Month: March 2024

washington / phnom penh, Cambodia — Authorities in Cambodia say they have closed a probe into missing Thai pro-democracy activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit, who was allegedly abducted in  Phnom Penh four years ago.

Wanchalearm was pushed into a black Toyota Highlander SUV on June 4, 2020, near the Mekong Gardens condominium, where he lived, eyewitnesses told VOA Khmer reporters at the time.

Cambodian authorities said last week that they were unable to confirm he ever lived in the building, or find details about the vehicle he was allegedly taken away in.

“We have filed the report to court and the investigation is finished,” Khieu Sopheak, secretary of state and spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told VOA Khmer on February 27.

Despite the ministry’s remarks, it is unclear if the Phnom Penh Municipal Court has closed the case. Sam Chamroeun, the Cambodian lawyer for Wanchalearm’s family, told VOA Khmer last week that he had not been given notice of the case being closed.

VOA Khmer asked a court spokesman for comment but received no reply.

Wanchalearm’s family and advocacy groups criticized the lack of transparency in the investigation and called on Thailand’s government to press Cambodia on why it appears to have ended the inquiry.

“It has been four years. I want them to tell the family members what happened, how the investigation is. It should not be secret anymore,” Sitanun Satsaksit, Wanchalearm’s sister, told VOA Thai by phone on February 28.

On March 5, The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances called on Cambodia to ensure that allegations of Wanchalearm’s forced disappearance “are investigated promptly, thoroughly, effectively and impartially.” It also called on Cambodia’s government to keep Wanchalearm’s family informed throughout the probe.

Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross Cultural Foundation, which has assigned lawyers to represent the activist’s family, said Cambodia should be more open about what it knows, and prove its claims that no state agents were involved.

“The investigation of a case of human rights violation cannot be treated with confidentiality,” she said to VOA Khmer on Monday.

Wanchalearm was a political science graduate who worked at a series of nonprofits before moving into politics and working with the Pheu Thai Party in various positions, according to friends and relatives.

After the 2014 military coup, Wanchalearm was among the Thai activists who fled to Cambodia, although it’s unclear when. Cambodia’s Interior Ministry confirmed he received a visa to stay in the country in 2017.

But the ministry said it has no record of where he lived in the ensuing years, or what happened on June 4, 2020, the date of his alleged abduction.

At the time of Wanchalearm’s disappearance, the Pheu Thai Party stood in opposition to Thailand’s military government.

In December 2020, Wanchalearm’s legal team and his sister, Sitanun, appeared at the Phnom Penh court and submitted evidence to support their allegation that he had been abducted, including a copy of his purported Cambodian passport.

A prosecutor took note of the complaint, and they were summoned by a Cambodian investigative judge, a move that suggests a criminal case was opened, according to Sam Chamroeun.

However, Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Sitanun’s Thai lawyer, said the legal team had not heard from Cambodia’s court after that or subsequent visits.

“Cambodia police told us they could not find anything,” she told VOA Khmer via email on Tuesday.

National Police spokesperson Chhay Kimkhoeun has not responded to VOA Khmer’s inquiries for comments.

Sitanun again tried to bring attention to the case on February 22, when former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen met with his onetime counterpart, Thaksin Shinawatra, in Bangkok. However, she was unable to pass a request for the former Cambodian leader.

Thaksin’s daughter, Paethongtharn Shinawatra, the Pheu Thai Party leader, has accepted an invitation to visit Cambodia March 18-19.

In a press conference on February 27, Danuporn Punnakan, a Pheu Thai Party spokesperson, was asked if Wanchalearm’s disappearance would be discussed during the visit.

The spokesman said officials would “rather discuss economy and society than bringing up anyone’s personal issue to the table. But if this issue receives public attention, the [party’s] executive committees would consider this in their meeting.”

Sitanun said she was disappointed by the response, telling the officials, “Do not forget that [Wanchalearm] is a Thai person.”
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GUWAHATI, India — India on Friday began deporting the first group of Myanmar refugees who sought shelter there after a military coup in 2021 and plans to send back more in the coming days, weeks after saying it would end a visa-free border policy with Myanmar.

Thousands of civilians and hundreds of troops from Myanmar have fled to Indian states, where communities between the two countries share ethnic and familial ties, which has worried New Delhi because of the risk of communal tensions spreading to India.

“First batch of Myanmar nationals who entered India illegally deported today,” N. Biren Singh, the chief minister of northeastern Manipur state, which borders Myanmar, said in a post on the X social media platform.

Manipur planned to send back at least 77 refugees starting from Friday, according to a state government document seen by Reuters. The state has been roiled by sporadic violence that has killed nearly 200 people so far since ethnic clashes broke out in May last year.

The first group of refugees arrived in the Indian border town of Moreh and would likely be handed over on Saturday, an Indian security official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Singh shared a video clip on X showing women being brought out of security vans and taken into an airport.

New Delhi has not signed the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, which spells out refugees’ rights and states’ responsibilities to protect them, nor does it have its own laws protecting refugees.

Singh wrote in his post that the country gave “shelter & aid to those fleeing the crisis in Myanmar on humanitarian grounds with a systematic approach.”

India last month said it would end a decades-old visa-free movement policy with Myanmar for their border citizens for reasons including national security, days after the interior minister announced fencing of the 1,643-kilometer border with Myanmar.  
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washington — For 27-year-old Leeda, “life is like hell” as her husband beats her every day and she “has to tolerate it” because she has “no other option.”

“My body is always bruised, now I am used to it, I have to tolerate it for my children,” Leeda, a mother of three who lives in the western city of Herat, told VOA with tears in her eyes.

But Leeda, who did not want her real name to be revealed for fear of reprisals, said that she has “nowhere to go” as her parents and siblings are not in Afghanistan and there is no organization in Herat she can turn to for help.

“In the past in Herat, women-operated offices used to help women like me, but those offices no longer exist,” Leeda said, adding that “if I go to the Taliban for help, they will imprison me. They listen to men, not women. What will I do with my children if I go to jail?”

A United Nations report released in December said the Taliban are sending to prison women who complain to them about gender-based violence and do not have male relatives to stay with.

“The confinement of women in prison facilities, outside the enforcement of criminal law, and for the purpose of ensuring their protection from gender-based-violence, would amount to an arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” stated the U.N. report.

The report added that the imprisonment of vulnerable women would have “a negative impact on their mental and physical health.”

The report, covering the period from August 2021 to March 2023, said that gender-based violence against women in Afghanistan includes murder, honor killings, sexual assault, injury and disability, and deprivation of women from receiving inheritances.

The Taliban told the U.N. that the handling of the cases of violence against women is “based on Sharia law and there is no injustice committed against women.”

After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban closed all the women’s protection centers in Afghanistan where female survivors of family violence would take refuge.

Even before the Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan had one of the highest rates of violence against women, with nine in 10 women experiencing some sort of intimate-partner violence in their lifetimes.

Though the support system was not without shortcomings, female survivors of gender-based violence had access to “pro bono legal representation, medical treatment and psychological support,” Amnesty International stated in a 2021 report.

“The system was imperfect, but activists had fought hard for it, and it was gradually improving. One of the first things the Taliban did after seizing power was to destroy this system completely,” said Heather Barr, associate director at Human Rights Watch.

Barr said that the Taliban’s return brought about “the worst women’s rights crisis” in the world.

Under the Taliban, women in Afghanistan are banned from secondary and university education, working with government and nongovernment organizations, and traveling long distances without a male relative. They are also barred from going to gyms and public parks.

Samira Hamidi, a regional campaigner for Amnesty International, told VOA that dismantling the institutions, such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, created “a huge gap” in the ability to monitor the women’s rights situation in Afghanistan, especially that of survivors of domestic violence.

“The Taliban’s measure to accommodate women survivors of domestic violence in prisons instead of safe houses and accommodations is a blatant violation of human rights, especially the right to freedom of movement and life,” said Hamidi.

She added that the Taliban “have no intention to protect women” who face gender-based violence.

With the Taliban’s continued crackdown on women’s rights in Afghanistan, female victims of gender-based violence, like Leeda, live in fear.

“I fear the Taliban,” Leeda said. “If I complain against my husband to anyone, my husband will send the Taliban after me.”

Roshan Noorzai of VOA’s Afghan Service contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Afghan Service.
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Baku, Azerbaijan — This week Azeri authorities detained several journalists at an independent media outlet and raided its office and the homes of some of its staff.  

Police raided Toplum TV Wednesday in the capital, Baku, and the homes of some of its staff, and detained several people, according to its Editor-in-Chief Khadija Ismayilova.  

On Friday, police made additional arrests, including Toplum TV’s co-founder Alasgar Mammadli.  

As well as Mammadli, three of Toplum TV’s journalists – video editor Mushfiq Jabbar, reporter Farid Ismayilov and social media manager Elmir Abbasov — remain in custody, on charges of smuggling.  

Authorities also detained four people associated with the Institute for Democratic Initiatives, including the nonprofit’s chair, Akif Gurbanov. The Azerbaijani organization carries out training with Toplum TV.  

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs told VOA that police conducted the searches “based on information received about the activities of a group of people.” Additional information will be provided later, the spokesperson said.  

Founded in 2016, Toplum TV covers a range of political, economic and social issues.  

Its Editor-in-Chief Ismayilova told VOA, the media outlet will keep working despite the raid.  

“Right now, the doors of our office have been sealed by the investigative body. But, despite their will, we will continue the work of Toplum TV,” she said. “We are now working on a transition plan. Of course, we intend to ensure continuity of our work, because what we do is very important.”

Authorities also appeared to have gained access to the Toplum TV YouTube page, which had 90,000 followers. The page was renamed, and the content deleted.  

“This in itself is an indicator that, although it may not be their only goal, part of their goal is to silence the media,” Ismayilova told VOA.

A lawyer for one of the detained journalists said she is concerned for the journalist’s health.  

“Farid Ismayilov underwent surgery on his nose in November, and three times on his lungs in December. He was still under medical supervision. We are very worried about that,” the lawyer, Zibeyda Sadygova told reporters outside of the Baku City Police Department.

Sadygova said that police tried to make Ismayilov sign documents, which he refused to do.  

“Farid did not sign anything. We noted this in the protocol. We will file a complaint with the relevant bodies,” Sadygova said.

Shahla Humbatova, a lawyer for Gurbanov, said she was not allowed to be present during the search of his house.  

“Gurbanov said that some documents were taken from his house during the search. He said that the police raided the office, planted 30,000 euros there and then took it. Akif Gurbanov and Ruslan Izzateli were put in separate a room and they [officers] performed the search without any supervision,” Humbatova said.  

She noted that Gurbanov said that the money taken during the search does not belong to him or the organization.  

Khadija Ismayilova said the police operation comes amid a “wave of repression” in the country.

“They are trying to silence all critical opinions. They try not to leave any platform for criticism. They are trying to blacken the country. They will probably continue the wave of repression until all the places of light in the country are closed,” Ismayilova told VOA.

The Toplum arrests are the latest case of journalists being detained. At least 10 other journalists who work for independent media outlets have been arrested since late 2023 and accused of smuggling foreign currency.   

The journalists in those cases deny the accusations and say they believe they are being targeted in relation to their investigations into suspected corruption among high-ranking officials in Azerbaijan.

Freedom House described the raid on Toplum TV as the “latest unacceptable attack on critical, independent voices in the country.”

“We will continue to closely monitor the Aliyev regime’s campaign against civil society, activists and independent media,” Freedom House wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

A spokesperson for the European Commission foreign affairs and security policy, Peter Stano told VOA that the EU is following the situation around the detention of journalists and civil society activists.  

“The EU calls on the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure freedom of expression, including free and unhindered space for independent journalism, in line with its international commitments,” he said.

The U.S. State Department also commented on the raid. “We must express our strong objections to continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists, civil society voices, and opposition figures. We call on Azerbaijan to end the harassment of those exercising their fundamental freedoms and urge the release of all individuals being unjustly held in politically motivated cases,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a briefing. 

He said that no one should face incarceration or other retribution for exercising freedom of expression.

This story originated in VOA’s Azeri service. Tapdiq Farhadoglu, Emil Baghirov, Turkan Bashir, Parvana Bayramova and Ulviyya Guliyeva contributed to this story.
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