Day: March 1, 2024

Authorities in Hanoi have detained a journalist and long-time critic of the Vietnamese government, a relative told RFA Vietnamese on Friday, in the latest sign of the squelching of dissent in the communist-ruled nation.

Police took Nguyen Vu Binh, 55, into custody on Thursday. He was then briefly brought home to pack some clothes and his house searched on the basis of a warrant, the relative said. 

His family was informed that he was being arrested but not provided any documents, before Binh departed with the police. The reason for his arrest was not immediately clear.

“The police brought Nguyen Vu Binh home, read out the search warrant, a list of confiscated items and other documents, and took him away,” said the relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “However, he was not handcuffed.”

Binh worked for 10 years as a reporter with the official Tap Chi Cong San, or Communist Review, before becoming a prominent activist in Hanoi.

In December 2003, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced him to seven years in jail for “espionage,” accusing him of collecting and composing documents “distorting” the democratic and human rights situation in Vietnam and sending them to “reactionary organizations” overseas.

He was released in early 2007 as part of an amnesty order, after which he continued to participate in peaceful activities promoting human rights.

Binh has been a regular contributor of blogs published on the RFA Vietnamese web site. 

Running for re-election

Nguyen Van Dai, a Germany-based human rights lawyer, told RFA that on Wednesday Binh had received a summons from the Hanoi Security Investigation Agency ordering him to attend a meeting on Thursday regarding his participation in video livestreams on the YouTube channel TNT Media Live, owned by San Jose, CA-based radio station Tieng Nuoc Toi, or My Country’s Language. 

But Dai said that Binh had stopped participating in those programs in June 2022.

Vietnam is ruled by a communist government that is intolerant of dissent. It is currently running for re-election as a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Vietnam sits 178th out of 180 nations on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. The Paris-backed watchdog says Vietnam is the world’s third largest jailer of journalists.

New York-based Human Rights Watch presented Binh with the Hellman-Hammett Award twice, in 2002 and 2007, for writers around the world “who have been victims of political persecution and are in financial need.” He is also an honorary member of the International PEN organization. 

Three bloggers who contributed to RFA Vietnamese are currently serving prison terms in Vietnam: Truong Duy Nhat, Nguyen Tuong Thuy, and Nguyen Lan Thang.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Mat Pennington.

Junta troops in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have beaten and abducted 40 family members of Muslim displaced camp residents who escaped being conscripted into military training, sources said Friday.

At around 1 pm on Tuesday, a group of around 80 junta troops and police arrived at the Kyauk Ta Lone camp for internally displaced persons, or IDPs, in Rakhine’s Kyaukphyu township and forcibly gathered 107 mostly ethnic-Rohingya Muslims between the ages of 18 and 35 at the camp’s food warehouse, after collecting their personal information.

Junta personnel told the captives that they would be “beaten to death” if they refused to take part in military training and threatened to “remove their families from the camp” if they attempted to escape, a resident told RFA Burmese the following day.

On Friday, a resident of Kyaukphyu who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, told RFA that junta troops took the 107 Muslims to the military’s Light Infantry Battalion 542 headquarters before returning to the camp hours later.

“After those people were taken away, subsequently, at around 4pm, more than 40 people were also abducted,” said the resident. “The 40 people apprehended are family members of those who escaped [the round up of the 107]. They were subjected to forceful beatings before being taken to the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station.”

Ko Ko Aung, who was among the 40 abducted, was severely and publicly beaten for allegedly speaking to the media about forced recruiting for military training at the Kyauk Ta Lone IDP camp, the resident added.

Desperate for new recruits

The military is desperate for new recruits after suffering devastating losses on the battlefield to the ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, in Rakhine. 

On Feb. 10, the junta enacted a conscription law that has seen draft-eligible civilians flee Myanmar’s cities, saying they would rather leave the country or join anti-junta forces in remote border areas than fight for the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup d’etat.

RFA reported last week that the junta had offered freedom of movement to ethnic Rohingya Muslims restricted to Kyauk Ta Lone and other IDP camps in Rakhine state as part of a bid to entice them into military service amid the nationwide rollout of the conscription law. Junta troops have said they are required to join militias to “safeguard their communities.”

But rights campaigners say the junta is drafting Rohingya into military service to stoke ethnic tensions in Rakhine, while legal experts say the drive is unlawful, given that Myanmar has refused to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s ethnic groups and denied them citizenship for decades.

Some 1 million Rohingya refugees have been living in Bangladesh since 2017, when they were driven out of Myanmar by a military clearance operation. Another 630,000 living within Myanmar are designated stateless by the United Nations, including those who languish in camps and are restricted from moving freely in Rakhine state.

‘Committing a war crime’

Kyauk Ta Lone is located 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) from the seat of Kyaukphyu township and is home to more than 1,000 people from 375 families.

Residents said that more than 30 young Muslims from Kyauk Ta Lone “sought refuge in areas controlled by the AA because they did not want to serve in the army.”

Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist, asserted that compelling an individual to serve in the military constitutes “a war crime.”

“They are forced to take training against their will and then use it on the front line,” he said. “This is a huge violation of human rights, and the equivalent of committing a war crime.”

Attempts by RFA to contact Rakhine State Attorney General Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesman in the region, for comment on reports of forced recruiting at the Kyauk Ta Lone IDP camp went unanswered Friday.

The Ministry of Information, affiliated with the military junta, has refuted claims that 107 Muslims were rounded up for military training at Kyauk Ta Lone, labeling it “false information.”

Translated by Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

The brother of a jailed Cambodian American lawyer Theary Seng visited her in prison on Friday and later told Radio Free Asia that she appeared to be in good health following her 10-day hunger strike in December that required hospital treatment.

“She is doing fine physically and emotionally,” said Mardi Seng, a newly-elected senator from the opposition Khmer Will Party.

“She has remained the same. She is strong,” he said. “She has maintained her stand saying she didn’t commit any crimes. She hopes the government will release her soon.”

As a pro-democracy advocate and human rights activist, Theary Seng became well-known for dressing herself in elaborate costumes at public protests, including as the Statue of Liberty. 

Her 2022 treason conviction stemmed from her failed efforts in 2019 to bring about the return to Cambodia of opposition leader Sam Rainsy. She was sentenced to six years in prison. 

In December, she announced a hunger strike to demand her release. After a week of fasting, prison officials sent her to a Phnom Penh hospital for an examination. 

Mardi Seng said his sister now jumps rope every day as part of her exercise routine in prison.

“She is trying her best to make sure she stays healthy,” he said.

The brief hospital visit in December allowed an Appeals Court hearing to be delayed. It was unclear when the next hearing would take place.

Mardi Seng said they recently fired Theary Seng’s Cambodian lawyers. She plans to represent herself wherever the next hearing takes place, he told RFA.

Last year, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a judgment calling her detention “arbitrary, politically motivated, and in violation of international law.”

U.S.-based international human rights lawyer Jared Genser said in July that he was pushing for the United States to designate her case as “wrongfully detained” under the Levinson Act, a 2020 law that would allow sanctions to be imposed on individuals responsible for holding American citizens hostage.

Mardi Seng spent much of his childhood in Michigan with Theary Seng and their other three brothers. He told RFA they returned to Cambodia after their university education “to restore the country.” 

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party won 55 of 58 seats in the Feb. 25 Senate election. Mardi Seng said that he and the other two senators from the Khmer Will Party see their victories as a “new start” for helping people “who are voiceless and powerless.”

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

North Korea is opening back up to foreign tourists, and Russians planning on visiting this month have been given a long list of travel guidelines and tips, from warnings that hotels will have no wifi and limited hot water to suggestions to bring warm clothing as buildings are generally not well-heated.

There are also strict dress codes for certain landmarks. Visitors to Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – the final resting place of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il – are not allowed to wear blue jeans, T-shirts, miniskirts or sandals.

Don’t drink the tap water, bring toilet paper to use in public restrooms and vegetarians beware: North Korea doesn’t make accommodations for you.

That’s all according to the guide issued by Russian travel agency Vostok Intour, which is leading about 100 travelers each on trips that depart Vladivostok on March 8 and March 11. They will be the second and third such tours to North Korea in four years. 

On Feb. 9, some 97 Russians became the first group to visit the isolated country since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. 

One tourist on that trip, Ilya Voskresensky, told RFA he was struck by the empty streets in Pyongyang, the cult of personality of the leaders and how he was not allowed to go outside his hotel. 

The visitors were banned from filming construction sites and decrepit buildings, and only allowed to shoot picturesque scenes, including at the ski resort they visited, he said. 

Desperate for cash

After the pandemic, the cash-strapped North Korean government is desperate to get tourism back on track, and Pyongyang in recent months has been pursuing warmer relations with Moscow, including through various sports and cultural exchanges. 

Vostok Intour is offering a four-day tour departing on March 8 for US$800 and a five-day tour departing on the 11th for $900. These will be the final tours that offer access to North Korean ski facilities this year.

In addition to the strict dress code for the Kim Dynasty’s mausoleum, Vostok Intour’s guidelines told travelers that their ability to communicate with the outside world will be limited. 

While they will be allowed to bring their mobile phones, without a roaming contract they won’t be able to use them.

Even then, the users must purchase a SIM card for $120, which will allow them to make calls internationally, but domestic calls will still be forbidden. If they need to send messages during their visit, they can pay $2.20 to the hotel to send emails on their behalf from the hotel’s account.

The guidelines also assured travelers that if they had stamps from either the U.S. or South Korea in their passport, this would not be a problem.

Another section of the guidelines discussed poor economic conditions in North Korea, including a severe lack of infrastructure.

Visitors should bring extra clothing because many North Korean buildings are not heated properly, if at all. Most buildings cannot expect hot water except for at specific times in the morning and evening.

Information ban

The guide also advised against taking photographs in certain situations or bringing in Western literature.

“Propaganda promoting the Western way of life, as well as books about North Korea published in the West (including tourist guides), are officially prohibited from being imported,” the guidelines said. 

“Since 2015, the rules for importing literature into North Korea have been tightened,” it continued. “We have encountered several cases of confiscation of North Korea travel guides during customs inspection at the airport.”

The travel guide said that tourists have free time after scheduled sightseeing tours, but this must be spent inside their hotel. 

When Voskresensky, the Russian tourist in the first tour group this year, asked why he couldn’t go for a walk, he was told: “You don’t know the Korean language and you will have problems.”

Translated by Claire S. Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

An alleged spy for China living in Istanbul evaded detection by Turkish authorities for years, Sadiq Memeteziz’s undercover work taking him to Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Syria and Xinjiang in China’s far-west, Turkish media reports said, citing official documents.

Memeteziz, or Shadeke Maimaitiaizazi in Chinese, was one of six arrested on Feb. 20 for allegedly spying for China, Turkey’s Habertürk newspaper and TV channel said Wednesday.

Habertürk revealed the identities of four the six men arrested earlier this week, indicating they met with Chinese intelligence officials in Saudi Arabia. 

The media reports didn’t identify the ethnicity of the men, but Radio Free Asia has confirmed that they are all Uyghurs. One of the six, named Ehmetjan, was later released. A seventh one is still at large and wanted by police.

The suspects are accused of spying on prominent Uyghurs and Uyghur associations in Turkey and passing the information to Chinese intelligence officers. The arrests follow a probe by the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau, media reports said.

If they are indeed shown to have spied for China, the case would illustrate the lengths that Beijing will go to gather information on Uyghurs abroad as part of its transnational repression.

Uyghur diaspora

With roughly 50,000 Uyghurs living in Turkey — the largest Uyghur émigré population outside Central Asia — the Muslim-majority country has become a focus for Chinese espionage.

Radio Free Asia in February 2023 reported on how the Chinese government’s efforts to coerce Uyghurs to gather information on each other undermines trust and can dampen social and cultural gatherings, preventing Uyghur refugees from rebuilding their communities abroad.

In the past, Turkey offered Uyghurs a safe place to live outside China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and is the only Turkic and Muslim country that has consistently raised the issue of the plight of Uyghurs at the United Nations and in bilateral talks with China.

So this crackdown on alleged spies for China represents a shift on Turkey’s part.

The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office would not comment on the ongoing investigation. RFA could not reach the Chinese Embassy in Ankara for comment.

Family is shocked

Memeteziz’s son, who lives in Istanbul, told RFA that he does not believe his father is a criminal, and that it is premature to call him such until judicial authorities issue a verdict.

“We also recently came across the news and were shocked by it,” said the son, who declined to be named for fear of retribution. “It was a mix of sadness and disbelief, as we never imagined such a thing could happen.”

The son said he has lived apart from his father for two-and-a-half years, balancing work and studies, and that they occasionally checked in with each other. 

“As of now, we haven’t received any updates from the police or the judicial bodies,” he said. “There was no concrete evidence or confirmation, and judicial bodies haven’t said anything like what was reported in the news reports yet. All we’ve heard is that he was arrested.”

“Personally, I find this hard to believe because he has been running his own business for over 20 years,” the son added. “He has his own brand and products, and even when we lived together, he focused on his business and trade with Central Asia. Politics was never his concern due to his business commitments. Hence, I doubt the accuracy of these news reports.” 

Details of alleged activities

Based on an arrest notice issued by the Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau, Memeteziz, in his mid- to late 50s, moved to Turkey from Xinjiang – where 11 million Uyghurs live – in the 2000s and had contact with someone from the Ministry of National Security, China’s spy agency. 

He met with an official named Li from the Chinese Communist Party’s Kargilik (Yecheng in Chinese) County Committee in Xinjiang’s Kashgar prefecture, both via phone and in person, the notice said.

According to information from the Turkish National Intelligence Service, it appears that Memeteziz met with Chinese intelligence officials outside Turkey. He traveled to Hong Kong in February 2023, then proceeded to Xinjiang’s Kargilik county, where he had face-to-face meetings with two spies named Li and Alimjan. 

Subsequently, Memeteziz met with Alimjan again in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. To conceal these meetings, Chinese intelligence officials in China and Saudi Arabia provided Memeteziz with two different passports, the Turkish news reports said.

Records indicate that Memeteziz continued to travel to and from Xinjiang with ease, particularly after 2017 when Chinese authorities began detaining Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims en masse in “re-education” camps under the guise of preventing religious extremism and terrorist activities, the reports said.

In 2023, Memeteziz received US$7,000 in Beijing and US$15,000 in Saudi Arabia in exchange for his espionage activities for China, said the reports.

Upon his return to Turkey in August 2023, Memeteziz obtained information about Uyghur organizations and their meetings, and the addresses of prominent Uyghurs living in Turkey. He collected photos and documents to share with Chinese intelligence officials, the news reports said.

The notice from the chief prosecutor’s office said that Memeteziz, under instructions from the Chinese intelligence agency, tried in January 2023 to move to an area where Uyghur religious teacher Abduqadir Yapchan resided, but he could not find accommodations.

China had accused Yapchan of being part of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a Muslim separatist group that the U.S. State Department dropped from its list of terrorist organizations in October 2020 because of a lack of credible evidence that it continued to exist. Turkish police arrested him in August 2016 on charges of being a “terrorist” and kept him in detention or under house arrest.

In April 2021, a court in Turkey rejected a request by Beijing to extradite Yapchan to China to face terrorism charges, ending years of detention and legal limbo under the threat of harsh Chinese punishment.

Other suspects

The arrest warrant for a second suspect, Hebibulla Ürümci, said he acted as an intermediary in transferring money from a spy named Alimjan to Memeteziz. It also indicated that Ürümci collaborated with Memeteziz in Pakistan and made multiple international trips, according to Turkish media.

Hashim Sabitoğlu, the third man arrested, recently traveled to Saudi Arabia under the guise of making an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, but instead met with Chinese intelligence operatives. Memeteziz received payments from China through Hashim under the guise of business funds.

Abdullah Nasir, the fourth suspect, was reported to have continuously met with a Chinese intelligence officer named Zhong Xuegang, who identified himself as a Chinese consulate officer. 

Nasir was said to have stayed with Zhong in a hotel in Bursa, a city in Turkey about 92 kilometers (57 miles) south of Istanbul. Nasir was also acquainted with a spy named Alimjan and had a significant number of passport records on file, Turkish media said.

Memeteziz was assigned to gather information about Uyghurs in Syria by using Abdullah, an employee at a Uyghur bakery in Zeytinburnu, a working-class area on the European side of Istanbul. 

When RFA contacted Abdullah – the bakery worker, not the suspect Abdullah Nasir – he said he didn’t know Memeteziz but mentioned someone from Kargilik who visited the bakery every two or three days, trying to gather information about Uyghurs in Turkey and in other countries. 

“He would chat with me while buying naan,” Abdullah said, referring to Uyghur flatbread. “One day, he mentioned wanting to help people in need and asked if there were any religious kids from Kargilik. He asked me to let him know if I knew any. I told him I didn’t know any.”n

“I can’t confirm if he’s a spy because there’s a lot of gossip in the community,” Abdullah said. “I did’t have a close relationship with him. He didn’t live in Zeytinburnu, and he told me he was coming from the Aksaray area to buy naan.”

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

If it wasn’t for the generosity of Malaysia’s refugee community, things could have been a lot worse for Rohingya man Rashid Ahmad Abdul Kadir.

In January, the 35-year-old was struggling with pain so bad from gallstones that he could barely breathe. 

“I was scolded by the doctor because he said I came too late and my organs had been damaged,” said Rashid Ahmad, who arrived in Malaysia from Myanmar’s Rakhine state in 2012.

The cash-strapped father of two only got through the ordeal after his friends raised 3,800 Malaysian ringgit (U.S. $800) for his operation at a public hospital.

“I could not afford the amount for surgery on my own,” he told BenarNews.

Malaysia’s nearly 200,000 refugees already have it tough because they are not legally allowed to work, many live in appalling conditions, and their children are often denied education. But a little talked about concern is their access to affordable healthcare, which could make the difference between life and death.

Because Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees are viewed as illegal migrants and must pay much higher foreigners’ rates at government hospitals and clinics.

That puts an enormous financial strain on people like Rashid Ahmad, who earns a meager living working odd jobs such as washing dishes or cutting grass, with no rights or social security benefits. 

After being discharged from hospital in February, Rashid Ahmad had to skip the daily dressing of his wounds at a nonprofit medical clinic because, even at a subsidized price, he could not afford it.

“I cannot move on my own. Trips to the clinic also need money,” said Rashid Ahmad, who lives in Ampang near Kuala Lumpur.

Debbie Stothard, founder of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma, an advocacy group, described Malaysia’s policy of denying refugees access to affordable public healthcare as “illogical and irresponsible.”

“We are preventing Rohingya and other refugees from contributing to Malaysian society,” she told BenarNews. “To ensure they can contribute, they must be healthy enough. It is just that basic.”

Some 186,490 refugees, most of whom are ethnically Rohingya from Myanmar, are registered in Malaysia with U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR. 

Healthcare is the No. 1 concern for most of them, said U.S.-based Rohingya activist Norhayati Ali during a recent visit to Malaysia.

Refugees and asylum seekers with UNHCR cards are charged 50% of the foreigners’ rate at public healthcare facilities. But for those who are undocumented, the fees can be 40 times the cost charged to Malaysians, according to advocacy groups.

Otherwise, refugees have access to subsidized care at 15 nonprofit health clinics across the country. However, these offer only basic healthcare that does not require hospitalization or specialist treatment.

Ahmad Ikram, general manager of a nonprofit clinic in Kuala Lumpur, said it was not uncommon to hear of cases where refugees could not pay for treatment.

“Some refugees have had to stay in the hospital even though they should have been discharged because they could not pay the medical costs. In one case, a patient ran away because he could not afford to pay before being discharged,” he told BenarNews.

At his clinic, Ikram said he most commonly saw refugees for conditions like diabetes, hypertension and skin diseases. He offers only general treatment, vaccinations and family planning consultations. 

Typically, his referrals to hospital were cases involving preterm births, respiratory diseases, infections, gastrointestinal issues and surgical procedures.

“The number of refugees seeking help at the clinic is normally between 70-80 per day, but when authorities conduct raids around here, those numbers could halve,” he said.

“When we ask why, they say they are afraid of getting caught while seeking treatment and being sent back home.”

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Parliament in June last year that Malaysia was establishing a comprehensive database on the number of refugees and asylum seekers in the country. 

This would help the government tailor policies towards them, including for healthcare, he said.

In the meantime, Rohingya community leaders like Rafik Shah Mohd Ismail are calling on Malaysians to show compassion.

“Everyone gets sick. For refugees, whether registered with UNHCR or not, hospital bills are expensive,” he told BenarNews.

“A deposit is required before surgery is performed; these can range from around 1,500 ($317) ringgit to 5,500 ringgit ($1,160).”

While the community tries to help out with hospital fees when possible, it is often too expensive, said Ismail, who is based in Selayang, Selangor state.

“We’ve encountered situations where babies remained hospitalized because their parents couldn’t afford the bills,” he said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.