Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Thursday 16th July

It has been confirmed that some of the 123 students at a military summer camp in southeastern China with flu symptoms tested positive for the H1N1 strain.

In this Bulletin…

- Political pressure stops Chinese law firms defending people’s rights;
- Opposition casts doubt on Myanmar’s prisoner amnesty ; and
- Backpacker lost in Australian outback found alive.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Chinese authorities are forcing many of the law firms behind China’s emerging civil rights movement to shut down, according to The Epoch Times.

Since the early 1990s, a small band of human rights lawyers known as Weiquan has been growing in China. They have had some success within the justice system defending China’s most vulnerable, but not without great risk to themselves and their families.

Some rights lawyers have been arrested, beaten, and tortured for practising normal legal defence work.

Most recently the justice authorities have refused to renew the annual registrations of those lawyers deemed troublemakers, preventing them from practising law. One expert has stated that dozens of China’s best defence lawyers have effectively been disbarred in this way due to political pressure.

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It has been confirmed that some of the 123 students at a military summer camp in southeastern China with flu symptoms tested positive for the H1N1 strain.

On Monday the Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that several students staying on Changzhou Island had contracted swine-flu. Local media stated that fever-like symptoms had swept through pupils at the summer camp.

Roads to the Huangpu Youth Military Academy became jammed after the camp notified parents to come and pick up their children. Over half of the 900 students registered at the camp were taken home by the end of the day on Monday.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Myanmar’s pro-democracy opposition party does not hold out much hope that the government’s plan to grant amnesty to political prisoners will see many released, despite the authorities’ announcement to the United Nations that it would do so.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy, told CNN that he was doubtful that many prisoners would be released. He said few prisoners were released in a past amnesty.

On Monday, the U.N. Permanent Representative of Myanmar U Than Swe told the Security Council the country planned to grant amnesty to prisoners.

At the request of the secretary-general, the Myanmar government is processing to grant amnesty to prisoners on humanitarian grounds and with a view to enabling them to participate in the 2010 general elections he said.

He offered no specifics beyond his statement.

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At least nine people have been killed in fighting between militants and the army in Pakistan’s Swat valley. Army officials said the dead included eight militants and one soldier.

An estimated 12,000 people left relief camps to return to the Swat valley on Tuesday. Hundreds more families were expected to return on Wednesday. Kabal, where the fighting took place, has not yet been opened for returnees.

Pakistan’s prime minister declared that it was safe for people to return home, after the army said it had largely defeated Taliban militants following a two-month offensive.

The government says it expects all displaced people to return to Swat by the end of July.

But, relief workers say, that may not be possible as people’s unresolved concerns over the area’s security.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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The organisers of Melbourne’s International Film Festival resisted Beijing’s efforts to stop them showing a documentary about an exiled Uighur leader.

Festival director Richard Moore said a Chinese consular official had insisted that the film be withdrawn, but he had refused to do so.

Ten Conditions of Love, by Melbourne film-maker Jeff Daniels, centres on Rebiya Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress. It tells of Ms Kadeer’s relationship with her activist husband Sidik Rouzi and the impact her campaigning had on her 11 children, three of whom have been jailed.

China has tried to blame the group of inciting recent ethnic unrest in Xinjiang.

Beijing and Canberra are already locked in a row over an Australian mining executive who has been arrested for spying in China.

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A British backpacker missing for almost two weeks has been found alive in the mountains of eastern Australia, authorities said Wednesday.

Jamie Neale, 19, was last seen July 3 after leaving his youth hostel in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. Two hikers found Neale near a trail outside of Katoomba, police said.

New South Wales Police said Neale was taken to Katoomba’s Blue Mountains Hospital suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.

His father said Neale ate seeds and weeds to stay alive, but was starting to give up hope that he would survive.

Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford of the New South Wales police said it was a fantastic effort to survive a few days, let alone 12, in the rugged wilderness.

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