Engnews May 2014

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RFA BREAKING NEWS: Chinese Officials Force Management Change at Tibetan Monastery

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Chinese Officials Force Management Change at Tibetan Monastery MAY 15, 2014 -- Chinese authorities have removed officials from a key monastery in a restive county of China’s Qinghai province whom they suspect of opposing Beijing’s rule, replacing them with monks of their own choosing, according to sources in the region. The move is believed to be the first high-profile management change by Beijing of a monastery in Tibetan-populated areas in recent years. The revamp this week at the Nyatso Zilkar monastery in Yulshul (in Chinese, Yushu) prefecture’s Tridu (Chenduo) county has heightened local fears that Zilkar’s new managers will now be acting under exclusive Chinese control, an area resident told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Wednesday. “This action has completely broken the tradition of the [monastery] managing its own discipline and activities,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “With this appointment of a new management committee for Zilkar monastery, the monks are worried about their future.” Chinese authorities in recent months had increasingly interfered in the work of Nyatso Zilkar, “accusing the management team of the monastery in involvement in separatist activities and pressing for their removal from management positions,” a Tibetan source told RFA last month. On May 10, the monastery’s managers were called to a meeting in nearby Dzatoe town, a local source told RFA on Wednesday. “The officials insisted that the current management team must be changed, and the pressure became so intense that the management committee members were replaced on May 11,” he said. An initial list of 32 candidates, including both Nyatso Zilkar monks and laypeople from nearby villages, was first shortened to 28 and then reduced further to a final list of nine, RFA’s source said, adding that these nine were then chosen without input from the monastery itself. Taken into custody When the head of nearby Khangmar village challenged two of those initially named, he was taken into custody for a day and a half and “questioned in detention,” the source said. “Later, he was released,” he said. Nyatso Zilkar, where monks in recent years have led protest marches and held prayer gatherings to honor self-immolation protesters, appears to have been principally targeted for new restrictions, but other local monasteries have also come under heightened scrutiny, one source said, identifying them as Shelma, Drubgyu, and Lu. “We are extremely worried, as this could have an impact on the monasteries’ activities,” he said. In December 2013, Chinese security forces surrounded monasteries with paramilitary police and detained monks in Driru (Biru) county in the neighboring Tibet Autonomous Region when county residents defied orders to fly the Chinese flag from their homes, according to Tibetan sources. Two years before, authorities in Tibet’s Chamdo prefecture had forced the return of monks and nuns to a monastery abandoned following a bomb attack on a government building, warning senior leaders that they could be shot if they fail to heed the order, sources said. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Beijing’s rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, with 131 Tibetans to date setting themselves ablaze to protest Chinese rule and call for the return of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/change-05152014173009.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

10 years, 7 months

RFA BREAKING NEWS: Xinjiang Police Open Fire at Protest Against Clampdown on Islamic Dress

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Xinjiang Police Open Fire at Protest Against Clampdown on Islamic Dress MAY 20, 2014 -- Police in China’s restive Xinjiang region opened fire Tuesday at a protest by hundreds of mostly Muslim ethnic minority Uyghurs angry over the detention of several women and middle school girls for wearing headscarves, according to residents who fear several were shot dead. The mass protest in front of government buildings in a township in Aksu prefecture’s Kucha county turned violent when participants beat the principal of the girls’ school and a township official and pelted stones at the buildings, the residents said. Eyewitnesses said up to four people may have been killed and several others wounded when special armed police blasted several rounds of gunfire at random apparently to control the swelling crowd near the Alaqagha township state buildings. Police also detained dozens among the protesters, who had demanded the immediate release of the girls and several other women detained by local authorities for wearing headscarves and Islamic robes. “I heard the sound of gunfire. All the protesters were shocked and fled in different directions,” a Uyghur woman who was at the protest scene told RFA’s Uyghur Service. “I don’t know for sure how many people were shot dead but the people around me were saying three or four were gunned down on the spot and several others wounded, including in the legs,” she said. “The armed police also detained many people.” Trigger She said the incident was triggered by an ongoing crackdown by local authorities on Uyghur men sporting beards and women wearing headscarves as well as on schools with girls adhering to Islamic dress. An unknown number of them had been detained by the authorities in recent days. “Their families and relatives gathered at the main door of government buildings today and demanded that the detainees, including schoolgirls, be freed,” the woman said, adding that the protests became bigger as other residents joined to express their anger over the detentions. She said the protesters beat the principal of the Alaqagha township middle school—identified as Tursun Qadir—who helped the authorities round up girls wearing headscarves. “The head of the township government [identified just as Ahmad] emerged to speak to the protesters but he was also beaten by the angry protesters.” Police who were contacted by RFA said the situation had calmed down by late Tuesday but refused to provide details such as the number of fatalities and of those detained. “The situation is already under control,” an officer at the Alaqagha township police station said, declining to elaborate on the incident, the latest in a series of violent events to rock Xinjiang. An officer at the neighboring Dongqotan police station, when contacted, said police were huddled in an emergency meeting and wanted all queries to be directed to the county authorities. Curbs on Islamic practices Uyghur rights groups accuse the Chinese authorities of heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including curbs on Islamic practices and the culture and language of the Uyghur people. Many Uyghurs say headscarves are a marker of Uyghur rather than Muslim identity. Chinese authorities, however, discourage the wearing of headscarves, veils, and other Islamic dress in the region. More than 100 people, mostly Uyghurs, are believed to have been killed in violence in the region over the last year as the authorities launched an aggressive campaign to clamp down on dissent and suppress what they call “separatist” campaigns. A woman resident of Alaqagha said she heard numerous gunshots from her house several meters away from the protest site on Tuesday. She said power supply to the township has been cut off and security forces were in full force in the streets. “Now, the police and other security forces are patrolling everywhere. We cannot walk in the streets. The electricity has been cut off and we are staying at home without lights.” Security tightened Security has been stepped up across Xinjiang since three people were killed and 79 injured in a knife and bomb attack on a railway station in the regional capital Urumqi when President Xi Jinping concluded a visit to the region last month. Following the attack, Xi called for "decisive actions" against such raids, saying "the battle to combat violence and terrorism will not allow even a moment of slackness,” the official Xinhua news agency said. Deadly 2009 ethnic riots between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in Urumqi left around 200 people dead and sparked a security crackdown targeting Uyghurs. Reported by Eset Sulaiman for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Eset Sulaiman. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/dress-05202014202002.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

10 years, 7 months

RFA BREAKING NEWS: Three Han Chinese Officials Murdered in Xinjiang During President Xi's Trip

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Three Han Chinese Officials Murdered in Xinjiang During President Xi's Trip MAY 14, 2014 -- Three senior Han Chinese officials were brutally murdered and their bodies dumped in a pond when President Xi Jinping visited the Xinjiang region—home to the restive mostly Muslim Uyghur minority—last month, according to police and local officials who had kept the bloody crime under wraps. The killing of the trio—two of whom had their throats slit and the third who had been stabbed 31 times—occurred on April 27, the first day of Xi’s four-day regional visit, which ended with a deadly blast at a railway station in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the officials said. The three were among four officials on a fishing expedition in a lake in Kargilik county in Kashgar prefecture when they were killed, just one day before Xi visited the prefecture, police said. When one of the officials couldn’t find the other three while fishing in Kokkolyar Lake, he reported the matter to police, resulting in a massive search that led to the discovery of their bodies, said Enver Tursun, deputy chief of the police station in Janggilieski town, where the incident occurred. "Two of the men had their throats cut and were dumped into the lake, while the third one was stabbed in 31 places before he was also pushed into the lake,” Tursun told RFA’s Uyghur Service. “It indicates that the third man had resisted against the murder suspects.” County level officials He said that the men, aged between 38 and 45, were senior county level officials—one was head of a bank and the two others were chiefs of the telecommunication department—all of whom were transferred to Xinjiang two years ago. The fourth official was a director of a state-owned company. All four were based in Poskam county, which neighbors Kargilik county. “For 15 days, the regional police department chief Chen Tingjiang and leaders of the prefectural police department of Kashgar have been on the case and, so far, over 150 people have been interrogated with some of them still in detention, but we still are unable to pinpoint the suspects,” Janggilieski police chief Kuresh Hesen told RFA. “We have now widened the search area,” he said. A Janggilieski Politics and Law Commission official said the bodies were handed over to the wives of the men the next day. A note posted on the Internet on May 3, and later deleted, claimed that the authorities had ordered the wives of the three Han officials to quickly bury their husbands. As the three men did not have any bad records, the families believed they may have been victims of a “terrorist attack,” according to the note, which could not be immediately authenticated with the authorities. Four other killings unconfirmed The note, circulated on the Baidu and Tianya online forums, also mentioned four other killings on the same day of the murder case in Kargilik county, including that of a 13-year old female middle school student who was allegedly stabbed by “a woman wearing a black veil.” None of them could be confirmed with the authorities. A teacher at the girl’s No. 2 Middle School in Poskam county, however, confirmed with RFA’s Cantonese Service that the student was from the school, though she refused to provide any personal details. Police had identified three to five initial suspects from the more than 150 people rounded up for questioning over the murder case, but have refused to give their identity, although many assume they are Uyghurs. The Janggilieski Politics and Law Commission official said police believe the suspects were from Lengger village in the town, “which is 99 percent Uyghur.” 'Front line' Xi visited a Kashgar police station on April 28, telling police officers that the prefecture is the “front line in anti-terrorist efforts and maintaining social stability.” "Grassroots police stations are 'fists and daggers' so you must spare no efforts in serving the people and safeguarding public security," Xi was quoted saying by state media. Henryk Szadziewski, senior researcher at the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project said the murder case in Kashgar ahead of Xi’s visit to the prefecture was a significant development. “It is a very alarming incident if the details are confirmed,” he told RFA’s Mandarin Service. “The timing is probably the reason why the information was suppressed,” he said, noting that Xi had conveyed a message of “stability” and “security” during his visit. Three people were killed and 79 injured in a knife and bomb attack on a railway station in Urumqi as President Xi Jinping concluded his Xinjiang trip. Following the attack, Xi called for "decisive actions" against such raids, saying "the battle to combat violence and terrorism will not allow even a moment of slackness,” the Xinhua official news agency said. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur Service, the Cantonese Service, and Nadia Usaeva for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur, Shiny Li and Nadia Usaeva. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/murder-05142014192309.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-leave@rfanews.org> engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to <mailto:engnews-join@rfanews.org> engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

10 years, 8 months

Radio Free Asia Hosts Vietnamese Bloggers Event Ahead of World Press Freedom Day

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 1, 2014 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org Radio Free Asia Hosts Vietnamese Bloggers Event Ahead of World Press Freedom Day Netizens Joined by Experts from U.S. State Department, Google, and other groups WASHINGTON - Marking the upcoming commemoration of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Radio Free Asia <http://www.rfa.org/english/> (RFA) today hosted "Towards a Free Media in Vietnam" featuring six Vietnam-based bloggers and digital activists, in addition to U.S. human rights, media, and technology experts. In two panels, speakers discussed ways to promote opening Vietnam's oppressive digital landscape and media environment. The event was co-sponsored by RFA's Open Technology Fund <https://www.opentechfund.org/> (OTF), Vietnamese reform party Viet Tan <http://www.viettan.org/-English-.html> , ACCESS <https://www.accessnow.org/> , Electronic Frontier Foundation <https://www.eff.org/> (EFF), and Reporters Without Borders <https://en.rsf.org/> (RSF). "For RFA's audience - and everyone around the world - empowerment begins with free speech and free press on any platform," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "The will and determination of these courageous bloggers from Vietnam, who risk so much to join us here today, are an inspiration. "Their cause is our cause. And it is the cause of all who pick up the banner of free expression and free media around the world." Vietnam's authoritarian government encourages the Internet's growth for the sake of economic gains. But at the same time, it retains tight controls and clamps down on government criticism online. It blocks websites, including RFA's; launches cyber attacks on online media; aggressively monitors its citizens' Internet use; routinely shuts down social media platforms; restricts content allowed online through a series of decrees; imposes narrow limits on providers such as the country's abundant Internet cafes; and jails bloggers - 31 at last count - making Vietnam second only to China as the world's biggest prison for netizens. This stark reality, along with hopes of finding ways to change it, were discussed in the first panel by the visiting bloggers, who included Le Thanh Tung, a freelance journalist and digital activist; Ngo Nhat Dang, a freelance journalist and contributor to the BBC Vietnamese section; Nguyen Dinh Ha, a blogger and digital activist; Nguyen Thi Kim Chi, an actress who began blogging; and To Oanh, a blogger and former contributor to state-owned newspapers. Speaking about these issues on the second panel, which was moderated by President Liu, were Scott Busby, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Do Hoang Diem, Chairman of Viet Tan; Jon Fox, Global Advocacy Manager at ACCESS; and Google Program Manager Meredith Whittaker. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

10 years, 8 months

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Engnews May 2014