Asia

Cold Wave In India Kills at Least 100

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DEHLI, India-At least 100 people have died in a cold wave sweeping through northern India. The majority of deaths have occurred in the states of Uttar Pradesh.  In Uttar Pradesh the death toll has reached over 70 people.

Most of the deaths have taken place among the homeless and the elderly, and the local authorities have been asked to arrange shelter for vulnerable citizens.  The region saw its first snow fall on Sunday.  The snowfall which began early was recorded at over 10 centimeters by Sunday evening, with additional snowfall through Tuesday.  Temperatures in the region have been below freezing, with spells of rain bringing down the maximum temperature.  Scores of citizens die in India every year, being ill-equipped to deal with the extreme cold.  Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are among the northern states which have been hit hardest by intense cold weather.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 25 states that everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, which includes access to housing, medical care,and necessary social services.

In Uttar Pradesh, the victims were mostly poor people who were sleeping on the streets or out in the open.  Uttar Pradesh chief bureaucrat Arun Kumar Gupta said all schools were shut down until Thursday as a health precaution. On Monday, Gupta said state authorities decided to spend 100 million rupees (2.17 million dollars) to hand out free blankets and firewood to the needy in the area.  In India, there are few homeless shelters in Indian cities, and although  blankets and firewood have been distributed,  the authorities’ efforts have been inadequate in the face of the intense cold.

Government spokesman Diwakar Tripathy said an exercise was underway to move the homeless into state-run night shelters.

In addition to cold-related deaths, heavy fog caused by rain and the cold wave resulted in visibility problems which caused two separate train accidents on Saturday, leaving 10 dead, and nearly 50 injured.

According to weather officials, temperatures are expected to stay low over the next few days.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- ‘Dozens of People’ Die in India Cold Wave– 4 January 2010

IBN Live- Cold Wave Grips North India, At Least 100 Dead – 4 January 2010

Associated Foreign Press- More Than 40 Die In India’s Cold Wave: Officials– 4 January 2010

United Nations- Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Victims Speak Out About Khmer Rouge Pain

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia– Three decades have passed since the Khmer Rouge caused the deaths of as many as two million Cambodians. Despite the long-awaited, and much-delayed, Khmer Rouge tribunal, many survivors and families of victims are beginning to speak out against the lack of justice, even though for the first time at an international criminal tribunal, victims have been represented as well as the defense and prosecutors.

Chem Mey, a 78-year old survivor, commented that he, “lost my family,” and that the regime “killed my children and my wife. Nobody had rights or freedom then. That’s why now I want to find justice – for the victims and the younger generation.” The former mechanic not only lost his family to the Khmer Rouge, he also suffered torture and beatings at the notorious S-21 detention center in Phnom Penh. At least 14,000 inmates passed through the tiny cells of Phnom Penh and torture chambers in the late 1970s; and Chum Mey is one of only three confirmed, living survivors.

At the tribunal, along with almost a hundred other people, Chum Mey was accepted as a civil party in the trial of the man who ran S-21, Kaing Guek Eav, commonly referred to as Comrade Duch.

After closing statements in November, civil parties like Chum Mey felt that their rights to speak and question witnesses had been restricted. Lawyers of many civil parties complained that little interest was shown in their testimony. According to one civil party lawyer, Silke Studzinsky, “They felt that the trial chamber was not very receptive to their sufferings.” She went on to say that “This left for them the impression that the trial chamber was rather uninterested in their stories.” Despite the frustration, various local and international lawyers worked with several different groups of victims through the closing statements, but there seemed to be little coordination among them.

Although it is too late to impact the trial of Duch, a second trial, believed unlikely to start until the middle of 2011 is expected to take a different approach to give voice to victims such as Chum Mey. Instead of a myriad of lawyers, there will be one lead counsel for the civil parties to mirror the approach taken by the prosecution and defense.

For more information, please see:

BBC World News – Khmer Rouge survivors feel justice denied -January 4, 2010

Earth Times – Historic Khmer Rouge tribunal has lessons for the world – December 13, 2009

Phnom Penh Post – Genocide charges laid at KRT – December 17, 2009

Volleyball Bomb Death Toll Climbs to More Than 90

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, AsiaISLAMABAD, Pakistan-The death toll from a suicide attack on a volleyball match in northwest Pakistan has risen as rescuers searched for bodies at the scene.  Ninety-three people have been confirmed dead after the bombing in Lakki Marwat.

Police say elderly people and children were watching the game when the suicide-bomber drove his vehicle onto the field.  Police state that at least six children were among those killed and more than 100 people were injured.  It was the deadliest attack in the region since a Peshawar bombing in October which killed over 100.

Since the beginning of October more than 600 people have died in militant attacks, most of which are believed to be in retaliation for the Pakistan army’s new campaign against the Taliban.

Attacks on sporting events is unusual, and no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, but analysts say that is not uncommon when many civilians are killed. Police say the attack may have been retaliation for attempts by local residents to get rid of militants.  Chief Ayub Khan told news agencies ” Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area.  This attack seems to be a reaction to their expulsion.” Among those killed are believed to be members of a local peace committee who have been campaigning for an end to the violence.

A member of the committee, Mushtaq Marwat, said the attack occurred as the committee met in a nearby mosque. On Saturday, body parts remained strewn across the field and emergency services were still searching the rubble for victims in the attack.  A man injured in the explosion said: “All the people had gathered together watching [the game], when suddenly a [Mitsubishi] Pajero came in the middle of the field and blew up…Suddenly there was a huge blast.  We went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere.”

The military was deployed to help authorities with the clean-up process. Lakki Marwat lies near North and South Waziristan, where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan, as well as into parts of Afghanistan.  In response to the attack , security was increased as a precaution for a boxing tournament in Karachi on Saturday, featuring teams from India and China.

This is the second bombing in a week. On Monday a bombing left 43 people dead in a Shiite Muslim march, an attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.

For more information, please see:

BBC News- Pakistan Volleyball Bomb Toll Climbs To More Than 90– 2 January 2010

SkyNews- Death Toll Rises In Volleyball Game Attack – 2 January 2010

ABC News- Volleyball Blast Death Toll Rises To 93– 2 January 2010

Chinese Activist Camped Out at Tokyo Airport

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NARITA, Japan– Since November 4, 2009, Feng Zhenghu has been living at Japan’s Narita International Airport.  Feng sleeps on a plastic bench at the airport and survives on crackers and noodles from the airport staff and passengers.

Feng is a Japan-educated Chinese scholar and human rights activist who has been barred from returning to China.  Although Feng carries a valid Chinese passport, he has been denied entry into his homeland China eight times since last June.

He last attempted to return to China in November and got as far as Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, but Chinese officials forced him back on the plane to Japan.

Chinese at naritaFeng Zhenghu at Japan’s Narita Airport. Courtesy of BBC.

Feng said, “I’m a Chinese citizen, and I just want to go back to China.  It’s outrageous that I can’t return to my own country.”

China has denied Feng’s re-entry because of his writings on the misconduct of Chinese authorities and for his support of student protests, which have angered the Chinese authorities.

Frustrated, Feng has decided to camp out in Japan’s Narita Airport.  He wears a shirt that says “Return to China” in English and spends time on his mobile phone and laptop talking to his supporters and reading the news.

Confined to an area that leads to immigration control, Feng has no access to shops.

Narita Airport’s Security Director Teruhisa Misu commented, “Mr. Feng is camping out at the restricted area where people are not supposed to stay…[w]e worry about his health.  It gets colder…and I’m not sure he is getting enough to eat.”

Japanese officials have urged Feng to enter Japan, but he has declined.  Chinese officials have not said much regarding Feng’s case, but did insist that Feng be dealt with the relevant Chinese law.  Feng has also declined refugee status from the UN.  This deadlock can potentially last until June when Feng’s visa expires.

Feng did acknowledge that he knows he is causing trouble for Japan, but has criticized the Chinese government for being responsible for the problem and for not taking steps to resolve his predicament.

He added, “There’s no shower, no bath.  It’s very difficult because people stare at me as though I’m a beggar.  It’s very, very difficult.  It’s very hard to endure psychologically.”
For more information, please see:

BBC – China activist in for long haul at Tokyo airport – 10 December 2009

Guardian – In the next decade, I hope for a spirit of ‘sharism’ – 3 January 2010

The New Zealand Herald – 50 days camped out in an airport – 24 December 2009

Western Writers Rally for China’s Dissident

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW YORK, United States– Several prominent American authors gathered by the steps of the New York Public Library rallying for the release of Liu Xiaobo, a famous Chinese literature professor and dissident who was sentenced to 11 years in prison on subversion charges last week.

PEN Writers call for Liu’s release.  Courtesy of CBS.

The rally was organized by the PEN American Center, which is an international human rights group that defends the rights of writers around the globe.

One of the protesters, E.L. Doctorow said, “The civilization of China…can’t move forward when its poets and writers and artists, its thinkers and intellectuals are muzzled in silence.  Under such conditions[,] the genius of a nation withers and dies.”

Liu returned to China in 1989 after giving up his position at Columbia University to participate in the Tiananmen Square protests.  Since then, he has published essays criticizing the Chinese government, especially of its human rights abuses and its strict control of freedom of expression on the Internet and in foreign journals.

Liu’s verdict was handed down on Christmas Day, and Beijing justified imprisoning Liu because “he [Liu] wrote the documents and used the Internet…to slander and urge other people to overthrow our country’s democratic dictatorship…the published documents…[p]eople read them and they have a bad effect.”

However, the coalition of writers who are lobbying for Liu’s release condemned China for its “sorry record of artist intimidation.”

The protesters marched to the Chinese consulate in New York City to deliver a letter opposing Liu’s conviction.

Critics have raised concerns that Liu’s harsh punishment is most likely the Chinese government’s warning against other Chinese activists.  Moreover, many have criticized Beijing for not affording Liu a fair trial since Liu’s trial, which was hastily scheduled, lasted only three hours and the defense was not allowed to present any evidence.

Anthony Appiah, a writer and the president of PEN American Center, left a message for Liu, saying, “Old friend, we will not forget you.  We will not rest until you are free.”
For more information, please see:

Bloomberg – Doctorow, Albee Protest 11-Year Sentence for Chinese Writer Liu – 31 December 2009

CBS – Writers Rally for Jailed Chinese Dissident – 31 December 2009

JoongAng Daily – China’s way on human rights – 30 December 2009