By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry has ordered a court hearing to investigate the flogging of a 17 year old girl depicted in a video that was shown to the world.  The video was first shown in Pakistan on Thursday, April 2.  The film shows two Taliban members holding a young girl down and a third hitting her with a strap.  She was allegedly punished for “coming out of her house with another man who was not her husband”.  She was given 34 lashes and then taken into a stone building.

Chaudhry condemns what happened and criticized the government for not taking immediate action.  “Before the video became public, what were you doing, why couldn’t you find out what happened?” he asked the attorney general, Sardar Latif Khosa.  Chaudhry was reinstated as Chief Justice after two years of being fired from the bench by President Zardari.

The video was taken by a local with a mobile telephone camera.  It was allegedly filmed a month and a half ago, but only recently released.  Its release coincides with the Sharia peace deal that will be implemented in the near future.

Taliban spokesman Mian Iftikhar said, “We believe there is a conspiracy to sabotage the peace process by airing a video recorded before the deal.”

Samar Minallah, a human rights activist, bought the video in the markets of Swat and distributed it to the media.  In broadcasting the video, Minallah wanted to let the nation know of the types of transgressions happening in the Swat Valley.  “The most fundamental rights are violated every second of every day.  People are being ejected from their houses, courts are closed, 300 schools have been demolished,” she said.

A journalist in the Swat Valley, Ehsan Haqqani, said that it was encouraging for the Supreme Court to take action.  “We were the forgotten people. . . .  The government was only a silent spectator.  Now the Supreme Court is forcing the government to take notice.  That is encouraging for us.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Pakistan to Probe Girl’s Flogging – 3 April 2009

Daily Times – Taliban Flog 17 Year Old Girl for Having Affair – 4 April 2009

The Hindu – Swat Girl Denies She was Flogged – 7 April 2009

International Herald Tribune – Pakistan’s Chief Justice Assails Attorney General Over Taliban Flogging – 6 April 2009

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Last Saturday marked “Qingming”- grave-sweeping day, when Chinese honor the dead. A 75-year-old retired professor, Sun Wenguang, was beaten for honoring the death of a reformist communist leader Zhao Ziyang on Saturday. Mr. Zhao is a former prime minister and Communist Party general secretary who was purged for supporting the 1989 Tiananmen protests.
In 2005, Mr Zhao died under house arrest.

According to Mr. Sun, a police car followed him when he went to visit a memorial honoring Chinese martyrs on Heroes’ Mountain in Jinan.  When he entered the memorial grounds, he was beaten and “kicked like a football” for more than 10 minutes by a group of five men.

“They were very strong. They did not say a word,” Sun said in a telephone interview from a Jinan hospital.  “They wanted to punish me and let people know that Zhao Ziyang is not allowed to be memorialized,” he claimed.  Mr. Sun suffered three broken ribs and injuries to his hands and legs in the attack.  It was not clear who the men were.

Mr Sun is a retired physics professor from Shandong University.  He spent some times in prison from the 1960s to the 1980s, for criticizing communist leader Mao.  He said he had paid his respects at Zhao Ziyang’s grave every year on the Qingming, but was warned not to do so this year by police and officials from Shandong University.

Human Rights in China condemned the attack on Mr Sun.  “This deplorable act, committed in broad daylight and in clear view of the police… calls into serious question officials’ professed commitment to building a society that puts people first,” said executive director Sharon Hom.

Human Rights Defenders, a Hong Kong-based group, says that “Chinese authorities are staging a campaign of terror to intimidate and suppress expressions of commemoration for the 1989 Tiananmen massacre,” the group said in a statement. The attack on Mr. Sun “is part of the overall campaign.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Professor beaten for honoring ousted China leader – 07 April 2009

BBC – Scholar beaten at Tiananmen grave – 07 April 2009

Human Rights in China – Retired Professor Attacked after Honoring Memory of Late Party Secretary Zhao Ziyang – 06 April 2009

New York Times – China Rights Activist Beaten in Cemetery – 07 April 2009

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Pyongyang, North Korea – Two detained US reporters last month will face trial in North Korean.  North Korean government will charge Euna Lee and Laura Ling for illegal entry and “hostile acts”, the country’s state-run news agency says. The two reporters were working on a story about North Koreans who flee the closed country to make a better living in China.

“The illegal entry of US reporters into the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and their suspected hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their statements,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.  The KCNA is preparing for indictments and a trial. It is also being reported that two reporters will be allowed consular access and will be treated in accordance with international law.

US government continues to work on this matter through diplomatic channels, according to an unnamed senior White House official.  “We have seen the brief North Korean press report (on the trial), and we have no higher priority than the protection of American citizens abroad”, the official says.

The detentions come in the middle of growing tension in the region as North Korea launched its satellite.  The North Korean government insists that the rocket is designed to put a communications satellite into orbit.  However, the international community believes it may be a test of a far-ranging military missile.  Some reports say that Laura Ling and Euna Lee’s fate may depend on missile launch diplomacy between North Korea and US.
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The use of the language “hostile acts” in the North Korea’ statements statement could means espionage.  Espionage convictions come with severe penalties, such as five to 10 years, or longer, in prison.

For more information, please see:

BBC – US reporters face N Korea trial – 31 March 2009

Bloomberg – North Korea Prepares to Indict U.S. Reporters Held at Border – 30 March 2009

CNN – Report: North Korea planning to put American reporters on trial – 31 March 2009

People – Fate of Lisa Ling’s Sister Linked to Missile Launch Diplomacy – 03 April 2009

Wall Street Journal – Arrest of U.S. Reporters Adds to the Tension – 06 April 2009

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan President Karzei has reportedly signed a law authorizing the rape of women and prohibits women to leave the home without a male relative.

The law legalizes a husband to rape his wife by not allowing her to refuse sex.  It also would legalize the marriage of girls from the age of nine and force a woman to wear makeup at the demand of her husband.  The new law applies only to minority Shi’ite family law, which makes up 15 percent of the population.

Legislator Sayed Hussain Alem Balkhi defends the new law, stating that the new civil law offers more freedoms.  “This bill stipulates lots of leniencies compared to the civic laws that have been around for 40 years.  For example, (under the new law) a Shi’ite woman can seek divorce if her husband is not able to feed her or he disappears for a long time.”  He further said, “A shi’ite woman can go out for medical treatment, to see her parents without the permission of her husband, while this freedom is not enshrined in the civic law.”

Critics claim that President Karzei signed the legislation in an effort to gain Shia votes in the upcoming election on August 20.  More significantly, they believe that the passage of the law is a step backwards in the progress towards democracy.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that the law was a “clear indication that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is getting worse not better.”

Women’s rights have vastly improved since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001.  Under that regime, women were not allowed to work, attend school or leave the home without a male relative.

The United States has expressed concern about the new law.  State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, “We urge President Karzei to review the law’s legal statute to correct provisions of the law that limit or restrict women’s rights.”

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Critics Assail Afghan Law that “Legalizes Rape” – 2 April 2009

CNN – New Afghan Law Might Legalize Rape – 2 April 2009

Reuters – Law for Shi’ites Stirs Anger and Concern – 2 April 2009