Israel kills three Palestinian children in one week

Murad Abu Ghazi (via Defense for Children International - Palestine)

Yousif Abu Athra (via Defense for Children International - Palestine)-Muhammad al-Hattab (via Quds News Network)

 -24 March 2017
Maureen Clare Murphy

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian boy and critically injured three others in the central occupied West Bank on Thursday night, bringing to three the number of children killed by soldiers in the past week.

Video and photos appear to contradict Israel’s claims about the slaying of 17-year-old Muhammad al-Hattab, who was shot in the chest and shoulder.

Israeli forces in a military tower opened heavy fire on the car in which al-Hattab and the other youths were traveling, Palestinian media reported.

An Israeli army spokesperson told media that the youths had thrown firebombs towards a food stand near the Beit El settlement adjacent to the Jalazone refugee camp.

Soldiers in the Golani Brigade – whose fighters have incited the killing of Palestinians on social media and are suspected of perpetrating war crimes in Gaza – shot at the youths after they had exited the car next to the settlement, the army claimed.

“In response to the threat, Israeli forces in the area fired towards the suspects, and several hits were confirmed. The suspects then fled the scene,” according to an army spokesperson.

But the military’s assertion that the youths were shot outside the vehicle and managed to flee appeared to be contradicted by photos and video showing the driver’s seat of the car stained with blood, shattered windows and bullet marks on the vehicle’s exterior:

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المركبة التي كان يستقلها الشهيد والمصابون ال3 قبل استهدافهم بالرصاص من قبل قوات الاحتلال قرب مخيم الجلزون شمال رام الله، قبل قليل.

3:45 PM - 23 Mar 2017

Residents of Jalazone camp, where al-Hattab lived, confronted Israeli forces deployed at the entrance of the Beit El settlement after the youth’s slaying.

“Israeli forces fired live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at protesters, while Palestinian youth threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at soldiers,” the Ma’an News Agency reported.

Thousands of Palestinians marched through Jalazone camp during al-Hattab’s funeral on Friday.

Children killed by soldiers guarding settlement

Israeli forces guarding Beit El have killed and seriously wounded several Palestinian children from Jalazone camp in recent years.

Faris Ziyad Ata Bayid, 15, died two months after he was shot in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet during confrontations at the entrance of the camp in October last year.

A military inquiry found that the soldiers were justified in opening fire at al-Bayid. The Israeli rights group B’Tselem stated, however, that the shooting was “unlawful,” and that the boy did not pose a lethal danger to soldiers when he was shot.

Another youth from the camp, Ahmad Sharaka, 14, was shot and killed by soldiers during a protest near the settlement in October 2015.

Jalazone resident Laith Khalidi, 15, was killed by an Israeli sniper in a watchtower at the Atara checkpoint north of the nearby town of Birzeit in July 2015. The army claimed he and other youths had thrown Molotov cocktails and paint bottles at the checkpoint.

Wajih al-Ramahi, 15, died after he was shot in the back from a distance of 50 to 300 meters by a soldier stationed outside Beit El in December 2013. Al-Ramahi was near his school, run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, at the time that he was ambushed, “with no apparent justification for the use of live ammunition,” Human Rights Watch stated.

Muhammad Alayan, 15, was shot and killed by soldiers while he was 70 meters from an observation post at the entrance to the Beit El settlement in August 2009. The army claimed he had thrown a petrol bomb.

Muhammad Hamdan, 16, was shot and killed in April 2009 while he and his friends were about to throw petrol bombs towards the Beit El settlement, according to B’Tselem.

Beit El settlement

In its annual country report on human rights practices for 2016, the US State Department raises concern about possible cases of excessive force used against Palestinian civilians, highlighting the June killing of 15-year-old Mahmoud Badran as he and a group of friends were returning home from a pool party.

The army initially claimed that the youths had thrown Molotov cocktails and rocks at soldiers, but later admitted the car in which they were traveling was “mistakenly” hit.

Last week, US President Donald Trump’s Middle East Peace envoy visited Jalazone camp and met with youths there.

David Friedman, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel, was confirmed by the US Senate on Thursday. Friedman is a major bankroller of the Beit El settlement.

All Israeli settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law. The transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population to the territory it occupies is a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and is thus a war crime.

The infrastructure of Israel’s military occupation, now entering its fifth decade, designed to protect the state’s illegal settlement colony enterprise, is the site of routine deadly violence.

“Military fixtures like checkpoints and watchtowers in the West Bank and the heavily surveilled ‘buffer zone’ along the border of Gaza are sites of frequent clashes, representing significant risks of death, injury and arrest to children who live or pass near them frequently,” according to Defense for Children International - Palestine.

One day before Muhammad al-Hattab was shot dead, 15-year-old Yousif Abu Athra was killed by Israeli shelling in Gaza when he and two adult friends were approximately 300 meters from the boundary with Israel. The boy’s father said his son’s body was “riddled with shrapnel, including injuries to his head,” Defense for Children International - Palestine stated.

Murad Abu Ghazi, 17, was hit with a live bullet that entered his back and passed through his heart, killing him, at a military post near the southern West Bank city of Hebron last Friday. A 16-year-old was shot with live fire during the incident and was in moderate-to-critical condition, according to Defense for Children International - Palestine.

An Israeli journalist reported that Abu Ghazi and his companions, who were carrying improvised Molotov cocktails, were ambushed by soldiers who shot at the group as they fled.

“Israeli forces appear to routinely resort to intentional lethal force in situations not justified by international norms, killing children with impunity,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, a program director with Defense for Children International - Palestine.

“Live ammunition is increasingly used against Palestinian children in the West Bank since 2014, while children in Gaza are shot, shelled and bombed in violation of international law.”

Thirty-five Palestinian children were killed by Israeli soldiers, police and armed civilians in 2016, all but four of them in the West Bank, making it the most deadly year for children there in the past decade.

Yemen air raids kill 16 rebels on eve of campaign's second anniversary

The strikes against Huthi fighters in Hudaida province are the latest Saudi-led coalition attacks in conflict that has killed 10,000 people

Sunday marks the 2nd anniversary of the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen (AFP)

Saturday 25 March 2017

Sixteen rebels have been killed and 24 wounded in 24 hours of air raids by a Saudi-led coalition targeting the Huthi fighters in Yemen, a military official and medics said Saturday.

The strikes came on the eve of Sunday's second anniversary of the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen, an intervention which has has seen the UK and US criticised for providing military and logistical support.

Since the start of the conflict in Yemen, 10,000 people have been killed and millions left without access to vital infrastructure, clean water or electricity, according to the United Nations. Campaigners say the real death toll is higher.

The Huthi rebels were killed in air strikes on an air base and arms depot in the east of the rebel-held Hudaida province since Friday, the Saudi official said.

A source in the coalition supporting President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi's government told AFP that Hudaida was one of the areas being targeted as part of ongoing military operations on areas under rebel control.

The dead and wounded were transferred to al-Alfi military hospital and al-Thawra hospital in the Huthi-controlled city of Hudaida, medics at the hospitals said.

The Red Sea port city is a key transit point for desperately needed imports into war-torn Yemen, where fighting has escalated since the March 2015 military intervention of the coalition against the Shiite rebels.

A boat carrying refugees was hit by an air strike earlier this month off the Hudaida port. Forty-two people were killed, most of them Somali refugees.

The Saudi-led coalition denied accusations it was involved in the attack and called on the United Nations to supervise Hudaida port.

The UN has rejected the request on the grounds that parties involved in the Yemen war have a responsibility to protect civilians.

Yemen's conflict has steadily worsened since 2011, after protests led to the resignation of then president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned of the risk of famine in Yemen, where ports are blockaded by the Saudi-led coaltion and more than 18 million people require food aid.

More than seven million "are hungry and do not know where their next meal is coming from," the UN emergency relief coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, told the UN Security Council earlier this month Those going hungry in Yemen had increased by three million since January, he said.

Seven million people in Yemen 'do not know where their next meal is coming from,' says UN (AFP)

Since the start of Saudi involvement the British government has faced criticism for licensing more than $4bn worth of arms to Saudi forces, including aircraft, helicopters, drones and ammunition and armoured vehicles.

This figure is dwarfed by US arms exports to Saudi Arabia, but Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both linked British-made weapons to attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Andrew Smith, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: "For two years now, Saudi forces have unleashed a brutal humanitarian catastrophe on the people of Yemen. The response from Whitehall has been to keep arming and supporting the Saudi regime, irrespective of the destruction it has caused.

"Ten thousand people have been killed, yet the message being sent out is that their lives are less important than profits for arms companies."

‘Russia Is a Threat … to All of Europe’

Lithuania’s president talks to Foreign Policy about Vladimir Putin's "little green men" and whether Donald Trump really believes in NATO.

BY LALLY WEYMOUTH-MARCH 24, 2017

Dalia Grybauskaitė, the president of Lithuania, is on the front line of a “non-conventional war” against an expansionist Moscow. In an interview in Vilnius this week, she spells out the reasons that U.S. troops should be stationed on Lithuanian soil to prevent a Russian attack. Excerpts follow:

Foreign Policy: You have been asking for a permanent deployment of U.S. troops in Lithuania?

Dalia Grybauskaitė: Yes, the American troops in Europe are still located mainly in Germany and Western Europe, while the threat is now mainly in the east — in Poland and the Baltic states. That is why our recommendation is to have U.S. troops here on a permanent basis. We also need air defense.

FP: Which you don’t have now?

DG: No and it’s necessary. You cannot defend your territory or protect troops on the ground if you have no air defense.

FP: How big a threat is Russia today to Lithuania?

DG:Russia is a threat not only to Lithuania but to the whole region and to all of Europe. We see how Russia is behaving in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on our border. There they have deployed nuclear-capable missiles that can reach European capitals. It is not just about the Baltic region anymore.

FP: Do you worry about “little green men” — suspected Russian soldiers — coming in here the way they did in Ukraine?

DG: It could be done in different ways — one of which is Zapad 2017, a large Russian military exercise in Belarus, which we expect in the autumn. Putting so-called “green men” on our territory would be very difficult because they do not speak the Lithuanian language, and we do not have many Russian-speaking people.

FP: Do you worry that Russia might seal off the Suwalki Gap [a 60-mile piece of territory on the Lithuania-Polish border] making it hard for NATO to send additional troops into the Baltics in a crisis?

DG: Yes, they could cut access. That is why we are asking for a permanent presence on our territory and we also need air-defense capabilities [as Russia controls the skies].

FP: What does the U.S. say?

DG: We are slowly finding an agreement.

FP: With the U.S. or with NATO?

DG: With both. In 2010, we started to discuss defense plans for the Baltic countries with NATO. We finally got them, but they are not sufficient for such aggressive behavior by our neighbor [Russia].
We need troops on our territory. Last year at the Warsaw Summit, we agreed that Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia would each receive one battalion, and we got them. The one here is German-led but seven nations will participate.

FP: Do you believe the West will uphold Article 5 of NATO’s treaty regarding collective defense?

DG: I think that Article 5 is already on our territory — the members of the battalion are obliged to protect our country. At least seven NATO nations are here.

FP: How do you feel about President Donald Trump’s views on NATO?
DG:

I think that some of the president’s criticism is grounded, especially on defense spending. All NATO members need to invest more. In Lithuania this year we are spending 1.8 percent of our GDP [on defense] and next year it will be 2.1 percent. This criticism from President Trump is justified.

FP: Hasn’t President Trump also questioned the validity of NATO?

DG: I do not interpret it that way.

FP: What do you think will be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s next move?

DG: Nobody knows, but it is clear that he will use any space left to him to provoke us. He will go as far as we will allow him to go. He has huge pressure internally, and he needs external enemies. We see how periodically he finds new enemies in one region or another. Europe is one of the regions where he would like to export destabilization.

FP: Are you referring to his intervention in the elections in France?

DG: Everywhere he is supporting the ultra-right and ultra-left political forces. We also see cyber, information, and propaganda attacks everywhere.

FP: Have those kinds of attacks increased since the invasion of Crimea?

DG: Oh yes. After Crimea, the investment into propaganda and information warfare was massively increased by the Kremlin. In our territory, we are already in a non-conventional war situation because of the [constant] cyber attacks, TV propaganda, and information attacks from Russia. We see this all the time. They try to invest in some politicians. They plant fake news stories.

FP: Russia gives money to some politicians?

DG: Yes. That is their standard behavior everywhere.

FP: How do you counter that?

DG: For three months, we blocked the broadcast of some TV channels that were very aggressive. We are trying to deconstruct the propaganda myths on our territory. For example, at the time of the arrival of the German-led battalion, false information was created that a German soldier raped a Lithuanian girl. We immediately reacted, saying that it was false. We checked the name and it appeared that there was no such person.

FP: Do you feel you can rely on the U.S.?

DG:We trust the United States and no matter what administration is in place, our partnership is strong.
FP: What is going on in Ukraine right now?

DG: We are trying to support them as much as we can with humanitarian, military and political assistance.

FP: Do you think Ukraine’s government can survive?

DG: I don’t care about governments. I care about the country’s future and its people. This is the third president of Ukraine I’ve worked with. Our goal is to support Ukraine and get them out of corruption and free from dependence on Russia — to help them be more European. They have a war on their territory, and we have to be patient with them.

FP: Do you think the sanctions are working?

DG: Sanctions were introduced after Crimea, and I don’t think we have any reason to lift sanctions.

FP: Will the Europeans agree with you?

DG: We will see. It is not easy. Different countries have different opinions. But Russia always gives new examples of its behavior.

FP: Are you referring to Syria?

DG: Yes and now they also pose a threat in Libya. There is a [Russian] military concentration in Egypt close to Libya’s border.

FP: Would you say Putin has a strategy?

DG: He is improvising his strategy. If a space is opening, he enters it. He is fast in his decisions.

FP: Does he want to recreate the former Soviet Union?

DG: He has nostalgia [for it] but knows it is not possible. He would like to have more influence and to destabilize more countries.

FP: Including yours?

DG: We are his nearest neighbors. He attacks not only us but also Germany and your country with cyber attacks and thefts of information. You can imagine if Russia can influence your public discourse, how large its influence is on smaller, neighboring countries.

The protection of America lies in the Baltic states. If you stop him here, he will not be a threat to you. With today’s technology, territory is not so important. The deconstruction of his methods and lies is important. Putin is learning how to do [hybrid attacks] on our territory and then exporting this knowledge to other countries.

We need to know what Putin’s Russia is capable of — that they can now reach even the United States. Even to us, that was a surprise. We thought they would know not to go so far with their attempts to influence global politics.

FP: Putin sent his troops into Syria and nothing happened.

DG: We allowed him to do it and Libya could be next. If Russia goes in, there will be an even larger flow of immigrants to Europe. He uses immigration as an instrument to destabilize the unity of the European Union. This is cynical and brutal.

FP: What is most important to you?

DG: Not to have the U.S. withdraw from the global stage. If the U.S. closes itself off on its own continent, there will be too much space left for Russia to take its place.

Photo credit: DAN KITWOOD/Getty Images

US military tests 'Star Wars' electromagnetic railgun that fires projectiles at 4,500mph and can penetrate concrete 100 miles away

• Railgun exceeds accelerations of Mach 6, which is six times the speed of sound
• It uses electromagnetic energy to propel a metal projectile at huge speeds
• Powerful missiles are fuelled by a 'pulse power system' and ship electricity
• Navy has been working on the gun since 2005 and say it is the future of warfare

The US Navy are testing an electromagnetic gun that can fire ammo at 4,500 mph --Because the missile is fired using kinetic energy, this eliminates the risks associated with keeping explosives on a ship

The EM Railgun relies on energy that is generated by the ship, according to the Office of Naval Research--The technology uses electromagnets to send its projectiles hurtling off at thousands of miles per hour. The force generated can be adjusted, depending on the range of the target

By PHOEBE WESTON FOR MAILONLINE-22 March 2017

The US Navy is testing an electromagnetic gun that can fire projectiles at six times the speed of sound.

Described as 'Star Wars technology' by researchers, these powerful missiles don't rely on chemical propellants and are fuelled by electricity alone.

Strong magnetic fields are created by electricity on the ship and a 'pulse power system' to sent propellants flying at 4,500mph. 

The technology has previously been shown to penetrate concrete at 100 miles away.

Railguns are touted as one of the future technologies of warfare, using kinetic and laser energies instead of classic controlled explosives. 

Because the missile is fired using kinetic energy this eliminates the risks associated with keeping explosives on a ship. 

The Department of the Navy's science and technology corporate board chartered the Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) to build the EM Railgun, which uses generated by the ship, according to the Office of Naval Research.

An electric pulse is sent to the railgun which creates an electromagnetic force which releases the projectile at Mach 6, or 4,500 mph. 

According to the ONR: 'The railgun is a true warfighter game changer.

'Wide-area coverage and exceptionally quick response will extend the reach and lethality of ships armed with this technology.

'A future weapon system at this energy level would be capable of launching a 100+ nautical mile projectile'. 

The railgun was tested Dahlgren naval facility's new Terminal Range in Virginia. 

The US Navy has been working on the gun with BAE Systems since 2005. 

During phase I developers focused on developing pulsed power technology.

During phase II, which started in 2012, will further develop the pulsed power system and the launcher system.   

'We've got to move away from gunpowder,' said Fox's defense analyst, Allison Barrie last year. 

'The future is lasers and electromagnetic railguns', he said. 

Last year, a similar device called the Blitzer railgun also released a missile at Mach 6 speeds. 

Relying on the same technology, this railgun was designed by San Diego-based General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS). 

It also used electromagnets to send its projectiles hurtling off at thousands of miles per hour. 

The electromagnetic force generated can be adjusted, depending on the range of the target.

The advanced military technology would mean that, in practice, projectiles could hit speeds equivalent to more than 4,500mph on leaving the chamber, super-heating the air in front of them and generating a sonic boom as it smashes through the sound barrier.

According to Barrie, these ultra-high speeds are 'critical for maximum effect' in destroying targets. 

GA-EMS has worked steadily to develop the technology, as has its rival British firm BAE Systems, and the advanced military technology has undergone testing with the US Navy since 2012. 

In warfare, the weapon's could be used to strike targets on land, sea or air with great precision.

The main advantages over traditional explosives are stated as improved safety - due to less explosives on board - and could drastically reduce the costs.

'This is so important in terms of maintaining naval dominance and in ensuring the United States has absolute naval, maritime superiority going forward in the future,' added Fox's Barrie.

HOW DOES THE RAILGUN REACH SUCH SPEEDS?

Railguns use electricity instead of gunpowder to accelerate a projectile at six or seven times the speed of sound.

Using an electromagnetic force known as the Lorenz Force, the gun accelerates a projectile between two rails that conduct electricity, before launching it at ferocious speed. 

This means the railgun can fire further than conventional guns and maintain enough kinetic energy to inflict tremendous damage.

Tests have shown that the weapons can fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles - with such force and accuracy it penetrates three concrete walls or six half-inch thick steel plates.

The video below shows tests of BAE's model.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4338944/US-military-tests-railgun-fires-bullets-4-500-mph.html#ixzz4cO2b7GZS
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‘The closer’? The inside story of how Trump tried — and failed — to make a deal on health care

President Trump promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act “immediately” and “on Day 1” while on the campaign trail. But now, he claims he never said he'd get health care reform done quickly. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

By Robert Costa, Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker March 24 at 9:19 PM

Shortly after House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) unveiled the Republican health-care plan on March 6, President Trump sat in the Oval Office and queried his advisers: “Is this really a good bill?”

And over the next 18 days, until the bill collapsed in the House on Friday afternoon in a humiliating defeat — the sharpest rebuke yet of Trump’s young presidency and his negotiating skills — the question continued to nag at the president.

President Trump visits the Capitol Building on Tuesday to talk with House Republicans. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)----President Trump in the cab of an eighteen-wheeler truck while meeting with truckers and chief executives Thursday. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, after a meeting about the Affordable Care Act on Thursday. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)---Vice President Pence, left, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price leave a meeting with members of the House Freedom Caucus on Friday. (Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post)

‘The closer’ The inside story of how Trump tried — and failed — to make a deal on health care.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Thousands demonstrate in London against leaving the EU

Demonstrators hold banners during a Unite for Europe march in central London, Britain March 25, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls--Demonstrators take part in a Unite for Europe march, as they head towards Parliament Square, in central London, Britain March 25, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hackett

EU and Union flags fly above Parliament Square during a Unite for Europe march, in central London, Britain March 25, 2017.REUTERS/Peter Nicholls--Demonstrators take part in a Unite for Europe march in central London, Britain March 25, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

 Sat Mar 25, 2017

Thousands of people marched through London on Saturday to protest against Britain leaving the European Union, just four days before Prime Minister Theresa May launches the start of the formal divorce process from the bloc it joined 44 years ago.

The Unite for Europe march was due to end with a rally in Parliament Square, scene of this week's attack by British-born Islam convert Khalid Masood in which four people died.

Marchers observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims at the start of the demonstration.

In bright sunshine, they waved EU flags and banners with slogans like "So what's the Plan" and "Stop Brexit" as they made their way to parliament.

One banner from a marcher in Hastings on the south coast - scene of England's epoch-defining defeat to William, Duke of Normandy - read: "Hastings, in Europe since 1066."

Another simply said "Happy Birthday EU" in a reference to this weekend's 60th anniversary of the bloc's founding, currently being commemorated in Rome.

Joss Dennis was one of three coach loads of protesters who had travelled from Bristol in western England, which voted 62 percent to stay in the EU in last June's referendum compared with the national 52-48 percent vote to leave.

"With such a close vote, I don't see how anyone can call this the will of the people," she told Reuters. "We have so much to lose: environmentally, politically and financially.

"A terrible mistake has been made but the situation is not beyond redemption," she added.

May has been adamant she intends to take Britain out of the EU following the referendum and will formally announce the start of the two-year leaving process on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Ralph Boulton; Writing by Stephen Addison; Editing by Mark Potter)

Taiwan party blames China for ‘anxiety and panic’ over missing man

25th March 2017

CHINA’S failure to respond on the matter of a Taiwan man missing on the mainland is causing his family “anxiety and panic”, Taiwan’s ruling party said on Saturday, as it called on authorities to protect the rights of Taiwan people.

Concern has risen on self-ruled Taiwan about the whereabouts of Lee Ming-che, a community college worker known for supporting human rights in China who disappeared on Sunday after entering China’s Zhuhai city via the coastal city of Macau.

Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Chinese authorities had repeatedly said they would protect the rights of Taiwan people on the mainland in accordance with law.

“But after six days, there has been no official response by China to requests for consultations about the search by our government and his family,” the party said in its strongest statement yet on Lee’s disappearance.

“This has caused the family anxiety and panic,” Chang Chih-hao, a spokesman for the independence-leaning party said in the statement.

SEE ALSO: Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua abducted from Hong Kong hotel

The party called on Chinese authorities to respond promptly to requests for cooperation and “effectively protect human rights and not increase the risk of Taiwanese people travelling to China”, Chang said.

Relations between Beijing and Taiwan have worsened in the past year, largely because Beijing distrusts the DPP, which took power last year and traditionally supports independence for Taiwan.

Beijing regards the democratic island as a breakaway province and it has never renounced the use of force to bring it back under mainland control.

Beijing cut off official communications with Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen took office last year. Tsai, also leader of the DPP, says she wants peace but has never conceded that Taiwan is a part of the mainland.

Taiwan’s agencies for dealing with China – its Straits Exchange Foundation and Mainland Affairs Council – have said they have been unable to raise a response from their Chinese counterparts over Lee’s case.

Rights group Amnesty International’s East Asia Director Nicholas Bequelin said Lee’s case raised questions about the safety of people working with civil society in China.

SEE ALSO: China: Beijing warns it will oppose Taiwan independence

Lee had been supporting organisations and activists in China for years but went to China this time for personal matters related to mother-in-law’s medical condition, Amnesty International said.

“If Lee Ming-che has been detained, then please tell me the charges,” Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu, said at a news briefing on Friday organised by the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.

“But please tell her if her husband is alive or dead, where is he,” the rights group said in a statement. – Reuters