Uwazi

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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:

1. “Hazing and recruitment or membership to fraternities, sororities, or other organizations not recognized by the university,” and

2. “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.

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.

Ramon Magsaysay award recipient Sandeep Pandey and others who were scheduled to participate in the foot march, titled ‘Apologising to Bilkis Bano’ on Monday were detained by Gujarat Police on Sunday night.

The march was planned to be taken out from Bano’s native village Randhikpur in neighbouring Dahod district under the banner of ‘Hindu-Muslim Ekta Samiti’. The march was to conclude in Ahmedabad on October 4.

Bilkis Bano was five months’ pregnant when she was gang-raped by the Hindu mob while fleeing the anti-Muslim genocide that broke out in 2002. Her three-year-old daughter was among the seven killed by the Hindu mob. The 11 men convicted in the case walked out of the Godhra sub-jail on August 15 this year after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.

“We only wish to apologise to Bilkis for whatever has happened to her and wish such heinous acts do not happen in an otherwise peaceful state of Gujarat,” the Hindu-Muslim Ekta Samiti said in the statement.

“We have been brought to a police station 15 km from Godhra. Our yatra was to apologize to Bilkis Bano, not to oppose the government. I am an anti-caste atheist, but as a person born into a Hindu family, I feel these people are a blot, and I am deeply ashamed,” Pandey said.

“This is happening in Gandhi’s Gujarat— Gandhi, who called for Truth and Non-violence. It is a matter of deep injustice that that the murderers and rapists were released and celebrated as sanskaari Brahmins, we peaceful yatris been detained. Why are they afraid of us?,” he added.

“It seems they will detain us for a day or more, so that the pad yatra does not take place as scheduled. Others who have not been detained might start the Yatra as planned. If we are prevented from doing the yaatra, I may do a 9 day fast in solidarity with Bilkis Bano,” said Pandey.

“Dr. Sandeep Pandey along with 6 others have been detained at the Godhra police station even before they could start their yatra demanding justice for Bilkis Bano. First, let the rapist free & then detain those demanding justice for victims. That’s gujarat model for us,” tweeted Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani.

The other detainees include Nitesh Gangaramani Bharatiya, Tanushree Gangopadhyay, Hanif Haji Kalandar, Noorjehan Diwan, Kausar Ali and T. Gopal krishna.

Hindus for Human Rights, a body of Indian Americans had demanded the immediate release of Dr. Sandeep Pandey and others.

“We demand that the peaceful padyatra in solidarity with Bilkis Bano be allowed to take place as planned,” it said in a statement.

Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, briefly detained two activists who protested against a wave of Russian citizens entering the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization to boost troop levels in the war in Ukraine.

Qarakoz Qasym and Aisultan Qudaibergen were detained on September 23 at the Almaty international airport while holding posters saying: "Did you realize that you are cannon fodder?" and "Either respect or go away," as passengers from a Moscow-Almaty flight passed by after disembarking.

Qasym told RFE/RL that she was expressing her support for the Ukrainian people, who are standing up to Russia's unprovoked invasion launched in late February.

"I am against the flow of Russian citizens to Kazakhstan. This opinion of mine is shared by many. Through my rally, I wanted to show what people in my country think about all of this. There is no guarantee that those who're arriving here in droves now will not stab us in the back later," Qasym said.

Qasym added that the police told her and Qudaibergen that they will be charged with "minor hooliganism," but after journalists interfered, the warnings disappeared.

Police spokesman Ernar Tasqyn told RFE/RL that the two activists were released shortly after law enforcement officers "held preventive talks" and warned them about possible repercussions for repeat infractions.

Since Putin announced a partial military mobilization on September 21, thousands of Russians have left for countries where Russians can enter without visas, such as Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Videos showing long lines of vehicles leaving Russia and stuck along the Russian-Kazakh border have circulated on the Internet.

On September 22, Kazakh parliamentary speaker Maulen Ashimbaev told reporters in Astana that his country will not issue residence permits to "individuals who fail to provide documents proving that the countries of their citizenship have no objections to their move to Kazakhstan."

According to Kazakhstan’s official statistics, since the beginning of 2022, 1.6 million Russian citizens have come to Kazakhstan. It is not known how many of them have remained in the Central Asian nation.

Myanmar beauty queen Han Lay, who called on the international community to help her country regain democracy during last year’s Miss Grand International pageant in Thailand, has been detained by Thai authorities in Bangkok, she told RFA Burmese on Thursday.

Han Lay was taken into custody on Wednesday night by immigration officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport as she returned from a three-day trip to Vietnam, she said in a phone interview.

She said she believes the military regime reported her to Interpol as being wanted for illegal activities in Myanmar, as retribution for her anti-junta activism at home and in Thailand.

“As I returned from Vietnam to Thailand, the system set off a ‘red notice’ when my passport was processed, saying that my name is on the Interpol list, so Thai authorities denied my entry into Thailand,” she said, adding that her passport was confiscated by Vietnamese airline officials and is now listed as “lost.”

“The normal procedure is to return the detainee to the country they left. But I refused to go back to Vietnam [for fear they would deport me to Myanmar]. So they have kept me in the airport.”

Thai immigration authorities released a statement saying that Han Lay was “denied entry to Thailand because she lacked the required travel documents under Thai immigration law.” The statement said immigration officials are “negotiating with the airline authorities to deport her,” but made no mention of her being under arrest.

Han Lay said the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) is working with the Thai government on her case.

“I hope they will help me to secure the best option, whether it is re-entry to Thailand or entry to a third country,” she said.

Visa renewal

Han Lay was a participant in the 2020 Miss Grand International pageant, held in Bangkok just a month after Myanmar’s military seized control of the country in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. After using the stage to appeal to the international community for the release of Myanmar’s ousted leaders, Han Lay remained in Thailand on a tourist visa, knowing she would likely face persecution back home, where she has since been charged in absentia for “high treason.”

After more than 18 months in Thailand, she had overstayed her visa and was unable to extend it any longer, so she traveled to Vietnam with the hope that she could reapply upon her return.

“It was easier to depart Thailand and apply for a new visa to return,” she said.

“Before my departure, I tried to confirm whether I would have any trouble upon my return to Thailand. [The Thai authorities] told me it would be fine, so I left. But I guess the authorities in Myanmar spoke with their counterparts in Vietnam before I returned to Thailand.”

Han Lay told RFA that Thailand cannot deport her to Myanmar while her case is being reviewed by the UNHCR, but she is unsure of what will happen to her after that. Attempts by RFA to reach Thai immigration authorities for comment on Han Lay’s status went unanswered on Thursday.

She noted that she could be sentenced to death by the junta if she were to return to Myanmar.

“I think an entire military division would be waiting for me upon my arrival at the airport [if I was deported home],” she said, noting that the charges she faces are even more severe than those under the country’s anti-terrorism law that are more commonly used to prosecute opponents of military rule.

“They wanted me to show support for the coup, but I said otherwise, so they accused me of offending the state. It’s pretty obvious what they are doing.”

‘I acted of my own free will’

But despite the uncertainty of her situation and the likelihood she will be unable to return to Myanmar while the junta controls the country, the beauty queen said she stands by her decision to condemn the military rule on the world stage.

“I believe what I did was the right thing to do … nobody convinced me to do it — I acted of my own free will.

“I got into this trouble not because of something I did wrong, but because I stood up for justice. I am hopeful that concerned organizations around the world will offer to help me out of this situation.”

Han Lay said that life for her in Thailand had been “a struggle” and expressed her appreciation to the Miss Grand Pageant organization for supporting her over the last 18 months.

“I am ready to start a new life if I get a chance to resettle in another country,” she said.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Nohrit Mandavi, Mr. Keshav Shori and Ms. Shalini Gera are members of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, an alliance of people’s movements and individuals in Chhattisgarh. Mr. Mandavi is a young activist based in Kondagaon district. Mr. Keshav Shori and Advocate Gera are well-known human rights defenders based in Kanker district. All three have been working with villagers in the Rowghat hills on issues like forest rights and human rights for several years.

Mr. Somnath Usendi, Mr. Lakhan Nureti and Mr. Narsingh Mandavi are members of the Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti, a committee of local villagers opposed to the Rowghat iron-ore mines situated at the border of Kanker and Narayanpur districts in the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh. Mr. Usendi is the president of the Samiti and all three activists are from affected villages. They have been educating fellow villagers about the Forest Rights Act and the PESA Act, and how these have been violated in awarding the various clearances to the mines.

Background of the Incident: The Rowghat Iron Ore mines, which cover over 2000 hectares of pristine forest land in the Rowghat hills held sacred by Adivasi communities, are situated at the border of Kanker and Narayanpur districts in the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh. Though the mines were granted environment and forest clearances in 2009, mining operations did not take off until recently owing to stiff resistance from most villages in the project area.

The Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti, a committee of local villagers that is spearheading the resistance, alleges that laws like the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act were violated while awarding clearances for the mines. In two meetings held in August and September 2022, sarpanches, traditional heads, priests, and residents of 28 affected villages in the area met and decided by consensus that since no approval for the mines had been granted by gram sabhas, mining should be stopped forthwith. The Budha Dev Anjarel Mines Vikas Samiti is a recently formed pro-mining group comprised of select local sarpanches, ward members, Congress and BJP leaders and youth from affected villages. The group claims that since the entire area has been denotified, there are no forests, and hence there is no question of forest rights. Background of the incident: On August 28, 2022, and September 09, 2022, two meetings of the Duggal Pargana (traditional unit comprising around 28 villages) were organised wherein resolutions demanding immediate halt to mining activities were adopted, as no gram sabha consent had been taken for the mines. Mr. Mainuram Kumeti and Mr. Ramlal Usendi were present at these meetings. Details of the Incident: On September 16, 2022, a small team comprising journalists Ms. Gargi Verma and Mr. Mukesh Chandrakar, other local reporters and three Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan members – Mr. Keshav Shori, Mr. Nohrit Mandavi and Advocate Ms. Shalini Gera – visited the Rowghat area in order to understand the views of local villagers regarding mining and was briefed about these meetings by Mr. Mainuram Kumeti and Mr. Ramlal Usendi. The team then proceeded to Khodgaon village in Narayanpur block, which is located at the border of the mine, with two Border Security Force camps located on either side of the road leading to the mine. At around 4 PM, on September 16, when the team was interviewing a group of around 30 villagers including Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti members Mr. Somnath Usendi, Mr. Lakhan Nureti and Mr. Narsingh Mandavi in front of the community hall, a few police and paramilitary personnel also reached the spot, accompanied by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. Lokesh Bansal and Mr. Sukku Nureti, a surrendered Maoist and member of the District Reserve Guard. These personnel observed local activists and villagers talking to the team about their apprehensions and opposition to the mines with great interest, and left the spot in their patrolling vehicle after a few minutes. Around 6 PM, as the interviews were winding down, around 25-30 motorcycles with 50-60 riders arrived suddenly at the spot. The mob was led by Mr. Bishel Nag, sarpanch of Khodgaon panchayat and president of the pro-mining Budha Dev Anjarel Mines Vikas Samiti, and most of the young men accompanying him were drunk. They shouted slogans in support of the Budha Dev Anjarel Mines Vikas Samiti, accosted and heckled the assembled villagers, and asked the team of activists and journalists to leave the spot immediately. Mr. Nag and others attacked the assembled villagers and members of the visiting team including several women, injuring many. The driver of the car hired by Ms. Verma and Mr. Chandrakar, and a local reporter from Narayanpur – he did not wish to be named – were badly beaten up. Mr. Chandrakar was grabbed by the collar in order to drag him out of the car. The car itself was kicked and damaged. Mr. Somnath Usendi and Mr. Narsingh Mandavi from the Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti were shoved and punched several times, and many women villagers were also pushed around and loudly abused. In the melee, members of the visiting team got separated. The driver of the car, the reporters and Advocate Ms. Shalini Gera were shoved into the car by the violent crowd and forced to drive away. They made their way to the office of the Superintendent of Police at Narayanpur but were followed by a vehicle without a number plate all the way. Meanwhile, Mr. Nohrit Mandavi, who got separated from the others and was walking to back to Narayanpur, and motorcycle-borne attackers including Mr. Bishel Nag and Mr. Suku Nureti for over one hour. He was then released by them. At around 7 PM, policemen in plainclothes and riding a motorcycle stopped him barely a kilometre from Khodgaon, confiscated his phone and Aadhaar card and forced him to write his address and contact number on a blank piece of paper. Along with Mr. Bishel Nag, Mr. Suku Nureti and other attackers on motorcycles, they yanked his hand and felled him to the ground, then they kicked him with their boots. They threatened to kill Mr. Mandavi if he was seen in the area again and said he would be given special “treatment” in Bharanda police station all through the night. He was rescued from his captors by DSP Mr. Bansal and other police officers at around 8 PM, after other members of the visiting team contacted the SP and requested his intervention. Before the arrival of the police, Mr. Bishel Nag, Mr. Suku Nureti and others told Mr. Mandavi that several young members of their team were willing to testify (falsely) that he was a Maoist who visited the Rowghat hills often to further the “movement”. They threated to lodge multiple FIRs against him based on such testimonies if he spoke about his torture. Under intense pressure, Mr. Mandavi did not speak about the torture to the SP and other police officials. He also informed his fellow team members about the torture a few days later, when they had time to talk in detail. The incident raises several questions regarding the involvement of police, paramilitary and elected sarpanches in muzzling local villagers’ peaceful protest against mining in the Rowghat hills. The sequence of events indicates that police and paramilitary are colluding with vested interests to carry out reprisals against protesting villagers and HRDs who visit the area to understand the conflict. When Ms. Gera and other members of the visiting team sought to meet Superintendent of Police, Narayanpur Mr. P. Sadanand urgently at his residence and his office regarding Mr. Nohrit Mandavi’s illegal detention and torture, they were kept waiting for over 40 minutes. Instead of asking team members about the attackers and the problems they faced in talking to villagers, he interrogated them, particularly the two tribal members, Mr. Keshav Shori and Mr. Nohrit Mandavi, about who they were, which village they were from, which organisations they belonged to, where such organisations were headquartered, who led them and so on. When team members told the SP that the Rowghat Sangharsh Samiti members were afraid for their own security, he said that all the youth in the affected villages wanted mining jobs, and that the Sangharsh Samiti people had “put their hands into a bee’s hive” (madhumakkhiyon ke chhatte me haath daala hai), so the reaction of the youth was only natural. Reprisals against villagers opposed to the mines and activists supporting their peaceful movement have continued after the violent incident. On September 17, a police officer from the Central Intelligence Bureau visited the office of Mr. Keshav Shori and discouraged civil society members from undertaking such visits to Rowghat. The same day, Mr. Narsingh Mandavi was publicly chastised for opposing the mines by a large crowd of villagers led by Gulab Baghel, one of the richest men in the area and an office bearer of the pro-mining samiti. Five women of Khodgaon also submitted a complaint to the Police Station at Bharanda regarding the violent attacks on their village by Mr. Bishel Nag and other prominent members of the prom-mining group.

A court in Yangon sentenced Myanmar journalist Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, to three years in prison with hard labour on Thursday.

The Bahan Township court convicted Htet Htet Khine of incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code more than a year after her arrest in August of last year.

She was arrested along with columnist Sithu Aung Myint at an apartment where they had been hiding in Yangon’s Bahan Township. The junta accused her of harbouring Sithu Aung Myint in her home and of working as an editor for a radio station run by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) called Federal FM.

The coup regime initially opened a case against her under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act for her alleged involvement with the NUG, which the junta has designated a terrorist group.

That case—for which she faces an additional three-year sentence if found guilty—is still pending.

In addition to her work as a producer, Htet Htet Khine also presented a program called “Khan Sar Kyi”—“Feel It”—for BBC Media Action.

Sithu Aung Myint, a contributor to media outlets such as VOA Burmese and Frontier Myanmar, had been evading arrest since the coup regime charged him with incitement in April of last year. Following his arrest, he was also charged with sedition, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In a statement, BBC Media Action’s director of programmes, Richard Lace, said that the organisation was “alarmed” by the sentence and expressed concern for Htet Htet Khine’s safety and well-being.

“This, and other detentions of media workers in the country, runs counter to basic principles of human rights and freedom of expression,” he said.

The two journalists are being detained in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison.

Since the coup in February last year, the regime has forced at least 12 media outlets to shut down and arrested 142 journalists. Of these, 57 remain behind bars, including 26 who have already been convicted on various charges.

A 24-year-old protester charged with royal defamation for wearing Thai traditional dress at a mock fashion show during a protest on Silom Road on 29 October 2020 has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for an offence against the Queen.

On 14 September, the Court of Appeal has allowed her bail with 300,000 baht securities.

Jatuporn Sae-Ung was charged with royal defamation, violations of the Public Assembly Act, the Emergency Decree, and the Communicable Diseases Act, and using a sound amplifier without permission. She was accused of insulting the Queen by wearing a Thai traditional dress to participate in the “Ratsadorn Catwalk” fashion show, staged at the 29 October 2020 protest, a gesture seen as mockery of the royal family.

The complaint against her was filed by Waritsanun Sribawornthanakit, the owner of a pro-establishment Facebook page who also filed a complaint against Noppasin Treelayapewat, a 17-year-old protester, for wearing a black crop top to the same event with the message “My father’s name is Mana, not Vajiralongkorn” written on his back.

Because Noppasin is still a minor, his case is being handled by the Central Juvenile and Family Court. His sentencing date has not been set.

The ”Ratsadorn Catwalk” took place after it was reported that the Ministry of Commerce received a 13-million baht budget for the overseas exhibition of new products by the Sirivannavari brand, a fashion label owned by the King’s younger daughter, Princess Sirivannavari.

The 29 October 2020 protest took place on the same day that Sirivannavari’s new collection was being launched at the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Although there were no speeches, protesters participated in the fashion show, performed, and exhibited artwork to support monarchy reform.

The South Bangkok Criminal Court today (12 September) found Jatuporn guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Public Assembly Act and sentenced her to 3 years in prison and a fine of 1,500 baht. It then reduced her sentence to 2 years in prison and a fine of 1,000 baht because she gave useful testimony.

The court order sentencing Jatuporn was signed by judge Watanaphon Chaimani.

Weeranan Huadsri, Jatuporn’s lawyer, said that the Court saw Jatuporn’s action as premeditated, because Jatuporn and Noppasin made preparations before joining the protest, and so it ruled that they intended to mock the King and Queen and damage the royal family’s reputation.

Weeranan noted that the judge ordered all observers to leave the courtroom, claiming that this was the court’s Covid-19 prevention measure, but did not order the proceedings to be carried out in secret. Only Jatuporn’s partner and her guarantor were allowed to remain.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Jatuporn’s lawyer requested bail for her in order to file an appeal using a 300,000-baht security. However, the court forwarded her bail request to the Appeal Court, so Jatuporn will be held at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution until the Appeal Court rules whether to grant her bail or not.

Before she was sentenced, Jatuporn told TLHR in an interview that she was prepared to be imprisoned, because she had seen news reports of other people being found guilty.

The charges against her have disrupted her life. She has had to travel back and forth between Buriram and Bangkok to meet the public prosecutor, and many times she has had to travel to sign a single document, or just to hear that the meeting has been postponed. She is also unemployed, as she often has to travel to meet the public prosecutor or go to court and can’t work full time.

“An employer wants someone who can work full time, which I can’t do because I’m caught up with the case,” she said. “On this, I understand them. This is why I am unemployed right now.”

Jatuporn said she was formerly a royalist, and that she was taught by both her family and school to love the late King Bhumibol. After his death in 2016, Jatuporn got a tattoo of the number “9” in Thai as a symbol of her loyalty, but since being charged with royal defamation, she added three red lines over the original tattoo.

“How do you judge whether someone does or doesn’t love the monarchy?” Jatuporn asked. She said that being charged has made her feel like it’s no longer possible to love or respect the monarchy.

“I want the monarchy to think carefully about who damages the monarchy more; people calling for reform or those who hold up pictures and go around beating up other people?”

Jatuporn said that she felt the court proceedings were not very fair, noting that it was unclear whether notes could be taken during hearings and that she wanted to be able to take notes on things that may have benefited her case. She also wanted to tell the plaintiff that she just wanted to wear a traditional dress because the event was a fashion show, and she does not often have the chance to wear national dress.

“I didn’t want to be anyone. I just wanted to be myself in a traditional dress, that’s all,” she said.

Following Jatuporn’s sentencing, Amnesty International Thailand issued a statement calling her sentence “a chilling prelude of what’s to come,” as at least 210 people have been charged with royal defamation since the start of the pro-democracy protests in 2020, and called on the authorities to drop charges against participants in peaceful protests and release those arbitrarily detained.

“The mock fashion show was a satirical take on the political situation of the country – a peaceful public event akin to a street festival with music, food, and dancing. Participants should not be punished for participating in a peaceful assembly,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Secretary General Kyle Ward.

“With protests picking up again in Thailand, this latest conviction underlines the degree to which Thai authorities continue to repress peaceful dissent.

“Thai authorities are obliged to protect the peaceful exercise of the rights to expression and assembly, but they instead continue to pursue criminal proceedings against demonstrators, many of them young people or even children. These young protesters should be free to express their opinions and participate in discussions in society, and should not face the prospect of unwarranted prison sentences and criminal records.”

On 12 September, South Bangkok Criminal Court accepted a defamation lawsuit filed by Thammakaset Co Ltd, the 39th of its kind, against Angkhana Neelapaijit, Puttanee Kangkun, and Thanaporn Saleephol over their tweets about labour rights violations at their farm.

The Court later freed the three on bail, according to defence lawyer Sor Rattanamanee Polkla’s Facebook post.

Tittasat Soodsan, another defence lawyer, told Prachatai that the case was originally filed in 2019 as 4 separate cases, 2 against Angkhana and one each against Puttanee and Thanaporn. The plaintiff’s lawyer later in the same year proposed to the Court merging the cases into one, to which the Court agreed.

All the cases stem from sharing 2 twitter posts and 3 retweets to support other defendants who had been sued by the company. The 5 tweets contain a link to an open letter related to defamation cases that Thammakaset has filed. The open letter in turn contains a link related to a Fortify Rights video about labour rights. The video has been the subject of a defamation suit.

Tittasat said bail was allowed without any security, but the defendants have to attend every Court hearing, the next being scheduled for 14 November for trial and evidence examination.

Thammakaset’s barrage of lawsuits came after 14 Myanmar workers submitted to the National Human Rights Commission a petition claiming that they were made to work for below-minimum wages without overtime pay and that their documents had been seized by their employer. The company sued them in October 2019 for defamation but the case was dropped.

The company later sued at least one academic, six human rights advocates, and one journalist for either producing or recycling information about its alleged labour rights violations.

The company’s strategy has stirred criticism and condemnation from human rights organisations, who see it as Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPP), or lawsuits that are filed to stop people from addressing public issues.

In March 2020, a group of UN experts condemned the continued misuse of the judicial process by Thammakaset to harass and silence human rights defenders who have spoken out against its abusive and exploitative labour practices.

“We are deeply troubled by the information we continue to receive about migrant workers, human rights defenders, academics and journalists facing ill-founded defamation cases by the company Thammakaset when they raise legitimate concerns about working conditions in this company,” the experts said.

Tittasat said the lawyers on Monday submitted to the Court a request to drop the case, citing the lawsuit as judicial harassment under Section 161/1 of Criminal Procedure Code that allows the Courts to dismiss a case if it finds that it has been filed to harass another. The Court dismissed the request, saying they still did not have enough information to confirm this.

The Court’s decision again brings into question how the provisions under Section 161/1 are implemented in practice. Tittasat has asked the Courts to consider this provision in many SLAPP cases but never succeeded.

“In the past, we used [Section 161/1] in every case. There has never been a Court ruling that the lawsuit was dishonest,” said Tittasat.

The Taliban Vice and Virtue Department in Kandahar province has detained four women who are United Nations employees on the charges of violating the “hijab decree” and spreading alleged “immorality”.

A reliable UN source told Hasht-e Subh Monday that the detainees are the staff of immigration, children, and women organizations related to the UN.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Taliban rebels arrested these female employees early this morning in front of their office and brutally beat their driver.

According to this source, these women were imprisoned by the Taliban for several hours.

It is reported that the Taliban told these female staff that they were arrested for “not observing hijab at the office” and spreading “immorality” in the society.

According to reports, the Taliban fighters have already arrested a number of women in Kandahar for alleged allegations.

Christine Marie Vidaya, community leader of Pinagkaisang Lakas ng Mamamayan (PLM) in Payatas Quezon City was traumatized after she and other members of their group were presented to the public as New People’s Army (NPA) returnees.

She said a former coordinator of PLM told her that they can get aid if they will “surrender.” Last Sept. 12, at around 8:00 a.m., Vidaya and 19 others were fetched from their community and were brought to Caloocan where they were supposed to get aid.

“When we got into the venue in Caloocan, a (police) chief was already there. There were also soldiers and other people, including the media. I was wondering that if we’re only going to get aid (a food pack and rice) why all the fuss?” Vidaya said in Filipino.

She said they had no idea what was going on until they were presented as NPA returnees.

Vidaya said they cannot do anything at that moment.

“We did not know what to do. We did not know what would happen if we didn’t sign the document they made us sign. Would they allow us to leave?” she added.

As a result, Vidaya had been anxious not only for her safety but also for her family and their members. For a week, she said, she had been crying thinking that what had happened has ruined her reputation. “It was really humiliating,” she said.

Vidaya was one of the speakers at the launching of Citizens Rights Watch Network (CWRN) last Nov. 5 at the Commission on Human Rights. The CWRN is a network of individuals and organizations aimed at mobilizing support for Filipinos whose democratic, civil and political rights are under attack.

Vidaya denied that they were members of the NPA. She said she cannot understand why they are being alleged as such. “We only fight for our rights. If only the government is giving us what we need we would not complain,” she said.

Lean Porquia, lead convenor of CRWN, said in a statement that communities and sectors are “being red-tagged for calling out for legitimate demands—just wages and decent jobs, aid, housing, and other social services.”

“Filipinos are being intimidated into silence, especially by the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) and their cohorts. But we say no more,” Porquia said. Porquia is the son of slain Iloilo activist Jory Porquia.

Porquia himself was repeatedly red-tagged by the NTF-ELCAC.

In its manifesto of unity, the network said they gathered together in defense of communities and even virtual spaces in the exercise of their rights and liberties.

“We gather to put a stop to repeated attempts by the NTF-ELCAC and other state agencies to sow terror, confusion, and intimidate our people into silence and inaction. We gather to stand as one with the people in their struggles for democracy, social justice and genuine peace,” the manifesto read.

During the launch, different individuals spoke about their experiences of being linked with the revolutionary groups. Also present to tell their stories were Kilusang Mayo Uno’s international officer Kara Taggaoa; Gabriela’s Ruth Manglalan, whose partner, Elizabeth “Loi” Magbanua is still missing; Rey Valmores, chairperson of LGBTQI group, Bahaghari, and Karapatan Southern Tagalog Interim Officer; and United Church of Christ in the Philippines pastor, Rev. Edwin Egar.

Egar shared that he was visited twice by members of the 59th Infantry Battalion on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. He was told by the soldiers to surrender because he is a “supporter.”

“I asked them who I was supporting. They said they got a document in the Bondoc Peninsula and they suspect that the NPAs are using me. I told them I cannot surrender because why would I surrender?” he said.

Egar also said they received information on Nov. 2 that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police will have a “one time, big time” operation similar to what happened on March 7, 2021, infamously dubbed as Bloody Sunday.

Egar said that there is a climate of fear because of what is happening in Southern Tagalog. That is why, he said, such gatherings will give the people the courage to fight back.

Vidaya said that she has explained to their members that there is no truth to the allegation against them.

“What we have are only placards bearing our calls to the government,” she said.

Lawyer Minerva Lopez of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) reiterated the importance of being united against those who violate the rights of the people.

“If we don’t fight together, nothing will happen,” she said.

Lopez said she believes that one day, perpetrators will be held accountable.

The CRWN convenors and participating organizations include Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of the Diocese of San Carlos, Fr. Rudy Abao, MSC, Atty. Josh Quising of Alternative Law Group, Karl Suyat of Project Gunita, Sr. Eleanor Llanes, ICM, UP Professor Cynthia Zayas, former political detainee Pol Viuya, Director Kip Oebanda, and the Far Eastern University Legal Aid Bureau, among others.

The network plans to hold community-based human rights training and seminars, stakeholder meetings and dialogues, legal consultations and actions, fact finding and humanitarian missions, information and advocacy campaigns, community mobilizations, and lobbying.

They also called on other freedom-loving citizens, organizations, and institutions to join the network.

Authorities shoved and struck unionists with walkie-talkies as members of eight unions attempted to submit a petition against union-busting to the Labor Ministry and the Council of Ministers office.

Around 400 participants from eight unions and two civil society groups submitted a petition to the Labor Ministry and Council of Ministers on Sunday highlighting 31 cases of union-busting that occurred during the pandemic, particularly affecting garment unions and a casino workers’ union at NagaWorld casino.

The workers were blocked and faced violence from security personnel as they walked from the Labor Ministry to the Council of Ministers. Seak Panha, a member of the NagaWorld union, said at least two of their members lost consciousness and others were injured when authorities tried to stop the group.

Panha said they first attempted to submit the petition to the Labor Ministry but when no one from the ministry came to receive the letter they decided to walk to the Council of Ministers building.

Authorities met them at the intersection near the Institute of Technology of Cambodia and began shoving and hitting some members, she said.

“When we arrived under the [overpass] bridge, they came to stop us and hit us. They even hit us with walkie talkies. Two of our friends lost consciousness,” she said, saying they passed out while being shoved by the authorities.

A livestream from labor rights group Central showed unionists walking away from the melee with red marks on their faces.

NagaWorld workers have clashed with police and security guards as they have protested the firing of more than 1,300 workers by the casino corporation last year.

Phnom Penh Police spokesperson San Sokseyha denied any violent actions by the police and instead blamed the unionists for the violence.

“We never violate those illegal protestors who are always planning incitement, yelling and making inappropriate actions to the authorities, while the authorities try to stop them from clashing with each other,” he said.

The petition does not provide details of the 31 cases but lists federation members affected by union-busting, such as the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions, Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union and Independent Trade Union Federation. Unions have told VOD of union-busting tactics used during the pandemic.

Cambodia Tourism Workers’ Union Federation president Touch Kosal added one of his local unions has also seen its union leadership laid off.

“We have seen that the solutions [so far] aren’t enough. We want to see the Ministry of Labor take action for union leaders to get back to work,” he said. “The Ministry of Labor is our parent and has to compromise for the solution.”

Ou Tepphalin, president of the Cambodia Food and Service Workers Federation, said the unions had collected data on attempts to dissolve different unions and realized unions across industries were facing similar problems.

She wasn’t confident that the Labor Ministry would respond, but added that it’s important to raise the busting of unions with officials.

“At least we are trying to demand for our freedoms as a group of unions,” she said.

Labor Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour did not respond to a request for comment, and government spokesperson Phay Siphan said the Council of Ministers couldn’t address the issue of union-busting.

“If the Ministry of Labor couldn’t solve it, the union should file a complaint to the court. Because the court can make a judgment, and the Council of Ministers only does administrative procedures,” he said.

In the days leading up to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s arrival in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, activists have been arrested and intimidated for protesting their relatives’ imprisonment in China's Xinjiang Province and its vast internment camp system.

Bakhyt Zharykbasova’s husband, Baibolat Kunbolat, was one of those arrested and sentenced to 15 days in jail. For more than a year and half, Kunbolat has been organizing demonstrations outside the Chinese Consulate in Almaty, the country's biggest city, demanding the release of his brother along with other Kazakhs whose relatives are missing, jailed, or trapped in the neighboring region.

But in the lead-up to Xi’s high-profile September 14 visit -- his first trip abroad in more than two years -- protesters say they have been met with a wave of arrests, police summonses, and warnings not to travel to Nur-Sultan in an attempt to prevent dissent during the Chinese leader’s state visit.

“The authorities warned him and I warned him, [too], but he decided that this is what he is going to do and [that] he will keep doing it,” Zharykbasova, whose husband was arrested on September 10, told RFE/RL. “Baibolat says he is fine [in detention], but I know they will not let him out as long as the Chinese president is here.”

China’s crackdown in Xinjiang has seen more than 1 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minorities put into mass detention camps. Since Beijing’s dragnet accelerated in 2017, the plight of ethnic Kazakhs interned in China has been an unexpected source of dissent, with the testimonies of former detainees and family members fueling a guerrilla advocacy campaign that brought outsized international attention to the issue.

This left the Kazakh government walking a tightrope between appeasing Beijing -- which denies the long list of abuses that have been documented in its camp system -- and dealing with an exasperated segment of its population lobbying for family members in China.

“There is only one goal here [with these arrests and threats] -- to please the Chinese leader,” Yerbol Dauletbek, the leader of the officially registered chapter of Atajurt Eriktileri, a group lobbying for ethnic Kazakhs detained in Xinjiang and their relatives, told RFE/RL. “This is how [the government] helps to hide the crimes of China.”

Silencing Xinjiang Protests

Demonstrators were facing growing pressure from the authorities even before Xi’s meeting with Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev was announced.

In recent years, the government has led a swift crackdown against activists working on Xinjiang issues in the country: shutting down organizations, arresting activists, and intimidating leading figures into exile, leaving only a small but devoted segment -- such as Kunbolat and his peers -- for public protests.

On September 12, Gulfiya Kazybek, Gaukhar Kurmanaliyeva, and Qalida Akytkhan -- who were all part of ongoing protests outside the Chinese Consulate in Almaty and embassy in Nur-Sultan since February 2020 -- said police officers removed them from a bus that they were on while traveling to a wedding in the southwestern city of Shymkent.

“The police demanded that we get off the bus and then they took us to the police station,” Kazybek told RFE/RL.

Once at the police station, the three women were told that an administrative case had been opened over the violation of “the procedure for holding peaceful assemblies” and they were handed summonses.

Kurmanaliyeva and Kazybek went to their local police station in Almaty on September 13 but were told by officers that no materials on their case had been received yet and they were asked to wait for a phone call for more information which had not been provided by the time this article was published.

Kurmanaliyeva told RFE/RL that she believes security operatives had been tailing her and other protesters since September 10, saying that she and others had documented instances of being followed at the market and outside their homes.

“We'll keep protesting until our relatives are out,” she said. “I am against Xi Jinping's visit. He is making genocide against Kazakhs and Muslims in Xinjiang and he comes here like nothing has happened. He should answer for what he is doing.”

Following the release of a damning UN report earlier this month that said China has committed “serious human rights violations” in mass detention camps in Xinjiang that may be crimes against humanity, activists urged Toqaev to raise the issue of the treatment of ethnic Kazakhs during his talks with Xi.

Kurmanaliyeva says an official from Almaty's city administration had told her Toqaev would raise the plight of their relatives when he meets with Xi, although she doubts it will happen.

“They just didn't want us to go to [the capital],” Kurmanaliyeva said. “They told us: ‘You'll create a bother.’”

Other protesters who had been part of the regular pickets outside the Chinese Consulate and embassy also faced detention and harassment in the lead-up to Xi’s visit.

Akikat Kaliolla, a musician whose relatives are believed to be in Xinjiang’s camp system, was also sentenced to 15 days in jail for allegedly violating laws on public protests and was taken directly by police from his recording studio.

Nurzat Yermekbay, who has also regularly participated in demonstrations against the camps, said he was detained for four hours on September 10 in Almaty and warned by police “not to go to the capital.”

Bekzat Maksutkhan, the head of Naghyz Atajurt, an unregistered advocacy group that works with families who have relatives missing in Xinjiang, told RFE/RL that the Kazakh authorities have been effective in silencing dissent around the issue and that the treatment of ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang is not receiving mainstream attention in the country.

The Chinese Embassy in Nur-Sultan has not responded publicly to the appeals of protesters and neither the embassy nor the consulate in Almaty responded to RFE/RL’s request for comment about the fate of ethnic Kazakhs in Xinjiang and the protesters’ complaints.

Xi Arrives

The fact that Xi chose Kazakhstan and Central Asia as the location to first step outside of China since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic brings prestige and geopolitical significance to the government in Nur-Sultan.

Expanding its already deep economic and political ties with China has been a priority for the Kazakh government and local authorities have treaded cautiously with Beijing over the issue of interned Kazakhs.

The issue is further complicated by the complex family connections across the lengthy 1,782-kilometer border between China and Kazakhstan.

Cross-border ties have been a mainstay for centuries but accelerated when the Kazakh government sought to attract ethnic Kazakhs living in Xinjiang to move following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This led to many Chinese-born Kazakhs uprooting and resettling in neighboring Kazakhstan. They have become permanent residents and even Kazakh citizens while still maintaining close connections to family in China.

In instances where Kazakh citizens, many of whom were originally born in China, were detained in Xinjiang, the Kazakh government has negotiated behind-the-scenes with Beijing to secure their release. But it says it has no jurisdiction in other cases.

“Since the Kazakh diaspora living in Xinjiang are citizens of the People's Republic of China, all issues related to them relate to China's internal affairs,” a spokesperson for the Kazakh foreign ministry told RFE/RL. “Therefore, it’s necessary to consider ways to resolve this issue without prejudice to the comprehensive and eternal strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and China.”

Temur Umarov, an expert on China’s relations with Central Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told RFE/RL that the internment camps are a sensitive political topic for Beijing and, given Nur-Sultan’s track record, Toqaev is unlikely to raise the issue publicly and even less likely to criticize China’s detention system during meetings with Xi.

“There is an unspoken rule in relations between Kazakhstan and China: only successes are publicly raised and problems are never spoken about,” he said. “The countries of Central Asia cannot afford to criticize Beijing simply because they depend on [China]. Criticism can come back to haunt them with economic consequences.”

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Thailand.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed about the judicial harassment against Ms. Nada Chaiyajit, a human rights defender and human rights campaign advisor at the Manushya Foundation, a member organisation of FIDH in Thailand. Ms. Nada has been active on LGBTQI+ issues and corporate accountability for the past 15 years, and is also the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) advisor for the Thai Business and Human Rights Network, on whose behalf she has submitted complaints to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT) and government agencies related to gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.

On September 10, 2022, Nada Chaiyajit received a court summons issued on August 22, 2022, ordering her to appear on October 31, 2022, at the Bangkok Criminal Court for a preliminary hearing during which she will be informed of potential charges against her. This summons followed a complaint filed under Articles 326 (“defamation”), 328 (“libel”), and 91 ("multiple distinct offenses") of Thailand’s Criminal Code, by Mr. Santsith Naothaworn, a politician and elected Bangkok councillor from the Move Forward Party (MFP). The complaint by Mr. Santsith stems from several social media posts published by Nada Chaiyajit in May 2022, in which Ms. Nada alleged Mr. Santsith had sexually harassed a transgender woman who was employed at his company. In the posts, Nada Chaiyajit claimed that the transgender woman was repeatedly subjected to several acts of harassment by the politician, before she was eventually laid off.

In addition to speaking out for her on social media, Nada Chaiyajit supported the transgender woman with submitting a complaint to the NHRCT on June 15, 2022. As part of NHRCT’s investigation, which is still ongoing, the MFP was requested to respond. After the Disciplinary and Ethics Committee of the MFP conducted an investigation, the board found that Mr. Santsith was responsible for sexual harassment. As a result, the party suspended his participation in the party’s events, and banned him from carrying any additional political portfolios as a member of the Bangkok Metropolitan Council for one year. Mr. Santsith was also placed on probation to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Subsequently, on July 18, 2022, a compensation agreement between the politician and the victim of the sexual harassment was signed before the Thai Department of Labour Protection and Welfare for violation of labour rights, because Mr. Santsith did not respect the one-month notice to dismiss an employee, as provided by Thai law.

The Observatory notes with concern that defamation cases and Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are frequently used in Thailand by both state and non-state actors to harass journalists, political activists, human rights defenders, and organisations to ultimately suppress their right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in international human rights law, and particularly in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Thailand is a state party.

The Observatory condemns the judicial harassment against Nada Chaiyajit, which seems to be only aimed at preventing her from exercising her right to freedom of expression and her legitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory calls for the respect of Nada Chaiyajit’s rights to due process and fair trial, and for an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against her, as well as all other human rights defenders in the country.

The Observatory also urge the Thai government to repeal criminal defamation provision of the Criminal Code.

Scuffles between protesters and police broke out in the southern Kazakh city of Shymkent after a court upheld the sentences of three activists who were convicted for taking part in mass anti-government demonstrations in January.

Angry relatives and supporters of Qairat Sultanbek, Lazzat Dosmambetova, and Zhanmurat Ashtaev, ran after the judge as he quickly left the courtroom following his verdict on September 8 before bailiffs and police officers intervened, leading to a brawl.

The melee was pushed out of the court building where dozens more activists joined in scuffles with the police.

In mid-July, the Al-Farabi district court sentenced Sultanbek, 48, and Dosmambetova, 51, to 3 years and seven months in prison each, while Ashtaev, 44, was handed 3 years and one month in prison. All were convicted of taking part in mass disorders, a charge all three have rejected.

The protesters demanded that the judge or a prosecutor explain why the activists' sentences were upheld, insisting that they were innocent.

Police attempted to detain some of the protesters, but failed to so as the activists' supporters and relatives interfered.

Meanwhile, police inside the court's building detained Ashtaev's four brothers and took them away to a police station.

Afterward relatives of the activists gathered in front of the court building with headbands saying "Hunger Strike." They said that they will remain at the site until their demands for the release of the activists are met.

Unprecedented mass anti-government protests rocked the Central Asian nation in early January. The peaceful protests turned violent, leaving at least 238 people, including 19 police officers, dead.

Authorities in Shymkent say 20 individuals died and 207 were injured in the city during the unrest, which was initally sparked by a fuel-price hike and then quickly turned into broader anti-government protests.

Last week, Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said a mass amnesty will be declared soon for all individuals involved in the unrest and its aftermath, including law enforcement officers. Many relatives of those killed and arrested during and after the unrest viewed the clemency idea as a move to evade investigations of the deadly January developments.

Actress Damitha Abeyratne was arrested by the Colombo Crimes Division on Wednesday (7) evening at Diyatha Uyana in Battaramulla.

Sri Lanka Police said that she was arrested for unlawfully entering the President's Office during the recent protests in July 2022.

Police added that she will be handed over to the Fort Police for further investigations.

Actress Damitha Abeyratne is expected to be produced in court on Thursday (8).

The Bengkulu Branch of the Islamic Student Association (HMI) held a protest against the increase in fuel prices in Bengkulu Provincial DPRD office on 6 September 2022. As result of the protest, students clashed with the police, leading to 9 students being reportedly injured.

The following are the names of the victims:

1. Fatih Inaya, Agribusiness Department Class of 2021. Taken to RSHD

2. Serlina, Department of Nursing class of 2022 was rushed to the RSHD because of shortness of breath and seizures

3. Syifa Magfirah, Department of Law class of 2021, asthma due to exposure to tear gas.

4. M. Juan Syarin, Department of Social Welfare batch 2021, suffered an injury to his temple.

5. Wahyunda Pratama, Department of Marine Science class of 2020, suffered a head injury.

6. Nova, Department of Management class of 2021, suffered from hand and shoulder injuries and a damaged almet on the shoulder

7. Kristin, Department of Management, class of 2021, suffered an injury to her hand.

8. UNIB Student President, M. Alriansyah Idris, was rushed to the RSHD due to injuries to his temples, cracked lips and broken hands.

9. Yona Listio Tesha, Department of English Education, class of 2022, experienced sore eyes and couldn't open them for almost half an hour and was rushed to M Yunus Hospital.

Groups decried the harassment of red-tagged peasant leader Lucia Capaducio, who is at the forefront of seeking government assistance for the food producers of Panay.

Capaducio is a known peasant leader and the current chairperson of the peasant group Paghugpong sang Mangunguma sa Panay kag Guimaras (PAMANGGAS).

According to Panay Alliance Karapatan, on Sept. 3, three men who introduced themselves as personnel of Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) went to Capaducio residence and asked her whereabouts. Capaducio’s husband Felix, 72, who was in the house that day was interrogated by these men and accused her wife as a leader of the New People’s Army (NPA) and that their family are supporters of the rebel group. Their daughter was also interrogated, the group said.

Capaducio was not in the house when the three men came. Panay Karapatan Alliance said Capaducio was in the community gathering signatures for a petition against golden rice and aid for farmers.

A day before the incident, another red-tagged development worker Linalyn Jaynos was also arrested.

Panay Alliance Karapatan believes that the recent incidents are an attack against farmers who are only demanding help from the government. They assert that allegations against Capaducio are all lies.

“The attack against Nay Lucia is an attack against our farmers who are suffering from the effect of the economic crisis this government has created and failed to resolve,” Panay Alliance Karapatan said in a statement.

“It is the latest assault on local peasant communities that, for years, have been harassed for calling out the government for its negligence and incompetence in tackling the issues confronting their sector. Under a sham democracy, those who are on the “laylayan” have become victims severalfold,” it added.

Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG), a farmer-led network, urged the government to stop the harassments against Capaducio’s family and demanded that the government use their resources to help farmers instead.

“MASIPAG urges the government to honor their mandated duty of supporting our local farmers and not to abuse their powers as duty bearers in forwarding their own exclusive agenda in agriculture,” the organization said in a statement.

“We in MASIPAG enjoins everyone in condemning this recent attack on Nay Lucia and to all the farmers experiencing structural harassment and persecution. MASIPAG rally behind in full solidarity and support to Nay Lucia and others who have exemplified that in times of hardship, it is our duty to help,” it added.

Capaducio has been working to champion the rights of peasants and human rights in cases of indigenous people against the military and humanitarian initiatives during calamities

She is also a long time MASIPAG member.

“For decades, Nay Lucia has been sharing her wide array of skills in sustainable organic farming by training farmers across the country both in the technical and advocacy and lobbying aspect of sustainable organic agriculture,” MASIPAG said.

Panay Alliance Karapatan said Capaducio has participated and assisted in fact-finding missions, particularly on the attacks against the Tumandok people.

“The attack against Nay Lucia is an attack against our farmers who are suffering from the effect of the economic crisis this government has created and failed to resolve. It is the latest assault on local peasant communities that, for years, have been harassed for calling out the government for its negligence and incompetence in tackling the issues confronting their sector. Under a sham democracy, those who are on the “laylayan” have become victims several fold,” Panay Alliance Karapatan said.

In 2021, Capaducio was awarded the Gawad Ben Ramos Award for her efforts in championing pro-farmer and pro-people agriculture and food system.

On 2 September, the police requested the Court to keep her in temporary detention. A lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) was reportedly filing an objection.

Later on the same day, the Court granted bail with 90,000 baht securities, a condition not to commit a similar offence again.

She was arrested on the evening of 1 September and detained at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau overnight. According to TLHR, she was charged under the Computer Crimes Act and royal defamation law for singing the 2 song from Faiyen band, one of them is “Lucky to have Thai people”.

“Lucky to have Thai people” was written by Faiyen, a Thai music band known for writing songs critical of the monarchy, which led to band members being charged with lèse majesté. Most of the members fled Thailand after the 2014 coup.

As far as Prachatai is legally allowed to explain, “Lucky to have Thai people” relates how Thai people are made to love the King through many means and the punishment the people will face if they do not love the King.

Sao Nui (Nui Girl), is the nickname of a streamer who used to run a Facebook page called “Sakdina Sua Daeng”, a now-defunct channel that live-streamed pro-democracy protests. She and another citizen reporter were previously charged with lèse majesté, sedition, and resisting an officers’ order.

The charge related to their participation in the activist group Thaluwang’s royal motorcade poll at Siam Paragon on 8 February. The inquiry officer said they were live broadcasting the event, and that participants in the poll were trying to push through a police barricade near Sa Prathum Palace.

Sao Nui was also accused of shouting profanities at police officers trying to take hold of a female activist and charged with insulting an official on duty.

The Southern Bangkok Criminal Court later granted them bail on a security of 200,000 baht each and set the conditions that they do not repeat their offense in a manner that could damage the monarchy, join activities which can cause public disorder, or post on social media invitations to people to join protests. They must also wear electronic monitoring bracelets.

After the case on Thursday, TLHR reported that at least 228 royal defamation cases have been filed against protesters since the massive surge of calls for political and monarchy reform in 2020.

Women’s group Gabriela denounced the recent raid of one of its shelter houses for abused women that led to the arrest of Lenilyn Jaynos, a community development worker, in Roxas City on Sept. 2.

Jaynos is a community organizer of the urban poor group Kaisog, a member organization of Kadamay in Panay. She was in the shelter house for post-operation medical check-ups.

The 45-year-old activist, along with Gabriela-Roxas City’s secretary general Marivie Bartolome Arguelles and another individual, was named in a search warrant used by the members of the police to raid their shelter house for women located at Happy Homes Subdivision, Barangay Sibaguan, Roxas City.

Only Jaynos was in the shelter at the time of the search.

The police purportedly found in her possession several arms and explosives, which Maura Abellon, chairperson of Kadamay-Panay also said it would be impossible for Jaynos to carry.

They also took with them as “evidence” a flag of Gabriela.

However, Clarice Palce, Gabriela’s secretary general, said these were all planted.

Gabriela-Panay chairperson Lucia Francisco said the raid of the shelter is reminiscent of previous searches and raids, where purported evidence are planted before authorities would come in to conduct the “search.”

In this case, she said that Jaynos saw a man carrying two back packs entered the shelter. The said man walked out of the shelter without the bags.

“More than 30 members of the operatives surrounded the shelter. They conducted the search, called the village officials and then after the search they claimed that they found two bags containing arms and explosives in the window at the back of the curtain,” Francisco said during the online briefing.

Not a terrorist

Women rights advocates said that contrary to the claims of the police, Jaynos is not a terrorist.

“She has been serving the poor for most of her entire life. She was a teacher for an urban poor daycare center in Iloilo City for years before later serving peasant communities in Capiz,” Panay Alliance Karapatan said in a statement.

When typhoon Yolanda hit the country, Jaynos is among the volunteers of Buylog Capiz that helped many farmers and fisherfolk recovered from the trauma and devastation of one of the strongest typhoons to ever make landfall in recent history.

She also worked with Gabriela, particularly in cases of victims of state negligence and abuse.

Gabriela, for its part, said the shelter where Jaynos was arrested is among the crisis centers they have established in many parts of the country to provide a safe space for women who are survivors of abuse.

“Centers like these are refuge for women incapable of protecting themselves against powerful perpetrators and who have nowhere to turn to, as government has meager and ineffective responses to the widespread problem of violence against women,” Gabriela said.

Rights violations

Progressives said the recent event is among the apparent heightened number of cases of harassment against women activists.

Last month, ailing women’s rights activist Atheliana Hijos was arrested in Butuan City. She has difficulties walking.

“It is abhorrent that in spite of billions of money being poured into government so-called intelligence funds, we find such failures of intelligence victimizing poor people such as Jaynos who has been deeply traumatized by the event,” the group said in a statement.

“Jaynos arrest and the accusations against them is an indication that under the Marcos-Duterte regime, human rights violations will remain rampant and that state forces have again mobilized their ranks to commit human rights violations,” Panay Alliance Karapatan said.

Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, former Superintendent of Kaeng Krachan National Park, has filed a perjury complaint against human rights lawyer Waraporn Utairangsee, who was the legal representative for the Bang Kloi Indigenous Karen community and its spiritual leader Ko-i Meemi.

Waraporn went to Kaeng Krachan Provincial Police Station on Wednesday (31 August) to hear the charges after receiving a police summons on charges of perjury causing damage to another person, when knowing that the offence has not been committed, or with malicious intent.

The complaint was filed against her by Chaiwat, who claimed that Waraporn committed perjury by acting on behalf of Ko-i and the Bang Kloi community and filing a complaint against Chaiwat for burning down the houses and rice barns in the Chai Phaen Din village in the Kaeng Krachan forest between 5 – 9 May 2011. Chaiwat claimed that it was perjury because the houses that were burned down were unoccupied, and that the burning did not take place on 5 - 9 May 2011.

The Bang Kloi indigenous Karen community lived at Chai Phaen Din in the Kaeng Krachan forest before the area became a national park in 1981. In 1996, they were evicted and moved to the Pong Luek - Bang Kloi village, but returned to Chai Phaen Din as they could not adjust to living at Bang Kloi village. In 2011, they were forcibly evicted again, and their houses and rice barns were burned down by park officials.

With support from the Lawyers’ Council, Ko-i and five other community members filed charges against the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for the burning of their village.

In 2016, the Administrative Court ordered the DNP to pay a compensation of 10,000 baht each to Ko-i and 5 other members of the Bang Kloi community for the burning of their houses. In June 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court amended the ruling and ordered the DNP to pay a compensation of around 50,000 baht for each community member, but did not allow them to return to their lands.

Ko-i passed away at the age of 107 on 5 October 2018, before he was able to receive compensation from the DNP.

According to the Thai Criminal Code, giving false information to an official which may cause damage to another person carries a prison sentence of up to 2 years, or a fine of up to 40,000 baht, or both. Giving false information to an official when one knows that the offense was not committed carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years and a fine of up to 60, 000 baht. If the false information is given with malicious intent or intending to cause the person to receive a more severe penalty carries a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht.

While reporting to Kaeng Krachan Provincial Police Station, Waraporn was greeted by around 60 people from indigenous communities in the Kaeng Krachan area who came to show their support.

Aphisit Charoensuk, a member of the Bang Kloi community, said that he wanted to show support for Waraporn, because she has been providing support for the community. He said he felt that the charges against Waraporn reflect how things are in society, as she has been supporting them in their fight for community rights. Nevertheless, he said that the lawsuit did not discourage the community.

Meanwhile, Akkarin Tonnamphet, another member of the Bang Kloi community, said that Waraporn has always stood by the community, so they wanted to support her. He said that the community will not stop fighting for their rights, because they will not give up as long as their lawyer does not give up.

Waraporn told her supporters after her meeting with Kaeng Krachan police that she will continue to stand by the communities and is not afraid of being charged. She noted that Chaiwat has the right to file a complaint against her if he feels that the complaint filed by the Bang Kloi community damaged him, but he would also have to prove to society whether the burning of Chai Phaen Din village is true.

On Wednesday (31 August), the Cross-Cultural Foundation (CrCF) Facebook page posted a statement signed by CrCF, the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA), EnLAW Foundation, the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF), the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL), and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) showing support for Waraporn.

The statement noted that lawyers must be able to do their jobs freely and without the fear that they will also be considered a party to a conflict. According to the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, it is the duty of a government to ensure that lawyers are able to perform their professional functions “without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference,” and to ensure that they are not threatened with “prosecution or administrative, economic, or other sanctions” for performing their duties.

The statement called on judicial officers to be aware that Waraporn has performed her duties according to professional ethics and as a volunteer lawyer who was assigned by the Lawyers’ Council to provide legal counsel for people facing serious human right violations, and asked whether the charges against her, which could prevent the public from scrutinizing and filing complaints against government agencies, can be considered harassment.

The 6 organizations called on the government to come up with measures to end strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) against lawyers and human rights defenders, and not to allow the justice system to be exploited by those with influence or conflict of interest. They also called on the Lawyers’ Council and other lawyers to protect the right of lawyers to perform their duties to protect human rights, as well as to support Waraporn as she fights her case.

Meanwhile, Chaiwat and other park officials have been charged and indicted with premeditated murder for the abduction and murder of community rights activist and Bang Kloi community leader Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen, who went missing in 2014 and whose remains were found in 2019. Chaiwat was also previously accused of involvement in the killing of another Karen land rights activist, Tassakamon Ob-om, just three years prior to Porlajee’s disappearance, but was acquitted.

A 76-year old longtime women’s rights activist was arrested by elements of the Regional Intelligence Division in Butuan City on Tuesday, Aug. 30.

Atheliana “Atel” Hijos, is the secretary general of Gabriela-Caraga.

An alert released by Karapatan-Caraga chapter said that the police arrested Hijos over charges of murder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention. Warrants of arrest were issued by the Regional trial Court Branch 43, Cabadbaran City, Agusan del Norte dated June 10, 2020 and by RTC Branch 7, Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur dated February 12, 2020 with no bail bond.

Women’s group Gabriela said there is no other reason for her arrest other than her being their leader for decades.

“She is one of the pillars of the women’s movement in Mindanao,” the group said in a statement.

“She dedicated her life to helping and serving women who are victims of abuse. She also actively led in the 80’s the cases of women victims of sex trafficking. She became active in campaigns against giant mining companies, and ran for council in her hometown in Mindanao,” they added.

Hijos is also a former public school teacher and was the founding member of Women’s Alliance for True Change (WATCH)-Mindanao – a broad-based movement of women who resisted the Marcos dictatorship.

According to human rights groups Karapatan, Hijos has pulmonary tuberculosis and hypertension. She recently suffered from a mild stroke.

“She has been bedridden, and she has difficulties walking, at times using a wheelchair. How can an elderly and elderly woman, with such a frail build like Atel’s, possibly commit all the crimes alleged against her?” said Cristina Palabay, secretary general of Karapatan in a statement.

Palabay said the arrest of Hijos is based on fabricated testimonies of soldiers who accused her as a combatant and was involved in armed encounters.

Palabay said “this is a blatant lie considering Atel’s senior age and frail physical condition.”

“In one of the charges leveled against her, she has submitted sound and reasonable proof that she was attending election-related activities at the time of the alleged incident of armed encounter between soldiers and New People’s Army rebels. Like all those who were arrested, Hijos has been subjected to red-tagging, via numerous posters and fliers bearing her name and picture disseminated by the military in public places in Caraga,” Palabay said.

Karapatan has recorded, as of July this year, 92 political prisoners in the Caraga region, 22 of them are women.

They expressed their concern over the cases filed in court saying that “the region has become a warrant factory where trumped up charges against activists are cooked up to suppress their voices and stifle political dissent.”

The group noted activists who have cases and similar charges filed in the courts of Cagara such as Mindanao-based activists and development workers such as Dr. Naty Castro, human rights worker Renalyn Tejero and Teresita Naul, women’s rights activists Nerita de Castro, teacher Gary Campos, development workers Julieta Gomez and Niezel Velasco, peasant activists Virgilio Lincuna and Marcela Diaz, church worker Aldeem Yanez, indigenous rights activist Gloria Campos Tumalon, among others.

Karapatan also said that Luzon-based trade unionists Juan Alexander Reyes, Rowena Rosales, Maoj Maga, and Antonieta Dizon, and development workers Benito Quilloy and Rita Espinoza were likewise implicated in trumped up charges filed in courts in Caraga, despite the fact that these individuals have never been to Mindanao.

“The successive arrests of long-time women’s rights activists Atel Hijos and Adora Faye de Vera, both have fought the Marcos dictatorship, show the government’s contempt for brave Filipinas who struggle against political repression,” Palabay said.

The group demanded the immediate release of Hijos and De Vera and all political prisoners on humanitarian and just grounds.

“We enjoin all women human rights defenders in the Philippines and around the world in our collective call – Free Our Sisters! Free Ourselves!” Palabay said.

A member of Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), Thae Su Naing, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by Meiktila Court in Mandalay region. She received the maximum sentence allowed under the country’s anti-terrorism law.

The 24-year-old teacher was a former chairwoman of the Meiktila University Students’ Union and taught in the local township.

Thae Su Naing was sentenced under Section 52 (A) of the Counter-Terrorism Law on Monday, family members and colleagues told RFA. Sentences under the law range from three to seven years.

One family member, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA it was unfair to sentence a young teacher to such a long prison term,

“There is no justice. My sister is an ordinary school teacher, not a People’s Defense Force (PDF) leader,” the family member said. “This sentence is severe for my sister. She has to appeal but arrangements have not yet been made. I want my sister to come back home as soon as possible.”

Thae Su Naing was arrested by the army at her home in Meiktila township on November 22 last year. She was accused of being a PDF leader and held for nine months before being sentenced.

Her family told RFA that her leg had been broken during a beating she received from the junta soldiers who arrested her. They said her leg has not healed properly because she did not receive effective medical treatment in Meiktila Prison.

Thae Su Naing was active in fighting for students’ rights during her university days. As a teacher, she participated in the anti-dictatorship CDM movement following the Feb.1, 2021 military coup.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), 12,171 people have been arrested since the military coup of February 1, 2021 up until Monday. Some 1,410 of them have been sentenced to prison terms across Myanmar.

Last month the AAPP said 12 teachers had been killed and more than 200 arrested since Myanmar’s military seized control from the elected government.

Safoora Zargar was jailed under the UAPA in the alleged conspiracy case related to the Delhi riots and was released on bail in June 2020 on humanitarian and medical grounds.

Jamia Millia Islamia has banned research scholar and activist Safoora Zargar from entering the university campus days after the administration cancelled her MPhil admission. Zargar was jailed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the alleged conspiracy case related to the Delhi riots and was released on bail in June 2020 on humanitarian and medical grounds.

After she was removed as a student on August 19, Zargar and other Jamia students had been participating in protests demanding that she be re-admitted and that she be given an extension to submit her thesis.

“It has been observed that Ms. Safoora Zargar (ex student) has been involved in organizing agitations, protests and marches on the campus against the irrelevant and objectionable issues to disturb the peaceful academic environment with few students who are mostly outsiders. She is instigating innocent students of the University and trying to use the University platform for her malafide political agenda alongwith some other students. Further, she is hampering the normal functioning of the institution.In view of above, the Competent Authority, for maintaining peaceful academic environment across the Campus, has approved Campus Ban on ex student Ms. Safoora Zargar with immediate effect,” the order reads.

Her admission was cancelled by the department of sociology in the university, citing "unsatisfactory" progress in her thesis work. Zargar enrolled with the department of sociology in the integrated MPhil/PhD programme in 2019.

In a notification dated August 26, the office of the dean, faculty of social science, said Zargar did not submit her MPhil dissertation within the maximum stipulated time of five semesters.

The dean's office has maintained that the action against her was taken on a recommendation made by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) on July 5. The matter was approved by the department's Board of Studies on August 22.

Zargar had earlier said she was being denied extensions for submission of her thesis while they were being extended for other scholars. She said she received only one Covid extension while the University Grants Commission (UGC) offered five.

The UGC has granted four extensions for submission of MPhil and PhD thesis to help scholars make up for time lost due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest such extension was granted in May. Universities were allowed to give another extension of up to six months beyond June 30.

Award-winning Vietnamese journalist Pham Doan Trang has lost her appeal against a nine-year jail sentence. She was sent to prison in December 2021 for “conducting anti-state propaganda.”

Trang refused to plead guilty during Thursday’s appeal at Hanoi High People’s Court even though her lawyers had advised her that a guilty plea would be the only way for her to persuade the court to reduce or dismiss her sentence.

Trang has not been allowed to see her family since she was arrested in October 2020, and her mother, Bui Thi Thien Can’s request to attend the appeal was ignored by authorities.

Can went to the High People’s Court on Thursday with her son but they were barred from entering the courtroom, along with diplomats from the E.U., the U.S., the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Germany.

"Our family expected her sentence to be upheld and we are not surprised with the final outcome because we know the appeal is a show hearing and that the outcome had been decided in advance by senior officials, not by the judge after the defense lawyers presented their defenses," Trang's mother said after hearing the appeal court's decision.

One of Trang's lawyers, Trinh Vinh Phuc said: “As for the defense, it was not as exciting as the first-instance trial. Part of the reason is because Ms. Pham Thi Doan Trang was not eager to speak up. When asked by the judge, she said she had no need for questions and answers so the court panel could soon announce its final decision. She said her sentencing had already been arranged so that no matter what she said, it would not go anywhere. She refused many questions from the judge and the representative of the Procuracy.”

Another of Trang’s lawyers, Dang Dinh Manh, told RFA this week she is very ill, suffering from sinusitis after catching COVID-19 and still nursing a knee injury sustained when she was beaten by security forces during a 2015 protest in the Vietnamese capital. Her other health issues include arthritis and gynecological problems.

International groups called for Trang’s release ahead of the appeal. PEN America, an NGO which campaigns for writers’ freedom of expression, issued a statement on Monday calling on the Vietnamese government to repeal Trang’s sentence and release her immediately.

Earlier this month U.S.-based NGO the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also called on authorities not to contest her appeal. The organization had been hoping to present her with its 2022 International Press Freedom Award in New York in November. Trang has been presented with many prestigious international awards, including the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage Award and the Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Prize.

Trang was arrested in Oct., 2020 but the charges were not made public for more than a year after her arrest.

Along with the “anti-state propaganda” charge, she was accused of speaking with foreign media: Radio Free Asia and the BBC, allegedly to defame the government with “fake news.”

Hanoi authorities were also angry over books Trang wrote, such as “Politics for Ordinary Citizens,” and “Handbook for Prisoners’ Families.”

The CPJ’s 2021 prison census ranked Vietnam the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 23 imprisoned for their work.

Vietnamese activists’ appeals are highly unlikely to succeed with another four failing this month.

On Aug. 16 the Provincial People’s Court in Dak Lak rejected the appeal of Y Wo Nie while the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi dismissed the appeal of Le Van Dung.

Y Wo Nie was sentenced to four years by Cu Kuin district court on May 20, charged with “abusing democratic freedom,” for telling international groups about religious persecution in his region.

Dung was arrested in June last year and convicted this March for “conducting anti-state propaganda.” He was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of probation.

On Aug. 17 the appeals of Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam were also rejected. They were both arrested on June 24, 2020 and charged with "conducting anti-state propaganda.”

Phuong is serving 10 years in prison and five years' probation, Tam was jailed for six years with three years’ probation.

Trang's lawyer Phuc told RFA he was not optimistic about the appeals process in spite of Vietnam's commitment to freedom of expression.

“The judge stopped lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng when he talked about the gap between Vietnam’s law and the international conventions that Vietnam has signed. The judge said the court uses the Vietnamese law,” Phuc said.

Two women were arrested last Thursday (25 August) and subsequently denied bail on charges of contempt of court, defamation, and using a sound amplifier without permission. The charges stemmed from a protest in front of the South Bangkok Criminal Court on 15 July to demand the right to bail for detained activists.

Ngoentra Khamsaen, or Mani, and Chiratchaya Sakunthong, or Ginny, were arrested during the night of 25 August on warrants issued by the South Bangkok Criminal Court on a request from Yannawa Police Station, but were taken to the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, which is outside the jurisdiction of Yannawa police. They also did not receive a summons before being arrested.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Ngoentra and Chiratchaya were charged with contempt of court, defamation, and using a sound amplifier without permission when speaking at a protest in front of the South Bangkok Criminal Court on 15 July to demand the right to bail for detained activists. In their speeches, they criticized judges in the South Bangkok Criminal Court for rulings made in the case of monarchy reform activists Nutthanit Duangmusit and Netiporn Sanesangkhom, who were detained pending trial on royal defamation charges at the time. Their speech was also broadcast live online.

The complaints against them were filed by Netiphan Somchit, acting on behalf of judge Santi Chukitsappaisan, Research Justice of the Supreme Court, temporarily acting as the Deputy Chief Justice of the South Bangkok Criminal Court.

Ngoentra and Chiratchaya were held overnight at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau before being taken to the South Bangkok Criminal Court for a temporary detention request on Friday morning (26 August). They were then denied bail on the grounds that their actions were very dangerous to the court and the justice system, since they were rude and accused judges of things that were not true in order to pressure the court, which the court sees as a disregard for the law and an intention to create hatred against it. The charges also carry a severe penalty and the court said that they might tamper with evidence or flee if released.

Ngoentra and Chiratchaya are 2 of 31 people currently held in detention pending trial or pending appeal on charges relating to participation in the pro-democracy movement and currently the only ones detained for contempt of court.

In addition to those detained in prison, activists Tantawan Tuatulanon and Sophon Surariddhidhamrong are now prohibited from leaving their homes without court permission other than for a medical emergency as one of their bail conditions.

“Who is Adora Faye?”

This question started circulating in social media after her reported arrest on Wednesday, August 24 and after his brother, Commission on Higher Education (Ched) Chairperson Prospero De Vera III distanced himself from her sister.

Panay News reported on Thursday, August 25 that Adora Faye De Vera (reported as de Veyra) was arrested by authorities in Teachers Village East, Quezon City. Allegedly, De Vera has a warrant of arrest for multiple murder with the use of explosives and multiple frustrated murders issued on March 19, 2006.

De Vera was alleged as a high ranking officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

But amid this allegation of the authorities, former secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Judy Taguiwalo said De Vera is a martial law survivor.

“She is a martial law survivor whose story of rape and sexual abuse while in the hands of the military was one of the cases filed during the class suit against Marcos in Hawaii,” said Taguiwalo in a Facebook post.

She also described De Vera as a very talented poet “whose poems deal with women’s oppression, state violence against women and the power of collective action.” Along with her post is De Vera’s poem entitled 11:30, which Taguiwalo said, she used as reference in teaching women’s studies.

Taguiwalo was also a political prisoner during martial law of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay also posted De Vera’s poem for desaparecidos, including her husband who has been missing for many years.

“Hahanapin kita sa luntian bukirin, Sa ngiti ng sanggol, sa ihip ng hangin; Kung sa paglaya na ang iyong pagdating, At wala ka roon ay hahanapin pa rin.”

The horrors of her torture and sexual abuse from the hands of the soldiers written in Martial Law Files: A History of Resistance also resurfaced and circulated in social media.

De Vera is also among the 10 original plaintiffs who filed a class suit against Marcos Sr. in the US.

Bakrie Group's mining company PT. Citra Palu Minerals CPM, which operates in Poboya Village, Palu City, which holds a contract of work permit and has entered the custody of a production operational permit, is accused by residents of taking land owned by residents and customary land in Poboya Village.

One of the residents of Poboya, Jufri who claimed to be a victim of land grabbing by PT CPM.

He said the company had carried out road-clearing activities and transported materials not only on land that had been acquired by the company, but also on land owned by the community and adat.

This is what causes land owners to protest and ask company officials not to engage in activities on land owned by residents.

Jufri, who felt that his land had been taken over by PT. CPM, is trying hard to stop the company's activities above its location.

He even asked the company to take the material from the land the company had already acquired.

Due to his tough attitude, Jufri and his wife were reported by PT. CPM at the Palu Police with a criminal threat to hinder the company's activities.

It is also suspected that the same criminalization was carried out by CPM against landowners who stopped the land clearing process. Where material is taken on land belonging to other communities that has not been acquired by the company.

According to information, on Friday, August 13, 2022, several residents of Poboya who stopped the company's activities on their land were summoned by Palu Police investigators for questioning, because they stopped the company's equipment from operating.

Ironically, previously, residents made a report to the Central Sulawesi Regional Police for their land grabbing which had been reported three times. However, their report was not received by Polda officers.

The officer's reason was that they could not receive and process the confiscation report, because the residents only had information on land tenure and ownership from the Poboya customary institution.

"How is the story that some lands are acquired and some are not," said Jufri.

One resident who asked not to be named added that before there was a contract of work and before this company existed, their parents had worked the land in the area. There is still evidence of trees being planted.

"The former cattle barn and our family's grave are here," he said.

He explained that almost all residents of Poboya, even residents of Vatutela, Lasoani and Kawatuna, know who owns the land in the Tompo and Vatutempa areas.

"The lands in this area, all have names and it was our parents who first gave the names of the areas here," explained this resident of Poboya.

Until now, the CPM company continues to dismantle and collect materials from the residents' land. Some are loaded into the company and some are loaded into the company's immersion place.

Responding to the community and customary conflict with PT CPM, one of the Tara community leaders in Poboya, Amin Panto said, everywhere the company wants peace and a good atmosphere with the residents in operating, but this seems like the company itself makes its activities uncomfortable.

"If the company really understands the EIA and EIA KA, then the company will be wise in responding to various problems, especially socio-cultural and environmental issues," said Amin Panto.

Because he continued, the EIA document contained information on the characteristics of the social environment and community institutions. Including the area of ​​land acquired by the company, operational and production methods.

Moreover, said Amin Panto, in Poboya there are companies that also produce gold other than CPM. This is a clear violation.

“Because in Poboya, only CPM has a permit. It means, apart from CPM, it is illegal,” he said.

Amin Pontoh conveyed that the CPM processing method clearly exists in the Amdal and Amdal trains, there is no immersion method.

This needs to be taken seriously by various parties, especially the government and law enforcement, because it is impossible for companies to dare to produce with methods that are not in the production work plan.

It is impossible for PT CPM to sub-license their permits to other parties, without the knowledge of the government and outside of what is stated in the KA Amdal and Amdal documents.

"I say this, because I am the one in charge so that the EIA KA documents are provided to the Central Sulawesi government," said Amin Panto.

He admitted that the manager of the drafting consultant was his friend, who used to encourage technical management so that there would be a party responsible for gold processing in Poboya.

The goal is to open up job opportunities and of course the land owners will get an acquisition which can later become capital for businesses that support the activities of CPM companies.

However, Amin Pontoh continued, the fact is that the company has become arbitrarily with the residents.

"But everything has a way and procedure, if the company is wrong, there will be consequences, as well as residents and other parties," said Amin Panto.

Meanwhile, Public Relations of PT CPM, Amran, who was confirmed via contact application on Monday (22/08/2022), related to the alleged land grabbing, stated that PT CPM did not take land in CPM's operational area.

So far, CPM activities have been carried out in other use areas or APL and Limited Production Forest Areas. For APL, CPM acquits land owners by conducting sale and purchase transactions and is known and approved by the lurah and camat.

For HPT areas, CPM activities are based on the Borrow-to-Use Forest Area Permit issued by the government through the Ministry of LHK.

"For residents who feel that their land has been stolen by CPM, please report this to law enforcement officials and the government for processing," he said.

The Phnom Penh Appeal Court this afternoon upheld incitement convictions of 10 political and social activists, leaving most under court probation until late 2023.

The court denied appeals from Chhoeun Daravy, Hun Vannak, Tha Lavy and Eng Malai from social justice group Khmer Thavrak; Koet Saray, Moung Sopheak and Mean Prommony from Khmer Student Intelligent League Association; and Kong Sam An, Chhour Pheng and Chum Puthy, former members of the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court had sentenced the 10 activists to 20 months in prison, with five to six months suspended, and fined them 2 million riel each (US$500) on charges of incitement in October 2021.

Daravy and Vannak, of Khmer Thavrak, and ex-CNRP members Pheng and Puthy were each sentenced to serve 15 months in prison, while Sam An, Saray, Sopheak, Prummony, Lavy and Malai were sentenced to serve 14 months. They were arrested in August and September 2020 for peacefully gathering around the court to call for the release of then-jailed unionist Rong Chhun.

Nine of the activists were released from prison in November 2021. They were placed on probation for two years, requiring them to alert the court if they move, change jobs or want to leave the country, among other conditions.

Sam An, who was sentenced to seven years in prison on treason charges in a separate case, has been jailed since September 2020.

Daravy and Vannak were among four Khmer Thavrak activists who were detained last week by officers from the prime minister's bodyguard unit in Phnom Tamao forest.

The Sihaporas Indigenous People were shot by police when they were involved in a land dispute with PT Toba Pulp Lestari or PT TPL, Monday (22/8/2022) yesterday.

The Sihaporas Indigenous People who were hit by the police shot were Juliana Siallagan (48).

According to reports, the Sihaporas Indigenous People were hit by police fire when trying to defend their land, which is now said to have been controlled by PT TPL.

"We reject (PT TPL) activities on customary lands," said Secretary of Lamtoras Jonny Ambarita.

He said that before there was a clear decision regarding this land dispute, PT TPL was not allowed to carry out any activities, including nurseries.

Jonny said he actually supports an investigation into the land which is currently being contested.

However, said Jonny, the government should have involved the Sihaporas Indigenous Community.

"We strongly agree that the (investigation team) is indeed formed. But by involving us. Of course, activities should not be carried out until there are results of verification and identification," said Jonny. The Sipahoras Indigenous People fainted and were injured

The riots between the Sihaporas Indigenous People and the joint TNI/Polri apparatus began at 12.00 WIB.

At that time, the indigenous people of the Ompu Mamontang Laut Keturnan Customary Institution Ambarita Sihaporas (Lamtoras) saw that there were 20 police cars with soldiers entering the customary area without any prior notification.

Later, 250 security forces came to the Sihaporas Indigenous People who were guarding the Buttu Pangaturan traditional area, Pamatang Sidamanik, Simalungun Regency.

When the joint officers arrived, their respective commanders, namely the Simalungun Police Chief AKBP Ronald FC Sipayung and the 0207/Simalungun Kodim Commander, Lt. Col. Hadrianus Yossi Suherman, were also present to guard their troops.

As for the reason the police and TNI came to the location of the disputed land to open the blockade of indigenous peoples and review the nursery conducted by PT TPL.

However, the residents refused before there was recognition of the Sihaporas customary territory.

The community refused, and there was encouragement between the indigenous people and the security forces.

As the atmosphere heated up, the police then fired shots into the air.

Unfortunately, somehow, suddenly the rubber bullet fired by the officer hit Juliana Siallagan's leg.

Instantly, Juliana Siallagan collapsed.

Another resident named Maulina Simbolon (34) fainted, because he was also pushed by the joint officers.

At around 15.00 WIB, the Simalungun Police and Kodim 0207/Simalungun representing the staff of the North Sumatra Governor asked for negotiations to be carried out.

During the negotiation opportunity, the police and the TNI wanted to enter the location of the disputed land, on the grounds that they wanted to visit the eucalyptus nursery owned by PT TPL.

Responding to the request, the residents were willing to give permission, provided that PT TPL was not allowed to continue nursery activities in customary areas.

Because they found a dead end, both the officers and residents were on guard at the location of the disputed land.

The Simalungun Police Chief, AKBP Ronald FC Sipayung said that his party was only limited to patrolling, after previously receiving reports of road closures by felling trees.

"After we came here, there were more than five points (road closures). We immediately cleaned them up," said Ronald.

He said that in fact his party together with the TNI and the Sihaporas Indigenous Community had four meetings related to the problem of PT TPL's nursery location.

During the meeting, the Simalungun Police had appealed to the public not to violate the law.

"Unfortunately, we found that people were closing the road with a large tree trunk crossed in the middle of the road,"

"The community continues to hold us in ambush, but we have negotiated. We ask that we can enter to carry out patrols and look inside, because this is the unitary territory of the Republic of Indonesia," said Ronald.

Regarding the community's request for indigenous peoples, said Ronald, that the local government has responded to it and progress has been made.

"We hope that the community and PT TPL will jointly maintain order and security in this area, and don't force each other's will, don't claim justification," said Ronald.

A similar statement was conveyed by the Commander of the Simalungun 02/07 Kodim, Lt. Col. Inf. Hadrianus Yossy.

Hadrianus asked the community and PT TPL not to claim each other's justifications.

According to Hadrianus, there is an institution that decides who is right (right), because this country is a state of law that must comply with the law.

"Each party should not claim to be right, because there are institutions that decide whether it is true or not, so we submit it according to the law, because our country is a state of law," said the Dandim.

Hadrianus also asked the community to support the government's program, namely going green, which is planned to be built in an industrial forest area in the PT TPL area.

Meanwhile, on the same occasion, Expert Staff for Political Law and Government of North Sumatra Province Binsar Situmorang said that both parties should exercise restraint.

Binsar said the public should understand the formal legality of PT TPL's agenda.

And PT TPL must also understand what the people want.

"So this is what we have to bring together both parties, in order to get the best solution," he said.

On August 17, the Hanoi People’s High Court upheld its previous conviction in an appeals hearing for the two land rights activists, Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam, previously convicted of “making, storing, and distributing anti-State information, materials, and products” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code.

After their first-instance trial on December 15, 2021, Phuong was sentenced to a 10-year prison sentence and five-year probation, while Tam received a six-year prison sentence and three years probation.

Phuong and Tam, farmers from Duong Noi Commune, Hanoi, were prominently known for defending land rights and campaigning against the Vietnamese authorities’ illegal land confiscations in their hometown in the mid-2000s. The two land activists also raised their voices regarding police raids in Dong Tam Village, another land conflict hotspot, which resulted in the deaths of three police officers and the village leader, Le Dinh Kinh.

Trinh Ba Phuong was also a co-author of the “Dong Tam Report,” which helped shed light on what actually happened in Dong Tam on the early morning of January 9, 2020, when the violent conflict happened. Phuong also met with representatives from the U.S Embassy in Vietnam on February 6, 2020, to raise concerns about the arrests of 27 Dong Tam villagers and call for an independent investigation into the case.

The Vietnamese government has consistently branded the Dong Tam land protestors as “terrorists” and accused them of murdering the deceased police officers. It also intimidated and arrested those who sought to contest this narrative or call for an independent investigation.

The families of Phuong and Tam were barred from entering the courtroom by plainclothes police agents. Their earlier requests to attend the trial were ignored by court authorities. The Hanoi appellate court had earlier declared that the trial would be a public one.

Do Thi Thu, Phuong’s wife wrote on Facebook that the plainclothes police chased them away when the police van carrying her husband approached the court gate area. Thu added that a plainclothes policeman allegedly grabbed her by the nape and pulled her away from the court area while cursing at her. “One policeman even slapped me,” Thu wrote.

Nguyen Thanh Mai, Tam’s daughter, wrote on social media that the Tam family was also not allowed to attend the appeal hearing.

“Vietnam’s hollow promise to support the country’s farmers by providing them with land is exposed by the authorities’ rights abusing treatment of Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam,” wrote Phil Robertson, Asia deputy director of Human Rights Watch, one day before the appeal hearing.

“In their single-minded pursuit of power and profits, government and Communist Party of Vietnam officials have forgotten that farmers were among the original supporters of the revolution, and now they are throwing farmers’ interests out the window,” he added.

Phil Robertson also urged Vietnam’s international donors, UN agencies, and Hanoi-based diplomats to “vocally oppose rights abusing treatment of Trinh Ba Phuong and Nguyen Thi Tam, and demand the appeals court quash their unjust convictions for actions that simply constituted peaceful advocacy using their civil and political rights.”

Two journalists were assaulted by public order agency officers while covering an Independence Day ceremony in Palu, Central Sulawesi on August 17. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia, in condemning the attacks and urges Indonesian authorities to hold those responsible to account.

Regina Goldie Jolinda Amoreka, a journalist with online news outlet Tribun Palu, was reporting on Indonesia’s 77th Independence Day ceremony and had moved to quiet spot in the invitee’s area to conduct a live broadcast of the event.

Amoreka was then approached by an officer of the public order agency (Satpol PP) and asked to move to an area assigned to members of the Palu Communication and Information Technology Agency.

After arriving at the new location, another officer grabbed Amoreka’s shoulder and seized her mobile phone.

In a separate incident, Katrin, a local journalist with online news outlet Like.id, was asked by a public order agency officer to stop photographing the ceremony. The officer then ordered Katrin to move away from the area where she was standing, touching her shoulder multiple times, and pulling at her bag.

The harassment of Amoreka and Katrin is the latest evidence of the poor working conditions faced by Indonesian journalists, particularly women journalists. In July, a female journalist was sexually assaulted by a football supporter while covering a match between two local teams at Maguwoharjo stadium in Sleman, Yogyakarta.

Police in Cambodia’s Takeo province on Tuesday released a group of young environmental activists and journalists after they were allegedly violently detained earlier in the day by bodyguards of Prime Minister Hun Sen as they tried to inspect an area of a protected forest where trees had been cleared.

The Phnom Tamao forest, located roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Phnom Penh, is home to many rare and endangered species, and is the only forested eco-destination anywhere near the capital. It encompasses an area of more than 6,000 acres (2,450 hectares) and is home to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, established in 1995.

In April, media reported that the government had agreed to sell more than 1,200 acres (500 hectares) of the protected forest to Leng Navatra, a real estate company, and two other businesses said to be close to Hun Sen’s family. Later reports suggested the entire area had been earmarked by the government for development, excluding the 1,000 acres (400 hectares) that contain the wildlife center.

In a rare move this month, Hun Sen ordered an end to the clearance of the Tamao forest adjacent to the country’s largest zoo, following multiple appeals by environmental groups and members of the public.

The group of activists who were released on Tuesday said Hun Sen’s bodyguards assaulted them after they tried to inspect the area and ask local residents to sign petitions seeking clarification from local authorities regarding a fenced off 600 hectare (1482 acre) plot of cleared land that the prime minister had ordered to be replanted.

The bodyguards claimed that the activists and journalists were trespassing. They said they steered clear of off-limits areas and were on the way to a pagoda from which they could view the clearing.

Hun Vannak, one of the activists, told RFA’s Khmer Service that the bodyguards kicked him and hit him in the face. He said that a group of about 10 bodyguards forced the group into cars and took them to a nearby military camp. He said they were not told why they were being detained.

"We didn't dare to say anything because they took us to their camp,” Vannak said. “No one could help us. I felt we were with wild people, they didn't consider the law, they used only violence. They detained and assaulted us arbitrarily."

Also among the group was Hy Chhay, a journalist for the local independent news outlet VOD who, according to Vannak, was slapped in the face by the bodyguards.

The group was transferred to a police facility in Takeo’s Bati district after which they were released.

RFA was unable to reach Bati district Police Chief Chhay Keomoni for comment on Tuesday.

The bodyguards violated the constitutional rights of the activists and journalists, Nop Vy, director of the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, told RFA.

"I have observed that [authorities] respect only their orders, [not the law],” Nop Vy said. “It is wrong. Restrictions on the youths and journalists are contrary to Hun Sen's decision to replant the trees.”

The violence against the group must be investigated, according to Soeung Sengkaruna, spokesman for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, a local

rights group.

“This is a serious human rights violation,” he said.

The activists told RFA they plan to file a complaint against the bodyguards.

Security forces in Kabul fired shots into the air and beat women protesting Taliban rule Saturday as dozens demanded the right to education, work and political participation on the eve of the first anniversary of the Islamist group’s takeover of Afghanistan.

Rally participants chanted “we want work, bread, and freedom” as they marched toward the Education Ministry in the Afghan capital before Taliban forces responded violently to the rare anti-government rally.

“August 15 is a black day,” read a banner protesters were carrying as they demanded the right to work and political participation, chanting "Justice, justice.”

Witness accounts and social media documented many women at the rally not wearing face veils.

Some of the female protesters who took refuge in nearby shops were chased and beaten by security forces with their rifle butts, witnesses said.

Heavy gunfire could be heard in social media video of the rally, with Taliban men assaulting female protesters. They also violently prevented Afghan journalists from covering the rally.

Amnesty international expressed concern on Twitter about reported use of “excessive force” by the Taliban to disperse women who were protesting peacefully. Taliban officials did not immediately comment on the allegations.

The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last August 15 from the internationally backed Afghan government as U.S.-led and NATO allies withdrew their troops from the country after almost 20 years of war with the Taliban.

The hardline group’s all-male interim government in Kabul has since significantly rolled back women’s rights to work and education, barring most teenage girls from resuming secondary school in a breach of promises the Taliban made to respect rights of all Afghans.

Women employed in the public sector have been told to stay at home, except for those who work for the ministries of education, health and a few others, and must use face coverings in public.

They have also banned women from traveling alone on long trips and require them to fully cover themselves, including their faces, in public.

The restrictions angered female activists and they initially staged small demonstrations against them, but the Taliban used violence and detained organizers, effectively deterring such rallies for months.

The Taliban defend their policies as being in line with Afghan culture and Shariah or Islamic law.

Sources said on Saturday (August 13th) that more than 10 journalists and their colleagues who wanted to cover the women’s protest against the Taliban in Kabul were arrested.

Tuba Walizada, a TOLO News reporter, is also among those arrested.

Foreign journalists were also present among the detained journalists.

The Taliban have released foreign journalists, but have transferred other journalists to an unknown location. The Taliban have not said anything about this news.

This morning, a number of women’s rights defenders in Kabul protested over the situation of girls’ schools, which ended after the Taliban fired in the air to disperse the protestors.

A union striker was punched in the face by a uniformed officer, and left briefly unconscious and bleeding from a gash on her nose, after authorities violently stopped around 80 strikers from walking to the front of NagaWorld casino this afternoon.

The violence occurred as strikers from the Labour Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) sought to move past metal barricades that authorities set up to block them from accessing the area in front of the casino. Around 80 police and mixed security forces then began violently hitting, kicking, stomping on and shoving back the mostly women union members to stop them from passing the barricades.

Less than three weeks ago, on 22 July, authorities violently pushed several protesting LRSU unionists to the ground in the same area of central Phnom Penh as strikers attempted to walk to the NagaWorld casino.

LRSU members have been regularly protesting near the casino complex since December 2021 to call for the reinstatement of unjustly fired unionists and fair severance for other dismissed workers. Protesting union members have faced arrest, imprisonment, fines, violence and sexual harassment by authorities over the past seven months. Eleven union members spent up to more than two months in pre-trial detention before being released in March 2022, and continue to face years in prison if convicted of spurious charges.

On August 10, 2022, the houses of Juvenile Estrada, 53, and Deana Estrada, 53, were allegedly demolished illegally by seven alleged goons hired by Hacienda Vicenta in Purok 1 and Sitio Kambagting, Barangay Cabacungan, La Castellana, Negros Occidental, Philippines. Juvenile and Deana are members of Hacienda Vicenta Farm Workers Association (HVFWA). HVFWA has an ongoing land dispute with Hacienda Vicenta. Apart from Juvenile and Deana, other members of HVFWA have received threats from the said goons.

According to Juvenile, he was sitting inside his house at around 9:00 A.M. when five men wearing face covers barged into his house and asked him if he was the owner of the said house. Juvenile politely asked what the problem was. One of the men then ordered Juvenile to get out of his house within five minutes or stay and be crushed while the men demolished the house. Juvenile said that he was confused and tried to stand up but was held back by one of the men. Juvenile was told that there was no need to ask the barangay officials and that they already settled the matter with the officials. Juvenile added that the men did not present any document to prove the legality of the demolition. Juvenile further added that he was intimidated by the men’s appearance and did not ask further questions.

According to Gaudiosa Estrada, Juvenile’s wife, upon hearing what the men said, she quickly ran outside to ask help from their barangay officials. Gaudiosa said that their officials refused to help them and allegedly said that they do not have jurisdiction over the matter for it was a privately owned lot. Gaudiosa added that by the time she returned to their house, it had already been demolished.

According to Juvenile, he begged to save their belongings but the men refused. Juvenile said that while five men were inside their house, another two were positioned outside. One end of the rope was tied to one of their house’s posts and the other end to a tractor. Juvenile said that within seconds after he went out their house, the driver drove the tractor forward and pulled their house in one go. Juvenile added that the men left after destroying their house and sarcastically ordered him to compute the monetary amount of the damage and it would be paid by the hacienda’s owner.

According to Rose Ann Estrada, Deana’s daughter, she was busy inside their house along with eight children when five men entered their house and ordered them to leave. The men allegedly said that within five minutes, they will demolish their house. Rose asked the reason for the demolition, but was instead threatened by one of the men. Rose was left with nothing to do and instructed the children to rush outside. Rose then rushed up to the second floor to wake up and get her 11-month-old child. Rose said that she went out as quickly as possible and felt dizzy. Rose added that she remembered handing over her child to one of her children and then she passed out. Rose further added that by the time she regained consciousness, the demolition was done.

According to Rose, one of the men tied one end of the rope to their house and the other end to a red canter truck owned by Hacienda Vicenta.

According to May Ann Montalvo, a witness and also a member of HVFWA, she and her brother were inside their house eating when they noticed a gray pick-up truck parked outside their house. Montalvo and her brother went out and saw the plate number of the truck suspiciously covered with leaves and a piece of plywood. Her brother then uncovered the plate number and went around the truck to take pictures of the plate number. Montalvo said that while her brother was taking pictures, she saw Jose Pameroyan, a worker from the hacienda, peeking from inside the truck. Montalvo added that Pameroyan was the alleged team leader of the demolition team.

According to Montalvo, after taking pictures of the truck, she then proceeded to check the status of the Estradas’ house. On her way to the demolition site, she came across the demolition team and overheard the men talking. Montalvo said that the men were saying that it would not be the last demolition and there will be a next time.

According to Juvenile, before the incident, he was summoned by the barangay captain to sit in a meeting with the hacienda’s secretary and sign an agreement between him and the hacienda. As to Juvenile’s understanding, he was offered to be paid by the hacienda if he voluntarily vacates their lot. Juvenile allegedly agreed on the terms. Juvenile added that after the demolition, he received no payment from the hacienda.

As of this writing, both Juvenile and Deana have not received any assistance, monetary or otherwise, from the hacienda. The barangay is also allegedly giving Juvenile and Deana a hard time in procuring the necessary documents required for case filing.

Mint (pseudonym), a traditional Thai dancer-turned-activist, has been arrested at her house on a royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for posting a picture of a protest sign criticising the handling of royal defamation cases.

The officers initially told Mint that they were taking her to Yannawa Police Station and that she should tell her lawyer to meet there. However, the police later detained her at the narcotics suppression bureau, which is outside Yannawa police's jurisdiction. The temporary detention request will be made at the Court on 5 August afternoon.

At 17.00 on 5 August, the Court allowed her to be bailed with 200,000 baht as securities. She was prohibited from repeating their offences and interfering with court proceedings, must stay at home between 19.00 - 6.00, and must not leave the country.

Apart from the two individuals who have just been released and Mint, at least 28 political dissidents and activists are still being detained as of 4 August.

A prominent union leader has been warned for allegedly forcing NagaWorld casino workers to continue their protests, with the Labor Ministry letter threatening “punishment” if she continued her “illegal activities.”

NagaWorld workers have been protesting since December 2021 after more than 1,300 workers were laid off by the casino corporation, of which only around 200 are continuing their collective action to push for reinstatement.

In recent weeks prominent union leaders have lent their support to NagaWorld workers, and routinely monitored the protests. Yang Sophorn, the head of garment worker union CATU, has even suggested she will get garment workers to join the protests.

The Labor Ministry letter warned Sophorn on Thursday to stop acting beyond the purview of her profession and to stop forcing the workers to continue their strikes. It does not provide any details about how Sophorn was allegedly doing this.

The letter points to three articles in the controversial Law on Trade Unions. The letter cites Article 81 for working beyond the “geographical, occupational and sectoral scope” and includes an around $1,250 fine.

Article 89 deals with “coercion to strike” and carries a $1,250 fine, and Article 65 for unfair labor practices by a union.

The Labor Ministry did not detail what kind of “punishment” they would initiate against Sophorn and demanded she not engage with the NagaWorld protests anymore.

Sophorn was unfazed by the letter on Friday, and said she would continue her support for the fired casino workers.

“I feel normal. I have no problems [with] the ministry’s warning letter. I don’t know based on what case they are accusing me, I have not committed anything wrong,” Sophorn said.

She had the right to support other unions and their advocacy for labor rights, and was unsure how she had violated any laws.

Sophorn again was unable to give a date for when she and other unions planned to join the NagaWorld workers. The union leader has previously stated that she would get garment factory workers to protest in support of the NagaWorld strike, with other unions also pledging their support for the proposed event.

The workers have continued their strike this week, with Mam Sovathin, one of the protesting workers, saying only 90 people were present on Friday because many were sick after they were caught in heavy rains on Thursday.

She said the letter about Sophorn showed that authorities were now accusing everyone of illegal acts. She added that workers took responsibility for their collective actions and were not being coerced by anyone.

“We so regret that as a worker, we are trying to find a solution from the Labor Ministry but they have no ability. Instead, they try to accuse others; it’s so regretful,” Sovathin said.

Labor Ministry spokesperson Heng Sour said the warning would continue if the violations did not end.

“If the violation continues intentionally, the Labor Disputes Department will take the individual to court,” Sour said.

“The Department of Labor Disputes hopes that the letter of warning or reminder will enable stakeholders to reconsider the law. Sometimes as human beings we can forget or not pay attention. That is why the department issued a warning letter or reminder to her. When she receives the letter, she will read the relevant article again and be able to understand and adjust her actions. Ministries or professional officials do not want to see any stakeholders getting punished unknowingly by acting illegally or improperly.”

On 2 August 2022, Mongolian woman human rights defender and Executive Director of Oyu Tolgoi Watch (OT Watch) Sukhgerel Dugersuren was informed by the General Intelligence Agency of Mongolia (GIA) that she is being investigated for committing crimes under the Criminal Code Article 19.4 “Illegal cooperation with foreign intelligence agency, agent”. She has also simultaneously been targetted by a smear campaign on social media. There is serious concern for her safety and the risk of imminent arrest. Sukhgerel Dugersuren is a Mongolian woman human rights defender who works closely with communities impacted by large scale development projects. She has a long history of exposing human rights abuses and environmental degradation linked to large scale mining, energy and infrastructure projects. She is the Executive Director of Oyu Tolgoi Watch (OT Watch) – a Mongolian NGO monitoring the environmental and human rights impacts of Rio Tinto’s gold and copper mine Oyu Tolgoi – and Director of the Rivers without Boundaries Coalition in Mongolia which helps local communities to protect river ecosystems they depend on. OT Watch is part of the international Coalition for Human Rights in Development and Sukhgerel Dugersuren is a member of the advisory body for the Defenders in Development campaign. On 3 August 2022, during a government briefing, the Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs of Mongolia, H. Nyambaatar, stated that the construction of the power plant had been suspended for two years. On 3 June 2022, an article written by Sukhgerel Dugersuren criticising the Erdeneburen hydroelectric power plant which is planned to be built on the Khovd River in Western Mongolia was published by The Third Pole.1 The article raised concerns about the project, including about the safety of the construction, potential environmental impact given its location in an ecologically sensitive area of Tsambagarav Uul National Park, and the potential displacement of 112 pastoralist households. The article also raised concerns about the lack of transparency and public participation in decision making regarding the project. Construction on the power plant – funded by China’s EximBank – was due to be carried out by state-owned Chinese engineering company PowerChina. During the government briefing, H. Nyambaatar also stated that a task force has been established to investigate cases where development projects are interrupted by civil society. These cases will be investigated as 'Sabotage' under the Criminal Code Article 19.6 and there will be a mechanism for reclaiming costs incurred due to the ‘lost opportunity’. The statement, which coincided with the visit of China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Ulan Baatar who was visiting to discuss the power plant and other similar projects, is a direct threat of reprisal and punishment against human rights defenders such as Sukhgerel Dugersuren who have been vocal advocates for the rights of persons impacted by such projects.

The Supreme Court today upheld incitement convictions of prominent unionist Rong Chhun and activists Sar Kanika and Ton Nimol, who remain under restrictive probation.

Chhun, who has spent years defending labour rights in Cambodia, was arrested after making a statement about the Cambodia-Vietnam border in 2020. His detention triggered a wave of further arrests of activists in Cambodia, including of Kanika and Nimol who were jailed after joining peaceful demonstrations in August and October 2020 respectively. The three were released in November 2021 and given three years of probation with a range of conditions limiting their freedoms.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court had convicted the three activists of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code in August 2021. The Phnom Penh Appeal Court suspended parts of their sentences in November 2021, ordering them to serve from over 14 months to over 15 months in prison and to pay 2 million riel (US$500) each in fines as well as jointly pay 400 million riel (US$100,000) in damages.

The Supreme Court upheld all elements of the Appeal Court’s earlier judgement this morning. Chhun, Kanika and Nimol were not present in the courtroom as the verdict was read.

In a separate case, the Supreme Court this morning also upheld incitement convictions against former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) activists Ton Nimol, Lim San, Yoy Mom, Sat Pha, Pai Ren, San Chan Sreyneat and Hong An. The charges followed their participation in a peaceful protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh in October 2020.

The Supreme Court has sentenced an indigenous Karen woman to 2 years and 8 months in prison for encroaching on National Park land despite pleas that the piece of land was passed down through her family.

Wansao Phungam is an indigenous Karen woman who lives in Tha Salao village in Nong Ya Plong District, Phetchaburi Province – one of the indigenous Karen communities on the edge of the Kaeng Krachan National Park. She has been living and working on a piece of land she inherited from her parents, and insisted that she has never encroached on the National Park. But when the government launched the One Map Project in 2016, the borders of Kaeng Krachan National Park were redrawn and Wansao’s land was included inside the Park.

The Kaeng Krachan National Park is Thailand’s largest national park. Along with Kui Buri National Park, the Chaloem Prakiat Thai Prachan National Park, and the Maenam Pachi Wildlife Sanctuary, it makes up the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex, which covers 482,225 hectares of forest in three provinces.

The forest complex included several indigenous Karen communities both in the conservation zone and in the nearby area, containing over 5000 households. Tha Salao village is one of these communities. Many of its community members have faced and are still facing legal prosecution as the authorities claim they have encroached on forest land.

In July 2021, the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex was named a World Heritage site despite ongoing concerns about human rights violatin against these indigenous communities.

Wansao said that other plots of land around hers have a Certificate of Utilization, but her parents had never obtained the document as they have 7 children and her father was sick, so her mother was not able to travel into town to get the certificate. She noted that no one else who lives on land around hers is being prosecuted.

In August 2018, Wansao was arrested for encroaching on National Park land. The Court of First Instance sentenced her to 3 years and 8 months in prison and a fine of over 2 million baht. Although the Appeal Court later dismissed her case, for the past three years while she has been fighting her case, Wansao has not been able to live on her land and had to leave her home behind.

The public prosecutor then appealed to the Supreme Court. Today (27 July), the Supreme Court overturned the Appeal Court’s dismissal of Wansao’s case and sentenced her to 2 years and 8 months in prison. She must pay a fine of 3.1 million baht and leave her land. Her house and all other buildings on the land must also be demolished.

Transborder News reported that other community members attended the hearing, and found the ruling unexpected as the Appeal Court had already dismissed the charges against Wansao.

Wansao is one of thousands of people affected by the National Council for Peace and Order’s forest reclamation policy. According to the activist network People’s Movement for a Just Society (P-Move), there are at least 34,692 cases in which an individual has been sued for encroaching on National Parks and protected forests and evicted from their land.

Following Wansao’s imprisonment, P-Move issued a statement condemning the government for the forest reclamation policy, which aims for 40% of the country to be forest area, and called on the authorities to end repeal all laws, orders, and policies which are part of the forest reclamation policy to allow the public to participate in the creation of a new land rights law.

P-Move also called on parliament to launch an investigation into the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE)’s budget and 2023 year plan, as it appeared that they are still following a forest conservation model from 2014, and that its budget for crackdown on encroachment is 8 times the budget allocated to solving land right issues. A new law must be drafted to pardon everyone unfairly prosecuted due to a government policy.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Ms. Bimla Devi, Ms. Sunita Devi, Ms. Anita Devi and Ms. Tergani Devi are permanent residents of Lukumbar village in Garhwa district. Ms. Bimla Devi and others are members of the Korwa tribe and they had filed claims for individual and community rights in 2020 over a patch of land adjacent to their neighbourhood in the village, which has been kept in abeyance by the forest department.

Background of the Incident: Lukumbar village is located amidst dense forests in Ranka block of Jharkhand’s Garhwa district. Families belonging to the Korwa tribe who reside in Lukumbar have been cultivating a large patch of forest land adjacent to their neighbourhood in the village for over four generations, and a part of this land is also used by other villagers for grazing cattle, sorting minor forest produce and other activities. The Gram Pradhan (traditional village head) of Lukumbar Mr. Vasant Korwa has confirmed these facts. Villagers had submitted claims for individual and community rights over the said land under the Forest Rights Act, 2006 to the Sub Divisional Level Committee on July 20, 2020. On November 16, 2021, vide letter no. 762, the authority informed villagers that community claims could not be processed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although villagers’ claims over the said land are still pending, and Chapter III, Section 4(5) of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, clearly states that ‘no member of a forest dwelling Scheduled Tribe or other traditional forest dweller shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is complete’, the forest department has been trying to free the land of encroachment and plant trees on it since 2021. But their efforts were thwarted due to protests from villagers on many occasions.

Details of the Incident: On July 27, 2022, at around 10 AM, a contingent of about 25 forest officials and police personnel led by the Van Kshetra Padadhikari, Ranka arrived in Lukumbar in three vehicles including a Commander jeep bearing registration number 0922. No women personnel were present in the contingent. Forest officials and police heckled Ms. Bimla Devi, Ms. Sunita Devi, who was six months pregnant, and other Korwa women working on their farm in the forest clearing, for which claims had been filed under the Forest Rights Act in July 2020. They asked the women to leave as they planned to plant saplings on the land as part of an afforestation programme. When Ms. Bimla Devi, Ms. Sunita Devi and other women working in the field objected to this, forest officials and police personnel abused them in casteist terms such as jangli, adivasi and korain. Forest guards and police then brutally baton-charged Ms. Bimla Devi and the pregnant Ms. Sunita Devi till they collapsed on the ground. Two other Korwa women, Ms. Anita Devi and Ms. Tergani Devi also sustained injuries during the baton charge. When Mr. Ramchandra Korwa and other villagers heard the cries of the women, they rushed to the spot. Heated arguments ensued with forest officials and police, and when the entire village gathered at the spot, the officials and guards left the village. On July 28, Ms. Bimla Devi and Ms. Sunita Devi sent a written complaint regarding the incident by post to the Officer in Charge of Ranka Police Station and the Superintendent of Police, Garhwa. The complaint, which was endorsed by other villagers, urged that an FIR be registered against the 25 forest officials and police personnel for openly flouting Section 4(5) of Chapter III of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The complainants also urged that the perpetrators be booked under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. It appears that forest officials and police personnel in Garhwa are trying to forcefully evict tribal forest dwellers from their homes and farms in flagrant violation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. The fact that community claims regarding the said land have been kept pending since 2020, and the non-registration of an FIR based on a complaint by Lukumbar villagers stating forest officers and police broke the law, raise further questions about the intent of the forest department and the police.

Two Vietnamese refugees held by authorities in Thailand say they fear for their safety after being visited in detention by Vietnamese embassy staff who urged them to return home, where they face charges as political activists.

Nguyen Thi Thuy and Ho Nhut Hung, both members of the civil society Constitution Group promoting freedom of expression and assembly in Vietnam, had fled as refugees to Thailand in September 2018.

Both had taken part in protests against proposed laws on cybersecurity and the granting of Special Economic Zones to foreign investors that rocked major cities across Vietnam four years ago, leading to mass arrests.

Living on expired UN-issued refugee cards in a province north of Bangkok, Thuy and Hung were detained by Thai Royal Police on July 24, 2022, charged with “illegal immigration and residence” and sent to an Immigration Detention Center in the capital.

Speaking to RFA by phone this week, Thuy said that she and Hung were visited in detention in early August by staff from Vietnam’s embassy in Bangkok who tried to persuade them to return to Vietnam.

“Surprisingly, they knew my room number and my prison identification number,” Thuy said. “They told us they would create the best conditions for our repatriation, and warned us that if we did not agree and waited instead for help from the UN, we would be in trouble.”

Both Thuy and Hung refused the embassy’s request, she said.

“We told the embassy that we now use UN identification cards instead of Vietnamese passports, and that we would therefore wait until hearing from the UN, even if we have to die here,” she said.

In February 2019, UN refugee officials issued cards with ID codes to Thuy and Hung, but the cards expired last year, Thuy said. Restricted by the COVID pandemic from visiting UN offices in person, the pair were told by phone that their cards had been renewed, but they were unable to pick them up and were still using their old cards when they were arrested, she said.

Detainees held at Bangkok’s IDC have only intermittent access to water and are served food lacking nutrition, Thuy said. Her cell normally housing up to 60 women is now less crowded, though, as half of the detainees held there have been moved to other facilities, she added.

Social activists in Thailand have raised funds from different sources, including Vietnamese living overseas, to help Thuy and Hung pay around 114,000 baht ($3,233) for bail, fines for illegal immigration, and charges for COVID tests, Thuy said.

Release date uncertain

Two weeks have now passed since Thuy and Hung were detained, but they still don’t know when they will be released, and Thuy’s calls to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok have rung unanswered, she said.

Calls seeking comment on Thuy’s and Hung’s case from Vietnam’s embassy in Thailand received no response this week, but an employee at the UNHCR office in Bangkok said they were aware of the situation and promised to report it to a senior official.

Also speaking to RFA, Nguyen Hoan An — a Vietnamese social activist also living as a refugee in Thailand — said that refugees held in detention are normally freed on the same day their bail is paid.

Detainees cannot be forced home if they refuse requests from their embassy to repatriate, An added. He noted however that Thai police have recently entered rented rooms without a warrant to arrest illegal immigrants, reporting falsely that the arrests took place in the street.

Refugees’ requests to UNHCR and law firms for help are often handled slowly or receive no reply, An said.

“We are calling on communities, media groups and especially the organizations responsible for protecting refugees to pay more attention,” An said. “We hope that they will take action quickly whenever refugees are arrested or face security risks so that they are not intimidated and extradited back to Vietnam.”

In January 2019, RFA blogger Truong Duy Nhat was arrested by Vietnamese police agents in Bangkok and forced back to Vietnam just a day after submitting an application for refugee status to UNHCR. He was later taken to court and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “abusing his official position” in a purchase of real estate under Article 356 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.

Taliban authorities must investigate the beating and harassment of journalist Selgay Ehsas, hold those responsible to account, and allow female journalists to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On July 20, several men armed with rifles approached Ehsas, a sports presenter with the independent broadcaster Radio Dost, while she was walking home in the Bala Bagh area of Surkh Rod district, in eastern Nangarhar province, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

The men fired a gun into the air and identified themselves as “Mujahedin,” or members of the Taliban, Ehsas said, adding that the gunshot startled her and made her drop her phone. When she went to pick up the phone, one of the men hit her on the back of the head with a heavy object that she believed was a gun, she said. Before she fell unconscious, she heard one of the men saying the attack was because she did not “sit at home despite their warnings,” according to the journalist and that report.

Locals took Ehsas, unconscious, to a clinic and later to the Fetame Zahra Public Hospital, where she received treatment for a bruised back, head pain, and dizziness, she told CPJ. She said that no items were stolen from her, and she believed the attack was reprisal for her work as a female journalist.

After the attack, Ehsas recorded an audio message describing the incident and questioning whether the Taliban supported attacks on women; she told CPJ that she shared that recording with a friend, and that it was subsequently shared on social media. Ehsas said she did not know who shared the clip online.

On July 23, after that recording was published online, Taliban members detained Ehsas’ father and uncle, and appeared at the journalist’s home, asking why she had insulted the group and questioned their authority. Under pressure from the Taliban members and her relatives, who said they feared Ehsas’ journalism put them in danger, Ehsas recorded a video message, reading from a script written by the Taliban members, that denied the group was involved in attacking her. The Taliban members then released her father and uncle, she said.

After that video message was published online, Ehsas and her family received threats from Taliban members, prompting them to go into hiding, the journalist told CPJ, saying that she feared for her life.

“Almost one year since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the cycle of threats, beatings, and intimidation of journalists continues at an alarming pace,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, from Madrid. “The brutal attack on Afghan journalist Selgay Ehsas, followed by Taliban members forcing her to record a video allegedly absolving the group, shows that members of the press face giant hurdles working under Taliban rule.”

On July 24, the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency said the July 20 attack on Ehsas stemmed from a personal conflict, and also published her video message, according to media reports.

In 2020 and 2021, Ehsas said she received many death threats while working as a presenter for the Nangarhar-based broadcaster Enikass Radio and TV, and in 2021, an improvised explosive device was attached to Ehsas’ family vehicle and injured several of her relatives. Ehsas was not in the car and believed the attack was retaliation for her journalism because it came shortly after the deaths of four female employees at Enikass.

The Taliban targeted Enikass because the outlet promoted freedom of speech and employed female journalists, according to an interview with the broadcaster’s owner and director, Engineer Zalmai Latifi, published by the local Subhe Kabul newspaper.

Ehsas said she received so many threats that she left Enikass in early 2021 and worked as a reporter for the independent broadcaster Shamshad TV in Kabul for five months, where she continued to receive threats, before taking a job at Radio Dost.

CPJ contacted Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, for comment via messaging app but did not receive any response.

Ehsas’ assault is the first physical attack on a female journalist that CPJ has documented since the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

CPJ is also investigating the detention and release of journalist Aluddin Erkin in northern Faryab province.

A Koh Kong resident in dispute with a sugar plantation was sentenced to a year in prison on Wednesday for malicious denunciation, but remains free for now with no arrest warrant issued by the court.

The Koh Kong Provincial Court issued the verdict against Deth Huor, a community representative in Sre Ambel district’s Chi Khor Loeu commune, for malicious denunciation and defamation charges that have arisen out of a land dispute with oknha Heng Huy.

Huy has filed multiple court complaints against protesters who say they are losing land to Huy’s sugar plantation. The dispute dates back more than a decade, and has involved hundreds of local families.

Huor, who was also fined 2 million riel (about $500), told VOD on Wednesday that she believed the verdict was unfair and would appeal the court’s decision.

“I feel really hurt that the court believed Mr. Heng Huy while hundreds of families lost their land because of Heng Huy’s encroachment,” Huor said. “When we lose land or lose something unfairly, why can’t we protest, and talk about that?”

According to Huor, the defamation part of the case related to a photo of Huy she posted on Facebook alongside criticism of him encroaching on people’s land.

Protesters from around 200 families in Chi Khor Loeu and Chi Khor Krom have also visited Phnom Penh to press their case, and in 2019 the Land Ministry rejected their appeal and called for legal action against their representatives for inciting the group to protest.

The charge of malicious denunciation refers to sending an accusation known to be false to authorities to take action. It is punishable by one month to one year in jail.

Her lawyer, Sam Chamroeun, said no arrest warrant had been issued for Huor despite the prison sentence.

“For this case, the court did not issue the arrest warrant. So in this case, [we] will file an appeal and we are on bail as normal … just waiting for the final verdict of the Appeal Court and Supreme Court,” Chamroeun said. “According to the procedure, for a sentence from one year up, the court has the right to issue an arrest warrant but the court also might not issue the arrest warrant.”

Huy, the tycoon, could not be reached on Wednesday, but last year told VOD that his company had legal rights to the disputed area and denied it was encroaching on people’s land.