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Month: June 2022

CAN calls for immediate release of Vietnamese anti-coal activist

Editor06 mins

The international environmental group Climate Action Network (CAN) has called for the release of Vietnamese anti-coal activist Nguy Thi Khanh. In a news release Monday CAN condemned Nguy’s sentencing on tax evasion charges, saying she was one of a number of environmental activists targeted by state authorities in Vietnam. Nguy leads the Green Innovation and Development Center is also chair of the board of Climate Action Network South East Asia (CANSEA). “It is apparent CANSEA Board Chair Nguy Thi Khanh has been imprisoned for her environmental work, especially against coal use, as part of an effort to silence dissent from environmental groups,” said CANSEA director and regional coordinator Nithi Nesadurai. “Her arrest has already had a chilling effect on other environmental civil society groups advocating for environmental protection and addressing the effects of climate change, on behalf of the Vietnamese people. We call on the government to release her immediately and all those detained on the pretext of other charges for doing their work on climate protection.” CAN said that Nguy has dedicated her life’s work to fighting against an increase in the production and use of coal and trying to promote a transition to sustainable energy sources. The group said Nguy had succeeded in influencing the Vietnamese government to commit to a faster transition from coal to green energy. It said the Goldman Environmental Prize winner and Eisenhower Fellow was key to the implementation of the 1 million solar rooftop homes in Vietnam program. Nguy was arrested earlier this year and her office was ransacked. CAN said the raid was part of a crackdown on climate activists aimed at protecting what it called “powerful vested interests,” which have increased the risks faced by environmental activists in Vietnam. State media has been silent on the case but people familiar with trial said that Nguy was found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced on Friday to two years in prison. Michael Sutton, the Goldman Environmental Prize executive director, called for Nguy’s release, saying: “We believe that the legal charges leveled against her are part of a wider effort to silence environmental leaders in Vietnam.” CAN cited the recent murder of indigenous leader Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in the Brazilian Amazon as a reminder that those aiming to expose environmental wrongdoing are putting their lives on the line and that those in power will use any means possible to stop them.  “The repression, harassment and targeting of environmental defenders and civil society leaders is a dangerous trend across the world and highlights the enormous risks so many activists continue to take to simply do their work to protect people and the planet,” said CAN executive director Tasneem Essop. “There is no climate justice without social justice and the protection of basic human rights – the rights of people to protest, to challenge the status quo and the state and the freedom to engage in our work without fear of repercussions. We call for the immediate release of Nguy Thi Khanh and all other civil society activists recently targeted by the Vietnamese authorities. We are closely watching the situation, not only in Vietnam, but also elsewhere in the world. We stand in solidarity with all those fighting for a better, safer and just future. An injury to one is an injury to all.” CAN claims to be the world’s biggest climate network, made up of more than 1,500 civil society group in over 130 countries.

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Newly elected commune chief from Cambodian opposition arrested for 2002 ‘robbery’

Editor05 mins

Authorities in Cambodia arrested a newly elected commune chief over his alleged involvement in a robbery case 20 years ago, sources in the country told RFA. As a candidate for the opposition Candlelight Party, Nhim Sarom won a seat on the council of Chamna Lue commune in the central province of Kampong Thom during local elections on June 5. Police took him into custody on Tuesday afternoon, while he was working in the commune hall. The arrest warrant for his involvement in an incident in 2002 was obtained by RFA. It is dated June 21, 2012, but only enforced, signed by Kampong Thom Provincial Police Commissioner Vorn Sophorn, on June 21, 2022.   Khat Kheang, Nhim Sarom’s wife, told RFA’s Khmer Service that her husband was innocent, and that his arrest was a violation of political rights and the will of the people. “I request that the authorities release my husband,” she said. “My husband is not in the wrong, my husband is clean, let the court help release my husband.” Kampong Thom Provincial Court Investigating Judge Sik Vanna accused Nhim Sarom of robbery for an event that occurred 20 years ago. The arrest and charges are politically motivated, Thach Setha, the Candlelight Party’s vice president, told RFA. “The alleged case occurred in 2002 and there was an arrest warrant in 2012, but they never arrested him,” Thach Setha said. “Why did they arrested him only after he was elected to be commune chief?” According to Thach Setha, the charge is related to the seizure of property for debt repayment. “Nhim Sarom took a motorbike from a man who owed him money. He took the bike to the police station to try to find a solution,” Thach Setha said. “The two men later reconciled, and the problem was resolved. …This is political intimidation,” said Thach Setha. The 20 years between the incident and the arrest was “strange,” Soeung Senkaruna, spokesperson for the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, told RFA. “As far as this case is concerned, it looks like a political issue. It is something that we think will have a significant impact on political competition,” he said. Arrests like this one can undermine the public’s confidence in Cambodia’s political and legal systems, said Soeung Senkaruna. Nhim Sarom was one of three Candlelight Party candidates elected to commune councils in Kampong Thom province on May 5, and the second newly elected local official from the party to be arrested following victory in the election. Ley Sokkon, who won a seat in Battambang province, was arrested June 8 for allegedly violating housing rights when he filmed local authorities of the ruling party registering people to vote on election day. RFA was unable to reach Kampong Thom Provincial Police Commissioner Vorn Sophorn for comment on Nhim Sarom’s arrest. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Tibetan activist sentenced to prison for ‘separatist acts’ and ‘social disorder’

Editor04 mins

Chinese authorities sentenced a young Tibetan language activist arrested in October 2021 to four years and five months in prison, although his friends and family members remain in the dark about where he was taken, a source in Tibet told RFA on Monday. Thupten Lodoe, also known by his pen name Sabuche, is in his 30s and hails from Seshul county (in Chinese Shiqu), part of the Garze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan province.  “He was actually arrested in October of last year and 2021 [and] convicted of ‘separatist acts and creating disorder in society’ on June 13 or 14,” said a friend of his in Tibet, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “We don’t know where he is imprisoned at the moment.”  Lodoe was reportedly taken to Sichuan’s capital Chengdu following his arrest, according to an earlier RFA report. Lodoe’s arrest comes as part of a larger crackdown by the Chinese government on Tibetan writers, intellectuals and cultural leaders who are arbitrarily imprisoned in undisclosed locations, usually for long periods. In most cases, authorities do not provide information about their charges and sentencing details to their families. Fluent in Chinese, English and Tibetan, Lodoe is known to have studied at a school established by the Panchen Lama, a Tibetan spiritual leader. After his graduation, Lodoe taught in a school in his town. The Chinese government previously offered Lodoe 10,000 yuan (U.S. $1,500) for a job, which he turned down to advocate for the preservation of the Tibetan language, sources told RFA earlier. “Lodoe was sentenced to four years and five months in prison for allegedly writing about the real situation of Tibetans inside Tibet under the Chinese government and sharing them on social media,” said his friend. Chinese police had warned Lodoe once before to stop writing such articles, but he kept doing so, he added. Lodoe also translated many works from Chinese and English into Tibetan for which the Chinese government considered him a threat, which was another reason for his arrest, the Tibetan said. Now, the Chinese government has erased Lodoe’s social media posts and blocked his accounts, he said. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Unvaccinated North Korean soldiers told to use saltwater, mugwort smoke when sick

Editor07 mins

With a shortage of vaccines in North Korea, the government is telling unvaccinated soldiers to rely on unproven folk remedies if they come down with coronavirus symptoms, sources in the country told RFA. North Korea has been importing Chinese vaccines for use among the military and has held widely publicized vaccination campaigns involving soldiers. But not every member of the military has been fortunate enough to receive the so-called “potion of love” from the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un. Instead, they have been told to turn to unproven folk remedies if they get sick. “Fever continues to emerge among soldiers who could not be vaccinated due to a lack of vaccines,” a resident of South Hwanghae province, on the peninsula’s western coast, told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “Military authorities are recommending folk remedies such as indoor disinfection using mugwort smoke and gargling with salt water,” she said. According to the source, only soldiers working off base were vaccinated due to an insufficient amount of vaccine inventory imported from China. “The vaccinations were limited to the soldiers of the military police squadron who perform crackdowns against other soldiers, the communication battalion, the divisional medical office, and the rear support battalion. Even so, soldiers within those units who are on ordinary guard duty, are known to have been excluded from the vaccination,” she said. “Unvaccinated troops and soldiers were excluded from rural support or community service. Last year, soldiers helped rice planting and harvesting at a nearby farm. But, this spring, the authorities banned the unit from rural support activities due to fear of the spread of COVID-19,” said the source. In North Hamgyong province, in the country’s northeast, only the coast guard, the military police and staff of military hospitals are vaccinated, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “The military authorities are designating units and soldiers to be vaccinated separately as there is a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines. Only officers and soldiers who have been vaccinated are permitted to engage in outside activities,” the second source said. “Most soldiers who did not get vaccinated were instructed not to leave the barracks and to prevent COVID-19 with folk remedies such as mugwort smoke disinfection and gargling salt water,” she said. Soldiers tending two salmon farms, one of which Kim Jong Un once visited to provide guidance on its operations, were also excluded from vaccination, according to the source. Places visited by the country’s leaders are usually given special considerations long after the trip, so it is somewhat surprising that the fish-raising soldiers did not receive vaccines. “There are complaints within the military over what authorities have implemented. The authorities have declared a national emergency and even implemented nationwide lockdown measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but they have failed to secure enough COVID-19 vaccines,” said the second source. “Very few soldiers have been vaccinated. However, some soldiers are rather fortunate in that they were not mobilized for rural support labor because they are not vaccinated,” she said. RFA reported in May that the North Korean government began a vaccination campaign for soldiers working on a high-priority construction project in Pyongyang. The event was filmed and used as propaganda, complete with soldiers weeping at receiving Kim Jong Un’s “Immortal Potion of Love.” Citizens who saw the propaganda complained that the government only secured enough vaccines for the military, not for the general public. After two years of denying the pandemic had penetrated its closed borders, North Korea in May declared a “maximum emergency” and acknowledged the virus had begun to spread among participants of a large-scale military parade the previous month. Though North Korea has not been tracking confirmed coronavirus cases, possibly due to lack of testing equipment, state media has been publishing daily figures of people who report fever symptoms. As of Monday, 4.65 million people have come down with fever, nearly 99.4 percent of whom have recovered, according to data published by the state run Korea Central News Agency. Translated by Claire Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Lao authorities rescue nearly 500 workers from Golden Triangle SEZ

Editor07 mins

Police in northwestern Laos’ Bokeo province rescued nearly 500 trapped workers in the past year, including about 200 women who were victims of human trafficking in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, a provincial official said. Bokeo Deputy Gov. Khamphaya Phompanya told Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune, Laos’ deputy prime minister and chairman of the National Committee on Anti-Human Trafficking, during a June 14 meeting that police rescued 477 workers between May 2021 and May 2022. The smallest and least populous province in the landlocked country is home to the SEZ, a gambling and tourism hub catering to the Chinese situated along the Mekong River where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. In 2018, the U.S. government sanctioned the Chinese tycoon who is said to run the SEZ as head of a trafficking network. Most of those rescued have been Lao nationals lured by middlemen to perform jobs as scammers trying to convince people to invest or buy shares in the Kings Romans Casino. When they couldn’t meet their sales quotas, they were detained against their will, and in some cases sold off to work in the sex industry. “Our police department estimates that there are a lot of workers who are still being abused in the Golden Triangle SEZ in Bokeo province and haven’t been rescued,” Khamphaya said during the meeting. “Rescuing workers in the SEZ is not easy because the SEZ is controlled by the Chinese, and not accessible by the Lao authorities.” Lao authorities cannot easily enter the Chinese-run zone, which operates largely beyond the reach of the Lao government. Provincial police officers have been able to rescue workers being held against their will by their employer only after the women have contacted the authorities. At the end of the meeting, Kikeo said that the Lao government began implementing a five-year anti-human trafficking plan to crack down on human trafficking nationwide in 2021. Bokeo province officials have put in place their own measures to protect SEZ workers. In February, they began requiring all employers to sign labor contracts that ensure workers have a safe workplace, insurance benefits and fair wages. The authorities also prohibit forced labor and require regular monitoring and reporting of work and living conditions to the provincial management office. Once the contracts are signed, workers receive a province-issued smart card showing their identity and the name of their employer. Labor contract disputes A Bokeo province police officer, who like other sources requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA that authorities know there are still many more abused and trapped workers in the SEZ, but they don’t know the number. “[M]any Lao and foreign workers have been abused [while] having labor disputes with Chinese employers,” he said. “For example, they couldn’t do the jobs, and the employers wouldn’t give them any food and water, or would detain them or sell them to massage parlors and brothels.” “We don’t know the number because the SEZ is a Chinese territory,” the police officer said. “We can go in there only when we’re allowed to.” A member of Bokeo’s anti-human trafficking unit said it also was difficult to rescue trapped workers because they have signed employment contracts. “We can’t help many workers such as those who have labor contracts with their employers for six months or one year,” he said. “They have to abide by the contracts. We can help only those who are abused and didn’t sign the contracts.” A Lao woman who recently escaped from the SEZ confirmed that human trafficking is still occurring despite the Lao government’s efforts. “Right now, they [human traffickers] are still recruiting Lao and Thai girls, women and men to work in the SEZ,” she told RFA, adding that recruiters usually are paid 15,000 baht (U.S. $425) for each person they recruit. “Many workers experience all kinds of hardship and still continue to work in the SEZ because they come from very poor families,” she said. “They have no other choice but to work there.” Another former SEZ worker said when middlemen tried to sell him women, he declined because he pitied them. “In the SEZ, a woman can be sold for sex for 2,000 yuan (U.S. $300) per night or 400 yuan (U.S. $60) for one time.” Translated by Max Avary for RFA Lao. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Five killed by junta troops, allied fighters in Myanmar’s Sagaing

Editor06 mins

Four civilians and a local militia member were found killed Monday after a three-day raid by junta troops and allied fighters on a village in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region that saw 10,000 civilians flee the area, Myanmar sources say. The five victims, whose charred bodies were discovered after being left behind by departing junta soldiers, were buried by residents of Chaung-U township’s Nyaungbin Tae village when they returned following the attack, one local villager told RFA on Tuesday. A military column combining Myanmar military and fighters from the Pyu Saw Htee, a pro-junta armed group, had entered the village on Saturday, RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “When they arrived, all the villagers ran to safety, leaving only four or five people behind in the village,” the source said. “During the raid, one of the village guards was killed by artillery fire, but we weren’t able to recover his body until the soldiers left the village on June 20. “We later found all the bodies and buried them yesterday,” the source said. Killed in Nyaungbin Tae by junta troops and allied fighters were 20-year-old Toe Naing Win, a member of a local People’s Defense Force unit set up to oppose junta rule; Paw Kyi, 52, whose body was found burned in a house; and 37-year-old Ne Win and 49-year-old Pyay Aye, whose bodies were found in a cornfield nearby, sources said. The body of Aung Min, 48, was later found outside the village, they said. The June 18 raid on the village was carried out by a force of around 80 junta soldiers, all in plain clothes, a local anti-junta militia member told RFA, also declining to be named. “There was no fighting, no clash,” the source said. “They entered the village after shelling it with heavy weapons, and one of our comrades was killed by an artillery shell. Two others were injured, one in the hand and the other on his body. “Four men were killed in the village altogether, three of them when their house was set on fire. One other man was shot dead in the road when he would not carry the soldiers’ stuff,” he said. The soldiers may have been attached to Light Infantry Battalions 357, 368 and 369, and were accompanied by pro-junta fighters from the Pyu Saw Htee pro-junta militia, he added. Before leaving Nyaungbin Tae, soldiers looted the village’s nearly 275 homes of cash, jewelry and other valuables, villagers said. ‘We all had to run’ Also speaking to RFA, a 70-year-old villager confirmed that junta soldiers had attacked Nyaungbin Tae with heavy weapons. “We all had to run, and older women who could not run had to be taken away on motorcycles,” the villager said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. “One woman who was paralyzed had to be left behind in the village,” he said. “The men who were killed were too attached to their livestock and refused to leave. They were seized and killed. Now I don’t even want to hear anything about the army, and I don’t want to see them,” he added. Requests for comment by junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun received no reply. Sagaing has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting to take place between junta troops and opposition forces since Myanmar’s military overthrew civilian rule in a February 2021 coup. Villagers say junta forces have indiscriminately attacked communities, killing civilians, torching homes and forcing thousands to flee in search of safety. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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China’s Hebei province moves to suppress media reporting in wake of Tangshan attacks

Editor09 mins

Authorities in the northern Chinese province of Hebei have launched a crackdown on “fake news,” in a move commentators said was likely a bid to suppress widespread reporting of the vicious beatings of women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan earlier this month. The Hebei provincial state prosecutor, internet regulator, state-run journalists’ association and radio, film and television bureau issued a joint notice launching “a special campaign targeting fake news and extortion in journalism,” vowing to crack down on “fake media, fake reporters and fake news.” The move comes amid social media reports that Tangshan police have been obstructing state media journalists as they try to follow up on a crackdown on organized crime in the city sparked by public outrage at the beating incident. Its scope mirrors a campaign announced at the national level in the summer of 2021. “[These government departments] have launched a special campaign against fake news and journalistic extortion,” the provincial government website said in a report published June 16. “The chief task of this … campaign will be to crack down on journalistic extortion and fake news, investigate and punish fake media, fake reporters, and fake bureaus, and rectify ‘paid-for news’,” the report said. The campaign will be led by a taskforce in the propaganda department of the provincial branch of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it said. Chinese journalist Lu Nan said the provincial authorities’ move to adopt the nationwide campaign is likely a direct attempt to shut down independent accounts of the Tangshan beatings and the anti-crime campaign that followed. “They don’t want to solve problems using the rule of law, but just move to solve law-enforcement issues with non-legal means, moving straight to ‘strike hard’ campaigns,” Lu told RFA. “All this means is that they want to keep up their total control over public expression,” he said. Pressure on media Lu cited the case of the Guizhou TV reporter detained and interrogated by police after arriving at the Tangshan railway station. “Just a few days ago, they were interrogating [journalists] one by one as they arrived in Tangshan, and even treated some journalists roughly who went to report there,” Lu said. “The only reason for doing such things is to cover up the truth.” Hebei-based scholar Wang Zheng agreed, saying the move was an indirect way of putting pressure on news organizations and social media sites. “Why do they want to crack down on fake news? Because they are the ones who are fake,” Wang told RFA. “Some people want to report the truth, maybe citizen journalists, but they won’t be allowed.” “Sometimes citizen journalists will volunteer to cover a certain story, sometimes for a fee, given that they have to take risks, that’s very reasonable,” he said. A Zhejiang-based journalist surnamed Jiang said the local authorities are clearly keen to avoid any follow-up reporting of the Tangshan beatings, which prompted widespread shock and anger on social media. “Naturally they need to lay down the law and frighten the media so as to suppress any follow-up reporting on the Tangshan beating incident,” Jiang said. “This comes along with the deletion of tens of thousands of posts from Sina Weibo relating to Tangshan in the past couple of days, and the closure of tens of thousands of accounts.” He added: “Shanghai lawyers have also gotten a notice from the municipal justice bureau saying they are banned from representing any of the victims of the Tangshan beatings,” Jiang said. Two beaten women still in hospital Two of the four women beaten by a gang of thugs at the restaurant remain in hospital 11 days after the attack, despite claims from the authorities that they had sustained “second degree minor injuries.” The deputy chief of the Tangshan police Lubei branch, which was responsible for the initial handling of the case, has been fired, while the authorities have promised an investigation into the slow response to incidents and “serious violations of laws and discipline” by Tangshan’s police department. Police arrived at the scene 28 minutes after they received the report, by which time the injured had already been sent to hospital. Video footage of the incident showed four women who had been eating at a late-night barbecue restaurant being brutally attacked by a group of men in the early hours of June 10, after one of them harassed a woman, who flapped a hand at her harasser and fought back after she was slapped, prompting the others to join in to repel the man. The attackers shoved the women to the ground, kicked them, threw a chair at them, and later dragged one of the women out of the restaurant to continue beating her outside. One was taken away on a stretcher with a visibly bloodied and swollen face. The claim that the women sustained “minor injuries” was met with skepticism on social media. But the CCP-backed Global Times said the official classification of “minor injuries” could include anything up to broken ribs, perforated eyeballs or rupture of tissues and organs. Nine suspects – seven men and two women – were formally arrested on June 12, it said. It said five officials are being investigated for by the CCP’s own discipline inspection and supervision arm, including Ma Aijun, the head of the public security bureau of Lubei district in Tangshan. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Number of Chinese nationals seeking asylum grows tenfold under Xi Jinping

Editor07 mins

The number of Chinese nationals seeking political asylum overseas has skyrocketed under ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping, according to a recent report. Figures released by the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR showed that while around 12,000 Chinese nationals sought asylum overseas in 2012, the year that Xi took office as CCP general secretary, that number had rising to nearly 120,000 by 2021. “Year by year since Xi Jinping came to power, in lockstep with a more oppressive system of governance, the number of asylum-seekers from China has continued to grow at an alarming rate,” the overseas-based rights group Safeguard Defenders reported on its website. “In 2020, and now with new figures just released for 2021, it shows continued growth despite COVID restrictions,” it said. In total, around 730,000 Chinese nationals have sought asylum since 2012, with more than 170,000 living outside China under refugee status, the report said. “Seeking asylum is for many a desperate act, reserved for those with few other options, which does not apply to the great many Chinese who have moved, and continue to do so, to the U.S, Australia, and beyond, often via naturalization, work visas or property purchases,” Safeguard Defenders said. The U.S. remains the most popular destination, accepting 88,722 applicants from mainland China last year. Australia took 15,774 asylum-seekers in the same year, the figures showed. Thousands also apply for asylum in Canada, Brazil, South Korea, and the U.K. Transnational repression The group warned of a growing risk of transnational repression, including the use of involuntary returns, now that a growing number of Chinese nationals have fled the country. Safeguard Defenders researcher Jing-jie Chen said the data also reflect the impact of Xi’s zero-COVID policy, that has led to grueling lockdowns and draconian restrictions of people’s movements under the guise of disease control and prevention. “China has basically been in a state of lockdown during the past couple of years that these data are from, and it is actually very difficult for asylum seekers to go abroad,” Chen told RFA. “Yet we can see that the number has reached a new high … with the number of asylum seekers rising every year over the past three years.” The figures don’t include Hong Kong, where a draconian crackdown on public dissent and peaceful political opposition has been under way under a national security law imposed by Beijing since July 1, 2020. Chen said many more people are voting with their feet and opting to emigrate from China, either through overseas study or investment visas and residency cards. World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit said many of the asylum-seekers are Uyghurs fleeing a network of concentration camps and technological totalitarianism in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. He said overseas Uyghurs remain at risk from the Chinese authorities. “Uyghurs in exile are constantly at risk from China putting pressure on their countries of residence to detain and forcibly return them,” Dilxat Raxit said. “We call on the international community to continue to take measures to provide Uyghurs at risk with adequate protection,” he said, adding that many Uyghur asylum-seekers had been unable to renew expired passports and sometimes had trouble documenting the oppression they suffered back home. Foxhunt and Skynet Chen said the CCP has a coordinated international operation called “Operation Foxhunt” to force Chinese nationals to return home. “Since Xi Jinping took office, he has brought the ‘foxhunt’ plan for the global oppression of dissidents that extends internationally,” Chen said. “If you only have a simple immigrant residency status, you may not be able to actually be protected in some countries,” he said. “Sometimes, asylum and refugee status application can offer more protection.” The CCCP’s law enforcement agencies routinely track, harass, threaten and repatriate people who flee the country, many of them Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, under its SkyNet surveillance program that reaches far beyond China’s borders, using a variety of means to have them forcibly repatriated. Beijing often relies on pliant allies to circumvent criminal justice processes and ensure political refugees and Muslims are sent back. China will target ethnic groups like the Uyghurs, but also political dissidents, rights activists, journalists and former officials using its overseas networks, according to a 2021 report by Safeguard Defenders. Between the launch of the SkyNet program in 2014 and June 2021, China repatriated nearly 10,000 people from 120 countries and regions, the report said. Yet according to Safeguard Defenders, just one percent are brought back to China using judicial procedures; more than 60 percent are just put on a plane against their will. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Two children killed in explosion in Gangaw Township

Editor02 mins

Two seven-year-old children were killed when an unexploded ordnance went off while they were playing with it, residents of Kan village, in Gangaw township, Magway region told RFA.  Residents said Pyae Sone Aung and Min Htut Zaw did not know what the ordnance was. They found it after junta forces left their village on Sunday evening. One local told RFA the shell suddenly went off while the children were playing with it, killing both of them. “It was an explosion of a 40 mm bomb,” the resident said. “The children found it and were playing with it by picking it up and throwing it. I think it hit a stone and exploded and killed them.” Around 74 soldiers from Gangaw township in Magway region and more than 100 soldiers from Kale township in Sagaing region camped near Kan village for two days. Residents believe the ordnance was a 40 mm grenade, left behind by the soldiers from Kale Township. More than 98 vehicles carrying solders arrived in Gangaw township on June 17, locals told RFA. They were carrying out military scorched-earth operations in villages, including Kan where the blast took place.  Calls to a military council spokesman by RFA went unanswered on Tuesday.

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Protestant family of 13 expelled from their village

Editor012 mins

A family of 13 in Vietnam’s Nghe An province say they are being persecuted by local authorities for religious reasons. They told RFA at least one child was denied a birth certificate because the parents refused to renounce Protestantism. On June 15, Xong Ba Thong, from Na Ngoi commune in Ky Son district, sent a report to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (Northern region). The report said his family faced persecution in Ka Bottom village even though it had been granted approval to join a legal religious organization. Expelled for following Christianity According to RFA research, the family of 26-year-old Xong Ba Thong has lived in this area for generations. The ethnic Hmong family had traditionally followed the local custom of ghost-worshiping. Thong said that around 2017, his entire family including his parents, younger siblings and himself voluntarily converted to Protestantism after learning about the religion through radio broadcasts. Around 2019, local authorities began demanding that the family renounce Protestantism and forced them to return to the local custom. “They said that here in Ky Son district, Na Ngoi commune and the whole of Nghe An province, no one followed a religion, but they said it was against the law to follow another religion. They also said that [by following Protestantism] we have greatly affected national unity,” Thong said. The family wanted to be officially converted to Protestantism and applied to join the Vietnam Evangelical Church (Northern) General Assembly. The application was approved in April this year. Instead of acknowledging the church’s approval and allowing Mr. Thong’s family to convert, local authorities increased pressure on them to try to force them to give up their religious beliefs. Local officials repeatedly visited their house to try to persuade family members to renounce Protestantism. They also repeatedly summoned Thong to the commune headquarters for “work”, including spending time with the cadres of Ky Son district on May 17. Thong said the “work” revolved around the request for his family to renounce Protestantism. “The day I met the district delegation, I read the law on belief and religion to them all and showed them all, but they said the law has no effect here, has no effect in the district, this province,” Thong said. Threats and sanctions for following a religion As well as putting pressure on the family, commune authorities also applied punitive measures. Sources told RFA local officials confiscated the family’s plow, which had been donated by the state for farming. They said local authorities took the plow because the family refused to renounce Protestantism and also confiscated some of the wood that the family had been planning to build a house with. Although the family has more than one hectare of rice fields, they are afraid to cultivate it due to threats. They have now abandoned it fearing any crops they grew there would be destroyed. The local government has also cut off the electricity to their house for more than a week. “It’s true that I can raise cattle here, but when it comes to trading, they don’t let merchants come and buy anything from the family,” Thong said. “Now our money has gone, we don’t have enough to eat and drink. In hard times we can use rice as a reserve but there is no electricity to grind it.” The campaign against the family culminated on June 4, when the government held a vote to expel Xong Ba Thong’s family from the locality. According to Thong, no one dared to vote against the decision. As a result of the vote the government no longer considers the family to be local citizens, does not allow them to use public services and even refuses to issue citizenship and birth certificates to some family members. RFA made repeated calls to the party secretary and chairman of Na Ngoi commune to verify the information, but no one picked up the phone. RFA then contacted Tho Ba Re, Vice Chairman of Ky Son district, who had previously directly campaigned for Mr. Thong’s family to renounce their religion. After RFA mentioned the family’s situation he refused to comment saying he was not authorized by the district president. An RFA reporter also sent an email to the General Assembly of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) to verify the information, but did not immediately receive a reply. The government mobilizes people “not to follow other religions” On May 1, Nghe An newspaper published an article about the An Dan model in Phu Kha 1 village, Na Ngoi commune, Ky Son district near the border with Laos. It was co-written by the Ky Son District Committee for Mass Mobilization and the Commanding Committee of District Military, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station, Na Ngoi Commune Party Committee. Phu Kha 1 village is located not far from Ka Bottom village, where Thong’s family live. According to the article the An Dan model steering committee aims to encourage families living in Phu Kha 1 village to abide by the law and the village’s covenant, which is not to listen to or follow “bad” propaganda. It also instructs them not to follow other religions but only the long-standing beliefs and customs of the Hmong people. A Hmong Protestant pastor in Lao Cai province who is currently taking refuge in Thailand, told RFA the expulsion of ethnic Hmong Protestants from their locality for refusing to renounce their religion is quite common “This kind of case happens a lot, and has happened for many years,” he said. “There have been many such cases and when an appeal is made to higher authorities such as the province and the central government, they answer that it is because the commune or village authorities do not understand the law or the constitution about religion. They say superiors will investigate but many households have asked their superiors to solve it and, in the end, nothing came of it.” The pastor also said that if households do not leave the locality after formal expulsion it will…

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