Chinese food scandal protestor jailed

Today’s Telegraph reports that Zhao Lianhai, who created a website to highlight the plight of children poisoned in a major food adulteration scandal in China, has been jailed for 2 1/2 years.


Zhao created the site in 2009 after his son was poisoned after being fed adulterated formula milk. He was one of about 300,000 Chinese toddlers who were poisoned (of which at least six of them died) by milk that contained melamine, an industrial chemical that was added to make the milk appear to contain more protein than was actually the case.

The website quickly became a focal point for thousands of parents who were outraged at the crisis, and that the issue had initially been covered up.

As more and more parents began to call for justice and compensation, and Mr Zhao began to press their case publicly, he came to the attention of the Chinese authorities.

Last November, he was arrested by the police and then charged in March with "creating a disturbance". His lawyer, Li Fangping, said the evidence for the charge had been that Mr Zhao had given a media interview on a public pavement, held a dinner in a restaurant for a dozen parents of other victims, and that he had held up a small sign in protest outside a trial of milk company executives responsible for the poisoning.

As his sentence was announced, Mr Zhao protested in court, stripping off his prisoner's uniform and refusing to be handcuffed. "I am not guilty!" he said. Mr Li said he would appeal the sentence, and that Mr Zhao was in "quite good health, but anxious. He has not seen his wife and two children for almost a year."

Mr Zhao has already served one year of his sentence, and will now have another year-and-a-half of prison time.

Three people have been sentenced to death for their role in the toxic milk case, and the general manager and chairwoman of Sanlu, the milk company at the heart of the scandal, was given a life sentence. Dozens of officials, dairy executives and farmers have been punished for allowing the contamination to take place.

What to say? Words fail.

Going Iranian!

This is the text of an e-mail sent to me by an Iranian expatriate friend. I know it is probablyjust one of those hoax e-mails but I do love the sentiments

I teach at a NYC high school, and recently one student stood up to our
very intimidating principal, (something that almost never happens). When
he did not get permission for what he intended another student said "Let's
go iranian on him." By that he meant organize a protest. And so now they
"IRAN" anything they want to change. So it has become an a verb now and to
"Iran" the situation is to stand up to authority, well at least here in
this corner of the universe. And it is a huge bonus for me because I
cannot usually get them to even pay attention to another part of the
world.

Point being, even these students who get very small amounts of news equate
"Iranian" with bravery and I completely agree, and wish I had that kind of intestinal fortitude.

Well there you have it!

Burmese junta reverts to brutal type

Having killed up to five people breaking up protests yesterday, Burmese security forces have raided six monasteries and arrested hundreds of monks. A UN Security Council call for restraint on the part of the Burmese military junta went unheeded (no big surprise there) as soldiers smashed windows and doors and beat the sleeping monks, according to witnesses. This has not stopped thousands of protesters taking to the streets again.

Two members of the National League for Democracy, the party led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were also arrested. In Rangoon, security forces have been setting up barbed wire barricades around Shwedagon Pagoda and Rangoon city hall, two of the focal points for the demonstrations. The British ambassador in Rangoon, Mark Canning, told the BBC "There are truckloads of troops in a number of locations - more than there seemed to be yesterday..."There are fire trucks, water canons positioned in a number of places - there are about three of them outside city hall. There are a number of prison vans also to be seen in certain places."

More demonstrations are expected - leaflets have been circulated throughout Rangoon urging people to come out and show solidarity with the monks. It is likely that these protests will be met with brutality on the part of the Burmese junta -- there are no indications that the military government is likely to listen to calls for restraint. Yesterday the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting. Showing its usual spinelessness a call to consider imposing sanctions was rejected by China (as not "helpful") and Russia. Instead, council members "expressed their concern vis-a-vis the situation, and have urged restraint, especially from the government of Myanmar," China and Russia have argued the situation in Burma is a purely internal matter (just like, say. Tibet or Chechnya are simply “internal” matters....)

Analysts fear a repeat of the violence in 1988, when troops opened fire on unarmed protesters, killing thousands. This fear is justified given the vicious behaviour of the junta.

Burmese protests continue in face of threats

Protests in Burma triggered by a government decision last month to double fuel prices of fuel last month continue, despite warnings from the military. Chanting "we want dialogue" and "democracy, democracy" tens of thousands of monks and civilians staged new anti-government protests .

The protestors marched from Shwedagon pagoda into the commercial centre of Rangoon, where they gathered around Sule pagoda and nearby city hall."National reconciliation is very important for us... The monks are standing up for the people," proclaimed poet Aung Way. One monk told the Associated Press: "People do not tolerate the military government any longer."

The monks - who have been spearheading the protests - have been handing out pictures of Burmese independence hero Aung San, the deceased father of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. They are also carrying flags, including some bearing the image of a fighting peacock used by students during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, witnesses told Reuters news agency. Students were also openly marching yesterday. The junta, which violently repressed the 1988 protests killing some 3,000 people, finally broke its silence over the mounting protests late on Monday, saying that it was ready to "take action" against the monks. It repeated its warning in state media on Tuesday, ordering monks not to get involved in politics and accusing them of allowing themselves to be manipulated by the foreign media.

The Dalai Lama, has given his backing to the monks' call for freedom and democracy.