Asia

Reporters Without Borders for Press Freedom in Afghanistan

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KABUL, Afghanistan – Reporters Without Borders sent a delegation to Kabul to gather information regarding press freedom.  On the second to last day of the investigation, Reporters held a news conference where secretary-general Jean Francois Julliard urged the Afghan government to make press freedom a priority.

“The press freedom situation is getting worse in Afghanistan and it is the government’s duty to reverse this disturbing trend,” Julliard said. “The country cannot continue to develop and progress towards democracy without a free and independent press. The president and his government must get fully involved in this issue and must take measures that give journalists more freedom to work. Much needs to be done in Afghanistan but the country will not be able to recover from 30 years of war without free and diverse news media.”

Reporters Without Borders points to the case of Perwiz Kambakhsh, who is serving a 20 year prison sentence for downloading and reading an essay about women’s rights in Islam.

“As long as a citizen can be sentenced to death or to a long jail term just for reading a report on the Internet, we will not be able to say there is free expression in Afghanistan. Perwiz Kambakhsh must be released as soon as possible. He committed no crime and this case, which has been marred by judicial irregularities, is a grave stain on Afghanistan’s image. We told all the officials we met that his conviction must be overturned.”

He continued: “The threats against Afghan journalists and visiting foreign journalists are becoming more and more diverse. As well as the Taliban, who have never ceased to threaten to kill journalists who do not comply with their demands, there are now criminals and mafia groups.”

Moreover, Reporters Without Borders reports that in 2008 alone, two journalists were killed and about 50 were attacked.

They urge the Afghan government to provide security measures for the protection of journalists so that they will continue their work, the authorities to solve and investigate cases more thoroughly and consistently, adoption of a proposed media law, and a law facilitating access to information to the journalists.  It is also urged that media owners should stop meddling with editorial content.

For more information, please see:

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty – Press Freedom Gets Worse in Afghanistan, RFS Says – 15 January 2009

Reporters Without Borders – Reporters Without Borders Gives Kabul News Conference, Urges Government to Make Press Freedom a Priority – 15 January 2009

Reuters – Press Freedom Getting Worse in Afghanistan – 15 January 2009

Nepal: Four Charged for Brutal Murder of a Journalist

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KATHAMANDU, Nepal – Nepal authorities have arrested four suspects for the murder of Uma Singh, a Nepalese reporter and women’s rights activist. On January 12th, Singh was murdered in her rented apartment room in the southern city of Janakpur. Singh was the first woman journalist to be killed in Nepal though many women journalists have been threatened.

According to international media watchdog, Reporters without Borders, around 15 men broke into Singh’s apartment and repeatedly battered her with blunt objects and then stabbed her to death. Singh died from the injuries sustained on her way to the capital when local attempts to help her failed. Singh was only 26 when she died.

Singh had criticized the caste system and written on a number of political issues. Her articles criticizing the dowry system, a tradition where the bride’s family has to pay significant sums of money and land to the groom’s family, created shock waves in Southern Nepal.

However the motives of her attackers are still unclear. Although four men have been arrested, an underground group claimed responsibility for Singh’s attack but stated it was ‘a mistake.’ Singh was working in a part of the country where there are many militants connected to an ethnic separatist movement. The militants want regional autonomy from the Maoist government.

Singh’s death caught international attention. The UN high Commissioner for Human Rights, Richard Bennett condemned the murder, “This tragedy should galvanise those responsible for protection of media freedom to take the necessary action to ensure the security of journalists.”

Reporters without Borders said, “This wave of violence against Nepalese journalists requires a firm response from the government, which must assume its responsibility and adopt effective measures to protect journalists.”

For more information, please see:

BBC –Nepal Radio Journalist Murdered–12 January 2009

RSF – Journalist and Women’s Rights Activist Brutally Murdered –12 January 2009

RSF – Four Arrested for Woman Journalist’s Murder, While Clandestine Group Claims Responsibility –14 January 2009

BBC – Picture of Uma Signh

Thailand Mistreats Illegal Immigrants

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter

BANGKOK, Thailand – Refugees International, a US based human rights group, has accused Thailand of mistreating illegal immigrants that travel to Thailand by boat. Many of these refugees, dubbed ‘boat people’ by the Thai officials, are from neighboring Myanmar-Burma and Bangladesh.

There are about 500 survivors that are now recovering from severe dehydration in India’s Andaman Islands and Aceh provinceof Indonesia. Survivors told BBC journalists that the Thai navy would tie their hands and send their boats back out to sea without engines. During a press release on Monday, 4 refugees have died and 300 refugees are reported missing.

The Thai officials declined to comment and only confirmed that the Thai navy would push Asylum seekers’ boats back out to sea. Refugees International said the Thai government “should instruct its Army to desist from its new and troubling policy of pushing refugees and migrants intercepted on boats back out to sea.”

Many of these refugees are Rohingya peoples, a Muslim ethnic minority that live in western Burma. Rohingya are among one of the most persecuted peoples in the world.  They have no legal rights, including the right to own property in Burma, because the country is predominately Buddhist. Due to oppression many Rohingya have sought refuted along the western coast of Thailand. Many of these asylum seekers are detained by the Thai military that leave Rohingya refugees to fend for themselves in international waters.

International human rights advocate, Sean Garcia said, “The Thai government is taking highly vulnerable people and risking their lives for political gain. Instead they should be engaging the Burmese government on improving conditions at home for the Rohingya if it wants to stem these flows.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Thais ‘Leave Boat People to Die’– 15 January 2009

Irrawaddy –Thailand Urged to Stop Pushing Refugees Out to Sea– 15 January 2009

AsiaNews – The Tragedy of Rohingya Refugees Arrested in Thailand and Abandoned in the High Seas– 15 January 2009

Activist Sentenced to 104 Years in Jail

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar court has freed six people who called for the release of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi last December, but sentenced another activist to 104 years in prison.  Bo Min Yu Ko, a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was sentenced to 104 years in prison, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Three others activists remained in detention, according to the relatives.

Bo Min Yu Ko was arrested on September 18, 2008 and charged under different laws, said the AAPP.  He was not allowed to be represented by a lawyer, and his family was prevented from attending the trial.  “This is yet another harsh and cruel sentence handed down by the regime’s kangaroo courts,” said Bo Kyi, joint AAPP secretary. “The courts are not independent and simply follow orders from the regime,” he adds.

Three other members of the ABFSU were also sentenced in late December.  Kay Thi Aung, who is pregnant, was sentenced to 26 years; Ko Nyi was sentenced to 50 years; and Wai Myo Htoo was sentenced to 26 years, according to Tun Tun, an ABFSU member.

Since October 2008, Myanmar courts have tried and sentenced at least 280 political activists.
Courts have handed down hundreds of jail sentences ranging up to 65 years to political prisoners.   Some says that the apparent effort is to clear the country of dissent before a scheduled general election in 2010.  Myanmar has been under Junta rule since 1962 after Junta crushed a nationwide pro-democracy uprising. It held elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results after Suu Kyi’s party won.

For more information, please see:

AP – Report: Myanmar activist gets 104 years in jail – 14 January 2009

EarthTimes – Myanmar dissident gets 104 years in jail – 14 January 2009

Irrawaddy – 104 Years Given to Political Dissident – 14 January 2009

Internet Crackdown Intensified in China

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Chinese government has shut down 91 websites for pornographic and other “vulgar” content, as well as a political blog portal, according to the state media.  The latest crackdown on Internet content targeted many big names, including Google, Microsoft’s MSN and homegrown market-leading rival Baidu, for undermining public morality.  It is the first time that officials have targeted such major companies.

Bullog.cn, a Chinese blog portal with many famous bloggers, including some signatories of the pro-democracy “08 Charter,” has been shut down.  The “08 Charter” is an online petition signed by 303 Chinese citizens, calls for sweeping political change in China.  Luo Yonghao, the founder of Bullog.cn, confirmed that the website had been closed because of “amount of political harmful information,” citing a notice from government. The Human Rights Defenders network has said that more than 100 of the 300 original signatories had been questioned, detained or harassed by police.

The Chinese government publicly announced its anti-porn campaign a couple weeks ago.  Some observers say that the move signals the government’s determination to control the net amid a string of politically sensitive anniversaries.  “While the publicly stated purpose of cracking down in the past week has been porn and internet smut, we have also seen the shutdown of Bullog and a number of websites,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong and an expert on China and the internet.

“From talking to people who work in web companies here it’s pretty clear they feel under increased pressure to control political content as much as smut … I’m being told that all of those companies are beefing up their staff who are employed to police content and the software and other mechanisms to flag content which gets them in trouble.”  Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at the University of California at Berkeley said.  He also suggested Bullog’s closure reflected the Chinese government’s deep concerns about the growing influence of the internet.

For more information, please see:

AP – Edgy China blog site shut amid Internet porn sweep – 12 January 2009

Forbes – Beijing’s Own ‘Yellow Peril’ Is Online – 12 January 2009

Guardian – China closes 90 websites as internet crackdown intensifies – 12 January 2009

Reuters – China closes 91 websites in crackdown – 12 January 2009