Uwazi

On August 5, 2019, at about 1:30 p.m., more than 10 unidentified men abducted Eakachai at the Al Soleehin Mosque in Phatthalung province’s Ta-Mhod district as he was about to attend a public hearing on a rock quarry project planned for the province. Eakachai told Human Rights Watch that the assailants – all dressed in civilian clothes – seized him outside the mosque and pushed him back to his car, then ordered him to delete an audio recording of the incident on his mobile phone. They then seized his mobile phone, watch, and car keys, and forced him into their car.

The men took Eakachai to the Palm View Resort Hotel in Phatthalung province’s Pa Bon district about 13 kilometers away and held him there until the public hearing ended, around 4 p.m. Before Eakachai was released, one of the assailants threatened him, saying that he and his family would be in danger if he reported the abduction to the police. That man also told him not to return to the mountain villages in Ta-Mhod district again, saying that his activities had adversely affected the quarry project and the process of obtaining permission from the government. Eakachai reported the incident to the 9th Region Police in Songkhla province on August 13.

Journalists also reported that on the day of the hearing, conducted by Phatthalung province’s Provincial Industry Office, an unidentified man who claimed to represent the company behind the planned project intimidated local journalists and told them not to cover the public hearing at Al Soleehin Mosque. A complaint local journalists filed with the provincial governor said that the man told them the event was arranged only for supporters of the rock quarry project and that outsiders were not allowed to attend.

Eakachai is a prominent community rights activist and the secretary-general of Thailand’s Non-Governmental Organizations Coordinating Committee on Development for the southern region (NGO COD-South), as well as the former deputy leader of the grassroots-based Commoner Party. He has long been known for opposing mining and quarry projects, which he contends destroy local livelihoods and the environment, and for demanding accountability for such impacts.

The incident is yet another example of the Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha’s government’s failure to fulfill Thailand’s obligation to ensure that all human rights defenders and organizations can carry out their work in a safe and enabling environment, Human Rights Watch said. Regardless of the government’s much-advertised “national human rights agenda” and the policy to promote business practices compatible with human rights standards, it has done very little to address physical violence, the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation, and various forms of intimidation used by both government agencies and private companies to silence those reporting human rights violations.

Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong are repeatedly interrogating detained editor and labor activist Wei Zhili, his wife said following a recent visit by his lawyer to the detention center. Wei was initially detained in the provincial capital Guangzhou in January, while Wei and others were detained on March 20. He is currently being held under criminal detention at the No. 2 Detention Center in Guangdong's Shenzhen city. His wife, the feminist activist Zheng Churan, told RFA on Tuesday that Wei's meeting with his lawyer was monitored by police during the visit. "They met under police surveillance, with the police looking on and listening to everything they said," Zheng said. Editor-in-chief Yang Zhengjun and his colleagues Wei Zhili and Ke Chengbing, all worked for the Xinshengdai (New Generation) website at www.ilabour.net at the time of their detentions. All three had criticized life-threatening working conditions in some Chinese factories, via their website which focused on news affecting China's tens of millions of internal migrant workers. Zheng said Wei's mental state appears to be stable for the time being, though his head has been shaved like a prisoner, and he is forced to sleep on the floor. "He has to work longer hours in the warehouse because he is a new arrival, so he gets less sleep," she said. "He has also had a lot of interrogations." Forced confession fears During the interrogations, the questioning was mostly focused around Wei's efforts to help migrant workers with pneumoconiosis to pursue compensation claims. Interrogating officers had told me he was "stupid" to try to help the workers, Zheng said. "The police taunted him as dumb during his interrogations, saying that he clearly had a low IQ, and that that he wouldn't find it easy to get out again," she said. "Of course his parents are worried sick that he doesn't have enough clothes to wear, or that he is being bullied or beaten up so as to force a confession out of him," Zheng said. Wei's lawyer Fan Biaowen said Wei had undergone five interrogations at the time of their meeting. "They mostly asked him about the pneumoconiosis and his campaign for the workers' rights," Fan said. "I think his actions were very courageous, but they are charging him with hooliganism, which is a separate charge from picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." "Ke Chengbing is being charged with [picking quarrels and stirring up trouble], the same as the other guy [Yang Zhengjun]," he said. The London-based rights group Amnesty International has said Wei could be at risk of torture. Numerous disappeared activists Wei had helped several hundred pneumoconiosis sufferers from Hunan province to launch a compensation claim last November in Shenzhen after running out of money to spend on medical bills, his friend told RFA. The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last week called for the immediate release of Wei, Yang and Ke. Labor groups in neighboring Hong Kong also staged a protest outside the ruling Chinese Communist Party's representative office in the city, to call for the release of dozens of labor activists held by the Chinese government in recent months. Activists have also called for the release of more than 40 former workers at the Jasic Technology factory in Guangdong province and members of the Jasic Workers' Solidarity Group (JWSG), who were supporting them. At least 44 labor activists, students, and recent graduates of China's top universities have been "disappeared" or criminally detained since the nationwide crackdown on the Jasic labor movement, which started in July and continued with further waves of arrests and detentions in August, September, November, and January, the JWSG reported on its Github page. Among the "disappeared" are Sun Yat-sen University graduate and Jasic movement spokeswoman Shen Mengyu and Peking University #MeToo campaigner Yue Xin. Shang Kai - a former editor for the Maoist website Red Reference who was supporting the Jasic campaign - was released on "bail" under conditions preventing him from appearing in public. China holds the highest number of journalists in prison, with at least 60 currently behind bars, according to RSF. The country ranked 176 out of 180 in the 2018 RSF World Press Freedom Index.

Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu have redetained an activist released at the end of his prison sentence in a move likely linked to the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4. Wang Mo was among four mainland Chinese activists jailed for their public support of the 2014 Occupy Central movement for fully democratic elections in Hong Kong in April 2016. Wang and co-defendant Xie Wenfei were handed four-and-a-half-year prison sentences by the Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou, after being found guilty of "incitement to subvert state power." Zhang Shengyu was jailed for four years, while Liang Qinhui, also known by his online nickname "Sharp Knife," was handed an 18-month prison sentence on the same charges. All four men had expressed public support for the Occupy Central movement, and were detained amid a nationwide roundup of at least 100 mainland Chinese supporters of the Hong Kong protests. Xie, who has also been released, said Wang's family had yet to receive any notification of his redetention. Politically sensitive dates He said Wang was likely detained after he tried to travel to Beijing during a time of heightened security ahead of a string of politically sensitive dates. "Right now, there is the broader context of the 30th anniversary [of the 1989 democracy movement and subsequent massacre], as well as the so-called 70th anniversary of the found of the People's Republic of China," Xie told RFA. "The people watching him were from the state security police, as well as the local police station and police department, liaising with each other," he said. "When the state security police had a talk with him on May 9, they said ... it was to do with his fund-raising, but I think this has a lot to do with the climate of fear in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of June 4, [1989]," he said. Xie said Wang was last heard from in his home city of Huai'an. Calls to the municipal police department rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday. "His family is reluctant to disclose too much information [and] they haven't told us which detention center he is being held in," he said. "I think the charge in his case is pretty random." He said Wang's son would likely be the person to hire a lawyer, as the rest of the family had close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Support for Hong Kong democracy Xie also said Wang is highly unlikely to go along with official requests for cooperation. "Wang is the last person who is going to play ball," he said. "Based on his personality, I'm not very optimistic." Guangxi-based rights lawyer Tan Yongpei said he had met with Wang since his release, to discuss democracy and constitutional government. "We're looking for a lawyer to go visit him near Jiangsu," Tan told RFA. "We may manage to get this in place by tomorrow." He said Wang's redetention could be linked to the recent detention of prominent human rights lawyer Chen Jiahong. Authorities in Guangxi recently detained Chen after spoke out about curbs to China's legal profession and the abolition of presidential term limits by President Xi Jinping. Chen is currently under criminal detention at Guangxi's Yulin Detention Center, on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power," RFA has learned. His detention came after he posted a video to social media in which he calls for "an assassination commando," and to be "rid of this evil bureaucracy," in an apparent reference to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Chen also called for a democratic process to work towards constitutional government in China, Tan said. Xie, who is also known as Xie Fengxia, was detained in October 2014 after wearing a black T-shirt and holding a banner on a Guangzhou street in support of the 79-day Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. He entered the courtroom for the sentencing hearing on shouting "Build a democratic China!" and "Down with the Communist Party!" The Occupy Central, or Umbrella Movement campaigned for Beijing to withdraw an Aug, 31, 2014 electoral reform plan, which it rejected as "fake universal suffrage," and to allow publicly nominated candidates to run for chief executive in 2017. The plan, which offered a one-person, one-vote in 2017 elections for chief executive, but required candidates to be vetted by Beijing, was voted down on June 18, 2015 by 28 votes to eight in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, leaving the city with its existing voting arrangements still in place.

Reports from northwestern Pakistan indicate that the authorities have arrested a journalist and 22 activists of a civil movement campaigning for rights and security for Pakistan's Pashtun minority. The arrests took place amid calls by domestic and international human rights watchdogs for probes into the recent violence involving the group. On May 28, Pakistan's Independent Urdu news website reported that journalist Gohar Wazir had been arrested along with 22 activists from the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in the northwestern city of Bannu. The city is the administrative hub of a district by the same name that borders the North Waziristan tribal district, where the PTM says the Pakistani military killed 13 of its supporters on May 26. The Pakistani military, however, blames two PTM lawmakers for leading an attack on their checkpoint in Khar Qamar. The military said at least three people were killed when soldiers opened fire on attackers in the remote region near the border with Afghanistan. Requesting anonymity because of a possible clampdown, several PTM activists confirmed to Radio Mashaal that 20 of their comrades, including several leaders, were arrested in Bannu. A police official also confirmed the arrests. Another PTM leader told the BBC that the movement's supporters are facing a wider government crackdown across Pakistan. Roofan Khan, a local journalist, told Independent Urdu that Wazir and the PTM activists were moved to a prison in Haripur, a town nearly 400 kilometers north of Bannu in the same province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. "I don't know why my brother was arrested, but I feel it was connected to the PTM" Wazir's brother Anwar Kamal told Independent Urdu. On May 27, Wazir had interviewed PTM lawmaker Mohsin Dawar. In YouTube videos posted by Wazir, Dawar offered his account of the May 26 incident. Dawar claimed the military had fired on the group soon after it reached the protest site after crossing two military checkpoints in Khar Qamar. He said 13 PTM protesters were killed while scores more were injured in the shooting. But in a press statement on May 26 the military said troops had responded to "direct firing" at the post, killing three attackers and wounding 10 others after a group led by lawmakers Dawar and Ali Wazir attacked the Khar Qamar checkpoint. The military acknowledged arresting Ali and said Dawar was at large. In another statement on May 27, the military said it was trying to identify five more bodies found with gunshot wounds near the site. But the PTM's supporters rejected the military's version of events. Activists staged protests in several towns and cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the neighboring southwestern province of Balochistan to demand an independent probe into the killings. In Peshawar, senior PTM leader Rahim Shah told the BBC that since May 26 many PTM activists have been arrested across Pakistan. The authorities, however, have said nothing about the arrests or a current crackdown against the movement. Speaking to the BBC from Miran Shah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, Dawar said they have already launched a sit-in protest. "We will decide on our demands after our comrades reach here, but we will definitely demand that the Pakistani Army must leave Waziristan" he said. But Pakistani and international media reports suggest the authorities are not allowing PTM supporters to join the protest in Miran Shah by blocking access to the region through the only road connecting it to Bannu. The region is also under a curfew that prohibits any movement. According to VOA's Deewa Radio, the authorities also imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in neighboring South Waziristan tribal district. This law is often invoked in Pakistan to prevent protests and political gatherings. Global rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a domestic nongovernmental rights group, have called for an independent probe. "HRCP demands the release of MNA Ali Wazir and any other activists taken into custody" the HRCP said on May 27. "It also calls for a parliamentary commission to be set up immediately to inquire into the matter and establish the truth." AI backed the call. "The Pakistan government must immediately order an independent and effective investigation into the killing of activists on Sunday in North Waziristan" said Rabia Mehmood, an AI South Asia researcher. "If the reports are correct that the army killed protesters by unlawfully using live ammunition, this would be a very serious violation of international law." The violence is one of the most serious incidents in a long-running confrontation between Pakistan's powerful military and the PTM. The movement emerged last year to demand Islamabad probe illegal killings, enforced disappearances, and other excesses while taking steps to clear landmines from the country's western Pashtun regions along the border with Afghanistan. With some 35 million people, Pashtuns are the largest minority among Pakistan's 207 million population. PTM leaders maintain that Pashtuns, particularly those living in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), paid a heavy price for Islamabad's domestic war on terrorism after 9/11. Officials and independent observers agree that Pashtuns were a majority of the more than 70,000 civilians killed in militant attacks and military counterinsurgency campaigns since 2003. The conflict has also displaced more than 6 million Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. The PTM maintains that it is speaking out on behalf of such victims. But in a veiled reference to neighboring India and Afghanistan, the military accuses the PTM of being funded by foreign spy services. Military leaders have accused the movement of stroking unrest in the Pashtun homeland after the security forces defeated the Pakistani Taliban. The PTM rejects the military's accusations and says it is struggling to gain basic human rights for the Pashtun people after they have suffered years of conflict between the security forces and Islamist militants.

The suspect used a dagger to kill him, Superintendent of Police (SP) Saddar Malik Naeem said, adding that some people heard gunshot firing as well. A 22-year-old Pakistani blogger and journalist known for criticising the country's military and the spy agency ISI was killed by a man in Islamabad, the police said today. Muhammad Bilal Khan, having over 16,000 followers on Twitter, 48,000 on his YouTube channel and 22,000 on Facebook, was with a friend on Sunday night when he received a phone called to go from the Bara Kahu area in Islamabad to G-9, where a man took him into the forest, Dawn news quoted the police as saying. The suspect used a dagger to kill him, Superintendent of Police (SP) Saddar Malik Naeem said, adding that some people heard gunshot firing as well. Mr Khan's friend was also injured in the incident. Apart from being a social media activist, Mr Khan was also a freelance journalist. Soon after his killing, #Justice4MuhammadBilalKhan started trending on social media websites. Several Twitter users said that his criticism of the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) led to his killing. "Pakistani activist and journalist Mohammad Bilal Khan was shot dead last night in Islamabad. Khan was known for his criticism of the all-powerful military and its notorious spy agency," a man said in a tweet. The man's father Abdullah said his body had marks of a sharp tool. "My son's only fault was that he spoke about the Prophet," he said. "The incident has created fear among people," he added. A case was registered under various sections including the Anti Terrorism Act.

Neptali Morada, 40, a former Bayan Muna regional head in the Bicol region was shot dead in Naga City on 17 June 2019. He was on his way to the Camarines Sur Capitol Hall in Pili, where he worked as a staff of former Vice Governor Ato Pe"a, when unidentified gunmen attacked him in San Isidro village at 7:30 a.m. Neptali had also served as Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) campaign committee head. In a statement, Senator Leila De Lima said, "The obvious questions must be asked: Who killed him and what was the motive? This transpired just days after two human rights workers were slain in Sorsogon, both in the same manner: organized and merciless." "It is not taxing to the imagination to realize that these killings already follow a pattern, and what is troubling is the seeming cold response of the authorities" she further said. De Lima recalled that when Malaca"ang issued Memorandum Order No. 32 in Nov. 2018 deploying more soldiers in Bicol region, Samar and Negros Island, the purported aim was to "suppress lawless violence and acts of terror." "And yet, how do we explain the fact that these regions now tend to host this surge in the killing of activists and HRDs (human rights defenders)?" she pointed out. "This is so serious a matter that the government should be reminded that civil society and the international community are aware and vigilant" she stressed. De Lima said there are now more than 150 HRDs who were killed under the Duterte administration. The government, she said, is accountable for the lives of each of these HRDs. She also said the killing of Morada is further proof that not only poor drug addicts and pushers are the target of the Duterte administration's war on drugs. De Lima said this shows that the government is also after Filipinos who stand firm and fight for human rights.

Cambodian authorities Tuesday arrested Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) activist Mai Hongsreang, marking the 14th such arrest of activists associated with the banned political party. According to the Cambodian national police, Hongsreang was charged with insult and incitement for his activities on social media. Police spokesperson Lieutenant General Chhay Kimkhoeun confirmed the arrest, adding that the suspect was being questioned at the Ministry of Interior prior to his scheduled court date. The spokesperson also said the suspect had fled to Thailand but was arrested upon his return. Authorities told local news media that Hongsreang returned to organize "chaotic activities" within Cambodia. The CNRP issued a statement Wednesday demanding Hongsreang's immediate release. "The CNRP condemns the arrest of Mai Hongsreang and urge the authorities to release him and other activists immediately without any conditions" the statement said. "[We] also urge NGOs to monitor human rights abuses and continue to pressure [the] regime to halt persecutions and threats against CNRP activists" the statement continued. In an interview with RFA's Khmer Service, Hongsreang's wife Kea Sisokunthy said her husband was arrested for criticizing the government, but she maintained that he was innocent. "He dared speak the truth. He didn't commit a single crime. They are infringing on his free speech rights" she said. She confirmed that Hongsreang had fled to Thailand after he was tipped off that he would be arrested in May. The tipoff came shortly after he posted a comment on Facebook about infighting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Interior Minister Sar Kheng. She said he had been in Thailand for several months before returning to Cambodia to visit a relative in Sihanoukville, where he was promptly arrested. Am Sam Ath, deputy director for the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), said authorities have been recently stepping up arrests against activists tied to the CNRP. "This arrest is a threat against the freedom of expression" he said, adding that NGOs are concerned over Cambodia's restrictions on internet freedom. Another CNRP activist, from Battambang province said he was concerned for his security after a local police office called him many times regarding a gathering of activists he organized. The others attending were also activists who had commented on Facebook about the possibility of Cambodia losing its Everything But Arms (EBA) status with the EU. The EU announced in February it would launch a six-month monitoring period to determine whether Cambodian exports should continue to enjoy tax-free entry into the European market under the EBA scheme, prompted by the Cambodia's Supreme Court banning the CNRP. Another CNRP activist from Battambang's Sampov Loun district said that police were spying on him and other activists daily. He said the surveillance was hindering his ability to travel. Officer Tith Samros of the district police force confirmed he had contacted the activists. "I wanted to know how many people were participating [in the gathering] and their intentions" he said. He refused to provide further details. Ying Mengly, Battambang provincial coordinator for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) said that people have the right to express their concerns over the prospect of losing EBA status. He said that police actions are a threat against the activists. "Police action has violated [their] basic human rights which are guaranteed by our constitution" he said. Police harass ADHOC in Koh Kong Province Meanwhile, police in Koh Kong province harassed ADHOC officials who were meeting with local villagers engaged in a land dispute in Sre Ambel district. ADHOC spokesman Soeung Sen Karuna said that police disturbed his team while they were in the process of interviewing the villagers. The police asked for the team's identification and monitored the interviews, compromising the freedom of what the interviewees could say. "This action was inappropriate" he said, adding that since ADHOC's establishment in 1992 they had never had any problems with authorities. In response to the claims by the ADHOC team, Sre Ambel Police Chief Ma Ty denied that his officers disturbed them. "If [the ADHOC team and the villagers] are innocent, they should have no reason to be afraid" he said. He added that authorities have a right to know what happens in the community. Chhoeung Reth, a villager who participated in the interviews said it was not the first time that police had disturbed the villagers. He said that in the past the police told them not to disclose information about land issues to rights groups. "We are afraid when uniformed police officers are looking straight at us" he said. Also on Wednesday, ADHOC released a report detailing a decline in human rights in Cambodia, particularly freedom of assembly. The report highlighted how in the past six months there were at least 71 cases where freedom of assembly was violated by authorities. The report also noted that police and local authorities required that organizers obtain permission for the gatherings. "These restrictions are a serious violation against human rights and democracy" the report said.

Prominent rights lawyer Li Jinxing was stripped of his license to practice law on the grounds that he made “improper comments” on social media, a provincial justice department has ruled.

The Shandong Provincial Department of Justice held a panel hearing in Jinan, the provincial capital, on Tuesday after Li and his representatives filed an appeal against the decision late last month. Li has been a criminal lawyer for 16 years and is known for defending a number of activists and for working to overturn wrongful convictions.

Li entrusted two legal professionals to represent him at the panel, fellow criminal lawyer Zhou Ze and He Haibo of the Tsinghua University School of Law.

He called Li a “conscientious lawyer,” whose suspension has broader implications for the profession in China. “To suspend his license certainly causes some worry about the trend of the legal system. In this case, we should discuss how to regulate lawyers’ practice and how to protect lawyers.”

The hearing, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., was attended by Li, Zhou, He, two officials from the Shandong justice department, and was presided over by the director of the department’s rule of law investigation department.

Li told Caixin that the hearing was strictly organized — four people who had been invited to testify were not allowed to join the hearing, and Li and his representatives were required to turn in their cell phones for the duration. After the hearing, law enforcement officers attempted to search their computers, but stopped after a negotiation.

According to the Shandong justice department, Li had made a number of “inappropriate remarks” on his Weibo account since 2017 regarding cases he was working on, which violated China’s Lawyer’s Law and guidelines for practicing law.

The law said that provincial judicial departments can revoke a lawyer’s license to practice if the lawyer violates the law within two years of the end of a previous suspension. In 2016, Li had his license suspended for one year for “disturbing court order and interfering with the normal conduct of litigation activities.”

Zhou and He argued that Li’s posts did not violate any of the provisions of the guideline to practice law. The five posts involved in the case were all normal expressions of speech and constructive criticism of state bodies and functions. There was no defamation of or attack on judicial bodies or the judicial system, nor was there intent to provoke dissatisfaction with the Communist Party of China (CPC) or the government, they said.

In one of the posts, Li joked that lawyers were treated with less dignity than Zhu Jianqiang, a pig that survived the deadly 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Southwest China’s Sichuan province. Li made the joke after he was barred from visiting a client in detention. Zhou said that such comments were merely a critique of a detention center that violated a lawyer’s right to meet with a client and a criticism of an official’s illegal dereliction of duty.

Along with the other articles in question, Zhou and He believe that the evidence on which the suspension is based is not grounds for Li’s punishment. In addition, they and Li pointed out that the decision may not be in accordance with administrative procedures. Specifically, the basis for the administrative punishment must meet two conditions under Article 51 of the Lawyers’ Law: first, that the lawyer had already received a punishment requiring him to stop practicing; and second, another offense worthy of suspension occurs within two years after the end of the first punishment period.

However, Li and his representatives suggested that the Jinan justice department’s decision to suspend his license — on Dec. 28, 2016 — is still undergoing administrative review, rendering its effectiveness uncertain. Thus, it cannot be used as the premise for the direct suspension of his legal license.

“If the Jinan justice department were to revoke its decision to suspend Li’s license, then wouldn’t the Shandong provincial justice department’s punishment be built on nothing?” Zhou said.

According to He’s understanding, whether the social media posts were appropriate is up for discussion, but the posts are clearly not worth such an extreme administrative punishment.

“Under the ideal legal order, lawyers should try to speak in court and ought to be of help to the judge. But actually it turns out that in many cases, if there is no effort outside of the courtroom, fairness and justice are not available,” He wrote in his defense. “If sharp criticism is completely gone, moderate criticism becomes harsh; if moderate criticism is not allowed, silence will be considered to have an ulterior motive; if silence is no longer allowed, anything less than sycophancy will be considered a crime.”

Poet-journalist Henry Swapan, who was sued for hurting religious sentiment under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, was arrested from his residence in Barishal city yesterday. He was sent to jail after arrest at 2:30pm. Commissioner of Barishal Metropolitan Police Md Shahabuddin Khan said the priest of a local Catholic church filed a case against Swapan for "hurting religious sentiments of both Christians and Muslims" on social media. The allegations were primarily found true, he added. Before his arrest, Swapan told local journalists that he posted a status on Facebook, criticising a cultural programme on Easter Sunday (April 21) at a local Catholic church because dozens of people were killed in a terrorist attack on the same day in Sri Lanka. Some Christians got angry due to the post, he said. "Some miscreants even gave me death threats... I went to Kotwali Police Station to file a general diary but they refused to register my GD." Meanwhile, local journalists brought out a procession in Barishal city yesterday, demanding Swapan's release. Barishal Reporters Unity, Barishal Sangabadik Union, and Barishal Sanskritik Sangathan Samannaya Parishad organised the programme. The journalist organisations, including Barishal Press Club, also declared to boycott their scheduled meeting with police today.

The three journalists, Mohani Risal, Somnath Lamichhane and Javan Bhandari, who work for the news agency's English-language service, are under "investigation" in connection with the news item, the authorities confirmed on 14 May. The three RSS journalists were questioned about the dispatch they translated and circulated reporting that the Tibetan spiritual leader had left the New Delhi hospital where he was being treated and had returned to Dharamshala, the city in northern India that is the Tibetan exile community's capital. The investigation was ordered by information and communication minister Gokul Baskota, who said: "Dissemination of this report by the state-run agency, particularly during the president's state visit to China, is against Nepal's commitment to One-China policy." "These RSS journalists just did their job by reporting information of public interest" said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "It is not up to the Nepalese government to decide what can or cannot be published, and even less so to China's representatives in Kathmandu. We demand an immediate end to this investigation and we condemn this unacceptable interference, which violates the independence of Nepal's journalists." Speaking on condition of anonymity, an RSS journalist told the Kathmandu Post that a representative of the Chinese state news agency Xinhua visited the head of RSS, who then set up a committee to decide what action should be taken against the three journalists. The three journalists meanwhile insist that they circulated the report with the sole aim of informing, not with any political intent. The new criminal code that Nepal adopted last year contains major threats to press freedom. At the same time, officials have been employing an "anti-media rhetoric" which has been widely reproduced in the government's newspapers, radio stations and TV channels and which is also intimidating journalists. Nepal is ranked 106th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

Yesterday, at around 2:45 a.m., four men wearing masks forced their way into the offices of Citizens' Radio and smashed its door, windows, and broadcasting equipment, according to news reports and Tsang Kin Shing, the station's founder, who spoke to CPJ via phone. The men broke broadcasting equipment that Tsang planned to use to cover yesterday's protests, he told CPJ. Citizens' Radio was still able to cover the protests, as seen in video it posted to Facebook. Hong Kong has been roiled by protests since May, chiefly against a proposed amendment to its extradition law that would allow Hong Kong to send fugitive suspects to places where it lacked extradition agreements, including mainland China, according to news reports. In May, CPJ called on Hong Kong authorities to revise or drop the bill. "Hong Kong authorities must take swift action to apprehend those responsible for vandalizing Citizens' Radio," said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. "Authorities need to demonstrate that the use of violence to halt news coverage has no place in Hong Kong." Tsang told CPJ that he witnessed the men enter the station brandishing hammers and a baseball bat, vandalize the office, and leave, and said that the entire incident lasted about two minutes. He estimated the damage at between $20,000 to $30,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$2,560 to US$3,845), and told CPJ that he filed a report with the local police. Citizens' Radio is a nonprofit broadcaster affiliated with the League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy political party in Hong Kong, which broadcasts without a permit since its license application has been pending since 2005, according to news reports. Tsang and other employees of the broadcaster have been prosecuted and fined for broadcasting illegally, and the station has been shut down by authorities multiple times since 2005, according to media reports. The Hong Kong Police Force did not answer CPJ's phone call requesting comment.

HONG KONG - A mob of men wearing white and armed with wooden sticks and umbrellas attacked people dressed in black at a train station in a Hong Kong suburb near the border with China on Sunday (July 21). The attacks injured more than 40 people, including a lawmaker and some journalists. The attackers, who were wearing masks, appeared at Yuen Long Station at about 10.30pm, targeting unarmed passers-by wearing black, whom they believed to be anti-extradition protesters who were on their way home. Black is the preferred colour of demonstrators. Yuen Long borders the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and is far from the main protest site in central Hong Kong. In videos circulating online, the men in white went wild and chased people in black, some of whom tried to protect themselves with umbrellas and even a fire extinguisher. During the bloody rampage, the group in white who some reports said was made up of triad gangsters, also went into a train carriage that had stopped at the platform of the station to beat up passengers. The government said in a statement issued after midnight that some people had "congregated at the platforms of the MTR station and train compartments, attacking commuters", which led to confrontations and injuries. "This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law. The Hong Kong government strongly condemns any violence and will seriously take enforcement actions." Lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, who was among those injured, expressed outrage that the police did not show up an hour after he called them for help. He said that when he reached the station, a group made up of locals and South Asian-looking men attacked him and that the attackers were aged between 20 and 60. Train operator MTR Corporation said in a statement that it had called the police at 10.45pm. Trains stopped calling into the station at about 11pm. The police arrived at 11.15pm and were met with dozens of angry residents and protesters, local media reported. When questioned why police took more than an hour to respond, police Pat Heung division commander Li Hon-man was reported by RTHK to have mockingly replied that he did not have a chance to look at his watch. He also told reporters to stop questioning him, saying their questioning "wouldn't scare him", according to RTHK. At around midnight, after the police left, the men in white forced open closed entrances at the MTR station and resumed their rampage. At about 1am, riot police arrived at Nam Pin Wai village in Yuen Long, where a large group of men dressed in white and holding metal rods, had gathered. After three hours, the riot police questioned several of the white-clad men and confiscated several metal bars. No one was arrested.

Police on Sunday detained 11 activists of various ethnic communities during a protest outside Singhadarbar, the country’s central administrative complex.

The activists had staged a demonstration protesting the ongoing local government staff recruitment process, arguing the Public Service Commission did not follow provisions on reservations for various social groups in the process. They have been demanding that the commission cancel the recruitment process and call for applications again ensuring proportionate reservation quotas for Dalits, indigenous communities, Madhesis and Muslims.

As the demonstrators headed towards the main entrance of Singhadarbar from Bhadrakali, police detained Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities vice-president Govinda Chhantyal, leaders Kumar Lingden and Dalmardhan Kami among others.

The road outside Singhadarbar remains a restricted zone for any kind of protest.

The detainees have been kept at Nepal Police Club.

Authorities in northwestern Cambodia's Battambang province summoned 12 members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party to court this week to answer charges they were still active in the opposition group dissolved by court order almost two years ago. Seven of the activists received their summons on May 1, with the others summoned the day before, Thong Saroeun - a member of the banned party in Battambang's Koas Krala district - told RFA's Khmer Service on Wednesday. "I will not be intimidated, and I will be happy to appear before the court to answer their questions" Thong Saroeun said, adding, "I haven't committed any crimes. I am a [Cambodian] citizen, and I have a right to be involved in politics." Also speaking to RFA, CNRP activist Sim Lao said he was surprised to receive the summons to appear in court, as he had committed no crime, and vowed to continue his support for the banned opposition group. In Sept. 2017, Cambodian authorities arrested CNRP President Kem Sokha on charges of "treason" and the Supreme Court dissolved the opposition group two months later, paving the way for Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling Cambodia People's Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in parliament in the country's July 2018 general election. The CNRP has since reorganized outside the country, with opposition leader Sam Rainsy serving as acting president, and many members remain active at the grassroots level, voicing their political views on social media and in social gatherings. Sam Rainsy, who left Cambodia in November 2015, was appointed acting head of the CNRP in January while Kem Sokha remains in pre-trial detention under house arrest, and has vowed to return to Cambodia this year to lead the party's supporters in ousting Hun Sen. "I regard Sam Rainsy as my father, and I support him" Sim Lao said, speaking to RFA. "If my father returns, I will welcome him and accompany him home." Also speaking to RFA on May 1, Ying Mengly - Battambang provincial coordinator for the Cambodian rights group Adhoc - called the summons of the local CNRP members "politically motivated" adding that Hun Sen and Cambodia's ruling party are concerned that the opposition group may now regroup at home. "Their intention is to destroy the [local] CNRP structures so that the party's members can't reorganize" he said. Death in custody Meanwhile, Am Sam Ath - a senior investigator in the Cambodian rights group Licadho - called on authorities in Kampong Cham province to investigate the death in custody of the son of a CNRP commune chief in the province's Stung Treng district. Tith Ron, 26 and the son of CNRP member Eam Tith, died on April 17 in what police described as a fall in a jail restroom, though his body bore multiple bruises, raising fears he had been killed by jail guards. "Even though the prosecutor claims this was not a case of torture, the public has no faith in him, and there must be an investigation to examine the facts of this case" he said. Kampong Cham provincial governor Kuoch Chamroeun meanwhile denied that Tith Ron had been killed in detention, claiming the young man had died in an accident while drunk. "Our authorities are looking into this, but the other prisoners said that he simply fell down and died" he said. Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.

ILOILO CITY"Men riding in tandem on a motorcyle shot dead a 42-year-old worker of the Philippine Independent Church near one of its churches in the town of Majuyod, Negros Oriental province on Sunday (July 7). Salvador Romano died from multiple gunshot wounds after he was shot past noon after he left the church to go home on a motorcycle, according to the human rights group Karapatan (Right). Romano was adviser of the group Youth of IFI (Iglesia Independiente Filipinas, the local name of the church) in the dioceses of Negros Oriental and Siquijor. He was also former volunteer of Karapatan, which had been subject of repeated rants by President Rodrigo Duterte over the group's criticism of summary killings in Duterte's war on drugs. Karapatan said Romano was the 69th victim of extrajudicial killing on Negros Island under the Duterte administration. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)

Gay rights activist Numan Afifi has been called up by the police over a speech made at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in Geneva in March. In a statement on Facebook on Tuesday (April 16), Numan said the police asked him to give a statement at Bukit Aman on April 26 to assist in investigation over a speech that was made at the UNHRC Universial Periodical Review (UPR). The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) activist said he had read out a statement on gender identity and sexual orientation under the International Lesbian and Gay Association. "The statement that I read was made by a coalition of 12 Malaysian organisations that work on gender identity and sexual orientation" he told The Star, adding that the statement was in response to Malaysia's UPR. "We commended the government for accepting one recommendation, which is the anti-bullying campaign in schools, but raised concerns that Malaysia has rejected the rest of the 10 recommendations on sexual orientation and gender identity" he said. "We also spoke about how LGBT people's participation at the March 9th Women's March was particularly sensationalised... which led to the Home Ministry saying that LGBT people's right to assembly should be curtailed" he said. Numan added that they also agreed with the Foreign Ministry's statement in the UN that LGBT issues was not taboo. They called for dialogue between the government and civil society, he said. However, Numan said he was unsure whether the police investigation was directed specifically at his speech, or if it involved the other nine NGOs who also spoke at the UPR. "I will not bow down to these acts to harass or intimidate me as a human rights defender in Malaysia," Numan said. "I fight for all human rights and will continue doing so. Stand in solidarity with us as we enlarge civil space in Malaysia and condemn those who attempt to shrink it," added Numan, who was formerly the press officer to Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Twitter that he was aware of the issue. "Am very concern (sic)" he tweeted. Read more at"https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2019/04/16/activist-numan-afifi-investigated-over-lgbt-speech-at-united-nations/#WYTUbGl3yjdIyG4E.99

According to sources, onApril 13, 2019, the Democratic Teachers Federation was planning to have an indoor meeting in solidarity with jailed veteran poet and activist Mr. Vara Vara Rao. When the said meeting was taking place, personnel of Telangana police barged into the NGO Bhavan, Hyderabad. As the police barged in, the Telangana NGO Bhavan buildingwas locked and upto two hundred teachers attending the meeting along with the speakers were detained. In a bid to stop teachers and common public from coming to the venue, the police even blocked the road connecting to the meeting hall.Themeeting was disrupted due to this action by the police .While some of those detained have been taken to Narayanguda Police station, another set of people have been taken to the Ramgopalpet Police Stationand yet another to Nampally police station. It is indeed noticeable that this arbitrary detention comes just days after Ms. Hemalatha, partner of Vara Vara Rao, penned an open letter to Mr. K. Chandra Shekhar Rao, Chief Minister of Telangana, calling upon him to express his opinion on the allegedly false cases foisted on Mr. Vara Vara Rao by the Union Govt. and Maharashtra Govt in the "Bhima Koregaon' matter.

The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand should immediately end its groundless inquiry of an outspoken commissioner, Human Rights Watch said today. Commissioner Angkhana Neelapaijit has repeatedly spoken out about Thailand's pressing human rights problems under the military junta. On April 30, 2019, the rights commission began a disciplinary inquiry of Angkhana, accusing her of political partiality. The inquiry was triggered by comments from Tuang Attachai, a junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly member, and a complaint filed with the commission by Surawat Sangkharuek, a pro-junta activist. The inquiry focuses on Angkhana's role in observing legal proceedings and documenting rights violations against opposition politicians and critics of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). She faces possible impeachment. The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, once considered a model for national human rights bodies in Southeast Asia, has faced interference from successive Thai governments since the first commissioners finished their term in 2009. The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and the United Nations Human Rights Council downgraded the commission's global ranking from "A" to "B" in 2015, revoking Thai commissioner's privilege to speak from the council floor and present their views during council sessions. The downgrade stemmed from the government's manipulation of the selection process for commissioners and serious questions about the commission's pro-government political bias.

COTABATO CITY - An investigator in the Bangsamoro Commission on Human Rights who was a former TV reporter of a local ABS-CBN outfit and his companion were killed in an ambush here Wednesday. The 28-year-old Archad Ayao, who had brief stints as a television reporter and as a civilian writer for the civil-military relations office of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, died on the spot from bullet wounds. Ayao and companion Pio Orteza, 42, were riding a motorcycle together on Ramon Rabago Avenue here when they were attacked by gunmen. Orteza was a former driver in the Bureau of Public Information under the executive department of the now-defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. The ARMM became the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or BARMM, following the ratification of its regional charter, the Bangsamoro Organic Law (Republic Act 11054), via a plebiscite last January 21 based on agreements reached by Malaca"ang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during 22 years of peace talks. Ayao, an investigator in BARMM's regional CHR for more than three years, was instrumental in the extensive documentation of human rights cases in the provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. The pistol-wielding suspects who were also on motorcycles hurriedly escaped leaving the duo sprawled on the concrete pavement. Col. Michael Lebanan of the Cotabato City police office said investigators are still trying to identify their killers and their real motive for the attack. Relatives and friends said it could be Ayao alone who was the target of the gunmen. "We believe it was like that. Pio, his slain companion, has no known enemies. It could possibly be work-related," said Ayao's friend in the Bangsamoro regional government who asked not to be identified. Ayao was said to have survived a knife attack by a still unidentified suspect after he resigned from the ABS-CBN television station in Cotabato City. Orteza was driving a motorcycle for hire and was occasionally contracted exclusively by Ayao when he goes around owing to their longtime friendship. Former officials of ARMM have condemned the incident. Members of central Mindanao's largest bloc of reporters, the Kampilan Press Corps covering the 6th ID and all of its component units, have urged the police to immediately file criminal cases against the culprits once identified.

Chinese Human Rights Defenders - May 30, 2019) On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, Chinese authorities took into custody a number of activists and netizens in an apparent attempt to silence any expression or thwart any action aimed at commemorating the victims and mark the anniversary. Several artists on a "national conscience exhibit tour" have gone missing, feared to have been detained. Authorities stepped up online policing and summoned users for questioning on their comments about politically "sensitive" topics, like activist Zhou Weilin, who though released has had his phone and computer confiscated. Activist and former participant in the 1989 protests, Wang Debang, was also summoned for questioning and interrogated about his plans for the anniversary The government's pre-emptive strikes against anyone trying to mark the 30thAnniversary had started in early May. So far, we have documented a number of cases involving individuals either detained or forced into disappearance, including forced travel, in connection to the anniversary. CHRD urges the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release them. This year's pre-June 4thcrackdown continues a 30-year long campaign by the Chinese government to try to erase the memory and rewrite the history of the bloody military suppression of peaceful unarmed protesters and residents of Beijing and other cities on June 3-4, 1989. The Chinese government has systematically curtailed citizen's exercise of their rights to freedom of expression, information, press, peaceful assembly, and association in discussing or commemorating or obtaining information about the 1989 movement and Tiananmen Massacre. Against tremendous pressure and personal risk, many Chinese have spoken up and kept the Tiananmen memories alive. In April, Chengdu authorities convicted four activists of "picking quarrels" after holding them for three-years in pre-trial detention on "endangering state security" charges for their role in producing and sharing photos online of a wine label referring to June 4th 1989 to mark the 27th anniversary in 2016. In November 2018, a Zhuhai court sentenced activist Li Xiaoling to three years in prison, suspended for five years, after she shared a photo of her holding a sign in Tiananmen Square to mark the anniversary in 2017. Each year, around this time, the government has taken strict measures to silence its critics and prevent any public expression of mourning. These measures include taking activists on "forced travel" putting them under house arrest, or surveillance, and censoring words on the Internet like "Tiananmen" "June 4th" or "massacre." The government has also targeted leaders and participants in the 1989 movement and subjected them to harsh persecution. One example is Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, who died in 2017 in police custody while serving an 11-year sentence. Several are currently incarcerated for their post-1989 advocacy for human rights, rule of law, and democratic reforms. We have documented 19 cases involving 1989 leaders and participants currently in detention or imprisoned in China for their post-Tiananmen activism. Since early May, authorities have detained, disappeared or forced to travel several Chinese apparently in connection to the approaching 30thanniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Additionally, several others have been taken in for questioning or put under de facto illegal house arrest. Below is a list of the cases we have tracked: 18 individuals who have been detained/disappeared/forced to travel; and 9 individuals known to have been questioned or put under house arrest, for a total of 27 individuals known to be affected, though the true number is likely higher.

Authorities in the central coastal province of Ninh Thuan have imposed an administrative fine of VND7.5 million ($320) on local high school teacher Dang Nguyen Triet for allegation of "disseminating, store, use information on a Facebook account with the aim to tell lies, make false accusation, hurt the credibility of the Party and the state." The police acted under the request of the province's Information and Propaganda Department. The move was made against the teacher of Ton Duc Thang high school in Ninh Hai district after he published three statuses on his Facebook account. In the first one, he shared an article by Mr. Duong Quoc Chinh, which referred to a scandal involving a Party-appointed monk of a Party-approved temple that induced followers to pay big sums of money with the promise to get rid of wandering souls wanting to harm them. In the second status, Triet shared an article by Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Chu, which was about the well-reported [by both state media and citizen media] shortcomings relating to the China-built Cat Linh " Ha Dong rail line. In the latest status, the teacher expressed doubt about the government's funds which have a mission to help the poor. "I really want to [donate to these funds], but I cannot trust them- Because I don't know for sure where the money goes" Mr. Triet wrote. Previously, on April 10, 2019, Mr. Triet posted on Facebook that the Ninh Thuan police had threatened students for daring pick up rubbish on the seashore without permission. Mr. Triet called on the police to stop terrorizing the students, and as he was the person who encouraged the students to clean the environment if the police took issue with that, they should work with him.

Authorities detained seven people on July 9 and July 10 for expressing their condolences and support for murdered political commentator Kem Ley, while people marking the third anniversary of his killing at the site of his murder in Phnom Penh were surrounded by police. These detentions mark the continuation of a heavy-handed crackdown by authorities on Cambodian's right to free expression and assembly. This morning, three activists were detained outside Caltex Bokor petrol station in Phnom Penh " the location of Kem Ley's murder on July 10, 2016 " after they joined other youth activists, union leaders and civil society members to mark the anniversary. The detainees included environmental activists Chum Hout and Chum Hour. Other activists were not allowed to lay floral wreaths at the petrol station, with dozens of armed police crowding and harassing them while they peacefully drank coffees inside the station. Boeung Kak activist Nget Khun was surrounded as soon as she arrived at the Caltex Bokor station and was physically escorted away by security forces, while students, unionists, youth activists and journalists were pushed and surrounded by at least 50 mixed security forces. Yesterday, former student activist Kong Raiya and three family members were arrested by police for allegedly inciting social chaos. While the three family members are still in police custody, Raiya was taken to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for questioning. He was previously arrested in August 2015 and convicted for "incitement to commit a felony" in relation to a Facebook post of his that called for a "colour revolution" - a term the government commonly uses to characterise peaceful movements as acts of violent revolt. On 10 July 2016, Kem Ley, a respected political commentator and activist, was shot in broad daylight as he sipped his morning coffee at Caltex Bokor. Authorities arrested a former soldier, Oeuth Ang, who was convicted on March 2017 and sentenced to life in prison following an investigation and trial that were widely criticised by international and local observers as inadequate and insufficient. Fearing for her family's safety, Ley's wife, Bou Rachana, was granted asylum in Australia along with her five sons. UPDATE: On 10 July 2019, some of the seven detained, Kung Raiya, 28, and Suong Neak Poan,were charged for "incitement to commit a felony" based on Cambodia's criminal code.

The wife of an Australian man detained in China since January has been slapped with a travel ban, stopping her from leaving the country. Yang Hengjun, a 53-year-old Chinese-born writer, was detained in the southern city of Guangzhou earlier in the year after flying in from New York. His wife Yuan Xiaoliang, who is a permanent resident of Australia, was questioned by Chinese authorities at the weekend after unsuccessfully trying to leave the country. It is understood she is subject to an exit ban but was not detained. The foreign minister, Marise Payne, said Australia had been regularly raising Dr Yang's case with China at senior levels. "We have requested his case be treated fairly, transparently, and expeditiously" Senator Payne said on Monday. The minister said the Australian continued to have consular access, and asked that Dr Yang be granted immediate access to his lawyers. "Australia has asked for clarification regarding the reasons for his detention" Senator Payne said. "And we have said that if he is being detained purely for his political views then he should be released." Ms Yuan is not an Australian citizen, so has no right to consular access, but it is understood Australia has asked Chinese authorities she be allowed to travel to Australia. Dr Yang has been an Australian citizen since 2002. He had been living in New York as a visiting scholar at Columbia University, before leaving for Guangzhou on January 18.

On July 18, 2019, the Philippine National Police filed a complaint alleging incitement to sedition, libel, cyber libel, and obstruction of justice against Vice President Leni Robredo and 35 other people. Robredo was elected independently of President Rodrigo Duterte and leads the Liberal Party, the party of former president Benigno Aquino III. Concerned governments and donors should press the Duterte administration to end its persecution of critics of its murderous "war on drugs" Human Rights Watch said. "The preposterous complaint against the vice president and the others is a transparent attempt to harass and silence critics of President Duterte's bloody "drug war,'" said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Threatening criminal charges against the vice president, outspoken bishops, and rights lawyers suggests that Duterte's egregious human rights record is catching up with him." Under Article 142 of the Philippines penal code, a conviction for incitement to sedition carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison. The complaint was brought against four Catholic bishops and three priests who have become increasingly critical of the Duterte administration, and a former education secretary and Lasallian brother, Armin Luistro. Others named were Chel Diokno, the president of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), and a human rights lawyer and FLAG official, Theodore Te. FLAG has assisted families of victims of "drug war" killings. Other members and officials of the Liberal Party were named, including Senators Risa Hontiveros and Leila de Lima, and the party's full senatorial slate in the May elections. Police filed the complaint after Peter Joemel Advincula, an admitted drug dealer, alleged that Robredo and others were plotting Duterte's ouster. In a video that Advincula claims to have filmed as part of the plot, a hooded man is shown accusing Duterte, his family, and close associates of links to the illicit drug trade. The Duterte administration had earlier denounced the allegation, calling Advincula's statement unreliable. The complaint accused the 36 people of "spread[ing] lies against the President, his family, and close associates, making them to appear as illegal drug trade protectors and how they earned staggering amounts of money." The Duterte administration has previously targeted political opposition figures and critics of the "drug war" Human Rights Watch said. In February 2017, it accused Senator de Lima of involvement in the drug trade. The accusation was based entirely on the testimony of convicted drug dealers that Human Rights Watch believes are baseless but later served as the grounds for her arrest and continued police detention. The government has likewise filed sedition charges against a former senator and Duterte critic, Antonio Trillanes IV, one of those named in the recent complaint. The government has brought criminal charges against activists critical of the "drug war." It has also carried out a campaign in mainstream media and social media to harass, vilify, and intimidate human rights defenders, clergy, and journalists, most notably the popular news website Rappler and its editor, Maria Ressa. It has accused many of these people of involvement with the communist insurgency. Criticism of the administration centers on the "drug war" killings that began soon after Duterte became president in June 2016. Since then, police and police-backed gunmen have summarily executed thousands of alleged drug dealers and users in mainly poor urban communities across the Philippines. The police have said they have killed more than 6,600 people who "fought back" in the anti-drug campaign, while estimates by domestic rights groups put the number executed at more than 27,000. In response to the situation, the United Nations Human Rights Council passed a resolution on July 11, calling on the UN human rights office to present a comprehensive report on human rights in the Philippines in June 2020. "The sedition complaint looks like little more than a kneejerk reaction to the UN Human Rights Council's resolution on the Philippines" Adams said. "Friends of the Philippines should not stay silent when the administration retaliates against those promoting respect for human rights in the country."

“You are from the press, you are not allowed,” a local Kashmiri news editor says Indian security forces told him yesterday at one of the dozens of checkpoints set up across the region.

Journalists aren’t able to report, it’s hard to move around, and many have been restricted from shooting videos or taking photographs, the journalist told CPJ via a messaging app. He is the only journalist that CPJ has been able to reach on the ground in Kashmir since the near total communications blackout in the region began on August 4. We are withholding his name for security reasons. “I fear that they will arrest journalists, especially those who will report what is happening,” he said.

What is happening is that the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken measures to toss constitutional provisions that underpinned Kashmir’s agreement to join India 72 years ago, removing the legal framework supporting its limited autonomous rule. The decision in the world’s largest democracy was made without asking the people of Kashmir—or even telling them. Authorities have set up military-manned checkpoints and concertina wire throughout the city of Srinagar. They’ve arrested key local political figures, according to news reports, but since they have also cut off any and all forms of communication, including landline phones, people in the region have no easy way, or any way at all, to find out.

India has had plenty of practice blocking communications, having frequently unplugged the internet in Kashmir and elsewhere, according to the Software Freedom Law Centre. But the move is only likely to exacerbate fear and frustration among Kashmiri people, who have long fought for self-determination. As reports of protests, injuries, and casualties trickle out, increasing the environment of uncertainty, accurate and verified information from Kashmir is crucial.

Over the past few days, we have attempted to reach any and all contacts we have in the region to get a better understanding via phone calls, emails, and messaging services, with little luck. One wire service reporter based in New Delhi told CPJ that photojournalists in Kashmir were having difficulty sending photos, so they have loaded them on flash drives and given them to people flying out of the region. He spoke on condition of anonymity given company policy. The Telegraph’s Srinagar reporter, Muzaffar Raina, reported that he typed out his reports on his computer, took screenshots, and sent them on a flash drive to New Delhi, from where they were transmitted to the newspaper’s office in Kolkata.

At CPJ we have had to largely rely on accounts of journalists who have left the region, aside from the one editor we were able to reach on the ground. Here is what the journalists told us:

The local news editor cited above, messaging with CPJ today:

I along with a few other journalists were thrashed by police on August 6th in downtown Srinagar near Khanyar after one of the photographers had clicked a photo of the barricade. They also took a photo of one of our ID cards, snatched cameras and phones, deleted photos and then also clicked photo of the vehicle plate.

And the same editor messaging with CPJ on August 6:

Hundreds of arrests are being made here and the communication is jammed. I guess the state would be keen on looking at what information goes out. I am writing several stories using prohibited network and I guess that could become an issue in a day or two. So please do take care of things if anything happens.

Freelance reporter Adnan Bhat, on a call over messaging app today from New Delhi, after leaving Kashmir:

Very few newspapers have published, but mostly being circulated late at night. Last night I saw copies of Greater Kashmir and Kashmir Uzma. Greater Kashmir, which usually comes out with 30-odd pages, is only printing five to six pages. Journalists had gone to the District Magistrate's office for curfew pass but they were asked to come back later. Even government officials are confused as it is not officially a curfew. In fact, it is easier to move around without a press card. If you tell the security personnel that you are a journalist, they try to stop you.

Ahmer Khan, a freelance reporter, told CPJ today on a call over messaging app, after leaving Kashmir:

When I tried to move around in Srinagar, I was stopped at barricades and abused by the security forces. I decided not to argue and took another route. Local journalists are not reporting because they are being constantly harassed.

The following are excerpts from published reports by journalists:

Deputy editor Muzamil Jaleel and reporters Bashaarat Masood and Adil Akhzer, Indian Express, yesterday:

For the past two days, the Indian Express reporters have been holed up in their office from where they walk around to meet residents and then return. In the office building itself, dozens of policemen have moved in, the corridors their temporary shelter … The press isn’t welcome. Most of the TV crew that have flown in are parked in a 1-sq-km area of Zero Bridge [a historical bridge connecting the Rajbagh and Sonwar neighborhoods] in the city. There is some easing of security here, on the road to the airport and the Rajbagh-Jawaharnagar stretch [neighborhoods in southern part of city] — this is the one that visiting TV cameras film. Elsewhere, roads are barricaded with spools of concertina wire and regular checkpoints with police and armed paramilitary personnel on patrol.”

Muzaffar Raina, The Telegraph, today:

The “curfew” in large areas means reporters have little freedom to move. The crushing information blockade, with mobile and landline phones shut down and Internet suspended, means they have no way to send their stories. The authorities have not issued curfew passes to journalists because officially there is no curfew.

In the Jammu region, where section 144, which restricts public meetings, is also imposed, journalists told CPJ there are restrictions on the media, though not as severe as in Kashmir valley.

Anuradha Basin, editor of Kashmir Times, told CPJ via messaging app and email yesterday from Jammu:

Within the Jammu region mobile data, and mobile communication was suspended and movement of journalists was restricted except for in the cities of Jammu, Samba, and Kathua ... Newspaper distributors have been stopped in some areas, particularly north of Jammu city.

Raqib Hameed Naik, reporter for the U.S.-based The Globe Post said in a call today over messaging app:

While journalists in some cities of Jammu are not facing major restriction, the same can't be said of Kishtwar and Doda districts in Chenab Valley. Some journalists here are being stopped and not allowed to perform professional duties by the security forces … Journalists in north and south Kashmir are facing the maximum brunt. They usually email their stories as they live in faraway places. In absence of internet, you can’t expect them to travel to Srinagar every day to file their stories. This is directly impacting the newspapers which are completely now dependent on Delhi-based agencies like IANS and PTI for news stories.

CPJ’s WhatsApp, text messages, and email seeking comment from police in Srinagar, the Home Ministry and the Information and Broadcast Ministry were not immediately returned.

Ethnic Mongolian activist Xinna has long campaigned for the rights of Mongolian farmers and herders who complain of discrimination and land appropriation by Chinese officials and companies in the northern region of Inner Mongolia. Like many rights activists and persistent petitioners, she has herself been targeted for retaliation by the authorities. She spoke to RFA's Mandarin Service about her treatment at the hands of plainclothes police while helping herders from Zaruud Banner to pursue an official complaint. "On April 1, I and three rights defenders from Tongliao city in Zaruud Banner were writing our petitioning materials and got tired," Xinna said. I went to take a walk around the park, and they went with me," she said. "The police normally assigned to me were very close this time, and I told them to keep their distance, and not to frighten [the people with me], but they wouldn't listen. "So I took out my phone and started filming them, and one of them picked up a stone and was going to hit me with it," Xinna said. "I dodged out of the way, and then I really laid into him, asking him his name. When I got to the western gate of the park I looked behind me and saw that they were following me again, so I took out my phone to take photos of them," she said. "Then he snatched my phone out of my hand and smashed it on the ground." 'They wouldn't come out' Xinna said she immediately reported the case to the local police. "I called three times, but they wouldn't come out," she said. "By the time I got home, my son already knew, and he called the police again, and officers from the police station came over and said that it was muddle-headed of me to have called the police." "That guy didn't show up today. They had swapped him for a different plainclothes officer." Xinna's son Uiles said the officer had also shoved and beaten his mother. "It was a policeman who snatched away my mother's cell phone and broke it," he said. "They shoved her, hit her, snatched her cell phone, and then threw it on the ground. They did this even with the herders standing next to her filming it." Calls to Xinna's local police station rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday. Clashes common Ethnic Mongolians, who make up almost 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's population of 23 million, increasingly complain of widespread environmental destruction and unfair development policies in the region. Clashes between Chinese state-backed mining or forestry companies and herding communities are common in the region, which borders the independent country of Mongolia. But those who complain about the loss of their grazing lands are frequently targeted for harassment, beatings, and detention by the authorities.

A Myanmar court on Friday denied bail for a renowned filmmaker and human rights activist sued by a government military officer for allegedly insulting and defaming the armed forces in a Facebook post, sending him to Yangon's notorious Insein Prison until his next court appearance in late April, his attorney said. Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who is the founder of Myanmar's Human Rights, Human Dignity International Film Festival, has been charged under Article 505(a) of Myanmar's Penal Code and Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Act for writing Facebook posts critical of the armed forces, specifically the political clout they are guaranteed by the country's 2008 constitution written by a military junta. Defense lawyer Robert San Aung told RFA's Myanmar Service that his client was refused bail during his first hearing at Insein Township Court. "The charge [under Article 505(a)] is not entitled to bail according to the Penal Code" said the prominent legal activist and human rights attorney. "That's why he was denied bail. He was taken to Insein Prison right away." Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi should be granted bail because of poor health, he said, adding that he would discuss with his client whether an appeal should be submitted on medical grounds. The filmmaker suffers from liver cancer, and had part of his liver removed three months ago, the online journal The Irrawaddy said. Robert San Aung said that even though Article 505(a) is a non-bailable offense, the judge could exercise his freedom to decide whether to grant bail in this specific case. Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi's next hearing is scheduled for April 25, Robert San Aung said. 'Influence by the plaintiff' Myint Kyaw, joint secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, said that the plaintiff could influence a decision for Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi to be denied bail despite his health issues, because he is a well-known critic of the government military. "Most cases under Article 505(a) usually are denied bail, but he has health issues, and denying bail could mean there might be some influence by the plaintiff" he told RFA. "They might want to handle the case firmly. That could be the reason for denying bail." Lieutenant Colonel Lin Tun from the Yangon Region Military Command filed a lawsuit against the filmmaker for defamation via social media under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law in late March, followed by another case he filed days later under non-bailable Article 505(a) of Myanmar's Penal Code. Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law prohibits use of the telecom network to defame people and carries a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine. Section 505(a) criminalizes the circulation of statements and reports with the intent to cause officers or soldiers in the country's armed forces to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in their duties. Both charges carry a maximum two-year jail sentence. "We can say that he is one of the critics of the Tatmataw [Myanmar military] and is on the watch list" Myint Kyaw said. "What I mean is this is not an accidental case, and it looks like he was being watched on account of a mistake." "I view this as a threat' Myanmar journalist and political activist Thiha Thway said the court's refusal to grant bail does not bode well for those who work in Myanmar's creative industries. "I view this as a threat, a restriction, and some kind of pressure on freedom of expression, not only for Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, who is well known on social media for making political comments, but also for media personnel" he said. Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi told RFA earlier that he had learned a new legal action had been brought by the military against him for defaming the army in his Facebook comments between Feb. 15 and March 22 just after he had given a statement at the police station on April 2 on a previous charge under Section 66(d). There have been 53 cases filed under Article 66(d) and 31 cases filed under Section 505 in the past year, Myint Kyaw told RFA in early February. Myanmar journalists and domestic and international rights groups have called on the civilian government of leader Aung San Suu Kyi to repeal vaguely worded laws such as Article 66(d), which have increasingly been used by those in power, including the military, during the current administration to silence their critics.

Authorities in Vietnam's northern province of Bac Ninh have arrested local anti-corruption campaigner Nguyen Viet Bang for his denunciations against senior bank officials, Defend the Defenders has learned. On May 13, the Security Investigation Agency of the Bac Ninh province's Police Department arrested him and conducted a house search of his private residence in Bac Ninh city. According to Hanoi-based lawyer Ha Huy Son, who participates in many political cases, said Mr. Bang, 60, is likely charged with "abusing democratic freedom" under Article 331 of the country's 2015 Penal Code. Mr. Bang will be held for investigation in the next four months at least, and he is facing imprisonment of up to seven years, if is convicted, according to the current Vietnamese law. Mr. Bang is a deputy director of Tien Du district's branch of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies. He has submitted a number of denunciations accusing the Bac Ninh province branch's director named Doan Van Khai and his colleague named Nguyen Ba Binh of financial frauds and mistreatment of staff. The Communist Party of Vietnam which monopolistically rules the country for decades and its government have verbally encouraged people to fight against corruption. However, numerous citizens have been imprisoned or received reprisals after speaking out about state official's corruption. Last year, Bac Ninh convicted anti-corruption activist Do Cong Duong, sentencing him to a total 8 years in prison on charges of "disturbing public orders" and "abusing democratic freedom" in a trumped-up case in a bid to silence him. Banking is one of the most corrupted sectors in Vietnam where corruption is systemic and the country scored 33 points out of 100 on the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. Corruption Index in Vietnam averaged 28.04 Points from 1997 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 35 Points in 2017 and a record low of 24 Points in 2002.

Kolkata: Chaos descended on the railway tracks near Kolkata in West Bengal as the family of a 27-year-old man with disabilities, who died in police custody, blocked rail lines demanding the arrest of those responsible. Gautam Mondal's family was joined by locals and train passengers in the protest. Tyres were set on fire and trains grinded to a halt. The protest, near Lebutala railway station 40 km north of Kolkata, escalated into a clash with the police. Stones were thrown at the police. Lathi charge followed. After about five hours, the blockade was lifted. It all began on May 3. Cyclone Fani had made landfall in neighbouring Odisha and was moving towards Bengal at a wind speed of 90 km/hour. Train services were out. Some passengers, angry at not being given prior notice, blocked trains at Barasat, 23 km north of Kolkata, and ransacked the station. Gautam Mondal was among the several people arrested. The following day, Gautam was moved to Dum Dum Central Jail. According to sources, he was severely injured when he arrived at the prison. The weekend passed and on Monday, Gautam's mother Arati visited him in jail. He told her he had been tortured by the police. He was not allowed close to her and he shouted that he had been beaten and starved, Arati said. The next day police went to his home and told his family he was dead. Gautam is survived by wife Saptami, who is four months pregnant. "When we heard rail police had detained him, we told police that Gautam had physical disabilities and there was no question of him being involved in any vandalism. Set him free. But police did not listen," said Saptami. "My disabled son was starved, beaten and killed by police. I want the strongest punishment for those responsible for his death," Arati said. Locals want a probe into how Gautam died in police custody and warned of further protests with his body. Central jail superintendent Debashish Chakraborty has reportedly said a judicial and administrative probe into Gautam's death has been sought. Gautam's family claims that he was alive and well at the time of arrest. This has been disputed by jail authorities, who reportedly said that Gautam already had injuries on his body. "He had a disability in one leg and had been injured there too. He was given medical treatment in jail but on Tuesday morning his conditioned worsened and he was sent to the hospital", they said. The family has not received his body as post mortem was pending.

About the Human Rights Defender B Mohan was 45 year old and a resident of Palangulam, Melakottai of Ilamanur village in Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu. He was an environmental activist and a former Panchayat President. Mohan with the help of his fellow villagers had formed a group to monitor and check illegal quarrying from water bodies in their area such as Purandi water tank and Puluthikulam water tank. These tanks serve as a source of water for the entire village and used for irrigation and drinking waterpurposes for the village people. The objective of the group was to protect and enhance the quality of water bodies in the area. The sand mafia often target water tanks to illegally mine the sand. Details of the Incident: According to sources, on June 2, 2019, in the evening around 3.30 pm, Mohan along with his friends Murugesan, Selvam , Lakshmanan, Kumar and Sathaih, went to the Purandi tank in the village for bathing. Suddenly they heard some noise from a nearby place called Puzhithikulam and at this moment they moved towards Puzhithikualm. Upon their arrival in Puzhithikulam, they found that Jeyabharath and Karthik of MSK Nagar, Anand of Marappalam, Muniasamy of Peravur, Harish of Vandikkara Nagar and some others were illegally extracting sand from Puzhithikulam tank using a JCB. Mohan told Jeyabharath that according to the government regulations sand can be extracted up to 3 square feet from Puzhithikulam and questioned him for extracting sand up to 15 square feet depth. On being questioned, Jeyabharath got angry and he along with his group attacked Mohan and his friends with iron rod and sticks. In order to save life, they all ran. Mohan was chased down by the perpetrators and was again taken to the Puzhithikulam tank. They pushed him in the tank, forcefully drowned him in the water and killed him. The perpetrators took Mohan's body in a Maruti Alto car to Ramanathapuram Government Hospital and threw the body outside. Mr Padmanabhan s/o Raju, brother in law of Mohan. went for a bath around 4:15 pm on June 2, 2019 to the Purandi tank. On his way he met Lakshmanan, who was running back to the village to save his life and inform villagers regarding attacks on him, Mohan and others. Lakshmanan told Padmanabhan about the events and Padmanabhan then rushed to the crime spot. On finding no one there, he rushed towards the hospital where he found Mohan's body. He called the police from mobile number 8300031100 around 4:40 pm and they arrived around 5:15 pm. Lakshmanan, Selvam, Murugesan, Sathiah, and Kumar were also seriously injured and were taken to the government hospital by 108 Ambulance almost an hour after the incident. On June 2, 2019, nearly 200 people gathered and protested on the MaduraiRamanathapuram road. Again on June 3, 2019, village people organised peaceful protests at the district collector's office. Some villagers also tried to self-immolate themselves in protest against Mohan's brutal murder. Despite registration of the FIR 166/2019 at 8 pm on June 2, 2019, the accused are still not arrested.

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - A Lumad leader and a farmer-activist were gunned down in separate incidents in the province of Bukidnon. On July 8, Datu Mario Agsab, was shot dead in his home at Sitio Mainaga, Brgy. Iba, Cabanglasan, Bukidnon at around 7am by suspected members of paramilitary group Alamara with CAFGU members under the 8th Infantry Batallion. According to Karapatan-Bukidnon, Agsab was an active leader of PIGYAYUNGA-AN, a local chapter of Kalumbay Regional Lumad Organization in Cabanglasan, Bukidnon. Two days earlier, the group also reported similar shooting incident which targeted a member of KASAMA-Bukidnon, an affiliate of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP). Karapatan said that farmer Joel Anino was shot in his home in San Fernando town, Bukidnon by unidentified gunmen around 6:30am last July 6. He later died at the Malaybalay General Hospital. Anino is the second member of KASAMA-Bukidnon killed this year. Last June 16, 57-year-old farmer Liovigildo "Nonoy" Palma, also a member of KASAMA-Bukidnon, was killed by three suspects riding a single motorcycle just right outside his house at Barangay Halapitan, Sitio Malambago, San Fernando. Datu Wilson Anglao Jr., secretary general of Karapatan-Bukidnon, condemned the growing number of killings in the province. The group has already documented nine incidents of extrajudicial killings in Bukidnon in the middle of 2019. Anglao attributed these killings to the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao, which is expected to last until the end of this year. "The [State] wants to silence anyone " especially the farmers here in Bukidnon " who is strongly calling for genuine agrarian reform in the country" Anglao said. Anglao said that they will bring these cases to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 10 to urge them to look into the human rights situation in the province.

Poet and political activist Wang Zang has been detained by police in the Chinese capital for showing support for mass anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong. Wang was taken away from his home in the southwestern province of Yunnan on Thursday by police, who detained him on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble." He was later released on the same day after questioning by police in Yunnan's Chuxiong city. Wang had recently retweeted video footage of Hong Kong singer Denise Ho addressing the U.N., as well as a photo of him posing with his family and holding a gun. Ho told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday that China had failed to deliver on promises it made when it took control of Hong Kong in 1997. "The Vienna Declaration guarantees democracy and human rights. Yet in Hong Kong, these are under serious attack," Ho said in a short statement to the council. The Chinese delegation interrupted her statement twice, while Ho went on to call for China's expulsion from the council. "Last month, two million people went on a peaceful protest march against the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance," Ho said. "This bill will remove the firewall that ensures that the Chinese government can't interfere in Hong Kong." "The police used violence on unarmed protesters, shooting rubber bullets at them, as well as 152 rounds of tear gas." "Protect the people of Hong Kong," she told delegates. "There is still no full democracy, and our chief executive takes her orders from, and is under the control of, Beijing. China will stop at nothing to ensure we never have democracy." She said China had reneged on the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration governing the handover of Hong Kong Chinese rule, a legally binding bilateral treaty registered at the U.N. Video, photos shared Wang said the questioning seemed to be centered around his sharing of the video of Ho's statement, as well as photos of recent mass protests in Hong Kong against a bill that would allow the extradition of criminal suspects from the former British colony to mainland China. "Quite a lot of people in my friends groups clicked on [these items]," Wang said. "It's very different from the way that the majority of celebrities keep quiet: she spoke for a lot of people, which I appreciate." "Then there was the question of what she said and her attitude, which was that everyone has to do what they can when the system won't protect them," he said. The police also took issue with a black and white family photo he posted to Twitter, showing him holding a gun, alongside his four children, whose faces were hidden by their own hands. "This is a representation of all aspects of our existence," Wang said. "We live in a totalitarian environment." "I am holding a gun, so I am Big Brother, and I have my hands over the eyes of my eldest son, and he is covering the face of the second child, who in turn is covering the faces of the two youngest," he said. "And so it goes, down the generations, this insistence that we don't speak out, we don't express ourselves," Wang said. "It shows how dark this is, that we are now under the total control of a totalitarian regime." Targeted before Wang, who hails from Yunnan, was previously a resident of Songzhuang's artists' village, and has previously been targeted with repeated forced evictions for showing online support for the 2014 Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong. He said he was released on Thursday only after pledging not to publish anything that would undermine the image of China, or destabilize society. "I hadn't planned to be released," Wang said. "I wanted to be held under criminal detention, but I had to consider that there is no one else to take care of the family." "My old father is seriously ill, and my kids are very young, so I signed a guarantee letter, not to post stuff like that any more," he said. "My family wouldn't be able to cope if I went to prison again." Wang's friend Wang Peng said Wang Zang's wife Wang Li is currently receiving psychiatric treatment in hospital from the stress of being repeatedly evicted in retaliation for her husband's activism. "The Occupy Central incident and the surveillance by the state security police put huge psychological pressure on Wang Li," Wang Peng said. "On top of that were the forced evictions, and having so many kids." "Wang Li has had two spells of mental illness now, and has suicidal tendencies," he said.

Two reporters have been arrested for incitement alongside five others detained at a land protest in Preah Sihanouk province. The two reporters, Hun Sokha and Keo Rattana, the publishers of Facebook-based CPNTV and TN TV Online, respectively, were livestreaming on Friday as about 20 families tried to block a company's heavy machinery from clearing disputed land, according to Su Sophary, a representative of the families. The dispute, with the Thai Boon Roong company in Sihanoukville's Muoy commune, has been ongoing for more than 20 years, Sophary said on Monday. "They came to report news about the company clearing the land - and people went to stop the machines" she said. Military police arrived, told the reporters to stop broadcasting and arrested the pair alongside five protestors, she said. National Military Police issued a statement saying the arrest of the reporters was based on an order from Preah Sihanouk provincial prosecutor Seang Sok, who had charged the two men with incitement because they were asking inciting questions to the gathered people. The charge, incitement to obstruct a public official, carries a jail term of one day to one month. The five arrested villagers were accused of appropriating private property, and are still being questioned in court. Sokha, who is also president of the Club of Independent Journalists (CIJ), a group representing mostly very small journalism operations in rural provinces, has had other brushes with the law this year, including being sued for investigating alleged customs irregularities in Kampot province and facing legal action for reporting on a separate land dispute in Preah Sihanouk. CIJ on Saturday issued a statement calling for Information Minister Khieu Kanharith to intervene and secure the immediate release of the reporters, saying their arrests were a serious violation of press freedoms. Keo Ratha, the younger brother of Rattana, said on Monday that he had secured a lawyer to defend his sibling, arguing the journalists had committed no crime by reporting on the protest. Khmer Times national news editor May Titthara said the arrests of the two men raised concerns for other reporters in Cambodia. He appealed for their release and for an end to all persecution against reporters in order to improve press freedom in the country. "This case shows that reporters in Cambodia are faced with potential sentences while they are fulfilling their work. We ask for their release" Titthara said. Information Ministry spokesman Meas Sophorn said officials had received CIJ's request to intervene but still needed time to understand the details of the case. "We're awaiting the investigation" Sophorn said. "The ministry asks reporters to respect the code of ethics." Military police spokesman Eng Hy defended the arrests as legal, saying officers possessed evidence showing the reporters had overstepped their role as broadcasters. "We followed the law. We asked the reporters to properly follow professionalism. The military police does not want to see reporters being imprisoned" Hy said. Adhoc spokesman Soeng Senkaruna said journalists in Cambodia faced many difficulties while trying to report on the actions of government officials and wealthy businesspeople. "It is difficult for them to work. There is a kind of restriction on press freedom" Senkaruna said. In June, two reporters from the Kraing Meas website in Kompong Chhnang province were arrested after being accused of extortion by Tea Vichet, the nephew of Defense Minister Tea Banh. On Friday, two Radio Free Asia journalists will face trial over charges of supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense. Citing a decline in the media environment, Reporters Without Borders has ranked Cambodia 143th in the world for press freedom this year, the third consecutive year of decline. On Press Freedom Day in May, Prime Minister Hun Sen said reporters should contribute to revealing the real situation in society, but also added that peace came first. "Human rights need to start from the right to life. They do not start from the writing of newspaper comments" Hun Sen said. "If all are dead, who could write a newspaper?"

Chinese authorities in the northern region of Inner Mongolia have detained a third ethnic Mongolian writer and social media host after he protested the detention of fellow author and activist, O. Sechenbaatar. Tsogjil, 40, who hosted a number of discussion groups on the social media platform WeChat, was detained on April 16 in the regional capital Hohhot, a New York-based rights group reported. He had been preparing to file an official complaint to the regional government on behalf of ethnic Mongolian herders, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights and Information Center (SMHRIC) said on its website. "That same day, Tsogjil was brought back to his homeplace of Heshigten Banner and placed under criminal detention," it said. He is being charged with "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," and is currently being held in the Heshigten Banner Detention Center. "Around 8:00 p.m., Tsogjil was taken away by five plainclothes [officers] from a taxi he hired upon his arrival at a hotel in Hohhot where he was to stay," the group quoted Narnaa, a herder involved in a complaint over environmental destruction on traditional grazing lands near the Dalainuur Nature Reserve, as saying. "In order not to put fellow herders at risk of arrest and detention, Tsogjil traveled alone to Hohhot with a great deal of first-hand materials about environmental destruction and rights violations in our communities near the Dalainuur National Nature Reserve," she said. O. Sechenbaatar, 68, was detained along with a herder named Baldan at a protest near Lake Dalainuur in the region's Heshigten Banner, the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a report on its website. Sechenbaatar has been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of "obstructing officials in the course of their duty," it said. He is currently also being held at the Heshigten Banner Detention Center. Defending land rights According to SMHRIC, Tsogjil had been active in advocating for local communities' rights to use their native language and access their land, water, and other resources, as well as maintaining their ethnic identity. He has created and hosted at least five WeChat discussion groups with a total membership of nearly 2,500 people, of which majority are Mongolian herders and grassroots activists, the group said. Last week, he used one of his WeChat groups to rally herding communities to a protest outside the Heshigten Banner government, calling for the release of recently detained writer O. Sechenbaatar. "O.Sechenbaatar went into jail for defending our land and rights. We all must wake up and take up the fight to protect our homeland," Tsogjil wrote. "The authorities can arrest one of us, a few of us, but cannot arrest all of us," he said via WeChat. He said local herding communities are being targeted for grazing bans in the name of environmental protection of the Dalainuur wetlands, which they have unofficially stewarded for generations. More than 100 protest Meanwhile, more than 100 herders from Urad Middle Banner's Chuanjing village staged a protest outside the banner government buildings on Monday after being denied permission to petition the head of the regional government on a recent trip to their area, RFA has learned. "The herders all went to the banner government to demand sheepfold subsidies and subsidies for border residents at 11.00 a.m. today," one participant told RFA. "There were more than 100 herders and more than 100 police officers there." The herders say the local government has failed to pay out the promised subsidies. Police officers linked arms to prevent the herders from getting into the building, while a government official told them this wasn't the right time and place to resolve the issue, according to video footage of the standoff seen by RFA. Ethnic Mongolian rights activist Xinna said some of the police were clad in riot gear. "It got pretty heated, what with the herders, the police, and the riot police," Xinna told RFA. "I heard that more than 10 people were detained in the afternoon. I don't know if they have been released or not." Calls to the Urad Middle Banner government offices rang unanswered during office hours on Monday. Sechenbaatar is the author of several books, including Spring Blossoms, Autumn of Tsunkh, Story of A Bald Thief, Heshigten Folklore, and Collection of Southern Mongolian Folklore Arts. A former teacher at the Darhan-uul High School, he has also published hundreds of essays, poems, and lyrics in Mongolian language journals and magazines. Sechenbaatar also hosted a number of WeChat groups to provide local Mongolian herders with a venue to discuss the pressing issues in their communities, including mining, environmental destruction, pollution, and herder's protests, SMHRIC said. Documenting violence Earlier this month, ethnic Mongolian author Lhamjab A. Borjigin, 75, stood trial on charges of "separatism" and "sabotaging national unity" at the Shiliinhot Municipal People's Court. For his book China's Cultural Revolution, published in 2006, Lhamjab gathered oral testimonies of survivors of violence against ethnic Mongolians during the Cultural Revolution, a task that took him 20 years. The book accuses the ruling Chinese Communist Party of state-sponsored genocide in the region, detailing torture techniques and detentions in a brutal campaign that claimed the lives of at least 27,900 people and imprisoned and tortured 346,000. Lhamjab published the book unofficially, at his own expense, after state-run Chinese publishing houses refused to publish it. "Lhamjab Borjigin may be the one standing before the court, but it is clearly his research and historical writings that the authorities are seeking to put on trial," PEN America's Summer Lopez, senior director for free expression programs, said in a statement on the group's website. "As an organization of writers of conscience, we are deeply troubled to think that Lhamjab is facing the prospect of state-sanctioned punishment for producing a work of both literary and academic value," she said. "We have said before that historical documentation is no crime, and we again urge the authorities to drop these charges and to release Lhamjab from custody." Ethnic Mongolians, who make up almost 20 percent of Inner Mongolia's population of 23 million, increasingly complain of widespread environmental destruction and unfair development policies in the region.

A court in China's Qinghai province has sentenced nine Tibetan villagers to long prison terms for creating an informal organization urging authorities to return community land taken by authorities but then left unused since 2011, a Tibetan rights group said this week. The nine, all residents of Horgyal village in Qinghai's Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county, were handed terms of from three to seven years by the County People's Court for running an "illegal organization" the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said on April 19. Authorities had additionally accused the men - Gendun Soepa, Drukbum Tsering, Bende Dorje, Tashi Tsering, Sonam Gyal, Dargye, Shawo Tsering, Khajam Gyal, and Choesang - of usurping the duties of already established village committees and of "gathering people to disturb social order" TCHRD said in its statement. Detained in July 2018, the nine men were formally arrested in August, TCHRD said, citing information provided by sources in the region. "The arrests were made to suppress a long-running campaign by villagers to reclaim community land expropriated by local government for a failed business enterprise" TCHRD said. By jailing the men, authorities had also sought to undermine traditional village leadership structures seen as a threat to control by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the rights group said. In a petition signed on Feb, 21, 2017, the nine, part of a larger group of 24, had mobilized village support to demand the return of Horgyal village land handed over for use by three brick factories in exchange for lease payments to the village that ended when the works were closed down by government order in 2011. For the next seven years, authorities compensated the factories annually for their loss of business, though payments to the Horgyal village government then stopped, TCHRD said, adding that villagers had called since then for the land's return. Two years before, a Tibetan monastery in Rebgong had appealed for the return of property formerly leased to a teacher's college but seized by local officials are the college moved to a new location, Tibetan sources told RFA in an earlier report. The property, comprising one third of the total estate of Rongwo monastery, was confiscated in 2016, and monks had petitioned ever since for its return, sources said. Chinese development projects in Tibetan areas have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms and local officials of improperly seizing land and disrupting the lives of local people. Many result in violent suppression, the detention of protest organizers, and intense pressure on the local population to comply with the government's wishes.

Supreme Court lawyer Imtiaz Mahmood was sent to jail by a Dhaka court yesterday, hours after police arrested him in a case filed under section 57 of the ICT Act about two years ago over his Facebook posts. Police picked him up from his Banani home in the morning in compliance with an arrest warrant issued by a Khagrachhari court on January 21, court sources said. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Satya Brata Sikder passed the order after Sujan Saha, sub-inspector of Banani Police Station, produced the arrestee before the court. In July 2017, one Shafiqul Islam filed the case against Imtiaz with Khagrachhari Sadar Police Station on charges of hurting his sentiments and inciting communal violence in the Chattogram Hill Tracts. During hearing on a bail petition yesterday, Imtiaz's lawyer Asaduzzaman Rachi told the court that his client was granted bail by the High Court till the submission of the probe report in the case. Possibly the HC order did not reach the Khagrachhari court and that was why the court issued the arrest warrant and police arrested him

JAKARTA - A former officer in Indonesia's special forces has filed a complaint with the country's press council and police against prominent news magazine Tempo. In his filing Tuesday, Former Major General Chairawan Kadarsyah Nusyirwan said the magazine reported the involvement of former members of the Tim Mawar or the Rose Team, in riots last month. Chairawan's lawyer, Herdiansyah, said the former soldier "feels harmed personally because he was a part of the (Rose Team)", according to the news site Kompas. The Rose Team is notorious for its involvement in several kidnappings of activists in 1997 and 1998, during the era of the so-called New Order under authoritarian President Suharto. Several of the unit's members, including Prabowo Subianto, who lost this year's presidential election to incumbent President Joko Widodo, were subsequently fired. One of those named in Tempo's report on last month's riots is Fauka Noor Farid, one of Prabowo's underlings in the special forces. The magazine reported Fauka had said it would be beneficial if there were to be a confrontation between protesters and officers. The May 21 and 22 riots began as a peaceful protest against irregularities in this year's elections, but devolved into violence that left eight dead and more than 700 injured. The magazine also reported cases of arms dealing and assassination attempts against several current Indonesia ministers. Arif Zulkifli, Tempo magazine's editor-in-chief, told VOA his team's reports are "airtight, journalistically." He said, "We've had police reports on us relatively often. It's fine as long as the Press Council decides that we did nothing wrong." This is not the first time Tempo has been attacked for its work. In 2010, the 48-year-old magazine uncovered graft allegations of some high-ranking police officers that led unidentified people to fire bomb Tempo's office in Jakarta. Tempo was temporarily disbanded in June 1994, along with two other publications, and its circulation was halted for four years after it published an investigation on Indonesia's dubious purchase of war ships. Indonesia's press freedom Tempo's history is emblematic of Indonesia's struggle for press freedom, granted finally in 1999 with the enactment of the Press Law. During the authoritarian New Order era, stretching from 1966 to 1998, press freedom was virtually non-existent. It was not until 1998 that the special government-issued press license regulation was jettisoned by Suharto's replacement, President B.J. Habibie. Though democracy restored press freedom, questions about uninhibited freedom linger. "In the past couple of years that we've seen demonstrations in Jakarta, there were cases of violence against journalists. This was never resolved by the state apparatus," said Wisnu Prasetya Utomo, a researcher at the Digital Media and Communication Research Center (Decode) of the University of Gadjah Mada, "This is what makes our press freedom so fragile." According to a report by the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists, there were 64 cases of violence directed at journalists in 2018. The Reporters Without Borders' annual World Press Freedom Index puts Indonesia at 124 out of 180 countries listed. The country also maintains restrictive access for foreign reporters on the easternmost island of Papua, a hotbed for military violence and struggles for independence. Indonesia also enforces the electronic information and transactions law, the closest legal standing it has to an online defamation law. Today's print journalism in Indonesia is dogged by tighter competition with online media that led to the closure of more than 20 print publications from 2015 to 2017. But intimidation and litigation against news outlets has persisted since the New Order era, as shown by the case of Tuesday's police report. "Because the cycle of impunity continues, this will keep happening," said Wisnu.

A top Chinese human rights lawyer has been attacked and threatened immediately after meeting with his client, the dissident Wang Mo, at a detention center in the eastern province of Jiangsu, RFA has learned. Shanghai-based rights lawyer Peng Yonghe was beaten and threatened by a group of unidentified people at the gate of the Huai'an Detention Center in Jiangsu on Monday, after he went there to visit his client. "I met with my client Wang Mo at the Huai'an District Detention Center in Huai'an city today," Peng told RFA. "But the [detention center staff] forced me to terminate the meeting when it was only halfway through." Shortly afterwards, at around 11.00 a.m., Peng was surrounded by a group of men at the detention center gate. "They threatened me, to make me withdraw from Wang's case," Peng said. "They asked to see my mobile phone. I told them I had shot video on my phone, and they stole it from me, and also beat me in the process." Peng later uploaded a video of his injuries to his Twitter account, and had reported the attack to the local police station, he said. Wang Mo was among four mainland Chinese activists jailed for their public support of the 2014 Occupy Central movement for fully democratic elections in Hong Kong in April 2016. Wang and co-defendant Xie Wenfei were handed four-and-a-half-year prison sentences by the Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou, after being found guilty of "incitement to subvert state power." He was redetained last month after serving the jail term, in a move seen as linked to the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre on June 4. Wang and his co-defendants had expressed public support for the Occupy Central movement, and were detained amid a nationwide roundup of at least 100 mainland Chinese supporters of the Hong Kong protests. Ever-greater professional risks for lawyers Fellow rights activist Li Xiongbing said attacks like the one on Peng shouldn't happen. "The local authorities should take it seriously and thoroughly investigate this matter," Li said. "Those responsible should be dealt with strictly according to the law." Li said Chinese lawyers are running ever-greater professional risks, if they defend political sensitive clients. "Although our government often talks about the need to ... rule the country according to law, and so on, this is just a slogan that sounds good," he said. "It is rarely carried out in practice." At the end of 2017, Peng was called in for questioning by police after he announced his withdrawal from the ruling Chinese Communist Party-controlled Shanghai Lawyers Association. His attempts to find work and rent accommodation have been repeatedly blocked by the authorities, while his wife was fired from her job with no reason given. The Occupy Central, or Umbrella Movement campaigned for Beijing to withdraw an Aug, 31, 2014 electoral reform plan, which it rejected as "fake universal suffrage," and to allow publicly nominated candidates to run for chief executive in 2017. The plan, which offered a one-person, one-vote in 2017 elections for chief executive, but required candidates to be vetted by Beijing, was voted down on June 18, 2015 by 28 votes to eight in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, leaving the city with its existing voting arrangements still in place. Reported by Wong Siu-san and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Ai Shi for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Status of Human Rights Defenders: Mr. Rupesh Kumar Singh was a prominent student leader associated with the All India Student Association (AISA). He is well-known in social media for his progressive writing. He is a social activist, an independent journalist and is also associated with a labour organization in Bakaro. Mr. Mithilesh Singh is a social activist and a lawyer at Ramgarh Civil Court As per the sources, on June 4, 2019, at about 8 AM, Mr. Rupesh Kumar Singh along with Mr. Mithilesh Kumar Singh, a social activist and a lawyer at Ramgarh Civil Court were travelling to Aurangabad, the ancestral village of Mr. Mithilesh in a car. When they did not reach Aurangabad on the desired time and their cell phone went unreachable, the family members of Mr. Mithilesh went to file a missing complaint with the Ramgarh police station which they managed to register the next day. Both the family members were astonished to know from the daily newspapers that on June 7, 2019, Mr. Rupesh, Mr. Mithilesh and the driver were arrested from Dobhi More at NH-2, near Sherghati, around 30 km from Gaya on June 6, 2019 and were charged under Sections 414 and 120B of the India Penal Code, along with other sections under the Explosive Substances Act. The following day, a unit of the Bihar Police illegally searched Mr. Rupesh's house in Ramgarh and Bokaro, and seized his mobile phone, laptop and few books on Lenin, Marx etc. It is alleged that the Bihar police had arrested three of them illegally on June 4, 2019, at about 9.30 AM from near village Padma near Hazaribagh. It will be pertinent to mention here that all of them were forcefully handcuffed and face covered with cloth at the spot and brought to the Paramilitary (Cobra battalion) base camp at Barachetti, where all of them were badly tortured especially Mr. Rupesh Kumar who was threatened for his progressive writing and political work. It is clear that the police had Mr. Rupesh and Mr. Mithilesh in illegal custody till June 6, 2019 as per news reports. The Commission is appraised that Mr. Rupesh Kumar and Mr. Mithilesh are being targeted by Bihar police for their progressive writings and activism and are beingvictimised by being entangled in false and fabricated cases. Further by not following proper arrest procedures and having used handcuffs and covering of faces by the Bihar police amounts to blatant violation of D.K. Basu guidelines on arrests which has now being incorporated under the Indian Criminal Procedure Code. It is once again brought to the notice of the Commission that the present case is yet again an example of how harassment, intimidation and illegal detention has become a routine practice by the State against human rights defenders and activists who dare to stand up for what is right.

Myanmar's military has launched legal action against three local journalists following their reporting of a farmer protest in the Kayah State capital, Loikaw. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the action and urges all the charges to be dropped. On 19th June, Captain Aung Myo Tun from Myanmar's military filed a lawsuit with Demoso Township Police Station under Article 12 of the Law Protecting the Privacy of Security and Citizens against 12 people. This included three journalists working for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Eleven Media Group, and Kantarawady Times. According to reports, the battalion had taken possession of the village area in 1989 without giving compensation to villagers. The latest protest was staged after the military was said to have taken more land and fenced off the route to the area's farms. The three journalists were producing real-time reports from the scene of the farmer protest, but were allegedly accused of assisting the farmer protest. According to the military, the farmers allegedly trespassed the battalion complex and damaged its fence and a windbreak of trees. Under Myanmar's privacy law, the journalists could face up to five years in prison and a fine of between 500,000 and 2.5 million kyats (USD 330 to USD1600) if found guilty. DVB and Eleven Media have sought the intervention of the Myanmar Press Council. On 25th June, the Myanmar Press Council sent a letter to the military chief advising that the Media Law was the appropriate avenue for resolution of the issue on the media worker's actions, not use of the privacy law. The Media Law requires any grieved parties to seek Press Council mediation before opening a legal case. The IFJ said: "The military must immediately drop all charges in this matter and any complaint should be submitted to the Myanmar Press Council. These reporters were simply doing their job to report from the scene of a protest, but what we have is yet another case of excessive intimidation by law to silence and repress the media."

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for an impartial investigation into the past weekend's murder of Ali Sher Rajpar, a journalist in Pakistan's southeastern Sindh province, who was well known for his investigative coverage of local municipal corruption and had just requested police protection. A reporter for the Awami Awaz press group (which publishes the leading regional Sindhi-language daily) and president of the local press club in Padidan, in Naushahro Feroze district, Ali Sher Rajpar was slain in a chilling fashion on the evening of 4 May, when he was shot five times at close range just after locking the press club gate. The complaint (known as a First Information Report) that his brother filed with the local police the next day names Padidan town committee chairperson Shakeel Ahmed Rajpar as the leading suspect. In several of his recent stories, Ali Sher Rajpar had linked this official to local corruption and had repeatedly been threatened by him. Padidan press club members confirmed to RSF that Ali Sher Rajpar felt threatened in connection with his work and had unsuccessfully requested protection from the Naushahro Feroze district police just three days before being murdered. "It is unacceptable that a journalist has been murdered after clearly informing the authorities of the threats being made against him" said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "There are many suspicions surrounding this shocking murder and the possibility of complicity in more than one quarter cannot be ruled out. We therefore urge the highest Sindh province authorities to order a completely independent investigation so that nothing is left unclarified." Two journalists killed in space of four days The newspaper Dawn has quoted unidentified local police sources as saying that the police arrested the reporter's cousin, Habeeb Rajpar, the next day and were blaming the murder on a family quarrel. Ali Sher Rajpar was murdered just four days after another journalist, Malik Amanullah Khan, the president of the local press club in the Parowa area of Dera Ismail Khan district, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, was fatally shot four times in Parowa on 30 April. The police have not yet made any arrest. After falling three places, Pakistan is ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index that RSF published last month, voicing concern about the "cycle of fear" that has taken hold in many countries.

HRD Alert India - HRD Alert -India is a forum of Human Rights Defenders for Human Rights Defenders. It endeavours to initiate actions on behalf of Human Rights Defenders under threat or with security concerns.We are writing to express our grave concern over the illegal arrest and detention of Human Rights Defenders belonging to various civil society organisations by the police in Hyderabad in the state of Telangana on May 2, 2019. The defenders were detained at Begumbaz Police Station in Hyderabad. The defenders were arrested from intermediate Board where they had gone to meet the Secretary of Telangana State Board of Intermediate Examination (TSBIE) to submit a representation for justice for student'sfamilies who committed suicide after the declaration of the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Examination (TSBIE)on April 18, 2019 andregister their peaceful protest against the discrepancies in the examination evaluation process.It was reported that the results shocked thousands of students as many who scored 90% in the first-year exams were found to have failed in the second-year examinations. Since the declaration of the results as many as 21 students have reportedly committed suicide in Telangana. The Human Rights Defenders belong to various civil society organisations including members and responsible citizens of the city. In this particular case they joined together to discuss and intervene inthe unending suicidal deaths of intermediate students in Telangana statewhich were continuing daily creating a fear in the parents and civil society. The defenders were concerned that the state government was not takingnecessary actionsagainst those who were responsible for these unnatural deaths caused due to the discrepancies in the evaluation process. It was reported that as over 3 lakh students failedin the examinationsthis year.Among the other defenders, those arrested by the police arehuman rights activists Jaya Vindhyala, Gaddam Ashok, M.Venkatesh Guna and Rabbani According to sources on May 2, 2019 a group of human rights defenders belonging to various civil society organisations including some concerned citizens of city of Hyderabad went to the office of Telangana State Board of Intermediate Examination (TSBIE) and asked permission to meet with theSecretaryof TSBIE. The group of HRDs wanted to register their peaceful protest against the discrepancies in the evaluation process of the Board in the Intermediate Examinationin which thousands of students as many who scored 90% in the first-year exams were found to have failed the second-year examinations. The media reported that of the nine lakh students whohad appeared for the Intermediate-level examinations, about 3 lakh of them failed this year in theirexaminations in the second year.The students and parents havereportedly alleged that the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) and GlobeArena Technologies Pvt Ltd, a firm hired by the board to handle the admission and examination process, have committed blunders in the evaluation process and the result declaration. It had been reported that as many as 21 students have committed suicide in Telangana since the results for IntermediateBoardwere declared on April 18, 2019.The group of HRDs wanted to submit a representation for justice of deceased student'sfamilies.The Telangana education officials reportedly accepted that there have been errors in the process. They said they would take action against the erring board officials as well as the private company. The defenders were demanding that the action should be taken against the government and company officials responsible for causing deaths of students. Meanwhile the police were called and the police officials from Begumbazar police station, Hyderabad arrested the group of defenders from the venue of the Intermediate Board and detained them at Begumbazar Police Station, from 11.45AMonwards on May 2, 2019, without providing them any facilities such as water, wash room etcand without stating them any reason for their detention and were released later in the same evening. Freedom of speech and expression is a right guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India and is being considered integral to democratic values for it enables discovery of truth through dialogue, is crucial to the working of a democraticConstitution and is an aspect of one's self autonomy. Article 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution guarantees to all its citizens the right to form associations to be able to raise collective voices. Therefore police harassment (which again is illegal) of the Human Rights Defenders mentioned above by the State for raising a representation on a critical issue amounts to violation of the Constitutional provisions of the country and thus require urgent attention of this commission.

HANOI - A Vietnamese court has jailed two activists on charges of publishing damaging anti-state propaganda about the communist-run country, state media reported Saturday, the latest convictions under a hardline leadership intolerant of dissent. The women, Vu Thi Dung and Nguyen Thi Ngoc Suong, were sentenced Friday to six and five years respectively for posting videos and articles on Facebook against proposed special economic zones and a beefed up cybersecurity law, the People's Police newspaper reported. The court, in the country's south, found them both guilty of "making, hoarding and spreading propaganda information, documents and materials against the socialist republic of Vietnam". Both market vendors, the two women are the latest to face harsh blowback for publicly opposing the cybersecurity law, which would require internet companies to hand over user data and remove content if requested by the government. The proposed special economic zones are also deeply sensitive and sparked rare nationwide protests last year in which police stations and government offices were ransacked. Independent media is banned in Vietnam, with online posts, comments and critics strictly monitored and bloggers, activists and rights lawyers routinely jailed. The hardline leadership in charge since 2016 has been harsh on dissidents, with nearly 60 put behind bars last year according to an AFP tally. A Vietnamese activist who also criticized both the special economic zones and the cybersecurity law was sentenced to two years in prison in March for "abusing democratic freedoms". Critics say the draconian cyber law will be used to target online dissent, but it has yet to be implemented. The draft bill on economic zones also sparked an uproar as many in Vietnam believed it would grant incentives to Chinese companies. No mention of China was suggested in the legislation but officials put off passing the bill following the protests, which hit the capital Hanoi and the commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City. Dozens of demonstrators have been jailed since taking part.

Authorities in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Lam Dong and other localities were placing many local activists and their families under de facto house arrest before and during the Vietnam-US Human Rights Dialogue which was taken in the capital city on May 15. From HCM City, former prisoner of conscience and well-known lawyer Le Cong Dinh said he was forbidden to go out from May 13 as his private residence was surrounded by a group of five or six plainclothes agents. When he tried to go out, these men came to forcibly request him to go in. Mr. Hua Phi, a senior clerk of the independent Hoa Hao Buddhist sect, said his house in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong was under close surveillance of the local police from May 12. The family of prisoner of conscience Hoang Duc Binh was also watched by police officers. Many other activists or relatives of imprisoned activists in Hanoi, Thai Binh and other localities said they were not permitted to go out on May 15 and before.

Noted academic and civil rights activist Ram Punyani has received threat calls and abuses from unidentified callers at night on his residential phone line on the night of Thursday (June 6) following which he has filed an FIR with the Mumbai police. Ram Punyani, a former professor at IIT-Bombay, is a well-known rationalist who has been conducting workshops and lectures all across the country to propagate communal harmony. This was the second time that Punyani received threats. In March, policemen in plain clothes had visited his residence on the pretext of making inquiries regarding his passport he had never applied for. Such inquiries are usually conducted by policemen in uniform. He has submitted CCTV footage of these plainclothes men. On last Thursday, he got a call on his landline at about 8.30 pm which was received by his brother-in-law. The caller was abusive and aggressive and kept alleging that Punyani was anti-Hindu. The caller threatened that Punyani must stop his activities or face consequences. The caller said Punyani must leave Mumbai in 15 days. Five minutes later, there was another call which Punyani received. Once again, using a very menacing tone, the caller demanded to know if he was speaking to Punyani. When Punyani declined, the caller hung up. But this time the caller's number could be identified. "This is extremely concerning and disturbing. My family is worried about my safety. I hope the authorities take this seriously. This is not the first time that I have faced such intimidation" Punyani said. The threat becomes all the more grave in view of the murders of other rationalists like Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar, Gauri Lankesh and M.M. Kalburgi by right wing assassins.

An activist supporting Cambodia's banned opposition party has been detained on charges of violating forest protection laws, though his wife says the arrest was politically motivated. Nem Nath was taken in by police in Pursat province on Thursday, his wife Srey Saoroth told RFA's Khmer Service on Friday. She said the authorities unfairly targeted her husband because he supports the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), the main opposition of Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) until the Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in 2017. "He's a CNRP supporter. He is known publicly for supporting them" she said. "[He] didn't incite any villagers to commit any crimes. I want the court to release my husband because he is the bread winner. We can't live without him" she said. RFA was unsuccessful in an attempt to reach a spokesman of the provincial court in Pursat for comment. Kem Kimsrun, the Pursat provincial coordinator for the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), confirmed the arrest, saying the case was definitely politically motivated because Nem Nath was not involved in any illegal encroachment on public land. "The activist is with the CNRP and he refused to defect to the CPP. The arrest has put the family under undue hardship" he said. The coordinator said that in the past Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered local police in Veal Veng district to monitor CNRP activities in the district after he accused them of engaging in politics despite the party's ban. "It is [no more] than political intimidation for the sake of the ruling party. But doing this won't help the government" said Kem Kimsrun. RFA reported on May 29 that two other CNRP activists in Pursat had been arrested on similar charges the day before. CNRP activist eludes authorities in Sihanoukville Another CNRP activist, Mao Bunsreang, escaped from his home in Cambodia's southwestern Sihanoukville province after a police officer tipped him off that they were planning to arrest him. The activist's wife, Kea Sisokunthea said police wanted to arrest him because he criticized the government on Facebook. "The comments he wrote were constructive, and we never thought anything like this would happen because of them. He never committed any crimes" she said. "He only offered constructive criticism." Sihanoukville Police Chief Chuon Narin denied that police had any plans to arrest the activist. He said Mao Bunsreang is only known as a former member of the CNRP, and if he hadn't commit any crimes, he would be fine. "I didn't receive any information. He must have claimed all that information by himself" he said. Cheap Sotheary, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association's (ADHOC) provincial coordinator for Sihanoukville said, "People in general are critical. It falls within freedom of expression."

Plainclothes agents in Ha Nam province brutally beat local activist Truong Minh Huong at noon of Sunday (June 16), causing severe injuries on his body, the victim told Defend the Defenders. In the morning, Mr. Truong joined other activists from Bau Bi Solidarity to accompany families of prisoners of conscience to pay regular visits to Ba Sao Prison camp. After the lunch, Mr. Huong left for his private residence in Ba Sao commune, Kim Bang district. On his way, he was attacked by a group of five or six plainclothes agents who stopped his motorbike and started to punch and kick him. They also used his helmet to beat him. As other activists came to the scence, the attackers left and ran away. He suffered from a number of injuries on his body. Huong, 70, is a land petitioner whose land was confiscated by authorities in Kim Bang district without being paid adequately. Later, he became an activist fighting for multi-party democracy and human rights and helping other victims of justice miscarriage. He has been under constant harassment of the local police who often place him under de facto house arrest or attack his house with stones and bricks. He was assaulted many times, including the attacks in 2014 and 2016. Ba Sao Prison camp is holding many prisoners of conscience, including Le Dinh Luong, Le Thanh Tung, Pham Van Troi, Phan Kim Khanh, and Nguyen Viet Dung.

Gunmen shot dead radio journalist Eduardo "Ed" Dizon - who was on his way home after hosting a daily news commentary show in the southern Philippines - on Wednesday night, Kidapawan police said. Mr Dizon, 58, suffered five gunshot wounds from the shooting in Kidapawan City, 954km south of Manila. He was driving home when two gunmen on a motorcycle stopped beside his car at a corner road and shot at him, city police chief Lieutenant Colonel Maria Joyce Birrey added. There was no immediate information on whether the killing was related to Mr Dizon's work, but colleagues said he often reported on corruption and scams in his radio program. Mr Dizon is the 13th journalist to be killed since 2016, under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) - an organisation committed to secure interests of the Filipino working press. The Philippines is ranked as one of the world's most dangerous places for journalists by press freedom groups, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. In 2009, 32 media workers were among more than 50 people killed in a local politician's convoy heading to a rally in the southern region of Mindanao. The alleged masterminds are currently on trial.

Authorities in the Chinese capital have renewed a travel ban on a prominent attorney who was en route to the United States to take up a prestigious fellowship to study law and human rights. Chen Jiangang was prevented from boarding flight DL128 at Beijing's International Airport on Monday by border guards, who said they had instructions from the Beijing police department not to allow him to leave China, he said in a statement published by the ChinaChange website. Chen said officials refused to give him any written explanation for the ban, but told him that his departure would "endanger national security." He told RFA in an interview that the ban was linked to his acting as defense attorney to fellow human rights lawyer Xie Yang, and also the fact that the Humphrey Fellowship he was traveling to take up is funded by the U.S. State Department. "I think that both of these reasons are illegal," Chen said. "It stems from their regarding the U.S. as a hostile nation." The Humphrey Fellowship Program was announced by then President Jimmy Carter in 1978 to finance studies at U.S. universities and institutions embodying the values of "democracy, social justice and a desire to assist the developing nations of the world," according to the program's official website. More than 4,600 recipients have studied at more than 40 universities with funding by Congress, it said. Chen said he has been banned from leaving China before, and that he, his wife, and the couple's two children were all added to an exit ban "blacklist" in 2017, as part of a nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers and their families launched in July 2015. The family was also detained and forcibly escorted back home from a vacation in the southwestern province of Yunnan in 2017, Chen said. "Pretty much all of the lawyers detained since July 2015 have been banned from leaving the country," Chen said. "Then there's all of the lawyers who defended them ... Apart from me, this has also happened to Liang Xiaojun." Chen said he was told by Beijing police on March 26 that he wouldn't be allowed to leave, but tried to board the plane anyway, "because the ticket had been booked for me by the fellowship, and they were expecting me at the university." He said: "[President] Xi Jinping's daughter was allowed to study overseas, and yet I, as a lawyer and a visiting scholar, am not allowed?" No written notification The Beijing police department declined to comment on Chen's case, and RFA was unable to reach the state security police officer responsible for Beijing-based human rights lawyers. An official at the Beijing Entry and Exit Bureau border guard station said Chen must be on a blacklist, to have been denied permission to board his flight. "The staff on the ground will explain any information that is available on the system, but if they haven't been told about it, then they won't know about it," the official said. "There isn't any written notification." Chen was instrumental in exposing the torture of Xie Yang, who was initially detained on July 11, 2015, then held under "residential surveillance at a designated location" in a government guesthouse belonging to the National University of Defense Technology in Hunan's provincial capital, Changsha. Subjected to abuse including deprivation of food and water, Xie was tortured again after being moved to the police-run Changsha No. 2 Detention Center following his formal arrest on Jan. 9, 2016. Xie was subjected to confinement in a "hanging chair" made of plastic chairs stacked high above the ground for hours at a time, so that his legs swelled up and he was in excruciating pain, he told his lawyers. He was also deprived of sleep and repeatedly beaten, humiliated, and taunted with death threats against his family, according to copious and detailed notes made public from meetings with his lawyers, including Chen.

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese megacity of Chongqing have detained an activist who showed online support for the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong.

Chongqing resident Huang Yang was detained after commenting on social media, in a reference to Hong Kong: "Do you dare to join me on the streets in a show of support for the Pearl of the East?"

The next day, Aug. 1, Huang got a phone call from local police, asking him to come down to the police station and make a statement.

When he got there, he found the police who questioned him were exercised by his use of the metaphor, "Pearl of the East."

"He asked me what I meant by the Pearl of the East, and I told him that I had learned via state media that the people of Hong Kong were engaged in a struggle against violence," Huang told RFA.

"I said they should support the people of Hong Kong."

Huang said police documents had shown that he was interviewed "on suspicion of making inappropriate comments online that disturb public order."

He said he had urged the authorities not to go chasing after shadows and wasting taxpayers' money on making trouble for citizens by pursuing him.

Closely watched at home

Huang said he is now under surveillance at his home in Chongqing's Yubei district.

"They hired a bunch of temps to watch me: they're sitting in uncomfortable chairs with the air-conditioner turned up really cold," he said. "I have only had a single bowl of congee in the past 20-something hours."

"I told them that there was a document missing, a record of summons, but they went right ahead and scanned my cell phone, even though they didn't have a warrant," he said.

Calls to the Baosheng Lake police station, which interrogated Huang, rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.

Huang said he had made the comments in support of Hong Kong because he hoped China would one day become a better place.

"Why can Taiwan and Hong Kong [have freedom], but not the mainland?" he said. "I am just a prisoner in a large prison."

"Hong Kong and Taiwan seem to be different; they have made a good job of ... democracy," Huang said. "Hong Kong gives us hope."

Other activists detained

Chinese rights activist Wei Xiaobing was detained two months ago for supporting the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong on Facebook and Twitter with the words "Hong Kong add oil!" which means "Go Hongkongers!".

Wei, who was held for 15 days of administrative detention, told RFA that the ruling Chinese Communist Party is terrified that Hong Kong's spirited defense of its traditional freedoms will infect the Chinese hinterland.

"They are afraid that a mass street movement in Hong Kong will spread to mainland China and cause a chain reaction, destabilizing the regime," Wei said.

"The fighting spirit and courage of this new generation of Hong Kong youth is truly admirable," he said.

Last month, police from the central Chinese province of Hunan detained three non-governmental organization (NGO) workers on suspicion of subversion after they expressed support for the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests.

Cheng Yuan, Liu Yongze and Xiao Wu, all of whom are members of the public interest law NGO, Changsha Funeng, have been incommunicado since about 12:45 p.m. on July 22.

The three are being held by the state security police in Hunan's provincial capital Changsha on suspicion of "subversion of state power," according to a lawyer connected with the case.

bout the Human Rights Defenders: Dr. Sandeep Pandey is a well know social activist, a Gandhian and an academician. He is a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award – considered the ‘Asian Nobel’ – in the ’emergent leadership’ category in the year 2002. Dr. Sandeep Pandey co-founded Asha for Education, one of the most respected organisations in Asia to provide education to underprivileged children. Dr. Sandeep Pandey worked for community ownership in Ballia,Uttar Pradesh and helped facilitate protests against water depletion by Coca-Cola bottling plant in Mehandiganj, a rural and agrarian area located near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Sandeep Pandey also works on right to information and other forms of citizen participation in removing corruption and improving the efficiency of governance. He also co-founded the wellknown grassroots organisation National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM). He has served as an adviser to the Indian Government’s Central Advisory Board for Education (CABE). He also led an India-Pakistan peace march to Multan, Pakistan in 2005.

Details of the Incident: According to sources, in the morning of August 11, 2019, police personnel arrived in vans at the house of Dr. Sandeep Pandey and his wife and activist Arundhati Dhuru in Lucknow. Dr. Sandeep Pandey was informed by the police that he cannot stage a protest regarding the Kashmir issue, because of prohibitory orders in Lucknow city. Dr. Sandeep Pandey and other human rights defenders belonging to various other human rights organizations of the Uttar Pradesh had planned to hold a peaceful and non-violent protest called “Stand for Kashmir” in support of people of Jammu & Kashmir on the evening of August 11, 2019 at the Gandhi statue at Hazratganj in Lucknow. Dr. Sandeep Pandey was told by the police that the prohibitory orders would be lifted after Independence Day on August 15, 2019. The activists planned to hold a peaceful candle light march in the wake of the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the clampdown on communication services in the state. Dr. Sandeep Sources agreed to stage the protest after the prohibitory orders are lifted. Yet, the policemen remained standing outside his house and no other persons were allowed to enter or leave the house. Dr. Sandeep Pandey was prevented from leaving his house and the policemen told him that he could not step outside the house until 4 pm. Dr. Sandeep Pandey along with his wife Arundhati Dhuru were put illegal under house arrest without any warrant

or orders shown to them and a police team was deployed outside the house to prevent Dr. Sandeep Pandey from stepping out to take part in the peaceful protest. The action of the Lucknow police administration to forcibly prevent Dr. Sandeep Pandey from stepping out of his house to take part in a peaceful and non-violent protest is a blatant denial of his right to a peaceful assembly and association and a violation of constitutional provisions of India since the planned protest was intended to raise collective voice in defense of the human rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Freedom to associate and assemble free of restrictions is a right guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution of India to enable people to raise their collective voices to defend and promote their human rights. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) recognizes and protects both liberty and security of person. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3 proclaims that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Right to life, liberty and security of person are precious for both individual and the society as deprivation of the aforesaid would principally mean impairing the enjoyment of other rights. Also, as per general comment No.35 on Article 9 of ICCPR, house arrest means to include a kind of deprivation of liberty involving more severe restriction of motion than mere interference with liberty of movement under Article 12 of the ICCPR. The General Comment further imposes two requirements for the benefit of persons who are deprived of liberty. First, they should be informed at the time of deprivation of liberty, the reason for the arrest and secondly the information regarding the charges which has led to such arrest. In the given context, house arrest of Dr. Sandeep Pandey and his family without following due process and without informing him about his arrest and the reason for such arrest even if it was for a day is arbitrary, unlawful and stands bad in law.

Following the government-led internet shutdown in Indonesia’s eastern provinces of Papua and West Papua a journalist has been doxxed and harassed online. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia have condemned the attack on the journalists and called on the local authorities to ensure the media are protected as they work.

Victor Mambo, a journalist with Koran Jubi and jubi.co.id, as well as a member of AJI’s executive committee was harassed and doxxed online on Thursday, August 22, after the internet shutdown continued into a second day. In one tweet from user @antilalat Victor was linked to the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and accused of being an informer for Papuan lawyer, which was followed by a second tweet giving out Victor’s home address.

Doxxing refers to publishing private or identifying information about a person on the internet, typically with malicious intent. This is not the first time that Victor has been targeted online. The same user had threatened Victor in July, 2019.

On Saturday, Victor proceeded with an urgent appeal to UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, David Kaye, regarding the internet shutdowns in the provinces.

In a statement, AJI said that the harassment and doxxing of Victor are an attempt to intimidate him. As a journalist, Victor has done his job to report objectively and complied with the journalism code of ethics in his verification processes.

“AJI would also like to remind to the social media users as well as authorities that journalists on their duty are protected by the Law No.40/1999 on the Press. If anyone thinks there is incorrect journalistic material published in the media, the Press Law has the mechanism through right to reply and correction and filing of complaints to the Press Council,” AJI said.

The IFJ said: “The harassment and doxxing of Victor Mambo is a blatant attempt to silence critical voices, and intimidate him. He is a respected journalist and was simply doing his job, reporting of the current internet shutdown in Indonesia. We urge the Indonesian authorities investigate the ongoing attacks, and take steps to guarantee Victor’s safety.”

A pro-democracy activist's car was set on fire early Monday by an unknown arsonist after the activist led a protest calling for the impeachment of the Election Commission for its perceived mishandling of the elections. Ekachai Hongkangwan said on a Facebook call on Monday morning that he was awakened by the noise of a car's honk at 1.19am, only to find his Nissan Sunny car had been set on fire. One arsonist was captured on video but neighbors told Ekachai that four men were involved. "It's a waste of money and I am upset" said Ekachai on a Facebook call. Ekachai refused to use a normal mobile phone line as he fears eavesdropping in the wake of half a dozen attacks against him in recent months. The car, bought by his mother for him back in 1997 for 499,000 baht, had been the target of an earlier attack though Ekachai managed to put out the fire. This time, he was too late. The attacker caught on video was wearing a motorcycle helmet, leaving Ekachai with no way to identify them. A police complaint has been lodged and the burnt car was towed away by Lat Phrao police. "My neighbors now fear they will come back and set fire to the shop houses next time" said Ekachai. Ekachai believes the attack is related to his criticism of the commission, and suspects the junta might be behind the attack as it has been defending the commission. No one has come out to claim responsibility as of press time, however. Ekachai joined others at Ratchaprasong Intersection on Sunday afternoon to campaign for signatures for a petition calling for the commission's impeachment.

Authorities in Vietnam Tuesday tried and sentenced a group of 15 protesters who demonstrated against a solid waste treatment plant last year in Quang Ngai province. The protest erupted in September 2018 after residents of La Van village in the province's Duc Pho district got wind that the Duc Pho domestic solid waste treatment plant was reopening. A group of up to 200 protesters stood in front of local government offices pleading for help. They then blocked roads and set up obstacles, which prevented traffic flow in an effort to get their point across, but police disbanded the crowd, arresting some of them on the charge of disrupting public order. Sentences for the protesters tried Tuesday included a nine-month prison term for Huan Thai, eight months for Cao Minh Thien, four months and 28 days for Tran Thi Kim Lien, and 12 months of non-custodial reform (house arrest) for the other 12 women. Meanwhile in Binh Thuan Province, two protesters were sentenced for their involvement in a mass demonstration against bills introduced by the government in June 2018. Dang Ngoc Tan and Pham Thanh, both residents in Phan Ri Cua Town in the province's Tuy Phong district, were tried for "destruction of state property" under article 178 of Vietnam's penal code. During the demonstration last year, protestors reportedly refused to disperse from a section of the National highway in nearby Bac Binh district. According to the Binh Thuan Procuracy, protesters attacked riot police by hurling stones and Molotov cocktails, then swarmed the headquarters of the local fire department. Dang and Pham allegedly set fire to four vehicles, two of which were government-owned. At the trial Dang was sentenced to 17 years and Pham to 11, as the jury felt that setting the vehicles ablaze was an extremely dangerous act that not only resulted in the loss of state property, but was also threatening local order and security. The lengthy sentences are in addition to previous sentences the pair received in September on charges of disrupting social order. In that trial, Dang got four years and Pham four and a half. The protest the pair were allegedly involved in was in opposition to two bills, one regarding special economic zones (SEZ) and the other about cybersecurity. Under the proposed SEZ law, entities granted SEZ land will have control over it for a period of 99 years. Protesters are concerned that the long-term concession is overly generous to investor groups in SEZ projects, who are overwhelmingly Chinese in origin. This bill was not passed into law, but shelved until a later session. The cybersecurity bill, meanwhile, was passed and became law in 2019. Critics say that the law puts too many restrictions on the freedom of expression.

A journalist with local television station Channel Mandalay was arrested covering a protest at a cement factory on May 15. He remains in police custody. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly criticised the arrest and ongoing detention of the journalist, demanding his immediate release. According to the Myanmar Times, Nanda, a report with Channel Mandalay, was one of the four people who were detained by police after as they covered the protest at a cement factory in Aung Tha Pyay village in Patheingyi in central Myanmar. The editor-in-chief of Channel Mandalay, U Min Din, has made a statement following the arrest. In the statement, he said that the company will file charges under the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens if the authorities do not release Nanda and charge him in court. U Min Din added Nanda was not among the protesters nor was he involved in any violence during the protest. The complaint over the arrest has been sent to Mandalay's chief minister.

Status of Human Rights Defender: Fr Stan Swamy aged about 83 years, an exceptionally gentle, honest and public-spirited person, moved to the Chaibasa area of undivided Bihar in the 1970s. During the 1996 campaign led by the Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR) against the2 Uranium Corporation of India Limited's (UCIL) Jadugoda mines in undivided Bihar's East Singhbhum district Fr Stan had taken an active role. Fr Stan Swamy has engaged with tribals for over three decades through his NGO Bagaicha in Ranchi. Fr Stan has worked tirelessly towards extension of Panchayat and implementation of PESA in states scheduled areas. Fr Stan works for the rights of tribals and other underprivileged groups in the state. Among other issues, he also works on displacement, corporate loot of resources, the condition of undertrials and PESA. Swamy also runs a school for adivasi children and a technical training institute on his residential premises. Background: Last year on August 28, 2018, in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, Pune Police had raided Fr Stan Swamy's home. Pune Police had arrested 10 activists for allegedly being involved in an event that preceded the violence between Dalits and Marathas at Bhima Koregaon near Pune on January 1, 2018. They are accused of masterminding the violence and having links with the banned Communist Party of India - Maoists. The Pune Police first arrested five activists " Shoma Sen, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale " in June 2018 as part of the Bhima Koregaon investigation and the police filed a chargesheet against them. Two months later, activists Arun Ferreira,3 Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao were arrested. Gautam Navlakha has protection from arrest in this case Details of the Incident: As per the sources, On June 12, 2019, 7:15 am, an eight-member team of the Maharashtra police once again raided the Bagaicha campus in Namkum near Ranchi. Pune police without having a valid search warrant searched Fr Stan Swamy's belongings for about three and a half hours. It is a clear case of intimidation to harass the human right defender. It will be pertinent to mention here that, even if Fr Stan Swamy was not arrested by the Pune police team, his articles like computers, hard disks and internet modem were sized and the team members forced him to give his email and Facebook passwords. It is reiterated once again before the Commission that in the recent past high profile investigation and intrusive surveillance has been a state tactics to harass human rights defenders carrying out legitimate work. This is in stark contravention of United Nations General Assembly resolution 70/161 adopted on December 17, 2015, which recognizes the role of HRDs and the need for their protection and states that information and communication technologies are not used in a manner that amounts to unlawful interference with the privacy of individuals or the intimidation of human rights defenders. The present case is once again a direct display of high handedness and arbitrary abuse of power by the police whereby an age old activist is being harassed and mentally tortured repeatedly which is in grave violation of his fundamental Right to life - to live freely without fear and intimidation as guaranteed by the Constitution of India. In the case of arrests, allegedly related to the Bhima Koregaon incident, several prominent and globally recognised HRDs are falsely charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). In this case, the first raids were conducted on April 17, 2018, and HRDA had petitioned with the NHRC. This case 909/13/16/2018 was disposed of with directions to the concerned authorities. This was followed by another round of raids and arrests on June 6, 2018, and HRDA once again petitioned before the NHRC which was numbered 379/90/0/2018. This was also disposed of with directions to the concerned authorities. HRDA on August 28, 2018, once again approached the NHRC on the thirdset of raids and second set of arrests that took place on August 28, 2018. Nine prominent activists, lawyers, academicians were arrested under the UAPA. Despite HRDA petitioning on August 28, 2018, the NHRC took suo-moto cognizance based on a newspaper article dated August 29, 2018, and was numbered 1618/13/23/2018. This was made known to HRDA after an RTI application seeking the same. HRDA has been kept out of this case and according to the NHRC's website this case was closed on December 10, 2018, solely based on the submissions by the Maharashtra police and administration. Appeal

Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Gulalai Ismail was arrested from Peshawar on Monday on the charges of delivering anti-state speeches. Two cases were registered against Gulalai under terrorism provisions. The cases against the PTM activist were registered in Shehzad Town and Koral Police Stations. Gulalai was arrested during a raid under the supervision of the Koral station house officer (SHO) in Peshawar. A case was registered against Gulalai for making anti-state speech and inciting Pashuns against the government and the armed forces. The case also included Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1999. It was stated in the First Information Report that Gulalai delivered an anti-state and hate speech during a protest rally organised in Islamabad against the murder and alleged rape of 10-year-old girl Farishta.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - A member of a left-wing organization of farmers was gunned down outside his house at Barangay Halapitan, San Fernando town in Bukidnon province on Saturday (June 16) in what appeared to be another attack on the Left. Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Philippine Peasant Movement or KMP) said one of its members, Nonoy Palma, was killed by three gunmen. Palma was a member of KMP affiliate Kasama-Bukidnon. KMP cited witnesses saying the gunmen rode a single motorcycle and one was recognized as a local militiaman. The killing of Palma came hours after the killing of fwo human rights defenders in the province of Sorsogon which a leader of left-wing Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) linked to a shift in the government's counterinsurgency tactic that now targets noncombatant members of left-wing groups.In Sorsogon, two still unnamed men calmly approached the human rights workers Nelly Bagasala and Ryan Hubilla as they were paying their tricycle fare and shot them repeatedly, killing the two on fhe spot. Attacks on human rights defenders had caught the attention of 11 United Nations rapporteurs and human rights experts who issued a rare joint statement on June 7 calling on the UN to conduct an independent investigation of what they said was a "staggering" number of summary killings and attacks on human rights workers committed with impunity. Malacanang scoffed at the statement, saying it was based on falsehoods and goaded by President Rodrigo Duterte's critics and the opposition. The shift in counterinsurgency tactic had been ordered by Duterte who, in January 2018 upon his return from India, said his all-out war on rebels now included what he said were the rebel's "legal fronts" or groups identified with the Left. He said his order to the military was crush the rebellion "and if you have to kill, do it." JIGGER JERUSALEM

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines - The human rights watchdog Karapatan has slammed the government for he arrest of the 61-year-old Davao City-based media personality Margarita Valle in Misamis Oriental and the killing of a 65-year-old land reform advocate Felipe Dacal-Dacal in Negros Occidental. Both victims have been active in respective advocacies " Valle as journalist and development worker and Dacal-Dacal as a peasant leader who fought for free land distribution and genuine agrarian reform, the group noted. Valle was arrested by a team of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) operatives from Zamboanga del Sur and other law enforcement agents while waiting for her flight back home at the Laguindingan Airport in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental, on Sunday morning. Dacal-Dacal was shot to death by a lone gunman inside his house in Escalante City, Negros Occidental on Saturday, June 8. Valle's apprehension and Dacal-Dacal's killing are the latest in a string of abhorrent attacks against journalists and human rights defenders, said Karapatan secretary Cristina Palabay.

A prominent Chinese lawyer has been formally stripped of his license to practise, four years after a nationwide police operation targeting the country's human rights lawyers beginning on July 9, 2015. Liu Xiaoyuan, a former partner at the now-abolished Fengrui law firm, has been unable to work as a lawyer since the crackdown that saw more than 300 lawyers, law firm staff, and associated rights activists detained and targeted with professional sanctions, house arrest, and travel bans, including for family members. Liu received a call from officials at the Chaoyang district judicial affairs bureau under the Beijing municipal government on Wednesday informing him that his license had been canceled. Liu said he believes the move came in retaliation for a photo he posted to social media on Monday of himself selling insecticides as a street hawker, because he is no longer able to work as a lawyer. "I think that because of yesterday's photo, they decided to deal the final blow and cancel my license," Liu told RFA. In an earlier interview, Liu described the photo as a form of installation art. "It could be said to be a kind of art, but it also shows my helplessness," he said. "It is also a complaint against the abuse of power by the relevant departments." Reinstatement unlikely He said he has considered sueing the authorities over the cancelation of his license, but that a similar case by rights lawyer Cheng Hai hadn't met with much success. "Cheng Hai had his license to practice law revoked, and appealed, and then went to court, but the court refused to accept the case," Liu said. He said the rules allow him to reapply for a canceled license in theory, but that, in practice, there has been no precedent for a canceled license to be reinstated. "[The authorities] can't tolerate the existence of rights attorneys like us ... I can't even protect my own rights, let alone defend somebody else's," he said. "How can I be a lawyer in today's climate?" Repeated calls to the Chaoyang district judicial affairs bureau rang unanswered during office hours on Wednesday. Official obstruction Lawyer Tan Yongpei, whose license has also been canceled, said his plan to run company offering legal consultancy services instead of representing clients in court had also met with official obstruction. "There's no way the [ruling] Chinese Communist Party will allow lawyers like [us] to practise for as long as it is in power," Tan said. "They see our defense of the rights of citizens and petitioners as an attack on socialism, and they have put us on a blacklist." Guangdong-based rights lawyer Sui Muqing said he is in a similar situation to Liu, and has been basically unemployed since losing his license 18 months ago. His attempts to appeal the decision or sue the government have met with stonewalling, with the courts refusing to accept his lawsuit. "These decisions are coming from the highest levels, and there is no justice or judicial [independence] to speak of in China," Sui said. "The judges all do as they are told by the police, like police dogs, so there's no real recourse via the judicial system." Rights lawyers targeted Judicial bureaus frequently target human rights lawyers with cancelation of their licenses, for which they must undergo an annual review process, but some are imprisoned if they are too outspoken. Lawyer Chen Wuquan was found guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" by a court in Guangdong's Zhenjiang city and sentenced to five years' imprisonment in January. Chen's jailing came after he helped residents of Zhenjiang's Donghai Island to protest against a reclamation project that damaged the offshore environment and affected their livelihoods. Chen also took part in shoreline protests with banners, and initiated an online petition against the project. He and six protesters were detained in February 2018.