Radio Free China: Human Rights and Religious Liberty - Africa/Middle East

Sudan still killing civillians in Darfur region

Sun, 29 Aug 2004 13:35:44 GMT

Rebels in Sudan Region Say No Letup in Attacks. Rebels in the Darfur region of Sudan said Saturday that government forces and Arab militiamen have continued to bomb and torch villages and kill civilians -- with attacks on six villages in the past three days, including one that killed 64 people. By By Ed Johnson. [washingtonpost.com - World]

VOA Report on Dafur Refugees

Sat, 21 Aug 2004 19:38:46 GMT

More Darfur Refugees Flee to Eastern Chad (with audio) [VOANews.com Headlines]

Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:37 GMT

Janjaweed not being reined in, says UN. The prospect of international sanctions being imposed on Sudan has drawn closer, following comments from the United Nations envoy in Khartoum that no progress had been made on disarming the Janjaweed militia in Darfur. [Telegraph News | International News]

Sudan Up To It's Same Old Tricks

Thu, 12 Aug 2004 01:24:00 GMT

Sudan seen to renege on Darfur deal. LONDON -- Sudan's government is gutting its pledge to improve security in the embattled Darfur region by barring international aid and taking militias blamed for atrocities into the police forces rather than disarming them, Human Rights Watch said early today. The United Nations said Sudan carried out fresh helicopter attacks in the region and Arab militia targeted refugees trying to ... [Boston Globe -- World News]

Sudan's Crimes Agains It's Own People

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 20:42:26 GMT

KHARTOUM'S RESPONSIBILITY FOR MASS EXECUTIONS
Halting Genocide in Darfur, Preserving the North-South Peace Agreement: Both Require Removal of Khartoum's National Islamic Front from Power

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS (ANS) -- As the UN Security Council and political leadership continue to prove wholly inadequate to the crisis in Darfur, as humanitarian capacity slips further behind rapidly expanding humanitarian need, and as the international community badly fumbles over how to respond to massive genocidal destruction, the Khartoum regime's remorseless engine of human death and suffering continues to function with terrifying efficiency, writes Eric Reeves of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, who is an expert on Sudan.

“Though most of the 2,000 who now die daily are succumbing to disease and the effects of starvation (and most of these invisibly), a recent and extraordinarily revealing report from the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions gives us a much clearer view of Khartoum's direct involvement in violent mass human destruction,” Reeves says.

Reeves says UN Special Rapporteur Asma Jahangir “minces no words” in her final report or in her public comments: “It is beyond doubt that the Government of the Sudan is responsible for extrajudicial and summary executions of large numbers of people over the last several months in the Darfur region, as well as in the Shilook [also Shilluk] Kingdom in Upper Nile State [southern Sudan],'' said Asma Jahangir, the U.N. investigator on executions, in a report based on a 13-day visit to the region in June." (Associated Press, August 6, 2004)

"Jahangir said there was 'overwhelming evidence' that the killing was carried out 'in a coordinated manner by the armed forces of the government and government-backed militias. They appear to be carried out in a systematic manner,'' (Associated Press, August 6, 2004), Reeves said.

Reeves says that Jahangir also takes a larger view of the consequences for Darfur of what a previous UN human rights investigative team called a “reign of terror":

"'The current humanitarian disaster unfolding in Darfur, for which the government is largely responsible, has put millions of civilians at risk, and it is very likely that many will die in the months to come as a result of starvation and disease,' said Jahangir, a Pakistani lawyer." (Associated Press, August 6, 2004)

Reeves says her account of attacks on the African civilian populations of Darfur has a ghastly familiarity, echoing as it does so many other human rights reports on Darfur:

"[Jahangir said] the most often heard report was of villages being surrounded by military vehicles accompanied by Arab militia riding horses. The local population was plundered, looted, tortured, raped and often shot at in a random manner; however, adult men seemed often to be specifically targeted. Before leaving, the Arab militia would burn down the villages. In some cases, helicopters or Antonov airplanes were used to bomb or attack the villages or to provide cover for ground operations, including operations carried out by Arab militia." (Associated Press, August 6, 2004)

Says Reeves: “Though Jahangir suggested that the Khartoum regime ‘appeared oblivious to the dramatic and disastrous proportions and the magnitude,’ we may be sure that in this case appearances are deceiving: Khartoum is fully aware of the proportions of its genocidal assault on the African tribal populations of Darfur, and its actions are clearly fully governed by an intent to destroy these people. The systematic and widespread military actions and military coordination that Jahangir and many others have described are unmistakably the deliberate policies of Khartoum. Intent can be inferred with certainty from the countless actions that make up Khartoum's sustained military strategy in Darfur.”

Moreover, Reeves writes, this inference has been indisputably confirmed in a recent Human Rights Watch report:

"Human Rights Watch said it had obtained confidential documents from the civilian administration in Darfur that implicate high-ranking government officials in a policy of militia support. 'It's absurd to distinguish between the Sudanese government forces and the militias---they are one,' said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Africa Division. 'These documents show that militia activity has not just been condoned, it's been specifically supported by Sudan government officials.'" ("Darfur Documents Confirm Government Policy of Militia Support," July 20, 2004; http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/07/20/darfur9095.htm).

KHARTOUM'S REFUSAL OF AFRICAN UNION PEACEKEEPERS

Reeves says: “ The National Islamic Front regime so potently indicted here by UN Special Rapporteur Jahangir and Human Rights Watch nonetheless presently enjoys a 30-day window of opportunity, courtesy of a weak and finally inconsequential UN resolution (see August 6, 2004 analysis of the UN resolution by this writer; available upon request). Just as troublingly, Khartoum is now strenuously resisting the deployment of any African Union (AU) troops that might have a peacekeeping mandate: the regime will only permit forces with a mandate to protect the small contingent of AU cease-fire monitors, a military task that obviously does not require the 2,000 troops the AU recently authorized to respond to the Darfur crisis,”(Reuters, August 7, 2004).

Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein (the particularly brutal member of the NIF regime responsible for "Darfur policy") declared very recently: “’We will not agree to the presence of any foreign forces, whatever their nationality,' Sudanese Interior Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein said in an interview with London's Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published on Friday." (Reuters, August 6, 2004).

Reeves writes: “The insidiously deceptive Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail indicated the basis on which Khartoum would block any truly meaningful African Union force, one able to protect civilians: ‘We have to make a distinction between three categories. The presence of observers, the presence of protection forces for those observers and the presence of peacekeeping forces,' Ismail told reporters in Khartoum when asked whether Sudan would accept African peacekeepers. 'We don't have a problem with either the first or the second categories. As far as the third category is concerned...this is the responsibility of the Sudanese forces.'" (Reuters, August 7, 2004)

Reeves asks: “Why is Khartoum so eager to keep out a meaningful African Union “peacekeeping force? Why in the face of massive insecurity, directly threatening many hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians, as well as humanitarian assistance and access, is Khartoum so insistent that no significant troop presence be permitted?

His answer: “Because the genocide is not complete and Khartoum is determined to complete a task well begun; moreover, the regime is determined to obliterate as much evidence of these crimes as possible. The primary goal is precisely to prevent and eliminate all international presence in Darfur.”

Reeves says no matter that UN Special Rapporteur Jahangir is all too accurate in her global assessment of the crisis deriving from Khartoum's policies: "'The current humanitarian disaster unfolding in Darfur, for which the government is largely responsible, has put millions of civilians at risk, and it is very likely that many will die in the months to come as a result of starvation and disease.'" (Associated Press, August 6,
2004).

In fact, Jahangir's figure here of "millions of civilians at risk" is very likely suggestive of current realities, Reeves says.

He writes: “Evidence continues to accumulate that perhaps as many as 1 million people have not yet been included in figures for Internally Displaced Persons and refugees. The overall level of destruction of African villages is extraordinary -- well over 50 percent by most estimates, which in turn have been confirmed by partial satellite photographic coverage and analysis of the Darfur region.”

He concludes: “The current UN total for Internally Displaced Persons and refugees is approximately 1.5 million. But this doesn't begin to account for those who must have been displaced, given the high level of village destruction and a total African tribal population that may be very roughly estimated at 4 million. We may in fact be seeing a gross underestimation by the UN and other international actors of the sort that defined the crisis in eastern Congo in 1996-97.

“Humanitarian intervention in Darfur cannot wait for an end to UN dithering, but must commence immediately; Sudan as a whole cannot endure further rule by the National Islamic Front.”

Mon, 26 Jul 2004 13:37:17 GMT

Sudan: Darfur: Rape as a weapon of war: sexual violence and its consequences. This report finds that rape and other forms of sexual violence in Darfur are being used as a weapon of war in order to humiliate, punish, control, inflict fear and displace women and their communities. [Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English Reports]

Wed, 21 Jul 2004 01:07:04 GMT

Documents point to Janjaweed link with government. A HUMAN rights group claims it has proof that Sudan has armed, supported and given political cover to Arab militias carrying out "ethnic cleansing" against black tribesmen in Darfur province. [Scotsman.com News - International]

Tue, 20 Jul 2004 22:41:45 GMT

CONTINUING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SOUTHERN SUDAN THREATEN PEACE PROCESS
Hundreds of civilians slaughtered in Akobo, headquarters of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 20,2004
Contact: Brad Phillips
1.888.201.5245
1.540.829.5353

AKOBO (ANS) -- Sudan -- Persecution Project Foundation (PPF) president Brad Phillips announced today the release of a partial list detailing the names and ages of 222 Christians who were among 234 civilians killed during Government of Sudan (GoS) sponsored attacks near the town of Akobo in May 2004.

During a recent visit to the region, Phillips met with PCOS representatives, Rev. Both Reath Luang and PCOS health coordinator Rev. Paul Biel, who provided firsthand accounts of atrocities committed by GoS backed forces in May along with a the list of these recent genocide victims.

According to Rev. Both, the GoS sponsored attacks began on May 1, initially killing 204 civilians. Another 30 people were killed in Wunbut near Akobo on May 10.

“Most of the dead are women and children,” Phillips said. “Ninety-three of the victims – nearly half of those murdered – were children 12 years old or younger!”

Another 78 people were wounded, and 58 of the most seriously wounded were evacuated to the Red Cross hospital in Lokichoggio, Kenya.

The raiders looted and burned homes and stole 6,000 cattle.

The Sudan Mirror also reported that GoS backed Murle militia forces destroyed facilities belonging to Medecins Sans Frontieres and the South Sudan Disabled Persons Association.

“Gatluak Goryang Chol was less than a year old,” Phillips said. “His brother was four. This list puts names and ages to impersonal statistics. The U.S. State Department needs to reconsider whether it is at all wise to remove Sudan from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism... I hope they’ll take a hard look at the names of the women and children on this list. These 93 children were not the unfortunate victims of war, or merely innocent bystanders. They were the intended targets. This is not an act of war; this is an act of terrorism, pure and simple.”

“The attack is a campaign by the government,” SPLA spokesman George Garang told Agence France-Presse (AFP), “to control Akobo and other towns near the Ethiopian, Ugandan and Kenyan borders before a (comprehensive) peace agreement is signed.”

At the same time, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) quotes an SPLM/A negotiator who accuses the Bashir regime of deliberately violating the recently-signed protocol on military arrangements.

Khartoum is suddenly insisting that the southern pro-government militias participate in the peace talks, despite the fact that both sides had agreed that SPLA is the only legitimate southern Sudanese army during the transition period.

“We did not expect the government to take such a destructive step,” the negotiator said.

Following a failed attempt at inclusion in negotiations, Major General al-Toam al-Nour Daldoum, leader of the pro-Khartoum National Popular Forces, vowed to increase the attacks.

“The NPF has sent a clear message to [SPLA Commander John] Garang,” Daldoum told AFP, “that it would not yield to his threats and would defy him during the transitional period.”

Last year, Persecution Project Foundation and its partner The Voice of the Martyrs, based in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, were the first NGOs to assist the displaced Christian community in Akobo by delivering many tons of Bibles, food, medicine and crisis relief “Life Pack” supplies following Akobo’s return to SPLM control in March 2003.

Tue, 20 Jul 2004 15:45:14 GMT

Rape Is Among Abuses in Sudan, Report Finds. Militias in Darfur have violated hundreds of victims as young as 8, a rights group says. Another sees proof of government complicity. [Los Angeles Times World News]

Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:45:13 GMT

Sudan: Rape as a weapon of war in Darfur. "Some 15 women and girls were raped in different huts in the village. The Janjawid broke the limbs of some women and girls to prevent them from escaping. The Janjawid remained in the village for six to seven days. [Amnesty International USA: Most Recent English News Releases]

Mon, 19 Jul 2004 17:36:55 GMT

Montagnards Emerge from Cambodian Jungle to Seek UN Help [VOA]
Nancy-Amelia Collins

Almost four-dozen members of a Vietnamese ethnic-minority group have emerged from months of hiding in the jungles of Cambodia to seek assistance from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

The U.N. agency has given protection to the 44 Vietnamese hill tribesmen, known as Montagnards, who had been hiding in the malaria-infested jungles of northeastern Cambodia since fleeing Vietnam last April. They originally fled Vietnam after police used tear gas and truncheons to disperse thousands of the Christian tribesmen, who had gathered to protest religious persecution and the confiscation of their ancestral lands.

A similar protest in 2001 sent more than a thousand Montagnards fleeing across the border to Cambodia.

The 44 Montagnards came out of hiding Sunday in the Cambodian border province of Ratannakiri. They were short of food, and were suffering from a variety of ailments.

The acting UNHCR representative in Bangkok, Bhairaja Panday, says the Cambodian government is cooperating fully with the U.N. agency. "Right now there is a [Cambodian] government party there together with the UNHCR, processing those cases. We have not examined their claims yet," he says. "They have just come out of their hiding. So, we will now examine their cases and decide if there are refugees among them. Then we would have to provide them with international protection."

Mr. Panday says the fate of the Montagnards will be deciding in the coming days. "Right now, we have found a safe house for them to be kept in Ratannakiri," he says. "If they are not refugees, then we have to decide for those that may not qualify for [refugee] status, whether they want to be transferred to Phnom Penh, or whether they want to return home."

Initially, Cambodia refused to cooperate with the United Nations on the case, calling the hill tribesmen economic migrants, and sending at least 160 back to Vietnam.

But following criticism from human-rights groups, the Cambodian government last month allowed the UNHCR to reopen its offices in two border provinces to assist the tribesmen. The agency believes other Montagnards might still be hiding in the jungle.

The Montagnards are a Protestant Christian group, whose traditional home is Vietnam's Central Highlands. They fought with American troops against communist forces during the Vietnam War, and thousands have settled in the United States since the war ended 29 years ago.

Sat, 17 Jul 2004 23:36:36 GMT

Vietnam: dissident on trial. Yet another elderly dissident, an Amnesty International member, is to be brought to trial next week in Ho Chi Minh City. Dr Nguyen Dan Que, 62, a distinguished doctor, former hospital director and long-standing human rights activist, will be tried... [Human Rights News & Actions]

Will the UN abandon those who have no voice in Vietnam?

Fri, 16 Jul 2004 01:30:27 GMT

The high jacking of the United Nations

The UN faces destruction from within – demonstrated by events such as conflict in Iraq to the recent “Easter massacre” of Montagnard Christians in Vietnam.

When the regime of Saddam Hussein initially crumbled under the onslaught of the US led coalition, there was as a result of the invasion - another reported fatality of profound global significance. The eulogy for this fatality was written by Richard Perle, - noted neo-conservative and former advisor to the Pentagon, though praise or acclamation for the deceased was most certainly absent. Published in “The Guardian” it was a cynical, yet some would say prophetic eulogy titled “Thank God for the Death of the UN”.

Mr. Perle was referring to the failure of the UN Security Council in reaching a consensus on the initial military action against Iraq. Thus he questioned the legal and moral authority bestowed upon it, notably its ‘relevance’ to ensuring world order or retaining legitimacy. Yet today as the spotlight of the media focuses on the continuing conflict in Iraq, there is another conflict brewing within the UN itself, that is - threatening to nail its coffin shut.

The world’s forum on human rights – the UN Human Rights Commission – is being subverted into becoming, nothing short of a farcical “talking shop” controlled by despotic regimes. Nations with appalling human rights records increasingly dictate the operations of the Human Rights Commission thereby undermining progress on human rights. Further such regimes intimidate and bully those who demonstrate any semblance of moral courage or speak out against human rights abuses. This subversion is escalating and the ramifications will not only lead to the death of the UN. Such is the case of the Montagnard peoples and the Transnational Radical Party.

Many miles away in Vietnam a race of indigenous peoples - the Montagnard hill tribes - face brutal repression including what may have been the largest mass slaughter of Christians in modern times. On Easter 2004 the Vietnamese government violently crushed Easter prayer demonstrations conducted by thousands of Christian Montagnards who were protesting against years of repression by the Vietnamese authorities. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported a number of Montagnards being beaten to death with hundreds severely injured, resulting in a refugee crises and brutal crackdown that continues to this day. While the United States has already accepted 1000 Montagnard refugees over the last three years, one questions for how long this can continue? Soon in the international arena the Montagnard’s pitiful cries for help may all too be silenced as Vietnam concocts spurious terrorist allegations against Montagnard activists using the UN’s very own mechanisms.

The Vietnamese government, faced with increasing condemnation of their human rights record (including allegations of mass murder against Montagnards and a government cover-up) has resorted to instigating terrorist proceedings in the UN against Mr. Kok Ksor a Montagnard hill tribesman. Mr. Ksor, President of the Montagnard Foundation is also a US citizen who has unflinchingly raised the plight of this people to international attention. Vietnam has accused him and his organization of organizing peaceful demonstrations in Vietnam. Conducted on Easter with the basis of non-violence the demonstrations were violently crushed by the Vietnamese government who justified their actions by claiming the hill tribe activists were “terrorists”. Consequently the organization that sponsored Mr. Ksor to utilize UN forums in the pursuit of human rights - the Transnational Radical Party - is threatened with having its revered high-level consultative status to the UN actually suspended (for three years) or revoked. Unbelievably this “bogus” terrorist claim is being entertained by the UN.

Yet - on an institutional level repressive regimes like Vietnam are not without friends and the Transnational Radical Party faces the real possibility of being kicked out of the UN. Hanoi has mustered a collection of co-conspirators, nations who don’t want to hinder their trade relations with Hanoi and those, of the usual gaggle of despotic regimes (including Communist Cuba and China) who have a mutual interest in seeing human rights groups kicked out of the UN. All this political wrangling is done to directly subvert the Human Rights Commission through plain old fashioned intimidation and thuggery.

Thus on 21 July 2004 the lines will be drawn between good and evil in New York where the final vote will be held during the plenary session of the UN Economic and Social Council. Effectively the UN will decide whether or not a Christian hill tribesman who now lives in South Carolina - is a terrorist.

These events highlight the inherent nature of the failings of the UN. Namely, that the UN itself, is made up of despotic regimes who are permitted to hold the reins of justice. Such is akin to letting the wolf guard the flock (and one needs only to be reminded how Libya recently chaired the Human Rights Commission).

Kofi Annan himself has voiced reforms for the Human Rights Commission, which brings us back to Mr. Perle’s eulogy. Mr. Perle is arguing the UN is dead – a “chronic failure” unable to enforce its own resolutions (and it is true that only five permanent members on the UN Security Council hold veto power). Thus as history has proved he suggests - it is false and scurrilous to rely on France, Russia or communist China to reach a consensus. The US led coalition of the willing (re: Iraq) has pushed the UN aside where he states “What will die is the fantasy of the UN as the foundation of a new world order”.

But to be fair, Mr. Perle however, concedes the UN died only a partial death, acknowledging that the “good works” part of the UN will survive. This “good works” one must deduct, would naturally include - the Human Rights Commission.

On May 8, 2002 I personally attended the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and witnessed a despicable scene. The Vietnamese ambassador to the United Nations interrupted a Montagnard speaker who had taken the floor - Mr. Kok Ksor - and accused him of being a "terrorist" and "an agent of the CIA." Mr. Ksor was addressing the UN under “indigenous peoples” issues and thus there were exclamations of bewilderment from the international delegates who turned to see this "terrorist" in the U.N. Communist Cuba also followed suit demanding this lone Montagnard hill tribesman be ejected from the UN. At the time however, I was not fully aware of Vietnam’s plan.

But now I know.

On May 14, 2003, the Vietnamese ambassador to the U.N. in New York, Nguyen Thanh Chau formally requested that the United Nations "revoke" the consultative status of the Transnational Radical Party who had sponsored Mr. Ksor “the alleged terrorist” to speak before the UN.

Vietnam’s plan is clear. First, the Vietnamese government accuses the Montagnard activists of being terrorists, then they convince other repressive regimes to support such a motion and - then they threaten the organization who supports the Montagnard “terrorist” (ie: silence your critics by kicking them out of UN). In effect Vietnam is high jacking human rights – committing terrorism itself by subverting the UN processes, which brings us to identify - the real culprit. An obvious clue can be found in a quote from the Human Rights Watch report of May 28, 2004, describing the Easter massacre by Vietnamese authorities,

“People were bleeding from their throats, noses, mouths, and eyes. The villagers were crying as they tried to get away from the slaughter by the police and civilians. We were running helter-skelter. Those who tried to hide in the coffee plantation were caught, beaten and killed on the spot.”

I also refer to the story of Kok Ksor’ mother. In 2001 she refused to denounce her son’s activities on Vietnamese television. In retaliation Vietnamese police beat her and broke her ribs. She is over 80 years old. This year also, after the Easter Massacre, Mr. Ksor’s brother was arrested, tied to a flag pole and publicly flogged.

These are stories of indigenous Montagnards who inside the Central Highlands of Vietnam face terrorism everyday by a government that has for decades confiscated their ancestral lands and tortured them for practicing Christianity. Unfortunately the world hardly notices.

In June 2004 the Vietnamese government approached the Transnational Radical Party in New York and made a final offer to drop the terrorist charges against them – on the condition they themselves drop all support for Kok Ksor and the Montagnard issue. The Transnational Radical Party refused. A courageously act they now face being suspended from the UN fro three years.

Some years ago in 1978 Alexander Solzhenitsyn spoke at Harvard University. He said, “the Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations.”

Today the Montagnard world, the Montagnard peoples have all but lost their ancestral lands, many have lost their right to life. If they lose their right to speak out in the international arena then they are truly dead. If Vietnam succeeds in high jacking the UN - then the UN is truly dead. A dangerous precedent will be set. If the international community allows itself to be intimidated into silence, if the Transnational Radical Party are sanctioned from the UN this July 21^st then we should heed the warning from Solzhenitsyn’s 1978 speech. He said, “Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?

Written by human rights activist, name to remain confidential

Wed, 14 Jul 2004 03:31:56 GMT

PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT DRAFTS BILL TO REVISE DISCRIMINATORY LAWS

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

PAKISTAN (ANS) -- In the face of a growing international campaign for the repeal of the blasphemy laws and the Hudood Ordinances, the Pakistani Government announced last week that it would introduce a new bill to revise these laws.

According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) the draft 'Criminal Law (Amendment) Act' will revise the Hudood Ordinances and the blasphemy laws, and criminalize so-called 'honour' killings.

The news was announced on July 8 by Pakistan's Justice Minister, Raza Hayat Hiraj, who said the draft would be presented to the Cabinet for approval. It was subsequently tabled in the National Assembly, and, according to CSW's source, is now with the Council of Islamic Ideology. The bill was drafted with input from the Supreme Court, which has already ruled that 'honour killings' should be considered as murder.

CSW reports the Government's move to reform these laws comes after the killings of several Christians in recent months, including Samuel Masih, accused of blasphemy, and Javed Anjum, murdered by maulvis (mullahs) at a madrassah (Islamic school). International pressure has mounted on the Pakistani authorities to take action to curb religious intolerance, and last month President Pervez Musharraf called for 'scrutiny' of the blasphemy laws and the Hudood ordinances, and an end to 'honour killings'.

According to CSW, the Hudood Ordinances, introduced in 1979, deal with Islamic laws relating to criminal acts. These include the requirement that a married woman who has been raped must provide four Muslim male witnesses otherwise the rape is considered adultery.

Cecil Chaudhry, a leading campaigner for human rights and religious freedom in Pakistan, and a member of the Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission, told CSW that the proposed draft bill does not go far enough: "The stand of the women of Pakistan, and the non-Muslim minorities, has been to call for the total repeal of the blasphemy laws and the Hudood ordinances. The total repeal of these laws was also the recommendation of the Women's Commission formed by the government itself."

CSW said that in regard to the move to declare 'honour killings' as a crime, Mr Chaudhry said there was no need for new legislation. Existing laws under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code already provided for the crime of murder, punishable with the death penalty. "Murder is murder, and honour killings are murder, so Section 302 already covers this crime," he argued.

The move to reform the law is likely to draw fierce opposition from Islamic militant groups, CSW said. The Majlis- -Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic parties in the National Assembly, urged the Government not to table a bill until a consensus had been reached, although a spokesman said he opposed the custom of 'Karo-Kari' or 'honour killings'.

Mervyn Thomas, CSW's Chief Executive, welcomed the draft bill, but urged the Pakistani Government to go further. "Hundreds of people of all religions, including Muslims and Christians, have suffered unimaginable injustices and danger as a result of the blasphemy laws and the Hudood ordinances. We are pleased that the Pakistani authorities are now taking steps to address the discrimination, persecution and killings that have resulted from these unjust laws, but we do not believe that the laws can be revised or reformed. We stand with the women and the minorities of Pakistan in urging the Government to completely repeal these laws, and create a new atmosphere of religious freedom and tolerance."

BACKGROUND TO THIS DECISION

Pakistan has a population of 150 million, 96 per cent of whom are Muslim. Islam is the state religion, but the Constitution provides for religious freedoms. About two percent of the population are Christians and two percent are Hindus.

CSW reports that for more than 20 years, the blasphemy laws under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code have been widely misused and caused fear and suffering. It is not only Christians whose security is jeopardized by these laws. Other minorities, such as the Ahmadis, and indeed Muslims themselves are affected by the legislation. It only requires the testimony of one Muslim man to bring charges against another person for blasphemy, and so the law has been used as a tool in disputes that have nothing to do with religion. The ultimate penalty is death, although no one has been executed under the laws.

There are currently 75 blasphemy cases awaiting or undergoing trial, CSW said. These include 59 Muslims, three Ahmadis, three Hindus and ten Christians. The Christians include Parvez Masih, Anwar Kenneth and Augustine Ashiq 'Kingri' Masih.

Since 1986, a total of 579 people have been charged under the blasphemy laws. The majority of these, at least 289, are Muslims, while 203 are Ahmadis. At least 79 Christians have been charged, including Tahir Iqbal, a Christian convert from Islam, arrested in 1992 and poisoned to death in jail.

Although the death penalty has never been carried out by the authorities, blasphemy suspects face danger from extremists, even if they are acquitted. Niamat Ahmer, a teacher, poet and writer, was murdered by extremists in 1992, while Bantu Masih, aged 80, was stabbed and killed in the presence of the police in 1992, and Mukhtar Masih, aged 50, was tortured to death in police custody. In 1994, Salamat Masih, aged 12, and Rehmat Masih, aged 42, and Manzoor Masih, aged 37, were fired on in front of the Lahore High Court by extremists, after the former two had been acquitted of blasphemy. Manzoor Masih died on the spot, while Salamat and Rehmat sustained serious injuries. One of the judges in that trial, Arif Iqbal Bhatti, was later murdered. The Senior Judge of Lahore High Court, Justice Nazir Akhtar, has said in a public statement that "it is a religious obligation to kill the blasphemer on the spot without trial". That illustrates how dangerous the climate is in Pakistan under this law. The Government and police have failed to protect those accused, and the law has only led to an increase in religious intolerance and violence.

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 18:44:51 GMT

'Just Wrapped Her Up in a Black Plastic Bag' [Irrawaddy]

By Punnisa Nimmanaheminda

Ying, an HIV positive Tai Yai, or Shan, woman, recalls the harrowing death of an AIDS afflicted friend at the hands of village elders at her home in Shan State. Meanwhile, Ying has found refuge at the Community Health Centre in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai Province in northern Thailand. [more]

Ongoing genocide in Sudan continues

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 18:16:04 GMT

MORE EVIDENCE OF PEACETIME ATROCITIES UNCOVERED IN SOUTHERN SUDAN
Extrajudicial killing, rape, forced displacement and abductions still threaten tens of thousands of Christians in southern Sudan

UPPER NILE (ANS) -- Sudan—Persecution Project Foundation announced today the release of new photo and video documentary evidence of atrocities against civilians in southern Sudan’s oil region.

During its June Sudan relief mission co-sponsored by The Voice of the Martyrs in Bartlesville, OK, a team led by Persecution Project Foundation president Brad Phillips encountered more than 700 Shilluk survivors of a recent government-sponsored massacre in the remote village of Payuer in Northern Upper Nile - Sudan.

Reports had leaked out of Renk County in the nation’s oil region that, from March 26, 2004 through until the second week of April 2004, 22 Shilluk villages had been burned and hundreds of people murdered while Government of Sudan (GoS) troops looked on.

“They did more than look on,” said Phillips. “Survivors told us that GoS soldiers in motorboats had fired on them from the Nile while government-sponsored militia attacked from the bush. We received testimonies that between 300 and 1,000 people were killed during these attacks. More died afterward from wounds and disease. Hundreds were abducted. Twenty thousand people were driven out of their homes, their villages burned. At the beginning of June, 700 Shilluks who had fled these attacks reached our distribution site in Payuer, where more than 85,000 internally displaced Christians have taken refuge this year. We knew the situation was desperate when we arrived, because we found the people eating ‘apam’ (leaves from the Acacia trees),” Phillips said.

These excerpts from video-taped interviews document survivors’ testimonies.

“The soldiers came in the middle of the night,” said a man named Odatti. “They came from Malakal. Everybody ran. Some into the bush. Others into the river. Many drowned. They shot everyone. They killed blind old ladies who could not run away.”

“My husband was killed right away,” Elizabeth told us. “I ran with the kids. Two of them drowned in the river and the other two I don’t even know where they are. You tried to grab one child here and there, but you could only do so much.”

“We started running,” said another woman. “They kidnapped my older daughter and my husband. I came here by myself. One of the raiders came and talked nicely to my sister, politely at first, and tried to have intercourse with her. When she refused, he raped her and took her with them. I don’t know if she is still alive.”

“All of this evidence is denied by Khartoum and ignored by the international community,” Phillips said. “The only change in Sudan we can measure is a major shift in the focus of the GoS’s genocidal campaign from the south to the west. The bombardments, systematic killing, abductions, rape, forced displacement are continuing in Sudan, and in some cases, as our team observed in Upper Nile, they are still happening in the south. If Bashir’s National Islamic Front is not stopped, as many people as they have killed in 21 years may die in Sudan during the next six months.”

Persecution Project Foundation is a nonprofit Christian ministry serving and assisting the victims of persecution and genocide in Africa. For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Brad Phillips at 540-829-5353 or email at info@persecutionproject.org.

Tue, 13 Jul 2004 17:59:18 GMT

Torture victim picked as U.N. genocide czar. Human rights expert Juan Mendez, who was tortured by Argentina's military in the 1970s, has been named to a new U.N. post that will provide warning of situations anywhere in the world that could result in genocide, the United... [Human Rights News & Actions]

Sat, 10 Jul 2004 03:18:00 GMT

Vietnam Still Holding Nguyen Hong Quang in Unknown Location

Accusations of wrongdoing used to undermine jailed activist’s character.

Special to Compass

LOS ANGELES, July 8 (Compass) -- In the month since his arrest, the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, general secretary of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam, remains in an unknown location and has become the victim of a propaganda campaign by Vietnamese authorities.

Authorities have been spreading misinformation through Vietnamese diplomats, newspaper reports and a government website, and they have incited neighbors of Quang to launch complaints and then circulating them publicly.

Quang has consistently documented abuses and exposed authorities who violate Vietnam’s laws regarding religious freedom and other human rights. One of Quang’s colleagues in the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship remarked that he believes that “they [Vietnam’s authorities] are going make a hard test-case” of Quang.

According to the arrest warrant provided to his wife, the basis of Quang’s June 8 arrest was “inciting other people to resist an officer doing his official duty.” Four Vietnamese Mennonites arrested on March 2 in a separate incident reportedly “confessed their crime and indicated that Hong Quang was the leader who incited them.”

An experienced Vietnam watcher believes it is highly likely that their testimony was coerced. An article on the Nhan Dan (People’s Daily) website on July 5, read: “Many people have made continuous phone [calls] to the headquarters of Nhan Dan newspaper, accusing Nguyen Hong Quang of committing perverse and law-disregarding actions following the newspaper’s recently published article which exposed the true face of the gangster.”

The website goes on to allege many aggressive actions by Quang against neighbors, using descriptions such as “true gangster” and “hooligan behavior.” It reports that in one altercation, Quang “received two slaps from Mrs. Dang Thi My Chau because he induced her under-aged teenage daughter and raped her.”

One incident involved a dispute over property Quang purchased from a Mr. Ho Van Be. Posing as a Christian believer and coached to use religious language, Be wrote complaints against Quang to local Vietnamese officials and Mennonite leaders in North America. Curiously, the documents were circulated abroad.

An article in the An Ninh (Public Security) newspaper on June 12 alleges Quang and his gang used foul and crude language in responding to polite police inquiries. It accuses them of “concealing sex films on their body” and of teaching sexual immorality to young girls.

To the contrary, the Quang family and their Mennonite co-workers have provided shelter to abused girls, including a 13-year-old recently raped by police in nearby Long Thanh Province, according to a Vietnam source.

News of Quang’s arrest reached the West within hours. (See Compass Direct, “Vietnam Police Arrest Nguyen Hong Quang,” June 10, 2004.) Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Quang on June 11. On June 15, the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission published a report and parts of an essay written by Quang shortly before his arrest.

A veteran Vietnam analyst says that although persecution of ethnic minority Christians is widespread and well-known, this situation constitutes evidence of a new and worrisome persecution campaign in the heart of Vietnam’s largest city. The analyst added,“Some Vietnamese Christian leaders believe that timid protests by churches in Vietnam and by Western governments to recent, serious religious freedom abuses have emboldened Vietnam.”

Quang’s colleagues in the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship report that the authorities were very upset by their public letter expressing solidarity with him. As a result, these fellow house church leaders have been under sharply increased physical and electronic surveillance.

Also, as this story went to press, information was received that authorities arrested a colleague of Quang, female Mennonite evangelist Ms. Le Thi Hong Lien, on July 3, ransacking her house located mere meters from the Mennonite church offices in Ho Chi Minh City.

Mennonite groups have registered appeals on behalf of Quang and the four other imprisoned Mennonite Christians with the Vietnamese ambassador to the U.N., Vietnam’s Bureau of Religious Affairs and to the Canadian embassy in Vietnam.

Today Christians in the United Kingdom will mark the one-month anniversary of Quang’s arrest by holding a demonstration outside the Vietnamese Embassy in London. They plan to stage a mock arrest, complete with handcuffing and imprisonment. Christian agencies in North America and the U.K. are conducting letter-writing campaigns to press for the prisoners’ release.

Quang’s current whereabouts remain unknown. Even his family has not been allowed to visit him, raising serious concerns for his well-being.

Fri, 09 Jul 2004 15:52:47 GMT

UZBEKISTAN: Students to be expelled for belonging to "banned Protestant sect"?

By Igor Rotar, Forum 18 News Service

Following similar threats in April and May to other Protestant students in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan in north-western Uzbekistan, three students of Karakalpak University were threatened with expulsion in June. The dean of their faculty, Dina Mamyrbayeva, said the secret police had written to her identifying them as members of a "banned Protestant sect". She warned the three that if they do not stop meeting their fellow Protestants they will be expelled. University rector Kuanyshbai Niyazov refused to confirm or deny the threats, though he told Forum 18 News Service that no students have yet been expelled. On 5 June police and secret police raided the home of another Nukus Protestant, Miyrasa Uralbayeva, warning that if she did not stop preaching Christianity she would have drugs planted on her and be put in prison for years. [read more...]

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 14:45:44 GMT

Rape as policy. The Arab militias ravaging black Africans in Sudan are employing a tactic that is both terrorism and cold-blooded policy: rape. These terrorists are raping black women so as to engender more Arabs. The goal is to destroy the tribes, given that tribal identity is determined by the father, giving Arabs complete dominance of the country.... [World Magazine Blog]

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 02:26:09 GMT

OMCT reports on women's rights. The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) launches its publication "Violence Against Women: 10 Reports/Year 2003" covering the situation of women in Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Estonia, Mali, Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.... [Human Rights News & Actions]

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 02:24:18 GMT

Sri Lanka: Torture Victim Beaten. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC has been informed that Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara, a former torture victim, has been severely beaten up by police officers attached to the Matale Police Station and he is being held presently at the same... [Human Rights News & Actions]

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 02:12:17 GMT

SRI LANKA: HOSTILITY INTENSIFIES
- anti-conversion law progresses and Evangelical Alliance office attacked.

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commision
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- The Sri Lankan government is sponsoring a bill in the Parliament banning 'forcible' conversion of religion. Entitled 'The Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom', it was drafted by the Minister for Buddha Sasana (Ministry of Buddhist Affairs), Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. If this extremely threatening bill is passed, the law will state: 'No person shall convert or attempt to convert another person to another religion, [or] provide assistance or encouragement towards such conversion to another religion.' Effectively conversion from one religion to another under any circumstance would be a criminal offence.

The word 'force' as used in the bill can mean simply to persuade someone to attend prayers of a religion of which they are not a member – for example, a Christian nurse encouraging a sick Buddhist patient to pray with the hospital's Christian chaplain or visiting pastor. If conversion is 'committed' by a group, 'every director or shareholder ... partner, member, employee or officer of that group or company shall be guilty of an offence'. Foreigners found guilty will be expelled and banned from re-entry. Court action against conversion may be initiated by the police, by anybody 'affected or aggrieved by an offence' or by anyone 'interested in the welfare of the public who has reason to believe that the provisions of this Act have been contravened'.

MP Wickremanayake has also said he will create 'Sanghadhikarana' (informal tribunals run by Buddhist monks) where village disputes can be resolved, without the involvement of the police or courts of law. This is most serious. Last September a gathering of some 1500 Buddhist monks called for a total ban on Christian activity. If 'Sanghadhikarana' were to work in conjunction with MP Wickremanayake's anti-conversion law, then Christians in Sri Lanka would face unrestrained attacks from these extremely militant Buddhist monks. The consequences are unthinkable.

The very existence of the bill fuels the zeal of the militant Buddhists, legitimises anti-Christian sentiment and justifies anti-Christian acts. More than 50 violent attacks against Christians and churches reported in the last six months are just the tip of the iceberg, as well as 146 Christian places of worship being forced to close between December 2003 – March 2004. The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka's (NCEASL) first advertisement in a public awareness campaign on the impending legislation appeared in the Daily News paper on Saturday 3 July 2004. Later that day the NCEASL officewas broken into. This was not a burglary, as nothing apart from some cash was stolen. Filing cabinets and desk drawers were all ransacked, with files being systematically searched and then scattered around the room. NCEASL is Sri Lanka's main voice of advocacy for religious liberty, and a most significant body for Christian unity and mission. [more]

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 02:04:58 GMT

Behind the razor’s wire:
Montagnards of Vietnam

[Asian Center For Human Rights]

"Please send to... these poor Montagnards food, rice, salted fish, medicine and 50,000 riel (13 dollars) each," King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia in a message posted on his website while after an article was published in The Cambodia Daily of 2 July 2004 titled, “Official: Red Cross Should Aid Montagnards”.

After living in the jungles in Cambodia and Vietnam borders since the crackdown on the ethnic national minorities, commonly known as the Montagnards, in the Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Dak Nong in Vietnam during the Easter weekend on 10 April 2004, Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk on 2 July 2004 requested the Royal government of Cambodia to deliver basic humanitarian supplies to the Montagnard refugees who have taken shelter in Mondulkiri and Rattanakiri provinces. King Sihanouk in an earlier statement on 14 April 2004 called on “the Royal government of Cambodia and the United Nations to protect the Montagnards and not to expel, or let be expelled, from Cambodia these unlucky fellows that are seeking shelter in our country.” The Cambodian government, wary of the diplomatic fallout with Hanoi, termed the asylum seekers as “illegal migrants”.

Thirty seven Montagnard asylum seekers with little food, drinking water and medicine have been interviewed by the authorities in Rattanakiri province in June 2004. They corroborated local hill tribes sources that there are about 250 Montagnard refugees who have been hiding in the jungles and are desperate for food. Mr Som Chanseang, Deputy Director of the Cambodia Red Cross’s Rattnakiri Office told The Cambodia Times on 2 July 2004 “It is really difficult to help the Montagnards because the provincial government keeps information about them a secret”. In the meanwhile, Queen Norodom Monineath, Honorary President of the Cambodian Red Cross, urged the agency's President Bun Rany, wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen, to send humanitarian assistance to the asylum seekers. [more]

Thu, 08 Jul 2004 01:25:59 GMT

Killing goes on as Sudan lies to world and defies UN. The Scotsman, Centrist daily of Edinburgh, Scotland [Breaking News Headlines from Around the World, Powered by Worldpress.org]

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 12:45:10 GMT

TURKMENISTAN: "Only two faiths are allowed, Islam and Orthodoxy" says deputy police chief

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Abadan's deputy police chief has told Baptist Svetlana Gurkina that "in Turkmenistan only two faiths are allowed, Islam and Orthodoxy, while the rest are banned", local Baptists have told Forum 18 News Service. She was also subjected to crude remarks and threats to imprison her and confiscate her flat, if she continues to meet her fellow-Christians. Although criminal penalties for unregistered religious activity were formally lifted in May, unregistered Baptist communities have been hard-hit by the government's continued refusal to lift the ban on unregistered religious activity. Baptists in the capital Ashgabad have appealed to President Saparmurat Niyazov and government agencies to halt the ongoing persecution of Svetlana Gurkina. [read more...]

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 12:43:18 GMT

UZBEKISTAN: "Illegal" Baptists under more pressure as authorities try to stop Christianity

By Igor Rotar, Forum 18 News Service

In the latest twist to Uzbek authorities' campaign against Christianity in north-west Uzbekistan, the NSS secret police have interrogated two Baptists, beating one up, and threatening both with imprisonment saying that "we will put you away for years". One secret police officer claimed to Forum 18 News Service that "The Baptists' activity is illegal, and so we simply had a chat with them," and that the Urgench Baptist church is a banned organisation "because its registered status was removed". Another NSS officer, Alisher Khasanov, jeered at Baptist Sharovat Allamova for being a Christian and claimed that "you Protestants rely on Western money, the humanitarian western missions who support you are basically espionage organisations. So you yourselves are agents for foreign intelligence services." Also, the local Khorezm branch of the NSS has questioned Forum 18 about why a Norwegian organisation is interested in a "banned organisation". [read more...]

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 02:14:36 GMT

North Korean Regime Warns It's Citizens On Foreign Media 'Poisons'. (Seoul) North Korea Warns Citizens of Bibles, Capitalist Movies The Japanese daily Tokyo Shimbun quoted a North Korean internal document on Tuesday that says the North Korean government has urged its people to watch each other more closely saying... [Free North Korea!]

Sat, 03 Jul 2004 13:10:21 GMT

Rejecting a Ritual of Pain (Los Angeles Times). Los Angeles Times - ARROR, Kenya — She is so shy that she can only whisper her story, hiding her mouth behind a clenched fist, never meeting anyone's eye. [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]

Thu, 01 Jul 2004 23:05:47 GMT

Sudan Villagers Recount Harrowing Ordeal. First come the airplanes. Then the horsemen who burn, rape and kill. Over and over, terrified villagers told the same story Thursday as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan got a firsthand look at the crisis engulfing Sudan's Darfur region. [Associated Press headlines via GoUpstate.com]

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:15:38 GMT

'We Want to Make a Light Baby' (washingtonpost.com). washingtonpost.com - GENEINA, Sudan, June 29 -- At first light on Sunday, three young women walked into a scrubby field just outside their refugee camp in West Darfur. They had gone out to collect straw for their family's donkeys. They recalled thinking that the Arab militiamen who were attacking African tribes at night would still be asleep. But six men grabbed them, yelling Arabic slurs such as "zurga" and "abid," meaning "black" and "slave." Then the men raped them, beat them and left them on the ground, they said. [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]

Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:00:08 GMT

In Sudan, Death and Denial (www.washingtonpost.com). Government's attempts to conceal starvation crisis are endangering efforts to prevent famine among an estimated 1.2 million people. By Emily Wax. By By Emily Wax. [washingtonpost.com - World]

Fri, 25 Jun 2004 13:38:47 GMT

Ill Cuban Dissidents Trickle Out of Prison. HAVANA (Reuters) - An independent Cuban journalist walked out of prison to become the sixth ailing government opponent freed after a crackdown on dissent last year, opposition sources said on Thursday. [Reuters: World]

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 18:04:45 GMT

Ancient Christians in Iraq are targeted. Assist News Service reports that Assyrians and Mandeans, whose Christianity goes deep into Biblical times, have become targets for the Islamic radicals in Iraq. After recounting the history of these Biblical peoples, the article tells about what they are currently enduring: On Monday morning 7 June, four masked men drove into the Christian Assyrian Quarters (Hay Al-Athuryeen) of the Dora district of Baghdad and opened fire on Assyrians going to work. Four were killed and several others wounded. At 5pm, also in Dora, three Assyrian women were killed in another drive-by shooting as they returned home from working at the Coalition Provisional Authority. On 22 March, an elderly Assyrian couple were murdered in the Assyrian district - the wife was beaten to death and the husband had his throat cut. These are just some of the latest in a continual string of attacks on Assyrian Christians in Iraq.... [World Magazine Blog]

Vietnam: Update on persecution of Montagnards

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 19:48:41 GMT

The cruelty of the Vietnamese Government after the peaceful demonstrations of Easter 2004:

Torture victim gives birth to stillborn and Christian crucified Urgent investigation by International community needed [MFI]

BACKGROUND: On April 10, 2004 tens of thousands of Christian Montagnards conducted peaceful demonstrations inside Vietnam’s Central Highlands calling for an end to years of persecution by the communist government. Vietnamese government security forces brutally attacked the demonstrators and Human Rights Watch reported on 28 May 2004, that “Hundreds of demonstrators were wounded and many were killed on April 10 and 11 on key bridges and roadways leading into Buon Ma Thuot, the provincial capital of Dak Lak, and in commune centers in Gia Lai and Lam Dong provinces.”

The stories of two victims of the “Easter Massacre” are described below. It is noted this information comes directly from sources inside Vietnam. We ask the international monitors to specifically go to these villages and investigate these crimes.

PREGNANT WOMAN BEATEN AND TORTURED WITH ELECTRIC SHOCKS GIVES BIRTH TO STILLBORN BABY: H’Loa Nie is from the village of Buon Emap, district of Cu Mgar, Province of Daklak. She was pregnant when she participated in the peaceful and strictly nonviolent demonstrations on April 10-11, 2004. She did not believe the Vietnamese government would be so cruel as to torture a pregnant woman on Easter and thought because they did not come to fight with the Vietnamese Government but only to pray to God that she would be safe. The demonstration was done peacefully intending only to say to the officials that the Montagnard Degar people want their basic human rights and rights as an indigenous people of Vietnam respected.

During the demonstration the police arrested H’Loa Nie and savagely tortured her with beatings and electric shock torture. She was later released but the damage was already done. On May 21, 2004 she delivered a stillborn baby boy who weighed 4 kilograms. This kind of crime is unforgivable and H’Loa cries today with unbearable pain.

CRUCIFIED, EXECUTED AND NAILED TO CROSS:

Y-Rung Nie who was born in 1968 was from the village of Buon Kna, district of Cu Mgar, Province of Daklak. On April 10-11, 2004 Y-Rung Nie participated in the peaceful demonstration and then went back to his village. He thought the Vietnamese government would not hurt him but he was wrong. On May 2, 2004 the Vietnamese police from Hanoi went to his house, arrested him, and took him away. He was executed and this is how the police killed him: because he is a Christian, they made a cross and nailed him to it. They drove 4 nails on his feet, 4 nails on his hands, 1 nail on his chest and 2 nails on his head. Five days later, the police brought a coffin to his family and told his family that they had killed him because he followed Kok Ksor and the Montagnard Foundation. The police wanted his family to go collect his dead body at the nearby coffee plantation. The police threatened Y-Rung Nie’s family not to tell anyone of this killing or they will come back to their village and kill them too. On 9th May 2004 Y-Rung Nie’s family went to the coffee plantation and picked up his corpse brought him back to their village and buried him. Some of the villagers have reported to us that they also saw the cross where Y-Rung Nie was crucified in the coffee plantations this information comes direct from witnesses inside Vietnam.

THE MONTAGNARD FOUNDATION CALLS ON:

The International community and United Nations Organization takes immediate action to investigate these specific crimes and to insist the Vietnamese government release our Montagnard people held in prison for peaceful political activity, for practicing Christianity, demanding fair treatment by the Government or for trying to flee to Cambodia as refugees.

The International community and United Nations Organization takes immediate action in getting human rights monitors access to the central highlands as recommended by the UN Human Rights Committee of which Vietnam has continued to ignore. (July 2002 75th session Human Rights Committee Concluding Observations on Vietnam. UN doc: CCPR/C/SR.2031).

The International community and United Nations Organization takes immediate action to ensure the UNHCR is permitted to operate freely in Cambodia, that both Cambodia and Vietnam abide by the Refugee Convention, (as recently identified by UN Special Envoy Hon. Peter Leupretch) and that the bounties paid by Hanoi for our fleeing refugees are immediately stopped.

The United Nations Organization and the Countries members of UN sub-committee of NGOs should reject the allegations raised by the Vietnamese government, against Mr. Kok Ksor, the Montagnard Foundation and the Transnational Radical Party (an NGO with Consultative Status to the UN who allowed Mr. Kok Ksor to speak on its behalf at the Commission on Human Rights); the Vietnamese Government in fact, without any serious evidence accuses the Montagnard Foundation of being a terrorist group, and for this reason would like to have the TRP banned from attending the works of the UN. Special notice should be undertaken to review how freedom of expression will be seriously undermined in the UN if such grave allegations would prevail without any serious scrutiny according to international standards of fair trial and the right to defence.

That international donors and foreign governments seriously review how aid monies are used in Vietnam in order to ensure Vietnam ceases human rights violations and religious repression in Vietnam. (as reported by the Human Rights Watch report of 2 December 2003 entitled “Vietnam: Donors Must Insist On Human Rights Progress”).

UNLESS URGENT INTERNATIONAL ACTION IS TAKEN MANY MORE MONTAGNARDS WILL SUFFER AND DIE

http://www.montagnard-foundation.org/