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Month: May 2022

Little to celebrate on Press Freedom Day amid worsening media crackdown in Myanmar

Editor013 mins

There was little to celebrate on World Press Freedom Day in Myanmar, where the junta has jailed 135 journalists since it seized power last year and reporters routinely face harassment, arrest and even death for doing their jobs, members of the media and watchdog groups said Tuesday. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that in the 15 months since its Feb. 1, 2021, coup, the junta had “obliterated” a decade of moderate press reforms in Myanmar, prompting it to name the country the world’s fifth worst abuser of the media freedom in its annual global index. Speaking to RFA’s Myanmar Service on Tuesday, Han Zaw of the Detained Journalists’ Information said his group had documented the arrest of 135 journalists in Myanmar since the coup, adding that nearly half of them remain in detention. “Eighty-three of them — 13 women and 70 men — have been released so far, some on amnesty, some after completing their sentences and some after serving a short-term detention,” he said. “More than 80 journalists have been charged. There are currently 51 detained journalists — 13 women and 38 men.” Myanmar is recognized by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists as the world’s worst jailer of journalists after China. Since the coup, authorities have arrested and sentenced outspoken members of the press on vaguely worded criminal charges that include “publishing false information” and “defamation,” as well as on charges of “terrorism.” Freelance journalist Soe Yar Zar Tun was detained on Feb. 28, 2021, while covering anti-coup protests and is being held in Yangon’s Insein Prison facing a trial for violating the country’s Anti-Terrorism Law. His brother, Zar Ni Tun, told RFA that the junta has no right to arrest members of the media for reporting the news. “It’s completely hypocritical,” he said. “They have harassed and arrested and tortured people in the past and are still doing it.” An editor from the Shwe Phi Myay News Agency, which is based in Shan state, said that in addition to the threat of arrest, journalists are now regularly in danger of losing their lives while doing their jobs. “We know that once a person is arrested, it is very difficult for them to be released. At worst, they could be arrested, tortured or even killed,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “It’s not just the army in this area. There are many ethnic armed groups too. And so, we could get arrested and detained at any time and face a life-threatening situation.” Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi raises his hands as he is escorted by police upon arrival at the Myaynigone police station in Sanchaung township in Yangon, Feb. 26, 2021. Credit: AP Photo Risking death Veteran journalist Myint Kyaw said journalists in the country now find themselves in the worst situation they have faced since the military coup. “We had the case of the first journalist to be killed while covering an armed conflict last January,” he said, referring website editor Pu Tuidim, who was abducted by junta troops while reporting on military clashes with armed ethnic soldiers in Chin state and later shot dead by his captors. “Armed conflicts have escalated in cities as well as in rural areas. Journalists will be killed even more, as there are now death threats to journalists and their family members. And so there might be more bad news for us.” According to RSF, Pu Tidim was the third journalist to be killed in less than a month in Myanmar. His murder followed the Dec. 25, 2021, death of Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung from gunfire during a clash between the military and anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitaries in Kaiyn state. Freelance photographer Soe Naing became the first journalist to die at the junta’s hands under torture on Dec. 14, four days after being arrested while covering a protest in Yangon. Journalists are also increasingly facing death threats for reporting news that portrays the junta in a bad light. Last week, the pro-junta Thway Thauk, or “Blood Comrades,” militia called for the deaths of reporters and editors working for news outlets in Myanmar including The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and The Irrawaddy Times — as well as their family members. Observers say groups like the Thway Thauk have been emboldened by the military regime’s open disdain for the media, which was again demonstrated — days ahead of World Press Freedom Day — by junta deputy information minister, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, when he accused several news outlets of being “destructive elements” in Myanmar during an April 27 press conference in the capital Naypyidaw. When asked by RFA for comment on the number of reporters currently detained or in prison, Zaw Min Tun responded that the junta had “not arrested anyone for working in the media.” “They were arrested for inciting people and for having contacts with terrorist organizations,” he said. “All media outlets, with the exception of those that have been declared illegal, are working freely here,” he added. In this image made from video taken on Feb. 27, 2021, Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw is arrested by police in Yangon, Myanmar. Credit: AP Photo Plummeting index rank Global media watchdog RSF disagreed with that assessment Tuesday when it dropped Myanmar to 175th out of 180 countries in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index from 140th a year earlier. The group said that in the 15 months since seizing power, the junta had “obliterated” a decade’s worth of modest media reforms that began when the country’s last military regime disbanded in 2011. The new ranking put Myanmar behind only North Korea, Eritrea, Iran and Turkmenistan as the worst place in the world to be a journalist. RSF said that after seizing power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government on Feb. 1, 2021, the junta immediately banned a number of outspoken media outlets, leaving a handful to continue the work…

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Factory in China tests North Korean workers for COVID after 20 show symptoms

Editor07 mins

Around 800 North Korean workers in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong spent their May Day holiday getting tested for COVID-19 after about 20 of their coworkers began showing symptoms for the disease and were quarantined, sources in China told RFA. The North Korean women are employed by a clothing company in the city’s Zhenan district. They are among the 80,000 to 100,000 North Koreans dispatched to China’s three northeastern provinces to earn foreign currency for their cash-strapped government. Dandong has been locked down as part of China’s zero-COVID policy since last week. Workers would typically have off for May Day, an annual celebration of the fight for labor rights and an important holiday in communist countries. But workers were instead called into the factory for testing, a source in the city told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. ​The factory where the 800 women work is an important one in the battle against COVID-19, as it produces protective medical gowns, the source said. On April 27, about 20 suspected cases of COVID-19 were detected among North Korean workers at the company and the factory closed, the source said. The COVID-19 Pulmonary Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Command in Dandong diagnosed the suspected symptoms as laryngitis instead of COVID-19. “The 20 or so North Koreans who appear to have symptoms of COVID-19 are currently being treated in isolation inside the factory,” the source said. “It is absurd to say that it is laryngitis when there are hundreds of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Dandong and the municipal government and disease control authorities are blocking roads and alleys and restricting the movement of people.” COVID-19 has swept through companies employing North Korean workers before, but it was always kept a secret, the source said. “Perhaps if it was confirmed that North Korean workers had COVID-19 there would be considerable ramifications if it became known to the public. I know that the North Korean consulate in Dandong and the Chinese government are fabricating information to cover it up,” he said. “Even though it is a holiday for workers around the world, the North Korean workers are locked up in their company and taking nucleic acid tests.” A health official from Zhenan district told RFA’s Mandarin Service on Tuesday said that there were confirmed coronavirus cases in the factory, but she could not say whether it was North Korean or Chinese workers who were infected. She said that information would not be released. RFA Mandarin attempted to contact the factory but received no response. Another source in Dandong told RFA’s Korean Service that because the company is making protective gear, the factory had to continue operations on the holiday. “They don’t have time to enjoy the day because they are too busy producing COVID-19 protective suits and isolation gowns,” he said on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “They are working while wearing what they make.” “There was a recent scare after North Korean women working in restaurants, hostess bars and public baths had a few suspected cases,” he said. The source spoke of another case where four young North Korean women working at a hotel in Dandong were suspected cases. “I heard from an acquaintance who works with them that they were immediately placed into quarantine because they were showing symptoms,” the second source said. “As COVID-19 spreads here in Dandong, production rates at companies with North Korean workers fell dramatically. Companies that bought materials in advance, before things got so bad, are still forcing the North Koreans to come to work, even with the lockdown,” he said. Millions of residents of major Chinese cities are facing rigid lockdowns and strict testing regimens as the country tries to stop the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19 under the Communist Party’s zero-COVID policy. RFA reported last week that Dandong, which lies across the Sino-Korean border from North Korea’s Sinuiju, started shutting down on April 25 and stopped all rail freight on May 1, just months after it resumed after an almost two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. North Korean labor exports were supposed to have stopped when United Nations nuclear sanctions froze the issuance of work visas and mandated the repatriation of North Korean nationals working abroad by the end of 2019. But Pyongyang sometimes dispatches workers to China and Russia on short-term student or visitor visas to get around sanctions. Translated by Claire Lee and RFA’s Mandarin Service. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Interview: ‘It has become very risky for me to do the job.’

Editor08 mins

Myanmar freelance photojournalist Ta Mwe, a pen name he uses to protect his security, the pseudonym named for his security, has won awards for his news photos of the crackdown on anti-military junta protests following the Feb 2021 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian government. To mark World Press Freedom Day,  Ye Kaung Myint Maung of RFA’s Myanmar Service spoke to Ta Mwe about his work on the conflict. RFA: Can you tell me about the award you won? Ta Mwe: I have won the jury’s choice for honorable mention in Southeast Asia and Oceania category of the World Press Photo awards. (I submitted) a series of 10  black and white photos about the Spring Revolution in Myanmar. My photo series covers the scenes from the early days of protests after the military coup in 2021. The contestants in this category are required to submit their ten best photos from their work that depict the story. So I picked my ten best photos taken in four months, from February to May of last year. RFA: Can you tell me about your career as a photographer? Ta Mwe: I started my career in photo journalism as a citizen journalist. Around 2007, I started taking photos using my phone and uploaded them anonymously to Burmese language blogs on Blogspot.com. Around 2011, I started working as a full-time photographer. I had worked as a full-time photojournalist for a local weekly journal, then became a freelance photographer.    RFA: What can you tell me about the situation of press freedom in Myanmar at the moment? Ta Mwe: The situation has become extremely difficult for journalists now. When we cover news activities on the ground, we first need to find a route to flee from the scene and escape arrest, before we start doing anything like taking photos or interviewing people. We have to figure out how to ensure our own security before we hit the ground. As I have covered flash mob protests in Yangon, I have planned carefully which streets to run away on as soon as I finish taking photos. It has become very challenging. When I grab a taxi on my way back from the coverage, I don’t do it in the streets close to the scene. I walk a few blocks to hide the traces of my identity before I take a taxi. Before, there were several news media and several photographers working at the scene. They now have either been arrested or gone into hiding. RFA: We have seen that informants for the military authorities are everywhere. How risky it is for the journalists to do their jobs under those circumstances? Ta Mwe: As when I was covering the flash mob protest in Yangon, I have to be at the scene before the activities happen and check the surroundings if there are authorities in plain clothes near the scene. There could be informants at the scene. If I think it is not safe to cover the activities closely, I have to take photos from a distance. It has become very unpredictable. I think the chances of spotting the informers are 50/50. Sometimes, I can easily distinguish the informants from the crowd because of their appearance. But other times, I cannot distinguish them. I hear that sometimes they suddenly come out of a parked car to arrest people. It has become very risky for me to do the job.   RFA: Now you are at a safe location. What do you expect to do to continue your work? Ta Mwe: I am now at a safe location. But I will keep doing the journalism work by recording the happenings in Myanmar and disseminating them to the world, because we are witnessing a historic turning point in Myanmar. For someone of my age, it is very significant. I will keep covering the news happening in Myanmar from a distance. If it is possible, I will go and cover it on the ground.   RFA: What kind of message do you want to pass to concerned leaders around the world, working to restore peace and democracy in Myanmar? Ta Mwe: As a journalist, I am risking my life to report news about Myanmar so that the concerned leaders around the world can make the right decisions. It is their job to make an informed decision. I believe it is my job to send out the correct information, regardless of the risks. I hope they will make the right and unbiased decision based on the information received from us. I also would like to implore them to work harder to secure the release of journalists in detention. Without journalists working on the ground, the people in Myanmar will be under an information blackout, and concerned leaders around the world will have many blind spots in their decision making and they will not make the best decision. I would like to appeal them to try hard for the release of journalists in prison and support those who are in hiding or evading arrest.

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Myanmar junta rejects ASEAN outreach to NUG shadow government

Editor09 mins

Myanmar’s junta on Tuesday poured cold water on calls from Malaysia for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks with the National Unity Government (NUG), calling the parallel, civilian administration that opposes military rule “terrorists groups.” Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah last month revealed he’d had contact in mid-February with the shadow government, the first ASEAN country to acknowledge such an interaction. He was responding to calls from ASEAN lawmakers urging the bloc to “immediately and publicly meet with the NUG.” More than a week later the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar quoted the junta’s foreign ministry as saying it “protests and rejects” the Malaysian foreign minister’s remarks, because “they could abet terrorism and violence in the country, hampering the Myanmar Government’s anti-terrorism efforts and infringe international agreements related to combatting terrorism.” The junta, which overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, has branded opponents of military rule as terrorists. The military regime has jailed Aung San Suu Kyi among thousands of political prisoners and killed 1,800 people, mostly anti-coup protesters. “The Ministry cautions the government officials and parliamentarians of Malaysia against making contacts or communicating as well as providing support and assistance to those terrorist groups and their representatives in future,” the junta ministry statement said. Last October, Saifuddin, Malaysia’s outspoken foreign minister had said he would open talks with the NUG if the junta kept stonewalling in cooperating with ASEAN’s conflict resolution efforts. The rebuff to Malaysia came a day after Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said Prime Minister Hun Sen had urged the Myanmar junta to allow ASEAN’s special envoy to visit and meet deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In a video conference Sunday, Hun Sen called on Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to allow the meetings and take other steps to implement a five-point agreement the junta leader reached between ASEAN’s foreign ministers in April 2021. Cambodia is the current rotating chair of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Hun Sen visited Myanmar in January and met Min Aung Hlaing and urged steps to resolve the political crisis sparked by his coup. Hun Sen requested “further cooperation in facilitating the second visit to Myanmar by the ASEAN Chair’s Special Envoy special chairs envoy, possibly at the end of May,” the ministry said. “He reemphasized the importance of access for the Special Envoy to meet all parties concerned in Myanmar, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint, for creating (a) conducive environment to start an inclusive political dialogue,” the ministry said. Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint are in detention and undergoing trial in military courts for what supporters say are politically motivated charges. The Cambodian statement said Min Aung Hlaing had “pledged to facilitate meetings with other parties concerned.” Asked by RFA about Hun Sen’s appeal, junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not give a definite answer about the envoy meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, instead focusing on peace talks and meetings with leaders of ethnic groups with longstanding conflicts with the army that pre-date the coup and have little bearing on the current crisis. The previous visit in March to Myanmar by the ASEAN envoy, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, “discussed mainly him meeting with the relevant ethnic armed groups on his next visit,” the spokesman said. Little meaningful progress has been made on the five-point agreement, which included an end to violence, the provision of humanitarian assistance, an ASEAN envoy’s appointment, all-party dialogue, and mediation by the envoy. Kyaw Htwe, a senior member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, said the ASEAN envoy was not likely to meet the 76-year-old Nobel laureate. “In the current situation, based on the violence they have meted out on the country, I don’t think the military will have the guts to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and U Win Myint to meet with the ASEAN special envoy,” he told RFA. But political analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe said Min Aung Hlaing might try to “find a way out” of its isolation by granting assess to the detained leader. “He might give the envoy a chance because of the current domestic crisis and his political dilemma, especially when the people and the world are all against him,” he told RFA. Bo Hla Tint, the NUG’s special representative to ASEAN, urged all diplomatic partners to reconsider their approach and talk to the civilian leaders. “We urge the United States and the European Union and the world community to work for a more pragmatic solution through direct coordination with NUG, a nationally recognized government,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “It is clear that efforts to find a solution centered on the ASEAN Five-Point Agreement cannot get any results.” Myanmar will be on the agenda of a May 12-13 summit between the U.S. and leaders of ASEAN, where the White House is keen to advance its vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific and discuss efforts to counter Chinese influence. Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

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Cambodian prime minister’s son praises press freedom, despite father’s crackdown

Editor08 mins

The son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen defended press freedom at an event marking World Press Freedom Day in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, ignoring his father’s crackdown on journalists who have criticized his government. Lt. Gen. Hun Manet, an army commander expected eventually to succeed his long-ruling father, glossed over increasing restrictions on press freedom and civil rights in the country Hun Sen has ruled since 1985. “As Prime Minister Hun Sen stated in his statement, the royal government is committed to protect freedom of expression, press freedom and promote cooperation between the government and press institutions that is vital for the country’s development,” Hun Manet, 42, said as his father’s representative at the event, which was attended by more than 100 journalists, Cambodian news outlet VOD reported. World Press Freedom Day was created by UNESCO in 1991 to highlight the importance a free press plays in society. This year’s theme, “Journalism Under Digital Siege,” is designed to spotlight how developments in monitoring and surveillance technologies affect journalism and freedom of expression. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based group, ranked Cambodia 142 out of 180 countries and territories in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index released Tuesday. “Worried by the possibility that he might have to give up power after more than 30 years in office, Hun Sen went after the press mercilessly ahead of parliamentary elections in July 2018,” RSF said. “Radio stations and newspapers were silenced, newsrooms purged, journalists prosecuted — leaving the independent media sector devastated. Since then, the few attempts to bring independent journalism back to life have drawn the wrath of ruling circles,” the annual report said. But in his speech, Hun Manet insisted that his father’s government views the press as an ally in creating a better-functioning society. The government has prioritized its policy on the press to allow its participation in fighting corruption and promoting democracy and respect for human rights to create a just society, peace and development, Hun Manet said. “Of course, we have criticisms against the government that we’ve restricted press freedom,” he said. “The allegation is groundless and doesn’t reflect the truth. Cambodia has a pluralistic government that respects freedom of expression and freedom of the press.” Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said at the event that the government was disappointed with reports criticizing the government. He claimed that NGOs that are not registered as news organizations produce the negative reports based on the wishes of their donors. But he didn’t provide evidence to support the claim. Government pressure Sun Narin, Voice of America’s reporter in Cambodia, told RFA on Tuesday that Hun Manet did not take questions at the event. He also said the press cannot write what they want, even though freedom of expression is enshrined in the country’s constitution. “There are pressures from the government,” Sun Narin said. “I have observed that [journalists] are afraid of the government.” He said that he and other journalists are advocating for a law that would make the government more transparent. “We don’t have documents now,” he said. “It is difficult to get statistics. It is hard to find information.” Hun Manet’s speech came a day after two dozen organizations, press associations, journalists and NGOs held a conference in Phnom Penh to discuss the deteriorating situation of press freedom in Cambodia. Nop Vy, executive director of the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, said the government must ensure that Cambodians get the information they need to make informed decisions in the country’s local elections on June 5. “Receiving information is essential and getting real information is even more important to make improvements to the quality of life and to the democratic process that ensures the participation of the people,” he said. “As Cambodia prepares for next month’s elections and the 2023 elections, the government should ensure that information flows to every citizen, and all the harassment against journalists must not continue.” In Cambodia, journalists still face persecution, intimidation, violence, arrests and pretrial detention for their work, Nop Vy said. Free press advocates want Cambodia’s government to end impunity for crimes against journalists, including physical assaults and murder, by bringing the perpetrators and accomplices to justice. They also want the country’s Information Ministry to reissue revoked media licenses and to expedite the passage of a Right to Information Act, they said. Meas Sophorn, secretary of state and Information Ministry spokesman, said the government was committed to ensuring further protections for respecting freedoms of the press and expression. Translated by Samean Yun and Sok Ry Sum for RFA’s Khmer Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Hong Kong falls to a new low in global press freedom index as Jimmy Lai stands trial

Editor113 mins

Hong Kong has plummeted to 148th on a global press freedom index, as authorities in the city took the now-shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper to court for “fraud.” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the city’s fall down the index by 68 places was the biggest of the year, and comes amid an ongoing crackdown on the pro-democracy media under a draconian national security law imposed by Beijing from July 1, 2020. “It is the biggest downfall of the year, but it is fully deserved due to the consistent attacks on freedom of the press and the slow disappearance of the rule of law in Hong Kong,” Agence France-Presse quoted RSF’s East Asia bureau chief Cedric Alviani as saying. “In the past year we have seen a drastic, drastic move against journalists,” he added. The national security law was initially used to target the government’s political opponents, but later turned its power onto independent media organizations, forcing the closure of Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily, parent company Next Media and Stand News. “Once a bastion of press freedom, [Hong Kong] has seen an unprecedented setback since 2020 when Beijing adopted a National Security Law aimed at silencing independent voices,” RSF’s entry on Hong Kong reads. “Since the 1997 handover to China, most media have fallen under the control of the government or pro-China groups,” it said. “In 2021, two major independent news outlets, Apple Daily and Stand News, were forcefully shut down while numerous smaller-scale media outlets ceased operations, citing legal risks.” It said the Hong Kong government now takes orders directly from the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing, and openly supports its propaganda effort. “Public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), previously renowned for its fearless investigations, has been placed under a pro-government management which does not hesitate to censor the programmes it dislikes,” RSF said. Despite promises of freedom of speech, press and publication made under the terms of the handover to Chinese rule, the national security law could be used to target any journalist reporting on Hong Kong from anywhere in the world, it warned. Jailed media mogul As the RSF index was published on World Press Freedom Day, Lai — who is currently serving time in jail for taking part in peaceful protests and awaiting trial under the national security law for “collusion with a foreign power” — and former Next Media administrative director Wong Wai-keung were in court facing two charges of “fraud” linked to the use of the Next Media headquarters by a consultancy firm. Lai stands accused of violating the terms of the building’s lease and concealing the breach from the landlord, Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, over two decades. Lai, 74, appeared in court on the first day of the trial wearing headphones, leaning back with his eyes closed, appearing in good spirits as he blew a kiss to his wife. Lai’s legal team led by Caoilfhionn Gallagher at Doughty Street Chambers filed an urgent appeal at the United Nations over “legal harassment” against him in April, saying he has been jailed simply for exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly and the right to peaceful protest. His lawyers say he has been repeatedly targeted by the Hong Kong authorities with a “barrage” of legal cases, including four separate criminal prosecutions arising from his attendance at and participation in various protests in Hong Kong between 2019-2020, including most recently in relation to his participation in a vigil marking the 1989 Tiananmen massacre in Beijing, for which he received a 13-month prison sentence. He is currently serving concurrent prison sentences in relation to all four protest cases, while awaiting trial for “collusion with foreign powers” and “sedition” in relation to editorials published in Apple Daily. New host of press award Meanwhile, a U.S. university has said it will take over the hosting of the Human Rights Press Awards after the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) withdrew from the event, citing legal risks under the national security law. The awards will now be run by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. “Recognizing exceptional reporting on human-rights issues is more important today than ever before, due to the many – and growing – threats to press freedom around the world,” dean Battinto Batts said in a statement on the school’s website. A former reporter for Stand News, who gave only the pseudonym Miss Chan, said she had been notified she would win an award this year. She said the relocation of the awards overseas didn’t necessary help journalists in Hong Kong, however. “If the awards are able to go ahead overseas, I think Hong Kong journalists will be more worried about whether to participate in the competition or serve as judges, because they may be accused of colluding with foreign forces or incitement and so on,” Chan said. “The situation in Hong Kong is changing too fast and it may be getting worse, so I don’t know if I still have the guts to take part,” she said. A former winner who gave only the pseudonym Mr. Cheung said the relocation was better than nothing. “Naturally, something is better than nothing, and there is some encouragement in that,” Cheung said. “But the Human Rights Press Award can no longer exist in Hong Kong before of the huge retrograde steps being made there regarding human rights.” “Hong Kong journalists used to know they could report on human rights issues in Hong Kong, China or elsewhere in the region,” he said. “Now there’s no room [for that].” Former Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) journalist professor To Yiu-ming said the awards had served as a bellwether for press freedom in the city. “[They] served as a benchmark for the freeom of the press in Hong Kong, and also as a bulwark protecting some press freedoms,” To told RFA. “Their disintegration is also the disintegration of another pillar of Hong Kong’s [former]…

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Russian street singer with anti-Putin sign in brief legal scrape in Vietnam

Editor04 mins

Police in Vietnam denied local media reports that they arrested a Russian citizen for a public protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, saying instead that they summoned him for an expired visa. Street performer Alex Kniazev was singing and playing guitar Monday in front of a sign he made that said “STOP WAR, STOP PUTIN, RUSSIA IS NOT PUTIN!!” at Lam Vien Square in the city of Da Lat, in Vietnam’s southern Lam Dong province. After images of  Kniazev, a stage name, went viral on Vietnamese social media on Monday,  multiple Vietnamese media organizations reported on Tuesday that Lam Dong police arrested Kniazev because of the sign. Protests of any kind in one-party Communist Vietnam, an ally of Moscow, are rare and quickly snuffed out. The Da Lat police, however, said they merely invited Kniazev to meet with authorities to work out visa issues, the Lam Dong Newspaper reported. Following the meeting, Kniazev understood that he was in violation and agreed to travel to Ho Chi Minh City to renew his passport and extend his visa, the official newspaper said. In an official statement, the Da Lat Police repudiated the reports that it arrested the Russian for the sign, and warned that people who share fake news related to Kniazev’s situation could face legal consequences, Tuoi Tre News reported. Kniazev used the word “arrest” when he described the situation in writing to RFA’s Vietnamese Service Tuesday. “They arrest me for 2 hours because I must wait my new visa in Saigon,” he said, using the name of Ho Chi Minh City before the communist era. “I follow Vietnam’s rules and go to Saigon. That’s all,” he wrote. Kniazev also said that the police told him “they do not welcome the political actions of foreigners.” RFA reported Monday that Vietnamese government-aligned “opinion workers” who promote the Communist Party and protect its image on social media are now pushing the Russian narrative about the situation in Ukraine on Vietnam’s social media. Vietnamese have shown support for Ukraine in various ways. Hundreds of people in Hanoi have taken part in events at the Ukrainian Embassy and fundraising events to raise money for those affected by the armed conflict. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Shanghai-based Ji Xiaolong joins ranks of COVID-19 dissidents in China

Editor010 mins

Shanghai-based rights activist Ji Xiaolong, who was recently released on bail by police, vowed on Tuesday to keep speaking out against rights abuses in the city, much of which remains under tight restrictions amid renewed rounds of mass testing. Ji, who was incommunicado for two days after tweeting “The police are here looking for me” on Saturday. He told RFA late on Monday that he had been taken to the local police station for questioning. Police clad in full PPE started knocking on the door of his apartment in Yanlord Riverside City, Pudong New District at 3.00 p.m. on April 30, before breaking down the door and grabbing him and his wife. They gave no indication of their identity or purpose, but seized one of his laptops and two cell phones, as well as some letters he had exchanged with his wife in prison, Ji said. They were “disinfected” and subjected to PCR tests before being taken to Meiyuan New Village police station and interrogated separately. “I felt that something was up, because there were 10 of them this time, including two or three regular police officers from the local police station, some state security police from Pudong and also from the Shanghai municipal police department,” Ji said. “There were maybe four or five high-ranking officers.” Repeated calls to the Meiyuan New Village police station rang unanswered on Monday. Ji, who has already served a three-and-a-half year jail term for writing political graffiti in a Shanghai public toilet, has been a vocal critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy of stringent lockdowns, mass isolation and quarantine facilities and wave upon wave of PCR testing that has sparked public anger over the “total chaos” of their implementation. People in Shanghai have repeatedly complained of shortages of food and essential supplies and lack of access to life-saving medical treatment for those sick with something other than COVID-19, during the lockdown. Policemen wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) stand on a street during a Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown in the Jing’an district in Shanghai, May 3, 2022. Credit: AFP Out on bond Ji was detained alongside his wife, who was released after a few hours, while he was released the following day on payment of a 1,000 yuan bond. “They confiscated by ID card, my passport and my cell phone, which has my Alipay account,” Ji said. “I can’t get a new SIM card because they took my ID,” Ji said. “So now I can’t go anywhere because you have to scan the [COVID-19] health code app to go anywhere.” “I can’t go to the mall, I can’t ride the subway, and I can’t take the bus,” he said. His questioning came after he posted a petition to several social media platforms calling on the central government in Beijing and the municipal authorities in Shanghai to suspend the “zero-COVID” policy, and compensate Chinese citizens and businesses for the economic losses it incurred. Ji had also posted a number of video clips and posts about Shanghai under lockdown. During the interview, police confronted him with various comments he had made to overseas media organizations including RFA, the Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty TV, as well as the petition he started, some video clips he reposted and some social media posts he made. Ji said he had admitted to giving the interviews, and told them he had taken steps to verify the video clips before forwarding them. His bail notice says he is currently under suspicion of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the government. He said none of his interrogators had identified themselves to him, nor had they signed a transcript of the interview. “I firmly believe that I am innocent,” Ji said. “I won’t sit idly by and watch the people of Shanghai suffer, and I will continue [to speak out].” An undated photo of award-winning citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced in December 2020 to four years’ imprisonment by the Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court after she reported from the front lines of the covid lockdown in Wuhan. Credit: Zhang Zhan. Citizen journalists in jail Ji isn’t the first to be targeted by the authorities anxious to prevent news from the front line of the zero-COVID policy reaching the internet. Award-winning citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, whose family has said she is close to death in Shanghai Women’s Prison, was sentenced in December 2020 to four years’ imprisonment by the Shanghai Pudong New District People’s Court, which found her guilty of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” after she reported from the front lines of the lockdown in Wuhan. Meanwhile, private businessman Fang Bin has been incommunicado for more than two years after he reported as a citizen journalist from the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan. He is believed to be in Wuhan’s Jiang’an Detention Center pending a trial at the Jiang’an District People’s Court, according to an unconfirmed account shared with RFA in recent months. U.S.-based constitutional scholar Wang Tiancheng said more pandemic dissidents will likely follow in Zhang, Fang and Ji’s footsteps. “The situation will get worse and worse, and more people will be arrested for different reasons … some for criticizing the government, or accused by the authorities of spreading rumors when they were just telling the truth,” Wang told RFA. Six districts and five towns in Pudong were declared COVID-free by the Shanghai authorities on Sunday, but stringent lockdown conditions remain across nine other districts of the city. Ji was initially jailed for scribbling “Down with the Communist Party!” in a Shanghai public toilet as well as some satirical graffiti taking aim at CCP leader Xi Jinping’s removal of the two-term limit for China’s highest-ranking leaders. He was detained in July 2018 after calling on rights activists and democracy campaigners to respond to Xi’s call for a “toilet revolution” by penning political slogans on the walls of toilets in universities and hospitals that could be seen by thousands. Ji was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ imprisonment…

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Japan, Taiwan militaries on alert as China flotilla heads to Pacific

Editor06 mins

The Japanese and Taiwanese militaries have been put on alert after a Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy flotilla led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier was spotted sailing from the East China Sea towards the Pacific Ocean. Japan Self-Defense Forces’ Joint Staff Office released a statement on Monday saying that the Liaoning, accompanied by seven destroyers and supply vessels, had left the East China Sea and passed through waters between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands before entering the West Pacific. The Japanese defense ministry dispatched the Izumo light aircraft carrier, as well as P-1 maritime patrol aircraft and P-3C anti-submarine aircraft to monitor the activities of the Chinese ships, the statement said. Meanwhile on Tuesday, Taiwanese military spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters that Taiwan’s military closely monitors Chinese military maneuvers in waters and airspace surrounding Taiwan, and would take “appropriate response measures.” According to the Japanese statement, among seven warships in the Liaoning carrier group were the Type 055 large guided missile destroyer Nanchang, the Type 052D guided missile destroyer Chengdu, and the Type 901 comprehensive supply ship Hulunhu. With a total of eight vessels, this is the largest Liaoning carrier group in recent voyages, said the state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times. The newspaper said it is likely that the Liaoning and other ships are to take part in a “routine PLA Navy far-sea exercise.” It quoted an anonymous military analyst as predicting that the Chinese ships “could go further east into the Pacific Ocean, or they could transit through the Bashi channel south of the island of Taiwan and conduct exercises in the South China Sea.” Combat training In one of the photos released by the Japanese military, the Liaoning – China’s first aircraft carrier – was seen carrying a number of J-15 fighter jets as well as Z-8 and Z-9 helicopters. This is the first time this year the Liaoning carrier group passed the so-called First Island Chain that includes Taiwan and Japan to enter the Pacific Ocean. Last December, the aircraft carrier and five other vessels conducted drills in the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the West Pacific for 21 days in order to boost its combat capability. Chinese naval movements in the close proximity of Taiwan have always been closely watched by the Taiwanese military, the island’s ministry of defense said. The ministry’s spokesman Sun Li-fang said Taiwan “has response plans based on possible actions by China.” The Liaoning regularly patrols the Taiwan Strait and may be deployed in the event of armed conflict with the self-governing island. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that shall be united with the mainland. “It’s no secret that the Taiwanese Navy is totally overmatched by the PLA Navy,” said Gordon Arthur, a military analyst and Asia-Pacific editor of Shepherd, a defense news portal. “Last year, for example, China commissioned some combined 170,000 tonnage of new warships – this is more than the combined Taiwan’s fleet, and reflects Chinese additions in just one year.” “Taiwan cannot hope to compete with this, so it has been concentrating on vessels that will give it some asymmetric advantages,” Arthur said, adding that examples include the homemade Tuo Chiang-class corvette and the Indigenous Defense Submarine. Yet it’s still some years till the island’s Navy is fully capable to counter any blockade or invasion attempt by China, experts said.

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Pro-junta militia calls for killing of Myanmar reporters and their family members

Editor09 mins

A pro-junta militia that recently claimed responsibility for the slaying of opposition party members is now openly threatening to kill journalists and their families over content the military regime has dubbed “destructive to the state.” Last week, eight members of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) and their supporters were found brutally murdered with badges or cards on their bodies displaying the insignia of a group calling itself the Mandalay branch of the Thway Thauk, or “Blood Comrades,” militia. A social media post on the group’s Telegram account last week also called for the deaths of reporters and editors working for news outlets in Myanmar including The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and The Irrawaddy Times — as well as their family members. Khit Thit media editor Tha Lun Zaung Htet, who was among those named in the Thway Thauk’s list, said he believes the group is acting on the orders of authorities, despite junta claims to the contrary. “This group is surely linked to the military because the victims were taken away by police or military vehicles and the bodies were later dropped by these same vehicles,” he said, adding that he is in possession of “photos taken by witnesses.” Photographs obtained by RFA show leaflets or cards bearing the group’s logo of crossed swords over the image of a man from Myanmar’s royal era left near the victim’s bodies — the same logo seen posted on the social media accounts of junta supporters and nationalist activists. Junta deputy minister of information, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, said during a press conference last week in Naypyidaw that the military has no ties to the Thway Thauk, adding that the only pro-junta militias active in the country formed independent of the regime in rural areas. At the same press conference, he accused seven media outlets of being “destructive elements” in Myanmar, including RFA, Khit Thit Media, The Irrawaddy, Mizzima, DVB and The Irrawaddy Times. “Ten local and foreign media outlets wrote around 55 inciting reports meant to disrupt Thingyan,” he said, referring to Myanmar’s April 13-16 New Year Water Festival, he said. “We saw seven media outlets reporting possible bomb threats during the week of Thingyan, and also publishing articles telling people not to participate in the festivities as a way of protest.” Thingyan — normally a bustling and jubilant holiday — was eerily silent in Myanmar’s main cities of Yangon and Mandalay, as residents chose to boycott junta-led festivities and heed warnings by armed opposition forces that the areas could become the target of attacks. An RFA investigation found that authorities arrested nearly 100 people in the two cities, as well as Myawaddy township in Kayin state, in the first 10 days of April as part of a pre-Thingyan crackdown. Some of those detained had joined anti-coup protests, while others were accused of being members of Yangon-based anti-junta paramilitary groups, including the People’s Defense Force (PDF). ‘A new low’ for press freedom Days ahead of International Press Freedom Day, veteran journalist Myint Kyaw said that the junta’s calling out of media outlets, combined with threats by groups such as the Thway Thauk, constituted “a new low” for Myanmar’s media environment. “We can say that [the junta and the Thway Thauk] have the same views because they think the media supports the opposition,” he said. “It’s not new that they would accuse us of such things when they think we are writing against them. But it’s unprecedented for them to threaten us and our families.” Sein Win, executive editor of Mizzima News, said the military and pro-junta armed groups are targeting and suppressing the media and journalists who report negatively on the junta, and expects the situation to continue while the military remains in power. “They don’t want people who criticize the military, who seek the truth or who value freedom of the press,” he said. “People will be arrested, imprisoned, and even killed. So long as there are military coups, democracy will remain dormant. Evil will reign if democracy cannot be given space to thrive.” An observer of the media, who declined to be named citing fear of reprisal, warned that a lack of legal protection for journalists in Myanmar will cripple the country’s development. “In short, freedom of the media is not protected in accordance with the law or international standards in current times,” they said. “Some are threatened, some are arrested, and some have died. … Journalists are seen as criminals and are constantly threatened. We are going back to the Dark Ages.” More than 50 journalists have been arrested on charges under Myanmar’s Penal Code since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, rather than for violations of the country’s media law. The business licenses of outlets including Myanmar Now, DVB, Khit Thit, 7 Days, Mizzima, Myitkyina Journal, The 74 Media, Tachileik News Agency, Delta News Agency, Zeyar Times and Kamaryut Media were revoked shortly after the military seized power. Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Myanmar 140th out of 180 countries in its annual Press Freedom Index and says the media environment is now at a danger level following last year’s coup. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0