Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) vowed yesterday to improve treatment of detainees amid widespread criticism and concerns about human rights violations during investigations.
“We are going to use the UN’s and other countries’ regulations as references and thoroughly review and modify [treatment of detainees] so that our protection of detainees’ human rights will live up to international standards,” Wang said when approached for comment in the legislature.
Wang said the ministry had established a special task force to review detention regulations, including those covering hair, the availability of hot water for washing and prosecutors’ authority to request suspects be detained before trial.
The ministry was criticized after former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), who has been detained for alleged corruption, was spotted by reporters with a crew cut.
Wang said the ministry was also reviewing the appropriateness of handcuffing former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when he was detained on Nov. 11 for alleged money laundering. Prosecutors are supposed to only handcuff suspects who may commit a violent crime, commit suicide or escape, she said.
“There have been some [concerns] like several advertisements [sic] published in the Taipei Times. Some international figures questioned why our Special Investigation Panel only focused its investigations on [former] government officials affiliated with the pan-green camp,” she said.
Wang was referring to an open letter from former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi and several others published by the Taipei Times on Tuesday. The signatories said they remained concerned about “choices made by prosecutors in applying existing legal authority and strongly believe in the need for reform” following the detention of several officials of the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
The government was determined to push judicial reform, Wang said.
“We will do what should be done in terms of human rights protection,” she said. “This government faces problems and solves them. The nation pushed democratic reform in the past. There’s no reason we can’t push [judicial reform] in the 21st century.”
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), head of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, will leave for Washington on Sunday. His delegation will explain to US officials that the KMT government has not violated human rights during the investigations of former DPP officials.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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