January 2014 – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

Pakistan: Ahmadiyya Minority Muslim Charged with Blasphemy

Pakistan: once again Ahmadiyya Minority Muslims are being oppressed by religious extremists who reject their religious freedom rights. In this case, an elderly British Ahmadiyya Muslim man, Masud Ahmad, is being oppressed and was arrested using the broad and oppressive blasphemy laws, used by extremists to reject freedom and target individuals. Responsible for Equality And Liberty calls for the Pakistan courts to drop all charges against Masud Ahmad, and to end the oppressive use of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. See reports by the Daily Mail and by the Independent.

The Daily Mail reports: “An elderly British man faces up to three years in a Pakistani prison after he was tricked into reading the Koran in public. Masud Ahmad, 72, belongs to the minority Ahmadiyya sect, who under Pakistani law are banned from calling themselves Muslim, with Amnesty International saying he was deliberately tricked into reading the holy book in Lahore by figures linked to a right-wing religious group… it is believed Mr Ahmad was secretly filmed reading from the Koran in November last year by two men posing as patients at the homeopathy clinic he ran in Lahore. Amnesty International say he was maliciously targeted because of his religion. Every year dozens of Ahmadi Muslims are charged with breaching Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws simply for practicing Islam, while they and other minority groups are also at risk of sectarian violence. Speaking to The Independent, Mr Ahmad’s son Abbas, 39, said: ‘We are concerned he will never see his nine grandchildren but we are concerned with his life. We know what happens [in] these sort of cases.’ Abbas Ahmad said his father had been released on bail ahead of a trial and is currently in secure accommodation.”

Pakistan: Freedom Called for Muhammad Asghar Charged with Blasphemy

Pakistan man has been arrested and charged with blasphemy in Rawalpindi, with calls by human rights groups for his release. British man Muhammad Asghar has been arrested for confused letters that he has written about himself, as reported by CNN. Responsible for Equality And Liberty calls for the Pakistan authorities to show mercy and dignity to understand that there will always be confused individuals, and that their human rights also require respect under our Universal Declaration of Human Rights. An online petition calls for his release.

CNN reports: “Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) — The family of a mentally ill British man sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy is calling on authorities to release him. A court in the city of Rawalpindi last week handed down the punishment to Muhammad Asghar, 69, over charges alleging that he wrote letters claiming to be a prophet. But his family, his lawyer and a British legal aid group say the court failed to take into account the mental state of Asghar, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The sentencing hearing took place last week behind closed doors without his legal team’s knowledge, they say, and his lawyer has been blocked from visiting him since.”

Pakistan: Sikh Murdered by Extremists

Sikh member Sardar Bagwan Singh murdered by extremist factions in Pakistan, as reported by the Pakistan Christian Post

“Charsada; January 24, 2014. (PCP) A Sikh community member resident of Dabgari was gunned down in Tangi Bazar, Charsada, in broad day light in KPK province of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, on evening of January 22, 2014, by extremists. Sardar Bagwan Singh who was Hakeem by profession and practicing medicine over decades in Charsada district became victim of target killers when he was coming home at 4; 00 PM. Sardar Bagwan Singh left behind mourning wife, three daughters and three sons. Hundreds of Sikh community members living in tribal belt of Pakistan migrated to India

after year 2009 when Talaban took control of FATA and impose extremist taxation on them.”

70,000 Myanmar Refugees Resettled from Thailand to USA

The United States of America has accepted 73,000 Burmese (Myanmar) refugees from Thailand as part of an agreement with the UNHCR, to provide resettlement for these stateless refugees. Based on our research, this is a combination of Burmese Karen (Christian) and Rohingya Muslim refugees, but we do not have an exact count.

Tun Myin and his family confirming their interest in resettlement to the United States in Mae La Oon camp, north-western Thailand. (Source: UNHCR)

The UNHCR states: “One of the world’s largest resettlement programs recently came to an end in Thailand when UNHCR received the final expressions of interest from eligible Myanmar refugees who wish to start a new life in the United States. The group resettlement program was initiated in 2005, with the support of the Thai and US governments, to offer a durable solution to the tens of thousands of refugees from Myanmar who found themselves in a protracted refugee situation and dependent on international assistance in the nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.”

“Anne C. Richard, assistant secretary at the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, said that her country had welcomed and settled more than 73,000 refugees from Myanmar since 2005. ‘The United States is proud to have given a new start to these refugees. Resettled Burmese refugees have thrived in their new homes, and enriched their new communities. Many have become homeowners, small business owners and American citizens,’ she said.”

“‘We expect several more thousand to arrive in the coming year as the program winds down,” she added. ‘This successful resettlement program has reached its natural conclusion following the January 24, 2014 deadline for Burmese refugees to express their interest in resettlement to UNHCR.'”

“The program’s pending closure was first announced and implemented in January last year in Mae La camp. It was subsequently rolled out to the other camps in different stages. Eligible refugees in each camp were given three months to decide whether or not to apply for resettlement to the US under the simplified procedures.”

“The process ended last Friday as the deadline for applications passed in the last three camps in Mae Hong Son province, namely Mae La Oon, Mae Ra Ma Ruang and Ban Mae Surin.”

“Over the past year, nearly 6,500 Myanmar refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have expressed interest in the US group resettlement program – 2,500 more individuals than in 2012, an indication that many refugees had been waiting for the last chance before making a final decision to resettle or not.”

“In addition to the US departures, some 19,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand have gone to other resettlement countries, including Australia, Canada, Finland and Japan, in the last nine years.”

“‘The end of this chapter does not mean that resettlement is closed completely,’ said Mireille Girard, UNHCR’s representative in Thailand. ‘UNHCR will continue to identify and submit refugees with specific protection needs on an individual basis to various countries. We are also working with the Thai government and resettlement countries to reunite families and make sure family members can be resettled together.'”

“There are an estimated 120,000 Myanmar refugees remaining in the nine camps in Thailand, including more than 40,000 not registered by the Thai authorities.”

China: 76 Falun Gong Practitioners Confirmed Persecuted To Death In 2013

NDTV Reports: “While China’s notorious Re-education through labor system has finally ended its 57 years of practice, the over 14 year long persecution of the Falun Gong has not been terminated, and continues in the brainwashing centers and black jails. Minghui.org, which reports on Falun Gong and the persecution in China, reports that at least 76 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have been persecuted to death in 2013 alone. According to data from Minghui.org, among the 76 Falun Gong practitioners who have been tortured to death in the persecution campaign, eight of them were tortured to death by police to extract confessions in detention centers. 10 were killed during violent mental and physical torture at brainwashing centers and labor camps. Twenty nine were tortured to death by prison guards, and 29 were killed after being repeatedly kidnapped by the regime. One third of those who were persecuted to death were young adults, many of whom were public servants, doctors, professors, and industrial managerial personnel. For instance, Deng Huaiying, who had a Masters of Finance from North China Electric Power University, was illegally abducted and detained by police on April 27, 2013. Within a month, he was tortured to death and the authorities secretly cremated his body. Yang Zhonggeng, a native of Zhejiang Province, was abducted by the police on June 24, 2013. He was beaten to death in just four days and died at the age of 38. His mother, suffering from mental trauma after seeing her son’s remains, has not been able to talk since. In addition, art teacher Huang Yuangren of Guangxi Teachers Education University at Changgang, and math teacher Zhang Yan of Bengbu City Middle School both died at young age, and their parents were left with suffering from the pain of losing their dear ones. Witnesses of the tragic scenes of the persecution have also been left with much sadness and trauma. Ms. Hu, Falun Gong practitioner in Chongqing: “While I was illegally detained in Chongqing Women’s Forced Labor Camp in 2011, there was a Falun Gong practitioner there named Xu Zhen. Because she refused to give up her beliefs, the guards ordered criminal inmates to tie her to a bed and brutally beat beat her. They ripped out her toenails, they force-fed water into her mouth and nose, and violently attacked her genitals with brushes, causing profuse bleeding. When she passed out, they woke her up to continue the torture. A few days before she died, we were awakened by her screams for two consecutive nights. Too horrible, I will never forget.” Data on Minghui.org shows that roughly 150,000 Falun Gong practitioners are confirmed to have been persecuted between January 2000 and August 2013. Among them, there were 6,889 Falun Gong practitioners killed by persecution. In fact, the regime’s blockage of the information and the authorities’ pressure on the victims’ families has left many more cases unexposed. The reported cases by Minghui.org are just the tip of the iceberg. Wang Zhiyuan, World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong spokesman: “The communist regime’s information blockade is extremely tight. What Minghui.org has reported are the ones that can break through numerous blockades and are confirm with real names. The ones that were kept unknown, untold, or unidentified are countless.” A conservative estimate by Zhengjian.org says that since the persecution of Falun Gong in China started on July 20, 1999, about 3.4 million practitioners have lost their lives. That equates to half of the Jews killed by the Nazi’s during World War II. Wang Zhiyuan: “The estimated data of Zhengjian.org is based on information collected from these many years of persecution, provided by multiple rescue organizations. These projected data are certainly very conservative, because there are many unclear situations in China. Since the persecution campaign began in 1999, large numbers of practitioners went on petitioning. When they were detained, they wouldn’t reveal their identities so as to avoid getting family and friends in trouble. Most of them have been imprisoned and then disappeared.” Many Chinese Communist officials, police, and thugs who were actively participating in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners have suffered miserable and sudden deaths. For instance, many 610 Office (the office responsible for persecuting Falun Gong) officials throughout China have died of cancer. The 610 Office is thus also nicknamed, the death occupation.” See also NDTV video.