- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Dec 24, 2022
- Event Description
The Taliban violently suppressed a rare women’s demonstration in Herat province.
Several dozens of female protesters took to the streets in Herat on Saturday morning (December 24th) to protest against the Taliban’s regressive order, and their protest was immediately dispersed by the Taliban.
Despite being violently suppressed by the Taliban, protesters in Herat still continue to chant slogans, and the Taliban frequently used water cannons for dispersing crowds and limiting access to certain areas, sources indicated.
Protestors consider the Taliban’s order to ban university education for girls against Islamic principles, calling on the Taliban to “respect the holy book and do not deny women’s rights of access to education.”
The Taliban’s decision to ban university education for women has led to widespread objections at the national and international arenas.
- 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
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Dec 23, 2022
- Event Description
6 women among 8 protesters arrested by Taliban members in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province.
The Taliban have suppressed a march initiated by female students in Taloqan city, sources in Takhar confirmed.
Sources detailed the Taliban arrested two male protesters yesterday and six female protesters today.
Most of the protestors are students of local-based education centers and private universities who had gathered in Yunus Abad and Maarif Alley.
According to sources, the Taliban dispersed the protesters and did not allow local journalists to cover the march.
Meanwhile, female protesters in Herat were also violently dispersed by the Taliban. The Taliban used water cannons to disperse the protesters.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- 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
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Dec 22, 2022
- Event Description
Defying the Taliban’s latest ban on university education for women, dozens of Afghan women's rights activists and girl students Thursday staged a protest in Kabul, Takhar and Nangarhar provinces, demanding that women be allowed access to education and employment.
“Rights for everyone or no one,” the women wearing Islamic hijabs chanted as they marched through the streets in the western part of the capital, Kabul, home to the country’s largest universities.
Eyewitnesses said the protests in Kabul were quickly shut down by Taliban security officials and that at least five women and a couple of male protesters were arrested. Sources connected to women activists confirmed two of those arrested were released.
One of the female protesters, who asked that her name not be used for fear of Taliban retaliation, told VOA, “The Taliban forces beat us up and arrested some of our female and male protesters and took them away. They scattered us apart. However, we will not let it go. We will fight for our rights.”
'They kicked us out'
The Taliban’s armed security guards on Wednesday allowed male students to attend exams but stopped female students from entering their classrooms in different universities.
"We went to the university to give our exam; our male classmates were able to get in the hall, but we were not allowed by the armed Taliban forces. They kicked us out of the university with violence and cruelty, as if we had committed a huge crime. We have four exams left. What is going to be our future?” said one female student from Nangarhar University who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.
“I had studied and prepared for my exam until very late that night. As soon as I woke up and saw the news about the ban, my dreams shattered. I started crying. Why are we treated as criminals? We have no respect and no values for these people,” said Bahar Ahmadzai, a student at Kabul Medical University.
The ban was announced Tuesday, a day before the universities’ final exams.
Following broad condemnation of the move, the Taliban’s higher education minister, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, defended the decision in a post on Twitter.
“The Nation is angry with me because of the closure of girls' education, while this is the order of the Messenger of Allah," the tweet said. "Islam does not allow women to do prostitution in the name of education. A woman is like a piece of land owned by a man, and she is obligated to be at his service, not perusing education.”
In the eastern city of Nangarhar, some male university students also walked out of their exams in protest against the Taliban’s decision to ban female students from higher education.
One male student, who also declined to provide his name, said, “We did not attend the exam and we will not until our female classmates are allowed to take exams, too.”
On Wednesday after female students were not allowed to take part in the exams, several male professors from various universities in multiple provinces resigned in protest.
'Dark day'
Obaidullah Wardak, assistant professor at Kabul University, said, “I and some of my colleagues resigned in protest against this dark day. We will not return to the university unless the decision is revoked by the Taliban.”
Afghan writer and human rights activist Shafiqa Khpalwak called the ban on girls’ education a crime against humanity. She asked the international community and Islamic countries to step forward and help the Afghan women in this fight against extremism.
“This catastrophe does not only concern the rise of women but threatens the whole existence of our country," she said. "The so called 'international community' is also responsible for the crisis and now they cannot look away from us, they cannot walk away from the mess they have created. We need them to come up with practical and pragmatic solutions that will eventually bring results for us.”
“Afghan women are alone in this fight against radicalism. They need help!” she added.
Lida Afghan, a Danish-Afghan artist whose art highlights social problems and women’s rights, said it is time for the world to stand with the Afghan women.
“I was supposed to focus on my exams today and then I got the news that Afghan women are banned from going to the university," Lida said. "I thought: It could have been any of us if our parents hadn’t fled the country. In these tough times the whole world should be standing up for the Afghan women, knowing it could have been one of us.”
The Taliban have so far shut girls’ secondary schools; banned women from public parks, gyms and baths; imposed mandatory hijab “covering faces”; and imposed executions and harsh public punishments such as flogging.
Several countries including the United States and the U.N.'s mission in Afghanistan asked the Taliban leadership to "immediately" revoke the decision.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- 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
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Dec 21, 2022
- Event Description
Men in official uniform armed with HK rifles charging in and dismantling barricade at the entrance and exit of Klong Sai Pattana Community, SPFT, while coercing and intimidating women/land rights defenders and community members and seizing their phones, SPFT members calling out the barbaric operation by the officials and preparing to stage a protest at Government House to demand justice, while reporting the case to the police in Chai Buri According to the Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand (SPFT), on 21 December 2022 around 12.30, the land rights defenders of Klong Sai Pattana Community under the Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand (SPFT) were confronting with more than 15 men clad in forestry official uniform, Territorial Defense Volunteer uniform and administrative official uniform, in three vehicles, some of which with a sticker of the Department of Provincial Administration while others had no licenses plates. They were charging in to dismantle barricade at the entrance and exit of the community causing damage to the barricade. They also forcibly held two land rights defenders in custody including one woman and one man without producing any warrant. They even threatened that “If you shut down the gate, you will face prosecution.” They proceeded to seize the two defenders’ phones and delete the photos they had taken while the intimidation was taking place and adjusted the frequency on their walkie talkie making the rights defenders unable to communicate with other fellow community members. It was to prevent them from immediately reporting the situation while they were subjected to rights violation to their fellow rights defenders. After dismantling the barricade, the men in uniform have released both individuals who then drove their motorcycle to bring the situation to the attention of their community members. That day marked the 14th anniversary of the struggle and the demand for the right to land of the Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand (SPFT). HRDs of the Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand (SPFT) have then reported the case to the local police in Chai Buri District for record. While the police were preparing the record of the incidence, the men in official uniform were reportedly returning to the community, but this time, they stopped at about 1.5 kilometers from the entrance. They announced that they wanted to participate in the event held to mark the 14th anniversary of one of SPFT community‘s member, but were told that the event had been finished. The officials then went back. Around 15.20, while walking back inside their community, SPFT members have found more than 20 officials led by the President of the Sai Thong Tambon Administration Organization, officials from the Surat Thani Office of Social Development and Human Security, the Chai Buri District Chief Officer, officials from the Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO) and Territorial Defense Volunteers armed with HK rifles and pistols, had
gone inside the community whose members are peasants who have been struggling to demand their right to land. According to Pratheep Rakhangthong, a SPFT’s land rights defender and leader, the arrival of the official was not a peaceful action but rather a sign of repression. If they want to do this nonviolently, they must have sought to dialogue with us. We put on the barricade to preempt further loss since until now; we have lost at least four members of our community. We do not want to see further loss. As a result, we need to put up some protection. In addition, the road access into our community has been made possible by our persistent demand and struggle. During our struggle, the local authorities have hardly paid any attention to us. The road access is also not built on a public road, and it has been built exclusively for the use of the community. Therefore, the community wants to have power to manage our own security to prevent further loss and imminent intimidation. Chusri Olakit, a women land rights defender and leader of SPFT said that the incidence has stemmed from a couple of earlier requests made by the Sai Thong TAO to ask for permission to use this road access, although we refused to give them access citing the road’s bad condition. We fear that if we allow the use by vehicles with heavy load, it will further exacerbate the road condition. We would allow access by small vehicles, though. However, all of a sudden, without notifying us in advance, they sent people here to charge at our checkpoint. Given this incidence, it makes us concerned that this will happen again similar to how our community members have been subjected to repeated assassinations. We have no idea if we will be safe in our life and property tonight, or tomorrow night. The act of the authorities was barbaric. They just barged in and dismantled our property. Now, our community members feel unsafe since the people who claim to be government officials have constantly harassed and intimidated us during their invasion. The authorities have to offer an explanation for this act. If not, we will go and seek a negotiation in front of the Government House. The District Chief Officer has dared us to do anything and anytime. Klong Sai Pattana Community is situated in Tambon Sai Thong, Chai Buri District, Surat Thani, and is one of the four communities established by members of the Southern Peasants' Federation of Thailand (SPFT), the landless peasants who demand their right to land and agricultural rights. They help the state to investigate the land occupied illegally by private investors without paying their rent to the state. In 2002, the land rights defenders have demanded that the Provincial Governor of Surat Thani set up an inquiry committee. As a result of the committee’s investigation, it was found the land has been illegally occupied by private investors although local authorities have failed to execute their duties accordingly. In 2008, the land rights defenders have formed themselves and established the Klong Sai Pattana Community and continued to demand policy reform by the state. The state has been urged to allocate land to small-scale farmers and landless workers based on the “community title deed” model in collaboration with the People's Movement for Just Society (P-Move). In addition, Klong Sai Pattana Community has been subjected to constant intimidations. During 2010-2016, the Community’s four members including two women human rights defenders have been assassinated, while one another sustained serious injuries. No one has been held accountable and punished for the crime. As a result, the community has to come up with measures to protect their own security in life and property.
Land and environmental rights defenders in Thailand are struggling to make their voice heard, particularly since the 2014 coup d'état. Since then, the shrinking space to address their concerns has been drastically compromised. Land right defenders (HRDs) in Thailand have been systematically crimininalised, prosecuted and even killed for their human rights and environmental work. These recent attacks SPFT highlight the lack of effective mechanisms to protect women and HRDs in Thailand, particularly those operating in rural areas with limited resources. They are not isolated incidents, but they are part of a larger pattern of human rights violations, which illustrate the increasing tensions between state, corporations and the communities affected by their business activities. Protection International Thailand urge Thai government and all stakeholders to recognise the link between the climate crisis and the growing violence and repression against women/land and environmental defenders and take immediate meaningful steps to protect the role of women and defenders in promoting ambition and enhancing climate action.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Environmental rights defender, Land rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
Case shared by Protection International
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 20, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh rights activist Sanavar Zakirova has been sentenced to 10 days in jail on a charge of "disobeying police." Zakirova was detained along with several other women on December 20 after they demonstrated in Astana demanding that President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev meet with them over social problems faced in the country. It is not known if the other detained women faced trials as well. Zakirova has been sentenced to several jail terms in recent years and has been prevented from registering her Nashe Pravo (Our Right) political party.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- 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, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: detained WHRD placed in solitary confinement
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 16, 2022
- Event Description
More than a dozen activists of the opposition movement Oyan, Qazaqstan! (Wake Up, Kazakhstan!) have been detained in the country’s largest city, Almaty, as the Central Asian nation marks the 31st anniversary of its independence.
RFE/RL's correspondents in Almaty say that Bota Sharipzhan, Mira Ongharova, Fariza Ospan, Naghashybek Bekdaiyr, Aidana Aidarkhan, Beibarys Tolymbekov, Bauyrzhan Adilkhanov, and Asem Zhapisheva are among those who were detained on December 16.
Many of the activists were detained while they were making their way to the Independence Monument in the city center to commemorate the anniversaries of two violent crackdowns on protests that coincide with Kazakhstan's Independence Day.
One is the 1986 anti-Kremlin youth demonstrations, known as Zheltoqsan, in Almaty that erupted after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev replaced Kazakhstan's long-term ruler, Dinmukhammed Konaev, with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian sent by Moscow to head the then-Soviet republic.
Demonstrations against the appointment were put down by a violent crackdown by Soviet authorities. Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed by security forces, although officially only several people were said to have lost their lives during the demonstrations that lasted for three days.
Also, 11 years ago police opened fire at protesting oil workers in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen, killing at least 16 people and one person in the nearby town of Shetpe.
Several opposition activists across the Central Asian nation were detained before December 16 on charges related to their previous participation in unsanctioned rallies.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), 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
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Dec 13, 2022
- Event Description
Another NagaWorld worker was questioned by a Phnom Penh court on Tuesday in a case filed by the casino corporation, where very little has been made public about the events leading to the charges.
NagaWorld workers have been protesting against the casino corporation for firing more than 1,300 workers last year, with little more than 100 workers refusing to accept termination compensation. After months of strikes and protests, the casino corporation filed a court complaint against at least nine workers alleging breaking and entering, intentional damage and illegal confinement.
But workers say they are unclear what incident the charges are based on. Several workers who have already been questioned in the case said they were only shown photos of them standing outside the casino complex protesting.
Seak Panha, 32, appeared in court on Tuesday and was questioned for around 90 minutes. She was asked about her participation in the protests and if anyone ordered her to join the labor action. She said the investigating judge repeated these questions even though she gave the same answers.
She was also shown the photos of the protesters outside the casino on August 19 and 20 but said that she was not in any of the photos.
“The questions are to pressure the workers. For me, it is mental pressure,” she said after her questioning. “Taking the court procedures forward is like a mental threat to us to stop protesting against the Naga company.”
Unionist Nop Tithboravy said seven workers had been questioned in the case and two others were scheduled to be questioned on December 15 and 27, respectively.
Apart from the criminal charges, NagaCorp has also filed a civil suit to get a court to enforce its compensation package for workers. While most workers have accepted compensation, the Ministry of Labor said 124 have yet to take severance packages.
The court is still investigating charges against around a dozen NagaWorld union leaders and members, with union leader Chhim Sithar, who was on bail, arrested at the Phnom Penh Airport for allegedly violating her bail conditions. She had traveled to Australia for a labor conference but the court said she was not allowed to leave the country, as per her bail conditions.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 6, 2022
- Event Description
State security police across China have been questioning lawyers who volunteered to help people arrested during recent anti-lockdown protests, with some withdrawing from the scheme due to political pressure from the authorities, Radio Free Asia has learned.
Chinese human rights lawyers have been scrambling to assist the friends and families of people arrested during a wave of anti-lockdown protests at the end of November, many of whom have little experience being treated as dissidents by Chinese authorities.
Lawyer Wang Shengsheng, who compiled and published a list of dozens of attorneys offering to volunteer to help people detained for protesting China’s “zero-COVID” restrictions or mourning the victims of a Nov. 24 lockdown fire in Xinjiang's regional capital, Urumqi, said state security police had starting investigating her after she started helping detained protesters.
Wang, who hails from the central city of Zhengzhou but works for a law firm based in the southern city of Guangzhou, said the city's justice bureau had turned up at her law firm and taken away all of the files linked to previous cases she has represented.
"They sent people from the judicial bureau's [Communist Party] committee," she told RFA on Tuesday. "They were checking whether my records were in order, for example, we need to sign a contract when taking a new case, and issue a receipt when we receive our fees."
"They're trying to find some [error] they can pick up on, also whether or not I have taken any politically sensitive cases," Wang said. "They are deliberately trying to catch me making a mistake.”
"The reason behind it was the fact that I offered pro bono legal advice ... I don't know why they think that was such a bad thing to do that they need to put pressure on me via my law firm," she said, adding that the state security police had also contacted her.
"The Zhengzhou state security police came looking for me, because I'm in Zhengzhou right now," Wang said.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party, faced with the biggest challenge to its rule in decades, is saying that the "white paper" protests were the work of "foreign forces" infiltrating China, a notion that has been met with widespread derision among protesters and social media users.
Wang told RFA in November that some lawyers had declined to take part in the volunteer network, believing they would risk losing their license to practice law by participating, as happened to many attorneys who spoke up in favor of human rights, or helped political dissidents and other marginalized groups considered a stability risk by authorities.
She said that since then, several other attorneys who offered their services have been contacted by state security police or justice bureau officials where they live.
"The justice bureau officials and the state police have been contacting them," Wang said. "For example, Lin Baocheng was contacted by the state security police in Xiamen and Lu Siwei had the state security police come to find him in Chengdu."
"I don't understand what our actions have to do with the police," she said.
Wang said she has now been prevented from logging onto the volunteer lawyers' group on the social media and messaging platform WeChat.
"My WeChat account has been restricted, so I can't send messages in the group, or make any changes to the list [of volunteer lawyers]," she said. "No one can post messages in the WeChat circle."
The volunteer legal team has received more than 30 inquiries so far, she said.
"The authorities should understand how helpless the protesters felt ... and their frustration, and treat them with compassion," Wang said. "Why do those in power not trust their own people?"
Meanwhile, veteran rights lawyer Yu Wensheng said he didn't take part in the volunteer legal team for fear of political reprisals, although he was cheered to see the lawyers standing up for protesters.
Jiangsu's Xuzhou Intermediate People's Court handed a four-year jail term to Yu on subversion charges in June 2020 after nearly three years in pretrial detention, finding him guilty of "incitement to subvert state power" in a secret trial.
The sentence was widely seen by fellow lawyers as a form of political retaliation for Yu's outspokenness following a nationwide operation targeting rights lawyers and law firms that began on July 9, 2015, and his call for fully democratic presidential elections in China.
"After I got out of jail, I found that human rights lawyers had been decimated, almost wiped out by the government," Yu told RFA on Monday. "Now, some lawyers are finally standing up [to the authorities]. This is a good thing."
"But we should also be wary of another July 2015 [nationwide operation targeting rights lawyers], which would be very bad, and is entirely possible," he warned.
Yu, whose license to practice law was revoked in January 2018, still has traumatic memories of his time in incommunicado detention under "Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location," describing much of his incarceration as "unbearable to look back on."
He said he would like to leave the country, but fears it may not be possible.
"My desire to leave China is particularly great now, because I really can’t bear the current situation, and I am very pessimistic about its future direction,” Yu said.
"A lot of very capable and professional human rights lawyers have basically had their licenses revoked, and the ones who remain are too afraid to stand up to the government when it comes to representing cases," he said.
"It sometimes feels as if there's not a lot of difference between life in prison and life outside," Yu told RFA.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Online Attack and Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to privacy, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Dec 5, 2022
- Event Description
Chhim Sithar will remain in pretrial detention for incitement after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court turned down the casino union leader’s appeal for bail, a rights group said.
Sithar was arrested late last month after returning from an overseas labor conference.
Initially arrested in January over ongoing worker protests against NagaWorld, she was released on bail after promising she would stop participating.
Licadho, a local human rights NGO, said on Monday that its lawyer, who was part of Sithar’s legal team, had received a notice from the court today that she would remain in detention.
Sithar was rearrested at the Phnom Penh airport after returning from Australia. Authorities said she had been banned from traveling as part of her earlier bail conditions, but her defense has said they had not been told of the restriction.
Another of her lawyers, Sam Chamroeun, said he was busy Monday afternoon and could not immediately comment.
NagaCorp laid off 1,300 workers amid Covid-19 and is accused of union-busting for targeting labor leaders who the workers say should have been protected from termination.
More than 100 workers continue to resist their terminations as the protests against the Phnom Penh casino reach almost one year.
Dozens of protesters stood outside NagaWorld in orange prison jumpsuit-like outfits on Monday in support of Sithar, a live video by worker Mam Sovathin showed.
In addition to several union leaders like Sithar who still face incitement charges, some others have been questioned over an unclear NagaCorp court complaint about alleged breaking and entering. Unionists have also been summoned to testify over the company’s request for a court ruling on the protracted labor dispute.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 5, 2022
- Event Description
Concern is growing over the fate of four Tibetan women detained by China for protesting strict COVID lockdowns in Sichuan, with no word given yet by authorities concerning their whereabouts, according to Tibetan sources.
Zamkar, Kelsang Dolma, Dechen and Delha — all in their 20s and residents of Dardo (Kangding, in Chinese) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture —were arrested on December 5 and are now being held somewhere in Kardze, sources told RFA.
“Their exact location is still unknown, but we have heard that they are being given political re-education sessions by the Chinese government,” a source living in the region said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The women were taken into custody in their hometown after returning from Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu, where they had participated in anti-lockdown protests, RFA’s source said.
“They had also written a letter to their employer, complaining they hadn’t been paid while the lockdown was in force.
“Only one of them reported to the police when they were summoned for questioning, but the rest were taken from their homes and brought to the police station by force,” he added.
Also speaking to RFA, a Tibetan living in exile said the four women had worked at a Chinese-owned restaurant in Chengdu before their arrest. “But the Chinese authorities have refused to provide any information to their relatives regarding their arrest or current whereabouts,” the source said, citing contacts in the region.
Political prisoner’s sister also held
Chinese authorities in Tibet’s capital Lhasa have meanwhile arrested the sister of a Tibetan businessman now serving a life sentence on what rights groups and supporters call politically motivated charges of loan fraud, a Tibetan advocacy group said on Wednesday,
Gonpo Kyi, also called Gontey, was taken into custody on Dec. 19 shortly after staging a peaceful protest in front of the Higher People’s Court in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, or ICT, said in a statement.
Elder sister of businessman Dorjee Tashi, jailed since 2010, Kyi had also staged a sit-in in June in front of the People’s Court calling for her brother’s release. Tashi had first been charged with secession, a charge frequently used by authorities to silence Tibetans promoting Tibetan national identity or criticizing Chinese rule in Tibet, ICT said.
ICT research analyst Tenzin Norgay told RFA it was no surprise that Kyi was detained only minutes after she began her latest protest.
"As we all know, Dorjee Tashi was unjustly sentenced to life imprisonment and framed by the Chinese government," he said.
“Dorjee Tashi has spent almost 14 years in Drapchi prison and his health condition is unknown. His family members initially discretely appealed for his release from prison, but there was no outcome, so in the past few years we have seen his family members openly calling for his release in front of the court.”
Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago. Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- 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
- Community-based HRD, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Dec 4, 2022
- Event Description
Police in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou are denying the mother of a rights activist detained after an anti-lockdown protest permission to meet with her daughter.
Yang Zijing, who uses the social media handle "Dim Sum," was taken away on Dec. 4 by plainclothes police from her home in Guangzhou on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target critics of the government, the Hubei-based Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website reported on Dec. 14.
Yang was detained after getting home from a Dec. 4 protest on Guangzhou's Haizhu Square, and her friends warned not to post details of the arrest to social media, the website said.
The Beijing Road police station confirmed on Dec. 7 she was being held under criminal detention, despite the fact that she had neither held up a sheet of paper, nor made any kind of public speech in Haizhu Square.
Yang's mother Gao Xiusheng flew to Guangzhou as soon as she heard the news, she told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview.
"When I arrived in Guangzhou at 10.00 p.m. that evening, I went straight to the police station, who told me the officer in charge of the case wasn't there," Gao said. "They told me she was in criminal detention but didn't tell me why."
"I asked them to explain why they had brought Dim Sum in, but they said I wasn't allowed to have that information, just to know that she had been detained," she said.
"I went back to the police station with my lawyer the next day, but they told me that they couldn't let me meet with her, and the lawyer couldn't either," Gao said.
Makes no sense
She said it made no sense that people who protested for an end to the zero-COVID policy should be locked up now that it had been lifted.
"Dim Sum was just going along with everyone else," Gao said. "Maybe the means weren't right, but her intentions were good."
"Now, everyone else is allowed to move around freely, but Dim Sum is still locked up," she said.
Uncertainties remain over Yang's exact location.
While a police detention notice claimed she was being held in the Yuexiu District Detention Center, the civil rights website said she was still in Beijing Road police station as of Dec. 12.
Gao said she is concerned for Yang's well-being in police detention.
"I'm most worried about her health, because of the [current COVID-19] outbreak," she said. "I tried to deliver some clothes, but the police officer told me they can't take them, because prisoners aren't allowed to wear their own clothes."
'White paper' protests
Gao's lawyer recently tested positive for COVID-19, and is currently in self-isolation, making it impossible to proceed any further with their attempts to get a meeting with Yang, she said.
"She is a good kid who has always been obedient and never did anything illegal," Gao said. "I had no idea it was so serious at first; I just thought it would be a question of bringing her back home."
"I've been here more than 10 days, and I'm not even allowed to see her ... I've never experienced anything like this before," she said. "All I want is for her to get out as soon as possible, even if we're told we can't talk to anyone about it, and go back home."
Three other Guangzhou-based protesters were detained around the same time for their role in "white paper" demonstrations, in which protesters held up blank sheets of paper in a mute protest at the lack of freedom of speech around ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy.
The authorities relaxed most restrictions under the policy within days of the protests, which were sparked by public anger over a fatal lockdown fire in Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi, and included calls for Xi to step down and call elections.
Chinese human rights lawyers have been scrambling to assist the friends and families of people arrested during a wave of anti-lockdown protests at the end of November, many of whom have little experience being treated as dissidents by Chinese authorities.
While the legal volunteers have reported large numbers of enquiries in the aftermath of the protests, lawyer Wang Shengsheng said the authorities have been contacting the dozens of attorneys who signed up and putting pressure on them to withdraw their services.
The Communist Party, faced with the biggest challenge to its rule in decades, views the "white paper" protests as the work of "foreign forces" infiltrating China, a notion that has been met with widespread derision among protesters and social media users.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Family of HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Dec 1, 2022
- Event Description
Meanwhile, faculty and students told Sabrangindia that, on Friday, December 2, a protest has been organised by students against the hoolaginism of the ABVP at the Delhi University (DU). Section 144 has been imposed by the Delhi police prohibiting gatherings.
Also, anti-Brahmin and Baniya casteist grafitti appeared on the walls of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). ABVP has alleged that AISA and the left are responsible for this, as they are “anti-national and anti-Hindu”. The Left has pointed out that it is the ABVP that is at the source of the violence (attacks on meetings, disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed after a ABVP attack, beating up students on the campus and in hostels) but to date –due to the impunity enjoyed by the outfit --no action has been taken even when they are identified on CCTV camera.
[[Najeeb Ahmed, a first year MSc Biotechnology student in the JNU went missing on October 15, 2016 after the alleged attacks on him by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the ruling party. This had sparked students’ movements across the country. His mother Fatima Nafees has been tirelessly following up his case. On multiple occasions she has faced extreme police brutality despite peacefully demanding for her son to be found.]]
All these developments have seriously vitiated the atmosphere on campus. JNUTA (JNU Teachers Association) has stated that there is no security on campus and that the JNU administration has failed completely. Both sides, meanwhile have demanded a speedy “free and fair enquiry” into these recent attacks.
Photo1
ABVP goons attacked students campaigning on campus for a meeting demanding the release of Prof. G.N. Saibaba. Armed with rods and hurling bricks that injured several students who have been taken to Hindu Rao Hospital for treatment. ABVP students even surrounded the hospital where students were taken for treatment. Police reached after desperate calls and finally “removed” ABVP aggressors from the hospital. The SHO of Maurice Nagar police station was also present at the hospital but it is yet unclear whether an FIR has been filed and against whom in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
December 1: The incident took place during a protest organized by Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM). According to reports, students from the Campaign against State Repression (CASR) were campaigning on the DU campus when they were allegedly attacked with stones first, then with lathis (batons).
Teachers and professors associated with the All India Forum for the Right to Education (AIFRTE) shared photos of the students attacked with Sabrangindia
Ravinder Singh, a final-year law student and the incumbent president of Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch, told the media (ABP News and Quint ) that around 10 to 12 students were holding a campaign to spread awareness about GN Saibaba’s unjust incarceration. Out of the blue, 40–50 ABVP students attacked them with lathis. Many students were injured, he added. Protestor Rajveer said his friend was hit with a brick, while another was pinned down and beaten up.
According to media reports the injured students were immediately rushed to the Hindu Rao Hospital. The students who were seeking treatment at the hospital allege that 40 to 50 people also surrounded the hospital and threatened them.
Ehtmam, a law graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia who was a part of the campaign, claimed that ABVP said that if they step out of the hospital, they will attack them again. This threat was given in front of police officials, he added.
Ravinder said that while some of the alleged attackers had the Aam Aadmi Party’s flag tied to their knees, he was certain that they all were from the ABVP.
Background:
On January 5, 2020, at the height of the anti CAA 2019 protests in the capital a masked mob armed with sticks and bricks went on a rampage at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), beating up students and vandalising university property. Many of them were identified as directly associated with the ABVP; to date they have not been arrested.
- 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
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Dec 1, 2022
- Event Description
A Baguio court handed down a guilty verdict against Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) Secretary-General Sarah Dekdeken, over a cyber libel case filed against her by former Cordillera Police Regional Director Brigadier General R’Win Pagkalinawan.
“This libel case is an attack on truth and those who wield it to champion peoples’ political rights,” said CPA in a statement decrying the guilty verdict.
Baguio Regional Trial Court Branch presiding Judge Ivan Kim B. Morales issued the ruling yesterday, Dec. 1.
In 2021, Pagkalinawan filed charges against Dekdeken for her remarks in an online press conference detailing the desecration of the Heroes’ Monument in Bugnay, Kalinga and the perpetrators behind it.
In her testimonies, Dekdeken recalled how she only relayed information based on reports gathered from the community in Bugnay, blaming the police as the culprits in the demolition of the monument. The community reported that the police removed the monument under the orders of then Regional Director Pagkaliwan.
CPA noted that this was not taken into consideration, citing how Dekdeken supposedly “failed to show proof” that Pagkalinawan was the one who ordered the demolition and that her claims were “malicious and sufficient to impeach the reputation of the complainant” since she also failed to investigate and verify the information with Pagkalinawan first before conducting the online press conference.
Dekdeken was fined P250,000 and ordered to pay Pagkalinawan an additional P10,000 as moral damages and P5,000 as exemplary damages.
“It is a machination to cover up their involvement in the desecration of the Cordillera Heroes’ Monument, a symbolic structure of peoples’ triumphs over state-sponsored destructive development initiatives,” they added.
The group added that this is only an attempt to erase the fact that the same people who are supposed to serve their constituents are the ones who are violating the people’s civil and political rights.
Pagkalinawan was also the one who filed a similar case against Northern Dispatch’s editor-in-chief Kimberlie Quitasol and reporter Khim Abalos over his “shoot to kill” order in 2021.
“We maintain that speaking the truth is not libelous nor is it a crime; especially so if the true narrative is a revelation of state institutions’ abuse of power. This is a responsibility of every citizen in a democratic society,” CPA said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender, NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Nov 30, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Vietnam has convicted seven people for “resisting on-duty state officials” during a demonstration against the demolition of a road that ran through their parish, which ended in clashes between protesters and riot police.
The trial took place at the headquarters of the People's Court of Nghe An province, according to state-controlled media. All seven residents of Binh Thuan parish were found guilty under Article 330 of the Criminal Code.
Bui Van Canh, 44, was sentenced to one year in prison. Ha Van Hanh, 42, Tran Thi Hoa, 52, and Tran Thi Thoa, 58, were sentenced to eight months. Tran Thi Nien, 38, and Ha Thi Hien, 35, were both sentenced to six months in prison. Bach Thi Hoa, 70, was sentenced to four months and 17 days -- exactly the same amount of time she spent in detention -- and was released.
On July 13, hundreds of riot police descended on the parish in Nghe An’s Nghi Thuan commune to stop protesters removing a fence blocking a road that connects the parish to a national highway. The road, which had been in use for more than 100 years, is located on land the government granted to a private company for a planned industrial zone.
According to the indictment, the defendants "and many other extremists strongly opposed and obstructed" construction workers who were trying to demolish the road and the police sent to protect them. The indictment said protesters were: “shouting, cursing, carrying beer bottles; picking up and gathering rocks and glass bottles to provide for other protesters to throw at the riot police who were guarding works; using their hands and sickles to push the barbed wire fence to widen the road for the opponents; and directly rushing in and using their hands to push and beat repeatedly on the shields of the riot police.” As a result, it said, five police officers were injured and had to be treated at the hospital.
The protesters’ version of events differs from that given by the police. Demonstrators said police threw smoke grenades and explosives at them. Of three people released over the next few days, one said he was beaten while in custody.
No lawyers, no families in court
The seven defendants had no legal counseling and their relatives said they were not permitted to attend last week’s trial.
“I went to the detention center on November 29 to send things to my wife, but they didn't say anything [about the following day’s trial],” Ha Thi Hien's husband Nguyen Minh Duc told RFA, adding that none of the defendants' families had been informed.
“On the morning of November 30, around 7:30 a.m., there were two commune policemen in plain clothes walking along the street saying: 'Today the trial is in the province, the families should go to see how it goes.' The families were about to go when Mrs. Hoa came back from the hearing. She said that the trial was held in the district and not in the province.”
Duc said his wife and other defendants did not have defense attorneys because the police had told their families that if they hired lawyers the sentences would be heavier.
The seven were held in a Nghe An provincial Police detention center for the past four months. During that time, Duc said he only saw his wife twice, for five minutes each time. He said the other six defendants were only allowed to see their families once for five minutes.
Duc called the sentences unfair and too long, saying the people of Binh Thuan parish just wanted to protect a road that has existed for more than 100 years and helped locals go about their business.
He said his wife did not take part in any of the actions listed in the indictment, fellow defendant Ha Van Hanh only recorded a video of police grabbing people, and Bach Thi Hoa was found guilty despite suffering two broken ribs during her non-violent protest.
Duc said the prison sentence will seriously affect his family's life because he has to take time off work to take care of his two children - a two-year-old and an eight-year-old.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 26, 2022
- Event Description
NagaWorld union leader Chhim Sithar was questioned at the Phnom Penh International Airport today and has been sent to prison, with a police official saying she violated her bail conditions.
Phnom Penh Police spokesperson San Sokseyha said the immigration police had arrested Sithar at the airport because the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued an arrest warrant for the union leader.
He said this was because she had traveled overseas, which was against her bail conditions. He added that she had been taken to court.
“This morning the Phnom Penh police cooperated with [immigration at] the airport because of an arrest warrant of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for failure to comply with the court decision on March 14, 2022,” he said, referring to the day Sithar was released on bail.
“Sithar doesn’t have a right to leave Cambodia unless the court decides for her.”
Sithar and 10 others are on bail, but it was unclear whether they were prevented from traveling overseas, and whether there were restrictions on reasons she could leave the country.
Licadho, which represents some of the charged NagaWorld workers, said Sithar had been moved to Prey Sar prison this afternoon.
The rights group added that Sithar’s lawyers were not aware or informed of “any judicial supervision or probation conditions, such as travel restrictions.”
According to information from labor rights group Central, the union leader was returning from a labor conference in Australia when immigration officers at the international airport scanned her passport and then escorted her away for questioning.
Central added that Sithar was arrested at around 10 a.m. Saturday morning and that rights groups and her lawyers have not been able to reach the prominent union leader since.
Sithar was violently arrested near the National Assembly in January and jailed with at least 10 other union colleagues earlier this year. They were released in March after signing letters requesting the Labor ministry for bail and agreeing to suspend the strike to enable negotiations.
The union went on strike last December after NagaCorp terminated more than 1,300 workers. The nearly yearlong protest started off strong but has since withered down to less than 200 protesters, who have attempted to continue their protest on a weekly basis in the face of violence from the police.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kyrgyzstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 25, 2022
- Event Description
30 November 2022 Kyrgyzstan: woman human rights defender Aziza Abdirasulova fined On 25 November 2022, the Pervomaisky District Court of the City of Bishkek fined woman human rights defender Aziza Abdirasulova. The Court found woman human rights defender guilty for exhibiting disobedience to the lawful demand of an employee of the internal affairs bodies, a violation envisioned by the Article 128 of the Code of Offenses of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Aziza Abdirasulova was violently detained while monitoring a peaceful protest in Bishkek on 15 November 2022. The Court ordered that the woman human rights defender must pay the fine of 3,000 SOM. Aziza Abdirasulova appealed this decision and filed a complaint against the law enforcement officer, who violently detained her. Aziza Abdirasulova is a woman human rights defedners from Kyrgyzstan. She is a founder of the Public Foundation “Kylym Shamy.” Its purpose is to support the development of a democratic, legal state through the promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms. As part of its activities, “Kylym Shamy” provides free consultations on legal issues, analyzes, monitors, and conducts research on the decisions of state bodies, participates in the protection of human rights, and the preparation of drafts of normative legal acts in this direction. Its representatives are involved in monitoring detention facilities and providing legal assistance in cases of torture. On 25 November 2022, the Pervomaisky District Court of the City of Bishkek fined Aziza Abdirasulova after finding her guilty for exhibiting disobedience to the lawful demand of an employee of the internal affairs bodies. Aziza Abdirasulova was violently arrested on 15 November 2022, in the city center of Bishkek, while she was monitoring human rights violations during the peaceful protest against the transferring on the Kempir-Abad water reserve. The law enforcement officers, among whom was Tilek Tiukebaiev, Police Colonel and Deputy Head of the Bishkek Police Department, violently pushed her to the ground, and detained her on site. The law enforcement officers claimed that the woman human rights defender was under the influence of alcohol. Moreover, despite the fact that the footage of arrest was available and widely circulated among various media outlets, during the court hearing the law enforcement officers stated that they “behaved politely” towards the woman human rights defender. Aziza Abdirasulova was released from detention on the evening of 15 November 2022. On 14 November 2022, Aziza Abdirasulova was a subject of intimidation by law enforcement officers because of her vocal position and calls for transparency regarding the Kyrgyzstan government’s decision to transfer the Kempir-Abad water reserve to Uzbekistan. Woman human rights defender received a late evening invitation for an informal conversation from the Head of the Police Department #10 of Bishkek, Shumkar Sulaimanov, who threatened her because of her Facebook-based publications about Kempir-Abad water reserve and unjust persecution of human rights defenders and civic activists, who were opposed the transferring of the water reserve to Uzbekistan.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kyrgyzstan: five defenders, their lawyer arrested
- Country
- Nepal
- Initial Date
- Nov 25, 2022
- Event Description
INSEC expresses its concern on the misbehavior experienced by our team members through a group of unidentified people on November 25, 2022 during their visit to Syangja’s Constituency no. 2, Chapakot Municipality wards no. 3, 4 and 5. During the elections held on November 20 the CPN-UML, Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajtantra Party and others including independent candidates had demanded re-polling and the vote count had not begun yet; the team of INSEC had visited to monitor the situation.
In order to monitor the situation, the team of INSEC had gone to Janaksakriya Basic School of Chithipokhari polling station located in Chapakot Municipality-5. During this, the team discussed the events of the voting day with the local residents. After the discussion, while returning to the headquarters, a group of unidentified people made the INSEC team get off the vehicle, took pictures of the people and their vehicle, made unnecessary inquiries, and later called, abused and threatened them. Although the monitoring team introduced the purpose of the visit and the organization to the group, they were threatened to return immediately and were warned on the uncertainties in the future if they did not leave.
It is required to remember here that Nepal’s human rights defenders have continuously monitored the situation of human rights even in the difficult situation of armed conflict. The Constitution and laws of Nepal and many treaty agreements to which Nepal is a party state ensures the right of human rights defenders to monitor the human rights situation without interruption.
It is certainly not pleasant that such an incident happened to the organization that has received permission of Election observation through the Election Commission. Disruption in monitoring helps to confirm the allegations of booth capture made by opposition political parties. We request Election Commission and the Government of Nepal to bring those involved in this incident to justice and prepare an environment for uninterrupted monitoring.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Nov 25, 2022
- Event Description
A protester was arrested on Friday (25 November) and subsequently denied bail on a contempt of court charge resulting from a speech demanding bail for a detained activist.
54-year-old Chiratchaya “Ginny” Sakunthong was arrested last Friday (25 November) while traveling from the South Bangkok Criminal Court, where a small crowd of pro-democracy protesters gathered as the ultra-royalist group the People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy was giving a press conference after they filed petitions with the court to revoke bail for activists Tantawan Tuatulanon, Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, Nutthanit Duangmusit, and Netiporn Sanesangkhom, supposedly for being involved in anti-government protests during the APEC meetings.
Chiratchaya was stopped by plainclothes police officers while riding a motorcycle past the Robinson Bangrak shopping mall. The officers presented an arrest warrant issued on 18 October by the South Bangkok Criminal Court on charges of contempt of court, defamation by publication, and using a sound amplifier without permission.
She was taken to Yannawa Police Station on the back of a police officer’s motorcycle. However, once she arrived at the police station, Chiratchaya was told that she would be taken to the police club on Vibhavadi Road. She was then put into a police truck, but instead of heading to the police club, the officers drove back to Yannawa Police Station. They also drove up and down Sathorn Road several times because ultra-royalist protesters were gathering in front of the police station.
Chiratchaya was charged for a speech she gave during a protest demanding bail for detained activists, in which she criticized the court’s decision not to grant bail to activist Shinawat Chankrajang, who was charged with royal defamation for speaking at a protest on 28 July to demand the release of detained activists.
According to the inquiry officer, Chiratchaya said that it was shameful for the police and the court to accept the cases against pro-democracy activists, and that the police should have dismissed these complaints. She also said that the court does not consider the ethics of their occupation before accepting these cases, and that this situation is not lawful. The police claimed that the content of her speech was defamatory and amounted to contempt of court.
Chiratchaya was detained overnight at Yannawa Police Station before being taken to court on Saturday (26 November). The South Bangkok Criminal Court then denied her bail on the ground that her speech contained unfounded accusations aimed to pressure the court on bail requests. The court also said that she was a flight risk and that she is likely to cause further damage. The order was signed by judge Phaibun Thongnuam.
Chiratchaya was then taken to the Women’s Central Correctional Institution, where she is now detained.
This is the second time Chiratchaya has been charged with contempt of court. In August, Chiratchaya and another protester named Ngoentra Khamsaen were charged with contempt of court, defamation, and using a sound amplifier without permission for protesting in front of the South Bangkok Criminal Court to demand bail for detained activists, during which they gave speeches criticizing judges in the South Bangkok Criminal Court for denying bail to monarchy reform activists Nutthanit Duangmusit and Netiporn Sanesangkhom, who were detained pending trial on royal defamation charges at the time. Chiratchaya and Ngoentra were detained for 9 days before being granted bail.
- 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, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Nov 24, 2022
- Event Description
More than a dozen Afghan women protested briefly in Kabul on November 24, calling for their rights to be recognized on the eve of the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Afghan women have been squeezed out of public life since the Taliban's return to power in August last year, but small groups have staged flash protests that are usually quickly shut down, sometimes violently. Earlier this month the Taliban barred women from entering parks, funfairs, gyms, and public baths.The veiled women carried pickets with slogans decrying the deprivation of their rights under the Taliban. The march organizers said the Taliban had briefly detained three of the demonstrators.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest, Women's rights
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 21, 2022
- Event Description
A primary school teacher from Sagaing Region’s Tamu Township has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for financing “terrorist” activities, according to a source close to her family.
Honey Su Kyi Zaw, 30, was arrested at her home in Tamu’s Saw Bwar 6 Ward on November 23 last year and accused of financially supporting the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule.
The Tamu District Court sentenced her on Monday, two days before the anniversary of her arrest, the family source told Myanmar Now.
She was prosecuted under Section 50j of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law for distributing funds provided by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) for CDM teachers, the source said.
The military junta that seized power in February 2021 designated the NUG a terrorist organisation in May last year.
“She was collecting donations for teachers who had tested positive for Covid-19. It wasn’t as they alleged,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The source added that the evidence against Honey Su Kyi Zaw was provided by KBZ Bank, which submitted account information that allegedly showed transactions involving other accounts linked to the NUG.
“They didn’t find any evidence on her phone. She was unjustly accused and prosecuted,” the source said.
Honey Su Kyi Zaw was a teacher at Primary School No. 8 in Chauk Natgyi, a village in Tamu Township. Residents there say that she was likely targeted because she was a member of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
“She didn’t like the military coup, so she joined protests and the CDM. She was an NLD member, but she also spoke out against party members if she thought they were acting dishonestly,” said one local resident.
“After joining the CDM, she made handicrafts and sold them online to support herself. She was an honest and peaceful teacher,” he added.
Honey Su Kyi Zaw has been held at the police station in Tamu since her arrest. She remains there for the time being due to the poor security situation on the road from Tamu to Kalay, where she will later be transferred to prison, sources said.
Since last year’s coup, the junta has prosecuted hundreds of people under Section 50j of the Counter-Terrorism Law without concrete evidence. Conviction carries a sentence of 10 years to life imprisonment.
- 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
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Nov 21, 2022
- Event Description
Award-winning environmentalist Nguy Thi Khanh will have her prison sentence reduced by three months.
On November 21, Khanh’s sentence was reduced from 24 months to 21 months by an appellate court in Hanoi.
Khanh, one of Vietnam’s most prominent environmental experts, was sentenced to two years in prison in June on “tax evasion” charges. Khanh is the first Vietnamese person to receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, in 2018, which came with a $200,000 prize. The tax evasion charge stems from the fact that Khanh failed to pay about $18,000 in taxes (10% of the prize). Khanh has said she was unaware of the tax obligation on the prize money. The reduction in her sentence was reportedly attributed to her admission of failure to pay the tax and her many contributions to society.
There is evidence to suggest that Khanh’s arrest and prosecution are politically-motivated. An outspoken critic of the use of coal, Khanh joined three other anti-coal environmental activists– Mai Phan Loi, Dang Dinh Bach, and Bach Hung Duong— who were convicted earlier this year on similar charges and handed multi-year sentences.
Vietnam’s tax laws for registered NGOs are confusing and cumbersome. Further, Khanh, like her counterparts, faced criminal, not civil proceedings, which have been supervised by state security. Khanh also did not receive notice of need for repayment prior to her arrest. The cases raise flags of a widening crackdown on civil society groups that contradicts Vietnam’s public rhetoric on the importance of fighting climate change.
Vietnam’s jailing of climate leaders seems to have been at least partly the reason why international donors recently awarded Indonesia, instead of Vietnam, with billions of dollars to fight climate change. If Vietnam is serious about its commitments to an energy transition, it cannot continue to hold its most valuable environmental voices behind bars nor force NGOs to navigate perplexing tax laws. We call on Vietnam to clarify its tax laws and to release Khanh, Duong, Loi, and Bach immediately. We will continue to closely monitor these cases until their release.
- 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
- Environmental rights defender, NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Nov 19, 2022
- Event Description
In an interview, sources confirmed Thursday that Farhat Popalzai was arrested by the Taliban six days after the arrest of Zarifa Yaqoobi along with her four other colleagues.
According to sources, the Taliban fighters have taken Popalzai with her father to one of the security areas of Kabul and arrested her after checking her cell phone.
The Taliban have not yet provided details on the matter.
Zarifa Yaqoobi, a women’s rights activist, was arrested in Kabul last Thursday, and still, her hideout along with her four colleagues is not yet clear.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Women's rights
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 18, 2022
- Event Description
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld convictions against four human rights officials and an election body staffer — who previously worked at the same rights group — in a case related to a love scandal involving opposition leader Kem Sokha.
The five were arrested in 2016 when four Adhoc staffers, Ny Sokha, Nay Vanda, Yi Soksan and Lim Mony, assisted a woman who was accused of having a relationship with Kem Sokha. Ny Chakrya, who previously worked at Adhoc, was also involved in the case.
The five — who are known by the moniker “Adhoc 5” — were jailed and released in 2017. They were convicted in September 2018 for bribery. The woman received financial assistance from Adhoc when she approached the group because she had been summoned by the anti-terrorism police for questioning.
They were sentenced to five years in prison but had to serve suspended terms of 14 months. The Appeal Court then upheld the municipal court’s verdict in 2022.
The Supreme Court on Friday brought the case to conclusion by upholding the lower court’s verdict, with judge Nil Nonn rejecting an Appeal Court prosecutor’s demand that the five serve their entire sentences and by dismissing a motion from the defense to drop the charges.
Soeng Senkaruna, an Adhoc rights monitor, said all three levels of the judiciary could not find justice for the five defendants and said they had made a credible defense against the charges.
“It is a shame of the judicial system,” he said.
The case also ensnared Sokha and two other opposition officials who were charged for procuring prostitution for allegedly taking the woman to Bangkok, Thailand. Sokha spent months holed up at the Cambodia National Rescue Party headquarters and was convicted and pardoned in the case.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 18, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh authorities have warned citizens of the Central Asian nation against holding rallies on November 20 when voting will take place in an early presidential election.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement on November 18 that "a banned group has been calling for illegal rallies and other illegal activities" on the day of the vote, adding that "those who follow such calls will face legal prosecution."
The statement did not mention the group, but a day earlier, the Committee of National Security said it detained seven people suspected of planning "riots" during the presidential election, following online calls for action by exiled former banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, his Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), and the Koshe (Street) Party, which are banned in the country as extremist.
In recent days, Ablyazov has called on Kazakh citizens to hold mass protests on November 20 saying the vote is illegal as no real opposition candidates were allowed to take part in the contest against President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev in the tightly controlled country.
Meanwhile Kazakh authorities have detained dozens of opposition and human rights activists in efforts to ward off the possibility of such demonstrations.
On November 18, a court in Almaty sentenced opposition activist Aigerim Tileuzhan to two months of house arrest for her role in unprecedented anti-government protests in January that were violently dispersed by police, leaving at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
Toqaev faces five opponents whom he is expected to easily beat in the November 20 snap leadership vote where a newly introduced seven-year term is up for grabs.
While he appears to be taking the election challengers lightly -- as evidenced by the fact that he sent a representative to the only televised debate among candidates last week -- opposition activists have been piling on pressure for an explanation of his decision to invite troops from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to quell the January unrest, as well as his public "shoot to kill without warning" order.
The unrest occurred after a peaceful demonstration in the western region of Manghystau on January 2 over a fuel price hike tapped into deep-seated resentment of the country's leadership, leading to widespread anti-government protests.
Thousands of people were detained by officials during and after the protests, which Toqaev said were caused by "20,000 terrorists" from abroad, a claim for which authorities have provided no evidence.
Human rights groups have provided evidence that peaceful demonstrators and people who had nothing to do with the protests were among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Nov 18, 2022
- Event Description
25 people were arrested on Friday (18 November) after crowd control police forcibly dispersed protesters marching to the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC), the venue of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, to protest the government under Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and its pro-corporation economic models.
Protesters and activists had been gathering at Lan Khon Muang square in front of the Bangkok City Hall since Wednesday (16 November) to protest what they see at the Thai government’s attempt to boost its legitimacy on the international stage and the lack of participation from civil society in determining policies being proposed at APEC meetings. They also spoke out against the Bio-Circular-Green Economy Model (BCG), raising concerns that the model would worsen community right issues facing marginalized and vulnerable groups, would take away their resources and land, and is an attempt at greenwashing the country’s major corporations with its carbon credit model.
During the two days of protests, activists spoke about various political and social issues, from freedom of expression and the royal defamation law to land rights, food security, community rights, and environmental justice. The events were organized by a network of activist groups and civil society organizations, including the Assembly of the Poor, the Northern Peasant Federation, the Chana Rak Thin Network, Neo Lanna and Thalufah.
On Friday morning (18 November), the protesters began marching from Lan Khon Muang to the QSNCC. However, they were blocked by a series of police barriers. As they were approaching the Democracy Monument via Dinso Road, they found that the road was blocked by rows of crowd control police in full riot gear and two police trucks. Protest leaders attempted to negotiate with the police, but were not successful.
At 10.10, after protesters tied a rope to the axle of one of the police trucks and pulled it out of the road, crowd control police rushed out from behind the blockade, pushing protestors with shields. Rubber bullets were also fired, and two rubber bullet casings were found on the ground at the site of the clash.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported at around 12.10 that at least 10 people were arrested and taken to Thung Song Hong Police Station, despite the protest taking place outside its jurisdiction.
After the clash, pro-democracy activist Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon said that the police need to explain why they fired rubber bullets at unarmed protesters at close range and after protest leaders tried negotiating with them.
"What happened under the Prayut Chan-o-cha government is that the police officers have no spine and chose to use violence against unarmed people," she said.
Patsaravalee condemned the police and Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha as Prime Minister, and called on the international community to send observers to the protest site.
"We would like to send a message to every country. Please send representatives to observe this location, so that you see the reality of what is happening, what the police are doing to people speaking out about their livelihood and about resources," she said.
Patsaravalee called on the public to pay attention to issues regarding resources, and demanded the release of all arrested protesters.
Protesters are now staying on Dinso Road while activists take turns giving speeches on a speaker truck, but said they will not return to the Lan Khon Muang square in front of the Bangkok City Hall since they have a petition to file with APEC leaders, while the police repeatedly order them to return to Lan Khon Muang and threaten them with prosecution.
At around 12.30, several protesters performed a traditional cursing ritual by burning chilli and salt and placed the stove on a police truck. The police then brought out a fire extinguisher to put out the flame. At around 12.35, crowd control police pushed into the protesters, many of whom were resting and having lunch. Shots were continuously heard.
More protesters were arrested during the second attempt to force protesters out of the area, including Assembly of the Poor’s Baramee Chaiyarat. The police also ordered reporters to separate from the protesters, claiming that some protesters were trying to harm officers. Several people were also reported to have been injured during the second clash, both from rubber bullets and from being assaulted by crowd control police.
At 13.30, activist Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon said that the injuries sustained by protesters and members of the press show that police commanders are not able to control their own subordinates. She called on the police to take responsibility and to explain why they fired rubber bullets at unarmed protesters.
Patsaravalee said that they would not end the protest and would not leave until everyone arrested is released, and until they are told where those arrested have been taken and where the injured are being treated. She also asked whether the world leaders attending the APEC meeting would still accept the policies proposed by a government that harms its own people.
At 14.45, TLHR said that 25 people were arrested and taken to Thung Song Hong Police Station. Meanwhile, Patsaravalee announced that the protest would move to the police station to demand the release of the arrested protesters and that they will not leave until everyone is released without charge. The protest database and observation site Mob Data Thailand also reported that at least 33 people were injured throughout the day.
Among the arrested was Worawan Sae-aung, or Auntie Pao, an elderly regular protest-goer popular with younger activists, who was arrested at around 9.30, before the first clash. Worawan was arrested after she was pulled behind the police lines and taken away in a police detention truck, prompting protesters to immediately demand her release.
During the second clash at 12.45, the Assembly of the Poor’s Baramee Chaiyarat and the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development’s Jekapan Phrommongkon were also arrested. Both were previously seen using a speaker truck to call for the police to open up the road to let them keep marching, and were heard giving instructions to protest guards.
From around 16.00 onwards, protesters gathered in front of Thung Song Hong Police Station to demand the unconditional release of the arrested protesters.
While protesters gathered at the police station, activist Lertsak Khamkongsak gave a speech alleging that the protest leaders were asked to have the protesters move 50 metres closer to the Bangkok City Hall because a royal motorcade was to go through Ratchadamneon Road, and speculating that this is why crowd control police became more violent towards the protesters.
He also noted that the police violated the Public Assembly Act, since they are required to request a court order to use crowd control weapons, such as tear gas, batons, rubber bullets, or water cannons, but did not do so.
Lertsak said that it would have been possible to plan for the motorcade. The protesters could have sat down when the motorcade went past, or the police could have lined up around them to block them from view without asking them to move, as that is what happened during an anti-NPO bill protest in May. He asked why they were now being asked to move, and said that there is no other reason why their protest would be so violently dispersed other than the royal motorcade.
In May 2022, activists and members of civil society organizations gathered in front of the UN headquarters on Ratchadamneon Nok Road to protest the new non-profit organization (NPO) bill due to concerns that the bill would be use to restrict freedom of association in Thailand. After protesters refused to move to another location as royal motorcades were passing through Ratchadamneon Nok Road on the way to and from Thammasat Univeristy’s Tha Prachan campus for for the university’s graduation ceremony, hundreds of police officers lined up along the street to block the protesters from view as the royal motorcade went by, and the protesters were not forcibly dispersed.
TLHR reported at around 21.15 on Friday night (17 November) that the 25 arrested protesters were charged with participating in a gathering of 10 or more people and causing a breach of public peace by an act of violence or by threatening violence, and not dispersing when ordered to do so by an official. They were also charged with not complying with an officer’s order given under the Public Assembly Act.
Payu Boonsopon, an activist from the Dao Din group, will also be charged, but since he was undergoing surgery after being shot in his right eye with a rubber bullet, he will meet the inquiry officer to hear the charges and give his testimony once his condition improves.
25-year-old Wittaya (last name withheld), who was also arrested, was given an additional charge of violating the Public Assembly Act and the Public Cleanliness Act, after he was accused of pouring water mixed with cement onto the street in front of the main office of the Siam Cement Group (SCG) and spray-painting “No APEC” on the street during a protest against the BCG model.
The protest was organized by the Chiang Mai-based activist group Neo Lanna, during which activists poured water mixed with cement onto a model of the Democracy Monument and spraying painting messages onto the street. They then shouted “Stop monopoly. Prayut get out,” while others held up a banner saying “No BCG, no free trade area, tax the rich.”
23 protesters were released at around midnight on Friday (18 November). Baramee and Jekapan, meanwhile, were released at noon on Saturday (19 November).
All were granted bail on a security of 20,000 baht each, covered by the Will of the People Fund, a bail fund for pro-democracy protesters and activists. They were also given the conditions that they must not join any political demonstration or invite people to join any gathering that may cause public disorder.
TLHR noted that 13 of the 25 arrested protesters were injured. Some show signs of being assaulted by crowd control officers, such as Wittaya, who has several cuts and bruises on his back, and Palathip, who was shot with a rubber bullet in his right arm and hit with batons, resulting in cuts and bruises on his body and his head, as well as a broken tooth.
Yupa, an elderly woman who was among one of the first protesters arrested, had a cut on her forehead above the left eyebrow, and needed stitches. Meanwhile, Waranyu Khongsathittum, a citizen journalist livestreaming for The Isaan Record, was assaulted by crowd control officers before being arrested. He had a cut on his head and several bruises and cuts on his body, and his glasses were broken. TLHR also said that Waranyu was made to wait 2 hours before hew as taken to a hospital for treatment.
Among the 33 people injured during the clashes between crowd control police and protesters marching to the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre on Friday (18 November), one was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet and is now very likely to go blind.
On Friday (18 November), several reporters were injured and a citizen journalist was assaulted and arrested during a violent dispersal of a protest march that was heading towards the APEC meeting at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC).
- Impact of Event
- 58
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, 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
- Environmental rights defender, Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 16, 2022
- Event Description
Footwear unionists in Takeo were summoned and questioned by military police after attending a Women’s Crisis Center training in Phnom Penh, saying officers asked who was behind them and warned them of illegal protests.
Union leaders from Tram Kak district’s Shoe Premier II, which has supplied boots to the U.S., attended a training course on November 16 on rights in the workplace, gender issues and sexual harassment, said Chhan Samoeun, president for the Workers’ Movement Union at the factory.
But once they returned, Takeo military police called them in for questioning, Samoeun said.
“We joined the training to gain experience and [to learn] to teach other workers to understand sexual harassment and gender,” he said.
Nget Rem, secretary for another union at Shoe Premier II, the Free Trade Union, said she had not even attended the Phnom Penh training hosted by the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center but was summoned for questioning anyway.
Military police questioned her about what demands they had at the factory, whether there were previous labor disputes there, and if any NGOs were behind their union. Officers reminded her that the military police would stop them from holding any illegal protests at Shoe Premier II, Rem said.
“They said we just do whatever we want, but if there is any issue, who is going to take responsibility? They said this in a manner like they don’t want us to protest in this factory. They wanted it to mean that,” she said.
Takeo military police commander La Lai could not be reached for comment, but the unit issued a statement acknowledging that the force had called in representatives from three unions at Shoe Premier II: the Workers’ Movement Union, Free Trade Union and Cambodian Hope Workers’ Union.
Pav Sina, president of Collective Union of Movement of Workers, said the questioning was a threat and serious intimidation against the registered unionists.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 14, 2022
- Event Description
A midwife who was arrested during a crackdown on healthcare workers in Mandalay late last month has died in regime custody, according to a doctor familiar with the situation.
Poe Thandar Aung, who was formerly employed at the Central Women’s Hospital in Mandalay, died on Monday night, said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, who is taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule.
“I heard the news from three sources. We learned this morning that Ma Poe was dead,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.
Poe Thandar Aung was arrested in Mandalay on October 29 along with others accused of sending medical supplies to anti-junta forces.
Also arrested were Dr. Min Zaw Oo, of the Mandalay University of Medicine’s Surgery Department, nurses Zin Mar Win and Yoon Nandar Tun, a woman named Kyi Thadar Phyu, and three employees at a bus station in Aungmyay Thazan Township.
The arrests were part of a crackdown launched after regime forces seized nearly 5 million kyat ($2,365) worth of medicine and other supplies from a truck travelling between the towns of Pale and Gangaw, west of Mandalay, on October 27.
More than a dozen people were taken into custody in the first wave of arrests, and at least 16 more have since been detained, according to CDM sources.
“Our whole country is suffering because of a general who doesn’t want to retire. Myanmar is the only country where nurses are executed for doing their jobs,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.
Myanmar Now has been unable to reach Poe Thandar Aung’s relatives to confirm reports of her death.
On Monday, another person taking part in the CDM named Hein Zaw Nyo wrote on social media that Dr. Min Zaw Oo had also been tortured while undergoing interrogation and was vomiting blood due to the beatings he had received.
“We don’t take up arms. We only provide medical service to the people. The military is targeting the healthcare community for defying the junta,” he wrote.
Hein Zaw Nyo’s allegations could not be independently confirmed at the time of reporting.
Since seizing power in February 2021, the military has killed 58 healthcare workers and arrested more than 700, according to Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG).
The regime has also destroyed more than 50 hospitals and clinics and at least 40 ambulances, the NUG reported last month.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: pro-democracy health workers arrested
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Nov 14, 2022
- Event Description
Sources report that Parveen Sadat, one of the female activists, has been missing since last night.
Sources claim that on Tuesday, November 15, after Parveen Sadat’s voice was published on social media concerning the Taliban’s soldiers in her residence, there is no news on her whereabouts and fate.
Some women activists argue that the disappearance of this lady is linked to the chain of arrest of women by the Taliban.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 14, 2022
- Event Description
Two NagaWorld unionists have been questioned in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court over breaking and entering, intentional damage and unlawful confinement — but they still don’t know what the casino company is accusing them of, they said.
Protesters Sok Sothavuth and Net Chakriya appeared at the court for questioning on Monday, Sothavuth in the morning and Chakriya in the afternoon, as around 40 casino protesters stood outside in support.
NagaWorld workers have protested since December over mass layoffs that they say targeted union members and leaders, facing arrest and violence over 10 months of labor action. What began as large rallies outside the Phnom Penh casino have mostly dwindled into small protests of fewer than 100 participants.
Sothavuth said she received her summons last week, and spent around 30 minutes during the morning being questioned by a prosecutor.
She was shown “evidence” of her crime from August 19 and 20: printed-out photographs showing her standing outside the NagaWorld casino building with other protesters.
“There are pictures, but nothing aside from us striking in front of Naga. It’s like a picture of us standing over there every day,” Sothavuth said.
She said the prosecutor had asked her whether she had committed each of the three charges of breaking and entering, intentional damage and illegal confinement on those days.
She had answered she did not, and was asked this repeatedly over half an hour, she said, adding that the court action would not dissuade her from continuing to protest.
“Even though I face this case, I will still keep coming until we can find a solution,” she said, referring to around 200 unionists who are seeking reinstatement from the mass layoffs. She was told she would need to wait to see if NagaCorp continues with its lawsuit, she said.
Ros Bunleng, a manager at NagaWorld, could not be reached on Monday. NagaCorp has not clarified what the court case is about.
Chakriya, who was questioned in the afternoon, said a court clerk and prosecutor questioned her in succession, but neither had presented any photos of her. They simply asked what happened on August 19, she said.
Chakriya said she had replied it was a normal protest: The strikers stood in front of NagaWorld with banners, then went home.
One more protester is set to be questioned tomorrow. At least seven in total have received summonses.
A third NagaWorld protester was questioned in court on Tuesday over alleged breaking and entering in a case that remains unclear.
Choub Sophorn said she was questioned during the afternoon at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, with a prosecutor showing her printouts of photographs of protesters outside the NagaWorld casino.
The prosecutor asked whether she had yelled at the company on August 19 and 20.
“I didn’t shout and yell. I only held a banner demanding a solution,” she said.
Workers have been protesting for 11 months following mass layoffs that they said targeted unionists.
At least seven workers have been summoned for questioning based on a complaint from NagaCorp alleging breaking and entering, intentional damage and illegal confinement. Two others were questioned on Monday, but said they were unable to get clarity on what they were accused of.
“They also asked when I want to stop striking,” Sophorn said.
Unionist Nop Tithboravy said another worker had received a summons for November 22. All of them asked for a delay on their initial summonses.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 12, 2022
- Event Description
Activists this week sought the attention of world leaders attending the Asean summit in Phnom Penh, while authorities on Saturday surrounded the home of a protester who has long campaigned for the release of her husband and other jailed opposition members.
As U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrived in Phnom Penh to attend the Asean summit, some 20 uniformed officers and state security guards were surveilling the home of Prum Chantha, a leader of the Friday Women of Cambodia group, which has for months petitioned foreign embassies for support.
“They come to monitor me because they are afraid I will lead a protest during the arrival of President Joe Biden,” Chantha said.
Her husband Kak Komphear, a former commune councilor in Phnom Penh, was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to six years in prison on incitement and plotting charges in relation to his support for the outlawed opposition CNRP.
Uniformed district security guards were gathered 5 meters from her house in Meanchey district’s Boeng Tompun II commune beginning at 6 a.m., Chantha said. By about 5:30 p.m. several officers were still lingering outside her home, and one told her they would be there until Sunday morning.
“However, I have no plan to protest because I have been protesting for one year and [the U.S. government] already knows our issue,” she said. “Forces are only gathered at my house because I am a group leader.”
Chantha, who stayed home all day, said the surveillance restricted activists’ rights and freedom of movement.
“They are afraid our protesting will lead to a bad country image during the Asean summit,” she said.
Phin Phal, Boeng Tompun II commune police chief, acknowledged that some police and state security guards were deployed to prevent activists from disturbing public order during the summit.
“It does not matter that we have deployed to ensure security because we are afraid they will go anywhere [to protest],” he said. “I just follow the instructions of my superiors.”
Phnom Penh municipal police spokesperson San Sokseyha said during the Asean summit, authorities were focused on ensuring the safety of visiting world leaders — as well as Cambodia’s public image.
“We have focused on the security, safety and the reputation of our country,” he said, before declining to comment further.
Phnom Penh police chief Sar Thet could not be reached.
Am Sam Ath, operations director at human rights group Licadho, said his organization was monitoring police officials’ surveillance of activists, noting that it violated people’s rights and freedom of movement.
Authorities’ claims that their monitoring of activists was to ensure public order was “unreasonable,” Sam Ath said.
Mu Sochua, vice president of the dissolved opposition CNRP, posted photos of uniformed authorities outside Chantha’s house, noting that the surveillance was occurring as Biden arrived in Phnom Penh.
Sochua, a dual Cambodian-American citizen, also said on Twitter that Biden should meet with Friday Women activists as well as striking NagaWorld unionists.
On Friday, strikers outside the NagaWorld casino carried large posters calling for the Malaysian Embassy in Phnom Penh to accept their petition, after the embassy early this year declined to receive it, and urging Asean nations not to trample on rights to freedom of association like the NagaWorld CEO, a Malaysian national.
“I wear traditional clothes and carry these banners to show other countries that come to the Asean summit to help intervene and find a solution for us,” said unionist Chan Sreyroth, who worked at the casino for four years before she was fired last year.
Union members have been protesting for their jobs back for nearly a year, alleging the company behind the only licensed casino in Phnom Penh had targeted unionists in mass layoffs.
Members of advocacy group Khmer Thavrak also sought the attention of visiting world leaders, including Biden, this week.
The group began a weeklong hunger strike on Monday to call for the release of Cambodian-American lawyer Seng Theary, who has been imprisoned for nearly five months, after being sentenced to six years in prison over her opposition activism.
Hun Vannak, a Khmer Thavrak member, told CamboJA he hopes news of the group’s campaign will reach Biden and the U.S. will raise the issue of human rights during the summit.
“After a statement from the U.S. State Department [mentioning concern over Theary’s conviction], we are increasingly hopeful that President Joe Biden will discuss human rights issues related to Seng Theary and other political prisoners with [Prime Minister] Hun Sen,” Vannak said.
Their hunger strike this week was made more difficult by authorities monitoring them while they campaigned at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park, he said. One Khmer Thavrak member was hospitalized, while another experienced stomach illness.
Vannak said he did not expect their campaign to have immediate results, but the action could raise awareness among the public and leaders from the U.S. and Asean nations.
“We do not expect the government to provide us with a solution any time soon, but what we are doing now is expected to have a positive impact in our society,” he said.
In a letter addressed to Biden and dated Wednesday, opposition Candlelight Party president Teav Vannol appealed to the U.S. president to urge the Cambodian government to “stop all kinds of political persecutions, harassments, [and] intimidations,” release “prisoners of conscience without conditions” and “revive democracy” ahead of next year’s national elections.
Thach Setha, Candlelight’s vice president, told CamboJA that party leaders had no plans to meet Biden during his visit to Cambodia, but said the U.S. should leverage its position as a world power and signatory of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement to “uphold democracy.”
“I hope that after the Asean summit, there will be a change in the situation in our Cambodia,” Setha said.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters prior to Biden’s arrival on Saturday that the U.S. president was “engaging” with Hun Sen because the prime minister is the host of the Asean summit, just as Biden was meeting with the presidents of Egypt and Indonesia at summits in those countries, before and after his visit to Cambodia.
“He’s going to engage across the board in service of America’s interests and to advance America’s strategic position and our values,” the adviser said.
Sullivan said Biden will discuss with Asean leaders the “need for freedom of navigation,” a reference to the U.S. position on the South China Sea, “lawful, unimpeded commerce,” and coordination in imposing costs and raising pressure on the Myanmar junta.
Biden met with Hun Sen on Saturday afternoon and raised concerns about Ream Naval Base, underscoring the “importance of full transparency” regarding activities by the Chinese military at the base, according to a White House statement.
Both China and Cambodia have repeatedly denied U.S. claims of a secret deal between China and Cambodia that granted China’s military exclusive access to parts of the base.
Asean summit spokesperson Kung Phoak told reporters late Saturday that Cambodia had already answered questions about Ream many times.
“We never hide,” he said. “We already allowed the U.S. to visit the location.”
In June 2021, the U.S. military attaché visited Ream, but said the Cambodian military did not grant U.S. officials “full access” — a charge Cambodian officials denied.
Biden also urged Hun Sen to “reopen civic and political space” before the 2023 elections, and “called for the release of activists detained on politically motivated charges,” including Theary, the White House said.
Phoak said if political activists abuse the law, they must face consequences for their actions.
“When we talk about extending democratic space, and at the same time we allow political activists to do whatever they want, even if it is illegal, I don’t think this democracy will last forever,” he said.
“Democracy in Cambodia is moving step by step, which reflects the real situation of the country and we never go backwards. We push the democratic space more open,” he added.
During a summit speech in Phnom Penh on Saturday, the U.S. president called Asean the “heart” of his administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy, and said the U.S. was committed to Asean centrality and working with nations in the region to tackle threats against the climate, health security, the rule of law and a rule-based order, and address challenges in Myanmar and the South China Sea.
Earlier in his brief remarks, Biden mistakenly referred to Hun Sen as the prime minister of Colombia.
“I want to thank the prime minister of, from Colombia’s leadership, and as Asean chair, and for hosting all of us,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Nov 10, 2022
- Event Description
A small group of protesters camping out at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park say they have been told they must leave and continue their hunger strike in support of a jailed opposition activist at home.
Khmer Thavrak, an activist group that has advocated for a range of social and nationalist causes, arrived at the park on Wednesday as part of a weeklong hunger strike calling for the release of Cambodian-American lawyer and activist Seng Chan Theary.
Chan Theary is imprisoned in Preah Vihear province, serving a six-year sentence for incitement and plotting following a mass trial against opposition activists that human rights experts have denounced as politically motivated.
Khmer Thavrak’s Hun Vannak said officers had told the group this morning that its protest was illegal due to the need to maintain “public order” during the Asean Summit, which is scheduled to bring world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Phnom Penh.
The officers told the activists that they should continue their hunger strike at home instead, Vannak said.
“We replied to them that we have two choices: one is that we request to stay here expressing our freedom — all five of us. Nothing will happen, we will just skip eating. But if they don’t agree, the other is that we would go to every embassy attending the meeting.”
The group is only drinking water, milk and Royal-D electrolytes, they said. One activist dropped out of the strike after three days.
Around 20 plainclothes officers sat nearby under a large tent. One told reporters that the activists couldn’t stay due to public order, but would not say what action authorities would take.
Russei Keo district governor Ek Khun Doeun declined to answer questions via phone, instead advising a reporter to invite the Khmer Thavrak activists to camp outside the VOD newsroom as they were “disturbing public order” at Freedom Park.
“If you are Khmer you should tell them that if they want to do a hunger strike they should go to VOD. It will be easy to do a livestream,” Khun Doeun said.
The Khmer Thavrak activists began their hunger strike in Preah Vihear on Monday, and plan to continue until the upcoming Monday.
Update 5:30 p.m.: One of the protesters, Chhoeun Daravy, said in a social media post Thursday afternoon that another of the five remaining hunger strikers was taken to hospital after fainting. “Her health couldn’t take the hunger strike for that many days. It gave her a headache and she couldn’t breathe,” Daravy wrote.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, NGO staff, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Nov 10, 2022
- Event Description
In continuation of suppressing and detaining protesting women, sources report that the Taliban have arrested another protesting girl.
According to sources, on Thursday, November 10, the Taliban arrested Humaira Yousuf, one of the women activists in the field of human rights, who is a resident of Abdullah Khel village, Dara district of Panjshir province.
Sources add that the Taliban arrested her in the 11th district of Kabul city after several months of pursuit.
Humaira’s father is a retired general of the previous government.
According to reports, the Taliban have arrested six protesting women in less than ten days.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Nov 9, 2022
- Event Description
Last week, a group of activists in Nakhon Ratchasima were surrounded by police officers and prevented from protesting during the royal motorcade of Princess Sirindhorn, who was visiting a nearby school.
On Wednesday (9 November), the activist group Korat Movement went live on their Facebook page while they were holding protest signs saying “Free our friends” and “Person = person. Everyone is equal” while surrounded by a group of plainclothes police. The protest took place while Princess Sirindhorn, King Vajiralongkorn’s younger sister, was traveling to visit nearby Boonwattana School. The 15-minute video clip also showed the police trying to pull signs out of the activists’ hands.
“Paper,” a 15-year-old activist, said that the group went to the school with their protest signs, but they were followed by 2 – 3 plainclothes police who asked her and another friend to join two other members of the group waiting nearby. The officers also told them that the group would be taken to an area prepared for people to greet the Princess, but the activists told the police that they would not move.
As the royal motorcade was approaching, Paper said that the police tried to force the activists to move further away from the motorcade. Some of the activists in the group then held up their signs, and were told by the police to put them down since they have had the chance to display them. The activists refused, so the officers pulled their arms and pushed two activists, a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old, to make them put the signs down.
The activists were also initially told by the officers that one of their group members, named “Fa,” will be detained because she put up a sign saying “Going anywhere is a burden” in front of the hotel where Princess Sirindhorn was staying, but did not present a warrant or any evidence. However, the entire group was released after the royal motorcade had passed.
Paper also said that, while a member of the group was leaving their residence to run an errand, they were approached by a plainclothes officer. They were seen by another activist, who called the rest of the group. They went live on Facebook again, but were approached by a nearby traffic policeman who checked their drivers’ licenses and fined them before taking them to a nearby police station. They agreed to go to the police station and contacted a lawyer on the way there.
Once they arrived at the police station, the police tried to charge the activist accused of putting up a sign in front of the hotel with a violation of the Public Cleanliness Act, but they denied the charge. The police then made a record that the activists were brought to the police station before releasing them.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Nov 6, 2022
- Event Description
About the Human Rights Defenders: Ms. Malti Rao (35), Ms. Krishna Rao (24), Ms. Vidhya (58), Ms. Permila (50), Mr. Ravi Rao (28), Ms. Leelawati (50), Ms. Sonpati (45) and other protestors of Ambedkar Nagar Uttar Pradesh. Background of the Incident: On November 06, 2022, black ink was put on the statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar installed in front of Haothi Mandir, Ambedkar nagar, by unknown miscreants. When the locals of Ambedkar Nagar saw the defacement of the statue, they started a protest demanding action against the culprits. Details of the Incident: On November 06, 2022, around 10 am a group of locals of Dalit community , mostly women, gathered at Akbarpur-Jalalpur road, Ambedkar Nagar and started a protest to act against the culprits who threw ink on the statue of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. Around 11:00 am Mr. Sant Kumar Singh, Station Officer, Jalalpur Police Station, Ambedkar Nagar reached the spot with some policemen. The locals demanded action against the culprits and a fair inquiry. An argument started between police and protestors and according to the protestors the police started to lathi-charge the protestors. In the video 15-20 male policemen are seen brutally beating 10-12 un-armed women protestors with lathis as well as hurling “casteist” abuses at them. One woman protestor falls down, while another’s hair is pulled by a policewoman, others are seen running away while being beaten by sticks by policemen. A video of police lathi-charge on women went viral on social media. The video is as follows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPTdw4HwTC8&ab_channel=TheQuint The SP Ambedkar nagar, Mr. Amit Kumar Sinha, claimed that the women hurled stones at the police force forcing them to use ‘mild force’. However, no woman protestor is seeing holding anything in their hands. The police also claimed that they had registered an FIR against the unknown persons who had defaced the statue of Dr Ambedkar and were trying to arrest the miscreants. On 05 November 2022, at 05:30 pm an FIR 0329 was registered against 300 women and men (name unknown) by Sub-Inspector Mr. Awshaf Ali at Jalalpur police station, Jalalpur, Ambedkar Nagar under sections of IPC 147-Punishment for rioting, 188- Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant, 341-Punishment for wrongful restraint, 353-Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, 504-Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace. 506- Punishment for criminal intimidation. On 06 November, 2022 a second FIR (No. 0329) was registered at 05:30 pm against Mr. Mahesh, Mr. Raju, Mrs. Reeta, Mrs. Parmila, Mrs Sakla, Mrs. Anara, Mr. Shyam Kumar, Mr. Sandeep and Mr. Santosh Kumar by Mr. Dheeraj Barnawal,at Jalalpur police station, Jalalpur, Ambedkar Nagar under sections of IPC 147-Punishment for rioting, 323- Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, 327- Voluntarily causing hurt to extort property, or to constrain to an illegal act, 427-Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees, 506- Punishment for criminal intimidation. On 06, November 2022 at 04:00 pm a third FIR 0331 was registered against unknown women, by Mr. Mahendra Prasad a local, at Jalalpur police station, Ambedkar Nagar under sections of IPC 147- Punishment for rioting, 188- Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant, 341- Punishment for wrongful restraint, 342-Punishment for wrongful confinement, 332- Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty, 336- Act endangering life or personal safety of others, 353-Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, 427- Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees and section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act 1932.
On November 6, 2022, Ms. Malti Rao 35, Ms. Krishna Rao 24, Ms. Vidhya 58, Ms. Permila 50 were arrested and sent to prison. On November 21, 2022, Ms. Sonpati (45), Mr. Ravi Rao (28) and Ms. Leelavati (50) was arrested. They were released on bail on December 13, 2022, after one month and eight days.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Vilification, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to protect reputation, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
Case shared by FORUM-ASIA member People's Watch
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Nov 3, 2022
- Event Description
The United Nations human rights office has voiced concern over the detention of five people after the Taliban disrupted a press conference in Kabul intended to launch a new women's movement.
One woman, Zarifa Yaqobi, and four male colleagues were arrested at the event and remained in detention on November 4, UN rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva.
A women's rights activists who did not want to be named due to security concerns told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that Yaqobi was arrested after announcing the founding of the Afghan Women's Movement for Equality.
"The whole place was militarized. We thought they were going to bring us all to one place," the activist said. "First they took the boys, then they locked the women in the room."
The women were temporarily detained and subjected to phone and body searches before being released, the activist and the UN rights office said.
The activist said that later on November 3 the Taliban took Yaqobi's sister, Arifa Yaqobi, and her husband-in-law's brother under the pretext they should be with Yaqobi at night.
Laurence said the UN had received "deeply worrying reports that yesterday (November 3) afternoon in Kabul, a number of de facto security officials disrupted a press conference by a women's civil society organization."
He said the UN rights office is "concerned about the welfare of these five individuals and [has] sought information from the de facto authorities regarding their detention."
A Taliban spokesman did not immediately provide a comment, Reuters reported.
The four men detained along with Yaqobi were her brothers, a women's rights activist told AFP. The activist, who identified herself only by the name Mandegar because of security concerns, said when the news conference started the Taliban told the organizers they could not hold it and asked the journalists who were present to leave.
She said the Taliban sent in female police officers who "checked our phones and deleted all images of the event." The officers also "insulted and threatened us before they allowed us to leave one by one."
Women's freedoms in Afghanistan have been undermined since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 as international forces backing a pro-Western government pulled out. The Taliban has issued a slew of restrictions controlling women's lives, blocking girls from returning to secondary schools and barring women from many government jobs.
Fawzia Kofi, a member of Afghanistan's Moj Talaq Party, told Radio Azadi that Yaqobi was also a member of the party and her actions show that the Taliban is afraid of women.
"I expect the men of Afghanistan to stand by their sisters in this situation and not allow (the Taliban) to misrepresent religion and human rights," Kofi said.
Shukria Barakzai, the former ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway and a women's rights activist, said such actions by the Taliban will have bad consequences for the militants.
"Limiting the freedoms of Afghans, whether it is in speech or in the demands of the people, is the work of the Taliban. There is no doubt that today the Taliban consider women as their main enemies," she said.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Family of HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Oct 31, 2022
- Event Description
A number of women wanted to display their educational documents in Kabul in protest against the ban on women’s right to work.
The program was launched on Monday morning (October 31st) in Shahr-e Naw Park in Kabul.
Videotapes released by a female protester show that Taliban fighters are present in Shahr-e Naw Park, and one of them tears placards with slogans and educational documents of protesting girls and tells the protestors to leave the area.
These girls had gathered in protest against the violation of women’s right to work in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Previously, women’s protests in different provinces have been suppressed by the Taliban.
- 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
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Oct 31, 2022
- Event Description
In the span of three days, 23-year-old Phon Sao went from forming a union to unemployed.
The Bright Flushing factory worker in Takeo province contested the union’s first election on October 29, but saw two unknown people at the election taking photographs and decided to withdraw.
Two days later she was signing resignation documents under duress.
“I asked them for a reason. But they didn’t tell me the reason,” she said on Thursday.
The case of Sao and Workers’ Rights Protection Union of Bright Flushing at the Takeo factory was documented by labor rights NGO Central to illustrate long-held concerns over the formation of new unions on the factory floor, including use of the controversial Law on Trade Unions to install potential bureaucratic hurdles.
In the past 14 months, at least seven factory-level unions have reported obstacles in registering new unions under law. Union leaders say they have been fired or their contracts not renewed to block union formation, and in some cases the Labor Ministry has dragged its feet on processing registration documents.
These concerns are exacerbated, say unions and labor advocates, when one takes into account alleged union-busting attempts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic at both NagaWorld casino and other industries.
The union at Bright Flushing was formed to advocate against working on holidays and weekends, said Sao. But since her departure from the factory, a number of founding members have quit the union.
Central provided VOD with documentation of the case — which includes intimidation of union founding members, alleged forced resignations of the union president and other members — and increased harassment after staff from sports brand Puma met with the workers to discuss issues with union formation.
Yum Oun, who was voted union secretary at Bright Flushing, said the union was formed to make sure workers got sick leave and because the factory was routinely violating the Labor Law by terminating workers.
“A lot of staff were fired. They have no job. I don’t when they can return back to work,” she said.
Central also documented six other cases of union formation in the last 14 months, all showing instances of bureaucratic delays, intimidation of workers and termination of union leaders and found members. Below are two examples showing similar patterns in the union formation process at I Tao Pet Supplies and ML Intimate Apparel.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Oct 30, 2022
- Event Description
The Taliban beat up female protestors at Badakhshan University and suppressed the demonstration.
A number of female students in Badakhshan protested on Sunday morning (October 30th) after they were prevented from entering the university campus by the Taliban.
The Taliban did not allow these students to enter Badakhshan University because they did not wear burqas and wore local clothes.
Sources added that the intelligence of the Taliban has also arrested another group of girls from the Badakhshan University dormitory who were chanting death slogans against the Taliban on the roads in Shahr-e Naw, Faizabad city.
The Taliban have already deployed more forces to prevent students from going to the university classes, according to sources.
This is while the protests of female students in Herat, Balkh, Kabul and Bamiyan were also suppressed by the Taliban and a number of students were arrested and tortured.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to education, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 28, 2022
- Event Description
Twenty-nine workers from a garment factory in Yangon’s Shwepyitha Township were fired after they organised a recent strike, sources from within their labour union told Myanmar Now.
The walkout at Myanmar Pou Chen began on October 25, with 400 employees demanding a raise from the 4,800-kyat (US$2.27) minimum daily wage to 8,000 kyat ($3.78), as well as to provide local transportation for workers, bonuses for high performance and implement other amendments to factory policy.
The factory employs some 7,800 workers and is a supplier for global sportswear brand Adidas.
Officials from Myanmar Pou Chen notified the local military authorities of the protest on the afternoon of the same day it began, prompting the arrival of 10 soldiers and police officers in four army vehicles.
“They warned us not to continue the protest the following day,” a woman who was later fired told Myanmar Now. “They threatened to arrest us if we protested outside the factory area, or if factory equipment was damaged during our protest. They said they had been wanting to detain us for a while.”
The workers continued their strike on October 26 despite the threats, as well as on October 27, by which point more than 2,000 employees had joined.
One day later, factory officials fired 26 workers, including 16 members of Myanmar Pou Chen’s labour union who were believed to have led the strike. They recorded the three days of protest as unauthorised absences from work, and a violation of their employment contracts.
“We cannot enter the factory anymore. A team leader went inside to meet the officials, and he was given his salary and a termination letter,” another woman, who was a member of the union, said. “They confiscated his employee card. He didn’t sign the termination agreement or accept the salary.”
“We asked if it was lawful or if they had the right to fire us. They replied they had made a unilateral decision, regardless of whether it was illegal,” she added.
On October 29, three more employees were dismissed—all women—another worker told Myanmar Now.
“They also walked around the factory and yelled into megaphones that further action would be taken against the protesters for damaging the factory. If they saw two workers standing together, they would shoo them away like dogs,” she said.
The terminated workers filed a complaint with the Department of Labour Relations under the military council’s Ministry of Labour.
- Impact of Event
- 29
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Oct 25, 2022
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have detained opposition activists who planned to hold a rally to challenge next month's early presidential election.
Bibigul Imanghalieva, a member of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Kazakhstan, Forward) party, told RFE/RL by phone that she and several of her colleagues were detained for several hours early in the morning in different parts of the city before they could hold the demonstration, which was to fall on October 25, Republic Day, which commemorates Kazakhstan's declaration of state sovereignty in 1990.
According to Imanghalieva, leading activists, Aset Abishev, Aidar Syzdyqov, and Qanatkhan Amrenov, were among those detained. She added that she and other activists were released three hours later.
Imanghalieva says she and other members of the unregistered party had officially filed a request with the Almaty city administration last week asking for permission to hold a rally on October 25.
Other activists told RFE/RL that the chairwoman of an independent group of election observers, Arailym Nazarova, was also detained by police. Her mobile phone has been switched off since the morning of October 25.
In the capital, Astana, police cordoned off a square near Zhengis (Victory) Avenue where activists had planned to gather, not allowing anyone to enter the site. At least two activists were detained there.
Opposition activist Amangeldy Zhakhin said on Facebook on October 25 that police did not allow him to leave the village of Shortandy on October 25 as they tried to prevent his trip to Astana, the capital, where he planned to organize a rally to question the election, scheduled for November 20, at which incumbent President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev will face off against five relatively unknown candidates.
Activists in the cities of Aqsai, Pavlodar, and Oskemen also said they were blocked from travelling to Astana to take part in a rally.
Toqaev, who has tried to position himself as a reformer, called the early presidential election on September 1 while also proposing to change the presidential term to seven years from five years. Under the new system, future presidents will be barred from seeking more than one term.
Critics say Toqaev's initiatives have been mainly cosmetic and do not change the nature of the autocratic system in a country that has been plagued for years by rampant corruption and nepotism.
Toqaev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who had run the tightly controlled former Soviet republic with an iron fist for almost three decades, chose Toqaev as his successor when he stepped down in 2019.
Though he was no longer president, Nazarbaev retained sweeping powers as the head of the Security Council. He also enjoyed substantial powers by holding the title of “elbasy” or leader of the nation.
Many citizens, however, remained upset by the oppression felt during Nazarbaev's reign.
Those feelings came to a head in January when unprecedented anti-government nationwide protests started over a fuel price hike, and then exploded into countrywide deadly unrest over perceived corruption under the Nazarbaev regime and the cronyism that allowed his family and close friends to enrich themselves while ordinary citizens failed to share in the oil-rich Central Asian nation's wealth.
Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of his Security Council role, taking it over himself. Since then, several of Nazarbaev’s relatives and allies have been pushed out of their positions or resigned. Some have been arrested on corruption charges.
In June, a Toqaev-initiated referendum removed Nazarbaev's name from the constitution and annulled his status as “elbasy.”
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- 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
- Indonesia
- Initial Date
- Oct 24, 2022
- Event Description
Independent media outlet Konde.co was hit by a cyber-attack after publishing an article on sexual harassment within the Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Indonesian affiliates, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia and SINDIKASI, in condemning the attack and urging authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation.
On October 24, Konde published an article about incidents of sexual harassment committed by four public servants at the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small-Medium Enterprises (MSME). The article detailed the long history of sexual harassment by MSME staff, including one incident where a victim was forced to marry their abuser to prevent legal repercussions for his behaviour.
At 4:31 pm the same afternoon, Konde.co’s website was reported as down after the article spread rapidly across social media platforms. Later investigation by Konde.co staff revealed the website had suffered a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, in which a party attempts to disrupt the normal functioning of an internet server by overloading it with traffic.
This is the second attack experienced by Konde.co after publishing an article on sexual violence. In May 2020, the Konde.co website was made inaccessible to the public and staff were locked from their official Twitter account.
In recent years, journalists and news outlets across Indonesia have been targeted by various digital attacks, including in 2020 against media outlets Tirto, Tempo, and Magdalene and in 2021, against alternative media outlet Project Multatuli. In late September 2022, 37 journalists and former staff from Narasiwere targeted in a social media hacking incident. Narasi’s website also suffered a DDoS attack.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- 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, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kyrgyzstan
- Initial Date
- Oct 23, 2022
- Event Description
More than 20 people in Kyrgyzstan were detained on Sunday, October 23, and placed under arrest for 48 hours, after publicly disagreeing with the impending transfer of an important dam to Uzbekistan as part of a border demarcation deal with the neighboring country. Those detained included activists, human rights defenders, bloggers, and politicians.
The next day, courts ordered several of the detainees be held in pre-trial detention for two months while the investigation continues. All of the detainees were charged with preparation for and organization of mass unrest. The police also initiated an investigation over “evidence obtained from a special investigation,” which transpired to be a series of edited and excerpted wiretapped conversations between some of the detainees. The wiretapped montage was leaked to social media and had apparently been constructed to seem like some detainees called for a government overthrow because of the contentious border agreement.
According to a statement by Kyrgyzstan’s Ombudsman, before their arrests, authorities conducted warrantless searches of the activists’ houses and seized personal property. In most cases, including with human rights defender Rita Karasartova, police forced entry into their homes and attempted to prevent video documentation of the arrests. The activists were transferred to detention centers and some were not allowed access to their lawyers.
Twelve of the 23 detainees are members of a newly created group created to protect the Kempir-Abad water reservoir in south-west Kyrgyzstan. The group opposes Kyrgyzstan's plan, which includes transferring territory and the dam itself to Uzbekistan. The Kyrgyz government maintains the agreement benefits Kyrgyzstan and both countries will manage the reservoir and have access to its water.
The reservoir plan was signed on September 26 as part of an agreement that seeks to determine official borders for the 15 per cent of non-demarcated territory between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Protests in Uzgen, where the reservoir is located, began after residents worried about losing water access.
The agreement’s full text is still secret.
Protests demanding authorities release the activists and share information about the agreement took place on October 24 in Bishkek and Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Ahead of the protests Internet connectivity was severely limited, especially in Bishkek. Internet providers stated an accident on the channels of the upstream provider caused the failures.
Kyrgyz authorities should release the detainees and ensure that their rights, including due process rights, are strictly observed in any investigations going forward.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Oct 22, 2022
- Event Description
Four members of the defunct, pro-democracy, student-activist group, Student Politicism, were sentenced to up to three years in jail or detention Saturday under Hong Kong's national security law.
The activists had pleaded guilty in court in July for a joint count of conspiracy to incite subversion in acts between October 2020 and June 2021.
Group founder Wong Yat Chin was jailed for 36 months and group secretary Chan Chi-sum, was jailed for 34 months, while two spokeswomen for the group were also sentenced. Jessica Chu Wai-ying, 19, received a 30-month prison sentence, while Alice Wong Yuen-lam, 20, was ordered to serve up to three years at a vocational development training center.
Student Politicism was founded in May 2020 and advocated for pressing Hong Kong's “struggle” against the authorities. The group used street booths as a key method to garner support.
But after Beijing imposed the national security law in Hong Kong, activists and civil society groups rapidly began to close, either out of fear of repercussions from enforcement of the security law or because its members already had been charged.
Activists Wong and Chan, both 21 years old, were first arrested for ‘inciting subversion’ on September 20, 2021, and they have remained in custody since then. The following day, Student Politicism was dissolved.
Court allegations
Prosecutors alleged that when the group was active, it attempted to sustain the popular but banned anti-government slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times,” and said the activists called for support of the 12 youths who were arrested by the Chinese coastguard while trying to flee Hong Kong in a speedboat in Taiwan. The group also was accused of encouraging citizens not to download a government COVID-19 contact tracing app.
District court judge Kwok Wai-kin — who is one of the hand-picked judges to rule over national security cases — handed down the sentences. In his judgement, Kwok noted that because members of the group made few public statements and didn’t use much social media, their punishment warranted a lighter sentence.
The judge had been comparing the case of Ma Chun-man, nicknamed "Captain America," who was sentenced last year to nearly six years in prison for promoting Hong Kong independence.
Conspiracy to incite subversion is punishable by up to seven years in prison in Hong Kong’s district courts.
Chilling effect
Michael Mo, a former Hong Kong district councilor who is currently in Britain, said Judge Kwok set a “disturbing precedent” with the sentencing.
“He reinforced that posting political messages on social media would incite more people than on the streets, and mere posting of political views on social could make the nature of the so-called subversion severe, as defined by the National Security Law. It simply tells everyone in Hong Kong to voice no dissent against the regime on social media, or one would just be treated like the four students in this case.
"The fact that all defendants were remanded for over a year for a ‘speech crime’ before trial makes the chilling effect more chilling,” Mo noted.
At the start of 2021, things were different for Wong Yat Chin. He was one of the last remaining well-known activists in Hong Kong that hadn’t been charged by authorities following a massive crackdown on pro-democracy activists and the media.
The signs were growing, though, that he eventually would face charges. Wong had been arrested a couple of times in 2020 for unlawful assembly before he was warned about his activism by national security authorities.
Wong told VOA in January 2021 that authorities in mainland China also visited his family and warned them about his dissent.
Intensifying crackdown
Then in June, Wong was arrested by authorities in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park when he mourned the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. The annual event in Hong Kong lasted for more than 30 years before authorities banned the mass gathering, citing the pandemic.
Kacey Wong, a visual artist, and activist from Hong Kong, who last year relocated to Taiwan, said the national security law is intended to spread fear among the younger generation of Hong Kong.
“I think the sentencing is totally unfair, which we can clearly see how the law has transformed into a weapon against the youth, to intimidate and to spread fear among them. The court message is that if you dare to revolt against us, we will lock you up indefinitely, [and] disregard what you have actually done,” Wong told VOA.
Following the widespread anti-government protests three years ago, Beijing enacted the national security law in Hong Kong to prevent political dissent in the city, allowing authorities to use the law to target dissidents. The legislation prohibits acts deemed as secession, subversion, foreign collusion, and terrorism, which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.
As it stands, at least 130 people have been charged under the law, with dozens still in pretrial custody. More than 20 others have been sentenced to prison.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- 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, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Thailand
- Initial Date
- Oct 21, 2022
- Event Description
Two activists who were attacked last week filed a petition with UN representatives on Thursday (3 November) calling for the UN to pressure the Thai authorities into investigating the attacks, after no progress was made by the police.
“Oia,” a 13-year-old protester, said that he was attacked on 22 October near the Chitralada Royal Villa. He said that while he was on a motorcycle waiting at a red light at Ratchawithi intersection, a group of men on motorcycles rode toward him and stared at him. He felt unsafe, and so rode his motorcycle towards the palace, because there were likely to be officers stationed there.
The men then surrounded him, threatened him with a knife and punched his face. Oia said he noticed that all of the men were carrying firearms. He also said that he saw police officers stationed in front of the Chitralada Royal Villa, but that they did not help him.
On 25 October, Oia went to file a complaint with Dusit Police Station over the attack.
Meanwhile, activist Tanruthai Thaenrut, 22, a member of the indigenous rights group the Save Bang Kloi Coalition, said that the clutch cable on her motorcycle was tampered with, causing an accident.
Tanruthai said that on 21 October, she met other activists at the McDonald’s next to the Democracy Monument. When she arrived, she was told by a nearby crowd control police officer to park her motorcycle inside nearby Satriwithaya School, claiming that the road had to be cleared for an upcoming royal motorcade.
Afterwards, Tanruthai said she went to retrieve her motorcycle from inside the school, and rode pillion behind another activist towards Krung Thon Bridge. While on the road, the two activists found that they could not change gear and the motorcycle was acting strangely. It then skidded, throwing the two riders onto a busy road. Tanruthai said that her head hit the ground, but she was wearing a helmet; her friend had minor cuts and bruises on their legs.
The two activists then found that the clutch cable, which Tanruthai said had been changed on 17 October, was damaged, which is probably the reason why the wheel locked, leading to the accident. It seems like there was an attempt to pull the cable out but not to cut it because then the motorcycle’s engine would not start. Tanruthai’s friend said that they went back to ask the police stationed near Satriwithaya School if anyone had gone near the motorcycle, but the officer said they did not do it.
Tanruthai speculated that the damage happened while the motorcycle was parked at Satriwithaya School, since the vehicle was functioning normally until then. She said that she has never been in conflict with anyone, and is concerned that she being targeted because of her activism, noting that the brake cable on her motorcycle was also cut two months ago, so she had to change her motorcycle and check it every time she used it.
Tunruthai and Oia, along with Save Bang Kloi Coalition activist Anchalee Ismanyee, met UN representatives on Thursday (3 November). Anchalee said that the group wanted to petition the UN to protect the two activists and to pressure the Thai authorities to make progress in both cases, especially for Oia, who is a minor and a victim of physical assault.
Anchalee said that even though there is no evidence to identity the perpetrators, she speculated that state officials may be involved, since both activists regularly join protests and have said that they have been under police surveillance.
The two activitists have also filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Anchalee said that the NHRC has accepted their complaint, and has expressed concerns especially for Oia. She also said that she is concerned about the 13-year-old’s mental health.
Anchalee said following the meeting that the UN representatives said they will be contacting the NHRC to find out whether the commission has contacted the local police stations. If not, they will be following up on the case themselves.
The representatives also told the activists that, if they still feel unsafe, they can also contacted the Cross-Cultural Foundation, who would help them contact the UN office in Geneva, Switzerland. The UN may then contact the Thai authorities if there is a cause for concern.
She said that they feel safer after being able to discuss the attack with UN representatives and human rights officers, who show their concerns and paid attention to the activists' complaint.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- India
- Initial Date
- Oct 17, 2022
- Event Description
A Pulitzer-winning photojournalist from Indian-administered Kashmir has said that she was stopped from travelling to the US by immigration authorities at Delhi airport.
Sanna Irshad Mattoo was awarded the Pulitzer for her coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and was on her way to attend the award ceremony.
Ms Mattoo said she was stopped "despite having a valid visa and ticket".
The Indian government has not made a statement yet on why she was stopped.
News agency PTI quoted Jammu and Kashmir police officials as saying that she had been placed on a no-fly list.
Ms Mattoo said this was the second such incident in four months. The journalist told the BBC she asked officials why she hadn't been allowed to travel but was not given a reason.
She said she was "heartbroken" at not getting the chance to attend the ceremony, describing the Pulitzer as a "dream for every journalist".
Several activists and journalists have been stopped from leaving or entering the country this year.
In March, journalist Rana Ayyub - who writes for the Washington Post - was stopped at Mumbai airport when she was about to board a flight to the UK to deliver a speech at the International Centre for Journalists.
Ms Ayyub was allowed to travel a few days later after she won an appeal against the decision in the Delhi High Court and got permission.
In April, former Amnesty India chief Aakar Patel was stopped twice from boarding a flight to the US at Bangalore airport.
This followed a federal investigation into Amnesty allegedly breaking India's foreign currency exchange laws during Mr Patel's tenure as its chief. The agency called him a "flight risk". He was later asked by a court not to leave the country without its permission.
In August, Angad Singh, an Emmy-nominated American journalist of Indian-origin, was reportedly deported to New York soon after he landed in Delhi.
While the Indian government did not comment on the incident, Mr Singh's family said his passport was confiscated at the airport before he was deported. His mother alleged his treatment was a response to the documentaries the journalist had made on India's Covid crisis and farmers' protests for Vice News.
Earlier this year, the federal government deported Professor Filippo Osella, an anthropologist at the University of Sussex, who had been visiting India for more than 30 years.
Prof Osella challenged his deportation in the Delhi High Court, calling it arbitrary and unconstitutional. He also said he was treated like "a hardened criminal" by Indian authorities without being given a reason for his deportation.
Last week, the Indian government defended its decision in court, saying that the academician had been placed in the "highest category of blacklisting" based on "sufficient material" against him.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement, Travel Restriction
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Artist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Oct 12, 2022
- Event Description
National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) strongly denounced the recent attacks against one of its officers by rabid red-tagger Lorraine Badoy together with Jeffery Celiz and others in a program aired at Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) on Oct. 12.
In a show entitled “Laban Kasama ang Bayan,” NUJP secretary general and Bulatlat managing editor Ronalyn Olea was tagged as an “operatibong internet operator” for the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.
The group said that this is not the first time that Badoy and others linked personalities, groups and members of the media to revolutionary groups.
In fact, they added, the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Movement Against Disinformation (MAD) and Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa have all been accused of rebel links without basis.
“However silly the term ‘operatibang internet operator’ sounds, the attempt to link Ms. Olea to the CPP-NPA-NDF for her work in Bulatlat and in NUJP shows how hollow the claim made by Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla before the UN Human Rights Council that red-tagging is simple criticism that is ‘part of a democracy’,” the group said in a statement.
They added that the “The mischaracterization as well as the effects of that mischaracterization — in the case of Bulatlat and PinoyWeekly, of being blocked without even an opportunity to address the accusations by the National Security Council — show that red-tagging has actual effects and is part of government policy.”
Alipato Media Center Inc., publisher of Bulatlat, of which Olea represented, questioned the blocking of its website in the court. On Oct. 10, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 denied motions for reconsideration filed by the National Telecommunications Communication and retired Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. against the temporary unblocking of bulatlat.com. This, after the court granted the preliminary injunction plea filed by Bulatlat against the blocking order of the NTC in August.
“In the face of the baseless accusations and desperate vilification, we stand with Ms. Olea and all others red-tagged by the government and by its mouthpieces,” the group said.
They added that in the light of the killing of commentator Percy Lapid and online threats against journalists Ed Lingao and Lourd de Veyra, they are “not taking red-tagging of journalists lightly and will hold authorities responsible should any harm come to fellow journalists.”
Nearly two decades of practicing journalism
Bulatlat expressed its alarm over the red-tagging of Olea.
“Her being red-tagged happened at a time when there are continuing attacks against journalists in the Philippines,” the online news website said in a statement.
It added that Olea has been a part of Bulatlat during its early days as contributor to becoming its managing editor today.
“She is a champion of human rights reporting, media workers’ welfare and journalists’ safety,” they added.
Olea won awards for her stories on human rights. In 2013, Olea’s story entitled, Killings unabated under Aquino, won third place in the Red Cross Award for Humanitarian Reporting. She was also among the finalists in the Save the Children Media Awards: Uncovering Child Hunger and Malnutrition in 2015 and the Chit Estella Journalism Awards in 2012.
Olea earned her degree of journalism at the Lyceum of the Philippines University. She finished her master’s degree in journalism at the Ateneo De Manila University under Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Media Programme.
Olea was the national president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines from 2002 to 2004.
“In her fight for press freedom, Len is highly visible in the trial courts, in various fora and in the parliament of the streets. She fought those who dare to stifle press freedom and to curtail the people’s right to know. She stands in solidarity with fellow journalists and media workers under attack,” Bulatlat said.
Violation of legislative franchise
Meanwhile, the Movement Against Disinformation (MAD) asserts that the red-tagging of Badoy and others through SMNI is a violation of the 2007 Broadcast Code of the Philippines of the Kapasinan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and violation of RA 11422, an act granting legislative franchise to SMNI’s corporate vehicle Swara Sug Media Corporation.
The group cited Badoy and Celiz’s attacks against Ressa after the Court of Appeals denied its motion for reconsideration in cyber libel conviction against her and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr., in the same program.
This time, Ressa was tagged as an operator for disinformation, misinformation, deception and giving a platform to the CPP-NPA.
Through these attacks, MAD said that SMNI and the presenters of the Laban Kasama ang Bayan show are using, misusing and abusing its legislative franchise.
“Mass media such as SMNI are highly regulated and are imbued with the public interest because they disseminate information and ideas to the public which ‘set the standards, ideals and aims of the masses,” the group said in a statement.
They added that Section 4 of RA 11422 states, “The grantee shall provide… at all times sound and balanced programming… and not use its stations or facilities for the broadcasting of obscene or indecent language, speech, act or scene; or for the dissemination of deliberately false information or willful misrepresentation, to the detriment of the public interest…”
The group said the influence of mass media could not be left unchecked and unregulated.
“Hence, legal and ethical standards are imposed to curb and control potential misuse and abuse,” the group said.
The group added that the SMNI and its presenters are not above the law in the exercise of their right to deliver information to the public. “They are legally, ethically and morally prohibited from red-tagging and putting in harm’s way the subjects of their news,” they added.
MAD also urged the KBP and all relevant government agencies to review and investigate the red-tagging involving SMNI and Badoy et al.
“It is time that the regulatory powers of the regulators be felt in full force to rein in and hold to account contumacious red-taggers and purveyors of disinformation and misinformation in the Philippines,” they added.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Singapore
- Initial Date
- Oct 11, 2022
- Event Description
Anti-death penalty and human rights lawyer, M Ravi is facing yet another round of police investigations over potential offences of Criminal Defamation and Contempt of Court by Facebook posts he made in April and May this year.
This was shared by freelance journalist and anti-death penalty activist Kirsten Han on her Facebook page. There she posted a screenshot of the police letter issued to Mr Ravi where it is stated that the police is conducting investigations upon him in regard to potential offences of Criminal Defamation under Section 499 of the Penal Code 1871 and Contempt of Court under Section 3(1)(a) of the Administration of Justice Act 2016, in relation to posts made in Mr Ravi’s Facebook page dated 20 April, 25 April and 5 May this year. Police orders journalist to turn up for interview without clarification
In a separate post, Ms Han shared that she has also been summoned by the Police for an interview over a Facebook post that she published on 10 May this year.
She is instructed to turn up at the Ang Mo Kio Division Headquarters on 21 October at 11am.
However, she shared that the Police has yet to confirm if she is being investigated for any offence. Ms Han was earlier called to an interview at Bedok Police Station on 24 June this year for allegedly participating in two ‘illegal assemblies’ outside Changi Prison earlier this year: once when she sat there with a few others the night before the execution of Abdul Kahar bin Othman, and another time when she and others took photos with the sign “END OPPRESSION, NOT LIFE”’ two nights before Nagaenthran was hanged.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Cambodia
- Initial Date
- Oct 11, 2022
- Event Description
Seven garment workers had contracts terminated at Puma supplier Eastcrown Footwear Industries in Phnom Penh after they tried to form a union.
Factory management denied the workers’ removals were related to the union activity, but would not elaborate.
An Yousa said this week that she had been dismissed from Eastcrown after five months working there. She was among 10 workers who moved to start a union at the factory as she had experienced what she considered to be exploitation and violation of workers’ rights.
Workers were forced to work overtime, denied requests to take leave, and made to sit through meetings during break periods, Yousa said.
The factory tried to get the unionists to join the factory’s own company union instead, but when the workers declined, their contracts were terminated on October 11, she said.
“They dismissed us because we formed a union at the factory. The factory didn’t continue our contract. They said if we resigned from our union and joined their union they would continue our work contract.”
Duong Sokna, another of the removed unionists, said the factory’s company union never helped the workers.
“They discriminated against the union. I want a real union representing the workers, not a union representing the factory,” Sokna said, adding that the dismissed workers had lodged a complaint with the Labor Ministry.
The seven unionizing workers who lost their contracts are Yousa, Sokna, Eam Sambath, Duong Soknang, Matt Vy, Sarem Tharim and Suong Sarin. The three others who tried to union have not yet reached the end of their contract periods.
Eastcrown administrative director Hy Hong said the factory’s reason for laying off the workers was not because they had formed a union, but would not elaborate.
Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said the ministry was looking into the issue.
Ry Sethyneth, president of the Independent Trade Union Confederation, said the case showed discrimination against union workers and violated labor rights.
“If the Ministry of Labor uses the mechanism of the Labor Inspectorate effectively and promotes the implementation of the law, then union discrimination will no longer exist,” Sethyneth said. He considered union-busting to be a human rights abuse, he said.
Eastcrown Footwear Industries has about 3,000 workers, according to the dismissed unionists, and U.S. bills of lading show it has supplied shipments to Puma North America.
Earlier this year, the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union said about 1,400 union leaders and active members have been laid off in cases of alleged union-busting in the last five years.
Workers fired from a Puma supplier after trying to start a union say two more colleagues have had contracts terminated since the weekend, and don’t know about a visit or settlement as claimed by the German athletics brand.
After seven garment workers spoke of alleged union-busting at Phnom Penh’s Eastcrown Footwear Industries, Puma’s corporate communications head Robert-Jan Bartunek said on Friday that an agreement had already been reached and overtime violations were not found as alleged.
“When PUMA learned about this case, we immediately engaged with the factory management. As of today, the factory management and the concerned workers reached an agreement on a financial settlement,” Bartunek said. “We have had no indication of unvoluntary overtime work through our social audit, grievance mechanism and our factory visit last week.”
However, two of the previously terminated unionists said on Monday that they didn’t know of any Puma visit nor a financial settlement.
Duong Sokna, 20, treasurer for the newly-created union, said she knew of an upcoming meeting at the Labor Ministry on Tuesday. But she didn’t know of any visit by Puma representatives or the brand’s mediation in the dispute.
Furthermore, two more workers who had tried to help form the union, Duong Tola and Horn Srey Neang, had received termination letters: Srey Neang on Saturday and Tola on Monday. They would lose their jobs at the end of their contracts, Sokna said.
“The factory strongly discriminated against the union and they still discriminate, and, frankly, in relation to those who were involved with voting for the independent union, all will be fired.”
Another unionist, Suong Sarin, 24, said only one of the 10 founding union members still had a job. Initially, 16 had joined to form the union, but six had withdrawn in the face of threats, Sarin said.
All the unionists would go to the Labor Ministry on Tuesday — some to attend a mediated meeting, and others to file a complaint.
Sarin said he also didn’t know about any Puma visit or settlement reached.
“I will still continue to do the union work because there is a lot of pressure on the workers inside the factory,” Sarin said, including being pushed to work overtime, and meetings held before work or during breaks. “No matter what the result will be, I will try my best to help our Cambodian workers.”
Eastcrown administrative director Hy Hong said last week that the factory’s reason for laying off the workers was not because they had formed a union, but would not elaborate.
Bartunek, the Puma communications official, said on Friday that the brand had started working with Eastcrown in March this year.
Puma has “multiple channels for factory workers to raise any concern directly with our sustainability team,” he said, and the company had “zero tolerance for freedom of association breaches, and it may lead to the termination of the business relationship with the factory.”
“PUMA commits to the right to freedom of association, to organize or join unions and to collective bargaining,” Bartunek said.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Oct 10, 2022
- Event Description
Various groups denounced the arrest of two activists just after their arraignment at Quezon City Regional Trial Court today, Oct. 10.
Kilusang Mayo Uno’s International Officer Kara Taggaoa and transport leader Helari Valbuena, president of Pasiklab Operators and Drivers Association (PASODA) are charged with trumped-up cases of robbery and direct assault.
The charges reportedly stemmed from their reported involvement in the protest action on July 11, 2020 in front of the Commission on Human Rights in Quezon City. The protest was about their opposition to the enactment of terror law and the cancellation of ABS-CBN’s franchise. According to human rights group Karapatan, an alleged cop in plainclothes was surveilling the protesters at that time.
In a video posted on Facebook, Taggaoa said the arraignment on the robbery case had just ended when she was accosted by some police personnel on her way out, read her Miranda rights and then arrested for direct assault charges.
Taggaoa said the robbery case was already scheduled for a resolution in the next hearing.
Valbuena and Taggao decried the violation of their right to due process as they have yet to receive any subpoena from the Office of the Prosecutor in Quezon City. They were also not given a chance to participate in the preliminary investigation on the complaints against them, Karapatan said.
Valbuena and Taggao were able to post bail on the robbery case that is why their arrest for another charge caught them by surprise. They also denied any involvement in any of the charges against them.
The two were taken to Camp Karingal in Quezon City where the police reportedly showed the warrant of arrest against them.
Different groups immediately trooped to Camp Karingal denouncing the arrest of Taggaoa and Valbuena.
Karapatan demands the immediate release of Valbuena and Taggaoa.
“Exercising the people’s right to conduct assemblies and rallies and to express their opinions freely without threats, even during a public health emergency, are fundamental rights, which should not be criminalized in whatever way by authorities,” the group said in a statement.
International League for Peoples’ Struggle-Philippines (ILPS Philippines) also condemned the arrest of Valbuena and Taggaoa, who is also a member of ILPS Workers Commission 5.
“The police personnel’s justification of their arrests along with other human rights defenders, is a blatant manifestation of weaponizing the law to silence and repress those who criticize the government’s failed pandemic response, corruption and trade union and human rights violations,” the group said in a statement.
A donation drive is ongoing to raise funds for the bail of Valbuena and Taggaoa.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Oct 9, 2022
- Event Description
Former senator and chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, Leila de Lima, should be released immediately and unconditionally, said the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) following a recent hostage-taking incident.
On 9 October, three convicts allegedly linked to local terrorist groups stabbed a police officer and held de Lima hostage inside her cell at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center. De Lima, a former senator and human rights lawyer, is being unjustly detained on trumped-up charges.
Responding police officers shot the three convicts, while de Lima, who suffered a mild stroke last year, was hospitalised for three days.[1]
‘De Lima should not even be in detention in the first place. We have received reports of her mistreatment while in detention including constantly being denied access to visitors, electronic devices, and adequate medical furlough under the previous regime,’ said FORUM-ASIA.
‘We strongly condemn the PNP breach of de Lima’s security protocol and failure to ensure her rights while in custody, despite threats to her life and health. The arbitrary detention and mistreatment of de Lima is evident in the Philippine government’s judicial harassment of human rights defenders and narrowing civic space in the country.’
De Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte’s gross human rights violations, was imprisoned in 2017 on politically-motivated charges following her senate investigation into the thousands of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s war on drugs. Her case continues to move at a snail’s pace despite the lack of evidence supporting the allegations against her. In response to the recent hostage-taking incident, President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. offered to transfer de Lima to a different detention center but de Lima reported declined.[2]
‘President Marcos Jr’s offer to transfer De Lima to another facility is a mere band-aid solution. De Lima’s ill-treatment and prolonged detention over baseless, trumped-up accusations are unacceptable and clearly violate international human rights standards. The recent hostage incident underscores the urgency of her release. The Philippine government should immediately release her and dismiss the fabricated allegations against her,’ said FORUM-ASIA.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Extremist group
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Mongolia
- Initial Date
- Oct 4, 2022
- Event Description
On October 4 a video of local herders protesting the Erdeneburen hydroelectric power plant construction in Uvs Province’s Umnogovi sum was circulated online. It shows men, women, elderly and children preventing the passage of heavy machinery despite being harassed by several policemen. As predicted by human rights NGOs the population of Uvs Province’s Umnogov sum Ulyast Bagh have started to protest against the work of Erdeneburen HPP, which is threatening to deprive them of their ancestral lands.
As the video went viral, Ch. Gantulga, the project leader of the Erdeneburen hydropower plant project gave an interview in which he promised to use more force to suppress local protest. According to Gantulga, Erdeneburen HPP preparation work has been completed and the ground drilling work has started (Usually this activity is a part of the project preparation, helping to assess the feasibility of dam building -here and further RwB comment). Drilling took place in nine locations in Erdeneburen and Miangad Sum of Hovd Province over the last 45 days. As of October 3rd, the drilling work was set to start at the location “where the HPP dam tunnel will pass through the Ulyast Bagh area of Uvs Province, Umnogov Sum”. The work requires a large drilling rig, excavators, bulldozers, etc., and includes the development of temporary roads. The project team, engineers and technical workers of the Chinese state-owned company that won an international tender, as well as members of the police department of Uvs province center, and the police of the Umnogov sum department were all moving to the site accompanying this machinery (Presence of police indicates that they expected to meet some resistance).
On October 4 the people of the area protested against the entry of equipment and experts into the Shizhigt Gorge (In 2011 Khovd River basin management plan WWF experts recommended that the area be protected as a biodiversity conservation area). The land for the construction of the HPP was taken by the Government of Mongolia for special needs of the state two years ago (without any free prior informed consent of the land inhabitants). The advance of the machinery has stopped as protesters did not yield to bulldozers and police.
From Gantulga’s perspective, those actions of “people who do not have certificates of ownership of land acquired for special needs of the state” are trying to disrupt important and strategic large-scale development and thus acting illegally. He claims that over the past year, his subordinates have negotiated with citizens, held meetings, and evaluated their real estate. In April 2022, the government made a decision to provide one-time cash compensation to each affected citizen within the framework of work to keep the livelihood of the citizens “normal”.
Gantulga claims that his project will “further the energy independence and independence of Mongolia” (An additional large debt to China is hardly a step towards “independence”). He laments that citizens are disrespecting the law and risking their lives organizing a riot. However, “12 policemen are not strong enough” to suppress the citizens, so, to push forward a major project under the government’s policy, they will request deployment of more force and take “appropriate measures”.
Having his own understanding of law, Gantulga accused locals of “illegal actions in the past” such as calling on the head of the government to deliberately stop or delay the project, writing letters “to create misunderstandings between the two countries”, or inviting the population of other affected areas to join the protest (All those actions are a manifestation of basic civil rights and thus cannot be considered illegal).
It is important to remember that two months ago the Minister of Justice Nyambaatar announced that anyone who expresses doubts, or acts or makes statements that result in delayed implementation of strategic development projects will be charged with sabotage under Mongolia’s Criminal Code Article 19.6. In addition, the government has established a task force to investigate and calculate cost of lost opportunity from those responsible for the delay in the implementation (see detailed account of earlier steps taken by the government).
On October 6, a press conference was held in Ulaan Baatar where project official Ch.Gantulga and Ts.Sosorbaram, a soviet-school water engineer responsible for the project EIA, tried to explain that the “project can proceed smoothly”.
Regarding the resettlement Ch.Gantulgaclarified what cash allowances are going to be given to citizens. He said, “According to Government Resolution No. 357 of 2019, 28 thousand hectares of land for the implementation of the Erdeneburen HPP project was taken for special state needs. Before the 2019 decree was issued, 270 households or 1241 citizens were registered in the affected area. In April 2022, the government decided to provide money to those citizens. Therefore, compensation of 15.2 million MNT will be provided to 1240 citizens of 270 registered households. This money has been included in the budget” (Thus each person will get roughly USD 4500 in a one-time disbursement, which may be not enough to restore their livelihoods). Map shows reservoir area (98 km2) and area expropriated by the GoM for this project (green contour 280 km2). We found no explanation why the government has confiscated almost 3 times more land than it needs for the project.
The official list includes 145 households of Bayan-Olgi province and 125 households of Uvs province. According to the EIA, a plan was made to relocate these families in 2022-2024. The government plans to make herdsmen move to neighboring soums and even to build some resettlement housing for them in one place. Compensation will be given to citizens who move.
Judging from available information it is a “Chinese-style” resettlement in which indigenous nomads are forced to concentrate in one place, while pasture for their livestock may be not available there. Further, emphasis on “registered households” makes one suspect that, as in many other cases, there could be a greater number of nomadic families who are using the area according to traditional hereditary rights, but do not have legal registration. As the sad experience with the recently built 11MW Taishir Hydro shows, many people may be forced to change their lifestyle dramatically and migrate to suburban ger districts of Ulaan Baatar or other towns, since without restoring their livestock economy they will have no means to survive in the countryside in the long term.
All in all, the situation is developing according to the worst scenario predicted by RwB and human rights groups: local people are coerced to give up their land, culture, and lifestyle with compensation that is likely insufficient to restore their livelihoods elsewhere. When they protest to protect their ancestral lands, the government criminalizes their act and threatens to bring in more police to suppress them. Anyone helping protesters to express their concerns is threatened by criminal investigation and exorbitant fines.
According to local sources 1 man and 3 women, who participated in October 4 events, have been officially accused of “organizing illegal protest” by police.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, 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
- Community-based HRD, Environmental rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Oct 4, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Kazakhstan should thoroughly investigate recent threats against independent news website Orda and its chief editor Gulnara Bazhkenova, and ensure the outlet and its staff’s safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
On October 5, unidentified individuals sent a severed pig’s head to Orda’s editorial offices in the southern city of Almaty, with a torn photo of Bazhkenova in its mouth, according to news reports and Bazhkenova, who spoke to CPJ by phone.
The incident is the latest in a series of threats, online harassment, and cyberattacks against Bazhkenova, her family, and Orda, following the outlet’s publication of an investigation into alleged lobbying practices by a company reportedly connected to Kazakhstan’s former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Bazhkenova told CPJ she believes these incidents are connected to this and other investigations into Nazarbayev-linked organizations.
CPJ emailed representatives of Nazarbayev for comment via an address provided on his official website but did not immediately receive any reply.
“The shocking and repulsive campaign of threats and harassment against Gulnara Bazhkenova and her outlet Orda are something no journalist ought to face for simply doing their work,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kazakh authorities must swiftly and transparently investigate all incidents of harassment of Bazhkenova and her staff, hold the culprits accountable, and ensure that journalists can operate free from such odious forms of pressure.”
Orda’s July 13 investigation suggested that a London-based company allegedly controlled by Nazarbayev had employed a British lord to lobby on behalf of the former president’s U.K. business interests. A week later, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks began against the outlet’s website, forcing it offline for three weeks, Bazhkenova said.
While Orda has strengthened its cybersecurity, Bazhkenova said DDoS and other forms of cyberattacks have continued “incessantly” since July, with perpetrators constantly seeking “weak spots,” causing the site to go offline for short periods.
Bazhkenova said they do not believe the cyberattacks came from Kazakh authorities, who normally simply block websites, and that such attacks require considerable resources—experts have told her they cost up to $15,000 per day to carry out.
Alongside the website cyberattacks, she said, unidentified users have flooded Orda’s Telegram chat with indecent images and insults directed at Bazhkenova and Orda staff, orchestrated mass complaints that caused the outlet’s Instagram accounts to close, and posted Bazhkenova’s photo and number and the number of Orda’s editorial office in social media ads proposing sexual services, causing them to receive large numbers of unsolicited calls, among other forms of online harassment.
In recent weeks, the online insults have been replaced by threats against Bazhkenova and her seven-year-old son, the journalist said. Photoshopped, pornographic images featuring Bazhkenova and her son have been sent to the outlet’s Telegram chat, accompanied by the address of her son’s school and threats to kidnap him, she said.
On October 4, the day before the pig’s head delivery, threats against Bazhkenova and her son were graffitied in large letters on a square overlooked by Orda’s office windows, according to Bazhkenova and a post by the journalist. Bazhkenova said she filed a complaint with police following this incident and police are investigating both incidents together.
CPJ emailed Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs for comment but did not receive a reply. Information Minister Darkhan Qydyrali, whose ministry oversees the media, condemned the pressure on Orda on Facebook and offered the outlet legal support.
In October 2021, independent news website HOLA News was apparently blocked by Kazakh authorities for 10 days following reporting on Pandora Papers leaks concerning Nazarbayev’s wealth. Bazhkenova said Orda also was blocked for one day during that time over its coverage of the same story.
At the start of Kazakhstan’s mass anti-government protests in January 2022, Orda was one of two outlets blocked before authorities enacted a nationwide internet shutdown.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Death threat, Intimidation and Threats, Online Attack and Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Oct 2, 2022
- Event Description
The Taliban rebels have scattered the demonstrations of female students over Friday’s suicide bombing in Kabul at Herat University by opening fire, sources said.
According to sources, the Taliban opened fire near the protesters to prevent the march from continuing.
However, one of the protestors said that despite the Taliban’s fire, the protests are still going on.
Female students took to the streets Sunday with slogans of “stop Hazara genocide and the “right to education”.
Yesterday, a number of girls demonstrated in Kabul in response to this attack, but it was scattered by the Taliban.
Nearly 150 people were killed and injured in Friday’s deadly attack at Kaj Educational Center.
Meanwhile, Friday’s suicide bombing in Kabul sparked national and international reactions.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Oct 2, 2022
- Event Description
Huynh Thuc Vy’s family visited her at Gia Trung Prison in Gia Lai Province on October 9. Her brother, Huynh Trong Hieu, reported that during the last five minutes of the visit, when Vy was allowed to hug her children, she whispered to her six-year-old daughter that she had been “beaten and choked by the neck.” Hieu also said that at the last visit on August 10, Vy slammed the phone on the floor after being told she could not hug her children, but she later said she was not disciplined for it. Hieu said Vy might have been targeted by officials for helping other prisoners, sharing her food with them, giving their families’ phone numbers to Hieu so he could update them about their imprisoned loved ones.
Mrs Vy is serving 33 month-jail in Gia Trung prison, Gia Lai province, for desecrating the flag of communist Vietnam.
In Sept 2022, after a prison visit, her 6-year-old daughter told her family that Mrs Vy said she had been beaten by a prison officer.
Her family lodged a written request to the Police in charge of Prison (C10 unit), Gia Lai public prosecutor office and Gia Trung prison , demanding an investigation into this.
In a face-to-face meeting with prison authorities on Wed (9 Nov), including Mrs Vy and her brother Huynh Trong Hieu, Mr Hieu was told the real story. He relayed it to RFA Viet:
(main points)
· Ms Vy was not assaulted by the prison officer, but by three criminal prisoners, in front of prison officers.
· In the meeting [on 9 Nov], Ms Vy said that on 2 Oct, a female criminal prisoner named Le Thi Huyen Anh slapped her twice in her face at the prison kitchen, because she didn't wear prison uniform. She told prison officers about this, the prison took no action. On her way back to her cell, this criminal prisoner again, out of the blue, struck her at her nape, when she fell down, that prisoner strangled her.
· In another meeting between Mrs Vy and prisoner Huyen Anh to resolve conflicts, in the presence of 5 prison officers, two additional prisoners were present. One was a female criminal prisoner named Pham Thi Chien who suddenly lunged at her and strangled her, and another prisoner threatened to use a chair to bash her. The prison officers present took no action at what was happening.
· Mr Hieu told RFA Viet, both him and Mrs Vy didn't understand why these two additional were present at the meeting to resolve the conflict between Mrs Vy and prisoner Huyen Anh.
· Mrs Vy also accused that, for over a month now, another prisoner threatened her that she 'won't be alive to return home'.
· About a week after 2 Oct, the prison organised a denunciation session, where Mrs Vy was denounced for 'offending prison officers and other prisoners'; prison officers asked other prisoners to give suggestions how to deal with Mrs Vy. The prison didn't take any action against prisoners who assaulted Mrs Vy, and had no plan to protect her.
· In another working session with prison officers, Mrs Vy was pressured by Mr Pham Tat Trung - representative of Gia Trung prison inspectors - and Mr Dang Ngoc Son - representative of prison officers, to withdraw her complaint against prisoner Le Thi Huyen Anh who slapped her and strangled her.
Having been assaulted and threatened, Mrs Vy became physically ill and mentally exhausted.
In the meeting on 9 Nov where both Mrs Vy and her brother Hieu were present, the prison asked both of them to sign a report, to correct the information regarding Mrs Vy was assaulted by prisoner Huyen Anh; the prison didn't say anything about protecting Mrs Vy's safety.
From the information he gathered so far, Mr Hieu suspected that the prison is plotting to harm Mrs Vy - using other criminal prisoners in their scheme.
Mr Hieu calls on rights organisations to please voice their concern about Mrs Vy's situation, to give her timely protection and save her life.
Mrs Vy is among founders of the independent Vietnamese Women's Association.
Human Rights Watch awarded her and her father the Hellman/Hammet prize in 2012 for their efforts to promote human rights in Vietnam.
Vietnam's laws allow prisoners with young children under 3 years to postpone serving their sentence. However, Mrs Vy was forced to serve her sentence on 30 Nov 2021, even though at that time her youngest child was under 3 years old.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death threat, Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Oct 1, 2022
- Event Description
Vietnamese journalist and human rights defender Pham Doan Trang was transferred from Hoa Lo Detention Center in Hanoi to An Phuoc Prison in Vietnam’s southern Binh Duong Province on October 1, according to the latest update from her family. The new prison is located about 100 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City center. Other political prisoners who are being jailed in An Phuoc Prison include journalist Nguyen Tuong Thuy and student activist Tran Hoang Phuc. Vietnamese authorities often send political prisoners to detention centers located far from their families as an extra form of punishment. Last month, Nguyen Thi Tam, a Vietnamese land rights activist, was transferred to Gia Trung Prison in Gia Lai Province, which is nearly 1,200 kilometers from her home. Trinh Ba Phuong, another land rights activist, is being held at An Diem Prison in Quang Nam Province, which is located around 800 km from his home.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Oct 1, 2022
- Event Description
Female students marched in the Dasht-e Barchi area to condemn repeated attacks on Hazaras and education centers related to the Hazara community, which were violently dispersed by the Taliban.
One of the protestors, on the condition of anonymity, told Hasht-e Subh that dozens of female students started marching in the west of Kabul at 10:00 a.m. today (Saturday, October 1st).
According to this protester, the rally was launched to protest over Friday’s suicide attack on the students of the Kaj education center in Kabul. The protest started from the Pul-e Sukhta area and the protesters wanted to go to Mohammad Ali Jinnah Hospital.
The protester says that the Taliban stopped the protestors near Mohammad Ali Jinnah hospital with aerial gunshots and violent behavior.
The Taliban have beaten the female students with rifles and electric gears. The Taliban have stopped the journalists from covering this event.
Approximately 100 students were killed and injured in a suicide attack yesterday at Kaj education center in the west of Kabul where a mock Kankor examination was held.
--
A source in the girls’ dormitory of Kabul University confirms that 80% of the female students in this dormitory have been poisoned.
The source, speaking to Hasht-e Subh said that this incident happened on Saturday morning, October 1, when students were supposed to demonstrate at the girls’ dormitory of Kabul University on Sunday in response to the continuing attacks on educational centers.
According to the sources, the hostel manager and some of the staff members are healthy, except for the cooks.
The officials of the girls’ dormitory of Kabul University, after facing the reaction of the students blame hygiene and the use of outside food as the reason behind the issue.
Several poisoned students visited the doctor at their own expense after their condition worsened.
Following the attack on Kaaj Educational Center in west Kabul, a large number of women in Kabul, Herat, and Bamyan provinces staged on the streets, and tens of thousands of users on social media launched a campaign under the name “Stop the Genocide and Killing the Millennials”.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- 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
- Media Worker, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Viet Nam
- Initial Date
- Sep 30, 2022
- Event Description
On 30 Sept 2022, 46-year-old Ms Ngoc Tien of An Giang province was sentenced to 12 years jail plus 4 years probation for subversion, despite the fact that she had handed herself in, made sincere confession and asking for a lighter sentence - as reported by state media.
State media reported that in April 2017, she used Facebook “Van Nguyen” to join forums organised by US-based democracy advocacy group 'Vietnam Provisional Government' (VPG) headed by a Vietnamese American citizen named Mr Dao Minh Quan. This group is branded a terrorist group by the communist regime.
The indictment stated that Ms Ngoc Tien used her facebook page to mobilise many people to participate in an online referendum, to vote for Mr Dao Minh Quan as President of the 3rd Republic of Vietnam. [The fledgling democracy of South Vietnam was under the 2nd republic before it was taken over by the Northern communist force in April 1975, ending the Vietnam War.]
As at Feb 2022, she reportedly managed to recruit 225 people who lived in hardship, she then provided their information to VPG so VPG could consider giving them gifts, money, houses and jobs.
According to RFA, to date, at least 19 people had been sentenced for subversion, for having joined VPG.
RFA had tried to contact VPG many times but had been unsuccessful.
- 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, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
English summary of the case shared via email to FORUM-ASIA, a Vietnamese article of the case is available at RFA
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Afghanistan
- Initial Date
- Sep 29, 2022
- Event Description
The Taliban fighters scattered the protests of women in Kabul by opening fire who were marching for the killing of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian girl.
This march was held on Thursday by a number of women in protest against the murder of this Iranian girl in front of the Iranian embassy in Kabul.
Protesters chanted the slogans “women, life and freedom”, “Iran stood, now it’s our turn” and “from Kabul to Iran, say no to dictatorship”.
As reported, within the minutes that the protests began, the Taliban dispersed the women by opening fire.
Meanwhile, it is not the first time that the Taliban use bullets against the civil and peaceful protest of women.
Amini, 22, from the northwestern Kurdish city of Saqez, was arrested on Sept. 13 in Tehran for “unsuitable attire” by the morality police who enforce the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
She died three days later in hospital after falling into a coma, sparking the first big show of opposition on Iran’s streets since authorities crushed protests against a rise in gasoline prices in 2019.
- 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
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Philippines
- Initial Date
- Sep 28, 2022
- Event Description
Students of Far Eastern University (FEU), along with other university belt schools, staged a protest last November 4 to condemn the FEU administration for the possible dismissal of three Tamaraw students.
The three students are facing charges after they participated in a September 21 protest commemorating the 50th year since the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. declared Martial Law.
In an interview with Bulatlat, one of the students, Romarie Relator, 20, a first year nursing student narrated the timeline of events about the issue.
Timeline of Events
Relator said various groups in the university made plans and initiatives for the Martial Law commemoration, including a massive callout to join a silent protest in the university pavilion with participants wearing black.
At precisely 12 noon, during breaktime, many students joined the Sept. 21 protest, which lasted for only two to three minutes. This was followed by a short discussion about the atrocities committed during the martial law years.
While the discussion was taking place, several university guards approached the students and took pictures of their discussion circles. The students then returned to their classes after the discussions.
Relator and two other students Marie Justine Keswani, 20, a second year student, and Dyan Macerin, 22, a second year education student, stayed at the pavilion since they no longer had classes. They were then “forcefully escorted” to the Office of the Student Discipline (OSD), where they were questioned by the security personnel without being informed why they were being apprehended.
Relator said OSD director Rosalie Cada ordered the three to look for the other students who joined the protest.
The university staff also confiscated the pamphlets that were distributed during the activity and attempted to take the their identification cards. When they asked why, the students were told to ask for clarifications during the Parents Committee.
They were also warned that if they do not comply with the hearing that will be conducted by the Ad Hoc Discipline Committee, together with their parents, they will not be able to enrol the following semester.
Seven days after the protest, she said that their school IDs were blocked, leaving them without access to the campus and that they missed their classes as a result. Relator, for her part, said she missed her midterm examination for her Art Appreciation class.
Macerin’s parents conference took place last Oct. 21, while Relator’s was last Nov. 3. For Keswani, the OSD has yet to schedule the conference with her parents, since they are working overseas and that the OSD insists that the parents be present during the conference.
During the conference, the students then learned that they were being charged with grave offenses stated their handbook. These are:
-
“Hazing and recruitment or membership to fraternities, sororities, or other organizations not recognized by the university,” and
-
“Acts of subversion and insurgency, such as unauthorized demonstrations, rallies and boycotting of classes, including use of class hours or classrooms to encourage students to join in subversive acts or insurgency.”
Relator said they tried to negotiate the OSD’s decision, and that they be at least allowed to finish the first semester. They were told, however, that the handbook is “black and white” and that their appeal will not be granted. They were also advised to voluntarily withdraw from the university to still be able to obtain a good morale certificate instead of their respective records be marred with the alleged offenses.
Calls to drop the charges
Relator said their silent and short protest was only meant to remember the atrocities during Martial Law of Marcos Sr. and that this is very much relevant with the dictator’s son now seating as president.
“We protested in order to forward our calls during the Martial Law commemoration but the FEU’s actions resulted in trampling our freedom of expression and the people’s rights to organize,” Relator said.
This, she added, will result in a chilling effect among her fellow students.
Various progressive youth groups came to the defense of the three students, expressing their disappointment over the “lack of action on the grievances of the student body, which encompasses the students’ right to quality education and democratic rights.”
“FEU labeling the Martial Law Commemoration protest as ‘acts of subversion and insurgency’ is no different from the NTF-ELCAC’s massive spate of red-tagging and harassment conducted against those who fight for historical truth and justice,” said Justine Keswani, spokesperson of Anakbayan Morayta.
The intercollegiate alliance of student publications in the Asia-Pacific, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), meanwhile said that the university that claims to champion fortitude, excellence, and uprightness should be the same university for a safe haven of discourse and pillars of critical thinking.
The groups called on the FEU administration to drop the charges against the three students, saying that “as our nation faces a severe education crisis, FEU must channel its energy in putting primacy on giving quality education and heeding the demands of the students.”
What happens next?
According to Relator, the OSD said they will forward the case to the Student Conduct Committee, consisting of seven representatives from the university. However, she also reiterated that during the time when their case was deliberated, no student conduct committee was formed.
The three students are now talking to a lawyer for possible legal action.
Bulatlat has reached out to the FEU administration for comments. As of this writing, the university has not yet replied.
-
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to education, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 27, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Htet Htet Khine and stop jailing journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On September 27, Htet Htet Khine, a freelance BBC Media Action reporter, was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, according to a statement by BBC Media Action, which did not specify the charge she was convicted under.
On September 15, Htet Htet Khine received her first three-year prison sentence with hard labor for allegedly violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news, as CPJ documented.
According to a report by the AP, Htet Htet Khine was also facing charges under the Unlawful Association Act for allegedly contacting “illegal organizations,” which carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
“Myanmar’s junta must reverse this outrageous verdict against journalist Htet Htet Khine and set her free immediately and unconditionally,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The military regime must stop treating journalists like criminals for merely doing their jobs.”
The journalist, who has been detained since August 15, 2021, received a reduction in her sentence for time served and therefore faces five years of hard labor, according to the outlet’s statement, which said it remains “concerned for her safety and well-being in detention.”
Htet Htet Khine was moved after her September 15 trial to Insein prison in the city of Yangon, news reports said. Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists as of December 1, 2021, according to CPJ’s annual prison census.
- 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
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending