Vietnam police surround courthouse ahead of dissident trial
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Protesters and security forces are gathering in the normally quiet Vietnamese capital for the trial of a high-profile lawyer known for taking on human rights cases and writing a blog critical of the government.
Le Quoc Quan was arrested last year and accused of tax evasion,...
Philippines: Investigate Zamboanga Detainee Mistreatment
(Manila) – The Philippines government should investigate alleged mistreatment of detainees, including children, by security forces in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, Human Rights Watch said today.
The government has detained dozens of suspected Muslim rebels from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) since fighting began in the city...
Lao PDR: Out of the darkness: Isolated Christians in Laos consistently refuse to give up on Christ
In a remote part of the world rarely noticed by the international media, a slow but steady struggle is underway. Small communities of Christian adherents tucked away in the jungles and mountains of Communist Laos are fighting a very real, if unheard of, battle. They are fighting for the...
Cambodia: Women’s Rights Assessed by UN Committee in Geneva
Rights groups on Monday shared their concerns about the treatment of women in Cambodia with member states of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva.
Cambodia last updated the committee—which meets three times a year to assess how member states are faring with implementing...
Cambodia: Hope for the release of Cambodian protestor
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: As political protests continue in Cambodia, one woman remains a symbol of the Government's crackdown on critics which helped spark a voter backlash at the July election. Yorm Bopha is a young woman from Boeung Kak Lake, where residents have run a concerted campaign against the...
Vietnam: Le Quoc Quan did not receive fair trial
The ICJ said the conviction today of Le Quoc Quan, a lawyer and human rights defender in Vietnam, violated international standards governing the right to a fair trial.
Judge Le Thi Hop of the People’s Court of Hanoi convicted and sentenced Le Quoc Quan to 30 months imprisonment with time...
Vietnam Sentences Rights Lawyer to 30-Month Prison Term
A court in Vietnam on Wednesday convicted and sentenced prominent dissident Le Quoc Quan to 30 months in prison on tax evasion charges, which were rejected by the outspoken lawyer who said he would not be cowed into silence by the country’s authoritarian leaders.
Quan, a popular blogger and human...
Singapore’s New Permanent Representative to ASEAN Presents His Letter of Credentials
JAKARTA, 2 October 2013 - H.E. Tan Hung Seng presented his letter of credentials as the new Permanent Representative of the Republic of Singapore to ASEAN to the Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E. Le Luong Minh, at a ceremony held at the ASEAN Secretariat yesterday.
Ambassador Tan reiterated to the Secretary-General...
23rd ASEAN Summit in Brunei to reaffirm 2015 targets
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 9 October 2013 – This year's ASEAN Chair Brunei Darussalam will convene the bi-annual gathering of ASEAN Leaders to discuss the progress towards the realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015. With two more years before the deadline, the implementation of the Roadmap for an ASEAN...
What to expect from the Asean summit
As Brunei's chairmanship of Asean slowly comes to an end, the country is hosting the 23rd Asean summit this week - the next in a series of talks about the "roadmap" for the 10-member bloc, which is supposed to enter the next stage of development with the launch of...
