By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – As thousands of anti-government demonstrators poured onto Cairo’s streets to demand freedom in the past couple of days, China’s reaction was quick and simple: censor it.

Many state-controlled internet pages and news articles, including sina.com and sohu.com censored the word “Egypt.” When the word was typed in a search engine, it prompted a following response: “According to the laws in force, the results of your search cannot be given.” User comments regarding Egypt were also deleted from Internet forums.

The recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia are giving pause to many authoritarian regimes around the world and China is no exception. The ruling Communist Party is wary of issues of political reform, demands for democracy and disturbances to public order, even if all these events are taking place abroad. That is why Beijing is notorious for closely monitoring the 450 million Chinese Internet users to prevent organized dissent and democratic movement as well as mention of the issue of human rights.

“Of course, the government doesn’t want to see more comments on (the protests), because stability is what they want,” said Zhan Jian, a professor with the Media Department at the China Youth University for Political Sciences.

Censoring the Internet is not the only approach, however. Beijing is also trying to get out ahead of the discussion, framing the Egyptian protests in a few editorials and articles as a chaotic affair that embodies the pitfalls of trying to plant democracy in countries that are not quite ready for it — a line China’s leaders have long held.

An editorial in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper, said such uprisings will not bring true “democracy”, as defined by Westerners.

“As a general concept, democracy has been accepted by most people. But when it comes to political systems, the Western model is only one of a few options. It takes time and effort to apply democracy to different countries, and to do so without the turmoil of revolution,” the paper said Sunday.

Two days later, the same publication took a hit against the United States for supporting authoritarian governments in pursuit of its interests in the Middle East, saying that “contradicts their so-called democratic politics.”

China’s message to its own people is clear, said Jeremy Goldkorn, who runs Danwei.org, a website that tracks the media and Internet in China.

“The Chinese government’s take is that chaos is harmful for a developing country: ‘Look what happens when people go in the streets,'” he said. “The Global Times frames everything as ‘This is the danger of Western-style democracy.'”

For more information, please see:

AFT – China micro-blogging sites censor ‘Egypt’ – 29 January 2011

Forbes – China restricts reports on Egypt protests – 2 February 2011

IHT – Wary of Egypt Unrest, China Censors Web – 31 January 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity  Watch; Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Sentenced to less than a year by a military tribunal, were three Indonesian soldiers, whom being caught on videotape, tortured two men in the country’s restless Papua Province, a remote site of sporadic fighting between separatist rebels and Jakarta. This was a grave disappointment for angry human rights activists who have denounced the legal proceedings as a farce for soldiers tried for human rights violations.

Presiding judge, Lt. Col. Adil Karo-Karo found the three soldiers guilty on charges of insubordination for failing to inform their superiors that they had detained and tortured the two Papuan civilians, Tunaliwor Kiwo and Telangga Gire, on May 27 last year.

The release of the video outraged activists and residents in the province and prompted an uncharacteristic admission of wrongdoing by the military, which has long been accused of brutality in Papua.

The 10-minutes of torture caught on video, taken on a cellphone, incited international horror when it was displayed on YouTube in October.

The video captured Tunaliwor being burned on the genitals with a smoldering stick, soldiers at a military post kicking and suffocating Mr. Kiwo, and soldiers holding a knife to the face of Mr. Gire. Mr. Kiwo said he was further tortured over a period of three days.

The harshest sentence, 10 months in jail, was received by the commander of a military checkpoint near Gurage village in Puncak Jaya district, where the torture took place, Sgt. Irwan Rizkiyanto.

“Although this court-martial has concluded, there is hope for a torture charge given the need to try these soldiers at an independent human rights tribunal,” Poengky told the Jakarta Globe.

The government ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1999, but activists say this has remained a paper measure. “The government and the House of Representatives must amend the law on military tribunals, which has been a major obstacle in prosecuting military officials under civilian law.”

The Military Criminal Code and its Code of Conduct so far also do not recognize torture as one of the punishable crimes within military tribunal.

Elaine Pearson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, highlighted irregularities in the court-martial.

“There were six men depicted in the video but only three were brought to trial,” she told the Globe.

The pursuit of insubordination charges, rather than those of torture, in the second trial and the focus on a small number of low-level perpetrators appears to be aimed at denying the existence of widespread abuses in Papua, Ms. Pearson said.

“If they had been prosecuted for torture, then that requires complete evidence,” Colonel Priyatna said. “If we couldn’t come up with the evidence at the hearings, then our worry is they could have been freed.”

Local and international rights groups have long accused the Indonesian police and military of human rights violations in Papua despite Indonesia’s overall transition to democracy after the 1998 ouster of the dictator Suharto. Since then, Indonesia has become a democracy.

For more information, please see:

Jakarta Global – Anger at Light Sentence for Papua Torture – 25 January 2011

New York Times – Indonesian Military Trial Angers Activists – 24 January 2011

Voice of America News – Indonesian Soldiers Charged With Torture Sentences to Prison – 24 January 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia

MUMBAI, India – Thousands of government workers in India have continued to protest against the brutal killing of an official in the western state of Maharashtra. Yashwant Sonawane was burnt to death while investigating a fuel racket.

Mr. Sonawane had apparently tried to prevent a criminal gang from stealing fuel on the Nashik-Manmad highway some 200km (124 miles) from Mumbai, when he was attacked and burnt alive after being doused by kerosene.

The killing has drawn people’s attention to the issue of corruption, which has been a major concern in the country in recent months after a series of scams, says the BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi.

Nine people have been arrested in connection with Tuesday’s murder which has shocked people across India.

The government has blamed the so-called fuel mafia – criminals who steal petrol and mix it with kerosene before selling it, for the murder.

State police have turned their attention toward an oil adulteration mafia within Maharashtra today raiding 200 places and arresting around 180 people after an official was burnt alive while the Centre unveiled steps to reduce scope for diversion of subsidized kerosene. Additional Director General (Law & Order) K.P. Raghuvanshi said in Mumbai.

Hundreds of thousands of government officials are refusing to work in protest at the killing. They held a meeting in the state capital, Mumbai (Bombay), to mourn Mr. Sonawane and demanded that they be given adequate protection while carrying out their duties.

“We will attend office but not work,” GD Kulthe, secretary of the Maharashtra Gazetted Officers Mahasangh, told the BBC. “We are going to present a memorandum demanding strict action against all involved and better protection for government officers.”

The new Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy unveiled steps including re-introduction of a chemical marker in kerosene in six months to eliminate the scope for adulteration of diesel using this subsidized fuel.  He also suggested that states use GPS-based vehicular tracking system for trucks transporting petrol and diesel to track the movement, any route deviations being taken or long stoppages.

Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil said the ‘might’ of the oil mafia is increasing day by day.

“Those who are involved will not be spared and will be given the highest punishment,” he said in Mumbai.

“We have not come across any politician’s name in our investigation. Allegations about NCP leaders being involved have not come to me. If I am given proof, I will take stern action,” Patil said.

Ravindra Dhongade, president of the Maharashtra Gazetted Officers Mahasangh, said, “We have not announced the protest as a strike but we are shunning work to register our protest against this gruesome act which has shaken the government employees.”

The government servants have demanded better protection, a comprehensive probe and strictest possible punishment for Sonawane’s killers.

“Such people should be hanged till death,” said a distraught Maharashtra Government employee. Some others went as far as saying that the killers should also be burnt alive because death sentence would not be enough for the people who have committed such a heinous crime.

More raids are expected in the days to come and the challenge is to maintain the momentum triggered by this mass protest.

Fore more information, please see:

BBC – Indian official Sonawane’s murder prompts mass protest – 27 January 2011

Deccan Chronice – Crackdown against ‘mighty’ oil mafia; 180 held – 27 January 2011

IBN Live – Govt employees protest Sonawane’s murder – 27 January 2011

A teenage Pakistani girl was electrocuted by her family for marrying out of Caste (Photo courtesy of Rantrave)

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – A teenage girl in Pakistan was electrocuted by her family members for falling in love with a man who comes from a lower caste, police said on Sunday.

Elders and relatives of Saima Bibi, 17, had a meeting with a village council, or panchayat, and came to conclude that an appropriate punishment for Saima for tarnishing the family name was death. Her guilt was falling in love with a man the family did not approve of.

“There are signs of torture and burns on her neck, back and hands which are most probably caused by electrocution,” said Zahoor Rabbani, the police from Bahawalpur district in east Pakistan where Saima was killed.

The incident prompted Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yusuf Raza Gilani, who took “serious notice” of the “the sad incident of the killing of a girl by electric current on the orders of the panchayat”, to order police to immediately submit a report, according to his office.

However, such news is nothing new. Saima’s death is known as an honor killing in Pakistan, which is commonly practiced in rural areas where, under tribal customs for generations, getting married without family approval or having sex outside marriage is deemed a serious slight to the nor of the family or the tribe.

Hundreds of people, most of them women, are brutally killed in Pakistan in the name of “honor” every year. Notably, the majority of these victims come from poor, rural families.

According to Pakistan’s independent Human Rights Commission’s latest report, nearly 650 women were killed in that way in 2009. These women, if accused of fornication, are stigmatized as a “kari”, or “black woman,” and punishment by death of such women was justified under tribal customs.

Saima fell in love with her neighbor, Dilawar, and was in hiding in Karachi, one of Pakistan’s biggest cities for more than a month. When her relatives located her and persuaded her to return to her home on the false promise that they will approve of her marriage.

“Her father, uncles and other relatives later refused to fulfil her wish because they said the boy comes from a lower caste,” said Rabbani.

When she refused to marry another man chosen by the family, Saima was brutally murdered by her own family members.

Rabbani said Saima’s father and her uncle had been detailed after police raided her village home.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Pakistani girl ‘electrocuted’ in honour killing – 23 January 2011

All Voices – Pakistani Girl Saima Bibi was Brutally Electrocuted to Death by her Family Members – 24 January 2011

The China Post – Pakistani girl ‘electrocuted’ in honor killing – 24 January 2011

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan – Within a little know Afghan province, Aziza, feeds her four-year-old son pure Opium for breakfast.

“If I don’t give him opium he doesn’t sleep,” she says. “And he doesn’t let me work.”

Many poor families, like Aziza, born to a family of carpet weavers in Balkh province has no education, no idea of the health risks involved or that opium is addictive.

“We give the children opium whenever they get sick as well,” says Aziza.

“People use opium as drugs or medicine. If a child cries, they give him opium, if they can’t sleep, they use opium, if an infant coughs, they give them opium,” reports CNNs Arwa Damon.

With no real medical care in these parts and the high cost of medicine, all the families out here know is opium.

Opium has become a cycle of addiction passed on through generations. The adults take opium to work longer hours and ease their pain.

“I had to work and raise the children, so I started using drugs,” she says. “We are very poor people, so I used opium. We don’t have anything to eat. That is why we have to work and use drugs to keep our kids quiet.”

The Balkin province is famous for its carpets. It’s so remote there are no real roads. The dirt roads that exist are often blocked by landslides.

The neighboring government-run drug therapy center is a four-hour drive away. But it has just 20 beds and a handful of staff to deal with the epidemic, says CNNs Arwa Damon.

“Opium is nothing new to our villages or districts. It’s an old tradition, something of a religion in some areas,” said Dr. Mohamed Daoud Rated, coordinator of the center. The center is running an outreach program to the areas that are most afflicted.

Most Afghans aren’t aware of the health risks of opium and only a few are beginning to understand the hazards of addiction.

“I was a child when I started using drugs” 35-year-old Nagibe says. She says her sister-in-law first gave her some when she was a young teenage bride, just 14 years old. Her children grew up addicts as well.

She has been clean for four months, hoping to leave the addiction behind, but every day is a struggle.

Three generations of one family, all struggling with a curse that afflicts well over one million Afghans.

A recent surge in opium prices could encourage Afghan farmers to expand cultivation of the narcotic crop and reverse advances in the fight against drug production.

UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said, “If this cash bonanza lasts, it could effectively reverse the hard-won gains of recent years.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Afghan infants fed pure opium – 23 January 2011

AOL news – Spike in Opium Prices Threatens Progress in Afghan Drug War – 20 January 2011

Top Wire XS – A Terrible Lullaby for Afghan Babies – 24 January 2011