Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 27th August

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese political prisoner Hu Shigen released after 16 years;
- Tibet faces real possibility of increased repression now Olympics are over; and
- Protesters continue to occupy official buildings in Bangkok.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Human Rights in China announced that the Chinese authorities have released long-term political prisoner and veteran democracy advocate Hu Shigen.

Hu was released Tuesday, August 26, after serving sixteen years of a twenty-year sentence for counter-revolutionary crimes.

During 1991 when he worked as a lecturer in the Beijing Language Institute, Hu established the China Freedom and Democracy Party and the Preparatory Committee of the Free Labour Union of China.

Although the crimes he was convicted of were eliminated in a 1997 revision of the Criminal Law, Hu remained in prison for another eleven years, a situation that Human Rights in China Executive Director, Sharon Hom, called tragic.

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Reporters Without Borders and The Visual Artists Guild were among those who gave an overview of the Beijing Olympics and the state of the communist regime during a press conference held outside New York’s City Hall on Monday, reports the Epoch Times.

During the press conference a plea was issued to the Chinese regime calling for the release of eight Chinese prisoners of conscience, including Hu Jia.

Despite the many official accolades that have been bestowed on the Beijing Games, the memories of deported reporters, arrested human rights activists and suppressed religious and ethnic groups, still linger in the minds of many.

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Beijing’s brutal repression in Tibet was ramped up during the Olympics and there are fears there is worse to come, says the Epoch Times.

The Dalai Lama told French parliamentarians last week, that increased military and police presence in the region was seeing Tibetans arrested, tortured and summarily executed. He raised concerns that the crackdown would increase in Tibet after the Games.

Similar concerns were expressed by Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration, earlier in the month. He said his government was in fear of the Olympic aftermath, describing the post-Olympic period as “more dangerous than the present.”

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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In Bangkok, thousands of protesters continued to occupy the prime minister’s compound for a second day on Wednesday. Fifteen people were injured in early morning clashes with riot police.

Thousands of royalist protesters stormed the Government House compound, a state TV station and several ministries on Tuesday in a coordinated bid to unseat the elected seven-month-old coalition government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

The protesters called for more people to join them on Wednesday, using their own radio station to broadcast their appeal.

Samak has urged the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters to pack up and go home, accusing them of breaking the law after three months of hitherto peaceful demonstrations in central Bangkok.

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The violence between Hindus and Christians that has sparked riots in India’s eastern Orissa state, and claimed at least 11 lives, has been condemned by the Pope.

During his weekly Vatican address, Pope Benedict XVI said he was “profoundly saddened” and called for communities to try to restore “peaceful coexistence”.

The killing of a Hindu leader on Saturday sparked the violence. Christians have suffered retaliatory attacks, despite police saying Maoist rebels were to blame for the killing.

“I firmly condemn any attack on human life,” Pope Benedict told a crowd of pilgrims on Wednesday.

Police have now been ordered to shoot rioters on sight.

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In rejecting Russia’s recognition of two breakaway regions of Georgia on Tuesday British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said, “Today’s announcement by President (Dmitry) Medvedev that Russia will recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia is unjustifiable and unacceptable.”

Miliband’s voice was the latest in a rising chorus of international disapproval for the unilateral Russian action, and called for an international coalition to counter it.

“Today’s announcement further inflames an already tense situation in the region. We fully support Georgia’s independence and territorial integrity, which cannot be changed by decree from Moscow,” He added.

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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the World.”