Menjadi SUKARELAWAN

Bertukar pendapat sambil menikmati Roti Canai di Yala

Assalamualaikum dan Salam Sejahtera kepada semua…

Serangan terbaru ke atas Gaza, kezaliman berterusan ke atas Syria dan penindasan tanpa sempadan kepada penduduk Islam Rohingya terus menjadi topik utama dunia.

Ianya juga mendorong begitu ramai yang ingin turut terlibat menjadi sukarelawan bagi menawarkan bantuan samada dari segi tenaga, wang ringgit, kepakaran dan masa. Saya amat menghargainya dan mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih. Anda mempunyai jatidiri yang teguh, tahu dan mahu terlibat mengurangkan kesengsaraan dan kesukaran yang dialami oleh mereka yang serba kekurangan, yang tertindas dan teraniaya di luar sana. Syabas.

Saya mohon maaf kerana dalam keadaan terdekat ini, saya tidak mampu untuk menjawab setiap soalan satu persatu secara peribadi seperti dahulu, berada “on the move” dan berada ditempat yang tidak mempunyai coverage internet sedikit sebanyak menangguhkan kerja-kerja alam maya saya ini, justeru, saya memohon izin untuk menghantar kepada anda E-Majallah Malaysian Relief Agency (MRA) yang dikenali sebagai LAPANGAN bagi membolehkan anda semua mengikuti dan memahami apa yang berlaku didalam dunia kemanusiaan dan kesukarelaan, setidak-tidaknya apa yang berlaku didalam MRA itu sendiri.

Saya berjanji untuk menjadi lebih IT Savvy bagi menyampaikan maklumat terkini kepada anda semua., sekali lagi, maaf saya pohon kalau ada yang tertunggu-tunggu jawapan dari saya.

SHAHRUL PESHAWAR

Pengupayaan Komuniti di Aung Mingalar, Sitwe, Arakan

Sedang menerangkan cara-cara dan kaedah pengagihan untuk penduduk di Aung Mingalar, Sitwe, Arakan.

Ketika berada di Aung Mingalar pada bulan September yang lalu, saya dan Sdr. Johari telah berjaya mengagihkan bantuan dari rakyat Malaysia kepada mangsa-mangsa konflik di Arakan. Kami turut bekerjasama dan meminta bantuan dari penduduk tempatan untuk membantu kami dalam kerja-kerja pengagihan bantuan makanan. Komitmen dan kesungguhan mereka untuk membantu kami amatlah membanggakan dan sangat-sangat dihargai.

Qurban-qurban MRA 1432

QURBAN DI SOMALIA

QURBAN DI PAKISTAN

QURBAN DI INDONESIA

QURBAN DI THAILAND

ada lagi Qurban di Myanmar tapi takada gambar.

Shahrul Peshawar

Malaysia: Government risks undermining democratic progress, say UN experts

GENEVA – UN human rights experts* on Monday expressed their dismay at the use of tear gas and water cannons by security authorities against peaceful protestors in Malaysia on Saturday, reportedly leading to injuries and one death, and the arrest of more than 1,600 people at the Bersih 2.0 rally.

“The right to freedom of opinion and expression, including in the form of peaceful protests, is essential for democracy. By declaring the demonstration illegal, sealing off parts of the capital in advance and responding in such a heavy-handed manner against peaceful demonstrators, the Government of Malaysia risks undermining democratic progress in the country,” said Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

Tens of thousands of people gathered near the Medeka Stadium on Saturday despite the announcement made by the police that no gathering would be permitted that day on the basis of the Malaysia Police Act, which requires organizers of public gatherings of three or more persons to seek permits beforehand. The protests were called by Bersih, a coalition of more than 60 non-governmental organizations seeking to promote free and fair elections in Malaysia.

“Actions taken by the authorities prior to and during the rally unduly restricted the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association,” said La Rue. “Declaring Bersih illegal based on claims that it is trying to topple the Government or is a risk to national security and public order – in the absence of any credible evidence to substantiate such claims – is also an unnecessary restriction of civil and political rights.”

According to Malaysian police, all of those arrested on Saturday have been released. But the UN experts noted that six leaders from the Socialist Party of Malaysia reportedly remain in detention. These individuals include Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj, Sukumaran Munisamy, Letchumanan Aseer Patham, Choo Chon Kai, Sarasvathy Muthu, and Satat Babu Raman.

“We remain deeply concerned about the detention of six individuals since 25 June under the Emergency Ordinance, which allows for detention without trial for up to 60 days,” said El Hadji Malick Sow, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention also reiterated its recommendation, made to the Government of Malaysia following a visit to the country in June 2010, to repeal the Emergency Ordinance and other preventive laws, on the grounds that they significantly hinder fundamental human rights, such as the right to fair trial.**

The independent experts reminded the Government of Malaysia of its obligation to fully respect the rights to peaceful assembly, association, and expression, as guaranteed under the Federal Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They also recalled that as a member of the Human Rights Council, Malaysia has pledged to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.

“Malaysia, as a dynamic, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and pluralistic nation, should remain open to legitimate political discourse on democracy, including the expression of dissent,” the experts said. “We urge the Government to allow all individuals to enjoy their human rights, and to address the problem of preventive detention. Likewise, we call upon the Government to ensure that there will not be any punitive measures taken against peaceful demonstrators.”

END

http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11225&LangID=E

gambar ihsan Wartawan Rasmi Laman Reformasi  http://wrlr.blogspot.com/

ASEAN should push Myanmar on Rohingya Issue too

ASEAN should be brave enough to remind Yangoon on the rights and plight of the Rohingyas.  The Rohingyas are the legitimate habitant in the Arakan and nearby areas and they had been staying there for hundreds of years and they are recognized as the owner of the land.  

Baseless allegations such as Rohingyas are the migrators from Bangladesh are the common escapism sentence that will be used by the SPDC regime to allow their brutality and harrassment to these Rohingyas. 

The leaders of ASEAN, I’m sure have enough information and in-fact some of them had the opportunity to see the truth of what this SPDC regime had done to their own people. 

ASEAN is not a forum only for the leaders, it is also a forum for us, the people of ASEAN.  People of ASEAN cannot tolerate such a notorius government who doesnt have any guts to accept their own people.  

ASEAN should push Myanmar harder on the issue of human rights, democracy and tolerancy.  The current development on democracy in Myanmar is just a lip service.  The foreign Minister of ASEAN is wasting the tax-payers money in Senggigi  if they cant do anything better than pressuring the SPDC regime to uphold the basic human rights to its own people.

SHAHRUL PESHAWAR, Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur

 

ASEAN to push Myanmar on democracy, wants sanctions lifted

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70F0D320110116

Malaysia: End ‘Charade of Justice’ at Anwar Trial

Proceedings Violate Basic Fair Trial Rights

March 23, 2010

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director

(New York) – The Malaysian government should drop all charges in the politically motivated trial against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Human Rights Watch said today. The so-called “Sodomy II” trial, which has been plagued by serious due process problems and government interference, is scheduled to resume on March 25, 2010.
The government has accused Anwar of consensual homosexual conduct with Mohammed Saiful Bukhari Azlan, a former aide, on June 26, 2008, in a private condominium. Court decisions denying Anwar’s lawyers access to critical evidence held by prosecutors, and the publication of unreleased trial evidence in a ruling party newspaper, raise serious concerns about whether Anwar will receive a fair trial.
“The government should end this charade of justice and drop the charges against Anwar,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Every step of the way, the court has blocked Anwar’s lawyers from preparing a thorough defense.”
Several of the court’s rulings subvert the discovery process, a crucial component of the right to prepare a defense, Human Rights Watch said. Anwar’s lawyers have been denied pre-trial access to DNA specimen samples, statements by the plaintiff and key prosecution witnesses, notes from doctors who examined Saiful, and original copies of CCTV surveillance system tapes from the condominium at the time of the alleged incident. Even after the trial began, on February 2, 2010, the court ruled against providing the defendant a list of prosecution witnesses, much less witness statements.
Human Rights Watch is also deeply concerned about political interference in the trial by the ruling coalition. The court took no action in response to articles in Utusan Malaysia, a newspaper owned by UMNO, the lead party in the ruling coalition, containing information gathered during the court’s in camera fact-finding visit to the condominium.
“The publication of unreleased trial evidence in what is effectively a government newspaper is an appalling attempt by the government to interfere in the Anwar case,” Robertson said. “This is just the latest instance of the ruling coalition trying to call the shots in this trial of a major opposition leader.”
Other instances of government interference have surfaced during the 20 months since the charges were first leveled against Anwar. The most damaging episode was the involvement of Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who in March 2009 transferred the case from a Sessions Court to the High Court, limiting the defendant’s right to appeal should he lose the case. At the time the attorney general issued the order, he was under investigation by the country’s anti-corruption agency over allegations that he fabricated evidence in Anwar’s first sodomy case, in 1998.
Should Anwar be found guilty, the court could sentence him to a 20-year prison term and whipping. He would also be forced to relinquish his parliamentary seat. Even if Anwar is imprisoned for only one day or fined at least RM2000 (US$600), he would be barred from standing for election for five years.
Human Rights Watch also has concerns about the authorities’ investigation of the case and development of charges. Saiful was not examined until 48 hours after the alleged incident, and the first doctor from Hospital Pusrawi (Pusat Rawatan Islam) reported he found no evidence of anal penetration. Saiful then visited Hospital Kuala Lumpur, a government hospital, and a report endorsed by three specialists from that hospital also found “no conclusive clinical findings suggestive of penetration to the anus and no significant defensive wound on the body of the patient.”
Saiful originally alleged he was raped but when it was pointed out that Anwar, a then 61-year-old man with a bad back, was no physical match for a healthy 24-year-old, Saiful’s complaint was revised to indicate consensual homosexual conduct.
The charges were filed under an antiquated law, a holdover from British colonial rule, that criminalizes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” both consensual and non-consensual. Human Rights Watch opposes all laws used to criminalize consensual homosexual conduct between adults, and has repeatedly urged the Malaysian authorities to repeal those provisions and replace legislation on non-consensual sexual acts with a modern, gender-neutral law on rape.
“The Malaysian judiciary will only come into disrepute by holding another show trial of the country’s opposition leader,” Robertson said. “Rather than politicizing the courts and undermining fair trial rights, the Malaysian government should cease the dirty tricks, drop the charges against Anwar, and return politics to where they belong, in the elected Parliament.”

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/03/23/malaysia-end-charade-justice-anwar-trial

Uzbekistan: Free Human Rights Defender

Growing Persecution of Farmers’ Rights Activists

The human rights situation is clearly not going to improve as long as the Uzbek authorities continue to put human rights defenders and activists behind bars. The EU’s decision to lift the already symbolic arms embargo while at least 14 human rights defenders remain in prison was unconscionable and it now needs to make up for this by redoubling efforts to push for their freedom.

Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch

(New York) – Uzbek authorities should immediately release the human rights defender and farmers’ rights activist Ganikhon Mamatkhanov, who is facing trial on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said today.

Mamatkhanov has regularly provided commentary on the human rights situation in Ferghana, in eastern Uzbekistan, to Radio Ozodlik, the Uzbek branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Local human rights defenders believe that Mamatkhanov’s arrest is in retaliation for his human rights work and public criticism of the government.

“Activists who fight for farmers’ rights are a growing target of government persecution,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “The arrest of Mamatkhanov was clearly a set-up, and he should be freed immediately.”

Mamatkhanov faces charges of fraud and bribery. He was detained on October 9, 2009, under circumstances that appeared to have been staged to frame him.

Mamatkhanov joined the human rights movement in Uzbekistan around 1996 as a member of the Independent Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan. About four years ago, he joined the Committee for the Protection of Individual Rights. He works for social and economic rights, including the rights of farmers, a number of whom were the victims of unlawful land confiscation earlier this year.

On October 9, an unidentified man called Mamatkhanov, asking him to meet near the Ferghana City market. Abdusalom Ergashev, another human rights advocate who spoke to Mamatkhanov by phone that day, said that when the two men met shortly after the call, the man demanded that Mamatkhanov open his bag.

When Mamatkhanov asked why, the man reportedly started to hit him and shoved something into his bag. Mamatkhanov tried to stop him and, realizing that it was a set-up, tried to throw the item away. However, he was immediately detained by the police who confiscated the item, subsequently found to be 500,000 Uzbek som (about US $330). The man who planted the money on Mamatkhanov was later identified in the indictment as Ruzimat Usmanov, a farmer. Mamatkhanov reported that he had never seen Usmanov before.

On October 12, the Ferghana City Court authorized Mamatkhanov’s arrest on preliminary charges of fraud (article 168-2) and bribery (article 211-1,) and ruled that he should remain in custody for the duration of the investigation. The indictment, however, cites articles 168-3 and 211-3, each of which carries a longer prison sentence — up to 10 years in prison.

According to information provided to Human Rights Watch, several days before Mamatkhanov was detained, Usmanov alleged that Mamatkhanov had demanded 6 million som (about US $3,990) from him to help him regain ownership of his farm. Another farmer, Tahir Sulemanov, alleged that Mamatkhanov had demanded 4.5 million som (about US $2,990) from him.

Several days after Mamatkhanov was detained, his family said that about 10 local police and officers from the Ferghana Regional Prosecutor’s Office searched Mamatkhanov’s house, saying they were looking for a computer. They showed a search warrant but did not give their names. Mamatkhanov, however, reportedly does not own a computer.

When Mamatkhanov was brought to the prosecutor’s office for further questioning on October 24, he told his younger son Jamoliddin that he had suffered two heart attacks while in detention. Mamatkhanov asked his son to relay this information to Ergashev. Ergashev submitted a formal request to the investigator asking that Mamatkhanov receive special care, which he was told would be provided. However, Mamatkhanov’s family remains concerned for his health.

Mamatkhanov has been targeted before because of his human rights work. He has frequently criticized the police and the local authorities as part of his work. According to information received by Human Rights Watch, roughly two months ago the head of the Ferghana City Police, Azamhodja Umurzakov, openly threatened Mamatkhanov in front of the governor (Hokkim) and prosecutor of Ferghana City, saying that he had worked in several “difficult” districts of the Ferghana region and knows insurgents whose help he could easily solicit to cause Mamatkhanov to disappear.

When Mamatkhanov learned of Umurzakov’s threat, he reportedly sent a written complaint to the Regional Prosecutor’s Office. In response, he reportedly received a letter saying his allegations could not be confirmed and that the investigation was closed. However, a reliable source told Human Rights Watch that at least one witness came forward during the investigation to confirm that Umurzakov had made such a statement.

The Mamatkhanov case is one of a growing number of cases of Uzbek activists arrested for working for farmers’ rights. On July 30, Dilmurod Saidov, an independent journalist from Samarkand, was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Human Rights Watch and local defenders believe this was in retaliation for his efforts to expose local officials’ abuse of power and corruption and his willingness to  HYPERLINK “http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/03/uzbekistan-free-journalist-sentenced-12-years” fight for the rights of farmers in the Samarkand region. Dilmurod Saidov is serving his sentence in a prison colony in Navoi.

On July 28, two days before Saidov was sentenced, another activist, Oyazimhon Hidirova, chairman of the Arnasai Branch of the International Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, was HYPERLINK “http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/18/uzbekistan-rights-activist-arrested”  arrested in apparent retaliation for her efforts to expose corruption by agricultural officials in Arnasai, a district in the Jizzakh region. Before Hidirova was convicted, however, she became eligible for release under an amnesty, and the charges were dropped.

Mamatkhanov was arrested less than two weeks before the European Union lifted the arms embargo, the last of the original EU sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan in November 2005 in the wake of the massacre by Uzbek security forces of mostly peaceful protesters in Andijan, which left hundreds dead. The EU reached this decision on October 27 at the monthly General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), held in Luxembourg, justifying the move as a means to “encourage[e] the Uzbek authorities to take further substantive steps to improve the rule of law and human rights situation on the ground.”

“The human rights situation is clearly not going to improve as long as the Uzbek authorities continue to put human rights defenders and activists behind bars,” Cartner said. “The EU’s decision to lift the already symbolic arms embargo while at least 14 human rights defenders remain in prison was unconscionable and it now needs to make up for this by redoubling efforts to push for their freedom.”

They are: Solijon Abdurakhmanov, Azam Formonov, Nosim Isakov, Gaibullo Jalilov, Alisher Karamatov, Jamshid Karimov, Norboi Kholjigitov, Abdurasul Khudainasarov, Ganihon Mamatkhanov, Farkhad Mukhtarov, Habibulla Okpulatov, Yuldash Rasulov, Dilmurod Saidov, and Akzam Turgunov.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/15/uzbekistan-free-human-rights-defender

Drop Charges against Oleg Orlov

Oleg Orlov.

(Moscow) – Russian authorities should immediately drop criminal libel charges against Oleg Orlov, the prominent activist who heads Memorial Human Rights Center, Human Rights Watch said today. The charges stem from Orlov’s statement that Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya, was responsible for the murder of Natalia Estemirova, Memorial’s leading researcher in Chechnya.

“Criminal penalties for libel are disproportionate and have a chilling effect on free expression in Russia,” said Allison Gill, Moscow director for Human Rights Watch. “Kadyrov has already had his day in court over this issue.”

The decision to bring a criminal case was made public on October 27, 2009. If convicted, Orlov faces up to three years in prison.

Kadyrov brought civil defamation charges against Orlov and Memorial, suing for 10 million rubles in damages (approximately US$300,000). On October 6, 2009, a Moscow court ruled that Orlov’s statement defamed Kadyrov and ordered Orlov and Memorial to pay a total of 70,000 rubles (approximately US$2,400) and publish a retraction that the statement “does not correspond to reality.”

Orlov and Memorial have appealed that ruling and have stated their intention to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. The European Court has previously ruled, in Kazakov v. Russia, that “to make someone retract his or her own opinion by acknowledging his or her own wrongness is a doubtful form of redress and does not appear to be ‘necessary.'”

Human Rights Watch said that the current case against Orlov highlights the need to bring Russia’s laws in line with its international obligations to protect freedom of expression. Russia and Azerbaijan remain the only two Council of Europe member states to make libel a criminal offense.

In determining whether Orlov’s statements were libelous, the court will need to take into account the standards applicable under Russia’s human rights obligations, especially the need to protect freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said. The threshold for criticism of a public official is much higher than for a private individual, Human Rights Watch noted.

“Freedom to criticize officials, even accuse them of wrongdoing, is important to fostering public debate and to holding officials accountable,” Gill said. “The threat of criminal sanction to restrict speech strikes at the very essence of what it means to be a free society.”

Estemirova was abducted outside her home in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, on July 15 and was found shot dead in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia later the same day.

The nature of Estemirova’s investigations into official abuses, the circumstances of her murder, and  the  pattern of threats against her, Memorial, and investigative journalists and human rights defenders in Chechnya all point to possible official involvement in or acquiescence to her murder.

Human Rights Watch warned that the Russian authorities should not allow the suit to distract from their responsibility to investigate Estemirova’s killing thoroughly and impartially and to identify and prosecute those responsible.

Human rights groups have documented serious human rights violations committed by law enforcement and security personnel under Kadyrov’s de facto control. These violations, committed in a counterinsurgency campaign, include illegal detention, torture, extrajudicial executions, and home-burnings of individuals they accuse of being involved in or supportive of the insurgency. Those who document and publicize these crimes have faced violence, threats, and harassment.

Estemirova’s murder was followed three weeks later by the killings of Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alik Dzhabrailov, civic activists who worked for Save the Generation, a charity that provides humanitarian assistance to war victims. Sadulayeva and Dzhabrailov were abducted from their Grozny office by law enforcement personnel on August 10 and found shot the next day. In the months since Estemirova’s murder, several Memorial staff who work on Chechnya have faced threats and intimidation.

The announcement of the criminal charges comes just days before the European Union and Russia will hold their bi-annual human rights consultations. Human Rights Watch urged the European Union to seize the opportunity of the talks, scheduled for November 5 and 6 in Stockholm, to press Russia to protect human rights defenders and to seek a commitment from Russia to bring its libel laws in line with its international obligations to protect free expression.

The European Union and the United States should further urge the Russian government to demonstrate its commitment to openness and accountability by securing immediate and unfettered access to Russia, including to the North Caucasus, for international monitors who have long sought such access. These include the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur on legal remedies for human rights violations in the North Caucasus, and UN special rapporteurs on torture, extrajudicial executions, and human rights defenders.

“If anything, the charges against Orlov should remind Russia’s partners of the urgent need to protect human rights defenders in Russia,” Gill said. “The EU should seize the chance to press Russia for an effective, credible, and transparent investigation into Estemirova’s murder.

MALAYSIA: Don’t Censor or Harass Independent Website

(New York) – The Malaysian government should drop its order to a popular news website to remove videos of a recent protest and of a government minister’s reaction, Human Rights Watch said today.

The website Malaysiakini has refused to comply with a September 3, 2009 order by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission to remove a video showing an incident where protesters in Selangor state marched with a severed cow’s head to oppose the building of a Hindu temple and another in which the home minister stated that the actions were legal. The minister later reversed himself and police charged some of the protesters.

“The government wants to make the problem disappear by taking the videos off the internet,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “But Malaysians have a right to see for themselves what happened and hear what was said – the government shouldn’t be suppressing this information.”

According to the Communication and Multimedia Commission, the videos are in violation of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, which prohibits “content which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person.” Violations carry fines of up to RM50,000 (US$14,325) and up to a year in prison.

The commission’s letter ordering Malaysiakini to remove the videos from its website stated that the videos “contain offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person, especially Indians.”

One of the videos, “Temple demo: Residents march with cow’s head,” taken on August 28, 2009, shows Muslim Malay residents protesting plans to relocate Sri Maha Mariamman Hindu temple to their neighborhood. About 50 people, including several carrying a bloody cow’s head, march 300 meters from the state mosque in Selangor to the state secretariat building.

At the state building, the protesters presented their demands and threatened violence against the Hindu community and the Selangor government if the relocation went forward. Some marchers spat on and stomped on the head, an act clearly aimed at Hindus, who regard cows as sacred. The organizers had not requested a permit as required by Malaysia’s Police Act. Police monitoring the event made no move to intervene.

The second video, “Hisham: Don’t blame cow-head protesters,” recorded Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein’s news conference on September 2, exonerating the protesters of any wrongdoing. He said: “All they wanted was to voice their unhappiness and the unwillingness of the state government to consider their request. … This day and age, protests should be accepted in this world as people want their voices to be heard. If we don’t give them room to voice their opinions, they have no choice but to protest.”

Responding to a domestic outcry, Hishammuddin on September 3 reversed his position and ordered a further police investigation and “uncompromising punishment” of the protesters. On September 9, police charged 12 participants with illegal assembly. Six of the 12 were also charged with sedition and face fines of up to RM5,000 (US$1,430) and up to three years in prison.

“It’s time for the government to stop using sedition charges against protesters and to consistently uphold free expression,” said Pearson.

Malaysiakini has refused to remove the videos. The editor-in chief, Steven Gan, told the media: “Our intent … was not to ‘annoy,’ but to do our job as journalists to draw attention to the protest and to ensure action is taken so that incidents like this will not happen again in Malaysia.”

The commission has embarked on a thorough investigation of Malaysiakini. Over a three-day period, eight commission staffers, acting in teams, extensively questioned the chief executive officer, Premesh Chandran, as well as editors, reporters, the video team, and technical support staff. Gan was questioned separately. Investigators also copied parts of the hard disks from two computers that edit and upload videos, and demanded the original tapes.

This is not the first time that Malaysiakini reporting has resulted in a heavy-handed response by government officials. In 2003 the government carried out a 10-month investigation of the news site for posting a letter to the editor criticizing the government (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2003/10/07/malaysia-end-intimidation-news-website ). In June 2009, the government temporarily banned Malaysiakini journalists and other critical media from entering parliament.

“The government’s investigation of Malaysiakini is nothing short of media harassment and it needs to stop,” said Pearson. “Malaysians are entitled to know all sides of a story. It is not up to the government to approve what news is fit to air, print, or post.”

Israel targets human rights groups

August 11, 2009 by attendingtheworld

Israel targets human groups

Jonathan Cook, Foreign Correspondent

August 03. 2009

Jeff Halper. co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. Alexei Kidel for The National

NAZARETH // In a bid to staunch the flow of damaging evidence of war crimes committed during Israel’s winter assault on Gaza, the Israeli government has launched a campaign to clamp down on human rights groups, both in Israel and abroad.

It has begun by targeting one of the world’s leading rights organisations, the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), as well as a local group of dissident army veterans, Breaking the Silence, which last month published the testimonies of 26 combat soldiers who served in Gaza.

Additionally, according to the Israeli media, the government is planning a “much more aggressive stance” towards human rights groups working to help the Palestinians.

Officials have questioned the sources of funding received by the organisations and threatened legislation to ban support from foreign governments, particularly in Europe.

Breaking the Silence and other Israeli activists have responded by accusing the government of a “witch hunt” designed to intimidate them and starve them of the funds needed to pursue their investigations.

“This is a very dangerous step,” said Mikhael Mannekin, one of the directors of Breaking the Silence. “Israel is moving in a very anti-democratic direction.”

The campaign is reported to be the brainchild of the far-right foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, currently facing corruption charges, but has the backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Early last month, Mr Lieberman used a press conference to accuse non-profit organisations, or non-governmental organisations, of replacing diplomats in setting the international community’s agenda in relation to Israel. He also threatened reforms to curb the groups’ influence.

A week later, Mr Netanyahu’s office weighed in against Human Rights Watch, heavily criticising the organisation for its recent fund-raising activities in Saudi Arabia.

HRW has pointed out that it only accepts private donations, and has not accepted Saudi government funds, but Israeli officials say all Saudi money is tainted and will compromise HRW’s impartiality as a human rights watchdog in its treatment of Israel.

“A human rights organisation raising money in Saudi Arabia is like a women’s rights group asking the Taliban for a donation,” Mark Regev, a government spokesman, told the right-wing Israeli daily newspaper the Jerusalem Post.

HRW recently published reports arguing that the Israeli army had committed war crimes in Gaza, including the use of white phosphorus and attacking civilian targets.

HRW is now facing concerted pressure from Jewish lobby groups and from leading Jewish journalists in the US to sever its ties with Saudi donors. According to the Israeli media, some Jewish donors in the US have also specified that their money be used for human rights investigations that do not include Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign ministry is putting pressure on European governments to stop funding many of Israel’s human rights groups.

As a prelude to a clampdown, it has issued instructions to all its embassies abroad to question their host governments about whether they fund such activities.

Last week the foreign ministry complained to British, Dutch and Spanish diplomats about their support for Breaking the Silence.

The testimonies collected from soldiers suggested the Israeli army had committed many war crimes in Gaza, including the use of Palestinians as human shields and firing white phosphorus shells over civilian areas. One soldier called the army’s use of firepower “insane”.

The Dutch government paid nearly 20,000 euros to the group to compile its Gaza report, while Britain funded its work last year to the tune of £40,000 (Dh245,663).

Israeli officials are reported to be discussing ways either to make it illegal for foreign governments to fund “political” organisations in Israel or to force such groups to declare themselves as “agents of a foreign government”.

“Just as it would be unacceptable for European governments to support anti-war NGOs in the US, it is unacceptable for the Europeans to support local NGOs opposed to the policies of Israel’s democratically elected government,” said Ron Dermer, a senior official in Mr Netanyahu’s office.

He added that many of the groups were “working to delegitimise the Jewish state”.

Jeff Halper, the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, said the government’s position was opposed to decades-old developments in human rights monitoring.

“Every dictator, from Hitler to Milosevic, has said that there must be no interference in their sovereign affairs, and that everyone else should butt out. But international law says human rights are universal and cannot be left to individual governments to interpret. The idea behind the Geneva Conventions is that the international community has a duty to be the watchdog on human rights abuses wherever they occur.”

Mr Halper, whose organisation last year received 80,000 euros from Spain to rebuild demolished Palestinian homes, was arrested last year for sailing to Gaza with peace activists to break the siege of Gaza.

Other groups reported to be in the foreign ministry’s sights are: B’Tselem, whose activities include providing Palestinians with cameras to record abuses by settlers and the army; Peace Now, which monitors settlement building; Machsom Watch, whose activists observe soldiers at the checkpoints; and Physicians for Human Rights, which has recently examined doctors’ complicity in torture.

Mr Mannekin added: “The government cannot suppress information about what happened in Gaza by shutting us down.

“You can’t send 10,000 soldiers into battle and not expect that some of the details will come out. If it’s not us doing it, it’ll be someone else.”

The government’s current campaign follows a police raid on the homes of six Israeli women peace activists in April.

The women, all members of New Profile, a feminist organisation that opposes the militarisation of Israeli society, were arrested and accused of helping Israeli youngsters to evade the draft. The women are still waiting to learn whether they will be prosecuted.

jcook@thenational.ae