Uwazi

Peri Asso (29) korban penembakan di Dekai, Kabupaten Yahukimo, Papua, meninggal dunia pada Minggu (22/8) dini hari sekitar pukul 02.20 WIT di RS Polri Bhayangkara, Kota Jayapura.

Korban tertembak saat aparat keamanan membubarkan unjuk rasa di Dekai, Senin lalu (16/8). Peri sempat mendapat perawatan di RSUD setempat, sebelum dievakuasi ke Jayapura Jumat (20/8).

Jenazah korban sudah diserahkan ke pihak keluarga di Sentani untuk dimakamkan.

"Saya masih menunggu laporan lengkapnya dari Kabid Dokkes Polda Papua," kata Mathius.

Ia menyatakan berdasar laporan Kapolres Yahukimo, situasi kamtibmas di wilayah itu relatif aman. Meski demikian, Mathius meminta anggotanya untuk bersiaga dan melakukan patroli guna memberikan rasa aman ke masyarakat

Aksi demo yang dilakukan warga di Dekai, 16 Agustus lalu, menuntut aparat membebaskan juru bicara KNPB Viktor Yeimo yang hingga kini masih ditahan di Mako Brimob Kotaraja.

Kepolisian Daerah (Polda) Sumatera Barat memanggil Direktur Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Padang Indira Suryani terkait kasus dugaan ujaran kebencian, pada Jumat (13/8). Hal ini diduga berawal dari unggahan LBH Padang di media sosial.

Perwakilan Tim Hukum LBH Padang Dechtree Ranti Putri mengatakan pihaknya menerima surat pemanggilan itu pada 12 Agustus 2021, sebagai saksi atas dugaan tindak pidana ujaran kebencian.

"Iya dipanggil, namun LBH Padang tidak bisa memenuhinya dengan beberapa alasan," katanya kepada CNNIndonesia.com, Jumat (13/8).

Pihaknya menduga, kasus ini erat kaitannya dengan unggahan akun Instagram LBH Padang yang mengkritik penghentian penyelidikan kasus dugaan penyelewengan anggaran Covid-19 di Sumbar.

Pantauan CNNIndonesia.com, pada Selasa (29/6) lalu, LBH Padang mengunggah karikatur mengenai penghentian penyelidikan penyelewengan anggaran Covid-19 dengan dugaan kerugian negara sebesar Rp4,9 miliar.

Diketahui, Polda Sumbar menghentikan penyelidikan kasus karena tak menemukan unsur kerugian negara.

Ranti menyampaikan, tidak dipenuhinya panggilan tersebut karena sejumlah alasan, di antaranya pemanggilan berjarak hanya satu hari dari proses pemeriksaan.

Pemanggilan ini, lanjutnya di luar prosedur dan melanggar hukum sebagaimana ketentuan Pasal 227 ayat (1) KUHAP berbunyi "semua jenis pemberitahuan atau panggilan oleh pihak yang berwenang dalam semua tingkat pemeriksaan kepada terdakwa, saksi atau ahli disampaikan selambat - lambatnya tiga hari sebelum tanggal hadir yang ditentukan, di tempat tinggal mereka atau di tempat kediaman mereka terakhir".

Kemudian pemanggilan dilakukan secara tidak patut, karena dalam proses panggilan petugas mesti bertemu sendiri dan berbicara langsung kepada yang dipanggil sebagaimana ketentuan Pasal 227 ayat 2 KUHAP.

"Dalam Pasal 227 ayat 2 KUHP itu jelas tertulis petugas yang melaksanakan panggilan tersebut harus bertemu sendiri dan berbicara langsung dengan orang yang dipanggil dan membuat catatan bahwa panggilan telah diterima oleh yang bersangkutan dengan membubuhkan tanggal serta tandatangan, baik oleh petugas maupun orang yang dipangil dan apabila yang dipanggil tidak menandatangani maka petugas harus mencatat alasannya," ujar Ranti.

LBH Padang, kata Ranti, telah mengirimkan surat kepada Polda Sumbar C.q Penyidik karena tidak bisa menghadiri panggilan ini, karena kesalahan prosedur formal dan melanggar hukum.

Selain itu, Indira selaku yang dipanggil atas kasus ini juga kebingungan dengan permasalahan pemeriksaan terhadap LBH Padang.

Ia mengaku tidak tahu menahu soal kasus apa yang akan diperiksa oleh Polda Sumbar terhadap LBH Padang.

"Kami bingung dengan surat panggilan saksi dari Polda Sumbar ini. Saat ini kami menunggu informasi dari kepolisian," jelasnya.

Sementara Kabid Humas Polda Sumbar Kombes Pol Stefanus Satake Bayu Setianto mengatakan memang ada pemanggilan terhadap LBH Padang. Namun yang bersangkutan tidak datang.

"Secara tertulis dalam surat pemanggilan itu ketua LBH Padang, namun secara struktur organisasi beliau direktur, suratnya akan diperbaiki," kata Stefanus.

Direktur Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Bali Ni Kadek Vany Primaliraing dilaporkan ke Polda Bali atas tuduhan dugaan makar karena memberikan bantuan hukum kepada mahasiswa Papua.

Pelaporan tersebut menjadi tanda tanya karena advokat dianggap ikut melakukan upaya makar disaat menjalankan mandat konstitusi.

Permasalahan itu bermula saat LBH Bali mendampingi aksi damai Aliansi Mahasiswa Papua (AMP) pada 31 Mei 2021.

Pendampingan itu juga didasarkan dengan surat permohonan pendampingan hukum Nomor 09/AMP-KK-BALI/III/2021 tertanggal 27 Mei 2021.

Dengan demikian LBH Bali sedang menjalankan mandat konstitusi yakni Pasal 1 Ayat 3, Pasal 27 Ayat 1, Pasal 28 Ayat 1 dan Pasal 34 Ayat 1 dalam UUD 1945 dan UU Nomor 16 Tahun 2011 tentang Bantuan Hukum.

"Pada poinnya melindungi serta menjamin hak warga negara akan kebutuhan akses terhadap keadilan (access to justice) dan kesamaan di hadapan hukum (equality before the law)," kata Vany kepada Suara.com, Rabu (4/8/2021).

Akan tetapi, Vany justru dilaporkan ke Polda Bali oleh pelapor Rico Ardika Panjaitan pada Senin, 2 Agustus 2021 atas dugaan tindak pidana makar dan dugaan pemufakatan makar.

Vany lantas menjelaskan kalau saat mendampingi klien, advokat dilarang membedakan perlakuan terhadap klien berdasarkan jenis kelamin, agama, politik, keturunan, ras atau latar belakang sosial dan budaya. Itu tertuang dalam Ayat 1 Undang-undang Nomor 18 Tahun 2003 yang mengatur tentang profesi advokat.

Kemudian pada Ayat 2 UU 18/2003 dijelaskan kalau advokat tidak dapat diindetikan dengan kliennya dalam membela perkara klien oleh pihak yang berwenang dan/atau masyarakat.

"Sehingga LBH Bali sedang menjalankan mandat konstitusi dan UU 40 tahun 2008 tentang Penghapusan Diskriminasi Ras dan Etnis," ujarnya.

Lebih jauh, Vany menganggap kalau pelaporan advokat sekaligus aktivitas Hak Asasi Manusia (HAM) merupakan upaya kriminalisasi, sekaligus pelemahan kerja bantuan hukum serta rasisme terhadap teman-teman Papua.

Menurutnya hal tersebut juga menciderai konstitusi dengan melakukan pembatasan hak atas bantuan hukum.

Selain itu, pelaporan itu juga menjadi pertanyaan karena advokat yang tengah menjalankan mandat konstitusional tetapi malah dituduh makar dan menjadikan konstitusional RI sebagai korbannya.

"Bahkan logikanya LBH Bali sedang melaksanakan mandat konstitusi memberikan bantuan hukum, implementasi asas praduga tidak bersalah, asas persamaan di depan hukum, asas legalitas dan ini justru dapat menjadi Pelaporan Palsu sebagaimana di atur dalam Pasal 220 KUHP," tuturnya.

Vany juga menyayangkan aparat kepolisian yang tidak melakukan edukasi terhadap pelapor pada saat melakukan pelaporan. Sebagai tegaknya asas legalitas dan pendalaman pengetahuan konstitusi.

"Mengorbankan hidup orang lain khususnya orang miskin dan kelompok minoritas untuk kepentingan pribadi merupakan hal yang keji."

Pria bernama Persada Bhayangkara Sembiring diduga disiram dengan air keras oleh orang tidak dikenal (OTK). Persatuan Wartawan Indonesia (PWI) Sumatera Utara (Sumut) mengatakan Persada merupakan pemimpin redaksi (pemred) salah satu media lokal di Medan.

"Mengecam tindak kekerasan kembali terjadi terhadap wartawan yang bertugas di lingkungan Kota Medan khususnya, dan Sumatera Utara umumnya," kata Ketua PWI Sumut Hermansjah kepada wartawan, Senin (26/7/2021).

Herman mengatakan peristiwa ini terjadi pada Minggu (25/7) pukul 22.00 WIB. Herman mengatakan pihaknya mendapatkan informasi peristiwa ini terkait pemberitaan tentang perjudian.

"Diduga sering menaikkan berita perjudian, lalu ditelepon, jumpalah di Simpang Selayang. Setelah jumpa, lalu tiba-tiba diduga Pemred Jelajahperkara disiram air keras ke wajahnya," tutur Herman.

Herman mengatakan pihaknya akan membentuk tim untuk mendampingi korban dalam menjalani kasusnya. Herman juga mengingatkan agar wartawan berhati-hati dalam menjalankan tugas.

"Apapun beritanya, wartawan harus mengutamakan keselamatan daripada jiwa jadi taruhan kawan-kawan saat menjalankan tugas di lapangan," ucapnya.

Rekan dari korban, Bonni Manulang, mengatakan dirinya dihubungi Persada usai peristiwa itu terjadi. Bonni kemudian membawa Persada untuk berobat ke RS Adam Malik Medan.

"Untuk kondisi korban setelah wajah disiram air keras, tampak sangat parah, mengerikan di sekitar wajah tersiram air keras, wajah langsung bengkak (tembem) dan menguning, tapi tidak sampai melepuh. Tetapi setelah ditangani tim medis, kondisi fisik sudah semakin baik dan bisa melihat," tuturnya.

Bonni mengatakan Persada saat peristiwa itu sedang menunggu seseorang di lokasi kejadian. Dari keterangan Persada, menurut Bonni, dia disiram dua orang yang menggunakan sepeda motor.

"Tiba-tiba datang dua orang pria mendekat dengan menggunakan sepeda motor. Tanpa berbicara apa-apa, satu orang pria itu turun dari motornya dan langsung menyiramkan sesuatu ke bagian wajahnya yang belakangan diketahui adalah air keras," jelasnya.

Safii Wakabiro Indo rubrik.com Kabupaten Asahan dan juga sebagai Ketua Pimpinan Anak Cabang (PAC) Pemuda Pancasila Kecamatan Sei Kepayang Timur bersama Hamdan Sinaga Wartawan Indo rubrik.com dan juga Sebagai Sekretaris PP mendapat perlakuan yang sangat keji dari Oknum berseragam bersama dengan rekan-rekannya para Preman berkisar pada Pukul 01.00 Wib Malam Sabtu 24/7/21.

Hal tersebut dikatakan Korban Safii dan Hamdan Sinaga pada Wartawan di klinik menteri Udin Jalan Tomat Minggu 25/7/21, yang mana Oknum berseragam dan para Preman yang melakukan penganiayaan datang dengan mengenderai Dua (2) unit Mobil dan Tiga (3) Unit Sepeda motor, yang mana oknum tersebut diketahui berinisial CDR Oknum TNi Al yang bertugas di Kabupaten Batubara.

CDR dengan rekan-rekannya para oknum preman meminta Kartu Tanda Anggota (KTA) dari kedua Wartawan tersebut dan berusaha untuk membakar KTA itu.

Dimana bermula Dua wartawan dan rekan-rekannya yang sedang melaksanakan tugas mengambil Fhoto sebuah Truk Tangki yang berada persis di depan Polres Asahan diduga membawa minyak Ilegal yang akan dibawa ke Kota Tanjungbalai.

Dan kedua Wartawan yang bertugas di Kabupaten Asahan tersebut ditegur oleh oknum-oknum tersebut dengan berkata mengapa kau Fhoto-fhoto itu dan dengan secara Spontan langsung mengejar serta menganiaya Safii dan Hamdan Sinaga.

Ke Dua Wartawan Asahan yang sedang bertugas tersebut dipukuli serta ditendang,dan tidak sampai disitu oknum-oknum tersebut juga melakukan penculikan dengan membawa kedua Wartawan ke dalam mobil.

Untuk selanjutnya Dua (2) Wartawan yang sudah diculik disekap pada sebuah Hotel yang ada di Kisaran,dan disana mereka diperlakukan secara tak manusiawi, setelah puas melakukan penganiayaan tersebut kedua korban dipaksa serta diintimidasi untuk menanda tangani sebuah surat perjanjian yang isinya sudah ada perdamaian antara kedua belah pihak, sekitar pukul 06.00 Wib kedua Korban yang sudah babak belur dilepaskan oknum-oknum tersebut.

Menanggapi hal tersebut Ketua Persatuan Wartawan Republik Indonesia (PWRI) Kota Tanjungbalai Yusman Kumis sangat menyesalkan hal tersebut dan mengutuk keras aksi yang dilakukan oleh Oknum TNI AL tersebut dan juga para Preman suruhan dari CDR.

Untuk itu kita meminta agar persoalan tersebut dapat diusut secara tuntas karena Indonesia adalah Negara Hukum jadi siapapun yang melawan Hukum harus dihukum,apa lagi Wartawan yang sedang melaksanakan tugas yang sudah dilindungi dan diatur dalam UU pokok Pers Nomor 40 Tahun 1999, Ungkap yusman dengan nada geram.

Seorang aktivis mahasiswa Universitas Pattimura Ambon, Risman Soulissa ditangkap polisi. Aktivis Himpunan Mahasiswa Islam (HMI) Cabang Ambon ini ditangkap terkait seruan aksi unjuk rasa mencopot Presiden Joko Widodo, Gubernur Maluku, Murad Ismail dan Wali Kota Ambon yang diunggah di media sosial. Risman dijemput sebuah mobil lalu ditangkap oleh sejumlah Anggota Polresta Pulau Ambon dan Pulau-Pulau Lease di sekitar tempat tinggalnya di kawasan Poka, Kecamatan Teluk Ambon pada Minggu malam (25/7/2021). “Benar. Yang bersangkutan telah ditangkap dan saat ini telah resmi ditahan,” kata Kapolresta Pulau Ambon dan Pulau-Pulau Lease, Kombes Pol Leo Surya Nugraha Simatupang kepada Kompas.com via telepon seluler, Senin (26/7/2021). Ditetapkan tersangka ujaran kebencian Setelah ditangkap, mahasiswa tersebut langsung diperiksa oleh penyidik di kantor Polresta Pulau Ambon. Dia kemudian langsung ditetapkan sebagai tersangka dalam kasus ujaran kebencian.“Saat ini sudah ditetapkan sebagai tersangka. Nanti kalau soal teknisnya silahkan ke Kasat Reskrim saja,” katanya. Unggah seruan aksi di Facebook Kepala Sub Bagian Humas Polresta Pulau Ambon dan Pulau-Pulau Lease, Ipda Isack Leatemia menjelaskan, penangkapan terhadap Risman dilakukan setelah tersangka mengunggah dua gambar berisi seruan aksi unjuk rasa di akun Facebook miliknya pada 21 Juli 2021 lalu. Dalam unggahan itu ada seruan untuk mencopot Presiden Joko Widodo, Gubernur Maluku dan juga Wali Kota Ambon. “Tersangka memposting dua gambar berserta keterangannya yang memuat ujaran kebencian,” katanya saat dihubungi secara terpisah. Isack menerangkan, perbuatan tersangka itu telah menyalahi ketentuan Pasal 45A sebagaimana dimaksud dalam Pasal 45 ayat 3 Undang-undang Nomor 19 Tahun 2016 tentang perubahan kedua atas UU nomor 11 tahun 2008 tentang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik dan atau Pasal 14 ayat 2 UU Nomor 1 Tahun 1946 tentang peraturan hukum pidana. “Perbuatan tersangka menyebarkan ujaran kebencian sebagaimana diatur dalam undang-undang,” katanya.

Sekitar 23 mahasiswa Universitas Cenderawasih (Uncen) ditangkap oleh polisi saat menggelar unjuk rasa menolak Otonomi Khusus Papua Jilid II di beberapa lokasi berbeda, Selasa (14/7).

"Berdasarkan jumlah keseluruhan, yang ditangkap ada 23 orang massa mahasiswa yang ditangkap masing-masing dari 3 tempat yang berbeda," kata Direktur LBH Papua, Emmanuel Gobay saat dikonfirmasi, Selasa (14/7).

Gobay menyebut penangkapan juga dibarengi aksi represif aparat kepolisian sehingga mengakibatkan lima mahasiswa terluka. Para mahasiswa yang ditangkap langsung dibawa ke Mapolres Jayapura.

Aksi represif terhadap lima mahasiswa Papua terjadi di kawasan Uncen Bawah, Abepura, dengan jumlah korban 3 mahasiswa. Lalu satu orang lain mengalami kekerasan di Unecn Atas Waena dan yang lainnya di sekitar wilayah Dok 8.

"Alasan penahanan massa aksi mahasiswa dan Pemuda ini dikarenakan mereka tidak membubarkan diri saat diminta bubar sehingga pihak kepolisian mengamankan masa aksi ke Mapolresta Jayapura," jelas dia.

Gobay menyebut pihaknya sudah meminta keterangan dari Polda Papua atas penangkapan 23 mahasiswa Uncen tersebut.

Dikatakan dia bahwa polisi menyatakan tidak ada pelanggaran hukum lain yang dilakukan oleh massa aksi. Penangkapan dilakukan karena massa tak mau bubar saat diminta membubarkan diri.

"10 orang diangkut dari Uncen bawah, 10 orang diangkut dari Uncen atas dan 3 orang diangkut dari Dok 9," tukasnya.

Kabid Humas Polda Papua, Kombes Ahmad Musthofa Kamal mengonfirmasi penangkapan sejumlah mahasiswa Uncen tersebut.

Para mahasiswa itu masih berada di Polres Jayapura. Namun Kamal belum bisa merinci jumlah mahasiswa yang ditangkap. Alasan penangkapan, menurutnya, karena mahasiswa mengabaikan arahan kepolisian.

"Sudah diingatkan untuk tidak keluar kampus (saat unjuk rasa). Dan izin tidak diberikan karena situasi Kota Jayapura zona merah," jelas Kamal.

Sebanyak 50 mahasiswa Papua yang sempat ditangkap aparat kepolisian saat menggelar aksi unjuk rasa menolak pengesahan Revisi Undang-Undang Otonomi Khusus (RUU Otsus) Papua, di depan MPR/DPR, Senayan, Jakarta sudah dibebaskan.

"Sudah diperbolehkan pulang tapi masih menunggu barang-barang [yang disita]," kata pendamping hukum mahasiswa dari PBHI Julius Ibrani kepada CNNIndonesia.com, Kamis (15/7).

Julius mengatakan mahasiswa tersebut ditangkap aparat dengan alasan telah melanggar ketertiban protokol kesehatan di tengah pandemi virus corona (Covid-19).

"Sekitar 50 orang yang ditangkap dan ditahan secara sewenang-wenang saat melakukan aksi," ujarnya.

Secara terpisah, Koalisi Kemanusiaan Papua mengecam keras penggunaan kekerasan yang diduga dilakukan aparat saat menangkap massa unjuk rasa.

Koalisi Kemanusiaan Papua merupakan kemitraan sukarela yang terdiri dari sejumlah organisasi seperti Amnesty International Indonesia, Imparsial, Biro Papua PGI, dan lain-lain.

"Kami memandang tindakan tersebut melanggar hak atas kebebasan berekspresi serta hak atas kebebasan berkumpul warga yang sedang menyampaikan aspirasi mereka secara damai," kata Koalisi Kemanusiaan Papua melalui keterangan tertulis.

Koalisi menyatakan unjuk rasa yang dilakukan mahasiswa merupakan aksi damai sebagai respon atas kebijakan pemerintah. Menurut mereka, seharusnya negara menjamin keamanan para demonstran.

Hak atas kebebasan berekspresi dan berkumpul, kata mereka, seharusnya dijamin melalui UU No. 12 Tahun 2005 tentang Pengesahan Kovenan Internasional tentang Hak-hak Sipil dan Politik.

Sementara tindakan aparat dinilai melanggar Pasal 11 ayat (1) huruf b dan Pasal 13 ayat (1) huruf a Peraturan Kapolri No. 8 Tahun 2009 yang menegaskan larangan melakukan intimidasi, ancaman dan siksaan fisik.

Sebelumnya, salah seorang mahasiswa yang turut mengikuti aksi, Ambrosisus Mulait mengatakan puluhan mahasiswa Papua yang menggelar aksi di MPR/DPR ditangkap polisi.

Ia mengatakan aparat mengamankan mahasiswa dengan alasan melanggar protokol kesehatan. Ambrosius bersama massa aksi lainnya sudah berkumpul di Senayan sejak pagi.

CNNIndonesia.com sudah menghubungi Kabid Humas Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Yusri Yunus dan Direktur Reskrimum Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Tubagus Ade Hidayat terkait penangkapan ini, namun belum mendapat jawaban.

Aksi mengeluarkan paksa alat berat yang ada di lokasi galian C tepat di area Bendung Wae Cebong yang dilakukan warga Desa Compang Longgo, Kecamatan Komodo, Kabupaten Manggarai Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) berbuntut panjang.

Dua warga Compang Longgo yang ikut dalam aksi yang menyuarakan kekhawatiran munculnya dampak lingkungan seiring aktivitas galian C itu malah dilaporkan ke Polres Manggarai Barat.

Dua warga tersebut adalah Leonardus Suhardiwan dan Heronimus Taji. Keduanya akan diperiksa oleh Satreskrim Polres Manggarai Barat pada Kamis (8/7/2021) besok.

Jajaran Satreskrim Polres Manggarai Barat menerbitkan surat Undangan Klarifikasi dengan Nomor B/1336/VII/2021.

Rujukan yang dipakai polisi adalah a) Pasal 184 Ayat (1) huruf a Undang-Undang No.8 Tahun 1981 tentang KHUAP, b) Undang-undang Nomor 2 tahun 2002, tentang Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia, c) Undang-Undang Nomor 3 Tahun 2020 Tentang Perubahan Atas Undang-undang Nomor 4 Tahun 2009 Tentang Pertambangan Mineral dan Batubara.

Dalam undangan tertuang Unit Tipidter Satuan Reskrim Polres Manggarai Barat sedang melakukan penyidikan terhadap dugaan Tindakan Pidana “Menghalang-halangi kegiatan Pertambangan Galian C di Wilayah Desa Compang Longgo yang memiliki ijin”.

Tokoh pemuda setempat, Leonardus Suhardiwan menyayangkan kriminalisasi aksi yang merupakan bentuk keprihatinan terhadap lingkungan. Hal ini dinilai kian menegaskan arogansi pengusaha galian C dalam merespon aksi keprihatinan warga. Sebelumnya, warga juga beberapa kali mengupayakan mediasi dengan pengusaha galian C milik Kelompok Handel Berseri itu. Namun selalu berakhir buntu.

“Dan tiba-tiba mereka (pengusaha galian C) malah membuat laporan ke polisi. Ini yang kita sayangkan, berhadapan dengan masyarakat tapi caranya seperti ini,” kata Leo sapaannya saat ditemui Baranewsaceh.com di kediamannya pada Rabu (7/7) malam.

Sebelumnya, penolakan dilakukan warga dengan cara mediasi. Tak sampai di situ, warga juga berkirim surat penolakan galian C ini terhadap pemerintah kabupaten, provinsi dan pusat yang ditanda tangan ratusan warga Compang Longgo.

“Itu aksi spontanitas warga. Karna dua minggu terakhir ini tidak ada aktivitas disana (seputar lokasi Bendung Wae Cebong). Tiba-tiba kemarin pagi, muncul eksa dan mobil lagi”, ungkap Leo.

Kalau begini ceritanya, besok kami siap hadir memenuhi panggilan itu, tutup Leo dengan nada santai.

Diberitakan sebelumnya, Puluhan warga Desa Compang Longgo Kecamatan Komodo, Kabupaten Manggarai Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), mengeluarkan paksa alat berat yang ada di lokasi galian C tepat disamping area Bendung Wae Cebong. Aksi warga yang sempat memanas ini merupakan bentuk penolakan warga terhadap penambangan tersebut.

Warga menilai, dampak dari penambangan di lokasi tersebut akan merusak lingkungan dan mengganggu aliran air yang masuk ke Bendung Wae Cebong berakibat fatal pada lahan pertanian milik warga di persawahan Walang. Pasalnya, sebagai besar merupakan petani yang menjadi mata pencarian warga.

Kapolres Kampar AKBP M Kholid dilaporkan ke Divisi Propam Polri terkait dugaan kriminalisasi petani sawit yang tergabung dalam Koperasi Petani Sawit Mandiri (Kopsa M) dalam perkara sengketa lahan dengan PTPN V. Pelaporan dilakukan Setara Institute.

"Sejak 2017 petani melalui Ketua Kopsa M Pak Antony Hamzah melakukan perlawanan melaporkan ke Bareskrim dan KPK, sejak itu kriminalisasi terjadi terhadap Pak Antony, dan itu dibiarkan oleh Polres Kampar," kata Disna Riantina, Pengacara Publik, Koordinator Tim Advokasi Keadilan Agraria-Setara Institute, di Jakarta, seperti dilansir dari ANTARA.

Antony Hamzah adalah Ketua Kopsa M yang sejak 2017 melakukan upaya-upaya hukum membela hak 979 anggota koperasi atas pengelolaan lahan perkebunan sawit yang dikerjasamakan dengan PTPN V, di Desa Pangkalan Baru, Siak Hulu, Kabupaten Kampar, Riau.

Sebuah media massa di Pekanbaru Riau, Kamis (10/6) menuliskan berita Ketua Kopsa M Antony Hamzah ditetapkan sebagai tersangka dalam perkara sengketa tanah dengan PTPN V.

Namun, ketika dikonfirmasi ke Polres Kampar, berita tersebut dinyatakan sebagai kabar bohong (hoaks). Hanya saja, Polres Kampar dalam hal ini Kapolres dan penyidik Satreskrim Polres Kampar tidak menganulir berita yang beredar tersebut atau tetap membiarkan berita tersebar tanpa ada penyataan resmi polisi yang menyatakan berita tersebut kabar bohong.

"Tindakan-tindakan jajaran Polres Kampar bukan hanya bertentangan dengan peraturan perundang-undangan, tetapi mencoreng citra Polri dan menjadi ukuran keseriusan Polri memberantas mafia tanah," kata Disna.

Disna mengatakan Antony bersama petani sawit sedang memperjuangkan hak-haknya melalui jalur hukum, dan saat ini mendapat ancaman kriminalisasi melalui skenario peristiwa hukum yang melibatkan PTPN V, PT Langgam Harmuni, akibat peristiwa tindak pidana perusakan yang dilakukan oleh sekelompok preman di lahan milik anggota Kopsa M, sehingga saat ini Ketua Kopsa M menghadapi ancaman menjadi tersangka.

Atas tindakan perusakan di lahan saat ini menjadi objek pelaporan ke Bareskrim Polri dan Satgas Mafia Tanah Polri, jajaran Polres Kampar sejak Januari 2021 terus melakukan pemeriksaan terhadap sejumlah petani dengan cara-cara yang tidak prosedural, disertai tekanan dan ancaman, katanya lagi.

Menurut dia, Polres Kampar menutup mata atas ketidakjelasan pelaporan yang tidak memiliki 'legal standing', laporan polisi Nomor LP/332/X/2020/Riau Res Kampar tertanggal 16 Oktober 2020 adalah persekongkolan pihak-pihak untuk melemahkan dan membungkam petani Kopsa M guna menutupi penyerobotan lahan dan hilangnya kebun-kebun petani serta dugaan tindakan korupsi di PTPN V.

"Perilaku jajaran Polres Kampar yang secara insinuatif dan menyudutkan Kopsa M melalui media-media massa termasuk mendramatisir peristiwa perusakan secara hiperbolik adalah tindakan tidak profesional dan menggambarkan obsesi mengkriminalisasi Ketua Kopsa M tanpa dasar," kata Disna.

Aliansi Keadilan Agraria-Setara Institute dan Kopsa M melaporkan dugaan korupsi di PTPN V yang menyebabkan kebun gagal dan 979 petani tidak memiliki lahan.

Selain laporan dugaan korupsi ke Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) pada 25 Mei 2021, aliansi juga melaporkan dugaan tindak pidana penyerobotan lahan ke Bareskrim Polri pada 27 Mei 2021. Kopsa M juga telah melaporkan peristiwa perampasan hak ini kepada Presiden Joko Widodo pada 23 Februari 2021.

Antony Hamzah yang juga Dosen Universitas Riau saat ditemui di Kantor Setara Institute, di Jakarta, mengatakan pada tahun 2003 Kopsa dan PTPN V membuat perjanjian kerja sama pembangunan kebun sawit pola Kredit Koperasi Primer Anggota (KKPA) untuk anggota koperasi yang direncanakan 2.000 hektare. Nota kesepahaman waktu itu ditandatangani oleh Kopsa M dan Mardjan Ustha selaku Direktur SDM PTPN V.

Perkebunan dibangun dengan memakai pinjaman dari bank dengan PTPN V sebagai avalis. Nominal pinjaman saat itu Rp115 miliar.

Pada tahun 2017, saat Antony dipilih menjadi Ketua Kopsa M, meminta kejelasan luas lahan perkebunan saat ini yang telah dihibahkan petani seluas 4.000 hektare.

"Dari hasil penelusuran dan pengukuran luas lahan menyusut menjadi 1.400 hektare," kata Antony.

Dari 1.400 hektare tersebut, lanjut Antony, hanya 300 hektare lahan yang bisa dipanen, sisanya gagal, satu hektare hanya bisa panen kurang dari satu ton. Petani hanya mendapatkan hasil Rp50 ribu per bulan dalam hasil panen.

Di bawah kepemimpinan Antony, Kopsa M menolak menandatangani surat pengakuan utang, karena belum jelas hak petani atas lahan perkebunan.

Kopsa M juga memiliki bukti ada lahan hibah petani yang diperjualbelikan oleh oknum di PTPN V.

"Yang kami perjuangkan, lahan petani yang dicaplok ini, utang tumbuh lahan hilang," kata Antony.

Direktur Lembaga Bantuan Hukum (LBH) Semarang, Eti Oktaviani menceritakan, proses nonton bareng (nobar) film ‘The End Game’ sempat mengalami gangguan dari sejumlah pihak yang mengaku ‘intel’ sehingga harus dibubarkan. Kejadian ini, menurutnya, terjadi saat LBH Semarang bersama Gerakan Rakyat Menggugat (Geram) melakukan kegiatan nobar film ‘The End Game’ pekan lalu. “Memang saat itu pada saat pelaksanaan ada distraksi-distraksi ya, yang itu berasal dari intel. Karena yang bersangkutan mengaku intel, kemudian memaksa agar penayangan atau diskusi untuk review film End game ini tidak dilaksanakan saat itu,” kata Eti dalam konferensi virtual, Minggu (13/6/2021). Eti menjelaskan, protokol kesehatan Covid-19 menjadi isu utama untuk membubarkan kegiatan nobar tersebut. Karena besarnya pemaksaan agar kegiatan nobar dibubarkan, Eti mengatakan, akhirnya pihak LBH Semarang pun membubarkan kegiatan tersebut. “Dengan proses yang cukup panjang dan kemudian ada pemaksaan-pemaksaan oleh aparat sehingga sekitar 15 atau 10 menit sebelum film itu selesai, akhirnya dengan sangat terpaksa kami memberhentikan, karena sudah cukup panas situasinya saat itu,” ucap dia. Padahal, apabila aparat mengkhawatirkan penerapan protokol kesehatan, Eti menyebut, seharusnya mereka tidak perlu sampai membubarkan kegiatan nobar. Menurut Eti, pihak aparat penegak hukum dapat memantau dan memastikan protokol kesehatan Covid-19 bisa terlaksana “Nah kemudian di sini seharusnya menjadi satu hal yang cukup sangat terlihat atau terpampang nyata ya bahwa memang ada hal yang dicapai itu bukan hanya sebatas menghindari penyebaran Covid-19 tetapi ada hal lain yang memang agar diskusi atau pemutaran film ini tidak bisa terlaksana saat itu,” ucap dia. Eti pun menegaskan, pihaknya berkomitmen untuk melakukan nobar film ‘The End Game’ 10 kali setelah sempat dibubarkan aparat. Menurut dia, banyak mahasiswa dan organisasi non-pemerintah yang mengikuti kegiatan nobar tersebut. “Dengan adanya pembubaran itu, kawan-kawan merespons dengan satu kali proses nobar dibubarkan maka kami berkomitmen untuk menyelenggarakan 10 kali lagi, apa, layar atau menancapkan layar nobar film End Game,” ungkapnya. Diketahui, tidak lolosnya 75 pegawai KPK dari Tes Wawasan Kebangsaan (TWK) yang merupakan alih status kepegawaian menjadi aparatur sipil negara (ASN) menjadi polemik di masyarakat. Sebagai bentuk perlawanan dan upaya menyelamatkan KPK, WatchDoc merilis film dokumenter berjudul The End Game. Film dokumenter ini bercerita soal kesaksian para pegawai KPK yang dinyatakan tak lulus TWK. Sejak dirilis, kedua trailer film ini telah ditonton puluhan ribu orang di YouTube. Trailer pertama menceritakan kesaksian sejumlah pegawai yang dinyatakan tak lulus wawasan kebangsaan. Mereka yang tak lulus berasal dari sejumlah kelompok dan latar belakang agama yang berbeda. Sementara, trailler film kedua menceritakan kesaksian 16 penyidik dan penyelidik, terkait sejumlah kasus yang mereka tangani di KPK. Mereka antara lain, Novel Baswedan, Kasatgas Penyelidik KPK Harun Al Rasyid, Ketua Wadah Pegawai KPK Yudi Purnomo, dan sejumlah nama lain.

Kontributor TV One Ilham Zulfikar diintimadasi dan mendapat ancaman oleh oknum humas PT.Brahmakerta Adwira selaku pelaksana proyek pembangunan jembatan lintas nasional Idi Rayeuk, Aceh Timur, Aceh, Rabu (23/06).

Saat itu, Ilham bersama wartawan monologis.id Ihsan dan Koordinator LSM LAKI Aceh Timur Saiful Anwar tengah mewawancari warga Desa Keude Blang, Idi Rayeuk terkait badan sungai akibat proyek tersebut. Tiba-tiba didatangi seorang pria.

Oknum yang kerap disapa Tekong itu lalu menyanyakan identitas wartawan sambil marah-marah. Lalu dia mencoba menendang Ilham sebanyak dua kali, namun Ilham berhasil mengelak.

“Sambil marah-marah dia mengayunkan kaki sebanyak dua kali namun tidak mengenai karena saya mengelak sambil merekam kejadian itu,” kata Ilham.

Usai melakukan hal itu, Tekong meninggalkan lokasi sambil menghina dengan memaki-maki wartawan.

Sementara itu, Koordinator Taslim Wilayah PT. Brahmakerta Adwira sebagai rekanan pelaksana pemenang tender duplikasi Jembatan Idi Rayeuk dari Kementerian PUPR melalui Balai Pelaksana Jalan Nasional (BPJN) Sumatera 1 menjelaskan secara teknis jumlah item kegiatan yang sedang mereka lakukan.

Taslim juga menyebutkan bahwa pekerjaan mereka sebenarnya sudah sesuai spesifikasi.

“Jika anda ingin melihat lebih rinci, kita ada gambar,” tegas.

Terkait permintaan RAB dan spesifikasi yang diminta LSM LAKI Aceh Timur, tidak bisa ditawarkan jika tidak kepada auditor eksternal BPK RI.

Pihak LAKI Aceh Timur sendiri merasa tidak puas atas penjelasan dari pihak rekanan.

"Sebenarnya perusahaan telah mencoba untuk mengungkapkan informasi yang menjadi hak publik dalam melaksanakan proyek Pemerintah dan ini bertentangan dengan Undang-Undang No.14 tahun 2008 tentang informasi publik karena proyek jembatan tersebut akan digunakan oleh masyarakat sebagai pengguna jalan," kata Koordinator LSM LAKI Aceh Timur Saiful Anwar.

Tindakan tegas pembubaran aksi demo mahasiswa Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS), dilakukan gabungan Polisi, TNI dan Satpol PP Sukoharjo, Rabu (16/6/2021) sore.

Pembubaran dilakukan sewaktu-waktu massa peserta aksi keluar dari kampus UMS di Pabelan, Kartasura, menuju titik aksi di pertigaan Jl Ahmad Yani, Pabelan, Kartasura. Jarak kampus dengan titik aksi sekitar 200 meter.

Belum sempat menggelar orasi, massa langsung dihalau ratusan petugas gabungan untuk diminta kembali ke dalam kampus. Pembubaran dilakukan untuk mencegah terjadinya serta mengantisipasi kemacetan arus lalu lintas yang akan ditimbulkan.

Kapolres Sukoharjo AKBP Bambang Yugo Pamungkas yang turun langsung memimpin dilapangan bersama Dandim 0726/Sukoharjo Letkol Inf Agus Adhy Darmawan mengatakan, tindakan tegas mencegah melonjaknya penyebaran Covid-19 di Kota Makmur yang oleh.

"Kemarin kami rapat luar biasa di Pemkab bersama jajaran instansi terkait lainnya. Bahwa melihat situasi Solo Raya saat ini, angka kasus Covid-19 meningkat. Termasuk Sukoharjo juga meningkat dengan adanya (Covid-19) varian baru,".

Dengan adanya peningkatan kasus corona, maka seluruh jajaran yang terlibat dalam penanganan Covid-19 harus waspada terhadap segala kegiatan masyarakat untuk menurunkan angka penyebaran virus.

"Seperti kegiatan (aksi demo) ini, melibatkan orang dari luar daerah. Maka harus diingatkan untuk tidak berkumpul. Kami akan memulai dengan himbauan, jika masih membandel akan diberikan sanksi. Kami angkut untuk selanjutnya diberi sanksi," tegas Kapolres.

Pantauan hariankota.com dilapangan, aksi demo dilakukan oleh puluhan mahasiswa, mendesak Presiden Joko Widodo (Jokowi) mengeluarkan Perppu UU No.9 Tahun 2019.

Selain itu, menuntut dikembalikannya marwah dan independensi Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK. Cabut SK Pimpinan KPK No. 652 Tahun 2021, dan demo massa aksi juga menuntut Ketua Umum KPK Firli Bahuri diberhentikan.

Puluhan mahasiswa perwakilan Badan Eksekutif Mahasiswa (BEM) Universitas se Eks Karisidenan Surakarta turun ke jalan di Kartasura. Para mahasiswa yang mengatasnamakan “Aliansi Soloraya Menggugat” menuntut Ketua KPK cabut SK Pimpinan KPK Nomor 652 Tahun 2021.

Aparat Kepolisian sebelum aksi dimulai sudah melakukan penyekatan dan menghalau peserta aksi disejumlah titik masuk Kartasura. Meski sudah dihalau, massa dari sejumlah BEM universitas ini tetap berdatangan. Titik kumpul yang sedianya di lapangan Ngabeyan Kartasura lalu menuju Tugu Kartasura, berubah di halaman sebuah ruko di Jalan Slamet Riyadi Kartasura, atau sekitar 1 km dari lokasi sebelumnya.

“Kami hanya ingin menyerukan save KPK, selamatkan KPK, pecat Filry dan cabut UU nomor 19 tahun 2019,” ungkap Widi Adi Nugroho selaku Koordinator umum dari UMS dalam orasinya, Rabu (30/6).

Dalam aksi itu, setidaknya 50 an mahasiswa dari BEM UMS, UNS, Uniba, Unisri dan Universitas Raden Mas Said (IAIN) turun ke jalan. Dengan mengenakan almamater masing tampak mengusung keranda bertuliskan RIP KPK.

Setidaknya, ada lima tuntutan yang dibacakan, yakni mendesak Ketua KPK Firli Bahuri untuk mencabut SK Pimpinan KPK Nomor 652 Tahun 2021, Mendesak Presiden RI untuk mengganti ketua KPK Firli Bahuri, Menuntut DPR untuk mencabut UU No. 19 tahun 2019 tentang KPK, Menuntut KPK untuk segera menyelesaikan kasus korupsi yang ada di Indonesia. Dan mengajak kepada seluruh elemen masyarakat untuk mengawal dan melawan pelemahan tindak pidana korupsi.

Aksi para mahasiswa tersebut mendapat pengawalan ketat dari Polres Sukoharjo yang di backup Polresta Surakarta dan Polres Karanganyar, dibawah kendali Kapolres Sukoharjo AKBP Wahyu Nugroho didampingi Dandim 0726/Sukoharjo Letkol Inf Agus Adhy Darmawan.

“Tidak diperkenankan ada kegiatan berkumpul jadi wajib dibubarkan. Kami minta mahasiswa pulang kembali kerumah masing-masing,” ungkap KBO Polres Sukoharjo Kompol Agus Pamungkas, mewakili Kapolres Sukoharjo, AKBP Wahyu Nugroho.

Selang 30 menit dibubarkan, mendadak ada massa susulan dari HMI dengan membawa bendera dan berorasi di seberang jalan. Aparat pun dengan sigap membubarkan mereka dan menghalau masuk ke dalam kampung untuk diminta pulang ke rumah masing-masing juga.

“Mengingat situasi Sukoharjo tidak aman, kita tidak akan menoleransi apapun kegiatan yang menimbulkan potensi kerumunan,” tegasnya.

Kapolres Jayapura Kota Kombes Pol Gustav Urbinas memastikan melarang ada demonstrasi di masa pandemi covid-19.

Larangan ini mengugurkan wacana Koalisi Rakyat Papua untuk menduduki kantor Gubernur Papua menuntut Sekda Papua Dance Flassy meletakkan jabatannya.

"Kami sudah menerima surat ijin keramaian dari pihak Koalisi Rakyat Papua, namun kami menolak ijin tersebut," kata Urbinas kepada Tribun-Papua.com, Sabtu (26/6/2021) melalui gawainya.

Dikatakan, pihaknya telah mengeluarkan Surat Tanda Terima Pemberitahuan (STTP), dan pihaknya sudah membalasnya.

"Kami sudah keluarkan STTP dengan penjelasan tidak merekomendasikan aksi unjuk rasa tersebut," ujarnya.

Ia menegaskan akan membubarkan secara paksa apabila tetap melakukan aksi tersebut.

"Sudah jelas, ada surat pemberitahuan penolakan aksi, apabila memaksakan diri, kami bubarkan," tegasnya.

Kata dia, perintah pembubaran apabila ada titik kumpul masa sudah disampaikan di Polsek Jajaran.

"Kami akan bubarkan," tegas Gustav kembali.

Untuk personil Polresta Jayapura Kota nantinya akan diperkuatan dari Polda dan Kodam XVII/Cenderawasih.

Rektorat Universitas Indonesia (UI) memanggil pengurus Badan Eksekutif Mahasiswa (BEM) UI terkait postingan "Jokowi: The King of Lip Service" di Instagram, @bem_official, Sabtu (26/6). Dalam surat yang ditandatangani Direktur Kemahasiswaan, Tito Latif Indra, terdapat 10 mahasiswa yang dipanggil pihak rektoriat pada hari Minggu ini. Kepala Biro Humas dan Keterbukaan Informasi (KIP) UI, Amelita Lusia membenarkan adanya pemanggilan tersebut. "Ya, betul," ujar Amelita kepada Kompas.com, Minggu sore.

Amelita menyebutkan, pemanggilan tersebut sebagai langkah urgen akibat permasalahan yang timbul sehari setelah postingan BEM UI mulai ramai dibicarakan. Amelita menegaskan, pemanggilan itu merupakan bagian dari langkah pembinaan. "Pemanggilan ini adalah bagian dari proses pembinaan kemahasiswaan yang ada di UI," ujar dia. BEM UI mempublikasikan postingan berjudul Jokowi:The King of Lip Service di akun media sosialnya. Dalam postingan tersebut, BEM UI mengkritik Presiden Joko Widodo yang kerap kali mengobral janji.

Postingan itu juga menyindir sejumlah janji dan keputusan Jokowi, mulai dari rindu didemo, revisi UU ITE, penguatan KPK, dan rentetan janji lainnya. Pihak kampus menilai, postingan BEM UI tersebut kurang tepat. Amelita menyebut postingan tersebut telah melanggar beberapa peraturan yang ada. "Hal yang disampaikan BEM UI dalam postingan meme bergambar Presiden Republik Indonesia yang merupakan simbol negara, mengenakan mahkota dan diberi teks Jokowi: The King of Lip Service, bukanlah cara menyampaikan pendapat yang sesuai aturan yang tepat, karena melanggar beberapa peraturan yang ada," ujar Amelita. Amelita menegaskan, kebebasan menyampaikan pendapat dan aspirasi pada dasarnya dilindungi undang-Undang (UU). Akan tetapi, penyampaian aspirasi tersebut seharusnya sesuai aturan yang ada.

"Perlu kami sampaikan bahwa kebebasan menyampaikan pendapat dan aspirasi memang dilindungi undang-Undang. Meskipun demikian dalam menyampaikan pendapat, seyogyanya harus menaati dan sesuai koridor hukum yang berlaku," ujar dia.

The closing of garment factories without informing the workers, retrenchment of workers and non-payment of wages on time are often causes of dissatisfaction among the workers in the readymade garment industry. In many factories, workers are still deprived of the right to form trade unions.

Workers and employees of Style Craft Garment Factory in Laxmipur area under Gazipur City have been on strike and protest since 6 July 2021, demanding payment of arrears of three years’ salary and allowances. The factory authority announced multiple dates for the payment of workers and employees, but did not pay. Due to this, workers and employees gathered at the factory gate on 18 July and went on strike and protested. As a result, the road in front of the factory was blocked. The protesting workers were outraged as the factory authorities did not take any initiative to resolve the issue and when they marched towards Chandina intersection to block the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways, the police baton charged them and fired tear gas shells and sound grenades. Six people were injured in the incident.

The closing of garment factories without informing the workers, retrenchment of workers and non-payment of wages on time are often causes of dissatisfaction among the workers in the readymade garment industry. In many factories, workers are still deprived of the right to form trade unions. On 14 July 2021, workers of Lakhsma Innerwear Ltd. in Shreepur Municipal area under Gazipur District blocked the road demanding arrears of wages. At that time, some unidentified miscreants attacked the women workers with sticks and chased the workers, trying to make them lift the blockade. Eight workers, including women, were injured in the attack. The injured workers received treatment at different hospitals.

Akhtaruzzaman, Bogura District correspondent of the daily Banijya Protidin, was picked up from his home by members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police late at night on 17 July 2021, for publishing news about corruption in the distribution of allowances to employees working on a project in the family planning department in Bogura. At that time the family planning officer Dr. Samir Hossain Mishu and his Office Assistant Shamima Akhter were with the DB Police. Twenty hours after Akhtaruzzaman’s arrest, Shamima Akhter filed a case against him under the Digital Security Act, 2018 with Bogura Sadar Police Station.

On 8 February 2021, Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, a Professor of Dhaka University and Chairperson of the Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU), an organisation working with migrant workers and expatriates, gave an interview in the daily Prothom Alo entitled “Remittance flow and expatriates do not match reality”. She was summoned before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance on 23 September to explain her comments in the interview. In addition, due to the pressure on the media, various incidents and occurrences are not published there, but they have been published on social media. Thus, the government and ruling party leaders and activists have now brought the social media under extensive surveillance.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Ba Singh Hassa is a resident of Dadgama village in Khunti block of Khunti district. An activist with Adivasi Adhikar Manch – a civil society group that protects the land, water and forest rights of indigenous groups, Mr. Hassa has organised and participated in numerous peaceful movements, demonstrations and meetings in Khunti and other places in the past decade, including in the Pathalgadi movement in 2018-19, and ongoing protests against the new farm laws. He is well-educated and offers advice and support to innocent villagers falsely accused of being Maoists.

Details of the incident: On July 14, 2021, Khunti Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Mr. Sayyed Riyaj Ahemed issued a notice under Section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (which allows an Executive Magistrate to show cause any person likely to disturb peace or disturb the public tranquillity). It mentioned the names of 25 people, including Mr. Ba Singh Hassa and his brothers/ cousins Mr. Bahadur Hassa, Mr. Kinu Hassa and Mr. Jugal Munda, who were likely to disturb peace and security in the area according to information with the SDO. All 25 persons were asked to report to the SDO court in Khunti on July 22, 2021 and show cause why they should not be asked to furnish a bond of Rs 50,000 and two supporting witnesses. Mr. Bahadur Hassa received a call from the Khunti Police Station on July 17, 2021, when he was informed about the notice. He collected the notice from the police station the next day, and reported to the SDO court with Mr. Ba Singh Hassa and other brothers/ cousins on July 22, 2021, and two more subsequent hearings. On September 24, 2021, the day of the fourth hearing, Mr. Ba Singh Hassa, Mr. Kinu Hassa, Mr. Jugal Munda and Mr. Bahadur Hassa reached the court at around 10 AM, whereas their turn came up at 2.30 PM. When they presented themselves before SDO Mr. Ahemed, he asked them not to leave the court premises without his permission. He then called someone from his phone and said that three absconding accused in the murder case (FIR no 88/2018) were sitting in front of him. At around 4.30 PM, Khunti PS Officer in Charge Mr. B Thakur reached the court in civil clothes with three other policemen in uniform. They arrested Mr. Ba Singh Hassa, Mr. Kinu Hassa and Mr. Jugal Munda from inside the court premises. The HRD and his relatives were not informed about why they were arrested, nor shown any arrest warrant or allowed access to a lawyer. All provisions of the DK Basu guidelines were violated. Mr. Hassa and others were taken to the Khunti Police Station in a police vehicle and detained there overnight. They were taken for medical examination at 2 PM, produced in court at around 4.30 PM on September 25, 2021, and remanded to Khunti jail. We firmly believe that the HRD and his relatives were ensnared by the SDO and arrested by police in a case that was over three years old in violation of due procedures. The SDO referred to them as absconding even though Mr. Ba Singh Hassa had communicated and met several police and government officials in his capacity as an activist and participated in many public programmes in Khunti and Ranchi in the intervening period. He was also detained and interrogated by police in Khunti in April 2019. Whereas, the notice against the HRD and his arrest coincided with his active involvement in peaceful meetings and protests against the new farm laws in Khunti. This indicates that the action against Mr. Hassa and others is an act of political vendetta, and aimed at muzzling the freedom of speech, expression and assembly, which are guaranteed under national and international legal frameworks.

The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary detention and ongoing judicial harassment of Ms. Benja Apan, a student and pro-democracy activist with the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD) [1], on lèse-majesté charges in relation with the August 10, 2021 pro-democracy protest.

On October 7, 2021, Benja Apan was arrested at the Lumpini Police Station, Bangkok, where she had gone to hear a charge of violating the Emergency Decree for participating in a pro-democracy protest on September 3, 2021, at Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong intersection. The police arrested Ms. Benja on the basis of another outstanding arrest warrant issued against her under Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code (“lèse-majesté”) [2], the Emergency Decree [3], and the Communicable Diseases Act. These charges stem from Ms. Benja’s participation in a pro-democracy protest on August 10, 2021, in front of the Sino-Thai Tower building on Asoke Road in Bangkok, during which she gave a speech that criticized the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and called for the reform of the Thai monarchy. Later on October 7, police took Ms. Benja to Bangkok’s Thong Lo Police station where she was detained overnight after being denied bail.

On October 8, 2021, Benja Apan appeared before the Bangkok South Criminal Court, which denied her bail arguing that the offenses of which she is accused carry a heavy penalty and that she previously committed the same offenses. Benja Apan was then taken to the Central Women’s Correctional Institution in Bangkok, where she was still being detained at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal. Ms. Benja is currently facing a total of six charges under Article 112 of the Criminal Code and she could face up to 90 years in prison, if tried and found guilty on all counts.

The Observatory notes with concern that between November 24, 2020, and October 8, 2021, 150 people, including many human rights defenders, were charged under Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. Some of them - Anon Nampa, Parit Chiwarak, Panupong Chadnok, and Jatuphat Boonpattararaksa - remain detained pending trial.

The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Benja Apan, Anon Nampa, Parit Chiwarak, Panupong Chadnok and Jatuphat Boonpattararaksa,which seem to be only aimed at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities and the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly.

The Observatory calls on the Thai authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the five human rights defenders and to put an end to the judicial harassment against them and all other human rights defenders in the country.

Chiang Mai University student and performance artist Withaya Khlangnin is facing another royal defamation charge for staging a performance in front of the university on 1 May 2021 to demand the release of detained activists.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that, according to the police, Withaya’s performance amounts to royal defamation because it involved climbing onto the university sign, above which was a portrait of the King and a sign saying “Long live the King.” Withaya also poured red paint all over himself, which the police said was unsightly, and spilled paint over the university sign and the image of the King. The police also said that the gestures Withaya used during the performance, such as standing with a paint bucket over his head, and lying down with one foot pointing up at the portrait of the king, was disrespectful.

Withaya went to Phuping Rajanivej Police Station on Tuesday (5 October) to hear the charges. He was dressed as Luffy from the Japanese manga One Piece, and staged a short performance before going to meet the inquiry officer.

TLHR reported that at least 60 police officers were stationed in the area, while the police station was surrounded with metal fences. The police also tried to stop a small crowd of supporters from going inside the police station area. Officers were taking photos and videos of people, and repeatedly made announcements that gatherings are prohibited under the Emergency Decree. Withaya was released after his meeting with the inquiry officer. He has to report to the police again in 12 days, and has to submit further testimony in 20 days.

Withaya is currently facing 2 counts of lèse majesté under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code. Along with Yotsunthon Ruttapradid, another Chiang Mai University student, he was previously charged under Section 112 and the 1979 Flag Act for a piece of installation art during a protest on 14 March 2021, which featured a mannequin wrapped in plastic in the middle of two red and white strips, on which participants at the 14 March protest were invited to write down messages. The messages were seen as defaming the King, and since the piece looks like a Thai flag without the blue stripe, which represents the monarchy, it was taken to mean that the artist does not wish the monarchy to exist in the country.

Bangladesh authorities and United Nations officials should take urgent measures to protect Rohingya refugees facing threats and violence in the Cox’s Bazar camps, Human Rights Watch said today. Rohingya community leaders and volunteer workers told Human Rights Watch that alleged members of armed Islamist groups were increasingly targeting them for extortion and other crimes.

On September 29, 2021, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Mohib Ullah, 46, chair of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar. His associates said that Mohib Ullah had repeatedly reported threats from armed groups operating in the camps to Bangladesh officials but received insufficient support from the authorities.

“Mohib Ullah’s flight from mass atrocities in Myanmar to then be killed in his place of refuge speaks volumes about the risks that Rohingya activists face every day,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Bangladesh authorities should take urgent measures, with international assistance, to protect Rohingya activists who are defending the rights of refugees.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed nine people, including Rohingya activists and Mohib Ullah’s family members, who said that the authorities did not adequately investigate Mohib Ullah’s concerns or provide protection for him and other vulnerable activists. “The Bangladesh government deployed many security forces in the camps, but they were busy subduing and controlling refugees instead of protecting them,” said one activist.

At least a dozen activists have come forward to seek protection from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and Bangladesh officials since Mohib Ullah’s killing because of renewed threats from armed groups and other risks of violence. Humanitarian workers said that the environment inside the camps has become increasingly dangerous for Rohingya activists.

Mohib Ullah had served as a leader among the nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. He began receiving death threats in 2019 as his prominence grew, representing the Rohingya at the UN Human Rights Council and with the United States government. His organization said that the threats were from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and other armed groups that contested his leadership role.

In the months before his death, Mohib Ullah had expressed concern about the growing threats, activists and his family members said. In August, he sent a letter to the Bangladesh government Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, with copies to the camp-in-charge official and Special Branch in Cox’s Bazar, outlining the death threats that he and his colleagues had been receiving and requesting the office take action against the assailants, which the letter identifies as ARSA members.

One member of Mohib Ullah’s group was told in July that he would be killed if he returned to the group’s office, and that “very soon we will kill your leader.” Mohib Ullah’s colleagues said the letter received no reply.

A Bangladesh police official told Reuters they had received no reports from Mohib Ullah about any threats or requests for protection.

ARSA condemned the killing in written and audio statements and demanded authorities bring those responsible to account.

In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that Mohib Ullah’s death “is a clear example of the insecurity in the camp, and the apparent attempts to silence moderate civil society voices.”

UNHCR said that, in response to the killing, it “has enhanced its staff presence in the camps to ensure that the Rohingya refugees have direct access to support services and can report their concerns.” However, activists close to Mohib Ullah said that they have not been provided with adequate protection.

On October 3, police reported that they had arrested five men in connection with the killing. Mohib Ullah’s associates, however, have said that those allegedly responsible for the killing are still openly operating in the camp.

An activist with his group said, “Even this morning [October 3] some people visited my shelter and threatened my family saying, ‘Ask your son to be ready because the same fate is awaiting him, like Mohib Ullah. He is on the hit list of 10 people.’ I informed camp-in-charge, who assured me of safety, but I am worried because the police are not there all the time. If they really want to kill me, I’m an easy target for them.” Mohib Ullah’s wife said that she was worried for her daughters since her husband’s killing because of recent threats demanding that they marry members of the armed group.

Some refugees alleged that Bangladesh security forces and camp authorities seemed to underplay threats from armed Islamist groups. “When we complain to the authorities about ARSA’s crimes, they don’t pay any attention,” an activist said.

Another activist alleged collusion between some officers of the Armed Police Battalion deployed in the camps and members of the armed group. He said he went into hiding after receiving threats from ARSA but returned to his shelter when police promised protection, only for them to hand him over to the militants. “I was always being threatened by ARSA members since I started working as an activist, and I finally went into hiding. A few months later, two police officers lured me to come back to the camp and then handed me over to ARSA. I had to go through inhuman torture, until I paid ARSA a heavy ransom.”

ARSA members have attacked Christians and Hindus living in the camps alongside the predominantly Muslim Rohingya. Armed groups have also targeted women working as volunteers with humanitarian agencies. Hasina, a 26-year-old activist who works on women’s empowerment, said she was a victim of extortion by ARSA members.

Bangladesh authorities should fully investigate all those who might be responsible for Mohib Ullah’s killing and work with UNHCR to respond promptly when refugees are reporting imminent threats and provide immediate and effective protection, Human Rights Watch said. Concerned governments should ensure that activists and other refugees at heightened risk are priorities in planning around refugee assistance, protection, and resettlement.

“The Bangladesh government needs to address safety in the Rohingya camps both by developing better security and taking necessary action against groups engaged in illegal activity,” Ganguly said. “These refugees fled horrific abuses and are entitled to support from Bangladesh and other governments to live in the camps without fearing for their lives.”

An anti-logging activist was on Tuesday convicted of assault against an alleged timber trader, as rights groups linked the verdict to ongoing harassment and intimidation against environmentalists in the country.

The Kampong Thom Provincial Court sentenced Chan Thoeun, who is in hiding, to two years’ imprisonment, but suspended the sentence, according to his lawyer Sam Sokong.

Sokong said the judge had also downgraded the charge from attempted murder to intentional violence with aggravating circumstances.

Thoeun has previously said that he saw a timber trader hauling timber from a community forest in July last year, but was threatened at knifepoint when he pulled out his phone to capture footage, alleging that he was the victim, not the aggressor.

Sokong said that although the two-year sentence was suspended, he considered the court’s decision unfair because his client was the victim. “We see that [the court] has not yet been given justice to the client,” he said.

Thoeun, who is a member of the Prey Lang Community Network in Kampong Thom province, said he would appeal the conviction.

“It is an injustice against me. When it comes to many huge crimes of timber [trafficking], they do not prosecute them. But they sue me and accuse me, and it is unjust,” he said. “I do not accept it because I did not do anything wrong and they came to take my phone and prosecuted me. I will appeal to the Appeal Court. The decision is unacceptable since I am a victim.”

Cambodian Center for Human Rights executive director Chak Sopheap said members of the Prey Lang Community Network have been facing harassment as well as physical and legal threats. Environmentalists should not be facing such actions under a democracy, she said.

“I hope that the government should reconsider its commitment to the protection of natural resources, and that commitment can only be achieved with the participation of local communities,” Sopheap said. “As long as local communities that are active in protecting the environment remain under threat, it contradicts the government’s claimed commitment.”

The network, which works to protect the massive Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, has been banned from conducting patrols since last year. Environmentalists have been arrested in the protected area, and the U.S. this year pulled funding to the government for Prey Lang-related projects, citing continued logging, failure to prosecute timber traders and silencing of environmentalists. Other environmentalists have also been jailed and charged with plotting against the government.

Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for campaigns, said Thoeun should never have been charged or tried, and his conviction fit a pattern of silencing and intimidating environmental activists in Prey Lang and across Cambodia.

“Chan Thoeun and the PLCN have been standing up against powerful illegal logging interests for years,” Hah said. “They have defended the Prey Lang forest while the Cambodian authorities have turned a blind eye to the rampant destruction of this vital ecosystem, which is an essential part of the culture of indigenous Kuy communities.”

Junta authorities arrested the teenaged president of the Basic Education Students’ Union of Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township at his home earlier this week, according to the group.

Tun Aung Kyaw, age 15, was taken into detention by two police officers and two local administrators, a spokesperson for the Naypyitaw Students’ Union said.

It is said that the military units arrested Tun Aung Kyaw, the president of the basic education students’ union of Zabuthiri township, Naypyidaw, at his home on October 3 evening.

“He is technically a minor, so they said that they just had some questions to ask and that they’d let him go soon,” he told Myanmar Now.

At the time of reporting, the boy was still being held at the No. 3 police station in Zabuthiri and had not been allowed contact with his family, the student union representative said.

At 10pm on Tuesday, military troops reportedly ransacked his house.

Myanmar Now called the police station for comment on Tun Aung Kyaw’s arrest but the calls went unanswered.

Another Naypyitaw student leader, Yan Paing, was arrested by the military on May 2 and died on October 1 during an interrogation, according to a statement released by the Naypyitaw Students’ Union.

According to the statistics reported by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), there have now been at least 7,104 civilians detained by the junta since the February 1 coup and at least 1,158 civilians killed during that same period.

As they have been active in participating in anti-coup demonstrations, student union members have been frequent targets of military arrests, but the exact number of students in detention is not known.

Most recently, four students preparing to protest against the junta were arrested near the Pathi dam in Taungoo Township, Bago Region on the evening of September 19.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe, the vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement at the Mayangone Township court in Yangon this week, according to his lawyer.

Lawyer Thet Naung told Myanmar Now that they heard about new charges against Wai Yan Phyo Moe during his other hearings in the Kyauktada and Kamayut township courts on Tuesday.

“We haven’t seen him for a while as the offices and prisons have been closed. We only learnt briefly about this Section 505 charge during his court hearings at Kyauktada and Kamayut courts,” he said.

The lawyer said he has not submitted a power of attorney document for the new charge, which would allow him to represent Wai Yan Phyo Moe at hearings in Mayangone.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe was already facing charges for the violation of Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law in Kyauktada for allegedly breaking rules surrounding demonstrations, as well as for incitement in both Kyauktada and Kamayut.

If convicted, each incitement charge carries a three-year prison sentence and the Section 19 charge is accompanied by a three-month sentence and/or a fine.

Many detained anti-junta protesters have been charged in different townships where they led or participated in demonstrations on the pretext that they allegedly broke the law by taking part in rallies after the February 1 military coup.

Thet Naung said that Wai Yan Phyo Moe had been held in Insein Prison since his arrest in March.

He noted that his client was in good health but that he was concerned because Wai Yan Phyo Moe had initially been placed in a cell with violent offenders instead of other political prisoners.

“We’ve requested that the prison authorities move him and they agreed to, but they haven’t actually moved him yet. It’s been too long already,” Thet Naung explained.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe was one of around 500 civilians arrested during a crackdown on the General Strike Committee’s protest column in Yangon’s Tamwe Township on March 3.

Seven detained student activists including Wai Yan Phyo Moe were placed in solitary confinement for one week after they refused to read the prison rules out loud on April 22, a punitive measure typically demanded of inmates by prison officials. They were later sent to the prison ward where those convicted of violent crimes are held, and have reportedly been asked for bribes, forced to do hard labour, and have received death threats.

Very early yesterday morning, officers with the police Rapid Action Battalion raided Raka’s home in Uttara, a suburb of Dhaka, and took her and her three sons to the battalion’s headquarters in Dhaka, according to news reports and Kanak Sarwar, a journalist and Raka’s brother, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Sarwar, who lives in exile in the United States, told CPJ that he believed that the arrest was in retaliation for his journalism and that Raka, who is a homemaker, had not committed any crime.

Police repeatedly questioned Raka about Sarwar, asking why he opposed the Bangladesh government and calling him “a freedom fighter,” Sarwar told CPJ, saying that he was able to briefly speak on the phone with his sister in detention. He said that authorities released Raka’s sons after about 30 hours, but she remains detained in a cell with no bed.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka ordered Raka to be detained for five days, Sarwar said, adding that she suffers from asthma and has experienced difficulty breathing in custody as she is recovering from COVID-19. He also said that police broke several items inside the house during the raid, including closets and jewelry boxes.

Sarwar told CPJ that he believes all authorities’ accusations against his sister are false.

“Punishing exiled journalist Kanak Sarwar by arresting his sister, Nusrat Shahrin Raka, is a crude and barbaric form of retaliation that should shame the government of Bangladesh,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately release Raka, cease targeting critical journalists or their family members, and allow the media to operate without interference.”

In a press release issued yesterday, which CPJ reviewed, the Rapid Action Battalion alleged that Raka was involved in “destroying peace and order in the country by spreading false, defamatory, and provocative information about the government and important personalities of the state on social media” and accused her of involvement with an unnamed group engaging in “conspiratorial propaganda activities” with Sarwar.

The press release also claimed that authorities seized a mobile phone, passport, methamphetamine, and anti-state content from Raka’s home, and that she revealed during interrogation that she was an active member of an anti-state propaganda and conspiracy ring.

The Rapid Action Battalion filed two complaints at the Uttara West police station under the Digital Security Act and Narcotics Control Act, which CPJ reviewed.

The Digital Security Act complaint alleges that Raka violated three sections of the act: the publication of offensive, false, or threatening information; defamation; and the transmission or publication of content that deteriorates law and order. Each of those offenses can carry a prison sentence of three to seven years and a fine of 300,000 to 500,000 taka (US $3,497 to $5,827), according to that law.

The other complaint alleges that Raka possessed narcotics; under the Narcotics Control Act, Raka could face up to three years in prison if charged and convicted, according to Sarwar, citing her lawyer.

Sarwar told CPJ that a fake Facebook page had been created in recent weeks using Raka’s name, email address, and phone number, and that account published posts criticizing the government. Sarwar said that Raka filed a complaint to the Uttara West police station about that account on October 1, which CPJ reviewed.

The police complaint under the Digital Security Act cited posts made on that Facebook page, and attributed them to Raka.

Sarwar is the former senior correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster Ekushey TV; authorities held him from March 3 to November 16, 2015, on accusations of sedition after Ekushey TV broadcasted a speech by Tarique Rahman, the son of an opposition leader, according to CPJ research and Sarwar. He now operates the YouTube channel Kanak Sarwar News, which covers Bangladesh politics and has been critical of the ruling Awami League.

On December 8, 2020, the Bangladesh High Court directed authorities to block Sarwar’s social media pages after he interviewed a politician in Bangladesh on YouTube, as CPJ documented at the time.

CPJ emailed the Uttara West police station for comment, but did not receive any reply. CPJ called and messaged Ashique Billah, spokesperson of the Rapid Action Battalion, but did not receive any response.

House committee on good government and public accountability chairman Michael Aglipay unceremoniously removed Rappler journalist Rambo Talabong from a Viber group with reporters on Monday, September 27.

Aglipay kicked out Talabong after the journalist wrote a story on the DIWA representative’s latest defense of the Duterte administration.

Aglipay's comment was about the Senate hearing's revelation that the production stickers on the face masks procured by the government from Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation were tampered. The tampering of the production stickers effectively also changed the expiry dates.

For Aglipay, the changing of expiry dates was not a problem, as he asked a Department of Health (DOH) official if the alleged expired face masks hurt or killed any of the health workers who used them. DOH undersecretary Carolina Taino said no.

This exchange was the subject of Talabong’s story, which included a video excerpt on Aglipay’s interpellation during the good government and public accountability panel hearing.

Aglipay then singled out Talabong during the hearing – even if CNN Philippines also published a similar article with the same angle.

The congressman argued Talabong’s article was “one-sided” as it did not include DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III’s remarks that the shelf life of face shields was 36 months.

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“So it is one-sided, and I’m calling him out to be balanced, because they are claiming to be a balanced organization, but this article of his never mentioned that Secretary Duque said that the shelf life is 36 months, and he only focused on my comment, making it appear that we are one-sided here, and covering up the government,” said the ally of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. The House's line of questioning in its hearings veers at countering findings at the Senate, defending the Duterte government's deals with Pharmally.

Shahid Zehri, a reporter for a local TV news channel Metro News 1 was killed on October 10 when a bomb exploded in his car in the Hub area of Balochistan province. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Pakistan affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), urge the Pakistan government to ensure those involved in the attack are promptly brought to justice.

Journalist Zehri, 35, and friend, were travelling to Karachi by car when a bomb detonated around midnight on October 10. Both suffered critical injuries. CCTV footage confirms the bomb was attached to the journalist’s car where it exploded. Some reports suggested it was a homemade device.

The injured journalist and friend were initially taken to Hub Civil Hospital then subsequently brought to Karachi for treatment. The journalist, Zehri, was declared dead at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital in Karachi.

Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility of the attack. The group also claimed that the journalist was spying on them. IFJ understands Zehri was a strong voice for the Hub Chowki, often reported on unrest in the region. Pakistan’s Baluchistan province has not enacted any legislation protecting journalists.

According to the IFJ’s South Asia Press Freedom Report 2020-2021, nine journalists were murdered in Pakistan in 2020-2021.

On September 29, citizen journalist Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu’s eight-year sentence under Vietnam’s Penal Code was upheld in the court of appeal in Danang. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the use of the Penal Code to silence critical voices and calls for the immediate release of Tuyet Dieu.

Tuyet Dieu’s appeal was refused in Danang’s court, more than a year after her arrest and detainment on August 21, 2020. She was sentenced on April 23, 2021 for breaching article 117 of the Vietnamese penal code, which criminalises “creating, storing and disseminating information and materials against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. Reports indicate that Tuyet Dieu endured ongoing harassment by police in the years before her arrest.

Previously an employee of a state-run newspaper, Tuyet Dieu had managed a Facebook and YouTube account where she published 25 articles and nine videos considered ‘anti-state’ by authorities. During a search of Tuyet Dieu’s home, authorities found materials sympathetic to the imprisoned pro-democracy activist Nguyen Viet Dung on her laptop.

According to Tuyet Dieu’s lawyer, Nguyen Kha Thanh, she pleaded innocent at her trial earlier this year. Thanh said that his client’s sentence was harsh given she had an otherwise clean record.

“She did not accept the accusations as the trial failed to find a person harmed by her actions,” Thanh said.“But the court said her actions caused harm to the nation, a common tactic that allows them to not have to show any specific harmed individuals,” he added.

Tuyet Dieu’s communication with her lawyer and relatives was barred for the first three months of her imprisonment. Her original trial was postponed without justification, a change only announced upon her lawyer’s arrival in court.

Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code is a vaguely defined piece of legislation commonly used to silence criticism of the Vietnamese government. Journalists Pham Chi Thanh and Le Van Dung, both vocal critics of Vietnam’s single-party system, were sentenced under the article earlier this year.

After disappearing while covering a farmer protest in Lakhimpur Kheri, a reporter for Sadhna Prime News was found dead on October 4. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliates, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and National Union of Journalists- India (NUJ-I) condemn the tragic incident and urge for a judicial inquiry into the case.

Local journalist Raman Kashyap’s body was found in a mortuary a day after his reported disappearance while covering the violent demonstrations in Lakhimpur Kheri, where local farmers and political supporters collided. Kashyap was among eight others allegedly killed in the demonstration involving hundreds of farmers.

The farmers gathered to protest the visit of Uttar Pradesh’s deputy chief minister, Keshav M to the village of the union minister of state for home affairs, Ajay Kumar Mishra, in Tikunia. The incident marks a lethal intensification of the unrest in India since the introduction of controversial agricultural laws.

There are conflicting accounts of the circumstances in which Kashyap died. The editor of the Sadhna Prime news channel, Brij Mohan Singh, alleged that while covering the protest Kashyap was ‘wounded by miscreants’. A complaint filed by Kashyap’s father, Ram Dulare Kashyap, claims that Kashyap was “shot at” for filming a VIP convoy that killed farmers.

Another journalist said that in addition to being shot in the hand, Kashyap was hit by a car that was allegedly carrying Mishra’s son, Ashsih Misra. Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a coalition of Indian farmers' unions protesting against the agricultural laws, also claimed that a vehicle carrying Ashish Misra ran over the protesting farmers, killing at least eight people. An FIR has been lodged against Ashish Mishra and 15 others for murder and inciting violence with Lakhimpur Kheri police.

The Indian journalist fraternity has strongly condemned the killing of the journalist. The Editors Guild of India called for a “court-led special investigation team” to investigate the case. The Lucknow Journalists’ Association wrote a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary seeking justice. Local journalists are demanding compensation and the immediate arrest of the accused in the case.

A court in Kazakhstan's largest city has sentenced 13 political activists to up to five years in prison on extremism-related charges that they reject.

All 13 were activists with the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) of fugitive businessman and former Energy Minister Mukhtar Ablyazov, who was convicted in absentia of murder and embezzlement, and the Koshe party.

The court sentenced four of the activists -- Abai Begimbetov, Askhat Zheksebaev, Qairat Qylyshev, and Noyan Rakhymzhanov -- to five years in prison.

The other nine got various parole-like restrictions on their freedom for terms from one to two years, with seven also sentenced to 100 hours of compulsory labor per year. The nine sentenced to restricted liberty will not be allowed to change their place of residence or leave the Almaty city limits.

The hearing, which was conducted online with the defendants appearing virtually from a remand prison, was interrupted several times as the defendants chanted, "We are not extremists!"

During their trial, the defendants claimed they only participated in peaceful protests and exercised their constitutionally protected rights.

The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law issued a statement condemning the sentences and saying they showed that "the ossified authoritarian system will not allow people intent on democratic change to join together."

Ablyazov is an exiled former head of BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh authorities who has fought multiple extradition battles over accusations that he embezzled billions. The government designated the DVK an "extremist' organization in March 2018.

Human Rights Watch earlier this year criticized the Kazakh government for using anti-extremism laws as a tool to persecute critics and civic activists. Several hundred people have been prosecuted for membership in the Koshe party.

The Kazakh authorities have insisted there are no political prisoners in the Central Asian country.

Reporter to Lumbini Television and Butwal FM Dinesh Gyawali was attacked while reporting in Butwal on October 10. Butwal lies in Lumbini Province of Nepal.

Reporter Gyawali was attacked while reporting on conflict among local protestors and policepersons in the industrial area of Motipur, Butwal.

The raged public attacked Gyawali even after he showed his press identity card and said that he was journalist.

"I tried to escape the attack but fell down and other two of the protestors rescued me. I also lost my mobile in the incident", he shared with Freedom Forum.

"Other reporters however, escaped the attack. Neither Police persons nor the protesting locals cooperated with us while reporting", said Gyawali.

Reporter Gyawali has sustained injury on his head and hands. He is undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

Freedom Forum condemns the attack upon journalist while reporting. In most of the cases recorded at FF, journalists have been victim of attack while covering the protest even in presence of the police persons.

Two more were arrested by combined elements of the police and military in Quezon province, yesteray, October 6, at around 2:00 am.

According to Karapatan-Southern Tagalog, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Batangas Spokesperson Erlindo “Lino” Baez and Anakpawis Partylist Batangas Coordinator Willy Capareño were arrested in sitio Centro, barangay Manggalang 1, Sariaya, Quezon province by no less than 50 members of the Sariaya police and the Philippine Army’s 59th Infantry Battalion.

The arrest was made by virtue of a warrant of arrest on charges against Baez for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. A press release from the CALABARZON Police Regional Office meanwhile tagged Baez and Capareño as “high-ranking members” of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Both Baez and Capareño are no strangers to red-tagging and state harassment. The warrant issued against Baez came from the March 7 raid of his home in Santo Tomas, Batangas, where police and military supposedly “found” firearms and explosives. The raid was part of “Bloody Sunday”, which resulted in the deaths of nine activists and the arrests of seven others.

No warrant was issued for Capareño; however, he was allegedly found to be in possession of one hand-grenade. It is not yet clear what the charges against Capareño are.

Baez is the head of a family of activists. His son, Ronilo, is a political prisoner currently detained since June 3, 2010 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. He was one of three activists arrested in Taysan while they were integrating in a farming community.

Another son, Edrean, was a member of Anakbayan before he was killed by state forces on May 26, 2021 near Padre Garcia, Batangas, in a supposed “encounter” between members of the New People’s Army.

In 2019, Capareño received a text message from someone he does not know, telling him to go back to his home in San Juan, Batangas or else he would be arrested. This threat was part of a series of harassment against known leaders and progressives in the province.

Baez and Capareño’s arrest come one day shy of seven months since Bloody Sunday. Progressives in Southern Tagalog have long since contended that Bloody Sunday marked an “intensification of crackdown” against activists and community leaders in the region.

Multiple reports of human rights violations have come to light since March 7, including the murder of labor leader Dandy Miguel on March 28; the disappearance of former Kabataan Partylist coordinator Kemuel Ian Cometa on May 21; the arrest of peasant organizers Dana Marcellana and Christian Relao on June 25, as well as multiple icidents of threats, harassment, and intimidation by state forces.

Youth organization Gabriela Youth Quezon has called the arrests “a manifestation that despite the crisis caused by the pandemic, there is a proliferation of harassment of silencing against progressive individuals who are fighting for people’s rights.” Other groups have similarly called for the immediate release of Baez and Capareño.

Both Baez and Capareño’s families have yet to make contact with their loved ones. Initial reports indicate that they were brought to the Sariaya Municipal Police Station but no confirmation has been made yet as of press time. Karapatan-Southern Tagalog is currently spearheading efforts to locate the two activists and ensure their safety.

Vietnamese authorities on Monday arrested a Facebook user, charging him with “abusing freedom and democracy” for writing a series of online posts they said had defamed the country’s leaders, state media reported on Monday.

Vo Hoang Tho, 36 years old and a resident of the Ninh Kieu district of southern Vietnam’s Can Tho City, had published 47 posts on his Minh Long Facebook page criticizing government efforts to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 in the one-party communist state, media sources said.

Containment efforts, including community lockdowns and other harsh restrictions, are widely unpopular in Vietnam, and Tho’s arrest was just the latest in a continuing crackdown on Facebook users who use the popular social media platform to voice dissenting views.

Can Tho City’s Investigation Agency said Tho had formerly worked as a journalist but did not identify the media organization for which he worked.

RFA has reported nearly 30 cases in which Vietnamese citizens have been arrested for political offenses over social media posts since the beginning of this year. Among those now serving sentences for Facebook posts are journalists, bloggers, and another citizen who had posted complaints about coronavirus policies.

On Sept. 10, Vietnamese authorities arrested and charged a woman with “carrying out activities to overthrow the government,” making her the third person apprehended this year for joining an exile Vietnamese organization called a terrorist group by Hanoi, according to state media reports.

Le Thi Kim Phi, 62, had used a Facebook profile under the name Phi Kim to connect with members of the Provisional Government of Vietnam, a U.S.-based opposition group, said the investigation division of southern An Gian province’s police department.

And on Sept. 8, authorities in Can Tho indicted five journalists from the Bao Sach (Clean Newspaper) Facebook-based news outlet for publishing reports and videos dealing with politically sensitive social issues.

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

Soldiers on Tuesday evening arrested six students from Dagon University who were staying together in an apartment in downtown Yangon, a student leader has said.

Min Htet Han, chair of the university’s students’ union, told Myanmar Now it is unclear why the six were arrested, but that soldiers arrived at the 39th street apartment in Kyauktada saying they were inspecting overnight guest lists.

“They were staying on the top floor and it was the only apartment that was checked,” he said. “I think it’s safe to assume that they were looking for them in particular.” Informants may have told the military they were staying there, he suggested.

The six detainees are zoology student Wutyi Aung, chemistry student Thinzat Zaw, law student Sithu Aung Tin, archeology student Ye Lin Oo, geology student Myint Thein Naing, and Nay Htet Lin, who studies history.

Earlier this month the former chair of the Dagon University Students’ Union, Min Thukha Kyaw, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a military court. He had taken part in anti-coup protests before his arrest more than three months ago. The military accused him of receiving combat training from the Kachin Independence Army.

Students have been among the most dedicated opponents of the military’s February 1 power grab, and have been repeatedly targeted in crackdowns in recent months.

Htet Aung, the 22-year-old former president of the Pyay University Students’ Union and vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was arrested by 10 plain clothed military personnel at a house in Paungde Township, Bago Region, where he was hiding on September 6.

“They took him saying they had some questions. We don’t know exactly why he was arrested,” said Nyi Nyi Zin, an ABFSU member.

Htet Aung had only been released from prison in February after serving several months of a one-year sentence for taking part in a protest against the war in Rakhine last year.

His family say they are worried for his wellbeing and do not know where he is being held.

In July, the junta detained nine students including Htet Wai Yan, the president of the Government Technical Institute Students’ Union in Letpadan, as well as Yan Naing Aung, an executive member of the Pyay Students’ Union.

Zin Ko Ko Khant, a 20-year-old student from Taungoo University, was detained a few days later.

Kazakh police detained eight protesters, mostly women, demanding the release of relatives they say are being illegally held in China.

The October 1 protests were the latest in a series of demonstrations in Kazakhstan linked to the massive detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other ethnic groups in the neighboring Chinese province of Xinjiang.

Demonstrators have demanded Kazakh authorities do more to protect ethnic Kazakhs who have been caught up in the Chinese sweep. Kazakhstan’s government, however, has been wary of angering Beijing, which is a major investor in Kazakhstan and throughout Central Asia.

One of the protesters in the Kazakh capital on October 1 was wheelchair-user Khalida Aqytkhan, 65, who fell to the ground as police were forcing her into a vehicle.

The most recent wave of protests began September 20 when demonstrators traveled to Nur-Sultan from the country’s commercial capital, Almaty, where groups had rallied for months in front of the Chinese Consulate there.

As many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers in the western Chinese region, according to the U.S. State Department.

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

After Kazakhstan gained independence following the Soviet collapse in 1991, many ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang and elsewhere resettled in Kazakhstan, as part of a state program.

Many obtained permanent residence or citizenship but continue to visit Xinjiang either to see relatives or for bureaucratic reasons. Some have reported facing pressure from Chinese authorities or even arrests and imprisonment

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

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

A former reporter who had been missing since September 1 is in detention at a Yangon police station and has been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement, according to her family.

Relatives of 35-year-old Thuzar were notified on Wednesday night that she was sent to the East Dagon police station on Wednesday after spending nearly one month in an interrogation centre, during which time her family was unable to contact her or confirm her whereabouts.

Ye Ko Ko, Thuzar’s husband, said that they had been preparing to file an official missing person’s report on Friday, the day that would have marked one month since her disappearance.

“They contacted us at around 8pm last night. They said she was at the police station and that we could not see her in person yet,” he told Myanmar Now on Thursday.

He added that a police officer came to the family home on Thursday morning, delivered a letter from Thuzar, and allowed them to send basic medicine and sanitary supplies to her.

“She wrote us a letter saying that she was in good health and that she was worried about her family. She also asked for her mother not to be worried about her,” Ye Ko Ko said.

Thuzar had a warrant out for her arrest for incitement since May, and escaped a military raid on her house during the same month. It is believed that she went into hiding in Yangon’s Kamayut Township.

Ye Ko Ko said that the last time he had contact with his wife was a phone call on the afternoon of September 1.

When it was apparent that she was missing, Thuzar’s family contacted interrogation centres, police stations and even the notorious Insein Prison in their search for her, but received no confirmation that she was in junta custody.

She has been remanded to the East Dagon police station, with a court hearing scheduled for October 13. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison.

During the raid on Thuzar’s home in May, junta troops arrested Ye Ko Ko when they were unable to find her, holding him in an interrogation centre until he was released on bail four days later.

“We all felt like it was the end of the world when we couldn’t find her for 29 days. We were really relieved when we found out that she was alive and that she was being held at the police station. We are going to take every legal step possible to get her back,” her husband said.

Thuzar was a member of the Myanmar Press Council formed during the National League for Democracy government’s tenure, and had previously worked as a reporter for RFA, Modern Journal, The Irrawaddy, 7 Days News, and Friday Times News Journal.

Following the February 1 coup and until May, Thuzar worked as a freelance reporter at the Friday Times and Myanmar Pressphoto Agency.

The military council has arrested around 100 journalists since the coup. Although some have been released, more than 50 were still in detention at the time of reporting, according to a September 16 report by Detained Journalists Information Myanmar.

On an August morning at a wet market in Mandalay’s industrial suburbs, a 50-year-old man was selling noodles and cheerfully greeting fellow vendors and customers alike.

Win Ko Oo was well-known for his friendliness. But not everyone who had grown familiar with his smiling face knew that he had once had a very different life.

When the year began, Win Ko Oo was a train driver with 25 years’ experience. But then the army seized power, and everything changed. As someone who had lived through the aftermath of a similar coup in 1988, he knew he had to resist the return of military rule.

A month after Myanmar’s elected civilian government was overthrown, Win Ko Oo made up his mind to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that was sweeping the country.

“I hesitated at first because I had to think about my family. We had nowhere else to go. But in the end, my hatred for the regime outweighed my concerns about the hardships we would have to face, so I quit,” he told Myanmar Now that August morning.

Mandalay’s railway workers were among the first to join the movement in large numbers. In the department that Win Ko Oo belonged to, 285 of 319 staff members walked off the job in an effort to deny the regime control over state mechanisms.

This resulted in hundreds of railway employees and their families being forced to leave the housing compound where most of the striking workers lived.

But as one of the leaders of the protesting workers, Win Ko Oo also had another reason to worry: a warrant for his arrest on charges of incitement.

Hong Kong's largest independent trade union disbanded on Sunday, further stoking concerns over the space for civil society groups as a national security law and the sweeping powers it gives the police stifle dissent in the global financial center.

Founded in 1990, the 145,000 member Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) voted to disband, bringing an end to the organization as authorities exert greater control on groups and unions in the business hub.

While anti-government protests in 2019 generated a new wave of labor activism in Hong Kong and triggered a 35% jump in registered trade unions, groups have been scrambling to disband since Beijing imposed the security law last year.

Fears of falling foul of the law and facing terms of up to life in jail have seen at least 29 trade unions disband since the start of this year, according to a tally by Reuters.

HKCTU vice-president Leo Tang said members of the group had received threats to their personal safety, without elaborating.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has denied that the government is carrying out a crackdown on civil society, and authorities say all law enforcement actions have been based on evidence and have nothing to do with the political beliefs of those arrested.

Student activist Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon has been indicted on a royal defamation charge related to a speech she gave at a protest on 24 March 2021, in which she said that the monarchy must reform itself in order to survive.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said on Thursday (30 September) that the public prosecutor at the Southern Bangkok Department of Criminal Litigation has decided to indict Patsaravalee for royal defamation under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, or the lèse majesté law, and a violation of the Emergency Decree charge resulting from her participation in the 24 March 2021 protest at the Ratchaprasong Intersection.

During the protest, Patsaravalee gave a speech calling for the King to conduct himself in a manner that befits the head of the state. She also said that the King’s expansion of power will endanger the institution of the monarchy, and that even though an absolute monarchy can be created, it can also fall in the next reign.

She made 3 demands to develop the institution of the monarchy: having a single, inseparable armed force, ending intervention in any political groups by the monarchy, and quickly returning public assets which have been transferred to the King’s personal ownership.

3 members of the activist group Thalufah were denied bail after 15 members of the group surrendered to the police yesterday (1 October) over an arrest warrant issued with regard to an incident on 3 August 2021 when they splashed paint in front of Thung Song Hong Police Station.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the police initially said the activists would be granted bail on a security of 10,000 baht per person. However, Metropolitan Police Division 2 Deputy Commander Pol Col Saksit Meesawat later told the activists they would be taken to court for a temporary detention request. The police claimed that the temporary detention request was necessary because they have not finished the case report for submision to the public prosecutor.

12 activists were later granted bail on a security of 35,000 baht each, but 3 were denied bail. The three had previously been arrested during the 13 October 2020 protest at the Democracy Monument, and according to TLHR, the court denied them bail on the grounds that they had violated their previous bail conditions. However, TLHR noted that the bail conditions were set on 21 September 2021, which was after the incident on 3 August 2021.

TLHR said that they filed another bail request for the 3 activists today (2 October), but the request was once again denied.

On 3 August 2021, the activists splashed paint in front of Thung Song Hong Police Station following their release after spending a night in detention on charges relating to a protest at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau on 2 August to demand that the police return a speaker truck seized after the 1 August ‘car mob’ rally.

Activists Jatupat Boonpattarasaksa and Thawee Thiangwiset, who are also Thalufah members, had surrendered themselves at Thung Song Hong Police Station on 9 August 2021. They were charged with violating the Emergency Decree, damaging public property, and taking part in an assembly of more than 10 people which caused a breach of public peace. On the same day, activist Songpol Sonthirak, another Thalufah member, was also arrested.

The Criminal Court later granted bail to Tawee and Songpol on a security of 35,000 baht, but denied bail to Jatupat on the grounds that he faces other charges for similar offenses, had broken his bail conditions which prohibited him from repeating these offenses, and was likely to flee or cause danger if he is released. Jatupat has been repeatedly denied bail and is still in detention at the Bangkok Remand Prison.

The North Sulawesi Regional Police conducted an in-depth investigation to uncover and arrest the perpetrators of the shooting of a resident of Toruakat Village, Bolaang Mongondow.

The shooting occurred during the installation of boundary markers at the Bolingongot plantation, the mining location of PT Bulawan Daya Lestari (BDL).

"The police will continue to work professionally in handling this incident", said Head of Public Relations, Kombes Jules Abraham Abast, in Manado, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, September 29.

Jules Abraham said that the police continued to make various efforts to deal with the conflict which caused five victims, namely one was shot dead and four people were injured.

The Police also appealed to the public to maintain a conducive security and order situation.

"The public and both parties are advised to remain calm, not easily provoked by the situation, and to fully entrust the handling of this incident to the police", he said.

He explained that the conflict occurred on the afternoon of Monday, September 27, shortly after the installation of the stakes at the location. Allegedly involving the guards at the location of PT BDL with the community of Toruakat Village, Bolmong Regency.

Information was obtained, the injured victims consisted of three guards at the location of PT BDL and one resident of Toruakat Village. While one victim who died was a resident of Toruakat Village.

"Until now, the police have added security personnel around the scene to prevent further conflicts. Police personnel also carry out patrols around Toruakat and Dumoga", said Kombes Jules.

A journalist is being questioned by police after Defense Minister Tea Banh, head of the CPP working group for Koh Kong, apparently instructed local officials about taking legal action and countering the journalist’s criticism of a deputy governor.

Youn Chhiv, who runs the Koh Kong Hot News website, was purportedly part of the land dispute himself while reporting that authorities were evicting people from state land they had farmed for years.

In his reports, Chhiv said authorities were violating Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call last year to grant land titles to ordinary people who had long-standing claims on state land.

An audio recording, shared with VOD, appears to show Defense Minister Banh instructing Koh Kong officials to take action against Chhiv. Several government-aligned media outlets have reported on Banh’s instructions, including some that quoted from the recording. Koh Kong provincial information department director Mom Malika said the recording could have been shared in a group with provincial officials, but declined to elaborate. Banh could not be reached for comment.

Banh’s purported voice in the recording says he told provincial governor Mithona Phouthorng to pursue a lawsuit against Chhiv.

“Just a moment ago I told Mithona to check and to discuss with the provincial law expert to file a lawsuit against him. He twisted the truth and promoted bad ideas, and we need to clarify it,” it says. “We have to make urgent reports to send to all the places about the administration’s actions against encroachers of land.”

He would call on Fresh News staffers to help spread information that would correct Chhiv’s video reports, it adds.

“In there, there is a Fresh News representative, and [we will] send it to him to help disseminate that the video twisted the truth,” the recording says. “Take action quickly, and should not be silent, and they will disseminate it all over the place. It has caused a mess and issues, destroying reputations. [We’re] discussing it with a legal expert and handling it.”

Other media would also be enlisted to help, it says.

“[We] urgently need to discuss with the media in the province and attack him first, directly, with his name,” it says. “All media should publish it in advance, and [then] make a written letter and consult with the legal expert to send the case in time. [We] should not allow this. It is unacceptable.”

Chhiv had made a mistake when he “attacked the administration’s measures,” it says.

“He has violated and attacked the administration’s measures, and if we do not handle this carefully, we cannot control the state, and the state needs to take action against the violator through administrative measures,” it says, noting that villagers were told to leave but failed to follow instructions.

In one of Chhiv’s videos, he interviews three villagers who say they came to live on the land, in Botom Sakor district, in 2007. They say authorities have this year been destroying their cashew trees, sugarcane and cassava plants to try to evict them without compensation. About 130 officers from police, military police and local administrations had come to clear their land, they say.

“People survive through their farmland, but now they have cleared it all. So where can people plant their crops and rice?” one villager asks, pleading for help from Prime Minister Hun Sen and Defense Minister Banh.

“Our authorities have not followed samdech’s remarks. They might know that samdech would lose [power] one day, so they do this and they do not follow samdech,” the villager says in the video. “They do not look after the people and they only destroy people.”

Chhiv says in the video that villagers come to his office and ask for his help, telling him they’ve been threatened with arrest. “Do they not know where the provincial governor is?” he asks.

He also mentions sub-decrees that have privatized over 100,000 hectares of Koh Kong parks, ostensibly to give titles to villagers using the land. He asks why the villagers are not being given titles, but being evicted instead.

In one Facebook post, Chhiv directly criticizes deputy governor Sok Sothy, saying the official is breaking people’s hearts.

Botum Sakor district police chief Sok Phon said on Tuesday afternoon that Chhiv had come in that day for questioning at the police station.

“Our police, with the deputy provincial chief, are in the process of questioning. … We have questioned him for about four hours, and we do not know yet [whether to send him to court]. Wait until the work has finished,” Phon said.

The provincial administration, meanwhile, issued a statement on Sunday saying Chhiv had disseminated “baseless information that is not true.”

The statement highlights one video, “Koh Kong Provincial Deputy Governor Sok Sothy Is Cruel and Abuses Citizens.”

“The publication of this information is intended to tarnish the reputation of Mr. Sok Sothy, Koh Kong deputy governor, and hurts the reputation of the provincial administration, confuses the public and causes confusion and social unrest,” the statement says.

It says authorities went to Thma Sar commune on September 19 after issuing two prior warnings to people who had illegally encroached on state land and built huts. Authorities were “implementing administrative measures” against illegal encroachment, it says.

“Among those encroachers, there is Youn Chhiv, the journalist, the person who tried to disseminate the distorted truth,” the statement says, requesting all journalists to respect the law.

Sothy, the deputy governor criticized by Chhiv, said on Monday that he had submitted a complaint to provincial police and the case was now in their hands.

“The land is a national sanctuary … when he published such distortions of the truth like this — it damages reputations, and most importantly the public misunderstands, especially people who live outside and do not know that the land is a national sanctuary.”

Sok Sovan, a provincial reporter in Koh Kong, said that as far as he knew, Chhiv had a cashew farm on the land in question.

But the heavy-handed response from authorities was chilling, he said.

“It impacts other journalists. As you know, when a journalist posts on Facebook, they can charge [us] saying it is a red-handed crime,” Sovan said. “If the journalist published something wrong, they should pursue [the case] through the Press Law.”

“Journalists face high risks because in our world, publishing some wrong information often happens,” he added. “It’s a challenge when they file a case to court and we face imprisonment.”

Youn Chhiv, journalist and owner of website Koh Kong Hot News, was sentenced to a years imprisonment on September 30 for incitement under Cambodia’s Criminal Code, after reporting on a government land dispute. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Cambodian Journalists Alliance (CamboJA) condemn the imprisonment and intimidation of Youn Chhiv under the Criminal Code and call for the immediate cessation of all charges against him.

The journalist was charged with incitement to cause a felony over publishing alleged misinformation about a land dispute at Botum Sakor National Park. After two days of police questioning without a lawyer, the Chhiv was sentenced to one year in prison under Cambodia’s Criminal Code.

Chhiv claimed that authorities were unlawfully evicting citizens from land they had both farmed and inhabited for years, in direct contravention of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s call late last year to grant land titles to those who had long-standing claims on state land. According to Vey Pherom, deputy prosecutor at the provincial court in Koh Kong, Chhiv admitted that the above claims were false.

In a leaked audio recording, a voice, identified as Defence Minister Tea Banh, can be heard instructing Koh Kong officials and state media to act against Chhiv. “[We] urgently need to discuss with the media in the province and attack him first, directly, with his name,” it says. There have been multiple government-aligned media outlets that have reported on Bahn’s instructions, condemning Chhiv’s reports as baseless.

Provincial reporter in Koh Kong, Sok Savan said that the case had been kept extremely confidential, and only family members were admitted into the courtroom. Savan indicated that authorities ought to have used the Press Law, not the Criminal Code, or allowed Chhiv to apologise publicly and remove the videos. “This case is irregular and inappropriate. In a democratic country, when a journalist covers the news for the public interest and society, they should not be punished or imprisoned,” Savan said.

Gunmen shot and killed a prominent Rohingya Muslim leader in a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh on Wednesday, a United Nations spokesperson and a local police official said, following months of worsening violence in the world's largest refugee settlement. Mohib Ullah, who was in his late 40s, led one of the largest of several community groups to emerge since more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar after a military crackdown in August 2017. Invited to the White House and to speak to the UN Human Rights Council, he was one of the most high-profile advocates for the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that has faced persecution for generations.

Rafiqul Islam, a deputy police superintendent in the nearby town of Cox's Bazar, told Reuters by phone that Mohib Ullah had been shot dead but had no additional details.

A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the agency was "deeply saddened" by the killing of Mohib Ullah. "We are in continuous contact with law enforcement authorities in charge of maintaining peace and security in the camps," the spokesperson said. Mohib Ullah's group, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, made its name documenting atrocities the Rohingya suffered during the Myanmar crackdown, which the UN has said was carried out with genocidal intent. At the Bangladesh refugee camps, Mohib Ullah went from hut to hut to build a tally of killings, rape and arson that was shared with international investigators. His organization worked to give refugees more of a voice inside the camps and internationally. Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council, he said the Rohingya wanted more of a say over their own future. But his high profile made him a target of hardliners and he received death threats, he told Reuters in 2019. "If I die, I'm fine. I will give my life," he said at the time. The sprawling camps in Bangladesh have become increasingly violent, residents say, with armed men vying for power, kidnapping critics, and warning women against breaking conservative Islamic norms.

Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya civil society activist and an adviser to Myanmar's National Unity Government, the parallel civilian government established after February's coup, said Mohib Ullah's death was a "big loss for the Rohingya community." "He was always aware there is a threat, but he thinks that despite the threat if he is not doing the work he is doing, no one else would," he said.

National security police in Hong Kong have frozen the assets of a group that organized vigils for Tiananmen massacre victims, as the city's public broadcaster was warned on Wednesday that its reporting must 'safeguard national interests.'

"This morning, the liquidator of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Mr. Cheng Yiu-cheong, received a notice from the national security police notifying him that all of the Alliance's assets, including those of the June 4th Memorial Hall, were frozen," the Alliance said in a post on its Facebook page on Wednesday.

National security police officers took Cheng Yiu-chang to the June 4th Memorial Hall and handed him the letter of notification, the group said.

"Cheng expressed surprise and disagreement with the [move]," it said, adding that Cheng planned to go to the national security police headquarters to request the assets be unfrozen pending the dissolution of the group.

The Alliance voted to disband at an extraordinary general meeting on Sept. 25, following an investigation by Hong Kong's national security police under a law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020.

The Alliance stands accused of acting as the agent of a foreign power, with leaders Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho, and Lee Cheuk-yan arrested on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power," and the group's assets frozen under the national security law.

At a special general meeting held at the June 4th Memorial Hall under heavy police watch in Mong Kok district, members voted 41-4 to disband after 32 years of supporting victims of the Tiananmen killings, demanding accountability, and advocating for an end to one-party rule.

The national security law ushered in an ongoing and citywide crackdown on all forms of public dissent and political opposition, with election rules changed to ensure only pro-CCP candidates can run and with the government insisting that further legislation on espionage is needed to continue the crackdown on what Beijing insists was an attempt by hostile foreign powers to foment a "color revolution" in Hong Kong.

Journalists warned

Government broadcaster RTHK on Wednesday issued a new set of guidelines to its staff, warning them that their work must always serve China's national interests, on pain of disciplinary action.

Journalists have also been warned to be careful what they say on social media, "to protect the station's integrity and reputation," RTHK reported on its English-language news page.

The rules mean that opposition or critical voices are likely to be unwelcome on RTHK programs.

“Under no circumstances should our programs provide a platform to encourage, incite, promote, glorify, endorse, or sympathize with any act or activity endangering national security or otherwise contain any contents which are contrary to the interests of national security," the station quoted the guidelines as saying.

RTHK programs must not provoke or deepen hatred, discrimination, or hostility towards the central government or the Hong Kong government, the rules say.

Staff must also avoid any contact with foreign governments or political organizations, and should take at face value Beijing's territorial claim on the democratic island of Taiwan, which has never been ruled by the CCP, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China.

In an apparent reference to reporting linked to the 2019 protest movement, staff must make sure they don't sympathize with, justify or glamorize "criminal acts."

'Inciting secession'

The warnings came as a former protester stood trial under the national security law in Hong Kong's District Court, for "inciting secession."

Ma Chun-man, known by his nickname Captain America 2.0, is accused of inciting others to commit secession by shouting "Hong Kong independence is the only solution," and "Free Hong Kong, revolution now!" at protests and in shopping malls between August and November 2020.

Motorcyclist Tong Ying-kit was jailed for nine years in July for "inciting secession" and "terrorism" after he flew a flag with the "Free Hong Kong, revolution now!" slogan while riding his bike at a protest against the national security law on July 1, 2020, the day it took effect.

National security police have also charged seven other people including a 16-year-old with "conspiracy to incite the commission by other persons of the offence of subversion."

The group, aged 16-25, are members of the pro-independence group Returning Valiant, and were arrested in July on suspicion of terrorism and amid allegations of a bomb plot.

A professor and popular Vietnamese dissident said Thursday that he has received death threats by phone after publishing a series of social media posts criticizing the use of China’s coronavirus vaccines in Vietnam.

Mac Van Trang, known for his critical voice on sociopolitical issues in Vietnam, said he received threatening calls after he posted stories on the Chinese vaccines on his Facebook page, including a letter he wrote to the Ho Chi Minh City leaders, advising them not to accept millions of doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.

“One recent evening, an anonymous man called me on the phone, saying that I shouldn’t keep talking about it and should behave myself; otherwise I would put my life in danger,” Trang told RFA. “He also said that people are dying, and it’s good to have vaccines, and it would be a crime to prevent it. Therefore, I should mind my tongue!”

Vietnam is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases with the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, and large areas of the country of more than 98 million people have been under lockdown. Only about seven percent of Vietnamese adults have been fully vaccinated. On Thursday, Vietnam reported a total 728,435 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including nearly 9,500 news ones, and more than 18,000 deaths with 236 new fatalities.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health decided to allocate an additional 8 million doses of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by the Van Thinh Phat Group to 25 cities and provinces, the country’s Tuoi Tre News reported.

But citizens throughout the country have expressed concern, fearing the Sinopharm doses might produce hidden side effects, Ngo Tri Long, former rector of the Ministry of Finance’s Price and Market Research Institute, told RFA in an earlier report.

Trang, 83, was a long-term member of the Communist Party of Vietnam, but he resigned on Oct. 26, 2018, when the party decided to discipline Chu Hao, a well-known intellectual who criticized the government. Trang currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City and posts critiques of sociopolitical issues on his Facebook page.

It was not the first time that he had received such calls, Trang said, adding that threats were made after he spoke out about sensitive incidents in Vietnam, including a deadly land-rights dispute in January 2020. At that time, about 3,000 security officers raided a hamlet in Dong Tam commune to intervene in a long-running dispute over a military airport construction site about 25 miles south of Vietnam’s capital Hanoi.

“In our society, there are many people who have been indoctrinated for a long time that whatever contradicts the [Communist] Party’s policy and guidelines is considered hostile,” he said of the threats he has received.

“From the general secretary, prime minister, and president to others in the government, they always talk about enemies and hostile forces,” Trang said. “This has created a dangerous mindset among party fanatics who exist when the party exists, and who see anyone who criticizes it as a hostile force.”

In addition to the 8 million new shots, Vietnam has received roughly 50 million vaccine doses, including 20 million Sinopharm doses — more than six million of which were donated by China and five million of which were purchased by Ho Chi Minh City, Tuoi Tre News said.

Before the new allocation, 5.5 million Sinopharm vaccine doses had been administered to people in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh province, Hai Phong city, Binh Duong province, and Dong Nai province, the report said.

Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc traveled to Havana last weekend for an official visit, where he met with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and finalized a deal for Vietnam to buy 10 million doses of Cuba’s Abdala vaccine.

Italy has also promised to donate 800,000 doses of the British-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine to Vietnam, raising Rome’s commitment to Hanoi to over 1.6 million doses through the COVAX program co-led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the World Health Organization; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong have applied to arrest a human rights lawyer after holding him under residential surveillance for six months, his friend told RFA.

Rights lawyer Zhou Xiaoyun, who formerly worked as a senior editor at the cutting-edge Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper in Guangzhou, was initially detained by police in the northeastern province of Liaoning around six months ago on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

He was held incommunicado under RSDL, residential surveillance at a designated location, but now that the six-month limit has been reached, police have applied to the state prosecutor's office for approval of his arrest, a friend of Zhou's who gave only the surname Lu said.

Police in Guangdong's Panshan county submitted the arrest application to the local procuratorate on Sept. 26, Lu said.

He said Zhou was being victimized by the Liaoning police.

"They sent the case to the Panshan county procuratorate on the 26th, to apply for his arrest," Lu said. "It's not clear which leader is in charge, but it is being handled, at least on the face of things, by the Panshan county police, and in actuality by the Panjin municipal police department."

Zhou had met with his lawyer twice during the past week, as well as receiving a visit from his sister, he said.

A veteran lawyer who gave only the surname Zhang said Zhou will remain in detention after his time in "residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL)" expires if the application is approved.

"This is what used to be called criminal detention, and it requires the approval of the procuratorate for a formal arrest," Zhang said. "This is a critical juncture, because if the procuratorate approves the arrest, it means at the very least that they believe Zhou committed a crime which should be investigated and which deserves a prison sentence."

"[That means they think] he should remain in detention," he said.

Repeated calls to the Panjin municipal police department and to the Panshan country procuratorate rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.

Re-educating the media

The CCP is in the process of "re-educating" its already tightly controlled state media, requiring hundreds of thousands of journalists to sit an exam on the political thought of general secretary Xi Jinping to qualify for a new generation of official press cards.

The process started with a 2014 requirement for journalists to study Marxism, and followed up by Xi in 2016, when he warned during visits to state media organizations that state media are part of the CCP family.

All media operating in China must safeguard the authority of the Communist Party central committee, and adhere to "the correct direction" in forming public opinion, Xi said at the time.

Meanwhile, Xu Yan, wife of jailed human rights attorney Yu Wensheng said he has yet to receive adequate medical and dental treatment in Nanjing Prison, where he is serving a four-year sentence after being convicted of "incitement to subvert state power" by a court in the eastern province of Jiangsu.

Family members have long suspected that Yu has been tortured and ill-treated while in custody, as he only has limited use of his right hand, and is unable to write, brush his teeth, or harvest crops as part of prison labor.

He was named as a finalist for the Martin Ennals Award honoring human rights defenders earlier this year.

The Martin Ennals Foundation called him "one of the best-known and most intrepid human rights activists" in China, acknowledging that Yu has been subjected to arbitrary detention, a secret trial, and the removal of his license to practice law.

Bangladesh authorities must immediately drop their investigations into the bank accounts of 12 members of the press and commit to allowing the media to operate freely and independently, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On August 11, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, a government agency responsible for investigating money laundering and terrorist financing, ordered all scheduled banks to provide details of any accounts associated with Rozina Islam, a senior correspondent for the daily newspaper Prothom Alo, according to news reports and a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. Islam is under investigation for allegedly photographing documents at the country’s Health Ministry without permission.

“Scheduled banks” refer to the 61 banks that are controlled and supervised by the government-owned Central Bank of Bangladesh.

Separately, on September 16, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit ordered banks to provide such information for an additional 11 journalists, according to various news reports and Muhammad Abdullah, city editor of The Daily Amardesh and president of a group within the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. The 11 journalists named in the September 16 order are also all executive members of several different journalist trade organizations, according to those news reports.

Authorities have not disclosed any reason for the order targeting those journalists, according to Abdullah, who said the reason behind the probe remains unclear.

“The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit’s investigation of the bank accounts belonging to a dozen prominent journalists looks suspiciously like selective law enforcement aimed at intimidating the independent press,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities should immediately drop these investigations, cease harassing journalists, and commit to allowing the media to operate openly and freely.”

According to the news reports and Abdullah, the 11 journalists are:

Farida Yasmin, senior subeditor of the privately owned Bengali-language newspaper The Daily Ittefaq and president of the National Press Club of Bangladesh
Elias Khan, special correspondent with the privately owned news outlet The Daily Amardesh—which has been prevented from publishing a print edition since 2013 and whose website was blocked domestically in 2020—and general secretary of the National Press Club of Bangladesh
Kader Gani Chowdhury, senior reporter with The Daily Amardesh and president of a group within the Dhaka Union of Journalists
Muhammad Abdullah, city editor of The Daily Amardesh and president of a group within the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists
Mohammad Shahidul Islam, subeditor of the privately owned Bengali-language daily newspaper The Daily Sangram and general secretary of a group within the Dhaka Union of Journalists
Sajjad Alam Khan Tapu, business editor of the privately owned news channel Jamuna TV and president of a group within the Dhaka Union of Journalists
Nurul Amin Rokon, news editor of the privately owned Bengali-language daily newspaper Daily Asia Bani and secretary general of a group within the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists
Molla Jalal, editor of the privately owned Bengali-language news website NNB and president of a group within the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists
Abdul Majid, special correspondent of the privately owned Bengali-language daily newspaper The Daily Samakal and secretary general of a group within the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists
Mursalin Nomani, senior reporter with the state-owned news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha and president of Dhaka Reporters Unity, a local journalist training and press freedom group
Mosiur Rahman Khan, senior reporter with The Daily Samakal and general secretary of Dhaka Reporters Unity

Hasan Mahmud, the minister of information and broadcasting, told reporters at his office that the government can ask anyone for their bank details, and “if someone is transparent, there’s no reason to be worried about it,” according to The Dhaka Tribune.

The person familiar with Islam’s case said the August 11 order stemmed from an ongoing investigation by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police into a complaint filed by the country’s Health Ministry. On May 17, authorities arrested Islam for allegedly taking pictures of official documents at its Dhaka office, as CPJ documented at the time. She was released on bail on May 23, according to reports.

Islam has frequently reported on alleged corruption and mismanagement of the health sector’s COVID-19 response.

The ministry accused Islam of violating Sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act and Sections 379 and 411 of the penal code; if charged and convicted, she could face up to 14 years in prison or the death penalty, according to those laws.

On September 19, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka rejected Islam’s request for the return of her two mobile phones and press identification card, which were seized during her arrest, and her passport, which was seized as a condition of her release on bail, according to news reports and the person familiar with the case.

Health Minister Zahid Malek did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment regarding Islam’s case sent via email.

CPJ emailed Md. Masud Biswas, executive director of the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit; Md. Shafiqul Islam, commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police; and Ferdousi Shahriar, the deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, D.C., for comment on the 12 investigations, but did not receive any replies.

Student activist Panupong Jadnok has once again been detained after being denied bail on a royal defamation charge filed against him by a royalist activist for a Facebook post about monarchy reform.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported on Thursday (23 September) that Panupong met with the public prosecutor in the morning. He was informed that the public prosecutor had decided to indict him and he was taken to court.

His lawyer later filed a bail request for Panupong, but the request was denied. The order was signed by judge Chanathip Muanpawong, Deputy Chief Justice of the Criminal Court, who earlier this year denied bail to several pro-democracy activists detained pending trial.

Chanathip is also the judge who sentenced Ampon Tangnoppakul, or “Uncle SMS,” to 20 years in prison on a royal defamation charge under Section 112 in 2011, after Ampon was accused of sending messages to Somkiat Krongwattanasuk, who was at the time the secretary of then Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, which were deemed offensive to the King and Queen. Ampon died in prison.

Panupong has been charged with royal defamation under Section 112 of the Thai Criminal Code, or the lèse majesté law, and with entering into a computer system data which is an offense to national security under Section 14 of the Computer Crimes Act. The charge is based on a complaint filed against him by Nangnoi Atsawakittikorn, member of the royalist group Thailand Help Center for Cyberbullying Victims, which has filed similar complaints against several other activists and netizens.

The complaint was based on a Facebook post on 8 November 2020 which said “Do you think that you will look dignified standing on the ruins of democracy or on the corpses of the people?” along with the hashtag #ปฏิรูปสถาบันกษัตริย์ (#MonarchyReform). The original post also reportedly refers to the King by name.

On 15 September, Panupong was released from the Thanyaburi Remand Prison, where he was detained on charges relating to a protest in front of the Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters on 2 August 2021 to demand the release of 32 detained activists. He is now being detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison.

According to TLHR, Panupong is currently facing 9 charges under Section 112; he has already been indicted on 3. He was previously detained pending trial on charges relating to the 19 September 2020 protest, and was in detention for 86 days before being released on 1 June 2021.

Police officers shot and arrested a 24-year-old political activist and detained his mother from their home in Bago on Thursday, according to local sources.

At around 10pm, junta police came to Zayar Aungmyay St in Bago’s Hinthagone 19th ward in two unmarked vehicles to arrest activist Sithu Kaung Myat, a well-known and active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

The policemen opened fire when it appeared that Sithu Kaung Myat was trying to run away, a local man said.

“They shot the young man three times in front of his mother when he was trying to escape. He was shot in his chest,” the man told Myanmar Now.

He added that Sithu Kaung Myat was on the second floor of the house when he was shot, while his mother was on the ground floor.

The police handcuffed the 50-year-old woman, who the source said has been in poor health, and raided the home.

"After the shooting, his mother was handcuffed and taken into a car. The young man had not been carried away at that time,” the man explained. “They ransacked the house and took their belongings, including a motorcycle that they wanted. Then the boy was taken into the car.”

Sithu Kaung Myat was admitted to the Bago General Hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest that he suffered when troops came to arrest him from his home on Zayar Aungmyay St in Hinthagone 19th ward at around 10pm.

Sithu Kaung Myat’s 50-year-old mother was also arrested on Thursday and was still in jail at the time of reporting. Police cordoned off the family’s home at around 2pm on Friday, around one hour after her son’s death, a local told Myanmar Now.

“They don’t have other relatives—it is only a mother and a son. She has no other relatives so nobody helped to get her released,” the local said. “People in that ward don’t know who they should ask for help. They don’t know where she has been detained.”

After locals visited the hospital and inquired about his condition, they learned that he had died on Friday afternoon.

It was not known at the time of reporting if or how a funeral would be held for Sithu Kaung Myat, who ​​was an active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.

Myanmar Now tried to contact the local police station to inquire about the shooting and the continued detention of Sithu Kaung Myat’s mother—who, it is believed, is in poor health—but the calls went unanswered.

Since the February 1 coup, the junta has frequently held the relatives of targeted politicians and activists hostage when troops have been unable to locate the individual they intended to arrest.

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 7,000 continue to be imprisoned by the coup regime, according to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Friday.

The junta has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation and rejected their data as exaggerated.

Systematic death threats, attacks, and killings of human rights defenders have been rampant across Afghanistan even prior to the withdrawal of US troops. This includes those working in civil society organizations or NGOs- that is, anyone who individually or with others act to promote or protect human rights in a peaceful manner. Since the capture of Kabul by the Taliban on 15 August 2021, the lives of thousands of women and men who had risked their safety to promote and defend human rights, gender equality, rule of law, and democratic freedoms in their country are now, more than ever, hanging by a thread. While it is now almost impossible to carry out any human rights work, attacks on human rights defenders have reportedly been on the rise without any sign of abating. Since 15 August, the Taliban and armed groups have engaged in large-scale door-to-door searches, forcing human rights defenders into hiding, and moving clandestinely from one place to another. Meanwhile, escalating violence in the provinces has forced a large number of defenders to leave their home and internally relocate to Kabul. Human rights defenders were also beaten up by the Taliban. Yet very few are willing to publicly denounce the attacks for fear of further reprisals. This demonstrates the climate of fear under which Afghan defenders are now forced to live and are trying to escape.

On 7 September 2021, Omid Sharifi and Bashir Ahmad Bayat, community-based defenders, were shot by the Taliban during a protest and later died for the injuries in Herat, Afghanistan.

Bangladesh authorities must immediately drop all charges against journalists Kabir Kishore, Tasneem Khalil, and Shafiqul Islam Kajol, and cease harassing members of the press under the draconian Digital Security Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On September 8 and 12, the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal accepted Digital Security Act charges against Kishore, a cartoonist; Khalil, editor of the Sweden-based news website Netra News; and Kajol, a photographer and editor with the Daily Pakkhakal magazine, according to multiple news reports and a person familiar with the cases, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal by Bangladesh authorities.

Kishore and Kajol are currently free on bail, according to those sources. Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Khalil, who lives in Sweden, the journalist told CPJ in a phone interview.

Khalil said that the Bangladesh government did not inform him of the warrant, and he heard about it in the news. Bangladesh authorities have blocked domestic connections to Netra News since December 2019, according to Khalil and CPJ’s documentation from the time.

“The Bangladesh government must immediately cease its legal harassment of journalists Kabir Kishore, Tasneem Khalil, and Shafiqul Islam Kajol, who are being persecuted for their political commentary,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must drop all charges against them, stop harassing journalists in retaliation for their work, and repeal the draconian Digital Security Act, which enables these legal abuses.”

The Dhaka Cyber Tribunal accepted a charge sheet against Kajol on September 8, stemming from a criminal defamation complaint filed against him and dozens of others in March 2020 by Saifuzzaman Shikhor, a member of parliament with the ruling Awami League political party, according to various news reports, the person familiar with the case, and CPJ research, which said that two other people affiliated with the Awami League also filed two additional complaints against Kajol at that time.

The complaints cited Kajol’s critical writing on Facebook about local political leaders, and accused him of “publishing false news and circulating it on social media,” according to those sources. CPJ was unable to review Kajol’s Facebook posts, which have been taken down or set to private.

Kajol was charged under sections of the Digital Security Act pertaining to transmission or publication of offensive, false, or threatening information; unauthorized collection of identity information without lawful authority; publication or transmission of defamatory information; and publication or transmission of information that creates enmity, hatred, or hostility between different classes or communities of society, according to person familiar with the case and the charge sheet, which CPJ reviewed.

If convicted, each of those charges can carry a prison sentence between three and seven years, and a fine from 300,000 to 500,000 taka (US $3,517 to $5,861), according to the law. The next hearing in his case is scheduled for October 20, according to news reports and the person familiar with the case.

CPJ emailed and texted Shikhor at the address and phone number listed on his website, but received error messages in response. CPJ emailed the office of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who also serves as president of the Awami League, for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.

Separately, on September 12, the cyber tribunal accepted charges submitted by the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of the detective branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police against Kishore, Khalil, and five others, according to various news reports and the person familiar with the cases.

The charges stem from a police report alleging that Kishore and five others ran a Facebook page that criticized the government; that Khalil made derogatory comments about government officials on his Facebook page; and that Khalil also “instigated” Kishore to “make anti-state rumours go viral on social media,” according to CPJ research and a report by Netra News.

In March, Kishore told CPJ that, during his previous detention as part of this case, unidentified men beat, abused, and tortured him while asking about his cartoons. CPJ has called on the Bangladesh government to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations of torture.

Kishore and Khalil were charged under sections of the Digital Security Act pertaining to the publication of propaganda against the liberation war of Bangladesh or national symbols; transmission or publication of offensive, false, or threatening information; publication of content that creates enmity, hatred, or hostility among different classes or communities; and abetment of an offense, according to the person familiar with their cases, who reviewed the charge sheet.

Those charges can carry prison sentences between three and ten years and fines of 300,000 to 10,000,000 taka (US $3,517 to $117,207), according to the law.

The next hearing in Kishore and Khalil’s cases is scheduled for September 30, according to the person familiar with the case.

CPJ contacted Khandaker Al Moyeen, the director of the legal and media wing of the Rapid Action Battalion, which opened the investigation into Kishore and Khalil in May 2020, via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any response. CPJ also contacted Mohammad Rassell Mollah, the investigating officer who submitted the charge sheet against Kajol, via messaging app for comment, but did not receive any response.

CPJ also emailed Md. Shafiqul Islam, commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, for comment on all three cases, but did not receive any reply.

A female civil society activist in southern Kandahar province said the Taliban entered her house, assaulted her and abducted five people from her home.

The incident took place in limits of 15th police district on Saturday night.

Dr. Fahima Rahmati, who is also the head of the Hope Foundation, in a live video message on Facebook while loudly crying provided information about the incident.

She told Pajhwok Afghan News that dozens of armed Taliban entered their house without permission and started beating women, men and firing in the air.

She added the Taliban had abducted five men, including her two brothers, a brother in law and a neighbor. According to her, her elder brother was shot wounded by the Taliban.

She said only her elder brother worked in the former National Directorate of Security but he had left the job six months ago for personal reasons.

The Taliban have announced a general amnesty, so why they intimidate people, she grumbled.

Rahmati to Taliban: “Why are you spreading terror? Is government done this way, why are you forcing me to flee the country? Does Islam allow such acts? I received invitations from three countries, but I rejected them and said the country needs me.”

Kandahar’s intelligence chief, Rahmatullah Naraiwal, said the Taliban had received information last night that former NDS operatives were residing in a house in Kandahar’s 15th police district.

He added that as soon as they reached the house, they came under fire from the house after which Taliban fighters overpowered them and arrest the men and took them away.

But Fahima Rahmati denied the allegations, saying they did not even have a single bullet in the house.

Her brother had been given a Kalashnikov and a pistol for self-defense during his job but after leaving the job six months ago he handed over the weapons to the concerned authorities.

Pakistan: Police baton-charged students protesting against online entrance exams.

Mao Hermitanio’s face was wet and red when she reached Liwasang Bonifacio this afternoon, Sept. 21, the 49th anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law. She and her colleagues played cat and mouse with the Manila police. The chase, however, was not at all fun.

Hermitanio, deputy secretary general of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), and her companions assembled at around 1:30 p.m. on Carriedo street, where they were prohibited by the police from holding a program. The contingent, composed mainly of farmers, workers, youth and urban poor, decided to go to Sta. Cruz Church. After a short program, they started marching toward Liwasang Bonifacio. The police blocked them from setting foot on the bridge, and dispersed them with water canon.

Amid the chaos, former Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao and Kilusang Mayo Uno Secretary General Jerome Adonis tried to negotiate with the police, but the latter refused to even identify their ground commander. The protesters then dispersed, and found ways, literally, to get to the site of the protest.

A few meters away from Liwasang Bonifacio, former Gabriela Women’s Party Liza Maza was also blocked several times by policemen in fatigue. She tried to cross the underpass from the Metropolitan Theater but was prevented from proceeding. She walked along the Jones bridge, hoping she would be finally allowed to join the other activists. Policemen told her and her colleagues they could not pass through. Asked for a reason, a policeman just said, “That’s the order.”

Fuming, Maza told the media in Filipino, “I remember when I was still in college, when lighting rallies were still prohibited during Martial Law. The people were not allowed to express themselves freely just like what is happening now.”

“Everything came back to me. I was just waiting for someone to shout, ‘Marcos, Diktator! Tuta!Duterte at Marcos, parehong-pareho ang pakana,’” (Marcos, Dictator! Puppet! Duterte and Marcos have the same tactics.) she said.

Eventually, Maza and hundreds of other protesters managed to hurdle the obstacles.

“On the anniversary of Martial Law, they tried to suppress the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and to free expression,” Obet de Castro of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a Facebook post in Filipino hours after the protest. “Duterte is so much like Marcos. And just as how the Filipino people toppled the Marcos dictatorship, the corrupt and fascist in Malacañang failed to stop the militant action of the Filipino people earlier today.”

Marcos-level corruption, tyranny

Progressive groups denounced what they called as Duterte’s Marcosian tactics.

In his speech, Antonio La Viña, former dean of the Ateneo School of Government, said Duterte proves to be similar to Marcos when it comes to corruption and tyranny. He cited the purchase of overpriced pandemic items from Pharmaly, and the killings of activists and drug suspects.

Renato Reyes Jr., BAYAN secretary general, meanwhile, called on fellow protesters to make their choices clear in the coming elections.

“We reject everything that is destructive to the country. We reject those who act as dictators, the son of the dictator, and the lackeys of dictators. We reject corruption, killings, apathy and subservience to foreign interests,” Reyes said in Filipino.

Former ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, who represented 1Sambayan, said the Filipino people should “unite in restoring democracy back.”

Hong Kong police on Monday arrested three members of the Student Politicism group on subversion charges under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), accusing its members of trying to bring down the regime.

Among the arrestees were convenor Wong Yat-chin and secretary general Chan Chi-sum, the group said in a brief statement on its Facebook page.

The Hong Kong Baptist University student union editorial board named the third arrestee as Jessica Chu, a former spokesperson for Student Politicism who is no longer a member of the group, according to a screenshot posted to Twitter by Agence France-Presse correspondent Xinqi Su.

Police confirmed they had arrested three suspects aged between 18 and 20 for carrying out "subversive acts" including warning people not to use the government's LeaveHomeSafe COVID-19 tracking app, and "inciting hatred of the government" via street booths.

Wong was shown in media footage posted by the Oriental Daily news website, being led away in handcuffs from the group's headquarters in Kwai Chung district, and being taken away in an unmarked grey people carrier.

National security police raided the premises, seizing boxes of goods intended for prison inmates, including chocolates, sanitary products, and crackers, Hong Kong-based translator KTse852 said via their Twitter account.

Senior police superintendent Steve Li told reporters that the group had been imposing its political beliefs on others, and inciting them to overthrow the governments of Hong Kong and mainland China.

Li said the group's goal in sending goods to inmates was to enlist them to aid these efforts, and accused him of exhorting followers to "practice martial arts for when the revolution comes."

"That ... is clearly resistance aimed at the Hong Kong authorities and the CCP government," Li said, accusing the group of intensifying its political activism with street booths in Mong Kok.

The national security law, which has ushered in a city-wide crackdown on peaceful protest and political opposition since it took effect on July 1, 2020, criminalizes contact with and funding from overseas politicians and foundations, public criticism of the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities, as well as opposition activism, which is deemed a bid to overthrow the existing political order.

Forty-seven former democratic lawmakers and activists are currently awaiting trial on "subversion" charges under the national security law after taking part in a democratic primary in 2020 that was designed to maximize the number of LegCo seats won by the opposition.

The targeting of Student Politicism comes after prisoner support group Wall-fare announced it would disband after secretary for security and former police chief Chris Tang accused "certain groups" of endangering national security" in prisons by writing to inmates and "soliciting followers" with gifts of chocolates, hairpins, and other items, making them "hate the government."

It was the latest in a line of civil society groups to disband following public denunciation by officials or by CCP-backed media.

Feminist journalist Sophia Huang and fellow activist Wang Jianbing are incommunicado, believed detained, ahead of Huang's planned departure to study overseas, the Chinese rights group Weiquanwang reported on Tuesday.

Huang had planned to leave China via Hong Kong on Sept. 20 for the U.K., where she planned to take a master's degree in development with a prestigious Chevening Scholarship, the Weiquanwang report said.

Wang, who is a labor and healthcare rights activist, had planned to see her off on her journey, it said.

"According to people familiar with the matter, Wang Jianbing may have been detained under investigation for incitement to subvert state power, mainly due to the daily gatherings of friends at his home," Weiquanwang said, adding that both activists had been incommunicado since Sept. 19.

Repeated calls and messages to Huang's cell phone went unanswered on Tuesday.

Sources told RFA the pair had likely been detained by police in their home district of Haizhu.

An officer who answered the phone at the Haizhu district police department in Guangzhou declined to confirm the report.

"Who? I've never heard of those people," the officer said. "If you believe they are being dealt with, then the relatives need to wait for notification."

"The case officers will only contact [the family]."

Veteran political journalist Gao Yu said Huang's detention may be short-lived, and only intended to prevent her from leaving for the U.K.

"The kind of persecution that his happening now is worse than at any other time ... even when they were going after the 'rightists' they didn't just arrest people on a whim," she said.

"It's unbelievable right now ... they regard these young journalists and non-government organizations as the enemy," she said. "The methods they are using are persecutory and despicable, and without any basis in law."

U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said "disappearances" are increasingly being used by the CCP to suppress any form of dissent or rights activism.

"They keep lowering the threshold for the kinds of people they will persecute," Teng said. "There is now no longer room for activities that may have been tolerated in the past."

Survey of harassment, assaults

Before being targeted by the authorities in 2019, Huang had been an outspoken member of the country's #MeToo movement, and had carried out a survey of sexual harassment and assault cases among Chinese women working in journalism.

Huang was present at a million-strong protest in Hong Kong on June 9, 2019 against plans to allow extradition to mainland China, and was detained for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" in October 2019, before being released on bail in January 2020, a status that often involves ongoing surveillance and restrictions on a person's activities.

Her travel documents were also confiscated after her return, preventing her from beginning a law degree in Hong Kong the fall of 2019.

Huang had previously assisted in the investigation and reporting of a number of high-profile sexual harassment allegations against professors at Peking University, Wuhan University of Technology, Henan University and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

Wang started to work in rural development after graduating in 2005, before joining the Guangzhou Gongmin NGO in 2014 and director and coordinator for youth work.

In 2018, he started advocacy and legal support work on behalf of workers with occupational diseases, and was a vocal supporter of China's #MeToo movement.

Environmentalist Chhorn Phalla has been arrested by Ratanakiri police after they called him in to update the address on his identification card, his lawyer said.

An arrest warrant against Phalla had been issued in February for allegedly clearing forest land for ownership, but both his lawyer and wife said he had been called in for an administrative update.

Phalla, 42, has previously told VOD that he has been involved in protecting forests since 2016, and since 2017 he has filed eight lawsuits against local officials and villagers he accuses of being involved in encroaching on community forests. He has said that authorities have taken no action on any of his complaints.

In July last year, he was beaten by a group of people at a public forum where he questioned how authorities were allowing forestry crimes to happen under their jurisdictions, he has said. Authorities accused him of disrupting the forum, then stood and watched as people beat him, he has alleged.

Kham Salong, Phalla’s wife, said her husband was arrested at Lumphat district’s Seda commune police station at 11:22 a.m. on Monday after the couple arrived to update the address on their ID cards.

“I feel really sad,” Salong said. “They previously beat him up, and now they come to arrest him. I want to ask the court to release my husband. He is not guilty of anything.”

Phalla’s lawyer, Sam Tith Seiha, said his client had been asked to go to the police station to update his ID, and that he would try to speak to him in prison.

Keo Pheadey, deputy prosecutor and spokesman for the Ratanakiri Provincial Court, could not be reached.

Ny Sokha, president of rights group Adhoc, said authorities must be clear before arresting anyone, and said he had doubts about the forestry charges against him.

“We ask the Ratanakiri Provincial Court to consider dropping or revoking the arrest warrant for Chhorn Phalla and release him, do not accuse him further and release him, do not detain him because he did not commit a crime like the one in the lawsuit or the charges.”