Vietnam Releases Anti-Corruption Journalist

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HANOI, Vietnam – Nguyen Viet Chien, a well known anti-corruption reporter for the Thanh Nien newspaper, was granted the Lunar New Year amnesty. On January 15th, Vietnamese President Nguyen Mihn Triet signed for Chien’s freedom before his jail term ended. Chien is one amongst 15,000 prisoners to be freed before the prisoner’s jail term.

Among those to be released as part of the Lunar New Year amnesty are 36 foreigners including 19 Chinese, five Taiwanese, four Cambodians, three Malaysians, one Briton, one French, one South Korean, one Laotian, and one Sri Lankan.

In May 2008, Chien and his colleague Nguyen Van Hai was arrested for covering a high profile scandal where government officials were accused of misusing large sums of public funds. In October Chien was charged with “abusing freedom and democratic rights” and sentenced to two years in jail. Throughout trial Chien maintained his innocence. Chien’s arrest and conviction caused an international outcry.

Chien’s colleague, Hai pleaded guilty and was awarded a lenient sentence to two years of re-education without detention. International Media Watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, called the prosecution of Chien and Hai as a “terrible step backwards for investigative journalism in Vietnam”.

The Vice Minister of Public Security Le The Tiem told reporters that “Nguyen Viet Chien will be released in this presidential amnesty for showing remorse while serving his sentence,” and “Mr. Chien co-operated with the authorities so he was granted this special amnesty.”

Reporters Without Borders said, “This early release is obviously a good thing in itself, but it will not make us forget that this journalist should never have gone to prison in the first place … This case now being closed, it is time for the government to introduce reforms that will prevent this kind of scandal happening again.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Official: Vietnam to Release Jailed Reporter Early– 16 January 2009

BBC – Vietnam Reporter Freed in Amnesty– 16 January 2009

RSF – Government Announces Early Release of Journalist Nguyen Viet Chien– 19 January 2009

Ill-Treatment of Rohingya in Myanmar

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Hundreds of thousands Rohingya, a Muslim minority from the western part of Myanmar, have fled the country to escape poverty and oppression.  The military rulers do not recognize the Rohingya as Myanmar citizens.  They are denied citizenship under the1982 citizenship law, and often harassed and beaten by the security forces.  They must obtain an official permit to travel from town to town.

Rohingya are subjected to routine forced labor in Myanmar.  Chris Lewa at the Arakan Project says that typically a Rohingya man will have to give up one day a week to work on military or government projects, and one night for sentry duty. However, Myanmar Buddhists living in the area are not required to do this.

Myanmar’s senior official has described the Rohingya as “ugly as ogres.”  According to the South China Morning Post, the country’s Consul General Ye Myint Aung wrote to heads of foreign missions in Hong Kong and local newspapers stating the Muslim tribe should not be described as being from Myanmar.  “In reality, Rohingya are neither Myanmar people nor Myanmar’s ethnic group,” he said.  The envoy also contrasted the “dark brown” Rohingya complexion with the “fair and soft” skin of people from Myanmar, the Post reported.

The US has called on Junta to stop persecuting its Rohingya Muslim minority.  “The US was aware of the fleeing of Rohingyas from Myanmar for persecution and economic reasons,” Mr. Boucher told a news conference in Dhaka.  “It’s a matter of concern and the US wants that Myanmar stops the persecution of Rohingyas.”

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), about 230,000 Rohingya now live in Bangladesh, having fled from abuse by Junta.  Refugees have told stories about how the military authorities there have beaten and abused them.  Many have shown scars on their bodies they claimed were caused by Burmese soldiers whipping them as a warning not to return to the country.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Myanmar envoy brands boatpeople ‘ugly as ogres’: report – 11 February 2009

BBC – Burma ‘must stop Rohingya abuse‘ – 09 February 2009

BBC – What drives the Rohingya to sea? – 05 February 2009

Jurist – Mistreatment of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority requires coordinated regional response – 11 February 2009

Thai Soldiers Accused of Torturing in the South

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand – On January 13th, Amnesty International released a report accusing the Thai military of engaging in “systematic torture” on suspected Muslim insurgents in the Southern Thailand.

The Thai government has been engaged in a conflict with Malay separatists in the South since 2004 where 3,500 have died. The Muslim majority in the South mainly speaks a Malay dialect. In 2004, a group of Muslim insurgents stormed an army depot, killed 4 soldiers, stole weapons, and burned down 20 schools. As a response, the then-Thai government wanted to “win the hearts and minds” of the Muslim majority and promised a new approach to the South. Currently 30,000 Thai soldiers are stationed in the South.

Torture is outlawed in Thailand. However, in Amnesty International’s report, it documented instances of torture by Thai security forces since 2007.  34 torture cases were cited, which included four torture victims who died in custody.

Amnesty International believes there are 21 unofficial detention centers where insurgent suspects are detained and mistreated. NGOs, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, are denied access to these facilities making it difficult for human rights groups to monitor abuses. The detainees are also denied visits by relatives and lawyers.

The Muslim paramilitary units are also blamed for violence. Since 2004, insurgents have attacked civilians, targeted Buddhist monks and school teachers, and tortured and killed soldiers and police. “We understand the pressure they are under. But there are simply no circumstances under which torture is justified,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International South East Asia team.

The new Thai government also promised a new approach to the South. On December 25, 2008 the government formed an investigation team to look into the death of Yapa Kaseng, a local Muslim Imam. The inquest named Thai soldiers responsible for Kaseng’s death. Human rights advocates argue that criminal charges should be brought against those responsible in order for the new government’s claims to have credibility.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Thai Troops ‘Torturing in South’ – 13 January 2009

BBC –Thailand’s Savage Southern Conflict– 13 January 2009

Financial Times – Thai Army Accused of Torture in Report– 13 January 2009

Audit of Bainimarama’s Controversial Payout May Not Be Made Public

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Auditor General Eroni Vatuloka has said an investigation report into a payout of $184,740 to interim PM Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama will be ready by the end of February.  The payout was reportedly for leave he said he was owed in 1978.  Mr. Vatuloka normally reports directly to Parliament, who would then make the report public.  However, under the interim regime, the reports have gone to the interim finance minister.  Currently the interim finance minister is Bainimarama.

Mr. Vatuloka began investigations in to the payout in July when the payout was made public.  Bainimarama was back-paid for 698 days, totaling $20,406.71.  At the time Bainimrama referred all questions to the army chief-of-staff, Colonel Mohammed Aziz.  Colonel Aziz denied it was a payout and said 40 officers who were seconded since the 2006 coup received similar treatment.  He said it was unfortunate Bainimarama was not paid the money until he was interim Prime Minister.

Professor Wadan Narsey has expressed concerns over the lack of transparency of Fiji’s interim government.  Narsey said, “A terribly loud question has to be asked: Why are our corporate bodies, our senior accounting firms, and our employers’ federations not demanding that the Auditor General and the Interim Government must release the audit reports to the public?”

It is unclear at this point whether the final auditor’s report will be made public.

For more information, please see:
Fiji Times – PM Audit – 10 February 2009

Fiji Times – Audit report not for public – 10 February 2009

HRW: New Bangladesh Government Should Reform Human Rights

By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – International human rights group, Human Rights Watch, urged the new Awami League government of Bangladesh to reform human rights policies. In the past there have been reports of abuses by Bangladeshi police and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite security force that rights groups hold accountable for extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and torture.

Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia director, said, Bangladesh’s “ new government has a large majority and a public hungry for reform …We look forward to the government using the strong mandate the prime minister and her party have obtained to tackle the very serious abuses that Bangladeshis face at the hands of the security forces and others.”

A human rights group told APF, security forces in Bangladesh unlawfully shot or tortured to death at least 149 people in 2008 when the country was ruled by an army-backed government.

Reportedly, 137 people were shot dead by police and the RAB, and 12 were tortured to death. The Bangladesh government said the killings occurred when suspects resisted arrest or were caught in crossfire between criminals and security forces. A surge in “crossfire” deaths began in 2004 when the then-democratically elected government set up the RAB to stem rising crime. Since RAB’s inception, the elite force has been accused of killing more than 540 people, mainly crime suspects and outlawed Maoists.

However, Odhikar, a Bangladeshi human rights group, said the killings were unlawful. The organization said, “What worries Odhikar and others is the absolute impunity enjoined with extrajudicial killings … None of the killings are investigated or perpetrators made to account.”

When an army-backed government took over in January 2007 after a state of emergency was imposed, people were killed, elections were cancelled, and press freedom curbed.

On December 29 2008, the secular Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina, who had served previously as a prime minister, won the elections. Adams said, “How the government responds to recommendations for human rights progress at the Human Rights Council will be an early test for the new government.”

For more information, please see:


APF – Bangladesh Security Forces Illegally Kill 149 in 2008: Rights Group -17 January 2009

Daily Star –149 Killed in Extra-judicial Action in ’08 – 8 January 2009

HRW – Bangladesh: New Government Should Act on Rights – 29 January 2009