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by Sarah Jackson-Han

Also on www.rfa.org: Multimedia Journey Down the Mekong www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject <http://www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject> China Jails Tibetan Filmmaker HONG KONG, Jan. 6, 2010-Authorities in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai have handed a six-year jail sentence to a Tibetan filmmaker who returned from exile to make a documentary about his homeland, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. The Xilin People's Court handed the sentence to Dhondup Wangchen, the producer of the documentary "Leaving Fear Behind," in a secret trial that found him guilty of "splitting the motherland," Tibetan sources told RFA's Tibetan service. "Dhondup Wangchen, the producer of 'Leaving Fear Behind,' was sentenced six years to prison," a Tibetan from the Amdo region identified as Thardrub said. "We were checking around about it...later, we were able to confirm that he was sentenced secretly by Xilin People's Court in Qinghai on Dec. 28, 2009." Dhondup Wangchen's relatives were given no information about his trial or sentencing, he added. "They were not informed about the sentencing," Thardrub said. "The relatives argue that he is innocent and he did not commit any crime...They are planning to appeal his sentence in the higher courts." Jamyang Tsultrim, a relative of Dhondup Wangchen now living in Switzerland, said the sentencing of Dhondup Wangchen was a clear indication of how Tibetans were deprived of freedom of expression in China. "His relatives made arrangements for a lawyer to represent him, but the lawyers were not allowed to represent him," Jamyang Tsultrim said. "He was also suffering from liver problems and was denied any kind of medical treatment," he added. Short documentary Jamyang Tsultrim also said Dhondup Wangchen's relatives weren't informed about his detention, his health problems, or his sentencing. The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ran a petition campaign following Dhondup Wangchen's detention on March 23, 2008, calling him "a courageous man who took the risk of returning to his country to interview other Tibetans." Dhondup Wangchen's film, "Leaving Fear Behind" ( www.leavingfearbehind.com), is a 25-minute documentary including interviews with Tibetans in the Amdo region expressing their views on Tibet's exiled leader the Dalai Lama, the Beijing Olympics, and Chinese laws. The authorities also detained Jigme Gyatso, a monk from the Kham region, at the same time, but released him on Oct. 15. He later said he was tortured in detention. "Leaving Fear Behind" was produced outside China after Dhondup Wangchen managed to send footage out of Tibet before the authorities caught up with him. It was shown to foreign journalists in Beijing during the Olympic Games. Many Tibetans have chafed for years under Chinese rule. Rioting rocked the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March 2008 and spread to Tibetan-populated regions of western China, causing official embarrassment ahead of the August 2008 Beijing Olympics. Chinese officials say 21 people-including three Tibetan protesters-died in the violence. The India-based Tibetan government-in-exile estimates that 220 Tibetans were killed and 7,000 were detained in a subsequent region-wide crackdown. Original reporting by RFA's Tibetan service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years

RFA News: Chinese Activist's Family Gets US Asylum

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Also on www.rfa.org: Multimedia Journey Down the Mekong www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject <http://www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject> Lawyers, Activists Denied Access http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/refusedaccess-11172009171720.html <http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/refusedaccess-11172009171720.html> Chinese Activist's Family Gets US Asylum HONG KONG, Nov. 19, 2009-The wife and two children of a jailed Chinese rights lawyer have been granted political asylum in the United States, Radio Free Asia reports. Zhang Qing, the wife of jailed Chinese rights lawyer Guo Feixiong, and their two children were notified of their status on Nov. 19, she told RFA's Mandarin service in her first interview since arriving in the United States in early April. "I was notified this morning," she said. Zhang and her children fled their home in Guangzhou in late January and reached Thailand in early February before continuing to the United States. Zhang said she is relieved to have been granted asylum, adding that she and her children, Xixi and Jinbao, had been persecuted by the Chinese government because of her husband's civil right work. "I lost my job. Jinbao missed an entire year of schooling. Xixi's schooling was also under their control. Our bank account was frozen. Our lives were greatly disrupted. It was under these circumstances that we left China," Zhang said. Guo Feixiong is currently serving a five-year jail term for "illegal business activities." Zhang said that while she now feels safe, she and the children miss Guo and are concerned for his health. "We have heard a lot of news about him, but it is all bad news. He was beaten. He sustained injuries to his arm. Family members were prohibited from visiting him," Zhang said. She said Guo had asked to see his attorney in prison, but that each attempt to meet had been blocked by prison officials. "We are deeply worried about his well-being," she said. Taishi corruption In mid-2005, Guo Feixiong was beaten by police in China's southern Guangdong province after representing villagers seeking to remove their local Communist Party head, whom they accused of corruption in a lucrative property transaction. "[Guo] was involved in the [village chief] recall campaign of Taishi village... He offered legal assistance to the villagers in their attempt to exercise their rights to democratic elections," Zhang said. But Zhang said the movement was suppressed by "as many as 1,000 riot police," leading to Guo's arrest and the detention of "scores of villagers." Guo was incarcerated for 3-1/2 months but eventually exonerated and released. Zhang said that Guo had refused food and water while in prison to protest his "illegal arrest" and was subject to government harassment after being released. "He was followed everywhere. He was not allowed to leave his home and was placed under house arrest. His personal freedom was restricted. He endured beatings on three separate occasions," she said. 2006 arrest Guo was arrested again in September 2006 after becoming involved in a campaign to release fellow rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Authorities charged him with engaging in illegal business activities after publishing an article exposing official corruption in the northeastern city of Shenyang. Zhang said that while Guo's case was remanded twice on grounds of insufficient evidence, he was subjected to brutal treatment at the hands of the Guangzhou police. "For 42 days his hands and feet were tied together to a hardboard bed. Even under such brutality he did not succumb and refused to confess. Without evidence the case could not go on," she said. Guo was transferred to custody in Shenyang, which Zhang called "a place known for its brutal treatment of prisoners." "He was hit in the genitals with electric batons" by prison guards there, Zhang said. "While this wrongful case was being processed he was interrogated 175 times... The police knowingly violated the law. They fabricated the case against him," she said. Mistreatment in prison Zhang said that Guo has been constantly abused while serving his current sentence. "As soon as he was transferred to the Meizhou prison [in Guangdong province], the prison authorities drew three yellow warning lines in front of his cell. He was not allowed to cross the lines. He was not allowed to have any kind of contact with the other inmates," Zhang said. "The prison authorities also ordered him to do labor. He went on a hunger strike to protest," she said. Guo began seeking an appeal for his case in early 2008, but Zhang said that the process has been delayed. She said Guo had not even been allowed to meet with his attorney until November last year. "According to the law, the lawyer and his client are supposed to meet face-to-face across a table without police presence. They are supposed to be able to speak freely without being monitored or recorded," she said. But Zhang said Guo and his lawyer were forced to speak to each other on a phone through a glass window with police listening in and recording their conversation. "Given the circumstances they were not able to even touch on the core of the problem. So the meeting, which was granted only after almost an entire year's effort, was a total waste," she said. Zhang said a request to meet with his lawyer again this year has been met with "tremendous obstructions." Call for rights Zhang called on Chinese authorities to safeguard Guo's legal rights. "I have heard so many times that he has been brutally beaten and that he has sustained injuries-this on top of the torture he had endured before." Zhang said inmates' personal safety should be guaranteed according to China's prison laws and regulations. "I call on the prison authorities to fulfill at least this most basic requirement," she said. Zhang also called on authorities to grant Guo the right to pursue an appeal and to meet with his lawyer. "From my first open letter to President Hu Jintao I have been urging the Chinese government to resolve and to re-evaluate this wrongful case in a just way, and to exonerate and free him." Zhang said. "I reiterate my plea: Stop persecuting Guo Feixiong and release him," she said. "I also call on everyone in China and the international community to express their concern about Guo Feixiong's case, as well as those against other rights lawyers and dissidents." Original reporting by Zhang Min for RFA's Mandarin service. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated by Jennifer Chou. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 1 month

RFA News: North Korea's Underground Bunkers

by Rohit Mahajan

Also on www.rfa.org: Multimedia Journey Down the Mekong www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject Drug Abuse Among Hong Kong Teens www.rfa.org/english/news/china/youngerabusers-11122009130512.html North Korea's Underground Bunkers Hundreds of bunkers are decoys, a defector says, while hundreds more contain material for a possible invasion. SEOUL, Nov. 16, 2009-North Korea built hundreds of bunkers at the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating it from South Korea even as the previous Seoul government pursued its policy of opening to the North, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. A well-informed North Korean defector said in an interview that Pyongyang had built at least 800 bunkers, including an unknown number of decoys, to prepare for a possible invasion of South Korea while South Korean president Roh Moo Hyun was in office. "Each bunker contains military equipment that can fully arm 1,500 to 2,000 soldiers," the defector told RFA's Korean service, adding that construction began in 2004-the second year of the Roh government. "If a soldier carried all his military equipment, which weighs 32 kilos, and came to the DMZ in full gear, he would already be exhausted before infiltrating into the South. So they built bunkers at the DMZ and put all their operations equipment there," he said. The defector, who once worked as an informant for South Korea's Defense Intelligence Command (DIC), uses the alias Kim Ju Song. He declined to give any personal details and asked to have his voice disguised for broadcast to protect relatives still in North Korea. He is scheduled to arrive in the United States on Monday and attend a closed-door session with U.S. legislators in Washington Wednesday. More than 1,000 bunkers planned "In the bunkers, there are South Korean military uniforms and name tags, so that they can disguise themselves as South Korean troops. Also reserved are...60-mm mortar shells, condensed high explosives, and all sorts of bullets." The bunkers are not linked to a series of underground passages built in the past to attack South Korea, he said. About 70 percent of the roughly 800 bunkers are fakes, he said, decoys "to confuse the South." "The North was trying to finish constructing bunkers by early 2008 with the target number of 1,000 to 1,200," Kim said. Nuclear-armed North Korea possesses one of the world's largest standing armies, employing some 1.2 million of its 22.7 million citizens in the military. The bulk of the forces are deployed along the DMZ and make use of a vast and complex tunneling network to hide their movement from the South Korean military in South Korea's capital Seoul-a mere 40 kms (25 miles) away. Kim resettled in Seoul in the early 2000s and worked with the DIC from 2004-2007. As director of a trade center run by the military, he was given the military title sangja, somewhere between lieutenant colonel and colonel. Through his work for the DIC, Kim said, he wanted to let people in South Korea know the North is not giving up "its principal target of unifying the Korean Peninsula by using armed force." "Regardless of Seoul's appeasement policy, or whatever the South does toward the North, Pyongyang hasn't given up its aim of unifying the Korean Peninsula by military force. They are sticking to this principle and teaching North Koreans about it," Kim said. Trade center with military ties South Korean intelligence authorities asked Kim to explain the bunkers in August 2005, he said. Two months later, he said, "I delivered to the DIC my investigation results, including the fact that the North began to build the bunkers in 2004 and that their purpose is to reserve military equipment for attacking the South." "In August 2006, I enticed a North Korean platoon leader, who was involved in building the bunkers, into Yanji, China, where three DIC agents interrogated him for two days. So we got all the information about the bunkers, such as the bunkers' blueprints and how thick their walls and covers are." South Korean intelligence officials declined to comment on Kim's account. Kim also described his work in North Korea as director of a military-affiliated trade center at a city in the North. "I worked as a trader for a long time, but I worked as director for six years," he said. "In each province, there are around two trade centers that are run by the North Korean military." Trade centers and their employees are given military status "to intensify the power of control, and to separate the military affiliates from the society, so that we are not bothered by local leaders. The purpose is to give special status to the military affiliates and help us earn more hard currency." Although he declined to explain why he chose to defect, Kim said he eventually bribed his way into China, where he spent two months before his connections there arranged passage to South Korea. "I have a human network in China that I built while I was in North Korea. I got some help from them," he said. "I used to visit China for business. And my Chinese counterparts also came to North Korea. Those business exchanges helped me build the human network." Radio critical North Korea allowed ships to carry shortwave radios as a safety measure after a seismic wave struck North Korea's East coast and killed thousands of fishermen in 2005, Kim said. Radio channels were fixed to government frequencies, but North Koreans took advantage of this relative relaxation to begin smuggling in radios from China and are now selling them on the black market. Pyongyang remains deeply wary of international broadcasts, he said. "The North Korean government's biggest concern is international radio broadcasts like those of Radio Free Asia. Content promoting democracy and disclosing leaders' corruption as well as North Korea's human rights situation-the Kim Jong Il regime considers this its biggest threat." "When people learn these things, they don't believe in the regime anymore. In this context, I think those broadcasts are fulfilling their mission fully and serving as a pillar for the spirit of the North Korean people." Original reporting and translation by Song-Wu Park in Seoul. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 ##### Rohit Mahajan Media Relations Manager Radio Free Asia Desk: (202) 530-4976 Cell: (202) 489-8021 Email: mahajanr(a)rfa.org http://www.rfa.org/

15 years, 1 month

RFA News: Document Details Executed Tibetan's Trial, Appeal

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Also on www.rfa.org: Multimedia Journey Down the Mekong www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject Drug Abuse Among Hong Kong Teens www.rfa.org/english/news/china/youngerabusers-11122009130512.html Document Details Tibetan Trial, Appeal HONG KONG, Nov. 16, 2009-Court documents relating to one of three Tibetans believed to have been executed by the Chinese authorities for their part in the Lhasa unrest of March 2008 have confirmed the identity of one of the men, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. According to the documents, judicial authorities in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China handed down a death sentence to Lobsang Gyaltsen, who was convicted of burning a Han Chinese shopowner to death during the unrest of March 2008. "For committing arson, the defendant Lobsang Gyaltsen is sentenced to death and to the revocation of his life-long political rights," the Lhasa municipal People's Intermediate Court said in its judgment, a copy of which was seen by RFA's Tibetan service. Tibetans in China and overseas had previously reported the executions of at least three people convicted of rioting during last year's widespread uprising against Chinese rule. The reports mentioned one Lobsang Gyaltsen, 24, of Lubuk township, near Lhasa. Accomplices cited The court documents confirmed that a Tibetan tour-guide named Lobsang Gyaltsen, known also by his Chinese nickname Banzhang, was detained March 24, 2008, by Lhasa police on suspicion of involvement in setting fire to shops during the unrest. The disturbances flared March 14 in Tibetan regions of China following three days of peaceful protests in Lhasa. Lobsang Gyaltsen was formally arrested on April 1, 2008. The Lhasa municipal procuratorate, or government prosecution service, accused Lobsang Gyaltsen of "actively participating in assault, smashing, looting, and burning" in the Ramoche street area of Lhasa on March 14. "During the afternoon of that day, Lobsang Gyaltsen set fire to the Hongyu Kuye Garment on Qingnian Lu with the help of fellow accused Pen Kyi," the court judgment said. "The victim Zhao Rancun was a Han Chinese national, 45 years old, who died due to burns," the judgment said, while estimating the damage to Zhao's shop from the fire at 250,000 yuan (U.S. $36,600). "The accused also set another garment store, Niaomo Shijia, on fire, causing damage worth 1.1 million yuan (U.S. $161,100). The judgment, issued by the appeals department of the Lhasa municipal People's Court, said subsequent investigations had interviewed Zhao's wife and son and the owner of the Niaomo Shijia garment store. He was also convicted of inciting others to participate in riots and of assaults on police, it said. "The court found that Lobsang Gyaltsen did participate in the March 14 arson, threw stones at the armed police on Ramoche street and instigated Tenzin (another accomplice) to participate in the arson." "At 14.00 hours on the same day, Lobsang Gyaltsen, with the assistance of Pen Kyi, set the Hongyu Kuye garment shop on fire," it said. "Lobsang used his lighter to set fire to a shirt which he threw on the pile of clothes in the shop. Pen Kyi threw kerosene oil that she brought with her which caused the fire to catch and engulf the whole store in flames." In October, Tibetan exiles and residents of the region first reported the execution of several people convicted of rioting during last year's widespread uprising against Chinese rule. They were the first reported executions in connection with rioting that erupted in March 2008 in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) capital, Lhasa. Capital punishment is administered only rarely in Tibet, experts say. Mixed plea The judgment, dated April 8, 2009, said that Lobsang Gyaltsen denied setting fire to Hongyu Kuye Garment but acknowledged setting fire with an accomplice to the Niaomo Shijia shop, which deals in clothing as well as precious metals. It said that his legal representative Phuntsok Wangyal appealed for a lighter sentence, but that the appeal was turned down. It said he was sentenced according to Clause 1, Articles 57 and 115, of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China. Before his execution, according to one source, Lobsang Gyaltsen was permitted a visit with his mother. "I have nothing to say, except please take good care of my child and send him to school," he was quoted as telling her. A local source said Lobsang Gyaltsen's mother's home is now under round-the-clock surveillance. Rioting rocked Lhasa in March last year and spread to Tibetan-populated regions of western China, causing official embarrassment ahead of the August 2008 Beijing Olympics. Chinese officials say 21 people-including three Tibetan protesters-died in the violence. The India-based Tibetan government-in-exile estimates that 220 Tibetans were killed and 7,000 were detained in a region-wide crackdown. The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported separately that four people were executed on Oct. 24. A recent Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) report said that at least 670 Tibetans have been jailed in 2009 for activities that include peaceful protest or leaking information abroad. By the end of April 2009, TAR courts had sentenced 84 Tibetans to punishments ranging from fixed jail terms to life, as well as to death or death with a two-year reprieve, in connection with the 2008 riots, the CECC report said. The report also detailed a widespread Chinese "patriotic education" campaign that requires Tibetan monks and nuns to pass examinations on political texts, agree that Tibet is historically a part of China, and denounce the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. Original reporting by Dolkar for RFA's Tibetan service.Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 1 month

RFA News: Lao Group Wanted Help

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Also on www.rfa.org: Multimedia Journey Down the Mekong www.rfa.org/english/multimedia/MekongProject Interview with President Obama's Brother www.rfa.org/english/news/china/mark-obama-memoir-11132009105323.html Drug Abuse Among Hong Kong Teens www.rfa.org/english/news/china/youngerabusers-11122009130512.html Poems by North Korean Teen Defectors www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/moonpoetry-11112009111951.html Lao Group Wanted Help Several hundred Lao people detained on their way to the capital weren't dissidents, one man says. BANGKOK, Nov. 13, 2009-An ethnic Lao man briefly detained this month as he and several hundred others converged on the Lao capital to petition the government has said the group was planning to seek help from the authorities rather than stage a political protest, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. "What have we done that is so wrong, that we had to be detained? All we were doing was asking the government for help. I want to live with dignity even if it costs my life," the man, 47 and an illegal migrant worker in Thailand, said in an interview. He spoke on condition of anonymity to protect himself, his three children, and his wife-one of nine people who remain in Lao custody after they were detained en route to Vientiane on Nov. 2. The man was detained briefly and then released. He said he was legally "stateless," having left Laos after the Communists took power in 1975, then met his wife and married in a Thai refugee center. He has no Lao identification documents and works illegally in Thailand, one of what he described as "hundreds of thousands" of illegal Lao laborers there. The couple have three children: a 22-year-old daughter, a 21-year-old son, and an eight-year-old girl, all born in Thailand. The older two attended school through the sixth grade, he said, adding that the oldest child works in construction alongside her parents in Thailand. "When you are so poor, you do what you have to do to survive-and you sell whatever you have to sell to survive, your labor or yourself. It's so sad... We have become merchandise." The Seattle-based Lao Students Movement for Democracy estimated that authorities had detained more than 300 people traveling to Vientiane from North and South. Most were quickly released, but the nine still in custody have been moved to Samkhe Prison in Vientiane, the group said in a statement, dated Nov. 5 and written in Lao. The Lao government has denied detaining anyone, saying the reports were "fabricated" to harm the country's image. Lao sources identified those still detained as Ms. Kingkeo, 39; Mr. Soubin, 35; Mr. Souane, 50; Mr. Sinprasong, 43; Khamsone, 36; Mr. Nou, 54; Ms. Somchit, 29; Mr. Somkhit, 28; and Sourigna, 26. Family members confirmed that all nine were under arrest, sources who asked not to be named said. Some are linked to the Oct. 26, 1999 student protests in the communist Southeast Asian country-four of whose leaders remain in Samkhe prison in Vientiane after one died in custody. The man told RFA's Lao service that the group, which last year decided to call itself Lao United for Economic and Social Renewal, was seeking economic and social support from the government as well as the re-integration of ethnic Lao returning from abroad. "Everyone who was arrested was an average common person, not an activist," he said. "They have grievances... they just wanted to petition." "The Vietnamese [living in Laos] have more rights than Lao people in Laos-it's not right. Why this crackdown on us-when other vices are rampant and no one is doing anything about real crime?" Nov. 2 convoys On Nov. 2, a convoy set out from the Nam Ngum dam area of Thalat in Vientiane province, heading to Vientiane by taxi when authorities intercepted them in Phone Hong town, some 60 kms from Vientiane and also in Vientiane province, at around 5 a.m., relatives said. Two busloads carrying about 75 travelers each meanwhile set out from the south, and were detained in Pakading town some 70 kms from Vientiane in Borikhamxay province, witnesses said. They had planned to meet several hundred others at the Patuxay monument in Vientiane, sources said. Tiny, landlocked Laos, with a population nearing 7 million, is one of the world's poorest countries. Literacy and life expectancy are low, and most of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture. Original reporting by RFA's Lao service. Lao service director: Viengsay Luangkhot. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 2 months

RFA NEWS: Six More Uyghurs Freed

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Six More Uyghurs Freed Go to www.rfa.org for more Another cohort of Uyghur detainees is freed from Guantanamo to a Pacific island. WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2009-Six Uyghur men held for seven years in U.S. military custody at Guantanamo Bay have been released and have now reached the tiny Pacific island of Palau, authoritative sources have told Radio Free Asia (RFA). The men were identified as Adel Nury, 40; Ahmed Tursun, 38; Abdulghappar Abdulrahman, 36; Anwar Hasan, 35; Edhem Mohammed, 31; and Dawud Abdulrehim, 35. They landed in the early hours of Sunday after a 17-hour direct military flight, along with three U.S. lawyers, Rushan Abbas, a longtime translator for the Uyghur detainees at Guantanamo Bay, said in a telephone interview, citing contacts with the men and their lawyers. A new Uyghur translator was flown in from Australia and was to remain indefinitely, she said in an interview. No comment was immediately available from the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama. They were among a larger group of 22 ethnic Uyghurs captured in Pakistan and Afghanistan and sold for bounty to U.S. forces after fleeing the mountains in the wake of U.S.-led raids, following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. They say they were living as refugees in Afghanistan, having faced religious persecution in China Four were transferred to Bermuda in June 2009 while five others were resettled in Albania in 2006. One man in that group has since resettled in Sweden. Seven men left The transfer of these six men leaves seven in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, who say they cannot return to China for fear of persecution. The United States maintained that the men had attended terror-training camps, and they were flown to Guantanamo Bay in June 2002. The Republic of Palau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800 kms) east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles (3,200 kms) south of Tokyo. After a series of military tribunals and courtroom battles, they were cleared of links to global terrorism-but most governments refused to take them in for fear of angering Beijing, which regards them as terrorists. The U.S. Supreme Court this month agreed to review the cases of all remaining Uyghur prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The group was originally ordered released into the States in October last year by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina here. But his decision was overturned after an appeals court ruled that District Court judges don't have the authority to order the transfer of foreigners into the U.S.; only Congress and the executive branch do. Uyghurs in China Millions of Uyghurs-a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim-populate Central Asia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of northwestern China. Ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and majority Han Chinese settlers have simmered for years, and they erupted in rioting in July that left some 200 people dead, according to the government's tally. The six men may have difficulty reaching their relatives in the XUAR because Chinese authorities have imposed a telephone and Internet blackout over the whole region in an apparent bid to avoid further ethnic violence. Twelve people have since been sentenced to death in connection with the violence, which was the worst the country has experienced in decades. Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier. Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. Original reporting by Radio Free Asia. 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 ##### Sarah Jackson-Han News Director, English Radio Free Asia jacksonhans(a)rfa.org 202 907 4613

15 years, 2 months

RFA News: Taiwan Offers Unification Model

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Also on www.rfa.org Warming Poses Food Risk http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/climatechange-10062009153510.html Graft Mars North Korean Trade http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/graftnk-10062009131428.html Taiwan Offers Unification Model: Ex-Party Aide HONG KONG, Oct. 8, 2009-Taiwan, which marks its own National Day nine days after a lavish display of communist military power by rival Beijing, should provide the model for reunification with China, a former top Communist Party aide has told Radio Free Asia (RFA). Bao Tong, former aide to late ousted Party chief Zhao Ziyang, lauded the current form of democracy on the self-governing island, which still celebrates the fall of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) with the 1911 revolution led by Sun Yat-sen. "In Taiwan, where there is no socialism, it is possible to ferret out corruption openly," Bao wrote in an essay marking the "Double Tenth" celebrations. "On the mainland, where we enjoy the benefits of the dictatorship of the proletariat, masses of people who turn out to protest at corruption are suppressed as troublemakers," Bao added, referring to the 1989 military crackdown on student-led protests on Tiananmen Square. Bao said that while Taiwan had long since reversed the official verdict on a massacre of demonstrators by the Nationalist Kuomintang troops in 1947, in China to this day, no one dares to mention "June 4, 1989." "Courts in Taiwan have the power to pass judgment on high-ranking officials," wrote Bao, who called for peaceful reunification between Taiwan and China, ruled separately since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. 'Mao's dying wish' "Mao Zedong managed to divide China into two parts: This part is the 'New China' under the leadership of the Communist Party, while the other is the 'old society' in a faraway place," said Bao. "Liberating Taiwan was Mao's dying wish, but he didn't have the means to carry it out, and Taiwan has gone on existing." "As we on the west bank of the Taiwan Strait have conducted reviews of the troops and sung the praises of the last 60 years, Taiwan has continued to develop on the east bank." Writing from house arrest at his Beijing home, Bao said reunification should occur on the basis of Taiwan's system of government, not China's. "In mainland China, where there is no separation of powers and everything is controlled by the Party, you need the permission of the provincial Party secretary to lodge a case against a county level official," Bao wrote. "Without this, the court has no jurisdiction." 'A big lie' Bao recalled a comment of former Communist Party supreme leader Mao Zedong, who is reported to have said: "Unification can be achieved only on a democratic basis." "I agree with Mao's assessment," said Bao, who spent seven years in jail following the fall of his former political mentor Zhao, who was removed from office by late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping for sympathizing with the 1989 protesters. "Only peaceful reunification on the basis of democracy will bring happiness to compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait." Bao said the last 60 years of "glorious" communist rule contained "a big lie." "In the first 30 years, tens of millions either died of starvation or were 'struggled' to death under the banner of revolution," he wrote. "In the second 30 years, anyone standing up for civil and constitutional rights, for religious freedom, for ethnic autonomy has been declared an enemy of the people en masse, all in the name of stability." Rivals Taiwan and mainland China kicked off direct air and sea transportation links for the first time in 60 years at the end of last year, with inaugural flights taking off on both sides of the Taiwan Strait-which leaders said signaled improved ties. Original essay in Chinese by Bao Tong. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 3 months

RFA News: Election Call From Former Aide

by Joshua Lipes

Election Call From Former Aide Go to www.rfa.org/english/news/china/baotong-09242009094453.html for complete coverage HONG KONG- A former top official in China's Communist Party has called on patriotic Chinese to "return power to the people" and push for full democracy ahead of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. Sixty years after peasant leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China from Tiananmen Square on Oct. 1, 1949, former top Party aide Bao Tong said the Party has never admitted its mistakes. "All of the great mistakes at a national level with far-reaching consequences were committed under the planning and leadership of the Communist Party," wrote Bao, a former aide to disgraced late Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang. "The People's Republic of China is not a republic at all. This is a sort of pathology," he said in a letter obtained by RFA's Mandarin service. "It consists in the systemic erosion of the rights of citizens to all sorts of things, including elections and private property, by the Party leadership over the last 60 years." 'Progress' under the Party In an essay penned from his Beijing home, where Bao has been held under house arrest since returning from a seven-year jail term in the wake of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement, Bao poured scorn on the wave of official praise for China's progress under the Party. "Hidden troubles shouldn't be allowed to remain packaged up in talk of 'great and mighty results,' for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all their descendants," he wrote. Behind the talk of "prosperity" and "the rise of China" lies rampant official corruption and an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, Bao said. "Behind the words 'hard reasoning of development' lies the plunder of natural resources and the laying waste of the environment," he added. He delineated a "collapse of personal freedoms, religious freedom, ethnic autonomy, and freedoms of speech, protest and demonstration" behind the government's emphasis on stability. Call for elections "How should a patriot show their love and concern for their country?" Bao wrote. "By returning power to the people and building a republic," said Bao, who called on Chinese people to educate themselves about what full, direct elections actually mean. "If we are to cash in on [promises of] democracy, openness, competition and meritocracy, universal direct elections are inevitable," he wrote. "Otherwise that particular check will undoubtedly bounce." "China is in dire need of a period of education and enlightenment about what is really meant by a 'republic' and what is really meant by 'universal, direct elections.'" Bao said that no political party should be given the right to field an approved list of candidates, or to interfere with the right of any candidate to enter the field or to take up their post if they are elected. "The legitimacy of a republic rests on universal, direct elections. It is the sacred duty of every patriotic citizen to promote universal, direct elections in which there is true competition between candidates," Bao wrote. Chinese authorities are implementing a nationwide security clampdown ahead of the Oct. 1 National Day celebrations, closing key Web sites and discussion boards, and detaining people who try to lodge complaints in Beijing about local governments. The anniversary comes as Beijing struggles to quell ethnic tensions in China's northwest and to silence outspoken dissidents, petitioners, and civil rights lawyers, who have been warned not to use the occasion to protest against the government. Original essay by Bao Tong. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 3 months

RFA News: Karen Children Forced To Work for Burmese Junta, Ethnic Troops

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Children, Families Forced To Work for Burmese Junta, Ethnic Troops Also on www.rfa.org: 'The Moon Is Up': Poems by Young North Korean Defectors, translated into English for the first time www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-children-poetry-09012009142744.html Vietnamese Schools Reject HIV Children http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/HIV-08282009102134.html NORTHERN THAILAND, Sept. 14, 2009-Children as young as 10 are being forced to work as porters for the Burmese military and ethnic minority Karen troops amid intensifying conflict near the border with Thailand, according to refugees in northern Thailand, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. One village here in a Karen region houses 95 Burmese refugees, including 39 children under age 12. All say they were taken from their villages in Burma and forced to work as military porters. The increased press-ganging of villagers, including children, into work as porters comes in the wake of intensified fighting between Burmese government forces supported by elements of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) on one side and the mostly Christian Karen National Union (KNU) troops on the other, the refugees said. Thousands more are believed also to have fled their homes in Burma since June and to be hiding in villages on the Thai side of the border, according to human rights and aid workers. The prolonged military conflict in the region has meant that none of the Karen children has ever been able to attend school. "I am 10 years old," one shy girl told a visiting reporter. Another, who said she was 16, said she had to carry dozens of cans of rice in a basket on her back for five days at a stretch and was given only rice with salt and chili peppers to eat. "When it rained, we had to sleep under trees, so we would get completely wet," she said. Pulling children through the jungle Burmese soldiers forced anyone who had no physical disability to carry goods and ammunition for them, the refugees said. No one was paid for his or her labor. The porters said they don't know if the troops who press-ganged them into service belong to the DKBA or a joint force comprising soldiers for the DKBA and the ruling junta. Fathers with children able to walk on their own but not big enough to work as porters themselves must hold onto their children while carrying ammunition on their backs, sometimes pulling the children through heavy jungle vegetation, they said. Parents and children are required to sleep separately to prevent them from running away, they said, and the men are told their wives will be taken by soldiers if they try to flee. Parents in the camp said they had no choice but to bring their children, as the only people left behind in their villages were very elderly or too disabled to look after anyone but themselves. One woman carrying her three-year-old son in a sling in front of her demonstrated how she had to carry artillery shells in a basket on her back at the same time. If her child cried, she was told to put her hand over his face to silence him or face a reprimand from the soldiers. She said she had had to carry the shells for four days at a time and was allowed to stop and rest only two or three times a day. Stepped-up recruiting "In the past, they would need porters only once a month," said the head of the village that the group of refugees left behind them. "But now they need them three or four times a month, and we would even have to go to the front line. We would have to supply three soldiers per village, and if the village was bigger we would have had to supply up to 20 soldiers," he said. "If we cannot supply the soldiers we would have to pay 30,000 baht (about U.S. $880). If we cannot give them the money, they would send us to jail," he added. Karen refugees have so far received no aid from international agencies, nor from the Thai government, they said. Sometimes, soldiers from the DKBA stole their goods, even on the Thai side of the border, they added. "When I left I brought with me the best bullock I had, but when I got to Thailand the DKBA stole the bullock from me," she said. "I had to pay them 1,500 baht (U.S. $44) to get my bullock back." According to the Burma-based Karen Human Rights Group, the DKBA began a stepped-up recruitment drive in August 2008 in response to an escalating series of DKBA and joint DKBA/government attacks on KNU and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) positions in the Dooplaya and Pa'an Districts of Karen state. Those attacks have greatly intensified since the start of the year, the group said in a report published on its Web site. Partly under the control of the Burmese government, the DKBA has again increased recruitment as it prepares to transform itself into a Border Guard Force as required by the military junta ahead of elections in 2011. "By June 7, over 3,000 villagers, including the Ler Per Her camp population of just over 1,200 people as well as nearly 2,000 residents from other villages in the area, had fled to neighboring Thailand to avoid fighting as well as forced conscription into work as porters and human minesweepers for DKBA and SPDC forces," the group said Aug. 25. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says there are more than 100,000 registered Burmese refugees inside Thailand today, most of them Karen. Original reporting in Burmese by Khin May Zaw. Translated by Soe Thinn. Burmese service director: Nancy Shwe. Written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 4 months

RFA News: Outspoken Uyghur Economist Presumed Detained

by Sarah Jackson-Han

Outspoken Uyghur Economist Presumed Detained After Urumqi Clashes Go to www.rfa.org for full multimedia coverage from Urumqi RFA Twitters - Follow Radio Free Asia's breaking news happening throughout East Asia via Twitter. Visit https://twitter.com/RadioFreeAsia to sign up now. HONG KONG-An outspoken economist from China's Uyghur ethnic minority, whose blog was cited for allegedly instigating deadly ethnic clashes in Xinjiang, has gone silent and his whereabouts are unknown after he reported police had summoned him from his Beijing home, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. "Police have been watching my home for two days now," Ilham Tohti, an economics professor at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing, said July 7 in a telephone interview, two days after deadly clashes in the northwestern city of Urumqi killed at least 156 people. "They are calling me now, and I have to go. I may be out of touch for some time," he told RFA's Uyghur service. "I wasn't involved in anything, but I am not safe. The police are calling me," Tohti said, and then hung up. Subsequent phone calls rang unanswered. On July 6, he told RFA's Cantonese service that he had gathered information on the clashes but wouldn't release it because the timing was too sensitive. Uyghur Online publishes in Chinese and Uyghur and is seen as a moderate, intellectual Web site addressing social issues. Authorities have closed it on several previous occasions. Tohti's blog, Uyghur Online, was specifically targeted in a July 5 speech by the governor of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Nur Bekri, as an instigator of the clashes, along with exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer. Tohti's last blog entry, published through a U.S. server at 10:52 a.m. Beijing time July 7 and now blocked inside China, reads: "As the editor of Uyghur Online, I want only to tell Nur Bekri, 'You are right, everything you say is right, because you will decide everything. I have already offended too many powerful people, including yourself and others whom I don't want to and don't dare to offend. But right or wrong, there will be justice." "I always tell myself [to be] cool and calm and make rational analyses. Going to court to resolve disputes is the fairest course of action in a lawful society. I have my own lawyer. When my trial comes up, don't appoint a lawyer for me. I will refuse any court-appointed lawyer." "Even if we say that Uyghur Online and outsiders stirred thing up-stirred what up? People can think for themselves. If everything were working so well, why did so many people suddenly come out and riot? I think after this event the central government and the local government should give this some thought." The clashes on Sunday in Urumqi, the XUAR capital, flared between Han Chinese and Uyghurs following attacks on Uyghur migrant workers at a factory in the southern province of Guangdong last month. Official media said 156 people died in riots Sunday. The ethnicity of the dead was not specified. Online photos of corpses sparked calls for revenge, and thousands of armed Han Chinese poured onto Urumqi's streets Tuesday, trying to break through police lines into Uyghur neighborhoods. Earlier detentions Tohti has said he was interrogated repeatedly and accused of separatism after he spoke out in March against Chinese policies in Xinjiang, particularly the disproportionately high unemployment there among Uyghurs, compared with Han Chinese. He has called on authorities to ease curbs on free expression and foster greater economic opportunity for Uyghurs in their native Xinjiang region, where poverty and joblessness are commonplace. "There are visible changes in China," he said in an interview with RFA's Uyghur service in May. "But in terms of freedom and democracy, Xinjiang's situation is the worst of the worst, compared with other regions of China. "What I have encountered at this time is typical. My Web site was shut down without notice. I was interrogated many times and threatened. I am a legal Beijing resident, and by law I should not be interrogated by Xinjiang police officials, but it has happened." "This shows how long the local authorities' reach is. They accused me of separatism," he said. "But is demanding implementation of the autonomy law separatism?" China's 1984 Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law is the main legal framework for managing the affairs of China's ethnic minorities. It promises a high degree of autonomy for minority groups, but critics say its implementation in many areas has been weak. "There is no major problem with the main points of the central government's policy," Tohti said. His goal, he said, is "equal opportunity and equal development in Xinjiang, equal with other provincial regions of China-and equal opportunity and equal development between the Uyghur people and the Han Chinese immigrants in Xinjiang." Slammed governor In an interview in March, Tohti also sharply criticized the governor of Xinjiang, Nur Bekri, as incompetent. Tohti, who said he feared for his own safety, was speaking as the National People's Congress, China's annual session of parliament, met in Beijing, with Bekri warning of a "more fierce struggle" against separatist unrest in the region. "My message to the Xinjiang government is, 'You should know that there is no peace without equal development between Han immigrants and native Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Similarly, there is no stability in the Uyghur region without freedom of speech.'" "My message to the central government is, 'Don't listen only to what the local government officials in Xinjiang say-listen to the people. Don't just make decisions based on government research-also look at independent research. This will be very helpful for protecting the unity of the nation, and the long-term prosperity of the country.'" According to his official biography, Tohti was born in Atush, Xinjiang, on Oct. 25, 1969. He graduated from the Northeast Normal University and the Economics School at the Central Nationalities University in Beijing. Original reporting by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur service. Uyghur service director: Dolkun Kamberi. Additional reporting by Gregory Ho for RFA's Cantonese service. Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han. 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 #####

15 years, 6 months

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