Freedom of Religion or Belief in full – A blog by CSW
中国的刑事司法体系庞大而复杂，存在多种拘押形式、不同的逮捕类型，以及无数由当局用来延迟甚至搁置法律程序的机会——近年来这种操作愈加频繁——在案件尚未进入审判阶段之前，嫌疑人便可能经历长期羁押。
毫无疑问，这种制度恰好服务于中国共产党的目的。一个难以理解的系统更容易被操纵。它让被拘留者、嫌疑人、他们的律师和家属难以了解案件状况，甚至不知道所面临的具体指控；它也使得维权人士和记者更难及时跟进案件发展，最终使任何中共打算关押的人几乎不可能为自己洗脱罪名。
本文旨在揭示中国司法程序的关键步骤，并阐明当局如何利用模糊法律条款和《刑事诉讼法》中众多漏洞，加剧对被任意拘押者的精神与身体折磨。
Continue reading “在中国庞大复杂的法律体系中，无辜者难以自证清白”
On 14 May 1995 the Dalai Lama publicly announced the six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama.
Tasked with recognising the next Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, or ‘Great Scholar’, is one of the most important figures in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, with a spiritual authority second only to that of the Dalai Lama. For centuries, successive Panchem Lamas have lived in and led the influential Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet’s second largest city Shigatse, playing a key role in the development of Tibetan Buddhist scholarship.
But Nyima has been denied this. Three days after he was recognised as the Panchen Lama, he and his family were abducted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Nyima became the world’s youngest political prisoner, and he has not been seen in public since.
Continue reading “Thirty years since it disappeared Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Chinese government must be made to provide the truth about his whereabouts”
Today is Leah Sharibu’s 22nd birthday.
Anyone who has been following the work of CSW for some time will likely be familiar with some of the details surrounding her case: the fact that this is the eighth consecutive birthday that she has marked as a prisoner of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP); the fact that she was one of 110 girls abducted from the Government Girls Science and Technical College in Dapchi in Nigeria’s Yobe State on 19 February 2018; the fact that she was the sole Christian among them and was therefore denied her freedom because she refused to convert to Islam as a pre-condition for release – even as government negotiations saw all of her surviving classmates returned to their families in March 2018.
Over the past seven years, successive administrations have failed to deliver on official promises to secure Leah’s release, including a personal pledge by former President Muhammadu Buhari made directly to Leah’s mother Rebecca. In January 2022 – over three years ago – Nigeria’s then Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor assured Nigerian media that there were plans and processes in place ‘to ensure that not just Leah Sharibu but every other person held captive is released.’
And yet she remains in captivity, having been declared a ‘slave for life’, renamed, forcibly ‘married’ to ISWAP fighters, and given birth to three children.
Continue reading “The international community must not allow the Nigerian government to fail Leah Sharibu any longer”
In early March, alarming reports surfaced of the killing of Christians in Syria. As a shocking outbreak of violence claimed the lives of over 1,000 people within just two days, including 745 civilians, many outlets were quick to claim that the country’s Christian community had been the target.
GB News led with ‘Christians massacred as Syrian jihadist launches killing spree just weeks after toppling Assad’; a writer for the Times of Israel lamented what he identified as the media’s ‘predictable’ disdain for Syrian Christians; the Christian outlet Relevant Magazine claimed that ‘hundreds of Christians’ were among those killed, and countless posts on social media amplified claims of Christians being deliberately targeted and murdered in large numbers.
Such reporting appeared to confirm the worst fears that many have harboured since December 2024, when President Bashir al-Assad was ousted by a coalition of rebel groups led by the Islamist military organisation Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an organisation sanctioned by the US government. In the immediate aftermath of the takeover, many predominantly – though not exclusively – Christian outlets expressed understandable concern over impending threats to the country’s Christian community, with some warning of potential ‘ethnic cleansing’, ‘persecution’ and ‘genocide’.
Continue reading “Truth matters: How misinformation and sensationalism undermines support for victims of human rights violations”
‘There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.’
It is both fitting and moving that Pope Francis included these words in what was to be his final public address, delivered on his behalf by Master of Liturgical Ceremonies Archbishop Diego Ravelli to a crowd of over 20,000 people at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.
Throughout his 12-year papacy, Francis was a committed friend to the poor and the marginalised, a vocal advocate for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and other fundamental human rights, and a man who spoke truth to power right up to the final days of his pontificate.
At a time when leaders of such humility and integrity appear to be in increasingly short supply, it is essential that his successor follows his example.
Continue reading “Pope Francis leaves a legacy of standing up for freedom of religion or belief. His successor must build on it. “