Day: September 16, 2021

Prime Minister Hun Sen crashed a Zoom strategy session of Cambodia’s banned opposition party “to send a clear message to the rebels” that they are being watched – not to seek political reconciliation, state media quoted him as saying in a report on Thursday.

The long-serving strongman suddenly popped up on a Zoom call that a U.S.-based former senior official of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was hosting last week with party members and activists in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and in Thailand. Hun Sen had the party banned in 2017, driving many members into exile.

In a 12-minute video of the Sept. 9 call that went viral on social media, Hun Sen slammed the CNRP and its exiled leaders, and then told Zoom meeting host Long Ry, who is living in exile in Massachusetts, that “I have been listening and have entered to listen many times already.”

Long Ry, a former member of parliament, told RFA this week that he was aware that someone in his circle had shared a link to the Zoom call with outsiders, but did not expect to see Hun Sen on the call.

While Long Ry complained about the invasion of privacy, comparing it to peeping on “naked people taking a shower,” he also extended an invitation to return to discuss national to restart talks to end a four-year political crisis.

Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985 and destroyed several rivals in the past, was having none of the reconciliation talk, according to remarks carried on the state-run outlet Derm Ampil.

“Don’t mistake my entering the Zoom meeting with you the other day as a signal for negotiations,” he said. “I wanted to send a clear message to the rebels that there are people of Hun Sen everywhere.”

The CNRP must “stop imagining that the party dissolved by the court will be revived, and Hun Sen will pardon, and Hun Sen will open negotiations for a political solution, because it fears the international community,” the prime minister said in remarks published a day after A spokesman for his ruling Cambodian People’s Party dismissed the audio and video clips as an elaborate fabrication.

“Hopefully, this interpretation will make the ignorant analysts and those waiting for forgiveness from Hun Sen clearly understand,” he added.

Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017, two months after arresting its president, Kem Sokha over an alleged plot to overthrow the government. Scores of supporters of the group have since been incarcerated, awaiting a tortuous legal process made slower by coronavirus restrictions.

The move came amid a wider crackdown by Hun Sen on the country’s political opposition, independent media, and NGOs that drew U.S. sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Paul Eckert.

Many villagers in southern Lao provinces say they are short of food and other essentials due to prolonged and strict government-ordered coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, preventing people from working and closing most markets and stores.

The impoverished, landlocked country of 7.4 million people saw a spike in outbreaks beginning in April after managing to nearly evade infections for a year. As of Thursday, Laos recorded total 18,059 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 154 new ones, though the number of related fatalities held at 16.

The office of Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh on Wednesday urged all southern provinces to strictly enforce COVID-19 prevention measures until the end of the month.

A villager from Tha Khek district in Kham Mouane province, which is under lockdown from Sept. 14-17, told RFA that dry goods, such as noodles, canned sardines, and rice are nearly gone, while fresh meat and vegetables are no longer available since markets are closed.

“My village right now is still under lockdown and people are not allowed to go out,” she said. “The markets are closed, so there is no buying or selling of anything.”

Police and soldiers are patrolling the area to ensure that no one goes out unless they have permission, she added. If they find any violators, they will fine and warn them the first time, but jail them for a second offense.

A resident of a village in Savannakhet province said that not only are markets being shut down, individual vendors also have had to stop selling food on the street.

“We’ve been eating whatever dry food we have for three meals a day for one month,” she said.

A villager from Saravane province, which is on lock down from Sept. 14-28, said that the past week has been difficult for many people, with all the fresh food markets closed in Saravane city. Authorities have allowed one market to operate to relive the food shortage.

“When we’re under the lockdown, people can’t go in and out, but on Sept. 15, they opened one market to provide relief,” he said, adding that a truck was reportedly transporting rice from Pakse in neighboring Champassak province.

The decision to open one of the city’s three large markets was made so residents would have enough food during the lockdown, said an official at the provincial department of industry and commerce.

Merchants need to obtain permission from provincial officials to transport fresh food within the province, he added.

Those who sell dry goods, such as rice, are not allowed in yet, and violators will be fined 100,000 to 10 million kip (U.S. $10-1,025), he said.

An official at Kham Mouane Province Department of Industry and Commerce said that before authorities there announced the 15-day lockdown and the closure of all markets, they had notified villagers to stock up on food.

“They are all closed at this time — food stores and markets,” he said. “Even trucks that transport goods from outside have been told to temporarily postpone deliveries. The province notified the public before the lockdown that they should buy food to store.”

Reported by RFA Lao Service, Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

A Tibetan writer jailed for three years for criticizing Chinese government policies in Tibet died this week in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu after suffering ill health for eight years following his release, Tibetan sources say.

Ra Tsering Dhondup, who wrote under the pen name Shinglo Marpo, was a monk at the Rongtha monastery in Khyungchu county in Sichuan’s Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and was 34 at the time of his death.

Dhondup was arrested in February 2010 for publishing a magazine “whose content criticized the Chinese communist government,” Gendun Tsering—a friend and former colleague of Dhondup’s now living in India—told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

“He was first detained in Barkham and was later sent to Mianyang Prison to complete his three-year sentence,” Tsering said. “He was released in 2013, but he was in failing health, and later he succumbed to liver disease and passed away.”

A magazine published by Dhondup had described conditions in Tibet after protests opposing Chinese rule swept the region in 2008, leading to hundreds of arrests and deaths at the hands of Chinese security forces, another friend of Dhondup said, also speaking from exile.

“Ra Tsering Dhondup, another friend, and I myself worked on that magazine together. However, it was published only once,” he said.

Because of harsh treatment and lack of medical care in prison, Dhondup’s condition had severely deteriorated during the eight years following his release, said Tenzin Dawa, a researcher at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Tibetan political prisoners suffering ill health are sometimes freed in critical condition before the end of their term, with at least seven reported during the last year to have died—either in prison or after their release—from injuries inflicted under torture in custody, sources say.

”This is the Chinese government’s way of avoiding responsibility for their crimes,” Dawa said

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force 70 years ago.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.

Reported by Ugyen Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.

A former Buddhist monk from Cambodia’s Khmer Krom ethnic minority group was jailed this week in Phnom Penh for allegedly violating measures aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19 in the country, with one rights group calling the action taken against him “harassment.”

Pang Soda, formerly the abbot of a temple in Kompong Cham province, was arrested and sent to Prey Sar Prison on Tuesday after being accused of breaking contact with authorities who had ordered him to remain in touch, a member of a Khmer Krom rights group said next day.

“They told him not to turn off his mobile phone so that they could contact him,” Bun Mony—Secretary of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association—told RFA on Wednesday. “But he turned off his phone and failed to honor his pledge with the authorities.”

“So yesterday, he was questioned by police and sent to Prey Sar Prison,” he said.

Bun Mony said his group then contacted Pang Soda’s relatives to offer legal help but were told they had asked instead for help from an unnamed government official.

“We are fully prepared to assist him by providing a Khmer Krom lawyer, so we regret that his family gave us this answer,” Bun Mony said.

Requests for comment from Pang Soda’s younger brother received no response, but Khmer Krom lawyer Seun Chumchuon told RFA that he is ready to provide legal assistance in the case, though as of Wednesday he had received no request from family members for help.

Prison Department spokesperson Nuth Savana could not be reached for comment Wednesday, while San Sokseyha—spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Police Commissariat—denied any knowledge of Pang Soda’s arrest.

Arrested without warrant

Formerly abbot of the Wat Vongkut Borey Serey Phnom Penh Thmey pagoda in Kompong Cham, Pang Soda was arrested without a warrant on Sept. 2, stripped of his monastic status by local Buddhist authorities, and sent to Phnom Penh for questioning on charges of violating government-mandated COVID-19 prevention measures, Khmer Krom sources said.

Police at the same time confiscated the cell phone of other monks who had witnessed the arrest, sources said, adding that Pang Soda was later released after promising to remain in constant contact with authorities.

Speaking to RFA, Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation Branch in Cambodia head Taing Sarak said his group is now monitoring the court action against Pang Soda—who had been active in social work providing food, money, and other kinds of support to vulnerable people—and will appeal if the courts fail to render justice in the case.

The Khmer Krom, ethnic Khmer who live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia, face widespread discrimination in Vietnam and suspicion in Cambodia, where they are often perceived not as Cambodians but as Vietnamese.

Khmer Krom who leave Vietnam for Cambodia remain one of the country’s “most disenfranchised groups,” according to the international rights group Human Rights Watch.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Hong Kong’s national security police have ordered the organizers of a now-banned candlelight vigil for the victims of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre to delete all of their online posts, the group said via its Facebook page on Thursday.

The Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said it would comply with a national security police demand to remove all content from its website and social media accounts under a draconian national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020.

“[We] received a letter from the police commissioner on Sept. 10 saying … that implementation rules provide for the removal of specified messages from electronic platforms within seven days of receipt of notification,” the Alliance said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

“[We] will remove all posts from our website, Facebook, and other specified electronic platforms by 10.00 pm tonight,” it said.

The organization has been charged alongside three of its former leaders — Lee Cheuk-yan, 64, Albert Ho, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 36 — with “incitement to subvert state power” under the national security law.

Chow was arrested on Sept. 8 and denied bail, while Lee and Ho are already serving jail terms linked to their activism.

Four other Alliance members, Tang Ngok-kwan, 53, Simon Leung, 36, Chan To-wai, 57, and Tsui Hon-kwong, 72, have been charged with “failure to comply with a notice to provide information.”

The group refused to provide detailed information on its members, activities, and funding sources to national security police, arguing that it isn’t an agent of a foreign government, and therefore isn’t bound by that part of the national security law.

“By arresting vigil organizers, Beijing and Hong Kong authorities are telling the world they’re not only afraid of the most peaceful protests, but also of their own brutal past,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) China director Sophie Richardson said in a statement posted on the HRW website and signed by dozens of rights groups.

“They should end this political persecution and immediately drop the charges and release the vigil organizers,” she said.

Call for targeted sanctions

The statement, signed by the U.S.-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, the Christian rights group ChinaAid, Humanitarian China and the U.K.-based Hong Kong Watch, among others, called on concerned governments to impose “coordinated, targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes,” on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, police chief Raymond Siu, secretary for security Chris Tang, and other officials linked to the operation targeting the Alliance.

“Hong Kong and mainland authorities should not be able to ban commemorations, shutter museums, and jail peaceful critics without paying a price,” Citizen Power founder and veteran dissident Jianli Yang said.

“Governments appalled by the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Hong Kong should make their opposition felt,” Yang said.

The takedown order came as seven pro-democracy District Council members were stripped of their seats after their oaths were judged insufficient to prove their loyalty to Hong Kong and China.

Clarisse Yeung, Leung Pak-kin, Wei Siu-lik, So Yat-hang, Chan Wing-tai, Lai Tsz-yan, and Michael Pang were stripped of their council seats on Sept. 15, five days after they pledged allegiance at a ceremony for Hong Kong Island councilors.

“As the oath administrator had questions about the validity of the oaths taken by … seven District Council members, letters were issued to the … members concerned on Sept. 10 to require them to provide additional information,” the government said in a statement announcing the disqualifications.

“After considering the written replies … and all relevant information, the oath administrator … determined that the oaths taken by seven District Council members were invalid,” it said.

The councilors were removed from office with immediate effect.

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.