Engnews May 2019

engnews@rfanews.org

2 participants
5 discussions

RFA Breaking News: Kazakh and Uyghur Detainees of Xinjiang ‘Re-education Camps’ Must ‘Eat Pork or Face Punishment’

by Paul Eckert

Kazakh and Uyghur Detainees of Xinjiang ‘Re-education Camps’ Must ‘Eat Pork or Face Punishment’ May 23, 2019 - Kazakh and Uyghur held in political “re-education camps” in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are being forced to consume pork, despite the dietary restrictions of their Muslim faith, in a bid by authorities to assimilate them into Chinese culture, according to three former detainees. Since April 2017, authorities in the XUAR have held an estimated 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas in the camps, which China claims are an effective tool to protect the country from terrorism and provide vocational training. Reporting by RFA’s Uyghur Service and other media organizations, however, has shown that those in the camps are detained against their will and subjected to political indoctrination, routinely face rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, and endure poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities. Gulzire Awulqanqizi, an ethnic Kazakh Muslim who was held at the Dongmehle Re-education Camp in Ili Kazakh (in Chinese, Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture’s Ghulja (Yining) city from July 2017 to October 2018, recently told RFA in an interview that detainees are told they must eat pork, or face punishment. Awulqanqizi said she and other detainees were initially given pork at a meal without their knowledge. “They simply said it was a ‘friendly feast,’ but we could tell there was pork, which we can’t stand to eat,” she said. Later, Awulqanqizi said, authorities at the camp would serve pork for dinner more regularly, but only after stressing the importance of creating “unity among nationalities” and getting along with members of the Han Chinese majority when detainees are released. Awulqanqizi told RFA that she vomited after eating pork the first time. But instead of helping her, camp officials told Awulqanqizi that her distaste for pork was all in her head and threatened to send her to a different camp if she continued to get sick from eating it. Awulqanqizi forced herself to eat pork whenever it was served until she left the camp last year. ‘Eat or face punishment’ A similar account was told to RFA by Omurbek Eli, a Muslim Kazakh national of mixed Uyghur and Kazakh heritage from the XUAR who was arrested by police in Turpan (Tulufan) prefecture in 2017 while visiting his parents and accused of “terrorist activities.” Eli was refused legal representation and held at a prison for more than seven months, before being released with the assistance of the Kazakh government, and sent to a re-education camp for nearly a month. During his time in the camp, Eli said, detainees were made to eat pork every Friday. “They would give us a kind of food made with rice, but it didn’t look like polo (Uyghur pilaf) or anything, and they would place thumb-sized pieces of pork on top of it,” he said. “The guards would even ask, ‘Isn’t the pork we gave you delicious?’ But they would also say, ‘You have to eat pork or you’ll face punishment.’” ‘No right to ask’ A Kazakh national named Gulbahar Jelilova told RFA that she also was regularly served pork while detained at a camp in the XUAR from May 2017 to August 2018, though guards never told her it was in the food. “It appeared once or twice a week in small pieces in our food, but if we separated out the meat when we ate, the guard monitoring us on camera would rush into our cell and yell, “Why are you wasting the food the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] has given you,” said Jelilova, a businesswoman who now lives in Istanbul, Turkey. There was one old lady who said she only wanted to eat buns and drink water, instead of the food with pork. She was punished for her refusal and deprived of food for a few days.” Jelilova said that in several cases, detainees who separated the pork out of their meals were placed in solitary confinement as punishment. “We had no right to ask what meat was in the food or say we didn’t want to eat it,” she said. Pork and alcohol In February, sources told RFA that Chinese authorities in the XUAR were delivering pork to Muslim households during the Lunar New Year holiday, and forcing some Muslims to drink alcohol, eat pork, and display emblems of traditional Chinese culture. Residents of Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture said officials had invited them to celebratory dinners marking the Lunar New Year at which pork was served, then threatening to send them to a "re-education" camp if they refused to take part. Photos sent to RFA also showed an official from Ili's Yining city visiting Muslim households and distributing raw pork, in the name of helping the less well-off on the eve of the Year of the Pig. Pork and alcohol are forbidden by Islam, and the celebration of Chinese festivals has roots in polytheistic folk religion, which includes Buddhist iconography. Muslims honoring such festivals risk committing the unforgivable sin of espousing more than one god. Reported by Shohret Hoshur and Gulchehra Hoja for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Alim Seytoff. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this story online at: [ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/pork-05232019154338.html | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/pork-05232019154338.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 ] .

5 years, 7 months

RFA Breaking News: Branstad to Make First Visit to Tibet by U.S. China Ambassador Since 2013

by Paul Eckert

Branstad to Make First Visit to Tibet by U.S. China Ambassador Since 2013 May 19, 2019 - U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad will travel to Tibet from Sunday for official meetings and visits to religious and cultural heritage sites, in the first such trip by a U.S. envoy to China since 2013, the State Department said. Branstad will visit the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and Qinghai Province, a historic region of Tibet known to Tibetans as Amdo, from May 19 to 25, a State Department spokesman told RFA’s Tibetan Service. “This visit is a chance for the Ambassador to engage with local leaders to raise longstanding concerns about restrictions on religious freedom and the preservation of Tibetan culture and language,” the spokesman said. “He will also learn first-hand about the region’s unique cultural, religious, and ecological significance,” said the spokesman. “The Ambassador welcomes this opportunity to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region, and encourages authorities to provide access to the region to all American citizens,” the spokesman added. Branstad’s visit is the first by a U.S. official to Tibet since the approval by U.S. lawmakers in December of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, which requires Washington by the end of this year to deny visas to Chinese officials in charge of implementing policies that restrict access for foreigners to Tibet. A report by the State Department in March said that China “systematically” impedes access to Tibet for U.S. diplomats and officials, journalists, and tourists, and when visits to the region are granted, they are “highly restricted. In 2018, the TAR was the only area of China for which the Chinese government required diplomats to request permission to visit, and Beijing denied five of the nine official requests for the U.S. diplomatic mission in China to visit the region, including one from Branstad, said the first annual report on U.S. access. China dismissed the report, which was mandated by the reciprocal access act, as being “full of bias” and harmful to bilateral relations. Gary Locke, President Barack Obama’s envoy to Beijing, was the last U.S. ambassador to visit Tibet, in June 2013. On Thursday the Dharamsala, India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) issued a report that said the human rights situation in Tibet took a sharp downward turn last year with tightened restrictions on travel by Tibetans and a new campaign against “organized crime” targeting Tibetan civil society and cultural practices. Calling 2018 a “pivotal year” for human rights in the TAR and other Tibetan areas of China, TCHRD said that new policies and regulations have led to “an increased restriction on human rights and lives of the Tibetan people.” A nationwide campaign against “crime” and “black and evil forces” introduced at the beginning of the year resulted in the detention, arrest, and torture of human rights and environmental activists and of ordinary Tibetans promoting the use of the Tibetan language, the rights group said in its report. “Peaceful dissent of any kind and degree was met with harsh penalties,” TCHRD said. In December, two young Tibetans set themselves ablaze in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county in Sichuan province in opposition to China’s rule, as well as political and religious repression in the TAR and other Tibetan areas. They raised to 157 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans since the wave of fiery protests against nearly 70 years of Chinese rule of their homeland began in 2009. China maintains that it peacefully liberated Tibet from feudal rule, and that Tibetans enjoy the economic development it has brought to the region. Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert. View this story online at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/usa-envoy-05192019132408.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.

5 years, 8 months

RFA Breaking News: North Korea Begins Crackdown on Falun Gong

by Paul Eckert

North Korea Begins Crackdown on Falun Gong May 17, 2019 - Falun Gong, controversial spiritual movement with recent origins in China, is reportedly spreading in the North Korean capital city of Pyongyang, even as North Korean and Chinese authorities have launched crackdowns to eliminate it, sources say. Founded in 1992 in China’s northeast, the Falun Gong spiritual movement gained increasing influence as the fastest growing religion in the PRC and overseas over the next seven years. In 1999 the Chinese government at the orders of then President Jiang Zemin began a harsh and sometimes deadly crackdown on the sect, dragging practitioners from their homes and sending them to detention centers. Outside of China, the movement was considered harmless and continued to flourish. It is often cited as an example of religious persecution in China, with practitioners and allied religious freedom advocates holding protests in major cities to bring attention to the situation faced by Falun Gong believers in the PRC. Sources within North Korea have said that authorities in Pyongyang have begun a crackdown on Falun Gong as the city has seen a sharp increase in the number of followers within its population. “The judicial authorities are struggling because the spread of Falun Gong among citizens of Pyongyang has surged beyond their expectations,” said a source from Pyongyang in an interview with RFA’s Korean Service on May 11. The source said that the authorities began their crackdown last month. “In early April, the police issued a proclamation ordering citizens to voluntarily report their status as believers in Falun Gong. They threatened to impose harsh punishments on those who don’t turn themselves in, but are found after the reporting period,” the source said. Government action against Falun Gong appears to have backfired according to the source, as the negative publicity for the religion seems to have made it more popular. “After the proclamation and subsequent crackdown, people are suddenly very interested in Falun Gong, which had already been spreading in [Pyongyang’s] underworld. Falun Gong is known here as a religious practice that combines meditation and physical exercises, so people are now approaching it with curiosity,” said the source. Trade officials introduce the practice While there is no official record of how Falun Gong entered North Korea, the source said it was introduced by trade officials in Pyongyang. “The headquarters of the central trade organizations are concentrated in Pyongyang. As North Korea-China trade relations have become more active recently, Falun Gong began spreading in Pyongyang through trade workers,” the source said. According to the source, during the first round of crackdowns, 100 Falun Gong followers were arrested in Pyongyang—a number that is a lot higher than they expected. “Many Falun Gong followers were arrested in other districts [of Pyongyang] and they will be sentenced to hard labor or correctional labor depending on the severity of their crimes,” added the source. The source said that the crackdown has increased tension in the police department because so many practitioners were caught in the early crackdown. “They can’t predict how many more Falun Gong followers they will arrest and since [the religion] is spreading among high-ranking government officials and their families, it is becoming more than a troubling issue for them,” the source said. Another source, also from Pyongyang likened the crackdown on Falun Gong to a war on the religion, and compared the situation to how North Korean authorities have persecuted followers of other religions in the past. “The Central Committee [of the Korean Workers’ Party] say that Christianity is like opium or drugs and have harshly punished [Christians]. Now that Falun Gong is here, people are watching closely to see how the authorities will respond,” the second source said. Rapid spread The second source believes that the religion has many features that North Koreans are quite curious about, leading to its rapid spread. “Faun Gong has spread [here] because everyone wants to get martial arts training and exercise, and they [like] the magical spiritual ability to control the human soul,” the second source said. While the rapid spread might be alarming to the regime, the second source believes that the religion will not be easy to quash. “Even the Chinese government did not win [their battle] against Falun Gong, and now it’s spreading in Pyongyang, the heart of a historic hereditary dictatorship,” said the second source. The second source also believes that Falun Gong is popular because the people live in oppression, and because followers of the religion make fantastic claims, giving them hope. “[It’s] like a rainfall during a drought because the citizens have no hope for the future. People in Pyongyang say absurd things like that Falun Gong followers will not die or dry out if they were hanged for 80 days. So many people believe this is true,” said the second source. The Pyongyang crackdown on Falun Gong is the first ever action by the government against the movement in North Korea. The 100 people arrested for following Falun Gong were caught only in Pyongyang's Songyo district, one of 18 districts in the city. North Korea’s constitution allows for freedom of religious beliefs, but true religious freedom does not exist within its borders and all churches and temples are state operated. The website of Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) says that organized religion is perceived by the regime as a threat, and besides token churches and temples built to give the appearance of religious freedom, North Koreans must practice their religions in secret or risk a stint in a prison camp or worse, execution. The website notes that “thousands of Buddhists and Christians have been purged and persecuted throughout the history of North Korea.” A 2014 United Nations report cited North Korean government figures showing that the proportion of religious adherents among the population dropped from close to 24 percent in 1950 to 0.016 percent in 2002. Reported by Jieun Kim for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. View this story online at: [ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-falun-gong-05172019164536.html | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-falun-gong-05172019164536.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 ] .

5 years, 8 months

RFA Breaking News: Vietnamese Human Rights Campaigner Leaves Thailand for Canada

by Paul Eckert

Vietnamese Human Rights Campaigner Leaves Thailand for Canada May 2, 2019 - Human rights activist Bach Hong Quyen left Thailand for Canada on Thursday, ending fears he could be extradited to Vietnam for his role in helping a dissident Vietnamese blogger apply for asylum in Bangkok before he was abducted by Vietnamese agents. Truong Duy Nhat, an RFA contributor, disappeared in Bangkok in late January, and two months later was revealed to be in a Hanoi jail, in what legal experts said was a violation by Vietnam's police of the country's criminal procedure laws. Quyen and his six-month-old son Joseph boarded an airplane leaving Bangkok at 10:40 p.m. local time, with arrival in Canada expected early on Friday, Do Ky Anh-a representative of the Voice Canada advocacy group-told RFA's Vietnamese Service on May 2. "Quyen left Thailand at night on May 2 and will arrive in Mississauga city of Canada at around 9:30 in the morning of May 3," Anh said. He added that Quyen had spent about a week in an immigration detention center in accordance with Thai regulations that immigrants be held in detention before leaving for a third country. Quyen had been approved for travel to Canada in a refugee program funded by the Canadian government, Voice Canada said in a press release, adding that Quyen's wife Bui Huong Giang and the couple's two daughters had already traveled to Canada under the same program on April 16. Anh said he had no information regarding Quyen's possible extradition to Vietnam for having helped Nhat before the blogger's abduction, but said "We did have concerns about that." "We heard that when Quyen was in the IDC [immigration detention center], a delegation from Vietnam visited the facility. I don't know why they were there, but we monitored Quyen's situation in the IDC very closely." Thai immigration authorities have denied any knowledge of efforts to deport Quyen, who fled to Thailand in May 2017 after Vietnamese police issued a warrant for his arrest for organizing a march on the anniversary of a 2016 waste spill that that polluted the coast of central Vietnam. The environmental disaster sparked major protests. In a May 2 press release, Voice-a California-based organization supporting human rights and civil society in Vietnam-and its branch Voice Canada thanked the United Nations refugee agency, the Thai government, Human Rights Watch, and other groups for their help to Quyen and his family. "After two years of efforts, and with the utmost help from individuals and organizations, we have succeeded in helping Quyen and his family reunite and settle down in Canada," the advocacy group said. Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Richard Finney. View this story online at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/canada-05022019172237.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.

5 years, 8 months

Tactics to Threaten and Intimidate Journalists 'Unacceptable': RFA President

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Tactics to Threaten and Intimidate Journalists 'Unacceptable': RFA President WASHINGTON-As journalists and news groups around the world mark World Press Freedom Day, Radio Free Asia <https://www.rfa.org/english/> 's President noted the serious challenges and threats the organization and its contributors face. Especially alarming have been the declining trends in all of RFA's broadcast countries, in which authorities have jailed contributors, re-instated charges against former reporters, and even detained relatives of RFA journalists. "Radio Free Asia's brave reporters often endure unimaginable threats and intimidation so we can get the truth to our audiences," said RFA President Libby Liu. "Regimes resort to every possible means to crush independent voices with impunity. The consequences have sadly been profound for RFA's journalists. "Among the dozens of bloggers and reporters imprisoned under Vietnam's restrictive media laws are RFA videographer Nguyen Van Hoa, and more recently, blogger Truong Duy Nhat who resurfaced in a Vietnamese prison three months after disappearing from Bangkok where he was seeking asylum. "China continues to hold dozens of relatives of six U.S.-based Uyghur journalists in retaliation for their work exposing the mass incarcerations in Xinjiang. In Cambodia, two former RFA reporters continue to face trumped-up charges for their past association with our organization, long after we were forced to leave the country. "These harsh tactics are unacceptable and will not deter RFA from bringing free press to closed societies. World Press Freedom Day is an important time to remember the struggles journalists face every day to shed light on events and developments that affect us all. In an era of widespread authoritarian rule and disinformation, RFA's mission proves as vital as ever." Reporters Without Borders (RSF)'s recent World Press Freedom Index <https://rsf.org/en/2019-world-press-freedom-index-cycle-fear> emphasized the news "black hole" developing in China and Vietnam where authoritarian rulers continue to consolidate their power. The global survey specifically highlighted China's efforts to export its censorship technology as one of the major threats to press freedom in the region as the country funnels funds and resources to authoritarian regimes. Disinformation is a growing concern in countries such as Myanmar where hate messages go unmoderated. North Korea ranked second to last, the first time it has moved from the bottom of RSF's index in three years. Radio Free Asia recently joined global news organizations and publishers in the recently launched One Free Press Coalition <https://www.onefreepresscoalition.com/> , an effort to call attention to journalists under attack around the world. # # # 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 United States Agency for Global Media. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Vice President of Communications & External Relations <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

5 years, 8 months

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Engnews May 2019