BEIJING, China –China’s state security police have warned pro-democracy dissident, Qin Yongmin, that he is not to continue his work on plans for a website aimed at promoting peaceful change in the nation.
Qin Yongmin has been threatened by police to end the creation of a website calling for peaceful change in China (Photo Courtesy of Radio Free Asia).
Qin was release from prison in November 2010 after serving a twelve year prison term following a conviction for subversion which resulted from his role as co-founder of the China Democracy Party and attempt to have the new party registered.
Since his release, he has been on twenty-four hour surveillance by officials and has been subjected to routine searches of his home and confiscation of his belongings.
In April, Qin was subjected to two home searches in a two week period during which he was threatened and verbally abused by authorities who also confiscated articles written by Qin and notebooks.
This week, Qin reported that he was surrounded by police while leaving a computer store and taken to a police station.
While at the police station, a police officer informed Qin that they had information that he had “…been posting articles overseas and giving interviews to journalists, and that this was against Article 82 of the national security law, and that they were going to punish me for that.”
Qin had intentions to launch a website called “Peaceful Transition Advice” which would be hosted overseas but was told by authorities but he was absolutely forbidden to create the website.
According to Qin, “[t]hey said that if I launched it in the morning, they would arrest me in the afternoon, and that they would pursue the harshest kind of punishment for me.”
The police officer also informed Qin that they were alarmed by a meeting he had held at a restaurant with several political activists.
According to Qin, the meeting was held on the second floor of the restaurant and the police “…took over the entire third floor.” He also reports that he was warned by police that no matter where he went or who he was with, they would know about it.
China’s dissidents have been under increased pressure from authorities since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned democracy activist Liu Xiaobo.
Prior to the twelve year sentenced leading to his November release, Qin had been jailed twice before for his political activism. He served an eight year sentence for “anti-revolutionary propaganda and subversion” in 1981 for his involvement in the pro-democracy movement.
Four years later he was sentenced to two years of hard labor in a re-education through labor camp for a writing a document entitled “Peace Charter”.
By Tyler Yates Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
JERUSALEM, Israel — Israeli police clashed with hundreds of Palestinians who threw rocks after leaving Muslim prayers at Jerusalem’s most holy site on Friday. Elsewhere, Israeli soldiers opened up fire on protesters at a separate demonstration in the West Bank, killing one Palestinian. This continues a series of recent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police.
Police clash with Palestinian protesters (Photo courtesy of the Washington Post).
Hundreds of worshippers emerged from the two mosques in the walled al-Aqsa compound and began staging a demonstration. An Israeli police spokesperson said that the hundreds of worshippers turned protesters hurled rocks at the police prompting the police to respond with stun grenades to disperse the crowd.
Najeh Bkeirat, a Muslim official at the scene, said demonstrators began throwing rocks only after police tried to stop their march.
Reports state that approximately 11 police officers were lightly injured by rocks, about 30 Palestinians were treated for light injuries from tear gas inhalation and scuffles, and four Palestinians were arrested.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound has repeatedly been a site of violence between the two groups. The compound sits atop the remains of the two biblical Jewish temples. It is the most sacred site in Judaism, and it is Islam’s third-holiest site. Any perceived attempt to change the delicate division of control of the compound sets off protests.
A similar clash at a demonstration near Ramallah in the West Bank around the same time of day resulted in Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinian protesters, leaving one dead. The Israeli military said the protesting Palestinians threw rocks and firebombs at soldiers stationed nearby, which prompted their response.
Talat Ramieh, 25, was declared dead at a local hospital after suffering a critical chest injury.
The cause of the confrontations is not clear, however there have been heightened tensions between Jews and Muslims recently as rumors have been swirling among Palestinian activists that far right Israelis are attempting to gain access to Muslim-controlled areas at the holy site.
Israeli police have claimed that such rumors are false.
Jordan previously warned Israel on Sunday over any attempts by right-wing activists to threaten the al-Aqsa mosque. Foreign Minister Nasser Judah denounced the recent use of force by Israeli police against worshippers at the mosque after eyewitnesses claimed that Israeli police entered the Muslim portion of the temple with a group of foreign visitors.
There has been a call from extremist Israeli groups and politicians to storm the al-Asqa mosque and establish the so-called Third Temple. Many pro-Palestinian activists cite Israel’s failure to stop or disavow the extremist campaign as a reason for the growing violence.
Jordan has called for immediate international intervention from the Arab and Islamic worlds to stop Israel’s “daily and ongoing violations” in Jerusalem.
By Paula Buzzi
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
CARACAS, Venezuela — Jewish groups in Venezuela and around the world are urging President Hugo Chavez to stop using anti-Semetic attacks as a political tool against opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski. International groups are voicing concerns that Chavez’s campaign for presidency will only become more threatening and offensive as the October elections approach.
Capriles has been slammed with insults coming from the Chavez campaign since winning the Democratic Unity coalition's presidential candidacy. (Photo Courtesy of The Huffington Post).
Last week, the government-run website of Radio Nacional de Venezuela posted a column that highlighted the Jewish ancestry of Capriles; his grandparents were Polish Holocaust survivors. The column labeled Capriles a secret follower of Zionism, which is a Jewish political movement that the column called “the most rotten sentiments represented by humanity.” The column urged Venezuelans to reject “international Zionism” by re-electing Chavez.
Abraham Foxman, the director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, believes Chavez’s anti-Semitic remarks are an early attempt to cast Capriles as a “traitorous Jew” who is not worthy of the presidency. “The Venezuelan political campaign has just begun, and this early appearance of government-sanctioned anti-Semitism is a deeply troubling sign of the depths that President Chavez is willing to go to retain his oppressive power,” he said.
In 2008, A U.S. State Department report named Venezuela a country where its leaders and governments “fan the flames of anti-Semitic hatred within their own societies and even beyond their borders.” The report also criticized Venezuela’s government-sponsored mass media for functioning as a medium for anti-Semitism.
Other attacks coming from the Chavez campaign include accusations that Capriles is involved in a group that promotes the “Aryan race” with ties to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and that he is a pig and part of South America’s bourgeoisie. “You are not going to be able to disguise yourself, even if you look for advisers, masks. Dress yourself up however you dress yourself up. Pig’s tail, pig’s ears, pig’s nose: It’s a pig,” Chavez said.
Capriles, who spent four months in jail in 2004 on charges related to an attempted coup against Chavez, has denied the accusations against him in an interview and said he wants to focus his campaign on talking about the problems that really bother Venezuelans such as crime and unemployment. “They came here and they called me ‘Nazi,’ when my grandmother was in the Warsaw Ghetto,” Capriles told The Forward newspaper in response to the accusations.
Despite the aggressive campaign against him, Capriles is currently believed to be the most popular politician in Venezuela and a strong contender against Chavez, a socialist who has ruled Venezuela for the last 13 years. Chavez and Capriles will face off in October for the Venezuelan presidency.
DAKAR, Senegal – Two days before the election to determine the next president, there is no sign of an end to the acrimony that has dominated Senegal since January. Despite appeals from the international community, President Abdoulaye Wade remains in the race.
President Abdoulaye Wade hits the campaign trail in suburban Dakar as he seeks a third term, which has been a source of conflict. (Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)
The situation is unusual for this West African country, which has had free elections since the late 19th Century and has never been upended by a military coup. Protests have occurred in downtown Dakar, the seaside capital, on a daily basis, leading local businesses to cut their hours of operation in half and send employees home to avoid the chaos. At least six people have died in rallies against the 85-year-old (officially; he is rumored to be even older) Wade’s candidacy. After his election to a seven-year term in 2000, the constitution was amended to limit the president to two five-year terms. It was re-amended to two seven-year terms after his re-election in 2007, which he believes allows him to run again.
Opponents have another story. Earlier this week, dissenters rallied along Avenue William Ponty, close to Independence Square, singing and chanting: “He should go! He must go! He has to go!” in reference to Wade. The interior ministry banned events held in Independence Square itself. Even his former ministers had become disenchanted.
“The Constitution has been violated!” declared Idrissa Seck, one of six former prime ministers to have served under Wade and one of three to be running against him. “We must prevent the coup d’état that is unfolding.”
Wade’s election campaign continues in spite of the vitriol. Amadou Sall said that the president was willing to talk to opposition leaders about their concerns. As far as he was concerned, Wade’s candidacy was legal.
“President Wade is a candidate of a group of parties who support him and we have the majority of the Senegalese people with us, and the constitutional court said the candidacy of Wade is good. So, he is a legal candidate,” said Sall. “Now, you have the minority in the opposition who contest and who protest and the make demonstrations in just two areas in Dakar and fighting with policemen. These guys are losers.”
Since Tuesday, former Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo has been in Dakar as head of a joint African Union-Economic Community of West African States observer mission. He has met with both Wade and opposition leaders about the situation, vowing to do more than observe if things do not improve. After his meeting with Wade, the ruling party said that it would not postpone the election or withdraw its leader from the poll.
Hopes for success within the mission were running high when Obasanjo arrived in Dakar Tuesday. But the reality may be much more harsh. To Arame Tall, a researcher at John Hopkins University-Sais, breaking through the gridlock may not be possible.
“It is a stalemate. On one hand, Wade is obstinate and is at least 90-years-old, meaning that if he wins we would have a president that would finish his term at 97-years-old,” Tall told Al Jazeera. “On the other hand, we have a highly divided opposition, animated by personal ambition – and they are also guilty of trapping the public because they simply refuse to unite and create a strong front to confront the old man. The public has no choice, because they are faced with an old man they do not want and a fragmented opposition with no leadership.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the international community Thursday to help Somalia’s government tackle piracy, militants and hunger, or face terror threats from the troubled African nation.
World leaders from 40 countries, including Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, attended the conference on Thursday in London focusing on stabilizing and rebuilding Somalia after decades of war. The conference sought to address terror and conflict in Somalia and find ways to resolve other critical problems, including famine and weak leadership.
An Al-Shabaab fighter stands guard as hundreds of residents are forced to watch an amputation punishment carried out. (Photo Courtesy of Getty Images).
“These problems in Somalia don’t just affect Somalia,” Prime Minister Cameron said. “They affect us all.”
In a country where there is no hope,” Cameron continued, “chaos, violence and terrorism thrive. Pirates are disrupting vital trade routes and kidnapping tourists. Young minds are being poisoned by radicalism, breeding terrorism that is threatening the security of the whole world.”
The militant Islamist Somali rebel group Al-Shabaab emerged in about 2004 and has been fighting the government since. Children as young as 10 years old are increasingly facing horrific abuse as the group forcibly recruits them to replenish its diminishing ranks of fighters. According to Human Rights Watch, patterns have also emerged of children serving as human shields on the battlefields.
Al-Shabaab is also implementing strict Sharia law in the nation. Women have been stoned to death for adultery; amputations and beheadings are common. In some areas, listening to the radio has been banned, as have non-Arabic signs. Al-Shabaab is also responsible for the assassination of several journalists.
In addition to the violence, the Somali people have endured bouts of natural disasters, including famine, drought and floods. The U.S. government said 30,000 children had died in Somalia due to famine alone in the summer of 2011.
The prime minister stressed that the world cannot afford to look the other way anymore: “If the rest of us just sit back and look on, we will pay a price for doing so. For two decades, politicians in the West have too often dismissed the problems in Somalia as simply too difficult and too remote to deal with.”
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said Al-Shabaab’s recent announcement that it had joined al Qaeda should serve as a wake-up call. “Clearly, a new and more dangerous theater for terrorist action has emerged in Somalia,” he said, “and this calls for focused and concerted international effort.”
Kenya is host to the world’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab. The camp is currently over capacity with desperate Somalis who have fled their homeland. The UN estimates that over 360,000 refugees reside in Dadaab.
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali said that he even welcomed airstrikes to rid his of country of Al-Shabaab terrorists, though this was not on the conference agenda. “We have to face this menace, and al-Qaeda in Somalia is not a Somali problem – it is a global problem that must be addressed globally,” he said.
However, Secretary of State Clinton said that the U.S. sees no reason for military strikes. She announced $64 million in humanitarian aid to the Horn of Africa countries and said the focus should be on political progress. Clinton said the U.S. will continue to work with Somali officials to create jobs, provide health and education services, and conflict resolution.
Cameron announced agreements on key areas including a new task force on piracy ransoms and the willingness of Tanzania, Mauritius, and the Seychelles to take on judicial responsibilities to convict pirates. There was recognition, however, that it would take time to bring change to a country that has come to epitomize a failed state.
“We are realistic – Somalia’s problems cannot be solved in a day, said British Foreign Minister William Hague, “but its people deserve a better future, and our own security requires their country to become more stable.”
Hague also applauded the UN Security Council’s decision on Wednesday to increase the African Union force in Somalia to 17,700 troops, almost 6,000 more than the current number. Neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia have both sent troops directly, while Uganda, Djibouti, and Burundi are contributing peacekeepers. The United States has used drones to target militants in Somalia.
Cameron commended the conference on their movement. “Today’s conference has put new momentum into the political process,” he said. “We’ve backed the Somalis’ decision to end the mandate of the transitional federal institutions in August. This timetable will be stuck to. There will be no further extensions. We will hold the Somalis to this. We’ll act against those who stand in the way of the peace process and we’ve also agreed the formation of a new government must be as inclusive as possible.”
Meanwhile, Hague dismissed criticism of the conference by some critics who said it lacked enough Somalia input.
“It’s not Western, it’s global,” Hague told CNN. “Part of our objective here is to build up the local governments, the regional governments, the institutions that have been able to take root…which is why they are all here. It’s not top down at all.”
And yet, at least three demonstrations protested outside the conference. “The conference is about 40 countries coming together discussing the Somali issue, [but] what we feel is that Somalia not part of it,” said Cabdi Aakhiro of Voice 4 Somalia. “They are discussing their interests, not the Somali interests.”
BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper also seemed to think that while Cameron was saying that the conference was “not about telling Somalis what to do,” the policies do not seem to be leaving Somalia to the Somalis.
Amnesty International also said the conference failed to adequately address the “dire human rights situation” in Somalia.
“The recent surge in military operations increases civilians’ vulnerability to attacks and displacement, and brings more arms into a country already awash with weapons,” said Benedicte Goderiaux, Amnesty International’s Somalia researcher. “Direct attacks against civilians, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, these are crimes under international law, these are war crimes. This is a lethal mix that could fuel further human rights abuses. At this conference, we hoped to see more efforts to improve the safety of the Somali population.”
One Somali man expressed unease that the conference gave a lot of attention to ending impunity for pirates. “What about ending impunity for the war-lords who have killed so many of our children?” said the man. “What about the African Union peacekeepers who shelled residential areas in Mogadishu? What about Al-Shabaab and even our transitional government soldiers?”
The next international meeting on Somalia is scheduled for June in Istanbul, Turkey.
