By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – On October 5th, another regional journalist was gunned down in Thailand. Wallop Bounsampop was the editor of Den Siam, a local newspaper in Chonburi province in the south of Bangkok. Wallop is the fourth journalist to be murdered this year.

Wallop was murdered in a motorcyle drive-by shooting when he was helping his wife at a local restruant. Two men on a motorcyle dorve by and shot at Wallop five times hitting him twice and killing him instantly.

Wallop was an active member of the district council, and he was reporting on corruption of local politicians. Some allege his murder was linked to the controversial articles written about his opponents who are scheduled to run against him in elections next month.

Only a month earlier, Jaruek Rangcharoen, a regional correspondent for the Bangkok-based Matichon Daily, was gunned down in the central province of Suphanburi. Like Wallop, Rangcharoen was reporting on local politicians. Rangcharoen’s case is still unresolved. However, police said they have a few witnesses that could lead to descriptions to key suspects.

The string on voilence against journalist in Thailand has led to a public outcry. Reporters without Borders said, “We call on the police and judicial authorities to give themselves the means to deal with it,” and “If no real progress is made in solving these four cases, more journalists are likely to be killed at a time when Thailand is still embroiled in a political crisis.”

For more information, please see:

Guardian – Fourth Thai Journalist Murdered – 8 October 2008

Interesting Times – Murder of Journalist Raise Death Toll to 4 in 2008 in Thailand – 8 October 2008

Reporters without Borders – Local Newspaper Editor Gunned Down, Fourth Journalist Murdered This Year – 7 October 2008

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – On October 6th, Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin went on trial for “sedition.” Petra is a well known journalist and blogger for Malaysia Today. His article, Let’s Send the Altantuya Murderers to Hell, published earlier this year, accused the Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, of murdering a young Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Petra’s article claims Razak and his wife plotted Altantuya’s murder after she demanded money from Razak to end their extramarital affair. Currently, two police officers, a think-tank director, and close friend of Razak are on trial for collaborating the murder of Altantuya.

Petra has been in jail since September 12th under the Internal Security Act (ISA).  Under the ISA, Petra has to serve a two year sentence for “insulting a political leader” and “insulting Islam.”

If Petra is found guilty of sedition, he can be incarcerated for another three years. “They are penalizing him twice… It’s double jeopardy,” Marina, Petra’s wife, told reporters of the Associated Press.

Many supporters showed up outside the district court, wearing T-shirts that bore the slogan “Free RPK.” The Worldwide Press Freedom Organization said the Malaysian government is using the judiciary for their own means, “The government is abusing the law in order to silence critical voices and to gag free expression.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Malaysia Writer in Sedition Trial – 6 October 2008

Malaysia Today – Suffering the ISA – 8 October 2008

Reporters without Borders – Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin Goes on Trial for “Sedition” – 6 October 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Two Chinese dissidents, Gao Zhisheng and Hu Jia, are top candidates of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.  The Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo’s International Peace Research Institute’s decision to honor Hu or Gao may increase tensions between the West and China.

China’s foreign ministry suggested Tuesday that it hopes Chinese human rights activists will not win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.  “For the past few years we see that many people in the world have dedicated themselves to world peace and scientific and human progress and have been properly awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize,” he said.  “However,” Qin added, “some of the prizes went against Mr. Nobel’s initial purpose. We hope the Nobel Prize should be awarded to the right people.” The award went to the Dalai Lama 19 years ago, against strong objections from Beijing.

Gao, born in 1964, is a lawyer who has protested the treatment of members of the Falun Gong movement.  Hu, 35, has been outspoken on environmental and AIDS matters and more recently has criticized the treatment of Gao.

They were both arrested and jailed before the Beijing Olympics to keep them out of the public eye.  Gao was arrested in August 2006, convicted in a one-day trial and placed under house arrest. He was convicted because of nine articles posted on foreign Web sites, state media reported at the time. Gao has been beaten, harassed and given a suspended jail sentence in the last few years.  He was also reportedly targeted by an assassination attempt.  Hu was convicted last April of inciting subversion, and is now serving a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence.  Hu’s wife has been placed under house arrest.

Peace researcher Stein Toennesson, director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, said the prize committee might pick a Chinese activist “in view of the fact that the Olympic Games did not bring the improvement many had hoped for, but instead led to a number of strict security measures.”  According to a BBC Asia analyst, Andre Vornic, the Nobel committee is unlikely to be swayed by crude pressure, he says. If anything, a perception of bullying could further stack the odds in favor of China’s jailed dissidents.

For more information, please see:

AP – China suggests Nobel should not go to activist – 07 October 2008

BBC – China makes Nobel prize warning – 07 October 2008

Bloomberg – Nobel Peace Prize May Go to Chinese Activist, Angering Beijing – 06 October 2008

Voice of America – China Warns Against Awarding Nobel Prize to Dissident – 07 October 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

BEIJING, China – Recent reports from the state media allege that the Sula Group, the company at the center of the milk scandal in China, asked governmental authorities to help cover-up the extent of the problem, making them aware of the danger months ago.

Shijiazhuang city government spokesman Wang Jianguo said they had been asked by the Sanlu Group for help in “managing” the media response to the case when first told of the issue on August 2nd.  Government officials were told six days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

China admitted that the Shijiazhuang city government was aware of the tainted milk problems but refused to release any warnings because China was in the middle of hosting the Olympics.  Recently, Beijing fired several Shijiazhuang officials, including the city’s Communist Party chief, for the attempted cover-up.

In the letter from the Sanlu Group to city officials, the group stated, “Please can the government increase control and coordination of the media, to create a good environment for the recall of the company’s problem products.  This is to avoid whipping up the issue and creating a negative influence in society.”

Reporters Without Borders has also released reports that Beijing ordered news of the tainted milk scandal to remain quiet during the Olympics.  Reporters Without Borders wrote, “Several Chinese journalists have said that it is becoming more and more obvious that the authorities in July prevented an investigation into the toxic milk coming out so as not to tarnish China’s image before the Olympics.”

Chito Sta. Romana, chief of the ABC News Bureau in China, stated the scandal was proof of a “failure of the Chinese system of governance.”  He added, “It’s the result of the greed that has been unleashed on Chinese society by the economic reforms [and is proof] of the failure of the system of governance,” he said at a Sulo Hotel press forum in Quezon City.

China’s latest food safety problem arises out of the illegal addition of the industrial chemical melamine to milk to cheat in quality tests.  Thus far, 53,000 children have gotten sick from the tainted milk and four have died.  

For more information, please see:

AFP – China Vows to Clean Up Dairy Industry, More Children Ill – 6 October 2008

Inquirer.net – China Cover-Up More Damaging—Journalist – 5 October 2008

Reuters – China Milk Scandal Firm Asked for Cover-Up Help – 1 October 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – A prominent political ally of the detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been arrested in Burma.  64-year-old Ohn Kyaing was taken from his home on Wednesday, according to the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

NLD spokesman Nyan Win told the Associated Press the reasons for the arrest were still not known, but he pointed that Ohn Kyaing had been very involved in efforts to help the survivors of the cyclone that devastated Burma in May.

Ohn Kyaing joined the NLD after a long career in journalism and won a parliamentary seat in 1990 that was annulled by the military.  The Military Intelligence Service arrested Ohn Kyaing in September 1990.  He was sentenced to 17 years in prison for “writing and distributing seditious pamphlets” and “threatening the security of the state.”  After serving 15 years of a 17-year prison sentence, Ohn Kyaing was released from prison in 2005.

Ohn Kyaing is a close friend and former colleague of Win Tin, another former journalist turned opposition politician, who was the longest-serving political prisoner in Myanmar until his release September 23, 2008.  Win Tin said, Ohn Kyaing’s “is not unusual and something we have to expect. He is a close colleague, a good friend and a highly qualified man.”

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association call for the immediate release of well-known former journalist Ohn Kyaing.  The two organizations say, “Despite last month’s release of about 9,000 detainees, including a handful of political prisoners, the military regime continues to arrest opposition members.”

Top United Nations human rights officials also called on Myanmar’s military junta to free the estimated 2,000 political prisoners it holds and end the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

For more information, please see:

AP – Myanmar detains political ally of Aung San Suu Kyi – 02 October 2008

BBC – Burma opposition figure arrested – 02 October 2008

Bloomberg – Myanmar Should Free 2,000 Political Prisoners, Suu Kyi, UN Says – 03 October 2008

CNN – Myanmar detains ally of Aung San Suu Kyi – 02 October 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Journalist and opposition member Ohn Kyaing arrested again – 02 October 2008