Women Detained After Naked Protest on Beijing's Tiananmen Square

 
Authorities in the Chinese capital on Friday released from police detention two elderly petitioners who staged a naked protest on Tiananmen Square, although relatives said they were on their way back home under escort by local officials, known as interceptors.

Xing Jiaying and He Zeying from Xinyang city in the central province of Henan were detained on May 25 on a seven-day administrative jail term for "disturbing public order" after they staged the protest along with one other petitioner from their hometown."We took off all our clothes and protested on Tiananmen Square about injustices we have suffered," He said.

"We were surrounded by a large number of police officers and taken to the Tiananmen branch police station," she said, adding that she and Xing had been roughly treated during their days in detention."I don't know yet whether we can go straight home," she said. But she gave no details of the third protester, who is believed to have escaped detention at the time.

The two women and their male relative—He's son-in-law and Xing's son—were met by interceptors from their hometown on Friday and escorted home, He told RFA."I have been in detention for the past few days," she said by phone on her way back to Henan under the escort of four police officers. "They said I was disturbing public order on the Square.""Now we are out. We were released by police officers from Xi county [under the administration of Xinyang city]," she said.

Traffic accident

He's son-in-law Xing Wangli, known online by his nickname Wu Quanli, a pun on "powerless," said the women were protesting at a lack of compensation or redress after Xing's grandson was involved in a traffic accident.

"The family has been petitioning for a long time, but they have been subjected to revenge attacks by the government," he said.He said the authorities had organized a student protest against him in Xi county on Thursday, for allowing his mother to shed her clothes on Tiananmen Square.

Sichuan-based rights activist Huang Qi, whose Tianwang website first reported the incident, said he had been contacted by officials and told to delete the original news story from his site."A guy calling himself the head of the Xi county chamber of commerce called up and ... said Tianwang should delete the report," Huang said."They said they would give Wu Quanli 500,000 yuan (U.S. $80,000) and three mu (one-half acre) of land near his home at [a discounted price]," he said.

Huang said he had refused the takedown request, however."Tianwang hasn't deleted a post in 16 years, even when there is a risk of going to jail," he said.

Petitions

Faced with thousands of complaints about its officials every day, China recently moved to ban its citizens from taking petitions directly to the central government without first going through local authorities.From May 1, departments at higher levels of the central government have refused to accept petitions that bypass the local government and its immediate superiors, and have rejected petitions deemed to be the preserve of the judiciary or legislative bodies.

Beijing has repeatedly tried to stem the flood of thousands of petitioners who descend on the capital with complaints, often ahead of key political events, when petitioners hope their cases will get a more sympathetic hearing.

Next week, activists will mark the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests on Tiananmen Square.Petitioners say corrupt networks of power and influence at local levels ensure that a fair hearing is all but impossible, and that they are repeatedly stonewalled, detained in "black jails," beaten, and harassed by local authorities if they try to take complaints to the top.

'The 23' found guilty, released

Phnom Penh Municipal Court erupted in cheers this morning as judges announced the release of jailed unionist Vorn Pov and 22 others arrested during unruly garment wage protests in January of this year.The release, as has become increasingly typical in such cases, was not without caveats.

All 23 were found guilty and given sentences ranging from one to four-and-a-half years, before those sentences were suspended.The verdicts brought to an end a months-long drama that has loomed over the garment industry, and particularly over recent meetings between major brands and the manufacturers that supply them. 

Presiding judge Keo Mony said yesterday that four of Pov’s cohorts were also slapped with fines of 8 million riel (about $2,000), but those were suspended as well.“The Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge has decided to release the workers, including Vorn Pov,” Mony said yesterday. “Vorn Pov’s suspended sentence is four years and six months, and a fine of 8 million riel. The court will allow them to file an appeal within one month if they do not favour the court’s decision.” 

Sam Sokong, Pov’s lawyer, said yesterday that while he welcomed the release, the court should have never sentenced his client in the first place, and that the question of an appeal was still up for debate.

“As for the decision of the court, some parts my client favours, and some parts my client does not favour,” he said. “In any event, my client will consider whether to take it to the Appeal Court or not.”

Meanwhile, in a separate courtroom, presiding judge Leang Sam Nath sentenced another group of 13 defendants – all of whom were arrested during a violent wage protest on Veng Sreng Boulevard, where state security forces shot and killed at least four demonstrators – to one to four years in prison, likewise suspending their sentences.“Based on hearings, the court has found that they have been the guilty,” Sam Nat said, adding that the court had decided to drop the complaint filed by the owner of clinic that was smashed by the rioting workers.

In a separate decision, the court also sentenced two people, including a minor, who were arrested at a violent protest in Stung Meanchey last November, before suspending their sentences as well.

Rights groups were quick to condemn the convictions of all 25 defendants today, and have maintained throughout the trial that the rights of the suspects had been abused.

“The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) welcomes today’s decision by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of First Instance to suspend the sentences of the 25 human rights defenders, activists and protestors,” read a statement from CCHR released yesterday. “However, CCHR strongly condemns the decision of the judges to convict them despite a complete lack of evidence, and serious violations of their right to a fair trial, as detailed by CCHR ahead of the verdict.”

CCHR went on to criticise the lack of an independent investigation into the use of deadly force by security personnel, and Chhay Chhunly, coordinator of CCHR’s human rights defenders project, was quoted in the statement as saying that no reliable evidence had been brought against the accused.

“The only thing the 25 can be blamed for is to have exercised their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” he said. “The lack of any incriminatory evidence demonstrates that the verdict is based on political considerations rather than evidence.”Am Sam Ath, a senior monitor with rights group Licadho, also pointed towards political pressure, calling the verdict a product of competing pressure from the government – in favour of conviction – and visiting garment brands – who in recent meetings have said that any verdict should be based on credible evidence.“I think that the court’s decision was under political pressure,” he said. “The court gets pressure from the government [to convict]… and all the buyers from other countries pressured them to protect the worker’s rights.”

The International Senior Lawyers Project, which works to promote rule of law, issued a statement saying the court’s handling of the case “fell far short of international standards for the conduct of fair trials”.The criticism of the verdict didn’t dampen the overall sense of celebration among those who turned out in support of the defendants, Prak Sovanary, the wife of Vorn Pov, had her reservations as well.“I am so happy that my husband could be released and set free, but I also do not like that the court decided to sentence my husband to four years and six months in prison,” she said. “My husband did nothing wrong. He shouldn’t have any sentence.”

Italian politicians voice concern over China’s acts in East Sea

Chairperson of the Italian Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Pier Ferdinando Casini has voiced deep concern over China’s acts in the East Sea following its illegal placement of a drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters.

Two Chinese ships chase one Vietnamese Coast Guard ship (Source: VNA)

Speaking at a workshop on international sea law on May 28, the Senator stated that the East Sea issue must be settled through peaceful measures and dialogues, on the basis of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
He confirmed his committee’s backing of the May 8 statement by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, which said that unilateral actions could affect security in the region.

Casini is not the only Italian politician raising objection to China’s acts since it unilaterally positioned its Haiyang Shiyou-981 rig deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, violating Vietnam’s sovereignty as well as international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea to which China is also a signatory.
Earlier on May 16, Deputy Enzo Amendola of the Democratic Party said all unilateral acts will pose serious threat to security in the region, which is one of the world’s economic hubs.
According to him, to eliminate tensions in the East Sea, involved parties should seek peaceful and cooperative solutions in line with international law, especially the UNCLOS, in order to continue ensuring the freedom of navigation.

On May 14, Senator Antonio Razzi asked Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini to promptly issue orientations to the country’s reaction relating to developments in the East Sea.
At the beginning of May, China illegally dispatched the Haiyang Shiyou-981 rig, as well as a large fleet of armed ships and aircraft, to Vietnam’s waters and positioned the rig at 15 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 12 minutes 06 seconds east longitude. The location is 80 miles deep inside Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.
On May 27, China moved the rig to 15 degrees 33 minutes 22 seconds north latitude and 111 degrees 34 minutes 36 seconds east longitude, still completely within Vietnam’s continental shelf.
Chinese ships around the rig have repeatedly rammed and fired water cannons into Vietnamese coast guard and fisheries surveillance ships which are carrying out their law enforcement missions in the country’s waters, leaving many Vietnamese ships damaged and many fisheries surveillance officers injured.

China’s long-term plot to capture the East Sea

Seen in the context of its actions over the past half century, there is nothing surprising about China’s recent deployment of an illegal drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters. This is just one more notch in the ratchet Beijing has long wielded to "monopolize the East Sea". The strategy was hatched by the Middle Kingdom long ago and the country has continuously found ways to implement it without regard for international law or its commitments to the world community.

China’s U-shaped line covers over 80% of the East Sea.

China self-draws the so-called “nine-dotted line”
China is the country that is most vociferous about raising claims in the East Sea, but it wasn’t until 1951 that Beijing issued its first statement on the matter. At the San Francisco Conference, Premier Zhou Enlai said that Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands), Truong Sa (Spratly Island) and Pratas Islands “were and always had been” part of Chinese territory.

The claims were then pushed to a higher level in 1997, when the Chinese Foreign Minister said that China’s sovereignty over the East Sea China was "nonnegotiable", although the claims reached the southern tip of the Reed Bank, close to the Borneo territories of Malaysia. However, when it came to justifying such claims, only vague assertions were made, with the general argument that China had "useful evidence" on the issue of its sovereignty.

The so-called "historical evidence" was ultimately revealed by China in May of 2009, a day after Malaysia and Vietnam filed their joint report registering the extended continental shelf in the south of East Sea to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). China responded with a diplomatic note to the UN Secretary-General to object, and included an attached "9-dotted line" map, which asserts Chinese sovereignty over more than 80% of the East Sea and the entire Spratly and Paracel archipelagos of Vietnam.

In fact, this is the "11-dotted line" map, made by the Chiang Kai-shek government of the Republic of China in 1947, with two lines extending into the Gulf of Tonkin, which were removed in 1953. Even Chinese researchers have had to acknowledge the legal weakness of the so-called "9-dotted line” sovereignty.Not only raising the 9-dotted line claims, China also claims the East Sea a "core interest" – a concept that Beijing uses to refer to "hot spot" issues concerning national sovereignty. Other Chinese “hot spots” include  Xinjiang, Tibet, and Taiwan. These are issues over which China says it will not compromise, and will resort to force "if necessary".
Chinese officials and Chinese media have repeatedly underscored this point. A Xinhua article published in August 2011 asserted that China has "indisputable sovereignty" over three million square kilometers of East Sea waters, and that these waters are part of the "core interests" of China.
All of the above statements reveal a single intention: China resolves to monopolize the East Sea and turn it into its own pond.

The steps to monopolize the East Sea
To fulfill its ambition of coopting the East Sea, China has continuously taken acts that lead to instability in the region, focusing on the following measures:
“Legalizing sovereignty": This is a series of continuous steps, under the first phase of the road map to "control, master and monopolize" the East Sea, aiming to mold public opinion at home and abroad. In 1996, shortly after the signing the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), China immediately approved an agreement ratifying this Convention, with the reserved clause “historical rights” belonging to China before the provisions of UNCLOS. China has also inculcated its children with its supposed East Sea sovereignty, promoting the "nine-dotted line" in school textbooks.
In 2012, "legitimizing sovereignty" escalated to a new level, when China announced its establishment of the so-called Sansha City on Phu Lam Island of the Paracel archipelago of Vietnam, which China claims has the authority to administer both the Paracel and Spratly Islands of Vietnam. Six months later, China placed the 9-dotted line in electronic passports – a wrongful act in international relations that was many countries objected to.

Invasion through economic activities: This is the act of mastering the East Sea step by step, based on arguments that, where maritime economic activities are conducted, sovereignty is established. Along with strong investment in law enforcement forces at sea such as the Coast Guard, the Fisheries Administration and the Marine Patrol forces, China has encouraged Chinese fishermen to ply their trade in the remote fishing grounds in the overlapped areas or even in the waters of other countries.
In addition, the Hainan provincial government, with the consent of the central government, annually issues a "fishing ban" over the East Sea.

And, as evidenced in recent days, China has urged its national petroleum corporations to extend their activities to the East Sea. In June of 2012, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) invited international bidding for nine oil blocks with a total area of over 160,000 km2, located deep in the continental shelf of Vietnam. On May 1, 2014, CNOOC illegally deployed the HD-981 oil rig in Vietnam’s continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, evoking strong opposition from regional and international communities."Breaking the status quo": A systematic process to assert sovereignty in the step-by-step manner of "silkworms eating mulberry". China ultimately expects countries in the region to resign themselves to its claims of sovereignty as a fait accompli.Even the use of force is treated as just another tool that the Middle Kingdom is ready to wield in furthering its insatiable ambitions. In 1956 China invaded a part of the Paracels and in 1974 completed its occupation of the entire archipelago. In 1988, Chinese troops invaded Gac Ma Island of Vietnam’s Spratlys.

In a similar scenario, China sent seven boats in 1995 to occupy Vanh Khan Island of the Spratly archipelago. In early 2013, the Beijing government illegal occupied Scarborough Shoal/ Huangyan, over which the Philippines claims sovereignty, and has maintained a permanent presence of ships around this shoal in order to, again, “change the status quo”. The deployment of the HD-981 rig in Vietnam's waters is just another step in “status quo transformation”.
Enhancing naval power: The goal is to create "military deterrence", to apply further pressure on regional countries to resign themselves to Chinese claims of sovereignty. Thanks to its rapid economic growth, China has strengthened its military capabilities, especially naval power, and especially in the East Sea. Once the weakling of China’s naval forces, the South Sea Fleet has been heavily upgraded to become the pride of the Chinese navy, with the biggest and most modern warships. Along with that, the Sanya/Hainan naval base is being continuously expanded to receive nuclear submarines and even aircraft carriers.

Three arrested after girls are gang-raped and left hanging from tree in India

 

A police officer and two other people have been arrested after two teenage girls were gang-raped and left hanging from the branches of a mango tree in a northern Indian village, authorities said Friday.

The shocking attack on the girls -- two cousins aged 14 and 16 -- sparked outrage in the village of Katra Sadatganj and beyond.Angry villagers protested around the bodies, preventing police from taking them down from the tree for about 15 hours Wednesday, the day after the attack, said Mukesh Saxena, a local police official. 

A photo from the village, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, showed the body of one girl, dressed in a green tunic and pants, hanging from the tree. A large group of people, many of them young children, were gathered around the grisly scene.Police said an autopsy confirmed the girls had been raped and strangled. The cremation of their remains took place late Wednesday night in line with Hindu customs, Saxena said.Armed police officers have been deployed in the village to prevent any further unrest, he added.

Alleged gang rape, hanging of 2 girls in India sparks global outrage

Police under scrutiny

The girls' families accused three brothers of carrying out the rape and killing. Two of the brothers are now in custody, said R.K.S. Rathore, a deputy-inspector general of police. One was arrested Thursday night, he said.Police are still searching for the third brother The families of the victims have accused local police of initially failing to respond and siding with the suspects when the parents went to report the case. The allegations have fueled anger among the villagers.

Saxena said three police officers have been temporarily suspended for negligence of duty, and one has been arrested.He said the girls had gone out into the orchard to relieve themselves Tuesday night when they were grabbed by the attackers.Some people saw the abduction but were unable to stop it, he said, citing eyewitnesses 'Endemic' violenceThe horrific gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi in late 2012 shook India, focusing sharp attention on violent crimes against women in the country, the world's second most populous after China.

The case prompted protests in many cities, soul-searching in the media and changes to the law. But shocking instances of sexual violence continue to come to light with grim regularity.

"Laws can only do so much when you have to end something which is as endemic and as entrenched as violence against women," said Divya Iyer, a senior researcher for Amnesty International in Bangalore, India.The country's new prime minister, Narendra Modi, has said he wants to take steps to make sure woman are safe, particularly in rural India. But women's rights groups have criticized what they say is a lack of specific proposals to tackle the problem, suggesting gender inequality doesn't appear to be high on his list of priorities."There is a lot more to do," Iyer told CNN. "That political leadership is unfortunately missing."

Four men convicted over gang rape of photojournalist in Mumbai

'Medieval lawlessness'

An opinion article in The Times of India, a prominent daily newspaper, linked the attack this week to rising crime and a crisis of authority in Uttar Pradesh, which it said was sliding into "medieval lawlessness."It wasn't immediately clear whether India's entrenched caste system, which continues to cause prejudice and persecution in some rural areas, played a role in the attack. Rathore, the police official, said that the victims and the suspects belonged to different low caste groups.Zainab Salbi, the founder of Women for Women International, pointed out that "violence against women is a global issue," not limited to developing countries.But Salbi told CNN that in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries, "the concept of women as property is still a common thing," meaning they don't get treated as equal human beings.