David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The Roman Catholic priests of Sri Lanka have been vocal and resilient to the government forces since the country’s civil war that recently ended. As a result of their diligence as leaders of their land, several bishops have gone missing after reported conversations with government officials.

In the past four years at least two Roman Catholic priests have gone missing after reporting the government troops brutality against the last Tamil offensive, the church says.

The archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, who is soon to become a cardinal, said that attempts were being made to change the demographic make-up of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, which currently have an ethnic Tamil majority.

“This could be a dangerous trend if it is not arrested; unless people are allowed to move in and move out in a proper way without any colonization as such, with or without government approval.”

Kingsley Swampillai, the bishop of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, said one of the priests disappeared after security forces conducted special questioning on him.

Recently Bishop Swampillai along with several of the diocese in the region testified before a commission looking into the governments function and handling of the country’s civil war.

The civil war, which ended just last year, when troops defeated a rebel group called the Tamil Tiger, who raised wide spread tensions over the fight for a separate state.

The conflict, according to the United Nations estimates that up to 100,000 people were killed. And similar numbers disappeared as infighting came to a halt.

The government’s response to the whereabouts of missing priests is that, the commission will promote reconciliation and they have rejected all international calls for an external investigation.

Bishop Swampillai, who heads the main diocese in eastern Sri Lanka, told the commission there were numerous missing and disappeared Sri Lankans whose fate had been unknown for many years now.

The government has not recorded any of the missing cases over recent years.

A timeline and snapshot of the missing bishops include- Rev Father Nihal Jim Brown, who vanished in Jaffna in 2006; and another, Father Joseph Francis, in his late 70s and had “got involved with” the Tamil Tiger militants while living in their heartland.

Bishop Swampillai said Father Francis was among those leaving the war zone in May 2009 and passing through the military checkpoint at Omanthai when people travelling with him saw him taken in for special questioning.

“And then he was no more – nobody saw him thereafter,” the bishop said.

Former wife of a Tamil Tiger official, testifying at the commission hearings in northern Sri Lanka six weeks ago mentioned that Father Francis had vanished.

Most bishops have remained highly critical of the security forces, and more so with the recent trend of events.

“The rights have been violated with impunity by the security forces and by unidentifiable persons and groups especially in the north and east. The situation has worsened by the state sponsorship of paramilitary groups during the height of the war, out of the former militants.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Sri Lanka bishop accuses forces over missing priests – 4 November 2010

Journalist for Democracy in Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka bishop accuses forces over missing priests – 4 November 2010

CathNews Asia – Lankan bishop accuses sercurity forces – 4 November 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A month after Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Chinese jailed dissident, Lui Xiaobo, the Chinese government has increased its crackdown on human rights activists advocating for release of Mr. Xiaobo and improvement in human rights.

A series of report reveals that various methods are used by the government to subdue conscience voices of these activists. Some are confined to their homes, others were followed and harassed while some went completely missing.
After all, there is no sign of abating.

One prominent human rights lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, released in September after years in prison became subjected to house arrest since early October in his hometown in Shandong Province. He is not allowed to receive any visitors or get out of his home. Mr. Guangcheng has been a vocal critic of government policies, especially of forced abortions by local officials in an attempt to enforce the one-child policy.

Pu Zhiqiang, a civil rights lawyer, claims that he was detained for three days in a hotel after the Nobel announcement October 8 and remains under heavy surveillance. “Everywhere I go, a policeman will follow me for sure,” he said by phone. “Sometimes I ask them to drive my car for me.”

Li Heping, another human rights lawyer, said that after Liu was announced as Nobel Peace Prize winner, police officers brought comforters and slept at the door of his apartment and now follow him everywhere, including to meetings with clients. “Once my friend sent me a text message to invite me to dinner,” he said. “They knew, and came and asked me for the details.”

Similar things happened to another lawyer, Li Fangping, who claims that three policemen have been following him ever since there was announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Some are facing a more dire situation. Ding Zilin, who heads a group of relatives of victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown disappeared along with her husband, Jiang Peikun, on Oct. 14. Activist Feng Zhenghu in Shanghai was also missing after being taken away by police Monday.

Many fear that such surveillance, harassment and detainment will continue at least through the Nobel awards ceremony scheduled in Oslo on December 10.

Hong Kong-based Human Rights Watch researcher Nicholas Bequelin called the date of awards ceremony “the big looming deadline.”

“The government doesn’t want to make the situation worse by arresting anyone,” Bequelin said. “But they want to keep an eye on all the known activists and dissidents.”

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – China: House Arrest For Rights Lawyer – 4 November 2010

The Washington Post – China continues crackdown on activists – 28 October 2010

AP – China pressures European governments over Nobel – 3 November 2010