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Category: Middle East

Woman accused of defrauding thousands of people extradited to Laos

Editor09 mins

A Lao national who allegedly defrauded millions of dollars from thousands of people and traveled to neighboring Thailand with the money in late June faces prosecution back home after being extradited by Thai authorities on July 31, Lao police officials said. Phonethip Xaypanya, a 30-year-old woman who goes by the nickname Jay Thip, which in Lao means “elder sister Thip,” is accused of absconding with more than U.S. $16.4 million, including 20 billion Lao kip (U.S. $1.3 million), 400 million Thai baht (U.S. $11 million), and U.S. $4 million, according to the Lao Ministry of Public Security. She allegedly accumulated some of the money by promising her victims high rates of return on their cash deposits. Thai police said they arrested Jay Thip and her husband, Anousith Phoutthavong, 34, on July 29 at a hotel in Pathum Thany province, Thailand, for overstaying their visas. They were returned to Laos two days later. Immigration police records indicate that the couple left Laos by land on June 29 via the First Lao-Thai Friendship bridge. By the end of June, more than 5,000 people who said they were victims of her scheme filed complaints with Lao police. Officials say they expect many more defrauded citizens to come forward. Jay Thip denies that she defrauded people.  “We, the Public Security Ministry, have received a lot of complaints from the public, [and] we’re going to forward this information to the investigation department,” a ministry official told RFA Monday. “She hasn’t been formally charged with any crime yet.” The official went on to say that the ministry could not disclose much information yet about the arrest.  “The woman was just handed over to us yesterday, so we’re going to deal with her according to the law,” he said. A criminal lawyer said that if Jay Thip is found guilty, she would face at least 10 years in prison and be ordered to pay back the money.  “First and foremost, the police will be investigating and interrogating her to find out how much money she stole when she defrauded people,” said the attorney, who declined to be named. “The police may have to sell all of her assets and property, like cars and homes to pay back her customers.” An official with the Lao Prosecutor’s Office agreed, but said that tracking down her wealth could prove difficult. “The question is, where is all the money?” he said. “It might be kept abroad, but how can we bring it back, or it may have been converted to gold and diamonds that are hidden somewhere else.” Jay Thip claims to have many businesses, including a shop that sells gold and diamond jewelry, and she posts photos of the expensive merchandise daily online. Her most lucrative business is an investment scheme that accepts cash deposits of at least 50 million kip ($3.27) from customers and promises a monthly interest rate of 30% in return.  She also posts stories on her Facebook page saying that she often wins the lottery and has photos showing off her luxury goods in an effort to build trust with current and prospective investors. Jay Thip denied to Thai reporters that she was in possession of 400 million baht at the time of her arrest.  “To electronically transfer that lump sum across the border, people have to have a lot of documents and proof,” she said. “Now, to answer the question of why I came to Thailand, my husband and I came here to deal with the problems that have occurred and why they’ve occurred. And another reason is that over there [in Laos], I fear for my safety.” Call for justice Meanwhile, Laotians who say they fell prey to Jay Thip’s scheme are clamoring for retribution. “I want my money back, but the problem is that in Laos legal procedures are not open to the public,” said a person who declined to be identified. “I just want her to be responsible for the debt. Is she going to pay back or not? I want to see the police enforcing the law to the fullest extent.” “The legal action against her should be transparent, not opaque, because this lady has a lot of powerful connections,” he said. “She can get away with it quickly and easily.” A businessman who invested 900 million kip (U.S. $65,400) said at first that Jay Thip paid him the interest regularly.  “But later, I received nothing,” he told RFA. “I lost 900 million kip ($59,000). I’d never thought that Jay Thip would do this to us because she had been very open with us.”  Another person who fell for the scheme doubted the victims would be paid back.  “[S]cams like this have happened before,” the person said. “When your money is gone, it’s gone.”  “Even her own friends who have known her since childhood were also cheated,” the businessman said. “I want my money back, and I want the police to do their job right.” Illegal investment schemes are nothing new in the largely impoverished country where corruption runs rampant and law enforcement can be lax. In 2017, for example, an agricultural company running a pyramid scheme in Laos defaulted on millions of U.S. dollars owed to its stakeholders, raising questions as to why the government failed to adequately regulate the market and inform investors about potential pitfalls. Translated by Max Avary for RFA Lao. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Uyghur poet and educator said to be serving 13-year prison term in Xinjiang

Editor08 mins

A prominent Uyghur poet and associate professor at a teacher’s college was detained in 2017 as a “threat to social stability” and sentenced to 13 years in prison on a “separatism” charge, a local police officer and Uyghur source told RFA. Ablet Abdureshid Berqi is serving time in Tumshuq Prison, a detention facility located in Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a state-owned economic and paramilitary organization in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).  Since its founding in 1954, the XPCC, which is also known as Bingtuan, has built and administered several urban centers in Xinjiang, mainly to resettle Han Chinese from other parts of the country as part of a campaign of Sinicization. The Bingtuan also operates prisons and publicly traded companies.  An RFA investigation confirmed that Berqi, which is a pseudonym, was arrested two years ago amid a purge of Uyghur intellectuals, educators and cultural leaders — one of a set of Chinese government policies that have been determined by the United States and the parliaments of some Western countries as constituting genocide. The abuses also include forced labor at factories and farms, forced birth control and the detention of up to 1.8 million Uyghurs in a network of internment camps. A Chinese official at the Xinjiang Education Institute, a university for teacher education in the XUAR’s capital Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi) where Berqi worked, told RFA that he was not authorized to disclose information about Berqi and suggested the reporter contact the school administration office.  “I don’t know this person,” the official said. “I haven’t heard of this person. We have more than 1,000 employees at the school. Let me give you a phone number. You ask the school administration office.” Other officials at the institute refused to provide information about Berqi, however. Later, officials at the directorate of school education told RFA that the institute did not employ an instructor named Berqi. RFA also contacted a police officer in the poet’s hometown of Sampul village in southern Xinjiang’s Hotan (Hetian) prefecture, who confirmed that he was serving a 13-year term in Tumshuq Prison. “He is in prison now,” the police officer said. “The reasons were threats to social stability and going abroad. He was detained in 2017, and after three months he was sentenced to prison for 13 years and is now serving his term in Tumshuq Prison.” The officer also pointed to “mistakes he made while teaching at school,” including articles Berqi wrote and lectures he gave. Berqi’s parents live in the village’s Aydingkol hamlet, the officer said.  A top target In an article published in the 2000s, Berqi said he used a pseudonym because his real name was the same as the XUAR chairman, Ablet Abdureshid, which led to a number of misunderstandings, particularly after the poet’s writings were published in newspapers and magazines.  He also said the pseudonym, which means “flourishing” in the Uyghur language, reflected the greater success he hoped to achieve in his creative career. Berqi wrote his doctoral dissertation on Abduhalik Uyghur, a prominent Uyghur revolutionary poet in the early 20th century who was killed by Sheng Shicai, a Chinese militarist who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944.  Berqi also studied at Haifa University in Israel between 2014 and 2016, said Nimrod Baranovitch, a lecturer in Chinese culture and society at the university, who met the poet in Urumqi a decade earlier and later applied for a postdoctoral fellowship for him. “[W]e kept in contact for many years, and then we decided we should try to bring him over to study and research here,” Baranovitch told RFA. “We had tried that once in the past, but it didn’t work. And then we tried it again, and it worked.” Two years ago, authorities charged Berqi with “separatism” and sentenced him to 13 years in prison because of articles he wrote on economic awareness and development in the XUAR, which were published in the CCP-controlled Xinjiang Civilization magazine, according to information from an RFA listener. The last official mention of his name was on Jan. 5, 2017, in a notice issued by the Xinjiang Education Institute’s publicity department. It said that the research topics officially approved by the Chinese government included a project by Berqi relating to the stability of Xinjiang. At the end of 2017, Berqi’s name was on a list of Uyghur intellectuals who had been imprisoned, but due to the Chinese government’s tight control over information, it was only five years later, in July 2022, RFA learned about his sentencing. Husenjan, one of the Berqi’s colleagues who now resides abroad, said he received was told by sources in Urumqi that Berqi had been sentenced to prison but did not know the length of his term. “I recently received official news that he was, in fact, detained, but I wasn’t able to get information on whether or how long he was sentenced to prison,” he said. As a writer and intellectual, Berqi would have been a top target for authorities amid the ongoing repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, Husenjan said. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Russia backs China on Taiwan as sanctions, incursions expected during Pelosi visit

Editor08 mins

Russia on Tuesday backed Beijing’s disapproval of an expected visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the democratic island of Taiwan, calling it a “provocation,” as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) engaged in live-fire military exercises across the Taiwan Strait. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing that Moscow opposes Taiwanese independence “in any form.” Her comments came as the official media of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made no mention of escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait after Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned President Joe Biden not to “play with fire” ahead of Pelosi’s planned arrival on Tuesday evening. Neither the People’s Liberation Army Daily nor the CCP’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, made any mention of the story, with the People’s Daily leading with agricultural developments in Fujian. However, the English-language Global Times ran a top story titled “Tension escalates hours ahead of Pelosi’s potential Taiwan visit as PLA remains fully prepared for any crisis.” It said any visit by Pelosi would be “a serious provocation and violation to China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity which would be met with severe countermeasures from the Chinese military.” The article largely repeated comments also made on Tuesday by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. It also cited a maritime safety warning to shipping reporting live-fire military exercises off Weifang in the Bohai Sea on Aug. 3, while “military training in parts of the South China Sea” was reported by the Guangdong maritime authorities. The paper’s former editor Hu Xijin tweeted on Tuesday: “Based on what I know, in response to Pelosi’s possible visit to Taiwan, Beijing has formulated a series of countermeasures, including military actions.” Hu also tweeted on Monday: “If she dares to stop in Taiwan, it will be the moment to ignite the powder keg of the situation in the Taiwan Straits.” Tacit understanding? Current affairs commentator Johnny Lau said he expects there is more likely to be a tacit understanding between Beijing and Washington enabling Xi to step up the appearance of military threat to boost his support at home. “Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is highly beneficial to Xi Jinping, who is taking the opportunity ensure that top military and political figures must unite around him ahead of the 20th CCP national congress [later this year],” Lau said. “The mainland could have the PLA’s planes cross over the median line of the Taiwan Strait, and neither the U.S. nor Taiwan will attack them,” he said. “Both sides know where the lines are drawn, and whoever fires the first shot will be responsible [for starting a war],” he said. “Everyone is flexing their muscle in what is both a political show and a military gesture aimed at certain circles,” Lau said. Wu Qiang, an independent researcher at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said China could also announce sanctions on members of the Congressional delegation, including Pelosi, including banning them from entering China. “If the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs imposes sanctions after Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, it would be no more than the sanctions imposed on other U.S. politicians in recent years,” Wu said. “They could ban them from entering China or Hong Kong, freeze their assets there, and ban companies from doing business with their families,” Wu said. Diplomacy failures He said Beijing has little other recourse short of military action. “Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan marks an unprecedented change in Sino-U.S. relations, which is of course due to the failure of Chinese diplomacy [in recent years],” he said. China has also suspended imports from 35 Taiwanese exporters of biscuits and pastries since Monday. Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported on Tuesday that China has listed 2,066 foodstuffs as being subject to “import suspension.” Wu said such trade sanctions would likely continue as international support for the democratic island, which has never been ruled by the CCP, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, grows. He said China could also try to restrict international maritime access to the Taiwan Strait. “They could declare that the Taiwan Strait is China’s territorial waters, and its airspace part of China’s airspace, and say that foreign vessels [or aircraft] must get approval from China to enter them,” Wu said. International relations scholar Zhong Shan agreed. “China will definitely react in some way, maybe by including Taiwan in its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) … with military aircraft flying over or around the island,” Zhong said. “It’s fairly easy for the foreign ministry to whip up populist sentiment, but it’s not so easy to suppress it again,” he said. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

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Myanmar stages countrywide demonstrations against military junta

Editor06 mins

Burmese citizens, angered by the execution of four democracy activists last week and worn down by 18 months of military rule, staged rallies across Myanmar, from major cities to regions that have seen the heaviest clashes between troops and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs). The Sunday rallies were held in the major cities of Yangon and Mandalay along with the regions of Sagaing and Thanintharyi. Protesters made vows to fight for democracy, banged pots and sounded car horns as well as promoting their cause on social media. Residents said since the public pledge of allegiance ceremonies had been announced in advance, security was tighter than usual in the big cities. They also spotted security guards and plainclothes officers.  People were searched and there were some arrests. About 30 Mandalay residents who posted comments on Facebook urging people to participate were arrested by military council forces, according to a member of Mandalay’s Sanga (Buddhist monk) Union. “There were people who were arrested after writing posts urging people to take part in activities a day in advance. They were arrested due to military informants like Han Nyein Oo,” he said. “They prepared ambushes in the night and stuck posters on electricity poles urging people not to participate,” the monk told RFA. He said the protests were still a success because many people still took part. Telegram channels supporting the military council have been campaigning for the arrest and prosecution of those involved in the campaign. A woman holds a poster saying “Only the righteous one wins”. CREDIT: Citizen journalist Fighting until the junta is defeated RFA has not been able to independently confirm the exact number of people arrested for participating in, or inciting people to make, the pledge of allegiance. Nang Linn, a member of the University Students’ Force, told RFA the public pledge was made as a commitment to participate in the anti-dictatorship revolution until the end by people who have suffered since the military took power on Feb.1, 2021. “The main thing is that we will transform the stubbornness, anger, and bitterness that we are experiencing during this anti-regime revolution into a revolutionary spirit and then we will all march together and fight until we reach the revolution’s goal. Therefore, the public pledge was made by the power of the people,” he said. Nann Linn said the democracy movement shows the power and defiant attitude of people across Myanmar, while respecting the martyred leaders of the movement. A woman in Pazondaung township spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons. She said she recited the pledge of allegiance and banged pots at home because security on the streets was too tight. “I saw on Facebook that people planned to recite the vow and bang pots and pans, and cars would sound their horns. I banged a bowl, “she said. “Not every house in my ward banged pots. Some banged iron buckets and others crashed Jam Jam Jam [cymbals]. Cars honked their horns but people didn’t didn’t protest for long,” the woman told RFA. People in the war-torn areas of Monywa, Yinmabin and Kani township in Sagaing Region and parts of Thanintharyi region also made the pledge of allegiance, holding banners saying “Only the Righteous one wins”. Protesters across the country said they will continue marching until the goals of the anti-dictatorship revolution have been reached.

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UN Security Council joins condemnation of Myanmar junta’s execution of 4 activists

Editor011 mins

The U.N. Security Council condemned the Myanmar military’s execution of four democracy activists over the weekend but stopped short of calling for new sanctions against the junta as its forces continued attacks in the country’s Sagaing region. A statement issued on Wednesday by the 15 members of the council echoed one issued on Monday by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) denouncing the killings of the activists despite numerous appeals that their death sentences be reconsidered.  The Myanmar military, which overthrew the elected government in a February 2021 coup, said on Monday that it had executed the activists for aiding acts of terror as part of the civilian opposition and resistance to the regime. The Security Council response “noted ASEAN’s call for utmost restraint, patience and efforts to avoid escalating the situation, and for all parties concerned to desist from taking actions that would only further aggravate the crisis.”  The statement also called for the full implementation of the five-point consensus agreed to in April 2021 to end to violence in post-coup Myanmar and put the country back on the path to democracy. And it called for the immediate release of deposed leaders President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Security Council members also called for “an immediate halt to attacks on infrastructure, health and education facilities, for full respect for human rights and the rule of law, and for full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all those in need.” But Justice for Myanmar, a group of activists campaigning for justice and accountability for the people of Myanmar, criticized the U.N. council’s response as insufficient.  “Yet, no sanctions, no referral to the Int’l Criminal Court + members #China, #India & #Russia continue to arm the Myanmar military. Time UN Security Council ends its shameful inaction!” the group tweeted. The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the High Representative of the European Union also condemned the executions. “These executions, the first in Myanmar in over thirty years, and the absence of fair trials show the junta’s contempt for the unwavering democratic aspirations of the people of Myanmar,” they said in a statement issued Thursday.   “We continue to condemn in the strongest terms the military coup in Myanmar and express deep concern about the political, economic, social, humanitarian and human rights situation in the country,” they said. Thousands flee homes in Sagaing The criticism by the U.N. and G7 came as at least 10 civilians, including two teenagers, were killed in Sagaing’s Khin-U township and more than 10,000 others from 17 villages fled their homes amid clearance operations by junta forces that began last week, local sources told RFA on Thursday. Northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing region has the largest number of participants in the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement, a strike of professionals like doctors and teachers to resist military rule, and the strongest armed resistance to the junta.  Among the dead in Khin-U township are Khant Nyein, 13, from Myin Daung village; National League for Democracy township organizer Aung Naing Win, 35, from Shin Min Dway village; Aung Hman, 66, from In Daing Gyi village; Htay, 52, from Myin Daung village; Si, 89, and Ohn Thee, 35, from Letpanhla village; and Pho Khoo, 18 from Laung Shey village, the sources said.  RFA does not yet know the identities of the others killed. A township resident, who found the charred body of Aung Naing Win, said the army brutally killed ordinary civilians. “The military has been attacking villages in the area in four columns in the past 10 days,” he said, adding that soldiers burned about 50 houses and mostly slit the throats of those who were killed. The elderly woman named Si died on Wednesday when her house in Letpanhla village was set on fire, another local said. “The woman died in a fire that burned 11 houses,” said the local who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “They set fire to the house knowing that she was inside.” Another township resident said more than 10,000 people from 17 villages were forced to leave their homes and around 50 homes were destroyed by fire due to the military raids in the area. “There are about 12 villages in the surrounding area, and there must be about 12,000 to 13,000 people [who have fled their homes], the person said, adding that residents usually ran to nearby communities about two or three miles away. A resident of Moung Kyauk Taw village, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said he saw the soldiers set fire to the village, destroying more than 20 houses. “It wasn’t an accidental fire. It was arson. We have witnesses,” the person said, adding that he and others watched soldiers enter the community and saw three or four of them set fire to the houses.  “We lost everything, and we have no place to live. We can’t buy any palm leaves [for roofing], and we don’t have money. We are now living under bullock carts,” he said. Locals said they did not know which battalion the soldiers who raided the villages were from. RFA could not reach military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun or Sagaing military council spokesman Aye Hlaing for comment. Myo Aung, an official from the township’s Letpanhla village, said the actions of Myanmar’s junta were “cruel and inhumane.” Rural areas bear brunt The latest killings came despite claims by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) that public administrations under its direction control around 80% of the region’s rural areas in 36 townships where the military has not been able to exert its influence. “People’s police forces have also started to be established to ensure the rule of law in areas where the public administrations have begun to operate,” said NUG spokesman Kyaw Zaw. Public administration officials said the NUG hands down its policy and agenda to public administration groups at the township level…

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USS Ronald Reagan reenters South China Sea amid tension over Pelosi visit

Editor05 mins

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group re-entered the South China Sea and is heading north as China threatens military action should U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi make a visit to Taiwan. The carrier left Singapore after a five-day port call on July 26, according to a statement from the U.S. 7th Fleet.  The statement did not specify the USS Ronald Reagan’s current location but the U.S. Navy released a couple of photos of the carrier refueling-at-sea with the replenishment oiler USNS Tippecanoe in the South China Sea on Wednesday. Data provided by the ship-tracking website Marine Traffic show the USNS Tippecanoe was well inside the South China Sea at the time of the replenishment operation. The ship’s projection shows it is moving northwards. While this doesn’t necessarily mean the aircraft carrier would take the same route, some Taiwan watchers say it may sail near the island in the coming days. An analyst who wishes to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue told RFA they think the Ronald Reagan will “sail close to the east side of Taiwan in a show of power but will not engage in any confrontation with China’s People’s Liberation Army.” Chinese state-supported Global Times meanwhile quoted Song Shingling, a Chinese military expert, as saying that “if the U.S. carrier strike group attacks relevant islands in the South China Sea or clashes with Chinese warships and fighter jets, this may equal to creating a conflict.” USNS Tippecanoe’s past track from July 21 to July 28. CREDIT: Marine Traffic Pelosi briefed on Taiwan trip  The Indo-Pacific Command declined to confirm whether the Ronald Reagan, the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, will sail near Taiwan. “We have nothing further on this,” said Cmdr. Tiffani Walker, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command spokeswoman. The democratic island, that China considers one of its provinces, has come under the spotlight after press reports that the Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi would visit Taiwan in early August. Neither the U.S. Government nor Pelosi’s office confirmed the news but President Joe Biden indicated that the military “did not think it was a good idea right now” for Pelosi to visit Taiwan. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday he had spoken with Pelosi and given her a security assessment of the situation but did not comment on Taiwan, Reuters reported. President Biden is expected to discuss the visit, among other issues, with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a telephone call on Thursday. It would be the fifth such conversation since Biden became U.S. president in January 2021. China has already responded strongly against the rumored trip, with a PLA spokesman threatening that should Pelosi insist on making the visit, “the Chinese military will never sit idly by, and will certainly take strong and resolute measures” to retaliate. The USS Ronald Reagan is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier, homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. It has been deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” said the U.S. Navy.  

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Vietnam court charges 7 people for their roles in road demolition protest

Editor05 mins

Authorities in Vietnam’s Nghe An province have officially charged seven people in connection with a clash with riot police over the demolition of a local road earlier this month, family members said Wednesday. Ha Thi Hien, Tran Thi Nien, and Bui Van Canh were charged on July 22 with “resisting against officers on official duty,” while Tran Thi Hoa, Bach Thi Hoa, Ha Thi Thoa, and Ha Van Hanh were accused of “disturbing public order,” relatives told RFA Vietnamese. Family members said they had only learned of the charges – each of which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison – after receiving a notice from the Nghi Loc District Police Department on Wednesday. “I am very worried about my wife. They [the police] said she would be held for two months before trial,”  Nguyen Van Duc, the husband of Ha Thi Hien, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “All of my neighbors feel sorry for her, saying that Hien had never said or done anything bad, and ask why she was taken away. Since her arrest, our two young kids have been crying and asking for Mom every night,” he said. Riot police guard a fence build to stop protestors preventing the demolition of a hundred-year-old road on July 13, 2022. Photo: Citizen Journalist On July 13, hundreds of riot police descended on Binh Thuan parish in Nghe An’s Nghi Thuan commune as a similar number of protesters attempted to remove a fence blocking a road that connects the parish to an area highway. The road, which had been in use for more than 100 years, is located on land the government granted to a private company for a planned industrial zone. Police tried to disperse the protesters with smoke grenades and explosives but they fought back. Ten people were arrested in the clash, during which officials said protesters had “used bricks, stones, bottles, sticks [and petrol bombs], attacked and detained a police officer and injured five other police officers,” according to a statement issued after the incident. Authorities released one woman the same night and two men three days later. However, the other seven had remained in custody for two weeks before their families were notified of the charges against them on Wednesday.  The seven are being held at a temporary detention facility during an investigation of their case, which is expected to last until Sept. 10, according to the notice from the Nghe An Police Department, which also claimed that all of the accused had “refused access to a defense lawyer, or did not request one.” Duc said his wife Hien is innocent and was “only watching the protest” when she was arrested. She did not act against the police, he said. Duc said he has had to take leave from work to care for his two kids, aged three and six, and his mother, who is more than 80 years old. Attempts by RFA to contact the Nghi Loc District Police and the lead investigator for the case, Hoang Doanh Toan, went unanswered Wednesday. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

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Tibetan arrested for creating ‘unlawful’ WeChat group

Editor04 mins

Chinese officials in a Tibetan-populated region of Sichuan this month arrested a Tibetan man accused of setting up a group honoring Tibetan religious leaders on the popular social media platform WeChat, Tibetan sources said. Lotse, 57 and a resident of Sichuan’s Sershul (in Chinese, Shiqu) county in the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was taken into custody in July for creating the chat group, which was set up to celebrate the birthdays of revered Tibetan lamas, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA this week. “The group has around 100 members who come from all parts of Tibet,” RFA’s source said, citing local contacts and speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Chinese authorities called Lotse’s creation of the group “unlawful,” the source added. Lotse, a single father of two sons, is now believed to be detained by authorities somewhere in Sershul, and local Tibetans were questioned about him and pressured by police in the period leading up to his arrest, the source said. “Chinese police also visited Lotse at his home before his arrest and threatened him for creating such a group without the government’s permission,” he added. Banned birthday celebration Sichuan authorities arrested two Tibetans in 2021 for celebrating the 86th birthday on July 6 of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, sources told RFA in earlier reports. The pair, a man named Kunchok Tashi and a woman named Dzapo, both in their 40s, were taken into custody in Kardze’s Kyaglung town on suspicion of being part of a social media group that shared images and documents and encouraged the reciting of Tibetan prayers on the Dalai Lama’s birthday. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of a failed 1959 Tibetan national uprising against rule by China, which marched into the formerly independent Himalayan country in 1950. Displays by Tibetans of the Dalai Lama’s photo, public celebrations of his birthday and the sharing of his teachings on mobile phones or other social media are often harshly punished. Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on Tibetan-populated regions of western China, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial killings. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA Tibetan. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Protesters still in custody two weeks after Vietnamese road riot

Editor05 mins

The families of seven people arrested during clashes with police over the demolition of a road in Vietnam’s Nghe An province say they are desperate for information on the detainees, who have been held for nearly two weeks. Hundreds of riot police descended on Binh Thuan parish in Nghi Thuan commune on July 13, where a similar number of protestors were trying to remove parts of a fence built around the road, which was handed over to a private company by the government to make way for an industrial zone. The road connecting the parish to a main road has been used for more than 100 years. Police tried to disperse the protesters with smoke grenades and explosives but the locals fought back. Nge An provincial police issued a news release on July 13 saying locals “used bricks, stones, bottles, sticks [and petrol bombs], attacked and detained a police officer and injured five other police officers.” Police arrested 10 people, releasing one woman the same night and two men three days later. The men claim they were beaten and threatened into signing confessions. One woman, 72-year-old Bach Thi Hoa, was treated for her injuries in the district hospital, according to the two men who were released. She was accompanied by police at all times and her family were refused permission to see her. Two protesters are being held at the Nghi Loc district detention center. The other four are at Nghi Kim detention center. Police say they are collecting evidence to clarify their claims of “causing public disorders,” “resisting on-duty state officials” and “illegal detention.” Nguyen Minh Duc, the husband of detainee Ha Thi Hien, said although the police issued an arrest warrant for his wife on the day of the riot he only received a copy a few days ago. “They took the paper that day. They sent it the next day but the commune did not immediately give it to my family,” he told RFA. Duc said other detainees’ families are also struggling to get information and meet daily to tell each other what they know. Locals say they have heard from an unofficial source that Nghi Loc district police transferred two women to Nghi Kim detention center on July 21 when they no longer had the authority to hold them. Article 118 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that a person can be held in custody for three days and the detention can only be extended for two further three-day periods. If police want to hold someone for more than nine days they need the approval of the district or provincial procuracy to investigate further. State and local media have remained silent on the story for the past week. RFA called the leaders of the People’s Committees of Nghe An province and Nghi Loc district as well as the police agencies and the provincial and district procuracies but no one answered.

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Junta cuts phone and internet connections in Magway amid fierce fighting

Editor08 mins

Junta forces cut phone and internet access in Myanmar’s Magway region on Monday at the start of a scorched-earth operation that is still raging. Residents of Gangaw and Tilin townships said they believed their telecoms were cut off because of strong resistance by local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) against junta troops. The People’s Administration Organization of nearby Saw township said that the cutting of internet and phone lines meant junta troops would soon raid local villages. “There is a news blackout in Tilin and Gangaw. We heard there were some attacks in the area but we don’t know exactly where they are happening because we don’t have phone connections. Normally, if the phone and internet lines are cut, it means they’ll be attacking the villages. Villages will be destroyed and burned so we have to be alert when the lines are cut. The movements of the revolutionary forces [PDFs] will also be seriously affected.” Locals said the military launched airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday near Zibya village and Shounshi village in Gangaw township. A resident of Myin Thar Village in Gangaw, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said he was very worried for his family. “I’ve been calling [my] village for four days now and I can’t get through. The internet and phone lines have been cut, and I’ve heard that they’ve been bombed by military aircraft. I don’t have all the information yet. I just heard that villages west of Gangaw and Hakha Road have been bombed but I can’t get any specific information because the phone lines have been cut.” A resident of Gangaw’s Sanmyo village, who is now in Chin state and also declined to be named, said he had heard reports the junta’s aircraft had attacked some villages but he did not know the exact facts. “Both the phone and lines have been completely cut off on our side. We have heard reports of bombings by fighter jets,” said the resident who added that the city has been hit as hard as the villages. “The entire Gangaw area has been completely shut down and we can’t reach anywhere.” A woman from Tilin, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said while lines were down some people managed to get a signal. “We could make some calls for the western side of our village so we had to go there to contact our relatives. But we can’t reach people in Gangaw,” she said, adding that villagers are concerned they won’t be warned in advance about attacks by aircraft and ground troops because lines have been cut. The woman eventually travelled two miles to the Magway-Chin border, where she was able to use her phone and the internet to gather information. Covering up junta war crimes The Human Rights Minister of the shadow National Unity Government, Aung Myo Min, said the military cut the internet and phone lines so as not to leave any evidence of the war crimes.“These cuts by the military council are to block the flow of information especially about their brutality, and war crimes committed by them on the ground and to cut off humanitarian aid,” he said. “Because when the news of their actions comes to light, it will definitely be used as evidence to international tribunals. Cutting off information has become a military strategy. It is obvious they do not want to leave any evidence that can be used when legal action is taken.” RFA called military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, director-general Myo Swe of the Department of Communications at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and the spokesman at the Magway Regional Government Office, but there was no response from any of them. Junta’s history of telecoms blackouts According to the General Administration Department, there are more than 200 villages in Gangaw and Tilin townships in Magway. More than 180,000 residents living in these townships are now losing their right to information due to the interruption of internet and phone lines. The military cut off all phone lines and the internet for the entire day of the coup on Feb. 1, last year. The internet was completely cut off on Feb. 6 and 7, 2021, only to be restored on Feb. 8. The military also cut off the internet in some townships and slowed it in others when the military launched attacks on armed PDFs in Magway, Sagaing and Mandalay regions and Chin and Kachin states. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese.

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