September 4-10
China
Human Rights Watch reported that government authorities have conducted a mass collection of DNA samples from residents in numerous towns in Tibet. The collection ostensibly aims to improve crime detection, but has been deemed arbitrary and coercive and has raised concern about human rights violations.
The Safeguard Defenders, a human rights watchdog, said that Chinese police have dramatically increased their use of house arrest during Xi Jinping’s 10 years as head of the Communist Party. The report was based on information from the official Supreme People’s Court database of court decisions, China Judgment Online.
China’s Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly released five typical criminal cases involving violation of securities regulations and the criminal law. At a press conference, the authorities said that insider trading has been the most serious problem in securities crimes, and that prosecutions have increased significantly. (in Chinese)
Hong Kong
A district court has convicted five speech therapists — Lai Man-ling, Melody Yeung, Sidney Ng, Samuel Chan, and Fong Tsz-ho — of conspiring to print, publish, distribute and display three children’s books with seditious intent. The defendants, who were founders and executive committee members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, produced cartoon e-books that some interpreted as trying to explain the city's pro-democracy movement to children. They have already spent more than a year in jail.
Hong Kong is considering writing mandatory child abuse reporting into the law after the death of a 5-year-old boy who was covered in wounds and suspected of being malnourished. Hong Kong has a voluntary reporting system. The Legislative Council found in 2020 that the existing system hinders identification and intervention in cases of possible child abuse.
Japan
Japan’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling ordering Fuji Corp., a publicly traded real estate company, and its chairman to stop distributing “hate speech” documents at the workplace. The court also ordered them to pay damages of 1.32 million yen ($9,200) to an ethnic Korean employee for the mental anguish she suffered. Since 2013, Fuji Corp. has repeatedly distributed to employees copies of online and magazine articles that the court determined insult and slander people from South Korea and China.
The Tokyo District prosecutors announced new charges against Haruyuki Takahashi, a former Tokyo Olympics organizing committee member, for allegedly receiving 76 million yen ($540,000) in bribes from a Games sponsor, the Tokyo-based publishing company Kadokawa. Two Kadokawa officials were also arrested. Takahashi has been in detention since being arrested last month on suspicion of receiving 51 million yen ($360,000) in bribes from clothing manufacturer Aoki Holdings. Aoki was a surprise pick to dress the Japanese Olympic team.
Koreas
North Korea’s state media reported that a law was passed to enshrine the right to use preemptive nuclear strikes to protect the country. Leader Kim Jong Un said the move makes North Korea’s nuclear status “irreversible” and bars any denuclearisation talks. The Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s parliament, passed the legislation to replace a 2013 law that first outlined the country’s nuclear status.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office charged Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), with violating the election law by making false statements related to two land development projects while campaigning for the presidency last year. It acted one day before the statute of limitations lapsed. Meanwhile, the DPK said it was seeking appointment of a special counsel to investigate criminal allegations against the first lady, Kim Keon-hee. The party also filed two criminal reports with prosecutors against President Yoon Suk-yeol. The action is mainly symbolic as the constitution exempts incumbent presidents from criminal prosecution except in the case of insurrection or treason.
Taiwan
The Shilin District Court has awarded a New Taipei City elementary school student NT$30,000 ($972) in state compensation because a teacher punished the plaintiff for skipping a temperature check and failing to hand in a test paper. The teacher ordered the student to copy the day’s lesson three times and climb up and down a flight of stairs, punishments that the court said were inappropriate and breached the child’s personal rights. The ruling can be appealed.