By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

CHHATTISGARH, India- Maoist rebels have killed at least 75 Indian police in a jungle ambush in central India yesterday in their bloodiest attack on security forces since their uprising began more than four decades ago.

Maoist rebels numbering up to 700 participated in the early morning attack on 82 members of the Central Reserve Police Force patrolling forests in the central state of Chhattisgarh.  Also known as Naxalites, the rebels used automatic weapons and land mines to attack the patrol, surrounding the reinforcements who rushed to the scene in the Bastar region, which is home to India’s largest iron ore mining company.

From his hospital bed, one of the seven troopers who survived with severe injuries said “It was a flash attack…I saw scores of my colleagues in a pool of blood.  Maoists were spraying bullets on us.”  Police said at least 17 soldiers were killed when the Maoist rebels blew up an armored anti-mine vehicle sent to retrieve the wounded.

P. Chidambaram, the Home Minister who last year launched a campaign against the Naxalites said, “Something has gone very wrong. They seem to have walked into a trap…I’m deeply shocked.  I’m sorry for those who’ve lost their lives.  This shows the savage nature of the [Naxalites].”

The Naxalites, who claim to be fighting for the hundreds of millions of poor farmers and landless labourers left behind by India’s recent economic growth have become a growing threat in the region, highlighted by this recent attack.  From their beginnings in 1967, they have grown into a force of about 20,000 permanent armed cadres and 100,000 militia.

Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, has described the Naxalites as the largest internal threat to India’s security.  Chidambaram vowed to defeat the rebels within three years by using paramilitary forces to help state police in Operation Green Hunt.  Critics say the campaign is futile because of chronic lack of training, equipment, personnel and reliable intelligence.

The rebels however, already appear to be stepping up their activities against the government offensive.  Last year, violence claimed 908 lives, the highest total since 1971.

Before yesterday, the rebel’s bloodiest attack was one that killed 55 policemen in March 2007, also in Chhattisgarh.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Scores of Indian Soldiers Killed In Maoist Ambushes– 6 April 2010

TimesOnline- Jungle Ambush Leaves 75 Police Dead In the Bloodiest Day in Maoist Insurgency– 6 April 2010

Guardian.co.uk- Maoist Rebels Kill 75 Indian Police– 6 April 2010

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The Foreign Correspondent’s Club of China (FCCC) said that e-mail accounts of eight foreign journalists working in China and Taiwan were hacked.

The FCCC said in an e-mail sent to its members, “We have confirmed eight cases in which journalists . . . have had their e-mail accounts hacked . . . with several accounts disabled by Yahoo . . . .” 

In addition, the FCCC has told its members to change their e-mail passwords and use other means of communication when arranging for interviews or conducting other “sensitive business.”

Yahoo was not available for comment, and the company has not answered FCCC’s questions or informed individual journalists how their accounts were hacked.

Although there is no evidence linking this incident to the Chinese government, FCCC’s warning to its members is reflective of increasing concern over Internet surveillance by the Chinese government, especially of human rights activists and foreign journalists working in China.

The hacking of Yahoo e-mail accounts also coincides with Google sending Internet search engine requests out of mainland China to Hong Kong, which has angered the Chinese authorities.

Google justified their action by explaining that this move is a response to Google’s objections against Chinese government’s censorship rules and to series of cyberattacks on Google suspected to have originated from China.

A freelance American journalists, Kathleen McLaughlin, who also sits on FCCC’s board, said, “Someone is clearly targeting journalists.  It makes me feel very uncomfortable.”

In addition to attacks on Yahoo and Google, there is circumstantial evidence on a spying network which appears to have originated in China.  This spying network affected users from over 100 countries where data was transferred to servers in China. 

In a cypersecurity report issued by Symantec, China is the world’s biggest source of targeted attacks, including malicious mails sent in small numbers which are aimed at gathering or accessing sensitive information.  The report said 28% of those attacks are from China.

For more information, please see:

Financial Times – China, Taiwan Yahoo users report hacking – 31 March 2010

NYT – Journalists’ E-Mails’ Hacked in China – 30 March 2010

PC World – E-Mail Accounts of Foreign Journalists in China Hacked – 30 March 2010

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TEHRAN, Iran – Amnesty International recently published a study with statistical information regarding nations retaining a form of capital punishment.  The late proliferation of judicial executions in Iran has invoked the apprehensions of numerous human rights groups, as it raises suspicions that the Iranian government is utilizing its capital punishment system as a mechanism by which it can quell political unrest and detractors of the state.

The temporal context of the surge in executions in Iran further suggests that the state has been using  judicial executions to serve political purposes.  Studies revealed a discernable rise in execution rates during last years tumultuous presidential elections.  The widely publicized riots subsequent to the unfavorable outcome of the elections, which reinstated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of Iran, caused much disorder in Iranian city streets and created an opportunity for people to voice their often suppressed opinions.

However, the opportunity created by the disorder in the streets did not entail the freedom to do so without punishment.  Within the weeks beginning with the summer elections and ending with the actual inauguration of Ahmadinejad, it has been reported that approximately 112 individuals had been put to death.  The executions also seemed served as a deterrent for political activism.  Even if the executions did not actually eliminate enemies of the current regime,, they have the effect of conveying a morbid message to  individuals and organizations speaking against the state.

Including the spike in executions done during the weeks surrounding Iran’s June elections, Amnesty International has reported that the Iranian government killed 388 people in the year 2009.  Further studies demonstrate that the number of executions in Iran has multiplied nearly four-fold since Ahmadinejad became president five years ago.  The execution statistics, if correct, signify that Iran under the presidency Ahmadinejad has seen the most capital punishment since the Islamic Revolution of the late 1970s.

The international community has taken significant steps to express its collective disdain towards the extensive use capital punishment.  Multilateral UN documents contain articles either restricting or moving for the elimination of the death penalty in signatory states.  Iran’s proliferation of judicial killing, and the purpose of these killings, signifies an abuse of power largely condemned and inhumane in its results.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty Int’l – Iran executions send chilling message – 30 March 2010

IOL News – Iran execution rates rising – 12 May 2008

Refworld – Execution date moved forward for Iranian young offender – 02 Febrary 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAHANG, Malaysia – A woman in Malaysia, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, originally sentenced last July to caning for violating a Muslim law,  has had her punishment commuted. The Islamic department in Pahang announced that the state’s sultan decided to spare her.

Kartika, a former model and nurse, was initially sentenced to be caned. The mother of two had pleaded guilty to the crime. At the time, if the punishment had been carried out she would have been the first woman to be caned in Malaysia, where about 60% of the 28 million people are Muslims. Kartika was supposed to receive six strokes of the cane, and a fine of 5,000 ringgit (about $2,000) for drinking beer in December 2007 at a beach resort.

Photograph of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno and her two children. Image courtesy of: The Age.

The public reaction to Kartika’s sentence prodded an already fiery debate over whether Islamic laws should intrude into people’s private lives in this Muslim-majority country. Many people had condemned the punishment, sand expressed the concern that this was a sign that conservative Islamists are gaining influence over the justice system.

Malaysia follows a dual-track justice system. Shariah laws apply to Muslims in all personal matters. Non-Muslims – Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, and other minorities are covered by civil laws, and are free to drink alcohol. There are only three states in Malaysia, Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan that impose caning for drinking alcohol. In the other 10 states it is punishable by a fine. According to local sources, the caning would be different from the corporal punishment administered to male criminals under secular civil laws. Drug offenders, kidnappers and others are caned with a thick rattan stick on bare buttocks that break the skin and leave lifelong scars.

After Kartika was sentenced, the Prisons Department declared it was ready at any time to carry out the caning of Kartika, but were only waiting for an order from the Syariah court. Her sentence set precedent for sentencing women to caning for civil law violations again Muslim-based rules, three other Muslim women were sentenced to caning, and they became the first women to actually be caned. They were being punished for having sex out of wedlock.  Allegedly their cases did not draw as much national attention, because the caning was kept a secret until after it was done. Later, the women appeared before local media and said they deserved the punishment.

In carrying out the caning sentences, the country’s prison authorities have now demonstrated their willingness to carry out caning sentences on women if ordered to do so by a Syariah court.

For more information, please see:

CNN International – Malaysia commutes woman’s caning sentence – 3 April 2010

New Tang Dynasty News – Malaysian Woman’s Caning Sentence Dropped – 2 April 2010

Tha Malaysian Insider – Outrage over women’s caning – 3 April 2010

BBC World News – Malaysia beer drink woman’s caning sentence commuted – 3 April 2010