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Bay Fang Named Radio Free Asia's New President

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 20, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Bay Fang Named Radio Free Asia's New President WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia's (RFA) board of directors has appointed Bay Fang as the company's new President, effective today, Nov. 20. Fang replaces Libby Liu, who will serve as an advisor/counselor during a period of transition. "Bay Fang is an excellent choice to lead Radio Free Asia," said RFA and United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Board Chairman Ken Weinstein. "She brings rich expertise in journalism and foreign policy to ensure RFA fulfills its crucial mission in spite of overwhelming challenges throughout the region. Radio Free Asia leads the world in exposing atrocities in Xinjiang, Tibet, North Korea and throughout Southeast Asia. RFA is a lifeline for people living under repression -- giving them the truth and a voice." Fang said, "I'm deeply honored by this opportunity to lead Radio Free Asia. For people living under authoritarian rule, RFA is a lifeline that both informs and empowers through its unique journalism, at the forefront of so many critical stories in Asia. As President of RFA, I vow to continue on the path of success carved out by RFA's brave journalists and expand the organization's capacity to bring free press to people living in closed societies." Fang has served as RFA's Executive Editor since October 2016 and was originally hired as the Managing Director for East Asia in 2015. Fang has worked closely with RFA leadership and USAGM on the company's strategic journalistic initiatives and held responsibilities relating essentially to all sectors of RFA operations. Fang's major investigative ventures include a ground-breaking series on North Korea <https://www.rfa.org/about/releases/nk-labor-overseas-04052016112935.html> 's means of skirting international sanctions through forced overseas labor around the world, and numerous multimedia projects showcasing RFA's in-depth journalism on China <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/china-reach/> 's influence in Southeast Asia, the surveillance state in the Uyghur and Tibetan regions, and the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. In addition she edited and helped to produce the award-winning e-book featuring the work of RFA resident political cartoonist Rebel Pepper, which received the Sigma Delta Chi award <https://www.rfa.org/about/releases/rebel-pepper-04252018063549.html> by the Society of Professional Journalists. A longtime journalist and former diplomat, Fang has served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, overseeing public diplomacy and public affairs for Europe and Eurasia. Her 20-plus-year career in journalism includes serving as the Diplomatic Correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, and covering the wars in Afghanistan (2001-2002) and Iraq (2003-2004) for U.S. News and World Report magazine. She started her career as the Beijing Bureau Chief for US News & World Report, where she won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for her story "China's Stolen Wives." Fang earned her undergraduate degree at Harvard University, and was a Fulbright scholar in Hong Kong and a visiting fellow at Oxford University. # # # 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, 1 month

Radio Free Asia Uyghur Journalist Wins Magnitsky Human Rights Award

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 15, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Radio Free Asia Uyghur Journalist Wins Magnitsky Human Rights Award WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia's (RFA) Uyghur Service journalist Gulchehra Hoja last night received a Magnitsky Human Rights Award at a ceremony in London <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-svElzDHyJg> for her reporting on the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis <https://www.economist.com/china/2019/10/24/to-suppress-news-of-xinjiangs- gulag-china-threatens-uighurs-abroad> in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). "Gulchehra and RFA's Uyghur Service have worked tirelessly to bring to light the human rights abuses happening in China's Uyghur region," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "We must also remember the extraordinary pressure facing her and her fellow journalists in RFA Uyghur, as Chinese authorities have targeted their family members in China in retaliation. "Heroically, Gulchehra and her colleagues have not let this unacceptable emotional intimidation stop them from keeping RFA audiences and the world informed about an unfolding humanitarian crisis affecting millions." Hoja said, "It is an honor to be recognized with this award for my reporting about the dire situation in China's Far West for the Uyghurs. My colleagues and I know that no matter the obstacles or the adversity we face, it is crucial that we continue to reveal the truth." Along with her colleagues in RFA's Uyghur Service, Hoja <https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/14/asia/uyghur-china-xinjiang-interview-intl/ index.html> has been at the forefront <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/training-camps-09112017154343.htm l> of coverage of the internment of, by many estimates, more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the XUAR. RFA, the only outlet outside China that has a Uyghur-language service, has received wide recognition for first reporting on the mass internments and related developments in the XUAR. The Economist recently published an editorial <https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/10/24/knowledge-of-chinas-gulag-ow es-much-to-american-backed-radio> noting RFA's ability "to penetrate China's wall of secrecy in Xinjiang by pumping local sources for information, using their own language." Hoja began her career in journalism in the XUAR with Chinese state media. But when she first heard RFA's reports during a trip to Germany in the summer of 2001, she was inspired to leave China and join RFA. Hoja shortly thereafter settled in the United States and became a full-time journalist with RFA in October of that same year, and later a U.S. citizen. Among many other stories, Hoja has reported on the construction of crematoria <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/crematoriums-06262018151126.html? searchterm:utf8:ustring=%20crematoria> near the internment camps in the XUAR, the sterilization and sexual abuse <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/abuse-10302019142433.html?searcht erm:utf8:ustring=%20gulchehra%20hoja> of female detainees, and the situation facing <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/children-11082018162416.html> "orphaned" children, whose parents have been detained. Hoja is among at least six members of RFA <https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/03/radio-free-asia -uighur-service/583687/> 's Uyghur Service who have family members in China who are missing, detained, or jailed in retaliation for these RFA journalists' work. The Magnitsky Human Rights Awards were established in 2015 to recognize brave journalists, politicians, and activists for human rights-related work. This year's honorees included Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of the media outlet Rappler, and the late Jamal Kashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist and critic of the Saudi government, who was slain in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Past winners of the Magnitsky Award have included journalists from Radio Free Europe, Bellingcat, and MBK Media. This instance marks the first time a journalist from RFA has been recognized. # # # 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, 2 months

RFA President's Statement on Cambodia Journalists' Arrest Anniversary

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 14, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Statement of Libby Liu, President of Radio Free Asia, on Anniversary of Arrest of Ex-RFA Journalists in Cambodia WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia President Libby Liu today issued the following statement on the two-year anniversary of the arrest of Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, two former RFA journalists in Cambodia, who still face charges, including "espionage," in connection with their work for RFA. On Nov. 11, The Bangkok Post published Liu's related op-ed <https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1791569/hun-sens-media-witch- hunt-must-end> . Liu's statement is as follows: "For two years, journalists Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin have been forced to endure a never-ending nightmare at the hands of Cambodian authorities. Their unjust prosecution is emblematic of the struggle for press freedom and free expression in Cambodia. "On the anniversary of their arrest - when Sothearin and Chhin's ordeal began - there is an opportunity to do the right thing by dropping the unsubstantiated charges against them. Authorities can end a pointless persecution of two proud journalists and rekindle some hope for a free press in Cambodia." # # # 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, 2 months

'Hun Sen's media witch-hunt must end': Libby Liu in Bangkok Post

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 11, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> 'Hun Sen's Media Witch-Hunt Must End': Radio Free Asia President in Bangkok Post Liu's Op-Ed Condemns 'Arbitrary' Legal Ordeal of Two Ex-RFA Cambodia Journalists WASHINGTON - The Bangkok Post today published an opinion piece by Radio Free Asia (RFA) President Libby Liu calling for an end to the "pointless persecution" of two former RFA journalists in Cambodia, while addressing broader press freedom issues in the country. Liu's op-ed, "Hun Sen's Media Witch-Hunt Must End <https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1791569/hun-sens-media-witch- hunt-must-end> (11/11)" comes on the week of the two-year anniversary arrest of Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin, who were taken into custody on Nov. 14, 2017. Though their trial ended in August 2019 without a verdict, they still face charges <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-media/cambodian-judge-orders- reinvestigation-of-spying-case-against-reporters-idUSKBN1WI052> , including "espionage" in connection for allegedly working for RFA after it was forced to close <https://cpj.org/2017/09/radio-free-asia-suspends-operations-in-cambodia.p hp> its Phnom Penh bureau in September 2017. "Two years after their arrest on outlandish charges of 'espionage,' two of Cambodia's finest journalists are snared by a government assault on free expression," Liu states in the piece. "The prosecution of Chhin, a cameraman, and Sothearin, an editor and anchor, has proceeded despite a dearth of evidence. "It undermines the high-minded declaration of the Cambodian government in December that it 'cherishes' a free press and that RFA would be welcome to re-open its in-country bureau." Sothearin and Chhin were freed on bail in August 2018, after being detained nine months. But Cambodian authorities still pursued their prosecution and they were put on trial <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/in-cambodia-journ alism-has-become-a-crime/2019/08/23/52e57b0c-afb9-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_s tory.html?tid=lk_inline_manual_9> in the summer of 2019. In May 2019, after Reporters Without Borders <https://rsf.org/en/news/two-cambodian-journalists-arrested-two-others-abo ut-go-trial> referred the case to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the group concluded that their detention was unmerited <https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session84/A_HRC _WGAD_2019_3.pdf> . After their verdict was delayed twice following the conclusion of their trial in early August 2019, on Oct. 3, the presiding judge ordered a "reinvestigation" - effectively reopening the case despite there being insufficient evidence for a conviction. The move was decried by rights groups and others, including 37 civil society organizations - such as Amnesty International, IFEX and a number of Cambodian NGOs - that made a joint statement <https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/04/civil-society-organizations-condemn-c ontinued-investigation-ex-rfa-journalists-yeang> condemning the continued investigation of the two men. Members of the U.S. Congress have repeatedly called for charges to be dropped <https://yoho.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/yoho-chabot-lowenthal- schiff-and-sherman-sherman-release-statement-on> . Last week, a bipartisan U.S. Senate resolution on Cambodia was introduced <https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-markey-durbin- and-cruz-call-on-cambodian-government-to-allow-the-peaceful-return-of-oppo sition-party-members-and-democracy-activists> , calling for an end to "judicial harassment <https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Cambodia%20opposition%20party %20members%202019.pdf> " of journalists, citing Sothearin and Chhin's ordeal. The two men recently appealed <https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/appeal-10172019172853.html> the decision to reinvestigate their case. # # # 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, 2 months

RFA Breaking News: At Least 150 Detainees Have Died in One Xinjiang Internment Camp: Police Officer

by Paul Eckert

At Least 150 Detainees Have Died in One Xinjiang Internment Camp: Police Officer Oct. 29, 2019 - At least 150 people have died over the course of six months while detained at an internment camp for mainly ethnic Uyghurs in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), according to an official source, marking the first confirmation of mass deaths since the camps were introduced in 2017. A police officer confirmed the figure while RFA’s Uyghur Service was investigating unconfirmed reports that more than 200 people from a township in Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) prefecture’s Kuchar (Kuche) county had died in detention. The officer at the Kuchar County Police Department said that at least 150 had died at just one of the county’s four internment camps—the No. 1 Internment Camp in the Yengisher district of the county seat, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Kuchar city center. “No, you cannot say that [200 died from Ucha township]” said the officer, who declined to be named, but previously served for six months as an administrative assistant at the camp in Yengisher. “Not that many—it’s more like 150 or so [from No. 1 Camp],” he said, adding that the deaths had occurred from June to December 2018, during the time he was assigned to the facility. He was unable to provide information about any deaths that might have occurred at the camp prior to the time he worked there or after he left. The officer’s claim represents the largest number of detention-related deaths at any one internment camp since RFA first reported the existence of the XUAR’s vast network of camps, where authorities have held up to 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” ideas beginning in April 2017. His numbers also appear to corroborate those attributed to Himit Qari, the former police chief of Ucha township, who sources recently told RFA was detained after attending a gathering at a friend’s home earlier this year where he criticized policies that have led to mass incarcerations in the region. A source in Kuchar, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told RFA that Qari was accused of “revealing state secrets” because he said during the party that “many people,” and possibly more than 200, had died in camps who were residents of Ucha, where he had been responsible for a crackdown on the Uyghur population prior to 2017 and enforcing mass internment policies in the years after. Qari did not provide details about the alleged deaths, and it was unclear over what time period and at which camps they had occurred. Strict monitoring According to the officer from the Kuchar County Police Department, who was transferred at the end of last year, the bodies of those who died at Camp No. 1 were shown to family members and buried in “normal graveyards,” albeit under strict police monitoring. “The local police would be in charge of these kinds of cases,” he said, adding that village officials would have issued “warnings” to family members to keep quiet about the deaths. “I did not observe any situation [in which family members expressed anger].” The officer said that the relatives of those who had died in the camps are “treated equally, with no discrimination,” although the children in their families are “given special attention” at school, without elaborating. When asked how many detainees from all of Kuchar county had died in camps, the officer said he was unsure and referred further questions to his superiors. Previous reporting by RFA revealed that Kuchar county is home to four large internment camps that can hold between 10,000 and 50,000 detainees, three of which are located in Yengisher district. According to census figures from 2013, some 470,000 people live in Kuchar county. Another police officer who previously worked at No. 1 Camp in Kuchar told RFA he could not confirm the 150 deaths, or whether anyone had died during an interrogation or as the result of failing to receive medical treatment. He also refused to comment on whether any of the dead included women or children. “I can’t tell you anything about this,” he said, referring inquiries to the public relations department of the local Public Security Bureau. A staff member of the Kuchar County Judiciary told RFA that he did not have the authority “to answer political questions of this magnitude,” when asked whether 150 people had died in No. 1 Camp, and whether the number included any government officials or other employees. “We have a county-wide directive—firstly, to never provide answers to pretend journalists, and secondly, to never take phone calls of unknown origin,” he said. Earlier reports While Beijing initially denied the existence of internment camps, China this year changed tack and began describing the facilities as “boarding schools” that provide vocational training for Uyghurs, discourage radicalization, and help protect the country from terrorism. 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. RFA has not previously reported on deaths at internment camps in Kuchar county, however, in August last year, a staffer at the Kuchar County Police Department said that the county’s camps held “more than 45,000 … [or] slightly less than 10 percent [of Kuchar’s population].” That report came two months after a Han Chinese staff member at a crematorium in Kuchar county told RFA that the Aksu government was investing in “burial management centers” in the prefecture and had earmarked funding to expand the size of the facility where he was employed. Among the ethnic minority corpses brought to his crematorium were those who had died in internment camps, he said at the time, adding that he and other staff members “have no right to get involved in these matters, and we have no knowledge of any details of the arrangements—only the officials know.” Mass incarcerations in the XUAR, as well as other policies seen to violate the rights of Uyghurs and other Muslims, have led to increasing calls by the international community to hold Beijing accountable for its actions in the region. In September, at an event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan said that the U.N. had failed to hold China to account over its policies in the XUAR and should demand unfettered access to the region to investigate reports of the mass incarceration and other rights abuses against Uyghurs. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this story online at: [ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/deaths-10292019181322.html | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/deaths-10292019181322.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 U.S. Agency for Global Media ( [ https://www.usagm.gov/home/ | USAGM ] ) . 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 ] .

5 years, 2 months

RFA Breaking News: Group of 13 North Koreans Cross Mekong into Thailand After Long Trek Through Four Countries

by Paul Eckert

Group of 13 North Koreans Cross Mekong into Thailand After Long Trek Through Four Countries Oct. 21, 2019 - A group of 13 North Koreans secretly crossed the Mekong River into Thailand from Laos at the weekend, ending a grueling two-month journey which spanned 6,000 kilometers (more than 3700 miles) and traversed four national borders in a quest for asylum in South Korea. Among the group that reached Thailand on Saturday were a two-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, while the rest ranged in age between their teens and 50s. Their journey took them first through China, where they had to hide out for more than a week to avoid surveillance. Through China, Vietnam and Laos, they used 13 means of transportation and crossed seven mountains in the darkness of night. Their fates were uncertain even as they were crossing the Mekong on a tiny boat in the pitch black darkness, because they had no clear idea who they were supposed to meet once they crossed. Once on the other side, they were met by officials from the South Korean human rights group Now Action Unity Human rights (NAUH), who had been searching for them. Eight of the 13 left North Korea with the intent to travel all the way to Thailand, while the remainder had first settled temporarily in China before joining the others, according the asylum seekers who hope to be eventually resettled in South Korea told RFA's Korean Service after they crossed into Thailand. A female member of the group, identified by the pseudonym Kim Jin-hye because she is concerned for her safety, told RFA’s Korean Service she left North Korea in July because she was being forced to join the military and had to give up her dream of becoming a doctor. “Should I say I am in distress [after this journey?]” Kim asked. “It’s only harder if you keep thinking about how hard it is. It wasn’t hard for me because I kept thinking this is the only way I can achieve my dream and [secure] my future,” she added. Incompetence and corruption Another woman in the group, in her fifties, identified by the pseudonym Lee Chun-hwa, said she decided to seek asylum because she hated the incompetence of North Korean authorities, who she said make strong crackdowns on minor infractions. She also disliked the rampant corruption in North Korean society and said it was her wish to travel to other countries as she pleased. She said that even North Korea’s rich are looking for ways to get out. “People think that the state just drains money from us. It would be nice if the state would let us be in charge of our own business,” said Lee. “So it means that the people are all saying ‘Let’s leave. We will be able to be in charge of our own affairs in South Korea, We can enjoy freedom. Let’s go look for our freedom there.’ Many of the rich people want to come because [the authorities] are giving them a hard time,” Lee said. After the NGO picked up the group, they spent one night in Thailand. They then boarded three-wheel tuk-tuk motorbikes to turn themselves in at the local police station. One of the them held a cell phone with the English phrase “I want go [sic] to South Korea.” written phonetically in Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Another female member of the group, identified as Lee Jung-sim, is the mother of the 2-year-old. Her 12-year old niece, small enough to pass for a much younger child, was also a part of the group. Lee’s mother had escaped into South Korea 13 years ago. “Now that I’m here, I break into tears just thinking of seeing my mother. It’s been 13 years. I have tears just thinking about meeting her for the first time in 13 years,” Lee said. Before leaving for the police station, a 20-year-old member of the group identified as Park Soo-young vowed that the group would make something of their lives in South Korea. “I’m so happy that you all helped us when we arrived and after all we’ve been through. Thank you to all who helped us,” said Park. “Because of you, we were able to make it here safely to prepare for our trip to South Korea. We will live our best lives in South Korea. We’re not afraid. I know we’re on the right path,” she said. 'Tearful goodbyes' Ji Seong-ho, founder of NAUH, who himself escaped North Korea in 2006, led the effort to rescue the 13. He told RFA that many people that attempt to leave North Korea are arrested in China, as Beijing intensifies crackdowns on those who try to flee. He noted that the number of North Koreans fleeing to Thailand has declined in recent years, but that many still make the journey hoping to escape to freedom. Ji said the latest rescue was nerve-racking and moving. “Everything’s done. We were all so nervous and we were deeply moved — to tears,” said Ji, adding, “There were also tearful goodbyes. But this is like a gateway to South Korea, a free country.” Thailand is a popular destination for North Korean asylum seekers who usually request that they be given permanent resettlement in South Korea. Based on previous cases, the 13 defectors are likely to be incarcerated for illegally entering Thailand as they wait to be granted asylum. They will undergo background checks and questioning by Thai and South Korean authorities, a process expected to last two months. It was not immediately clear how the group were able to contact the NGO and arrange a spot to meet after crossing the Mekong, but usually NGOs are contacted by asylum seekers in China to get assistance in finding brokers that can help them reach Thailand. According to South Korea’s Ministry of Unification more than 33,000 North Koreans have entered South Korea to date, including 546 as of June this year. Thai authorities were not immediately available for comment. Reported by Jungmin Noh 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-defectors-20191021-10212019182657… | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-defectors-20191021-10212019182657… ] 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 U.S. Agency for Global Media ( [ https://www.usagm.gov/home/ | USAGM ] ) . 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 ] .

5 years, 2 months

RFA Statement on Former Burmese Child Soldier's Release

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 6, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Radio Free Asia Statement on the Release of Former Burmese Child Soldier WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia (RFA) Executive Editor Bay Fang issued the following statement about the release of former Burmese child soldier Aung Ko Htway, who was arrested, charged, and sentenced to prison in 2017 for comments made to RFA about his past experiences. Aung Ko Htway was released from a Yangon prison Friday morning after serving out a sentence of two years and six months for "incitement." "Radio Free Asia welcomes the news of Aung Ko Htway's release, but also wishes to point out that in a country where basic freedoms are protected, authorities would not have been able to charge him in the first place," Fang said. "Legal protections for both journalists and sources are necessary to enable press freedom and the survival of independent 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 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, 4 months

RFA Breaking News: Skeptical Scholar Says Visit to Xinjiang Internment Camps Confirms Western Media Reports

by Paul Eckert

RFA Breaking News: Skeptical Scholar Says Visit to Xinjiang Internment Camps Confirms Western Media Reports Aug. 29, 2019 - An Albanian scholar and commentator who traveled to China at Beijing’s invitation this month to disprove what he believed was biased Western media coverage of mass incarcerations of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) said his experience there confirmed the reports as true. Olsi Jazexhi, a university lecturer with a PhD in nationalism studies, was selected by China to participate in a conference for journalists in the XUAR from Aug. 16-24, during which he toured several internment camps, where authorities are believed to have held more than 1.5 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities accused of harboring “strong religious views” and “politically incorrect” since April 2017. “I had positive views regarding China and China’s foreign policy, and sometimes I think that China is treated unfairly by the West,” he told RFA’s Uyghur Service in a recent interview, adding that “this is probably one of the reasons I was selected to participate in this conference.” “Reports that China was building internment camps and persecuting the Uyghurs seemed unbelievable … I was very eager to go to Xinjiang because I wanted to explore for myself what is going on there. But after visiting, I found that much of what we hear in the West about China is not actually ‘fake news.’” Jazexhi said that after arriving, he was given tours of the XUAR capital Urumqi, as well as the regional cities of Aksu (in Chinese, Akesu) and Kashgar (Kashi), during which he and other visitors were told by handlers that the region historically belonged to China, while Uyghurs and other ethnic Muslims who live there are the descendants of “invaders,” whose culture is subordinate to that of Han Chinese. “This official narrative was very shocking to us, and we could see it put into practice when we visited the mass detention centers … that our Chinese friends call vocational training institutes, but which we saw to be a kind of hell,” he said. While Beijing initially denied the existence of the camps, China this year changed tack and began describing the facilities as “boarding schools” that provide vocational training for Uyghurs, discourage radicalization, and help protect the country from terrorism. But reporting by RFA’s Uyghur Service and other media outlets suggest 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. Jazexhi said his group’s handlers rejected Western estimates of the number of detentions as “exaggerations,” and told him that “only 500,000 Uyghurs” are currently held in a total of 68 camps, several of which they were later brought to see on highly orchestrated visits. At the Onsu (Wensu) County Vocational Training School in Aksu prefecture—the first camp the group visited—Jazexhi said he was “expecting to see suicide bombers, terrorists, killers, murderers, and what have you, but … we found out [the inmates] were innocent people.” “The only crime they had committed was that they were Muslim and Uyghur,” he said. The government-organized tours at the camp in Aksu and elsewhere had been arranged ahead of time, according to Jazexhi, and select groups of young Uyghur men and women were brought out to perform music and dances for him and other contributors to the media from India, Turkey, Afghanistan, and other countries. “We understood it was a setup and told our Chinese friends that we hadn’t come for a party … We wanted to investigate what was going on—who were these people, what crimes had they committed, and why were they being held there,” he said of the visit to the Aksu internment camp. “I left the dance party and went out to inspect the conditions in the detention center, and tried to interview some kids doing other things there, but our Chinese friends got very upset with me and made excuses about why I couldn’t speak with them.” ‘Paranoid’ handlers Later, Jazexhi and others were brought to see detainees “study,” and he asked their instructor why they were being held there against their will. “[The instructor] was telling me that it was a vocational school, but when I asked whether they were free to go home, he said, ‘no, they cannot leave,’” he said. “In a way, it proved to us these are prisons where these kids are brought against their will.” When Jazexhi addressed the Uyghurs at the camp with the traditional Muslim greeting of “as-salamu alaykum,” or “peace be upon you,” he said they responded with the Mandarin Chinese greeting of “ni hao,” and said they did not identify as Muslims or believe in Allah because they “believe in science and the [ruling Chinese] Communist Party.” “What we understood from visiting these mass detention centers is that [the detainees] are totally prohibited from speaking Uyghur and are forced to speak Chinese all the time, as well as to renounce their religion,” he said. “I began to understand that China built these centers to Sinicize the Uyghurs. If they want to get out of the internment camps, the condition is that they must renounce their Uyghur identity, God, their belief in Islam, their Uyghur language, and instead always speak in Mandarin Chinese and acknowledge the supremacy of the communist party.” Jazexhi said his handlers explained that authorities also hope to assimilate Uyghurs by bringing Han Chinese workers and settlers to the XUAR, introducing economic incentives that mix Uyghurs and Han Chinese communities together, and indoctrinating Uyghurs with Han Chinese culture and respect for the government through mass incarceration, adding that they regretted not implementing these policies during the 1970s. He called them “paranoid,” and said they would not permit members of the group to interview anyone—even people they passed in the streets—while members of the Uyghur community “were afraid to talk to us.” “They told us that they knew we had seen things that we didn’t like on our visit, but that they didn’t want us to report anything bad about them,” Jazexhi said. “I went to China with the good intention of countering the narrative we hear from the West, but what I saw was really horrific … What we learned from our visit is that the government of Xinjiang was implementing selective policies to punish Uyghur Muslims.” Orchestrated tours In a recent interview with ABC News, Adrian Zenz, an independent researcher who studies China's minority policies and first put forth the now widely accepted estimate of 1.5 million Uyghurs and Muslim minorities believed to have been held in the camps, suggested that tours to the facilities are staged prior to media arrival. “My research has shown that these camps are being modified prior to the visits,” Zenz told ABC, which was recently granted rare on-camera tours of a center in Kashgar prefecture’s Yengisheher (Shule) county and another in Atush (Atushi) city, in Kizilsu Kirghiz (Kezileisu Keerkezi) Autonomous Prefecture. “Satellite images before and after show that several months before visits are permitted, watchtowers and other security features such as metal fencing were removed from these camps,” he said. At the end of its government-guided tour, ABC News said it asked Chinese officials to see other centers in the XUAR, specifically ones that satellite images showed had barbed wire fences and watchtowers, but its requests were denied. Mass incarcerations in the XUAR, as well as other policies seen to violate the rights of Uyghurs and other Muslims, have led to increasing calls by the international community to hold Beijing accountable for its actions in the region. Last month, at the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the internment camps in the XUAR “one of the worst human rights crises of our time” and “truly the stain of the century.” U.S. Vice President Mike Pence also slammed the camps “where [Uyghurs] endure around-the-clock brainwashing” and survivors have described their experience as “a deliberate attempt by Beijing to strangle Uyghur culture and stamp out the Muslim faith.” U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback recently told RFA in an interview that countries around the world must speak out on the Uyghur camps, or risk emboldening China and other authoritarian regimes. The U.S. Congress has also joined in efforts to halt the incarcerations, debating legislation that seeks accountability for China’s harsh crackdown on the Uyghurs. The Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act would appoint a special State Department coordinator on Xinjiang and require regular reports on the camps, the surveillance network, and the security threats posed by the crackdown. Reported by Alim Seytoff for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. View this story online at: [ https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/scholar-08292019164346.html | https://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/scholar-08292019164346.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 U.S. Agency for Global Media ( [ https://www.usagm.gov/home/ | USAGM ] ) . 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 ] .

5 years, 4 months

Statement on the Charges Against Former RFA Journalists in Cambodia

by Communications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 8, 2019 Contact: Rohit Mahajan | 202.530.4976 | mahajanr(a)rfa.org <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> Statement on the Charges Against Former RFA Journalists in Cambodia WASHINGTON - The circumstances under which Radio Free Asia closed its office in Cambodia have become a topic of scrutiny in the ongoing trial at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of former RFA journalists Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin. With the trial due to resume on Friday, RFA would like to reiterate that it considers the charges brought against Chhin and Sothearin to be unsubstantiated and issue the following statement: "Government pressure and threats led to an abrupt closure of Radio Free Asia's Phnom Penh bureau on Sept. 12, 2017, in a serious setback to freedom of the press in Cambodia. The situation RFA faced that week was sudden and panicked. We had to wind up in a few days a news operation that had been running for nearly 20 years. Dozens of local journalists and staff lost their jobs. In the midst of this, RFA had to maintain its daily news report that continued to be broadcast from our headquarters in Washington, D.C. "Without any due process, the government was declaring journalism by RFA in Cambodia to be illegal. We maintain that in a democratic society, reporting the news should not be a crime. Contracts with our local staff were actually valid until Sept. 30, and RFA has records of just one published story that was filed by Chhin or Sothearin in the week the bureau closed. That was on Sept. 15, three days after the closure. On the very same day that story was published, the government said that RFA was still entitled to cover a news conference it held in Phnom Penh. "So not only did the government declare journalism by RFA to be illegal, it sowed confusion in its own public statements on the matter. This has culminated in the unjust prosecution of two of Cambodia's most dedicated, independent journalists for simply doing their job to provide reliable information to the Cambodian public." ### To view this statement on Radio Free Asia's website, click here <https://www.rfa.org/about/releases/charges-former-rfa-journalists-080820191 51515.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 United States Agency for Global Media.

5 years, 5 months

BREAKING NEWS: China Detains 60 North Korean Refugees, Sends Some Back

by Richard Finney

China Detains 60 North Korean Defectors, Sends Some Back Aug. 7, 2019 -- China has detained about 60 North Korean defectors and begun repatriating them back to North Korea where they could face punishment, including execution, according to South Korean sources. The defectors fleeing the brutal rule of Kim Jong Un have been held in detention facilities in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning bordering North Korea, according to a South Korean missionary, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. "I believe the repatriation of North Korean defectors held in detention facilities in Liaoning province has begun recently,” the missionary told RFA’s Korean Service, adding that the 60 North Koreans were arrested in various parts of China and imprisoned in Liaoning as of last month. The missionary, who has been involved in helping defectors for the last two decades, as well as other activist and human rights groups believe defector arrests have spiked this year following appeals by the Kim Jong Un regime to Beijing to thwart those fleeing North Korea, especially military personnel or dignitaries. The number of arrests of North Koreans fleeing to South Korea via China has increased significantly this year, according to human rights activists and other groups involved in efforts to help those leaving the hardline communist state in search of a better life. China, Pyongyang's oldest benefactor, considers North Korean defectors as illegal economic migrants rather than refugees or asylum seekers and forcibly returns many of them to North Korea, which runs an illicit nuclear weapons program. North Koreans who escape the isolated state typically face harsh punishments if they are sent back, including torture, sexual violence, hard labor, imprisonment in political or re-education camps, or even execution. Often their family members are also punished. Numbers larger than previously reported Young-ja Kim, Director General of the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR), told RFA that he believes the number of North Korean defectors arrested in China so far this year was larger than that reported by the South Korean media. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper last month quoted an activist who helps defectors as saying that at least 39 North Koreans had been detained in Liaoning. South Korea's Unification Ministry said 546 defectors arrived in the country in the first six months of this year, up from 487 in the same period last year, the report said. The spike in arrests could have stemmed from increasing North Korea-China cooperation following five summits between Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the past 16 months, after years of no such high level meetings at all. The two countries had signed a mutual cooperation treaty in 1986 for the maintenance of security and social order along their border areas. “It is possible that the two sides have strengthened cooperation on the issue of North Korean defectors in China in the wake of the North Korea-China security diplomacy," said Kim In-tae, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul. Aside from the increased cooperation, China's recent introduction of a facial recognition surveillance system is also hampering plans of North Korean defectors. “The recent situation in which surveillance equipment has been installed in many parts of China also makes it difficult for the movement of North Korean defectors," an official of a North Korea defectors’ group in South Korea, who asked not to be identified because of his safety, told RFA. "It feels like the Chinese authorities are tightening their surveillance and control over ordinary Chinese, and the situation seems to affect the arrest of North Korean defectors.” Reported by Yong Jae Mok for RFA's Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai and Richard Finney. View this story online at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/defectors-08072019211049.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 U.S. Agency for Global Media. 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 .

5 years, 5 months

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