Muslims protest outside the Colosseum in Rome after small mosques are shut down - https://twitter.com/MailOnline/status/789863932068524032/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
Court set to rule on fate of conscientious objectors later this year, as human rights groups call for forms of alternative service
This year, South Korea’s Constitutional Court is supposed to rule on the constitutionality of the Military Service Act, which requires the prosecution of conscientious objectors.This is the third time that the court has tried the case. While the court upheld the constitutionality of the law in 2004 and 2011, there are some cautious predictions that things may turn out differently this time. The Hankyoreh met with people who chose to go to prison instead of serving in the military and heard about their past, their present and what they desperately desire for the future.In March, a lawyer went to prison. Every day, he faces a gray wall in a cramped room, about 4.61 square meters in area. The prisoner is Baek Jong-geon, 32, who passed South Korea’s bar exam in 2008, enrolled in the 40th class at the Judicial Research and Training Institute and was on his way to becoming a lawyer. Baek had violated Article 88 of the Military Service Act, which states that individuals who have been instructed to report for military service and refuse to serve without “justifiable grounds” are to be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison. Baek was the first lawyer to break this law – which is not what you would expect of someone who by profession has to eat, sleep and breathe the law.
Letters written in prison by lawyer and conscientious objector Baek Jong-geon
“I still have a vivid memory of what happened,” Baek said, recalling his memories. When a Hankyoreh reporter met him in July, he was sitting on the other side of the glass partition in the visiting room. Baek was four years old when he met his father in the visiting room of the Daegu Prison in 1988. His father, Baek Seung-u, 57, had been court-martialed and imprisoned for insubordination. The elder Baek was a doctor – and a Jehovah’s Witness.
Lawyer and conscientious objector Baek Jong-geon enters the courtroom at Seoul Central District Court in Nov. 2011 to hear the verdict in his case. (by Kim Jeong-hyo, staff photographer)
Baek continued in a steady voice. “I deeply respect the hard work and sacrifices of young people who serve in the military. I want to serve my country as they do, just in a different manner. I fought this for six years in the courts, calling for the introduction of an alternative form of civil service, but I eventually lost, and here I am,” he said. Instead of the word “prison,” the Jehovah’s Witnesses use the word “neutral,” meaning that they are maintaining their military neutrality. Instead of saying that they “go to prison,” they say they “go neutral.” Baek is in prison not so that he can shirk his military service, but rather with the belief that he is staying neutral in military affairs. “The prison guards tell us they know we can’t help being here and that we didn’t commit any crimes,” Baek said. The conscience that put him in prison earns him consideration instead of condemnation. Conscientious objectors are generally given work assignments in the prison where help is needed. They are put in charge of looking after and nursing the elderly and those with dementia and of cleaning the offices used by prison staff. Thus, a sort of alternative service is being practiced inside the prison. Conscientious objectors receive a relatively heavy sentence of 1.5 yearsAccording to the 2015 judicial almanac published by the Supreme Court, 14% of people who are tried each year are sentenced to at least one year in prison, and 6% are sentenced to at least three years in prison (in terms of district court rulings). Conscientious objectors receive a relatively heavy sentence of one year and six months. This one year and six months is the desperate measure that judges take to prevent conscientious objectors from receiving another order to report for duty. A few judges exonerate conscientious objectors on the grounds of the “judge’s conscience.” This year alone, judges issued two not guilty verdicts. These are strictly lower-court rulings that do not follow Supreme Court precedent. A judge at one district court described the situation as follows: “All of us feel uncomfortable with these rulings. The issue could be solved by simply creating an alternative service system, but since there’s no law in place, we have to keep convicting conscientious objectors. Whatever preventive effect the punishment once had has vanished long ago. We keep convicting conscientious objectors, and more keep coming. It’s been the same for decades now. That means that the government should get involved and set up a program.”Some prosecutors apologize to conscientious objectors when bringing charges against them, and some judges even shed tears when reading the sentence. Last year, 493 cases were brought against conscientious objectors; as of August of this year, there were 141. Baek is supposed to be released from prison in September of next year.
Lawyer Lim Jae-seong holds a placard calling on the Constitutional Court to make a “just ruling”
“Peace? Why don’t you keep the peace in your own country!” Lim Jae-seong, 36, a colleague of Baek’s, still recalls the tirade he heard from an official at South Korea’s Military Manpower Administration after he refused to report for duty in 2002. “Do you have any idea that your mother came here in tears and begged us to postpone your enlistment because her innocent boy was going to prison?” the employee asked. At the time, Lim was the student body president at a university in Seoul. Hearing about the innocent people dying in the US invasion of Iraq – including a South Korean, Kim Seon-il – further confirmed his decision to refuse to serve in the military. When he was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, Lim remembers the judge addressing him in the following words: “You argue that your refusal to serve in the military is the way to stop war, but there has never been a time in human history without war. Preparing for war is the way to keep the peace.” After prison, becoming a lawyer to help fellow conscientious objectorsLim went to prison in Jan. 2005. After being released, he graduated from university and became a lawyer at Haemaru Law Firm in Apr. 2015. The man who broke the law has now become a lawyer defending others who intend to defy the Military Service Act. “In my spare time, I represent conscientious objectors on a pro bono basis. The Busan District Court is currently trying Kim Jin-man [29-years-old] for breaking the Military Service Act. Just like me, Kim says that he is refusing to serve in the military because of his beliefs about peace,” Lim said. “I’m not defending him so much as I’m giving him plenty of chances to talk in court. For their entire life, conscientious objectors are pestered about why they refused to serve in the military. Having had the chance to speak his mind in court will provide him some consolation when he goes to prison.” At first, Lim’s mother couldn’t understand why he was refusing to do his military service, and for a while she didn’t visit him in prison. But as she was putting away the tofu that friends had given Lim upon his release from prison (according to a Korean custom), she said, “You didn’t commit a crime, so why should you eat tofu? If the government had made a law, this wouldn’t have happened.” Lim plans to remain involved in the peace movement inside the legal establishment. He believes that that’s the right thing to do for his mother and for his country.
Kim Hun-tae, a former teacher at Pyeongtaek Elementary School, and a conscientious objector
Kim Hun-tae, 37, a former teacher at Pyeongtaek Elementary School, was also a pacifist. Since it was his job as a teacher to impart the importance of peace to his students, Kim was keenly aware of the absurdity of the fact that he had to serve in the military. After weighing over his options, he declared his refusal to perform his military service in Mar. 2006. As a result, he went to prison and lost his teaching job. Kim is still not allowed to return to the podium, and he currently earns his living as a researcher for an educational research institute. “It hurt at first. Teaching is a very important job, and I also had a family to take care of. It also meant I had to say goodbye to the students I loved. I believed that I could teach those kids something important by showing them how I was putting peace into practice,” Kim said. Ten years have already passed since Kim declared he would not do his military service. The students who watched their teacher go to prison are now old enough to do their own military service, and Kim still hears from them. “I tell the kids not to hesitate about going to the army. Going to the army is a belief, too,” he said. Ten years ago, Kim’s students sobbed as they begged him not to go to prison. While Kim was sad about having to leave his students, he points out that this gave him the opportunity to stand tall and tell them to be the master of their own lives. Buddhist’s conscientious objection has big impact on other pacifistsLim Jae-seong and Kim Hun-tae’s decisions to refuse to do their military service for non-religious reasons were greatly influenced by the example of Oh Tae-yang, 41, in 2001. Oh was not a Jehovah’s Witness but a Buddhist. He stirred up controversy when he refused to join the military because of the Buddhist prohibition against taking life and because of his commitment to pacifism. Since being released from prison, he has been working as an activist at pacifist organizations. “My beliefs haven’t changed over the past 15 years,” said Oh in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh on Oct. 6. “Some people ask me if I regret going to prison as a conscientious objector. The thing is, I don’t ask people who choose a career in the military if they’ve ever regretted their choice. They’re acting on their beliefs.”“Here’s what I’ve learned since refusing to serve in the military. People who think that we need an army are just as concerned about their country as I am; the only difference is how we show it.” While Article 88 of the Military Service Act does say that there are “justifiable grounds” for not serving in the military, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court have consistently ruled since 2004 that the freedom of conscience is not one of these grounds. But there is considerable basis for the view that the government is violating the Korean Constitution when it continues to prosecute conscientious objectors without offering them another option, such as creating an alternative service system. Article 37, Paragraph 2, of the Korean Constitution states that “the freedoms and rights of citizens may be restricted by Act” for reasons of national security but that “no essential aspect of the freedom or right shall be violated.” Increasing international pressure and interest on forthcoming ruling
TV personality Yang Ji-woon and his third son Won-seok, who will go to prison for conscientious objection
There is also increasing pressure from the UN. In Oct. 2015, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) recommended that the South Korean government immediately release all conscientious objectors who are serving prison sentences. This recommendation was seen as particularly forceful since it went beyond suggesting an alternative service system and explicitly called for the release of prisoners. According to a report published by the UNHRC in 2013, 723 conscientious objectors were imprisoned in countries around the world at the time, and 92.5% of them were South Koreans. During an interview with the Hankyoreh on Sep. 20, well-known TV personality Yang Ji-woon, 68, and his wife Yun Sook-gyeong, 60, expressed their concern that their third son, Won-seok, 25, might have to join the 92.5% of imprisoned conscientious objectors worldwide who are in South Korea. The couple have already watched their first and second sons go to prison. Yang and his family are all Jehovah’s Witnesses. On Apr. 21, a district court found Won-seok guilty of violating the Military Service Act, and he is currently waiting for his appeal. “I watched as my two older brothers [aged 36 and 26] went to prison. I figured that I would probably go to prison myself one of these days. According to the conscience I learned through the scriptures, I am opposed to serving for any army that prepares for war,” Won-seok said. Beside Won-seok was his mother, Yun, who burst out crying as she listened to him speak. “I would rather go to prison [instead of my son]. You just can’t imagine what it feels like for parents to send all three of their boys to prison. For the past 16 years [since May 2000, when my oldest son went to prison], I’ve had constant nightmares. Every day I see my three boys being dragged away with irons on their legs. I told my son he ought to apply for asylum instead, but he insists on going to prison,” Yun said. “I can’t just leave the country because it would be easier for me. I have to play some part so that the next generation doesn’t have to suffer, too,” Won-seok said as he comforted his mother. “I’m not asking for my son to be excused from his military service; I’m asking for them to come up with some way for him to serve his country for a long time. Isn’t it about time for something like that? There’s a saying that even the law can cry,” said Yang, her forehead scored with wrinkles. The Constitutional Court is planning to make a ruling about the constitutionality of Article 88 of the Military Service Act (the section that calls for the prosecution of conscientious objectors) as early as the end of the year.
By Heo Jae-hyun, staff reporter
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/765867.html
Knock knock knockin' on heaven's door........
It is aways interesting (for me) to look at the partakers graph against the average publishers graph as shown here. (They will be included in these figures).
I mean, why shouldn't this number increase? I know we have put date limiters on it in the past, but surely we have become less rigid about this in more recent years? (@Melinda Mills could substantiate this with numerous WT references!)
Anointed ones answer only to Jehovah as to the genuineness of their claim (1Cor 11:27-29).
We are rejoicing at the increase, if we show the same spirit that the angels do when sinners repent:
Luke 15:10: "I tell you, joy arises among the angels of God over one sinner who repents"
All you quoted from WT was that it could be a day or two off, but why was it a month early? Just a straight answer will do. It was way off from Passover and what you showed was why Passover is on different times.
I do see what everyone means. Someone asked what I meant about Passover not changing. What I was meaning was that the Passover was to always come after the spring equinox. Things are supposed to be a certain way for it to be counted.You all sure gave me more information than anyone else and I thank you all for that. Peace to you all!
This is fine. I understand that. Yet the why the memorial is a MONTH before Passover leaves out the point that Jesus spent his last meal with the Apostles at Passover. So regardless of when spring equinox falls on whose calender, the Passover meal WAS part of the meal Jesus had withe them. Passover HAS to be when the crops are green, etc. because of this being a lunar calendar they went by. No matter how the GB chooses to do it, Passover will ALWAYS be figured correct. The memorial WAS at the wrong time. Not at Nissan 14, But Adar. You said what I knew, but have NOT answered the WHY Adar 2 is ignored. Spring is spring. Adar 2, or leap year. Same=same. Passover will NEVER change, just like God doesn't change.
China's governing Communist Party is set to launch a nationwide crackdown on the Christian Church.
By Matthew Carney - ABC
The Communist Party has just enacted much tougher laws that criminalise Christians if they do not pledge loyalty to the state.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that all religions now have to become "Chinese" and the new laws will attempt to bring churchgoers and their leaders under party control.
The new laws will put the state firmly in charge, giving the Communist Party the ability to hire and fire church leaders and change religious doctrine to make it more Chinese...
That means churchgoers will have to pledge loyalty to the Communist Party first.
There is good reason to be afraid. Chinese Authorities have already started the crackdown in the Christian heartland in the southern province of Zhejiang.
It's been extensive and brutal. In the past two years they have torn down nearly 2000 crosses and in some cases demolished churches.
Church leaders and their followers have been arrested and imprisoned.
There's also good reason to why the Communist Party is threatened by the Church.
Some say there are 100 million Christians in China — that's more than Communist Party members.
The Chinese Government admits there are about 25 million Christians registered at state-run churches where pastors are appointed by the state and theology approved by the governments Religious Affairs Bureau.
ABC http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-08/chinese-communist-partys-crackdown-on-religion/7912140
See also:
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/world/asia/china-religion-regulations.html
This just keeps going from bad to worse. We'll keep praying each day for relief. I know the God of justice will exact vengeance, so I have to keep my mind off of negative things . . . really sad.
Proud to be a Witness of Jehovah - to stand united in our neutrality regarding this worlds divisive affairs and politics. I know we are the custodians of the Truth because no other nation has the insight to understand this: we are in this world but no part of the world. We all are loyal only to Jehovah and his enthroned king and a peaceful, self-sacrificing lifestyle of which Jesus provided an excellent example. Let Jehovah find us all in peace and without spot from this world!
The bible quote above has got to do with Babylon the great whose fall will bring financial woes to all sectors associated with her wealth. There are socio-economic sectors associated with Babylon the great (world empire of false religion). Saw this article earlier this week:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/us-religion-worth-1-trillion-study-economy-apple-google
The global growth in exports by sea is slowing down... I wonder what South Korea did differently to China's export companies because the Chinese companies have weathered this slump in a better way.... Maybe the government of China is supporting their export industry- communistic system. Also - China export to many different goods to many different countries - making their business less vulnerable (diversity). I know too little of their companies to make proper evaluation. ... but this is an indication of more woes to come in the industry.... the bubble in the supply chain industry has had a burst.
They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning, and said: ‘Too bad, too bad, the great city, in which all those who had ships at sea became rich from her wealth, because in one hour she has been devastated!’
http://washpost.bloomberg.com/Story?docId=1376-ODF7FR6TTDSM01-7QA47V5QO42GJEGPOG7D5D27C1
The fall of South Korea’s biggest container line Hanjin Shipping Co. is similar to the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and has materially impacted the shipping industry, Seaspan Corp. Chief Executive Officer Gerry Wang said.
Seaspan, the Hong Kong-based container-ship leasing company that has three vessels chartered to the distressed line, is evaluating all options and examining systemic risks resulting from Hanjin’s bankruptcy filing, Wang said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. In June, Wang had rejected Hanjin’s requests for charter-rate cuts before the shipping line filed for court receivership last month.
“The fallout of Hanjin Shipping is like Lehman Brothers to the financial markets,” Wang said. “It’s a huge, huge nuclear bomb. It shakes up the supply chain, the cornerstone of globalization.”
If you watch the video - you will see how they discredited him, threatened, hounded him and spied on him. I have seen this so many times before - in other cases. These are the tactics these companies use. Where money is at stake - people are bought and they lose their integrity very quickly. These corporations usually pay other scientists to bring out studies that prove the opposite. Come on Ann, I did not think you were so naïve ......this is going on all the time!
It is an established fact that environmental poisons disrupt the hormone systems of people ...... and Americans are getting sicker and sicker.... because the FDA and EPA are not the watch dog they purport to be. A lot of the members are compromised... but that is another subject. Many of the poisons allowed in America are not allowed in Europe at all!
To give you a another good example: climate change. There are scientists who were paid to "scientifically" disprove climate change...and for a long time they had many Americans fooled. The evidence is now overwhelming...
When we are dealing with human lives - we need to show respect for lives - not money. If there is the slightest inkling that a substance can hurt people or the environment then companies must not react in this way - but voluntarily withdraw a substance and not adhere to the subterfuge they put this professor through.
I put this video for viewing so people can see what is going on. People know that these corporations are corrupt... but some do not realize how much they hound their victims. This scientist acted in good faith and was sure his data was correct - and look how he was treated. You really think this does not happen more often? This system is corrupt - only Jehovah will fix this when he removes all people without a conscience.. America's motto: In the dollar we trust. Definitely not God.
I spent one month in Lanzarote in the Canary January 2016
Assistant to the meeting in English 40- 50 (I count the passing tourists)
number of pioneer: I do not know
HollyW... The light of spiritual truth continues getting brighter. Would it not benefit us to adjust our thinking accordingly? We expect, yes, we rely on the GB to make corrections on anything they have reason to feel needs it. We know this is done, only after much time, effort and prayer, and is always based on a clearer understanding of the scriptures. At times, Jesus revealed, quite gradually, the light of Kingdom truths to his disciples. Those loyal to him waited patiently, knowing an explanation would come in due time. We serve Jehovah because he is Almighty God, Creator of the Universe. Not because of the dates and times of prophecy fulfillment! Those things do, however, serve as reminders that we need to keep a sense of urgency. It's exciting to know that we get to see the fulfillment of this most incredible prophesy, in our own lifetime! We get to witness the downfall of Satan and his demons! Jehovah deserves our love and loyalty. enough said about that! But, if you are having difficulty accepting 1914, then ask yourself how ALL of the signs that Jesus said would indicate the conclusion of this system of things is near, are happening NOW? For the first and only time in history, all of the signs are occurring, so much so, that even some in the world can tell it's the "time of the end." Remember, even the demons believe, and they shudder! Why is Satan so angry? Because he knows his time is very short! If it wasn't, he wouldn't have the whole world in chaos...
Between the third quarter of 2015 and the first three months of this year, 237 small business owners left the UAE as increasingly late invoices forced firms to miss their debt repayments, according to Coface, a credit insurance firm that monitors the trade credit of 20,000 UAE companies....
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/87ac0208-4e54-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc.html#axzz4IYhMlYbj
