Two Tongan candidates question November election results

January 10, 2011

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – After the historic November 2010 general elections in Tonga, which marked a transition away from the 165-year rule of the monarchy, two unsuccessful candidates are alleging fraud in the election results.

According to the Tongan Supreme Court, a candidate of the Vava’u 14 constituency, Siale Fifita alleges that the winner overspent the permitted amount on the campaign, carried out election propaganda beyond the cut-off date and used bribery.

According to Mr Tuita, supreme court registrar, says a businessman, Siosaia Moehau who was just four votes behind the winner of the Tongatapu 6 constituency is convinced he won the seat as he thinks there were a number of irregularities.

“Some of the grounds stated are: voting twice, which is false impersonation; another one was lack of police control; and the other grounds is voting after declaration of the ballots; and the last but not least is voting after 4pm, that was when the voting was supposed to have ceased.”

In November 2010, general elections under a new electoral law were held in Tonga, which determined the composition of the 2010 Tongan Legislative Assembly – a first popularly-elected parliament. For the first time in the nation’s history, a party formed by a pro-democracy movement emerged as the biggest winner in the election.

Four years prior to the election, anger over government’s forced political reforms led to riots in the Capital, Nuku’alofa. During the riots, gangs targeted businesses run by ethnic Chinese people. Hundreds were injured and eight people were killed as much of the town was burned down. Tonga suffers high unemployment and a quarter of its population live below the poverty line.

The November election drew 89% of the 42,000 registered voters to cast ballots, according to election officials. King George Tupou V called the election “the greatest and most historic day of our kingdom”.

Amid expectations and concerns for this new democratic nation, this election petitions came to light.

However, the Supervisor of Elections in Tonga, Pita Vuki, says it is common for one or two unsuccessful candidates to file petitions after an election as the Electoral Act permits.

“It’s quite normal for any candidates to file a petition if they feel there was something wrong in the conduct of elections or any behavior of any other candidates.”

For more information, please see:

Radio New Zealand – Tonga Supreme Court receives election petitions – 10 January 2011

BBC News – Strong showing for Tonga democrats in election – 26 November 2010

Radio New Zealand – Two failed Tongan candidates question election results – 10 January 2011

POPULAR RESORT ROCKED BY MURDERS: 15 HEADLESS BODIES FOUND IN ACAPULCO

January 9, 2011

By Erica Laster Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

ACAPULCO, Mexico – Acapulco, a popular resort city in Mexico, has been able to boast a number of tourists in previous years. However, a statement by Guerrero State Public Security office has confirmed the discovery of 15 headless bodies on a highway next to a popular shopping center in the city. Police were alerted to their presence after following a trail of burning vehicles to the corpses. The victims ranged in age from 25-30 and were all male.

An Acapulco Police Officer confronts armed gunman in attack on Saturday, January 8. Photo courtesy of CNN.

Authorities believe the slayings to be drug related after discovering a number of hand written notes with the bodies. Handwritten signs bore the signatures of “El Chapo’s People.” Director of Investigative Police for Guerrero State, Fernando Monreal Levya confirmed the belief that this is a reference used by the Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Saturday’s discovery is the largest decapitation group found in recent years.

Violence has increased in the resort city of Acapulco in recent years due to the high prevalence of drug trafficking.

This past Saturday, two police officers and ten civilians were also killed in the city. The police officers were a casualty of an armed attack on a police post in the Emiliano Zapata district of Acapulco. Six of those civilians were discovered shot with their feet and hands bound inside of a local taxi. The body of a town mayor was also discovered in northern Mexico on Saturday.

“We are coordinating with federal forces and local police to reinforce security in Acapulco and investigating to try to establish the motive and perpetrators of these incidents,” stated Director Monreal. Over 30,196 people have lost their lives in drug related violence since 2006 offensive began against Mexican cartels to stem the flow of drugs and murders.

Associated Press – 27 Deaths, Including 14 Decapitated, Rock Acapulco – 9 January 2011

New York Times –Bodies Found Beheaded In Assaults In Acapulco, Mexico – 8 January 2011

CBS News – 14 Headless Bodies Found In Mexico Resort City – 8 January 2011

CNN – 15 Headless Bodies Found In Acapulco – 8 January 2011

Crackdown On Opposition In Belarus Continues

January 9, 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – Following the crackdown after the December 2010 elections in Belarus, reported here, an EU human rights watchdog was recently expelled from Belarus. Additionally, a local human rights organization’s office was raided by police and the director detained, in addition to police raids of several activists’ homes.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has maintained an office in Minsk since 1998 in order to provide assistance to the government in Belarus in developing civil society and the economy. A positive report by the OSCE on the conduct of the election was to be an essential factor in determining whether Belarus will receive EU financial aid. However, the OSCE called the recent elections “flawed” and accused the government of fraud, in addition to criticizing the police crackdown on opposition supporters following the election.

Last week, many believe as a result of the election criticism, the OSCE was asked to leave Belarus. Andrei Savinykh, Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement that “an evaluation of the results achieved by the OSCE mission in Minsk shows that the mission has fulfilled its mandate.”

This contention, however, has been strongly denied. The chairman of the OSCE, Audronius Azubalis, responded by saying, “[i]ts mandate has not been completed,” and “[t]here is an important job for the O.S.C.E. to continue in Belarus.”

On Wednesday, police raided the office of the Belarus Helsinki Committee, which is according to the Associated Press “an independent group whose name refers to the principles of the 1975 Helsinki Accords that were the precursor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.” The police seized computers from the Helsinki Committee office and detained the director, Oleg Gulak.

The Belarussian police on Thursday conducted raids on the homes of several political activists. They seized computers, phones, cameras, memory cards, and printed material such as organization member lists.

These events are all part of a continuing crackdown that followed election day, when almost 700 opposition supporters were arrested following mass demonstrations which were broken up by a violent police shutdown. Most of the people arrested faced 5 to 15 days in jail, followed by firing from their work or expulsion from school. The opposition presidential candidates that have been charged face up to 15 years in jail.

This comes after many within European circles had hoped the election in Belarus would be conducted in concert with EU ideas of freedom and democracy, and had been prepared to reward such actions. As Reuters phrased it, “Brussels had dangled the prospect of financial aid if the election demonstrated at least a veneer of democracy.”

A closer Belarussian relationship with the EU seems unlikely now. As Guido Westerwelle, German Foreign Minister, said in a statement, “[t]he decision to shut down the OSCE office is a further setback for the rule of law and human rights in Belarus. With its authoritarian course, the government in Minsk is leading the country further away from European freedom values.”

For more information, please see:

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Activists In Belarus Fear School Expulsions, Firings – 7 Jan. 2011

NAVINY – New KGB raids over post-election protest – 6 Jan. 2011

NEW YORK TIMES – Belarus: Police Raid Rights Group Office – 5 Jan. 2011

AP – Belarusian human rights group reports police raid – 5 Jan. 2011

NEW YORK TIMES – Belarus Ejects European Watchdog Agency – 1 Jan. 2011

REUTERS – Belarus throws out EU watchdog after election – 1 Jan. 2011

BBC – Belarus closes down OSCE office after poll criticism – 31 Dec. 2010

Political Unrest in Northern Tanzania

January 9, 2011

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Mr. Willibrod Slaa, Secretary General of the Chadema Party. (Photo courtesy of BBC). — Mr. Willibrod Slaa, Secretary General of the Chadema Party. (Photo courtesy of Reuters).

ARUSHA, Tanzania – On Thursday, January 6, Tanzanian security forces shot and killed two anti-government protesters at a political rally in the northern city of Arusha. Along with killing two protesters, security forces also arrested nearly fifty people including ten prominent anti-government leaders who belonged to the Chadema party, one of the nation’s main opposition groups. The leaders were taken to a police station, charged with unlawful assembly and then released after making bail.

The arrests came after members of the Chadema party began an unauthorized march protesting the most recent mayoral election in Arusha. Security forces had permitted the Chadema party to hold a meeting in the city; however, when the meeting turned into a protest march, the police stepped in and prevented the march from continuing. During the police intervention several leaders of the Chadema party were arrested and detained. Reacting to the arrest of their party leaders, several marchers attempted to storm the police station where their leaders were held. In the process, security forces shot into the gathering crowd, killing two people. Eventually security forces regained control of the police station and sealed off the area. The rest of the city was unaffected by this incident and continues to operate normally.

The clashes that took place in Arusha stem from political strife between the ruling CCM party and the Chadema party. The Chadema party, which has a strong presence in Arusha, believes the mayoral election was rigged to favor Tanzania’s ruling CCM party.

Among the opposition leaders arrested were Chadema Chairman Freeman Mbowe and Secretary General of the Chadema party Willibrod Slaa. Mr.Slaa, the leader of the Chadema party, had made an unsuccessful run for president of Tanzania in 2010. He ran against the sitting president Mr. Jakaya Kikwete, a member of the CCM party. The election, which was held on October 31, was plagued by low voter turnout, corruption, and numerous allegations of voter fraud. After his victory, Mr. Kikwete promised to curb the power of opposition groups like the Chadema party. Coincidentally the arrest of Mr. Slaa occurred several days after he made comments calling for Mr. Kikwete to step down because of a scandal involving energy contracts.

For more information, please see:

AFP — Police kill least two at Tanzania protest – 7 January 2011

The Citizen – 2 Killed, Dozens hurt in Chadema protests – 6 January 2011

BBC Africa — Tanzania police kill two in Arusha at Chadema protest – 6 January 2011

Reuters – Tanzanian police kill two rioters, seize leaders -6 January 2011

Renowned Chinese Dissident Dies

January 8, 2011

Dissident Li Hong, healthy prior to incarceration in 2007, suddenly fell ill and died last week at the age of 52. (Photo Courtesy of The Epoch Times)

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese dissident writer Li Hong passed away on December 31, 2010 at the age of 52. Mr. Li Hong was the founding editor of the popular Zhejiang News and also former chief-editor of the Chinese literary and news website Aegean Sea. At the time of his death, he was in his hospital bed, surrounded by a number of domestic security police.

Following Li’s death, Chinese authorities prevented other dissidents and human rights activists from attending his funeral, and also censored news of his death. This is due to Li’s long history of activism, which the communist government regarded to be “dangerous.”

Another dissident writer Chen Shuqing reported to The Epoch Times that police contacted Chen on the evening of Li’s death and told him not to leave Hangzhou for Ningbo. Chen, fearing if something had happened to Li in Ningbo, asked the police if anything was wrong with Li, but did not hear anything back.

“Quite a few others in Hangzhou have also received such warnings not to go to Ningbo,” Chen said.

Li Hong, born in Zhang Jianhong, was renowned for his writing career, which included poetry and plays. Li was charged in January 2007 with “inciting subversion against the state” and tried off the record in the Ningbo Municipal Intermediate Court. Li refused to plead guilty on any of his charge throughout the trial.

According Li Jiangiang, Li Hong’s lawyer, the charges were based on 62 articles he had written, most of which were regarding reports about live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, and his support for human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng’s hunger strike.

“Li Hong, a freelance scholar who does not practice Falun Gong, stood up at the first moment to condemn these crimes committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is believed that as a scholar in China Li Hong touched the CCP’s sensitive spot: the CCP fears the public’s awareness and condemnation of its live organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners,” the New Epoch Weekly editorialized in January 2007.

Although healthy and hale prior to incarceration, Li’s health rapidly deteriorated and was soon diagnosed in August 2007 with muscular dystrophy. The Chinese authorities denied Li’s family’s repeated requests for medical parole, until June 2010, when his body was completely paralyzed and was not able to speak.

Li was then released for medical treatment on June 5 and was taken directly to the Ningbo Number Two People’s Hospital for intensive care, where he stayed until he died last week.

Zhu Yufu, Li’s colleague and one of the founders of Chinese Democratic Party formed in 1998, said with anger, “The authorities have killed Li Hong! It is yet another crime of theirs. Now they are frightened and are trying very hard to cover up the truth. They are keeping us from attending his funeral and expressing our condolences.

“Because Li Hong persisted and refused to compromise, they hated him and wanted him to die.”

For more information, please see:

The Epoch Times – Renowned Dissident Writer Li Hong Dies, Authorities Prevent Funeral – 4 Jan 2011

Human Rights in China – Human Rights in China Mourns the Passing of Dissident-Writer Li Hong – 7  January 2011

Chinese Human Rights Defenders – Dissident Writer Li Hong Passes Away – 3 Jan 2011