2023 - Page 19 of 53 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

World

Troops arrest more than 100 villagers in Myanmar’s Magway region

Editor2 years ago02 mins

Junta troops arrested and interrogated more than 100 villagers in Magway region’s Gangaw township after anti-junta militias captured weapons in a raid on an arms depot, local People’s Defense Forces said this week. The roundup began on Monday in Kant That village, where villagers had been armed and told to defend the depot. Earlier in the day, combined People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) attacked the arms depot, according to a statement Thursday by the Yaw National Revolution Force. They fought a 20-minute battle with junta troops and affiliated Pyu Saw Htee soldiers. The statement said that three members of the combined junta forces were killed and the rest of the troops fled their camp. A PDF official who didn’t want to be named for security reasons said the defense forces were able to seize a lot of guns and bullets because the villagers who had been told to guard the depot didn’t put up a fight, prompting an angry response from junta troops. “The entire village was arrested and interrogated because they broke the security line,” he said. “Some villagers had no experience and ran away without shooting.” RFA phoned Than Swe Win, the junta spokesperson for Magway region, to get comment on the arrests but nobody answered. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

Myanmar junta sacks general for alleged bribery and corruption

Editor2 years ago09 mins

Myanmar’s junta said it has sacked a high-ranking general for alleged bribery and corruption. Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Tun, 55, was the seventh-highest leader in the State Administration Council, the governing junta. He had been sanctioned by the United States and other nations. He was abruptly removed from his positions as chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee, and Central Committee on Ensuring the Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods, the regime said in a statement issued Monday. Earlier this month, authorities arrested Moe Myint Tun, said to have accepted millions of dollars in bribes from businesspeople during the past two years, but it wasn’t clear if he would be tried. He is under house arrest and being interrogatad in the capital Naypyitaw, according to businesspeople who declined to be named for safety reasons. His removal is part of a crackdown on trade and finance officials, businesspeople and exporters amid economic turmoil and sanctions as the junta struggles to accumulate foreign revenue and soaring commodity prices, sources say. Lawyer Kyee Myint said that even if the top military generals were found to be corrupt, the junta’s top leader Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing would not put them on trial, but only remove them from their positions. “They will never admit that their members are corrupt,” he said. “That’s why their case will never get to the court. I don’t think they will be charged under any article of the law but just removed from their positions. They will remove these officials to make it appear that only a few of them were corrupt.” Easy to exploit power His chairman positions were given to Gen. Mya Tun Oo, another member of the State Administration Council. Moe Myint Tun had been appointed to those posts on Feb. 2, 2021, a day after the military seized control of the elected government in a coup d’état. Legal experts and political analysts said the scandal shows that high-ranking military officers can easily exploit their posts, and that effective action should be taken against Moe Myint Tun if he is found guilty of bribery and corruption. Gen. Yan Naung Soe is seen in Myanmar in an undated photo. Credit: MDN A retired brigadier general, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said authorities should prosecute Moe Myint Tun according to military regulations if the allegations are true. “Corruption should not occur at any level,” he said. “Since it is customary in our country for people to give gifts to show respect, it encourages corruption. They don’t happen to notice that they are committing corruption while showing respect like that.” Several governments, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Moe Myint Tun for his role in the military coup, the subsequent military and police repression of peaceful demonstrators, the killing of civilians, and the gravity of Myanmar’s human rights’ abuses. The sanctions include the freezing of any assets in these countries, a ban on transactions with their citizens, and travel bans. Another recent case Earlier this month, the junta arrested another high-ranking military official — Gen. Yan Naung Soe, joint secretary of the Central Committee on Ensuring the Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods — amid the crackdown and an investigation of Commerce Ministry officials, the online news outlet Myanmar Now reported. The committee is responsible for procuring U.S. dollars for trade licensing purposes and other commercial transactions. Authorities arrested and interrogated him before Moe Myint Tun was fired. Afterwards, the junta summoned businesspeople from various sectors for questioning in Naypyitaw, said an import and export entrepreneur, who requested anonymity for security reasons. The lieutenant general was sacked based on their testimony, he said. Authorities also summoned former Interior Minister Lt. Gen. Soe Htut and Deputy Commerce Minister Nyunt Aung, according to Yangon-based businesspeople. RFA has yet to confirm this information. Moe Myint Tun, Yan Naung Soe and Nyunt Aung have allegedly made millions of dollars from their dealings with traders and by benefiting from the disparity between Myanmar’s official exchange rate of 2,100 kyats to the U.S. dollar and the market rate amid a steep decline in the kyat’s value, Myanmar now reported on Thursday. Worsening corruption Nay Phone Latt, spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office of shadow National Unity Government – made up of former civilian leaders and anti-junta activists – said corruption among top military officials has been common for decades and has grown worse under the ruling junta. “Military rulers in our country have always worked for their own self-interest and the interest of their families, causing public poverty,” he said. “Lately, we’ve seen such corruption becoming worse.” Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not respond to calls for comment. Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, said he did not know the reason for Moe Myint Tun’s removal, and that there was a lot of speculation concerning frequent position changes of top military leaders. There were only two or three changes in the positions of top military leaders under the State Law and Order Restoration Council (1988-97) or the State Peace and Development Council (1997-2011), two previous military juntas that ruled Myanmar, he said. Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

World

Disabled man’s burned body found near Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady River

Editor2 years ago03 mins

Residents of Kachin state’s Shwegu township found the mutilated, burned body of a disabled man on the banks of the Ayeyarwady river, they told Radio Free Asia on Thursday. They said 30-year-old Ko Saw was a gold miner from Yae Le village. Junta troops arrested him on Monday, after they arrived in the village in a fleet of warships. One local said the man had a damaged leg and arm, injured in the gold mine, and bad eyesight. He said the man was unable to run away and thought the troops wouldn’t arrest him because he was disabled. “When the soldiers found him, they searched his home and found the People’s Defense Force uniform of his brother-in-law in a box. He didn’t even know he had that suit,” said the local, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons. “The troops immediately arrested him and stabbed him. His legs were beaten and crushed. Then he was burnt to death.” Another resident said troops tied the man’s hands behind his back and beat him before taking him away. The six warships that arrived Monday were attacked by a local People’s Defense Force the previous day, residents said. On Sunday, the vessels moored at Toke Gyi and around 200 soldiers raided the village, shooting dead seven residents and burning down 45 homes. The next day, troops torched around 10 rafts and several boats at Yae Le, used to prospect for gold in the river. They accused locals of harboring People’s Defense Forces and ethnic Kachin Independence Army fighters. More than 1,000 residents of Yae Le fled their homes ahead of the raid. When RFA called the junta spokesperson for Kachin State, Win Ye Tun, seeking comment on the killings, he said security issues were not related to him. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

90 feared dead after Myanmar junta boat sinks in rough river waters

Editor2 years ago06 mins

About 90 people, including students and teachers, were missing after a military junta supply boat sank in the Chindwin River in the northern Sagaing region after hitting a rock in the river, local residents told Radio Free Asia. A total of 13 vessels were traveling down the river when one of the larger boats overturned in a rough area near Mingin township on Tuesday, the residents said. It was loaded with goods and civilians and was being towed by a tugboat. Many of those on board were university students heading to their school in Sagaing’s largest city, Monywa. Also on the boat were military junta departmental staff, family members of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia and some junta soldiers who were providing security for the vessel, local residents said. The sinking happened between Shea and Pan Set villages in a risky area called Shae Nat Taung slope, according to a Mingin township resident who refused to be named due to security reasons. “It’s where the water is really rough, with a big rocky horn,” the resident told RFA. “The boat hit it and sank immediately.” Six people are known to have survived; many passengers were below deck when the boat sank, the resident said. Local media reported on Wednesday that about 20 survivors were rescued and 10 bodies had been collected. Rescue operations were halted on Wednesday because of the river’s strong current. The boat was submerged in deep water, the resident said. A Myanmar military vessel is seen on the Chindwin River in this undated photo. Credit: Anyar Pyitaingdaungs Recovery preparations Locals and defense forces said that most of the villages on both sides of the river are controlled by Pyu Saw Htee militia. The military shouldn’t have any security issues if it conducts a recovery operation, a local defense group leader said. “Most of the people who were onboard the sunken vessel were those dealing with the military from Pyu villages along this waterway,” the leader said.” It depends on their willingness. It’s not a very difficult thing to do. But it doesn’t seem like they will do it.” The remaining 12 vessels continued to travel downstream on Wednesday morning. Some junta soldiers were stationed near the site, according to another local resident who also refused to be named for security reasons. “I can’t say exactly how many died and survived at the moment,” the second resident said. “We local people don’t dare to go near there.” RFA contacted Tin Than Win, the junta’s minister of natural resources and Sagaing region spokesman, to ask about rescue operations. But he refused to talk, saying that he was in a meeting. The military’s media team told reporters on Wednesday that one of the vessels that had left the town of Hkamti sank in a whirlpool near Mingin township, and they were still investigating details of the incident. Local residents told RFA that another warship and an empty boat were already moving downriver toward the accident site. The two vessels arrived at the town of Kalewa in Mingin township on Wednesday and seemed to be preparing to recover the sunken vessel, the residents said. In October 2016, a passenger boat traveling downriver from Homalin to Monywa sank near Kani township’s Mi Kyaung Twin village, adjacent to Mingin township, killing at least 70 people, according to local residents. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Myanmar’s central bank revokes 123 forex licenses

Editor2 years ago03 mins

Myanmar’s junta-controlled central bank has revoked the forex licenses of 123 companies, it announced this week. Tuesday’s decision means that 167 companies have been barred from trading dollars in the past nine months. The companies include forex firms, travel agencies, airlines, hotels, construction companies, gem traders, financial and trading companies. They include Yangon’s famous Sedona Hotel and Myanmar National Airlines. Radio Free Asia phoned the director general of the central bank’s Foreign Exchange Management Department, Nwe Ni Tun, to get details of the latest move but nobody answered. A source close to the central bank, who declined to be named for security reasons, said the licenses were canceled because companies did not observe the bank’s reference exchange rate. The central bank’s reference price is 2,100 kyats per U.S. dollar, which has been in force since April last year. In the external market one U.S. dollar trades for between 3,300 and 3,500 kyats, said a businessman who also requested anonymity. “When the government set the reference price in April 2022 no one could trade at those prices anymore,” he said. “Companies had to send reports every day to the central bank. “After more than a year of not being able to send accurate reports the central bank shut down these companies’ [forex operations].” One of the travel companies whose license was revoked said that it stopped trading foreign currency since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. “We haven’t done foreign currency exchange for a long time since the COVID-19 period,” said the owner who also declined to be named. “I think our license was revoked because we haven’t used it for a long time. “There is no problem because we only do ticketing for airlines.” Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Elaine Chan.

Uyghur event in NY goes ahead despite Beijing’s warning

Editor2 years ago011 mins

The Chinese government is increasingly moving Uyghurs from internment camps to the regular penal system while claiming it is closing the camps, experts and foreign diplomats told a forum on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. Chinese diplomats over the weekend tried to hamstring the event by sending out a letter to foreign missions to the United Nations warning them against attending. The panel of diplomats and human rights experts slammed Beijing’s attempted interference. “Thank you also for being here, notwithstanding the PRC’s continued attempts to intimidate and to silence those speaking out on human rights,” said Beth Van Schaack, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, using an acronym for China’s government. She described the Chinese U.N. mission’s letter as “yet another example of a global campaign of transnational repression” against the Muslim minority, most of whom live in China’s far-west Xinjiang region. “I’m also pleased to see that their efforts have only increased international scrutiny on the situation within Xinjiang, and particularly the atrocities against the Uyghur people,” Van Schaack said. A detention facility in Jiashi County in Kashgar Prefecture in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region in July 2023. The Chinese government is increasingly moving Uyghurs from internment camps to the regular penal system while claiming it is closing the camps, experts and foreign diplomats told a forum on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. (Pedro Pardo/AFP) Sophie Richardson, the China director for Human Rights Watch, brandished a copy of the letter, which was first obtained by National Review, and said the “strong recommendation” from China that nobody attend the event made it more important that the room was full. “Any government that’s going to go out of its way to bother doing this, first of all, has no business sitting on the U.N. Human Rights Council, but also it’s essentially confirming that it’s got a lot to hide and it knows it,” Richardson said, defending the event as a moral imperative. The panel’s job was “to talk about the facts,” she said, “because we can, and because they don’t want us to, and because Uyghurs can’t.” Radio Free Asia contacted the Chinese Embassy in Washington, which said questions should be directed to China’s permanent mission to the United Nations. But Chinese diplomats at the U.N. mission could not be reached by phone and did not respond to an emailed request for comments. Diplomatic pushback Two European diplomats also spoke during the event. Peter Loeffelhardt, the German Foreign Office’s director for Asia and the Pacific, referred to China’s warning letter, which accused the panel of “plotting to use human rights issues as a political tool to undermine Xinjiang’s stability and disrupt China’s peaceful development.” “It is a false and dangerous narrative to say that human rights are an obstacle to development,” he said. “Human rights always need to be part of the discussion. When we address human rights violations, bilaterally and multilaterally, it is not an interference in internal affairs.” Belén Martinez Carbonell, managing director for multilateral affairs at the European Union’s foreign relations arm, said Europe believed the repression of the Uyghurs was “a very important topic that we would not like to be missed” among all the issues at the General Assembly. “In the European Union, we are concerned for many issues, such as political reeducation camps, mass arbitrary detentions, widespread surveillance, trafficking and control measures, systemic and severe restriction of the exercise of fundamental freedoms,” she said. Those included “the use of forced labor, torture, forced abortion and sterilization, birth control, and family separation policies and sexual and gender based violence.” “What a long list,” she said. Martinez Carbonell also said the European Parliament was working on Europe’s own version of the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which bans the import of any product that was made even partially using forced labor of Uyghurs interned in Chinese camps. Shifting repression Gady Epstein, a senior editor at The Economist magazine and the forum’s moderator, noted that “stories about Xinjiang have faded a little from the headlines or from the front pages” in recent times, being replaced by some about the closure of certain internment camps. Uyghurs living in Turkey protest in Istanbul in March 2021 against China’s treatment of Uyghurs in Turkey. (Emrah Gurel/AP) Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said the decrease in attention was not due to any changes on the ground. “The situation has not changed in its essence,” Callamard said. “It may have shifted a little bit in the forms that certain violations have taken, but it has certainly not shifted in the essence of the violations.” Callamard said Uyghurs still enjoyed no freedom of movement, or religion or culture, or to “equality and non-discrimination.” She added that even the claims of camp closures were disingenuous. “It is a fact that we are witnessing more and more arbitrary detention [and] the shifting of individuals into formal prisons,” Callamard said. It was a concern mirrored by Van Schaak, the U.S. official. “We are now particularly concerned about the dramatic increase in prosecutions with long-term sentences in Xinjiang, including the reported transfer of some detainees from so-called re-education or vocational training centers into more formal penal prisons,” she said. “Of the more than 15,000 Xinjiang residents whose sentences are known, more than 95% of those convicted – often under very vague charges, like separatism or endangering state security – have received sentences of 5 to 20 years, and in some cases of life.” Bittersweetness Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur human rights lawyer and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, which organized the panel, told the panel that another enduring part of Beijing’s repression campaign was the cruel methods it often used to silence Uyghurs living outside China. “Uyghur-Americans living in America are still subject to China’s long-arm reach,” Asat said. “What they are using is our families, our loved ones, their lives. They are literally keeping them hostage.” She explained that…

South Korea Presidents clash over North Korea policy

Editor2 years ago09 mins

Five years ago, when leaders of the two Koreas exchanged a historic handshake in Pyongyang, the Korean people looked on with hope, wishing that this masterpiece of diplomacy may finally put an official end to the seven-decade-long war on the peninsula. But as time surges forward, the once-celebrated inter-Korean agreement stands vulnerable, overshadowed by North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats, and its leader, Kim Jong Un reinforcing ties with his fellow authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin of Russia. Now, South Korea grapples with a growing divide on whether to uphold that deal. The debate is set to intensify on the back of former South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s attendance of the commemorative event of the fifth anniversary of the September 19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration in Seoul on Tuesday. “The [current] government and the ruling party have expressed their intentions to reconsider or possibly scrap the military agreement,” Moon said at the event. “However, it’s crucial to note that the inter-Korean military agreement has been instrumental in preventing military confrontations between the two Koreas.” Moon’s comments are largely seen as a warning against the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol for its hardline policy on North Korea. “It would be irresponsible to remove the last safety pin in place,” Moon added. “As relations between the two Koreas deteriorate and military tensions escalate, it’s imperative for both sides to uphold the agreement.” His remarks may potentially improve public opinion of South Korea’s progressives before the general election in April. Should that happen, it would conversely work against Yoon’s hardline policy on Pyongyang. Under the 2018 inter-Korean military deal, the two Koreas agreed to “end hostility” and to “take substantial steps to make the Korean Peninsula a permanent peace zone.” “Military accords should be honored and respected to the fullest extent to ensure dialogue continues and to prevent dire consequences,” Moon said. The former president was supported by key officials from his administration – his foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha and unification minister Kim Yeon-chul at the event. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with South Korean President Moon Jae-in inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone, South Korea on April 27, 2018. (Credit: AP) South Korea’s progressives see consistent engagement with North Korea as a potential catalyst for altering Pyongyang’s hostile behavior and its actions of violating human rights. They believe that integrating North Korea into the international stage would foster transparency, open avenues for dialogue, and gradually shift the North’s stance towards global norms and values. Conservatives, on the other hand, have long protested against what it defined as far-fetched engagement, saying that excessive aid to North Korea despite its continued provocations would only foster its nuclear ambitions. The conversative Yoon administration is thus adopting a hawkish policy on North Korea, aimed at pressing Pyongyang to forfeit its nuclear weapons. The ongoing debate is set to gain its momentum, as Yoon’s Defense Minister nominee Shin Won-sik has opined about his inclination to scrap the inter-Korean military deal last week. Some analysts consider the deal invalid, with North Korea returning to its brinkmanship diplomacy after its high-stakes summit with the United States collapsed in Hanoi February 2019. For instance, in November 2019, North Korea fired coastal artillery near the maritime buffer around the border island of Changlin-do. In May 2020, North Korea fired gunshots towards a South Korean guard post at the inter-Korean border, and in September 2020, a South Korean civilian was shot dead at the maritime border by the North and subsequently incinerated. Further complicating matters is North Korea’s amplified nuclear and missile threats. The threats are expected to further intensify with Putin vowing to aid North Korea in developing its satellite technology. Rocket technology can be used for both launching satellites and missiles. For that reason, the UN bans North Korea from launching a ballistic rocket, even if it claims to be a satellite launch. South Korea’s internal disagreement surrounding its North North Korea policy could potentially undermine that of the allies. The lack of a unified stance – be it hardline or dovish policy – risks disabling Seoul and Washington to form a coherent strategy that could be implemented in the long-term. Experts, however, noted that the main reason for this policy inconsistency is due to Kim Jong Un’s altered stance on his diplomacy after the fallout in Hanoi in 2019. “North Korean inconsistency is what leads to South Korea having to change its policy. If Pyongyang had continued to engage post-Hanoi summit, I think that both, Moon first, and Yoon now would have probably sought to try to accommodate this. Alas, this hasn’t been the case,” said Ramon Pacheco Pardo, Professor of International Relations at King’s College London and the KF-VUB Korea Chair at the Brussels School of Governance of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. “Likewise, I think that it was domestic instability in North Korea in the late 2000s, due to Kim Jong Il’s health condition, and then the transition process to Kim Jong Un, [being] the main reason behind the end of the inter-Korean engagement. So liberals and conservatives may not fully agree on how to approach North Korea, but I actually think that Pyongyang is the main reason why Seoul changes its policy.” Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang.

Once hailed as role model, Uyghur entrepreneur sentenced to 15 years

Editor2 years ago08 mins

For years, the young Uyghur entrepreneur was held up in Chinese media as a role model for other Uyghur youth – a clean-shaven, smartly-dressed young man who returned to China to start his educational consulting business after getting an MBA in the United States. “Rather than staying abroad, he decided the best place to launch his career was in Beijing,” read a June 2014 article about Abdulhabir Muhammad in the state-run Global Times that included a photo of him in a dark suit and tie, smiling and sitting confidently behind an office desk. In Beijing, he founded A.B.U. Education, which provides support services to young people wanting to study abroad. “I want to be an international businessman and show people that we, as Uyghurs, are more than just vendors who wear ‘flower hats’ and sell kebabs, naan and nut cake,” Muhammad said in the article, referring to a cap worn by many Uyghur men, also known as a doppa. “Unfortunately, many people don’t realize there are other business possibilities.” But in mid-2022, authorities arrested Muhammad, who is now 33 and proficient in English, Chinese, Arabic, Turkish and the Uyghur language, on religious extremism and national separatism charges, people with knowledge of the situation said. And later that year, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, police in Xinjiang, the far western region of China that is home to more than 11 million mostly Muslim Uyghurs, the sources told Radio Free Asia. Murky reasons It is not entirely clear what prompted his arrest. As with so much in China, especially concerning the Uyghurs – an ethnic group whose language, religion and culture Beijing has tried to suppress – the details surrounding his case are virtually impossible to know, and RFA has been able to confirm his conviction only now, several months later. By one account, authorities may have arrested Muhammad for discussing the benefits of halal food a decade earlier in Xinjiang. By another, he may have gotten in trouble for communicating with his brothers while studying in the United States. One source familiar with the situation, who suggested that Muhammad was arrested for discussing halal food, said an entity in Beijing that monitors Uyghur businesspeople had been observing Muhammad for several years and cooperated with police during his arrest. Radio Free Asia contacted the Xinjiang People’s Assistance and Management Office in the capital to try to find out more information about his arrest, but an employee said the matter was classified and details could not be disclosed. A security guard watches from a tower at a detention facility in Yarkent County in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, March 21, 2021. Credit: Ng Han Guan/AP A former classmate of Muhammad, who requested anonymity to speak freely without risking retribution, also said it was possible that years earlier the man had discussed the advantages of halal food, prepared according to Islamic law, in terms of hygiene and safety. Muhammad’s father was a representative in Aksu for the Arman Foods Group, which distributes locally produced and imported food to supermarkets throughout the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. “All the Arman stores in Aksu were under his parents’ management,” he said. “Since it’s an Arman store and related to food, perhaps during work he advocated for the abundance of halal food available at Arman stores.” Nearly 20 people attended the event where Muhammad discussed the benefits of halal food, said the source, including people who lived near his hometown, Araaymaq village. In recent years, Chinese authorities have clamped down aggressively on religious practices among Uyghurs, including keeping Islamic holidays and dietary practices, and even praying in mosques, many of which have been shuttered. In 2017 and 2018, authorities detained an estimated 1.8 million Muslims in camps and prisons to combat what China deemed religious extremism and terrorism. China called them “re-education” camps, and says they have all been dismantled, but other reports say they persist. Brothers tried with him Another possibility is that Muhammad was taken into custody for communicating by phone with his brothers, who stood trial for being in contact with him while he attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he graduated with a master’s degree in business administration in January 2014. A person familiar with the situation said four policemen from Aksu detained him in Beijing and transported him directly to Kelpin county in Xinjiang for interrogation. He was tried along with more than 10 of his associates at the end of 2022, the source said. A village police officer in the Xinjiang city of Aksu, where Muhammad had lived for several years, confirmed the sentence and said that some of those tried alongside him were his brothers. “Abdulhabir has been sentenced to 15 years, but I’m not aware of where he is serving his sentence,” said the police officer. “There were also brothers arrested for communicating with their sibling while he was abroad, and this was mentioned during the meeting.” Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Myanmar military launches 20 airstrikes during ASEAN Air Chiefs conference

Editor2 years ago06 mins

Myanmar’s military kept up its campaign of airstrikes even during the controversial ASEAN Air Chiefs conference, to which four countries decided not to send a representative. There were 20 air attacks during the three-day event, locals and ethnic armed groups told Radio Free Asia on Monday. The conference took place from Sept. 13-15 led by junta Air Force chief Gen. Tun Aung. Air Force chiefs from Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand attended, while Singapore and the Philippines sent video messages. Malaysia and Indonesia boycotted the event. Meanwhile the junta’s brutal air campaign continued with airstrikes on Sagaing region’s Indaw, Pale and Ayadaw townships. The air force also attacked Mogoke township in Mandalay region and Kyaukkyi township in eastern Bago region. In Indaw, junta planes attacked a monastery in Kha Yan Sat Kone village on Friday, following up with a heavy artillery bombardment. The 77-year-old abbot Rajinda and 42-year-old laybrother Win Thein died in the attack, according to a local who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “The monastery was bombed by an airplane,” the local said. “Seconds later, the junta fired a Howitzer at the same monastery killing the abbot …That’s why the whole village had to sleep outside the village on the night of September 15. “Now they have returned to the village as they have to cremate the abbot. The abbot’s head was split and the civilian was hit in the chest,” said the man, adding that there had been no fighting in the area before the attack. Three junta helicopters carried out 13 airstrikes on villages in Bago region’s Kyaukkyi township, according to a Karen National Union statement Friday. More than 5,000 residents from six villages were forced to flee to escape the bombardement, the statement said. A local resident, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that people are still unwilling to return to their homes because they are afraid of more airstrikes. They are staying in nearby villages and the forest. On Friday night, a jet fighter fired on a village in Mandalay region’s Mogoke township for 15 minutes, residents told RFA Burmese. They said the junta launched the attack following a battle with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. A spokesperson for the ethnic armed group, Lt. Col. Mong Aik Kyaw, said the junta has stepped up its air campaign recently. “We have seen more airstrikes from their side,” he said. “Now they are attacking civilian targets. Last month, a jet fighter came and attacked Taung Gyaw hill where there was no fighting.” He added that since July 23, there have been more than 40 clashes between the junta army and the TNLA. Calls to junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered. The Air Force chiefs who attended the ASEAN conference in Naypyitaw discussed regional security and cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw spokesperson Sithu Maung said all ASEAN members should have boycotted the conference. “Airstrikes targeting civilians, not military targets are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said the representative of the committee which is made up of members of the National League for Democracy and other lawmakers ousted in the February 2021 coup. “If they attended the conference knowing of this situation it would encourage violence.” Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

Cambodian farmer says raising rats for food has boosted his family’s income

Editor2 years ago04 mins

The rats squeak as Muy Chameroun nears their cages to feed them foods like corn, rice, potatoes, grass and anything else that is healthy for them.. But these rats number more than 100 and they are not his pets. Muy Chameroun is a farmer, and he is raising the rats as food. Rats are not only consumed in Cambodia, but also in other countries in the region, including Thailand, China, and India. From his small farm in Kdol Tahen commune, Bavel district, in the western province of Battambang, Muy Chamroeun breeds and raises a type of rat that he imported from Thailand. He used to work in the construction industry in neighboring Thailand, but found that he could make more money raising the rodents that he has fond memories of eating in his childhood. In the four years he has been raising rats, Muy Chamroeun has been able to lift his family’s standard of living. The business has allowed him to save 2 to 2.4 million riel (US$486-583) per month. Growing an Industry Other farmers in the area are foregoing swine and cattle to try to get in on the rat racket, and Muy Chamroen sells them adults from his mischief to help them get started. He has also set up a Facebook page called Sovanrachna Rat Farm to share tips on raising, feeding and upkeep. Sum Pina, one of his customers, says the rats do not cost a lot to raise. The largest expense is building a shed to house them in, and their food is negligible, he says. Additionally, these Thai rats are better than the local domesticated and wild breeds because they do not emit such a foul odor, he said. Rat farmer Muy Chamroeun holds a rat at his farm in western Cambodia’s Battambang province, Sept. 14, 2023. Credit: RFA Once the rats have matured and fattened up to around 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) or more, they can be taken to market and sold for 20,000 to 25,000 riel (about $5-6) per head. Theng Savoeun, President of the Association of Cambodian Farmers’ Communities, said that raising rats for meat can help reduce Cambodia’s meat imports of meat and improve the livelihood of farmers. There are no domestic regulations on breeding or raising rats or selling their meat, so it is an easy business to get into. Muy Chameroun wants to sell his rat meat overseas, and to do that he would need a license from the Ministry of Agriculture, but currently there are no regulations or procedures for doing that – yet. Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Eugene Whong.

Year: 2023