Uwazi

A Uyghur woman was arrested last month after she posted a video on social media complaining that authorities had seized her land in Xinjiang, leaving her without means to eke out a living, the security director of her village said.

The woman, identified only as Belikiz, 35, from Astana village in Kumul, called Hami in Chinese, said authorities confiscated her land at the end of 2023 to implement a policy of “concentrating lands in the hands of authorities.”

She expressed despair over the Chinese government’s unwillingness to resolve the issue in the video on Douyin, a Chinese video-sharing platform.

“Even if the land was allocated to us by the government, we’ve invested 3-4 years cultivating it,” she says in the video. “Why won’t the government advocate for us farmers? If you doubt my words, just look at those machines tearing up our farmlands.”

“How are we supposed to sustain our livelihoods and send our children to school?” she asked. “Isn’t there a country that can support us? Is there no organization we can turn to for help?”

‘Systematic confiscation’

For years, authorities in Xinjiang have seized land and property from Uyghurs to make way for development projects run by Han Chinese migrants. Those who lose land often have little or no recourse for adequate compensation or justice because of high levels of collusion between local officials and developers.

Uyghurs complain that the migrants have displaced them from their traditional homeland and deprived them of financial opportunities under harsh Beijing rule.

Police quickly deleted the video from Douyin not long after it was uploaded and arrested Belikiz on April 15, said Astana village’s security director, who declined to be named out of fear of retribution.

He said he learned of the woman’s arrest about 20 days later and that authorities apprehended her because of a complaint letter she previously submitted to the government about the issue.

It was unclear whether her arrest was directly related to the video addressing the land seizure, he added.

“The systematic confiscation of land from Uyghurs has been an ongoing issue for a long time,” said a Uyghur former police officer who now lives Sweden. “We owe our insight into these injustices to the courage of individuals who bravely share their stories through videos like these.”

‘Keep tormenting us’

Belikiz initially set up two bookstores after graduating from high school because she failed the national college entrance examination, the village security director said.

But when business endeavors were unsuccessful, she turned to farming, he said.

Belikiz had farmed on about 7-8 mu of land for the past 1-2 years. The Chinese unit of land measurement varies with location but is commonly equal to 0.165 acre, so she had less than two acres.

After area officials confiscated the land, which constituted all her capital, Belikiz recorded the video on Douyin about the issues she and other Uyghur farmers in Kumul and the rest of Xinjiang faced.

“Are they going to keep tormenting us just because the government is powerful?” she asked. “Wouldn't it be better if we were spared from all this suffering?”

The Uyghur former police officer who lives in Sweden noted that no land is safe from seizure.

“The Chinese government can seize land from individuals at any given moment, under any pretext,” he said, declining to be named for fear of retaliation.

Individuals cannot privately own land and natural resources, according to China’s constitution and land laws. The Constitution specifies that land in urban areas must be owned by the state, while land in rural and suburban areas must be owned by the state or by local collectives.

“The video depicting the anguish of a farmer woman in Kumul following the loss of her land is a stark reminder of this reality,” the former policeman said.

Other locations

Similar land-grab incidents also have occurred in Ghulja, a county-level city in northwestern Xinjiang, called Yining in Chinese.

Since the 2000s, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have carried out “development measures” by “concentrating lands in the hands of authorities.”

The policy allowed Han Chinese migrants to seize Uyghur farmland and force Uyghurs to work as laborers on the same plots.

“Regardless of the reason, openly voicing complaints against the Chinese oppressors or making any form of complaint is considered a violation of the law,” the former policeman said.

“While [Belikiz] managed to upload a video discussing her hardships, millions of others in our homeland cannot,” he said.

Zumrat Dawut, a former Uyghur internment camp detainee who was forcibly sterilized but now lives in the United States, said she managed to downloaded Belikiz’s video to her phone even though it had been removed from Douyin.

Dawut resorted to alternative methods to download the video and then uploaded it to Facebook so more people could view it.

“Reporters and media outlets following my feed inquired about the woman in the video, asking why she was crying and what had occurred,” Dawut told Radio Free Asia.

She expressed admiration for Belikiz’s courage, but voiced concern about potential consequences she might face.

Dawut urged human rights groups and Uyghur advocacy groups to monitor Belikiz’s situation and the repercussions she might face for speaking out.

“This woman has taken a tremendous risk to raise her voice,” she said.

The family of the missing veteran labor organizer in Bukidnon intensified its search efforts together with trade unions and rights groups.

William Lariosa, 63, a veteran labor organizer in the sugar and pineapple plantations of Bukidnon, has been missing since April 10. He was last seen in Barangay Butong, Quezon, Bukidnon. Eyewitnesses said that elements of the 48th Infantry Battalion forcibly arrested Lariosa.

His family, together with the union leaders and paralegals of Kilusang Mayo Uno – Southern Mindanao Region (KMU-SMR), Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR), Anakbayan Southern Mindanao, and Kabataan Partylist, expanded their search to Quezon and Maramag, Bukidnon.

The family and other members under the banner of Surface William Lariosa Network said that they filed blotter reports in Butong Barangay Hall and Quezon Municipal Police Station. They also talked to the 48th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army and residents in the nearby communities.

The search team also went to the 1003rd Infantry Battalion in Barangay Malagos, Baguio District, Davao City on May 14, after receiving information that Lariosa was being held there.

However, the search team noticed that there were inconsistencies in the “Desaparecidos Form” signed by the military officer. The officer who introduced himself as Cpt. Labasa initially signed the form using the name Dexter Ramos. When asked for a duplicate copy, the officer returned the document with a different signature, under the name of Jhony Tumbayan, who was the camp’s security guard.

“This clear blatant usage of fake identity shows the 1003rd’s disregard for legal protocols and their lack of respect for the rule of law. Despite the persistent efforts of the family and the paralegal team, it is evident that state authorities are unwilling to engage or assist in locating Lariosa’s whereabouts,” Surface William Lariosa said.

It has been more than a month since his disappearance but Lariosa remains missing. The effect of his abduction rippled down to other organizers in the Southern Mindanao region. The United Nations (UN) has identified that enforced disappearance is a frequently used strategy to spread terror, not only to the close relatives of the disappeared but also to their communities.

CTUHR documented that Lariosa’s disappearance was followed by uninvited visits by men identifying themselves as military, to the homes of KMU regional labor leaders Paul John Dizon, Carl Anthony Olalo, and Melodina Gumanoy of the Nagkahiusang Kababaye ang Mamumuo sa Davao de Oro or NKMDDO.

“The labor activists were told to surrender to the government or they will face certain consequences. What is there to surrender, when labor activists are only calling for higher wages to lift workers out of poverty?” said CTUHR in a statement.

They also documented that three days after International Labor Day, red-tagging paraphernalia were seen in Davao City, targeting KMU. However, the pattern of harassment did not stop among their ranks.

Other staff members of the labor non-government organization Nonoy Librado Development Foundation Inc. (NLDFI) were also visited by individuals identifying themselves as military.

“Former NLDFI executive director Emma Ricaforte was interrogated by agents of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and shown a list of labor activists who will supposedly be sought out for a meeting,” CTUHR added.

Last May 10, friends, families, and supporters of William Lariosa gathered for a Holy Mass and solidarity program to mark the first month of his enforced disappearance. The network vows to continue searching for Lariosa and urges the government for his immediate surfacing.

“We are calling for the immediate surfacing of William and his safe return to us, free from physical and psychological torture,” the network said.

Meanwhile, KMU released an appeal for concerted action and solidarity from the international community, human rights groups, labor unions, and concerned individuals.

“Only through unified and sustained action can we secure justice for William Lariosa, protect labor rights activists facing escalating attacks, and uphold democratic rights and human dignity for all in the Philippines,” KMU ended in their appeal.

An Astana court on May 14 fined activist Elvira Bekzadina of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) opposition party 110,760 tenges ($250) on a charge of disobeying police. Police detained Bekzadina two days earlier when she was going to hold a public poll on the results of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's time in office since March 2019. Bekzadina rejected the charge, accusing the police of physically abusing her during her detention. In November, a court in Astana sentenced the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison on extremism charges that he also rejects as politically motivated.

A Kyrgyz court on May 14 sentenced government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) to five years in prison on a charge of making calls online for mass unrest. Shakir was arrested in August 2023, days after he criticized the government's decision to hand four spa centers near Lake Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan and called President Sadyr Japarov and the State Committee of National Security chief Kamchybek Tashiev to participate in public debates with him.

A prominent reformer at Vietnam’s Labor Ministry was arrested last month and charged with leaking state secrets, state media reported Thursday.

Nguyen Van Binh, director general of the ministry’s legal department, was arrested on April 24 and prosecuted for “having deliberately disclosed State secrets” under Article 337 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, according to Voice of Vietnam.

The 88 Project, a nonprofit focusing on free speech in Vietnam, said Binh’s phone has been inactive since April 15.

While the state broadcaster did not give further details about the arrest, The 88 Project said Binh’s arrest is part of a larger effort to crack down on human rights.

“The arrest of Nguyen Van Binh is part of a new wave of repression sweeping through Vietnam,” the group said in a report issued days before state media confirmed the arrest.

The group noted that Binh had been pushing the government to ratify International Labour Organization Convention 87 — which gives workers the right to form unions.

Vietnam has only a single state-affiliated union, and foreign trade partners such as Canada have for years been pushing Hanoi to ratify the 75-year-old treaty.

Before his arrest, Binh, a lawyer and unionist who had worked at the ILO, had long pushed to improve worker rights.

The group linked Binh’s arrest to Directive 24, a purported leaked Communist Party document that calls for “prevent[ing] the establishment of labor organizations” and deeper control of state security. The text was made public in March by The 88 Project, which termed it a “war on human rights.”

News of Binh’s arrest came just one day after the U.S. Department of Commerce held a hearing to consider whether to recognize Vietnam's economy as a "market economy."

The upgrade would take Vietnam off a list of 12 countries, including North Korea and China, whose heavy state influence marks them as planned economies. Were it to be removed from the list, Vietnam would be able to access U.S. trade preferences.

U.S. steelmakers, among others, have opposed the move — as have advocacy groups who say the country has fallen far short of protecting workers’ rights. A decision is expected to be issued in late July.

At Wednesday’s virtual public hearing, lawyers representing Vietnam argued that the country met all six of the Commerce Department’s criteria, including the right to collective bargaining.

"Vietnam has demonstrated that its performance on these statutory factors is as good, or often better, than other countries that have previously been granted market economy status," said attorney Eric Emerson, Reuters reported.

But Human Rights watch disputed that claim, saying in a statement that Hanoi’s labor laws fell far short of international standards.

“It’s patently false to claim that Vietnamese workers can organize unions or that their wages are the result of free bargaining between labor and management,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

“Not a single independent union exists in Vietnam and no working legal frameworks exist for unions to be created or for workers to enforce labor rights.”

Citizen journalist Fang Bin, who was jailed after filming from hospitals and funeral homes in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, is now homeless after being evicted from an apartment he rented just last month.

Fang, who was sentenced to three years' imprisonment at a secret trial, was released last year and ordered back to Wuhan when he traveled to Beijing.

Back in Wuhan, Fang stayed for a while in Qiaokou district, where he was frequently questioned by local police as part of China's "stability maintenance" system that targets dissidents and activists before they have a chance to do anything, prompting him to leave the area.

Before his detention on Feb. 1, 2020, Fang was among a number of high-profile bloggers who tried to report on the emerging and little-understood viral outbreak from Wuhan. He described the pandemic as a "man-made" disaster, calling on people to resist government "tyranny."

He sent reports from Wuhan No. 5 Hospital and a funeral home in Wuchang, part of the three-city conurbation that makes up Wuhan, where he watched staff move out eight dead bodies in the space of five minutes, suggesting the death toll was far higher than the officially reported figure.

Last month, Fang found an apartment in Huangpi district, further out of town, and signed a one-year lease with a private landlord surnamed Ren on April 15, paying a year's rent and service charges up front.

Three days later, local officials found out that he had moved into the area, and put pressure on the landlord to terminate his lease, he told RFA Mandarin in an interview on Wednesday.

The landlord told him he was being evicted, saying he couldn't take the kind of pressure he was being put under.

"When [the authorities] found out that I'd moved to Huangpi from Qiaokou, they were against me living in Huangpi," Fang said. "They put pressure on the landlord to evict me."

"They cut off my power and water supply ... They want me to leave," he said. "I paid the rent and the service charge."

Fang said unidentified people had used "every tactic they could think of" to put pressure on the landlord, who didn't dare to say where the pressure was coming from.

"He said, 'I can't stand this any more — I'll give you your money back,'" Fang said.

A 'stability maintenance' target

Repeated calls to the neighborhood committee at Shekoujie Sub-district Office rang unanswered during office hours on Wednesday.

Fang believes local officials there didn't want him living in the district because he's a "stability maintenance" target, whom they fear could cause trouble for them.

Fang left on April 27, then regained entry to the apartment the following day, only to have the water and power cut off on April 29, he said. Then someone tampered with the door lock, shutting Fang out of the apartment entirely.

"They think that my living here would be dangerous or troublesome for them, due to stability maintenance and so on," he said. "They think I'll cause them trouble, be another thing they are responsible for."

Fang went incommunicado after a Feb. 1, 2020, livestream from Wuhan healthcare facilities, and made a couple more videos in the days that followed about his interrogation by police, before falling silent for three years, with no news of his fate.

He was sentenced in secret by the Jiang'an District People's Court, which didn't share any legal documents with his family, then served his sentence in the Xiaojunshan former juvenile correction facility, activists said at the time.

Fang’s disappearance came a few days after the detention of another citizen journalist, Chen Qiushi, who had been interviewing people involved with the new mega hospitals being built at great speed in Wuhan.

Fellow citizen journalist Kcriss Li continued reporting from the scene for a few more weeks after that, until his dramatic, live-streamed chase by police on Feb. 26.

Lawyer-turned-reporter Zhang Zhan was detained and taken back to Shanghai, where there are ongoing concerns about her health in prison following months of on-off hunger strikes and forced feeding.

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China called for Fang's release in its annual report in November 2022, along with all those detained for reporting on the pandemic in China.

Political activist Panupong Jadnok has been sentenced to three years in prison on charges of violating the lese majeste law and Computer Crimes Act, and a warrant issued for his arrest after he failed to appear in court for sentencing.

The Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced the 28-year-old to four years behind bars and reduced it to three years due to his cooperation during witness examination.

The defendant was found guilty for a message posted on Facebook on Nov 8, 2023, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The court said the message was viewed as offensive to the monarchy and His Majesty the King and in breach of the computer law.

The joint leader of the Ratsadon group had denied the charges.

He was not present in court for the judgement and a bench warrant was then issued for his arrest.

The ruling was postponed from March 28 after the defendant first failed to appear in court for judgement.

Panupong is known online as Mike Rayong.

Human rights alliance KARAPATAN decried the recent freezing of the bank accounts of a multi-awarded development non-government organization based in Leyte province.

In an order dated May 2, 2024, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) ordered the Tacloban branches of PSBank and Metropolitan Bank to freeze the accounts of the Leyte Center for Development Inc. (LCDe), as well as the personal bank accounts of its executive director and members of its staff.

LCDe is a 36-year old development NGO based in Palo, Leyte that has won numerous awards for assisting poor and marginalized communities in Eastern Visayas, especially in disaster preparedness and response. Its funds are sourced from private donors and at least seven countries, and it has partnered with 23 local government units in Samar and Leyte.

According to the AMLC, its freeze order stems from alleged findings that LCDe executive director Jazmin Jerusalem and her staff had been providing funds to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA). The AMLC also claimed that Jerusalem and the LCDe staff had earlier been designated as a “terrorist group/individual,” though no public information is available attesting to this designation.

“This is yet another example of the arbitrariness and anti-poor character of the Anti-Terrorism Council’s (ATC) designation of persons or groups as ‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist financiers’,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay. “This time, the ATC is focusing on LCDe which has long been providing much- needed assistance to the most impoverished rural communities of Samar and Leyte and had many times been acclaimed for it’s work, even by the Department of National Defense,” added Palabay.

“By freezing its accounts, the ATC has effectively sabotaged the LCDe ‘s projects in these communities and deprived them of the services that the LCDe has been providing,” she said.

“As in other cases of this nature,” said Palabay, “the AMLC based its unjust designation and freeze orders on the perjured testimonies of a so-called rebel returnee who claimed to have founded the LCDe in 2002, when the LCDe has, in fact, been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since 1988.”

“This case also amply demonstrates the real dangers of red-tagging and how it swiftly leads to terror-tagging,” said Palabay.

“Jerusalem has long been the subject of red-tagging and harassment by state forces in the course of her activism and development work. She was falsely accused of involvement in a ‘communist’ purge in Leyte in the 1980s even if she was still a college student in Cebu at the time of the alleged incident. In 2018, she was among some 600 respondents in the government’s proscription case against the CPP-NPA, which was eventually dismissed by a Manila court. Now, she is accused of being a terrorist. Where will this end? In her unjust arrest and detention, forcible disappearance or extrajudicial killing?” she stated.

“Karapatan demands an end to terror-tagging. Government bodies like the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), ATC and AMLC whose reason for being is to surveil, profile, red- and terror-tag human rights defenders, development workers and political activists must be abolished, and the fascist and anti-people policies that engendered them, revoked,” concluded Palabay.

A human rights group reported cases of harassment and surveillance on Cavite-based student Paolo Tarra.

Karapatan Cavite reported that in February 2024, two people claiming to be members of the National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), along with village officials from Trece Martires City, approached and intimidated Tarra’s parents. One of them introduced himself as JR and claimed that they were military reservists.

They then tried to get Tarra’s personal information and documents like birth certificate, diplomas and photos by continuously harassing and intimidating his parents.

Tarra is a student leader at De La Salle University-Dasmariñas (DLSU-D). He is coordinator of the Coalition of Concerned Lasallians (CCL) and a human rights worker in Cavite and other parts of the Southern Tagalog region.

On May 3, Tarra’s parents were again approached by people claiming to be from NTF-ELCAC, including a so-called“supervisor. They showed photos of Tarra participating in various activities and insisted on personally speaking to Tarra out of fear that he might “go to the mountains.” They said that on their next visit, they would like to speak to his parents again with forms and documents for them to sign.

In a statement posted by Karapatan-Cavite, they said that “the NTF-ELCAC’s intention is clear – to intimidate and deceive Tarra’s family through blatant red-tagging to justify their surveillance of him,” emphasizing that, “since the establishment of the Executive Order 70, the NTF-ELCAC has continuously proven that it does not truly serve the people. Instead, it aims to suppress the people and silence dissent and activism in the country amid the worsening crisis the Filipino people are facing.”

“It is worth noting that on May 8, the Supreme Court declared in a ruling that red-tagging poses a significant threat to the constitutional rights of Filipinos to life, liberty, and security,” the group added.

Prior to the high court’s decision, at least two United Nations special rapporteurs, Ian Fry and Irene Khan, called for the abolition of NTF ELCAC over its gross rights violations.

Karapatan Cavite called for an urgent investigation on Tarra’s case and asked the public to support their campaigns in defending human rights and holding the NTF-ELCAC accountable for its human rights violations.

Nayapatrika national daily’s Jhapa based reporter Chiranjivi Ghimire received death threat for his reporting on May 4. Jhapa lies in Koshi Province of Nepal.

Reporter Ghimire shared with Freedom Forum that news with reporter Ghimire’s byline was published on web portal of the daily https://www.nayapatrikadaily.com/ on May 4. The news was about illegal extraction in the Mawa river with involvement of local representatives and the locals being threatened by contractors.

After publication of news, contractor Binod Thapa called Ghimire on mobile and threatened saying that he could do anything to Ghimire. Thapa also spoke foul during the call, according to Ghimire. Thereafter, reporter Ghimire filed a complaint at a local police office in Damak.

Reporter Ghimire further informed that Deputy Superintendent of Police Nisan Thapa has assured of calling the contractor to police station for further investigation. Ghimire added, “I am also discussing with fellow journalists and preparing to lodge a complaint against the contractor for his offensive behavior.”

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to reporter. The contractor should adopt legitimate ways to address his concern over news but threatening and speaking foul upon reporter is a gross violation of press freedom.

The West Kazakhstan region's police department told RFE/RL on April 30 that journalist Raul Uporov, who extensively covered ongoing unprecedented floods in the city of Oral, had been charged with hooliganism.

A day earlier, Uporov said on Facebook that police were forcibly taking him to a police station to officially charge him in an administrative case.

He later said that the case against him was launched over his online video about a move by the local Emergencies Department to ban journalists from visiting areas affected by the floods and filing reports from such places.

The department explained the move by citing "safety precautions," while Uporov harshly criticized the move in a video he made about the floods, which was posted on Instagram. Police said they considered some of the words used by Uporov in the video "vulgar" and filed a hooliganism charge against the reporter.

Meanwhile, the situation around floods caused by abrupt warm weather that led to massive snowmelt in late March remains complicated in the western Atyrau region.

The Kazakh Emergencies Ministry said on April 30 that rescue teams from 10 regions and military personnel remain in the Atyrau region to monitor the water level in the Ural River every hour.

The ministry said a day earlier that, among those who were forced to flee the flooding, 38,521 people had returned home, adding that some of the rescue teams and military personnel deployed to help flood-affected regions had started leaving as water levels begin to recede.

In all, about 120,000 people, including 44,000 children, had been evacuated from areas affected by the floods.

According to the ministry, 17,000 of its rescue experts and military personnel, as well almost 2,000 equipped vehicles, have been involved in the rescue efforts in the flood-affected regions of the Central Asian nation's northern regions.

At least five people died in Kazakhstan during the floods, while at least four have been missing since early April.

On 9 December 2023, Chhattisgarh police arrested four human rights defenders: Lakhma Koram, Ranu Podyam, Shankar Kashyap, and Samlu Koram. The arrests were due to their peaceful campaigns against human rights violations, militarization, and the forcible acquisition of land for corporate interests in Bastar District, Chhattisgarh. Since then, the human rights defenders have been detained in Jagdalpur Jail in Chhattisgarh.

Lakhma Koram, Ranu Podyam, Shankar Kashyap, and Samlu Koram have been vocal advocates against forcible land acquisition and the negative impact of large-scale mining companies on the land, environment, livelihoods, and housing rights of affected indigenous communities. They are associated with two peaceful protest movements: Morohnar Jan Andolan and Orcha Jan Andolan, which have been resisting iron ore mining, the construction of paramilitary camps in the region, and are advocating for the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 and the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act 1996, which require public consultation with the local community before approving mining projects on Adivasi lands.

On 9 December 2023, human rights defenders Lakhma Koram and Ranu Podyam were arrested by police while traveling to the Orcha Jan Andolan protest site. About an hour later, on the same day, Shankar Kashyap and Samlu Koram were arrested and falsely accused of having links to banned Maoist groups. The human rights defenders have been denied bail and are currently held at Jagdalpur Jail in Chhattisgarh.

The arrest of the four human rights defenders follows a pattern of escalating violations by security forces in Chhattisgarh against local communities and human rights defenders. On 24 November 2023, the Orcha Jan Andolan protest site was destroyed by officers from the District Reserve Guard. There are also reports of arrests, killings, and violence against community leaders, peaceful protesters, and human rights defenders, with impunity.

On 1 April 2024, Afghan human rights defender Ahmad Fahim Azimi was sentenced to one year of imprisonment by the Taliban court, in Kabul. The human rights defender is facing reprisals due to his advocacy for human rights, especially the right to education for women and girls in Afghanistan.

Ahmad Fahim Azimi is an Afghan human rights defender who has advocated for the right to education of women and girls and has campaigned peacefully against the ban on girls' education by the de facto authorities. The human rights defender is the head of the Better Thinking Centre and director of the Digital Citizen Lab in Afghanistan. He has worked to promote girls' education, including supporting the Afghan girls’ robotics team.

On 1 April 2024, the Taliban court announced its verdict, sentencing Ahmad Fahim Azimi to one year of imprisonment. The human rights defender and his family were not present in court when the sentence was passed. The human rights defender’s family continues to advocate for his release and fair trial rights. An appeal against the conviction and sentence of Ahmad Fahim Azimi is currently before the Appellate Court, and there is no information to date about the human rights defender's release or condition in jail.

Ahmad Fahim Azimi was arrested on 17 October 2023 by the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) District 40 at their office in Karta Char, Kabul. He was accused of assisting girls from the Afghan robotics team to leave the country and enabling and organising women’s protests in Afghanistan. The Taliban seized the human rights defender’s passport and devices, including laptops, flash drives, and documents, including study materials and organizational papers. The human rights defender was detained for 72 days at the GDI District 40 detention centre, during which time he was interrogated about his work and subjected to torture and solitary confinement. He was denied access to legal counsel or medical treatment during his detention. On 27 December 2023, Ahmad Fahim Azimi was produced before a Taliban court in Kabul and then transferred to the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul.

Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary arrest of Ahmad Fahim Azimi, his treatment in detention, and the denial of his fair trial rights. The imprisonment of the human rights defender is a reprisal for his commitment to women’s and girls' rights and his interventions to promote girls' education in Afghanistan. Front Line Defenders is concerned about the safety of Ahmad Fahim Azimi, his family, and his lawyers. His imprisonment and treatment have taken an immense toll on the human rights defender’s family, especially his elderly father, who suffered a stroke on 20 April 2024 and is in critical condition. Front Line Defenders calls for the immediate release of Ahmad Fahim Azimi and for the protection of his family, colleagues, and those advocating against his continued imprisonment by the Taliban.

At least four people were reported killed on Thursday during clashes between protesters and Taliban security forces in eastern Afghanistan.

Residents in Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan, held a demonstration after being told by Taliban authorities to vacate their homes for the construction of a customs clearing facility, according to witnesses and officials.

Protesters blocked a busy highway linking Afghanistan to Pakistan and refused to allow the destruction of their properties. Taliban security forces fired gunshots to disperse the crowd and clear the highway to allow trade convoys to resume their journey in both directions, eyewitnesses reported.

An area information and culture department spokesperson confirmed the clashes, saying residents "created chaos in response" to the official order. Arafat Mohajer said that the violence resulted in the death of a Taliban officer and "a number of people who were occupying the [state[ land [illegally]." He did not share further details.

Protesters refuted the official claims, saying they had the deeds and owned the land.

A resident in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, confirmed to VOA by phone that firing by Taliban security forces killed three protesters.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago and faced no public opposition to their hard-line policies until this month.

Last week, farmers and residents took to the streets in northeastern Badakhshan province to protest the eradication of poppy fields by the Taliban counternarcotics units.

Security forces opened fire to disperse the demonstrators, killing two people.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, has imposed a nationwide ban on poppy cultivation and production, usage, transportation and trade of all illicit drugs in Afghanistan.

A court in Ho Chi Minh City on May 8 sentenced defendant Phan Tat Thanh, 38, to eight years in prison under Article 117 of the Penal Code for “making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” state media reported. The prosecutors claimed that Thanh’s activity “constitutes a serious crime which threatens national security” and that “it is necessary to impose a harsh punishment to deter similar activities.”

Phan Tat Thanh is a pro-democracy activist and an administrator of a dissident Facebook fan page called Nhật ký yêu nước (A Patriot's Diary). The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department detained him in July 2023 and charged him with violating Article 117 of the Penal Code. However, his family said Thanh had no longer engaged in pro-democracy activism but focused on building his business.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that court officials allowed Thanh's parents into the courtroom. However, they rejected requests from foreign diplomatic missions in Vietnam, such as the Consulate General of Germany and the United States, to send representatives to observe the trial. Phan Tat Chi, Thanh’s father, said he was very frustrated since the sentence the court handed was higher than the recommendation of the Procuracy, which suggests between five to seven years of imprisonment.

Chi said that in his last words, Thanh pleaded not guilty and said that the investigators obtained his testimonies through forced confessions. However, the judge interrupted his speech and said, “This is not a forum for you to talk nonsense.”

Rights advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on May 7 called on the Vietnamese government to immediately drop all charges against activist Phan Tat Thanh and to release him, according to a statement sent to VOA News Vietnamese language service.

“Peaceful advocacy for democracy and human rights is not a crime,” said Patricia Gossman, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Vietnamese government needs to immediately release Phan Tat Thanh and drop all charges against him.” Gossman called on the government to immediately release all those imprisoned or detained simply for expressing peaceful political views.

Duong Noi provincial police have resumed harassing Do Thi Thu, the wife of Trinh Ba Phuong. They sent her a summons on April 25 asking her to answer questions about her Facebook posts. Phuong recently told his wife that he is feverish and aching, to the point that he has to lie down all day and cover himself with a blanket in spite of the heatwave.

Tran Huynh Duy Thuc told his brother Tran Huynh Duy Tan on April 26 that the quality of the food in prison has gone down while prices are going up. After a three day hunger strike (sometime before this date), he had lost 2kg and currently weighs about 63kg. Since April 18, he and several others allegedly have been kept in what is known as a “tiger cage,” described by Dang Dinh Bach’s wife in the preceding paragraph. On April 19, when Thuc refused to be put in the tiger cage, he alleges that the guards dragged him in anyway, tearing up his shirt and causing bruises on his neck. Thuc asks that international observers, especially UN special rapporteurs, come visit the prison conditions and assess Vietnam’s latest response to the UPR.

Police and district guards blocked a march of around 60 Samrong Tbong community members living next to Boeng Tamok lake in northern Phnom Penh. This morning, authorities were violent and shoved community members who were walking to the Prek Pnov district hall to meet officials after six families received eviction orders signed on 8 May to make way for road construction.

Around 60 police and district security guards cordoned off community members, pushed them back, were violent with some of the members and prevented the group from walking to the district hall. Residents were forced to return to their homes escorted by security forces.

Samrong Tbong community members have faced repeated police harassment, criminal charges and threats of eviction as the government has parcelled off and filled in large swathes of Boeng Tamok lake, giving plots of land to various government ministries, officials and well-connected individuals.

Some community members were injured during an altercation in February with authorities who were filling the lake area people used for fish farming.

A surgeon was detained in Kabul on 20 March 2024 by Taliban intelligence personnel. He had reportedly recently criticized the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education while being interviewed on a television program. He was reportedly released on bail after guaranteeing he would end his criticism.

Pakistani authorities must swiftly and impartially investigate death threats and online harassment targeting prominent television anchor Hamid Mir and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

Mir, who hosts the flagship political show “Capital Talk” on Geo News and has survived at least two previous assassination attempts, told CPJ that he had received multiple death threats on social media and warnings that his life was in danger from two journalists familiar with the situation. Mir had reported the threats to the police last week in the capital, Islamabad, but they had yet to register a First Information Report needed to open an investigation.

On April 28, journalist Imran Riaz Khan posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he had been told that “preparations are being made to take actions” against Mir for his comments in support of freedom of speech in Pakistan, where journalists say they are often harassed and attacked by the military, political groups, and criminals.

Mir also told CPJ that he saw at least two people filming him last week while he was in his vehicle near his Islamabad home but they ran away when he approached them. Mir also reported this to the police.

On April 24, Mir filed a complaint to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which investigates cybercrimes, asking the agency to register a case against Jan Achakzai, the former information minister of southwestern Baluchistan province, for repeatedly insulting Mir on X, including calling him a “traitor.” In the complaint, reviewed by CPJ, Mir said that Achakzai’s “malicious attacks” undermined his credibility and jeopardized his safety.

On May 1, Achakzai said on X that he had been summoned to appear at the FIA’s Cybercrime Reporting Center on May 3. He criticized Mir for advocating for freedom of expression and for using his show to talk to separatists in Baluchistan.

“The threats and online hate campaign against one of Pakistan’s most prominent television anchors illustrate the severity of intimidation and pressure faced by journalists in Pakistan,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi . “Pakistani security agencies must immediately act against those trying to silence Hamid Mir and hold them accountable.”

Press freedom advocate

Mir has consistently advocated for press freedom in Pakistan.

On April 27, he filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the 2022 killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya. In February, Mir spoke out on “Capital Talk” against the detention of journalists Imran Riaz Khan and Asad Ali Toor. In 2021, Mir was suspended from his talk show at Geo News after criticizing the military at a rally in support of Toor, who had been beaten up by unidentified men.

Mir has survived at least two attempted assassinations — in 2014 he was shot and in 2012 his driver found explosives planted under his car. In 2011, Mir publicly shared a death threat that he received after criticizing the military, judiciary, and intelligence services.

Since 1992, 64 journalists have been killed in connection with their work in Pakistan, CPJ data shows. Pakistan ranked 11th on CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index, which ranks countries by how often the killers of journalists go unpunished.

On April 3, exiled Afghan journalist, Ahmad Hanayesh, was attacked by armed men in Islamabad. On March 14, Pakistani journalist Jam Saghir Ahmed Lar was shot dead in Pakistan’s central Punjab province.

CPJ’s text messages to information minister Attaullah Tarar and Syed Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari, deputy Inspector General of Police in Islamabad, requesting comment on the threats against Mir did not receive any replies.

The Supreme Court this morning upheld the convictions of current and former casino union members, prolonging the incarceration of LRSU President Chhim Sithar.

The four-judge panel delivered its verdict the morning of 3 May upholding convictions for eight defendants. Their sentences range from two years to one year in prison, with Sithar being the only defendant currently serving her two-year sentence.

While Sithar is expected to be released later this year once she completes her sentence, today’s verdict puts five of the defendants at risk of immediate imprisonment. The five defendants — Chhim Sokhorn, Hay Sopheap, Kleang Soben, Sun Srey Pich, and Touch Sereymeas — were given 18-month prison sentences by the Phnom Penh Capital Court.

Two of the remaining defendants were given suspended sentences by a lower court.

The Phnom Penh Capital Court had charged nine defendants who were associated with the Labor Rights Supported Union of Khmer Employees of NagaWorld (LRSU) and they were convicted in 2023. The convictions under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code are related to the union’s ongoing peaceful strike.

Eight defendants appealed the Phnom Penh court’s verdict, which was upheld by an appeal court last October.

Union members have been on strike since December 2021 against NagaWorld casino’s decision to implement mass layoffs in the middle of a pandemic. The firings included all of LRSU’s senior leadership and a large number of its members. Since the peaceful strike commenced in 2021, workers have been subjected to physical, verbal and sexual assault by local authorities and security personnel.

Morm Rithy, the vice-president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC), was arrested last night outside of the confederation’s offices, after he was convicted in absentia of incitement and discrediting judicial decisions and sentenced to 18 months in prison early Tuesday.

In addition to serving as the vice-president of CLC, Rithy, 35, is the head of the Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers’ Federation. His conviction relates to a 24 February 2022 Facebook video in which the union leader was critical of an arrest of a member of his federation at Jinbei Casino in Sihanoukville.

The verdict was announced without Rithy or his lawyer present, as his lawyer had requested a delay in the trial due to a scheduling conflict. The court found Rithy guilty of incitement under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code, as well as “Discrediting a Judicial Decision” under Article 523, and fined him two million riel (US$500).

Rithy’s imprisonment comes shortly before internal CLC leadership elections, which were scheduled to be held later this month.

Writer Lin Nhyo Thway, aka Kyaw Thu Lwin, a writer from Gyobingauk Township, Thayarwaddy District, Bago Region, was arrested by military junta forces and has been out of contact with his family for a week.

Many military junta forces arrived at the home of Lin Nhyo Thway, Gyobingauk Township, Thaekone Ward, at night on April 25th and beat and arrested him, according to a person close to his family.

“He still hasn’t been contacted. It is still unknow where he was taken. They (family) are enquiring about him, and I don’t know why he was arrested,” he told MPA.

A 30-year-old woman who is close to the family explained that Lin Nhyo Thway was among those who had been involved in protesting against the military coup in the past and was returning home due to poor health while fleeing.

“His health was bad from the beginning, and he has a neurological disease. Also, he was regularly taking medicine, and now his family is concerned about his health after being arrested and beaten and has stopped taking medication,” she said.

A political activist in Gyobingauk said that he strongly condemns the use of force by the junta troops, dishonorable arrests of unarmed politicians, and interrogation practices that cut off contact with their families.

“Deliberate psychological attacks to make citizens lose interest in politics and fear, and actions to keep citizens away from politics, are the depraved behaviors of dictators,” he said.

At least 20 innocent people have died after being arrested by military junta forces since the military coup in other townships, including Gyobingauk Township in Thayarwaddy District.

Mansoor Nekmal, the Editor in Chief of Khaama Press, was arrested on 17 February after being summoned to the de facto Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue. Khaama had recently published a story about the Taliban arresting women for not wearing ‘proper’ hijab. He was detained for approximately 24 hours.

WHRD Manije Siddiqi was reportedly sentenced to 2 years in prison in February 2024. Part of the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women, Manije had been in detention since her arrest on 24 September 2023. She was reportedly held by the intelligence agency for more than 2 months and then transferred to Pul-e Charki prison in early December prior to her sentencing in February. Manije was subsequently released on 6 April as part of an amnesty.

During her detention, fellow activists raised serious concerns about her health and claimed that she had been tortured. Just days before she was released, Manije appeared on an Afghan news program to talk about how well she had been treated while in detention. This statement was almost certainly given under duress as a condition for her release.

On 25 February 2024, Sanjay Hettimulla, a University of Kelaniya student and an Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) activist, was apprehended while attempting to leave the country. This arrest is linked to a case of false allegations of ragging that occurred on the university campus in the year 2022.

Two other student activists who were documented last year, Kelum and Dilshan, were arrested in relation to the same case and imprisoned for more than 5 months, and finally released on bail. These student leaders were all activists in the Inter-University Students' Federation (IUSF) who were very active in the recent people's struggle. This false accusation fed into the larger targeted repression of the student movement.

The incident in question was a clash between two student groups within the university. An internal university investigation clearly stated that this incident wasn't one of ragging, as was falsely claimed. The State however, continues to pursue this case and target activists of the IUSF.

A court in Thailand today sentenced one of the kingdom’s leading democracy activists to a further two years imprisonment on royal insult charges.

It is the latest charge levelled against prominent human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, who now faces more than 10 years in prison.

He is currently in jail after he was handed down a four-year sentence in January over three messages posted on Facebook in 2021, adding to the four years he was already serving for a prior lese majeste conviction.

Critics say the government has used the strict legislation to silence dissent, prosecuting scores under a tough law that protects King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his family.

The criminal court in Bangkok sentenced Arnon for two years and 20 days over his calls at a Harry Potter-themed rally in 2021 to amend Thailand’s royal defamation laws.

He was found guilty of four charges including violation of else majeste, defying the emergency decree, and using a loudspeaker without permission, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.

Thailand’s youth-led pro-democracy protests in 2020 saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets to make unprecedented calls to reform the monarchy.

Sentencing him, the criminal court also fined him 150 baht for use of the loudspeaker.

Arnon is among more than 150 activists who have been charged in recent years under lese majeste laws, often referred to as “112” after the relevant section of the criminal code.

Rights activists and environmentalists have expressed dismay over slapping terror charges on two Filipino activists, terming it an example of muzzling dissent and crackdown on rights-based activism in the country.

Fritz Jay Labiano and Adrian Paul Tagle have been charged with violating the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012, media reports say.

Labiano is the coordinator of the rights group Kabataan Partylist in Quezon province, and Tagle is the coordinator of Tanggol Quezon, an advocacy group. If convicted, they face life imprisonment.

Six protesters were arrested by the police today during a protest action near the US Embassy in Manila.

The police barricaded the protesters in Kalaw but the protesters were able to pass through and march near the US Embassy. The police attempted to disperse the protesters, some of them were injured after they were hit with truncheons. Minutes later, the police used a water cannon against them.

During the program, activist leaders denounced the police dispersal and arrest of the six activists.

Gabriela Secretary General Clarice Palce said, “The police prevent us from getting near the US Embassy but American troops freely occupy our land and seas,” she said in Filipino, referring to the Balikatan exercise with the US.

Several journalists were reportedly illegally detained and abused in Punjab’s Gujrat district while covering local by-elections on April 21. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), urge the local authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into and ensure journalists are able to work without fear of harassment and obstruction.

On April 21, journalists covering by-elections in Punjab’s northern Gujrat city were reportedly illegally detained by both police and individuals in plain clothes, with law enforcement assaulting the media workers and damaging their equipment.

Among those affected were reporter Bilal Sikander and cameraman Mushtaq Danyal from 92 News, as well as cameraman Raees Dilawar from GNN News, and several other local media professionals. The journalists were taken into custody for several hours.

Sikander claims the group was taken to a police station, where he and his colleagues were intimidated, with police allegedly threatening to cause them serious harm to ‘ensure their silence’ throughout the by-elections. Both Sikander and Danyal sustained serious injuries to their arms and backs.

The journalists were released following intervention by the PFUJ and local union leaders. According to the affected journalists, they were denied medical attention and no investigation into their allegations of abuse has begun.

The PFUJ said: “Who so ever is behind the illegal abduction of journalists must be brought to justice. The PFUJ announce to move the court to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the abductors for justice.”

The IFJ said: “The Government of Pakistan must take action to thoroughly investigate the alleged abductions and harassment of a group of journalists in Gujrat. Further measures must be introduced to safeguard the rights of media workers and ensure impunity is not permitted to run rife.”

Journalist Habib-ur-Rahman Taseer from Radio Azadi in southeastern Ghazni has been detained in a detention center by the Taliban intelligence since 12 days ago and has now been transferred to the prison of the province. The Afghanistan Journalists Center expresses serious concern about Taseer's continued detention and demands his immediate and unconditional release.

A journalist in Ghazni province, who spoke to AFJC on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation by local Taliban officials, revealed that Habib-ur-Rahman Taseer was arrested on April 6 by the intelligence department of the province. Taseer was reportedly detained for preparing local reports for Radio Azadi, with his smartphone seized and its contents checked without his consent.

Radio Azadi has not officially responded to the situation. Another source in Ghazni provincne told AFJC that Taseer had faced pressure before his arrest, including being removed from a joint WhatsApp group of journalists and local officials. Efforts to secure Taseer's release have been unsuccessful, leading to his transfer from the intelligence detention center to the provincial prison. His case is expected to be sent to court.

Radio Azadi, based in Prague, Czech Republic, produces and broadcasts programs for Afghanistan. In December 2022, the FM frequency of Radio Azadi and Voice of America, both US government-supported outlets, were cut by Taliban order. Two months later, the websites of these outlets were also closed in Afghanistan, with the Taliban accusing them of spreading propaganda against the group.

AFJC calls on local Taliban officials in Ghazni province to release Habib-ur-Rahman Taseer promptly and unconditionally, emphasizing that journalists should be able to carry out their work without limitations or threats and should be supported.

Currently, three journalists are in custody in the country. AFJC data shows that at least 59 journalists and media workers were arrested in the last solar year alone. The majority of these cases involved violations of Taliban media directives, which contradict the country's media laws. Failure to adhere to these directives is deemed criminal.

Pham Thi Lan, wife of independent journalist Nguyen Tuong Thuy, was banned from leaving the country on April 18 when she arrived at the Moc Bai Border Gate in Tay Ninh Province to travel to Cambodia with her family. Lan confirmed the travel ban with the Voice of America (VOA) Vietnamese language service after she returned to Hanoi on April 19.

During livestreaming on her Facebook account, Lan said that the Vietnamese Border Police had said she received a travel ban due to “national security” reasons. “I'm an old woman who only cares for my grandchildren and does housework all day long. Does that have an impact on national security?” she asked.

VOA said Vietnam’s Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to their request for comment. Journalist Nguyen Tuong Thuy, a member of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam (IJAVN), is serving an 11-year prison sentence on the charge of “distributing anti-state propaganda.” He is held at An Phuoc Prison, Binh Duong Province, more than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) from his home in Hanoi.

The travel ban imposed on Pham Thi Lan occurred before Vietnam began its fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a universal human rights assessment process of the United Nations Human Rights Council, in early May in Geneva, Switzerland. In this process, various stakeholders will discuss and propose recommendations for Hanoi to improve its human rights record and uphold other international commitments regarding civil liberties, including the freedom of movement of its citizens.

Hoang Duc Binh reported to his family that he was put in leg shackles for 10 days, from March 26 to April 5, by warden Nguyen Ngoc Thach at An Diem Prison in Quang Nam Province. He also has been prohibited from receiving supplies or calls from his family for three months, as well as family visits for two months. According to Binh’s family, Binh was punished for protesting against unfair treatment by the warden, who did not let him have several items sent by his family and cited him for “not following orders by prison authorities.” While Binh was in shackles, guards allegedly confiscated his personal belongings, as well as those of other political prisoners. At least four political prisoners went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment: Hoang Duc Binh, Trinh Ba Phuong, Phan Cong Hai and Nguyen Thai Binh. As a result, all four were put in “disciplinary cells” and were not allowed to go out to the yard or communicate with other inmates.

In a letter home dated April 8, Trinh Ba Phuong corroborated Hoang Duc Binh’s account of being disciplined and the group’s hunger strike. Phuong’s wife, Do Thi Thu, was able to visit him on April 21 and reported that Phuong and several other political prisoners had been locked in their cells since April 8 with everything passed in and out through a small opening. Phuong told Thu it was a form of psychological torture. Phuong also said that Binh is suffering from back pain, abdominal pain, loss of smell, and chest pain. Binh did ask prison authorities for medication for his chest pain but so far has reportedly not received any. Thu also reported that for the past year, Phuong has not been eating any food made by the prison; at one point, the food caused him severe diarrhea and stomach problems. Phuong also said the water source at An Diem is highly polluted.

Hoang Duc Binh reported to his family that he was put in leg shackles for 10 days, from March 26 to April 5, by warden Nguyen Ngoc Thach at An Diem Prison in Quang Nam Province. He also has been prohibited from receiving supplies or calls from his family for three months, as well as family visits for two months. According to Binh’s family, Binh was punished for protesting against unfair treatment by the warden, who did not let him have several items sent by his family and cited him for “not following orders by prison authorities.” While Binh was in shackles, guards allegedly confiscated his personal belongings, as well as those of other political prisoners. At least four political prisoners went on a hunger strike to protest the mistreatment: Hoang Duc Binh, Trinh Ba Phuong, Phan Cong Hai and Nguyen Thai Binh. As a result, all four were put in “disciplinary cells” and were not allowed to go out to the yard or communicate with other inmates.

In a letter home dated April 8, Trinh Ba Phuong corroborated Hoang Duc Binh’s account of being disciplined and the group’s hunger strike. Phuong’s wife, Do Thi Thu, was able to visit him on April 21 and reported that Phuong and several other political prisoners had been locked in their cells since April 8 with everything passed in and out through a small opening. Phuong told Thu it was a form of psychological torture. Phuong also said that Binh is suffering from back pain, abdominal pain, loss of smell, and chest pain. Binh did ask prison authorities for medication for his chest pain but so far has reportedly not received any. Thu also reported that for the past year, Phuong has not been eating any food made by the prison; at one point, the food caused him severe diarrhea and stomach problems. Phuong also said the water source at An Diem is highly polluted.

Two young Thai activists were today indicted on ‘groundless’ royal defamation and computer crime charges, Amnesty International has said.

Niraphorn “Bie” Onnkhaow, an Amnesty International Digital Rights Champion who recently engaged with the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, and Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, a prominent protest leader featured in Amnesty International’s 2021 Write for Rights campaign, were today indicted under the charges of lèse-majesté and violating Thailand’s Computer Crimes Act.

“Today’s indictment shows that Thai authorities are continuing to weaponize spurious charges to silence critical voices of young people who want to speak about their human rights,” said Amnesty International’s Thailand Researcher Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong.

“The decision to indict Bie only one month after she travelled to Geneva to share her experience as a young activist and human rights defender in Thailand sends a chilling message that speaking out on human rights violations will not be tolerated.”

On 12 March 2024 in Geneva, Bie spoke during the Inter-active Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders. She expressed concern over Thai authorities’ misuse of the criminal justice system to stifle freedom of expression and the use of digital surveillance against children and young human rights defenders in Thailand.

She also spoke at a side event on 13 March alongside other child and youth defenders to mark the release of a report by the Special Rapporteur, who had recognized the role of young human rights defenders in Thailand in peacefully protesting for reforms since 2020.

Charges against Bie and Rung were originally pressed in November 2021 but the public prosecutor only recently decided to proceed with the indictments.

Both Bie and Rung are part of the student-led protest group United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD) and are vocal on freedom of expression, digital rights and gender equality.

Authorities allege that the two youth activists are administrators of the Facebook page of the UFTD. The charges against them stem from accusations that they made three posts on the page that were considered as being defamatory towards the monarchy.

Amnesty International has further documented that both women human rights defenders have been subjected to digital surveillance.

According to civil society-led forensic research, Bie and Rung were among 35 human rights defenders (HRDs), activists, academics and artists targeted with Pegasus, a highly invasive spyware developed by the Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group.

Bie’s mobile device was infected 14 times in 2021 – the highest number of infections documented among all the targeted individuals. Meanwhile, Rung’s device was infected four times in the same year.

Earlier in 2024, Bie was selected as one of Amnesty International’s Digital Rights Champions, a group of children and young leaders from across the globe with an interest and expertise in digital rights.

“This indictment decision will likely intensify the chilling effect that leaves Thai human rights defenders and activists afraid to speak up on human rights issues,” Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong said.

“This is a reminder that Thailand needs to step up its efforts to meet its international human rights obligations, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. We urge the Thai authorities to immediately drop charges against these activists.”

Thailand is currently seeking membership in the UN Human Rights Council, whose members have a responsibility to “uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights”.

Feeling aggrieved by the news in one of the online media, three TNI-AL members allegedly committed acts of violence against an online media journalist (Sidik Kasus), on behalf of Sugandi.

Reportedly, the persecution took place at the Panambuang Port Guard Post in South Bacan District, South Halmahera Regency (Halsel), North Maluku Province (Malut).

The journalist was persecuted because he did not accept the news that tens of thousands of KL of fuel allegedly belonging to Dirpolairud Polda North Maluku were detained by Navy personnel in South Halmahera.

The persecution incident occurred on Thursday (28/3/2024) at around 14:00 WIT at the Panambuang Port Post.

"Around 12 noon, from the Navy (TNI AL) picked me up by car. The 3 Navy members took me directly to the Navy Post in Panambuang Village. After that, around 2pm and at the post, the persecution occurred," Sugandi told reporters.

He revealed that he was persecuted because the three members of the Navy were dissatisfied with the journalist's reporting.

"The persecution they carried out on the grounds that there was news that went up early without confirmation. But in this case, we have confirmed and there were 3 of us journalists. Even the recordings are also with 2 other journalists. So the news that went up too, the confirmation results are there until now," said Sugandi.

However, Sugandi said, according to the 3 unscrupulous members of the Navy, that the results of the confirmation were not for news, except for the results of the interview.

"For that reason, they were dissatisfied and took the step of hitting me. Mostly I was kicked in the head until my ears bled and 2 teeth were broken. My 2 hands were also hit. I was also kicked in the back and hit with a hose until I was injured," Sugandi explained while showing the bruises on his back.

Sugandi himself has now been examined at the Labuha Regional General Hospital (RSUD).

Furthermore, the case of alleged persecution of journalists, 3 unscrupulous members of the Navy will be reported to the Military Police (POM) of the Navy in Ternate City.

Until this news was published there was no official statement from the Ternate Navy base.

Junaidi Marpaung's house, a journalist for one of the online media in Labuhanbatu Regency, North Sumatra (Sumut) on Jalan Aekmatio Talsim Gang Damai, Rantau Utara District, was allegedly burned by unknown people or OTK on Thursday morning, March 21, 2024.

Before the incident, he claimed to have received threats on social media after conducting investigative coverage of drug trafficking in four different places in Labuhanbatu for two days March 16, 2024 and March 17, 2024. He kept evidence of threats from one Facebook user by including a photo of Junaidi.

"I did journalistic work for two days by trying to uncover drug trafficking and fuel smuggling in Labuhanbatu. I visited two places in South Rantau Subdistrict, precisely in an area called Kandang Lembu and witnessed up close the drug transactions in the stalls prepared by drug dealers there." Junaidi told Tempo, Friday, March 22, 2024.

Junaidi added that the two drug trafficking stalls in Labuhanbatu are backed by strong people who also manage fuel oil smuggling.

Information on drug trafficking in Labuhanbatu, said Junaidi, he obtained from residents. To prove this, Junaidi invited one of his colleagues to conduct investigations in four locations.

"Two locations in South Rantau District and two more locations in the capital of Labuhanbatu, Rantauprapat. We will make the rampant drug stalls in Labuhanbatu the topic of investigative coverage in the media www.utamanews.com. However, my house and car were burned last night at around 00.45 WIB before our drug trafficking investigation report was released," said Junaidi.

Chairman of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) North Sumatra Farianda Sinik said, PWI prepared legal steps for the protection of the safety of Junaidi's life and his family until the investigation and investigation of the burning of Junaidi's house and car was handled by the police.

"Junaidi is a PWI member in Labuhanbatu and he experienced violence and intimidation as a result of the coverage of the disclosure of drug trafficking and illegal fuel. Therefore, I conveyed this incident to the North Sumatra Police Chief and the police have followed up by sending Forensic Laboratory personnel from the North Sumatra Police," said Farianda Sinik.

Head of Public Relations of the North Sumatra Police Commissioner Hadi Wahyudi said the Forensic Laboratory Team (Labfor) was conducting crime scene processing at Junaidi Marpaung's residence. "The Labfor team is conducting crime scene investigations as well as collecting formal and material evidence as material for the investigation into the fire at the journalist's house in Labuhanbatu," said Hadi Wahyudi.

According to Hadi, the results of the crime scene will be a clue for investigators to find out whether there was a deliberate burning of Junaidi's house and car. The crime scene, said Hadi, was carried out by North Sumatra Police personnel together with Labuhanbatu Police to investigate where the initial fire spread to. From the crime scene, continued Hadi, investigators will find out whether there is an element of intent or not in the incident before naming a suspect.

Violence against farmers in Pakel Village, Licin Subdistrict, Banyuwangi Regency has surfaced again. This time, farmers who are members of Rukun Tani Sumberejo Pakel (RTSP) again had to deal with the brutal actions of hundreds of armed mobs from PT Bumisari Maju Sukses (BMS).

Based on the chronology release from Pakel farmers that we received, the endless series of attacks from PT Bumisari Maju Sukses (BMS) on farmers' cultivated land began on March 5, 2024. On that day, the farmers initially found that the hut on their cultivated land had collapsed and was damaged. In fact, a bottle containing gasoline was also found, which was suspected to be used to burn the hut that had been torn down.

Four days later, on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at around 09:51 a.m., dozens of PT BMS security guards accompanied by a group of people suspected of being hired thugs broke into the reclaiming land owned by farmers in the Pongkor area. They then deliberately knocked down and burned down simple huts built by farmers on the cultivated land. In a release, Pakel farmers revealed that although they came to the location shortly after the incident, the security and a group of people suspected of being hired thugs chose to retreat.

However, the vandalism did not stop there. At around 11:00 a.m. on the same day, the farmers were surprised by the presence of a new hut erected by PT BMS in the middle of the road to the land in the Pongkor area. The presence of this hut blocked the access of farmers to pass on the road. While standing guard at the location, the farmers reportedly witnessed PT BMS cutting down crops and destroying a hut owned by a farmer in the Panasean area not far from Pongkor.

"Therefore, we spontaneously tried to chase and chase them away so that they would not return to cut down our plants. Since then, we have to be on guard so that no more of our plants are cut down," reads a quote in the chronology release.

Furthermore, it was revealed that the access road at the Taman Glugo River bridge that farmers usually pass through to reach the cultivated land was also blocked using a truck that was strongly suspected to belong to PT BMS.

On Sunday, March 10, 2024 at around 10:30 a.m., the riot heated up again on Pakel farmers' cultivated land. This time, the mob from PT BMS, estimated at 150 people, cut down the plants and damaged the farmer's hut in the northern area of Kali Gondang.

Knowing this, other Pakel farmers came to the location. However, the mob mobilized by PT BMS acted even more barbaric by intimidating the farmers, pushing them, and threatening them with sharp weapons. There were even some people suspected of being hired thugs who challenged Pakel farmers to a duel.

"At 11:00 a.m., we started to arrive. At first there were only a few of us. After more farmers arrived, PT Bumisari retreated," reads a quote in the chronology release issued by Rukun Tani Sumberejo Pakel.

Furthermore, in the evening at around 19.30 WIB, one of the Pakel farmers who was conducting routine night patrols suffered physical abuse in the form of a blow to the nape of the neck and had to be rushed to the puskesmas. At that time the victim was patrolling with 6 other farmers. When he saw a shadow, the victim approached but was then attacked by a masked man with a sharp weapon and another man who beat him from behind until he fainted. Before being helped by his colleagues, the three perpetrators had already run away.

On Thursday, March 14 at around 08:37 a.m., the situation heated up again, PT BMS mobilized around 300 people to massively attack Pakel farmers' land again. They deliberately cleared and damaged 2 hectares of farmers' crops in Kali Gondang and Pongkor. More than 3 farmers' huts were also vandalized and burned down on that day.

Although Pakel farmers tried to resist, PT BMS again acted more barbaric by carrying sharp weapons and firearms. There were even two shots fired into the air allegedly to scare the farmers into retreating. As a result, a female farmer was victimized with bruises on her hands, arms and legs.

After attacking Kali Gondang, at around 11:09 a.m., PT BMS also attacked the Pongkor area, allegedly to break the farmers' concentration so that they could more freely damage the plants. In the release, it was mentioned that around 20 banana trees belonging to farmers were cleared by PT BMS. In this incident, some PT BMS workers chose to go home and apologize to Pakel farmers while claiming to have been fooled and paid by the company to attack Pakel farmers.

The escalation of violence experienced by Pakel farmers did not stop there. On Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 08.55 WIB, according to the chronology release sent by Pakel farmers to us, PT Bumisari security began to re-trigger acts of provocation and intimidation of tension by instructing its heavily armed troops to advance and spread to the right and left of the farmers' cultivated land area.

Initially, the farmers were not provoked and remained vigilant in guarding the border to prevent PT Bumisari's troops from breaking in and damaging their crops again. However, soon PT BMS security gave another command by directing its troops to cut down trees on Pakel farmers' cultivated land.

Seeing the situation escalating, Pakel farmers stepped in to prevent further destruction. They blocked PT Bumisari's armed troops who were about to cut down trees in front of their own eyes. This incident triggered a physical clash with mutual pushing and shoving between the two camps.

Quoted from the chronology release, PT Bumisari did not want to back down and still insisted on trying to cut down the farmers' crops even though they had been blocked. As a result, the clash was inevitable.

Not only physical clashes, threats and intimidation were also sent by PT Bumisari to farmers who still insisted on defending their cultivated land. The release stated that some farmers were even threatened with imprisonment if they persisted in blocking land destruction. Even more worrying, PT Bumisari also explicitly threatened to return to destroying farmers' crops if residents' representatives refused to come to court. Of course, such intimidation triggered deep trauma and concern among Pakel farmers who only wanted to defend their cultivated land.

Even so, their determination to defend their cultivated land has not waned. In the release, it was mentioned that after the clash and the attack from PT Bumisari finally subsided at around 09.30 WIB, the farmers actually returned to guard until night to anticipate other unexpected attacks.

"After the clash, we remained on guard until night around our land to ensure that PT Bumisari's troops did not attack or damage our crops again," said Harun, who also faced the incident.

Two Vietnamese teachers were sentenced to prison on Wednesday in separate cases for criticizing authorities on social media under vague statutes often used to stifle dissent, people with knowledge of the situation said.

They are the latest examples of how Vietnam systematically suppresses basic freedoms and civil rights.

Duong Tuan Ngoc, 39, was sentenced by the Lam Dong People’s Court to seven years in prison and three years of probation under Article 117 of the country’s Penal Code for disseminating anti-state propaganda and “smearing senior leaders” on his social media accounts.

Retired teacher Nguyen Thu Hang, 62, received a two-year sentence under Article 331 for abusing democratic freedom that violated the interests of the state, rights and the legal interests of organizations and individuals.

She was convicted by the Dong Hoi People’s Court for using personal Facebook accounts to defame a judge who had presided over the land dispute case in which she was involved. She was also accused of streaming such video clips at various provincial offices.

Under the one-party rule of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the government severely restricts rights to freedom of expression, religion, association, peaceful assembly and movement, according to human rights and civil society groups.

“No one should be targeted for comments made on social media criticizing the government,” Josef Benedict, a researcher covering the Asia Pacific region for the CIVICUS Monitor, told RFA via text message.

Health videos

Ngoc, jailed since July 15, 2023, was an online teacher who specialized in macrobiotic diets, which aim to avoid foods containing toxins. He used to post articles and livestream videos about education, health and social issues on his Facebook and YouTube pages.

Police in Lam Dong province in southern Vietnam summoned him and his wife, Bui Thanh Diem Ngoc, on July 10, 2023, to question them about anonymous reports that Ngoc used his Facebook account to sell drugs.

But after Ngoc proved he was innocent, the police initiated a new probe on the charge of distributing anti-state propaganda and arrested him five days later.

Authorities accused the teacher of posting and sharing articles and videos on his Facebook and YouTube accounts that mocked, defamed and criticized the government and the party’s policies, and smeared senior party and state leaders, according to notices Lam Dong Police gave to Ngoc’s family.

A relative, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told Radio Free Asia that Ngoc’s first-instance trial, which his wife and lawyer were allowed to attend, lasted about two hours on Wednesday morning.

“The defense lawyer did not make a defense case for him but requested sentence litigation, saying that he had a clean criminal record and had performed many charity activities before his arrest,” the person said.

During the trial, Ngoc admitted to having “spoken ill of government officials” but affirmed his wish of “a multiparty and pluralistic regime and an improved political regime,” said the relative.

It appears as though Ngoc will not appeal the verdict because he wants to serve his sentence as soon as possible so he can see his family again and resume work, the person said.

‘Lip service’

Benedict from CIVICUS said Ngoc’s arrest for peaceful expression online is the latest attempt by the Vietnamese regime to stifle peaceful expression, which contravenes the country’s international human rights obligations to protect fundamental freedoms.

He expressed concern over the government’s use of Article 117, which U.N. experts have found overly broad and aimed at silencing those who seek to exercise their right to freely express their views and share information with others.

“These actions are unbecoming of a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council and shows that the government has been only merely paying lip service to human rights and has no intention of respecting and protecting them,” Benedict said.

Vietnam is a current three-year member of the Human Right Council in Geneva, Switzerland, for the 2023-25 term and will seek reelection to the body for the 2026-28 term, despite widespread rights violations.

Ngoc is well-known on social media, and his Facebook page has more than 45,000 followers with an introductory description declaring: “I have rights as a citizen. You have rights as citizens. Citizens are the rightful owners of the country.”

He has two YouTube accounts, one of which features hundreds of videos on health, medicine and life in the countryside, and has nearly 95,000 followers. His other channel has about 39,000 followers and features videos discussing politics, corruption and poor leadership in Vietnam.

Ngoc is the eighth Vietnamese activist convicted this year, and the third to be charged with disseminating “anti-state propaganda” according to an RFA tally.

Retired teacher

Meanwhile, the retired teacher, Nguyen Thu Hang, was sentenced to two years in jail for abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state.

Hang, a resident of Dong Hoi city in Quang Binh province in central Vietnam, previously worked at a middle school in Dong Hoi, and was arrested on Nov. 27, 2023.

Dong Hoi police’s investigation agency said Hang disagreed with a verdict handed down in a civil trial about a land-use rights dispute and a request to annul a land-use rights certificate in which she was a plaintiff.

The agency said that from March to May 2023, Hang repeatedly used her Facebook account to livestream comments on Judge Nguyen Van Ngh, posting videos of herself speaking at the headquarters of Nam Ly ward, Dong Hoi’s Department of Education and Training, and Quang Binh province’s Inspection Department.

Police have arrested and detained four Tibetans who protested Chinese authorities’ seizure of pasture land owned by Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region, three sources inside Tibet told Radio Free Asia.

On April 10, residents of Taktsa village in Luonixiang rural township in Markham county in Chamdo, or Changdu in Chinese, clashed with authorities after they appealed against the land grab and demanded compensation, said the sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.

In 2023, a Chinese county official illegally sold the pasture land to businessmen without the knowledge of locals and without providing them any compensation, the sources said.

The Tibetans had no knowledge that their land had been seized illegally until this April when the businessmen sent people to clear it. The Tibetans then confronted authorities, demanding payment.

Police arrested and detained four of the Tibetans, and slapped and beat many others at the scene, said one of the sources.

There were no immediate details about the status of the four or the charges against them, and it is not clear for what purpose the seized land will be used.

Despite repeated attempts, RFA did not receive any immediate response to calls to Markham county authorities and the local police station.

Chinese authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region and in Tibetan-populated areas of nearby Chinese provinces often ignore residents’ concerns about mining and land grabs by local officials, who routinely rely on force to subdue those who complain or protest, according to human rights groups.

Over the past few years, there have been several reports of similar land grabs that have taken place in Chamdo, a resource-rich area in eastern Tibet.

Most of the land grabs have been related to mining, including copper, gold and lithium, and development projects that China has undertaken in the areas. In some cases, Tibetans have been forced from their homes.

Thumbs up

Videos obtained by RFA show over a dozen Tibetans pleading before Chinese police as they raised both their thumbs up — a Tibetan gesture of a request to show mercy.

The gesture was also seen being made by Buddhist monks and Tibetans residents during February protests in Dege county, southwestern China’s Sichuan province, in an appeal to Chinese officials to stop a planned dam project on the Drichu River.

In the videos from Markham county, young and elderly Tibetans kneel before police clad in black, and wail, while others pull and tug at the authorities to heed their pleas.

The land in question is used by about 25 Tibetan families to graze their animals and for recreation purposes, the sources said.

Chinese authorities have arrested the official who had colluded with the businessmen to illegally seize the land without compensating the Tibetans, charging him with corruption, said one of the sources.

Now, the residents are demanding compensation for the land that had been occupied, he added.

Chinese police have forbidden the Tibetans from sharing information about the incident with people outside China, the sources said.

At least 60 armed personnel have been reportedly building fences in the farmlands of barangay Tartaria, Silang, Cavite since April 16, prompting farmers to defend their community.

Regional peasant group Katipunan ng mga Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama TK) said that the armed personnel came from Jarton Security, which it claimed was hired by the Ayala and Aguinaldo clans. Both families have been trying to seize the land for years, despite the pending decision of the Supreme Court (SC) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) on land ownership.

Kasama TK said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) intervened, but only to assist Jarton Security.

In response to the persistence of security personnel, the Tartaria farmers built a fence to protect their farm, only to be demolished by the armed personnel. At least one farmer was injured in the incident.

The local group of farmers and residents Samahan ng Magsasaka at Mamamayan ng Tartaria (Samata) said that they tried to ask the armed personnel through a document to leave in peace. However, they refused to sign.

“Ito ay nangangahulugan lamang na hindi sila seryoso at patuloy pa rin yung gagawin nila na pagbabakod sa mga hindi surrender. Kaya nagkampohan na kami sa lupa, andito pa rin yung mga tao, at ang tindig namin ay hindi kami aalis dito at patuloy kaming magbabantay,” a representative from SAMATA said.

(This means that they are not serious and they will be persistent in fencing off our lands. So we are camping here and we continue to stand our ground that we will not leave. We continue to watch them.)

This incident is not new to the farmers of Tartaria. In a 2021 report by Bulatlat, farmers and residents were struggling against land-grabbing for decades. They have also successfully formed barricades and resisted the attempts to demolish their homes.

Both Kasama TK and SAMATA recorded a separate incident of harassment by Jarton Security on April 3. They also reported that there were incidents of illegal intrusion into their homes.

Human rights group Karapatan Laguna said that the ongoing harassment and planned change in land use are blatant violations of the human rights of Tartaria farmers and residents.

Initially, the DAR approved 137 farmer-beneficiaries of Tartaria under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) of former President Corazon Aquino. However, the Aguinaldo family contested the approval and later submitted appeals which were denied. It was only during the time of President Fidel V. Ramos that the decision was reversed, declaring the land as exempted from distribution.

“The slow action of the DAR in processing such cases of farmer struggles has also been condemned, allowing numerous incidents of harassment, intimidation, and threats against residents and farmers. The involvement of the PNP in harassment is unwarranted as it falls outside their jurisdiction,” Karapatan Laguna added.

Karapatan denounces the violent demolitions of stores, farms and protest centers in Barangay Tartaria, Silang, Cavite by hired goons of Ayala Land Inc. and the Aguinaldo clan.

The disputed area in Barangay Tartaria is part of a 200-hectare landholding settled by farmers since the late 19th century and known for its fertile soil planted to crops such as coconut, coffee, pineapple and banana. The landholding is being claimed by the Aguinaldos, who, however, failed to produce any proof of ownership.

Initially approved as a land reform area under the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, the National Housing Authority in collusion with the Aguinaldos succeeded in having the landholding exempted from CARP by having it reclassified as residential land. Since then, violent demolitions have been perpetrated by security guards hired by Ayala Land Inc. in cahoots with local police forces to make way for the construction of commercial establishments and a private subdivision in the area.

The latest attack was the burning at 2 a.m. of April 20, 2024 of the protest camp set up by the Samahan ng Magsasaka at Mamamayan ng Tartaria (SAMATA). The perpetrators were some 60 armed security goons from the notorious Jarton Security, the same agency hired by Ayala Land to demolish peasant communities in Hacienda Yulo in Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna.

Karapatan stands in solidarity with the peasant communities of Tartaria in their continuing struggle to defend their land and livelihoods from landgrabbers led by Ayala Land and the Aguinaldo clan.

Kachin religious leader Dr. Hkalam Samson, who was released on Myanmar’s New Year amnesty on April 17, was reportedly re-arrested by the military junta.

According to a person close to the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), Dr. Hkalam Samson was rearrested after the military arrived with a large force at the home of Dr. Hkalam Samson in Tapkone Ward, Myitkyina town, Kachin State, at about 11:00 p.m. on April 17.

“It’s right he was arrested. After he got home, the military came back and re-arrested him at night. The military force was quite large. It was at least 20 forces,” he said.

He added that it is not known for what reason Dr. Hkalam Samson was re-arrested and where he was being arrested until now.

Dr. Hkalam Samson was appointed as a special advisor to the Kachin Baptist Church (KBC) in 2022. He was arrested by the military junta at Mandalay International Airport on December 5, 2022. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison under section 17 (1) of the Unlawful Association Act and sections 505(a) and 52 (a) of the Penal Code.

After being imprisoned for more than a year in Myitkyina Prison, he was released on amnesty but was re-arrested by the military for no reason.

“Such re-arrests should not be done at all. It is lawlessness. The military does not easily release those who have strong convictions and those who can resist. If those do not negotiate with the military junta, they re-arrest and put those back in prison. I want to comment the military junta should not do this kind of inequality to political prisoners,” said Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a member of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network.

Similarly, singer Saw Poe Kwar who was released on amnesty, was re-arrested at the entrance of Insein Prison, on November 15, 2022.

In addition, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 110 political prisoners were re-arrested after release on amnesty nationwide in 2021.

The sister of prominent Tibetan prisoner Dorjee Tashi condemns police for destroying phone evidence of their brutality

Tibet Watch has learned that Gonmo Kyi, sister of the high-profile Tibetan prisoner Dorjee Tashi, was severely beaten by police this weekend.

The police assault followed her latest solo protest in front of the Tibet Higher People’s Court in Lhasa on 19 and 20 March, in which she again called for a retrial for her brother.

The incident comes two months after Gonmo held a sit-in protest in front of the same court holding up a paper that says “Dorjee Tashi is innocent!”, and a portrait of Xi Jinping in her lap.

Broken phone of Gonmo Kyi containing evidence of police brutality

In the videos Tibet Watch received, Gonmo Kyi shows injuries she sustained and condemns the authorities for breaking her phone, which she says contained evidence of police brutality committed her.

“You [the authorities] robbed my mobile phone and broke it to conceal the evidence, illegally arrested me and illegally beat me. Youalways propagandised that I have been freely coming to protest and freely going. But each time I came to protest requesting a fair trial for my brother’s [Dorjee Tashi] case, you arrested me and beat me. Then you broke my mobile phone to conceal the evidence”.

Another video shows the paper that says “Dorjee Tashi is innocent!” on a table and she makes the recording in which she condemns the injustice of using political crime against her brother: “You [the authorities] forcefully put a black hat on a white person [Dorjee Tashi]. You don’t have any evidence that Dorjee Tashi has committed a crime. If you have any evidence, please show us and prove it! Dorjee Tashi didn’t do such criminal offences, therefore, you evaded retrial of his case for many years!”

Gonmo Kyi has been appealing to see her imprisoned brother, Dorjee Tashi, and for him to be given a retrial.

During her protests, she has been beaten and threatened. In December, she was detained by police for one week. She has nevertheless continued her protests.

Dorjee Tashi was arrested in 2008 and charged with loan fraud. His family and those following his case vigorously contest these charges.

On 2 April 2024, indigenous human rights defender Surju Tekam was arrested following a raid on his home by security forces in Chhattisgarh state, India. He is held under the regressive Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Arms Act and has been denied bail by the National Investigation Agency Court in Bilaspur. Surju Tekam's arrest stems from his vocal advocacy on behalf of peaceful local movements against increasing human rights violations, forcible land acquisition for corporate interests, and militarization in the state.

Surju Tekam is an indigenous human rights defender and the convenor of the Bastar Coordination Committee of Mass Movements (Bastar Jan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti) and the Vice-President of Sarva Adivasi Samaj, a collective of all Adivasi organizations in Chhattisgarh. He has led major protest movements of the Adivasi community in Chhattisgarh against corporatization and militarization, and has been vocal against human rights violations by security forces, including extrajudicial executions, arrests of community leaders, and forced evictions.

On 2 April 2024, around 4:00AM, Surju Tekam’s residence was raided by security forces, and he was subsequently arrested under the UAPA and the Arms Act. He was produced before the NIA court in Bilaspur and denied bail. Surju Tekam’s family members allege that literature associated with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI(M)) and weapons were planted in his residence by security forces. The police have alleged that Surju Tekam has been mobilizing Adivasis on behalf of Maoist organizations. He has been arrested under the UAPA and the Arms Act, making procuring his release on bail extremely difficult.

Arrests of indigenous human rights defenders in Chhattisgarh under accusations of Maoist links have been used as a means of persecution to stifle dissent and undermine their legitimate demands for the rights of Adivasi communities in the region. The arrest of human rights defender Surju Tekam in the period leading up to the national elections in India has raised concerns that it is aimed at silencing his advocacy against state abuse and violations.

On 17 March 2024, women human rights defenders Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, together with other protestors engaged in a peaceful demonstration outside the Larkana Press Club, faced arrest and excessive use of force by Larkana police. The women human rights defenders had gathered peacefully to protest against the lack of justice or effective investigation into the killing of Hidayat Lohar, the father of Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, on 16 February 2024. Sindh police used excessive force against the protesters, including firing live bullets, baton charges, and tear gas. Several protesters were arrested by police, ten of whom were held for twenty days before being released on bail.

Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar are women human rights defenders and the founders of the Voice of Missing Persons of Sindh, an organization aimed at supporting victims of enforced disappearances and their families to seek justice. Their father, Hidayat Lohar, was forcibly disappeared in 2017 and held for two years until 2019. The women human rights defenders have played a key role in advocating for their father’s release and have also supported other families to seek justice and truth about the fate and whereabouts of victims of enforced disappearances. Sasui Lohar, Sorath Lohar, and their family have faced reprisals, including legal persecution, surveillance, threats, and harassment due to their human rights work.

On 16 February 2024, Hidayat Lohar was killed by unidentified gunmen while traveling to work in Nasirabad city, Sindh province. To date, no effective action has been taken to investigate the crime or hold those responsible to account. For two weeks following the incident, Nasirabad police refused to register a First Information Report (FIR) or commence an investigation. The FIR bearing number 32/2024 was only registered on 2 March 2024, following an order by the Additional Sessions Judge, in Kamber District. Peaceful campaigns by Sasui Lohar, Sorath Lohar, their family members, and other human rights defenders to seek justice have been violently suppressed.

On 17 March 2024, Sasui Lohar, Sorath Lohar, and several other human rights defenders led a peaceful protest outside the Larkana Press Club in Larkana city, in Sindh Province. The protest was against the lack of action taken by police and Sindh authorities to effectively investigate the killing of Hidayat Lohar. Police used brutal and excessive force to disperse the protesters, including baton charges, tear gas, and live bullets. At least ten protesters were injured in the attack. Police arrested several protesters, including Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar, their brothers Sarang Lohar and Sanghaar Lohar, as well as their uncle. The two women human rights defenders and other women protesters were released the same day. However, their siblings and ten other protesters were detained under two FIRs 35/2024 and 34/2024 for twenty days before being granted bail by the anti-terrorism court in Larkana city on 5 April 2024.

Sasui Lohar and Sorath Lohar have been previously attacked in response to their peaceful campaign for justice for the killing of their father. On 19 February 2024, three days after the assassination, police used excessive force and intimidation against the two women human rights defenders and their supporters as they gathered peacefully in Nasirabad town calling for justice.

Front Line Defenders is extremely concerned about the safety of Sasui Lohar, Sorath Lohar, and for those who faced arrest and violence as reprisals for their peaceful protest. Front Line Defenders has previously issued an appeal calling for accountability for the killing of Hidayat Lohar and an end to reprisals against human rights defenders and their families by authorities in Pakistan. There is a well-documented pattern of reprisals against those documenting and speaking out against state violations, which includes violence and reprisals against family members.

The plan of Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY) students to voice criticism of the current democratic situation was disbanded by the rectorate. UNY stated that it would not give a statement like other campuses.

Previously, a poster on social media circulated “Call for Consolidation: Inviting Lecturers, Students, and the Entire Academic Community of UNY. Wake up the people from the blatantly tainted democratic party”. The event was originally held at the UNY Rectorate Terrace, at 13.00 WIB, Tuesday (6/2).

However, based on Gatra.com's observation at the location, after an hour the agenda did not take place. The student coordinator of the event, Farras Raihan, explained that the activity was not a demonstration or the reading of a statement, but a discussion.

“We invite lecturers and professors whose knowledge must be far above us to participate in the discussion. The hope is how UNY responds to the current democratic situation and expresses its alignment,” said the Chairman of BEM UNY.

However, he explained that the rectorate did not give permission for the activity. Activities are allowed but must be outside the UNY campus area.

“We received pressures not to hold this activity, there were even lecturers who stated that they would sanction students who participated,” said Farras while showing a screenshot in a group conversation about the threat.

About 30 students then continued to gather around the rectorate. They were met by the Secretary of the Directorate of Academic, Student Affairs and Alumni of UNY, Prof. Guntur, who questioned the purpose and permission of the activity.

“What is this activity? Where is the permit? Where is the proposal? If there is a permit, the rectorate can even fund it and there are lecturers who accompany it. If there is no permit, I will send this to security,” said Guntur in front of the students.

If there is no permit, Guntur invites students to carry out activities outside the campus area fence. “If there is no activity, then why do you gather,” he said.

The rectorate and students had a dialog for about 20 minutes. Students were then asked to disperse from the rectorate area. The discussion failed to be held.

To reporters, Guntur questioned the permit and organizers of the activity. “They admitted that the activity was not on behalf of the student organization,” he said.

Guntur also stated that UNY would not give a statement about the political situation like other campuses. “There is no pressure from anywhere. We are neutral because we are civil servants,” he said.

He also denied that there was pressure on UNY not to hold the agenda. “There is none. We are a government institution, just follow the government's rules. We are a campus, we do not have the capacity to deal with the issues of this country,” he said.

The East Kalimantan Police have temporarily suspended the detention of nine citizens who were arrested for halting the opening of land for the Capital City of Indonesia project (IKN). The citizens can continue the land verification process and legal proceedings will still proceed.

"The nine perpetrators have received a suspension of detention, but the legal process continues," said Head of Public Relations Department of East Kalimantan Regional Police, Commissioner Artanto, on Sunday (3/3/2024).

The suspension of detention was carried out on Friday (1/3/2024). The nine citizens have already been declared as suspects by the police. Therefore, the legal process for the citizens continues at the East Kalimantan Regional Police.

Previously, the residents were reported by workers at the Very Very Important Person (VVIP) IKN Airport project. According to the police report, nine residents halted the activity of workers who were clearing land for the VVIP IKN Airport project.

Residents say that the land is their cultivation area, namely Saloloang Farmer Group. Therefore, they request that the land not be opened before there is a scheduled land verification by the government.

However, the project workers ultimately reported the residents to the police. The police arrested the residents because they were deemed to have made threats and carried sharp weapons such as machetes or mandau while halting the land clearing activity.

Residents have been detained and interrogated by police since February 24, 2024. "Those who requested a postponement of detention (nine residents) were Penajam Paser Utara Acting Regent, Makmur Marbun," said Artanto.

Head of Public Relations and Protocol Division of PPU Regency Secretary Hendro Susilo stated that as a guarantee to the citizens, Acting Regent of PPU sent a written letter to the Kaltim Regional Police. He added that the PPU Regency Government hopes that the issue faced by the citizens will not reoccur, especially in the construction site location of the IKN VVIP Airport.

"Meaning, convey the existing issues to the authorized party related to this matter, including to the Acting Regent of PPU who is also the Chairman of the Agrarian Reform Team of PPU District," said Hendro.

Land verification is underway Before the suspension of land opening, the suspects and 22 other residents accompanied by the Development Policy Assistance Network (JPKP). Assistance was provided in managing their land recognition, but also as a point for the development of the IKN VVIP Airport.

The Chairman of JPKP, Maret Samuel Sueken, said that land verification is the process of proving whether citizens have the right to crops or land based on evidence. Residents claim that their land is ancestral land that has been cultivated since 1965.

Residents have a legal claim to the land in the form of a seal and permission to cultivate the land. Maret stated that residents will also prove that they manage the land by showing the existence of plants and trees that they have planted.

According to him, residents halted the opening of land in the IKN VVIP Airport to prevent the removal of evidence of crops that had already been planted by locals. This is because the residents have already received a schedule for verifying their land.

When stopping the activity, the residents did indeed carry a kind of machete and machete on their waist. However, Maret said, those were tools that the villagers brought when farming. "It's called the land needs verification, residents clean the road to their garden. So they use machetes and the like for that," said Maret.

The nine detained individuals, according to Maret, are both heads of families and land managers. As such, this detention suspension could assist the land verification process more optimally. "The land verification process is still ongoing," he said.

Just a few days after the removal of Bolta Hindustan’s channel from YouTube on April 4, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued a directive for the removal of National Dastak’s YouTube channel as well.

The National Dastak took to X, formerly Twitter, and spoke on the decision. The notice by Google, which was sent to the media platform on Monday, April 8, stated that it could not specify why the channel was being banned as the government had declared that reason confidential. The media platform posted in response:

“नेशनल दस्तक को बंद करवाना चाहती है सरकार।। 3 अप्रैल को यूट्यूब ने नोटिस भेजा था।। आर्टिकल 19 को भी नोटिस है। ।।आचार संहिता में ये सब हो रहा है।। लाखों अखबार टीवी न्यूज चैनल चल रहे। बहुजनों के नेशनल दस्तक से इतना डर।”

(The government wants to shut down National Dastak. YouTube sent a notice on April 3, a notice was also sent to Article 19 . All this is happening under the Model Code of Conduct. Lakhs of newspapers and TV news channels are running. Why are they so afraid of Bahujan people’s National Dastak?)

The ban has been notified in adherence to the with Rule 15 (2) of the Information Technology Rules, 2021 with Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000. with Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

National Dastak describes itself as ‘online media’ and a voice of the oppressed, including Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, backwards, women, and farmers. The YouTube channel had over 9 million subscribers. This has raised questions about why the government, without providing an explanation, is targeting and censoring independent media which are run by and report issues of the marginalised.

Bolta Hindustan’s founder, Haseen Rahmani, had spoken to SabrangIndia earlier and stated how the “messenger is being punished’. The media platform’s channel was similarly banned without providing any reason due to confidentiality of the notice by the government. He further elaborated, saying the media platform will take the legal route if necessary, “Those who give hate speech are free, but if you do a story on these givers of hate speech, then you are punished.”

A total of 30 students representing various campuses carried out a symbolic action while submitting the analysis they made at the Constitutional Court Building (MK), Tuesday (13/2).

Dozens of students began gathering at 15.00 WIB at the gathering point. 15 minutes later they then moved to the back of the Constitutional Court Building.

“At 15.30 a group of unknown people prohibited the students from moving to the back of the Constitutional Court Building. They threatened to forcibly disperse, if students continued to protest,” said one of the protesters, Tegar Afriansyah in his statement.

However, at around 16:00 WIB, students continued to move from the gathering point towards the back of the Constitutional Court Building. Again, a group of unknown people followed and tried to provoke the students.

30 minutes later, students carried out symbolic actions and expressed their opinions behind the Constitutional Court Building. There, a number of police officers were already on guard.

“At 16.45 a group of people forcibly dispersed the student protest by committing violence such as pulling, pushing, grabbing microphones and hitting,” said Tegar.

“The unknown group also damaged the protest tools regarding dynastic politics delivered by students. Then the police intervened,” he continued.

Nevertheless, dozens of students continued their protest at 17.00 WIB, while waiting for representatives from the Constitutional Court to meet them. Again, the protest continued to be disturbed by a group of unknown people.

Until finally, at around 17.30 WIB, representatives from the Constitutional Court met the students and accepted the analysis submitted. Afterward, the students moved back to the gathering point.

However, it turned out that the group of unknown people continued to follow and pursue them. Until finally, the unknown group began to commit acts of violence against the students.

“The group of people committed violence by pulling, pushing, grabbing and hitting students who were preparing to go home on the motorcycle yard. The police allowed this. More than ten people were victims of pushing, pulling and other violence,” said Tegar.

At around 18.00 WIB, dozens of students then dispersed to save themselves.

When confirmed, Central Jakarta Metro Police Chief Kombes Susatyo Purnomo Condro denied any knowledge of the beatings or violence.

“Nothing, (the protest) has finished in an orderly manner,” said Susatyo.

The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has suspended and debarred student leader Ramadas Prini Sivanandan citing various incidents, including the screening of a banned BBC documentary on campus, organising controversial events, and participating in protests.

Ramadas, who is also the general secretary of the Progressive Student Federation (PSF), has been barred for two years from all TISS campuses, including Mumbai, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Tuljapur.

The notice issued by the administration on April 18 highlighted Ramadas’s involvement in activities deemed as violating the institute’s disciplinary rules. These activities include conducting a Bhagat Singh memorial lecture with contentious guest speakers, staging protests outside the director’s bungalow late at night with loud slogans, and promoting the screening of the documentary Ram Ke Naam via social media platforms.

A committee appointed to find out if Ramadas violated the institute’s code of conduct recommended that he be suspended and debarred. As per the suspension order, TISS has allowed Ramadas to appeal against the decision within 30 days.

Ramadas is currently pursuing a PhD from the School of Development Studies at the institute and is a vocal advocate for social justice.

The suspension has sparked outrage among student groups, with PSF condemning the administration’s actions as an attack on student rights and freedom of speech. “These actions of the administration clearly highlight a trend of active support of the ruling BJP government at the cost of the future of students coming from marginalised backgrounds,” the PSF said in a press statement.

“The administration has been taking rampant actions against any form of student dissent, especially following its takeover by the central government last year and the appointment of new leadership in all high-ranking administrative positions. The crackdown on student voices resisting the policies of the BJP government is very much evident in these actions,” the statement added.

The showcause notice issued to Ramadas on March 16 pointed out his participation as a speaker at the Parliament March organised at Jantar Mantar. The PSF said the march was organised under the banner of the United Students of India, a joint platform of 16 student organisations.

The press statement also pointed out that Ramadas is a meritorious student who had received the National Fellowship for Scheduled Castes from the Indian government’s Ministry of Social Justice for excelling in the UGC NET examination. “Ramadas has unequivocally defended student rights on campus and worked hard to build joint platforms and alliances among all student organisations,” the statement added

Responding to the controversy, a TISS official said that such activities of the students malign the image of the institute and subsequently impact placements too. “The institute therefore acted against Ramadas as per rules since he failed to follow the disciplinary code of conduct.”

The Community Coalition urges the National Police Chief and Komnas HAM to investigate the repressive actions of a group of plainclothes people who dispersed a student forum to discuss the impeachment of President Jokowi.

Imparsial researcher Hussein Ahmad explained that the forum was held on Saturday, February 3, 2024 at around 23.06 WIB. The Jakarta student forum was held at the Trilogy University Campus, Kalibata, South Jakarta.

“Suddenly a group of unknown people dressed in plainclothes arrived. Without explaining the purpose and objectives of their arrival, they forced students to leave the campus while threatening students not to discuss the plan for a demonstration that encourages the impeachment of the president. Not only that, there was even one student who experienced violence in the form of being horned in the head,” Hussein said in his statement, Sunday, February 4, 2024.

Therefore, said Hussein, the coalition considers this incident not just an ordinary act of crime or thuggery. The repression against the student forum that discussed the matter of impeaching the president must be seen as an action that is laden with power interests. In fact, he continued, the incident was suspected of being orchestrated or condoned by interested parties.

Then, Hussein said that law enforcement officials, especially the National Police, should be proactive in responding to this incident by conducting investigations.

The National Police must be able to reveal this case not only at the level of field actors, all parties who mastermind or become intellectual actors must also be revealed and prosecuted.

During a barangay session in Barangay Ibo, Toledo City on April 4, 2024, Barangay Councilor Primo Lamela, 49, was allegedly confronted by members of the Philippine Army (PA). Lamela was allegedly told by the PA team leader that he was a target of their intelligence gathering for his alleged connections with the New People’s Army (NPA). The PA team leader also alleged that Lamela and his organization posed a potential threat to the peace and order situation in their barangay. Lamela is the current Executive Director of Kapunongan Alang sa Kauswagan sa Kasadpang Sugbo (KAKASAKA), a local non-governmental organization. Lamela is also an active member of Akbayan-Cebu and an active supporter of Limpyong Hangin Alang sa Tanan (LAHAT), a local environmental organization actively engaged in opposing a coal-fired power plant in Toledo City.

In March 2024, Lamela met the PA team by chance. The team was seeking permission to stay in the barangay for intelligence purposes. Lamela escorted them to a possible site for their camp. After that, he went to his office, while the troops returned to the barangay hall. Later, when he returned, he found the troops talking to the barangay captain. After they left, the barangay captain allegedly confronted Lamela and asked about KAKASAKA’s operations. Lamela had already become suspicious about the PA’s intentions.

According to Lamela, during a formal courtesy call to the council, the PA sat in on one of their sessions. The PA explained that they would be staying in their barangay for several months. However, during the presentation, Lamela felt like the PA was attacking him. The PA brought up Lamela's affiliation and support for Akbayan Party-list and Senator Risa Hontiveros, as well as his connection to a local organization whose members were arrested during a rally in the nearby town of Aluguinsan. The PA also hinted that Lamela was linked to an alleged NPA sighting in Barangay Ibo, following a recent military encounter in Escalante City, Negros Occidental. There were reports that after the encounter, NPA members allegedly went to Barangay Ibo.

According to Lamela, after their initial meeting, the PA visited his office multiple times. The PA allegedly demanded that Lamela hand over all the legal documents about KAKASAKA. Additionally, the PA ordered Lamela to disclose all their contacts and funders. Lamela grew tired of being asked for the same documents repeatedly and requested the PA to write a formal letter for their request. On each visit, a different member of the PA arrived, but none of them introduced themselves. Lamela became concerned about the true motive behind the PA's repeated requests.

Background:

During the early 2000s, Lamela was actively opposing the construction of a power plant. The power plant's administration allegedly ordered military men to visit his office and persuade him to stop his opposition. Despite this, Lamela persisted and eventually ran for office, winning the position of barangay councilor during the 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections. Currently, Lamela serves as the chairperson of two committees in the barangay - the committee on environment and the committee on fisheries and agriculture. He is also the vice-chairperson of the committee on women.

Nghe An Provincial Prison No. 6 did not allow Bui Van Thuan, a prisoner of conscience from Thanh Hoa Province, to talk to his family in the Muong language when they visited him in August 2023 and February 2024. The prison officers required them to communicate in the Vietnamese language. Thuan, 43, a Muong ethnic minority, is serving a six-year sentence on the conviction of “distribution of anti-state propaganda.” The Muong community in Vietnam is located in a mountainous area southwest of Hanoi.

Thuan’s wife, Trinh Thi Nhung, told RFA that her husband, his parents, and younger brother had difficulty communicating in Vietnamese instead of their mother language. The correctional officers threatened to file a report against Thuan when they occasionally used Muong words for sentences they found hard to express in Vietnamese. Nhung added that Thuan had recently been transferred to the prison’s Camp No. 1, which has harsher living conditions.

The sister of the detained journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, Nguyen Thi Phong, told The 88 Project that she visited him at Detention Center No. 1 in Hanoi on April 3. Phong explained that since Binh is still under investigation, he is still not allowed to have visitors. She could only send Binh some food and money. Binh, a former writer at the Party mouthpiece, The Communist Review, and one of the founders of the pro-democracy group Brotherhood for Democracy, was arrested under Article 117 for his alleged engagement in the distribution of anti-state propaganda.

The Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association has removed the names of lawyers Dang Dinh Manh and Nguyen Van Mieng from its list of members, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Law Newspaper.

The two had not paid membership fees for many years, the paper said in its Wednesday edition, adding that the decision to suspend them came into effect on April 5.

Hinting at another reason for the Bar Association’s decision the paper added that the two lawyers had previously defended six members of the Peng Lei Buddhist House – or Tinh That Bong Lai – who were sentenced in 2022 to a combined 23 years and six months in prison on charges of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 of the Criminal Code.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Mieng told Radio Free Asia he was not surprised by the decision and noted that the Bar Association has had ongoing problems with members not paying union dues. However, he said he believed that was not the main reason for them canceling his membership.

“In Vietnam, practicing lawyers are required to participate in the bar associations of provinces and cities. Everyone must belong to a certain bar association. Therefore, when the bar association removes our names, it means we are no longer qualified to practice law in Vietnam even though we are still lawyers,” he said.

“The independence of bar associations is almost non-existent. The cases we work on related to politics and democratic freedoms are monitored and the Bar Association, as a professional organization, is supposed to protect us in our activities but they are an extended arm of the security agency, or of other legal agencies.”

He said it was clear that the real reason for removing his name from the Bar Association was to clear the way for his prosecution under Article 331 in connection with the Tinh That Bong Lai case.

Lawyer Dang Dinh Manh told RFA that, in early 2023, the Ministry of Public Security asked the Long An Provincial Security Investigation Agency to conduct a criminal investigation against him.

He said that after receiving political asylum in the U.S. he wrote to the Bar Association asking for his name to be removed from their list of lawyers and also deleted any mention of the association from his social media.

“Currently, practicing law in Vietnam with professional qualifications is unthinkable, but I still try to practice according to the concept ‘there is nothing that prevents lawyers from practicing in accordance with their professional qualities’,” he said.

”Looking back on 28 years of practice, I have only one regret: having to stop defending activists, because being able to defend them is a privilege."

The Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association is under the direct control of the central government. One of its tasks is to represent and protect the legitimate rights and interests of practicing lawyers.

Lawyers Dang Dinh Manh and Nguyen Van Mieng are two of the five people representing the defendants in the Tinh That Bong Lai case.

They have repeatedly received summonses from the Long An Police due to reports from the Department of Cyber Security & Crime Prevention which said the two distributed online video clips, images and articles that allegedly showed signs of abusing democratic freedoms, infringing on the interests of the State and the legitimate rights of organizations and individuals according to Article 331 of the Criminal Code.

Both lawyers ignored the summonses on the grounds that it was their right to remain silent as persons under investigation.

On June 11, 2023, the Long An Provincial Police website posted a search notice saying that the two lawyers had ignored requests to come forward to be interviewed and had ignored repeated summonses, while giving no reason for their absence. It said that the police did not know the whereabouts of the two lawyers.

The Long An Provincial Police Department said it intended to search for the lawyers to resolve crime reports.

Both lawyers affirmed that this search procedure is illegal, because according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code there is no law regulating it.

The two lawyers are currently in the United States.

The Police today (17) utilised water cannons and tear gas to disperse a protest organised by the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) near the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.

The demonstration aimed at highlighting and seeking solutions to the challenges confronting the state university system.

As the protest march approached Wijerama from the university’s front, law enforcement deployed tear gas and water cannons on five separate occasions.

The confrontations resulted in heated situations between the police and the participating students.

On 27th February, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse a group of protesting students near the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. The protest march was organised by the students’ union of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Sri Jayewardenepura University. It was launched to demand solutions to several concerns including issues related to hostels, cafeterias and delays in ‘Mahapola’ scholarship payments.

Police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse a group of protesting students near the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

The protest march was organized by the students’ union of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Sri Jayewardenepura University.

The agitation was reportedly launched demanding solutions to several concerns including issues related to hostels, cafeterias and delays in ‘Mahapola’ scholarship payments.

The convenor of the Inter-University Students’ Federation (IUSF) Madushan Chandrajith was arrested after the Police dispersed a protest staged in Colombo, on Wednesday.

The Police fired water cannons on the protest organised by the IUSF in Borella.

A confrontation took place between the Police and the protesters when the protesters were blocked near the Colombo National Hospital.

The Police later fired water on the protesters and surrounded Chandrajith and arrested him.

Some minor staff of the hospital were seen objecting to the arrest.

On the 76th Independence Day of Sri Lanka, the undergraduates of the University of Jaffna, in alliance with civil society groups based in the North, organized a peaceful protest in Kilinochchi. These protests highlighted the ongoing acts of injustice and violations by the state and the Sinhala-Buddhisization of the North and East of the country and demanded a political solution to the national question.

The students who participated in the protests were attacked brutally by the police with water cannons and tear gas. The police were seen dragging the students by their arms, pushing them around and forcing them onto the ground. Several students who took part in the protest were arrested.

The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association strongly condemns the police’s attempt to suppress the protest using brute force. Yesterday’s violence demonstrates that there is no freedom for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to assemble peacefully and fight for their rights in a democratic manner even on the Independence Day of the country.

The Tamils in Sri Lanka have been fighting for their political rights and resisting state oppression through non-violent means since the end of the thirty-year-long armed struggle in 2009. There have been protests led by Tamils in the North-East of the country against land grabs, militarization and Sinhala-Buddhisization. Some of these protests made a call for the release of the political prisoners and justice for those who were made to disappear. Instead of addressing these issues in a democratic manner, the state often unleashed majoritarian violence on the protesting Tamils.

The current Sri Lankan regime tries to ensure its survival by suppressing protests. It uses draconian laws and violence to curtail, stifle and take away people’s rights to free speech, assembly and protest. The attacks on the peaceful student protesters on the 76th Independence Day is a manifestation of these authoritarian methods of governance and Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.

The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association emphasizes that the people of this country across ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional boundaries should speak up against the violence unleashed on the Independence Day which undermined the very idea of ‘independence’ and turned it into a farce. It is only by finding just and lasting solutions to the ethnic conflict and the economic crisis that the government can win the trust and confidence of the people. The government will never be able to contain the resistance it faces today by introducing repressive laws or resorting to violence. At a time when we are faced with a serious crisis, it is important that we come together to protect the democratic spaces available to us today. The Association believes firmly that it is only by acting collectively and courageously in these spaces that we can strengthen democracy and defeat state oppression.

The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association

On the 76th Independence Day of Sri Lanka, the undergraduates of the University of Jaffna, in alliance with civil society groups based in the North, organized a peaceful protest in Kilinochchi. These protests highlighted the ongoing acts of injustice and violations by the state and the Sinhala-Buddhisization of the North and East of the country and demanded a political solution to the national question.

The students who participated in the protests were attacked brutally by the police with water cannons and tear gas. The police were seen dragging the students by their arms, pushing them around and forcing them onto the ground. Several students who took part in the protest were arrested.

The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association strongly condemns the police’s attempt to suppress the protest using brute force. Yesterday’s violence demonstrates that there is no freedom for the Tamils in Sri Lanka to assemble peacefully and fight for their rights in a democratic manner even on the Independence Day of the country.

The Tamils in Sri Lanka have been fighting for their political rights and resisting state oppression through non-violent means since the end of the thirty-year-long armed struggle in 2009. There have been protests led by Tamils in the North-East of the country against land grabs, militarization and Sinhala-Buddhisization. Some of these protests made a call for the release of the political prisoners and justice for those who were made to disappear. Instead of addressing these issues in a democratic manner, the state often unleashed majoritarian violence on the protesting Tamils.

The current Sri Lankan regime tries to ensure its survival by suppressing protests. It uses draconian laws and violence to curtail, stifle and take away people’s rights to free speech, assembly and protest. The attacks on the peaceful student protesters on the 76th Independence Day is a manifestation of these authoritarian methods of governance and Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.

The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association emphasizes that the people of this country across ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional boundaries should speak up against the violence unleashed on the Independence Day which undermined the very idea of ‘independence’ and turned it into a farce. It is only by finding just and lasting solutions to the ethnic conflict and the economic crisis that the government can win the trust and confidence of the people. The government will never be able to contain the resistance it faces today by introducing repressive laws or resorting to violence. At a time when we are faced with a serious crisis, it is important that we come together to protect the democratic spaces available to us today. The Association believes firmly that it is only by acting collectively and courageously in these spaces that we can strengthen democracy and defeat state oppression.

The University of Jaffna Teachers’ Association

HRD Asanka Abeyrathna, was participating in a protest calling for justice for families of the disappeared, in Matara. The Police confronted protestors and tried to disperse the protest and leaflet distribution, prior to it even beginning. Following an altercation with the protestors and the police, they arrested Asanka. A truck driver transporting sounds etc., and person who got the sound permit, for a parallel event also on enforced disappearances, were also arrested. All 3 were subsequently released without charge, after statements were taken down.

Executive editor at https://dawanal.com/ Arjun Thapaliya received death threat for reporting on April 3 in Siraha. Siraha lies in Madhesh Province of Nepal.

Freedom Forum talked to Thapaliya about the incident. Editor Thapaliya shared with FF that he has been following activities of Golbazar Municipality and writing news on the municipality’s misconduct. On the day of incident, Thapaliya published news about financial irregularities in construction of a highway in the municipality. He also mentioned alleged involvement of Chief Administrative Officer, engineer and ward chairperson in the corruption.

After half an hour of publication of the news, administrative officer called Thapaliya on mobile and threatened to shoot him for publishing news. He also spoke foul words on Thapaliya.

“Thereafter, I disconnected his call. On his 18th attempt as I received the call, he shouted that he would immediately come to me and shoot me”, said editor Thapaliya, “Then, I went to lodge a complaint at Area Police Office, Golbazar but they refused to register it. I will again go there tomorrow.”

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to a journalist. Journalists have right to report on the public issues exposing irregularities and make citizens informed. In spite of adopting legitimate ways to show concern over published news, threatening a journalist to death is a serious violation of press freedom.

FF strongly urges the municipal authority to respect journalists’ right to free reporting. The security authority is also urged to ensure safety of journalist to avoid any untoward incident.

Chinese authorities have detained incommunicado a Tibetan monk from the local Kirti Monastery for staging a peaceful solo protest against repressive policies in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

On 26 March, a Tibetan monk named Pema was arbitrarily detained and subjected to incommunicado detention by the local Public Security Bureau Officers for staging a peaceful solo protest by holding a portrait of the Dalai Lama on the stretch of a road known to the local Tibetans as’ martyrs road’ in Ngaba County. Local witnesses reported hearing Pema shouting slogans calling for the “Return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet” and “Religious Freedom in Tibet,” among others.

Pema, who is in his 50s, is son of Toepa and a native of Soruma village in Ngaba County. Pema serves as a primary teacher at the Kirti Monastery while pursuing higher Buddhist studies. He is widely known in the monastery as Gen Pema (English: Teacher Pema).

Following Pema’s arbitrary arrest, Chinese security forces have intensified their control and restrictions in Ngaba County, especially in Soruma village and Kirti Monastery.

A source informed TCHRD that “prior to deleting his WeChat account, Chinese authorities contacted individuals on his contact list, seeking information about their identities. His personal WeChat is now inaccessible and has been deleted.”

On several occasions, Pema has confronted the local police authorities for pressuring young monks to be enrolled in state-run schools and forcing them to stop attending the Kirti monastic school.

March is considered a ‘politically sensitive’ month by Chinese authorities because of the 10 March anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day that led to the exile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans since 1959. The annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are also held the same month, leading to heightened restrictions in all parts of Tibet.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is gravely concerned about Pema’s fate and whereabouts. His current location remains a mystery, and we call for his immediate and unconditional release. Chinese authorities must also disclose Pema’s whereabouts and condition to his family members without delay and guarantee his physical and mental well-being.

A Kyrgyz court has sent a veteran anti-government political critic to prison, canceling a five-year suspended sentence after prosecutors argued it was too lenient. The April 5 ruling by the Bishkek City Court means 47-year-old Zarina Torokulova must serve out her sentence in a correctional colony. Bailiffs detained her immediately after the ruling was handed down. In January, Torokulova was found guilty of calling for mass disorder in a series of Facebook posts. She insisted she had nothing to do with them. A vocal critic of the government, Torokulova has twice run for a seat on the city council of the Kyrgyz capital.

Senior journalist and Rawalpindi Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) Secretary General Dr Furqan Rao was attacked in his office by a group of people following recent union elections at the Associated Press of Pakistan. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), condemn the attack, and urge authorities to ensure the safety of journalists.

Rao, the head of the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP)'s China desk, was attacked at approximately 11:00pm on March 29, allegedly by Rana Imran Latif and his colleagues, who forcibly entered the agency’s Islamabad offices. The group proceeded to Dr Rao’s offices, before attempting to assault him. The assailants were met with opposition from APP staff, who defended the senior journalist from the attackers.

A First Information Report has been registered at the Aabparah Police Station in Islamabad on March 29 under rioting, unlawful assembly, destruction of property, and criminal intimidation sections of the Pakistan Penal Code. Authorities have reportedly begun an investigation into the incident, with a Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ataullah Tarar launching an inquiry committee to investigate the incident, and potentially inform a potential case against the outlet's managing director. Results from the inquiry are expected from April 20.

The attack comes following recent elections of APP collective bargaining agent unions, the results of which were opposed by outlet management. The perpetrators, reportedly external actors not employed at the APP may have been employed by outlet management in an intimidatory attack against Dr Rao, a union activist.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) said: “We demand that Prime Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif immediately takes action on this serious incident and punish the people involved, otherwise the PFUJ will be forced to protest against it across the country and hold a march towards Islamabad with hundreds of working journalists. The PFUJ will not tolerate abuse on working journalists at all."

The IFJ said: “Union elections are an opportunity for workers to have their voice heard in the workplace. If reports that management have engaged persons to carry out an attack against workers are true, then this is a flagrant abuse of labour rights, and must be investigated by authorities.”

Bolta Hindustan, a Hindi language independent media platform, is now faced with a YouTube ban after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting gave a notice to Google’s legal team.

Allegations of press censorship arise as independent news platform Bolta Hindustan’s YouTube channel is banned just a week before India goes to vote.

The notice sent on April 3rd states that the Information Technology Act 2000 and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 has been violated. Furthermore, the notice is said to be confidential which means that it has not been disclosed why the channel has been banned. As per the channel, the ministry will give the final order soon.

The team at Bolta Hindustan has stated that it was only in 2023 that they could set up a YouTube channel which brought their news to a wider audience and by March 2024, they had accumulated nearly 80 million views and gained 300,000 subscribers, a remarkable number. However, after receiving a notice by Google on April 3, the channel was shut down the following day.

Journalist Samar Raj from Bolta Hindustan has asked whether the content of Bolta Hindustan is more dangerous than the communal environment created by those in power.

Interestingly, this is not the first instance of online news platforms being banned recently. On February 8, Sabrang India reported a platform managed by senior journalist Ram Dutt Tripathi named Media Swaraj was banned without any explanation. However, after much public outcry and an appeal, the channel resumed its broadcast on YouTube. Interestingly, YouTube is slated to be the most used source of news for 93 % of Indian internet users.

Haseen Rahmani founder of Bola Hindustan spoke to Sabrang India after the ban, saying “Those who give hate speech are free, but if you do a story on these givers of hate speech, then you are punished.”

He describes the events, “Two days ago, we received a confidential email from the Ministry of Broadcasting via Google’s legal team informing us that our YouTube channel has been banned, they did not tell us why as is routine. Our appeal has also been rejected. Two months ago, our Instagram account was banned, a year before that our Facebook.”

“Currently, we are first seeking clarification from YouTube and subsequently from the Ministry of Broadcasting (PIB). If we do not receive a response, we will only take the legal route forward. Our team is made of alumni from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), and is very familiar with media ethics and boundaries. We do not engage in incendiary content but present the truth. Interestingly, 90% of our channel’s stories are exclusive and not covered elsewhere by mainstream media – perhaps this is why they tried to ban our channel, they don’t want these stories to be shown. Hate speech is circulating freely. However, they will punish those who cover these stories of hate speech. They will punish the messenger.”

Several people on X, formerly Twitter, have written in support of the media portal, using the hashtag #RestoreBoltaHindustanYT.

A Hindi news media platform, Bolta Hindustan was reportedly started in 2015 when mainstream media took a nosedive. According to its website, the platform asserts that it is committed to bringing its viewers unbiased news. It was started by media students who wanted to bring to light stories that were ignored in the mainstream media.

From 2015 to 2024, Bolta Hindustan published many crucial stories that were path-breaking such as stories on demonetisation, CAA-NRC, Hathras, COVID-19, migration during the lockdown, mob lynchings, and ongoing hate speech across the country.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict in the bail pleas of Gulfisha Fatima and Shifa-ur-Rehman, president of the Alumni Association of Jamia Millia Islamia University (AAJMI), booked in the police’s “larger conspiracy case” pertaining to the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.

A division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain reserved the matters after hearing the arguments by all the parties on both merits as well as the applicants’ pleas seeking parity with the bail granted to three other co-accused in the case — Asif Iqbal Tanha, Natasha Narwal, and Devangana Kalita. The three were granted bail by the Delhi High Court in 2021.

In the last hearing, the bench had asked the Delhi Police’s counsel to take instructions and state whether the investigation would continue or would be closed. On Tuesday, the counsel said the status of the probe could be explained by the investigation officer (IO).

“Ten days may be given so that the Investigating Officer is here and he can exactly explain the status of the investigation,” the counsel said. Stating that certain results from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) were awaited, the counsel said, “Supplementary charge sheets will come, because the moment FSL results come, those have to be placed by way of supplementary charge sheets before the trial court. There is no other way”.

On the filing of the fourth supplementary chargesheet in June 2023, the counsel said certain applicants had moved pleas under Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) seeking certain data, and the “stand of state was rather than giving it to one and not giving it to another, we would rather make it part of the supplementary chargesheet and file it before the court”.

On the issue of parity with the co-accused on bail, Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Rehman, said the police had not said a word on parity in the High Court “there are much more serious questions as far as Rehman’s character is concerned”.

The police’s counsel argued that parity also has to be seen in relation to the denial of bail to Umar Khalid, stating that the High Court had in its October 2022 judgment had taken a view that there was a conspiracy.

Khurshid submitted, “None of the witnesses have said that this was a conspiracy to bring the country into disrepute”.

“Violent protest is unacceptable. But to say that any form of protest, chakka jam, or sit-in amounts to conspiracy for a terrorist act would be destroying the very basis of the jurisprudence of liberty in the country. Liberty must prevail,” said Khurshid.

Meanwhile, appearing for Fatima Advocate Sushil Bajaj submitted his client is entitled to claim parity as no court has concluded that the bail granted to Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita in 2021 was wrongly granted.

Gulfisha Fatima and Shifa-ur-Rehman, along with several others, were booked under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly being the “masterminds” of the 2020 Delhi riots.

As violence erupted during the protests in Delhi against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 53 people were killed and over 700 injured in the riots.

On 12 March 2024, the Pervomaisky District Court in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, upheld pre-trial detention for eight human rights defenders and journalists associated with the Temirov Live media outlet and the Ayt Ayt Dese project. They are to remain in Pre-trial Detention Centre #1 until 13 May 2024. Additionally, the court replaced pre-trial detention with a travel ban for three of the individuals.

Among them, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, the Head of Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dese, was ordered to remain in detention despite having a 12-year-old son. She, along with journalist Akyn Azamat Ishenbekov, is suspected of organizing "calls for mass civil unrest," which are criminal offenses according to Part 2 of Article 41 and Part 3 of Article 278 of Kyrgyzstan's Criminal Code. Other detained journalists include Ayke Beyshekeeva, Saipidin Sultanaliyev, Aktilek Kaparov, Tynystan Aspbekov, Zhoodar Buzumov, and Maksat Tazhibek Uulu. Three journalists, Saparbek Akunbekov, Aqyl Ozorbekov, and Zhumabek Turdaliyev, were released under a travel ban. If found guilty, Makhabat Tazhibek kyzy and Azamat Ishenbekov can face up to 10 years in prison, while the rest of the human rights defenders can face up to 8 years of imprisonment.

Following their arrest on 16 January 2024, the human rights defenders and journalists were initially held in the Temporary Detention Ward for 12 days. Conditions were poor, lacking heating, showers, and proper bedding. Authorities claimed this delay was due to the need for proper identification documents, though human rigths defender and journalist Bolot Temirov reported that lawyers representing Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dese journalists have not received any request to provide additional personal identity documentation from the investigation. He suggested that this 12-days detention in the pre-trial detention ward is an act of additional pressure agains the former and current representatives of the human rights media outlet.

Human rights defenders and journalists associated with Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dese also faced defamation, with President Sadyr Japarov labeling them as "bloggers" rather than journalists, accusing them of irresponsibly publishing information that threatens national security.

Front Line Defenders condemns the prosecution of these individuals and believes it is retaliation for their legitimate human rights work. They urge Kyrgyzstan’s authorities to release the detained journalists, close the case, and end the judicial harassment of human rights defenders and independent journalists.

On 5 April 2024, woman human rights defender and journalist Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, was reportedly physically assaulted by law enforcement officers in Pre-Trial Detention Center #1 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. According to her lawyer, the woman human rights defender suffered bruises on her arms and her face, along with the left side of her jaw. She is also experiencing severe headaches as a result of the assault. At time of writing, it remains unclear whether the woman human rights defender has access to medical support. Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy is a woman human rights defender and journalist who serves as the director of Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dece. Temirov Live is a YouTube-based media outlet that investigates and reports on corruption by state and non-state actors in Kyrgyzstan, founded in 2020 by Bolot Temirov, a prominent Kyrgyzstani human rights defender and journalist. Ayt Ayt Dese is a YouTube-based project aimed at popularizing human rights issues through the performance and publication of folk songs on human rights topics. Among other topics, Ayt Ayt Dese has covered investigations by Temirov Live. On 6 April 2024, human rights defender and journalist Bolot Temirov reported in his personal Telegram channel that on 5 April 2024, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and four of her cellmates were subjected to physical violence in the pre-trial detention center by a law enforcement officer from the State Penitentiary Service, Aqyl Ryskulov. Bolot Temirov suggested that this exposure to physical violence was retaliation for Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy’s official complaints about psychological violence by another prison staff member, submitted on 20 March 2024. The woman human rights defender also reported to her lawyer that the prison psychologist questioned her about her work in human rights media. On 6 April 2024, representatives of the National Center for the Prevention of Torture of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan – a part of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman in Kyrgyzstan visited Pre-Trial Detention Center #1. They accepted a complaint on behalf of Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and compiled a report documenting evidence of inhumane treatment. However, the staff of Pre-Trial Detention Center #1 prevented the representatives from taking pictures of the bruises, despite theere being no rules again such actions. On 16 January 2024, law enforcement officers in Kyrgyzstan raided the office of the media outlet Temirov Live and detained 11 human rights journalists, including Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, for alleged calls for mass civil unrest in one of the corruption investigations published by media outlets Temirov.Live and Ayt Ayt Dece. The woman human rights defender will remain in Pre-trial Detention Center #1 until 13 May 2024, despite having a 12-year-old son. The investigation suggests that the woman human rights defender is one of the "organizers" behind the "calls for mass civil unrest," criminal offenses envisaged by Part 2 of Article 41 and Part 3 of Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Front Line Defenders expresses grave concerns about the reported physical and psychological violence inflicted upon woman human rights defender Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy while in detention,and condemns the detention of human rights defenders and independent journalists in Kyrgyzstan, including the detention of Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, viewing it as reprisal against legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders organization is gravely concerned about the wave of repressions faced by human rights defenders and journalists in the country. In recent years, Kyrgyzstan’s authorities have refused accreditations to media outlets, passed laws restricting their activities, and filed lawsuits against independent journalists.

On 25 December 2023, Sri Lankan investigative journalist and human rights defender Tharindu Jayawardhana was targeted by a cyber attack in which hackers gained control of his Facebook account. He is still unable to access his account, but has taken immediate steps to protect his security.

Tharindu Jayawardhana is a prominent investigative journalist and human rights defender who has built a large following on Facebook and other online platforms. He uses this medium to raise awareness and campaign on human rights issues and violations in Sri Lanka, particularly focusing on police brutality and excesses.

Shortly before the cyber attack, Tharindu Jayawardhana had used his Facebook account to share sensitive information regarding the controversial appointment of Deshabandu Tennakoon as the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Sri Lanka. The appointment of this officer took place despite widespread allegations of abuse, custodial torture, and a Supreme Court decision on 14 December 2023 that held him responsible for torture. Deshabandu Tennakoon has a history of targeting human rights defenders, including an online death threat against Tharindu Jayawardhana in June 2021.

A prison in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa province is refusing to allow the family of political prisoner Nguyen Thi Tam to bring her traditional medicine to treat uterine fibroids, her sister told Radio Free Asia.

Fibroids are growths, which don’t normally develop into cancer but can cause major swelling in the uterus leading to the appearance of pregnancy.

Tam, 52, was arrested in June 2020 on charges of “propaganda against the State” under Article 117 of the criminal code.

The charges related to social media posts about a police attack on Dong Tam commune during which officers shot and killed protester Le Dinh Kinh.

In Dec. 2021, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced Tam to six years in prison.

After the appeal was rejected in Aug. 2022, Tam was transferred to serve her sentence at Gia Trung Prison in Gia Lai province, and then to Prison No. 5 in Thanh Hoa from the end of May 2023.

On Monday, Nguyen Thanh Mai told RFA her sister, Tam, was found to be suffering from fibroids in March last year.

She was not treated by an outside medical specialist but only at the prison’s infirmary, which lacked suitable medical equipment.

Her family sent traditional medicine and said Tam’s condition improved after using it. But since October, the prison stopped accepting the pills and dried leaves they sent.

“They said they could not determine the ingredients of the medicine the family sent,” Mai said. “They also said if she got sick she would have a prescription and the family could buy medicine according to the new instructions and send it.”

The medicine, Crinum latifolium, is on a list of 70 medicinal plants approved by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health in 2014, saying it was an “anti-cancer and eliminating fungus” supporting the treatment of cervical cancer,

Mai said the basic medicines given to Tam by the prison hospital had no effect on the fibroids and her sister had been bleeding for 17 consecutive days.

The reporter called Prison No. 5 to verify the information provided by Tam’s family. The unidentified call operator said prisoners can only receive medication with a doctor’s prescription.

“People here have a hospital. When they get sick they go to the hospital,” he said.​​

“As for Vietnamese medicine, we don’t know how it should be taken. There are no instructions on how to take it so how can anyone know?”

The person asked the reporter to come directly to the detention facility to have additional questions answered in person.

Mai said the prison also stopped giving Tam many other items the family sent including cassava flour and green bean powder which the prison canteen doesn’t have or sells at exorbitant prices.

Tam’s cell was searched, her sister said, and many belongings such as diaries, English books and writing materials were confiscated.

On March 29, Tam called her family to talk about mistreatment but a prison officer repeatedly intervened, telling her to “only talk about health issues” and finally hung up the phone.

Amnesty International publicized Tam’s health issues in March 2023, urging the Vietnamese government to urgently provide adequate health care and unconditionally release Tam and other activists. imprisoned for peacefully exercising human rights.

Former prisoner of conscience Dang Thi Hue said conditions in Prison No. 5 are extremely harsh, and poor nutrition caused even healthy inmates to get sick.

Le Thi Ha, the wife of Dang Dang Phuoc, told Project88 that she received a decision by the head of Daklak’s School of Pedagogy to “discipline” the music teacher because he’s convicted of “anti-state propaganda” and is serving an 8-year prison sentence. On the same day that decision was signed (12/21/2023), another decision by the Bureau of Education and Training of Dak Lak was also issued to fire him; however, Le Thi Ha said she only received the latter a few days ago. She added that Phuoc had been receiving only half of his salary between the time he was arrested (Sep. 2022) to Dec. 2023; after Jan. 2024, everything was terminated. On March 25, Ha also received a notification that Phuoc’s electronic devices and data related to the case will be destroyed, and the rest will be returned to her.

Koet Saray, President of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), was today sent to pre-trial detention at Correctional Centre 1 prison by an investigating judge at the at Phnom Penh Capital Court following charges of “committing a misdemeanour after sentencing for a misdemeanour” and “incitement to commit a felony” under Articles 88, 494, and 495 of the Criminal Code. The charges relate to ongoing land conflicts in Preah Vihear province.

On 6 April at around 3:30pm, police officers confirmed that Saray had been transported to the Phnom Penh Capital Court from the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat, where he had been held overnight following his arrest on 5 April at around 4:00pm by approximately 10 mixed uniformed and plainclothes police officers outside of KSILA’s office in Phnom Penh. Saray’s arrest followed an order issued by the Office of the Prosecutor at Phnom Penh Capital Court on 5 April to bring Saray to Phnom Penh Capital Police for questioning on “incitement to cause serious chaos to social security”.

One monk and around a dozen individuals from various youth groups and civil society organisations had been present at the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat on 6 April to monitor the situation. A few plainclothes police officers had also been deployed nearby, where they took photographs and videos and prevented human rights defenders from bringing food to Saray.

In 2023, the Supreme Court upheld incitement convictions against Saray and nine other activists in relation to peaceful gatherings calling for the release of then-imprisoned union leader Rong Chhun. The lower court had sentenced Saray in October 2021 to 20 months’ imprisonment with six months of his sentence suspended for a period of two years, and fined him 2 million riel (US$500).

Koet Saray, President of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA), was today sent to pre-trial detention at Correctional Centre 1 prison by an investigating judge at the at Phnom Penh Capital Court following charges of “committing a misdemeanour after sentencing for a misdemeanour” and “incitement to commit a felony” under Articles 88, 494, and 495 of the Criminal Code. The charges relate to ongoing land conflicts in Preah Vihear province.

On 6 April at around 3:30pm, police officers confirmed that Saray had been transported to the Phnom Penh Capital Court from the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat, where he had been held overnight following his arrest on 5 April at around 4:00pm by approximately 10 mixed uniformed and plainclothes police officers outside of KSILA’s office in Phnom Penh. Saray’s arrest followed an order issued by the Office of the Prosecutor at Phnom Penh Capital Court on 5 April to bring Saray to Phnom Penh Capital Police for questioning on “incitement to cause serious chaos to social security”.

One monk and around a dozen individuals from various youth groups and civil society organisations had been present at the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat on 6 April to monitor the situation. A few plainclothes police officers had also been deployed nearby, where they took photographs and videos and prevented human rights defenders from bringing food to Saray.

In 2023, the Supreme Court upheld incitement convictions against Saray and nine other activists in relation to peaceful gatherings calling for the release of then-imprisoned union leader Rong Chhun. The lower court had sentenced Saray in October 2021 to 20 months’ imprisonment with six months of his sentence suspended for a period of two years, and fined him 2 million riel (US$500).

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) strongly condemns the arrests of three Hazara women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in Afghanistan. The arrests happened amidst the Taliban’s ongoing gender apartheid and persecution of ethnic and religious minorities.

On 28 March 2024, the Taliban arrested and detained WHRDs Azada Rezaei, Nadia Rezaei, and Elaha Rezaei alongside their brother, Yahya Rezaei. Two of the sisters are minors. In 2022, their sister Tamana was also detained for 29 days.

The Rezaeis’ whereabouts are currently unknown. Taliban representatives have denied involvement, while the Kabul police have failed to provide any information.

FORUM-ASIA calls for the immediate release of the Rezaei siblings. We also call for the safe return of WHRD Manizha Sediqqi, whose health conditions have been deteriorating under detention.

The Taliban’s persecution of human rights defenders

The Rezaei sisters are members of the Afghan Women’s Justice Movement, a women-led initiative that fearlessly challenges the Taliban’s discriminatory policies. The Rezaeis belong to the Shia Hazara community, a persecuted ethnic and religious minority in Afghanistan that has endured a ‘slow genocide’ under the Taliban.

Under Taliban custody, human rights defenders experience torture and ill-treatment, impacting not only their physical health but also their mental well-being. The threats and harassment also extend to their families, including intimidation, house searches, revenge killing, and enforced marriages.

WHRDs are at the forefront of resisting the Taliban’s oppressive regime.

Since the Taliban’s illegitimate takeover in 2021, several protest movements have been courageously and peacefully led by WHRDs despite the country’s shrinking civic space. However, in the absence of accountability, human rights defenders–within Afghanistan and those in exile–face numerous obstacles as they advocate for the protection and promotion of people’s fundamental rights and freedoms.

Call to Action

FORUM-ASIA calls for the immediate release of the Rezaie siblings alongside all other defenders who have been unjustly detained for their legitimate human rights work.

‘FORUM-ASIA urges the international community to hold the Taliban accountable for all its atrocious crimes, demanding them to fully respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people of Afghanistan as protected under the country’s international human rights commitments. The international community must help in providing hassle-free humanitarian visas and in establishing safe resettlement schemes for human rights defenders from Afghanistan. Members of vulnerable ethnic and religious groups–such as the Hazaras–should be prioritised in these resettlement processes,’ said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

We are also calling for greater support for Afghanistan’s civil society organisations and activists, including those in exile, to enable them to resume their invaluable advocacy work. Lastly, we demand the establishment of an international investigative accountability mechanism, which is capable of collecting, preserving, and analysing evidence related to all human rights violations in Afghanistan.

Huynh Ngoc Chenh, husband of Nguyen Thuy Hanh, told Project88 that on March 10 he was called to the police station to file paperwork that would allow him to bring Hanh home for cancer treatment, provided that she remain at the residence where she was living at the time of her arrest. However, that apartment had since been leased to another tenant, and the lease would not expire until March 18. Chenh told the police he would try to negotiate with the tenant to end the lease early so his wife could move back to that residence; however, that effort failed. Then on March 17, he called the authorities to let them know that he could take Hanh home on March 18, but received no response from them. Then on March 22, after Hanh’s radiation therapy, the authorities went to K Hospital and read an order to continue Hanh’s “temporary detention” for another three months. She was then taken back to the jail on 2 Thuong Tin St. It is not clear why Hanh’s family was given such false hopes.

Below is a letter from Tran Phuong Thao, wife of imprisoned climate leader Dang Dinh Bach. In it, she alleges Prison No. 6 in Nghe An province deliberately withheld a package of food from Bach, leaving him to have essentially no access to food for two weeks. This serious allegation should be thoroughly investigated by the international community.

Bach, who is serving five years in prison on spurious charges of tax evasion, has been subjected to harsh prison conditions and has undertaken numerous hunger strikes in protest. His family has also faced constant harassment from the Vietnamese authorities, even threatening the confiscation of their home.

---

Hanoi, 13.03.2024 ~

Dear friends, colleagues and international organizations

I came home yesterday (March 12) at 9PM after visiting my husband Đặng Đình Bách in Prison No. 6, Nghe An province. I left home (in Hanoi) at 9PM the day before (March 11), which means twenty three hours on the road to see and talk to Bách through a glass pane for one hour, and to bring him the 5kg of dried vegetarian food allowed by the Vietnamese authorities, vital for his survival.

This letter is going to be short, because there is no amelioration to Bách’s detention situation to report. It has gotten even worse, so bad that I have been feeling suffocated from anxiety for Bách’s health and safety, as the prison seemed to increase their policy of deprivation of food by not handing over the 6kg of food I sent Bách per post on Feb 28.

This food parcel was the only nutrition source Bách would get for the last 2 weeks, as he depends entirely on his family’s supplies to eat vegetarian and safe food. In his last phone call on Feb. 2, Bach had already informed me that he was running out of food.

VN Post recorded that parcel 475790 (sent by me on Feb 28) was delivered on March 4 at 9:25:33 to a prison warden named San. But the parcel never reached Bách, and my husband was left without food for the last 2 weeks.

“Every two or three days, the canteen sold me something,” Bách said, “and my teeth are getting loose.”

Bách would like to thank —

–Ms. Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.; Mr. David Boyd, Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; Mr. Marcos A. Orellana, Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes; Ms. Priya Gopalan (Chair-Rapporteur), Mr. Matthew Gillett (Vice-Chair on Communications), Ms. Ganna Yudkivska (Vice-Chair on Follow-Up), Ms. Miriam Estrada-Castillo, and Mr. Mumba Malila – Working Group on arbitrary detention,

for urging the Government of Viet Nam to stop targeting, convicting, and mistreating him

  –Chairman Cardin for mentioning him and calling for his release in the Truth to Power series of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee SFRC.

As last week Vietnam and Vanuatu sought advice from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on national climate change obligations, Bách puts his trust in the wisdom and farsightedness of his friends and colleagues to monitor Vietnam’s national commitment on climate change issue.

Bách would like to wish you all endurance, peace of mind, and harmony.

Yours faithfully,

Tran Phuong Thao (Mrs)

‘Aurat March Islamabad’ organisers have sought a public apology from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the ill-treatment of participants by the Islamabad administration on Friday.

The participants gathered in front of the National Press Club on March 8 for the annual Aurat March on International Women’s Day but the administration didn’t allow them to take their usual route towards the D-Chowk. The organisers claimed that the police pushed the participants including pregnant women, children and the elderly.

To protest against the administration’s treatment, the Aurat March Islamabad organisers held an emergency press conference on Saturday and called upon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take action against the police brutality and discrimination faced by the Aurat March supporters.

Those who addressed the gathering were Farzana Bari, Bariya Shah, Uzma Yaqoob and Fatima Atif who criticised denial of their rights to assemble and march towards D-Chowk.

“Despite our several attempts to obtain ‘No Objection Certificate’ from Islamabad District Administration, Aurat March had been denied NOC consequently for last five years, which means that state is now acting on its anti-Aurat March policy,” said a statement issued by the organisers.

Addressing the media, the organisers said that every year Aurat March Islamabad supporters face police brutality and violence in the form of baton charge, unwarranted obstruction and intimidation by the district administration and Islamabad Police.

“This year as well, we were pushed back by the police officers and lives of elderly women, pregnant mothers and women with disability were men-handled by the police itself. The police and administration’s action not only violate our constitutional rights but also undermine the principles of democracy and freedom of expression,” they said.

They said that IWD holds profound significance for women across the globe, serving as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for gender equality and justice. “By preventing us from exercising our democratic rights to protest peacefully, the authorities have displayed a blatant disregard for the voices and concerns of women in Pakistan. On the other hand, the administration provided full protocol and access to Haya Marchers which is mobilised every year by the state to prevent Aurat March Islamabad from happening,” they blamed.

The organisers demanded accountability for those responsible for threats against women marchers and an inquiry into why Haya Marchers were protected without an NOC while Aurat March was denied entry.

They called on women parliamentarians to investigate what happened and questioned Bilawal Bhutto for not condemning the Islamabad administration’s treatment.

Vietnamese state media declared two human rights organisations as terrorist groups on 6 March.

The groups are the North Carolina-headquartered Montagnard Support Group Inc (MSGI) and Montagnard Stand for Justice (MSFJ), which was established in Thailand. Both organisations specialise in defending the rights of the Montagnard minority ethnic group.

The majority of Montagnards are Christians and live in Vietnam’s central highlands. The community has a long history of conflict with the Vietnamese government and have faced intense harassment and intimidation since a June 2023 attack on provincial Communist party offices in Dak Lak that left nine dead, including local party officials and police.

The MSGI and MSFJ are accused of having helped plan the attack in Dak Lak, but leaders of both groups strongly deny these allegations.

The Vietnamese government’s press release named several human rights activists as terrorists and threatened that anyone working with them would face similar charges. It went on to give the personal home addresses of several key human rights figures in Thailand and the US.

CSW's Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘The government of Vietnam is endangering the lives of human rights defenders by naming them and sharing their addresses on state media, which poses an immediate security concern and is clearly intended to silence, harass and intimidate. The government of Vietnam is an authoritarian state that is paranoid that the world will know the true nature of their control and repression of religious and ethnic minorities, and this is further evidence of its lack of inhibitions in participating in transnational repression against activists who are simply exercising their right to freedom of expression. CSW rejects the designation of the MSGI and MSFJ as terrorist organisations and we call on the Vietnamese government to recognise human rights groups as legitimate voices in any healthy civil society.’

A court in Vietnam on Tuesday sentenced a man to eight years in prison for managing a Facebook page that shared news and content that authorities said was against the state.

Nguyen Van Lam, 33, was the administrator of “The Diary of Patriots,” a page on Meta’s social media platform that authorities said defamed and smeared Vietnam's senior leaders.

Lam was convicted in the Tien Giang People’s Court in southern Vietnam of “making, storing, disseminating, propagandizing anti-state information and materials” under Article 117 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, which is criticized by rights groups as being an intentionally vague law that allows Hanoi to stifle dissent.

According to the indictment, Lam, a native of Vinh Hoa commune, Vinh Loc district in Thanh Hoa province, regularly visited websites and social media pages to read posts and articles with bad content and therefore developed a “hostile and anti-state” attitude.

He used the Facebook account “Nguyễn Lâm” to put up 19 posts with content distorting and defaming the system of one-party rule in Vietnam, it said..

There are multiple pages on Facebook with the same name, and Lam may have had connections to more than one of them, state media said.

One of the “Diary of Patriots” pages had more than 800,000 followers.

The earliest page was created in 2011, at the beginning of widespread demonstrations against China’s claims and aggressiveness in the South China Sea. Though Vietnam upholds its own claims, it often stifles anti-China dissent.

Restricting freedom of speech

The arrest was aimed at punishing those who had “created a forum for people to discuss and share multifaceted information in the spirit of freedom of speech,” said a member of that page who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons.

“I am against the punishments against those who exercise human rights and promote human rights values,” he told RFA Vietnamese in a text message, saying that he did not know Lam personally.

He called on Vietnamese authorities to adopt the world’s “civilized standards,” and said that the international community has a responsibility not to ignore Vietnam’s crackdowns on activists while supporting Hanoi’s bid to stay on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

State media reports did not include information about Lam’s arrest.

RFA attempted to find details about his arrest by contacting the Tien Giang provincial police department, but staff who answered the phone refused to respond to queries.

Lam did nothing criminal by managing pages on social media, said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

“He should be immediately and unconditionally released,” Robertson said. “Sadly, it looks like Vietnam’s leaders will not stop this crackdown until they have imprisoned every last activist in the country.”

In July 2023, Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Phan Tat Thanh, who was allegedly the former administrator of “The Diary of Patriots” page, charging him with “propaganda against the state” under Article 117.

RFA’s database shows that since January 2024, the Vietnamese government has arrested six activists on the same charges and sentenced one to six years in prison for the same accusation.

In a fresh round of blocking social media accounts Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/108250590.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Sri Lankan authorities must immediately drop their investigations into journalists G.P. Nissanka and Bimal Ruhunage and allow them to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On March 6, police arrested freelance journalist Bimal Ruhunage from his home in the Kurunegala district of North Western Province, according to the Media Organizations Collective statement, as well as the journalist and his lawyer Keerthi Dunusinghe, who spoke to CPJ.

Police also seized Ruhunage’s mobile phone and wallet, which were returned to his wife later that day, the journalist said.

Ruhunage said he arrived at a local bus station four days prior, wearing his press identification card, to interview a mother seeking to give her child up for adoption. However, a police officer attempted to stop the journalist from filming them. Ruhunage continued to film as the officer took the mother and child to a police station in a three-wheeler taxi, footage of which was published by the U.S.-based news website Boston Lanka.

Following his arrest, Ruhunage was held in police remand until March 11, when he was released on bail, according to the journalist and his lawyer. Ruhunage has been ordered to appear in court on May 13.

“The arrests and criminal investigations launched into Sri Lankan journalists G.P. Nissanka and Bimal Ruhunage are unacceptable reactions by authorities and could create a chilling effect on the media,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Sri Lankan journalists should not fear detention, seizure of their devices, or criminal cases for their work ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections to be held later this year.”

Egodamahawatta and Dunusinghe told CPJ that their clients were remanded into police custody despite being investigated for bailable offenses.

Nissanka stands accused of violating section 6 of the Computer Crime Act related to offenses committed against national security and a section of the police ordinance related to spreading false reports to create alarm and panic, Egodamahawatta said.

Separately, Ruhunage said that police informed him at the time of his arrest that he was being investigated for obstruction of police duties. However, the police complaint filed in court cited a section of the penal code pertaining to the use of criminal force to deter a public officer from discharge of duty, according to the journalist and his lawyer.

Ruhunage told CPJ that a police source informed him that the journalist was suspected of authoring a Voice of Sri Lanka report alleging that a senior police official did not disclose his ownership of a hotel in what may be an ethics violation.

Ministry of Defense spokesperson Nalin Herath did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. CPJ also called and messaged police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa for comment but did not receive any response.

Sri Lankan authorities must immediately drop their investigations into journalists G.P. Nissanka and Bimal Ruhunage and allow them to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On the evening of March 5, officers with the Sri Lanka police service’s Criminal Investigation Department arrested G.P. Nissanka, owner and editor of the news site Ravana Lanka News, from his home in the Pallebedda area of the southern Sabaragamuwa Province, according to news reports and the Media Organizations Collective, a group of Sri Lankan organizations advocating for press freedom and freedom of expression.

Amila Egodamahawatta, Nissanka’s lawyer, told CPJ that the journalist was held in police remand until he was released on bail March 20. His mobile phone, seized during his arrest, remains in police custody as of Friday, Egodamahawatta said.

Nissanka’s arrest followed a complaint by Vikum Liyanage, commander of the Sri Lankan army, after Ravana Lanka News published an article accusing the commander of corruption and malfeasance.

Police arrested a 24-year-old Lao man for posting a video clip on Facebook, criticizing officers in a northern province for demanding bribes from travelers passing through a checkpoint near the Chinese border.

After his arrest, police released a video of the man, identified only as Bee, apologizing for making a false accusation, saying his earlier clip contained “twisted content about the way the police are doing their job.”

However, the audio portion didn’t sync up with the video — the voice didn’t match the mouth movements — making it appear that the audio portion may have been laid over the video.

The video, where Bee sits facing the camera at a wooden desk in a darkened room, appeared on the Phongsaly provincial police’s website.

“The content I posted was actually propaganda slandering the authorities, and it was against the government and the (ruling) party,” the voice says.

“I said that the police were taking bribes,” it says. “In fact, the police didn’t ask for any kickback from me, and I didn’t pay anything to them. For that, I’d like to apologize to the party, government and public.”

The male voice goes on to say that he would be mindful when posting social media content and that authorities could punish him to the fullest extent of the law if he did something wrong again.

When RFA contacted the Phongsaly provincial police, an official said it was not convenient for him to give details about the arrest.

But an employee at the provincial prosecutor’s office told RFA on Tuesday that her office had not yet received a police report about the incident.

Re-educated and released?

Bee, who hails from Khonkeo village in Houeixay district of Bokeo province in northwestern Laos, made his initial critical remarks about the Houeixam checkpoint in Phongsaly province’s Boun Tai district, bordering China, on Feb. 21.

A villager in Boun Tai district where the arrest was made said Bee was not punished, and he had heard that police freed him after he apologized on social media.

“He was not charged with anything more serious — only re-educated then released,” said the villager who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal for speaking to the media.

Another district resident said police at the checkpoint were strict about checking all passports and IDs.

But a criminal lawyer said Bee was on the “wrong side of the law” by trying to defame authorities online, though the incident was not serious.

When citizens see authorities do something wrong, they should collect evidence and file a formal complaint with other relevant authorities who can investigate, rather than take to social media to criticize them, he said.

RFA has reported other incidents in which Laotians who publicly criticized authorities were arrested, re-educated and jailed or released.

In March 2023, police in Houaphanh province told a woman to apologize and amend a social media post on Facebook in which she said she had paid 95 million kip (US$4,500) for a job on the police force. When apologizing, she said she made a false statement that made police in the province look bad.

In a 2019 incident, Houayheuang Xayabouly, nicknamed Mouay, was sentenced to five years in prison for criticizing the government’s slow response to severe flooding in southern Laos.

Two ethnic Khmer Krom activists who were arrested last year on suspicion of distributing books about indigenous peoples’ rights were sentenced to prison on Wednesday by a Vietnamese court.

Nearly 1.3-million Khmer Krom live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia. They have faced serious restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and movement.

The Cau Ngang District People’s Court in southern Vietnam’s Tra Vinh province convicted To Hoang Chuong, 38, and Thach Cuong, 37, of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331, a section of the penal code used by the government to silence dissenting voices.

Chuong received a four-year sentence and Cuong was given three-and-a-half years in prison, state media reported.

Last month, a court in neighboring Soc Trang province sentenced Danh Minh Quang, 34, to three-and-a-half years in prison on the same charge.

Quang was arrested in July 2023 as part of the same investigation as Chuong and Cuong.

Police in both provinces told local media that the men passed out copies of the United Nations’ “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” which states that indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions.

Prosecutors last month said that Quang used his personal Facebook account to post comments and live-stream videos that “violated Vietnam laws.”

The indictments for Cuong and Chuong also accused them of using their Facebook accounts to live-stream videos and to post and share photos and video clips, according to the Tra Vinh newspaper.

The contents of the articles, photos and video clips “affected the national and religious unity, distorted the history of Vietnam and the authorities and insulted the prestige” of police and local authorities, according to the Tra Vinh provincial Department of Information and Culture.

‘The reality of suppression’

A Khmer Krom resident of Vietnam who follows Chuong on Facebook told Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity that he never saw any posts from Chuong that opposed the Vietnamese government.

“They reflected the reality of suppression against the Khmer community in southern Vietnam,” he said.

There was no information about whether Chuong and Cuong had a defense attorney present during Wednesday’s trial.

Khmer Kampuchea Krom for Human Rights and Development Association Secretary General Son Chum Chuon said the severe sentences were unfair and were particularly unjust if the two men were tried without access to a lawyer.

“These allegations are contrary to their actual activities,” he told RFA. “That is why we urged the Vietnamese government or the court to give them a lawyer.”

Josef Benedict, Asia Pacific civil space advocacy expert for rights group CIVICUS, called Wednesday’s convictions “an outrageous travesty of justice.”

“Both were targeted for their advocacy of the rights of the Khmer Krom community and should have never been brought to court,” he said.

Human Rights Watch Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson called the charges “bogus,” saying they were designed to stop the Khmer Krom activists exercising their civil and political rights.

"Article 331 is a perfect example of the total injustice perpetrated by the government because they can use this charge to criminalize virtually anything the authorities don't like,” he said.

“The lapdog Vietnamese courts do whatever they are told to do by the ruling party, and the ordinary Khmer Krom people who stand up for their communities, their religion and their culture have no chance to escape being sent to prison.”

A Vietnamese activist, accused of “propaganda against the State” is being denied access to a lawyer, his family told Radio Free Asia.

Phan Tat Thanh, 38, has been detained since July 2023, charged under Article 117 of the criminal code.

Prosecutors say he used three Facebook accounts to post and distribute content, “propagating information and documents with distorted content, causing confusion among the people, and fabricating and defaming the Communist Party of Vietnam.”

Thanh’s family have been able to meet him twice at a police detention center in Ho Chi Minh City, the first time on Feb. 16, 2024, and the second time on March 15.

Thanh told them that after a detention order expired police investigators issued a second order which lasted until Feb. 7.

Even though the police finished their investigation and transferred the case file to the City Procuracy, Thanh said he had not been allowed to meet the lawyer – Tran Dinh Dung – his family hired for him.

“Lawyer Dung went through all the procedures to request access to the files and contact Thanh. He doesn’t understand why the Procuracy and Security Investigation Department were completely silent and did not respond to him,” Thanh’s father Phan Tat Chi said on Wednesday.

The law states that defense lawyers should be allowed to participate in legal proceedings after the investigation has finished, even in cases relating to alleged violations of national security.

It also stipulates that lawyers are allowed to access documents related to the defense after the end of the investigation in order to take notes and make copies.

Ha Huy Son of the Hanoi Bar Association told RFA lawyers can file a complaint, asking the Procuracy to explain the reason for not allowing the lawyer to contact the client, and can use this to prove prosecutors failed to follow the correct procedures.

Thanh told his father investigators couldn’t find any evidence to convict him and didn’t appear to have any documents to support their case.

He also said he had been beaten by many of the policemen at the detention center.

RFA called the Ho Chi Minh City Procuracy to ask about Mr. Thanh’s case. The person on the phone said the reporter needed to come to the agency, or send a text in order to receive a reply.

Phan Tat Thanh is one of six Facebookers arrested on charges of “anti-state propaganda” last year.

Chief Administrative Officer of Shivasatakshi Municipality Amrit Bahadur Rai spoke foul on noted RTI activist Sharada Bhusal for requesting information on March 31 in Jhapa. Jhapa lies in Koshi Province of Nepal.

Activist Bhusal shared with Freedom Forum that she had requested information relating to the municipality’s internal and external audit reports using RTI application on January 31, 2024 through email.

Following her request, the officer Rai called her on mobile and spoke abusively. Bhusal shared a voice clip of the call with Freedom Forum. In the call, Rai was found shouted at Bhusal for information seeking through her email.

“Do you think you will get information delivered at your home? Did you pay for the extra pages of information as per RTI Law,” he was shouting.

Bhusal responded that she was expecting the information through email but if she needs to pay, he could inform about it through email.

Moreover, the chief administrative officer Rai continuing scolding and accusing artivist Bhusal of intentionally trying to trouble government officials in the pretext of RTI.

Freedom Forum condemns the misbehaviour of a public officer towards a citizen. Every citizen has right to information as guaranteed by the constitution. The officer should correct his behaviour towards the service seeker. The public agency is obliged to share information as per law to the information seeker.

Such activity of government employees is quite discouraging to building RTI regime and obstructing good governance efforts at a time when good governance is a pressing need in the country.

Kaski based reporter to Gorkhapatra National daily Fanindra Adhikari was issued threat for reporting on March 29. Kaski lies in Gandaki Province of Nepal.

Reporter Adhikari shared with Freedom Forum that he had wrote news about a case filed by Forest Division Office Kaski at the District Court against 22 people who encroached the forest in Pumdibhumdi, Pokhara. The case was filed on March 26. One of the accused Mekh Bahadur Kshetri called on Adhikari’s mobile and sent threatening messages on his mobile.

Kshetri not only threatened me but also called on my wife’s mobile and accused me of writing news for money. He also threatened me of attack.

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to journalist and his family for his reporting. Kshetri is urged to approach the regulatory body Press Council Nepal for any concern over published news rather than threatening the journalist.

The coordinator of the Batui shrimp farming community, Febriyanto Hado alias Ale, was arrested in the middle of the night at around 23.00 Wita by several members of the Banggai police. Friday, January 5, 2024.

The arrest was suspected of criminalization. The reason is, previously Ale and dozens of residents of the former Batui shrimp pond owners held a demonstration at the Banggai Regent's Office.

Ale is one of dozens of former shrimp farm owners who are fighting for their ancestral land.

In the arrest warrant number: Sp.Kap/63/Res.1.24./2024/Reskrim by the Banggai Police, Febriyanto Hado alias Ale is suspected of making threats pursuant to Article 355 of the Criminal Code at the location of the former shrimp ponds in Sisipan Village, Batui District.

According to Jenie, Ale's wife, her husband only had a verbal argument with the company PT Matra Arona Banggai. This was because the company continued to carry out activities on residents' land even though they had signed a statement that they would remove the equipment from residents' land.

"According to my husband, he only asked the company not to carry out activities because the manager promised not to carry out activities until there was a settlement, but after returning from the demonstration around 11 o'clock, my husband returned home and was intercepted in front of the house and immediately taken to the Banggai Police," said Jenie.

It is known that this is not the first time Ale has been questioned. Previously, the company reported Ale with three different cases, including document forgery, creating a people's resistance portal and being accused of threatening.

For this arrest, students and the community who are members of the alliance will hold a demonstration at the Banggai Police Station and write an official letter to the President, National Police Commission, National Human Rights Commission, Presidential Staff Office and Menkopolhukam.

"It is the umpteenth time, the criminalization of former shrimp pond farmers was carried out by the company. We on behalf of the Alliance of Students and Communities, in the near future, will officially write to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, National Police, National Human Rights Commission, Presidential Staff Office and Menkopolhukam," said Rifat Hakim.

The para-teachers of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente’s (IFI) Eskwelayan project denounced the harassment of its community organization Samahan ng Maralita sa Temporary Housing (SMTH). They have been subjected to surveillance by the Philippine military.

The first incident happened in March 2023 when soldiers visited them daily at the daycare center, taking photographs of their operations and asking for their personal information.

“Those military personnel, we [welcomed] them, we also included them in our clean-up drives. Unfortunately, they had a different motive,” Teacher Mariafe Hulipaz, president of Samahan ng Maralita sa Temporary Housing (SMTH), told Bulatlat.

The organization is a key partner of the IFI in the Eskwelayan Project, an alternative school program that offers a rights-based education to children in Aroma, Tondo.

“The harassment faced by the leaders of SMTH deeply troubles us. It prompts us to reflect on why the military is targeting this community-based, cause-oriented group that is simply advocating for their fundamental rights to housing and livelihood,” The Rt. Rev’d Dindo Ranojo, IFI general secretary, said in a statement.

Continued harassment

The SMTH was established in 2016 due to threats of demolition in the community. It advocates for the rights of the residents in housing and livelihood.

“Our families are affected by demolition since they will displace us far from our livelihood here and that’s what we are fighting against,” Hulipaz said.

The state forces also profiled the organization as affiliated with progressive groups.

According to SMTH, they only asked for help from Rep. Arlene Brosas of Gabriela Women’s Partylist regarding the housing opportunities of the government to also help those affected by the demolitions. They said that the SMTH is not affiliated with Gabriela.

“The military always imposed on us the question on how SMTH survives or became progressive if we are not affiliated with any organization,” Delia Gatela, vice president of SMTH, said.

In February 2024, several incidents of red-tagging were documented involving the 11th Civil Military Operations Kaugnayan Battalion’s Facebook post. Some residents are tagged as members of SMTH under the pretext of “fake surrenders.” Another post indicated that they would later sign a commitment of support to the NTF-ELCAC.

“Not all of the 284 are SMTH members, and some of the SMTH members simply received aid [ayuda], but they didn’t know that they would be labeled as surrenderers by the military. Two of our former members allied with the military, when the military found out that there was a problem between SMTH and our former comrades, the soldier got the idea to use them to create a new community organization because the military couldn’t enter the community of SMTH,” Hulipaz said.

Complaints

The teachers filed a barangay blotter and a formal complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) against the military personnel. However, only high-ranking officers faced the organization.

“We want to face the military personnel who red-tagged us in the community because they are the ones who did bad things to our organization,” SMTH said.

The IFI expressed solidarity with SMTH and with the residents of Brgy. Aroma. The IFI also supports their quest for a better situation and wholeheartedly believes that their aspirations are justified and morally right.

Two Pangasinan-based environmental defenders and organizers were violently mauled and dragged into an SUV at about 8 p.m. on March 24 in Barangay Polo, San Carlos, Pangasinan, according to human rights group Karapatan-Central Luzon

Karapatan – Central Luzon said the abduction of Francisco “Eco” Dangla III and Axielle “Jak” Tiong is the seventh and eighth abduction in Central Luzon.

“Similar to all other incidents of abductions and enforced disappearances, the two were victims of terror-tagging and vilification despite being genuine champions of the environment and the people of Pangasinan,” said Karapatan-Central Luzon in a statement.

Both Dangla and Tiong were actively raising awareness on the impact of coal-fired power plants and offshore mining. They campaigned against the revival of the faulty Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and the proposed entry of small modular nuclear reactors, according to scientists’ group Agham – Advocates of Science and Technology for the People.

They are also both co-convenors of the Pangasinan People’s Strike for the Environment, a member organization of the EcoWaste Coalition and the Ecology Ministry of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

Dangla is a leader of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Pangasinan and coordinator of Makabayan, while Tiong is national coordinator for Kabataan Partylist (KPL).

“It reflects the worsening state of human rights under the government of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, which continues to silence criticisms against its anti-people programs and policies,” Bayan said in a statement, calling for both activists to be surfaced.

This incident contradicts the claim of Marcos Jr. of “decreased” human rights violations in the Philippines in his recent speeches inside and outside the country. He claims that incidents of human rights violations were “down by half in 2023 as compared to 2022.”

Karapatan noted that the biggest hike in human rights violations is in the number of victims of enforced disappearances: from four in 2022 to 11 in 2023. This is followed by a 58-percent increase in the number of frustrated extra-judicial killings and 46-percent in the extra-judicial killings.

“These figures are enough to dispel Marcos Jr.’s false claims that things are looking better on the human rights front. The only thing that distinguishes Marcos Jr. from Duterte is his conscious cultivation of a more ‘presidential’ image compared to his predecessor’s crassness,” said Karapatan.

The abduction of human rights defenders continuously paints the worsening human rights situation in the country, despite presidential pronouncements. Several local and national organizations are searching for the whereabouts of the two activists.

“We call on the people to provide any relevant information about this case. We enjoin all advocates of civil liberties to denounce this latest attack on the human rights community and to put pressure on authorities to immediately release Eco and Axielle,” Bayan said, holding the government accountable for any harm done to the activists.

Activist Nawat Liangwattana has been hit with a 6th royal defamation charge for delivering a speech at an August 2023 protest to commemorate those who died in the 2010 crackdown.

Nawat reported to the Pathumwan Police Station last Saturday (23 March) after being informed of the charge, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights.

The complaint against him was filed by Anon Klinkaew, leader of the ultra-royalist group People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy. Anon has filed several royal defamation complaints against activists and netizens. He has also been involved in attacks on pro-democracy activists and citizen journalists.

The 14 August 2023 protest started from the Pathumwan Intersection and moved to the Ratchaprasong Intersection to commemorate the protesters who died in the 2010 crackdown. In his speech, Nawat called for justice to be given to those who died, stating that “…no one should have been killed by the crown’s bullets.” The plaintiff argued that the statement was made with malicious intent towards the King, a violation of the royal defamation law.

Nawat denied the allegation. As he reported to the police, he was not detained.

The case is his 6th royal defamation charge. The other charges stem from his participation in pro-democracy protests.

Student activist Sirapob Phumpheungphut has been found guilty of royal defamation and sentenced to prison over a speech given at a protest on 18 November 2020 about the monarchy’s role in Thai politics.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said today (25 March) that the South Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced Sirapob to 3 years in prison, but later reduced his sentence to 2 years because he gave useful testimony. However, the Court found him not guilty of violating the Emergency Decree and the Public Assembly Act because he did not organize the protest.

The South Bangkok Criminal Court later decided to forward Sirapob’s bail request to the Appeal Court. He will be detained at the Bangkok Remand Prison until a ruling is made.

Sirapob was accused of royal defamation for a speech given at the 18 November 2020 protest, during which protesters marched from the Ratchaprasong Intersection to the police headquarters. The protest came after a crackdown on a protest in front of the parliament complex the day before.

During the protest, activists took turn giving speeches on a speaker truck. Sirapob spoke about the role of the monarchy in Thai politics and the transfer of some army units to be under the King’s direct command. The Court ruled that his speech was “anti-monarchy” and that his criticism was not made in good faith because he defamed the King by saying that the King was above the Constitution and held centralized power.

Another activist, Chukiat Sangwong, was also charged along with Sirapob. However, he did not appear in court, so the Court struck his case from the case list.

Update:

The Appeal Court on 27 March denied bail for Sirapob on the grounds that the charges carry a high penalty and he is a flight risk.

TLHR noted, however, that Sirapob's bail request clearly stated that he is a student in a Master's degree programme and has never intended to run.

Activists Tantawan Tuatulanon and Nutanon Chaimahabut, who have been on a hunger strike for over a month to protest their detention, have been denied bail for the 7th time.

Tantawan’s father, Sommai Tuatulanon, filed a bail request for Tantawan and Nutanon with the Criminal Court this morning (28 March) because their health has worsened due to their hunger strike. However, the court dismissed his request because there is no reason to change its existing order.

Activist Orawan Phupong said that Tantawan and Nutanon have very low blood potassium levels, putting their lives in danger. Doctors have recommended that they receive treatment, but they have refused.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) also said that, according to a cardiologist monitoring Tantawan, she has heart arrhythmia due to low potassium and magnesium level. The cardiologist has told her family that she could go into cardiac arrest.

Tantawan and Nutanon were arrested on 13 February on several charges, including sedition, for allegedly honking at and blocking a royal motorcade and for posting dash cam footage of the incident. They have so far been detained for 44 days and all of their bail requests have been denied.

In a Facebook post on 11 February, Tantawan said that she did not block or cut off the motorcade. She also said she did not know that there was going to be a motorcade. She was on the way back from a funeral and admitted that she was speeding because she was in a hurry.

The dashcam footage shows the vehicle stuck in traffic. The car’s horn can be heard when it moved to the front of the line and the lane was blocked by a police vehicle. The footage also shows that the vehicle was stuck behind another police vehicle at the exit from the expressway. A police officer can be seen approaching the vehicle before Tantawan is heard arguing.

On 20 March, the Criminal Court extended their detention order for 12 more days, as the police claim they are still gathering evidence.

Tantawan and Nutanon has been on a hunger strike since the beginning of their detention. They are calling for a reform of the justice system, an end to the detention of dissidents, and for Thailand to denied its bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

Tantawan is now held at Thammasat University Hospital and Nutanon at the Corrections Hospital. Both have refused medical intervention. They continue to refuse food and are drinking only a small amount of water each day.

Some 200 Myanmar migrant workers were fired from their garment factory jobs in China’s Yunnan province and forced to leave the country after they protested for better pay and working conditions, a labor union leader told Radio Free Asia.

More than 1,000 workers from two garment factories in Yunnan’s Yingjiang city demonstrated on March 17, according to Tin Tin Wai, the co-chairwoman of the New Light Federation of Labor Unions Myanmar.

“We were threatened through interpreters with police arrest if we didn’t stop the protest,” said a worker who identified himself as Super. “The police officers looked like they were about to beat us, but they ended up not hitting any protesters.”

The next day, factory officials demanded that some of the protesters undergo a medical exam, Tin Tin Wai said. The 200 workers who were fired from the Shangcheng and Xinjiahao factories were told they had failed the exam, she said.

They were then immediately driven out of the factory gates to a police station, where they were told to sign a document that said they weren’t fired for protesting, according to one of the workers, Ma Jue.

“They didn’t allow us to take our belongings out of our rooms,” she told RFA. “We were forced to sign a paper that we were voluntarily returning home.”

The workers were then driven back to Myanmar’s Kayin state, Tin Tin Wai said.

No legal recourse

Protesters had demanded that their usual 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. working schedule be scaled back, that they be paid extra for overtime and that they receive a monthly salary of 1,500 yuan (US$208) with an attendance bonus, she said.

They also asked for reasonable output goals and to have Sundays off, she said.

There are more than 1,000 Myanmar migrant workers at the Shangcheng factory and about 300 workers from Myanmar at the Xinjiahao factory.

Because there is no memorandum of understanding between the two governments, Myanmar migrant workers at Chinese garment factories don’t have legal recourse and can be sent home at any time, according to observers of Myanmar labor issues at the Chinese border.

At the Shangcheng and Xinjiahao factories, employment agents who arranged for the workers to come from Myanmar never get involved or take any responsibility when there are disputes between the workers and factory owners, Tin Tin Wai said.

Super told RFA that some Myanmar workers were promised higher salaries than the ones they now receive.

“The Chinese employers offered salaries of 900,000 to 1,000,000 kyats (US$425 to US$475), plus overall expenses for accommodation,” said the worker, who identified himself as Super. “However, the workers did not even get 800,000 kyats (US$380).”

Super said he watched some workers quit because they couldn’t handle all the overtime work and didn’t have access to painkillers or other medicine.

RFA contacted the Chinese Embassy in Yangon and the Myanmar Consulate in Yunnan about last week’s protest, but there was no response.

Vietnamese authorities on Thursday arrested and charged two Facebook bloggers for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe the interests of the state” for posting comments about the handling of a case of a death row inmate, Vietnamese media reported.

The Security Investigation Agency of the Binh Duong provincial police charged Nguyen Duc Du and Hoang Quoc Viet under Article 331 of Vietnam’s Penal Code, saying their social media posts about death row inmate Ho Duy Hai being unjustly sentenced had insulted judiciary agencies.

Their cases bring to five the number of people who have been prosecuted under Article 331, a law that rights groups say authorities regularly use to suppress dissent or criticism of the government.

Authorities arrested and temporarily detained Du, 48, while they banned Viet, 46, from leaving his residential area. Both live in Binh Duong province in southern Vietnam.

The Public Security Ministry’s People’s Public Security Newspaper reported that police said Du and Viet published many social media posts with content that distorted, slandered and defamed agencies and individuals – without specifying the content of their posts.

The prosecution of the two bloggers also illustrates the lengths that authorities will go to to silence critics for comments they made or social media posts they wrote in the past.

Nguyen Van Dai, who used to work as a lawyer in Hanoi for many years, said social media platforms have been full of information defending and demanding justice for Ho Duy Hai since 2008.

Hai was arrested in March 2008 and convicted nine months later of robbery and the murder of two postal employees in Long An province. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the theft and given the death penalty for the murders, despite a lack of crucial evidence and irregularities in how the case was handled.

In 2020, the Supreme People’s Court rejected a request by the Supreme People’s Procuracy to reinvestigate the case, prompting Hai’s family members to petition lawmakers over his death sentence. That petition has not been addressed, and Hai, now 39, is still on death row.

The prosecution of Du and Viet is a crackdown on freedom of speech and was carried out to serve the political purposes of several officials in the judiciary system, Dai said.

“The arrest and detention of the two individuals who posted information concerning the Ho Duy Hai case on social media is nothing more than suppression, as the information [they posted] has been available for a long time,” Dai said.

Numerous democratic countries and human rights groups have called on Hanoi to repeal or amend Article 331, along with Article 117, arguing they are abused to stifle dissent.

Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu have handed a four-year jail term to veteran rights activist Xu Qin, after repeatedly delaying her trial and sentencing despite concerns over her deteriorating health, and amid reports of torture from a prominent rights group.

The Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu, a key figure in the Wuhan-based China Rights Observer group founded by jailed veteran dissident Qin Yongmin, to four years' imprisonment on March 29 for "incitement to subvert state power," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch rights website reported.

It quoted Xu as telling the sentencing hearing: "I'd like to thank everyone for their care and support, and also thank my husband for his help and support. Regardless of whether it’s futile or not, I must appeal. This is my right."

An award-winning activist in a number of high-profile human rights cases, including that of detained human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, Xu was detained under "residential surveillance at a designated location" in 2021, a form of incommunicado detention rights groups say puts detainees at greater risk of torture and mistreatment.

Her family told RFA in earlier interviews that Xu is a stroke and heart attack survivor who suffers from high blood pressure, among other ailments.

But according to the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch rights website, many of Xu's health problems were caused by her torture and mistreatment in detention.

"During her detention and interrogation, Xu Qin was brutally tortured to extract a confession, and was held in solitary confinement for a long period of time," the website said in a report about her sentencing published on Sunday.

"Xu already suffered from multiple health problems including stroke, heart attack and hypertension, and as a result [of the torture], she was left paralyzed and unable to stand," it said.

Since she was locked up in the detention center, Xu has started using a wheelchair, according to her lawyer.

Xu told the court on Friday that she would appeal the sentence, which came after more than two years in pretrial detention at the Yangmiao Detention Center in Yangzhou city, where she held intermittent hunger strikes in protest at a loss of communications privileges as well as a months-long ban on meetings with her lawyer, Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch said.

Repeated calls to Xu's lawyer rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.

Trial was delayed

Xu's trial was delayed several times following her initial detention in May 2021, with the authorities citing only "unavoidable circumstances."

But her family says it was delayed due to her refusal to provide the state security police with a "confession."

The trial was eventually held on Nov. 7, 2022, but the verdict and sentencing were also repeatedly delayed until now.

New York-based rights lawyer Chen Chuangchuang, who also heads the U.S. branch of the banned China Democracy Party, said Chen has always been an extremely tenacious activist.

"The trial was held a long time ago, but the verdict and sentencing were delayed multiple times, which is a deliberate form of torture used by the Chinese Communist Party," Chen told RFA on Monday.

Chen said that one of the purposes of the authorities' repeated delay in pronouncing the sentence was to get Xu Qin to plead guilty, and that she had been especially targeted due to her association with Qin Yongmin.

According to the Weiquanwang rights website, the charges against Xu listed her participation in Qin's China Rights Observer and its sister organization Rose China as evidence against her.

Qin was sentenced in July 2018 to 13 years' imprisonment for "incitement to subvert state power," the latest in a string of long sentences for his peaceful dissent and attempts to build the banned China Democracy Party.

A contemporary of exiled dissident Wei Jingsheng, Qin was sentenced to eight years in prison for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and subversion" in the wake of China's Democracy Wall movement in 1981.

He served a further two years' "re-education through labor" in 1993 after he penned a controversial document titled the "Peace Charter."

Qin then served a 12-year jail term for subversion after he helped found the China Democracy Party in 1998 in spite of a ban on opposition political parties.

Xu was honored with the Lin Zhao Freedom Award for her human rights advocacy in 2022, and the Oscar China Freedom Human Rights Award last month.

Environmental activist from Karimunjawa, Central Java, Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan was sentenced to 7 months in prison for EIT Law.

The verdict hearing was held at the Jepara District Court, Central Java, Thursday (4/4). The trial was led by Chief Judge Parlin Mangantas Bona, Member Judges Joko Ciptano, and Yusuf Sembiring.

"Adjudging that, one, the defendant Daniel has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of the crime of without the right to disseminate information aimed at creating hatred for certain groups of people based on ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup or SARA," said Parlin Mangantas Bona when reading out the trial verdict.

"Two, punish the defendant with imprisonment for seven months and a fine of Rp 5 million, provided that the fine is not paid, it will be replaced by imprisonment for one month," he continued.

In addition, in his decision, the judge ordered evidence, namely Daniel's cellphone and Facebook account, to be destroyed.

On that occasion, the Chief Judge also read out the aggravating and mitigating considerations in handing down the verdict. The aggravating factor was that the defendant Daniel was considered to have caused unrest to the Karimunjawa community.

The mitigating circumstances in the view of the panel of judges were that the defendant was an environmental activist. In addition, the defendant was cooperative and polite during the trial.

"The mitigating factors are that the defendant has never been convicted, the defendant is polite, and cooperative in the trial, the defendant is an environmental activist, an educational service that has contributed to the community not only in Karimunjawa and many other areas," he said.

The Regional Board of Indonesian Islamic Students (PW PII) Banten plans to hold a demonstration in front of the Banten Police office, Serang City.

The action aimed to highlight the issue of weak law enforcement against illegal mining in Lebak Regency and the lack of response from the Banten Police regarding the issue, on Tuesday, December 2, 2023.

However, the action organized by PW PII Banten did not go smoothly.While on the road in front of the Banten Police office, the action was blocked by the police, causing a tense situation at the location.

Action Coordinator, Kiki Baehaki, explained that the demonstration was carried out in response to the negative impact felt by the people of Cidoyong Village, Lebak Gedong District, due to illegal gold mining in the area.

"We held the demonstration because of the bad impact felt by the local community in Cidoyong Village, Lebak Gedong District, on Mount Cidoyong due to the impact of illegal gold mining excavation, flooding occurred in several villages in Cipanas District," said Baehaki.

He continued by saying that the illegal mine in Lebak Gedong was sealed in 2020 by the Banten Police, but after being surveyed by PW PII Banten, it was found that the mining activities were still ongoing until this year.

"We found the largest gold mine in Ciguha Pilar Cileksa, Sukajaya District, Bogor Regency, which has not received firm action from the police," he continued.

He said, alluding to Law 158 on the prohibition of illegal mining, Baehaki emphasized that miners without a license can be subject to 5 years imprisonment or a fine of 100 million rupiah. However, he questioned the minimal law enforcement related to illegal mining cases in Banten.

"With this issue, I suspect that there is collusion between the Banten Police, Lebak Police, and gold mining bosses regarding the security of illegal mining operations," he said.

He revealed that this action was blocked by the police when passing on the Cipocok District road towards the Banten Police. There was an argument and police intimidation of the protesters who wanted to continue the demonstration in front of the Banten Police.

"But despite the intimidation, PW PII Banten remains committed to continuing the legal struggle related to the illegal mining issue," he said.

In closing, Baehaki stated that this case shows the tense situation regarding the issue of illegal mining in Banten and the tension between the demonstrators and the police.

"So the plan is to continue the legal justice movement in Banten by offering an audience and reporting illegal mining cases to the Police Headquarters," he concluded.

The South Sulawesi Police disbanded a discussion held by Forum Anomali and the Muhammadiyah Student Association or IMM Parepare in Parepare City, South Sulawesi today, Friday, January 19, 2024. The discussion discussed the future and anomalies of democracy today.

The speakers in the discussion were UI BEM Chair Melki Sedek Huang, UGM KM BEM Chair Gielbran M. Noor, Unpad BEM Chair Muhammad Haikal, and Sema Paramadina Secretary General Afiq Naufal. They are also the founders of Forum Anomali, which initiated the discussion.

According to Melki, Parepare Police Chief Arman Muis had urged the organizers to cancel the event before it took place. "Reportedly it is a directive from the South Sulawesi Police," Melki said when contacted via WhatsApp message, Friday, January 19, 2024.

Melki said that his side was not allowed to hold discussions, carry out criticism, and bring corn, which is a symbol of their movement. "There was almost a conflict, but we still held the discussion in the right place," he said.

When the event took place, Melki said the Parepare Police Chief came to the location in uniform to supervise the discussion. He said the Parepare Police Chief directed the press not to cover the event. "Even though they have been invited," said Melki Sedek Huang.

Regarding the number of personnel who dispersed the discussion, Melki said he did not count exactly.

However, he said there were approximately ten to twenty personnel.

Until now, Melki admitted that he did not know the reason why the discussion was disbanded."We only heard a police officer stating that this was the direction of the South Sulawesi Police," he said.

Forum Anomali was founded by Melki, Gielbran, Haikal, and Afiq to spread the understanding of safeguarding democracy to many regions. Before holding the discussion, they and the students held a #DemocracyJagung action in Makassar on Thursday, January 18, 2024,

The Criminal Court ruled yesterday (20 March) to continue detaining activists Tantawan Tuatulanon and Nutanon Chaimahabut, who have been on a hunger strike for over a month, for 12 more days, as the police claims they are still gathering evidence.

Lawyer Kritsadang Nutcharus said that an inquiry officer from Din Daeng Police Station filed a request for the Court to extend its detention order on the grounds that the police are still examining whether dashcam footage given by an eyewitness had been manipulated.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) noted that, when filing a previous detention request on 8 March, the police also claimed that they were still waiting for the footage examination result and told the Court that the examination should be done within a week.

Tantawan and Nutanon were arrested on 13 February on several charges, including sedition, for allegedly honking at and blocking a royal motorcade and for posting dash cam footage of the incident. They have been repeatedly denied bail.

To call for a reform of the justice system, an end to the detention of dissidents, and for Thailand to denied its bid for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council, the two activists have been on a hunger strike since the first day of their detention and are refusing medical intervention. Tantawan is now held at Thammasat University Hospital. TLHR said that she has ketoacidosis and that she has signed a document stating that she does not consent to receiving fluid or nutrients if she loses consciousness. A doctor reportedly told Tantawan that she could go into shock or lose consciousness if she continues her hunger strike. She insists on continuing to refuse food, nutrients or sugar water, and is only drinking a small amount of water each day.

Meanwhile, Nutanon is held at the Corrections Hospital. TLHR said an infection was found in his intestine, but he refused to take medication. He is also refusing food and is only drinking a small amount of water each day.

In a Facebook post on 11 February, Tantawan said that she did not block or cut off the motorcade. She also said she did not know that there was going to be a motorcade. She was on the way back from a funeral and admitted that she was speeding because she was in a hurry.

The dashcam footage shows the vehicle stuck in traffic. The car’s horn can be heard when it moved to the front of the line and the lane was blocked by a police vehicle. The footage also shows that the vehicle was stuck behind another police vehicle while at the exit from the expressway. A police officer can be seen approaching the vehicle before Tantawan is heard arguing.

Activist Parit Chiwarak has been accused of royal defamation for posting a critique of a Constitutional Court ruling that former Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha had not violated the constitution by continuing to live in army housing after his retirement.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), Parit reported to the police yesterday (21 March) after receiving a summons in February. He was informed by the inquiry officer that he had been accused of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for social media posts about a December 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that Gen Prayut’s occupation of army housing after retirement did not constitute a conflict of interest and was therefore not a violation of the Constitution.

The complaint against Parit was reportedly filed in December 2021 by former Phalang Pracharath MP Pareena Kraikupt, who claimed she saw four Facebook posts from an account with Parit’s name on it criticizing the ruling, discussing King Vajiralongkorn, and utilising a quote about judges that has often been attributed to the late King Bhumibol.

Pareena reportedly filed the complaint because she believed that Parit was the owner of the Facebook page and felt that his posts defamed King Vajiralongkorn.

Parit denied all charges. He also refused to be fingerprinted, requesting that the police uses his citizen ID number to check his identity and criminal record instead. He felt that there was no need to use his fingerprint in the investigation but the police told him that he would be charged with refusing to follow an officer’s order if he did not cooperate.

This the 25th royal defamation charge filed against Parit. TLHR noted that the summons was issued several years after the complaint was filed. They also noted that in November 2023, Pareena claimed she had withdrawn her complaint against Parit.

As a result of the posts, Parit was also accused of insulting the court, but the public prosecutor decided not to indict him.

Twenty-nine persons including 02 Buddhist monks and 03 females have been arrested during the protest staged by the ‘Jana Aragala Viyaparaya’ in Pettah today (20), police said.

It is reported that Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) activist Duminda Nagamuwa and youth activist Lahiru Weerasekara are among those arrested during the protest.

Meanwhile, at least 05 police officers have been injured during the clashes with protesters, according to police.

Earlier, police had resorted to using tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters in Pettah, Colombo.

The demonstration had been organized by the ‘Jana Aragala Viyaparaya’ (People’s Struggle Movement) based on several issues including the soaring cost of living and certain foreign agreements.

The protest march had commenced from near the Fort Railway Station and they were heading in the direction of Pettah when riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them, Ada Derana reporter said.