By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh–A special court in Bangladesh sentenced 152 soldiers to death Tuesday for participation in a 2009 military mutiny in which dozens of military officers were massacred. Human rights groups have criticized the mass trial, claiming that the process falls well below the international legal standard.

At the special court in Dhaka on Tuesday, Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman sentenced an additional 157 people, mostly border guards, to life in prison for their role in the 33-hour mutiny, while another 271 soldiers were acquitted.

“The atrocities were so heinous that even the dead bodies were not given their rights,” Akhtaruzzaman said as he started to read out the verdicts.

Approximately 823 soldiers were alleged to have taken part in the killing of 74 people, who were hacked to death or tortured and burnt alive, then dumped in sewers and shallow graves.

Security was tight at the specially-built court in Dhaka, with police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers deployed outside, before the verdict’s announcement.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for a majority of the 823 soldiers charged with murder, torture, conspiracy and other offences over the mutiny that started at the paramilitary Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) headquarters in Dhaka.

Nearly 6,000 soldiers have already been jailed by dozens of special courts over similar events that spread from the Dhaka headquarters to other BDR bases around the country.

The 823 soldiers were selected for prosecution in a civilian court after they were found guilty before military courts for their role in the mutiny.

At least twenty-three civilians have been charged with criminal conspiracy.

Baharul Islam, the lead prosecutor, said the case was the largest of its type in the world, with hundreds of witnesses participating in the trial that started in January 2011 and finished in October this year.

“So far as we know it’s the largest case in the world’s history. There were 654 prosecution witnesses,” Islam said before the verdict.

The verdict was delayed last week after the judge said he needed more time to finish writing it.

During the uprising, the mutineers stole an estimated 2,500 weapons and broke into an annual meeting of top BDR officers before opening fire on them at point blank range.

As the mutiny spread, it posed a serious threat to the new government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had been elected only one month previously.

The cause of the violence is uncertain but pent-up anger over poor benefits and resentment by soldiers against BDR senior officers has generally been considered as the main factor.

New York-based Human Rights Watch criticized the Bangladesh authorities for the mass trial, saying it would not ensure justice, and suggested that the trial implicated grave violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The group says the violations include torture and other abuse while in custody in order to extract confessions and statements.

Human Rights Watch reported at least 47 suspects had died in custody while the surviving suspects have had limited access to lawyers, and to knowledge of the charges and evidence against them.

“Trying hundreds of people en masse in one giant courtroom, where the accused have little or no access to lawyers is an affront to international legal standards,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement on Oct. 29.

Those sentenced to death are set to be hanged to death, though no time frame has been established.  Defense attorneys for several of the convicted have already begun the appeals process.

For more information, please see:

Reuters– Bangladesh court sentences 152 to death for 2009 mutiny — 5 November 2013

Al Jazeera– Bangladesh sentences hundreds to death, life in prison in mutiny verdict — 5 November 2013

CNN– 152 soldiers sentenced to die for mutiny in Bangladesh — 5 November 2013

Gulf News– Bangladesh court sentences 150 former soldiers to death — 5 November 2013

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Chinese police have announced two suspects, reportedly from the tense Xinjiang region, after a car crash at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square resulted in the deaths of five people.  Analysts said the incident looked like a premeditated attack.

The crash — in which an SUV drove along the pavement through crowds and then caught fire at the capital’s well-known sensitive site — killed three people in the car and two tourists, according to Beijing police.

The square lies next to the Forbidden City, a former imperial palace and top tourist attraction.  It was the location of pro-democracy protests in 1989 that were violently crushed by authorities, garnering international attention.

Police identified two suspects and four license plates, all from Xinjiang, in relation to a “major case” on Monday. The notification was posted in hotels across the area.

Police instructed hotels to be on alert for “suspicious” guests and motor vehicles.  Security guards from several hotels in Beijing confirmed they had received a police notice.

A version posted online by 64tianwang.com, a Sichuan-based human rights news site, gave the suspects’ names, identity numbers and registered residences, while urging hotels to report any potentially relevant information.

The authenticity of these reports has not been confirmed.

Xinjiang, in China’s far west, is home to ethnic minority and largely Muslim Uighurs.

State media has reported several violent incidents there and a rising militant threat. Uighur rights groups complain of ethnic and religious repression, in an area where information is tightly controlled.

Police have arrested 140 people in Xinjiang in the past months for allegedly spreading jihad. Twenty-two Uighurs were killed in August in an “anti-terrorism” operation, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

One of the suspects named in the notice was from Lukqun, where state media said 35 people were killed in June in what Beijing had labeled a “terrorist attack”.

Chinese political expert, Willy Lam, said the Tiananmen incident “looks like a terrorist attack” but warned that more information was necessary to reach such a strong conclusion.

“If it is indeed a terrorist attack it shows that Beijing’s efforts in trying to stamp out terrorism have not been very successful,” he added.

But Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uighur intellectual, said the police notice was not definitively linked to the Tiananmen crash, and even if a Xinjiang car was involved, it would not establish that members of the minority were responsible.

“Some media has suggested it was a terrorist attack carried out by Uighurs, without evidence being produced,” he said.

“I worry that this event, even though it may have nothing to do with Uighurs, could lead local governments to increase repression and discrimination.”

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying declined to elaborate on the incident at a press briefing, but said that while Xinjiang “enjoys sound economic and social development”, it sometimes experiences violence and “terrorism”.

“We sternly oppose and crack down on such incidents to ensure the safety and security of society as well as people’s lives and properties,” she added.

The reports and witnesses said the SUV drove along the pavement outside the Forbidden City on the north side of the square before crashing into the crowd.

In addition to the five fatalities — one of them a female tourist from the Philippines — another 38 people were injured, police said.

Images posted on Chinese social media sites showed the blazing shell of the car and tall plumes of black smoke.

The square appeared normal on Tuesday, with no sign of any damage at the crash site.

For more information, please see:

BBC News– Tiananmen crash: China police ‘seek Xinjiang suspects’— 29 October 2013

LA Times– China leaders were nearby during apparent Tiananmen Square attack— 29 October 2013

New York Times– Beijing Crash May Be Tied to Unrest in Xinjiang — 28 October 2013

AFP– China names suspects after Tiananmen crash — 29 October 2013

Reuters– China suspects Tiananmen crash a suicide attack— 29 October 2013

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India– Indian and Pakistani troops opened fire with machine guns and mortars. The gun fight over the line dividing territorial claims in the Kashmir region have wounded at least 12 people — including children —  in the middle of what appears to be some of the worst tension in a decade over the disputed region.

Analysts believe that it is too early to determine whether the firing signals a more serious conflict between India and Pakistan. The two nuclear-armed neighbor countries have an extensive history of animosity, with particularly strong focus on the Kashmir dispute. Vivek Katju, a retired Indian diplomat, believes the violence could be an attempt to further increase tensions along the Kashmir dividing line to garner international attention to the conflict.

A 2003 cease-fire between India and Pakistan has, for the most part, held such tensions at bay, although there have been sporadic violations. In recent days, however, skirmishes in Kashmir have escalated significantly.

Both India and Pakistan reported an increase in the number of cross-border attacks since the current Pakistani and Indian prime ministers held their first face-to-face meeting last month in New York and agreed on the need to reduce tensions.

The latest violence in the Jammu and Kashmir region, which borders Afghanistan and China, began Thursday night. At approximately two dozen military posts along the India-Pakistan dividing line, gun-fire erupted into violent skirmishes. As in most cases of firing in the area, India and Pakistan accused each other of initiating the fighting, with neither side conceding any sort of responsibility.

Shantmanu, an Indian civil administrator in Kashmir who uses only one name, said 10 civilians, including four children, were wounded.

Pakistani military officials, speaking from Islamabad, said Indian troops fired first, wounding two civilians. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with military policy.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry called the cease-fire violations “a matter of great concern.”

On Wednesday, India accused Pakistani troops of firing guns and mortars on at least 50 Indian border posts overnight in Kashmir, calling it the most serious cease-fire violation in a decade. There has yet to be confirmation of these accusations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif raised concerns about Kashmir tensions during a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday. Obama praised Sharif for seeking to end tensions between Pakistan and India.

“Billions of dollars have been spent on an arms race in response to these tensions,” Obama said. “Those resources could be much more properly invested in education (and) social welfare programs on both sides of the border between India and Pakistan.”

Sharif requested for the United States to act as a mediator in the Kashmir conflict, but Obama flatly rejected the idea.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of the Jammu and Kashmir region, which is divided between them and claimed by both.

A 1948 ceasefire split control over the region along a cease-fire line that is now called the “Line of Control,” and remains a hot spot for conflict.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting Kashmiri rebels, who have been fighting on the Indian side since 1989 for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

An estimated 68,000 people have been killed over the course of the conflict, though most resistance is now in the form of street protests. Pakistan denies giving any backing to the rebels beyond moral support.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera– Kashmir tensions rise as India, Pakistan exchange gunfire — 25 October 2013

Deseret News– India, Pakistan exchange gunfire over border— 25 October 2013

Washington Post– India, Pakistan exchange gunfire over border in disputed Kashmir region— 25 October 2013

BBC News– Kashmir: India says eight civilians injured in Pakistan firing— 25 October 2013

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– China’s human rights record under President Xi Jinping has come under formal international scrutiny for the first time since Xi took power. The main U.N. rights forum is set to hear accusations that the government has aggressively expanded a crackdown on dissent.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, which reviews all U.N. members every four years, will give concerned countries a chance to challenge the administration of Xi, who many experts believed would be less hardline than his predecessors.

Instead, critics say Xi has instituted a clampdown that has moved far beyond the mere targeting of dissidents seeking political change. Just recently authorities have detained at least 16 activists who had demanded that government officials publicly disclose their wealth. Dozens of other people, accused of online ‘rumor-mongering”, have also been detained.

“Xi Jinping has definitely taken the country backwards on human rights,” prominent rights lawyer Mo Shaoping told Reuters. “Look at the number of people who are being locked up and the measures that are being taken to lock them up.”

China will open the debate in Geneva with a presentation. Non-governmental organizations are not permitted to address the council but can submit reports, often reflected in statements offered by concerned countries.

The council has no binding authority. Its rotating membership of 47 states does not include China, although Beijing is expected to run for a spot next month. The hearing will be the second time China has been assessed under the process since it began in 2008.

Diplomats are likely to raise questions over China’s crackdown on dissent, the death penalty and the use of torture among other topics, reported Maya Wang, an Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Of special concern, Wang said, is the arrest in August of prominent activist Xu Zhiyong, who had called for officials to reveal their wealth. Wang also cited the September disappearance of Cao Shunli, who had helped stage a sit-in this year outside the Foreign Ministry to press for the public to be allowed to contribute to a national human rights report.

China sent a large delegation to Geneva to engage in dialogue with an “open and frank attitude”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday at a news conference.

“If there are some criticisms, some constructive criticisms, the Chinese government will listen with an open mind and accept them and will give them serious consideration,” she said. “As for malicious, deliberate criticisms, of course we will uphold our own path and our own correct judgments.”

In 2009, China rejected requests from Western and some Latin American nations to end the death penalty but agreed to suggestions from Cuba that it take firm action against “self-styled human rights defenders working against the Chinese state and people”.

The rise of Xi as Communist Party chief last November gave many Chinese hope for political reform, encouraging citizens to push officials to disclose their wealth in several movements throughout the country.

But the detention of activists making those calls is a strong indication the party will not tolerate open challenges to its rule, even though it boasts more transparency. These activists now face trial on charges of illegal assembly.

Hundreds of microbloggers, people who post short comments online, have also been detained. Beginning in August, a campaign against “rumor-mongering” was implemented to root-out and shutdown critical blogs. Most have been released, but some are still being held on criminal charges.

On Sunday, Chinese police arrested Wang Gongquan, a well-known venture capitalist. Wang had helped lead a campaign for the release of another activist. Chen Youxi, Wang’s attorney, did not answer calls to his mobile phone.

“Before, officials used a selective form of suppression, which is to say, they mainly suppressed rights lawyers and dissidents,” said Huang Qi, a veteran rights activist. “But in the past few months what the government used to allow some people to say online – things that violated or exceeded the official view – has now been suppressed.”

Li Fangping, a prominent rights lawyer, said China would likely win a seat on the council given its strong international influence.

“I don’t believe that China is ready for that,” Li said. “There are still a huge number of citizens for whom a lack of human rights is a growing problem.”

For more information, please see:

Herald Sun– China defends record at UN rights inquiry — 22 October 2013

BBC News– China before UN for human rights review — 22 October 2013

SwissInfo– China crackdown to come under scrutiny at U.N. rights review — 22 October 2013

AFP– China defends record at UN Human Rights Council — 22 October 2013

USA Today– China’s human rights abuses under scrutiny at United Nations — 22 October 2013

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China– Employment discrimination against women in China remains deeply rooted in culture and practice.  A report from BBC released late last week reveals several career paths that women are flat-out banned from pursuing.

China’s education ministry bans girls from studying a variety of subjects across China, from tunnel engineering to navigation – apparently out of respect for women’s safety. Reports have continually emerged revealing a pattern of women being discriminated against when attempting to gain places at Chinese universities.

According to some, girls were scoring so well in strict admissions tests that a higher percentage was being admitted than men. In response to these rising numbers restrictive practices were implemented as early as 2005, including limiting the programs in which women could enroll.

A book by the government-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has characterized the gender imbalance between boys and girls as one of the biggest challenges facing China today.

The state’s one-child policy continues to showcase the clearest signal of the second-class status of girls in the country, experts have said.

“The policy takes a position that fundamentally discriminates against girls,” said Professor Feng Yuan of the Centre for Women’s Studies at China’s Shantou University.

In China, the idea that girls can’t or shouldn’t do the same jobs as boys is passed on early. It’s a lesson that extends into higher education and beyond. Gender stereotypes are instilled in younger generations at China’s “I Have a Dream” theme park in Beijing, which allows young children to assume various career roles. The park encourages children to choose gender specific roles, and for young girls, the most popular attraction is pretending to be a flight attendant.

At the university level stereotyping takes on a more tangible form.  At the China Mining and Technology University in eastern Jiangsu province, women are completely barred from pursuing a degree in mining engineering, a degree which effectively guarantees employment after graduation.

“China’s labor law suggests mining work is unsuitable for women, so we ask women to refrain from applying to our major,” explains one of the department’s senior professors, Shu Jisen.

At one university in Dalian, northern China, females are barred from studying naval engineering – because months on board a ship would be tough for women to endure, one admissions officer explained.

Slightly different reasons are given for severely restricting the number of women who can study at Beijing’s People’s Police University, which has a strict quota, limiting girls to comprise 10-15% of the student body. One admissions officer told BBC that women were not permitted because job opportunities in policing were scarce, as most people expect police officers to be male.

Professor Shu Jisen argues that some jobs are just “inappropriate” for women. “If they forced their way into these jobs,” he continued, “they will waste energy.”

Last year, young women challenged this notion and ignited a grassroots confrontation with the Chinese Ministry of Education over the gender discrimination. The women shaved their heads in objection to several universities across China that make it easier for men than women to gain acceptance.

“It was blatant gender discrimination,” argues one of the student activists, Xiao Meili. “No-one had stood up to these universities before, and told them these policies were wrong. Why didn’t anyone want to change anything? It really made me very angry.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News– 100 Women: The jobs Chinese girls just can’t do — 16 October 2013

South China Morning Post– China’s women professionals challenge workplace inequality — 13 October 2013

Huffington Post– Chinese Women Still Face Discrimination Against Men In Bid For Jobs — 17 October 2013

Mining.com– Chinese girls want to break down barriers to mining — 17 October 2013