Uwazi

A Burmese journalist was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison with hard labor for violating Myanmar’s counterterrorism law, in addition to a three-year sentence she received in December 2022 for defamation, an attorney working on her case said.

Camera operator Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun of Myanmar Press Photo Agency, was sentenced in Insein Prison on the outskirts of Yangon by the ruling junta’s Thingangyun District Court, said the lawyer who requested anonymity for safety reasons.

She was sentenced to three years in jail under Section 505(a) of the country’s Penal Code after being held in jail for a year. The junta has charged journalists under the broad and vague anti-state provision that penalizes “incitement” and “false news,” and carries penalties of two or three years in prison.

Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun’s attorney said his client would not appeal the verdict.

“She said she did not want to appeal,” he told Radio Free Asia. “She has no more indictments to face.”

The military regime has clamped down hard on press freedom in Myanmar since seizing power from the democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup. Junta soldiers continue to target, harass, jail and kill journalists. Human rights groups have called on the junta to unconditionally free all journalists targeted in the post-coup crackdown.

Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun's injuries resulted from military troops who rammed a vehicle into a crowd of civilians peacefully protesting against the regime in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing township on Dec. 5, 2021. They arrested the camera operator along with her colleague, photographer Kaung Sett Lin, both of whom were covering the protest, as well as nine young activists.

The military vehicle hit the two journalists at high speed from behind, causing serious injuries to their heads, legs and other areas of their bodies, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported.

Tun, whose legs were broken, still has difficulty walking and cannot move like a normal person, her attorney said.

Since the coup, the military junta has arrested 156 journalists. More than 100 of them have been released, while more than 50 remain in prison, and one — photojournalist Soe Naing — was killed during interrogation.

Karapatan condemns in the strongest terms the arbitrary arrest of elderly Bohol activist Adolfo Salas Sr. The 75-year-old Salas, who was among the founders of Hugpong sa mga Mag-uumang Bol-anon (HUMABOL-KMP) and currently the vice chair of the Alayon sa mga Mag-uuma sa Candijay (AMACAN-HUMABOL-KMP), was arrested today, May 25, 2023, between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. by combined elements of the PNP-CIDG and non-uniformed armed men at his home in Purok 5, Brgy. Tubod, Candijay, Bohol.

Witnesses said the .45 cal pistol, .38 cal revolver, hand grenade and various types of ammunition allegedly found in Salas’ possession were planted by the non-uniformed men from the raiding party to justify Salas’ arrest. He was later brought to Camp Francisco Dagohoy in Tagbilaran City.

Salas’ family reported being harassed multiple times before the arrest. They are very worried that the elderly activist’s health may further deteriorate under harsh conditions of detention and appealed for his release.

Salas is not the first Boholano activist to be arrested according to the scripted narrative of the PNP, CIDG and AFP. On June 25, 2021, peasant leader Carmelo Tabada and peasant rights advocate Pastor Nathaniel Valiente were likewise arrested in the wee hours of the morning in their homes in Trinidad and Mabini towns, respectively, and firearms, ammunition and a hand grenade planted to legitimize their arrests.

Karapatan calls for the immediate release of the elderly Salas and all other activists unjustly detained and slapped with trumped-up charges in Bohol and other areas nationwide.

A court in the central Vietnamese city of Danang sentenced activist Bui Tuan Lam – known as “Onion Bae” – to five years and six months in prison Thursday, along with four years of probation, one of his lawyers Le Dinh Viet told RFA.

He was convicted of propaganda under Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code, which carries a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 12, after being found guilty of criticizing the government online.

Bui, 39, who ran a beef noodle stall in Danang, achieved notoriety in 2021 after posting an online video mimicking the Turkish chef Nusret Gökçe, known as “Salt Bae.”

The video was widely seen as a mockery of Vietnam’s minister of public security, To Lam, who was caught on film being hand-fed one of Salt Bae’s gold-encrusted steaks by the chef at his London restaurant at a cost of 1,450 pounds (U.S.$1,790).

The minister was in the U.K. as part of a Vietnamese government delegation which attended the COP26 climate change conference in Scotland.

Critics wondered how the official could afford the extravagant meal on a monthly salary of $660.

In Bui’s video clip, he calls himself “Onion Bae” and dramatically sprinkles spring onions into a bowl of soup, mimicking the signature move of the celebrity chef.

Bui was later summoned by Danang police for questioning and arrested and charged in September 2022.

Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code criminalizes “making, storing, distributing or disseminating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” It is frequently used by authorities to restrict freedom of expression and opinions deemed critical of the government.

According to Danang People’s Procuracy’s indictment, Bui posted 19 articles on his Facebook account and 25 videos and articles on his YouTube account from April 17, 2020, to July 26, 2022. The articles and videos included content that it claimed were “distorting, defaming people’s government” and “fabricating and causing confusion among people.”

“The Vietnamese authorities deem just about anything as ‘propaganda against the state’ to crack down on activists and dissidents,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch ahead of the verdict.

“The Vietnamese government should abolish rights-abusing article 117 of the penal code and stop prosecuting Bui Tuan Lam and others for criticizing the Vietnamese Communist Party.”

Bui is a seasoned activist, spending many years speaking out against China’s territorial claims in parts of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam and also campaigning to protect the environment. He received threats from the Danang police after providing food to local people during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

After his “Onion Bae” video went viral the police ordered him to close his noodle stall, which he did for a short while ahead of his arrest.

“The authorities have hounded him for his posts and videos, showing the length that Vietnamese authorities can go to deny people the enjoyment of their right to freedom of expression, no matter how benign, satirical or light-hearted,” said Amnesty International Interim Deputy Regional Director for Research Montse Ferrer before the verdict was handed down.

“Satire is not a crime,” she added.

Authorities prevented Bui Tuan Lam’s lawyers from meeting with him ahead of the trial, claiming last month that he refused representation. After his wife Le Than Lam demanded to meet with Bui to find out the truth the People’s Procuracy of Danang issued a notice allowing lawyers to represent him.

The court approved Le Dinh Viet’s registration to be Bui Tuan Lam’s lawyer for the trial. But when Viet went to Danang Police’s detention facility where Bui Tuan Lam was being held, he said staff didn’t allow him to see his client, claiming the judge hadn’t had time to review the investigation report.

Lawyers Le Dinh Viet and Ngo Anh Tuan were allowed to represent Bui in court on Thursday but the latter was removed from the court after requesting a fair debate between defense lawyers and prosecutors, Le Dinh Viet told RFA.

“Today's trial I feel is similar to the political cases that I have been involved in. Law enforcement itself was not sufficiently exercised during the hearing of the case,” he said, criticizing the so-called “expert conclusions” given by members of Danang’s Department of Information and Communication during Thursday’s trial.

“Those assessment conclusions have many violations, including violations of expertise authority, violations of the roles of experts, even some which violate the basic principles of the law on judicial expertise."

"In my opinion, given the circumstances and developments of today's trial, the issuance of the judgment does not guarantee the objectivity nor guarantee the legal rights of defendant Bui Tuan Lam."

Bui pleaded “not guilty” plea, saying he exercised the right to freedom of expression. His lawyers said he would appeal the verdict.

Bui’s wife and family were not allowed to attend the trial. Le Dinh Viet said they had been detained by the police.

Mrs Le Thanh Lam's account of what happened to her post trial, Vietnam Times 28 May https://vietnamthoibao.org/vntb-phien-toa-xu-bui-tuan-lam-qua-kinh-khung/

Mr Lam was sentenced to 5 years 6 months jail, plus 4 years probation for anti-state propaganda. Many believe this was Police Minister To Lam's revenge on him, for his video post imitating celebrated chef Salt Bae, who was filmed feeding Mr To Lam a piece of gold-encrusted steak.

Mr Tuan Lam's trial ended at around 12pm 25 May. His wife, Le Thanh Lam, told BBC Viet 26 May, what happened after:

After the sentencing, two prison vans arrived to transport Mr Lam. Mrs Lam and her family were not allowed to attend the trial. After waiting for over 5 hours outside, family members ran after the vans, hoping to see Mr Lam.

We cried 'Bui Tuan Lam is innocent'. Right after that, a policeman kept me in a neck hold. Many members of the police also lunged at me, brutally dragged me away like a pig, manhandled me, pushed me into their vehicle. [Photo showed Mrs Lam's large scrapes on both knees.]

            I saw by two brothers-in-law being repeatedly bashed amidst the cry of a ward police: 'Bash these two louts, till they die!'

I asked them, why they treated me that way. A policeman said, 'I did it! So what!' My two brothers-in-law were also taken away forcefully to Hoa Cuong Bac, Hai Chau area. They were released at around 2pm, but I was still detained.

The police forced her to hand over her mobile phone and signed a document acknowledging having to pay a fine, for taking photos at the court precinct.

During her detention, nasty insults and sinister statements about her husband and her children were thrown at her.

I told them, my phone is my private possession which must not be violated. At that, many more police rushed into the room to intimidate me and behave forcefully against me. Some who had monitored my family since the morning, now saying they were ordinary citizens who witnessed I had filmed and taken photos of the court precinct.

                            A policeman swore to no one in particular: 'Not sticking to selling noodles to feed the kids, doing silly things instead.' I asked him: 'You're talking about whom?' He pointed his index finger at me: 'I talked about you, silly cow.'



            More policemen came into the room. One insulted me: 'Silly cow, don't you have any shame... You think you are something special... What a disgrace...'

Another one threatened me: 'You and your kids, just wait to see if you will be able to live in peace.'

A group of men threatened a mother with 3 young kids. They must be very proud of themselves???

The policewomen body searched me, including private and sensitive areas, to check for recording and electronic devices. They checked everything in my possession, including my lipstick, my cards...

At that time, I realised I was no longer considered a human being, I couldn't believe what was happening to me.

I have never been insulted and physically violated in such an immoral way. Not having my password, they wetted my phone.

The family's hope to at least see Mr Lam's face was destroyed.

They didn't spare even a tiny space so we could see his face, in a trial that was supposed to be open.

                            What made them feel so afraid of a patriotic man in white T-shirt, wearing a rosary around his neck?

State media reported on Mr Lam's trial using his old photos. Photos inside and outside the court on the day of the trial 25 May were totally absent.

            --

Defence lawyer Mr Ngo Anh Tuan evicted from court room

Lawyers Messrs Ngo Anh Tuan and Le Dinh Viet represented Mr Lam. During the trial, Mr Tuan asked the prosecutor side to clarify their points of argument. A judge - who was not the chief judge - told him not to repeat what he had previously said.

Mr Tuan told him, according to the law, he could continue to present his argument. However this judge ordered him to leave the court chamber, even though he didn't raise his voice or behave in an aggressive manner.

Nevertheless, he agreed to leave the court room, 'not wanting to make the court's atmosphere any heavier'.

Mr Tuan then went to a room in the court building to sit down. Here, a group of people who didn't introduce their names came to work with him.

'They filmed and prepared a report not reflecting what really happened. Without my colleague Le Dinh Viet as my witness, I won't have any chance to prove my innocence... I have participated in many political cases, but I had never been evicted from the court room in such an unjust and absurd way like today.

'It seems for some people, they can do whatever they like with political prisoners, same with their lawyers... The idea that [political prisoners are a sub-class] led them to behave outside their authority.'

The chairman of Kazakhstan’s unregistered Algha Kazakhstan (Forward Kazakhstan) party, Marat Zhylanbaev, has been sent to pretrial detention for two months instead of being released after serving a 20-day jail term. He was jailed for holding a picket in March to demand the release of political prisoners and to ask Western nations to impose sanctions on top Kazakh officials for "helping" Russia evade sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. A court in Astana ruled on May 25 that Zhylanbaev must stay in custody until July 23 on charges of taking part in a banned group's activities and financing an extremist organization.

The chairman of Kazakhstan’s unregistered Algha Kazakhstan (Forward Kazakhstan) party, Marat Zhylanbaev, was not released on May 23 despite serving out a 20-day jail term he was handed for holding a picket in March to demand the release of political prisoners and for Western nations to impose sanctions on top Kazakh officials for "helping" Russia evade sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Several police officers and men in civil clothes searched Zhylanbaev's home in Astana on May 23. They confiscated a memory stick, a telephone, and several T-shirts emblazoned with Algha symbols, Zhylanbaev's relatives say.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court this morning issued incitement convictions for nine current and former union activists from the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU), including imprisoned union President Chhim Sithar. The convictions under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code are related to the union’s ongoing peaceful strike.

The court sentenced Sithar to the maximum prison sentence of two years and she was immediately detained following the verdict. Sithar and the other unionists were previously arrested and imprisoned in December and January 2022, before being bailed in March 2022. Sithar was re-arrested and imprisoned on 26 November 2022 for allegedly violating judicial supervision conditions, despite the fact that neither she nor her lawyers were ever informed of any conditions.

Five other LRSU unionists – Chhim Sokhorn, Hay Sopheap, Kleang Soben, Sun Srey Pich, and Touch Sereymeas – were each sentenced to one year and six months in prison, but the five women will remain out of prison and under judicial supervision until all appeal routes are exhausted.

The remaining three defendants – Sok Narith, Sok Kongkea, and Ry Sovandy – received one-year sentences that were suspended. The court provided no reasoning in its judgment.

LRSU members have been on strike since December 2021 following mass layoffs at the NagaWorld casino, which included LRSU’s entire leadership and a significant number of its members. Members have faced judicial harassment, physical attacks, and sexual assaults by authorities during the course of their peaceful strike.

A pregnant woman was arrested on Wednesday 24 May for violating the now-repealed Severe State of Emergency by participating in a protest in October 2020. The arrest warrant was issued in March 2022.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Chonticha Khumchan-ad was arrested in Pattaya on Wednesday evening (24 May) on an arrest warrant issued by the Dusit District Court and taken to Phaya Thai Police Station.

Chonticha was charged with violating the Severe State of Emergency for participating in the 21 October 2020 protest march from the Victory Monument to Government House to demand the resignation of now-Acting Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and release all activists detained at the time. After she missed an appointment with the public prosecutor, an arrest warrant was issued for her on 22 March 2022.

A Severe State of Emergency was declared in Bangkok and surrounding provinces in the early morning of 15 October 2020, before riot police dispersed protesters gathering in front of Government House. It imposed a ban on public gatherings of more than five people, a ban on reporting information that threatened public stability, and control over transportation and access to certain buildings, in accordance with the Prime Minister’s orders. It was repealed on 22 October 2020, after pro-democracy protesters defied the gathering ban and protested for 6 straight days.

The Severe State of Emergency was described as an “emergency in emergency” due to the pre-existing State of Emergency declared in March 2020. Although it was supposedly declared in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has repeatedly been used to prosecute activists and protesters taking part in the pro-democracy protests starting in July 2020. The State of Emergency ended on 1 October 2022.

The police said that two other arrest warrants have also been issued for Chonticha, one for joining the 16 October 2020 protest at the Pathumwan Intersection and another for joining a protest on 20 October 2020 in front of The Mall Bangkhae shopping mall. She was also charged with violating the Severe State of Emergency in both cases and has missed her appointments with the public prosecutor.

Chonticha was later granted bail using a 10,000-baht security and is required to meet with the public prosecutor on 4 July. Since she is pregnant and her due date is three days away, the police allowed her to go home and to report to the police for the remaining two cases after she has given birth.

TLHR also reported that 11 activists were also charged with violation of the Severe State of Emergency for joining the 21 October 2020 protest march, but charges against 10 of them have been dismissed after the court ruled that they were exercising their constitutional right to protest and did not violate restrictions imposed by the Severe State of Emergency.

Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday arrested a hip-hop artist for a video published on social media in which he complained about electricity shortages and said that life was better under the democratically elected government that the military toppled.

Rapper Byu Har, who is the son of prominent musician Naing Myanmar, posted the video on Facebook where he called out the “minister of electricity,” calling the holder of the office, which he could not name, “a fool.” The ministry’s proper name is the Ministry of Electric Power and the minister of electric power is Thaung Han.

“I want to tell the minister of electricity who is wearing that elegant uniform, and the employees under the ministry of electricity that you guys are all stupid fools,” he said in the video. “ Even under the old lady’s [Aung San Suu Kyi’s] government, not only did we have enough electricity without any power outage, her government even lowered the rate of electricity bills.”

The country is currently experiencing power shortages, and residents have told RFA’s Burmese Service that many areas of Yangon, where Byu Har lives, get power for only 10 hours per day – five in the morning and another five in the afternoon and evening. Some areas of the city, such as the area where retired military officers live, are supplied with full power, though.

“You can’t supply enough electricity to us. You can barely supply us every five hours. Even that is not certain,” Byu Har said.

In addition to the criticism of Myanmar’s electric power ministry, Byu Har also had choice words for the junta’s leader, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

“The guy who is governing the country is also a stupid incompetent fool himself,” he said. “You guys have no [expletive deleted] skill at all. Even if a fool like me were to govern this country, I promise that we would have enough electricity with no power outages. … I am cursing at you because I don’t have the electricity. Got it? If you want to arrest me, just come.”

A source close to the family confirmed the arrest to RFA and said that Byu Har is being held in the North Dagon Police station in the eastern part of Yangon. His father Naing Myanmar was not available for comment.

Byu Har and others like him are brave for telling the truth in a public forum like Facebook, human rights lawyer and legal analyst Kyee Myint told RFA.

“What they are saying is all true, but it’s a pain in the neck for people who don’t want to hear such criticisms,” said Kyee Myint. “They criticize neither to gain power nor to ruin the country. They criticize it to help the country get better.”

He said that criticizing the junta over the electricity shortage was an example of strength and love for the country.

“But the junta arresting him for such criticisms indicates that the country is failing and that the rule of law is not working either,” Kyee Myint said.

The Ministry of Environment condemned the environmental group Mother Nature Cambodia after its youth activists delivered a petition Monday to halt state land grants to private companies in Kirirom national park, according to a statement.

Mother Nature activist Thoun Sreypov, 21, said the petition had urged the government to stop granting land to private companies in Kirirom National Park, a popular tourist destination in Kampong Speu province.

On June 27 last year, a state sub-decree granted a private company, One More Ltd, 221.94 hectares of forest land within Kirirom. One of the company’s directors is Choeung Sokuntheavy, daughter of tycoon Choeung Sopheap, whose husband is senator Lao Meng Khin.

The activists’ petition requested the government “withdraw the licenses from private companies” in the national park and return the land to the state.

The Ministry of Environment said that the group had been committing “illegal acts” and was not an officially recognized NGO. The Ministry’s statement added that anyone who participated in the movement would be held “accountable” and that the group’s activities were “against the interests of Cambodian society.”

“There is nothing illegal whatsoever about young Cambodian citizens exercising their rights and participating in peaceful public events,” said Mother Nature’s co-founder, Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson, who was deported in 2015.

Ministry of Environment spokesperson Neth Pheaktra declined to comment further.

When asked whether the group’s petitioners would face legal consequences, National police spokesperson Chhay Kim Khoeun said “Why did you ask me this question?”

“Any organization or anyone doing illegal activities will face arrests,” he said. “Do not ask me like this, now I am busy.” He hung up the phone.

The Ministry of Environment established a new government-supported NGO, also called Mother Nature, in February. A range of prominent environmental activists have publicly aligned themselves with the ruling CPP in the past months, as July elections approach.

Sreypov, the activist, said she thought the Ministry of Environment should focus on responding to the social and environmental issues raised by her group rather than attempting to discredit the activists.

“This is real intimidation and the threats thwart youth involvement with us,” she said. “They are violating our freedom of speech to raise concerns in society, while using the law to attack us.”

“We voice what we see that is wrong,” she added. “They must not stop our activities.”

A well-known writer and social activist was arrested at a military junta checkpoint on Tuesday while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to victims of the recent cyclone that devastated the region.

Wai Hin Aung was arrested in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state just after passing through the checkpoint in Sittwe township on his way to villages affected by the May 14 storm known as Cyclone Mocha, according to a person close to the writer who refused to be named for security reasons.

He was traveling with a group of five people, including his daughter, the person told Radio Free Asia.

“He was going to Ponnagyun to deliver aid to cyclone victims there,” the person said. “We haven’t got any contact with them so far. Nor do we know why they have been arrested.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Wai Hin Aung reported on his Facebook page that he had given 100,000 kyats (US$50) each to 16 families sheltering at a school in Sittwe township.

RFA interviewed him on Friday, asking whether rice bags and other supplies were beginning to make it through to affected areas.

“What I know for sure is that the help from the junta alone will not suffice the need because the damage is too large,” he said. “About 3 million people have been affected by the storm and about 120,000 households have been damaged, too.

International assistance needed

People in Pauk Taw and Rathedaung townships urgently need drinking water and shelters, he said. In Pauk Taw, sea water has mixed in with most of the drinking water reservoirs from the flooding that followed the storm, and even cattle can’t drink the water and are beginning to die, he said.

With the rainy season set to begin soon, rebuilding adequate shelters for villages throughout the state should be the top priority, he said. Food and medical supplies are also urgently needed but are second and third priorities, he said.

“In my opinion, the help from the junta and local communities will not meet the needs of victims,” he said. “That’s why I want the junta to cooperate and get help from international organizations to effectively help the victims.”

Wai Hin Aung was previously arrested in 2018 along with Rakhine nationalist lawmaker Aye Maung after they delivered speeches at a public event in Rathedaung township calling for revolt against Myanmar’s ethnic majority Bamar-led government.

He was sentenced the following year to 20 years in prison for high treason and to two years for incitement. He was freed in February 2021, weeks after the military junta overthrew the civilian government.

RFA called Rakhine state Attorney General Hla Thein to ask about the arrest, but his phone rang unanswered on Tuesday.

On May 23, the court of the city of Uralsk sentenced Aslan Otepov, the leader of the "People's Against Corruption" public association, to 8 years in prison.

Aslan Otepov, the leader of the People Against Corruption group in Kazakhstan’s northwestern city of Oral, has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of fraud and bribe-taking that he and his supporters have rejected as politically motivated. Otepov reiterated that the case against him amounts to retaliation by local authorities for his anti-corruption activities, adding that he will appeal the verdict. Otepov also said that he will continue a hunger strike he launched two days earlier over his case.

Independent researcher Chan Vibol has been charged with plotting and incitement after participating in a May workshop run by the land rights group Coalition of Cambodian Farmers Community (CCFC), according to a Tuesday evening statement from the Ratanakiri provincial court.

Vibol, who is not a CCFC employee, is the fourth person to face charges for attending the multi-day workshop in Ratanakiri. The court has issued a warrant for Vibol’s arrest, according to court spokesperson Keo Pisoth, Ratanakiri court spokesperson.

After reviewing the evidence, the prosecutor described the workshop as a “secret gathering which discussed political issues to cause incitement in farmers to rise up and cause turmoil in society, leading to the overthrow of the government,” according to an unofficial translation of the court’s Tuesday statement.

“The investigating judge is further investigating their computers and some documents,” Pisoth said. But he declined to share further information about the specific evidence underpinning the court’s allegations.

The several dozen CCFC workshop attendees had their phones collected and put in a box of drinking water bottles, while a security camera was turned away to avoid recording the workshop’s activities, according to the court’s statement.

On Monday, the court brought the same charges of plotting and incitement against CCFC president Theng Savoeun and two colleagues, who have been in custody since May 17 and were placed in pretrial detention earlier this week.

Last week, Interior Ministry spokesperson Khieu Sopheak accused workshop participants of plotting a “peasant revolution” which CCFC representatives and supporters have repeatedly denied.

The charges for the four detained workshop participants are under articles 453, 494 and 495 of Cambodia’s criminal code. Plotting carries a five to 10 year prison sentence and a 4 million riel fine — approximately $972.

Senior investigator for human rights group Adhoc, Soeng Sankaruna, said he was disturbed by the court’s characterization of CCFC’s workshop as a “secret” gathering as opposed to a routine internal discussion.

“It is very concerning because usually civil society groups have cooperated together in monitoring and training citizens on their rights,” he said. “In general meetings, they don’t want to reveal what they are discussing to the public and I believe other institutions who have a meeting also don’t want everybody to know about their meetings too.”

“It will make other civil society groups concerned about organizing assemblies as any accusation might happen,” he added.

Vibol earned a PhD in political science from the Royal Academy of Cambodia in 2013.

As a freelance researcher, Vibol has produced reports that include surveying the Kingdom’s NGO operations and providing recommendations for improving civil society work in the Kingdom.

Vibol could not be reached for comment.

Vibol wrote on his Linkedin that he is “envisioning to see all live in peace and dignity.”

6 activists in Chiang Mai have been charged with contempt of court after a complaint was filed against them by the Constitutional Court Office for protesting the court’s September 2022 ruling that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha was allowed to stay Prime Minister despite the 8-year term limit imposed by the 2017 Constitution.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Sittiporn Ditthacharoen, Nattachai Sricharoen, Pitchsinee Chaithaweetham, Wittaya Chaikhamla, Theeraporn Pudtasee, and Thanadol Chantarat were charged with contempt of court for staging a protest on 30 September 2022 at Chiang Mai University to protest the court’s ruling.

The police said that a photo of the 6 activists were later posted onto social media, showing them wearing masks and hanging effigies of the Constitutional Court judges along with signs criticizing the court at several locations in Chiang Mai city – an action which the police said damages the public’s trust in the Constitutional Court.

They previously received a summons to report to the police on 2 May, but since several were unavailable, the appointment was postponed to today (22 May).

The activists reported to Mueang Chiang Mai Police Station this morning. The entrance to the building was blocked with metal fences, while plainclothes and uniformed police officers were stationed around the area. A small clash occurred when officers seized a banner saying “Reform the justice institution” from the activists, telling them that they were not allowed to show the banner because they did not inform the police beforehand.

The activists eventually put up the banner outside the police barrier. They also staged a performance in protest against the charge before going to meet the inquiry officer.

TLHR said that since the beginning of the pro-democracy protests in July 2020, at least 34 people have been charged with contempt of court for political expression. Among these cases, one was filed by the Constitutional Court in February 2022, when student activist Parit Chiwarak was charged with contempt of court for two Facebook posts made in December 2020 criticising the Constitutional Court for ruling that Prayut was allowed to stay in army housing despite being retired. However, in June 2022, the public prosecutor decided not to indict Parit due to lack of evidence.

Jailed student activist and author Wai Moe Naing has been sentenced to another 20 years in prison, the Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee told RFA Monday.

He received the maximum sentence for treason and rebellion under Section 122 of the Penal Code.

Friday’s decision by the court in Monywa Prison in northern Sagaing region takes his total sentence to 54 years.

The 28-year-old has already been found guilty of crimes including robbery; rioting; carrying a weapon; incitement to mutiny; and unlawful assembly.

The junta has also accused him of killing two policemen in an industrial zone under Section 302 of the Penal Code and plans to hand down a verdict on the case at a later date.

A friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said Wai Moe Naing has denied all the charges made against him.

Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee protested his innocence, condemning what it called unjust accusations and orders against political prisoners.

Wai Moe Naing founded Monywa University Student Union and served as its first president. He is also an author of short stories, magazine articles and blogs.

After the military coup in February 2021, he led anti-regime strikes in Monywa.

On April 15, 2021, he was riding in a column of motorcycles with other protesting students when junta troops and police ran him down in cars, beat him and arrested him.

He has been held in Monywa prison since his arrest.

Sources close to Wai Moe Naing, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, said he was healthy and has been allowed to receive parcels.

Myanmar’s military has arrested more than 22,500 democracy activists according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of those, over 18,200 are still being detained.

On 22 May 2023, Kazakhstani human rights defender Galym Agleulov was barred from entering Uzbekistan. The human rights defender was travelling to Tashkent to participate as an observer in the upcoming appeal hearing in the Higher Court of Uzbekistan of the 22 protesters detained in the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan in July 2022. The court hearing was scheduled for 23 May 2023. Galym Ageleuov is a human rights defender and the head of the human rights organisation Liberty. Throughout his work with Liberty, Galym documented mass executions and other human rights violations during the 2011 labour protests in Zhanaozen. Within the Freedom for Euraisa project, he has documented violations committed by Uzbekistani authorities when suppressing protests in the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic. On 22 May 2023, the human rights defender Galym Agleulov was travelling from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan to Tashkent, Uzebekistan, to attend the upcoming appeal hearing of the protesters detained in the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan in July 2022 at the Higher Court of Uzbekistan. The human rights defender was prohibited from boarding flight HY-778, operated by Uzbekistan Airways. Members of the airport staff informed Galym Agleulov that he had been prohibited from boarding the flight because the Uzbekistani Department of Border Control had informed the airline that the human right defender was barred from entering the country. Galym Agleulov has visited Uzbekistan twice since the summer 2022 protests in the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic, both for the purposes of monitoring human rights violations and unlawful detentions, and for the mistrials of the Karakalpak protesters. On this occasion, Galym Agleulov aimed to visit Uzbekistan to attend the appeal hearing of human rights defender Dauletmurat Tajimuratov. In January 2023, after his arbitrary detention in July 2022 in Nukus, Dauletmurat Tajimuratov was accused of seizure of power and organising violent protests and sentenced by Bukhara Regional Court to 16 years in prison. In April 2023, Dauletmurat Tajimuratov’s lawyer, human rights defender Sergey Mayorov, reported that his client was tortured in custody. In June 2022, the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, introduced constitutional amendments that aimed to remove Karakalpakstan’s status as an autonomous republic. In response to these amendments, peaceful protests were organised in Karakalpakstan. One of the leaders of the peaceful protests, human rights defender and blogger Dauletmurat Tadjimuratov, was arbitrarily detained and the Uzbekistani authorities started to use force to suppress the civil unrest. The authorities implemented an internet shutdown and utilised forceful measures, including water cannons, rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas, to disperse the protesters. At least 21 people died during the protests. In March 2023, thirty nine Karakalpak activists accused of taking part in the protests in Nukus were convicted and twenty eight of them were sentenced to prison terms of between five and eleven years, while eleven defendants were handed parole-like sentences. Twenty two protesters, including human rights defender Dauletmurat Tajimuratov, appealed the decision of the Bukhara Regional Court.

Authorities in the northeast Indian state of Manipur must investigate the beating of journalists Soram Inaoba, Nongthombam Johnson, and Brahmacharimayum Dayananda, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On the afternoon of Monday, May 22, soldiers with the Indian Army’s Jat Regiment assaulted the three journalists while they were covering a fire in the New Checkon area of Imphal, the state capital, according to multiple news reports and Bijoy Kakchingtabam, president of the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union, who spoke to CPJ.

Soldiers dragged the three journalists from the building where they were reporting, tore their vests emblazoned with the word “Press,” and beat them with batons, according to those sources.

“Authorities in India’s Manipur state must thoroughly investigate the recent attack on three journalists by security forces, and ensure that those responsible are held to account,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Journalists in Manipur must be able to do their work safely and without fear of harassment and abuse by soldiers.”

The three journalists were treated at the Remedy Hospital in Imphal after the attack. Inaoba, a reporter for the Manipuri-language news broadcaster Mami TV, suffered injuries on his head and right hand. Johnson, a camera operator for Mami TV, also received a head injury, according to Kakchingtabam and those reports.

Dayananda, a camera operator with the Asian News International news agency, sustained minor injuries.

The soldiers accused the journalists of throwing stones at a government-operated drone, those news reports said. However, the journalists denied that allegation, saying they were waving off the drone as it had gotten too close to them while they were reporting, according to a joint statement by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union, the Editors’ Guild Manipur, and the Manipur Hill Journalists Union, which CPJ reviewed.

Indian Army soldiers were recently deployed to Manipur to restore peace after days of deadly rioting and ethnic clashes.

CPJ texted Irengbam Arun, the media adviser to Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh, and Kuldiep Singh, a security adviser to the Manipur government who is currently overseeing the military presence in the state, but did not receive any replies.

After withholding years-worth of owed wages from employees, the bus company Giant Ibis Transport reached an agreement earlier this month to comply with the labor law and pay compensation to 30 laid off union workers who have been protesting for months.

But the company has since failed to deliver the compensation by the agreed upon May 22 deadline following an agreement signed by the company on May 13, according to union leader Siem Morady and documents seen by CamboJA.

“The company was due to pay us laid off workers by May 22,” Morady says. “However, the company now seems in total silence.”

The 30 Giant Ibis Transport union members say they are legally owed severance and seniority payments — allegedly amounting to well over $100,000 — which have not been provided since 80 employees were laid off in April 2020.

In negotiations, Giant Ibis Transport representative Ou Phanny — who signed the agreement on behalf of the company — told the laid off union members they would receive their withheld wages but would not be reinstated, Morady said.

Phanny allegedly shouted and behaved aggressively towards the union representatives during the negotiation process at the Labor Ministry, Morady said.

“He ranted and threatened to provoke violence against employees,” Morady said. “This image looks brutal in Cambodia. He did not care, while he leaned on power from the powerful person.”

Morady referred to tycoon Kith Meng, whose conglomerate Royal Group launched Giant Ibis Transport. Morady and others say Meng is the company’s real owner, even though the connection between Royal Group and the bus company is not identified in public records.

Royal Group did not respond to requests for comment. Kith Meng could not be reached.

Morady and other union members accuse Giant Ibis Transport of effectively engaging in union-busting behavior. The company has also been actively recruiting new workers instead of rehiring the laid off union drivers, Morady added.

“We have urged the company to take us back to work, but the company’s representatives failed to do so,” he said. “This is real discrimination against union members”.

Ou Phanny, who identified himself as a Giant Ibis Bus manager, denied the company was discriminating against union members and said he had not acted aggressively.

“Who said I used violence?” Phanny said, laughing. “It is not like that.”

The company claimed this week that it had miscalculated the payments owed to workers and needed more time, pushing back the deadline until June 7 which the union reluctantly agreed to, Morady said.

Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, which helped the Giant Ibis employees unionize in 2020, said that miscalculating the severance and seniority payment to laid-off employees was an excuse.

“This is real intimidation,” Thorn said. “The workers have agreed to take the money, although they are not taken back to normal work.”

“If the company claims that they need to calculate again, why do they take so long to just recalculate?” he added.

While non-union members have already been accepted back into the workforce, the union members have been required to renounce their legally owed benefits to resume working at the company, Morady said.

The exact payment for workers was not specified in the agreements, but Morady, a bus driver with the company, said the 30 workers are each owed around $7,000 to $8,000 including back pay since their suspension.

Cambodian labor law states that suspensions more than two months require permission from the Labor Ministry. The Labor Ministry did not respond to requests for comment as to whether this permission had been granted.

“The Labor Ministry works as a specialist to solve problems related to labor disputes, so if the company said they are unable to calculate, what about the ministry?” Ath Thorn said. “Unless they are biased towards the employer”.

Morady said he and representatives met with the Labor Ministry and the company on Thursday to discuss the payments workers were owed.

“The company is transparently seen to be holding out on this negotiation for their own benefit,” Morady said. “They said they need to project the total payback for the settlement with us. It’s just a company ploy.”

A letter shared with CamboJA shows that, as part of the negotiations, workers are prevented from protesting until the settlement was concluded.

More than a dozen other workers were unable to sign their names because they remained at their homes in the provinces and could not afford to travel to the city, Morady said.

“Now the negotiation is pushed back to June 7 and we do not know what will happen,” Morady added. “It has not come to an end yet. If they still do not comply, we will continue to protest.”

Chinese authorities have notified the family of veteran rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan of their formal arrest on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the Communist Party, friends of the couple told Radio Free Asia.

Yu and Xu were detained last month en route to a meeting with European Union officials in Beijing, prompting calls for their release from Brussels.

U.S.-based rights lawyer Wang Qingpeng said there are now fears that Yu and Xu may be tortured in order to elicit a "confession," given the amount of international attention generated by their arrests.

"The authorities will be concerned about how this case looks ... and about international attention," Wang said. "A lot of lawyers have been warned off representing Yu Wensheng and his wife."

"Many lawyers have been tortured already, including Xie Yang, Wang Quanzhang, Chang Weiping and Zhou Shifeng," he said. "We have reason to believe that Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan could also be tortured, so as to avoid further outside attention and attempts at rescue."

"There could be further [and more serious charges] to come, for example, 'incitement to subvert state power,' which is impossible to predict right now," Wang said.

Chinese courts almost never acquit political prisoners, and the charge Yu and Xu currently face generally leads to jail terms of up to five years.

Lawyers warned

A friend of the couple who asked to remain anonymous said Yu's brother received notification of his formal arrest on May 21.

"According to what I have learned, Yu Wensheng has put up a great deal of resistance to the authorities since his detention," the friend said. "His brother has also said [their detention] is unacceptable."

Police informed Yu's brother of the change of status on Sunday, but had refused to give the family anything in writing, the brother said.

"His brother tried to get a photo of the notification of arrest, but the police stopped him," they said. "Now Yu Wensheng's family need to find a lawyer to help him, but a lot of lawyers have been warned off doing this by the authorities."

They said police had also told the family not to try to find their own lawyer to represent the couple.

Another person familiar with the case, who gave only the surname Shi, confirmed the friend's account.

"They wouldn't let their [18-year-old] kid instruct a lawyer, and the police were also telling people that Yu Wensheng didn't want a lawyer, and that Xu Yan had already hired two lawyers," Shi said.

"Then the police visited the law firms [that might potentially represent Yu and Xu] and put pressure on them -- the Beijing municipal judicial affairs bureau also stepped up the pressure, threatening the law firms that they would fail their annual license review," he said.

"I don't know whether they actually revoked any licenses or not -- we won't know until early June," Shi said.

Son alone

A friend of the couple who gave only the surname Qin said he is worried about their situation, and also about their son, who is living alone in the family home under strict police surveillance, with no contact with the outside world.

"It has destroyed this family, and their kid is still so young with nobody around to take care of them -- it's wrong to arrest both husband and wife together," Qin said.

The European Union lodged a protest with China after police detained veteran rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his activist wife Xu Yan ahead of a meeting with its diplomats during a scheduled EU-China human rights dialogue on April 13.

“We have already been taken away,” Yu tweeted shortly before falling silent on April 13, while the EU delegation to China tweeted on April 14: “@yuwensheng9 and @xuyan709 detained by CN authorities on their way to EU Delegation.”

“We demand their immediate, unconditional release. We have lodged a protest with MFA against this unacceptable treatment,” the tweet from the EU’s embassy in China said, referring to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Correction directions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) have been issued to several parties over false statements made about the death sentence meted out to convicted drug trafficker Tangaraju Suppiah.

Under the POFMA order, activist Kirsten Han, lawyer M Ravi, Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), The Online Citizen Asia (TOCA) and TOC co-founder Andrew Loh are required to carry a correction notice alongside their publications, said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a press release on Friday (May 19).

Singaporean Tangaraju, 46, was hanged on Apr 26 after being convicted of abetting the trafficking of more than 1kg of cannabis.

Ms Han made Twitter and Facebook posts concerning the death sentence on Apr 19, and published an article on her website, We The Citizens, on the same date. She also made another Facebook post on Apr 22.

Mr Ravi published two Facebook posts on Apr 20 and Apr 27, while TOCA published posts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter on Apr 28, and an article on its website on the same date.

TJC made a Facebook post on Apr 23, while Mr Loh published a Facebook post on Apr 24.

MHA said the social media posts and articles contained "false statements" about the capital sentence that was given to Tangaraju, including being denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement and that he was later found to be not guilty.

The posts and articles also said Tangaraju neither had an interpreter nor access to a lawyer during his trial.

"Tangaraju’s allegation that he requested for but was denied an interpreter during the recording of his statement is false, and was rejected by the High Court," said MHA.

"The High Court found this bare allegation, raised for the first time during Tangaraju’s cross-examination, to be disingenuous given Tangaraju’s admission that he had made no such request for any of the other statements subsequently recorded from him.

"Tangaraju was accorded full due process under the law. He was represented by legal counsel and had access to an interpreter throughout his trial."

The ministry added that the false statements included how Tangaraju was not informed that Justice of the Court of Appeal Steven Chong was the Attorney-General when decisions were taken by the Attorney-General’s Chambers in respect of the case.

"Tangaraju’s then counsel was informed, before the appeal was heard, that Steven Chong was the Attorney-General when decisions were taken in respect of his case," MHA said.

"Steven Chong was not, however, involved in the decision-making process, and Tangaraju’s then-counsel was informed of this as well.

"Tangaraju’s then counsel had replied to confirm that Tangaraju had no objections to Steven Chong JCA being a member of the coram for the Court of Appeal, to hear his appeal."

MHA said that Tangaraju's conviction was upheld by the Court of Appeal and was not overturned.

The ministry also took issue with the posts that claimed several personal costs orders were made against Mr Ravi without justifiable basis, to penalise him for his work in death penalty cases.

Some of the cost orders were made in respect of him filing "unmeritorious applications to the courts", which were found to be abuses of the court process, the ministry said.

MHA noted that despite the government's clarifications and the courts' findings of the case involving Tangaraju, the five parties have continued to make false statements.

These false statements may affect public trust and confidence in the government and the judiciary, the ministry added.

A check by CNA showed that as of 1.30am on Saturday, all parties had put up correction notices. RICHARD BRANSON, UN WEIGHED IN ON SENTENCE

Tangaraju's case also drew the attention of many around the world, including British billionaire Richard Branson and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who both denounced the death sentence.

Mr Branson wrote a blog post two days before Tangaraju's execution titled "Why Tangaraju Suppiah doesn't deserve to die", claiming that his conviction did not meet standards and that "Singapore may be about to kill an innocent man".

In a statement last month, MHA rejected Mr Branson's claims as "patently untrue".

The ministry also said it was "regrettable" that Mr Branson, in wanting to argue his case, should resort to purporting to know more about the case than Singapore’s courts, which had examined the case thoroughly and comprehensively over a period of more than three years.

The UN statement, which was published on Apr 25, urged Singapore's government to "urgently reconsider" the execution and expressed "concerns around due process and respect for fair trial guarantees".

In response, Singapore's Permanent Mission to the UN on Apr 28 said that statement "glossed over the serious harms that drugs cause".

"This is regrettable," said the mission, adding that countries have the sovereign right to choose the approach that best suits their own circumstances.

Mr Branson, who has been vocal in opposing Singapore's death penalty for crimes such as drug trafficking, also spoke out against the execution of convicted drug trafficker Nagaenthran Dharmalingam last year.

The Virgin Group founder was invited by MHA last October to a TV debate with Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Singapore’s approach towards drugs and the death penalty, but turned it down.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the release of a national daily’s correspondent in a remote part of southeastern Bangladesh because of the irregularities surrounding his arrest by soldiers and subsequent detention, and the failure to produce any evidence of the grounds given for holding him – his alleged links with an armed separatist group.

Longa Khumi, the Bengali-language daily Manab Zamin’s local correspondent, has been held incommunicado ever since his arrest in a remote rural area in the southeastern district of Bandarban on 19 May by members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite army unit, who handed him over to the police in the locality of Ruma on the evening of the same day.

Various allegations have been made against Khumi, including serving as an informant for the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), an armed separatist group active in the area. The police say he is being held on the basis of “confidential documents” obtained by the army in the course of a “special operation” against the KNF. Khumi has so far been unable to speak to a lawyer or anyone else.

RSF has learned that, according to several of his colleagues, Khumi was just covering the medium-intensity conflict between the KNF and the Bangladeshi army. Everything indicates that he was scapegoated after two soldiers were killed by an explosion in Ruma two days before his arrest.

According to RSF’s barometer of press freedom violations, six other journalists are currently detained arbitrarily in Bangladesh.

Members of land communities from Koh Kong, Preah Sihanouk, Svay Rieng, Kampong Speu, and Kandal provinces gathered to demand the release of three Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC) staffers who were arrested on 18 May.

Theng Savoeun, the association’s president; Nhel Pheap, senior organizing officer; and Thann Hach, community facilitator officer, were charged by the Ratanakiri Provincial Court with plotting against the nation and incitement under Articles 453 and 494-495 of the Criminal Code, respectively. Say Kouhav, the investigating judge, sent all three CCFC staff members to pre-trial detention in Ratanakiri prison at approximately 6:30 pm today. If convicted, they face between 5 and 10 years in prison.

While hundreds of community members gathered outside the Ministry of Interior to demand the three men’s release, many others were blocked by authorities from travelling to the capital. On 19 May 2023, community members from Koh Kong province were blocked by local authorities at 2 am as they attempted to drive to Phnom Penh. They were stopped for around two hours and threatened with arrest if they continued their journey. After they returned home, authorities warned community representatives that any further efforts by community members to gather in Phnom Penh would be met with arrests.

A court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Thursday jailed veteran dissident Wang Aizhong for three years after he retweeted foreign media reports on Chinese social media platforms.

The Tianhe District People's Court handed down the jail term after finding Wang guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up troubles," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The court found that Wang had "used social media platforms to quote and repost false reports in the foreign media about China's political system."

Wang, 46, also stood accused of "adding false information that seriously damaged China's image" and of causing "serious public disorder," it said.

Police threw a security cordon around the court building, with plainclothes and uniformed officers patrolling nearby streets, and took Wang's wife Wang Henan to attend the trial, escorted by state security police, she told Radio Free Asia.

"One man and two women from the state security police sent a special car to meet me downstairs from our apartment and take me to the court," Wang Henan said. "The two women watched me the whole time."

She described the sentence handed to her husband as "a joke."

"It's an absolute joke, and we totally refuse to accept it," she said. "His lawyers have argued all along that Aizhong is innocent, because nothing that he said added up to a crime."

‘A way of keeping me quiet’

Wang Henan said she was prevented from attending the pretrial conference with her husband and his defense team, despite not having seen him in two years.

"They don't want me to know too much about the process and content of the trial," she said. "It's a way of keeping me quiet and stopping me from posting something publicly."

"They also want to torture me psychologically because I love Aizhong, and I haven't seen him for two years," Wang Henan said.

Outside the courtroom, police were stationed on nearby sidewalks in a bid to prevent Wang's supporters from showing up for him.

"There are plainclothes police officers dotted along more than one kilometer from the court gates, all the way to the subway entrance," a Guangzhou resident who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals told Radio Free Asia.

"I'm guessing there are about 70-80 of them in total, and seven or eight of them are currently surrounding me," he said. "One of them asked to see my ID ... then I was told to leave immediately or I would be taken to the police station."

Fellow rights activist Liang Yiming said Wang's online comments had always been very moderate, and that had only been exercising his constitutional right to freedom of speech.

"Take the pandemic in Wuhan," Liang said. "Wang Aizhong once called on them to disclose the number of deaths, but the authorities felt that this would cause panic."

"They don't like people to be so proactive, but we as citizens have the right to question them, or why would we pay our taxes and fund a government that just does whatever it wants," he said.

Guangzhou protests

The length of Wang's sentence likely means he will be released in May 2024, after time already served is deducted from the sentence. The family has indicated that it supports him in appealing the sentence.

Wang was initially detained at his home in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou in May 2021, and his apartment searched by police, who confiscated reading materials and computer devices.

He had been a key activist during protests in Guangzhou in January 2013 that were sparked by the rewriting of a New Year's Day Southern Media Group editorial calling for constitutional government.

Activists, journalists, and academics faced off with the authorities for several days after the Southern Weekend newspaper was forced to change a New Year editorial calling for political reform into a tribute praising the Chinese Communist Party.

The protest was one of the first overt calls by members of the public for political freedom since large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations were crushed in a military crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

He was later detained in 2014 on suspicion of the same charge, shortly before the 25th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen massacre.

The Convenor of the Inter-University Student's Federation Wasantha Mudalige and seven other student activists were arrested on Thursday (18) night following a protest at the University of Kelaniya.

Among the arrested is Venerable Rathkarawwe Jinarathana Thero, said Sri Lanka Police.

Police Spokesperson SSP Nihal Thaldiwa told News 1st that two police officers who attempted to control the protest were injured.

University students of the University of Kelaniya protested against student suppression and the conduct of the Sri Lankan government.

Local sources in Parwan province have reported the detention of a school principal by the Taliban.

Lutfullah, also known as Agha-Shirin, was arrested on Thursday, May 18th, in the Bagram district.

According to sources, Lutfullah is the principal of “Abdul Sattar Shahid” High School in the village of Dawlat Shahi in Bagram district, and the Taliban detained him a few days after he criticized the ban on girls’ education.

Sources state that the Taliban intelligence apprehended this school principal during an official meeting at the Education Department of Bagram district and transferred him to an undisclosed location.

The Taliban have not made any comments regarding this incident so far.

Previously, the Taliban had detained and imprisoned several individuals in various provinces of the country on similar charges and for criticizing the group’s governance methods.

In the most recent case in January, the group had detained a young man named Majid Ahmadi in Ghor province for criticizing the ban on girls’ education and transferred him to an undisclosed location.

The union of workers at Wyeth Philippines is preparing for a strike following the dismissal of 140 workers.

On May 18, Wyeth-Nestle management laid off 140 workers, comprising 125 union members including 10 union officers, one manager, and 14 supervisors. The union has described the lay-offs as a “gross violation” of their Collective Bargaining Agreement, and “a clear-cut case of union busting.”

“We were blind-sided by the decision,” said Debie Faigmani , president of the Wyeth Philippines Progressive Workers’ Union (WPPWU-DFA-KMU). “We simply found out when we were about to clock in for the day and they wouldn’t let us enter. We couldn’t help but be angry.”

The union filed a notice of strike last May 20 at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board.

According to Wyeth management, the lay-offs were necessary to address “operational efficiencies at the factory.” It has insisted that no lock-out took place and that they “respect [their] employees’ rights, including the freedom of expression and the right to freedom of assembly.”

Wyeth Philippines has a workforce of 614 regular employees. WPPWU estimates the total workforce to be around 800 if contractual employees are included.

As of press time, the fences and gates of the Wyeth factory in barangay Canlubang, Calamba are covered with tarpaulins. According to WPPWU, the factory is in shutdown until June 20 “due to maintenance.”

According to Faigmani, Wyeth Philippines reported a net profit of over P2 billion (US$111.56 million) in 2020 alone. Additionally, Nestle’s 2022 annual review reported that sales in the Philippines accounted for P164.4 billion ($9.17 billion), or a 0.4 percent year-on-year increase.

“There’s really no basis for [Wyeth-Nestle management] to say that they are losing money,” said Faigmani.

Rumors of lay-offs have been circulating since the start of the year. The union repeatedly sought out dialogues with management in an attempt to address concerns. In a May 10 meeting, Faigmani and other union officers questioned Wyeth’s rationale in laying off 140 workers. Despite this, management responded that “more efforts are needed to be made in cost-cutting.”

Two days later, management announced a month-long shut down to save cost. Shift schedules were left unchanged until the sudden lock-out on May 18.

Other groups slammed Wyeth-Nestle for their attitude towards workers. Kilusang Mayo Uno said that the dismissals were a “grave violation of the workers’ rights to freedom of association.”

“It’s clear that there was no process in the lay-offs; that what happened was clear union busting meant to salvage profit,” said KMU Chairperson Elmer Labog. Labog called out Nestle for their track record in disrespecting labor rights in the Philippines.

At least two Nestle union presidents have been assassinated during the company’s presence in the Philippines: Meliton Roxas in 1989 and Diosdado Fortuna in 2005. In 2021, twenty one Wyeth employees and union members were also dismissed by management. The Student Christian Movement of the Philippines also condemned the dismissal, stating that “the humane thing to do is to respect workers’ rights and welfare, to hold the CBA between workers and management.” SCMP also noted that Nestle, who has owned Wyeth since 2012, has a “long history of union-busting in the Philippines.”

As recently as last year, Wyeth employees and union members have been targets of house-to-house campaigns by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, as part of its red-tagging campaign against unionists.

Issues about workers’ rights to freedom of association have become a trend in the Philippines. In Laguna alone, multiple unions have reported instances of management and state forces meddling in union affairs.

These concerns have reached the International Labor Organization, which conducted a High-Level Tripartite Mission recently to investigate the state of labor rights in the Philippines. The ILO HLTM found “grave concerns” in labor rights and recommended that the Philippine government take concrete action in addressing them.

On April 28, Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order 23, creating an inter-agency committee to address concerns raised by the International Labor Organization’s High Level Tripartite Mission conducted last March.

The inter-agency committee is composed of different agencies, including the Department of Labor and Employment, the National Security Council, and the Philippine National Police. However, KMU does not think that the inter-agency committee can actually address concerns.

“We do not see it as having any actual teeth,” said Labog, noting that the inter-agency committee “has almost the same composition as NTF-ELCAC.”

He also pointed out the lack of worker representation in the committee. “Workers are the biggest stakeholders in labor, so any committee without workers cannot be truly representative of our interests.”

Faigmani demands the immediate reinstatement of 140 workers. He has vowed to continue to struggle “alongside other Nestle workers for our collective rights.”

On May 18, police in Phu Yen Province arrested Nay Y Blang for “abusing democratic freedoms.” Blang, an ethnic minority Protestant from Ea Lam village, met with a representative from the U.S. Consulate in August last year. The following month, he was scheduled to meet a group of U.S. State Department officials in charge of religious issues. According to RFA, the meeting never took place because Blang was detained by police at a bus station in Tuy Hoa Province. From then until the time of his arrest, Blang and his family have been continually harassed by local police, who accused him of spreading falsehoods about religious repression.

Three staffers at the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community (CCFC) have been arrested and are expected to be sent to court, a day after police in Kratie province stopped a bus carrying 37 people and detained several people for questioning overnight.

This morning, police formally arrested Theng Savoeun, CCFC president; Nhil Pheap, a senior officer at the NGO; and Thann Hach, a project officer. Reasons for stopping the bus and the arrests are not clear. The three were among those detained overnight, while the remaining 34 people left the police station in their own bus this morning.

Authorities confiscated computers, mobile phones, and written documents from the group, and the Ministry of Interior’s Anti Cyber Crime Department were seen entering the police station following the staffers’ detention.

CCFC is a membership-based organisation established in 2011 to address land rights and issues affecting Cambodia’s farmers. Savoeun was previously arrested alongside other NGO staffers and community members in January 2014 following a violent crackdown on demonstrators in Phnom Penh, and spent five months in prison prior to receiving a largely suspended sentence of four years.

A number of Kazakh activists who planned to hold protest rallies against the government’s plan to introduce visa-free travel for Chinese citizens coming to Kazakhstan have been jailed or fined ahead of the China-Central Asian summit in the ancient city of Xi'an.

Kazakh officials have said an agreement on visa-free visits for visiting Chinese citizens for up to 30 days will be signed during the summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and attended by the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan on May 19, the second day of the meeting.

Ahead of bilateral meetings held between the countries and Beijing, a court in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, sentenced Bekzatqan Maqsutuly, the leader of the unregistered Atazhurt (Fatherland) party, to 15 days in jail.

Maqsutuly's lawyer, Shynquat Baizhanov, told RFE/RL on May 18 that his client was found guilty of violating regulations for holding public gatherings. The charge was related to a previous unsanctioned public event. On May 16, Maqsutuly announced online his party's plan to organize a rally against the agreement on visa-free travel for Chinese nationals entering Kazakhstan.

A court in the northwestern city of Aqtobe sentenced activist Akhmet Sarsenghaliev to four days in jail on the same charge.

Three other activists in Aqtobe -- Almira Quatova, Ainagul Tobetova, and Bauyrzhan Maratuly -- were also convicted of violating regulations for holding public gatherings and ordered to pay fines between $380 and $535. All four activists planned to organize a rally in Aqtobe on May 18 to protest via-free travel for Chinese citizens entering Kazakhstan.

Activists in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic’s northern city of Pavlodar said on Facebook that they had faced police pressure over their plan to organize a rally against the visa-free travel agreement in the city.

Nepal Police took two journalists under control in Kanchanpur on May 17. Kanchanpur lies in Sudurpaschim Province of Nepal.

Freedom Forum talked to one of the journalists Aishwarya Kunwar about the incident. Correspondent at Sagarmatha Television Kunwar said that Kunwar and another journalist Rajendra Nath reached a local police station in Mahendranagar to report on the clash among police persons and locals in connection with cross-border transport of goods.

Nath is editor-in-chief at https://simarekha.com/ (a news portal).

While controlling the clash police officers arrested journalists duo despite knowing that they are reporting the incident. Kunwar said, "They not only took us under control but also seized our belongings. They handcuffed journalist Nath and took us into the police station. We were kept there for two hours and released later after discussion with fellow journalists."

"I was hurt in legs and shoulders while they tried to thrash me into the station. Earlier, media had published news on police activities since then, they do not cooperate journalists", Kunwar added.

Freedom Forum condemns the arrest of journalists. It is gross violation of press freedom. FF reminds Nepal Police to differentiate journalists while controlling the mob and respect their rights enshrined in the constitution.

Together jorunalists need to sport their Press IDs visibly as a measure to avoid intimidation.

Security persons must be aware of security of journalists so that they can do reporting on issues of public concern freely and without fear.

Thai authorities should immediately and impartially investigate the killing of an exiled Lao political activist, Bounsuan Kitiyano, Human Rights Watch said today.

On May 17, 2023, Bounsuan’s body was found with three gunshot wounds in the forest in Si Mueang Mai district, Ubon Ratchathani province in northeastern Thailand, bordering Laos. The initial police investigation indicated that he was shot while riding alone on his motorcycle through the forest.

“This cold-blooded killing of a prominent exiled Lao political activist demands an immediate response from the Thai authorities,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government should urgently conduct a credible and impartial investigation into Bounsuan’s death and bring to justice all those responsible.”

Bounsuan, 56, was a former member of the Free Laos group and was recognized as a refugee by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He was involved in several protests in front of the Lao Embassy in Bangkok calling for respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The killing of Bounsuan in Thailand sends a spine-chilling message that nowhere is safe for critics of the Lao government. On April 29, an unidentified gunman shot and seriously wounded Anousa Luangsuphom, an activist and online critic of the Lao government, in the capital, Vientiane.

Even activists who have fled persecution in Laos to neighboring countries have not been safe. Od Sayavong, a leading Lao human rights and democracy activist living in Bangkok, Thailand, has been missing since August 2019. On October 1, 2019, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and three UN special rapporteurs issued a joint statement expressing concerns regarding Sayavong’s case.

The Thai government has consistently failed to prevent or adequately respond to attacks against political critics of repressive neighboring governments of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Thai government’s unacceptable deference to abusive neighbors is once again taking priority over its international human rights and legal obligations,” Pearson said. “The new government that will take office following the May 14 elections has an urgent agenda to reestablish Thailand as a place where refugees are protected.”

Footage has emerged showing Gonmo Kyi being forced into a car by security personnel in Lhasa.

Gonmo Kyi is the sister of the detained Tibetan businessman Dorjee Tashi and has carried out a series of protests calling for him to be given a fair trial.

Tibet Watch received the videos on 16 May. In one, Gonmo Kyi, is on the ground and surrounded by police. While she is struggling, it sounds like she is saying: “It doesn’t matter that I am falling down! I don’t want to go! Just arrest me!”

The next shows the security personnel holding Gonmo Kyi and forcing her into the back seats of a white vehicle while she says: “You can kill me here.”

There is currently no further information on Gonmo Kyi’s location and wellbeing.

Over the past five months, Gonmo Kyi has carried out a series of protests outside Tibet Higher People’s Court in Lhasa. She has been detained numerous times and during recent protests the police have obstructed her from public view by surrounding her and covering her with black fabric or barriers.

In Cagayan Valley, two youth peasant organizers, Cedric Casano and Patricia Nicole Cierva , were disappeared, following reports that they were captured by members of the 501st Infantry Brigade last May 16 in barangay Cabiraoan, Gonzaga, Cagayan.

Karapatan-Cagayan Valley said they learned of their disappearance after receiving reports from concerned citizens.

“Friends and former colleagues are concerned for their safety under the hands of the AFP that declares it will crash the revolutionary movement in the northeastern part of Luzon by all means. We wish to remind the AFP that even wars have rules of engagement,” Karapatan-Cagayan Valley said.

Peasant advocacy group NNARA-Youth also expressed their concern over the disappearance of the two youth organizers.

“The abduction of Casaño and Cierva is part of the escalating attacks in Northern Luzon, where it occurred less than a month after the illegal abduction and unlawful detention of indigenous peoples organizers Mary Joyce Lizada and Arnulfo Aumentado, who are still being held at Camp Capinpin, and the abduction of Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil ‘Bazoo’ de Jesus, who have yet to be surfaced,” said NNARA-Youth National Spokesperson Marina Cavan.

Environmental groups also called for the surfacing of the two young peasant organizers.

“Patricia worked with the Kabataan Partylist-National Capital Region, a legislative partner of our colleagues at the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment. Cedric was a youth whose environmentalist principles led him to join the staunch opposition against the irresponsible open-pit mining at the Didipio gold and copper mine of the OceanaGold Corporation and magnetite mining in the coastal Cagayan Valley. This led him to become a delegate of the International People’s Conference on Mining 2015,” the Environmental Defenders Congress said in a statement.

As a UP-Manila student, Cierva led campaigns such as Tulong Kabataan at Kalinaw for the indigenous people and the Lumad among others.

Karapatan-Cagayan Valley called on the authorities to respect the right to due process and immediately sSurface Cierva and Casano.

“We call on the Filipino people, be vigilant. Uphold basic human rights for all,” the group said in a statement.

Three labour right activists have been charged with violation of the Public Assembly Act and the Sound Amplifier Act for the 1 May Labour Day march from the Ratchaprasong intersection to the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC).

Chatchai Pumpuang and Prim Maneechot from the labour rights network Workers’ Union and Surat Kiri from the migrant worker group Bright Future reported to Pathumwan Police Station on Monday (15 March) after they were summoned to hear charges of holding a public assembly without notifying the authorities and using a sound amplifier without permission.

The three activists agreed that Surat will reach a settlement and pay a fine of 2,100 for the charges against him to be withdrawn. Meanwhile, Chatchai and Prim will fight their charges in court.

Chatchai said that he agreed to fight his charges because he hopes that the Public Assembly Act will not be used again the future and to protect the right of workers to march on Labour Day.

He also said that he was told by the police that “it’s good that this is all you get, not [Section] 112.”This made him feel that the royal defamation law is a problem for workers to organize and campaign for their rights.

Chatchai hopes that workers will start seeing why the royal defamation law is problematic and that politics and labour rights are related, since previously there have been arguments made that workers would gain nothing from amending the royal defamation law.

Migrant workers who joined the march have also been harassed by the police. Chatchai said that he was told by several migrant workers that they received calls from the police in Bangkok’s Bang Bon district, which made them feel insecure about their employment and immigration status.

He speculated that the workers were harassed after some media outlets reported that migrant workers were joining the Labour Day march and used nationalist rhetoric to incite a bias against migrants.

“These people really don’t know at all that they can have a comfortable life with everything smooth, and this comes from migrant workers who work and make it happen, like fishery workers, people in Bangkok have shrimp that’s not expensive to eat because of them,” Chatchai said.

“These people are mainly nationalists, but they’re not at all aware of the fact that these people [migrant workers] are the ones who built this city and built this country. The main pillars that they claim didn’t build Bangkok. But the people who built Bangkok are workers. Whatever our nationality, we made everything.”

Previously, the Labour Network for People’s Rights, the Migrant Working Group, and other labour rights organizations issued a joint statement condemning several right-wing media, including Top News and Thai Post, for reporting false information about the Labour Day march.

On 2 May, a programme broadcast on Top News’ YouTube channel claimed that migrant workers from Cambodia were giving speeches during a protest on the morning of 1 May at Government House calling for monarchy reform to create a welfare state. Show host Santisuk Marongsri then commented that migrant workers do not have the right to interfere in Thailand’s affairs and that they need to respect Thai people’s dignity.

Organizers of the protest said that no such speeches were given and that Cambodian workers joining the protest spoke about facing racism and discrimination for being migrants. Thai protesters from the 24 June Democracy group were standing behind them holding a banner saying “Reform the monarchy, build a welfare state,” but the content of the banner was not related to the content of the speech.

Economic bureau chief at Himalaya Times national daily Lekhanath Pokharel received death threat for his reporting on May 15. The incident took place in the daily's office, Mid Baneshwor, Kathmandu.

Journalist Pokharel shared with Freedom Forum that a news about- alleged involvement of Rastriya Prajatantra Party's Dolakha President Rajan Shiwakoti in a financial fraud at Sindhujwala Hydropower Limited - was published on the daily on the day of incident.

"President Shiwakoti reached the office of the daily with two other people in the evening asked me whether I had written the news", said journalist Pokharel, “Then they started threatening me saying- Who is the news source? Should we file a case or what? or we also have goons, they will do something. I am also a journalist, I know how to write news,". He also accused me of making false allegations against him and issued death threat.

The news was based on complaint of the victim shareholders, according to Pokharel.

President Shiwakoti, however, refuted the news the next day and said to the daily that he was not involved in any financial activities of the hydropower since he left in 2019/20.

Freedom Forum is concerned over the incident. The President can approach the Press Council Nepal for any complaint over the published news content rather than intimidation. Threatening journalists inside the media house has panicked all journalists and media staffs. It is a blatant violation of press freedom.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to be aware to avoid any untoward incident against reporter and ensure safety of journalist.

CHRD is alarmed at the forced closure of the Beijing LGBT Center under pressure from the Chinese government. Shutting down China’s longest established LGBTIQ+ organization signals yet another worsening turn in the Chinese state’s years-long campaign against civil society. We urge the Chinese government to take seriously its human rights obligations under international law to eliminate discrimination against LGBTIQ+ individuals and protect NGOs working to promote LGBTIQ+ rights in China.

On May 15, Beijing LGBT Center sent out a WeChat post announcing that “We very unfortunately are informing everyone that due to an inability to resist [pressure], Beijing LGBT Center is ceasing operations today.”

Members of the Center told Deutsche Welle that they were frequently questioned and harassed by the police, or asked to euphemistically “drink tea” with them. At the same time, on multiple occasions authorities tried to dissuade the Center from ceasing operations for fear of the international repercussions. This put the Beijing LGBT Center in a difficult position where they found it impossible to do their work but also were forced by authorities to maintain the appearance of being in operation until now.

Members of the LGBTIQ+ community have faced growing restrictions on their rights and advocacy in recent years. CHRD has learned from a Chinese civil society expert that another NGO, EnGender, ceased operations in May due to an increasingly difficult operating environment. In November 2021, LGBT Rights Advocacy China, an NGO with operations nationwide, was forced to shut down due to government pressure. On July 6, 2021, nearly 20 WeChat accounts of university students’ LGBT and gender studies groups were suddenly closed down.

Beijing LGBT Center, founded in 2008, provided much of the research and data for understanding the social obstacles and stigma against LGBTIQ+ people in China. For example, in 2016, it produced the largest survey ever done on sexual and gender diversity issues in China, Being LGBT in China – A National Survey on Social Attitudes towards Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression, which was co-authored by Beijing University Sociology Department with support from the UN Development Programme. In 2017, also in collaboration with Beijing University Sociology Department and with support from the Dutch embassy, it produced the 2017 Chinese Transgender Population General Survey. In 2018, Beijing LGBT Center created a national hotline for suicide prevention for transgender people. A member from the Center also conducted a survey that found that transgender people faced domestic violence after telling their parents about their transgender status.

Beijing LGBT Center aspired to serve as a safe space for people in the LGBTIQ+ community in Beijing and around the country. The organization frequently hosted events speaking out on LGBTIQ+ issues. It provided resources to members in the community, such as offering health care counselling on resisting being pressured into “conversion therapy,” which is still prevalent in China. In 2020, it held a workshop at Beijing Normal University for 100 graduate students majoring in psychological counselling to help them better understand the needs of the LGBTIQ+ community.

Disregard for China’s International Human Rights Obligations

The intensified pressure on Beijing LGBT Center leading to its closure occurred just two days before this year’s International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia on May 17. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk marked the day by noting that “[t]he human rights of all LGBTIQ+ people, as equal members of the human family, must be respected,” but that “…in many countries LGBTIQ+ people are facing unacceptable pushbacks to their rights.” To this end, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) launched a new thematic campaign on solidarity within its Free & Equal campaign, which aims to engage with “the public and policymakers to advance social acceptance and positive changes in laws and policies.”

Chinese government harassment of LGBT NGOs goes against UN independent experts’ recent recommendations to the state to combat discrimination against LGBTIQ+ persons. In March 2023, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) released its findings in the latest review of China’s treaty obligations, urging the government to:

“(a)dopt comprehensive anti-discrimination legislative, political and administrative measures prohibiting direct, indirect and multiple discrimination, including explicitly prohibiting discrimination and criminalizing harassment, hate speech and hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons in accordance with article 2 (2) of the Covenant…; [and] (i)ntensify its efforts to combat discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons, including by conducting public awareness-raising campaigns.”

During the current review by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, independent experts on the Committee asked about “how the State party responded to the need for protection of… lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and intersex persons, and other groups facing multiple forms of discrimination.” An official on the Chinese government delegation responded by saying that the Chinese Constitution does not discriminate against LBGTIQ+ people, and it views them as “ordinary people,” thus there are no special legal protections for LGBTIQ+ citizens.

Our “asks”

In light of these alarming developments, which are detrimental to combating discrimination against the LGBTIQ+ community in China, CHRD strongly urges the Chinese government to immediately end its campaign of harassment and intimidation against LGBTIQ+ rights NGOs and heed the calls of UN experts to take specific measure to combat discrimination against this community. The government should cooperate with UN bodies, particularly the UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity to protect LGBTIQ+ rights and increase social inclusion.

CHRD recommends that the OHCHR incorporate the issue of the shrinking advocacy space for LGBTIQ+ rights in China into its Free & Equal campaign. The Chinese government should be highlighted as a country moving backwards on LGBTIQ+ rights. The High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk should speak out and raise serious concerns about the recent closure of Beijing LGBT Center in communications with the Chinese government and in public messaging on LGBTIQ+ rights globally.

The UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity should publicly condemn the closure of the Beijing LGBT Center and the other alarming developments, and urge the Chinese government to enact strategies, policies, and laws to advance LGBTIQ+ rights.

About the Human Rights Defender: Mr. Manish Sharma (45) is a well-known human rights activist of Uttar Pradesh working for civil rights and human rights in Varanasi for the last 20 years. He has been peacefully active in various pro-poor mass movements such as the successful Banaras weavers’ movement, the green belt movement etc. Details of the Incident: On May 15, 2023, at around 03:00 pm, Mr. Manish Sharma was going home on his bike when suddenly 8-10 people in civil dress surrounded his bike near the Court, snatched his mobile and forced him in their car. They forced him to go with them in the car to the ATS office, Pandaya Nagar, where he found out that they were policemen from the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the UP Police. They had neither any summons or warrant for Mr. Sharma’s interrogation, nor did they inform his family despite his repeated requests to inform them. Mr. Sharma was mentally harassed for 6 hours and repeatedly questioned about his participation in various people’s democratic movements and was told to back off from any rights-based movements. He was also threatened that if he continued to be involved in mass movements then he would be framed in fake cases of terrorism and sent to jail for years. Some local activists gathered at ATS office, Pandaya Nagar, Banaras, and started demanding his release raising slogans and the news went viral on the social media. At around 10:30pm Mr. Manish Sharma was released from ATS office, and was asked to return for questioning again the next day. On May 16, 2023, around 11 am, Mr. Manish Sharma went to the ATS office, Pandaya Nagar on his own volition. ATS again threatened him to keep distance from the ongoing weaver’s movement and land movement. Mr. Manish Sharma alleged in a press conference that his abduction and harassment were reprisal for taking part in successful democratic movements.

A court in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on Friday sentenced war veteran and democracy activist Tran Van Bang to eight years in prison and three years probation for Facebook posts that were deemed to be anti-state propaganda in a trial that lasted less than three hours.

Tran Van Bang, better known as Tran Bang, is a 62-year-old war veteran who fought during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War. He had regularly participated in demonstrations against China for its controversial claims over territories in the South China Sea.

He was arrested in March 2022 for what was initially determined to be 31 Facebook posts between March 2016 and August 2021.

After a subsequent investigation, authorities found that he wrote 39 problematic posts between three Facebook accounts that that were seen as “distorting, defaming and speaking badly of the people’s government; providing false information, causing confusion among the people; and expressing hate and discontent towards the authorities, Party, State, and country’s leaders,” the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing the indictment.

The posts were in violation of article 117 of the penal code, a vague law that the government has often used to silence dissent.

It was the latest conviction in Hanoi’s ongoing campaign to silence bloggers and activists. Vietnam has convicted at least 60 such people under the same article and sentenced them between four and 15 years in prison, and 13 others to between four and 12 years under the older article 88, because it was the law when the alleged crime occurred, New York-based Human Rights Watch reported.

During Friday’s trial, Bang claimed that his Facebook accounts had been hacked and he hadn’t used them in a very long time.

But the Procuracy rejected the explanation, and used the posts on the accounts to convict him.

Tran Dinh Dung, Bang’s defense lawyer, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service following the trial that freedom of speech is guaranteed in Article 25 of Vietnam’s constitution, and Article 117 does not explain anti-state propaganda.

“The current law fails to clarify what freedom of speech is and what anti-state propaganda is,” said Dung. “In addition, there are some electronic documents and evidence missing, so I requested that the file of the case should be returned to the procuracy and a verdict should only be made when everything was clarified.”

Closed trial

Two diplomats, from the U.S. and France, were barred from attending the proceedings. They were made to wait in the courtyard until the trial’s conclusion.

Family members, meanwhile, were allowed only to watch the proceedings on a television screen from another room in the courthouse.

Bang’s brother, who declined to be named, told RFA that the audio of the broadcast was cut several times when the defense lawyer was speaking and was turned very low when Bang spoke in his own defense.

“The lawyer requested an additional investigation as some assessments of the investigator about the Facebook stories, which were the ground for accusations, were wrong,” Bang’s brother said.

“The lawyer also said that the accusation grounds were just the investigator’s viewpoint, and with another viewpoint, other people may find my brother innocent.”

According to Dung, his client will appeal the verdict. He told the judging panel that Bang was suffering from a serious health issue as he had a tumor in the groin area, which had not been determined benign or malignant. The verdict noted this information but also said that it needed to wait for the opinion of Bang’s detention center clinics, Dung said.

“On May 10, I had a working session with the detention center, and they told me that their clinic had recommended removing the tumor,” said Dung, adding that red tape is preventing the operation. “If the tumor is malignant, i.e. cancer, it would be a very serious health issue.”

Human Rights Watch on Thursday issued a media release calling on the Vietnamese government to drop all charges against Bang and immediately release him.

China sentenced lawyer and prominent rights activist Guo Feixiong to a prison term of eight years on Thursday, with diplomats from several countries saying they were barred from the trial in the southern city of Guangzhou.

The sentence follows terms of more than a decade in jail each handed to two prominent rights lawyers, Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong in April, amid China's clampdown on dissent since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

While rights groups say hundreds of lawyers and activists have been detained in recent years, China says it respects the rule of law and individual rights and rejects criticism of its human rights record.

Guo, 58, has drawn international attention for campaigns against issues such as graft and censorship, and his accusations of mistreatment by Chinese authorities during more than a decade behind bars on previous charges.

His latest detention, in 2022, came a year after he was stopped from leaving the country to visit his dying wife in the United States, sparking further outcry.

After a three-hour trial Guo, whose real name is Yang Maodong, was found guilty of defaming China's political system and inciting subversion of state power, his brother said in a statement, adding that Guo would appeal against the judgment.

Thursday's statement was confirmed by Guo's lawyer.

Diplomats from several countries said they were prevented from attending the trial.

"Today, U.S. diplomats were blocked from attending the court proceedings of Guo Feixiong," the U.S. embassy in China said on its Twitter account. "We continue to call for Mr. Guo's speedy release so he may be reunited with his family."

Diplomats from Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands were also turned away and told by a court clerk that foreign visitors needed approval from higher authorities, four diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In early 2021, Guo was stopped by officials at the airport in the commercial hub of Shanghai as he sought to visit his ailing wife in the United States.

His public pleas to be allowed to leave were rebuffed and his wife died of cancer about a year later. Two days after that, Guo was arrested by Guangzhou police and has been held in detention since, according to rights groups.

Guo was subjected to "years of mistreatment, imprisonment, routine harassment and surveillance, and denied foreign travel for his peaceful advocacy on behalf of the Chinese people," the U.S. state department has said earlier.

Activists in Indonesia, including Catholics, have accused the government of hacking their social media accounts to prevent them from raising a compensation issue near the venue of the 42nd ASEAN Summit that Indonesia is hosting.

Melky Nahar, a Catholic activist, said the WhatsApp accounts of 12 activists and journalists were hacked after they protested the government's failure to provide compensation to villages in Labuan Bajo, whose properties were acquired for a road project connected to the ASEAN summit.

Nahar, the national coordinator of the non-governmental organization Mining Advocacy Network, said he realized the hacking when he turned on his phone. “Then, a notification appeared that my number was no longer registered and there was a request for verification.”

"Sometime after that, the accounts of three other staff also experienced the same issue on May 11," he told UCA News.

Rosis Adir, editor-in-chief of Floresa.co, a local media based in Labuan Bajo, told UCA News that one of his journalist's Telegram and WhatsApp accounts were hacked after he filed a report on Labuan Bajo.

The journalist also received calls from an army intelligence officer who had previously intimidated him for writing about the Labuan Bajo road project, Adir added.

Sasmito Madrim, chairperson of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, strongly condemned the hacking attempt, and called it a "form of state control over information."

Nahar had joined many other civil society groups to organize a series of discussions on the government’s neglect to provide compensation to villagers in Cumbi, Nalis and Kenari in Labuan Bajo, the venue for the ASEAN summit on Flores island in the Christian-majority province of East Nusa Tenggara.

The summit formally kicked off on May 10 and is chaired by Indonesia, after its turn in 2011. The villagers continue to fight for compensation after their land and farms were acquired for a 25-kilometer road, leading to one of the ASEAN summit venues in Golo Mori. The new road was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on March 14.

At least 51 families, most of whom were farmers, were evicted while 23 houses, 14,050 square meters of yards, 1,790 square meters of rice fields, and 1,080 square meters of farmland were confiscated without compensation.

Villagers planned to hold a protest on May 9. However, it was canceled after warnings from the National Police Headquarters that they would be compensated as long as they don't protest.

The New Indonesia Expedition Team, which highlighted the issue on its social media, stated that three of its staff's WhatsApp accounts were hacked.

Sunspirit for Justice and Peace, a Labuan Bajo-based advocacy group, received a message on WhatsApp from an account using the official cyber police logo, asking it to delete a tweet on the government’s neglect of compensation.

According to the Southeast Asia Freedom of Expression Network, which champions digital rights, digital crackdowns have increased over the past three years from 147 cases in 2020 to 193 cases in 2021 and 302 cases in 2022 in Indonesia.

Last year, hacking topped the list with 178 incidents, followed by a leak of personal data with 40 cases. Nearly 42.81 percent of the victims were critical groups such as activists, journalists, media and civil society organizations, with a total of 140 victims.

Social activist Piyath Nikeshala has been hospitalised after being assaulted by the former deputy mayor of Kaduwela – Chandika Abeyratne.

Photos and videos of the brutal attack by Abeyratne and his henchmen are making rounds on social media.

Piyath played a prominent role in the ‘Aragalaya’ protests last year.

Social media activist Piyath Nikeshala and the former Kaduwela deputy mayor Chandika Abeyratne have been arrested in connection to a clash between two parties in Koswatta, Thalangama yesterday (10).

The Police stated that an investigation had been launched based on a complaint claiming that a social media activist had been injured in a clash between two parties on Samagi Mawatha in Koswatte.

According to the complaint from the social media activist, who is a resident of Samagi Mawatha, he had been admitted to the Thalangama Hospital with injuries following the clash.

As per a statement from the social media activist, the former Kaduwela deputy mayor along with a group of others had arrived in two vehicles and had carried out an attack on him and his vehicle.

The Police stated that the social media activist has been transferred to the Colombo National Hospital for further treatment.

Meanwhile, the former Kaduwela deputy mayor has also filed a complaint claiming that he had been attacked during the clash as well, while he is receiving treatment at the Mulleriyawa Hospital.

Based on the complaints from the two parties, the Thalangama Police have arrested both the social media activist and the former Kaduwela deputy mayor over the clash.

Both suspects are receiving treatment at the relevant hospitals under Police protection, while the Thalangama Police is conducting investigations into the incident.

Pakistan authorities and the leadership and supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party must respect the rights of journalists covering the country’s political unrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

Amid protests following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, May 9, authorities and supporters of Khan’s PTI party have repeatedly attacked and harassed members of the press, according to a statement by the local press freedom group Pakistan Press Foundation and local journalists who spoke to CPJ. On Thursday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared Khan’s arrest illegal and ordered his immediate release.

As of the evening of Friday, May 12, at least one journalist, Imran Riaz Khan, was being held in an unidentified location, his lawyer Mian Ali Ashfaq told CPJ by phone.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has also suspended mobile internet services and restricted access to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in various areas throughout the country since Tuesday.

“Pakistan authorities must unconditionally release journalist Imran Riaz Khan, investigate all attacks on the media, and restore unrestricted access to internet services and social media platforms throughout the country,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “The Pakistani people have a right to be informed about the ongoing upheaval in their country. The authorities and the opposition political party must respect that right.”

Authorities arrested Imran Riaz Khan, an anchor with the privately owned broadcaster BOL News, in the early hours of Thursday, May 11, at Punjab’s Sialkot Airport, where he was scheduled to travel to Oman, according to news reports and Ashfaq.

In a detention order reviewed by CPJ, the Sialkot police accused the journalist of repeatedly delivering “provocative speech” and requested that he be detained for 30 days due to the “likelihood that he will create unrest [among] the general public and create [a] law & order situation.”

Prior to his arrest, the journalist had published videos on his personal YouTube channel, where he has about 4 million subscribers, demonstrating support for PTI protesters and sharing reports alleging that the former prime minister had been tortured in custody.

Attacks by police

At about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, police officers attacked Feezan Ashraf, a producer for the privately owned broadcaster Suno TV, and Syed Mustajab Hassan, a producer for the privately owned broadcaster Express News, while they were attempting to cover a raid on the home of a PTI leader in Rawalpindi, according to a statement by the National Press Club in Islamabad, which CPJ reviewed, and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

Six police officers confronted Ashraf and Hassan, who introduced themselves as journalists and showed the officers their press identification cards. However, the officers proceeded to kick, slap, and beat the journalists with wooden rods for about 15 minutes, they said, adding that officers also broke their mobile phones and forced Hassan to delete a video he captured of the raid.

Ashraf and Hassan sustained significant lesions throughout their bodies and painful injuries, including to their heads, according to the journalists and photos of their injuries reviewed by CPJ. They received treatment at a local hospital and were prescribed painkillers.

Separately, at around 3 a.m. on Thursday, five police officers detained Aftab Iqbal, an anchor with the privately owned broadcaster Samaa TV, at his farmhouse in Lahore, according to a video by the journalist’s wife, Nasreen Iqbal, and Ashfaq, who is also representing Iqbal.

While entering the home’s premises, officers pushed a security guard to the ground, slapped Iqbal’s assistant, and threatened others at the scene to lie down or be shot, Nasreen Iqbal said in that video, adding that her husband did not resist his arrest.

Iqbal had also published videos on YouTube, where he has 1.6 million followers, that showed his support for PTI protesters and Imran Khan. Iqbal was released on Friday following an order by the Lahore High Court, Ashfaq said.

CPJ called and messaged Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Kamyana and emailed the Punjab police for comment but did not immediately receive any replies.

9 activists were arrested during a protest at Samranrat Police Station on the afternoon of 10 May to demand the release of 15-year-old activist Thanalop Phalanchai.

The protest took place after the police filed more charges against Thanalop, now detained pending trial on a royal defamation charge at the Ban Pranee Juvenile Vocational Training Centre for Girls in Nakhon Pathom.

Officers from Samranrat Police Station went to Ban Pranee to inform Thanalop of the charges without informing her guardian or lawyer. They also brought a woman who they claimed was a lawyer they had appointed for Thanalop.

Activist Anna Annanon, who was visiting Thanalop, livestreamed the officers' visit on Facebook. When she asked the officers if they had informed activist Sopon Surariddhidhamrong, Thanalop's guardian, that they were filing more charges against her, they said that they had told the "human rights lawyer."

Anna also asked the alleged lawyer for her name, but she refused to answer and threatened to file charges against Anna under the Personal Data Protection Act for livestreaming the officers' visit.

Anna said that she was visiting Thanalop with other activists and was about to leave but decided to stay when they saw officers from Samranrat Police Station arriving at Ban Pranee. She said that, in the end, the police left without seeing Thanalop.

Meanwhile, a protest took place at Samranrat Police Station. Activists threw red paint onto the police station building and onto the household spirit shrine in front of the building. They also demanded that Pol Col Thotsaphon Amphaiphiphatkun, superintendent of Samranrat Police Station, explain why officers visited Thanalop to notify her of her charges without notifying her guardian.

They also demanded the 15-year-old's release, saying that it is within the police and the court's power to release Thanalop so she can return to school.

Pol Maj Gen Nakarin Sukonthawit, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 6, came to the police station and told the activists that the officers were only doing their job by informing Thanalop of further charges. He also insisted that Thanalop's parents file a bail request for her

After Pol Maj Gen Nakarin went inside the police station building, activists threw coloured smoke flares up the steps in front of the police station.

A small clash then occurred after activist Tantawan Tuatulanon went to the police station door to demand that a representative of the police come to speak to the media. The activists tried to push through the police barrier but were pushed out, and the glass door of the police station was broken during the clash.

At around 18.55, several units of crowd control police in normal khaki uniforms arrived at the police station. 10 minutes later, they blocked the entrance to the police station with shields as the activists tried to go back up the steps.

Meanwhile, Tantawan continued to demand that Pol Col Thotsaphon come out to speak to them and said that the police had ruined Thanalop's future by detaining her and keeping her from going to school. Another protester also threw objects at the officers, starting another clash, during which officers pulled Tantawan inside the police station.

Activist Orawan Phuphong was also arrested while shouting at the officers for injuring her during the clash, after the police ordered them to leave the police station and crowd control police blocked the entrance to the police station.

A total of 9 activists were arrested: Sittichai Prasai, Natthaphon Lekyaem, Suttawee Soikham, Noppasin Treelayapewat, Thiraphat Pradapkaeo, Jirapas Koram, Ronnakorn Hangchaicharoen, Tantawan Tuatulanon, and Orawan Phuphong.

The activists were separated and moved from Samranrat Police Station to three other police stations. Sittichai, Natthaphon, and Suttawee were taken to Chalongkrung Police Station. Noppasin, Thiraphat, Jirapas, and Ronnakorn were taken to Lat Krabang Police Station. Tantawan and Orawan were taken to Thung Song Hong Police Station.

At around 21.00, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said their lawyers had gone to the three police stations. At Lat Krabang Police Station, Noppasin and the three other activists told the lawyer they were beaten while being arrested.

Meanwhile, at Thung Song Hong Police Station, TLHR said that Tantawan and Orawan have been separated, with Tantawan being placed in a men's jail cell. In protest, they tied their bras around their own necks, and after officers took their bras from them, Orawan banged her head against the cell wall.

Tantawan told her lawyer that Pol Col Thotsaphon flashed his middle finger at the activists while they were detained, and that an officer named Siriphong Kongkaeo hit Orawan's hand with the keys to the jail cell and pulled Tantawan's head while threatening them.

TLHR reported that because the activists' phones were confiscated and the officers did not tell them on what charges they were being arrested, Orawan stripped naked as a form of civil disobedience, and that women crowd control officers took videos of Orawan while she was naked.

At Chalongkrung Police Station, lawyers were not allowed to see the three activists detained there, claiming that they needed to wait for every detainee's lawyer to arrive. TLHR noted that it is a violation of the detainee's right, since they have the right to see their own lawyer and no law requires that lawyers have to wait as the police claimed.

TLHR said that Tantawan and Orawan sustained minor injuries while being arrested. Tantawan has cuts and bruises on her hands from being dragged inside Samranrat Police Station, while Orawan has bruises on her legs from being forced inside a police car, as well as cuts on her hands and bruises on her neck from tying herself to the cell bars using her bra.

Farmer unions, farm labourer organisations and activists in Punjab have condemned the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) questioning of author-activist Navsharan Singh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Navsharan was questioned for eight hours on May 10.

The wife of JNU professor and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association president Atul Sood, Navsharan used to regularly visit the farmers during their agitation against the farm laws at Tikri and Singhu border. She is also a board member of Aman Biradari, a trust headed by rights activist Harsh Mander. Sources revealed that she was questioned about certain financial transactions with Aman Biradari and her association with Mander.

Navsharan is the daughter of the famous theatre director, the late Gursharan Singh, who was also popular as Bhai Manna Singh.

“I strongly condemn the ED harassment of Navsharan, a social worker and untiring supporter of the farmers’ movement. We both addressed the Tikri border farmers’ rally on Gursharan Singh’s birth anniversary,” Chaman Lal, a retired JNU professor, said. “The whole family has a glorious record of progressive and democratic thinking and siding with democratic struggles. Navsharan’s mother Kailash Kaur was a stage actor and her sister Dr Areet retired as director of health services in Punjab,” he added.

Narain Dutt, the president of the Inqlaabi Kendra Punjab, also condemned Navsharan’s questioning. “Navsharan, who is a human rights activist, has always stood up for the democratic rights of the masses. She was grilled for the funding given for publishing books of activist Harsh Mander. The Union government has always tried to intimidate the ‘right thinking’ people.. we are standing tall with Dr Navsharan,” Dutt said.

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, state president of Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan), alleged that Navsharan was being targeted by the Modi government “for speaking out the truth”. “In continuation with the series of attacks on intellectuals and democratic rights activists across the country, Navsharan was summoned under the PMLA and an attempt was made to intimidate and harass her in the name of an inquiry. Like the UAPA, PMLA also gives the government unrestrained powers to crush the democratic rights of any person,” Ugrahan said.

Navsharan was one of the leading supporters of the peasant struggle on the borders of Delhi, Ugrahan said. “Not only did she continue to participate in the Delhi sit-in, but she also made efforts to share the experience of the farmers’ struggle with people in different countries of the world,” he added.

“Navsharan is one of the leading intellectuals of the country raising her voice against the brutal fascist attack of the Modi government on the ordinary people. The nefarious attempts to silence the democratic voices in support of the working people must stop. We are standing firm with Navsharan. I call upon all sections of the people’s democratic movement in India to immediately raise their voice against this incident,” Ugrahan added.

Lachhman Singh Sewewala, general secretary of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union (PKMU), said the questioning by ED officials was “an attempt to intimidate Navsharan and all the human rights activists”. “We fully support Navsharan as we value her contribution to public issues. The Union government should stop harassing intellectuals in the name of such inquiries,” Sewewala said.

About the Human Rights Defender: Mr. Santosh Thakur (39) is a human rights activist in Muzaffarpur, Bihar and the founder member of Grameen Vichar Manch, a civil rights organization which actively works on human rights, civil rights and social issues in Bihar. Mr. Santosh Thakur is also associated with various human rights organizations. Details of the Incident: On May 10, 2023, at 11:00 am, Mr. Manoj went to Mushahari police station, Dumri, Muzaffarpur with his relative Ms. Sanju Devi, to file a complaint regarding a forcible control of her wheat crop by Dheeraj Kumar with his associates. When they tried to file a complaint, Mr. Narendra Kumar, the station in-charge started abusing them and gave an order to arrest Mr. Santosh Thakur and Ms. Sanju Devi, who were then taken into custody. No FIR was filed on their complaint. Mr. Thakur was given no detention memo, in violation of the DK Basu guidelines. His mobile and 5000 rupees and watch were taken by the policemen illegally without any memo. Both Mr. Thakur and Ms. Devi were detained till the evening and given no water or food. At 5:30 pm in the evening they were released but their mobile and money were not returned by the police.

On May 12, 2023, Ms. Sanju Devi wrote the entire incident in a letter and sent it to Inspector General of Police, Bihar. A copy of the letter was also sent to Superintendent of police of Muzaffarpur and Director General of police, Bihar. Ms. Sanju Devi in her complaint letter has alleged that the policemen are in collusion with the accused Dheeraj Kumar and Mr. Santosh Kumar and herself were detained because of the pressure of the accused on the SHO.

In the wake of the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9, freedom of expression in Pakistan has suffered significant setbacks as internet shutdowns, attacks and detainment of journalists and media workers have swept the country. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), condemn the attacks on media workers and urge the Pakistani government to apprehend the perpetrators to protect working journalists.

In the days following the arrest of Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, authorities have restricted access across the country to social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, with total internet shutdowns experienced in Islamabad and other cities.

On May 9, during ongoing protests against Khan's arrest, Nisar Ali Khan, the chief executive of Chhachh News Network, was pelted with stones by PTI workers in Lahore. Khan suffered injuries across his body, including a gash on his forehead and severe bleeding. Despite further threats from protestors, intervention by journalist Malik Asif stopped any further attacks on the journalist. Khan was taken to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital to receive medical attention with assistance from his colleagues.

In Peshawar, PTI employees attacked a Dawn News team on May 9, targeting and injuring reporter Arfi Hayat and network media workers. The assailants damaged the crew’s cameras and vehicle, breaking one window, and a side mirror, and creating a large crack in the windscreen. The PTI workers similarly vandalised equipment and vehicles from Express News and Khyber News.

The Peshawar offices of national broadcaster Radio Pakistan, the country’s oldest radio station, were vandalised and partially set alight on May 10, with furniture, equipment and vehicles damaged and looted.

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday morning picked up activist and lawyer Mohammed Shoaib of the legal aid group Rihai Manch, a letter from his wife to the police said.

Shoaib’s wife Malka Bi alleges that he was taken away around 7.15 am by a group of police personnel who declined to share the information about the action.

Shoaib is the founder of the legal aid group Rihai Manch which works for marginalised communities. In December 2019, he was arrested in connection with protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He was granted bail on January 15, 2020.

A video of Shoaib being taken away from his house has also been shared by journalists on social media.

Held a protest, detained, released, detained again

Vlada Yermolcheva has been demonstrating with a poster stating “We were robbed of elections” in the central pedestrian street in Almaty on March 26, a week after the parliamentary election. She was swiftly detained that day, but later released. On May 6, police officers approached her in a cafe and demanded she follow them to a police station. On the night to May 7, she was found guilty of a violation of Article 488(7) of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Darkhan Sharipov has also been detained for a protest on November 20, 2022. On the day of the presidential election, a group of activists unfurled a banner reading “Will we live to (see) fair elections?” on the main square in Almaty. All were detained by the police in less than ten minutes and released the same day without charge. On May 7, the night court found Sharipov guilty of a violation of Article 488(6). Police and court violated the procedure

In his interview to The Village Kazakhstan Yermolcheva’s attorney, Talgat Miyermanov, pointed out numerous procedural violations. No document stating the time and date of Yermolcheva’s first detention in March has been provided in the court materials. The detention report is dated 27 March – a day after the initial detention – but includes information from 19 April. Moreover, possible penalties stated in the law include a fine, an arrest is imposed only in exceptional cases – for instance, when a person has a previous conviction. The court, however, chose the harshest punishment – arrest with the maximum term, despite the fact that Yermolcheva had no criminal record. Penalties for peaceful assembly without permission

Kazakhstan’s law “On Peaceful Assemblies” is heavily criticised by civil society for violating the right of peaceful assembly. While the Constitution grants the right to peacefully gather to all Kazakhstani citizens, and the Law states that it is sufficient to inform local authorities without obtaining explicit permission to organise a demonstration, in fact there is a very limited space where such gatherings could be held, and the organisers need to “book” them in advance by the same city council, who has the ability to veto the assembly. For the mobile demonstrations such as rallies, notification is not enough – one has to apply for a written approval of the authorities.

Read more on Novastan: Women’s Day in Kazakhstan: hundreds gather for rally in Almaty

Human rights defender Tatiana Chernobil, commented to Novastan on why the authorities acted so long after the pickets took place, says one can be held liable within one year after the peaceful assembly itself.

“This law prohibits the holding of peaceful assemblies without the so-called sanction of the Akimat (city council), – explains Chernobil. – Pickets under this law are considered to be peaceful assemblies, which means that holding them, the same as with other peaceful assemblies, without notification and, importantly, without obtaining the necessary reciprocal approval of the Akimat will be illegal.

Darkhan and Vlada held their actions without notifying the Akimat out of principle, rightfully believing that holding of solitary pickets should not require the approval of the authorities. Fair enough because these are international human rights standards. But our government and the law believe otherwise. Therefore, holding even single pickets without Akimat approval in Kazakhstan is fraught with penalties.

What is interesting is that, in general, the limitation period for administrative responsibility established by the Code of Administrative Offences is 2 months, but a special period of 1 year is established for violating the legislation on peaceful assemblies.

It is also interesting to see what other administrative offences have such a long limitation period of 1 year. These are ‘corruption offences, unlawful interference of officials into entrepreneurial activity and also for offences in the sphere of inspections of private enterprise and other forms of control and supervision with visits to private enterprise, taxation, environment protection, protection of competition, customs, legislation on pension provision, on obligatory social insurance, on energy saving and improvement of energy efficiency, on state secrets, on natural monopolies, subsoil and subsoil use.’ This is the kind of company that peaceful assemblies find themselves in,” – concludes Chernobil. Verdict upheld

On May 11, after Yermolcheva’s verdict was upheld in the court of appeal, she declared she is going on a hunger strike.

In his letter from detention center, Darkhan Sharipov sends warm greetings to his fellow activists: “You must not be ashamed for your civic position; the president and the state must be ashamed of imprisoning citizens for dissent. Until there is one person willing to fight for their rights and freedoms, I have no doubt about the future of this country.”

Kyrgyz authorities should let the independent news website PolitKlinika work free from fear of legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

On May 6, officers with Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, or SCNS, summoned PolitKlinika founder and chief editor Dilbar Alimova for questioning about a May 5 article published by the outlet, according to news reports and Alimova, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

Alimova told CPJ that she was outside the capital city of Bishkek at the time, and authorities demanded she return immediately, or they would come with a summons and take her to the city for questioning. However, after she posted about the call on social media, SCNS officers agreed to ask her questions by phone.

The officers did not make it clear why the SCNS was looking into that article, which reported on a letter allegedly written by the speaker of Kyrgyzstan’s parliament to the prosecutor-general, Alimova said, adding that the head of the SCNS was a close political ally of the speaker. The officers asked her about the letter and where the outlet got it from.

After the publication of that article, the speaker’s press secretary said the letter was “fake” and threatened to apply for PolitKlinika’s website to be blocked under Kyrgyzstan’s law on false information unless the outlet deleted its report.

“Alongside their forced closure of RFE/RL’s local service, Kyrgyz authorities seem to have embarked on a systematic course of undermining and intimidating independent media into silence,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Kyrgyz authorities must stop summoning journalists for interrogation over their reporting, and should allow Dilbar Alimova and PolitKlinika to work freely.”

PolitKlinika publishes fact-checking reports, political news, and investigations, those news reports said.

On Monday, May 8, PolitKlinika issued a statement saying the outlet stood by its reporting and noted that it had included a statement from the parliamentary office denying the letter’s authenticity, and had also reached out to the prosecutor-general for comment. The outlet said it was temporarily taking the report down pending a response from the prosecutor-general.

Alimova told CPJ that she felt there was “colossal pressure” on independent media by Kyrgyz authorities, pointing to the April 2023 shuttering of U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s local service Radio Azattyk.

Separately, on February 20, Kyrgyz state broadcaster EITR filed a lawsuit against PolitKlinika and Tynystan Asypbek, a reporter at the outlet, demanding 10 million som (US$115,000) in damages over a February 3 video report alleging that ElTR had made false claims about government borrowing, according to news reports.

Alimova told CPJ that the ongoing court case – in which the state-run channel is seeking 7 million som (US$80,100) from PolitKlinika and 3 million som (US$34,360) from Asypbek for “undermining the reputation of the channel and its staff” – could force the outlet to close.

Alimova said she and PolitKlinika have also been the target of online harassment, which she believes to be coordinated involving social media accounts of employees of state media. CPJ reviewed many posts by users calling for legal action to be taken against the outlet.

Also in February, the SCNS summoned Asel Otorbaeva, general director of independent news website 24.kg, for questioning over comments under a 24.kg report, and in March, the SCNS summoned 24.kg editor Anastasia Mokrenko for questioning about a fake bomb threat on a shopping center that was sent to the outlet and others, according to reports by that outlet.

CPJ emailed the Kyrgyzstan presidency, the SCNS, and ElTR for comment but did not receive any replies.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) supports the statement of the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (KontraS) condemning all forms of repression and intimidation against civil society during the preparation and implementation of the ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT). Based on the information we received, one of the cases was the alleged criminalization attempt by West Manggarai Police officers against four Labuan Bajo residents, they are Mr. Ladislaus Jeharun, Mr. Dionisius Parera, Mr. Viktor Frumentus, and Mr. Dominikus Safio Sion by the West Manggarai Police on May 6 2023. They were summoned by the police concerning allegation of incitement. Meanwhile, journalists who report on the voice of the people become victims of hacking and intimidation. Most recently, four Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM) activists also experienced hacking.

Based on the information we gathered, the summons to the four residents was due to a demonstration that the local residents wanted to carry out. The reasons/demands behind a number of residents holding the demonstration are because until now the right to compensation related to the houses and land of residents who are suspected of having been evictioned for the construction of the Labuan Bajo-Golo Mori road ahead of the ASEAN Summit has not been received.

We regret that the action that will be held by a number of residents actually responded excessively by the police by summoning a number of residents on charges of alleged criminal acts of incitement. The police should be able to see this problem as a whole by looking at the construction of demonstrations by residents demanding the right to eviction compensation as part of freedom of expression.

We consider that the allegation of the incitement article as stated in the summons is of course very problematic. Because, in that article 2 there is an element of inciting to commit a crime. Even though demonstrations are legal and constitutional actions and are guaranteed by statutory instruments, for example Law no. 9 of 1998 concerning freedom of expression in public. In addition, voicing opinions related to the obligation to compensate for the land that was confiscated is a form of maintaining life and increasing the standard of living guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Looking back, the various forms of repression that existed cannot be separated from the statement by the Chief Police of NTT Regional Police who banned the action at the end of April 2023. Thus, that the existing attacks from the police on the community can be classified as systematic violations.

Furthermore, the delay in providing compensation for evictions by the state has resulted in various forms of multi-layered violations of the basic rights of citizens, including the right to a right to live properly, the right to peaceful and secure, and the right to a proper job. Furthermore, this action not only violates the human rights guaranteed in the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and Law Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights, but also the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which the government has ratified through Law Number 11 of 2005.

This is not the first time the repression has been committed against the residents of Labuan Bajo. Previously, there were cases of arbitrary arrests of Labuan Bajo residents who blocked the road to refuse force eviction for a national strategic project. The allegation of arbitrary arrest experienced by Mr. Paulinus Jek, a resident of Racang Buka, because of his effort to stop an excavator which will be conducting force evictions on his land.

Moreover, repressive methods as part of the security approach at major events also occurred in the midst of the G20 at the end of 2022. At that time, excessive methods were used by security forces such as the use of facial recognition, spying, forcibly dissolving discussions, blocking activist activities and stigma against groups that refused. Ironically, the group that refused was also stigmatized as rioters. This is of course very dangerous if it continues and at the same time continues paradoxical practices. On the one hand, Indonesia wants to improve its image in the eyes of the international community, but on the other hand, it continues to silence people’s rights. The decline in democracy is again evident from the Indonesian democracy index published by Freedom House in 2023 which shows a decrease from the previous year from 59 to 58 point.

The situation is getting worse marked by digital attacks targeting against journalists who report on the other side of the ASEAN Summit. Media Floresa.co, which collaborates with the Mulatuli Project in making a report on a case where a road was made for a resident’s land, was hacked. This action is a clear violation of press freedom. In addition, the hack that was directed at four JATAM activists was not only a violation of the right to privacy, but also a serious threat to the work of human rights defenders.

Based upon above-mentioned situation, the AHRC urges that:

First, the security forces stop all forms of repression and intimidation of citizens at the ASEAN Summit and other major agendas in the future.

Second, the Central Government and related institutions are immediately responsible for fulfilling the obligation to pay compensation to the victims of the evictions.

Third, the security forces to immediately investigate the actors who hacked journalists and the four JATAM activists. The police must find the perpetrators of digital attacks and prosecute them under the fair trial principles in accordance with the provisions of the applicable laws and regulations.

Karapatan denounces the attacks against trade unionists and demands justice for long-time trade union and community organizer Susano Labora, who succumbed to a stroke on May 6, 2023, after being intensively harassed and interrogated by men who introduced themselves as “admins” from the Philippine Army.

The men first interrogated Labora on May 4 at his home in Barangay Tigatto, Davao City, grilling him about his work and whereabouts for the past three years, and pressuring him to become an intelligence asset and spy on the organizations he has been working with, such as the Kilusang Mayo Uno in the Southern Mindanao Region (KMU-SMR).

Threatened, Labora agreed to meet with the men again. He went through the same ordeal on May 5, where he endured the interrogation and pressure tactics inside a vehicle. He persistently refused the men’s demands for him to become an intelligence asset.

The mental and psychological distress that the 60-year old Labora had gone through was such that he could neither eat nor sleep. By May 6, he suffered chest pains and a severe headache. His family rushed him to a hospital, but it was too late to save him. He died of a stroke.

As if these were not enough, the KMU-SMR office reported spotting a black van suspiciously parked in front of its office in Davao City on May 8, at around 4 p.m. The van stayed for more than an hour. A KMU-SMR staff also noticed a uniformed police auxiliary coming out of the van earlier.

We deplore the stepped-up harassment and surveillance of KMU-SMR by State agents, sinister acts which have already claimed the life of one of its long-time activists. The rampant state-sanctioned repression of progressive organizations nationwide must stop.

We call on the Commission on Human Rights to conduct a thorough investigation of the threats, harassment, intimidation and other forms of human rights violations perpetrated by the Philippine Army and other State agents that have led to the deaths or killings, involuntary disappearance, and the illegal arrest and detention on trumped-up charges of countless activists and other human rights defenders.

Authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen shut down an art exhibit that described young people in China as the "last generation," a reference to a viral video from the 2022 Shanghai lockdown, in which a young man tells police officers threatening him that he won't be having kids.

Beijing artist Li Wei was served a "notice of closure" by the venue hosting his work "Manifesto," which consists of the words "We Are The Last Generation, Thank You." in English and Chinese, according to information posted to Twitter by "Mr. Li is not your Teacher."

The work had been part of a contemporary art exhibit in Shenzhen's Nanshan district to mark the anniversary of the 1919 May Fourth Movement of patriotic young Chinese, according to the account, which typically posts reports that would be quickly censored within the Great Firewall of Chinese internet censorship.

“On May 6, the Shenzhen Yanhan Highland 404 Space, which hosted the exhibition, announced that it would be closed for maintenance," the tweet said, adding that the exhibit had been open for just four days.

The move comes as President Xi Jinping has been struggling to counter a growing culture of passive resistance among young people, who face dwindling job prospects, a failing economy and scant desire to marry or have children.

Local officials have announced schemes to relocate unemployed urban youth to rural areas to work in agriculture, potential signs of a planned mobilization that was last tried during the political turmoil of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

Social justice theme

Li Wei’s work typically carries a strong social justice theme, said an arts administrator who gave only the surname Li who met him more than 10 years ago.

"He uses his works to speak out at social and artistic events," she said. "He used his installation ‘A Cake’ to speak out in 2010, when the Beijing Art District was demolished” by the authorities.

Censors backed by the Communist Party have been deleting references to a viral video that spawned the "last generation" meme, which emerged as a form of protest over ongoing lockdowns, mass incarcerations and compulsory testing under the three-year zero-COVID policy, which ended in December.

In the viral video, PPE-clad police officials turn up outside a young man's apartment and try to force them to go to an isolation camp even though he had recently tested negative for coronavirus.

"We're negative. You have no right to take us away," the man says, before a police officer steps forward wagging a finger and says: "You know that we will punish you, right? And when that happens, it will have a bad effect on your family for three generations."

"We're the last generation. Thank you." the man replies in the video which began circulating on Chinese social media platforms in May 2022, garnering huge numbers of views and comments.

Some joked online that the era from 1966 onwards was all about the innocence of revolution and justified rebellion, while the 1989 pro-democracy movement felt it was their "duty" to protest.

‘Saying no to four things’

According to online comments, the youth of today are shutting up shop before their lives have properly begun, by referring to themselves as the "last generation," or "the People Who Say No to Four Things": finding a mate, marriage, mortgage and raising kids.

Former Nanjing teacher Gu Fang said local businesses are closing down in large numbers, while foreign investors are fleeing, leaving few opportunities for fresh graduates as unemployment runs at 20% for that age group.

"Their outlook is grim in terms of basic material security," Gu said. "Yet the phrase 'we are the last generation' also shows psychological distress."

"[Li Wei's] artwork expresses dissatisfaction and anger, wondering whether modern life is even worth living," he said.

To try to counter that pessimism, Xi praised young people who had "gone down to the villages and fields" as part of the "rural revitalization" campaign in a letter to students of the China Agricultural University to mark May Fourth.

Similar phrasing was used by late supreme leader Mao Zedong to initiate the mass mobilization of educated urban youth to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution.

"Chinese youth in the new era should embrace this spirit," Xi wrote, in a reply to an earlier letter from the students saying they would be "seeking out hardship" by volunteering for rural manual labor.

His comments came after he gave a speech on "rural revitalization" on Dec. 24, 2022, calling for "orderly guidance" of college graduates, skilled businesspeople, migrant workers and enterprises to "return to their hometowns," with young people being "the most dynamic force" behind his plan, according to state media.

‘Familiar ring’

Wu Chien-chung, associate professor at the National Taiwan Ocean University, said the wording of Xi's letter had a "familiar ring."

"They have used this method of having young people write letters to Xi before," he said. "The Chinese Communist Party's propaganda system is constantly adapting."

"They have recruited a group of young people to act as props to glamorize the Communist Party and act like a united front," he said, adding that Chinese agents in Taiwan had used a similar tactic by getting young Taiwanese people to write to Xi last year.

He said Xi's letter comes after Vice President Wang Qishan warned people to "expect hardship."

"The whole of China and the entire world know that China's economic growth has fallen sharply," Wu said, adding that authorities in the southern province of Guangdong have already launched a scheme to send 300,000 urban youth to rural areas.

"A lot of people thought it was a scam," Wu said. "Even mainland Chinese websites and Little Pinks [government supporters] thought it was cognitive warfare or fake news."

"Only when the government confirmed that it was a nationwide policy direction did they realize it was an overt conspiracy by the Communist Party ... to try to solve youth unemployment and other issues," he said.

PR campaign

Public perception of the scheme hasn't been helped by the appearance of scantily clad social media influencers posing as rural laborers on Chinese social media in recent months, Wu added.

”Here we go again with those so-called rural volunteers fit to make you blush," Weibo user Gray_Production_Circle wrote in July 2022 above a video clip of a glamorous young woman posing on a tractor. "Leave the poor old guy alone!"

A story on the Yiping News Network showed a group of scantily clad young women sitting at a farmyard table, describing the "rural volunteer" phenomenon as a new trend for Chinese social media influencers.

"Many rural villages have become places for Internet celebrities and beautiful women to check in and 'show off their skills,"’ the story said.

A court in Almaty has sentenced Kazakh activist Alnur Ilyashev to five days in prison for violating a court-imposed ban on taking part in public gatherings. The court pronounced the sentence on May 4, three days after Ilyashev participated in a gathering of an unregistered group. In June 2020, Ilyashev was handed a parole-like sentence and banned from participating in public events for three years on a charge of distributing false materials that he rejected as politically motivated.

Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim has been sentenced to 25 days in jail on a charge of violating regulations on public gatherings. Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, said on May 2 that a court in the southern town of Qonaev sentenced his client overnight. Mukhammedkarim was detained on May 1. The charge stems from an online call he allegedly made to Almaty residents to hold a rally against the government's move to introduce visa-free entrance to Kazakhstan for Chinese citizens. Last month, Mukhammedkarim served 25 days in jail on a similar charge.

A journalist was attacked in Sunamganj today for publishing a report allegedly on the irregularities at the Ashrayan Project in the district.

The journalist, Aminul Islam, is the Sunamganj District Correpsondent of Jamuna Television. The incident took place at the Lalpur area in Sunamganj town, reports our Sylhet correspondent.

He was given primary treatment at Sunamganj District Hospital, and later brought to Sylhet city for better treatment.

According to Jamuna Television's Sylhet Bureau Chief Mahbubur Rahman Ripon, Jamuna TV broadcasted a report by Aminul on the irregularities in the Ashrayan Project at Sunamganj Sadar upazila a week ago.

"Following the report, a probe body reached Sunamganj today and Aminul was summoned to the spot by the body. There, he got engaged in an altercation with Sunamganj Sadar Upazila Chairman Khairul Huda Chapol, as Chapol's men were the contractors of the project," he said.

Quoting Aminul, Ripon said, "While returning from the spot, he was attacked by Chapol's men at Lalpur area, near the upazila parishad. We will be filing a case in this regard soon."

Contacted, Khairul Huda Chapol, also the president of Sunamganj district unit of Jubo League, said, "I have no affiliation with the project but I was there as the upazila chairman. There was no altercation between us."

"He rode my car to the upazila parishad and when he was attacked, I rushed to the spot. I have also visited him at the hospital."

Mohammad Ehsan Shah, Sunamganj superintendent of Police, said, "We have been informed of the attack and police have already inspected the spot. Once we receive a formal complaint, we will take necessary legal steps."

Taliban fighters in Farah Province have detained, beaten, and imprisoned seventy farmers who were protesting the weak management of agricultural product prices in the market.

Sources told Hasht-e Subh that some farmers went to the province’s agriculture department on Wednesday, May 3, and protested. These farmers asked the Taliban’s agriculture department to collaborate with them in controlling the prices of their crops in the markets and to manage the price fluctuations throughout the day, which often drop from 100 to 20 Afghanis.

However, the Taliban not only did not pay attention to their protests and requests but also transferred these farmers by military vehicles to the security observatory in Farah.

Sources say that during the four-hour detention by the Taliban, these farmers were also beaten.

The main agricultural products of this season in Farah Province are eggplants, tomatoes, pumpkins, okra, and watermelons. The lack of storage space and the risk of spoilage are the main concerns of farmers in this province.

Taliban security officials in the province have not yet commented on the detention of protesting farmers.

Earlier, farmers in Farah Province had protested against the unprecedented drop in watermelon prices. In 2022, the price of each kilogram of watermelon in Farah had reached one Afghani.

For a country that claims to support women empowerment, that has had a rich history of women led movements and resistance, the current heart breaking state of affairs with how India’s champion women wrestlers protest is being handled by authorities and police officers reflects a stark and contradictory reality. Over the past 10 days, the women wrestlers of India have been staging a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, against the Wrestlers Federation of India chief, Brij Bhusan Singh, alleging him of sexual harassment. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh.

Only last week, on April 28, the Delhi Police had told the Supreme Court that they will be filing an FIR based on the sexual harassment charges being levied by seven women wrestlers, including a minor, against the WFI chief. It is important to note here, the protesting wrestlers had to move to the Supreme Court seeking the registration of FIRs against Singh. While the said move by the Delhi police only after the women had approached the Supreme Court, was still seen as a ray of hope, the hardships, there has been no let up for the protesting women champions against the impunity enjoyed by a politically influential man in authority.

On May 3, late-night trouble erupted for women champions who have been camping here day and night, at Jantar Mantar. India’s women champion wrestlers were reportedly abused by Delhi Police officers. Several videos of the wrestlers have gone viral on social media, showing them being surrounded by a couple of cops who misbehaved with them. It is even claimed that male police officer pushed women wrestlers without any women officer being present and that two protestors have even been injured. A drunk cop, according to the wrestlers, misbehaved with them, hurled abuse at female wrestlers, and even manhandled them at the protest site. The wrestlers went live on their respective social media accounts to report the incident.

According to the wrestlers, the Delhi Police had physically stopped them from replacing mattresses that got wet due to rain, resulting in the scuffle. "The mattresses got wet due to rain, so we were bringing folding beds for sleeping, but the police did not allow that. Drunk policeman Dharmendra abused Vinesh Phogat and got involved in a scuffle with us," former wrestler Rajveer told PTI.

In one of the videos, Vinesh Phogat stated that the officers of the Delhi Police hit her brother on the forehead and that he was taken to the hospital for treatment. According to the wrestlers, two of them (Dushyant and Rahul) were injured on their foreheads during the commotion. According to Bajrang Punia, who has been supporting the women wrestlers in their fight since the beginning and has been a part of this protest, this whole commotion occurred as some female wrestlers attempted to bring cots to the protest site due to inclement weather in Delhi, but cops refused to let them. It was alleged by Vinesh that when they brought the planks and foldable beds, a lone drunk male policeman, “Dharmendra”, started pushing the wrestlers around, without any female policeman present.

While addressing media persons late at night, Vinesh said, "We went to collect some cots from our vehicles as it's all wet out here. Some cops stopped us and started troubling us. There was no female cop nearby and these male cops started pushing us. Who gave them permission to push female protesters?" Vinesh later asked, "We are being treated so badly for raising our voices. Is this the price of winning medals for the country? If this is the case then I pray no one wins medals..."If they wish to kill us, then let them shoot us," said Vinesh, who can crying inconsolably in the video uploaded by the PTI. "Did we win medals for the country to see this day? We have not even eaten our food. Does every man have a right to abuse women? These policemen are holding guns, they can kill us," an emotionally-drained Vinesh further said.

Sakshi Malik also said, "We are not going to leave this site till our last breath. The antics of Delhi Police are as if we are criminals. There is no respect for women in their eyes. We are not going to leave till we get justice."

"Where were female police officers? How can the male officers push us like that? We are not criminals. We do not deserve such treatment. The drunk police officer hit my brother," Bajrang Punia said while talking to reporters of PTI. Wrestler Bajrang Punia's wife Sangeeta, who is also a wrestler, said she was pushed around by policemen.

Later, Bajrang Punia urged his countrymen to come to Delhi in large numbers to support their protest. "This is my humble request to my countrymen. Please arrive in large numbers in Delhi. We are fighting for your daughters' dignity. Please join us here and show your support," the Tokyo Olympics medalist said, according to PTI.

Punia also exhorted farmers and members of the public to reach Jantar Mantar in their support. "I request everyone to reach Delhi by Thursday morning. This is the time. If not, then when? This is a question of the dignity of our daughters. People like Brij Bhushan are roaming freely despite being criminals and all this is happening to us," he said.

Delhi Police’s Justifications, denial of having beaten any protestors

Based on the official statement from Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), it was their decision to provide the protesting wrestlers with cots in view of the ongoing rainy spell in Delhi as rains continue to lash in the national capital. Senior AAP leader and MLA Somnath Bharti had said, "On the instructions of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, we have decided to send foldable cots to the protest site. We hope that this small help will make this tough time a little bit easier for the wrestlers."

Meanwhile, the Delhi police claimed that it was because AAP MLA Somnath Bharti arrived at the protest venue with folding beds without permission that the “scuffle” took place. "Somnath Bharti brought folding beds to the protest site in Jantar Mantar. Since there was no permission, we didn't allow it, so some of the supporters of the protesting wrestlers tried to take out the beds from the truck and this led to an altercation..." Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Pranav Tayal provided

"We have told the wrestlers to give complaint on their grievances and will take appropriate action...medical check-up of the Policeman on whom they've raised allegations, being conducted," DCP Tayal added further.

The police officers have now claimed that the protestors wrongfully restrained a police man after accusing him of being drunk. The police has also denied that the protestors were beaten.

Footage from the venue also showed the wrestlers arguing with uniformed Delhi Police officers. "CCTV cameras must be present. The footage will prove it," protesting wrestler Bajrang Punia told reporters after the claims made by the police, of not having beaten anyone. He also stated that Bharti was not present when the commotion occurred, and that the wrestlers had ordered the beds.

Following the scuffle between protesting wrestlers and police officers, the Delhi Police have tightened security around Jantar Mantar. Allegedly, a large police force has also been deployed on the scene, and the entire area has been barricaded. As provided by NDTV, the police have now sealed the protest site at Jantar Mantar, thereby stopping the regular flow of well-wishers who were coming to meet the protesting wrestler.

It is pertinent to note that the protesting wrestlers have been accusing the Delhi Police of a lack of support, claiming that the Police has been simply dragging its feet on the case because neither Singh nor the women who have complained of sexual harassment have been summoned for questioning.

Proceeding in the Supreme Court

On May 4, the Supreme Court heard the case today to take stock of the investigation and pass any required order regarding the security. It was reported by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the Delhi Police, stated that “proper security” has been provided to minor complainant. They further provided that an individual assessment of all petitioners was conducted by then, and while they found no threats, they have agreed to give the six complainant security with respect to protest. It was further also stated that that three armed police personnel were deployed in Jantar Mantar for the three who are stationed there and round the clock security is there for all the six. And on the watch of all these, the late night assault on May-3 and 4 takes place!

Significantly, senior advocate Hooda, representing the women champion petitioners mentioned clearly before CJI Chandrachud that the wrestlers had been heckled by drunk policemen at night, to which he replied that they can approach the jurisdictional courts and the Delhi High Court with this matter, and that the Supreme Court will not be hearing this issue!

Supporters detained, attempts to gag dissent

According to the Delhi police, three people have been detained following Wednesday's incident: AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda, and Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal. According to a video that have gone viral on social media, women Delhi police officers were shockingly seen dragging and lifting the DCW chief from the protest site in a police van. Meanwhile, in the video, Maliwal can be heard shouting, “Don’t touch me. This is completely wrong.”

After being detained by Delhi police in the late hours of May 3, Swati Maliwal arrived again at Jantar Mantar in the national capital on Thursday morning, May 4. Speaking to Republic, the DCW chief said, "Am I a terrorist? Why are Delhi Police officials troubling me and the wrestlers? They should arrest Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh."

Around 15 others, who had reached the protesting site, have also been detained in a bus. AAP minister Saurabh Bhardwaj was also among those. Slogans of ‘jai jawan jai kisan’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ were also being raised by the protestors.

AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj had tagged Delhi L-G V.K. Saxena in a tweet, asking him to take note of the incident. “Please note Lt Governor Delhi. A Delhi Police officer attacked a wrestler at Jantar Mantar. It is alleged that the policeman was drunk. A medical test should be conducted and MLC of the victim should also be registered,” he wrote.

Journalist Sakshi Joshi also posted a video of her being manhandled and detained by the Delhi Police. In the video, she can be heard shouting at the officers that they are tearing her clothes and detaining her without any reason. She also showed her torn clothes in the video. She was then seen sitting in a police bus, and then was taken to the police station. Journalist Ajit Anjum has also posted a video on YouTube, providing his own narration of the situation that was present at Jantar Mantar. He provided that he had visited the protest site around 12.45 at night, after the Delhi police videos of manhandling the wrestlers had gone viral. When he reached the site, he saw that High level Delhi Police officers were also present at the side, and had barricaded the area, not even allowing journalists to pass. In his video, Ajit Anjun alleged the involvement of the Modi-led BJP government, as the police is under the control of the centre. He had also provided in his video that police could also be heard asking the protestors to vacate from Jantar Mantar. Ajit Anjum also alleged that supporting farmers were also not being allowed to enter the protest side.

While full throttled and government sanctioned attempts are being made to gag the protestors, independent media and any dissenters who are exercising their rights, Singh has been roaming free, declaring that all the complainants against have been manipulated or “paid”. The protesting wrestlers, according to him, were those who were at “Shaheen Bagh and the farmers’ protest”.

Response by the Wrestlers

According to News18, the protesting wrestlers have written to Union Home Ministry seeking strict action against officials responsible for the alleged manhandling of grapplers at the protest site on Wednesday night. In the letter, they have also sought permission to bring waterproof tents, beds, gym instruments, wrestling mats and sound system at the protest.

It has also been reported that the Aam Aadmi Party has called for a meeting of all MLAs, councillors and office bearers of AAP. The party will conduct a meeting on what transpired at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday night.

Zhanar Sekerbayeva, board member of EL*C and of Feminita Kazakhstan Feminist initiative, reports that on 3 and 5 May: “The Police and several national security agencies, NSD and MSU tried to disrupt our feminist meetings in Astana. Four people came to the first meeting and sat in the corridor (“waiting for an English lesson”) then a district police officer appeared and started searching for a “LGBT meeting”.

At the first meeting four agents of the National Security department (NSD) and a district police officer came to the building. During the second meeting, the officers of the Mobile Security Unit (MSU) entered the building (in bulletproof vests), but too late, the meeting was over and they didn’t find me. Then, the police searched the building again.”

Feminita, an organization focusing on the rights of LBQ women in Kazakhstan, has been trying to request an official registration since 2017 and they have been denied around 10 times. Feminita, an organization focusing on the rights of LBQ women in Kazakhstan, has been trying to request an official registration since 2017 and they have been denied around 10 times. In the past 2 years, despite the promises from the government for a “New and Fair Kazakhstan” promoting democracy and respecting human rights, the situation for LGBTIQ activists has not improved.

After the 2022 demonstrations, civil unrest, and the intervention of Russian forces in the country, human rights activists denounce that it has become even more difficult to protect LGBTIQ rights and their enjoyment of freedom of assembly and expression is limited. LGBTIQ civil society organisations struggle to continue existing as it is impossible for them to legally register in the country.

On May 3, 2023, four policemen with two police vehicles from China came to the independent country of Mongolia and arrested Mr. Lhamjab Borjigin, a prominent Southern Mongolian writer in exile, at his temporary residence in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Shortly after the arrest, Borjigin was deported back to China on the same day.

A week before the arrest, Borjigin notified the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) that the Chinese authorities were harassing and threatening his family members in Southern Mongolia.

“My family members told me that an army of police and security personnel are visiting my family and pressuring them to bring me back,” Borjigin said in the audio message to the SMHRIC. “They are claiming to come to Mongolia with my daughter and bring me back.”

The SMHRIC immediately contacted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR’s) regional office in Bangkok, Thailand, and demanded urgent action to prevent Borjigin from being deported to China. An unidentified official from the office responded to the SMHRIC by email, asking for Borjigin’s phone number and email address. After providing Borjigin’s contact details, the SMHRIC did not receive further communication from the office. The question of whether the office was able to contact him remained unanswered.

“Yes, unfortunately, he was brought back to China on May 3. Some of his family members were also among the dispatchers from China,” a close friend of Borjigin from Ulaanbaatar told the SMHRIC. “Nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is publish his books here.”

As a well-known Southern Mongolian dissident writer and the author of numerous books, Borjigin was sentenced to two years in prison in 2019 for writing a book entitled China’s Cultural Revolution. In 2021, following his prison term, he was placed under indefinite “residential surveillance,” a form of house arrest.

On March 6, 2023, Borjigin managed to escape from China and arrived in the independent country of Mongolia. According to his testimony to the SMHRIC, his plan was to publish his three books in Mongolia to inform the world of how the Chinese colonial regime had established itself in Southern Mongolia and how the Mongolian resistance had been quashed.

“These are my plans should I be lucky enough to live a few more years in peace here without being followed, monitored and questioned, until being called by Karl Marx to join him in heaven,” Borjigin said in the testimony.

This is the fifth major case of the deportation of Southern Mongolian dissidents in exile from the independent country of Mongolia since 2009. In most cases, the Chinese authorities sent their police directly to Mongolia to make their arrests on Mongolian soil. They completed the deportation process in coordination with the Government of Mongolia.

In 2009, Chinese police dispatchers arrested Mr. Batzangaa, a Southern Mongolian dissident and Mongol-Tibetan medical school principal, in front of the UNHCR office building in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Along with his daughter and wife, he was deported to China and sentenced to three years in prison followed by indefinite surveillance.

In a similar case, Chinese police dispatchers recently detained and interrogated a Southern Mongolian dissident named Adiyaa in Bangkok, Thailand. Thanks to the urgent intervention of the UNHCR’s regional office, Mr. Adiyaa was swiftly resettled in Canada shortly after.

As China doubles down on efforts to pressure her neighboring countries to silence criticism, Mr. Munkhbayar Chuluundorj, a Mongolian citizen, human rights defender, writer and journalist, was sentenced to 10 years in prison last year. The charge brought against him was “collaborating with a foreign intelligence agency to spy against the People’s Republic of China.” Chuluundorj has been an outspoken critic of China’s human rights violations in Southern Mongolia and the Mongolian authorities’ unusually cozy relationship with the Chinese Communist regime.

CASR vehemently condemns the raid on anti-displacement activist Damodar Turi, Jailed Journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh and Majdoor Sangthan Samiti (MSS) activists Bacha Singh, Nageshwar Mahto, and Sanjay Turi.

On 2th May 2023, NIA raided the houses of several activists in various places of Jharkhand. The series of raid started early morning around 5 am , with the first house being of Damodar Turi.There were almost 150 local police with NIA to carry out this raid. Journalist Rupesh Kumar’s house was also raided, despite him being currently in jail under UAPA case. During the raid, several belonging of activists were broken, books and phones were taken away.

This is not the first time that Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti (MSS) has been targeted. In 2018, MSS was illegally banned on the pretext of being a Maoist frontal organization. Following the ban, Damodar Turi, an anti displacement activist, was also arbitrarily arrested and slapped with UAPA for being a member of MSS. Where as Damodar Turi was never a member of MSS and had only once went to deliver a speech in MSS’s program. After 4 long years of legal battle, Ranchi High Court declared the ban on MSS as illegal and uplifted the ban. While Damodar Turi has been actively vocal against the corporate loot of people’s resources and their displacement, MSS has been active for over three decades in organizing contract workers in the coal mines of Dhanbad, Giridih and Bokaro. The organization has constructed a hospital at Madhuban, Giridhi for free medical assistance of poor and the workers. The resistance and pro people construction of an organized working class organization, which is presenting a people’s model of development, starkly in contrast to the corporate-state’s model of development based on resource loot and displacement, is a threat to the state’s narrative of portraying itself as pro development and the resisting forces as anti development. To crush this alternate idea of people’s power and people’s devolopment, the governments in power have used bans to outlaw opposition and dissent. This recent clampdown is also part of a larger attempt to crush those who dare to resist the Jharkhand government’s anti-people policies.

Journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh was also arrested in a frivolous case for this purpose only, as he has exposed the destructive impact of imperialist development on the people of Jharkhand, spoke against the foreign loot of country’s resources and displacement of adivasi people. He has also extensively worked on bringing to light, the conditions of working class in these regions of Jharkhand, dominated by mining giants. It is in the interest of these mining giants and corporate loot, that anti displacement activist, journalists and working class organization is being attacked. These activists have been targetted constantly because they challenge the regime’s anti people approach, be it the illegal displacement of tribals for corporate loot of resources or curbing the rights of workers. When Prime Minister gives a statement stating “ Pen wale aur bandook wale”- books also become a weapon and so does the brain. India has become a prison for any dissenting voice. And hence raids like this have become a norm in this fascist state. NIA is now an agent to curb any dissenting voice. These on going series of raids on activists is unquestionably a violation of the fundamental rights of activist.

A pattern of raiding and arresting is visible, either in the case of journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh or of other activists. We see the rise of reactionary and undemocratic methods of silencing peoples voices under this Brahmanical Hindutva fascist regime. There is an urgent need to forge a broader solidarity of all the democratic and progressive forces, the oppressed and exploited masses to stop these kind of blatant fascist attack and resist Brahmanical Hindutva Fascism.

CASR strongly condemns the raid on activists of MSS and Damodar Turi and calls upon all the democratic forces to stand in solidarity with struggling forces of Jharkhand.

On 2 May 2023, Supat Hasuwannakit, Chair of the Rural Doctor Society and Director of Saba Yoi Hospital, posted on Facebook that he went to Nonthaburi Police Station to acknowledge three charges, including defamation, insulting officials, and computer-related crime, filed by Rungrueng Kitphati, spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Health.

Supat has been well known for his ongoing criticism of the government, particularly COVID-19 mismanagement under Anutin Charnvirakul, the Minister of Public Health.

In 2020, he criticized the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines and antigen test kits (ATKs). He has also questioned the unfair transfers of medical personnel and opposed the free cannabis policy.

In December 2022, the Ministry of Public Health approved the transfer of Supat from Chana Hospital to Saba Yoi Hospital. Supat noted at the time that his transfer was not normal and unfair. He believed that his transfer was related to his criticisms of the Ministry. He insisted that governance is a core value of public administration. Transferring him was a reflection of the destruction of this core value.

14 February 2023, Rungrueng filed a complaint against Supat and the Rural Doctor Society Facebook page, explaining that the Facebook page did not provide necessary information to the public but misinformation, greatly affecting public health services. The Ministry believed that the page had a hidden political agenda.

Supat said that earlier, he and a team of rural doctors were examined and transferred to remote locations. Supat himself was transferred to Saba Yoi District. However, he insisted that criticism of irregularities in the Ministry of Public Health is still ongoing. He added that this is a proxy war between rural doctors and top officials. He also encouraged everyone to cast a ballot on 14 May 2023 in order to restore good governance to the Ministry of Public Health.

At 5.15 am on May 2, the house of independent journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh at Ramgarh in Jharkhand was raided by a number of NIA officials.

He was not the only one. Damodar Turi, convener of the Vishthapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan, Bacha Singh, general secretary of the Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti (MSS), and the Anil Hansda, Dinesh Tudu, Nageshwar Mahato and Sanjay Turi of Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha also saw their houses raided.

All these raids were done against the case RC-01/2022/ NIA/RNC under NIA Ranchi. In a press release, the NIA said that on May 2, raids were actually conducted at a total of 14 places in Jharkhand and Bihar. It has apparently seized “incriminating material, mobile phones, digital devices and bank accounts details.”

It was revealed that NIA officers reached activist Bacha Singh’s house at Bokaro Thermal, activist Dinesh Tudu’s house at Lalpania and Damodar Turi’s house at Tundi in Dhanbad. The NIA seized Damodar’s phone and some other documents from his house and asked him to come to NIA’s Ranchi office for questioning before May 8.

Rupesh Kumar Singh and Ipsa Satakshi

The NIA also seized Rupesh’s wife Ipsa’s phone, along with some books. An independent journalist, Rupesh has been in jail since the July 17, 2022. On April 9, NIA special judge Gurvinder Singh sent Rupesh to judicial custody till May 1.

The NIA has claimed Rupesh congregated with Vijay Kumar Arya, Rajesh Gupta, Umesh Chaudhary, Anil Yadav and others at Samhuta village under Rohtas police station on April 12, 2022, to collect funds for the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and to recruit members into it.

Rupesh has earlier said that on April 12-13, 2022, he was present at the Suresh Bhatt Auditorium, Nagpur, to participate in the programme organised by Vira Sathidar Smriti Samanway Samiti. He was also live on Facebook that day.

He has also said that he never even visited Rohtas and the closest he got to it was Kaimur on March 27, as a journalist, to cover a three-day rally during March 26-28, 2022, against the Kaimur Tiger Reserve by the Kaimur Mukti Morcha. The report he wrote was published on the web portal ‘Janchowk’ on March 29.

Since Rupesh has been in jail, his wife has been vocal. Ipsa said that for the last few months, she has been called in for questioning by different units of the Jharkhand Police. As many as 25 policemen and officials visited her house on May 2, she said.

“They seized my phone, some books and a few magazines. These books and magazines did not promote any illegal activity in any way and most of these are easily available in the public domain,” she added.

Damodar Turi

NIA also took the renowned Jharkhand civil rights activist Damodar Turi to the nearby police station in Dhanbad on the same morning following a three-hour raid. He was later released.

Damodar’s wife Baby Turi said she was in Ranchi while Damodar was in his village in Dhanbad when the raid took place. “Around six o’clock in the morning, the neighbours in village called me and told me that a large number of police officials had come to our house,” she said.

Damodar said only he and his mother were present at the house in Tundi when the NIA came, at 6 am.

“They confiscated my phone and some books. While they searched the house, they had my phone, and there were several times during the raid that my phone was not in my sight. After a few hours they routinely sealed my phone,” Damodar said.

He also said that the Union government wants to suppress every dissenting voice.

“Just on May 1, I gave a statement in a programme organised in Bokaro on the occasion of May Day. I spoke on how the government is working to suppress the voices of journalists and activists. The next day itself, the NIA raided my house. The state government too is silent on this wrong act by the Union government and is giving its full support. It is clear from this that even if both governments are of different parties, as soon as they come to power, the nature of both is to exploit the people,” he said.

Damodar is a notable Adivasi social worker who has been actively involved in the movement for Adivasi rights in Jharkhand.

He has been particularly vocal on the forced displacement of Adivasi communities as a result of the state’s huge dams and other infrastructure projects. Turi has also been involved in the Pathalgadi movement, which was begun by certain Adivasi communities in Jharkhand to demand their autonomy and self-rule.

Bacha Singh

Bacha Singh is a well-known labour rights activist in Jharkhand.

He said the NIA came to his house at 5.30 in the morning in large numbers. “They seized the letterhead of our labour union MSS and some union pamphlets,” he added.

“There are elections in 2024 not only in the Union but also in Jharkhand, that is why the government is targeting every person who is the voice of the poor and the labourers. It will not be surprising if later on some activists like us are put in jail under false cases,” he added.

In 2017, Singh was arrested by the Jharkhand Police on charges of sedition, after which his organisation MSS was banned. He was released on bail after a few months and the ban on MSS was also lifted last year. Earlier, MSS was a Jharkhand-based trade union. Satya Narayana Bhattacharya, an advocate, founded it in 1985 and registered it in 1989. The organisation strives to empower employees and preserve their rights, notably in Jharkhand’s mining and industrial sectors.

Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha members

Anil, Dinesh, Nageshwar and Sanjay are active members of the Jharkhand Jan Sangharsh Morcha, which is a newly formed umbrella organisation. It was founded in 2021 with the aim of fighting for the rights of the indigenous Adivasi population of the state. The organisation has been instrumental in highlighting the exploitation and discrimination faced by the Adivasi communities in Jharkhand and advocating for their socio-economic and political empowerment.

Their houses were also raided by the NIA.