By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Over 100 Tibetan protestors remain in custody after fleeing from gunshots last week.

The shooting sparked a series of protects against the Chinese government and to push for Tibetan rights. Rights groups believe that at least six people were killed and sixty injured during these protests.

Despite official government reporting that only two Tibetans were killed after a mob attacked local police with knives and stones, witnesses have described the protests as peaceful.

The protest began when government authorities insisted that Tibetans celebrate the Lunar New Year despite the wishes of residents still grieving from earlier protest deaths and desiring to celebrate the Tibetan New Year on February 22.

According to Kalsang, a monk based in India, the police immediately began to use photographs to help identify the protestors and even “…schoolchildren who were identified in the photos have bee detained.”

The most recent conflict follows a string of at least sixteen self-immolations by monks and other Tibetans over the past year. Adding the tension felt in the region is also the recent crackdown on Tibetans and the release of a monk who was left paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the beatings he endured in prison.

China and Tibet have had a tumultuous relationship full of unrest and violence since China’s rule over Tibet began in 1950 with the sending of troops to assume control over the region.

Many Tibetan feel that the Chinese authorities mistreat them and that they are denied the ability to freely exercise their culture and religious preferences. One well-known example is the forced exile of the Dalai Lama and attempt to replace him with a communist-approved alternative.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – China Cut Off Internet in Area of Tibetan Unrest – 3 February 2012

Fox News – Tensions Rise in Tibet as Chinese Security Forces Bring Fear to the Streets – 1 February 2012

Radio Free Asia – 100 Tibetan Protesters Held – 1 February 2012

The Guardian – Tibetan Unrest Spreads as Two Reported Killed by Chinese Troops – 25 January 2012

BBC – Q&A: China and the Tibetans – 15 August 2011

By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Approximately 300 Cambodians working at the Khmer Rouge tribunal will not be paid for their work in the month of January. Some Cambodians, including judges, have not been paid since October. International staff is paid by the United Nations and will continue to receive their salaries throughout the tribunal.

The reason why Cambodians are going without pay is because funds from donor countries have ran out according to tribunal spokesman, Huy Vannak. However, Vannak explained “despite the fact that no key donor countries have pledged any new financial assistance, the court pursues its work as normal.”

In a “town hall” meeting on Friday administration directors told Cambodian staff for the tribunal that they would not be paid any salary until April at the earliest. The acting director of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) said that what he wants to see in the future is that when funds are received by the United Nations, these funds should be split between the Cambodian and International side of the court.

Under ECCC law expenses and salaries of the Cambodian staff “shall be borne by the Cambodian national budget.” Huy Vannak acknowledged the law but said this has not been the practice of the court. He continued “the Royal Government of Cambodia contributes funds for water, electricity, security, transportation of staff, and outreach activities.”

An unofficial translation of the 2012 Budget Law does not contain any appropriations for the tribunal. Cheam Yeap, Chairman of the National Assembly Finance and Banking Commission, said the government has a separate budget for the tribunal but has not received any budget proposals for 2012.

Anne Heindel a legal adviser at the Documentation Centre of Cambodia said it has been common practice for Cambodian salaries to be paid from voluntary international contributions to the Cambodian government. “Donors either give money to the UN side or the Cambodian side,” Heindel said.

A tribunal official explained that funds are usually applied for in November and received annually. However, this year directors did not fly to New York to apply for funds although a tentative plan is in place for the directors to visit New York next month.

David Scheffer, a United Nations appointed Special Expert, said last week it was his “job” to ensure there was adequate financial support for the tribunal. He continued to say “we need to ensure that there’s that infusion of funding from relevant sources into the tribunal on a regular basis.”

For more information please see:      

The Phnom Penh Post – KRT Pay Freeze Will Linger — 30 January 2012

CBS News –Khmer Rouge Tribunal Halts Salaries for Cambodians – 26 January 2012

Washington Post – Salaries Stopped for Cambodian Staffers at Khmer Rouge Tribunal Due to Funding Cuts – 26 January 2012

The Phnom Penh Post – Cash Crunch at KR Tribunal – 19 January 2012

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese petitioners describe being beaten and detained by Chinese authorities for unfurling a banner in Tiananmen Square on behalf of jailed fellow activists.

Following the unfurling of the banner, which read: “the victims locked up in the Qiutaoshanzhuang black jail in Shaanxi wish the central government leaders a happy new year,” the Beijing police detained more than twenty people who were protesting the illegal detentions of in an unofficial detention center, known as a “black jail.”

Chinese petitioners claim that they are sent to black jails, where they are beaten and harassed, when they try to complain about the local government to the higher government.

Many of those put into black jails have spent decades trying to win redress for forced evictions, beatings while in custody and corruption regarding lucrative land sales.

Petitioner Zhang Wuxue described, “we were locked in the basement and got nothing to eat or drink, and we couldn’t get out, and the security guards swore at us and beat us.”

A recently freed detainee of a black jail stated that, “when we were detained, we were starved and humiliated. We were sick but couldn’t get any medical help. One of the elder petitioners was sick for four or five days and couldn’t get any medicine, even though he was going to pay for it himself.”

According to rights lawyer Liu Anjun authorities are cracking down in dissent in the capital in comparison with past years.

Chinese citizens have experience an increase in government crackdown on dissidents following the uprisings in the Middle East almost a year ago. Many speculate that the government is in fear of losing the control it has over it’s citizens to rebellions inspired by the Middle East protestors.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Asia – Petitioners Thrown in ‘Black Jails’ – 26 January 2012

NTD – Petitioners Rescued From Beijing Black Jail – 18 January 2012

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodia has announced that it will not overrule the rejection of Judge Kasper-Ansermet who was selected by the United Nations to preside over the Khmer Rouge Tribunal which is also known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC).

According to an official spokesman, Phay Siphan, Cambodia’s Supreme Council of Magistracy is entrusted with final decision-making authority on whether the government would accept the United Nation’s choice of co-investigating judge at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

As such, the Cambodian government maintains that they are unable to override a decision made by the top judicial body despite statements by United Nations officials that the rejection is a breach of the ECCC agreement.

Special expert on U.N. assistance to the Khmer Rouge trial, David Scheffer, claims the Cambodia did not have authority under the agreement to prevent Kasper-Ansermet from taking the position.

“Our view is that this particular individual, judge Kasper-Ansermet, has clear authority to fulfill his duties in this country and we look forward to him doing so,” Scheffer stated.

According to Scheffer, Kasper-Ansermet is expected to begin work on the investigation of two individuals suspected to have played a role in the “year zero” revolution that claimed the lives of over two million.

Many believe that his intention to investigate the two individuals is what led to his rejection. Many believe that Cambodia’s government is attempting to prevent the investigation of further cases and the two individual’s in question have been particularly controversial.

Furthermore, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was himself a Khmer Rouge soldier, has threatened civil war if more indictments are issued.

A meeting between UN Secretary General’s Special Expert David Scheffer and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, which was intended to settle a dispute over the appointment of the co-investigating judge, proved fruitless.

According to a statement by Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, the two sides held differing views on the interpretation of tribunal agreement but “…they intend to continue their close discussions on the most critical issues, and both remain optimistic that the court can achieve its mandate.”

Many believe that the Cambodian government has continuously placed hurdles in front of the tribunal causing some to question the nation’s dedication to a successful tribunal.

Since its founding in 2003, the tribunal has spent $150 million dollars and has achieved only one conviction.

The man convicted was sentenced to thirty-five years in prison, which was later commuted to nineteen years, for his role in the death of 14,000 people at a Cambodian torture center.

The tribunal stems from the execution, torture, starvation, overwork and disease that occurred under the Maoist regime between 1975 and 1979 and resulted in over two million deaths.

For more information, please see:

AFP – UN Defends Judge in Khmer Rouge Trial Row – 25 January 2012

Reuters – U.N. Says Won’t Change Judge for Cambodia War Crimes Court – 25 January 2012

Voice of America – UN Insists on Appointment of Swiss Tribunal Judge – 25 January 2012

Radio  Free Asia – No Reversal of Tribunal Judge Decision – 24 January 2012

By: Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia 

BEIJING, China – On the first day of the Chinese New Year security forces opened fire on Tibetan protesters yesterday killing one protester and injuring thirty-two others. This has been a contentious month between government officials and Tibetan protesters.

Four monks have already committed suicide by setting themselves on fire this month in protest of the government. With the most recent self-immolation just last week the total amount of monks killing themselves by fire has risen to sixteen over the past twelve months.

Two different accounts exist of what led to the violence. The first account, given by three Tibetan monks, explained that thousands of people marched to the local police station yesterday morning to call for religious freedom and to protest local corruption. Then around two o’clock in the afternoon police began firing at the crowd from windows of the police station.

The second account, from Xinhua (China’s official news agency),  stated that dozens of people gathered outside a bus station after a man put up posters claiming a monk would set himself on fire there. Then at 2 p.m. the crowd of protestors began attacking the local police station with clubs and stones. Xinhua confirmed that one protestor was killed following the confrontation and five police officers were injured.

Free Tibet identified the killed protestor as forty-nine year old Norpa Yonten. The International Campaign for Tibet, a rights group based in Washington, said that he was the brother of a reincarnated lama.

Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the International Campaign for Tibet, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times, that three people were killed in the protest yesterday and forty-nine people had received treatment for injuries at monk-operated clinics.

Tibetans are afraid to go to government-run hospitals for fear that they will be questioned by authorities about the conditions surrounding their injuries.

The self-declared Tibetan parliament-in-exile in India, says the protestors demanded return of their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, reports BBC.

The Chinese government has classified Tibetans who engage in self-immolation or extreme protest techniques as terrorists and has accused the Dalai Lama of encouraging such activities.

Anticipating further protests due to New Year celebrations and the fourth anniversary of violent protests in March of 2008 the Chinese government has banned all foreigners from travelling to Tibet from February 20 to March 31.

For more information please see:

BBC – Tibetan Protester ‘Killed by Chinese Police Gunfire’ — 23 January 2012

MSN – Police Open Fire on Tibetans in China, One Dead: Locals – 23 January 2012

New York Times – Tibetans Fired Upon in Protest in China – 23 January 2012

Phayul – Tibetans Shot to Death on Chinese New Year – 23 January 2012