By: Jessica Ties
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – Two Vietnamese men have been imprisoned for “the illegal transmission of information on a telecommunications network” into China amidst suspicion that the prosecutions were an attempt by Vietnamese authorities to please the Chinese government.

Le Van Thanh and his brother-in-law Vu Duc Trung were sentenced to serve two and three years respectively following a half day long trial.

Both of the men arrested were followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement which is inspired by Buddhism and focuses on meditation. The movement was banned in China in 1999 after the group organized a peaceful protest in Tiananmen Square causing the Chinese government to designate the group as a “threat to social and political stability.”

The two men were initially detained in June 2010 for broadcasting the Sound of Hope news program into China in which they discussed human rights abuses, corruption and the persecution of Falun Gong followers. The transmissions were made from a farm outside of Hanoi from April 2009 until their detention.

Although outlawed in China, the Falun Gong practice is not prohibited in Vietnam and, according to Epring Zhang of the Falun Dafa Information Center, “…the Vietnamese constitution should protect people’s freedom of speech and expression.”

In addition, the transmissions of uncensored news to China did “…absolutely nothing to harm Vietnamese society or break Vietnamese law” according to Falun Dafa and the court failed to produce a law banning broadcasting into China when pressed by Vu and Le’s attorney.

Furthermore, the Chinese government has allegedly sent correspondences to Vietnam requesting not only that the government prevent the transmission of radio content from Vietnam into China but also that they restrict and harass Falun Gong practitioners. Following the requests, China sent a letter praising Vietnam for their assistance in controlling Falun Gong.

The correspondences between the Chinese and Vietnamese government in conjunction with the legality of the activities of Vu and Le have led many to speculate that the conviction of the two broadcasters was an effort by the Vietnamese government to cater to China’s influence.

For example, Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch argued that “Vietnam should not violate human rights and punish its own citizens merely because their activism displeases China.”

In addition, Reporters Without Borders released a statement that the “…verdict shows the authorities were conveying the anger of their Chinese counterparts, who were the targets of criticism expressed in the radio programs.”

Since being outlawed, Falun Gong practitioners in China have been detained, held in psychiatric facilities and forced into re-education through labor programs.

Just days before the trial of Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh thirty Falun Gong demonstrators were beaten and detained for protesting the trial of the two men outside of the Chinese embassy in Hanoi.

For more information, please see:

NTDTV – Vietnam Complicit With Chinese Regime’s Persecution of Falun Gong: Rights Groups – 15 November 2011

Amnesty International – China: Local Residents Petition for Falun Gong Releases – 14 November 2011

IEWY – Viet Nam: Falun Gong Practitioners Detained Over Meditation Protest – 14 November 2011

Radio Free Asia – Under Fire Over Falun Gong Jailing – 11 November 2011

AFP – Vietnam Falungong Jailed Over China Broadcasts – 10 November 2011

by Hibberd Kline
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India— Hundreds of Pakistani citizens are being held without charge in Indian jails located in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Supreme Court revealed on Friday.

Speaking for the Court’s Bench, Judge RN Lodha proclaimed that it was “shocking that over 254 Pakistani nationals are languishing in jails without trial.”

The plight of the prisoners came to light as the Court heard a petition seeking the release of the prisoners.

Petitioner, Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party president Bhim Singh, said that the illegally detained prisoners included four Pakistani soldiers, a number of insurgents and nineteen women who had unintentionally across the border from Pakistan.

The four Pakistani soldiers were arrested between 1965 and 1967 after crossing the dividing line between Pakistani-controlled Kashmir and Indian-controlled Kashmir. The four have been held without charge ever since.

The Pakistani Army had initially informed the soldiers families that the four were dead. However, in 2006 a freed prisoner told the families that he had seen the soldiers in prison in 1998. Upon hearing the news, the families contacted the Red Cross in an attempt to find further information, but no trace of the prisoners could be found until last April.

In Ludhiana Jail in Punjab, another prisoner, who was pregnant when she was arrested in 2002 after crossing the border, has watched her daughter spend the first nine years of her life behind bars.

After learning of the large number of uncharged prisoners, the Court strongly chastised the government for failing to give a full account of the extent to which foreign nationals are imprisoned in Indian jails.

The Court ordered the government to file a “comprehensive report” including “complete information” within two weeks.

Judge Lodha stressed that; “…liberty is the most dear Article to [the Court] and the most precious right given to the people.”

The right to personal liberty is protected in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and applies to everyone regardless of whether they are are Indian citizens or foreign nationals.

In 2010, the Court began monitoring the repatriation of Pakistani prisoners by the Indian government after Bhim Singh alerted them irregularities in the process. That year the Home Ministry reported that it had repatriated 293 Pakistanis including 130 prisoners and 163 fishermen.

However, the ministry also reported that an additional 500 Pakistanis remained in Indian prisons.

The ministry’s affidavit stated that India’s government exchanges prisoner lists with Pakistan twice each year.

The court order comes on the heals of Thursday’s more upbeat statement by the prime minsters of India and Pakistan. The two leaders proclaimed that the two countries relations are inextricably linked and promised a “new chapter” in Indian-Pakistani relations.

For more information, please see:

BBC News — India Court Shocked at Pakistanis Held without Charge — 11 November 2011

The Telegraph — India’s Supreme Court Denounces Pakistani Jail Term Discovery — 11 November 2011

Times of India — Pakistan Men in Jail for 40 Years Appals Supreme Court — 12 November 2011

The Nation — Indian SC ‘Shocked’ by Pakistanis in Jail — 11 November 2011