Saying that human rights conditions in Taiwan are deteriorating and that the judicial system is biased, former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) — himself an attorney — convened a group of lawyers yesterday and created an alliance to defend civil rights.
“Democracy and human rights are crucial to Taiwan’s prosperity. However, recent events have shown that such values are under attack,” Hsieh told a press conference to inaugurate the Taiwanese Attorneys’ Alliance for Human Rights.
Hsieh was referring to corruption cases against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Su was detained for nine days before she was summoned to testify at a prosecutors’ office where she was charged. Chen, who has yet to be indicted, was detained on Wednesday.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
“As lawyers, we support putting anyone who may have broken the law on trial, but what we’re seeing is more of a purge than a fair trial,” Hsieh said. “The difference between a purge and a regular judiciary is that in the first instance, you characterize someone as evil — through the media or by other means — before the trial has begun.”
Lin Yu-fen (林玉芬), a lawyer affiliated with the alliance, accused law-enforcement authorities of violating people’s rights and civil liberties by using excessive force and acting illegally while dispersing crowds at anti-China protests during the visit by Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) to Taipei earlier this month.
Witness accounts and media reports have shown police officers forcefully taking away Republic of China flags from demonstrators, stopping and checking the identity of individuals who wore T-shirts manifesting Taiwan as a sovereign country and asking a music store owner to stop playing music while trying to close the store’s front door.
National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) dismissed the accusations and said the video clips and accounts were taken out of context. He has refused to apologize.
Hsieh said further rights violations were to be expected.
“The government refuses to listen to voices from the opposition, so more people will take to the street and become victims [of police brutality],” Hsieh said. “This is why I created this alliance, to help those [potential] victims, [who could include] workers and students.”
“If we don’t make things right today, maybe my children and grandchildren, or your children and grandchildren, will be the victims tomorrow,” he said.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS