[Onthebarricades] Repression news, global South, Apr-Aug 2008
Andy
ldxar1 at tesco.net
Sat Aug 30 00:32:34 PDT 2008
ON THE BARRICADES: Global Resistance Roundup, April-August 2008
https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/onthebarricades
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/
* INDIA, Gujarat: Persecution of postcolonial academic draws criticism
* CHINA/TIBET: China releases 1157 Tibet detainees, convicts 42
Sentences vary from 3 years to life
* BAHRAIN: Shi'ite protesters released in royal pardon; 30 remain
imprisoned
* PAKISTAN: Mistreatment of religious minorities
* LIBYA: Human rights group denounces protest detentions
* EGYPT: Deportations of Eritreans despite protests
* MOROCCO: King pardons Mayday protesters
* PALESTINE: Hamas suppresses protests, assemblies
* OAXACA: Protest leader freed from prison
* SOUTH AFRICA: Zimbabwean refugees at risk of deportation for China
protest; UNHCR denounces deportations
* CHINA: Tibetan protesters denied fair trial
* JORDAN: Palestinian demonstration banned
* CHINA: One arrested, five detained over Chengdu protest
* MYANMAR/BURMA: Imprisoned protester's life at risk
* UGANDA: Constitutional Court voids anti-protest law
* EGYPT: State attacks al-Jazeera over protest coverage
* VENEZUELA: Spy law raises civil liberties worries
* KENYA: Odinga demands release of jailed protesters
* INDIA: Railways plan collective punishment over protest blockages
* INDIA: Polygraph tests, brain scans used in "anti-terror" persecution
* SOUTH KOREA: Courts crack down on protesters, but also punish police
* NEPAL: Supreme Court voids jailing of Tibetans
* PHILIPPINES: Media protests court ruling as blow to press freedom
* SOUTH AFRICA: Police threaten service delivery protesters
* IRAN: Iconic protester freed at last
* PERU: Protesters arrested under obscure anti-foreigner law
* BAHRAIN: Shi'ites sentenced to jail for protests
* CHINA: Tibetans, Uighur victimised
* IRAN: Mass execution condemned
* CHINA: Public execution of Uighurs ahead of Games
* CAMEROON: President pardons, commutes protest prisoners' sentences
* TANZANIA: Students suspended for role in protests
* CHINA: Monks jailed for life, 20 years
* CHINA: Man who applies for protest permit "disappeared"
* IRAQ: America encircles opposition stronghold with concrete blocks
* THAILAND: Plan for protest repression "could spell end of govt"
* SINGAPORE: Seven charged over IMF-WB protests two years ago
* VIETNAM: Minority protesters jailed for six years
* KENYA: Schools crack down over unrest
* SOUTH KOREA: Riot police to be professionalised
* MOROCCO: Rights activist jailed for publishing death accusation over
Sidi Ifni
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Academics_protest_against_Ashis_Nandys_harassment/rssarticleshow/3143477.cms
Academics protest against Ashis Nandy's harassment
19 Jun 2008, 0300 hrs IST,TNN
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NEW DELHI: Over 150 academics and activists from India and rest of the world
have issued a strong protest note against the harassment of renowned social
scientist Ashis Nandy and have demanded withdrawal of charges slapped on
him.
"We write to protest in the strongest possible terms against the charges of
criminal offence levelled against Ashis Nandy, a political psychologist,
sociologist and an internationally renowned public intellectual of the
highest calibre. This is the latest case of harassment of intellectuals,
journalists, artistes and public figures by anti-democratic forces that
claim to speak on behalf of Hindu values sometimes and patriotism at other
times, especially in Gujarat, but who have little understanding of either.
"What is pernicious in this case is that the charge of criminal offence
against Nandy levied under Section 153 A and B for his newspaper article,
'Blame the Middle Classes', was brought by the head of the Gujarat branch of
the National Council of Civil Liberties. The state government of Gujarat by
giving its permission for filing the case has shown its own complicity in
the case." The article was published in The Times of India.
The signatories include academics Veena Das of Johns Hopkins University,
Sanjay Subrahmaniam of University of California, Partha Chatterjee of
Columbia University, Rajeev Bhargava of CSDS, Richard Falk of Princeton
University, Lawrence Cohen, University of California, Uma Chakravarty,
writer Pankaj Mishra and activist Harsh Mander of Aman Biradari.
The statement goes on to say, "It seems part of the strategy of the most
intolerant sections of Indian society today to make a cynical use the
language of civil liberties to achieve ends that are the opposite of what
the aspirations to civil liberties and the struggles over them represent."
"The harassment of well-known intellectuals and artists hides we fear, the
daily intimidation being faced by members of minorities and especially the
Muslims in Gujarat. We demand that all the charges against Professor Nandy
be immediately dropped."
One of the signatories, Pratap Bhanu Mehta of Centre for Policy Research,
says that the Modi government's action is part of a systematic pattern where
freedom of expression is assaulted. "You don't have to agree with Nandy's
article. But the idea that in a democratic society, people using the law and
the state machinery to target academic freedom, is cause for deep worry. To
file criminal charges for making an argument is ridiculous. It appears that
academics have to consistently make it clear that they have the right make
arguments in public sphere without being subjected to intimidation or
harassment," says Mehta.
Another signatory, political scientist Nivedita Menon, points out that the
piece doesn't attack Narendra Modi directly; rather it makes sharply
critical observations about the communalization of the Gujarat middle-class.
Says Menon, "Obviously, Nandy's sharp insight is more troubling to the
Hindutva brigade. He seems to have held a mirror to the Gujarati
middle-class and obviously they don't like what they see."
She adds, "This is just the latest incident in a growing list of attacks -
PUCL activists, Mallika Sarabhai to name a couple - on freedom of expression
in Gujarat. Any voice of dissent to Modi's politics of hatred is being
muzzled."
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-06/2008-06-20-voa78.cfm?CFID=22300960&CFTOKEN=52042442
China Releases More Than 1,000, Sentences 12 Connected to Tibet Protests
By VOA News
20 June 2008
Screen capture taken from China State television 16 March 2008 shows boy
being taken by force along street in Tibetan capital, Lhasa
China says it has released more than a thousand people held for alleged
involvement in anti-government riots in Tibet's capital, Llasa, three months
ago.
The official Xinhua news agency Friday said authorities released 1,157
people who participated in deadly protests in March. It says 12 others were
sentenced this week for their role in the protests.
In April, authorities handed down punishments to 30 people on charges
including arson, robbery and attack on state organs during the unrest.
Armored Chinese personnel carrier on a Lhasa street, 16 Mar 2008
The news agency quotes Tibet's vice chairman Palma Trily as saying another
116 people remain in custody awaiting trial.
The report was published two days after human rights group Amnesty
International urged China to reveal what happened to more than a thousand
people arrested during the government crackdown on protesters.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=June2008&file=World_News2008062115719.xml
China frees 1,157 Tibet protesters
Web posted at: 6/21/2008 1:57:19
Source ::: AFP
BEIJING . China has released a total of 1,157 people who were involved in
riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in March, the official Xinhua news agency
reported yesterday, quoting a senior Tibetan official.
They had been detained for minor offences connected with the unrest, Tibet
vice chairman Palma Trily told a press conference in Lhasa.
The announcement came on the eve of a shortened one-day Tibetan leg of the
Olympic torch relay.
Palma Trily also said courts in Tibet had Thursday and yesterday handed down
"punishments" to 12 people involved in the unrest, Xinhua reported. Another
116 people were in custody awaiting trial, he said.
The brief report did not announce what sentences they received but the
official said a total of 42 people had now been punished over the unrest.
Authorities in April jailed 30 people for between three years and life for
arson, robbery, "gathering to assault state organs" and other crimes.
He said a total of 1,315 people had been arrested or turned themselves after
the riots. Amnesty International on Wednesday urged China to reveal what
happened to people detained during a sweeping crackdown after the unrest,
saying more than 1,000 people were held but only a small number faced
"questionable" trials.
Peaceful protests that began on March 10 in Lhasa to mark the anniversary of
a 1959 uprising against China's rule of Tibet escalated into widespread
violence across the city on March 14 and spilled over into other parts of
China inhabited by Tibetans.
Exiled Tibetan leaders say 203 people died in the subsequent government
crackdown. China has reported killing one Tibetan "insurgent" and says
"rioters" were responsible for 21 deaths. The Tibet issue was one of the
major rallying cries for protesters who dogged the Olympic torch's
month-long global journey before it came to China for the home run ahead of
the August Games.
Pro-Tibet activists as well as human rights and press freedom groups staged
huge demonstrations in London, Paris and San Francisco, as well as smaller
rallies in Australia, India and elsewhere. The flame's one-day stop in Tibet
today is one of the most sensitive of the domestic route, which runs for
thousands of miles over three months through every province and region of
China.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2008/July/middleeast_July766.xml
Bahrain releases Shias arrested during protests
(AP)
30 July 2008
MANAMA, Bahrain - Bahrain's Sunni royal family released 225 Shias arrested
during sporadic anti-government protests since December.
The detainees were freed Wednesday in a royal pardon, said an Interior
Ministry official, Abdul-Latif al-Zayani. Their release came a day after
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa met with prominent religious leaders from both
Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam and after pressure from local and
international human rights activists.
Protests roiled the Gulf island kingdom in December, fueled in part by
economic disparities between the predominantly Sunni ruling elite and the
country's poorer, Shiite majority.
Bahrain's Shias, who account for about 70 percent of the country's 450,000
citizens, complain of poverty, unemployment and a lack of services in their
areas.
Abdullah al-Durazi, head of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, welcomed
Wednesday's pardons but said 30 other detainees remain in custody and that
some of them are still awaiting trial.
"It is a positive step from the king and we hope that we have a similar
royal pardon for the other 30 detainees," he said.
Some of the 30 who remain in custody have been convicted of killing a
policeman, damaging police cars and burning tires during protests.
Al-Durazi also called for a law against discrimination according to
religious sect or gender.
Resentment among Bahraini Shias is also high over alleged government
practice of granting citizenship to Sunnis from Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the
Baluchistan province in Pakistan and giving them housing and jobs, often in
the security forces.
The widespread use of these naturalized foreigners in the security services,
according to the opposition, was behind the violence against demonstrators.
The kingdom is a close U.S. ally. The oil-refining and banking island also
hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=15839
Pakistan: Christians protest Muslim mistreatment
In Muslim-majority Pakistan, Christians and Hindus work in sub-human
conditions and are arbitrarily force to vacate their shantytowns. A
Christian, accused of theft, was beaten to death by Pakistani troops.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
By Martin Barillas
Due to lack of opportunities for education and jobs, a considerable number
of Christians, Hindus and Sikhs, who are among the poorest of Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, are forced to work as sanitary workers. This means
descending into underground pipes bearing sewage to conduct repairs and
remove obstructions: a labor spurned by most in Pakistan. Christian, Hindu,
Sikh and other religious minorities are only 3 percent of the total
population of the country. Their salaries are very low even while working
under sub-human conditions, reported Aftab Alexander Mughal of Minorities
Concern of Pakistan.
Religious minorities not only serve as sanitary workers in the
municipalities and other jurisdiction but also serve as domestic workers.
Minorities Concern of Pakistan, a human rights advocacy group, asserts that
their Muslim employers treat them badly. Non-Muslim servants in the average
Pakistani household, according to Minorities Concern, are not allowed to eat
or drink from the same utensils as Muslims.
"Christian domestic help's job description was limited to cleaning of
bathrooms and sewers. They could not be hired as cooks or dishwashers. They
were commonly referred to as "chooras" (a derogatory term for people of the
Christian faith)," Shazia Rafiq, a Muslim, as quoted by Minorities Concern
from the "Weekly Pulse" of Islamabad.
Due to their poor economic conditions, sanitary workers are forced to live
in "katchi abadies" (shanty towns) surrounding cities and villages. Many
have been living there for decades but they do not know when they will be
suddenly forced to vacate. In two recent incidents, about 350 Christian and
Hindu men, women and children were made homeless by the local authorities.
Although some families have gone to live with their relatives in the other
parts of the cities, many are still living on the roadside without proper
shelter.
On July 11, the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) sanitary workers of RCB
were forced to leave their homes along the Haider Road in Saddar,
Rawalpindi, twin city of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, where they had lived
for more than 40 years.
Christian girls forced to convert to Islam
Christian girls Saba Younis, 13, and Anila Younis, 10, were kidnapped by a
Muslim and sold to another who forced them to convert to Islam. Saba Younis
was also forced to marry against her will. The courts will not remand girls
to their father's custody.
According to RCB, the action was a part of an anti-encroachment operation,
while the residents were allegedly not served with any prior notice. Around
300 Christians were living in the locality and had been paying rent
(Rs.1,400, $20, for each family) to RCB which was deducted from the
salaries.
Minorities Concern of Pakistan learned that the residents got very limited
time to remove their household goods. The workers say that they have do not
know where to go.
In another incident, non-Muslims' homes in Rani Bagh, Sindh province, were
pulled down by municipal administration. The families of 10 scheduled-caste
Hindu sanitary workers are still homeless despite the Rs. 20,000 ($28)
compensation they received. "The sanitary workers, who were employed by TMA
city and Qasimabad, had been living in Rani Bagh since the days of defunct
Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC)," according to the daily "Dawn." The
TMA issued them notices a week before carrying out demolition operation on
July 12 asking them to vacate the quarters after the government put into
practice a beautification plan for Rani Bagh under the Hyderabad Development
Package (HPG).
As a result of their low income, almost all sanitary workers live below the
poverty line. Generally, they live in un-settled areas without clean
drinking water or electricity.
Not only these workers' salaries are very low but also in many cases, their
salaries are not paid in time by the authorities. On June 22, 2008, about
700 Christian workers demonstrated against the Municipal Administration of
Sargodha, Punjab, because the administration did not pay their salary for
two months' work.
Sanitary workers face the worst working and living conditions in the
country. According to a report of daily Dawn, some 3,000 (out of 7,500) or
so sanitary workers of the Solid Waste Management wing of the city district
government Lahore have tested positive for hepatitis B and C. In another
case, four Christian sanitary workers of the Haveli Lakkha, Okara, became
unconscious on April 30, 2008 while clearing choked sewerage pipelines. In
many cases, sanitary workers die during cleaning the sewerage in various
parts of the country.
According to a study carried out in a hospital from Dec. 5 - 19, 2003, the
sanitary workers handling waste in hospitals continue to work without
adequate protective devices.
Christian and Hindu sanitary workers are accused of theft and subjected to
severe punishment. For example, Nadeem Menga - a Christian - was tortured
and murdered by Pakistani soldiers seeking to determine whether he had
stolen a motocycle. Led by Rev. Anjum Nazir, a Roman Catholic priest,
Christians on June 28, 2008 protested the extra-judicial killing.
According to Shehzad Menga, the victim's younger brother, also a low-paid
"sweeper" at the same school, some people on June 27 tried to steal a
motorcycle parked outside the nearby house of an army captain, but the
officer's wife foiled the attempt. As reported by UCAN news, "The next day
35 people, 30 of us Christians, were detained." "When we failed to name the
culprits, they started beating us with batons and kicking us with their army
boots."
Menga's brother recounted how he saw his brother badly beaten and, though
injured, managed to pick him up and flee to the nearby Combine Military
Hospital, where doctors pronounced Nadeem dead. However, they refused to
hand over the body to the family until Rev. Nazir, pastor of Holy Rosary
Church, spent the night at the hospital negotiating the release.
Martin Barillas is a former US diplomat, who also worked as a democracy
advocate and election observer in Latin America.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/080616/2008061627.html
On the convictions of Libyan protesters
Libya, Politics, 6/16/2008
Human Rights Watch spoke last Thursday that The Libyan government about the
held 11 peaceful political activists convicted on politically motivated
charges. A state security court in Tripoli on June 10 reportedly sentenced
the men to six to 25 years in prison.
The men are part of a group of 14 arrested in February 2007 for planning a
demonstration to commemorate the death of 11 people during a clash between
protesters and police a year earlier. In May 2008, the authorities released
one of the men, Jum'a Boufayed, and a second man, 'Adil Humaid, was released
on June 10. A third man, 'Abd al-Rahman al-Qotaiwi, has been missing since
his arrest.
"In Libya today, just planning to criticize the government can land you in
jail for years," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human
Rights Watch. "The government should throw out these bogus convictions
immediately."
The trial of the remaining 11 men was conducted by the state security court,
which was created in August 2007 to handle political cases. It is reportedly
located inside Abu Salim prison in Tripoli, a facility run by Libya's
Internal Security Agency.
Information about the trial and verdict came from the Libyan émigré website
al-Mostakbal ( http://www.libya-almostakbal.net/index.html ), which has
closely monitored the case and spoke with two people who observed the
courtroom proceedings.
The men were reportedly convicted of planning to overthrow the government
and meeting with an official from a foreign government, apparently a US
embassy official in Tripoli. They were found innocent of arms possession.
In recent years, Libya has sought to foster better relations with the United
States and European countries, in part by seeking to improve its human
rights image.
"The Libyan government has been trying to patch up its notoriously poor
human rights record," said Whitson. "But no patch is big enough to cover the
blatant violation of these men's rights."
One of the defendants, Jamal Ahmad al-Haji, is a writer and government
critic. In an article he issued a few days before his arrest, he called for
"freedom, democracy, a constitutional state, and law" in Libya (
http://libya-almostakbal.net/MinbarAlkottab/January2007/jamalhaggi200107.html )
.
Jamal al-Haji holds Danish citizenship, which the Libyan government has
refused to recognize. The authorities have refused Danish government
requests to visit al-Haji, in violation of Libya's obligations under the
1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
The main organizer of the planned demonstration, Idris Boufayed, who lived
in Switzerland for 16 years, was sentenced to 25 years. He is suffering from
advanced lung cancer.
"The Libyan authorities should throw out the political charges against all
these men and make sure Idris Boufayed is free and able to get the medical
care he needs," Whitson said.
On May 28, al-Watan, a pro-government newspaper, reported that an official
"medical committee" had consented to Boufayed's release on medical grounds.
The meaning of the decision remains unclear.
The Qadhafi Foundation run by Saif al-Islam al-Qadhafi, son of Libyan leader
Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi, has announced that it is working on Idris Boufayed's
behalf, given his failing health.
The men convicted, released, or still missing are:
Convicted:
1. Al-Mahdi Humaid (there are five Humaid brothers) - 15 years
2. Al-Sadiq Salih Humaid - 15 years
3. Faraj Humaid - 15 years
4. 'Ali Humaid - 15 years
5. Ahmad Yusif al-'Ubaidi - six years
6. 'Ala' al-Dirsi - six years
7. Jamal al-Haji - 12 years
8. Dr. Idris Boufayed - 25 years
9. Farid al-Zuwi - six years
10. Bashir al-Haris - six years
11. Al-Sadiq Qashut - six years
Released: 12. 'Adil Humaid - released June 10, 2008
13. Jum'a Boufayed (brother of Dr. Idris Boufayed) - released May 27, 2008
Missing: 14. 'Abd al-Rahman al-Qotaiwi
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011272540
Egypt Sends Eritreans Home Despite Protests
ShareThis
June 14, 2008 9:48 a.m. EST
Joseph Mayton - AHN Middle East Correspondent
Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - The first group of Eritrean asylum seekers have begun
to be shipped back by the Egyptian government. The move to forcibly return
hundreds of potential refugees has sparked the condemnation of London-based
rights organization Amnesty International.
Security sources reported on Saturday morning that at least two Eritreans
have escaped custody.
Amnesty reported that the first group of 200 Eritreans were flown to Eritrea
on Wednesday on a special Egyptair flight after they were reportedly denied
for months access to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
Some 1,200 asylum seekers are being deported by Cairo, Amnesty reported.
Security officials confirmed that the deportations have begun and that all
the African migrants will be sent away from the North African nation.
Amnesty has criticized the Egyptian government over the deportations, saying
that the Eritreans would be subjected to "serious risk of torture" upon
arrival. They said that many of them will be detained and placed in inhumane
conditions for weeks or even years.
"The asylum seekers knew they were being deported and started to beg the
security forces not to deport them, and even threatened to kill themselves,"
Amnesty activist Mohamed Lotfy said in a statement from the group.
http://africa.reuters.com/country/MA/news/usnL04377655.html
Moroccan king frees men jailed for May Day protest
Fri 4 Apr 2008, 20:14 GMT
RABAT, April 4 (Reuters) - Eight Moroccan rights activists jailed for
chanting anti-monarchy slogans during Labour Day demonstrations last year
were set free on Friday after receiving a royal pardon, the government said.
Police arrested 17 people after marches in the northern town of Ksar
el-Kebir and the coastal resort of Agadir on May 1 and charged them with
"harming Morocco's sacred values".
Five of them were sentenced to four years in prison, one was jailed for
three years and two others received two-year prison terms. The other nine
were given suspended sentences.
"His Majesty King Mohammed VI has accorded his pardon in favour of 17 people
pursued after the demonstrations on May 1, 2007," the government said in a
statement.
Abdelhamid Amine, vice president of Morocco's leading human rights group
AMDH, said those jailed had denied chanting slogans hostile to King
Mohammed.
"This pardon is good news but it's also the correction of a judicial error,"
he said. "These people should never have been jailed simply for exercising
their right to free speech."
Since acceding to the throne in 1999, King Mohammed has shown more tolerance
of dissent than his father King Hassan, whose reign came to be known as the
"Years of Lead".
In 2004 he announced the Arab world's first truth commission to investigate
rights abuses and disappearances of government opponents and to compensate
victims and their families.
New independent newspapers and magazines are freer than before to criticise
senior officials and hold them to account.
But the monarchy still wields ultimate power and the government is quick to
punish those who appear to show hostility to the king in public.
Amine said one young man had been jailed after unwittingly ripping up a
magazine that contained a picture of the king.
A woman seeking a divorce was imprisoned last year for saying her husband
sat around at home all day doing nothing "like a king", said Amine.
Ahmed Nacer, a wheelchair-bound 95-year-old, was jailed in September over
comments he made during an argument with a bus driver which officials said
"harmed Morocco's sacred values". He died in prison in February. (Reporting
by Tom Pfeiffer and Zakia Abdennebi; editing by Andrew Roche)
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_hamas0103_04_30.asp
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
No protests or celebrations in Gaza without a permit from Hamas
GAZA CITY - The Hamas regime has banned protests or public celebrations in
the Gaza Strip.
Hamas police have issued a series of orders that require permits for
protests or other assemblies. The police have also warned refugee camps in
the Gaza Strip against celebrations without permission.
"The Palestinian Police call upon any party that wish to organize a public
assembly or celebration to obtain prior permission from the relevant
authority in the police force," Hamas police said on April 26.
The latest orders came amid the Hamas crackdown against Fatah and other
opposition movements in the Gaza Strip. In April, Hamas's Executive Force
raided several Fatah strongholds in Gaza City and Rafah.
http://mexicomonitor.blogspot.com/2008/04/oaxacan-protest-leader-flavio-sosa.html
Oaxacan protest leader Flavio Sosa freed from prison
FLAVIO SOSA immediately took to the street carrying some documents just
after freed from prison where he served for 18 months behind bars. He is one
of the top leaders in Oaxaca state's 2006 popular movement by a wide-ranging
group called the Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca or APPO, which
aimed at throw out Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, who many opponents charge
rigged his own election and is deeply corrupted and uses violence and
torture against his political opponents.
After APPO and state and federal police clashed on serveral occasions in
2006, Sosa was jailed under charges of being the master mind behind violent
robberies, damage to government building and kidnapping of police and
government officials. State judges freed Sosa after state prosecutors failed
to turn up evidence against Sosa.
Now free again, he is back in Oaxaca City and making plans to analyze the
failures of the social uprising that aimed to toss out a powerful PRI
governor. Many of the key players still support the movement to toss the PRI
politician from office. The PRI has controlled the Oaxaca state government
for 79 consecutive years, at times using torture and election fraud to smash
its political opposition.
Analysts say certain states governments controlled by PRI governors have
become increasingly anti-democratic and authoritarian since the PRI lost the
powerful presidency in the year 2000. Before 2000, the all-powerful Mexican
president, who was also the head of the PRI political apparatus, could
control and remove rogue governors at will.
That's no longer the case since the right-leaning National Action Party, or
PAN, has held Mexico's presidency for two consecutive terms. Current
President Felipe Calderon is a stalwart of the conservative PAN.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804291162.html
South Africa: Zim Exiles Face Deportation After Protesting At Chinese
Embassy
SW Radio Africa (London)
25 April 2008
Posted to the web 29 April 2008
Tererai Karimakwenda
It has been reported that the group of 129 Zimbabwean exiles who were
arrested during a demonstration at the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria on
Friday, were separated and taken to various police stations.
Some were released over the weekend, 4 appeared in court Tuesday morning and
99 are still in detention at the notorious Lindela Centre, facing
deportation.
The Friday protests were organised by the Revolutionary Youth Movement of
Zimbabwe (RYMZ) and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF). Gabriel Shumba,
executive director of the Exiles Forum, said the demonstrations had
proceeded without the required 7-day notification to the police, because the
issues at stake were imminent and could not wait.
He explained that the protestors wanted to hand over a petition to Zhong
Jianhua, the Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, and could not wait for the
bureaucracy required while people are dying in Zimbabwe. The petition calls
on China to stop their support of the Mugabe regime in the face of a violent
post-election campaign of retribution against opposition supporters. It also
urged the Chinese government not to sell arms to Zimbabwe, because there is
no war in the country.
Shumba said the group that was bailed Tuesday includes the President of the
Youth Movement Simon Mudekwa, General Secretary John Chikwari, organising
secretary Max Gatakaca and the Pretoria branch chairman Farai Chimanikire.
They paid 500 Rand bail each and are due back in court on May 29, facing
charges of participating in an illegal gathering.
Shumba said: "These laws have no place in a democratic society such as South
Africa. It is ironic that we have to ask for permission for a demonstration
as though we were in Zimbabwe."
Shumba described the Lindela Detentiona Centre as a "notoriously filthy"
place where residents contract life-threatening illnesses. Most of this
group face charges relating to their legal status in South Africa and may be
deported back to Zimbabwe. In view of the current government crackdown,
Shumba fears their lives would be in grave danger.
Shumba said Zimbabwe's Ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, went to
Sunnyside Police Station on Friday and apparently obtained the names of
those who had been arrested. It is not clear what he intends to do with that
list. Out of concern, Shumba said they have engaged the Solidarity Peace
Trust, Lawyers for Human Rights and Crisis Coalition to assist with those
facing deportation.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/11/news/UN-UN-Zimbabwe-Refugees.php
UNHCR blasts South Africa for booting Zimbabwean refugees
The Associated PressPublished: July 11, 2008
GENEVA: The U.N. refugee agency says South Africa has deported thousands of
Zimbabwean refugees and fears many more could be forcibly sent home.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says 17,000 Zimbabweans have been
deported from South Africa in the last 40 days alone, and some of them could
now be in danger as a result.
In a statement Friday it urged South Africa to suspend all deportations,
adding that many have fled violence linked to Zimbabwe's widely denounced
June 27 presidential runoff election.
UNHCR spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis said several refugees have arrived in
South Africa showing signs of beating and torture. In such instances UNHCR
demands that people are provided with safe haven.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/04/30/china18684.htm
China: Tibetan Protesters Denied Fair Trial
Sentenced in Secret After Party Urges 'Quick Hearings'
(New York, April 30, 2008) - The trials of 30 Tibetans accused of
participating in violent protests on March 14 in Lhasa were not open and
public, as claimed by the Chinese government, and did not meet minimum
international standards of due process, Human Rights Watch said today.
Guilty or innocent, these Tibetans (and any other defendant in China), are
entitled to a fair trial. Instead, they were tried on secret evidence behind
closed doors and without the benefit of a meaningful defense by lawyers they'd
chosen.
Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.
On April 29, 2008, the Intermediate People's Court in Lhasa, capital of the
Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), conducted a "sentencing rally" (xuanpan
dahui), during which the Tibetans' sentences, which ranged from three years
to life in prison, were announced. Reports from the official Chinese news
agency Xinhua characterized the proceedings as an "open court session." The
actual trial proceedings, in which evidence from the prosecution was
introduced, had been conducted covertly on undisclosed dates earlier in
April.
"Guilty or innocent, these Tibetans (and any other defendant in China), are
entitled to a fair trial," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at
Human Rights Watch. "Instead, they were tried on secret evidence behind
closed doors and without the benefit of a meaningful defense by lawyers they'd
chosen."
Human Rights Watch said that severe flaws in the regional authorities'
handling of the Tibetan protests precluded fair trials of people suspected
of having participated in the disturbances. These flaws included a
consistent failure to establish a distinction between peaceful and violent
protesters; statements by the Procuratorate (the Public Prosecution) at the
time of the suspected protesters' arrest that assumed their guilt rather
than their innocence; and secret trial proceedings. On March 17, Zhang
Qinli, the TAR Communist Party secretary, urged that there be "quick
arrests, quick hearings, and quick sentencings" of the people involved in
the protests, virtually a political directive to circumvent guarantees for a
fair and impartial legal process.
In addition, these 30 Tibetans may have been denied their right to their own
counsel. All the lawyers who had publicly offered to defend Tibetan
protesters were forced to withdraw their assistance after judicial
authorities in Beijing threatened to discipline them and suspend their
professional licenses. The authorities claimed that the Tibetan protesters
were "not ordinary cases, but sensitive cases." The government made clear it
would not respect their right to choose their own counsel. In China,
criminal suspects are often coerced by the law enforcement authorites to
forfeit their right to a defense lawyer or to accept court-appointed
attorneys who are under effective control of the judiciary. In a 142-page
report published on April 29, Human Rights Watch documented a pattern of
interference and political control of lawyers who take cases viewed as
politically sensitive by government and party authorities.
Human Rights Watch said that the government's efforts at preventing the
involvement of lawyers in the Lhasa cases suggested a deliberate policy of
secrecy and concealment.
"The Chinese authorities have so restricted the defendents' rights that the
hearings are no more than a rubber stamp," Richardson said. "This isn't fair
and transparent justice, it's political punishment masquerading as a legal
process."
Human Rights Watch said that the Chinese government had the right to
prosecute and punish individuals who had committed violent acts, but that it
should not suspend due process guarantees. Human Rights Watch said the
political character of these first convictions raised serious concerns about
future trials. A large number of trials of Tibetans accused of involvement
in protests across Tibetan areas are expected to be held in the coming
months.
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/151719.html
Jordan bars IAF from protesting
Suha Philip Ma'ayeh, Foreign Correspondent
Last Updated: May 14. 2008 9:13PM UAE / May 14. 2008 5:13PM GMT
Demonstrators hold Islamic Action Front flags as they pass a billboard of
King Abdullah II. AP
AMMAN // As Palestinians prepare to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the
Nakba, "the catastrophe" that saw thousands evicted from what is now Israel,
Jordan, which hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees, has barred
an Islamist group from organising public rallies to mark the event.
The move was made under the controversial Public Assembly Law, which
stipulates that public events, rallies or marches must be officially
approved by the administrative governor at least 48 hours before the event.
According to analysts, the ban was not intended to curtail Nakba
commemorations, but to restrict the influence of the Islamic Action Front
(IAF), which has been gathering power since the rise of Hamas in the Gaza
Strip.The IAF, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood that nearly two
weeks ago elected a pro-Hamas candidate to lead the opposition group, had
been planning to hold rallies last Thursday and Friday as part of a weeklong
commemoration.The requests, however, were turned down by Saad Manasir, Amman's
governor, without an explanation, the party said.
Party leaders were outraged at the decision and criticised the government
for allowing the Israeli Embassy to hold what they called a celebration of
the "raping of Palestine".
The Islamic Action Front now plans to hold a public sit-in in front of the
party's headquarters in Abddali, in Amman's centre, after evening prayers.
Because the area is public property, they do not need to seek official
permission.
"The sit-in is to reiterate the Palestinians right of return and to support
the resistance, and in solidarity with those under the unjust embargo in
occupied Palestine," said Zaki Bin Rusheid, the IAF secretary general.
He also called on Jordanians to fast that day and said those who did would
be offered "austerity" meals to break their fast in the area next to the IAF's
two-storey building.
The 2001 Public Assembly Law, endorsed by parliament in 2004, has been
criticised by human rights advocates, political parties and professional
associations for restricting public freedoms in Jordan.
But the government says its goal is to regulate public gatherings for
security reasons.
In 2001, the government cancelled the 1953 Public Assembly Law, which only
required organisers of a public gathering to notify the administrative
governor beforehand without the need of an official approval.
However, after the second Palestinian intifada, which erupted in Oct 2000
and led to widespread, sometimes violent public protests in Jordan, and
demonstrations against the 1994 Jordanian peace treaty with Israel, the
government changed the law.
The ban on Nakba activities come almost two weeks after the Muslim
Brotherhood chose Hamam Said, a hardliner with close ties to Hamas, to lead
the movement for the next four years.
Analysts said the government was not trying to ban Nakba activities but
rather curb the rise of the Islamists, who were gaining in popularity amid
growing disenchantment in Jordan, where nearly half the population is of
Palestinian origin. There is also concern for the unrest in Iraq, its
implications for a growing Iranian influence and the recent war in Lebanon.
"It all boils down to one thing. This is part of the ongoing tension between
the government and Islamists where ties between the two parties have
deteriorated in the past three years," said Samih Maayteh, an analyst
specialising in Islamist movements.
"The government does not wish to give the Islamists a forum to express their
views.
"The ban has nothing to do with the Nakba because many people express their
views regarding the event which is not a contentious issue in itself."
Several other Nakba events are taking place across the country.
Mr Maayteh, who writes a daily column in the Alghad daily newspaper said the
government was sending a message to the Islamists that "they are no longer a
pampered organisation".
Jordan hosts 1.8 million Palestinian refugees, 42 per cent of the refugee
population.Fares Braizat, deputy director of the Center for Strategic
Studies at the University of Jordan, said there was consensus among
Jordanians, whether Islamists or not, regarding the Nakba.
"Nakba means almost the same thing to the overwhelming majority of
Jordanians regardless of their political views and ideological positions,"
he said. In short, "it is the loss of Palestine".
Despite this widespread opinion, Jordanians are gradually coming to terms
with the reality of Israel in the region, he said.
"Although three-quarters of Jordanians support a peace treaty between the
Israelis and the Palestinians, still they do not wish to recognise Israel as
a Jewish state in the region," he said, referring to a poll by the centre
that is yet to be published.
spmaayeh at thenational.ae
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK314359.htm
China punishes 6 for protest against chemical plant
12 May 2008 03:03:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, May 12 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities arrested one person on a
charge of inciting subversion and warned or detained five for their roles in
a protest in the southwest against plans for a petrochemical project, local
media reported on Monday.
Police were seeking another two on charges of illegally demonstrating in
Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, the Beijing News
reported.
"The police accused them of using the Internet and other means to spread
rumours, inciting trouble or illegally marching or demonstrating, or using
the Internet to spread rumours and harmful information," the report said.
About 200 people took to the streets last week to demonstrate against plans
for the ethylene plant and oil refinery in Chengdu's northern outskirts, an
echo of a protest movement that forced the government to scrap plans for a
chemical plant in the southern city of Xiamen.
In March, officials in Xiamen confirmed they would shift a proposed plant to
make paraxylene, a petrochemical used in polyester and fabrics, after
thousands took to the streets and forced a rare invitation from the
government for public comment.
China's Communist authorities frown on public protest, but demonstrations
are becoming more common due to anger over official corruption and pollution
and tensions between industrialisation and environmental concerns.
The Chengdu protesters, who news reports said were orderly and did not carry
banners, worried the plant would lead to degradation of air and water
quality.
The ethylene plant was due to produce 800,000 tonnes a year of the
industrial compound commonly used in packaging and insulation.
The refinery, which would process 10 million tonnes of crude oil a year, had
been approved by China's top planning agency, the National Development and
Reform Commission, last year, the Beijing News earlier reported.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/4-inside-burma/599-solo-protester-u-ohn-thans-health-in-danger-
Solo protester U Ohn Than's health in danger
Maung Dee
Tuesday, 27 May 2008 00:00
New Delhi - Solo protester U Ohn Than has been suffering from cerebral
malaria, even as he serves a life term in the remote Khamti prison,
Opposition sources said.
U Ohn Than had staged a series of solo protests in front of the UN offices
and the US embassy as well as in crowded places demanding lower commodity
prices, establishing a people's representative government and abolishing
military dictatorship.
"We heard the news from Khamti stating that U Ohn Than is in solitary
confinement in a cell and is suffering from cerebral malaria. His family has
been told to come to Khamti immediately as his health is rapidly
deteriorating," lawyer U Aung Thein said.
Than was sentenced to life imprisonment on April 2, by the Rangoon West
District Court under section 124(a) of the Criminal Code, for provoking
disaffection towards the government. A month later he was transferred to the
Mandalay prison.
After staging a hunger strike inside Mandalay prison, he was transferred
again to the remote Khamti prison, earlier this month and has since been in
solitary confinement.
"He was transferred to Mandalay prison from Rangoon and then to Khamti
prison. The authorities came in the way of prison visits by his family. His
family has not been able to meet him yet," U Aung Thein added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7423574.stm
Ugandan law on protests repealed
Police in Uganda have blocked protesters in the past
Uganda's constitutional court has annulled a law that required organisers of
public meetings or protests to seek written consent from the police.
The court ruled that the law limited the public's fundamental right to
freedom of assembly and association.
Under the law, the inspector-general of the police had to approve any
meeting of more than 25 people.
The BBC's Sarah Grainger in Uganda says police would come up with excuses
not to allow public gatherings.
She says the ruling is significant as it will make it easy for politicians
and other groups to hold public meetings and protests.
Democratic principles
"In the matter now before us there is no doubt the power given to the
inspector general of police is prohibitive rather than regulatory," said the
judgment by Justice Constance Byamugisha.
"This means that the rights available to those who wish to assemble and
therefore protest would be violated."
The ruling also said the law violated democratic principles.
"Maintaining the freedom to assemble and express dissent remains a powerful
indicator of the democratic and political health of a country," it said.
Opposition politicians have previously accused the government and the police
of frustrating their efforts to hold public rallies and demonstrations.
The ruling will stand unless it is contested at the Supreme Court, where it
can be overturned.
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/05/24/egypt18929.htm
Egypt: Satellite Company Punished for Protest Footage
CNC Linked to Broadcast of Anti-Government Demonstrations
(New York, May 24, 2008) - Egyptian authorities have enforced media
licensing laws to punish a company associated with broadcasting information
critical of the government, Human Rights Watch said today.
Egypt's closure of CNC and its prosecution of Nader Gohar are just the
latest episodes in the government's campaign to stifle freedom of the press.
The government has already attacked several satellite news channels,
apparently because it doesn't like the news they transmit.
Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at
Human Rights Watch
The state-run Radio and Television Union brought a complaint against the
Cairo News Company (CNC) on April 8, 2008, the day after Al Jazeera
broadcast coverage of large anti-government street protests in the Nile
Delta. CNC provides satellite transmission services and equipment to
television networks operating in Egypt, including Al Jazeera, BBC, and CNN.
On April 17, 35 plainclothes police officers raided CNC's Cairo offices,
confiscating its five sets of satellite transmission equipment and thereby
shutting it down. Nader Gohar, CNC's owner, has been charged with importing
and owning television equipment and transmitting television broadcasts
without permission. He is due to stand trial on May 26 and if convicted
would face fines and at least one year in prison.
"Egypt's closure of CNC and its prosecution of Nader Gohar are just the
latest episodes in the government's campaign to stifle freedom of the
press," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa
division at Human Rights Watch. "The government has already attacked several
satellite news channels, apparently because it doesn't like the news they
transmit."
Al Jazeera's April 7 coverage of the Mahalla al-Kobra protests included
footage of protesters tearing down and defacing a large poster of President
Hosni Mubarak. The next day, the head of the board of the Radio and
Television Union, which oversees the regulation of public and private
broadcasts and transmissions, filed a complaint with Egypt's prosecutor
general, alleging that Gohar's company had been operating without required
permits.
On April 18, the day after police raided CNC's Cairo offices, the Office of
the General Prosecutor questioned Gohar and informed him that he had been
charged under Law 10 of 2002 with importing, owning, and operating satellite
transmission equipment without the required licenses from the National
Communications Council.
Egyptian human rights lawyers and Gohar say that the closeness in time
between the coverage of the protests and the complaint suggests that the
charges are politically motivated.
Gohar told Human Rights Watch that CNC's operating license expired in July
2007, after the company had been operating legally for one year. He said
that when he tried to renew the license, authorities at the Ministry of
Information told him he would have to wait until new regulations were
issued, but that he could continue operations in the meantime. Gamal Eid, a
lawyer representing Gohar and executive director of the Arabic Network for
Human Rights Information, told Human Rights Watch the charges against Gohar
failed to include any specific examples of unauthorized operation.
Although CNC frequently worked with Al Jazeera, Gohar told Human Rights
Watch he did not cover the Mahalla events or provide the network with
equipment to cover them out of concern that it would be damaged. Gohar and
his lawyers believe the authorities presumed CNC was involved because it had
worked closely with Al Jazeera in the past.
According to Gohar, Ministry of Information officials told him that the
Radio and Television Union was waiting for regulations to be issued in
compliance with an Arab League document. "But they had said I could keep
[operating] in the meantime," he told Human Rights Watch.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia introduced the "Principles for Organizing Satellite
Broadcast and Television Transmission and Reception in the Arab Region,"
adopted by the Arab League in February, which calls on member states to
prevent satellite television channels from broadcasting transmissions that
"negatively affect social peace, national unity, public order, and public
morals" or "defame leaders, or national and religious symbols [of other Arab
states]."
Gohar's first trial hearing was scheduled for May 5 at Cairo's al-Galaa'
court, but the presiding judge, Sherif Kamel, refused to allow his lawyers
to see the prosecutor's file containing the charges and evidence against him
until two days earlier, and did not allow them to copy the file. After Gohar
refused to attend the opening session, Kamel postponed the trial until May
26.
"Egyptian authorities made it impossible for CNC to comply with the law, and
then shut it down," said Stork. "On top of that, they are threatening to
imprison its owner in a trial marked by serious irregularities even before
it begins."
The closure of CNC has had direct and indirect chilling effects, Gohar said.
"I was supposed to transmit for [US government-funded Arabic-language
network] al-Hurra, they were going to do a daily morning show. But now
al-Hurra is blocked because they don't have any uplink. And the other
[satellite transmission] companies are not operating at their capacity, and
are refusing to feed for Al Jazeera."
The closure of CNC follows three other satellite channels being dropped by
Egypt's state-controlled Nilesat satellite since the Arab League adopted the
broadcast principles. On April 1, Nilesat abruptly stopped carrying the
signal of al-Hiwar, a London-based Arabic television station, without
providing any reason. Al-Hiwar's schedule included "Peoples' Rights," a
program on which human rights activists and victims of abuses discussed
violations by Arab governments, including torture in Egypt, and "Egyptian
Papers," a program on which Ibrahim Issa and other government critics
appeared. Nilesat earlier dropped the signal of al-Baraka, a television
channel owned by a Saudi holding company that described itself as "the first
Arab business channel based on Islamic values." According to media reports,
al-Baraka's "paperwork was out of order." Nilesat also dropped al-Hikma,
another Islamic-oriented television station, without explanation, according
to Reporters Without Borders.
Authorities also detained several bloggers and journalists who attempted to
cover the protests in Mahalla on April 6.
If found guilty, Gohar faces "not less than one year in prison" and a fine
of "not less than 20,000 Egyptian pounds [US$3,740]," under Article 77 of
Egypt's Penal Code.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7432895.stm
3 June 2008 11:41 UK
Venezuela 'spy' law draws protest
Mr Chavez says the law will protect Venezuela from "imperialist" attacks
A new intelligence law brought in by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has
caused concern among rights groups who say it threatens civil liberties.
Mr Chavez argues the law will help Venezuela guarantee its national security
and prevent assassination plots and military rebellions.
The new law requires Venezuelans to cooperate with intelligence agencies and
secret police if requested.
Refusal can result in up to four years in prison.
The law allows security forces to gather evidence through surveillance
methods such as wiretapping without obtaining a court order, and authorities
can withhold evidence from defence lawyers if it is considered to be in the
interest of national security.
One part of the law, which explicitly requires judges and prosecutors to
cooperate with the intelligence services, has caused concern among legal
experts.
"Here you have the president legislating by decree that the country's judges
must serve as spies for the government," Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas
Director for Human Rights Watch, said.
US 'interference'
"The president is constantly calling opposition leaders coup-plotters and
pro-imperialists, and that makes me suspect this law may be used as a weapon
to silence and intimidate the opposition," said Alberto Arteaga Sanchez, a
specialist in constitutional law.
"Among other problems with this law, any suspect's right to defence can be
violated, and that's unacceptable," Carlos Correa, a leader of the
Venezuelan human rights group Provea, said.
Mr Correa compared the law to the Patriot Act in the United States, which
gave US law enforcement agencies greater powers to intercept communications
and investigate suspected terrorists on American soil in the wake of the
attacks on 11 September 2001.
Mr Chavez - who called the US Patriot Act a "dictatorial law" - denied the
Venezuelan law would threaten freedoms, saying it falls into "a framework of
great respect for human rights".
Mr Chavez used his decree powers to overhaul Venezuela's intelligence
agencies, replacing the Disip secret police and the DIM military
intelligence agency with the General Intelligence Office and General
Counterintelligence Office, both under his control.
Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin said the revamp was needed to
combat "interference from the United States".
In December, Venezuelans rejected a package of constitutional changes aimed
at cementing socialism into Venezuelan law which would have given the
president the chance to stand for re-election as many times as he wished.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806030138.html
Kenya: No Reconciliation Possible Without Release of Protesters
The Nation (Nairobi)
OPINION
3 June 2008
Posted to the web 3 June 2008
Raila Odinga
Nairobi
FEW ITEMS OF POLITICAL discourse in post-crisis Kenya have been as
misunderstood, and as deliberately distorted, as the issue of protesting
youths who have been incarcerated for five months now in Rift Valley,
Nairobi and western Kenya.
A number of leaders of various hues are demanding that there be no impunity
with regard to the terrible violence that swept our nation after the
disputed presidential election results were announced at the end of
December.
Astoundingly, these anti-impunity leaders are referring only to youths whose
only "crime" was staging lawful protests in their anger over the ECK's
criminal conduct of the elections.
These leaders have never once talked of there being no impunity for the
security forces responsible for more than half of the killings.
Equally astoundingly, the only police officer charged is the one in Kisumu,
whose wanton killing of two youths was captured on television cameras.
POLICE CULPABILITY IS CLEARLY indicated since most killings resulted from
gunshot wounds, as pointed out by the highly respected Independent
Medico-Legal Unit (Imlu).
And let us also remember that the police actions, initiated at the highest
level of its command, were done at the behest of the State, which then was
under the control of a contending political party in the election.
The vast majority of youths who are in custody killed or raped no one. They
were defending democracy and electoral justice in the only manner available
to them: demonstrations which enjoy the protection of our Constitution.
The protests turned bloody primarily because of a grossly disproportionate
and indiscriminate use of force by security agents, who had been given
orders to shoot to kill.
Yes, there were killings, rapes and violent robbery by enraged citizens.
Such individuals must face the law, but surely a Police Force which was
responsible for many of the deaths cannot be trusted to be the investigator
and prosecutor for these crimes. The police are trying to cover up their own
killings by laying the blame on the innocents.
It is because of the serious doubts over the impartiality of the police and
our judicial system that the National Accord established a commission, now
headed by Mr Justice Philip Waki, to look into the entire spectrum of
violence that swept the nation.
Surely, trying to rush through police investigations violates the Accord and
also gives them the opportunity to fix the evidence. The police themselves
will be actually in the dock in front of the Waki Commission.
Indeed, there are clear instances whereby youths have been or are facing
trumped-up charges of robbery with violence, which is a non-bailable
offence, in order to punish them.
And in instances where bail is applicable, it is set at such an exorbitant
amount that the youths are unable to go home to their families.
In addition, thousands of the arrested protesters have still not been
charged, which is a violation of the rule of law, since charges need to be
brought within two weeks of arrest, at most.
These demonstrations took place nationwide, but the police used maximum
force in the Rift Valley, western Kenya and selected parts of Nairobi in
order to portray the violence as coming from specific ethnic groups.
Indeed, this use of brutal force was pre-planned by stationing large police
contingents in these areas, as it was known that protests would erupt when
the fraudulent election results were announced.
These police officers who killed innocent Kenyans in Western, Nyanza, Rift
Valley and the Coast looked the other way as ODM supporters were hacked to
death or burnt in their homes in Naivasha, Nakuru, Nairobi and Central
Province.
WE IN ODM HAVE DEMANDED THE truth in the election dispute and justice for
all Kenyans who were killed, attacked or affected in whatever manner by
neighbours or the police, which acted as an armed wing of PNU.
The only logical way to proceed is to let the Waki Commission on
post-election violence proceed with its work without interference by the
police. Otherwise this Commission is entirely redundant, and its work will
be only for the history books.
The national reconciliation, as well as the headway we urgently need to make
in our common coalition programmes, cannot take place when there is so much
legitimate anger over these wrongly incarcerated youths.
The Right Honourable Raila Odinga is Kenya's Prime Minister.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/316693.html
To put system back on track, Rlys plans to fine protestors
Raghvendra Rao
Posted online: Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 2257 hrs Print Email
New Delhi, May 30: September 20, 2005: Following a Bombay High Court order,
the BJP and the Shiv Sena deposited cheques for Rs 20 lakh each at the
Maharashtra Chief Secretary's office as fine to the state Government for
damaging public property during a Mumbai bandh called by them on July 30,
2003.
Would the agitating Gurjjars have uprooted railway tracks in Bayana if they
knew that the local population of the area could be penalised for causing
loss to Railways property? Probably not.
It is this reasoning that has now prodded the Indian Railways to dig out a
one-year old suggestion: to formulate a policy wherein losses incurred on
its property are recovered from the population of the particular area where
violent incidents took place.
The political "sensitivity" of the suggestion, though, is what appears to be
holding the Railway ministry back from formally pursuing the idea either at
the level of the Centre or a state like Rajasthan.
Having suffered losses to the tune of Rs 12.28 crore from last year's
Gurjjar agitation, Railway ministry in an answer to a question in the Rajya
Sabha first talked about the idea. Answering to the part of the question,
asked by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on how Railways proposed to make good such
losses, Minister of State R Velu had said, "Since rioters are part of a mob
which goes berserk and largely consists of anonymous people, there is no way
to make good the losses from them. But the Government can formulate a policy
for recovery of the cost of losses from the entire population of a
particular area where such incidents occur."
However, the suggestion met with a quiet burial with Rail Bhavan failing to
do the necessary follow-up. It was only after this year's Gurjjar agitation,
which has already caused significant losses to the Indian Railways, that the
matter resurfaced during discussions amongst the ministry's top brass.
"There is no need to make a new law on this. All state governments, under
various categories of law, are empowered to penalise errant populations if
they indulge in unruly behaviour which ends up causing loss to government
property," a senior Railway ministry official said.
"Railways, being the most obvious sign of government property, is often in
the line of fire of violent agitations. In addition to losses incurred on
account of damage to stations, tracks, trains, bridges and level crossing
gates during such agitations, Railways' major losses come from cancellation
of passenger trains and the inability to load and move freight trains,"
another official added.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=STATES&file_name=state9%2Etxt&counter_img=9
American put to polygraph test
TN Raghunatha | Mumbai
Giving a new dimension to the investigations in the Ahmedabad serial blasts
case, the State Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday subjected American
national Ken Haywood - from whose Internet Protocol (IP) address Indian
Mujahideen purportedly sent an e-mail to media organisations minutes before
the July 26, 2008 blasts - to lie-detector and brain-mapping tests.
Haywood, who has hitherto repeatedly claimed that he is innocent and that
his IP address might have been hacked by the terrorist outfit to send the
pre-Ahmedabad blasts message to the media organisations, was among half a
dozen persons subjected to lie-detector and brain mapping tests by the ATS
during the day.
Haywood was taken to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory at Kalina in
Mumbai, where lie detector and brain mapping tests were conducted on him and
others.
Haywood, who lives in two 15th floor flats (1503 and 1504) in C-wing of posh
Gunina Apartments located on the up-market Palm Beach Road in Navi Mumbai,
came on the radar of the ATS a day after the Ahmedabad serial blasts. That
was after the investigating agencies established that a 14-page e-mail,
which was received by news television channels from the terror outfit on the
day of Ahmedabad blasts, had been sent from the address
alarbi_Gujarat at yahoo.com, using Haywood's IP address.
http://rss.xinhuanet.com/newsc/english/2008-06/09/content_8329346.htm
South Korea's court gets tough on violent protests
SEOUL, June 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's judiciary has recently adopted a
tougher stance on violent public protests, ordering heavy fines for both
protesters and police who engage in such activity, the Supreme Court said
Monday amid growing concerns over violent protests against U.S. beef
imports, Yonhap news agency reported.
Violence flared over the weekend when thousands of people trying to
march to the presidential office clashed with riot police wielding shields
in downtown Seoul. About 60 protesters and police officers were injured
during the protests over the government's deal with Washington to fully
resume U.S. beef imports.
To deter violent action, the top court presented a series of recent
rulings in which both protesters who used violence and police officers who
used excessive force to put down disturbances were punished.
In a compensation suit, a district court in the southern city of Jeonju
recently ruled in favor of the family of a victim who was allegedly beaten
to death by a policeman wielding a baton during a farmers' protest over the
opening of the country's rice market.
Even though there was no direct evidence that police violence was to
blame for his death, the court took note of the increasing use of police
shields against protesters in general and an internal directive for an
aggressive crackdown at the time.
"Police have to take caution to minimize physical damage when they use
batons," the verdict said, ordering the government to pay the victim's
family 64 million won (about 62,000 U.S. dollars).
Another district court in the central city of Cheongju ordered the
government to pay 160 million won to a citizen who lost sight in one eye
when he was accidentally hit by a stone thrown by a riot policeman at
protesters.
The court said in the verdict, "The throwing of stones by police during
a clash with protesters is illegal activity that is beyond their scope of
operations."
The judiciary has also been equally harsh on violent protesters.
The Cheongju district court ordered a group of 11 protesters to pay 10
million won in compensation to the government for destroying a police ban
and the fence of the provincial office during their protest over the
country's free trade agreement with the United States.
"Peaceful rallies and demonstrations should be acknowledged as much as
possible within the lawful boundaries, but when they degenerate into illegal
violent protests, those who engage in them should be held accountable and
compensate for damages," the verdict said.
The police crackdown on U.S. beef protests recently sparked severe
public criticism after video footage circulated on the Internet showing a
riot police officer stepping on a female university student's face. The
officer faces a trial, police said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/08/asia/AS-Nepal-Tibetans-Freed.php
Nepal's supreme court frees 3 Tibetans jailed for anti-China protests
The Associated Press
Published: July 8, 2008
KATMANDU, Nepal: Nepal's supreme court has freed three Tibetan activists
jailed for leading anti-China protests, a court official said Tuesday.
Court spokesman Hemanta Rawal said the judges ruled in favor of the
activists Monday and ordered them to be released immediately.
Kelsang Chung, Ngawang Sangmo and Tashi Dolma were arrested last month,
charged with violating the Public Security Act and imprisoned for 90 days.
The judges ruled that police did not have enough evidence to arrest the
activists and jail them under the act. The judges also said that police had
failed to explain why the three were a threat to security and peace.
The three were the first Tibetan activists in Nepal sentenced to jail terms
since March, when almost-daily protests began in Katmandu condemning China's
crackdown in the Himalayan region.
Nepalese authorities have banned protests by Tibetan exiles, saying
demonstrations against friendly nations, including China, will not be
allowed. Tibetan refugees have also been barred from all political
activities.
Thousand of Tibetans were allowed to live in Nepal or pass through on their
way from Tibet to Dharmasala in India, where Tibetan spiritual leaders live
in exile.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storyPage.aspx?storyId=123777
Media protests court decision giving police 'editorial prerogative'
By CARMELA FONBUENA
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
Media groups are up in arms against the ruling of a Makati court that
justified the arrest of journalists who covered the November 29 Manila
Peninsula siege led by Senator Antonio Trillanes.
In a ruling released Friday, a Makati court ruled that the police order for
journalists to leave the premises of the Manila Peninsula during the
Trillanes-led caper was "lawful." It also said that the succeeding arrest
and handcuffing of those who disobeyed the order was "justified."
"This is a big blow to press freedom. In effect, it's the police now who can
say when you can cover an emergency and when you cannot," Luis Teodoro of
the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) said Wednesday.
Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 54 Judge Reynaldo Laigo granted the
motions to dismiss filed by government officials named in the class suit
filed by the CMFR, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
(NUJP), Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and individual
journalists.
The media groups complained the arrests were "arbitrary and illegal having
made with the abuse of discretion. the police officers being fully aware
that there was no probable cause to believe they were committing or had
committed an offense."
The court didn't think so. Laigo's five-page decision said the complaint
"does not constitute sufficient cause of action for damages against the
defendants that warrants further prosecution of the instant case."
All the Way to the Supreme Court
Media counsel Harry Roque said they are going to file a motion for
reconsideration. "Under no circumstances are we going to accept this
ruling," he said.
"We do not agree with the decision and will contest it all the way to the
Supreme Court if necessary," said the NUJP in a statement.
"We maintain that there was absolutely no justification whatsoever for the
security forces to haul off our colleagues, many in handcuffs, to the police
headquarters in Camp Bagong Diwa," the NUJP said.
"The reason why we filed that case is to prevent the recurrence of
journalists being arrested," Teodoro said. "If we let it stand, police can
decide that certain operations may not be covered."
The government officials in charge of the six-hour caper include Defense
Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo
Puno, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, former Armed Forces chief-of-staff
Hermogenes Esperon, and police officers led by Philippine National Police
(PNP) Chief Avelino Razon Jr., and National Capital Region Police Office
(NCRPO) chief Geary Barias. They filed motions to dismiss saying that the
media complaint "states no cause of action" and the court decided in their
favor.
Related Story
. Manila Pen Siege: Did the Media Err in Judgment?
Criminally Liable
The court decision said journalists who "disobeyed" the police order to
leave the hotel premises by 3 p.m. were criminally liable under Article 151
of the Revised Penal Code, which says: "The penalty of arresto mayor and a
fine not exceeding P500 shall be imposed upon any person who. shall resist
or seriously disobey any person in authority, or the agents of such person,
while engaged in the performance of official duties."
"It is applicable to all , including media practitioners," the decision
said. "They were so lucky as none (charges) had been initiated against
them."
The police wanted the journalists to vacate the area to make way for the
police to serve the warrant of arrest on Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and
other rebel soldiers who walked out of a nearby court to take over the
hotel.
"Under the given dangerous decision, that order issued by defendant
PNP-NCRPO Dir. Geary Barias was but lawful and appeared to have been
disobeyed by all those, including some of the plaintiffs, when they
intentionally refused to leave the hotel premises for which an appropriate
criminal charge under Article 151 of the Revised Penal Cose, which is
applicable to all, including the media personalities., could have been
initiated against them," the decision said.
"Thus, their having been handcuffed and brought to Camp Bagong Diwa,
Bicutan, Taguig City for investigation, and release thereafter was
justified, it being in accord with the police procedure."
'Editorial Prerogative'
Teodoro is alarmed that the decision may set a dangerous precedent. "The
editorial prerogative to make that decision to decide whether or not to
cover an event will henceforth be that of the government," he said.
Media groups maintained that the police instructions to leave the hotel
premises only sounded a "request," not an order. "The decision to stay or
leave is an editorial prerogative," said Teodoro.
"This is a big blow to press freedom. This decision is on the same level or
maybe a bit worse than the First Gentleman's string of libel suits against
journalists," Teodoro said.
Roque said the decision was "downright shocking." He was expecting that the
court will decide first on the preliminary injunction filed by the media
groups to restrain government officials from warning journalists against
similar arrests.
On this the court said, "Anent those pronouncements made by the other
defendants and that advisory of defendant Secretary Gonzalez following that
Manila Peninsula Hotel Standoff, the same have not and will not in any way
curtail much less avert plaintiffs from exercising freely their right as
such members of the press-covering or obtaining information on future events
similar to what transpired at the Manila Peninsula Hotel."
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Finance%20And%20Labour&set_id=1&click_id=594&art_id=nw20080717193145371C917571
Police warn against protest pamphlet call
July 17 2008 at 07:51PM
Police on Thursday warned the Atteridgeville community against a pamphlet
that was circulating encouraging people to join a "huge" protest march
against the municipality and politicians on Friday.
The pamphlet allegedly sent by the Gauteng Civic Association (Gaca) stated
that, "We are tired of lies and empty promises by municipal officials.
"From this Friday onwards people should build shacks on every empty space
available".
Police spokesperson Inspector Daniel Mavimbela urged people not to take part
in the "illegal" action.
"People are urged to treat Friday as a normal day.
"We are warning anyone thinking of embarking on an illegal strike that the
SAPS will deal decisively with them," said Mavimbela.
However, he said the organisation distanced itself from the pamphlet.
Gaca was not immediately available for comment. - Sapa
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/face-of-irans-99-protests-arrives-in-us/#more-1665
July 11, 2008, 4:54 pm
Face of Iran's '99 Protests Arrives in U.S.
By Azadeh Ensha
Update, Monday, 10:37 a.m. Many, many more details on Mr. Batebi's escape
from Sunday's New York Times.
As thousands of students demonstrated against the Iranian government in July
1999, Ahmad Batebi was among them, holding a blood-stained T-shirt of a
fellow protester high above his head. And then The Economist turned him into
the face of the movement by capturing the stirring moment for its cover
photograph. A headline seconded his determined visage, "Iran's second
revolution?"
The 21-year-old was arrested and sentenced to death shortly after its
publication, though the punishment was later commuted to 15 years in prison.
Late last month, Mr. Batebi safely arrived in the United States after
serving nine years of his sentence. He spoke to The Economist this week
about his years in Evin prison, where he suffered through harsh conditions.
He told the magazine of a two-year stint in solitary confinement and a
partial stroke. He was also tortured repeatedly:
During his interrogation he was blindfolded and beaten with cables until he
passed out. His captors rubbed salt into his wounds to wake him up, so they
could torture him more. They held his head in a drain full of sewage until
he inhaled it. He recalls yearning for a swift death to end the pain.
The path from that horrible scene to the steps of the U.S. Capitol in
Washington began when prison authorities granted him a medical leave after
the stroke, Mr. Batebi said in an interview with NewsTalk, a
Persian-language television program broadcast by Voice of America. The
regime, it seemed, was not eager to have him die behind bars, he said.
Mr. Batebi did not turn back. With the help of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party of Iran, he headed first to Irbil, Iraq, to secure documents for
passage to Austria and then his final destination.
While he promises to release cell phone pictures and further details of his
journey, he's already posted a touching photograph that is not quite ready
for the cover, yet provides a happy ending to a story that began there. You
can see it here.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-11-students-arrested-peru_N.htm?csp=34
Peru police arrest 3 U.S. students for protest
Posted 7/11/2008 7:14 PM |
LIMA, Peru (AP) - Three U.S. college students were briefly arrested in Peru
for allegedly participating in an anti-government protest, police said
Friday.
The students from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, were
detained Thursday morning in the city of Puno, officer Oscar Muchai Pina
told The Associated Press. They were released later the same day.
Identified as Hans Kulla-Mader, 19, Heather Meyer, 19, and Amelia Woodside,
21, the students allegedly attended a march the previous day that was part
of a national strike called by Peru's largest labor union.
Muchai Pina said Meyer and Woodside were carrying a sign that read "Down
with (President) Alan Garcia, you rat."
After local media published photos of the students marching alongside union
workers, police arrested them at their hotel and confiscated signs and
banners.
Peruvian law prohibits foreigners from taking part in political activity,
and violators can be deported and barred from returning.
The students' Peruvian lawyer, Antonio Escobar Pena, said they were unaware
of the statute and decided to attend the march after someone handed them a
flier in the street.
Authorities opted not to deport the students and released them, but Pena
said they took a bus to neighboring Bolivia to avoid further legal
difficulties.
Kulla-Mader's father, Norman Kulla, confirmed the students had traveled to
Bolivia but would not give more details.
Kulla-Mader, a native of Los Angeles, did not return a call to his
cellphone. Hometowns and contact information for Woodside and Meyer were not
immediately clear.
U.S. Embassy Spokesman Dan Martinez declined to comment on the case, citing
privacy laws.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080713/world/bahrain_unrest_trial
Bahraini Shiite activists jailed over protests
Module body
Sun Jul 13, 7:42 AM
MANAMA (AFP) - A Bahraini court on Sunday sentenced a group of Shiite
opposition activists to jail terms over clashes with police in the
Sunni-ruled Gulf state last year.
Eleven defendants were sentenced to between one and seven years behind bars,
while four were acquitted because of a lack of evidence at the high-security
hearing in the capital Manama, a judicial source said.
Defence lawyers said they planned to appeal.
The 15 went on trial over clashes between police and protesters in
Shiite-populated areas in December following the death of a demonstrator at
an opposition rally to demand compensation for victims of alleged human
rights violations.
They were charged with unlawful assembly, stealing weapons, burning a police
vehicle and committing other acts of violence against police.
The Shiite majority in Sunni-ruled Bahrain has been campaigning for
compensation for alleged human rights violations in the 1980s and 1990s.
During the trial, the defendants, rights groups and Bahraini opposition
activists claimed that the accused had been tortured to extract confessions
but the allegations were denied by Bahraini officials.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/07/12/2003417235
China jails more Tibetan protesters
AGENCIES, BEIJING
Saturday, Jul 12, 2008, Page 1
A Nepalese policeman detains a Tibetan protester at a rally in front of the
visa section of the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu yesterday. More than 100
Tibetans are awaiting trial in China for their roles in protests.
PHOTO: EPA
Chinese courts jailed 12 more rioters for their roles in unrest in Tibet,
state media said, weeks before the Beijing Olympics and after Beijing
deported a Tibetan British woman it accused of anti-government activism
earlier this week.
China's Xinhua news agency said late on Thursday that to date the country
has convicted 42 people for their role in the riots while another 116 await
trial.
Some 953 people were detained by the police, Xinhua said, quoting Palma
Trily, the No. 1 vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government.
He did not give details on the length of the latest 12 sentences handed down
on June 19 and June 20 but said neither these rioters nor 30 people
convicted earlier had received death sentences.
"But whether or not the death penalty will be applied for suspects still
being investigated has to be determined based on Chinese laws," Palma Trily
was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, China is offering rewards of up to 500,000 yuan (US$73,000) to
anyone who provides information on major security threats during the Olympic
Games, state media reported yesterday.
The rewards aim to "mobilize the enthusiasm of the masses in maintaining
public security, as well as to control and eliminate hidden dangers to the
Olympic Games," Xinhua news agency said, citing Beijing authorities.
The move, part of an increasingly strict security drive in China's capital
ahead of the Games next month, urged residents in the city to report
information on major threats until Oct. 31, Xinhua said.
They would be given between 10,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan for credible tips,
the notice said.
Examples of what police are looking for included information on terrorist
attacks, sabotage by illegal organizations such as the Falun Gong and plots
to attack Olympic-related people and foreigners, Xinhua reported.
The announcement comes a day after China claimed it faced a serious threat
of terrorism in the Xinjiang autonomous region ahead of the Olympics.
Authorities said 82 suspected "terrorists" had been detained and five
organizations that had been planning to attack the Games had been cracked
there this year.
Human rights groups and other critics say the government has fabricated or
exaggerated the terrorist threat as an excuse to crush all forms of dissent
before the showpiece event.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080728/wl_mideast_afp/iranrightsexecution
Ebadi rights group protests Iran mass execution
by Aresu Eqbali Mon Jul 28, 7:18 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - The rights group run by Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi on
Monday protested at the hanging by Iran of 29 criminals in a mass execution
and said it doubted the convicts had been given a fair trial.
"The Defenders of Human Rights Centre... is against capital punishment and
believes it should be removed from the list of punishments in any country,"
the group said in a statement.
"Unfortunately in recent years some have been hanged en masse in Iran so
that Iran ranks the second country in the world in terms of the number of
executions," it added.
Iran on Sunday hanged 29 men convicted of offences including drug
trafficking, murder and rape in the largest mass execution in years.
The latest hangings brought to at least 155 the number of people executed in
Iran this year, according to an AFP count.
"It seems that the hanged men were deprived of a fair judicial procedure,"
the Defenders of Human Rights Centre said.
"No authority has the right to deprive defendants of their rights during the
arrest, trial and tribunal procedures as well as the right to legal
representation," it said.
The group, a frequent critic of the government over its treatment of
dissidents and rights activists, was formed by five prominent rights lawyers
and is headed by Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2003.
Amnesty International reported that in 2007 Iran applied the death penalty
more often than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people.
As part of an unprecedented crackdown to improve security in society, Iran
has stepped up its use of the death penalty -- facing repeated complaints by
Western right groups.
The authorities have defended the hangings, saying capital punishment is an
effective deterrent that is used only after an exhaustive judicial process.
But Ebadi's group dismissed that justification, saying: "The use of capital
punishment will have no effect in cutting crime and will rather increase
crime."
Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed
robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.
Earlier this month parliament was reported to be considering a bill which
could see the death penalty also being imposed on those deemed to promote
corruption, prostitution and apostasy on the Internet.
Iran hopes that executing drug dealers and thugs as well as the adoption of
stricter punishments will send a strong warning to criminals.
But Ebadi's human rights advocates also voiced concern over what they
described as the "faked" charge of being a "thug," saying such terms do not
exist in the penal laws.
A year ago, citing "promotion of social security," the authorities launched
an unprecedented crackdown against women and "thugs" whose behaviour was
deemed an affront to the country's strict Islamic moral code.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/417729.html
YENGISHAHAR, CHINA: Government cracks down on extremists, protesters
Straight shot to the Games
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: July 20th, 2008 01:00 AM
Shortly after dawn on July 9, the local government here bused several
thousand students and office workers into a public square and lined them up
in front of a vocational school. As the spectators watched, witnesses said,
three prisoners were brought out. Then, an execution squad fired rifles at
the three point-blank.
The young men had been convicted of having connections to terrorist plots,
which authorities said were part of a campaign aimed at disrupting the
Beijing Olympics by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an underground
separatist organization in western China. The group has long fought for
independence on behalf of the region's Muslim Uighur inhabitants.
The public execution was a dramatic example of the massive, unforgiving
security operation mounted in China to protect the Beijing Games from what
Communist Party authorities describe as an urgent threat of violence and
anti-government protest.
With the Games three weeks away, precautions have proved so sweeping that
some observers question whether the fellowship that is supposed to accompany
the Olympics can survive.
Alongside the crackdown against Muslim extremists in Xinjiang have come
confusing new visa restrictions, multiple roadside checkpoints, reinforced
pat-downs at airports and subway stations, and raids on bars popular among
foreigners.
On Thursday, China issued a manual advising the public what to do in the
case of a terrorist attack, according to state-run media.
China's leaders have extended the scope of their concerns to include
peaceful political protests.
In public and private comments, Chinese officials have seemed just as
determined to prevent pro-Tibet demonstrators from unfurling banners in
front of television cameras as they are to head off hotel bombings by Muslim
extremists, according to Chinese specialists and foreign diplomats.
The Beijing Public Security Bureau warned recently on its Web site that any
demonstration must have prior approval from authorities, in effect banning
anti-government protest.
Aware of the misgivings about overkill, Chinese authorities have said their
top priorities must be to guarantee the safety of Olympic athletes and
spectators.
"A safe Olympics is the biggest indicator of the success of the Games," Xi
Jinping, a member of the party's elite Politburo Standing Committee and the
senior official supervising preparations, said in a recent speech. "A safe
Olympics is also the biggest indicator of the positive reflection of our
nation's image."
The Washington Post
http://allafrica.com/stories/200805231025.html
Cameroon: Biya Offers Clemency to Riot Convicts
The Post (Buea)
23 May 2008
Posted to the web 23 May 2008
Christopher Jator Njechu
President Paul Biya, May 20, in response to calls by youths under the
platform of a humanitarian operation, known in French as 'Main Tendue',
signed two decrees.
One of the decrees reduces the prison terms of February riot convicts and
the other commutes the sentences of those incarcerated for life or condemned
to death.
The group of youths made the call in a memorandum addressed to Biya during a
debate that brought together believers of different denominations, May 8, at
the Maison Don Bosco.
The debate focused on the perception of believers on the February unrest
from the perspective of the Holy Scriptures. The youths solicited the
presidential clemency following a series of arrests and imprisonment of
their peers suspected of violent involvement in the uprising.
Human rights activist, Mouafo Djontu, also known to have led the recent
student uprising at the University of Yaounde I, ahead of the National Day
celebrations, urged the President to free youths jailed after the February
uprising.
Advocacy letters were also sent to diplomatic missions and human rights
organisations, intimating amelioration of prison conditions.In the
memorandum, the youths abhorred the arbitrary arrests of youths, violations
of human rights in detention centres and prisons and the marathon trial in
the sentencing of youths who simply demonstrated their dissatisfaction with
the regime.
Though the youths pleaded for, among others, clemency, food and medical
assistance in favour of the inmates, Biya might have had them right by
signing decree No. 2008/174 of May 20.
The decree remits sentences in favour of those persons whose term of
imprisonment is equal to or below one year, and a two-thirds reduction of
sentence in favour of those persons whose term of imprisonment is above one
year.
The decision, which grants them eventual liberty, does not, however, include
persons incarcerated for an offence committed during the period.Meanwhile
the second decree No. 2008/175 commutes to 20 years imprisonment for persons
originally sentenced to death and whose sentence has already been commuted,
and 20 years for those sentenced to life imprisonment that has not yet been
commuted, among others.
It should be recalled the youth group led by Mouafo Djontu, visited prisons
in Yaounde, Bafoussam, Douala and Buea and observed that the convicts were
stuffed in foul conditions with hardened criminals, sleeping on bare floor,
no medical assistance, malnourished, among others.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200804181040.html
Tanzania: Varsity Suspends 14 Over Riot
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
16 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Polycarp Machira
The University of Dar es Salaam has suspended 14 students for their alleged
active involvement in a riot in which a student died at the main campus on
February 22.
Addressing a press conference at the 'Hill' yesterday, the vice-chancellor,
Prof Rwekaza Mukandara, said an inquiry team that probed the riot had
recommended that the culprits should also face criminal prosecution.
The VC affirmed that students found to be innocent by the courts court will
be readmitted at the university.
"Those linked to criminal acts like theft, deliberate damage to public
property and sexual harassment of female students during the riot must be
handed over to the police for prosecution," he said.
On the night of February 17 and 22, groups of UDSM students ran a riot at
their Mabibo hostel and the main campus.
According to the University administration, the riot resulted to the
destruction of public property at the two locations. It included breaking of
doors in rooms of female students and pulling them into the swimming pool.
An undergraduate student drowned in the university swimming pool during the
fracas.
The inquiry team led by Emillyan Mushi, Judge of the High Court assisted by
seven members was constituted to investigate the riot, and recommend
punishment for its instigators.
In its report, the inquiry team identifies 16 students as having allegedly
participated in criminal offences committed during the fateful dates.
They are Gachuma Makere, Mwangata Paul, Hilu Ernest, Mwalukasa Elisha, Gasto
Florence of Ardhi University, Mwakolo Daniel, Mhelela Geofrey, Mursaly
Abdulrahiman and Reinard Makwetta.
Also in the list are Mhako Daniel, Silinde David, Chagulani Adams, Shirima
Deogratius, Igogo Dady and Damsion Judith.
The team also recommended that the existing student by-laws be enforced more
vigorously. It also found out that some students at the main campus use
drugs and advised criminal action against them.
Already, five students found found smoking bhang at the university's sports
grounds on April 10 were handed over to the police and were charged in
court.
They were Godson Emmanuel, Adili Mwangonda, Betenga Jimson, Joshua
Mwanjimwango and Soka Elifasi.
Owawa Stephen, Silinde David, Ally Selemani and Salum Ally were also
suspended and charged with a breach of university by-laws. The group
reportedly held an unlawful meeting on April 11 leading to disruption of
academic activities at the main campus.
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?in_article_id=145347&in_page_id=64
China jails riot monks for 20yrs
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tibet monks in riots
A monk and another man were jailed for life for riots in Tibet.
The Buddhist, Basang, was acc- used of leading a gang which set fire to
buildings and attacked police officers.
Another two monks were jailed for 20 years and three for 15, along with ten
other people, for their parts in last month's unrest.
The open trial was attended by more than 200 people, including monks and
'masses from all walks of life', state TV reported.
More than 200 people died during last month's crackdown on protests, the
Tibbetan government-in-exile has claimed.
But Beijing, which ran an Olympic security drill yesterday, insisted it
killed no one and said 22 people had died at the hands of mobs.
China also claims that seven schools, five hospitals and 120 homes were
torched during riots in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, at a cost of nearly
£18million.
It blamed the Dalai Lama, Tib- et's spiritual leader, for inciting violence
in the region.
But the Dalai Lama strongly denied the accusations and said he would stand
down if violence got any worse.
It was the first batch of sentencing but it remained unclear how many people
were being held across China.
Elsewhere, a US climmber was deported for having a 'Free Tibet' flag on
Mount Everest. William Holland was banned from climbing in Nepal for two
years.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/man-goes-missing-after-applying-for-protest-in-beijing
Man goes missing after applying for protest in Beijing
Thursday 14th August, 05:43 AM JST
HONG KONG -
A 58-year-old man who applied to stage a protest in Beijing has gone missing
after going to the police to check on his application, a human rights
watchdog said Wednesday.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said on its website that Ji Sizun, a
self-described grassroots legal activist from southeastern China's Fujian
Province, applied on Friday at the Deshengmenwai police station in Beijing's
Xicheng District for a permit to hold a protest in one of the city's three
designated protest zones.
http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/35078
Solidified concrete blocks unleash popular protest in Sadr City-MP
Baghdad, 12 August 2008 (Voices of Iraq)
A lawmaker from the Sadrist bloc loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
on Tuesday criticised putting more concrete blocks in the Shiite slum of
Sadr City.
"In spite of an agreement with the security forces stationing in Sadr City
to reduce the concrete blocks, they solidified the bloc with concrete
slabs," MP Zainab al-Kninani from the Sadrist bloc told Aswat al-Iraq -
Voices of Iraq - (VOI).
The lawmaker stressed "the measure might increase the rising tension rampant
in the district."
This third wall that will encircle Sadr City, home to about 2.5 million
people in northeastern Baghdad, is part of the U.S. and Iraqi effort to
solidify the sharp drop in violence that followed fierce fighting there this
year.
Hundreds were killed beginning in March as Iraqi and U.S. forces battled
Sadr's Mahdi Army, which the United States blamed for rocket and mortar
attacks on U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters in central Baghdad's Green
Zone.
The fighting in Sadr City was one front of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's
crackdown on defiant Shiite militias.
A May 10 ceasefire ended the fighting in Sadr City and, 10 days later, Iraqi
troops pushed deep into the slum unopposed.
Fighting had been particularly fierce at the time, and U.S. forces built a
(3.5-meter) security wall stretching more than 3 km across Sadr City.
The MP expressed protest over "checking measures and illegal arrest
operations conducted by security forces in Sadr City and other districts."
She called for the government "to open more crossings to grant Sadr City
residents the freedom to enter and depart their district," noting "the
available outlets are not sufficient for the most populous district."
Along with an Iraqi-built wall on the eastern side of Sadr City and a canal
that runs along its northern edge, the walls will entirely encircle the
area. Several checkpoints will search vehicles exiting and entering the
slum.
Such security walls, designed to stop suicide bombers and slow the traffic
of weapons, have brought bitter debate where they have been erected around
markets, public places and entire neighborhoods across Baghdad.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/090808_News/09Aug2008_news18.php
Curb on public protests could spell end of Samak govt
ANUCHA CHAROENPO
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's idea of amending Article 63 followed by a
proposed draft bill to control public demonstrations may have been put on
hold for now, but they are like a time bomb which could be reactivated to
explode any time.
Whether the moves were made to distract the general public from the
controversial amendment of the entire constitution, critics are certain that
the attempt at protest control would do more harm than good to the
government led by the People Power party.
Ironically, this public protest control move could actually rouse more
people than ever to come out and protest against it. If the government wants
to stay longer in office, it is recommended that it stop the move which is
seen as an attempt to curtail people's freedom of expression and right to
peaceful gathering.
"I think more people who are fed up with the government's action will leave
their homes to put pressure on the government to give up on the intention.
No way will the people let the government finish the task," said Prapas
Pintobtang, a political lecturer at Chulalongkorn University's faculty of
political science.
Mr Prapas said he was not sure why Prime Minister Samak and his government
MPs had dared push for such an impractical idea. Such a law was pointless in
a time when the country has been restored to democracy, not to say it would
needlessly increase the tension between pro-and anti-government groups.
Democracy in action... But if the prime minister has his way, protests by
the People's Alliance for Democracy would no longer be allowed.
"Aren't the government MPs and Prime Minister Samak not busy enough? Why do
they have to get themselves into trouble and a messy situation despite the
fact that they are duty-bound to bring about peace and unity in the
country?" the lecturer asked.
The prime minister on Sunday spoke through his weekly programme broadcast on
NBT, formerly Channel 11, about his proposed amendment of Article 63 of the
charter in order to bring protests in public places under control. In the
amended version distributed to the media, the government added some content
to the Article, stipulating that: "a person shall enjoy the liberty to
assemble peacefully and without arms and without wrongful accusations to
defame others and without instigating and misleading the public, without
using the media to support their campaigns, without forcing and hiring any
groups to join the protests."
Shortly after the prime minister floated his idea, government MPs and
Minister attached to the PM's Office, Chusak Sirinil, came out to throw
their weight behind this, and confirmed that the government would add the
amended clause to the charter rewrite campaign.
It goes without saying that the embattled prime minister raised the
amendment to Article 63 because he is extremely unhappy with the ongoing
anti-government rallies led by arch-rival People's Alliance for Democracy
(PAD).
The PAD has staged its protest since May 25 to oust the government over its
attempts to amend the charter and its alleged failure to solve the rising
cost of living of the people over the past six months.
Rassada Manurassada, a human rights lawyer at the Lawyers Council of
Thailand, said the people's right to freedom of expression and their right
to assemble in public places peacefully are principles of basic human rights
guaranteed by the United Nations, of which Thailand is a member.
"What would be added to Article 63 is considered a violation of human
rights. And it is hard to prove what constitutes an offence in the amended
Article," Mr Rassada said.
He added that at present the country has its own criminal law to take legal
action against those accused of defamation, instigating riots or deceiving
other people. So he did not see the necessity of pushing for added
protection. And many people, including former prime minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, who were defamed by the PAD had lodged complaints with the
police using existing laws.
Mr Rassada said it was true the ongoing demonstrations have caused traffic
problems and were a nuisance to some members of the public, but that they
have more advantages than disadvantages. The demonstrations helped promote
people's participation and was democracy in action.
"Without the public protests, Thailand would likely become a half-baked
democracy," said Mr Rassada.
Sunee Chaiyaros, a human rights commissioner of the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC), expressed serious concern over the plan to push for the
draft bill regulating public gatherings proposed by a group 26 PPP MPs led
by Sakon Nakhon MP Jumpot Boonyai.
Ms Sunee said a similar bill had been drafted by the police during the
administration of Mr Thaksin but had been heavily opposed by the public
because it contradicted the 1997 charter, which gave people the right to
assemble in public places without any arms.
She added that the Highways Department had once proposed a similar bill as
well, but it did not pass parliament's approval.
The draft bill, containing 20 articles, seeks to set up a committee in
Bangkok and other provinces which would have the authority to approve public
gatherings. A Bangkok committee chaired by the Metropolitan Police Bureau
Commissioner and a provincial committee chaired by the governor would be
empowered by the bill to break up the rallies if they caused trouble to the
public. Under the new law, the authorities assigned to disperse the protests
would be exempt from cilvil and criminal punishment if their actions were
"undertaken reasonably".
Organisers of unauthorised public gatherings would be liable to imprisonment
of up to three years if violence occurred at the protest site, and/or a fine
of up to 100,000 baht.
Instead of pushing for this kind of law, Ms Sunee suggested the government
come up with instructions to police, soldiers, local officials and security
volunteers about how to handle all forms of protest. She said the NHRC had
made a recommendation about the need for such a set of instructions and
proper training to the government of Mr Thaksin, but had never received any
response.
At this point, the government whip has set up a sub-committee chaired by PPP
MP Sukhumpong Ngonkham to review the measures needed to regulate public
gatherings.
Mr Jumpot, who proposed the draft bill, will be invited to give more
information before the sub-panel next week. Academics, human rights
defenders and other think-tanks will be invited to testify as well.
Mr Jumpot insisted on pushing for the draft bill because he wanted it to be
used as a tool to keep order and maintain security in the country. He said
in principle the law would deal with rouge protesters causing trouble for
the public. He said he welcomed all public comments and ensured that all
opinions would be considered.
Pairoj Polpetch, chairman of the Civil Liberty Union, called on the public
to keep monitoring the government's manoeuvres for the bill as he believed
that one day it would surely be tabled and debated in parliament.
When that time came, he predicted, the government would lose its legitimacy
to rule the country.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/20/213749/387
China: Free Wu Dianyuan And Wang Xiuying!
by davidseth
Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 06:40:38 PM PDT
cross posted from The Dream Antilles
The Chinese Government is very afraid of these two women.
Seventy-nine-year-old Wu Dianyuan, on the right, and her neighbor Wang
Xiuying, 77, followed the law. They applied for a protest permit. They
wanted to protest inadequate compensation for the taking of their homes in
preparation of the Olympics. They asked for the permit five times. They
didn't get it. They ended up instead being sentenced to a year of
"re-education through labor."
Join me in Beijing.
davidseth's diary :: ::
According to NY Times:
Two elderly Chinese women have been sentenced to a year of "re-education
through labor" after they repeatedly sought a permit to demonstrate in one
of the official Olympic protest areas, according to family members and human
rights advocates.
The women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, had made five visits to
the police this month in an effort to get permission to protest what they
contended was inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes in
Beijing.
During their final visit on Monday, public security officials informed them
that they had been given administrative sentences for "disturbing the public
order," according to Li Xuehui, Ms. Wu's son.
Mr. Li said his mother and Ms. Wang, who used to be neighbors before their
homes were demolished to make way for a redevelopment project, were allowed
to return home but were told they could be sent to a detention center at any
moment. "Can you imagine two old ladies in their 70s being re-educated
through labor?" he asked. He said Ms. Wang was nearly blind.
The Chinese government's suppression of all public protests at the Olympics
is a disgrace. The details:
At least a half dozen people have been detained by the authorities after
they responded to a government announcement late last month designating
venues in three city parks as "protest zones" during the Olympics. So far,
no demonstrations have taken place.
According to Xinhua, the state news agency, 77 people submitted protest
applications, none of which were approved. Xinhua, quoting a public security
spokesperson, said that apart from those detained all but three applicants
had dropped their requests after their complaints were "properly addressed
by relevant authorities or departments through consultations." The remaining
three applications were rejected for incomplete information or for violating
Chinese law.
The authorities, however, have refused to explain what happened to
applicants who disappeared after they submitted their paperwork. Among
these, Gao Chuancai, a farmer from northeast China who was hoping to
publicize government corruption, was forcibly escorted back to his hometown
last week and remains in custody.
Relatives of another person who was detained, Zhang Wei, a Beijing resident
who was also seeking to protest the demolition of her home, were told she
would be kept at a detention center for a month. Two rights advocates from
southern China have not been heard from since they were seized last week at
the Public Security Bureau's protest application office in Beijing.
And so, tonight on TV in the US, you will doubtless see some wonderful
running, in fact, an incredible world record in the 200 meter sprint. And
some incredible volley ball. And some remarkable soccer. And panoramic
views of the "birds' nest" stadium. And you will hear the touching stories
of those who have overcome extreme hardship to excel at their sports. Some
of this will bring tears to your eyes, and some of it will make you marvel
that anyone could achieve such heights. Some of it will stir feelings of
nationalism and pride.
But there's something lurking just beneath the surface. It's the Olympics
as Potemkin Village, the Olympics as propaganda, the Olympics as police
state. And you've seen it all before. In the 1936 Olympics:
Leni Riefenstahl, a favorite of Hitler's, was commissioned by the IOC to
film the Games. Her film, entitled Olympia, introduced many of the
techniques now common to the filming of sports.
By allowing only members of the "Aryan" race to compete for Germany, Hitler
further promoted his ideological belief of racial supremacy. At the same
time, the party removed signs stating "Jews not wanted" and similar slogans
from the city's main tourist attractions. In an attempt to "clean up"
Berlin, the German Ministry of Interior authorized the chief of police to
arrest all Romani (Gypsies) and keep them in a special camp. Nazi officials
ordered that foreign visitors should not be subjected to the criminal
strictures of anti-homosexual laws.
Isn't Beijing wonderful? Isn't this all about peace, and unity, and
brother and sisterhood? Isn't this all about fun and peaceful competition?
Isn't this all about entertainment and sport as a unifying force? Isn't
this beyond politics? Well, no, it isn't. The protests for human rights,
for Freedom for Tibet, for free speech, for an end to the genocide in Darfur
have all been suppressed in China.
But, folks, we're not in China. And we need to raise a ruckus. We need to
call on China to free Wu Dianyuan And Wang Xiuying, and everyone else they
are holding to keep Beijing and its Olympics beautiful.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/08/21/would_be_protesters_punished/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+World+news
Would-be protesters punished
Wu Dianyuan, 79, center, and Wang Xiuying, 77, wanted to protest during the
Olympics. (AP Photo)
By
Washington Post / August 21, 2008
BEIJING - Two elderly women were sentenced to a year of "re-education
through labor" after they applied for permits to demonstrate during the
Olympics, according to the son of one of the would-be protesters.
Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, went to Chinese police five times
between Aug. 5 and Aug. 18 to seek approval to protest against officials who
evicted them from their homes in 2001.
The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau did not approve or deny their
applications during the first three visits. On the fourth visit, the women
were told that they would receive a year's punishment, until July 29, 2009,
for "disturbing the public order."
They will not have to go immediately to a re-education labor camp, but their
movements will be restricted. If they violate various rules, they could be
sent to a labor camp.
Wu and Wang tried to return a fifth time to inquire again about their
protest application but they were told that their right to apply had been
stripped.
Li Xuehui said his mother, Wu, and her friend are outraged.
"We are a Communist society, with the people the leaders and owners, but
basic citizens' rights cannot even be realized today. How sad it is." Li
said. 'The way things are is the opposite of the 'people-oriented' ideology
of the country when it was founded."
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,7002,0,0,1,0
Burma monk forcibly disrobed over street protests
by Andrew Buncombe, The Independent, August 22, 2008
Yangon, Myanmar -- The Burmese monk who helped organise the huge street
demonstrations against the country's military rulers has been disrobed by
the authorities in contravention of Buddhist traditions.
<< Buddhist monks in cinnamon robes take to the streets of Yangon, Burma, in
September 2007
Ashin Gambira, who was arrested last year following the so-called Saffron
Revolution, told his lawyer that after he was detained, the authorities
stripped him of his status as a monk. His lawyer, Aung Thein, told the
Irrawaddy Magazine that the disrobing was carried out without observance of
Buddhist traditions and with no consultation with senior monks.
"Ashin Gambira said the authorities, under Buddhist rules, had no right to
disrobe him or to charge him with criminal offenses," said the lawyer.
The 29-year-old monk, leader of the All Burma Monks' Alliance, appeared this
week at a court inside Rangoon's notorious Insein jail where he was charged
with a series of offences including contacting banned organisations and
having illegal contacts with foreigners. His family have said they believe
that if he is convicted of any treasonable offences he will either be
executed or jailed for life.
The previously unknown monk alliance was central to last September's
demonstrations which saw up to 100,000 people march in support of democracy
and against soaring inflation. Human rights groups believe that up to 200
people were killed by the subsequent crushing of the demonstrations by the
regime.
Hundreds of monks and ordinary people, including almost all of the leaders
of various pro-democracy groups, are believed to remain in jail.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/23/asia/AS-OLY-China-Protests.php
China sentences 10 foreign protesters
The Associated Press
Published: August 23, 2008
BEIJING: Chinese police have sentenced at least 10 foreigners to 10 days of
detention for protesting during the Olympic Games, an activist group and
officials said Saturday.
The most recent detainees included four protesters who were demonstrating
against Chinese rule in Tibet, said the New York-based Students for a Free
Tibet. The protesters - a German, two Americans and a British citizen - were
seized Thursday while unfurling a Tibetan flag near the "Bird's Nest"
National Stadium.
Britain's Foreign Office confirmed the detention of the British protester
and issued a statement saying, "We continue to underline to the Chinese
government the need to respect its commitment to freedom of expression." The
statement also urged British citizens to respect China's laws.
China said it would allow protests during the Olympic Games only in three
designated areas. Protesters also were also required to apply for permission
to protest, but no application to demonstrate has been approved.
The Public Security Bureau did not immediately respond to requests Saturday
for comment about the detained foreigners' cases.
The bureau issued a statement Thursday that said a separate group of six
foreigners who were arrested Tuesday were ordered to serve 10 days of
detention. Police did not identify the detainees, but Students for a Free
Tibet said they were bloggers, artists and activists from the United States.
Separately, the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group said AIDs activist Wang
Xiaoqiao, who has been detained for nine months, has been convicted and
sentenced to one year in prison in the central province of Henan. The
organization accused the government of waiting until the Olympics, when the
world was distracted by the games, to sentence Wang.
Wang was convicted of extortion Aug. 12 in Xincai county in a case that
involved a kiln that she claimed polluted her family's farm land, the
overseas-based group said. Wang was detained shortly after she reached a
settlement with the kiln owner, it said.
The rights group said Wang was actually being punished for petitioning
officials for compensation for AIDs patients. Wang's husband contracted the
disease from a tainted blood transfusion, the group said.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080822/world/oly2008_china_rights_protest
Grannies vow to fight on after punishment for Olympic protests
Module body
Fri Aug 22, 2:56 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - Two Beijing grandmothers remained defiant and in good
spirits Friday despite being sentenced to one year of reeducation through
labour for applying to protest during the Olympics.
In an interview with AFP, neighbours Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77,
said they had not received compensation after their homes were demolished by
the city government seven years ago and were simply fighting for their
rights.
"We have done nothing wrong," said Wang. "They won't let me protest, then
they sentence me to a year labour camp. I am really mad.
"But we are not afraid. We will go on protesting, you can see this is not
fair, do you understand that?"
The re-education orders seen by AFP said that Wang and Wu will be allowed to
serve their sentences at home, but will be sent to a labour camp if they
cause further trouble.
Wang and Wu were seated together in a ramshackle one-room apartment without
electricity in which Wu now lives after her home in central Beijing was
demolished to make way for a development.
The two said they had applied five times to stage protests at official
Olympic protest zones set up by the government.
"We will keep on protesting," vowed Wang.
Ahead of the Olympics, the government said the three protests areas in city
parks would be available for demonstrations. But it admitted this week that
not one of more than 70 applications to protest had been approved.
Wang, who lives across a narrow unpaved lane from Wu in a similar one-room
apartment in a downtrodden southeastern Beijing suburb, said they were
delighted when they heard that protests would be permitted during the
Olympics.
But instead of getting approval for their protest, they were both slapped
with the one-year sentences of re-education through labour for disturbing
public order.
"What crime have we committed?" said Wang, as the two lifetime friends let
out a burst of laughter.
"We never committed any crime when we were young. Now we are so old we can't
even speak clearly. How can we possible commit a crime?"
The two women described as illiterate in the police document both need
walking sticks to stand up and look far too frail to challenge the authority
of the all-powerful Chinese sate.
They are among hundreds of thousands of Beijing residents who have been
relocated over the past decade as the city undergoes high-speed
redevelopment, much of it tied to the Olympic Games.
The Beijing city government insists that residents who have been relocated
have received adequate compensation. But Wang and Wu said they received
nothing.
It is a familiar story in Beijing and throughout the country.
Even the central government has said the phenomenon of illegal land grabs --
where local officials and property developers kick people out of their homes
or off their farms -- is one of the major factors behind rising social
unrest.
The two old ladies seem to be genuinely amused that they have been branded
public enemies. But they are nonetheless angry that years of effort to win
compensation have so far failed.
"They say we committed a crime," said Wu. "What crime? They have the power,
so what they say counts. We are just ordinary citizens and we have no voice.
We are victims."
Wu's son, Li Xuehui, said that plainclohes police were camped in cars at the
end of the lane watching for any further trouble from the grannies.
The women also said neighbours had been ordered to spy on them and they were
constantly under watch.
But they insisted they did not care about the intimidation, and Wang said
she would refuse to go to a labour camp.
"I am not going, I don't care what happens. What can they do to me?" she
said.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/210808_News/21Aug2008_news12.php
Students caned for absence, not protest
No political motive for pupils' punishment
The caning of eight students at Yothinburana school was unrelated to their
attendance at a protest against the relocation of the school to make way for
a new government building, deputy secretary-general of the Basic Education
Commission Mangkorn Kullavanich said yesterday.
The commission asked school heads and the Office of Bangkok Education Zone
1, which supervises the school, about reports eight students were caned
after they took part in the protest.
The school said they were caned as punishment for their unexplained absence
from class.
The punishment had nothing to do with the students' participation in the
protest last Friday, said Mr Mangkorn.
School director Manop Noppasirikul reported the incident to the commission.
According to the school, in Bangkok's Dusit district, only five were caned
by physical education teacher Suwattana Permpool on Monday.
The other three were not punished after providing sound reasons for their
absence.
Parents of the students withdrew their complaints against the teacher filed
with Tao Poon police after receiving explanations from the school director,
said Mr Mangkorn.
Earlier, the aunt of a Mathayom 2 (Grade 8) student said her niece was caned
18 times by Mrs Suwattana on Monday for attending the protest march.
Her niece was among eight students who were caned, she said.
More than 500 students from the school had joined the march to Government
House to demonstrate their opposition to the relocation plan, which would
clear land for the new parliamentary site.
Kotchawan Pipatbundit, mother of a Yothinburana school student, said a group
of parents whose children study there would join the anti-government
People's Alliance for Democracy's march to the school tomorrow to give moral
support to students.
She had not yet met parents of the caned students, but those parents had
joined their children in Friday's protest march to Government House.
The new parliamentary site will occupy a 119-rai plot on the Chao Phraya
river in Kiakkai.
The land is currently occupied by agencies under the Defence Ministry,
Yothinburana and residential areas.
The school, which occupies eight rai, opposes the change.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/16/africa/AF-Tunisia-Opponent.php
Tunisian opponent convicted for role in protests
The Associated Press
Published: August 16, 2008
TUNIS, Tunisia: A Tunisian government opponent has been convicted and
sentenced to eight months in prison for her role in a peaceful protest, a
human rights group in the North African nation said Saturday.
A court in the central city of Gafsa convicted and sentenced Zakia Dhifaoui
on Friday, the association Equity and Liberty said. She was convicted of
disrupting public order, engaging in civil disobedience and attacking good
moral standards, among other charges, it said.
Court officials were not immediately available to confirm her conviction.
Dhifaoui is a member of a legal opposition party as well as the Tunisian
League in Defense of Human Rights. Six others were also convicted and handed
six-month sentences on similar charges.
Dhifaoui was arrested in July after taking the microphone at a peaceful
demonstration where she called for the release of prisoners rounded up a
month earlier when protests over high unemployment turned violent in the
Gafsa mining region.
Human rights group routinely criticize Tunisia for its lack of freedom of
expression and its stern handling of political opponents.
http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200808220533DOWJONESDJONLINE000424_univ.xml
Seven Charged In Singapore Over IMF-World Bank Protests8-22-08 5:33 AM EDT |
E-mail Article | Print Article
SINGAPORE (AFP)--A Singapore opposition leader and six other activists have
been charged over protests during IMF-World Bank meetings almost two years
ago, one of them said Friday, just days after the Prime Minister called for
a ban on outdoor demonstrations to be eased.
Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, was
charged along with his sister Chee Siok Chin and five other fellow party
members, Chee Siok Chin said.
The charges were read when the accused appeared in court Thursday, she said.
They related to the distribution of flyers ahead of the 2006 International
Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings and to a public procession allegedly
conducted without a permit during the meetings, she said.
Under Singapore law, any public protest of at least five people without a
permit is deemed illegal. Public demonstrations seldom occur in the country.
Chee's applications for a permit during the meetings were denied. He engaged
in a three-day standoff with police who stopped him from marching to the
conference venue after he delivered a speech at Speakers' Corner, a
government- designated free speech area.
He said he was protesting against poverty and restrictions on free speech.
In his key annual policy address televised Monday night, Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong said the city-state should ease its ban on political videos and
outdoor demonstrations as part of a gradual liberalization of society.
"We have to move away from this total ban and find ways for people to let
off steam a little bit more, but safely," Lee said, calling for
demonstrations to be allowed at Speakers' Corner.
The government created the Speakers' Corner as an outdoor venue for
political speeches in 2000, although Lee said it does not attract many
speakers.
Would-be speakers must register with police and abide by a list of rules
which forbid discussion of religion or topics that might provoke racial
tension.
Multiracial Singapore has bitter memories of deadly riots more than 40 years
ago. Lee said demonstrators would still have to keep away from race,
language and religious topics.
Chee Siok Chin said the activists were campaigning "for free speech and
assembly" and did not want to be restricted to specific locations.
She said one of the seven accused pleaded guilty Thursday.
The cases of the other six are to be mentioned in court again on September
3, she said.
If convicted, they face a maximum fine of S$1,000 (US$710.93) on each
charge.
Singapore's leaders say tough laws against dissent and other political
activity are necessary to ensure the stability which has helped the
city-state achieve economic success.
Police Friday referred inquiries about the charges to the courts, where
nobody was immediately available for comment.
Asked why the charges have been laid almost two years after the protests, a
spokesman for the Attorney General's Chambers, the government's legal
adviser, declined comment. "We do not discuss details," Han Ming Kuang said.
"It's almost as if they were hanging on...until they got an instruction from
somewhere," Chee Siok Chin said.
Chee Soon Juan is one of the few Singaporeans who have publicly spoken
against the People's Action Party which has ruled since 1959. He has been
jailed repeatedly for defying laws against protests and refusing to pay
fines.
His party has no seats in parliament.
The Chee siblings spent several days in jail in June for contempt of court
over their behavior during a defamation case filed by the Prime Minister and
his father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who is still a powerful
cabinet member.
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/vietnam/2008/08/08/169221/Vietnam%2Dsentences.htm
Vietnam sentences tribe villagers for protest
AP
Friday, August 8, 2008
HANOI, Vietnam -- A Vietnamese court has sentenced four ethnic minority
villagers to up to six years in jail for staging anti-government protests,
state-controlled media reported Thursday. The villagers from the Central
Highlands province of Dak Nong were given jail terms ranging from two to six
years at Wednesday's one-day trial, the Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People's Army)
newspaper said.
The court found the men guilty of inciting protests and helping more than 50
people flee the country into neighboring Cambodia last year, it said. Their
acts "made some people misunderstand the (Communist) Party's leadership and
distorted the social economic development policy," the newspaper said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200807310238.html
Kenya: Schools Take Tough Measures After Riots
The Nation (Nairobi)
31 July 2008
Posted to the web 31 July 2008
Benjamin Muindi and John Ngirachu
Nairobi
Tough conditions have been imposed on students seeking re-admission in
schools affected by the recent wave of strikes.
Parents will have to pay between Sh2,000 and Sh6,500 per student to cover
for the damage caused when students burnt dormitories and destroyed other
school property during the protests that rocked more than 300 schools
countrywide.
Some 700 students of Mwasere Girls Secondary School in Taita District will
each pay Sh6,500 for the reconstruction of a dormitory burnt during the
protests. In some institutions, students in boarding schools will be made
day scholars.
In other schools they will have to sign declarations that they will not take
prohibited items to school. Personal interviews will be conducted to
establish who led the arson attacks in which schools lost millions of
shillings in properties.
Transfers frozen
The Ministry of Education has already declared that students who led the
arson attacks would not be re-admitted. It has also stopped the transfer of
students for one year.
Among the other conditions that students and their parents must fulfil
before readmission include:
* Paying damage fees for schools where buildings and property were
destroyed.
* Form Four candidates involved in violent protests against mock
examinations be suspended until the KCSE exam.
* Students sit mock exams as they commute from home.
* Clearance after police investigations into the cause of the mayhem.
* Expulsion of those involved in the attacks.
* Students to identify those who might have committed arson.
While some of the students face prosecution, parents will also bear the
burden for the extensive damage to school buildings and property.
However, many parents have protested at the directive requiring them to pay
for repairs.
On Wednesday, parents at Dagoretti High School said the amount needed for
repairing classrooms and doors had been increased to Sh3,500 from the
Sh2,000 agreed on during an earlier meeting between them and the school
administration. The school is set to re-open later in the week.
Prompt parents
The decision that parents will bear the full cost of rebuilding schools
burnt down during strikes was first made by President Kibaki during a
meeting in Nyeri at the weekend.
Later, the senior deputy Director of Education in charge of secondary
education, Ms Concilia Ondiek, said money from the Constituency Development
Fund and other devolved funds would not be used to rebuild the destroyed
facilities.
This, she said, would prompt parents to take charge of their children's
discipline.
The Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman, Mr Cleophas Tirop,
has since supported the directive saying parents should shoulder the cost of
repairing burnt schools.
Mr Tirop, who is the Kapsabet Boys High School principal, said that as a
rule, parents meet the cost of damage caused by students. "We cannot pass
the cost to the Government while the students caused the problem," he said.
Most headteachers the Nation spoke to supported the directive, saying it
served parents right because they had abdicated the role of disciplining
their children.
This week, parents, teachers and other players in education, have been
meeting to find the solutions to strikes in schools.
In Nyeri, students dominated hearings by a parliamentary committee on the
wave of violence in schools.
They cited an overloaded curriculum, poor communication with their teachers,
lack of basic facilities and indiscipline as some of the causes for the
unrest. Students who made presentations opposed the re-introduction of
corporal punishment.
In Nairobi, students from Sunshine Secondary School said they were aggrieved
by the administration's decision to suspend boarding facilities for Form
Fours as they did their mocks.
Students from Upper Hill Secondary School have not yet been recalled after
they burnt a dormitory. One student died in the blaze. Only those in Form
Four had resumed to sit their mock examinations.
Parents, staff and students of St George's Secondary met on Wednesday to
discuss the re-opening of the school which had been closed to forestall a
strike.
At Queen of Apostles Seminary, where students defied the advice of John
Cardinal Njue and set fire to a dormitory hours after the Nairobi archbishop
left, the rector, Fr John Muhindi, said that while the school was bound to
act by the Government's rules on students who planned and executed the
strikes, it was upon the administration to decide what to do with boys.
Mobile phones
The school was still investigating the incident and had identified at least
15 students who might have been involved.
Fr Muhindi said communication using mobile phones and some students who had
sought permission to be out of school before the fire occurred might have
contributed to the burning of the dormitory.
Parents will pay for its repair but the school would chip in if required to.
At Kahawa Secondary School, also in Nairobi, students have been ordered to
pay for damages. The school was closed last week after violent protests.
The headmaster, Mr Peter Kiragu, said students from other forms had resumed
school and were sitting the end of term examinations this week.
The headteacher said those involved in the strike would be suspended up to
the time of the KCSE examination and would then only be allowed in the
school to sit their papers. He put the damage caused at the school at
Sh100,000.
At Aquinas Secondary School, the 800 parents will pay Sh2,000 each for a
dormitory that was razed last week.
The deputy principal, Mr Charles Ng'ang'a, said parents had agreed to pay
the amount at a meeting at the school last week.
End of term exam
Mr Ng'ang'a said the damaged dormitory would cost Sh1.67 million to repair.
According to him, most of the students were angry with their colleagues for
the incident which had spoilt the school's reputation.
The school will reopen in August so that students in lower forms can sit
their end of term examinations and the Form Fours the mock examination.
When the Nation visited the school on Wednesday, screening was going on to
identify the students who might had been involved in the incident.
At Royal Star Academy in Ongata Rongai, a meeting between the parents and
the school's director, Mr Moses Ochieng, will determine who will foot the
bill for the reconstruction of a dormitory worth Sh3.4 million.
Mr Ochieng said he had put the school's programme first and only two of the
students involved in the arson attack were still missing.
Ngara Girls and Pumwani Secondary, which were also closed last week, are
awaiting instructions from the Provincial Director of Education.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/365021/1/.html
Seoul to replace riot police with professional forces
By Channel NewsAsia's Korea Bureau Chief Lim Yun Suk | Posted: 05 August
2008 1748 hrs
Riot policemen detain a South Korean protester during an anti-government
rally against US beef.
SEOUL: Protest rallies in South Korea are usually quelled by the riot police
but in a few years' time, professional forces are expected to take over
their duties.
There are currently about 40,000 men serving as riot police to fulfil their
military obligation. But by 2014, South Korea plans to replace them with
full-time professional policemen, whose main job scope would be to crack
down on illegal protests and haul away violent protesters.
Lee Yeon Jae of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency explained in Korean:
"As the former riot police unit will be replaced by these new police unit,
we hope to implement stricter law and order, and to enforce peaceful
rallies."
The new police unit is already at work, having been dispatched to rallies in
downtown Seoul over the weekend, where South Koreans were protesting against
the import of US beef and the government of President Lee Myung Bak.
However, the move has been criticised by several civic groups, who accused
the government of going back to the days under military dictatorship. The
groups also said the new unit is a revival of the infamous Baekoldan, also
known as the "white skull corps".
Baekoldan was a well-trained special police team who wore white helmets and
blue jackets instead of police uniform. They were known for their harsh
crackdown on student protesters under the military dictatorship of former
President Chun Doo Hwan in the 1980s and 1990s.
Oh Chang Ik, Director for the Citizens, Solidarity for Human Right, said:
"The unit being set up now is not for defence purpose but to attack and
arrest. This shows the basic principle of the police towards rallies.
"It seems like they are treating the rally participants like terrorists or
enemies. This is a very dangerous situation."
A human rights group, Amnesty International in Korea, recently released a
report saying police had used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators
during the rallies against the import of US beef.
But others have argued that in situations such as protests, it is difficult
for the police not to get violent.
- CNA/yb
http://africa.reuters.com/country/MA/news/usnBAN128593.html
Moroccan activist jailed over report of riot deaths
Fri 11 Jul 2008, 6:56 GMT
RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan rights activist was jailed on Thursday for
telling journalists that security forces had killed and raped protesters
during riots in a southern town last month, accusations the government
strenuously denied.
Brahim Sbaalil, a leading member of the Moroccan Human Rights Centre (CMDH),
said the authorities committed crimes against humanity when they broke up a
protest over poverty and joblessness by youths in the port of Sidi Ifni on
June 7.
The government said no one died in the disturbances but that 48 people were
injured, including 28 police, and 188 arrested.
Police arrested Sbaalil after a news conference at which he spoke of
"deaths, cases of disappearances and rapes" during the clashes in the port
town 700 km (435 miles) southwest of Rabat, the authorities said.
He was sentenced to six months in prison and handed a 1,000 dirham fine for
"outraging the public authorities by claiming the existence of fictitious
crimes".
Rights campaigners and journalists packed into the Rabat court of first
instance to hear the verdict, which defence lawyers said they would appeal.
The Rabat bureau chief of Arabic satellite news channel Al Jazeera, which
carried the reports of deaths in Sidi Ifni, was charged on June 13 under
Morocco's press code with publishing false information and had his press
card removed.
Hassan Rachidi said the Qatari-based channel's reports gave prominence to
the official denials of any deaths.
Press freedom campaigners said the charges against Rachidi are excessive and
highlight Moroccan government hostility to Al Jazeera and its staff. His
sentence is still pending.
Tension lingered over Sidi Ifni for several days after the riots, with
residents complaining of brutal police tactics. Some witnesses who reported
relatives missing later found they were under arrest.
Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said the government had a moral duty
to remove the protesters who were blocking the port, the town's economic
lifeline, and restore order. He said any abuses, if proven, would be
severely punished.
A parliamentary commission created to examine the events in Sidi Ifni is yet
to report its findings.
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