By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Amid hearings at the UN Human Rights Council where wstern countries are demanding that North Korea cooperate with UN organizations and other aid agencies to help provide food and essential medical aid to their beleaguered population, there are also concerns that the winter months may intensify Pyongyang’s rights abuses.

Last week’s revaluation of the currency has left the North Korean currency worthless, increasing the threat of collapse of its already fragile food market.

The North Korean government said it would redenominated its currency to curb inflation and announced that limited amounts could be exchanged for new currency.  This has angered North Koreans who are reportedly burning banknotes in protest, and the government has sent soldiers out onto the streets to stop the protests.

In addition, calling malnutrition “a thing of the past,” a North Korean diplomat denied any accusations from UN members on Monday at the Human Rights Council meeting claiming that his people are not hungry nor are they facing imminent starvation.

North Korean soldier standing guard by Yalu River.  Courtesy of Reuters.  

Contrarily however, defectors from North Korea said that the majority of the population is limited to two small meals a day and that situation may worsen in the winter months. 

One rights group, Helping Hands Korea, said they are expecting more defectors this winter than usual because the harvest this year was extremely poor.

Moreover, there are reports saying that North Korean food prices are already soaring and this may push the poorest to the point of no return.

Andrew Natsios who wrote The Great North Korea Famine said this year’s harvest has been the worst since the mid 1990’s, adding, “[A]ll estimates say there will be a doubling of food prices over the next year, including rice, which is North Korea’s staple food.”

One Australian diplomat who spoke at Monday’s Human Rights Council meeting said, “We are concerned by the failure of the [North Korean] government to meet [the people’s] basic needs…[Pyongyang] needs to allow international agencies to do their work.”

North Korean Ambassador Ri Tcheul, in response, rebuffed, “Personally I think some distinguished representatives are just repeating or echoing information fabricated and spread by others as if they have seen or witnessed it themselves.”

Nevertheless, defectors have reported that hunger in North Korea remains rampant.

For more information, please see:

Christian Science Monitor – North Korea: Will winter shortages intensify rights abuses? – 11 December 2009

JoongAng Daily – Countries slam Pyongyang on human rights issue – 9 December 2009

The Star – North Korea rushes to starvation – 9 December 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HYDERABAD, India – The Indian government finally announced that it would accept the country’s 50-year old request and make Telangana a state. Leading up to this decision, the people of Hyderabad and nine other surrounding districts endured a turbulent period of limbo.

After issuing the decision, thousands of supporters of Telangana flooded the streets as history was made and news spread that the government had risen to the peoples’ long-standing demands. Men and women of all generations gathered at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences where the leader of the regional Telangana Rashtra Samiti party, K Chandrasekhara Rao, was under observation by doctors. 

The Talngana people and supporters celebrated in Hyderabad the announcement of a Telangana state. Photography courtesy of The New York Times. 

Rao, a 55-year-old supporter of the initiation of Telangana, began a “fast unto death” 11 days ago as a way to press the demand for Telangana state. During the course of his  fasting protest, Rao lost almost half of his original weight and has been suffering from many ailments and complications, although he emerged as a hero for the local masses when he refused to break his fast as his life became gravely in danger due to extreme starvation. In the course of his fast, Rao became known as the “Tiger of Telangana” to supporters of the new state. He swore to starve if India did not reconfigure its political map by carving out a new state anchored by this city, a major technology hub and host to multinationals like Dell and Motorola. The sprawling size of the current state, Andhra Pradesh, wrongly deprived people in the local region, he claimed. His actions sparked a chain reaction of demonstrations on college campuses and plunged Hyderabad into a political crisis. Several universities were shut down, students were jailed and thousands of police and paramilitary officers arrived after a two-day general strike effectively paralyzed the city of four million people.

 
K Chandrasekara Rao has become a hero. Fotograph courtesy of BBC World News

In the few days since India has recognized Telangana and Rao broken his fast, the country has ceaselessly expressed its excitement. “We are happy,” said Uppu Sudhaker, a Telangana supporter. “All these years, people from other regions have slighted us. Our areas were not properly developed. All our resources were misused. The jobs went to outsiders.” Even as many legislative hurdles must be navigated to create a new Telangana state, the drama underscores that while India represents an ancient civilization, it is a relatively young democracy whose internal political shape is likely to keep evolving.

For more information, please see:

Hindustan Times – Telangana does not mean new states everywhere: Pranab – December 13, 2009 

My Bangladesh – Telangana Tiger – December 11, 2009 

BBC World News – India’s ‘Tiger of Telangana’ feted –  December 13, 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese prosecutors have indicted high-profile dissident, Liu Xiaobo, and are likely to bring his case to court within the next month, according to his lawyers. Liu has been detained for over one year in a Chinese prison for what Liu Xiaobo’s lawyer, Shang Baojun, stated were police allegations claiming that the Liu incited the subversion of state power through articles he published on the internet and by helping to write Charter 08, an appeal for democratic reforms and greater civil liberties. 

 Photograph of Liu Xiabo whose image appears in front of the

  Chinese national emblem. Image curtesy of Associated Press.

If the procuratorate conclude that the public security agency has clearly established a case backed by evidence, then it can decide to initiate a prosecution in court,” said Mo Shaoping, another of Liu’s lawyers. Mo went on to say that in the course of the next month, prosecutors also have the option to order additional investigations or to throw out the case entirely. However, Phelim Kine, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch,  said that given the amount of national attention and international publicity (Liu’s case has drawn protests from western politicians and international authors) states that “The sad fact is by the time it does get to this point, it takes on a momentum of its own and [probably] will unfortunately head to court.”

There is additional concern that the prosecution will prey on Liu’s past. Liu is a literary critic and former academic and spent 20 months in jail after joining the Tiananmen Square pro-reform protests in 1989. He was also sent to a re-education through labor camp in the 1990s. Liu’s present charges regarding his internet and other postings are percieved as a questioning the Communist party’s monopoly on power.

In response to Liu’s indictment, a group of 201 Charter 08 signatories, issued a public letter entitled, “We Are Willing to Share Responsibility with Liu Xiaobo.” The letter reiterated their support for the ideas behind the document as well as for the author and literary critic. Once the letter was posted on the internet, approximately 10,000 people showed their support, although Chinese governmental censors quickly eliminated references to it from Chinese-based sites.

Human rights officials have expressed that Liu’s case means the Chinese government is paying attention to the international response to allegations made against Liu and are hoping that the attention and awareness raised will lead to increasing open-door diplomacy. Human rights leaders are also hoping that Liu’s case will light on other authors facing similar charges such as Wole Soyinka and Salman Rushdie, who are among those who have called for Liu’s release, in addition to their diplomatic efforts.

For more information, please see:

Irish Times – Leading Chinese dissident indicted after year in jail without charges – December 11, 2009 

The Guardian – Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo faces incitement to subversion charge – December 11, 2009

Washington Post – Lawyer says police want Chinese dissident indicted – December 9, 2009

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia 

SARGODHA, Pakistan- On Wednesday, five Muslim American youths were arrested in Sargoha city of Punjab province.  They allegedly were on their way to the Taliban sanctuary in the tribal areas of Pakistan with the intention of training to fight in Afghanistan against American troops.

Pakistani officials said these men from the Washington suburbs whose ages range from their late teens to their early 20s, had been in contact through YouTube with a Pakistani militant with links to al-Qaida before their arrival in Karachi last month.  “They are believed to have come here to join jihad,” one Pakistani security official said.

In a statement released on Wednesday by the FBI said that it was in contact with the families of the five men, as well as law enforcement authorities in Pakistan.  A second Pakistani official said, “No charge has been framed against them.  Investigations are underway as to whether they have any links with extremist groups.”

Usman Anwar, police chief of Sargodha said after arriving in Karachi, they attempted to join an extremist Islamic school near Karachi and approached another school in the eastern city of Lahore.  They were refused in both places because of their Western demeanor and their inability to speak Urdu.  After arriving in Sargodha, they were arrested at a four-room home in a government housing complex.

Pakistani news reports said the suspects were being investigated for links with Jaish-e-Mohammed, a banned Islamic militant group with links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.  It is one of several factions that have for years been fighting Indian forces in the disputed region of Kashmir.  The group is also suspected of involvement in high-profile attacks, including the murder of US Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and an assassination attempt of Pervez Musharraf, the former Pakistani president. One of their leaders, who allegedly hid the five men in his house in Sargodha, was also arrested.  

According to Pakistani security officials, in the past, young men of Muslim origin have travelled from the west to seek out training on the use of explosives and in suicide attack methods, notably in the South Waziristan region, near the Afghan border.  

The arrest comes on the heels of David Headly, a US national with Pakistani roots, accused of scouting targets for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, who pleaded not guilty in Chicago on Wednesday at his first hearing.

Officials said three Pakistanis had also been detained, one who is believed to have been linked to a suicide bomb attack on an air force bus outside a base in Sargodha two years ago, in which eight were killed.

For more information, please see:

Times of India-5 US Youth on Jihad Quest Held in Pak  – 11 December 2009

FT.com- Pakistan Accuses US Men of Quest for Jihad– – 11 December 2009

Aljazeera.net- US Men in Pakistan ‘Jihad Quest’– 11 December 2009

 

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The prosecution for the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal of Cambodia may be turning to a controversial legal concept in holding the accused accountable for their crimes.

Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 until 1979 where about two million people are estimated to have died as a result of execution, starvation or overwork.

In prosecuting those responsible for the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia’s war crimes tribunal judges ruled on Wednesday that the Khmer Rouge leaders, likely to appear as defendants in 2011, can be charged with “joint criminal enterprise” (JCE).

JCE is a legal concept which states that a person can be individually held accountable for a crime committed by a group even if the individual did not personally carry out the plan. 

Furthermore, a third category known as “JCE III” states that a person can be held accountable for a crime committed by a group even if the crime was not part of the common plan so long as the crime was “a natural and foreseeable consequence.”

This concept has been used previously against defendants at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and is a tool that can substantially improve the prosecution’s ability to prove its case.

However, Michael Karnavas, the defense lawyer for the former Khmer Rouge regime’s foreign minister said, “Where there is little or no evidence, [JCE III] is a great weapon for the prosecution: it lowers the bar for getting conviction and it spreads the stain to anyone and anything remotely connected to the alleged JCE.”

He added, “It is so broad and so unrestrained that even 10 years after its creation[,] it is still unclear where the boundaries lies.” 

Stating that he will appeal the prosecution’s decision to use JCE, Karnavas accused the investigating judges of Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal of turning the trial into an international tribunal since JCE is applicable to crimes committed under international law, but not under Cambodian law.

The Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal was created back in 2002 after years of haggling between the UN and Cambodia. 

The UN has a separate organ for prosecuting war crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was also founded back in 2002.  However, the former leaders of Khmer Rouge do not fall under ICC’s jurisdiction because the ICC can only investigate crimes which were committed after its establishment.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Krouge court dismisses bias claims against judge – 9 December 2009

Los Angeles Times – Cambodia’s first war crimes trial marred by flaws – 6 December 2009

M&C – Khmer Rouge chiefs can be charged as jointly responsible for crimes – 9 December 2009