhile, the recovery process of his Instagram and Whatsapp accounts is still ongoing.
On February 24, 2022, AJI Indonesia noticed disinformation attacks brandishing Sasmito’s name and photo on social media with the following narratives:
- Sasmito supported the government to disband the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
- Sasmito supported the government in constructing the Bener Dam in Purworejo, Central Java.
- Sasmito called for the National Police (Polri) to arrest human rights activists Haris Azhar and Fatia.
On behalf of Sasmito, AJI Indonesia would like to state the following: that AJI Chairperson Sasmito Madrim never issued any of the statements above and that they are all fake. AJI Indonesia is an organization that supports and fights for freedom of association and speech, freedom of expression, and people’s right to information.
The three disinformation posts were trying to pit AJI Indonesia against other civil society organizations. Including the people of Wadas, who are currently fighting the forces behind the natural resource exploitation in their village.
Regarding the attacks on Sasmito, AJI Indonesia states the following:
-
The hacks and disinformation attacks against AJI Chairperson Sasmito Madrim are an act of terror against activists fighting for freedom of expression and democracy.
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Requesting the public reject the disinformation narratives spreading on social media.
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Requesting the public support AJI Indonesia in fighting for freedom of the press, freedom of expression, association, speech, and right to information.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship, Online Attack and Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2022
- Event Description
11 activists have been charged with violations of the Emergency Decree for joining a protest organized by the People’s Movement for Just Society (P-Move), which addressed land rights and community rights.
Activist Pachara Kamchamnan, a member of the Save Bang Kloi Coalition, said that he received a summons from Nang Loeng Police Station on a charge of violating the Emergency Decree and must report to the police station on 22 February 2022. He said that the charge is likely related to the P-Move protest, during which protesters occupied the sidewalk opposite the UN headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Avenue from 20 January 2022 before marching to Government House. They then continue to occupy the Nang Loeng Intersection until 3 February 2022, when they ended their protest after their demands were answered by the government.
The Save Bang Kloi Coalition, an indigenous rights activist network, posted on their Facebook page that no other activist has reported receiving a summons, but according to Nang Loeng Police Station, summonses have been issued for 11 people, which include both protest leaders and members of P-Move’s partner organizations.
The 11 people are:
Chamnong Nuphan, Chair of the P-Move Executive Committee Phonphinan Chotwiriyanon, Northern Peasant Federation (NPF) member Pachara Kamchamnan, Save Bang Kloi Coaliation activist Chan Tonnamphet, Bang Kloi community member Wittawat Tepsong, activist from the Andaman Seafaring Ethnic People and a member of the Community Network for Social and Political Reform Nuken Inthachan, Four Regions Slum Network member Malai Chiangpheng, Community Network for Social and Political Reform member Nithip Khongthong, Four Regions Slum Network member Wanlop Pandee, Northern Peasant Federation (NPF) member Nitirat Sapsomboon, P-Move advisor Nueangnit Chidnok, Four Regions Slum Network member
Chan Tonnamphet is 17 years old and the only minor charged. She is a member of the Bang Kloi indigenous Karen community and came to join the protest with other members of her community, who are protesting under the name “Bang Kloi Khuen Thin” (“Bang Kloi returns home”) to demand that their community be allowed to return to their ancestral land at Chai Phaen Din village in the Kaeng Krachan forest.
Pachara said that the protest was an attempt to demand community rights and to call on the government to act on promises it gave during previous protests. However, the authorities’ attempt to block protest marches with razor wire and deployments of crowd control police against protesters, as well as filing charges against the 11 activists shows that citizens will never have rights in this political climate, since not only they are denied their rights but are also attacked by the authorities.
Meanwhile, P-Move issued a statement condemning the charges against the activists as severely unjust, and that they show the government’s insincerity. It says that those who joined the protest came from across the country despite the spread of Covid-19 to demand the rights they are entitled to, and to use legal measures against them is inhumane.
P-Move demanded that the government must lift the State of Emergency declared in March 2020 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, and cancel the summonses, since the protest was within their constitutional rights and in line with international human rights principles.
- Impact of Event
- 11
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Environmental rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2022
- Event Description
Regime forces in Sagaing Region’s largest city, Monywa, made multiple arrests on Tuesday during crackdowns that caused one protester to have a miscarriage and left one man wounded.
The first incident occurred at around 6am in Monywa’s Thala Ward, where two young women on motorcycles were distributing anti-regime flyers with a group of other protesters when they were rammed from behind by a car.
While one of the women managed to esape on her motorcycle, the other, who was knocked off of hers, was forced to flee on foot, according to Arkar, a member of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee.
The second woman asked another motorcyclist for help, but was pushed aside when she attempted to get on the vehicle, said Arkar, who also took part in the protest.
“She said it was soon after that that she started bleeding,” he added, noting that the woman was two months pregnant.
The woman was eventually able to get away, but at least five youths were arrested in the crackdown, according to Arkar.
Myanmar Now has been unable to contact the two women directly for comment.
The second incident took place about an hour later in Monywa’s Ywar Thit Ward, where soldiers opened fire on two young men who they suspected were waiting to join others in a protest.
According to Arkar, one of the men was shot three times in the thigh before being arrested.
“When he fell after getting shot, a soldier came over and stepped on his face with his boot. They hadn’t even started protesting yet,” he said.
Arrests were also reported elsewhere in the city as part of an effort to crush a new nationwide protest movement called the “Si Kar Thapate” (“Strikes Galore”) campaign, also known as "Six Twos Strike Day" in reference to Tuesday’s date, 22.02.2022.
The campaign involves small groups gathering in public places with flowers and wearing traditional hats and thanaka, a paste made from tree bark that is spread on the face as a natural cosmetic.
A 30-year-old resident of Monywa’s Yankin Ward was arrested at around 9am on Tuesday, while two women who had thanaka on their faces were arrested on the city’s Bo Bwar Yeik Thar at around 10am, according to Arkar.
“They’ve had scouts out there since 4am, waiting at all the places where they expect protesters to gather,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2022
- Event Description
Anti-junta writers Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo (Wisdom Villa) were given two-year and three-year prison sentences respectively by the Insein Prison Court on 22 February, according to a prison source.
The writers were charged under Section 505 (A) of the Penal Code, which makes it a crime to publish or circulate any statement or report with the intent of causing military officers, civil servants and soldiers to mutiny or to otherwise disregard orders or fail in their duty.
When the military seized power on 1 February 2021, Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo were arrested and taken to Insein Prison, where they were charged under Section 505 (a). They have only now received their prison sentences, despite having been detained in prison for more than a year.
The decision to appeal a case lies with the convicted individual or their family members. It is unknown at this time whether the writers will appeal their sentences.
“Maung Tha Cho was sentenced to two years instead of the maximum sentence (three years imprisonment) under section 505 (a) and Htin Lin Oo was sentenced to the maximum sentence under the section,” said a source.
In the case of 88-Generation student leader Mya Aye, his lawyer filed a final appeal on 22 February, and a final verdict is expected on 8 March.
Htin Lin Oo, who was sentenced to the maximum sentence of three years, was arrested on the morning of the junta military coup, 1 February 2021, for broadcasting an anti-junta live video on his social media page.
Maung Tha Cho was arrested for an article he wrote in a journal about eight years ago.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2022
- Event Description
About the Human Rights Defender Mr. Chetan Kumar also known as Chetan Ahimsa, is a Kannada human rights defender and film actor. An American citizen and a Fulbright scholar, Chetan Kumar is a Dalit rights activist and has supported progressive youth and student organizations, women's collectives, farmers' groups, trade unions, and Dalit and Adivasi movements for equality and justice. His social work/activism includes participating in India against Corruption, Anti-Superstition, LGBTQIA, Lake Rejuvenation, "I am Gauri" campaign”. He is the founder of the Chetan foundation.
Details of the Incident: On February 16, 2022, Mr. Chetan Kumar re-tweeted his old tweet about justice Krishna Dixit who had granted pre-arrest bail in an alleged rape case. On June 27, 2020, he had tweeted, “This week KA (Karnataka) High Court Justice Krishna Dixit granted (granted) pre-arrest bail to rape-accused Rakesh B claiming ‘it is unbecoming of Indian woman to sleep after rape; that is not way women react when they are ravished.’ What’s ‘unbecoming’ is 21st c (century) misogyny of this judiciary Dixit fossil. It is noteworthy that the comments of Justice Dixit were later deleted from the order after they resulted in outrage and were described as regressive. Re-tweeting the same, on February 16, 2022, he tweeted, “This is a tweet I wrote nearly two years ago regarding a Karnataka High Court decision. Justice Krishna Dixit made such disturbing comments in a rape case. Now this same judge is determining whether #hijabs are acceptable or not in govt schools. Does he have the clarity required?” On February 19, 2022, Mr. Chetan Kumar participated and tweeted in support of a massive citizen rally demanding action against a Karnataka district judge who had allegedly ordered the removal of B.R. Ambedkar’s portrait. On February 22, 2022 the Sheshadripuram police station registered a Suo motu FIR (No. 0040/2020) against Mr. Chetan Kumar under sections 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace).
On February 22, Mr. Chetan Kumar went missing from his house. In the evening the police issued a statement, announcing that Kumar had been arrested for his tweet under “Intent to incite a class or community to commit offence against another class or community” and for “intentionally insulting, thereby giving provocation to any person to break public peace” of the Indian Penal Code. Mr Kumar's wife Megha held a live chat on Facebook and alleged that the actor "had gone missing from the house", "No one informed us [about his arrest], his phone is switched off, so is our gunman's [bodyguard]," She also alleged that when she went to the Sheshadripuram police station to get information they did not give her any information for four hours.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Artist, Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
Case shared by FORUM-ASIA member People's Watch
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 21, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Cambodia detained more than 100 striking workers from the NagaWorld Casino Monday and Tuesday for allegedly violating COVID-19 protocols.
Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in mid-December, demanding higher wages and the reinstatement of eight jailed union leaders and 365 workers they say were unjustly fired from the hotel and casino.
Cambodian authorities have said the strike is “illegal” and allege that it is supported by foreign donors as a plot to topple the government.
Earlier this month, officials in Phnom Penh’s City Hall directed the striking workers to stop their protest out of concern they would spread the coronavirus. Activists dismiss the claim as an excuse to end the peaceful protest.
Authorities rounded up 64 of the striking workers on Monday and 39 on Tuesday. Two workers in the group of 64 tested positive for COVID-19, while the other 62 were released. The group of 39 workers, meanwhile, had not been released as of Tuesday evening.
After their arrests, the workers were taken to the premises of an NGO called the Cambodian Women for Peace and Development in Phnom Penh’s Prek Phnov district. The facility appeared to have been long abandoned and did not have running water, Meach Srey Oun, one of the 39 workers, told RFA’s Khmer Service Tuesday.
“They put us in a remote building that’s really dirty and refused to let us leave. Our families are worried,” she said.
She said that at least two of the workers were injured when they were arrested Tuesday morning and that security guards sexually abused the workers by touching their breasts. They were forced to fill out forms with their names, phone numbers and addresses before they were allowed to eat dinner.
“We don’t know the reason behind our detention. We have received no information about our arrests,” Meach Srey Oun said.
She said the workers are continuing to strike because there are 11 union members, including leaders, who remain in detention.
“We will continue to demand justice and until justice is prevailed, we will continue the demand,” Meach Srey Oun said.
Authorities should never have become involved in the dispute between NagaWorld Casino and its workers, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho) told RFA.
He dismissed concerns about the propagation of COVID-19, noting that the workers had recently finished quarantine procedures.
“If authorities continue their actions, there will be more criticism,” he said. “We want to see the dispute be resolved peacefully to prevent this dispute from getting bigger.”
Licadho and other civil service organizations issued an open letter to authorities calling for the release of all detained union members.
“The charge of incitement to commit a felony levied against the union leaders and activists sends the message to NagaWorld strikers that their labor rights can be flouted with impunity while they will face legal action merely for calling out their company’s labor violations and seeking redress,” the letter said.
“This could set a dangerous precedent, emboldening employers to ignore inconvenient labor standards, and potentially leading to a roll-back of hard-earned labor rights in Cambodia,” it said.
RFA could not reach Phnom Penh City Hall spokesperson Met Measpheakdey for comment Tuesday. The city government issued a statement late on Tuesday saying the 39 workers are being tested for COVID-19. It said the detained workers must pay fines of between 1 million to 5 million riel ($245-1,230) or remain in detention.
“City Hall urges all NagaWorld workers to stop gathering in violation of health measures and cooperate with authorities to ensure public health and order,” the statement said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: 16 more labour rights defenders arrested, including union president, Cambodia: City Hall bans protest of labour rights defenders, Cambodia: labour rights defenders prevented from leaving strike site, 9 arrested, charged and questioned, Cambodia: labour rights defenders prevented from staging peaceful strike, Cambodia: Ministry of Health orders COVID-19 test for all protesting labour rights defenders, Cambodia: six more labour rights defenders arrested
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Feb 19, 2022
- Event Description
About the Human Rights Defenders:
Ms. Sarita, an advocate associated with Human Rights Law Network, is a well-known human rights defender in Odisha. Mr. Pradipta Satpathy, Ms. Kali Swain, Mr. Manas Kar and others active members of JSW Pratirodh Samiti, which is spearheading the movement against JSW Utkal’s proposed steel complex in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district. They have participated in numerous peaceful, democratic protests demanding scrapping of the project, and have also filed appeals regarding police repression and eviction in the project area in Odisha High Court.
Background of the incident: JSW Utkal plans to construct a 13.2 million tonne per annum steel plant with captive jetty, thermal power station and cement grinding unit in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha. But villagers residing in the area fear the project could cause loss of livelihoods and environmental degradation, and have been participating in a peaceful movement demanding its discontinuation. In November-December 2021, peaceful protests by villagers intensified , after the state government approved the creation of two new revenue villages in the project area, which locals feared was a ploy to fracture their movement. In subsequent weeks, police registered over 27 fabricated cases against villagers, arrested them without due procedure, and lathi-charged unarmed protestors without any provocation on several occasions, leaving many seriously injured. Three PILs were filed in the Orissa High Court regarding these police excesses and reprisals, and sought direction to the authorities to withdraw all fabricated cases against villagers, as well as the police force stationed in Dhinkia panchayat. HRDA has also filed multiple appeals before the NHRC regarding these violations. On February 16, 2022, the three PILs were taken up for hearing by a division bench of the Orissa High Court, which ordered counsels Mr. Prasanta Kumar Jena, Mr. Omkar Devdas, Mr. Sukanta Kumar Dalai and Additional Government Advocates, Mr. Debakanta Mohanty and Mr. J. Katikia to visit Dhinkia on February 19, 2022, and file a joint report.
Details of the Incident: On February 19, 2022, the High Court-appointed committee reached Dhinkia village to hold an enquiry on people’s opinion on the project around noon. Prior to their arrival, police organised a flag march in the village and threatened residents including petitioners Ms. Kuni Mallick and Ms. Santi Das not to say anything against JSW or the police and administration.
Meanwhile, goons backed by JSW captured entry points to the meeting venue and attacked those who gave statements against the company. Videos of the incident showed villagers being dragged, beaten, slapped and violently assaulted by the rival group in the presence of the high-court appointed committee. The district administration and police failed to ensure security of the villagers. As many as five villagers, including two women and one child, were seriously injured in the attack by JSW goons. These attacks took place in the presence of senior police officials from the Abhaychandpur police station – namely IIC Mr. Jibananda Jena and SI Mr. Ashutosh Hota. Senior police and administrative officials of the district, including Additional SP Mr. Nimain Sethy and Erasama Tehsildar Mr. C Pragyananda Das, who reached the spot after the incident, also took no action against the assailants. The police registered three FIRs against villagers opposed to the project who were present to meet the court-appointed committee, claiming they assaulted fellow villagers and police personnel, and abused them using casteist slurs. The complainant in FIR no 77/ 2022 was Mr. Jibananda Jena, IIC, Abhaychandpur PS. He claimed that on February 19 at 12.30 PM, when the court-appointed committee was visiting Dhinkia, Mr. Manas Kar, Ms. Kali Swain, Ms Sarita Bardhan (a misrepresentation of Ms. Sarita from HRLN), and six other named accused along with 10-15 unnamed others created disturbance, assaulted other villages and abused them in casteist terms. The accused were charged under Section 160 (committing affray) of the Indian Penal Code and Sub Inspector Mr. Ashutosh Hota was assigned as Investigating Officer in the case. The complainant in FIR no 78/ 2022 was Dhinkia resident Mr. Jogendra Malika. He claimed that Mr. Manas Kar, Mr. Pradipta Satpathy, Ms. Kali Swain, Ms Sarita Bardhan, and six other named accused along with 50 unnamed others assaulted him and other villages and abused them in casteist terms. The accused were charged under Sections 341, 323, 294, 307, 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s) and 3(2)(va) of the SC/ ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr. Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo was assigned as Investigating Officer in the case. The complainant in FIR no 79/ 2022 was Dhinkia resident Mr. Akshaya Behera. He claimed that when he and some others were on their way to meet the court-appointed committee, Mr. Pradipta Satpathy, Ms. Kali Swain, Ms Sarita Bardhan, and five other named accused obstructed and abused them, assaulted them with stones and threatened to kill them. The accused were charged under Sections 341, 323, 294, 324, 307, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Assistant Sub Inspector Mr. JN Patra was assigned as Investigating Officer in the case.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Extractive industries
- Source
Case shared by FORUM-ASIA member People's Watch
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kyrgyzstan
- Initial Date
- Feb 18, 2022
- Event Description
A noted investigative journalist in Kyrgyzstan was briefly detained for questioning in an unspecified case amid concerns by rights activists.
Semetei Talas Uulu's wife, Aiym Usupbaeva, told RFE/RL on February 18 that officers from the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) searched their home, confiscated belongings and books related to religion, and took her husband away.
Talas Uulu's supporters and rights activists planned to hold a rally in central Bishkek, but the 41-year-old journalist was released from the UKMK a short while afterward, telling reporters that he was questioned in a criminal case.
"Investigations are going on in a criminal case. I was asked not to reveal any other details," Talas Uulu said.
The UKMK said in a statement that Talas Uulu was questioned as a witness in a case involving the distribution of extremist materials. No more details were given.
Talas Uulu has been known for his online investigative articles revealing corruption among top officials in the Central Asian nation.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Feb 18, 2022
- Event Description
The family, lawyers and colleagues of development worker Dr. Ma. Natividad Marian Castro called on the authorities to surface her.
Castro, or Doc Naty, was arrested on Feb. 18 in her house in San Juan City allegedly based on an arrest warrant on trumped-up charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in Caraga.
According to lawyer Theodor Te, Castro’s whereabouts are still unknown. She was reportedly last seen by her relatives at Camp Crame. Upon inquiry, Te said police officers told the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) that Castro is no longer at Camp Crame as “she was supposedly brought to the airport to be delivered to the court in Butuan City.”
Her lawyers waited at the airport yesterday afternoon but they did not see Castro nor the arresting team. As of press time, Castro is yet to be found.
Former Commission on Elections Luie Tito Guia who was with Castro’s family yesterday said they were given a runaround. In a Facebook post, Guia said he was only allowed to talk to his client for a few minutes while at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center. When Castro was taken out of a building, Guia said he asked for the names of the arresting team but he was ignored and the police vehicle sped away.
Before her arrest, Castro was red-tagged along with 32 other progressive leaders in November 2020. Their photos and names appeared on tarpaulins in Lianga, Surigao del Sur and Butuan City, Agusan del Norte. On March 21, 2021, one of those who were red-tagged, Lumad human rights worker Renalyn Tejero, was arrested in Cagayan de Oro City.
Karapatan said the arrest of Castro is another form of attack against human rights defenders.
“This despicable policy and practice of the Duterte regime of filing trumped up charges against rights defenders in an attempt to silence them should stop,” the group said.
Karapatan Secretary Deneral Cristina Palabay lamented that those who are guilty of seven counts of graft are still at large while a doctor who is helping the poor is being accused of being a criminal.
The group said Castro could have made a prominent career in medicine in the urban areas or even abroad after her graduation, but she chose to work in the rural areas of Mindanao.
Castro, is, in fact, a cum laude in BS Zoology in University of the Philippines-Diliman in 1990. In 1995, she graduated with a degree in Medicine at the UP College of Medicine. She was also a Scholastican High School Valedictorian in 1986.
In 2006, Castro’s alma mater, St. Scholastica’s College-Manila honored her with the Centennial Award as one of the 100 Outstanding Graduates in the last century.
“There is a huge lack of doctors in the rural areas where one out of 10 Filipinos die without even being able to have a health consultation. There are only a few doctors who choose to work for the poor. Why arrest her?” the Health Alliance for Human Rights said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Feb 18, 2022
- Event Description
On February 18, human rights lawyer Lu Siwei exposed on social media that the apartment complex management office sent workers to install a surveillance camera pointed at his door.
When Lu asked them why they wanted to monitor him, they said it was an order from the residential community office. He reminded them it’s illegal to do so, then one of them argued that this is to improve community security. Mr. Lu responded with the following three points:
-
They commit the crime of “illegal use of espionage equipment” if they install any surveillance camera without following legal procedures
-
If they want to look for trouble, I will fight for my rights vigorously
-
I urge the apartment complex management office to remove the surveillance camera within 48 hours, otherwise, there will be Mr. Lu Siwei is a renowned human rights lawyer in Sichuan. He has provided legal aid to many human rights victims over the years, specializing in areas like freedom of speech, forced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture, and forced demolition. He criticizes social injustice and speaks up for the sufferings of vulnerable groups. He defended Mr. Zhang Junyong for his June 4th Wine Bottle Case. He also defended human rights lawyer Chen Jiahong, who was charged with “inciting subversion of state power”. Because of his work, he was oppressed and punished by the Sichuan Province legal system and its lawyers’ association. In June 2020, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng was sentenced to 4 years by Xuzhou Intermediate Court under the charge of “inciting subversion of state power”. Mr. Lu was his defense lawyer in the second trial. In August 2020, 12 Hong Kong activists were detained in the Yantian Detention Center. Mr. Lu visited them and provided legal support. He was the defense lawyer of one of the detainees Mr. Qiao Yingyu. In mid-October 2020, Mr. Lu traveled to Chu Xiong (Yunnan Province) to work as Mr. Wang Zang’s lawyer and visit his children. Mr. Wang was charged with “inciting subversion of state power”.
Mr. Lu’s work caused the officials to retaliate. On January 4, 2021, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Justice sent him a notice to suspend his lawyer’s license and impose a fine, under the excuse of “violating professional conduct and posting comments with negative social impacts online.” He made a statement after he received the notice:
Obviously, this is their retaliation against me because I delegated the case of 12 Hong Kong activists, and accepted interviews to talk about the case. It is illegal for the Sichuan Provincial Department of Justice to suspend my license without even opening a case. It’s clearly an abuse of power. I will request a public hearing session and debate with them.
A public hearing was held on January 13, 2021. Mr. Lu lost his freedom at the entrance as he was surrounded by more than 10 people. 3 or 4 people dragged him into the building. His lawyers Cheng Hai and Xie Yanyi were not allowed to get in to attend the hearing. Plain-clothed police officers gathered at the entrance. More than 10 police cars were parked there. Human rights lawyers Wang Yu and Ren Quanniu were brutally treated when they took pictures.
On January 15, 2021, Mr. Lu received the notice of “administrative punishment decision” from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Justice, and his lawyer’s license was suspended.
-
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- China: Human rights lawyer Lu Siwei receives notification from Chengdu All China Lawyers Association’s Disciplinary Committee, China: human rights lawyer receives disciplinary sanction for defending a fellow lawyer, China: lawyers had licence revoked for expressing support for Hong Kong activists, China: suspended lawyer is barred from leaving the country (Update)
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
A student in Lamphun has been ordered to take down a set of campaign photographs on marriage equality from their social media account by their school administration, which claims that protests should not be done on campus or in uniform.
Fah (pseudonym), a Mathayom 6 (Year 12) student in Lamphun, said that she was summoned to meet on Thursday (17 February 2022) with school administrators along with other students who participated in the campaign, after they posted on Monday (14 February 2022) a set of photographs of themselves carrying Pride flags and flashing the three-finger ‘Hunger Games’ salute as part of a campaign for marriage equality.
Fah said that Mathayom 6 students were taking their graduation photos on that day, and so were already wearing their school uniform. Since she saw that the LGBTQ right activist network Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality was staging rallies across the country to campaign for the right of people to register their marriages regardless of gender, she invited her friends to take photos with Pride flags at several locations in the city, including their school campus. Fah then posted the photos on her personal Facebook profile.
She said that a teacher saw the photos, and the school administration was upset that there were photos of the students flying Pride flags and flashing the three-finger ‘Hunger Game’ salute, a well-recognized resistance symbol commonly used by pro-democracy protesters. She was told by a teacher that the principal wanted them to take the photos down, and that it is inappropriate to take part in such a campaign while on campus and in uniform.
Fah said that she refused to take the photos down, and that her teachers are trying to pressure her into taking them down by calling her and sending her Facebook messages, but she has not answered their calls or answered their messages.
She said that this is not the first time her school has tried to limit students’ freedom of expression. Students were harassed at an earlier protest in Lamphun town, near the Queen Cham Thewi (Camadevi) Monument. She alleged that the school provided the police with students’ personal information, allowing the police to visit students at home, and that the school did not try to protect its own students.
Fah said she thinks that the school is a public space, although some teachers see it as private, and that students should be safe to organize activities on campus. She said that campaigning for marriage equality would not damage the school’s reputation, but would instead be a good thing if the school showed support for the LGBTQ community, which is a universal value.
“If the school still deprives students of the right to freedom of expression, you will not be able to develop towards a free world,” she said.
On Monday (14 February 2022), Valentine’s Day, activists in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and several other provinces staged rallies to campaign for marriage equality, after proposed amendments to the marriage law to allow registration of marriage regardless of gender were delayed by parliament. Activists in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Sakhon Nakon set up booths to hand out leaflets, Pride flags, and stickers, and invited people to sign the online petition backing a bill proposing amendments to the marriage law to allow registration of marriage regardless of gender. The bill is proposed by a network of civil society organizations and is currently gathering signatures so that it can go before parliament.
A similar bill was proposed by the Move Forward party in early 2021. It went before parliament on 9 February 2022 for a first reading. However, parliament voted to have it forwarded to the Cabinet for a 60-day review.
Both bills propose to amend Article 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code, which governs marriage, so that marriage registration is allowed between two people of any gender, instead of only between a man and a woman. If passed, these amendments will individuals to be legally married regardless of gender, and ensure that they receive equal rights, duties, and protection under the law. LGBTQ couples who have registered their marriage will be able to adopt children together, make medical decisions on behalf of their partner, and in cases where one partner dies, the other will be able to inherit from their partner and make legal decisions about their partner’s assets.
The bill being proposed by civil society also proposes to raise the age at which people can legally marry from 17 to 18 years old, and to replace the terms “man” and “woman” in every article of the Civil and Commercial Code relating to marriage with “person,” as well as to replace “husband” and “wife” with “spouse” and “father” and “mother” with “parents.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats, Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- SOGI rights defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
Two student activists in Chiang Mai have been evicted from their apartment, after police surveillance on their activity caused their landlord concerns.
“P,” a 19-year-old Chiang Mai University student activist, said that plainclothes police officers have been coming by their apartment every day for the past 2 -3 days since Phimchanok Jaihong, a member of the activist group Thalufah, came to stay with them in Chiang Mai.
P said that 2 officers came up to them on Wednesday (16 February 2022) while they were retrieving their belongings from their motorcycle and asked them whether they lived with Phimchanok. P said they denied it because they were concerned about Phimchanok’s safety, but the officers claimed that they heard that Phimchanok has problems with other activists, so they were making sure she is safe. P’s landlord also told them that police officers came to the apartment on Tuesday (15 February 2022), and that the police also called the landlord last month and asked to search the apartment, but the landlord denied their request as they were traveling at the time.
P said that Phimchanok was also staying with them at the time the landlord was contacted by the police, and after she left, the landlord, who has just returned to Chiang Mai, contacted the police about the search, but was told that they no longer needed to search the apartment.
After the officers left on Wednesday (16 February 2022), P’s landlord told them that the police coming around the apartment regularly make him afraid, and that P must leave the apartment by the end of the month. The landlord also told P that Phimchanok must leave immediately, claiming that P violated the apartment’s rule by bringing in a guest without first informing the landlord.
P is currently searching for a new apartment.
The Chiang Mai activist group Wilar Party also posted about the incident saying that the police also told P’s landlord that the two activists are facing legal charges and could be dangerous, and that they were monitoring the apartment because they heard that Phimchanok has problems with other activists, which is not true and not acceptable reasons for surveillance.
“The government is afraid of just one woman. They are questioning and pressuring her every day. She has no privacy, and we have been affected by the police’s harassment,” said the post.
“We are activists who work on several issues and have no fear of dictatorial power. This abuse of power and feeding people with false information, leading to this much damage will be a force to drive us forward. Don’t think that the people will be afraid of you. The more you do it, the more we will rise. We are just activists, not prisoners. Don’t imprison us by harassing us like we’ve done something wrong.”
Phimchanok was previously arrested on 14 January 2022, along with another Chiang Mai University activist, when they held up banners near the Chiang Mai University auditorium calling for graduates to boycott the graduation ceremony, presided over by Princess Sirindhorn, and for the repeal of Section 112. They were charged with creating a noise without a reasonable cause and refusing to comply with an official’s order. They received a 1500 baht fine and were released.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to housing, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
A student activist arrested in Yangon last year after putting up posters that criticised the junta was handed a three-year prison sentence for incitement at a court inside Insein Prison last week.
Yin Myat Noe Oo, the treasurer of a branch of the Yangon University of Economics Students' Union, was among four detained in April near the Kyauk Myaung Market in Tamwe.
The court took time already served off of the 22-year-old’s sentence when handing down its decision on Thursday, said lawyer Thet Naung.
Yin Myat Noe Oo was arrested alongside Khant Thu Aung, her union’s chair, Phyo Kyaw Naing, a union member and Min Hein Khant, a former member.
She and the three others face an ongoing incitement charge for allegedly supplying information to a foreign journalist via a film director named Thein Tan.
Thein Tan was arrested in April while staying at the Chatrium Hotel. He was accused of selling information to Yuki Kitazumi, a Japanese journalist who was arrested in April but released and deported the following month.
Despite the journalist’s release, Thein Tan and the students are still being tried for the case at the Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township Court.
“The four members of the students’ union were allegedly acting as informants for Thein Tan, who in turn allegedly sold the information to international news departments and supplied Yin Myat Noe Oo with the money, according to the military,” said Thet Naung, the student’s lawyer.
La Pyae, a member of the students’ union, said he and others were fighting for Yin Myat Noe Oo’s freedom.
“We are fighting our hardest for everyone’s release and are revolting against the dictatorship,” he said. “I’m proud of her. We are going to do what we can from the outside until we win the fight.”
Khant Thu Aung, the union’s chair, was reportedly denied medical attention while sick in prison.
Last week, a separate students’ organisation published a letter written by an inmate at Insein that said political detainees were being tortured and denied medical care at the prison.
At least 12,219 civilians have been arrested by the military since last year’s coup and at least 9,206 are still in detention, according to a tally from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) that the junta claims is exaggerated.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
Kades Kinipan Ditahan, Perjuangan Kinipan Dibungkam.
Kepala Desa (Kades) Kinipan, Wilem Hengki, ditahan di Kepolisian Resor (Polres) Lamandau, Kalimantan Tengah. Tidak hanya alasan penahanannya yang tidak jelas, tetapi hal ini juga menjadi upaya kriminalisasi untuk membungkam perjuangan Masyarakat Kinipan.
Palangka Raya. Pada hari ini Jum’at (14/1/2021), Wilem Hengki, Kades Kinipan ditahan di Polres Lamandau. Padahal, selama ini Kades Kinipan menjadi salah satu tokoh Masyarakat Kinipan yang frontal berjuang mempertahankan wilayah adat Kinipan dari ekspansi perkebunan kelapa sawit PT. Sawit Mandiri Lestari (PT. SML).
Penahanan Kades Kinipan ini terkesan tiba-tiba dan terburu-buru. Aryo Nugroho dari Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Palangka Raya, yang juga tergabung dalam Koalisi Keadilan untuk Kinipan, menyatakan kecewa akan penahanan yang dilakukan oleh Polres Lamandau. “Sebagai Pengacara yang mendampingi beliau, saya kecewa akan penahanan yang dilakukan oleh Polres Lamandau,” kata Aryo.
Aryo bahkan mengaku telah meminta agar penahanan Wilem ditangguhkan oleh Polres Lamandau. Namun, pihak Polres justru menyatakan ditahannya Kades Kinipan di Polres Lamandau adalah untuk mempermudah proses penyerahan Wilem ke Kejaksaan pada hari Senin (17/1/2022) nanti.
“Pihak Polres mengatakan bahwa penahanan Kades Kinipan ini adalah usaha paksa (penahanan) dan menunggu pelimpahan ke Kejaksaan. Selain itu, menurut mereka penahanan Kades tidak bisa ditunda karena adanya perintah dari atasan. Padahal Kades tidak pernah mangkir dari proses hukum, mestinya tidak perlu sampai ditahan,” kata Aryo.
Sebelumnya, pada tanggal 11 Agustus 2021 lalu, Kades Kinipan telah ditetapkan sebagai tersangka. Ia diduga telah melakukan tindak pidana korupsi (Tipikor) yaitu penyimpangan dalam penggunaan atau pengelolaan anggaran dana desa tahun anggaran 2019 Desa Kinipan dengan melanggar Pasal 2, Jo Pasal 3, Jo Pasal 18 Undang-Undang Nomor 31 Tahun 1999 tentang Tipikor.
Mencuatnya kasus dugaan Tipikor Kades Kinipan sama janggalnya dengan penahanannya hari ini. Menurut S. Mahendra, selaku Direktur Save Our Borneo, yang juga tergabung dalam Koalisi Keadilan Untuk Kinipan, kasus Kades Kinipan ini tidak lebih hanya sebagai upaya kriminalisasi dalam perjuangan yang sedang dilakukan Masyarakat Kinipan.
“Penahanan Wilem Hengki, selaku Kades Kinipan hari ini, tidak lebih hanya sebagai upaya pembungkaman terhadap perjuangan Masyarakat Kinipan. Ini adalah upaya pelemahan. Kita harus berdiri bersama Kades dan Masyarakat Kinipan,” ungkap S. Mahendra.
Karenanya, seruan untuk membebaskan Kades Kinipan harus kita gaungkan bersama. Koalisi Keadilan untuk Kinipan juga menyatakan siap untuk mendampingi dan mengawal proses hukum Kades Kinipan sampai memperoleh keadilan.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Malaysia
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
Today, authorities charged artist Fahmi Reza under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for the second time this year. Fahmi was released on bail set at RM 3,000 (approximately USD 750). The graphic, posted by Fahmi on Facebook on 1 June 2021, depicts a can of Carlsberg beer and reads, ‘Carlsberg for everyone.’ The graphic is a satirical commentary on the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s decision to grant approval for all factories producing alcohol to operate as ‘essential services’ throughout the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. The decision caused a public outcry, leading the government to revoke its decision and ban the operations of breweries until the lockdown was relaxed.
Today’s charge forms part of a campaign of government harassment targeting Fahmi following criminal charges against him last week and multiple previous investigations. So far this year Fahmi has paid RM 8,000 (approximately USD 2,000) in bail charges.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Artist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Mongolia
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
On February 17, 2022 at around 3:00 PM, Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj, a citizen of the independent country of Mongolia who has long supported the Southern (Inner) Mongolian cause, was arrested by the General Intelligence Agency (GIA) of Mongolia in the capital city Ulaanbaatar.
According to a press conference held by the GIA on Friday, “Receiving instructions and accepting funds from a foreign intelligence organization, Mongolian citizen Munkhbayar Chuluundorj has engaged in activities of illegal cooperation [with the foreign intelligence organization]” and was “arrested in action.”
When asked by reporters which country’s intelligence organization Munkhbayar has worked for and what evidence was found to support this allegation, the GIA spokesperson declined to comment.
Munkhbayar’s brother Munkh-erdene told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center that Mongolian authorities have already started prosecuting his brother behind closed doors. Family members and Munkhbayar’s attorney were forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement with the GIA regarding the case.
“The GIA told me and my brother’s attorney that any disclosure of details of the case would be deemed a leakage of state secrets and would be punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment,” Munkh-erdene told the SMHRIC over the phone. “Even if you reach out to my brother’s attorney, I am sure she will tell you the same.”
Munkh-erdene said family members, relatives, and friends have been denied the right to visit Munkhbayar and the right to attend the ongoing closed-door trial.
Well-known writer, journalist, and human rights activist Munkhbayar has been one of the most vocal critics of the Mongolian Government’s cozy relationship with China and a strong supporter of national freedom for occupied parts of the historical Mongolian nation, including Southern Mongolia, Buriat, Kalmyk, and Hazara.
As a staunch advocate for freedom and human rights for the six million Southern Mongolians under the Chinese colonial regime, Munkhbayar organized and attended numerous conferences, meetings, protests, and other events in his home country Mongolia and elsewhere, including the United States and Japan. Critical of the Mongolian Government’s close cooperation with the Chinese regime in persecuting and deporting Southern Mongolian political refugees, Munkhbayar once said in a conference held in Japan by the Inner Mongolian People’s Party that “two governments in the world are most hostile towards Southern Mongolian exiles and violating their rights the most: the Government of China and the Government of Mongolia.”
Most recently, Munkhbayar had been active in demanding the resignation of Mr. Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, Prime Minister of Mongolia, for his kowtowing to the Chinese and failure to safeguard the sovereignty and independence of Mongolia.
In a Facebook post, Munkhbayar highlighted two main reasons, among others, why Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene has to resign:
“During the Beijing Winter Olympics, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene said in his meeting with Chairman Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China that ‘Mongolia is ready to board China’s express train of prosperity;’ ‘Mongolia is ready to adjust itself to China’s 14th Five Year Plan;’ ‘China is the best neighbor, more valuable than gold;’ ‘[Mongolia] is ready to work with the Chinese Communist Party to learn its way of governing the country;’ ‘making these Mongolia’s guiding principle for foreign policy.’ These statements are posing an existential threat to the independence and national security of Mongolia, implying the annexation of Mongolia to China.
“Recently, a group of Chinese citizens gathered at Sukhbaatar Square in our capital Ulaanbaatar with a long banner reading ‘The Mongolian China Peaceful Reunification Promotion Association.’ Not only did the Government of Mongolia fail to respond to China’s this type of flagrant challenge to our national sovereignty but also Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene himself expressed a similar position to Beijing.”
The picture of this particular gathering has gone viral via social media among Mongolians around the world, who are calling it a direct challenge from the Chinese to the independence of Mongolia. Although the English translation of the so-called association reads “The Mongolian China Peaceful Unification Promotion Association Wishes the Beijing Winter Olympics a Complete Success,” the Chinese letters “蒙古国中国和平统一促进会预祝北京冬奥会圆满成功” can accurately be translated as “Mongolia China Peaceful Reunification Association Wishes the Beijing Winter Olympics a Complete Success.”
In another Facebook post, Munkhbayar published his research findings revealing that the “蒙古国中国和平统一促进会” is an overseas Chinese GONGO (government operated NGO) promoting China’s expansionist agenda in neighboring countries, including Taiwan and Mongolia.
“Therefore, we are demanding the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene. If he remains in power, our nation’s independence will be lost and all citizens of Mongolia will become slaves of China. We are urging our fellow citizens of Mongolia to join us for the independence and wellbeing of our nation and our people,” Munkhbayar stated in his Facebook post.
Protests of various forms are being organized via social media and in person, demanding the immediate release of Munkhbayar. On February 18, a group of activists gathered before the GIA headquarters and livestreamed their protest.
“No question, Munkhbayar’s arrest was instructed by Beijing and executed by our government,” a protester said on the livestream. “This is a case trumped-up by the authorities to silence those who stand up for the sovereignty of our nation and the freedom of our brothers and sisters in Southern Mongolia.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- Feb 16, 2022
- Event Description
Police arrested a prominent Pakistani journalist and government critic at his home on unspecified charges on Wednesday, his colleagues and local media said.
Mohsin Baig, editor for the news outlet Online, had just days earlier suggested on a TV talk show that Prime Minister Imran Khan had showed favoritism by granting an award to a government minister with whom he has a close friendship.
Khan had ranked Minister for Communication Murad Saeed as the top performer among his Cabinet. Saeed lodged a complaint against Baig to federal authorities following the comments, according to the information ministry.
Baig's family told reporters that police and officials from a federal investigation agency raided his house in the capital, Islamabad, Wednesday morning and took him away without giving any reason for the arrest.
Baig's arrest drew condemnation from Pakistani journalists on social media. Witnesses say police were still present at Baig's home, although no other details were immediately available.
The government gave no immediate comment.
Pakistan has long been an unsafe country for journalists. In 2020, it ranked ninth on the Committee to Protect Journalists' annual Global Impunity Index, which assesses countries where journalists are regularly killed and the assailants go free.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 16, 2022
- Event Description
Two students from Dawei University in Tanintharyi Region were sentenced to seven years in prison each last week for making 5,000-kyat donations to assist civilians displaced by Myanmar’s ongoing political unrest.
Ei Chu Chu Maw, 19, and Lin Latt Kyi, 20, were both found guilty by a court inside Dawei Prison of violating Section 52b of Myanmar’s Counterterrorism Law for allegedly funding anti-regime activities.
The two young women both received the maximum sentence under the law, according to information released by the Dawei Political Prisoners Network (DPPN), a local advocacy group.
The sentences were handed down last Wednesday, the group said.
“They just donated money to help civilians in need. It’s unfair that they had to go to prison for this,” said a DPPN spokesperson.
The two women were arrested in their home village of Hein Dar Pyin, about 30km from Dawei, on November 5 after they made the donations using a popular money-transfer app last June.
Dawei Watch, another group that monitors human rights abuses in the region, later reported that they were sent to Dawei Prison on November 19 and charged under the anti-terror law.
They did not receive legal representation, according to the DPPN spokesperson.
“No lawyer dares to take up those cases anymore,” he said, noting that lawyers in Dawei stopped defending political detainees in October after several were threatened with arrest as accessories to their clients’ alleged crimes.
Myanmar Now contacted relatives of the two women, but they declined to comment on their cases, citing security concerns.
Ei Chu Chu Maw and Lin Latt Kyi were both first-year students at the time of their arrest. Ei Chu Chu Maw was studying English, while Lin Latt Kyi was enrolled in a program at the University for the Development of the National Races under the management of the ministry of border affairs.
According to the latest figures released by DPPN, the Dawei Prison court has sentenced 180 people, including 30 women, to prison in connection with alleged anti-regime activities.
In the final week of last year, 31 people received lengthy prison sentences for opposing the junta that seized power last February.
Tun Tun Oo, a 38-year-old protest leader who was arrested last September, received the longest sentence—a total of 18 years on four charges. Eight more years have since been added on three other charges.
Two more charges—including one for murder and another under Section 54 of the Counterterrorism Law—are still pending.
If found guilty of the remaining charges, he could be given the death penalty.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2022
- Event Description
NagaWorld protesters are not permitted to rally in public spaces, City Hall said on Tuesday, urging them to gather at a park in the city’s outskirts when workers clear Covid-19 testing and quarantine requirements.
The casino workers’ protests, which began on December 18, came to a halt this month when the Health Ministry ordered they all test for Covid-19 and stay at home. The protesters are about to finish the mandated self-isolation period, to be followed by more Covid-19 tests.
City Hall issued a statement Tuesday saying the NagaWorld protests were banned in public places, and protesters should continue their rallies at Freedom Park if they don’t have Covid-19 symptoms.
Freedom Park, once an epicenter of rallies in the capital, was moved from its original location near the Night Market to the city’s outskirts in Russei Keo district.
“During the illegal protests, [their] activities caused serious disruptions to public order, traffic jams and people’s businesses,” City Hall said.
Protester Kim Sokha said she was sad to see the City Hall statement, which she believed was biased in favor of NagaCorp.
“I don’t know about other workers, but for myself, I will not go to Freedom Park. The strike was supposed to be near Naga. I will stand there. I’m ready for anything. If they arrest me, I’m not scared. Freedom Park is far. If we strike two or three years, we will still not have gotten a solution,” Sokha said.
“Since my workplace was Naga, I demanded that it should be the only place where the workers stand,” she added. “This is more pressure for me and the other strikers. City Hall does not see that we are in difficulty.”
Meach Sreyaun, another worker, said the protesters had held an online meeting on Tuesday, and they would discuss plans again after resuming testing tomorrow and Thursday.
“We are worried. Why don’t the authorities help us? Find a good solution. But they try to separate strikers. How powerful is Naga?” she said.
“Maybe the NagaWorld company is sleeping. If they are still not awake, we should wake them up in front of Naga.”
The Health Ministry announced 184 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, a dropoff after a surge to more than 500 daily cases announced on Monday.
In a statement, Human Rights Watch said it was concerned that Covid-19 was being used to justify a crackdown, pointing to three NagaWorld protesters arrested and charged under the Covid-19 Law.
“The Cambodian authorities are stooping to new lows by bringing criminal charges in the guise of public health measures to end a strike,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government’s persecution of union activists appears aimed at blunting the growing unity and strength of Cambodia’s union movement and their support for the NagaWorld strikers.”
Phnom Penh deputy governor Keut Chhe referred questions to the City Hall statement.
Around 40 NagaWorld workers tested positive during three days of testing earlier this month. They were sent to treatment centers, while the rest of the workers were told to stay at home for 10 days.
The protests revolve around mass layoffs last year that workers say targeted union leaders and members. Eleven protesters are now in pre-trial detention: eight are facing incitement charges and three were jailed for obstruction of the Covid-19 law.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Cambodia: 16 more labour rights defenders arrested, including union president, Cambodia: labour rights defenders prevented from leaving strike site, 9 arrested, charged and questioned, Cambodia: labour rights defenders prevented from staging peaceful strike, Cambodia: Ministry of Health orders COVID-19 test for all protesting labour rights defenders, Cambodia: six more labour rights defenders arrested
- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2022
- Event Description
Pakistan authorities must investigate the recent abuse of an ARY News crew by intelligence officials and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, at the Karachi office of the Intelligence Bureau, the country’s civilian domestic intelligence body, IB officers held ARY News host Syed Iqrarul Hassan and his reporting team at gunpoint, forced them to strip naked, and beat and electrocuted them, according to Hassan’s account of the incident given to ARY News, a video interview with the journalist at a hospital posted to Twitter by ARY TV host Waseem Badari, and news reports.
The news crew was at the Intelligence Bureau to report on an official who allegedly accepted a bribe, when a group of agents detained the team for about three hours, during which they beat them and electrocuted some of the journalists on “sensitive” parts of their bodies, according to those reports.
Following the incident, Intelligence Bureau Deputy Director-General Iftikhar Nabi Tunio ordered the suspension of five IB officials “for mistreatment of ARY News Team and mishandling the situation,” according to those reports and a copy of the order posted to Twitter.
“Pakistan’s Intelligence Bureau took a useful first step by suspending the officials allegedly responsible for beating and abusing ARY News host Syed Igrarul Hassan and his crew,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “The next, and more important step is for the agency to break Pakistan’s terrible record of impunity in crimes against journalists by investigating and punishing those responsible for this attack. Pakistani officials need to know that crimes against journalists will no longer be tolerated.”
Hassan required multiple stiches to his head and suffered a dislocated shoulder, he told his employer. CPJ was unable to immediately identify the other members of Hassan’s ARY News team. CPJ called and texted Hassan, but he did not immediately respond.
Hassan hosts the Sar-e-Aam show, an investigative crime program that conducts sting operations, according to those news reports.
CPJ was unable to find contact information for the Intelligence Bureau, which reports to the prime minister’s office. CPJ emailed the prime minister’s office seeking comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Torture, Vilification, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Nepal
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2022
- Event Description
Reporter with www.pnews.com.np Kailash Majhi was issued death threat through a letter for his reporting in Saptari district on February 15. Saptari lies in Madhesh Province of Nepal.
In a conversation with Freedom Forum, reporter Majhi shared, "I am a media person and an active Right to Information activist in the district. I have been using RTI to request public information at Saptari district's municipalities, community schools and other public offices for long. I also use the received information as news stories to make citizens aware of the ongoing public issues. But early in the morning today, I saw a letter outside the door of my house", he said.
The letter, as he informed, read: "You have been blackmailing local representatives and bureaucrats and reporting news critical to them for long. So, this is a final warning to you, if you ignore this letter and inform police or media then, we will shoot you at your house."
Then, reporter Majhi informed the local police and administration, demanding his security. He further informed the Freedom Forum that Chief District Officer had ensured that the case would be investigated.
Freedom Forum condemns the incident as it is blatant violation of press freedom and citizen’s right to information. While every citizen has right to seek information at public agencies, use of information to make news is constitutionally guaranteed right to free press. Such incident creates panic among fellow journalists and hinders free flow of information.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death threat, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to information
- HRD
- RTI activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Feb 14, 2022
- Event Description
The Criminal Investigations Department on Monday (14) arrested Civil Activist Shehan Malaka Gamage, from Panadura.
Police Spokesperson SSP Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa told News 1st that Gamage was arrested for a comment he made with regard to the Easter Sunday attacks, at a recent media briefing.
He was recently summoned to the CID and a statement was recorded as well, on the same matter.
The Criminal Investigations Department had sought advice from the Attorney General and upon instructions received the CID arrested Shehan Malaka Gamage, noting that he had committed an offense, said the Police Spokesperson.
Immediately after the easter attacks, Shehan had helped mobilize a blood donation campaign for those who have been injured. This was also done to help avoid violent and extremist reactions against any community. Three days after the easter attacks, on 24th April 2019, he had served as a liason between the presidential secretariat and office of the Archbishop of Colombo, to develop a national plan of response. He also played a leading role on social media in trying to calm down emotions of affected persons and Catholic youth, particularly to prevent extremist and hate speech online. He has been a strong advocate of truth and justice for easter attacks, and in November 2019, stated before media that the easter attacks could be a political conspiracy. In recent months, he has been a strong advocate of seeking justice for easter attacks, especially in social media. He has also been outspoken about the need for truth and justice in front of media, and one of the more explosive interventions was on 17th August 2021, which received wide media coverage (https://youtu.be/3krYcBhQKeQ.com). He was also active in promoting “Black Sunday” protest on 7th March 2021 and “Black Flag” protest on 21st August 2021, which were held under the leadership of Archbishop of Colombo, demanding truth and justice for easter attacks. His activism continued even after 8 days of intense interrogation (see section 4 below). On 15th November 2021, Shehan made a public statement that the present Minister of Public Security has direct responsibility for easter attacks, that he had given evidence about this when he was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the police and that the Minister would be in remand prison if these evidences had been investigated.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Feb 14, 2022
- Event Description
The general chairman of the Indonesian Citizen Journalists Association (PPWI), Wilson Lalengke, S.Pd, M.Sc, MA is very concerned and regrets the behavior of unscrupulous police officers at various police stations in this country. One of them is the Kasatreskrim Polres Merangin, Jambi, with the initials IDS with the rank of Adjunct Commissioner of Police (AKP).
“There are strong indications that the police are using their authority arbitrarily. He is currently detaining journalists from Global Investigation News (GIN) on behalf of Ahmad Taufik and Sumiran for reports of alleged criminal acts that lack evidence," said the national press figure when he received a report from the Chief Editor of GIN regarding the detention of his journalist, Monday. February 14, 2022.
When asked about the reason for the detention which seemed forced on the two journalists, Lalengke said that there were strong indications that the detention was related to the news. As a result of the news in the GIN media, payments to unscrupulous officials, both at the Merangin Police and other local authorities from illegal mining entrepreneurs, stopped.
"I strongly suspect that this is related to the news in the Global Investigation News media about illegal mining activities in the Merangin area which are indicated to be backed up by elements at the Resort Police, Kodim, and other local authorities. As a result of the news, regular deposits from unlicensed mining entrepreneurs (PETI) have stalled or have stopped. Now, when there are residents who make LPs for these journalists, the opportunity is not wasted by these elements to silence journalists Ahmad Taufik and Sumiran by detaining the case of loose change that is not supported by strong evidence, "explained the PPRA-48 alumnus of Lemhannas RI in 2012 to hundreds of media affiliated to PPWI while sending a link to the news on the illegal mining case [1].
This arbitrary action by police officers, Lalengke asserted, is not only a violation of the Police Professional Code of Ethics (KEPP) but is also a criminal matter. "Yes, it's very clear, detaining people without being supported by strong evidence for alleged criminal acts as a violation, not only a violation of KEPP but can also enter the realm of crime, even violating human rights," said the PPWI Ketum who is known to be keen on defending these oppressed citizens.
For this reason, Lalengke hopes that the National Police Leaders at the central level evaluate the performance of the Merangin Police as a whole. Likewise, other agencies such as TNI Headquarters are required to carry out monitoring and evaluation (monev) on the performance of their officers in the area.
“I hope that the Jambi Regional Police Chief and the National Police Chief will immediately evaluate the performance of their subordinates at the Merangin Police, including examining the former Chief of Police and the new Chief of Police there. Likewise, the Sriwijaya Military Commander and the TNI Commander, to immediately evaluate the apparatus at the regional Kodim. Information received by the editors shows that Kasdim is involved in PETI activities by providing a dompeng machine that is used by miners to mine illegally," added Lalengke.
It is known that two journalists from the Global Investigation News Bureau of the Merangin Regency have been detained by the Merangin Police on behalf of Ahmad Taufik and Sumiran, since Monday night, February 14, 2022. They were detained on a report from a resident of Merangin, a mother with the initials RH, who accused them of committing criminal offenses as stipulated in the law. in articles 372 and 378 of the Criminal Code, with very weak evidence.
The story begins when RH asked Amrizal, a former GIN journalist, to help seek a suspension of detention for her husband who was arrested because of Article 480 of the Indonesian Criminal Code regarding the collection of stolen goods. Amrizal and RH then entered into a cooperation agreement with operating costs of Rp. 43 million. In the next process, Amrizal invited Ahmad Taufik and Sumiran, fellow journalists at the GIN media, to help him lobby the Merangin Police.
Long story short, the attempt to hold the detention of RH's husband failed even though he was assisted by a lawyer appointed by the Merangin Police investigator. Finally, the legal process against RH's husband went to court and he was sentenced to 1 year in prison.
Due to the failure of Amrizal and his friends, RH asked for the return of all operational funds given to them in the amount of Rp. 43 million [2]. Of course, if they are to be returned, they cannot return the operational funds in full because some of it has been used to pay for their lawyers and operations. Unfortunately, RH persisted in asking for the funds to be returned in full, which because it could not be fulfilled, he wen