• ijrepjournalism@gmail.com
  • contact@ij-reportika.com
Ij reportika Logo

Year: 2022

Human trafficking in Cambodia nearly doubled in 2021

Editor05 mins

Human trafficking cases in Cambodia almost doubled in 2021 compared to 2020 because the government was preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic, a report issued Wednesday by the country’s National Committee for Counter Trafficking said. The report, which was released during a ceremony at the Ministry of Interior, the committee’s parent ministry, documented trafficking of laborers, organs, babies and surrogates, and sex workers. Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said human trafficking was on the rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He urged authorities not to let their guard down. “Criminals are choosing human trafficking as a career. They won’t let it go. They are taking advantage of us when we are facing a crisis,” he said.  The committee’s vice chairperson, Chou Bun Eng, said during an interview with a local radio station that traffickers used to move through Cambodia, but now the country has become a popular trafficking destination. She highlighted a particular case earlier this year to illustrate the point. “The trafficking suspects brought in victims to Cambodia. The suspects lured the victims to work in Cambodia due to the country’s development and political stability,” she said.  “There was huge increase compared to 2020, we found 359 cases in 2021 whereas in 2020, there were only 155 cases,” said Chou Bun Eng. Trafficking of surrogates is a rising problem. In the past it was common for Cambodian surrogate mothers to give birth inside Cambodia but now they are moved to other countries, she said. The surrogates are in danger of being trafficked even after they have given birth because traffickers can confiscate their passports and IDs. Chou Bun Eng said one surrogate mother was arrested by authorities in Vietnam. She said the traffickers are able to lure victims through sophisticated means, using online communication to evade police detection. Since 2020, about 200,000 Cambodians have illegally crossed the border to work overseas but were not paid what they were promised, she said.  “They don’t make any money. What are the benefits of the risk after spending years working and finally ending up receiving social welfare back home?” Chou Bun Eng said.  Many of the Cambodians trafficked into the sex industry are underage, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA’s Khmer Service. He said the authorities didn’t pay attention to the problem even before the pandemic. “Violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking against minors continues to occur. We urge the government to increase measures to prevent human trafficking, especially of minors,” he said.  In its 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report, the U.S. State Department placed Cambodia on its Tier 2 Watchlist for the third consecutive year, meaning it does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. “Endemic corruption and lack of political will continued to severely limit progress in holding traffickers accountable; corruption continued to impede law enforcement operations, criminal proceedings and victim service provision,” the State Department said. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. 

Read More

Junta troops arrest kindergartner from Yangon school

Editor08 mins

Junta security forces have detained a four-year-old boy from a preschool in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, according to eyewitnesses, who say they believe the child is being used to obtain information on an armed opposition group. Thant Phone Waiyan was taken into custody on Tuesday, his fourth birthday, from the Best Choice Kindergarten on Settwin Road in Yangon’s Alone township, a teacher at the school told RFA’s Myanmar Service. After arriving at the school at around 12:40 p.m., a group of 20 soldiers initially sent in a plainclothes officer who told teachers that he was the boy’s uncle. The teacher said that staff “blocked the doorway with both hands and didn’t let him get in,” and that she told the officer she had plans to adopt the boy and would not let anyone take him. “At that moment, another group of men came in with their guns. There were about four or five of them. While I was arguing with them, two guys pushed me aside to get in,” the teacher told RFA. “One teacher brought out the boy and they looked at him from head to toe before taking him away. They were about to handcuff me at first, but they changed their mind.” The incident reportedly lasted around 10 minutes. A source close to the family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that two days after the arrest, the child’s mother Ma Wai was “hit by a car,” and then “shot and detained” in Yangon. Other family members have reportedly since fled in fear of being targeted. The source indicated that the reason for the arrest may be to pressure Ma Wai to provide information about members of the anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary group, which has risen up in opposition to the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup.  “It is believed that the child was arrested so that she could be coerced to yield secret information because she knew they had her child,” the source said. It was not immediately clear what ties Mai Wai has to the PDF, if any. A resident of Yangon’s Sin Min Ward, where the child is from, condemned the abduction. “If they want to make an arrest, arrest the parents. What can the child know? I feel sorry for the child. I also have kids,” said the resident, who declined to be named. “[The military is] just kidnapping the kid because they want to get to the parents.” Other sources told RFA that the military had “detained several people” since Tuesday, which they suggested had been made based on the earlier arrests. RFA was unable to independently confirm the detentions. Child arrests When asked about the reports of Thant Phone Waiyan’s arrest, junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun dismissed them as false. “It doesn’t make sense. They are talking nonsense. Which child did we arrest? There is no record of such arrests,” he said. While Zaw Min Tun denied that security forces had arrested Thant Phone Waiyan, he acknowledged to RFA in January that “some children” have been detained in raids. According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, authorities have arrested 255 children between the ages of nine months and 18 years since last year’s coup. Of those arrested, 62 have been released, but 191 remain imprisoned and two have been sentenced to death, the group says.  Khin Maung Myint, a veteran lawyer, told RFA on Thursday that Thant Phone Waiyan’s arrest was made in violation of both Myanmar’s Penal Code and the Protection of the Rights of the Child Act. “They arrested the child for his parents’ actions,” he said. “Even if a child committed a crime or even a murder, they would have no right to arrest or prosecute the child. Children are already protected by law.” Ei Thinzar Maung, Deputy Minister for Youth and Children for the Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), told RFA that NUG is working to secure the boy’s release and said U.N. agencies have been informed about his abduction. “As soon as we heard the news, we [began] working for the immediate release of the child,” he said. “To abduct a four-year-old boy because they cannot arrest the parents is shocking. It’s a violation of international law and is also a terrorist act. We have reported this to the U.N.”  The NUG was formed in the aftermath of the military coup by members of the ousted government of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, as well as other civil society and pro-democracy activists, and says it represents the effort to return to democratic rule in the country. According to the AAPP, junta troops have killed at least 1,733 civilians and arrested more than 10,000 others since February 2021 – mostly during peaceful anti-coup protests. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Nawar Nemeh.

Read More

Public anger grows in China over ‘Cultural Revolution-style’ disease prevention

Editor014 mins

Public criticism is growing in China of the authorities’ Cultural Revolution-style anti-COVID-19 campaigns after a doctor committed suicide over a hospital outbreak and officials killed pets whose owners tested positive for the virus. While most criticism or negative news about the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy is swiftly removed by internet censors, reports have surfaced in recent days that Shi Jun, head of neurosurgery at the Jidong County People’s Hospital in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, committed suicide after being arrested and interrogated by police in connection with a COVID-19 outbreak at his hospital. The outbreak was started by a woman who used her mother’s PCR test result to gain admission to the hospital for brain surgery, but who passed the virus on to other patients, causing an outbreak that led to a county-wide lockdown and billions of yuan in economic losses, according to local media reports. Shi was arrested and interrogated by police over seven days for hours at a time, forcing him to wear handcuffs and leg irons when he went for a medical checkup, and threatening him with a heavy sentence if he didn’t “confess.” He managed to take his own life while in detention by breaking his toothbrush and using it to stab an artery in his thigh, according to social media posts, many of which were quickly deleted. A fellow Jidong county doctor surnamed Chen told RFA the Shi had died in the course of the investigation into the outbreak. “Yes, it’s true, he really is dead,” Chen said. “It’s been more than a week now, I think.” “I don’t know the details, because I don’t work at the same place, but I heard it was because of a mistake or negligence at work, giving rise to an outbreak of COVID-19,” he said. An employee who answered the phone at the Jidong County People’s Hospital refused to comment on the case when contacted by RFA on Thursday. “I don’t know about this; we’re not in the same department … we didn’t know each other that well, there are hundreds of people who work here, and we had very little contact,” the employee said. “What media organization are you from?” “You can call management [and ask them],” the employee said. Shi was among thousands of doctors who volunteered to work on the front line of the early pandemic in the central city of Wuhan in February 2020, working at the Yingcheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital for 39 days. He was lauded by state media as a hero of the pandemic, with his wife and children appearing on TV, and his family named as “the most beautiful family” of Heilongjiang by the CCP-backed Jixi Women’s Federation, as part of CCP leader Xi Jinping’s insistence on positive news stories about the pandemic. An employee who answered the phone at the Jixi Women’s Federation declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Thursday. “We don’t know much about this,” the employee said. “If you want to ask about the most beautiful family, the person in charge of that department isn’t here … You can always call again later.” An employee who answered the phone at the Yingcheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital also declined to comment. “I haven’t been contact with him … I didn’t work with him, OK?” the employee said, before hanging up the phone. Calls to the Jidong county police department, the county health bureau and the Jidong county government rang unanswered during office hours on Thursday. Public anger over China’s “campaign-style” approach to managing COVID-19 appears to be breaking through onto social media despite official attempts to erase it. Genuine hardship Shanghai resident Ji Xiaolong, who has been under COVID-19 lockdown alongside 26 million others for several days now, has been warned off speaking out in public after he published a petition to the authorities in Beijing, hitting out at the zero-COVID policy. “I hope my petition will be placed on Xi Jinping’s desk,” Ji told RFA on Thursday, adding that he has been taking two or three phone calls a minute from people across China since he posted it. “[They call from] all over the country; there are also overseas Chinese, ordinary people who have escaped from Shanghai,” he said. “[I’ve had] thousands of phone calls, text messages, WeChat, voice notes and Weibo comments.” Ji also hit out an online censorship, saying that much of the information posted to social media is genuine, and not “rumors,” as claimed by the government. “The Shanghai government debunks a [so-called] rumor every two minutes,” he said. “Are there really so many rumors? These rumors are often later confirmed, so they’re not necessarily rumors.” Ji said the restrictions have caused genuine hardship in his residential community. “There are people in our community who need to go to the hospital on a regular basis,” Ji said. “I saw [one of them] begging [officials] in our WeChat group. There is a neighborhood committee for our community, but they need to report [trips for medical attention] to higher ups, one level after another, and several days have gone by.” “There are others who are unwilling to beg, because of their dignity, so they endure the pain instead; they definitely exist too.” ‘They’re like the Red Guards’ U.S.-based commentator Chen Pokong said there’s a joke circulating in Shanghai that the government doesn’t care if you die, as long as you don’t die of COVID-19. “This is the government’s position,” Chen said. “Hospitals and emergency rooms are closed, and critically ill patients can’t get treatment or assistance.” “Many critically ill patients are dying or starving to death, of jumping off buildings,” he said. Ji said epidemic prevention officials were jokingly referred to by residents as “condoms,” because of their protective suits. “They’re like the Red Guards [community enforcers during the Cultural Revolution],” he said. “We all have to stay inside, but they can walk around openly wherever they like.” “Judging from their age and mental outlook, they are also excellent Communist…

Read More

Cambodia’s Hun Sen violates election law by campaigning early, watchdog says

Editor09 mins

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is violating election laws by asking for votes during official appearances prior to the start of the country’s campaign season for local elections in June, an electoral watchdog said Wednesday. Though the general election is more than a year away, and the two-week campaigning period for this year’s June 5 communal elections begins on May 21, Hun Sen is regularly using official appearances to tell crowds why they should back him on the ballot in 2023. Stumping outside of the official campaign period and while performing state duties is against the country’s electoral law, Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia monitor Kang Savang told RFA’s Khmer Service. “What happens to the smaller parties that don’t have government positions? Are they able to compete?” he said. “If you are using your government positions to serve a party, that’s called political exploitation.” Cambodian law prevents government officials from using their positions to serve party interests. They are also prohibited from using the state’s budget, materials, transportation, or other assets to conduct campaigns. An official with Cambodia’s National Election Commission (NEC) told RFA the electoral body cannot stop Hun Sen from asking for votes outside of the official 14-day campaign period, which is the only time it can address campaign violations. The official did not address concerns related to the prime minister campaigning during official duties. Ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokesperson Sok Ey San confirmed to RFA that Hun Sen’s visits to public places were meant to cultivate votes for the ruling party, but he dismissed claims that doing so is a violation of election rules. “The CPP is the ruling party. We won’t exploit public appearances while on official government duty, but we are taking advantage of the opportunity because we have achieved results,” he said. “The CPP president is the prime minister, so presiding over certain ceremonies is a chance to show our achievements to the people.” Trial continues The issue of electoral violations also came up Wednesday during the treason trial of former opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) chief Kem Sokha, when prosecutors asked him to account for his party’s adherence to the law ahead of the 2018 ballot. Kem Sokha refused to answer the questions, saying that the NEC is responsible for deciding whether a party abides by electoral law, his lawyer told RFA. Kem Sokha’s case centers around an alleged plot backed by the United States to overthrow Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years. The opposition leader was arrested in September 2017 and spent a year in jail before being released under court supervision. After his arrest, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in a move that allowed Hun Sen’s CPP to win all 125 seats in Parliament in the 2018 election. The action drew U.S. sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union. “Kem Sokha was the party president. He cannot provide election process information in detail,” Peng Heng, a member of the defense team, told RFA after Wednesday’s session. During a previous session, government lawyers presented a list of names of foreign citizens who they said were involved in Kem Sokha’s alleged plot to topple Hun Sen. Peng Heng said the defense may request that the court invite the foreigners to the court to testify. “We know that during these circumstances, the key is in the CPP’s hands. Kem Sokha can’t initiate anything, but I think if the government, which is led by the CPP, has a will to resolve this political crisis, Kem Sokha would welcome a discussion,” he said. Soeng Sen Karuna of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) told RFA that if the court is accusing Kem Sokha of colluding with foreign states, it should identify which ones, or move on to providing evidence of other charges against him. “These off-topic questions will delay the trial. I think we need a way to speed up the case,” he said of the proceedings, which are now in their 36th week. The case was held up for nearly two years at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Observers have suggested that Hun Sen is trying to force a delay in the trial to weaken the opposition party or cause it to fracture. Proceedings in the case are scheduled to resume April 20. Defamation case  Meanwhile, a provincial court in the western province of Pailin summoned Kem MonyKosal, leader of the opposition Candlelight Party, to appear before the court between April 8 and April 20 on charges of incitement and defamation. Kem MonyKosal told RFA that the case stems from an election dispute he had with a CPP official, so the court should step aside and let the NEC handle the case. He considers the summons to be a threat. “This is ridiculous. They are using the court as a pretext to make political intimidation,” he said. “I am afraid for my personal security.” The Candlelight Party, formerly known as the Sam Rainsy Party and the Khmer Nation Party, was founded in 1995 and merged with other opposition forces to form the CNRP in 2012. After the CNRP was banned, many former CNRP members joined the Candlelight party, which over the past year has gained steam as supporters believe it can pose a threat to the CPP in the upcoming elections. Kem MonyKosal only expressed his constitutionally protected vies and committed no crime, Yin Mengly, Adhoc’s coordinator for Pailin province, told RFA. “This is purely a politically motivated case,” said Yin Mengly. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

Read More

Myanmar junta metes out long prison terms for small donations to its opponents

Editor09 mins

At least seven young Myanmar men and women from Tanintharyi region and Rakhine state have received long prison terms for donating money — U.S. $8 or less in a few cases — to opponents of the military junta that has ruled the country for 13 months, their lawyers and anti-junta activists told RFA. Military authorities have frozen the bank accounts of civilians suspected of transferring money through mobile banks services and in some cases also have filed lawsuits against them, they said. In Tanintharyi region, Saung Hnin Phyu, 19, from Dawei was sentenced to 10 years on March 29 for sending 13,500 kyats (U.S. $8) to a revolutionary group via a KBZ Bank mobile wallet service. Two other young women who are students at Dawei University were sentenced to seven years in prison on Feb. 16 for donating 5,000 kyats to the local People’s Defense Force (PDF) militia. The junta is sending a message that people who donate even small amounts of money to the opposition will receive costly penalties, an official from the Dawei Network of Political Prisoners said. “Their sentences are even longer than those handed down to anti-junta protesters,” the official said. Demonstrators receive sentences of two to three years in jail. “But these people who just donated a small amount of money and committed or did nothing are getting seven years or more,” he said. “This is a deliberate plan to oppress us.” Authorities in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have arrested at least seven people on suspicion of having links to opposition groups, said Myo Myat Hein, director of the Rakhine state-based Thazin Legal Aid Group. Three young women from Thandwe township were sentenced to 10 years in prison on March 31 for donating money to opposition groups, and a young man from Mrauk-U township also received a 10-year sentence on Feb. 25, he said. Civilians across Myanmar have been giving money to several groups that the military regime has said are illegal: the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which is the Burmese legislative body in exile; the shadow National Unity Government; Civil Disobedient Movement staff; and local PDFs. They also have made donations to help those displaced by the fighting between junta forces and PDFs in various regions. “The junta is using all kinds of methods to cut off the supply chain of support,” said a young woman who is on the run. “Many accounts of charitable organizations were closed down and lawsuits opened. The woman said she and others who transferred money to opposition forces using the online banking services KBZPay or Wave Money have had their accounts shut down and have been charged for violating the Counterterrorism Law for financing terrorism. “If we get arrested, more charges will be added,” she said. Opposition groups said the lines of financial support must be kept open so they are able to uproot the military dictatorship. A human rights lawyer, who declined to be identified by name out of fear for his safety, said the junta is using the Counterterrorism Law to impose the harshest penalties possible against people who financially support the opposition. “This is the current situation where an oppressive government is handing down disproportionate sentences,” he said. “What is the purpose of punishment? Is it punishment for the purpose of correcting? Is it fair punishment? Or is it something to prevent other people from doing the same thing? That should be the purpose of punishment.” Military regime leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said on March 29 that those convicted under the Counterterrorism Law would not receive leniency in sentencing. The junta amended the 2014 law on Aug. 1, 2021, increasing the sentence for funding a terrorist organization to a maximum of life imprisonment. A photo montage shows the nine young anti-junta protesters arrested by the junta in Mandalay, Myanmar, Apr. 4, 2022. Credit: Citizen journalists Nine arrested now missing Meanwhile, nine young anti-junta protesters arrested on Monday in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay are now missing, activists told RFA on Wednesday. The detainees are in their 20s and are students and businesspeople. Those arrested, including three women, are members of the Mandalay Strike Force from Amarapura and Patheingyi townships. “Nine people were arrested, and we have lost contact with them,” said another member of the Mandalay Strike Force, adding that the military should be responsible for ensuring that they are not harmed in detention. The nine were arrested after two safe houses were raided, said a source close to the military, who requested anonymity so as to speak freely. Venerable Rajadhamma, a Buddhist monk with Myanmar’s Peace Sangha Union, said he was concerned for the safety of those arrested, who are all in their 20s. “The junta said on March 27 that it would crackdown on all those who oppose it, whether they are laymen or monks,” he told RFA. Kyaw Swa Win, who participated in a flash protest against the military regime on March 27 in Mandalay, was beaten and arrested by the military and is said to be in critical condition. The State Administration Council, the formal name of the military regime that rules Myanmar, did not release a statement on the detainees. It also did not answer RFA’s calls for comment. “Even though the junta is saying it is going to be democratic, it is questionable how it will be able to explain about the ongoing arrests, torture and killings of protesters,” said Mandalay resident Htet Myat Aung. Since the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup, security forces have killed at least 1,730 civilians and detained more than 13,100 political prisoners, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Read More

Tibetan exile leader set to visit Washington in April

Editor04 mins

Tibetan exile leader Penpa Tsering will visit Washington D.C. from April 25 to 29 at the invitation of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Tsering confirmed to RFA in an interview on Tuesday. The Washington visit will be followed by visits to Canada and Germany, the Sikyong, or elected head of Tibet’s India-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), added. “We have received an official invitation from the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who has been a strong supporter and advocate for Tibet,” Tsering told RFA. “We will also be meeting with the State Department’s special coordinator for Tibetan issues Uzra Zeya and with many other government and non-governmental officials.” “Over the last decades, and especially under the leadership and authoritarian policies of Chinese president Xi Jinping, we have seen Tibetans face more and more religious and cultural repression aimed at wiping out the Tibetan identity,” Tsering said. A CTA report detailing what Tsering called the “urgent issues” surrounding Tibet’s environment and language and human rights situation, and prepared for submission to Xi Jinping, is being temporarily held back for “a number of reasons,” the Sikyong said. “One of these of course is the ongoing concern over Russia and Ukraine,” he said. CTA departments and a Permanent Strategy Committee established by the Sikyong are now working together to push again for a resumption of a Sino-Tibetan dialogue on Tibet’s status under Chinese rule, Tsering said. Nine rounds of talks were previously held between envoys of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and high-level Chinese officials beginning in 2002, but stalled in 2010 and were never resumed. Divisions persist in the Tibetan exile community—about 150,000 people living in 40 countries—over how best to advance the rights of the 6.3 million Tibetans living in China, with some calling for a restoration of the independence lost when Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950. Penpa Tsering, a former speaker of Tibet’s exile parliament in Dharamsala, won a closely fought April 11, 2021 election to become Sikyong held in Tibetan communities worldwide. The fifth elected CTA leader, Tsering replaced Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-trained scholar of law, who had served two consecutive five-year terms as Sikyong, an office filled since 2011 by popular vote. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Read More

Prominent Uyghur journalist said to be serving 15 years for ‘political crimes’

Editor06 mins

A prominent Uyghur journalist who went missing in November 2017 is serving 15 years in prison in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region for “political crimes,” his son and authorities in the region told RFA. Qurban Mamut, the former editor-in-chief of the popular Uyghur journal Xinjiang Civilization, disappeared several months after he and his wife returned home after visiting their son, Bahram Sintash, at his home in Virginia in 2017, RFA previously reported. Chinese authorities had kept Mamut’s imprisonment and sentence a secret since they arrested him, said his son, a police officer and a Chinese court official in Xinjiang. Mamut’s arrest coincided with a Chinese government crackdown on Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. In some case, authorities have not disclosed sentencing terms from the families of the jailed Uyghurs. Mamut, who is now 71, retired in 2011 after working for decades as the journal’s editor-in-chief, Sintash said. His son tried to obtain information about his father’s disappearance by discussing his case with reporters across the globe and providing testimony to U.S. lawmakers, but he was unable to learn what exactly had happened to him. “None of these efforts helped me to get any information on my father,” Sintash told RFA in February when he learned from his older sister that Mamut was alive but serving 15 years in prison. When RFA contacted Chinese officials at the Cultural Affairs Bureau in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi), Xinjiang’s capital, where Mamut had worked as an editor, they declined to provide information on his situation. A police officer in Urumqi told RFA that he was aware that Mamut had been sentenced but said he could confirm the length of prison term only after he received approval. “I can tell you about his situation after I get approval from my bureau chiefs,” he said. Previous RFA reports on jailed Uyghur intellectuals, businessmen and other socially prominent people have indicated that since 2017 Chinese authorities have returned Uyghurs to their ancestral towns in Xinjiang and detained them there in internment camps or sentenced them to prison in those jurisdictions. RFA contacted police in Kuchar (Kuche) county, Aksu (Akesu) prefecture, where Mamut is from and where his nephews now reside. One officer in the county’s seventh district confirmed that the editor was in prison. “Qurban Mamut was sentenced to 15 years in prison for political crimes,” the police in Kucha told RFA in a phone call. “We received the [official] document on his sentence almost two years ago.” A Chinese court official in Urumqi also confirmed that Mamut was serving a 15-year term but said he didn’t know in which detention center. “I heard it was for 15 years,” he said. “I don’t know what prison he is in since I took this position recently.” Sintash expressed deep concern about his father’s health now that he is confined to a “hospital prison” where detainees receive medical treatment while they are handcuffed to their beds and under increased supervision. “I don’t know what hospital prison is or what kind of place it is … but after hearing the news I am more concerned about my father,” he said. “When his 15-year prison term ends, he will be in his 80s if he comes out from the Chinese prison live.” Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Read More

China: No plans to build military base in Solomon Islands

Editor08 mins

China is denying that it will build a military base in the Solomon Islands after agreeing with the South Pacific nation to a security pact that is raising concerns in the region and beyond. Last week, the two sides quietly signed a Framework Agreement on bilateral security cooperation, saying it is “conducive to stability and security of the Solomon Islands, and will promote common interests of other countries in the region.” A framework agreement is not the final deal but confirms both countries’ intentions with details to be agreed in the future. A draft agreement leaked online last week would allow Beijing to set up bases and deploy troops in the Solomon Islands, which lies about 1,700 km (1,050 miles) from the northeastern coast of Australia. The draft agreement and Framework Agreement are separate documents. It remains unclear how the two documents differ but, in a statement released Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy in Honiara categorically denied that a military base would be developed in the Solomons. “This is utterly misinformation deliberately spread with [a] political motive,” an embassy spokesperson said in the statement, responding to a question about whether China would build a military base in the islands. China-Solomon Islands security cooperation is “no different from the cooperation of Solomon Islands with other countries,” the spokesperson added. In recent years, China has been developing closer ties with the Pacific islands, wooing them with infrastructure loans and economic assistance, as well as military exchanges. The Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019 – a move to please Beijing which seeks to diminish the international diplomatic recognition of the government in Taiwan. Concerns over pact The draft agreement, meanwhile, has provoked fears in the South Pacific region’s traditional powers, Australia and New Zealand. Last week, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that Wellington sees the pact as “gravely concerning.” The U.S., which has been promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, also expressed concerns about China’s moves in the Solomons. Adm. Samuel J. Paparo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. as saying earlier this week that he was “undoubtedly concerned” about the China-Solomon Islands security pact. “There is still a path ahead. But anytime that a secret security arrangement makes its way into the light of day, it is a concern,” Paparo told the Australian network in Washington. The U.S. admiral also warned that “there’s the potential of conflict within our region within a couple of years because of the incredible unpredictability of events.”  The security agreement with China “will allow the Solomon Islands government to invite China to send police and even military personnel to protect Chinese community and businesses in Solomon Islands during riots and social unrests,” said a researcher specializing in the Pacific region at the Australian National University (ANU), who requested anonymity because of personal concerns. “This is different from China establishing a military base in Solomon Islands but may pave the way for China to do so,” he told RFA. ‘Diversification’ of partnerships Beijing doesn’t hide its ambition to set up military bases in the South Pacific. In 2018, media reports about China’s plan to build a base in Vanuatu prompted a stern warning from then-Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. A possible presence of Chinese law enforcement personnel so close to the homeland has rattled decision makers in Canberra. Australia is the biggest aid donor to the Solomon Islands and, in 2017, it signed a bilateral security treaty with Honiara, its first with a Pacific nation. “From traditional powers’ perspective, they think such security agreement is not necessary because existing regional mechanisms can meet the demands of Pacific islands like the Solomon Islands,” the ANU researcher said. “But the incumbent Solomon Islands government said they need to diversify the country’s external security partnerships, especially with China, which lends strong support to the government during and after the riot in November 2021,” he said. Rioting broke out in Honiara, the nation’s capital, in late November over the government’s decision to diplomatically recognize China over Taiwan. Last week, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare told lawmakers that to achieve the nation’s security needs, “it is clear that we need to diversify the country’s relationship with other countries” but existing security arrangements with Australia would remain. His policy of “diversification” was evident in November when the PM asked Australia – and after that China – to send police forces to help him quell the riots that rocked Honiara. The Chinese Embassy, for its part, warned against what it called “Cold War and colonial mentality,” saying the Pacific island nations are “all sovereign and independent.” “The region should not be considered a ‘backyard’ of other countries,” it said in its statement issued on Tuesday.

Read More

Shanghai transports tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases, close contacts out of town

Editor09 mins

The mass, out-of-town relocation of thousands of people from Shanghai who have tested positive for COVID-19 is sparking a social media backlash from neighboring regions in China, according to local residents and social media posts. With more than 10,000 people testing positive for the virus in the city so far, and isolation and quarantine facilities in the city overflowing, the authorities have started packing thousands of local people onto mass transportation and sending them to isolation camps in neighboring provinces and cities. Social media user @DeliciousFishSkinCrispy called the policy “shameless,” saying that some 30,000 Shanghai residents are being sent to the eastern province of Zhejiang alone. Others complained of a lack of containment measures during the trip to the isolation facility, saying the lax restrictions on those known to have been exposed to the virus would likely spread it to the surrounding areas. User @RadishTuan1971 posted a video of an isolation convoy heading to Zhejiang’s provincial capital, Hangzhou. “The neighborhood committee told us they wouldn’t be providing any protective clothing, and that large numbers of close contacts were being sent to Hangzhou,” the user commented, adding that he was worried about testing positive after being put on a bus with a group of potentially infected people despite quarantining at home for four days. He called on the government to issue personal protective equipment (PPE) to people ordered to leave town for isolation facilities. Shanghai reported a cumulative total of 13,354 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, but officials vowed to stick to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s zero-COVID policy, despite skyrocketing numbers. “We will stick unswervingly to the overall dynamic zero-COVID policy without hesitation, step up mass testing, quarantine and treatment, and realize the goal of zero-COVID in the shortest possible timeframe,” a health official told a news conference. Local media reported that around 10,000 people have been sent to Hangzhou, the same number to Ningbo, 6,000 sent in total to Shaoxing and Jinhua, and 4,000 in total to Huzhou and Taizhou. A health worker conducts a swab test for COVID-19 at a residential compound during the second stage of a pandemic lockdown in Shanghai’s Jing’ an district, April 6, 2022. Credit: AFP Treatment gap But local residents also reported a huge divide between the treatment meted out to the poorest and most vulnerable people during the current outbreak, and those living in affluent neighborhoods. A resident of Hongqiao Emgrand Garden in Shanghai’s Changning district who gave only the surname Jiang said her residential community was well-supplied, despite reports of food shortages in other parts of the city. “The volunteers were delivering rapid antigen test kits door to door yesterday,” Jiang said. “Nobody in the community is allowed out, not to walk the dog, not to hang out down in the courtyard; we all have to stay home.” “[However], it is being managed very well, and everyone is behaving very responsibly,” she said. “They even called us to say that proper fresh vegetables were being delivered, as well as steak and shrimp balls to every household yesterday evening.” Yet residents of the less affluent districts of Juquan, Xinyuan, Gucun township and Baoshan faced food shortages during their lockdown, while those in isolation facilities hadn’t received any government food supplies for nearly two weeks, according to social media reports. Instead, food supplies are dumped outside in the courtyard to leave people to fight for food in chaotic scenes that some people likened to the Hunger Games. He Anquan (L) and Wang Lijin (R) take part in a hunger strike opposite the Chinese Consulate in New York, April 6, 2022. Credit: He Anquan’s Twitter feed Strike in solidarity In New York, Chinese dissidents who formed the Shanghai National Party in exile staged a three-day hunger strike outside the Chinese consulate from April 4. Dissident He Anquan told reporters from a tent across the street from the consulate on Tuesday that he hadn’t eaten for 24 hours, and was struggling to keep warm with the temperature at a chilly nine degrees Celsius. “Of course it’s cold, but it’s still above freezing point,” He, who is refusing food but taking water, told RFA. “As a Shanghainese, this is all I can do to express my feelings of solidarity and concern to the 25 million Shanghai residents who live, work and were born in Shanghai,” he said. Since the citywide lockdown began, patients have died due to lack of timely medical treatment and children have been sent to separate isolation facilities from their parents, while food prices have skyrocketed. Some residents have committed suicide by jumping off their buildings, He told RFA. “The Chinese government’s lockdown policy in Shanghai amounts to a massacre, because it has resulted in the death of Shanghai citizens without medical treatment, or suicide due to emotional breakdown, all kinds of tragedies,” he said. “These things are already happening.” Opposition to policy Fellow Shanghai National Party activist Wang Lijin said he was joining He’s hunger strike. “[CCP leader] Xi Jinping wants to achieve national unity during these citywide lockdowns,” Wang said. “We are very opposed to his cruelty to the people of Shanghai.” “We came to oppose Xi Jinping’s shutdown of the city.” There are signs of growing dissent over Xi’s preference for a zero-COVID policy within China, however. A recent analysis that appeared on the encyclopedia site Zhihu argued that only the strictest lockdowns were of any use whatsoever in curbing the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19. “The omicron variant spreads 5.82 times faster than the previous variants,” the article said. ““The likelihood of bringing it under control is only around 51 percent, unless the strictest possible containment and control measures are applied immediately, as soon as the first case appears [in a city].” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Read More

Hong Kong police arrest six for ‘sedition’ over courtroom protests, support

Editor07 mins

Hong Kong police on Wednesday arrested six people including a former labor leader on suspicion of “sedition” under a colonial-era law, as the city’s security chief — who is widely seen as Beijing’s preferred candidate — resigned to run for chief executive. Police said they had arrested four men and two women aged 32 to 67 on suspicion of “conducting acts with seditious intent.” Media reports said one of those arrested was Leo Tang, a former vice president of the now-disbanded Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU). The arrests were in connection with “nuisances” allegedly caused by the six as they attended court hearings between December 2021 and January 2022. Police said their actions had “severely affected jurisdictional dignity and court operations.” Police also searched the homes of the arrestees and seized various items in connection with the case. This arrests mark the first time that someone sitting in the public gallery of a Hong Kong court has been arrested for “actions with seditious intent,” a charge that carries a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment. The police statement said the six are accused of “incitement to hatred, contempt or betrayal of Hong Kong’s judiciary.” Previously, judges have responded to shouting and clapping from the public gallery by ignoring it or by ordering those responsible to leave the court. Any behavior in court that could distract judges from hearing evidence or making a judgement could be regarded as “an obstacle to the work of the court,” Hong Kong chief justice Andrew Cheung said in January. He said at the time that such incidents should be handled on a case-by-case basis by the judge concerned. Courtroom protests and vocal support for defendants has become increasingly common as Hong Kong continues with a citywide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020. In January 2018, supporters at the trial of pro-independence politician Edward Leung were ordered to leave the courtroom and to view the remainder of the trial via a video screen in the lobby. The arrests came as chief secretary John Lee — second-in-command to chief executive Carrie Lam — resigned from his post and announced he will run in an “election” for the city’s top job that is tightly controlled by Beijing. The successful candidate will be chosen on May 8 by a 1,500-strong Election Committee whose members have been hand-picked by Beijing. The arrests came after two U.K. Supreme Court judges resigned from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA) last month, citing a recent crackdown on dissent under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by Beijing. Non-permanent CFA judges Lord Reed and Lord Hodge had sat on the court “for many years” under an agreement governing the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, but Lam’s administration had “departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression,” Reed said in a statement. The national security law ushered in a citywide crackdown on public dissent and criticism of the authorities that has seen several senior journalists, pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai and 47 former lawmakers and democracy activists charged with offenses from “collusion with a foreign power” to “subversion.” Extracts from Lai’s prison letters published by the Index on Censorship in late March 2022 quoted Lai as saying that “the muted anger of the Hong Kong people is not going away.” “This barbaric suppression [and] intimidation works,” Lai wrote. “Hong Kong people are all quieted down. But the muted anger they have is not going away. Even those emigrating will have it forever. Many people are emigrating or planning to.” “The more barbaric [the] treatment of Hong Kong people, [the] greater is their anger, and power of their potential resistance; [the] greater is the distrust of Beijing, of Hong Kong, [the] stricter is their rule to control,” Lai wrote. “The vicious circle of suppression-anger-and-distrust eventually will turn Hong Kong into a prison, a cage, like Xinjiang.” Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Read More

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