Asia

Protesters Gather in Bangkok in An Attempt to Shutdown The Government

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand–Protesters have gathered in an attempt to topple Thailand’s prime minister.  A march was held in Bangkok on Tuesday to rally support for their plans to bring the capital to a halt next week by blockading major roads and preventing the government from functioning.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has announced an election for February 2.  Protesters, aware she would probably win with support in the rural north and northeast, want her to step down, seeking to replace her with an appointed “people’s council” to push through electoral reforms.

Protesters accused Yingluck of being a puppet of her self-exiled brother and former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, a man they say is a corrupt capitalist who used taxpaye money to buy electoral support with expensive populist giveaways.

The anti-government push is intended to block an election that looks increasingly uncertain. The government’s supporters fear that if protests fail to halt the poll, chaos or violence could erupt and arouse an intervention by either the military or the judiciary.

That prospect became more of a possibility on Tuesday when the National Counter-Corruption Commission lodged charges against 308 former lawmakers, mostly from Yingluck’s Puea Thai Party, for trying to change the constitution to make the Senate a fully elected chamber.

The Constitutional Court ruled the amendment illegal in November.The residual effect of a court ruling against those politicians (not including Yingluck) is not clear, but it could complicate the election, either before or after it takes place.

Puea Thai adviser Prompong Nopparit shrugged off the charges but questioned the timing of the NCCC’s decision to pursue them.

“I’m very curious to know why older legal cases concerning opposition lawmakers still haven’t moved forward, but charges against the government side have been rushed,” he told reporters.

The refusal by the army’s top general to rule out military intervention also puts Yingluck in a precarious position.  Top officers are notably close to the royalist establishment that backs the protests and engineered the overthrow of Thaksin in a 2006 coup, one of 18 successful or attempted overthrows in the past 81 years.

Fears of another coup grew this week when tanks and other military equipment were moved into Bangkok in preparation for an Army Day parade on January 18. Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha says he wants to keep the military above the fray but some of his recent comments have been ambiguous, including those he made on Tuesday.

“Don’t be afraid of things that haven’t yet happened,” he said when asked about a coup. “But if they happen, don’t be frightened. There are rumors like this every year.”

Yingluck threatened that military intervention would be a big mistake.

“We’ve learned from the past that no good comes from coups,” she told reporters. “I’d prefer to see a long-term solution … one that is accepted by the international community.”

Yingluck has refused to postpone the poll, a move that she says would be unconstitutional. Any delay would not only expose her to more criticism, but make it hard to run the country as her caretaker administration is not permitted to make policy decisions that commit the next government.

Several thousand demonstrators, determined to undermine her legitimacy, marched from Bangkok’s historic quarter across the river and back, avoiding the center of the city.

The protests have drawn 200,000 people at their peak and have been largely passive, although violence ensued between police and demonstrators outside an election registration building on December 26. Numerous people were wounded and several were shot by unknown gunmen. Four people, including two police officers, died from the shootings.

Authorities anticipate massive crowds, and have deployed 20,000 police, backed up by troops, for the first day of the planned “shutdown” on Monday.

For more information, please see:

Reuters–Thai anti-corruption body charges members of PM’s party–7 January, 2014

Voice of America–Thai Opposition Protesters Rally Support for ‘Bangkok Shutdown’–7 January 2014

Straits Times–Thailand’s anti-corruption body to charge Puea Thai politicians, but Yingluck in the clear–7 January 2014

Al Jazeera–Thai anti-government protesters march again–5 January 2014

An Op-Ed by Professor Mark V. Vlasic: When Museums Do the Right Thing

STONES and bones rarely make the front page, and even less frequently in the same month, but this has been no ordinary month. And it’s not over yet.

On May 4, The New York Times announced that the Metropolitan Museum of Art would voluntarily repatriate twin 10th century statues to Cambodia, after the museum received “dispositive” evidence that the pieces were products of the illicit antiquities trade.

A few miles away and a few days later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security celebrated the not-so-voluntary repatriation of a looted 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar (a relative of Tyrannosaurus rex) to Mongolia, having seized it from a self-described “commercial paleontologist” (and now confessed smuggler) named Eric Prokopi. Taken from the Gobi Desert, the dinosaur bones were seized last year after Prokopi tried to sell them in violation of U.S. and Mongolian law.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Cambodia publicly called upon other American museums to examine their Khmer collections and return any pieces that were plundered after the start of the country’s civil war in 1970.

With these two high-profile returns, attention may turn to Sotheby’s auction house next. The historic institution is fighting in New York courts to hawk a Cambodian sculpture that — along with the Met’s pair — once formed a three-dimensional tableau at the ancient temple of Koh Ker. These stone figures remained in situ for a millennium, until the country descended into war against the Khmer Rouge, when they were allegedly looted and trafficked overseas. Having traveled around the world through illicit and licit markets, the statues finally resurfaced in Manhattan.

In 2011, the Cambodian government asked Sotheby’s to return the piece in its possession, and enlisted the help of the U.S. government when the auction house declined. As a result, Sotheby’s now finds itself in the sights of the very federal agents and attorneys who so successfully investigated and prosecuted the T. bataar case.

Of course, Sotheby’s may still follow the Met’s lead, decide that its reputation is more important than a high-end sculpture, and repatriate the contested piece. But at the least, this month’s headlines offer a lesson. In both the Met and T. bataar cases, the looted items are going home. While the press and public are now honoring the museum, Prokopi is facing years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

Of course, the return of treasures like these to Phnom Penh and Ulan Bator are still the exception, but they are growing as governments, law enforcement agencies and the public increasingly realize that looting cultural treasures is a crime — and not a victimless one. Just last year, the Dallas Museum of Art returned to Turkey a 194 A.D. mosaic, “Orpheus Taming Wild Animals,” which was likely looted from the floor of a Roman building in the southeastern part of the country.

But even as these returns are being made, looters are devastating ancient sites in search of prized artifacts to sell on the international market. To underscore the point, the very week that one of us visited the ancient Roman cities of Leptis Magna and Sabratha in Libya, we heard about the looting of a “heavyweight” statue in the middle of the night.

The smuggling of stolen cultural objects has become an underground industry that spans the globe. Though the F.B.I. estimates that the value of this black market is as much as $6 billion a year, we do not really know the actual extent of the trade in illicitly obtained antiquities. (Researchers at the University of Glasgow have received a $1.5 million grant from the European Research Council to attempt to quantify and qualify it.) Nevertheless, if looting on the current scale continues, by the time we have accurate numbers there will be much less of our world heritage to protect. This will not only be a loss for culture and science — there are additional if not readily apparent side effects. The black market in antiquities has been reported as a source of income for organized crime, rebel fighters and even terrorist groups.

The U.S. government, and specifically the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, should be commended for treating the illicit trade in cultural objects like the crime that it is, protecting the past, and improving America’s international relationships in the process.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York should likewise be praised for refusing to hold on to looted antiquities. Unlike Prokopi, museum authorities did not wait for a court order or lawsuit to return stolen property, thereby demonstrating that it is never too early to do the right thing. In light of this month’s news, it is hoped that Sotheby’s and others will realize that it’s never too late, either. As Edmund Burke said, “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Mark V. Vlasic, a senior fellow and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, served as the first head of operations of the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative and leads the international practice at Madison Law & Strategy Group. Tess Davis, a researcher at the University of Glasgow, served as the executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, and is working with Cambodia to combat the illicit trade in the kingdom’s antiquities.

Bangladesh Opposition Leader Hanged, Violent Protests Ensue

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh–Bangladesh has hanged notorious opposition leader Abdul Quader Mollah over war crimes allegedly committed during the country’s 1971 war of independence.  Mollah is the first person to be put to death for massacres committed during the bloody struggle.

Bangladeshi opposition leader, Abdul Quader Mollah, was sentenced to death early last week. He was hanged on December 12, 2013, and deadly riots have ensued in the wake of the execution. (Photo Courtesy Reuters)

Abdul Quader Mollah, 65, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, was hanged on December 12, 2013 around 10 am in a jail in the capital, Dhaka, government officials reported.

The case against Mollah has contributed to escalating political tension in Bangladesh less than a month before elections are expected to take place. Jamaat-e-Islami is barred from contesting elections but plays a key role in the opposition movement led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Security was tight around the jail where Mollah was hanged. Extra police and paramilitary guards were deployed on the streets of Dhaka. Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered at a major intersection in the city to celebrate the execution.

Moqbul Ahmed, JI’s acting leader, said in a statement on the party’s website that people would revenge Mollah’s execution by deepening the role of Islam in Bangladesh. The party called a nationwide general strike for Sunday.

While a strong reaction to the decision from JI was expected on the streets of Dhaka, the city remained relatively calm.

However, tensions escalated, and protests broke out across the country.  At least five people were killed earlier near the port city of Chittagong as clashes broke out between opposition activists and police over the weekend.

On Monday, clashes in the southeastern district, Satkhira, resulted in the deaths of five people, killed as police attempted to quell the violent protests.  Since the execution, JI members have taken to the streets, some wielding homemade bombs, and lodged attacks against security personnel.  So far, 25 people have died in the wake of the hanging.

Party activists also clashed with police, torched or smashed vehicles, and set off homemade bombs in the cities of Sylhet and Rajshahi, TV stations have reported.

Scores of people were injured in the latest violence to hit the South Asian country, which has seen weeks of escalating tension as it struggles to overcome extreme poverty and rancorous politics.

In eastern Bangladesh, security officials opened fire to disperse opposition activists, leaving at least three people dead and 15 others wounded, Dhaka’s leading newspaper reported.

Violence spread to Laxmipur district, a few miles east of Dhaka, during a nationwide opposition blockade after elite security forces raided and searched the home of an opposition leader following the execution.

The Supreme Court passed the order of a review petition filed by Mollah against its verdict, awarding him the death penalty for his wartime offences. He had originally been due to be hanged on Tuesday, his lawyer said, but the court delayed the execution to re-consider his latest petition.

His original life sentence had been overturned by the Supreme Court in September, after mass protests called for him to be hanged.

A panel of five judges led by Chief Justice Mohammad Mojammel Hossain rejected the petition after hearing arguments on the appeal against the death penalty, a state prosecutor said.

Mollah is one of five opposition leaders sentenced to death by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), set up in 2010 to investigate atrocities during the 1971 conflict. The conflict is marked by over three million deaths.

Critics of the tribunal say it has been used as a political tool by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is locked in a political feud with BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia, as a way of weakening the opposition ahead of January elections.

“The execution of… Mollah should never have happened,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Bangladesh researcher. “The country is on a razor’s edge… with pre-election tensions running high and almost non-stop street protests.”

But many Bangladeshis support the Court, believing that those convicted of war crimes should be punished, underlining how the events of 42 years ago still resonate in the deeply divided nation of 160 million people.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera– Bangladesh hangs opposition leader— 12 December 2013

LA Times– Five die in Bangladesh clashes over hanging of opposition leader— 16 December 2013

CBS News– Bangladesh opposition leader’s execution sparks deadly riots— 13 December 2013

New York Times– Opposition Leader’s Execution Spurs Protests in Bangladesh— 12 December 2013

North Korea Ousts Another Top Official

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea–In another sign of an escalating power struggle amongst North Korea’s elite, South Korea’s intelligence agency reported Tuesday the “No. 2 man” in the isolated North appeared to have been disposed from power.

Former Vice Chairman of the North’s National Defense Commission, Jang Seong-thek has been ousted from his powerful position according to South Korean intelligence sources. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

 

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told South Korean lawmakers that Jang Song Thaek, uncle of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, was “recently ousted from his position” as Vice Chairman of North Korea’s powerful National Defense Commission, and that “two of his closest confidantes — Ri Yong Ha and Jang Soo-Kil — were publicly executed in mid-November,” according to opposition lawmaker Jung Cheong Rae.

Still unverified, Jang’s ousting could represent the most serious political shakeup in North Korea since former leader Kim Jong-Il’s death in December 2011.

Jang was widely regarded as second in command in the North Korean leadership, owing to his blood-link to the ruling family, and his visible presence abroad. He married the daughter of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung in the early 1970s and was a close confidant of late leader Kim Jong-il.

“The NIS has assessed the cause of Jang’s fallout to be an internal power struggle,” Cho Won-jin, a conservative lawmaker who was briefed by the NIS, told reporters. “It was a power struggle to consolidate Kim Jong-un’s one man rule.”

Jang was known to have played a critical role in ensuring the smooth succession of his nephew into his role as the head of North Korea’s intelligence and police agencies. Jang was also known as one of the more pro-market reformers among North Korea’s powerful elite.

His influence was on display during a state visit to China in August 2012, on which he brought along fifty North Korean representatives to discuss the two countries’ cooperation in special economic zones near the border. He was received by the then-Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabo.

Some South Korean experts suggest the instability created by this alleged power struggle could lead the isolated nuclear-armed state to take even greater provocative actions on the world stage, in an effort to quell discord and reinforce unity, and reinvigorate the North’s international perception.

“In looking at past cases, when the North Korean regime becomes unstable, there could be more frequent provocations directed against the South,” Yang Moo-jin, a North Korean expert at the University of North Korean studies in Seoul, told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. “If so, then the South-North Korean relations could worsen and the tension on the Korean peninsula will heighten.”

Other experts were not surprised by the reports of Jang’s ouster.

“The signs have been there for some time that Jang was fading. He has been appearing less and less frequently in Kim Jong Un’s presence, or indeed, at all. If that change in his previously high-profile visibility was not caused by health problems, it suggested a political problem,” said one expert, who spoke to CBS News. 

The expert also suggested that Jang’s appearance as a “top leader” was hyperbolic, and indicated that the regime is, and always has been, top-centric.

“There is no power in North Korea except that at the top. From the moment Kim Jong Il died almost two years ago, Jang was vulnerable. He probably had a lot of enemies, but he no longer had any top cover,” said the expert. “It wouldn’t be surprising if Kim Jong Il had told his son to watch Jang carefully, and to cut him down when the time came.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News–North Korea powerbroker ‘dismissed’— 3 December 2013

Washington Post–Kim Jong Un’s uncle ‘very likely’ removed from power— 3 December 2013

Bangkok Post–N. Korean leader’s powerbroker uncle ousted, says South Korea— 3 December 2013

CBS News–North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un reportedly sacks his uncle Jang Seong-thaek, No. 2 man in regime— 3 December 2013

Al Jazeera–N Korean leader’s powerbroker uncle ‘sacked’— 3 December 2013

North Korea Detains American Korean War Veteran

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea– The United States’ top envoy to North Korea urged Pyongyang to free two detained American citizens. The call came after reports this week that in addition to holding a U.S.-Korean Christian missionary, Kenneth Bae, North Korea detained an 85-year-old U.S. citizen, and former Korean War veteran.

U.S. Ambassador Glyn Davies speaks to reporters in Beijing, China, and urges North Korea to release all American detainess in custody. (Photo Courtesy of AP).

According to media reports, Merrill Newman was taken from a plane late last month as he was about to depart from North Korea.

The U.S. government has not specifically confirmed the detention, citing privacy concerns, and North Korea has issued no comment on the matter.

In an interview with reporters in Beijing Thursday morning, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, Glyn Davies, urged Pyongyang to exercise deep consideration about the two cases, noting the fate of Americans abroad was a critical concern of U.S. foreign policy.

“We of course are calling on North Korea, as in the case of Mr. Kenneth Bae, who has now been there for over a year, to resolve the issue, and to allow our citizens to go free,” Davies said.

The envoy is touring Asia this week amid a renewed push to restart the stunted talks on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs.

He did not draw a clear line between the cases and the international community’s broader efforts. The cases are among several examples of issues frustrating the resumption of nuclear talks with the North.

Davies says his talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei, were fulfilling. But there was no strong signal that a return to the six-party talks that include the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States would resume any time in the near future.

“This really is up to North Korea,” noted Davies. “It’s North Korea who seems not seriously interested in making meaningful progress on the nuclear issue. And until we see a manifestation of North Korean seriousness, it’s very difficult for me to know what the prospects are for getting back to Six Party.”

Recently North Korea has been talking about restarting some of its nuclear programs, while at the same time it has suggested new proposals for its return to the six-nation talks on ending atomic programs. The North has also been stressing a dual policy of nuclear and economic development.

North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks in 2009 and says it is willing to return to the table as long as there are no pre-conditions.

In the past, Pyongyang was accused of using foreign detainees as bargaining chips in negotiations with Western countries over its controversial nuclear weapons program.

North Korea has detained at least six Americans since the talks ended in 2009. While some were given harsh prison sentences, all have subsequently released. Generally their release followed visits to the North by high-ranking former or current U.S. officials.

Merrill Newman’s son told CNN that it was his father’s “life-long dream” to see the North and its culture, after serving in the South as a U.S. infantry officer in the 1950s. He said his father arranged the trip through a North Korea-approved Chinese tour company and had “all the proper visas.”

Newman’s detention comes approximately one year after the arrest of Kenneth Bae, who was detained last November. He was subsequently convicted of “state subversion” and sentenced to 15 years hard labor. He was detained after entering North Korea as a tour operator.

For more information, please see:

Time– North Korea Detains 85-Year-Old American Korean War Vet–21 November 2013

Voice of America–US Envoy Urges N. Korea to Release Detained Americans–21 November 2013

CNN–California man pulled off plane in North Korea, detained, son says–21 November 2013

San Jose Mercury News–Palo Alto man, 85, removed from plane, detained in North Korea–20 November 2013

Washington Post–American vet, 85, detained in North Korea–21 November 2013