By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Report, Asia Desk

YANGON, Myanmar – Two men and a woman were injured in a bus explosion at a busy intersection in Myanmar’s main city Yangon, state media reported. “The rear roof of the bus was blown off,” the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said, adding that there was a foot-wide hole near the seat where the explosion occurred.  However, the paper did not mention whether a bomb caused the blast but said officials were investigating.

Myanmar’s military rulers on Sunday accused two members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) of bombing a pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association office in July.  Khin Yee, the national police chief said officers had seized bomb-making equipment from two members of the National League of Democracy party.  NLD youth members Yan Shwe and Zaw Zaw Aung were arrested along with human rights activists and former NLD member Myint Aye, who is accused of funding them.  Khin Yee also told reporters at a press conference, according to the information the national police have received, some NLD members were involved in attending training sessions for bombing… and possessing destructive tools such as gun-powder and detonators.  This is the first time the junta has accused members of the pro-democracy party of being involved in a bombing.

The junta also denied that detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is on a hunger strike. “At the request of Daw Suu Kyi, arrangements were made for her lawyer to visit her three times and her doctor once. The information we heard from them did not indicate that Daw Suu Kyi was going on hunger strike,” Khin Yee told a news conference.  Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy (NLD) party reported on Friday that she had been refusing those food supplies for the past three weeks in protest against her detention and restrictions on visitors.

For more information, pleas see:

AFP – Three injured in a bus explosion in Myanmar – 10 September 2008

AFP – Myanmar police chief denies Suu Kyi hunger strike – 07 September 2008

Daily Times – Myanmar accuses Suu Kyi’s party over bombing – 08 September 2008

International Herald Tribune – Report: Myanmar explosion injures 3 – 10 September 2008

International Herald Tribune – Myanmar police: ringleaders of bomb plot arrested – 07 September 2008

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Som Southevy, a 68 year old trans-gender woman, has come forth to tell her story of sexual abuse she suffered under the Khmer Rouge regime.

The Khmer Rouge was a communist regime that came to power in Cambodia from 1975-1979. Led by Pol Pot, the regime conducted mass killings and tortures where about two million lives were lost. Even though there are well documented accounts of brutality in the forms of torture, murder, and execution during the regime, victims are generally silent about sexual abuse because it has not been culturally accepted for women to report rape.

Southevy is the first to file a sexual abuse complaint in the ongoing Khmer Rouge tribunal. Under the Khmer Rouge regime, Southevy told the press that she was incarcerated for acting like a woman. Southevy was forced to wear men’s clothing and cut her hair. During detention, she was sexually assaulted and repeatedly raped by Khmer Rouge officials.

Later, Southevy was forced to marry a woman. Forced marriages were common during the regime.

Southevy recalls that she was not the only trans-gender woman accused of “moral crimes”. Many trans-gender victims did not survive the regime.

Southevy has applied to be a civil party during the tribunals. Civil parties can access information and actively participate during the trials. Tribunal officers hope that Southevy’s complaint will inspire others to come forward with their stories.

In August, former prison chief of the Khmer Rouge regime, Kaing Guek Eav a.k.a Duch, is on trial for charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Duch was charged in July 2007. He is the prison chief to the infamous facility known as S-21 or Tuol Sleng, where about 15,000 prisoners were kept and subject to torture. Those who survived the systematic torture were sent for execution in the “killing fields”.

Duch is the first of five high ranking officials to stand trial. The other key officials of the Khmer Rouge are: Khmer Rouge’s second-in-command Nuon Chea, charged in September 2007 with war crimes and crimes against humanity; Khmer Rouge’s Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, charged in November 2007 with war crimes and crimes against humanity; Khmer Rouge’s Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith, charged in November 2007 with crimes against humanity; and Khmer Rouge’s Head of State Khieu Samphan, arrested in November 2007, yet to be charged.

The tribunal has been criticized for being slow, and there have been corruption allegations within the tribunal that has stalled the process of justice.

However, the formal indictment of Duch is a significant demonstration of progress in the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Moreover, the highly publicized judicial proceedings of the Khmer Rouge officials are not only significant to people like Southevy but also to human rights tribunals around the world.

For more information, please see:

IPS – Khmer Rouge Trials Bare Sexual Abuse – 8 September 2008

BBC – Khmer Rouge’s Duch set for trial – 12 August 2008

ECCC – The Court Report August 2008 – 20 August 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

SRINAGAR, India – Indian authorities opened fire on a crowd during a one-day strike held in protest against New Delhi controlled elections. At least 55 persons were wounded.

On Monday, the Indian Election Commission held a meeting with political parties to coordinate poll dates for Kashmir. Separatists in Kashmir have long fought for the Himalayan region’s succession, and traditionally have boycotted the polls. The shutdown was to protest the upcoming elections.

In protest over the planned elections, separatists organized a general shutdown. Shops and businesses across the region were closed. However, soon violence broke out. According to witnesses, police fired bullets and teargas shells at the crowd, who were throwing stones. Protesters also were chanting, “No election, no selection, we want freedom.”

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the main separatist alliance All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, commented, “New Delhi is pushing Kashmiris to the wall and wants to convert the ongoing peaceful agitation into a violent resistance movement so as to dub it as a terrorist movement.”

Farooq also warned that the heavy-handed response by the Indian government could incite even more violence. He said, “If India pushes us too hard to the wall, tomorrow you can’t really ignore the fact the youth might be angered and forced to resort again to arms.”

New Delhi has directly ruled the Kashmir region since early July when the local government collapsed over a Hindu land dispute, which triggered large pro-independence demonstrations.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Election Strike Cripples Indian Kashmir – 8 September 2008

Daily Times – Mirwaiz Warns India Crackdown Could Fuel Revolt – 10 September 2008

Reuters – Fifty-five Wounded in Indian Kashmir Violence – 8 September 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia Desk

BEIJING, China — Local governments in northwestern China have imposed strict limits on religious practices during the traditional Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. “Faced with recent violent and disruptive activities by religious extremists, separatists and terrorists, we must… step up ideological education of religious leaders and followers,” a notice posted on Xinjiang’s Zhaosu county website said.  The rules include prohibiting mass prayers, the distribution of religious material, women from wearing veils and men from growing beards, as well as barring government officials from observing Ramadan.

Police are checking the identities of those who have beards or mustaches, and women who cover their faces, according to an officer who answered the phone at the Charbagh village police station, in Lop county, Hotan prefecture.  “We uncover the faces of veiled women by force if necessary,” he said. “We also arrest anyone teaching religion to children illegally,” he said, adding that police were also helping to enforce a ban on Muslim restaurant closures during Ramadan.  County rules also required companies and families that have workers or visitors from outside the county to register the outsiders with the nearest police station, and to sign an agreement “on maintaining social stability.”

Xinjiang is a vast desert region bordering Central Asia that is home to 8.3 million Uighurs, many of whom say they have suffered decades of political and religious repression under Chinese rule. Last month, a series of attacks on police in Xinjiang resulted 20 officers and security guards dead, and at least as many attackers killed or arrested.  The limits on religious practices put in place by local governments appear to be a part of the broader security crackdown.  It was unclear whether the rules would be relaxed after Ramadan.

For more information, please see:

AFP – China imposes Ramadan security crackdown in Muslim northwest – 05 September 2008

Economist – A crackdown in China’s wild West, its Muslim-majority chunk of Central Asia – 04 September 2008

Radio Free Asia – Ramadan Curbs on China’s Muslims – 06 September 2008

New York Times – Ramadan Curbs Imposed in China – 08 September 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAKISTAN – Post September 11, 2001, Pakistan joined U.S. efforts in the War on Terror by using the practice of enforced disappearances.  The Pakistani government has repeatedly denied reports of abducting hundreds of its own citizens who are suspected of terrorist activity.  Suspects are detained and held in secret facilities, secluded from the law and the outside world, and most are subjected to torture.   Pakistani organizations report that at least 563 cases of disappeared persons.

Saturday, August 30, 2008 marked the 25th International Day of the Disappeared when protesters demonstrated outside of the Pakistani High Commission in London.  Among them is Amina Janjua, founder of Pakistani Defence of Human Rights, an organization campaigning for the release of the disappeared.  Janjua’s husband, Masood Janjua, had disappeared nearly three years ago.  He was apprehended in Pakistan while traveling by bus.  Janjua was joined by Amnesty International activists; they were all chanting, “Justice now for the disappeared.”

The memorialized day also marks the start of Janjua’s international tour.  Janjua will head to Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States in order to raise global awareness and for other governments to investigate the disappearances and put pressure on the Pakistani government.

In Amensty International’s report, Denying the Undeniable, affidavits and testimonies confirm the arbitrary detention of terrorist suspects, despite Pakistan’s denials.  Evidence also shows how government officials obstruct attempts to trace them.  The report also calls upon other governments to ensure that they do not participate in, nor tolerate, this practice; there have been testimony by victims stating that they have been interrogated by foreign intelligence agents.  Moreover, Amnesty International insists that Pakistan’s new government reinstate those judges, who were removed for their meddling in the disappearances since December 2007 by President Musharraf, so that cases can be investigated more thoroughly.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Protest Launches Tour Against Enforced Disappearance in Pakistan – 2 September 2008

Amnesty International – Denying the Undeniable:  Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan – 23 July 2008

Reuters – Pakistan’s New Government Must Reveal Truth About Enforced Disappearances, Urges Amnesty International In a New Report – 22 July 2008