Month: December 2009

Germany: Human Rights Groups Call for EU to Suspend Preferential Trade to Communist China

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LAOGAI RESEARCH FOUNDATION CALLS ON EU TO SUSPEND PREFERENTIAL TRADE ACCESS FOR CHINA UNDER THE GSP

Bredenbeck, Germany, December 1, 2009-  The Laogai Research Foundation (LRF), in association with the International Society for Human Rights (Frankfurt), formally call on the European Commission to suspend the People’s Republic of China’s non-reciprocal preferential access to the EU market provided under the GSP scheme until China stops exporting products to the EU made in the Laogai, China’s vast system of forced labor prison camps.

The Laogai not only serves to suppress dissent; it also functions as a massive source of free labor.   Inmates within the Laogai system are forced to labor long hours in abusive conditions.  LRF has documented cases where inmates were working 16-18 hours a day in mines with no protective gear, handling battery acid with no gloves, and standing naked in vats of tanning chemicals. The Laogai Research Foundation has documented hundreds of businesses that advertise their products for export to the US and Europe, and Laogai-made goods find their way into these markets on a daily basis.  Unfortunately, due to intentional deception on the part of Laogai enterprises, and a patchwork of incomplete and ineffective international regulations, these Laogai enterprises not only continue to operate, but also to profit handsomely by exporting goods made by prisoners who are not compensated for their labor.   Although China officially banned the export of forced labor products, this law is not enforced, and international requests for inspections of suspected Laogai facilities are routinely denied.

For this reason, LRF calls on the European Commission to suspend China’s preferential GSP status until China enforces its own laws on the export of forced labor products.  Additionally, we call on the EU to consider legislation to ban the import of forced labor products from China.

Peter E. Mueller, European Representative of the LAOGAI Research Foundation (LRF), Washington DC, has already met with several Members of the European Parliament, among them Edward McMillan-Scott, Vice-President of the EU-Parliament, Crescenzio Rivellini, head of the EU/China Delegation, Mrs. Helga Trüpel of the Green Party and Mr. Michael Gahler of the Christian Democrats, but foremost with Mrs. Heidi Hautala, Chairwoman of the EU Human Rights Committee. In these meetings, Mr. Mueller urged them to support the suspension of China’s preferential GSP status and consider a ban on the importation of Laogai-made products, noting that the Laogai system of forced labor camps is the PRC’s foremost tool of political repression.
LRF Executive Director Harry Wu commented, “The EU is typically ahead of the US when it comes to human rights, but on this issue they lag behind.” (The US has banned the importation of forced labor products since the 1930s.) Mr. Wu added further, “Basic human rights should not be left behind in the drive to improve economic relations between China and the EU.”

The Laogai Research Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded by former political prisoner Harry Wu in 1992.  Its mission is to gather information on and raise public awareness of the Laogai–China’s extensive system of forced labor prison camps.  For more information, please visit www.laogai.org, e-mail laogai@laogai.org, or call +1-202-408-8300.

free-china-now

World AIDS Day: Hizb ut-Tahrir Calls for Stonings, Whippings, Caliphate

On December 1, 2009, as groups concerned about the AIDS disease sought public awareness and prevention, the anti-freedom, extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir held its own protests in Indonesia rejecting condoms and AIDS prevention measures and demanding the creation of an extremist caliphate .  AFP reports that “700 members from the Muslim Women of Hizbut Tahrir” were involved in the Indonesia protests.  As AIDS continues to grow in Indonesia, Hizb ut-Tahrir is promoting an anti-condom campaign as part of its efforts to promote religious extremism in Indonesia and globally.

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s goals including ending democracy and freedom, and the promotion of an extremist caliphate, including calling for the “death penalty” for those “traitors” who leave Islam.  U.S. President Obama’s adviser on Muslim affairs Dalia Mogahed has joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in a public interview conducted by a supporter of the British Hizb ut-Tahrir organization.

World AIDS Day: Hizb ut-Tahrir Demonstrates Against Homosexuals, Calls for Global Extremist Caliphate (AFP/File/Bay Ismoyo)
World AIDS Day: Hizb ut-Tahrir Demonstrates Against Homosexuals, Calls for Global Supremacist Caliphate (AFP/File/Bay Ismoyo)

There have been repeated attempts to make homosexuality illegal in Indonesia, as prostitution and drug use are currently.  The Aceh province of Indonesia has made homosexuality a crime under Sharia law punished by public whipping and steep imprisonment, as well as stoning for other offenses against Sharia.

While AFP, MySinChew/AFP, and the Jakarta Globe have focused on Hizb ut-Tahrir’s (HT) rallies and comments regarding ending the use of condoms and enforcing Sharia law as a way to control AIDS risks, none of the mainstream media have noticed Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia’s web site report quoting Dr. Muhammad Usman and others at a Hizb ut-Tahrir event calling for “stoning to death” and “whip a hundred times” individuals as part of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s answers to the AIDS problems.  The  HT report also states condoms are ineffective because “whereas the pores of condoms was only able to hold the sperm, not the size of the HIV virus is much smaller.”

The Jakarta Globe reported that “Ahead of World AIDS Day on Tuesday, members of the group Hizbut Tahrir took to the streets in several major cities, including Jakarta, Solo, Yogyakarta and Makassar in South Sulawesi. ‘We urge everybody to support the application of Shariah in an Islamic caliphate so that, God willing, all of us will be free from the threat of HIV/AIDS,’ Hizbut Tahrir spokeswoman Febrianti Abassuni said in a statement.”  Calling “homosexuals the agents of immorality,” Hizb ut-Tahrir called for an end to programs providing condoms in Indonesia.

BBC reports that “AIDS activists say promoting condom use is a huge challenge in Indonesia as there is strong resistance from religious and conservative groups.”  While AIDS in Indonesia grew predominantly from drug use, increasing growth is reportedly sexual based.  BBC reports that “[r]ecent data shows over 18,000 people have the disease – and that number has jumped from last year.”

While Hizb ut-Tahrir and other groups seek to prevent condom distribution and use, AIDS has spread dramatically throughout Indonesia.  AFP reports that “around 270,000 Indonesians are estimated to be infected with HIV, and AIDS has claimed about 8,700 lives in the Muslim-majority nation of 228 million people, according to the UNAIDS agency.”

Reports have shown significant growth in AIDS among heterosexuals.

In a separate report, BBC reports that in the United Kingdom, 60 percent of new AIDS cases are appearing among Muslims.  In the BBC report, “According to Dr Shima Tariq, who has studied the transmission of HIV, more than half of newly diagnosed patients caught HIV through heterosexual sex, and two-thirds of them are of black African origin or descent.  But most of this group are not Christian: six out of 10 are Muslim.”

Resources – Hizb ut-Tahrir AIDS Day Reports:

AFP: “Indonesian militants call for sharia law to stop HIV”

AFP/MySinchew.com: “Indonesian Islamists protest condom use for preventing AIDS”

Jakarta Globe: “Hard-Line Indonesian Muslims Seek Shariah End to HIV”

Bernama: “Indonesia Intensifies Efforts To Fight AIDS”

BBC: “Indonesia HIV-Aids ‘spreading through sex'”

A woman walks past by a sign advising people to wear Muslim attire at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh. A local lawmaker says a controverisial bill allowing Shariah-style stoning and caning has gone into effect in the province. (Photo: Heri Juanda, AP)
A woman walks past by a sign advising people to wear Muslim attire at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh. A local lawmaker says a controverisial bill allowing Shariah-style stoning and caning has gone into effect in the province. (Photo: Heri Juanda, AP)

Other Reports on Indonesia:

Indonesia: Sharia Bill Calling for Stoning, Now Officially Law in Aceh

Indonesia’s Aceh passes law on stoning to death — death for adulterers, steep prison for homosexuality

Indonesia: Students demand harsher sharia law implementation

Asia: Shariah Asia Spread Appeases Islamists, Risks Rights

Indonesia: Women Banned from Wearing Jeans and Pants — Sharia Police Plan Raids and Patrols

Indonesia: 1500 Sharia Police Harrass Men, Women in Aceh

Black Flag of Extremist Caliphate
Black Flag of Caliphate

Other Reports on Hizb ut-Tahrir:

Bangladesh: Anti-Freedom Group Hizb ut-Tahrir Threatens to Murder University Official

UK: Hizb ut-Tahrir Anti-Democracy Group Schools Receive Government Funding

National Post Describes Anti-Jewish Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Growth on College Campuses

White House Adviser Joins UK Interview with Anti-Democratic Hizb ut-Tahrir Group

Extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir Event Promoted with Beheaded Statue of Liberty

UK: Press Reports of “Furious Residents” over Extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir Conference

Canada: Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) Group to Meet in Govt-Managed Community Center

UK: Hizb ut-Tahrir Group Claims Thousands Attend London Conference, Plans August 2 Birmingham Conference

Chicago’s Moment of Freedom: Chicagoans Stand Up for Freedom Challenging Hizb ut-Tahrir

July 19 – Chicago: R.E.A.L. Pro-Freedom Protest to Challenge Hizb ut-Tahrir America Conference

Chicago: IPT News: “Pro-Terror Group to Meet in Chicago Suburb” – report on Hizb ut-Tahrir

Hizb ut-Tahrir promotion for Extremist Caliphate conference shows "beheaded" Statue of Liberty and "burning" NYC
Hizb ut-Tahrir promotion for Caliphate conference shows "beheaded" Statue of Liberty and "burning" NYC

Tajikistan: Court bans Baptist church

Tajikistan: Court bans Baptist church
— Forum 18 reports: “Members of a Baptist congregation in the capital Dushanbe have appealed to the City Court against a ban on their activity imposed because they meet for worship in a private home without state registration. But Judge Soliya Ismailova of Somoni District Court, who handed down the ban, defended her decision and denied that this violated the Baptists’ freedom of worship. ‘The Law demands that all non-government organisations register,’ she told Forum 18 News Service. The court-imposed ban came after a 9 October raid on a church service by officials of the City Administration, Dushanbe city Prosecutor’s office, Police and National Security Committee secret police. Baptists told Forum 18 they are continuing to meet for worship despite the ban. State control of religious activity has been steadily tightening in 2009, including through a new Religion Law.”

Sudan: 50 lashes for a minor Christian in Sudan to “wearing a skirt”

AP reports:
— “A 16-year-old Christian girl from southern Sudan said Friday she was lashed 50 times for wearing a skirt deemed indecent by the authorities in the north who enforce a strict version of Islamic law. The girl, Silva Kashif, said she was arrested by a plainclothes police officer in a Khartoum market last week for wearing a skirt that fell below her knees. She was convicted of offending public morality and received 50 lashes in the courtroom. Ms. Kashif’s ordeal follows the high-profile case of Lubna Hussein, a female journalist who was sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing trousers deemed indecent.”

Translated report from Al-Arabiya:
— “Lawyer said a girl from southern Sudan and her family, Friday, 27/11/2009, said the girl whipped with 50 lashes because they wore a skirt a judge ruled it obscene, and in the latest issue highlights the application of Islamic law in Sudan.”
— “…the girl’s mother detector Silva, aged 16 years, it intends to sue the police who arrested her daughter and the judge who issued the verdict, adding that her daughter, a minor and a Christian.”
— “The Douro, which her family hails from the town of Yambio, southern Sudan, said her daughter was arrested while on the way to the market near her home in the suburb of Kalakla in Khartoum last week.”
— “She added that her little girl but the policeman pulled in the market as if it were a criminal and that this is true, and pointed out that Silva was taken to court where Kalakla convicted and punished by the police before a judge.”