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Burma: Authorities destroy memorial for deceased opposition member
By: DVB, March 26, 2009
A stone monument built in memory of a former National League for Democracy chair was demolished by local government authorities on Tuesday, according to his family. Dr Hla Aung, chair of the NLD in Wundwin township and 1990 elected people's parliament representative for Wundwin, died on March 17.
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China says Tibet video is 'a lie'
By: Michael Bristow, BBC, March 25, 2009
China says video footage that purportedly shows Chinese security personnel violently beating Tibetans last year is "a lie". The video apparently shows protesters being beaten with sticks, and kicked and choked by China's security forces. The Tibetan government-in-exile says the footage shows China's "brutality".
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Tibetans stage farm boycott
By: RFA, March 25, 2009
Authorities in China's southwestern province of Sichuan have forced Tibetan farmers into their fields in a bid to end a farming boycott aimed at protesting Chinese crackdowns in the region, according to Tibetan sources. Tibetans in the Kardze (in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture had refused to cultivate their land following a week of other protests and detentions during a tense and politically sensitive month, sources in the Kardze area and abroad said.
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Thousands of protesters surround Thai government headquarters
By: CNN, March 25, 2009
About 20,000 anti-government demonstrators surrounded the Thai government headquarters Thursday evening and set up camp in a bid to oust the prime minister, police said. The number of protesters outside Government House had grown sharply since the afternoon, said Worapong Tuepreecha, the chief of the Metropolitan Police. He said they set up a stage and tents in front of the building.
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China: Netizens react to censors
By: RFA, March 24, 2009
Chinese netizens are reacting angrily to reported attempts by government censors to stamp out a humorous form of protest against a recent Web clean-up campaign. Apparent government directives widely posted on forums, chatrooms and on instant update services such as Twitter are now ordering Internet service providers to clamp down on spoof items about the "grass-mud horse," a fictional alpaca-like creature dreamed up by netizens in response to a recent anti-porn campaign.
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China: Sichuan authorities strike hard on rights activists to maintain "stability"
By: CHRD, March 24, 2009
CHRD learned today that police in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, have detained four Sichuan activists and summoned (chuanhuan) more than ten in an effort to punish local human rights defenders for taking part in and reporting on two recent demonstrations. In Chongqing Municipality, authorities formally arrested two workers' rights advocates who had been part of a group of five detained in late February for organizing a sit-in at a closed factory.
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China daily assails prisoner abuses
By: China Digital Times, March 24, 2009
A recent China Daily article reports on widespread concerns about abuses perpetuated in pre-trial detention centers, and says, "only a radical reform of the system will bring an end to the scandals." The New York Times reports: The newspaper noted that the Communist Party's latest four-year plan for legal reforms does not contemplate changes in the detention system. The full-page article said that since February 8, five inmates had died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody.
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Asia: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization
By: Andrew Scheineson, CFR, March 24, 2009
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)--composed of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan--was formed as a confidence-building mechanism to resolve border disputes. It has risen in stature since then, making headlines in 2005 when it called for Washington to set a timeline for withdrawing from military bases in Central Asia.
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China 'blocks YouTube video site'
By: Quentin Sommerville, BBC News, March 24, 2009
China is reported to have blocked the YouTube video-sharing website because it has been carrying video of soldiers beating monks and other Tibetans. The date and location of the footage, posted by a Tibetan exile group, cannot be ascertained.
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China: Sichuan cracks down on dissenters
By: AP, March 24, 2009
Authorities in China's southwestern Sichuan province have made a "coordinated effort" to silence dissent by arresting two activists and detaining four others over the past month, a human rights group said Tuesday.
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Malaysian opposition media banned
By: BBC News, March 23, 2009
Malaysia's government has imposed a ban on two main opposition newspapers, ahead of key political developments. Harakah and Suara Keadilan have been told they cannot publish for the next three months, with immediate effect. It comes a week before the expected designation of a new and controversial prime minister, Najib Razak, and two weeks before important by-elections.
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Maldives: Free speech under threat
By: Saffah Faroog, Global Voices, March 23, 2009
In early March Mohamed Nasheed, the new President of the Maldives, met with Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression. In the meeting Nasheed expressed his government's commitment to free speech and announced that Maldives will be made a haven for dissident writers from countries such as Burma. However, within a week writers from Maldives found their right to expression at risk as the government instructed the two Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country to ban several websites and a blog.
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