By Juliana Chan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – After spending nearly three years in jail in China on charges of spying for Taiwan, Hong Kong reporter Ching Cheong was released on parole Tuesday from a prison in Guangdong Province.

Mr. Ching, 58, a correspondent for Singapore’s The Straits Times newspaper, was arrested in April 2005 during a visit to the city of Guangzhou. He was held in custody for 16 months before a one-day, closed-door trial in August 2006, in which he was convicted for selling state secrets to a Taiwan foundation that was a front for an espionage agency. Mr. Ching was sentenced to five years in prison.

China’s official Xinhua reported at the time that Mr. Ching’s sentence was mitigated because he confessed to more espionage activities than those the state had known about. Mr. Ching’s wife, Mary Lau, said her husband traveled to China to obtain recordings of secret interviews with the late Communist Party chief, Zhao Ziyang.

Mr. Ching’s conviction was widely criticized as yet another attempt by China to use legal sanctions to censor free speech and control information. Fellow Hong Kong journalists, press freedom groups, and other human rights organizations condemned his detainment.

Since his release, Mr. Ching thanked the Chinese government, and expressed how “very happy that I was able to return to Hong Kong and reunite with my family before the Chinese New Year.”

Hong Kong’s chief executive, Donald Tsang, welcomed Mr. Ching’s release, but human rights campaigners in Hong Kong said other journalists or academics are still at risk of arrest and imprisonment. Mr. Ching’s early release did not offset what they say to be a flawed conviction.

Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor said, “It fell far short of the standards of criminal proof required under international human rights treaties and there was no presumption of innocence.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Hong Kong reporter freed early from China jail – 05 February 2008

The New York Times – China Frees Hong Kong Journalist – 06 February 2008

AP – China Releases Jailed Hong Kong Reporter – 05 February 2008

BBC News – China frees Hong Kong journalist – 05 February 2008

By Elizabeth Breslin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka- As Sri Lanka prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary of independence, its human rights record is in the spotlight.  Attention is also focused on the country due to a bombing of a bus on Saturday and then the bombing of a train station on Sunday by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (also known as the Tamil Tigers or LTTE), killing a total of 29 people and wounding over 100.

In its recently-released World Report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that in the conflict between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lanka government, little consideration is shown for civilians.  HRW reported that the two sides “violate international humanitarian law… by indiscriminately firing on civilian areas and unnecessarily preventing the delivery humanitarian aid.”

In 2007, Sri Lanka enacted further Emergency Regulations giving the government broad powers to arrest and detain citizens without charge.  The government has used this power to arbitrarily arrest ethnic Tamils, journalists, and political activists.

Furthermore, HRW reported that “[g]overnment security forces are implicated in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, forcibly returning internally displaced persons… to unsafe areas, restricting media freedoms, apparent complicity with the abusive Karuna group, and widespread impunity for serious human rights violations.”

HRW found that the world community was concerned over the situation in Sri Lanka during 2007, but that action was “slow and lacked cohesion.”

Many countries have recently suspended aid due to concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.  The US government has suspended over 110 million USD, the UK has suspended over 3 million USD, and Sri Lanka’s top donor, Japan, threatened to cut off aid as well if the violence continues.

Ethnic turmoil has affected the country for more than 30 years, and the separatist struggle has taken over 60,000 lives.  The civil war has emerged as Asia’s longest ethnic conflict.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – S Lanka anniversary amid tensions – 4 February 2008

AFP – Sri Lanka marks freedom day amid bombs and bloodshed – 3 February 2008

Nidahasa – Global Concern Over Worsening Human Rights Record of Sri Lanka – 1 February 2008

AFP – International action slow to stem Sri Lanka bloodshed: HRW – 1 February 2008

Human Rights Watch – World Report 2008: Sri Lanka Events of 2007 – 31 January 2008

By Elizabeth Breslin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka- As Sri Lanka prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary of independence, its human rights record is in the spotlight.  Attention is also focused on the country due to a bombing of a bus on Saturday and then the bombing of a train station on Sunday by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (also known as the Tamil Tigers or LTTE), killing a total of 29 people and wounding over 100.

In its recently-released World Report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that in the conflict between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lanka government, little consideration is shown for civilians.  HRW reported that the two sides “violate international humanitarian law… by indiscriminately firing on civilian areas and unnecessarily preventing the delivery humanitarian aid.”

In 2007, Sri Lanka enacted further Emergency Regulations giving the government broad powers to arrest and detain citizens without charge.  The government has used this power to arbitrarily arrest ethnic Tamils, journalists, and political activists.

Furthermore, HRW reported that “[g]overnment security forces are implicated in extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, forcibly returning internally displaced persons… to unsafe areas, restricting media freedoms, apparent complicity with the abusive Karuna group, and widespread impunity for serious human rights violations.”

HRW found that the world community was concerned over the situation in Sri Lanka during 2007, but that action was “slow and lacked cohesion.”

Many countries have recently suspended aid due to concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.  The US government has suspended over 110 million USD, the UK has suspended over 3 million USD, and Sri Lanka’s top donor, Japan, threatened to cut off aid as well if the violence continues.

Ethnic turmoil has affected the country for more than 30 years, and the separatist struggle has taken over 60,000 lives.  The civil war has emerged as Asia’s longest ethnic conflict.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – S Lanka anniversary amid tensions – 4 February 2008

AFP – Sri Lanka marks freedom day amid bombs and bloodshed – 3 February 2008

Nidahasa – Global Concern Over Worsening Human Rights Record of Sri Lanka – 1 February 2008

AFP – International action slow to stem Sri Lanka bloodshed: HRW – 1 February 2008

Human Rights Watch – World Report 2008: Sri Lanka Events of 2007 – 31 January 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – On January 31st, Human Rights Watch (HRW) publicly criticized the Bangladesh government’s treatment of civil rights.  HRW alleged that government has curtailed basic rights during its emergency rule. Brad Adams, Asia Director at HRW, stated, “The interim government is abusing its emergency powers to target individuals who are trying to protect workers’ rights in Bangladesh’s most important export industry. This should set off alarm bells among donors and governments who don’t seem to understand or care how the authorities are using the state of emergency to systematically suppress basic rights.”

The unrest between labor rights activists and government officials has escalated in the last few weeks. On January 22nd, authorities arrested a staff member of the American Center for Labor Solidarity, and two days later authorities questioned a Danish national who works for the Workers Rights Consortium. Criminal charges have also been filed against at least a dozen union members. Other activists also complain that they are under constant surveillance, and authorities are monitoring them for “engineering or inciting subversive activities within the garment industry.” Most recently, Mehedi Hasan, a field worker for the Workers Rights Consortium, was arrested and is still in police custody for his help in organizing union activities.

Bangladesh law enforcement has confirmed that Mehedi Hasan and other labor leaders were involved in provoking the unrest and protests in the garment industry. Court sources have reported that Mehedi Hasan confessed to interrogators that he collected information about workers’ problems and emailed the information to WRC headquarters in Washington DC. He also confessed to encouraging garment workers to press for their demands and holding meetings with garment workers.

Relations between journalists and Bangladesh authorities are poor. Journalists allege that the army, intelligence agencies, and paramilitary groups have threatened and intimidated them, warning them against defaming the government and army. Elaine Pearson, Deputy Asia Director at HRW, said, “The harassment and intimidation of numerous journalists and activists has instilled enough fear that the media is now censoring itself, especially when it comes to the military.”

Bangladesh is currently under emergency rule and has been so since January 2007. President Iajuddin Ahmed declared emergency rule because of weeks of violent street protests following electoral reforms. The government has promised new elections before the end of 2008.

For more information, please see:

The Daily Star – Provocation of Foreign Body, Labour Leaders Found in Probe –31 January 2008

Human Rights Watch – Bangladesh: Labor Activists in Export Sector Harassed –31 January 2008

Impunity Watch – Bangladesh Arrests Labor Rights Activist – 30 January 2008

International Herald Tribune – Bangladesh Rebuts Critical Human Rights Report– 1 February 2008

HANOI, Vietnam – The Vietnamese government released journalist, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, from jail.  The court sentenced her to nine months in prison for “disturbing the public order.”  Although Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was sentenced today, she was released for time already served.  Foreign reporters were denied access to her one-day trial at the Hanoi People’s Court.

Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was arrested in April of 2007 for posting articles critical of the government.  Two days prior to her arrest authorities entered her home and caught her posting the articles.  During the incident, police seized a memory stick that stored many of her articles.  In addition her articles, Tran Khai Thanh has written numerous novels, political essays, and was an editor of the dissident bulletin, Fatherland.

In January 2007, Human Rights Watch awarded Tran Khai Thanh Thuy the Hellman-Hammett prize for “her courage in the face of political repression.”Tran Kai Thanh Thuy also belongs to Bloc 8406, which is a group of pro-democracy activists.  The foreign ministry has ruled the group illegal.  Vietnamese authorities also have accused her of organizing an independent trade union and supporting a dissident human rights commission.

During Tran Khai Thanh Thuy’s imprisonment, the government-controlled press printed a range of charges against the journalist, which included conspiring with other democracy activists to overthrow the Vietnamese government, and urging foreign citizens to kidnap Vietnamese diplomats.

For more information, please see:

AP – Vietnam Sentences Dissident Writer – 31 January 2008

Earthtimes – Vietnamese Dissident Released from Prison – 31 January 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Journalist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy Released from Jail– 31 January 2008