Uwazi

45 protest guards from the We Volunteer group have gone to hear additional charges after being arrested by armed police before a protest on 6 March. Despite being released from detention by other protesters while under a police escort, they took the decision to walk to the nearest police station to turn themselves in and demonstrate that they were not trying to escape. The police have nevertheless charged them with resisting officials.

The latest charge hearing took place on 31 March at Phaholyothin Police Station. They had previously been charged for violating the Covid-19 control Emergency Decree, forming a criminal organization and forming a secret society), according to Matichon.

Pawinee Chumsri, a lawyer from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said the WeVo members face different charges, ranging from resisting or fighting back against the authorities, possessing unauthorized military equipment (vests) to possessing unauthorized walkie talkies. The accused will have to report to the prosecutor on 9 April at 10.00.

Originally, 46 were arrested at the scene, including Piyarat Chongthep, the leader who has been in prison since March 9. They were arrested by an armed police SWAT team while they were at a nearby shopping mall, eating and waiting to attend the protest at the Criminal Court on 6 March.

According to their testimony to TLHR, they were rounded up by the police commandos, forced to lie on the ground, had guns pointed at their backs, had their hands tied with cables and had their belongings seized.

They were put into 3 different detention vehicles, 1 of which, containing 18 people, was able to make it to Border Patrol Police Region 1. The other 2 were intercepted by the protesters on Ratchadapisek Road. The cage padlocks on the second vehicle were broken and the WeVo members got out. Another 14 who were sitting in the third vehicle remained inside for 2 hours in total.

At 21.10, a lawyer from TLHR came to see the remaining WeVo members in the third vehicle and took them to Phaholyothin Police Station to present themselves out of fear of being charged with escaping. Those from the second vehicle later followed them to the station, 28 in total.

Pawinee said the charge of resisting the authorities was filed by the police despite the fact that they had voluntarily presented themselves at the police station, where the incident was recorded in the daily log. The charge reflects the abnormal reaction of the authorities to people who express their political views, resulting in unfair treatment right from the beginning of the judicial process.

“They were eating at the time. They were still eating and had not gone to the protest and had not caused any disorder. You may charge them with forming a secret society or whatever, but you still have no evidence to prosecute them. They had not done anything as has been claimed. I think it is an unfair prosecution,” said Pavinee.

The TLHR lawyer said the police should return to the principle where a person charged has committed an offence and the elements of the offence exist. The prosecution for political purposes against those who have different opinions cannot change their opinions. The discriminatory treatment that people receive will alienate them from the judicial system and the state’s system.

Elements of the Philippine National Police conducted a search operation at the office of labor alliance Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Engklabo (AMEN) in barangay Market Area, Santa Rosa, Laguna, March 30, and claimed to have found firearms and explosives.

According to police reports, joint elements from CIDG National Capital Region, CID Region 4A, PNP Regional Mobile Force Battalion 4A, RACU4A, and PNP Santa Rosa issued a search warrant for Marites Santos David. The report identified David as a member of AMEN, as well as labor federation Organized Labor Associations in Line Industries and Agriculture (OLALIA-KMU) and labor center Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK-KMU).

The report labeled David as a member of the revolutionary organization Revolutionay Council of Trade Unions (RCTU), one of the organizations comprising the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

According to AMEN, there was no one in the office at the time of the raid. “The office has not been used for over a year, since the first declaration of a lockdown in Luzon,” the group said in a statement sent to Bulatlat.

Progressive labor groups quickly condemned the operation, citing it as the latest in a “series of attacks against labor leaders and organizations.”

In a statement, Kilusang Mayo Uno stressed that workers need “aid, vaccines, an emergency allowance, paid pandemic leave, and a comprehensive medical solution,” not “fake arrests and planted firearms.”

OLALIA-KMU also stressed that Marites David is not a terrorist. “Teacher Laly is a member of OLALIA-KMU’s education and research staff,” said the group. “That she is in possession of any firearm, much less an entire armory’s worth of it, is simply impossible.”

The PNP claimed to have retrieved at least five rifles, three pistols, nine explosives, 14 landmines, and other accessories. They asserted that the office was used as a “firearms depot” for “members who will join the armed group in red areas and those who will stage violent actions against government troops.”

PAMANTIK-KMU debunked such claims. “PAMANTIK-KMU and AMEN have stood side-by-side to defend the rights and welfare of workers in Southern Tagalog,” the group said.

They stated that based on the surrounding facts, “it becomes clear that the PNP and NTF-ELCAC are simply looking for targets to raid.”

Vietnam’s communist regime has convicted four activists named Mr. Vu Tien Chi, Ms. Nguyen Thi Cam Thuy, Ms. Ngo Thi Ha Phuong, and Mr. Le Viet Hoa of “Making, storing, spreading information, materials, items for the purpose of opposing the State of Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Article 117 of the country’s Criminal Code for their online activities.

In two separated trials held in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa on March 30, the four activists were sentenced to a combined total 31 years in prison and six years of probation. The People’s Court of Lam Dong gave Mr. Chi 10 years in prison followed by three years of probation while the People’s Court of Khanh Hoa sentenced Ms. Thuy to nine years in prison and three years of probation, Ms. Phuong- seven years and Mr. Hoa- five years in prison.

According to the indictment, from the beginning of 2018, Mr. Chi shared 338 articles and conducted 181 livestreams on his Facebook page with content distorting the regime’s policies and defaming senior communist leaders, including late President Ho Chi Minh, who founded the communist regime. These online posts are harmful for the regime and affected the people’s beliefs in the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam and its government, the trial panel of the People’s Court of Lam Dong concluded.

The People’s Court of Khanh Hoa province concluded that Ms. Thuy, a former school teacher fired for her political opinion, was responsible for 181 livestreams and many posts on her Facebook accounts “Nguyễn Cẩm Thúy” and “Cẩm Thúy Cô” to defame the regime. She was also accused of burning the red flags of the ruling party and the regime as well as cutting portraits of senior leaders, including the regime founder Ho Chi Minh.

On March 29, the Khanh Hoa newspaper, the mouthpiece of the province’s Party Committee reported that the province’s People’s Court will hold the first-instance hearing on March 30-31 to try Ms. Thuy and two others named Ngo Thi Phuong Ha and Le Viet Hoa, however, the state-controlled media has not reported their activities which can be used for their conviction.

The state-run newspapers also reported that Mr. Chi and Ms. Thuy know each other, having a joint plan to expand a network of people sharing the same thoughts to establish a political opposition.

Both Chi and Thuy were arrested on June 24 last year. There is no information about their pre-trial detention. It is unclear whether the four activists have their own lawyers during their trials or not.

They are among 51 activists being imprisoned on the charge of “conducting anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Criminal Code 2015 (or Article 88 of the Penal Code 1999) which is condemned by the international community as an effective tool to silence government critics. President of the unregistered professional group Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN) PhD. Pham Chi Dung and his deputy Nguyen Tuong Thuy as well as world-recognized human rights defender and well-known political blogger Pham Doan Trang were also arrested on this charge. Mr. Dung and Mr. Thuy were sentenced to 15 years and 11 years in prison, respectively, in early January this year while Ms. Trang is still held incommunicado in pre-trial detention after her arrest on October 7 last year.

Publisher and editor of Rapti Sonari daily newspaper Hemant Chaudhary was beaten severely for reporting news on March 29 in Banke. Banke lies in Lumbini Province of Nepal.

Talking to Freedom Forum, Chaudhary shared that he had published news about illegal transport of crushed stones from the Rapti Sonari Municipality of Banke and the arrest of local youths with illegal drugs. In both the news, police arrested the accused with the help of journalist Chaudhary.

Thereafter, Chaudhary started to receive numerous threats through phone calls. Even after the attack, he has been receiving threats of shooting to death.

"Now, am under the security of Nepal police, they are also searching for the attackers", he informed.

Journalist Chaudhary has sustained injuries on his back and legs from the attack.

Freedom Forum vehemently condemns the brutal attack upon a journalist for doing his job. Despite the availability of alternate ways to express discontent over news published, attacking and threatening journalists is deplorable. Such incidents are detrimental to the free press and the right to information.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to identify the attackers as soon as possible and punish them as per law thus ensuring justice to the journalists.

Ko La Raw from Kachin Waves and Ma Chan Bu, from the 74 Media, were arrested by the military while reporting in the city of Myitkyina on March 29. Witnesses said the journalists were both beaten and detained by authorities while reporting on a crackdown on anti-regime protestors.

The arrests coincide with escalating violence across the region, with reports of more than 114 people killed across Myanmar on Saturday, March 27, including several children. Police also opened fire on a funeral crowd in the city of Bago for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old killed March 27. Myanmar’s annual Armed Forces Day on March 27 was the bloodiest single day since the coup began on February 1. As the anti-regime protests entered their seventh week, the UN released a statement condemning the violence and calling on the military “to immediately stop killing the very people it has the duty to serve and protect”.

Myanmar security forces killed 14 people Monday during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The group, which has been monitoring the violence, said Monday’s toll brings the total number of deaths since the February 1 coup to at least 510.

Eight of the deaths that took place Monday occurred in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, according to AAPP.

Protests took place Monday throughout the country, including in Sagaing Region, where hundreds of mourners lined the street to pay tribute to a 20-year-old nursing student who was shot and killed Sunday while helping provide aid to injured protesters.

A Tempo journalist in the East Java was assaulted and threatened for investigating a case of alleged bribery involving the former director of investigations and tax collections at Indonesia’s Finance Ministry. The IFJ and its affiliate AJI condemn violence and intimidation of journalists in Indonesia and implore all authorities to respect press freedom.

On March 29, the journalist Nurhadi is reported to have entered the wedding of the daughter of the former director, Angin Prayitno Aji, to collect information for his report on bribery when two men believed to be Angin’s personal bodyguards accused him of trespassing, despite him showing his press card.

Nurhadi said that the bodyguards then assaulted him. The journalist “had his hair pulled, was slapped in the face and ears, punched and trodden on” and was held captive for two hours inside a hotel room in Surabaya. During his detainment, Nurhadi’s mobile phone was seized and smashed and the bodyguards reset the memory on his computer, which contained information regarding the corruption case.

The assault raises fresh concerns over violence against journalists in Indonesia. The case has been reported to East Java regional police with the assistance of Surabaya Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and other civil society groups.

SANTA ROSA, Laguna – Exactly three weeks after the Bloody Sunday killings, another labor leader was shot dead, March 28.

Dandy Miguel was the vice president of Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK-KMU) and the president of the Lakas ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa sa Fuji Electric union (LNMF-OLALIA-KMU). According to PAMANTIK-KMU, he was on his way home from work when he was shot at least eight times near Asia 1, Brgy. Canlubang, Calamba.

“While Duterte was having his birthday party, his minions were busy following his order to kill Leftists,” KMU said in a statement in Filipino.

On March 5, Duterte ordered the police and military to kill all communists.

Miguel was among those who filed a complaint on March 15 before the Commission on Human Rights, a week after the so-called Bloody Sunday. On March 7, nine activists were killed in simultaneous police operations conducted with the support of the military and six were arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms and/or explosives.

Miguel is the tenth activist killed in the Southern Tagalog region in one month.

Among those killed were Emmanuel Asuncion of Solidarity of Cavite Workers. Two of those arrested were Mags Camoral, former president of Nagkakaisang Lakas ng Manggagawa sa F. Tech (NLMF-OLALIA-KMU), and Steve Mendoza, executive vice Ppresident of OLALIA-KMU.

Two more labor leaders were also arrested this month; on March 4, Arnedo Lagunias of Alyansa ng Manggagawa sa Engklabo (AMEN) and Ramir Corcolon of Water System Employees Response (WATER) were both arrested on illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

PAMANTIK-KMU has stated before that the Duterte administration is specifically targeting labor activists and unionists. These attacks, the group claims, intensified since the start of lockdown due to COVID-19 on March 17, 2020.

Several labor leaders have also received threats and harassment from unknown perpetrators. These include Hermenegildo Marasigan, president of OLALIA-KMU, and Efren Arante, an organizer for the same labor federation. Both of them. Arante, in particular, received threats through text messages sent to his son.

Red-tagging against workers and union-busting also intensified under the lockdown. In Coca-Cola Santa Rosa, batches of workers were repeatedly forced to “surrender” as members of the New People’s Army. In Fuji Electric, where Miguel worked, barangay Canlubang officials once tried to summon workers to “have a talk,” roughly a week following Bloody Sunday.

Miguel is the latest victim of these attacks against workers in the Southern Tagalog region. He is the second in Laguna under the Duterte administration, following the murder of Reynaldo Malaborbor in Cabuyao under similar circumstances.

As of press time the assailants are still unknown. PAMANTIK-KMU is currently investigating the situation.

Canlubang, Calamba.

A local court in Karachi has directed the police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against the organizers of the Islamabad Women’s March.

The court’s order comes a day after a local Peshawar court ordered the registration of an FIR against the organizers of the march for allegedly making insulting posters with degrading words.

Karachi Additional District and Sessions Judge South passed the order on an application to the Station House Officer (SHO) City Courts Police Station against Advocate GM Arain under Section 22A of the Pakistan Penal Code against the SHO of the same police station, who allegedly refused to grant application for an FIR against the organizers of the Aurtat march.

Section 22A gives the courts the power to make orders under Justice for Peace and may order the filing of an FIR for failure to register a case.

Petitioner said he and other members of the Karachi Bar Association watched the march on a TV channel that was being broadcast from the federal capital.

He said that during the march, inappropriate words were used against religious saints and their spouses and provocative slogans were chanted.

The petitioner added that obscene and anti-Islamic slogans were raised during the march.

He said that the members of Karachi Bar Association had passed a resolution condemning such measures in the name of women’s emancipation and women’s rights by the organizers and participants.

A local court in Peshawar ordered the registration of a first information report (FIR) on Thursday against organisers of this year's Aurat March in Islamabad for allegedly making "derogatory remarks" against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Hazrat Aisha and displaying "obscene posters".

Judge Syed Shaukatullah Shah passed the order on a petition filed by five lawyers — Ibrar Hussain, Israr Hussain, Kashif Ahmed Tarakai, Siyad Hussain, and Adnan Gohar.

The petition was filed under Section 22-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the court to act as 'Justice of Peace" and order the registration of an FIR against an offence in case of the police's failure to do so.

In their petition, the lawyers alleged that during the Aurat March 2021 which was held on March 8, "derogatory remarks were used in respect of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) and Bibi Aisha beside display of un-Islamic and obscene posters on the instructions of organisers which hurt the feelings and sentiments of all Muslims including [them]."

They claimed they had watched the "derogatory and un-Islamic material" while they were on the court's premises in Peshawar and had later filed an application with the SHO East Cantt but he was "reluctant" to register an FIR.

The judge stated that the petitioner's arguments were heard and the record was examined. He directed the SHO East Cantt to "register FIR of the occurrence as reported by the petitioners under the relevant law".

Doctored videos Earlier this month, a video from the demonstration held in Karachi was doctored to falsely show participants raising blasphemous slogans and widely shared online.

The orga­ni­sers of Aurat March clarified that the participants of the march did not raise such slogans and their video was edited to defame their struggle.

People also mistook flags of the Women Democratic Front (WDF) at the Islamabad March for the French Tricolour after which the organisers issued a clarification.

After protests in the capital calling for registration of FIRs against organisers and participants of the Aurat March, Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri had said that "controversial material" shared on social media concerning the march was being investigated.

Aurat March has become an annual feature since 2018 and every year faces backlash from certain religio-political parties, who have been opposing the event.

The marches are organised in major cities to highlight issues facing women and condemning incidents of violence against them as well as gender discrimination, economic exploitation and misogyny.

Following this year's march on International Women’s Day, heated debates were once again seen on social media for and against the march.

In the morning and evening of 14 March, protesters at the ‘Through the Sky Village’ set up near Government House were rounded up with no warrants shown. The Prime Minister denied any connection with the group photo of the new cabinet.

In both incidents, protesters in the makeshift village observed by peaceful methods by sitting or lying down, raising the 3-finger salute and letting the police take them into custody.

Those arrested were divided into 2 groups: 61 people who were arrested at 06.00 on Sunday and 31 who re-established the village in the afternoon and were arrested in the evening. Before being taken to court for a temporary detention order hearing, the first group were detained and charged at the Border Patrol Police Region 1, Pathum Thani, and the second at the Narcotics Suppression Bureau on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road.

On Monday night, all 92 were released on bail with 20,000 baht each as securities.

99 were arrested in total, but 6 were youths and earlier given bail by the court earlier while one other was allowed bail by the police.

92 were sent to Dusit Court for a temporary detention order hearing on Monday morning. They were charged with violating the Emergency Decree, causing traffic disorder and public dirtiness. Lawyers were waiting to submit bail requests.

On Monday, people gathered at the Pathumwan Skywalk to protest against the arrests. A protest was called for 14.00 on Tuesday 30 March at Government House to coincide with the cabinet photo shoot. The gathering perhaps is a symbolic action of resistance as the real photo shoot has been taken at Tuesday morning.

Taking a stand

Thinzar Hein’s parents told her not to go, but she went anyway.

Her father was reportedly a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the army-backed party that had suffered a humiliating defeat in last year’s election. He disapproved of the protests against the February 1 coup, but she was determined to join others who opposed the regime. She left home because she wanted to stand on her own two feet.

She said as much during a speech that she delivered in front of Monywa’s clock tower on February 22, the day of the “five twos” (22/2/2021) general strike that marked the start of an effort to turn weeks of protests around the country into a nationwide uprising.

By this time, public employees had already launched the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that aimed to cripple the regime’s capacity to rule. Thinzar Hein said she had lost respect for teachers at her nursing school who did not join the CDM.

“You should be ashamed if you can’t say in the future that you were a part of the revolution,” she said.

Aye Aye heard this speech and was impressed. But their friendship began when Thinzar Hein started giving her rides to the protests on her motorcycle.

Since Thinzar Hein had nowhere to live after leaving her parent’s home, Aye Aye let her stay at her hostel. That’s when Thinzar Hein taught her how to provide basic emergency medical care, she said.

At first it was just the two of them who went wherever they were needed to help the wounded. That meant anywhere they could hear the sound of gunshots that had become a feature of everyday life in Monywa and cities all over Myanmar since the coup.

Then, on March 3, they saw a man who had been shot in the leg die right before their eyes. Thinzar Hein knew he might have been saved if they had been better prepared to deal with his injuries. And so they decided to form an emergency medical team, raising funds to buy proper medical equipment through their network of fellow protesters.

Facing death

Thinzar Hein used her formal medical training to teach others how to tend to the wounded. In a small room, she instructed 20 people at a time in the first-aid techniques that would make the difference between life and death for victims of a regime intent on terrorizing the country into submission.

“She was very passionate,” Aye Aye said of her friend, recalling Thinzar Hein’s reaction to the death of the man who had been shot in the leg.

“She said she knew there were going to be more shootings,” she added, speaking to Myanmar Now soon after undergoing surgery on her shoulder.

That certainty fuelled Thinzar Hein’s determination to be prepared for any eventuality, including her own death.

In her final message to friends and family, she asked for the forgiveness of those she would have to leave behind if she didn’t survive her dangerous mission.

“I hope my loved ones will forgive me for embarking on a path that doesn’t guarantee a safe return,” she wrote on her Facebook page two days before she was murdered by Myanmar’s terrorist junta.

While regime forces go on a state-sanctioned killing spree, medics and other volunteers around the country continue to put their own lives on the line in the hope that they can save even one injured civilian.

Even when they know there is no one left to save, they return to protest sites day after day to collect the bodies of the dead before they can be taken away and disposed of by their killers.

After a night of bloodshed, people like Thinzar Hein will arrive at a scene of carnage before dawn to attend to both the living and the dead. If they are caught off-guard, they, too, will become casualties of the regime’s war on human decency.

“This is not okay. Even in international wars, medics are not targeted. But here, they’re worried their actions will be exposed, and so they fire at everyone,” said one doctor in Mandalay, describing the behaviour of the junta’s forces.

Dying in agony

Often, medical volunteers will wait for hours for soldiers to leave, knowing that that many victims won’t live long enough to be rescued in the morning.

These are agonizing hours, when they have to listen to people in need of immediate attention moaning in pain. In Monywa, one team spent three hours like this, blocked by soldiers who stood ready to shoot them on sight, until the victim finally fell silent. By the time they were able to reach him, the 30-year-old man had bled to death.

“There was a big cement wall we used as cover, but we couldn’t get to him. We could only pick him up after he was dead,” said a member of the team that attempted to rescue the man.

“Every time we are forced to watch someone die from nearby, it hurts. Every second is important for a bleeding patient,” said the doctor in Mandalay, where many volunteers have had similar experiences.

A member of one rescue team in Myanmar’s second-largest city said he once spent six hours in this situation, as multiple gunshot victims slowly died from their injuries.

“The worst time was in Aung Pin Lal, where they even shot at ambulances and medics had to run for their lives, leaving patients behind,” he said. “Some died of blood loss, and there was nothing we could do about it. It was just a really sad sight.”

Another member of the team was killed at the same time, and his body was never recovered, he added.

Often, he said, family members of people who have gone missing will turn up at emergency clinics in tears, hoping to find them still alive. In many cases, however, the rescue workers can’t even manage to bring back their dead bodies.

And then there are those who somehow escape on their own, but don’t dare seek treatment because of the heavy military presence. Only when their condition becomes truly dire will they come out of hiding.

When Thinzar Hein was shot, her expressed wish to be abandoned to avoid further death was ignored by another member of her team, who crawled to her body under heavy fire and rolled it to a side street so that he could pick it up and carry it to a clinic, where she was declared dead on arrival.

Like others inspired by Thinzar Hein’s example, her friend Aye Aye vowed to continue her work as soon as she recovered from her injuries.

“I will keep fighting,” she said. “I will always be a part of her team.”

Police in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province have fired tear gas at protesters as they attempted to reach Islamabad to press their demands over the killing of four teenage boys in their region near the border with Afghanistan.

About 3,000 demonstrators from the rural area around the town of Jani Khel launched a protest caravan early on March 28 that was composed of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and the bodies of the four boys.

But the group was stopped by a police blockade on a bridge across the Tochi River, about 15 kilometers south of the town of Bannu.

The standoff is taking place in former tribal regions of Pakistan that were merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in 2018.

Mohsin Dawar, a deputy who represents North Waziristan in Pakistan’s national parliament, was detained by local police in the city of Karak as he tried to travel to the scene of the standoff at the Tochi River bridge.

Dawar had complained on March 26 that "instead of listening to the demands of the protesters, the state has chosen to block roads around the area to stop them from moving out if they choose to take their protest to Islamabad."

Meanwhile, in the city of Domail about 25 kilometers east of Bannu, hundreds of demonstrators threatened on March 28 to block the Indus Highway between Peshawar and the city of Dera Ismail Khan unless the protestors were allowed to proceed to Islamabad.

A government negotiating team has been meeting in recent days with protest leaders and tribal elders from Jani Khel, which is on the border of the former tribal region of North Waziristan.

The angry residents want a government guarantee that the Taliban and other militants would not be allowed to operate in the area any more. They are also demanding an investigation into a military official responsible for security in the area, and for that official to be transferred.

The government team has agreed to a demand for the families of the four slain teenagers to receive compensation funds from the government.

But protest leaders told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal on March 28 that the government team was unable to offer the security guarantees they are demanding.

Many of the demonstrators in the blocked protest caravan were part of a sit-in protest that began in Jani Khel on March 21 after the bullet-riddled corpses of four teenagers were discovered in a field.

Relatives said their bodies bore signs of torture when they were dug out of the ground after reportedly being found by a shepherd's dogs.

The boys – aged between 13 and 17 years old -- had disappeared three weeks earlier when they went out to hunt birds.

On Sunday afternoon, a 38-year-old ethnic Chin woman, Ah Khu a leader of civil society group Women for Justice based in Sagaing Region’s Kale township, was slain by security forces during a crackdown against an anti-regime protest in the town. Another three men were also killed by the junta’s forces.

A resident told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that Ah Khu was deliberately shot by two security forces dressed in civilian clothes.

The Women's League of Burma described her as "a woman with a dedicated spirit and hopeful mind".

"We salute her courage, her commitment and her cause," it said.

On March 28, longtime activist Ah Khu was shot dead at a protest in Sagaing Division. While security forces started out by policing protests with non-lethal weapons, by mid-March they were armed with assault rifles, sniper rifles and submachine guns, according to Amnesty International, which said troops had adopted “shoot to kill tactics to suppress the protests”. Of those who were shot, about a quarter were shot in the head, according to the AAPP data. A military spokesman had no comment on Amnesty’s report. The women’s rights leader and activist

In Kale, a small town perched on the mountainous India-Myanmar border, many knew Ah Khu, an activist who promoted the rights of women.

For over a decade the 37-year-old had been a director of Women for Justice, a nonprofit that campaigned to stop violence against women and help victims, especially from the ethnic Chin, mostly Christian, minority group she belonged to. She led workshops on gender equality and traveled across the country to collaborate with other organizations and raise funds, sometimes going to India to help refugee Chin women.

“So many people knew her name as women’s rights activist Ah Khu,” said her colleague Ju Jue.

After the coup, Women for Justice – like many civil society groups across the country – turned to organizing protests. Ah Khu was a regular at demonstrations in Kale, often alongside her husband, Lahphai Laseng. Naturally shy, he said he had gained confidence by marrying her.

“I have lost everything,” he said.

On March 28, Ah Khu was at a protest with her friend and colleague Ju Jue when at around 3 pm, soldiers began opening fire. Explosions resounded around them; they thought the security forces were throwing grenades.

As the two women were urging others to flee – small children were among the crowds – Ah Khu fell to the ground. “At first I thought she fell accidentally, so I tried to pick her up, but she said she had been shot in the chest,” Ju Jue said. “She couldn’t believe it. How was it possible? We were too far from the place they were shooting. She could only say, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’”

They took her to hospital on a motorbike, but doctors were unable to resuscitate her. Fearful of retribution for treating a protester, the doctors urged her family to take her body away quickly. Her husband and friends drove 15 hours to her birthplace deep in the Chin hills. On the way, questioned by security forces three times at check points, they gave an alternative name for Ah Khu and said she had died of high blood pressure.

Kale police did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment.

On arrival, villagers greeted them with revolutionary songs and the anti-coup movement’s signature three-finger salute, Ah Khu’s husband said. But the family was not allowed to put her name on her grave because locals were afraid the soldiers would cause trouble over it. On a cold morning, a small crowd gathered in a clearing in the forest as her coffin was lowered, video of the funeral showed. A priest read from the Bible, and a colleague at Women for Justice read out a declaration releasing her from her work on earth.

Kazakh authorities detained at least 20 people as demonstrators staged anti-China protests in towns and cities across the Central Asian nation on March 27.

The protesters rallied against China’s increasing influence and economic power in the former Soviet republic.

Activists also denounced the mass incarceration of members of indigenous Turkic-speaking communities in China’s Xinjiang region, including ethnic Kazakhs and Uyghurs.

Protests were held in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, and in the capital, Nur-Sultan, as well as Oral, Shymkent, and Aqtobe.

In Almaty, several hundred people gathered in a square to denounce what they said was “Chinese expansion” in Kazakhstan. At least seven protesters were detained on their way to the rally.

In Nur-Sultan, several people were detained on their way to a rally. Police cordoned off a square where protesters were expected to gather.

The protests were called by the banned Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (DPK).

In recent months, many activists across Kazakhstan have been handed parole-like sentences for their involvement in the activities of the DVK, as well as for taking part in rallies organized by the group.

The DVK is led by Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive former head of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank and an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government.

Human rights groups have said Kazakhstan’s law on public gatherings violates international standards as it requires preliminary permission from authorities to hold rallies and envisions prosecution for organizing and participating in unsanctioned rallies, even though the nation’s constitution guarantees its citizens the right of free assembly.

Kazakh authorities have insisted that there are no political prisoners in the country.

Myanmar’s military regime marked its Armed Forces Day on Saturday by slaughtering more than 100 people across the country, making it the bloodiest single day since the generals seized power on Feb. 1.

As of evening, The Irrawaddy has recorded at least 102 people, including at least four children ranging in age from 5 to 15, killed on Saturday in 41 locations in 10 out of Myanmar’s 14 states and regions.

Most of the victims were shot dead by trigger-happy soldiers and police during crackdowns on anti-protesters. One child was hit with a randomly sprayed bullet while playing.

Since early February, the junta has staged fatal assaults on protesters across the country who are opposed to military rule. A total of 429 have been slain so far.

While Saturday marked the seventh week of protest against the regime, it was also the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day, an annual celebration for the military to mark Myanmar’s resistance against the Japanese fascists in 1945.

However, protesters across the country viewed Saturday as “Revolutionary Day” against the regime and poured into streets. True to form, the regime’s soldiers and police responded with a burst of bloodshed, as if the heightened violence was a way of commemorating their special occasion.

The bloodshed came to Dala Township, a small town across the Yangon River, just after midnight. Eight people were shot dead about 12:30 a.m. Saturday as a crowd besieged a police station demanding that security forces release two women detained after a protest on Friday morning.

“They [security forces] kept shooting until 3 a.m. Several people were injured. Some of them are still critical condition,” a witness said.

A woman mourns for her family member killed by the regime’s troops on Saturday. In northern Yangon’s Insein Township, residents took to the streets at 2:30 a.m. to set up roadblocks, taking advantage of the absence of security forces in the small hours. Deadly crackdowns came about 6 a.m. and continued on into the day, resulting in four deaths.

A nurse from a local professional medic team that provided medical assistance in the area throughout the day said that not only protesters were slain. People like a drinking water deliveryman and other bystanders were either shot dead in the head and abdomen or wounded as attacks continued in neighboring areas and townships.

“They are devils. How can a human being behave like this? I can’t even find any proper words to describe their brutality,” said the nurse who gave her name as “Soe” for security reasons.

While Insein residents ran for their lives and fought back with whatever they could find—from broken bricks to slingshots to Molotov cocktails to burning piles of tires—coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing celebrated Armed Forces Day on a grand scale in the capital 200 miles away.

In his lengthy and cliché-ridden speech to a gathering of troops, he said the military has historically prioritized the safeguarding of the nation and its people and repeated his worn out excuse on staging the takeover by saying, “There was massive electoral fraud.”

A few hours after of his boast about how the military safeguards the nation and its people, his troops killed four civilians, including a 13-year-old girl, in Meiktila in Mandalay Region. The deaths occurred when security forces fired shots into a housing estate in an effort to disperse protesters.

It’s worth asking why the people of Myanmar are still taking to the streets, risking their lives to the violence of the regime’s troops.

A 26-year-old protester in Yangon’s Thaketa Township said he keeps protesting because he’s afraid of losing his future in the regime’s hands.

“We are not lambs to the slaughter. But if we stayed quiet, it would be the same as dying. So we fight for our hope and our future,” he said.

In northern Shan State’s Lashio, three more protesters including a lawyer were killed. They were shot in the head and chest when police and soldiers opened fire on anti-coup demonstrators, according to a local charity group. It also reported that several people were wounded during the crackdown.

“We could not retrieve the dead bodies. They dragged the bodies and the injured people onto a military truck,” a volunteer from the charity group told The Irrawaddy.

Coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during the Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on Saturday. ( Commander-in-Chief Office) Not surprisingly, the record-breaking killings by soldiers and police on Armed Forces Day have shocked diplomatic missions in the country.

The European Union in Myanmar said, “This 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day will forever stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonor.”

“The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, is indefensible,” the EU statement said.

US Ambassador Thomas Vajda condemned the security forces for “murdering unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they swore to protect” while calling for an immediate end to the violence and the restoration of the democratically elected government.

“This bloodshed is horrifying. These are not the actions of a professional military or police force,” he said in a statement released on Saturday.

For the nurse Soe in Yangon, the regime’s brutality prompted her to question one of her professional ethics: neutrality.

“As professional health workers, we are supposed to help anyone whoever they are. But they even killed kids! They shot people living in their homes,” she said.

So, would she save a dying soldier or wounded policeman now?

“I would surely do it in the past. But, not now!” she vowed.

On 27 March, authorities in Ha Noi arrested Le Trong Hung under Article 117, who had applied to be an independent (or ‘self-nominated’) candidate for a National Assembly seat in Ha Noi city. Le Trong Hung is a citizen journalist and a member of Chan Hung TV, a media group which broadcasts Facebook livestreams about social and political issues. According to his family, Le Trong Hung was arrested while walking in his neighbourhood and taken to his home by police who then searched the house. It is unknown where he is currently being detained.

A judge in the Pakistani city of Peshawar ordered police on Friday to open an investigation into the organisers of a march marking International Women’s Day over allegations they committed blasphemy.

Police in Islamabad had previously refused to open a case, saying the allegations were based on fake social media posts after doctored images and video from the March 8 event went viral.

The petition, lodged by a group of lawyers in Peshawar, alleges slogans and messages on placards and banners on display during the march in Islamabad were “un-Islamic and obscene” and insulted the Prophet Mohammad and one of his wives.

The organisers of the march said in a statement: “These lies and the outrageous allegations of blasphemous slogans and banners in particular have been definitively debunked many times over.”

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, and although no executions have been carried out, suspects are often killed by vigilantes.

Protests calling for vigilante violence against the march organisers followed the social media storm and on March 12 the Pakistan Taliban issued a statement threatening the activists.

The march organisers called on the government to provide protection for the activists in the wake of the court order.

A jailed student protester from Magway who had his hand amputated after a brutal attack by soldiers in late March applied for bail on Thursday, his family has said.

Hlyan Phyo Aung, a 22-year-old civil engineering student who faces an incitement charge, was expecting to be freed along with more than 2,000 others on Wednesday.

Instead he had his first court hearing on Thursday after it was postponed eight times. His family said they hoped the request would be granted on medical grounds because of his serious injuries.

“I just want to ask them to be reasonable and stop this madness,” said a relative.

The student was hospitalised after a soldier shot and destroyed his right hand at a rally in Magway on March 27. After the hand was amputated he was sent to Magway Prison, even though doctors said he urgently needed eye surgery.

“It doesn’t matter if one is educated or wealthy or not, a person is a person and should be treated as such,” the relative said. “Would they treat him the same way if he was their blood?” Thirty-six detainees who were still under police investigation and facing court hearings for protesting were released from Magway Prison on Wednesday.

Two of them were Hlyan Phyo Aung’s cellmates, who were detained at the same protest as him and facing the same charge under the same lawsuit, the relative said.

The cellmates had been helping Hlyan Phyo Aung, who has limited mobility, with his daily routine.

“Now he’s alone in his cell,” the relative said. “He had already packed his stuff thinking he would be released along with his cellmates. We just met with his friends who were released in front of the prison today.”

In addition to losing his right hand, Hlyan Phyo Aung was hit in his right eye with a blast of gunpowder. Both of his thighs and his left arm were perforated by rubber bullets. After receiving two months of treatment at a military hospital, doctors said he would still need physical therapy as well as surgery for his eye.

The relative said they feared the attention Hlyan Phyo Aung’s case has received was the reason the regime has not yet released him.

The underground National Unity Government has publicised his treatment as part of plans to submit evidence against the regime to the International Criminal Court.

“Every single word of support for him turns into poison for the military since this information has seeped to the international community, making it a ‘famous’ case,” the relative said.

“That’s probably why they’re not releasing him yet.”

Authorities have closed a key road outside a major population center in northwestern Pakistan after residents threatened to take their protest over the violent deaths of four teens to Islamabad.

Angry locals from the rural town of Jani Khel are in negotiations with local authorities to demand greater security guarantees and a thorough and credible investigation into the killings, which are at the center of a weeklong sit-in protest.

The residents said on March 26 that security forces placed heavy shipping containers on a local bridge, closing it to traffic.

The bridge links Jani Khel to the nearby city of Bannu, a major population center in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A lawmaker from a nearby area accused state authorities of blocking the road to keep the protest from spreading.

“Instead of listening to the demands of the protesters, the state has chosen to block roads around the area to stop them from moving out if they choose to take their protest to Islamabad,” lawmaker Mohsin Dawar, who represents North Waziristan, which borders Jani Khel, tweeted on March 26.

Many of those same residents began the sit-in on March 21 after the bullet-riddled corpses of four teenagers were discovered in a field some three weeks after they disappeared while hunting birds.

The bodies of the youngsters -- where were between 13 and 17 years old -- were reportedly dug out of the field after a shepherd's dogs found them.

The protesters' primary demand is a government guarantee that Taliban and other militants won't be allowed to operate in the area.

The protesters also want an official complaint filed against a specific security official posted to the town.

Police have already announced a murder investigation.

Mahmood Khan, the chief minister, the most senior elected official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, assured protesters on March 25 that the government will investigate.

“I want to promise you that we will hunt those criminals responsible for this heinous act,” he tweeted on March 25.

Authorities have also agreed to pay compensation to the families of the slain teens.

Media union leader Rana Muhammad Azeem, secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), received a death threat after exposing a mafia gangster in a television appearance. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Pakistan affiliate to call for an urgent investigation into the threat.

Media union leader Rana Muhammad Azeem, secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), received a death threat after exposing a mafia gangster in a television appearance. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Pakistan affiliate to call for an urgent investigation into the threat.

The PFUJ said on March 26 that its Secretary General Rana Muhammad Azeem received death- threat from a gangster after exposing mafia in a recent TV talk-show broadcastedon 92 News Channel. Earlier ,the Karachi-based Urdu newspaper had published the warrant notice against Rana Muhammad Azeem on February 28 leveling allegations of criminal conduct against the secretary general of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

The PFUJ said threats to working journalists had become more common in Pakistan despite repeated protests and activism by journalists. It also accused the Pakistan government of failing to provide security to the journalists.

(Bangkok, 24 March 2021) – Attempts to intimidate Malaysian lawyer and human rights defender (HRD) Charles Hector for his work amount to harassment with the ultimate aim of silencing the people he represents, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and Front Line Defenders said in a joint statement today.

Human rights lawyer Charles Hector, along with eight defendants he is representing against logging companies, may face contempt charges for seeking clarifications over details contained in a letter sent by the Jerantut Forestry office.

The proceedings to initiate contempt charges are scheduled to take place tomorrow (25 March 2021) at the Kuantan High Court in the Malaysian state of Pahang, following a letter Hector had sent on behalf of his clients to an officer of the Jerantut Forestry office on 17 December 2020. In that letter, Hector sought further explanations on an earlier letter sent by the forestry officer in February 2020.

The plaintiffs behind the contempt proceedings are logging firms Beijing Million Sdn Bhd and Rosah Timber & Trading Sdn Bhd. They claim that Hector’s letter is a violation of a temporary injunction order obtained in November 2020, which, among others, stops the defendants from blocking the plaintiff’s workers from accessing a contested area in the Jerantut Permanent Forest Reserve.

The logging firms were appointed by the General Manager of Yayasan Pahang (Pahang Foundation), the license holder allowed to carry out logging in this forest. Yayasan Pahang is a statutory body of the Pahang State government.

‘The use of legal proceedings to curtail the crucial role of human rights lawyers highlights the continuous risk and intimidation they face in their work, particularly when they defend individuals in cases involving powerful businesses,’ said Shamini Darshni Kaliemuthu, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

The eight defendants represented by Hector are from communities affected by potential logging activities in the Jerantut Permanent Forest Reserve.

In February 2020, the logging firms accused the defendants of preventing their workers and contractors from accessing and carrying their work in the forest reserve, and for allegedly disseminating false information about them. The defendants have denied these allegations.

The defendants, a part of the community who have been protesting logging of the Jerantut Permanent Forest Reserve since 2013, argue that the relevant authorities are still considering their objections and have not yet given permission to commence logging. The defendants, along with their communities, depend on the forest reserve for clean water and their livelihood. They also assert that their protest activities have been legal and peaceful.

‘Apart from intimidating lawyers, these actions by businesses result in disempowering vulnerable communities who depend on the forest reserve for their survival,’ said Shamini.

Malaysia has faced widespread deforestation and forest shrinkage in years. Despite attempts to revise laws to ensure protection for the forests, deforestation and infringement on ancestral lands have continued. Human rights lawyers and environmental defenders fighting against these are increasingly being targeted by corporations.

Charles Hector is a human rights lawyer who has extensive experience defending the right to fundamental freedoms, and the rights of indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees, and workers. He has been instrumental in improving mechanisms for access to lawyers and legal representation for the vulnerable.

‘Targeting a human rights defender like Charles Hector, who defends other human rights defenders, is certainly a strategy to weaken the morale of the community protesting the harmful logging,’ observed Olive Moore, Deputy Executive Director of Front Line Defenders.

In Malaysia, without a legislation to define contempt of court offences and penalties, sentences are arbitrary and can range from fines, prison terms and can lead to the revocation of one’s lawyer certificate.

‘Amidst allegation of collusion between regional state authorities and corporations, the Government of Malaysia must prove that it is able to prioritise the rights of its citizens over the interests of these corporations, and that it is able to protect the human rights lawyers who continue to defend the rights of vulnerable communities,’ said the groups.

Police in Hanoi at the weekend summoned Trinh Ba Khiem—the husband of detained Dong Tam land-rights activist Can Thi Thieu and father of their two sons—ordering him to remove live-stream postings on Facebook they said were defaming the Communist Party.

“They said that the communist regime would arrest me and punish me harshly if I kept putting videos up on social media,” Khiem told RFA, adding that it’s likely now that he will be jailed following the arrests of his wife and sons.

“My wife and children are already in prison, so I’m not frightened at all, even if they jail me for 20 years or if I die in prison,” he said.

During his meeting with police, Khiem asked to see his son Trinh Ba Phuong, who was transferred from a detention center to a state-run psychiatric hospital in early March for “evaluation” after refusing to speak to police investigators – the third prisoner of conscience known to have been sent for psychiatric treatment.

A well-known land-rights activist in Hanoi, Phuong was arrested on June 24, 2020 with his younger brother, Trinh Ba Tu, and his mother, Can Thi Theu, on charges of “creating, storing, and disseminating information, documents, items and publications opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

The three family members had been outspoken in social media postings about the Jan. 9, 2020 clash in Dong Tam commune in which 3,000 police stormed barricaded protesters’ homes at a construction site about 25 miles south of the capital, killing a village elder.

'Mentally strong'

Can Thi Theu meanwhile met on Tuesday with a defense lawyer for the first time since her arrest in June, her attorney, Le Luan, wrote on his Facebook page, describing his client as “mentally strong.”

Speaking to RFA on Wednesday, Theu’s daughter Trinh Thi Thao confirmed the meeting, adding she had given Le Luan a letter she had written to her mother, along with photographs of her mother’s four grandchildren.

“The lawyer said that we would meet with Trinh Ba Tu on another day,” she said.

Can Thi Theu had earlier served a 20-month prison term after being convicted in 2016 of “disturbing public order” for joining protests with others over their loss of land which was taken by the government to give to private companies without payment of adequate compensation.

While all land is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landholders aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to farming families displaced by development.

Almost two months after the military seized power, people across Myanmar doggedly continued the fight to topple the regime on Thursday with protests in towns and cities across the country.

Once again, the military responded with murderous attacks, killing at least six. Fatalities were confirmed in Shan State’s Taunggyi, Kachin state’s Mohnyin and Sagaing region’s Khin-U.

The regime has now killed 320 people, including 20 children, in its bid to crush the democratic uprising, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Thursday’s renewed protests came a day after the country observed a “Silent Strike”. Businesses closed and people stayed in their homes as streets remained empty of pedestrians and cars.

The action was a show of strength and unity in response to the military’s hamfisted efforts to resume business as usual and force the economy to reopen after weeks of devastating strikes. It was also aimed at allowing people a chance to rest.

Here is a roundup of Thursday’s violence by region, as well as some additional details from Wednesday night that have now been confirmed:

Taunggyi, Shan state

Four people were killed and several, including a pregnant woman, were injured when soldiers opened fire on protesters in Taunggyi, locals said. The troops also used tear gas and rubber bullets during the attack.

Photos taken by locals and circulated on social media showed the regime’s forces beating residents and destroying their properties.

Residents said the army used drone cameras to watch over residential areas but Myanmar Now was unable to verify this.

Sources from the town said nearly 60 people were arrested during Thursday’s attacks and several people had their mobile phones seized.

Mohnyin, Kachin state

Forty-year-old Win Swe was shot in the abdomen and killed in Mohnyin when the junta’s forces opened fire on a crowd that had gathered in front of the police station to demand the release of nine protesters who were arrested on Thursday morning.

“At first, the police just said to disperse. Later a truck full of soldiers arrived and opened fire,” said a member of an aid group that is helping the injured.

Win Swe was a gasoline seller and a resident of the Aung Thabyay ward in Mohnyin.

Two other people in their 30s were severely injured during the attack, Mohnyin locals said.

hin-U, Sagaing region

In Khin-U, Sagaing region, troops from a battalion in nearby Shwebo attacked a pro-democracy demonstration and killed a 19-year-old demonstrator named Zaw Win Maung.

Two others were injured, according to a Khin-U resident.

“We had blocked main roads in town and troops from Shwebo came on foot to where we were at around midday. They started shooting as soon as they arrived,” the resident said.

Zaw Min Maung passed away at around 6pm while being treated at a local monastery. Soldiers then came and took his body as well as an injured teenager, whose whereabouts and condition is unknown.

On Wednesday night police arrested a group of 14 volunteer night guards in Aung Chan Thar ward. Residents then surrounded the police station to demand their release.

Police shot at the crowd outside the station but later released the night guards, a local said. Mandalay

A junta crackdown on a nighttime protest in Mandalay’s Kyaukpadaung township on Wednesday night left one person dead and three severely injured, a local rescue worker said. The protest was held to mark the end of the day’s Silent Strike.

Soldiers attacked the protest at around 8pm. Kyi Sett Hlaing, 23, was shot in the thigh and bled to death at around 11pm after he was unable to access medical treatment.

The rescue worker said his charity was delayed trying to reach injured protesters because there were soldiers patrolling the main road in the town in search of people who had left broken glass out to slow the advance of military vehicles.

“They were looking for those who shattered glass on the road, so we couldn’t go freely,” he said.

Also on Wednesday night, in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi township, a 16-year-old boy was killed during an attack on residents who were banging pots at Sein Pan street near the intersection of 66th and 67th streets, a doctor who helped treat the injured told Myanmar Now.

The victim was identified as Phoe Hti. He was shot in the back by the junta’s troops, according to his relatives.The shootings started at 8:30pm and at least five other residents were injured, a rescue team said.

Before the shooting, soldiers shouted: “If you have courage, come out now!” a resident said.

“After we banged pots, they came in shouting ‘Who has the courage? Who was banging pots? Come out now!’ They then went around shooting. I’ve heard that some night watchmen were shot,” the resident added.

One person was shot in the abdomen and the other in the leg, she added.

“No rescue team has arrived, they have been left just like that,” she added, speaking at around 9pm on Wednesday. “We don’t dare to go out to look either.”

Ambulances were able to enter the area around 9:30pm that night and took the injured people to a clinic, a doctor said.

A jailed Vietnamese blogger serving an 11-year prison term for writing articles criticizing Vietnam’s government is being denied family visits after being transferred to a new prison following his refusal to appeal his sentence, his wife said on Friday.

Nguyen Tuong Thuy, an independent journalist and former RFA blogger, was recently moved from a Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency detention center and sent to the Bo La prison in Binh Duong province, Thuy’s wife Nguyen Thi Lan said.

“Yesterday I went to the Bo La detention center to visit my husband. I arrived at 11:00 a.m. but couldn’t see him as the doors had been locked, and I had to wait until 1:30 p.m. to send him some food,” Lan said, adding that prison staff accepted her delivery of food but refused to let her visit or speak with Thuy.

“They explained that they were not allowed to do this, as they had to follow instructions from the Ho Chi Minh City police,” she said.

Lan said she was shown a February 2021 police notice suspending prison visits and consular contacts due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, but insisted that this was still against the law. “The law stipulates that anyone temporarily detained is still allowed to see their family at least once a month.”

Even with concerns over COVID-19, the guards should have allowed her to see her husband at a distance or speak to him on the phone, Lan said.

“However, I had no choice but to accept their decision, as [the detention officers] are the ones who have the authority,” Lan said, adding she had heard that a prisoner being held on a drugs charge at the same facility had been allowed to call and speak to their family.

“I think the guards were just making excuses,” she said. “I don’t know why they would say what they did, but I believe they were just following their superiors’ instructions and not the law.”

Calls seeking comment from the Bo La detention center were not picked up on Friday.

Civil rights, freedom of speech

Nguyen Tuong Thuy, who had blogged on civil rights and freedom of speech issues for RFA’s Vietnamese Service for six years, was sentenced on Jan. 5 with two other bloggers—like Thuy members of the Vietnam Independent Journalists’ Association—who were handed lengthy jail terms at the same time.

Arrested in May 2020, Thuy was indicted along with Pham Chi Dung and Le Huu Minh Tuan on Nov. 10 for “making, storing, and disseminating documents and materials for anti-state purposes” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code.

Sentenced with Thuy, Pham Chi Dung was given a 15-year prison term, while Le Huu Minh Tuan was jailed for 11 years.

Thuy later refused to appeal his sentence, tearing up a petition form given to his after prison guards told him what to write on it, Thuy’s lawyer told RFA in an earlier report.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Vietnam 175 out of 180 in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index. About 25 journalists and bloggers are being held in Vietnam’s jails, “where mistreatment is common,” the Paris-based watchdog group said.

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

A court in the central Chinese province of Henan has handed down a 14-month jail term to performance artist and online influencer Chen Shaotian after he posted a number of critical comments about life under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Twitter.

Chen was sentenced to one year and two months' imprisonment by the Fugou County People's Court in Henan, which found him guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target critics of the regime.

Chen's sentence, which was issued on March 25, was based on more than 50 posts he made to Twitter that were deemed to be "hype about major sensitive events in China" and "political attacks."

One video still visible on Twitter shows him astride a moped, speeding down a road wearing a face-mask blazoned with the words "evil" and "understand," and yelling: "Understand this! Our evil government is far worse than any virus, for f*ck's sake!"

Chen's tweets had "attacked China's political system, insulted employees of the state, caused serious damage to China's national image and endangered its national interests," as well as "creating serious disorder in a public place," the court judgment said.

Dissident activist Ji Feng said Chen isn't a dissident in the strict sense, as he doesn't advocate any political or philosophical alternative to CCP rule.

"He lacks a systematic politics, and he has no deeply held position," Ji said. "It's all about dissatisfaction with the current reality."

He said Chen's jailing would likely have a chilling effect on people who feel the same way.

"There are many, many people like him, and eventually, they will probably be too scared to speak out any more," he said.

Hebei-based lawyer Pan Shaomin said Chen had become an online celebrity precisely because his posts exuded a general and profound sense of dissatisfaction.

"The social topics he cares about were very popular with the general public," Ji said. "He cursed the way things are in a funny way, and made people laugh and feel happier."

"That was how he became a celebrity, but that phenomenon is going to cause fear in certain quarters," he said.

Chen, originally a long-haul truck-driver, first started cursing out the government after travel bans and rural roadblocks at the start of the pandemic left him unable to do his job.

He was banned from social media platforms including WeChat and Douyin after his videos on the death of whistleblowing Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang went viral.

"What [Chen] was doing was anathema to the authorities, who shut down his China-based social media accounts," Pan said.

In December 2020, authorities in the Beijing district of Haidian jailed Li Guibao, who was known online as Fat Pig Full Circle Lao Li, to one year's imprisonment for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" after he criticized the authorities handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Li was detained two days after posting a 7,000-word article on April 9, 2020, in which he mostly talked about government's handling of the pandemic.

He was tried on Dec. 3, 2020 and sentenced on Dec. 24, 2020.

An appeals court in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi on Wednesday upheld the 12-year prison sentence handed to dissident writer Tran Duc Thach in December, sending him back to prison to serve his full term without hearing any arguments from his lawyer.

Thach, 69 and a founder of Vietnam’s online Brotherhood for Democracy, had heard only on Monday that the trial would be held, attorney Ha Huy Son told RFA on Tuesday.

Thach’s appeals hearing lasted just under two hours and was held without arguments between Thach’s defense attorney Ha Huy Son and government prosecutors, Son told RFA’s Vietnamese Service following the trial.

“It seems that the court had arranged its verdict ahead of time, as it was clearly made without any consideration being given to what Thach had actually done,” he said.

Arrested on April 23, 2020 Thach had been charged with “activities aimed at overthrowing the People’s Government” under Article 109 of Vietnam’s Criminal Code for Facebook postings exposing government corruption and human rights abuses.

The Brotherhood for Democracy is not recognized by the Vietnamese government, and many of its members have been imprisoned since its founding in 2013.

Speaking at Wednesday’s trial, a government prosecutor called Thach’s actions “dangerous to society,” saying they had threatened national security and undermined public trust in Vietnam’s political system.

Thach’s first trial had been compromised by “serious violations of legal proceedings,” Thach’s defense team said in a closing statement, noting that Thach had been tried on charges under the 2015 Criminal Code, which came into effect in early January 2018, well after his alleged offenses.

Prosecutors on Wednesday had also enjoyed full access to Thach’s case file, while defense lawyers were not allowed to have a copy of it, attorney Ha Huy Son said.

Thach had previously served a three-year jail term after being convicted in October 2009 of “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” and his return to prison now comes amid a new surge of jailings and convictions following a spate of arrests last year in the run-up to a top-level Communist Party conference in January.

'I'm not frightened at all'

Separately, police in Hanoi at the weekend summoned Trinh Ba Khiem—the husband of detained Dong Tam land-rights activist Can Thi Thieu and father of their two sons—ordering him to remove live-stream postings on Facebook they said were defaming the Communist Party.

“They said that the communist regime would arrest me and punish me harshly if I kept putting videos up on social media,” Khiem told RFA, adding that it’s likely now that he will be jailed following the arrests of his wife and sons.

“My wife and children are already in prison, so I’m not frightened at all, even if they jail me for 20 years or if I die in prison,” he said.

During his meeting with police, Khiem asked to see his son Trinh Ba Phuong, who was transferred from a detention center to a state-run psychiatric hospital in early March for “evaluation” after refusing to speak to police investigators – the third prisoner of conscience known to have been sent for psychiatric treatment.

A well-known land-rights activist in Hanoi, Phuong was arrested on June 24, 2020 with his younger brother, Trinh Ba Tu, and his mother, Can Thi Theu, on charges of “creating, storing, and disseminating information, documents, items and publications opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

The three family members had been outspoken in social media postings about the Jan. 9, 2020 clash in Dong Tam commune in which 3,000 police stormed barricaded protesters’ homes at a construction site about 25 miles south of the capital, killing a village elder.

'Mentally strong'

Can Thi Theu meanwhile met on Tuesday with a defense lawyer for the first time since her arrest in June, her attorney, Le Luan, wrote on his Facebook page, describing his client as “mentally strong.”

Speaking to RFA on Wednesday, Theu’s daughter Trinh Thi Thao confirmed the meeting, adding she had given Le Luan a letter she had written to her mother, along with photographs of her mother’s four grandchildren.

“The lawyer said that we would meet with Trinh Ba Tu on another day,” she said.

Can Thi Theu had earlier served a 20-month prison term after being convicted in 2016 of “disturbing public order” for joining protests with others over their loss of land which was taken by the government to give to private companies without payment of adequate compensation.

While all land is ultimately held by the state, land confiscations have become a flashpoint as residents accuse the government of pushing small landholders aside in favor of lucrative real estate projects, and of paying too little in compensation to farming families displaced by development.

Six youth activists were detained for a night for collecting thumbprints — despite the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak — for a petition calling on the government to ease citizens’ costs of living, the Phnom Penh governor said.

“What they are looking for — thumbprints — that is against the Covid-19 rules,” Khuong Sreng said.

The activists had admitted their guilt and were released, he said, adding that such actions could lead to legal action if they were infected with Covid-19 and had transmitted the disease to others.

The governor added that they were focusing on the wrong issue at the wrong time.

“At this time, they should be holding banners and telling all people to wear masks to protect themselves from Covid-19,” Sreng said. “That would be the most appropriate.”

Keo Tith Lida, president of the Women’s Association for Society, said three of her members had been arrested on Wednesday while making copies of their petition to deliver to Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday.

She and two other members went to the Stung Meanchey 1 commune police station to try to secure the others’ release, but they were also detained, Tith Lida said.

The group has been collecting thumbprints for a petition calling on the government to ease people’s financial burdens. The petition suggests suspending payments to microfinance institutions and banks, halting water and electricity bills, reducing the price of gasoline, or halving businesses’ rent for three to six months.

Tith Lida said the six activists were detained overnight and released around 5 p.m. on Thursday.

“We were asked to make a contract … to not gather youths, to not collect thumbprints during Covid, and to not make any propaganda,” she said.

The campaign had now been suspended, she said.

Am Sam Ath, rights group Licadho’s monitoring manager, said everyone should be following the Health Ministry’s Covid-19 guidelines.

“There should be a discussion about solutions, and, in the future, they will follow the measures of the Ministry of Health and of the authorities about preventing the spread of Covid-19. That would be good,” Sam Ath said.

Tith Lida previously said the group had collected more than 200 thumbprints for its petition.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to tens of thousands of job losses in Cambodia, with tourism having plummeted amid disruptions to global travel, and garment factories losing orders due to suppressed worldwide consumer demand.

More than 700,000 households, or about 2 million people, have received emergency cash handouts as part of the government’s IDPoor program, the Planning Ministry said last month.

On the night of March 24, police raided the media outlet’s office and two of its employees’ homes in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state, and detained editor-in-charge Nann Nann Tai, reporter Nann Win Yi, and publisher Tin Aung Kyaw, according to a Facebook post by the outlet and a report by The Irrawaddy.

Kanbawza Tai News editor-in-chief Zay Tai told The Irrawaddy that the outlet had not received any warning or legal action before the arrests, and he did not know where the staffers were being held.

CPJ emailed and called Kanbawza Tai News, an independent news outlet which posts stories on its website and social media, but did not receive any responses. The outlet’s news website was still posting updates as of today, and has recently covered strikes and demonstrations against the country’s military government, which took power in a February coup.

“The jailing of Kanbawza Tai News staffers Nann Nann Tai, Nann Win Yi, and Tin Aung Kyaw is the latest in a lengthening list of crimes against the press by the Myanmar junta,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “They must be immediately and unconditionally freed along with all other journalists wrongfully detained in Myanmar.”

Zay Tai told The Irrawaddy that authorities had previously tried to arrest him in mid-March in a separate house raid, but he escaped.

Also on March 24, Myanmar authorities released hundreds of political prisoners, most of whom had been detained in clampdowns on anti-military protests, including Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw and Polish freelance photographer Robert Bociaga, according to news reports.

At least 23 other journalists remain in detention, including the Kanbawza Tai News staffers, according to data shared with CPJ by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, an independent rights group.

Twelve of those journalists have been charged under the penal code, with at least 10 facing charges under Article 505(a), a broad criminal provision that penalizes the dissemination of information that could agitate or cause security forces or state officials to mutiny, that data shows.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Information for comment, but did not receive an immediate reply.

Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia (YLBHI) said that 2 legal assistants for residents of Pancoran, South Jakarta, were detained by the South Jakarta Metro Police. "Two legal assistants for the residents of Pancoran, Safaraldy from LBH Jakarta and Dzuhrian from Paralegal Jalanan were arrested for no reason by the South Jakarta Police on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. Both were detained while delivering a letter regarding the refusal to investigate the Pancoran residents

Witnesses said at least 20 people, including journalists, were injured in the clashes at Soparjito Swadhinata Chattar near the TSC on Tuesday afternoon.

Members of BCL, the ruling Awami League’s student wing, gathered in front of Raju Memorial Sculpture on the campus in the morning to resist a programme announced by Chhatra Federation that had plans to burn Modi’s effigy.

The leftist students have been demonstrating against Modi ahead of his visit, demanding he be barred from entering Bangladesh due to his government’s policy towards minority groups.

Having failed to demonstrate in front of Raju Memorial Sculpture, the Chhatra Federation followers gathered at Sanjeeb Chattar of the TSC. Some BCL activists on motorcycle snatched the effigy away later.

BCL activists then tried to take away Modi’s effigy again when members of Pragatishil Chhatra Jote, an alliance of the leftist student groups, gathered at the TSC after marching in procession.

When the leftist students started burning Modi’s photo, the BCL activists tried to chase them away, triggering a running battle.

Jibon Ahmed, photojournalist of the daily Manabzamin, Rubel Rashid of the Desh Rupantor, Kazi Salauddin Raju of Zuma Press, Jabed Hasnain Chowdhury of the United News of Bangladesh, and freelance journalist ‘Himu’ were injured during the clashes.

Jibon said a person tried to hit his camera with a helmet. Jibon’s left hand was injured when he tried to protect his camera.

Pragati Tapan Barma, general secretary of Samajtantrik Chhatra Front’s Dhaka University unit, was “severely” injured in “brutal attack by Chhatra League workers”, said Salman Siddiqui, president of the unit.

More than 20 leaders and activists of the leftist student groups were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment of their injuries, according to him.

BCL President Al-Nahian Khan Joy and Lekhak Bhattacharya could not be reached immediately for comments.

Saw Lin Htet, an ethnic Karen student from Myanmar currently studying at Mahidol University, has been arrested in Myanmar after joining an anti-coup protest while conducting research, and has not been heard from since.

Saw Lin Htet is a student in the Human Rights and Democratisation master’s degree programme at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP), Mahidol University. IHRP lecturer Bencharat Sae Chua said that he returned to his home country to conduct research for his thesis. While in Myanmar, he also joined anti-coup protests after the Myanmar military took power on 1 February 2021.

Bencharat said she was informed that Saw Lin Htet was arrested on 23 March 2021, while driving home in Hpa-An, the capital city of Karen State, with his 4-year-old daughter. He was stopped by military officers, who searched his car without presenting a warrant and arrested him after they found anti-government material.

He was accused of inciting violence against the state under Section 505 of Myanmar’s Criminal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years.

He was taken to court on 6 April 2021, but his trial was not heard as there were too many cases. However, that evening, his wife noticed that he was not in the prisoner bus returning to prison, so she went to search for him both at the prison and at the police station, but no officer was able to tell her where he is. He has not been heard from since.

Saw Lin Htet’s family and friends are now concerned for his wellbeing. Bencharat said a petition has been filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights received the petition on 9 April. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter are in hiding out of fear that they are in danger from state officials.

His classmates at Mahidol University have also set up the Facebook page “Free Saw Lin” to call attention to his arrest and disappearance. On 9 April, they also issued a statement raising concerns about Saw Lin Htet’s wellbeing and calling on the Myanmar government to guarantee the rights Saw Lin Htet and other political detainees, as well as to allow them the right to be represented by a lawyer and to have a fair trial.

“We gravely fear for the condition of Saw Lin, who as of this moment remains under incommunicado detention,” says the statement. “Saw Lin’s current physical health is fragile since he is a survivor of childhood tuberculosis. His lack of consistent access to lawyers and his family clear violates his rights as an accused and person deprived of liberty.

“We appeal to the Government of the Union of Myanmar to allow Saw Lin, along with other political detainees, to have their rights guaranteed under the law. We request that they are granted access to justice, be represented by their counsels, and have a fair trial.”

Chukiat ‘Justin’ Saengwong, a pro-democracy protester, was arrested at night on 22 March on a charge of royal defamation and taken into police custody awaiting a court decision on bail. The court then allow the police request for temporary detention.

At 13.01 of 23 March, he was waiting for a court decision on his bail application via a teleconference hearing, according to Bencha Saengchantra, the Move Forward Party MP requesting bail for Chukiat. Bencha also said the police were going to transfer Chukiat to court in the morning, but suddenly changed to a teleconference hearing.

At 17.12, the court denied bail, giving as reasons the seriousness of the charge, the heavy penalty, and the fact that the accused committed similar offences after previously being allowed bail, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR). The offence that resulted in his arrest was from his part in the 20 March protest at Sanam Luang, although the offending action has not yet been identified exactly.

Chukiat posted on Facebook at 20.15 on 22 March “The police are taking me to Chanasongkram Police Station. Arrest warrant [Section] 112”. But supporters who went to Chanasongkram Police Station could not find him until he appeared at Huai Kwang Police Station at 23.00.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), whose lawyer was able to meet Chukiat at 00.54 on 23 March, tweeted that the police tried to interrogate Chukiat with a lawyer that they assigned to him and confiscated his phone. Because he objected to this, the police had him handcuffed and detained.

KHON KAEN: Sixteen core members of the Khon Kaen faction of the anti-government Ratsadon group reported to police on Monday morning to hear charges in connection with three anti-government rallies.

The first rally was held at Khon Kaen University on Feb 12, when the protesters lowered a national flag from the pole. The second was in front of the Muang police station on Feb 20 and the third on March 1 in front of a police office at Khon Kaen University.

At the rallies, the protesters reiterated three demands of the Ratsadon group - the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the amendment of the constitution and the reform of the monarchy.

Summonses were issued for the 16 to report to Muang police on Monday to hear three charges - lowering the national flag, a violation of the Thai National Flag Act, violating the emergency decree, and breaking the Disease Control Act.

The 16 were: Vachiravich "Safe" Thetsrimuang, who is leader of Khon Kaen faction of the Ratsadon group, Atthapol "Khru Yai" Buapat, Chaithawat Nammaroeng, Nitikorn Khamchu, Kornchanok Saenprasert, Pachara Santhiyakul, Thanasak Potemi, Veerapat Sirisunthorn, Panupong Srithananuwat, Sarawut Nakmanee, Jatuporn Sae Ueng, Chettha Klindee, Siwakorn Namnuad, Jetsarit Namkhot, Issaret Charoenkhong and Wisalya Ngnamna.

Four companies of police, from Khon Kaen and nearby provinces, were deployed in front of the police station to block supporters of the 16 from entering the premises.

A large number of Ratsadon supporters turned up and set up a tent on Klang Muang road in front of the station, giving moral support to their leaders and applying pressure on the police.

The protest leaders were accompanied by counsel from Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

Mr Vachiravich said the lawyers had prepared to file requests for their release on bail after they were formally charged.

Before reporting to the police, Mr Vachiravich burned his summons and ground the ashes under his foot, in a symbolic show of defiance.

On March 22, 2021, the Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Mumbai rejected Mr. Swamy’s bail petition, arguing that there was sufficient evidence to prove his involvement in "deep-rooted conspiracy". His application for bail had been pending since November 2020.

The Observatory recalls that Mr. Swamy has been arbitrarily detained in Taloja jail since October 9, 2020, following his arbitrary arrest on October 8, 2020 by NIA officials for his alleged involvement in the Bhima Koregaon case. The case relates to caste-based violence that broke out on January 1, 2018, during Elgar Parishad, a Dalit commemoration of the anniversary of a battle the Dalits won 200 years ago against the Peshwas (upper caste rulers), at Bhima Koregaon, Maharashtra State.

On November 26, 2020, the NIA Court in Mumbai rejected Mr. Stan Swamy’s request for a straw, a sipper bottle, and winter clothes, which had been allegedly confiscated by the NIA at the time of his arrest. Mr. Swamy had lodged his request on November 6, 2020, as he is unable to hold a glass due to having an advanced stage of Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, Mr. Swamy suffers from a hearing impairment, has fallen in the jail on multiple occasions, and suffers from severe pain in his lower abdomen as a result of two surgeries. On November 29, 2020, the Taloja jail authorities provided Mr. Swamy with a sipper bottle, following widespread outcry over the refusal to provide him with adequate medical care.

Police officer from the Jayapura City Police arrested five students demonstrating carrying the Bintang Kejora flag on Monday (22/3/2021). The police also disband a demonstration demanding that Government of Indonesia open access for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Papua. The rally was initiated by students of the students of Universitas Sains dan Teknologi Jayapura (USTJ) on campus. Initially, the protesters had time to postpone their action, because they saw that the police were already on campus.

MANILA – Human rights group Karapatan is calling for the release of their Lumad colleague who was arrested by police in Cagayan de Oro City early morning Sunday, March 21.

Renalyn Tejero, 25, a Karapatan Caraga paralegal and a Manobo, has turned up under arrest at the Camp Col. Rafael Rodriguez, the Philippine National Police (PNP) Caraga regional office 13 in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Tejero had been missing for half a day, having lost contact with her colleagues after she was last seen being taken by armed men at 5 A.M. in another province, in barangay Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental.

It turned out a joint police and military team arrested her on charges of murder and attempted multiple murder, as announced by the PNP Caraga late this afternoon. They flaunted having nabbed Tejero, who they claimed is the region’s “top 1 most wanted NPA (New People’s Army).”

The PNP Caraga also claimed that Tejero is “one of the primary suspects” in the killing of Zaldy Acidillo Ybañez and Datu Bernandino Astudillo Surigao del Sur last year.

This was the same charge against Rogelio de Asis, Pamalakaya Caraga chairperson, and auditor of Pamalakaya National. De Asis was arrested on Feb. 11 at his home in Buenavista, Agusan del Norte.

The arrest warrants issued by the Regional Trial Court branch 34 recommends no bail for the murder case, and a fixed bail of Php120,000 for the multiple attempted murder case, the PNP Caraga said.

Tejero is the second activist from Caraga who was arrested in four days. On March 17, a similar joint police and military operation arrested Rosanilla “Teacher Lai” Consad, ACT secretary in Region XIII, a special education teacher and an assistant principal of San Vicente National High School in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.

Also in the region just last February, four prominent activists were arrested on murder charges, which their organizations denounced as trumped-up cases.

The PNP Caraga said Tejero was arrested by a composite team of the PNP regional intelligence units from Region 13 and Region 10, the Philippine Army’s 402nd Brigade under the 4th Infantry Division, the 23rd Infantry Battalion and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Progressive groups denounced Tejero’s arrest and called for her release. The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) in a Facebook post said Tejero is an “IFI active youth member.” Katribu Youth called the arrest “an attack on indigenous peoples and people’s rights.”

Police in north-central Vietnam’s Nghe An province arrested the owner of a private clinic on Monday, accusing the physician of undermining people’s trust in the Communist Party in a series of articles posted on social media, state media sources said.

Nguyen Duy Huong, a 34-year-old medical doctor and owner of the Duy Nhi clinic in the Yen Thanh district’s Vienh Tanh commune, was charged under Article 117 of the Criminal Code with “creating, storing, or disseminating information and documents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

Security services said that articles posted since 2018 on Huong’s Facebook page included a Feb. 20, 2021 story called “Why Should We Criticize Nguyen Phu Trong,” which criticized the ruling Communist Party general secretary, now serving his third term in office, for turning the party into “a swamp.”

Huong had written in the same article that he was willing to sacrifice even his family and job in order to change the Party and the country, according to a report in the Ministry of Public Security’s official newspaper.

“I have devoted my life to this [cause],” Huong wrote, quoted in the Ministry paper. “Reforms must be carried out so that our people can really be their own masters, the party can be cleaned up, and the country can move forward.”

Huong’s writings had undermined the Vietnamese people’s trust in their ruling party and the socialist regime and had harmed political and ideological unity in the country, and should therefore be “handled strictly,” the ministry paper said.

The junta’s armed forces shot and killed a protester in Monywa, Sagaing Region, on Sunday morning as a crowd of people set up preparations for an anti-coup demonstration.

Twenty-three-year-old Min Min Zaw was shot in the head while setting up street barricades on the frontline, a local doctor on strike told Myanmar Now.

Nine people were injured when police and soldiers shot live ammunition into the crowd, with four in critical condition at the time of reporting, according to the doctor.

As the regime’s forces took over the main roads in Monywa to deter civilians from protesting, locals instead used side streets to hold their rallies against the February 1 military coup, building makeshift barricades in the roads for protection.

Min Min Zaw was shot dead at the Bo Tayza Street in Monywa when the armed forces came to destroy these barricades.

Despite the killing of Min Min Zaw, Monywa residents continued to hold their rally against the regime for the 43rd day since February 7.

Twelve people have been killed in total in Monywa by police and soldiers.

Nationwide, the regime has killed at least 247 people since the military coup, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

However, medics and rescue workers believe that the actual number of protest-related deaths may be much higher than the AAPP’s estimates, as there are multiple reports of missing persons, and family members who say they have been unable to claim the bodies of their loved ones from the regime.

Despite the ongoing deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations by the armed forces, defiant protesters in Myanmar continued to take to the streets on Sunday in towns and cities across the country.

On 20 March, protesters gathered at Sanam Luang demanding that the power of the monarchy be limited under the constitution. The police responded by setting up a long barrier of containers. The people faced retaliation after removing the blockade. Rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon were deployed broadly and indiscriminately.

As of Sunday morning, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that 32 people were arrested. 30 people were taken to Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in Pathum Thani for detention and investigation.

The Erawan Medical Centre reported on Sunday that 33 people were injured and transferred to hospital.

The protest was scheduled after a popular vote in the REDEM communication group. Protesters gathered at Sanam Luang at around 17.50 to face a long barrier of containers stacked two-high barring them from accessing the Grand Palace walls. The blockade was reportedly put in place at around 07.00 on Saturday. As more people arrived, some protesters were seen pulling down part of the wall of containers. At around 19.00 a path opened up after a row of containers was removed. Crowd control police behind the blockade began to warn the protesters not to cross the line otherwise they would be arrested.

At 19.02 water cannon opened fire from behind the blockade as the police were preparing arrest teams. 8 explosions were heard. The protesters retreated to Phan Phipop Lila Bridge before re-entering Sanam Luang, waving large white banners, only to face more water cannon fire. The water was reportedly infused with a tear gas agent. At around 19.30, the protesters were flanked by crowd control police who marched from Ratchadamnoen Road toward the protesters. The police on both sides then started forcibly dispersing protestors. Tear gas and rubber bullets were widely used at this stage as the protesters made a retreat to Phra Pinklao Bridge, the only major exit that remained open.

Doi, a 15-year-old young woman, was injured in the left chest by a rubber bullet. She said she was at the Mother Earth Statue across Sanam Luang when the police announced that they would arrest people who were lingering on the street. However, the police shot her after a couple seconds without allowing her to run. Doi said she was terrified and hurt. She said her family is not against her coming to the protest. However, getting hurt is not what she wanted as she was afraid of missing a test because of her injury.

The standoff at Phra Pinklao Bridge went on for around 1 hour. Tear gas and explosions were observed several times. The media around Ratchadamnoen Road were restricted in a designated area by the police.

At 20.43, crowd control police opened a path to Atsadang Road, allowing protesters to leave. Police asked the media to lead the people out of the area. Afraid of an ambush by a pro-monarchy vigilante group, the protesters urged the police to lead them out to a safe place. 2 units of police were deployed to lead the protesters out.

At 21.45, a person was attacked by an unidentified group of men around Wat Mahannapharam with some sort of flag pole. He was injured in the head and taken to hospital.

At 21.53, the Coalition of Salaya for Democracy posted on Facebook that a person was shot with live ammunition by unknown men around the Giant Swing.

At 22.24, Prachatai journalist Sarayut Tangprasert was shot in the back by a rubber bullet while livestreaming the crackdown at Kok Wua intersection, leading to Khao San Road. He was wearing a media armband provided by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA). During the night, journalists from Channel 8 and Khaosod were injured by rubber bullets, one to the head and one to the leg.

The police set up a line at Kok Wua intersection, moving back and forth to disperse protestors. People who were sitting in Khao San Road booed them before the police moved away from the famous tourist destination which is now less crowded due to the pandemic. Deputy Police Spokesperson Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen said the police responded to the protest in accordance with legal provisions, noting that the protest was not allowed according to the restrictions of the Emergency Decree to control the spread of Covid-19. The police had warned the protesters not to trespass beyond the blockade. Protesters still came forward and some attacked the police with marbles or bolts fired by slingshots.

“In carrying out their duty this evening, police officers have used restraint, acting according to the steps of the law, acting strictly according to regulations in political science and legal principles,” said Kritsana.

At 21.15, the Medics and Nurses for the People volunteer group estimated that at least 30 people had been injured from tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon blasts and assaults.

At around 23.00 a clash broke out at Wan Chat Bridge, 400 meters from the Democracy Monument when protesters seized a police van and used it as a shield. The Tempo News reported men were caught throwing a home-made explosive at the police from the lines of media. Molotov cocktails were used but quickly put out. Police returned fire with tear gas and rubber bullets.

According to the Reporters Facebook live feed, crowd control police staged a crackdown at around 23.00, resulting in 9 arrests. 1 police officer and 1 other person were injured and taken away from the scene.

On 23.30, the Dao Din activist group gathered in front of Khon Kaen University Police Station to protest against the violence in Bangkok.

Calm before the storm The Free YOUTH Movement, one of the protest organizers formed in 2020, published a statement demanding limits to the power of the monarchy, the demilitarization of politics and universal social welfare. Activities began peacefully. The protest on Saturday was meant to send messages via paper planes to address the issue of limiting the power of the monarchy under the constitution. People were seen flying kites, raising banners and spraying the ground with graffiti.

The artists' network Free Arts were also organising activities during the protest. Earlier in the evening, they were spray-painting pictures of activists currently imprisoned for charges relating to political activities, as well as messages such as “Free our friends” and “Abolish Section 112” onto kites, which can then be seen flying above Sanam Luang. A representative of the group said that the idea behind the event is that several of the imprisoned activists are facing charges because of the protest at Sanam Luang on 19 – 20 September 2020, so the group decided to paint their pictures onto kites to show that they are thinking of those who are imprisoned.

The representative also said that one of the activities they think of when they return to Sanam Luang was flying kites, and that the event is also symbolic of how Sanam Luang used to be a public space where anyone can organize an event.

Free Arts also planned to use the space for dancing, and said that there is also a plan for participants to read out Anon Nampa’s speech on monarchy reform. However, these activities did not take place as the protest was cut short due to police violence.

Eak, joining the protest wearing a T-shirt with a parody of the Naruto manga, changing the name to Narutu, a reference to the nickname (Tu) of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha. He said he wanted to express his anger at Thai politics. “I am angry at the senators who rejected the draft constitution. I am angry that our friends were ordered to be detained by the court without a verdict. It is against international principles, against every theory, against everything.”

Eak wants the government to step down for the good of Thai children and the future.

BANGKOK — At least 20 people were taken into custody after riot police broke up a protest calling for a monarchy reform at Sanam Luang on Saturday night, police said Sunday.

The rally outside the Grand Palace was organized by the REDEM group, who had said they planned to have demonstrators throw paper planes with messages over the palace walls.

The protesters, who numbered close to 1,000, gathered at Sanam Luang, where they were met with a massive barricade made of shipping containers to defend palace grounds. They proceeded to dismantle the obstacle installed by the police, to which the police retaliated with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets as they moved in to clear out the remaining protesters in the vicinity.

Protesters pull down a shipping container used as a barricade near the Grand Palace on Mar. 20, 2021. Protesters pull down a shipping container used as a barricade near the Grand Palace on Mar. 20, 2021. “Demonstrators began the violence,” deputy Bangkok police commander Piya Tawichai said. “The police were on the defense, since we were tasked to enforce laws and defend public property. Although the protesters claimed that they are leaderless, our investigation found that they actually have leaders, but they are not coming forward.”

Police said a total of 20 people were arrested during the crackdown on protesters last night, though the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group reported as many as 32 people, including seven minors, were taken into custody.

They faced six charges, which include breaking the Emergency Decree’s ban on mass gatherings, causing public disturbance, and resisting arrests, police said.

Khaosod English correspondents at the scene said police appeared to rely heavily on rubber bullets than any crowd control measures on Saturday night, especially during smaller clashes that flared up at multiple locations along the historic Ratchadamnoen Avenue as demonstrators hurled objects, including devices believed to be firecrackers, and set fires to deter riot police.

Bangkok’s emergency medical service center said a total of 33 people were injured. Twenty of them were civilians, while 13 of them were police officers.

At least three reporters, including Khaosod’s Thanyalak Wannakote and Prachatai’s Sarayut Tangprasert, were hit by rubber bullets. Police said they were hit by stray bullets as officers had already warned them to leave the area.

“We instructed police officers to use riot control measures in accordance with the regulations,” Maj. Gen. Piya said. “We insured warnings to journalists, volunteer medical workers, and civilians to disperse. However, not all of them left, so some were hit by stray bullets during the commotion. The metro police chief has already acknowledged and will visit the victims.”

Thai media guilds issued a joint statement Sunday asking every party to show tolerance, though it did not condemn police use of force on journalists on the frontline.

“Journalists working at protest sites must strictly observe the guidelines for reporting during a crisis to prevent loss of lives and properties,” the statement wrote. “Journalists working at protest sites should wear an identification armband every time, however it is not guaranteed to protect them from violence.”

The REDEM group, short for Restart Democracy, claims to have no leaders and relies on opinion polls on the Telegram messaging app to make key decisions. The group said they will call for another rally on Sunday after the majority voted for, though they have yet to announce the venue.

A BBC journalist and a former Mizzima News reporter were arrested by men believed to be plainclothes officers in Naypyitaw on Friday afternoon, a family member confirmed.

BBC Burmese journalist Aung Thura was in front of the Dekkhina District court to report on a hearing for National League for Democracy patron Win Htein when he was arrested. Former Mizzima correspondent Than Htike Aung was with him at the time of the arrest.

No further details of the arrest or the reporters’ detention were known at the time of reporting, according to Aung Thura’s relative.

“I saw some plainclothes officers dragging away a person in trousers into a car,” lawyer Min Min Soe, who was near the court at the time, told Myanmar Now. The man she saw is believed to be Than Htike Aung.

“Two other officers in plainclothes were hassling another individual in a paso [traditional sarong for men] and glasses,” she said, referring to Aung Thura. “It was quite a scene so I don’t know what happened next.”

BBC News issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying that they are "doing everything [they] can" to find Aung Thura, who they described as being taken away by unidentified men.

“We call on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe,” the statement said.

As of March 16, a total of 38 journalists had been arrested or targeted for arrest since the February 1 coup. The latest arrests of the BBC and former Mizzima journalists push this number up to 40.

Only 22 of these reporters have been released. Ten journalists have been charged with violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which has been used against people who are seen as causing fear, spreading fake news, or agitating government employees. Under recent amendments to the law, the charges come with a three-year prison sentence if convicted.

Online news website The Irrawaddy has also been charged by the junta as violating the same statute for showing “disregard” for the armed forces in their reporting of the ongoing anti-regime protests.

Five publications, including Myanmar Now and Mizzima had their offices raided and their publishing licenses revoked earlier this month by the regime.

The 31-year-old journalist received bullet injuries to the stomach, arm and knee as he waited in line for a barber shop on March 17 in Saleh Putt Sakhar, a town in interior Sindh province. According to the PFUJ, the assailants came by motorcycle and car and fled from the scene after the attack. The seriously injured journalist was rushed to Civil Hospital Sakhar for the treatment but died the next day on March 18.

According to police, an investigation team under the Deputy Superintendent of Police / Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Rohri, Hazoor Bux Solangi, was formed to investigate the case. Police also informed they were collecting evidence from the scene and recording statements from witnesses as part of the investigation.

Following the brutal murder of Lalwani, the journalist community in Pakistan held protests demanding the Pakistan government launch a probe on the case.

Lalwani was a vocal journalist and frequently raise issues of the Hindu minority in Pakistan. He also wrote critically that Pakistani Government policies were biased against minorities.

PFUJ Secretary General, Rana M Azeem, said: “Sindh government has failed to protect the journalists while the local police are not paying attention despite repeated requests. We demand the government to take action and arrest the killers otherwise a country wide protest will be launched.”

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger, said: “The IFJ urges the Pakistan government to carry out the impartial investigation into the murder of Ajay Lalwani.”

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) condemned the arrest of a union leader in Butuan City and called for her immediate release.

Rosanilla “Teacher Lai” Consad, ACT secretary in Region XIII, a special education teacher and an assistant principal of San Vicente National High School, was arrested yesterday, March 17, at around 4:30 pm in Butuan City by Regional Intelligence Unit 13 of National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the police and military.

Consad is also a member of ACT’s National Council.

Consad is being charged with attempted homicide in relation to a New People’s Army ambush in Sitio Manhupaw, Brgy. Poblacion 2, Santiago in Agusan del Norte last November 21.

ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilio said that Consad had been a victim of state vilification and repression since 2018.

In November 2019, she reported about intelligence agents visiting her school to inform her that she and her husband are part of a certain hit list supposedly for being activists.

“Teacher Lai’s case only proves that terrorist-tagging serves as a prelude to worse, more fascist attacks on rights, freedoms, and lives. All of which are part of the Duterte regime’s systematic attack on the Filipino people as it desperately seeks to silence all dissent and establish its tyrannical rule,” Basilio said.

ACT Teachers Party slams DILG memo

Meanwhile, ACT Teachers Party Rep. France Castro said that teacher Lai has been a victim of harassment, threats and red-tagging by state security forces for standing up for the rights and welfare of her fellow public school teachers in Caraga.

“The arrest came days after the DILG release a memorandum tagging ACT and other progressive groups in the public sector as a communist terrorist groups. These are the real threats of red-tagging to the safety, security and freedoms of activists, human rights defenders and union leaders who have been vocal about the failure of the Duterte administration in addressing the perennial crisis of the country’s health system, education system and economy,” Castro said.

ACT Teachers Party will file a house resolution in Congress to investigate Consad’s arrest, Castro added

Consad is expected to file a petition today to be allowed post bail.

On 17 March, Phromson Wirathammachari, a protester well-known for his speeches, went to hear a charge of lèse majesté at Thanyaburi Police Station but the police suddenly handed him over to the court, with a request to detain him.

According to TLHR, the court denied Phromson bail, citing the gravity of the charge, the severe penalty, and the likelihood that he would either flee or repeat the offence. The decision led to him being detained at Thanyaburi prison even though was seriously injured from a traffic accident,.

Sasinan Thamnithinan, a TLHR lawyer who went to the police station with Phromson, posted on Facebook an account of the police haste. The post stated that although Phromson came to the station with his injuries to prove that he had no intention to flee, the deputy superintendent (investigation), after the regular investigation stage, suddenly decided to take him to court before the court closed.

Sasinan doubted the police decision because for a detention request, the appointment at the station would be for the morning instead of the afternoon. The police also expressed uneasiness at her attempt to consult with Phromson over this sudden turn of events. The station superintendent gave them 2 minutes to consult in private.

Without being prepared, Sasinan wrote the bail request as fast as she could. However, the court denied bail, giving similar reasons to those in Chukiat’s case.

TLHR reported on 22 March that at least 76 people have been prosecuted under the royal defamation law in 66 cases. 27 cases were filed by ordinary citizens, 5 by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the rest by the police. 4 of the accused are under the age of 18.

Sri Lankan Police have arrested freelance journalist, Sujeewa Gamage, for allegedly making 'false claims that he was abducted, tortured and abandoned on a road in Colombo by armed men on 10 March 2021,

While receiving treatment for burns and injuries in the hospital, Gamage told the press that the attack was to obtain information, containing his news sources and of his affiliations with opposition politicians, that was in his possession at the time of the incident.

On 17 March, police officers of the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) detained and investigated the journalist soon after he released from the hospital. According to Attorney-at-law, Namal Rajapaksha, whose representation was retained by Gamage’s relatives, he was denied entry into the custody and was told by a police officer that his client will not be released for putting the government “in a difficult position.”

The CCD is also reportedly going to interrogate former Minister Rajitha Senaratne and former MP Chathura Senaratne in connection with the case. According to Police Media Spokesperson Ajith Rohana, Gamage had visited an office of Chathura Senaratne in Thimbirigasyaya, where he had met with Rajitha Senaratne at the office. The suspect has also admitted that he had made a false complaint through a confession, Rohana added.

On Friday Gamage was granted bail.

Media freedom continues to be under significant threat as an increasing number of attacks against journalists continue to be reported under the Rajapaksa regime. Last month, a Tamil Guardian correspondent, who went to report on a Tamil landowner dispute in Mullaitivu, was threatened and harassed by Forest Department officers.

As the two have not returned for hours, family members have retained the service of attorney at law Namal Rajapaksha. Police have intimidated him and threatened that Gamage will not be released “because a lawyer has come on behalf of the journalist”.

“Relatives of my client told me that he is been interrogated under duress for hours,” lawyer Rajapaksha told JDS.

“Not only I wasn't allowed to provide legal assistance, police threatened me saying that he wont be released as a lawyer coming to the police station on behalf of him is an offence. I was not even allowed to pass the gate although I explained that he is a torture victim who was just discharged from hospital. An Assistant Superintendent of Police named Anuranga told me that my client will not be released as he has put the government in a difficult position.”

Chaunggyi, a village in Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, was in a state of fear on Tuesday as regime forces continued to pressure residents a day after inflicting a deadly crackdown.

At least five people were reported dead in the village, located about 100km north of Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, following Monday’s brutal assault.

The attack began in the afternoon, when soldiers in five army trucks heading south from the town of Thabeikkyin opened fire in Chaunggyi and other villages in the area.

“They mainly hit Chaunggyi and two nearby villages as they were passing through,” a member of a local aid group told Myanmar Now.

One of the five who died instantly was a 15-year-old girl.

“The girl was shot in the chest. She was killed in her own home,” said the aid worker, adding that around 25 others suffered injuries, some of them life-threatening.

Reinforcements sent

The soldiers who carried out the initial attack were soon joined by reinforcements sent north from Singu, according to local sources.

Residents of Nweyon, a village in Singu township, attempted to block the military vehicles as they headed towards Chaunggyi, but soon came under fire themselves, the sources said.

Those who had been shot in Chaunggyi remained in the village overnight without medical care amid fears of facing further violence.

“We were afraid to send the injured to the hospital last night. We were also afraid to go to Mandalay. We didn’t send them to a hospital in the city until this morning,” a resident of Nweyon told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.

“One person who was shot in the groin was in terrible condition,” she said, adding that the victim’s family had no money to pay for hospitalization.

There were also around 14 arrests in Chaunggyi and an unknown number in neighbouring villages, local sources said.

Threats and intimidation

A day after their unprovoked attack, the soldiers returned to Chaunggyi on Tuesday to recover some lost property.

“They said they came back to search for a gun and some bullets they left behind yesterday,” said a Chaunggyi villager.

“They found the gun, but not the bullets. They told us we had five hours. If we didn’t find the bullets in that time, they said they would shoot the entire village,” he added.

They found the bullets at around 5pm on Tuesday and returned them to the soldiers, who were stationed just outside the village.

Meanwhile, the villagers said that a monk who negotiated with the soldiers for the release of those who had been detained has not returned since he was sent to collect them.

“Our monk spoke with them and they promised to release those they had arrested from the village. But the car that went to fetch them hasn't come back,” said Chaunggyi resident Cho Tuu.

Although Singu and Thabeikkyin both have military bases, voters in the two townships overwhelmingly supported the National League for Democracy in last year’s election.

After freeing two activists and clearing them of charges, a Mandaluyong judge was red-tagged in a tarpaulin along the busy EDSA thoroughfare in Shaw.

Photos showed a tarpaulin "thanking" Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 209 Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio for her "quick action" in freeing "mga kasama (our comrades)." The logo of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) appeared on the tarpaulin.

"Hindi natin alam kung sino ang naglagay, pero alam naman natin sino ang mahilig ngayon sa tarpaulin. At kung sino ang mahilig sa ganyang tarpaulin na hayagang nangre-redtag," Bayan Muna Representative Ferdinand Gaite told Rappler.

(We don't know who put it there, but we know who is fond of doing tarpaulins. And who is fond of putting out tarpaulins that brazenly red-tag.)

Ignacio cleared journalist Lady Ann "Icy" Salem and trade unionist Rodrigo Esparago of charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives. Ignacio also voided the search warrants of Quezon City Judge Cecilyn Burgos Villavert, who is notorious to activists for issuing search warrants that resulted in dozens of arrests over the last two years.

Ignacio freed the two a month after her initial resolution, despite opposition from the local prosecutor.

A photo of the tarpaulin in daylight, unfurled fronting EDSA, was sent to Rappler late Tuesday afternoon, March 16, while a photo at nighttime showing the tarpaulin inside a different footbridge was tweeted by Gaite late Tuesday night.

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Gaite said his photo was taken by members of indigenous peoples group Sandugo.

"The tarps speak for themselves. Independent, fair minded judges are under attack. Who has the motive to produce such inanity other than those extremely fond of red-tagging. Their handiwork will boomerang on them," said Fides Lim, spokesperson of prisoners' rights group Kapatid.

Marco Valbuena, who tweets as CPP's chief information officer, said, "CPP disowns tarp found in Metro Manila in w/c CPP/NPA/NDF purportedly thanks judge who dismissed case against 2 HRDay polprisoners."

This recent development adds up to a string of incidents that threaten members of the legal profession. Calbayog police intelligence chief Lieutenant Fernando Calabria Jr earlier asked their local court for a list of lawyers representing alleged communists.

Calabria was relieved after the Philippine National Police disowned the move. The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a month before this, police in Luzon had been digging around for archived cases and warrants against alleged communists.

"The courts are under attack," said Gaite.

National Union of Peoples' Lawyers president Edre Olalia said this latest incident sends "a very chilling effect on judges."

"It sends a very chilling effect on judges who would stand up for truth and is an open attack on the independence of the judiciary. They want everyone to be on their side of the ring with a two-dimensional thought process: If you are not for us, then you are against us," said Olalia.

At least 25 people were shot dead Monday as anti-coup protesters in multiple cities braved increasing violence by security forces following a bloody weekend that killed scores of protesters in Myanmar’s largest city, witnesses said.

The junta that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1 also imposed a 24-hours shutdown of mobile internet service in an attempt to cut off lines of communication among protesters and other members of a nationwide civil disobedience movement (CDM) that has opposed military rule for six weeks.

The suspension of internet service forced court officials in the capital Naypyidaw to postpone the videoconference trial hearing of the 75-year-old deposed leader, who has been under house arrest since the coup and is facing a handful of what supporters say are spurious charges.

Aung San Suu Kyi faces charges of alleged incitement, violation of telecommunication laws, possession of “illegally” imported walkie-talkie radios, violation of the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaching COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign, and corruption.

Eleven of the protesters killed Monday were slain in violent crackdowns in the cities of Mandalay, Yangon, and Magway, and in Shan state, witnesses said.

In Myingyan, a town in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, five protesters died and 13 were seriously injured when police and soldiers sprayed tear gas and shot live rounds at crowds.

RFA has recorded at least 170 deaths as of Monday, including 60 deaths across the country on Sunday, the bloodiest day since the coup.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is "appalled by the escalating violence in Myanmar at the hands of the country’s military," his spokesman said in a statement.

"The killing of demonstrators, arbitrary arrests and the reported torture of prisoners violate fundamental human rights and stand in clear defiance of calls by the Security Council for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar’s democratic path," said spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a watchdog group, said that as of Monday, 2,175 people had been arrested, charged, or sentenced in relation to the military coup, with 1,856 still being held or with outstanding warrants. More than 70 people are in hiding, it said.

In Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, two men died when police and soldiers fired at anti-junta protest column, witnesses said. Rallies were held in other parts of the city, with schoolteachers staging a sit-in protest and attorneys riding motorbikes on town streets in defiance of the military.

One column of about 3,000 protesters set out around 9 a.m. Monday from Thonzu Pagoda, but were confronted and shot at by 50 police officers and soldiers an hour later near the Electric Power Corporation office, said a protester in Mandalay’s Myingyan township.

“Three people died at the private clinics we sent them to,” he said. “An elderly Muslim woman from a nearby house who opened her doors to protesters to hide them also was killed by gunfire. The other two were middle-aged men.”

At least five people in all died amid the violence, including two from a university student union, and four of the many wounded protesters are in critical condition, he said.

Violence in Yangon townships

In Hlaingthaya township, a factory zone west of Yangon, a bystander died at a road intersection when police and soldiers fired indiscriminately, witnesses said. At least 50 people died near the same site on Sunday when police and soldiers positioned on a flyover fired at civilians on the streets below with live rounds.

In Yangon’s Tamwe township, groups of young people held an anti-junta rally on Kyaikkasan Road, where one man died by police gunfire Sunday afternoon. Similar protests were reported in three other townships in Yangon, the country’s former capital and commercial center.

In one a video that went viral on social media, policemen on Sunday were recorded dragging away Khant Nyar Hein, an 18-year-olf first-year medical student who was shot in the street during a protest in Tamwe. Authorities asked his family to retrieve his body Monday morning, said his father.

The military regime has declared martial law in six Yangon satellite townships — North Okkalapa, North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan, Hlaingthaya, and Shwepyitha — areas overseen by the Yangon region military commander.

The Chinese Embassy in Yangon said in a statement Monday calling for legal action after Chinese workers were wounded and trapped a day earlier when Chinese-funded garment factories were set ablaze in an industrial zone.

In Shwepyitha township, local residents tried to extinguish a fire at the Solamoda Garments Co. Ltd. factory and spread to a nearby backpack factory. But the buildings were still burning at the time of publication Monday.

RFA was unable to obtain first-hand details about the fires because of the growing number of arrests of or threats against journalists by local authorities.

Sunday’s factory zone protest deaths prompted an appeal for pressure on apparel manufacturers to support workers from Simon Billenness, executive director of the International Campaign for the Rohingya.

“The young, mostly female, garment workers are the forefront of the civil disobedience movement” and had launched a general strike on March 8 to support restoring democracy, he wrote.

“But the apparel factory owners are intimidating and even firing workers for going on strike and taking part in pro-democracy protests,” added Billenness.

He said major textile buyers sportswear maker Adidas, Zara clothing brand owned by Indetex Group, and Lidl supermarket chain are among the global brands that have “significant market power” to “support the garment workers by demanding that the factory owners stop intimidating workers who join CDM protests.”

Germany-based Adidas, the only one of the three firms to respond to an RFA request for comment, said on March 12 that six of its 525 suppliers are located in Myanmar.

“We are in close exchange with other brands, industry associations and civil society organizations about the current situation,” said Stefan Pursche, senior manager for media relations at Adidas.

Rubber bullets, live rounds

Also on Monday, two men were killed and four others were injured when security forces opened fired on a group in Aunglan township, Magwe region, a resident said.

“When people fled the scene, police took away five motorcycles left on the roads,” the local said. “A huge crowd later surrounded the police station and that was when they started shooting. They used both rubber bullets as well as live rounds, and six people got hit.”

In Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady region, police and military attacked residents as they prepared for nighttime protests, killing three people and critically injuring another five, a witness told RFA.

In Aungban, a major trading town in the southern Shan state, one protester died and two others were injured during a crackdown by police and soldiers, witnesses said.

The Naypyidaw hearings for detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who faces similar charges, were rescheduled for March 24 because of the internet service shutdown.

The police notified Yuyu Chit and Min Min Soe, two junior attorneys from Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense team, that they would receive a signed transfer of power of attorney to represent the state counselor at the hearing, said defense attorney Khin Maung Zaw.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team submitted applications for seven attorneys to represent her at court, but only two were approved, he added.

Now that military authorities have extended the internet service shutdown from nighttime to around-the-clock, companies and ordinary residents say they are having problems conducting business.

Phone lines and internet service were first shut down on Feb. 1, but available the next day. The services were suspended gain on Feb. 6-7, but resumed the following day. As of Feb 15, internet service has been cut off daily between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Monthly internet service subscribers with fiber optic lines said they were able to go online Monday morning, but that Wi-Fi services provided by the companies Ooredoo and Telenor were not available.

An Ooredoo spokesperson said she did not know when the company would be able to make the service available. A computer-generated reply to phone queries said that internet service had been suspended temporarily in accordance with instructions from the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

“The military authorities want to control the communications between protesters of the Spring Revolution,” said a man from Yangon’s Insein township who declined to give his name. “Wi-Fi is not available everywhere, but with the mobile data, they can communicate very easily.”

Rural residents, women stuck

Others said they believed it was an attempt by the junta to stop people live-streaming violent acts committed by soldiers and police during protests.

Rural residents who depend on mobile internet service to transfer money and conduct business online said they were stuck, especially since nearly all banks have remained closed for weeks. Women whose husbands are migrant workers and routinely transfer remittances online also are in a bind.

“There are many women here who need to go to hospital for various reasons, and some of their husbands who are in Thailand, China or Malaysia now find it impossible to send money home,” said a man who works at a money transfer services in Yinmabin, Sagaing region.

RFA could not reach military regime spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the shootings or internet shutdown.

Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have dispersed a peaceful picket by several protesters demanding release of their relatives "illegally" held in China, the first time law enforcement has intervened since the daily rallies started more than a month ago.

Protester Baibolat Kunbolat told RFE/RL that when police started forcibly pushing the picketers out of the site on March 15, one of the protesters, an elderly woman, felt unwell and an ambulance was called.

Kunbolat said that after the health scare for the woman, the participants decided not to resist police and left the site.

No reason was given by the police for their intervention after weeks of allowing the protests.

Dozens of ethnic Kazakhs from China have picketed the Chinese Consulate in Almaty since early February, saying their relatives, many of whom were naturalized Kazakh citizens or permanent residents of Kazakhstan, are being held in penitentiaries, including so-called reeducation camps, in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on March 15 that the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, Zhang Xiao, stated in a conversation with a Kazakh Foreign Ministry official that "all ethnic Kazakhs held in Xinjiang are serving prison terms for violating Chinese laws."

Earlier, on March 12, the ministry's spokesman, Mukhtar Karibai, told journalists that Kazakh officials had "asked China for help solving issues" raised by the picketers violating "sanitary regulations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus."

Karibai's statement came one day after the U.S. Embassy in Kazakhstan posted an interview on Facebook with Sairagul Sauytbay, an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang, who was one of the first individuals to speak publicly about "reeducation camps" for Xinjiang's indigenous, mostly Muslim ethnic groups.

Sauytbay, who fled China in April 2018 and is currently living in Sweden, repeated his claim that thousands of ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and other Muslims in Xinjiang were undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of "reeducation camps," facing "torture and humiliation" there.

U.S. Embassy officials met last week with other ethnic Kazakhs who fled Xinjiang and are currently in Kazakhstan to discuss their ordeals in China.

The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim, ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.

China denies that the facilities are internment camps.

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

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

The number of civilians killed by regime forces on Monday has now reached at least 20, according to the latest information received by Myanmar Now.

The week started with a fresh outbreak of deadly violence that came after the worst weekend so far in the junta’s efforts to crush opposition to its February 1 coup.

Killings were reported around the country, with the highest concentration occurring in Yangon, where at least 63 people died on Sunday after soldiers opened fire in several townships.

In Hlaing Tharyar, the scene of some of the deadliest violence over the weekend, six people were murdered, including a man in his 50s who was collecting trash near the Aung Zeya bridge when a soldier approached him and shot him in the head.

Two women in their 60s were also killed when they were hit by bullets fired into their homes on Da Bin Shwe Htee road.

A night of terror

Indiscriminate shooting continued well into the night, resulting in at least two more deaths in the township, according to local residents.

The night of terror began at around 4:30pm, when the military sealed off main roads between the Aung Zeya bridge and the fire station about 2km away and started shooting.

“They were on trucks and shot at anything that moved. They shot anyone they saw,” said one resident, describing the scene on Monday night.

“There were two crab sellers in the area that night. When the trucks came by, they poked their heads out for a look and got shot. Both of them died,” the resident said.

On the other side of Yangon, a crackdown on a peaceful vigil for fallen protesters in Dawbon township left two men dead and four others seriously injured on Monday, a member of a township-based aid group told Myanmar Now.

There was also another death on Monday in South Dagon, one of six townships in Yangon placed under martial law since the weekend as the regime moves to clamp down on protests.

The killing continued in South Dagon on Tuesday, with reports that a man in his 40s had been shot in the head by junta forces. No further details were available.

Shooting at ambulances

Monday’s death toll also rose outside of Yangon, as more of the injured died and earlier figures were revised to reflect the latest available information.

In Myingyan, a town in Mandalay region, six people, including three boys in their teens and a 20-year-old woman, were confirmed dead, doubling the previously reported death count.

At least 17 others were injured during the crackdown, including five who are in critical condition, according to a member of a team that is caring for the wounded protesters.

“We’ve had to hide the dead bodies because we’re worried [the military] might take them away,” the medical support worker said late Monday evening.

He added that soldiers shot into the houses of local people who hid the injured protesters and also at ambulances that transported the dead and wounded to a makeshift clinic.

There were also two confirmed deaths in Chanmya Tharzi, a township in downtown Mandalay, as well as at least five others in smaller centres to the north of the city.

A total of four deaths were also reported in Aunglan in Magway region, Gyobingauk in Bago region, and Monywa in Sagaing region, according to local aid groups.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Myanmar’s military has killed at least 183 people in the six weeks since it seized power.

The military regime has seized control of the bank accounts of billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Myanmar and announced that it will take legal action against the foundation, which is accused of violating restrictions on the activities of such organizations.

On Monday, military-controlled MRTV announced that the military had issued arrest warrants for 11 staff members of OSF Myanmar, including its head and deputy head, on suspicion of giving financial support to the civil disobedience movement against the military junta.

The regime also claimed that the world’s largest private funder for justice, democratic governance and human rights had failed to obtain approval from the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM)’s Foreign Exchange Management Department for a deposit of US$5 million (7.04 billion kyats) with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank (SMED) in Myanmar in 2018.

The foundation is also accused of illegally withdrawing $1.4 million from its account at SMED a week after the military takeover in Myanmar, as the civil disobedience movement was gaining momentum among civil servants across the country.

The military junta also took control of assets totaling $3.81 million and 375 million kyats in OSF bank accounts at four private banks—Kanbawza Bank (KBZ), Ayeyarwady Bank (AYA), SMED and Co-operative Bank (CB), according to MRTV.

The military said it had begun taking control of all illegal flows of money to OSF Myanmar, saying the foundation had breached the law that lays downs the rules and regulations for organizations in the country.

It said it would take legal action against SMED for allowing OSF to deposit $5 million and withdraw $1.4 million without obtaining approval from the CBM.

On March 12, the CBM notified all international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that they would be required to report all financial transactions involving international organizations or individuals from abroad, with relevant bank account information, since April 1, 2016. The order indicates that the military regime intends to investigate the financial transactions of organizations since the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in early 2016.

The regime said the opening of the OSF Myanmar office came about after George Soros met ousted Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi four times between 2014 and 2017. It said OSF deputy chair Alexander Soros met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi six times from 2017 to 2020.

Military-aligned groups including the Union Solidarity and Development Party have accused Soros of manipulating Myanmar’s politics by supporting civil society organizations in the country. In 2017, lawmaker U Soe Thane, who served as President’s Office minister under U Thein Sein’s administration, objected to a ministerial appointment by the NLD government on grounds that the appointed minister had failed to disclose his previous work for the George Soros Foundation. He said that making the official a national security adviser could hurt Myanmar’s relations with China.

OSF has been supporting Myanmar’s democratic transition and promoting human rights, including those of marginalized groups, since 1994. The foundation said it had awarded more than 100 grants each year, mostly to grassroots civil society organizations including exile, ethnic media and educational organizations.

Following the coup, the military regime launched an investigation into the finances of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity founded by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The move is believed to be a pretext to file more charges against the country’s de facto leader.

An organizer of rallies protesting Kyrgyzstan's proposed constitutional amendments has been detained for allegedly calling on people to seize power before the changes become law.

Bishkek police said on March 16 that Tilekmat Kudaibergenov (aka Kurenov) had been detained a day earlier and remains in police custody.

The former leader of the Zamandash political party, Jenis Moldokmatov, said on March 16 that before detaining Kudaibergenov, police searched his home and the office of the Against KHANstitution movement that opposes the constitutional amendments initiated by President Sadyr Japarov.

Kudaibergenov was one of the organizers of a March 9 rally in Bishkek against the amendments that are expected to be approved in a nationwide referendum on April 11.

Critics say Japarov wants to consolidate power in his hands through the amendments, which envision a dramatic increase in presidential powers.

On the same day Kudaibergenov was detained, Japarov defended the controversial amendments in an interview with RFE/RL, vowing that "Kyrgyzstan will remain a democratic country, without any types of political persecution."

Kudaibergenov is a noted activist and also known as a founder and leader of a movement against granting concessions for the Jetim-Too iron-ore field near the Chinese border to foreign investors.

Prison wardens in southern Vietnam unleashed a hunting dog on a political prisoner serving an 11-year sentence for subversion to silence his complaints about solitary confinement in a cramped cell, his family told RFA.

Democracy advocate Nguyen Van Duc Do has been incarcerated since late 2018 at the Z30A detention center in Xuan Loc district of Dong Nai province for “activities aimed at overthrowing the government.”

Arrested in November 2016, Do and four other activists were convicted on Oct. 5, 2018 in a Ho Chi Minh City court after being found guilty in a one-day trial of involvement in the Vietnam National Self-Determination Coalition, a group that authorities deemed to have challenged Vietnam’s Communist one-party system.

Do’s inability to exercise in the small eight-square-meter (about 87 square feet) cell resulted in his physical condition deteriorating to the point where he often had chest pains and difficulty breathing, his brother said.

“My brother told me that yesterday, March 15, he banged on the door of his cell to call for help because he had pains in his chest and back that made it hard for him to breathe,” Do’s younger brother, Nguyen Van Duc Hai told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“He said that the prison was very large, so no one can hear you if you don’t shout. This is why he banged on the door shouting ‘Prisoners of conscience also need to live!’” said Hai.

This is when Do said the guards brought in a hunting dog to silence him.

“My brother said the dog was about to pounce on him, so he jumped back inside. Though it didn’t bite him, the dog barked loudly at him while standing at the door,” Hai said.

RFA attempted to contact the prison for comment but telephone calls went unanswered.

Do’s group had been charged under Article 79 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, one of a set of vague provisions in the law used to detain writers, activists, and bloggers, and had been held without trial for almost two years.

The group had previously been active in protesting the government’s handling of a massive chemical spill in April 2016 that devastated the country’s central coast, leaving fishermen and tourism workers jobless in four central provinces.

Group leader Luu Van Vinh was given 15 years. Nguyen Quoc Hoan was sentenced to 13 years, Tu Cong Nghia to 10 years, Phan Trung to 8 years, and Nguyen Van Duc Do to 11 years.

Nguyen Van Duc Hai said his brother Do had been in solitary confinement since May 2020, and since then had not been allowed to go out, even for exercise.

Hai also said that Do was being pressured by prison staff to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence.

“My brother Do said they often bring him papers to file a guilty plea and asked him to sign, but he responded ‘I am innocent. The verdict was wrong. Am only a patriot!’” Hai said.

“They told him that if he pleads guilty, they can reduce his sentence by two months for every five years. But my brother said ‘I am innocent. How can I plead guilty? I was convicted wrongfully,’” said Hai.

Do also told Hai that prisoners at Xuan Loc are often beaten to the point of serious injury.

RFA reported in June 2020 that Do’s family had filed a petition demanding better treatment at Xuan Loc after he told them he had been physically assaulted, spent two days shacked in solitary confinement, then fed prison rations mixed with feces.

In October 2019 RFA reported that Do had joined other prisoners of conscience held at Xuan Loc who had also stopped eating to call for beater treatment at the facility.

According to a friend interviewed in that report, political prisoners at Xuan Loc were being charged four or five times higher for food than other prisoners there.

According to the 88 Project, an Illinois-based NGO that tracks political prisoners, Vietnam is currently holding 240 prisoners of conscience.

Trial for journalist

Authorities have set a trial date for detained journalist Tran Thi Tuyet Dieu on charges of “creating, storing, disseminating information, documents, items and publications against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” as stated in Article 117 of the 2015 Criminal Code.

Dieu, also known by her pen name Dieu Anh, will stand trial at the Phu Yen People’s Court on March 22.

Dieu was arrested on Aug. 21, 2020 for posting on social media hundreds of stories, images, and video clips that authorities say were “content that opposed the Party, State and People, smearing President Ho Chi Minh and many other leaders of the Party and State.” The People’s Public Security Newspaper accused her of posting the content using multiple accounts on Facebook and other social media websites.

She was also accused of writing stories that ““distorted Vietnam’s Revolutionary history, inciting the overthrow of the people’s government, demanding multi-party pluralism, disseminating wrong information about the activities of law-enforcement bodies, showing uncooperative and opposing attitude when being invited to work with responsible authorities.”

If convicted Dieu could receive a sentence ranging from five to 12 years.

Dieu’s lawyer Nguyen Kha Than told RFA that Dieu will plead innocent and had refused to sign interview records compiled by investigation agencies.

“These days it seems Facebook users who post words that are different than the normal thinking of others are often prosecuted on this charge. Ms. Dieu said she was arrested after having quit Facebook for several months,” Than said.

Prison guards attempted last night (15 March) to take activists Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpattarasaksa and Panupong Jadnok out of the wing where they are being held, claiming that they needed to be tested for Covid-19, says human rights lawyer Anon Nampa in a petition filed with the Criminal Court. Anon’s petition said that the guards came into their cell at 21.30 to try to take Jatupat and Panupong away, but the others refused to let them be taken away, so the officers returned at 23.45 with more people and batons, and twice more at 00.15 and 2.30 on 16 March. During the last two attempts, guards in dark blue uniforms and with no name tags were also present.

Anon said that the guards claimed that Jatupat and Panupong had to undergo a Covid-19 test, but the others refused to let them be taken due to concerns about their safety. He also said that it is unusual to take inmates out of the wing in the middle of the night, and that he fears for their lives as there have been rumours that they would be harmed while in prison.

“I did not sleep all night because I was afraid we would be in danger. Please help save our lives,” said Anon’s petition.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Anon also wrote another petition for the lawyers to file with the chief of the Bangkok Remand Prison for an investigation into the identity of the officers involved and the agencies they belong to, as well as for CCTV camera footage of the incident to be released.

Anon’s petition also asked that the prison chief explain whether officers are allowed to take inmates out of the cells after midnight.

Jatupat and Panupong were previously held at the Thonburi Remand Prison, but they were moved to the Bangkok Remand Prison after their lawyer filed an inquiry request with the court on 11 March, as on 8 March the court ordered them to be detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison, but they were taken to the Thonburi Remand Prison instead.

At least 59 people were killed and 129 injured in Sunday’s crackdown by security forces in Yangon’s suburban and industrial townships, according to sources at three area hospitals.

The junta’s armed personnel used live ammunition against civilians at demonstrations in what is being described as an effort to terrorise the population to submit to and accept military rule.

An official at a public hospital in Hlaing Tharyar Township told Myanmar Now on Monday morning that 34 people who had been brought to the hospital were pronounced dead, and 40 others had been admitted with gunshot wounds during a brutal weekend assault on unarmed protesters.

According to a senior official at the Yangon General Hospital, seven of the 56 people brought to the hospital were pronounced dead.

The casualties were from Hlaing Tharyar, Kyimyindaing and South Dagon townships, he added.

“Three people among the injured are in critical condition. There will be more casualties arriving from Shwepyitha and Hlaing Tharyar,” the official told Myanmar Now.

Meanwhile, Thingangyun Sanpya Hospital had received around 70 injured people. Medical staff declared 18 dead, according to a doctor who had been participating in the general strike, but stepped in to provide treatment to injured protesters.

She added that more doctors were needed on different rescue teams to attend to people injured by security forces during crackdowns.

Doctors and rescue workers said the actual death toll may grow as more injured people were sent to other hospitals throughout the city. Some others who were killed at the scene of protests have been immediately returned to their families instead of being brought to local morgues.

“We brought in four dead bodies of people who lived in South Dagon Township from Thingangyun Sanpya hospital this morning,” a labour rights activist in South Dagon told Myanmar Now on Monday.

“There were some people who were killed last night, but we can’t retrieve their bodies from the crackdown site. I saw two people had been shot and fell down, one male and one female. We can’t retrieve their bodies. It was already dark, too,” he added.

He said that he witnessed around 24 people getting injured during the security forces’ crackdown in South Dagon and believed the actual number of those wounded was much higher than what could be confirmed at the time of reporting.

A striking doctor treating injured civilians with an emergency team at Hlaing Tharyar’s hospital told Myanmar Now that four men he attempted to help had later died from their injuries. Three were shot in the head with live ammunition, and another in the chest.

The doctor said that he had transferred three bodies to the morgue at the North Okkalapa General Hospital and sent the fourth body to the respective family’s home.

Myanmar Now was still awaiting further information from North Okkalapa and Insein hospitals at the time of reporting.

Three protesters were also killed on Sunday night in Shwepyitha Township, north of Insein.

At least three factories in Hlaing Tharyar’s industrial zone were set on fire during the confrontation, but further details, including who started the fires, were unavailable.

According to a report published by China's state-run CGTN on Sunday evening, two of the factories in question were owned by Chinese nationals.

The weekend’s assault on protesters marks the deadliest crackdown by the junta’s armed forces on public resistance since the military seized power in Myanmar on February 1.

The regime also imposed martial law in Hlaing Tharyar and Shwepyitha townships on Sunday night, and in South Dagon, North Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa on Monday morning.

Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar appealed to the UN member states to cut off supplies of cash and weapons to the Myanmar military.

“Heartbroken/outraged at news of the largest number of protesters murdered by Myanmar security forces in a single day. Junta leaders don’t belong in power, they belong behind bars,” he said on Twitter on Monday morning.

British Ambassador to Myanmar Dan Chugg also called for “an immediate cessation” of violence and for the military regime to hand back power to democratically elected civilian leaders.

“We have seen the violence today in Hlaing Thar Yar Township and in other places across Yangon and Myanmar. The British Government is appalled by the security forces’ use of deadly force against innocent people,” the ambassador said in a statement.

A Siem Reap-based journalist says he fears he is being targeted by illegal loggers after being beaten at night as he slept in a hammock outside Beng Mealea temple.

Pran Sean, the publisher of Anachak Khmer, a digital news outlet and quarterly newspaper, said he was driving a car to his home after covering news in Preah Vihear province on Sunday when he became tired and decided to sleep outside the temple in Siem Reap’s Svay Loeu district.

“I was too tired and started to tie up a hammock to rest. Later, around 12 o’clock, two men came out of the forest and attacked me,” Sean said.

A cut on his head required 20 stitches, and the attackers broke two of his teeth, he said.

Sean said he thought the attack was premeditated, and retribution for writing articles about illegal timber trading. “As a journalist, I write a lot of information related to crimes,” he said.

Svay Loeu district police chief Sun Eng said police were working on the case.

“It is difficult, brother. The victim went to sleep in the middle of the forest,” Eng said. “So far, we have not yet identified or arrested any suspects. All in all, we are monitoring and investigating.”

Cambodian Journalists Alliance executive director Nop Vy said he hoped the attackers would be found, as journalists in the country often faced the risk of violence.

An indigenous peoples’ group assailed the freezing of accounts of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) – Haran Center in Davao del Sur.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), in a resolution dated March 12, ordered the freezing of UCCP Haran’s three bank accounts and a real property under the name of Brokenshire Integrated Health Ministries, Inc. The AMLC allegedly found that “the assets are used to finance terrorism” which is in violation of the Republic Act 10168 or Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act.

Sandugo – Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination condemned the action, saying it is ironic that amid massive corruption and the non-disclosure of President Duterte’s statement of assets, liabilities and networth, human rights advocates are the ones whose accounts are being investigated.

“For decades now, UCCP-Haran Center has been a known sanctuary for Lumad people in Southern Mindanao, whose communities have repeatedly been terrorized by the Philippine Army and paramilitary groups. The UCCP Haran is simply performing their calling to ‘participate in the establishment of a just and compassionate social order,’” the group said in a statement.

They added that the UCCP compound in Haran also served as shelter for the displaced Lumad due to intense militarization of their communities.

“That is not a crime. It is an act of faith and kindness,” the group said.

Constant target

In the past years, the UCCP-Haran has been subjected to a series of harassment as the Lumad continue to seek refuge in their compound.

In 2015, the police forcibly entered the compound hurting a number of elders. In 2016, there was a fire incident in the Lumad sanctuary that resulted in the injuries of five people. This was followed by several incidents of raids and attempts to break in the sanctuary by state forces.

In September last year, 48 church workers of the UCCP and their advocates were charged with trafficking, child abuse and violation of international humanitarian law.

In a report by Davao Today, Bishop Hamuel Tequis of UCCP maintained, “The Church’s mission is to help the marginalized and the oppressed such as the Lumad. It is sad that we are being persecuted for doing God’s mission.” http://davaotoday.com/main/human-rights/uccp-bishop-to-ntf-elcac-no-abuse-and-child-trafficking-at-haran-shelter/

Meanwhile, Sandugo assailed the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) for its moves to eject the Lumad in the premises of UCCP-Haran. “This is because the said sanctuary has exposed the military’s atrocities against Manobo communities in Mindanao,” the group said.

“By exposing their real situation, the struggling Lumad have earned the solidarity, not only of the religious, but of other institutions, organizations and individuals that advocate for peace here and abroad. It has also spurred support for the protection of the imperiled Pantaron Mountain Range, one of the few remaining virgin rainforests in the country currently threatened by destructive projects such as corporate mining and logging,” Sandugo said.

Sandugo added that the NTF-ELCAC aims to cut support for the Lumad “in order to open the floodgates for these money-making projects.”

“With the Anti-Terror Law, the NTF-ELCAC can simply tag the New People Army as a terrorist organization, easily link the Lumad to the NPAs and justify all kinds of repression versus Lumad civilians and their supporters. In this way, the NTF-ELCAC shows that it is protecting corporate interests, and not the people’s welfare,” the group said.

The UCCP-Haran is not the first institution to suffer freezing of assets. The AMLC also ordered a 20-day freeze on Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) bank accounts due to allegations of financing the NPA. On Oct. 7, 2020 the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 37 also issued an Asset Preservation Order against several bank accounts of the RMP over alleged charges of financing terrorism.

Six people were shot dead by security forces during a brutal crackdown on protests against the military coup in the town of Myaing in upper Myanmar’s Magwe Region at around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday.

While the regime’s armed personnel attempted to detain a group of demonstrators, a struggle broke out between them and the protesters. The scuffle was followed by live gunfire, killing six of those present.

“One of the protesters was shot near the groin. Another was shot in the head. The right side of his head was blown apart due to the impact of the bullet,” a protester who witnessed the shootings told Myanmar Now.

All six people killed were men, the oldest of whom was 36 and three of whom were under 30, according to residents who viewed their bodies at a local public hospital’s morgue. Two were from the town of Myaing, and four were from nearby villages.

Protests against the military dictatorship started in Myaing Township in early February, as they did throughout Myanmar. Locals noted that Thursday’s crackdown marked an escalation in security forces’ response tactics, and the first time since the resistance began that they had opened fire on the public.

“In previous days, the police negotiated with the protesters, [asking them] to not go out and protest today,” a Myaing resident told Myanmar Now. “They warned them that they were given the order to shoot. This is the first time there has been a crackdown with shooting in Myaing. They didn’t shoot or arrest anyone in the days prior,” the resident added.

He also said that immediately following Thursday’s fatal shootings, locals had been informed that military trucks were arriving in Myaing from Pakkoku, where Light Infantry Division (LID) 101 is based, along with Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 235 and 251.

Violent suppression of Myanmar demonstrations killed 15 people Thursday, raising the death toll from five weeks of street protests to 73, as the military junta announced a corruption investigation of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials from the deposed civilian government.

Accusations by the military regime that Aung San Suu Kyi had accepted U.S. $600,000 and more than 25 pounds of gold, swiftly dismissed as “totally baseless” by an MP from her National League for Democracy (NLD), add to a list of charges imposed on the 75-year-old leader since she was ousted and detained on Feb. 1.

While the military pressed its case against Aung San Suu Kyi and other top NLD figures at a news conference in Naypyidaw, violent crackdowns by police and soldiers killed at least 15 protesters in the cities of Yangon, Myaing, Mandalay, Myingyan, and Bago. The confirmed death toll tis now 73, according to an RFA tally.

In Yangon’s North Dagon township, 25-year-old Chit Min Thu died instantly when police shot him in the head while defending fellow protesters with a homemade shield witnesses said. Two others were hit by gunfire, one of whom is in critical condition.

“We had to run because they were using live rounds, and he was shielding us from the front to protect other protesters behind,” said a demonstrator at the scene.

Supporters held an impromptu vigil for Chit Min Thu, who left behind a wife who is two months pregnant.

Violent suppression of Myanmar demonstrations killed 15 people Thursday, raising the death toll from five weeks of street protests to 73, as the military junta announced a corruption investigation of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials from the deposed civilian government.

Accusations by the military regime that Aung San Suu Kyi had accepted U.S. $600,000 and more than 25 pounds of gold, swiftly dismissed as “totally baseless” by an MP from her National League for Democracy (NLD), add to a list of charges imposed on the 75-year-old leader since she was ousted and detained on Feb. 1.

While the military pressed its case against Aung San Suu Kyi and other top NLD figures at a news conference in Naypyidaw, violent crackdowns by police and soldiers killed at least 15 protesters in the cities of Yangon, Myaing, Mandalay, Myingyan, and Bago. The confirmed death toll tis now 73, according to an RFA tally.

Police and soldiers in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay killed one man and wounded 30 others when they cracked down on protesters near the Koe Lone Dagar Pagoda, witnesses said. At least 20 protesters were arrested in the incident.

In Myingyan, in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, residents said a man shot during a protest Wednesday died of his injuries Thursday.

In Bago region, one man died by police gunfire and another was hit in the leg, though his wound was not life-threatening, a witness said.

Residents in Kalaymyo, Sagaing region, continued protest marches despite a police crackdown on Wednesday. Five people there already have been arrested, including one who was taken from his home during the night, locals said.

The Myanmar junta’s response to peaceful protests likely meets the legal threshold for crimes against humanity, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.

“The people of Myanmar need not only words of support but supportive action,” said Tom Andrews in a statement. “They need the help of the international community, now.”

The appeal came a day after the U.N. Security Council issued its strongest statement since the Feb. 1 coup.

“The Security Council strongly condemns the violence against peaceful protestors, including against women, youth and children,” the statement said.

It also called for the “immediate release of all those detained arbitrarily” in a statement that was agreed after accepting the objections of China, Russia, and Vietnam to language calling the takeover “a coup.”

On Wednesday, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the two adult children of coup leader and commander-in-chief of the military forces, Min Aung Hlaing, as well as six companies of his two adult children. Min Aung Hlaing was placed on the U.S. blacklist on Feb. 11.

“The indiscriminate violence by Burma’s security forces against peaceful protesters is unacceptable,” said Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a statement.

“The United States will continue to work with our international partners to press the Burmese military and police to cease all violence against peaceful protestors and to restore democracy and the rule of law in Burma,” she added.

On March 11, officers of the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (GKNB) summoned Kanimetov, a reporter and presenter with the independent television broadcaster Aprel, to their headquarters in Bishkek, the capital, and interrogated him in connection with a criminal case he previously reported on, according to news reports and the journalist, who wrote about the incident on his Facebook page and spoke to CPJ in a video interview.

Although Kanimetov was summoned as a witness, investigators questioned him as if he was a suspect in a criminal case, but did not accuse him of any specific crimes, according to the journalist and his lawyer, Nurbek Sydykov, who was present with him during questioning, and who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Separately, in early April, police questioned several of Kanimetov’s relatives about his whereabouts and also questioned their neighbors, Kanimetov told CPJ and wrote on Facebook, adding that his relatives were unsure of the exact date of the questioning. The journalist told CPJ that he believed these actions were authorities’ attempts to pressure him in retaliation for his critical news coverage.

Aprel regularly broadcasts material critical of Kyrgyz authorities, and has operated online since its assets were frozen by court order in August 2019, according to reports. The station’s YouTube channel has nearly 200,000 subscribers, and its recent coverage includes frequent criticism of President Sadyr Japarov and of the GKNB and its head.

“Kyrgyz authorities should immediately stop harassing journalist Kanat Kanimetov and members of his family, and ensure he can hold the country’s leadership to account without fear of retribution,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Rather than attempting to intimidate inconvenient journalists, authorities under the newly elected President Sadyr Japarov must realize that criticism and a diversity of views are essential components of the democratic society that they claim to be building.”

During the March 11 questioning, GKNB officers asked Kanimetov about his coverage of a high-profile criminal case, which involved a former presidential candidate; he had reported on the story while working at the state-owned broadcaster KTRK in 2016 and 2017, the journalist told CPJ.

“There is every reason to believe that the GKNB are digging into me too,” Kanimetov wrote on Facebook; he denied that he had any connection to the case beyond his news coverage.

Weeks later, at about 11 p.m. on a night in early April, five police officers arrived at Kanimetov’s childhood home in the town of Balykchy, in the Issyk-Kul region, where his mother and relatives of his deceased father live, he told CPJ. He said the officers threatened to search the premises, and demanded to know Kanimetov’s place of residence, despite the fact that he has been officially registered at an address in Bishkek for over a year, he told CPJ.

Kanimetov said that his relatives were frightened by the experience and did not tell him about it until several weeks later, because they were afraid that their phone calls with him were being monitored.

The officers told the journalist’s relatives that Kanimetov had ignored a court summons, though Kanimetov says that no summons has been served to him since the first interrogation on March 11.

Kanimetov said that police also questioned his relatives’ neighbors, but the neighbors were too scared to tell Kanimetov what they were asked.

Kanimetov told CPJ said that his relatives were shaken by the incident; he described both that episode and the earlier interrogation of him as “links in the same chain” of psychological pressure by the authorities.

“The authorities treat us journalists like we are politicians or something, like we’re trying to take power and sit in their seats,” Kanimetov told CPJ. “When really we are just doing our work, covering stories, giving analysis, and conveying our opinions.”

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Interior of Kyrgyzstan, the State Committee for National Security, and the Issyk-Kul Regional Department of Internal Affairs for comment, but did not receive any replies.