Uwazi

This was a bad week for democracy in Vietnam, as two prominent activists lost appeals against their jail sentences on Tuesday and another two on Wednesday.

The provincial People’s Court in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak, rejected the appeal of Y Wo Nie while the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi dismissed the appeal of Le Van Dung on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi carried out the appeal hearing of 52-year-old Le Van Dung. He was arrested in June last year and in March this year he was convicted of “conducting anti-state propaganda” and sentenced to five years in prison and five years of probation.

Dung’s appeal only lasted one hour and 45 minutes before the court upheld his sentence.

Lawyer Dang Dinh Manh, who defended Dung at his appeal, said the hearing was too shallow.

“The court asked questions very briefly, did not go into depth or give time for debate. The court also cut off the arguments of the lawyer,” Manh said.

“Having previously worked with us we know that Dung did not expect the appeal hearing would change the outcome. So when he went to court his attitude was very relaxed, very calm and he was almost smiling throughout the hearing.”

According to the lawyer, the Procurator had an attitude of not wanting to argue and only answered lawyers’ questions vaguely.

“The lawyers actually raised a lot of issues,” Manh said. “I raised four issues, but he only argued with me over one issue with only one very short sentence.”

“For example, when we argued about the issue of judicial expertise, the Procurator said that the assessors are granted the assessor’s license by the state, so they have the right and full authority over the matter of expertise and [they consider] their expertise as such is lawful. They didn’t argue against many issues we raised.”

In cases of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 88 of the 1999 Penal Code or under Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code, the defendants’ statements on social networks are usually assessed by state agencies.

The purpose of the examination is to find content that is alleged to violate the above laws.

Also according to Dung's defense, the lawyers could not argue further with the Procuracy because the presiding judge interrupted, saying "there is no further consensus on anything."

Manh said Dung still insisted he did not break the law, but only exercised his right to freedom of expression as prescribed by the Constitution.

“No one is surprised with the result of the hearing,” Manh said. “We all understand the way the Vietnamese court works, so we don't expect a big change, not even a small change. In general, we disagree with the accusations against Dung in both hearings."

The lawyer said Dung should not have been arrested and prosecuted just for voicing his opinions since the right to freedom of expression is enshrined in the Constitution. He said the Vietnamese government also has a responsibility to respect this right, having signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The hearings drew criticism from international human rights organizations.

Human Rights Watch called for the court to release Le Van Dung, and accused the Vietnamese government of suppressing human rights.

“The politically motivated, totally bogus conviction of Le Van Dung should be quashed and he should be immediately released, “said Asia Regional Vice President Phil Robertson.

“Using the Internet to speak out about injustice and demand reforms should not be considered a crime. By prosecuting him, Vietnam shows what a dictatorial, rights-abusing state it has become. Le Van Dung’s five-year prison verdict in March exemplifies the way officials retaliate against outspoken citizens for simply speaking their minds.”

Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director Ming Yu Hah also criticized the appeal.

“This appeal hearing once again shows the failure of the Vietnamese government to fulfill its human rights obligations,” she said.

“Le Van Dung is an independent journalist and has fought for the freedom of expression of disadvantaged groups in society, as well as for social transparency. His efforts should be applauded, not jailed for speaking his mind.”

“The Vietnamese government should immediately release Le Van Dung and many other human rights activists, such as Pham Doan Trang, Can Thi Theu, Trinh Ba Phuong, Trinh Ba Tu, and Nguyen Thi Tam."

“Dung is known for his live broadcasts on Facebook under the name CHTV, through which this journalist specializes in helping farmers whose land has been expropriated to ‘claim their grievances’ and at the same time provide comments on the socio-political situation in Vietnam.”

This was a bad week for democracy in Vietnam, as two prominent activists lost appeals against their jail sentences on Tuesday and another two on Wednesday.

The provincial People’s Court in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak, rejected the appeal of Y Wo Nie while the Higher People’s Court in Hanoi dismissed the appeal of Le Van Dung on Tuesday.

In December the Hanoi People's Court sentenced Phuong to 10 years in prison and five years’ probation. Tam was sentenced to six years in prison and three years’ probation.

The following day the appeals of Trinh Ba Phuong, 37, and Nguyen Thi Tam, 50, were rejected. They were both arrested on June 24, 2020 and charged with "conducting anti-state propaganda.” Phuong: is serving10 years in prison and 4 years' probation, Tam was jailed for six years with three months probation.

Y Wo Nie is a Protestant from the Ede ethnic minority. He was sentenced to four years by Cu Kuin district court on May 20 this year. He was charged with “abusing democratic freedom,” for reporting religious persecution in his region to international groups.

His conviction was based on an indictment claiming he took pictures of three handwritten human rights reports and sent them to several international organizations and also met with representatives of the US diplomatic mission in Vietnam.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng told RFA his client had changed his appeal to protest his innocence.

“He changed his appeal from asking for reduced imprisonment to total freedom, saying that he was not guilty and did not violate Article 331 of the Criminal Code,” Mieng said.

The trial took place without a judicial expert, witnesses or relatives. Only the defendant, lawyer and an Ede-Vietnamese interpreter.”

The lawyer said Nie's wife and relatives were not allowed to enter the courtroom, so they, and more than 100 other Ede people, stood in the courtyard.

Mieng asked the appeals court to summon two examiners from the Department of Information and Communications of Dak Lak province and a diplomat from the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City but his request was denied by the court.

The appeals panel did not mention a point in the original indictment saying that Nie met representatives of the U.S. Embassy and Consulate General in Gia Lai province’s Pleiku city in June 2020.

Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, a former prisoner of conscience from Ho Chi Minh City, said the sentence was predetermined.

"When the accused complains, the court should consider letting the lawyer present the reasons for the complaint. The independence of the court must be based on the argument in court between the lawyer and the prosecutor and it is very unfortunate that the evidence was not applied in this hearing and the final court judgment,” Quang said.

“Vietnam’s justice system has not been effective in reforming and is still targeting dissidents. Those with different ways of thinking will be severely punished, especially regarding … the behavior of public authorities towards the Protestant community in the Central Highlands.”

Mieng also said the assessment of the Department of Information and Communications did not follow regulations and resembled the statement by the State Department spokesman, coming to the same conclusions as the original indictment.

The indictment of the People's Procuratorate of Dak Lak province states that Nie personally wrote three human rights reports, took pictures and sent them via WhatsApp to "reactionary subjects abroad."

Mieng said the documents included a copy of “The Violation of Religious Freedom” and the content of the report was sent to the UN Commission on Human Rights and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

The other two reports were on “The Situation of Religion and Human Rights of the Ede ethnic people in the Central Highlands,” and on “The Situation of Religious Freedom in General and in Particular for the Ethnic People in the Central Highlands."

Nie was arrested in September 2021 for activities judged to "affect the political security situation, social order and safety and the normal operation of State administrative agencies, reduce the public's confidence in the regime and affect the image of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as well as the prestige of the Communist Party of Vietnam in international diplomatic relations.”

This is Nie's second time in prison. He was sentenced to nine years for “undermining the unity policy,” a provision often used to imprison religious activists among many Montagnard ethnic minority groups in the Central Highlands.

A recent report on religious freedom from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also criticized the Vietnamese government's crackdown on the mountain dwelling religious groups of the Central Highlands.

According to Vietnamese NGO Defend the Defenders, there are currently more than 60 religious freedom activists imprisoned with long sentences under the charge of "undermining the unity policy." Most of them are Protestants from many ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands.

Avenues Television Sudurpaschim Bureau Chief Harish BK and District Correspondent Rajan Jaigdi have filed a complaint at the District Police Office on May 16, alleging that Deepak Acharya, Mayor of Ghodaghodi Municipality Office, and Hari Bista, former Chairperson of Ghodaghodi Municipality ward no. 2, threatened to kill them.

They were threatened while collecting information about the illegal sand mining in Kandra River located in Ghodaghodi municipality on May 15. The accused had verbally harassed and even threatened to kill them, said Avenues Television Sudurpaschim Bureau Chief BK. He further added that a police complaint was filed against them.

The journalist duo were gathering facts with the aim of conveying information to the citizens but were harassed while doing their duty. The Federation of Nepali Journalists issued a press release on May 16 and demanded legal action against the people involved in the incident.

DSP Bed Prakash Joshi of the district police office in a phone call with the INSEC representative mentioned that the accused will be brought to justice within a few days as the police administration is focusing on the election even though the victim has filed a complaint against the accused.

A number of mass demonstrations on Thursday around the Merdeka Square in Medan were forcibly dispersed by the security forces this afternoon. This was confirmed by one of the Thursday participants, Gray Anugrah Sembiring, on Thursday (7/7).

Gray said the chronology of their action began at 10:00 this morning. he explained that at the action they had only unfurled banners and posters while chanting "Long live the victim, don't be silent, fight!" with the content of revising the R-KUHP (Draft of the Criminal Code) openly and removing anti-democratic articles in the R-KUHP article.

However, in the midst of the action, there were steps to disband and forcibly confiscate banners and posters of the participants in the action by the security forces. Then he added that the police and the Civil Service Police Unit (Satpol PP) immediately escorted and surrounded the participants in the action, limiting their space for movement. "In fact, we have not taken the slightest anarchic step," he said.

Staff of the North Sumatran People's Legal and Advocacy Aid Association (BAKUMSU) Christian Hutahean also said that regarding the action, a notification letter had actually been sent directly to the police. However, he admitted that the letter was not well received by the police due to President Jokowi's arrival today. He also explained that the police were still using the excuse of a permit and intimidating them at the time of the disbandment of the action.

With this disbandment, Christian, who was also present at the action, deeply regrets the steps taken by the police in securing the participants. Christian regretted the destruction of action equipment by the police and other security forces. "And we were escorted until we were surrounded by dozens of police even to see President Jokowi," he concluded.

A number of Cenderawasih University (Uncen) students were injured when Jayapura City Police personnel forced to disperse a demonstration against Special Autonomy (Otsus) and the expansion of Papua, Thursday, July 14, 2022.

Several students were injured when they were forcibly dispersed by the police. The wound is thought to have been obtained from being hit by a police rattan stick.

The coordinator of the action, Kamus Bayage said the police forcefully dispersed the students while giving a speech against the expansion of the new autonomous region (DOB) of Papua in front of the Gate of Uncen Campus.

Initially, the students planned to go to the Papua DPR office, to convey their aspirations. However, their actions were intercepted by the police.

According to Kamus, the police forcefully dispersed the students and chased the protesters into the campus.

"(The police) gave us the megaphone, we have the megaphone. As proof, we have it. Some of our friends were able to beat us. Then they drove us to the campus. The police were violent. says the Bayage Dictionary, Thursday, July 14, 2022.

The coordinator of the action, Kamus Bayage said that approximately four students were injured in the forced dispersal.

According to him, the students have tried to negotiate with the police to be allowed into the Papuan DPR office. However, the two parties did not reach an agreement.

Head of the Jayapura City Police Operations Control Sub-Section, Widodo claimed that the police had allowed students to give speeches at the campus gate.

However, the police did not allow students to leave the campus and go to the Papuan DPR office, because the demonstration did not have a permit. The police finally dispersed the action, because the protesters forced them to continue their action to the Papuan DPR office.

Previously, the DPR passed a draft law on the formation of three provinces in Papua, Thursday, June 30, 2022.

Namely, the Bill on the Establishment of the Province of Central Papua, the Bill on the Formation of the Province of South Papua, and the Bill on the Formation of the Province of Papua Mountains.

This approval has drawn various rejections, especially from the people in Papua. In fact, before the rule was passed.

The security forces dispersed most of the protesters from the Petisi Rakyat Papua (PRP) which had gathered at several points in the Abepura and Heram districts, Jayapura City, Papua.

Head of Public Relations for Jayapura City Police, Ipda Sarah Kafiar, confirmed that the TNI-Polri security forces had dispersed the protesters at several gathering points, so they did not have time to become a larger group.

However, there were also those who made it to Jayapura and demonstrated at the Papua Provincial DPR, but used vehicles and after delivering their speeches they dispersed. Overall the security and security situation is under control, and community activities are going on normally.

"Nothing stands out and community activities continue normally," Sarah said as quoted by Antara, Thursday, July 14.

A total of 2,000 TNI-Polri personnel were alerted to secure the PRP's demonstration. He admitted that many personnel were alerted because his party did not allow the demonstrators to conduct a long march to the Papua Provincial DPR. Apart from not allowing the demonstrators to conduct long marches, the PRP is also not an organization registered with Kesbangpol. "As for the demands of the protesters, among others, reject the formation of new autonomous regions (DOB) and a referendum," said Ipda Sarah Kafiar.

Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP) writes to inform you about a shooting incident in Osmeña Ave., Barangay 5, Victorias City, Negros Occidental on July 13, 2022 that claimed the life of Rodan Berito, 40 years old, president of Felicidad Begonia Farm Workers Association (FBFWA). FBWA has a long-standing land dispute with Victorias Milling Company-Manapla Distillery (VMC). FBFWA leaders, including Berito, received multiple death threats and suffered from various forms of harassment allegedly from VMC.

CASE DETAILS:

Rodan Berito, 40 years old, president of Felicidad Begonia Farm Workers Association (FBFWA), was killed in a vigilante-style summary execution in Osmeña Ave., Barangay 5, Victorias City, Negros Occidental on July 13, 2022. Berito previously received multiple death threats related to their land dispute against Victorias Milling Company-Manapla Distillery (VMC). Berito was a resident of Barangay Purisima, Manapla, Negros Occidental.

According to Ronald Deocadiz, a land rights advocate and FBFWA organizer, between 3:00 to 4:00 P.M., Berito was standing in the area to buy cigarette when an unidentified gunman approached and shot him at close range. The gunman allegedly fled onboard a motorcycle driven by an unidentified accomplice. Deocadiz said that Berito succumbed to a fatal bullet wound in the head. Deocadiz added that the police recovered a fired deformed slug and a fired cartridge case of a .45 caliber pistol.

According to Deocadiz, Berito was aware that his life was under serious threat. Deocadiz said that on June 24, Berito’s son was robbed while driving Berito’s car in Hacienda Leticia, Barangay Caduhaan, Cadiz City. Deocadiz also said that Berito was the supposed target but when the perpetrator found that it was his son who was driving Berito’s car, they had to improvise, hence the robbery.

According to Deocadiz, Berito was scheduled to attend a court hearing on July 14, just a day after he was killed. Deocadiz said that Berito was arrested in April 2021 when the police raided his house in Manapla for illegal firearms and ammunition and illegal drugs. Deocadiz added that Berito was released later that year after posting bail.

Background:

Berito was the FBFWA president at the time of his death. In 2013, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) gave five collective Certificate of Land Ownership Awards (CLOAs) to 105 members of then Ha. Begonia Farm Workers Association. However, they were not formally installed because of an alleged intimidation incident carried out by alleged goons of VMC in 2017.

FBFWA, alongside the residents of Barangay Purisima and neighboring barangays, has a long-standing complaint against VMC for its illegal waste water disposal that resulted in multiple fish kills and emission of unbearable odor. The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-6) released multiple Notice of Violations to VMC to which the company complied. However, residents continued to complain against VMC for alleged malpractices.

On February 9, 2022, FBFWA members launched a picket line enforcing a stoppage order issued by Barangay Purisima Council. The picket line blocked the road leading to VMC preventing delivery tankers from entering and exiting the distillery plant. On February 17, the picket line was violently dispersed by Manapla Police and resulted in the arrest and detention of four FBFWA members.

On July 26, 2022, unidentified men were allegedly seen roving around the residence of Ronald Deocadiz, 38 years old, human rights defender, land rights advocate and organizer, in Barangay Caduhaan, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental. Deocadiz is a community leader and organizer specialized in land rights and disputes in Negros Occidental. Deocadiz is also a paralegal volunteer who help farm workers in Barangay Purisima, Manapla push their land claims against Victorias Milling Company - Manapla Distillery (VMC) which led to multiple harassment incidents.

According to Deocadiz, on July 24, he received a tip from a friend telling him to be cautious in his movements for he is already in the Order of Battle (OB). Deocadiz said that his friend allegedly heard rumors circulating within the blue guards of VMC. Deaocadiz added that he was not surprised to hear the news for he was already expecting these kinds of aggression, but is still wary, given that one leader from Manapla was killed on July 13.

According to Deocadiz, later that day, his sister-in-law also told him the same information but from a different source. Deocadiz said that his sister-in-law was visited by a friend who allegedly told her that Deocadiz is in the OB and will be killed by persons riding-in-tandem. Deocadiz said that the tips from his friend and his sister-in-law coincidentally matched and had become very serious to be ignored.

According to Deocadiz, on Tuesday morning, July 26, he noticed suspicious-looking men lurking and roving around his residence. Deocadiz said that at first, he did not pay much attention to it and thought that maybe the men were just from another barangay visiting someone in his neighborhood. Deocadiz added that he was later convinced that the men were after him when the same men kept passing by their house for no apparent reason. Deocadiz then decided to move to a relatively safer place and inform his networks about his ordeal.

According to Deocadiz, although he is safe for now, he is not sure whether or not he would be safe in the coming days. Deocadiz said that the owner of his temporary safe house also received multiple death threats due to their line of work. Deocadiz is asking for a much safer place to hide for the meantime. Deocadiz said that he is currently in a dire situation and is badly in need of support from networks.

Background:

Deocadiz is one of the main organizers who assisted Felicidad Begonia Farm Workers Association (FBFWA), an organization of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB), that has a land dispute with VMC-Manapla Distillery. FBFWA then launched a mass action protest on February 9, 2022, in the hopes that their calls and claims would be heard by concerned government agencies. The mass protest almost came to a halt when the Manapla Philippine National Police (PNP) carried out a violent dispersal on February 17 that resulted in the arrest of four members and injury of several members.

Throughout the ARBs’ struggle for land claims, various ways and tactics were allegedly employed by VMC to harass and intimidate the ARBs. This past few months, FBFWA members reported different incidents of harassment they allegedly experienced. These alleged harassment incidents vary from simple surveillance to death threats and trumped-up cases. On July 13,, Rodan Berito, FBFWA’s chairperson, was shot dead while riding his motorcycle in Victorias City.

A Kyrgyz blogger has been detained on a charge of making public calls for mass disorder and violence after he posted online materials questioning the legality of the government's plans to develop iron-ore mining in the Central Asian nation's Jetim-Too mountain region.

The Interior Ministry said on August 15 that 19-year-old Yryskeldi Jekshenaliev was detained a day earlier after investigators questioned him regarding his post on a Facebook account called Polit Uznik (Political Prisoner).

The ministry did not specify which post sparked the teen's detention, saying only that "recently, many disputes appear regarding the development of iron-ore mines at Jetim-Too," adding that the Polit Uznik account in Facebook distributes "controversial, false information."

Polit Uznik posted a handwritten statement from Jekshenaliev while in custody in which he calls the case again him "100 percent politically motivated."

Polit Uznik also said the post in question was an old video in which a former security chief raises environmental issues when talking about the government’s

On August 14, President Sadyr Japarov condemned unspecified "defenders" of the environment in the region, calling them "false patriots and liars."

Japarov, who initiated the project to develop iron-ore mining in Jetim-Too, called on law enforcement "to work" with such persons. He did not elaborate.

An activist was arrested on Saturday night (30 July) and temporarily detained pending investigation on a royal defamation charge for speaking at a protest on 28 July to demand the release of detained activists.

Shinawat Chankrajang was arrested at around 18.20 on Saturday (30 July). Officers from Yannawa Police Station went to his home and presented an arrest warrant before taking him to the Narcotics Suppression Bureau on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, despite the protest taking place in Yannawa Police Station's jurisdiction.

He was detained at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau for 2 nights before being taken to court on Monday morning (1 August) for a temporary detention request. Ahead of the hearing, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that Shinawat refused to take part in the judicial process, and so did not allow his lawyer to object to the temporary detention request or post bail for him. The South Bangkok Criminal Court later approved the temporary detention request and ordered to have Shinawat detained for 12 days at the Bangkok Remand Prison while the police conduct an investigation.

Shinawat also released a statement questioning the neutrality of the court when ruling on a case of royal defamation, since it has declared itself to be an organization acting in the name of the King. Since the King is a party to the conflict in a royal defamation case, Shinawat declared that he refused to accept the authority of the court until it can prove itself to be neutral and not under the authority of the King.

Shinawat was charged with royal defamation, violation of the Computer Crimes Act, and using a sound amplifier without permission for participating in a protest in front of the South Bangkok Criminal Court on 28 July, in which protesters stood for 1 hours and 12 minutes to demand the release of detained activists. Chinnawat and several other protesters also shaved their heads in front of a portrait of King Vajiralongkorn to call attention to the use of the royal defamation law against citizens without regard for human rights. They also performed a traditional curse ritual involving the burning of salt and chilli.

The complaint against him was filed on 29 July by the ultra-royalist group People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy, which claimed that Chinnawat acted “inappropriately” in front of the King’s portrait, and that he gave a speech accusing the King of using judicial power to harass people.

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

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

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

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

After 7 years, the public prosecutor has decided to indict activists from the New Democracy Movement (NDM) and the Dao Din group on charges of sedition for an anti-junta protest in front of Pathumwan Police Station on 24 June 2015.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), Maj Gen Burin Thongprapai, then legal officer of the junta's National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), filed charges against 16 activists for the 24 June 2015 protest, which took place after a group of student activists went to hear the charges against them resulting from a protest in front of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) on 22 May 2015, the 1st anniversary of the 2014 military coup.

The 22 May 2015 protest was forcibly dispersed 5 minutes before its scheduled starting time. 37 people were then detained at Pathumwan Police Station, but were not charged and released the next morning. 9 student activists were charged at a later date.

On 24 June 2015, a group of student activists facing charges for the 22 May 2015 protest went to Pathumwan Police Station to file a complaint against the officers for using force to disperse of the gathering, and refused to report to the police to hear their charges as a gesture of defiance against the NCPO’s authority. Others also joined the protest, along with 7 student activists from the Dao Din group who came to Bangkok from Khon Kaen to show support for their fellow activists.

However, Pathumwan police refused to let the students into the station to file their complaint, so they set up a stage and gave speeches, played music, and read out poems, before the student activists were allowed to enter the police station in the evening.

On 22 May 2019, 13 activists were summoned to report to the police on charges of sedition and joining an assembly of 10 or more people and causing a breach of public peace resulting from the 24 June 2015 protest. The police claimed that the speeches criticizing the NCPO’s human rights violations and calling on the public to join anti-junta protests were seditious.

A total of 17 people were charged for participating in the 24 June 2015 protest, including activists Jatupat Boonpattaraksa and Chonticha Jaengrew, activist-turned-Move Forward Party MP Rangsiman Rome, and Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the now-dissolved Future Forward Party.

The police also accused the activists of trying to flee. They claimed that, after the 24 June 2015 protest concluded, the authorities were preparing to arrest the activists, but 7 activists, including Rangsiman, were taken away in a van which the police said Thanathorn was sitting inside, while other activists left in separate vehicles.

TLHR said yesterday (4 August) that the public prosecutor decided to indict 10 of the activists 7 years after the protest and 3 years after the charges were filed. They were later granted bail using a security of 70,000 baht each.

29 people are now detained pending trial or pending appeal on charges relating to political expression, after activist Sinburi Saenkla was denied bail on Monday (8 August).

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Sinburi, a member of the activist group Thalufah, reported to Nang Loeng Police Station after learning that there was an arrest warrant out for him on charges of arson, destruction of property, and violation of the Emergency Decree in relation to the protest at the Nang Loeng Intersection on 19 September 2021, the 15th anniversary of the 2006 military coup. He was accused of burning a royal ceremonial arch in front of Ratchawinit School and a traffic control box at the Nang Loeng Intersection.

Sinburi denied all charges. However, the Criminal Court ordered to have him temporarily detained and denied him bail on the grounds that the charges carry severe penalties and the offenses were committed in public against state property, and that it is likely that he would repeat the offenses if released. The order was signed by judge Attakarn Foocharoen, Deputy Chief Justice of the Criminal Court.

Three other activists have previously been charged with the same charges over the same incident. A 22-year-old university student, also a Thalufah member, was summoned to the police to hear the charges on 8 October 2021, and was later released on bail. Meanwhile, Pornchai Yuanyee was arrested on 7 July 2022. He was subsequently denied bail and is currently detained at Bangkok Remand Prison. Pornchai and the student were also charged with royal defamation for burning the arch.

TLHR also reported that the police have requested an arrest warrant on the same charges for Thalufah activist Chitrin Phalakantrong, who is currently detained pending trial on charges relating to a protest at the Democrat Party headquarters on 30 July 2021. The police will likely be visiting him at Bangkok Remand Prison to inform him of the charges.

At least 29 people are currently detained pending trial or pending appeal on charges relating to political expression, 4 of whom are detained on royal defamation charges:

Private Methin (pseudonym), 22, a soldier detained at the 11th Military Circle Prison since 19 March 2022 after he was accused of mentioning King Vajiralongkorn while arguing with another person who hit his motorcycle with their car. TLHR  reported that Methin was held at the 11th Military Circle for 30 days while facing disciplinary action, before being arrested by officers from Bangbuatong Police Station and detained at the military prison.
Sombat Thongyoi, a former Red Shirt protest guard sentenced to 6 years in prison on charges of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act over 3 Facebook posts he made in 2020. Sombat has been detained pending appeal at Bangkok Remand Prison since 28 April 2022.
Pornchai Yuanyee, a Thalufah activist, who was accused of burning a royal ceremonial arch in front of Ratchawinit School during a protest on 19 September 2019. He has been detained pending trial at Bangkok Remand Prison since 7 July 2022.
Shinawat Chankrajang, an activist who was arrested on 30 July 2022 and charged with royal defamation, violation of the Computer Crimes Act, and using a sound amplifier without permission for giving a speech during the protest in front of the South Bangkok Criminal Court on 28 July 2022. The South Bangkok Criminal Court ordered him detained for 12 days while the police conduct an investigation, and on 6 August 2022, denied him bail because he issued a statement rejecting the authority of the court with “severe wording” and because he committed his offense on King’s birthday, which the Court said was an important day for the entire nation.

Alipio “Ador” Juat is no stranger to political repression.

A longtime unionist and community organizer for the labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Juat was one of the scores of activists who survived arrest and torture during the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s late father.

Since that period, labor and peasant organizers and political activists were considered destabilizers, KMU secretary general Jerome Adonis told reporters on Wednesday.

“But it is not a crime nor will it ever be a crime to organize communities,” Adonis said.

On May 3 — just days before the presidential elections that was won by the dictator’s son and namesake — history repeated itself for Juat. He and fellow community organizer Elizabeth Magbanua were abducted by armed men who said they were from the Philippine Navy, according to Adonis.

He said the martial law survivor “has now been victimized twice over by a Marcos.”

Juat and Magbanua and two peasant organizers, Elgene Mungcal and Elena Cortez, had gone missing in a string of disappearances in Central Luzon.

Their families have called on the Marcos administration to help find their loved ones and stop the wanton arrests and enforced disappearances of dissidents. Asking AFP

On Wednesday, they filed a formal complaint before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and asked the state rights watchdog to help them investigate the cases.

The CHR said it would send a representative to Camp Aguinaldo, the Armed Forces headquarters in Quezon City, as soon as possible.

Juat supposedly was able to send word to his family that he was taken there by the men who had seized him.

The families of the missing are demanding that the authorities allow them to return home “without condition and immediately.”

They also want the new administration to junk Executive Order No. 70, which created the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) that was created by Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte. Last call to family

The anti-communist task force has become notorious for Red-tagging critics of the government, many of whom were later persecuted, prosecuted or killed.

Representatives of the women’s group, Gabriela, and KMU accompanied the relatives of Juat and the three others to the CHR.

Magbanua, a longtime member of KMU, has been missing since May 3. Gabriela members Mungcal and Cortez disappeared on July 3.

Juat was able to make a call to his family recently, telling them he was being held in Camp Aguinaldo

Adonis believes that no one else “would have an interest in our four colleagues except the government and the military who wish to silence those who fight for true justice.”

Apparently, Magbanua and Juat were together in Valenzuela City on May 3 to attend a meeting related to their community organizing work, according to Ruth Maglalan, Magbanua’s partner.

In his brief phone call, Juat told his family that the police were waiting for him and Magbanua at the gate of the subdivision where they were to hold their meeting. After they were seized, they were whisked away in separate vehicles.

Juat demanded to know where Magbanua was taken but the men just told him not to fret about his colleague, his relatives said.

Juat said he was brought to Camp Aguinaldo without being told what charges he was being detained for. He has not been heard from since making that call. ‘No right to take her’

Maglalan tearfully told reporters that Magbanua had been a community organizer for the past three decades and “has done nothing but help people realize their rights.”

“There is no just reason for them to take her away from us, from me, from everyone who loves her,” she said. “They have no right to take her away from the masses that she has served her entire life.”

She challenged President Marcos to “prove that he is not like his father” in the way that the ousted dictator let human rights abuses “run rampant” under his martial law regime, and to show that he was different, he should order the military to surface Magbanua and all other victims of enforced disappearances.

Cortez’s daughter, Azaze Galang, was distraught over the disappearance of her mother years after her father, also a peasant organizer, went missing.

She asked the military “to open the camps and let us look for our loved ones freely.” Worst fears

The last time she saw her mother was when she was heading to a meeting with Mungcal in Moncada town, Tarlac province. A closed circuit television footage at Moncada’s Winfare Supermarket was the last image of her mother that she saw on July 3.

Cortez has not returned home since then.

There were no members of Mungcal’s family that met with the reporters and the CHR staff on Wednesday.

Galang fears that both her parents are victims of enforced disappearances, never to be heard from again.

Multiple arrests were made in Yangon on Sunday following calls for a public show of support for Myanmar’s resistance movement in the wake of last week’s execution of four activists.

Arrests were reported in at least four townships in the city, as people banged pots and pans or honked horns in protest at the latest escalation of regime violence against dissidents.

The protests, set for 10:37am on Sunday, were part of a “pledge to the revolution” campaign by the civilian National Unity Government and other anti-junta forces.

According to police sources, the largest number of arrests were made in Hlaing Township, where at least six people were reportedly taken into custody.

Hlaing Info, a Facebook page that reports on news in the township, confirmed that two youths had been apprehended there at a teashop on Mae Zi Gone Road, as the shop’s owner and waiters were forced to kneel on the ground.

Information regarding the other arrests in the township was not available at the time of reporting.

In Bahan Township, at least two arrests were reported, including one of a man living on the old Sayarsan Market Road who was detained on Sunday night for allegedly banging pots.

“They knew exactly where he lived. He was arrested at around midnight, and the military returned again in the morning to search his home,” said a resident of the man’s neighbourhood.

The other arrest took place on Mawlamyine Street, where a man was taken away in a prison vehicle by around 10 junta troops. It was unclear, however, if the arrest was related to Sunday’s protests.

In Kamayut Township, three people were arrested at a market at around 11am, shortly after the start of the protests, according to a local source.

“The first one was an old guy from the tailor shop. He was handcuffed and taken away by soldiers as soon as he started honking a horn. The other two were a couple who sold fish in the market,” the source said.

Another arrest was reported in Pazundaung Township, where a young man was beaten and detained for blowing the horn of his car, sources said.

Residents of Yangon said that soldiers with machine guns could be seen patrolling a number of areas and questioning pedestrians during the protest period.

Flyers warning the public that their property could be seized if they take part in the protest were also seen circulating in several parts of the city, according to residents.

While shows of resistance to the regime were dealt with harshly, incidents involving attacks on the families of Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zayar Thaw, two of the four prisoners executed on the weekend of July 23, escaped unpunished last week.

Protests expressing support for the executions were also given full protection when they were held in front on Yangon’s City Hall last Friday.

The leader of a group representing the Kayan people was shot and killed near his home in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township on Thursday, according to local sources.

Francisco, also known as Saya Ko, was the chair of the Kayan Literature and Culture Committee, a group that promotes the culture of the Kayan people, an ethnic Karenni sub-group.

He was killed near his farm in Naung Lai, according to a resident of the village who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.

“Two gunmen approached him at his farm in the northern part of the village. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing, due to the complicated political situation,” he said.

Baham Htan, an ethnic Kayan who serves as the deputy minister for human rights in the civilian National Unity Government, called the assassination a great loss for the Kayan people.

“It breaks my heart,” he said in a post on social media.

The Kayan Literature and Culture Committee also released a statement condemning the killing, saying that it was not the way to resolve political disputes.

Francisco, 59, served as patron of the committee from 2012 to 2018, and as its chair from 2018 until his death.

In 2010, he was elected to represent Pekhon Township in the Pyitthu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, as an MP for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

He ran again for the same seat as a USDP candidate in 2015 but lost. He also made an unsuccessful bid as the party’s candidate for Kayan ethnic affairs minister in Shan State in 2020.

There are around 80,000 Kayan people living in Shan State and another 70,000 in neighbouring Karenni (Kayah) State.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Release date uncertain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Hanoi High-Level People’s Court on Thursday upheld the 5-year prison sentence imposed in January on Dang Dinh Bach, director of the Research Center for Law and Policy for Sustainable Development (LPSD), saying Bach had refused to return VND 1.3 billion ($54,200) owed in taxes.

Bach had failed to file taxes and to report sponsorship from groups overseas from 2016 to 2020, the indictment against him said.

Speaking to RFA after the hearing, Bach’s wife Tran Phuong Thao said that security forces had barred her from attending her husband’s trial, forcing her to sit instead at the courthouse gate. Lawyers were also prevented from bringing laptop computers or mobile phones into the court, she said.

“I was not surprised by the outcome of the trial and was mentally prepared for whatever would happen,” Thao said. “My husband continues to deny all the charges made against him and still declares his innocence.

“Because my family has not paid the government’s so-called ‘remediation money,’ the court would not consider mitigating circumstances,” she said.

Rights groups and activists have condemned Loi’s, Duong’s and Bach’s jailing, noting their arrests followed their promotion of civil society’s role in monitoring the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which came into force in 2021.

Police persons attacked journalists at Siraha based Radio Gangajal Chandradeep Thakur and Arbin Paswan while reporting a protest on August 6. Siraha lies in Madhesh Province of Nepal.

Thakur is news reader and Paswan is correspondent at the radio station.

Journalists duo reached the Shaurya cement industry to report on a protest by the workers working in the industry. They were trying to talk to the workers and director of the industry about the protest. Meanwhile, on-duty police persons started attacking workers and the journalists with batons shouting,"Do you want to make news, videos here? I will show you."

The journalists who were wearing t-shirts with name of their media house along with the press identity cards have bruises on their back, hands and legs due to the attack. They have undergone treatment in the mearby hospital.

Freedom Forum vehemently condemns the attack upon journalists. Attacking the journalists carrying distinct identity of their media house, in the name of containing the protest is a severe violation of press freedom.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to address the case seriously so as to ensure justice to journalists and press freedom

Kyrgyzstan authorities should immediately restore access to independent news website Res Publica and repeal a recently enacted false information law that severely threatens press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

On July 21, Res Publica editor-in-chief Zamira Sydykova announced on the outlet’s website and on her Facebook page that Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport and Youth Policy ordered internet service providers to block access to its website after the outlet failed to comply with the ministry’s earlier demand to remove two investigative articles. The block is to last two months, but can be renewed if the outlet fails to remove the articles, according to Akmat Alagushev, media representative for local advocacy group Media Policy Institute, which is advising the owner of the domain name for Res Publica’s website, Yaroslav Tartykov, on the case and who spoke to CPJ by telephone.

This is the first useof the controversial law “On Protection from Inaccurate (False) Information” against a media outlet, according to Alagushev and news reports. The law was passed in July 2021 and the following month was signed by President Sadyr Japarov.

Res Publica intends to challenge the block in the courts, Sydykova told CPJ by phone.

“Kyrgyzstan’s false information law grants censorship powers to government agencies and effectively institutes a presumption of guilt against journalists. It should never have been signed into law in the first place,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in Madrid. “Kyrgyz authorities should immediately lift the block on Res Publica and discard the false information law, which is all too susceptible to abuse by officeholders and influential businesspeople.”

Under the law, individuals and legal entities can demand that online publishers remove allegedly false information and publish a correction within 24 hours; if the content is not removed, the plaintiff can apply to the Ministry of Culture for the content to be removed within a set timeframe and, if the material is again not removed, order a block of the relevant website or webpage for up to two months without a court decision, according to an April 2022 Cabinet of Ministers’ decree establishing the procedure for the law.

The Ministry of Culture ordered access to Res Publica’s website to be blocked after Asan Toktosunov, former head of a state-owned airport services company, filed a content removal request under the false information law in connection with two investigations the outlet published in 2019 that accused him of corruption, according to Sydykova and copies of the ministry’s decision reviewed by CPJ.

Tartykov told CPJ by messaging app that on July 15 a Ministry of Culture representative sent him by messaging app a letter dated June 15 ordering Res Publica to delete the two articles within three days, but by July 17, the website had already become inaccessible in Kyrgyzstan. Tartykov said the ministry claimed it had previously sent the letter to an email address used by Res Publica, but Sydykova denied the outlet had received any letter at this address.

In March 2022, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions ordering Res Publica to publish corrections on passages referring to Toktosunov in the two articles in question, according to copies of the rulings reviewed by CPJ. Sydykova told CPJ that she considers the court decisions unfounded and that she stands by the outlet’s reporting.

In 2021, shareholders removed Toktosunov from his post and Kyrgyz authorities convicted him of corruption following Res Publica’s investigations, Sydykova said.

Toktosunov confirmed this conviction to CPJ but said that the allegations for which he was convicted were not those reported on by Res Publica in its investigations. He said that he had resorted to the law on false information after his previous efforts to obtain enforcement of court decisions to publish corrections had not been successful.

Sydykova added that the Ministry of Culture did not cite the court cases when issuing the block, and that the proceeding under the law on false information was entirely separate.

Alagushev told CPJ that the case shows the “absurdity and arbitrariness” of Kyrgyzstan’s false information law. While the law’s procedure requires plaintiffs to send the ministry “substantiated demands,” it does not specify any criteria for the ministry to use when ordering removals, nor require the ministry to justify its decisions.

A ministry representative told local outlet Aprel that it is “not the job” of the ministry to rule on the veracity of disputed content but merely to act on the plaintiff’s complaint if website owners refuse the plaintiff’s request for removal.

Authorities can continue to renew the block as long as Res Publica refuses to remove the disputed material, Alagushev told CPJ. Website owners can appeal the Ministry of Culture’s decisions in the courts, he said, but such a process will likely take several months to complete, during which time the website may remain blocked.

Analyses of the law by Media Policy Institute and local legal NGO Adilet have argued that it will be used to silence corruption reporting, while the lack of transparency over decision-making itself entails a high risk of corruption and abuse of power.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Culture for comment but did not receive a reply.

Established in 1992, Res Publica is Kyrgyzstan’s oldest independent news outlet, Sydykova said. Sydykova, a former Kyrgyz ambassador to the U.S., previously served three months in prison and was twice banned from journalism for extended periods on criminal libel charges, according to reports and Sydykova.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Two DBC News journalists, Saiful Islam Jewel and Azad Ahmed, were assaulted on August 2 while investigating alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical equipment. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the attack and calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to bring all perpetrators to justice.

On August 2, Jewel and Ahmed were investigating allegations of corruption and irregularities made against the Victor Trading Corporation in their procurement of medical equipment. As they reported outside the Corporation’s office, the owner of Agargaon Taltola trading house, Kawsar Bhuiyan, and other employees proceeded to beat the journalist and cameraperson.

Jewel said that the assailants first attacked Ahmed, seizing and vandalising his camera and deleting all audio and video. After asking for their camera and equipment back, Ahmed and Jewel were again beaten by approximately 12 assailants, leaving both seriously injured.

The journalists’ colleagues at DBC news reported the men received immediate medical care at the Shaheed Suhrawardy Media College Hospital in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. The current state of their injuries remains unclear.

Sher-e-Banglanagar police inspector, Shahjahan Mandal, confirmed that Jewel has since filed a police report in relation to the assault, and all eight persons identified have been placed in custody. Information surrounding other assailants or related persons has yet to be revealed.

Media associations and press freedom organisations in Bangladesh have condemned the assault and called for further action of protect journalists and media workers.

The IFJ has documented several recent incidents of violence against Bangladeshi media workers. On June 6, the body of DBC News Journalist Abdul Bari was found with multiple stab wounds. The IFJ’s South Asia Press Freedom Report 2021-22 also recorded the assault of Prothom Alo journalist Shahadat Hossain at a protest organised by the Bangladesh Chhatra League in June 2021, while Bahannor Alo correspondent Selim Shamrat was assaulted while investigating similar allegations in July 2021.

Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On July 30, authorities arrested Kubota, a freelance filmmaker who contributes to international media outlets, while he filmed a small protest in the commercial capital of Yangon, according to multiple news reports.

Authorities accuse him of violating the country’s immigration laws and encouraging dissent against the military junta regime, according to those reports. The immigration violation carries a prison term of up to five years, and dissent carries up to three years, according to Reuters and CPJ research.

Kubota entered Myanmar on a tourist visa on July 1, according to an official statement quoted in that Reuters report.

Authorities moved Kubota to Yangon’s Insein Prison on the afternoon of Thursday, August 4, according to a Yangon-based journalist familiar with the situation who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

“Myanmar’s detention of Japanese journalist Toru Kubota shows that the military regime will stop at nothing to suppress independent news reporting,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Kobuta must be freed immediately and any charges pending against him should be dropped without delay. Myanmar’s junta must stop treating journalists as criminals.”

Kubota’s personal website shows he has contributed documentary news reports to Yahoo! News Japan, Vice Japan, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera English, among others. The website says his reporting focuses on ethnic conflicts, immigration, and refugee issues.

CPJ emailed Myanmar’s Ministry of Information and the Japanese Embassy in Yangon for comment, but did not receive any replies.

Kubota is at least the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar since last year’s coup. Authorities previously detained U.S. nationals Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, Polish reporter Robert Bociaga, and Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi, all of whom were eventually freed and deported, according to news reports and CPJ reporting.

Myanmar was the world’s second worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census on December 1, 2021.

Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Maung Maung Myo and stop imprisoning members of the press on spurious charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

On Friday, July 29, a court in the city of Hpa-an, in Kayin state, sentenced Maung Myo, a reporter for the independent Mekong News Agency, to six years in prison on charges of violating Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, according to news reports and the news agency’s editor Nyan Linn Htet, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app.

Maung Myo was convicted for possessing pictures and interviews with members of People’s Defense Forces, an array of insurgent groups that are fighting Myanmar’s military government, according to those sources. Authorities banned the Mekong News Agency after the military seized power in a February 1, 2021, coup, according to Nyan Linn Htet.

Nyan Linn Htet said Maung Myo is being held at Hpa-an’s Taung Kalay Prison, is in good health, and intends to appeal his conviction.

“Journalist Maung Maung Myo’s sentencing and imprisonment is cruel and unusual, and is unjust retaliation for his work as an independent news reporter,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must stop equating journalism with terrorism and allow journalists to report the news without fear of imprisonment.”

Maung Myo, who is also known as Myo Myint Oo, was first arrested on May 10 at the Salween River bridge checkpoint near Hpa-an after officials discovered he had shared Mekong News Agency reports on his personal Facebook page, according to those news reports.

Maung Myo has reported for Mekong News Agency since June 2020 and has covered various political topics, including COVID-19 in Myanmar, anti-coup protests, and clashes between the military government and armed resistance groups, including the People’s Defense Forces.

At least two other Myanmar journalists were convicted and sentenced in July for their news reporting.

On July 7, a Wetlet Township court in the northwestern region of Sagaing convicted and sentenced Democratic Voice of Burma journalist Aung San Lin to six years in prison with hard labor, with four years under Section 52(b) of the Counter-Terrorism Law and two years under the penal code’s Section 505(a), which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of “false news,” according to DVB and other news reports.

Aung San Lin was first arrested on December 11, 2021, by about 20 soldiers who raided his home around midnight in the Sagaing Region’s village of Pin Zin, shortly after he published a report alleging that military forces committed arson attacks on the homes of three supporters of the coup-toppled National League for Democracy in Wetlet Township.

The DVB report said he was being held at Shwebo Prison near the central city of Mandalay. CPJ could not immediately determine whether he intended to appeal his conviction, and DVB editor-in-chief Aye Chan Naing did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

Separately, on July 14, an Insein Township Court in Yangon sentenced Nying Nying Aye, a freelance reporter who contributes regularly to the local news website Mizzima, to three years in prison with hard labor under Section 505(a) of the penal code, according to multiple news reports.

Nying Nying Aye, also known as Mabel, started reporting on domestic politics for Mizzima soon after the coup, according to the outlet’s editor-in-chief Soe Myint, who communicated with CPJ via email. She has been detained since January 15, according to those reports.

The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on the journalists’ convictions and sentencings.

Myanmar was the world’s second worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census on December 1, 2021.

A photographer known for documenting anti-junta protests and other activities has died in custody after being detained by authorities in Myanmar’s embattled Sagaing region over the weekend, family members and friends said Monday.

Aye Kyaw, 48, who runs the Hayman Photography studio in Sagaing’s former capital, Sagaing city, was arrested by junta troops who arrived at his home in a convoy of six military vehicles at 2 a.m. on July 30, citing a “tip” that there were weapons stashed there, his relatives told RFA Burmese.

Sources close to Aye Kyaw said that the administrator of Aung Chanthar ward, where the photographer lived, contacted his family around noon the same day to inform them that he had died and that his body was being held in the mortuary of Sagaing City Hospital. The family members were told they “could retrieve it if you want it, or leave it there.”

An official from the Ohbo Health and Social Assistance Association, a charity burial service in Sagaing, told RFA that his group had taken Aye Kyaw’s body from the hospital to a religious hall in Aung Chanthar ward to prepare it for burial.

“We took the body, as requested [by the family], from the morgue and sent it to the village ‘zayat’ (religious hall),” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We didn't see any superficial wounds on the body but I noticed his chest was sewn up like a postmortem. I didn't see any injuries or leaking body fluids.”

He said that the family buried Aye Kyaw on Sunday.

Another friend of Aye Kyaw’s family, who also declined to be named, told RFA that soldiers had searched the photographer’s home for weapons during his arrest but found nothing.

“The army came in six cars and arrested him. Three were outside, three entered the compound,” the source said.

“[The troops] said they would shoot if the gate was not opened. They searched the entire house but they found nothing. Nothing at all.”

The source said Aye Kyaw’s body was “left outside” by staff at the hospital for the Ohbo Health and Social Assistance Association to pick up and bring to his family.

“We didn’t see any injuries on the face but there were dark bruises on the ribs and back,” the source said.

“He was a jolly, easy-going man and had a lot of friends. When they heard his news, they were all shocked.” Documenting a coup

Aye Kyaw, who was a member of the Upper Myanmar Photography Association, was known for documenting protests and other anti-junta activities in the aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup. He would post his photography to social media, where it was regularly shared by politicians and the local media.

Members of Aye Kyaw’s photography group on Monday expressed sadness over his death, which is the latest of 137 that have occurred within days of detention or during interrogation by authorities since the coup, according to RFA’s count.

A resident of Sagaing, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said people in the city are “living in fear” because of incidents such as Aye Kyaw’s death in custody.

“I worked with Aye Kyaw during the protests in Sagaing and we took photos together. I feel horrible,” he said.

The resident said that Aye Kyaw’s body showed no signs of external injuries, leading him to believe that his fellow photographer died “due to extreme torture.”

“What happens here in Sagaing is that we see arbitrary arrests and killings when a military column comes and finds something they don‘t like,” he said.

“There is no law. The law comes from the barrel of the gun. They do whatever they want. We feel like the death penalty has been delivered whenever the army columns approach.”

The resident said that Aye Kyaw’s case marks the first time in Sagaing that a person has died within hours of being arrested by the junta.

Calls by RFA to junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and the spokesman for Sagaing Region Social Affairs Minister Aye Hlaing went unanswered Monday.

According to Bangkok-based NGO Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, junta forces have killed at least 2,142 civilians since the coup and arrested nearly 15,000, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.

Almost 24 hours after WION correspondent Anas Mallick was released by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the rest of his crew, hired locally and abducted along with him, were released by the militant organisation on Saturday. They were kept in detention for nearly two days and bear wounds and bruises that show both were assaulted.

The crew members—Zakariya, who is the local producer and Mayel Kharoti, the driver—were released by the Taliban after a 42-hour ordeal.

The pictures that have come to the fore illustrate the cruelty which they were subjected to, a clear sign that Taliban 2.0 is no different from the previous regime of the militant group.

The group was detained on Thursday while taking generic visuals of Kabul. Their assignment was to cover the Taliban takeover anniversary but it also came around the time of the killing of Ayman al Zawahiri, the al Qaeda terror group chief, in a US missile strike. Anas has also reported from near the house where he was killed.

The crew have been instructed by the Taliban authorities to be present when summoned in future.

These two Afghans were hired to help Anas with the coverage.

Since their abduction, WION had made all-out efforts seeking their release, which eventually succeeded.

But it appears that the Taliban are threatened by our ground reporting in Kabul as WION's reporter was abducted while he was reporting, with all the necessary permissions.

On Friday, only Anas was allowed to walk free, whereas the local producer and the driver were kept in captivity by the Taliban. They had said that they will be releasing them soon.

Here's what exactly happened to him:

Anas says...

"We were duly accredited, we had all the press credentials and were filming general visuals when we were intercepted, taken out of the car... dragged off the car to be very precise. Our phones were taken away.

And then we were physically assaulted. My crew was assaulted and I was assaulted as well.

After some while, we were shifted from the place where were intercepted to what we know is the intelligence unit of the Afghan-Taliban. We were handcuffed, blindfolded, and faced the wildest accusations and after that were questioned thoroughly on our journalistic credentials as well. Personal questions were also hurled at us."

Anas is WION's reporter based out in Pakistan's capital. Anas has been reporting on Afghanistan developments for nearly five years for WION. He has done some exclusive, on-the-ground coverage when the Taliban took over Kabul last year.

Expressing his anger, Anas said that it's something you would never expect for an accredited journalist, for an international journalist for somebody who has been known to the Taliban as well.

He said, "We were the only Indian network in Kabul at the time of the fall of Kabul. And we were there three months post-takeover. I was literally at all the press conferences, at all the press briefings and despite all of this, it happened so it was a very bad dream."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Foreign journalists were also present among the detained journalists.

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

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

Karachi police on Tuesday briefly detained 18 people, including academic Nida Kirmani, for staging a protest against enforced disappearances of members from the Baloch community in the metropolis.

South Senior Superintendent of Police Asad Raza (Raza) told Dawn.com that the activists had announced that they would take out a rally from Karachi Press Club to Sindh Chief Minister House. He added that female police officers had asked the protesters to disperse as there was a ban on such gatherings on the orders of the home department.

SSP Raza said the police was forced to take action also because of the presence of international cricketers in the vicinity.

It is pertinent to mention that Sri Lanka's women's cricket team is currently in Karachi for a three-match Twenty20 series.

SSP Raza said the 18 individuals ⁠— 10 men and eight females, including Kirmani ⁠— were detained and brought to the Artillery Maidan police station after they tried to advance further. He added that they were later released.

Kirmani also said that she and others were released as there were no charges against them and their cellphones were also returned. However, she said that "information was recorded about everyone, and photos were taken of the Baloch men who were with us."

arachi police on Monday manhandled and detained 28 protesters, including females, who were demonstrating near the main gate of the Sindh Assembly against the alleged abduction of two Baloch students of the University of Karachi (KU) by law enforcement agencies.

The two students of KU’s Philosophy Department — Doda Baloch and Ghamshad Baloch — were allegedly taken away from their home near Maskan Chowrangi in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on June 7 and their whereabouts are unknown since then.

Their relatives and members of civil society organisations had set up a camp outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) for the last four days. On Sunday night, they managed to reach the Sindh Assembly's main gate where they staged a sit-in for the release of the missing students. Police and district administration held talks with them, persuading them to vacate the place as the provincial legislature’s budget session was scheduled to be held on Monday (today).

South-SSP Asad Raza told Dawn that the police detained 19 men and nine women as they tried to enter the assembly building on Monday. The officer denied that protesters were treated roughly. He added that woman police officers had detained female protesters.

The SSP said that all detained protesters were later released.

Meanwhile, the protest organisers accused the police of manhandling women and children. They said the Sindh police had retracted from their promise of arranging a meeting of the missing students’ relatives with Counter Terrorism Department officials on Monday. Therefore, they said, they again staged a sit-in near the Sindh Assembly building where the police manhandled and arrested protesters.

Earlier, around 120-130 relatives and members of different organisations, including activists Seemi Din Baloch, Abdul Wahab Baloch, Aamna Baloch, Naghma Sheikh and others, had resumed their march around 4:50pm from the KPC towards the assembly building where the budget session was ongoing. Passing through Sarwar Shaheed Road, they had staged a sit-in at the assembly's gate.

Speaking to the protesters there, Seemi said that taking away students was equal to the "character assassination" of the educational institutes. She said Doda and Ghamshad were students but they were taken away because "being Baloch was a crime". If they had not been Baloch, they would not have been taken away, she said.

Seemi urged Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab to recover the two students. She announced that the protesters would continue their demonstration outside the assembly till the release of the missing students.

Sheikh alleged that people from the Baloch community were being taken away from Quetta, Panjgur and Karachi. She said if two missing Baloch are released, then in return, "10 others are whisked away".

Meanwhile, footage shared on social media showed the police treating the protesters in a rough manner and dispersing them. 'Barbarism at its peak'

PPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar criticised the "use of disproportionate force and arrest of women", adding that such treatment was "highly disturbing".

Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari termed the situation as "barbarism at its peak".

MPA Sanaullah Baloch strongly condemned the Sindh police's "heavy-handedness and inhuman act of violence against innocent and peaceful Baloch women and students".

He said the Sindh government should investigate the incident.

Qaumi Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Latif Palijo said that Sindh's land should not be used for violence against the Baloch community.

On 4 August 2022, the Allahabad High Court rejected the bail application filed by human rights defender and journalist Siddique Kappan. The human rights defender was arrested on 5 October 2020 by the Uttar Pradesh Police along with three others, while he was on his way to investigate the gang rape and murder of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Hathras, and has been since detained at Mathura Jail. Siddique Kappan has been charged with serious offences under the Indian Penal code, including the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). In November 2020, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court of India, stating that Siddique Kappan had been subjected to physical and mental torture while in custody of the police. Siddique Kappan is a human rights defender and journalist who reports extensively on human rights violations faced by religious and caste minorities in India. He is a regular contributor for the Malayalam news outlet Azhimukham and Secretary of the Delhi Unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ). On 4 August 2022, the Allahabad High Court rejected Siqque Kappan’s bail application. The court stated that the charges against the human rights defender in the charge sheet filed by the police appeared to be prima facie true and that he “had no work in Hathras”. However, Siddique Kappan has had decades of experience in investigative reporting and was visiting Hathras to report on the brutal rape and murder of a Dalit woman by upper-caste men. Siddique Kappan had approached the High Court after a Mathura Court had rejected his bail plea in July 2021. On 5 October 2020, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Siddique Kappan under Section 116 (6) of the Criminal Procedure Code which relates to causing breach of peace. However, charges under Sections 17 and 18 of the UAPA, sedition and criminal conspiracy were added on 7 October 2020. In the affidavit filed by KUWJ before the Supreme Court, they alleged that between 5 and 6 October 2020, Siddique Kappan was subjected to serious torture including beatings, sleep deprivation, denial of medication and mental torture. It is deeply concerning that charges of terrorism were added against the human rights defender after claims that he was tortured by the police in custody. On 28 April 2021, the Supreme Court of India directed the Uttar Pradesh government to transfer Siddique Kappan to a hospital in New Delhi because he needed urgent medical treatment. The human rights defender tested positive for COVID-19 while in hospital. During the night of 6 May 2021, he was secretly taken back to Mathura Jail by the police, without informing his wife or lawyer. According to the India Press Freedom Report 2021 by the Rights and Risks Analysis Group, the state of Uttar Pradesh saw at least 23 targeted attacks on journalists and media organizations in the past year, ranking worst only after Jammu and Kashmir.

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