World Archives - Page 145 of 219 - Investigative Journalism Reportika

Protesters still in custody two weeks after Vietnamese road riot

Editor2 years ago05 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.

North Korea heralds sacrifices of Korean War veterans as many still suffer

Editor2 years ago012 mins

North Korea is trying to encourage its exhausted citizenry to struggle on by highlighting the sacrifices made during the 1950-53 Korean War, a lesson sources told RFA is undermined by a growing number of deaths among elderly veterans to malnutrition and illness. The country is set to celebrate the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities in the war on Wednesday, a holiday Pyongyang officially calls the “Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War.” In preparation for the day, the government has ordered people to stay after work for propaganda lectures telling them to “follow the heroic spirit of the ‘War Generation,’ who defeated the armed invasion of the United States and other imperialists in the 1950s and defended the leader and the country with their lives,” said a resident of South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity for security reasons, in mid-July. “The workers ended their shift at 6 p.m. and gathered at each workplace meeting room. It began with a question and answer session about the spirit of the War Generation and how they struggled. We discussed what we should learn and emulate from them even after the years and generations have passed,” the source said. In a company-wide lecture, the workers learned about the War Generation’s revolutionary spirit, and how North Koreans overcame obstacles to construct a socialist society with “miraculous speed across 1,000 miles” during the post-war restoration period, the source said. “So, the workers were called to adopt that fighting spirit in the factory’s production plan,” the source said. “The workers have not been eating properly due to food shortages and are already exhausted from going to work in this heat wave.” The poor living conditions of the factory workers in South Pyongan are causing them to resent being made to stay after work for propaganda meetings. “They are complaining that they cannot live because of the heat wave, and the government is trying to increase its control over them,” the source said. Food scarcity is a constant problem in North Korea, but the closure of the border with China and suspension of trade since the beginning of the pandemic in January 2020 has made it worse. With no imports to bridge the gap between food supply and demand, prices have gone up and the people have had to do without. The propaganda lectures note that the heroes of the glorious past extend beyond the soldiers fighting in the war, a source in North Hamgyong province. “The factory gathered the miners for lectures on the spirit of the War Generation, and they talked about the 1950s, when miners carried out missions that cost them their lives,” the second source told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. “Now that the COVID-19 crisis has been resolved and the major task as part of the five-year plan [2021-2025] is to be carried out, the lectures were given to encourage the miners to accelerate production with the fighting spirit of the War Generation,” the source said. The lecture said they should devote themselves to the party and the leader without asking for any honor or remuneration just as their forebears did during the post-war period of restoration and construction, according to the second source. “The miners complain that they are exhausted from the hardships of the pandemic and the severe heat, but the authorities focus on lectures and learning sessions that bind the thoughts and spirits of the residents instead of rationing food,” she said. Though the second source said that the COVID-19 crisis has been resolved, reflecting the North Korean government’s declaration that it was set to “finally defuse” the crisis, the World Health Organization has cast doubt over the claim, saying instead that the situation could worsen. North Korea has officially reported a minimal loss of life during the recent outbreak that caused the country to declare a “maximum emergency,” but reports have surfaced saying that those who die of COVID-19 symptoms are quickly cremated before a cause can be determined. Sources told RFA that elderly veterans who served in the Korean War are among those who have died either from the coronavirus or malnutrition due to the lack of food, angering North Koreans who say the government uses the veterans for propaganda but does nothing when they starve or contract a deadly disease. The country is set to hold an 8th National Conference of War Veterans in Pyongyang to commemorate the armistice holiday on Wednesday, but sources told RFA that the number of participating veterans has sharply declined. In North Pyongan province’s Ryongchon county, about a third fewer veterans are participating in the conference this year, a resident there told RFA on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “[We’ve seen] a decrease of nine out of the 28 participants in the 7th National Conference of War Veterans held last year,” the third source said. The third source said that three war veterans from the rural village of Sosok-ri were alive in the spring. In May, two had developed a high fever and shortness of breath, typical symptoms of COVID-19. They died without receiving adequate treatment, quarantined in their homes, she said. “In Jinhung village, an elderly veteran living with his son and daughter-in-law died of malnutrition in April. Since March, the family’s food has started to run out, so they have been eating dried radish stem and leaves mixed with corn powder as a meal,” she said. “In total, the number of veterans who died was nine in Ryongchon county, reducing the number of participants in the National Conference of War Veterans,” the third source said. “The residents are critical of the intention of holding the conference of war veterans when the elderly war veterans are dying for lack of food.” In Songchon county, South Pyongan, the number of veterans sent to Pyongyang fell by half compared with last year, a resident there told RFA. “Every year, elderly veterans die from malnutrition because they can’t…

Interview: Families of executed Myanmar activists press for return of remains

Editor2 years ago013 mins

Hours after the terse announcement by Myanmar state media on Monday of the execution of veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw and two other activists, RFA Burmese spoke to Nilar Thein, Ko Jimmy’s widow, and Phyo Zeya Thaw’s mother, Khin Win May, about their final interactions Friday with their condemned loved ones. RFA: What have you heard about Ko Jimmy? Nilar Thein: The deputy warden notified us that the execution had been carried out. When I asked for the return of his body, he said the prison laws do not permit such requests. RFA: What do you want to say about this? Nilar Thein: The entire population of our country is facing arbitrary arrests and all kinds of violence and repression. I would say the execution of four people including my husband and Phyo Zeya Thaw was blatant murder. As I have said in the past, they will have to pay one day for each and every crime or whatever they have done. I didn’t say that without a reason. One day, the perpetrators will meet the fate and punishment they deserve for the actions they have committed. Another thing is my husband Ko Jimmy stood by his commitment and loyalty to the people until his last breath. He has written a good record for himself and he will never die in our hearts. He will forever live in our hearts, in the hearts of all the people, as a hero. RFA: What plans does your family have now following this execution? Nilar Thein: We are not holding a funeral for him because we do not accept their actions (of the junta). There is no plan for a funeral. RFA: Did you receive any responses from the international community? Nilar Thein: The EU Ambassador, the former U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell and some other ambassadors have contacted me. I explained to them about the latest situation up to the confirmation of the Prisons Department. It is stated in the prison manual that the body of the person who receives the death sentence has to be returned to the family. Only in cases when the family cannot be contacted do they take care of the body. I am now trying all steps necessary to get back the body. RFA: Did they say anything about the possible execution when you met him on Friday? Nilar Thein: We learned that the deputy warden had said things would be done in accordance with the prison manual, but when it would be carried out was not known yet. When we talked on Friday, Ko Jimmy asked me to deposit some money (to buy provisions) and the prison officials said the money could be deposited on Monday. And this morning when we went to the prison, we heard the news. RFA: What did you talk about at the meeting on Friday? Nilar Thein: He said his health was good and that we don’t need to worry about him over whatever we heard from the outside. He told us to take care of our health. He said he had the Dharma in his heart. Phyo Zeya Thaw and his mother, Khin Win May, in May 2015 photo. Credit: Phyo Zeya Thaw RFA: We heard this morning that you went to Insein Prison and asked about your son Phyo Zeya Thaw’s case. What did you learn there? Khin Win May: I went there only this morning when the news came out. I wanted to know for sure what the truth was. I actually had a plan to go and deposit some money for him today in Insein. When I met him on Friday, I didn’t have time to make a deposit and planned to do it today, Monday. First at the prison gate, I asked them if it was true as published in the news and they said yes, just like in the newspapers. What was written in the newspapers was not clear. I wanted to know if it was really true, on what day and when it was carried out exactly. We are not atheists. We need to do our funeral rites, according to the Buddhist tradition. At first, they just said it was like in the newspapers and refused to let me in. Later on, I insisted that I wanted to see the responsible officials. I told them I wanted the details and only then they let me see the official. RFA: What did the official tell you? How did he explain it to you? Khin Win May: I asked him if it was true my son had been executed and he said yes. In fact, the family was allowed to see him on Friday and I was so happy to see him hoping the path is clear (for the future). It was the first time (since the arrest). I told the official that I really welcomed the meeting, that I was so happy to see him bright and cheerful and healthy, and that I had no idea that day the execution would take place. And the Insein Prison authorities read out to me the prison procedures. When Ko Jimmy and my son were first sent to prison, they submitted appeals to the State Administration Council. They sent the appeals twice and were rejected both times. And now the authorities were reading out all the prison procedures. So I asked him if the death sentence were to be carried out when he said things would be done according to prison procedures. And he said he couldn’t say that exactly. But he said he would let us know in accordance with the rules of the prison which day or when it were to be carried out. If I only knew it that day, I’d understand that would be the last time we saw each other. My son didn’t know that it was our last meeting either. He even asked me to bring some personal things on my next visit….

Execution of democracy icons shows Myanmar junta is desperate to exert control

Editor2 years ago2 years ago011 mins

Why would Myanmar’s junta risk fueling more anger at home and outrage abroad through its execution on Monday of four activists, including two icons of the democracy movement? The answer might be found in its failing fortunes on the battlefield amid a deepening civil war. Myanmar state media announced Monday the execution of Ko Jimmy, a veteran activist since the 1988 uprising against military rule, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a popular rap artist turned politician. Two other lesser-known activists were also put to death. The four had been arrested for their anti-junta activism and violating the counter-terrorism law. In January, the four were accused of helping carry out “terror acts” and sentenced to death, despite the fact that Myanmar had not carried out a judicial execution in over 30 years. Many had thought that that the death sentences were a ploy. The junta, it was assumed, would not risk the diplomatic backlash and popular protest that are likely to ensue. This was a card to be played diplomatically at the right time in a bid to gain international legitimacy – possibly by commuting the death sentences to win credit. Besides, if the junta has had any success since its February 2021 coup, it’s been on the diplomatic front. Why would it jeopardize the fact that no government has cut off ties? Considering that some 50 people that had died in military custody since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the military had ample time and opportunity to kill the four. So why now? There can only be one answer. In the past, the Myanmar military, led by Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, has been able to do what it wants because the population has been terrified of them. Credit: AFP The junta is losing on the battlefield. And thus they need to show that they are in total control. They have to show that they are not afraid of international or domestic repercussions from this act; that they are strong enough to withstand that pressure. Myanmar’s military is spread dangerously thin. They are fighting a multifront war across the country. They are fighting well-trained and well-armed ethnic resistance organizations (EROs) such as the Kachin Independence Army and the Karen National Liberation Army, both of whom are allied with the opposition National Unity Government (NUG). The NUG itself has some 275 People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) spread throughout the country. Though they have limited resources and armaments, they have succeeded in capturing vast quantities of weaponry, and are now starting to manufacture their own armaments and ammunition. The NUG and affiliated EROs now claim to control roughly 50% of the country. And things might get a lot worse for the military, which is on the verge of renewing hostilities against the Arakan Army, with which it has had a tenuous ceasefire since November 2020 after two years of bitter fighting in western Rakhine State. The AA has not joined the NUG, but has used the time since the coup to enhance its political and economic autonomy. For many in the military, this has gone too far and the AA needs to be put in its place. But over 3,000 members of the army have defected to the NUG, despite the multitude of coercive instruments that it wields to deter them. The number of desertions is unknown. The military is estimated to have taken around 15% casualties, and recruitment is proving to be a challenge. Even the elite Defense Service Academy, once considered the most prestigious school in the country and avenue for upward social mobility, cannot fill their seats. The military has stepped up forced conscription and is using collective punishment to target family members of people who have joined the PDFs. At the same time, the military‘s budget is severely constrained due to their economic mismanagement. The Myanmar currency, the kyat, has plunged, prompting junta authorities to impose more currency controls. There is a net loss of foreign investment, with little new coming in, except from China. Exports are down dramatically. The banking system is teetering. The World Bank just announced that an estimated 40% of the population is now living under the poverty line. Street vendors wait for customers March 3, 2022, during one of the frequent power outages in Yangon, Myanmar. Economic mismanagement has hamstrung the military’s budget. Credit: AFP So what will be the impact of the executions? Since the coup, citizens across the country have protested military rule on a daily basis – resorting to wildcat demonstrations after the bloody crackdown on mass protests that initially greeted the coup. And now, notwithstanding the risk of deadly force, there is another compelling reason to protest the dictatorship. Historically, the military has been able to act with total impunity because the population has been terrified of them. They get away with things because, since 1962, they’ve been able to cow the population into submission. The problem for them is that for the first time, the population of Myanmar refuses to be intimidated. After a taste of democracy and after enjoying a period of media freedom, diplomatic openness, engagement with the international world, and an open internet, the population refuses to accept the military’s usurpation of power. In the international realm, the executions may galvanize stronger diplomatic action by foreign governments. It could move the needle and get some European states and Australia to take a tougher stance against the junta. Japan and South Korea, however, are unlikely to change course, though even Tokyo condemned the executions. Meanwhile the NUG, which is seeking formal diplomatic recognition, is sure to use the executions to further delegitimize the military regime and bolster its own international standing. So for a military that is losing on the battlefield and that has no legitimacy, and is desperate to prove that it is in charge, the executions were ultimately an act of weakness and desperation. The junta executed four men without knowing what their action may unleash in the coming months. …

INTERVIEW: Lin Zhao: a short-tempered martyr who idolized then rejected Mao Zedong

Editor2 years ago014 mins

Mao-era Chinese dissident Lin Zhao, whose birth name was Peng Lingzhao, was a writer and journalist who grew up near Nanjing, in the eastern province of Jiangsu. Initially a star student at the prestigious Peking University, Lin was branded a “rightist” and a “class enemy” in the 1950s for her criticism of then-supreme leader Mao Zedong’s Anti-Rightist Movement targeting intellectuals. She was executed by firing squad at Shanghai’s Longhua Airport in 1968 at the age of 36, and her family was ordered to pay five cents for the bullet that killed her. Her biographer Lian Xi, author of Blood Letters: The Untold Story of Lin Zhao, a Martyr in Mao’s China, spoke to RFA about her importance as a recent historical figure: RFA: Why was Lin such an important figure? Lian Xi: Lin Zhao really was an extraordinary person. We know that there were many, many victims of the Cultural Revolution, but there were no real political dissidents like Lin Zhao. There were some big-name intellectuals within [the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)] … peoplel like Deng Tuo and Wu Han in the early 1960s before the Cultural Revolution started … who tried to persuade Mao to give up authoritarian rule. There were also some political heretics outside the CCP during the Cultural Revolution, like Yu Luoke and Zhang Zhixin, but they never totally broke away from the ideology of the CCP. The only one who openly rejected CCP ideology as enslavement and tyranny was Lin Zhao. RFA: What impact did Lin Zhao’s parents’ political views have on her world view? Lian Xi: Lin Zhao herself said that some of her so-called progressive political thoughts came from her mother’s influence. Her father was different. He never put his patriotic enthusiasm into action on the streets. He hoped to help China move towards modernity by introducing Western democratic institutions. But I think the most profound influence on her political ideals came around the time she was applying to go to the Jinghai teacher training college as a high-schooler. RFA: We know that Lin Zhao broke with her father, dropping his surname Peng and saying that Mao Zedong was her father. What role did her personality play in her story? Lian Xi: I think personality played a very big part. She was a very emotional person, but also a person who was prone to irritability. She also saw herself as inseparable from her ideals. When she was in secondary school, she was influenced by radical ideological trends within the CCP, and became determined to use her blood and her life to build a society free from social injustice, persecution and oppression. RFA: In 1954, Lin won a place at Peking University with the top score out of the whole of Jiangsu province. She once aspired to be the best reporter in the Mao Zedong era. When do you think she started having doubts about Mao and about communism? Lian Xi: As you just said, Lin Zhao once called Mao her father. This kind of complex, this very deep feeling for Mao, was actually very real at the time, and it wasn’t only Lin [who did that]. Lin had a classmate at Peking University called Shen Zeyi, and he was a poet. He used to say that many of their classmates had so much admiration for Mao that they all referred to him as father. Her ideas took a long time to change. She hadn’t given up her belief in Mao or the CCP by the early 1950s, when she was repeatedly suppressed during the land reform movement. It was only when she was labeled a rightist in 1957 that she started to break with the CCP and with communist ideas. RFA: And she was tortured due to that uncompromising attitude, wasn’t she? Lian Xi: The earliest torture mostly took place in the No. 1 Detention Center in Shanghai. Lin Zhao called the No. 1 Detention Center a hell-hole. Because she pleaded not guilty … the prison guards tortured her to force a confession. They handcuffed her hands behind her back, not with one pair of handcuffs, but two: one pair on her upper arm and the other on her lower arm … At one point she wore handcuffs for six months because she was determined not to give in [and ‘confess’]. During that time, she was also piercing her fingers and writing poems in her own blood, all of which were addressed to Mao Zedong. RFA: How much did she write in this way? Lian Xi: There are about 200,000 words that we know about, which is quite a number. Because she was a reporter, she described prison life in great detail, one of which was how she managed to write in blood. In her “Letter to the Editorial Department of People’s Daily” … she says that this letter isn’t being written in blood but in pen and ink, but it’s sealed with the character Zhao in her own blood. When I went to the Hoover Institution to look at Lin Zhao’s original documents, you could see that her private seal was stamped on each page. Also, the official indictment says that Lin Zhao pierced her own flesh hundreds of thousands of times to write hundreds of thousands of words of extremely reactionary content in her own blood. RFA: Have you seen any of this writing with your own eyes? Lian Xi: They’re not around any more. But I interviewed the judge who retried Lin Zhao’s case, and specifically … asked him if had seen her writings in blood, and he said he had seen them. Then I asked him why he didn’t give her writings back to her family, and he said it would have been too harrowing for them. The other [witness] was Chen Weisi, the first reporter to write about Lin, and he saw some of her blood writings too at the time. RFA: I know that Hu Jie, who directed the documentary “Looking for Lin Zhao’s soul,”…

Taiwan’s aircraft and warships stage five-day live-fire exercise

Editor2 years ago05 mins

The Taiwanese military kicked off a five-day annual live-fire exercise on Monday aimed at bolstering the island’s defense capabilities and combat readiness at a time when China and Taiwan’s allies have been facing off in the airspace and seas around the island. The Han Kuang drills will be taking place at a number of locations in Taiwan, with President Tsai Ing-wen observing a large-scale naval exercise from a warship off Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan on Tuesday, according to the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense. More than 20 military aircraft and warships will be taking part in the Yilan exercise, including some of Taiwan’s indigenous fighters and frigates. The two Chien Lung class submarines, manufactured in the Netherlands for Taiwan, will also be deployed. Taiwan is developing its own submarines with 2025 earmarked for the first one to enter service. ‘Inconvenient but necessary’ During the first day, Taiwanese fighter jets were dispatched to counter a simulated enemy air attack while local anti-air artillery units watched over the airspace. Military transport aircraft also evacuated fighter jet spare parts away from the combat zone as the focus was on “testing the military’s preservation and maintenance of combat capabilities.” The defense ministry said in a press release that during the week mobile military radar vehicles and warships will be deployed and forces on Taiwan’s outlying islands will also perform a variety of exercises including counter attacks to beach landings. Han Kuang, now in its 38th year, is Taiwan’s largest war games exercise involving all military branches and designed to test the army’s combat readiness in the event of a Chinese invasion. This year’s drills will also test the population’s preparedness and contribution, the military said. Most Taiwanese consider the island an independent, democratically-run country but Beijing calls it a province of China and has repeatedly vowed to reunite with the mainland, with force if needed. In recent months, Chinese aircraft have been crossing into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) almost daily and Chinese warships have patrolled the waters near Taiwan. An aircraft takes off during Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang drills. CREDIT: Taiwan Ministry of National Defense The Taiwanese people have been training to deal with imminent threats of war. A four-day air raid exercise simulating Chinese air attacks began on Monday with air raid sirens going off in the capital, Taipei and some other locations in northern Taiwan. It will move to central and southern parts of the island during the week. The 45th Wan An drill aims at boosting citizens’ awareness and preparedness. For half an hour, residents are required to evacuate stress and remain indoors to allow for an emergency response. MRT (mass rapid transport) underground stations are open but passengers will have to stay inside until the end of the drill. Suzy Tsang, an office worker who got stuck in the Taipei metro during the exercise, said she and her friends take part in the event every year. “It is quite inconvenient because you can’t move for 30 minutes but I think it is necessary,” she said. “Who knows when we will need it for real,” Tsang added.

Cao Dai follower detained for hours after returning from U.S. religious summit

Editor2 years ago07 mins

The follower of a Vietnamese religious group which has as many as two million believers faced more than six hours of interrogation on returning to the country from a conference in the U.S. 1926 Pure Cao Dai member Nguyen Xuan Mai went to Washington, D.C. to attend the 2022 International Religious Freedom Summit which took place from June 28 to 30. She also met with many international organizations to call for religious freedom in Vietnam. On her return to Ho Chi Minh City’s international airport on Friday evening she was asked by airport security to talk with nine officials, Mai told RFA on Saturday morning. “I was there from 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. the next day,” she said. “They [airport security] invited me to follow them over some issue, so I followed. There were nine people working, including one policeman from Vinh Long province and two policemen from Hanoi, one named Tran Dai.” The officers took her phone and checked her messages, printed all her emails and forced her to sign a letter of confirmation, Mai said. “My emails were already deleted, but they were still in the trash,” Mai said. “They took 90 of my documents and then printed them out asking me to sign to confirm that those people sent me emails. There was nothing wrong with my emails, just material for classes on human rights, and international and Vietnamese religious law. I honestly told them that, so it would be quick and wouldn’t create any difficulties for me.” “They said we should work together to see if I was sincere or hiding anything. I said I wasn’t denying anything. In general, I did not do anything to break the law.” Two riot police cars were parked outside the international terminal’s exit according to Mai’s daughter Nguyen Mai Tram. She said nearly a dozen people in plain clothes filmed and took pictures of a group of Cao Dai followers who had come to welcome Mai. “There were two riot police cars parked outside. A policeman walked around behind me filming and taking pictures of me, but he didn’t ask anything,” she said. Fellow Cao Dai member Tran Ngoc Suong said he and many fellow believers had to avoid police guards at their homes to get to the airport. Suong said while he was at the airport, a police officer in Tien Giang province named Manh, who didn’t give his family name, called a member of the delegation to “advise” everyone to go home because Mai was being held for interrogation and he was not sure when she would be released: “He said he saw me sitting to greet Xuan Mai, and advised me to go home because Mrs. Xuan Mai would be detained and could not return,” Suong said. The 1926 Pure Cao Dai group says the name of the religion is based on the year of its founding and it is an original religion, not under the direction of the State, and not part of the Cao Dai state-affiliated religious sect established by the Vietnamese government in 1997. Followers of 1926 Pure Cao Dai in Tien Giang province say they have frequently been harassed for many years by a policeman named Manh. He forced them to give up their religion to join a religious sect established by the government, Suong said. During her visit to Washington Mai met with some U.S. religious officials to raise the status of Pure Cao Dai followers who had been beaten and suffered years of repression. She met U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain and Katrina Lantos-Swett, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit Steering Committee. Former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback wrote on Twitter: “It is very worrying about the news that Ms. Mai disappeared after returning to Vietnam. She was released by the police after six hours of questioning. Thankfully she is on her way home but this is a completely unwarranted form of harassment by the government.”

Prominent democracy activist among four prisoners executed by Myanmar junta

Editor2 years ago07 mins

Myanmar’s junta has executed veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy, state media reported. New Light of Myanmar announced the executions of Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy lawmaker Phyo Zeyar Thaw and two others without reporting the date and method of killings, although it is believed the men were all hanged. The New Light of Myanmar said “the punishment has been carried out under the prison’s procedures,” without elaborating. Former student leader Ko Jimmy, whose real name is Kyaw Min Yu, was convicted on terrorism charges for activities against the military regime that has ruled the country since a coup last year, according to state media. The first judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988 came despite a direct appeal on June 11 by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to junta leader Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. Hun Sen acted in his role as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member. Myanmar political prisoner Kyaw Min Yu (C), known as Jimmy, and his wife Ni Lar Thein (L) holding her child, both members of the 88 Generation student group, celebrate upon their arrival at Yangon international airport following their release from detention on January 13, 2012. Myanmar pardoned prominent dissidents, journalists and a former premier on January 13 under a major prisoner amnesty, intensifying a surprising series of reforms by the army-backed regime. AFP PHOTO/Soe Than WIN Soe Than WIN / AFP Koh Jimmy was a prominent leader of the pro-democracy 88 Generations Students Group who fought military rule three decades ago. The 53-year-old activist was arrested in October after spending eight months in hiding and was convicted by a military tribunal in January under the Counter-Terrorism Law. He was accused of contacting the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, National Unity Government (NUG), and People’s Defense Force (PDF), an opposition coalition and militia network formed by politicians ousted in the Feb. 1 coup that the junta has declared terrorist organizations. In September, the NUG declared a nationwide state of emergency and called for open rebellion against junta rule, prompting an escalation of attacks on military targets by various allied pro-democracy militias and ethnic armed groups. Ko Jimmy, an outspoken critic of the junta, was also accused of advising local militia groups in Yangon and ordering PDF groups to attack police, military targets, and government offices, and asking the NUG to buy a 3D printer to produce weapons for local PDFs. On June 3, Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy lawmaker Phyo Zeyar Thaw, and two others lost appeals of their death sentences. The junta rejected the possibility of a pardon for the condemned men. Phyo Zeya Thaw, a lawmaker of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy, arrives at the Myanmar parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Aug. 19, 2015. A Myanmar military spokesperson announced on June 3, 2022, that Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old former lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and Kyaw Min Yu, a veteran pro-democracy activist better known as Ko Jimmy, would be executed for violating the country’s counterterrorism law.(AP Photo) The four death sentences, as well 111 others that have been handed down by junta courts between the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, and May 19 this year, have drawn criticism from legal experts and rights groups, who say the regime is threatening the public with unfair executions. The United Nations, Washington, Ottawa, and Paris have issued statements strongly condemning the decisions in the cases now proceeding to execution. Hun Sen on June 10 wrote a letter to Min Aung Hlaing, urging him to “reconsider the sentences and refrain from carrying out the death sentences.” He said the executions “would trigger a very strong and widespread negative reaction from the international community” and hurt efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar. In an interview with RFA Burmese last month, Ko Jimmy’s wife Nilar Thein called the planned executions “a blatant violation of human rights” for which the junta would be held accountable. “Regardless of what they will do, I want them to know they will be accountable for their decisions. Their acts will not be forgotten,” said Nilar Thein. Responding to Monday’s announcement, activist group Justice for Myanmar Tweeted: “The shocking executions of Phyo Zeya Thaw, Ko Jimmy, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw are #CrimesAgainstHumanity and #WarCrimes. All perpetrators from Min Aung Hlaing down must be held accountable for these brazen acts of cruelty. #EndImpunity.” Written By Paul Eckert.

Border closures, conflict threaten ‘shipadi’ fungus trade in remote northern Myanmar

Editor2 years ago08 mins

Pandemic-related border closures and travel restrictions under military rule are taking their toll on the trade of “shipadis,” a rare fungus prized in China for its alleged healing properties, according to the ethnic Rawan who hunt it in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state. The shipadi is a species of parasitic Cordyceps fungi whose spores infect caterpillars, causing them to crawl upwards before killing them. After the caterpillar dies, the fruit of the fungus grows out of its head in a bid to further spread its spores. While shipadi grow mainly in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, where they are known as “yartsa gunbu,” the Myanmar variant is found only on the ground, trees, and glaciers of northern Kachin state’s remote Puta-O region, near Myanmar’s borders with India and China. The ethnic Rawan who inhabit the region hunt for the fungus they call “Poe Say Nwe Pin” in May and June each year, when the weather warms and the ice has thawed. The highly-coveted golden-colored shipadi is mostly found on the glaciers of Phonrin Razi, Phangram Razi, and Madwe, and can appear as infrequently as once every four years. Aung Than, a local trader, told RFA Burmese that prior to the pandemic, merchants exported the majority of their shipadi to China, where they could expect healthy profits due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment for kidney disease. However, China closed its borders soon after the coronavirus began to spread globally in early 2020, forcing shipadi traders to find a new market for their product. “In the past, when border crossing was easy, they bought shipadi from us,” he said. “But we cannot go there anymore and they can’t come to us either. It’s been more than two years now since I lost the market in China.” Aung Than said that since the pandemic, domestic demand had grown for shipadi, but traders could no longer expect to earn the profits they once had. A shipadi pokes out of the ground in Puta-O township. Credit: RFA Danger from conflict Other Rawan shipadi traders in Kachin state told RFA that the market had been further impacted by fighting between junta troops and ethnic Kachin rebels since the military seized control of Myanmar in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021. Daw Hla, the owner of an herbal store in Puta-O, said she regularly sold to customers from Myanmar’s big cities, including Yangon and Mandalay, prior to the coup. But an increase in clashes between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the military since the takeover had made it more dangerous to hunt shipadi and ship it out of the region, she said. “I used to send them to Yangon, Naypyidaw and other cities, as well as all over Kachin state. I’d send them as soon as I got the orders,” she said. “The transportation was OK and sales were good in the past. But this year, I don’t have much [shipadi] to sell. There’s little product to be had this year – it’s getting very rare.” Sources told RFA that the KIA had recently seized a military camp in Puta-O’s Tsum Pi Yang village, and that fighting along the main road from Puta-O to the Kachin state capital Myitkyina had become particularly fierce since the anniversary of the coup, making it extremely dangerous to travel in the area. A collection of shibadi gathered in Puta-O township. Credit: RFA A risky journey Residents of Puta-O township form groups of five or six each year to climb the mountains and search for shipadi, and can spend months away from home during the hunt. One resident named Lan Wan Ransan told RFA that hunting shipadi has always been risky, particularly during the rainy season when flash floods are common. Other times, he said, the snow and ice may not have thawed enough, making the trek into the mountains deadly and the search for shipadi nearly impossible. “There are many difficulties along the way,” he said. Normally, a single shipadi could fetch 2,000-3,000 kyats (U.S. $1-1.50), Lan Wan Ransan said, but the price has doubled this year, due to the added danger of the conflict. Most hunters will only find around 50 shipadis this year, he added, calling it a significant decrease from years past. In addition to shipadi, the Rawan also gather herbs in the mountains of Puta-O that are rarely found elsewhere, including the roots of the Khamtauk, Machit, Taushau, and Kyauk Letwar plants, as well as ice ginseng. However, none are as highly-prized as the caterpillar fungus from the glaciers of northern Kachin state, they say. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Four years after Laos’ worst dam catastrophe, survivors still live in limbo

Editor2 years ago016 mins

Four years after a dam collapse that caused Laos’ worst flooding in decades, survivors who lost everything say they are tired of waiting for the government to provide them with new homes and arable land. On the night of July 23, 2018, billions of cubic feet of water from a tributary of the Mekong River poured over the collapsed saddle dam D at the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy (PNPC) hydropower project in southern Laos. The surging water that started in Champassak province, sweeping away homes and flooding villages downstream in Attapeu province, killed 71 people and displaced 14,440 when it wiped out all or part of 19 villages. Many of the survivors lost their homes to the rising waters and were put in metal huts in relocation villages that were intended to be temporary. Four years on, a government that is still planning and building hydropower dams at a breakneck pace–even as it struggles with crippling debt, a sinking currency and fuel shortages–has failed to deliver on pledges to house the displaced. “It’s already been four years since the dam collapsed. Things have improved a little bit, but we aren’t receiving rice and cash allowances anymore. We do everything to earn money to buy rice and other necessities, but we’re still struggling,” one survivor told RFA Lao. Each family in his area were compensated with between one and two hectares (2.5-5 acres) of farmland, the source, from Attapeu’s Sanamxay district added. UN experts Friday called on the Lao government to rectify the situation. “It is shameful that four years since homes and livelihoods were washed away, many survivors continue to live in unsanitary temporary shelters, without access to basic services, and are still awaiting the compensation promised to them,” said the 10 experts, comprised of six special rapporteurs and a four-member working group. “While four years have been sufficient to rebuild the dam, survivors have been left unable to rebuild their lives during all this time,” the experts said. “Not only are many still living in entirely unsuitable temporary accommodation, the compensation promised by the Lao Government and the relevant companies is being delayed, reduced or simply not provided at all, leaving the survivors with no prospect for durable solutions,” they said. They said it was disturbing that the survivors and human rights defenders might face retaliation for bringing attention to their issues, which happened in 2019, and they noted that two other dams in the area show similar signs of impending failure as saddle dam D prior to its collapse in 2018. “Action must be taken now to ensure that these massive hydroelectric development programmes do not cause greater harm than they do good,” the experts said. Sanamxay district promised it would build 700 homes for the survivors there by the end of 2020, but to date, less than half of them have been completed. “Many of the survivors who still live in metal shelters have built huts as additional living space on their plots of land, because the metal shelters are too small and hot. They live in those huts as they grow vegetables and cassava,” said the survivor, who like all unnamed sources in this report, requested anonymity for safety reasons. “After four years, we’re still struggling to make ends meet,” a second survivor said. “We’re starting new lives. More than half are still waiting. “Nobody is working on our new homes right now because this time of the year is rice planting season. Almost all the workers have gone home to help on the farm. They also complain about being paid late and receiving less than they expected,” said the second survivor. The deadline for finishing the homes has been continually extended since the May 2020 agreement between Attapeu’s Public Works and Transport Department and the Vanseng Attapeu Construction Company. Vanseng was to receive $25 million from the PNPC to complete 700 homes by the end of 2020. But only the skeletons of 200 homes had been built by then, and the deadline slipped to 2021. An Attapeu province official told RFA at the time that there were not enough carpenters and masons to meet the original schedule. Vanseng at that time promised to have 496 of the homes finished by the Lao New Year in April, and all 700 by the end of 2021. But by February Vanseng said only 440 would be done by April and that it would miss the anticipated completion date because not enough land had been cleared. At an official ceremony prior to the Lao New Year, only 153 completed homes were presented to survivors. The COVID-19 pandemic created new labor and materials shortages. Officials now anticipate the homes might be ready by the end of 2023 but possibly not until 2025, seven years after the disaster. As of April, only 322 of the promised 700 homes were complete, Souansavanh Viyakheth, minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, announced after visiting the survivors. A third Sanamxay district survivor told RFA that families are angry about the delays. “Most of us are not happy with the way the so-called ‘Reconstruction Programs’ work. Four years have passed and more than half of us are still homeless,” the third survivor said. “Living in shelters, we often run out of water in the dry season. We have received the first compensation payments for lost vehicles like cars and motorcycles but nothing yet for our other property like homes, cash, gold and jewelry. We gave all the information about these losses to the authorities a long time ago,” the third survivor said. Houses being built for survivors of the 2018 Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy dam disaster are shown in a photo taken in early 2020. Photo: Citizen Journalist. Families still waiting for homes also have to deal with inferior education facilities for their children, a fourth survivor of the flood said. “One school for 500 children? It’s too crowded. Many of these kids who graduate from primary school don’t continue on to secondary school because [that school]…

Category: World