This International Dateline episode includes three segments: Pakistan's Dirty Linen, Wimar Witoelar Interview, and Inside the Lao Gai.
Pakistan's Dirty Linen
Elizabeth Tadic traveled to Pakistan to attend a conference on violence against women; opened by the President Musharraf. The president had a simple piece of advice for the delegates – don't wash your dirty linen outside. This piece of advice could be aimed directly at one delegate in particular, Mukhtar Mai, a hero of the international women's movement. An astonishing woman, who 3 years ago was sentenced by her village tribal elders to be gang raped to atone for her brothers' offenses. She subsequently blew the whistle on this brutal aspect of so-called tribal justice.
Even though the government has supported her financially, building a school in her village, they would rather she kept her experiences under wraps and out of the international media spotlight. Elizabeth visits Mukhtar's home in Meerwala, a poor and remote village in the Southern Punjab, living only meters away from the family of her rapists.
Wimar Witoelar Interview
Investigations into the most recent bombings in Bali are underway as experts and politicians attempt to fathom why this island continues to be used by religious fanatics for violent political ends. What motivates not just Indonesian suicide bombers but terrorists calling themselves Islamic Jihadists? George Negus speaks to Wimar Witoelar, advisor to former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, and now political analyst, who provides insights into the implications of this latest bombing.
Inside the Lao Gai
In June 2005, a Chinese labor camp defector surfaced in Canada with insider knowledge of the system. Han Guansheng ran four labor camps and two prisons in China, making him one of the highest-ranking defectors to have emerged. Having experienced "a long struggle between duty and conscience", he details cruel human rights abuses, torture, and execution behind the lao gai walls. This footage, smuggled out of China by dissidents is difficult to watch and confirms previous claims of unbearable treatment of prisoners inside the Gulags.
About International Dateline
SBS Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program. It has a well-earned reputation for authoritative and incisive reporting. Dateline has taken the traditional way of producing TV current affairs and turned it on its head. Reporters who used to travel with a cameraperson and sound recordist now travel alone and have the responsibility of both filming and reporting their stories. The reporters became video-journalists, gaining access to people and places that the conventional camera crews cannot.
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