Uwazi

Environmental groups have condemned the killing of a staunch antimining advocate and his companion in Surigao del Sur on Sunday.

Alberto Cuartero, village chair of Barangay Puyat in Carmen town, and Ronde Asis were shot dead by still unidentified assailants in the nearby municipality of Madrid.

The Madrid police called on people who may have witnessed the shooting in Barangay Linibunan to help investigators identify and track down the perpetrators.

‘Deep void’ Cuartero, who was in his late 40s, was one of the local voices protesting the wanton destruction of Carmen’s natural environment by mining operations.

He once helped expose bogus documents brandished by a mining proponent claiming to have earned the community’s consent to be affected.

Civil society leader Chito Trillanes described Cuartero as “a faithful servant of the people and a strong defender of the environment.Most dangerous “We are enraged that another environmental and human rights defender has been felled and now joins the ranks of hundreds of activists killed in the country,” said a statement from the antimining group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM).

ATM cited the recent Global Witness report that again ranked the Philippines as “the most dangerous country in Asia” for environmental activists.

From 2012 to 2023, a total of 298 environmental activists in the country were killed, accounting for 64 percent of the 468 total across Asia, according to the report.

“The abduction of land and environmental defenders in Southeast Asia has emerged as a critical issue, reflecting broader systemic efforts by power holders to suppress dissent and maintain control over land and resources,” the report, titled “Missing Voices,” noted.

ATM called on authorities to conduct “a serious investigation on the murder of the victims and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

“We demand that police officials undertake all efforts to resolve this brutal killing. We further call on the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Commission on Human Rights to (also) investigate the matter,” ATM said.

Town in mourning Since Monday, the Philippine flag had been at half-staff at the Carmen local government center as a sign of mourning for Cuartero’s death.

“The local government unit of Carmen strongly condemns and deeply mourns the unjust death of Hon. Alberto O. Cuartero, Barangay Captain of Puyat,” the municipal government said in a statement.

“As government officials, serving the people is our top priority. However, it saddens us to realize that there are individuals who seek to hinder the plans aimed at the welfare and development of our community,” it added.

“His death left a deep void in our community and in each of our hearts,” Trillanes said in a social media post.

On 18 September 2024, human rights defender Zhoomart Karabaev reported receiving threats, including death threats, while in Pre-Trial Detention Center #1 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He also reported that law enforcement authorities are pressuring him to refuse the services of his lawyer.

Zhoomart Karabaev is a human rights defender, academic, and whistleblower from Kyrgyzstan. In 2024, he systematically exposed how the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan signed expert reviews that became the primary basis for sentencing state critics, pre-drafted by the State Committee for National Security. In May 2024, Zhoomart Karabaev provided witness testimony during the trial of writer Olzhobai Shakir regarding the evidentiary support presented by state authorities. He has also spoken out on social media about these practices, calling for an end to the unjust persecution of state critics.

On 18 September 2024, woman human rights defender Aziza Abdirasulova published a letter she received from Zhoomart Karabaev’s lawyer. In this letter, Zhoomart Karabaev, currently detained in Pre-Trial Detention Center #1 in Bishkek, details threats—including death threats— that he has been receiving from law enforcement officials. Specifically, these threats are related to the visibility of the malicious actions of law enforcement officers in the criminal case against him. Zhoomart Karabaev also stated in his letter that law enforcement officers are constantly asking him why he claims that he “will die in pre-trial detention,” indirectly threatening the human rights defender, alleging that he has claimed that he is ready to take his own life. In response, Zhoomart Karabaev asserts that he has never made such statements and is not planning to take his own life; thus, he views these comments from law enforcement officials as death threats.

On 2 July 2024, State Committee for National Security officers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, arrested Zhoomart Karabaev, brought him in for questioning, and detained him for 48 hours. On 4 July 2024, the Pervomaiskii District Court of Bishkek ruled to place him in pre-trial detention. The accusations against him stem from his social media posts, in which he discussed the current wave of persecution against civil society actors and the authorities' failure to acknowledge corruption in the National Academy of Sciences. The authorities argue that Zhoomart Karabaev's posts constitute "incitement of mass public discord," a criminal offense under Part 3 of Article 278 of the Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan.

Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned about the pressure and threats, including death threats, against human rights defender Zhoomart Karabaev, as it believes these actions constitute retaliation for his legitimate and peaceful human rights work in exposing state corruption. The organization is alarmed by the wave of repression faced by human rights defenders and journalists in Kyrgyzstan. Front Line Defenders believes that targeting human rights defenders has a harmful effect on the peaceful and legitimate work of human rights defenders in the country.

The Hanoi People's Court on Sept. 16 sentenced Phan Van Bach, a democracy activist and former contributor to the independent YouTube channel CHTV, to five years in prison on charges of “distributing anti-state propaganda” under Article 117 of the Penal Code.

Bach, 49, who requested his lawyers allow him to defend himself, was convicted in a trial that lasted just about one hour. The procuracy charged the former activist under Section 1 of Article 117, which prohibits activities such as “making, storing, disseminating or propagandizing anti-state information,” “sowing confusion among the people,” and “committing psychological warfare.”

Bach was arrested last December after the police alleged he had produced and published articles and video clips on social media that contained anti-state content. According to the indictment, between 2018 and 2022, Bach had used a Facebook account under his name to post 12 articles and six video clips that allegedly “distorted the policies of the party and the state,” “denied the leadership role of the Vietnamese Communist Party,” and “defamed state leaders and incited the masses to oppose the government.”

Le Van Luan, one of Bach’s defense lawyers, said that although his client admitted what he did, he knew that what he published on social media could violate the Penal Code. Furthermore, according to Luan, Bach proposed that Article 117, under which he was prosecuted, be amended. The democracy activist does not plan to appeal the conviction, the lawyer added.

Before Bach's trial on Sept. 12, Human Rights Watch called on the Vietnamese authorities to “drop all charges and release” him. The rights group noted that Bach is an active campaigner for democracy and human rights and has participated in numerous demonstrations to protest the Law on Cybersecurity and the maritime pollution disaster caused by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. in 2016.

Nguyen Thi Yeu, Bach’s wife, also informed the public on social media that her husband had suffered from scabies and intestinal illnesses while in custody, making him lose nearly 25 kg (55 pounds) since his arrest. In a statement published on X after the trial, Freedom House, a watchdog for freedom of expression, urged the Vietnamese government to provide Bach with “necessary medical care” and “facilitate his immediate and unconditional release.” The Washington D.C.-based nonpartisan watchdog group also called the sentencing “unjust” and said they are “deeply concerned” about his health.

A court in An Giang Province on Sept. 4 tried and convicted a social media user and a lawyer on charges of “abusing democratic freedoms” under Article 331 of the Penal Code.

Phan Ngoc Dung, 69, a YouTube user, and Bui Van Khanh, 75, a lawyer, were accused of “taking advantage of their freedoms to distort, slander, and violate the honor and dignity of the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court, and the leader of the Supreme People's Court.” Dung received a three-year prison sentence, while Khanh was sentenced to two years.

The indictment declared that around the end of 2020, Dung often watched two YouTube channels named Hóng phim TV and TTAD 2, which hosted online discussions about the unjust nature of the case of Ho Duy Hai, who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Dung had pushed for Hai’s release.

In October 2021, Dung allegedly established her own YouTube channel, Tiếng Nói Lòng Dân (The Voice of the People’s Heart), and invited attorney Khang, a lawyer from the Nam Dinh Provincial Bar Association, to answer the audience’s questions and provide legal analysis in her live streams because she knew Khang personally. State media reported that on Jan. 22, Phan Ngoc Dung surrendered himself to the Security Investigation Agency of An Giang Province Police due to the alleged defamation crimes that had been used against him.

Between October 2021 and January 21, 2024, the social media user and the lawyer reportedly hosted numerous talk shows and discussions, producing 1,200 videos on YouTube.

The Department of Cybersecurity and High-tech Crime Prevention alleges that a total of 12 video clips published on Dung's YouTube channel and her Facebook page, Dieu Nhan, contain information that “distorts, slanders, and violates the honor and dignity of the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court and the leader of the Supreme People's Court” and “insults the Vietnamese judiciary,” which “negatively affects social order and societal safety.”

Two pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to prison for royal defamation over protest speeches they delivered in Chaiyaphum Province in 2021.

Jatupat Boonpattararaksa and Atthapol Buapat, pro-democracy activists, were sentenced to prison for royal defamation for protest speeches they made in front of the Phu Khiao Police Station and Phu Khiao School on 1 February 2021, according to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR).

On that day, the “Ratsadon” group staged a protest, calling on the police to apologise to students who were intimidated by police officers after they registered for a “Ratsadon On Tour” camp, a forum for opinion exchange and discussions of problems in Thai society. 26 people, including 15 and 18-year-old students, received summonses, for allegedly violating the Emergency Decree. Three of the summonses were later dismissed.

Jatupat and Atthapol were charged with 4 offences: royal defamation, sedition, violating the Emergency Decree, and the unauthorised use of a sound amplifier. The speeches they gave, which raised the subject of monarchy reform but did not mention any particular king by name, were deemed to defamatory of the Royal Institution. Jatupat compared the financial standing of the monarchy with that of the people and called for the amendment of the Constitution. Atthapol called for reducing the royal budget.

Another activist, Panupong Jadnok, was also charged in the case, but he did not show up at the court.

According to TLHR, the defendants were initially sentenced to three years in prison. As Jatupat had been given an additional one year and three months in prison for repeating the offence, his cumulative sentence was four years and six months. Due to his ‘helpful testimony’, the court reduced his sentence to two years and twelve months. The court also dismissed three of the charges – sedition, violating the Emergency Decree, and the unauthorised use of a sound amplifier- brought against Atthapol, jailing him for two years for royal defamation.

Their lawyers have filed bail requests, pending appeal. They are currently being detained at the Phu Khiao Prison.

ด่วน! 14.00 น. ศาลอุทธรณ์ภาค 3 มีคำสั่งให้ประกันตัว ไผ่-ครูใหญ่ #คดี112 ปราศรัยหน้า สภ.ภูเขียว พิเคราะห์พฤติการณ์แห่งคดีและความหนักเบาแห่งข้อหา เห็นว่า จำเลยทั้งสองเคยได้รับการปล่อยชั่วคราวระหว่างพิจารณา ไม่มีพฤติการณ์หลบหนี จึงอนุญาตปล่อยชั่วคราวระหว่างอุทธรณ์ ตีราคาประกันคนละ 300,000 บาท

Update: TLHR said that, at around 14.00 today (14 September), the Region 3 Appeal Court have granted Jatupat and Atthapol bail on the grounds that they have been granted bail before and are not a flight risk. The Court required a security of 300,000 baht each.

A hotel in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has canceled its agreement with a group opposing the government's plan to construct a nuclear power station to host a gathering next week.

Vadim Ni, a founding member of the group AES Kerek Emes (We Don't Need Nuclear Power Plants), told RFE/RL on September 13 that the hotel, run by U.S.-based Hilton Hotels & Resorts, canceled the deal three days before the event was to take place on September 16.

"This morning, after I sent invitations to media outlets to the event, the hotel administration called me and said the agreement was annulled due to -- what they said -- the hotel's closure," Ni said, adding that most likely the hotel canceled the gathering of about 50 people due to pressure imposed by people linked to the government or supporters of the idea to construct a nuclear power plant.

Ni also said his group is searching for an alternative site for the gathering.

The hotel's manager, who introduced herself as Aleksandra, refused to comment on the decision to cancel the event.

Kazakh authorities said last week that a nationwide referendum on the possible construction of a nuclear power plant will be held on October 6.

On September 12, the Kazakh Prosecutor-General's Office said four individuals and two companies were fined for holding opinion polls on the issue because they failed to inform the authorities about their intention to conduct the opinion polls.

Ni and several other activists announced the creation of their group on September 10.

The activists said that if a nuclear plant is constructed in partnership with a foreign country -- four companies are currently on the short list -- Kazakhstan could lose some of its sovereignty.

China's CNNC, South Korea's KHNP, France's EDF, and Russia's Rosatom have been named in media reports as possible partners.

Kazakh officials have avoided commenting directly, saying the decision would be made after the referendum.

Shortly before launching its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia proposed that its Rosatom nuclear agency be Kazakhstan's main partner in such a project.

Many Kazakhs publicly reject the idea of Rosatom's involvement, citing the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine as examples of Moscow's attitude toward nuclear safety.

Many in Kazakhstan expect the referendum to succeed, given the country's tightly controlled political environment.

But the push to build a new nuclear facility has been met by significant opposition, despite apparent efforts to silence dissent on the issue. In recent weeks, several activists known for their stance against the project have been prevented from attending public debates on the matter.

Suchart Sawadsri, a well-known 79-year-old Thai writer, has been accused of sedition for sharing a video clip concerning the royal defamation law.

Thai Lawyers for Humans Rights (TLHR) reported that former national artist Suchart Sawadsri faces a sedition charge in connection with a Facebook post on 29 October 2022 where he shared a video clip titled “10 things people do not know about Section 112 (royal defamation law)”, originally posted by iLaw. He also included a message with the shared video clip, saying “Why we have to revoke Section 112. We will choose a political party that has a clear policy about ‘revoking Section 112’ #ReleaseOurFriends”.

The lawsuit against Suchart was filed at the Srinakarin Police Station, Phatthalung Province, by Songchai Niamhom, leader of the ultra-royalist King Protection Group, which is active in the southern provinces. Members of the group are reported to have filed complaints, especially royal defamation charges, against several people, including a former Move Forward Party MP.

Suchart was charged with sedition, an offence related to national security, and violation of the Computer Crime Act. In August 2024, he received a summons from the police station in Phatthalung. The authorities claimed that it was the third summons, though the writer insisted that he had never received any prior summons.

Despite his advanced age, Suchart, along with his lawyer, had to travel the long distance to the southern province to acknowledge the case on 11 September. The writer denied all allegations and plans to provide further testimony.

It was also reported that on Thursday (19 September) Suchart and his legal team will hold a press conference concerning this case.

The sedition law stipulates that anyone who publicly makes statements by words, writings, or any other means which are not in accordance with the Constitution or for expressing an honest opinion or criticism, in order to change the country’s law or the government by the use of force or violence, or to raise unrest and disaffection among the public in a manner likely to cause a disturbance, or to cause the people to violate the laws of the country, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding 7 years.

Suchart, who was awarded the title of National Artist for Literature in 2011, was stripped of his title by the National Culture Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Culture. He is one of many public figures who support pro-democracy protests and political reforms, and publicly criticise the military junta. His national artist title was revoked due to his social media posts that were deemed defamatory towards the monarchy.

Sedition is one of the most frequently used charges against political activists and demonstrators. According to TLHR, since the mass protests in 2020, at least 154 people have been charged with sedition, with 29 cases also involving charges of royal defamation.

The Hanoi People’s Court on Sept. 10 opened a trial for Nguyen Vu Binh, an independent journalist, and blogger who extensively writes about democracy and social issues, and sentenced him to seven years on charges of “distributing anti-state propaganda” under the controversial Article 117 of the Penal Code. Binh was a former journalist at the Communist Journal (Tạp chí Cộng sản), an official mouthpiece of the Communist Party. According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), he had three defense lawyers, Le Dinh Viet, Le Van Luan, and Nguyen Thi Trang. Binh’s sister, Nguyen Thi Phong, and his daughter were allowed to witness the trial.

Nguyen Vu Binh was arrested on Feb. 29 in Hanoi, along with activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen. According to the indictment, Binh, 55, was accused of participating in a talk show that discussed political, economic, and social issues in Vietnam. The show was published on a YouTube channel called “TNT Media Live,” hosted by the Vietnamese lawyer and former political prisoner Nguyen Van Dai. The court declared that Binh had participated in four video clips uploaded between January and March 2022, which allegedly “contained false information and caused public confusion.”

One of Binh’s lawyers, who requested anonymity, said that the journalist admitted to his activities but rejected the conviction because he only exercised the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed in the Vietnamese Constitution and the Convention on Civil and Political Rights that Hanoi has ratified. The lawyer added that Binh would not appeal the sentence because he did not believe in Vietnam’s justice system. Previously, in 2003, Nguyen Vu Binh was convicted under “espionage” charges and sentenced to seven years in prison and three years of probation for sending reports on the human rights situation to international organizations.

Before Binh’s trial, rights advocate Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sept. 8 urged the Vietnamese authorities to “drop all charges and release” Nguyen Vu Binh. The arrest and trial of Binh have become the latest example of repression that occurred after police general To Lam assumed his new position as the Vietnamese Communist Party’s general secretary. HRW noted that between April 2016 and May 2024, when To Lam led the security ministry, Vietnamese police “arrested at least 269 people for peacefully exercising their basic civil and political rights.” In 2002 and 2007, HRW awarded Nguyen Vu Binh the Hellmann/Hammett Writers’ Award, dedicated to the activists who faced political persecution.

Asanali Suieubaev, a founding member of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) political party, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 10 on a charge of distributing illegal drugs that he rejects as politically motivated. Suieubaev's lawyer, Meiirzhan Dosqaraev, told RFE/RL on September 11 that the case against his client had been "trumped up" after he publicly accused former President Nursultan Nazarbaev of corruption in November 2023. Also in November, the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, was sentenced to seven years in prison on extremism charges that he also rejected as politically motivated.

A Kazakh activist has been fined for a YouTube clip questioning government plans for a nationwide referendum on the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Abzal Dostiyarov streamed the session of the Auezov district court in Almaty on September 10 at which he was found guilty of violating the law on public polling and ordered to pay a 55,350-tenge ($115) fine.

Dostiyarov insisted he is innocent, saying the video clip in question from a week earlier was not a poll.

"I reject the charge. There were opinions of our subscribers compiled under our video. It was not a poll for all the citizens of the country, it was just feedback," Dostiyarov said. He alleged that the court's ruling was politically motivated.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev last week announced plans for a nationwide referendum on October 6 to gauge public support for the construction of a nuclear power plant.

Many Kazakhs expect the referendum to succeed, given the country's tightly controlled political environment.

But the push to build a new nuclear facility has been met by significant opposition despite apparent efforts to silence dissent on the issue. In recent weeks, several activists known for their stance against such a project have been prevented from attending public debates on the matter.

Nuclear power-related projects have been a controversial issue in Kazakhstan, where the environment was severely impacted by operations at the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from 1949 to 1991, and the Baikonur spaceport, which is still operated by Moscow.

Hours before his decree was made public on September 2, President Toqaev reiterated his support for the plant's construction.

There has been no official information about a proposed site, but a public debate was held last year in the village of Ulken on the shore of Lake Balkhash, in the southeastern region of Almaty, on the possibility of constructing a nuclear power station there.

Talk of a new nuclear power station in Kazakhstan has been circulating for years, leading to questions regarding what countries would be involved in the project.

Kazakh officials avoided answers, saying the decision would be made after a referendum.

Shortly before launching its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia proposed that its Rosatom nuclear agency be Kazakhstan's major partner in such a project.

Many Kazakhs publicly rejected the idea of Rosatom's involvement, citing the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine as examples of Moscow's attitude toward nuclear safety.

On September 3, the chairwoman of Kazakhstan's Central Commission on Referendums, Sabila Mustafina, said 15.5 billion tenges ($32.5 million) has been requested to conduct the referendum.

Ten individuals, including Madhushan Chandrajit, the convener of the Inter-University Student's Federation, were arrested for allegedly participating in a protest in front of the Colombo Fort railway station in violation of election laws.

The Inter-University Student's Federation organized the protest to voice opposition to several issues, including the establishment of private universities.

The protesters gathered on the main road in front of the Fort railway station and attempted to move forward.

According to News 1st correspondent, the police arrived and instructed the protesters to disperse.

However, when the protesters continued to advance, the police intervened to disperse the crowd, resulting in the arrest of Madhushan Chandrajit and others.

In a decision dated 10 September 2024, the Guangdong Provincial High Court rejected human rights defenders Wang Jianbing’s and Huang Xueqin’s appeal and upheld the original verdict. However, the court failed to give advance notice to the lawyers of both human rights defenders regarding its decision to not convene a trial to consider their appeal, and its plan to announce the verdict on 10 September.

The verdict was delivered to Guangzhou Municipal No. 1 Detention Centre on 12 September. On 13 September, one of Huang Xueqin’s defence lawyers found out about the verdict when he met the woman human rights defender at the detention centre. In the afternoon of 12 September, one of Huang Xueqin’s lawyers telephoned the responsible judge at the Guangdong High Court to request for an open trial to consider the appeal, on the basis that new testimonies from new witnesses have been collected and submitted to the court. However, during the phone call the judge did not inform the lawyer that a verdict had already been reached.

Article 202 of China’s Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that verdict announcements are all to be conducted publicly, and that verdicts must be delivered to the defendants and their defence lawyers at the same time. In an official notice issued in 2019, the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Justice have instructed courts to inform defence lawyers in a timely manner of important procedural decisions, including decisions to not convene a trial to consider appeals and to announce verdicts. The Supreme People’s Court’s 2021 interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law further clarifies that if a court decides to announce a verdict at a set time, it must notify all parties, including defence lawyers, the time and location of the announcement ahead of time. Once the announcement is completed, the written verdict must be immediately sent to the parties.

19 September 2024 marks three years since Wang Jianbing and Huang Xueqin were arbitrarily detained.

The Supreme Court today rejected the appeal of Vorn Pao, President of the Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association (IDEA), and upheld his conviction on charges of "masterminding" and “instigating intentional acts of violence with aggravating circumstances” under Articles 28 and 218 of the Criminal Code in relation to a 2014 strike action on Phnom Penh’s Veng Sreng Boulevard.

Pao was handed a sentence of four years and six months in prison by the Phnom Penh Capital Court in 2014. He served 5 months of the sentence alongside 21 other people, and the remaining portion of the sentence was suspended, a verdict which was upheld today by the Supreme Court. He remains at risk of having the remaining suspended sentence implemented if he is convicted on any charges in the next five years.

Pao was one of the four individuals who appealed the Capital Court’s verdict to the Appeal Court. On 29 September 2023, the Phnom Penh Appeal Court upheld the lower court’s sentences, but dropped the fine of 8 million riel (around US$2,000).

Pao was the only defendant who filed a further appeal to the Supreme Court. He was arrested along with other workers and human rights defenders in front of the Yak Jin garment factory on 2 January 2014, one day before mixed forces opened fire on the peaceful minimum wage strikes on Veng Sreng Boulevard. The incident resulted in the deaths of four civilians and injuries to at least 38 others. A 15-year-old garment worker, Khem Sophath, was wounded during the violence and remains missing.

Karachi airport authorities recently added Sammi Deen Baloch to Pakistan's Exit Control List (ECL), preventing her from boarding a flight to Oman. Baloch was detained for over three hours at the airport. In a video statement, she revealed, “I have been stranded here at Karachi Jinnah International Airport. I was here to catch a flight to Muscat. I have been stranded here for several hours. I was previously given a boarding pass, and then I was stopped from boarding the plane. They have still not given me a plausible reason, and have taken my passport.”

Baloch continued, “I was detained here for several hours, I was questioned and investigated and I have been sitting here in a small office for the last 3-4 hours and they have not returned my passport. I have been urging them to, at least tell me that I have been detained and stopped by the Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan (FIA) on what accusations. I have not been issued a letter; they are just telling me that they have received a letter from the Home Minister’s office to put me on the ECL list. However, no such paper has been shown to me yet.”

The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) has issued a strong denunciation of the “abduction” of labour rights activist Anirudh Rajan, who was taken by state authorities on September 5, 2024, while traveling to meet his family. This incident is part of a troubling trend, as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and various state forces have increasingly targeted trade union and democratic rights activists over the past year.

Anirudh Rajan, a dedicated labour rights advocate based in the Delhi-NCR region, has been instrumental in organizing workers in Manesar under the banner of the Manesar General Mazdoor Sangh. His activism began with the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI) and later extended to efforts for the release of political prisoners in CASR. He has led numerous protests advocating for improved working conditions and has critically examined the misuse of public funds for the benefit of large corporations.

According to CASR, while traveling from NCR to Bengaluru to visit friends and family, Anirudh was apprehended by police as he was about to board a bus to Chennai. Allegations have surfaced claiming he was attempting to meet his girlfriend and was involved in fundraising for the banned CPI (Maoist) party—claims that have been denied as false. He has been labeled a criminal and arrested under the repressive Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

According to CASR, the Indian government is targeting trade union activists nationwide, resulting in heightened surveillance, raids, and arrests based on accusations over the past decade. The state’s tactics aim to suppress any discourse surrounding the exploitation of the working class, with all forms of unionization facing severe backlash. Activists have been alleged to be associated with conspiracy charges, designed to undermine legitimate organizing activities.

Believes CASR, Anirudh’s arrest is part of a broader conspiracy, which casts a shadow over democratic rights activists in northern India. Activists unrelated to any criminal activity are often ensnared in this web of intimidation and persecution, with the state working to criminalize public action by infringing on fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, including the right to freely associate and organize.

The ongoing repression of union activists, alongside those opposing social and economic injustices from marginalized backgrounds, aims to instill fear among ordinary to citizens and facilitate the unchecked rise of authoritarian, crony-capitalist governance, it adds.

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to drop their threats against two independent online news outlets over reports about President Sadyr Japarov on the grounds they contain “false information.”

In a September 4 letter, Kyrgyzstan’s culture and information ministry threatened to block access to Novye Litsa in 24 hours unless it deleted an August 30 article connecting a Russian political strategist linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the deceased leader of the Russian mercenary company Wagner, to Japarov’s 2021 election campaign. The outlet complied with the order but defended the accuracy of the article.

The ministry also demanded that the Kyrgyz Service of the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, known locally as Radio Azattyk, remove a radio report covering the Novye Litsa story or face a similar block.

“By issuing threats against Radio Azattyk and Novye Litsa over reports looking into President Sadyr Japarov’s alleged political strategists, Kyrgyz authorities have once again demonstrated that the ‘false information’ law is used for shielding the reputations of top state officials, not for countering disinformation,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Defamation allegations should be weighed against evidence— not the opaque whims of officials sitting in the halls of power. The false information law must be repealed.”

The ministry cited a 2021 law, which allows it to block websites it deems to contain “false information.”

In 2022, authorities blocked Radio Azattyk’s websites and in 2023 ordered the outlet to close, only reversing their decisions after the outlet had deleted a video about border clashes. This year, prosecutors shuttered and liquidated Kloop, a local partner of the global Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, after blocking its website which featured a series of corruption investigations.

Presidential press secretary Askat Alagozov said on Facebook that if Radio Azattyk’s reporting was found to “deliberately slander” Kyrgyzstan’s leadership, “the question of whether we need such an outlet may be put on the agenda.”

Since Japarov became president in 2021, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional beacon for the free press.

The Appeal Court has found Mongkhon Thirakot, a Chiang Rai-based activist and online clothes vendor, guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act and sentenced him to 4 years and 6 months in prison for two Facebook posts made in July 2022.

The ruling upholds a 30 October 2023 verdict by the Chiang Rai Provincial Court which found that Mongkhon was guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act. He was initially sentenced to 4 years in prison and given an additional 6 months in prison on a trespassing charge.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reports that the Appeal Court ruled to uphold the verdict on the grounds that Mongkhon admitted that he made the posts and that they referred to King Vajiralongkorn. The Court found that the two posts, which appeared to refer to ordinary people, were rude and inappropriate. Written with the intent of insulting the King, they were deemed to constitute an offence under the royal defamation law. The court noted that the defendant’s discontent with the current political situation was not a valid excuse for the offence.

Mongkhon was charged with royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for two Facebook posts made on 28 and 30 July 2022. One contains a picture of King Vajiralongkorn and a message about wearing black while in mourning. The other contains an edited picture of Mongkhon holding a picture frame.

He was arrested at his family home in Chiang Rai on 11 August 2022 by a unit of 21 police officers. He was later released on bail. The public prosecutor indicted him on the grounds that the posts insulted the King and damaged his reputation.

Mongkhon was previously sentenced to 50 years in prison on 25 counts of royal defamation for Facebook posts made between 2 – 11 March 2021. He is now facing a cumulative prison sentence of 54 years and 6 months, currently the longest prison sentence ever given for a royal defamation. Since January 2024, he has been detained pending appeal at the Chiang Rai Central Prison after the Supreme Court denied him bail on the grounds that his lengthy sentence makes him a flight risk.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expresses concern following the recent arrest of journalist Antonieta Kartono Martins, who was covering the eviction of street vendors in Timor-Leste’s capital. This obstruction of journalism in a country widely regarded as a regional model of press freedom sends a troubling signal. President Ramos-Horta pledged to safeguard press freedom following the event, and RSF will remain vigilant in monitoring his commitment.

Timor-Leste, ranked 20th in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, is not known for arbitrary arrests of journalists. Yet, on the night of September 4, Antonieta Kartono Martins, a reporter for the East Timorese news site Diligente Online, was arrested while covering a police operation to remove street vendors from a market in Dili, the capital.

She was released without charge after being detained for several hours. The police also confiscated the camera of another journalist, Suzana Cardoso from Media One Timor-Leste, and deleted her footage of the operation.

The general commissioner of the police in Timor-Leste, Henrique da Costa, described the incident as a "misunderstanding" between the officers and the journalist, noting that the matter had been "resolved at the police station." He added, "the journalist is free to take the matter to court, as we are all subject to the law." The President of the Republic of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, announced that he discussed the matter with police representatives and opposed any obstruction of journalists' work in the field.

“In a democracy like Timor-Leste, journalists should never have to face obstruction or arrest for covering events of public interest. We welcome the supportive reaction of President José Ramos-Horta, but we also urge him to ensure that the police forces respect press freedom in all circumstances.

Cédric Alviani RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director Timor-Leste journalists are generally able to report freely, but they occasionally face legal harassment, intimidation, and police violence. A nation of fewer than 1.5 million people, it is a model of press freedom in Southeast Asia, ranking 20th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

Several people were injured and around a dozen were detained during a protest by local government workers in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. Police fired tear gas at the protesters after they broke through barricades to enter the high-security zone. The demonstrators were protesting the withholding of funds from local governments and denying them the authority to carry out development activities.

Journalist Roy Barbosa was reportedly assaulted, harassed, and threatened by an unknown assailant while covering a protest in Malolos, the capital of Bulacan province in Luzon on September 3. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)) joins its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), in condemning the assault and urging the Filipino government to ensure the safety of journalists and media workers covering demonstrations.

On September 3, Manila Today journalist Roy Barbosa was reportedly assaulted and threatened by an unidentified man while covering a protest in Malalos organised by the human rights group Karapatan National Capital Region. The protest held approximately one hour north of Manila, coincided with the filing of a motion to dismiss terrorism charges against trade unionists Ed Cubelo and Rodrigo Esparago, along with 26 others, at the Malalos Regional Trial Court Branch 12.

While recording live footage of the protest, Barbosa was confronted by an unidentified man, who claimed to be a "private citizen" and "vlogger" and refused to identify himself. Barbosa was subjected to repeated harassment, including yelling, spitting, and abuse related to his non-binary identity. The man demanded that Barbosa delete the footage and threatened legal action.

Barbosa’s colleagues were also stopped by the same individual, who was accompanied by several police officers and were reportedly threatened with legal charges if they did not reveal Barbosa’s whereabouts.

Later that evening, Barbosa published his report detailing the harassment. Shortly after, he received a threatening message on Facebook from an unknown user who claimed Barbosa was a member of the New People's Army (NPA), a practice known as ‘red-tagging’. Barbosa reportedly received similar messages in July, warning the journalist against covering the trial, and warning of future legal action for his coverage.

In a statement released by Manila Today, the outlet asserted that this incident highlights the ongoing targeting of media workers who report on injustice and hold those accountable. The publication criticised the use of harassment and threats as a tactic to silence journalists, reflecting a broader issue of state attempts to undermine community and alternative media.

A week prior, on August 27, news crews from MindaNews, Newsline Philippines, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and state-run PTV News were reportedly barred from covering a rally by members of the controversial church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, at its compound in Buhangin, Davao City. Video footage posted by Sun Star Davao shows the crowd demanding that the media leave, accusing them of being "biased." Earlier in the day, KOJC members were also seen driving away a reporter from One News. Reports from the scene indicate that objects were thrown at the news crews that evening.

Authorities on Sunday announced the closure of at least 15 factories in Savar and Dhamarai areas in the face of workers' protests.

Local people said a group of workers and job aspirants started a demonstration in Palashbari area that later spread across the entire Savar and Dhamrai. Workers said their protest was aimed at demanding fair wages, overtime allowance, attendance bonuses and job security.

The workers of GAB Limited and some nearby garment factories blocked the road in Palashbari area of Ashulia around 9am. Similarly, workers of Ha-meem, Sharmeen, NASA Group, Snowtex Outerwear Limited factory also came down on the streets and blocked the roads.

Meanwhile, the workers of Acme Consumers Limited put forward a 16-point demand.

Mohammad Sarwar Alam, superintendent of police of Industrial Zone Police-1 in Ashulia, said that the workers are protesting with various demands. He said that additional men from the law enforcement agencies are currently deployed in the area to bring the situation under control.

Police officers arrested the father of an activist facing charges of violating the Anti-Terrorism Law, September 1 in Barangay Silongin, San Francisco, Quezon province.

Roberto Mendoza is the father of Lieshel, a farmer who was charged by elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ 85 th Infantry Battalion last January 2024 with violating Section 12 of the Anti- Terrorism Law and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act.

According to human rights watchdog Tanggol Quezon, Roberto was arrested at approximately 5 a.m. with no search or arrest warrant given to him.

“[Mendoza’s arrest is] clearly another tactic by the 85 th IBPA and the police to intimidate Lieshel into ‘surrendering’ as an alleged member of the revolutionary New People’s Army,” Tanggol Quezon said in its statement. “Lieshel and Roberto are ordinary farmers working honorably and standing up for their rights.”

Tanggol Quezon maintains that both Roberto and Lieshel Mendoza are innocent. “The Mendozas have nothing to ‘surrender’ for,” the group said in their statement. “If anything, the 85 th IBPA and the police should surrender given their long list of human rights violations in South Quezon and the Bondoc Peninsula.”

Mendoza is detained at the San Francisco Municipal Police Station pending charges filed against him. Tanggol Quezon is calling for his immediate release.

Mendoza’s arrest is the latest in a series of attacks against farmers and human rights defenders in the province. Tanggol Quezon notes that the 85 th IBPA is using a pattern of “using the law to equate human rights advocacy with crime.”

Last October 2023, another coconut farmer, Liezel Merchales, was charged with financing terrorism by the 85 th IBPA.

Yulesita Ibañez was similarly charged with financing terrorism and violating Section 12 of the Anti-Terror Law after the military alleged that they provided food and coffee to members of the NPA last January.

Ibañez and Mendoza are members of Karapatan Quezon and the group Coco Levy Fund Ibalik sa Amin (CLAIM). Soldiers have once forced Mendoza into presenting herself as a surrendered NPA combatant under the government’s Enhanced Community Livelihood Integration Program (ECLIP).

Their paralegals, Tanggol Quezon members Paul Tagle and Fritz Labiano, were also charged with financing terrorism last February. The charges against Tagle and Labiano were dropped last June by the Batangas Regional Trial Court for lack of evidence.

The 85 th IBPA is currently headed by Lt. Col. Reynir S. Nirza, who took the reins of command from Lt. Col. Joel R. Jonson last April. Under Nirza, the 85 th IBPA has been involved in the arrest of peasant and women’s right advocate Fatima Banjawan last August 2 while conducting a community investigation in Santa Elena, Camarines Norte.

Tibetan language content creator and live-streamer Tashi Nyima, also known as Gang Lhaja, shared in a video posted on the Chinese social media platform KuaiShou on 28 August that his live-streaming activities were abruptly suspended following orders from the local police. He explained that the restrictions on his content, particularly his series “Outdoor Livestream on The Plateau”, were primarily due to his growing influence within Tibetan communities, where his Tibetan language content had become increasingly popular

In addition to being suspended from further live-streaming, Gang Lhaja was arbitrarily detained from 1 to 3 September and was beaten in a detention centre. On 7 September, he released another video in Tibetan, expressing his frustration and disappointment regarding the situation. He also uploaded a transcript of his video message in Chinese alongside the video.

In the video, he states:

” I have experienced defeat, and I have experienced it repeatedly. However, I honestly cannot accept the defeat this time because this is a defeat for all who have supported and valued my work. Usually, I admit defeat when it comes. But, the obstacles and interference in my work [by the local authorities] make me extremely discouraged and disheartened. There are a hundred ways to do one task, a thousand paths to one destination, and I carefully trod the path through suitable means and wisdom. However, the path I was taking to accomplish my work has been directly blocked.

I even felt this might be the last livestream in my life. I was terribly scared. I trembled terribly. But today, thanks to the kindness of the Lama and the Three Jewels and, secondly, thanks to the kindness of my friends, I have come here and been able to go online as before. This is also due to the kindness of the Lama and the Three Jewels.

On the one hand, I’m thrilled (my heart is joyful). On the other hand, I’m despondent (my heart is sorrowful). In any case, I couldn’t accomplish the task I set out to do. With hard-earned money saved, I intended to traverse distant places with hope. I prepared over 200,000 yuan, planning to travel through the three regions of Tibet—U-Tsang, Amdo, and Kham. However, my friends, I will not be able to accomplish it. It’s been seven days now. I’ve been thinking a lot. I feel defeated and sad. However, I know that the greater one’s influence on society, the more obstacles and pressure one faces.”

With over 75,000 followers on KuaiShou and an additional 6,500 followers on a fan account created by supporters, Gang Lhaja has established a strong presence as a Tibetan content creator. He has long focused on producing the Tibetan language content online through games, quizzes, and educational activities, often based on the “Chinese-Tibetan-English Dictionary of New Daily Vocabulary” by Khenpo Tsultrim Lodoe, one of the heart disciples of the renowned Nyingmapa master, Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok. Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok was instrumental in reviving Tibetan Buddhism, culture and language in Tibet following China’s Cultural Revolution, during which Mao Zedong attempted to eradicate remnants of traditional Tibetan culture. Under Khenchen’s guidance, numerous private Tibetan language schools were founded, including Sengdruk Taktse, established by Tulku Thupten Norbu.

In one of his final videos before the police intervention, Gang Lhaja revealed his plans for an extensive tour across several regions of Tibet, including Dzachuka, Kardze, Palyul, Derge, Jhomdha, Chamdo, and other regions across Tibet’s three traditional provinces to promote the use of new Tibetan vocabularies. However, since 28 August, he has been unable to host more live streams. Despite this, in his final video, he expressed disappointment with the authorities, asserting that he had not violated any laws or regulations.

In China, live streaming has become a booming industry, but it has also attracted increased attention from regulators. The Chinese government imposes strict controls over content creators, requiring compliance with regulations from agencies like the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the Ministry of Public Security.

One recent regulation, the 2019 “Norms for the Administration of Online Short Video Platforms and Detailed Implementation Rules for Online Short Video Content Review Standards,” prohibits content that ‘undermines social stability’, ‘content dividing the nation’, ‘content disclosing state secrets’, and ‘content harmful to ethnic and territorial unity’, among many others. These vague regulations have led to increased censorship, particularly affecting ethnic minorities like Tibetans.

In recent years, several Tibetans have been targeted by authorities for content deemed politically sensitive. In 2022, five Tibetans were detained by local Chinese police in connection with a song about the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which was performed during a musical contest on Kuaishou. Last year, Tibetan singer Palden was sentenced to three years in prison for sharing patriotic Tibetan songs on the same platform.

Gang Lhaja is a native of Yuthok village in Derge (Ch: Dege) County, in the traditional Tibetan province of Kham, near the birthplace of the esteemed Situ Panchen Chökyi Jungney, the 8th Tai Situ incarnation. Situ Panchen was a distinguished scholar, writer, painter, doctor, and linguist renowned for his contributions, including the widely studied Situ’s Commentary on Tibetan Grammar, an essential text for Tibetan language students.

Gang Lhaja, a former monk, began his early education in a local monastery, learning basic reading and writing, before graduating from a Shedra (Tibetan Buddhist monastic university). Later, he moved to Chengdu, where he sold coffee on the streets while continuing his Tibetan studies. Although his small coffee business failed, he transitioned to creating online content and garnered widespread support for his efforts to promote the Tibetan language and culture.

As a social impact content creator, he has engaged in numerous charitable activities. He has raised funds for needy patients and even purchased livestock from butchers for life release. His efforts have inspired many followers to participate in acts of compassion and charity, creating a community centred around these values. The recent restrictions on Gang Lhaja are part of a broader pattern of repression against Tibetan language and culture. In recent years, Tibetan activists, scholars, and cultural figures have faced increasing censorship and persecution. While private schools in Tibet are being shut down, Chinese has been imposed as the primary language of instruction, further eroding linguistic freedoms. In June this year, restrictions on Tibetan language content creators heightened concerns over the rapidly shrinking cultural and linguistic freedoms online, with many voicing strong discontent on social media, reporting difficulties in streaming and speaking in Tibetan on platforms like Douyin and Kuaishou.

As many as 11 journalists and media workers employed by Cable News Network (CNN) Indonesia were illegally terminated on August 31, less than a week after workers at the broadcaster formally registered their labour union. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its Indonesian affiliates, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the Media and Creative Industry Workers Union for Democracy (SINDIKASI), in strongly condemning CNN’s illegal union-busting tactics, urging Indonesian authorities to conduct an immediate investigation into the incident, and calling on the broadcaster to immediately overturn its salary cuts and reinstate all affected workers.

CNN Indonesia’s Head of Human Capital Development sent termination notices by email to 11 leading union activists on August 31, with the journalists barred from attending work and access to the company WhatsApp group and email system restricted the same day.

The layoffs came just days after employees of the broadcaster officially registered Solidaritas Pekerja CNN Indonesia (SCPI), translating to CNN Indonesia Workers Solidarity, with the country’s Ministry of Manpower on August 27. Organised workers announced the union’s registration on August 31, with an accompanying online discussion attended by Indonesian Press Council Chair Ninik Rahayu.

According to SCPI’s Chair, workers had held a series of discussions over the past several months, in part responding to unsanctioned wage cuts imposed in June, issued without full agreement from staff or any compensation. Workers at the news service had previously faced layoffs without union representation. Throughout months of organising efforts, journalists reported receiving threats and intimidation from management, who warned against unionisation.

The union was officially declared on July 27 and brings together workers from broadcast services at CNN Indonesia TV and digital news via CNNIndonesia.com. The SCPI is the first labour union organised under Trans Media, a media and entertainment subsidiary of the Indonesian conglomerate CT Group headed by former minister and prominent businessman Chairul Tanjung.

Speaking with the IFJ, SINDIKASI Advocacy Coordinator Guruh Riyanto said: “As a union officially registered, the SPCI union is protected by Indonesian law. The act of terminating the unionised workers can be categorised as a form of union busting. It is strongly suspected to violate Article 28 of the Indonesian Labour Union Law that clearly protects the rights of the workers to unionise.”

The right to form or join a trade union is protected in Indonesia under the 1945 Constitution, the Human Rights Law, and industrial relations legislation. Indonesia is also a signatory to the International Labour Organisation Conventions No. 87 and No. 98, which protect Freedom of Association and the Right to Organise, and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining respectively.

AJI said: “AJI assesses that the unilateral termination of employment by CNN management is contrary to the freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution. The decision to terminate SPCI members just hours after the union’s establishment can be suspected as an attempt by the company to carry out union-busting (eradicating labour unions).”

SINDIKASI said: “SINDIKASI strongly condemns the alleged union busting by CNN Indonesia to the workers unionised under Solidaritas Pekerja CNN Indonesia (SPCI). The workers organised the union to respond to the salary cut by the management that had lasted for three months (June-August). […] SINDIKASI supports the SPCI union to organise and conduct collective bargaining. We also call for the press and media workers unions as well as other social movements to support the struggle of the SPCI union. The fulfillment of the media workers’ rights will ensure the quality of journalism works as well as the rights of the people to access reliable information.”

The IFJ said: “Union busting is illegal under Indonesia’s Constitution and industrial legislation and is a blatant violation of workers' rights. At a time of global economic challenges, the act of terminating journalists for organising and imposing unsanctioned wage cuts is disgraceful and punishable by law. The IFJ strongly condemns the actions of CNN Indonesia and calls on the authorities to take immediate action to ensure the broadcaster reverses these unlawful dismissals and salary cuts, reinstating all affected workers."

Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a fisheries engineer and activist, was released from Xuan Loc Prison on August 30, 2024, after serving a six-year sentence for charges related to his criticism of the Vietnamese government. Anh, 44, was convicted in 2019 for "making, storing, and disseminating information against the state" through social media posts and videos addressing issues such as marine pollution caused by Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation and territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Upon his release, Anh was turned over to local authorities in Binh Dai District, Ben Tre Province, where he will begin a five-year probation period. Despite his imprisonment, Anh expressed pride in standing up for what he believed was right, though he noted his health had deteriorated during his incarceration.

Nguyen Ngoc Anh has been an outspoken critic of government policies since 2013, using Facebook to voice his concerns. His wife, Nguyen Thi Chau, also faced harassment from authorities for advocating for her husband's release and highlighting his mistreatment in prison. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) previously condemned Anh's imprisonment as "arbitrary" and in violation of international human rights conventions.

About the Human Rights Defender: Advocate Ajay Kumar is a lawyer who has been working for 30 years as an activist. Since his days as a student in Kurukshetra university, he has been active in various mass and democratic struggles like struggle against the illegal termination of canteen workers in Kurukshetra University and the struggle against the demolition of working-class neighbourhood of Gandhi Nagar, Kurukshetra. He participated in the peasant movement in Kandela, Haryana, was active in opposing the arrest of peasant leader Ghashi Ram and took lead in fact-finding missions on atrocities against Dalits in Haryana. In Chandigarh, he was active in the movement against evictions of slum dwellers as well as the movements against the amendments to Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act and Chhota Nagpur Tenancy Act in 2016. Adv. Ajay has aided in the capacity-building of activists from the anti-displacement movements against Electro Steel Company in Santhal Pargana (Jharkhand), Grabanda Bera electricity project in Gumla (Jharkhand) and South Korean giant Posco in Jagatsinghpur (Odisha). He was also founding member of Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a conglomeration of more than 50 organisations from across the country seeking to challenge the forcible displacement of peasants particularly Adivasis. He was also involved in Kisan Andolan and in organising the movement against the caste atrocities committed in Panchkula in the state of Haryana.

Background of the incident: Adv. Ajay Kumar’s close association with other incarcerated activists made him a person of interest in the false case against Prof. G.N. Saibaba, with his name mentioned in the lower courts.

Details of the Incident: On August 30, 2024 at 3:40 in the morning HRD Ajay Kumar was at his residence in Chandigarh with his wife and 9 year old daughter when 15-20 personnel raided his house and the searched his house till 12:40 in the noon. Some of them were in civilian clothes from the NIA and others were in uniform. At the time of raid Adv Ajay Kumar and his wife tried to ask for the search memo and FIR. They found that Mr. Ajay Kumar’s name was not mentioned in FIR or in any search memo. HRD Ajay Kumar submitted to NIA that he is a practicing lawyer in Punjab and Haryana High court Chandigarh and gave list of his cases which he appeared in court as lawyer. After searching the house they took a hard disc, 3 mobiles and some documents. NIA personnel served him a notice to come to NIA office at Chandigarh. Mr. Ajay Kumar went to NIA office as asked, where he was interrogated till 4:00 in the morning. At that time his wife Aarti who is also an advocate was given an arrest memo of Ajay Kumar. Mr. Ajay was continuously threatened by NIA officials to tell him names of other persons or they will send him to jail for a long time. Adv. Ajay was then arrested and taken to Lucknow and is currently in Lucknow jail. The HRD was arrested under the FIR no. RC-01/2023/NIA-LKW by NIA Lucknow under Section 154 Cr. P.C on June 19, 2023; Sections 120B, 121A of IPC and under Sections 18, 18B, 20, 38 & 39 of the UA (P) Act, 1967.

Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, an activist from the People's Struggle Alliance—a breakaway group from the Aragalaya—was arrested in Trincomalee by Sri Lankan police. He was participating in protests organized by the Tamil Families of the Disappeared, who were staging demonstrations across the North-East to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

Despite being alone and unarmed, Rajeevkanth was forcibly escorted by police, including members of the riot squad.

Footage shows Rajeevkanth being forced into a police jeep from the occupying Trincomalee Police Station before being taken away. Posting on his personal Facebook account in Tamil, Rajeevkanth expressed his long-standing support for the Families of the Disappeared. "When this protest crossed 2000 days, I joined many who marched from Colombo. I even participated in last month’s protest," he wrote. "Arrests are not uncommon, and I have been facing legal cases for more than two years."

Rajeevkanth also shared his negative experiences in prison. Regarding today’s arrest, he noted that he had a verbal confrontation with the police when he asserted his right to protest. "When they tried to attack me, I stepped back. They later arrested me, claiming that I was the one who tried to attack them."

He highlighted that this is not the first time false allegations have been made against him in an attempt to secure his arrest. He credited his mother for preventing him from being jailed for 14 days, as she refused to leave his side until he was released. He also thanked his lawyers, Aishwariya and Prashanthini, who supported him during his ordeal.

The Sri Lankan government continues to persecute the families of victims of enforced disappearance who seek to enforce their rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces persistently harass families through surveillance, intimidation, false allegations, violence, and arbitrary arrests.

On August 29, 2024, a court in Trincomalee granted a request by police to ban relatives of the disappeared from holding a procession to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance on August 30.

“The relatives of the disappeared experience the daily torment of not knowing what happened to their family members, which state agencies have cruelly compounded by trying to silence them,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Hundreds of mothers, wives, and others have passed away without learning what happened to their loved ones, and many more express fear they might not live to see justice done.”

Sri Lanka has one of the world’s highest rates of enforced disappearance, including those who disappeared during the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna insurgency (1987-89) and the civil war between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (1983-2009). Sri Lankan authorities have for decades refused to reveal the fate of the disappeared or to prosecute those responsible, leading the United Nations human rights office to call for international prosecutions.

In his August 22 annual report on Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, described “a persistent trend of surveillance, intimidation and harassment of journalists and civil society actors, especially those working on enforced disappearances … and reprisals against family members of the disappeared engaging with the UN or international actors, including members of the diplomatic community.”

The high commissioner also examined allegations of abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence by Sri Lankan security forces carried out as recently as January. The victims in these cases, whom they said were primarily men, had been involved in protests over issues such as enforced disappearances.

In May, Human Rights Watch met with relatives of disappeared people throughout north and east Sri Lanka, mostly the wives or mothers of victims. They described a pattern of ongoing abuses. Several are facing court proceedings after being arrested at protests, including three who had been hospitalized as a result of police violence against protesters.

One woman in the Eastern Province, campaigning to know the fate of her husband, who surrendered to the military in 2009, said she believes she is under regular surveillance by security agencies, including the police Criminal Investigation Department, Terrorism Investigation Division, Special Task Force, and the army. She said they offer to pay her neighbors for information about her, in tactics apparently designed to isolate her from her community.

“We can’t raise our voices, we have no freedom to move,” said a woman in the Northern Province, whose husband has not been seen since his arrest in 2008. “They [security agencies] threaten us, and even take action against our family members. We have no freedom to do anything.”

The women said that police officers habitually deliver stay orders – prohibiting them from attending memorialization events or protests – in the middle of the night when they are dressed in their nightclothes and take photographs. “If my gate is locked, police climb over the wall or cut the fence to deliver a stay order,” one said. Another showed a pile of eight stay orders, although she said she had received more. “If anything is happening in the Northern or Eastern Provinces I get a stay order,” she said.

Several mothers of the disappeared said the most frightening threats were directed at their other children. One said that when she attends protests the police tell her, “You have to look after your child who is still alive.” Another said that days after she was arrested at a protest in 2023, her son was arrested in an allegedly fabricated drugs case and sent for custodial “rehabilitation.” Criminal cases against both her and her son are ongoing.

In December, the authorities launched an abusive anti-narcotics campaign called “Yukthiya,” which the UN says had resulted in over 121,000 arrests five months later. Families of the disappeared said the authorities are increasingly using false drug cases to harass them. The mother of a disappeared man said that police – including anti-narcotics officers – began making inquiries about her surviving son in December, leading her to fear that they would plant drugs in her home. “I have already lost a son,” she said. “He is now the only one I have left. I sent him to India [for his safety].”

Relatives of the disappeared said they have little or no recourse to domestic avenues for redress. In 2017 the Sri Lankan government established the Office of Missing Persons (OMP), which is supposed to establish the whereabouts or fate of the disappeared but has resolved almost no cases. Relatives accused the OMP of pressuring them to agree to receive compensation payments that they fear will lead to their cases being closed without further investigation.

One relative said, “The OMP says ‘take this certificate, get Rupees 200,000 [US$665], don’t support this movement [for truth and justice].” Another, whose daughter disappeared in 2009, said, “When I went to the OMP I noticed that they were pressing many families like us. They said to the families, ‘we don’t want any documents, we just want the details of the [disappeared] person.’ Some people took compensation, and some refused.”

“Earlier we trusted the OMP but after they recruited certain commissioners, we lost our faith,” said the mother of a disappeared person from Mannar, in northwest Sri Lanka, referring to the appointment of former senior security forces officials to the body. She said she has refused offers of compensation because “I need to know what happened to my son.”

Many relatives of the disappeared are also skeptical of the current government’s proposal for a new domestic truth and reconciliation commission, following numerous similar bodies that have previously failed to deliver truth or accountability. “We don’t accept it. We don’t have faith in it,” one said. They emphasized the importance of international involvement, including in criminal investigations.

The UN Human Rights Council, concerned governments, and other UN bodies should implement the recommendations in the UN high commissioner’s report, including:

Investigating and prosecuting alleged perpetrators of international crimes committed in Sri Lanka under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Imposing targeted sanctions on alleged perpetrators. Carrying out enhanced vetting of Sri Lankan officials, including those involved in UN peacekeeping missions. Renewing the Human Rights Council’s mandate for UN monitoring, reporting, and work on accountability for human rights violations and related crimes in Sri Lanka. “Successive Sri Lankan governments have resisted any progress to address the terrible legacy of enforced disappearances, and instead compounded the anguish of victims’ families,” Ganguly said. “While the Sri Lankan government commits these abuses, the Human Rights Council and governments around the world need to stand with the families of the disappeared.”

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Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, previously imprisoned for four years for her independent reporting on the Covid 19 outbreak, is missing again and was reportedly recently taken to a detention facility in Shanghai for unclear reasons. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by this development, and urges immediate mobilisation of the international diplomatic community to ensure her safety. She must be released and granted full freedom without delay.

On 1 September, independent Chinese news website Weiquanwang revealed that journalist and former lawyer Zhang Zhan is being held in Pudong Detention Center in Shanghai. The journalist was apprehended by police while she was travelling to her hometown in the Shaanxi province in northwest China on 28 August. Since that time she has not answered her phone or updated her social media accounts where she had recently resumed posting.

No official reason has been given for her detention, but in the weeks prior to this incident, Zhang Zhan had been sharing news about the harassment of other activists in China on social media. She had also travelled to the northwestern province of Gansu to persuade the mother of a recently arrested activist to sign a power of attorney.

Zhang Zhan was initially arrested in May 2020, while covering the early stages of the Covid 19 outbreak in Wuhan, in central-eastern China. She had posted more than 100 videos on social media before her arrest on 14 May 2020, and seven months later was sentenced to four years in prison by a Shanghai court on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

Throughout her imprisonment, RSF campaigned for her release and warned about the ill treatment she was subjected to in prison. During her early months of detention, Zhang Zhan nearly died after going on a total hunger strike to protest her situation. Prison officials forcibly fed her through a nasal tube and sometimes left her handcuffed for days.

China, the world’s biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 120 currently behind bars, is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

Members of a Facebook group that opposes expensive recycling fees imposed by the Kazakh government, especially those on cars and other vehicles, have had their accounts on the platform either removed or restricted, the group said, attributing the moves to government pressure.

Activists with the No To Recycling Fees (Nyetutilsboru) group authored a petition earlier this year calling for recycling fees on imported goods to be lowered to nominal rates, forcing a public hearing and a government review of the policy after the petition gained more than 50,000 signatures.

While the group has questioned all recycling fees, it is especially concerned about those imposed on cars and agricultural vehicles. The activists say that the charges have artificially inflated the cost of vehicles sold in Kazakhstan, benefiting only a small group of automakers whose factories they argue are not internationally competitive.

Kazakhstan's government cut recycling fees in half and effectively liquidated the private company set up to collect them in 2022, but they are still high by global standards, often amounting to thousands of dollars per vehicle.

After the July 15 hearing, Kazakhstan's Industry Ministry ruled to keep recycling fees on goods such as cars at their current levels, dismissing the group's arguments as baseless.

No To Recycling Fees activists have said that they would continue their campaign.

But they now complain that multiple administrators of their Facebook group have been forced to restore accounts or create new ones in recent weeks, while Facebook has sent the group repeated warnings over the content of their posts.

Administrator Vladimir Kim said on August 28 that he and four other administrators had lost access to their Facebook accounts over alleged copyright infringements.

"The Facebook office in [Kazakhstan] is simply following the authorities' orders," Kim wrote from a new account that he created this month.

Both Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta, which did not respond to a request for comment.

A representative of the Culture and Information Ministry contacted by RFE/RL on August 29 denied any role in the removal and restriction of accounts related to the group.

Kazakhstan has a special agreement with Facebook that allows the government to remove content it deems "harmful."

Under the agreement, authorities in Kazakhstan can access Facebook's internal content-reporting system.

The joint agreement between Kazakhstan and Meta Platforms, reached in 2021, came after Astana threatened to block the social media giant's millions of local users. It is the first of its kind in Central Asia.

Authorities in Laos detained two young men who posted a video on social media poking fun at the sorry state of the roads in their town, according to residents.

The pair of graphic artists – going by their adopted Western-sounding screen names of Dai James and James Famor – uploaded an artificial intelligence-generated video to Facebook last week showing them fishing in water-filled potholes on a street, surrounded by crocodiles – a video that went viral in Laos.

In response, police on Aug. 28 handcuffed the two and took them into custody in Tonpheung, a port town on the Mekong River that is home to the Golden Triangle Economic Zone, or SEZ, in northwestern Laos’ Bokeo province on Aug. 28.

Authorities released James the same day, but required Famor to attend a “re-education” class, and forced him to confess and apologize before freeing him on Monday.

A friend of Famor who works at the studio where they produce and post videos to social media confirmed the arrest and release to RFA Lao on Tuesday.

“They were released on different days – the first one, Dai James, was released on August 28 and the other was freed on Sept. 2,” said the friend who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

“From now on, we [the studio] can’t post or produce anything at all.”

‘Confession’ and ‘apology’

In a video posted to Facebook on Monday, following his release, Famor apologized to the police for his actions.

“I would like to confess that on Aug. 8, I took photos of a damaged road filled with potholes and water, and then I cut and pasted some photos of crocodiles into the middle of the road,” he said.

“At the time, I didn’t intend to campaign against anybody … Now, I admit that what I did was wrong.”

Famor also “thanked” authorities who “warned and re-educated me,” saying he had learned an important lesson.

“In the past, I’ve posted a lot of videos, but this time, posting that video was a big mistake and for that I apologize to all relevant authorities,” he said. “I would like to ask all my followers to understand that the party and government’s warning is a good lesson for me.”

RFA spoke with an officer at the Bokeo Province police department who referred questions about the case to authorities in Topheung, but attempts to contact the district station went unanswered.

The men appeared to have violated Article 117 of the Lao Criminal Code, which says that persons who “campaign against the Lao PDR by twisting the policy of the [ruling Communist] Party and government, releasing destructive news causing disorder, speaking, writing, printing, posting photos, videos and texts via electronics means or otherwise, will be jailed from one year to five years, and fined from 5 million to 20 million kip (US$225 to $900).”

Lighten up

Residents and experts said the police reaction was excessive and wrong, and that the young men were actually helping improve everyone’s lives by highlighting a problem the government appears unwilling to address.

“Everybody knows that the roads here in Tonpheung district are bad,” a resident of the town said. “They were accused of defaming the party and government when, actually, it's the party and government that are in denial."

“The SEZ is an economic hub, but look at the roads – they’re terrible.”

The Golden Triangle refers to the largely lawless area where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet that has recently become notorious for methamphetamine production. The neighbors have tried to promote trade and tourism with economic zones, while casinos and online scam centers have also proliferated on the Lao and Myanmar sides of the Mekong.

Another resident of Tonpheung agreed that the police response was “inappropriate.”

“These guys just posted a video showing damaged roads on social media using AI,” he said. “The post reflects the real conditions of the roads in our community ... Many people complain about these roads, even though they know that nothing will happen and nothing will be fixed.”

Social media as a reporting tool

Others suggested that the authorities should welcome such posts, as they may not be aware of such issues.

“In this day and age, it’s normal for people to post something like that on social media, and the Lao people should have some freedom to do that – they shouldn’t be threatened or arrested,” said a professor at Souphanouvong University in Luang Prabang province.

“The authorities should be looking for a solution to the problem, not for a way to punish them,” he said. “It’s not right to arrest, detain or even fine them.”

People in Laos frequently turn to social media to draw attention to problems that the authorities ignore or that state-run media are unwilling to report on.

Last month, residents and business operators near the Lao capital Vientiane posted images of their outrageously high electricity bills on social media after an apparent miscalculation by the state-owned power company.

Some business owners in Vientiane province’s Thoulakhom district received monthly bills as high as US$4,000 from the state-run Electricite du Laos – 10 times the usual US$400.

Electricite du Laos’ district office quickly issued a follow-up notice, saying that bills for July had been miscalculated, and a corrected invoice would be sent soon.

Cyclists and environmental advocates sounded alarm over the 15th victim of enforced disappearance under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Felix Salaveria Jr. is a known cyclist and a dedicated activist. He is the founding member of the Kabataan para sa Tribung Pilipino (Katribu Youth) and Tunay na Alyansa ng Bayan Alay sa mga Katutubo (TABAK), both groups known for advocating the rights of indigenous peoples (IP). He is also a founding and active member of Cycling Advocates (Cycad), a group advocating for low-cost, healthy, and non-polluting alternative mode of transportation.

“As an active member of the cycling community and environmental defender, his disappearance cannot be ignored,” said cyclists and mobility advocacy group Make It Safer Movement (MISMO), in a statement.

Salaveria was abducted in Tabaco, Albay on the morning of August 28, five days after his 67th birthday. It was celebrated with James Jazmines, who also disappeared on August 23. Jazmines was his cycling buddy and brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Alan Jazminez.

Salaveria was also the person who reached out to human rights group Karapatan on August 26, reporting Jazmines’s disappearance.

MISMO said that Cycad had a great impact on the transportation sector, which mobility advocates continue to benefit today “in promoting active mobility and advocating for safer, greener transportation options.”

Aside from bicycling, Salaveria was also a known advocate of eco-waste management, according to his family and Katribu Youth. Since he moved to Tabaco, he has been encouraging proper waste management and coordinating the transport of biodegradable waste for conversion to compost. He also donated a bicycle especially modified to collect waste for composting to their community.

In the initial report of Karapatan, they gathered footage from a barangay-owned CCTV that showed men in civilian clothes forcing Salaveria into a silver van.

Gab Ferrer, daughter of Salaveria, appealed for the immediate surfacing of his father.

“We have not heard from him since. We appeal to the public to help us pressure authorities to surface our father. We do not want our father to be just a statistic. It is important that you know him as a human being and a cherished person in his community,” said Ferrer.

She also added that Salaveria is loved and respected in the community, known for his generosity and kindness especially to those in need. “He has been working on a community garden to benefit his neighborhood.”

Salaveria’s family also cited humanitarian considerations, especially that he is still recovering from a medical condition. Aside from his old age, Salaveria has suffered a stroke in 2023, paralyzing the left side of his body.

Advocacy groups and the family resounded the call to immediately surface Salaveria and other victims of enforced disappearance.

“We, together with his family, friends, and the cycling community, ask for your support and collective action to stop the red-tagging and extrajudicial persecutions that continue to endanger the lives of those who stand for justice. It is time to stand together, to end this violence, and to demand the immediate surfacing of all desaparecidos,” MISMO said in a statement.

A 33-year-old protester has been sentenced to approximately 12 years without parole for 8 Facebook posts in 2022.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) reported that Kanruethai Klaion, 33, was charged with royal defamation and violation of the Computer-Related Crime Act for Facebook posts during 8 February – 1 April 2022.

On 8 April 2022, 8 officers went to her apartment, claiming that the posts constituted an offense under the royal defamation law and the Computer-Related Crime Act, and told her they were taking her to Lat Phrao Police Station to negotiate with her not to post such material again and to close her Facebook account.

On 1 July 2022, 6 plainclothes officers claiming to be from Lat Phrao Police Station searched Kanruethai’s apartment on a warrant issued by the Criminal Court. They confiscated her laptop and mobile phone.

The inquiry officer’s report stated that her 8 Facebook posts, including pictures, messages, and video clips, were deemed defamatory towards the King who is revered by the people.

The court on 27 August ruled that she was guilty as charged, sentencing her to 3 years in prison for each post. However, due to her useful testimony, the sentence was reduced to 1 year and 6 months for each post without parole, resulting in 8 years and 48 months imprisonment or around 12 years.

Her lawyer later submitted a bail request pending appeal, but the outcome has not yet been released. During this time, Kanruethai is being held at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution. According to TLHR, Kanruethai expressed concern that she might not receive antidepressants, which must be taken daily.

This is her second royal defamation charge. Previously, she was also charged with royal defamation over 2 posts from 2022. In this case, the complaint against Kanruethai was filed by Anon Klinkaew, leader of the ultra-royalist People’s Centre to Protect the Monarchy, over two Facebook posts from July and September 2022.

Anon has repeatedly filed royal defamation complaints against monarchy reform advocates, including Thanalop Phalanchai, who was 14 years old when the complaint against her was filed. He also posted a video clip threatening to kill her.

On August 25, Prothom Alo’s Dhaka University correspondent Asif Himadri was assaulted by members of a paramilitary group, known as Ansars, while covering a clash between university students and political workers outside the Secretariat Complex of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

During the Ansar protest, who laid siege to the secretariat demanding the nationalisation of their jobs, a clash broke out between Ansar members and students associated with the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. Whilst covering this incident, Himadri was allegedly attacked and injured by Ansar personnel at around 9.30 pm, despite identifying himself as a journalist. Around 40 students were injured in the clashes. On August 26, 388 general Ansar members were sent to jail by magistrate Md Mossaraf Hossain of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

At least four journalists have been killed and hundreds injured while reporting on the violence of national protests. On August 14, 20 journalists were injured during an assault on the Chittagong Press Club in south-eastern Bangladesh and five days later on August 19, offices of the East West Media Group Limited (EWMGL) Complex were attacked, with assailants vandalising the premises and injuring one journalist.

Some journalists injured during the protests remain in critical condition. Journalist Aminul Islam Emon, affiliated with the daily Bangladesh Samachar, was shot by police on July 20 at around 7:30 pm in the Malibagh Railgate area of Dhaka, where he was filming a police attack on a student protest. More than a month after this incident, he remains in critical condition despite two major surgeries, having suffered a heart attack on August 25 requiring further medical care.

The BMSF said: “BMSF unequivocally condemns these heinous acts of violence and demands that the authorities take immediate and decisive action to bring the perpetrators to justice. We call for a comprehensive and transparent investigation into both incidents, ensuring that those responsible are held accountable for their actions.

The IFJ said: “The IFJ condemns the ongoing insecurity and violence faced by journalists and media workers in Bangladesh. The interim government must take steps to ensure the safety of journalists and media workers and ensure those responsible for these attacks are investigated and held to account.”

Beijing authorities shut down independent journalist Gao Yu’s internet, landline, and cellular connection on Monday, August 26, after she published a Sunday article analyzing an Al Jazeera interview with Victor Gao, vice president of the Chinese think tank Center for China and Globalization.

“Chinese authorities must restore journalist Gao Yu’s internet connection and phone services and stop harassing her with physical and digital surveillance,” said Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative. “Beijing’s excessive need to control dissent is a reflection of its cowardice and fear of critical reporting.”

Authorities have asked Gao to shut down her account on the social platform X for years, she told CPJ, adding that she believes that her posts, including ones sharing her articles, are the reason for turning off her internet and phone access. Gao told CPJ that she must go to a friend’s house or a restaurant to access the internet.

Beijing police also asked Gao to leave the capital from August 29 to September 9 while the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a state-level economic conference between African countries and China, took place. Gao said that after she refused, the police told her that they would take turns guarding her house to ensure she wouldn’t leave. This is a common practice against dissidents in China.

CPJ’s email requesting comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a message sent via the webpage after office hours to the Government of Beijing Municipality did not immediately receive any responses.

Authorities sentenced Gao to six years in 1994 for “leaking state secrets;” she was released in 1999 on medical parole after serving part of the sentence. Gao was sentenced to seven years in 2015 on the same charge. The sentence was later reduced to five years, which Gao served outside of prison due to her deteriorating health.

Chinese authorities are holding Gao Zhen, one of the Gao Brothers artistic duo, on suspicion of 'insulting revolutionary heroes and martyrs,' after seizing satirical artworks depicting Chairman Mao from his home studio, Radio Free Asia has learned.

Gao Zhen, 68, who with his brother Gao Qiang has a global reputation for works of political satire, was detained by police in Sanhe city in the northern province of Hebei on Aug. 26, according to a detention notice sent to his family the following day, Gao's lawyer and friends told RFA Mandarin.

The Gao Brothers’ dissident artwork has been shown at many venues overseas, but not publicly displayed in China since they signed an open letter from dissident physicist Fang Lizhi to then supreme leader Deng Xiaoping during the pro-democracy movement of 1989.

Police detained Gao Zhen at around 9.00 a.m. on Aug. 26, rushing into his apartment and taking him away in handcuffs, while searching his studio and questioning his wife for several hours, according to an Aug. 31 post on the Gao Brothers' Facebook page.

State security police confiscated books, computer hard drives, and sculptures and artwork relating to late supreme leader Mao Zedong, the post said.

All of the works taken by police were created more than a decade ago, before laws on protecting the reputation of "revolutionary heroes and martyrs" took effect, it said.

China passed a law criminalizing "insults" to the ruling Communist Party's canon of revolutionary heroes and martyrs in 2018.

Gao is currently being held in the Sanhe Detention Center on suspicion of "infringing the reputation of revolutionary heroes and martyrs," the Facebook post said.

His lawyer Qu Zhenhong confirmed Gao's detention to RFA Mandarin on Sunday, but declined to give further details.

"His family has received a notice [of detention], but it's inconvenient for me to say anything more because the case is still under investigation," Qu said.

‘Miss Mao’

U.K.-based writer Ma Jian said he had heard of Gao's detention in a text message from his brother Gao Qiang, who lives in New York.

"According to the detention notice, he has been detained for crimes against the reputation of heroes and martyrs," Ma said in an open letter about Gao's detention, a copy of which was shared with RFA Mandarin.

The letter cited several sculptures from several years back including the "Miss Mao" series, depicting the late chairman with breasts, and "Mao Kneels in Repentance," which are believed to have sparked the charges.

Signed by Ma and several other creative artists, the letter called on the Chinese government to release Gao and to repeal the legislation banning "insults" to revolutionary heroes, because it infringes on the freedom of speech guaranteed -- on paper, at least -- in China's constitution.

It likened Gao's detention to the political witch-hunts of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, in which the Gao brothers lost their father.

"Today, the Sanhe police department seems to see Gao Zhen's artistic works as evidence of crime, repeating the persecution of the Cultural Revolution," the letter said, saying that controls on Chinese artists continue to tighten under Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.

About to depart for New York

Thailand-based fellow artist Du Yinghong said Gao's detention came as he and his family prepared to board a flight to New York, where his son was due to start school.

"We've booked a flight to Tokyo, and then back to New York, because our son is about to start school," Gao says in an Aug. 26 voice note to Du, a recording of which was shared with RFA Mandarin. "I hope I'll get a chance to organize a trip [to visit you] next year, when we can discuss art-related matters."

Repeated calls to the Sanhe Detention Center rang unanswered on Sunday.

The other Gao Brother -- Gao Qiang -- responded to written questions from RFA only with the message: "Thank you for your attention."

A person close to the case told RFA Mandarin that the detention notice included the phrase "infringing the reputation of heroes and martyrs.” It is likely that the charge relates to sculptures of late supreme leader Mao Zedong, including one of Mao "kneeling and repenting," they said.

If the authorities can't make that stick retroactively, they may seek evidence to support other charges typically used to target critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, including "subversion" and "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," the person said.

Raid on warehouse

Gao Zhen's detention came alongside a police raid on his warehouse, apartment and studio in Sanhe's Best Jingu Industrial Park, according to Ma Jian. Previous attempts by police to enter the premises in 2023 were unsuccessful as Gao Zhen was in New York for the whole of last year.

In 2011, as the authorities released artist and social critic Ai Weiwei from 80 days' detention over alleged tax evasion, officials raided the 798 Art Village in Beijing in reaction to a satirical sculpture the brothers made of Mao as a woman.

The polished stainless steel sculpture titled "Miss Mao trying to poise herself at the top of Lenin's head," portrays the aging leader with signature receding hairline and facial mole, sporting a large pair of naked breasts. The Miss Mao element sits atop a large and grotesque head of Lenin, balancing with a tightrope walking pole.

A super-sized version of the sculpture was shown at the Vancouver Biennale festival in 2010, and was widely seen as a dissident work, satirizing orthodox communism and the official Chinese view of history.

The Chinese government should immediately quash the conviction of and release a Taiwanese political activist who was sentenced to nine years in prison for “separatism,” Human Rights Watch said today. On August 26, 2024, a court in China’s Zhejiang province convicted Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵), 34, for political activities carried out in Taiwan, a neighboring democracy over which the People’s Republic of China claims sovereignty.

The case is the first known in which the Chinese authorities have charged a Taiwanese national with “separatism” for allegedly seeking to split the country in violation of article 103 of China’s Criminal Law. The law is typically used in politically motivated prosecutions of Uyghurs, Tibetans, and other ethnic groups who are Chinese nationals.

“The Chinese government’s prosecution of Yang Chih-yuan for exercising his basic rights in Taiwan has effectively criminalized being Taiwanese,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. “The use of a national security law coupled with an outrageous prison sentence appears to be Beijing’s latest attempt to intimidate the Taiwanese people and reinforce its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.”

On August 3, 2022, more than seven months after Yang arrived in China to live, Chinese authorities detained him in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. In April 2023 he was formally arrested for alleged “separatist” activity. At the time, Yang was not involved in any political activities in China, and was teaching and competitively playing the strategy game Go, according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the government agency responsible for China-Taiwan affairs.

Yang’s “crimes” include establishing a minor political party called the Taiwan National Party in Taiwan, and promoting Taiwan’s inclusion in the United Nations between 2008 and 2020.

The Chinese authorities repeatedly and seriously violated Yang’s rights to due process during the legal proceedings against him. The Chinese state-owned media, CCTV, confirmed after Yang’s detention in August 2022 that he had been placed under “residential surveillance in a designated location;” a form of detention that Human Rights Watch has repeatedly criticized, and that United Nations human rights experts have said is “tantamount to enforced disappearance.”

Yang was incommunicado for two years, during which time he had no access to legal counsel or his family in violation of international human rights law. Chinese laws allow the authorities to deny national security detainees access to family and lawyers under “residential surveillance,” leaving them at serious risk of torture and other mistreatment.

Yang’s trial took place behind closed doors. Details of his sentencing were not announced until September 6, and judicial authorities still have not released any documents or evidence from the trial.

In June, two months prior to Yang’s trial, the Chinese government issued new judiciary guidelines that make it a criminal offense to do anything broadly related to Taiwanese independence. Peaceful activities and advocacy, such as teaching and writing about Taiwan’s democracy and history independent of China or promoting Taiwan’s inclusion in the United Nations, would be construed as criminal. Taiwanese who have engaged in such activity would be subject to arrest in China.

The judicial guidelines violate Taiwanese people’s rights to freedom of expression and association, and the right to public participation in Taiwan, Human Rights Watch said. The guidelines also permit the use of in absentia trials and the death penalty for “especially serious or … vile” activity in violation of international law.

In a second case, Chinese authorities have detained the Taiwan-based Chinese-born publisher Li Yan-he (李延賀), commonly known by his pen name Fu Cha (富察), for alleged “separatism.” In March 2023, national security police in Shanghai detained Fu. According to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, Fu has been detained for publishing works that are “not in line with the Chinese Communist Party’s view of history.”

Fu is editor-in-chief of the Taiwanese Gūsa Publishing (八旗文化), which has published books critical of the Chinese government. In early 2023 he become a Taiwanese citizen, and was visiting China to renounce his People’s Republic of China nationality and see his family. The authorities have been holding Fu under “residential surveillance in a designated location.”

The guidelines and the two cases appear intended to reinforce the People’s Republic of China’s sovereignty claims over Taiwan.

“The Chinese government is tightening its grip over the lawful activities of Taiwanese in Taiwan,” Wang said. “Beijing’s intimidation and arbitrary arrests of Taiwanese under national security charges is an alarming escalation of its efforts to control the rights to free speech and association beyond its borders.”

KARAPATAN raised grave concern over the reported disappearance of a brother of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultant Alan Jazmines.

James Jazmines, 63, Alan’s youngest brother, has been reported missing since August 23, 2024 and was last seen in Barangay San Lazaro, Tabaco City, Albay. As of today, efforts by his wife, friends and human rights groups to ascertain his whereabouts have been in vain.

James is a 1978 graduate of the Philippine Science High School and took up BS Psychology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He was the editor of Commitment, the official paper of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and later became the executive director of the Amado V. Hernandez Resource Center, a cultural institution. From 1988 to 1992, James served as the information officer of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) labor center. He was the information technology (IT) consultant of a development NGO up to the mid-2000s, and has been working freelance in the IT sector since then.

“Members of the Jazmines family, including James, have suffered surveillance, threats and harassment over the decades because of the military’s relentless operations to locate Alan and arrest him,” said KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay. “In fact, James’ wife, a development worker, was red-tagged several times last year and was even erroneously referred to as Alan’s wife in an episode of ‘Laban ng Masa,’ a rabid red-tagging program aired over the Quiboloy-owned SMNI,” added Palabay.

“We believe that James’ disappearance is either the latest in the military’s arsenal of dirty tricks to force his brother Alan to surface, or is a vicious example of palit-ulo, given the military’s continuing failure to arrest Alan,” said Palabay. “We denounce this foul maneuver by the military and demand that James be surfaced safe and sound and reunited with his family.”

Thousands of people rallied in several cities in Indonesia on Friday, pressuring its election commission to issue rules for regional voting amid outrage over an attempt by parliamentary allies of President Joko Widodo to change them in their favor.

The protests followed a day of demonstrations in which 301 people were detained and tear gas and water cannons used to disperse angry crowds outside parliament, which on Thursday shelved its controversial plan to amend eligibility rules on candidates, citing the absence of a quorum.

The protests were accompanied by fury on social media at the influential Jokowi, as the president is known, who stood to gain from proposed changes that would have allowed his son to seek office in Central Java and blocked an influential government critic from running for the high-profile post of Jakarta governor.

When asked about the protests, Jokowi said Friday that it was good for people to express their aspirations.

He said Wednesday that he respected Indonesia's democratic institutions, when asked about the attempt by parliament to change the election rules.

The demonstrations capped a dramatic week in politics in which anger has mounted over what Jokowi's critics say is an attempt to further consolidate his power as he prepares to make way for successor Prabowo Subianto in October.

Jokowi's popularity and outsized influence after a decade in charge was instrumental in Prabowo winning February's election by a big margin, in what was widely seen as a quid pro quo to ensure the outgoing leader retains a political stake long after he leaves office.

'This is nepotism'

Student protester Diva Rabiah, 23, was among hundreds of people who gathered outside the election commission in Jakarta urging it to issue clear rules on candidates, concerned that regulations could be changed before registration opens next week.

"This bothers me because they eased the way for the president's son to run in the regional elections. This is nepotism," she said of the earlier plan by lawmakers.

Demonstrations were also held Friday in the cities of Medan, Makassar and in Surabaya, where students threw rocks and bottles at police, calling for the election commisison to issue the rules.

It is unclear what role Jokowi will play when he leaves office, but he is expected to wield influence through the Golkar Party, the largest member of Prabowo's parliamentary alliance, which Wednesday appointed the president's right-hand man, Bahlil Lahadalia, as its leader.

The push by lawmakers to change the election rules would have effectively been a reversal of a Constitutional Court decision Tuesday, which upheld the minimum age of 30 for candidates and made it easier for parties to make nominations.

That ruling opened the door for Prabowo's presidential election rival, Anies Baswedan, to be nominated for Jakarta governor, a post he held from 2017 to 2022, but meant Jokowi's son Kaesang Pangarep, 29, could not run in regional polls.

The election commission will issue rules in line with Tuesday's court ruling, but after a consultation with parliament next week, its acting chief, Mochammad Afifuddin, said in a news conference.

The Maligakanda Magistrate's Court has issued a restraining order to prevent a protest organized by the Union of Associate Health Science Graduates and the Inter-University Student's Federation, which was scheduled for today.

The order was granted following a request from the OIC of Maradana Police, based on intelligence that was received.

The court's order prohibits protestors from gathering around the Health Ministry between 10 am and 9 pm, blocking surrounding highways and sidewalks, and entering the Health Ministry premises.

At least 11 journalists were injured and their equipment was damaged when police used physical force during last week's protests in Indonesia. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for a transparent and independent investigation to bring those responsible to justice.

At least 11 journalists were assaulted by members of the Indonesian Republic Police (Polri) as they covered widespread protests against amendments to a law governing elections in Jakarta, the capital, and the city of Bandung on 22 August. The police forced these journalists to delete their coverage of the demonstrations, while their equipment was damaged.

“Nothing justifies this police brutality against journalists, as well as the damage to their equipment. We call on Indonesian authorities to conduct transparent and independent investigations into these acts of violence and guarantee the protection of journalists in the course of their work.

Cédric Alviani RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director In Jakarta, two photojournalists from online media Makna Talks, known as Edo and Dory, were targeted with tear gas and beaten when reporting on the spot. Juan Robin and Achmad Wahib, reporters from Narasi TV, were pushed to the ground and their cameras were damaged by police officers. Anggita Raissa and Riyan Setiawan, from online media Deduktif, told RSF they also experienced similar encounters with the police. Angga Permana from online media konteks.co.id suffered a beating by security forces that resulted in a head injury.

In the city of Bandung, Alza Ahdira, a journalist from Pikiran-Rakyat.com, was reportedly beaten on her head and arms by five police officers after filming the police dispersing the protesters. Three other journalists from two media, IDN Times and Tempo, remain anonymous for safety reasons. One of them was beaten by police and later brought to a police station for interrogation. He was later released with numerous wounds.

Indonesia is ranked 111th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Myanmar authorities to immediately and credibly investigate Wednesday’s killing of journalists Win Htut Oo and Htet Myat Thu in a military raid on a home in southern Mon State.

“The killing of journalists Win Htut Oo and Htet Myat Thu is an atrocity against the free press and must not go unpunished,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar authorities must ensure swift and full justice for the country’s independent journalists who are being killed simply for reporting the news.”

The bodies of Win Htut Oo, a journalist with the media group Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Htet Myat Thu, a freelance reporter with the local Than Lwin Times outlet, were cremated without being returned to their families, according to a U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia report.

Two other people were killed in the August 21 raid in Kyaikto Township. One was a member of the local Kyaikto Revolutionary Force, one of several armed groups resisting the military government, which took power in a 2021 coup.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

Myanmar ranked 9th on CPJ’s latest Global Impunity Index, an annual ranking of countries where the killers of journalists habitually get away with murder. The nation also was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, with 43 behind bars in CPJ’s 2023 prison census.

Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court on August 21 rejected an appeal filed by activist Kanykei Aranova against a 42-month prison term she was handed in June over a Facebook post. Aranova was arrested in February as part of a case concerning protests against a Kyrgyz-Uzbek border deal that led to the detention of 27 people. Aranova was initially ordered to pay a fine after she was found guilty of inciting hatred and making online calls to seize power. Prosecutors appealed the ruling, calling it too lenient, after which the Bishkek City Court cancelled the initial ruling and sentenced her to 42 months in prison.

Authorities in democratic Taiwan have refused entry to a Chinese dissident writer who called for public commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre, leaving her stranded in a third country with her family.

Deng Liting, who fled to Thailand with her family after being arrested and assaulted by police in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing in July, said she had hoped to claim political asylum in Taiwan, which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China.

But officials there turned her around and put her on another plane within less than 24 hours, citing the island's lack of a refugee law and fears of a wave of asylum-seekers from neighboring China, she told Radio Free Asia in an interview on Wednesday, but declined to reveal her current location for fear of being targeted for "long-arm" law enforcement by the Chinese state.

The Taiwan Immigration Agency confirmed to RFA that Deng, her husband and son had transited in Taiwan, but had left again without being allowed to pass through immigration.

"The Taiwanese staff told me that Taiwan doesn't have a refugee law, so they really couldn't grant me asylum," Deng said. "I told them I just wanted help getting in touch with a third country, any that was willing to take me in, but they said it wasn't their job to help me."

"They were very tough on that, and I couldn't say too much else, as it could have had bad consequences," she said. "They told me to leave, so I and my family left."

Deng said officials had told her that Taiwan is loath to grant any asylum claims, for fear of precipitating a huge wave of asylum-seekers from China, where many are joining the "run" movement of mass migration to foreign countries.

"There was no way it would happen," she said. "We were in Taiwan for less than 24 hours, which was pretty quick."

"I thought about it, but I didn't want to make it difficult for them," she said. "They told me that almost nobody in the past decade has been granted political asylum."

Fear of repatriation

Deng's refusal of entry comes after authorities in Taiwan sent three Chinese nationals back to Malaysia in February after they landed in Taipei seeking political refuge.

She has declined to share her current location for fear of being forcibly repatriated to China, where she would likely face arrest and a prison sentence linked to her social media post about commemorating the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre, public mention of which is banned in China.

Deng's debut Chinese-language novel "The World of Lost Souls" was also criticized for being critical of China under the ruling Communist Party, she said.

"On June 3 this year, I posted a video supporting the [1989 Tiananmen protests] to my WeChat, Weibo and Douyin accounts," Deng said. "A lot of people reposted it, which led to my video account on WeChat and Douyin being blocked."

"On June 4, my son and I were arrested in Chongqing," she said. "The police interrogated, threatened, pushed, pulled and tore my clothes in front of my son, leaving him with serious psychological trauma."

Soon after the incident, Deng bought plane tickets for herself and her family and flew to Thailand, where she learned it could take up to four months to get recognition as a political refugee from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

So the family flew to Taiwan instead, in hope of being signposted to a third country for resettlement from there.

"Our family just wants to live a normal life where our human rights aren't violated, free from fear," Deng, who hails from the southwestern region of Guangxi and who uses the pen name Molu, posted to her X account on Aug. 20 after arriving at Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport.

"Yet we were born in an authoritarian country, where we have lived in fear for half of our lives. We are still being hunted down, and are still on the run," she wrote.

Deng said police in Guangxi said her case was deemed "serious" and that she could be looking at a seven-year jail term. They also threatened to send her young son to prison alongside her.

'A very dangerous situation'

Deng said she is anxious and frightened, and has no idea where to go next.

"I hope there is a country that will accept us," she said. "I hope it will be soon, because we're actually in a very dangerous situation right now."

Tseng Chien-yuan, an adjunct professor at Taiwan's National Central University who has assisted Chinese dissidents with asylum, said the lack of a refugee law means that each asylum case is decided by officials based on political considerations, rather than its fundamental merits.

"The government should find a way to achieve a clearer rule of law via administrative orders or regulations," he said. "Otherwise, frontline immigration officials will be at a loss. They don't have the power to make decisions and must report to their superiors in Taipei."

"Airports are not normal places to decide on placement," Tseng said. "Time is needed to investigate and understand the individual's situation," he said, adding that asylum-seekers should at least be offered temporary food and shelter while their claims are processed."

Burmese documentary filmmaker and political activist Pe Maung Same died Monday at the age of 50 due to complications from tuberculosis, just three days after his medical parole from a junta prison, according to his wife Khin Suu Suu Htay.

The son of prominent cartoonist Pe Thein, Pe Maung Same had served as an editor at the Yangon Film School and directed award-winning documentaries prior to his May 18, 2022, arrest and sentence to three years in Kayah state’s Loikaw Prison for “unlawful association.”

He had been accused of meeting with an ethnic armed group that opposed the junta’s February 2021 coup d’etat.

Khin Suu Suu Htay told RFA Burmese that on April 22, while in Loikaw Prison, Pe Maung Same had “collapsed” and was subsequently “paralyzed below the waist.” He was later diagnosed with tuberculosis – a disease caused by bacterial infection that spreads easily in overcrowded conditions.

“After being transferred several times, he was sent to Insein Hospital [in Yangon] on July 13 via Insein Prison,” she said. He was released on Aug. 16 because of his medical condition while still undergoing treatment and “was moved to a private hospital, where he passed away three days later.”

Prior to being admitted to the private Sakura Hospital on Aug. 16, Pe Maung Same had been “restrained with an ankle iron” at Insein Hospital, she said.

Local media cited a source with ties to the filmmaker’s family as saying that Pe Maung Same was “beaten and kicked in the back” while interrogated by authorities, and that “inadequate medicine and food” in Loikaw Prison had “further aggravated his condition.” The source said Pe Maung Same had also developed “complications with his heart and kidneys.”

RFA was unable to independently verify the claims.

In January, the journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe was sentenced to life in prison for violating Myanmar’s Anti-terrorism Law, prompting an outcry from rights groups and members of the media.

Known for her work highlighting the challenges facing Myanmar’s environment and the impact of conflict on civilians following the military’s 2021 coup, the 50-year-old Shin Daewe was arrested on Oct. 15 in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township while picking up a video drone she had ordered online to use in filming a documentary.

According to his family, Pe Maung Same’s funeral will be held on Aug. 21 at the Yae Way Cemetery in Yangon.

A Bunong man was questioned by Mondulkiri police after he released a song describing the sufferings of indigenous people in land disputes in conjunction with World Indigenous Peoples Day.

While indigenous people state their right to sing on International Day of Indigenous Peoples has been restricted, local authorities request that the songs be sung with clear information to avoid “problems” on social media. But indigenous people’s associations and human rights groups say that the recent questioning restricted indigenous peoples’ freedom of expression.

Bunong native Srom Chounh, 38, told CamboJA News that the song was to celebrate the 30th World Indigenous Peoples Day in Mondulkiri on August 15, 2024.

Chounh, who is a teacher, said the song was an expression of their rights and highlighted the concerns of indigenous communities. It was a collaboration with other indigenous communities who also agreed to compose the song.

However, the way in which “outsiders” reacted was not planned as the video was “cut into different images”, which resulted in the authority requesting him to delete the video.

He said the song titled “Why Arrest Us” was based on three points – the “forest and mountains being taken away”, “where is the law and why is it biased”, and “we are the owners of the land, and all are imprisoned”.

The three points apparently riled up the authorities who asked him to delete the video immediately.

Explaining each point, Chounh said he would not refer to the government “cutting off large tracts of forest land and giving them to other countries”, but the law allegedly allowed indigenous peoples’ lands and farms to be confiscated, and barred them from farming. The local authorities also allegedly “handed over power to traders who assume the right to indigenous people’s land anarchically”.

In the second point, he said the law enforcement was biased, in reference to the involvement of environmental officials who allegedly accepted bribes from people with power. They are given the right to illegally cut down forests, while indigenous people who engage in subsistence farming are “barred”, with complaints filed in court. Cases have been filed against 80 native people, Chounh said.

As for the third point, he admitted that using the word “prison” was not correct. What he meant was that lawsuits were filed in court and people were barred from farming.

“The three meanings are not related to politics, there is no provocation in [any situation] arising from the suffering of the indigenous people,” he said.

Chounh said after the authorities asked for more information about the song on August 19, 2024, a contract was prepared for him to agree to stop singing it. If the song continues to circulate in social media, people will be punished by the law, Chounh said.

He opined that it was a threat to his rights as well as to other indigenous people. “In the video, I wanted to show that indigenous communities’ rights are restricted today. The collective land registration is slow, which has caused problems for the people. It’s difficult to farm one’s land and not have money to pay the bank.”

Mondulkiri provincial police chief Lor Sokha told CamboJA News that the local authority must inquire and ask for more information to find out the reason for the song. People must also seek permission before posting the song online, he said.

Sokha said the lyrics revealed that indigenous people have lost their land and “they will die”. “Who wrote the song for him?” he said, adding that the authorities should find out the reason and person behind the song.

“What about indigenous people where the government and the authorities do not pay attention? […] And indigenous people who are Khmer. We have to deal with them all,” he said.

He said if Chounh came out with “clear arguments” and it was correct, then it “did not matter”. If his argument was clear and he wants the local authority to address the issues, they will help to resolve any concerns in accordance with the law.

Pleok Pirom, chief of Bunong indigenous community, told CamboJA News that the questioning by the authorities was a deprivation of their right to express their views and a coercion to stop them from singing the song.

She said the composition of the song saw the participation of the indigenous network, which represented 55 villages from five districts.

“If the authorities change their minds [in future] and there is no discrimination, no arrests of indigenous people or intimidation, then we won’t sing. But if the authorities continue, we will sing the song. The first time was by Srom Chounh,” she said, adding that in future they will sing together.

Provincial coordinator of rights group Adhoc, Be Vanny, told CamboJA News that singing was an art of the indigenous community who agreed to sing and is within the rights of indigenous people.

They have sent a message to the local authorities and the government which shows the hardships they have encountered.

He said the authorities should not force indigenous peoples to delete the video and intimidate them, rather they should address the issues raised by them.

“If the people just send a message to seek justice for their problems and we [authorities] restrict their freedom by banning them […] this must be reconsidered as our country is a signatory of human rights treaties.”

“Indigenous people are also citizens, and the authorities have a duty to promote and protect human rights. As an organization and a citizen, I am only involved in promoting indigenous people’s [issues],” Vanny said.

Cambodia Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance coordinator Sompoy Chansophea told CamboJA News that it was normal to sing songs reflecting the situation of the indigenous people.

If the authorities restrict and threaten the right to freedom of expression, it is a violation of human rights.

“So, if he is restricted, he won’t dare to speak on social media next time. Don’t confuse the community. Let them talk about what they are going through,” he said.

A court in Kazakhstan has fined three activists over their participation in a rally in late May demanding the official registration of the opposition Algha, Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) party. Aizhan Zholdasova and Ermek Qonyshbai were ordered on August 19 to pay 110,740 tenges ($230) each, while Azia Abieva was fined 77, 532 tenges ($161). All three pleaded not guilty before the court in the southern city of Shymkent, saying they have a right to express their political demands. In November, a court in Astana sentenced the chairman of Algha, Qazaqstan, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison on extremism charges, which he also rejects as politically motivated.

The Appeal Court has sentenced a protester to two years in prison for royal defamation over wearing Thai traditional dress at a mock fashion show during a protest in 2020. She was later granted bail after being detained for 2 days.

On Monday (19 August), the Appeal Court upheld the initial ruling to sentence protester Jatuporn Sae-ung without parole for royal defamation.

Jatuporn was charged with royal defamation, violating the Public Assembly Act, the Emergency Decree, and the Communicable Diseases Act, and using a sound amplifier without permission. She was accused of insulting the Queen by wearing a Thai traditional dress to participate in the “Ratsadorn Catwalk” fashion show, a gesture seen as mockery of the royal family, staged at a 29 October 2020 protest.

The complaint against her was filed by Waritsanun Sribawornthanakit, the owner of a pro-establishment Facebook page who also filed a complaint against Noppasin Treelayapewat, a 17-year-old protester, who wore a black crop top to the same event with the message “My father’s name is Mana, not Vajiralongkorn” written on his back.

The ”Ratsadorn Catwalk” took place after it was reported that the Ministry of Commerce received a 13-million baht budget for the overseas exhibition of new products by the Sirivannavari brand, a fashion label owned by the King’s daughter, Princess Sirivannavari.

The 29 October 2020 protest took place on the same day that Sirivannavari’s new collection was being launched at the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

The indictment accused Jatuporn of imitating the Queen’s demeanour by walking on a red carpet while a woman bowed at her feet. Jatuporn stopped walking and extended her hands for the protesters to grab. At the same time, an unidentified person shouted out “the Queen” as the royal anthem was played. The protesters also shouted “Long Live the Queen,” making it appear as if Jatuporn was posing as the Queen.

The South Bangkok Criminal Court on 12 September 2022 found Jatuporn guilty of royal defamation and violation of the Public Assembly Act, sentencing her to three years in prison and a fine of 1,500 baht. As a result of her ‘helpful’ testimony, it reduced her sentence to two years in prison and a fine of 1,000 baht. On 14 September 2022, she was allowed bail with 200,000 baht as security.

The Appeal Court today ruled to uphold the verdict, sentencing Jatuporn to two years in prison without parole over royal defamation and a 1,000 baht fine for violating the Public Assembly Act. Her lawyer requested bail. The request has been forwarded to the Supreme Court. As this takes approximately 2-3 days, Jatuporn is being held at the Central Women’s Correctional Institution.

Update: Jatuporn was granted bail on 21 August.

Cambodian authorities have arbitrarily arrested at least 94 people since late July 2024 for publicly criticizing the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area (CLV), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. At least 59 of those arrested, which include environmental, human rights and other activists, remain unlawfully detained and charged for peacefully expressing their views, including several children. The authorities should immediately drop all charges for which no internationally recognized charge is brought.

The CLV is a development plan among the governments of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam established in 2004 to facilitate cooperation on trade and migration. Concerns about the agreement resurfaced on social media in July particularly regarding land concessions and whether the CLV benefitted foreign interests above Cambodians. Many of those arrested have been charged with plotting and incitement merely for expressing their views on the CLV or organizing peaceful protests.

“The arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement, peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not justified under international law. The harassment of activists and their families is never acceptable. Alarmingly, the heavy-handed response by the Cambodian government has seen young people, including some children, unlawfully detained and charged with serious crimes against the State,” said Kate Schuetze, Deputy Regional Director for East South East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office at Amnesty International. “Cambodia’s partners should publicly and jointly call for this assault on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly to end.”

Background Following the first arrests of three activists in July, Telegram groups with thousands of members formed and began organizing public gatherings and peaceful marches to protest the agreement. Cambodians also held demonstrations in early August in South Korea, Japan, and Australia about the CLV.

As public criticism grew, Cambodian authorities tightened security measures and travel restrictions. Local human rights groups alleged that government officials across the country were putting land rights and civil society activists under surveillance, including ordering several not to travel outside of their communities and threatening their family members. The authorities also have imposed roadblocks on highways entering Phnom Penh and have been arbitrarily searching vans and taxis entering the capital.

Former prime minister and current Senate president Hun Sen’s official Telegram channel has aired videos of school children across Cambodia chanting in unison their support for the development agreement.

Senior officials have endorsed the crackdown through various public statements.

Hun Sen publicly called for the aforementioned arrest and sentencing of three activists in July who criticized the agreement on a broadcast on Facebook. He also threatened critics of the CLV in Cambodia as well as the families of opposition activists who live abroad with surveillance tactics that violate the right to privacy and the right to family life, stating that, “I urge the [Cambodian] government to search and find out all the groups that created this problem and live in the country. And compile all the cases of individuals outside the country, and study their family history, where their family are, if they are outside the country.”

The National Police stated on August 11 that “We are committed to making sacrifices in order to safeguard the legitimate Royal Government and implement stringent measures to prevent and suppress treacherous acts without exception, at all costs.” On August 16, the Cambodian gendarmerie leader, Sao Sokha, also released a video of a speech to his subordinates ordering them to be ready to face protesters armed with guns and to shoot if necessary.

The National Defense Ministry spokesperson, Chhum Socheat, told CamboJA News on August 12 that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) supports the CLV and in a post on Facebook, the RCAF High Command stated that it “… will suppress and destroy all incited tactics that destroy the nation and peace, and other attempts to sabotage and overthrow the legitimate Royal Government in any form.”. Government officials from the national and provincial level, including from the armed forces, have issued a petition supporting the CLV.

Hun Sen continued to make public threats against CLV critics in an August 12 speech, including against Hay Vanna, an opposition activist living in Japan: “[Y]ou all tried to incite others. … [W]e have heard what Hay Vanna said outside of the country. … You need to think about it carefully. If you make mistakes, you might be in danger. … You need to think about this carefully before you travel to join the protest.”

On August 16, Cambodian authorities arrested Hay Vannith, Vanna’s brother, a Health Ministry civil servant and did not provide information about his whereabouts until August 20, raising concerns that he had been forcibly disappeared. His family only learned he was in custody after an audio recording of a “confession” by Vannith to overthrow the government was posted on August 21 on the Cambodia government spokesperson Facebook page.

The government-aligned media outlet Fresh News broadcast on August 19 a “confession” from Lach Tina, a youth activist, accusing fellow activists protesting the CLV of organizing a plot against the government.

These supposed “confessions” by detainees and claims of plots against the government heighten concerns for their safety and others in custody, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said.

Of the 94 people arrested, at least 59 have been charged and remain under arrest or in pretrial detention. Cambodian authorities have charged at least 21 people with incitement to commit a felony, a charge often spuriously brought against human rights activists. In 2021, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia expressed concern about the improper use of incitement charges. Incitement carries a penalty of up to two years in prison, while “plotting” carries a punishment of up to 10 years.

At least 33 people face charges of plotting against the state, including four young adult members from the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association. This charge was recently brought against members of the environmental group Mother Nature, after which the UN Human Rights Office spokesperson, Thameen Al-Kheetan, “call[ed] on Cambodia to hold broad-based public consultations to amend relevant articles of the Cambodian Criminal Code to bring them into conformity with international human rights law.” At least four children have also been charged with plotting, punishable by up to five years in prison, rather than 10, because they are children.

All four children charged remain in pretrial detention. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Cambodia ratified in 1992, states that the arrest and detention of a child should be used only as a last resort and for the shortest period of time. The convention also upholds the rights of children to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

“The mass arrests of CLV Development Triangle Area activists are a deliberate, coordinated effort by Cambodian authorities to intimidate critics and prevent them from demonstrating in Phnom Penh or sharing their views on social media,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These wrongful detentions and charges show Prime Minister Hun Manet’s disrespect for the rights of Cambodians and the country’s international human rights obligations.”

About the Human Rights Defenders: Progressive Student Forum (PSF) is a student organisation based in Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), it was established in 2016, build democratic and secular spaces that would enable critical engagement with the emerging socio-economic and political environment. The student body organised sessions, discussion and dialogues on various issue and different events such as talks, seminars, films, screenings, informal discussions between students. PSF intervene in various issues and concerns of students of TISS. Background: PSF organised a protest in solidarity against the suspension of PhD Scholar KS Ramdas over alleged ‘misconduct and anti-national activities’ at the Institute and they condemned dismissal of TISS faculty in July 2024. Details of the Incident: On August 19, 2024, the registrar of TISS administration issued a notice to ban PSF, calling the forum unauthorized and illegal forum. The notice claimed that the “PSF has been engaging in activities that obstruct the institute functions, defame the institute, demean members of our community, and create divisions among students and faculty.” The notice further states that “group is misleading, distracting and misguiding students from their academic pursuit and harmonious life in the campus”. The Notice imposed immediate ban on PSF for all institute premises and activities and ordered that “any student or faculty member found supporting, associating with or propagating the group’s divisive ideologies will be subject to disciplinary action”.

Authorities arrested over 20 political and human rights activists, and youths in the days leading to a planned rally to oppose the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Areas (CLV-DTA) agreement in Phnom Penh on Sunday as stringent checks on travelers entering the capital were conducted.

On Sunday morning, police picked up four members of Khmer Student Intelligent League Association (KSILA) in their office, as well as three opposition officials and 16 social youths at their homes and a hotel, respectively, on Saturday night.

On August 11, several thousand Cambodians protested in South Korea, Japan and Australia to demand the government to withdraw from the CLV-DTA due to concerns of Cambodia ceding territory in the northeast province to Vietnam.

A Telegram group named “United for the Nation” was also formed for discussion and to allegedly organize a protest in front of the Royal Palace at 4pm on August 18.

Chan Ramy, executive director of Youth Resource Development Program (YRDP), said the youths, who were arrested by police on Saturday night, were going to attend a YRDP forum on social protection in a hotel and were staying there overnight.

Twelve youths were summoned for questioning in Chhbar Ampov district and four in Tuol Kouk district. They were part of 30 people who arrived in the capital from Siem Reap and Battambang provinces to attend the forum on social protection.

Ramy said the forum, which was planned weeks ahead regardless of the anti-CLV-DTA rally, was eventually called off upon the request of the hotel owner on Saturday night.

“I think it is not right because they came here to join the forum. We’re not involved in the protests, and we have already given the documents to him [police],” she shared.

Meanwhile, KSILA members Kat Sinat, Nuern Sreyneth, Ream Sreypichrothana and Thy Thorn were arrested by police who also closed the youth association office on the orders of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor Seng Heang.

When asked about the arrest of the YRDP youths and KSILA members, Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesperson Sam Vichheka said, “The authorities are calling [them] for questioning, but we can’t inform [anything] yet”.

According to a social media post on Sunday evening, several young people were arrested in front of the Royal Palace, where over 100 law enforcement officers were deployed there.

National Police spokesperson Chhay Khim Khoeun said he would release information on the arrests later in the day. When asked at 8 p.m, he told CamboJA News to quote him according to the information he gave online media Fresh News.

Fresh News reported that 31 alleged protesters including two women, “who acted in accordance with the call to mobilize people at the planned location”, were arrested in connection with the supposed protest.

Police also confiscated equipment and weapons such as gasoline bottles, knives, knuckle dusters, sticks, slingshots and airsoft metal bullets, which are believed to be used as “countermeasures against the authority”, Kim Khoeun was quoted as saying.

“The people are under the control of the authorities who are preparing to send them to court for legal action,” he said.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Touch Sokhak said the series of arrests was to maintain social order. Some groups had “carefully planned the protests to overthrow the government on the pretext of protesting against the CLV-DTA”.

“[Looking] at the activities of this small group, they have carefully prepared dangerous devices and provocative messages [to be used] when they clashed with the authorities. This isn’t a demonstration, it’s a planned riot [but called] demonstration to turn it into a revolution to overthrow the government,” Sokhak said.

Candlelight Party secretary-general Ly Sothearayuth said two of their own activists and two others from Khmer Will Party (KWP) were recently arrested.

Three of them, Sun Piseth, Lor Thorn and Meas Kol, who were party members in Pailin province were arrested on the night of August 17, while Candlelight activist Sok Chea in Pursat province was taken in on August 15.

Sothearayuth mentioned that the exact reasons for their arrest are still unknown.

“The party [Candlelight] believes that there should be a clear reason and a court order for their arrest,” he said.

“The party requests the authorities to review their arrests and release them to participate in both Candlelight and KWP’s political affairs in accordance with their objectives and ideals.”

Recounting the incident of Meas Kol’s arrest on Saturday night, his wife Ouk Nakri told CamboJA News that 10 policemen came to their house around 10 p.m to look for her husband. They did not offer a reason or produce an arrest warrant before he was taken to the Pailin provincial police commissioner.

“I do not know why [he was arrested] because we did not do anything. It doesn’t make sense to arrest us, we did nothing wrong,” Nakri said.

However, she shared that Kol’s arrest followed a party gathering at their home the previous day, which included five or six friends. That said, she emphasized that it was “simply a party, not an organized meeting for any particular purpose”.

Nakri expressed concern for her family’s safety. “I’m especially worried at night,” she said. “During the day, I saw police officers riding past our house several times. I am afraid that we might be targeted next. Our children will have nothing to eat, they are so young.”

On Friday, Grassroots Democratic Party issued a statement separately demanding the authorities to release one of their activists, Sem Sophal, who was arrested for reasons unknown on August 16.

National Defense Ministry spokesperson Chhum Socheat said the general situation in Cambodia on Sunday seemed “void of anti-government movements”.

He described the alleged plan as a “failure” by opposition groups abroad to overthrow the government. But, the military was ready to prevent any anti-government activities to keep the people safe, he asserted.

Many roads leading to Phnom Penh were restricted by police officers with barricades such as Hun Sen Boulevard and the Takmao border. Within the city, police roadblocks were set up to the entrance of the Royal Palace at the Chuon Nath roundabout. The protest was planned to take place around the palace area.

Law enforcement officers were also present at numerous locations in the capital. Recall that Phnom Penh police chief Chuon Narin said more than 1,000 police officers, equivalent to 50 percent of the total police force in Phnom Penh, were ready to intervene in the event of a protest.

Sub-editor at https://www.nepalviews.com/ Shyam Sundar Pudasaini was attacked and threatened of death while reporting in the federal capital on August 17.

Journalist Pudasaini reported news about a religious ceremony ‘Kotihom’ ongoing in the Pashupatinath Temple, Kathmandu on August 13. In the news he wrote about fraud and corruption and the organizers deceiving the devotees in the name of religion.

Talking to Freedom Forum, Pudasaini shared that on August 16 (Friday), Pudasaini was reporting live of the Kotihom event from the temple premises. Meanwhile, he wrote a post about ongoing speech on his social media page. Then, the host called Pudasaini on stage and asked, “Are you in support or against us?”. Thereafter, the crowd pushed the journalist onto stage, and started beating him. People in the crowd also threatened him of life.

They not only attacked him but also robbed him of purse, license, helmet, etc. Pudasaini sustained minor injuries on his head due to attack.

Journalist Pudasaini informed FF that he was preparing to lodge a complaint at the District Police Office, Bhadrakali today (August 18).

FF condemns the attack upon journalist. Such a targeted attack and disrespect towards a media person for his reporting is a gross violation of press freedom and freedom of expression. FF strongly urges the concerned authority to ensure safe reporting atmosphere for the journalists.

The brother of a prominent overseas Cambodian activist was arrested at the Thai border as he attempted to leave the country just weeks after Senate President Hun Sen publicly threatened the activist’s family.

Hay Vanna, a political activist who lives in Japan, told Radio Free Asia that his brother, Hay Vannith, was detained in Poipet in northwestern Cambodia on Aug. 16.

Hay Vannith was forced to make a written confession that he had participated in plans for nationwide protests in Cambodia last weekend, according to Hay Vanna, who added that his brother has never been a part of his political advocacy.

The planned Aug. 18 demonstrations against the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Triangle Development Area, or CLV, never took place as the government deployed police, military police, soldiers and special forces across the country.

A total of more than 30 people were arrested over the weekend as authorities set up checkpoints on highways and cities.

The 1999 CLV agreement between the three countries was aimed at encouraging economic development and trade between Cambodia’s four northeastern provinces and neighboring provinces in Laos and Vietnam.

But some activists recently began expressing concerns that the CLV could cause Cambodia to lose territory or control of its natural resources to Vietnam.

Earlier this month, overseas Cambodian activists – including Hay Vanna – organized protests against the CLV in South Korea, Japan, Canada and Australia.

Last week, activists formed a chat group in the Telegram app to organize protests in Cambodia. But that prompted Senate President Hun Sen last week to issue a warning of widespread arrests of activists.

‘Stop or else’

Last month, Hun Sen called out Hay Vanna by name in a speech broadcast on state-run television.

“This person by the name of Hay Vanna who lives in Japan, commented on the so-called ceasing of the four Cambodian provinces to others,” Hun Sen said on July 23.

“But you shouldn’t be confused – you have family members here in Cambodia,” he said. “And they who are living here, must not be arrogant. After hearing his message ... you must stop, or else.”

Family members haven’t been able to contact Hay Vannith, according to Human Rights Watch, which said the 28-year-old civil servant was “forcibly disappeared.”

Hay Vannith studied in the United States as a Fulbright scholar and now works for the Ministry of Health, according to the Manushya Foundation, a Bangkok-based human rights group.

“He was trying to flee to Thailand due to the threats he was facing,” the foundation said.

Hay Vanna told RFA that the government has taken his brother hostage.

“I am not afraid or worried even if they arrest my brother,” he said. “I won’t stop my activities.”

Karapatan condemns the violent dispersal of a rally held by delegates to the 57th General Assembly of Student Councils (GASC) held on August 16, 2024 a few meters outside the University of the Philippines (UP) campus in Tacloban City.

The students demanded academic freedom, a stop to the militarization of UP Tacloban, and the release of political prisoners Frenchie Mae Cumpio, Alexander Abinguna and Marielle Domequil, all of them activists and alumni of UP Tacloban who were arrested in a crackdown in 2020. Cumpio was a community journalist, Abinguna a National Council member of Karapatan representing Eastern Visayas and Domequil a development worker with the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines.

The delegates were corralled, and police demanded a list of rally participants. One student leader was arrested, thrown to the ground and handcuffed during the dispersal.

The GASC gathers representatives of student councils from the entire UP system every year to select the new Student Regent.

The violent dispersal occurred just days after the UP administration and the Armed Forces of the Philippines signed a memorandum that paves the way for greater military intrusion into the university, including the conduct of “information dissemination drives” or the holding of red-tagging seminars by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

KARAPATAN raises grave concern that the violent dispersal curtails the students’ right to peacefully assemble and air their grievances, and may just be the beginning of heightened repression in UP campuses across the country.

KARAPATAN joins the UP community and others from the education sector in working for the junking of this memorandum for being detrimental to the democratic rights and academic freedom of students, faculty and non-academic personnel.

The Battambang Appeal Court this morning upheld the convictions of Ung Thap Reang, a journalist, on charges of public defamation and incitement to commit a felony under Articles 305 and 495 of the Criminal Code.

The Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court sentenced Thap Reang on 25 January 2024, following complaints from a Poipet Referral Hospital and the provincial tax department, which were accused of corruption in online posts from media outlet Khmer Cheayden. The provincial court sentenced Thap Reang to six months' imprisonment, with the entire prison sentence suspended, and ordered him to pay a 2 million riel (around US$500) fine. Today’s Appeal Court’s decision upheld that sentence in its entirety.

Police in Vietnam’s Central Highlands have arrested a member of the Montagnard community on charges of collecting one-sided information and reporting it to other members of the ethnic minority group living abroad in order to oppose the government.

Police investigators in Dak Lak province announced the arrest of Y Po Mlo, 63, last Thursday on charges of "undermining the solidarity policy" under Article 116 of the criminal code.

Government officials “repeatedly educated, reminded and brought Y Po Mlo to self-criticism” for contacting and receiving instructions from U.S.-based Montagnard Y Mut Mlo, the Ministry of Public Security reported.

Y Mut Mlo was sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison on terrorism charges in connection with a fatal attack on two administration offices in Dak Lak province on June 11, 2023.

The Ministry of Public Security also said that from last year until his arrest, Y Po Mlo used his Facebook account to contact and receive instructions from Montagnards seeking asylum in Thailand, including Y Min Alur, Y Thanh Eban and Y Pher Hdrue, and to pass on the information to other Montagnards in Dak Lak.

It accused the three Thai-based Montagnards and U.S.-based Y Mut Mlo of being members of FULRO. The group, also known as the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, existed from 1964 to 1992 and campaigned for the autonomy for minority groups in Vietnam such as the Monganards, Cham and Khmer. Vietnam has branded it a “terrorist organization.”

Montagnard means “mountain people” in French and is a term used by French colonizers for about 30 indigenous tribes living in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

Many Montagnards are Christian and say they have suffered discrimination from local and national authorities over issues such as land rights and freedom of religion.

Not terrorist organizations Radio Free Asia contacted two of the three Thai-based Montagnards but they deny having any connection with Y Po Mlo.

“I don't know where this person is or what he looks like,” Y Min Alur told RFA Vietnamese. “I’m in Thailand, where I speak out about the issue of religion and human rights, about issues such as religious oppression by the Vietnamese Communist Party and taking land from our ethnic people.”

Alur, 49, is a follower of the Evangelical Church in Phu Yen province. He fled to Thailand to seek asylum because of religious persecution and is waiting to be resettled in a third country. He said he was not a member of FULRO because the organization was dissolved in 1992.

“Those who speak out about the Vietnamese Communist Party’s suppression of religion are all considered FULRO,” he added.

Another Thai-based Montagnard, Y Pher Hdrue, said the claim that Y Po Mlo had connections with FULRO members was a “baseless and ridiculous” accusation “just to create an excuse for arrest and repression.”

When police searched Mlo’s home they seized a number of documents related to Thai-based “Montagnards for Justice” and the U.S.-based “Montagnard Support Group,” according to Vietnamese media.

Montagnards Stand for Justice, or MSFJ, founding member Y Phic Hdok said members of the group are not terrorists and have no connection to FULRO.

He called the government’s claims about Mlo’s international connections with Montagnard support groups “baseless slander.”

“After verifying with MSFJ members in Thailand, we confirm that we do not know who Y Po Mlo is and have never worked with him," he said.

U.S.-based Y Phic Hdok, said his group collects information on human rights violations and religious repression against ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands and reports it to international human rights organizations and the United Nations.

He said he was concerned that Vietnam’s government arbitrarily arrested people, forced them to confess to trumped-up charges and labeled MSFJ a terrorist organization. Hdok said this proves that Vietnam had not improved on human rights and did not respect the law and international conventions on rights.

He said the government’s action was transnational repression, and it created false evidence to discredit MSFJ, and it plotted to extradite group member Y Quynh Bdap, from Thailand to Vietnam.

Special Rapporteurs speak out In a joint letter sent to the Vietnam government on June 14, 13 special rapporteurs from the U.N. human rights mechanism spoke out about the repression of Montagnards in Vietnam and of organizations and individuals in Thailand.

The letter was made public on Aug. 14 after the Vietnam government failed to respond and labeled MSFJ a terrorist group following the Dak Lak attacks on June 11, 2023.

The group’s founding member, Y Quynh Bdap, was convicted in absentia by a court in Dak Lak and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “terrorism.” Bdap, who sought asylum in Thailand in 2018, was arrested by Thai police on July 11 at Vietnam’s request and is being tried for overstaying his visa, facing deportation to Vietnam.

The U.N. human rights experts said that labeling MSFJ a "terrorist organization" went against the requirements of due process and judicial protection under international human rights law.

The rapporteurs said MSFJ was an organization that protected the rights of indigenous people.

They also expressed concern that the Vietnamese government appeared to be continuing its cross-border repression by sending police to Thailand to seek the extradition of Y Quynh Bdap, other MSFJ members and other Vietnamese there.

Referring to an incident on March 14, the rapporteurs said Vietnamese police entered boarding houses in two places in Thailand where Montagnards were staying and “threatened, harassed and coerced the refugees to force them to return to Vietnam against their will."

The U.N. experts said the persuasion and intimidation of Vietnamese seeking asylum in Thailand in March was part of an intensified campaign of discrimination, repressive surveillance, security controls, harassment and intimidation against Montagnards in the Central Highlands. They said the 2023 attacks were the pretext for this escalation.

Discrimination and repression against Montagnards contravenes Vietnam's international commitments on human rights and could fuel resistance among indigenous minorities in the Central Highlands, the experts stressed. They cited cases of Montagnard religious leaders being imprisoned or dying in suspicious circumstances, such as Y Bum Bya, who was found hanging from a tree in a cemetery near his home after going to meet police on March 8 this year.

RFA Vietnamese emailed the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a request for comment on the Special Rapporteurs' letter, but did not receive a response by time of publication.

The Phnom Penh Capital Court yesterday convicted nine Samrong Tbong community members of intentional acts of violence and obstruction of a public official with aggravating circumstances under Articles 218 and 504 of the Criminal Code, with 2-year prison sentences that were fully suspended by the judge.

The charges stemmed from an incident on 1 October 2022, when the defendants Kong Tue, Phorn Sokhom, Prak Sophea, Say Sarith, Soeun Chamroeun, Soeun Sreysot, Tav Ny, and Yorn Kimyoeun attempted to reinforce a wooden door at Heng Meang’s home in order to improve security and protect her belongings. During this process, authorities told the defendants to stop, claiming that this activity was in violation of a construction ban. The defendants disagreed, leading to a dispute in which the authorities attempted to take down the door while the community members attempted to keep it up. Despite not being present at the time of the dispute, Heng Meang was convicted and received the same sentence as the other defendants.

The Samrong Tbong community has faced a pattern of state harassment, criminal charges and threats of eviction as the government has filled in and given away large swathes of Boeng Tamok lake, where many community members have lived for decades, to various government ministries, officials and well-connected individuals.

Updated Aug. 15, 2024, 06:34 a.m. ET.

A court in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi found activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen guilty of “propaganda against the state” on Thursday and jailed him for five years, with no probation, on charges that carry a maximum sentence of 12 years.

During the trial, which lasted just over five hours, only Tuyen’s wife, Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet, and his three lawyers, Le Dinh Viet, Nguyen Ha Luan and Pham Le Quyen, were allowed in the court. Although the trial was supposed to be public, other friends and relatives had to wait outside.

Hanoi police arrested the 50-year-old on Feb. 29 this year.

Tuyen is a prominent member of the No-U movement, which protests against China’s so-called nine-dash line, which it uses on its maps to demarcate the territory it claims in the South China Sea. Vietnam also claims some of the territory.

He was prosecuted under Article 117 of the criminal code, which prohibits "making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items with fabricated content, causing confusion among the people" and "making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items causing psychological warfare."

“Although my client was given the lowest sentence in the penalty range, I, as well as the two other lawyers, have concluded and presented evidence proving that Nguyen Chi Tuyen is completely innocent, and the sentence imposed on him is inappropriate,” said a member of Tuyen’s defense team, who didn’t want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The lawyer said that his client will consider appealing the verdict in the next two weeks.

Just before the trial, international pressure group Human Rights Watch had called for his immediate release.

“Vietnam’s authorities have targeted Nguyen Chi Tuyen for expressing views they don’t like,” said HRW associate Asia director Patricia Gossman. “The government should stop jailing peaceful critics, repeal its draconian penal laws, and end the systematic violation of basic rights.”

The New York-based group pointed out that the trial came shortly after former police chief To Lam was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country’s top job.

While Lam was minister of public security, police arrested at least 269 people for exercising their basic civil and political rights, the group said.

“The Vietnamese government will remain mired in oppression so long as it continues to lock up dissidents like Nguyen Chi Tuyen who dare to speak their minds,” Gossman said. “Vietnam’s international donors and trade partners shouldn’t have any illusions when dealing with this rights-abusing government.”

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, said Vietnam’s courts hand down stiff sentences to people who dare to speak the truth because leaders see them as a threat to their power.

“In a politically motivated case like this, there will be no justice, but rather only tears and anger as yet another principled citizen is imprisoned for exercising his rights,” he told RFA Vietnamese.

“An Chi is widely respected among the people of Vietnam, and nothing that the government and the party does to him will diminish that.

“The Vietnamese people recognize persons with moral principles and an ethical backbone who act for the interests of all the people. That's why the ruling Communist Party is attacking him with these bogus charges because they know they cannot compete with him in terms of virtue.”

After quitting his publishing job in August 2018, Tuyen created a YouTube channel to share his views on Vietnamese economics, politics and society.

He was prosecuted for two videos posted in 2021. In the first he talked about a US$200 million donation by VietJet Air chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao to the U.K.’s Oxford University.

In the second, he commented on the government’s “blazing furnace” crackdown on corruption, saying that having multiple political parties in Vietnam would limit graft.

The indictment also mentioned three video clips that related to To Lam when he was minister of public security. Tuyen was not prosecuted for them, however, a No-U member who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity said the case was clearly police revenge.

“More than two years before his arrest, Nguyen Chi Tuyen had stopped all activities and only commented on international situations on the AC Media YouTube channel,” the person said. “Therefore, his arrest and conviction are not appropriate.”

One of Tuyen’s lawyers told RFA his client did not plead guilty, instead asserting that he was only exercising the right to freedom of expression as stated in the Vietnamese Constitution as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Vietnam is a signatory.

The legal team asked the court to summon experts from the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications for questioning on their interpretation of the two videos. However, the lawyer said the unidentified experts obtained written permission to be absent.

Former prisoner of conscience Le Anh Hung told RFA Vietnamese Tuyen’s five-year sentence was unfair.

“This is clearly an unjust sentence for someone who peacefully speaks out for the country’s progress,” he said.

“Arrests and sentences like this will make people hesitant and afraid to speak up. No country or nation can grow or develop when its people have to live in fear.”

Aun Ali Khosa, popular for his satirical take on Pakistan’s political and economic situation, has been abducted by a group of armed men in Lahore. The incident unfolded after Khosa’s recent satire ‘Bill Bill Pakistan’, a song about high power prices in the country, took over social media.

Khosa was abducted from his home on the night of August 15. According to reports, a group of eight to ten men forcibly entered his residence, confiscating electronic devices such as his mobile phone, computer, and digital camera.

Sharing the news on X, Ali Sher Khosa, the singer’s brother, wrote, “AOA everyone, today in the middle of the night my Brother @aun_khosa has been taken into custody by some unknown armed men from his Flat in Lahore. Kindly pray for him. Do spread the word as it will mean a lot to our Family. #releaseAunAliKhosa.”

Who is Aun Ali Khosa? With over 1,48,000 subscribers on YouTube, Aun Ali Khosa rose to prominence with his comedy vlogs and skits. Born and raised in Lahore, Khosa started his YouTube channel in 2017 where he shared videos on social issues in Pakistan. He also creates spoofs on daily life and TV shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati.

He recently grabbed eyeballs with his satirical song ‘Bill Bill Pakistan’, which reflected on the country’s poor governance and also highlighted the burden of inflated power bills on the public. Several Pakistanis resonated with the song, especially given its release close to Independence Day. The opening lines of the song are, “Aisi zameen aur aasmaan. Iss passport pe mein jaau kaha (How can I travel with a passport like this?).” The song has been penned by Khosa and performed by Abubakar Khalil and him.

Amnesty International South Asia condemned Khosa’s abduction, calling it “alarming.” Taking it to X, the official handle wrote, “The abduction of Aun Ali Khosa, digital content creator and comedian, from his home on 15 August is alarming. More than 39 hours since he was taken away from his home in Lahore at 2 AM, his whereabouts remain unknown.”

“Aun has been a critic of the government, and his satirical videos have critiqued the rising inflation in the country. His abduction is part of an established pattern of harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, political activists, students, and journalists by Pakistani authorities in an attempt to silence them,” it added.

On Friday, the Lahore High Court ordered the Lahore police to produce the “abducted artist” in the court on August 20, the Dawn reported.

KARAPATAN denounces the X-rating classification given by the Movie, Television Ratings and Classification Board (MTRCB), during its first review, to award-winning documentary film “Alipato at Muog” by Jose Luis “JL” Burgos about the abduction and disappearance of his brother, activist Jonas Burgos in April 2007.

The X-rating, which prohibits the film’s viewing in commercial theaters nationwide is but the latest attempt by the Philippine government to evade State accountability for Jonas Burgos’ abduction and disappearance. In an earlier statement, National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya had discredited the film, saying it was an attempt to revive an “old case.”

This is not the first form of persecution that JL Burgos has had to endure. Film makers, including Burgos, were viciously red-tagged and dragged into the so-called Red October destabilization scheme concocted by then NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Antonio Parlade because of a documentary he had made about the opposition press under Marcos Sr.’s martial law regime.

The so-called Red October plot was an effort by Parlade and his ilk to vilify in one fell swoop practically every person who has expressed opinions contrary to the State’s repressive policies. JL Burgos, in fact, met with United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Irene Khan this year to recount his ordeal.

Obviously, in the case of “Alipato at Muog,” the powers that be are again desperate to prevent public viewing of a film that tells the truth about the crime of enforced disappearance with such depth, and goes beyond Jonas Burgos’ abduction but that of many other activists as well. Military officials have been named in the documentary, including current National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, as among those who are accountable for the disappearance of Jonas Burgos.

This latest example of State censorship is a blatant affront to freedom of expression under the Marcos Jr. regime.

KARAPATAN stands solidly behind film maker JL Burgos and the Burgos family in the fight to have the X-rating on “Alipato at Muog” lifted. It is in firm solidarity with all cultural workers in their struggle against all manner and form of censorship and violation of freedom of expression.

In a late-night development, miscreants entered Kolkata’s R G Kar Medical College and Hospital and vandalised the area where people had gathered to protest against the rape and murder of a junior doctor who worked there.

The miscreants allegedly attacked protesters, including doctors, and also damaged police vehicles, those present at the protest said.

Around midnight on Wednesday, people from across West Bengal — and the country — had hit the streets in protest, under the banner ‘reclaim the night’, to urge authorities to make public spaces safer for women and ensure justice in the rape and murder case.

“A mob of miscreants entered the hospital. The agitating doctors were attacked and had to flee. They even tried to enter the building where the junior doctor was raped andmurdered. Police stood as mute spectators,” alleged Subhendu Mullick, a senior resident doctor at NRS who was among the protesters.

According to eyewitnesses, around midnight, a mob of hundreds of men barged into the premises, taking protesters and even the police by surprise.

They pelted stones and ransacked two police vehicles stationed at the gate of the hospital, eyewitnesses said.

Earlier in the day, a CBI team had visited the hospital and initiated a probe into the gruesome crime.

A Hong Kong court jailed pro-democracy activist Owen Chow for three days on Wednesday and fined his solicitor, Phyllis Woo, for taking a document out of prison without authorisation.

Chow is one of 14 people convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion in a landmark national security case in May that drew international criticism and could see him jailed for life, but he awaits sentencing, with that case in the mitigation stage.

He and Woo, 31, were convicted on the unauthorised document charge in July, after having pleaded not guilty. Chow’s sentence is to be added to the other jail time he faces, while Woo was ordered to pay a fine of HK$1,800 (US$231).

Chow’s defence lawyer, Jeffrey Tam, said he would appeal against the conviction and sentence.

Chow is currently serving a jail term of more than five years after having being found guilty of occupying the city’s legislature during mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.

During a legal visit at the Lai Chi Kok Reception Center on May 2 last year, he gave Woo the unauthorised complaint form at the centre of the case.

Chow’s complaint to Hong Kong’s ombudsman related to two books on Chinese Buddhism that family members tried to give him in prison but which were banned by the Correctional Services Department (CSD).

Had the complaint form been sent by the proper route following a security check, Principal Magistrate Ivy Chui said, she believed it would have gone smoothly from the prison to the ombudsman, an administration watchdog.

Chui described Chow’s attempt to bypass the security check as reckless and foolish. She took into consideration Woo’s relatively short experience as a solicitor and her clean criminal record in handing down the fine.

During the trial, the prosecution played closed-circuit television images of the visit, saying Chow secretly gave the complaint form to Woo after a prison officer left the room.

This case is just the tip of the iceberg where correctional staff obstruct the exercise of the rights of prisoners, Chow wrote in a letter of mitigation.

Several books he sought had been banned by the CSD for ridiculous reasons over the past three years, he added.

His cell was raided seven times after he insisted on filing a complaint, Chow said, and he was punished in the last raid for having in his possession a Portuguese egg tart without permission, although the dessert had been part of a breakfast he had not finished.

Chow was placed in solitary confinement, told to engage in sports and take showers alone, while nearby inmates were all moved away, he added.

If the people in power want the society to be called…progressive, they must take responsibility, starting with facing the voices of vulnerable communities."

The founder of Borneo Komrad, Mukmin Nantang, and four others were detained at Pulau Bodhgaya, Semporna, earlier today.

Malaysiakini quoted a source from the NGO as saying that the five were held after allegedly disrupting Sabah Parks’ ongoing operation to evict illegal settlements within the Tun Sakaran Marine Park in Semporna.

Mukmin texted us about the detention around 11.30am, saying they were taken to the Sabah Parks office, the source was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, acting Semporna district police chief Fauzi Abd Kadir told the news portal that police were not involved in the detentions.

The detention was conducted for documentation and investigation purposes under the Sabah Parks Enactment, he was quoted as saying.

On Monday, Malaysiakini reported that authorities demolished at least eight homes belonging to the Bajau Laut and Suluk communities on two islands within the Tun Sakaran Marine Park in Semporna, Sabah, in a sudden operation.

Sabah Parks director Maklarin Lakim said in the report that the operation was conducted to evict illegal settlements within the park.

When contacted by FMT, a spokesman for the NGO said that Mukmin and the others have not yet been released.

They are still being questioned by Sabah Parks (authorities), the spokesman said.

This is not the first time Mukmin has been detained or arrested, having had a sedition probe opened against him in June over videos depicting the demolition of Bajau Laut homes.

The founder of Borneo Komrad, Mukmin Nantang, and four others were detained at Pulau Bodhgaya, Semporna, earlier today.

Malaysiakini quoted a source from the NGO as saying that the five were held after allegedly disrupting Sabah Parks’ ongoing operation to evict illegal settlements within the Tun Sakaran Marine Park in Semporna.

Mukmin texted us about the detention around 11.30am, saying they were taken to the Sabah Parks office, the source was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, acting Semporna district police chief Fauzi Abd Kadir told the news portal that police were not involved in the detentions.

The detention was conducted for documentation and investigation purposes under the Sabah Parks Enactment, he was quoted as saying.

On Monday, Malaysiakini reported that authorities demolished at least eight homes belonging to the Bajau Laut and Suluk communities on two islands within the Tun Sakaran Marine Park in Semporna, Sabah, in a sudden operation.

Sabah Parks director Maklarin Lakim said in the report that the operation was conducted to evict illegal settlements within the park.

When contacted by FMT, a spokesman for the NGO said that Mukmin and the others have not yet been released.

They are still being questioned by Sabah Parks (authorities), the spokesman said.

This is not the first time Mukmin has been detained or arrested, having had a sedition probe opened against him in June over videos depicting the demolition of Bajau Laut homes.

A lawyer who blew the whistle on a grisly nationwide trade in stolen and dismembered corpses has been removed from his position as director of a Beijing law firm, RFA has learned.

Yi Shenghua, who until Wednesday morning local time was listed as a director of the Beijing Yongzhe Law Firm, sparked a social media storm after he revealed the grisly details of a body-snatching scheme in which dead bodies and body parts were sold off to biotech institutions to be harvested for dental bone grafts without relatives’ knowledge or consent.

Investigators from the Ministry of Public Security are investigating reports that Shanxi Aurui Biomaterials had been involved in trading thousands of dead bodies or body parts, on suspicion that the company engaged in “theft of, insult to, or intentional destruction of human remains,” according to multiple news reports that followed up on Yi’s posts.

Yi had alleged that bodies were being sent to the company from funeral homes across Shanxi, Sichuan and Guangxi provinces, with thousands of bodies in Sichuan alone, and more than 70 families seeking redress.

Their bones were being used to create dental bone implants, and relatives couldn’t be sure the ashes they were receiving were indeed the complete remains of their loved ones, he wrote, quoting a fellow lawyer.

Later, after being warned off going public by officials from the Beijing Municipal Judicial Affairs, he posted: “I am willing to pay the price to expose this enraging truth.”

In an Aug. 13 official announcement, the Bureau said Yi would step down from his position as director of Beijing Yongzhe, which he founded. The firm didn’t immediately update its website, however, and Yi was still listed as a director on Wednesday morning.

An employee who answered the phone at Beijing Yongzhe on Wednesday appeared to confirm the move when contacted by RFA Mandarin.

“Li Yinghong is now the director recognized by the Judicial Affairs Bureau,” the employee said, before handing the phone to a colleague.

Asked why Yi’s name was still listed on the firm’s website, the second colleague said: “The Bureau of Judicial Affairs’ version will definitely be more accurate than ours.”

Soon afterward, Yi’s listing as director was removed from the firm’s website, and Li Yinghong’s name appeared in its place.

‘Anyone who dares to expose’

A Beijing-based lawyer who gave only the pseudonym Wang for fear of reprisals said Yi’s ouster was definitely linked to his whistle-blowing over the body-snatching case.

“The Beijing Municipal Judicial Affairs Bureau has a deputy director of the lawyers’ work guidance department called Zhu Yuzhu who has been behind the punishment of many lawyers and law firms in the past,” Wang said. “He was the architect of the July 9, 2015, political crackdown [on rights lawyers].”

“Now, it’s Yi Shenghua’s turn,” he said. “Yi’s exposure of the theft and sale of human bones was a meaningful act for society, but ... he is being punished by the Beijing Municipal Judicial Affairs Bureau.”

Another lawyer who gave only the pseudonym Tan for fear of reprisals said Yi’s sacking highlights how little freedom of speech there is in China.

“It’s not just Yi Shenghua; journalists who exposed the gutter oil scandal were also persecuted back then,” Tan said. “Anyone who dares to expose the dark side [of Chinese society] will be attacked and retaliated against.”

Chinese censors have moved in tandem with the sacking of Yi Shenghua to minimize public discussion of the scandal.

All of Yi’s Weibo posts about the body-snatching case have since been removed from the social media platform Weibo, along with much of the content and comment on the case.

According to an in-depth follow-up from official media outlet The Paper that has since been deleted, the Taiyuan Public Security Bureau in the northern province of Shanxi sent the results of an investigation into the illegal sale of corpses to the state prosecutor for review and prosecution in May.

Shanxi Aorui stands accused of “illegally purchasing human remains and body parts from Sichuan, Guangxi, Shandong and other places for processing into bone grafts worth 380 million yuan (US$53 million) between January 2015 and July 2023,” The Paper said.

It said police had seized “more than 18 tonnes of human bones” and more than 34,000 articles of finished product from the company, and that one suspect identified only by his surname Su had arranged for more than 4,000 human remains to be stolen from four funeral homes in Yunnan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Sichuan between 2017 and 2019.

KARAPATAN condemns the arrest last August 13, 2024 of the former secretary general of its Southern Mindanao chapter, Jayvee “Jay” Apiag. Apiag was arrested in Digos City and is currently being held at the Buhangin Police Station in Davao City.

Apiag is reportedly facing six trumped-up cases — four for attempted murder in the cities of Davao and Digos, and Malaybalay in Bukidnon and another case for illegal possession of firearms and explosives in another court in Malaybalay. “Jay Apiag had nothing to do with the crimes he is being accused of,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay. “In fact, in his attempted murder case stemming from his supposed participation in an encounter in Paquibato, Davao City on May 20, 2018, he presented proof that he was leading a fact-finding mission in Tagum City on the said date,” she added.

“To show how ridiculous these charges are,” said Palabay, “one of Jay’s co-accused was Karapatan national chair Elisa Tita Lubi, who was almost 76 years old at the time of the alleged encounter, and who also presented proof that she was in Metro Manila at that time.”

“All the cases against Jay have been meant to derail his work as a human rights defender,” said Palabay. “Jay Apiag was at the forefront of the fight to assert human rights in Southern Mindanao, especially when martial law was declared in the entire island.”

“Jay has been the target of threats and harassment since the Duterte regime,” said Palabay. Posters and tarpaulins branding Apiag as a rebel of the New People’s Army (NPA) began sprouting in several places in Mindanao, and digital images tagging him as NPA were posted as well on the Facebook page of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

“Jay Apiag is only the latest in a growing list of Karapatan’s human rights workers arrested, killed or threatened in the course of their work,” said Palabay. “Alexander Philip Abinguna and Alexandrea Pacalda from Karapatan’s Eastern Visayas and Southern Tagalog chapters are behind bars. Pia Montalban from Karapatan-Central Luzon has been repeatedly red-tagged and threatened. And let us not forget Karapatan-Negros paralegal Zara Alvarez who was gunned down in Bacolod in August 2020,” she added.

“Karapatan throws its support behind Jay Apiag in his struggle to seek justice,” said Palabay. “We will continue to campaign for the release of Jay and all political prisoners on just and humanitarian grounds.”

Nguyen Tuong Thuy‘s wife, Pham Thi Lan, visited him on August 21. She reported that her own health has been deteriorating, but she tried not to show it to him. Thuy himself is reportedly in stable condition. An official named Bien visited Thuy on August 13 and tried to convince him to plead guilty. Thuy said he just wanted to be retried properly according to the law so that he could argue his case against his accusers. Thuy maintained that his investigators violated Vietnamese laws and that the charges against him were not about him but someone else. He said that his case was based on totally fabricated evidence. Lan also revealed that at one point, she herself was prohibited from traveling outside the country, a clear violation of her freedom of movement, and for which she has filed a complaint. Thuong, a journalist and democracy activist, was sentenced in 2021 to 11 years in prison.

Peasant communities in San Jose Del Monte (SJDM), Bulacan are marred with continued military operations, intensifying for more than two months and affecting around 400 rural families.

Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) reported that the military enforced psywar and crackdown on civilians when the 80th Infantry Battalion (IB) raided the home of its Secretary-General Ronnie Manalo on June 18, 7am and planted incriminating evidence.

Manalo was part of a team of farmers and peasant advocates in 2022 who were fired upon and harassed by private goons hired by Araneta Properties Inc. in Sitio Ricafort, Tungkong Mangga, SJDM, Bulacan.

Araneta Properties is headed by Gregorio Maria Araneta III, husband of Irene Marcos-Araneta, sister of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

On the same day, soldiers also went to the house of 63-year-old Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB) Chairperson Cecilia Rapiz in Barangay Paradise 3, SJDM, Bulacan. The soldiers were asking for her whereabouts. Both Manalo and Rapiz are reportedly victims of red-tagging, threat, harassment, and intimidation by state forces.

Aside from these military operations, KMP reported that soldiers set up camp in Paradise 3 on June 21 and held a terror-tagging seminar with barangay officials on June 24. Military presence continued in the whole month of July, “establishing an atmosphere of fear and restlessness among residents, especially the elderly and children.”

By August 13, it is reported that four barangays are under military encirclement by the 80th IB. “The soldiers have undertaken a psywar campaign for fake surrenders. They utilise intimidation, threats, and coercion in house-to-house interrogations and summons, explicitly red-tagging KMP and the mere act of participating in protests,” KMP said in a statement.

Ongoing psywar campaign

In an interview with Bulatlat, Ida, not her real name, detailed the fear she experienced from the military visits in her residence. “The military visited me three times, aggressively asking me questions on my participation in rallies, and even meetings in our organization.”

Ida is a member of Samahan at Sandigan ng mga Magsasaka ng San Isidro (SASAMAG), a local chapter of KMP in Bulacan. Many of her fellow members were also subjected to the same house-to-house visits by the 80th IB starting August 12.

“I am afraid to go to the farm alone. Even my daily household activities were being disrupted due to the military visits,” Ida added.

In the house-to-house visits, the residents were asked about their personal information, and even their extended family’s. They were then asked whether they still participated in rallies or coordinated with members of KMP and other progressive groups. Afterwards, they would be asked to write a document, stating that they will no longer participate in rallies, leaving residents with no choice but to sign it.

Some residents were even asked for their IDs. The military also reportedly took photos of the residents. When asked about the purpose, the military reportedly said that it is a supplementing attachment for the documents they gathered.

“We have no choice but to comply. Of course, we do not want to get on the bad side of the military, since they were encamped in our area. We fear what would happen next, especially with our signatures, pictures, and even copies of our ID,” Ida said.This military action is a precursor to the fake surrender campaigns of the government. Bulatlat has reported similar incidents in rural communities in Southern Tagalog Region, Bicol Region, and some parts of Central Luzon (e.g. Aurora, Bulacan).

This incident involving Ida is not isolated. Residents in her community confirmed that similar patterns of questioning have occurred repeatedly, particularly those members of SASAMAG. They also reported that during these house-to-house visits, the soldiers were dressed in civilian clothing. Residents have daily interactions with the soldiers, as they are heavily deployed in civilian areas.

The affected farmer organizations in SJDM are the primary source of products and direct sellers in the Bagsakan, a mobile direct farmers’ market for Bungkalan products.

Violations of human rights

Butch Lozande, spokesperson of Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA) and a delegate in the fact-finding mission, said that forbidding the residents to assert their rights through rallies and organizational affiliation is a violation of their human rights.

“Under our constitution, our laws, there is nothing wrong with what we are doing. It is our right to join organizations who put forward our interest and welfare. We should not fear them,” Lozande said in a solidarity message with the residents.

He also added that this is not only happening in Bulacan, but also in other peasant communities around the country.

Freedom of speech, expression, and association are among the constitutionally-guaranteed rights in the Philippines, particularly Section 4 and 8 of the 1987 Constitution.

KMP also stressed these in a statement. “They should immediately leave the farmers alone and let them resume their farming activities. KMP and its local chapters are legal and legitimate organizations promoting peasants’ rights. These include not only the right to speak, organize, assemble, and due process, but also the right to land, livelihood, and social services.”

They also added that the military operations have maligned and disrupted the activities of the local farmers’ organizations since they were coercing the residents to “clear” their names and surrender themselves as “terrorists” or “sympathizers.”

Solidarity and fact-finding mission

Bulatlat joined the fact-finding mission organized by KMP on August 20. In the site of the communities, this writer observed and verified the presence of military encampments within the vicinity. Notably, a makeshift camp was also established adjacent to the barangay hall.

Labor leader Jerome Adonis said that the military encampment is a human rights violation. “The military can conduct activities in civilian communities, but military encampment is a separate issue. It’s a human rights violation,” Adonis said in a courtesy call with the barangay official.

The presence of a military encampment in a civilian area can expose residents to potential violence, conflicts, or retaliatory attacks, putting their lives at risk. In the Philippines, Bulatlat reported the environment of fear brought by militarization, leading to significant disruption of daily life and undermining the safety and security that civilians are entitled to under International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

The fact-finding team was accompanied by the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 3. CHR said that their investigation is separate from the KMP’s. The team also conducted a courtesy call on the SJDM Mayor’s chief of staff, Juan Miguel Perez-San Pedro and Barangay Captain Alexander D.S. Medina.

While the local government officials said that they cannot do anything since the lands are privately owned by the Aranetas, they keep their lines open for assistance and deployed a barangay staff to join the fact-finding mission to “neutralize the possible hostile situation” in the community.

The delegates were not able to go to the area of Ricafort since the Aranetas’ private security did not let the team pass. The mission continued in the nearby community within Sitio San Isidro where the interviews were conducted. The area was still part of the disputed lands of the farmers against the Aranetas but unlike Ricafort, it is not heavily guarded by private security.

The principle of distinction is a fundamental tenet of IHL which requires parties to distinguish between combatants and civilians— under Articles 48, 51, 52, and 53 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.

Military encampments and terrorist-tagging in the civilian areas blur the line between civilian and military objectives, increasing the risk of harm and unwarranted attacks among the residents, leading to violation of the IHL.

Reporter at https://nepalgroundzero.com/ Subhak Mahato received death threat for his news story on August 10. The news portal is operated from Kathmandu, Bagmati Province.

Talking to Freedom Forum, reporter Mahato shared that he had been following updates on Pokhara International Airport since its construction. "In this context I uploaded a video and news about the alleged involvement of Director General at Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Pradip Adhikari in a scam of more that Rs 15 billion during construction of the airport on August 9", Mahato said.

"Thereafter, an unknown person called on my Whatsapp number from an international number 1(678)5236569 and spoke foul on me. He also threatened me of taking life and my family members", reporter Mahato informed, "He also warned me to stop writing news against the CAAN and the airport or face consequences."

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to reporter Mahato. The concerned person is urged to seek legitimate way for any reservation over over published news instead of threatening the reporter.

It is sheer violation of press freedom,which has panicked reporter and his family. FF therefore also urges the concerned administration and rights body to pay heed to reporter Mahato to ensure his safety.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Bappi Ray, Mr. Pawan, Mr. Shivendu Trivedi, Mr. Dharmendra Singh, and Mr. Manish Singh are local journalists who are working for different news channels. • Mr. Bappi Ray has been working with Zee TV Chhattisgarh for last eight years and then with Bharat 24 TV Channel. For the last 2 years he has been working with YouTube Channel Main Bastar. • Mr. Pawan was working with Bharat TV. • Mr. Shivendu works with Bappi Ray as his cameraperson. • Mr. Manish Singh was working with Aaj Tak TV Channel.

Background of the incident: Konta is a town located on the border of the states of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. Illegal sand mining is rampant in Shabri river in Konta town. This illegal sand mining is done by politically powerful people called the sand mafia. Five journalists-- Mr. Pawan, Mr. Bappi Ray, Mr. Shivendu Trivedi, Mr. Dharmendra Singh, Mr. Manish Singh working for local tv channels decided to investigate this illegal sand mining activity.

on august 09, 2024, all the five journalists mr. pawan, mr. bappi ray, mr. shivendu trivedi, mr. dharmendra singh, and mr. manish singh went to konta town in chhattisgarh, where they were investigating illegal sand being smuggled to the state of andhra pradesh in collusion with the police department. at 3 pm, the journalists saw a truck carrying sand going towards the chhattisgarh-andhra border and they asked the truck driver to show his government pass to transport sand from chhattisgarh to andhra pradesh. however, the truck driver didn’t have relevant papers. at around 4:00 pm, station house officer (sho) of konta, mr. ajay sonkar, along with a sand contractor, reached there on a motorbike and started arguing and threatening the journalists. mr. ray phoned the dig, mr. kamal lochan kashyap, and told him about the illegal mining and the dig told him to report it to the mining department. the station house officer mr. sonkar took the truck to konta police station and all the journalists followed the truck to the police station. meanwhile, they received a phone call from sho sunil singh of phool bangdi sukma district who told mr. bappi ray not to interfere in the matter as sho ajay sonkar is his friend. the journalists left the truck at the police station and went to murli lodge in konta town where the police station in-charge ajay shankar and his staff checked the lodge and surroundings. at around 11:30 pm, the journalists went to have dinner at raju dhaba in konta and returned to their hotel at 1 am. meanwhile, the journalists sent a photo of the sand transport pass to mr. vijay sharma, the home minister of chhattisgarh. later, mr. bappi ray alleged that a video clip went viral in which sho ajay sonkar is seen with another cop standing near his parked car outside his hotel at night. he said that his car is very old and can’t be locked from outside, so it always remains open. the next morning at 10 am all four journalists went to have breakfast at andhra pradesh chatti village and drove back towards konta town. suddenly, five plainclothes policemen on three bikes stopped the journalists’ car. they asked them where they were coming from and then asked them to open the boot of the car. the plainclothes policemen snatched the car keys and mobile phones of all the journalists and asked them to open the boot. according to mr. ray, when he opened the boot of the car, he saw some well-made packets lying in the car boot chamber. a policeman tore one of the packets and declared that it was ganja (marijuana). the police asked mr. ray to sit with them on a bike and the rest of the three in his car, which was being driven by a plainclothes policeman. they all were taken to chinturu police station in asr district, andhra pradesh. the police asked the journalists to hold those packets. mr. ray refused to touch those packets but his two colleagues held them. all the journalists were locked in the police lock-up. after one hour, they were taken out and beaten up with a leather belt (called ‘pataa’). mr. ray was hit by the pataa three times, while the other three colleagues were hit twice. the police told them to rub themselves against the wall to remove the pataa marks. the police threatened mr. ray that they would kill him in a fake encounter (extra-judicial killing). the scared journalists tried to explain that they didn’t know about the ganja. the sho took the journalists in his car and went to murli lodge konta and saw a cctv recording. then sho chinturu went to konta police station in chhattisgarh and met sho konta-ajay sonkar. later the journalists were taken back to chinturu police station in andhra pradesh and were given a blanket. the next day, some journalists came and met mr. ray and others at chinturu police station. the additional superintendent of police in sukma district came and talked to the journalists and enquired about the whole sequence of events. on august 12, 2024, at 2 am, the sho of chinturu came and woke up the journalists and asked them to come with his police team. the journalists feared that they were going to get killed in a fake encounter right then. the police took their car and another car and took them to chetti village. there they were told to say that they were arrested the same day at 2 pm and not three days earlier. the police carried a weighing machine. they weighed the packets and an officer took their signatures. the journalists were then taken back to chinturu police station. on august 12, at around 10 am, all four journalists were taken to chinturu government hospital for a medical check-up and then to rampasodawaram sub-division court. at around 3 pm, they were taken to rajmendri court. at rajmendri court, they were sent to judicial custody until august 23. at 10 at night, they were taken to rajmendri jail. on september 3, 2024, all were granted bail. the journalists allege that on september 11, sho konta ajay sonkar, along with p vijay, a local politician, went to murli lodge and threatened them and took the hard drive of the cctv recorder, and then the sho konta destroyed these two hard drives. later, an fir was lodged against sho konta mr. ajay sonkar for destroying the cctv footage, and he was arrested and sent to jail. all the journalists have to report at chinturu police station every week.

Journalist Khursheed Rajput of Tando Adam was allegedly tortured by local police on August 9, while journalist Kashif Ghafoor Arain was attacked and robbed on August 11, in separate provinces across Pakistan. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), in condemning the recent attacks and urging provincial police authorities to thoroughly investigate these incidents.

On August 9, Tando Adam journalist, Khursheed Rajput, was reportedly tortured by local police in Sindh while in custody, Rajput was arrested and charged with robbery and illegal possession of weapons. The journalist has denied these charges, asserting that they had been fabricated in retaliation for his investigative reporting on the SSP’s alleged misconduct.

Rajput claims that the Station House Officer Police of Tando Adam had recorded indecent videos of the journalist while he was being attacked. Rajput, along with a friend, were brought to court by the police, who sought a remand. However, the civil magistrate denied the request and ordered that Rajput be sent to jail.

Two days later, on August 11, journalist Kashif Ghafoor Arain was tortured and robbed by Waseem Gopang and other unknown assailants in the southern Punjabi city of Sadiqabad. The Sadiqabad City Police Station issued a report stating the attack took place outside a hair salon, where Arain was beaten with sticks and clubs.

The assailants allegedly took his mobile phone, PKR 32,700 (USD 117) in cash, and his press card. The motive behind the attack is unknown.

PFUJ President GM Jamali and Secretary General Rana Muhammad Azeem are concerned over these incidents and said that working journalists have been facing different problems just for performing their professional duties.

The PFUJ said: "The PFUJ is concerned over these incidents and said that working journalists have been facing different problems just for performing their duties as journalists. We condemn torture and fake cases against working journalists and urge the chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh to look into and take immediate notice of such incidents and provide justice and security to working journalists.”

The IFJ said:“Journalists must be free to operate without fear of retribution, and reports of police brutality against media workers are particularly concerning. The IFJ condemns the attacks on Khursheed Rajput and Kashif Ghafoor Arain, and calls on authorities to thoroughly investigate the incidents, and ensure that those responsible do not escape with impunity.”

A Kazakh court ordered activist Baibaq Bilalov on August 8 to pay a 77,500 tenges ($162) fine over attending a rally in support of journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim who was sentenced to seven years in prison on August 2 for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he and his supporters reject as politically motivated. Bilalov was found guilty of violating regulations for attending public events. Nine other supporters of Mukhammedkarim were detained before and after his sentence was pronounced on August 2 and sentenced to jail terms of between 10 and 20 days on the same charge.

Koet Saray, a former monk and human rights defender, was denied bail by the Supreme Court this morning in a case related to comments he made calling for a resolution to a violent land dispute in Preah Vihear province.

The Supreme Court denied bail to Saray, who is the president of the Khmer Student Intelligent League Association, and justified the decision citing the “repeat” nature of Saray’s offence. The bail hearing was conducted on 31 July in the absence of Saray’s lawyers.

Saray was arrested in April by plainclothes officers in Phnom Penh after he spoke to the media about a land dispute involving an Economic Land Concession (ELC) granted to Seladamex. Authorities had burned down people’s homes, and Saray urged authorities to find a resolution to the conflict. Shortly before his arrest, Saray had visited villagers who were hiding from authorities in the forest near the ELC in Preah Vihear.

Saray is charged with incitement to commit a felony or disturb social security under Articles 494 and 495 of the Criminal Code. He faces an additional charge under Article 88 of the Criminal Code that could result in his prison sentence being doubled for being convicted twice for the same misdemeanour within five years. In 2020, Saray was convicted of incitement and sentenced to 20 months in prison for calling for the release of labour leader Rong Chhun, but was released early after part of his sentence was suspended.

Manohar Pegu, a member of National Alliance of Peoples’ Movements (NAPM)and Ritupan Pegu, a member of Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee (GKLHRC) had been surrounded by 100+ people in Rongajan Village near Kohora, Kaziranga Constituency yesterday night. They were in the process of collecting the testimonies of 45 families displaced by the proposed Hyatt Hotel in Inglay Pathar when this mob started issuing threats to both Manohar and Ritupan belonging to Bokakhat. The mob was chanting various slogans against the Convenor of Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Committee (GKLHRC) convenor, Pranab Doley and GKLHRC member, Rajib Pegu. They prevented Manoj and Ritupan from leaving the village while damaged the car that belonged to Doley.

Further, the mob assaulted Minali Gowala and her young daughter in their house in Rongajan. Minali is one of the farmers who had been evicted from the said land acquired for the proposed Hyatt Hotel and Resorts. Instead of taking the witness statement of Minali and her daughter, who were victims of the mob violence, Bokakhat Police arrested Geeta Gowala, another farmer who had accompanied Minali and her daughter to the hospital.

When concerned friends of Ritupan, Manohar and GKLHRC went to the local police in Bokakhat seeking their intervention, the police initially refused to take any action. Instead, a few policemen attacked their friends and detained Saurav Patgiri, an independent research scholar and Subham, a local youth who had accompanied Saurav.

While there was no action against the mob, the police officials illegally detained Manohar and Ritupan along with Minali Gowala, one of the people evicted from land where the proposed Hyatt Hotel and Resorts will be built. On the other hand, Saurav and Subham continue to be in the custody of Bokakhat Police.

There is a context and a pattern behind these attacks. Pranab Doley as a political activist in the Greater Kaziranga region has been vocal around the issues faced by the people of the region. Pranab had contested against Bokakhat MLA and Agriculture Minister, Atul Bora in the previous assembly elections of 2021 securing the second position when the poll results were declared. Earlier too, Pranab faced life threats from various elements for raising issues pertaining to the people of Kaziranga and for standing in the elections. The present mob attack is no different.

“This mob attack shows a complete administrative and law and order failure in Kaziranga. This is a preplanned political attack orchestrated by members of the ruling party who were opposed to the questions we have been raising on various issues of Kaziranga, including the illegal land transfers to five-star hotels. The police and the district administration are hand-in-glove the mob who attacked our members and the victims of the land acquisition. It was very clear that who the mob wanted to murder me and our members,” said Pranab Doley.

Over the last two years, GKLHRC, a mass organisation comprising more than 100 villages from in and around Kaziranga, have submitted numerous memorandum demanding the land rights for the people who have been evicted from their homesteads in Inglay Pathar. Land records obtained from the evicted families show that they were cultivating the piece of land for over three generations. They have documents proving their hold over these lands which had been duly informed to the Golaghat District Administration. Yet, on June 7, the District Administration demolished the house of one Adivasi farmer leading to a mass protest by the evicted families and members of GKLHRC. At present, the said land has been fenced with a police battalion guarding it.

The land where the 5-star Hyatt Hotel has been proposed is also a grazing ground for the wild animals from Kaziranga. The communities depending on this have been coexisting with the wild animals and sharing their agricultural produce, their common resources with these animals. A section of conservation organisations including UNESCO World Heritage Sites advisory bodies have written to the Assam Government to immediately stop the diversion of the said land for 5-star hotels. More importantly, the National Green Tribunal has taken a suo moto cognizance of the issue and there is a case against the transfer of the land in Kaziranga pending in the NGT.

As a result of the land diversion, land sharks as well as petty politicians who would have benefited immensely from the transfer of the said land to the 5-star hotels, have been misleading a section of people against GKLHRC and the people opposing the land transfer. With these arrests, the Bokakhat Police have completely violated their duty to protect the citizens and sided with an unruly and murderous mob and their sponsors.

Reporter with capitalnepal.com Dilu Karki received threat of attack for a news story published on the portal on August 6. The news portal is operated from Kathmandu, Bagmati Province.

A news about illegal transaction from Australia to Nepal through a fake company- was published on the portal with reporter Karki’s byline on August 4. According to the news, ‘Namaste Remittance’ company is involved in remittance activities without permission from Nepal Rastra Bank, a responsible authority to govern monetary and foreign exchange policies in Nepal. The news has cited screenshots of Whatsapp messages and transaction messages of the company sent to its clients.

Following its publication, a person naming himself ‘Raju’ called on Karki’s mobile and asked her to delete the news or bear consequences. Reporter Karki received 12 calls from number +097100 on her mobile. The caller also accused reporter Karki of accepting bribes to writing news against them. He threatened Karki that he knew her and her family and he would do anything to defame and attack her and her family members if she did not delete the news.

Thereafter, Karki suggested the caller to go to the Press Council Nepal for any concern over news content instead of threatening her.

She has filed a complaint at District Police Range, Kathmandu against the caller today (August 6).

Freedom Forum condemns the threat issued to reporter. The concerned is strongly urged to seek a legitimate way to dissatisfaction over published news instead of threatening a journalist.

FF also urges the security authority to heed Karki’s complaint and ensure her safety to prevent any untoward incidents.

Pakistani police have raided the home of digital journalist Usman Khan three times, forcing him into hiding to avoid detention for his coverage of protests over alleged human rights abuses in southwestern Baluchistan province.

“Pakistani police must immediately cease their attempts to detain independent journalist Usman Khan and allow the media to report on current affairs without fear of intimidation or arrest,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “Pakistani authorities must do more to protect independent voices across the country. We have seen an alarming uptick in attacks on the press in Pakistan, with seven deaths so far this year.”

Khan told CPJ from an undisclosed location that uniformed and plainclothes police officers raided his home on July 31, August 2, and August 5, but he escaped. Khan said he knew that authorities planned to arrest him over his coverage because military officials questioned protesters about him and phoned his father to summon Khan back to Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan.

Khan reports for and manages the Zaiwa News channel on YouTube and Facebook, which covers current affairs in volatile Baluchistan where insurgents have long demanded independence from the central government.

On his X account, Khan reported extensively on the army’s crackdown on demonstrators marching to the port city of Gwadar to attend a July 28 protest against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in Baluchistan. Three people were killed in clashes with security forces.

CPJ’s email requesting comment from Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, Inspector General of Police in Quetta, did not receive a response.

The car of Tempo Media Group investigative journalist Hussein Abri Dongoron was vandalised in a targeted attack in Jakarta on August 5, with authorities unable to confirm the assailants’ motives. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliates, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia and SINDIKASI, condemn the attack and urge authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident and hold those responsible to account.

On August 5, Tempo journalist Hussein Abri Dongoran was travelling home from a meeting with a source at Senayan City Mall, South Jakarta when his car was vandalised by two unknown assailants travelling on a motorcycle.

Hussein, known for covering politically sensitive issues, including corruption and governmental misconduct, parked his car after hearing suspicious noises while driving and discovered the rear window of his vehicle had been shattered. The following day, Hussein and attorneys representing the news outlet reported the incident to the South Jakarta Police. Despite the absence of CCTV cameras monitoring the location as confirmed by security officers at a nearby Ministry of Public Works and Housing building, police determined that the act of vandalism did not appear to be a robbery attempt.

Tempo editor-in-chief, Setri Yasra, stated that the outlet could not confirm the attack’s motive, and were waiting on the South Jakarta Police to arrest those responsible for the attack. Yasra further stated “the police investigation should shed light on this incident. We hope to determine if this is a criminal act or an act of journalist intimidation”.

In a joint statement, AJI Indonesia’s Jakarta Chapter and the Legal Aid Institute for Press (LBH Pers) called on authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and conclude other pending cases involving violence against journalists. The organisations added that if the crime was linked to Hussein’s work as a journalist the assailants should face charges under sections of the Press Law relating to the protection of journalists in their professional activities.

At least 91 people including 14 policemen were killed in clashes between protesters and members of law-enforcement agencies alongwith ruling Awami League-backed organisations across Bangladesh on Sunday, the first day of all-out non-cooperation programme enforced by student protesters.

Of them, at least 22 including 13 police men were killed in Sirajganj, 11 in Dhaka, eight each in Feni and Lakshmipur, six in Narsingdi, five in Rangpur, four in Magura, three each in Pabna, Munshiganj, Kishoreganj, Sylhet, Sherpur, Bogura and Cumilla, one in Barishal, Jaipurhat, Habiganj, Cox’s Bazar and Bhola.

The deaths were confirmed by the district administrations, police, hospital officials and elected local government representatives till 9:30pm.

Police headquarters’ assistant inspector general of police Enamul Haque Sagar in statement said that at least 13 policemen were killed in an attack on Enayetpur police station in Sirajganj.

He also said that another police was killed in Cumilla while many police stations and other offices or camps were came under attacks at places on the day.

Since the morning, protestors gathered in different important points in almost every districts and upazilas in the county while leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League and its associate bodies came to the streets while many of them in places were seen with firearms.

As the AL people engaged in confrontations at many places, the prime minister and president of the AL Sheikh Hasina, following a meeting of National Committee on Security Affairs, the highest policy making authority of the national security, at her official Ganabhaban residence, she asked the people of the country to curb anarchists with iron hands.

‘No one of those who now are carrying out violence is a student. They are terrorists,’ said PM's assistant press secretary ABM Sarwer-E-Alam Sarker quoting the PM as saying.

Later, home ministry announced that it extended curfew for an indefinite period in Dhaka, all divisional cities, district towns, upazila towns, city corporation areas, municipal areas and industrial areas from 6:00pm on Sunday.

Earlier, the government imposed a curfew for an indefinite period with breaks and deployed military forces from July 20 amid country-wide violence centring around movement demanding reform in government jobs.

Besides, government declared a three-day public holiday across the country from Monday.

On Sunday, users complained that they did not getting access to Meta platforms Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram since afternoon.

The government has urged all the students and their guardians to return home and stay safe, saying that extremist attacks were taking place in different places across the country.

‘Extremist are taking place in various places. Strict action will be taken against the attackers,’ reads a government press release.

Such a huge death in a single day in any particular movement was not reported in recent history of Bangladesh while at least 67 deaths were reported on July 19 during the student protest demanding quota reform in government jobs.

With Sunday’s 91 deaths, the death toll stood at 310 centering the student protest that turned violate from July 15 as the Chhatra League carried out attacks on agitating students following remark that BCL is enough to face the student movement.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life, including students, parents, teachers, day labourers, social workers and other professional bodies took to the streets in most of the places in Dhaka city, including Shahbagh, Science Laboratory, Jatrabari, Mohakhali, Dhanmondi-27, Mirpur-10, Uttara, Rampura and Badda areas in Dhka.

Clashes erupted between AL and its associate bodies, in the city areas like Banglamotor, Karwan Bazar, Shahbagh, Science Laboratory, Mirpur, Jatrabri and Mohamadpur with having sharp weapons, sticks and fire arms.

Ruling party activists also opened fire at Banglamotor, Hatirpool and Karwan Bazar areas during curfew hours despite the government imposed curfew after 6:00pm.

Protesters allegedly threw brickbats on Shahbagh police station at about 6:30pm and which turned violent and police lobbed tear shells and opened fire to disperse the protesters and taken position the middle, said witnesses.

Protesters snatched the bodies of four people from Dhaka Medical College Hospital at around 6:00pm and went to the Central Shaheed Minar with the bodies and shouted various slogans, DMCH police outpost-in-charge Bacchu Mia confirmed the matter.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Ramna Division additional deputy commissioner Md Aktharul Islam said that several police constables faced minor injuries.

‘We did not open fire but use sound grenades to disperse protesters,’ he said, adding that they also vandalise police vehicle.

Some protesters brought out a procession at Dainik Bangla crossing at about 7:00pm and police opened fire to disperse them.

Earlier in the day, BCL allegedly attacked on protesters and a clash broke out and the ruling party activists took shelter in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.

About 30-35 vehicles were set on fire, doctors’ cafeteria and administrative buildings by the picketers and protesters, said an official of BSSMU said.

Protesters cordoned the ruling party activists in the BSMMU area.

Different private universities, including North South University, BRAC University, United International University, American International University of Bangladesh and East West University blocked the Rampur bridge to Natun Bazar areas.

Hundreds of protesters, mostly students blocked road near Mohakhali Bus Terminal and rail crossing demanding the prime minister resignation of Sheikh Hasina and urging Amry to take power in presence of Army and police personnel at about 3:00pm.

About 15 minutes later, several hundred of ruling party men carrying fire-arms, sticks and iron rods tried to launched an attack but the Army personnel created obstacles to save students.

Clashes were also taken place between AL activists and protesters at Mirpur-10 crossing in phases throughout the day.

Protesters took position from Kajla in Jatrabari area to Kachpur blocking the country’s economic lifeline Dhaka-Chattogram highway at about 2:00pm.

Most of the places in the Jatrabari, Rayerbagh and Demra and the highway were occupied by protesters after 3:00pm, independent lawmaker for Dhaka-5 Moshiur Rahman Mollah Shajal told New Age.

Caring out an attack on lower court of Dhaka, some miscreants vandalised the prison van and a police van.

In different parts of the country, houses and business entities of ruling party and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party were came under attacks and counter attacks on the day.

New Age correspondents from Chattogram, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Cumilla, Lakshimipur, Munshiganj, Pabna, Sirajganj, Feni, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Joypurhat, and Bhola reported that protestors continued demonstration even after beginning curfew hours.

In Sirajganj, deputy commissioner Mir Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman told New Age that six AL activists were killed in Rayganj and three were killed in Sadar upazilas.

Hospital officials and police confirmed that ten were killed in Dhaka.

In Lakshmipur, deputy commissioner Lakshmipur Sadar Hospital resident medical officer Arup Paul confirmed the deaths of eight people while in Feni 250 Be General Hospital resident medical offcier Asif Iqbal confirmed the eight deaths in his district.

Narsingdi’s Madabdi police officer-in-charge Kamruzzaman confirmed the deaths of six people in his tahna area while Rangpur deputy commissioner Mohammad Mobasher Hasan confirmed the five deaths in his district.

Magura superintendent of police Mashiuddaula Reza confirmed the four deaths while Pabna General Hospital assistant director Rafiqul Hasan confirmed the deaths of three people in the hospital.

Munshiganj General Hospital superintendent Abu Hena Mohammad Jamal confirmed two deaths in the hospital while Sirajdikhan Upzila Health Complex resident medical officer AKM Taiful Haque confirmed the another death.

Kishoreganj deputy commissioner Md Abul Kalam Azad confirmed three deaths while Sylhet’s Golapganj Upazila Health Complex resident medical officer Shahin Ahmed confirmed three deaths and Sherpur deputy commissioner Abdullah Al-Khayrum confirmed three deaths in the upazila.

Bogura Shaheed Zia Medical College Hospital deputy director Abdul Wadud confirmed three deaths while the district’s civil surgeon Mohammad Shafiul Azam confirmed another death.

In Cumilla, Debidwar police officer-in-charge Nayan Mia confirmed one death and Purnbanchal Highway police DIG Khairul Alam confirmed one and cumilla civil surgeon Nasima Akter confirmed another death.

Deputy commissioners and police officers of Barishal, Jaipurhat, Habiganj, Cox’s Bazar and Bhola confirmed one each in their respective districts.

Cavite-based human rights group reported the continued harassment of state agents against student activist Paolo Tarra.

On August 4, agents from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) visited Tarra’s family in Trece Martires City, Cavite threatening him with charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

The visit marks the latest in a series of harassment against Tarra, who has been under surveillance since February this year.Defend Cavite, a local rights group, reported the agents accused Tarra of involvement with “leftist groups”. The accusation stems from his participation in humanitarian missions and his attendance in the recent State of the Nation Address as a guest of Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raoul Manuel.

Tarra decried the baseless accusations made by the NTF-ELCAC, but emphasized that his primary frustration comes from the persistent harassment directed at his elderly parents, saying that the “state’s terrorism knows no bounds.”

According to Tarra, the agents explicitly warned his family that failure to cooperate could lead to filing of Anti-Terrorism Act case against him.

“They did not just threaten me with legal action,” Tarra told Bulatlat, “they also implied they might resort to illegal measures, including abduction, to get what they want.”

Defend Cavite condemned these actions, describing them as an attempt to intimidate and criminalize activism, pointing out that this is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of harassment against activists and rights defenders in the region.

Since last year, youth activists from Southern Tagalog were similarly targeted with trumped-up terror charges.

The group called for an urgent investigation into the harassment against Tarra, noting that his case bears similarities to other incidents in the province, such as the killing of labor leader Emmanuel “Ka Manny” Asuncion in 2021 after he faced similar harassment from state forces.

“These threats are not just about Paolo Tarra,” Defend Cavite stated. “They reflect a broader strategy to silence dissent and stifle any voices that challenge the status quo. This is a tactic of fear and repression that targets anyone who dares to stand up for human rights and social justice.”

The group is also appealing to lawmakers to review the Anti-Terrorism Act, which they argue is being weaponized to suppress political opposition and activism.

“We must remain vigilant because an attack on one of us is an attack on all,” said Tarra.

In a week, the Sindh government has cracked down on the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) for the second time. It disrupted a peaceful rally led by the BYC from the Arts Council to the Karachi Press Club on Friday (August 2).

There was a massive police presence around the Arts Council of Pakistan in the city to prevent the Baloch from holding their rally. Fozia Baloch, a BYC activist, was surprised by the large police deployment at the Arts Council. When she inquired about the police presence, one policewoman said that Section 144 had been imposed. Fozia wondered when it had been announced.

Three days ago, the Sindh government did the same thing by arraying heavy police presence at the main entrance of the Karachi Press Club to stop a press conference by the BYC. However, the BYC managed to hold the conference.

Nevertheless, the police detained BYC members, including Fozia, who was detained again on August 2.

This time, not only BYC members, but other activists were also detained. A crackdown has also been reported In Balochistan.

Meanwhile, the government claims to be holding negotiations with the BYC’s leader, Dr Mahrang Baloch, in Gwadar, while simultaneously using violent action against the BYC when it holds peaceful protests.

Wahab Baloch, who is deputy organiser in the BYC, told The Wire that while religious political parties were allowed to protest in Karachi, the Baloch were not. “We [Baloch] are told that ‘Section 144 is for you [the BYC and the Baloch] and you are not allowed to hold a rally’,” he said.

Under Section 144 of Pakistan’s Code of Criminal Procedure, public gatherings involving more than four people, sit-ins, rallies and protests are not allowed.

Nida Kirmani, an activist who was also detained in Karachi, expressed surprise at seeing protests by religious groups nearby. When she inquired about these protests, the police told her they were permitted.

The Baloch have resolved to continue their protests to pressure the government to lift its ban on communication services in Gwadar, release all protestors and accept other demands by the BYC, which are addressed in an agreement the organisation signed with the Balochistan government yesterday that intended to end a days-long sit-in in Gwadar.

“Our demands are not different from the agreement. If the state is truly serious about the agreement, it should speak through its actions,” Farzana Baloch, an activist from Quetta, said. “But the government appears non-serious and it does want to resolve the situation.”

The Balochistan government has carried out violence across the province wherever BYC supporters carry out protests. This violence resulted in the killing of one Baloch in Nushki on August 2. Protestors shared with The Wire that they were leading a peaceful rally when the police opened fire on them.

Fozia criticized the government’s approach, noting the contrast between its actions and the peaceful nature of the BYC’s protests. She expressed surprise at the violence in Karachi, where the Pakistan People’s Party leads the government.

“We have the right to highlight what is happening in Balochistan and to know the situation of our BYC members in Gwadar,” she said.

“But whenever we hold protests, we are warned that it is a red zone area,” Fozia said. When asked about the police’s explanations, Fozia noted that the police seemed clueless about when such orders were issued against the Baloch.

Nida added: “The police kept saying they had orders from higher authorities. When we inquired about who the higher authorities were, the police responded saying ‘you know well who they are’.”

When asked about different treatment for Balochs and non-Balochs during crackdowns on protests, Nida said the police were respectful towards her because she was not Baloch, while Baloch women were not treated the same way.

She recalled that while a policewoman helped adjust her dupatta, Baloch women were being roughly forced into vans.

The police refused to release the detainees from Friday’s protest in Karachi unless the BYC promised not to protest further. Fozia declined the offer.

Although some Baloch women were temporarily released, those who continued the sit-in at the Karachi Press Club for the release of male protestors were violently beaten and arrested again at midnight.

Fozia said that people asked her why the Baloch were protesting. She responded by pointing out that while other political parties were holding large protests in the same city as them, the Baloch were told that Section 144 applied specifically to them.

A court in Kazakhstan's southern town of Qonaev on August 2 sentenced journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim to 7 years in prison for financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, charges he rejects as politically motivated.

The court also banned Mukhammedkarim from performing public activities for three years.

Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, said the ruling will be appealed.

A day earlier, Mukhammedkarim reiterated his innocence, stressing he criticized the government "only for the sake of Kazakhstan's further development, which is not a crime," his lawyers said.

While, Mukhammedkarim was delivering his final statement in the courtroom, dozens of his supporters chanted "Liberty! Liberty!" near the court building as the trial was held behind closed doors.

Reporter to https://karnaliawaj.com/ Mohan Singh was manhandled while reporting in Jajarkot on August 2. Jajarkot lies in Karnali Province of Nepal.

According to information provided by Freedom Forum’s representative Laxmi Bhandari, reporter Singh was at the Health Service Office, Jajarkot to report on the mismanagement and negligence of the health office as per information provided by the locals.

“Reporter Singh went into the hospital to see the doctors but they were unavailable and then he clicked the photos of empty desks and chairs. Meanwhile, a nurse Ganga Regmi approached him, spoke foul and also tried to beat him”, shared representative Bhandari quoting reporter Singh.

“Nurse Regmi also called police persons from nearby District Police Office. Thereafter, police persons seized Singh’s camera and deleted all the photos”, added Bhandari.

Reporter Singh has lodged a complaint at the District Administration Office and District Police office demanding punishment against the nurse Regmi on August 5.

Freedom Forum condemns the misbehavior meted out against reporter. Such intimidation by a hospital professional and security persons towards working journalist is deplorable. Health issues are people's concern. They deserve to be reported.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authorities to respect reporter’s right to free reporting and ensure their safety.

Thousands of people took to the streets of the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, again on Friday, clashing with police and calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as they demanded justice for more than 200 people killed in demonstrations last month.

Reports from the capital said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators and lobbed stun grenades in some areas of the city, while crowds attacked police with stones. The Reuters news agency reported at least 20 people were injured in the clashes.

The Daily Star, an English-language newspaper based in the capital, reported that a police officer was killed after being attacked by protesters in Dhaka's Khulna neighborhood, while a man was killed and 50 others were injured in the Habiganj district.

The newspaper said that more protests were planned across the country Saturday and Sunday.

The unrest is the worst of Hasina's 15-year tenure. She was reelected to a fourth consecutive term in January.

Protests focus on job quota system

Violence erupted on July 15 when students, frustrated by a lack of job prospects, led protests against the nation's government job quota system. That system reserved more than half of all government jobs for certain groups, particularly ruling party loyalists.

The protests turned deadly when, organizers said, protesters were attacked by police and pro-government groups. As the violence spiraled, Hasina's government imposed a nationwide curfew and shut down the nation's mobile internet network.

Deadly clashes between the protesters and security officers during the crackdown left more than 200 people dead. In a statement Friday, the South Asia regional director of the U.N. Children's Fund, Sanjay Wijesekera, said 32 of those killed during the protests were children.

Wijesekera said in the statement that he was also aware of children being detained by authorities in connection with the protests. According to international human rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Bangladesh is a signatory, he said, children should not be arrested or detained and called for an end to the practice.

The violent crackdown on the protesters has drawn international condemnation from the United Nations as a whole and the United States.

A peasant and women’s rights advocate was arrested and subjected to “mental and psychological torture” while under detention, August 2, according to human rights groups.

Fatima Banjawan, 19, is a member of women’s rights organization Gabriela Southern Tagalog. She was investigating the conditions of peasant communities in Barangay Bulala, Santa Elena, Camarines Norte province when she was arrested by joint elements of the 85th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Army and agents from the Municipal Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

A now-deleted Facebook post by the 85th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army described the arrest as against a member of the revolutionary New People’s Army.

Human rights groups have condemned the arrest. Tanggol Camarines Norte described Banjawan’s arrest as “illegal” and “marred by left-and-right human rights violations.”

“Banjawan, like other activists like her, is a victim of the constant filing of trumped up charges and state suppression,” the group said in its statement. “The 85th IBPA is especially notorious for its fascist attacks against the people of Quezon province.”

Tanggol Camarines Norte pointed out that the circumstances of Banjawan’s arrest include incidents of “mental torture” and “psychological warfare.” Karapatan Southern Tagalog noted that Camarines Norte is outside the 85th IBPA’s area of operations, but said that “their institutional failure knows no boundaries.”

Banjawan’s testimony paints a harrowing tale. According to her, she was first brought to the 85th IBPA’s camp in Sta. Elena where she was interrogated until the evening by approximately ten people. The soldiers repeatedly insisted that Banjawan was a certain “Ka Aley” and asked her to surrender.

At one point, a soldier closed the lights and blindfolded Banjawan. She was then told to “dig her own grave if she refused to admit that she was a member of the NPA.” Banjawan insisted that she should not be detained in a camp and that she had nothing to admit to.

The interrogation continued into the next day. At around 6 p.m., August 3, Banjawan was asked to board a pickup truck with four soldiers and she was blindfolded again. When her blindfold was removed, she saw a caliber 22 gun, blasting cap and detonating wire, which were later used as evidence against her. She was then brought to the Santa Elena Municipal Police Station where she was interrogated once again.

Banjawan repeatedly requested the police to let her contact her family, but was always denied. She would finally undergo inquest proceedings on August 5 where she was charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

The circumstances of Banjawan’s arrest violate provisions in Republic Act 9745, or the Anti-Torture Act of 2009, which include “blindfolding”, “prolonged interrogation”, “denial of sleep/rest”, and “deliberately prohibiting the victim to communicate with any member of his/her family” as acts of mental or psychological torture; all of which were experienced by Banjawan during her detention.

Garbiela Southern Tagalog has condemned Banjawan’s arrest and has called it the latest in a series of attacks against women. The group cited similarities between Banjawan’s arrest and other incidents, including against peasant advocate Alexa Pacalda in 2019, paralegal Nimfa Lanzanas and peasant organizer Dana Marcellana, both in 2021, and organizers Rowena Dasig and Miguela Peniero last year involve the “planting of evidence, insistence of links to the NPA, and the deprival of basic rights.”

“These tactics, especially by the 85th IBPA, against activists defending the rights of women and peasants, run counter to their goal of ensuring peace in the country,” the group said in a statement. “Can [the military] be truly considered agents of peace if they suppress, abuse, and forcibly silence people like Fatima?”

Human rights advocates and other progressive organizations are calling for Banjawan’s immediate release.

The Court of Appeals (CA) has denied the application for protective writs of red-tagged environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano, leading a dissenting justice to say it was “uncharacteristic for.. this Court to simply fold their arms and ignore the palpable threats.”

The CA former special 8th division ruled by split decision to deny the petition for the writs of amparo and habeas data to Castro and Tamano, the two young activists who declared in a military-organized press conference that it was the army which abducted them. The court ruled that the activists “failed to sufficiently identify that the perpetrators of their abduction are, in fact, affiliated with the Philippine military or any of the government agencies.”

The privileges of the writ of amparo, if it had been granted, would have acted like a restraining order against members of the 70th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, and the privileges of the writ of habeas data would have prevented members of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) from red-tagging the two.

But justices of the CA division won the vote to deny the privileges. This is after conducting hearings as ordered by the Supreme Court which already granted the activists temporary protection order in October 2023, which is rarely extended to activists these days. By procedure, it’s the CA that should conduct a full hearing to decide whether the full protection will be granted, which was denied in this case.

Castro and Tamano were abducted in Bataan on September 2, 2023. The military claims the pair voluntarily surrendered as “rebel returnees” on September 12, 2023, and were presented in a press conference on September 15, 2023.

“The records are bereft of any proof linking the actual abductors to any agency of the government,” said the decision dated August 2, 2024, and penned by Associate Justice Lorenza Bordios, with full concurrences from Associate Justices Fernanda Lampas Peralta and Jaime Fortunato Caringal. Associate Justice Rex Bernardo Pascual concurred and dissented.

The full dissenter was Associate Justice Emily San Gaspar-Gito who said, “It would be uncharacteristic for the courts, especially this Court, to simply fold their arms and ignore the palpable threats to petitioners’ life, liberty and security and just wait for the irreversible to happen to them.”

The decision and dissent The writs of amparo and habeas data are extraordinary protective writs which were innovations of the Philippine judiciary in response to the problems of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. It had been constantly criticized for lacking teeth in actually protecting harassed and surveilled human rights defenders. For example, activist Zara Alvarez lost her writs case at the Court of Appeals, which she elevated to the Supreme Court. But she was killed by gunmen in her hometown in 2020 before the High Court could act.

The CA division for this case said that Castro and Tamano failed to prove that they were subjected “to any form of threat to their life, liberty, or security during the latter’s stay at the military camp of the 70th Infantry Battalion,” or from September 12 to 15, 2023. The CA also said the two “miserably failed to prove the existence of an imminent or continuing threat” since being released on September 15, 2023.

Castro and Tamano have continued their activism work, mostly protesting against reclamation. They claim that the red-tagging, or labeling them as armed communist rebels, had continued.

Dissenting justice San Gaspar-Gito pointed out the Supreme Court’s landmark decision, made public in May 2024, that declared for the first time that red-tagging is a threat to life, liberty and security. That decision was also an amparo grant.

“The danger of further harm against petitioners is real, considering that they have recently been victims of enforced disappearance, which is the subject of the instant Petition,” said the justice’s dissenting opinion.

The dissenting justice questioned why the military could not account for the days that the activists were missing, or from their abduction on September 2 to their supposed surrender on September 12.

The army claimed that informants and operatives named “Bea” and “Bert” accompanied Castro and Tamano to their headquarters after the surrender. But Bea and Bert were not presented as witnesses.  “Despite the vast machinery and resources of the State, witnesses for the respondents could muster only vague and tentative answers,” said Justice San Gaspar-Gito.

For the majority justices, it’s Castro and Tamano who should prove their accusations against the army, and that they “cannot be permitted to fumble in the dark, hoping to find the light switch.”

But for the dissenting justice, the State should have done due diligence in investigating what happened to Castro and Tamano from September 2 to September 12. The local police identified the registered owner of the vehicle that was used in the two’s abduction, but “neither tracing nor probing was done” by the police or the military, said Justice San Gaspar-Gito.

In an earlier case of abduction of two activists from Cebu, the independent Commission on Human Rights (CHR) traced a vehicle, and a person, involved in the abduction to the army’s intelligence service. There is no known update to that investigation, as the Philippine military pivoted to external security, mostly over a territorial dispute with China.

The majority justices said that “assuming that public officials…failed to exercise extraordinary diligence, the same does not justify the granting of the privilege of the writ of amparo and habeas data.”

Next actions The NTF-ELCAC held a press conference on Monday, August 12, to hail the decision as a win “against a foregone ideology.” Castro and Tamano had already been indicted for slander or grave oral defamation for their accusations against the military. The NTF-ELCAC’s original perjury complaint was dismissed.

But asked on Monday whether a case will be filed against Castro and Tamano after the CA decision, the NTF-ELCAC’s lawyer, Assistant Solicitor General Angelita Miranda said: “At this point in time I don’t want to say whatever legal actions we will do, but surely we will.”

“The future actions will be revealed in due time…We’re going to resort to all legal means,” said Miranda.

Dino De Leon, lawyer of Castro and Tamano said: “We believe that the Honorable Court of Appeals committed reversible errors. We will file the appropriate remedy.”

“If the respondents will not be held accountable and responsible to the petitioners’ abduction, state impunity is exacerbated necessarily signaling to society that perpetrators can evade accountability and justice. Addressing these heinous acts is not merely a matter of legal obligation but a moral imperative,” said Castro and Tamano in a manifestation submitted to the CA after their hearings were conducted.

Students and teachers of different public and private universities, along with other professionals, continued their protests on Thursday, seeking justice for the killings in the recent quota reform movement, the end of arrests, and harassment by law-enforcing agencies.

Dhaka University teachers and students criticised law enforcers as the latter cordoned off the campus, preventing their entry to the place, while police picked up 12 students while they were joining a scheduled programme at Barishal University.

New Age staff correspondent in Rajshahi reported that teachers and students scuffled with law enforcers in plainclothes as they attempted to pick up several students from the Rajshahi University campus following a demonstration under the banner of the University Teachers’ Network.

The plainclothes law enforcers also assaulted two journalists during the incident.

At the end of the demonstration, a group of law enforcers equipped with sticks and iron rods suddenly grabbed some students and started moving hastily towards the police van, witnesses said.

Noticing that the students were being taken away, the teachers and students attempted to stop the law enforcers, resulting in a scuffle with the police.

Amid obstructions from teachers and students, at one stage, the law enforcers were forced to release all the students they grabbed.

Mass communication and journalism department professor Abdullah Al Mamun said that law enforcers carried out an attack on their peaceful programme.

‘Arresting someone on suspicion is wrong. I will say, please stop this. We will never accept that you, the police, attack our students, our teachers,’ he added.

Mohammad Hemayatul Islam, additional police commissioner, crime and operations, of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, explained that they primarily detained a student to

talk about why he misbehaved with one of their members.

Meanwhile, teachers of different public and private universities criticised the law enforcers for preventing them from entering the Dhaka University campus for the prescheduled programme at the base of Aparajeyo Bangla, demanding an end to wholesale arrest and harassment of students, remembering and seeking justice for those killed during the recent student movements in demand of quota systems in government jobs.

DU assistant professor Rushad Faridi said that teachers of the university and some other universities could not join the programme as law enforcers blocked all the entry gates of the university.

Criticising the government’s role during the protest, DU physics department professor Kamrul Hassan said that students and teachers became victims of state repression.

‘Such repression will not stop until justice is ensured for every injustice and killing,’ said Kamrul.

Mentioning the government as ‘the killer’ of the protesters, DU law department professor Asif Nazrul said that the government could not ensure justice for the killings.

The professor demanded the resignation of the government, saying that it was arresting victims instead of ensuring justice for them.

Teachers of North South University, Eastern University, Jagannath University, and the University of Asia Pacific were among those who raised the same demands, including the immediate release of the arrested students and people related to the protests, the withdrawal of curfew, and the opening of all educational institutions.

Cultural activists organised a programme titled Bhoyhin-Nejjya-Manobik Morjadar Bangladesh Chai in front of Ananda Cinema Hall near Farm Gate to declare solidarity with the students’ nine-point demand in the ongoing anti-quota student movement.

Cultural activist Mamunur Rashid, photographer and rights activist Shahidul Alam, and filmmakers Akram Khan, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Nurul Alam Atique, and Ashfaq Nipun, among others, joined the protests.

New Age correspondent from Barishal reported that police picked up 12 students in the morning from in front of Barishal University while joining the scheduled programme ‘Remembering Our Heroes’ to realise their nine-point charter of demands, including an unconditional apology from prime minister Sheikh Hasina by taking responsibility for the killings, removal of certain ministers from government and party, sacking and trial of police officials responsible for the killings.

However, they were released at about 4:00pm.

New Age correspondent in Cumilla reported that the ruling Awami League and its student wing Chhatra League leaders and activists barred Comilla University teachers from joining the human chain to protest against the killing, arrests, and harassment of students.

Teachers were barricaded at various places, including Kotbari, in front of the Cadet College adjacent to the university.

Professor of mathematics Khalifa Mohammad Helal said that some people stopped them at Kotbari.

They said that the university was closed and that even teachers could not go to campus, and asked all to leave the place, alleged Helal.

New Age correspondent at Jahangirnagar University reported that teachers and students of Jahangirnagar University and Daffodil International University in Savar staged ‘Protibadi Gaaner Michil’ on the JU campus, protesting against mass killings, arrests, attacks, cases, and disappearances of quota protesters.

The programme featured a rally, procession, and cultural shows.

New Age correspondent in Noakhali reported that students of Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali Government College, and others organised a protest rally at the Maijdee Old Bus Stand area as part of the countrywide Remembering Our Heroes programme.

Under the banner of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, a platform for quota reform protests, students in Tangail, Bogura, Mymensingh, and other places also organised Remembering Our Heroes programmes.

The Student Movement Against Discrimination, a platform for quota reform protests, on Thursday, announced a ‘mass procession’ programme after the jumma prayers across the country today.

The protesters called on all citizens of Bangladesh, including workers, professionals, cultural activists, journalists, human rights activists, and intellectuals, to join the march.

Abdul Kader, one of the coordinators of the platform, made the announcement through a press release.

The release said that special prayers would be held at mosques, temples, and churches for the victims of the countrywide student movement for quota reform in government jobs.

Broadcast journalist M Rameshchandra was allegedly assaulted by a policeman while covering a rally in the Imphal East District of Manipur. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliates, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the National Union of Journalists (India) (NUJ-I), in condemning the assault and demanding accountability from the police for their lack of action and protection.

On August 1, Impact TV broadcast journalist Rameshchandra, popularly known as RC Mangang, was allegedly beaten by a policeman while covering a mass rally organised by the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) people of Moreh, in the Akampat area in Manipur.

In a video published by Impact TV, Rameshchandra and his crew can be seen reaching Akampat relief camp in Imphal East to cover the IDP protest rally when they were approachded by police officer SI Nikhil Singh. Rameshchandra identified himself as a journalist, presenting his press card. Despite this, the police officer physically assaulted him, punching him multiple times, tearing his shirt, breaking his mobile phone and threatening to kill him. Rameshchandra was transported to Raj Medicity for treatment.

Following the incident, journalists, led by the All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) and Editors Guild Manipur (EGM), staged a protest and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister, demanding action against Singh within 48 hours. Manipur police have since suspended the sub-inspector (SI) for “grave misconduct”, with the suspension period requiring Singh to remain at Reserve Line headquarters unless prior permission is granted.

IDP protestors at the Akampat rally, organised by the Committee on Protection of Meetei Victims, were met with tear gas and rubber bullets when police attempted to stop the group proceeding from Singjamei, with 12 people injured. The protestors were comprised of people displaced from the India-Myanmar border town of Moreh, where ethnic violence left 226 people dead and over 59,000 others dispossessed.

About the Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Rameshchandra Singh @ RC Mangangcha, is a reporter of IMPACT-TV Channel Background: Since May 2023, ethnic violence between two communities Meitei and Kuki-Zo has been taking place in the state of Manipur leading to loss of many innocent citizens’ lives and injuries, arson, assault and other heinous crimes. The said communal clash is continuing 16 months after its beginning. The journalists, who cover the news of the conflict have been doing so at great personal risk to their lives. Details of the Incident: On August 01, 2024, about 100 inmates/internal displaced persons (IDPs) staying at the Relief Camp opened inside the campus of Ideal Girls’ College, Akampat, Imphal East District held a protest rally in Imphal against the Government demanding to return to their respective homes and seeking the resettlement and rehabilitation in their native places. The said inmates were mainly from Myanmar border town Moreh and the rally was organised by the Protection of Meitei Victims, Moreh. The Manipur Police fired tear gas at the protestors marching towards Manipur Legislative Assembly. Admit the tension, some persons among the IDPs turned aggressive and pelted stones at the police forcing the latter to unleash tear gas shells to control the situation and herd back the protestors. With the confrontation taking place close to a girls school namely Ideal Girls’ School, Akampat, many students lost consciousness and were stricken with fear due to harsh action of the police as well as inhalation of tear gas and mock bomb fumes and had to be taken to hospital for further treatment. Mr. Rameshchandra Singh @ RC Mangangcha, a reporter of IMPACT-TV Channel was assigned for coverage of the said incident. The Police personnel fired mock bomb and tear gas shells to the rally of IDPs to disperse them when he reached at the spot near Singjamei Bridge at about 11.30 am. Then, one police personnel asked him whether he was from the press when they saw him covering the incident by using his mobile phone camera. Then Mr. Rameshchandra Singh replied that he is a journalist and thereby showed his identity card. However, one Police Officer/Sub-Inspector Sub Inspector Sh. Nikhil Singh rushed him and broken his mobile by throwing it on the road and started mercilessly assaulted the reporter with tear gas gun without hearing his repeated request/clarification. Mr. Rameshchandra Singh was brought to the Raj Medicity, a private hospital for treatment.

Scores of people, including students, journalists, and police, were injured, and dozens were detained as the ongoing student protest seeking justice for the recent killings intensified further on Wednesday across the country.

Thousands of student protesters were joined by teachers, lawyers, and cultural activists in massive demonstrations held in major cities, including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Barishal, and Khulna.

According to available information collected by New Age correspondents from police and demonstrators in Dhaka and other parts of the country, at least 100 people were injured in clashes and skirmishes between police and demonstrators in several places.

Police picked up dozens of protesters as students marched towards district and metropolitan courts as part of their ‘March for Justice’ programme, announced on Tuesday.

Hundreds of students demonstrated in front of the High Court in Dhaka for at least three hours as they demanded justice for killings and the release of six organisers of the quota reform platform, Student Movement Against Discrimination.

Teachers joined the students of different public and private universities in the protests in front of the High Court.

A group of lawyers held a programme inside the court premises before they broke open the police and the Border Guard Bangladesh barricades to join the protestors in front of the High Court.

Police detained nine protesters near the High Court area but were forced to release them as protesters blocked police vehicles for about an hour.

Dhaka University public administration department lecturer Shehreen Amin Bhuiyan was among those injured during a scuffle between police and protesters in front of Bangladesh Shishu Academy at about 12:30pm, witnesses said.

Protesters condemned the police attack on their teacher.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ramna Division additional deputy commissioner Md Aktharul Islam denied any such incident, claiming to New Age that police had not used any force against the protesters.

‘She might be injured by the crowd,’ Aktharul said.

He said that they had detained some students and released them later after talking with the university administration.

Teachers from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Dhaka University, along with their students, also brought out protest processions on the DU campus and High Court area.

Between 1:30pm and 3:00pm, some parents also came with their children to express solidarity with the protesters.

Addressing the rally, professor Lutfur Rahman of the Statistics Department said that students were now in fear of getting arrested and could not stay at messes, homes, or relatives’ houses due to block raids and interrogation on roads.

‘We want justice for the killings and the end of wholesale arrests, false cases, and raids,’ said the teacher.

While talking to reporters, the student movement platform co-coordinator, Tarek Adnan, demanded the withdrawal of curfew and the reopening of all campuses.

‘We demand justice for all killings and injuries. We also urge the government to ensure proper compensation for their families,’ he added.

Some agitators chanted slogans against prime minister Sheikh Hasina and demanded her resignation, calling her a ‘dictator’.

Speaking at a human chain and protest rally organised by the teachers of the University of Liberal Arts in front of the university’s main gate, writer and thinker Salimullah Khan demanded an apology from the government and its resignation for its recent killings.

New Age staff correspondent in Chattogram reported that police detained several students from Chattogram Court Building premises when they were protesting to press home their nine-point charter of demands on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of Lal Dighi Field and marched towards the court building at about 11:00am.

Lawyers from Chattogram Court also joined the students, who continued to protest around 3:00pm.

Asked about the number of arrests, Chattogram Metropolitan Police additional deputy commission Tarek Aziz refused to share any figures immediately.

In Sylhet, police fired tea shells and sound grenades at protesters who attempted to march towards the courts as part of their ‘March for Justice’ programme in the city.

The protesters gathered in front of the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in the morning in line with their pre-announced programme and started a march towards the court to demonstrate against the mass killings, arrests, attacks, lawsuits, and enforced disappearances during student protests and their aftermath.

Locals said that when they reached Subid Bazar around 1:00pm, police intercepted them, but the protesters broke the barrier to continue their march, prompting police to fire tear shells and sound grenades in a bid to disperse them, reported New Age staff correspondent in Sylhet.

In Khulna, at least 30 people, mostly students, were injured as a clash broke out between police and protesters in the Sadar upazila of the district on Wednesday afternoon.

The clash began at 2:15pm in the city’s Satrasta crossing.

Students alleged that police interrogated and arrested at least 40 individuals, but police did not want to comment on the matter immediately.

Hundreds of students started a procession around 1:30pm from the city’s Nirala Mor and marched towards Royal Mor.

Ignoring police barricades at Moyla Pota crossing, the students staged a sit-in protest on the street in front of the Bangladesh Medical Association building at Satrasta crossing.

When police attempted to disperse them, a chase and counter-chase between the two groups ensued.

Police later charged batons at the protesters to disperse them.

Tajul Islam, deputy commissioner (South) of Khulna metropolitan police, could not give any figures or arrests immediately.

In Barishal, at least 50 people, including journalists, were injured in a police attack during the general students’ agitation in the city.

Police detained at least 12 agitators from the area.

The incident happened from 11:00am to 1:30pm in the Sadar Road and Fazlul Haque Avenue areas of the city.

Manisha Chakraborty, the Barishal district coordinator of Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal, told reporters that the student’s programme was going peacefully when police came there and attacked them, leaving at least 50, including female students, injured badly.

Among the injured, 15 were hospitalised.

Barishal Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner SM Tanvir Arafat told reporters that a group of members of the student wings of opposition political parties had blocked the road in the court area.

‘They tried to attack the police, threw bricks, and vandalised cars. Later, we removed them. We have arrested several people. Currently, the situation is under our control,’ he said.

During the clash, at least five journalists, who went to take pictures of the incident, were injured in the police attack.

New Age staff correspondent in Rajshahi reported that police on Wednesday detained at least 24 students from various areas in Rajshahi city while they were preparing for their ‘March for Justice’ programme.

The chief information officer and additional deputy commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, Jamirul Islam, confirmed the matter.

Both the pro-Awami League and pro-Bangladesh Nationalist teachers’ associations of Rajshahi University staged separate demonstrations on the university campus demanding justice for the killing of students during the quota reform movement.

The Student Movement Against Discrimination, a platform for quota reform protests, announced the ‘Remembering Our Heroes’ programme for Thursday.

The programme includes a commemorative event for those killed and injured, drawing graffiti, making festoons and digital portraits depicting the torture incidents during movement, and sharing any write-ups on victims using hashtags like #JulyMassacre and #RememberingOurHeroes on online platforms.

Rifat Rashid, one of the co-coordinators of the platform, made the announcement through a press release on Wednesday.

Karachi police have detained several individuals, including prominent human rights activists and leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), during a protest against the ‘violent crackdown’ by state authorities on participants of the ‘Baloch National Gathering.’

These arrests occur as negotiations between the BYC and the government continue in Gwadar, aiming to reach an agreement to address the ongoing unrest in Balochistan.

The BYC organized the demonstration outside the Karachi Arts Council to protest the reported use of force by state authorities on participants in the ‘Baloch Raaji Muchi’ protests. Baloch activists and human rights advocates gathered to express concerns over the state’s handling of the situation in Balochistan.

During the protest, police reportedly cordoned off the area near the Karachi Press Club and arrested approximately 12 demonstrators. Among those detained were Professor Nida Kirmani, a notable human rights activist, and several Baloch women, including BYC leader Fauzia Baloch. The detainees have been taken to a local police station.

In a statement issued on the social media platform X, the BYC accused the Sindh police of ‘brutally assaulting’ rally participants, detaining dozens of Baloch women and men. According to the statement, political activists and women were dragged on the streets and transported to police stations in police vehicles.

These arrests follow ongoing negotiations between the BYC and the government over several key demands. The BYC is demanding the registration of First Information Reports (FIRs) for those killed and injured during the ‘Baloch National Gathering’ protests, as well as the release of all individuals detained in connection with the demonstrations.

Additional demands include the withdrawal of all FIRs against participants, assurances that no protester will face harassment or legal action after the sit-in concludes, the reopening of blocked roads, and the restoration of internet services.

The recent arrests in Karachi have raised concerns regarding the government’s sincerity in the negotiations, as activists continue to face detention and alleged harassment.

Political activist Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak was sentenced in absentia to two years in prison on Wednesday for lese-majeste in 2021.

The Criminal Court initially handed down a sentence of three years, then reduced it to two years because he gave useful testimony in the case.

The ruling was delivered in absentia. Parit, 26, has failed to show up at the court since June 25.

The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest. The statute of limitations in the case is 10 years.

Parit was charged over comments posted on his Facebook page from July 28 to Aug 1, 2021. July 28 is the birthday of His Majesty the King.

Parit earlier claimed that his Facebook account had been hacked. The court rejected this argument, saying he had failed to later remove the offensive posts.

A former political science student at Thammasat University, Parit was one of the leaders of the pro-democracy protests that began in mid-2020.

He was facing a total of 25 lese-majeste charges, for which the sentences would run consecutively. He is believed to have fled the country, according to local media reports.

Workers’ unions in Laguna province staged a caravan to protest recent instances of unfair labor practice and union suppression, August 13.

The protest caravan began in the Laguna International Industrial Park in barangay Mamplasan, Binan and ended at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) Region 4A office in Brgy. Halang, Calamba. Workers from Philfoods Fresh Baked Products, Inc. and Kareila Management Corporation participated in the caravan, primarily to air their concerns at what they see as “worsening conditions for workers in the Southern Tagalog region.”

“There is nothing new for workers in Bongbong Marcos’ ‘Bagong Pilipinas’,” said Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan (PAMANTIK-KMU) spokesperson Mia Antonio. “Workers still face repression, illegal retrenchment, and other forms of exploitation.”

For Kareila workers, exploitation took on the form of being forced to resign despite rendering as much as 10 years of service to the company.

According to Liga ng Manggagawa sa Kareila Management Corp., KMC management gave a notice of termination to the 224 rank-and-file workers in its Binan warehouse last July 24, “one day after the Marcos II administration’s State of the Nation Address.” KMC justified the termination by saying that it has found a third-party provider, Asia Cargo Container Line, to perform its services. Workers were given up to July 31 to sign their resignation papers.

“[Should we not sign], the company threatened to withhold our separation pay and any recommendations to be hired by another third-party provider,” the organization said in its statement. Liga noted that most of the workers in KMC “have families and children in school,” and that the mass lay-offs would bring “hunger and poverty for workers and their families.”

“KMC’s actions to deprive us of our livelihood and our right to security of tenure is unjust,” Liga emphasized in its statement. “The challenge for us workers in Kareila is to band together and fight together against the massacre of our livelihoods at the hands of the greedy capitalists.”

Kareila Management Corporation operates wholesale and retail grocery stores, particularly S&R Membership Shopping. The coporation is owned by Lucio and Susan Co, who also owned Puregold Price Club, Inc. as a separate company before Puregold acquired KMC as a subsidiary in 2012.

KMC workers were joined by workers from Philfoods Fresh Baked Products, Inc., a subsidiary of Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Incorportated. Their union, Unyon ng mga Panadero sa Philfoods Fresh Baked Products Inc. (UPPFBPI-OLALIA-KMU), recently concluded Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations with their management last July 26.

However, union members continue to report cases of harassment from agents of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac). According to the union, Elcac agents have repeatedly visited the homes of union officers to “intimidate them into leaving the union.”

“Despite our hard-earned victory, they just wouldn’t let us alone,” said UPPFBPI-OLALIA-KMU President Larry Mallorca. “The capitalists at Gardenia will always try to block our union every step of the way.”

It took union members in Philfoods over a year for them to be recognized as a union and win their recently concluded CBA. All throughout this process, Mallorca and other union members were hounded by “police, soldiers, and other people” dissuading them to stop. Last year, Mallorca was one of the fourteen activists charged with violating Batasang Pambansa No. 880 shortly after the SONA protests.

Rhoel Alconera, was charged with financing terrorism, allegedly giving PHP 4 million (USD 69,884) to the New People’s Army. The charges were junked by the Batangas Regional Trial Court for lack of evidence last May.

Indicative of a larger problem

The August 13 protest caravan only “shows part of a bigger problem” faced by workers, according to PAMANTIK-KMU.

“This is only a small part of the bigger problem faced by workers in the region,” Antonio said. “There is a general crisis of workers’ rights being attacked, led by the capitalist class and aided by the Marcos Jr. administration.”

Antonio noted that Dutch semiconductor company Nexperia is another example. Last July 31, Nexperia Philippines Inc. Workers Union (NPIWU-NAFLU-KMU) voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike despite attempts by NXP management to block strike voting.

NXP management responded to this by issuing a memo stating that all workers participating in the strike will be considered “absent without leave.” NPIWU-NAFLU-KMU condemned this, calling it an “attempt at intimidation, an insult, and a way to fool workers.”

“Our union is clarifying that there are no provisions in the law that allow management to declare striking workers as AWOL,” the union said in its statement. “Additionally, hiring workers during a strike and giving them double pay is another violation of the Strike Breaker Law.”

NXP workers are still dead-set on preparing for their strike, following massive lay-offs earlier in the year.

In the worst cases, these attacks against workers result in arrests or even deaths. August 13 was also the scheduled date for the hearing of Arnedo Lagunias, the secretary-general of Alyansa ng mga Manggagawa sa Engklabo who was arrested last March 2021 on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

In the months leading up to his arrest, Lagunias was more than once,visited by elements of the Philippine National Police and encouraged to “clear [his] name” with the authorities. Lagunias repeatedly refused. That month, two labor leaders were killed and four were arrested as part of a larger series of operations against activists in Southern Tagalog; now known as “Bloody Sunday.”

The justice system has been slow to act on these cases. Of the four arrested, only one, Ramir Corcolon, has been released on lack of evidence. Corcolon was the secretary general of Water Systems Employees Response, organizing those in the public utilities sector. Another, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Laguna spokesperson Mags Camoral, is out on bail. Lagunias and Steve Mendoza, the Vice President of labor federation Organized Labor Associations in Line Industries and Agriculture (OLALIA) remain in detention.

The story is similar for victims of extra-judicial killing. The Department of Justice dismissed murder raps against 17 police officers involved in the killing of labor leader and Bayan Cavite spokesperon Manny Asuncion last January 2023. Meanwhile, the identities of who killed PAMANTIK-KMU Chairperson Dandy Miguel remain unknown.

Regardless, workers in Laguna remain determined to fight for their rights. “We cannot give up on our struggle for decent working conditions, living wages, and human rights,” said Antonio. “We have proven time and time again that victory comes from being united in struggle.”

In a troubling escalation, the government of Pakistan’s Balochistan province has imposed severe restrictions in the coastal town of Gwadar, just a day before the Baloch Raji Machi, or Baloch National Gathering, organized by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) – also known as the Baloch Solidarity Committee – was set to commence on July 28. The BYC is a prominent civil rights movement advocating for the protection of civil, political, and economic rights, and calling for an end to enforced disappearances and custodial killings of Baloch in Balochistan.

On July 27, the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakistan, opened fire on buses heading to Gwadar for the Baloch National Gathering, injuring at least 14 people in Mastung, about 60 km (35 miles) west of Quetta. The authorities set up blockades across the province to restrict movement, leading to further violence.

The crackdown intensified on July 28, with security forces killing at least three protesters in Gwadar and injuring dozens more. On July 29, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, with reports of security forces firing on protesters on the outskirts of Gwadar on July 30.

Since July 27, the Balochistan government has blocked roads and highways and cut off internet access, isolating Gwadar – a city once hailed for its potential as an emerging port similar to Dubai. Now, it stands as a bone of contention between ethnic Baloch, the federal government of Pakistan, and Beijing.

In this impoverished, dusty coastal town, which serves as a hub for the much discussed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China has invested a considerable amount in infrastructure and development, bringing the town into the limelight. Still, the indigenous residents of Gwadar and ethnic Baloch complain that their resources are being plundered with little benefit to them.

The Baloch have engaged in peaceful political activism against both Islamabad and China, while insurgents have also targeted Chinese interests with violent attacks. The ongoing unrest casts a shadow over the town’s future and raises concerns about its stability and the viability of Chinese investment.

In recent years, China has faced significant security challenges in Pakistan, with Baloch nationalist insurgents in Balochistan and Islamist militants in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa frequently attacking Chinese workers. The general public also appears increasingly unhappy with Chinese investment. Since 2021, Gwadar has seen multiple large-scale protests, with residents voicing grievances about being deprived of basic civic rights and necessities of life, despite the launch of CPEC almost a decade ago.

Despite promises and grand claims that Gwadar would transform into a city akin to Shenzhen, Singapore, or Dubai, the reality remains starkly different. Today, Gwadar is still heavily dependent on neighboring Iran for electricity, while its nearly 100,000 residents rely on natural sources such as rain and traditional dams for water.

In recent months, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee has emerged as a harsh critic of Chinese investment in Gwadar. The BYC is an influential and popular group in Balochistan, largely due to its peaceful struggle for Baloch rights. It vocally addresses human rights issues plaguing Balochistan, especially enforced disappearances, custodial killings, and the exploitation of Balochistan’s resources. The BYC’s agenda resonates deeply with the Baloch public, which is why the group has earned considerable trust in Balochistan in a remarkably short time.

The BYC’s main demand is an end to enforced disappearances in Balochistan, which the group’s leadership rightly calls illegal and unconstitutional. The BYC leadership has repeatedly emphasized that people suspected of unlawful activities should face due process in a court of law under the constitution of Pakistan instead of being disappeared or killed.

The Balochistan government’s violent response to peaceful protesters last week not only violated articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guarantee freedom of movement and the right to assemble peacefully, but also represents a failure on the government’s part to engage with one of the most popular peaceful rights movements in Balochistan.

Balochistan has been hard hit by a violent separatist insurgency for the last two decades, the longest and most violent episode in the region’s history compared to the previous four insurgencies. The toppling of the National Awami Party by Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972, which kicked off an insurgency and a brutal military operation to suppress it, should have served as a hard-earned lesson against meddling in the politics of Balochistan. Instead, Pakistani rulers have embarked on even more political adventures, including forcefully disappearing political activists, banning political parties, and cracking down on peaceful rights movements.

In recent times, a popular peaceful rights movement in the form of the BYC has gained the trust and attention of not only the Baloch population – from Balochistan to Karachi and Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab, where a huge population of Baloch lives – but also other political stakeholders in Balochistan, regardless of their stance on Pakistan’s parliamentary politics. Both hardline nationalists who reject Pakistan’s parliamentary politics and political parties in Balochistan deeply respect the BYC because of its considerable public support. However, the state’s attitude toward the BYC seems hostile.

BYC is highly regarded by the masses because it speaks about their genuine issues, particularly enforced disappearances that have plagued Balochistan for two decades. The failure of various governments to resolve these issues has deepened mistrust between the center and Baloch youth. This erosion of confidence in Baloch parliamentary parties has led the public to support alternate voices like the BYC, which has refrained from participating in elections or joining assemblies in Pakistan.

Despite this, the BYC has been attempting to find solutions within the framework of the constitution of Pakistan. For this reason, the group organized a month-long sit-in in Islamabad from December to January, where they were also mistreated. The abuse of Baloch women and elders by Islamabad police conveyed a disappointing and negative message, and likely served as motivation for later violent attacks in Balochistan.

Another reason the BYC has gained public trust, especially among young Baloch women, is its indirect fight against patriarchy and gender inequality, which are deeply rooted in Baloch society. For the first time, a peaceful rights movement is led by young women, who make up the majority of BYC supporters. These young women have challenged the cultural status quo and outdated traditions, as well as the power corridors in Pakistan. They have inspired ordinary Baloch by removing the fear that has long held them back.

Movements like the BYC are rare in the region, particularly because women are at the forefront. Many of these young women are driven by personal victimization; for instance, BYC organizer Dr. Mahrang Baloch, a general surgeon, lost her father to enforced disappearance. Her personal experience and commitment to the cause resonate deeply with ordinary Baloch.

Engaging leaders like Mahrang Baloch and having a political dialogue with the BYC represented a crucial opportunity for Pakistan’s political and military leadership, which has long dreamed of talking to Baloch nationalists to find a solution to Balochistan’s conundrum. However, due to a lack of political seriousness in Balochistan, this opportunity has been nearly missed.

The provincial government of Balochistan likely missed this chance deliberately, as the current government representatives in Balochistan do not believe in political dialogue. Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, a staunch supporter of the powerful military and Pakistan’s former caretaker interior minister just before the elections, was brought into power through what many see as hijacked elections. This process was widely viewed as a violation of democratic principles and Pakistan’s election rules. His and his administration’s reliance on violence to address public grievances and maintain power has led some to describe them as artificial leaders, having used coercion rather than democratic processes to secure their positions.

The state’s harsh treatment of the BYC last week has only reinforced the narrative that peaceful activism has no place in Balochistan. This will ultimately benefit the Baloch separatist insurgents, who have long said that peaceful activism is futile in Pakistan. By using force against a peaceful movement with large public support, the Pakistani government risks driving more Baloch youth toward a violent insurgency.

This will, over the years, create greater challenges not only for Islamabad in tackling Balochistan’s two-decade-long insurgency and finding a solution to the province’s issues but also for China in investing in Balochistan, especially in Gwadar.

Tran Hoang Phuc‘s mother, Huynh Thi Ut, reported that Phuc was summoned again on July 30, but this time by the Office of Prosecution (Procuracy) in Ho Chi Minh City instead of by the Tan Binh Police. On June 29, 2017, Phuc, a student activist, was detained in Hanoi by a group of non-uniformed officers and taken to a police station for questioning for hours before he was taken back to his rental home and read a warrant of arrest. Phuc was later sentenced to six years in prison based on Article 88 (anti-state propaganda) and was released in June 2023. Project88 is monitoring the situation and will update with the latest information.

On 29 July 2024, human rights defender Arif Sohel was placed on a six-day remand by a Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka. The decision happened after being abducted on 27 July 2024 midnight from his rented home in Ambagan area near Jahangirnagar University by eight to ten individuals claiming to be from the Detective Branch (DB) and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh police. His whereabouts were only made known when he appeared in the court on 29 July 2024 afternoon. Arif Sohel is a human rights defender, a student of the International Relations Department of Jahangirnagar University, and a key coordinator of the Students Against Discrimination Movement. The Students Against Discrimination Movement is a student led protest demanding reform of the quota system in government jobs in Bangladesh which started after the Supreme Court of Bangladesh ruling in June 2024 revived a 30% quota for descendants of freedom fighters. A total 56 percent of first and second class government jobs in Bangladesh entailed quotas. 30 percent of the total reserved for the descendants of ‘freedom fighters’. This quota has been widely criticised as a discriminatory system to access jobs that is allegedly used politically. On 29 July 2024, the human rights defender Arif Sohel was brought before a Dhaka court and placed on a six-day remand in connection with a case filed on 18 July 2024, involving allegations of vandalizing and setting fire to Setu Bhaban, a government establishment, in Banani, Dhaka. Student groups claim that Arif Sohel was in Jahangirnagar on that same day – an hour drive away from the place of incident. Arif Sohel’s legal counsel sought to cancel the remand order and requested bail, but the court rejected both applications after hearing the accused, placing him on remand. On 28 July 2024, eight to ten individuals identifying themselves DB and CID personnel took Arif Sohel into custody from his rented house, where he lived with his family, in the Ambagan area near Jahangirnagar University. Arif was held for nearly 36 hours incommunicado before being brought to a Dhaka court. Front Line Defenders condemns the abduction and legal persecution of student human rights defender Arif Sohel by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in an attempt to repress his peaceful human rights work and target legimate students protests in Bangladesh.

At least three people are dead and several injured after participants of a Balochistan Yakjehti Committee (BYC) protest clashed with security personnel in different areas of the province, on Sunday.

But despite roadblocks put in place by the authorities, a large number of people managed to make their way from across the province to Gwadar’s Marine Drive for the Baloch Rajee Muchi (Baloch National Gathering).

Sources told Dawn that two people were killed and as many injured after a convoy was stopped by the security forces at the Talar check-post. Officials claimed that security forces were trying to defend themselves against a mob that reportedly attacked the checkpost.

Additionally, one person lost their life and eight people were injured in clashes that erupted after authorities used teargas in an attempt to disperse people gathered on Marine Drive. At least 20 people were also arrested.

The death toll was confirmed by health authorities in Gwadar. “We have received three bodies and eight injured persons in the hospital,” a senior official told Dawn, adding that two of the injured were shifted to Turbat.

Dawn tried to contact Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove and Provincial Spokesperson Shahid Rind, but due to a communications blackout, they and other relevant officials could not be reached for comment.

Later, addressing the gathering in Gwadar, BYC leader Dr Mahrang Baloch and others vowed not to abandon their struggle for the rights of the Baloch people and the protection of the province’s resources.

Referring to the deaths of the people who arrived to attend the gathering, Mahrang said the killers of the Baloch people should be arrested and brought to justice.

She also demanded the release of the protesters detained by the security forces.

“Until the release of our people, the sit-in will continue at Marine Drive,” she announced.

Life derailed

Life in various areas of southern Balochistan, including Makran, came to standstill, with roads and highways leading to Gwadar blocked throughout the day.

There was no traffic on the Quetta-Karachi highway, either, as authorities blocked the road due to a sit-in in Mastung. The demonstration was held to protest the firing on a convoy of protesters a day earlier, which resulted in 14 people being injured.

A complete shutter-down strike was also observed in Mastung, Kalat, Noshki, Khuzdar, Noshki, Dalbandin, Awaran, Lasbela, Chagai, Nokundi, Gwadar, Turbat, and Pasni. Likewise, BYC activists also staged sit-ins on at least 14 locations along the highways and inter-provincial roads. In Quetta, roads leading towards the Red Zone were blocked and hundreds of police and levies officials were deployed for security.

Political support for BYC

Leaders of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) and the National Party condemned the use of force against the peaceful supporters of the BYC.

BNP leader Sajid Tareen Advocate said their party would also be participating in these protests. He pointed out that people in Gwadar were still demanding potable water, urging the government to allow peaceful protests. He said the Baloch and Pashtun people were being deliberately marginalised, leading to heightened tensions and pushing people towards armed resistance.

National Party leaders Aslam Baloch and Kalsoom Niaz Baloch held the Balochistan government, led by Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, responsible for the political instability in Balochistan.

Non-political forces are taking advantage of the current situation and the government is deliberately spreading unrest in Balochistan, they alleged. They claimed that a form of civil martial law was in place, and the “puppet government” was intentionally deteriorating the situation.

Separately, Amnesty International also called on the Pakistani authorities to immediately lift the internet shutdown in Balochistan, and fulfil its obligations under domestic and international human rights law to facilitate people’s right to peaceful protest by lifting the road blockades on the way to Gwadar to allow freedom of movement for protesters.

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Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the ongoing violence by Pakistan state forces against human rights defenders and peaceful protestors who gathered for the Baloch National Gathering in Gwadar Balochistan on 28 July 2024. There are alarming reports of live bullets being fired at unarmed civilians attending the gathering, causing injuries to many and killing at least two persons.

The Baloch National Gathering is a peaceful event which was organized by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee on 28 July 2024 in Gwadar, Balochistan, to highlight the ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan by the Pakistan state. Human rights defenders and protesters are calling for an end to systemic discrimination, violence and impunity in the province. They are also calling for an end to violence against peaceful protesters, accountability for the violence and use of force, the release of hundreds of protesters detained linked to the gathering, and ending the ongoing blockade of Gwadar city. The choice of Gwadar, a port city in Balochistan, which has seen high levels of militarization and development related displacement is significant as the region has experienced systemic human rights violations linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Human rights defenders have been targeted during the protest and there are concerning reports of woman human rights defenders being injured and attempts on the life of prominent woman human rights defender Dr. Mahrang Baloch. Front Line Defenders is especially concerned by reports on 29 July 2024 that at least three human rights defenders including the Front Line Defenders 2024 award winner Sammi Deen Baloch, Dr. Sabiha Baloch and Sabghatullah Abdul Haq are said to have been detained by uniformed armed personnel and their whereabouts are presently unknown.

Front Line Defenders is also deeply concerned about the fate and whereabouts of human rights defender Hafeez Baloch, as well as woman human rights defenders Seema Baloch and 17 year old Mahzaib Baloch, both family members of the disappeared. All three human rights defenders were last seen in Gwadar city on 29 July 2024. There is presently no information about their whereabouts.

In the weeks leading up to the Baloch National Gathering, members and human rights defenders associated with the the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which is an organization focused on advocating for the rights and interests of the Baloch people in Pakistan have faced reprisals by state authorities. The attacks include surveillance, raids, arrests and false legal cases.

From 26 to 28 July 2024, major highways in Balochistan were blocked by the military using containers, heavy stones, and large trucks to prevent people from joining the Gwadar gathering. Transporters and passenger bus drivers were threatened and told not to transport attendees. Protesters and human rights defenders traveling to Gwadar from different parts of Pakistan including within Balochistan were blocked from traveling, facing violence, arrests and threats of arrest. There are reports of protesters being injured and also of killings linked to the actions by Pakistan state forces.

Internet, mobile and land line access to Turbat, Gwadar District and most recently Mastung District have reportedly been blocked reducing avenues for information to be shared and humanr rights defenders and protesters to access much needed support. The ongoing blockade of the entry and exit points to Gwadar city have led to a credible fear of shortages of food and other essential supplies.

The violence against human rights defenders and peaceful protesters gathering to campaign and speak out against systemic human rights violations follows a pattern of abuse and reprisals against human rights defenders in Pakistan, and against Baloch human rights defenders in particular. Front Line Defenders has documented the filing of false legal cases against human rights defenders over the past several months, the threats of arrest, and the labeling of defenders as terrorists. Women human rights defenders face gendered abuse online and in physical spaces. In December 2023 and January 2024 the Pakistan state used disproportionate force and false arrests in an attempt to crush the Baloch Long March led by families of the disappeared and women human rights defenders. Those who were part of the march were targeted during and after the protest campaign and labeled as terrorists.

Front Line Defenders calls on the Government of Pakistan to immediately cease the use of force against human rights defenders and peaceful protestors in Gwadar Pakistan. We call on the state to immediately disclose the whereabouts of human rights defenders arrested including Sammi Deen Baloch, Dr. Sabiha and Sabghatullah Abdul Haq, ensuring their safety in detention and their immediate and unconditional release. Front Line Defenders urgently calls for information and to guarantee the safety of missing human rights defenders Hafeez Baloch, Seema Baloch, and Mahzaib Baloch. The human rights defenders must be released, their security in detention guaranteed, access to their lawyers, family members and medical treatment provided as an immediate priortiy.

The Government of Pakistan must comply with its national and international obligations to ensure the right to peaceful assembly and uphold the rights of all persons engaging peacefully on human rights. The blockade on entry and exit into Gwadar city must be stopped, ensuring free movement of persons into the area. Those responsible for the violence that has been unleashed on human rights defenders and peaceful protesters, and for detaining and holding human rights defenders incommunicado must be held accountable.

Karapatan condemns the recent illegal arrest, torture and unjust detention of four Central Luzon activists on the evening of July 29, 2024.

According to reports from Karapatan-Central Luzon, Ma. Theresa Buscayno, Desiree Jaranilla Patuñ-og, Andres Ely and Oliver Millo, all peasant and community organizers, were aboard a white Toyota Innova van traveling along Jose Abad Santos Ave. in Mexico, Pampanga when they were stopped by two other vehicles at around 9:30 p.m. Armed men in Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detention Group (PNP-CIDG) uniforms came out of these vehicles and dragged out Buscayno, Patuñ-og, Ely, Millo and the van’s driver, forced them to kneel and beat them up. They were then forced to lie face down on the ground for around five hours.

“Based on the patterns we observed with other arrests of this nature,” said Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, “the victims are ordered to lie on the ground while the arresting team plants incriminating items such as firearms and explosives inside the vehicle.”

Sure enough, at the inquest proceedings held on July 31, the arresting team made incredible claims that Buscayno and Millo were each armed with an M16 rifle and a hand grenade was allegedly found in Buscayno’s bag. Patuñ-og was alleged to be carrying an M14 rifle and keeping a grenade in her bag. Ely allegedly had a warrant for his arrest and had a rifle grenade and a hand grenade in his possession. All four were charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

When seen by family members and human rights workers, all four had contusions, bruises and pain from being assaulted by the arresting team. Patuñ-og also had a visible wound on her forehead after members of the arresting team repeatedly banged her head on the cemented road. They have not undergone any medical check-up since their arrest.

Buscayno and Patuñ-og are now detained at the regional CIDG office in Camp Olivas, San Fernando, Pampanga while Ely and Millo are being held at the provincial CIDG office, also in San Fernando, Pampanga.

“Buscayno, Patuñ-og, Ely and Millo are but the latest in a growing list of activists and community organizers who have been illegally arrested, tortured and slapped with trumped-up charges,” said Palabay. “The relentless persecution of activists, human rights defenders and other dissenters proves the emptiness of Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s claims that things are better in the human rights front.”

A former reporter who was imprisoned under a law designed to punish comments that imply the military junta’s rule is illegitimate has died of cancer at an infamous prison near Yangon, a former coworker told Radio Free Asia.

Nay Linn Htike, a former freelance reporter for the independent Democratic Voice of Burma in eastern Bago region, died on July 29, according to the former coworker who requested anonymity for security reasons.

Several friends told RFA that Nay Linn Htike was suffering from oral cancer and was transferred from Daik-U Prison in a remote area of Bago region to Insein Prison to receive specialized medical care.

“He liked beetroot and developed ulcers in his mouth and was unable to receive adequate medical treatment,” one of the friends said.

Nay Linn Htike, who was in his 40s, published articles in the Democratic Voice of Burma before the February 2021 military coup.

The former coworker said Nay Linn Htike was arrested while campaigning against the military after the coup and was prosecuted under Section 505(a) of the penal code, which was added by junta authorities to crack down on anti-military speech.

He was also charged under Section 52(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was also amended by the junta after the coup to make it easier to prosecute critics. He received an eight-year sentence.

“He was detained while participating in anti-military activities, reportedly as an organizer,” the former coworker said.

The friend told RFA that he received messages from Nay Linn Htike just before he was transferred to Insein.

“He wanted to ensure that those connected to him were informed about his whereabouts and health conditions,” the friend said.

Another friend of Nay Linn Htike told RFA that his family were unable to visit him at either of the prisons because they have been avoiding junta authorities.

RFA was unable to contact anyone at the office of the deputy director general of the junta’s Prisons Department to inquire about Nay Linn Htike’s death.

The Siem Reap provincial prosecutor questioned five Run Ta Ek and Rolous residents on Monday following their protest against the demolition of houses by the Apsara National Authority on April 24, 2024.

According to the summons issued by deputy prosecutor Ngel Sovanrith, the residents were questioned for “obstructing public officers, illegal detention, issuing threats, insults, conditions as well as attempting murder” in Ta Ek village, Run Ta Ek commune, Banteay Srey district, Siem Reap province on April 24.

Following the questioning, the five now await further instructions.

Some 200 people gathered outside the court on the day of the questioning to show their support on Monday.

Yun Horn, a resident of Ta Ek village, one of four questioned, told CamboJA News that it was unreasonable for Apsara Authority to sue people in court as the residents have “no ability to detain people or kill the authority”.

“They [Apsara] are accusing us too much. No one detained anyone or tried to [kill] anything,” Horn said. “How could this happen when there was a village chief, a commune chief, a police officer and a district police chief at that site?”

Horn urged Apsara Authority not to use the legal system against them as they were only seeking the right to live like other ordinary citizens. He claimed that it was very difficult for them to live because Apsara Authority “often restricted” them, including repairing their houses or building toilets.

“We just want housing rights. If we don’t have a home, where should we stay when there is a thunderstorm? So, please don’t sue us,” said Horn.

Yim Soth Ronakchit, who was at court to show his support, said the legal action by Apsara Authority was an “injustice” because they did not commit the act they were charged for.

“It was unfair for those living in this area because they were protecting their land and house,” Ronakchit said. “At the time, 40 Apsara officials arrived in the village but neither one nor five people could [detain and try to assassinate the officers]. How can empty-handed people harm Apsara when they don’t have any weapons?” said Ronakchit.

Another resident, Oeut Dunn, also said the legal case was an injustice, as people were being restricted from building a house on their land.

“I urge the authorities not to persecute the people and allow them to build better homes,” Dunn said.

According to Ly Vannak, spokesperson of Siem Reap province, five people appeared in the Siem Reap provincial court, but none of them was arrested. Regarding the summons, Vannak said the court was following procedures.

The spokesperson confirmed that the five people were sued by Apsara Authority relating to the obstruction of the authority’s work, though he was not certain what would happen next.

Sath Thida, deputy prosecutor of Siem Reap Provincial Court, declined to comment, although provincial court spokesperson Yin Srang referred the questions by CamboJA News to her.

Apsara Authority spokesperson Long Kosal refused to comment on the telephone but asked CamboJA News to meet him personally so that he could bring the reporter to Run Ta Ek to “check and study the legal documents and regulations”.

Kosal advised CamboJA News to “learn” and “understand” the issue and not “ask questions on the same issue”.

“I think you should look at the real situation. You can come to Siem Reap and I will take you on a tour around [the site]. I can’t answer on the phone,” he said.

In November 2023, Siem Reap Provincial Court questioned four villagers, including a commune police officer for allegedly obstructing public work, and “intentionally” causing damage and violence.

Ing Kongchit, a coordinator for Cambodian human rights group Licadho, told CamboJA News that whenever people see Apsara Authority officials at their place, they get scared, so they would not dare cause them harm. Although, they do engage in “heated conversations”.

“They were exercising their right to defend their land and house as prescribed by the law. They were gathering peacefully,” said Kongchit, adding that the people were not at fault unless they used force against Apsara officers.

Kongchit was certain that the people in Run Ta Ek and Rolous communes did not commit any illegal act. He expected the Siem Reap provincial prosecutor to drop the charges like other cases.

He said Apsara Authority sued the people with the intention of demoralizing the people so that they would not dare to protest against the authorities. The authority resorting to the court system made it impossible for the villagers to exercise their rights to protect their land and house.

He suggested that they allow the people to build and renovate their houses by submitting applications.

Since August 2023, the Apsara Authority has filed 14 lawsuits in court, including six cases against Rolous commune residents and four others in Ampil commune, Prasat Bakong district. Four people live in the old Run Ta Ek area.

He said this was something the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should review as well as consider easing the conditions. The authorities should stop evicting people from the residential areas far from the temple, and give them title deeds.

“[The] authorities should stop evicting people in light of their right to self-determination. Another thing – for those who have already moved, the authority should have a policy to help them earn money and be part of the job market in the area,” said Kongchit.

In order to preserve the approximately thousand-year-old monument from harm that might impact Angkor’s UNESCO World Heritage status, the government started evicting a reported 10,000 households from the temple park in the town of Siem Reap in the second half of 2022.

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is deeply concerned over the human rights violations in Gwadar City in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, where peaceful protests were met with violence and widespread arrests.

FORUM-ASIA urges the Government of Pakistan to uphold the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Baloch people.

The plight of the Balochs

Despite being Pakistan’s largest and most resource-rich province, Balochistan remains the poorest. It has been embroiled in an insurgency since the early 2000s.

The ethnic Baloch community has long faced political disenfranchisement and socioeconomic marginalisation.

Baloch men, in particular, have faced systematic torture, abductions, and enforced disappearances. Thousands have been reported missing in the past two decades, fuelling a demand for justice, retribution and accountability in the region.

The Balochs have consistently demanded the Government of Pakistan to respect their civil and political rights. They have repeatedly called for an end to human rights violations, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Their financial exclusion further heightens the vulnerability of the Balochs. In recent years, the multi-billion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has been accused of destroying the economy, livelihood, and ecology of Balochistan. Such projects–often undertaken without free, prior and informed consent of affected communities and environmental and social impact assessments–not only worsen the economic marginalisation of ethnic Balochs but also exacerbate environmental risks, as seen in the recent heavy flooding in the region.

Balochs have organised marches, sit-ins, and protests for years to address these issues. While earlier protests were led mostly by men, Baloch women have also taken on leadership roles in these peaceful protests in recent years. Despite their efforts, their pleas have been repeatedly ignored.

Peaceful protests met with violence

On 28 July 2024, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) called for a “Baloch Rajee Muchi” (Baloch National Gathering) to protest against ongoing human rights violations and to advocate for the rights of ethnic Balochs.

The BYC, a civil rights movement, opposes enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the region. The BYC is also a staunch critic of Chinese investments, citing its lack of meaningful engagement with the Baloch community.

In the lead-up to the gathering, major highways to Gwadar were blocked. The district administration imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure– which bans all public gatherings, rallies, sit-ins, and protests–in Quetta.

On 27 July 2024, paramilitary forces opened fire on buses heading to Gwadar, injuring at least 14 people in Mastung. The crackdown intensified on 28 July, with security forces killing at least three protesters in Gwadar and injuring dozens more. On 29 July, police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators. On 30 July, security forces reportedly fired on protesters on the outskirts of Gwadar.

A curfew-like situation was enforced across Balochistan, with security forces taking control of every city. Gwadar was under a military siege, with locals barred from entering or leaving the city. Videos surfaced showing security forces opening direct fire, and the bodies of the deceased were not returned to their families.

Human rights defenders–including protest leaders like Sammi Deen Baloch, Sibghatullah Abdul Haq, Dr Sabiha Baloch, Hafeez Baloch, Seema Baloch, and Mahzaib Baloch–alongside many other protesters were detained. There are also reports of threats against Mahrang Baloch and the BYC leadership who are allegedly marked as a target for elimination by the authorities.

On 27 July 2024, the government shut down internet and mobile networks across Balochistan, isolating the province from the rest of the world. This was lifted on the night of 1 August. However, Pakistan frequently resorts to such internet curbs as a tactic to curb dissent, effectively denying people their right to freedom of speech, expression, and information.

On the late night of August 1, 2024, BYC called off its sit-in after negotiations with the local administration in Gwadar. Dr Mahrang Baloch, representing the protestors, signed an agreement stipulating that the roads be reopened and that arrested protestors would be released once the protestors dispersed peacefully.

Violations of fundamental rights and freedoms

Pakistan’s violent repression of peaceful protests, the siege in Gwadarn and incommunicado violate people’s right to access information and freedoms of movement and peaceful assembly as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a state party.

These violations also contravene Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of Pakistan, which guarantee freedom of movement and the right to peaceful assembly.

“This pattern of repression not only mirrors the suppression faced by the Baloch Long March earlier this year–which was forced to end its month-long sit-in due to persistent harassment by authorities–but also reflects the deep-seated and systemic repression of Balochs in Pakistan, which is marked by a troubled history of gross human rights violations,” said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalsoacalso, Executive Director of FORUM-ASIA.

“These incidents underscore Pakistan’s violent approach to stifling dissent, especially in the conflict-ridden province of Balochistan, and its systematic failure to address the enduring and legitimate grievances of the Balochs,” Diez-Bacalso added.

Call to action

FORUM-ASIA urges the Government of Pakistan to stop using disproportionate force against peaceful protesters. Moreover, it must uphold its commitments made during the negotiations with the BYC and ensure redressal. This includes reopening the roads and releasing all arrested protestors as agreed.

The government should recognise, respect, and promote the Baloch people’s fundamental freedoms of movement, assembly, and expression.

Furthermore, any economic development in the region must be inclusive and centre the rights and well-being of the Baloch people.

Reporters Binu Thapa and Suraj Thapa were attacked while reporting a protest in Prithvi chowk, Pokhara today (July 28). Pokhara lies in Gandaki Province of Nepal.

Binu Thapa is associated with Pokhara Television and Suraj Thapa is associated with an online media.

According to Freedom Forum's representative for Gandaki Province Rajan Upadhyaya, reporters duo reached the site to report on the ongoing protest of Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs Gandaki Province committee. The committee members were protesting against the province government's approval to start ride-sharing services in the province.

The mob of protestors suddenly attacked journalists riding Ga 20 Pa 3973 scooter while they were recording video of the protest. Eventhough, the reporters told them that they were mediapersons, the protestors did not stop and tried to seize the camera. They also vandalized the scooter. The reporters were however, rescued by on-duty police officers.

Representative Upadhyaya quoted District Police Office Chief Superintendent of Police Mohan Kumar Thapa as saying, "Among the attackers, four- Surya Nepali, Buddhi Bayalkoti, Prashan Gurung and Santosh Basnet- were arrested and the police is in search for remaining attackers. SP Thapa further informed that the attackers will be prosecuted under indecent behaviour charge.

Freedom Forums vehemently condemns the attack upon journalists. It is a gross violation of press freedom. Moreover, journalists reporting on protest have always been targeted. Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to take strict action against the attackers and ensure safe and free reporting atmosphere for journalists.

Journalist Amrit Subedi received threatening comments from a province minister in Kaski on July 28. Kaski lies in Gandaki Province of Nepal.

Journalist Subedi is Gandaki bureau chief of www.onlinekhabar.com.

According to FF's representative for the province Rajan Upadhyaya, news about Gandaki Province's Physical Infrastructure Development and Transport Management Minister Rajeev Gurung was published on the news portal on July 27. The news stated that Minister Gurung was found wearing non-formal dress while working in his office.

The online also quoted office employees as saying that Minister bad-mouthed office employees under the influence of alcohol.

Following the news publication and on the day two reporters were attacked while reporting a protest in Kaski, Minister Gurung said that journalist Subedi should have been attacked instead of those two reporters.

In response to Minister's statement, journalist Subedi posted on his social media page X- "After the incident at Prithvi chowk, Minister abuses and threatens journalists. How can we feel safe after such statement of the minister towards journalists in Kaski?"

Freedom Forum condemns the statement of minister towards journalists. Such intimidating statement from a responsible authority is a gross violation of free press and a threat to journalists right to free reporting.

Hence, FF strongly urges the authority to respect constitutionally guaranteed rights of journalists.

On the 26th to 28th July 2024, six student human rights defender namely: Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum reportedly have been arbitrarily detained under custody of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) Detective Branch (DB) and coerced to announce the withdrawal of their protest programmes through a video message sent to media from the DB office at around 8:00 PM on 28 July 2024. Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum are students and dedicated human rights defenders and National Coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination Movement. Nahid Islam is from the Sociology Department, Abu Bakar Majumder from the Geography Department, Asif Mahmud from the Linguistics Department, Sarjis Alam is affiliated with the Zoology Department, Hasnat Abdullah is from the English Department, and Nusrat Tabassum is from the Political Science Department of Dhaka University. Students Against Discrimination Movement is a student led protest demanding reform of the present quota system in government jobs. A total 56 percent of first and second class government jobs in Bangladesh entailed quotas. 30 percent of the total reserved for the descendants of ‘freedom fighters’. This quota has been widely criticised especially by the students, stating that it create a discriminatory system and allegedly used to recruit students affiliated with the ruling party. Following widespread protests in 2018, the Government of Bangladesh abolished all quotas with an executive order. However, on 5 June 2024, the High Court ordered the Government to reinstate the quota with the power of any adjustment they want to make. Since 01 July 2024, the protests have escalated in several university campuses.The protests was met with a severe crackdown from the authorities involving ruling party goons, police and paramilitary forces from Rapid Action Battelion (RAB) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). It has reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 250 people with thousands more injured. With the internet shutdown for almost a week, suspicion remains about many more killings. Since 18 July 2024, local media reported over 10000 people, including many students been arrested in a mass arrest spree. On 28 July 2024, at around 5:00 AM, woman human rights defender Nusrat Tabassum from Dhaka University had been reportedly picked up by individuals claiming to be from Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s DB at her cousin’s home in Mirpur. On 27 July 2024, two more student human rights defenders Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah were picked up and brought to the DB office. The Additional Commissioner of the DB claimed in a press conference that the student human rights defenders have been brought to their custody to ensure their safety, however the comissioner did not clear it whether they have been arrested. While the family members were not allowed to even enter into the DB office on 28 July 2024, they were allowed to meet the students on 29 July - only after their video message of withdrawal of their protest program been covered in media. On 26 July 2024, at around 4:00 PM, human rights defenders Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Bakar Majumder were forcefully taken from Gonoshasthaya Kendra Hospital by the police in plainclothes in Dhaka and taken to custody of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s DB. Nahid and Asif were undergoing treatment Gonoshasthaya Kendra Hospital while Abu Bakar was accompanying them. Police also took away their phones. Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary detention and coercion of student human rights defenders Nahid Islam, Abu Bakar Majumder, Asif Mahmud, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, and Nusrat Tabassum by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in an attempt to repress their human rights work and target legimate students protests in Bangladesh.

Fourteen people were injured when supporters of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), who were on their way to Gwadar to attend a rally on Sunday (today), came under fire in Mastung on Saturday.

While the BYC accused security forces of opening fire at their convoy, the deputy commissioner of Kalat in a press note stated that participants of the BYC march attacked a Levies checkpoint near Mastung.

BYC leader Bebarg Baloch alleged that personnel of “a law enforcement agency opened fire on our supporters” in Mastung when they were heading towards the Quetta-Karachi highway.

“At least 14 people were injured in the firing,” Bebarg said.

Five of the injured were in critical condition, according to a hospital spokesperson.

BYC, administration accuse each other of opening fire; govt places ban on rallies; Mahrang says over 200 people arrested

Mr Baloch said he himself was in the convoy when it was stopped at the Thana Sona Khan area and not allowed to travel to Mastung. He accused security agencies of using baton-charge and teargas shelling.

“But even then the convoy managed to reach the Quetta-Karachi highway. Here the forces opened fire at the crowd,” the BYC leader claimed.

Another BYC leader Dr Mahrang Baloch said, “Over 200 people bound for Gwadar” were arrested by security personnel.

Shahid Rind, the spokesman for the Balochistan government, denied that security forces had opened fire.

In a statement issued late on Saturday night, he said, “Some elements are trying to create a law and order situation”.

“But nobody is above the law and action will be taken against those who are out to sow strife,” he added.

The spokesman further said that the intention behind holding demonstrations in Gwadar “are clear”.

Shahid Rind said the government had conveyed to the BYC that it was ready to hold negotiations, recalling that Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti had already given a policy statement on the issue in the Balochistan Assembly.

Rallies banned

The Quetta administration has imposed a ban on all types of gatherings, processions and rallies, sealing all roads leading to the Red Zone by parking containers on major roads.

According to a notification released late on Saturday night, Section 144 has been imposed in Quetta and no one would be allowed to hold rallies in the Red Zone. Containers were placed on the city’s entry and exit points, including Hazar Ganji, Lakpass, Western Bypass and the Quetta-Sibi road.

According to eyewitnesses, highways leading to Gwadar had been blocked at various points.

A BYC leader said the administration had asked the body to hold its public meeting at some other place instead of Gwadar.

Meanwhile, a press note issued by the deputy commissioner of Kalat stated that participants of the BYC march had attacked a Levies checkpoint near Mastung and resorted to “extreme violence”.

“The security forces stopped the rally three kilometres outside Mastung for negotiations. However, an armed mob which was waiting for the marchers in Mastung city opened fired on personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC). Two FC personnel and four civilians were injured,” the note said.

“The injured were shifted to Trauma Centre, Quetta, after medical aid in Mastung.”

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder, three key organisers of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, were picked up today from a city hospital where Nahid and Asif were undergoing treatment, their family members and hospital staffers said.

A group of people in plainclothes went to the Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in the capital's Dhanmondi at 3:30pm and forcibly took the three out to an undisclosed place. The discharge process was not completed, they said.

A medical officer, requesting anonymity, told The Daily Star, "Asif's health was not stable for discharge.

"The hospital staff and doctors requested them to reconsider picking them up, but they did not pay heed."

The families and hospital staffers pointed finger at the intelligence agencies. This newspaper, however, could not verify the allegation independently.

The plainclothes men picked up Nahid from his cabin on the sixth floor of the hospital. They then went to Asif's cabin on the second floor. They also picked up Baker while he was bringing food for Asif, said the families and hospital staffers.

They took away the mobile phones of Nahid, his sister Fatima Tasnim, Asif and Baker.

"They [plainclothes men] forcibly dragged the three out of the hospital rooms. Enquired about their identity, they refused to disclose who they are. They didn't even tell me where they were taking them. Asif and Nahid were visibly shaking," Fatima told The Daily Star.

She said her brother is not involved in any anti-government activities. "They are not affiliated with any political parties. We urge all to ensure our safety."

The plainclothes men left the hospital within about eight minutes, she said.This is the second time the trio -- all students of Dhaka University -- have been picked up in just a week.

Nahid was picked up in the early hours of July 20 allegedly by law enforcers from a house in the capital's Sabujbagh. He alleged that he was tortured physically until he was unconscious. When he gained consciousness, he found himself under a bridge in Purbachal. He went to his home by a CNG-run auto rickshaw.

Both Asif and Bakar were picked up on July 19. The two wrote on Facebook that they were blindfolded and left in Hatirjheel and Dhanmondi areas of on July 24. Neither of them mentioned who took them.

Speaking to The Daily Star around 5:30pm, Fatima said that she came to know that she and Nahid's wife could be picked up.

Ever since Nahid and Asif were admitted to the hospital, law enforcers stayed there and even disconnected the Wi-Fi to prevent them from accessing internet, she alleged.

This newspaper tried to reach Faruk Hossain, deputy commissioner (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, for comments around 7:30pm, but he did not pick up the phone.

Editor and reporters at www.diyopost.com received threat for publishing news on July 26. The incident took place in the media house located at the federal capital city Kathmandu of Bagmati Province.

Talking to Freedom Forum, editor at the news portal Sudip Bishwakarma shared that they have been publishing critical news about a religious leader Bijay Bhandari.

On July 18 and July 25, Diyopost published two news mentioning Bijay Bhandari, recently changed name ‘Yogishwor Bijay Krishnamurti Maharaj’ as a fraudster for collecting huge amount of money from the general public in the name of religion. Bhandari is also manager of the Manav Sewa Foundation, an organizer of the ‘Kotihome’, a ceremony ongoing at Pashupatinath Temple.

After publication of news, media coordinator of the foundation Ashmita Poudel called editor Bishwakarma and asked him to remove the news from website. She also threatened him through message on Whatsapp to visit the temple to talk in detail.

Thereafter on the day of incident, four people including Poudel reached the office of Diyopost online. “Coordinator Poudel again asked me to delete all the news from online. I told her to adopt legitimate way for any objection on the news instead”, shared editor Bishwakarma. Three men staying in the lobby also tried to enter the room forcefully and spoke foul in the newsroom threatening the reporters Khuma Oli and Tekman Shakya.

Freedom Forum condemns the intimidation of journalists inside media house. There is a provision to refute the news in a legitimate manner. But threatening journalists, and ordering them to remove news content is a gross violation of press freedom.

Hence, FF strongly urges the concerned authority to pay attention to ensure safety of the journalists.