Protestors demanding a release of Liu, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient (Photo courtesy of BBC)

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – When a group of people – two dozen bloggers, rights lawyers and academics – gathered at a Beijing restaurant to celebrate the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, the police rushed in and arrested them.

Although 10 of the 20 people who had been picked up were released, three of them were given eight-day jail terms under the charge of “disturbing the peace” and seven were escorted out of Beijing, according to Zhang Zuhua, an activist who is in touch with the detainees.


Liu Xiaobo, the 54-year-old scholar and author, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding contribution to human rights, is currently serving an 11-year sentence on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” imposed after an allegedly unfair trial. 

Liu is widely recognized amongst activists as a prominent government critic who has repeatedly called for human rights protections, political accountability and democratization in China.

Ever since the Norwegian Committee announced the winner of the prize, the Chinese government reacted with unrestrained anger.

In a series of attempt to downplay the awarding of the prize, the chinese Government called in the Norwegian ambassador in Beijing for a dressing down, placed a number dissidents under house arrest and blocked nearly all Internet sites and news media from disseminating any information regarding the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was impossible for Chinese citizens or Web surfers to learn about the honor bestowed on their countryman. Plugging “Liu Xiaobo” or “Nobel Peace Prize” into a search engine resulted in blank screens and error messages.

Only the Global Times, an English-language newspaper controlled by the Chinese government, contained information on the prize, although in completely contrasting tone.

Liu, the newspaper’s unsigned editorial said, is “an incarcerated Chinese criminal.” Awarding him the prize was a “paranoid choice” that was “meant to irritate China.” The Nobel Peace Prize has been “degraded into a political tool that serves an anti-China purpose.

“It seems that instead of peace or unity in China, the Nobel committee would like to see the country split by an ideological rift, or better yet, collapse like the Soviet Union,” the editorial said.

Zhou Xiaozheng, director of the law of Sociology department at People’s University in Beijing, when asked about to which extent people are aware of either Liu or the Nobel Peace Prize, said, “[t]hey don’t know, and they don’t want to know, because it’s dangerous to know.”

“As soon as I hear a foreign journalist wants to know about the Nobel Peace Prize, I can sense the danger,” said Zhou.

In response to these hardline approaches by the Chinese government to silence the award, Catherine Baber, Deputy Asia-Pacific Director at Amnesty International, expressed concerns.

“This award can only make a real difference if it prompts more international pressure on China to release Liu, along with the numerous other prisoners of conscience languishing in Chinese jails for exercising their right to freedom of expression,” she said.

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – China, Angered by Peace Prize, Blocks Celebration – 10 October 2010

Amnesty International – LIU XIAOBO’S NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WIN PUTS SPOTLIGHT ON CHINA RIGHTS VIOLATIONS – 8 October 2010

The Los Angeles Times – Chinese media stay resolutely silent on Nobel winner – 10 October 2010

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch, Asia

JAKARTA, Indonesia – On Wednesday, a Dutch judge turned down demands by a separatist group for the arrest of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia on charges of human rights abuse if he set foot in the Netherlands, a court spokeswoman said.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (L) postponed a visit planned this week to the Netherlands, citing a human rights trial in the host country that might threaten him with arrest [AFP]

Yudhoyono’s cancelled his trip to the Netherlands came after the Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) group requested The Hague District Court to order his arrest.  Indonesian authorities beat the RMS after it declared independence in 1950.

The Netherlands government voiced its regret at the decision and said it had reassured the president he would have diplomatic immunity.

Three Dutch citizens supporting Moluccan separatists filed the claims. The group holds President Yudhoyono responsible for the alleged mistreatment and torture of detained Moluccan separatist activists.

The Indonesian government has been suspected of abusing human rights in suppressing local separatists in the region. Indigenous Moluccan groups live in Maluku Province in the eastern part of Indonesia, and they have laid claim for self-governance, which is claimed to have been promised more than a half-century ago as Dutch rule came to an end.

Members of the separatist group are frequently subjected to torture, arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial killings by Indonesian security forces, human rights organizations say.  Ninety political prisoners have been sentenced or are awaiting trials for separatism in the region, with some serving sentences as long as 20 years, said Andreas Harsono, Indonesia consultant for Human Rights Watch.

Indonesia frequently hands down lengthy jail terms, with a maximum of life in prison, for displaying banned “separatist symbols.” Indonesia’s Special Detachment 88 antiterrorism squad has recently been accused of rights abuses, including torture of separatists in Maluku.

Citing international legal custom, the foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, of the Netherlands, said his government had assured Indonesia that the president’s immunity could not be challenged by a claim filed in a district court.

“For Indonesia, for me, if this lawsuit is held while I’m visiting, that concerns our self-respect as a nation; it concerns our honor as a nation.” said President Yudhoyono.

The visit would have been the first in 40 years for an Indonesian president to the Netherlands, Indonesia’s former colonial ruler. Given the complex history of the two countries, even recent relations have often been tense.

Historically, the RMS has had a strong base in the Netherlands, many Moluccans emigrated there when Indonesia gained independence, some having served as soldiers in the Dutch army. The Dutch government initially promised their exile would be temporary, and they were settled into temporary refugee camps.

Mahfudz Siddiq, of the Indonesia’s parliament, told Al Jazeera that the RMS represents a serious threat to Indonesia’ territorial integrity.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera English – No arrest warrent against Yudhoyono – 6 Oct 2010

New York Times – Dutch Court Rejects Demand for Indonesia President’s Arrest – 6 Oct 2010

BBC – Dutch court dismisses Indonesian president arrest call – 6 Oct 2010