Engnews March 2017

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Radio Free Asia Wins Award for Uyghur Diaspora Project

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2017 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 mahajanr(a)rfa.org Radio Free Asia Wins Award for In-Depth Web Project on Uyghur Diaspora WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia <http://www.rfa.org/about/> (RFA) is among min magazine's "Best of the Web" award winners and finalists for 2017. RFA's "Between Identity and Integration: The Uyghur Diaspora in the West <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/pathtofreedom/> " was selected as best multimedia feature in this year's international contest. RFA's online feature "The Wild West: Gold Mining and Its Hazards in Myanmar <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/goldmine/index.html> " was named a finalist in the same category. "With this investigative project, RFA interviewed generations of Uyghurs who left their homeland to resettle and re-establish their lives at unimaginable costs," said Libby Liu, RFA's President. "It's the stories of these brave individuals escaping Chinese repression that are so compelling. "Credit for this award belongs to RFA's Uyghur, editorial, and graphics staff for their hard work in realizing this incredible and ambitious project." Over the past 60 years, tens of thousands of ethnic Uyghurs from northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have fled oppression and political violence at home, seeking refuge in the West. "Between Identity and Integration" is the first known effort to document the emigration of Uyghurs from China to Europe and Turkey. RFA shares these individuals' stories through interviews, in-depth reports, and graphics. Collected in this investigative project, they tell of the heartbreaking losses, intrepid escapes, and personal triumphs of Uyghurs who went into exile after the 1949 establishment of Communist Chinese rule, which extinguished hopes of an independent homeland. RFA's finalist entry "The Wild West" focuses on the unprecedented environmental destruction and human toll of rampant industrial gold mining in Myanmar. With a documentary video and in-depth reports, the special investigation provides a detailed look at the lives of the mostly young people driven by poverty to undertake the dangerous and low-paying work in the Mohnyin district of Myanmar's northern Kachin State. Other winners in this year's min awards <http://www.minonline.com/best-of-web-winners-honorees-2017/> include Bloomberg Media, The Economist, Time Inc., National Geographic Society, and Hearst Magazines Digital Media. # # # 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 | Director of Public Affairs and Digital Strategy <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

7 years, 9 months

RFA Breaking News (UPDATE): Young Farmer Stages First Tibetan Self-Immolation of 2017

by Paul Eckert

(Updates with conflicting report on status of Pema Gyaltsen.) Young Farmer Stages First Tibetan Self-Immolation of 2017 March 19, 2017 - UPDATED at 11:10 A.M. EDT on 2017-03-19 A 24-year-old Tibetan man set himself on fire Saturday in a protest against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region, the first reported self-immolation of 2017, sources told RFA's Tibetan Service. Pema Gyaltsen, from Nyagrong (in Chinese, Xinlong) in Kardze (Ganzi) county Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, around 4 p.m., and police swiftly removed his charred body from the scene, Tibetan sources told RFA. Two sources from the Tibetan exile community said Gyaltsen, an unmarried farmer, was taken to a hospital in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. One source said the man later died, but the other said his contacts in the region believed he was still alive in hospital. In a one-minute video clip that was circulating on Tibetan social media, Chinese police are seen dispersing Tibetan onlookers from a scene of commotion, with women crying. Sources told RFA that authorities blocked the popular smartphone application WeChat following the self-immolation. "In the evening around ten close relatives of Pema Gyaltsen from Nyagrong went to Kandze county police station to see self-immolator Pema Gyaltsen. But the Chinese beat them severely and detained them for the entire night, and forced them to stand up the whole night," a Tibetan exile source with contacts in the town told RFA. "Today some of them could barely walk from the beating, but they were released under the guarantee of a Nyarong official," the source added. "He called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and said there is no freedom in Tibet at the time of self-immolation," another source told RFA. Gyaltsen was the eldest of five children of his father Wangyal and mother Yullha, and "the main breadwinner of his family and had not attended any school," the second source added. The Kardze police station did not answer repeated calls by RFA seeking details of the incident. Saturday's protest brings to 147 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009. The previous known self-immolation was on Dec. 8, when Tashi Rabten, 33, a husband and father of three, set himself on fire and died in Gansu province. Gyaltsen's protest was the second case of self-immolation in Nyagrong, following the death of 18-year-old Kalsang Wangdu in March 2016. Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Lobsang Choephel, Sangyal Dorjee, Dawa Dolma and Pema Ngodup for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Paul Eckert. UPDATE: Adds conflicting report on death of Pema Gyaltsen. Reported by Lobsang Choephel, Sangyal Dorjee, Dawa Dolma and Pema Ngodup for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Paul Eckert. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/sichuan-immolation-03192017095940.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.

7 years, 10 months

RFA Breaking News: Young Farmer Stages First Tibetan Self-Immolation of 2017

by Paul Eckert

Young Farmer Stages First Tibetan Self-Immolation of 2017 March 19, 2017 - A 24-year-old Tibetan man has died after setting himself on fire Saturday in a protest against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region, the first reported self-immolation of 2017, sources told RFA's Tibetan Service. Pema Gyaltsen, from Nyarong (in Chinese, Xinlong) in Kandze (Ganzi) county Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, around 4 p.m., and police swiftly removed his charred body from the scene, Tibetan sources told RFA. They said Gyaltsen, an unmarried farmer, later died after being taken to a hospital in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. In a one-minute video clip that was circulating on Tibetan social media, Chinese police are seen dispersing Tibetan onlookers from a scene of commotion, with women crying. Sources told RFA that authorities blocked the popular smartphone application WeChat following the self-immolation. "In the evening around 10, close relatives of Pema Gyaltsen from Nyarong went to Kandze county police station to see self-immolator Pema Gyaltsen. But the Chinese beat them severely and detained them for the entire night, and forced them to stand up the whole night," a Tibetan exile source with contacts in the town told RFA. "Today some of them could barely walk from the beating, but they were released under the guarantee of a Nyarong official," the source added. "He called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and said there is no freedom in Tibet at the time of self-immolation," another source told RFA. Gyaltsen was the eldest of five children of his father Wangyal and mother Yullha, and "the main breadwinner of his family and had not attended any school," the second source added. The Kandze police station did not answer repeated calls by RFA seeking details of the incident. Saturday's protest brings to 147 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans living in China since the wave of fiery protests began in 2009. The previous known self-immolation was on Dec. 8, when Tashi Rabten, 33, a husband and father of three, set himself on fire and died in Gansu province. Gyaltsen's protest was the second case of self-immolation in Nyarong, following the death of 18-year-old Kalsang Wangdu in March 2016. Most protests feature demands for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama from India, where he has lived since escaping Tibet during a failed national uprising in 1959. Reported by Lobsang Choephel, Sangyal Dorjee, Dawa Dolma and Pema Ngodup for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Paul Eckert. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/sichuan-immolation-03192017095940.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.

7 years, 10 months

RFA Breaking News: China's Rebel Village Still Under Close Surveillance, Cut Off From World

by Paul Eckert

China's Rebel Village Still Under Close Surveillance, Cut Off From World March 16, 2017 - More than a year after a police raid ended months of daily demonstrations, the rebel Chinese village of Wukan is under a security cordon six or seven levels deep, with residents under constant surveillance from security cameras, an activist told RFA on Thursday . The village in southern China's Guangdong province has been largely incommunicado since hundreds of armed police in full riot gear raided the village on Sept. 13, firing rubber bullets and tear gas into crowds of protesters who fought back with bricks from behind makeshift barricades. "There are six or seven layers of security surrounding Wukan before you get to the center of the village," Chen Yongzong, a farmer-turned-rights activist from the southern region of Guangxi, told RFA on Thursday following an incognito visit to check up on the relatives of an activist in exile. "But security cameras all have blind-spots. There were cameras all around the tombs [outside the village] but I got in via the tombs at night," Chen said. Chen said it had been difficult to avoid appearing on security cameras once inside the main village, however. "All I could do was not carry a big backpack, so they couldn't tell I wasn't a local resident, or where I was from," he said. Chen, who hails from Guangxi's Liuzhou city, said the atmosphere is still "extremely tense" on the streets of Wukan. "It is extremely tense, and there were so many security cameras when I went there," he said. "I have never seen cameras so densely packed before." "They had them on all of the main paved roads in the village, so it is impossible to avoid appearing on them," Chen said. "The local residents there are very wary, and very few people spoke to me." "They were really terrified, that was the impression I got," he said. "If you spoke to them, they'd just say they didn't know." Missing activists sought Chen said he made the trip in spite of the fear of being detained to try to find out what happened to two fellow activists from Guangxi, Yang Jishuang and Huang Huimin, who have been incommunicado since they traveled to Wukan to support the protests. "They were detained and beaten up after they got here, and now they are incommunicado," Chen said. "I am very worried about them, so I came here to investigate." While he was in Wukan, Chen also paid a call on the relatives of Zhuang Liehong, a former land rights activist from Wukan who fled to the U.S. in the wake of earlier protests and clashes in 2011. "There were two or three [security cameras] installed to the left of Zhuang Liehong's family home, and one on the right," said Chen, who paid a visit to Zhuang's elderly mother. "I bowed once I had gotten inside the door, and explained who I was, that I was sent by Zhuang Liehong to visit them," he said. "She was pretty shocked; I think she was scared. I could see it in her eyes." He said the family had asked him to leave, apparently for fear of reprisals from the authorities. "Zhuang Liehong's brother was there too, and he said to me, 'leave, please leave,'" Chen said. "They were terrified. I think they were afraid I might be a plainclothes cop trying to entrap them." "They didn't believe me until I played them a recording that Zhuang Liehong had given me," he said. "Then their attitude changed completely, and they became warm and friendly, and treated me very kindly." Zhuang, who has continued to campaign on behalf of his hometown while in the U.S., said Chen was the first person to make it past the tight security and visit his family. "[Activists] I've been in contact with before said they were taken to the police station for questioning, and part of the inquiry was about whether or not they were in direct contact with me," Zhuang told RFA. "I am the only person from Wukan who is able to speak out, so the authorities are extremely focused on me," he said. Police hound family of exiled activist He said local officials typically visit his family home to check up on them several times a day. "They are afraid that the outside world will find out what is going on in Wukan," Zhuang said. Authorities in Guangdong in January sent nine Wukan residents to prison to begin serving sentences ranging from two to 10 years for their involvement in resistance to the armed police raid, without giving them a chance to appeal. The nine were sentenced by the Haifeng County People's Court on Dec. 26 for their part in resisting a raid that put an end to months of daily mass protest in Wukan following the loss of village land and the jailing of its former leader Lin Zuluan. They were found guilty of charges that included "unlawful assembly," "disrupting public order," "disrupting traffic," "obstructing official business," and "intentionally spreading false information." Wukan villagers have been campaigning for the return of land sold out from under them by former village chief Xue Chang, who was fired for corruption after an earlier round of protests and clashes in 2011, sparking fresh elections that saw Lin Zuluan take the helm. But even Lin and his newly-elected village committee found it hard to secure the return of the land amid powerful vested interests, political changes higher up, and a tangle of complex legal issues. September's raid by police on Wukan came after a court in Guangdong's Foshan city sentenced Lin to more than three years' imprisonment on "bribery" charges that local residents said were trumped up. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/wukan-lockdown-03162017140431.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 engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

7 years, 10 months

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Engnews March 2017