By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SUVA, Fiji – A nine-minute video was recently posted on the video-sharing site, “YouTube,” showing Fijian officials brutally beating two men who were allegedly runaway prisoners.

Both of the captive men in the video are handcuffed and maliciously attacked by their captors with weapons.  One man is repeatedly beaten with wooden batons and metal sticks, stripped down to his undergarments, and is further beaten while unclothed.

At one point in the video, one of the attackers can be seen sexually assaulting the victim who had been stripped down to his undergarments with a baton.  Large purple welts are also clearly visible on the victim’s legs.

The second captive man can be seen in the video being attacked by a dog under the direction of the captors.  The captive man’s clothes seem torn with blood on them.  The attackers can be heard laughing and jeering in the background throughout the video.

Amnesty International had raised concerns regarding a different incident involving five runaway prisoners last year.  The men were allegedly recaptured and severely beaten and tortured by their captors.  One of the men allegedly had a leg amputation due to an untended open fracture in his leg after his brutal beating.

The police, however, investigated the incident and said that the information regarding the victim’s leg amputation was inaccurate.  Police released official statements to local newspapers stating that the prisoner had diabetes, and the leg amputation was related to his illness.

Last year’s incident had been brought to the attention of Fijian autocratic leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who had promised the restoration of democracy and an end to brutal incidents, like the one involving the recaptured prisoners.

This most recent incident, involving the two recaptured prisoners and the video of their beating being posted on YouTube, seems to be similar to the incident involving the five recaptured prisoners last year.  This raises doubts in the eyes of international rights groups as to whether or not Bainimarama will follow through with his promises.

The international community sought comment regarding the video from the current Fijian government, however, Sharon Smith-Johns, an official government spokesperson declined to comment, stating that no official statements were to be released until after the police completed their official investigation.

The Fijian Police Force did release a statement calling the video of the two recaptured prisoners being beaten disturbing and said they would investigate the incident thoroughly.  Although the video was described as disturbing, the police noted that the men being beaten were supposedly escaped prisoners.

For further information, please see:

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji police and regime refuse further comment on beating video – 8 March 2013

ABC News – Fiji Police Probe Apparent Beatings of 2 Prisoners – 6 March 2013

BBC – Fiji police to investigate abuse video – 6 March 2013

Australia Network News – Fiji police ‘disturbed’ by graphic beating video – 5 March 2013

Yahoo News – Fiji police ‘disturbed’ by graphic beating video – 5 March 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Unjust central government usurpation of villager farmland led to a violent clash between hired government thugs and local villagers in the Chinese village of Shangpu.

Residents of Shangpu village protested the government taking of a 33 hectare parcel of land used by the villagers to grow rice for their personal consumption and livelihoods.  The parcel had been sold without the consent of the villagers to a third party to be used as an electric cable factory as part of the central government’s plan to urbanize and industrialize much of the once rural countryside.

The central government hired thugs to disperse and intimidate the thousands of residents into agreeing with the unfair land grab, however, the protesters turned violent when the hired thugs threatened violence with steel pipes and metal spades.

The villagers fought back, expelling the thugs from their land, destroying their vehicles, and recently set up barricades and outposts to guard their village against further intrusion and intimidation.  The countryside near their village is now littered with the overturned, smashed vehicles the intruders rode in on.

China’s push to urbanize and industrialize the rural outskirts of major metropolitan areas has generated mass land seizures by the central government.  Parcels of land destined for commercial development have also caused soaring land prices.

This push to urbanize and industrialize has left local farmers and villagers who depend on these parcels of farmland for their livelihoods with inadequate compensation from these land grabs and no legal options to fight these unjust usurpations of their land.

The Landesa Rural Development Institute, a group calling for fairer laws on land ownership and rights, estimates out of the 90,000 social unrest incidents that occur in China each year, roughly two thirds of these incidents is related to land disputes like the one in Shangpu.

With the incoming wave of new politicians currently being installed, Chinese lawmakers are attempting to increase protections allotted to farmers, however, the process is slow and arduous.  The current rule of law specifies that farmers who have their land taken only need to be compensated with 30 times the annual agricultural output of the parcel of land that is taken.

The current system allows for cheap takings of farmland and selling the cheaply acquired land to commercial developers at a huge mark up.  The proposed system currently being debated in China’s parliament allows for the payment of fair market value on farmers’ land that is taken by the government for commercial development.

For further information, please see:

Global Times – China stresses farmers’ property rights in land transfers  – 7 March 2013

Reuters – China village seethes over land grabs as Beijing mulls new laws – 7 March 2013

Cuyoo.com – Stand-off in Chinese village over land grab – 6 March 2013

NPR – Chinese Farmers Revolt Against Government Land Grab – 5 March 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based human rights watch dog, recently released a report highlighting Indonesia’s rising religious intolerance and failure to protect religious minorities.

The one hundred and seven page report was compiled using research conducted from August 2011 to December 2012.  It includes over 100 interviews of local Indonesians, 71 of which were victims to crimes of religious intolerance.

The report also included information from the nonprofit Setara Institute, based in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta, which found that 264 attacks of religious minorities occurred in 2012, 244 attacks were recorded in 2011, and 216 attacks were recorded in 2010.  These numbers show a steady increase in the amount of attacks motivated by religion against minorities in Indonesia over the course of the previous three years.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world.  Muslims, of the Sunni variety, dominate the nation’s population, numbering around 210 million.  This massive majority has perhaps contributed to the growing religious intolerance.

Brutal attacks and constant harassment has been commonplace in Indonesia against the minority populations of Christians, Shia Muslims, and Ahmadiyah.  In addition to the attacks and harassment, the government’s actions, and lack of action, has exacerbated the situation.

Discriminatory regulations passed by the central government have had a significant effect on the religious minorities.  Local governments have allegedly refused to grant religious minorities permits to build new places of worship.  A Supreme Court decision which granted religious minorities the ability to build new places of worship has also been largely disregarded by many local authorities.

Local law enforcement has failed to curb the rising number of violent attacks being perpetrated against the religious minorities in the country.  Prosecutors have also failed to properly prosecute the few that have been brought in on charges of violence and have chosen to apply weak punishments for their crimes.

Secretary General of Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Ministry, Bahrul Hayat, released a statement, citing a government survey which was compiled at the end of last year, alleging religious harmony within the country is incredibly strong.   Bahrul Hayat urges the international community to disregard the few violations that may have occurred against religious minorities in the country.

The Secretary General believes that the few violations he noted should not be seen as the norm, but as the exception to the rule.  Many of the causes of conflicts within the country that may have been blamed on religious intolerance are actually socially, politically, culturally, or economically motivated.

HRW, however, still calls for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to adopt a “zero tolerance” policy with regards to religious intolerance, discrimination, and the rising violence perpetrated against the religious minorities in the country.

For further information, please seeL

India Talkies – Indonesia urged to protect religious minorities from growing violence – 1 March 2013

BBC – Indonesia urged to tackle religious intolerance – 28 February 2013

Breitbart – Report: Religious violence rising in Indonesia – 28 February 2013

Business Mirror – Religious violence rising in Indonesia – 28 February 2013

Human Rights Watch – In Religion’s Name – 28 February 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A Beijing restaurant owner, recently displayed a sign in the window of his establishment which read, “This shop does not receive, the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dog(s).”

The restaurant owner, identified only by his surname “Wang,” refused to serve patrons of the three ethnicities delineated in his sign.  His refusal to serve Japanese, Filipino, and Vietnamese customers is perhaps a nod to the extreme nationalism prevalent in China due to the history of maritime and national boundary disputes in the eastern part of the country and in the South China Seas.

The most recent dispute is an ongoing feud between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands (which the Chinese call the Diaoyu Islands).  The Japanese control the islands, however, Beijing lays claim to the island territory.  Vietnam and the Philippines are also feuding with Beijing over additional sets of islands in the South China Sea.

Frustrations and tension over these disputes has led to widespread Anti-Chinese demonstrations in Vietnam’s largest metropolitan hub, Ho Chi Minh City.  Additionally, thousands of Vietnamese resorted to posting on social networking sites and sending in comments to local newspapers to offer their angry reactions regarding the restaurant owner’s sign.

The restaurant owner removed the sign due to intense pressure from public outcries which he described to be “bothersome” and, perhaps, intrusive to his normal flow of business.  The central Chinese government has not condemned the restaurant owner’s actions nor issued any official statements regarding the matter.

Zhai Lei Ming, Chinese Consul General to Ho Chi Minh City, issued a statement to a local Vietnamese newspaper deploring Wang’s actions, saying it was “wrong” and “definitely unsatisfactory.”  Zhai commented that horrible people exist all over the world, and the opinions of the singular restaurant owner did not represent the opinion of the Chinese people or the central government.

Zhai lacked knowledge on why the central government had not released a statement or reprimanded the individual for his actions and could not comment on this issue.  When the restaurant owner was asked to comment, he told the press that he had no regrets regarding his actions and would not apologize for the sign.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines, released a statement, possibly vindicating China, calling the restaurant owner’s actions an isolated incident.  Raul Hernandez, Assistant Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs, told a local newspaper that he hopes the sentiments of the restaurant owner are not state policy, and Filipinos are welcomed into Beijing restaurants.

For further information, please see:

The Age – Outrage over Beijing restaurant’s racist sign – 28 February 2013

BBC – China restaurant takes down maritime dispute sign – 28 February 2013

Breitbart – BEIJING RESTAURANT REMOVES ‘RACIST’ SIGN AFTER FURY – 28 February 2013

Tuoi Tre News – Beijing eatery wrong to post racist sign: Chinese diplomat – 28 February 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – Violent protests erupted in Delhi after a seven year old girl was reportedly sexually attacked and raped by an unknown man while at school.

The young female victim was taken to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital to be treated for her gruesome injuries after she was found lying in a pool of blood near her house.  The police report places the girl missing around 8pm on February 28^th, and she was allegedly raped by the at large perpetrator on school grounds.

Dr. Sanjay Kumar, the young girl’s treating physician, reported to the press that her injuries were consistent with a patient who had suffered a rape.  Delhi’s chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, released a press statement calling the incident at the school “shameful” and “shocking.”

Protestors gathered outside of the hospital, in the Mangolpuri area of Northern Delhi, where the girl was being treated to show their outrage regarding the recent string of sexual crimes being committed against women in India.

India has been under intense international scrutiny over sexual violence against women after a student was raped and murdered on a local bus in December.  In a separate incident, another seven year old girl in the city of Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh state, was raped, murdered and her body was dumped in a sewer.  These sexual assaults have sparked protests across the nation.

This most recent incident involving the young girl being raped in the school has sparked demonstrations that turned violent outside of Sanjay Gandhi Hospital.  Police resorted to beating protesters with clubs in an effort disperse the angry crowd.  The protestors retaliated by throwing stones at the police and caused damage to government property.

The protestors allege that the police have been doing a poor job at speedily investigating and resolving these heinous incidents of sexual assault.  The police report for the girl’s rape in Mongolpuri district was not filed until March 1.  Additionally, no arrests have been made yet, and police currently do not have any suspects.

Sushil Kumar Shinde, Home Minister in the area, told the press that at least one policeman had been suspended for their slow work of locating three sisters that had been abducted in Maharashtra last month.  Police in the current case, however, have been making efforts to interview all employees of the school and parents of the children who attend the local school where the violent sexual attack occurred.

The young girl has yet to identify any suspects for the police to investigate.  Rekha Gupta, chairperson for the New Delhi Municipal Council’s Education Committee, has vowed support for the family in the medical treatment of their child as well as full cooperation with the police during the investigation.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Delhi protest over ‘sex attack’ on seven-year-old girl – 1 March 2013

International Business Times – New Delhi Rape Crisis: 7-Year-Old Girl Abducted and Raped inside School – 1 March 2013

News Bharati – Minor girl raped inside Delhi school premises – 1 March 2013

Tiger News International – Another shocker from Delhi: 7-year-old girl raped inside municipal school – 1 March 2013