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Briton, 2 Australians in intensive care after suspected alcohol poisoning in Laos

Editor19 hours ago08 mins

BANGKOK – One British and two Australian tourists are seriously ill after drinking alcohol suspected of being tainted with poisonous methanol in a tourist town in Laos, after two young Danish women died, hospital sources told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday. The British tourist is in intensive care in a hospital in the Lao capital, Vientiane, while the two Australians are in hospital in neighboring Thailand, the sources said. As many as nine other tourists were ill, media reported. All of them were believed to have been in the Lao town of Vang Vieng, a favorite destination for backpackers in Southeast Asia. The Lao government said it had not identified what killed the two Danish women and made the others sick. “We acknowledged the incident but we do not have the autopsy and investigation results yet,” said an official at the Ministry of Public Security who declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter. RFA previously reported that tourists got sick after a late-night drinking session on Nov. 12, according to sources in Laos who declined to be identified. A member of staff at the Kasemrad International Hospital Vientiane, said a tourist was admitted to the hospital last week. “The British national is in ICU,” the female staff member told RFA, referring to the hospital’s intensive care unit. She declined to give further details about the condition or gender of the patient. Two Australians, Holly Bowles and her friend, Bianca Jones, both 19, were in serious condition in Thailand – one in hospital in Bangkok and the other in the town of Udon Thani, near the border with Laos, Australian media reported. A member of staff at the Bangkok hospital did not deny it was treating one of the tourists but declined to identify her or give details of her condition. Australia’s 9News quoted Bowles’ father, Shaun, as saying his daughter was still fighting for her life. “Our daughter remains in the intensive care unit, in a critical condition. She’s on life support,” he said. Jones’ family said in a statement carried by Australian networks on Wednesday that she remained in intensive care in Udon Thani and they had received no update on her condition. “This is every parent’s nightmare and we want to ensure no other family is forced to endure the anguish we are going through,” the family said. The two best friends had been on a “dream getaway,” the family said in an earlier statement. Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Nov. 19, 2024. ‘Profit over lives’ An official at the No. 103 Military Hospital in Vientiane told RFA on Wednesday the two unidentified Danish women had died of severe poisoning. “The [first] woman passed away on the first day she was transferred from Vang Vieng, having breathing difficulties,” the official said. “The second woman was able to travel by herself in a car but finally succumbed.” She said many other patients were referred to hospital elsewhere. Most of the sick tourists – who included Danish and Swedish nationals – had been staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in the town, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, reported. RFA spoke to Duong Van Huan, an owner of the hostel, who said that the poisoning did not occur at his bar. “I don’t know much of what happened,” he said “They went to the bar and came back … I only sent them to the hospital … I don’t know which bar they went to – Vang Vieng has lots of them.” A foreign businessman in Vang Vieng told RFA he thought there needed to be an international inquiry. “From my opinion, this needs a lot of investigation by local and foreign officials,” he said. “The ones who are accountable will get what they deserve and send a very clear message to all bars and hostels that they should never make a small extra profit over lives.” Police told RFA Lao they are investigating whether the source of the illness was methanol, a clear liquid that is often illegally added to alcohol as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Even a small amount of methanol can be fatal. A tourist took to a Laos Backpacker group on Facebook to post a warning. “Urgent – please avoid all local spirits,” the tourist said. “Our group stayed in Vang Vieng and we drank free shots offered by one of the bars. Just avoid them as so not worth it. 6 of us who drank from the same place are in hospital currently with methanol poisoning.” An official at the Australian Embassy in Bangkok declined to comment. Edited by Mike Firn We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Jakarta seeks to contain fallout from South China Sea agreement with Beijing

Editor1 week ago07 mins

JAKARTA – Indonesia is seeking to contain the fallout from a maritime cooperation agreement with China that analysts say appears to indicate a softening of Jakarta’s stance on Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. A joint statement released after a meeting between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Saturday said the two countries had reached an “important common understanding on joint development in areas of overlapping claims.” This “understanding” or agreement compromised Indonesia’s territorial and maritime rights, most regional experts said. One security analyst. though, noted on X that a clause stating that the cooperation would proceed only under the laws of both countries may mean the agreement will end up dead in the water. Jakarta had consistently rejected the Beijing-set boundary, which encompasses most of the South China Sea and encroaches into Jakarta’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) north of the Natuna islands, noted Eddy Pratomo, an ex-member of the Indonesian government’s law of the sea negotiation team. “[But] with this Indonesia-China joint statement, it appears Indonesia is now acknowledging overlapping claims,” Eddy, an international law professor at Diponegoro University, told RFA affiliate BenarNews. “This could be seen as tacit recognition of China’s dashed-line claim over the South China Sea, particularly around the North Natuna Sea,” he said. Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr (L) walks with Indonesia�s President-elect Prabowo Subianto during a courtesy call at Malacanang Palace in Manila on September 20, 2024. Opposition lawmaker Tubagus Hasanuddin, a member of the defense and foreign affairs committee in Indonesia’s House of Representatives, questioned the government’s approach to handling sensitive regional issues, particularly concerning the South China Sea. “The Foreign Ministry needs to exercise greater caution and responsiveness in handling official statements,” he said in a press release. “They shouldn’t act as a ‘firefighter’ only when problems arise.” He also raised concerns about the potential consequences of such an agreement for Indonesian fishermen, citing past instances of Chinese vessels entering Indonesian waters and engaging in illegal fishing. “Will this economic cooperation benefit us? Will Chinese fishing vessels then be free to roam in the Natuna area to catch our fish?” One clause in the joint cooperation agreement, however, could mean it would not go through, said Euan Graham, senior analyst at The Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “[T]he reference to “prevailing laws” means [the] agreement may be difficult for Prabowo to push through,” he noted on X. The part of the joint statement Graham is referring to says that the joint development would be “based on the principles of ‘mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, flexibility, pragmatism, and consensus-building,’ pursuant to their respective prevailing laws and regulations.” Several analysts noted that Prabowo or Foreign Minister Sugiono needed to soon clarify what exactly the joint development was referring to and how the wording got into the joint statement. ‘Potential slippery slope’ The Indonesia-China joint development agreement has consequences not just for Indonesia but could potentially reshape geopolitical dynamics in Southeast Asia and draw responses from the United States and Japan, said international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana. “Countries in dispute with China will question Indonesia’s position,” Hikmahanto, a University of Indonesia professor, told BenarNews. The Indonesian government’s agreement with China might reflect a pragmatic alignment with a major political power, but it could potentially destabilize the region, said Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, an international relations researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “In the short term, this statement may benefit Indonesia by easing tensions with China, particularly by reducing the likelihood of coast guard confrontations in the South China Sea,” he said. “However, in the long term, it could harm Indonesia’s standing with Southeast Asian neighbors. This is a potential slippery slope.” Pizaro Gozali Idrus in Jakarta contributed to this report. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Perhaps it would be better if Myanmar’s civil war became a ‘forgotten conflict’

Editor2 weeks ago04 mins

It’s become fashionable in some quarters to suggest the three-year-old Myanmar civil war might be solvable if only more people remembered that it was taking place. Julie Bishop, a former Australian foreign minister appointed the UN Special Envoy on Myanmar in April, recently gave her first address to a UN General Assembly committee, in which she warned that “the Myanmar conflict risks becoming a forgotten crisis.” One might enquire by whom this conflict is apparently becoming “forgotten.” One can hardly say with a straight face that it has been forgotten by the 54 million people of Myanmar, nor by the 3.1 million people who have been displaced, nor the million or so Rohingya who must still live in hell-hole refugee camps abroad because they know the military junta wants to finish the genocide it started years ago. It is certainly not forgotten by the people who matter the most. Displaced people from Lashio cross the Dokhtawaddy river as they flee their homes following clashes between Myanmar’s military and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), in Zin Ann village between Lashio and Hsipaw township in Myanmar’s northern Shan state, July 8, 2024 But the claim also invites the question: Would there be any improvement if the conflict was less forgotten? Frankly, if any Western democracy or the UN wanted to intervene, they’ve had several years to do so. If ASEAN wanted to stop play-acting at mediation, it’s had since April 2021 to carve some teeth into the Five-Point Consensus, its unrealized peace plan. Post-colonial settlement This conflict has been raging since February 2021, though some might say, quite accurately, that it has actually been waiting to erupt since the 1950s. Whereas nearly every other Southeast Asian country underwent something like a civil war or democratic revolution after gaining independence from European colonial powers, Myanmar never did so. That process was left stillborne by the military coup of 1962. Because the military has shown that it cannot be trusted to share power with a civilian government, only now, do the people of Myanmar have the possibility of throwing off the foul despotism that has enchained them throughout the post-colonial era. RELATED STORIES newsletter. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Climate ‘flashpoint’ looms for Trump’s China-centric focus on Pacific: US analysts

Editor2 weeks ago07 mins

Growing U.S. security and diplomatic ties with Pacific island nations are unlikely to slow even if American foreign policy undergoes a major shake-up during Donald Trump’s second term, say former White House advisers and analysts. Following decades of neglect, Washington has in recent years embarked on a Pacific charm offensive to counter the growing influence of China in the region. While Trump’s unpredictably and climate change skepticism could be potential flashpoints in relations, deepening U.S. engagement with the Pacific is now firmly a consensus issue in Washington. Trump is likely to maintain focus on the relationship, experts say, but he will have to prove that U.S. attention extends beyond just security-related matters. “President Trump saw a strategic rationale for increased engagement in the Indo-Pacific and increased engagement in the Pacific islands,” said Alexander Gray, a senior fellow in national security affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council. “While the reality is that the security lens is going to galvanize our commitment of resources and time on the region, it’s important for us to send a message that we have other interests beyond just security,” added Gray, who was the first-ever director for Oceania & Indo-Pacific security at the National Security Council. “We have to show an interest in development, economic assistance and economic growth.” A number of firsts Trump’s first term between 2017-21 contained a number of firsts for relations between the world’s No. 1 economy and Pacific islands. PHOTO President Joe Biden (R) meets with presidents of Pacific island nations at the U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit in Washington, D.C., Sept. 29, 2022. Paik, who is now a senior fellow with the Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the climate factor would complicate the relationship, but it was unlikely to “completely sink” it. Despite Trump’s open skepticism about dangerous planet warming, U.S. support for resilience efforts across the Pacific might not be affected, some observers said. “The Pacific certainly didn’t agree with us on our macro approach to climate change,” said Gray, who visited the region a number of times, including for the 2019 Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tuvalu. “But we made tremendous progress in advancing our relationships in the region because we were able to talk about resilience issues that affect people day to day.” Shared values, mutual respect Following Trump’s sweeping victory on Tuesday, Pacific island leaders tried to stress their shared interests with the U.S. “We look forward to reinforcing the longstanding partnership between our nations, grounded in shared values and mutual respect,” said Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape. Tonga’s Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabukia both said they looked forward to advancing bilateral relations and Pacific interests. Pacific island nations have sought to benefit from the China-U.S. rivalry by securing more aid and foreign investment. But they have expressed alarm that their region is being turned into a geopolitical battleground. Reilly said a danger for any new president was treating the Pacific islands as a “geopolitical chess board.” “That’s a terrible way to actually engage and win hearts and minds and build enduring partnerships,” he said. Paik said the U.S. now needs to build on the successes of the first phase of American re-engagement. The U.S. renewed its compact of free association deals with Micronesia, Palau and the Marshall Islands earlier this year, but “some of the implementation is still pending,” she said. The deals give the U.S. military exclusive access to their vast ocean territories in exchange for funding and the right for their citizens to live and work in the U.S. “Some of the embassies have been opened, but we still only have one or two diplomats on the ground,” said Paik. “We still need to open an embassy in Kiribati and potentially other locations. “We need to get ambassadors out to the region. We need a permanent ambassador to the PIF.” No sitting U.S. president has ever visited a Pacific island nation. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

EXPLAINED: What is China’s United Front and how does it operate?

Editor2 weeks ago06 mins

Evidence is mounting of clandestine Chinese influence operations in the heart of America. Just in the last few months, a former aide to the governor of New York state and her husband were arrested for alleged illicit activities promoting the interests of China; a Chinese democracy activist was arrested and accused of spying for China; and a historian was convicted of being an agent for Beijing. The three separate cases of former Albany functionary based on expert testimony. United front groups often have innocuous sounding names, like the Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification or the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Many appear to be ordinary overseas Chinese community organizations, and are found in business and even in multinational corporations. Lurking behind or within them, though, are government or party agencies – very often China’s powerful intelligence, security and secret police agency. “United front groups are used – very specifically – to hide the Ministry of State Security,” said Peter Mattis, head of the non-profit Jamestown Foundation. “This is why I like to think of the United Front Work Department as the tall grass that is sort of deliberately cultivated to hide snakes,” he told RFA. What is the history of China‘s ’united front’ work? Under the Moscow-led Comintern in the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party adapted Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin’s concept of forming a “united front” – forging temporary alliances with friends and lesser enemies in order to defeat greater enemies. After Mao Zedong’s Communists took power in 1949, united front work focused internally on co-opting Chinese capitalists and intellectuals, who were brought to heel and persecuted in the 1950s under Mao’s vicious ideological campaigns. Supporters await the arrival of Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Kings Park in Perth, Australia, June 18, 2024. Citizens of Taiwan have for decades been pressured by united front efforts to support unification with the Communist-controlled mainland. The recent imposition of draconian national security legislation in Hong Kong has made citizens and exiles who oppose those authoritarian steps in formerly free Chinese territory targets of united front pressure. These targets are not alone and the list is growing, with Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand also grappling with Chinese influence campaigns that smack of united front work. “There’s no clear distinction between domestic and overseas united front work: all bureaus of the UFWD and all areas of united front work involve overseas activities,” the report from Australia’s ASPI said. “This is because the key distinction underlying the United Front is not between domestic and overseas groups, but between the CCP and everyone else,” it said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington told Radio Free Asia that the United Front’s domestic role is to “promote cooperation between the (Communist Party) and people who are not members of it.” Outreach to the diaspora “helps give full play to their role as a bridge linking China with the rest of the world,” the embassy spokesperson’s office said in an e-mailed statement. “Its work is transparent, above-board and beyond reproach,” it said. “By making an issue out of China’s United Front work, some people are trying to discredit China’s political system and disrupt normal exchange and cooperation between China and the United States.” Additional reporting by Jane Tang of RFA Investigative. Edited by Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Rights groups blast Skechers over new store in Xinjiang

Editor1 month ago4 weeks ago06 mins

Rights groups are condemning U.S. footwear and apparel company Skechers as it used the star power of martial arts actor Donnie Yen to open a new store in Xinjiang despite allegations that ethnic Uyghurs in China’s far west are used for forced labor. In a video Yen posted to Instagram, crowds inside a glitzy shopping mall in the regional capital of Urumqi clamored to catch a glimpse of the Hong Kong actor, who is a Skechers brand ambassador — and is known to have pro-China sympathies. The company promoted its Sept. 28 Urumqi store opening heavily on Chinese social media, and Yen encouraged his nearly 130 million followers on Weibo to visit the outlet and explore its “comfortable treasures,” Voice of America reported. The brand is big in China: Of Skechers 5,200 retail stores worldwide, China has the most with more than 940. But the big promotional event — and opening a story in Urumqi — showed that Skechers was “completely tone deaf” to concerns about the use of Uyghur forced labor in Xinjiang, said Jewher Ilham, the forced labor project coordinator at the Worker Rights Consortium. “Skechers isn’t yet taking seriously the need to extricate its business from the Uyghur region, even after it was previously linked to forced labor by U.S. Customs and other institutions,” Ilham said. The United States has taken a strict stance on the issue. Under the 2021 Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, imports from Xinjiang are banned from entering the United States unless they are certified as not made with forced labor. In June 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security added Skechers supplier Dongguan Oasis Shoes Co., Ltd., to a list of companies suspected of using Uyghur slave labor. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute issued a 2020 report titled “Uyghurs For Sale which found that 83 global companies and brands, including Skechers, were directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uyghur forced labor in 27 factories in China from which they sourced products. ‘Distasteful’ Skechers has been identified as a company within that risk, said Henryk Szadziewski, research director at the Uyghur Human Rights Project in Washington. “For me, even if the question of forced labor is in dispute, the very fact that you’re opening a shop [and] profiteering in a region where there’s ongoing crimes against humanity, I’d have to question the decision of Skechers here and ask them what kind of ethical guidelines and clearance were made to make this decision,” he told Radio Free Asia. “So, it’s not just the forced labor,” he said. “[In] this region are ongoing crimes against humanity, and [Skechers’] decision is to open a shop and make money. That’s very distasteful.” When we contacted Jennifer Clay, vice president of corporate communications at Skechers, for comment, her assistant said Clay was traveling and “too busy to deal with that right now.” Yen, whose breakout film in the West was “Ip Man” in 2008, is a controversial figure because of his pro-China comments. He most recently appeared in “John Wick 4” in which he had a prominent role along with American actor Keanu Reeves. His appearance at the Oscars in Hollywood in March 2023 prompted protesters to gather outside the venue, criticizing him for his lack of support for Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement, which he had called “a riot.” Some critics even called on event organizers to disinvite Yen. Many Hong Kongers have boycotted Yen’s movies over his pro-Beijing stance during the 2019 protests against the erosion of Hong Kong’s promised freedoms and judicial independence that saw pitched battles between protesters armed with bricks, Molotov cocktails and other makeshift weapons against fully equipped riot police who fired rubber bullets and tear gas. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

Cambodia publicly shames maid deported after criticizing Hun Sen

Editor2 months ago07 mins

Cambodian authorities have circulated photos of a handcuffed domestic worker who was deported from Malaysia after calling her country’s former leader Hun Sen “despicable.” Nuon Toeun, a 36-year-old domestic worker over the past six years, was arrested Saturday at her employer’s home in the state of Selangor, which surrounds Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. She was escorted to Cambodia by an embassy official and handed over to Cambodian authorities on Monday. After detaining her in Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar Prison on charges of “incitement,” Cambodian authorities distributed photos of Nuon Toeun in front of the facility, handcuffed and under military escort. Her deportation, arrest and public shaming drew condemnation on Thursday from observers and human rights advocates who slammed the Malaysian government for its complicity in Cambodia’s “transnational repression.” Former Cambodian parliamentarian Mu Sochua, who is now living in exile, called the case an example of how autocratic regimes seek to “silence dissent.” “A Cambodian domestic worker was immediately sent to prison after #Malaysia, complying with @hunsencambodia, deported her,” she said, in a post accompanying the photos of Nuon Toeun in handcuffs on the social media platform X. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, left, stands next to his father Hun Sen, former prime minister during the country’s 70th Independence Day in Phnom Penh, Nov. 9, 2023. (Heng Sinith/AP) Nuon Toeun often used social media to criticize Cambodia’s leadership including Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father Hun Sen, who held the post from 1985 until last year before passing the role to his son and taking a new role as president of the senate. She also criticized the Cambodian government over handling a variety of social issues. ‘Despicable guy’ A few days before her arrest, Nuon Toeun had posted a video to her Facebook page in response to a comment telling her to “be mindful of being the subject of sin,” in reference to talking negatively about Hun Sen. “If I have sinned because I [have cursed] this despicable guy, I am happy to accept the sin because he has mistreated my people so badly,” she said in the video. “I am not a politician, but I am a political observer and expressing rage on behalf of the people living inside Cambodia.” RELATED STORIES Malaysia deports Cambodian worker for calling Hun Sen ‘despicable’ Award-winning Cambodian journalist jailed for ‘incitement’ Australian prison sentence for official’s son strikes chord in Cambodia Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates Director Phil Robertson slammed the “shameful collaboration” between the two governments in deporting and jailing Nuon Toeun for her comments. “Add yet another case in very long list of transnational repression actions undertaken by #Cambodia gov’t of @Dr_Hunmanet_PM @hunsencambodia,” Robertson wrote. “Hun Sen going after a maid in KL who called him ‘despicable’ & embassy escorts her back!” “What’s truly despicable is #Malaysia‘s involvement in this!” he added. Josef Benedict, a researcher with the Civicus Monitor, a global civil society alliance, expressed alarm that Anwar Ibrahim’s government in Malaysia would facilitate Cambodian efforts to punish dissent. “A clear violation of international law & a new low for this government,” he posted to X on Thursday. Nuon Toeun had been a supporter of the Cambodian National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which had been the main opposition party in Cambodia prior to its supreme court declaring the party illegal and dissolving it in 2017. Attempts by RFA to contact Cambodian government spokesman Pen Bona for comment on Nuon Toeun’s case went unanswered Friday. Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian rights group Licadho said that critics living abroad shouldn’t be deported for exercising their right to freedom of expression and warned that the case would only invite additional international scrutiny of the Cambodian and Malaysian governments. “The arrest drew a lot of criticism of Malaysian authorities for working with Cambodia to deport the maid,” he told RFA Khmer. “The international community has raised the issue of freedom of expression, which the Malaysian government should respect.” Am Sam Ath said that his organization is working to meet with Nuon Toeun at Prey Sar, who does not currently have legal representation. Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

China hits back on Hot Mic Comment of Biden

China angry on Biden’s comment on Chinese aggression during Quad

Editor2 months ago2 months ago09 mins

China has responded angrily to comments by Joe Biden, at a weekend summit of the QUAD Dialogue, about Chinese aggression, saying the grouping was a U.S. tool to ensure its hegemony.

New Zealand pilot freed after 19 months in Papua rebel captivity

Editor2 months ago06 mins

A New Zealand pilot held hostage for 19 months by separatist rebels in Indonesia’s Papua region was freed on Saturday, Indonesian authorities said, bringing an end to a standoff that had drawn international attention. Phillip Mehrtens was abducted by the West Papua National Liberation Army, or TPNPB, in February last year. He was released following protracted negotiations facilitated by religious and tribal leaders in Nduga, a remote regency in Papua, said Bayu Suseno, spokesman for a joint military-police task force dealing with the separatist insurgency. “He was in good health when we retrieved him, and we immediately flew him to Timika,” Bayu said in a statement, referring to a major town in Central Papua province. He did not specify the exact conditions of his release. New Zealand pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens is pictured in Timika after being retrieved by the Cartenz Peace Operation Task Force, following his release by separatist rebels, Sept. 21, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Damai Cartenz Indonesian police-military task force) Mehrtens was receiving the necessary evaluations to ensure he is both physically and mentally stable, Bayu added. Mehrtens, 38, had been working as a pilot for Indonesian airline Susi Air when his plane was seized shortly after landing in the region. The rebels, who are the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement, have long fought for independence from Indonesian rule. When Mehrtens was taken captive, the TPNPB demanded Papua’s independence in exchange for his release. Video footage of Mehrtens surrounded by heavily armed rebels had circulated online over the past year. TPNPB spokesman Sebby Sambom had said in a video statement posted on YouTube Tuesday that the group would unconditionally release Mehrtens “on humanitarian grounds”. Sambom reiterated, however, that the group’s demand for Papuan independence remains unchanged. “Our struggle for an independent West Papua is non-negotiable,” he said. New Zealand pilot Phillip Mark Mehrtens is pictured in Timika after being retrieved by the Cartenz Peace Operation Task Force, following his release by separatist rebels, Sept. 21, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Damai Cartenz Indonesian police-military task force) When asked about Mehrtens’ release on Saturday, Sambom declined to comment, saying he had not been briefed on it. Meanwhile, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters welcomed the release. “We are pleased and relieved to confirm that Philip Mehrtens is safe and well and has been able to talk with his family,” he said in a statement. “This news must be an enormous relief for his friends and loved ones.” The New Zealand government had worked closely with Indonesian authorities and other parties to secure Mehrtens’ freedom, Peters said. The separatist conflict in Papua, simmering since the 1960s, has left thousands dead and many more displaced. Though Indonesia has sought to integrate Papua through infrastructure development and increased autonomy, many Papuans remain deeply resentful of Jakarta’s control, which they view as exploitative, especially in the context of the region’s vast natural resources. New York-based Human Rights Watch released a report on Thursday detailing what it called entrenched racism and systemic discrimination against the indigenous ethnic Melanesian people in Papua. The report said the Indonesian government had responded to Papuans’ calls for independence with arbitrary arrests, torture, forced displacement and extrajudicial killings. International human rights organizations have repeatedly called on Indonesia to allow independent investigations into the human rights situation in Papua, but the government has restricted access to the region. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

EXPLAINED: Why are there questions about foreign judges in Hong Kong’s high court?

Editor2 months ago010 mins

A decision by Hong Kong’s top court in August to uphold the convictions of seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, including newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai, has not only raised fears for freedom of the press but also questions about the role of foreign judges. One of the quirk’s of Hong Kong’s system negotiated when Britain handed it back to China in 1997 was foreign judges in the judiciary. They have long been upheld as a testament to the commitment to the rule of law. But criticism is growing that they legitimize an administration that fails to uphold values of political freedom and freedom of expression. Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, made a pointed remark after the Hong Kong court’s August ruling, describing the verdict as one that “revealed the rapidly deteriorating state of the rule of law in Hong Kong.” “This unjust verdict is further compounded by the involvement of Lord Neuberger, a former head of Britain’s Supreme Court, in this decision,” he said. David Neuberger is a British judge who served as the president of the British Supreme Court from 2012 to 2017. After his retirement, Neuberger participated in Hong Kong’s judicial system as part of the Court of Final Appeal, or CFA, which has the power of final adjudication and the ability to invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to join the court when necessary. He said in August his role as a judge in Hong Kong was to decide cases that come before him according to the law. A man (bottom R) waits at a traffic light outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on March 31, 2022. (Isaac Lawrence/AFP) Why does Neuberger sit at the CFA? Hong Kong’s CFA was established on July 1, 1997, as part of the city’s legal framework under the Basic Law, which serves as its mini-constitution. The CFA replaced the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London as Hong Kong’s highest court after the end of British colonial rule. The Basic Law set out the city’s judicial system, which includes the CFA, the High Court, District Court, magistrates’ courts, and other specialized courts. It also ensured that Hong Kong’s common law system would continue. Cases in the CFA are heard by the chief justice, three permanent judges chosen by the chief justice, and a non-permanent judge who can be from Hong Kong or another common law jurisdiction. They are also selected by the chief justice. Under the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, an overseas non-permanent judge must be a judge or a retired judge of a court of unlimited jurisdiction in either civil or criminal matters in another common law jurisdiction. They should also ordinarily reside outside Hong Kong. There are no restrictions on the type of cases an overseas judge may preside over. Government officials and legal figures in Hong Kong often cite the presence of overseas judges as proof of international confidence in the independence of Hong Kong’s judiciary. As of Sept. 11, there were seven overseas non-permanent judges at the CFA. A supporter of media mogul Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily, holds signs as his prison van leaves the Court of Final Appeal, in Hong Kong, China, Dec, 31, 2020. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) What are the recent debates? The engagement of overseas judges has come under public scrutiny, particularly after some resignations following the implementation of a Beijing-imposed national security law in June 2020. The United States, Britain and other countries have criticized the law under which many Hong Kong residents have been prosecuted for dissent and media outlets shut. Only judges nominated by the city’s chief executive can sit on national security cases but the list of nominees is not made public, media has reported. The Hong Kong government said that any judge, regardless of nationality, was “eligible for designation” under the national security law, but in the small number of national security law cases that have reached the top court, no overseas judge has sat. A pro-establishment barrister and government adviser, Ronny Tong, questioned whether the city needed judges who owe their allegiance to other countries. They should not preside over national security cases, particularly if they came from countries “hostile to China or Hong Kong,” he said. Social media critics question the foreign judges’ “luxurious” lifestyle. They are flown into Hong Kong on an ad hoc basis, enjoying first class travel and a generous salary for their visits, which typically last 29 days, media critics said. A statue of Lady Justice at the Court of Final Appeal is pictured, in Hong Kong, China, Sept. 5, 2023. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) What are the foreign judges’ positions? Some of foreign judges who have stepped down since 2020 have questioned their roles under an administration that they say no longer respects basic rights and freedoms. In 2020, senior Australian judge James Spigelman cited the impact of the National Security Law as he stepped down. Two years later, U.K. Supreme Court justices Robert Reed and Patrick Hodge resigned following concerns raised by the British government. Other British judges, Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins, resigned in June. Collins cited the “political situation in Hong Kong” in a brief statement about his departure, while Sumption wrote in the Financial Times that Hong Kong was “slowly becoming a totalitarian state”. “The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly,” Sumption said, adding that it was “no longer realistic” to think that the presence of overseas judges could help sustain the rule of law in Hong Kong. A spokesperson for Hong Kong’s judiciary said in June that its “operation will not be affected by any change in membership of the court”. Hong Kong’s government rejects any suggestion that the courts are subject to political pressure. It says the national security law, introduced after mass protests in 2019, was necessary to ensure the stability that underpins the financial hub’s prosperity. Edited by Mike Firn. We are…

Category: Australia