BEIJING, China – A wave of protest from outraged Chinese bloggers has forced authorities to arrest four people, detain and remove several government officials, and investigate over 100 others for the beating death of a bystander.

Wei Wenhua, a construction company manager, witnessed about 50 city inspectors beating villagers who tried to block trucks from unloading heaps of garbage near their homes in Tianmen in Hubei Province.

Mr. Wei, 41, was attacked and fatally beaten by the city inspectors when he took out his cellphone to photograph the dispute. In China, city inspectors are auxiliary support for police, dealing mostly with petty crimes. These inspectors, however, often abuse their authority and prey on the weak.

Mr. Wei’s death earlier this month continues to stir controversy among bloggers in China and elsewhere. On Sina.com, bloggers responded by condemning the brutal killing and questioning ” who gave these city inspectors such absurd powers?”

This is the latest story of bloggers and others using the Internet to force Chinese authorities to investigate beatings and other abuses by government officials.

Another blogger expressed that this is definitely not the first time for something like this. “What makes it news is that this time they got one man dead, the news got online, and the whole nation got informed. So they got serious.”

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Bloggers Push China to Prosecute Beating Death – 18 January 2008

CNN – Man beaten to death in China for taking pictures – 16 January 2008

CNN – Death pits technology against Chinese control – 18 January 2008

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine authorities arrested Olivier Baldonado Antoc, an army reservist and local politician’s bodyguard, as a suspect in the murder of radio journalist Ferdinand Lintuan. Antoc was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm and drugs. After the arrest, police realized he resembled the sketch of Lintuan’s murderer and his firearm was the same caliber used to kill the journalist. Antoc denies any involvement in the murder, and police acknowledge that more evidence is needed.

In related news, several persons and news media have linked Jovito Palparan, a former general who is now an adviser to local politician Prospero Nograles, a possible instigator of the murder. The Philippines Press Club has requested that an outside investigator be used in order to prevent any influence by Palparan and Nograles.

For more information, please see:

Reporters without Borders – Philippines: Politician’s Bodyguard Held as Suspect in Journalist’s Murder – 31 December 2007

NANDIGRAM, West Bengal, India- Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, are calling on the West Bengal government to conduct an inquiry into the violence that has been ocurring in Nandigram over the past year due to land disputes.

Their reports state that the government has failed to provide adequate protection to the people, thus allowing human rights abuses to occur including unlawful killings, abductions, sexual assault, forced evictions, and the displacement of many.  It is believed that the violence was carried out by supporters of the Communist Party of India-Marxist; because of the alleged government involvement, the reports stress the importance of an independent inquiry.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – India: Urgent Inquiry Needed into Nandigram Violence – 15 January 2008

Amnesty International – India: Urgent need to address large scale human rights abuses during Nandigram “recapture” – 15 January 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – According to a report released by the Interior Department, the number of extrajudicial killings of activists and journalists has decreased by eighty-three percent from the previous year. The Philippine National Police recorded seven killings in 2007, compared with forty-one in 2006. The Interior Department stressed that the sharp decrease “underlines the Arroyo government’s strong commitment to human rights and its firm resolve to put an end to these unexplained killings.”

The killings have been suspected to the work of the Arroyo administration in order to silence critics and leftists. The Human Right Watch has described the extrajudicial killings as a “dirty war” against leftists and journalists.

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, said the Filipino authorities “are much more interested in discussing numbers, but we really have not seen one of the most important developments we’re waiting for, and that’s the prosecution of senior members of the military.”   Richardson added that the lack of prosecution demonstrates that the “culture of impunity” has not changed at all.

The culture of impunity is quite apparent in Bicol, Philippines. In Bicol, there have been 157 cases of extrajudicial killings since 2001, and none have been solved. Sonia Sta. Rosa, widow of murdered activist pastor Isaias Sta. Rosa, said, “I cannot trust government agencies to pursue justice for us. Of course, they will not cook themselves in their own oil. We do not know who to turn to now.” Sta. Rosa’s case was one of two that made it to the court system, but it was junked anew by the Albay Prosecutor’s Office.

Victim’s families have other recourses for their cases with the United Nations Tribunal and Joint Monitoring Committee of the government and the communist-led National Democratic front. However, the other venues have been criticized for giving “orchestrated and planned results.”

The Philippine government has charged persons in twenty-two cases thus far. Most of those accused are former members of the Communist New People’s Army, while only one soldier was charged. The Philippine government has contended the Communists were behind the murders. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Philip Alston, had earlier stated the claim is “unconvincing.”

Several human right groups like Karapatan, Promotion of Church People’s Response, and Hustisya-Bikol have sponsored the first series of meetings to be held across the country to unite victim’s families and basic sectors in order to achieve justice.

For more information, please see:

Inquirer – Extrajudicial Killings Victims’ Kin Losing Hope – 14 January 2008

International Herald Tribune – Killing Activists and Journalists Drops in Philippines – 14 January 2008

The New York Times – Philippines: Decline in Killings – 15 January 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – The United Nation’s refugee agency urged Thailand to release 149 ethnic Hmong from Laos. The Hmong have been detained for more than 400 hundred days even though several countries have offered to take them in. They were rounded up in Bangkok in November 2006 for deportation.

The refugees fled persecution in Laos. Many Hmong sided with the pro-U.S. Laotian government in the 1960’s and 1970’s before the communist takeover of Laos in 1975. After the communist takeover in 1975, almost 300,000 Hmong fled to Thailand. Most resettled in third countries, and several thousand were voluntarily repatriated in Laos. UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Erika Feller said, “They have been recognized as in need of international protection, and they should be allowed to take up the offer already made to them to leave Thailand and start to live productive lives and have a future in other countries.”

Thailand, however, recognizes the 149 refugees as migrants and contends they violated Thai law by entering the country illegally. Nearly 300 others were deported in 2006. The 149 refugees presently detained were on the brink of being repatriated to Laos on January 1, 2007 until international pressure halted the move.

The refugees underwent a hunger strike last August. They declare that they would rather die than return to Laos.

The refugees include 90 children. Five children have been born while in detention. The UN’s refugee agency is concerned about the conditions the Laotians live in and the education of the children. Spokeswoman Erika Feller said, “We are particularly concerned that 90 children, including five born in detention, are being held in these sub-standard conditions. They should not be locked up and should be getting a proper education.” Thai authorities have only recently allowed the refugees out of their cells for three hours a day.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Asia – UN Urges Thailand to Free Lao Hmong – 15 January 2008

Reuters – UNHCR Urges Thailand to Release Hmong Refugees – 15 January 2008

UN News Centre – UN Agency Urges Release of Laotians Held in Thailand for More than a Year – 14 January 2008