Following the failure of a judicial ruling to exempt the island's religious conscientious objectors from compulsory military service, legislators are now working to amend a military service law to save 28 Jehovah's Witnesses from lengthy prison terms.
The Council of Grand Justices, the island's highest legal authority, ruled on Oct. 1 that the military service law is not unconstitutional and no one may refuse service because of his religious convictions.
The Council's ruling has failed to resolve the issue for 28 Jehovah's Witnesses, who are currently in jail or on trial for refusing to serve in the military because of their religious beliefs.
The issue prompted legislators to try to pass amendments to the military service law in this legislative session.
DPP lawmaker Chien Hsi-chieh and KMT lawmaker Chiang Yi-wen co-sponsored a public hearing in the Legislative Yuan yesterday to seek solutions for the 28 Jehovah's Witnesses who, due to a legal loophole, have been jailed, released, recalled to the armed forces, and eventually returned to jail.
"We hope the issue can be resolved either by amending the military service law or through an administrative maneuver. Either way, we have to do justice to these people with respect to their freedom for conscientious objection," Chien said.
The Ministry of the Interior is to launch a program of civilian service beginning next July, allowing 5,000 male citizens a year to choose to serve terms either in the police, social work, firefighting, or environmental protection.
The ministry has agreed to postpone induction for other conscientious objectors who have reached the age for military service but are not yet in service, until next July, when alternative services are to be implemented.
However, the 28 conscientious objectors already in jail or on trial will still need to serve out their terms.
"The fate of the 28 people is still at stake until next July. We're trying to solve their problem as soon as possible. It's very inhuman to keep them in jail for any longer," Chiang said. "Hopefully, we can get the amendments passed by the end of this year. And once the change takes place, it will be able to keep all 28 people out of jail."
Conscientious objectors have for a long time been refusing to serve in the armed forces at the risk of facing long prison terms.
The military service law prohibits anyone who has received a sentence of over seven years, or has stayed in jail for over four years from performing military service.
To avoid ever serving in the military, the Jehovah's Witnesses sought jail sentences longer than seven years when they were tried.
However, if their prison term is reduced to less than four years by pardon or parole, military service would then be required again.
"I was very glad to be sentenced to eight years in prison as I know I could be prohibited for life from military service. I still felt glad when my term was reduced to four years a year later," said Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗賢), a Witness who has been jailed twice and is currently on trial for the fourth time in the past ten years.
"But I felt so frustrated when my term was reduced for the second time. I had served three years, nine months, and twenty days in total, but that just couldn't stop me from being recalled to the military," Wu said.
The Ministry of National Defense has drafted its own version of the amendments to the service law, which will prohibit anyone who has been sentenced to five years in prison from serving.
Even on grounds of commutation of sentence or parole, the prohibition order will also also remain in effect as long as the prisoners have spent more than three years in jail.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS