Uwazi

Regarding today’s forced summons of human rights defenders Fatia Maulidiyanti and Haris Azhar, FORUM-ASIA Executive Director Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu said:

The harassment of Fatia and Haris earlier today reflects the Indonesian government’s continuous use of reprisals against human rights defenders. Approximately 8:00 am, five police officers arrived at Fatia’s residence, and another four arrived at Haris’ house to pick them up for interrogation. This stems from charges filed last year by the Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan against the two over comments regarding a report alleging the involvement of army officials with the operations of the gold mining sector in Papua.

The unexpected police presence at their respective homes is clearly an intimidation against these defenders, and sends out a message that defenders will be targeted for exposing corruption or rights violations.

We call on the police to immediately end the criminalisation of these two defenders. The Government of Indonesia must instead ensure protection of human rights defenders who hold state actors accountable, and halt any misuse of litigation by authorities, businesses, and other sectors.

Indonesia as a democracy must be committed towards the implementation of laws and policies that protect freedom of expression, and it must respect the rights of its people to share critical or dissenting views to hold the government accountable.

About Fatia and Haris Fatia Maulidiyanti is the Coordinator of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS). Haris Azhar is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Lokataru Foundation.

Two student activists were arrested in Yangon on Sunday morning while they were on their way to a protest in Thingangyun Township, according to fellow activists.

The two were identified as Zaw Lin Htut, a former member of the University Students’ Union Alumni Force (USUAF), and Su Yee Lin, the chair of the Eastern Yangon University Students Union.

“They were arrested on their way to a protest. We haven’t had any contact with them since,” said USUAF member Nan Lin.

The arresting officers were reportedly plainclothes military personnel, but no further details of the arrest were available at the time of reporting.

According to Nan Lin, Zaw Lin Htut is also a freelance reporter and a member of Peacock Generation (Daung Doh Myo Sat), a group that performs thangyat, a traditional form of political satire popular in Myanmar.

In 2018, he was sentenced to two years in prison for taking part in a performance deemed insulting to the military. He was released in June 2020.

“He used to be involved in politics. These days, he is writing news. Knowing that the military is targeting journalists, we’re very worried for the lives of both Phoe Thar and Su Yee Lin,” said Nang Lin, referring to Zaw Lin Htut by his nickname.

The families of the two detainees have received no information about where they are being held, he added.

Despite violent crackdowns, “flash mob” protests against the regime that seized power in February continue in Yangon and other cities around the country.

Earlier this month, junta troops rammed a vehicle into a crowd of protesters in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township before firing several shots and making multiple arrests.

As many as five people are believed to have been killed in that incident, although the junta has denied that there were any casualties, despite evidence to the contrary.

The famous Chinese human rights lawyer Xie Yang is missing after he was taken away by security forces last Tuesday, according to his wife, the university professor of Chemistry Chen Guiqiu, on social networks.

In the last known case, the lawyer had been defending a pregnant teacher, Li Tiantian, in a rural area of ​​Hunan province (southern China), forcibly transferred to a psychiatric center, according to the Red of Human Rights Lawyers (Weiquanwang) on his blog. A few days later, he himself was arrested.

“Xie Yang was detained by state security on January 11 and his whereabouts are unknown. His phone is operational but calls are transferred to voicemail all the time,” Chen said on his Twitter account. “Local state security offices have warned Xie’s family not to talk to the media.”

The 49-year-old lawyer from Changsha, the capital of Hunan, is known for his defense of dissidents and other defendants in politically sensitive cases. Among others, he has represented people involved in the New Citizen civil movement, which in the first decade of the century tried to promote transparency in Chinese government. One of his favorite phrases is “don’t let silence become a habit”.

In July 2015, he was one of those arrested in a major raid on some 200 human rights lawyers across China, which would be dubbed “709″ after the date it began.

During his detention, first six months incommunicado in a secret location and then a year and a half in a detention center, he reported to his lawyers that he had been subjected to torture, which he described in detail. In 2017, he was tried for crimes of disorderly conduct and subversion against the state, two charges that are frequently used in China against dissidents. At trial he pleaded guilty and retracted his allegations of torture. But the court did not impose any sentence on him, allowing him to keep his license to practice when he returned home. Something that the vast majority of those arrested in the 709 raid, subjected to the scrutiny of the authorities even today, have never managed to recover.

It was later learned that he was forced to withdraw those complaints as a condition for his release.

In 2020, his license to practice was finally withdrawn, amid a climate of tightening control of civil society and surveillance of dissidents. The Hunan provincial government’s Justice Department said at the time that his permit had been revoked for multiple episodes of “contempt of court” – his attempts to defend his clients – and for comments on social media that were deemed either defamatory or misleading. endangered national security.

Taliban authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Faisal Modaris, Idris Rahimi, and Milad Azizi, and cease detaining members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On January 6, armed Taliban authorities detained the three journalists, all of whom work at the Kabul Lovers YouTube-based broadcaster, along with Azizi’s brother Rashid Azizi, while they were at a restaurant in the Shari Naw area of Kabul’s District Four, according to three people with knowledge of the situation who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation by the Taliban, as well as posts on Twitter by local journalists and activists.

Modaris works as a presenter for Kabul Lovers, Rahimi as a camera operator, and Milad Azizi owns the outlet, according to those sources. The broadcaster covers current affairs and daily life in Kabul and has continued since the Taliban takeover in August; it has about 240,000 followers on its YouTube channel.

Authorities later released Rashid Noori, but Modaris, Rahimi, and Azizi remain in custody according to those people who spoke to CPJ, adding that the journalists are being held by the counterterrorism body of the Directorate General of Intelligence, the Taliban’s intelligence agency, and have not been able to see their families or lawyers.

“The detention of Afghan journalists Faisal Modaris, Idris Rahimi, and Milad Azizi indicates a worrisome and reprehensible escalation of Taliban attacks on the independent media,” said CPJ Asia Coordinator Steven Butler. “Taliban authorities should unconditionally release the three journalists and stop imprisoning members of the press in retaliation for their work.”

The people who spoke to CPJ said that a Taliban member called Modaris’ family confirming that the three had been detained. The family member feared that the journalists could be tortured in detention, those people said.

The three recently covered protests by residents of Panjshir province after Taliban militias killed a civilian there, and featured protesters harshly criticizing the Taliban; the report was viewed more than 100,000 times, and it was cited by international news outlets including the BBC. The people who spoke to CPJ said they believed that reporting, because it contained criticism of the Taliban and was so widely shared, was likely the reason for the journalists’ arrests.

Ahmadullah Wasiq, a Taliban deputy spokesperson in Afghanistan, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app. CPJ was unable to find contact information for the General Directorate of Intelligence.

Separately, on January 9, the Taliban released journalist Khalil Fitri after holding him in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif since December 13, according to news reports.

Bangladesh authorities must conduct a swift and impartial investigation into the abduction and beating of Hossain Baksh and take steps to protect the safety of journalists covering union council elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At approximately 6:45 a.m. on January 5, Hossain Baksh, a camera operator for the privately owned news channel ATN News, was abducted and severely beaten, allegedly upon the order of Asad Ali, the then-ruling Awami League-nominated chairperson candidate for a local union council election, in the Madhabpur upazila, or sub-district, of the Kamalganj upazila in the northeastern Sylhet Division, according to the Dhaka Tribune and Baksh, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. (A union council is a local government unit in Bangladesh.) Ali did not respond to CPJ’s text message requesting comment.

Ali was subsequently elected chairperson of the Madhabpur upazila in the election held on January 5, according to Daily Jugantor. The next phase of local union council elections across the country will be held on January 31, and the final phase will be held on February 7, according to news reports.

“The abduction and beating of Hossain Baksh demonstrate the significant dangers that Bangladeshi journalists can face while covering elections,” said Steven Butler, CPJ Asia’s program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the incident, hold the perpetrators accountable, and ensure that journalists can safely and freely report during the upcoming phases of the local union council elections.”

Baksh, who received a pass from the Election Commission to report on the polls, was filming an armed procession led by Ali that was allegedly threatening voters next to a primary school in Madhabpur, when the then-candidate ordered six or seven men to attack Baksh with machetes, sticks, and knives, abduct him, and take him to Ali’s house so “he would be scared of them in the future,” Baksh said, adding that men also stole his camera, smartphones, cash, credit cards, motorcycle key, and national identity card at that time, which they have yet to return.

Baksh told CPJ that the men forced him into a black car and took him to Ali’s house in the Madhabpur upazila. Once at Ali’s house, a group of men, including the then-candidate’s son and nephews, repeatedly and severely beat him with ropes and held him for approximately one and a half hours until around 8:00 a.m., when the Kamalganj police, which were informed by bystanders of Baksh’s abduction, retrieved him, according to Baksh.

Baksh sustained wounds to his head, face, eyes, and legs, and received first aid treatment at the Kamalganj Upazila Health Complex, where he vomited repeatedly and was referred to the Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital for further treatment, according to the Dhaka Tribune and Baksh, who said that he will require further medical treatment for injuries to his eyes.

Baksh told CPJ that he filed a complaint against the perpetrators at the Kamalganj police station today, but an investigating officer did not register a first information report, the first step of a police investigation, against the perpetrators, saying that further investigation would be necessary due to the association of the accused with the Awami League. Baksh added that the officer-in-charge of the station said that he would follow up with Baksh later.

The officer-in-charge of the Kamalganj police station did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

Mohammad Zakaria, superintendent of the Moulvibazar district police, which encompasses the Madhabpur and Kamalganj upazilas, responded to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app with a police document recording the incident, which said that Baksh is a supporter of the oppositional Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and was traveling to campaign for an independent candidate running in the Madhabpur union council election when Ali’s supporters stopped his car and slapped him before a police officer rescued him from the area and took him to the Kamalganj Upazila Health Complex for treatment.

Baksh and another local reporter with ATN News, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, denied the police’s claim, saying that Baksh was on assignment for ATN News at the time of the attack. The area of the assault identified in the police document is the same as where Ali’s house is located, according to a person familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Munni Saha, news head of ATN News, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app.

“My husband works for the needy day and night and I support him in his noble works. But as a wife, I am in constant fear. I fear that the Chhattisgarh Police is trying to kill my husband," said Priya Jaiswal, the wife of Jitendra Jaiswal, a journalist currently in Raipur central jail.

"I wasn’t informed about his arrest and when I got the news from mediapersons and somehow managed to contact the SP (superintendent of police) of Raipur, I was told that Jitendra’s brother has been communicated about his arrest,” Priya further stated.

Chhattisgarh Police arrested Jitendra Jaiswal under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 151, 107, and 116 as conveyed by them in the notice of arrest sent to Priya Jaiswal. "Jitendra Jaiswal has been arrested on 10 January and will be produced in Raipur court on 10 January," the notice read.

Raipur Police, in a statement to the media, said, "PS Tikrapara, Distt Raipur has intimated Kumar Jitendra Jaiswal family (his brother who is in police deptt in Balrampur). He has been arrested under preventive sections in relation to police family related protest. He and 3 others were produced before magistrate after which they have been admitted to Raipur Central Jail."

In October 2020, another scribe and strong voice for tribal rights in Chhattisgarh, Kamal Shukla, was assaulted outside the police station in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh. Ironically, he was covering a story of another scribe being beaten at the time.

Jitendra’s wife said that she wasn’t informed by the police about the arrest of her husband initially and got the news from the media. Jitendra lives with his wife and two children, aged eight and six years respectively, in Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur district and is the editor of Bharat Samman.

Akeel Ahmad, an activist and a professor, and a close aide of Jitendra, told The Quint that this is being done under the pressure of the government.

“Jitendra has been very vocal about a lot of issues that point out the lacunae in governance. One such incident was the custodial death of one tribal person in Ambikapur. Jitendra covered it extensively. From then on, he caught the eyes of the officials. Some of them also threatened him,” Ahmad said.

“Recently he was covering the protest by the families of police personal in Chhattisgarh and on 9 January he had done a news piece showing their problems and exposed a big corruption. After that he was picked up and is being kept in jail, even though the sections under which he has been booked are bailable,” he further claimed.

Journalist Kamal Shukla said that the government and chief minister himself had promised to bring a law to protect journalists but till date there hasn't been any progress on that front. He further opined that the state is witnessing assaults on the journalists and voices trying to expose the faults in the governance and this is not right.

Nilesh Mahobia, lawyer of Jitendra Jaiswal, told The Quint: "Jitendra Jaiswal is in Raipur central jail at present under the IPC section 151. I went to meet and talked to him. He was presented in the court on the night of 10 January and was sent to jail from there. He was presented in the SDM (Sub-Divisional Magistrate) court on 11 January. The court has sought investigation report and further process will follow post this report is filed.”

Journalists in Chhattisgarh have been fighting for a law to protect scribes in the state, however, the bill is in the draft stage and hasn't been tabled in the Assembly.

Two months after the arrest of activist Khurram Parvez and ten days after the arrest of journalist Sajad Gul, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have now arrested human rights activist Ahsan Untoo.

Untoo – the chairman of the International Forum for Justice and Human Rights Jammu and Kashmir – was arrested on Friday, 14 January, for allegedly spreading a secessionist agenda and inciting disaffection against India.

The J&K Police issued a statement to the media on Friday regarding his arrest, claiming he has been part of secessionist discussions on Twitter Spaces (audio discussion rooms):

“It was reliably learnt that Mohammad Ahsan Untoo, resident of Diver (Lolab) Kupwara, a proactive secessionist, is an active participant and speaker at Twitter spaces titled 'Radio Resistance Kashmir' led by two known secessionists namely Muzzammil Ayyub Thakur and Dr Asif Dar. These known secessionists, who are accused in several cases along with Ahsan Untoo, are actively spreading hatred against the Union of India on the social media platform.”

A police spokesperson claimed that Untoo's actions threaten the peaceful atmosphere of the Union Territory and spread "disaffection, ill-will and disharmony" against the Union of India. The police claims that he is inciting youth to resort to violence and indulge in unlawful activities.

They have not yet publicly announced the charges against Untoo, only saying that these activities amount to cognisable offences.

Sajad Gul, a young journalist with The Kashmir Walla, was arrested on 5 January, for posting a video of the protests following the killing of militant Saleem Parray, which included slogans by the militant's family calling for 'Azadi'.

Well-known rights activist Khurram Parvez, the coordinator of the J&K Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), was arrested by the NIA on 22 November 2021 on terror charges under the UAPA.

Kashmiri journalist Sajad Gul has been booked under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA) and had been shifted to Kot Bhalwal jail in Jammu, Inspector-General of Police Kashmir zone Vijay Kumar confirmed to The Kashmir Walla on Sunday, 16 January.

The PSA is a preventive detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent them from acting harmfully against "the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order" in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the PSA, a person can be detained for a period of 3 to 6 months without trial.

The arrest under the PSA comes a day after the journalist was granted bail by a local court in a criminal conspiracy case. The Case Against Gul

Gul, a trainee reporter at the The Kashmir Walla, had been arrested on 6 January. He has been booked under criminal conspiracy and other charges for posting a video of a family shouting anti-India slogans after their kin was killed in a gunfight in Srinagar.

In the video, the family members could be seen protesting against the killing of alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Salim Parray, who was gunned down 3 January.

A police statement in this regard had said, “The said person (Sajad Gul) under the garb of a journalist is habitual of spreading disinformation, false narratives through different social media platforms in order to create ill will against the government by provoking general masses to resort to violence and disturb public peace and tranquillity… his overall activities are prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and unity of India.”

On Saturday, the journalist was granted conditional bail by a local Bandipora court. The police was directed to release Gul against a bond of 30,000 rupees if he was not involved in any other crime, The Kashmir Walla reported.

Gul, however, was not released as his he had been named in another case registered earlier this month, under sections Indian Penal Code 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 ( every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 307 (attempt to murder) Indian Penal Code. ADVERTISEMENT 'Journalist Is Not a Crime': Scribes Condemn Case Against Gul

A number of journalists took to Twitter to condemn the case against Gul.

"Police's decision to open a fresh investigation into Sajad Gul even as he was granted bail on previous allegations is a transparent effort to hold him, no matter what the court decides. Authorities must drop the investigation and set him free," the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Asia said in a tweet.

On January 5, authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh arrested local Facebooker Nguyen Duc Hung and charged him with “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code with potential imprisonment of between seven and 12 years in prison, even to 20 years. Ha Tinh is the coastal province most affected by the waste dumping of Taiwan’s Formosa Steel plant in 2016 and Mr. Hung is among outspoken independent journalists about the environmental disaster. He was kidnapped by the local security forces when he was on his way to workplace.

Nguyen Duc Hung was accused of using social networks such as Facebook and Youtube to address the country’s issues such as land seizure, corruption, environmental pollution caused by industrial groups including Formosa, etc. He will be held incommunicado for at least four months, a common practice applied by Vietnam’s investigation agencies in so-called “national security” cases. Police have also conducted house searches and confiscated his laptops, cell phones and other personal items.

The Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) protests the arbitrary conviction of civil society activist Mai Phan Lợi to four years in prison by the Hanoi People’s Court at a one-day trial on 11 January 2022. Lợi was accused of “tax evasion” along with a colleague, Bạch Hùng Dương, who received a 30-month sentence. VCHR deplores the frequent use of tax-related charges as a pretext to detain and silence bloggers, human rights defenders civil society activists and other government critics in Vietnam.

“Mai Phan Lợi’s real “crime” is that of advocating greater independence for civil society in Vietnam” said VCHR President Võ Văn Ái. “As part of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), Hanoi pledged to establish a Domestic Advisory Group composed of independent CSOs to monitor the trade agreement and make recommendations on issues of land rights, worker rights and the environment. Mai Phan Lợi is sent to prison simply for urging Vietnam to uphold its binding obligations to the EU and the Vietnamese people”.

Mai Phan Lợi, 51, is founder and chair of the Scientific Board of the Centre for Media in Educating Community (MEC), a government-registered non-profit organisation established in 2012. He is also a journalist, former Hanoi Bureau chief of the law magazine Pháp Luật. He was arrested on 24 June 2021 along with another prominent civil society activist, lawyer Đặng Đình Bách, director of the Law and Policy for Sustainable Development (LPSD). Both men were accused of “tax evasion” under Article 200 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code. No information has been made public so far on the situation of Đặng Đình Bách.

Lợi and Bách were both Executive Board members of VNGO-EVFTA Network, a group of development and environmental CSOs established in 2020 to raise awareness about EVFTA and its civil society component in Vietnam, the Vietnam Domestic Advisory Group (DAG). Lợi’s role was to organize chat-shows and workshops on MEC’s communications channel GTV to highlight the role of civil society in monitoring the implementation of EVFTA in Vietnam.

The Court ruled that Mai Phan Lợi had “ordered his subordinates not to keep accounting records” and “not to declare and pay tax”. According to reports of the trial in the State-controlled press, Lợi and his accomplice had evaded taxes of almost 2 billion dongs (77,500 Euros) from subventions and donations worth over 19 billion dongs received by his organisation over the past 10 years.

The arrests of these civil society activists and the lack of independence of the Vietnamese DAG has been strongly denounced by its EU counterpart, the EU DAG, most recently in a statement issued at the first meeting of the Vietnam-EU Joint Civil Society Dialogue Forum in November 2021: ”The EU DAG has consistently raised the cases of several civil society representatives in Vietnam arrested and imprisoned in recent months directly with both parties to the EVFTA. We are concerned by the limited number of participants in the Vietnamese DAG and therefore ask that a defined process for further civil society engagement and participation be clarified. This is all the more urgent as we understand that a number of civil society organisations have had their applications for participation [in the DAG] rejected on unclear grounds”.

Stressing that EVFTA “explicitly calls for DAGs to be composed of “independent representative organisations” (Article 13.14.15 of the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter), the EU DAG recalled that the civil society component was “the bedrock on which it can be ensured that the commitments undertaken are implemented in practice by both Parties”.

To obtain ratification of EVFTA, Vietnam adhered to all these provisions, but has failed to live up to its promises. Whereas the EU DAG, which was established in 2020 and consists of over 20 members including human rights NGOs, worker and employers organisations, business groups and environmental organisations, the Vietnamese DAG was not established until August 2021 – one year after EVFTA came into force. It has only three members, the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions (an affiliate of the State-sponsored Vietnam General Confederation of Labour), and the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD). The criteria of independence specified for DAGs under EVFTA are clearly not applied in Vietnam.

VCHR calls on Vietnam to immediately release Mai Phan Lợi, Đặng Đình Bách, Bạch Hùng Dương and all other civil society activists detained for the legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression, association, assembly and freedom of religion or belief.

Police in Vietnam have arrested land rights activist Le Manh Ha on charges of spreading anti-state materials on social media, his wife told RFA Thursday.

Ha’s arrest Wednesday already marks the sixth time since the start of this year that authorities have detained people for human rights advocacy.

He had been operating a YouTube account called “People’s Voice Television” and a Facebook account called “Voice of the Vietnamese People,” where he shared his criticisms of the government.

Years ago, the government took his community’s land in Na Hang district in the northern province of Tuyen Quang to build a power plant. He has said that the government has not yet paid him and his former neighbors proper compensation. Since then, Ha has studied Vietnamese law and has helped others with legal advice and petitioning the government.

Police in plainclothes arrested Ha Wednesday in Tuyen Quang’s Chiem Hoa district. They took him to his current home in Tuyen Quang city and searched his house. His family told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that the authorities have not yet provided them with any documentation related to the arrest.

“At about 8:30 a.m. yesterday when I was getting my mother to the hospital, a local resident informed me that the police arrested Ha in Chiem Hoa,” Ha’s wife, Ma Thi Tho said.

“I decided to return home and got back around 9 a.m. and there were many police officers, around 20 or 30 of them, surrounding my home,” she said.

She said the police brought Le Manh Ha to the home at about 10:30 that morning.

“Shortly after his arrival, they read out a house search warrant and an order to prosecute my husband,” she said.

Among the items taken from Ha’s house were books on Vietnamese laws and its constitution.

Tho said police officers told her that her husband was in violation of Article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code, which prohibits spreading propaganda against the state. Article 117 has been described by analysts as a vague set of rules frequently used by authorities to stifle peaceful critics of the country’s one-party communist government.

“The real reason is because he has been fighting for the people,” Tho said.

Le Dinh Viet, Ha’s defense lawyer, said his client has been fighting to correct the injustice of not being compensated for his land during the construction of the hydropower plant.

“He did not break any laws,” Viet said.

The Tuyen Quang hydropower plant began operations in 2008, but the government has not yet finished compensating affected families. Authorities promised to provide 16 square meters of land in Tuyen Quang city for each family, but in 16 years, only half of them have received their plot of land.

While all land in Vietnam is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint between citizens and their government. Some small landholders have accused authorities of pushing them aside in favor of lucrative real estate or infrastructure projects, and then paying too little in compensation.

“The Vietnamese government is using criminal law to intimidate and shut down people peacefully protesting against land confiscation,” Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in December 2021 about the arrests of other land rights activists in the country.

“The government should release [everyone] arrested and imprisoned under Article 117, and abolish this abusive law,” he said.

Among the remaining five arrestees this year were Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen, Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen, and Le Thanh Trung Duong, monks at the Peng Lai Temple in the southern province of Long An.

The three monks, along with their previously arrested leader Le Tung Van, were charged with article 331 for “abusing rights to freedom and democrary to violate the State’s interests, legitimate interest of organizations and individuals.”

State media did not reveal their crime, but article 331 is often used in cases involving activists advocating for human rights and religious freedom.

The other two arrestees were Nguyen Thai Hung and his wife Vu Thi Kim Hoang from the southern province of Dong Nai. Hung was in the middle of a livestream when police stormed in and arrested the couple.

"They are abusing Babasaheb Ambedkar, they are abusing me, threatening to assault and rape me. It's become difficult to go outside my house. It is easy for them to attack me because I am a Dalit woman and they feel they can do anything to me."

Meena Kotwal

Journalist Meena Kotwal has been facing a relentless barrage of death threats and rape threats ever since she posted a video on social media of her burning the Manusmriti on 25 December 2021. She claims that those making the threat calls identified themselves as members of the VHP, Bajrang Dal, and Karni Sena.

Kotwal tells The Quint, "I have said nothing wrong in the video. The Manusmriti contains a lot of anti-women and anti-Dalit content. Babasaheb Ambedkar had also burned the Manusmriti, on 25 December 1927. Since then, Ambedkarites have been observing the day as Manusmriti Dahan Divas."

"Every year, lakhs of people burn a symbolic image of the Manusmriti as an act of resistance. I have done the same, but I am being constantly abused for it. I think it is because I am a Dalit woman who is vocal about the rights and issues of the community."

Meena Kotwal, journalist

Following a complaint by Kotwal, the Delhi Police have registered an FIR on the threats against her, under provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and two sections of the IPC (criminal intimidation and intention to insult the modesty of a woman). ‘They Threatened That I Will Suffer the Same Fate as Gauri Lankesh’

"Those threatening me are calling and telling me that I will suffer the same fate as slain journalist Gauri Lankesh. I am a journalist, my work is on the field. But the way these people have been threatening me, I am worried that they may physically attack me. "

Meena Kotwal

Kotwal adds, "If they try to fight me legally, I am ready for that. If they wish to register an FIR or a case against me, I am ready for that because I have not done anything wrong. I request the police and the government to provide me security arrangements because anything untoward could happen, at any time."

On December 30, 2021, Ms. Kotwal filed a complaint with the Ambedkar Nagar Police Station in New Delhi, with details of the numbers she was being threatened and abused from and enclosing screenshots of the abuses and threats. The SHO of the Ambedkar Nagar police station Mr. Mukesh Kumar Moga asked the Sub inspector Mr. Bansi Lal to file Ms. Kotwal’s complaint. According to her the SI Mr. Lal made her sit for a long time and advised her on not to do such things instead of filing her complaint. On her saying that she needs the receipt of the FIR, he said that it will take time. Ms. Kotwal said that she will meet the DCP and return to take the paperwork for the FIR. After she submitted a copy of the complaint to the Addl. DCP South West Delhi Ms. Benita Mary Jaiker, she was told that her FIR will be filed in the Ambedkar Nagar Police Station. She went back there but an FIR based on her complaint was not filed and since then she has been running pillar to post to get her FIR filed. According to the guidelines issued by the Delhi Police, a woman can lodge a complaint via email or registered post or even send a written complaint through an email or registered post addressed to a senior police officer of the level of Deputy Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. The officer then directs the SHO of the police station, of the area where the incident occurred, to conduct proper verification of the complainant and lodge an FIR. The police can then come over to the residence of the victim to take her statement. The FIR has to be filed and then an investigation takes place. However, so far no FIR has been lodged on Ms. Kotwal’s complaint. We fear that this apathy of the police is a sign of indifference and negligence of the Delhi Police towards crimes against Dalits, specially Dalit women, who often face apathy and hostility towards them in a police station. We are shocked that the FIR based on the complaint of a Dalit WHRD was not filed despite her repeated attempts. This inaction of the Delhi police has put the Dalit WHRD in grave danger from the death threats she is getting.

The prospect of the establishment of a police camp in Nahadi village, 70 km away from the Dantewada district headquarters, has had members of the tribal communities in 13 villages in Kuakonda development block in Chhattisgarh protesting for over a month now.

The residents of these villages are primarily demanding the establishment of a hospital, a school and an anganwadi, rather than a police camp.

Their demonstrations are also in support of the ongoing agitation in Silger village at the border of the rural Bijapur-Sukma district, where three people were killed and several others injured this May when the police opened fire on a group of tribes people protesting against the establishment of a Central Reserve Police Force camp in Sukma.

“If a police camp is set up here, it will be difficult for us to even leave our houses,” a resident of one of the 13 villages told The Wire. “It is always difficult to visit other villages or even the forest in the presence of a camp. The police personnel harass us and the women in our families. That’s why we don’t want a camp here. We need hospitals, anganwadis and schools instead.”

‘Afraid of the police’

Demanding action against the culprits of the Silger police firing this May, the 2012 killing of 17 Adivasis by the police in Sarkeguda in Bijapur, and the killing of four minors and four adults in Edesmetta of the same Bijapur district in 2013, the residents of the 13 villages began their agitation in support of a protest already in progress in the district.

But on December 9, 2021, personnel of the District Reserve Guard (DRG) including women commandos suddenly raided the protest site in Nahadi’s Karka area, assaulted the protestors and ordered them to vacate the premises.

Witnesses said that the DRG personnel had set fire to the stage at the protest site by lobbing burning logs at it from chulhas (earthen stoves) set up in the protestors’ makeshift kitchen.

However, soon after the incident, a video went viral on local WhatsApp groups in which villagers state that the fire had started in a nearby paddy field and moved to the protestors’ stage and that the DRG personnel had in fact extinguished the fire.

Locals claim that the police had shot the video themselves and circulated it.

The villagers also allege that the DRG personnel dismantled the boundary around the stage, uprooted the protestors’ tent and seized all the material the villagers had used to set up the protest site to prevent them from starting another camp. The police also allegedly ignited firecrackers while raiding the protest site.

This action by the DRG personnel has caused panic among villagers in Karka, claim residents of other villages. Rumours in the area claim that if the villagers of Karka even step out of their houses, they are interrogated by police personnel and threatened with dire consequences.

The Wire tried to confirm these rumours with local sources, but the villagers claim to be too afraid to speak to the media.

The candlelight march on Sunday, called by a group of teachers aspirant protesting in the state capital Lucknow over alleged irregularities in the 2019 Uttar Pradesh exam to recruit 69,000 assistant teachers in the state, ended in indiscriminate lathi-charge by police, leaving about a dozen protesters injured.

Enraged by the police action, the unions have called for a state-wide demonstration this week in protest against lathi-charge on the youth march.

According to eye-witnesses, the lathi-charge took place when a group of teacher aspirants were demonstrating at a prominent junction and were headed towards Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence. The police stopped them and resorted lathi-charge, leaving several protesters seriously injured. Videos of the incident also went viral on social media.

In 2019, the Uttar Pradesh government had held a mega recruitment drive and examination for hiring 69,000 assistant school teachers. However, the entire process was marred with allegations of bias and irregularities, including on allocation of quotas in the merit list of those selected.

As a result, candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories had been protesting since the past two years.

The protesters alleged that a recent scam in the appointment of 69,000 teachers has revealed that instead of 27%, the OBC candidates were given just 4% reservation, while SC aspirants were provided with just 16% reservation instead of 22.5% .

They said that according to the reservation policy, the total number of OBC candidates should have been 27% of the total 69,000 vacancies, that is, 18,598 seats. But, according to this calculation based on the cut-off percentage given by the state, the total seats for OBC candidates are a measly 2,637. The candidates also alleged that general category persons had ‘adjusted’ seats of the OBC candidates.

Amit Tiwari, as aspirant teacher, who was injured during in the police crackdown, said: “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said plenty of government jobs are available in the state, but there is a dearth of educated and suitable candidates who can qualify for those jobs. We are protesting for the past two years close to his residence in Lucknow, but instead of recognising our talent, he and his police has chosen to beat us. We will not keep silent until our demands met. The youth of Uttar Pradesh are ready to teach a lesson to this government.”

The protesting candidates are demanding that 22,000 of 69,000 posts still lying vacant for assistant teacher should be opened for recruitment. They alleged that even after the Supreme Court’s order, they are not being appointed.

The candidates said their strike would continue till their demands are met. The teachers’ union is now mobilising students to support them and reach Lucknow’s Eco Garden on Tuesday to launch a “mass movement” ahead of Assembly elections due early next year.

Meanwhile, Sunday’s lathi-charge by Lucknow police on protesting teachers was criticised by several political parties, including Samajwadi Party.

“We will remember this lathi-charge while casting our votes in the upcoming elections,” Yudveer Singh, an applicant of Deoria, who is on his way to Lucknow along with 20 others to join protest told NewsClick.

“The CM who denied reservation to Dalit and backward communities during the recruitment of 69,000 assistant school teachers, is now lashing out on them with lathis. Amid a peaceful candle march of the 69,000 teacher recruitment candidates, the police started lathi charge is sad and shameful! The youth unemployed will be revolutionized, there will be a change in twenty," a tweet by Samajwadi Party handle reads.

Meanwhile, Varun Gandhi, ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and MP from Pilibhit, who was vocal in support of the farmers’ movement, attacked his government over the police crackdown.

Criticising police action against protesting candidates of UP teachers' test in Lucknow, Gandhi asked why recruitments were not taking place when there were vacancies in the government. Sharing a video of police action against candidates holding a candlelight march over alleged irregularities, Gandhi said: "These children are also 'Sons of Mother India', let alone accepting their demands, no one ready to listen to them. Above this, barbaric 'lathicharge' on them. Put your hand on heart and think they would be treated the same if they were your own children. You have vacancies as well as qualified candidates, so why are recruitments not taking place."

Teacher applicants from across the state are reaching Eco Garden in a large number after police brutal crackdown. They are angry with the government and planning to play a major role to defeat

BJP in the upcoming elections.

TIMELINE

• On December 1, 2018, the Adityanath-led state government issued an order for filling up 69,000 vacant posts and on December 6, 2018, the posts were advertised. On January 6, 2019, examination for the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers was conducted.

• On January 7, 2019, the government revised the passing criterion, at 65% (97 out of 150 marks) for general candidates and 60% (90 out of 150 marks) for reserved category candidates. This led to outrage and some candidates approached the high court.

• On March 29, 2019, hearing the case, the court gave its verdict in favour of the candidates and set 40% and 45% for reserved and general category candidates, respectively.

• On May 6, 2020, HC disposed of the case by upholding the state government’s revised eligibility criteria of passing reserved and general category candidates (60% and 65% marks) in the examination held.

• On May 12, 2020, the result of written test was announced. A total of 1.46 lakh candidates - 36.6% - were declared as having qualified.

• On May 13, 2020, the counselling schedule was announced for appointment of 69,000 assistant teachers to be recruited according to the merit and districts of their choices and vacancies available.

• Between June 3 and 6, 2020, counselling of the selected candidates and verification of documents was scheduled to be held.

• On June 3, 2020, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court stayed the appointment process of 69,000 assistant basic teachers.

• Candidates took the matter to the SC. On June 9, SC issued an interim order to fill 31,277 posts, with the remaining posts to be filled later after the final verdict of the apex court.

• On October 16, CM distributed appointment letters to 31,227 assistant teachers.

• On Nov 18, SC allowed the UP government to fill up vacancies for 69,000 assistant basic education teachers in the state, as per the results declared in May 2020.

The police on Friday detained tribal leaders and sent back people who were staging a sit-in protest against a mining project at Surjagarh in Etapalli tehsil of Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. Since the last five days, locals in the area have been staging a dharna against the iron ore mining project in Surjagarh, demanding cancellation of the lease granted to a private company.

According to the police, the locals were given permission to hold a morcha and not a sit-in agitation.

Local tribals along with Zilla Parishad member Sainu Gota and member of Shetkari Kamgar Paksh Ramdas Jarate had launched an indefinite sit-in protest under the aegis of 'Surjagarh Paramparik Ilaka Gotul Samiti' on Monday.

Speaking to PTI, Gadchiroli superintendent of police Ankit Goyal said some leaders at the dharna were detained and people were requested to leave and they left.

"They were given permission for a morcha and not a dharna. However, they had been staging a dharna for the last four to five days. The police and district collector visited the spot and requested protestors to withdraw the agitation," the official said.

Background of the Incident: Local Adivasi communities in Gadchiroli have been fiercely opposing the 25 government sanctioned mines in Gadchiroli, which includes the mine at Surjagad. The Adivasi communities state that the decision to grant mining licenses is illegal as the gram sabhas in the region have not given the permission for the same. On October 25, 2021, there was a peaceful morcha carried out against the mining leases and had nearly 4,000 protestors from local Adivasi villages. The morcha ended at Etapalli, where several protestors camped. Details of the Incident: On October 29, 2021, at around 5.45 a.m. a large police force, of around 300 police personnel, some in uniform and some in plain clothes, swooped down at the protest sites and detained Mr. Sainu Gota, Ms. Sheela Gota, Mr. Ramdas Jarate, Ms. Jaishree Velda, Mr. Nitin Pada and Mr. Amol Marakwar. They were put in vans and taken to a police camp in Aheri. They were not even allowed to wear chappals and had to walk barefoot until they were presented before the judicial magistrate. Mr. Jarate was not allowed to wear clothes and was taken to the police camp in his shorts and half shirt that he had been wearing when the raid happened. No paperwork was given to any of them for either detention or arrest. At Aheri police camp, they were made to sit in a separate room until 1 p.m. like criminals. Thereafter, each one of them were called by Mr. Anuj Tare, Additional Superintendent of Police, who asked them what they are planning to do next. On October 29, 2021, at around 4 p.m., they were taken to Aheri police station and were formally charged. An FIR (0036/2021) was registered at the Etapalli police station against nine HRDs and 100 unnamed individuals under Indian Penal Code sections 188 (Disobedience) and 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), Section 2 of Epidemics Act which gives power to state government to take special measures and prescribe regulations as to dangerous epidemic disease and the Maharashtra Police Act sections 37 (1), 37 (3), 135. The FIR has named Mr. Sainu Gota, Ms. Sheela Gota, Ramdas Jarate, Ms. Jaishree Velda, Nitin Pada, Amol Marakwar, Mr. Lalsu Nagoti, Mr. Prajwal Namulwar, Ms. Premila Kulyami. At 5.30 p.m. they were taken to the district court and were granted bail. Their lawyers were present at the court, but they were not allowed to speak with them at any time prior to this. At 6.15 p.m. they were taken to back to the police camp, even after being granted bail where they were held stating that they were being issued a notice by the sub-divisional magistrate of Etapalli. At 9.15 p.m. they were issued a notice under section 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which provides powers to an executive magistrate if he is convinced that individuals are likely to commit a breach of the peace or disturb the public tranquility to ask individuals to show cause as to why they should not execute a bond. After the notice was issued, they were released. During their illegal detention and arrest, Inspector Patil of Etapalli police station, confiscated two phones belonging to Mr. Jarate and Ms. Velda. On October 30, 2021, Mr. Jarate called Mr. Patil and asked him to return the mobile phone. In response, Mr. Patil said that he had not taken the mobile phone. The phones were later found in the same police station and returned to Mr. Jarate a few days later.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Ms. Anita Das and Mr. Dipak Kumar Singh are General Secretary and President, respectively of the Ranchi Footpath Dukandar Hawker Sangh (RFDHS), a trade union of hawkers, street vendors and shopkeepers in Ranchi. They are also associated with the National Hawkers Federation, and have participated in many struggles seeking recognition and protection for hawkers and street vendors for several years. Background of the incident: On November 22, 2021, at around 10 AM, 5-6 officials from the Enforcement team of Ranchi Municipal Corporation arrived in the Birsa Chowk area in Ranchi in an official vehicle and launched a hawker eviction drive. Although there were many female hawkers and vendors in the stretch between Birsa Chowk and Hinu Chowk, all the officials were men. They forcibly seized the goods and properties of hawkers and street vendors leading to heated arguments, pushed and shoved hawkers when they came in the way, and loaded their goods in the official truck. Some hawkers also tried to unload their goods from the truck. The eviction drive was illegal as the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, mandates that eviction drives can be conducted only after clearance from the local town vending committee. In case of Ranchi, the Town Vending Committee (TVC) met on October 26, 2021, and cleared eviction drives in some areas enlisted in Notice no. 665/DAY-NULM of Ranchi Municipal Corporation, however, there was no mention of the stretch between Birsa Chowk and Hinu Chowk in this list. Details of the Incident: Around 11 AM, leaders of the RFDHS Ms. Anita Das and Mr. Dipak Singh arrived at the eviction spot, and demanded to see the TVC’s permission and the seizure list, as required under Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. Enforcement officials claimed the eviction was being conducted following orders from the Commissioner of Ranchi, but they failed to show any official papers, and had prolonged arguments with the HRDs. Meanwhile, the enforcement team informed the Daronda Police Station, and at around 12 PM, 3-4 police personnel including Officer in Charge Mr. S Mahasha, arrived at the spot and intervened on behalf of the enforcement team. They left after 15-20 minutes. The arguments and counter-arguments between the enforcement team and the HRDs continued till 1 PM, after which the eviction was called off. Enforcement officers video- recorded most parts of the argument on their mobile phone. On November 22, 2021, a fabricated case (FIR no 261/ 2021) was registered in the Doranda Police Station against Ms. Das, Mr. Singh and others in reprisal for opposing the illegal eviction drive. They were charged under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of official duties), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. The case was based on a complaint signed by Mr. Manoj Kumar and 10 other enforcement team officials, who alleged some people led by Ms. Das prevented them from conducting the eviction drive, misbehaved with them and abused them. Ms. Das and others also damaged the official vehicle and forcibly unloaded some seized goods, they claimed. The FIR was registered by the Officer in Charge of Doranda Police Station Mr. S Mahasha, and Sub Inspector Mr. Om Prakash Toppo was designated as the Investigating Officer in the case. It is clear that the police and enforcement team officials acted with malafide intentions to target the HRDs who were opposing the violation of laws protecting the interests of street vendors and hawkers. Police officials were present at incident spot and witnessed a large part of the arguments and counter-arguments. Yet, they registered an FIR against the HRDs immediately upon receiving the complaint from enforcement officers without even conducting a preliminary probe.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and others are residents of Dhinkia panchayat under Erasama block in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district. They have been opposing efforts to set up large industries in the coastal belt for over 20 years fearing ecological destruction and loss of forests and livelihoods. Mr. Sahoo and others participated in a peaceful movement opposing a steel plant and port by South Korean steel giant POSCO for 15 years. Although the Odisha government forcibly acquired land for the project in 2013 and cut down over 3 lakh trees, opposition against the project remained strong, and in 2017, POSCO exited. A year later, the state government announced that the Jindal Steel Works (JSW) would set up a mega project at the site comprising steel, power and cement plants and captive jetties. Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and other HRDs in Dhinkia panchayat renewed their movement and in subsequent months and years, they conducted numerous public meetings, rallies and demonstrations opposing the JSW project. In recent months, they also opposed the project in public hearings conducted by the administration. Background of the Incident: Mahala and Patana under Dhinkia panchayat in Erasama block of Jagatsinghpur district were accorded the status of revenue villages by the Odisha government in April 2020 and August 2020 respectively. Local villagers feared the decision was taken to facilitate the JSW project and fracture the movement, and held several meetings and allies opposing the move. On November 30, 2021, administrative officials undertook demarcation in Patana amidst the presence of 14 platoons of police personnel. Residents of the village held a peaceful demonstration beside the local temple. Armed policemen were deployed to intimidate the protestors and they had been given only a day’s notice regarding demarcation. Delimitation work in Mahala village was scheduled the next day. On December 1, 2021, when revenue officials led by Erasama Tehsildar Mr. C Pranjyananda Das reached Mahala for demarcation work along with a large contingent of police personnel. Local residents protested by forming a human chain. Eventually, the demarcation wo rk was called off and revenue officials and police left the area. Details of the Incident: On December 1, 2021, at 8 PM, an FIR (123/ 2021) was registered at the Abhayachandpur Police Station against 34 HRDs including Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo and Mr. Bibekananda Swain and 300 other unnamed villagers for blocking the entry of officials into Mahala. The accused were charged under 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 294 (absence of complainant), 506 (criminal intimidation), 353 (assault or use of criminal force on a public servant), 186 (voluntarily obstructing any public servant in the discharge of his public functions), and 149 (common intent) of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was registered by Inspector In Charge of Abhyachandpur police station Mr. Pradyumna Behera on the basis of a complaint by Erasama Tehsildar Mr. Choudhury Pranjyananda Das, who alleged that around 200 women and 100 men led by Mr. Muralidhar Sahoo, Mr. Bibekananda Swain and others obstructed revenue officials from carrying out their work. Sub Inspector Mr. K. Ch. Nayak was designated as the Investigating Officer in the case. Though no one has been arrested in the case yet, Mr. Sahoo and other HRDs in the area fear they might be detained and arrested in violation of due procedure.

On December 4, 2021, at about 3 AM, a police contingent under the leadership of Assistant Superintendent of Police of Paradeep Mr. Nimaichran Sethi, including Sub Inspectors Mr. Ashutosh Hota and Mr. Chinmaya Pany and 4 platoons of armed police, reached Mr. Swain’s house in 10 police vehicles. When HRD’s mother went to open the door, Mr. Hota shouted at her in filthy language. When she and other family members objected to police entering their house, the police broke open the door. Butas many villagers rushed to the spot after hearing the commotion, police beat a hasty retreat. Coinciding with the police raid on Mr. Swain’s house, Gobindpur resident Mr. Prabhat Kumar Rout submitted a written complaint at the Abhayachandpur Police Station. He alleged that at around 2 AM on December 4, 2021, Mr. Basanta Gochayat, Mr. Chuguna Jena and others hurled bombs towards his house and fled on motorcycles towards Dhinkia, and that he saw the miscreants entering Mr. Swain’s house when he followed them. He also claimed Mr. Swain had threatened to kill him in the past, including during demarcation work in Mahala village on December 1, 2021 Abhayachandpur Police Station Inspector In Charge Mr. Pradyumna Behera registered an FIR (125/ 2021) against Mr. Swain, Mr. Gochayat, Mr. Jena and three others on the basis of Mr. Rout’s complaint and directed Sub Inspector Mr. Hota to investigate the case. The accused were charged under Sections 294 (absence of complainant), 506 (criminal intimidation), 307, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act. Around an hour later, at .05 AM on December 4, 2021, Sub Inspector Mr. Hota submitted a written complaint at Abhayachandpur police station. He alleged that while was on his way to Gobindpur village with two other policemen to investigate FIR no 125/ 2021, at 3.20 AM Mr. Swain and 20-25 anti-socials obstructed their way, abused them in filthy language, assaulted them and forcibly snatched Mr. Hota’s service revolver forcing them to retreat. Based on Mr. Hota’s complaint, Mr. Behera registered a second FIR (126/ 2021) against Mr. Swain, Mr. Gochayat, Mr. Jena and others. In all, the FIR named 15 persons as accused apart from 15-20 unnamed others and they were charged under Section 395 (dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code. Sub Inspector Mr. C R Pany was directed to investigate the case. Around three hours later, at 7 AM on December 4, 2021, a third FIR (127/ 2021) was registered against Mr. Swain, Mr. Gochayat, Mr. Jena and others. Mr. Behera, the complainant in the case, claimed that when he along with Sub Inspectors Mr. Swetapadma Dash, Mr. Hota and Mr. Pany and other police personnel reached Mr. Swain’s residence at 4.30 AM to recover Mr. Hota’s service revolver, around 100 villagers who were waiting in ambush attacked them. They pelted stones, abused and assaulted policemen and damaged two police buses, forcing the police to retreat. In all, the third FIR named 60 persons as accused apart from 100 unnamed others, charged under Sections 147, 148, 341, 333, 353, 307, 427, 294, 379, 186, 149, 332, 506 of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 3 and 4 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Mr. Swain, Mr. Gochayat, Mr. Jena and many other HRDs named in the FIRs fear they will be arrested in violation of due procedure and subjected to custodial torture.

Authorities at Yangon’s Insein Prison have refused to allow medical treatment to nearly 90 detainees who were brutally beaten a week ago during a nationwide “Silent Strike” protest against Myanmar's military junta rule, the detainees’ relatives and lawyers said Friday.

Dozens of political prisoners showed their solidarity with nationwide demonstrations by staying in their cells after morning roll call and singing the protest song “Our Pledge in Blood” in unison.

Authorities at the infamous Yangon detention facility attacked the prisoners for joining the Silent Strike, which was held on Human Rights Day on Dec. 10. The strike left many cities and towns empty as citizens stayed home in protest of the military regime and its brutal crackdown following its Feb. 1 coup.

At Insein, prison authorities threw strike organizers into solitary confinement and shackled their legs, sources close to the prisoners told RFA in an earlier report.

Some of the prisoners were critically wounded but were denied medical care, while some female prisoners were subjected to sexual harassment, sources said.

A pro-democracy student leader who had joined the prison strike suffered critical head and back injuries that were left untreated. He was instead placed in solitary confinement as punishment for participating, his family said.

Sitt Naing, vice chairman of the Yangon University of Education Students’ Union, who was involved in the Silent Strike in Insein Prison, is in critical condition, a relative said.

“As family members, we are worried about his life,” said the woman, who declined to give her name out of fear of retribution. “It is because he is not even allowed to apply medicine to the wounds, let alone receive medical treatment.

“We believe that his life is still in danger,” she added. “He urgently needs medical treatment.”

Wai Yan Phyo Moe, vice chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, and Lay Pyay Soe Moe, spokesman for student rights for the Yangon University Students’ Union, were also severely beaten during the crackdown, family members said. They are reportedly being held in solitary confinement with their legs in shackles.

Mya Moe, mother of Lay Pyay Soe Moe, told RFA that prison staff denied her son medical help. “On the day of the trial, the lawyers brought some ointment for his wounds but were not allowed to apply them,” she said. “He was rudely told to put his shirt back on and to ‘stop the nonsense.’ That’s how the prison staff talked to him.”

RFA could not reach Insein Prison officials or Myanmar’s Ministry of Justice. Ministries have not responded to media requests for comment since the coup, and only junta spokesmen can issue statements.

A spokesman for the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), a nonprofit human rights organization based in Mae Sot, Thailand, said refusing medical treatment to wounded detainees was a “grave violation of human rights” by prison authorities and that those responsible should be held accountable.

The spokesman asked not to be identified for safety reasons.

A lawyer representing some of the prisoners said the victims asked the court for their injuries to be recorded, but the court refused.

“We saw some clients at trial who had been beaten,” he said. “When they were brought in, the lawyers showed the injuries they had sustained and requested that the court put them on record, but some courts rejected the requests.”

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun in an earlier report denied that there had been any protests inside Insein Prison.

Following the Silent Strike, prison authorities enacted stricter measures for detainees, transferring some to cells with criminals and other forms of repression that violated human rights, said Tun Kyi, a member of the Former Political Prisoners Society.

“A prison is one of the worst and most serious mechanisms for violating human rights, and it’s where human dignity can be taken away,” he said.

Before being taken out of Insein Prison for court hearings, authorities instructed female prisoners to take off their sarongs so they could feel and search their genitals, he said.

“It was OK for inmates to send letters to their families in the past, and families could also send in letters, but now they have banned all these exchanges,” he said.

News of the prisoner maltreatment has been leaked from the inside by detainees clandestinely passing small notes to family members and their lawyers during their trials.

When prisoners are taken to court for hearings, authorities constantly monitor their conversations with their attorneys and have threatened the lawyers not to leak information to the media, attorneys and family members of those imprisoned said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which used to make humanitarian visits to prisons until March 2020, is still waiting for permission to resume its prison activities.

On Friday, the AAPP reported that junta forces have killed 1,346 people and arrested 11,023 others since the Feb. 1 coup.

Police in Vietnam broke into a home and arrested a couple while the husband was livestreaming criticism of the government, their family told RFA.

Nguyen Thai Hung and his wife Vu Thi Kim Hoang were arrested Jan. 5 at about 6 p.m. in their home in the southern province of Dong Nai while Hung was on YouTube.

Viewers of the livestream were able to witness the arrest as it occurred. About 20 minutes into the broadcast, Hung left his computer to investigate what sounded like glass breaking. Shortly after, a man in an orange “Electricity of Vietnam” uniform appeared in frame, shouting, “Stay still. Don’t move.”

At that point, the webcam was turned down to show only a corner of the table and what looks to be a script.

Provincial authorities charged Hoang with “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to violate the state’s interests.” They have yet to make any official statement on Hung’s arrest.

The couple’s arrest was carried out by people in plain clothes, Hoang’s sister, Vu Giang Tien, told RFA.

“Two men suddenly broke into my sister’s house by climbing over the fence. Then they cut the gate lock open and rushed into the house,” she said.

“My sister’s oldest daughter got scared and started screaming. My mother, who lives next door, came over immediately and shouted, ‘Robbers! Robbers!’ when seeing the intruders in plain clothes, not in police uniforms,” Tien said.

When a man wearing yellow appeared with a gun, Tien said her mother stopped shouting out of fear.

“Those people took the two kids to a room upstairs to ask questions. Others who had already entered the house broke the glass door to open it. They searched the house, making a big mess, and they arrested Hung and Hoang and took them away,” Tien said.

The police did not announce why the couple were arrested or present any documents related to the arrest, the family said.

When the family asked why Hoang was also arrested, the police said they needed to take her away for investigation because she was involved in concealing a crime.

Two days later, the family went to the police station to find out more and were told by police that Hoang had been arrested for “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy” and that she was being held at a detention house elsewhere in the province.

The police did not provide them with any information about Hung, they said.

Tien said that Hung had been sharing his views on his YouTube channel for more than a year. The channel, established in January 2020, has around 40,000 followers. Videos are no longer available on the account.

Hung’s Facebook account is active, but the most recent post, which discussed the death of a young soldier, Tran Duc Do, is from July 2021.

Vietnam is ranked 175th out of 180 countries in the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index for 2021. Vietnam’s already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply in 2020 with a spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers and Facebook personalities in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress in January 2021.

Police have arrested at least 40 political dissidents since then, most of them charged with "disseminating anti-state materials,” according to RFA reports.

Authorities in northwestern China’s Qinghai province arrested a Tibetan college graduate last year for speaking against Chinese policies mandating the teaching of Chinese language in Tibetan areas, RFA has learned.

Loten, 23, was taken into custody on Dec. 20 in Matoe (in Chinese, Maduo) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture after objecting on social media to the replacement of Tibetan-language textbooks in local schools, a source in Tibet said.

“He said that China’s policy will eventually disconnect young Tibetans from their own language in the future,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Loten is now being held at an unknown location in Qinghai’s provincial capital Xining, the source said. “His family was only informed of his arrest over the phone and hasn’t been allowed to see him yet. They were told that Loten is now being given political education,” he added.

Beginning on Sept. 21, 2021, the Tibetan language has been sidelined as the medium of instruction in Tibetan schools in Qinghai, with more focus given now to classes in written Chinese language and basic Chinese speaking skills, RFA’s source said.

“Many Tibetan parents are concerned about these changes and the policies being implemented by the Chinese government, but they have no way to do anything about them,” he said.

Qinghai authorities had earlier detained two Tibetan students identified as Gyuldrak and Yangrik, both 19, in Golog’s Darlag (Dari) county in August for opposing plans to use the Chinese language as the only medium of instruction in Tibetan schools, sources told RFA in earlier reports.

The policy had already aroused widespread opposition among Tibetans in neighboring Sichuan, where Tibetan private schools have been closed and children sent to government schools amid parents’ concerns for their children’s connection to their native language and national culture, sources said.

"It has been evident in recent years that the Chinese government has no plans to ease up on its hardline policies and tight control inside Tibet," said Namgyal Choedup, representative in The Office of Tibet in Washington, D.C., speaking to RFA.

"Tibetans are firm in their conviction to protect their Tibetan identity, but the Chinese government's Sinicization of the Tibetan language and religion poses threats to the survival of Tibetan Buddhist culture and values in Tibet."

"We have spoken urgently to the U.S. government and U.S. officials from time to time about these deteriorating situations inside Tibet. The policies implemented inside Tibet by the Chinese government do more harm than benefit in reality for the Tibetans," Choedup said.

Chinese Communist Party efforts to supplant local language education with teaching in Chinese have raised anger not only among Tibetans, but also in the Turkic-language-speaking Uyghur community of Xinjiang and in northern China’s Inner Mongolia.

Plans to end the use of the Mongolian language in ethnic Mongolian schools sparked weeks of class boycotts, street protests, and a region-wide crackdown by riot squads and state security police in the fall of 2020, in a process described by ethnic Mongolians as “cultural genocide.”

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago.

Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say.

The Central Bureau of Investigation’s registration of a case against human rights organisation People’s Watch under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act highlights the worsening situation of shrinking civic space in India, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) said.

On 8 January, a team of nearly ten officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted search operations in the office of People’s Watch, a member organisation of FORUM-ASIA, in Madurai, India. The search was conducted based on a court order related to a First Information Report (FIR) registered by the CBI on 6 January alleging violations by People’s Watch in receiving and utilising foreign funds. The FIR is filed under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 33, 35, 39 r/w sections 7, 8, 9 of the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act (FCRA) for alleged offences committed between 2010 and 2014.

People’s Watch has been working on the protection and promotion of human rights in India for more than two decades, as a programme unit under its legal holder, the Center for Promotion of Social Concerns (CPSC). CPSC is duly registered under the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act to receive foreign funds. In 2012, the Ministry of Home Affairs suspended CPSC’s FCRA registration thrice for a period of 180 days each time. Only after the intervention of the Delhi High Court in a writ petition by CPSC challenging the suspension of their FCRA registration, did the court allow CPSC to use their FCRA account.

Meanwhile in 2016, CPSC applied to the Ministry of Home Affairs to renew their registration under the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act, and was rejected due to a ‘field agency report’ by the Ministry. Failing to cite any financial irregularities, the Ministry stated in a written response before the Delhi High Court that the reason for non-renewal was due to People’s Watch Executive Director Henri Tiphagne’s communications with embassies as well as UN Special Rapporteurs. CPSC has challenged the non-renewal of their registration before the Delhi High Court and the case is still pending.

‘People’s Watch is clearly facing reprisals in the form of non-renewal of their FCRA registration. Working with UN human rights mechanism is not a crime. The continuous harassment against People’s Watch is highly condemnable and deeply concerning. It is surprising that after nearly ten years, the CBI has registered a case against CPSC and People’s Watch. This is a clear case of targeted harassment and reprisal against the human rights work of People’s Watch,’ said Shamini Darshini Kaliemuthu, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

The Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act is used arbitrarily to harass and impede the work of civil society organisations, especially those working on human rights issues. The FCRA registration of nearly 6,000 organisations[1] on 31 December 2021. Many applications for renewal, including that of Oxfam India, were rejected by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Recent amendments to the Foreign Contributions (Regulations) Act which prohibit sub-granting of foreign funds has affected countless grassroot organisations at rural level.[2] The amendment also enables authorities to freeze the funds of any organisation based merely on ‘preliminary inquiry’. Previously, an organisation had to be proven guilty of contravening the provisions of FCRA for the government to be able to freeze its funds. The new provisions are arbitrary and unjust as they can be easily used to target and harass civil society organisations and human rights defenders, who very often express criticism and dissent towards the government.

The Indian government should uphold its voluntary pledge[3] made during the UN Security Council elections by continuing to ‘foster the genuine participation and effective involvement of civil society in the promotion and protection of human rights’.

‘FORUM-ASIA reiterates its earlier call for a repeal of the FCRA[4] and urges the Government of India to ensure an enabling environment for civil society to freely promote and protect human rights. It must cease its harassment of civil society organsiations and human rights defenders through repressive laws,’ said Shamini.

‘We also call upon the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRCI) to intervene in this case of harassment against a civil society organisation, and to ensure protection in accordance with the Regional Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders[5] of the Asia Pacific Forum. We strongly encourage the NHRCI to revisit the appeal[6] submitted by human rights defenders from 24 countries gathered in Colombo for the 7th Asian Regional Human Rights Defenders Forum, 2016, regarding non-renewal of CPSC’s FCRA registration,’ said Shamini.

The Indian government must put an end to the targeted harassment and reprisal against People’s Watch, and unconditionally drop all charges against them.

The special court inside Insein Prison handed down sentences against two prominent student leaders on Thursday.

Aye Aung, a 45-year-old former member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), received three years in prison for his role in anti-coup protests in Yangon’s Tamwe Township in March.

“The court decided that it was apparent that he led the protests,” his lawyer said.

Aye Aung, who took part in a student-led uprising against military rule in 1996, was previously sentenced to 59 years in prison by Myanmar’s former military junta. He spent 14 years behind bars until his release in 2012.

Fellow former ABFSU executive Min Thway Thit, meanwhile, was given a year in prison for driving an unregistered vehicle without a license.

The sentence handed down to the 38-year-old former political prisoner was the minimum for the charge, which is punishable by up to three years in prison, because the offense was related to his volunteer work with Covid-19 patients.

“There wasn’t enough evidence that Min Thway Thit owned or drove the car, but it was apparent that he was using it to transport patients during the pandemic,” his lawyer said.

A day earlier, another ABFSU activist got two years and one month in prison on charges stemming from his political activities in September of last year.

Wai Yan Phyo Moe was charged with violating Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for handing out and posting leaflets in Yangon’s Mahabandoola Park calling for the restoration of internet services in Rakhine State.

The sentence was handed down by a court in Kyauktada Township. The 23-year-old ABFSU president faces similar charges in two other townships in Yangon, as well as charges of incitement under Sections 505a and 505b of the Penal Code.

According to local media reports, at least 62 junta opponents, including politicians, activists, artists and other public figures, were sentenced on Thursday.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group based in exile, the regime is currently holding 8,331 people on charges related to their anti-coup activities, of whom only 487 have so far been convicted.

Local news website editor Pu Tuidim became the third journalist to be killed in Myanmar in just over three weeks when he was abducted and murdered by government soldiers in the northwest of the country last weekend. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this barbaric murder of a reporter who tried to inform his fellow citizens about the fighting between armed rebels and the military junta.

Pu Tuidim’s body was found in Matupi township, in Chin State, a mountainous region bordering on India, on the morning of 9 January, two days after he and nine other civilians were abducted by members of the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s armed forces, as he was covering the clashes between the Tatmadaw and local armed rebels. The soldiers shot him after using him as a human shield.

He was the founder and editor of the Khonumthung Media Group, a local news outlet named after Chin State’s highest mountain. Tragically, the website had just published an article about the Tatmadaw’s use of civilians as human shields.

On the evening of 9 January, Pu Tuidim's colleagues posted a statement condemning this practice and deploring their editor’s death “caused by the military council’s atrocities.” The message was circulated throughout the region under the hashtag of #အထူးဝမ်းနည်းကြေကွဲခြင်း, a Burmese expression meaning “Special Mourning.”

Escalating terror

“Cruelty, cynicism, barbarity – these words seem inadequate to describe Pu Tuidim’s shocking murder,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “He is the third journalist to be killed in Myanmar in less than a month, in a sign of the absolutely unacceptable practices increasingly employed by the junta. We appeal to the international community to toughen the sanctions imposed on the junta’s members in order to end this headlong escalation in terror.”

The most recent previous media fatality was Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung, who was killed by gunfire near the Thai border in the southeastern state of Kayin during a Tatmadaw artillery attack on 25 December. He was also covering fighting between the Tatmadaw and the People’s Defence Force (PDF), the armed resistance to the junta.

Freelance photographer Soe Naing was the first journalist to die at the junta’s hands. He died under torture on 14 December, four days after soldiers arrested him while he was covering a silent street protest in Yangon.

The number of journalists imprisoned in Myanmar has meanwhile risen to at least 59, according to RSF’s press freedom violations barometer, which is constantly updated.

They include two journalists who worked for the Zayar Times, a newspaper that was closed when the military staged their coup last February. The two journalists, deputy editor Pyae Phyo Aung and reporter Myint Myat Aung (also known as D. Myat Nyein), were each sentenced to two years in prison for “inciting crime” in a trial last week inside the prison where they are being held in the central city of Shwebo. The did not have access to a lawyer.

Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

A man who left his job as a teacher to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) was detained by soldiers in Sagaing Region last week and killed in their custody within days, his wife has said.

Hlaing Win, 40, was taken from Sabei Nanthar village on December 3 and later sent to an interrogation center at the compound of the junta’s Tank Battalion No. 6006 in Kanbalu Township.

Then on Wednesday his wife, Kaythi Oo, was told he had “died due to asphyxia” after she tried to contact his captors through the village administrator.

As well as his wife, he leaves behind a 7-year-old son and two daughters aged 10 and 15. His family said he was in good health when he was taken.

“My whole family was devastated to hear this news. He was the family’s only breadwinner. We don’t have anyone to depend on anymore,” Kaythi Oo said.

Hlaing Win worked as a teacher at a middle school in Baw village, Kanbalu for 15 years. After the February 1 coup, he joined tens of thousands government employees across the country who refused to work under the junta and left his job to work on a betel nut farm.

Upon learning about his death, Kaythi Oo tried to retrieve his body but was told he had already been cremated at the Kanbalu cemetery on Tuesday, the day the military says he died.

“I just wanted to see his body one last time so that I could have some closure,” she said. “I don’t even know how to cope with this now.”

An officer from the CDM group representing educators in Kanbalu said he believed the teacher was tortured to death like scores of others since the coup.

“There is no way we will ever accept this,” he said. “We are opposing them in a peaceful manner and they’re just blatantly killing us. Even after the revolution, we are going to need to take legal actions against them.”

A friend of Hlaing Win’s, who is also a teacher, said his death was a great loss for both his students and the country. “It’s so disgusting that they’re bullying us just because they have weapons. The death of such a good teacher made me feel as if I had lost everything,” he said.

“What I’ve learnt for sure is that we cannot afford to let the military council win in any way. We have to win. We can’t stop until we win,” he added.

Teachers are among those who have borne the brunt of a military terror camaign aimed at crushing opposition to its rule. On November 17, a teacher from Myintha village in Mandalay Region was killed at an interrogation center just hours after his arrest.

Another teacher from Ywarbo village in Mandalay was killed within 24 hours of his arrest on November 1, and his family never got his body back.

A junta spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Win Hlaing’s death.

At least 1,323 civilians have been killed by the junta since February, the latest tally from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners shows.

Family members of a teacher from Naypyitaw’s Lewe Township who was arrested on Monday were notified the following day that he had died in junta custody, they told Myanmar Now.

Hla Min Maung, 36, was arrested at a tea shop in Lewe for participating in the general strike in accordance with the Civil Disobedience Movement.

His father, Khin Maung Dwe, said that the township’s police chief had summoned the family at around noon on Tuesday and told them that Hla Min Maung had died due to underlying health issues.

“It breaks our hearts that an educated and civilised young man like him was killed overnight,” Khin Maung We told Myanmar Now on Wednesday.

“It would be different for us if he was put on trial and got convicted. He didn’t even get questioned, or a chance to defend himself. It is heartbreaking that he was killed, just like that, so quickly,” the father said.

A close friend of the victim’s family said that only three relatives were permitted to see Hla Min Maung’s body, and were only allowed to glimpse his face, which was reportedly bruised. They were not allowed to take any photographs.

The family was allowed to have a funeral in accordance with Islamic traditions at the Kwegyi cemetery on Tuesday evening, but attendance was restricted by the military.

Hla Min Maung had been a middle school teacher for eight years, specialising in Myanmar language and history. He had been working at a school in Matawtpin village.

His father, Khin Maung Dwe, is also a respected retired high school English teacher.

Kyaw Myint Oo, an elected Upper House parliamentarian for Mandalay’s Constituency No. 11, is also a former teacher who taught Hla Min Maung chemistry and physics when he was in high school.

“He was such a quiet person and he came from a very educated family. [Junta soldiers] could have just done it in a civilised manner if they wanted to interrogate him,” Kyaw Myint Oo said. “They no longer value human life, not even as much as that of a chicken.”

As of Thursday afternoon, Hla Min Maung’s family still had not been told further details surrounding his cause of death.

Myanmar Now called the Lewe police station three times regarding Hla Min Maung’s death but all calls went unanswered.

Deaths during interrogations have become more frequent as the military council continues to accuse people of being affiliated with anti-junta groups and networks.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners released a statement on Thursday reporting that at least 1,362 civilians had died at the hands of the military council since the February 1 coup.

A 22-year-old member of the central executive committee of the Yangon University Students Union was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour on Wednesday, nine months after his arrest at an anti-junta protest.

Aung Phone Maw was charged with incitement for allegedly violating Section 505a and given the maximum sentence by a Hlaing Tharyar township judge at a court hearing inside Yangon’s Insein Prison.

He was arrested during a demonstration organised by the General Strike Committee in Kyauk Myaung ward in Tamwe Township on March 3.

Despite a lack of evidence, the military council accused Aung Phone Maw of leading two other individuals to incite unrest in Hlaing Tharyar and of supporting the Civil Disobedience Movement, his mother told Myanmar Now.

“They could not provide any evidence for any of the things he was accused of,” Aung Phone Maw’s mother explained. “His lawyer did his best during his court hearing. Aung Phone Maw, however, confessed that he took part in around three protests. That’s all.”

The student activist refused to submit any evidence to the court in his defence, noting that he had no trust in the judiciary under the junta, but he allowed his mother to testify on his behalf.

“We at least hoped that the judiciary system would still be just. We did not expect much but it was our last glimmer of hope. It’s really sad that he got sentenced to prison without any evidence,” his mother said.

Aung Phone Maw was a fourth-year mathematics student at Yangon University. He joined the student union in 2018 and became a member of the central executive committee the following year.

He was active in defending students’ rights, ethnic rights and condemning the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. He wrote regular commentary on the anti-dictatorship movement and other political issues and became an editor at the Oway Journal in 2019.

“We still remember what he said during the protests in February. He used to talk about how we should never try to reconcile with the military, never hope for a supreme saviour, and to build a brave new world on our own,” Aung Kaung Set, also a member of the Yangon University Student Union, told Myanmar Now.

Aung Kaung Set added that Aung Phone Maw led a protest when lawyer William Schabas, who represented Myanmar’s delegation when the state was accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, spoke at Yangon University in March 2020.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, as of this week more than 10,000 civilians have been arrested by the junta since Myanmar’s February 1 coup, and 1,400 killed.

The military council has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation.

A student activist has died in Myanmar military custody, and the junta cremated his body without informing his relatives.

Ko Aung Bone Kyaw, a third year geology student at Yangon University, was detained on Sunday in Yangon’s Tamwe Township. He was taken to an interrogation center where he died the following day, according to the Yangon University Students Union. He was cremated at Yayway Cemetery the same day

“The military council didn’t inform [his family about the funeral]. His family found out from their contacts only just before the funeral. They rushed to Yayway, but were unable to see the body before it was cremated,” said Ko Aung Kaung Hset, the chair of the Yangon University Students Union.

Ko Aung Bone Kyaw’s family declined to comment out of concerns for their safety when contacted by The Irrawaddy.

“We heard that three other students were arrested along with Ko Aung Bone Kyaw. One of his classmates is now at the interrogation center,” said Ko Aung Kaung Hset.

It remains unclear why the students were arrested and how Ko Aung Bone Kyaw died.

Yangon Unversity’s Geology Department issued a letter of condolence over Ko Aung Bone Kyaw’s death, in which lecturers and students vowed to fight the dictatorship until the end.

His death in custody follows the jailing a few days ago of an executive member of the Yangon University Students Union. Ko Aung Phone Maw was sentenced to three years in prison by a junta court for incitement.

“The military regime is harshly persecuting young political activists who oppose military rule. Student union members held in Insein Prison are subject to solitary confinement and torture. Those who were beaten for their participation in protests were denied medical treatment,” said Yangon University Students Union chair Ko Aung Kaung Hset.

Political prisoners in Yangon’s Insein Prison joined the rest of the country in a silent strike on December 10 to mark International Human Rights Day. The Myanmar people stayed at home for the day to show their opposition to military rule.

Around 89 political prisoners and detainees, including members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, were beaten and held in isolation for participating in the silent strike. Those injured have yet to receive medical treatment.

On December 19, freelance photojournalist Ko Zaw Lin Htut, and Ma Su Yee Lin from Yangon Eastern University Students Union were detained at a Yangon protest. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

1,380 people were killed by the junta between February 1 and December 28, according to rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese region of Guangxi have handed down a three-year jail term to an outspoken rights lawyer for "subversion," amid fears for his safety in detention.

The Yulin Intermediate People's Court handed down the sentence to Chen Jiahong on Tuesday after finding him guilty of "incitement to subvert state power."

Chen's ex-wife Luo Fen said Chen, a prominent critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), wasn't present at the sentencing hearing, but was connected by video link from the detention center.

"Chen Jianhong wasn't in court, not in person," Luo told RFA on Tuesday. "He listened to the hearing via video link from the detention center."

She said there are concerns for his safety.

"Chen Jiahong revealed that he had been subjected to beatings by gang members in detention," Luo said.

Chen's former defense attorney Lu Siwei said Chen's outspokenness likely attracted the wrath of the authorities.

"He's kind of a big mouth," Lu said. "In terms of freedom of speech, you should be able to say anything, but lawyers also need to use logic."

"He has a very intense way of speaking and expresses himself through sarcasm, but none of that adds up to a crime," he said.

On China's tightly controlled internet, Chen is known for inscribing the slogan "Set up an assassination detail, liquidate this evil bureaucracy and promote democracy" in Chinese calligraphy and posting it to social media.

"I think the most import factor here was that calligraphy ... I think the police are using it as evidence of criminal behavior," Lu said, adding that no attorney had been present to represent Chen during Tuesday's hearing.

"Lawyers can deal with emerging situations as they arise in court, and they can keep the family members informed," he said. "But the most important thing is for the attorney to meet with and guide the client, and ask if the client wants to appeal."

"Defense lawyers should generally always be present in court, to avoid creating procedural problems," Lu said.

He said Chen had likely cut a deal with the national security police, given the relative leniency of his sentence.

"You plead guilty, and don't engage with them, and they find a way to give you a lighter sentence," he said.

Chen came to prominence in 2015, as police staged a nationwide operation targeting around 300 rights lawyers, law firms and activists.

He was later surrounded by armed police during a standoff relating to the death of Guangxi villager Luo Jibiao, and had his license to practice taken away.

A Hong Kong barrister was sentenced to 15 months in jail on Tuesday for using social media to incite people to attend a banned vigil remembering the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

Authorities last year, for the second time in a row, banned the city's annual June 4th memorial for the mainland Chinese student protesters who were killed in the violence. Police cited COVID-19 concerns, while critics argued it was part of a wider campaign to suppress memories of the event.

Chow Hang-tung, 36, who represented herself in court, was accused of incitement in connection with two articles published on Facebook and in a local newspaper, ahead of the 2021 commemoration.

In the newspaper article, the title of which said Hong Kong people "persevere in telling the truth," she concluded by writing, "At 8 p.m., I hope to see your candlelights," without specifying where.

In her defense, Chow had argued that the article called for candles to be lit anywhere -- not specifically at the vigil. She added that her detention restricted her freedom of speech.

But magistrate Amy Chan said in her judgment that Chow's acts were "calculated and planned, and that she was determined to attract as much public attention as possible, to exert influence and to leave a deep impression on other people."

Chow is already serving a 12-month sentence after she was found guilty last year with seven other activists, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, for similar charges of attending and inciting others to join the unauthorized vigil in 2020.

The magistrate said 10 months of the new jail sentence would be served following her current term, totaling 22 months of imprisonment. Chan said the defendant had attempted to "divert attention and deny the facts" in her testimony.

Before being convicted, Chow read out testimonies from families of victims killed 32 years ago. She was stopped short by the magistrate, who said the court did not allow expressions of political views.

"The court needs to hear the voices the regime wants to bury with this case," Chow had said before being interrupted.

Hong Kong officials have been waging an aggressive campaign to stifle the memory of Tiananmen since Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in 2020.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements, the group that led the vigils, disbanded last year after its leaders were arrested. Authorities froze 2.2 million Hong Kong dollars ($282,000) worth of assets following a raid of its June 4th exhibition. The group's leaders, including Chow, have also been charged with incitement to subvert the state under the sweeping security law.

Following the group's breakup, three Hong Kong universities removed memorials to the Tiananmen crackdown, including the iconic "Pillar of Shame" that had stood at the University of Hong Kong for 24 years. The disappearance of the statues, which universities said "posed legal and safety risks," sparked a barrage of global criticism.

Chow's sentencing also comes amid closures of independent news organizations in the international financial hub.

Citizen News, an online outlet, abruptly announced its decision to shut down on Monday and was to cease operations on Tuesday. This followed arrests of senior editors at another pro-democracy news organization, Stand News. Chris Yeung, chief writer of Citizen News, cited the worsening media environment and unknown "legal boundaries."

"We are completely unable to see clearly the lines of law enforcement and we are worried that we will breach the law," he told reporters.

Responding to the shutdown, Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam dismissed concerns over the erosion of press freedom and said decisions to close are unrelated.

"I strongly refute any allegations that this is related to the implementation of the national security law," she told reporters at her weekly news conference.

Four lawyers from Mandalay who had been working on the defence teams for politically motivated cases put forward by the junta have been held in an unidentified location for days since their December 19 arrest by the military authorities, according to members of their legal networks.

The families of the attorneys have not been able to confirm their whereabouts since they were taken into junta custody.

They were abducted from the office of Shwe Alin Legal Services near the No. 3 police station in Chanmyathazi Township, according to a Mandalay-based lawyer who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity.

“They haven't been transferred to Obo prison yet,” the lawyer said, referring to a major prison in the region. “We were told that they were still at the interrogation centre. No case has been filed against them either.”

Legal sources did not want to name three of the detained lawyers, but confirmed that one is Lwin Lwin Mar, who had been helping individuals charged with incitement since the February 1 coup. All four of the lawyers are women.

“I think they’re trying to make an example out of them so that no one would dare to take on political cases,” another lawyer based in Mandalay said.

Myanmar Now has been unable to contact junta officers at the No. 3 police station in Chanmyathazi for comment regarding the arrests.

The military has been detaining its political opponents across the country, with many killed in military custody.

Earlier this month in Mandalay, Thae Htwe Maung, a party member of the National League for Democracy from Pyigyidagun Township, and his wife were taken by the military to an interrogation centre. Within days, their families were told that they had died and their bodies were not returned for burial.

According to a Wednesday statement released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), more than 10,000 people have been arrested and nearly 1,400 people killed by the junta in the 10 months since the coup.

The military has denounced the AAPP as an illegal organisation and dismissed its figures as exaggerated.

The AAPP maintains that its regularly updated numbers are based on available data and that the actual totals of those arrested or murdered by the coup regime may be much higher.