Vietnamese man convicted for anti-government blog

August 12, 2011

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – French-Vietnamese blogger, Professor Pham Minh Hoang, was convicted on national security charges and sentenced to serve three years in prison followed by three years of probation for posting anti-government statements to his blog.

Pham Minh Hoang was sentenced to three years in jail for anti-government blog (Photo Courtesy of Vietnam Network).

Hoang was convicted after the presiding judge found that Hoang used his blog to post article’s that “blackened the image of the country.” The conviction comes not only as a result of Hoang posting 33 articles against the government but also because he is a current member of the Viet Tan group. Viet Tan, a U.S. based group that promotes democracy in Vietnam, is considered a terrorist organization by the Vietnamese government which has banned membership in the organization.

Professor Hoang asked the court for leniency and claimed that he was unaware that he was breaking the law when he wrote the articles and would not have written them if he had known “the stories could affect the prestige of the state…” Hoang also stated to the court, “my writings were not aimed at overthrowing anyone…I only pointed out the negative things in society, and I think the country needs to be more democratic.”

Hoang’s dual citizenship with France has caused the French foreign ministry to express serious concern at Hoang’s case and the charges that had been brought against him.

Political critics and activists have been forced to serve long prison sentences since the Vietnamese government began severely limiting freedom of expression in 2009. Activists for democracy have commonly found themselves charged with subversion and sentenced to serve up to 15 years in prison for asserting opinions that are considered offensive to the Vietnamese government.

For more information, please see:

Vietnam Network – Former Lecturer Sentenced for Activities Aimed at Overthrowing Gov’t – 11 August 2011

Amnesty International-Viet Nam Urged to Release Jailed Blogger – 10 August 2011

BBC – Vietnam Jails Dissident Blogger Pham Minh Hoang – 10 August 2011

Forbes – Vietnam Jails French-Vietnamese Teacher Over Blogs – 10 August 2011

Isolated Amazon indian tribe missing after armed drug traffickers attack guard posts

August 12, 2011

By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASILIA, Brazil – An isolated Indian tribe living in the Amazon Basin rainforest has gone missing and is feared to have been massacred by Peruvian drug traffickers after an attack earlier this week on the Brazilian guard station put in place to protect them.

Uncontacted Amazon tribe missing after attack. (Photo Courtesy of Survival International)

The tribe was first introduced in February after Brazil’s Indian Affairs Department released aerial film and still images of the tribe members covered in red body paint.

Since the discovery of the tribe, the National Indian Foundation of Brazil has tried to protect them from outsiders by placing guard posts around their territory in western Brazil.

On Monday, however, the human rights group “Survival International” stated that Brazilian officials have found no trace of the tribe after a group of men armed with sub-machine guns ransacked the guard posts.

Brazilian officials fear a tragic fate for the tribe after finding a 44 pound package of cocaine in the tribe’s territory and a broken arrow inside one of the attacker’s backpacks.

According to members of Survival International, the attackers are believed to be Peruvian drug traffickers who most likely used the tribe’s land, which is only 12 miles from the Peruvian border, as an entry point into Brazil. Some members of Survival International believe the attackers could also have been investigating a clearing to grow the cocaine plant, Coca.

Since the attack, Jose Carlos Meirelles, the former head of the guard station, and other guards have reported seeing several groups of armed men traveling around the area. Despite the imminent danger, Meirelles and his guards plan to stay at the posts for the protection of the Indians.

In a statement earlier this week, the head of the government’s isolated Indians department, Carlos Travassos said: “this situation could be one of the biggest blows we have ever seen in the protection of uncontacted Indians in recent decades.”

The tribe is believed to be among roughly 68 other isolated civilizations that live in the Amazon today and have never been contacted by the outside world.

A police team has embarked on a hunt for the attackers and Survival International has stated they will take all possible measures to make sure a similar attack does not occur again.

For more information, please see:

International Times – Uncontacted Amazon Tribe ‘Massacred’ by Peruvian Drug Traffickers – 10 August 2011

CNN – Amazon tribe may have fallen victim to drug traffickers – 09 August 2011

MSNBC – Reclusive Amazon tribe missing after attack – 09 August 2011

Survival International – Guard post for uncontacted Indians over-run by “drug traffickers” – 08 August 2011

Belarus, Lithuania Rebuked for Arrest of Human Rights Activist

August 11, 2011

By Terance Walsh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – Belarusian authorities arrested a leading human rights activist last Thursday in Minsk on charges of tax evasion.

Ales Byalyatski, head of the Vyasna human rights organization, was arrested on August 4 on charges of serious tax evasion, after Lithuania provided Minsk with bank information. (Photo courtesy Radio Free Europe/Radio — Ales Belyatsky, head of the Vyasna human rights organization, was arrested on August 4 on charges of "serious tax evasion," after Lithuania provided Minsk with bank information. (Photo courtesy Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

The detainee, Ales Belyatsky, is the founder of the human rights group Vyasna. Belyatsky himself called the charges “punishment and retribution” for his efforts in defending human rights. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe labeled the arrest the “latest example of persecution.” If convicted, Belyatsky will face up to seven years in prison.

The charges arose from Belyatsky’s bank account in Lithuania, which Belyatsky uses to support his human rights work in Belarus. The Belarusian government has refused to register all but one independent human rights group in the country. If a group is denied official registration it cannot open a bank account in its name and cannot comply with Belarus’s financial regulations.

Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia director Hugh Williamson explained, “In reality what the Belarus authorities are doing to civil society and Belyatsky in particular, amounts to entrapment. First they push human rights defenders to work in the margins of the law, deny them capacity to function, then when they seek to continue to work in the only way they can, the authorities use criminal law, pretending that it has nothing to do with their human rights work. Any intelligent observer knows different.”

Belyatsky’s supporters have slammed Lithuania for its role in facilitating the arrest. Lithuanian authorities handed Belyatsky’s financial information to Belarusian authorities upon request. Opposition politician Alyaksandr Milinkevich decried, “The sudden betrayal of activists and human rights activists is, really, a betrayal on the part of the Lithuanian authorities. We need to look into it to make sure it does not happen again and that other countries don’t do similar things. This could destroy our democratic society that has struggled for human rights for so many years.”

The arrest has drawn the ire of several nations. The United States Embassy in Minsk branded the detention as “another unfortunate sign of Belarus’s self-isolation and further deviation from European standards and principles.” Germany called for the release and labeled the arrest a “political abuse of criminal law.”

Opposition leaders in Belarus remain defiant in the face of Belyatsky’s arrest. “We expected this and we were ready for it. Let them imprison us all. That’s all I can say — if they want Vyasna to stop working, let them imprison us all,” Vasnya lawyer Uladzimer Labkovich said. “If they don’t, then we will continue our work to the maximum because otherwise the biggest reproach we would get when Belyatsky gets out would be that we let the work lapse.”

Milinkevich called for a tougher stance against the Belarusian government. “We need to make the decision to treat the Belarusian government like a dictatorship,” he said. “If we consider it a dictatorship, then democratic countries will not react to letters asking for information and they won’t react to letters demanding the extradition of people who are fighting for freedom. How can they react as if Belarus were a country where people live in freedom and have free elections and are a part of the European community? No — this is a dictatorship.”

For more information please see:

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — Belarusian Opposition Dismayed By Lithuania’s Aid In Activist’s Arrest — 10 August 2011

The Moscow Times — Belarussian Detained Over Cash — 8 August 2011

Human Rights Watch — Belarus: Leading Rights Defender Detained — 5 August 2011

Voice of America — Belarus Arrests Leading Human Rights Activist — 5 August 2011

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH IN DOUBLE CRITICISM OF SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT

August 11, 2011

by Hibberd Kline
Impunity Watch, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka— Human Rights Watch (HRW) lambasted Sri Lanka’s government twice last week for failing to investigate and fully disclose details of atrocities by government forces during the country’s 26-year armed conflict, which ended in May of 2009.

Memorial for 17 aid workers slain while engaged in 2006 tsunami relief in an apparent mass extrajudicial execution. (Photograph Courtesy of Reuters).

In an statement released August 1st , HRW decried a report recently released by the Ministry of Defense (MOD) casting the blame for civilian deaths on Muslim militias and the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who sought independence for the island’s sizeable Tamil minority.

In the report, which was released under mounting pressure from foreign governments and NGOs, the Sri Lankan government conceded for the first time that its forces caused civilian deaths near the end of the conflict.

However, HRW stressed that the government did not take responsibility for laws-of-war violations, which it blamed squarely on LTTE, whose atrocities are detailed in the MOD report.

The report states that government forces “adher[ed] to a ‘Zero Civilian casualty’ policy,” but that “[i]t was impossible in a battle of this magnitude, against a ruthless opponent actively endangering civilians, for civilian casualties to be avoided.”

According to HRW, the report fails to address the “thousands of civilian casualties” inflicted by Sri Lankan forces’ frequent indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas” including hospitals. HRW stressed that these incidents were comprehensively detailed by the UN, the US State Department and various NGOs.

The second prong of HRW’s criticism of the Sri Lankan government last week came two days later on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the murder of 17 Sri Lankan aid workers, 16 ethnic Tamils and one Muslim, following a battle between LTTE and government forces.

HRW used the anniversary to highlight what it described as the government’s “broader lack of will to prosecute soldiers and police for rights abuses.”

HRW’s statement alleged that “[d]espite a backlog of cases of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings going back two decades that run to the tens of thousands, there have been only a small number of prosecutions.” The statement further alleged that past efforts to address human rights violations had failed to achieve significant results.

In a scathing accusation, HRW legal and policy director James Ross said that “[t]he Rajapaksa government is not just unwilling to uncover the truth, it appears afraid of the truth.”

Foreign governments and NGOs largely acknowledge that both LTTE and Sri Lankan government forces inflicted high numbers of civilian casualties and likely engaged in war crimes during the conflict.

In 2009, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa pledged to address the need for accountability for international humanitarian and human rights law violations.

The Sri Lankan government denies that its forces are responsible for civilian deaths during the conflict.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Sri Lanka condemned over aid workers’ deaths – 3 August 2011

Human Rights Watch – Sri Lanka: No Justice in Massacre of Aid Workers – 3 August 2011

Voice of America – HRW Calls for Investigation of Sri Lankan Aid Workers Massacre – 3 August 2011

Daily Mirror – HRW criticises SL report – 2 August 2011

JURIST – Sri Lanka report on civil war ‘whitewashes’ military atrocities – 2 August 2011

Human Rights Watch – Sri Lanka: Official Report Whitewashes Military Abuses – 1 August 2011

IN SPREADING TOWARDS THE TURKISH BORDER, AL-ASSAD’S REGIME EXTENDS ITS DESTRUCTION AND DISREGARD FOR THE VALUE OF CIVILIAN LIVES

August 11, 2011

By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria–Deciding that expanding to Deir el-Zour was not satisfactory, the Syrian government ignored Turkish pressure to cease its activities and continued to pummel through towns further east. As recently as today, 11 August 2011, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the Syrian army entered the town of Saraqeb in northwestern Idlib province, detaining as many as 100 individuals.

Damaged vehicles and buildings in Hama. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, activists whom help organize and catalog the protests, reported explosions and gunfire were heard after the army descended upon the area. A resident of Saraqeb who fled the area relayed these remarks to an Al-Jazeera correspondent.

“Around 14 tanks and armored vehicles entered Saraqeb this morning, accompanied by 50 buses, pick-ups and security cars. They started firing randomly and storming houses.”

On Wednesday 10 August 2011, SOHR reported that the government assault on civilians also had extended to the towns of Taftanaz and Sermin, when 12 tanks and armored vehicles entered both towns. During this expansion, SOHR reported that at least one woman was killed and 13 were injured.

Taftanaz and Sermin are located approximately 30 kilometers (18.64 miles) east from Syria’s border with Turkey. Saraqeb is located approximately 50 kilometers (31.07 miles) southeast of Turkey’s Iskenderun province.

Further in the south of the county, rolling government crackdowns also victimized the central province of Homs. The town of Qusayr saw columns of tanks enter its borders and many activists reported that individuals were desperately trying to escape while communications with the city have been severed.

“Residents fled into the fields and all communications have been cut with the town.”

BBC reported that seven civilians were killed during the invasion, as Syrian security forces carried out mass arrests.

Syrian army units reportedly left central Hama today on 11 August 2011, as the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) conveyed these remarks on the situation.

“The military departed after restoring the security and stability to the city that have been through tough times due to the acts of killing, terrorizing, and sabotage that were done by the armed terrorists groups.”

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria reported that clusters of individuals were killed during a siege that lined up with last week’s start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. After evening prayers on Wednesday 10 August, opposition activists claimed that demonstrators poured into the streets in the southern part of the city. Also, activists claimed that security forces opened fire and killed two people.

Reports of this incident could not be confirmed.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday 10 August, Turkey’s envoy to Syria, Omer Onhon, journeyed to Hama and was able to confirm that the tanks and heavy weaponry had withdrawn from the city.

The international community continues its efforts to compel al-Assad’s regime to cease its actions. On Wednesday 10 August 2011, the UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco briefed the 15 members of the Security Council behind closed doors about the situation. Last week, the UNSC called for an “immediate” halt to the violence, a call that apparently did not reach or did not matter to al-Assad.

Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s ambassador to the UN, said the sovereignty of his country must never be challenged.

“Our sovereignty is a red line that must not be crossed. We know our commitments, our obligations but at the same time we know what are our rights. And our rights do not stem from any political pressure. They stem from our own political will.”

The U.S Treasury Department, taking its own measures, on Wednesday 10 August announced a block of the mobile phone operator Syriatel, the Commercial Bank of Syria, and the Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank. Also, it declared that Americans are “generally prohibited from engaging in commercial or financial transactions with the companies. It is expected that U.S. President Barack Obama will formally call for al-Assad to step down in the next few days.

Other countries such as Saudia Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait have recalled their ambassadors from Damascus.

The nation-wide crackdowns have claimed some 2,000 lives since the protests began in mid-March, according to various rights groups. But with the restriction on international journalists in Syria, these reports cannot be independently confirmed.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera-Syrian forces ‘storm border town’-11 August 2011

BBC-Syrian security forces ‘kill seven in Homs province’-11 August 2011

CNN-Syrian forces push into Saraqib, death toll escalates, group says-11 August 2011

New York Times-Support for Assad Government Shows Signs of Weakening-10 August 2011

The Guardian-Obama to toughen stance on Syria with call for Assad’s departure-10 August 2011