A Cambodian court on Monday sentenced nine activists, including a lawmaker from the outlawed main opposition party, to prison terms ranging from 12 to 20 months on incitement charges for issuing pro-democracy petitions last year, the daughter of one of the defendants said.
Police arrested the seven opposition activists in October and December 2020 on incitement charges for staging a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in the capital Phnom Penh last Oct. 23, the 29th anniversary of the singing of the Paris Peace Agreement, marking the official end of the Cambodian-Vietnamese War.
During the demonstration, they tried to submit petitions to the embassies of China, France, and the United States, saying that Cambodia had violated the democratic principles set forth in the Paris Peace Agreement.
Shortly after the arrests, Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly accused lawmaker Ho Van, an opposition official now living in California, of instigating the protests.
Shortly before the verdict was announced at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, one of the detained activists, Lim San, complained about the violation of detainees’ rights, lack of treatment for ill prisoners, and verbal abuse by guards in Prey Sar Prison where she is serving pre-trial detention, said her daughter Phan Sat.
The judge ignored her comments and read the verdicts for former Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmaker Ho Vann and activist San Seihak, who is now living exile in Thailand, to 20 months in prison for instigating incitement to cause serious social unrest, Phan Sat said.
Four activists — Hong An, Lim San, Yoy Sreymom, and Ton Nimol — were each sentenced to 18 months in jail for incitement to commit serious social unrest, she said. The three other activists — Pai Ren, Sann Srey Neat, and Sat Pha, were sentenced to 12 months in prison on the same charges.
The judge told the seven activists, who were fined two million riel (U.S. $483) each, that they could file appeals if they were dissatisfied with the verdict.
Phan Sat, who attended the trial, said that the judge’s ruling was unfair. She maintains that her mother was acting legally during the protest and demanded that the court drop the charges and release all the activists.
“I want [her] to appeal because I do not agree with the verdict,” she said. “My mother is innocent. She had done nothing wrong.”
RFA could not reach defense lawyer Sam Sokong for comment.
He previously said that his clients’ protests are a guaranteed form of freedom of expression under Cambodia’s constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The multinational treaty states that everyone has the rights to hold opinions without interference and to freedom of expression.
Civil society groups say that those who participated in the peaceful protest in front of the Chinese embassy were expressing their opinion.
Heng Kimhong, head of the research and advocacy program of the Cambodian Youth Network (CYN), urged the court to reconsider the convictions and sentences and said that unjust detentions would seriously affect human rights.
“Perhaps because they [the defendants] understood that since China was an important signatory to the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement that upheld human rights, democracy, and freedom of expression, they had gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy to demand that [China recognize Hun Sen’s violations of the pact],” he said. “Their protests and demands are not a crime.”
Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017, two months after the arrest of its leader Kem Sokha for his role in an alleged scheme to topple Hun Sen’s government. The ban, along with a wider crackdown on NGOs and the independent media, paved the way for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win the country’s 2018 general elections.
Former CNRP lawmakers, political opposition activists, their relatives, and their supporters still face backlashes. Since early 2020, more than 80 political, environmental, and social activists, including a popular rapper, have been imprisoned on incitement charges as Hun Sen’s government seeks to silence its critics.
Written by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Myanmar’s junta on Monday released jailed political activists and government employees who took part in anti-coup protests, a day after announcing that it would extend its hold on power, in what observers say was a move meant to appease international critics of its rule.
Monday’s amnesty comes a day after military chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing declared himself prime minister in a newly formed “caretaker government” that will rule through 2023. He said he would release all political detainees who had not played a leading role in anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
Political analysts said the use of the term “caretaker” is an attempt by the junta that overthrew Myanmar’s elected government to get recognition as a civilian government at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Among those released Monday were prominent critics of the junta, including the abbot of Myawaddy Mingyi Monastery, Ven. Ariyabiwuntha; Dr. Pyae Pyo Naing, from the Mezaligone Sub-district Hospital of Ayeyarwady region’s Ingapu township; and Dr. Than Min Htut, the Chief of the Pathein District Hospital in Ayeyarwady.
The junta’s Ministry of Home Affairs said 27 state employees who were imprisoned for joining the CDM would be released in Ayeyarwady region on Monday, while an official from the Yangon Region Prisons Department said that around 20 prisoners would be freed. The names and exact number of those permitted to leave detention were not provided.
Ven. Ariyabiwuntha, who was arrested on the day of the military’s coup d’état for criticizing its interference in Myanmar’s political system, was released from Mandalay’s Oboe Prison, his lawyer Zey Lin Maung told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“He was arrested on Feb. 1 and disrobed that very day. The following day, he was charged under Section 500 of the Penal Code for ‘defamation of the military’ and taken to court for a trial that lasted the next several months,” he said.
“Finally, on June 15, he was found guilty … and sentenced to six months in prison with labor. It seems he was freed because he had completed his term [on Aug. 2].”
Dr. Pyae Pyo Naing, who was arrested on Feb. 11, had been charged under Section 188 of the Penal Code, which prohibits civil servants from refusing to follow orders, and Section 25 of the Disaster Management Law, his lawyer, Hla Tin, told RFA.
Hla Tin said it was not immediately clear why Dr. Pyae Phyo Naing’s case was closed or why he was released from Hinthada Prison, where he had been held for the past six months.
“[The guards] said his brother came to pick him up. As far as I know, he was arrested for joining the CDM,” he added, referring to the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement against junta rule.
Dr. Than Min Htut, who was arrested on March 12 and charged under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code for “state defamation,” was released from Pathein Prison Monday morning, according to a statement on his social media page.
‘Nothing surprising about this’
In a state television statement and a speech by Min Aung Hlaing in civilian attire, the military regime on Sunday extended army control over the country of 54 million people to two-and-a-half years, more than double the one-year emergency the junta announced days after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1.
Sunday’s announcement came exactly six months after the army seized power, alleging that Aung San Suu Kyi’s landslide re-election victory in the country’s November 2020 election was the result of extensive voter fraud.
The junta, which has yet to produce evidence of its claims, has violently responded to widespread protests, killing 945 people and arresting 5,474, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
On July 26, the junta annulled the results of the 2020 election, drawing condemnation from political parties who condemned the move as illegal and said they will not honor it.
An official from the AAPP told RFA on condition of anonymity that Monday’s amnesty was simply a bid by the military to dampen international criticism of its rule.
“This is their usual practice,” he said. “There is nothing surprising about this, nor is there any reason to be thankful. These people shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place and they shouldn’t have been in prison at all.”
The official suggested additional amnesties will occur as pressure continues to build on the regime.
Monday’s release comes nearly five weeks after the junta freed 2,296 inmates from various prisons across the country in a move that was greeted with skepticism by critics who called it a stunt to gain international recognition.
Despite the two amnesties, the AAPP estimates that more than 5,400 people remain in custody on politically motivated charges—including deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, the chief ministers of various regions and prominent political activists, as well as CDM employees and other civilians.
Dr. Than Min Htut (L) and Ven. Ariyabiwuntha (R) in undated photos. Citizen journalist
Bid to prolong power
On Monday, political analysts mostly dismissed Min Aung Hlaing’s announcement that he was reorganizing the junta’s management committee into a caretaker government with himself as prime minister, calling it part of a bid to prolong his grasp on power.
Kyaw Thiha, an NLD candidate who won a seat in parliament in the 2020 elections, results of which the junta annulled last week, said Min Aung Hlaing had planned to rule Myanmar ever since he became commander in chief of the country’s defense forces and that the move was made to secure his role at the top.
“He wanted to be No. 1, no matter how deep in poverty it put the country or how many people died as a result. He cannot think of anything else,” he told RFA.
Dr. Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a human rights researcher, said Min Aung Hlaing had formed a caretaker government with himself in the role of a “caretaker prime minister” in civilian clothes “to gain international recognition more easily.”
“It isn’t as easy for him as a military leader,” he said.
Despite the transformation, some observers predicted that the junta will not easily survive without popular support, noting the brutality it has demonstrated during the past six months.
Thar Tun Hla, chairman of the Rakhine National Party (RNP), said he fears such a lack of support could lead Min Aung Hlaing to extend his control of the country again before the two years of state emergency are up.
“We are worried he might come up with additional delays in the long term,” he said.
Defending the junta, Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the military-aligned Thayninga Strategic Studies Institute, told RFA the junta had been transformed to “govern more effectively.”
“Its legitimacy will follow automatically after it has taken control of the country and made progress,” he said.
Third wave worsens
Amid the political machinations, the coronavirus continues to set records in Myanmar, where the healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed third wave of outbreaks.
The country’s public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and have been turning away all but the most seriously ill, while others were forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia.
The number of COVID-19 infections rose Monday to a total of 306,354 with at least 10,061 deaths, according to the junta’s Ministry of Health and Sports, although the actual number is believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by charity groups that provide free burial services.
More than 60 percent of reported deaths have occurred in the past month alone, with the number of confirmed cases doubling in the last two months.
On Monday, 16 international aid agencies warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in Myanmar, citing soaring rates of infections in communities in Kayah state and the eastern Bago region, which have witnessed mass displacement in recent months due to fighting between the military and People’s Defense Force (PDF) militias formed to protect the public in the wake of the coup.
Healthcare facilities remain shuttered throughout the country as healthcare workers who have joined the CDM face violence and threats, while more than 400 doctors and 180 nurses have been given arrest warrants since the takeover, the agencies said in a joint statement.
Meanwhile, lockdown measures, travel restrictions, bureaucratic impediments and insecurity are hampering humanitarian service delivery, they said, adding that cases of food insecurity and indebtedness are expected to climb significantly in the coming months, due to rising food prices, job losses and currency depreciation.
“As aid agencies operating in Myanmar, we call on political leaders to do everything possible to assist the people of Myanmar in their hour of need,” the statement said.
“Their actions should include the immediate … scale up [of] aid and vaccination for all across Myanmar,” the groups said, adding that the military must end its attacks on healthcare workers and provide urgent access to assistance for those who require it.
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
The coronavirus pandemic in Vietnam is now out of control in many parts of the country due to a fourth wave of infections from the Delta variant, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said Monday as the government moved to raise the lowest vaccination rate in Southeast Asia.
Nguyen, a medical doctor and one of the chief strategists of Vietnam’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, told a videoconference in Hanoi that authorities in many places did not prepare well for the pandemic, making the situation worse than anticipated.
On Monday, Vietnam recorded 157,507 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 3,201 new ones, and 1,306 total deaths since the pandemic began, according to figures from the Health Ministry.
Ho Chi Minh City, the latest hotspot for the virus, has had the most confirmed infections with almost 100,000 cases and nearly 1,200 related deaths since the fourth surge began on April 27, with lockdown measures affecting garment manufacturers that rely on exports.
The Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, an extremely infectious strain of COVID-19 that is spreading more quickly than previous strains, was first detected in Vietnam in late April, triggering the fourth wave.
Over the weekend, the Vietnamese government extend the lockdown period in 19 southern provinces, including Ho Chi Minh City, by two weeks until mid-August.
Vietnam has received about 18.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and has administered about 6.5 million of them to its population of about 99 million, according to the Health Ministry. About 659,000 people have been fully vaccinated — the lowest vaccination rate in all of Southeast Asia.
The government wants to vaccinate more than 70 percent of the population by the end of the year.
The U.S. government delivered two million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam on July 9 under the World Health Organization’s COVAX vaccine-sharing program, and another 3 million doses on July 25 to boost Vietnam’s vaccination efforts amid the fourth wave of infections.
The U.S.-based Viet Tan opposition party, banned in Vietnam, urged the government to better address the health crisis and economic hardship caused by COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and social-distancing measures by obtaining enough COVID-19 vaccines and undertaking “an equitable vaccination campaign based on science,” reducing electricity and gas prices, and distributing financial support packages to the poor.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam growing increasingly serious, the Vietnamese government continues to ignore the mistakes they have made without making appropriate adjustments,” the group said a statement issued Aug. 1.
“The government does not have significant support for people and businesses affected by the pandemic,” it said.
Lao SEZ locked down
Neighboring Laos reported a total 6,765 confirmed virus cases as of Monday, including 199 new ones, and seven total related deaths since the pandemic began, according to Heath Ministry figures.
“We tested 2,298 samples and found that 199 of them were infected with COVID-19 and 193 of them were imported,” Dr. Sisavath Southanilaxay, deputy director general of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Health Ministry, told news conference in Vientiane on Monday.
Lao migrant workers returning from Thailand, which also is experiencing a surge in virus cases, are bringing back COVID-19 with them as the number of infected returnees has been on the rise over the past three days.
About 100,000 workers have returned from Thailand so far this year, while about 150,000 returned in 2020 amid the pandemic, according to government figures.
Of the 380 new COVID-19 cases recorded in Laos on July 31 — the highest daily number of new cases since the pandemic began — up to 376 cases were confirmed among laborers returning from Thailand, while only four cases were local transmissions, along with one death, according to the daily report issued by the Lao National Health Information Center.
On Aug. 1, Laos registered 267 new COVID-19 cases, including 262 from nationals returning from abroad and five locally transmitted cases.
Rising case numbers have prompted officials to lock down the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, located along the Mekong River in the Ton Pheung district of Bokeo province close to the area where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand converge. The area is popular among the Chinese who come for its gambling and tourism offerings.
“Because a couple of workers in the special economic zone became infected, and because the virus infection is still spreading fast on the Thai and Myanmar sides, we decided to lock down the SEZ for 15 days starting on Aug. 1,” said an SEZ official on Monday.
Health officials confirmed the country’s first three cases of the Delta variant of the virus among migrant workers returning from Thailand in June in southwestern Laos’ Champassak province.
So far, about 1.2 million people of the country’s population of 7.4 million have been partially vaccinated, while about 997,000 have been fully vaccinated, according to government health figures.
The U.S. sent Laos more than one million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in July via the COVAX scheme.
“Starting today, we’re vaccinating people with Johnson & Johnson vaccines in an organized way,” said a health care worker in Champassak province. For example, Pakse city has 10 villages, so we are allowing residents of each village to come to get the vaccine on different days.”
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese and Lao Services. Translated by Max Avary and Hanh Seide. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A Tibetan school teacher jailed for over 20 years on a charge of separatism was due to be freed from prison last week after completing his sentence, but nothing has been heard of his release, prompting concerns for his safety and health, a Tibetan rights group said on Sunday.
Bangri Rinpoche, a Tibetan religious teacher also known as Jigme Tenzin Nyima, was handed a life sentence in a trial held on Sept. 26, 2000 that was commuted to a 19-year term on July 31, 2003, the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights Watch said on August 1.
His term was due to end on July 31, but nothing has been heard of his release, Tenzin Dawa—a TCHRD researcher—told RFA on Monday.
“We all know that Bangri Rinpoche has spent 22 years of his life in prison, and even though he has completed his prison term we don’t know whether he has been released or not, or anything about his current health conditions,” Dawa said.
“Since we haven’t heard anything about his release, we are very concerned right now” Dawa said, adding, “It is a well-known fact that Tibetan prisoners are treated inhumanely inside Chinese prisons.”
“The Chinese government should immediately clarify [Bangri Rinpoche’s] status, whereabouts, and well-being,” he said.
Manager of an orphanage and school in Tibet’s capital Lhasa that gave instruction in the Tibetan language, Chinese language, English language, and mathematics, Bangri Rinpoche was arrested with his wife Nyima Choedron in August 1999 in connection with an alleged plot by a worker at the school to raise the banned Tibetan national flag in the city’s main square and then blow himself up with explosives.
Choedron’s ten-year sentence was later commuted, and she was released in February 2006, TCHRD said.
The orphanage was closed almost immediately following their arrest.
Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago.
Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns typically deemed “illegal associations” and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say.
Reported by Lobsang Gelek for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Authorities in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu have forcibly shut down a Tibetan monastery in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, evicting the monks and nuns by force, RFA has learned.
Monks at Hongcheng monastery, also known as the Yulingta monastery, are shown in videos of the incident holding up banners that read “Forcible defrocking of monks is illegal and unacceptable!” and other protest slogans.
Videos also showed monks sitting on the roof of the monastery shouting down at a group of unidentified people on the ground.
Nuns wailed in mourning at being made to leave, while others shouted “Stop this! Stop this!” and “Film everything! Let’s jump!”
An employee who answered the phone at the Yongjing county ethnic minority and religious affairs bureau declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Monday.
“I don’t really know about this,” the employee said. “You should call the office. I don’t know about the resettlement arrangements for Hongcheng monastery.”
The employee said Director Cui of the monastery management committee was responsible for “resettling” the monks and nuns.
Repeated calls to Cui’s cell phone rang unanswered on Monday.
An employee who answered the phone at the Xihe township government offices near Hongcheng declined to respond to questions when contacted by RFA on Monday.
“No, nothing like that happened,” the employee said. “Where are you calling from? Name? Phone number? I need you to register.”
Many monks detained
U.S.-based commentator Ma Ju, who has been following the incident, said many monks were detained during the eviction.
He said Hongcheng likely won’t be the last monastery to be targeted.
“They are getting ready to eliminate all Tibetan temples and monasteries within the majority Han Chinese area of China,” Ma said. “This is one of their policies.”
“They believe that this place was a way for Tibetan Buddhism to gain a foothold in mainland China.”
The move is likely linked to a recent visit by the Chinese Communist Party’s Panchen Lama, who said Tibetan Buddhism must not be used as a tool for “hostile foreign forces” to undermine CCP rule.
Online comments said local officials were likely interested in the monastery’s wealth, as it had received a surge in donations during the coronavirus pandemic.
Long-running campaign
Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, Representative of the Office of Tibet in Taipei, said the evictions have been part of a long-running campaign by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to evict monks and nuns in Gansu.
“It’s even worse in Gansu than it was during the Cultural Revolution,” he said, in a reference to the political turmoil and mass destruction of cultural institutions that took place under late supreme leader Mao Zedong from 1966 to 1976.
“The CCP also forcibly defrocked monks and nuns from 1956 through 1959 to 1965, in the name of so-called national reforms in Tibet,” he said.
“This is a very serious matter. It’s not as simple as saying that they are trying to sinicize Tibetan Buddhism,” he said.
He said the CCP is likely trying to eliminate the practice of Tibetan Buddhism anywhere within China’s borders.
A Gansu-based historian surnamed Gao said the move was in line the CCP’s campaign of church demolitions and cross removal.
“Now they are targeting Tibetan Buddhism, forcibly defrocking monks and nuns,” Gao said. “There is a fundamental lack of respect.”
The Hongcheng monastery was already destroyed once in 1958, before reconstruction began under President Hu Jintao in 2011 using donations gathered by Gentsong Rinpoche, a religious leader.
“Local Chinese authorities expressed concern and suspicion about how the monastery had become so wealthy, and used this as an excuse to investigate and overhaul,” the Tibet Post newspaper reported.
“Ultimately, the matter ended with a demand that the monastery share its income equally with the local government,” the report said.
“Random and unreasonable inspections became more and more frequent. Gradually, the problem escalated until the government decided to directly seize the monastery, expel the monks, and force them to live a secular life against their will,” it said.
Jailed Vietnamese democracy activist Tran Huynh Duy Thuc has ended a months-long hunger strike, his third since October, but said he will starve himself to death if his 16-year sentence for subversion is not reduced to five years, family members say.
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc launched his latest strike on Feb. 20 but ended it on July 8 after prison officials visited him six days before to urge him to resume eating, his brother Tran Huynh Du Tan told RFA on Monday, saying his brother had then eaten a little rice and drunk some Ensure nutritional milk.
“But he told them that he would [resume and] continue his strike even if he has to die,” Tran’s brother said, adding, “He said he does not joke around with his life and that he doesn’t want to remain in prison any longer.”
“Either he is released, or he will die, he told them,” he said.
Speaking to his family by phone on July 30, just three weeks after ending his strike, Tran said he felt as if he had returned from the brink of death, his brother said. “He can’t walk by himself, and he has fallen and fainted several times.”
Calls to prison authorities at Detention Center No. 6 in Nghe An province seeking comment on Tran’s condition on Monday were not answered.
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who has already served 11 years of his 16-year prison term, was arrested in May 2009 for writing online articles criticizing Vietnam’s one-party communist state and was convicted in 2010 on charges of plotting to overthrow the government under Article 79 of Vietnam’s 1999 Penal Code.
He is now demanding that charges against him be changed to involvement in “preparation to commit a crime,” an offense calling only for a five-year term of imprisonment under Vietnam’s revised 2015 Penal Code, and Tran’s family and lawyers have tried several times to petition authorities for his sentence to be reduced.
Continuing source of concern
Tran’s health in prison has been a continuing source of concern to his family following a series of hunger strikes.
In July 2019, Tran began a hunger strike over poor conditions in detention, including the removal of electric fans from cells in the soaring summer heat, and an earlier strike in August 2018 left him exhausted and thin after he protested police pressure on him to admit his guilt in the offenses for which he was jailed.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Vietnam 175 out of 180 in its 2020 World Press Freedom Index. About 25 journalists and bloggers are being held in Vietnam’s jails, “where mistreatment is common,” the Paris-based watchdog group said.
Vietnam’s already low tolerance of dissent deteriorated sharply last year with a spate of arrests of independent journalists, publishers, and Facebook personalities as authorities continued to stifle critics in the run-up to the ruling Communist Party Congress held in January. Arrests continue in 2021.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney.
