By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

DHAKA, Bangladesh –

Two Bangladeshi students, Faisal bin Nayem and Rezwanul Azad Rana, were sentenced to death last week for the murder of atheist blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider in 2013. Mr. Rana, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the attack on Mr. Haider, is currently on the run and was sentenced in absentia.

Mr. Haider was hacked to death with a machete while returning home from a public rally in 2013. Mr. Haider was known to be critical of the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh. He was also one of several bloggers who called for the execution of Islamist leaders who committed war crimes in the 1971 conflict leading to Bangladesh’s founding.

Six others have received prison sentences for their involvement in Mr. Haider’s murder. Jasimuddin Rahmani, the head of Islamist extremist group Ansarullah Bangla Team, received a five year sentence. Ansarullah Bangla Team, which is a banned group in Bangladesh, has taken full responsibility for the killing of Mr. Haider.

The defendants’ defense lawyer, Mosharraf Hossain Kajal, plans on challenging the sentences in a higher court, stating that the prosecution failed to prove the allegations against his clients. Mahbubur Rahman, a state prosecutor, states that the evidence gathered helped to prove the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Mr. Rahman also plans on appealing the verdict because he expected at least five of the accused to receive the death penalty.

Four other atheist bloggers who spoke out about Islamic extremism in Bangladesh were also killed in 2015, along with a publisher. Bangladesh’s government has been criticized over the past year for failing to adequately protect writers and activists.

Anisul Huq, Bangladesh’s Law and Justice Minister, has stated that investigators are working to bring those responsible for attacks on other bloggers to justice. The convictions handed down in Mr. Haider’s case mark a positive step toward confronting the increasing violence toward bloggers in Bangladesh.

 

For more information, please see:

CNN – Bangladesh Court Hands Down Death Sentences for Blogger Killing – 1 January 2015

Time – Students Who Killed Atheist Bangladeshi Writer Sentenced to Death – 1 January 2015

Al Jazeera – Two Sentenced to Death for Murdering Bangladeshi Blogger – 31 December 2015

New York Times – 2 Sentenced to Death in Killing of Bangladeshi Activist in 2013 – 31 December 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

SEOUL, South Korea –

South Korea and Japan reached a settlement on Monday to resolve their long-standing dispute over the women forced to serve as sex slaves for the Japanese army during World War II. The women, otherwise known as comfort women, have been a major point of contention between the two countries since the end of World War II.

In the settlement, Japan issued an apology and pledged to give $8.3 million from its national budget to the South Korean government to set up a fund for the remaining comfort women. The fund will offer services such as medical care to the former comfort women. It is unclear at this time whether the women will receive direct payments from the fund.

Japan has conceded that its military authorities contributed to the enslavement of the comfort women. However, Japan has not admitted to having any legal responsibility for the acts of its military officials. It instead seems to consider the new fund as a humanitarian gesture rather than an effort at making legal reparations.

Tens of thousands of Korean women were forced to act as comfort women to the Japanese during Japan’s colonial rule of South Korea and throughout World War II. Most comfort women who survived World War II lived in silence instead of speaking out because of the stigma surrounding their role as sex slaves. In the 1990s, some of the women finally began to speak out about their experiences. Only 238 South Korean women have come forward throughout the decades. Currently, 46 former comfort women women are still alive.

South Korea says that it will consider the issue of comfort women “finally and irreversibly” settled as long as Japan follows through with its end of the deal. On its own part, South Korea has agreed to negotiate with local civic groups for the removal of a statue of a comfort woman which stands in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul.

Japan and South Korea’s agreement has already drawn criticism, some of it coming from former comfort women themselves. One such woman, 88 year-old Lee Yong-soo, says that the settlement does not reflect the views of former comfort women. Ms. Lee says that the former comfort women are not looking for money and that they want official reparations from Japan instead.

This is not the first time that Japan has apologized for its treatment of comfort women. In 1993, Japan formally acknowledged and apologized for its use of sex slaves. Japan also created a fund for the comfort women in 1995, financed by private donors. South Korea and some of the remaining comfort women criticized the fund because it did not come directly from Japan’s government. Many of the former comfort women refused to take payments from the fund. The fund was then disbanded in 2007.

Earlier in 2015, President Park of South Korea called for the settlement of the issue of comfort women with Japan by the end of the year. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea.

 

For more information, please see:

Voice of America – Comfort Women Criticize Japan, South Korea Settlement – 29 December 2015

BBC – Japan and South Korea agree WW2 ‘comfort women’ deal – 28 December 2015

The Guardian – Japan and South Korea Agree to Settle Wartime Sex Slaves Row – 28 December 2015

The New York Times – Japan and South Korea Settle Dispute Over Wartime ‘Comfort Woman’ – 28 December 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

BEIJING, China –

Local authorities in Shenzhen have released a statement stating that the deadly landslide last week was caused by breaches in construction safety rules and was not a natural disaster. Shenzhen authorities have vowed to punish those accountable for the landslide in accordance with the law.

The central government in Shenzhen organized an investigation team to look into the causes of the landslide. The team found that the cause of the landslide was the movement of construction waste in a landfill site rather than geological movement. Xinhua, China’s state run news source, has reported that the industrial site where the landslide occurred continued to take waste for 10 months after it was supposed to stop accepting all waste. Officials also ignored warnings that the site was dangerous.

According to local news sources, the landslide killed at least seven people, with several others in serious condition in local hospitals and over 70 people still missing. The disaster also buried 33 buildings in the industrial site where the construction waste was dumped.

Currently, there is still a risk of additional landslides in three other places in the Shenzhen industrial park according to Xinhua. Yang Shengjun, head of the Shenzhen Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau, says that there are also dangerous chemicals that need to be dealt with.

Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party Chief of Shenzhen, has made a formal apology and has pledged to accept responsibility for the landslide. Officials are often dismissed after disasters in China, with others facing prosecution for their responsibility for such disasters. Now that it is apparent that the landslide was due to human error, it is even more likely that Shenzhen officials and others found to have contributed to the disaster will carry the blame.

Parts of Asia, including China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are particularly prone to landslides due to their dense populations and rapid growth of urban centers. The Shenzhen landslide has raised concerns about China’s industrial safety regulations and the lack of oversight that may have contributed to other similar disasters. An extensive amount of infrastructure has been built up in recent years to meet the growth of industrial hubs and cities in China. That infrastructure, if not built according to safety regulations, could pose a serious threat of future disasters.

 

For more information, please see:

CNN – China Says Landslide Caused by Safety Violations, Vows to Punish ‘Seriously’ – 26 December 2015

The International Business Times – China Shenzhen Landslide Caused by Safety Violations, Not Nature, Officials Say – 25 December 2015

The New York Times – Chinese Official Vows Punishment Over Shenzhen Landslide – 25 December 2015

The Guardian – Is the Shenzhen Landslide the First of Many More? – 23 December 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

PYONGYANG, North Korea –

North Korea’s Supreme Court sentenced Canadian Pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to life in prison with hard labor last week. Mr. Lim was detained in February and was charged for “subversive plots and activities” while on a routine missions trip to North Korea. Prosecutors originally called for the death penalty as punishment for his alleged crimes against North Korea’s government. 

North Korea’s official news agency, KCNA, has reported that Mr. Lim confessed to committing anti-DPRK religious activities, conducting false propaganda, and aiding in an operation to lure and abduct North Korean defectors.

Mr. Lim traveled to North Korea in January for a visit that his family describes as a routine humanitarian trip. Mr. Lim, who emigrated from South Korea to Canada in 1986, is a minister at the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto. He has completed over 100 trips to North Korea in order to support projects that his church initiated there, including an orphanage, nursery, and nursing home.

In July, Mr. Lim was brought to a news conference by authorities, where he read a statement confessing to attempts at bringing down North Korea’s government. Associated Press reports that Mr. Lim admitted that he was working toward creating a religious state in North Korea while taking advantage of the policies of the United States and South Korea. Mr. Lim gave another confession at a church in Pyongyang in August.

Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs objects to the sentence given to Mr. Lim, especially in light of his age and poor health. Canadian officials were not given access to Mr. Lim during his detainment. The Department of Foreign Affairs also commented on this in its statement, stating that the North Korean government’s refusal to let Canadian officials confirm Mr. Lim’s health and wellbeing is a violation of the rights of states to have access to their citizens under the Vienna Convention.

North Korea has been known to detain foreigners for religious or missionary activities, accusing them of committing crimes against the state. Other westerners that have been held by North Korea in the past have also given public confessions under pressure from its government.

International human rights groups have criticized North Korea for its trials of foreign detainees, in part because their family members and outside lawyers are not allowed to visit them or defend them in court.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – N Korea Sentences Canada Pastor to Life in Jail – 16 December 2015

CNN – North Korea sentences Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to life in prison – 16 December 2015

The New York Times – North Korea Sentences Canadian Pastor to Life in Prison – 16 December 2015

The Guardian – Hyeon Soo Lim: Canadian Pastor Given Life Sentence in North Korea – 15 December 2015

 

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

SEOUL, South Korea –

Talks between high-level officials of both North and South Korea on December 11 failed to result in an agreement between the two sides. Disagreement between the two Koreas over the most important topic to be discussed apparently led to the standoff.

South Korea wanted to discuss reunification of family members permanently separated by the Korean War, citing its importance as a humanitarian issue. North Korea instead wanted to first discuss the continuance of cross-border tours suspended by South Korea in 2008. South Korea believes that the two issues should not be likened to each other.

During the talks, in which officials of both sides met for the first time in two years, the delegations were unable to reach any type of agreement and did not release a joint statement at the close of the summit. North Korea blames South Korea for the breakdown of the talks between them. According to chief South Korean delegate Hwang Boogi, he offered to resume talks in the future, but North Korea has not shown interest in continuing talks.

North Korea wanted to reach an agreement on the tours during the talks before moving on to discuss the family unification issue. Because it is having financial difficulties, North Korea hoped to resume the cross-border tours, which were halted in 2008 after a South Korea tourist was shot and killed.

South Korea wanted to discuss the family unification issue before any discussion on resuming cross-border tours. South Korea hoped that North Korea would help family members separated by the Korean War locate their family members on the other side and allow them to write to each other. South Korea also wanted to arrange regular reunions between family members so that they can temporarily reunite before they die from old age. While the two sides arranged for temporary reunions between family members this year, South Korea had hoped for further agreements on the issue. 

The two Koreas have had especially poor relations since land mines injured two South Korean soldiers at the border in August. The two sides agreed at the time to put a stop to an impending military conflict and agreed to meet for negotiations.

The two sides’ failure to come to an agreement during this month’s talks could signify a further setback in relations between them.

 

For more information, please see:

International Business Times – South, North Korea Talks Fail? No Agreement Reached, No Further Meeting Dates Set – 12 December 2015

The New York Times – Negotiations Break Down Between Two Koreas – 12 December 2015

Reuters – North, South Korea Talks End Without Agreement – 12 December 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Talks Between North and South Korea End Without Agreement – 12 December 2016