By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – On Monday, hundreds of free speech protestors expressed their ire over China’s censorship guidelines in front of the headquarters of Southern Weekly, a left leaning southern newspaper in Guangzhou, where an alleged government editorial interference occurred.

“I feel the ordinary people must awaken,” conveyed Yuan Fengchu, one of the protestors, to the Associated Press.  “The people are starting to realise that their rights have been taken away by the Communist party and they are feeling that they are being constantly oppressed.”

The protesters are demanding the resignation of the provincial’s propaganda chief after the blocking of a New Year’s editorial urging for greater constitutional rights.  In its place was an article praising the communist party’s accomplishments.

Moreover, according to Voice of America, while protests spread online, the protestors in the streets are fighting with communist party supporters. 

“Internationally, Southern Weekly is already regarded as the face of China under reform and opening. Domestically, Southern Weekly has spoken with a clear sense of truth, and has spoken on the people’s behalf,” read a letter issued by Chinese scholars.  “In light of this we openly advise that the only correct means [of dealing with this matter] is to immediately remove Tuo Zhen from his position as provincial minister of propaganda,” continued the letter.

According to The Los Angeles Times, as for the new party secretary, Xi Jinping, who will become president in March, he has alluded to plans in upholding constitutionally guaranteed rights and fighting corruption within the communist party.

In support of the protestors, Chinese celebrities, journalists, and other public figures have been lobbying in Beijing for free speech.

In addition to the protest, on Monday, Google confirmed that it had shut down a function that warned users about proscribed or sensitive words.  Many in response labeled Google’s choice to remove such function as “self-censorship.”

For more information, please see:

Los Angeles Times – In China, press censorship protests continue – 09 January 2013

Voice of America – China Free Speech Protests Spread Online – 08 January 2013

BBC News – Google turns off China censorship warning – 07 January 2013

Bloomberg Businessweek – A Rare Free-Speech Fight Erupts Over China Censures – 07 January 2013

The Guardian – China anti-censorship protest attracts support across country – 07 January 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Mo Yan, the first Chinese national to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012, refused to sign an appeal, supported by 134 other Nobel laureates, calling for the immediate release of detained Chinese rights activist and former Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo.

Former Nobel Peace prize winners,  African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Taiwanese-American chemist Yuan Lee, are among the supporters that characterized Liu Xiaobo’s eleven year prison term as a heinous violation of international law.

Liu Xiaobo’s wife, Liu Xia, has also been detained, serving out her sentence under house arrest concurrently with her husband’s.  Liu Xia is under 24 hour guarded surveillance in her downtown Beijing apartment with no internet or phone line to connect her to the outside world.

When asked about his opinion regarding his fellow Nobel laureate and compatriot, Liu Xiaobo, Mo Yan refused to answer and told reporters that if they wanted to know his opinion, they should search the internet for the statements that he made back in October when it was first announced he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Liu Xiaobo was arrested and imprisoned by the Chinese government for his criticism of the Communist party and his call for democratic reforms.  The Chinese government accused Liu Xiaobo of interfering with the central government’s internal affairs as well as creating issues for the country abroad.

Mo Yan stated, in regards to China’s censorship of Liu Xiaobo, that censorship is necessary to guard against defamation or the spread of damaging false rumors.  He did, however, say that censorship should not stand in the way of the truth.

The Chinese author likened the practice of censorship to airport security checks, reinforcing his assertion that censorship was indeed a necessary tool.  Mo Yan conveyed that when he was passing through airport security, they wanted to check Yan for any dangerous items, making him take off his belt and shoes.  He believes that censorship is as necessary as these airport security checkpoints.

Herta Muller, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, called Mo Yan’s award a “catastrophe.”  Hu Jia, a dissident of the Communist Chinese government also expressed his disappointment, wondering why Yan could not even say one sentence in support of Liu Xiaobo.

Mo Yan maintained that he is an independent thinker and will not be bullied into adopting ideas or making statements that are not his own.  He insisted that this is an outlook he has adopted for years and that his prize is about literature and not politics.

The 57 year old author’s real name is Guan Moye.  He adopted the pen name “Mo Yan” for his literary works, which, when translated into English means, “don’t speak.”

For further information, please see:

Shanghai Daily – Mo Yan likens censorship to security checks at airports – 7 December 2012

The Guardian – Censorship is a must, says China’s Nobel winner – 6 December 2012

Reuters – Chinese Nobel winner dodges call for laureate’s freedom – 6 December 2012

The Wall Street Journal – Detained China Nobel Wife Speaks Out – 6 December 2012

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India – On Thursday, a 354 page report  published by human rights groups, International People’s Tribunal on Human Rights and Justice in Indian Administered Kashmir (IPTK) and Srinagar-based Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), alleged that more than 500 members of India’s armed forces are in violation of human rights in India-administered Kashmir.

Specifically, the report entitled “Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu and Kashmir” names nine colonels, three brigadiers of Indian Army, three lieutenant colonels, seventy eight majors, twenty five captains, and thirty seven senior officials of the federal Paramilitary forces as agents of countless human rights violations: rape, torture, custody deaths, and abduction.

“While we believe in fixing the responsibility on the individuals, we have highlighted the culpability of the Indian state in shielding the perpetrators,” stated APDP’s chief Parvez Imroz.

According to BBC News, human rights lawyer Kartik Murukutla and an author of the report relayed that India’s urgency in Kashmir was to “control the territory, not pursue justice.”

“For the victims, the wait for proper justice seems perpetual. In its approach to justice, the Indian state has not moved beyond cash relief or the promise of re-investigation.  The state has willfully lowered the standard of justice as well as the crimes perpetrated,” shared Mr. Murukutla.

IPTK and APDP had gathered information through India’s new freedom of information laws from the police and interviews with families and others.

“This report prepared over two years using information gleaned mostly from official State documents, portrays the state of impunity prevalent in J&K where identities of the individual perpetrators of crime are known,” read an executive summary released four days in advance of World Human Rights Day.

According to BBC News, an army spokesman relayed that he was unaware of such a report.  “If they have sent it to the defense ministry we have not received it so far.  We can respond after proper perusal of the document,” said Lt-Col HS Brar.

Since 1989, thousands have died in a separatist insurgency in Kashmir, a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan.

For more information, please see:

The Hindu – Top Army, police officials involved in human rights abuse in Kashmir – 7 December 2012

BBC – India Officials accused of Kashmir rights abuses – 6 December 2012

Kafila – Full report: Alleged Perpetrators – Stories of Impunity in Jammu & Kashmir – 6 December – 2012

 

 

 

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The Sri Lankan government arrested and detained multiple alleged terrorists last week after a clash between police security forces and student protestors at Jaffna University.

Students at Jaffna University were organizing a celebration of “Maveerar Naal,” Martyr’s Day, to commemorate fallen Tamil Tigers, a separatist movement which was quashed in 2009.  The celebration of Maveerar Naal is seen as separatism which is illegal under the current Sri Lankan government’s anti-terrorism laws.

The separatist movement, the Tamil Tigers, fought with the present Sri Lankan government in a civil war in hopes of achieving an independent Tamil state in their northern and eastern homelands.  After their defeat in 2009, the Tamils have suffered systematic repression at the hands of the Sri Lankan government.

Four of the main student leaders organizing the event to commemorate fallen Tamil Tigers were brutally attacked, arrested and detained by police.  Around 400 peaceful, unarmed students were also attacked by police security forces for their demonstrations against the unfairness of the arrests and the government’s bar on their right to protest.

The police also broke into and ransacked the rooms of a women’s student hostel.  The violent actions of the Sri Lankan police security forces are viewed by many in the Tamil community as a continual strategy for intimidating and punishing the subpopulation for their prior separatist activities.

Although the civil war has ended and the Tamil fighters have long been disarmed, the central Sri Lankan government continues their assault on the civil rights of the Tamil population.  The government has gone as far as stripping the Tamil population of their Sri Lankan citizenship.

In addition to the four main student organizers who were arrested and labeled as suspected terrorists, official reports say that as many as 20-25 more suspects have been arrested and detained in connection with this outbreak of violence against student protestors in Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan police and government officials assured the public that their anti-terrorist activities and violent assaults and arrests of the alleged terrorists are entirely legal.  The police say they have followed proper procedures and have informed all of the suspects’ families of the proceedings and the specific locations of where the suspects are being held.

However, the families of some of the suspects say that they have been kept in the dark regarding the arrests of their family members.  One family says that they received information on the arrest of their son long after the arrest occurred and only after they alerted the local human rights officials.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Sri Lanka arrests: Jaffna police detain ‘terror’ suspects – 6 December 2012

Socialist Worker Online – Tamil students and lecturers strike in Jaffna against repression – 6 December 2012

Tamilnet – Sri Lanka intensifies terror campaign against Tamil students – 6 December 2012

Sri Lanka Internet Newspaper – Sri Lanka Tamil parties protest in Jaffna against arrest of students – 4 December 2012

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka – Jaffna student leader, three others arrested in midnight raid – 2 December 2012

The Washington Post – US expresses concern about attack on student demonstration in Sri Lanka’s former war zone – 29 November 2012

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Yesterday, a court in central China sentenced 35-year old Li Hao, a local government clerk and a father to an eight-month child, to death for holding six women as sex slaves in a man made dungeon.

After arresting Mr. Hao in September of last year, the court found him, guilty of “murder, rape, organized prostitution, illegal detention and spreading pornography for profit.”

According to Business Insider, Mr. Hao allegedly attended karaoke bars, hair salons, and massage parlors in order to persuade women to return with him.  Once these women would follow him, he would hold them captive between two and twenty-one months.  During this time, he would force them into prostitution, having sex with him, and appearing in online sex performances.

Mr. Hao’s plan was revealed when one of his captives in the Luoyan, Henan provinces escaped and informed authorities.

Three of the women previously kidnapped and kept were also found guilty of murder. They were involved in the death of two other women in the dungeon.  These women were given lenient sentences due to the nature of the situation.

One received three years and the two others were placed on probation. Authorities believed Mr. Hao intimidated them to commit murder.

According to Samay, Mr. Hao forced the women into having sex in order to generate money.

The police chief of Luoyang apologized to the public last year for failing to discover Mr. Hao’s crimes earlier and has subsequently suspended four police officers in relation to the case.

For more information, please see:

Sahara Samay – China’s serial rapist Li Hao gets death sentence – 01 December 2012

BBC News – China ‘sex slave’ case: Li Hao sentenced to death – 30 November 2012

Business Insider – Chinese Man Sentenced To Death For Keeping ‘Sex Slaves’ In Dungeon – 30 November 2012