Former member of parliament Semin Barekzai stopped eating and moved into a tent outside parliament at the start of October to protest being stripped of her seat by poll authorities in August, nearly a year after the vote.Her protest was into its 12th day, gathering growing Afghan and international media attention, when police abruptly ended it on Thursday night, on the order of the Interior Ministry.It was not clear if Barekzai was continuing the hunger strike in hospital, as she could not be reached.”There are a lot of really serious human rights violations in Afghanistan, but until now the government has been relatively tolerant of free speech, so this seems like an alarming new approach to dealing with dissent,” said Heather Barr, at Human Rights Watch Afghanistan.Hunger strikes are unusual in Afghanistan though a familiar political weapon in nearby India, and Barekzai’s campaign exposed divisions on how democracy should function in the war-torn, conservative and ethnically divided country.Top religious leaders condemned hunger strikes as un-Islamic and poll authorities said she had been fairly beaten and they could not be held responsible for her fate.But women marched in support, and some 15 people including students and a member of parliament joined the hunger strike this week.Barekzai’s protest is the latest challenge for a troubled parliament, which over a year after a fraud marred election is still barely functioning. Her removal is likely to provoke more turmoil in the legislature.”Some people within the parliament I can imagine going crazy about what happened, some because they support her political demands…and others because they share the use of non-violent tactics to put pressure on the government,” said Fabrizio Foschino, at Afghanistan Analysts’ Network.VOLUNTARY OR FORCED?Barekzai’s supporters and the police agree that officers dismantled four tents housing the hunger strikers, but their accounts of the evening diverge otherwise.The lawmaker who was also on hunger strike said armed police overwhelmed protesters, forced Barekzai roughly into an ambulance, and arrested some of her supporters.”It was catastrophic,” said Nelofar Ibrahimi, describing how hundreds of police — she estimated up to 500 — arrived around 10 p.m. (1730 GMT) and dragged away a disheveled Barekzai.”They put her into an ambulance but with her legs still hanging out. When they closed the door she got some injuries in her legs,” she added. They arrested others who had joined the hunger strike and Barekzai’s husband, she added.A police spokesman said that Barekzai went voluntarily to hospital and the tents were dismantled because there was a credible security threat against them.”We had specific information about an attack on Barekzai and also her health was very bad so it was our duty to help her,” said Hashmatullah Stanekzai, a spokesman for Kabul’s police chief, who said police arrived around 8 p.m.”A team of unarmed officers went to the tent. In a very calm conversation they persuaded Barekzai to leave the tent.”He dismissed Ibrahimi’s description of hundreds of policemen, but did not say how large the team was.Stanekzai said the Interior Ministry, which controls Afghanistan’s police, ordered the “rescue” of Barekzai. The ministry could not be reached for comment on Friday.The police account raises questions because Barekzai had repeatedly refused to go to hospital during her hunger strike, and sworn she would not eat until given back her seat in parliament, even if it caused her death.It was not clear if she was attempting to continue her protest from a hospital bed.Barekzai, her husband and a relative who had acted as her spokesman could not be reached on Friday, and the hospital to which she was taken blocked journalists from coming inside.Forcing her to hospital, or forcing her to eat, would have been illegal, Barr from Human Rights Watch said.”Taking someone to the hospital involuntarily for reasons other than a psychiatric crisis is not permitted under many different human rights conventions, which Afghanistan is a signatory to,” she said.
@7 months ago
#Afghan #rights #worries #after #eviction #of #hunger #striker
* HK rally since Oct. 4 largely on short-covering - dealer* Mainland property leads HK gains after bullish sales* Signs of bearish trend bottoming out in ShanghaiBy Clement TanSHANGHAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares were higher at
midday on Thursday, poised to extend a five-session winning
streak on strength in mainland property developers that posted
strong gains in contract sales for the first three quarters of
the year.Turnover on the Hong Kong bourse remained lacklustre, as it
has been over the last five sessions, suggesting investors are
still cautious despite a boost from a mainland sovereign wealth
fund earlier this week after it raised its controlling stakes in
the “Big Four” Chinese banks.”Retail investors have not been really chasing this rally. A
lot of investors, caught out by this change of sentiment, are
just covering short positions,” said Tanrich Securities
vice-president of equity sales Jackson Wong in Hong Kong.The Hang Seng Index was up 1.91 percent at 18,680.08
at the midday trading break. It has regained almost 15 percent
since hitting a 29-month low on Oct. 4. The China Enterprises
Index outperformed, jumping 3.05 percent.Mainland property developers played a big part in the gains.
China Resources Land Ltd jumped 14.6 percent and
Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd advanced 20.3 percent
in strong volume.Thursday’s gain came after Evergrande said its property
sales in September jumped 79.4 percent from a year earlier, the
latest major Chinese developer to announcing strong growth in
contract sales in 2011 to date despite Beijing’s efforts to cool
the property market.Fears of a hard landing for the Chinese economy have hit
mainland property and financial stocks hardest as longer-term
investors liquidated positions and as short-selling spiked.
Evergrande lost almost half of its market capitalisation in
September alone.On the Hang Seng Index, gains on Thursday put it at the top
end of a downside gap that opened up between the low of Sept.
21, at 18,698.9, and the high on Sept 22, at 18,296.8, one of
several that opened up after losses topped 14 percent last
month.MATERIALS SUPPORT SHANGHAI GAINSThe Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.5 percent at
midday as the highly cyclical materials sector led gains with
A-share turnover at the highest since Aug. 12, suggesting
investors were regaining an appetite for risk.With the Shanghai benchmark’s 3 percent climb on Wednesday
entirely enveloping Tuesday’s uptick on the charts in a down
trend and in strong volume, there are strong suggestions that
bearishness could be bottoming out on the Shanghai benchmark.Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd jumped 4.4 percent,
while Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) and
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co Ltd each gained 1.7
percent.Anhui Conch lost more than 22.5 percent in September, its
worst month since the 2008 financial crisis, compared with an 8
percent decline on the Shanghai Composite Index.Several funds have been gradually returning to mainland
markets since Central Huijin, the domestic investment arm of the
country’s sovereign wealth fund, was reported on Monday to be
raising its stakes in the “Big Four” Chinese banks over the next
12 months.Several analysts said Huijin’s move was not only seen by
investors as an affirmation of the investment value of banking
stocks but also a boost to sentiment, with investors assured the
government would do all it took to support the market.
@7 months ago with 7 notes
#HK #shares #up #on #mainland #property #China #creeps #higher
