Uwazi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Environmental activist from Karimunjawa, Central Java, Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan was sentenced to 7 months in prison for EIT Law.

The verdict hearing was held at the Jepara District Court, Central Java, Thursday (4/4). The trial was led by Chief Judge Parlin Mangantas Bona, Member Judges Joko Ciptano, and Yusuf Sembiring.

"Adjudging that, one, the defendant Daniel has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of the crime of without the right to disseminate information aimed at creating hatred for certain groups of people based on ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup or SARA," said Parlin Mangantas Bona when reading out the trial verdict.

"Two, punish the defendant with imprisonment for seven months and a fine of Rp 5 million, provided that the fine is not paid, it will be replaced by imprisonment for one month," he continued.

In addition, in his decision, the judge ordered evidence, namely Daniel's cellphone and Facebook account, to be destroyed.

On that occasion, the Chief Judge also read out the aggravating and mitigating considerations in handing down the verdict. The aggravating factor was that the defendant Daniel was considered to have caused unrest to the Karimunjawa community.

The mitigating circumstances in the view of the panel of judges were that the defendant was an environmental activist. In addition, the defendant was cooperative and polite during the trial.

"The mitigating factors are that the defendant has never been convicted, the defendant is polite, and cooperative in the trial, the defendant is an environmental activist, an educational service that has contributed to the community not only in Karimunjawa and many other areas," he said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu have handed a four-year jail term to veteran rights activist Xu Qin, after repeatedly delaying her trial and sentencing despite concerns over her deteriorating health, and amid reports of torture from a prominent rights group.

The Yangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Xu, a key figure in the Wuhan-based China Rights Observer group founded by jailed veteran dissident Qin Yongmin, to four years' imprisonment on March 29 for "incitement to subvert state power," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch rights website reported.

It quoted Xu as telling the sentencing hearing: "I'd like to thank everyone for their care and support, and also thank my husband for his help and support. Regardless of whether it’s futile or not, I must appeal. This is my right."

An award-winning activist in a number of high-profile human rights cases, including that of detained human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, Xu was detained under "residential surveillance at a designated location" in 2021, a form of incommunicado detention rights groups say puts detainees at greater risk of torture and mistreatment.

Her family told RFA in earlier interviews that Xu is a stroke and heart attack survivor who suffers from high blood pressure, among other ailments.

But according to the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch rights website, many of Xu's health problems were caused by her torture and mistreatment in detention.

"During her detention and interrogation, Xu Qin was brutally tortured to extract a confession, and was held in solitary confinement for a long period of time," the website said in a report about her sentencing published on Sunday.

"Xu already suffered from multiple health problems including stroke, heart attack and hypertension, and as a result [of the torture], she was left paralyzed and unable to stand," it said.

Since she was locked up in the detention center, Xu has started using a wheelchair, according to her lawyer.

Xu told the court on Friday that she would appeal the sentence, which came after more than two years in pretrial detention at the Yangmiao Detention Center in Yangzhou city, where she held intermittent hunger strikes in protest at a loss of communications privileges as well as a months-long ban on meetings with her lawyer, Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch said.

Repeated calls to Xu's lawyer rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.

Trial was delayed

Xu's trial was delayed several times following her initial detention in May 2021, with the authorities citing only "unavoidable circumstances."

But her family says it was delayed due to her refusal to provide the state security police with a "confession."

The trial was eventually held on Nov. 7, 2022, but the verdict and sentencing were also repeatedly delayed until now.

New York-based rights lawyer Chen Chuangchuang, who also heads the U.S. branch of the banned China Democracy Party, said Chen has always been an extremely tenacious activist.

"The trial was held a long time ago, but the verdict and sentencing were delayed multiple times, which is a deliberate form of torture used by the Chinese Communist Party," Chen told RFA on Monday.

Chen said that one of the purposes of the authorities' repeated delay in pronouncing the sentence was to get Xu Qin to plead guilty, and that she had been especially targeted due to her association with Qin Yongmin.

According to the Weiquanwang rights website, the charges against Xu listed her participation in Qin's China Rights Observer and its sister organization Rose China as evidence against her.

Qin was sentenced in July 2018 to 13 years' imprisonment for "incitement to subvert state power," the latest in a string of long sentences for his peaceful dissent and attempts to build the banned China Democracy Party.

A contemporary of exiled dissident Wei Jingsheng, Qin was sentenced to eight years in prison for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and subversion" in the wake of China's Democracy Wall movement in 1981.

He served a further two years' "re-education through labor" in 1993 after he penned a controversial document titled the "Peace Charter."

Qin then served a 12-year jail term for subversion after he helped found the China Democracy Party in 1998 in spite of a ban on opposition political parties.

Xu was honored with the Lin Zhao Freedom Award for her human rights advocacy in 2022, and the Oscar China Freedom Human Rights Award last month.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Authorities arrested and temporarily detained Du, 48, while they banned Viet, 46, from leaving his residential area. Both live in Binh Duong province in southern Vietnam.

The Public Security Ministry’s People’s Public Security Newspaper reported that police said Du and Viet published many social media posts with content that distorted, slandered and defamed agencies and individuals – without specifying the content of their posts.

The prosecution of the two bloggers also illustrates the lengths that authorities will go to to silence critics for comments they made or social media posts they wrote in the past.

Nguyen Van Dai, who used to work as a lawyer in Hanoi for many years, said social media platforms have been full of information defending and demanding justice for Ho Duy Hai since 2008.

Hai was arrested in March 2008 and convicted nine months later of robbery and the murder of two postal employees in Long An province. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the theft and given the death penalty for the murders, despite a lack of crucial evidence and irregularities in how the case was handled.

In 2020, the Supreme People’s Court rejected a request by the Supreme People’s Procuracy to reinvestigate the case, prompting Hai’s family members to petition lawmakers over his death sentence. That petition has not been addressed, and Hai, now 39, is still on death row.

The prosecution of Du and Viet is a crackdown on freedom of speech and was carried out to serve the political purposes of several officials in the judiciary system, Dai said.

“The arrest and detention of the two individuals who posted information concerning the Ho Duy Hai case on social media is nothing more than suppression, as the information [they posted] has been available for a long time,” Dai said.

Numerous democratic countries and human rights groups have called on Hanoi to repeal or amend Article 331, along with Article 117, arguing they are abused to stifle dissent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Taliban’s persecution of human rights defenders

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

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

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

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

Call to Action

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Restricting freedom of speech

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Activist Parit Chiwarak has been accused of royal defamation for posting a critique of a Constitutional Court ruling that former Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha had not violated the constitution by continuing to live in army housing after his retirement.

According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), Parit reported to the police yesterday (21 March) after receiving a summons in February. He was informed by the inquiry officer that he had been accused of royal defamation and violation of the Computer Crimes Act for social media posts about a December 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that Gen Prayut’s occupation of army housing after retirement did not constitute a conflict of interest and was therefore not a violation of the Constitution.

The complaint against Parit was reportedly filed in December 2021 by former Phalang Pracharath MP Pareena Kraikupt, who claimed she saw four Facebook posts from an account with Parit’s name on it criticizing the ruling, discussing King Vajiralongkorn, and utilising a quote about judges that has often been attributed to the late King Bhumibol.

Pareena reportedly filed the complaint because she believed that Parit was the owner of the Facebook page and felt that his posts defamed King Vajiralongkorn.

Parit denied all charges. He also refused to be fingerprinted, requesting that the police uses his citizen ID number to check his identity and criminal record instead. He felt that there was no need to use his fingerprint in the investigation but the police told him that he would be charged with refusing to follow an officer’s order if he did not cooperate.

This the 25th royal defamation charge filed against Parit. TLHR noted that the summons was issued several years after the complaint was filed. They also noted that in November 2023, Pareena claimed she had withdrawn her complaint against Parit.

As a result of the posts, Parit was also accused of insulting the court, but the public prosecutor decided not to indict him.

The Criminal Court ruled yesterday (20 March) to continue detaining activists Tantawan Tuatulanon and Nutanon Chaimahabut, who have been on a hunger strike for over a month, for 12 more days, as the police claims they are still gathering evidence.

Lawyer Kritsadang Nutcharus said that an inquiry officer from Din Daeng Police Station filed a request for the Court to extend its detention order on the grounds that the police are still examining whether dashcam footage given by an eyewitness had been manipulated.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) noted that, when filing a previous detention request on 8 March, the police also claimed that they were still waiting for the footage examination result and told the Court that the examination should be done within a week.

Tantawan and Nutanon were arrested on 13 February on several charges, including sedition, for allegedly honking at and blocking a royal motorcade and for posting dash cam footage of the incident. They have been repeatedly denied bail.

To call for a reform of the justice system, an end to the detention of dissidents, and for Thailand to denied its bid for a seat in the UN Human Rights Council, the two activists have been on a hunger strike since the first day of their detention and are refusing medical intervention. Tantawan is now held at Thammasat University Hospital. TLHR said that she has ketoacidosis and that she has signed a document stating that she does not consent to receiving fluid or nutrients if she loses consciousness. A doctor reportedly told Tantawan that she could go into shock or lose consciousness if she continues her hunger strike. She insists on continuing to refuse food, nutrients or sugar water, and is only drinking a small amount of water each day.

Meanwhile, Nutanon is held at the Corrections Hospital. TLHR said an infection was found in his intestine, but he refused to take medication. He is also refusing food and is only drinking a small amount of water each day.

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

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

Kyrgyz activist Askat Jetigen has been sent to pretrial detention for at least two months while an investigation into his alleged calls for mass unrest continues. The decision by a Bishkek court on March 20 came just two days after Jetigen, who was initially detained over the weekend, was released from custody and ordered not leave the country. Jetigen is known for his criticism of the Kyrgyz government. His last video criticizing reforms by the Culture Ministry aired on March 15. Human rights groups have criticized the Kyrgyz government for using the charge "calls for mass unrest" as a tool to muzzle dissent.

Twenty-nine persons including 02 Buddhist monks and 03 females have been arrested during the protest staged by the ‘Jana Aragala Viyaparaya’ in Pettah today (20), police said.

It is reported that Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) activist Duminda Nagamuwa and youth activist Lahiru Weerasekara are among those arrested during the protest.

Meanwhile, at least 05 police officers have been injured during the clashes with protesters, according to police.

Earlier, police had resorted to using tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters in Pettah, Colombo.

The demonstration had been organized by the ‘Jana Aragala Viyaparaya’ (People’s Struggle Movement) based on several issues including the soaring cost of living and certain foreign agreements.

The protest march had commenced from near the Fort Railway Station and they were heading in the direction of Pettah when riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them, Ada Derana reporter said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘The reality of suppression’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daniel Frits Maurits Tangkilisan, a resident of Karimunjawa, Jepara Regency, who objected against shrimp farming, was indicted for ten months' imprisonment. The indictment was read out by the prosecutor in a hate speech trial under the Electronic Information and Transaction Law (EIT Law) that ensnared Daniel at the Jepara District Court on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

In a copy of the indictment Tempo obtained, Daniel was charged with violating Article 45A Paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 28 Paragraph 2 of Law number 19 of 2016 concerning amendments to Law number 11 of 2008 concerning EIT.

"Imprisonment for 10 months minus the detention period already served by the defendant and a fine of IDR 5 million, provided that if the fine is not paid, it will be replaced by one month of imprisonment," read the indictment quoted on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

Daniel was reported for his comments on Facebook. Daniel initially uploaded a 6:03-minute video on his Facebook account on November 12, 2022. The video shows the condition of the Karimunjawa coast which is affected by shrimp pond waste.

A number of accounts then commented on the upload, both pro and con. Daniel replied to one of the comments with the sentence, "The shrimp brain community enjoys eating free shrimp while being eaten by farmers. In essence, the brain shrimp community is just like the shrimp farm itself. Fed deliciously, a lot, and regularly to be harvested."

On March 18, three more farmers protesting at the Punjab-Haryana borders as a part of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ died, bringing the death toll since the protest started to a total of ten. Two of the deceased farmers were aged, between the age of 75-80, while the third farmer was 40-years-old. As provided by the report of Hindustan Times, the farmer union leaders have blamed the deaths of the farmers upon the toxic air emanating from tear gas shells fired by the police that the farmers are being forced to inhale on both Shambhu and Khanouri borders. Due to the tear gas shells, the farmers have allegedly been facing breathing issues.

More about the deceased farmers:

Farmer Balkar Singh, aged 76, belonged to the Ajnala block of Amritsar. As per a report of the Times of India, Balkar breathed his last breath on Monday at the Rajpura railway station while waiting for the Shan-e-Punjab Express. As per the report, he was going home due to his ill health. It has been reported that Balkar Singh had expressed his wish to go home for a few days as he was feeling unwell. In the TOI report, Rajpura government railway police (GRP) assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sukhwant Singh has provided that Balkar Singh was moved to hospital after alert.

Responding to Balkar’s death, Sarvan Singh Pandher of the Kisan-Mazdur Mukti Morcha (KMM) said that “Balkar was part of the Shambhu since it was pitched, and he died waiting to get home to his three sons and a daughter.”

Another elder farmer name Bishan Singh, aged 75, of Khandoor village in Pakhowal block of Ludhiana district, died on the same day as Balkar Singh after suffering from cardiac arrest. As claimed by the farmers leaders Bishan was associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Sidhupur) farmer union and had stayed at Shambhu border since the beginning of farmers’ “Delhi Chalo” protest.

According to a separate TOI report, other farmers provided had that the deceased was facing breathing problems for the past few days after facing tear gas shells and smoke. He was moved to Rajpura’s govt hospital and declared dead after breathing issues.

Karamjit Singh Pakhowal block general secretary of BKU Ekta Sidhupur stated that “Bishan Singh faced breathing problems in the wee hours of Monday following which he was rushed to government hospital in Rajpura where doctors declared him dead.”

Pakhowal also provided details about the deceased and his family, and stated “He was unmarried. Bishan was the owner of only one acre of agricultural land and was in debt. He is survived by five brothers and their family members. The brother of the deceased has reached the hospital’s mortuary and a decision over his cremation will be taken soon.”

Rajpura senior medical officer Dr Bidhi Chand referred to both the aforementioned deaths and said that “Both Bishan Singh and Balkar Singh were brought dead to the hospital. The causes of their death will be cleared once we do the autopsy by Tuesday. For now, the bodies are in mortuary.”

The third deceased farmer was identified as Tehal Singh, who died at his residence in Mansa district. As per the report of TOI, Tehal Singh belonged to Bhathlan village in Mansa district, and died on early hours of Monday morning. As per the report, only hours prior to his death, the deceased farmer had returned from the Khanauri border protest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No legal recourse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Correspondent at https://shilapatra.com/ Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was manhandled while reporting in Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City on March 14. The metropolitan city lies in the Koshi Province of Nepal.

Freedom Forum talked to reporter Bhattarai about the incident. Bhattarai shared that he had reported a news story about malpractices of the municipality office a day before. The next day, he was manhandled while reporting for the follow-up story in the municipality. As he reached the site, he started taking video of dispute among municipality police and local transport driver.

“Meanwhile, around 14 officers encircled me and one of them pushed me and took my mobile phone. I showed them my press identity card but they did not stop”, reporter Bhattarai said, “They also told me to behave as a journalist. However, they gave me my mobile phone back after a while.”

"I went to the local police station to file a complaint under public offense but they refused to register my complaint”, he said,"Police has informed me that the metropolitan authority has also registered a counter-complaint on March 15 and that they will issue arrest warrant soon."

"Though fellow journalists are discussing with the municipality on the incident, we havenot reached to any understanding", reporter Bhattarai informed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Re-educated and released?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Armed men threatened to shoot Rappler Luzon reporter Joann Manabat and K5 News Olongapo reporter Rowena “Weng” Quejada while covering a violent demolition in Barangay Anunas in Angeles City, Pampanga on Tuesday, March 12.

Some 2,000 residents are fighting to stay in a 73-hectare of land being claimed by Clarkhills Properties Corporation. Demolitions have happened in the area several times, with some turning into violent encounters.

Manabat said men dressed in red and white shirts barred her from entering the area and immediately called her out when they saw her taking videos of the demolition.

“Those in red shirts, from a distance, told me to stop taking videos or else babarilin ako at kukunin yung photos ko (they would shoot me and take my photos),” the reporter said.

After acknowledging the threat, the Rappler reporter left the area with the help of residents who accompanied her away from the armed men.

“I stayed at a house near Balubad Street owned by the relative of the resident I was looking for. I left as soon as it was safe to leave the area,” Manabat added.

Before this, Quejada reportedly went missing during the demolition.

Angeles City Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr. confirmed in a statement on Tuesday evening that armed men harassed Quejada and held her at gunpoint.

“Quejada was covering the ongoing demolition at Sitio Balubad, Barangay Anunas, Angeles City, when accosted by armed men who allegedly questioned her and took her belongings,” the statement read.

According to reports gathered by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, one of the armed men at the demolition pointed a gun at Quejada, telling her to stop taking videos.

“The man also hurled invective, calling the media demonyo (devil) for reporting about the ongoing land dispute,” the NUJP said.

A Japanese national assisted Quejada by hiding her inside of his residence. She was able to leave after tensions in the area subsided.

Lazatin and members of the NUJP have condemned the threats that were made against the journalists.

KARAPATAN condemns the violent demolition of a peasant community in Sitio Balubad, Barangay Anunas, Angeles City. At least seven persons have reportedly been injured after combined elements of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and goons hired by Clarkhills Properties Corporation opened fire on the protesting farmers. Even reporters covering the demolition were reportedly harassed and threatened by the raiding team.

Clarkhills Properties has been trying since October 2023 to gain control of a 72-hectare landholding that had already been awarded to the farmers under the government’s agrarian reform program after they had completed paying the required amortization. The Department of Agrarian Reform, however, later voided the Certificate of Land Ownership Award granted to the farmers, leading to a series of violent attempts by Clarkhills Properties to seize the land from the residents.

The area is populated by at least 535 households with some 2,000 families. Before this violent demolition, the residents had been resisting Clarkhills Properties’ demolition teams which have been conducting monthly demolitions since October.

Kyrgyzstan authorities should immediately drop charges against current and former Temirov Live staff, release all eight detained journalists, and reverse its crackdown on the independent press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Pervomaisky District Court in the capital, Bishkek, extended by two months the pre-trial detention of Temirov Live director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy and the outlet’s current and former staff members Aike Beishekeyeva, Azamat Ishenbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Aktilek Kaparov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Joodar Buzumov, and Maksat Tajibek uulu, according to news reports.

The court also ordered Temirov Live journalist Sapar Akunbekov and camera operator Akyl Orozbekov released into house arrest and freed the outlet’s former project manager Jumabek Turdaliev under a travel ban.

All 11 continue to face charges of inciting mass unrest, which carries a jail sentence of up to eight years under Article 278, Part 3, of Kyrgyzstan’s criminal code.

“The mass detention of journalists linked to investigative outlet Temirov Live is emblematic of Kyrgyzstan’s intensifying press freedom crisis,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “By extending their incarceration, the country’s authorities are signalling their intention to continue this repressive course.”

In a series of raids on January 16, police searched Temirov Live’s office and the 11 journalists’ homes and arrested the journalists over unspecified videos by Temirov Live and sister project Ait Ait Dese. Court documents reviewed by CPJ accused Tajibek kyzy of “discrediting” state organs in those videos, “which could lead to various forms of mass unrest.”

A local partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Temirov Live is known for its anti-corruption investigations into senior government officials and has more than 265,000 subscribers on its YouTube channels. Authorities deported the outlet’s Kyrgyzstan-born founder Bolot Temirov in 2022 and banned him from entering the country for five years in connection to his reporting.

In recent months, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press. On January 15, security services raided privately owned news website 24.kg and opened a criminal case for “propaganda of war.” In February, a court shuttered Kloop, another OCCRP partner.

In April 2023, a court ordered the closure of Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), but reversed the decision in July after the outlet deleted a report that authorities had demanded to be removed.

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

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

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

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

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

Vietnam police have been summoning the wives of political prisoners for questioning over the past week, leading one lawyer to suggest that the Ministry of Public Security has launched a new harassment campaign against relatives of prisoners of conscience.

According to information obtained by Radio Free Asia, police summoned the wives of four prisoners this week: Trinh Thi Nhung, wife of Bui Van Thuan; Le Thi Ha, wife of Dang Dang Phuoc; Do Thi Thu, wife of Trinh Ba Phuong; and Nguyen Thi Tinh, wife of Nguyen Nang Tinh.

The women were questioned about their social media activities.

They also summoned Nguyen Thi Mai, daughter of female prisoner Nguyen Thi Tam.

The five prisoners are serving sentences of between five and 10 years, all for the crime of “propaganda against the state.”

On Tuesday, police also summoned Le Thi Kieu Oanh, wife of former prisoner Pham Minh Hoang, following her trip to France to see her husband.

In 2017, Hoang was stripped of his Vietnamese citizenship and deported after serving a 17-month prison sentence for “activities aimed at overthrowing the government.”

Questioned about Facebook Trinh Thi Nhung was summoned for questioning by the Nghi Son Town Police in Thanh Hoa province on Wednesday morning.

They said they believed she had used the Facebook account “Nhung Trinh” to sign a petition calling for the release of human rights activist Nguyen Thuy Hanh, who has cancer and is being held in a secure mental facility.

Nhung told the police the account was not hers and refused to sign a statement.

Do Thi Thu was asked to visit Ha Dong District Police in Hanoi on Thursday, also in connection with Facebook but she refused.

“I’m not going to meet them there because they've invited me so many times about the same thing,” she said.

“The investigator asked me if the [Thu Do] Facebook account was mine.

“They told me not to share articles related to prisoners of conscience.”

Le Thi Ha was summoned by the Internal Security Department of Dak Lak Provincial Police.

They asked her to come in on Thursday to provide information about her use of social media. She told RFA she would attend even though she doesn’t have a Facebook account.

“I find it annoying,” she told RFA Vietnamese. “It affects my job because I work all day at school and have no time to rest.”

Human rights lawyer Nguyen Van Miem wrote on Facebook, "There seems to be a campaign to harass the wives of prisoners of conscience."

Josef Benedict, Asia Pacific civil space advocacy expert for rights group CIVICUS also criticized Vietnam for harassing families of political prisoners.

"The Vietnamese government must halt the shameful and vindictive campaign of harassment against the wives of political prisoners for their social media posts,” he said.

“Prisoners’ families should not be targeted simply because they seek justice for their loved ones .

Instead they should be able to exercise their basic right to freedom of expression peacefully without fear of reprisal.”

According to Amnesty International, Vietnam currently has more than 250 political prisoners.

Hanoi always claims it has no political prisoners, only those convicted of crimes.

Twenty-nine people were charged by the Preah Vihear Provincial Court on 8 March 2024 with “clearing forestland and enclosing it to claim for ownership” under Article 97(6) of the Law on Forestry. Four of the 29 people charged were released on bail, and the remaining 25 have been sent to pre-trial detention in Preah Vihear provincial prison. They include 13 men and 12 women.

The group was arrested earlier this month after mixed armed forces accompanied by forestry administration officials entered a disputed area with tractors intended to clear the land. Authorities fired live ammunition, used a smoke grenade, and arrested villagers.

The charges are the latest development in a longstanding land dispute involving Seladamex Co., Ltd., which affects families from Mrech, Srayang Tboung, and Kdak villages as well as families who have more recently migrated to the area. Seladamex was granted an Economic Land Concession in 2011 in Srayang and Phnum Tbaeng Pir communes in Kuleaen district.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marikit Saturay, a Dutch-Filipino activist and musician, was detained, red-tagged, and deported after trying to visit her family and friends in the Philippines.

International Filipino rights groups Migrante-Netherlands, Linangan-Willem Geertman Art and Culture Network, and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-Europe condemned the recent attacks against Saturay, stressing that it is not the first time that this happened.

Saturay arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on the evening of March 7. She was supposed to visit her relatives and friends, especially her grandmother who will be celebrating her 100th birthday on March 10.

However, a Filipino immigration officer accused her of engaging in “anti-government activities.” She said that she is part of Migrante-Netherlands, an organization of Filipino migrant workers, families, and refugees.

Despite this, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) continued to disregard her concern and included her in the blacklist order.

“At that point, she was not allowed to exit beyond the Immigration checkpoint. She has been detained at the airport’s immigration holding area since then,” Migrante Netherlands said in a statement, adding that she was detained for three nights without proper sleeping arrangement.

Saturay was also denied access to legal services before she was deported back to the Netherlands.

“She was not allowed to talk to her lawyers, nor was she allowed to receive any family members who wanted to see her to make sure that she was alright. A uniformed agent was also assigned to guard her during the entire detention period,” Migrante – Netherlands said.

A similar incident happened in December 2023 where Anakbayan – Switzerland Chairperson Edna Becher was detained and deported after she arrived in Manila. She was also accused of engaging in “anti-government activities.”

“This pattern of political repression is akin to the Marcos regime’s fascist campaign to criminalize dissent and deserves the condemnation of the international community. Further, this targeted campaign against Filipino migrant activists exposes the Marcos regime’s hypocrisy in milking profit from OFW remittances while at the same time barring migrants from returning to their homeland,” Bayan-Europe said.

Saturay came to the Netherlands in 2006 with her mother, sisters, and brother to join their father who had sought asylum in the country in 2003. This is because of the terror campaign led by Col. Jovito Palparan in the Mindoro region, where her father was based as an environmental activist and human rights worker.

Praised for her sharp and critical lyrics, Saturay used music and songwriting to advocate for the rights of Filipino migrant workers, immigrants, and refugees. She was known for songs “What Did I Do Wrong?” and “Geboren Om Te Strijden” (Born to Struggle).

“Filipino migrant workers will not be cowed into fear by these coercive attacks. We have endured wars, natural disasters, economic hardship, and discrimination of all forms. Wherever we are, we continue to fight for the genuine interests of the Filipino people, even in the face of political repression,” Migrante Netherlands said.

Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. arrived in Europe. His schedule includes a visit to Germany on March 12 and 13. He is expected to go to Prague, Czech Republic for a state visit until March 15. The agenda includes maritime security agreements, bilateral trade, and economic ties.

“This would already be Marcos’ 6th international trip just in 2024, revealing his utter disregard for using taxpayer’s money to finance his junket trips abroad. Instead of deporting and prohibiting the entry of activists and government critics to Manila, Marcos himself should be declared persona non-grata in Europe!” Bayan-Europe said.

Yesterday, March 7, 2024, KARAPATAN, through its legal counsel, was notified by the Office of the Solicitor General that it intends to appeal the decision of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 84 Judge Luisito Cortez upholding the acquittal of ten human rights defenders of Karapatan, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and Gabriela on charges of perjury. Notably, the OSG’s appeal will be handled by members of the NTF-ELCAC’s (National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict) Legal Cooperation Cluster.

KARAPATAN views this as part of the sick, deluded and obsessive form of judicial harassment by the NTF-ELCAC and former National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. against its officers and fellow human rights defenders. This case, which dates back to 2019, went through preliminary investigation and trial hearings, resulting in our acquittal by Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 139 Judge Aimee Alcera in 2023, and Judge Cortez’s dismissal of the government’s petition for certiorari that same year. Yet, the saga continues to this day.

Such frivolous yet retaliatory charges pursued by government counsels also show how public funds are being wastefully utilized to go after those who defend and uphold human rights. Instead of pursuing cases against corrupt public officials or against police and military officers responsible for the killings of drug suspects or activists, our government lawyers are wasting the people’s money for its campaign against human rights watchdogs.

This, however, is no surprise, considering the NTF-ELCAC’s policy to undertake legal offensives against those whom they perceive as enemies of the State. From the Duterte to the Marcos-Duterte regime, this is the same task force that filed cases of perjury against young environmental activists Jonila Castro and Jhed Tamano. This is the same task force that lauded police and military officers responsible for the Bloody Sunday killings and arrests. This is the same task force that is notorious for red- and terrorist-tagging in the Philippines. This is the same task force that has justified the killings and other human rights violations against peasants, indigenous people, workers and development workers.

As we strongly denounce this continuing harassment against human rights defenders, we reiterate the persistent call for the abolition of the NTF-ELCAC and for an end to the attacks perpetrated under the Marcos-Duterte regime. We shall continue to challenge these attacks and demand justice for all victims of human rights violations.

A detained pro-democracy activist and protest leader has been hit with additional prison time for royal defamation as a result of a speech he gave at a protest in 2020. Found guilty of royal defamation in two earlier cases, he now faces a total of 7 years and 6 months in jail.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reports that Shinawat Chankrajang was charged with royal defamation over a protest speech he gave on 21 December 2020 when he and other activists organised a march to the Bangkhen Police Station to support activists facing charges stemming from an earlier demonstration.

The protest leader addressed the need for reform of the monarchy and amendment of the law related to the King’s personal property. As a result of the protest, 7 activists were prosecuted. Three of the defendants - Shinawat, Anon Nampa, and Parit Chiwarak - were charged with royal defamation while the rest were charged with violating the Assembly Act.

During his first witness examination, Shinawat reversed his testimony and decided to plead guilty, resulting in his trial being separated from the others.

The court on Thursday ruled that the activist was guilty as charged. He given 3 years in prison for royal defamation and fined 200 baht for unauthorised use of a sound amplifier. His sentence was later reduced to 1 year and 6 months with a 100 baht fine. Shinawat has been detained since 29 February as a result of an earlier royal defamation trial in which he was sentenced to 3 years in jail without parole. In yet another case stemming from a speech he gave at a protest on 2 December 2020, the activist was also given a 3 year prison sentence without parole. As the court ordered that his sentences be consecutively served Shinawat’s total prison sentence now stands at 7 years and 6 months.

In addition to the above-noted 3 cases, Shinawat faced another royal defamation charge for a speech he gave on on 28 July 2022. In this latter case, he received a suspended sentence.

A group of mixed armed forces including gendarmes and police officers accompanied by forestry administration officials mobilised this morning to secure disputed land in Preah Vihear province, resulting in the use of live ammunition and arrests.

A number of villagers have reportedly been arrested and taken to Preah Vihear provincial capital. Their current location is unknown.

Villagers reported that mixed forces armed with automatic rifles had entered the area shortly before dawn, and were accompanied by tractors to clear the disputed land. Fearful of property destruction and forced evictions, villagers gathered to demand the forces leave the area. A confrontation ensued in which a video captured live ammunition being shot repeatedly by authorities as well as the use of a smoke grenade.

The land dispute in question involves Seladamex Co., Ltd., and impacts families from neighbouring Mrech, Srayang Tboung, and Kdak villages as well as families who have more recently migrated to the area.

Seladamex had been granted an Economic Land Concession in March 2011 in Srayang and Phnum Tbaeng Pir communes in Preah Vihear’s Kuleaen district. The concession led to land conflicts with hundreds of families who were already living in the area. In 2022, representatives of 131 impacted families reported that their belongings and crops had been destroyed by authorities on behalf of the company.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

During a protest held in front of the University of Colombo, tensions escalated as a group, which included members of the University of Peradeniya Student Union, clashed with the police.

A protest took place opposite the University of Colombo, organized by the University of Peradeniya Students’ Union.

The protest aimed to address the erosion of fundamental rights that impact the general population, including access to free education and healthcare.

Notably, students from various other universities across the island also participated in this demonstration.

Earlier in the day, the Cinnamon Gardens Police made a formal request to the Colombo Chief Magistrate, Prasanna Alwis, seeking an order to halt a protest march organized by several university student bodies. However, the Magistrate rejected the request.

Multiple buses carrying students from University of Peradeniya underwent repeated inspections by the police during their journey.

Later in the afternoon, student activists congregated near thr Colombo University to voice their grievances. The police advised them not to obstruct the road.

Despite the police instructions, the students persisted with their protest march. Consequently, measures were taken to disperse the group.

Subsequently, the police deployed water cannons and tear gas to disperse the students.

Workers laid off from three garment production companies marched from the Democracy Monument to Government House today (5 March) to demand severance pay. They asked the government to cover the severance and press charges against the companies.

The workers were formerly employed by Alpha Spinning, AMC Spinning, and Body Fashion garment production companies. A total of over 1400 workers were laid off by the three companies.

The workers issued a statement saying that, since 2019, Body Fashion has laid off 1,174 people. In June 2023, Alpha Spinning laid off 132 people and AMC Spinning laid off another 153 people. None of the workers received severance from their former employers, and the Ministry of Labour was not able to demand that the companies pay the severance as required by the Labour Protection Law. The workers estimated that their former employers now owe them around 279 million baht.

The statement noted that the workers met with representatives of the Ministry of Labour on 22 December 2023, after two days of protest. Ministry representatives promised to ask the Cabinet to allocate an emergency budget to cover worker compensation until the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare raises money paid into the Employee Fund by those who were laid off and did not receive severance.

The authorities reportedly did not follow through on their promises, however. The Ministry did not press charges against the company and did not try to ensure that the workers were paid. The labour minister also reportedly did not follow the government’s policy to strictly enforce labour laws.

The workers demand that the government cover their severance at the rate ordered by the labour inspection officer. They also want the government to press charges against the companies to make them return any money the government spends on the severance to show that labour rights violators in Thailand cannot act with impunity.

A Body Fashion worker told iLaw that, for the past five years, workers have filed complaints with the Ministry of Labour, parliament, and the Labour Court but have not been paid, even though the court ordered their former employer to compensate them. Many workers were reportedly also not prepared to become unemployed in a society where older people have difficulty finding employment. After facing a police blockade on Chamai Maruchet Bridges, the workers wait throughout the afternoon. At around 17.40, 10 representatives met with government representatives for a negotiation. At around 20.10, the rest of the workers attempted to break through the blockade, but were blocked by units of crowd control police.

Thanaporn Wichan, an activist from the Labour Network for People’s Rights, said that the workers tried to get pass the police because the negotiation was taking a long time and they were concerned about the safety of their representatives. She noted that the negotiation ended at around 18.00, but they had to wait an hour for a record of the discussion to be issued.

According to the document, the Office of the Permanent Secretary will be following up with agencies responsible for prosecuting the three companies. Somkid Chuakong, the Prime Minister's deputy secretary-general, will also be working with relevant ministries to place an urgent request to the Cabinet to allocate budget to cover the workers' severance.

Indian authorities must drop the charges against journalist Ashutosh Negi, who was arrested in connection with his reporting on a murder investigation in the northern state of Uttarakhand, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

Negi, editor of the weekly Hindi newspaper Jago Uttarakhand, was arrested on March 5 from his home in Pauri town, 94 miles (151 kilometers) from the state capital of Dehradun, according to multiple news outlets and his lawyer, Navnish Negi (no relation), who spoke to CPJ by phone.

Although Negi was released on bail on Wednesday, he faces accusations under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes law, based on a complaint from an unnamed individual and allegations of a scuffle with police officers during his arrest, those reports added.

Immediately after Negi’s arrest, Uttarakhand Director General of Police, Abhinav Kumar, issued a statement accusing the journalist of being “part of a conspiracy” to “sow anarchy and discord in society” through his reporting and activism around the police investigation into the killing of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari in September 2022, news reports said.

Bhandari, a receptionist at a resort owned by the son of a former ruling Bharatiya Janata Party official, went missing and was later found dead. Despite initial arrests in connection with the case, including that of the official’s son, concerns persist over the pace and transparency of the investigation. Negi has extensively reported and shared his views on the police investigation on his news website and social media platforms, according to CPJ’s review.

“The police chief’s statement makes it abundantly clear that journalist Ashutosh Negi is being targeted for his work as a journalist and activist,” said Kunāl Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “Authorities in Uttarakhand must drop all charges against him and ensure that the media can perform their duties without fear or interference.”

Navnish Negi accused the police of misusing the law to target his client and told CPJ that the accusation against Negi for violating Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes law was found to be false during a governmental inquiry 1½ years ago. A fresh allegation was filed against Negi in January to harass him, Navnish Negi claimed.

Kumar did not respond to CPJ’s email requesting comments.

Ainara Aidarkhanova, the lawyer of imprisoned Kazakh activist Aigerim Tileuzhanova, told RFE/RL that her client was additionally charged with "inflicting bodily damage" over a brawl with another inmate. The lawyer added that the fight was most likely provoked to frame her client. Tileuzhanova, a noted civil rights activist, was sentenced to four years in prison, while her four co-defendants, all men, received eight years in prison each, after a court found them guilty in July of "organizing mass unrest at Almaty airport" during unprecedented anti-government protests in January 2022 that turned deadly. All pleaded not guilty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mondulkiri provincial court on Monday questioned NGO rights group Adhoc official and four Bunong natives after land brokers and fellow villagers filed a defamation and incitement complaint against them. The complaint was made after the suspects submitted evidence of chopped trees and encroachment by the plaintiffs, made up of land brokers and a few villagers.

According to the February 3, 2024 court summons, deputy prosecutor Seav Ngy Chhorn ordered the five people, Bi Vanny, Adhoc provincial coordinator, and minority indigenous people Chen Vanna, Sreng San, Rouen Heng, and Ngin Channa, to present themselves at the Mondulkiri provincial court from March 1 to 4, 2024.

The plaintiffs, who made the complaint, consist of Ploeun Pyin, Nhev Mao, and Soeun Sam, where one or two are known to the villagers as they are from the same village.

Vanny, who was in court on Monday, said the prosecutor asked him questions relating to the information​ and evidence he submitted about the alleged forest crime and land encroachment at the indigenous people’s land in Poulong village of Sen Monorom city’s Romnea commune.

He said community residents had requested his organization’s help to submit the evidence in court to seek justice as they lacked knowledge of the law.

The evidence was submitted in March 2023, following which the court asked him to appear in November that year. At the time, he said, he told the court that he was only doing what the villagers had requested of him.

On November 20, 2023, a week after Vanny appeared in court, the plaintiffs sued him for defamation and incitement to discrimination, which he denied being involved.

Vanny asked the court to drop all charges against him because he was only providing information to the prosecutor and had no intention of violating the plaintiffs’ rights or harming them.

“We ask the prosecutor to investigate the facts of the case. I hope that the court is an independent institution, a place where justice is upheld, to decide if there was an encroachment, and if it’s related to the three individuals who filed the complaint against me and the four indigenous people,” Vanny said.

He urged the court to quickly investigate and fairly decide on the case. “We are going to court because we all want justice,” he said.

Relating his experience, Chen Vanna, who was questioned on Monday, said the prosecutor questioned him about the land encroachment evidence, which was submitted to court. He said the evidence was submitted because they want to prevent deforestation.

“I answered that I want to intervene to protect our natural resources [forest],” he said.

The prosecutor questioned whether the community land had indeed been encroached, to which Vanna replied, “They [plaintiffs] cut it and if the court doesn’t believe, they can go and see it for themselves.”

“I am not the only one, the people of Poulong village have put in a [petition] everywhere to prevent the community land from being cut down and taken over by the [plaintiffs] as their own land. We want it retained as state property, a common property where we have a forest. But when I tried to stop this, they said I defamed them,” Vanna said.

According to him, the plaintiffs are also residents of Poulong village and the purpose of clearing the community land was because it would be included as indigenous people’s land before claiming that it was “an old plantation”.

“I ask people who are competent to help us preserve the forest and natural resources. The area is a public forest, it’s not owned by anyone. I do not want that land [for me], I just want us all to use it together,” he added.

Similarly, another suspect, Bunong native Ngin Channa, felt that the accusation was unfair because the land dispute happened in the community in Poulong village.

She told the court she was not involved in any incitement, but all the people in the Poulong village need to leave the community land so that it can survive.

“Because we, the Bunong people, go in there to collect resin and vegetables. There are also a lot of cattle there,” Channa said. If 500 to 1,000 hectares of the forest are cut down, there will be no forest, she shared. The trees are like fruits to the community, for instance, resin, which is available during dry and rainy seasons.

When the prosecutor asked who confiscated the land brokers’ machine used to cut the trees, she admitted that the community did. The machine was sent to the community representative and the commune forestry administration.

She said the community people volunteered to protect the land from being lost.

“I would like to request the court in Mondulkiri to find the perpetrators, as in who is behind those who dare to do this [clear the land]. There are efforts to prevent [encroachment] [via continuous patrolling], but how can they [land brokers] still do that?” Channa asked.

She requested the government and the relevant authorities to look into the issue, adding that the​ evidence has been submitted to the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“Please intervene in this matter so that there is no further encroachment and please drop the charges so that no one is summoned again. Every day we have nothing. We are farmers, so it [the case] disrupts our activity and we cannot do any other work. I’m stuck with a bank loan,” Channa said.

According to Channa, she is now looking for additional evidence to submit to the court, asserting that encroachment is still ongoing.

Mondulkiri provincial deputy governor Cheak Mengheang told CamboJA on Wednesday afternoon that there was daily encroachment, but that it cannot be proven currently. He asked that the information be checked first because it was unclear.

Romnea commune chief Phy Ngouk could not be reached for comment.

NGO rights group Licadho operation director Am Sam Ath believed that citizens who understand and dare to file evidence relating to the protection of collective property, community or state property should be encouraged. They should not be prosecuted for any crime.

But if they are prosecuted, it breaks the spirit of the people who participate in the protection of the environment.

“It is akin to a restriction on the rights of civil society who work to protect the common interests of the forest, natural resources, and the environment,” Sam Ath said. “If this problem persists, no one will dare report problems at the local or community level,” he said.

He also called on the court officials to drop charges against Adhoc’s Vanny and the four local residents who are devoted to protecting the forests.

“I understand that when there is a complaint, the court must summon the people for questioning, but hopefully it will look at all the issues, and the rights and freedom of people,” Sam Ath said.

Deputy prosecutor Seav Ngy Chhorn told CamboJA that the court has yet to decide what is the next procedure​ after it finished questioning relevant parties involved in the case. The court needs to further question witnesses as both parties have submitted additional evidence.

Early this February, the ruling CPP also filed a lawsuit against outspoken human rights group Adhoc Soeng Senkaruna for allegedly making a comment believed to provoke unrest and incite hatred against them. The comment was also allegedly intended to affect the Senate election on February 25, 2024, according to the complaint published by Fresh News.

In the complaint, CPP asked the court to consider their request to indict and sentence Soeng Senkaruna in accordance with the law. A compensation of two billion riel (approximately $500,000) has also been demanded from him.

Political analyst Em Sovannara opined that in Cambodia today, the “justice system is only available for the influential and the wealthy”. He alleged that “ordinary people, advocates, and those who do social work seem to face the most problems”, which he sees as an unfavorable task for the democratic environment in Cambodia.

“In general, if we look at the characteristics of civil society organizations, advocates, activists and political parties, they seem to be shrinking. There is no space for political freedom and freedom of expression. The Cambodian society lacks a system of justice that gives us confidence,” he said.

In this aspect, he would like to see a return to the principles of democracy prescribed under the Constitution and by the United Nations Charter and Paris Peace Agreements. They clearly state the principles of multi-party liberal democracy where Cambodians can seek justice.

He added that if there is only a theoretical system of the policy, but without practical application, Cambodians would be affected by the injustice in a country that practices democracy.

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

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

---

Hanoi, 13.03.2024 ~

Dear friends, colleagues and international organizations

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

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

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

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

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

Bách would like to thank —

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

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

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

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

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

Yours faithfully,

Tran Phuong Thao (Mrs)

Authorities have transferred a Tibetan Buddhist monastery administrator and a village official – both arrested last month on suspicion of leading protests against the construction of a dam – to a large detention center in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, two sources with knowledge of the situation told Radio Free Asia.

Tenzin, the senior administrator of Wonto Monastery in Wangbuding township, and a village official named Tamdrin, were transferred from where they were previously detained to the larger Dege County Detention Center Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on March 3, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals by Chinese officials.

The men, who both go by just one name, were among the more than 1,000 Tibetan monks and residents of Dege County who were arrested on Feb. 23 for peacefully appealing to halt the construction of the dam on the Drichu River (Jinsha, in Chinese).

Some of these detainees, including Tenzin and Tamdrin, were severely beaten.

The dam construction is expected to cause the forced resettlement of at least two major villages, Wonto and Shipa, and the destruction of several monasteries with religious and historical significance, including the Wonto and Yena monasteries.

On Feb. 27, Chinese police released around 40 Tibetans, even as they forbade them from communicating with outsiders and imposed strict restrictions on the movement of people to and from the various monasteries and villages on both sides of the river.

Checking social media feeds

Sources, however, told RFA on Thursday that Chinese authorities are continuing to arrest more people and have cracked down on the people who posted videos of the arrests and protests that took place in February.

“The police are regularly checking people’s WeChat and TikTok accounts for any evidence of them having shared the videos and for communication with the outside world,” the first source said. “There’s severe restrictions on movement on either side of the river and no internet connection.”

The authorities are carrying out widespread, daily search and interrogations to find the people who posted the videos of black-clad Chinese police restraining the monks, who could be seen kneeling and crying out.

“People who send information out and videos like this face imprisonment and torture,” Maya Wang, interim China director of Human Rights Watch told RFA last month in the wake of the first round of arrests of more than 100 Tibetans that took place on Feb. 22. “Even calling families in the diaspora are reasons for imprisonment.”

“What we do see now are actually … typical scenes of repression in Tibet, but we don’t often get to see [what] repression looks like in Tibet anymore,” Wang said.

‘Open prison’ in Dege

The police are monitoring the monks and locals very closely, and the situation is like an “open prison as they are exercising extreme control,” said the second source.

“The monks and local people are very angry that they were arrested and subjected to beatings and torture for making peaceful appeals,” he added. “They say that if the government really forces them to move, there may be violent protests.”

Chinese officials have, however, made clear that the Gangtuo Dam project will continue, two Tibetans with knowledge of the situation told RFA earlier this month.

The Gangtuo Dam is part of a plan that China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced in 2012 to build a massive 13-tier hydropower complex on the Drichu. It would be located at Wontok (Gangtuo, in Chinese) in Dege county, northwest of Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The total planned capacity of the 13 hydropower stations is 13,920 megawatts.

Over the past two weeks, Tibetans in exile have been holding solidarity rallies in cities in the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia and India.

Global leaders and Tibetan advocacy groups have condemned China’s actions, calling for the immediate release of those detained.

Calls are growing for authorities in Hong Kong to release Lai Ke, a transgender activist from China who now faces repatriation after being jailed while transiting the city en route to Canada, her supporters and a rights group said in online statements.

Lai, who is also known as Xiran, was hauled in for questioning while transiting Hong Kong International Airport en route from Shanghai to Toronto in May 2023, and later handed a 15-month jail term for "forging" her travel documents at a secret trial with no lawyer present, according to her supporters.

As is Hong Kong's policy for trans inmates, she served her sentence at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, a psychiatric detention center, and was released early for good behavior on March 2.

But instead of being released, Lai was immediately transferred to the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Detention Centre, sparking fears among her supporters and rights groups that she will be sent back to China, according to the X account @FreeLaiKe.

If she is forcibly repatriated, Lai will be "at grave risk of persecution," Amnesty International has warned.

"The Hong Kong authorities must urgently clarify Lai Ke’s pending immigration status," Amnesty International's China Director Sarah Brooks said in a statement dated March 1. "As she is due to be released after serving her sentence, authorities must free her without conditions and allow her to travel onwards to a destination feasible for her."

"In any event, the authorities must allow Lai Ke to legally challenge any deportation order following her release after serving her sentence," Brooks said.

Mistreated in detention

Lai’s supporters say that she had been a vocal advocate for trans rights back in China alongside her partner Cai Xia, who was detained by the Chinese authorities in June 2023 in connection with her activism and her transgender identity, and accused of "organizing obscene activities."

The Lai Ke (Xiran) Global Concern Group, which has been actively posting about her situation on Twitter and Instagram, said Lai had also been mistreated while in detention in Hong Kong, saying guards deprived her of her hormone medication, put her in solitary for a week calling her an "alien," and forced her to cut her hair short.

The group said Lai had suffered physically and psychologically after being deprived of her hormone replacement therapy for two months, despite having the medication in her luggage.

"Throughout her detention, Lai Ke repeatedly requested access to hormone medication, only to have these requests denied on various pretexts," it said in a statement dated Feb. 27.

"As a result, Lai Ke was forced to cease hormone replacement therapy medication for nearly two months, leading to severe physical and psychological repercussions, including instances of self-harm," it said.

Her parents weren't informed of her whereabouts until July 19, 2023, and the authorities initially claimed that there was no record of Lai having entered Hong Kong, the group claimed in the statement, which RFA was unable to verify independently.

It accused the Hong Kong authorities of "complicity" in the Chinese government's persecution of trans people.

The group also posted a letter handwritten by Lai in classical Chinese, an archaic form of the written language used by premodern writers, in which she complains about her treatment.

It said earlier attempts by Lai to write about her experiences in the detention center were censored by detention center authorities.

'Time is of the essence'

According to Amnesty International, Lai is vulnerable to repatriation under Hong Kong immigration law, because she isn't a resident of the city.

“Time is of the essence to prevent Lai Ke from being unlawfully deported to mainland China, where she would be at grave risk of serious human rights violations – including arbitrary detention, unfair trial, and even torture and other ill-treatment – due to both her transgender identity and her activism,” Brooks said.

“To return her given these risks would be an abandonment of Hong Kong’s obligations under international law," she said.

Amnesty International said it has documented systematic oppression and discrimination of transgender people in China, as well as large-scale censorship in recent years leading to the closure of online lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex groups and social media accounts.

It said police in China have repeatedly arrested, detained and imprisoned human rights defenders of all kinds using "unjustified, broadly defined and vaguely worded charges."

Hong Kong Catholic priest and rights activist Franco Mella said that trans inmates are typically held in Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre, but that the final decision over whether to continue hormone treatment lies with the center's doctor.

"Any medications need to be discussed with the doctor -- who can approve them but can also not approve them," Mella said. "It's the doctor's decision."

He said it was unclear how long Lai might be held at the Castle Peak detention center.

"Once you go in there, there's no way of knowing when you'll be released," he said.

Crackdowns on LGBTQ+ community

LGBTQ+ activism is all but extinct in China, where the ruling Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping has cracked down on anyone displaying the rainbow flag in public, members of China's LGBTQ+ community told Radio Free Asia in interviews in January.

In August 2023, Chinese officials removed an LGBTQ+ anthem titled "Rainbow" by Taiwanese pop star A-Mei from her set list from a concert earlier this month in Beijing, while security guards forced fans turning up for the gig to remove clothing and other paraphernalia bearing the rainbow symbol before going in, according to media reports.

A month after that crackdown, authorities in the central Chinese city of Changsha removed the song "Womxnly" – which commemorates a Taiwanese teenager who was found dead in a school toilet after being bullied by classmates for his "feminine" appearance – from the set list of Taiwanese pop star Jolin Tsai, after it became an anthem for the island's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and questioning community.

On the morning of March 1st, 2024, reports surfaced alleging that Abzal Dostiyarov, an activist, was subjected to severe brutality by law enforcement officers. The incident occurred as he was taking his young daughter to kindergarten.

According to his live streams and relatives, Dostiyarov was seized and violently beaten by the police, resulting in head injuries and to his arm.

Following his detainment at the District Police Department, a court delivered a verdict in the evening, without thorough investigation, sentencing him to 20 days of detention in Shonja city. The charges against him stem from his alleged participation in and broadcasting of protests linked to the trial of independent journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim. Additional sources suggest that the arrest may be linked to the four applications submitted on March 3rd to hold a rally in Almaty in support of the accused journalist.

While Dostiyarov was not among those who appealed for a rally, it is likely that the police preventively detain known activists and political opposition. At least 5 more people have been arrested in the last three weeks just because they were suspected of attending the trial of Mukhammedkarim.

This is not a new phenomenon, as the state has been found prosecuting people who stand in solidarity with political prisoners. Previously almost 20 people were prosecuted for attending and publicly supporting Aigerim Tleuzhanova, another activist and journalist charged over her involvement in a plot to seize the country’s main airport during the January 2022 unrest.

Duman Mukhammedkarim is an independent journalist, who previously made a career working for a state-owned news channel. In 2021, he left the public sector and started his own YouTube channel, Ne Deidi (What’s said?). Known for his coverage of the events of Bloody January in 2022, his channel served as platform for political activism and critique of Kazakh authorities and institutions. His coverage on elections, activism, and rally organizing, has resulted in several of his arrests and much time spent in custody. In May 2023 a criminal case had been opened again Mukhammedkarim, during which he was already under administrative detention for allegedly violating regulations on peaceful assembly. By June, has been implicated as a suspect under two sections of the Criminal Code: “Participation in the activities of a banned organization” (Article 405, part 2) and “Financing of extremism” (Article 258, part 1). With the latter accusation risking imprisonment for five to nine years. According to a lawyer, Galum Nurpeisov, both criminal cases are linked to an interview he conducted with Mukhtar Ablyazov, an exiled opposition leader in December 2022. Ablyazov is the head of the opposition movement, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, which has been recognized as an extremist organization by Kazakhstan authorities.

Duman Mukhammedkarim’s trial began on the 12th of February 2024. The judge granted Saken Kenesov’s, (the prosecutor), request to hold the trial behind closed doors, citing the risk of security concerns. Moreover, supporters and journalists were denied entry into the courtroom on the pretext of insufficient space in the courtroom. The closure of the trial results in limited access to information regarding the development of the case.

Closed trials are prevalent occurrences in Kazakhstan particularly when it comes to political activists and members of opposition. This was quite common with key cases related to the Bloody January events, with individuals such as Marat Zhylanbayev, a government critic and leader of unregistered party ‘Alga Kazakhstan.’ His trial was closed to the public and on November 30th was sentenced to seven years in prison on unfounded charges. Closed-court proceedings are frequent for government officials accused of malpractice, including torture and other human rights violations. For example, 11 officials charged for their involvement in the Bloody January protests have had their cases closed to the public, with many ending prematurely due to “insufficient evidence.”

Almost a year in detention, Mukhammedkarim criticised the conditions in the temporary detention centre, addressing issues regarding food, sanitation, and treatment of other detainees. Moreover, on the 1st of November, he described his multiple hunger strikes, self-harm incidents, and a suicide attempt made to attract the attention of authorities to the horrible conditions of his detention, but to no avail. The international response comprises of Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement, on the 8th of February, urging authorities to dismiss the baseless case against Mukhammedkarim and called for his immediate release. This comes amidst a surge in prosecutions against critics on similar grounds. HRW reveal that Mukhammedkarim is the second government critic to go on trial on broad extremism charges in recent months.

Both Mukhammedkarim and Dostiyarov are victims of the repressive tactics employed by Kazkakh authorities to silence and suppress activist dissent, while the attackers and officials guilty of torture have yet to be brought to justice.

Three activists have been charged with royal defamation and sedition for reading a statement and giving a speech during a protest in November 2021 after a complaint was filed against them by an ultra-royalist group leader.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said that Chatchai Kaedam, Chatrapee Artsomboon, and Nawat Liangwattana reported to the police at Thungmahamek Police Station last Friday (1 March). The inquiry officer informed them that the charges resulted from a protest on 14 November 2021, when protesters marched to the German Embassy in Bangkok. The speeches of Chatchai and Chatrapee, as well as the group’s statement which Nawat read out, were deemed seditious and an offense under the royal defamation law.

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

The 14 November 2021 protest came after the Constitutional Court’s ruling that calls for monarchy reform constitute an attempt to overthrow the “democratic regime of government with the King as Head of State.” Activists initially planned to march from the Democracy Monument to Sanam Luang but were forced to relocate after facing a police blockade. Instead, they marched from the Pathumwan Intersection to the German Embassy, during which three people were shot in front of the Institute of Forensic Medicine.

At the German Embassy, three activists met with Embassy representatives and submitted their open letter. Nawat then read out a statement saying that the increased power of the monarchy is moving Thailand away from a democratic regime and towards an absolute monarchy, while royalists are trying to rewrite history so that the monarch has the power to rule the country and the people are reduced to mere inhabitants.

The statement said that it is therefore unavoidable that the monarchy’s expansion of power must be stopped to bring about democracy. It also insisted that they are not calling for an abolition of the regime but are fighting for a regime in which everyone is equal.

Mohammad Atef Daie, a university professor, has reportedly been sentenced to one year in prison by the Taliban’s military court in Kabul, according to local sources.

Sources confirmed to the Hasht-e Subh Daily on Thursday, February 29th, that the Taliban handed down a “disciplinary imprisonment” to this university professor during this significant month of the year.

The Taliban’s military court imposed a one-year prison term on the professor for allegedly covering the electricity bill of the residence belonging to Zahir Aghbar, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Tajikistan, and for accommodating Mohammad Aatef’s family in Aghbar’s house.

However, other sources suggest that the professor’s imprisonment stems from his activism on social media, where he advocated for girls’ education rights and criticized the Taliban’s actions, particularly regarding women’s rights.

According to these sources, Aatef has been denied legal representation by the Taliban, and his family is permitted only brief “window visits” lasting ten minutes every two weeks at Pol-e-Charkhi prison.

It is noteworthy that the Taliban demanded Mohammad Atef Daie on November 19, 2023, alleging his association with the “02 Intelligence Directorate” of the group before arresting him.

Mohammad Atef Daie previously taught at private universities in Kabul but was recently appointed as an advisor to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Taliban, recommended by the Union of Traders and Investors of the country.

He hails from the Piyawesht district in the Rokha district of Panjshir province.

The regional Court of Appeal in Battambang province on Thursday questioned three villagers from around Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, who were accused of incitement for allegedly posting an Apsara National Authority notice on social media.

Last year, Apsara authority filed a complaint against three residents Luy Socheat, Phan Salin and Sok Pov for incitement for allegedly posting the notice on the removal of illegal structures in Ampil commune’s Bakorng village last year. The three also urged other villagers to join a protest.

Some 100 villagers traveled by bus to the regional Appeal Court to protest on Thursday, calling court officials to drop all charges against three residents in Bakorng district.

The case against the three is an appeal by Apsara authority after a decision to hold their case by Siem Reap provincial deputy prosecutor Lay Nisay on November 30, according to the court warrant obtained by CamboJA. But, the court did not reveal a specific reason.

Sok Pov told CamboJA that prosecutor Kong Chamkhemrin questioned him regarding the information posted on Facebook in relation to Apsara authory’s notice to remove illegal structures of villagers.

“The court allowed us to return home after questioning, and he [Kong Chankhemrin] said [we] don’t need to be worried about an arrest,” he said. “I didn’t commit what they [Apsara authority] accused me of because I shared the information.”

Battambang Court of Appeal spokesperson Teang Sambo confirmed that three villages were questioned for incitement at the court but declined to comment further. She asked that questions be referred to the spokesperson for prosecutor Ream Chanmony. However, the spokesperson declined to comment.

Chea Kosal, one of villagers who came to support the three, said the accusation by Apsara authority is “unreasonable” as they had only shared information, which is not the same as incitement.

“The accusation is unfair because sharing information isn’t an offense. We are angry, which is why we have come here to support them,” Kosal said.

He called on the Battambang Court of Appeal to uphold the provincial court decision, which had correctly decided to hold the case.

Local NGO Licadho rights supervisor In Kongchet expressed disappointment that Apsara authority took the case to a higher level after the provincial court’s decision.

“They are not guilty of posting the notification letters of Apsara National Authority. It is like sharing information to their community, so it’s not an offense [or] did not commit a felony,” he said.

“[If] Apsara authority continues to sue them, it will cause them to live in fear due to the court process,” Konchet said. “It also affects their livelihood as they have to travel to court.”

He urged Apsara authority to stop suing the villagers and consider settling the issue.

Apsara National Authority deputy director-general Long Kosal could not be reached for comment.