By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr., a mayor in southern Maguindanao province, is accused of acting as a leader and rallying over 100 government-armed miltia, as well as police, at asecurity checkpoint outside Ampatuan township, where they shot and buried 57 individuals in mass graves. The slain group included 30 journalists and their staff.

Maguindanao is part of an autonomous region in predominantly Muslim Mindanao, which was set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings by people seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the predominantly Christian Asian nation. Authorities have said the killings were part of a politically motivated attempt to keep an opponent of the politically powerful Ampatuan family from running for governor. Thirty journalists were among those killed.

Ampatuan Jr. is a prime suspect in what is said to be one the worst cases of political violence. The former mayor pleaded not guilty to murder charges to the murders which took place last November. Although the deaths of the victims happened months ago, the charges are only now being read against Ampatuan Jr.

Ampatuan Jr. denied any involvement in the incident, and his father, the former provincial governor, in addition to several other close relatives have been accused of involvement in the killings. They also deny any affiliation, but have yet to be indicted. unlike Ampatuan Jr.

In November when the killing spree took place, there was an international outcry. In turn, Philipean President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, announced martial law in Maguindanao for a short period, to crack down on the powerful Ampatuan clan and its private army. Arroyo has appointed a retired judge to head an independent commission tasked to dismantle private armies controlled by dozens of political warlords across the country and reduce election violence. Arroyo gave the commission authority to use the military, police and other agencies to disarm and disband an estimated 132 private armed groups. Troops have seized more than 1,100 assault rifles, mortars, machine guns, bazookas, armoured vehicles and more than half a million rounds of bullets from the Ampatuan clan in the government crackdown on the family’s private army since last month.

Ampatuan Jr.’s trial began in December. In reports and images of the fomer mayor, he was handcuffed and flanked by armed guards, and appeared tired during the hearing. Dante Jimenez, head of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, a citizens’ group, said that, “It seems he was very insensitive to the proceedings.”

Despite the pain of the massacre felt by victims,dozens of armed police and members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stood guard inside the courtroom as lawyers, journalists and families of the massacre victims sat just a few yards away from Ampatuan Jr. The court barred live news coverage of the proceedings. Even anti-riot police and fire trucks were posted at the police camp’s three main gates.In the midst of the judicial proceedings,Myrna Reblando, wife of one of 30 journalists killed, stated, “We hope for a speedy trial and swift justice for the death of my husband.”

For more information, please see:

The Jurist – Philippines mayor pleads not guilty to massacre murder charges – January 6. 2010

CNN – Mayor accused in Philippines massacre – December 10, 2009

CNN – Philippines mayor pleads not guilty to murder – January 5, 2010

Bloomberg News – Philippines Says Mayor Linked to Massacre Surrenders – November 26, 2009

The Guardian – Mayor denies Philippines massacre charges – January 5, 2010

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – According to a report released by the Human Rights Watch, drug offenders in compulsory drug detention centers in China are denied access to treatment for their addictions and are exposed to physical abuse and unpaid labor.

The UN announced that as many as half million Chinese are held at these centers at any given time where the maximum sentence is two years, but that period can be extended to seven years by the authorities.

Chinese government enacted “Anti-Drug Law of 2008” by amending their old drug laws to a more “people centered” approach where the offenders were to be sent to professional detox centers and thereafter to community-based rehabilitation centers.

However, guards at the detention centers use electric prods, and the detainees are not provided with adequate meals and are allowed to shower only once a month.  Some are forced to work up to 18 hours a day without pay.  Other detainees work at chicken farms or shoe factories that are contracted with the local police.

Those incarcerated are detained without trials, and the Chinese law does not define mechanisms where people can appeal their detention.  Furthermore, the law does not have means to ensure “evidence-based drug dependency treatment.”

Joseph Amon of Human Rights Watch said, “They call them detoxification centers, but…[t]he basic concept is inhumane and flawed.”

Criticizing the Chinese law which subjects suspected drug users to cruel and arbitrary treatment, Amon added, “The Chinese government has explained the law as a progressive step towards recognizing drug users as ‘patients,’ but they’re not even being provided the rights of ordinary patients.”

Due to this “flawed model” of drug rehabilitation, Amon also said, “[P]eople who want to get off drugs have very, very few choices.  No one is going to sign up for three years of forced labor and detention as a strategy for reducing their drug use.”

One Chinese drug offender confessed, “I’ve tried to get clean and have been in compulsory labor camps more than eight times.  I just cannot go back to a forced labor camp – [it is] a terrifying world where darkness knows no limits.”

Amon said, “The Chinese government should stop these abuses and ensure that the rights of suspected drug users are fully protected…Warehousing large numbers of drug users and subjecting them to forced labor and physical abuse is not ‘rehabilitation.’”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – China: Drug ‘Rehabilitation’ Centers Deny Treatment, Allow Forced Labor – 6 January 2010

NYT – China Turns Drug Rehab Into a Punishing Ordeal – 7 January 2010

Radio Free Asia – China’s Drug Treatment Slammed – 6 January 2010

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Since North Korea’s recent implementation of a new monetary policy, there have been reports that the currency reform has exacerbated Pyongyang’s chronic problems of food shortages and price inflation.

A researcher in Seoul, Kay Seok, said, “The first public rallies we see in North Korea will not be about freedom or democracy, but…about livelihood.”

In fact, the currency reform has brought about such great public dissatisfaction that thousands of North Koreans began the New Year by holding a rally in the capital of the tightly controlled state.

Pyongyang’s new currency reform would slash two zeroes off its current currency, and the government has imposed limits on how much people can exchange the old currency for the new.  These changes have raised prices for essential goods that the impoverished North Koreans were already having trouble buying because of the existing inflation.

As such, the government is restricting people’s personal wealth, which has angered many North Koreans where there have been reports of people burning money.

In addition, North Korea has decided to stifle its rising merchant class by reclaiming state control over the economy.  For example, the North has decided to ban the use of foreign currency, and this move affects those who operate outside the country’s centrally planned economy, such as those who buy goods in Chinese yuan, US dollars or euros.

North Korean merchants who operate outside the state economy and earn large sums of money risk imprisonment.

Economists Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard said, “The North Korean currency reform is an economically misguided initiative that will reduce the welfare of North residents…[H]eightened repression is a central feature of the new economic controls.”

Many view North’s new monetary policy as the country’s means to restrict and attacks its emerging market economy and the new businessmen, and a sign of North’s return to its version of socialism.

Park Hyeong-jung at the Korea Institute for National Unification said that the currency reform “has significantly strengthened the regime’s control over the economy and the people.”

Other experts in South Korea have also voiced concerns that this currency reform makes the North Korean regime collapse scenario more probable.
For more information, please see:

BloggingStocks – Inflation Surges on Wealth Destruction in North Korea – 7 January 2010

Jakarta Globe – N. Korean Crackdown On Merchants Risky – 7 January 2010

NPR – North Koreans Upset Over Currency Changes – 8 January 2010

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ANDHRA PRADESH, India – Government talks to carve a new, separate Telangana state out of the large south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh recently failed, concluding with an inconclusive outcome.   The independence discourse has been occurring between numerous political factions and other stakeholders, neither of whom were apparently willing come to an amicable compromise on their position.  However, neither group seems adverse to further consultation among the numerous interested groups.  Ultimately, the talks resulted in an agreement between all involved parties that, despite the dearth of breakthrough progress concerning the independence of the Telangana, the government will take an active role in preserving peace in Andhra Pradesh and quell civilian hostilities over this highly polarizing, significant issue.Subsequent to India’s liberation from the British Empire, movements for an independent Telangana began in the late 1960’s.  The movement created much tension between groups of Indian nationals and incited rife violence, resulting in many deaths.  Although subsequent stages of the movement were not strong enough the propel any important advances, the recent talks in the Indian government appeared to show promise for those eagerly awaiting a decision on the creation of the independent Telangana state.

The recent discussions of craving a Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh have provoked numerous publicized forms of protest and displays of the peoples’ passion for independence.  Conventional rallies and walk-outs occurred throughout many school campuses around south India.  However, suicides and significant striking have caused much panic among the government, political parties, and the civilian population in Andhra Pradesh.  Significant striking essentially shut down the Telangana region in early December.  Furthermore, the president of the TSR, one of the most prominent groups for Telangana’s independence undertook an eleven-day fast which he intended to carry out until his very death if no breakthroughs arose in the talks of state creation.  However, in early December, the Indian government announced that talks to craft the Telangana state would begin, enabling the TSR president to cease his hunger-strike.

Much of the passion for the creation of a separate Telangana state derives from its historical significance in both Muslim and Hindu history.  Also, the region of Telangana never came under direct British rule during the colonial Raj.  The willingness of the people to die for the symbolism behind an independent state, however, continues to compel supporting organizations to fight for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – India’s ‘Tiger of Telangana’ feted – 10 December 2009

India Today – Govt mulls Prez rule if Telangana talks fail – 5 January 2010

Zee News – Telangana: All-party meet fails to break ice – 5 January 2010