Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 20th September

In this bulletin …

- Blind rights activists’ health deteriorates;
- Tourists attacked by bear in Japan; and
- Indian father gambles away daughter.

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Chen Guangcheng, a renowned human rights lawyer who is blind, was imprisoned for disclosing the violent birth control methods used by Chinese Communist Party authorities in eastern China’s Shandong province.

The prison did not provide Chen with medical treatment, which is against the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Chen has been ill in the past year. His family has applied for bail for medical treatment many times, but all requests were denied.

Chen is a strong advocate for the rights of disabled people and those who were forced by local communist party authorities to have abortions or sterilization.

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China has been opposing that a documentary about exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer should be shown in Taiwan’s second city.

But officials in Kaohsiung said the film would be shown this week, not during a festival next month as originally planned.

Businesses had urged the city to cancel the screening, fearing repercussions.

China has accused Ms Kadeer of orchestrating recent violence it its Xinjiang region – a charge she denies.

In July about 200 people were killed in ethnic violence between the region’s Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese settlers.

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An Asian black bear attacked a group of tourists at a bus station in central Japan.

Four people were seriously injured in the attack in Takayama, Gifu prefecture, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

After the attack, the 1.3 meter (four foot) bear fled through the bus terminal, and into a souvenir shop.

Employees then trapped it inside the shop, and the bear was later shot dead by officials.

An expert on Asian black bears told Kyodo it was unusual for them to attack humans.

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A father in eastern India gave away his teenage daughter to a fellow gambler after he lost a card game, with police launching a hunt to retrieve the girl.

Ismail Sheikh, from a village in West Bengal, used his 18-year-old daughter as a stake after he lost all his money, The Times of India said on Sunday (local time).

The girl protested but the victorious Mustafa dragged her out of the village, the report said.

Family members were quoted as saying the father was a compulsive gambler with a drinking problem and they had thrown him out the house after losing the teenager.

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Supporters of former Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra say they will hold further protests, a day after rallying in Bangkok on the third anniversary of the coup that toppled their leader.

Twenty-six-thousand so-called ‘Red-Shirts’ were dispersed early this morning after gathered outside the main government offices in the capital.

Police also clashed with anti-Thaksin protesters on the disputed border with Cambodia.

One of the main leaders of the Red Shirts has told media the movement will continue staging rallies, saying the fight will not end until democracy is restored in Thailand.

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A feud between two Malaysian princes has erupted in public with one of the royals saying he was held at gunpoint and badly beaten after a row at a nightclub.

Tunku Nadzimuddin Tunku Mudzaffar, 37, from the central state of Negri Sembilan gave a press conference last week to air details of the brawl and complain that his alleged attackers have not been charged.

His claims against a prince from southern Johor state have raised eyebrows in a country where it is highly unusual for the royal families to criticise each other openly.

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“Asia Cast … Keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the world.”