Fiji Police Arrest Church Leaders

By Angela Marie Watkins
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s interim Prime Minister has confirmed that several Methodist church leaders were taken into police custody and will appear in court Thursday afternoon.

The arrests follow several ongoing tussles over the past few months between the interim government and the church as to whether its annual conference can go ahead. Fiji’s military government has already banned the meeting once, accusing the church of being too political and setting conditions for future talks.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Neumi Leweni said Wednesday that the overnight arrests followed the Methodist Church leaders’ decision to include “political issues” in the program for the church’s annual conference rather than promoting “spiritual development.”

“This was a clear breach of the Public Emergency Regulation and also not a matter for the church to discuss,” Leweni said. Under the regulation, meetings and protests are banned. Leweni said the church leaders would be released when investigations were completed, but the conference was canceled.

Among those arrested was former president of the Fiji Methodist Church, Reverend Manasa Lasaro; General Secretary, Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu; the Secretary for Pastoral Ministry, Tomasi Kanailagi; and the Church’s Finance Secretary Viliame Gonelevu. The general secretary was taken in on Tuesday night and others were detained the next morning.

The country’s most senior female High Chief, Rewa Province’s Ro Teimumu Kepa, was also taken into custody, allegedly for a letter outlining her intention to allow the church to hold the conference in her province next month.

Commodore Frank Bainimarama says both Ro Teimumu and the church leaders breached the conditions of the permit given to them when the standing committee met seven days ago.

The Methodist Church in Fiji has said that eight of its senior members are being held by police for questioning.

For more information, please see:
BBC – Fiji police hold church leaders – 22 July 2009

Associated Press – Methodists arrested amid Fiji military crackdown – 22 July 2009

New Zealand International Radio – Fiji’s interim leader confirms Methodist leaders in court this afternoon – 22 July 2009

New Zealand International Radio – People of Fiji’s Rewa province fear for detained high chief’s safety – 22 July 2009

Explosion in Lebanon May Indicate “Severe Violations” of UN Resolution by Hezbollah

By Nykoel Dinardo
Senior Desk Officer, Middle East

United Nations – On July 14, an explosion in Southern Lebanon triggered a slew of accusations that Hezbollah has been and is still violating UN Resolution 1701 by gathering and storing arms.  Resolution 1701, which was signed in 2006, led to a halt in firing between Hezbollah and Israel following a 34 day armed conflict.  It imposed a strict embargo on weapons to Lebanese or foreign militias in Lebanon. 

According to Israeli military officials, the explosion in Lebanon was composed of “a new stock of short range missiles” and that those weapons were the property of Hezbollah.  Israeli Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi explained to journalists on July 15 that he believed the building also contained mortars, shells, rockets and other ammunition as well.  The explosion collapsed a two-story building on the outskirts of the village of Khirbet Silim, twelve miles from the Israeli border.  The cause of the explosion is still unclear.  No one was injured in the blast.  However, many residents in the area were panicked as the explosion took place on the third anniversary of the 2006 war. 

Israeli officials asked for an official UN investigation.  Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev asked the UN to take action and at least begin an investigation citing this incident, and two others, that she claims are “severe violations” of Resolution 1701.  The UN sent an envoy of soldiers serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.  However, demonstrations at the site of the explosion turned violent when UN soldiers arrived.  Fourteen soldiers were injured and several UN vehicles were damages.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams has spoken out since this incident calling for restraint.  Williams said that the UN needs to “lower the temperature, to try and address the issues and not see any escalation” of the situation.  In a statement to the press on July 20 explained that “clearly there were violations of 1701” and he has been meeting with several Lebanese officials to address the problem.  He called on both Lebanon and Israel to renew their commitment to the Resolution and exercise restraint during this period.

For more information, please see:

United Nations – Top UN Envoy Urges Restraint After Recent Incident in Southern Lebanon – 21 July 2009

Associated Press – Israel to Lebanon: Stop Border Violations – 20 July 2009

CNN – Lebanon: Crowd Attack U.N. Peacekeepers – 20 July 2009

AFP – Israel Demands Tougher UN Action Against Hezbollah Arms – 16 July 2009

New York Times – Israel Sees Evidence of Hezbollah’s Rearming in Explosion – 15 July 2009

Ynet – Explosion in Hezbollah Arms Cache Stirs Panic in South Lebanon – 14 July 2009

China’s “All-Out Attack” Against Lawyers

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW YORK, United States – The Chinese government has closed down a legal aid center in Beijing and has disbarred 53 lawyers in an all-out effort to silence the country’s human rights defenders.

Last Friday, Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau officials raided and closed a nongovernmental legal research center, Open Constitution Initiative (OCI).  OCI takes on “officially sensitive” cases for groups and individuals whose fight for justice is hindered by China’s political system.

The officials claimed that OCI was closed down for failure to pay taxes and for improper registration, but OCI believes that the forced closure was politically motivated.  Sophie Richardson of Human Rights Watch said, “The attack on OCI marks a new low in the Chinese government’s campaign against human rights defenders.  This is precisely the kind of organization whose work the government should value….”

Among the 53 lawyers who were disbarred included an eminent civil rights lawyer, Jiang Tianyong, who has represented high-profile Tibetan monks and victims of slave labor rings.  Other lawyers, whose works include representing HIV/AIDS patients and peasants in land disputes, have been taken by the police, handcuffed and beaten.  There are also reports of law firms being forced to close.

China attack rights lawyers Chinese petitioners whose legal channels have been frustrated (Source: AP)

The Beijing Justice Bureau announced that lawyers’ licenses were revoked because the individuals had failed to apply for re-registration.  However, critics argue that the Chinese government is intentionally removing means through which Chinese citizens can obtain legal assistance.  Furthermore, Beijing Bureau of Legal Affairs issued a notice to lawyers telling them to be “cautious” in defending suspects linked to the recent riots in Urumqi. 

Tang Jitian, whose license has been revoked and is under house arrest, said, “Some authorities don’t like those lawyers who speak for the people.  They think we are enemies…What police and the authorities are doing is destroying Chinese law.”

Human Rights in China and its executive director Sharon Hom also voiced their concerns saying, “This suppression will inevitably lead to…creating greater disadvantages for already persecuted groups and greater social instability.”

Human Rights Watch is urging the Chinese government to make a choice since “eliminating legal aid, banning legal research, and hobbling lawyers” will only hurt the Chinese society.

For more information, please see:

Guardian – China accused of ‘all-out attack’ on lawyers – 8 June 2009

The Huffington Post – China’s Civil Rights Lawyers: The New Enemies of the State – 20 July 2009

Human Rights Watch – China: Cease Attacks on Rights Lawyers – 17 July 2009

Watered Down Version of the Nakba Law Leaves Committee

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel– A bill that would deny government funding to state-supported groups that give monetary support to activity that is deemed “detrimental to the state” was passed through a ministerial committee on July 19. The bill was introduced by Avigdor Lieberman’s ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.

Many Palestinians fear that this bill will effectively limit their speech, because supporting “armed struggle or terrorist acts” against Israel or “rejecting Israel’s existence as the state of the Jewish people” are examples of activities that would qualify as “detrimental to the state.”

This bill is a diluted version of a bill that was abandoned in June, after it was deemed to stringent. The original bill was also introduced by Lieberman and the Yisrael Beitenu party. The first bill would have made it a crime to observe “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” on Israel’s Independence Day. Nakba is the Palestinian recognition of the creation of Israel. The holiday is designed to recognizethe “catastrophe” that Israel’s creation was for many Palestinian citizens.

The original bill would have also forced sixteen year-old Israelis and new citizens to take a loyalty oath in order to receive an ID card. The Loyalty oath required each citizen to pledge loyalty to the “State of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state.”

The loyalty oath provision was removed from the newer version, and instead of an explicit banning of the celebration of Nakba, funding restrictions have been imposed. While much less harsh, many Arab citizens of Israel are still very offended by the withholding of government funds for what they see as free speech.

For more information please see,

AFP – Israel Committee Passes Softened Naqba Bill – 19 July 2009

Haaretz – Revised Bill Would Ban Funding Nakba Events – 19 July 2009

Jerusalem Post – ‘Softer’ Version of Nakba Bill to be Approved – 19 July 2009

Reuters- Bill Outlawing anti-Israel Protest Nears Approval– 19 July 2009

Impunity Watch – Israel ‘Loyalty Oath’ Bill Voted Down in Committee – 1 June 2009

China Claims Riots Premeditated by Uighurs

By Alishba I. Kassim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – China says it has accumulated evidence that the riots in Urumqi that ended up killing nearly 200 people were part of a coordinated attack.

Security officials were quoted on Monday in the state-run press as saying that surveillance videos showed women in Islamic robes and head coverings issuing orders to rioters. One woman is said to have given out clubs for the attack. “Such dressing is very rare in Uqumqi, but these kind of women were seen many times at different locations on surveillance cameras that day.”

The rioting broke out several hours after police allegedly calmed a crowd of thousands of protesting Uighurs, a Turkic minority. The Uighurs were speaking out against the discrimination they face by the Chinese authorities. Authorities claim that “gangs” of Uighurs attacked the Han majority of China at random, and rampaged through Urumqi, a city of 2.3 million. The state-run media sources claim the attacks began simultaneously at 50 different locations throughout the city.

The Chinese government has been insisting that the riots were planned, and are now presenting evidence after being criticized internationally for not stopping the violence. Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based “terrorism expert” said, “It is true that there is significant radicalization of a tiny segment of the Uighur community, but the Chinese government has not as yet presented convincing evidence that this was a coordinated attack.”

The Uighurs used to be a majority in northwestern China, but have now become a minority having lost jobs and influence due to a heavy influx of the Han population. Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress, said, the Chinese government is “obscuring the truth in order to conceal a mass killing of Uighurs by Chinese security forces.”

For more information, please see:

Los Angeles Times – China Says it has Evidence Riots were Planned – July 20, 2009  

The New York Times – China Says its Forces Killed 12 – July 20, 2009 

The Wall Street Journal – Uighurs Lose Economic Ground to Han – July 20, 2009