Christians Executed in North Korea

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea– North Korea publicly executed a woman for distributing Bibles in a northern town close to the Chinese-North Korean border.  In addition to distributing Bibles, Ri Hyon Ok, a 33-year old mother of three, was accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and for organizing dissents.  South Korea and human rights groups were unable to verify the allegations against Ri, but her parents, husband and children have been sent to a prison camp.

Although an estimated 30,000 North Koreans are believed to secretly practice Christianity in their homes, the country views religion as a major threat. The government has authorized four state churches (one Catholic, one Russian Orthodox and two Protestant), but North Koreans cannot not attend services or publicly display their religious fervor.  Only the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, and his son, Kim Jong-il, may be worshiped in public.

NK religion Underground North Korean Christians (Source: Cornerstone Ministries)

Ironically, North Korean constitution guarantees religious freedom, and Pyongyang, the country’s capital, was once known as the “Jerusalem of the East” for its predominance of Christianity.  However, in reality, religious observances are extremely restricted, and violators are usually accused of spying or anti-government activities.  The Bible is also among the books banned in North Korea.  A U.S. government report found that an estimated 6,000 North Koreans Christians are jailed in “Prison No. 15” in northern North Korea, and religious prisoners face harsher treatment.

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its report, “What religious practice…exist[s]…(are) tightly controlled and used to advance the government’s political or diplomatic agenda…[A]nyone engaged in clandestine religious practice faces official discrimination, arrest, imprisonment, and possibly execution.”

According to reports by South Korean human rights groups, execution of Christians in North Korean appears to have increased.  In the past year, North Korea has tightened its control over human rights policies, and some believe this may be the result of the government’s means of securing transition of power from Kim Jong-il to his son.

For more information, please see:

BBC – North Korea ‘executes Christians’ – 24 July 2009

The Huffington Post – North Korea Executes Christian For Distributing Bible: Rights Group – 24 July 2009

The Philadelphia Inquirer – N. Korea is said to kill Christian – 25 July 2009

Several Church Leaders Released By Fiji Government

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Two detained Methodist leaders were released on bail Friday but warned not to meet.

The Reverend Manasa Lasaro and the Reverend Tomasi Kanailagi, both former Fiji Methodist Church presidents, appeared in court Friday afternoon on charges of contravening the Public Emergency Regulations.

The ministers were among several top clergymen arrested by police because of plans to go ahead with the church’s annual conference in spite of its cancellation by the interim government.

The interim government has banned the conference on the grounds that is is a political maneuvers by the ousted SDL Party but as yet the church has not issued an official statement canceling the event.

The SDL’s member for the Lami Open Constituency, Mere Tuisalolo Samisoni, says the Methodists make up the majority of Fiji’s population and the interim government is wrong to ban the conference.

“The people’s spririt cannot be stopped and that’s what democracy is all about. People’s right to choose, it’s a human right and that right is inalienable and for somebody to come, for a group of elite people to stop it, they cannot stop it. I mean it is the people who will choose to attend it or not,” Samisoni said.

Thursday, the church’s president and general secretary, along with the country’s highest ranking female chief, were also released on bail but prohibited from making public statements.

For more information, please see:
New Zealand International Radio – Church will never back down says Fiji’s SDL Party – 24 July 2009

New Zealand International Radio – Two more Fiji Methodist leaders released but warned not to meet – 24 July 2009

New Zealand International Radio – Fiji’s interim government accused of overstepping mark with church – 24 July 2009

The Christian Post – Fiji Church Leaders Freed, But Warned Not To Meet – 24 July 2009

UN Official Says Tensions Easing on the Israeli-Lebanese Border

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East  

BEIRUT, Lebanon – The tensions that have recently flared up in southern Lebanon have been to ease, according to a senior UN official.

On July 22, Michael Williams, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, met with the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Fawzi Salloukh. After the meeting, Williams said that the situation is calming down. Williams has also met with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and leaders from Hezbollah, in an effort to assuage concerns regarding UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 36-day war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

“All… have assured me strongly that active efforts are under way to reduce the tension and restore stability to the area,” said Williams.

Since July 13, the town of Khirbet Silim in Southern Lebanon has been the center of unrest in the past week, when there was an explosion from an alleged Hezbollah arms cache in an abandoned building, reportedly injuring thirty people. As the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) investigated the blast on July 17, fourteen UN peacekeepers were injured as civilians threw rocks and damaged vehicles in protest of the investigation, alleging that UNIFIL had overstepped its operational mandate. On July 22, UNIFIL refused to respond to such allegations, but a spokesperson said UNIFIL was awaiting the official report on the incidents.

Special Coordinator Williams said that the July 17 incident was being investigated thoroughly by both UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Forces, “to avoid anything like this happening again.”

Southern Lebanon has been the hub of political instability in the country, with Syrian nationals, al-Qaeda agents, and Hezbollah militants all accused of stirring up hostility and attacking UN peacekeepers.

For more information, please see:

The Daily Star – UNIFIL Silent Over Reports of Breaching Mandate – 23 July 2009

UN News Center – Tensions in Southern Lebanon ‘Calming Down’ After Incidents– 22 July 2009

Al-Jazeera – Lebanon Army Arrests ‘Terror Cell’– 21 July 2009

Methodist Church Leaders Silenced as World Leaders Condemn Fiji Interim PM’s Actions

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – A Fiji court has stopped two Fiji Methodist Church Ministers and the paramount chief Ro Teimumu Kepa from holding meetings for at least the next 21 days, after they were arrested for defying Emergency Regulations set up by the interim government.

In April, Fiji Interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, implemented emergency regulations which makes it illegal for groups that have anti-government views to organize.

Matelita Ragogo, a reporter for Radio New Zealand International, said, “In the next 21 days, they are not allowed to have any meetings, they are not allowed to be seen in public or conduct anything that might be construed to be a meeting. They had to surrender all their travel documents, and Ro Teimumu in particular, she is not to publish any other material pertaining to the annual conference of the Methodist church.”

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key have condemned the arrests of the Methodist Church leaders, saying those actions are indicative of the type of power the interim regime has held over the Fijian people since the military coup in 2006.

“We absolutely condemn what has occurred. It does show a consistent course of conduct so far as Commander Bainimarama and the interim military is concerned. This is just another very regrettable example of the regime further isolating itself from the international community and further stepping back from democracy and civil and human rights,” Mr. Smith said.

Ro Teimumu, Reverend Ame Tugaue, who is the church president, and the Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, who is the secretary general, are awaiting their court appearances in three weeks.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Charges silence Fiji church conference organisers – 23 July 2009

Taiwan News – Australian FM condemns Fiji church arrests – 23 July 2009

Stuff.co.nz – Wave of Fiji arrests alarms Key – 23 July 2009

Plan to Evacuate Outposts Approved Amid Increasing International Pressure

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East Desk

JERUSALEM, Israel– The news agency Ha’aretz broke the news on July 21 that Israeli leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu had created a plan to swiftly evacuate twenty-three illegal outposts on the west bank.

The term “outpost” was initially defined in a report by lawyer Talia Sasson as a piece of land “lying a significant distance from an existing settlement and established with disregard to the law.” The government commissioned her study in 2005, in which 105 communities were identified as outposts. An estimated 8,000 settlers live at the outposts set to be evacuated.

No official date for the evacuation has been released, although the leaked information says that the evacuations will be very quick. Although the source of the information is anonymous, the report comes from the same reporter to whom former prime minister Ariel Sharon released plans to withdraw troops and settlers from the Gaza strip in 2005. Netanyahu’s officials have declined to comment on the plans, but soldiers executed a military exercise in preparation for riots and protests that are expected to occur with the evacuation. Moreover, the security administration designed the plan with Netanyahu’s knowledge and approval. This plan would comply with an agreement that was made with President George W. Bush to remove the outposts built after March 2001.

The last such evacuation attempt happened in 2006 with an outpost known as Amona. However, ultranationalist protesters flooded Amona, and violent protests broke out. More than 300 were injured in the struggle and Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, cited excessive violence and police brutality in the action. Furthermore, when three illegal structures at outposts in the West Bank were evacuated on July 21, and settlers torched Palestinian olive groves, threw stones at Palestinian Cars, and blocked roads. The displaced settlers have threatened a larger “price tag” for further evacuations.

The proposed evacuations will happen very quickly and simultaneously to minimize the chance of failure. It is hoped that violence will be significantly decreased if there is no time for protesters to travel to the evacuation. Additionally, with all of the evacuations occurring simultaneously and at an unannounced time, there will be no time for planning, so it will be difficult for protesters to gather in significant numbers at all of the locations.

There has been increasing pressure from the international community for the peace process to restart in Israel. Earlier in 2009, US President Barack Obama told Israel that the settlement expansion needed to stop in order for peace to occur, and other leaders are now supporting this message. Most recently Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko, and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have issued statements encouraging Israel to halt further settlement expansion.

For more information, please see:

Sydney Morning Herald – Plan to Evacuate Settler Outposts – 22 July 2009

Y-Net – UN Secretary General: Israel Must Halt Settlement Building – 22 July 2009

Christian Science Monitor – Is Israel Serious About Closing 23 Fringe Settlements? – 21 July 2009

Haaretz – Ex-envoy to US: Israel ‘totally committed’ to Razing Outposts – 21 July 2009

Jerusalem Post – Russia Calls on Israel to Halt Construction in East Jerusalem – 21 July 2009

The Washington Post – Israel to Evacuate all Outposts in a Day: Report – 21 July 2009