By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – An unidentified gang attacked the office of a local Sri Lankan newspaper run by individuals previously associated with the Tamil separatist group who fought a bitter civil war with the current central government.

The office publishes a Tamil-language newspaper that routinely runs stories that are highly critical of the current regime in Sri Lanka.  This episode of violence occurred merely two weeks after the United Nations passed a resolution asking the Sri Lankan central government to investigate and remedy the human rights violations redolent in their country which includes intimidation of journalists.

The attack was carried out against the Uthayan newspaper office located in the northern portion of the country where the former civil war was waged.  This marks the fourth attack on a Sri Lankan media outlet since January.

Six unidentified, masked individuals stormed the office causing damage to the building, vehicles, computers and other property.  Five of the employees at the newspaper office, including the manager, we injured during the attack.  Three of the workers were reportedly hospitalized, and the remaining workers suffered minor injuries.

The publisher of the Uthayan newspaper is E. Saravanapavan, a legislator for the Tamil National Alliance party and has strong ties to the former separatist rebels.  The local police and government officials could not be reached to provide a statement on the attack against the Tamil newspaper.

Saravanapavan released a statement to the media suggesting that the attack was directly linked to stories that the newspaper had recently run which criticized the paramilitary forces and their actions in the former northern war zone.

Though politically motivated violence has significantly dwindled since the current Sri Lankan regime stamped out the Tamil rebellion four years ago in 2009, pundits in the international human rights community believe that violence against reporters and other subversives are still are problem.

Rule of law, human rights groups say, has yet to be firmly established in the tumultuous aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war.  There have been no arrests in relation to the attacks that occurred against the media earlier this year.  Authorities and internal administrators that should be conducting these investigations have yet to be full restored after the civil war.

Sunil Jayasekara, a spokesperson for the Media Movement in Sri Lanka (a freedom of press group), released a public statement stating that these attacks are not only a threat to the freedom of the media, but a threat to the entire country of Sri Lanka.  Jayasekara called for the government to take more responsibility for these types of attacks against the media.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Tamil paper Uthayan attacked in northern Sri Lanka – 3 April 2013

Breitbart – TAMIL NEWSPAPER SAYS STAFF ATTACKED IN SRI LANKA – 3 April 2013

The Global Times – Tamil newspaper office attacked in Sri Lanka – 3 April 2013

Reuters – Sri Lanka newspaper office attacked, five workers hurt – 3 April 2013

Shanghai Daily – Tamil newspaper office attacked in Sri Lanka – 3 April 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A report released to China’s central government in Beijing theorizes that over one million Chinese die prematurely each year due to poor air quality in the rapidly industrializing nation.

The report was first presented in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study and published in a British medical journal.  The report mainly focuses on statistics from India and China which has some of the most densely populated and polluted cities in the entire world.

The 2010 report estimates that air pollution ranked as the fourth leading killer in China behind dietary problems, high blood pressure, and tobacco smoking.  Air pollution ranked as the seventh leading risk factor contributing to premature deaths worldwide, killing roughly 3.2 million people in 2010.

Ambient particulate matter pollution, tiny pieces of solid matter floating around in the atmosphere, is what causes the deaths after it is inhaled by people who live in the densely populated Chinese cities.  Barbara Finamore, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council to China, warns that if you travel to Beijing you immediately feel the effects after getting off the plane in the form of stinging eyes and sore throats.

The air pollution in Beijing, and all over China, routinely gets so poor that citizens will walk through the streets wearing protective masks.  Young children are also not allowed to play outside in the streets.  There are certain days when the ambient particulate matter levels are so high in the cities that it is impossible to see the buildings across the street.

Robert O’Keefe, researcher at the health effects Institute in Boston, states that China’s rapid growth is causing the dramatic decrease in air quality.  Cars and trucks are hitting the urban streets in major cities at an alarming rate, and the power plants all over the country are burning large amounts of low-grade coal.

The Chinese government has been pressed by the international community to control the environmental impact of their explosive growth and energy consumption.  Though officials are under severe pressure, a study released last Thursday suggests that the information on pollution in Chinese cities has gotten less accessible in recent years.

An official report released last week by a Chinese news source states that the reversal of some of the environmental degradation in China would cost roughly $230 billion.  The report only focuses on the 2010 figures.  The estimate came from research that was conducted in 2004 by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

For further information, please see:

International Business Times – Airpocalypse In China: Air Pollution Linked to 1.2M Deaths, Study Says – 2 April 2013

NPR – China’s Air Pollution Linked To Millions Of Early Deaths – 2 April 2013

Yahoo news – Air pollution linked to 1.2M deaths in China in 2010 – 2 April 2013

The New York Times – Air Pollution Linked to 1.2 Million Premature Deaths in China – 1 April 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

LANZHOU, China – Reports say that roughly 100 decomposing human bodies are fished out of the Yellow River every year in and around the city of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province.

A report from a Shanghai newspaper reported that the figure of 100 is actually low, and the most recent statistics place the number of decomposing human remains retrieved from the river closer to 200 or 300 per year.

The report from the Shanghai newspaper is bolstered by “body fishers,” like Wei Jinpeng, who collect the floating corpses along the river so they can display the bodies and sell them back to the families of the deceased.  Wei Jinpeng says the estimate of 100 per year is likely incredibly low given that he alone fishes out roughly 80 to 100 bodies per year.

Body fishing is also an incredibly lucrative trade for those who engage in the business, like Wei Jinpeng, in the city of Lanzhou.  The city’s government has dragged their feet in cracking down on the gruesome trade since issuing a promise to the public to fix the problem back in 2006.

Law enforcement and city officials remain uninterested in the body fishing epidemic despite reports stating that around 5% of the bodies fished out of the Yellow River are results of criminal activity and murder.  Many of the bodies fished out of the river are murdered, female migrant workers.

The dumping of human remains into Chinese rivers has been an ongoing problem for decades, but has recently resurfaced as a controversial issue in international media due to the investigations surrounding the dumping of tens of thousands of pig carcasses in the Huangpu River in Shanghai and dead ducks being dumped into the Nan River in Sichuan province.

The controversy stems from the possibility that the human remains, as well as the animal remains that riddle the Chinese rivers, may be contaminating and polluting the water supply provided by the rivers.  A 2005 Daxia Hydropower Company report suggested that the human remains in the water supply make the water hazardous to drink.

If the bodies are left untreated and decomposing in the rivers, the environmental impact and pollution is much more severe than the regular dumping of household waste into the rivers.   Additionally, in a 2012 investigation, river water is believed to regularly mix with well water which is consumed by humans, but the river water contaminated with human remains makes the water unsafe to drink.

For further information, please see:

The Times of India – Pigs, ducks and now bodies in China river – 2 April 2013

Foreign Policy – Is This a Pandemic Being Born? – 1 April 2013

Forbes – Now In China’s Rivers: Decomposing Humans – 31 March 2013

South China Morning Post – Officials in Lanzhou say bodies floating in river not affecting water quality – 29 March 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Liu Hui, brother-in-law of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, has been taken into custody and will soon be put on trial because of accusations of fraud.

Mo Shaoping, Liu Hui’s lawyer, said that his client Mr. Liu has been detained over a property dispute; however, the evidence the state has against him is insufficient for an actual conviction.  The case against Liu Hui is based on an accusation that he and an old colleague stole from the company they worked for.

The Associated Press reported that Liu and his accomplice allegedly took three million RMB (roughly $483,000) from their workplace.  Liu Xia, the wife of the jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner and sister of Liu Hui, believes that her brother’s detainment is an intimidation tactic to force her to comply with her house arrest.

Liu Xia was sentenced to a lengthy house arrest term alongside her husband who was sentenced to an 11 year prison term.  The couple was convicted based on charges of subversion against the central government in late 2009 when Liu Xiaobo attempted to bring down the one party system in favor of democratic reforms in China.

Hu Jia, a prominent human rights activist in the Beijing area who visited with Liu Xia during her house arrest, perceives Liu Xia’s conditions as weakening.  Liu Hui said during her meeting that she would “go mad soon” after the events surrounding her brother’s detainment.

Mo Shaoping, whose firm defended Liu Xiaobo during his legal proceedings against the state when he was brought up on subversion charges, told local news agencies that Liu Hui had been under surveillance by authorities for several months.  It is uncertain whether the current charges are in any way connected with the subversion activities of Liu Xiaobo.

Mr. Mo further said that the evidence against Liu Hui is insufficient for a criminal proceeding and the current dispute should be settled in civil courts.  Liu Hui has also publicly denied any wrongdoing on his part.  Mr. Liu could face as much as 10 years in prison if found guilty for this property dispute.

China’s judicial branches are firmly in the grips of the Communist party and will usually find defendants, like Liu Hui, guilty for the crimes they have been charged with.  Mr. Liu will stand trial in Huairou, a northern district in the capital city of Beijing.

There has been no notification of a set trial date yet; however, Liu’s lawyers expect a firm date within the month.

For further information, please see:

Democracy Digest – China jails Nobel laureate’s relative – 1 April 2013

BBC – Jailed China Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s relative held – 29 March 2013

The New York Times – Relative of Jailed Chinese Laureate Faces Fraud Charges – 29 March 2013

Radio Free Asia – Chinese Laureate’s Relative Held on ‘Fraud’ – 29 March 2013