September 22-28
China
Shanghai authorities re-detained former lawyer Zhang Zhan, according to Chinese human rights website Weiquanwang (维权网). Zhan was released from prison in May after serving a four-year prison sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” That charge stemmed from Zhan’s independent reporting on social media about the Covid outbreak in Wuhan in 2020. Since her release, police had repeatedly questioned her. Shanghai police arrested her as she was traveling to meet with other activists in Gansu and Shaanxi.
The Supreme People's Court issued its first judicial interpretation of the tort liability chapter of the Civil Code. The interpretation addresses a range of issues including damage claims for child abduction, liability for torts committed by or against juveniles, liability in connection with the rental of uninsured vehicles, and liability for injuries from dangerous dogs and falling objects.
More than 960,000 applicants registered for the first phase of China's national unified bar examination, 12 percent more than last year, according to the Ministry of Justice. The first phase consists of objective questions; those who pass may apply to take the subjective questions portion. Lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and other legal professionals are required to pass the exam.
The Communist Party Central Committee and State Council jointly issued a document, “Opinion on Strengthening the Protection of Farmland, Raising the Quality of Farmland, and Improving Its Balanced Use” (《关于加强耕地保护提升耕地质量完善占补平衡的意见》). The document calls for improved legislation, an annual survey, and comprehensive evaluation of the quality of arable land every five years.
Hong Kong
A judge sentenced the former editor-in-chief of Stand News to 21 months in prison for sedition and sentenced a second editor to time served awaiting trial - 10 months - because of illness. The men were convicted last month of conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious material. The judge said they were “not conducting genuine media work, but participating in the so-called resistance” when they published criticism of the government’s response to protests in 2019. The popular online news outlet was founded in 2014 and closed in December 2021.
Lawyers representing former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai submitted an appeal to the UN special rapporteur on torture, Alice Edwards, saying that he has been denied access to specialized medical care for diabetes and held under conditions that put his physical and mental health at grave risk. The government released a statement expressing disapproval. Lai, 76, has been held since December 2020 and is currently being tried on subversion charges.
Immigration authorities denied entry to Associated Press photographer Louise Delmotte, who has won several photojournalism awards since she began working for the news agency’s Hong Kong bureau in March 2023. Immigration authorities refused to renew Delmotte’s visa earlier this year, and turned her away when she attempted to enter as a tourist this month. The Hong Kong Journalists Association said visa and entry denials of journalists are becoming routine.
A court sentenced a woman to 12 months in prison for importing shark fins in her luggage. The woman, who arrived from Brazil via Ethiopia in November 2023, carried 450 kilograms of dried fins valued at HK$440,000 ($56,337). Officers of the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department determined that about 100 kilograms of the fins were from endangered species and the others were protected by international treaties.
The High Court rejected a student leader’s bid for early release from prison following a decision by the National Security Committee that it would be contrary to national security interests. Kinson Cheung, former chair of the University of Hong Kong University student union, was serving a two-year sentence for incitement to wound the police. After the Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to 15 months, Cheung applied for a court order to declare his continued detention unlawful because inmates customarily receive a one-third sentence discount for good behavior. A High Court judge said the judiciary could not interfere with the National Security Committee decision.
Japan
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party chose Shigeru Ishiba as its new party leader, setting him up to become prime minister on October 1. Ishiba, who was first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister, and in other cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The Shizuka District Court acquitted an 88-year-old man after he spent 48 years in prison for the 1966 murder of four persons. Iwao Hakamada was sentenced to death in 1968 but was not executed due to his appeals and a lengthy retrial process. The court held that the evidence used to convict Hakamada was fabricated and planted by investigators, and that his confession had been coerced during an inhumane interrogation. He had been the world's longest-serving death row inmate and was only the fifth death row inmate to be exonerated in postwar Japan. If prosecutors do not appeal and his acquittal becomes final, Hakamada will be entitled to compensation.
Koreas
The South Korean legislature approved a bill to punish viewing or knowingly possessing deepfake sex pornography with prison and a fine. The legislation follows a recent outcry over the use of Telegram to distribute AI-generated pornography using the faces of actual women and girls at high schools and universities. The legislature also approved revising two other laws to increase punishment of persons who use sexually exploitative material to blackmail or coerce children and teenagers.
The Seoul High Court reversed the government regulator’s six-month shutdown penalty imposed on cable channel MBN in 2020 for engaging in illegal financing and accounting fraud. The court said that MBN's illegal acts did not fundamentally compromise its social role as a news channel and the penalty was too harsh.
Taiwan
The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) said it would send questionnaires to the Presidential Office’s two nominees for the Constitutional Court. Chang Wen-che, a law professor, and Yao Li-ming, a legislator — were nominated in August to be president and vice president of the court, respectively. A TPP lawmaker said the party is unlikely to endorse them but is willing to consider them fairly if they respond to the questionnaire, which asks among other things about their views on the death penalty.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) urged Chinese authorities to protect the legal rights of a Taiwanese man who is being detained in China on suspicion of fraud. Kuo Yu-hsuan, 22, went missing after arriving in Shanghai in August. Weeks later, China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Kuo was being investigated for alleged fraud but did not provide details. The MAC expressed dissatisfaction that Chinese authorities did not inform them of Kuo’s situation.
The government said it is closely following the case of a Taiwanese woman who was arrested in South Korea on suspicion of kidnapping and killing two persons in the Philippines. A Chinese news outlet said that the woman would be extradited to China, which has an extradition treaty with Korea and claims Taiwan nationals as its own citizens.