By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Supreme Court of Afghanistan upheld the 20 year sentence for blasphemy of student and part-time journalist Parwez Kambakhsh.

The decision was made in secret on February 12.  Kambakhsh’s family and counsel learned of the outcome Wednesday when the attorney general’s office issued orders to the northern province of Balkh to enforce the decision.

In 2007, Kambakhsh was arrested for having written and circulating an article about women and Islam.  Kambakhsh said that he did not write it, but rather, downloaded it from the Internet.  In 2008, the appeals court converted a sentence of death to 20 years imprisonment.  Last month, this decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.

“Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has confirmed the 20-year prison sentence for my brother,” said Yaqoub Ibrahimi, who is Kambakhsh’s brother. “We did not expect it at all.”

Kambakhsh’s lawyer Azfal Nooristani said that the entire proceeding was completely unfair.  “This case has been a conspiracy, it is about politics,” Nooristani told Human Rights Watch. “I had a legal right to see the Supreme Court judges, but they would not see me; they did not let me submit my defense statement. They had already made up their minds.”

Kambakhsh’s family is also shocked and disappointed in the criminal justice system of Afghanistan.

“This is the tragic level of justice in Afghanistan today,” Ibrahimi, the brother, said in a statement. “It is just a make-believe system of justice and humanitarianism. The reality is that the Afghan government and judiciary, although supported by the U.S., the UN, the EU and other democracies worldwide, is morally bankrupt.”

Human Rights Watch, among other human rights organizations, urges President Karzai to issue a pardon.

“The Supreme Court represented the last hope that Parwez Kambakhsh would receive a fair hearing, but once again justice was denied,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kambakhsh has committed no crime. Now it is up to President Karzai to act on principle and free him.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Afghanistan: 20-Year Sentence for Journalist Upheld – 10 March 2009

International Herald Tribune – Student’s Long Blasphemy Term Upheld in Afghanistan – 12 March 2009

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty – Afghan Court Upholds Journalism Student’s 20-Year Blasphemy Sentence – 12 March 2009

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

GUWAHATI, India – An Indian human rights advocate, Irom Sharmila, was released from prison last Saturday only to be rearrested Monday.  She was sent back to prison when she declared that she would continue fasting in protest of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) of 1958.

The AFSPA provides the military the power to kill suspected rebels without prosecution.  The AFSPA applies only to Kashmir and northeast India due to the prevalence of insurgency these areas.   Human rights groups state that the AFSPA allows security forces to kill, torture and rape with impunity.

Sharmila first began protesing against the AFSPA and its abuse in quelling rebellion in the northeast in 2000.  A prominent event during that time was when troops shot ten young men in Manipur.  Her brother, Irom Singhajit Singh, describes how it began, “The killings took place on November 2, 2000. It was a Thursday. Sharmila used to fast on Thursdays since she was a child. That day she was fasting too. She has just continued with her fast.”

Three days later, Sharmila was arrested and charged with trying to take her own life.  She was taken to the security ward of a hospital where she continued to fast in protest of the law. She was force fed a liquid diet through a nasal tube.  She remained imprisoned until her release, last Saturday.

Sharmila was then rearrested upon her declaration that she would continue to fast.  “I will only withdraw the fast when the government withdraws the Armed Forces Special Powers’ Act unconditionally. Not before that,” she stated to the media.

The Indian government claims that the AFSPA is a necessary measure to maintain and secure the northeast.

“There’s tremendous pressure from the army and paramilitary forces not to scrap the AFSPA. The government cannot overlook that pressure. But that alienates the government from the Manipuris all the more,” says Manipur’s leading civil society activist Binalaxmi Nephram.

For more information, please see:

Asian Centre for Human Rights – Arrest of Irom Sharmila Condemned – 8 March 2009

BBC – Manipur Fasting Woman Re-Arrested – 9 March 2009

Reuters – India’s Iron Lady Rearrested a Day After Release – 9 March 2009

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – The United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, visited Myanmar earlier this week.  According to a Myanmar official, he met with the junta’s ministers in charge of foreign affairs, home affairs, immigration and border areas.  Mr. Guterres also toured Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh and Rakhine state where most of the Rohingya reside.

Rohingya is a Muslim ethnic group that Junta refuses to recognize as citizens of Myanmar.  Earlier this year, Myanmar’s consul general to Hong Kong says that the Rohingya could not possibly be Myanmar since they were “dark brown” and “ugly as ogres.”

Rohingya issue has caught attention from the international community recently.  Thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar to escape poverty and hardship were mistreated by Thai military.   The international media published photographs that show the Thai military rounded up Rohingya and set adrift in boats towed out to sea with limited supplies.  Some of them were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters.  The UN refugee agency has expressed concern over the fate of hundreds rescued Rohingya.

At the Association of South-East Asian Nations last month, Myanmar agreed to allow Rohingyas to return to the country if they could prove they were Bengalis.  Bengalis is included on the government’s list of 135 recognized ethnic minority groups in Myanmar.

For more information, please see:

AFP – UN refugee chief visits Myanmar – 10 March 2009

Reuters – UNHCR chief in Myanmar, to visit Rohingya area – 10 March 2009

Time – Visiting the Rohingya, Burma’s Hidden Population – 09 March 2009

Voice of America – UN Official to Discuss Refugees with Burmese Government – 09 March 2009

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Tibet will mark the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising against Chinese rule on March 10, 2009.  Because of the failed uprising, the Dalai Lama fled the country and established the exiled government in India.  Now, Chinese authorities imposed “de facto martial law”, and deployed police and soldiers throughout Tibet to prevent a repeat of last year’s riot on the anniversary.

Last March, the riots erupted in the region after Chinese security forces suppressed a protest by monks in Lhasa.  At least 19 Han civilians were killed in Lhasa, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.  About 220 Tibetans were killed, nearly 1,300 were injured and nearly 7,000 were detained or imprisoned after the crackdown, according to the Tibetan government in exile, which is based in Dharamsala, India.

Now, Chinese leaders are preparing for the worst situation.  They ordered the largest troop deployment since the Sichuan earthquake last spring. Foreign journalists are not allowed in the region. Police patrols have increased near Buddhist monasteries and the number of checkpoints has increased.

Chinese officials also confirmed a tight security buildup along Tibet’s border with the Himalayan regions of India and Nepal. The Chinese government has warned that pro-independence Tibetans not to enter Tibet.  The Ministry of Public Security’s Border Control Department says it’s preparing to “fully protect the stability of Tibet’s frontier region”.

There are no signs of protests now, residents say, because the city is completely locked down.  “The security forces are everywhere, on every corner, day and night,” said a Tibetan woman. When asked her opinion about the current situation, she says, “we Tibetans who do business is under a lot of pressure, so we have to keep quiet. I can’t say I disagree with the policies of the Chinese. It’s their country, and we’re only a minority.”

Human rights watch reported that hundreds of Tibetans are still unaccounted for a year after China cracked down on March 2008 protests.  The report shows that thousands of arbitrary arrests, and more than 100 trials pushed through the judicial system.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Deep divisions over Tibet anniversary – 09 March 2009

Human Rights Watch – China: Hundreds of Tibetan Detainees and Prisoners Unaccounted for – 09 March 2009

New York Times – 50 Years After Revolt, Clampdown on Tibetans – 05 March 2009

Washington Post – Tibetans Rally 50 Years After Uprising – 09 March 2009

Voice of American – China Braces for Protests on 50th Anniversary of Tibetan Uprising – 10 March 2009