Chinese authorities appear to be mounting a smear campaign against a detained human rights lawyer by releasing a seemingly edited police video which shows him resisting arrest and then swinging at an officer, campaigners say. Yu Wensheng was seized Friday by roughly a dozen police, including a SWAT team, as he left his Beijing apartment […]
Asia articles on Democracy Chronicles
View news about the struggle for democracy on the continent of Asia where giants of China and India hover large. Asia represents a huge portion of the human race where both some of the best and worst governments coexist. Also see our World Democracy section!
Indonesian environmental activist jailed for ‘spreading communism’
An Indonesian environmentalist has been sentenced to 10 months in prison under a tough anti-communism law
China Urged to Release of Hong Kong-Based Bookseller
Gui Minhai is a Hong Kong-based bookseller who has been arrested for the second time in two years
Burma Court to Rule on Fate of Detained Reuters Journalists
A Myanmar court will decide next week the fate of two Reuters journalists arrested and charged with violating the country’s Official Secrets Act. Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, appeared in court Tuesday, nearly six weeks after their arrest and two weeks after being charged. The two face 14 years in prison for […]
Chinese Government Bans Hip-hop and Tattooed-actors
The Chinese government is tightening its grip on popular culture with a new ban on hip-hop culture and actors with tattoos—representations that are seen as disrespectful and outside the code of conduct. China’s media regulator, State Administration of Press, Publication, Broadcasting and Television, issued the ban on Friday along with “necessary standards,” according to Sina, […]
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong released on bail
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was released on bail Tuesday pending appeal against a jail term over pro-democracy protests. Wong was jailed for three months last week, the second time he has received a prison sentence for his involvement in the Umbrella Movement. Campaigners fear political debate in the semi-autonomous city is being shut down […]
South Korea’s Defector TV is Showcase For Peninsula’s Challenges
The ‘Defector TV’ formula takes a reality TV approach – putting asylum seekers on the air and exploring what their lives
Hong Kong Democracy Battle Now Waged in Courts
Hong Kong’s vigorous activism once earned it the nickname “city of protests.” But these days, the Chinese territory has become the city of prosecutions. Three years after the city’s massive strike for free elections, what’s now called the Umbrella protest, the Hong Kong government is pursuing charges against several dozen activists and participants. Many who […]
Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer arrested in Beijing
Hours before his detention, Yu Wensheng had circulated an open letter calling for five reforms to China’s constitution
The credibility crisis revealing the faults of India’s Supreme Court
One of India’s most respected and powerful institutions, the Supreme Court, is never far away from the news, usually for handing out progressive judgments. But in the past week it has grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. The top court’s credibility took a serious jolt after four of its senior most judges took the […]