Source: www.jubileecampaign.org
Date: April 8, 2020
Iran
Article 18 has recently reported that during the early days of March, a total of 6 Iranian Christians were among the total 54,000 inmates released from prison amidst growing concerns over coronavirus. Iranian Christian convert Mary Mohammadi and Ramiel Bet-Tamraz, along with another unnamed Christian, were released in late February. Mr. Bet-Tamraz had been previously sentenced in to four months in prison for being involved in Christian house worship and "propaganda against the system", and Mary Mohammadi- formerly Fatemeh Mohammadi- was sentenced for participating in protests and similarly propagating against the nation's leadership.
In early March this year, three more Iranian Christians were also released for 36 days, among which were Rokhsareh Mahrokh Ghanbari and Amin Khaki. Ms. Ghanbari formerly gained attention when she filmed a video of herself before entering the prison at which she was ordered to carry out her sentence. In this video she says "I was arrested by agents of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence for the crime of believing in Jesus Christ." She had been sentenced to one year, her formal conviction also 'propagating against the regime.' Mr. Khaki was a member of the Church of Iran, and he was ambushed and arrested at his home church along with four others, and he received a 14-month sentence for propaganda.
According to Article 18, Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili was recorded stating that because these temporary leaves are only granted to individuals whose sentence is less than 5 years, very few Iranian Christian converts have been released in proportion to the whole population of released prisoners. Christian prisoners are often sentenced to 10 years.
Myanmar
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) provides background information on the persecuted ethno-religious minority group of Rohingya Muslims that have historically been persecuted and discriminated against by the government of Myanmar through the exclusive 1982 Citizenship Law, which denies Rohingya citizenship, and the overwhelming anti-Muslim rhetoric of the government and military. Since 2011, things have only been getting worse, and USCIRF mentions periods of coordinated attacks in 2012 and 2017, which have caused mass death and displacement in the region. Interestingly enough, according to USCIRF, the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy has done very little- if anything- to discourage or put an end to these violent campaigns. Among the popular human rights violations were "indiscriminate extrajudicial killings of civilians; mass rape and other sexual violence; enforced disappearances; forced starvation; arbitrary detentions and arrests; and looting, burning, and property destruction."
As a result of numerous fact finding missions, it has been concluded that the standards of crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes had been sufficiently met. According to USCIRF, what major steps remain include justice and accountability: in late 2019, The Gambia v. Myanmar was initiated through the International Court of Justice, in which The Gambia accused Myanmar of violating the Genocide Convention. After months of proceedings, the ICJ called on Myanmar to eliminate all genocidal practices against the Rohingya.
Moreover, the International Criminal Court "found a reasonable basis to believe that since October 2016, the Burmese military, other security forces, and some local civilians have committed acts that qualify as crimes against humanity, including deportations and persecution of the Rohingya population, and fall under the ICC's jurisdiction."
China
Just today, on March 13, USCIRF released a statement publicly condemning China for forcing Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region to participate in coerced labor, and supporting the introduction of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which is currently circulating the Senate and the House. Additionally, commissioner Gary Bauer called on American companies to stop any operations in China where forced labor may be present. These bold statements echo the ones made in USCIRF's 2019 Annual Report in which the organization encourages the use of the Global Magnitsky Act and IRF Act to hold Chinese government officials accountable for the persecution and detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.