By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KATHMANDU, Nepal – 200 Nepali women marched through the capital to publicly denounce a government scheme that offers to pay cash incentives to men for marrying widows.

The government says the scheme seeks to help widows who face social and cultural barriers in a majority Hindu society. Moreover, it has been deemed necessary in part because of the 10-year-long civil war that claimed up to 13,000 lives and widowed many women. Often widows are ostracized and discriminated against due to religious and cultural beliefs. The government believes cash incentives will help persuade men to marry them and re-integrate them into society.

Several women and human rights agencies in Nepal strongly disagree saying the payments “reduce widows to a source of cash.” They propose the money should be spent improving education and healthcare for widows and their children.

One of the protest organizers and founder of the group, Women for Human Rights, Lily Thapa, said “We are totally against the government’s decision to give 50,000 rupees as an incentive for couples to marry. This goes against the principles of human rights. That’s why we urge the government to bring in other social security measures to empower women who are widowed.” Many campaigners have also expressed concern that the cash incentives could encourage men to marry widows and later abandon them. They further warned that the scheme would turn women into cash cows and open up a portal for human traffickers.

“It is the right of single women to live as they want. But society does not treat them properly. They are looked down on, and we want to change that” said finance ministry spokesman, Shankar Adhikari.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Nepal Widows Dismiss Marriage Cash Incentive – August 10,   2009  

Reuters India – Widows Protest Marriage Incentive  – August 10, 2009

The New Zealand Herland – Nepal Offers $970 to Marry Widows – August 10, 2009  

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW YORK, United States– The Chinese government should cancel the criminal trials of Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren in the absence of any credible proof that they endangered state security during their investigation of schools that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

School destroyed during the quake (Source: AP)

Huang is a well-known civil rights campaigner and is accused of possessing state secrets, a crime punishable by imprisonment for five-years to life in China.  His charge is based on Huang’s investigation which found that poor construction lead to the collapse of the schools during the Sichuan quake.  Tan is also a famous civil rights and environmental advocate and can be jailed for five-years for his subversion charge.  Tan’s sentence stems from the fact that he compiled a list of children killed during the earthquake.

“Subversion” and “state secrets” charges have long been used by the Chinese government to silence dissidents who exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights.  Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch said, “These trials are not about a reasonable application of the law, but about silencing government critics whose work has considerable public benefit….”  Richardson also commented that there is no evidence to suggest that Huang or Tan did anything more than to embarrass the government, which is not a crime.

The trials of Huang and Tan appears to be part of China’s plan to repress those who are challenging the government’s death toll of the quake and those who are seeking answers as to why 7,000 classrooms collapsed.  Furthermore, prosecuting advocates like Huang and Tan violates international law as well as China’s constitution.  That is, China implemented its first-ever national human rights campaign in April 2009 in which the government promised to “[r]especting earthquake victims (and) registering the names of people who died or disappeared in the earthquake and make them known to the public.”

  Mother, amid quake rubbles, mourning her daughter (Source: Reuters)

Independent research by a renowned architect suggested that the death toll is more than 6,000.  Moreover, outspoken parents of children who died in the school collapse have been harassed, detained or punished by government officials.

For more information, please see:

AP – Trial of Chinese dissidents ends without ruling – 5 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – China: Cancel Trials of Quake Victim Advocates – 4 August 2009

NYT – China Urged to Cancel Quake Trials – 5 August 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – Two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, have been released by North Korea after former U.S. President Bill Clinton made an unannounced visit to North Korea to negotiate the journalists’ release. 

Laura Ling and Euna Lee leaving North Korea (Source: APTN)

Clinton met with top North Korean officials, and “expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it.”  North Korean leader Kim Jong Il then issued an order which granted special pardons to the two American journalists from their 12-year labor camp sentences. 

North Korean News Agency (NKNA) announced that the pardon was “a manifestation of the DPRK’s humanitarian and peace-loving policy,” adding that Clinton’s visit “will contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence.”  NKNA also said Clinton apologized on behalf of the women and relayed President Barack Obama’s gratitude.

The two journalists were arrested back in March while working near the border between North Korea and China.  Thereafter, they were sentenced in June on charges of entering the country illegally.  Since then, the U.S. has been working on their release through Sweden since the U.S. and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations.  The U.S. State Department was also working with the North Korean Mission to the UN for the journalists’ release by asking that North Korea grant the women amnesty.

The families of Ling and Lee are “overjoyed” by the news of the pardon.  They have posted a statement on their website thanking Clinton, the U.S. State Department and President Obama for their efforts in getting the two women released.  Ling’s father, Doug Ling, described today as “one of the best days in my life” after hearing that his daughter has been released.

The two journalists flew out of North Korea with Clinton and are en route to Los Angeles where they will be reunited with their families.

For more information, please see:

BBC – North Korea pardons US reporters – 4 August 2009

CNN – U.S. journalists head home from North Korea – 4 August 2009

MSNBC – North Korea frees 2 jailed U.S. journalists – 4 August 2009

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India -The debate over the death penalty has emerged in India after three people were found guilty for the 2003 bombing in Mumbai. During this shocking attack, over 50 people were killed and around 180 were injured. The defendants, Ashrat Ansari, Haneef Sayyed, and his wife Fahmeeda, have been sentenced to death, as Judge MR Puranik presiding over an anti-terrorist court claimed they “should be hanged by the neck until dead”.

The defendants’ lawyers will appeal the conviction; Haneef Sayyed’s counsel has reasoned that a life sentence without parole would be just and his wife’s lawyer claims that Fahmeeda unwillingy participated in the attacks due to pressure from her husband. However, the chief public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, said that anything less than capital punishment would be a “mockery of justice”. Interestingly, the death penalty is not a common punishment in India, and tends to be either postponed for long periods of time or commuted.

The three defendants practice Islam, and have declared that their attacks were a response to the violence against Muslims in Gujarat the previous year. They are supposedly connected to the dreaded Lashkar-e-Tayyiba group, which conducts attacks against India in opposition to its occupation in Kashmir. The group was banned in Pakistan after 9/11, and has been held responsible for numerous acts of terrorism in India, as well as linked to the three-day attacks in Mumbai last November. Pakistan has now increased its search for those responsible for the attack, asking Interpol to step in as well. The defendants have denied all allegations about their suspected involvement with the group.

For more information, please see:

BBC – India to Execute Bomb Trio – August 6, 2009

CNN – Pakistan Launches Global Manhunt for Mumbai Suspects –    August 6, 2009 

BBC – India and the Death Penalty – August 4, 2009  

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGALORE, India – Police forces in India are accused of undermining democracy and breeding brutality.  Human Rights Watch is urging the Indian government to take major steps to rectify the police system that facilitates and encourages human rights violations, such as torture, illegal detention and extra-judicial killings.

(Source: AFP)

For example, in one case, a death of a woman killed while in custody was passed off as a suicide.  In other cases, suspects have been tied to wooden sticks and tortured until they fainted.

India’s dysfunctional police system is the result of poor working conditions and a culture that encourages impunity by allowing the police to commit human rights abuses so as to alleviate excessive workload and not create a backlog of cases. 

85% of the Indian police comprise low-ranking officers who work long hours and live in cramped quarters far from their homes.  Furthermore, most of the policemen are not trained to handle complex criminal investigations.  Indian police officers also receive immunity from prosecutions for actions conducted while on “official duty.”  For example, official figures from 2005 show that 23 policemen were charged with atrocities, but none were convicted.

“India is modernizing rapidly, but the police continue to use their old methods: abuse and threats.  It’s time for the government to…fix the system,” said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch.  He also added, “Police who commit or order torture and other abuses need to be treated as the criminals they are.  There shouldn’t be one standard for police who violate the law and another for average citizens.”

(Source: AP)

Often, religious and sexual minorities, women, and lower-caste Indians are the victims of police abuse because they lack money and political connections.  Many Indians also avoid contact with the police out of fear.

A Supreme Court decision in 2006 mandated police law reforms, but the Indian government has failed to implement the court order.  The government elected in May has promised to actively pursue police reforms.
For more information, please see:

AFP – Indian police culture breeds brutality: report – 4 August 2009

BBC – Indian police accused of abuses – 4 August 2009

Human Rights Watch – India: Overhaul Abusive, Failing Police System – 4 August 2009

Reuters – India’s police undermine democracy, human rights – HRW – 4 August 2009