RFA Reports (November 2007)

2007-12-01

(Washington, DC—December 1, 2007) Radio Free Asia broadcast the following stories, and more, in November:

 

RFA reports on raid of bloggers home in Shanghai...
November 30-- RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on the raid of the home of a Chinese blogger in Shanghai after he posted details of the closure of his magazine. The move comes as part of what many see as a tightening of control over China’s netizens and follows a doubling in the number of those detained under state security laws from last year.

...RFA reports on illegal logging on Laos...
November 21-- RFA Lao aired story [text in English] on timber traders in Laos who continue to log through “unofficial” channels despite new government curbs. The felling and exporting of black-market timber remains widespread in Laos and is blamed on systemic corruption among high-ranking officials of the ruling Communist Party. According to a recent World Bank report, deforestation remains a critical problem in Laos.

...RFA reports on jailed Tibetan nomad sentenced to prison for supporting the Dalai Lama...
November 20 -- RFA Tibet aired story [text in English/Tibetan] on the sentencing of Ronggyal Adrak, the Tibetan nomad who publicly called for the return of the Dalai Lama, to eight years in prison. In passing down the sentence, Chinese authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan stated that this public declaration was a “political crime” and was “very severe.”

...Interviews mother of leading monk jailed in Burma by junta...
November 16 -- RFA Burma interviewed [text in English/Burmese] Daw Yay, mother of jailed Buddhist monk U Gambira. U Gambira, a 29-year-old leading monk in the recent demonstrations against the Burmese military regime, has been charged with treason by the junta, a crime punishable by life sentence or death in Burma. Daw Yay recounts Gambira’s beginning and progress in the Buddhist monastic tradition and reads a poem she penned on the junta’s impact on her family.

...Reports on three North Korean children abandoned in China...
November 15 -- RFA Korea aired a story [text in English/Korean] on three North Korean children found wandering in northeastern China with no one to care for them. The children have been granted refugee status in the United States, and overseas rights groups say there could be thousands more.

...Interviews the family of victims of Yahoo’s collusion with Chinese secret police...
November 13 -- RFA Mandarin interviewed [text in English/text and audio in Mandarin] Gao Qinsheng and Yu Ling, the mother and wife respectively of jailed Chinese journalists Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning. Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning were convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison after Yahoo! turned over details of Shi and Wang’s e-mail account information to Chinese national security police. This interview was part of RFA’s “Women in Their Own Words” project, an unprecedented collection of personal testimonies about the lives of women in RFA's broadcast regions. [project text in English]

...RFA reports on riot at Anhui military academy over diploma status...
November 29-- RFA Mandarin aired story [text in English/Mandarin] on the riot in China’s Anhui province involving thousands of military academy students. The rioting began after students learned that the government would not recognize diplomas awarded to fee paying students.

...Analyzes the background of Cambodian War Crimes defendant ...
November 19 -- RFA’s Executive Editor, Dan Southerland, blogs [text in English] on the life and background of accused war criminal Kang Kech Eav (Duch). This is the 7th “Cambodian Diaries” blog for Southerland, who was a war correspondent covering Cambodia from 1970-75. In these blogs, Southerland reports how many older Cambodians are trying to forget the Khmer Rouge trauma, while younger Cambodians know little of their own history.

...Interviews North Korean defectors living life in an open South Korea...
November 5 -- RFA Korea interviewed [text in English/Korean] former North Korean political prisoner Kang Chul Hwan and other North Korean defectors now living in Seoul. The defectors share a common activity as they reflect on their new lives, challenges, and opportunities in a free South Korea.