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Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to jail terms of up to 10 years in a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city's once feisty democracy movement and drawn international condemnation.

A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law and had faced sentences of up to life in prison.

Sentences imposed ranged from just over four years to 10 years.

Benny Tai, a former legal scholar who was labelled as an "organiser" of the 47 pro-democracy activists, was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

The charges related to the organising of an unofficial "primary election" in 2020 to select the best candidates for an upcoming legislative election. The activists were accused by prosecutors of plotting to paralyse the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts had they been elected.

The US has criticised the trial as "politically motivated" and said the democrats should be released as they had been "peacefully participating in political activities" that were legal.

US President-elect Donald Trump's nominee as secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has been a staunch critic of the trial and in an earlier open letter criticised the convictions of the 47 democrats as evidence of the national security law's "comprehensive assault on Hong Kong's autonomy, rule of law, and fundamental freedoms".

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the national security laws were necessary to restore order after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019, and the democrats have been treated in accordance with local laws.

• Closely watched trial -

Hundreds of people had queued from the early hours outside the court, many holding umbrellas in light rain as they tried to secure a seat within the main courtroom and several spillover courts. Authorities deployed a tight police presence outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court and for several blocks in the vicinity.

"I feel such an injustice needs witnessing," said Margaret, 59, dressed in a white raincoat and black facemask, who was in the queue since Sunday afternoon. "I've long followed their case. They (the democrats) need to know they still have public support."

After a 118 day trial, 14 of the democrats were found guilty in May, including Australian citizen Gordon Ng and activist Owen Chow, while two were acquitted. The other 31 pleaded guilty, including student activist Joshua Wong and Tai.

A disabled man convicted of incitement for comments he posted on Facebook about Prime Minister Hun Manet was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Tuesday.

Phon Yuth, who has never had use of his legs and uses a wheelchair, was arrested in March after he posted and shared several messages that criticized the existence of undocumented Vietnamese people living in Cambodia.

He also posted comments about a Cambodian businessman who was accused of cheating people out of their money and mentioned Senate President Hun Sen in other posts that were published just months after Hun Sen stepped down as prime minister.

The resignation in August 2023 paved the way for his son, Hun Manet, to be appointed to the position.

“I want a new leader,” Phon Yuth wrote in one message earlier this year.

The 40-year-old was held without trial in southern Takeo province until this week. His wife, Mom Vith, told Radio Free Asia in September that the provincial court repeatedly extended his detention while delaying scheduled court hearings.

“Don’t leave him and abandon him in jail quietly and indefinitely like that,” she said.

After Tuesday’s sentencing, Phon Yuth was returned to Takeo Provincial Prison.

The harsh sentence could further dampen the exercise of freedom of speech in Cambodia, said Kim Piseth, a senior investigator for human rights group Adhoc.

“In this case, the authorities should have set up an investigation into the concerns, rather than blaming the people’s expression,” he said. “It doesn’t have any positive impact for people to express themselves.”

Phun Yuth was previously jailed for five months in 2019 on charges of incitement and publicly insulting officials after he criticized the government’s inaction and demanded Hun Sen’s resignation.

RFA was unable to reach court spokesman Nget Davuth for comment.

Luu Van Vinh‘s wife, Le Thi Thap, told Project88 that during her visit on Nov. 11, Vinh told her that two officials from the Ministry of Public Security had come to see him a few days earlier and warned him that if she kept “causing trouble” on Facebook, Thap might end up in prison herself. This really surprised her because, as she reported to Project88, she only posts about the personal burdens and hardships she has to bear, but never anything about the party or the government.

A young activist from Doda, whose detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA) was quashed in 2016 by J&K high court, has again been booked under the controversial law, with his family and a member of J&K legislative assembly alleging that he was targeted by the authorities for his activism.

The action comes days after five trade union leaders from the adjoining Kishtwar district of Chenab Valley were slapped with the PSA and taken into preventive custody, allegedly for raising concerns over the increasing health risks and environmental degradation caused by the construction of power projects in the region.

The controversial legislation, which has been dubbed as a “lawless law” by Amnesty International, has been widely used to silence political dissidents and government critics in Jammu and Kashmir by the Union government after the reading down of Article 370 in 2019, according to free speech activists.

Though the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir now has an elected government, the police report to the Union ministry of home affairs via the lieutenant governor since the UT government’s limited mandate does not extend to law and order.

‘Sympathiser of militants’

In its latest action on November 9, Rehamatullah, 25, who lives in Dessa Bhatta of Doda, was booked under the PSA on charges of being an alleged “overground worker and sympathiser of militants” who posed a “threat to the security of the state”. The dossier (PSA 02 of 2024) also accused Rehamatullah of being “in continuous touch with ISI/PAK based settled militants”.

However, the five-page dossier, which has been prepared by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda) and approved by deputy commissioner Doda Harvinder Singh, does not refer to any formal anti-terror charges under which Rehamatullah has been booked in the past.

The dossier stated that the young activist has been booked in five FIRs (two of them for his speeches, one each for wrongful restraint, abduction and criminal trespass) and he has got bail from the courts in all the cases. It also referred to a Daily Dairy entry (No. 5 of August 2, 2024) against Rehamatullah at Doda police station.

The DD entry accused the young activist of purportedly using VPN for accessing the internet “so that his anti-national activities and his links across the border with PAK/POK based militant cannot be detected”.

“As evident from the above, it can be…concluded that the subject has maintained his links with the PAK/ POK based militants, which may have been used by foreign terrorists in killing defense forces personnel in multiple attacks in the district in the last 6 months. It is clear that the subject…has become a great threat to the security of the State,” the dossier noted.

Rehamatullah is the father of two minor children and the youngest among three siblings.

‘A big scam’

However, Doda MLA and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, Mehraj Malik sought to link the detention of Rehamatullah under the PSA with a video interview on November 6 in which the activist had accused the Doda deputy commissioner of failing to enforce the rules governing the disposal of solid waste in the town.

Against the backdrop of plumes of smoke rising from mounds of garbage, which he claimed had been set on fire by Doda town’s municipal authorities, Rehamatullah can be heard saying that the unscientific disposal of garbage was causing health issues for the residents. A Solid Waste Management Project was approved by the National Building Construction Corporation Limited in 2008 for Doda to collect garbage from 17 wards of the town and convert it into manure.

“The plant was supposed to minimise the negative impacts of solid waste on environment, quality of life and health. Why is the magistrate not taking suo moto cognisance? Why is the pollution control board and municipality silent? It is a big scam. Crore of rupees are being swindled. The government should look into it,” the activist had asked.

In another video on September 16, Rehamatullah can be heard appealing the people to use their democratic right to vote to give a “befitting reply” to the “forces of tyranny” and “those targeting the identity” of Jammu and Kashmir, “I appeal people to throng the polling booths and give a befitting reply to the tyrants by raising the slogan of ‘Inquilab zindabad’,” he said.

The Wire has reached out to the deputy commissioner, Doda, Harvinder Singh for comment. This story will be updated as and when the response is received.

‘Only raising his voice on public issues’

Fayaz Ahmad, Rehmatullah’s elder brother, said that there was a knock on their door at around 5 am on Sunday morning, “When my brother opened the door, the cops told him that he was wanted by one of their officers. Our elderly parents tried to protest but the cops warned them not to raise an outcry and go back inside,” he said.

Ahmad said that a team of nearly three dozen police personnel, including female officials, had cordoned their home before his brother was whisked away to Doda police station. “Just a day earlier, he had raised some uncomfortable questions about the poor quality of construction material used for building a sewer line near our home,” he said, adding that he was away in Jammu at the time of the raid at their home on Sunday.

Ahmad said that his brother’s activism had become a cause of anxiety for their parents also due to which he had handed the charge of his readymade garments store in Doda to his younger brother in order to keep him busy. “He was not doing anything wrong. He was only raising his voice on public issues. If asking the government officials and contractors to follow the rules is a crime, then he is guilty,” he said.

According to Ahmed, Rehamatullah was first booked under the PSA in 2016. He had recently started Urban Insights, a web portal which was registered as a micro enterprise (UDYAM-JK-05-0011305) with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the Union government in the information services sector. Through it, Rehamatullah had aimed to amplify the voices of people on civic issues in Doda.

Quashing his PSA in 2017, the J&K high court had observed that Rehamatullah was deprived of his “fundamental right” to make “effective representation” against his preventive detention.

Charges against five trade union leaders

The detention of Rehamatullah came days after five trade union leaders in the adjoining Kishtwar district were booked under the PSA amid growing concerns over the environmental degradation caused by the power projects in the district.

The detention of the five leaders was condemned by the Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti, among others.

According to reports and several social media posts from journalists and activists in Chenab Valley, which comprises Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, the five detainees had been flagging the issues of environmental degradation, poor compensation and health hazards triggered by pollution due to the ongoing construction of these power projects.

However, the administration has accused the five men of “anti-national activities” and “disturbing public order”. Doda-based journalist and editor of The Chenab Times, Anzer Ayoub said that the fact that the detainees were trade union leaders “is a gross abuse of power.”

Authorities across China are cracking down on thousands of college students who took part in mass night-cycling events that commentators said could be seen as a new form of protest against the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The police department in Henan’s Zhengzhou city issued a warning to students on Nov. 9, following a mass “night ride to Kaifeng” by thousands of young people a day earlier, as a social media video about riding to the city in search of dumplings spawned dozens of copycat outings, eventually expanding to a mass cycle ride that some observers said left the authorities rattled, concerned that it could turn into a political protest like the “white paper” movement two years ago, or Halloween in Shanghai.

Video footage of the rides uploaded to social media of the Nov. 8 event showed phalanxes of cyclists riding abreast across several lanes of a highway, flying the Chinese national flag and singing the Chinese national anthem, many of whom were riding bikes from urban sharing schemes.

Police didn’t take action at the time, but they announced a ban on cycles from downtown Zhengzhou on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, reserving main roads for motorized traffic only, according to Jimu News.

Cycle-hire companies Hello, Qingjue and Meituan responded by banning the riding of their bikes between city jurisdictions, saying anyone who defied the ban would have their hired bike locked remotely.

A retired teacher from Zhengzhou who gave only the surname Jia for fear of reprisals said she saw the road from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng “packed” with cyclists on Nov. 8.

“I would say there were more than 200,000 people,” Jia said. “Zhengzhou to Kaifeng Boulevard was so crowded that ... there were no shared bikes left and a lot of people had to walk instead.”

“[The authorities] are very nervous,” she said.

The cycling bans came after the Nov. 8 ride was joined by more than 600 students who traveled down by train from Beijing to take part, and also by military veterans, a group regarded as highly politically sensitive by the government, who carried flags and shouted slogans calling for “freedom,” according to social media reports.

“Eight years in the Rocket Force, night ride to Kaifeng -- charge!” a person shouts in one video clip. “Five years in the Air Force, retired but still got it, night ride to Kaifeng, let’s go!” shouts someone else.

One Douyin user from Shandong posted a video saying the authorities in Henan were now cracking down on “night rides” by students in universities across the province, as well as in the northern provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi.

“One video I saw showed students from Shandong and Tianjin also took action, with some waving national flags,” the user said.

According to other social media posts, some students who tried to form a mass ride to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square were stopped and turned away at a police checkpoint, so they rode the 138 kilometers (86 miles) to the northern port city of Tianjin.

In the eastern city of Nanjing, tens of thousands of college students rode to Chaohu Lake 140 kilometers (87 miles) away or Ma’anshan, 59 kilometers (37 miles) away, while students in Sichuan’s provincial capital Chengdu role to Dujiangyan 70 kilometers (43 miles) away and students from Xi’an rode 28 kilometers (17 miles) by night to Xianyang.

According to Jia, authorities in Zhengzhou also locked down college campuses across the city and wouldn’t let students leave.

“All students were told to return to campus, and then not allowed out again for a certain period of time,” she said. “The universities sent out a lot of internal notices to counselors and other staff, which you can seen online.”

Jimu News reported that students at the Henan Institute of Science and Technology in Zhengzhou were required to get a special pass to leave campus, citing campus officials.

Zhengzhou-based teacher Li Na said she was amazed at the students’ actions.

“Let’s not impute a political stance to this, but at the very least it shows that young people in mainland China are very eager to take part in public life,” Li said. “Secondly, they are very organized.”

“I don’t know how they are communicating with each other given how tight the controls are, and yet it’s gotten so big that students all over the country have responded,” she said.

Li cited local media reports as saying that universities in Shanxi and other places had gone as far as to label the bike rides a “political movement,” and warn students not to take part on pain of having a black mark on their record.

University staff were also working “ideologically” with students to persuade them not to take part, she said.

“This isn’t the first time we have seen the capacity of young people to organize,” Li said. “The first time was the white paper movement, and the second was Halloween.”

Li Meiyao, a psychologist from Shanxi, said the initial bike ride in June was described as a way to alleviate mental health problems by the young woman who posted about it first.

“I rode a bike to Kaifeng to eat dumplings, because I haven’t found any other way to release the depression caused by the three-years of pandemic restrictions,” she paraphrased the original post as saying.

University students endured months of lockdown on campus during the three years of zero-COVID restrictions, which ended in December 2022, and were sent home en masse when they gathered to protest, with the authorities blaming instigation by “hostile foreign forces” for the protests.

A Henan-based commentator who gave only the surname Gong for fear of reprisals said the rides likely started out as a way for young people to let off steam.

“At the outset, this was about having fun, with a few young students going to Kaifeng, but why did they get such an instant response?” Gong said. “Because college students have been isolated and shut off from society for such a long time, and rarely had the opportunity to take part in any public events.”

“It was an important opportunity for them to let off steam, express themselves, and affirm their values in a public setting,” he said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is highly concerned after Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub’s personal number was leaked online and, separately, local intelligence personnel followed and repeatedly questioned her throughout a four-day reporting trip in the northeastern state of Manipur in early October, according to three people familiar with the situation who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of official retaliation.

“The relentless targeting of Rana Ayyub, one of India’s most prominent journalists, is shameful,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Indian authorities must swiftly investigate the doxxing of Ayyub and hold the perpetrators accountable. Using surveillance and intimidation to deter journalists from reporting effectively has no place in a country that prides itself on being the mother of democracy.”

Security personnel stopped and questioned Ayyub, a global opinion writer at the Washington Post, at checkpoints during her trip, according to those sources and CPJ’s review of video and audio recordings.

Officers asked Ayyub about who she was meeting and what she was reporting on. They said they followed her for her “safety,” and the measure was ordered by “higher office.”

Ayyub said on Friday, November 8, that a right-wing account on social media X shared her personal phone number and asked followers to harass the journalist. She told CPJ she received at least 200 phone and video calls and explicit WhatsApp messages throughout the night, including repeated one-time password requests from various online commerce platforms.

Ayyub filed a complaint with the cybercrime police in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, on Friday.

CPJ’s separate emails requesting comment about the surveillance and harassment complaint from the Manipur police and the Mumbai cybercrime police did not immediately receive a response.

Ayyub’s reporting has previously led to online trolling and official intimidation. She previously faced criminal investigations, received rape and death threats, and is currently fighting a money laundering case in court.

Five union leaders have been detained under the Public Safety Act in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district for allegedly attempting to “obstruct” the construction of hydropower projects in Chenab Valley, the Kashmir Times reported on Monday.

Those detained were identified as Mohammad Abdullah Gujjar, Noor Din, Ghulam Nabi Choppan, Mohammad Jaffer Sheikh and Mohammad Ramzan.

They had flagged issues related to environmental degradation, damage to property, health hazards caused due to the ongoing construction of these projects and inadequate compensation for those affected, reported The Wire citing unidentified sources.

An official spokesperson for the district administration said that the detained persons were “not desisting from their illegal acts” despite prior warnings. Kishtwar District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar Shavan had taken a strong stance against “anti-national activities”, the spokesperson added.

“There were apprehensions of disturbing public order and putting threat to the security of the state by them,” the Kashmir Times quoted the unidentified spokesperson as saying. “As soon as the warrants were received, the police took them into custody and executed the warrants.”

The Public Safety Act is a preventive detention law that allows persons to be taken into custody to prevent them from acting against “the security of the state or the maintenance of the public order” in the Union territory.

Twenty-two other persons were also placed under surveillance for allegedly attempting to obstruct projects of national importance in the region, according to the Kashmir Times.

The district magistrate directed agencies to monitor persons who “try to disturb the public order by false propaganda and keeping an anti-national attitude of slowing pace of mega projects,” the spokesperson added.

Responding to the detention of the union leaders, Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti said that many across Jammu and Kashmir had been booked under draconian laws like the Public Safety Act and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act on “trivial charges” in the past five years.

In a post on social media, the former chief minister said: “This latest case of slapping PSA [Public Safety Act] on 5 people for raising their voice against the exploitation of our water resources by NHPC [National Hydroelectric Power Corporation] to fill in their own coffers is shocking because people have high expectations from the newly elected government.”

She added: “Hope they look into it immediately and see that these draconian laws are not used arbitrarily against our own citizens for raising genuine concerns.”

The Chenab Valley comprises the Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts.

Experts have warned about several potential dangers, including environmental damage and natural disasters, associated with about six hydropower projects that are in various stages of development on the Chenab river.

Activist detained under PSA in Doda Another 25-year-old environmental activist, identified as Rehmatullah Ahmed, was also detained and booked under the Public Safety Act for allegedly challenging the district administration in Doda over civic issues, the Kashmir Times reported on Monday.

On November 9, Ahmed was booked under the Act for allegedly being an “overground worker and sympathiser of militants” who posed a “threat to the security of the state”, The Wire reported, quoting from the documents concerning his arrest.

The documents accused Rehamatullah of being “in continuous touch with ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence]/PAK [Pakistan] based settled militants”.

Activist and conscientious objector Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal has been charged with draft evasion after he refused to participate in the military conscription process.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Netiwit reported to the police at Bang Pu Police Station in Samut Prakan last Friday (8 November). He was charged with draft evasion under Section 45 of the 1954 Military Service Act.

Netiwit denied the charge and will submit his testimony in writing later. TLHR said that he is required to report to the public prosecutor on 3 December, and that it is possible he will be indicted then.

On 5 April, Netiwit went to a military conscription centre in Samut Prakan, where he was supposed to take part in the draft. In an act of civil disobedience, he read a statement in front of the centre saying that he will not be reporting for the draft in protest at compulsory military conscription in Thailand, which he said is a violation of human rights and personal moral beliefs. It is outdated, ineffective, and undermines democracy. Not only does it not promote equality, it also enforces a system of oppression, he said.

The 27-year-old is an education reform activist and has also worked with communities surrounding Chulalongkorn University facing eviction and rising rent prices. He has been vocal about his objection to compulsory military conscription, and on his 18th birthday, he published a declaration saying that he is a conscientious objector and will not participate in military conscription, which he said is obsolete, and asking why supporters of peace and nonviolent action cannot reject conscription.

All Thai men over 21 years of age who have not completed reserve officer training are required by law to participate in the draft, and join the military either voluntarily or by participating in a lottery, unless they do not meet the physical and mental health standards. No exception is made for conscientious objectors.

During his 5 April protest, Netiwit said that although he could have found ways to avoid being drafted, it is necessary to directly confront the issue for the improvement of civil rights and freedom. By presenting himself and protesting publicly, he said he is showing that he has never intended to evade the draft or flee. He is aware of the legal consequences of his action and is willing to face them.

On November 7, the Almaty regional court left the verdict against journalist Duman Muhammedkarim unchanged. His lawyer Galym Nurpeyisov informed Azattik about this. In August of this year, the court of the first instance sentenced Duman Muhammedkarim to seven years in prison . In addition, he was banned from engaging in social and political work for three years.

"The seven-year prison sentence remained unchanged. The additional sentence was increased. The prosecutor requested in the court to ban Duman from visiting public places, meetings, participating, giving interviews to the media and other restrictions for three years. The judge complied with this request," lawyer Galym Nurpeyisov said on November 8. To freedom.

We asked the lawyer, "The court of the first instance banned Duman Muhammedkarim from engaging in social and political work for three years. And how does it differ from the ban imposed by the appeals court?" he asked.

Based on the court documents, the lawyer said that the restrictions imposed on Duman in the court of first instance: the types of services were not clearly specified, but this time they were clearly written. Among the places or platforms a journalist cannot participate in are "conferences, debates, television programs, including media, social networks and other telecommunications networks, strikes, peaceful gatherings, political parties, religious organizations, social movements, trade unions."

"This will actually be house arrest," said the lawyer.

According to the lawyer, at the appeal stage, Duman did not allow Muhammedkarim to fully familiarize himself with the case materials. Both the journalist and the lawyer consider the sentence illegal and plan to file a cassation appeal.

"The court did not consider our requests at all. The right was violated. We believe that the court fulfilled a political order," said the lawyer.

The Court of Appeal was closed. Supporters and media could not enter it. In the video published by the YouTube channel of The Qazaq Times, it is seen that activists gathered in front of the court building. They said "Freedom to Duman!" shouted. A special squad guarded the vicinity of the building.

According to the lawyer, the defense side left the journalist in Kapshagai, and then wrote a request to Astana asking to be transferred from there to Zarechny. No answer yet. Before that, the journalist was in Taldykorgan detention center.

There is no information about the court on the website of the Almaty regional court.

46-year-old journalist Duman Muhammedkarim worked in state channels for about 20 years. Worked as a press secretary of the akim of the West Kazakhstan region. From 2021 on YouTube "Ne Deidi?" opened a channel and began to publish various materials about social and political events in the country.

Duman Muhammedkarim became widely recognized in the political environment after the January 2022 incident. He is one of the few journalists who reported from the center of the chaos in Almaty during the massacre in which at least 238 people were killed.

Duman Muhammedkarim was arrested last June on charges of "financing extremism" and "interfering with the work of a banned organization." The reason for the criminal case was the journalist's interview with Mukhtar Ablyazov, an opposition politician who has been living abroad for many years, the leader of the "Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan" movement. In 2018, the court of Kazakhstan recognized the "KDT" movement as an "extremist organization" and banned its activities on the territory of the country. The European Parliament called the organization a "peaceful opposition movement".

Kazakh human rights defenders recognized Duman Muhammedkarim as a "political prisoner". Official Astana says "there are no political prisoners" in the country.

Petronila Guzman and Lenville Salvador, board members of Kaduami (Katinnulong Daguiti Umili ti Amianan), and Myrna Zapanta, a lay worker and member of the secretariat of the Ilocos Regional Ecumenical Council (IREC), received subpoenas from the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month directing them to answer trumped-up charges of allegedly violating the terrorist financing law. They are set to submit their counter-affidavits on November 7, 2024 at the DOJ.

“Targeting grassroots development workers, especially now that the country has been ravaged by drought from El Niño, then by successive destructive typhoons, betrays the anti-people character of this regime,” said Karapatan deputy secretary general Maria Sol Taule. “The Marcos Jr. regime is doing a great disservice to the impoverished and marginalized communities that have been benefiting from the projects implemented by these persecuted development workers.”

“We are in solidarity with Guzman, Salvador, Zapanta and all other development workers who are now under fire for espousing genuine people’s empowerment through community-based disaster preparedness and response as opposed to the Marcos Jr. regime’s trickle-down approach,” concluded Taule.

Koet Saray, president of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), was convicted of incitement this morning by the Phnom Penh Capital Court and sentenced to four years in prison for comments he made earlier this year about a violent eviction in Preah Vihear province.

Saray, who was forcibly defrocked by Cambodian authorities in 2021, was arrested outside the association’s office in April 2024 after he spoke to the media about a land conflict in Preah Vihear province during which authorities burned down people’s homes. He was charged with incitement to commit a felony under Article 494 and Article 495 of the Criminal Code. He was also charged for “committing a misdemeanour after sentencing for a misdemeanour” under Article 88 of the code, which allows for a doubling of a defendant’s prison sentence if they have been convicted of the same misdemeanour within five years. This article was applied to Saray’s four-year prison sentence, who will also pay an around US$500 fine.

The youth leader was commenting on a land dispute involving an Economic Land Concession (ELC) granted to Seladamex in Preah Vihear. Shortly before his arrest, Saray met with villagers who were involved in the dispute and urged officials to resolve the issue.

Saray was previously arrested in 2020 alongside eight other activists, all of whom were charged for incitement for peacefully protesting the arrest of former union leader Rong Chhun. In that case, Saray received a 14-month prison sentence, a $500 fine and was placed under a two-year probation period with restrictive conditions lasting until November 2023.

A 57-year-old jailed pro-democracy activist faces serious health issues in detention in the Bangkok Remand Prison, raising concerns over the adequacy of medical care for detainees.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that Chen Chiwobancha, a 57-year-old detainee who was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for royal defamation, was found to have serious health issues since last Friday (1 November). He informed his lawyer that he felt weak and experienced numbness throughout his entire left side.

On Wednesday (6 November), he showed symptoms, such as a drooping eyelid and mouth on the left side and numbness in his feet. These ongoing symptoms caused trouble in his daily life, making it difficult for him to chew or speak clearly.

Chen had previously requested a health check-up at the Corrections Hospital, but at that time, the Bangkok Remand Prison had not issued a transfer order.

After learning of Chen’s health problem, the lawyer on 6 November urged the prison to expedite his transfer to the hospital. Chen was transferred to the Corrections Hospital the following day. However, after a check-up, he was sent back to the prison, with a follow-up appointment scheduled for 13 November.

According to TLHR, the lawyer also plans to submit a bail request along with a petition to question the Corrections Department’s doctor and Chen’s personal doctor. Chen remains detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison until the court decides on his bail request.

The detainee said he was aware that medical treatment in prison was slow and not as good as that available outside, noting that all detainees face the same situation - when they fall ill, all they can do is wait. He asserted that detainees deserve the right to timely medical care.

Today (8 November), TLHR later reported that Chen was hospitalised and under close observation after it was found that he had suffered an ischemic stroke in the left side of his brain.

Chen, along with two other activists, were found guilty on four charges: royal defamation, contempt of court, defamation by publication, and unauthorised use of a sound amplifier. The charges stemmed from a protest on 28 July 2022 in front of the Bangkok South Criminal Court where participants demanded bail rights for two detained pro-democracy activists, Nutthanit Duangmusit and Netiporn Sanesangkhom, who later died during detention.

Chen has been detained since 18 September and was denied bail since the court deemed the case severe and was concerned that he might flee.

In the past two weeks, three radio stations in Khost province have been banned from broadcasting by local authorities. Their return to to the airwaves is conditional on their compliance with repressive rules: no music or calls from female listeners. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Taliban Minister of Information and Culture to end the oppression of the right to information in Afghanistan.

The office of the privately-owned radio station Lawang has been sealed since 6 November. Located in Khost province in southeastern Afghanistan, the station was targeted by the tyrannical policies of the provincial authorities for the Promotion of Virtue and the Repression of Vice, which accused the station of violating its new rules. On 26 October, media outlets in Khost province were banned from broadcasting music. The provincial authorities had already banned women's voices from being aired on the radio in February. A news station launched in January 2024, Lawang also played a role in public education, broadcasting learning programmes aimed at young girls, who have been banned from secondary and higher education since March 2022.

A few days before Lawang was shut down, Zhman Radio experienced a similar disruption for violating the ban on broadcasting music. Founded in 2017, the local media outlet mainly broadcasts political, social, cultural, and educational programmes. The station was eventually allowed to resume activity on 11 November — provided it complied with the new restrictions. This also happened to Gharghasht Radio, which was closed on 31 October before resuming operations three days later, on the condition that it stopped broadcasting music.

"Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban have been conducting a brutal crackdown on the Afghan media, stifling all independent voices and plunging the country into a silence fostered by fear. Their crackdown on Khost radio stations is a worrying sign that the ideologies inflicted on the media are hardening. We call on the Taliban authorities in Khost to reopen Radio Lawang immediately, to stop forcing radio stations to close, and to respect the right to information. Radios must continue to broadcast freely.

Célia Mercier Head of RSF's South Asia Desk The repression of media outlets on "morality" grounds is particularly intense in Khost. Three radio journalists, Ismail Sadat of Radio Naz, Wahidullah Masoum of Radio Iqra and Ehsanullah Tasa of Radio Walas Ghazh, were arrested and detained for several days last April, accused of broadcasting music and airing telephone calls from women.

On 5 November, Chief Judge of the Capital City Court of Criminal Appeals announced that the entire appeal trial of Unurtsetseg Naran, editor-in-chief of the news website Zarig.mn, scheduled for 7 November, will be held behind closed doors.

The journalist was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months in prison in July after a closed-door trial held at the Criminal Court of First Instance of Sukhbaatar District in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. Unurtsetseg was found guilty of five charges: “tax evasion”, “disclosure of personal information”, “illegal acquisition of state secrets”, “money laundering”, and “spreading false information”. While the court stated that its decision to hold the trial behind closed doors was based on the grounds of national security and protecting the sensitive information of a minor, its complete gag on disclosing any information about the proceedings is a worrying sign.

The initial proceedings were widely criticised by civil society groups in Mongolia, who pointed out that, despite the serious nature of the charges brought against this journalist, the court had conducted the trial behind closed doors. A joint statement by Mongolian press freedom NGOs declared that the decision goes against the principle of an open, transparent court, and could potentially result in “unpredictability of the media industry’s process, intimidation, and foster self-censorship among journalists.”

“By sentencing a reporter to nearly five years in prison mainly on national security charges after a closed-door trial — and providing no information on the evidence produced — the Criminal Court of First Instance of Sukhbaatar District created a dangerous and concerning precedent that could deter Mongolian journalists from investigating topics of public interest. We urge the Capital City Court of Criminal Appeals, which will revisit the case, to ensure transparency and open as much of the trial as possible to the public." said Cedric Alviani, RSF’s Asia-Pacific Bureau Director.

Unurtsetseg Naran is well-known for her investigations exposing the corruption and money laundering of high-ranking Mongolian officials, work that previously led to at least 16 defamation charges against her, according to RSF’s information. In this ongoing case, she was first investigated for “spreading false information” following her social media posts criticising the Mongolian judicial system, then later charged with more serious offences. She was arrested in December 2023, detained for over two months, and then placed under house arrest before being sent to jail.

Press freedom has recently deteriorated in Mongolia, despite the government's claims that it is committed to democratic values. In May 2024, journalist Bayarmaa Ayurzana was arrested, detained and subsequently charged in connection with investigations into alleged misconduct by the country’s former deputy prime minister, who is now a member of parliament.

Mongolia, ranked 109th out of 180 territories in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index, has plummeted down 36 places since 2020. The press freedom situation is considered “difficult” due to frequent abusive legal proceedings against journalists, the concentration of media ownership, and growing political pressure and corruption among political elites that impact the media.

Chinese authorities in Tibet have denied to retry an envirnomental activist who is serving a seven-year sentence for campaigning against government corruption, his lawyer said on social media.

Anya Sengdra, 53, a resident of Kyangchu township in Gade (in Chinese, Gande) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has already served six years of his sentence for “disturbing social order” after he complained online about corrupt officials, illegal mining and the hunting of protected wildlife.

He was convicted and sentenced in 2019, and has attempted to appeal the decision twice before, his lawyer Lin Qilei said in a post on X on Tuesday.

“This marks the third appeal for a retrial submitted to the Sixth Circuit Court of the Supreme People’s Court in Xi’an,” Lin said on X.

“As usual, I filled out the necessary forms and waited in line. After some time, a judge came out and informed me that they had decided not to review Sengdra’s case,” Lin said. “He advised me not to return to the court regarding this matter in the future.”

In 2020, a group of UN human rights experts appealed to the Chinese government, urging them to dismiss the charges against him.

Earlier this month, the Chinese authorities detained Tsogon Tsering, a Tibetan environmental activist from Sichuan province after he made a rare public appeal on social media for action against a company he accused of illegally extracting sand and gravel from a river.

Tsering has remained in custody since then and his whereabouts are still unknown.

Journalists reporting a protest were injured in a police attack in Kaski on November 5. Kaski lies in Gandaki Province in Nepal.

According to information provided by FF province representative Rajan Upadhyay, correspondent at Kantipur Television Indra Poudel, Public 4K Television’s cameraperson Rajkumar Majhi and editor at drishyamkhabar.com Binod Lamichhane were attacked while reporting protest of the Rastriya Swatantra Party cadres at Shahidchowk, Pokhara. Police baton charged the journalists while controlling the mob. Journalist Poudel received injury on his hand and his mobile fell into drain. Cameraperson Majhi and editor Lamichane also sustained minor injuries as police kicked with boot.

Representative Upadhyaya also quoted Superintendent of Police at District Police Office Shyam Babu Oliya as saying the attack was not targeted towards journalists.

Moreover, journalists had not worn press jackets and carried visible identity cards which made it difficult to differentiate them while controlling the mob, according to police.

The party cadres have been protesting against the arrest of their leader Rabi Lamichhane.

However, a fellow journalist Apil Tripathi commented that cameraperson Majhi was attacked even though he was carrying an identity card and a camera with the clear logo of media house.

The Quang Nam and Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have arrested two social media users and charged them with “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state and the legitimate rights of other individuals” under Article 331 of the Penal Code. Both of these internet users were accused of sharing information or hosting live streams on Facebook that contained defamatory details about Communist Party leaders, government officials, and local cadres, which allegedly violated Section 2 of Article 331.

The Nhu Xuan District Police Department in Thanh Hoa Province on Nov. 4 prosecuted Bui Van Tuan, 41, under Article 331 after their investigation found that the internet user had used his Facebook account, “Tuan Dung,” to live stream and purportedly “make false statements to slander and damage the reputation, honor, and dignity of officials in Nhu Xuan District.” According to state media, Tuan also incited the public to protest the construction of several projects in the locality, but it did not state if there was any conflict between residents and the constructors.

Meanwhile, the Department of Cyber​security and High-Tech Crime Prevention of Quang Nam Provincial Police on Nov. 5 coordinated with Dai Loc District Police to prosecute and impose a house arrest order on Le Manh, 73, who lives in Dai Loc, to investigate his alleged “abusing democratic freedom” activities. The police announced that between 2018 and October 2024, this senior resident had used a Facebook account named "T.N.D." to publish more than 300 articles with false information to defame state leaders and distort the history of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. State media reported that the police gathered evidence and is continuing to investigate both cases.

Article 331 of the Penal Code is a vague and broadly defined provision that the government frequently uses to stifle freedom of expression. Individuals prosecuted and imprisoned under this controversial law are diverse, including social activists, land rights petitioners, social media users, and journalists.

A Hong Kong legal body has issued warning letters to lawyers linked to a defunct fund set up to help protesters arrested during the 2019 protests.

In a Chinese statement on Monday, Law Society of Hong Kong President Roden Tong said the group had completed an investigation into 16 lawyers in relation to the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund.

The lawyers investigated included those who had received money from the fund, which provided financial and legal assistance to individuals detained in connection with the protests and unrest in 2019.

According to Tong, those lawyers had engaged in acts that could compromise their integrity and the reputation of the profession, potentially breaching the Solicitors’ Practice Rules.

The society sent out warning letters of varying severity to the lawyers. According to local media outlet Ming Pao, no cases had yet been transferred to the disciplinary committee empowered to revoke their licenses.

“As the regulatory body for Hong Kong lawyers, the Law Society of Hong Kong attaches great importance to the conduct of members. We have established and effective mechanisms for handling complaints,” Tong added.

In January, then-president of the Law Society Chan Chak-ming, said it had concluded investigations into 10 out of the 16 lawyers. He said at the time that those 10 cases included “unsubstantiated” and “substantiated” cases.

Set up during the 2019 unrest, the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund provided legal assistance and funds for psychological counselling, medical treatment and emergency relief to protesters.

The fund ceased operations at the end of October 2022, making it among the dozens of civil society groups to disband in the wake of the Beijing-imposed national security law. Ahead of its disbanding, five prominent activists who served as trustees of the fund were arrested, including Cardinal Joseph Zen, barrister Margaret Ng and singer Denise Ho.

They were apprehended by national security police on suspicion of conspiring to collude with foreign powers, but were later charged with failing to register the fund under the Societies Ordinance.

The activists pleaded not guilty but were convicted in November 2022 and fined up to HK$4,000 each. They have sought to challenge their conviction, with the High Court set to hear the appeal next January.

Separately, the Hong Kong Bar Association said in January that it had completed its investigations of 38 barristers linked to the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. None were found to have engaged in professional misconduct.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”

Prominent Tibetan language rights advocate Tashi Wangchuk was detained for 15 days on charges of ‘disrupting social order’ and allegedly spreading false information on social media and is now under strict surveillance, RFA Tibetan has learned.

Wangchuk’s detention comes as China intensifies its policies to suppress — or even eradicate — Tibetan and other ethnic languages and cultures and replace them with Mandarin and Han Chinese customs.

According to a release notice issued by the Yulshul (in Chinese, Yushu) City Detention Center obtained by RFA, Wangchuk, 39, was arrested by the Internet Police Unit in China’s Qinghai province on Oct. 20. After an investigation, he was detained for 15 days in the Yulshul Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture until his release on Nov. 4.

The document, dated Nov. 4, said Wangchuk -- a former political prisoner -- was accused of posting “false information” on social media platforms since June, for “repeatedly insulting and ridiculing government departments” and “negatively impacting the online environment and public order in society” by allegedly distorting and rejecting government policies.

Despite his release, Wangchuk remains under strict surveillance and is being subjected to ongoing interrogation, said a source familiar with his situation, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

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A shopkeeper from the Yulshul township of Jyekundo, also called Gyegu, said Wangchuk was released from prison in January 2021 after he completed a five-year term for discussing language restrictions with Western media, but rights groups had continued to express concerns about his health and safety amid ongoing controls on his freedom.

‘Forced assimilation’

Maya Wang, associate China director at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said Wangchuk’s case reflects the Chinese government’s broader efforts toward assimilation.

“Tibetans who have pushed back for Tibetan language rights – notably Tashi Wangchuk – and for their rights to express themselves, practice religion and culture in the way they prefer, have been imprisoned and harassed for doing so,” Wang told RFA.

“This is all part of the Chinese government‘s efforts to forcibly assimilate what they consider to be ’ethnic minorities' and subsume them into what [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] considers to be a rising Han Chinese nation,” she said.

Wang noted that the Chinese government has systematically replaced the Tibetan language with Mandarin as the medium of instruction in primary, middle and secondary schools, except for classes studying Tibetan as a language - treating it akin to a foreign language.

While China claims to uphold the rights of all minorities to access a “bilingual education,” Tibetan-language schools have been forced to shut down and kindergarten-aged children regularly only receive instruction in Mandarin Chinese.

Observers say such policies are aimed at eliminating the next generation of Tibetan speakers and part of a broader effort by the government to destroy Tibetans’ cultural identity. Similar policies are deployed against Mongolians in Inner Mongolia and Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

Earlier prison term

Since 2015, Wangchuk has been advocating against China‘s policies undermining the Tibetan language, calling for language protection as guaranteed in laws governing the country’s autonomous regions.

Wangchuk rose to prominence that same year through an interview with The New York Times about his efforts to sue local authorities in eastern Tibet after Tibetan language classes were canceled.

After the release of The New York Times documentary featuring his interview, Wangchuk was arrested in 2016 and tortured by Chinese authorities.

Since his release in from prison in 2021 Wangchuk has traveled throughout Tibet raising awareness of Chinese authorities’ suppression of the Tibetan language in schools, as well as petitioning government officials to defend and preserve Tibetan language and culture.

Activists and his lawyer say that Wangchuk has been under continued surveillance since his release.

In July 2023, human rights lawyer Lin Qilei said in a post to the social media platform X that he had met Wangchuk in Yushu, but their meeting and time together was cut short due to restrictions on their communication and local police pressure.

“Tashi Wangchuk’s case makes the harassment and scrutiny that former political prisoners face even more evident,” said Tenzin Khunkhen, researcher at the Central Tibetan Administration’s Human Rights desk.

Khunkhen also raised concerns about Wangchuk’s well-being, stating that his arrest and detention reflects the Chinese government’s ongoing crackdown on political prisoners in Tibet.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department had reportedly detained and interrogated around 20 individuals, including several former political dissidents and relatives of political dissidents after they gathered to attend a party hosted by a Vietnamese-Australian friend. According to some individuals who attended the meeting and requested anonymity, the incident occurred around 10 p.m. on Nov. 1, when they returned home after having a party at a restaurant in District 12.

The traffic police pulled them over on their way home, saying they needed to check the drug and alcohol concentration in their blood, and then divided them into smaller groups and took them to different police stations for questioning. An anonymous source told RFA that after the police forced them to go to the police station, they did not conduct the testing. Instead, the police interrogators reportedly questioned the attendees about the purpose of the meeting and their social connections.

According to RFA, among those taken to the police station were two former prisoners of conscience, Do The Hoa and Ho Dinh Cuong, who finished their sentences in 2023. Nguyen Thi Chau, wife of political prisoner Nguyen Ngoc Anh, was also detained and questioned. Many of these detainees were freed between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. the following day, and some were forced to write a commitment “not to share information critical of the party and the state” on their social media accounts. Two other individuals, including a Vietnamese-Australian citizen, were held for at least 24 hours before being released.

Chinese rights lawyer Wang Yu has been hospitalized after her health deteriorated following a nine-day hunger strike, which she began in protest during her detention following an Oct. 23 altercation with police outside a court building in the northern province of Hebei.

Wang was released from Weicheng County Detention Center on Nov. 1 after a brief administrative detention for “disrupting public order” following the fracas, and was taken straight to hospital by her husband and fellow rights attorney Bao Longjun, Bao told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.

When she got out, Wang was “completely hunched over and unable to walk” on her release from the detention center, and he carried her on his back, shocked at how little she weighed.

“It felt like carrying a sack of cotton wool; she was so light,” he said, adding Wang likely weighed around 70 catties, or 40 kilograms.

Scans at the Wei County People’s Hospital revealed a “shadow” on Wang’s liver, so Bao had her transferred to the highly regarded Handan Central Hospital where she was placed on a drip and gradually started to eat solid food again, he said.

Targeting rights lawyers

Bao and Wang, who were among the first to be targeted in the July 2015 arrests, detention and harassment of more than 300 rights lawyers, public interest law firm staff and rights activists across China, are now staying in a hotel while they plan further medical treatment, he told RFA Mandarin on Nov. 1.

Police detained Wang along with fellow rights attorney Jiang Tianyong after they showed up to defend their client Liu Meixiang against corruption charges at the Wei County People’s Court.

A scuffle ensued after police snatched away the camera of a family member who tried to take photos of them, according to a lawyer at the scene who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.

Bao submitted a legal opinion through legal channels out of concern for his wife’s health on day 7 of her hunger strike, but nobody would accept the document, he said.

“I asked them to send Wang Yu to the hospital, and I went to the detention center and rang on the doorbell, saying that I wanted to meet with Wang Yu to get her to eat and drink,” Bao said.

“They lied to me, saying there was no need for that, and that she had eaten something the night before, but she hadn’t eaten anything at all, actually,” he said.

Wang‘s hunger strike was in protest at the authorities’ refusal to allow her to meet with her lawyer or family members, as well as their refusal to provide adequate medical treatment and to let her take a shower, among other things.

Bao said he plans to take Wang to seek further medical opinions in Beijing and Tianjin.

He also plans to appeal her administrative sentence as a form of public protest at her treatment.

“There’s no rule of law in this country, so all we can do now is to use it to speak out on our own behalf,” Bao said.

‘Heartbreaking’

U.S.-based rights lawyer Yu Pinjian said he had seen a photo of Bao Longjun carrying Wang Yu to hospital, which he described as “heartbreaking.”

“Human rights lawyers should be allowed to fight their cases using evidence and the law to defend their clients in court, but now they’re forced to go on hunger strike to defend their own human rights,” Yu told RFA Mandarin. “This shows that the legal system that human rights lawyers depend on for their survival has collapsed.”

Wang’s hunger strike came as authorities in the southwestern region of Guangxi released rights attorney Qin Yongpei at the end of a five-year prison sentence for “incitement to subvert state power,” people familiar with the case told RFA Mandarin.

Qin returned to his home in Nanning city following his release on Oct. 31, but his wife declined to comment when contacted by RFA Mandarin, saying it was “inconvenient,” a phrase often used to indicate pressure from the authorities.

Qin Yongpei was detained in November 2021 by the Nanning municipal police department during a raid on his Baijuying legal consultancy company.

His wife has previously said that Qin had spoken out many times about misconduct and injustices perpetrated by police and local judicial officials, and had likely angered many within the local law enforcement community.

U.S.-based rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said Qin hadn’t broken any laws with his consultancy activities, despite having been stripped of his lawyer’s license.

“He was accused of inciting subversion of state power only because he posted a lot of his personal opinions on the internet,” Wu said. “Everything he did was in compliance with the law and human justice in any normal country.”

“So he was wrongly convicted,” Wu said, calling on the authorities to restore his legal career and allow him to make a living.

“The most worrying thing is his physical condition,” he said, adding that the authorities typically continue to “stalk and harass” people on their surveillance blacklist even after their release from prison.

Vietnamese activist and blogger Duong Van Thai was tried in a closed trial on Oct. 30, 2024, where he was sentenced to 12 years in prison, followed by three years of probation.

Thai, who fled to Thailand in early 2019 after publishing content critical of the Vietnamese government, was abducted by Vietnamese intelligence agents in Bangkok earlier in April. Despite holding UN-recognized refugee status, he was forcibly returned to Vietnam, sparking international criticism regarding Hanoi’s cross-border targeting of dissidents.

This severe sentence reflects Vietnam’s stance on political dissent, a pattern also seen in other high-profile cases in which Vietnamese activists have been detained or tried following similar forced repatriations.

Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have condemned the trial, noting that the closed nature of the proceedings contradicted international standards for transparency and due process. Concerns remain high about Vietnam’s treatment of political prisoners, as Thai joins a growing list of activists facing lengthy sentences for peacefully expressing dissent.

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labour Advocates (AHRLA), said this about Thai's trial: “Duong Van Thai is a victim of Hanoi's policy mindset that 'might makes right' and they can do whatever they want to Vietnamese people, wherever they are in the world and no matter what their status or citizenship... There are no words to adequately describe the Vietnamese government's despicable and illegal act to abduct Duong Van Thai, and now Hanoi is further compounding that violation by sentencing him to a long prison sentence."

A Burmese-Indian activist who went missing after slamming a Myanmar film as racist toward Hindus is in the custody of authorities, who are investigating him for “instigation,” the junta announced Wednesday.

Hindus have faced decades of discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, where they endure restrictions on religious practice and travel, according to the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report.

Shine Htet Aung, 33, disappeared on Oct. 26, days after posting a review of the Myanmar rom-com “Jar Kit Sar Pu Thee” (Have You Ever Ridden a Jeep) on Facebook, in which he described the film as racist toward Hindu culture. The review went viral on social media, garnering thousands of likes and shares.

His family and friends had expressed concern for his safety in interviews with the Mizzima media outlet after he was reportedly abducted by individuals in plainclothes while volunteering at a school for the blind in Yangon region’s Mayangone township.

On Wednesday evening, the junta announced that Shine Htet Aung, the owner of the Facebook account “Her Sal Yon (Ko King),” was detained at the police station in his home township of Hlaing in Yangon region.

The announcement said police are investigating Shine Htet Aung, also known as Vuy Htet Kumar, for “inciting propaganda through social media to undermine national stability.” It provided no details of the reason for his arrest.

In his Oct. 24 Facebook post, Shine Htet Aung had expressed concerns about the title and promotional attire in a poster for Jar Kit Sar Pu Thee, which is due to be released next month.

He said the poster portrayed Hindu culture in a stereotypical and offensive manner and noted that Jar Kit Sar Pu Thee is a mock Hindi word used to greet Hindus in an offensive manner.

After the post went viral, pro-junta channels on the social media platform Telegram called for his arrest for “instigating racial and religious” hatred.

His Facebook account has since been deactivated.

Prior to the announcement of his arrest, a source close to Shine Htet Aung’s family called his likely detention as “unfair.”

“Almost everyone in this country dislikes the dictators, except for the lobbyists and their supporters,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

According to Myanmar’s 2014 census, Hindus make up only 0.5 percent of the country’s population, whereas 88 percent of the people identify as Buddhist and 4.3 percent as Muslim.

The Supreme Court has denied bail for an activist charged with royal defamation for wearing a shirt with the message “I have lost faith in the monarchy,” and sentenced him to six years in prison.

Tiwagorn Withiton, a 48-year-old pro-democracy activist, was charged with royal defamation, sedition, and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for posting messages in February 2020. The posts called on the monarchy to stop using the royal defamation law and demanded the release of political detainees, and he also posted a picture of himself wearing a white t-shirt with the message “I have lost faith in the monarchy.”

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), after posting the picture, Tiwagorn revealed that he was visited by a dozen plainclothes officers from the Internal Security Operation Command. He said they asked him not to wear the shirt, repeatedly asserting that it would cause chaos within the country.

On the following month, he was arrested and forcibly admitted to Khon Kaen Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital, He was discharged on 22 July 2020 after a public campaign calling for his release. He was arrested again on 4 March 2021 and taken to Tha Phra Police Station in Khon Kaen and charged for the Facebook posts he made.

In September 2022, the Khon Kaen Provincial Court dismissed charges against Tiwagorn because the evidence did not prove that the defendant intended to defame or express hostility to the monarchy.

However, the Appeal Court overturned the acquittal, ruling that he intended to defame the King by posting a picture of himself wearing the shirt and inviting people to buy the shirt, and because people were leaving comments on his posts which were defamatory against the King.

The Appeal Court found Tiwagorn guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act and sentenced him to nine years in prison (three years for each offence). The sentence was reduced to six years due to his useful testimony. However, it found him not guilty of sedition because there was no evidence that he was trying to incite people to violate the law.

On 24 September, TLHR reported that Tiwagorn’s lawyer had filed a bail request with the Supreme Court with 500,000 baht as security, arguing that the Region 3 Appeal Court had granted two activists in the previous case bail and Tiwagorn has elderly parents to take care of.

The Supreme Court upheld the Appeal Court’s verdict, saying there was no reason to change the initial ruling. Tiwagorn has been detained at the Khon Kaen Special Correctional Institution for 43 days since the Appeal Court sentenced him to prison.

Activist Sopon Surariddhidhamrong has been sentenced to 2 years in prison on a royal defamation charge for a protest speech criticizing the government’s Covid-19 vaccine programme and the royal family’s use of taxpayer’s money, bringing his total prison sentence to 8 years and 6 months.

Sopon was charged with royal defamation and using a sound amplifier without permission after he gave a speech during the 1 May 2022 Labour Day protest at Government House, during which he spoke about the lack of access to Covid-19 vaccines and how certain privileged groups are getting access to vaccines ahead of everyone else.

The public prosecutor indicted Sopon because he said that Princess Sirivannavari, King Vajiralongkorn’s youngest daughter, and her friends were getting the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine before everyone else, and that members of the royal family are getting the AstraZeneca vaccine while the people are denied access to it because the King is a shareholder in Siam Bioscience, the only company licensed to produce the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in Thailand.

The public prosecutor said that Sopon’s speech violated the royal defamation law because he insulted Princess Sirivannavari, who the prosecutor sees as the heir to the throne, caused a misunderstanding about members of the royal family’s access to Covid-19 vaccine, and defamed the monarchy by claiming that donations to hospitals were from taxpayers’ money.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that the Criminal Court yesterday (29 October) found Sopon guilty of royal defamation and sentenced him to 3 years in prison, later reduced to 2 years because he gave useful testimony. The charge under the Sound Amplifier Act was dismissed.

Sopon is currently facing a total prison sentence of 8 years and 6 months for three counts of royal defamation. He has been detained pending appeal since 24 August 2023.

TLHR reported that, before the judge read out the verdict, Sopon asked to make a declaration to the court. He took off his shirt, showing cuts in his chest in the shape of the number 112. He told the Court that it might seem unusual for him to cut himself or take his shirt off, but what is more abnormal is that people are being prosecuted for royal defamation and denied bail when neither the Bureau of the Royal Household nor the King is involved in filing charges. He hopes that the court’s ruling would be a lesson for himself and other observers in the courtroom.

A note from Sopon was later published on his Facebook page, stating that, although he hurt himself cutting the numbers into his chest, he wanted to do something to show those in power that something is wrong with the justice system when it comes to the royal defamation law.

On 29 October 2024, the Suzhou Intermediate Court in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, convicted human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and woman human rights defender Xu Yan for “inciting subversion of State power”. Yu Wensheng was sentenced to three years in prison while Xu Yan was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. They have both been arbitrarily detained since April 2023 when they were arrested by public security agents while en route to an event in Beijing organised by the European Union Delegation to China.

Between 28-30 August 2024, Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan were put on trial separately at the Suzhou Intermediate Court. Diplomats from concerned countries went to Suzhou to observe the trials but were not allowed to enter the courtroom on the pretext of there being no available seats. Other human rights defenders who went to the court or attempted to travel to the court were either barred from entering or intercepted on the way by public security agents.

KARAPATAN condemns the arbitrary arrest of two Southern Tagalog trade union organizers on October 27, 2024.

Arrested in Makati City were Gavino Panganiban, Director for Campaigns of the Kilusang Mayo Uno-affiliated Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK), and Maritess David, a labor organizer of the Organized Labor Association in Line Industries and Agriculture-Kilusang Mayo Uno (Olalia-KMU). David faces trumped-up charges of murder while Panganiban faces charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

David’s case stems from the Bloody Sunday raids on the former office of the Alyansa ng mga Manggagawa sa Engklabo in 2021 where the arresting team planted several firearms and explosives before serving their search warrant.

Since yesterday afternoon, KARAPATAN paralegals and David’s family have also been illegally blocked by elements of the Philippine National Police from entering the rented house in Makati, where the two were arrested, to safekeep the personal belongings of both David and Panganiban. No warrants have been issued to search the said house.

Dozens of people braved the rain and defied an official ban to turn out in Halloween costumes ranging from Buddha to Batman in Shanghai at the weekend, as the authorities cracked down on those who used the fall festival to take subtle aim at the ruling Chinese Communist Party, complain about the state of the world, or just have some fun.

Despite heavy police patrols in the downtown area, video footage showed a large crowd of mostly young people under umbrellas, some in costume, and some cheering them on and filming their performances on their phones. In separate clips, revelers were shown being taken away, some in full costume.

Video and photos uploaded to the Instagram account @drinkdownccp captioned “Halloween in Shanghai” showed people dressed in a huge variety of cosplay outfits including a Chinese emperor and his concubine, Jesus in an LED halo, the scissor-toting eponymous character from the 2007 Japanese horror movie “Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman,” No Face from the Hayao Miyazaki anime hit “Spirited Away” and Huawei smartphones.

Police, urban management officials and business owners in downtown Huangpu district last week warned of “strict controls” on cosplay activities, saying anyone breaking the rules would be subject to “coercion” if they didn’t lose their make-up or costume when told to remove it by the authorities.

People were banned from wearing costumes and elaborate make-up in public, while buildings in the district are also banned from displaying any form of Halloween decoration, including bats, pumpkins, ghosts, coffins and skeletons, while “horror or violence-related elements” will not be allowed, according to a directive from local authorities.

Yet many defied the ban, often to make a point to the authorities, according to social media footage and photos posted from the streets of Shanghai, which saw mass protests against the government as recently as November 2022.

In one photo, someone wears a mask emblazoned with the words “save the leeks!” in a reference to online slang that refers to ordinary Chinese people as resources to be used or harvested by those in power to suit their own purposes. Two people turn up dressed as Lenin and Stalin, waving to the crowd.

In another sign of public dissent linked to the flagging economy, a young woman dresses as “the Ghost of Poverty,” wearing a sign that reads “whatever you try, there’s still no money.”

Another reveler dresses in a traditional robe referencing the 1919 May 4th youth movement, carrying a copy of the New Youth magazine used by young people to express political dissent, another as the Statue of Liberty, while another holds a sign that reads “Police warning: homosexuals!” in a likely reference to recent crackdowns on the LGBTQ+ community.

In another clip on the same account, someone in a Trump mask wearing the red neckerchief of the Chinese Communist Party youth organization Young Pioneers dances to the Village People’s 1978 hit “Y.M.C.A.”

Reuters video footage from Shanghai at the weekend showed police on patrol, and a line of police mini buses parked along a street in the downtown area.

“Unless they’re from Happy Valley or Disney, costumes and make-up are not allowed,” a young woman says in a social media video clip circulating at the weekend, in a reference to China’s chain of homegrown amusement parks. “Especially when it comes to certain neighborhoods in the downtown area.”

“There’s no way they’re letting anyone do that.”

In a separate social media clip, another person cosplaying as former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is taken away from a store by security guards, as a commentator announces: “Breaking news: Trump gets chased by security guards!”

A Shanghai resident who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals said he saw several people taken away by police.

“Some of the women were wearing Qing Dynasty costumes, while some men were dressed as emperors,” Wang said. “They were all taken to the police station.”

“The main reason is that they’re afraid that too many people will gather,” he said. “They get particularly worried about large gatherings, particularly spontaneous ones.”

A Taiwanese national who runs bars in Shanghai’s Jing’an district and Julu Road, where much of the cosplaying took place, said they had been contacted by police last week and warned not to encourage any Halloween-themed activities.

“The local police told us ... there were to be no Halloween activities, no displays, and nobody in weird costumes, on pain of them shutting the bars down,” the person said. “It was so sad.”

Some cosplayers gathered in Hangzhou, a one-hour high-speed railway trip away, after social media posts suggested it as an alternate venue to Shanghai, propelling “Halloween in Hangzhou” to the top of social media search results. Yet some cosplayers there were also asked to remove their costumes and taken away by police for questioning, according to social media footage.

Similar scenes were reported in Dongshankou, the artists' district of Guangzhou.

A resident of the southern province of Guangdong who gave only the surname Chen for fear of reprisals said many young people see costumes as a way to express dissatisfaction with the government.

“Dongshankou is a downtown area, and part of the old city,” Chen said. “The costumes they wear express dissatisfaction, and such dissatisfaction can easily evolve into a demonstration.”

“The government fears this more than anything,” he said. “So many images are sensitive under the current regime, which has so many sore points and sensitive topics.”

One sensitive topic appeared to be the fact that Sunday marked the anniversary of former premier Li Keqiang’s death, which prompted a wave of spontaneous national mourning that many saw as an indirect criticism of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s handling of the economy.

According to social media posts from local residents, police were patrolling the streets around Li’s former residence in downtown Hefei, capital of the eastern province of Anhui, where local people left thousands of floral tributes a year ago.

Authorities in Anhui and Henan provinces meanwhile canceled two major marathon events originally scheduled for Oct. 27, citing unexplained “reasons,” postponing them to early November instead.

Nine villagers and a monk were questioned by police and allowed to return home after signing a contract related to the dissemination of Paris Peace Agreements’ information in Kampot province. A civil society group noted that the space for freedom of expression and to assemble has tightened.

Approximately 10 villagers, including a monk, gathered at a public park to mark the 33rd Paris Peace Agreements on Wednesday, in Kampot city.

At 8 a.m, they were summoned for gathering without permission and allowed to return about 10 p.m that day.

Meas Den, 44, said he arrived home about 10 p.m after signing a contract agreeing to stop conducting activities without the Kampot city police’s permission with regards to the celebration.

He said he participated in the event to share his knowledge, and uphold the spirit of the agreement which talks about safeguarding territorial sovereignty and human rights issues.

“We just shared about the law [Paris Agreement Agreements] but we weren’t allowed, so we don’t know how to talk with them [the participants],” he said.

“Yes, I think it restricts the right to freedom of citizens. We just shared about the law, there is nothing wrong [about that],” Den said.

Another participant, Pech Sokny, said police questioned her regarding the celebration and creating a movement relating to the Facebook page of Srun Srorn, an activist of the Paris Peace Agreements.

“In my opinion, this is a serious violation of human rights. As we know our current society is [led by a] democratic leadership and adheres to constitutional law,” she said.

“People did nothing wrong, we just talked about the law and shared knowledge with each other but they [authorities] repressed our rights and freedom,” Sokny said.

She opined that educating the public does not necessarily require permission from the authorities.

Kampot city administration chief Svay Nith confirmed that the people were questioned because they carried out activities without the authorities’ permission.

“It’s wrong because they wanted to disseminate [information] without permission,” he said. “To assemble, disseminate something requires permission.”

Kampot city deputy police chief Kong Bunthoeun said police officials called them to ask for information regarding the celebration of the Paris Peace Agreements.

“We have just educated them that when they want to disseminate something in public places, they need to inform our local authority in order for us to ensure public order and security for them,” he said.

“We have not restricted their rights, but on behalf of local authorities, [who are] like their parents, they have to inform the authorities,” Bunthoeun said.

Paris Peace Agreements activist Srun Srorn, along with three others were charged with criminal incitement in July after a live broadcast on Srorn’s Facebook about the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area agreement.

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), in its 2023 annual publication, noted that restrictions and violations of fundamental rights in Cambodia have risen.

According to the report, 633 incidents related to fundamental freedoms were recorded in 2023. Out of this, 255 incidents had at least one restriction, and 377 involved abuse.

Ninety-eight incidents of systematic expression were recorded, with 64% of these violations involving freedom of expression on social media. Facebook had the most number of restrictions or abuses.

Yun Phally, provincial coordinator of rights group Adhoc, expressed concern that the right to freedom of speech has shrunk, noting that citizens had the right to exercise freedom of speech in public as stipulated in the constitution.

“We saw that the authorities seemed to restrict people who share knowledge, laws and the constitution with other people,” he said.

“Citizens have the right to express opinions and share information,” Phally said.

The company that produced the animation “2475 Dawn of Revolution” has filed a defamation lawsuit against Prachatai, its editor-in-chief, and three other people, claiming that a news article from March 2024 contained false information about the company’s relationship with the Army.

Launched on 9 March 2024 and later released online, the animation was produced by Nakra Studio. The copyright is owned by Nakraphiwat Company Limited. After its release, the animation was criticized by pro-democracy netizens for misinterpreting the events of 1932 and for painting those behind the revolution in a bad light.

There were also reports that several army units were screening the animation to conscripts and officers, including the 2nd Signal Regiment, which wrote on its Facebook page that the animation was screened to soldiers in the Regiment and their families to raise the “right awareness” about the revolution and build a “love of the nation, religion, and King.”

On 15 March 2024, Prachatai reported that, according to the analysis of the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand, the Army had previously commissioned 11 media production projects from the Nakraphiwat Company. The report noted that the animation was not named on the list and that its producers also said that they did not receive government funding to make the animation.

On 23 October, Prachatai received a court summons stating that the Nakhrapiwat Company has filed a lawsuit against the Foundation for Community Educational Media (FCEM), the foundation which runs Prachatai, its former editor-in-chief Senator Tewarit Maneechai, former FCEM President Dr Kasem Sirisampan, and three other people who shared the 15 March news article, for defamation by publication and bringing into a computer system and sharing false information.

The company said that the lawsuit was filed because the 15 March article falsely claimed that it received funding from the Army to produce the animation.

Authorities in the northern province of Hebei have detained prominent rights lawyers Wang Yu and Jiang Tianyong after they showed up at a local court in a bid to represent a client.

Wang, Jiang and several other lawyers arrived at the Wei County People’s Court near Hebei’s Handan city on the morning of Oct. 23 to defend their client Liu Meixiang against charges of corruption.

A scuffle ensued after police snatched away the camera of a family member who tried to take photos of them, according to a lawyer at the scene who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.

Jiang, 53, stepped in to protect the client’s relative, but was later accused of attacking Xiao Junfei, whose identity was unclear, a police document showed.

“Jiang Tianyong was involved in a scuffle while trying to stop them, but he didn’t fight back,” the lawyer said.

Police also shoved and hit Wang Yu, after she told them they were breaking the law by taking the person’s camera, the lawyer said.

“They took her into their room where they hit her and shoved her with some force,” they said. “Wang Yu called them hooligans, so they said she had a bad attitude and detained her for nine days.”

“She went on hunger strike in detention,” the lawyer said.

‘Forcibly restrained’

Jiang Tianyong, 53, is being held under an eight-day administrative detention order after being detained by police outside the Wei County People’s Court on Oct. 23, according to a copy of the detention notice shared with RFA Mandarin, which accused him of “beating” another person outside the court.

“Jiang Tianyong will be detained for eight days under the Public Security Administrative Punishment Law, and fined 300 yuan (US$42),” the notice issued by the county police department said, adding that Jiang would be held in the Wei County Detention Center near Handan city.

Liu Meixiang’s husband Qiu Bin was also put in administrative detention, while a fourth person was detained briefly and released on the same day.

Lawyers Peng Peng, Duan Hanjie and Shi Yu tried to meet with the three detained lawyers on Oct. 25 at the Wei County Detention Center, but were denied permission by the authorities and later filed a complaint with the local police department about it.

Wang Yu’s husband Bao Longjun told RFA Mandarin that the three were eventually permitted to meet with their lawyers on Oct. 26.

“We met with Wang Yu, who was on hunger strike,” Bao told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. “The authorities are accusing Wang Yu of disrupting the work of the Weicheng police station, but she did no such thing.”

In fact, Wang was assaulted and humiliated by the police, he said.

“More than a dozen police officers came and forcibly restrained Wang Yu, pushing and shoving her into an iron-barred cell and stripping her top off,” Bao said.

According to Wang’s account cited by Bao, police officer Cao Ran twisted her arm and treated her “improperly” as she was being taken away.

Repeated calls to the Weicheng police station rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.

Wang told Bao she was finding it hard to get hold of drinking water in the detention center.

The five Acehnese students who participated in the demonstration rejected the Pilkada Bill which was arrested by the police in the Aceh People's Representative Council (DPRA) building area, were confirmed to have been released after several hours of being questioned at the Banda Aceh Police Headquarters.

"Alhamdulillah, the five people who were arrested during the action have all been released," said the Director of the Aceh NGO HAM Coalition who accompanied students, Khairil Arista, in Banda Aceh, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, August 24.

Previously, thousands of students from various campuses together with civil elements on behalf of the Aceh Indonesian Guard Alliance for Democracy (API-Democracy) came to the Aceh DPR office to call for the rejection of the Pilkada Bill because it was considered to annull the decision of the Constitutional Court (MK).

The action that lasted until that night ended in chaos, so the Banda Aceh Police arrested five demonstrators from the students who carried out the action.

Those arrested during the demonstration were two UIN Ar-Raniry students on behalf of M Defri Siregar and M Haikal, one UBBG student Habib Rizki, one USK Banda Aceh student Azhar Maulana.

Then, another participant in the action who was arrested was a member of the Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Rahmad Maulidin.

Khairil said, after being taken information by the police, the demonstrators were released at around 01.20 WIB. Welcomed by members of students and other Acehnese civilian elements.

Khairil ensured that all the students arrested were in good condition. While at the Police Headquarters, they were only asked for information.

"Only information was taken what happened in the field, and Alhamdulillah, everything was free and still in good health," he concluded.

Tsongon Tsering has been arrested and detained in Khyungchu County for voicing a complaint against rock and sand mining in Tsaruma Village, Khyungchu County, Ngaba.

According to information received today from a reliable source, a native of Tsaruma Village, Khyungchu County, in Ngaba, Tsognon Tsering, recently published a video which appealed for attention and action towards the issue of ongoing rock and sand mining activities in the village on social media platforms. Although, along with him, several other people from the village were summoned for interrogation, the source informed us today that the other people returned home later, but Tsongon Tsering was held in detention in Khyungchu County.

The same source said, “ Tsongon Tsering has been arrested and detained. He remains in detention at Khyungchu County. Yet, his family and village people are hoping for him to be released as soon as possible. Maybe they will release him tomorrow or the day after.”

According to information received by the Tibet Times, on 22nd October, the Khyungchu County Police summoned and interrogated Tsongon Tsering and some people from the village at Khyungchu County. Even though the other people from the village were released, Tsering’s condition remains unclear. On top of that, the appeal video and voice messages published on his Kuaishou social media account have been restricted and deleted. His Kuaishou account (搓俄) does not appear when one searches for it.

Tsering published an almost five-minute video complaint on his Kuaishou account. In the video, he discussed in detail that from May 2023 onwards, the Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Company, while working on the construction of the new highway in Tsuruma village, began to engage in illegal rock and sand mining and transportation on the banks of Dhangchu River near the road. He further stressed that the large-scale mining and transportation have caused serious damage to the local ecology. Heavy sand mining has caused damage to the river and poses great danger to the local residential area.

The local Tibetans of Tsaruma village submitted photos and videos documenting and highlighting the damage caused to their residences in a legal complaint that they filed to the Tsaruma local government, the Khyunchu County Disciplinary Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Water Resources Department and other related government bodies of both Khyungchu county and Ngaba prefecture. Yet, none of the government bodies responded to the complaint.

In September 2023, the local people of Tsaruma filed the first legal complaint against Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Company. Even though, at that time, the Khyungchu Environmental Protection Agency investigated the damaged area, the results of the investigation and the subsequent findings were not publicised. From October to December 2023, the local people appealed to the Ngaba prefecture Water Resources Department to request clarification on the results of the investigation and the findings. They did not receive any response from the Department.

Recently, a source informed tibettimes that the issue of sand mining in Tsaruma village stems from the government-level construction projects in Ngaba prefecture. As such, even as it is a fact that the Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Company has illegally engaged in sand mining in Tsaruma, the prospect of the complaint filed by the local people of Tsaruma bearing any result remains very bleak. The source also voiced suspicions about the Company illegally mining for other minerals in the same area.

Tsering is currently 29 and the only son of Phurkho and Wangdon. His father, Phurko, is around 60 and Wangdon, his mother is around 50. Tsongon Tsering is someone who has always actively taking the responsibility of local and public issues.

Agitated protestors manhandled reporters while reporting in Pokhara on October 20. Pokhara lies in Gandaki Province of Nepal.

Freedom Forum's representative for the province Rajan Upadhyaya shared that reporters Niraj Tamang and Anita Ghimire were manhandled while reporting live of a protest at Shahidchowk, Pokhara.

According to representative Upadhyay, reporter Ghimire said that they were reporting live of the political cadres' protesting against the arrest of Former Home Minister and President of Rastriya Swatantra Party Rabi Lamichhane. Lamichhane was arrested by a team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) from the party's central office in Kathmandu on October 18. Then, he was presented before the Kaski District Court in Pokhara on October 20. Lamichhane has been accused of embezzlement of funds from a local cooperative office based in Pokhara.

"During live broadcast protestors shouted- this is the television channel which broadcasts news critical to our party and leader. They also tried to damage our camera", she informed.

Nguyen Thi Tam, serving a six-year sentence for “propaganda against the state” at a prison in Vietnam, said her cellmate threatened to kill her, Tam’s daughter told Radio Free Asia.

Since April, she has been sharing a cell with a woman jailed for drug offenses at the prison in Thanh Hoa province.

Tam told her daughter the woman, who Radio Free Asia is not identifying given the sensitivity of the situation, swore at her, kicked her legs when she was trying to sleep at night and threatened to “beat her to death.”

She complained to prison guards and asked them to move the woman to another cell but said officers only tried to reassure her, saying they had already “disciplined and educated” her cellmate. However, Tam said the problems didn’t stop.

“My mother sleeps a lot during the day and doesn’t dare sleep at night because she’s afraid that when everyone else is asleep, she might be in danger,” her daughter, Nguyen Thanh Mai, told RFA on Monday following a phone call with Tam.

Mai said her mother’s mental and physical health were under a lot of strain because of her cellmate’s behavior. She is already suffering from uterine fibroids and stiff joints.

RFA Vietnamese called Prison No. 5, where Tam is being held, but no one answered the telephone.

Tam said she thought prison authorities were punishing her for speaking out against officers’ behavior, such as unreasonably confiscating personal belongings, and poor conditions, such as overcrowded cells.

On Oct. 20, two officers took Tam to the communal hall to watch a Vietnam Womens’ Day performance, during which a female officer sat next to her. Whenever a fellow inmate started talking to Tam, the officer moved them away.

Former political prisoner Dang Thi Hue, who was held at Prison No. 5 from May 2021 to January 2023, said she had also shared a cell with the woman who threatened Tam.

She told RFA the abusive prisoner is protected by guards who use her to try to destroy the will of other inmates, particularly political prisoners.

Sri Lankan police must cease harassing journalists Selvakumar Nilanthan and Tharindu Jayawardhana, following their reporting on alleged government misconduct, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

“With a new president, Sri Lanka has an opportunity to improve press freedom,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Police should drop their complaints against journalists Selvakumar Nilanthan and Tharindu Jayawardhana and allow them to work freely.”

On October 20, police in eastern Batticaloa district arrested Nilanthan after he did not attend a court hearing related to a 2019 investigation on multiple allegations, including obstruction of a public officer and defamation over his reporting on alleged government corruption.

Nilanthan told CPJ that neither he nor his lawyer received notice of the September hearing before he was detained in an overcrowded cell in Eravur town with an open defecation area.

Nilathan was detained together with journalist Kuharasu Subajan, his surety in the case responsible for guaranteeing that the defendant appears for court hearings.

The two were released the next day, when Nilanthan was granted bail after a court denied the police’s request for a 14-day remand. His next hearing is on January 20.

Separately, on October 9, Induka Silva — head of the police Criminal Investigation Department’s homicide unit — sought an order from the capital’s Colombo Fort Magistrate Court against Jayawardhana, editor-in-chief of the news website MediaLK, over a video in which he commented on allegations of misconduct against Silva and the appointment of Ravi Seneviratne to the Ministry of Public Security.

At the time the video was published, Silva was investigating Seneviratne over the government’s failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people. Seneviratne was the senior deputy inspector-general of the CID at the time.

On October 12, Silva was transferred to the police headquarters, according to Jayawardhana and a copy of the order reviewed by CPJ.

Silva’s report, reviewed by CPJ, accused Jayawardhana — who has reported extensively on the attacks — of publishing false informationand obstructing the investigation into Seneviratne. The next hearing is scheduled for January 15, Jayawardhana told CPJ, adding that he feared he would be arrested.

Seneviratne told CPJ that Silva’s report against Jayawardhana violated the journalist’s freedom of expression.

CID Director Mangala Dehideniya and Eravur police officer-in-charge N. Harsha de Silva told CPJ that they were unable to immediately comment and did not respond to CPJ’s subsequent text messages.

Free Tibet’s research partner, Tibet Watch, has learned that Tibetan language advocate Tashi Wangchuk was detained last month on 20 October. The Yushu City Police Detention Centre released him last Monday after 15 days.

The organisation responsible for his detention was the ‘Cybersecurity Brigade’ (网安大队).

Tibet Watch obtained the official arrest warrant dated 20 October 2024 by the Yushu City Public Security Bureau, which states that Tashi Wangchuk was given 15-day administrative detention penalty for having supposedly fabricated and spread, since June this year, “unconfirmed, false, and untrue videos and speeches” that slander and defame the government organs on social media platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou.

The notification further stated that his posts distorted and denied the decisions and policies implemented by the government and seriously disrupted the cyberspace environment and social public order.

Tashi Wangchuk’s social media accounts show that since June, he had reposted Gonmo Kyi’s documents which demanded for fair retrial of her brother and political prisoner Dorje Tashi, video of police personnel taking off Tibetan prayer flag from the rooftop of his home, as well as a photo of a renowned Tibetan school which was forcibly shut in mid July.

Tashi Wangchuk is a herder-turned-shopkeeper who came to international prominence in late 2015 after appearing in the New York Times article and documentary about his solo advocacy to file a lawsuit against local authorities after local Tibetan classes were shut down. Even after serving a five-year sentence, he continues advocating for the Tibetan language at government offices and monitoring schools that are replacing Tibetan textbooks in favour of Chinese.

A year ago, he was detained and beaten by Chinese police personnel after he posted a video of government staff refusing his request for business license registration. The same year, he was attacked by a group of unidentified, masked men after he posted a video of himself near a Tibetan school.

A famous blogger who had been a political refugee in Germany for 12 years went missing for several days while returning to Vietnam to visit his seriously ill mother and has just reappeared in Hanoi.

Mr. Bui Thanh Hieu, born in 1972, (also known as blogger Nguoi Buon Gio) specializes in writing about Vietnam's internal politics, flew from Germany to Bangkok then flew back to Noi Bai airport around October 20.

His friends then alerted social media that he was missing, suspected of being detained by Hanoi police.

On November 3, Facebook Oanh Kim Bui (Mr. Hieu's sister) posted a photo on her personal Facebook, showing Mr. Hieu sitting next to his elderly mother.

On November 4, Ms. Oanh confirmed to a reporter from Radio Free Asia that Mr. Hieu was at his family's home but did not say anything more.

On the same day, she posted photos and videos showing Mr. Hieu visiting relatives, friends and old neighbors.

In a video he confirmed to his friend that:

"My wife and children came back first. They only let me in after my wife and children left Vietnam. I was only in for three days."

He added, "They said that if you come back once and then come back (Duc-PV), if you know what's good for you, they will consider it ," referring to the Security Investigation Agency, Ministry of Public Security.

The reporter called the on-duty officer of the Security Investigation Agency, Ministry of Public Security to ask for information about Mr. Hieu's case but could not connect.

Mr. Le Trung Khoa, editor of Thoibao.de in Germany, told RFA that he knew Mr. Hieu when he was sent from Hanoi to the German city of Weimar under a "writers in exile" scholarship from PEN Germany.

Mr. Khoa, a famous journalist after the kidnapping of Trinh Xuan Thanh in Berlin, added that a few days ago he had written a report about the disappearance of Mr. Bui Thanh Hieu (a German citizen) in Vietnam to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the German police agency because Mr. Hieu had a contract to write articles for his newspaper.

However, according to Mr. Khoa, the German government only confirmed that it had received the document and did not provide any further information.

KARAPATAN denounced the recent arrests and harassment of peasants in Hacienda Almeda in Occidental Mindoro and in Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac City.

At least 31 Iraya Mangyan residents, including 16 elderly individuals and 15 minors, were reported to have been illegally arrested and detained by seven private goons and four members of the Police Regional Mobile Group in Hacienda Almeda, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro on October 18, 2024. As of this writing, reports reached the human rights group that the 31 are facing charges of trespassing and malicious mischief.

According to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, Hacienda Alameda covers 1,546 hectares of land in Mamburao and Abra de Ilog, which were placed under agrarian reform coverage in 1988 under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). In 1992, the Department of Agrarian Reform ordered the inclusion of the Almeda family’s landholdings under CARP, and Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) were issued to 58 farmer-beneficiaries including the Iraya Mangyan tribe. At least 31 hectares of the said land are considered ancestral domains of the tribe.

The indigenous peasants have persistently asserted their claims to the land which they have tilled for decades, despite numerous attacks against them. In 2017, around 100 policemen and private guards demolished 20 makeshift homes of indigenous peoples in the area.

At around 9 p.m. of October 19, 2024, four armed men in plain clothes believed to be from the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army entered the compound of Francisco Dizon, chair of Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA), in Barangay Mapalacsiao, Tarlac City, and tried to force him to go with them. Dizon’s staunch refusal to go with the men, whose faces were masked, as well as the intervention of other AMBALA officers and barangay officials averted what would have been Dizon’s abduction or illegal arrest.

Meanwhile, elements of Philippine National Police-Tarlac and the 31st Mechanized Infantry Company of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion blocked one of several vans carrying peasants from Hacienda Luisita who were on the way to a rally commemorating National Peasant Month. Soldiers have also been going house to house and surveilling other leaders of AMBALA to intimidate them from joining the scheduled protest actions.

AMBALA is recognized by the Supreme Court as the only legitimate organization representing the interests and welfare of the agricultural workers and peasants of Hacienda Luisita.

The hacienda, a 6,453-hectare sugar plantation spanning 11 barangays in three towns of Tarlac, is owned by the Cojuangco family., The Cojuangcos have, for decades, resorted to various legal maneuvers such as the bogus stock distribution option scheme to prevent the distribution of the hacienda land to the tenants and workers.

On November 16, 2004, the sugar estate was the site of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre where seven persons were killed, 121 people, including children, were injured and 133 arrested and detained after soldiers and paramilitaries violently dispersed some 1,000 striking workers of Central Azucarera de Tarlac Labor Union and the United Luisita Workers Union.

The specialized interdistrict court of Astana sentenced journalist Daniyar Adilbekov to 4.5 years of imprisonment. The judge found Adilbekov guilty under the articles "Apparently false statement" (Part 3 of Article 419) and "Apparently disseminating false information" (Part 2 of Article 274). He will serve his sentence in a medium-security institution.

The court found the second accused Yerlan Saudegerov guilty under the articles "Criminal organization" (Article 28, Part 3) and "Pretending to make a false statement" (Article 419, Part 3) and sentenced him to three years' probation. He will be on probation.

The defendants do not agree to the charges against them.

Daniyar Adilbekov was arrested on March 27. The term of detention was later extended. The trial began in August.

It is said that the criminal case was prompted by the journalist's post on the Telegram channel. In it, it is stated that the Vitol company, which is engaged in the wholesale sale of oil, is using the administrative mechanisms of the Vice Minister of Energy Yerlan Akkenzhenov. The official himself denies this.

Adilbekov was accused of "spreading false information" for publishing information about Astana Airport Board Chairman Yusuf Aljavder and El Media editor-in-chief Gulzhan Yergalieva on the Telegram channel.

The defense argued that there were procedural violations during the investigation and trial, and noted that there was no evidence to prove the guilt of the accused.

JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF) strongly condemns the recent brutal police crackdown on the peaceful demonstration by teachers from various private colleges across the country in Dhaka on October 17, 2024. It is deeply concerning that 33 teachers, including 11 women assaulted while exercising their democratic right to protest peacefully. The use of batons, sound grenades, and water cannons by the police against unarmed educators, who were merely exercising their fundamental right to peaceful assembly, is a grave violation of both Bangladeshi and international laws protecting human rights.

Robert Simon, a prominent French human rights activist, and Chief Adviser of JMBF, emphasized that "the violent suppression of peaceful protests, particularly those involving educators who have committed decades of service to society, is a serious affront to democratic values and human rights. The teachers of Bangladesh deserve respect and the right to have their voices heard, not to be met with brutality and abuse."

This incident, which left 33 teachers injured, directly contradicts the fundamental principles enshrined in Article 37 of the Constitution of Bangladesh, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly. Additionally, Article 33(5) prohibits all forms of torture. The violent actions taken by the police also contravene the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), particularly Article 20, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly.

The indiscriminate use of force against peaceful demonstrators is a clear violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a party, specifically Article 21, which upholds the right to peaceful assembly, as well as the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

Advocate Shahanur Islam, a Bangladeshi human rights lawyer living in France and the Founder President of JMBF, stated: “It is shameful that the teachers, who have been serving the education sector without a regular salary and are only seeking Monthly Payment Order (MPO) membership to secure their basic rights, were subjected to such torture and inhumane treatment. The police's use of sound grenades, batons, and water cannons is not only excessive but also unlawful. This violence against peaceful educators must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable.”

JMBF calls on the government of Bangladesh to take immediate action by forming a judicial inquiry headed by a High Court division justice to hold the responsible officers accountable for their misconduct. We demand a transparent investigation into the events of October 17, ensuring justice and compensation for the injured teachers.

Furthermore, JMBF urges the Bangladeshi government, led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, to adhere to its constitutional obligations and international commitments to protect the rights of its citizens, including the right to peaceful protest.

The violent suppression of these educators, who sought only the assurance of fair treatment and recognition for their decades of contribution, is a stark reminder of the urgent need for reforms in law enforcement practices in Bangladesh.

We call on the authorities to ensure accountability for those responsible and to uphold the rights of citizens to express their concerns without fear of repression. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the need for respectful dialogue and understanding, especially in matters that impact the future of our society.

JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France remains steadfast in its support for the teachers' demands and their right to peaceful protest, and we will continue to work towards the protection of human rights in Bangladesh and beyond.

Supreme Court’s senior lawyer ZI Khan Panna has been accused in an attempt to murder case with capital’s Khilgaon police station.

The case was filed on 17 October. A total of 180 people including Awami League’s general secretary Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan have been made accused in the case.

ZI Khan Panna is accused no. 94 in the case.

The case was filed over attempted murder on a person named Ahadul Islam by shooting and beating up on 19 July. Ahadul Islam’s father Md Baker filed the case.

According to the case statement, Md Baker joined student movement at Shukkur Ali Garments intersection at the west of Meradia Bazar in Khilgaon on 19 July. The demonstrators were attacked by police, BGB and RAB members as well as leaders of Awami League, its associate organisations and 14-party alliance men. In order to disperse the peaceful demonstration, the law enforcers and the then ruling party men shot bullets towards the protesters. Ahad was shot on his left leg. The attackers also beat up the bullet-hit Ahad. He was taken to a local clinic, then to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and finally to Mehendiganj upazila health complex.

Asked about the case, ZI Khan Panna said the case was filed three months after the incident. I am sure that the case was filed at the behest of any influential person. But I was active in favour of the quota reform protesters.

Panna said he cannot even remember if he had ever gone to Meradia, the place of the incident.

Khilgaon police station’s officer in charge Md Daud Hossain told Prothom Alo that the case was filed as per the allegation of the plaintiff. Investigation will be carried out and anyone found innocent would be relieved.

ASK’s statement ZI Khan Panna is the chairperson of rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK). He was vocal against Digital Security Act, human rights abuses and infringement on freedom of speech during the reign of Awami League.

He took a bold stance against human rights violation during the student-people demonstration during July and April. He also stood for students in the court.

Lawyer ZI Khan Panna, however, criticised some of the decisions of the interim government in recent times. He also strongly criticised the interim government's stance on rewriting the constitution.

ZI Khan Panna told the media that the preamble of the constitution, which was written by the blood of 3 million people, cannot be changed. If it does, then there will be a great war, not a war.

Rights organisation said the case against ZI Khan Panna is unwarranted and reprehensible. A statement issued by this organisation today, Sunday, said there is a suspicion that the case may have been filed due to dissatisfaction of any party with regard to ZI Khan Panna's stance, opinions and statements related to human rights and the current context. Also, the case appears to be harassing.

ASK's statement further said that human rights activist ZI Khan Panna spoke and continues to speak for human rights throughout his life. He is making relentless efforts to establish the rights of common people. Sometimes some got into displeasure of one particular group for speaking out against crossfire, disappearances, torture; again he was in trouble by another group for speaking in favour of freedom of opinion and rights of religious and ethnic minorities.

KARAPATAN calls for the urgent dismissal of charges of illegal assembly against two MAKABAYAN senatoriables–transport leader Modesto “Mody” Floranda and urban poor leader Eufemia “Mimi” Doringo for alleged violations of Batasang Pambansa 880 (BP 880) or the Public Assembly Act.

The complaint also included Ruben “Bong” Baylon, secretary general of PISTON, as well as Manibela transport group leaders Mario Valbuena and Regie Manlapid, filed by elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP), citing the August 14 protest rally in Welcome Rotonda, Manila, against the PUV modernization program.

“The baseless charges against Floranda and Doringo and other progressive leaders are clearly meant to harass them. Such charges violate their right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances,” said Atty. Sol Taule, Karapatan Deputy Secretary General.

BP 880, which was signed into law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1985, has been used and abused over again by administrations to restrict the right of the people to peaceful assembly by requiring application for permits before conducting protests.

Instead of addressing the pressing issues of jeepney drivers that will result to their loss of livelihood, the PNP usually downplays the reasons why protests and rallies are conducted, saying it is causing heavy traffic, annoyance and irritation to drivers and commuters.

“Laws such as the BP 880 are systematically used by the state to violate people’s civil and political rights. There is no reason for such kind of Marcosian law to exist in this day and age, it must be repealed now,” added Taule.

KARAPATAN calls on the Filipino people to denounce these harassment charges, and continue to join the jeepney drivers in protest of the the anti-driver, anti-people PUV modernization program.

The Bishkek City Court on October 17 rejected an appeal by Kyrgyz government critic Askat Zhetigen and upheld his three-year prison sentence. Zhetigen was convicted in July of calling for an attempt to seize power, a case he and rights organizations have strongly contested. He was, however, acquitted of a separate charge related to inciting mass unrest. Zhetigen, a poet, composer, and activist, gained attention in 2021 for speaking out on social media on cultural and political issues, including government reforms and the treatment of critics under President Sadyr Japarov. The charges stemmed from a video in which he criticized Japarov's administration. Zhetigen has claimed that he was tortured while in custody, allegations that the New York-based Human Rights Foundation has called for an independent investigation into. It has also condemned the charges as fabricated and demanded Zhetigen's immediate release.

In a 5-minute video posted on WeChat on Oct. 15, Tsongon Tsering from Tsaruma village in Kyungchu county said Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering Co.’s digging has caused severe soil erosion and a drop in water levels in the Tsaruma River.

Such public appeals are rare due to fear of reprisals from the government for speaking out against authorities or state-approved projects.

Authorities have since shut down his account and blocked search terms related to his name on WeChat, a popular Chinese social media platform, said two sources from inside Tibet, who like others in this report, declined to be identified out of fear of retribution.

Tsering’s case illustrates how authorities silence Tibetans who accuse Chinese companies of violating environmental regulations or harming the environment.

In the video, Tsering says Tibetan residents had made repeated appeals before local authorities for action against the company for causing environmental harm, but to no avail.

“The Anhui Xianhe Construction Engineering’s business office has been illegally extracting sand and stones from the river in Tsaru Ma Village during their road construction work,” he says in the video while holding up his ID card.

“The large-scale and indiscriminate extraction of sand from the river has led to serious soil erosion in the surrounding area and is posing a threat to the foundations of residents’ homes,” he continues.

Tsering’s video, which gained significant attention online, was also widely shared by other users on the platform but even those were taken down and all related content censored by Thursday, Oct. 17, the two sources said.

Sources from the region said they fear Tsering, who hails from Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, will face punishment for his public criticism of authorities.

On 10 October 2024, the Leninskiy District Court in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, ruled to sentence woman human rights defender and journalist Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and human rights defender and akyn Azamat Ishembekov to six and five years of prison time respectively. The Court found the human rights defenders guilty of “calls for mass civil unrest,” criminal offences under Part 2 of Article 41 and Part 3 of Article 278 of Kyrgyzstan’s Criminal Code. Two other human rights defenders and journalists, Aktilek Kaparov and Ayke Beyshekeeva, received three years of probation for the same charges. The human rights defenders will appeal this decision.

Temirov Live is a YouTube-based investigative media outlet founded in 2020 by Bolot Temirov, a Kyrgyz human rights defender and journalist focused on corruption investigations. Ayt Ayt Dese is a YouTube project that popularizes human rights issues by performing and publishing folk songs on related topics, including some based on Temirov Live's investigations.

On 10 October 2024, Leninskiy District Court handed down the prison time sentences for Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and Azamat Ishembekov on charges related to “calls for mass civil unrest.” Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, the head of Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dese, received a six-year prison sentence, while Azamat Ishembekov, a human rights defender and akyn collaborating with Ayt Ayt Dese, was sentenced to five years in prison. Additionally, the Court ruled that the legal custodian and place of residence of a 12-years old son of Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and human rights defender and of journalist Bolot Temirov must be determined by the Kyrgyzstani state social services.

The Court also sentenced human rights defenders and journalists Aktilek Kaparov and Ayke Beyshekeeva to three years of probation. Probation does not entail prison time, but restricts the ability of the human rights defenders to leave the country and imposes state control over their life and work. In case the rules of probation are violated, the Court can revisit the verdict and sentence both to prison time, too. Such conditions will limit the ability of the defenders to carry out their human rights work. Seven other human rights defenders and journalists were acquitted due to a lack of evidence. The Court hearing was closed to the public, similarly to the previous hearings, and only few journalists received a permission to hear the verdict.

Sichuan human rights lawyer Lu Siwei was arrested while on bail, prior to the end of his trial. According to human rights lawyer Wang Yu, three uniformed police officers knocked on the door of Lu Siwei at around 3:00 p.m. Beijing time on October 10th without making clear of their intention. Mr. Lu asked them to show their ID, but he never got a response.

Zhang Lei, a human rights lawyer, confirmed on his social media platform WeChat that Mr. Lu Siwei had been arrested.

The Arrest Sichuan human rights lawyer Lu Siwei was planning to travel to the U.S. in July 2023 to reunite with his family when he was arrested on his way to Laos (Laos), where he was detained for two months and then deported back to China. The news is unsettling and demonstrates the Chinese government’s determination to pursue dissidents outside its borders, which it has been able to do in a country as vulnerable to Beijing’s pressure as Laos.

Lu Siwei, who is suspected of “sneaking across the border,” was released on bail after a month in the Chengdu detention center, where he has been living in a residence designated by the authorities. Downstairs in Lu’s residence, eight or nine people work shifts every day to monitor him around the clock, and he is followed when he goes out. If he wants to leave Chengdu, he must apply to the government security and police officers and get approval before he can book a ticket.

He lost his job and was impeded from finding a new one.

His wife, Zhang Chunxiao, and young daughter fled to the U.S. first. Zhang Chunxiao had disclosed that Lu’s bail pending trial would end on October 27 of this year; however, on July 19 of this year, Lu was summoned to the Baohe police station to make a statement, and was subsequently told that his case would be transferred from the Chenghua District Public Security Bureau to the Procuratorate of Chenghua District for review and prosecution.

General background In December 2019, Lu Siwei was summoned and banned from leaving the country after he was accused of involvement in the “Xiamen Gathering Case” when he attended a private gathering of human rights lawyers and dissidents. Two years later, in January 2021, he gained notoriety when he defended 12 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists who attempted to flee Taiwan by boat. In retaliation, the provincial judiciary subsequently revoked Lu’s license to practice law.

Prior to this high-profile case, Lu was a well-known human rights lawyer in China who had handled a number of sensitive cases involving political dissidents, including the “June 4 Wine Case,” the “709 Case,” and the “Incitement Case” against lawyer Yu Wensheng. Few people are willing to take on these cases.

CCP’s Long arm of Transnational Repression The fact that Lu Siwei was arrested after being released on bail and then prosecuted shows that Chinese human rights lawyers are at great risk. Even if they flee abroad, they still risk deportation. Governments in Southeast Asia are often pressured by Beijing to return highly vulnerable people to China.

These individuals face the risk of arbitrary detention, unfair trial, torture, forced disappearance, and other abuses in China. In 2015, bookseller Gui Minhai was enforcedly disappeared in Thailand and reappeared in China without a passport. In August 2022, pro-democracy activist Dong Guangping disappeared from Vietnam only to be imprisoned in China. In August 2023, activist Yang Zewei was reportedly arrested in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and subsequently held in a Chinese detention center.

Under Xi Jinping, China’s most iron-fisted leader in decades, Chinese authorities have aggressively expanded their sphere of influence beyond its borders, the so-called “long arm of transnational repression”. Through his powers, the CCP has set up police stations in foreign countries, offered bounties for critics fleeing overseas, pressured overseas Chinese to induce them to become informers, and ensured that former Chinese in the diaspora return to China to be detained or deported. The United States has stepped up regulation and legal penalties for Chinese government agents in the United States.

Police clashed with supporters of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), a banned indigenous human rights group in the northwestern town of Jamrud.

The police used tear gas and batons to disperse the crowd. At least four PTM activists were killed in the clashes.

This comes a few days after the PTM was banned by the federal government for "engaging in certain activities which are prejudicial to the peace and security of the country".

Despite the ban on the PTM, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has permitted the group to hold the assembly. On October 11, the provincial authorities said they will urge the central government to revoke the ban.

He said the army and government have consistently reneged on promises it made to the PTM, including the removal of military checkpoints in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the clearance of landmines, and the release of civilians forcibly disappeared by the state.

A 29-year-old pro-democracy activist and artist has been given a 3-year suspended sentence in prison after being charged with royal defamation for posting a drawing of King Vajiralongkorn on social media.

Torpad, an artist who drew pictures of the pro-democracy protests, was arrested on 30 June 2022 by 11 police officers after being charged under royal defamation law and Computer Crimes Act. Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reports that Torpad never received a summons, although police claim to have issued an arrest warrant on 26 April 2022. The arresting officers seized her drawings, computer, and mobile phone.

A complaint was reportedly filed against her with the Technology Crime Suppression Division on 16 September 2021. According to the complaint, the defendant posted a distorted drawing of the King which appeared to be defamatory on Instagram. Torpad denied the allegation. At the time, she was granted provisional bail with 90,000 baht as security, on the condition that she not repeat the crime she was charged with.

Sentencing was scheduled for 29 August 2024 but Torpad failed to appear in court.

On Thursday (3 October), the court found her guilty as charged, sentencing her to 3 years in prison for royal defamation. Because she pleaded guilty, the sentence was reduced to 1 year and 6 months.

As she had never been imprisoned before and did not cause severe damage, she was given a 3-year suspension and a 2-year probation period, with the condition that she perform 24 hours of social service. She was also prohibited from committing any act offensive to the monarchy. All other charges were dismissed.

Paing Phyo Min and Shein Wai Aung, two pro-demoncracy human rights defenders, were arrested on 9 October and sent to an interrogation centre. Paing Phyo Min’s family has not been able to reach him, while Shein Wai Aung and his father, mother and sister have also been uncontactable.

As many as six additional people are also believed to have been arrested in raids.

Paing Phyo Min is known for his involvement with a group of young people performing Thangyat, a popular Myanmar traditional art form which fuses poetry, comedy and music to comment on social issues.

In 2019, Paing Phyo Min and other members of an activist group called the Peacock Generation were arrested after performing Thangyat dressed as soldiers. For this, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

In 2020, Amnesty International called for Paing Phyo Min’s release as part of its annual Write 4 Rights campaign, with many people writing letters to him to bolster his spirits. He was released in 2021 as part of a mass prisoner amnesty.

After the military coup, he and others took part in peaceful protests in Yangon, despite enormous risks following violent crackdowns.

Shein Wai Aung, a former student at Dagon University in Yangon, has been active in peaceful protests and in supporting political prisoners in Myanmar.

The Appeal Court has sentenced an activist to prison for royal defamation over a protest speech in Chiang Mai province in 2021.

Thanathon “Hongte” Withayabenchang faced charges under the royal defamation law and Emergency Act after he read a statement and delivered a protest speech related to the monarchy during a car mob rally in Chiang Mai province on 15 August 2021, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).

He was charged with two counts of royal defamation for a statement he read in front of the Provincial Police Region 5 Headquarters and a speech at the Three Kings Monument.

Thanathorn decided to plead guilty to the royal defamation charge related to the speech at the Three Kings Monument. However, he pleaded not guilty for the other charge, arguing that the content of the statement was a demand aimed at the police and a critique of the ruling elite as a whole, without targeting any specific person. He also argued that the royal defamation law does not protect “the monarchy” in general. Instead, it protects only the four individuals identified in the law.

On 21 August 2023, the court of first instance concluded that “the monarchy” as used in the statement did not refer to any specific member of the royal family, making it unclear whether the defendant intended to mention the King. The court ruled to dismiss the royal defamation charge for that speech.

For the other royal defamation charge, the court sentenced him to three years, but due to his guilty plea, the sentence was reduced to one year and six months. For violating the Emergency Act, Thanathorn was sentenced to one month in prison. On the same day, he was allowed bail pending appeal with 150,000 baht as security

TLHR reported on Wednesday (9 October) that the Appeal Court upheld the verdict, saying the sentence imposed was the minimum penalty. The Appeal Court found no reason to suspend the sentence.

Majilis deputy Rinat Zaitov sent a request to the Prosecutor General and the Chairman of the National Security Committee to ban the Kazakh feminist organization Feminita and label it as an extremist organization.

Feminita organization defends the rights of women and LGBT people in Kazakhstan. Rinat Zaitov believes that Feminita tramples on the honor of Kazakhs, and it is this “disgusting organization that has led our youth to debauchery.” He is alarmed that young people actively participate in the organization's open discussions and rallies.

The petition signed by 11 deputies, according to Zaitov, did not produce the expected effect.

Sri Lankan police must cease harassing journalists Selvakumar Nilanthan and Tharindu Jayawardhana, following their reporting on alleged government misconduct, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

“With a new president, Sri Lanka has an opportunity to improve press freedom,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Police should drop their complaints against journalists Selvakumar Nilanthan and Tharindu Jayawardhana and allow them to work freely.”

On October 20, police in eastern Batticaloa district arrested Nilanthan after he did not attend a court hearing related to a 2019 investigation on multiple allegations, including obstruction of a public officer and defamation over his reporting on alleged government corruption.

Nilanthan told CPJ that neither he nor his lawyer received notice of the September hearing before he was detained in an overcrowded cell in Eravur town with an open defecation area.

Nilathan was detained together with journalist Kuharasu Subajan, his surety in the case responsible for guaranteeing that the defendant appears for court hearings.

The two were released the next day, when Nilanthan was granted bail after a court denied the police’s request for a 14-day remand. His next hearing is on January 20.

Separately, on October 9, Induka Silva — head of the police Criminal Investigation Department’s homicide unit — sought an order from the capital’s Colombo Fort Magistrate Court against Jayawardhana, editor-in-chief of the news website MediaLK, over a video in which he commented on allegations of misconduct against Silva and the appointment of Ravi Seneviratne to the Ministry of Public Security.

At the time the video was published, Silva was investigating Seneviratne over the government’s failure to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people. Seneviratne was the senior deputy inspector-general of the CID at the time.

On October 12, Silva was transferred to the police headquarters, according to Jayawardhana and a copy of the order reviewed by CPJ.

Silva’s report, reviewed by CPJ, accused Jayawardhana — who has reported extensively on the attacks — of publishing false informationand obstructing the investigation into Seneviratne. The next hearing is scheduled for January 15, Jayawardhana told CPJ, adding that he feared he would be arrested.

Seneviratne told CPJ that Silva’s report against Jayawardhana violated the journalist’s freedom of expression.

CID Director Mangala Dehideniya and Eravur police officer-in-charge N. Harsha de Silva told CPJ that they were unable to immediately comment and did not respond to CPJ’s subsequent text messages.

Mahrang Baloch, a leading rights activist for the ethnic Baluch minority, was prevented from leaving Pakistan to attend a ceremony in the United States, she reported on October 8.

"I was unjustly stopped at Karachi International Airport with no legal or valid given reason, which is a clear violation of my fundamental right to freedom of movement," she wrote on X.

She said the action was intended to "silence Baluch voices from being heard internationally, control the flow of information about the situation in Balochistan, and conceal the decades-long human rights abuses occurring in Balochistan.”

She was set to attend an event in New York after being named in the TIME100 Next 2024 list recognizing her human rights work.

Earlier this year, Baloch helped organize a women's march against alleged unlawful enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killing by the authorities in Balochistan Province.

Since 7 October 2024, Kazakh feminist and LGBTI initiative “Feminita” have been hosting a Lesbian Kurultai (council), to mark the 10th anniversary of the initiative’s work in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Lesbian Kurultai brought together a community of queer women and allies from Central Asian countries and beyond to discuss intersectional agendas, including environmental rights issues and their impact of various groups of women.

On the night of 7 October, directly before the start of the event, the venue that Feminita had booked and paid for to host the Kurultai, refused to host the human rights group after allegedly receiving letters from the Akimat (local government) of the city of Almaty urging the venue to refuse service to Feminita. When Feminita was able to identify a friendly location to host the Kurultai in, this venue experienced whole day power outages.

Human rights alliance KARAPATAN condemns the arrest of Jose Puancing, a farmworker leader in Negros, based on trumped-up charges which stemmed from the search warrants issued by Quezon City Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert, and resulted in the arrests of activists in Negros island and Metro Manila in October to November 2019.

Puancing, 63, was arrested outside his home in Brgy. Jonob-Jonob, Escalante City, on October 7, on false charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. He is chairperson of Paghili-usa sang mga Obrero sa Brgy. Jonobjonob (POBJ), an organization of farmworkers in Escalante City.

Elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP), who were part of the raids on October 31 and November 1, 2019, claimed and testified in court that guns, ammunition and explosives were found in Puancing’s home. However, he was not at home at the time of the said raids.

At least 57 activists were arrested during the 2019 raids in the offices of organizations BAYAN, GABRIELA, National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) in Bacolod and NFSW in Escalante City, and houses of activists, including Puancing’s, through a joint operation by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the 79th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army (IBPA), implementing the search warrants issued by Villavert’s court, dubbed as a “search warrant factory.” Most of the activists arrested then were released due to lack of evidence and inconsistencies in the State forces’ accounts.

KARAPATAN demands that Puancing should be immediately released, as all trumped-up charges against him are baseless and fabricated.

KARAPATAN reiterates its call to the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) to disqualify Judge Villavert in her applications to the posts of Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals and Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

Until now, her abuse of power of authority continues to deny freedom and violate the rights of people like Puancing. She is unfit to hold any higher position in the judiciary, being complicit to rights violations against numerous persons, as a lower court judge. Villavert should be held accountable for these rights violations, to render justice for all victims.

Pakistani authorities ordered a raid of the home and a 30-day detention of journalist Ihsan Naseem on Sunday, October 6, in Battagram district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on accusations of endangering public safety and encouraging members of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) to protest.

Naseem, editor-in-chief of local independent newspaper Daily Abbaseen Battagram and a reporter for the independent national TV station Neo News Battagram, was transferred to the central prison in Haripur, according to the Committee to Protect Journalist's (CPJ) review of a copy of the raid order signed by Battagram Deputy Commissioner Asif Ali.

The PTM is a mass political movement that aims to boost the rights of the Pashtun people clustered in Pakistan’s western provinces.

The day he was arrested, Nassem reported on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government’s ban of the PTM and subsequent police raid on the political movement’s supporters. The day before, Naseem interviewed the sisters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan hours before police arrested them in the capital, Islamabad.

CPJ’s WhatsApp messages to Ali requesting comment on his order to raid and detain Nassem did not receive a reply.

Pakistan has banned the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM), or Pashtun Protection Movement, a prominent rights group, listing it as a “proscribed organisation”.

A notification issued by the federal government on Sunday said the PTM was “engaged in certain activities which are prejudicial to the peace and security of the country”.

Pashtuns are a distinct ethnic group with their own Pashto language, living mostly in Pakistan and Afghanistan but divided by the colonial-drawn Durand Line that splits the two countries.

The movement, founded in 2014, advocates for the rights of ethnic Pashtuns affected by Pakistan’s war against the Taliban and its local affiliate, Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP.

PTM is known for its strident criticism of Pakistan’s powerful military for its role in alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of rights activists and ethnic leaders.

PTM, which is not a political party, has at its peak pulled tens of thousands of people to largely peaceful rallies demanding better protection from the state. It said more than 200 activists have been arrested in recent days in advance of a jirga, or a council of elders, planned for later this week.

Pakistani authorities have in recent months attempted to curtail dissent – clamping down on the street power of jailed opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan after he led a wave of criticism against the powerful military and intelligence services.

At the weekend, the capital was on lockdown with entry and exit points blocked and mobile phone services cut as Khan supporters attempted to protest. The demonstrations came weeks after the government introduced a new protest law that limits gatherings.

Mahdi Ansary, a reporter for the Afghan News Agency, disappeared on the evening of 5 October while returning home from his office in Kabul, according to a journalist familiar with the situation, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Local Taliban intelligence agents initially confirmed Ansary’s detention, but his current whereabouts remain unknown.

The reason behind Ansary’s detention remains unclear. However, the journalist has frequently reported on the killings and atrocities against the Hazara ethnic minority during the Taliban’s rule.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told CPJ via messaging app that the journalist was working with “banned [media] networks” and had engaged in “illegal activities.”

A mob vandalised the home of human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam in Imphal on Thursday evening. No one was injured during the attack but there was some damage to property.

Police sources said the incident occurred around 6.30 pm at Loitongbam’s residence in Kwakeithel Thiyam Leikai, Imphal West district. Loitongbam himself has been out of Imphal since the first week of September.

Earlier on Thursday, members of Meitei Leepun issued a “boycott call” against Loitongbam and former police officer Thounaojam Brinda – both from the Meitei community – directing them to not appear on public platforms till the ongoing conflict was resolved. Loitongbam could not be reached for comment following the vandalisation of his house.

Around the month of May – the same time violence had first broken out in the state – Loitongbam in an interview with NewsClick pointed out the emergence of “some new groups called Meitei Leepun and Arambai Tenggol”. While discussing the causes of the violence in Manipur, he said these groups had “injected militancy” into the Meitei community. He has also been consistently critical of the role of Chief Minister Biren Singh and has called for his resignation.