Human Rights Violations Against Members of Tlapaneco Activist Organizations

By Maria E. Molina
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUERRO, Mexico – On Tuesday, Amnesty International demanded the immediate release of five Indian activists jailed in southern Mexico on suspicion of homicide.

Amnesty International contends that all five are innocent of the murder charges and their detention and prosecution is politically motivated. The activists were detained in connection with the Jaunary killing of a government supporter in the mountain community of El Camalote. Leftist rebel groups and drug traffickers have been active in this area over the past decade.

The five activists, belonging to the Organization of the Tlapaneco Indian People, were arrested in April.  The organization is an activist group that has protested army patrols and forced sterilization of some men in their remote mountain communities in the 1990s.

A court ruled in late October that there was not enough evidence to continue holding the five men, but federal prosecutors appealed that ruling, guaranteeing the men would remain in jail.  It is believed that the men’s continued prosecution is aimed at quashing the protest movement. The Mexican government has sought to decimate and disband the Tlapaneco organization.

This story illustrates a wider pattern of abuse against human rights activists in Guerrero in Mexico. Authorities have often misused the judicial system to punish those who promote respect for the rights of marginalized communities and dare to speak up about abuses. In June, Guerrero state authorities agreed to pay 35,000 pesos ($3,400 at the time) in compensation to 14 indigenous Mexican men coerced into having vasectomies, and give them water storage tanks and cement to build homes.  Other parts of the compensation agreement, the punishment for the authorities who coerced the men into the procedure, and the construction of rural health clinics have been unfulfilled.

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Mexico: Amnesty International adopts five indigenous rights defenders as prisoners of conscience – 11 November 2008

Taiwan News – Amnesty demands Mexico release Indian activists – 12 November 2008

UK MSN – Amnesty International says Mexico Indian activists are prisoners of conscience, demands release – 12 November 2008

Fiji High Court Upholds Human Rights

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Today, the Fiji High Court dismissed all charges against a businessman who was accused last year of plotting to kill Fiji’s interim prime minister.

Last November, Mr. Ballu Khan, a businessman from New Zealand, was viciously beaten by police and subsequently hospitalized. He was then arrested on suspicion of conspiring to assassinate Fiji’s interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, as well as two other cabinet members. Mr. Khan was kept in custody for 60 days without appearing before a judge.

After suffering the beating, Mr. Khan was unable to walk, and he underwent two operations to remove blood clots.

“I probably came very close to either being paralyzed or killed. The most dangerous injury I had was at the base of my skull, and the doctors thought I had a basal skull fracture,” Mr. Khan told New Zealand Herald reporters.

Mr. Khan’s lawyer, Peter Williams QC, says that Mr. Khan has been granted a permanent stay as a result of the police and military’s unlawful treatment.

Today, Justice Andrew Bruce of Fiji’s High Court, held that Mr. Khan was unlawfully detained after police failed to both charge him with an offense in a reasonable period of time, and to provide him with access to an attorney. These failures, Justice Bruce says, are a denial of Mr. Khan’s fundamental human rights.

“. . .Mr Khan’s rights were violated on a sufficiently egregious basis that to countenance such behavior would indeed bring the system of justice under law in Fiji into disrepute if it was simply left to pass,” Justice Bruce said.

Justice Bruce admitted that granting a stay is unusual, but was necessary in this case because Mr. Khan’s fundamental right to personal liberty was violated.

Justice Bruce added, “Personal liberty is a basic human right. While it is invidious to rank human rights, personal liberty must, on any view, be in the upper ranks of human rights. The right to confidential legal advice is, on any view, fundamental to the maintenance of the rule of law and must rank in the same level as rights to access to justice and the courts.”

The High Court’s decision to uphold Mr. Khan’s human rights comes at a pivotal time in Fiji’s political landscape. In 2006, Bainimarama led a bloodless coup of Fiji’s Federal Government. Since that time, he has promised to restore democracy to Fiji but has yet to relinquish power or hold elections. Last month, a three judge court validated the 2006 coup, giving legitimacy to the interim government.

Mr. Khan told reporters today that he hopes to go home to New Zealand as soon as possible.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Fiji court drops charges against NZ man Khan – 12 November 2008

Fiji Times – Ballu Walks – 13 November 2008

Radio New Zealand International – Ballu Khan’s lawyer says compensation will be sought – 13 November 2008

New Zealand Herald – NZ businessman held in Fiji to claim damages – 13 November 2008

Myanmar Sentenced 14 Democracy Advocates to Jail for 65 Years

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Fourteen democracy advocates of the 88 Generation Students were sentenced to prison terms of 65 years each, according to regional news accounts and reports on a Web site for exiles. The activists were sentenced during a closed-door hearing in Yangon.  “Family members were not allowed to attend the hearing,” the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said in a statement.

Many of the activists were arrested during anti-junta protests last year.  The protests lead to massive pro-democracy demonstrations, which were resulted in a military crackdown by the Junta.  Amnesty International and other international human rights groups condemned the Junta’s action.  “It’s a powerful reminder that Myanmar’s military government is ignoring calls by the international community to clean up its human rights record.” Amnesty International said in a statement.

Nyunt Nyunt Oo, mother of 31-year-old Pandeik Tun, one of the 14, said her son and others were sentenced under various charges including the so-called 5/96 law declaring that anyone who demonstrates, makes speeches or writes statements undermining stability will face up to 20 years in prison. She said the other charges involved the Video Act, the Foreign Exchange act, the Electronics Act and links with illegal groups.  Oo stated she will not appeal the decision because she does not think any effort will make a difference.

On Monday, a court gave a 20-year sentence to blogger Nay Phone Latt, who was arrested in January after his blog in Myanmar was banned.  Also, a leading Myanmar poet Saw Wai, who is accused of penning a secret anti-junta message in one of his works, received two years at the same hearing, according to the spokesman Nyan Win of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

For more information, please see:

AP – Myanmar: Long sentences for democracy advocates – 11 November 2008

AP – Relatives: Myanmar activists get long prison terms – 11 November 2008

AFP – Govt slams jailing of Myanmar activists – 11 November 2008

International Herald Tribune – Myanmar sentences 14 dissidents – 11 November 2008

Reuters – Myanmar jails dissidents for 65 years – 11 November 2008

Two Dead Amid Protests in Nicaragua After Allegations of Voting Irregularities

By Karla E General

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – At least two people have been killed and six others injured in Nicaragua in the days following the Sunday election of new representatives in 146 municipalities.  Official election results have placed 94 mayorships in Sandinista hands, with 46 going to the opposition party, the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC). With the majority of votes now being counted in favor of the Sandinista party, protests erupted on Monday between Sandinistas and supporters of the opposition party, the PLC.

Nicaragua’s police chief Aminta Granera dispatched anti-riot forces to the streets of Managua on Monday to contain the violent clashes between supporters and opponents of President Daniel Ortega. Opponents of Ortega’s Sandinista government are claiming the municipal elections were rigged by Ortega’s government.

Xin_23211051121405001899656_2Nicaraguan people prepare to throw stones in a demonstration to support opposition candidate Eduardo Montealegre who rejected municipal poll results by the Electoral Supreme Council. (Xinhua Photo)

Ortega has been accused of manipulating the elections and has prevented at least two groups from being observers at polling places, including the Nicaraguan civic group Ethics and Transparency, which reported a 32 percent rate of irregularities at the polling places it was able to monitor. The Organization of American States (OAS) and U.S. State Department have also denounced Ortega’s ban of OAS observers from Nicaraguan polling stations: “Unfortunately the Supreme Electoral Council’s decision to not accredit credible domestic and international election observers has made it difficult to properly assess the conduct of the election…We urge the government of Nicaragua to ensure that the official election results accurately reflect the will of the Nicaraguan people” – Robert Wood, U.S. State Department spokesman.

Ortega, dismissing the allegations of fraud against his government, stated that election observers were rightly rejected from the political process “because they are financed by outside powers.”

The PLC will likely contest the results in court.

For more information, please see:

The Associated Press – Nicaraguan Opposition Demands Election Review – 11 November 2008

BBC News – Nicaragua Election Clash ‘Deaths’ – 11 November 2008

Bloomberg – Nicaragua Election Results Provoke Clashes in Managua – 11 November 2008

Tibet and Chinese Government Failed to Make Any Progress

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Fifty-five Tibetans have received prison sentences for their involvement in anti-government riots on March 14th, according to the vice chairman of the Tibet regional government, Baema Cewang. The prison sentences range from three years to life, Xinhua reported.  It did not give details of how the sentences were handed down or what sort of trial the prisoners had received, if any.

The anti-government riot, led by Buddhist monks, erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on March 14th.  The protests soon turned violent, with demonstrators burning vehicles and shops, and attacking Han Chinese living and working in Lhasa.  The March riot led to a government crackdown in the region and other Tibetan areas in western China.

The report came as representatives of the Dalai Lama, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, met with Chinese officials to discuss Tibet policies and the status of the Dalai Lama.  A senior Chinese official ruled out giving Tibet the kind of autonomy that Beijing grants Hong Kong.  Du Qinglin, head of a government department in charge of the talks, says, “It is impossible for Tibet to become independent, semi-independent, or independent in a disguised form, ” and called the Dalai Lama to face reality.

The talks failed to make any progress, according to Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.  He said the Dalai Lama side should “shoulder full responsibility for that.” Although the two sides have engaged in “frank and sincere” talks, there are still “serious divergences” of opinion, according to the Chinese government.  Mr. Zhu alleged that a memorandum presented by the Tibetans contained proposals were unacceptable, such as a plan to withdraw Chinese troops from Tibetan areas.  “It clearly shows they had not given up their dream of independence,” he said. China would not accept any mid-way such as “independence, half-independence or covert independence,” he added.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Tibetans blamed for failed talks – 10 November 2008

CNN – China sentences 55 people over Tibet riots – 05 November 2008

Guardian – China reveals fresh sentences for Tibet unrest – 05 November 2008

New York Times – China Has Sentenced 55 Over Tibet Riot in March – 05 November 2008

XinHua – China says no compromise on national sovereignty, refutes Dalai’s so-called “middle way” – 10 November 2008