BEIJING, China – A Chinese court has sentenced Hu Jia, Chinese dissident and activist, to jail for 3.5 years for “inciting subversion of state power.” The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reported that Hu Jia made a confession, which lead to the court to give a relatively light sentence.

Hu Jia is a prominent human rights activist and dissident that has openly criticized the Chinese government. Recently he wrote: “Is China improving its human rights record? When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, spacious streets, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion, no independent courts, no independent trade unions; where demonstrations and strikes are prohibited.”

Dozens of supporters stood outside the courthouse when the sentence was announced. Li Hai, a supporter, commented, “Hu Jia is a hero to us because he stood up to speak out, so we should also speak out.”

For more information, please see:

Impunity Watch – Chinese Dissidents Detained and to Stand Trial for Criticisms– 10 March 2008

Impunity Watch – UPDATE: Human Rights Watch Calls Hu Jia’s Trial a “Sham” –18 March 2008

International Herald Tribune – Chinese Civil Rights Activist, Hu Jia, Sentenced to Prison – 3 April 2008

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – New Pakistani Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, and his government announced on April 1st that they are developing a plan to replace the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with Afghanistan.  The current FCR has been in place since 1901, and has long been criticized for violating human rights and keeping the FATA from developing.

The FCR is a colonial-era legal regime the British used to attempt to control strong Pashtun opposition in the area.  It keeps residents of the area from participating in politics and instead grants authority to a local administrator called a Political Agent.  Further, the FCR establishes a collective responsibility system, meaning that an entire community is held responsible for the actions of one person.

Many people living in the FATA want the FCR abolished, but they have concerns over what will replace it.  Some would prefer Islamic laws while others want the area absorbed into Pakistan’s national legal structure.  Either way, implementation of the new laws once enacted will be difficult; Taleban and Al Qaeda efforts in the area have eroded any current governing structures and the groups will likely continue to fight maintain control.  Insecurity and war ravage the area.

Gillani announced that his goal is to bring “economic, social, and political reforms” to the tribal areas to prevent the further spread of terrorism.  His new government has formed a four-person parliamentary committee that will be determine how to replace the FCR.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Europe – Pakistan: New Government Announces Major Reforms in Tribal Areas – 3 April 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The International Olympic Committee [IOC] is under fire for refusing to publicly articulate concerns about the human rights situation in China before the Beijing Games.  Amnesty International, the London-based human rights watchdog said, “The Olympics have so far failed to catalyze reform in China and pledges to improve human rights before the Games look disingenuous after a string of violations in Beijing and a crackdown in Tibet.”

Human Rights Watch is also accusing the IOC of operating in a moral void, undermining human rights in China and flouting the spirit and letter of the Olympic Charter.  The letter issued by Human Right Watch  earlier in the week urgedthe Ethics Commission to articulate standards compatible with the respect of human rights to guide the Olympic movement. Human Rights Watch is also urging the IOC to publicly assess the extent to which current human rights violations are linked to the preparation of the Games.

Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper fired back, saying the committee was not an activist group or a government.  Chairman of the IOC’s inspection commission for the Beijing Games, Hein Verbruggen called the suggestion by Amensty International that awarding the Games to Beijing had worsened human rights in China “blatantly untrue.”  He also said at a news conference at the end of the final IOC inspection, “We are not a political organization, so in spite of all the criticism we get, I am not afraid to tell you that we should not speak out on political issues.”  Verbruggen said it would be unfair to link Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympics to issues such as “Guantanamo or Iraq,” and unjust to tie Madrid’s bid for 2016 to problems with Basque separatists.

However, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson said, “The question is not whether the IOC is a human rights organization.  It’s whether the Olympic movement respects human rights. If it does, remaining silent as China’s crackdown intensifies isn’t acceptable.”

IOC officials have made their final inspection ahead of this year’s games in Beijing and “satisfied with renewed assurances” over a number of concerns, includes making sure foreign news websites are unblocked and live television pictures are beamed around the world without any delay.

For more information, please see:

ABC – IOC pleased with China censorship pledges – 3 April 2008

AP – IOC: We’re can’t interfere in politics – 3 April 2008

Reuters – Amnesty lays into China on rights before Olympics – 2 April 2008

Reuters – IOC vigorously defends non-political role in China – 3 April 2008

Human Rights Watch – China: Letter to Ethics Commission of International Olympic Committee – 31 March 2008

Human Rights Watch – China: International Olympic Committee Operating in Moral Void – 1 April 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Dith Pran, photojournalist and survivor of the Khmer Rouge Regime, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 65 years old. Before the Khmer Rouge Regime took power in 1975, Dith Pran worked with the NY Times taking notes, translating, and taking pictures. After the Khmer Rouge Regime took power, Dith Pran became a prisoner. Although he and his family had the opportunity to flee Cambodia, Dith Pran choose to stay and let his family go because he believed that “his country could be saved only if other countries grasped the gathering tragedy and responded.”

Soon afterwards, he was sent to the countryside to work all day in the fields. He survived in the countryside doing backbreaking labor and eating only a tablespoon of rice a day for four years. Dith Pran avoiding summary execution by hiding his education, passing himself as a taxi driver, and throwing all his money away. In 1978 he returned to his hometown of Siem Reap and discovered that 50 members of his family had been killed. The wells had been filled with skulls and bones. In 1979 Dith Pran escaped the country over the Thai border and then later come to New York to continue his journalistic career.

For more information, please see:

The NY Times – Dith Pran, Photojournalist and Survivor of the Killing Fields, Dies at 65 – 31 March 2008

YANGON, Myanmar – According to a new proposed constitution, Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Laureate and leader of the opposition party, cannot stand for election because she was once married to a foreigner. Reuters obtained a copy of the charter and confirmed that it says a “person who is entitled to rights and privileges of a foreign government, or a citizen of a foreign country” cannot run for office. The provision is not a new creation but copied over from the 1947 and 1974 country’s constitutions. The proposed constitution will go to referendum in May, but voters are unsure how to vote because the public is not allowed to see the final version yet. The constitution is a key provision in the country’s seven-point “road map to democracy.”

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Proposed Myanmar Charter Bars Suu Kyi from Office – 31 March 2008