radiofree.asia

Category: South and Central Asia

  • UK investigation to examine human rights abuses in Kazakhstan

    Commission to focus on detention of journalist and political leader Zhanbolat Mamai after nationwide protests

    The state of human rights in the vast, mineral-rich central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, including the continued detention of opposition leaders, is to be formally examined by senior UK parliamentarians including the former director of public prosecutions Lord MacDonald.

    He will lead an independent investigation into the detention and treatment of Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of the unregistered opposition Democratic party in Kazakhstan.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • UK accused of putting Tamil refugees at risk in Indian Ocean

    MoD escorted refugees including children away from Diego Garcia without ensuring boats were seaworthy, lawyers say

    Lawyers have accused the UK of facilitating dangerous onward boat journeys by Tamil refugees who had arrived at the British-claimed territory of Diego Garcia in distress.

    Fishing boats that fled Sri Lanka were escorted to the Indian Ocean island after getting into difficulty but were later permitted to leave on the same vessels without basic safety equipment, putting passengers – including children – at “grave risk”, lawyers have claimed.

    Continue reading…

  • Australian academic Sean Turnell sentenced to three years’ jail after secret trial in Myanmar

    Economic adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was accused by military leaders of having confidential papers

    Aung San Suu Kyi and the Australian academic Sean Turnell who served as her advisor have been sentenced to three years in prison after a closed trial in Myanmar, according to reports.

    Turnell, an economist at Sydney’s Macquarie University, was first detained last year on 6 February, a few days after the military ousted Myanmar’s elected government, plunging the country into chaos.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • British Sikh activist ‘tortured in India after tip-off from UK intelligence’

    Lawyers for Jagtar Singh Johal say he was given electric shocks after unlawful arrest in Punjab in 2017

    A British Sikh campaigner is facing a possible death sentence after the UK intelligence services passed on information about him to the Indian authorities, according to a high court complaint.

    Lawyers for Jagtar Singh Johal from Dumbarton, Scotland, say he was tortured, including being given electric shocks, after his unlawful arrest in the Punjab in 2017 where he had travelled for his wedding.

    Continue reading…

  • Afghan female judge fleeing Taliban appeals after Home Office refuses UK entry

    Lawyers say the woman, who is in hiding in Pakistan with her son, will be killed if sent back to Afghanistan

    A female former senior judge from Afghanistan who is in hiding from the Taliban with her son has filed an appeal to the Home Office after her application to enter the UK was denied.

    Lawyers for the woman – who is named as “Y” – said on Saturday they had submitted an appeal on behalf of their client and her son at the Immigration Tribunal, saying she had been left in a “gravely vulnerable position” by the withdrawal of British and other western troops.

    Continue reading…

  • Wednesday briefing: How four executions could embolden Myanmar’s resistance

    In today’s newsletter: As the junta gets ever more brutal, Gen Z protesters are forming a patchwork militia. Burmese journalist Aung Naing Soe on why the executions could signal a new phase in the struggle for democracy

    Good morning. On 1 February last year, Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, staged a coup in the middle of the night, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and many other leading figures from the country’s ruling party. Military television said the army had taken charge for one year in response to electoral fraud. Eighteen months later, the junta is still in power, almost 12,000 people are in detention and more than 2,000 have been killed.

    This week, the military executed four prisoners, including a former politician and a veteran activist, in the first use of capital punishment in decades. For many in the west, the end of Myanmar’s spell of quasi-democracy was a brief moment of dismay. But these executions are only the latest signal of the regime’s ongoing status as among the most oppressive and ruthless in the world.

    Coronavirus | Ministers played “fast and loose” when awarding £777m in Covid contracts to a healthcare firm that employed Conservative MP Owen Paterson as a lobbyist, the head of parliament’s spending watchdog has said.

    Strikes | The railways will again grind to a halt on Wednesday as workers strike over pay, job security and working conditions. Union leaders rejected a “paltry” offer of a 4% pay rise for the remainder of 2022.

    Politics | Rishi Sunak has made a dramatic U-turn by promising to scrap VAT on household fuel bills for a year if he becomes prime minister. He set out the policy after the second Tory leadership debate ended abruptly when presenter Kate McCann fainted.

    Oil | 27 EU member states have agreed on a plan to ration natural gas this winter to protect themselves against any more supply cuts by Russia.

    Sri Lanka | Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country after mass protests over economic mismanagement, is expected to return home, according to a cabinet minister. Rajapaksa has been in Singapore since he was forced out of office but has not applied for asylum.

    Continue reading…

  • ‘We are not afraid’: anti-junta groups rail against Myanmar executions

    State killings provoke horror and fear of wider crackdown on determined protest movement

    On Monday night at 8pm, the familiar, defiant sound of clashing pots and pans returned to the streets of Yangon. In the aftermath of last year’s coup, the same din was heard nightly as people demanded the return of democracy – until the military launched brutal crackdowns against any such acts of dissent. Anyone suspected of opposing the junta risks arrest, or worse.

    It was the recent execution of four prisoners that drove people to revive the protest regardless. Phyo Zeya Thaw, a rapper and former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and the prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, were among those killed. They had been sentenced under anti-terror laws in January.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘Hope is essential’: Afghanistan’s silenced musicians find a new stage

    A British orchestra will this week play, for the first time, a programme of Afghan music, featuring exiled Afghan musicians on traditional instruments

    The musicians of Afghanistan have again been silenced by the Taliban. Other than specific religious and patriotic forms and contexts, the group believe that listening to or making music is morally corrupting. If there is anything to the Taliban’s credit here, it is that they recognise music’s potential to shape our subjective experiences, transmit ideas and build and strengthen communities. Since the group’s return to power in August last year, musicians have been murdered and brutalised, wedding parties have been raided, and centres for music learning have been closed.

    I first visited the country in July 2018 to meet the members of the Afghan Women’s Orchestra at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, the specialist school set up in 2010 by Ahmad Sarmast and which – before its forced closure last July – had 350 students. For three years I gave weekly online lessons to the young conductors, men and women, at the school. These lessons had their challenges, not least the regular power cuts and slow internet speeds in Kabul, but they gave me a tantalising insight into the orchestras, repertoire and rehearsal practices of the young ensembles at the school, opened my ears to the unique sounds and forms of Afghanistan’s orchestral music. Above all, I was reminded yet again that orchestras can and do change lives.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Revealed: Afghan journalists facing death threats and beatings, despite UK pledge to save them

    Group who worked with UK media to sue government over failure to relocate them to Britain

    A group of Afghan journalists who worked closely with the UK media for years have revealed how they face beatings, death threats and months in hiding, and accuse the government of reneging on a pledge to bring them to Britain.

    Having fought in vain for clearance to come to the UK since the return of Taliban rule last summer, the eight journalists are now taking legal action against the government. They have applied for a judicial review after waiting months for their applications to relocate to the UK to be processed. They report only receiving standard response emails from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) programme.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Afghan female judge awarded prestigious human rights prize

    Fawzia Amini advocates for rights of Afghan women and girls from London hotel room she’s been stuck in for nine months

    One of Afghanistan’s top female judges has been honoured with an international human rights award while she continues her work to advocate for her country’s women and girls from a London hotel.

    Fawzia Amini, 48, fled Afghanistan last summer after the Taliban takeover of the country. She had been one of Afghanistan’s leading female judges, former head of the legal department at the Ministry of Women, senior judge in the supreme court, and head of the violence against women court.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Tamil refugees detained by UK on Chagos Islands go on hunger strike

    Forty-two hunger strikers are part of group of 89 Sri Lankans whose boat was intercepted in Indian Ocean by UK military

    Dozens of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who have been detained for more than seven months in a military base on an overseas territory claimed by Britain have gone on hunger strike in despair at their plight.

    The 42 hunger strikers are part of a group of 89 Sri Lankans, including 20 children, whose boat was intercepted and escorted to Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean by the British military after running into distress while apparently headed to Canada from India in October.

    Continue reading…

  • UK urged to act after UN panel rules detention of Briton in India ‘arbitrary’

    Jagtar Singh Johal has been detained since 2017 and allegedly tortured, accused of helping to fund assassination plot

    The UK is under pressure to insist India release Jagtar Singh Johal, a British citizen, after a UN working group ruled he had been arbitrarily detained by India and his detention lacked any legal basis.

    Boris Johnson apparently raised the case when he met the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, last month and provided a written note of consular cases, but Foreign Office ministers have not confirmed whether they regard his detention as arbitrary.

    Continue reading…

  • Tourists urged to avoid Myanmar as junta prepares to reopen to world

    Travel agents and aid workers raise issues of safety and note that tourism dollars will only benefit the ruling military

    Foreign tourists have been urged to avoid visiting Myanmar after the junta signalled plans to open up the country despite widespread ongoing rights abuses and violence including kidnappings and killings by the military, as well as food shortages and regular blackouts.

    More than a year after it seized power and ousted Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military has announced it plans to reopen for tourism and resume international flights on 17 April.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • US declares Myanmar army committed genocide against Rohingya

    Designation could put global pressure on military-led government, which faces accusations at international court of justice

    The US has declared Myanmar’s mass killing of the Rohingya Muslim population to be a “genocide”.

    The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made the announcement at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • People of colour fleeing Ukraine attacked by Polish nationalists

    Non-white refugees face violence and racist abuse in Przemyśl, as police warn of fake reports of ‘migrants committing crimes’

    Police in Poland have warned that fake reports of violent crimes being committed by people fleeing Ukraine are circulating on social media after Polish nationalists attacked and abused groups of African, south Asian and Middle Eastern people who had crossed the border last night.

    Attackers dressed in black sought out groups of non-white refugees, mainly students who had just arrived in Poland at Przemyśl train station from cities in Ukraine after the Russian invasion. According to the police, three Indians were beaten up by a group of five men, leaving one of them hospitalised.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Greta stands with Sami and Navalny on trial again: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

    A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Myanmar military atrocities may amount to war crimes, says rights group

    A report by Fortify Rights claims soldiers have carried out massacres and used civilians as human shields

    The Myanmar military kidnapped civilians and forced them to work as human shields, attacked homes, churches and carried out massacres, according to a report that warns recent atrocities in eastern Myanmar may amount to war crimes.

    The report, by the Myanmar-founded human rights group Fortify Rights, documents abuses by the country’s military in Karenni state, also known as Kayah state, an area that has seen intense fighting between the army and groups opposed to last year’s military coup.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Exiled Chagos Islanders bask in return ‘as pilgrims to abandoned place’

    Fifty years after the UK forcibly deported them, five Chagossians have visited the disputed archipelago with Mauritius’s help

    Returning to their birthplace after decades of enforced exile, five Chagossians leapt from a motor launch on to the palm-shaded beach of Peros Banhos atoll on Saturday afternoon, kissed the sand and stood – hands joined together – in prayer.

    For Olivier Bancoult, Lisbey Elyse, Marie Suzelle Baptiste, Rosemonde Bertin and Marcel Humbert, it was the moment they had long anticipated – the first time they could step ashore without close close monitoring by British officials. It is 50 years since they were forcibly deported to Mauritius by the UK, which cleared the archipelago of its entire population to make way for a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Your lives are in danger, police warn Pakistani dissidents in UK

    Exiles advised to keep a low profile as hitman is convicted in London

    Pakistani exiles seeking refuge in the UK are being advised by counter-terrorism police to keep a low profile following warnings that their lives may be at risk after criticising Pakistan’s powerful military.

    Counter Terrorism Policing, a collaboration of UK police forces and the security services, has told possible targets that they need to inform police if they intend to travel within the UK.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • ‘We want the truth’: families of ethnic Pamiris killed in Tajikistan call for justice as tensions rise

    Urgent protection for minority groups facing increased repression needed in crisis connected to escalating clashes across central Asian ex-Soviet region, say human rights groups

    Parents of men killed by Tajikistan forces have called on the international community to step in and urgently protect ethnic groups being targeted by the Tajik regime.

    In a rare interview, families from the Pamiri ethnic minority have demanded that soldiers who killed their sons be brought to justice and urged the UN to prevent a new phase of conflict in Tajikistan, a landlocked country in central Asia.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Allegations of worker exploitation at ‘world’s greatest show’ in Dubai

    Migrant workers employed at Expo 2020 allege confiscated passports, racial discrimination and withheld wages

    Security guards, cleaners and hospitality staff at Dubai’s Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are allegedly working in highly abusive conditions that may amount to forced labour, according to a human rights group.

    Migrant workers employed at the international fair in the UAE – taking place now after being delayed by Covid – allege they have been forced to pay illegal recruitment fees, suffered racial discrimination and had wages withheld and passports confiscated, said the report by Equidem.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • I photographed Myanmar’s protesters one day – and their funerals the next

    Photojournalist Moe documented the military’s terrifying and brutal attacks on protests in Mandalay, until even carrying his camera became too risky

    My first encounter with the military came on 4 February 2021, three days after the coup. From the back of my friend’s motorcycle, I hid my camera under my clothes and attempted to photograph soliders as they drove in trucks through my native city of Mandalay carrying their guns. I couldn’t get a good picture, however, because one of the vehicles started following us and we had to retreat.

    Within days, almost the whole country had erupted in protest. I couldn’t stay still any more, and I joined the crowds on 7 February.

    ‘The whole country had erupted in protest. I couldn’t stay still any more, and I joined the crowds’

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Guardian view on Afghanistan’s despair: the UK must step up | Editorial

    Britain needs to show that it cares about the lives of starving humans, not just animals

    Soon after the Taliban swept into Kabul, with Afghanistan’s economy collapsing, people began to sell meagre possessions, from mattresses to cooking pots, to buy basic necessities. Now we learn that desperate Afghans are selling their children and their kidneys, finding no other way to keep their families from starvation. Almost everyone is short of food; more than half the population faces extreme levels of hunger, and nearly 9 million are at risk of famine. The desperation will only worsen. The foreign aid that fuelled the economy has vanished; huge numbers are jobless; food prices have soared. Drought has worsened the already grim picture.

    The UN says that $8bn is needed now: $4.4bn in humanitarian assistance, and $3.6bn to deliver essential services and maintain community infrastructure. Deborah Lyons, the special representative for Afghanistan, noted that donors are worried that they may help the Taliban consolidate their position or seem to be legitimising it. The disappearance of feminist activists last week – after one filmed a video of men she said were Taliban trying to enter her home – is further horrifying evidence of their brutal rule. Many older girls are still barred from school. LGBTQ+ people have reported mob attacks and rape. No one wants to give succour to the Taliban. But it should be possible to deal with them to support ordinary Afghans without formally recognising their government. The alternative is to abandon Afghans, who are suffering twice over: from Taliban control and from the international response to it.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • West plans to tie Afghan teacher aid to girls’ education pledge

    Funds will go only to those provinces where girls are in school if Taliban renege on promise, diplomats say

    The west is planning to incentivise the Taliban to abide by their promise to allow girls to be educated by providing funding for teachers’ salaries only in provinces in which the pledge is met.

    The Taliban claimed this week the group would allow girls of secondary school age to be educated from March, the start of the next school term. Sceptical diplomats said they would need more than verbal assurances, with physical and budgetary evidence of preparations being required.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Woodside Petroleum to pull out of Myanmar one year on from military coup

    Australian fossil fuel giant follows Chevron and Total in exiting the country as military junta’s human rights abuses continue

    Australia’s Woodside Petroleum has announced it is following multinational energy groups Chevron and Total in exiting Myanmar, saying it is unable to work in the country following the military coup nearly one year ago and the regime’s continuing human rights abuses and violence against civilians.

    The moves follow pressure from human rights groups, who have called on companies to stop doing business in Myanmar and cut off the flow of money from projects to the junta. February marks a year since the military re-took control of Myanmar in a coup.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Lives of LGBTQ+ Afghans ‘dramatically worse’ under Taliban rule, finds survey

    Human Rights Watch reports cases of mob attacks, gang-rape and death threats, with LGBTQ+ people living in fear and unable to flee

    The lives of LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan have “dramatically worsened” under Taliban rule, according to a new survey, which highlights cases of violence, gang-rape and death threats since the group seized power last year.

    The report, by Human Rights Watch (HRW), recorded nearly 60 cases of targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people since August 2021, many of whom described how Taliban rule has destroyed their lives.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • The Biden doctrine: Ukraine gaffe sums up mixed year of foreign policy

    On Russia and Putin, the president said the quiet part loud. Re-engagement has been welcomed but the exit from Afghanistan was a disaster. Analysts see much to do to rebuild US credibility

    Joe Biden marked his first anniversary in office with a gaffe over Ukraine that undid weeks of disciplined messaging and diplomatic preparation.

    The president’s suggestion that a “minor incursion” by Russia might split Nato over how to respond sent the White House into frantic damage limitation mode.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Facebook stalling report on human rights impact in India, allege whistleblowers

    Papers leaked by Frances Haugen revealed users in India were inundated with fake news and anti-Muslim posts

    Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen and other prominent whistleblowers have renewed calls for Facebook to release a long-awaited report on its impact in India, alleging the company is purposely obscuring human rights concerns.

    More than 20 organizations on Wednesday joined whistleblowers Frances Haugen and Sophie Zhang, as well as former Facebook vice-president Brian Boland, to demand the company, now called Meta, release its findings.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Increased repression and violence a sign of weakness, says Human Rights Watch

    Watchdog’s latest report argues autocrats around the world are getting desperate as opponents form coalitions to challenge them

    Increasingly repressive and violent acts against civilian protests by autocratic leaders and military regimes around the world are signs of their desperation and weakening grip on power, Human Rights Watch says in its annual assessment of human rights across the globe.

    In its world report 2022, the human rights organisation said autocratic leaders faced a significant backlash in 2021, with millions of people risking their lives to take to the streets to challenge regimes’ authority and demand democracy.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Leading campaigner urges UK to target wealth of Kazakhstani elite

    Bill Browder, who pushed for Magnitsky law, says anti-corruption laws should be used in response to deaths of at least 164 protesters

    One of the architects of the UK’s updated sanctions legislation has called for the government and crime agencies to target the wealth of the Kazakhstani elite following the deaths of at least 164 people during unrest.

    Bill Browder, an American investor turned campaigner, said the British government could use anti-corruption legislation to target the rulers of Kazakhstan on the grounds of human rights abuses.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.