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

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Maoist writer Li Tie was sentenced to ten years in prison and three years deprivation of political rights for subversion after he wrote online articles advocating for political reform.

The sentencing of Li Tie comes within a month of activists Chen Wei of Sichuan and Chen Xi of Guizhou being sentenced to nine years and ten years respectively for “inciting subversion”.

According to the spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, “[t]he very harsh sentencing of human rights defender Li Tie is the fourth verdict against a prominent human rights defender in China since last December.” He continued to state that the United Nations is “…very disturbed by this trend of severe suppression of dissent in the county, which appears to be designed to intimidate.”

The basis of Li’s conviction was a set of thirteen articles written by Li and interpreted by the court as an attempt to encourage others to overthrow the government.

Li was initially detained in September 2010 and was formally arrested a month later. During his time in custody he was denied visits from family and was pressured by authorities to accept a government appointed lawyer.

According to Li’s brother, Li Jian, “…they wouldn’t let him have his own lawyer, or rather, they didn’t ban him outright but did everything they could to obstruct him, so it was impossible to hire him.”

Dozens of lawyers, writers and activists have been detained in China since mid-February when protest advertisements began to appear on the internet following a series of uprisings in the Arab world.

The calls for protest, dubbed the Jasmine Revolution, have led the Chinese government to begin to clampdown on activists by detaining and sentencing them to long prison sentences.

Human rights groups claim that the three recent sentences handed down were far more severe than what is normally administered in such cases and is believed to reflect rising government anxiety as the one year anniversary of the uprising in the Middle East approaches.

Also contributing to Chinese anxiety is the change taking place in top-level leadership this year. Chinese authorities fear disruption during the period in which the Vice President assumes the role of general secretary of the party and then president.

According to rights lawyer Mo Shaoping, “[i]t’s now a consensus among many people that the legal environment in China is worsening; the authorities are setting up more and more obstacles.”

 

For more information, please see:

AFP – UN ‘Disturbed’  by Jailing of China Activist – 20 January 2012

The New York Times – China Sentences Another Prominent Activist to Prison – 19 January 2012

Radio Free Asia – Maoist Writer Jailed for Subversion – 19 January 2012

The Washington Post – Another Writer Sentenced as China’s Crackdown Continues – 19 January 2012

By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 BEIJING, China– A woman in China has narrowly avoided being forcibly sterilized after giving birth to her second child.

The attempt was carried out by family planning officials in the Chinese province of Fujian who held the woman down on an operating table.

The woman, Huang Yongchun, explains her experience by stating “they took me over there this morning, and about eight of them held me down on the operating table.”

Huang has already given birth to two children which exceeds the one child allowed under Chinese law. Huang reported that this attempt was preceded by an initial attempt made in 2010. While the first attempt was thwarted by Huang’s health problems, the second attempt was cancelled by a doctor after seeing Huang’s frantic reaction.

“The doctor didn’t want to do the operation because I was terrified…I was shuddering there on the operation table because I felt so helpless” reports Huang.

In response, Village chief Chen Renhe explained that, “they didn’t comply with family planning regulations…in our country the policy is that people who don’t comply are not forced, but we have to do ideological work with them.”

Forced sterilization and abortion have become common in rural areas of China where family planning officials attempt to avoid being fined for exceeding local birth quotas.

Rights lawyer Tang Jingling has reported that sterilizations, peer pressure and financial incentives are commonly used to convince women to comply with the one-child policy. For example, “if one person in a work unit has an extra child, then the whole organization…could lose out on economic benefit” stated Tang.

China’s one-child policy was instituted by the Communist government in the 1970’s to curb the growing population. Under this policy, couples living in urban areas are allowed only one child while couples living in rural areas are allowed two children if the first child is a female.

The one-child policy has sparked controversy not only internationally but nationally as well. One of China’s most well-known activists, rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng, has endured over six years of harassment, persecution and physical abuse because of his investigative reported of forced sterilization and abortion in China.

Chen and his wife are currently under house arrest and have been forbidden from leaving their home for over a year. During this time they have suffered beatings and frequent raids on their home by Chinese authorities.

In December American actor Christian Bale was criticized by the Chinese government for engaging in an altercation with Chinese police who physically thwarted his attempts to visit Chen while he was in town to attend the opening ceremony of his latest filed “The Flowers of War”.

 

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Asia – Woman Flees Forced Sterilization – 12 January 2012

Lifenews – Biden to Head Obama China Policy but Ignored Forced Abortions – 3 January 2012

New York Daily News – China Says Christian Bale Should be Embarrassed – 21 December 2011

The Guardian – Chen Guangcheng: Amnesty Urgent Action – 12 November 2011