- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2024
- Event Description
Kachin religious leader Dr. Hkalam Samson, who was released on Myanmar’s New Year amnesty on April 17, was reportedly re-arrested by the military junta.
According to a person close to the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), Dr. Hkalam Samson was rearrested after the military arrived with a large force at the home of Dr. Hkalam Samson in Tapkone Ward, Myitkyina town, Kachin State, at about 11:00 p.m. on April 17.
“It’s right he was arrested. After he got home, the military came back and re-arrested him at night. The military force was quite large. It was at least 20 forces,” he said.
He added that it is not known for what reason Dr. Hkalam Samson was re-arrested and where he was being arrested until now.
Dr. Hkalam Samson was appointed as a special advisor to the Kachin Baptist Church (KBC) in 2022. He was arrested by the military junta at Mandalay International Airport on December 5, 2022. He was sentenced to 6 years in prison under section 17 (1) of the Unlawful Association Act and sections 505(a) and 52 (a) of the Penal Code.
After being imprisoned for more than a year in Myitkyina Prison, he was released on amnesty but was re-arrested by the military for no reason.
“Such re-arrests should not be done at all. It is lawlessness. The military does not easily release those who have strong convictions and those who can resist. If those do not negotiate with the military junta, they re-arrest and put those back in prison. I want to comment the military junta should not do this kind of inequality to political prisoners,” said Ko Thaik Tun Oo, a member of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network.
Similarly, singer Saw Poe Kwar who was released on amnesty, was re-arrested at the entrance of Insein Prison, on November 15, 2022.
In addition, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 110 political prisoners were re-arrested after release on amnesty nationwide in 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: community-based defender charged with terrorism
- Date added
- Apr 28, 2024
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 8, 2024
- Event Description
In the heart of Myanmar's Bago Region, a stark event unfolded on February 8, claiming the life of Noble Aye, a prominent activist known for her unwavering commitment to democracy and human rights. As she was returning from a court appearance in Waw Township, junta troops fatally shot her, a tragic end to a life dedicated to fighting for freedom in a country marred by political unrest and repression. This incident is not an isolated tragedy but a reflection of the ongoing violence the military regime inflicts upon those who dare to stand against it.
The Life and Legacy of Noble Aye Noble Aye's activism was not born in a moment but shaped by years of witnessing and opposing the injustices perpetrated by Myanmar's military regime. Her voice first echoed in the streets during the protests against police brutality in 1996 and again in 2007, marking her as a relentless advocate for change. Her commitment to the cause saw her behind bars, a testament to her resilience and dedication to the pro-democracy movement. Even after her arrest at a military checkpoint on January 29, under the allegation of possessing weapons, her spirit remained unbroken. Noble Aye's journey, tragically cut short, serves as a poignant reminder of the ultimate sacrifice many activists face in the pursuit of justice and freedom.
A Pattern of Violence and Denial The killing of Noble Aye and another political prisoner, as they returned from a court appearance, underscores a grim pattern of violence against political dissenters in Myanmar. Reports suggest that the junta troops did not hesitate to use lethal force near the village of Kyaik Hla, a stark demonstration of the regime's brutality. Despite these clear acts of violence, the military junta denies that the prisoners died in its custody, a claim that stands in stark contrast to the reality experienced by those who oppose the regime. This denial is not new but part of a longstanding tradition of obfuscation and misinformation aimed at suppressing the truth about the regime's actions.
The Unforgotten and the Unyielding In June 2023, another harrowing incident saw at least 13 political prisoners shot dead by troops in central Bago following a prison truck crash, a stark reminder of the dangers faced by those incarcerated for their political beliefs. These incidents, though heartbreaking, are pivotal in highlighting the sheer resilience and courage of Myanmar's pro-democracy activists. Noble Aye's death, while a profound loss, also serves as a rallying cry for those who continue to fight against oppression and for the establishment of a truly democratic society in Myanmar. Her legacy, and those of countless others who have sacrificed their lives, fuels the unyielding spirit of resistance against tyranny.
In the wake of Noble Aye's untimely demise, the world is reminded once again of the ongoing struggle for democracy and human rights in Myanmar. The military regime's continued repression and violence against its own people underscore a critical need for international attention and action. As the news of Noble Aye's death spreads, it ignites a renewed determination among activists and supporters of democracy worldwide to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar. Their fight is far from over, but Noble Aye's life and legacy endure, inspiring all who seek justice and freedom in the face of oppression.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2024
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 31, 2024
- Event Description
Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local online outlet Western News who also had reported for the independent Democratic Voice of Burma, the shuttered 7Day News newspaper, and the banned newspaper The Voice, was shot and killed on January 31 while in military custody in the town of Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, according to news reports and Western News editor-in-chief Wunna Khwar Nyo, who spoke with CPJ.
The journalist’s body was found along with six other political detainees buried in a bomb shelter in the Light Infantry Battalion 378’s camp, after it was overrun on February 5 by the insurgent Arakan Army, which is fighting military forces in the area, those sources said, adding that the bodies, including Myat Thu Tan’s, showed signs of torture.
“We strongly condemn the murder of journalist Myat Thu Tan and call on Myanmar authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “A culture of impunity has taken deep root in Myanmar since the 2021 democracy-suspending coup. The junta must stop killing, and start protecting, journalists.”
Myanmar’s military government announced this week that it plans to conscript 60,000 people, suggesting that it is coming under pressure from pro-democracy fighters since seizing power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021.
Myat Thu Tan, also known as Phoe Thiha, was arrested at his home in Mrauk-U on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under Section 505(a) of the penal code, a broad provision that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news, for critical posts he made on his Facebook page, according to The Irrawaddy and Wunna Khwar Nyo.
Myat Thu Tan was denied family visits while held at Mrauk-U Prison and had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death, Wunna Khwar Nyo told CPJ. The journalist was transferred with the other detainees to the Light Infantry Battalion 378 camp before they were killed, Wunna Khwar Nyo said.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for information on Myat Thu Tan’s killing.
Myanmar ranked 9th on CPJ’s latest Global Impunity Index, an annual global ranking of countries where the killers of journalists habitually get away with murder. The nation also is the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, according to CPJ’s 2023 prison census.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 20, 2024
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 10, 2024
- Event Description
On January 10, a Myanmar military court closed to the public sentenced award-winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe to life in prison on trumped-up terrorism charges. Her conviction and harsh sentencing is the latest example of the Myanmar junta’s relentless persecution of the media.
Police arrested Shin Daewe, 50, on October 15 after finding her with an aerial drone. Though drones are often used by journalists, their possession is illegal in Myanmar. She was charged under Myanmar’s draconian Counterterrorism Law of 2014 – which the junta has sharpened into a tool of oppression – for “financing and abetting terrorism,” and received the maximum punishment, characteristic of the junta-controlled courts.
Speaking to local media, Shin Daewe's husband said that the police held her for almost two weeks in an unknown location before transferring her to Yangon’s Insein prison. He said that prison sources told him she appeared to have welts and bruises on her arms and stitches on her head, which suggested she was badly beaten in custody.
Other journalists have been convicted in summary trials since the junta seized power in a February 2021 coup. On September 6, 2023, a military tribunal convicted a Myanmar Now journalist on various charges including sedition and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Military authorities arrested Sai Zaw Thaike, 40, in Rakhine State on May 26 as he covered the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha.
Like Shin Daewe, Sai Zaw Thaike was held in Insein prison and denied access to legal representation, in violation of basic international due process standards. Both journalists were sentenced by military tribunals in closed proceedings.
In violation of the right to freedom of expression, Myanmar junta members have repeatedly attacked the media for independent or critical reporting. The rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners reported that the military continues to wrongfully detain at least 61 journalists among the more than 19,900 people it has rounded up since the coup.
The unfair trials and cruel sentences handed down to Shin Daewe and Sai Zaw Thaike are part of a broader effort to instill fear in the junta’s critics, suppress independent coverage, and deny the reality of the military’s serious and ongoing rights violations.
The junta should immediately release Shin Daewe, Sai Zae Thaike, and others wrongfully convicted for their journalism, and allow a free media to flourish.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 14, 2024
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 22, 2024
- Event Description
A university student died in a prison in central Myanmar due to neglect, an activist told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
Su May Aung died in Magway Prison after receiving poor medical treatment and not having access to medication for chronic illnesses, the Magway University Student Union said.
She died on Monday after being in jail for nearly two years.
The 22-year-old was sentenced to 15 years in prison under Section 50j of the country’s notorious counter-terrorism laws for financing terrorism, a common charge for civilians donating to resistance groups. She was sentenced in early 2022.
Su May Aung had suffered from lupus, as well as liver and heart diseases before the arrest, but died while undergoing emergency treatment at Magway Hospital, the Magway University Student Union statement said. She died as a result of “poor medicine in the prison,” according to the statement.
RFA contacted Magway University Student Union representatives by phone on Friday to learn more details about Su May Aung’s death, but the group could not be reached by the time of publication.
Calls to the deputy director general of the junta’s Naypyidaw Prison Department also went unanswered.
The junta’s prison department never officially releases news about deaths in prisons across the country, said Thaik Tun Oo, a member of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network.
“We have learned that prison officials have been ordered from higher levels not to leak the information of these incidents in prison, according to the prison officials,” he told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
“[Officials] are also pressuring and threatening the remaining family members not to speak to the media too.”
Su May Aung was a chemistry honors student at Magway University and opposed the military coup as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement after the junta seized power in Feb. 2021, the student union’s statement said, urging action from the international community.
According to a Myanmar Political Prisoners Network statement released on Dec. 31, 34 political prisoners died in jail in 2023. Among them, 18 were murdered and 16 people died as a result of medical neglect.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death
- Rights Concerned
- Right to health, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 12, 2024
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 11, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military regime detained two Myeik-based reporters working for Dawei Watch on December 11, the Dawei-based news outlet said in a statement on Wednesday.
Junta soldiers told family members that Ko Aung Hsan Oo and Ko Myo Myint Oo were arrested for writing news stories, the statement said.
The two were arrested without a warrant, and their mobile phones and family members’ mobile phones, including two laptops belonging to Dawei Watch, were also confiscated by the junta soldiers.
According to the latest investigation, the two men are being detained and questioned at the interrogation centre, the statement said.
Journalists are demanding the immediate release of the Dawei Watch reporters who are being illegally detained and under investigation, as writing news is not a crime.
Dawei Watch is a respected news outlet that operates under a media licence.
The regime detained two reporters and a staff employee of Dawei Watch on January 18, 2022, and released the trio eight days later.
After the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, many journalists have been arrested and media freedoms have been greatly curtailed.
Reporters from various Myanmar media outlets face prosecution and many journalists and employees of new organisations have gone into hiding.
The regime arrested reporter Ko Htet Aung and security guard Ko Soe Win Aung of DMG on October 29 as more than 20 junta troops raided and sealed off DMG’s head office in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
Journalists say the regime is targeting journalists and news outlets for exposing its human rights violations.
“After the military coup, the regime began to target the news media directly. The regime started to label the news media that actually exposed human rights violations as subversive media. The regime’s arresting of journalists is a deliberate threat to prevent journalists from reporting,” said an Arakan State-based reporter.
Dozens of journalists have been detained since the coup and at least 50 remain in prisons across the country.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 20, 2023
- Event Description
A regime-controlled court in Indaw Township, upper Sagaing Region, sentenced a teacher volunteering for the publicly mandated anti-junta National Unity Government (NUG) to life imprisonment last week, according to resistance sources.
Hein Min Thu, also known as Arnold, was teaching at a school operated by the NUG in Kyaw village two miles south of Indaw before his arrest. He was also a participant in the civil disobedience movement (CDM), known for organising strikes opposing the Myanmar military regime since it seized power in February 2021, the Indaw Township People’s Defence Team (PDT) said.
He was arrested at his home in Indaw on June 5, according to the Indaw Township PDT, and was handed his sentence on October 20.
The military subjected Hein Min Thu to interrogation, holding him for five months before convicting him on terrorism charges for collecting funds for the NUG, teaching at an NUG-operated school and failing to inform the authorities about resistance groups’ activities, according to propaganda posts on pro-regime social media channels.
The pro-junta posts also claimed that military courts in Sagaing Region have sentenced 283 people.
“The terrorist military council charges and tortures people in all kinds of ways in order to maintain their power. We will be able to put an end to such abuses only after the military dictatorship falls,” said NUG deputy minister of education Sai Khaing Myo Tun.
Since the military coup nearly three years ago, regime authorities have arrested more than 380 teachers participating in the CDM, according to figures published this month by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Aung Myat Moe, a secretary of the Basic Education General Strike Committee, confirmed that the military council is purposefully targeting educational workers who joined the CDM and handing them excessively severe sentences.
“They are trying to weaken the education and health workers’ civil disobedience mechanism, which is currently strong. They are also approaching individual teachers, trying to persuade them to renounce their participation. The reason for giving a teacher a life sentence is intimidation; their message is that if you keep doing this, the consequences will be disastrous,” he said.
In December of 2022, a junta court handed a death sentence to a 25-year-old primary school teacher participating in the CDM from Myan Aung Township, Ayeyarwady Region. The court had found him guilty of murder and terrorism.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 24, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 18, 2023
- Event Description
A protest leader from Sagaing Region’s Chaung-U Township was sentenced to an additional 11 years in prison on terror charges on Wednesday, according to a source close to his family.
Man Zar Myay Mon was handed the sentence by a special court at Sagaing’s Monywa Prison, where he is currently being held.
“He was given another 11 years on terrorism charges, in addition to the 10 years he has already received for five violations of Section 505 of the Penal Code,” said the source, referring to a colonial-era law against incitement.
Prison authorities also plan to prosecute Man Zar Myay Mon on charges related to his participation in a hunger strike held at Monywa Prison in September, the source added.
Around 50 political prisoners took part in the strike, which was held to protest repressive conditions inside the prison, according to the Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee.
A member of Sagaing Region’s National League for Democracy (NLD) youth chapter, Man Zar Myay Mon was shot in the leg while attempting to evade arrest on June 8, 2021. During five days of interrogation, his fingers were also broken.
In March 2015, he faced a brutal crackdown while taking part in student-led protests in the town of Letpadan in Bago Region. He also tried to run in the 2020 general election as the NLD candidate for Chaung-U, but did not receive the party nomination.
He has also worked as a freelance journalist and is a Sagaing Region member of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 19,593 people remain in prison for opposing the regime that seized power in February 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 24, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Event Description
Two engineers in Sagaing Region’s township by the same name were recently arrested alongside a relative for participating in the general strike against military rule as part of the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
Aung San Win and Myo Su Thet, a married couple and both junior engineers in their 30s, walked out of their jobs at the road affairs department within the ministry of construction following the February 2021 military coup. They were arrested more than two years later on September 30, with a cousin during a junta raid on their home in Sein Kone ward.
The individuals were taken into military custody after soldiers reportedly uncovered information confirming their anti-junta stance on a computer in the residence, according to local sources.
The cousin, who worked as a Japanese language tutor, was not the target of the raid, but reportedly became a person of interest to the troops when she tried to contact Aung San Win and Myo Su Thet during the search of their home.
“While the soldiers were arresting the couple, the cousin had repeatedly called their phone, prompting the military to ask who was calling. They made the couple show the way to the cousin’s house and arrested her along with them,” said a man from Sagaing Township with knowledge of the case.
All three people were still being held at the Sagaing Central Police Station at the time of reporting, but no information was available regarding the charges against them.
They were permitted to meet members of their family on October 5.
The military council has not released any official information regarding their arrest. Pro-junta propaganda channels on Telegram reported that two CDM engineers in Sagaing were detained because the military found records of them discussing revolutionary groups on a mobile phone.
The military appears to have increased its crackdown on support for the resistance in Sagaing, where the principal of a private school and the owner of a well-known local phone store were also arrested in late September.
According to the monitoring and advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at the time of reporting, at least 4,100 people had been killed by the junta since the coup, and nearly 20,000 were in detention. AAPP has emphasised that these figures are only those cases which can be verified, with the actual figures likely much higher.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 22, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 24, 2023
- Event Description
A 20-year-old political prisoner who was arrested in 2021 in connection with a military raid on an apartment in Botahtaung Township, Yangon, died in Insein Prison on Sunday.
A source close to his family said that prison authorities informed them of the death of Min Hein Khant, who also went by the name Ah Kyae, around noon on September 24.
“He suddenly felt tired and complained of chest pain before collapsing into a sitting position. His head was down, and he was unable to rise again,” the source said.
“Before his death, he was acting happy alongside his friends. They said it was sudden.”
The source close to the family said that Min Hein Khant, who had no known heart condition or other medical problems before his imprisonment, was last seen in relatively good health on May 25, when he appeared in court.
“He was suffering from heart disease, a prison doctor said. They told him he would have to seek a cure only after getting out of prison, and that he should just continue to take the medicines they prescribed in the meantime,” the source said.
Since last August, his family had been buying and sending medicines according to the prison doctor’s prescriptions.
Because of a shortage of medications in the prison hospital, Min Hein Khant had appealed to the prison authorities in writing to receive treatment at an external hospital, but was not granted a transfer.
Min Hein Khant’s body was reportedly cremated at Yay Way Cemetery at 2pm on Monday after his family received it from the prison.
Following his arrest on November 1, 2021, The young activist had spent 54 days in an interrogation centre and one year and 10 months in Insein Prison before his death.
Min Hein Khant was serving a sentence of 27 years in prison on various charges, including violations of the Counter-Terrorism Law, attempted murder under Section 307 of the Penal Code, incitement under Section 505, and offences related to making and possessing explosive weapons.
Following the coup, Min Hein Khant became a member of the Pazundaung-Botahtaung Youth Strike Committee (PBYSC). He was a 10th grade student at the time.
When junta troops raided an apartment occupied by PBYSC activists on August 10, 2021, five people jumped from the building in an attempt to escape. Two died at the scene and the other three were arrested after sustaining injuries.
In addition to the three detained during the apartment raid, the junta later arrested eight more in connection with the case. With one exception, a patient at the Yangon General Hospital, the junta ultimately transferred these detainees to Bago Region’s Tharyarwaddy Prison, which is notorious for the severe abuse its authorities have inflicted on political prisoners.
Having evaded capture during the apartment raid, Min Hein Khant and his fellow activist Kaung Sett established the 44th Urban Guerrilla Group and continued participating in the resistance against the coup regime, but were arrested two months later.
Junta forces fatally shot Kaung Sett’s father during his arrest. Min Hein Khant and Kaung Sett remained in Insein Prison, where Kaung Sett is currently serving a 25-year sentence.
According to the human rights monitoring organisation Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), tens of thousands have been arrested on suspicion of anti-regime activities as of September of this year. According to data collected by AAPP, there are at least 19,260 political prisoners still in detention, and at least 4,100 people have been killed by the military regime.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death
- Rights Concerned
- Right to health, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: youth surviving a raid sentenced
- Date added
- Oct 22, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 25, 2023
- Event Description
Four members of a local strike committee in Sagaing Region’s Kalay Township were each sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday for alleged acts of terror, according to the group.
The prisoners were already serving two-year sentences for incitement that were handed down a month after their arrest earlier this year.
It was unclear what alleged offences the latest charges were based on.
Than Soe Oo, Tian Date Kim, Ei San and Myo Ko Oo, who are all members of the Kalay Central Strike Committee, were arrested in the town’s Tut Oo Thidar Ward on April 16.
The military also ransacked and sealed their homes, a member of the committee told Myanmar Now.
“The junta knows very well that they don’t have the people’s support, so every public movement scares them. That’s why they’re sentencing so many protesters to prison,” the strike committee member said.
Protesters in Kalay were among the first in the country to take up arms against the regime that overthrew Myanmar’s elected civilian government in February 2021.
Nearly 60 members of the town’s strike committee are currently being held by the regime, resulting in a steep decline in the number of protests.
However, Kalay Township and many other parts of Sagaing Region remain hotbeds of armed dissent more than two and a half years after the coup.
According to latest figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the junta has arrested nearly 25,000 people for anti-regime activities since seizing power.
Of these, 19,278 remain behind bars, while another 391 have died in custody, the advocacy group claimed.
- Impact of Event
- 10
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 22, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 10, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military regime has arrested a Yangon resident for the apparent crime of being the father of a prominent anti-junta activist.
Retired schoolteacher Kyaw Aye, 68, has been in police custody since he was taken from his home in Tamwe Township early Sunday morning, members of his family told Myanmar Now.
It has since been confirmed that he is being held for incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code—a charge frequently deployed against critics of the regime.
Kyaw Aye is the father of Rahul Kyaw Kyaw Maung, a veteran activist better known as Kyaw Ko Ko.
Kyaw Ko Ko, 42, is a former chair of the ABFSU, or All Burma Federation of Student Unions, who was imprisoned in the past for his involvement in the 2007 Saffron Revolution and other efforts to end military rule in Myanmar.
Following the overthrow of the country’s elected civilian government in February 2021, he joined the armed resistance movement. His current whereabouts are unknown.
His father’s arrest on Sunday was not unexpected, as there had been calls for the regime to take action against him on pro-junta Telegram channels.
According to a relative, Kyaw Aye decided against fleeing because he knew that it would only increase pressure on the rest of his family.
“He decided not to go anywhere because the military would have arrested another family member even if he managed to evade,” the relative said.
Kyaw Ko Ko has been wanted by the junta since he escaped arrest following a crackdown on anti-coup protests in Yangon in March 2021.
A month later, three of his friends, including his girlfriend, Su Zarli Shein, were arrested while travelling from Yangon to Loikaw in Karenni (Kayah) State.
“They arrested her because they couldn’t find me and arrest me,” he said at the time.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 2, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 4, 2023
- Event Description
A group of workers and their supporters, who were arrested after demanding higher wages in the garment industry earlier this year, were freed this week after pledging not to participate in unlawful associations.
The 12 workers’ rights advocates included employees of the Hosheng Myanmar Garment Factory, employees of the Sun Apparel Myanmar factory, activists affiliated with the Action Labor Rights organisation, and the owner of a tea shop where they regularly met.
On June 14, several of the activists went to the general administration office in Shwepyithar Township, Yangon, to register a complaint about the dismissal of seven Hosheng Myanmar employees who had asked for a raise.
Junta authorities arrested the labor activists and their associates over the next several days, holding two at the Shwepyithar police station and transferring the remaining ten to Insein Prison.
Authorities initially brought charges against the detainees under Section 505(a) of the Myanmar Penal Code on incitement, under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, and under Section 40 of Registration of Associations Act.
However, the junta released the detainees on Monday after giving them a document to sign, according to Thurein Aung, a spokesperson for Action Labor Rights.
“According to the letter, if they engage in unlawful associations, they are subject to having their penalties doubled,” he said, referring to the document signed by the detainees.
“They had to sign it with their fingerprints,” he added.
Shortly after the labour activists’ arrest in June, a regime-controlled newspaper reporting the incident accused Thurein Aung and another associate of the Action Labor Rights organisation, Thuza, of incitement. Both have had to take precautions to avoid arrest in the intervening months.
It is uncertain whether the garment factory workers will return to their jobs at Hosheng Myanmar and Sun Apparel following their release.
“A complaint has been filed with the labour office regarding their dismissals and the case has been accepted. But investigations on the case haven’t started. I don’t know whether the factories will rehire them,” Thurein Aung said.
“We have appealed to Zara about re-employing them,” Thurein Aung said, referring to the flagship retail brand of the clothing company that sources clothes from the Hosheng factory.
Inditex, the parent company for several globally recognised clothing retailers including Zara, announced plans in June to make a “gradual” exit from Myanmar following international condemnation of the junta’s treatment of garment industry workers.
This year, after living through more than two years of inflation since the military coup, more workers began to demand an increase in the minimum daily wage from 4,800 to 5,600 kyat.
Authorities are required by law to readjust the minimum wage in Myanmar every two years, but the last adjustment occurred in 2018 during the administration of the National League for Democracy, when it increased from 3,600 to 4,800 kyat for an eight-hour workday.
The wage has remained the same under the military regime, as authorities have ignored the requirement to adjust the wage and suppressed protests organised in support of workers’ rights.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 14, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 6, 2023
- Event Description
On September 6, a military tribunal in Yangon sentenced photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike to 20 years in prison, the harshest sentence handed down to a media professional since the junta’s takeover of Myanmar in 2021. The journalist was arrested on May 23 in Sittwe, the capital of the western Rakhine state, after he had been dispatched to cover the impact of Cyclone Mocha earlier that month.
Following his arrest, the journalist was subjected to interrogation in both Sittwe and Yangon before being transferred to Yangon’s Insein Prison in June. His initial indictment included allegations of misinformation, incitement, and sedition, including charges under Section 505a of Myanmar’s penal code - used to silence independent and critical journalism. The full list of charges faced by the journalist is currently unknown.
Sai Zaw Thaike was convicted following a one-day trial inside Insein Prison. He was not given access to legal representation and his family has been denied visitation rights in the months since his arrest.
Since the military coup in February 2021, Myanmar’s military has conducted a relentless campaign against fundamental human rights, exploiting existing and newly introduced legislation to crack down on free expression and independent media. As of September 7, at least 72 media workers are believed to be behind bars, according to various human rights organisations.
In the IFJ’s 2022 Myanmar situation report, The Revolution Will Not Be Broadcast, the slate of attacks, killings detentions, and draconian charges against journalists and media workers since 2021 are identified as common practice for the de-facto authorities.
The IFJ said: “The barbaric sentence levelled against Sai Zaw Thaike represents the excesses of a regime responsible for grave human rights violations against its citizens. The IFJ strongly condemns the arbitrary sentencing of yet another journalist by the military junta and urges the international community to do more to support Myanmar’s embattled independent media.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 13, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 23, 2023
- Event Description
A retired ophthalmologist and his family were arrested in Mandalay on Wednesday for allegedly funding the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF), according to sources.
Dr. Mya Than and his wife Myint Myat Khine, both in their 70s, were taken into custody along with their 45-year-old son, Yan Naung Tun, a neighbour told Myanmar Now.
“They’re a peaceful and charitable family. They always give free treatment to patients who can’t afford it,” said the neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The family’s clinic and condominium apartment, located next to each other in the city’s Aungmyaythazan Township, were also sealed off following their arrest, photos shared on pro-junta Telegram channels showed.
According to the neighbour, Myint Myat Khine was an associate professor at the Mandalay University of Distance Education until she quit her job after the military seized power in February 2021.
Her arrest on Wednesday appeared to be related to her participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule, the neighbour added.
The regime has designated the PDF, which serves as the armed wing of the shadow National Unity Government, as a terrorist organisation. It has also criminalised virtually any form of support for the anti-junta resistance.
In recent weeks, it has stepped up its efforts to stifle dissent in Mandalay. On August 9, it re-arrested Nwe Nwe Win, chair of the Shwe Mahar Nwe Social Welfare group, following her release from prison as part of an amnesty earlier in the year.
She was accused of “engaging in political activities under the guise of social work” after a doctored photo of her holding a protest sign was posted on a pro-regime Telegram channel.
The following week, on August 13, the regime detained Myint Myint Than, a shop owner in her 70s, for writing a post on social media expressing sympathy for young anti-junta activists.
Last week, the junta closed Mandalay’s Golden Gate Private High School and arrested its founder and management team, and earlier this week it shut down the privately owned Mingalar Hospital for allegedly employing doctors taking part in the CDM.
Regime opponents say the recent wave of arrests, which has also targeted alleged members of urban guerrilla groups, is a sign of the military’s tenuous grip on power.
“They’re trying to instil fear in the public because they know they’re losing,” said a young man based in a liberated area.
He also urged people living in Myanmar’s cities not to lose heart as they face growing pressure from the junta to abandon hope of real political change.
“I just want people to know that the revolution wouldn’t have gotten this far if everyone was afraid of them. I would also like to apologise to people in urban areas and ask them to hang on a while longer.”
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 6, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 3, 2023
- Event Description
At least 40 people living near the Letpadaung copper mining project in Sagaing Region’s Salingyi Township were forced from their homes this month after the military put barbed wire fencing around the nearby village of Wet Hmay.
Some 300 troops arrived in Wet Hmay on the evening of August 3 with an ultimatum.
“The authorities ordered the villagers to leave,” one of the departing Wet Hmay residents told Myanmar Now. “They said that if we didn’t want to move, they wouldn’t shoulder any responsibility for the consequences.”
Around two-thirds of the village’s 100 households had already vacated the location in 2010 after being made to accept some compensation from the then-government in exchange for their lands. Members of around 35 households had stayed behind, refusing the offer.
The military proceeded to cordon off these remaining homes after their recent arrival.
The man who spoke to Myanmar Now explained that, faced with food insecurity and the encroaching military presence, he decided to depart Wet Hmay earlier this month.
“The fear of being shot at any given moment has compelled us to make the difficult choice to relocate,” he said. “The villagers are restricted from leaving and outsiders are prohibited from entering,” he continued, adding that under the occupation, they were living only on a meagre supply of rice and oil.
Nearly half of the residents are children or elderly persons with nowhere else to go, according to locals, who said they were not given any warning about the move.
“The soldiers told us that they would continue to […] clear out the village, so we no longer dared to stay. So far, they haven’t taken down [the fence],” another resident added.
On August 8 and 11, six villagers were summoned to the compound of the Chinese Wanbao company, which is jointly operating the Letpadaung mine with the military conglomerate Myanmar Economic Holdings, Ltd., although they announced in May of last year that the project had been suspended since the February 2021 coup.
The individuals selected to come to the compound last week were reportedly initially offered compensation to leave Wet Hmay, but residents said that negotiations have not reached a resolution and no recent payments have been made.
Wanbao, which was sanctioned by the US in July 2021, previously said that they would adhere to the ousted civilian government’s land compensation rate of 1.8m kyat (US$857) per acre. Myanmar army soldiers are known to be stationed within Wanbao’s compound, and have patrolled the surrounding area, where several villages have been targeted in junta arson attacks and residents arrested and killed.
According to a statement from the Salingyi Township Public Administration Team—which operates under the publicly mandated anti-junta National Unity Government—more than 400 homes in 13 villages have been burnt down in this way, and 17 civilians killed by the troops stationed at the Wanbao site.
The Salingyi administrative team has vowed to “take action” against Wanbao unless they cease their cooperation with the military council, as Letpadaung residents say that a reopening of the copper mining project is imminent.
On Monday, two army columns in the area carried out an offensive that forced some 7,000 residents living along a central highway connecting Salingyi to Monywa to flee.
The next day, seven men from two villages in the township—Gon Taw and Don Taw—were arrested by junta troops. A nine-year-old boy, Kyaw Thiha, from the village of Pay Kone in neighbouring Yinmabin Township, was killed that same afternoon by military artillery fire, and five other people injured.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to housing, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 24, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 15, 2023
- Event Description
One political prisoner was killed and another critically injured when a resistance group ambushed a junta convoy transferring the inmates out of Monywa Prison in Sagaing Region on Tuesday.
The trucks were transporting around 100 detainees to prisons in Myingyan and Mandalay when they came under attack, according to an officer in a Monywa-based guerrilla force. He identified the deceased prisoner as 33-year-old Dr Zau Htoi Awng.
“Around four were injured and the doctor died. Another prisoner who had his foot cuffed to the doctor is bleeding out, too,” he told Myanmar Now.
This man was identified by another Monywa-based source as Arkar Nyein Chan, serving a 12-year sentence for terrorism.
One police officer was reportedly also killed and another injured, he added.
A family member and two Monywa locals confirmed Zau Htoi Awng’s death. The doctor had taken part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and anti-junta protests, and had also founded the Chindwin Medical Network and ran a mobile clinic operating in the conflict-torn Sagaing townships of Kani, Yinmabin and Mingin.
He was charged with terrorism after his arrest on September 25, 2021 and later handed a 10-year sentence, according to the local monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
A friend of the deceased said that the resistance groups that intercepted the convoy knew it would be carrying prisoners, and had obtained intel around the identities of some of those en route. The anti-junta forces had warned one another not to use explosives in the attack, to avoid harming the detainees.
Also within the convoy were reportedly trucks carrying copper from the Letpadaung mining project in Sagaing’s Salingyi Township.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 24, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 9, 2023
- Event Description
A charity worker who was released from Mandalay’s Obo Prison under a junta amnesty earlier this year has been arrested again, according to sources close to her family.
Relatives of Nwe Nwe Win, the chair of the Shwe Mahar Nwe Social Welfare group, said they lost contact with her after she left her home in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township on Wednesday afternoon to donate blood at a local hospital.
“After she left for the hospital, her phone went dead. We didn’t know she had been arrested until we saw the post on Han Nyein Oo’s Telegram channel,” said the family friend, who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
Han Nyein Oo is the name of a pro-junta social media account that had earlier made calls for Nwe Nwe Win’s arrest. Late Wednesday, it posted photos of her blindfolded and seated in the back of a police vehicle after she was arrested for “engaging in political activities under the guise of social work.”
In a previous post, the channel showed a photo of a woman that it claimed to be Nwe Nwe Win holding up a sheet of white paper with the words “35th anniversary of the 8-8-88 uprising” written on it. Tuesday, August 8, was the anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy protest movement.
“They posted that photo just hours before she was arrested, but that wasn’t her in the photo,” said the family friend. “Since her release, she hasn’t been politically active at all. She has only been doing charity work.”
Another friend agreed that the woman in the photo, whose face was blurred, was not Nwe Nwe Win.
“They have entirely different hairstyles. And [Nwe Nwe Win] wouldn’t post such a picture on her Facebook,” said the friend, who also did not want to be named.
“Somebody framed her,” she added.
Nwe Nwe Win’s friends and family also expressed concern about her health, as she has been receiving treatment for a number of medical conditions since her release from prison in early May.
Nwe Nwe Win was arrested during a raid on her group’s office in Mandalay’s Aungmyay Thazan Township on November 15, 2021. She was later handed a three-year prison sentence on charges of incitement.
Hundreds of political prisoners, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, social welfare activists, and monks, are currently being held at Obo Prison and in the notorious Mandalay Palace interrogation centre, where many have died in regime custody.
Pro-junta Telegram channels have increasingly been used to target activists opposed to the regime that seized power in February 2021.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 24,238 people have been arrested since the coup, of whom 19,733 are still in detention.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 22, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 19, 2023
- Event Description
Prison guards at Myanmar’s Thayarwady (Tharyawaddy) Prison have beaten 31 inmates for marking the country’s Martyrs’ Day and four are being treated for their injuries in the prison hospital, sources told RFA Friday.
Prisoners held a saluting ceremony on July 19, while women inmates wore black ribbons, said the sources close to the prison who didn’t want to be named for security reasons.
They said 16 men and 15 women have been locked up since then.
Martyr’s Day marks the July 19, 1947 assassination of nine Myanmar independence leaders, shot dead by members of a rival political group while holding a cabinet meeting in Yangon. The victims were Prime Minister Aung San, Minister of Information Ba Cho, Minister of Industry and Labor Mahn Ba Khaing, Minister of Trade Ba Win, Minister of Education Abdul Razak, and Myanmar’s unofficial Deputy Prime Minister Thakin Mya.
Less than six months after the end of British rule, the date of their assassination was designated a national holiday. It is marked annually by both the military regime and pro-democracy groups.
The prison ceremonies are thought to have been organized by Than Toe Aung, head of Yangon region’s Thanlyin township Youth Group of the National League for Democracy, the party which won a landslide victory in 2020 elections before being ousted by the military.
Than Toe Aung was hospitalized after interrogation, along with three others, Thaik Tun Oo, an official of the Myanmar Political Prisoners Network told RFA.
“Three days after Than Toe Aung was admitted to the hospital, three more were also admitted,” he said.
“We can confirm that they were severely beaten. Than Toe Aung is in critical condition. I heard he would be put in a locked cell after medical treatment.”
He added other political prisoners who have been locked in dark, cramped cells after interrogation include male dormitory inmates Yan Naing Soe; Hla Soe; Sote Phwar Gyi; Tarmwe Ko Zwel; ‘Dr Joe’; O Be; and a Letpantan township Civil Disobedience Movement captain who wasn’t named.
Women’s dormitory inmates who are still locked up after interrogation include Hnin Lae Nanda Lwin; Shun Ei Phyu; Nilar Sein; Su Yi Paing; Wut Yi Lwin; Aye Thida Kyaw; Yi Yi Swe; Lwin Lwin Nyunt; Sandi Nyunt Win; Aye Thet San; Shwe Yi Nyunt; Ya Min Htet; Htoo Htet Htet Wai; Myo Thandar Tun; and Moe Myat Thazin, according to the prisoners network official.
Another source close to the Tharyawady Prison told RFA other political prisoners are protesting against the locking up of their fellow inmates by boycotting the prison shop.
RFA contacted the Naypyidaw-based Prison Department by phone to get its comments on the case but there was no response.
There has been a series of brutal beatings and killings by prison guards since a jail break three months ago at the prison housing Myanmar’s ousted president, Win Myint.
On May 18, nine inmates escaped from Bago region’s Taungoo Prison, grabbing guns from prison guards and escaping into the jungle where they were met by members of a local People’s Defense Force.
Since then, political prisoners at Bago’s Thayarwady and Daik-U Central prisons and Myingyan Prison in Mandalay region have been beaten to death during interrogation or killed during ‘prison transfers’, according to family members and sources close to the prisons, who all requested anonymity to protect prisoners and their relatives.
More than 24,000 people, including pro-democracy activists, have been arrested since the Feb.1, 2021 coup, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). It says almost 20,000 are still being detained across Myanmar.
On August 1, 254 prisoners, including some political prisoners in Tharyawady Prison were released by the junta’s amnesty. But sources close to the prison say as many as 900 political prisoners are still being held there, awaiting trial.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Torture, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 14, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 28, 2023
- Event Description
Regime forces tortured and killed three leading members of a local student union in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township last Friday, according to activist sources.
The three victims, who were all in their late teens, were captured during an early-morning raid on the village of Nyaung Kan, located some 10km west of the town of Budalin, the sources said.
“Their hands were tied behind their backs and they were stabbed in the chest with knives. After they were tortured, they were put to death,” a member of the Budalin Township branch of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) told Myanmar Now.
The victims were identified as student union chair Kyaw Win Thant, 18, vice-chair Kyal Sin Nyein Chan, 19, and information officer Thuta Nay, 19.
At least two other people, including a member of a local resistance team, were also killed, the ABFSU member added, citing villagers who had escaped the raid.
Student unions have played a leading role in organising anti-junta protests in the township. The unions represent not only university students, but also primary and secondary students.
According to pro-regime Telegram channels, a commando force recently overran and razed a camp run by “terrorists” in the township.
Some 150 regime troops based in Budalin have been attacking villages west of the town since July 25. Ywarthar, a village near Nyaung Kan, was also targeted on Friday. Both villages lost a number of houses to arson attacks, according to locals.
The junta has not released any information about its operations in Budalin, which is less 40km north of Monywa, Sagaing’s capital and largest city, where the headquarters of the Northwestern Regional Military Command is also located.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Torture
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 13, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 18, 2023
- Event Description
A junta-controlled court in Yangon region has sentenced a student to a further five years in prison for alleged terrorism, a Myanmar-based student union told RFA Monday.
Nyan Win Htet, in his twenties, was a student at the University of East Yangon until his arrest on June 30, 2022. He was sentenced by Eastern Yangon District Court last Tuesday.
“The fascist army is fully responsible for the arbitrary and violent arrests, imprisonments and brutal killings of students from ABFSU, students and people across the country,” said the information officer of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals.
“Arresting revolutionaries, imprisoning and killing them will not stop the revolution. We will continue to fight until the end.”
Nyan Win Htet had already been sentenced to 15 years in prison under two sections of the Counter-Terrorism Law which cover the possession of explosives and helping terrorists evade arrest.
He is in good health in prison and has been in contact with his family, said the union information officer.
The officer added that more than 50 of the union’s members have been arrested for their anti-dictatorship activities since the coup, and 32 are being held in prison.
Among them, three were sentenced to a maximum of life imprisonment, and one was sentenced to death, according to the union.
Nearly 24,000 people, including pro-democracy campaigners, have been arrested nationwide since the February 2021 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 10, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 9, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military has threatened legal action against independent media outlets Democratic Voice of Burma and Mizzima, demanding the shuttered organisations pay broadcasting fees incurred before military rule, and charging seven Mizzima employees under Section 505(a) of the country’s penal code. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate, the Myanmar Journalists Network (MJN), in condemning the junta's farcical legal action and demanding it cease its attacks on the media.
On July 9, the military junta’s Ministry of Information announced its intention to pursue legal action against independent news organisations, Mizzima Television and the Democratic Voice of Burma Television (DVB TV), claiming the outlets owed a combined MMK 100,000,000 (approx. USD 47,800) in overdue transmission fees incurred before the military coup.
In an interview with Voice of America, Mizzima co-founder Soe Myint claimed the junta had also charged seven of the outlet’s employees with breaking Section 505(a) of Myanmar's Penal Code, despite many now being based abroad. The amended legislation has been used to persecute media workers in Myanmar since its introduction by the military, criminalising the circulation of any information with the intent to defame government employees. These charges hold a maximum of two years imprisonment.
Both Mizzima and DVB TV have denied the legitimacy of the junta’s legal action, stating that the broadcasting contracts were signed with the democratically elected government, overthrown in 2021, with the junta violating the agreement by shutting down their respective channels. The DVB stated its intention not to pay the fees, while Mizzima leadership have claimed they would pay the outstanding total if given access to its bank accounts, seized by the junta in March 2021.
The parent companies of both organisations signed agreements with Myanmar Radio and Television in 2018, providing content for the state broadcaster’s free-to-air services. The Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and Mizzima news agencies' Yangon offices were seized by junta military personnel in March 2021, with their media licenses revoked alongside three other independent outlets. As detailed in the IFJ’s 2022 Myanmar situation report, The Revolution Will Not Be Broadcast, journalists and media workers are among thousands of dissidents, politicians, and lawmakers forced into exile or underground following the Junta’s ascension to power on February 1, 2021.
The MJN said:“[This action constitutes] further defamation action against two independent media outlets which have a large number of audiences in Myanmar by the military junta. The coup military government ministry broke the agreement between the Ministry of Information and DVB and Mizzima. The ministry switches off these two TV channels without prior notice or in line with the agreement. That's why their narrative is illegal.”
The IFJ said:"The military junta must cease its blatant attacks against media organisations, with this attempt to extract money from junta-shuttered news outlets unjustifiable. The IFJ condemns this act of intimidation against the Democratic Voice of Burma and Mizzima and urges the military’s Ministry of Information to suspend its legal action and allow media organisations to work without fear of reprisal.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 9, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 29, 2023
- Event Description
On Tuesday, a military court sentenced Wuttyi Aung, a student at Dagon University in Myanmar's former capital Yangon to a total of seven years. She was arrested with five other activists during a night raid. RFA was not able determine which crime she was accused of, but she was sentenced to three years in prison for violating section 505 (A) of the penal code and four years for violating section 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
The Dagon University Student Union announced Wednesday that she was in a critical health condition while detained at Yangon’s Insein prison and not allowed to receive medical treatment for the pain she incurred in the torture during her interrogation.
According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, since the 2021 coup a total of 19,279 pro-democracy activists and citizens are in detention of which 6,599 have been sentenced to prison terms as of Wednesday.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 16, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 28, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military junta this week sentenced a male LGBTQ activist to 10 years in prison on Wednesday on charges of terrorism, activists and students told Radio free Asia.
Justin Min Hein, president of the LGBTQ Union in the country’s central Mandalay region, was a leader of several anti-junta activities including a strike, flash protests, and other organized campaigns in Mandalay prior to his arrest. He was convicted of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, said activist Saw Han Nway Oo.
She said Justin Min Hein was in poor health.
“I'm worried about him as he often gets stomach aches,” the source said. “I am sure he must have a stomach ache from time to time. I know that he cannot be in good health inside prison as the food provided is very bad. He won’t be comfortable inside, either.”
Justin Min Hein was arrested by the junta on September 24, 2022 and had been detained in Yay Kyi Ai Interrogation Center for almost a year awaiting his trial, she said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 16, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 28, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military authorities must immediately release Thaung Win, stop persecuting journalists for their work, and let the independent news outlet The Irrawaddy operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
On June 28, the Western Yangon District Court sentenced Thaung Win, The Irrawaddy’s publisher, to five years in prison under Article 124-A of the penal code, which covers penalties for the anti-state crime of sedition, according to news reports and The Irrawaddy editor-in-chief Aung Zaw, who communicated with CPJ by email.
The court also fined him 100,000 kyats (about US$47).
Thaung Win, who became the outlet’s publisher when it received a license in late 2012 after operating for two decades from exile, was arrested at his home in Yangon on September 29, 2022, and was held at Insein Prison until his trial.
“The punitive and unjust sentencing of The Irrawaddy publisher Thaung Win is repugnant and should be immediately reversed,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The military regime must release him and stop harassing The Irrawaddy for its fearless and uncompromising news reporting.”
Thaung Win was initially charged with violating the Publishing and Distribution Act for allegedly publishing news that “negatively affected national security, rule of law and public peace,” according to the news reports and Aung Zaw, who received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2014.
CPJ could not immediately determine if Thaung Win intends to appeal his conviction. The Yangon court that sentenced him also issued arrest warrants for three unnamed editors of The Irrawaddy on June 28, the news reports and Aung Zaw said.
The military regime has banned The Irrawaddy and at least 13 other independent news outlets since a media crackdown following a coup against a democratically elected government on February 1, 2021.
The Irrawaddy has defied the ban and continues to publish daily news online. Several of its reporters have gone into hiding to avoid arrest and the publication now operates mainly from exile, according to the reports and Aung Zaw.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Thaung Win’s sentencing. Myanmar was the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 42 members of the press behind bars at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 14, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 14, 2023
- Event Description
The condition and whereabouts of 10 Yangon garment factory workers remain unknown more than one week after their arrest by the military council, after they made demands that their employers nominally increase their wages.
Most of the individuals in question are members of the labour union in the Hosheng Myanmar factory in the Shwe Lin Pan Industrial Zone in Shwepyithar Township.
Twenty-nine-year-old Thu Thu San was the first to be arrested following negotiations on June 14 between seven union members and a Hosheng Myanmar factory representative at a junta-controlled township administration office.
Four more union members were also detained four days later: Aye Thandar Htay, Thandar Aye, May Thu Min and Aung Aung. Three more workers—two women and one man—were also held for alleged affiliation with the targeted individuals, according to another employee.
Since their arrest, the source added that he had not been able to make contact with any of the detainees, who are all in their 20s and had been working at the factory between one and four years.
“They didn’t contact the victims’ families either, but we are trying to file an appeal through a lawyer,” the employee said.
There have been additional rumoured arrests at Hosheng Myanmar, but Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify further detentions at the time of reporting. Several members of the factory’s union have also gone into hiding.
At another garment factory in Hlaing Tharyar Township, Sun Apparel Myanmar, some 60 workers have also gone into hiding, leading to a dismissal from their jobs, according to a source close to the employees. She said that they feared arrest after two labour organisers at the site were detained on June 14 and 15: Thidar Win and Hlaing Win Htet. Their whereabouts were also unknown at the time of reporting.
They had led protests at the factory on June 6, asking for an increase to wages. Workers from several factories have been demanding that daily minimum wages be raised from 4,800 kyat ($2.28)—to which it was set in 2018 by the elected National League for Democracy government, ousted in the 2021 coup—to 5,600 kyat ($2.65), despite a schedule for reassessment that was supposed to take place in 2020.
Sun Apparel Myanmar is Thai-owned, with around 500 workers, and makes clothing for German sportswear brand Jako.
The European Union’s (EU) delegation to Myanmar issued a statement on Tuesday expressing concern for the detained workers’ wellbeing and calling for their immediate release. The EU also urged the military council to cease arrests of civilians for exercising their rights to freedom of speech and association, and for all stakeholders to uphold the basic workplace standards prescribed by the International Labour Organisation.
Moe Sandar Myint, President of the Federation of General Workers Myanmar (FGWM), told Myanmar Now that the EU should take a stronger stance in response to the ongoing rights violations in the country’s factories, which frequently produce goods for European companies.
“Issuing a statement is not the right way to help the workers in need. They should be taking more practical action against the military and use their full authority,” she said.
A four-year, 3 million euro plan to stimulate clothing production in Myanmar put forward by the European Chamber of Commerce (Myanmar) and the German-based Seaqua Group—dubbed the Multi-Stakeholder Alliance for Decent Employment in Myanmar, or “MADE in Myanmar”—has met with criticism from workers’ rights advocates, who say it conceals labour rights violations and will legitimise the military regime without benefitting workers.
A September 2022 report by international workers’ rights organisation Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) concluded that it was not possible to guarantee basic worker rights in Myanmar under the coup regime nor for business to abide by humanitarian responsibilities while working in the country.
“Brands will find it nearly impossible to conduct normal human rights due diligence, let alone the enhanced due diligence that the present situation in Myanmar demands,” the ETI statement said.
- Impact of Event
- 10
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: hundreds of labour rights defenders intimidated during a protest, Myanmar: seven labour rights defenders fired after requesting a raise
- Date added
- Jul 11, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 12, 2023
- Event Description
After threatening workers protesting the dismissal of garment factory labour organisers in Yangon for demanding better pay, the Myanmar junta arrested two of the organisers on Wednesday.
Seven labour were fired on June 10 after employees at the Hosheng Myanmar clothing factory in Yangon’s Shwepyithar Township, which is owned by a Chinese national and produces clothes for the multinational Spanish retailer ZARA, requested a raise.
More than 600 workers held a protest in support of the sacked leaders on Monday, two days after their dismissal.
Thu Thu San, 29, had been working at the factory for nearly two years when she was terminated. She was arrested just four days after her dismissal along with another woman who had lost her job at the factory.
Thu Thu San’s colleagues said it was unclear where she was being held.
“They told both of them to get out of the car when it arrived at the police station. Then, they told the other woman to ‘go sit somewhere,’ ordered Thu Thu San to get back in the car, and drove off,” said a man who worked at the factory, requesting anonymity.
Myanmar Labour News reported on Tuesday that police officers, soldiers, and others with unknown affiliations came and shouted threats at the workers during their protest the day before. One of them shouted that this township was under martial law.
“This is an area under martial law,” the man says in an audio recording linked in a Myanmar Labour News article. “The rules are not the same here. Your little union doesn’t mean anything under martial law.”
The coup regime declared martial law in Shwepyithar and other Yangon townships in March 2021 after massive popular demonstrations against their seizure of power.
Myanmar Labour News also reports that armed junta personnel were at the factory on Monday before the protest began.
“They were already at the factory before the workers arrived. More came after the workers gathered. They were very rude and hostile,” the labour leaders’ former colleague said.
Junta personnel searched Thu Thu San’s room for her mobile phone on Wednesday evening, according to another worker.
“They were looking for her living quarters. They kept asking aggressively, so we had to go at night and turn over the phone. They’ve started monitoring the dormitory as well, and some girls don’t want to live there anymore because of that. They also found a book on labour law in her room and took it,” the worker added.
Several workers, including Thu Thu San, have petitioned the regime’s department of labour for authorisation to form a union. The department delayed approving the petition on the grounds that one of the petitioners was a few months under 18 years old.
The labour leaders, who had requested a daily wage of 5600 kyat (US$2.50) and 1400 kyat per hour of overtime, were fired despite the factory’s management having agreed to raise wages on June 1. The organisers were fired after requesting a contract stipulating the new terms, according to their coworkers.
The international labour federation IndustriALL Global Union issued a statement condemning the employers’ decision to fire the organisers. Atle Høie, the federation’s general secretary, argued that the military’s intimidation and arrest of protesting workers made it clear that there is no true right to unionise in Myanmar.
“The dismissed workers must immediately be reinstated and not be subjected to threats or aggression by employers, police or soldiers. Thu Thu San must be returned home safely and without delay,” the secretary general’s statement said.
The employers’ official letter dismissing the workers cites “incitement to disrupt peaceful conditions” in the factory, threats, and deliberate attempts to decrease production as the reasons for termination.
In a similar case, Thidar Win, another labour organiser at the Sun Apparel garment factory in Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon, was arrested by the military on Wednesday, the same day as Thu Thu San, according to reports by Myanmar Labour News. Myanmar Now is still investigating the incident, as access to verifiable information is currently limited.
In October of 2022, thousands of employees of the Myanmar Bao Zheng company—which runs a factory in Shwepyithar Township, Yangon, that makes shoes for Adidas—requested a raise from 4800 kyats to 8000 kyat and observance of basic labour rights in the factory. Three days later, 26 of the workers were fired.
Conditions for industrial workers in Myanmar have deteriorated since the February 2021 military coup. Despite inflation, the minimum wage for an eight-hour workday in Myanmar has not changed since 2018, when the pre-coup National League of Democracy government raised it from 3600 to 4800 kyat.
In March 2023, just ahead of the Thingyan holidays, the Chinese-owned Fitex garment factory in Hlaing Tharyar Township laid off over 400 workers, more than half its workforce, without severance or other compensation.
According to a report issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in January 2022, more than 1.6 million Myanmar workers had lost their jobs since the coup just under a year before.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 11, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2023
- Event Description
After threatening workers protesting the dismissal of garment factory labour organisers in Yangon for demanding better pay, the Myanmar junta arrested two of the organisers on Wednesday.
Seven labour were fired on June 10 after employees at the Hosheng Myanmar clothing factory in Yangon’s Shwepyithar Township, which is owned by a Chinese national and produces clothes for the multinational Spanish retailer ZARA, requested a raise.
More than 600 workers held a protest in support of the sacked leaders on Monday, two days after their dismissal.
Thu Thu San, 29, had been working at the factory for nearly two years when she was terminated. She was arrested just four days after her dismissal along with another woman who had lost her job at the factory.
Thu Thu San’s colleagues said it was unclear where she was being held.
“They told both of them to get out of the car when it arrived at the police station. Then, they told the other woman to ‘go sit somewhere,’ ordered Thu Thu San to get back in the car, and drove off,” said a man who worked at the factory, requesting anonymity.
Myanmar Labour News reported on Tuesday that police officers, soldiers, and others with unknown affiliations came and shouted threats at the workers during their protest the day before. One of them shouted that this township was under martial law.
“This is an area under martial law,” the man says in an audio recording linked in a Myanmar Labour News article. “The rules are not the same here. Your little union doesn’t mean anything under martial law.”
The coup regime declared martial law in Shwepyithar and other Yangon townships in March 2021 after massive popular demonstrations against their seizure of power.
Myanmar Labour News also reports that armed junta personnel were at the factory on Monday before the protest began.
“They were already at the factory before the workers arrived. More came after the workers gathered. They were very rude and hostile,” the labour leaders’ former colleague said.
Junta personnel searched Thu Thu San’s room for her mobile phone on Wednesday evening, according to another worker.
“They were looking for her living quarters. They kept asking aggressively, so we had to go at night and turn over the phone. They’ve started monitoring the dormitory as well, and some girls don’t want to live there anymore because of that. They also found a book on labour law in her room and took it,” the worker added.
Several workers, including Thu Thu San, have petitioned the regime’s department of labour for authorisation to form a union. The department delayed approving the petition on the grounds that one of the petitioners was a few months under 18 years old.
The labour leaders, who had requested a daily wage of 5600 kyat (US$2.50) and 1400 kyat per hour of overtime, were fired despite the factory’s management having agreed to raise wages on June 1. The organisers were fired after requesting a contract stipulating the new terms, according to their coworkers.
The international labour federation IndustriALL Global Union issued a statement condemning the employers’ decision to fire the organisers. Atle Høie, the federation’s general secretary, argued that the military’s intimidation and arrest of protesting workers made it clear that there is no true right to unionise in Myanmar.
“The dismissed workers must immediately be reinstated and not be subjected to threats or aggression by employers, police or soldiers. Thu Thu San must be returned home safely and without delay,” the secretary general’s statement said.
The employers’ official letter dismissing the workers cites “incitement to disrupt peaceful conditions” in the factory, threats, and deliberate attempts to decrease production as the reasons for termination.
In a similar case, Thidar Win, another labour organiser at the Sun Apparel garment factory in Hlaingtharyar Township, Yangon, was arrested by the military on Wednesday, the same day as Thu Thu San, according to reports by Myanmar Labour News. Myanmar Now is still investigating the incident, as access to verifiable information is currently limited.
In October of 2022, thousands of employees of the Myanmar Bao Zheng company—which runs a factory in Shwepyithar Township, Yangon, that makes shoes for Adidas—requested a raise from 4800 kyats to 8000 kyat and observance of basic labour rights in the factory. Three days later, 26 of the workers were fired.
Conditions for industrial workers in Myanmar have deteriorated since the February 2021 military coup. Despite inflation, the minimum wage for an eight-hour workday in Myanmar has not changed since 2018, when the pre-coup National League of Democracy government raised it from 3600 to 4800 kyat.
In March 2023, just ahead of the Thingyan holidays, the Chinese-owned Fitex garment factory in Hlaing Tharyar Township laid off over 400 workers, more than half its workforce, without severance or other compensation.
According to a report issued by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in January 2022, more than 1.6 million Myanmar workers had lost their jobs since the coup just under a year before.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 11, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 7, 2023
- Event Description
Seven Burmese garment workers and union activists will face trial on incitement charges in a military court for advocating for a pay raise at a factory that supplied Inditex, the owner of the Spanish retailer Zara, a labor activist said Friday.
The case has put a spotlight on the plight of workers in Myanmar’s troubled garment sector. Several companies have exited the country since the February 2021 military coup and subsequent deterioration in labor conditions.
Inditex is reportedly set to make a phased exit from the country after the arrests of the five garment workers and two union activists in June. They worked at a Chinese-owned factory operated by Hosheng Myanmar Garment Company Limited in Yangon division. They formed a union in April to bargain for better conditions.
An activist affiliated with the union, declining to be named for safety reasons, told RFA that the seven accused are still being held at Hlawga police station in Shwepyithar Township.
On Friday, despite a scheduled hearing, the activist was told that the seven would remain in custody awaiting a trial for incitement. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison under section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s penal code.
“Before setting up the trade union, the working conditions had many rules – no complaints, forced overtime, very low salary,” the activist said. “The factory doesn’t like the trade union, so that’s why the seven trade union members were dismissed.”
The activist said the trial of the seven will be held behind closed doors at a military court in Shwepyithar Township in Yangon. The township is under martial law.
RFA has reached out to Inditex for comment.
Workers lack recourse from labor abuse
Nearly 500,000 people are employed in Myanmar’s garment sector, but labor activists say the military takeover has diminished regulatory oversight of factories. They say workers have less ability to negotiate with their employers and lack recourse in cases of labor abuse. But faced with economic instability, some feel they have no choice but to accept any job available.
In the last two years, as Myanmar has sunk into civil conflict and international condemnation of the military junta has grown, Inditex and other European brands have decided to quit the Southeast Asian country, including Primark, C&A, and the UK-based Tesco PLC and Marks & Spencer.
Since December, the European Union and international retailers have funded the Multi-stakeholder Alliance for Decent Employment in Myanmar, or MADE, to provide more accountability for conditions in factories that supply garments for export, expanding on a previous project. Roughly 380,000 garment jobs are directly reliant on EU trade.
Labor activists have called for the program to be axed, claiming brands still present in the country have not been able to ensure worker protection in factories. Out of 37 brands linked to labor violations in Myanmar factories since the coup, Inditex was reported to be linked to the highest number of alleged abuse cases, followed by H&M and Bestseller.
One rights group found that freedom of association was “nearly non-existent” and that business-military collusion was found in 16% of cases. At Hosheng, soldiers were recorded telling workers there were no unions under military rule.
In April, the 16-union Myanmar Labour Alliance sent a letter to EU leaders requesting that the program be defunded. It said that training for workplace coordination committees provided by MADE would undermine union efforts and allow management to conduct elections which would threaten existing unions.
‘We don’t have any legal mechanism’
The alliance reported that since the coup, 53 union members and activists were murdered and 300 were arrested. Khaing Zar Aung, a representative of the alliance and president of the Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar, told RFA that brands had no capacity to oversee working conditions on the ground.
“What mechanism do we have?” she asked. “We don’t have any legal mechanism applicable.”
However, the EU has also remained firm in their stance on the program.
An EU spokesperson told RFA in a statement that funding for MADE provides ways for workers to file complaints about workplace conditions, “as well as facilitating dialogue between employers, workers and international stakeholders.”
While acknowledging the constraints on freedom of association, the spokesperson wrote: “Nonetheless, the EU and the Multi-stakeholder Alliance for Decent Employment in Myanmar (MADE) partners believe that the interests of workers are best served if EU companies continue to source from the country, as long as this is done responsibly.”
“When large international retailers exit, this will inevitably lead to a loss of jobs, regardless of how the retailer goes about this,” Jacob A. Clere, a team leader of the MADE project, told RFA. He said retailers are currently being enrolled in MADE for 2023, with the first cohort to be finalized this coming month.
“We estimate that between 130 and 170 facilities could collectively be covered by those who initially joined MADE in 2023.”
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Labour rights, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 11, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 21, 2023
- Event Description
Thayarwaddy Prison authorities have not given the body of a political prisoner to his family after telling them he died of pneumonia last week, leaving the true cause of death in doubt.
The deceased was 25-year-old Pyae Phyo Win, also known as Me Gyi, who was serving a seven-year sentence at the prison, located in Bago Region, for incitement under Section 505a of the Myanmar Penal Code and arson under Section 436. He reportedly died at around 3pm on May 21.
Pyae Phyo Win was arrested during the protests in February 2021 and was handed his sentence by a military court in South Dagon Township, Yangon. He was initially sent to Yangon’s Insein Prison but transferred to Thayarwaddy Prison in January of this year.
“[A comrade] in prison sent a letter with the news about him. The prison authorities also contacted his family on the same day the letter was received,” said Nyo Tun, a friend of Pyae Phyo Win.
Nyo Tun was also imprisoned for taking part in the protests but later received a pardon. Pyae Phyo Win and Nyo Tun had been held in the same ward at Insein Prison for a year before the former’s transfer to Thayarwaddy.
Two other sources close to the Thayarwaddy prison community confirmed authorities had not returned Pyae Phyo Win’s body to his family but told them he had died of pneumonia.
Another ex-political prisoner once held at Thayarwaddy, who requested anonymity, said Pyae Phyo Win was “very fit and active” and took care of his health, and that he had never known him to have problems with his lungs.
“We just saw him two weeks ago and he was looking healthy and fit despite the prison authorities saying he died of pneumonia. It’s impossible that he died of the disease within two weeks. They could just return the body to the family if they had no part in his death,” he said.
Nyo Tun also gave an opinion as to the real cause of his friend’s death.
“We are assuming that they took it too far during interrogation, which is not uncommon. I’ve heard prison authorities say that all it takes to kill someone is a pen and a paper,” Nyo Tun said.
Authorities removed a group of political prisoners from their cells for unknown reasons last week at Daik-U Prison, also located in Bago Region. According to a statement by the Bago Township People’s Defence Team, one of their former recruitment officers was among the Daik-U prisoners and died at the hands of the authorities on Friday.
The same week, inmates initiated a hunger strike at Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Prison in response to authorities’ separation of 15 political prisoners, one of whom later reportedly died from beatings.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 6, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 26, 2023
- Event Description
A Burmese journalist was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison with hard labor for violating Myanmar’s counterterrorism law, in addition to a three-year sentence she received in December 2022 for defamation, an attorney working on her case said.
Camera operator Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun of Myanmar Press Photo Agency, was sentenced in Insein Prison on the outskirts of Yangon by the ruling junta’s Thingangyun District Court, said the lawyer who requested anonymity for safety reasons.
She was sentenced to three years in jail under Section 505(a) of the country’s Penal Code after being held in jail for a year. The junta has charged journalists under the broad and vague anti-state provision that penalizes “incitement” and “false news,” and carries penalties of two or three years in prison.
Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun’s attorney said his client would not appeal the verdict.
“She said she did not want to appeal,” he told Radio Free Asia. “She has no more indictments to face.”
The military regime has clamped down hard on press freedom in Myanmar since seizing power from the democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup. Junta soldiers continue to target, harass, jail and kill journalists. Human rights groups have called on the junta to unconditionally free all journalists targeted in the post-coup crackdown.
Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun's injuries resulted from military troops who rammed a vehicle into a crowd of civilians peacefully protesting against the regime in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing township on Dec. 5, 2021. They arrested the camera operator along with her colleague, photographer Kaung Sett Lin, both of whom were covering the protest, as well as nine young activists.
The military vehicle hit the two journalists at high speed from behind, causing serious injuries to their heads, legs and other areas of their bodies, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported.
Tun, whose legs were broken, still has difficulty walking and cannot move like a normal person, her attorney said.
Since the coup, the military junta has arrested 156 journalists. More than 100 of them have been released, while more than 50 remain in prison, and one — photojournalist Soe Naing — was killed during interrogation.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 29, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 24, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday arrested a hip-hop artist for a video published on social media in which he complained about electricity shortages and said that life was better under the democratically elected government that the military toppled.
Rapper Byu Har, who is the son of prominent musician Naing Myanmar, posted the video on Facebook where he called out the “minister of electricity,” calling the holder of the office, which he could not name, “a fool.” The ministry’s proper name is the Ministry of Electric Power and the minister of electric power is Thaung Han.
“I want to tell the minister of electricity who is wearing that elegant uniform, and the employees under the ministry of electricity that you guys are all stupid fools,” he said in the video. “ Even under the old lady’s [Aung San Suu Kyi’s] government, not only did we have enough electricity without any power outage, her government even lowered the rate of electricity bills.”
The country is currently experiencing power shortages, and residents have told RFA’s Burmese Service that many areas of Yangon, where Byu Har lives, get power for only 10 hours per day – five in the morning and another five in the afternoon and evening. Some areas of the city, such as the area where retired military officers live, are supplied with full power, though.
“You can’t supply enough electricity to us. You can barely supply us every five hours. Even that is not certain,” Byu Har said.
In addition to the criticism of Myanmar’s electric power ministry, Byu Har also had choice words for the junta’s leader, Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
“The guy who is governing the country is also a stupid incompetent fool himself,” he said. “You guys have no [expletive deleted] skill at all. Even if a fool like me were to govern this country, I promise that we would have enough electricity with no power outages. … I am cursing at you because I don’t have the electricity. Got it? If you want to arrest me, just come.”
A source close to the family confirmed the arrest to RFA and said that Byu Har is being held in the North Dagon Police station in the eastern part of Yangon. His father Naing Myanmar was not available for comment.
Byu Har and others like him are brave for telling the truth in a public forum like Facebook, human rights lawyer and legal analyst Kyee Myint told RFA.
“What they are saying is all true, but it’s a pain in the neck for people who don’t want to hear such criticisms,” said Kyee Myint. “They criticize neither to gain power nor to ruin the country. They criticize it to help the country get better.”
He said that criticizing the junta over the electricity shortage was an example of strength and love for the country.
“But the junta arresting him for such criticisms indicates that the country is failing and that the rule of law is not working either,” Kyee Myint said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 29, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 22, 2023
- Event Description
Jailed student activist and author Wai Moe Naing has been sentenced to another 20 years in prison, the Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee told RFA Monday.
He received the maximum sentence for treason and rebellion under Section 122 of the Penal Code.
Friday’s decision by the court in Monywa Prison in northern Sagaing region takes his total sentence to 54 years.
The 28-year-old has already been found guilty of crimes including robbery; rioting; carrying a weapon; incitement to mutiny; and unlawful assembly.
The junta has also accused him of killing two policemen in an industrial zone under Section 302 of the Penal Code and plans to hand down a verdict on the case at a later date.
A friend, who wished to remain anonymous, said Wai Moe Naing has denied all the charges made against him.
Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee protested his innocence, condemning what it called unjust accusations and orders against political prisoners.
Wai Moe Naing founded Monywa University Student Union and served as its first president. He is also an author of short stories, magazine articles and blogs.
After the military coup in February 2021, he led anti-regime strikes in Monywa.
On April 15, 2021, he was riding in a column of motorcycles with other protesting students when junta troops and police ran him down in cars, beat him and arrested him.
He has been held in Monywa prison since his arrest.
Sources close to Wai Moe Naing, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, said he was healthy and has been allowed to receive parcels.
Myanmar’s military has arrested more than 22,500 democracy activists according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of those, over 18,200 are still being detained.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 26, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 23, 2023
- Event Description
A well-known writer and social activist was arrested at a military junta checkpoint on Tuesday while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to victims of the recent cyclone that devastated the region.
Wai Hin Aung was arrested in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state just after passing through the checkpoint in Sittwe township on his way to villages affected by the May 14 storm known as Cyclone Mocha, according to a person close to the writer who refused to be named for security reasons.
He was traveling with a group of five people, including his daughter, the person told Radio Free Asia.
“He was going to Ponnagyun to deliver aid to cyclone victims there,” the person said. “We haven’t got any contact with them so far. Nor do we know why they have been arrested.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Wai Hin Aung reported on his Facebook page that he had given 100,000 kyats (US$50) each to 16 families sheltering at a school in Sittwe township.
RFA interviewed him on Friday, asking whether rice bags and other supplies were beginning to make it through to affected areas.
“What I know for sure is that the help from the junta alone will not suffice the need because the damage is too large,” he said. “About 3 million people have been affected by the storm and about 120,000 households have been damaged, too.
International assistance needed
People in Pauk Taw and Rathedaung townships urgently need drinking water and shelters, he said. In Pauk Taw, sea water has mixed in with most of the drinking water reservoirs from the flooding that followed the storm, and even cattle can’t drink the water and are beginning to die, he said.
With the rainy season set to begin soon, rebuilding adequate shelters for villages throughout the state should be the top priority, he said. Food and medical supplies are also urgently needed but are second and third priorities, he said.
“In my opinion, the help from the junta and local communities will not meet the needs of victims,” he said. “That’s why I want the junta to cooperate and get help from international organizations to effectively help the victims.”
Wai Hin Aung was previously arrested in 2018 along with Rakhine nationalist lawmaker Aye Maung after they delivered speeches at a public event in Rathedaung township calling for revolt against Myanmar’s ethnic majority Bamar-led government.
He was sentenced the following year to 20 years in prison for high treason and to two years for incitement. He was freed in February 2021, weeks after the military junta overthrew the civilian government.
RFA called Rakhine state Attorney General Hla Thein to ask about the arrest, but his phone rang unanswered on Tuesday.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 25, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 1, 2023
- Event Description
A military court in Myanmar’s northern Sagaing region has sentenced four people to life imprisonment under the junta’s anti-terrorism laws, locals told RFA.
They were all arrested by troops in their homes in Indaw township on March 5 this year.
Residents identified them as Thein Hla, a civil disobedience movement teacher in her 40s; two other women, Khin Pyae Pyae Tun and Aye Aye; and a 24-year-old man, Aye Min Tun.
“The 24-year-old man was sentenced on April 1,” an Indaw resident told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Three other women were also sentenced [on April 3]. All received life time imprisonment under Sections 50 (j) and 52(a)”, a local man told RFA.
Section 50 (j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law relates to funding terrorism, while 52 (a) covers the organization of or participation in terrorist acts along with harboring terrorists or hosting meetings.
The four were among 22 people arrested and accused of donating money to the Indaw People’s Defense Force. The other 18 were released on bail.
“A PDF member was arrested first. Then [more] people were arrested and accused of having their names on the donor list [to the PDF]. But there is no evidence,” said a woman who also declined to be named for fear of reprisals.
“The arrest of the teacher Thein Hla also has no evidence. She was accused of providing 100,000 to 200,000 [kyat or U.S.$48-96] in that list and was arrested. She has committed no serious crime. It's only because she participated in the anti-regime civil disobedience movement. The other three are ordinary people.”
Locals say another man from Indaw was sentenced to life imprisonment under the same terrorism financing law on Feb. 27 this year.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) more than 21,200 civilians have been arrested nationwide during the more than two years since the junta seized power in a coup, of which over 17,300 are still behind bars.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 3, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2023
- Event Description
A junta court has sentenced 13 youth activists to three years of hard labor in prison each for “incitement” after they organized a flash protest against military rule that authorities broke up by plowing into them with vehicles.
They were among nearly 30 activists accused of organizing the Sept. 13, 2022, flash protest – organized over social media to keep authorities in the dark – in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing township.
To quell the protest, junta security personnel drove two taxis and three other civilian cars into the crowd, injuring several people.
The court in Yangon’s Insein Prison issued the sentences in a closed hearing on March 29 for “spreading rumors or reports with the intent to cause fear or alarm among the public to commit offenses against the state” under Section 505(a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, the defendants’ lawyers and sources close to their families told RFA Burmese.
“These young activists were those arrested during the anti-junta protest on Pan Pin Gyi Street [in Yangon] in September 2022,” one of the lawyers said, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.
The lawyer said that the 13 youths who were sentenced last week are “just old enough” to be prosecuted under Section 505(a). They ranged in age from 18 to 25.
“Some of [the arrested activists] are minors and they were tried [separately] in juvenile courts,” the lawyer said.
The activists belong to various groups that have protested the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat including the Octopus youth organization, Basic Education Students & Youths Association, Myanmar Labour Alliance, Bama Youth Network, Pyin Nyar Nan Daw Private School Student's Union, Owl Community, and Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar.
It was not immediately clear whether those sentenced intend to appeal.
Those arrested in poor health
A member of the Myanmar Labour Alliance – whose members Nay Min Tun, Than Zaw, Zu Zu Yar Khaing, Ya Min Kay Thwal Khaing and Aye Chan Aung were among those sentenced – told RFA that all 13 are “in poor health” after being violently arrested and interrogated.
“We know that they had asked for medication as they could not sleep at night due to the pain from those injuries,” the alliance member said.
Among those sentenced were journalists Myat Ko Oo, Pyae Phyo Thu and San Lin Phyo, said lawyers. Yay Ba Wal, the president of Octopus, said five members of his organization were in the group of 13, including two women, two men, and one non-binary member of the LGBTQ community.
“The five Octopus members who have been arrested and imprisoned have only been able to see their families when they were taken out [of Insein Prison] for a court hearing,” he said.
“Arbitrary and unjust punishments for young people who protest peacefully have already become a routine practice of the terrorist junta.”
Sending a message
Jewel, a member of the anti-junta Pazundaung Botahtaung Youth Strike Committee, told RFA that the forceful arrest and maximum punishment of the youth protesters was meant to send a message to the international community that Myanmar is “stable” under military rule.
“When there was a protest, news spread through the internet and social media networks, reaching the international community,” she said. “That’s why every time there is a protest, the junta fails in its attempt to convince the international community that it is ruling the country in a stable state.”
“That’s why I think they have suppressed the youth protesters so aggressively like this,” she added.
Jewel noted that protests of military rule have not stopped, despite the junta using every means at its disposal to arrest participants.
September’s crackdown was not the first time junta security personnel had driven vehicles into a crowd of protesters on Pan Pin Gyi Street.
On Dec. 5, 2021, authorities driving a military vehicle rammed into a group of youths protesting the coup on Pan Pin Gyi Street, seriously injuring two journalists, before arresting participants.
According to Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), authorities in Myanmar have killed at least 3,225 civilians and arrested more than 21,275 others since the coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.
- Impact of Event
- 13
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 3, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 28, 2023
- Event Description
A court at Yangon’s Insein Prison has sentenced student activist Banyar Soe Htet to an additional 10 years in prison, meaning he is set to serve a total of 84 years, an official at his pro-democracy organization said Monday.
Friday’s terrorism charge was made under Article 50 (j) of the Counter-Terrorism Act, which relates to funding terrorism.
It comes on top of two murder charges related to the killing of Thein Aung, general manager at junta-owned telecommunications company Mytel, along with the shooting of a grocery store owner and his wife in Yangon’s Hlaing township, said an official from the Yangon Revolution Force, who declined to be named for security reasons.
Friday's trial was held in secret in the prison court so his plea and any defense statement are not known.
The 26-year-old was arrested last November and has been held in Insein Prison ever since, his family barred from visiting, according to a friend who didn't want to be named for fear of reprisals.
The friend told RFA Banyar Soe Htet has legal representation but the lawyer was not allowed to meet his client ahead of the trial and has been banned from talking to the media.
His family has not decided whether to appeal the court's decision, the friend said.
Banyar Soe Htet was a physics major at Yangon Eastern University when the military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup and soon became active in the anti-regime Yangon Revolution Force.
The YRF, mainly composed of students and other young activists, targets junta-related groups and buildings in the country's business capital.
The official who informed RFA about the latest sentence said young educated people are being sentenced to prison terms that are even longer than their lives because the junta is manipulating the law to silence dissent.
“The law is in their hands, so they are making arbitrary orders according to their wishes,” the official said.
“Our imprisoned comrades say they are continuing to fight. Our anti-dictatorship actions will not stop because of this unjust sentence.”
More than 21,600 anti-junta activists have been arrested nationwide since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Some 17,726 of them are still being held in prisons across the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 3, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2023
- Event Description
A prison court in Sagaing region’s Monywa township has sentenced student activist and anti-regime strike leader Wai Moe Naing to 34 years in prison.
He has already been sentenced to 12 years in prison but will probably only have to serve the longest of all the terms, meaning he will spend 20 years behind bars, Monywa University of Economics Student Union President Shin Thant told RFA.
“Wai Moe Naing is in good health and passes the time with a strong spirit,” Shin Thant said.
“He gave a message for his comrades outside to be patient and strong.”
Wednesday’s judgment included a 20 year sentence for robbery, three years for rioting, one year for carrying a deadly weapon in a crowd, one year for inflicting pain on another, and three years for incitement to mutiny under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code, broadened after the Feb. 2021 coup from only military personnel to include all civil servants.
Wai Moe Naing could face an even longer sentence if two more cases, both carrying maximum 20 year terms, are not served concurrently. He is yet to be tried for the alleged killing of two policemen and sedition, according to his college's student leaders.
After the military seized power just over two years ago, Wai Moe Naing led anti-regime strikes in Monywa.
On April 15, 2021, he was riding in a column of motorcycles with other protesting students when junta troops and police ran him down in cars and arrested him.
Wai Moe Naing founded the Monywa University Student Union and served as its first president. He is also an author of short stories, magazine articles and online blogs. His short story, Pwint Chain Tan Lyin (When Time Starts to Bloom) was published in Phuu Ngon Sal Kyaw That magazine when he was 13.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: a prominent leader of anti-coup movement is detained , Myanmar: detained leader faces fresh charges (Update)
- Date added
- May 2, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2023
- Event Description
There were also reports that a special prison court in Monywa added 20 years to the sentence of protest leader Wai Moe Naing on April 5.
Arrested two years ago, he was already serving a total of 14 years in prison on a number of charges, including incitement, unlawful association, and violations of Covid-19 rules. The latest sentence includes additional prison time for robbery, rioting, and possession of a deadly weapon.
The 28-year-old still faces a charge of murder in connection with the killing of a police officer and another for treason, related to his ties to members of the NUG.
According to the latest figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a total of 17,375 people detained since the February 2021 coup remain in junta custody for opposing its rule.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 2, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2023
- Event Description
A family of five, including a 3-year-old boy and an 80-year-old man, were gunned down in their Yangon home by six people in civilian clothes – believed to be pro-junta militia members – as frightened neighbors looked on.
The family is related to Win Soe, a secondary school teacher who is also an activist with the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement, often called the CDM. The Feb. 22 killings shows that activists – and their families – are also being targeted in urban areas, not just the countryside.
A person close to the family, who refused to be named for security reasons, told Radio Free Asia that six people in civilian clothes came to the house on two motorcycles and asked whether household members were related to Win Soe, who has been in hiding since the 2021 military coup d’etat.
“There was no one in the street, as the night was dark and because of the unsafe security situation,” the person said. “I thought they were there to buy some dried fish, as usual. Then they asked them to crouch down and not to look up and asked if they were the family of Win Soe.
“I think they answered that they were. That’s when they shot three times at each of them – two times only in the head,” the person said. “They even shot at the little kid.”
Locals believe the killings in the Yeik Thar ward of Hlegu township was the work of the pro-junta groups, but exactly which group was responsible was unknown. RFA tried to contact the police station in Hlegu township, but the call went unanswered.
Pro-junta supporters have formed militia groups with the help of the military in some townships. They often target and attack supporters of the opposition party and political activists.
More than 250,000 education workers have boycotted their government jobs to protest military rule and have joined the CDM, the shadow National Unity Government said last year.
Of those, junta authorities had killed at least 33 and arrested 218 others as of the end of 2022, according to statistics compiled by the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
Specifically targeted
A lawyer in Yangon, who refused to be named for security reasons, said the killing of a defenseless child and an elderly man shows the failure of the rule of law in the country.
“You can see that this was specifically targeted,” the lawyer said. “What this shows is that the rule of law in the country has almost completely broken down and the people are not free, not safe, and their freedom and safety are not protected by any organization.”
These kinds of mass killings, which have been happening sporadically since the coup, are leading the country toward failed state status, said Kyaw Win, director of the Burma Human Rights Network.
“The military junta wanted to prove that it can rule the country but it cannot even protect the people from such crimes and the junta itself is also the one who commits these crimes,” he said.
The family members were named as: San Nwet, a 50-year-old woman, Ko Maung and Win Nwe, each 30 years old, and Aung Maung, the 80-year-old man. The 3-year-old boy was not named. They were buried in Hpaung Gyi cemetery on Feb. 25, local sources said.
RFA contacted some of the surviving family members about the incident, but they were still traumatized and wouldn’t talk to a reporter.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Suspected non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 6, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 4, 2023
- Event Description
Guards injured more than 80 political prisoners at a prison in central Myanmar after an argument turned violent, an incident which observers say is typical in the prison system since the junta took control of the country in a coup more than two years ago.
The incident occurred on Feb. 4 at Mandalay’s Obo Prison while a group of inmates, all female, were in line to get hot water, and some of the women began arguing with the guards.
“That’s when the prison guards came in and beat them. It’s said that the guards who came in and beat included some male staff too,” a family member of one of the prisoners told Radio Free Asia’s Burmese Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“And then the prisoners were punished with solitary confinement. … But I don’t know if [my family member] was among the ones sent to solitary. This is all I know for now. Their news doesn't spread much these days,” the family member said.
Since the junta ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected government in Feb. 2021, it began filling the country’s prisons with pro-democracy activists who were opposed to the coup. Reports have surfaced that these political prisoners are routinely beaten, sent to solitary confinement, transferred to prisons far away from their families, tortured, or even killed in an effort to silence them and dissuade others from resisting junta rule.
In the Feb. 4 incident, the guards employed rubber and wooden batons and slingshots on the crowd. Collectively, the women suffered two lacerated ears, six skull injuries, a broken hand, an eye injury, three slingshot impacts near the eyes, and around 70 milder slingshot injuries, the shadow National Unity Government’s Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs said in a statement on Feb. 15.
According to that statement, 42 of the injured inmates were sent to another prison building, two were sent to solitary confinement, and another 40 were sent to separated cells. Additionally, the prisoners may not receive visits from their families for one month.
RFA contacted Naing Win, the junta spokesman for the prison department, to find out about the situation at Obo Prison, but he did not respond.
Malice against activists
These types of human rights violations against political prisoners are typical of the junta because they hold malice against those who support democracy, Aung Myo Min, the shadow government’s human rights minister told RFA.
“Political prisoners are those who bravely stand for rights and democracy in the fight against the military junta. That’s why they were specifically targeted,” he said. “It’s not just the military officers who arrest them, but the prison officials and staff also hate them because they think that the political prisoners are an extra burden for them. As a result, [they] continue to get tortured and suffer unjust and brutal punishments.”
The Obo prison incident was one of several examples of prison violence in this year alone.
Two inmates were killed and 70 others were injured on Jan. 6 at Pathein Prison in the Ayeyarwady region on Jan. 6.
In the second week of January, about 700 inmates at Yangon’s Insein Prison were suddenly transferred to other prisons. On Jan. 25, two Insein inmates were sent to solitary confinement for reporting problems to prison officials, their relatives and other sources close to them told RFA.
The oppression that inmates suffer is invisible to the public and the international community, an activist who started an inmate advocacy group called “Let’s Send Things to Prisoners,” told RFA.
“I must say that these incidents should never happen whether inside or outside prisons. But since the prisoners are in [authorities’] hands, our words have no effect on them,” the activist said on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “It looks like [inmates] have to endure whatever pain [authorities] inflict on them.
The activist called on the shadow government and other diplomatic officials to work together to make the rest of the world aware of the situation in Myanmar’s prisons.
“Many people are being unfairly tortured in prisons without the people knowing it,” the activist said.
The prison guards should worry that they could one day be found guilty of crimes against the inmates under their charge, Kyaw Win, the executive director of the U.K.-based Burma Human Rights Network, told RFA.
“I’d like to warn the prison authorities, officials, and staff that their personal records are out, and the people know who they are,” he said. “The military generals and officers will just save themselves in the end. They will not care about these low level staff. That’s why these people should see the dangers they are creating for themselves.”
The junta-administered Myanmar National Human Rights Commission released a report on Feb. 2 based on interviews with hundreds of prisoners nationwide, that stated allegations of human rights violations were being seriously investigated, but the report did not specifically mention that any violations were found.
An official of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said that the military intentionally commits human rights violations against its imprisoned political opponents.
“Those who allowed, ordered and personally committed such violations and torture will definitely receive punishment for their crimes one day,” the official said. “We hear incidents of such torture happening everywhere and I want to say that those who commit those cruelties will definitely pay for their crimes.”
As of Tuesday the junta has arrested 19,810 people since the beginning of the coup, 15,953 of whom are currently detained, including those who have been sentenced, according to the group’s statistics.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 5, 2023
- Event Description
Ever since soldiers forced them out of their Yangon home in November, Ma Hla, her husband and their two kids have tried to survive in a one square-meter (10-square-foot) dormitory room.
But with jobs tough to come by in Myanmar’s fragile post-coup economy, even the modest 50,000-kyat ($24) monthly rent is proving too much for the family, says Ma Hla, whose husband has been unable to find consistent work.
Desperate, Ma Hla this month joined a group of about 100 other evicted villagers who gathered along a nearby road ward to demand they be allowed to return to their homes.
In all, about 40,000 residents from the five neighborhoods that make up Mingalardon township in Myanmar’s largest city – San Thamar Di, Myal Myan Aung, Gon Nyin Ni, Dhamma Par La and Myawaddy Site Khin – were kicked out.
Soldiers have responded by firing warning shots and hiring thugs who wave swords to warn protesters against persisting with their demands, residents said.
“They threatened us saying, ‘Do you guys have nothing else to do? Don’t come and mess with us. Just get lost right now, or we are going to arrest you all right away,’” Ma Hla told Radio Free Asia.
Her name and the names of other residents quoted in this story have been changed to protect them from retribution for speaking out.
“They threatened in many various ways. They even fired six times in the early morning to scare us away,” Ma Hla said. “Nobody dared to gather on that day except me. We are scared, but I went there to demand as I am really in trouble. I even risk my life to demand our land for the future of my two kids.”
1.2 million displaced
The military claims it owns the land and has set about demolishing the homes that in some cases the displaced families had lived in for decades.
Some residents had settled in the area in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, a 2008 Category 4 storm that cut a devastating path across Myanmar, killing an estimated 140,000 people. Others came to the township for refuge after fleeing violent attacks on civilians in Rakhine state that forced tens of thousands of people to flee that region northwest of Yangon.
The pressure on civilians has increased in the chaos since the February 2021 military takeover from the democratically elected government.
According to the U.N., more than 1.2 million people have been forced to relocate within the country since the coup. The military junta’s removal of civilian homes is a violation of basic human rights, a war crime and a crime against humanity, two human rights experts said in a Dec. 2, 2022, statement released by the United Nations.
Two Mingalardon township residents reportedly took their own lives after the military ordered them to vacate their homes, the statement said.
“Forced evictions and mass burning of homes are gross violations of human rights. The junta must immediately stop the systematic destruction, burning and bulldozing of civilian homes,” Balakrishnan Rajagopal, U.N. special rapporteur on housing, and Thomas Andrews, special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in the statement.
Fragile economy
Compounding the problem for the displaced families like Ma Hla’s is that under pressure from sanctions, worker strikes and consumer boycotts, Myanmar’s economy is significantly smaller than it was before the coup.
Unable to afford new homes, some of the families have been forced to live in monasteries for shelter since their evictions.
A retired headmistress, who bought a house in the Gon Nyin Ni ward with her pension money, told RFA in November that her home had been demolished just two months after her purchase.
“I got a pension after working for the government for about 40 years. I bought a house there that was priced 6 or 7 million kyats, with the gratuity I got. I wanted to stay in my own house. I am really saddened now that this happened.”
Because the military has destroyed their homes, the residents will also likely need to be compensated to pay to rebuild them if they are allowed to return.
Military response
The military junta has not publicly responded to the requests by the evicted Mingalardon residents.
Under threat, the number of protesters has dwindled. Around 100 people gathered the first day on Feb. 5, but only around 40 were left on Feb. 7, local people
said.
Ma Cho is one of the protesters who has since retreated out of fear.
“I dare not go there to demand anymore,” she told RFA. “The government officials threaten us in many ways. In addition, they have hired some lawless fighters who are holding swords.
“Although I don’t have anything, I am still very scared.”
Others said they would continue to push for some sort of compensation, despite the risks.
“We are facing difficulties now,” said evicted resident Ko Maung. “Our livelihood has been difficult. Since we don’t have stable jobs, we can’t even afford our food.
“We can’t pay the rent. I don’t think it’s going to get better this way,” he said. “That’s why, we are going to demand on behalf of all the residents, a chance to return to our wards no matter how poorly we will have to live there.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to housing, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 21, 2023
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military junta should drop politically motivated charges against the Kachin Baptist leader Reverend Hkalam Samson and immediately release him, Human Rights Watch said today. Rev. Samson’s next hearing, on counterterrorism law charges, which only his lawyer is permitted to attend, is scheduled for February 21, 2023, at a special court inside Myitkyina prison.
“The junta’s politically motivated case against Rev. Hkalam Samson, who is internationally renowned for his humanitarian and community work, shows that no one is safe in Myanmar,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The junta should drop the baseless charges against Rev. Samson and immediately and unconditionally release him.”
On December 5, 2022, junta immigration officials and police arrested Rev. Samson at Mandalay International Airport, preventing him from leaving the country. Junta authorities have not disclosed his whereabouts but are apparently holding him at Myitkyina prison where the hearings are being held in a closed court. His family have not been allowed to see or communicate with him since his arrest.
In December, the junta charged Rev. Samson under section 17 of the Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly meeting with ethnic Kachin armed group leaders in January 2022, and section 505A of the penal code for “incitement” after holding a group prayer with members of the opposition National Unity Government (NUG). The offenses carry prison terms of up to 3 years each. The junta frequently uses vaguely worded and loosely interpreted provisions in its penal code to imprison peaceful activists. The hearings for these two charges concluded on February 14 with no verdict.
On February 14, the junta announced an additional charge against Rev. Samson under section 52A of the counterterrorism law for allegedly meeting with a member of the opposition National Unity Government, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Rev. Samson, 65, is the former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention and is chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, which facilitated peace talks with the previous National League for Democracy party civilian government.
In 2019, he was among a group of 27 representatives from 17 countries to meet then US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC to highlight the plight of victims of ethnic and religious persecution. Shortly after the trip, the military opened a case against him for his comments at the White House criticizing Myanmar’s persecution of Christian minority groups. The authorities dropped the case after the US State Department expressed concern.
Since the military coup in February 2021, junta security forces have carried out deadly crackdowns against the political opposition to military rule, arbitrarily detained more than 19,000 people, and committed numerous crimes against humanity and war crimes across the country, documented by Human Rights Watch and other groups.
Myanmar’s junta courts are neither independent nor provide basic fair trial rights. Many trials are held in grossly unjust closed-door military tribunals or in “special courts” inside prison facilities where detainees gain access to their lawyer only on the day of their trial.
United Nations member countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), in particular, Indonesia as chair of ASEAN, and other concerned governments should press the junta to immediately release all those wrongfully detained or imprisoned, including Rev. Samson.
“The prosecution of a high-profile Kachin religious figure like Rev. Samson is a heavy-handed attempt to chill all dissent among ethnic minority leaders,” Pearson said. “ASEAN and other concerned governments should press for the release of Rev. Samson and others wrongfully detained since the February 2021 coup.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: community-based defender charged with terrorism
- Date added
- Feb 26, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 14, 2023
- Event Description
One of Myanmar’s leading Protestant activists has been charged under the country’s Counter Terrorism Law.
Family members said Dr. Hkalam Samson was charged under Section 52 (a) – which covers incitement to terrorism – by a court in Kachin State’s Myitkyina Prison on Tuesday.
His lawyer, Dong Nang, told RFA the court said it was charging him under terrorism laws because he had met officials of Myanmar’s National Unity Government, which was overthrown by the military in a Feb. 1, 2021 coup.
“They filed a new case for meeting with and praying for the NUG president, Minister of Natural Resources Dr. Tu Hkawng and Minister of Education Ja Htoi Pan in Lai Zar,” he said, referring to an area of Kachin controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization and its military wing the Kachin Independence Army.
Dr. Hkalam, 65, is a former president of the Kachin Baptist Convention and president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly.
He had already been charged with criminal defamation and unlawful association with an illegal group, according to sources close to the secret court at Myitkyina Prison.
His lawyer told RFA that, with the addition of the new “terrorism” charge, Dr. Hkalam faces a maximum prison sentence of 13 years
Hkalam Samson was arrested at Mandalay International Airport on Dec. 4 on his way to medical treatment in Bangkok, Thailand, because his name was on a no-fly list. He was interrogated overnight at Central Regional Military Command headquarters.
The following day, authorities flew him back to Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, where he was again arrested.
Last month, his wife told RFA Dr. Hkalam was suffering from pneumonia and high blood pressure.
Zhon Nyoir, said she was worried about her husband's health because he had not been allowed to see his family since his arrest, and the family was not permitted to send him medicine or food.
At the time of his arrest Hkalam Samson still worked as an advisor for the Kachin Baptist Convention, which has about 400,000 members, most of whom are ethnic Kachin.
He was also president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, a group of local religious and political leaders who help foster communication between the Kachin Independence Organization, an ethnic Kachin political group, and the local community.
In October last year, he helped organize hospital treatment and funerals for people injured and killed in a junta airstrike on an annual concert hosted by the Kachin Independence Organization. The group's armed wing has been actively fighting against junta troops since the coup as well as training anti-regime People’s Defense Forces.
More than 60 people died during the attack, Kachin residents said at the time.
In 2017, Dr. Hkalam visited the White House and thanked then-president Donald Trump for imposing travel bans on senior Myanmar military commanders involved in a violent crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that year. He also appealed to Trump to take action against religious persecution in Myanmar and to support the country’s transition to genuine democracy.
He was sued by Major Thu Aung Zaw of the junta’s Northern Regional Military Command, based in Kachin state, for speaking about Myanmar’s religious and human rights situation during the meeting but the case was later dropped.
Hkalam Samson’s next trial is scheduled for Feb. 21. Family members told RFA they had heard the junta is preparing to level further charges against him.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 18, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2023
- Event Description
A court in Yangon’s Botahtaung Township sentenced Lin Htet Naing, a former leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), to an additional five years in prison on Monday, according to his wife.
The former student leader, who is better known as James in the activist community, received the sentence under Section 52b of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, his wife, fellow activist Phyo Phyo Aung, told Myanmar Now.
“By adding more years to his sentence, the military council is not only systematically and politically oppressing a democratic activist, but also fabricating fake cases to charge him with terrorism,” she said.
She added that she still didn’t know if he would have to do hard labour or if time served would be deducted from his sentence.
Lin Htet Naing was arrested in Botahtaung Township in June of last year and later charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code.
On December 7, a prison court based in Yangon’s Kyauktada Township found him guilty of that charge and sentenced him to three years in prison.
The former ABFSU vice president was first imprisoned in 2008 after being arrested for his involvement in the monk-led Saffron Revolution of the previous year.
Following his release in 2011, he resumed his political activities, and was later handed six-month sentences in 2015 and 20202, with the latter ending just days before the military coup in February 2021.
On October 19 of last year, his mother, Kyi Kyi Myint, was among eight people killed when an explosive went off inside a reception area in Insein Prison, where Lin Htet Naing was being held.
Kyi Kyi Myint, who was known to many of her son’s activist friends as “Amay Kyi,” or Mother Kyi, was bringing him food at the time of the incident.
According to the latest figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a total of 15,117 people are currently being detained by Myanmar’s military, of whom 3,713 have been sentenced.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: Student Activist Detained in Rangoon for His Role in Education Reform Movement
- Date added
- Feb 18, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 30, 2022
- Event Description
In December, Myanmar courts sentenced at least eight independent journalists to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ.
Separately, on January 4, junta authorities released at least six jailed journalists as part of a wider amnesty of over 7,000 prisoners to mark the nation’s Independence Day, according to news reports, a database compiled by the local rights group Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), and a separate database compiled by the Detained Journalists Information Myanmar private Facebook group, which was shared with CPJ via email.
Myanmar ranked as the world’s third worst jailer of journalists, with 42 behind bars when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2022.
“Myanmar’s cruel carousel of jailing, sentencing, and granting early release to journalists is a form of psychological warfare aimed at breaking the will of independent journalists and media outlets,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Authorities must immediately cease treating members of the press as criminals and should release all reporters held in custody for their work.”
And on December 30, a court in Yangon sentenced Thurein Kyaw, founder and publisher of the independent outlet Media Top 4, to 10 years in prison with hard labor under Article 49(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, according to news reports. Thurein Kyaw was beaten by unidentified attackers and initially detained on February 3, 2022, while covering a rally in support of the military junta in Yangon, according to news reports and photographs of his injuries circulated online.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 15, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 16, 2022
- Event Description
In December, Myanmar courts sentenced at least eight independent journalists to prison terms ranging from three to 10 years, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ.
Separately, on January 4, junta authorities released at least six jailed journalists as part of a wider amnesty of over 7,000 prisoners to mark the nation’s Independence Day, according to news reports, a database compiled by the local rights group Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), and a separate database compiled by the Detained Journalists Information Myanmar private Facebook group, which was shared with CPJ via email.
Myanmar ranked as the world’s third worst jailer of journalists, with 42 behind bars when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2022.
“Myanmar’s cruel carousel of jailing, sentencing, and granting early release to journalists is a form of psychological warfare aimed at breaking the will of independent journalists and media outlets,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Authorities must immediately cease treating members of the press as criminals and should release all reporters held in custody for their work.”
On December 16, a special court in Yangon’s Insein Prison sentenced Wai Lynn, founder of the local outlet Tingangyun Post, and Ma Htet Htet, an editor at the outlet, to five years each in prison under Section 5 of the Explosives Substances Act, which penalizes the unlawful possession of explosive substances, according to news reports and an AAPP statement.
Both reporters had been charged under Article 505(a), a broad provision that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news, and under the Counter Terrorism Law before their convictions under the separate provision.
On either December 16 or 17, freelance journalist Soe Yarzar Tun was sentenced to four years in prison with hard labor under Section 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, according to a report by The Irrawaddy and a statement by the AAPP. Soe Yarzar Tun was arrested in Bago City on March 10, 2022.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 15, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 27, 2022
- Event Description
Three youths who survived a three-storey fall to the ground while trying to escape a military raid in Yangon’s Botahtaung Township last year were given 12-year prison sentences on Tuesday, according to a court source.
Ye Min Oo, Min Thitsar Aung, and Wai Yan Htet were among 10 people sentenced in connection with the raid at a hearing held inside Insein Prison, the source said.
All 10 were facing charges under the Explosive Substances Act, including illegal possession of explosives and endangering public safety. The sentences ranged from five to 12 years.
On August 10 of last year, regime forces stormed an apartment on 44th Street in Botahtaung, where they arrested three of the defendants—Thiha Kaung Sett, Poe Kyawt Kyawt Khant, and Wai Phyo Aung.
Ye Min Oo, Min Thitsar Aung, and Wai Yan Htet were caught after falling from the roof of the building as they attempted to flee, while two others—Wai Wai Myint and Wai Zaw Phyoe—plunged to their deaths.
The others sentenced on Tuesday were Kyaw Kyaw Oo, a taxi driver who was arrested before the raid; Kaung Sett and Min Hein Khant, who were apprehended later; and Sai Win Lwin Htut, whose details were not available at the time of reporting.
According to the father of Ye Min Oo, families were not allowed to meet with the prisoners until after they received their sentences.
“I’m in no position to say anything about the other kids, but Ye Min Oo is a very adaptable person. He can survive essentially anywhere,” he said, noting that his son—who was transferred to an interrogation centre soon after his release from the hospital—had still not fully recovered from his injuries.
“He only told us to give him some support from the background so that he could live comfortably in prison. He’s in good health save for a limp in his left leg, which I think is going to be a lifelong disability,” he added.
Poe Kyawt Kyawt Khant, the only woman among the 10 detainees, was handed a five-year sentence for possession of explosives, according to Myanmar Now’s source.
She was pregnant at the time of her arrest and reportedly gave birth inside Insein Prison in late February, the source added.
Kyaw Kyaw Oo, Kaung Sett, and Min Hein Khant each received 12-year sentences after they were found guilty of illegal possession of explosives and being accessories to offences under the Explosive Substances Act.
Kaung Sett and Min Hein Khant, who were arrested in November of last year, were also accused of being members of an urban guerrilla group and are facing additional charges, according to the court source, who was unable to provide further details.
Kaung Min Thant, the only person to escape the raid on the 44th Street apartment, told Myanmar Now that he managed to get away by hiding on the roof of the building for 12 hours before fleeing to a safe area.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 15, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 26, 2022
- Event Description
In the space of a week, Myanmar’s military have arrested a banned news agency’s editor and passed prison sentences on three other journalists, including Han Thar Nyein, a nominee for this year’s Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press freedom Prize. RSF calls on the UN to toughen international sanctions on Myanmar’s generals to deter them from resorting to ever more terror.
“The endless arrests and continued detention of journalists by Myanmar’s military authorities is sickening,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “The world cannot watch the country succumb to the terror being used by the junta to control the news media. We call on Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take action to toughen the international sanctions targeting its generals.”
Nominated in November for RSF’s Prize for Courage, Han Thar Nyein was tried in the utmost secrecy yesterday, 26 December, by a court inside Insein prison in the Yangon suburbs and was sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly violating Section 33 (A) of Myanmar’s Electronic Transactions Law, which penalises acts detrimental to the security of the state. The details of his trial were leaked to social media the same day and were verified by RSF.
Manipulated legislation
Han Thar Nyein was already sentenced in March to two years in prison with hard labour under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s penal code, which penalises spreading “false news” and is widely used to persecute journalists. He will have to serve the two sentences consecutively, meaning he will have to spend a total of seven years in prison.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: five media outlets licence revoked, their offices searched, and two media workers arrested
- Date added
- Jan 15, 2023
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 19, 2022
- Event Description
Lu Phan Kar, who led anti-regime protests in Ayeyarwady region’s Pathein city, has been sentenced to another two years in prison for incitement against the military.
Pathein Prison Court handed down the sentence on Monday under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code.
Lu Phan Kar is a published poet who began leading anti-junta demonstrations in Ayeyarwady region following the Feb. 1, 2021 military coup. Protests swelled to around 5,000 people in the days leading up to his arrest in Pathein the following month.
He was charged with incitement against the military, sedition against the State and withholding information on an attempt to commit treason.
Last November, Lu Phan Kar was sentenced to 26 years in prison under Sections 122 and 124 of the Penal Code for sedition and misprision of treason, and six months for breaking prison rules.
“I found out that he received the additional sentence when I met with him yesterday,” said a friend, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
“At first, I thought the cases would total 25 years but I heard that the court sentenced him to 28 years and six months. He doesn’t even hire a lawyer anymore. He only hired a lawyer for one case … and won’t hire one now because he will be jailed anyway.”
In November 2021, eight political activists, including three former National League for Democracy lawmakers from Ayeyarwady region were sentenced to 20 years each for sedition and defamation of the State.
More than 16,500 people have been arrested in the 22 months since the coup for their real or alleged involvement in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement, with 13,088 of them still in prison according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Artist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 30, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 15, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Yangon’s Insein Prison has sentenced Ye Lin Oo, who served on the central executive committee of Dagon University Students’ Union, to a further seven years in prison.
A students’ union member told RFA the sentence was handed down on Thursday, under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law.
He had already received a three-year prison term on March 10, under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code, for incitement against the military.
“Ye Lin Oo has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Currently, there are no more charges to face,” said the students’ union member, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
“Young students are sentenced to long terms in prison although they are innocent. Even if they have been given the death penalty, young students will not give up or step back. We will speed up the revolution.”
Ye Lin Oo was arrested along with five other students’ union members on Sept. 14, 2021 in central Yangon’s Kyauktada township. The six were accused of participating in anti-junta activities.
The 25-year-old was studying archeology at Dagon University before the Feb. 2021 military coup. He stopped going to university after the coup and took part in pro-democracy campaigns.
“His parents are very upset,” said Ye Lin Oo’s friend Khant Naing. “They had already estimated he would spend many years in prison … but he was sentenced to another seven years, which made them sad. The family regularly sends him the medicine and food he needs.”
He added that Ye Lin Oo’s parents are worried because prison officials have been moving student activists to prisons with brutal conditions, far away from their families.
Dagon University Students’ Union says 40 of its members have been arrested in the 22 months since the military coup.
Death Sentences
On Nov. 30, a secret military court in Yangon’s Insein Prison sentenced seven Dagon University student activists to death under Article 302 of Myanmar's Penal Code for allegedly killing a retired army officer.
Former Lt. Col. Saw Moe Win was shot at a bank he managed in Yangon's South Dagon township on April 18. Students Khant Zin Win, Thura Maung, Zaw Linn Naing, Thiha Htet Zaw, Hein Htet, Thet Paing Oo, Khant Linn Maung -- all males -- were arrested three days later and charged with his murder.
A spokesperson for the junta’s Prison Department told RFA this month the executions would probably not take place for several months because the students could appeal against their sentences.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said on Thursday that the junta has arrested 16,557 people for their alleged or known roles in the pro-democracy movement, 13,083 of whom are still being held in prisons across Myanmar.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 16, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 30, 2022
- Event Description
Phoe Chit, a prominent proponent of Myanmar’s traditional performing arts, was taken into custody last week for his role in opposing military rule, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The former chair of the Myanmar Thabin Association (MTA), who resigned from his position five days after last year’s coup, was arrested at his home in Yangon on November 30, the source said.
His close friend and colleague Shan Tun—a lyricist also known as Myanmarsar—was arrested while attempting to leave Yangon the same day, according to a man with professional ties to both men.
“Shan Tun was on his way to a show in Bagan and wasn’t arrested in the same place as Phoe Chit,” said the man, noting that they both lived in the same neighbourhood in Yangon’s Mingaladon Township.
“I’m assuming this means [Shan Tun] was tipped off,” he added.
While their exact whereabouts is unknown, it is believed that Phoe Chit and Shan Tun are currently being held at an interrogation centre.
“We were repeatedly denied permission to visit them, but we weren’t given any reason,” the man told Myanmar Now.
Following the coup, the newly installed regime issued warrants for the arrest of Phoe Chit and other celebrities who spoke out against the ouster of Myanmar’s elected civilian government.
The military council has not released a statement regarding the arrests. However, pro-junta social media pages claimed that Phoe Chit was funding People’s Defence Force groups opposed to the military takeover.
A renowned performer of thabin, a traditional dramatic art form that features song and dance, Phoe Chit has won several gold medals in Myanmar National Performing Arts competitions. His performances have earned him nationwide acclaim for more than a decade.
He is also known for his public support of democratic causes. To mark Martyrs’ Day in 2016—the year that the National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power—a theatre group that he founded performed a play about independence leader Aung San, who was also the father of NLD founder Aung San Suu Kyi.
In addition to resigning in protest from the MTA, Phoe Chit led several anti-junta demonstrations in Yangon in the coup’s immediate aftermath. He continued posting pro-democracy messages on social media until his arrest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 16, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 12, 2022
- Event Description
A Mandalay-based LGBT activist who was arrested in October of last year was sentenced to an additional 22 years in prison on Monday, according to a source close to her family.
A special court inside Mandalay’s Obo Prison handed down the sentence after finding Sue Sha Shinn Thant, 27, guilty of two charges under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law for allegedly financing terrorist activities, the source said.
“They combined the charges before handing down the sentence. We don’t know the details yet, but she was already given a three-year sentence [for incitement] earlier this year, so her total prison sentence is now 25 years,” said the source, who did not want to be named.
Sue Sha Shinn Thant was arrested more than a year ago near the Myintge toll gate, at the southern entrance to Mandalay, after junta soldiers crashed their vehicle into her motorcycle. She and a fellow activist, Than Toe Aung, who was riding the motorbike with her, were both taken into custody at the same time.
According to the source, the pair were chased after arguing with soldiers who checked their phones. Than Toe Aung suffered unspecified injuries to the lower part of his body, but Sue Sha Shinn Thant was not badly injured, the source said.
Than Toe Aung was sentenced to a total of 15 years on incitement and terrorism charges, but Sue Sha Shinn Thant received a heavier sentence for her alleged role in financing anti-regime activities, according to the source.
“She was actually innocent of all these charges. She had to help with money transactions for charity purposes, since she worked for an NGO. I think she was accused and prosecuted for that,” the source said.
Another source close to the victim said she was sexually assaulted and tortured during interrogation.
“They touched her breasts and burned her with cigarette butts. She’s a trans woman and well-endowed. She asked for a bra to wear in prison, but the guards would not accept care packages with bras,” the source said.
Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister for the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), called Sue Sha Shinn Thant “a symbol of embodiment for the LGBT community” and denounced her arrest and sentencing.
“The soldiers did not comply with lawful arrest procedures and arrested her by crashing into her motorbike. She was also sexually assaulted during interrogation. It is a great loss for her to be given a 22-year prison sentence after all these abuses,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.
He added that imprisoned LGBT people are often targeted by both junta authorities and convicts due to “a deep-seated hatred” towards the community.
“But we will bring justice to Sue Sha Shinn Thant and others who were unjustly arrested, tortured, and imprisoned,” he said.
Sue Sha Shinn Thant is well-known for her charity work in Mandalay and as an advocate of human rights, including LGBT and children rights. She has worked for a number of NGOs and was the chair of the Mandalay regional youth association under the ousted National League for Democracy government.
She was studying in Thailand when the military seized power in a coup in February 2021. She was arrested soon after her return to Myanmar late last year.
“Words can’t even describe how I feel about this sentence. But the silver lining is that she is still alive. I just hope that she will be freed as soon as possible,” said a friend from the LGBT community.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- LGBTQ+/ Non-Binary
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 16, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 12, 2022
- Event Description
The military council sentenced an activist leader of the 1988 pro-democracy protests, now nearing 80 years of age, to 17 years in Mandalay’s Obo Prison on Monday.
Shwe Htoo, 78, had already spent nearly two decades of his life in prison under a previous dictatorship for his role in the protests of 1988. He was arrested on April 29 at a plantation site in Sakhan Ward near his home in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay Region, along with two friends: Sein Lin, 57, and Banyar, who is in his 40s.
The detainees were then held and interrogated at Obo Prison. Shwe Htoo’s friends were convicted on two counts of terrorism each, and all three received 17-year sentences eight months after their arrest.
It is believed that Shwe Htoo was also convicted of terrorism but Myanmar Now has yet to confirm the charges.
“The sentence was handed down by the Pyin Oo Lwin District Court through video conferencing at the Obo Prison Court,” said a source close to Shwe Htoo’s family, who preferred to remain anonymous.
“The military accused him of being a terrorist,” the source added. “But my interpretation is that they imprisoned him simply because he was a politician.”
According to the same source, Shwe Htoo’s state of health is unknown as his family is not allowed to visit him in prison.
“The last time we heard from him was when he first arrived in Obo Prison and he asked us to send him food and clothing,” the source added.
Shwe Htoo was a retired teacher when he became involved in the Mandalay Strike Committee during the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, for which he spent three years in prison. In 1998, he was imprisoned again under the Than Shwe dictatorship.
After his release in 2012 during a period of nascent democratic reform, he remained politically engaged. When Ko Ko Gyi—another activist leader of the 1988 pro-democracy movement—assumed chairmanship of the newly founded People’s Party in 2018, Shwe Htoo was appointed party patron for Mandalay Region.
However, according to sources close to him, Shwe Htoo resigned from the party after the February 2021 military coup.
“He’s very old now and he’s a man of respectable reputation, so the military council should really try to minimize his punishment,” said a Mandalay-based politician who requested anonymity. “I always have and always will respect him for his efforts to support democracy and human rights.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 16, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 9, 2022
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled to learn that Burmese reporter and political columnist Sithu Aung Myint has been given an additional seven-year jail term, bringing his combined sentence to 12 years in prison. RSF demands his release and sounds the alarm about the shocking recent increase in the severity of the sentences being passed on journalists in Myanmar. There seems to be no limit to how far Myanmar’s military junta is ready to go in order to crush press freedom. After being sentenced to three years in prison on 7 October, and then another two years on 24 November, Sithu Aung Myint, was given a further seven years on 9 December on a charge of sedition under Section 124 (a) of the criminal code. “The severity of the sentences imposed in a totally arbitrary manner on journalists such as Sithu Aung Myint is obscene,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “The world cannot watch Myanmar sink deeper into terror in this way without doing anything. We call on Tom Andrews, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take action to toughen the international sanctions targeting Myanmar’s generals.” Kafkaesque charges Ever since his first conviction for “inciting crime” on 7 October, RSF has denounced the Kafkaesque nature of the charges being brought against Sithu Aung Myint, who was arrested on 15 August 2021. His latest sentence came just nine days after freelance reporter Myo San Soe was sentenced to 15 years in prison on 30 November on charges of “terrorism” and “funding terrorism”. This is longest prison sentence that any journalist has received since the military retook power in Myanmar in a coup in February 2021. Two weeks before that, two journalists working for reportedly pro-junta online media – Win Oo and Zaw Min Oo – were jailed for asking difficult questions during an information ministry press conference. Since the military takeover, Myanmar has become the world’s biggest jailer of journalists relative to population size, according to RSF’s press freedom barometer. It is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index, 36 places lower than in 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: media worker handed down additional prison term (Update), Myanmar: two more media workers arrested, charged
- Date added
- Dec 16, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 30, 2022
- Event Description
A student leader who took part in anti-junta protests in Myanmar’s Magway region has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by a court in Kayin State.
Myawaddy District Court handed down his sentence, under Section 49(a) of the Counter-Terrorist Act, on Wednesday, a fellow activist told RFA on condition of anonymity.
Kaung Set Naing was the student leader of Magway city’s Medical University when the military seized power on Feb. 1, 2021.
The 23–year-old went undercover after a junta crackdown on protests, according to his friends. He was arrested on Dec. 6, 2021 at a military checkpoint between Kayin State’s Myawaddy township and Lay Kay Kaw new town.
One friend told RFA he was tortured for a week in a military camp before being sent to the local prison.
“He was arrested and tortured in the interrogation, that’s all we knew. We heard he was still in Myawaddy prison for about a year,” said the friend, who wished to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
“He was sentenced to 15 years on allegations of supporting the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw [the former parliament], the National Unity Government and People’s Defense Forces.”
Kaung Set Naing’s family recently traveled from Magway to Myawaddy to request his transfer to a prison closer to home, according to his friends. He has had no contact with them since his arrest.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), a total of 16,472 people were arrested nationwide in the 22 months since the coup, of which 13,002 are still being held in prison.
Sentenced to death
News of Kaung Set Naing's jail term came amid reports that a secret military court in Insein Prison on Wednesday sentenced 7 student activists from Yangon’s Dagon University to death under Article 302 of Myanmar's Penal Code for the alleged killing of a retired army officer.
Speaking on Thursday, Dagon University Student Union Chairman Min Han Htet told RFA he had confirmed the sentencing with a parent of one of the convicted students, who he said knows all 7 of them and regularly attended their trial proceedings.
"He confirmed the news about the death sentence," he said. "It's about the shooting at Kaba Yadanar Bank. They were arrested for the incident in which the bank manager was killed.”
On April 18, former Lieutenant Colonel Saw Moe Win was killed in a shooting at the Kaba Yadanar Bank in Yangon's South Dagon township, which he managed. Dagon University students Khant Zin Win, Thura Maung Maung, Zaw Linn Naing, Thiha Htet Zaw, Hein Htet, Thet Paing Oo, Khant Linn Maung Maung -- all males -- were arrested for the killing three days later and charged with murder.
Sources who declined to be named, citing fear of reprisal, said that an execution date had been set for Dec. 7, although RFA was unable to independently confirm the claim.
When contacted by RFA, Naing Win, spokesperson for the junta’s Prison Department, confirmed that the 7 students had been sentenced, but denied that the sentence would be carried out next week.
“There is a process that must take place after the death sentence is given," he said.
"They could appeal the decision to the president or head of state. This process could take several months. The news that they shall be executed on a certain day is unfounded ... There is no such rush for executing cases like that.”
However, a legal expert who spoke on condition of anonymity citing security concerns told RFA that the junta has no intention of amending the sentences, even if the students appeal it.
“They may have opened the door for appeal, as a procedure, but I don’t think they will reduce the sentences," he said, noting that only junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing can overturn the death penalty.
'Barbaric' closed-trial sentences
Nan Linn, a former member of the University Students Union, called the sentencing of someone to death in a closed trial "barbaric."
“There was no transparency in the prosecution and sentencing of these young people," he said, adding that the idea a defendant could expect justice under such conditions "is inconceivable."
"The military council is now using very violent and immoral means to prosecute anyone who opposes their rule. These sentences are the proof.”
On July 25, the junta executed four democracy activists, including prominent former student leader Ko Jimmy and a former NLD lawmaker. Prior to those executions, which prompted protests at home and condemnation abroad, only three people had been executed in Myanmar in the past 50 years.
According to Thailand's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), junta forces have killed at least 2,553 civilians and jailed at least 16,472 since last year's takeover. As of Thursday, 128 people have been sentenced to death by junta courts, largely for anti-coup activities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 5, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 1, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar journalist Myo San Soe has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on two terrorism counts by a court at Pyapon Prison in Ayeyarwady region.
He was transferred to Pathein Prison on Thursday right after the sentencing, according to his family. Pyapon prison only holds people sentenced to 10 years or less.
He received a 10-year sentence under Section 50(j) of the Counter- Terrorism Act and five years under Section 52(a), a family member told RFA.
“I feel that we have fewer children,” she said. “There are only two children. He lives at home with us and we had no one to rely on when he was not around. His mother is here crying.”
The family member, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, said Myo San Soe had given 30,000 Kyats (U.S.$14) to help young people who fled to safety after taking part in anti-junta protests. However, he was arrested on Oct. 29, 2022, accused of being in contact with People’s Defense Force (PDF) members.
Myo San Soe is a freelance journalist who has reported for The Ayeyarwaddy (sic) Times, BNI News and Delta News Agency, which were banned by the junta after the military seized power in a February 2021 coup, leaving him without work.
According to RFA data, in the 22 months since the coup a total of 143 journalists were arrested across the country, with 47 still imprisoned.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 5, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 21, 2022
- Event Description
A primary school teacher from Sagaing Region’s Tamu Township has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for financing “terrorist” activities, according to a source close to her family.
Honey Su Kyi Zaw, 30, was arrested at her home in Tamu’s Saw Bwar 6 Ward on November 23 last year and accused of financially supporting the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule.
The Tamu District Court sentenced her on Monday, two days before the anniversary of her arrest, the family source told Myanmar Now.
She was prosecuted under Section 50j of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law for distributing funds provided by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) for CDM teachers, the source said.
The military junta that seized power in February 2021 designated the NUG a terrorist organisation in May last year.
“She was collecting donations for teachers who had tested positive for Covid-19. It wasn’t as they alleged,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The source added that the evidence against Honey Su Kyi Zaw was provided by KBZ Bank, which submitted account information that allegedly showed transactions involving other accounts linked to the NUG.
“They didn’t find any evidence on her phone. She was unjustly accused and prosecuted,” the source said.
Honey Su Kyi Zaw was a teacher at Primary School No. 8 in Chauk Natgyi, a village in Tamu Township. Residents there say that she was likely targeted because she was a member of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).
“She didn’t like the military coup, so she joined protests and the CDM. She was an NLD member, but she also spoke out against party members if she thought they were acting dishonestly,” said one local resident.
“After joining the CDM, she made handicrafts and sold them online to support herself. She was an honest and peaceful teacher,” he added.
Honey Su Kyi Zaw has been held at the police station in Tamu since her arrest. She remains there for the time being due to the poor security situation on the road from Tamu to Kalay, where she will later be transferred to prison, sources said.
Since last year’s coup, the junta has prosecuted hundreds of people under Section 50j of the Counter-Terrorism Law without concrete evidence. Conviction carries a sentence of 10 years to life imprisonment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 22, 2022
- Event Description
After Ah Hla Lay Thuzar, a Burmese journalist better known by the pseudonym of Ma Thuzar, received a two-year jail sentence today, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on UN officials tasked with monitoring Myanmar to take tougher action to get the leaders of its military junta to stop normalising the terror they have been imposing on media personnel.
A freelance reporter based in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, Ma Thuzar, was sentenced this morning to two years in prison with hard labour by a court inside Insein prison, which is located in a Yangon suburb. Arrested on 1 September 2021, she had spent nearly 15 months in pretrial detention.
Initially reported by Burmese-language social media, her sentence was confirmed by RSF at midday. She was prosecuted under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s penal code, which – inter alia, – punishes inciting “hatred against the army forces.”
“Ma Thuzar’s totally arbitrary conviction is another sign of the normalisation of terror against journalists that the ruling junta in Naypyidaw has managed to impose,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “We call on Tom Andrews, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take action to toughen international sanctions on Myanmar’s generals and to prevent them, once and for all, from regarding their treatment of journalists as just one of the variables of their absolute despotism.”
Constant threat of arrest
The State Administration Council, as the military junta is officially known, announced “pardons” on 16 November for several thousand detainees including five Burmese journalists – Mya Wun Yan (also known as Hla Yin Win), La Pyae, Than Htike Aung, San Myint and Ye Yint Tun – and for Toru Kubota, a Japanese documentary filmmaker, who was immediately expelled.
Although they were “pardoned,” their convictions were not overturned, with the result that the five Burmese journalists could easily be jailed again on any spurious grounds cooked up by the military.
These pardons are just a drop in the ocean alongside the number of journalists still detained in Myanmar, which currently stands at 61, according to RSF’s press freedom barometer. This makes Myanmar the world’s second biggest jailer of media personal, second only to China. In proportion to its population, it is the biggest.
Myanmar is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: media worker arbitrarily arrested
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 14, 2022
- Event Description
A midwife who was arrested during a crackdown on healthcare workers in Mandalay late last month has died in regime custody, according to a doctor familiar with the situation.
Poe Thandar Aung, who was formerly employed at the Central Women’s Hospital in Mandalay, died on Monday night, said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, who is taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule.
“I heard the news from three sources. We learned this morning that Ma Poe was dead,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.
Poe Thandar Aung was arrested in Mandalay on October 29 along with others accused of sending medical supplies to anti-junta forces.
Also arrested were Dr. Min Zaw Oo, of the Mandalay University of Medicine’s Surgery Department, nurses Zin Mar Win and Yoon Nandar Tun, a woman named Kyi Thadar Phyu, and three employees at a bus station in Aungmyay Thazan Township.
The arrests were part of a crackdown launched after regime forces seized nearly 5 million kyat ($2,365) worth of medicine and other supplies from a truck travelling between the towns of Pale and Gangaw, west of Mandalay, on October 27.
More than a dozen people were taken into custody in the first wave of arrests, and at least 16 more have since been detained, according to CDM sources.
“Our whole country is suffering because of a general who doesn’t want to retire. Myanmar is the only country where nurses are executed for doing their jobs,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.
Myanmar Now has been unable to reach Poe Thandar Aung’s relatives to confirm reports of her death.
On Monday, another person taking part in the CDM named Hein Zaw Nyo wrote on social media that Dr. Min Zaw Oo had also been tortured while undergoing interrogation and was vomiting blood due to the beatings he had received.
“We don’t take up arms. We only provide medical service to the people. The military is targeting the healthcare community for defying the junta,” he wrote.
Hein Zaw Nyo’s allegations could not be independently confirmed at the time of reporting.
Since seizing power in February 2021, the military has killed 58 healthcare workers and arrested more than 700, according to Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG).
The regime has also destroyed more than 50 hospitals and clinics and at least 40 ambulances, the NUG reported last month.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: pro-democracy health workers arrested
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 30, 2022
- Event Description
A prominent activist monk and four others were arrested at a monastery in Mandalay on Sunday, according to a member of a local strike committee.
The arrests were made at the May Ga Wun monastery in Mandalay’s Pyigyitagon Township, where Ven. Kalyana, a leader of an anti-regime monks’ association, was reportedly in hiding.
“I heard that they raided the monastery at around 5pm,” said the strike committee member, adding that one of the others who were arrested was detained earlier in the day.
The four youths who were also taken into custody were identified as Paing Nway Oo, Nay Ye, Hein Maung, and Kaung Khant Zaw, who is also known as Ngat.
“Ko Ngat was arrested first in the morning, and we lost contact with the others in the evening,” said the strike committee member.
According to Voice of Mandalay, a Facebook page that reports on local news, regime forces positioned at the northern and southern gates of the monastery were seen on Sunday stopping youths on motorcycles and beating one who was described as having long hair.
“I’m pretty sure the long-haired guy was Ngat,” said the strike committee member, who added that a hostel in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township was also raided at around 3am on Monday.
“Everyone’s trying to flee right now, including me. But I’m at a safe place now,” he said.
In a statement released on Sunday, the monks’ association said that Ven. Kalyana was in perfect health at the time of his arrest, and that his captors would bear full responsibility for any harm that befalls him.
On October 15, the junta raided two other monasteries in Pyigyitagon Township in a bid to capture Ven. Agga Vamsa, another prominent monk involved in the resistance movement.
Two youths, including a novice monk, were reportedly tortured in the raids on the Seittathukha and Thayetpin monasteries, but Ven. Agga Vamsa was not apprehended.
At least nine monks, including Ven. Kalyana, are currently in regime custody in Mandalay, according to activist sources.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 6, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 29, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military junta has arrested more than a dozen healthcare workers since last week on suspicion of supporting anti-coup resistance groups, according to a regime statement and sources familiar with the situation.
In a statement released on Monday night, the junta said it detained several people, including a doctor, two nurses, and a midwife, during a raid on a bus station in Mandalay’s Aungmyay Thazan Township on Saturday.
A large quantity of medical supplies, which the junta accused the apprehended individuals of planning to send to members of the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF), were also seized, the statement said.
The arrested healthcare workers were identified as Dr. Min Zaw Oo, of the Mandalay University of Medicine’s Surgery Department, nurses Zin Mar Win and Yoon Nandar Tun, and midwife Poe Thandar Aung.
All four were said to be taking part in a nationwide strike by healthcare workers against the regime that overthrew Myanmar’s elected civilian government in February 2021.
A woman named Kyi Thadar Phyu and three bus station employees were also detained in the raid, according to the statement, which also named more than a dozen other doctors and nurses described as being “still at large.”
The raid came two days after nearly 5 million kyat ($2,365) worth of medicine and other supplies, including an anaesthesia machine, were seized from a truck travelling on the road between the towns of Pale and Gangaw, west of Mandalay.
According to a source within Mandalay’s healthcare community, at least nine other medical workers have been arrested in the city in recent days.
One was Dr. Moe Thidar Linn, of Mandalay’s Otorhinolaryngology Specialist Hospital, who was among those the regime said in its statement were wanted by the authorities.
“I don’t want to say any more about it. It’s just sickening. I don’t think Mandalay has any more anti-regime doctors who are still free,” said the source, who declined to identify the others who were reportedly apprehended.
Employees of public hospitals were among the first civil servants to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in protest over last year’s coup. Many prominent medical professionals joined the anti-regime movement, including Dr. Maung Maung Nyein Tun, a 45-year-old lecturer at Mandalay Medical University, who was arrested in June last year and who died of Covid-19 in detention about two months later.
As part of its crackdown on striking hospital employees, the regime has also revoked the licenses of medical practitioners taking part in the CDM.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 6, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 28, 2022
- Event Description
Twenty-nine workers from a garment factory in Yangon’s Shwepyitha Township were fired after they organised a recent strike, sources from within their labour union told Myanmar Now.
The walkout at Myanmar Pou Chen began on October 25, with 400 employees demanding a raise from the 4,800-kyat (US$2.27) minimum daily wage to 8,000 kyat ($3.78), as well as to provide local transportation for workers, bonuses for high performance and implement other amendments to factory policy.
The factory employs some 7,800 workers and is a supplier for global sportswear brand Adidas.
Officials from Myanmar Pou Chen notified the local military authorities of the protest on the afternoon of the same day it began, prompting the arrival of 10 soldiers and police officers in four army vehicles.
“They warned us not to continue the protest the following day,” a woman who was later fired told Myanmar Now. “They threatened to arrest us if we protested outside the factory area, or if factory equipment was damaged during our protest. They said they had been wanting to detain us for a while.”
The workers continued their strike on October 26 despite the threats, as well as on October 27, by which point more than 2,000 employees had joined.
One day later, factory officials fired 26 workers, including 16 members of Myanmar Pou Chen’s labour union who were believed to have led the strike. They recorded the three days of protest as unauthorised absences from work, and a violation of their employment contracts.
“We cannot enter the factory anymore. A team leader went inside to meet the officials, and he was given his salary and a termination letter,” another woman, who was a member of the union, said. “They confiscated his employee card. He didn’t sign the termination agreement or accept the salary.”
“We asked if it was lawful or if they had the right to fire us. They replied they had made a unilateral decision, regardless of whether it was illegal,” she added.
On October 29, three more employees were dismissed—all women—another worker told Myanmar Now.
“They also walked around the factory and yelled into megaphones that further action would be taken against the protesters for damaging the factory. If they saw two workers standing together, they would shoo them away like dogs,” she said.
The terminated workers filed a complaint with the Department of Labour Relations under the military council’s Ministry of Labour.
- Impact of Event
- 29
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Corporation (others)
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 6, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 21, 2022
- Event Description
A funeral for 55-year-old Kyi Myint, who was killed in a parcel bomb explosion and shooting incident at Yangon’s Insein Prison last week, was held at Kyi Su cemetery on October 21.
Her son is student activist Lin Htet Naing, commonly known as James, and is incarcerated at Insein, Myanmar’s largest detention facility. She was at the prison to deliver a package to him when two explosions went off, followed by gunfire from junta personnel.
Family members reportedly asked that the Insein Prison authorities allow James to attend his mother’s funeral, but permission was denied.
According to the junta, among the eight casualties in the attack were three prison guards, a 10-year-old girl, and several women. An urban guerrilla group called the Special Task Agency (STA) of Burma claimed responsibility for the controversial attack in a statement, saying that the bombs intended to targeted the prison superintendent “in retaliation against prison officers who are Min Aung Hlaing’s followers, for constantly oppressing comrades of the revolution.”
Though several witnesses told Myanmar Now that most of the victims were killed when soldiers opened fire from a nearby watchtower in response to the blasts, the guerrilla group was heavily criticised for planning an attack near the prison entrance where many civilians frequently visit in order to send parcels to their detained relatives. The National Unity Government, along with many resistance groups, condemned the bombing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: Student Activist Detained in Rangoon for His Role in Education Reform Movement
- Date added
- Oct 30, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 17, 2022
- Event Description
A resistance group says that it used drones to launch two attacks on a junta column that decapitated a teacher and killed two others in Magway Region’s Pauk Township earlier this week.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Anonymous Special Task Force said that it dropped three explosives on around 80 troops stationed on a hill near Hpayar Taung, a village located about 15km southeast of the town of Pauk, the day before.
An officer of the group also claimed that a second attack was carried out against a junta base in Yae Pyar, a village about 2km south of Hpayar Taung, later the same day.
“We weren’t sure how many casualties there were from the first attack, so we decided to go after the base in Yae Pyar as well,” he told Myanmar Now.
The troops stationed near Hpayar Taung have reportedly been raiding villages in southern Pauk Township since October 12. On Monday, they targeted the village of Kyar Pyit Kan, where they abducted three men, including a teacher taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
According to locals, the teacher, 46-year-old Saw Moe Tun, taught mathematics at a school run by the National Unity Government (NUG) and was also on its township education committee.
“They captured him and took him to Taung Myint, another village near here. That’s where they killed him, right in front of the school. They cut three fingers off of his right hand and also beheaded him. They hung his head at the entrance to the school,” said a local who did not want to be named.
Another person living in the area confirmed this report, and said that the soldiers also set fire to the school.
A photo of the victim’s head hanging from a school door, with his headless body lying nearby on the ground, has circulated widely on social media.
The other two men, who have yet to be identified, were also killed, local sources said.
According to local groups, around 8,000 civilians from some 13 villages have been displaced by the recent junta raids in Pauk Township.
Last Thursday, a day after the attacks began, soldiers burned down the entire village of Thee Chauk, the Anonymous Special Task Force officer told Myanmar Now.
The village, which is about 20km west of Hpayar Taung, where the junta troops were stationed, had around 250 households, he said. Before setting fire to most of the houses there, the regime forces shelled and ransacked the village, he added.
On Tuesday, the Basic Education General Strike Committee and Basic Education Workers Union-Strike Committee released statements strongly condemning the military’s brutal killing of Saw Moe Tun.
Both groups also noted that on the same day that Saw Moe Tun was murdered, Ye Thiha, a middle school headmaster who was also taking part in the CDM, was fatally stabbed seven times at his home in Ayeyarwady Region’s Zalun Township.
The groups called on the public, as well as the NUG, to protect teachers and others taking part in the CDM.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 28, 2022
- Event Description
A special court inside Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison added two years to the prison sentence of prominent student leader Wai Yan Phyo Moe on Wednesday, according to his family.
The latest sentence, which will bring the total time he has to spend behind bars to seven years and two months, was for an incitement charge laid against him for his political activities prior to last year’s coup, a family member told Myanmar Now.
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) vice president, who was arrested in March of last year, has already been convicted twice on charges of incitement for his anti-coup activities, most recently in February.
“He’s in good health, but he didn’t make any comment. Now that they’ve handed down the final sentence, it will be more difficult to communicate with him. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, but most likely he will be transferred to another prison,” said a relative who attended the trial.
The relative, who did not want to be named, also expressed concern for the safety of Wai Yan Phyo Moe and other political prisoners.
“There are abuses happening every day in Myanmar’s prisons, so I would like to ask the international community to take serious action against those responsible. I also want to call for the immediate release of all unlawfully jailed political prisoners,” he said.
In September 2020, Wai Yan Phyo Moe and other ABFSU members were arrested for distributing pamphlets calling for the restoration of internet access in Rakhine State, where the military was waging war with the Arakan Army.
At the time, he was charged under Section 19 of the Peaceful Procession and Peaceful Assembly Law, for which he has received two one-month sentences since his arrest last year.
In April of last year, he and several other student activists detained at Insein Prison were placed in solitary confinement for a week for refusing to read the prison rules out loud.
He was also one of around 90 prisoners who were subjected to beatings and other severe punishment for taking part in a “Silent Strike” held nationwide last December.
He reportedly sustained serious injuries to his neck and ribs, but was denied medical care, according to prison sources.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: detained pro-democracy defenders beaten during a strike, Myanmar: four student leaders sentenced to three years with hard labour, Myanmar: two students targeted by night raid, charged and threatened
- Date added
- Oct 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 28, 2022
- Event Description
A teacher who was arrested in southern Mandalay Region’s Wundwin Township last Friday was reported dead five days later, according to local sources.
Kyaw Naing Win, a high-school teacher in his 50s, died on Wednesday while being held at an interrogation centre in Meikhtila, the sources reported.
“He died and his family didn’t even get his ashes. They were also unable to find out anything about his death. He was in good health at the time of his arrest,” said a Wundwin resident who did not want to be identified.
Kyaw Naing Win was taken into custody last Friday at Wundwin’s Basic Education High School No. 1, where he has worked since July, when he was forced to return to teaching after joining the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) last year.
It was unclear why he was arrested last week. He was also detained and held overnight in July, reportedly after local informants urged the junta authorities to “take action” against him and his wife for calling on parents to boycott schools.
His wife, Mi Mi Lay, is currently receiving medical treatment for a heart condition, a source close to the couple told Myanmar Now.
According to the latest data compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are at least 234 teachers currently being held in Myanmar’s detention centres.
Most have been imprisoned for taking part in the CDM or otherwise opposing the regime that seized power in February of last year.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Death
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 14, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military regime must cease its harassment of The Irrawaddy and allow the independent news organization to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
On October 14, Myanmar’s junta announced on state television that it would take legal action against The Irrawaddy for reporting that military forces opened fire on Buddhist pilgrims during an October 12 firefight with anti-junta insurgents in eastern Mon State, according to news reports and The Irrawaddy’s editor-in-chief Aung Zaw, who communicated with CPJ by email and messaging app.
In the broadcast, the junta called The Irrawaddy “blatant liars” and said it would be suing the outlet under the Electronic Transactions Law, News Media Law, and the state defamation law, according to those reports. Aung Zaw said the junta has not formally contacted The Irrawaddy about the charges.
The BBC’s Burmese Service, which continues to operate a bureau inside Myanmar, was also mentioned in the junta’s legal threat, reports said.
The military regime banned The Irrawaddy and several other independent news outlets after staging a democracy-suspending coup on February 1, 2021, according to news reports and CPJ reporting. The Irrawaddy has defied the ban and continues to publish daily news online.
“The Myanmar military’s crude and constant harassment of The Irrawaddy is an abomination and must stop immediately,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The Irrawaddy epitomizes the type of independent news reporting Myanmar’s junta is bidding to outlaw, but its growing abuse of arbitrary laws to target and jail journalists is ultimately a sign of its illegitimacy and weakness.”
The junta’s October 14 announcement was the latest in a series of actions it has taken to harass and intimidate The Irrawaddy and its staff.
On September 29, at around midnight, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials searched the home of a senior editor of The Irrawaddy in Yangon and interrogated his parents and siblings about his whereabouts, Aung Zaw told CPJ.
On the same night, police officers also visited the house of The Irrawaddy’s former director Thaung Win, who was taken to an interrogation center and is currently being detained at an unknown location, Aung Zaw said.
In April 2022, former Irrawaddy photojournalist Zaw Zaw was arrested and detained at Mandalay’s Obo Prison, Aung Zaw said. He was formally charged in June under Article 505(a) of the penal code, an anti-state provision that bans “incitement” and “false news” that has been used widely by the regime to detain, convict, and sentence journalists, the Irrawaddy reported.
Police and soldiers raided The Irrawaddy’s office in downtown Yangon twice in late 2021, even though it had ceased news operations there since being banned, Aung Zaw said.
In March 2021, the junta charged The Irrawaddy under the penal code’s Article 505(a) for “disregarding” the armed forces in its reporting on anti-coup protests, the Irrawaddy reported, and Aung Zaw confirmed to CPJ.
The police opened a case against The Irrawaddy as a whole rather than individual reporters, making it the first news outlet to be sued by the regime after the coup, according to the report and Aung Zaw, who was the recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2014.
CPJ emails to Myanmar’s Ministry of Information and BBC Burmese did not receive a reply.
Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, according to CPJ’s December 1 prison census. Several journalists have been jailed for incitement, an anti-state charge that Myanmar’s military regime has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since the coup in 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 27, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Htet Htet Khine and stop jailing journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On September 27, Htet Htet Khine, a freelance BBC Media Action reporter, was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor, according to a statement by BBC Media Action, which did not specify the charge she was convicted under.
On September 15, Htet Htet Khine received her first three-year prison sentence with hard labor for allegedly violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news, as CPJ documented.
According to a report by the AP, Htet Htet Khine was also facing charges under the Unlawful Association Act for allegedly contacting “illegal organizations,” which carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment.
“Myanmar’s junta must reverse this outrageous verdict against journalist Htet Htet Khine and set her free immediately and unconditionally,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The military regime must stop treating journalists like criminals for merely doing their jobs.”
The journalist, who has been detained since August 15, 2021, received a reduction in her sentence for time served and therefore faces five years of hard labor, according to the outlet’s statement, which said it remains “concerned for her safety and well-being in detention.”
Htet Htet Khine was moved after her September 15 trial to Insein prison in the city of Yangon, news reports said. Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists as of December 1, 2021, according to CPJ’s annual prison census.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: media workers handed down 3-year jail term (Update), Myanmar: two more media workers arrested, charged
- Date added
- Oct 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 7, 2022
- Event Description
Sithu Aung Myint a reporter and commentator for both local and international media, has just been sentenced to three years in prison in Myanmar after 14 months in pre-trial detention. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for his unconditional release and for tough international sanctions to prevent Myanmar’s junta from pursuing its vicious crackdown.
The latest victim of the military junta’s repressive machinery, which is trying journalists with increasing frequency, Sithu Aung Myint was convicted on 7 October by a special military court inside Yangon’s Insein prison, where he has been held ever since his arrest on 15 August 2021 at the end of manhunt reported by RSF at the time.
“The rate at which journalists are being sentenced to long prison terms in Myanmar is sickening,” said Daniel Bastard. “The world cannot watch Myanmar sink deeper into terror without doing anything. We call on Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to take action so that the international sanctions on Myanmar’s generals are toughened.”
In the course of a long career as a journalist, Sithu Aung Myint has worked as a reporter for the Burmese magazine Frontier Myanmar and as a political commentator for the US broadcaster Voice Of America (VOA). Both media outlets were banned in Myanmar after the February 2021 military coup, which forced him to go into hiding.
Second prison sentence in two days
He was convicted of “inciting government employees to commit crimes” under penal code Section 505 (a), a vaguely-worded law that the junta keeps using as a pretext to convict journalists.
Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota was sentenced to ten years in prison just two days before Sithu Aung Myint’s trial. And less than two weeks before that, on 28 September, a sentence of three years in prison with hard labour was confirmed for Htet Htet Khine, a freelance woman journalist who was arrested at the same time as Sithu Aung Myint.
According to RSF’s press freedom barometer, Sithu Aung Myint is the 29th journalist to be convicted since the February 2021 coup. With at least 68 media workers currently detained, Myanmar is the world’s second biggest jailer of journalists, second only to China. Relative to population size, it is the biggest jailer of journalists.
Myanmar is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2022 World Press Freedom Index.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: media workers handed down 3-year jail term (Update), Myanmar: two more media workers arrested, charged
- Date added
- Oct 21, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 12, 2022
- Event Description
In response to multiple news reports that a Myanmar court on Wednesday sentenced Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota to three more years in prison for allegedly violating the country’s immigration laws, bringing his total incarceration term to 10 years, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for his immediate release:
“Myanmar’s latest action in adding three years to Japanese journalist Toru Kubota’s prison sentence for immigration violations is excessive, grotesque, and must be reversed,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s military junta is sending a deliberate and threatening message to all foreign journalists that they too could be imprisoned under arbitrary laws if they report on its crimes and abuses.”
Kubota, a freelance filmmaker who has contributed to international media outlets including Vice Japan, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera English, was sentenced last week to seven years for violating the electronic transactions law and three years for incitement, as CPJ documented. Those sentences are to be served concurrently, and Wednesday’s additional three-year sentence brings Kubota’s total prison term to 10 years, reports said.
Authorities arrested Kubota on July 30 while he filmed a small protest in Myanmar’s commercial capital of Yangon.
Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, according to CPJ’s December 1 prison census. Several journalists have been jailed under Section 505(a) of the penal code for incitement and dissemination of false news, an anti-state charge that Myanmar’s military regime has used broadly to stifle independent news reporting since staging a coup in 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: Japanese photographer and filmmaker arrested
- Date added
- Oct 21, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 13, 2022
- Event Description
At least 15 people, including two freelance journalists, were arrested during a crackdown on a protest in Yangon’s Kyeemyindaing Township on Tuesday, according to sources.
One protester who managed to evade arrest told Myanmar Now that plainclothes regime forces appeared almost immediately after the rally on Panbingyi Street began at around 4:45pm.
“Some people hadn’t even gotten out of their cars when [the junta troops] showed up pointing their guns at them,” said the protester, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The purpose of the rally, which was timed to coincide with the opening of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, was to call on the world body to retain diplomat Kyaw Moe Tun as Myanmar’s permanent representative.
Last December, the UN’s credentials committee voted to keep Kyaw Moe Tun—who weeks after last year’s coup delivered an impassioned speech denouncing the military takeover—in the post, in a blow to the junta’s bid for international recognition.
Protesters were just beginning to unfurl banners that read “UN: Prove Your Existence For Justice” when regime forces in civilian vehicles parked on Panbingyi Street started making arrests, another activist told Myanmar Now.
At least one person who attempted to flee the scene was shot in the leg and another was severely beaten after being captured, according to a local resident.
“The protesters ran past our car as they were trying to get away. The plainclothes officers started shouting that they were thieves and told bystanders to stop them. Some people at the end of the street caught them. After that, two shots were fired,” said a woman who did not want to be identified.
The planned flash mob protest was organised by several anti-regime groups, including the Octopus Youth Organisation, the Education Students Union, the Myanmar Labour Alliance, and the Bama Youth Network.
The Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar, another group that took part in the protest, said in a statement that four of its members—Nay Min Tun, Aye Chan Aung, Zue Zue Ra Khine, and Yamin Kay Thwe Khine—were among those arrested, along with a driver named Than Zaw.
The identities of the other detainees, including the two freelance journalists, could not be confirmed at the time of reporting.
Panbingyi Street was the scene last December of another protest that ended when regime forces used their vehicles to ram into a crowd of demonstrators.
Although there were reports of several deaths in that incident, the junta later claimed that only two men and a woman had been injured in what it called a “crowd dispersal operation”.
Despite tight security and violent crackdowns, pro-democracy groups continue to hold rallies in Yangon calling for an end to military rule.
Last month, the regime arrested a protester and a freelance photographer who marked the 34th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising on August 8 by displaying umbrellas with the number eight printed on them in Burmese.
One of those who escaped arrest on Tuesday said the latest attempt to crush the anti-coup movement would not deter activists determined to restore civilian rule.
“Those of us who are still free will just redouble our efforts to bring down this dictatorship,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 15
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 18, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 8, 2022
- Event Description
The junta recently filed an additional charge for treason against Wai Moe Naing—a Monywa-based protest leader already serving 10 years in prison—which is expected to be accompanied by a death sentence if he is convicted.
His mother, Moe Sandar Kyu, said that the allegations that he violated Section 122 of the Penal Code were handed down on September 8.
Wai Moe Naing was already found guilty in a military court of five counts of incitement.
Among the 26-year-old’s many outstanding charges—totalling 28 years in prison if convicted—are allegations that he had ties to an “unlawful association” in violation of Section 17(1) of the Penal Code and that he committed other treasonous acts that violate Section 124.
The charges are concerning Wai Moe Naing’s affiliation with the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group of elected MPs ousted in the February 2021 coup and challenging the junta’s claims of legitimacy.
His mother explained that these may now be dropped to make way for the recent, more serious charge.
“Because they added the Section 122 charge, which includes both of the former charges, he will no longer be facing the other charges,” she explained, adding that his hearing for the new treason case is scheduled for September 22.
“Lawyers from Monywa do not want to take on his case anymore, so we have had to hire lawyers from Mandalay. But one of them was arrested and one was forced into hiding,” Moe Sandar Kyu explained. “Because we can’t ensure the lawyers’ security, we will no longer be hiring any more of them.”
She will be testifying on her son’s behalf for another Section 505 charge on September 20, a case brought forward after Wai Moe Naing led an April 2021 motorcycle rally in his Sagaing Region hometown.
Wai Moe Naing was arrested during this protest after being hit by a car driven by junta personnel. The day after he was captured, the regime published a photo of Wai Moe Naing in custody with a bruised eye and swollen face, prompting fears that he had been tortured.
He was chair of the Monywa University Student Union from 2014 to 2015, and is also a member of Monywa’s General Strike Committee and the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee.
The junta has sentenced 126 prisoners to death since the coup, and executed four men in July of this year. Among them were 88-generation protest leader Ko Jimmy and former National League for Democracy parliamentarian and beloved musician Phyo Zayar Thaw.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 18, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 15, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Yangon sentenced Myanmar journalist Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, to three years in prison with hard labour on Thursday.
The Bahan Township court convicted Htet Htet Khine of incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code more than a year after her arrest in August of last year.
She was arrested along with columnist Sithu Aung Myint at an apartment where they had been hiding in Yangon’s Bahan Township. The junta accused her of harbouring Sithu Aung Myint in her home and of working as an editor for a radio station run by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) called Federal FM.
The coup regime initially opened a case against her under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act for her alleged involvement with the NUG, which the junta has designated a terrorist group.
That case—for which she faces an additional three-year sentence if found guilty—is still pending.
In addition to her work as a producer, Htet Htet Khine also presented a program called “Khan Sar Kyi”—“Feel It”—for BBC Media Action.
Sithu Aung Myint, a contributor to media outlets such as VOA Burmese and Frontier Myanmar, had been evading arrest since the coup regime charged him with incitement in April of last year. Following his arrest, he was also charged with sedition, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
In a statement, BBC Media Action’s director of programmes, Richard Lace, said that the organisation was “alarmed” by the sentence and expressed concern for Htet Htet Khine’s safety and well-being.
“This, and other detentions of media workers in the country, runs counter to basic principles of human rights and freedom of expression,” he said.
The two journalists are being detained in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison.
Since the coup in February last year, the regime has forced at least 12 media outlets to shut down and arrested 142 journalists. Of these, 57 remain behind bars, including 26 who have already been convicted on various charges.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: two more media workers arrested, charged
- Date added
- Sep 18, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 29, 2022
- Event Description
A member of Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), Thae Su Naing, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by Meiktila Court in Mandalay region. She received the maximum sentence allowed under the country’s anti-terrorism law.
The 24-year-old teacher was a former chairwoman of the Meiktila University Students’ Union and taught in the local township.
Thae Su Naing was sentenced under Section 52 (A) of the Counter-Terrorism Law on Monday, family members and colleagues told RFA. Sentences under the law range from three to seven years.
One family member, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA it was unfair to sentence a young teacher to such a long prison term,
“There is no justice. My sister is an ordinary school teacher, not a People’s Defense Force (PDF) leader,” the family member said. “This sentence is severe for my sister. She has to appeal but arrangements have not yet been made. I want my sister to come back home as soon as possible.”
Thae Su Naing was arrested by the army at her home in Meiktila township on November 22 last year. She was accused of being a PDF leader and held for nine months before being sentenced.
Her family told RFA that her leg had been broken during a beating she received from the junta soldiers who arrested her. They said her leg has not healed properly because she did not receive effective medical treatment in Meiktila Prison.
Thae Su Naing was active in fighting for students’ rights during her university days. As a teacher, she participated in the anti-dictatorship CDM movement following the Feb.1, 2021 military coup.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), 12,171 people have been arrested since the military coup of February 1, 2021 up until Monday. Some 1,410 of them have been sentenced to prison terms across Myanmar.
Last month the AAPP said 12 teachers had been killed and more than 200 arrested since Myanmar’s military seized control from the elected government.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 5, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 24, 2022
- Event Description
The outspoken Myanmar artist Htein Lin and his wife Vicky Bowman, a British national who served as the UK ambassador to Burma from 2002 to 2006, have been detained by the country’s military government. The couple were arrested yesterday on charges of violating immigration law, Reuters
first reported, and are being sent to Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison. Bowman, currently the director of Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business, and Htein Lin have a 14-year-old daughter, who is reportedly safe.
Speaking to The Art Newspaper just two weeks ago, Htein Lin said: "No one who lives in Myanmar today feels safe. Life is very fragile, whoever you are."
His words were in response to the junta’s execution of four pro-democracy leaders, announced on 25 July, which shocked the country’s already embattled art community. Htein Lin was previously imprisoned from 1998 to 2004 under earlier iterations of military rule; he said of the hip-hop musician turned politician Phyo Zeya Thaw and Ko Jimmy—"two of the four who were executed" along with Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw—that "they were friends". He added: "They were also fellow artists—musicians, painters, poets. Words can’t express how we feel now that they are gone."
The execution of popular opposition figures escalates the violent suppression by the Tatmadaw military leadership, headed by Min Aung Hlaing. As of 17 August, the junta has killed at least 2,215 people in skirmishes with protesters and rebels since seizing power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on 1 February 2021, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Artists at risk
While many Myanmar artists have fled the country; others have remained despite the immense risk. Survival necessitates self-censorship, with detention or worse a constant threat. Htein Lin identified poets Maung Yu Paing and Maung Thar Cho, filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, and writer Than Myint Aung as among the currently detained. The internationally renowned performance and installation artist Moe Satt spent 95 days in Insein for joining a protest in March 2021.
Exhibiting art in Myanmar has been challenging, though a few spaces, including Myanm/art, have reopened. Bank transfers remain restricted, and shipping art abroad is difficult, as the funds from sales might support the resistance, Htein Lin told The Art Newspaper. “Visual artists still working in Myanmar are looking more to the local market,” he said, and attracting local buyers interested in tangible assets as the Myanmar kyat devalues.
Art is a “safe” investment because “the police and military won’t confiscate your canvases at a checkpoint, but they will seize your cash. Although burglary and crime are on the rise, thieves don’t steal paintings,” Htein Lin said. “There is a growing secondary market for Myanmar art inside the country, particularly for dead artists. We lost a lot of older artists in the last year, mainly due to Covid, including painters like Tin Maung Oo, Ko Aw, Ba Htay Gyi, San Minn and Nyein Chan Su,” he added.
Myanmar’s contemporary art scene flourished after the country’s hard-earned democratisation in 2015, building on the underground cultural struggles of the previous decades, and was beginning to connect with regional and global networks. But it has not yet consolidated beyond what the Yangon-based artist and curator Aung Myat Htay calls “unmodified old-school”, with an art infrastructure that has “not changed much since its creation more than 60 years ago after independence [from Britain in 1948]”. Weaponising art
The Burma Art Club first brought Western art to Myanmar in the 1910s, and sent artists for education in the West. Successive military regimes have weaponised art as propaganda, Aung Myat Htay says, creating some of the worst art censorship in the world. Crucially, Aung Myat Htay’s online School of Contemporary Art (SoCA) provides artists with training and opportunities.
“We do not see any of the intentional political expression that we used to,” says Aung Myat Htay. “Under the current situation, there exists such a feeling that we cannot make a sound at all, and this may be due to the dangerous atmosphere for sure.”
Myanmar’s artists are, however, finding artistic freedom and support abroad, from gallery shows around Asia to a major survey at the British Museum in London scheduled for autumn 2023. “There has, in recent decades, been growing interest in contemporary art from Myanmar,” says Louis H. Ho, an independent curator in Singapore. International exposure
Ho organised Htein Lin’s show, Another Spring, earlier this year at Richard Koh Fine Art’s (RKFA) Singapore venue, and is planning to show drawings by the Myanmar artist Maung Day at Yeo Workshop’s stand at the forthcoming Art SG fair (12-15 January 2023).
Ho says: “The recent tenth edition of the Asia Pacific Triennial [4 December 2021 to 25 April] featured the Myanmar performance collective 3AM, while past editions have included Htein Lin and Soe Yu Nwe. Min Thein Sung was in the line-up of the sixth edition of the Singapore Biennale in 2019.” Htein Lin’s soap carvings, made during imprisonment, were a highlight of the 2016 Singapore Biennale which Ho co-curated.
“Private galleries across the region have also proved to be important allies, such as RKFA and Intersections Gallery in Singapore, 10 Chancery Lane in Hong Kong, and Thavibu Art Advisory in Bangkok,” Ho adds. Hong Kong’s Karin Weber Gallery has presented several Myanmar projects, most recently a solo show of Aung Myint who co-founded Inya Art Gallery in 1989, one of Myanmar’s first contemporary art spaces (a military crackdown on student protesters in 1988 was a watershed moment).
Htein Lin remained somewhat hopeful when speaking to The Art Newspaper two weeks ago. “I hope that the rest of the world will help Myanmar artists to develop their practice and stay connected with us,” he said, calling for young artists particularly to be considered for exhibitions and residencies. In the long term, he said, “we always hope that the situation in Myanmar will get better. We have no choice, since otherwise we will be destroyed by despair.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 5, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 24, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar’s junta sentenced the detained former photojournalist Ko Zaw Zaw to three years imprisonment under incitement charges on Wednesday.
Ko Zaw Zaw, who formerly worked for The Irrawaddy, was arrested in Mandalay in April while with his family. He was sent to Mandalay’s Obo Prison in May after being held at an interrogation center for more than a month.
He quit his job with The Irrawaddy more than a year before his arrest and had not worked for any organization since then.
His lawyer U Myo Min Zaw told The Irrawaddy that the police submitted the case to the court on Monday, charging Zaw Zaw with incitement under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code. He was accused of inciting the destabilization of the country using Facebook and by taking photos of anti-regime protests and the junta’s violent crackdowns.
Myanmar has become the world’s second-biggest jailer of journalists after China since last year’s coup. The regime has targeted journalists with arrests, lawsuits, raids on newsrooms and violence to suppress coverage of junta atrocities.
The junta has arrested over 140 media workers and killed at least four. Many of them were charged with incitement and contacting illegal organizations.
The regime’s media crackdown has made it impossible for many journalists to work, forcing them to flee the country or go into hiding. This year the junta has been seizing several journalists’ homes.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 28, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 22, 2022
- Event Description
The Myanmar junta violently arrested a young anti-regime protester and a freelance photographer who were involved in a widely emulated umbrella strike in Yangon earlier this month marking the 34th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.
The strike staged by Yangon anti-regime activists holding umbrellas imprinted with the Myanmar digit “8” in some of Yangon’s busiest places—despite the presence of tightened security—went viral and spread to other parts of the world, with expats and supporters of Myanmar’s pro-democracy struggle in the US, France, Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan copying the protest.
The Yangon People’s Strike on Thursday confirmed the arrests of its member and the freelance photographer, both of whom are students at the SMVTI vocational training institute, for involvement in the strike. It said the two were arrested on the night of Aug. 20 in Yangon’s Tamwe Township and Mayangone Township respectively.
During the arrests, large numbers of junta troops violently raided the places where the two were staying, confiscated their belongings and reportedly took the pair to a military interrogation center, the group said.
The group added that they fear for the lives of the pair, as no information has been learned about the two since the arrests.
On Thursday, a pro-junta Telegram account that frequently exposes anti-regime activists in an effort to get them arrested posted pictures of the two taken after their arrests, in which one appeared to have been badly beaten.
In the pictures, the two are seen being forced to kneel down, with sheets of vinyl and the umbrellas used in the anti-regime strikes positioned in front of them.
Yangon People’s Strike said that in the past few days, many young people had been arrested by junta forces with the help of junta supporters.
“We would like to urge the public to take more security precautions than before, as well as to help anti-regime protesters seeking shelter in their neighborhoods,” the group said.
Since the coup, the junta has killed at least 2,239 people and arrested more than 15,000 including peaceful protesters, activists, elected lawmakers and striking civil servants.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 28, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 10, 2022
- Event Description
A student leader imprisoned last year for taking part in anti-coup protests has been handed an additional three years behind bars for staging a hunger strike, according to activist sources.
Naung Htet Aung, 26, who was arrested in Mandalay last November and later found guilty of incitement, received the sentence without trial on Wednesday, said a spokesperson for the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU).
A day before the new sentence was handed down, Naung Htet Aung was brutally beaten and placed in solitary confinement, the ABFSU spokesperson told Myanmar Now.
“They beat him up and fired slingshots at him. We were told they also used tasers. According to our latest intel, he and 15 other political prisoners are still in solitary,” he said.
According to the spokesperson, Naung Htet Aung and the other hunger strikers sustained serious injuries in the crackdown.
“Three of his front teeth were knocked out and he also has wounds on his back. Some were even crippled by their injuries,” he said.
Political prisoners at Mandalay’s Obo Prison began their hunger strike on August 1 to protest the execution of prominent regime opponents Phyo Zayar Thaw and Ko Jimmy, also known as Kyaw Min Yu, and two other prisoners in late July.
Naung Htet Aung is the former chair of the Yangon Education University Student Union. He was one of eight people arrested during a raid on a safehouse in Mandalay’s Chanayethazan Township last November.
The ABFSU also expressed grave concern about other student leaders who were taken into regime custody last year.
The group said that Aye Nandar Soe, the chair of the Sagaing Education University Students Union, disappeared last September after being arrested at a military checkpoint on a bridge linking Sagaing and Mandalay regions.
She was reportedly taken to an army compound where troops from Light Infantry Division 33 were stationed and has not been heard from since, according to the ABFSU.
Lin Paing Soe, a student union member who attended Kyaukse Technological University in Mandalay’s Kyaukse Township, also went missing at around the same time and is feared dead.
More than 40 student union members are still being detained in prisons all over the country, the ABFSU said.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 22, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 31, 2022
- Event Description
Multiple arrests were made in Yangon on Sunday following calls for a public show of support for Myanmar’s resistance movement in the wake of last week’s execution of four activists.
Arrests were reported in at least four townships in the city, as people banged pots and pans or honked horns in protest at the latest escalation of regime violence against dissidents.
The protests, set for 10:37am on Sunday, were part of a “pledge to the revolution” campaign by the civilian National Unity Government and other anti-junta forces.
According to police sources, the largest number of arrests were made in Hlaing Township, where at least six people were reportedly taken into custody.
Hlaing Info, a Facebook page that reports on news in the township, confirmed that two youths had been apprehended there at a teashop on Mae Zi Gone Road, as the shop’s owner and waiters were forced to kneel on the ground.
Information regarding the other arrests in the township was not available at the time of reporting.
In Bahan Township, at least two arrests were reported, including one of a man living on the old Sayarsan Market Road who was detained on Sunday night for allegedly banging pots.
“They knew exactly where he lived. He was arrested at around midnight, and the military returned again in the morning to search his home,” said a resident of the man’s neighbourhood.
The other arrest took place on Mawlamyine Street, where a man was taken away in a prison vehicle by around 10 junta troops. It was unclear, however, if the arrest was related to Sunday’s protests.
In Kamayut Township, three people were arrested at a market at around 11am, shortly after the start of the protests, according to a local source.
“The first one was an old guy from the tailor shop. He was handcuffed and taken away by soldiers as soon as he started honking a horn. The other two were a couple who sold fish in the market,” the source said.
Another arrest was reported in Pazundaung Township, where a young man was beaten and detained for blowing the horn of his car, sources said.
Residents of Yangon said that soldiers with machine guns could be seen patrolling a number of areas and questioning pedestrians during the protest period.
Flyers warning the public that their property could be seized if they take part in the protest were also seen circulating in several parts of the city, according to residents.
While shows of resistance to the regime were dealt with harshly, incidents involving attacks on the families of Ko Jimmy and Phyo Zayar Thaw, two of the four prisoners executed on the weekend of July 23, escaped unpunished last week.
Protests expressing support for the executions were also given full protection when they were held in front on Yangon’s City Hall last Friday.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 15, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 11, 2022
- Event Description
The leader of a group representing the Kayan people was shot and killed near his home in southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township on Thursday, according to local sources.
Francisco, also known as Saya Ko, was the chair of the Kayan Literature and Culture Committee, a group that promotes the culture of the Kayan people, an ethnic Karenni sub-group.
He was killed near his farm in Naung Lai, according to a resident of the village who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
“Two gunmen approached him at his farm in the northern part of the village. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing, due to the complicated political situation,” he said.
Baham Htan, an ethnic Kayan who serves as the deputy minister for human rights in the civilian National Unity Government, called the assassination a great loss for the Kayan people.
“It breaks my heart,” he said in a post on social media.
The Kayan Literature and Culture Committee also released a statement condemning the killing, saying that it was not the way to resolve political disputes.
Francisco, 59, served as patron of the committee from 2012 to 2018, and as its chair from 2018 until his death.
In 2010, he was elected to represent Pekhon Township in the Pyitthu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, as an MP for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
He ran again for the same seat as a USDP candidate in 2015 but lost. He also made an unsuccessful bid as the party’s candidate for Kayan ethnic affairs minister in Shan State in 2020.
There are around 80,000 Kayan people living in Shan State and another 70,000 in neighbouring Karenni (Kayah) State.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 15, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 30, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
On July 30, authorities arrested Kubota, a freelance filmmaker who contributes to international media outlets, while he filmed a small protest in the commercial capital of Yangon, according to multiple news reports.
Authorities accuse him of violating the country’s immigration laws and encouraging dissent against the military junta regime, according to those reports. The immigration violation carries a prison term of up to five years, and dissent carries up to three years, according to Reuters and CPJ research.
Kubota entered Myanmar on a tourist visa on July 1, according to an official statement quoted in that Reuters report.
Authorities moved Kubota to Yangon’s Insein Prison on the afternoon of Thursday, August 4, according to a Yangon-based journalist familiar with the situation who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.
“Myanmar’s detention of Japanese journalist Toru Kubota shows that the military regime will stop at nothing to suppress independent news reporting,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Kobuta must be freed immediately and any charges pending against him should be dropped without delay. Myanmar’s junta must stop treating journalists as criminals.”
Kubota’s personal website shows he has contributed documentary news reports to Yahoo! News Japan, Vice Japan, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera English, among others. The website says his reporting focuses on ethnic conflicts, immigration, and refugee issues.
CPJ emailed Myanmar’s Ministry of Information and the Japanese Embassy in Yangon for comment, but did not receive any replies.
Kubota is at least the fifth foreign journalist to be detained in Myanmar since last year’s coup. Authorities previously detained U.S. nationals Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, Polish reporter Robert Bociaga, and Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi, all of whom were eventually freed and deported, according to news reports and CPJ reporting.
Myanmar was the world’s second worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census on December 1, 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist, Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 15, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 29, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Maung Maung Myo and stop imprisoning members of the press on spurious charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
On Friday, July 29, a court in the city of Hpa-an, in Kayin state, sentenced Maung Myo, a reporter for the independent Mekong News Agency, to six years in prison on charges of violating Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, according to news reports and the news agency’s editor Nyan Linn Htet, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app.
Maung Myo was convicted for possessing pictures and interviews with members of People’s Defense Forces, an array of insurgent groups that are fighting Myanmar’s military government, according to those sources. Authorities banned the Mekong News Agency after the military seized power in a February 1, 2021, coup, according to Nyan Linn Htet.
Nyan Linn Htet said Maung Myo is being held at Hpa-an’s Taung Kalay Prison, is in good health, and intends to appeal his conviction.
“Journalist Maung Maung Myo’s sentencing and imprisonment is cruel and unusual, and is unjust retaliation for his work as an independent news reporter,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must stop equating journalism with terrorism and allow journalists to report the news without fear of imprisonment.”
Maung Myo, who is also known as Myo Myint Oo, was first arrested on May 10 at the Salween River bridge checkpoint near Hpa-an after officials discovered he had shared Mekong News Agency reports on his personal Facebook page, according to those news reports.
Maung Myo has reported for Mekong News Agency since June 2020 and has covered various political topics, including COVID-19 in Myanmar, anti-coup protests, and clashes between the military government and armed resistance groups, including the People’s Defense Forces.
At least two other Myanmar journalists were convicted and sentenced in July for their news reporting.
On July 7, a Wetlet Township court in the northwestern region of Sagaing convicted and sentenced Democratic Voice of Burma journalist Aung San Lin to six years in prison with hard labor, with four years under Section 52(b) of the Counter-Terrorism Law and two years under the penal code’s Section 505(a), which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of “false news,” according to DVB and other news reports.
Aung San Lin was first arrested on December 11, 2021, by about 20 soldiers who raided his home around midnight in the Sagaing Region’s village of Pin Zin, shortly after he published a report alleging that military forces committed arson attacks on the homes of three supporters of the coup-toppled National League for Democracy in Wetlet Township.
The DVB report said he was being held at Shwebo Prison near the central city of Mandalay. CPJ could not immediately determine whether he intended to appeal his conviction, and DVB editor-in-chief Aye Chan Naing did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
Separately, on July 14, an Insein Township Court in Yangon sentenced Nying Nying Aye, a freelance reporter who contributes regularly to the local news website Mizzima, to three years in prison with hard labor under Section 505(a) of the penal code, according to multiple news reports.
Nying Nying Aye, also known as Mabel, started reporting on domestic politics for Mizzima soon after the coup, according to the outlet’s editor-in-chief Soe Myint, who communicated with CPJ via email. She has been detained since January 15, according to those reports.
The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on the journalists’ convictions and sentencings.
Myanmar was the world’s second worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census on December 1, 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 15, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 30, 2022
- Event Description
A photographer known for documenting anti-junta protests and other activities has died in custody after being detained by authorities in Myanmar’s embattled Sagaing region over the weekend, family members and friends said Monday.
Aye Kyaw, 48, who runs the Hayman Photography studio in Sagaing’s former capital, Sagaing city, was arrested by junta troops who arrived at his home in a convoy of six military vehicles at 2 a.m. on July 30, citing a “tip” that there were weapons stashed there, his relatives told RFA Burmese.
Sources close to Aye Kyaw said that the administrator of Aung Chanthar ward, where the photographer lived, contacted his family around noon the same day to inform them that he had died and that his body was being held in the mortuary of Sagaing City Hospital. The family members were told they “could retrieve it if you want it, or leave it there.”
An official from the Ohbo Health and Social Assistance Association, a charity burial service in Sagaing, told RFA that his group had taken Aye Kyaw’s body from the hospital to a religious hall in Aung Chanthar ward to prepare it for burial.
“We took the body, as requested [by the family], from the morgue and sent it to the village ‘zayat’ (religious hall),” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We didn't see any superficial wounds on the body but I noticed his chest was sewn up like a postmortem. I didn't see any injuries or leaking body fluids.”
He said that the family buried Aye Kyaw on Sunday.
Another friend of Aye Kyaw’s family, who also declined to be named, told RFA that soldiers had searched the photographer’s home for weapons during his arrest but found nothing.
“The army came in six cars and arrested him. Three were outside, three entered the compound,” the source said.
“[The troops] said they would shoot if the gate was not opened. They searched the entire house but they found nothing. Nothing at all.”
The source said Aye Kyaw’s body was “left outside” by staff at the hospital for the Ohbo Health and Social Assistance Association to pick up and bring to his family.
“We didn’t see any injuries on the face but there were dark bruises on the ribs and back,” the source said.
“He was a jolly, easy-going man and had a lot of friends. When they heard his news, they were all shocked.” Documenting a coup
Aye Kyaw, who was a member of the Upper Myanmar Photography Association, was known for documenting protests and other anti-junta activities in the aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1, 2021 coup. He would post his photography to social media, where it was regularly shared by politicians and the local media.
Members of Aye Kyaw’s photography group on Monday expressed sadness over his death, which is the latest of 137 that have occurred within days of detention or during interrogation by authorities since the coup, according to RFA’s count.
A resident of Sagaing, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said people in the city are “living in fear” because of incidents such as Aye Kyaw’s death in custody.
“I worked with Aye Kyaw during the protests in Sagaing and we took photos together. I feel horrible,” he said.
The resident said that Aye Kyaw’s body showed no signs of external injuries, leading him to believe that his fellow photographer died “due to extreme torture.”
“What happens here in Sagaing is that we see arbitrary arrests and killings when a military column comes and finds something they don‘t like,” he said.
“There is no law. The law comes from the barrel of the gun. They do whatever they want. We feel like the death penalty has been delivered whenever the army columns approach.”
The resident said that Aye Kyaw’s case marks the first time in Sagaing that a person has died within hours of being arrested by the junta.
Calls by RFA to junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and the spokesman for Sagaing Region Social Affairs Minister Aye Hlaing went unanswered Monday.
According to Bangkok-based NGO Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, junta forces have killed at least 2,142 civilians since the coup and arrested nearly 15,000, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Death
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 15, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 27, 2022
- Event Description
Several dozen people mobbed the Yangon residences of the parents of two recently executed activists on Wednesday, in an apparently coordinated act of intimidation by pro-junta forces.
The targets were the parents of Phyo Zayar Thaw, a former National League for Democracy MP, and Ko Jimmy, a veteran of the 1988 student uprising, who were among four dissidents executed over the weekend.
In a video shared by pro-regime groups on social media, a mob can be seen throwing rocks and firing slingshots at the second-story apartment of Phyo Zayar Thaw’s parents in Yangon’s Kyauktada Township.
As some members of the crowd swear and shout the word “traitors,” one attacker can be heard screaming: “We will kill your whole family!”
Another video, also widely circulated on social media, shows a similar scene in front of the home of Ko Jimmy’s parents in Insein Township.
“You think your son is a martyr? What can you say about the bereaved family members of those your son killed?” shouts one man in the video, as others pelt the house with eggs.
According to a source who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity, the group arrived in seven vehicles, including five light trucks, armed with knives and sticks.
Residents of both areas said that no effort was made by the authorities to disperse the crowds, despite the heavy military presence in Yangon since last year’s coup.
One observer noted that Phyo Zayar Thaw’s parents live a short distance from the colonial-era Secretariat building, where there is a checkpoint manned by soldiers.
The incidents appear to be in support of the junta’s official narrative regarding the executions, which have stunned many in the country and met with international condemnation.
They come just one day after junta spokesperson General Zaw Min Tun said at a press conference that the four individuals were executed for “criminal activities they committed and in pursuit of justice for the victims they killed.”
Mya Thaw, the father of Phyo Zayar Thaw, declined to comment on Wednesday’s incident.
“I request everyone to understand our situation,” he said.
Thazin Nyunt Aung, the partner of Phyo Zayar Thaw, expressed concern for the safety of his parents.
“I am extremely worried about them now… We all need to help his parents,” she said.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: veteran pro-democracy defender executed
- Date added
- Jul 31, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 23, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar’s junta has executed four prisoners including a former politician and a veteran activist, drawing shock and revulsion at the country’s first use of capital punishment in decades.
Junta-controlled media reported on Monday that four men, including Phyo Zeya Thaw, a rapper and former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and the prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, had been executed. They were accused of conspiring to commit terror acts and were sentenced to death in January in closed trials.
The UN special rapporteur Thomas Andrews said he was “outraged and devastated” by the executions. “The widespread and systematic murders of protesters, indiscriminate attacks against entire villages, and now the execution of opposition leaders, demands an immediate and firm response by member states of the United Nations,” he said.
France and Japan also condemned the executions, while the US national security council described the killings as “heinous”.
Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister in Myanmar’s national unity government (NUG), which was formed in exile by elected politicians, ethnic minority representatives and activists, said he was extremely saddened. “What else do we need to prove how cruel the murderous Myanmar’s military is?” he said.
Following reports of the executions, demonstrators in Yangon held up a banner which read “we will never be frightened”.
Another banner was hung on a bridge in Yangon bearing a warning that the junta should “be ready to pay for the blood debt”. Text underneath read: “RIP Zeyar Thaw, Jimmy, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura.”
Local media reported that the families of the men had travelled to Insein prison in Yangon demanding to see their loved ones’ bodies.
A source close to the family of Kyaw Min Yu said they had received confirmation from the deputy prison chief of Insein prison that the death penalty had been carried out. No information was provided about when the execution took place. Prison officials refused to hand the body over to relatives, they said, despite prison regulations stating it must do so unless there is a special reason.
Myanmar’s military junta seized power in a coup in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, and has since unleashed a campaign of brutal violence to suppress opposition.
A total of 14,847 people have been arrested since the coup, while 11,759 remain in detention, according to the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) Burma, which monitors arrests and killings.
According to AAPP Burma, 76 prisoners have been sentenced to death since the coup, including two children. A further 41 people have been sentenced to death in absentia. Before the executions on Monday, Myanmar had not carried out capital punishment in more than 30 years, according to the UN.
Many in Myanmar turned their social media profile pictures black and red in a show of mourning. Others posted lines from the men’s lyrics and speeches including the line “nothing’s gonna happen if we are all united” from one of Phyo Zeya Thaw’s rap songs.
Phyo Zeya Thaw, 41, was arrested in November when about 100 police and soldiers raided a housing complex in Yangon. Before entering politics he was an activist and rapper. In 2000 he released the country’s first rap album, having founded the hip-hop band Acid. His lyrics, and their thinly veiled criticisms of the previous military regime, captured the anger and frustrations of a generation of young listeners.
Phyo Zeya Thaw was an activist with the movement Generation Wave, which used graffiti, pamphlets and coded protest material to campaign against the previous regime. Like many of the group’s members, he was arrested and imprisoned. He went on to become a lower house MP in April 2012, the same year Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to parliament.
Kyaw Min Yu, 53, a veteran activist, was arrested in an overnight raid in October. He was a prominent leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, which led pro-democracy uprisings against the military, and was imprisoned in 1988 for his role in the protests. He was released in 2005 but jailed again from 2007 until 2012.
Kyaw Min Yu was also a writer, and while in prison translated works including Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, and wrote the novel, The Moon in Inle Lake. His 2005 self-help book Making Friends was a bestseller, according to PEN International.
The two other executed men – Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw – were accused of killing a woman they suspected was a military informer in Yangon, according to Agence France-Presse.
The men had tried to appeal but their sentence was upheld in June. They were reportedly denied access to legal counsel during their appeal, in violation of international human rights law.
The junta-controlled newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said on Monday the men had given “directives, made arrangements, and committed conspiracies for brutal and inhuman terror acts”.
The junta gave no details on how the men were executed.
Yee Mon, the NUG’s defence minister, wrote on Facebook: “This revolution isn’t over until we bring justice against [junta chief] Min Aung Hlaing. He won’t have an inch of earth to run for, [we] will chase him down until the end of the world.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 31, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 9, 2022
- Event Description
Four students imprisoned for protesting the ruling military junta have been held in solitary confinement and beaten nearly every day by authorities since being transferred to central Myanmar’s Bago region less than two weeks ago, their relatives and sources with knowledge of the situation said Thursday.
Min Thu Aung, Banya Oo, Ye Htut Khaung and Zaw Win Htut — all students at Hpa-an University in Hpa-n, Kayin state — were arrested in March and charged with defamation of the state, organizing or helping a group to encourage the overthrow or destruction of the Myanmar military, and having contact with an unlawful organization, in this case an ethnic armed group fighting national forces. They each have been sentenced to 12 to 13 years in prison.
The four students were among 60 other political prisoners who were transferred from Hpa-An Prison to Tharrawaddy Prison in Bago region on July 9.
On instructions from the warden at Hpa-an Prison, the students were separated from the other prisoners when they arrived at the Bago detention center and placed in solitary confinement, a person close to one of the families told RFA.
The four have been beaten and locked up in solitary confinement nearly every day since July 10, the youths’ family members and those familiar with the situation said.
“They were not handcuffed when they were first beaten, though their ankles were shackled,” the person told RFA.
Human rights violations in prisons, such as the beatings the students have experienced, have gotten worse since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in a February 2020 coup, said a spokesman for the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thai NGO.
“We have heard that political prisoners are being tortured intentionally and unjustly because they are political prisoners, and that they are being tortured in various ways,” he told RFA.
According to AAPP’s records, junta authorities have arrested 11,743 civilians for civil disobedience activities, of which 1,344 were sentenced to prison terms, since the coup took place.
When they were beaten while sitting without handcuffs, Banya Oo and Ye Htut Khaung tried to fight back, but were struck more forcefully, said the person close to one of the families of the detained students. They were then handcuffed, dragged away and locked in solitary cells.
“They were taken out of the cells every morning and were beaten again,” the person said, adding that the guards taunted them, asking if their revolution against the junta had succeeded and telling them to say “We must win,” while continuing the beatings.
The source said there were rumors that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) may visit the detention center to investigate the alleged mistreatment of the students.
Prison guards removed the students from solitary confinement on July 18, though they are still suffering from injuries from the daily beatings and have not received medical treatment, he said.
Another RFA source, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said all four men had serious injuries, including broken noses and head wounds and that one was beaten until his teeth fell out.
RFA could not reach Prisons Department officials in Yangon or military junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment.
A statement issued by the ICRC in Myanmar on Monday said authorities must treat prisoners with dignity and humanity and ensure their health and safety. It also said the authorities had suspended ICRC access to prisons since March 2020 to check on detainees and provide humanitarian aid.
'These actions are crimes'
The torture of prisoners is a serious human rights violation because the students have already suffered from being sentenced to long jail terms, said the father of one of the students, who declined to be named for safety reasons.
“The kids have already been given punishments,” he said. “They haven’t broken any law or prison rules [since their arrests]. They didn’t even have any kind of prisoners’ rights and all these beatings are very serious violations of human rights.
“We feel that this kind of mistreatment has become more serious after the military coup,” he said. “There’s no rule of law at all. No matter what the law says, people would be arrested and unjustly sentenced by the courts once accusations were made against them.”
The students’ parents and relatives from Hpa-an requested permission to visit Tharrawaddy Prison, but prison authorities rejected their requests.
Tun Kyi, a senior member of the Former Political Prisoners Society, said prison authorities have a policy of torturing political prisoners.
“They are committing the most serious violation of human rights with the intention of subduing political prisoners so that they do not dare to rise up again,” he said. “They have laid out policies in various prisons, and then brutally oppressed and tortured the prisoners, often asking questions like, ‘Are you a revolutionary?’ and ‘Is your revolution making any headway?’ before hitting them.”
Hpa-an and Tharrawaddy prisons, along with Yangon’s Insein Prison, are among the worst detention centers of Myanmar’s more than 40 jails, Tun Kyi said.
A former prison warden, who did not want to be named out of concern for his safety, said the prison officials who mistreat detainees nowadays are former military officers.
A legal expert from Yangon, who did not want to be named for the same reason, said that physical beating of any detainee, including political prisoners, is a crime according to the regulations governing prisons.
“If you look at it as a lawyer, these actions are actually crimes because the jail manual states that prison wardens can give only 12 types of punishments,” he said. “No one else has the right to punish the prisoners. Among those 12 types of punishments that he can give, he is not allowed to beat prisoners.”
Those who torture political prisoners will be held to account at some point, said the AAPP spokesman, who declined to be named for safety reasons.
“Those who personally carry out the torture and all those who order it will have to pay restitution at some point,” he said. “This is a violation of both domestic and international law. Therefore, all those involved in the violations must surely pay restitution in the future.”
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 24, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 14, 2022
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the three-year jail sentence that a woman journalist held since January has just received from a court in Yangon for spreading “false news,” and calls on UN officials to do something to stop the current surge in prison sentences being passed on journalists in Myanmar.
Nyein Nyein Aye, a freelancer also known by the pseudonym of “Mabel,” was sentenced by a court inside Yangon’s notorious Insein prison on 14 July to three years in prison with hard labour on charges of “causing fear, spreading false news and agitating crimes against a government employee” under Section 505 (a) of the penal code.
“After the big wave of arrests of journalists following the February 2021 coup, we are now seeing a surge of sentences passed behind closed doors by military courts acting almost like a factory production line,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “In view of these shocking violations of basic rights, we urge Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, to focus on the persecution of journalists and to take action to end these alarming abuses.”
Based in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, Nyein Nyein Aye was freelancing for various media outlets at the time of her arrest on 15 January, including Mizzima News, a news website that has been banned by the junta. Before the February 2021 coup, she worked for two newspapers, The Standard Time Daily and Kumudra Journal, a weekly.
According to RSF’s press freedom barometer, of the total of 67 media workers currently held in Myanmar’s prisons, she is the 24th journalist to receive a prison sentence. Just a week before her trial, Aung San Lin, a reporter for Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), was sentenced to six years of prison and hard labour.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 24, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 13, 2022
- Event Description
The Myanmar junta has detained at least 30 teachers working for or suspected of being affiliated with a private online school with ties to the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) following the recent arrest of its founder.
According to a Saturday announcement in military-controlled media, on July 13 junta officials arrested Kaung Thaik Soe—who created the Kaung For You online school—and two other teachers who were taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in the southern Shan State town of Aungban. They were identified as Thant Sin Htike and Win Bo.
Kaung Thaik Soe was the deputy education officer in Mandalay’s Myittha Township until he joined the CDM after the 2021 coup and was wanted by the military for incitement after leading a teachers’ strike.
With some 30,000 students enrolled, his Kaung For You school—recognised by the NUG’s education ministry—had become one of the most popular alternative private education options for students who refused to participate in the military-run school system.
In early June, the data identifying students enrolled at the school, including their names, phone numbers, and addresses, were leaked. Several parents reported in early July that they had received phone calls from individuals claiming to be Kaung For You teachers and trying to extort money from them.
It is not known exactly how much information was leaked or if the information had fallen into the military’s hands.
Amid the controversy, Kaung For You announced on July 8 that an individual from the school’s “inner circle” had exposed the data and that the organisation’s leadership would take action against the perpetrator.
Unconfirmed reports emerged days later regarding the arrest of school founder Kaung Thaik Soe, which Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify at the time.
The school soon announced a temporary closure.
The junta has accused Kaung Thaik Soe and the two teachers arrested with him of of disrupting the state’s public education system and working with the NUG, which it has labelled a “terrorist” organisation. Military mouthpieces have also claimed that the three individuals misused donations and that they were arrested at a brothel.
The NUG’s education ministry issued a response on Sunday calling the junta’s statement “unbelievably fabricated” news and rejecting the allegations against Kaung For You as “military shenanigans.” Ministry officials speculated that the military had made the accusations in an attempt to destroy the public image of teachers participating in the CDM.
Naung Cho, a member of the strike committee for basic education staff, told Myanmar Now that the junta was trying to slander teachers for promoting interim education programming in response to the military’s attempted takeover of the sector.
“They are trying to brainwash people into thinking that the teachers are misusing public funds, and they are misportraying the people’s revolution,” Naung Cho, who is also a teacher, said.
Junta spokesperson Gen Zaw Min Tun told a propaganda news outlet on Monday that the military council would not be taking action against the students and parents enrolled in the Kaung For You school.
However, following the data leak and initial arrests, at least 30 teachers suspected of association with the school have reportedly been detained by junta authorities, according to local sources.
Those arrested were from Magway, Mandalay, Tanintharyi and Sagaing regions, as well as Shan and Mon states.
Two individuals arrested late last week in Mandalay’s Pakokku Township were identified as Khin Marlar Nwe and Su Myat Thandar. According to the anti-junta Pakokku Township People’s Administration Group, the two had been taking part in the CDM but had no connection to the Kaung For You school.
A source close to a third victim in Mandalay said that the men who carried out the arrest had a copy of the teacher’s household registration document, as well as knowledge of other personal information.
Junta authorities also seized property belonging to the targeted teachers, including phones and laptops, leading to further exposure of their personal data, said the sources close to the victims
Another person working as a teaching supervisor for Kaung For You in Meiktila Township, Mandalay, was arrested on July 14, according to a source familiar with the incident.
“They said they had to question him about something and they took him. Since he is a teaching supervisor, he had the data of other teachers and students. His laptop was seized too. We asked those teachers and students to flee immediately,” said the source.
Five teachers from Tanintharyi Region’s Myeik Township were also detained at 11:30pm on the same day, said a local on the condition of anonymity.
“They were arrested for illegal association and told that their cases would be submitted to Naypyitaw and that they would be charged,” he said, referring to the junta’s administrative capital.
He told Myanmar Now that some 10 military authorities in three army vehicles came to carry out the arrests and that a local administrator had guided them to the teachers’ location.
It is still unknown where the dozens of detained teachers are being held.
The NUG has stated that the arrest of teachers taking part in the CDM is a blatant violation of the right to education declared in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 24, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 7, 2022
- Event Description
Political prisoners inside Mandalay’s Obo Prison have been beaten and put in solitary confinement for marking a key event in Myanmar’s pro-democracy struggle, according to sources.
Protests were held in the prison last week to commemorate the military’s killing of student activists and dynamiting of Yangon University’s Student Union building on July 7, 1962.
Although the protests were peaceful, consisting only of chanting poems and singing protest songs, the response was brutal, sources familiar with the situation told Myanmar Now.
“Those who organised the protests were beaten and starved,” said a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The families of some protesters said that they were placed in solitary confinement or denied contact with anyone from outside the prison,” he added.
The exact number of prisoners affected by the crackdown was not known. Myanmar’s military junta has not commented on the situation.
Obo Prison is notorious for its treatment of inmates. Last month, two political prisoners were reportedly beaten to death and 13 others were injured amid tensions over moves to mix them with the prison’s criminal convict population.
According to a monk who attempted to deliver packages to five imprisoned clerics last Friday, the latest restrictions also appeared to apply to them.
“They wouldn’t let us in to see the detained monks. We couldn’t even hand over letters or care packages. The prison authorities only allow their relatives to visit them now,” said the monk.
However, a woman who regularly visits the prison said that even families have very limited access these days.
“You can’t meet prisoners in person right now. But I’m still able to bring care packages to my husband, perhaps because his case was not political,” she said.
“I’ve heard that it’s especially difficult for political prisoners,” she added, noting that some are limited to contact with their lawyers, who are their only sources of messages and supplies from family members.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing political prisoners have also been targeted by the junta. On June 29, three were arrested after meeting their clients at Obo Prison. It was not clear at the time what charges, if any, had been laid against them.
The previous month, prominent Mandalay lawyer Ywet Nu Aung, who represents a number of high-profile political figures, including Mandalay Region’s ousted chief minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, was detained on suspicions of financially supporting anti-regime armed groups.
Earlier in April, Si Thu, another Mandalay-based lawyer known for his work with farmers engaged in land disputes with the military, was beaten in front of his family before being taken into custody.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners—Myanmar, as of July 4, a total of 11,393 people detained for opposing last year’s coup remain behind bars. Of these, 1,212 have been so far handed prison sentences.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Surveillance , Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 17, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 9, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military regime has arrested at least 10 more lawyers in the last two weeks who are defending prominent National League for Democracy (NLD) figures and anti-regime protestors, bringing the total number of lawyers detained since last year’s coup to at least 42.
In the most recent case, lawyers Ko Soe Tun Tun Zaw and Ma Aye Mya Yupar from the Tun Law firm in Mandalay were arrested at their office on July 9.
“Their office is opposite Chanayethazan Township court. They were taken from there in private cars,” a fellow Mandalay advocate, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told The Irrawaddy.
He added that the whereabouts of the duo and reason for their arrest remain unknown.
Their detention came just a few days after two other lawyers from Mandalay, Aung Min Thu and Daw Than Than Lwin, were arrested at their homes on July 2.
“They [arrested lawyers] are representing political detainees. I don’t know exactly why they were arrested. Currently, they [regime forces] are targeting lawyers who represent political detainees”, said the Mandalay advocate.
“Lawyers are being arrested continuously, so I have to be very cautious for my own safety,” he added.
On June 29, lawyer Tin Win Aung, who is acting for ousted Mandalay Chief Minister and NLD vice chairman Dr. Zaw Myint Maung in his trial for alleged corruption, his wife and fellow lawyer Thae Su Naing and lawyer Thuta, who represent anti-regime protestors, were arrested leaving Mandalay’s Obo Prison. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
In April, lawyer Ywat Nu Aung, who also represented Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, was also arrested outside Obo Prison.
After weeks of interrogation at a military interrogation center, she was imprisoned and charged under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law for allegedly financing a local resistance group. If found guilty, she faces a jail sentence of from 10 years to life in prison, as well as a fine.
As of July 8, around 40 lawyers have been arrested since last year’s coup, according to rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) which monitors detentions and killings by the junta. Of them, over 30 lawyers remain behind bars and many have been charged with incitement or terrorism.
In Yangon, three lawyers were arrested last week and they remain in the military detention center, according to a Yangon advocate.
In June, three lawyers from Monywa, Moe Zaw Tun, Than Htun and Aung Chan Myae, all of whom are representing detained NLD figures or anti-regime protestors, were also detained.
Moe Zaw Tun was representing ousted Sagaing Region Chief Minister Dr. Myint Naing and Monywa protest leader Wai Moe Naing. He was arrested on June 20 at his home. His whereabouts and well-being is unknown.
An AAPP spokesperson told The Irrawaddy that arrests of lawyers are on the rise as the regime wants to deter lawyers from assisting political prisoners.
“Successive regimes have always cracked down on those who assist political prisoners. For them [regimes], those who assist their opponents are their enemies as well. It is yet more proof that there is no rule of law in Myanmar,” the spokesperson added.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 17, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 7, 2022
- Event Description
One person was hurt on Thursday after a car rammed into a group of protesters in Yangon’s Hlaing Township, according to activist sources.
The incident occurred at around 3pm, shortly after a flash mob of around 20 people carrying a protest banner started shouting slogans near the Thukha bus stop on Insein Road, the sources said.
“The car rammed into us just seconds into our demonstration. The guy at the far left was hit and thrown into the air,” said one person who took part in the protest.
Myat Min Khant, the Yangon district chair of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), told Myanmar Now that all of the protesters, including the one who was hit, fled the scene after the incident.
“The person who was hit managed to escape, but his arm was injured,” he said.
Myanmar Now has received a video that shows the moment of impact. In it, a white Toyota Belta can be seen running into a masked protester holding one end of the banner.
According to Myat Min Khant, a black item that exploded with a loud bang, believed to be a flash grenade, was thrown out of the vehicle as it sped away.
Thursday’s protest was held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the day that Myanmar’s first dictator, General Ne Win, blew up the Yangon University Student Union building on July 7, 1962.
“With a strong mind, we will fight for a new world. Never forget what happened on 7.7.1962” read the banner carried by the protesters.
A friend of the man who was hit by the car shared a screenshot of a conversation he had with him later that day on Facebook.
“The first thought that jumped into my head was that I had to take care of my parents, and so I just ran in a panic. My legs are still sore even now,” the man said.
According to a Facebook group called Hlaing Info, plainclothes officers were seen searching the area near the Thukha bus stop soon after the protesters had scattered.
While it could not be confirmed that regime authorities were responsible for the apparently deliberate attack on the protesters, it would not be the first time that the junta had used a vehicle to crack down on an anti-dictatorship demonstration.
In December of last year, regime forces were captured on video at they plowed into a crowd of protesters on Panbingyi Street in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township, killing or injuring several people before making a number of arrests.
In April, junta troops riding in a double cab pickup truck smashed into a taxi while trying to hit a crowd of marchers in Yangon’s Okkalapa Township. The three people inside the taxi, including two women from the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar, were arrested after the collision.
The latest incident was on May 30, when five teenagers suffered multiple injuries after regime soldiers ran their vehicle into them following a flash mob protest in South Okkalapa Township.
The five minors were then beaten and arrested, according to the ABFSU’s Myat Min Khant.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 10, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 7, 2022
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the international community, starting with the United Nations, to reinforce sanctions against Myanmar’s military government after a reporter for Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Aung San Lin, was sentenced on 7 July to a total of six years of hard labour on "terrorism" and "false news" charges.
“Myanmar’s judicial system, which takes its orders from the generals, now regards journalistic work as ‘terrorism’ and ‘false news,’” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “Faced with this escalation in the persecution, the international community must not and cannot continue to ignore the drama being played out against journalists in Myanmar. We call on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to intervene without delay and to reinforce sanctions against Myanmar’s junta as the only way to stop it resorting to more and more terror.”
Seven months in “provisional detention”
A reporter for many years for DVB, a historic protagonist in the struggle for an independent press in Myanmar, Aung San Lin was convicted by a military court in Wetlet, a town in Myanmar’s northwestern Sagaing region.
His combined sentence of six years of hard labour consisted of two years under Section 505 (a) of the penal code, which penalises “false news” and is most often used against independent journalists, and four years under Section 52 (a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which penalises undefined “terrorist acts.”
After being arrested at his home near Wetlet, without any official grounds being given, on 11 December 2021, during a surge in army violence against journalists, Aung San Lin spent seven months in “provisional” detention before being brought to trial. His family received no news about him during the first few weeks.
He is the fifth DVB journalist to be jailed since the military coup on 1 February 2021. According to RSF’s press freedom barometer, a total of 66 journalists and media workers are currently detained arbitrarily in Myanmar. Before the coup, only two were detained.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: media worker arrested, beaten
- Date added
- Jul 10, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 29, 2022
- Event Description
Junta authorities arrested three more Mandalay-based lawyers representing political detainees on Wednesday as they returned home from court hearings inside the city’s prison, according to sources within the local legal network.
The detainees—identified as Tin Win Aung, his wife Thae Su Naing, and Thuta—were reportedly leaving Obo Prison after attending hearings for their clients within the closed court there.
Three of their local colleagues spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity and confirmed their arrests to Myanmar Now. At the time of reporting it was not known where they were being held in junta custody or why they had been specifically targeted.
“We still don’t know the details of their arrests. I only heard that Thuta’s vehicle was also seized,” one of the lawyers said.
Following the February 2021 military coup, lawyers representing jailed activists and political opponents of the military have also faced threats to their personal security for challenging the practice of arbitrary detentions in a junta-controlled judiciary.
While the number of lawyers detained across the country is unknown, attorneys in Mandalay said that at least 10 of their colleagues had been arrested since the coup and dozens more are wanted by the military authorities.
Among the detainees is 43-year-old Ywet Nu Aung, a prominent lawyer arrested on April 28. She was representing jailed Mandalay chief minister Zaw Myint Maung and other leaders of the ousted National League For Democracy (NLD) government at the time of her arrest. She was later charged with violating the Counterterrorism Law for allegedly providing funding to an armed resistance group, and was transferred to the Obo Prison in May.
Days before Ywet Nu Aung’s arrest, Si Thu, another lawyer known for helping farmers in land disputes with the military, was beaten by soldiers in front of his wife and children before being taken away from his home in Chanayethazan Township.
Last December, attorney Lwin Lwin Mar and three other lawyers—all women—were also jailed by junta authorities.
Following the series of arrests, lawyers representing junta opponents have reportedly become hesitant to go to their clients’ hearings inside Obo Prison.
Lawyers have been targeted outside of Mandalay as well. In the military’s administrative capital of Naypyitaw, Thein Hlaing Tun—who was representing Myo Aung, the ousted mayor under the NLD—was detained after leaving a court hearing in May 2021. Similarly, two lawyers for deposed Karen State chief minister Nang Khin Htwe Myint were arrested and charged with incitement in June.
The military council has placed a gag order on the lawyers of incarcerated State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and the NLD’s chief ministers in an effort to restrict information released concerning their trials and charges.
As of Friday, Myanmar’s military council had detained more than 14,000 people since the coup, of whom 3,000 had been released.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 4, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 13, 2022
- Event Description
The military has intensified efforts to locate and capture participants in anti-junta flash demonstrations in Yangon, arresting more than 30 young adults on Monday and Tuesday alone, according to a source close to the city’s student activists.
Leo, the on-ground officer for the General Strike Committee, told Myanmar Now that the youth were detained from townships including Kyimindaing, Sanchaung, Tamwe and Yankin.
“Over 30—almost 40—youth were captured. They forced people who had connections with the victims to guide them to the victims at gunpoint,” he said.
A member of the Yangon Revolution Force (YRF) said that two of the people arrested had hung banners on Strand Rd in Kyimindaing on Monday morning condemning the military-led education system and encouraging people to commit to the anti-dictatorship movement.
“One of them was captured first and the military found out about the other one’s whereabouts from the first one,” the YRF member said. “Although we knew that the first one had been taken, the second one couldn’t get away as it was already 1am when he was captured.”
A member of a youth strike committee from Kyimindaing who had gone into hiding at the time of reporting confirmed that several youth from the township were arrested on Monday.
Soldiers and police officers were searching apartments and blocking roads in order to search vehicles and increasing their patrol in an effort to apprehend protesters, according to a recent statement by the online community the Yangon scout group, which warns members of the public of junta surveillance.
A protest leader and student union member told Myanmar Now that junta troops had been checking household registration lists at night for unregistered guests, as part of a push to identify and arrest youth who had participated in recent demonstrations.
“We get really scared at night as we are all at risk of getting arrested. I can’t afford to pay rent alone, so I’m sharing a room with a colleague from the strike committee,” he explained.
Soldiers reportedly beat and arrested two men in Tamwe and three in Sanchaung in addition to the several people apprehended in Kyimindaing, among whom were four protest leaders, another activist said.
“A boy and a girl were taken in Alatt Chaung ward in Kyimyindaing last night and they’re forcing them to guide them to their team members” he added, noting that some 35 junta personnel were present.
Acknowledging the risk of punishment by the military council, Leo, from the General Strike Committee, called on area residents to help shelter protesters in hiding in order to show support for the anti-dictatorship movement.
“We request that, when it is necessary, the public protect the youth who are fleeing,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 30
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 18, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2022
- Event Description
The charred bodies of five members of the anti-coup movement were found by members of a local resistance force amid military raids on villages in northern Yesagyo Township in Magway Region on Tuesday evening.
The township’s People’s Defence Force (PDF) chapter announced that two local guerrilla fighters, as well as three people who had been participating in the general strike associated with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), were discovered slain near Peik Thin Kat village.
They were burned beyond recognition and buried in a shallow grave, the PDF statement said.
U Naing, a leader of another guerrilla force active in northern Yesagyo described the individuals to Myanmar Now as having been “murdered in a cruel manner.”
“All five bodies were found and accounted for. They killed them, burned the bodies and buried the remains,” he said, noting that the victims were found after the handcuffed hands of one of the bodies was left uncovered by soil.
Among those killed was 54-year-old headmaster Win Kyaw, 27-year-old nurse Zarli Naing, and Khin Hnin Wai, 28, a teacher who was five months pregnant at the time of her murder. Also murdered with them were two armed resistance force members in their 20s: Htay Min Oo and Thae Ei Ei Win.
All five victims were in Myaing Township’s Dan Pin Kan village, located next to Peik Thin Kat, and captured on the evening of June 10, according to U Naing. He added that a bullet was found amongst the bodies, and that the abdomen of Win Kyaw appeared to have been perforated by a sharp object.
Both Khin Hnin Wai and Win Kyaw had been participating in the education program launched by the civilian National Unity Government after refusing to return to work in the junta-controlled school system.
The site where they were killed is located two miles west of the Sin Phyu Shin bridge, where PDFs from Yesagyo, Myaing and Salingyi townships ambushed a junta checkpoint on June 9, killing three military personnel, taking one soldier prisoner, and seizing multiple weapons.
In the days that followed the attack, hundreds of Myanmar army soldiers began raiding the surrounding villages in northern Yesagyo Township, torching homes and abducting civilians.
On June 10, hundreds of villagers were forced to flee into the area’s western forests when junta troops fired indiscriminately towards Dan Pin Kan after encountering explosives planted by the northern Yesagyo guerrilla group in an attempt to stop their advance.
Zarli Naing, the nurse who had been supporting the resistance movement, was working between Yesagyo and Myaing townships after fleeing her home in Pakokku, 30 miles to the south. She was among the fleeing Dan Pin Kan locals at the time she was captured.
“One of our members who attacked the military with explosives got injured after falling down a cliff, so we sent him to the CDM nurse to get his injuries treated,” guerrilla leader U Naing explained. “Another member of our group accompanied him and all five of them were arrested together by the military.”
He told Myanmar Now that Zarli Naing and Win Kyaw had been located in the area by a junta informant, who then guided the troops to the place where she was providing first aid to the injured resistance fighter, at a distance from the other displaced civilians.
“The victims might have thought the junta soldiers were PDF members because they were wearing shorts just like PDF members do,” he said.
Instead, they are believed to have been killed by their captors later that day.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 18, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 12, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar law students are reporting for JURIST on challenges to the rule of law in their country under the military junta that deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Here, one of our correspondents reports the suicide of a young Myanmar pro-democracy lawyer whose brother and sisters were taken hostage after junta agents came looking for her. The text has only been lightly edited to respect the author’s voice.
Myanmar lawyer Daw Phyu Phyu Khaing (age-29) took her own life Sunday after military junta troops arbitrarily abducted her family members and held them as hostages.
According to a neighbour, a group of junta armed forces raided her home in Ohn Chaw Village, Patheingyi Township, at 1 pm on 8th June. The military initially intended to arbitrarily arrest her based on reports from their on-ground informants who said that she was actively involved in protest groups in which lawyers protest against the military junta and that she financially supported People’s Defence Force (PDF) members. However, when they found out she had already fled away, the junta severely tortured her family members who remained at home. Junta agents subsequently abducted a total of three of her family members – her brother and her two sisters – to hold them hostage instead of her. According to informants, her siblings were sent to the interrogation centre inside the Mandalay Royal Palace compound where the junta military has a base.
Even after four days of their detention [yesterday, 12th June], there was no further news about her family members. On that day, Phyu Phyu Khaing tried to take her own life by taking pesticides. A neighbour saw the scene and tried to save her, but due to lack of adequate medical support in the area where she was, she passed away, according to the Mandalay Free Press (MFP).
Can you imagine what a 29 year old lawyer could have done to support the rule of law and social justice for her country?
Before doing all those great things, here in Myanmar, lawyer Phyu Phyu Khaing succeeded in taking her own life before Myanmar people succeed in getting Democracy. At least she was able to end her suffering now while we all continue. And maybe she did that in the hope of having her family released.
Once again, the Myanmar juntas have successfully proven their excellence in being the cruelest TERRORISTS.
Even though this news is not published on local or international media, there are many Myanmar lawyers who have been arbitrarily arrested for many absurd accusations. The reason why these stories are not more broadly publicized is a fear, uncontradicted by the junta, that media attention will makes the life of hostages worse. But we desperately need media attention to shine light upon this continuous torture while we risk everything just to tell the world about this.
This is not the first time a lawyer has been chased like prey. This is not the first time that the family members of someone on the junta’s “wanted list” have been held as hostages. I hope no one ever forgets how last year a 20 year old third year Myanmar law student, her mother and her 5 year old younger sister were held as hostages.
And Myanmar is not the only place where we are continuously failing to bring peace and justice. Myanmar’s trouble should be considered the world’s trouble because the Myanmar junta is committing crimes against humanity. It’s going on two years since the coup, but where is our democracy, and how many innocent people are going to get murdered before we get it back? All of us do not have a tomorrow. I wonder what the point of having a tomorrow is when every tomorrow comes with misery.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 18, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 8, 2022
- Event Description
A former journalist from Mandalay who was arrested nearly two months ago has been charged with incitement for a Facebook post, according to lawyers familiar with his case.
Zaw Zaw, a photojournalist who quit his job with news outlet The Irrawaddy after last year’s coup, disappeared after he was taken into custody on April 9.
Last month, it was learned that he had been transferred to Mandalay’s Obo Prison after being held at the notorious Mandalay Palace interrogation centre for more than a month.
He was formally charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code during a court appearance inside the prison on Wednesday, a lawyer told Myanmar Now.
“They couldn’t find any dirt on him even after interrogating him, so they just found one Facebook post and laid the charge against him based on that,” said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The content of the post had not been disclosed at the time of reporting.
Zaw Zaw attended his first court hearing through an online conferencing system on Monday, and the charge was filed at the prison court with him present two days later, according to lawyers.
His former employer, The Irrawaddy, has also been charged with incitement for its post-coup news coverage. Zaw Zaw resigned from his job shortly after the regime forced the outlet to close.
A number of journalists have been convicted on incitement charges. In January, a court in Sagaing Region handed two-year prison sentences to an editor and a reporter from the now defunct Zayar Times.
According to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are a total of 10,962 political prisoners currently being held in regime custody, including at least 50 journalists.
Myanmar’s junta charged The Irrawaddy’s former photojournalist Zaw Zaw with incitement on Monday, according to his lawyer.
Zaw Zaw was detained in Mandalay in April and later sent to the city’s Obo Prison. He stopped working for The Irrawaddy last year.
His lawyer U Myo Min Zaw said that the police submitted the case to the court on Monday, charging Zaw Zaw with incitement under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code.
Zaw Zaw appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday.
“He looks fine and in good health,” said his lawyer.
He added that his client thought that he had been charged for a Facebook post in which he denounced the junta.
But U Myo Min Zaw declined to confirm the exact reason for the charge as he was still waiting for access to the police file submitted to the court.
Another court hearing for Zaw Zaw is set for next Wednesday.
Since last year’s coup, the military regime has arrested over 140 media workers, of whom around 60 remain behind bars.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 11, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 30, 2022
- Event Description
Five teenagers suffered multiple injuries after regime soldiers plowed their vehicle into them following a flash mob protest in Yangon on Monday, according to activist sources.
Myat Min Khant, the Yangon district chair of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), said the incident occurred at around 11am on Thu Mingalar Street in South Okkalapa Township.
“Normally, people just run off on their own when they disperse after a protest, but they stayed together as a small group, which is what raised the military’s suspicions,” he said.
According to Myat Min Khant, four of the injured protesters were boys, and one was a girl. Further information about their identities was not available at the time of reporting.
After running into the teens with their Toyota Mark II, the soldiers beat them with the butts of their rifles, he added.
“We still don’t know how bad their injuries are as they were taken away right after they were hit,” he said. However, they were believed to have suffered serious abrasions to their heads, backs, arms and legs, according to the ABFSU.
“I have been told that they are being held at the South Okkalapa Police Station,” the ABFSU district chair added.
s.okkalapa_protest-2.jpeg Protesters march in Yangon’s South Okkalapa Township on May 30 (Supplied)
Around 30 people took part in Monday’s protest march, which began at the Zarli Taung housing complex on Thu Mingalar Street and ended at the intersection with Yadanar Road.
Three other protesters, all aged 15 or 16, were also pursued by the regime’s forces but managed to escape, according to the ABFSU.
A similar incident occurred last December, when soldiers drove into a crowd of protesters in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township, killing several people and injuring a number of others.
On April 20, junta troops riding in a double cab pickup truck smashed into a car carrying three women who had taken part in an anti-regime demonstration in South Okkalapa.
Despite facing such brutal tactics from the military, Myat Min Khan said that protests would continue, albeit in a different form.
“It would be too much for us if we kept running into these situation, so we will continue to protest in other ways,”he said.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 4, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 20, 2022
- Event Description
Regime forces shot and killed a third-year medical student in Sagaing Region’s Myinmu Township on Friday, according to a source close to the victim’s family.
Kyaw Nyi Zin, 21, died after junta troops opened fire on the vehicle that he and other members of his family were traveling in on their way from Mandalay to Monywa.
“They were going to a wedding in Monywa and the military told them to stop. But then they started shooting before they even had a chance to slow down. Kyaw Nyi Zin was shot in the head,” the source said.
After the incident, the family took Kyaw Nyi Zin to Monywa to receive emergency medical treatment, but he later died of his injuries, the source added.
Kyaw Nyi Zin was a student at the University of Medicine, Mandalay, one of five universities in Myanmar dedicated to the study of medicine.
Since last year, however, he had stopped attending classes at the state-run university in order to take part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule.
A funeral was held for him in Mandalay on Saturday.
“I’m getting used to the horror, but this still breaks my heart,” said a Mandalay-based doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“They do as they please, just because they have weapons.”
Healthcare workers have been at the forefront of the anti-coup movement, making them frequent targets of arrest and regime brutality. An estimated 80% of the medical staff in Mandalay are currently taking part in the CDM.
Dr. Thiha Tin Tun, a Mandalay doctor, was among more than 100 people killed in crackdowns on anti-coup protests around the country on March 27 of last year.
The junta has revoked the licenses of medical professionals who refuse to work in hospitals under its control, and has also threatened to shut down private hospitals that hire doctors taking part in the CDM.
As a result of these moves, hundreds of doctors in Mandalay alone are believed to have lost their livelihood for resisting last year’s military takeover.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 28, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 10, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Maung Maung Myo and stop jailing members of the press for reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.
Around 6 p.m. on May 10, Maung Myo, a contributor to the local Mekong News Agency, was traveling by train to report on recent armed clashes between the military and anti-junta people’s defense forces when military authorities arrested him, according to news reports and the news agency’s editor Nyan Linn Htet, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app.
The reporter, who is also known as Myo Myint Oo, was arrested at the Salween River bridge checkpoint near the town of Hpa-an in eastern Kayin state after officials discovered he had shared Mekong News Agency reports on his personal Facebook page, according to Nyan Linn Htet, who told CPJ that the news publication had been banned by the military junta regime that seized power in the February 1, 2021 coup.
Maung Myo has since been charged under section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries a maximum of seven years in prison, according to Nyan Linn Htet. Since his arrest, the journalist has been held at Hpa-an Prison.
“Myanmar authorities must free journalist Maung Maung Myo and drop any charges pending against him,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must cease leveling outrageous terrorism-related charges against journalists who are merely doing their jobs as reporters.”
Maung Myo has reported for Mekong News Agency since June 2020 and has covered various political topics, including Myanmar’s COVID-19 situation, anti-coup protests, and clashes between the military government and different armed resistance groups.
Nyan Linn Htet told CPJ that military authorities raided Mekong News Agency’s office and his residence on two occasions after the 2021 coup, and the publication had to close its bureau in the Shan state town of Tachiliek on April 15, 2021, due to threats from security forces.
Nyan Linn Htet added that he is in hiding from an arrest warrant issued against him on March 6, 2021, under section 505(a) of the penal code, a vague anti-state provision that penalizes incitement and the dissemination of “false news.”
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment on Maung Myo’s arrest and detention.
CPJ’s latest prison census published in December ranked Myanmar as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists. Myanmar authorities have killed at least three journalists since the military seized power on February 1, 2021, according to CPJ documentation.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 28, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 8, 2022
- Event Description
A Mandalay-based lawyer known for helping farmers in land disputes with the military was “brutally” beaten by soldiers in front of his wife and children before being taken away earlier this month, a friend of his has said.
Five vehicles full of junta troops arrived at the Chanayetharzan Township home of Si Thu, 40, on April 8 to abduct him. He has not been seen or heard from since and the military has not told the family where he is being held.
“He was beaten brutally in front of his family,” said the friend, who is also a lawyer and asked not to be named. “They only stopped beating him when the wife and the children started begging the soldiers.”
From 2019 Si Thu worked pro bono on the case of a group of residents who were opposing the construction of a cement factory in the village of Aung Tha Pyay. Police shot a man in the leg during a 2020 raid targeting those protesting the factory.
The lawyer also represented farmers in Pyin Oo Lwin who tried to prevent the military from seizing their land in late 2020.
At least 20 people were arrested in Mandalay last week for their opposition to the military, according to local sources.
Three young anti-coup activists from the city, including a protest leader named Thura Aung, have been held in junta custody since January. Activists from the Mandalay Strike Committee say they are worried for the detainees’ lives.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Land rights defender, Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 2, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 20, 2022
- Event Description
Junta soldiers drove a vehicle into a crowd of protesters in Yangon on Wednesday afternoon, missing the marchers but smashing into a car carrying three women taking part in the demonstration, a witness told Myanmar Now.
After the collision, the troops took the women away, said Zaw Htet, a protester from Youth Union, one of the groups involved in the flash mob demonstration. “They held the women at gunpoint and made them sit in formation,” he said.
The women, aged 23, 25 and 30, were trying to escape in the car when they were hit, said Zaw Htet, adding that he did not know where the soldiers took them.
Two of those detained–Khine Thinzar Aye and Ei Phyu Phyu Myint–are members of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Myanmar, the union said on Wednesday. The identity of the third woman has not yet been revealed.
At around 4:25pm, just minutes after the protest started on Thanthumar road in South Okkalapa, some ten troops riding in a double cab pickup truck came hurtling towards the crowd of roughly 30 people.
“We saw them speeding towards us from Myittar street just minutes after the protest started and we dispersed to the sides of the road,” he said. “That was the only reason this didn’t end up the same way as it did on Panbingyi street.”
In December, junta forces drove into a crowd of anti-coup protesters on Yangon’s Panbingyi street, injuring and then arresting several. Witnesses initially told Myanmar Now that five were killed, but it is now unclear if there were fatalities.
Wednesday's protest was organised by the Anti-Junta Alliance Yangon, a group of students’ unions and youth organisations from the city.
The crowd chanted: “The oppressors are becoming more cruel,” and “Those who value justice, wake up!”
“We just wanted to notify people that the military cares for no one’s rights or needs as long as they get to rule the country,” said Zaw Htet.
Regular flash mob protests against the military have continued in Yangon even after soldiers massacred hundreds of peaceful protesters across the country last year.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 2, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2022
- Event Description
A court in Insein Prison last week indicted freelance journalist Soe Yarzar Tun under Section 52a of the Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries a prison sentence of up to seven years, lawyers have told Myanmar Now.
The reporter was detained in Bago Region’s Thone Sel Township on March 10, just days after he escaped arrest when fifty soldiers raided a monastery in Bago where he was practising as a monk.
He was held at the Phayar Lay Interrogation Center in Yangon’s Hlegu Township and then sent to the local police station, a family member said, adding it was likely the journalist was tortured under interrogation.
“We sent him some food and some money when he was being held at the Hlegu Central Police Station but we weren’t allowed to see him,” the relative said. “We managed to communicate through hand signals from afar and he signalled back at us from behind bars.”
The relative speculated that the junta filed a terrorism charge based on information found on the journalist’s phone after his arrest.
In March last year he was arrested while covering anti-coup protests and charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code. He was released on June 30.
The date of next court hearing for the terrorism charge is not yet known, a group of lawyers helping political prisoners said.
A total of 115 journalists have been detained since last February’s coup, and 39 of them are still in prison.
Another three journalists–Sai Win Aung, Pu Tuidim and Soe Naing have been killed by the junta’s forces since December, according to the International Federation of Journalists
Last year, Myanmar had the second-highest number of journalists behind bars in the world after China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 2, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 21, 2022
- Event Description
Seven students from Yangon’s Dagon University who went missing over two days last week are believed to have been abducted by the military, a leader of the university’s student union said.
On April 21, five of the students disappeared after one revealed in a phone call with Dagon University Student Union chairperson Min Htet Han that a military truck was entering their street in Bahan Township.
The students were identified as Khant Zin Win, Thura Maung Maung, Zaw Lin Naing, Thiha Htet Zaw and Hein Htet.
The next day, two of their colleagues—Thet Paing Oo and Khant Lin Maung Maung—also reportedly went missing.
“We highly suspect that they were taken by the junta. Their families are also asking at the township police stations because they suspect the same thing, but we are still unable to find anything out,” Min Htet Han told Myanmar Now.
None of the students were members of the student union, but they had taken part in anti-coup protests, he said, adding that their disappearance has been reported to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The military council has not responded to Myanmar Now’s calls for comment concerning the missing students.
“We’re worried for their lives,” student union chair Min Htet Han said. “Many incidents like this have happened before, and so many people have died during interrogations without anyone knowing. We are extremely worried because we don’t even know where they are being held or what charges they are facing.”
“Their families at least have the right to know where they are,” he added.
The student union from the Yangon University of Economics also released a statement identifying one of their students, Htet Paing Soe, as also having been detained by the junta on April 21.
At the time of reporting, the AAPP had confirmed that nearly 1,800 civilians had been killed by the military council since the coup, and verified that more than 10,000 people were still in detention.
The actual figures may be much higher.
Even following brutal crackdowns on protests by the junta’s armed forces following the coup in February last year, youth across Yangon have continued demonstrations in opposition to the military.
Several attacks targeting members of the junta’s administrative mechanism have also been carried out by guerrilla forces in the commercial capital.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 2, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 30, 2022
- Event Description
A married couple who were arrested last year for protesting against the junta in southeastern Myanmar’s Dawei Township have each been hit with heavy prison sentences, a friend of theirs has said.
Zay Lin Oo and his wife Hnin Su Hlaing, both in their 30s, were detained at a rally on Kyan Mar Yae street in Dawei on March 31, two months after the military siezed power in a coup, a report published by the Dawei Watch media outlet said.
On Wednesday Zay Lin Oo was sentenced for multiple alleged crimes, including murder, that added 15 years to the sentence he was already serving. He now faces a total of 21 years in prison.
In November, a judge at the Dawei Prison Court named Myint Myint San gave Zay Lin Oo six years in prison for various charges including inctiment and breaches of weapons control laws. Hnin Su Hlaing received a four-and-a-half-year sentence on similar charges.
The couple have been separated from their 10-year-old son as a result of their detention, and the boy is now staying with his grandparents, the friend told Myanmar Now.
The boy is their only child and they have not been allowed any visits from him, added an officer from the Dawei Political Prisoners Network.
A 30-year-old former political detainee who met Zay Lin Oo in prison said Zay Lin Oo was not guilty of murder and was charged in place of someone else. Myanmar Now was unable to gather further information about the case.
The officer from the Dawei Political Prisoners Network, who also met with Zay Lin Oo in prison, said Zay Lin Oo had been kept in an isolation cell for two months for taking part in protests inside the prison.
“He was brutally tortured during his interrogation,” the officer added. “His face had so many bruises. He was badly beaten on his legs and arms and back before he arrived at the prison. He has been very active about asking for prisoners’ rights as well.”
Zay Lin Oo did charity work helping the victims of natural disasters across Myanmar, according to his friends.
As of March 6, 175 men and 38 women have been sentenced at the Dawei Prison Court for their opposition to last year’s coup, according to figures from the Dawei Political Prisoners Network.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 14, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2022
- Event Description
Ma Wai, a 35-year-old single mother, was in an especially good mood on the morning of April 5 as she prepared to send packages of chicken and rice to her son’s kindergarten to celebrate his third birthday.
Then a group of soldiers arrived at her home on Mahar Thukhita street in Yangon’s Insein Township.
Her brother, 30, and elderly parents, both in their 70s, received the news shortly after the troops blindfolded Ma Wai and took her away. Having heard multiple stories of the junta targeting the family members of anti-coup protesters, they decided to go into hiding.
But they never imagined the soldiers would be so cruel as to take Ma Wai’s young son.
They calculated that it would be safer to leave Thant Hpone Waiyan at the Best Choice Kindergarten with his teachers and friends. But troops arrived shortly after taking Ma Wai to kidnap the toddler too, a relative who would like to remain anonymous told Myanmar Now.
“It doesn’t make sense,” the relative said. “They’d already taken the mother. There was no reason for them to take the child as well.”
Friends of the family speculated that the soldiers took the boy in order to psychologically torment Ma Wai as a means of extracting information from her. The whereabouts and status of the two are unknown.
Thant Hpone Waiyan was Ma Wai’s only son. As well as caring for him, she had the role of breadwinner in her family and ran her own small ecommerce business. Ma Wai has worked to make money for her family since she was just 10 years old, when she would sell food.
After her husband left her while she was pregnant with Thant Hpone Waiyan, she took out loans to support her family.
“She had been making money for her parents and her brother. Even when she was married, she let her husband stay home while she went out to work. She’s such a bright and honest woman who can’t stand injustice,” said the relative.
“The family has now lost the person they rely on the most and the child they love the most. Everyone’s shaken to the core,” he added.
Myanmar Now was unable to contact Ma Wai’s parents or brother for comment. Their names have been withheld for their security. None of Ma Wai’s family members are politically active. Her father used to work as a driver.
Ma Wai, a graduate of the Yangon Technological University, has never sided with a political party, but after last year’s coup she was so angered by the military’s actions that she joined street protests.
“She wasn’t a fan of any political parties but she took part in the protests solely because it was unfair and she just couldn’t stand by and watch,” said a friend of Ma Wai’s.
Ma Wai’s relatives have received no information about her or her son since they were taken, and they dare not come out of hiding in search of her for fear of being detained themselves.
“The family doesn’t dare to follow her as there’s a risk that the military would arrest the family as well,” said the friend. “It’s hard as her parents are both very old now. They’re in a very tight situation.”
The junta has denied kidnapping Ma Wai’s son. Military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told Radio Free Asia on April 7 that reports of Thant Hpone Waiyan’s detention were “nonsense”.
“We haven’t arrested any child.,” he told the broadcaster. “There was absolutely no such incident.”
In January Zaw Min Tun admitted the junta had detained some children “out of necessity”.
Since seizing power in last year’s coup, the junta’s forces have killed 132 children and detained another 216, two of whom are facing death sentences, according to figures from the underground National Unity Government (NUG).
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 14, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2022
- Event Description
On April 5, Win Naing Oo, a reporter for Myanmar news outlet Channel Mandalay, was sentenced to five years in prison for alleged incitement under Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law. The International Federation of Journalists condemns the sentencing of the journalist and calls on Myanmar authorities to immediately revoke the charges against him.
A court inside Obo Prison sentenced Win Naing Oo, the former chief correspondent at Channel Mandalay, to five years in prison under Section 52 (A) of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law.
Under the law, “whoever is convicted of committing [acts of terrorism] shall be sentenced to a minimum of three-year imprisonment to a maximum of seven-year imprisonment”.
The journalist was sentenced along with three others, Min Thwe, Kyaw Oo and Zaw Min Oo, who were also charged with terrorism.
According to Myanmar Now, the junta has not released any other information regarding Win Naing Oo’s case, including his connection with the other accused.
Authorities first arrested Win Naing Oo and his wife, Thu Thu, on August 31, 2021 at a mango farm in Sintgaing, Mandalay. He was charged with incitement under Section 505 (A) of Myanmar’s Penal Code on September 15, 2021.
The journalist was set to be granted amnesty by the Obo Prison court, however, just before he was to be released, the offer was retracted and he was instead sentenced to prison.
This is not the first time Win Naing Oo has been targeted by the military junta. In 2019 the journalist was charged with defamation under Section 66 (D) of Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law for a story on the military’s confiscation of land near Pyin Oo Lwin.
Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law has been criticised in the past for being “overly broad”, and a way for the junta to justify the arrest and jailing of journalists in the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: two more media workers detained
- Date added
- Apr 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 28, 2022
- Event Description
An engineering student who was maimed by soldiers while taking part in an anti-coup protest in Magway last year was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour on Monday.
Hlyan Phyo Aung, 23, had been charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code.
The sentence, which was handed down by judge Swe Aye Nyein at a special court inside Magway Prison, was the maximum for the alleged offence.
It comes almost exactly a year after Hlyan Phyo Aung was arrested during a protest in his hometown of Magway on March 27, 2021.
Immediately after his arrest, he was hospitalized to have his hand, which had been shot at close range by soldiers cracking down on the protest, amputated.
Two months later, he was transferred to Magway Prison, despite requiring treatment for an eye injury caused by the gunshot.
According to a source close to his family, Hlya Phyo Aung later lost the sight in his right eye and is now having trouble seeing through his left eye.
“He went completely blind in his right eye and now sees lines in his left eye. He says it’s just like static on TV. At least the blind eye is in stable condition. This is actually worse,” said the source, who did not want to be named for security reasons.
Hlyan Phyo Aung was one of 37 people arrested during the crackdown on the protest in Magway. Although 30 were later freed despite facing similar charges, he was repeatedly denied bail and excluded from a mass release last July.
“The family couldn’t even attend his court hearings. They just drove them away. They only got to see him from afar,” said the family friend.
It was only when they were called to testify on his behalf, nine months after his detention, that Hlyan Phyo Aung’s family was able to see him again, he added.
The friend also said that he had heard Hlyan Phyo Aung was being forced to harvest watercress inside the prison, and was having trouble receiving medications sent by his family.
Myanmar Now was unable to confirm this information.
Hlyan Phyo Aung was one of seven people—five men and two women—who received similar sentences inside Magway Prison on Monday.
No details were available about the other prisoners, only four of whom—Nyein Pyae Sone, Phyo Maung, Ye Moe Aung, and Saw Min Htet—could be identified by name at the time of reporting.
The underground National Unity Government has publicised Hlyan Phyo Aung’s treatment as part of plans to submit evidence against the regime to the International Criminal Court.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 3, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 30, 2022
- Event Description
An anti-dictatorship protest leader from Sagaing Region’s Chaung-U Township was handed a two-year jail sentence for incitement on Wednesday in a junta court inside Monywa Prison, where he had been detained for nearly 10 months, according to a source close to the activist’s family.
Twenty-nine-year-old Man Zar Myay Mon was arrested by the military from Shanhtu village in early June of last year, where he had been on the run from the junta’s forces. He endured a violent interrogation in which he had his fingers broken, a relative told Myanmar Now.
He was charged with five counts of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code.
“He still has to face four more charges,” the family friend told Myanmar Now.
Wednesday’s charge was based on a case filed by police Maj Aung Than Myint, and included two other defendants. Their time already served will be deducted from their prison sentence, the court ruled.
Three of Man Zar Myay Mon’s four other incitement charges were also filed by police officers, and one by a man simply identified in police records as “Aung Baw.”
Further details about those cases were not available at the time of reporting.
The military council issued a warrant for his arrest on April 27, after he had led multiple demonstrations in Chaung-U. He had also taken part in the Letpadan students’ strike in Sagaing in 2014.
Man Zar Myay Mon had previously worked as a freelance journalist, and is an environmental and land rights activist who has researched Myanmar’s mining sector. He is a member of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability and the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative for Sagaing.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are nearly 10,000 people in detention who have been arrested since the coup. More than 880 have been formally sentenced to prison time.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 3, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 28, 2022
- Event Description
A freelance journalist based in Myawaddy, Karen State—across the border from Thailand—has been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement, according to a family friend.
While the reason for his arrest has not been confirmed, the source said that Nay Naw, also known as Myo Naung Naung Zaw, was accused of incitement after a March 27 report he published on social media.
He wrote that two trucks were shot at and set on fire near the Taw Naw waterfall along the section of the Asian Highway that connects Myawaddy with Kawkareik, and noted that “serious battles” were taking place in the area between the Myanmar army and resistance forces.
The friend said that he learned of Nay Naw’s arrest on Tuesday through another social media post by an account under the name of Thurin Min Tun, who said that the journalist had been detained on Monday. Further information about this individual was not available at the time of reporting.
“They said he reported false news and charged him under Section 505a,” the source said.
Nay Naw reportedly went to the Myawaddy police station on Monday after being summoned twice, and was taken into junta custody.
It is not known where he was being held at the time of reporting. His family has not been allowed to see him.
Nan Paw Gay, the editor-in-chief of the Karen State-based KIC news organisation, said that Nay Naw had worked as a freelancer but contributed to KIC.
“We only saw that all his news stories sent to us were based on facts. He always based his news stories on evidence. He did not accuse anyone of anything without evidence,” she said.
A total of 115 journalists have been arrested by the military council since the February 2021 coup, and 39 were still in detention at the time of reporting, according to data compiled by journalists. Three media workers have died during interrogations or in fighting.
Myanmar has more detained journalists than any other country in the world, except China, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Journalists and activists are frequently charged with violating 505a; the section was amended by military chief Min Aung Hlaing weeks after staging a coup and prohibits the spreading of false information, causing fear, or calling for action to be taken against government employees. It is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment.
At least 1,315 people have been detained under Section 505a, according to records compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Four journalists—from Kamayut Media, Mizzima, Mandalay Free Press, the Ayeyarwady Region-based Myanmar Herald—were given two-year prison sentences by junta courts for incitement in March alone.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 3, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2022
- Event Description
The family of a 19-year-old activist from Mandalay is concerned for his well-being after being unable to contact him or obtain information on his condition or whereabouts since his arrest by junta forces on March 27.
Kyaw Swar Win, who also goes by the name Felix, was beaten and taken into military custody during a roadside inspection by troops in Amarapura Township, according to a friend.
The friend alleged that the military was attempting to track the teen’s contacts through his phone.
“He got arrested while getting his phone checked on the road. When I called him to remind him that we were meeting up, I only heard the voices of the soldiers who asked me where we were,” he told Myanmar Now. “They were trying to lure us to them.”
The friend said that he had heard that Kyaw Swar Win was being interrogated and passed out while being abused.
“His family is worried for his life,” he added.
“I heard that he even passed out during the interrogation and that he hasn’t come round properly. His family is also very worried for his life.”
Anti-dictatorship strike committees in Mandalay released a joint statement on Monday demanding that the military take full responsibility for any emotional or physical abuse Kyaw Swar Win was forced to endure.
Sources from the strike committees also said that three people, including protest leader Thura Aung, who were arrested in Maha Aungmyay Township in late January, were also held at an undisclosed location for two months without being transferred to Mandalay’s Obo Prison.
Myanmar Now was unable to obtain comment from the victim’s family or the military council.
Daily protests continue to occur in Mandalay after starting five days after the February 1, 2021 coup. The demonstrations have been met with violent crackdowns by the junta’s forces.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 3, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2022
- Event Description
According to the International Press Institute, Hanthar Nyein was sentenced on March 21 in a military-run court inside Yangon’s Insein Prison. The court charged the journalist for incitement under Section 505(A) of the Myanmar Penal Code.
On March 22, Than Htike Aung was handed the same charge, but was sentenced in Dekkhina District Court in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital. Section 505(A) of Myanmar’s Penal Code criminalises the circulation of any information that is deemed “false news” against the military regime. Both journalists pleaded not guilty.
Radio Free Asia reported that Ye Yint Tun, a reporter for the Myanmar Herald, was also sentenced for two years on March 23 under Sections 505(A) and 505(B) of the Penal Code.
The sentencing of the three journalists comes one year after their original arrests. Hanthar Nyein, co-founder of Kamayut Media, was arrested on March 9, 2021, during a military raid of the news outlet’s office in Yangon.
“They said Kamayut Media had incited riots and rallied people to protest. However, Hanthar Nyein appealed to them that he had just reported the news in accordance with journalistic ethics,” Hanthar Nyein’s lawyer said.
Than Htike Aung, a news editor affiliated with independent media outlet Mizzima, was arrested on March 19, 2021, in Naypyitaw whilst reporting on a court hearing. Authorities arrested Ye Yint Tun on February 28, 2021, whilst he was covering a protest in Pathein.
Section 505(A) of the Penal Code has been heavily criticised in Myanmar, with activists arguing that it is a “legal catch-all for bringing criminal charges against a broad range of individuals deemed to pose a challenge to the military regime”, and thus justifies the arbitrary arrest of journalists.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 29, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Event Description
The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) confirmed that three of their Mandalay-based members were charged last Friday by the junta with violating Myanmar’s counterterrorism law.
The individuals, who were arrested on March 2 in Amarapura Township, include Aung Myo Ko, chair of the student union at the Mandalay Education College; Thiri Yadanar, upper Myanmar secretary of the ABFSU; and Kyaw Zin Latt, a middle school teacher from Singu Township.
ABFSU chair Aung Pyae Sone Phyo said that the activists had been helping families of detained students send care packages to their loved ones in prison.
“They were actually a part of the democratic movement before but they stopped doing that. They just focused on sending care packages to the detained students and helping the detained students contact their families in distant places,” he told Myanmar Now.
The three detainees—all in their 20s—have been held at the township police station since their arrest, and were formally accused on March 18 of violating Section 50j of the counterterrorism law for funding “terrorist” organisations. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, Aung Pyae Sone Phyo told Myanmar Now.
A second charge was also added to their cases for being alleged accessories to terrorist acts, as is outlined under Section 52a of the law, and carries a seven-year sentence.
The three student activists are also reportedly being investigated for incitement charges under Section 505a of the Penal Code, but Aung Pyae Sone Phyo noted that the final charge had not yet been formally filed.
“[The military] started by arresting protesters on the streets and now they’re arresting people who are helping the detained civilians. They clearly want to instill fear into the people so that they don’t dare to revolt,” the ABFSU chair said.
The military council has not released any information on the charges allegedly brought against the student activists.
Protests have continued in Mandalay more than one year after the military coup in February 2021. The junta continues to make frequent arrests of dissidents in the region, questioning civilians in public, and sealing off houses belonging to anti-dictatorship figures.
“They are going to decimate each and every one of their opponents. That is why we have been revolting against the junta from the time of Ne Win until Min Aung Hlaing,” Aung Pyae Sone Phyo said, referring to the military leader who seized power in a 1962 coup and the current army chief.
“It’s also essential that we, the people, hold our heads high and keep fighting back,” he added.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: two pro-democracy students, a teacher arrested
- Date added
- Mar 29, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 2, 2022
- Event Description
A major students’ union has said it fears for the lives of two students and a teacher who were arrested in Mandalay last week for involvement in the movement against the junta.
Student activists Aung Myo Ko and Thiri Yadanar were detained on Wednesday evening along with Kyaw Zin Latt, a teacher taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) said.
A large number of soldiers raided Thiri Yadanar’s home in Amarapura Township to make the arrests, said the union member, who asked to remain anonymous. “They were arrested while the three of them were meeting at Thiri Yadanar’s house,” he said.
“I think they were tipped off by someone. Aung Myo Ko was beaten during his arrest. I heard the house was sealed off as well,” he added.
Aung Myo Ko is the chair of the Mandalay Education Degree College Student Union, while Thiri Yadanar is secretary of the ABFSU in upper Myanmar. Kyaw Zin Latt is a teacher at the Magway Tayar Middle School in Singu Township. The three are all in their 20s.
Before their arrests, they had been helping the families of activists detained at Obo Prison to send care packages to their loved ones, the ABSFU member said.
He added that the three are being interrogated at the Amarapura Township Police Station and that he was worried the military would falsely accuse them of being involved with the People's Defence Force (PDF) and file unfounded charges against them.
“They were only involved in the actions of the ABFSU,” he said. “They have no affiliations with the PDF at all. I heard anti-terrorism charges are going to be filed agaisnt them. We are very worried about their safety and for their lives.”.
Police and military officials could not be reached for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 14, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2022
- Event Description
Veteran democracy activist Mya Aye, who was arrested on the day of the military coup in February last year, was sentenced to two years in prison by a junta court on Thursday as he marked his 56th birthday.
The activist was a prominent leader of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and was among the first people to be detained by the new junta last year.
He was sentenced at a court inside Insein Prison, where he has been detained since his arrest, under Section 505c of the Penal Code for “inciting hate towards an ethnicity or a community,” his lawyer Thet Naung said.
A judge from Yangon’s Mingalar Taungnyunt Township Court handed down the sentence, he added.
Mya Aye was arrested at his home in Mingalar Taungnyunt on February 1 last year and charged in mid-March, Thet Naung said, adding that his client would have around a year deducted from his sentence for time served.
Mya Aye needs medical attention for a wound on his foot and for a heart condition, the lawyer said. In October last year, he was admitted to a hospital outside the prison for several days because of an infection in the foot.
“He’s not in very good health,” Thet Naung said. “We asked the court to let him go to an outside hospital [again] but he was not allowed in previous court hearings.”
The charge against Mya Aye relates to an email he sent to a Chinese official seven years ago about Myanmar’s peace process.
He wrote in the email that because of government propaganda and Burmese ethnonationalism, people in Myanmar believed that China was interfering in the peace process and had backed Kokang rebels in their fight against the Myanmar military, according to his case file.
“The plaintiff couldn’t even submit solid evidence against him. He was arrested unjustly and sentenced unfairly,” Thet Naung said.
Mya Aye did not call any defence witnesses but testified for himself, the lawyer added.
Mya Aye spent a total of 12 years behind bars for his role in the 1988 uprising and the 2007 Saffron Revolution. After his release in 2012 he remained politically active, often drawing the military’s anger.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 14, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 28, 2022
- Event Description
Four student leaders held in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison for nearly a year have been sentenced to three years with hard labour for incitement, according to their lawyers.
Wai Yan Phyo Moe, Sitt Naing, Lay Pyay Soe Moe, and Thuta Soe were among hundreds arrested last March for taking part in protests in Yangon’s Tamwe Township.
All four were found guilty of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for their part in leading the protests. They were tried by a special prison court and sentenced on Monday, their lawyers said.
“They were very calm and collected when they received the sentence. But I’m worried about Wai Yan Phyo Moe, as he has a history inside the prison,” said Thet Naung, the lawyer representing Wai Yan Phyo Moe and Sitt Naing.
Wai Yan Phyo Moe, who is vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, was previously sentenced to two years and one month in prison for taking part in a campaign calling for the restoration of internet access in Rakhine State in 2020.
He is also facing other incitement charges related to his anti-coup activism last year.
Wai Yan Phyo Moe, Sitt Naing, and Lay Pyay Soe Moe were also tortured and placed in solitary confinement for taking part in a protest inside Insein Prison last July, according to statements released by their respective organisations at the time.
Sitt Naing, who is also known as Zaw Htet Naing, is the vice chair of the Yangon Educational University Student Union, while Lay Pyay Soe Moe is a central executive officer of the Yangon University Student Union.
Thuta Soe, who is a member of the Yankin Educational College Student Union, was among seven prisoners singled out for mistreatment by prison authorities for not complying with orders, Myanmar Now reported last June.
Aung Kaung Sett, the chair of the Yangon University Student Union, said the fact that all four had received the maximum sentence for their alleged offences reflected the junta’s attitude towards its opponents, but would do nothing to deter others from resisting its rule.
“We will continue to hold fast to our anti-dictatorship policies, as we always have,” he said.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the regime has detained more than 12,000 people since seizing power last February. Of these, at least 9,437 were still behind bars as of March 1, the group says on its website.
The regime has also killed nearly 1,600 civilians since the coup, according to the AAPP’s latest figures.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 6, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2022
- Event Description
Anti-junta writers Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo (Wisdom Villa) were given two-year and three-year prison sentences respectively by the Insein Prison Court on 22 February, according to a prison source.
The writers were charged under Section 505 (A) of the Penal Code, which makes it a crime to publish or circulate any statement or report with the intent of causing military officers, civil servants and soldiers to mutiny or to otherwise disregard orders or fail in their duty.
When the military seized power on 1 February 2021, Maung Tha Cho and Htin Lin Oo were arrested and taken to Insein Prison, where they were charged under Section 505 (a). They have only now received their prison sentences, despite having been detained in prison for more than a year.
The decision to appeal a case lies with the convicted individual or their family members. It is unknown at this time whether the writers will appeal their sentences.
“Maung Tha Cho was sentenced to two years instead of the maximum sentence (three years imprisonment) under section 505 (a) and Htin Lin Oo was sentenced to the maximum sentence under the section,” said a source.
In the case of 88-Generation student leader Mya Aye, his lawyer filed a final appeal on 22 February, and a final verdict is expected on 8 March.
Htin Lin Oo, who was sentenced to the maximum sentence of three years, was arrested on the morning of the junta military coup, 1 February 2021, for broadcasting an anti-junta live video on his social media page.
Maung Tha Cho was arrested for an article he wrote in a journal about eight years ago.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 6, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 9, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Myanmar’s Mandalay region on Wednesday detained nearly 20 people accused of participating in a “Silent Strike,” bringing the number of those arrested in connection with the nationwide anti-junta protest to more than 200 in recent days, according to sources.
Residents of Mandalay’s Mahar Aung Myae township told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Thursday that security forces blocked off streets for most of the previous day and arrested at least 19 people — including a Buddhist monk and several youth activist leaders.
Ashin Raza Dhama, the leader of the Mandalay Buddhist Monk Union, said junta forces searched Mahar Aung’s Sein Pan ward and detained “around 15 people.”
“In the evening, four leaders [who led] boycotts were taken,” he said of the youth activists, whose names were withheld due to concerns for their safety and that of their families.
“Today, I heard they are searching in Myaukpyin area the same way they did in Sein Pan,” he added.
Authorities also arrested a Buddhist monk from Mandalay’s Thingazar Monastery, alleging that he was involved in the protests.
Streets in Myanmar were largely empty on Feb. 1 as people across the country took part in the Silent Strike to protest the one-year anniversary of the military coup, despite a week of junta threats and arrests of organizers.
Public areas around the country were noticeably barren, except for occasional groups of young people holding flash protests. In the lead up to the anniversary of the Feb. 1, 2021, coup, authorities had warned of tough punishments — including life in prison — for anyone found applauding, honking or otherwise expressing support for the strike.
The movement marked the third Silent Strike since the military seized power, the others coming in March in the immediate aftermath of the putsch and in December on International Human Rights Day. In the past year, security forces have arrested more than 9,000 civilians and killed 1,546 — mostly during nonviolent anti-junta protests, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Residents of Mandalay said the junta is arresting protest leaders in the region to tighten security ahead of the 75th Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of Union Day on Feb. 12. The holiday commemorates the 1947 signing of the Panglong Agreement by ethnic majority Burmans and the country’s minorities to form a union following Myanmar’s independence from Britain on Jan. 4 a year later.
Sources expressed concern for the safety of the four protest leaders who were arrested Wednesday, who they said are on the junta’s “wanted list.”
One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal, said that arresting the youth leaders will not end the resistance against the military regime.
“The revolution will not be stopped. It may take some time to recoup, but it will be restarted. The protesters will come out again,” he said.
The source called on more people to participate in the movement against the junta, saying that the political situation in the country has worsened.
“Popular participation has declined. We no longer have safehouses, and it has become more challenging to organize,” he said.
“We hope nothing happen to [the leaders]. I feel bad because they are very important for us.”
Tayzar San, a protest leader in Mandalay, said the junta’s violent crackdown on dissent will be its downfall.
“People throughout the country are fully motivated and in the mood for revolution,” he said.
“The people’s participation in the Silent Strike during the anniversary of the coup is evidence of that. The people of Myanmar will push back when the military tries to push them down.” Dozens arrests over silent strike
Prior to Wednesday, the junta said that authorities had arrested 193 people throughout the country between Jan. 27 and Feb. 8 for allegedly offering support for or encouraging others to take part in the strike by committing to close their shops on social media.
The announcement said that it will charge the alleged strike supporters under the Counter-Terrorism Act and the Electronic Communications Act, and that those found guilty of violating the laws are subject to having their property confiscated.
Family members of those arrested told RFA on Thursday that they were not talking about participation in the strike when they posted messages about closing shops, but just writing about how they intended to observe the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, which also falls on Feb. 1.
A woman who declined to be named said she hadn’t had contact with her husband since his arrest for allegedly closing his shop.
“We are ethnic Chinese. We announced on Facebook that we would close our shops on Feb. 1 according to New Year tradition,” she said. “Now my husband has been arrested, and I am in trouble taking care of three kids.”
A fortune teller in Yangon named Thar Htet Hsann was also among those detained in recent days.
His wife said he was arrested for allegedly participating in the strike but that he always takes the day off on Mondays.
“He closes his fortune teller shop every Monday. He used to call me when he is coming home, but he didn’t that evening,” she said. “Later, I saw something about his arrest on the news on TV. I have two children. They are still very young, and I don’t know what to do.”
‘Instilling fear’ through arrests
The spokesperson of a social media watchdog group in Myanmar said the junta works with popular pro-military influencers to monitor the activities of users.
“There are so many accounts of people named Kyaw Zwar, Han Nyein Oo or Thazin Oo on Telegram,” he said, referring to a popular social media platform.
“We found out that they are military supporters. We found that they are monitoring activities on these channels and taking actions by initiating these arrests.”
Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the arrests related to the silent strike went unanswered on Thursday.
A court attorney who works on human rights violation cases in Yangon told RFA that if a person runs their own private business and independently pays municipal taxes, the authorities cannot arrest them for closing their shop.
“The arrests are illegal and unlawful. They are using the law to oppress the people. I believe they are just using the laws to limit individual freedom,” the attorney said.
A Facebook user and youth activist in Yangon said the military council is trying to intimidate its opposition with the arrests.
“They are trying to instill fear among young people from using internet,” he said. “We will make sure they cannot govern us. We will continue the resistance online.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 28, 2022
- Event Description
A youth anti-dictatorship activist and a journalist were convicted of incitement and handed a two-year prison sentence with hard labour in a junta court in Dawei, Tanintharyi Region last week, sources close to them said.
Htoo Myat Lwin, a 22-year-old member of the Coalition Strike Committee of Dawei, and Sai Ko Ko Tun, a 28-year-old former reporter at 7Day News, had no lawyers present at their trial in the court inside Dawei Prison, which delivered its verdict on January 28.
They were convicted of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code.
“It is not yet known if they will face more charges,” a source familiar with the case told Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity.
The military council-appointed judge in the case ruled that Htoo Myat Lwin was guilty of participating in and leading anti-coup protests, joining the strike committee and inciting others to join anti-dictatorship activities, a source in the prison said.
Sai Ko Ko Tun’s conviction was for covering the protests as a journalist and sending the reports to Myanmar Now.
Family members of the defendants were not allowed into the court on the day of the verdict and only learned of the sentencing from sources close to the prison officers, a relative of Htoo Myat Lwin said.
They could not afford to hire legal representation for Htoo Myat Lwin, he explained.
“He defended himself in court without a lawyer. He was afraid the family would face difficulties if he hired a lawyer,” the relative said.
Sai Ko Ko Tun also did not have a lawyer present.
Around 30 junta troops arrested both men at Sai Ko Ko Tun’s home in Dawei’s Bon Maw ward on November 30 last year. Also detained were Sai Ko Ko Tun’s father and sister, who were released days later.
From January 5 until the end of the month, 31 people were sentenced within the same court in Dawei Prison, the prison source said, convicted of incitement or Section 51 of the Counterterrorism Law for the use of explosive devices.
The junta’s armed forces raided the Myanmar Now office in Yangon’s Pabedan Township on March 8 last year, five weeks after the February coup, and imposed a publication and broadcasting ban on five news outlets in the commercial capital, including Myanmar Now. The other four targeted organisations were 7Day, DVB, Khit Thit Media and Mizzima, with the coup regime’s information ministry later adding 74 Media, Delta News Agency, Myitkyina News Journal and Tachileik News Agency to the blacklist.
Internet services were disrupted and access was blocked to continued TV news broadcasts by outlets such as DVB and Mizzima.
Since the coup, 100 journalists have been detained by the military council, which has accused them of violating the law. Among them were three staff members from Dawei Watch, who were detained for eight days in late January.
At the time of reporting, around half of the reporters arrested nationwide were still behind bars.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2022
- Event Description
A student activist arrested in Yangon last year after putting up posters that criticised the junta was handed a three-year prison sentence for incitement at a court inside Insein Prison last week.
Yin Myat Noe Oo, the treasurer of a branch of the Yangon University of Economics Students' Union, was among four detained in April near the Kyauk Myaung Market in Tamwe.
The court took time already served off of the 22-year-old’s sentence when handing down its decision on Thursday, said lawyer Thet Naung.
Yin Myat Noe Oo was arrested alongside Khant Thu Aung, her union’s chair, Phyo Kyaw Naing, a union member and Min Hein Khant, a former member.
She and the three others face an ongoing incitement charge for allegedly supplying information to a foreign journalist via a film director named Thein Tan.
Thein Tan was arrested in April while staying at the Chatrium Hotel. He was accused of selling information to Yuki Kitazumi, a Japanese journalist who was arrested in April but released and deported the following month.
Despite the journalist’s release, Thein Tan and the students are still being tried for the case at the Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township Court.
“The four members of the students’ union were allegedly acting as informants for Thein Tan, who in turn allegedly sold the information to international news departments and supplied Yin Myat Noe Oo with the money, according to the military,” said Thet Naung, the student’s lawyer.
La Pyae, a member of the students’ union, said he and others were fighting for Yin Myat Noe Oo’s freedom.
“We are fighting our hardest for everyone’s release and are revolting against the dictatorship,” he said. “I’m proud of her. We are going to do what we can from the outside until we win the fight.”
Khant Thu Aung, the union’s chair, was reportedly denied medical attention while sick in prison.
Last week, a separate students’ organisation published a letter written by an inmate at Insein that said political detainees were being tortured and denied medical care at the prison.
At least 12,219 civilians have been arrested by the military since last year’s coup and at least 9,206 are still in detention, according to a tally from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) that the junta claims is exaggerated.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 16, 2022
- Event Description
Two students from Dawei University in Tanintharyi Region were sentenced to seven years in prison each last week for making 5,000-kyat donations to assist civilians displaced by Myanmar’s ongoing political unrest.
Ei Chu Chu Maw, 19, and Lin Latt Kyi, 20, were both found guilty by a court inside Dawei Prison of violating Section 52b of Myanmar’s Counterterrorism Law for allegedly funding anti-regime activities.
The two young women both received the maximum sentence under the law, according to information released by the Dawei Political Prisoners Network (DPPN), a local advocacy group.
The sentences were handed down last Wednesday, the group said.
“They just donated money to help civilians in need. It’s unfair that they had to go to prison for this,” said a DPPN spokesperson.
The two women were arrested in their home village of Hein Dar Pyin, about 30km from Dawei, on November 5 after they made the donations using a popular money-transfer app last June.
Dawei Watch, another group that monitors human rights abuses in the region, later reported that they were sent to Dawei Prison on November 19 and charged under the anti-terror law.
They did not receive legal representation, according to the DPPN spokesperson.
“No lawyer dares to take up those cases anymore,” he said, noting that lawyers in Dawei stopped defending political detainees in October after several were threatened with arrest as accessories to their clients’ alleged crimes.
Myanmar Now contacted relatives of the two women, but they declined to comment on their cases, citing security concerns.
Ei Chu Chu Maw and Lin Latt Kyi were both first-year students at the time of their arrest. Ei Chu Chu Maw was studying English, while Lin Latt Kyi was enrolled in a program at the University for the Development of the National Races under the management of the ministry of border affairs.
According to the latest figures released by DPPN, the Dawei Prison court has sentenced 180 people, including 30 women, to prison in connection with alleged anti-regime activities.
In the final week of last year, 31 people received lengthy prison sentences for opposing the junta that seized power last February.
Tun Tun Oo, a 38-year-old protest leader who was arrested last September, received the longest sentence—a total of 18 years on four charges. Eight more years have since been added on three other charges.
Two more charges—including one for murder and another under Section 54 of the Counterterrorism Law—are still pending.
If found guilty of the remaining charges, he could be given the death penalty.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2022
- Event Description
Regime forces in Sagaing Region’s largest city, Monywa, made multiple arrests on Tuesday during crackdowns that caused one protester to have a miscarriage and left one man wounded.
The first incident occurred at around 6am in Monywa’s Thala Ward, where two young women on motorcycles were distributing anti-regime flyers with a group of other protesters when they were rammed from behind by a car.
While one of the women managed to esape on her motorcycle, the other, who was knocked off of hers, was forced to flee on foot, according to Arkar, a member of the Monywa People’s Strike Committee.
The second woman asked another motorcyclist for help, but was pushed aside when she attempted to get on the vehicle, said Arkar, who also took part in the protest.
“She said it was soon after that that she started bleeding,” he added, noting that the woman was two months pregnant.
The woman was eventually able to get away, but at least five youths were arrested in the crackdown, according to Arkar.
Myanmar Now has been unable to contact the two women directly for comment.
The second incident took place about an hour later in Monywa’s Ywar Thit Ward, where soldiers opened fire on two young men who they suspected were waiting to join others in a protest.
According to Arkar, one of the men was shot three times in the thigh before being arrested.
“When he fell after getting shot, a soldier came over and stepped on his face with his boot. They hadn’t even started protesting yet,” he said.
Arrests were also reported elsewhere in the city as part of an effort to crush a new nationwide protest movement called the “Si Kar Thapate” (“Strikes Galore”) campaign, also known as "Six Twos Strike Day" in reference to Tuesday’s date, 22.02.2022.
The campaign involves small groups gathering in public places with flowers and wearing traditional hats and thanaka, a paste made from tree bark that is spread on the face as a natural cosmetic.
A 30-year-old resident of Monywa’s Yankin Ward was arrested at around 9am on Tuesday, while two women who had thanaka on their faces were arrested on the city’s Bo Bwar Yeik Thar at around 10am, according to Arkar.
“They’ve had scouts out there since 4am, waiting at all the places where they expect protesters to gather,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 3, 2022
- Event Description
RSF has confirmed that, in the continuing relentless crackdown on the media, Thu Rein Kyaw (ကိုသူရိန်ကျော် in Burmese) was arrested when soldiers raided and searched his apartment in Yangon’s Insein township on the afternoon of 3 February. Located in northwestern Yangon, Insein is notorious for being the site of Myanmar’s largest prison, where at least 14 journalists are currently detained.
Thu Rein Kyaw become one of the military’s first victims after they seized power in a coup d’état on 1 February 2021. While covering a demonstration the next day in support of the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s armed forces are known, he was badly beaten by unidentified individuals, and photographs circulated online showing his injuries, including an eye injury.
According to RSF’s press freedom barometer, his arrest has brought the number of media professionals currently detained in Myanmar to 60.
Damning toll
“We demand the immediate release of Thu Rein Kyaw and all the other journalists who are paying with their freedom for having tried to inform the world about the tragedy taking place in Myanmar,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “The international community, civil society and businessmen who have dealings with Myanmar cannot be indifferent to the damning list of arrests of journalists. It is high time to prevent Myanmar’s military junta from completing its normalisation process.”
After last year’s coup, RSF embarked on a major advocacy campaign whose targets including multinationals operating in Myanmar. RSF wrote to 15 corporations urging them to end all activity that directly or indirectly supported the junta. Several of them, including TotalEnergies, Chevron, Voltalia, Telenor and Ericsson, finally announced that they plan to pull out of Myanmar in the near future.
Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF’s latest World Press Freedom Index, which was compiled in early 2021, before the biggest surge in press freedom violations.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 21, 2022
- Event Description
A junta court has handed death sentences to veteran pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy and former National League for Democracy MP Phyo Zayar Thaw, military-controlled media said on Friday evening.
Ko Jimmy, whose real name is Kyaw Min Yu, was arrested during a raid in Yangon in late October and Phyo Zayar Thaw was captured in November.
Both activists were accused of leading and planning guerilla attacks against the junta’s forces and their allies.
Phyo Zayar Thaw has been named by the junta as the mastermind behind numerous attacks on coup regime targets in Yangon in recent months.
The men were convicted under sections 49a, 50i and 50j of the Counterterrorism Law, which outlaws activities related to explosives, bombings, and financing terrorism.
The junta accused Phyo Zayar Thaw, who is also a well-known hip-hop artist, of supporting terrorist groups and keeping stashes of guns, ammunition, grenades and explosives at two apartments in Yangon.
The military court also accused him of having Zoom meetings with the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), the National Unity Government (NUG), and its People’s Defence Force (PDF), all of which are labelled as terrorist groups by the junta.
The court said he supplied weapons to assassinate pro-junta targets 35 times, masterminded 11 attacks and was complicit in over 100 bomb attacks.
He was also accused of raising money from abraod to fund “terrorist activity”.
The ‘88 Generation veteran Ko Jimmy was accused of hiding weapons and ammunition at an apartment in Yangon and being an “advisor” in implementing “terrorist activities” as part of the CRPH, NUG, and the PDF.
Ko Jimmy asked the NUG to buy a $100m 3D printer to make weapons, the junta’s Friday announcement said.
Both men had leadership positions during a series of attacks in Yangon known as Moon Light Operation, it added.
Min Ko Naing, another ‘88 Generation veteran, said the sentencing today was aimed at diverting people’s attention from the news that oil giants Total and Chevron were exiting Myanmar.
“That news was an encouraging response from the world… It was such a blow, financially and physically, for the military council,” Min Ko Naing told Myanmar Now.
He added that the military regime has realised it is going to lose the fight with anti-junta forces and will react by doing reckless things.
“They may win a hill or a camp but will lose the ultimate war in the end. Our people will win,” he said.
The military council released no information about Ko Jimmy’s case after his arrest but on January 14 released a video of Phyo Zayar Thaw confessing to involvement in the attacks.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 8,716 people are being detained by the junta across the country as of Thursday.
A total of 82 people, including 39 people who were convicted in absentia, have been sentenced to death by the junta, the group added.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: veteran pro-democracy defender beaten, detained
- Date added
- Feb 1, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 18, 2022
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities must immediately release the three recently arrested employees of the Dawei Watch news website and cease detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
During the night of January 18 to 19, authorities arrested Dawei Watch reporters Ko Zaw and Ma Moe Myint and web designer Ko Thar Gyi at their homes in Dawei, the capital of the southern Tanintharyi region, according to news reports. Those reports said that Ko Zaw was seen being taken from his home in handcuffs.
A Dawei Watch representative quoted by The Irrawaddy said they were not aware of why the three employees were detained or where they were being held.
Authorities also raided Dawei Watch’s office and seized documents and other items, reports said.
“Myanmar authorities must account for Dawei Watch employees Ko Zaw, Ma Moe Myint, and Ko Thar Gyi, drop any charges against them, and release them immediately,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must stop harassing, jailing, and killing journalists.”
Dawei Watch, which was established in 2012, covers news in southern Myanmar including the area’s recent anti-coup protests, according to those news reports and CPJ’s review of the outlet’s website and Facebook page, which has about 380,000 followers. CPJ emailed the outlet requesting further information on its employees’ detention, but did not immediately receive any reply.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
CPJ’s latest prison census, published in December, ranked Myanmar as the world’s second worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China. At least three journalists have been killed by Myanmar authorities since the military seized power on February 1, 2021, according to CPJ documentation and research.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 1, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 19, 2021
- Event Description
Two student activists were arrested in Yangon on Sunday morning while they were on their way to a protest in Thingangyun Township, according to fellow activists.
The two were identified as Zaw Lin Htut, a former member of the University Students’ Union Alumni Force (USUAF), and Su Yee Lin, the chair of the Eastern Yangon University Students Union.
“They were arrested on their way to a protest. We haven’t had any contact with them since,” said USUAF member Nan Lin.
The arresting officers were reportedly plainclothes military personnel, but no further details of the arrest were available at the time of reporting.
According to Nan Lin, Zaw Lin Htut is also a freelance reporter and a member of Peacock Generation (Daung Doh Myo Sat), a group that performs thangyat, a traditional form of political satire popular in Myanmar.
In 2018, he was sentenced to two years in prison for taking part in a performance deemed insulting to the military. He was released in June 2020.
“He used to be involved in politics. These days, he is writing news. Knowing that the military is targeting journalists, we’re very worried for the lives of both Phoe Thar and Su Yee Lin,” said Nang Lin, referring to Zaw Lin Htut by his nickname.
The families of the two detainees have received no information about where they are being held, he added.
Despite violent crackdowns, “flash mob” protests against the regime that seized power in February continue in Yangon and other cities around the country.
Earlier this month, junta troops rammed a vehicle into a crowd of protesters in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township before firing several shots and making multiple arrests.
As many as five people are believed to have been killed in that incident, although the junta has denied that there were any casualties, despite evidence to the contrary.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 19, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 10, 2021
- Event Description
Authorities at Yangon’s Insein Prison have refused to allow medical treatment to nearly 90 detainees who were brutally beaten a week ago during a nationwide “Silent Strike” protest against Myanmar's military junta rule, the detainees’ relatives and lawyers said Friday.
Dozens of political prisoners showed their solidarity with nationwide demonstrations by staying in their cells after morning roll call and singing the protest song “Our Pledge in Blood” in unison.
Authorities at the infamous Yangon detention facility attacked the prisoners for joining the Silent Strike, which was held on Human Rights Day on Dec. 10. The strike left many cities and towns empty as citizens stayed home in protest of the military regime and its brutal crackdown following its Feb. 1 coup.
At Insein, prison authorities threw strike organizers into solitary confinement and shackled their legs, sources close to the prisoners told RFA in an earlier report.
Some of the prisoners were critically wounded but were denied medical care, while some female prisoners were subjected to sexual harassment, sources said.
A pro-democracy student leader who had joined the prison strike suffered critical head and back injuries that were left untreated. He was instead placed in solitary confinement as punishment for participating, his family said.
Sitt Naing, vice chairman of the Yangon University of Education Students’ Union, who was involved in the Silent Strike in Insein Prison, is in critical condition, a relative said.
“As family members, we are worried about his life,” said the woman, who declined to give her name out of fear of retribution. “It is because he is not even allowed to apply medicine to the wounds, let alone receive medical treatment.
“We believe that his life is still in danger,” she added. “He urgently needs medical treatment.”
Wai Yan Phyo Moe, vice chairman of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, and Lay Pyay Soe Moe, spokesman for student rights for the Yangon University Students’ Union, were also severely beaten during the crackdown, family members said. They are reportedly being held in solitary confinement with their legs in shackles.
Mya Moe, mother of Lay Pyay Soe Moe, told RFA that prison staff denied her son medical help. “On the day of the trial, the lawyers brought some ointment for his wounds but were not allowed to apply them,” she said. “He was rudely told to put his shirt back on and to ‘stop the nonsense.’ That’s how the prison staff talked to him.”
RFA could not reach Insein Prison officials or Myanmar’s Ministry of Justice. Ministries have not responded to media requests for comment since the coup, and only junta spokesmen can issue statements.
A spokesman for the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), a nonprofit human rights organization based in Mae Sot, Thailand, said refusing medical treatment to wounded detainees was a “grave violation of human rights” by prison authorities and that those responsible should be held accountable.
The spokesman asked not to be identified for safety reasons.
A lawyer representing some of the prisoners said the victims asked the court for their injuries to be recorded, but the court refused.
“We saw some clients at trial who had been beaten,” he said. “When they were brought in, the lawyers showed the injuries they had sustained and requested that the court put them on record, but some courts rejected the requests.”
Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun in an earlier report denied that there had been any protests inside Insein Prison.
Following the Silent Strike, prison authorities enacted stricter measures for detainees, transferring some to cells with criminals and other forms of repression that violated human rights, said Tun Kyi, a member of the Former Political Prisoners Society.
“A prison is one of the worst and most serious mechanisms for violating human rights, and it’s where human dignity can be taken away,” he said.
Before being taken out of Insein Prison for court hearings, authorities instructed female prisoners to take off their sarongs so they could feel and search their genitals, he said.
“It was OK for inmates to send letters to their families in the past, and families could also send in letters, but now they have banned all these exchanges,” he said.
News of the prisoner maltreatment has been leaked from the inside by detainees clandestinely passing small notes to family members and their lawyers during their trials.
When prisoners are taken to court for hearings, authorities constantly monitor their conversations with their attorneys and have threatened the lawyers not to leak information to the media, attorneys and family members of those imprisoned said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which used to make humanitarian visits to prisons until March 2020, is still waiting for permission to resume its prison activities.
On Friday, the AAPP reported that junta forces have killed 1,346 people and arrested 11,023 others since the Feb. 1 coup.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 29, 2021
- Event Description
The special court inside Insein Prison handed down sentences against two prominent student leaders on Thursday.
Aye Aung, a 45-year-old former member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), received three years in prison for his role in anti-coup protests in Yangon’s Tamwe Township in March.
“The court decided that it was apparent that he led the protests,” his lawyer said.
Aye Aung, who took part in a student-led uprising against military rule in 1996, was previously sentenced to 59 years in prison by Myanmar’s former military junta. He spent 14 years behind bars until his release in 2012.
Fellow former ABFSU executive Min Thway Thit, meanwhile, was given a year in prison for driving an unregistered vehicle without a license.
The sentence handed down to the 38-year-old former political prisoner was the minimum for the charge, which is punishable by up to three years in prison, because the offense was related to his volunteer work with Covid-19 patients.
“There wasn’t enough evidence that Min Thway Thit owned or drove the car, but it was apparent that he was using it to transport patients during the pandemic,” his lawyer said.
A day earlier, another ABFSU activist got two years and one month in prison on charges stemming from his political activities in September of last year.
Wai Yan Phyo Moe was charged with violating Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for handing out and posting leaflets in Yangon’s Mahabandoola Park calling for the restoration of internet services in Rakhine State.
The sentence was handed down by a court in Kyauktada Township. The 23-year-old ABFSU president faces similar charges in two other townships in Yangon, as well as charges of incitement under Sections 505a and 505b of the Penal Code.
According to local media reports, at least 62 junta opponents, including politicians, activists, artists and other public figures, were sentenced on Thursday.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group based in exile, the regime is currently holding 8,331 people on charges related to their anti-coup activities, of whom only 487 have so far been convicted.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: detained student leader charged with incitement (Update), Myanmar: two students targeted by night raid, charged and threatened
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 7, 2022
- Event Description
Local news website editor Pu Tuidim became the third journalist to be killed in Myanmar in just over three weeks when he was abducted and murdered by government soldiers in the northwest of the country last weekend. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this barbaric murder of a reporter who tried to inform his fellow citizens about the fighting between armed rebels and the military junta.
Pu Tuidim’s body was found in Matupi township, in Chin State, a mountainous region bordering on India, on the morning of 9 January, two days after he and nine other civilians were abducted by members of the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s armed forces, as he was covering the clashes between the Tatmadaw and local armed rebels. The soldiers shot him after using him as a human shield.
He was the founder and editor of the Khonumthung Media Group, a local news outlet named after Chin State’s highest mountain. Tragically, the website had just published an article about the Tatmadaw’s use of civilians as human shields.
On the evening of 9 January, Pu Tuidim's colleagues posted a statement condemning this practice and deploring their editor’s death “caused by the military council’s atrocities.” The message was circulated throughout the region under the hashtag of #အထူးဝမ်းနည်းကြေကွဲခြင်း, a Burmese expression meaning “Special Mourning.”
Escalating terror
“Cruelty, cynicism, barbarity – these words seem inadequate to describe Pu Tuidim’s shocking murder,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “He is the third journalist to be killed in Myanmar in less than a month, in a sign of the absolutely unacceptable practices increasingly employed by the junta. We appeal to the international community to toughen the sanctions imposed on the junta’s members in order to end this headlong escalation in terror.”
The most recent previous media fatality was Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung, who was killed by gunfire near the Thai border in the southeastern state of Kayin during a Tatmadaw artillery attack on 25 December. He was also covering fighting between the Tatmadaw and the People’s Defence Force (PDF), the armed resistance to the junta.
Freelance photographer Soe Naing was the first journalist to die at the junta’s hands. He died under torture on 14 December, four days after soldiers arrested him while he was covering a silent street protest in Yangon.
The number of journalists imprisoned in Myanmar has meanwhile risen to at least 59, according to RSF’s press freedom violations barometer, which is constantly updated.
They include two journalists who worked for the Zayar Times, a newspaper that was closed when the military staged their coup last February. The two journalists, deputy editor Pyae Phyo Aung and reporter Myint Myat Aung (also known as D. Myat Nyein), were each sentenced to two years in prison for “inciting crime” in a trial last week inside the prison where they are being held in the central city of Shwebo. The did not have access to a lawyer.
Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 20, 2021
- Event Description
A man who left his job as a teacher to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) was detained by soldiers in Sagaing Region last week and killed in their custody within days, his wife has said.
Hlaing Win, 40, was taken from Sabei Nanthar village on December 3 and later sent to an interrogation center at the compound of the junta’s Tank Battalion No. 6006 in Kanbalu Township.
Then on Wednesday his wife, Kaythi Oo, was told he had “died due to asphyxia” after she tried to contact his captors through the village administrator.
As well as his wife, he leaves behind a 7-year-old son and two daughters aged 10 and 15. His family said he was in good health when he was taken.
“My whole family was devastated to hear this news. He was the family’s only breadwinner. We don’t have anyone to depend on anymore,” Kaythi Oo said.
Hlaing Win worked as a teacher at a middle school in Baw village, Kanbalu for 15 years. After the February 1 coup, he joined tens of thousands government employees across the country who refused to work under the junta and left his job to work on a betel nut farm.
Upon learning about his death, Kaythi Oo tried to retrieve his body but was told he had already been cremated at the Kanbalu cemetery on Tuesday, the day the military says he died.
“I just wanted to see his body one last time so that I could have some closure,” she said. “I don’t even know how to cope with this now.”
An officer from the CDM group representing educators in Kanbalu said he believed the teacher was tortured to death like scores of others since the coup.
“There is no way we will ever accept this,” he said. “We are opposing them in a peaceful manner and they’re just blatantly killing us. Even after the revolution, we are going to need to take legal actions against them.”
A friend of Hlaing Win’s, who is also a teacher, said his death was a great loss for both his students and the country. “It’s so disgusting that they’re bullying us just because they have weapons. The death of such a good teacher made me feel as if I had lost everything,” he said.
“What I’ve learnt for sure is that we cannot afford to let the military council win in any way. We have to win. We can’t stop until we win,” he added.
Teachers are among those who have borne the brunt of a military terror camaign aimed at crushing opposition to its rule. On November 17, a teacher from Myintha village in Mandalay Region was killed at an interrogation center just hours after his arrest.
Another teacher from Ywarbo village in Mandalay was killed within 24 hours of his arrest on November 1, and his family never got his body back.
A junta spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Win Hlaing’s death.
At least 1,323 civilians have been killed by the junta since February, the latest tally from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners shows.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 20, 2021
- Event Description
Family members of a teacher from Naypyitaw’s Lewe Township who was arrested on Monday were notified the following day that he had died in junta custody, they told Myanmar Now.
Hla Min Maung, 36, was arrested at a tea shop in Lewe for participating in the general strike in accordance with the Civil Disobedience Movement.
His father, Khin Maung Dwe, said that the township’s police chief had summoned the family at around noon on Tuesday and told them that Hla Min Maung had died due to underlying health issues.
“It breaks our hearts that an educated and civilised young man like him was killed overnight,” Khin Maung We told Myanmar Now on Wednesday.
“It would be different for us if he was put on trial and got convicted. He didn’t even get questioned, or a chance to defend himself. It is heartbreaking that he was killed, just like that, so quickly,” the father said.
A close friend of the victim’s family said that only three relatives were permitted to see Hla Min Maung’s body, and were only allowed to glimpse his face, which was reportedly bruised. They were not allowed to take any photographs.
The family was allowed to have a funeral in accordance with Islamic traditions at the Kwegyi cemetery on Tuesday evening, but attendance was restricted by the military.
Hla Min Maung had been a middle school teacher for eight years, specialising in Myanmar language and history. He had been working at a school in Matawtpin village.
His father, Khin Maung Dwe, is also a respected retired high school English teacher.
Kyaw Myint Oo, an elected Upper House parliamentarian for Mandalay’s Constituency No. 11, is also a former teacher who taught Hla Min Maung chemistry and physics when he was in high school.
“He was such a quiet person and he came from a very educated family. [Junta soldiers] could have just done it in a civilised manner if they wanted to interrogate him,” Kyaw Myint Oo said. “They no longer value human life, not even as much as that of a chicken.”
As of Thursday afternoon, Hla Min Maung’s family still had not been told further details surrounding his cause of death.
Myanmar Now called the Lewe police station three times regarding Hla Min Maung’s death but all calls went unanswered.
Deaths during interrogations have become more frequent as the military council continues to accuse people of being affiliated with anti-junta groups and networks.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners released a statement on Thursday reporting that at least 1,362 civilians had died at the hands of the military council since the February 1 coup.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 22, 2021
- Event Description
A 22-year-old member of the central executive committee of the Yangon University Students Union was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour on Wednesday, nine months after his arrest at an anti-junta protest.
Aung Phone Maw was charged with incitement for allegedly violating Section 505a and given the maximum sentence by a Hlaing Tharyar township judge at a court hearing inside Yangon’s Insein Prison.
He was arrested during a demonstration organised by the General Strike Committee in Kyauk Myaung ward in Tamwe Township on March 3.
Despite a lack of evidence, the military council accused Aung Phone Maw of leading two other individuals to incite unrest in Hlaing Tharyar and of supporting the Civil Disobedience Movement, his mother told Myanmar Now.
“They could not provide any evidence for any of the things he was accused of,” Aung Phone Maw’s mother explained. “His lawyer did his best during his court hearing. Aung Phone Maw, however, confessed that he took part in around three protests. That’s all.”
The student activist refused to submit any evidence to the court in his defence, noting that he had no trust in the judiciary under the junta, but he allowed his mother to testify on his behalf.
“We at least hoped that the judiciary system would still be just. We did not expect much but it was our last glimmer of hope. It’s really sad that he got sentenced to prison without any evidence,” his mother said.
Aung Phone Maw was a fourth-year mathematics student at Yangon University. He joined the student union in 2018 and became a member of the central executive committee the following year.
He was active in defending students’ rights, ethnic rights and condemning the genocide of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. He wrote regular commentary on the anti-dictatorship movement and other political issues and became an editor at the Oway Journal in 2019.
“We still remember what he said during the protests in February. He used to talk about how we should never try to reconcile with the military, never hope for a supreme saviour, and to build a brave new world on our own,” Aung Kaung Set, also a member of the Yangon University Student Union, told Myanmar Now.
Aung Kaung Set added that Aung Phone Maw led a protest when lawyer William Schabas, who represented Myanmar’s delegation when the state was accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, spoke at Yangon University in March 2020.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, as of this week more than 10,000 civilians have been arrested by the junta since Myanmar’s February 1 coup, and 1,400 killed.
The military council has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 26, 2021
- Event Description
A student activist has died in Myanmar military custody, and the junta cremated his body without informing his relatives.
Ko Aung Bone Kyaw, a third year geology student at Yangon University, was detained on Sunday in Yangon’s Tamwe Township. He was taken to an interrogation center where he died the following day, according to the Yangon University Students Union. He was cremated at Yayway Cemetery the same day
“The military council didn’t inform [his family about the funeral]. His family found out from their contacts only just before the funeral. They rushed to Yayway, but were unable to see the body before it was cremated,” said Ko Aung Kaung Hset, the chair of the Yangon University Students Union.
Ko Aung Bone Kyaw’s family declined to comment out of concerns for their safety when contacted by The Irrawaddy.
“We heard that three other students were arrested along with Ko Aung Bone Kyaw. One of his classmates is now at the interrogation center,” said Ko Aung Kaung Hset.
It remains unclear why the students were arrested and how Ko Aung Bone Kyaw died.
Yangon Unversity’s Geology Department issued a letter of condolence over Ko Aung Bone Kyaw’s death, in which lecturers and students vowed to fight the dictatorship until the end.
His death in custody follows the jailing a few days ago of an executive member of the Yangon University Students Union. Ko Aung Phone Maw was sentenced to three years in prison by a junta court for incitement.
“The military regime is harshly persecuting young political activists who oppose military rule. Student union members held in Insein Prison are subject to solitary confinement and torture. Those who were beaten for their participation in protests were denied medical treatment,” said Yangon University Students Union chair Ko Aung Kaung Hset.
Political prisoners in Yangon’s Insein Prison joined the rest of the country in a silent strike on December 10 to mark International Human Rights Day. The Myanmar people stayed at home for the day to show their opposition to military rule.
Around 89 political prisoners and detainees, including members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, were beaten and held in isolation for participating in the silent strike. Those injured have yet to receive medical treatment.
On December 19, freelance photojournalist Ko Zaw Lin Htut, and Ma Su Yee Lin from Yangon Eastern University Students Union were detained at a Yangon protest. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
1,380 people were killed by the junta between February 1 and December 28, according to rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 13, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 19, 2021
- Event Description
Four lawyers from Mandalay who had been working on the defence teams for politically motivated cases put forward by the junta have been held in an unidentified location for days since their December 19 arrest by the military authorities, according to members of their legal networks.
The families of the attorneys have not been able to confirm their whereabouts since they were taken into junta custody.
They were abducted from the office of Shwe Alin Legal Services near the No. 3 police station in Chanmyathazi Township, according to a Mandalay-based lawyer who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity.
“They haven't been transferred to Obo prison yet,” the lawyer said, referring to a major prison in the region. “We were told that they were still at the interrogation centre. No case has been filed against them either.”
Legal sources did not want to name three of the detained lawyers, but confirmed that one is Lwin Lwin Mar, who had been helping individuals charged with incitement since the February 1 coup. All four of the lawyers are women.
“I think they’re trying to make an example out of them so that no one would dare to take on political cases,” another lawyer based in Mandalay said.
Myanmar Now has been unable to contact junta officers at the No. 3 police station in Chanmyathazi for comment regarding the arrests.
The military has been detaining its political opponents across the country, with many killed in military custody.
Earlier this month in Mandalay, Thae Htwe Maung, a party member of the National League for Democracy from Pyigyidagun Township, and his wife were taken by the military to an interrogation centre. Within days, their families were told that they had died and their bodies were not returned for burial.
According to a Wednesday statement released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), more than 10,000 people have been arrested and nearly 1,400 people killed by the junta in the 10 months since the coup.
The military has denounced the AAPP as an illegal organisation and dismissed its figures as exaggerated.
The AAPP maintains that its regularly updated numbers are based on available data and that the actual totals of those arrested or murdered by the coup regime may be much higher.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 12, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 10, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities should release three Kanbawza Tai News journalists recently sentenced to prison for their work and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
On December 10, a court at the Nyaung Shwe Taung Lay Lone Prison, in Shan state, sentenced editor Nang Nang Tai, reporter Nann Win Yi, and publisher Tin Aung Kyaw to three years each in prison under Article 505(a) of the penal code, according to a report by their employer and Kanbawza Tai News chief editor Zay Tai, who communicated with CPJ by messaging app.
Article 505(a) criminalizes “any attempt to cause fear, spread false news, [or] agitate directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee” or any action that causes “hatred, disobedience, or disloyalty toward the military and the government.”
All three journalists were arrested on March 24, 2021, at their homes in Hopong, Shan state, after covering protests against the country’s February 1 coup, Zay Tai said, adding that they had been held in pretrial detention since their arrests.
“Myanmar’s coup government must immediately release journalists Nang Nang Tai, Nann Win Yi, and Tin Aung Kyaw, and stop prosecuting members of the press for merely gathering and presenting the news,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Myanmar’s junta must stop treating journalists like criminals and allow all reporters to work freely without fear of imprisonment and reprisal.”
Kanbawza Tai News is an independent news website that covers politics and general news in Shan state, according to CPJ’s review of its website and Facebook page, which has more than 600,000 followers.
Zay Tai also faces an arrest warrant under Article 505(a) but has not been detained as of today, he told CPJ and The Irrawaddy.
The three sentenced journalists attended 19 court hearings held from April 8 to December 10, according to their employer’s report. They were allowed access to lawyers but not their family members, and do not immediately plan to appeal their convictions, Zay Tai told CPJ.
The court also sentenced Nang Nang Tai’s relative Sai Si Thu to three years in prison on the same charge, Zay Tai told CPJ, adding that authorities falsely described Sai Si Thu as a journalist.
CPJ emailed Myanmar’s Ministry of Information for comment, but did not immediately receive any response.
Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on independent media outlets since its democracy-suspending coup on February 1, 2021, and has detained dozens of journalists, according to CPJ research.
In CPJ’s annual prison census, published earlier this month, Myanmar ranked as the world’s second-worst jailer, with at least 26 members of the press held behind bars for their work.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 11, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 25, 2021
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the international community to toughen its sanctions on Myanmar’s military junta after a journalist who was covering the plight of refugees in the southeastern state of Kayin was killed during an army artillery attack near the border with Thailand on 25 December.
Federal News Journal editor Sai Win Aung, also known as A Sai K, was the second journalist to die as a result the junta’s violence in less than two weeks.
He was killed instantly by a gunshot in Lay Kay Kaw Myothit, a town in Myawaddy district, during an artillery attack by the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s armed forces, against members of the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which has been offering armed resistance to the junta.
“Sai Wing Aung paid with his life for his determination to provide his fellow citizens with coverage of the terror that the armed forces have been inflicting on Myanmar’s population since last February’s military coup,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “He died a hero and his fight must not be in vain. We urge the international community to impose new targeted sanctions on members of the ruling junta in order to end the current escalation in terror.”
World’s second biggest jailer of journalists
Freelance photographer Soe Naing was the first journalist to die at the junta’s hands. Held since 10 December and badly injured during interrogation, he died of his injuries on 14 December, as RSF reported the same day. Soldiers had arrested him while he was covering a silent street protest in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city.
In its annual round-up of abusive treatment and violence against journalists published last week, RSF reported that a record number of journalists are being detained worldwide at the end of 2021 and that Myanmar has become the world’s second biggest jailer of journalists, after China.
Two journalists were being detained in Myanmar in connection with their work at the end of 2020, but Myanmar’s prisons are now holding at least 57, according to RSF’s press freedom violations barometer, which is constantly updated.
Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index that RSF published in early 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 11, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 10, 2021
- Event Description
After a journalist died under interrogation today and three others were arrested in the past few days, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the international community to condemn the escalation in terror against reporters covering the news in Myanmar and to implement targeted sanctions against the generals running the country.
Freelance photographer Soe Naing has become the first journalist to pay with his life for trying to report the news. After being detained for four days, he was declared dead this morning as a result of the force used during interrogation. He was arrested by soldiers while covering a silent street protest in the Yangon district of Latha on 10 December to mark Human Rights Day.
Zaw Tun, a freelance photographer who works for various media outlets, was arrested at the same time as Soe Naing. Several sources including a relative told RSF that Soe Naing’s body was handed over to his family this morning. Zaw Tun continues to be held.
Alarm signal
“With Soe Naing’s death, a new tragic threshold has been crossed this morning in the terror that Myanmar’s military are using against journalists,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “His death must serve as an alarm signal and push the international community to impose new targeted sanctions on the military junta that has been running the country since February, starting with its chief, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. The world can no longer look on without doing something.”
Two other reporters were arrested two days ago, on 12 December, in yet another sign of the ever-harsher crackdown on media personnel throughout the country.
One was Democratic Voice of Burma reporter Aung San Lin, who was arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night at his home in Pin Zen, a village in Wetlet, a district near the big northern city of Mandalay. RSF has been told that his arrest was a reprisal for his recent report about soldiers deliberately starting fires in order to target pro-democracy activists.
57 journalists detained
The other was Min Theik Tun, who was arrested a few hours later along with 11 other persons while covering a protest in Monywa, a town 100 km west of Mandalay, for a regional news agency, according to the Mizzima News website. Neither he nor Aung San Lin were able to talk with a relative or a lawyer.
RSF began sounding the alarm about the latest escalation in the persecution of journalists in Myanmar last week, after the violent arrests of two Myanmar Pressphoto Agency journalists, Kaung Sett Lin and Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun, on 5 December. The latter, who was badly injured when arrested, is still in a serious condition, according to the latest information.
According to RSF’s press freedom violations barometer, which is constantly updated, at least 57 journalists are currently imprisoned in Myanmar.
Myanmar is ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index that RSF published in early 2021.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 11, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 11, 2021
- Event Description
Around midnight on December 11,approximately 20 soldiers arrived at Aung San Lin’s residence in Pin Zin village and arrested him. The journalist was transferred to a Wetlet police station before being transported to the Shwebo Interrogation Centre on December 12.
Aung San Lin was reportedly beaten during his arrest, according to family members present at the scene, who have not been allowed to visit him and are concerned for his wellbeing.
The journalist was arrested after he published an article regarding the recent burning down of the homes of three National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters by Myanmar’s military and Pyu Saw Htee militia forces.
Executive director of DVB, Aye Chan Naing, confirmed Aung San Lin’s arrest. “So far, we haven’t got any updated news about him. We heard he was taken to the Shwe Bo military station and is no longer in his village in Wet Latt township,” he said.
On December 12, Min Theik Tun, an underage reporter for Myanmar’s Regional News Agency, was also arrested in Monywa of the Sagaing region along with 11 others. The young journalist was covering a protest in the area when he was detained.
Myanmar’s junta has antagonised journalists since it assumed control in the military coup on February 1, with over 100 journalists arrested during its administration and many remaining in custody. After its exclusion at a regional summit in October, the junta released dozens of journalists in an amnesty on humanitarian grounds, an action largely met with distrust.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 11, 2022
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 5, 2021
- Event Description
Regime forces plowed into a crowd of protesters in Yangon’s Kyimyindaing Township early Sunday morning, killing at least five before arresting around 15 others.
Witnesses told Myanmar Now that the incident occurred minutes after a flash mob formed at around 9am to demand an end to military rule.
Video footage of the incident shows a vehicle speeding past cars as it approached the protesters, who can be seen scattering seconds before impact. Moments later, the sound of gunfire can be heard over the screams and shouts of the protesters.
“The car accelerated and rammed into the protesters. Four or five were thrown into the air,” said a member of the protest group that organized the demonstration.
One of the protesters who managed to escape told Myanmar Now by phone that he was hit with the butt of a rifle after he was knocked down by the vehicle.
“I think they hit me to knock me unconscious so that they could continue arresting other protesters,” he said.
“I think there were only around 10 of them,” he added, referring to the junta forces responsible for the attack.
According to a local resident who witnessed the incident, soldiers beat the protesters who had fallen to the ground and aimed their rifles at people watching from their apartments.
The witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the soldiers only allowed an ambulance into the area after they had finished washing blood off of the street.
Despite the deadly attack, another protest was held in Yangon’s Hlaing Township later in the day.
The junta’s use of lethal force against anti-regime protesters has done little to stop public displays of resistance to the February 1 coup in Yangon and other towns and cities around the country.
Zaw Min Tun, the regime’s spokesperson, was not available for comment on Sunday’s attack.
Since seizing power just over 10 months ago, the junta has murdered at least 1,300 civilians and arrested thousands more, some of whom have died in custody after being subjected to torture.
Meanwhile, clashes have intensified between the military and armed resistance groups in many parts of the country, including Chin and Kayah (Karenni) states and Sagaing and Magway regions.
Ethnic armed groups in Kachin and Kayin (Karen) states have also battled regime forces with increasing frequency since the coup, which has thrown much of the country into chaos.
In many remote areas, regime forces have suffered heavy casualties, prompting “clearance operations” that have forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes.
- Impact of Event
- 22
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 7, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 3, 2021
- Event Description
An activist with the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) was killed last week after being taken into custody by regime forces, according to fellow members of the group.
Hnin Aung, 26, was apprehended at a checkpoint near Tin Ngoke Gyi, a village in Sagaing Region’s Kanbalu Township, last Friday and had been tortured to death by the next day, an ABFSU source told Myanmar Now.
“He was travelling when he ran into some soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members doing security checks,” the source said, referring to a pro-junta militia that has been accused of carrying out attacks on groups opposed to the regime.
Hnin Aung was reportedly carrying 10m kyat ($5,600) in cash on him at the time of his capture.
“The Pyu Saw Htee killed him and took that money. He didn’t even try to run,” added the ABFSU source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The regime later reported on social media that Hnin Aung had been shot and arrested while attacking the checkpoint—a claim denied by ABFSU members familiar with the situation.
“Hnin Aung always took great care of his and his organization’s security,” said former ABFSU leader Kyaw Ko Ko, who called the junta’s allegation “a lie”.
Myanmar Now was unable to confirm reports that Hnin Aung had been tortured. However, it has learned that his family has so far been denied permission to claim his body.
Prior to joining the ABFSU, Hnin Aung was a labour rights activist. In May 2016, he was arrested while marching from Sagaing to Naypyitaw as part of a workers’ strike and sentenced to one year in prison.
Following his release, he joined the ABFSU as a central executive committee member. Until 2019, he was the group’s officer in charge of ethnic affairs.
Fellow activist Kyaw Thee, who knew Hnin Aung during his early days as a labour rights leader in Mandalay, said he was saddened by the loss of his former colleague.
“He actively advocated for the affairs of workers, farmers and students. I will always remember him,” he said.
On Saturday, the ABFSU released a statement saying that it was proud of “Comrade” Hnin Aung, who it said had died as a martyr in the fight against Myanmar’s military dictatorship.
A number of affiliated groups also expressed their condolences.
Myanmar Now attempted to contact the Kanbalu police station and regime spokespeople for comment on Hnin Aung’s death, but its calls were not returned.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 7, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 30, 2021
- Event Description
Soldiers arrested a prominent protest leader in the southeastern coastal town of Dawei on Tuesday along with three members of the family living in the house where he was hiding, according to a fellow anti-coup activist.
About 30 troops burst into the house at 6:30am and detained 22-year-old Htoo Myat Lwin, an organiser with the Coalition Strike Committee - Dawei. The soldiers also took Hla Pe, 50, along with his 28-year-old son Sai Ko Ko Tun and 18-year-old daughter La Pyae Pyae Tun.
“The house was raided while they were sleeping,” said a member of the strike committee, requesting anonymity. “We heard that they surrounded the house before arresting the victims. The neighbours said that they could hear people being beaten and cursing.”
“It was Htoo Myat Lwin that the military wanted but the hosts were also taken along with him,” he said, adding that a fifth person in the house, who suffers from a cognitive disability, was left behind by the soldiers.
Htoo Myat Lwin is a student at Dawei University. Soldiers found out about his whereabouts after arresting and interrogating nine members of the strike committee in recent days; Htoo Myat Lwin is the tenth member to be arrested since November 25.
“The majority of Htoo Myat Lwin’s friends are in detention now,” the activist said. “He was also called from the phone numbers of his friends who were detained and asked where he was.”
The soldiers took mobile phones, two computers, a motorcycle and books from the house. The strike committee member said the four detainees were taken to an interrogation center, but Myanmar Now was unable to verify this.
Dawei is a stronghold of the anti-coup movement in Tanintharyi Region, where the junta has raided the houses of several National League for Democracy officials. The military has deployed armed troops at security checkpoints across the township, according to locals.
The junta banned the use of motorbikes by two or men at the same time in Dawei and elsewhere in a bid to curb guerrilla forces’ hit-and-run attacks against soldiers. Locals said the ban is causing hardship to people who rely on the vehicles for their livelihoods.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 6, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 22, 2021
- Event Description
Military and police forces raided a Catholic Church clinic in conflict-torn eastern Myanmar, arresting four doctors and 14 nurses they accused of helping groups resisting junta rule, sources said Tuesday.
Troops also forced 60 patients at the Mercy Clinic at the Christ the King Catholic Church in Loikaw, capital of eastern Myanmar’s Kayah state, to move to hospitals under military control, while some 40 pregnant women and other patients were trapped on church grounds for most of the day, the sources said.
Those arrested in Monday’s raid are being held at an interrogation center for questioning and are out of touch with their friends, one clinic worker told RFA on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation by authorities.
“The compound was closed and searches were made from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 in the afternoon,” the source said, adding that the clinic, its attached buildings, and the office of the clinic’s senior priest were all ransacked during the search.
“The four doctors were involved in charity work, and the rest were nurses and volunteers. They were all taken away yesterday for investigation and have not been released,” he said.
A Catholic priest and two nuns accompanied the medical workers who were taken away at gunpoint in three vehicles owned by the church, he and other sources said.
Another witness to the raid said that nuns left behind in the raid told him that soldiers had confiscated clinic registration books during their search. The doctors had already been taken away, he said.
“It was past 12 noon, and so I came out, but the whole compound had been closed down, and no one was allowed to enter or leave,” he said. “I heard later that the church’s priests and nuns had wept as the young staff and volunteers were taken away.”
Residents of the area said that Mercy Clinic had provided free treatment for people of all ethnic groups for more than 20 years, with the elderly and chronically ill among the majority of its patients.
Health workers involved in the nonviolent Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) resisting military rule in Myanmar had treated patients at the clinic for about five months, sources said.
Local residents believe that government troops may have suspected that People’s Defense Force (PDF) fighters were also being treated at the clinic, but a church official speaking on condition of anonymity said that the military had appeared only to target CDM health workers treating patients at the site.
Attempts to reach Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for Myanmar’s ruling State Administration Council, for comment were unsuccessful.
The director of Kayah state’s Karenni Human Rights Group said the military raid at Mercy Clinic had violated international law.
“It is very clear that raids on religious buildings and clinics are against international humanitarian laws, and arresting health workers is a violation of these regulations,” the rights group director named Banya said.
“The junta is violating the basic human right to life by raiding clinics that are providing public health services,” Banya said.
The ethnic Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) and the Health Ministry of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) both condemned the military’s raid at Mercy Clinic in statements on Monday.
Military forces have detained a total of 174 people so far in Kayah state since the Feb. 1 coup that overthrew the National League for Democracy (NLD) civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, according to figures provided by the Progressive Karenni People’s Movement.
- Impact of Event
- 18
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 6, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 20, 2021
- Event Description
A high-school teacher who was arrested in southern Rakhine State’s Toungup Township early Saturday morning has not been heard from since, according to local residents.
Neighbours of Cherry Thet Shey say that plainclothes officers took the 40-year-old schoolteacher into custody at her home in Toungup’s Kanpai ward at around 9am on Saturday.
“We heard that she was being arrested, and when we went outside to check, we saw that she was already in a car,” said a local woman who witnessed the arrest.
Another resident of the area told Myanmar Now that the reason for the arrest was not clear, although it was known that Cherry Thet Shey had been taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule since February.
“She joined the CDM soon after the coup. She had also resigned from her job at the state education department. But we still don’t know why she was arrested,” said the neighbour, noting that no charges had been filed against her at the local police station.
“If taking part in the CDM was the reason for her arrest, they would have taken her away a long time ago,” he added.
Other residents expressed concern about the teacher’s elderly mother and two teenaged sons, who all depend on her for care.
“There’s nothing we can do right now but worry about her. We don’t even know where to go to ask about her,” said one woman living near the family’s home.
“I really want justice to prevail. We’re also worried about her being tortured,” the woman added.
Although the reaction to the coup has been relatively muted in Rakhine State, a number of people in southern parts of the state have been arrested on suspicion of involvement with the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF).
Sein Chit, a member of the Arakan Front Party, was arrested in Thandwe Township early last month for allegedly helping a local PDF group. Ye Naing Oo, a colleague who did charity work with Sein Chit, was arrested on the same charges later the same day.
About a week later, 23-year-old writer Min Dipar was taken into custody, also on suspicion of having PDF ties.
At least 10 local leaders of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy, have also faced prosecution in the state on various charges. The party enjoys strong support in the state’s southern townships.
Earlier this month, two women and a teenaged girl were arrested in Thandwe Township and charged under the Counterterrorism Law after being accused of financing PDF operations.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 26, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 17, 2021
- Event Description
A teacher from Mandalay Region’s Thabeikkyin Township who had been taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) was arrested on Wednesday afternoon. Within hours, his family was notified that he had died at an interrogation centre.
Zaw Min Aung, 40, was a high school teacher participating in a general strike across Myanmar in accordance with the CDM, which aims to topple the junta that seized power in February’s military coup.
He was arrested from his home in Myintha village at around 11am by a large group of soldiers and policemen.
A local teacher told Myanmar Now that the victim’s family was notified at around 5pm by officials from the police station in the nearby village of Kyar Nyat that he had died.
“We were only told that he died during the interrogation. We don’t know the exact cause of his death. His body was all wrapped up with only his face exposed,” the teacher said, adding that Zaw Min Aung was reportedly cremated at the Kyar Nyat cemetery.
Another local said that it was likely that Zaw Min Aung was wrongly flagged by a military informant as being involved in the anti-coup movement beyond his participation in the CDM, and was subsequently targeted.
“He was a very honest and quiet person. He liked to help people, too. His only political action was taking part in the CDM. I think he was tipped off to the military by an informant,” the local man said.
Another Myintha resident, 30-year-old Moe Kyaw, was also arrested for shouting warnings to villagers that junta troops had arrived on Wednesday. He was later released from the Kyar Nyat police station, but was reportedly tortured during his interrogation, another villager told Myanmar now.
Of Zaw Min Aung, the latter villager said, “it saddens me a lot to see that a teacher from our village had to face such a fate.”
Myanmar Now tried to contact the Kyar Nyat police station in Thabeikkyin regarding the arrests and the teacher’s death, but all calls went unanswered.
Zaw Min Aung leaves behind a wife and two young sons.
Other teachers participating in the CDM have been recently targeted in Mandalay Region, arrested and killed in military custody.
Thein Zaw, a teacher from Kin village in Madaya Township, was accused of supporting the anti-coup People’s Defence Force and kidnapped by the military on October 6. He was forced to guide his captors to his home three days later, and was killed en route. His body was disposed of by the junta’s armed forces near the village cemetery.
Win Lwin, from Ywar Bo village in Sintgaing Township was also arrested on November 1 and died one day later in military custody.
Villagers in Leik San Khun in Amarapura Township tore up a notice posted on the junta’s local administration office, threatening teachers with death if they did not return to work.
Soldiers responded by carrying out a raid on a group of locals preparing for a wedding, and beating those present.
Thabeikkyin Township was once the site of mass demonstrations against military rule, but the protests waned after leaders were forced into hiding by the junta’s crackdowns.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 22, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 15, 2021
- Event Description
Troops on Monday raided the office of a Mandalay-based charity helping people displaced by violence and arrested its chairwoman on accusations that she had been supporting the People’s Defence Force (PDF) in its fight against the junta.
Nwe Nwe Win, 43, was taken in the evening by 10 plainclothes soldiers from the Shwe Mahar Nwe social welfare group’s office on 25th street, in the city’s Aungmyay Thazan Township.
She is reportedly being questioned at the interrogation center inside Mandalay Palace and has also been accused of supporting striking workers involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
“They accused her of financially supporting staff members taking part in the CDM, as well as the PDFs,” said a source close to the charity who wanted to remain anonymous. “They ransacked the entire office and even broke open packages of donations to the orphanage and IDP camps.”
Shwe Mahar Nwe was founded in 2014 and also organises blood donation drives, a spokesperson for the group told Myanmar Now. “We were only accepting clothes donations for IDPs as winter is coming, but they accused us of something else entirely,” he said.
Hours after Nwe Nwe Win was arrested, soldiers returned to the office in search of two other team members but were unable to find them, added the spokesperson.
On October 6 a teacher named Thein Zaw, from the village of Kin in Madaya Township, was accused of financially supporting the PDF and arrested.
He was killed three days later while travelling to his home with the soldiers, who appear to have forced him to show them where he lived, according to two local sources.
Also in October, a local philanthropist and restaurant owner from Pyin Oo Lwin Township named Po Pyae Thu was accused of supporting the CDM and the PDF and was arrested, a source close to her family said.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, NGO, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 19, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 12, 2021
- Event Description
A man who was detained when soldiers were unable to find his nephew during a raid in Mandalay Region last week died in junta custody within hours, with his body showing signs of severe injury when his family went to collect it.
Ye Aung, 33, was taken from home to the village of Kyauktada, Madaya Township, on Friday afternoon when troops arrived searching for his 24-year-old nephew, who is a protest organiser in the village.
The family has said they do not want to disclose the name of the protest leader, who has been in hiding for several months. Soldiers also took the protest leader’s 48-year-old father, Myint Aung, who has not been heard from since.
“They both were taken at around 4pm and Ye Aung's family was notified the next morning that he had died,” a Kyauktada villager told Myanmar Now. “I heard he was sent to the interrogation center. The family had to go there to take his body back home.”
Ye Aung’s body showed signs that he had been badly beaten in custody; he had numerous injuries on his head, said the villager. Ye Aung left behind his baby and his wife, who had given birth just a few days before he was detained.
Neither of the two men who were taken took part in the underground movement against the dictatorship, the villager said.
Soldiers destroyed furniture and took computers, mobile phones and money from the house while arresting Ye Aung, locals said.
Myint Naing’s family are reportedly in fear for his life as they heard that he was also sent to the interrogation center.
Locals from Mattaya said that the military has conducted frequent raids on villages within the township since early November and arrested several teachers taking part in the Civil DIsobedience Movement (CDM).
Local resistance forces in the township have launched ambushes against military units.
On Friday a bomb exploded at a security checkpoint on the road leading into the township, killing a military captain, a private, and three police officers, said local news reports and the Madaya People's Defence Force (PDF).
Then on Saturday soldiers arrested a married couple, both teachers, who were taking part in the CDM. The couple were beaten at their home before being taken away to an undisclosed location.
“I think teachers have become their favourite targets lately. We still haven’t heard anything about the teacher couple,” said a Madaya local.
In early October 35-year-old Thein Zaw was detained by junta forces in Madaya and his body was found near his village three days later.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 19, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 3, 2021
- Event Description
Soldiers fatally shot the father of an anti-coup protest leader late last month as he drove his car home after closing an electrical goods shop he owned in Yangon, a family friend has told Myanmar Now.
Myo Lwin kept driving when the soldiers pulled up near him in a military vehicle on Bo Aung Kyaw Road on October 28. The soldiers then drove after him and shot him from their vehicle.
“He didn’t die on the spot,” said a friend of Kaung Sett, Myo Lwin’s 20-year-old son. “He was wounded and was taken by them. I don’t think they provided medical attention for his injury. They called the family the following morning saying that he had died.”
A few days later on November 3, Kaung Sett was arrested at a checkpoint on the way out of Yangon along with his friend, Wai Tun. His family have not heard from him since.
Junta forces also detained Kaung Sett’s uncle, Myo Thet Tun, at his home on November 1 even though he was said to have had no involvement in anti-coup protests.
“His uncle was not a part of any movement,” said Kaung Sett’s friend. “His arrest was announced on TV as well.”
Eleven others were arrested on the same day as the uncle on suspicion of being part of the armed resistance movement, while another person was arrested the following day.
The others who were arrested are: Naing Ye Tun, Lin Htet San, Nanda Aung Lin, Zin Min Htet, Min Hein Khant, Hsu Myat Htwe, Zin Ko Hein, Ye Lin Aung, Phan Mhue Eain, Maung Myo, Chit Pone and Aung Naing Oo.
Most of those detained were aged between 17 and 30. The junta said it seized weapons during the arrests and has accused those detained of carrying out bomb attacks and assassinations in Yangon as members of underground organisations including the 44st UG guerrilla group.
The group was formed after two people died and three were badly injured jumping from a third storey apartment on Yangon’s 44th Street in a bid to escape from junta soldiers in August.
With the exception of the uncle, those arrested were active in the anti-coup protest movement, said Kaung Settt’s friend.
Kaung Sett took part in regular flash mob style protests against the junta as part of the General Strike Committee and the Pazundaung-Botahtaung Youth Strike Committee. Such protests have continued on at least a weekly basis in Yangon despite murderous crackdowns by soldiers.
On October 31, Kaung Sett’s mother placed an announcement in a state-owned newspaper saying the family had disowned her son.
The junta has killed at least 1,252 civilians as of Wednesday, while 7,091 people remain in junta custody, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 15, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 1, 2021
- Event Description
A teacher from Sintgaing Township in Mandalay Region died on Tuesday after just 24 hours in a junta interrogation centre.
Win Lwin, 32, had worked at a government high school in Sintgaing, and was arrested on Monday morning, according to another resident of his home village of Ywar Bo.
“He died at the interrogation centre and his family was notified to come and collect his body. However, when they went there to get his body, they were told that he had already been cremated,” the villager told Myanmar Now.
The victim had been staying in Ywar Bo and had left his teaching post to participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) aimed at toppling the junta, which took power in a coup in February.
Another Sintgaing local said that Win Lwin was likely questioned about an explosion that took place in the village in late September.
“The soldiers stationed in the community hall in the middle of the village were attacked with a bomb and there were some casualties,” the local said. “[The junta’s forces] started arresting the teachers taking part in the CDM after the attack. He was one of the many that were arrested.”
On Monday, Win Lwin was among five people who were initially detained, but three were later released the same day.
Only Win Lwin and a private tutor, Yan Aung Win, were held overnight in detention.
Win Lwin is survived by his wife and a two-year-old son.
The Sintgaing local who spoke to Myanmar Now about Win Lwin’s death condemned his arrest and murder as “senseless,” and also denounced the junta’s brutal crackdown on resistance in the township.
On October 29, another 27-year-old teacher participating in the CDM and a 40-year-old betel nut vendor named Pho Wa were arrested and accused of involvement in the assassination of a junta-appointed ward administrator three days earlier.
The deceased, Aung Myint, was from Wun Htan Kwat Thut ward in Paleik town in Sintgaing, and an alleged military informant.
“We heard that they were torturing Pho Wa to get him to confess that he was the getaway driver for the assaillants that killed Aung Myint. The CDM teacher who got arrested along with him was also in danger, I heard,” another local from the township said.
Two more Sintgaing locals, Aye Wai, 50, and Chaw Su, 40, were arrested by the military council on October 30 and accused of supporting the anti-junta People’s Defence Force.
No one at the Sintgaing Central Police Station has answered Myanmar Now’s calls regarding the incidents.
According to data published on Tuesday by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 1,233 civilians have been killed by the military council since the coup.
U Win Lwin, a teacher at the Basic Education High School in Sintgine, Magwe Region, who was involved in the CDM, also died from injuries consistent with torture, AAPP stated in their report.
At around 3am on November 1 at around 3am, junta soldiers arrested five villagers including U Win Lwin for questioning. Three out of the five were released that evening, but U Win Lwin and U Yan Aung Win, a tutor, were kept in detention. On November 2 at 7am, U Win Lwin’s family were told to collect his body.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Torture, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 5, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 1, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar’s junta has escalated its campaign against anti-coup opponents nationwide by stepping up its arrests, torture and killings, while ignoring calls from the international community to end all violence and release political prisoners.
In southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region, over a dozen residents of Dawei and Launglon townships were reportedly arrested this week.
The most recent arrest included three relatives of Ko Lu Lu Zaw, an activist who is wanted by the military regime for his involvement in peaceful anti-regime demonstrations in Launglon Township. Early on Wednesday morning, junta forces arrested the activist’s wife, two-year-old child and uncle as they couldn’t find Ko Lu Lu Zaw at his home.
Earlier on Monday, the junta also raided the houses of two wanted anti-coup protest leaders in Launglon Township. The junta forces burned down the house of one activist after failing to find him and arrested the mother of another protest leader as a hostage.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to housing, Right to liberty and security, Right to property, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 5, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 28, 2021
- Event Description
Venerable Yazina’s robes did not protect him when the army trucks appeared. Despite his status as a member of Myanmar’s revered Buddhist monkhood, he was fair game for the soldiers who opened fire the moment they arrived on the scene.
The teaching monk from Mandalay’s New Masoeyin Monastery was among those who were hit that day. But it wasn’t a bullet that took him down—it was one of the vehicles that had sped into the crowd as protesters scattered in an effort to escape.
“We had just left the monastery when they arrived and started shooting,” he recalled. “Everyone was running in a panic. I tried to hop onto a motorcycle to get away, but that was when they struck me with a car.”
Knocked to the ground, Ven. Yazina was helpless as three soldiers began beating his shaved head again and again.
Now in the junta’s custody, the monk was forcibly disrobed and dragged off to the notorious interrogation centre at Mandalay Palace to be tortured as just another layperson who had dared to challenge the military’s hold on power.
By May 28, the day of his arrest, Ven. Yazina had been protesting against the coup for more than three months. Hundreds had already been killed in crackdowns around the country, and thousands more arrested. Many of those who found themselves behind bars did not come out alive.
He did not expect mercy. He knew that even monks were routinely subjected to unimaginable cruelty at the hands of regime forces.
For the next six days, from 9am to 3pm, two interrogators took turns inflicting as much suffering as they could, not caring if they killed him in the process. He and the other detainees captured at the same time were beaten almost constantly as they were questioned about their participation in the protests.
When the junta’s henchmen tired of hitting the prisoners with truncheons, they would force them to assume painful and humiliating positions in a further effort to break their spirits.
“First they made me squat down. Then they told me to put my hands on my head and hop around like a frog. After that, I had to kneel down on the hot pavement with my hands still on my head,” he said.
“The pain was unbearable. They made me ‘walk’ like this back to my cell. It took about 30 minutes, and if I slowed down, they would hit me again from behind.”
But at some point, he became defiant, telling his tormentors that they could beat him all they liked, because he could no longer move on his shattered knees.
“That’s when I told them that I wanted a humane government. At this, the officer just pointed his gun at me and said, ‘How dare you?’”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 27, 2021
- Event Description
Ven. Thawbita, a prominent Mandalay-based monk who was sentenced to two years in prison just a day after his arrest on February 1, has been given two more years behind bars on new charges, his lawyer said on Monday.
San Nyunt Wai, the monk’s lawyer, told Myanmar Now that the new sentence was handed down last Wednesday after the regime added charges of incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code to the list of his client’s alleged offenses.
It was unclear if an appeal would be filed, but it appeared to be unlikely, as the court has denied the monk any formal representation, according to San Nyunt Wai.
“The prison authorities said his case would have to be submitted to the higher authorities as he was a well-known monk,” the lawyer said.
An outspoken critic of Myanmar’s military leaders, Ven. Thawbita first came to national prominence in 2007, when he emerged as one of the leaders of the monk-led Saffron Revolution.
The current case against him stems from remarks he made on social media in 2018 that were deemed defamatory to the country’s top general, Min Aung Hlaing.
He was initially charged with incitement under Section 505b of the Penal Code, but a court in Mandalay Region’s Amarapura Township dismissed that case last year.
Then, on February 2—a day after he was taken away from his monastery in handcuffs as the military seized power from Myanmar’s elected civilian government—he was found guilty of violating Section 66d of the Telecommunications Law and immediately sentenced to two years in prison.
Ywet Nu Aung, another lawyer who was involved in defending the monk before the coup, said that the sentence was handed down before the trial was even completed.
“We were still examining witnesses for the defence in connection with the Section 66d charges when he was arrested on February 1 and given a two-year sentence on February 2,” he said.
According to San Nyunt Wai, the additional charge under Section 505a was added at some point after Ven. Thawbita’s arrest.
He added that lawyers have been denied permission to visit the monk at Mandalay’s Obo Prison, ostensibly due to Covid-19 restrictions.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 30, 2021
- Event Description
Around 100 Myanmar army soldiers raided a safehouse in Mandalay’s Chanayethazan Township on Saturday, arresting eight people, including two former student union leaders and two members of an education strike committee.
Among those taken into junta custody were Yan Soe Paing, the former chair of the Mandalay University Student Union and Naung Htet Aung, the former chair of the Yangon Education University Student Union.
Two members of the basic education staff’s general strike committee—Nine Thiha Kyaw and Thet Su Hlaing—were also arrested.
Aung Pyae Sone Phyo, the chair of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, said the identities of the remaining two detainees had not been verified.
“The house where they had recently been staying was raided. Six of our people were taken and we only managed to identify four of them. We still don’t know who the other two are, which group they are from or why they were arrested,” he told Myanmar Now on Sunday.
The victims’ families were worried for their safety and had received no information on their whereabouts, Aung Pyae Sone Phyo said.
“We heard that the military also kicked and beat a disabled woman at the house during the raid,” he added.
Locals who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity claimed that the troops who carried out the raid on the safehouse also later searched other homes in the neighbourhood and interrogated pedestrians.
The junta’s information team did not answer calls from Myanmar Now regarding the arrests.
Daily protests against the dictatorship are ongoing in Mandalay and have been met with brutal crackdowns by the military, whose troops have been known to open fire on demonstrators and hit them with cars.
According to documentation by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 9,000 people have been detained by the junta in the nine months since the February 1 coup. More than 1,000 have been killed.
The military council has declared the AAPP an unlawful organisation.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 18, 2021
- Event Description
Authorities in Myanmar have re-arrested at least 110 political prisoners freed earlier this week—some within hours of their release—suggesting that the amnesty was only a bid by the junta to appease the international community amid criticism of its rule, observers said Thursday.
Nearly nine months after the military’s Feb. 1 coup, security forces have killed 1,183 civilians and arrested at least 7,031, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)—mostly during crackdowns on anti-junta protests.
The junta says it unseated the National League for Democracy government because, they claimed, the party had engineered a landslide victory in Myanmar’s November 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. It has yet to present evidence of its claims and public unrest is at an all-time high.
On Monday, the junta released 1,316 prisoners from various facilities throughout the country as well as 4,320 detainees who faced ongoing cases for anti-junta activities, including well-known politicians, celebrities, film actors and journalists.
However, the release was ordered under Section 401 sub-section (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which states that if a detainee commits another offense after their release, they will be made to serve the remainder of punishment as well as any sentence related to the new crime.
On Thursday, the AAPP said in a statement it had documented the re-arrest of at least 110 political prisoners over the past three days, noting that its list contained only the names of people it had verified and that the number was likely much higher.
RFA’s Myanmar Service was not immediately able to confirm the total number of people re-arrested, but determined that they included detainees from Yangon, Mandalay, Meiktila and Monywa.
Family members told RFA on Thursday that some of their loved ones were re-arrested “right at the entrance of the prison,” while others were taken back within hours of returning home. The detainees are now being held in police custody under Myanmar’s anti-terrorism law, sources said.
Lay Lay Naing, an 84-year-old woman who was arrested on May 21 and sentenced to three years in prison under Section 505 (a) of the criminal code for comments that spread “false news [or] agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee,” and 11 others were re-arrested at the entrance to Meiktila Prison shortly after they were released in a group of 38 people on Tuesday.
“We are devastated—our mother is 84 and her health is deteriorating,” said one of her relatives, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We went to meet her at the prison, hoping that the whole family would be reunited and happy … We saw her from a distance, and she was taken away. We were not allowed to say anything. When we asked to see the prison officer, he would not see us.”
Four of the 11 detainees who were re-arrested were again released the next day, but seven remain in custody, the family member said.
Similarly, 60 detainees from Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin township were released from Ohbo Prison on Tuesday, but three men and a woman from the group were re-arrested within hours by police.
Zaw Myo Htet, who was among those released from Ohbo Prison, confirmed the four were re-arrested under anti-terrorism laws.
“We were arrested on May 11 and charged under Section 505 (a), but we were released on Oct. 19 because the charges were revoked,” he said.
“Later, our lawyer called us and said one woman and two guys had been arrested again [in addition to a fourth man] … The lawyer said they were in custody for ‘violence.’ Actually, they were not involved in any violence as they claim.”
The four had been among a group arrested during a May 11 anti-junta protest in Pyin Oo Lwin, Zaw Myo Htet said, adding that some of those released under the amnesty are still being sought by police. Possible power struggle
Thet Paing Htwe was released from Yangon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday after also being charged under Section 505 (a), but a family member told RFA he was only home for 45 minutes before he was re-arrested.
“Now he is missing—he isn’t at the Insein Police Station, and I don’t know where to look for him, said the relative, who declined to be named.
“Only when the prison reopens on Oct. 22 will we be able to go there to find out. They said they were taking him back because he had been wrongly released. He was charged only with 505 (a).”
Thet Paing Htwe’s family members said he was arrested in Thingangyun township in May during anti-junta protests, as was his brother.
Khant Zin Ko, a member of the Monywa University Students’ Union, was similarly arrested after his release from Myoma Prison Camp No. 1.
A relative, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said his re-arrest suggests there is a power struggle at play between prison officials and the military.
“The higher authorities are saying one thing and those on the ground are doing what they want,” they said.
Attempts by RFA to reach Deputy Minister of Information Zaw Min Tun by phone went unanswered Thursday, although earlier in the week he said that he was unaware of the details pertaining to re-arrests.
International pressure
Amid nationwide turmoil, the military has stepped up offensives in remote parts of the country, triggering fierce battles with local PDF militias and some of the dozens of ethnic armies that control large swathes of territory along Myanmar’s periphery. On Sept. 7, Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government declared a nationwide state of emergency and called for open rebellion against junta rule, prompting an escalation of attacks on military targets.
The junta has also faced pressure to end its repressive rule from the international community, including sanctions by Western governments and condemnation from Myanmar’s fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members and the United Nations human rights agency.
The AAPP said in its statement Thursday that the military was reluctant to release political prisoners and only did so in a bid to alleviate pressure at home and abroad. The group slammed the move, saying that re-arresting people only hours after their release subjects them and their families to undue emotional stress.
Reports of the re-arrests came on the same day that New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement that called the amnesty, and an earlier one in late June that saw 372 detainees freed from detention, according to the AAPP, “limited in scope” and said they “do not reflect a broader change in the military’s respect for human rights.”
The group called for governments to increase pressure on the junta to “release all political prisoners, end abuses against protesters and others, and commit to promptly restore democratic rule.”
Linda Lakhdhir, the group’s Asia legal adviser, said the release should not distract from the junta’s abusive rule and noted that some of those freed had already been re-arrested.
“The junta should release all those unjustly held since the coup, including high-profile political figures, and end all arbitrary arrests,” she said.
Human Rights Watch urged concerned governments to impose tougher economic measures against the military to cut off its sources of foreign revenue and called on the United Nations Security Council to impose a global arms embargo on Myanmar.
“Governments should not mistake these releases as a sign that the junta is taking a new approach,” Lakhdhir said. “Instead, the releases appear to be a cynical gesture to blunt growing international pressure to sanction the junta and its generals.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 30, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 23, 2021
- Event Description
Three armed assailants killed a teacher who was part of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta during a raid on her home in the Sagaing Region town of Homalin on Sunday evening.
The attackers shot May Hnin Aye, who was around 30 years old, in her arm, leg and chest while she was sitting on the balcony of the house, which she shared with several other family members.
May Hnin Aye lived at the house with her husband, their one-year-old son, her husband’s parents and her brother-in-law, a local protest leader named Kyaw Win Sein who was the only one not home at the time of the attack because he went into hiding in August.
During the attack, which started at around 6pm, the assailants shot the front of the house before storming inside and shooting at the family members as they ran away, Kyaw Win Sein said, adding that they did not hit anyone besides May Hnin Aye.
He told Myanmar Now that he believed the assailants were plainclothes soldiers as they seemed to be adept at handling their weapons. The attack on Kyaw Win Sein’s family home came just hours after an alleged military informant named Maung Mawt was shot dead in Homalin.
“I think they took out their anger on our family after their informant got killed,” Kyaw Win Sein said. “The problem is that we didn’t even know that person. We’ve only seen his photo online. Also, my family had already disowned me. This was just senseless and cruel.”
Kyaw Win Sein’s parents issued a public announcement in August that he had been disowned in a bid to prevent the family from being targeted. “Our family also received multiple threats before this incident,” Kyaw Win Sein said. “They even torched our family’s convenience store.”
The family’s shop in Homalin market was burned down on October 18.
An officer on duty at the Homalin central police station refused to comment on the killing of May Hnin Aye.
Fighting has been escalating across Sagaing Region as the junta deploys thousands of troops to upper Myanmar in preparation for what are expected to be large clearance operations aimed at wiping out resistance fighters.
Although Homalin is small, it is home to several military bases, including that of the 222nd Infantry Battalion, the 359th and 370th Light Infantry Battalions, and the Homalin Air Base.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 30, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 23, 2021
- Event Description
Veteran pro-democracy activist Ko Jimmy is in intensive care after he was detained during a raid on Saturday night in Yangon, according to a source close to the military hospital where he was admitted.
Ko Jimmy, whose real name is Kyaw Min Yu, has been sent to the Defence Services General Hospital in Mingalardon Township, the source told Myanmar Now on Monday on condition of anonymity.
“I am told his condition is not good and is worrying,” said the source, who was unable to give further details about Ko Jimmy’s injuries.
Ko Jimmy was arrested when regime forces raided a house where he was staying at the Pinlon Housing complex in Yangon’s North Dagon Township on Saturday night.
The pro-military news outlet People Media reported that several people, including Ko Jimmy, were arrested during the raid, but his wife Nilar Thein said only he was detained.
The military issued an arrest warrant for the 52-year-old activist on February 13, accusing him of inciting unrest and threatening “public tranquillity” for writing social media posts critical of the military’s coup earlier that month.
At the same time, the junta issued a warrant for Min Ko Naing, another prominent veteran of the student-led uprising of August 1988.
Since February, Ko Jimmy has moved from one place to another to avoid arrest while participating in the latest uprising, Nilar Thein said. She was not at the house during the raid and has not seen him since the coup, she added.
While trying to escape on Saturday, Ko Jimmy injured himself when he fell from a fence lined with barbed wire and another man who was also running from the junta’s forces fell on top of him, Nilar Thein said. The man who fell on Ko Jimmy managed to evade arrest, she added.
She believes junta forces inflicted even worse injuries on Ko Jimmy after he was detained and that this is the reason his condition is now so bad.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Nilar Thein said she feared for her husband’s life and that the military council must take responsibility for everything that happens after his arrest.
Ko Jimmy, who is also a writer, was imprisoned in 1988 for his role in the uprising and remained behind bars until 1996. In 2007, following the Saffron Revolution, he was arrested again and held until 2012.
As of Sunday, Myanmar’s military junta has arrested a total of 9,175 opponents of the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Of these, 7,016 are still in regime custody.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 30, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 3, 2021
- Event Description
Junta authorities arrested the teenaged president of the Basic Education Students’ Union of Naypyitaw’s Zabuthiri Township at his home earlier this week, according to the group.
Tun Aung Kyaw, age 15, was taken into detention by two police officers and two local administrators, a spokesperson for the Naypyitaw Students’ Union said.
It is said that the military units arrested Tun Aung Kyaw, the president of the basic education students’ union of Zabuthiri township, Naypyidaw, at his home on October 3 evening.
“He is technically a minor, so they said that they just had some questions to ask and that they’d let him go soon,” he told Myanmar Now.
At the time of reporting, the boy was still being held at the No. 3 police station in Zabuthiri and had not been allowed contact with his family, the student union representative said.
At 10pm on Tuesday, military troops reportedly ransacked his house.
Myanmar Now called the police station for comment on Tun Aung Kyaw’s arrest but the calls went unanswered.
Another Naypyitaw student leader, Yan Paing, was arrested by the military on May 2 and died on October 1 during an interrogation, according to a statement released by the Naypyitaw Students’ Union.
According to the statistics reported by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), there have now been at least 7,104 civilians detained by the junta since the February 1 coup and at least 1,158 civilians killed during that same period.
As they have been active in participating in anti-coup demonstrations, student union members have been frequent targets of military arrests, but the exact number of students in detention is not known.
Most recently, four students preparing to protest against the junta were arrested near the Pathi dam in Taungoo Township, Bago Region on the evening of September 19.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 14, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 5, 2021
- Event Description
Wai Yan Phyo Moe, the vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement at the Mayangone Township court in Yangon this week, according to his lawyer.
Lawyer Thet Naung told Myanmar Now that they heard about new charges against Wai Yan Phyo Moe during his other hearings in the Kyauktada and Kamayut township courts on Tuesday.
“We haven’t seen him for a while as the offices and prisons have been closed. We only learnt briefly about this Section 505 charge during his court hearings at Kyauktada and Kamayut courts,” he said.
The lawyer said he has not submitted a power of attorney document for the new charge, which would allow him to represent Wai Yan Phyo Moe at hearings in Mayangone.
Wai Yan Phyo Moe was already facing charges for the violation of Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law in Kyauktada for allegedly breaking rules surrounding demonstrations, as well as for incitement in both Kyauktada and Kamayut.
If convicted, each incitement charge carries a three-year prison sentence and the Section 19 charge is accompanied by a three-month sentence and/or a fine.
Many detained anti-junta protesters have been charged in different townships where they led or participated in demonstrations on the pretext that they allegedly broke the law by taking part in rallies after the February 1 military coup.
Thet Naung said that Wai Yan Phyo Moe had been held in Insein Prison since his arrest in March.
He noted that his client was in good health but that he was concerned because Wai Yan Phyo Moe had initially been placed in a cell with violent offenders instead of other political prisoners.
“We’ve requested that the prison authorities move him and they agreed to, but they haven’t actually moved him yet. It’s been too long already,” Thet Naung explained.
Wai Yan Phyo Moe was one of around 500 civilians arrested during a crackdown on the General Strike Committee’s protest column in Yangon’s Tamwe Township on March 3.
Seven detained student activists including Wai Yan Phyo Moe were placed in solitary confinement for one week after they refused to read the prison rules out loud on April 22, a punitive measure typically demanded of inmates by prison officials. They were later sent to the prison ward where those convicted of violent crimes are held, and have reportedly been asked for bribes, forced to do hard labour, and have received death threats.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 14, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 14, 2021
- Event Description
Soldiers on Tuesday evening arrested six students from Dagon University who were staying together in an apartment in downtown Yangon, a student leader has said.
Min Htet Han, chair of the university’s students’ union, told Myanmar Now it is unclear why the six were arrested, but that soldiers arrived at the 39th street apartment in Kyauktada saying they were inspecting overnight guest lists.
“They were staying on the top floor and it was the only apartment that was checked,” he said. “I think it’s safe to assume that they were looking for them in particular.” Informants may have told the military they were staying there, he suggested.
The six detainees are zoology student Wutyi Aung, chemistry student Thinzat Zaw, law student Sithu Aung Tin, archeology student Ye Lin Oo, geology student Myint Thein Naing, and Nay Htet Lin, who studies history.
Earlier this month the former chair of the Dagon University Students’ Union, Min Thukha Kyaw, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a military court. He had taken part in anti-coup protests before his arrest more than three months ago. The military accused him of receiving combat training from the Kachin Independence Army.
Students have been among the most dedicated opponents of the military’s February 1 power grab, and have been repeatedly targeted in crackdowns in recent months.
Htet Aung, the 22-year-old former president of the Pyay University Students’ Union and vice president of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was arrested by 10 plain clothed military personnel at a house in Paungde Township, Bago Region, where he was hiding on September 6.
“They took him saying they had some questions. We don’t know exactly why he was arrested,” said Nyi Nyi Zin, an ABFSU member.
Htet Aung had only been released from prison in February after serving several months of a one-year sentence for taking part in a protest against the war in Rakhine last year.
His family say they are worried for his wellbeing and do not know where he is being held.
In July, the junta detained nine students including Htet Wai Yan, the president of the Government Technical Institute Students’ Union in Letpadan, as well as Yan Naing Aung, an executive member of the Pyay Students’ Union.
Zin Ko Ko Khant, a 20-year-old student from Taungoo University, was detained a few days later.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 1, 2021
- Event Description
A former reporter who had been missing since September 1 is in detention at a Yangon police station and has been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement, according to her family.
Relatives of 35-year-old Thuzar were notified on Wednesday night that she was sent to the East Dagon police station on Wednesday after spending nearly one month in an interrogation centre, during which time her family was unable to contact her or confirm her whereabouts.
Ye Ko Ko, Thuzar’s husband, said that they had been preparing to file an official missing person’s report on Friday, the day that would have marked one month since her disappearance.
“They contacted us at around 8pm last night. They said she was at the police station and that we could not see her in person yet,” he told Myanmar Now on Thursday.
He added that a police officer came to the family home on Thursday morning, delivered a letter from Thuzar, and allowed them to send basic medicine and sanitary supplies to her.
“She wrote us a letter saying that she was in good health and that she was worried about her family. She also asked for her mother not to be worried about her,” Ye Ko Ko said.
Thuzar had a warrant out for her arrest for incitement since May, and escaped a military raid on her house during the same month. It is believed that she went into hiding in Yangon’s Kamayut Township.
Ye Ko Ko said that the last time he had contact with his wife was a phone call on the afternoon of September 1.
When it was apparent that she was missing, Thuzar’s family contacted interrogation centres, police stations and even the notorious Insein Prison in their search for her, but received no confirmation that she was in junta custody.
She has been remanded to the East Dagon police station, with a court hearing scheduled for October 13. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison.
During the raid on Thuzar’s home in May, junta troops arrested Ye Ko Ko when they were unable to find her, holding him in an interrogation centre until he was released on bail four days later.
“We all felt like it was the end of the world when we couldn’t find her for 29 days. We were really relieved when we found out that she was alive and that she was being held at the police station. We are going to take every legal step possible to get her back,” her husband said.
Thuzar was a member of the Myanmar Press Council formed during the National League for Democracy government’s tenure, and had previously worked as a reporter for RFA, Modern Journal, The Irrawaddy, 7 Days News, and Friday Times News Journal.
Following the February 1 coup and until May, Thuzar worked as a freelance reporter at the Friday Times and Myanmar Pressphoto Agency.
The military council has arrested around 100 journalists since the coup. Although some have been released, more than 50 were still in detention at the time of reporting, according to a September 16 report by Detained Journalists Information Myanmar.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 5, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 9, 2021
- Event Description
On an August morning at a wet market in Mandalay’s industrial suburbs, a 50-year-old man was selling noodles and cheerfully greeting fellow vendors and customers alike.
Win Ko Oo was well-known for his friendliness. But not everyone who had grown familiar with his smiling face knew that he had once had a very different life.
When the year began, Win Ko Oo was a train driver with 25 years’ experience. But then the army seized power, and everything changed. As someone who had lived through the aftermath of a similar coup in 1988, he knew he had to resist the return of military rule.
A month after Myanmar’s elected civilian government was overthrown, Win Ko Oo made up his mind to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that was sweeping the country.
“I hesitated at first because I had to think about my family. We had nowhere else to go. But in the end, my hatred for the regime outweighed my concerns about the hardships we would have to face, so I quit,” he told Myanmar Now that August morning.
Mandalay’s railway workers were among the first to join the movement in large numbers. In the department that Win Ko Oo belonged to, 285 of 319 staff members walked off the job in an effort to deny the regime control over state mechanisms.
This resulted in hundreds of railway employees and their families being forced to leave the housing compound where most of the striking workers lived.
But as one of the leaders of the protesting workers, Win Ko Oo also had another reason to worry: a warrant for his arrest on charges of incitement.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 5, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 23, 2021
- Event Description
Police officers shot and arrested a 24-year-old political activist and detained his mother from their home in Bago on Thursday, according to local sources.
At around 10pm, junta police came to Zayar Aungmyay St in Bago’s Hinthagone 19th ward in two unmarked vehicles to arrest activist Sithu Kaung Myat, a well-known and active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.
The policemen opened fire when it appeared that Sithu Kaung Myat was trying to run away, a local man said.
“They shot the young man three times in front of his mother when he was trying to escape. He was shot in his chest,” the man told Myanmar Now.
He added that Sithu Kaung Myat was on the second floor of the house when he was shot, while his mother was on the ground floor.
The police handcuffed the 50-year-old woman, who the source said has been in poor health, and raided the home.
"After the shooting, his mother was handcuffed and taken into a car. The young man had not been carried away at that time,” the man explained. “They ransacked the house and took their belongings, including a motorcycle that they wanted. Then the boy was taken into the car.”
Sithu Kaung Myat was admitted to the Bago General Hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest that he suffered when troops came to arrest him from his home on Zayar Aungmyay St in Hinthagone 19th ward at around 10pm.
Sithu Kaung Myat’s 50-year-old mother was also arrested on Thursday and was still in jail at the time of reporting. Police cordoned off the family’s home at around 2pm on Friday, around one hour after her son’s death, a local told Myanmar Now.
“They don’t have other relatives—it is only a mother and a son. She has no other relatives so nobody helped to get her released,” the local said. “People in that ward don’t know who they should ask for help. They don’t know where she has been detained.”
After locals visited the hospital and inquired about his condition, they learned that he had died on Friday afternoon.
It was not known at the time of reporting if or how a funeral would be held for Sithu Kaung Myat, who was an active protester in local anti-coup demonstrations.
Myanmar Now tried to contact the local police station to inquire about the shooting and the continued detention of Sithu Kaung Myat’s mother—who, it is believed, is in poor health—but the calls went unanswered.
Since the February 1 coup, the junta has frequently held the relatives of targeted politicians and activists hostage when troops have been unable to locate the individual they intended to arrest.
More than 1,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 7,000 continue to be imprisoned by the coup regime, according to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Friday.
The junta has declared the AAPP an illegal organisation and rejected their data as exaggerated.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 29, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 19, 2021
- Event Description
Activists say they fear for the life of a students’ union chairperson after she was detained by junta forces on Sunday afternoon while travelling on a long distance bus.
Aye Nandar Soe, 21, was stopped and arrested at the Yadanabon bridge connecting Mandalay and Sagaing regions. She leads the students’ union at the Sagaing University of Education, where she is in her fourth year of studies.
Her friends say her whereabouts are unknown and believe she was arrested because of her opposition to the military’s February coup. Her detention comes as the junta steps up its crackdown against student and youth activists across the country.
The junta has not made a public announcement about Aye Nandar Soe’s arrest or the grounds on which she is being detained. Many other student activists who were detained recently have been charged with incitement.
“Our comrade Aye Nandar Soe is being detained… but we still do not know where she is being held,” the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), of which Aye Nandar Soe’s union is a member, said in a statement.
“We fear for our comrade Aye Nandar Soe's life and safety,” the statement said.
An ABFSU spokesperson said he had no information about where she was travelling when she was detained.
The military has stepped up arrests of anti-junta student activists in recent weeks, but the exact number detained is unknown, the spokesperson added.
“Many students from the ABFSU and other students’ unions were arrested, but the ones who were not will continue to revolt against the military,” he told Myanmar Now.
On Sunday three young activists, including two members of the ABFSU, were detained in Yangon and accused of being involved in bank robberies to fund armed resistance against the junta.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 1,122 people have now been killed by the junta and 6,698 others are in detention.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 24, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 15, 2021
- Event Description
Following the addition of two more names to the list of 54 journalists and media workers currently held in the military junta’s jails in Myanmar, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reminds the international community of the need for targeted sanctions against those responsible for the growing terror.
Mizzima News former editor-in-chief Myo Thant was arrested yesterday in Kangye Htaung, a township in southwestern Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River delta region. RSF has learned that the security forces went to the township after being told he was there, and threatened to take his aunt if he did not surrender. He was finally arrested at round 8 pm.
Officials from the Sintgaing central police station charged a detained ex-journalist with incitement on Wednesday for allegedly violating Section 505a of the penal code.
Thirty-five-year-old Win Naing Oo, who formerly worked as a chief correspondent for Channel Mandalay, was arrested along with his wife Thu Thu from a mango farm in Mandalay’s Sintgaing Township on August 31, according to a family friend. Thu Thu was reportedly released on Thursday evening.
Win Naing Oo stopped working in journalism after Myanmar’s February 1 military coup.
“He hasn’t done any journalism work during this time. I don’t know why he was arrested,” the friend told Myanmar Now.
Myanmar Now called the Sintgaing police station for further information on the case. The officer on duty said that Win Naing Oo was being held there and confirmed that he had been charged under Section 505a.
A Sintgaing local said that the couple had been living at the mango farm where they were arrested, but that they may not have been the junta’s initial target.
“The police were there to arrest their guest. They were arrested along with the guest,” said the local, who did not elaborate on the guest’s identity.
Win Naing Oo was previously charged with defamation in May 2019 after he was accused of violating Section 66d of Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law for broadcasting a news story on Channel Mandalay regarding military confiscation of farmland near Pyin Oo Lwin.
More than 100 journalists have been arrested since the coup, and many of them charged with violating 505a. Few have been released. Many have been sentenced in closed court hearings, with convictions for violating the statute carrying a prison term of up to three years.
At least 6,572 people have been arrested by the junta since the coup, according to a statement released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners on Thursday.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 6, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar’s junta has detained human rights activist Ko Kyaw Minn Htut, his two-year-old child, wife and younger brother in Monywa, Sagaing Region.
The Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) said its member, his brother Ko Kyaw Minn Aung and a man who was living with them were detained on Monday afternoon in Nandawon ward.
Ko Kyaw Minn Htut’s wife Daw Khin San Hlaing and their son were also detained by junta forces on Sunday, MATA said in a statement on Tuesday.
MATA is the civil society alliance formed by over 400 organizations across the country for the implementation of transparency and accountability in the extractive industries.
Ko Kyaw Minn Htut had been working for environmental protection and human rights and participated in the non-violent movement for democracy after the military coup, MATA stated.
“We strongly ask for the freedom of Kyaw Minn Htut and all detained people who participated in the non-violent pro-democracy movement without [causing] any harm,” the group said, while calling for an end to military rule.
Killings, arrests and torture by regime forces continue daily across the country as the junta escalates its crackdown on dissidents and supporters of the shadow National Unity Government.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, Family of HRD, NGO staff, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 13, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 1, 2021
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Ma Thuzar, a journalist held arbitrarily since her arrest for no clear reason in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, a week ago after four months in hiding.
Her family and colleagues spent five days without any news of her after she was snatched by police as she left her home on the morning of 1 September. The police finally confirmed on 5 September that she had been arrested, but they have yet to give the judicial grounds for her arrest or say where she is being held.
Ma Thuzar, who worked for the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency and the Friday Times News Journal, told RSF before her arrest that she filmed many of the major street protests that were triggered by the military coup on 1 February. It was partly as a result of her videos, broadcast live on the Friday Times’s online networks, that this media outlet was closed on 16 April.
Two weeks later, on 1 May, around 40 police officers raided her home with the aim of arresting her under a warrant issued by the Yangon region military command. In her absence, they arrested her husband, a retired journalist, who was released five days later. It was this raid – which the Yangon region military command refused to confirm when reached by RSF – that forced Ma Thuzar to go into hiding.
51 journalists now detained
“We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Ma Thuzar, whose arrest and detention are completely arbitrary,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk. “The way she has been treated reflects the illegal, brutal and inhuman treatment to which the military junta has subjected all journalists in Myanmar for the past seven months. In so doing, Myanmar is violating the most elementary legal principles and, for this reason, we call on the international community to impose targeted sanctions against those responsible for these repeated abuses.”
According to a tally verified by RSF, Ma Thuzar’s detention brings the number of journalists currently detained in Myanmar to 51. Zaw Moe Oo, a journalist who freelances for the pro-military news agency Eleven Media, was also arrested at her home in the southern Myeik region on 1 September but was released two days later.
Last month, RSF reported that Sithu Aung Myint, a political commentor for the magazine Frontier Myanmar and radio Voice Of America, was arrested by police on 15 August at an apartment in Yangon’s Bahan Township, where he had been hiding. Htet Htet Khine, the presenter of programme called “Khan Sar Kyi” (Burmese for “Feel it”) for BBC Media Action, was also arrested in the same raid.
Myanmar is currently ranked 140th out of 180 countries in RSF's World Press Freedom Index.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 13, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 6, 2021
- Event Description
Min Thukha Kyaw, the former chair of the Dagon University Students' Union, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a military tribunal on Monday, a family member has confirmed.
“He called me during his appearance at the tribunal with the help of a prison staff member. He told me he had been sentenced,” said the relative, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Min Thukha Kyaw was arrested three months ago and charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
It was unclear at the time of reporting what additional charges had been laid against him that would account for the length of his sentence.
Min Thukha Kyaw was arrested at his home in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township on June 6 and accused of receiving military and explosives training from the Kachin Independence Army.
He has been held in Yangon’s Insein Prison since his arrest and has been denied access to a lawyer. His family has also been unable to meet with him, the relative said.
“He lost that legal right [to hire a lawyer] because martial law was imposed,” said lawyer Thet Naung.
Myanmar Now called officials at the Prisons Department and Insein Prison for comment on Min Thukha Kyaw’s case, but did not receive a response.
Martial law was declared in several Yangon townships, including North Okkalapa, in March amid massive protests against the coup staged by the military the previous month.
A military tribunal with sweeping powers, including the power to impose the death penalty, has replaced the judiciary in the affected townships.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 1,000 people have been killed and nearly 8,000 have been detained since the military seized power on February 1.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Judiciary
- Source
[Myanmar Now](On 6 September 2021, Min Thukha Kyaw, pro-democracy student leader, was sentenced to 10-year jail on incitement charges for his involvement in the anti-coup protest, after an irregular trial held by a military court in Yangon, Myanmar,)
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 12, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 19, 2021
- Event Description
A resident of Yangon’s Hlaing Township known locally for providing oxygen concentrators for free was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of being a member of the anti-regime resistance movement.
Khine Lwin, 40, was in her home on Butaryone Street when it was suddenly raided by junta troops at around 2pm, according to her daughter.
“Twenty plainclothes forces stormed our home and went through our things. They took all the phones and laptops in our house,” the 15-year-old daughter wrote on Facebook.
A source close to the family said that those who carried out the raid shouted that Khine Lwin was being arrested for committing murder and terrorism.
It was unclear what charges would be laid against the mother of two, whose whereabouts since her arrest remain unknown.
The regime has stepped up its efforts to detain opponents of its rule since imposing new restrictions in June on the pretext of containing the spread of Covid-19.
The third wave of the pandemic has claimed thousands of lives in the country so far, mainly due to shortages of medical oxygen supplies.
On Sunday, well-known political commentator Sithu Aung Myint was arrested in a Yangon apartment during a nightly check of registered guest lists.
His lawyer and family members said they have had no contact with him since he was taken to an interrogation centre immediately after his arrest.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), at least 5,759 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced by the regime since it seized power on February 1.
As of August 19, the junta has also killed at least 1,007 people, according to AAPP figures.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 23, 2021
- Event Description
Security forces have detained more than 30 youths in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon as authorities conducted a series of raids in response to the country’s shadow government warning of a “D-Day” operation to oust the junta nearly seven months after it seized power through a coup.
Five people, including a couple that own a popular noodle shop, were arrested late on Monday in Yangon’s Sanchaung township, a resident of the area told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.
“They began the searches around 4:00 p.m., first near Thayettaw Road and Tayokekyaung Road, before moving to Zeyawaddy, Moe Ma Kha, and Gandamar Roads. They later searched the noodle shop on Ma Kyee Kyee Road,” the resident said.
“They conducted the searches from until around 3:30 a.m. I believe more than a dozen people were arrested. Every time they made an arrest, they would take the person to the police station and then come back again to make more arrests.”
Authorities also searched adjacent roads in the area and arrested several youths from New People’s Ward 4 during a check on household registration documents, residents said.
Other sources told RFA that more than a dozen people were also arrested Monday in Yangon’s Thaketa, Ahlone and Thingangyun townships.
“The military was searching for and arresting people last evening in Thingangyun township and other areas—about 20 people were arrested,” said a Thingangyun resident who declined to be named.
“What we heard was that they got information from one of those arrested about an online app that young people are using to communicate with each other. From that app, they found out the connections and made the arrests.”
RFA was unable to verify the exact number of arrests, but they come amid several in recent days that included the detention of four young men during a raid Monday morning in Yangon’s Tha-maing Myothit district. ‘D-Day’ operation
Authorities appear to be intensifying a crackdown on anti-junta activities that began soon after the military seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government in a Feb. 1 putsch. In the nearly seven months since the coup, security forces have killed 1,014 civilians and arrested at least 5,851, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The junta says it had to unseat Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government because the party engineered a landslide victory in Myanmar’s November 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. It has yet to present evidence of its claims and public unrest is at an all-time high.
The NUG recently announced plans to set a date for a “D-Day” operation to purge the country of the junta through a popular uprising supported by a network of People’s Defense Force (PDF) militia groups formed to protect the public from the military.
On Monday night, a bomb went off at a military-owned garment factory in Ward 7 of Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar township where troops had recently set up camp, wounding at least two soldiers, according to a statement issued about 15 minutes after the blast by the Hlaing Tharyar guerrilla group (CGF).
In the statement, the CGF claimed responsibility for what it said was a remote-controlled explosion in retaliation for an attack by the military earlier on Monday.
A resident of Hlaing Tharyar township confirmed the bombing on Monday and said it was followed by what sounded like a short firefight.
“There was a bomb blast at about 10:00 last night … followed by about 20 gunshots and then another rounds fired,” the resident said.
“There were no arrests of civilians, but armed soldiers were patrolling the streets on motorcycles as well as on foot in civilian clothes … There are checkpoints everywhere.”
Situation intensifying
Shootings and bombings are on the rise after the NUG’s D-Day announcement, and the junta has responded by stepping up security measures in nearly every city. The military regime recently appointed police chiefs to replace the Minister for Transport and Communications in all states and divisions, including Yangon.
Sources told RFA that the junta has been using loudspeakers in major cities in recent days to warn people not to support the NUG government, demand that militia groups surrender, and offer rewards to those who provide information about the PDF.
Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that the military’s efforts are unlikely to head off a challenge to its hold on power.
“Civil war is just beginning. The situation is becoming intense, and I believe the momentum will only get stronger after D-Day,” he said.
“In the meantime, we hear about fighting daily while the military is checking visitor lists in cities throughout the country and carrying out arrests … I think that as soon as the D-Day program begins, various movements will spring up nationwide.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 25, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 21, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar's military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a February 1 coup.
Sithu Aung Myint, a columnist for news site Frontier Myanmar and commentator with Voice of America radio, and Htet Htet Khine, a freelance producer for BBC Media Action, were arrested on August 15, Myawaddy TV reported.
Sithu Aung Myint was charged with sedition and spreading false information that Myawaddy said was critical of the junta and had urged people to join strikes and back outlawed opposition groups.
Htet Htet Khine was accused of harboring Sithu Aung Myint, a criminal suspect, and working for and supporting a shadow National Unity Government.
BBC Media Action said in a statement it was concerned about Htet Htet Khine's safety and the charges against her and was closely monitoring the situation.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the pair were being held incommunicado.
"We strongly condemn the arbitrary conditions of their detention, which reflect the brutality with which the military junta treats journalists," said its Asia-Pacific desk head Daniel Bastard.
Myanmar remains fraught with instability and opposition to army rule, under which more than 1,000 people have been killed, according to an activist group that has tracked killings by security forces.
The military, which has revoked the licenses of many news outlets, says it respects the role of media but will not allow news reporting it deems false or likely to create public unrest.
A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists last month said Myanmar's rulers had effectively criminalized independent journalism.
Human Rights Watch late last month said the army government had arrested 98 journalists since the coup and should stop prosecuting media staff. Of those arrested, 46 remained in custody as of the end of July.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 23, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 16, 2021
- Event Description
A youth leader from the Mandalay Protest Alliance Force, was arrested by the junta’s forces while driving near Mandalay University at around 5pm on Monday.
Plainclothes soldiers, arriving in domestic vehicles, stopped a motorbike driven by activist Kyaw Thiha—who is in his 20s—beat him, and took him with them at gunpoint, according to an eyewitness.
Thura Aung, a friend who had been staying with him and another leader of the alliance, said that over 20 troops later inspected Kyaw Thiha’s former home in Patheingyi Township at 8pm that night.
“They also raided the place where we were staying. We’re all on the run now. I still don’t know about our other comrades, but I’m in a safe place now,” Thura Aung told Myanmar Now.
The Mandalay Protest Alliance Force has been a frequent target of the brutal crackdowns by the military on anti-coup resistance.
Junta vehicles drove into the protest column in both May and June, injuring demonstrators. Six protesters including a university lecturer were arrested near Mandalay University on the morning of June 14 after the column was hit by a car driven by military personnel.
The Mandalay Protest Alliance Force formed when multiple Mandalay protest columns joined forces to revolt against the dictatorship. They include Daung Sit Thi (Peacock Warriors); All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU); Academics; Labourers; Farmers; Mandalay University Students; BEHS (7) Students; and Sein Pan.
Thura Aung said that they would not be stopping their resistance to military rule.
“They can arrest us all they want but they can’t break our revolutionary spirit. We’re not backing down, not by an inch. We will fight for the truth until the end,” he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 18, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 11, 2021
- Event Description
Two pro-democracy activists died and three others were seriously injured in Myanmar when they jumped from a building in Yangon to avoid capture by junta authorities, witnesses said Wednesday, while the father of one of those killed said he was told his son survived the impact and was beaten to death by police.
Ye Min Oo and a woman, Wai Wai Myint, also called Pan Thee, lost their lives Tuesday night when they and three friends jumped from the roof of a building as junta forces stormed their apartment in Botahtaung township in Myanmar’s largest city.
The three who survived the jump—Wai Phyo Aung, Thiha Kaung Set, and Poe Kyaw Kyaw—were arrested by police and taken with the bodies of those killed to a military hospital in Mingaladon township in northern Yangon.
Tin Zaw—the father of Ye Min Oo, who died Tuesday—said he was told by witnesses that his son was still alive after the fall.
"Immediately after the fall, my son was dying, not dead. Then police officers beat them up, and my son died after the beating,” he told RFA in an exclusive interview. “I got that information from witnesses and residents.”
A neighborhood resident told RFA on Wednesday that two of those who jumped called out three or four times for water and then died, while the other three remained motionless after they hit the ground.
“Because they fell from a height, they must have broken their limbs,” he said.
The neighbor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA the fleeling activists apparently got trapped on the rooftops of the old buildings.
“You could climb up to the roof, and the kids must have thought they could run across the rooftops. But there were only four buildings you could run across like that,” he said.
“There was a five-storey building blocking their path on one side and an eight-storey building on the other, and they must have run this way and that, and finally when they couldn’t escape they must have jumped,” he said.
Dead and injured taken to hospital
Military forces ordered community service workers to take both the two who died and the three survivors to a 1,000-bed military hospital in Mingaladon, a member of the Lin Let Social Welfare Association told RFA.
“The two who died were dead when we got there,” the charity worker said.
“We were sure they were dead because we made all the necessary checks required to see if they were still alive,” she said. “One of the injured had a broken leg, and another had a head injury and had to be taken to the hospital’s neurology center.”
Soe Myat Thu, the husband of 29-year-old Wai Wai Myint, said he hopes the military will give him back his wife’s body so that he can bury her according to her own request.
“I’m trying to get my wife’s body back, but we are under the rule of a military coup, so what can I do?” he asked. “If they refuse to release her body, there is nothing we can do about it.”
“She always said, ‘Don’t cremate my body when I die. Please bury me in a grave,’ and I want to fulfill that last wish. I don’t care about anything else,” he said.
A police report now circulating on social media says the raid on the activists’ apartment was carried out by a team led by Tactical Commander Col. Soe Tun of the ruling Military Council, while a military press release on Wednesday confirmed that two had been killed and three injured in the operation, with hand grenades and bomb-making materials recovered during the raid.
An independent scout
Ye Min Oo, who was born in 1994, was not connected with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), People’s Defense Force (PDF), or any other formally organized group, his father said.
Instead, he had worked independently with friends in a scouting unit gathering intelligence on pro-junta informers and other military targets, Tin Zaw said.
“He never expressed any political opinions, but after the February coup, he became actively involved in anti-coup protests, and although I did not forbid this as a parent, I warned him to be mindful and careful,” he said.
“My son stood and fought for his beliefs, and now he has fallen in the fight,” he said.
Tin Zaw said Ye Min Oo’s fate was the outcome of the military overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government on unfounded claims of voter fraud in the country’s November 2020 election.
The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule. According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 948 civilians were killed by police and soldiers between Feb. 1 and Aug. 10.
“These kids were pushed into the struggle by the Feb. 1 coup. They were pure and innocent youths. I am very proud of my son,” Tin Zaw said.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Death, Raid, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 14, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 8, 2021
- Event Description
A doctor who was detained for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against the junta died early on Sunday morning after contracting Covid-19 in detention, a colleague told Myanmar Now.
Dr Maung Maung Nyein Tun, a 45-year-old lecturer of surgery at Mandalay Medical University, was arrested on June 13 along with his wife, Dr Swe Zin Oo, while the pair were staying at a safe house in an attempt to evade capture by the junta.
He tested positive for the virus while being detained at the Mandalay Palace interrogation center on July 19, but instead of sending him to hospital, authorities held him for two weeks at a police station as his condition worsened, the colleague said.
Police only allowed him to get treatment, at the hospital in the city’s Obo prison, on July 28, when his blood oxygen levels plummeted to 84%.
“They kept him quarantined at the No. 9 police station for two weeks. He was sharing a cell with a person who had lost his sense of smell but the junta said he was negative,” the colleague said.
“They didn’t send him to the hospital even when his SpO2 level fell. No dexamethasone injection was given either,” the colleague said, referring to a lifesaving drug used to treat Covid patients. “They only gave him some oxygen in captivity. They only sent him to Mandalay General Hospital when it was too late.”
The colleague and others repeatedly petitioned the authorities to send him to a facility better equipped to treat him, rather than the prison hospital, but to no avail.
Dr Maung Maung Nyein Tun’s mother confirmed his death on her Facebook page. He died at the Mandalay General Hospital intensive care unit at 6:38am on August 8, she said in her post.
The junta accused the doctor of having connections to both Dr Htar Htar Lin, the detained former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, and Dr Zaw Wai Soe, the health minister of the underground Nation Unity Government.
Photos of Dr Maung Maung Nyein published in state media after his capture showed him with several bruises on his face.
Dr Swe Zin Oo, his wife and the superintendent of Mandalay General Hospital, has also reportedly contracted Covid-19 in detention. She is still being held at Mandalay Palace.
Both doctors were charged under section 505 of the Penal Code for incitement, section 124 for sedition and section 17 for unlawful association on June 14.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Death
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Right to health, Right to life
- HRD
- Academic, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 10, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 31, 2021
- Event Description
A 22-year-old anti-coup protester who was shot and injured before being detained during a raid in Mandalay on Saturday morning has died in military custody, two protest organisers have told Myanmar Now.
Ye Yint was among nine protesters who were detained when about 30 soldiers and police raided a house they were staying in in Patheingyi Township’s Nan Oo Lwin neighbourhood.
He was shot in the pelvis while another young protester, 22-year-old Khaing Tun, was shot in the leg during the raid.
“Two kids tried to run in panic and one was shot in his leg,” said one of the protest organisers. “The other one got shot in the back and the bullet went cleanly through his pelvis.”
The detainees were brought to Mandalay Palace, which houses the military’s Central Command headquarters, and Ye Yint’s family was told at around 4pm that he had died, the second organiser said: “His wife told us.”
As of 8pm, the family still had not been able to retrieve his body, the organiser added. Myanmar Now was unable to reach his relatives for comment.
Three other protesters were detained in Mandalay on the morning that Ye Yint and Khaing Tun were shot.
They were captured in Mahar Aung Myay Township after a military-owned vehicle rammed into their motorcycles as they rode back from a march led by Mandalar University students. One of those detained, Zin Myo Khant, is 17 years old.
Late last month Thu Thu Zin, 25, was shot in the head and killed at a protest near the Mahamuni pagoda in Mandalay. Her family had to hold her funeral without her body because the military would not let them retrieve it.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 19, 2021
- Event Description
Two doctors were arrested in Mandalay last week, offering further evidence of the regime’s targeting of healthcare workers despite a spiralling public health crisis.
Dr. Thet Htay, 41, and Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet, 21, were both viciously beaten as they were arrested for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule, witnesses told Myanmar Now.
Dr. Thet Htay was on his way home from a charity hospital where he volunteered his services when he was detained by police and soldiers in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township at around 2pm on July 16.
Later that night, he was taken back to the hospital, where soldiers confiscated some of his belongings, including his laptop.
“His face was beaten to a pulp,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, a fellow CDM participant who spoke to witnesses at the hospital.
Dr. Thet Htay previously worked at Mandalay General Hospital but practised exclusively as a volunteer surgeon after joining the CDM following the February 1 coup.
Among his patients were victims of the junta’s brutal crackdowns on protesters, according to other members of Mandalay’s medical community.
Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was arrested three days earlier, on July 13, when around 20 soldiers and police stormed his home in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township.
His brother was also detained at the time but was later released.
Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was teaching medical students online as part of a program organized by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). He was also providing online medical consultations for Covid-19 patients until his arrest.
Dr. Soe Thura Zaw speculated that Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was targeted for his role in the NUG’s medical training program, which mainly features lectures by instructors based in the UK. The regime likely saw his involvement as a provocation, he said.
Both men are currently being held in an interrogation centre, according to family members who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
They added that attempts to contact them have so far been unsuccessful.
The arrests come as Myanmar is facing a major public health crisis resulting from the junta’s mismanagement of the response to the third wave of Covid-19 in the country.
On Monday, military officials pretending to be Covid-19 patients arrested three doctors who responded to a request for emergency treatment in Yangon’s North Dagon Township.
Meanwhile, doctors in Mandalay say that the junta is spreading misinformation, accusing doctors taking part in the CDM of causing more Covid-19 patients to die.
“They’re raiding oxygen plants. They’re arresting doctors. And then they say that doctors taking part in the CDM are killing patients? It doesn’t even make any sense. Doctors have been saving lives by volunteering everywhere that they can. The real killers are the military council,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw.
On Monday, the Mandalay Health Society released a statement condemning the arrests of doctors amid the Covid-19 crisis, demanding that they be released as soon as possible.
Around 900 CDM doctors have been treating Covid-19 patients by telephone under the NUG’s supervision, according to Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the NUG’s health minister. Around 2,000 final-year medical students have also volunteered to assist, he said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to property
- HRD
- Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 13, 2021
- Event Description
Two doctors were arrested in Mandalay last week, offering further evidence of the regime’s targeting of healthcare workers despite a spiralling public health crisis.
Dr. Thet Htay, 41, and Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet, 21, were both viciously beaten as they were arrested for taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) against military rule, witnesses told Myanmar Now.
Dr. Thet Htay was on his way home from a charity hospital where he volunteered his services when he was detained by police and soldiers in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi Township at around 2pm on July 16.
Later that night, he was taken back to the hospital, where soldiers confiscated some of his belongings, including his laptop.
“His face was beaten to a pulp,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw, a fellow CDM participant who spoke to witnesses at the hospital.
Dr. Thet Htay previously worked at Mandalay General Hospital but practised exclusively as a volunteer surgeon after joining the CDM following the February 1 coup.
Among his patients were victims of the junta’s brutal crackdowns on protesters, according to other members of Mandalay’s medical community.
Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was arrested three days earlier, on July 13, when around 20 soldiers and police stormed his home in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township.
His brother was also detained at the time but was later released.
Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was teaching medical students online as part of a program organized by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG). He was also providing online medical consultations for Covid-19 patients until his arrest.
Dr. Soe Thura Zaw speculated that Dr. Kyaw Kyaw Thet was targeted for his role in the NUG’s medical training program, which mainly features lectures by instructors based in the UK. The regime likely saw his involvement as a provocation, he said.
Both men are currently being held in an interrogation centre, according to family members who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
They added that attempts to contact them have so far been unsuccessful.
The arrests come as Myanmar is facing a major public health crisis resulting from the junta’s mismanagement of the response to the third wave of Covid-19 in the country.
On Monday, military officials pretending to be Covid-19 patients arrested three doctors who responded to a request for emergency treatment in Yangon’s North Dagon Township.
Meanwhile, doctors in Mandalay say that the junta is spreading misinformation, accusing doctors taking part in the CDM of causing more Covid-19 patients to die.
“They’re raiding oxygen plants. They’re arresting doctors. And then they say that doctors taking part in the CDM are killing patients? It doesn’t even make any sense. Doctors have been saving lives by volunteering everywhere that they can. The real killers are the military council,” said Dr. Soe Thura Zaw.
On Monday, the Mandalay Health Society released a statement condemning the arrests of doctors amid the Covid-19 crisis, demanding that they be released as soon as possible.
Around 900 CDM doctors have been treating Covid-19 patients by telephone under the NUG’s supervision, according to Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the NUG’s health minister. Around 2,000 final-year medical students have also volunteered to assist, he said.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 27, 2021
- Event Description
Regime forces shot three people, killing at least one, during a crackdown on an anti-coup demonstration in Mandalay on Tuesday, according to protesters who managed to escape.
Around 20 people were taking part in a flash mob protest near the east gate of Mandalay’s famous Mahamuni pagoda when they suddenly came under attack at around noon, witnesses told Myanmar Now.
Without warning, junta forces in plain clothes opened fire with live ammunition, shooting two men and a woman as they attempted to flee.
One of the victims, 25-year-old Thu Thu Zin, was shot in the head and died instantly. It was unclear if the two men, one of whom was shot in the neck, were still alive.
“The girl [Thu Thu Zin] fell down right before my eyes. I couldn’t save her, as I was running for my life, too,” said a protester who later returned to the scene to speak to other witnesses.
“According to some vendors in front of the pagoda who saw everything, it’s very likely that all three were fatally shot. They were dragged into the pagoda compound right after they fell,” the protester told Myanmar Now.
He added that police later confirmed Thu Thu Zin’s death.
The protesters were members of the Mya Taung protest column, which continues to stage peaceful demonstrations against the regime despite its routine use of lethal force.
The group’s protests are regularly joined by a wide cross-section of local people, including student activists, monks, and ordinary citizens.
Members of the group condemned the junta’s brutal violence against unarmed protesters.
“If they just wanted to break up the crowd, they could have done that by shooting into the air,” said one protester. “I hope that karma will catch up with them one day.”
He added that the military’s latest atrocity against civilians would have no impact on the group’s activities.
“We’re going to keep going until the end,” he said.
Tuesday’s crackdown was the third in Mandalay so far this month. On July 13, seven protesters were arrested when the regime broke up a joint march by the Mya Taung protest column and students from Mandalar University.
On July 20, two men were shot and a woman was arrested during a crackdown on a protest by a group called “Phoenixes from the Ashes”.
According to Mandalay residents, the army has stationed troops at public places, such as schools, hospitals, and pagodas, around the city to deter shows of resistance to military rule.
However, protests continue on a regular basis, even as the regime deploys plainclothes forces to launch surprise attacks, in some cases by plowing into crowds with civilian vehicles.
Meanwhile, surveillance has also increased, with pedestrians and cyclists being ordered at military checkpoints to show their phones, which are carefully scrutinized for evidence of involvement in anti-military activities.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 10, 2021
- Event Description
Aung Mya Than, a reporter for the Ayeyarwady Times, was arrested at 11:00pm on July 10 at his home in Maubin following his reporting of a bombing by unidentified perpetrators in his home town. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the military junta’s continuous abuse of the media and calls on the military to release Than immediately.
Than was one of 14 journalists released on June 30 from detention across Myanmar. He was arrested on May 25 on charges under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code and held for 36 days. He is currently being held at the Maubin City Police State, according to the Ayeyarwady Times’ editor-in-chief, Salai Thant Sin.
On the morning of his arrest on June 10, Than was reporting on a bombing by unidentified perpetrators in Maubin.
It is unclear when Than was released from detention and whether the Section 505(a) charges against him were officially dropped. Radio Free Asia reports that 26 reporters are currently in hiding due to warrants being put out for their arrest. Many others have been forced to leave their homes and seek asylum with friends or family because the military have allegedly raided their homes.
Section 505(a) of the Penal Code is a broad and vague law that effectively allows the military to arrest journalists for doing their jobs. The law criminalises all attempts to “hinder, disturb, damage the motivation, discipline, health and conduct of the military personnel and government employees” and these subjective phrases can and have been used to quell dissent during Myanmar’s civil war.
Since the start of the military coup in February 2021, 89 domestic and international reporters have been arrested and 37 are still detained, according to Reporting ASEAN. Out of the all the arrests, 28 of them have been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. The media have been explicitly targeted by the military junta for reporting on the frontlines throughout the coup.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 28, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 8, 2021
- Event Description
A five-year-old girl whose father helped organize protests against Myanmar’s junta was forced to endure stress positions during more than two weeks in detention, according to her father, making her what observers say was the country’s youngest known political prisoner under the military regime that seized power in February.
On June 13, security forces in Mandalay region raided the home of Soe Htay, a local activist who had led demonstrations in Mogok city against the junta following its Feb. 1 takeover of Myanmar’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
Soe Htay had already gone into hiding with his two sons, and when authorities failed to locate him, they arrested his wife Nan Kyi Kyi Khine and their daughters Theint Sandi Soe, a 17-year-old third-year law student, and Su Htet Waing, a five-year-old girl. Arresting relatives of wanted protesters has been a common practice.
The protests Soe Htay had organized in Mogok were part of a nationwide backlash against the military following its coup, which it said was necessary because the NLD’s landslide victory in the country’s November 2020 elections was the result of widespread voter fraud. Regime leaders have yet to produce any evidence of their claims, while soldiers have violently cracked down on the demonstrations.
According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the military has killed 898 people and arrested 5,127 in connection with the anti-junta protests. Of those, 2,269—including Su Htet Waing—were freed from prisons across the country as part of a general amnesty on June 30, although observers say the release was little more than a stunt by the military to gain international recognition.
Soe Htay, who was reunited with Su Htet Waing and remains in hiding, recently told RFA’s Myanmar Service that his daughter was left “traumatized” because of the poor treatment she was subjected to during her 18 days in detention.
He said Su Htet Waing told him that she and others were regularly forced to assume the “ponzan” posture—a half-sitting, half-standing stress position—during roll call, and that she “hated the people” who ordered her to do it.
Su Htet Waing “knows nothing about politics” and had only called for the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with several other party officials shortly after the military takeover, Soe Htay said.
“She doesn’t understand the politics we were discussing,” the NLD member and leader of the Mogok Township Peace and Open Society told RFA.
Soe Htay said he recently learned from staff at the Mogok Prison that his older daughter is enduring “serious health problems” while she remains in detention. He said that he has had no direct contact with his family members since the day of their arrest.
“My eldest daughter was on medication, suffering from rheumatism when she was arrested. On the day of her arrest, she was taken away with the only clothing she had on, and she didn’t have any of her medicine,” he said.
“She had to kneel down, handcuffed, on the concrete floor for two or three hours during questioning … and now she is in critical condition, according to what a friend in the prison told me.”
Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun for comment on the arrest of Soe Htay’s family members went unanswered Friday.
Su Htet Waing reunites with her father, Soe Htay, following her release from detention, June 30, 2021. Family photo Su Htet Waing reunites with her father, Soe Htay, following her release from detention, June 30, 2021. Family photo
‘Illegal’ detention Speaking to RFA this week, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw said arresting a five-year-old is “illegal.”
“Even if children under the age of 18 commit crimes, they are not allowed to go to jail. They are not allowed to be held behind bars,” he said.
“Arresting a five-year-old is totally unlawful. It’s a violation of human rights, too. There is nothing this military regime wouldn’t hesitate to do if their hold on power was threatened. Not even children will be spared.”
Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, Minister for Women, Youth and Children for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), said Su Htet Waing will be recorded as the youngest political prisoner under the military regime.
“Such arrests constitute war crimes and those responsible must be held accountable,” she said.
“This arrest and detention are a violation of childrens’ rights and the law. The child is too young and can be left deeply traumatized. We are working with professional counselors.”
Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe also condemned what she called “hostage-taking” by the junta, adding that by NUG’s count there are around 80 minors currently in detention.
Soe Htay told RFA he is determined to fight to the end against the military, even though his family has been arrested.
“I am determined to root out this dictatorship,” he said.
“I see the suffering of my daughters and wife as a sacrifice to this revolution. It is from these feelings that I get the strength to fight for a speedy end to the revolution.”
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 21, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 13, 2021
- Event Description
A local protest leader from Mogok in Mandalay Region said on Tuesday that his wife and daughter have both been sentenced to three years in prison for incitement.
The two women, who were arrested exactly one month ago, were accused of violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for allegedly inciting riots. Their sentences were handed down by a prison court in Mogok, protest leader Soe Htay said.
Writing on Facebook soon after learning about their sentences, Soe Htay said that his wife and daughter had taken part in protests against the junta’s numerous abuses, including arbitrary arrests, human rights violations, inhumane treatment of women and children, and killing of its own citizens.
Junta authorities in Mogok were attempting to arrest Soe Htay, who is a striking schoolteacher and local anti-regime activist, when they took his 44-year-old wife and two daughters into custody on June 13.
The younger daughter, Su Htet Wine, was still in detention when she turned five two weeks later. She was released on June 30, two days after her birthday.
Earlier this month, Soe Htay expressed concern about the health of his older daughter, 17-year-old Theint Sandi Soe, who was reportedly suffering from a potentially life-threatening condition.
According to Soe Htay, she was receiving weekly treatment for rheumatoid arthritis before her arrest. He said a person with connections to the place where she was being held had told him that she was mistreated while under interrogation.
Myanmar’s military routinely targets the families of individuals opposed to its rule, in some cases detaining the children or elderly relatives of those who manage to evade arrest.
According to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 76 people have been held hostage by the junta, with the youngest being just two years old.
The military council, which has designated AAPP as an illegal organization, has not commented on those cases.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Family of HRD, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 14, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2021
- Event Description
A jailed student protester from Magway who had his hand amputated after a brutal attack by soldiers in late March applied for bail on Thursday, his family has said.
Hlyan Phyo Aung, a 22-year-old civil engineering student who faces an incitement charge, was expecting to be freed along with more than 2,000 others on Wednesday.
Instead he had his first court hearing on Thursday after it was postponed eight times. His family said they hoped the request would be granted on medical grounds because of his serious injuries.
“I just want to ask them to be reasonable and stop this madness,” said a relative.
The student was hospitalised after a soldier shot and destroyed his right hand at a rally in Magway on March 27. After the hand was amputated he was sent to Magway Prison, even though doctors said he urgently needed eye surgery.
“It doesn’t matter if one is educated or wealthy or not, a person is a person and should be treated as such,” the relative said. “Would they treat him the same way if he was their blood?” Thirty-six detainees who were still under police investigation and facing court hearings for protesting were released from Magway Prison on Wednesday.
Two of them were Hlyan Phyo Aung’s cellmates, who were detained at the same protest as him and facing the same charge under the same lawsuit, the relative said.
The cellmates had been helping Hlyan Phyo Aung, who has limited mobility, with his daily routine.
“Now he’s alone in his cell,” the relative said. “He had already packed his stuff thinking he would be released along with his cellmates. We just met with his friends who were released in front of the prison today.”
In addition to losing his right hand, Hlyan Phyo Aung was hit in his right eye with a blast of gunpowder. Both of his thighs and his left arm were perforated by rubber bullets. After receiving two months of treatment at a military hospital, doctors said he would still need physical therapy as well as surgery for his eye.
The relative said they feared the attention Hlyan Phyo Aung’s case has received was the reason the regime has not yet released him.
The underground National Unity Government has publicised his treatment as part of plans to submit evidence against the regime to the International Criminal Court.
“Every single word of support for him turns into poison for the military since this information has seeped to the international community, making it a ‘famous’ case,” the relative said.
“That’s probably why they’re not releasing him yet.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 2, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 27, 2021
- Event Description
The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].
In the evening of May 27, 2021, Ayeyar Lin Htut was arrested at the Hinthada District Court and charged with incitement under Article 505(a). At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, she was being held in Hinthada Prison in Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] Region. Ayeyar Lin Htut was representing political prisoners arrested following the coup.
The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.
The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.
Action requested:
Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;
ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 30, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2021
- Event Description
The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].
On June 2, 2021, Thet Htun Oo, a pro-bono lawyer and Central Executive Committee member of the Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar, was arrested while in court inside Myitkyina Prison, Kachin State, where he was assisting individuals who had been detained under Article 505(a). The charges against him are not known at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal.
The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.
The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.
Action requested:
Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;
ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 30, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 10, 2021
- Event Description
The Observatory has received information about a wave of arbitrary arrests targeting lawyers in Myanmar. According to the information received, between May 24 and June 10, 2021, the military junta’s security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained five lawyers who provided legal defense to protesters and other individuals arrested following the February 1 coup d’état. Four of the five lawyers have been charged with “incitement”, under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code [1].
On June 10, 2021, Nilar and Hpone Myat Thu, were arrested in the border town of Myawaddy, Kayin [Karen] State, while they were attempting to cross into Thailand. They appeared in court a day after their arrest and, at the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, were being held at Myawaddy’s central police station. The next hearing in their case is scheduled for June 25, 2021. The “incitement” charges against the two stem from their defense of political prisoners, including Kayin State’s ousted Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint and Hpa-An Technical High School Principal Cho Yu Mon, who were arrested after the February 1 coup for taking part in peaceful anti-junta protests.
The Observatory condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of lawyers, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards, including the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, [2] which guarantee the protection of lawyers in the course of their work and prohibit their prosecution in relation to cases they defend. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of torture, enforced disappearance, and summary execution the five lawyers are facing while in custody. The Observatory remains concerned by the ongoing actions by the military junta to curtail fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly, and to a fair trial.
The Observatory urges the military junta of Myanmar to immediately and unconditionally release the five lawyers and all other human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained. The Observatory also urge the military junta to immediately halt the ongoing repression of civil society.
Action requested:
Please write to the members of the military junta asking them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu;
ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Thein Hlaing Tun, Ayeyar Lin Htut, Thet Htun Oo, Nilar, and Hpone Myat Thu, as their detention is arbitrary and only aims at punishing them for their legitimate human rights activities;
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 28, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 12, 2021
- Event Description
It has been nearly one month since Dr Htet Lwin Win, the Kachin State project officer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was arrested and charged with sedition and incitement.
He was arrested on May 12, and is believed to be detained in Myitkyina Prison.
The 34-year-old has been working with the IOM, a related organisation of the UN, since late 2018. He has been charged with violating Section 124a and Section 505a of the Penal Code. The regime authorities accused him of putting a picture of coup leader Min Aung Hlaing in a demeaning position on his doorstep and compiling a list of health workers who were not involved in the anti-coup Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) on his mobile phone.
Section 124a—for sedition—carries either a 7- or 20-year prison sentence and/or a fine.
Section 505a for incitement was amended by the junta soon after the February 1 military coup, and carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.
“In close cooperation with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, IOM has been trying its best to have access to Dr. Htet Lwin Win and to secure his release. IOM has requested the military to respect the privileges and immunities of the UN staff,” a spokesperson for the IOM’s regional office for Asia and the Pacific told Myanmar Now by email on Friday.
A family member Htet Lwin Win said his third hearing was held on June 9, and that the prosecution had filed a request to suspend the charge under Section 124a. At the time of reporting, it was not known if the charge would be dropped.
The family member also told Myanmar Now that the case against Htet Lwin Win is based on Facebook photos unintentionally kept on his phone. It was alleged that the photos were being collected to carry out public shaming, or what is known as “social punishment,” against health workers not involved in the CDM.
Htet Lwin Win’s lawyer was also arrested for allegedly violating Section 505a, but the reason for his arrest was not known at the time of reporting.
In the four months since the coup, the military junta has killed 858 people and arrested nearly 6,000, according to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners as of June 9.
The military junta has repeatedly said the death toll is around 300.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include comments from the IOM’s regional spokesperson.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to work
- HRD
- NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 24, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 14, 2021
- Event Description
A woman from Yangon Region’s Hmawbi Township who was beaten by soldiers after they found protest photos on her phone has had a miscarriage, according to local residents.
The woman, who was two months pregnant, was one of more than 40 people arrested in connection with a fire that broke out at a primary school in the village of Sein Shwe Kone on June 14.
She was arrested and beaten later the same day when a photo of her at a protest was discovered on her mobile phone.
“They found that picture and took her away. They used a device to check her phone, so that even deleted pictures were recovered,” a resident of the village said.
“She took photos during protest rallies. The authorities asked for the home addresses of those in the pictures. They used the phone to hunt the protesters,” the villager added.
The woman was released on June 16 and is currently receiving medical treatment, residents said. Myanmar Now was unable to contact her directly at the time of reporting.
A female resident said that the soldiers arrived a few hours after the fire broke out and demanded to know who in the village had ties to the National League for Democracy (NLD).
“The soldiers came and rounded everyone up. They asked a few people about the arson attack. When the villagers said they didn’t know anything about it, the soldiers wanted to know who in the village was associated with the NLD and who participated in protests. The soldiers beat the villagers until they got the answer,” the woman said.
Residents said that 10 people were arrested on the day of the fire and more than 30 others were taken into custody two days later. Anyone who was found to have liked posts about the NLD on Facebook was arrested, according to residents.
Many others in the village of roughly 1,000 people were also subjected to questioning.
“They said they would interrogate everyone until they found out who the arsonist was,” said one young resident who was among those who were temporarily detained.
“They said that if we tried to evade arrest, they would give our parents trouble. At night, I just had to sit at home and wait for my turn,” she said.
Another resident said that soldiers also examined the list of households in the village to see which ones had children who were not enrolled in school.
“Whenever they found a child who was not enrolled in the school, they beat the child’s parents,” said the villager.
Most of those who were detained were also subjected to beatings, residents said.
“First they hit them five times with a bamboo stick and asked them who the arsonist was. If they said they didn’t know, they were beaten 10 times with the stick. Then 15 and 20 times if they still said they didn’t know,” said one villager.
An activist in Hmawbi said that he could not confirm how many people had been released because some were reluctant to share information out of fear of re-arrest.
A state-run newspaper reported on June 18 that 56 textbooks, three dozen notebooks, and several pieces of furniture were destroyed in the fire.
Junta-controlled media has accused alleged terrorists with links to the NLD of bombing schools and carrying out attacks against teachers and students.
Local People’s Defence Forces loyal to the ousted NLD government have denied targeting civilians in their campaign to pressure the regime to give up power.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Offline, Right to health, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 21, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 8, 2021
- Event Description
Soldiers shot a local protest leader and environmental rights defender in the leg as he rode on the back of a motorcycle in Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning before arresting him and taking him to an interrogation center, a source close to the activist said.
Man Zar Myay Mon was trying to escape from the village of Shanhtu–where he had been hiding–after regime troops arrived and carried out a raid at around 6am.
“The village school was set on fire at night, and the next morning the military showed up,” said a local source who is close to the activist and requested anonymity.
“He was leaving the village to go into hiding again but met with the military’s troops. They shot him in the thigh and he fell off the bike,” the source added.
The driver of the bike managed to escape, as did two others who were riding another motorcycle along with them.
Man Zar Myay Mon received treatment for his wound but was sent to the Monywa interrogation center in legcuffs, the source said.
“It seems he was targeted because of his reputation and leadership in the local civil disobedience movement and protests against the military,” a source close to the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA)—of which Man Zar Myay Mon is a member—told Myanmar Now.
The 28-year-old has been wanted by the regime since April, when he was charged with incitement under section 505a of the Penal Code after becoming a prominent leader of anti-coup protests in Chaung-U Township.
His family learned of his arrest at 7am on Tuesday and they have been unable to talk to or meet with him since. He is the son of the writer Myay Mon and has previously worked as a freelance journalist. In his work as an environmental and land rights defender, Man Zar Myay Mon carried out extensive research on the country’s notorious mining sector. He was also active in the protests against the Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing.
In addition to being a member of MATA, a leading civil society network focused on the extractive sector, Man Zar Myay Mon also belongs to the Sagaing Region coordination unit of the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 10, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 2, 2021
- Event Description
Two reporters working for independent media outlets in Myanmar were jailed for two years on Wednesday for reporting on the demonstrations against the February takeover by the military junta, a family member of one of them and other sources said.
Aung Kyaw, a 32-year-old Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporter, was charged by the military regime with violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and sentenced by a court in Myeik Prison in the southern Tanintharyi region, his wife Nay Chi Moe told RFA.
The section pertains to the circulation of statements, rumors, or reports with the intent to cause military officers to disregard or fail in their duties, and carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
“I don’t know why he was sentenced to two years in prison under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code,” Nay Chi Moe said. “Our family was not allowed to hear the case held at the prison court.”
Junta forces arrested Aung Kyaw when they stormed his home on March 1. He streamed his arrest live on Facebook, and the arrest video has been watched millions of times since then, according to a statement issued Wednesday by DVB.
The day before his arrest, the journalist broadcast live news that soldiers raided and destroyed some houses in Myeik township.
Because Aung Kyaw’s attorney was under threat by the junta, he decided not to hire another lawyer and instead defended himself in court during his last two hearings, DVB’s statement said.
Aung Kyaw argued that non-criminal charges should have been brought against him under Myanmar’s Media Law, rather than the Penal Code, and that he subsequently would have been found not guilty because he was doing his work as a journalist. The judge refused to accept the argument, however.
“I have no confidence in the judiciary under the military council, so I will not appeal,” Aung Kyaw said after the verdict, according to his wife.
Nay Chi Moe said she would not submit an appeal.
“The 505(a) charge should not have been used against a journalist,” she said. “He did not want to file an appeal because he does not believe in the law. He said his case was meant to create a news blackout. It is totally unfair that he was given a two-year sentence under 505(a).”
Aye Chan Naing, DVB's executive director and chief editor, called the sentence “total injustice.”
“There is no reason our reporter Aung Kyaw should be jailed,” he said. “The legal system is so flawed, and it was an unlawful arrest.”
Situation is ‘deteriorating’
Aung Kyaw’s jailing followed that of Min Nyo, a DVB reporter based in Pyay, Bago region, who was sentenced to three years in prison on May 12.
“The military junta is illegally detaining Aung Kyaw and Min Nyo, and there is not a single reason to keep them in prison,” DVB said in its statement. “The junta has currently 57 journalists detained for doing their work. This is a clear violation of both national and international laws by the Burmese junta.”
In another sentencing Wednesday in Myeik, Zaw Zaw, a freelance journalist who works for the outlet Mizzima, was sentenced to two years in prison for violating Section 505(a) of the Criminal Code. RFA could not reach his lawyer or family for comment.
Myint Kyaw, a former Myanmar Press Council member, says the current situation of the press in Myanmar is at its worst under the military regime.
“The situation of the press is deteriorating,” he said. “It is likely to become even worse. No one can say for sure whether it will lead to a censorship regime as existed under the previous junta, but we can say it’s heading in that direction.”
“There had been no such situation like this for a decade with putting more than 50 journalists in jail in Myanmar,” he said. “Press freedom is in a free fall at the worst rate.”
More than 80 journalists have been arrested since the Feb. 1 coup, and over 50 of them face criminal charges wile detained in prisons across the country.
“Myanmar’s junta started with zero respect for independent journalism and has gone downhill from there as the military tries to stop any reporting on the atrocities it's committing every day against the people,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
“The military’s move to go after journalists from respected Burmese media outlets like DVB and Mizzima is all about strangling any independent narratives about what’s happening in Myanmar, and trying to drag the people of the country back to the dictatorially imposed isolation that characterized the rule of previous military regimes in the country,” he said in a statement from Bangkok.
Correspondents say many journalists now are fleeing the country because of the junta’s crackdown on the media, with some going abroad to continue their reporting and others out of jobs and struggling to make ends meet.
Following the coup, the junta banned 11 independent news outlets, including DVB and Mizzima, from operating.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 5, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 24, 2021
- Event Description
The pro-democracy activist brother of a high-ranking official in Myanmar’s military junta died under suspicious circumstances while in custody of the junta’s security forces this week, their family told RFA.
Soe Moe Hlaing, 55, also known by his alias Mae Gyi, was the younger brother of Lt. Gen Than Hlaing, who was appointed the country’s chief of police and deputy home affairs minister on Feb. 2, one day after the military ousted the country’s democratically elected government and seized control.
Authorities arrested Soe Moe Hlaing and eight others on May 22 in the central city of Bago for running a charity school. Two days later, his family received a notice to retrieve his body.
His wife, Myat Muyar Win, told RFA’s Myanmar Service Tuesday that the military planned to cremate his remains at Mingaladon War Cemetery that day.
“We didn’t have to see or do much. It was as if we were attending a funeral they were holding. We wanted to take his body back to Yangon but they refused. We asked them to postpone the funeral for a day, but they refused that, too. We are on our way to Mingaladon right now,” she said.
Local outlet Myanmar Now quoted Myat Muyar Win as saying a regime official told her that he died of “some disease,” but she asserted that her husband was healthy. She also said that she heard reports that the 901st Artillery Operations Command beat Soe Moe Hlaing with the butt of a gun during his arrest. Than Hlaing reportedly went to see the body at the cemetery prior to the cremation.
In the report, Myat Muyar Win said the brothers had not seen each other in many years and they never contacted each other.
RFA attempted to contact the junta’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun but he was not available for comment.
Soe Moe Hlaing, an honors chemistry student at Yangon University, was active in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising. After the 1988 coup he joined and served as a battalion commander in the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), a pro-democracy armed group.
After returning home in 1991, the previous junta arrested him and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the ABSDF. He spent 10 years in Insein and Thayarwaddy prisons. Since his release, he had dedicated his life to charity work.
After Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power in the 2015 elections, Soe Moe Hlaing founded a community-based tourism network for local development, leading the development of the Zalon Taung Pagoda, a religious facility on a scenic mountaintop in the northwestern Sagaing region.
Over the past few years, he established and taught at the Winkabaw Ex-Political Prisoner Education Network, which has a mission to educate family members of political prisoners.
“Even though his brother had a high position in the military, he never took advantage of that,” a friend of Soe Moe Hlaing told RFA on condition of anonymity.
“The local military authorities in Bago did not know he was related to the sitting deputy home affairs minister during his arrest or detention,” Soe Moe Hlaing’s friend said.
According to Myanmar Now, the two brothers have nine other siblings. The invitation for Soe Moe Hlaing’s memorial service mentioned his ties to Deputy Minister Than Hlaing, and said he was survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons.
According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 21 people, including two women, have died since the coup after being arrested and tortured at interrogation camps.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Death
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 4, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 14, 2021
- Event Description
A pro-democracy activist in the Sagaing Region town of Monywa was murdered on Friday after being set on fire in an unprovoked attack, according to a witness to the incident.
Factory manager Taing Aung said that he was talking to the victim, 60-year-old Sein Win, on Friday morning when a factory worker poured gasoline over his head and set him alight.
“I saw him pour the gasoline and then immediately set him on fire. I shouted and tried to put out the fire on Ko Sein Win,” said Taing Aung, who was a friend of the victim.
“He poured the gasoline on him just like we do with water during the Thingyan water festival,” he told Myanmar Now.
Sein Win was immediately admitted to the Monywa General Hospital, but died at around 11pm on Friday, he added.
“He had severe burns on his legs, hands, and head—almost his entire body. His face was burned black. The skin on his legs and hands peeled off,” said Taing Aung.
The assailant was identified as Aung Ko, a resident of Monywa’s Myawaddy ward. At the time of reporting, he was still at large.
Officials at the Monywa police station could not be reached for comment when contacted by Myanmar Now on Saturday.
Sein Win’s family will hold a funeral for him on Sunday afternoon.
A longtime supporter of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Sein Win had been active in politics since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and campaigned for the party in the 1990 election.
According to his daughter Thin Thin Nwe, his political activism often made life difficult for him and his family, including his three adult children.
“None of us ever applied for jobs that required documents or references from ward administrators or the police,” she said, explaining that the regime actively discriminated against those known to oppose its rule.
She added, however, that she understood her father’s position because he shared his political beliefs with his children and educated them about the nature of the dictatorship.
As a veteran pro-democracy activist, Sein Win joined anti-regime protests in Monywa soon after the military seized power on February 1. He was also close to youth activists and supported the anti-coup activities of Generation Z protesters in the town.
“He believed this revolution would win. He saw rays of hope, and so do we. I am very sad that my father will no longer be able to see our victory,” Thin Thin Nwe said.
Sein Win was also a charity worker and a lover of poetry whose poems have been published in a number of magazines.
A fellow poet in Monywa who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity said that it was unlikely that the motive for the attack was personal.
“He was an honest and active charity worker and political activist,” he said.
At least nine civilians, including poet Kay Za Win and writer Kyi Lin Aye, have been murdered in brutal crackdowns on anti-coup protesters in Monywa.
Monywa-based poet Khet Thi died last week in the regime's custody a day after he was arrested in Shwebo, another town in Sagaing about 100km from Monywa.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 19, 2021
- Event Description
Nearly 50 people in Ayeyarwady Region initially charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement were hit with additional charges on Wednesday for treason.
The new charges—violating Sections 122 and 124a of the Penal Code—carry the death penalty or a lifetime prison sentence.
The plaintiff in the case is the chief of the Pathein District police station. He has directed the charges against 31 activists and 17 current and formerly elected National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentarians, one of the affected MPs said.
“They’ve already opened cases against us under 505a. I heard they’re adding more charges to those who are part of CRPH [Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw] or close to them. I also heard we are facing more charges in our township as well,” Ni Ni Moe, a former NLD regional parliamentary representative for Nyaungdon Township’s Constituency 1, said.
Ni Ni Moe went into hiding after being charged with Section 505a for incitement, and is now facing the two additional charges in Pathein.
Since the February 1 military coup, 12 people including four NLD lawmakers have been detained in Ayeyarwady.
Thein Tun, a Lower House representative for Tharpaung Township; Aung Aung Oo, a regional parliamentarian for Tharpaung’s Constituency 1; and Than Htut, a regional representative for Pathein District’s Constituency 1, were arrested on March 31 and charged with incitement.
Dr. Tin Min Htut, a lawmaker from Pantanaw Township and secretary of Ayeyarwady Region’s NLD office, was arrested on the night of May 15. He is among those facing additional charges for treason.
Ni Ni Moe told Myanmar Now that while many NLD MPs are facing persecution by the junta, some have opted to side with the coup regime and have given up their elected posts.
“Before, they filed charges against almost all of the representatives under 505a and now there are additional charges. However, some representatives are casually relaxing at home. I heard some of them have already resigned [from the legislature],” Ni Ni Moe said.
After seizing power, the military amended Section 505a of the Penal Code, increasing the prison sentence for those convicted from two to three years.
Like Section 505a, Section 124a was also amended by the coup regime. It carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for inciting “disaffection towards the Government [...] or the Defence Services.”
Conviction of high treason under Section 122 is accompanied by the death penalty or 20 years’ imprisonment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 21, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 9, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar poet Khet Thi, whose works declare resistance to the ruling junta, died in detention overnight and his body was returned with the organs removed, his family said on Sunday.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls to request comment on the death of Khet Thi, who had penned the line "They shoot in the head, but they don't know the revolution is in the heart." His Facebook page said he was 45.
Khet Thi's wife said both of them were taken for interrogation on Saturday by armed soldiers and police in the central town of Shwebo, in the Sagaing region, a centre of resistance to the coup in which elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted. "I was interrogated. So was he. They said he was at the interrogation centre. But he didn't come back, only his body," his wife Chaw Su told BBC Burmese language news in tears from Monywa, around 100 km away by road.
"They called me in the morning and told me to meet him at the hospital in Monywa. I thought it was just for a broken arm or something ... But when I arrived here, he was at the morgue and his internal organs were taken out," she said.
She had been told at the hospital he had a heart problem, but had not bothered to read the death certificate because she was sure it would not be true, Chaw Su said. Reuters was unable to reach the hospital for comment. Chaw Su said the army had planned to bury him but that she pleaded with them for the body. She did not say how she knew her husband's organs had been removed.
"He died at the hospital after being tortured in the interrogation centre," the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group said in a bulletin that put the toll of civilians killed since the coup at 780.
The group, which monitors details of killings, did not identify the source of its information.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Torture, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Artist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 10, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 26, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military junta should immediately stop threatening the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a leading human rights monitoring group, Human Rights Watch said today. The group has documented security force abuses since the February 1, 2021 coup, including killings of protesters, arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, and unjust court convictions.
On April 26, the Home Affairs Ministry of the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) accused the AAPP of operating illegally because it was not registered as an organization. The junta’s announcement threatened “severe action” against the group for causing “State service personnel and public panic” that will “incite the occurrence of more riots” and “harm State stability, rule of law and restoration of law and order.” “While the world’s media and diplomats regularly cite the AAPP’s daily updates on the military crackdown, Myanmar’s generals are desperately trying to silence the group to keep the truth from getting out,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The threats are part of the junta’s shroud of silence and censorship, targeting frontline groups like AAPP, arresting journalists, and shutting down the internet.”
The junta’s efforts to target the AAPP are illustrated in the 115-page briefing paper, obtained by Human Rights Watch, that the junta leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, presented to leaders at the ASEAN summit in Jakarta on April 24. Min Aung Hlaing claimed, without providing evidence, that the AAPP uses “data” that “appeared in fake and hoax news.” He added that the junta was “very upset” that “world media and international organizations restated” that information.
Responding to the allegations, AAPP Secretary-General Bo Kyi, a recipient of the Human Rights Watch Alison des Forges Defender Award in 2009, told The Irrawaddy magazine that: “I think it is just a political move as international governments, media and UN are referencing our data … The key issue is the violence they have committed, their killing and arrests. Instead of solving those problems, they are targeting a group like ours which is revealing the true events.” The AAPP told Human Rights Watch that the military’s threats have forced them to close their office in Yangon and compelled their staff to go into hiding and work from undisclosed locations. The junta has also arbitrarily arrested journalists to prevent reporting on the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement’s broad-based resistance to the coup and the security force abuses. UNESCO reported that the junta has arrested at least 71 journalists since the coup. The AAPP says that 48 journalists are currently known to be in detention, most in undisclosed locations without access to their families or legal counsel. Many other journalists have fled to border regions controlled by ethnic groups, or to neighboring countries.
The junta has brought charges against numerous journalists and activists under revised penal code provisions adopted on February 14. The State Administration Council inserted a new provision, section 505A, that could be used to punish comments regarding the illegitimacy of the coup or the military government, among others. The new section would criminalize comments that “cause fear,” spread “false news, [or] agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a Government employee.” Violation of the section is punishable with up to three years in prison. The law arbitrarily interferes with the exercise of rights protected under international law, including freedom of expression.
The junta has also increased pressure on independent media outlets by revoking their operating licenses. On March 8, the State Administration Council announced that it had cancelled the licenses of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Khit Thit Media. While these media groups have continued to report on events, they do so at great risk since journalists working for these outlets face immediate arrest if they are discovered doing their jobs as reporters.
“Groups like the AAPP and the independent media are playing a critical role holding Myanmar’s junta accountable, and they need to be able to continue their work,” Robertson said. “Governments concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar should be offering public support for these organizations and their brave staff members.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- NGO, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 4, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 24, 2021
- Event Description
The junta’s forces raided a monastery in Sagain Region’s Yinmabin township on Saturday afternoon in search of a monk who has led anti-coup protests in the area.
Soldiers destroyed a bamboo building in the compound and confiscated 20 computers that were being used to teach students IT skills during the raid at Thabyay Aye village.
The monk they were searching for, Thaw Pa Ka, was not at the monastery at the time.
“The compound is covered with military boot prints,” Thaw Pa Ka told Myanmar Now. “A load of them showed up and started searching the place, even in the toilets.”
They also searched through boxes where novice monks kept their belongings, he added.
Thaw Pa Ka took part in the Saffron Revolution in 2007. He has lived in Thabyay Aye for about 10 years.
Saturday’s raid was the second time this month that the regime’s forces have tried to capture the monk.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 28, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 23, 2021
- Event Description
Saw Lin Htet, an ethnic Karen student from Myanmar currently studying at Mahidol University, has been arrested in Myanmar after joining an anti-coup protest while conducting research, and has not been heard from since.
Saw Lin Htet is a student in the Human Rights and Democratisation master’s degree programme at the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP), Mahidol University. IHRP lecturer Bencharat Sae Chua said that he returned to his home country to conduct research for his thesis. While in Myanmar, he also joined anti-coup protests after the Myanmar military took power on 1 February 2021.
Bencharat said she was informed that Saw Lin Htet was arrested on 23 March 2021, while driving home in Hpa-An, the capital city of Karen State, with his 4-year-old daughter. He was stopped by military officers, who searched his car without presenting a warrant and arrested him after they found anti-government material.
He was accused of inciting violence against the state under Section 505 of Myanmar’s Criminal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years.
He was taken to court on 6 April 2021, but his trial was not heard as there were too many cases. However, that evening, his wife noticed that he was not in the prisoner bus returning to prison, so she went to search for him both at the prison and at the police station, but no officer was able to tell her where he is. He has not been heard from since.
Saw Lin Htet’s family and friends are now concerned for his wellbeing. Bencharat said a petition has been filed with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, and that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights received the petition on 9 April. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter are in hiding out of fear that they are in danger from state officials.
His classmates at Mahidol University have also set up the Facebook page “Free Saw Lin” to call attention to his arrest and disappearance. On 9 April, they also issued a statement raising concerns about Saw Lin Htet’s wellbeing and calling on the Myanmar government to guarantee the rights Saw Lin Htet and other political detainees, as well as to allow them the right to be represented by a lawyer and to have a fair trial.
“We gravely fear for the condition of Saw Lin, who as of this moment remains under incommunicado detention,” says the statement. “Saw Lin’s current physical health is fragile since he is a survivor of childhood tuberculosis. His lack of consistent access to lawyers and his family clear violates his rights as an accused and person deprived of liberty.
“We appeal to the Government of the Union of Myanmar to allow Saw Lin, along with other political detainees, to have their rights guaranteed under the law. We request that they are granted access to justice, be represented by their counsels, and have a fair trial.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 27, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 18, 2021
- Event Description
The Myanmar military detained Japanese freelance journalist, Yuki Kitazumi in Yangon on April 18 for allegedly disseminating ‘fake news’. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemn the continued threat to journalists across Myanmar and calls for the immediate release of all detained journalists.
Yuki Kitazumi, a freelance journalist and owner of Yangon Media Professionals, a media production company, was arrested at his home in Yangon and transferred to Insein prison overnight.Myanmar state television stations reported, Kitazumi was charged with spreading ‘fake news’ under article 505(A) of the Penal Code.
While not providing a name, the Japanese government confirmed a journalist in his forties was detained on April 18. Japanese Embassy officials said they are unable to visit him in detention, and chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato asked ‘Myanmar authorities to explain the arrest and release him as soon as possible.’
Article 505(A) of Myanmar’s penal code is a new amendment made by Myanmar’s State Administrative Council, a body set up by the military after the coup on February 1. The amendment was announced on February 14 and criminalises comments which “cause fear”, spread “false news, (or) agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee.”
Kitazumi was previously detained and released the same day on February 26 while covering protests. According to Reuters, Kitazumi was the first foreign reporter to be detained since the military-coup on February 1.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 26, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 17, 2021
- Event Description
Two anti-coup protesters were killed in northern Myanmar over the weekend as the military continued its push to crush resistance to its rule. One person was reported dead in the northern Shan State town of Kyaukme on Saturday, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, a 25-year-old government employee who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, was shot in the head as he was leaving the monastery where he had temporarily ordained as a monk during the Thingyan holidays.
According to local sources, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, who worked for the Department of Electrical Power, was shot near Kyaukme’s Wailuwun monastery at around 9pm on Saturday.
“He was on his way to his teacher’s home. He had just left the monkhood because it was the end of Thingyan,” a Kyaukme resident told Myanmar Now.
There were numerous witnesses to the incident, the source added, noting that it occurred in the centre of town.
A doctor who treated him said he died from a bullet wound and would be cremated on Monday.
The troops who killed him removed his body from the scene soon after the shooting. Family members were told they could collect it on Sunday. However, according to a local news agency, his mother was forced to sign a release before she was allowed to claim his body stating that her son had been stabbed to death and that the military was not involved in his killing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Public Servant
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 19, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 15, 2021
- Event Description
Plainclothes regime officials detained one of the country’s most prominent anti-coup protest leaders on Thursday after ramming him with a car while he rode a motorbike during a rally in Monywa, Sagaing Region.
A group of armed men emerged from the vehicle after hitting Wai Moe Naing and beat the 26-year-old Muslim man before taking him and another protester away, a local relief worker told Myanmar Now.
“There were about five motorbikes riding in front of his to protect him,” he said. “The vehicle crossed over those bikes and smashed into Wai Moe Naing’s motorcycle from the opposite direction,” he said.
“Wai Moe Naing tried to run as he stood up after his motorbike fell,” he added. “Some armed plainclothes individuals came out of the vehicle and arrested him at gunpoint.”
Video footage that circulated on social media appeared to show the moment his motorbike was hit.
A female protester was arrested with him and both were reportedly taken to the city hall and then the northwestern regional military command base, the relief worker said.
Other protesters who participated in the rally have gone into hiding, he added.
The Swedish embassy in Yangon issued a statement saying that it is following Wai Moe Naing’s case closely.
Wai Moe Naing rose to prominence for his role organising daily anti-coup protests in Monywa, which sits on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River, since February 6.
He is also a member of Monywa’s General Strike Committee and the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee.
He was among those who first suggested the idea of banging pots and pans as a symbol of opposition to the coup regime, The Irrawaddy reported. The noise protest is derived from a traditional ritual to drive out evil from one’s home.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 15, 2021
- Event Description
About 11:30 a.m., workers’ rights activist Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar (STUM), was abducted from her office in Shwepyithar Township. Four military vehicles with around 40 soldiers surrounded the office during the arrest. Her daughter wrote on her Facebook page that the troops also confiscated the phones of the staff in the office.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2021
- Event Description
Regime forces killed at least 20 people in Sagaing and Bago regions on Wednesday, pushing the death toll from two months of crackdowns on anti-coup protests past a new threshold.
Added to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the latest deaths confirmed by Myanmar Now late Wednesday night bring the total number of civilians killed by the regime since it seized power on February 1 to 606.
Most of the fatalities reported on Wednesday were in the Sagaing region town of Kalay, where local medical teams confirmed that a day-long crackdown on the town’s Tarhan protest camp had left at least 11 people dead.
This figure is up from eight reported dead earlier in the day and is expected to continue to rise.
“They were shooting at every shadow, positioning themselves on every corner and every street that led to the protest camp,” a Kalay resident said of the junta’s armed forces.
“They were hiding in ditches and lying in ambush,” he added, noting that non-protesters were likely among those killed.
Local media reported that three of the 11 people killed were not involved in protest activities.
An unknown number of arrests were also made. Photos circulating on social media show several people with their eyes blindfolded and their hands tied behind their backs in the custody of soldiers.
Meanwhile, in another part of Sagaing, seven men were shot dead by regime forces in the town of Taze on Wednesday afternoon, according to a member of a local relief group who spoke to Myanmar Now.
The relief worker said he was unable to provide further details about the situation in the town because his team was still trying to rescue wounded people from the protest site at the time of reporting.
A Taze local said that three of those killed were in their 30s.
According to local sources, it was the first time that the town’s anti-coup rallies, which routinely attracted tens of thousands of protesters, had come under attack by junta forces.
The sources said that around 100 troops arrived in the town in six military vehicles earlier in the day to carry out the crackdown.
“At the entrance to Taze, people used sandbags to block three military trucks coming from Ye-U township. Then the fighting broke out,” a resident of the town told Myanmar Now.
Another local said the junta’s armed forces had a variety of weapons at their disposal, including sniper rifles, while the town’s residents were armed only with homemade guns.
At least 20 people, including a monk, were injured in the clash, he said.
There were also two reported deaths in Bago, where armed troops entered the city’s Kyauk Gyi Su ward and opened fire in a residential neighbourhood, according to local sources.
The two victims were identified as 20-year-old Chan Myae and 48-year-old A Nge Lay, both of whom were shot in the head. The latter individual’s body has not been retrieved.
Meanwhile, a series of small blasts was reported in Yangon on Wednesday, while a Chinese-owned factory was set on fire in the city’s western industrial outskirts.
The blasts occurred at seven locations around the city, including near government offices and a military compound, and caused only minor damage. No injuries were reported.
The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes. The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.
The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes. The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.
The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.
The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes. The fire at the JOC Galaxy (Myanmar) Apparel factory in Hlaing Tharyar township started at around 5:35am and was put out by 6:55am, the township’s fire department reported. No details about the extent of the damage from the blaze were released.
The fire and the blasts came as the regime claimed on state TV on Wednesday that a suspect had been arrested in connection with an incident that took place outside the US embassy’s American Centre on March 27.
The regime alleged that Aye Thaw Kaung, a member of the family that owns the famous Shwe Puzun bakery in Yangon, had purchased a high-pressure air gun online for 190,000 kyat and used it to fire lead balls at the centre in order to “create political complications” in relations between the United States and Myanmar.
Aye Thaw Kaung was also identified as a supporter of the National League for Democracy, the party of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since the military seized power.
Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place around the country almost continuously since the coup, resulting in a steady escalation of violence by the regime in an effort to crush popular resistance to its rule.
On Tuesday, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body consisting of lawmakers from the ousted civilian government, released a statement claiming that it had collected 180,000 pieces of evidence that show “wide-scale abuses of human rights” by the military.
The CRPH said it has directed its international legal counsel at the Volterra Fietta law firm to communicate with different international human rights bodies of the United Nations to share evidence of the Myanmar regime’s crimes.
- Impact of Event
- 19
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 8, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 3, 2021
- Event Description
At least six civilians were killed by Myanmar’s military regime on Saturday, sending the death toll in the crackdown on anti-regime protests to at least 555 across the country.
Despite violence at the hands of the military regime, thousands of civilians in Sagaing, Mandalay regions, and Mon, Kayah and Kachin States took to the streets to take a stand against military rule.
Three civilians were shot dead when police and soldiers opened fire into crowds of protesters with live ammunition early Saturday morning in Monywa, Sagaing region.
Ko Wai Moe Naing, a leading member of the Monywa general strike committee told The Irrawaddy, “When police and soldiers sprayed bullets into the crowd, young people from the defensive team fought back. They tried to deter them from entering our neighborhoods. But we lost three people in the early morning.”
He said two were shot dead in head and another one was shot dead in neck by the security forces. Many at the protest were also wounded, he added.
Soldiers and police have been patrolling around the neighborhoods in the city where people have shown strong support for the anti-coup protesters. Since the Feb.1 coup, at least 20 people in Monywa have been killed by security forces during the crackdown on pro-democracy supporters.
Another two civilians were also killed by the military regime during an attack on an anti-coup protest in Thaton, Mon State. Residents said that at least 20 young people were also arrested by the regime at the protest event.
A local medic said that one person was shot dead in the chest while another was shot dead in the head by the security forces.
A 26-year-old Chin ethnic man, Salai Than Gang, died at this home Saturday afternoon from an abdominal wound suffered when he was shot by security forces in Kale, Sagaing, on March 1 during an assault on an anti-coup protest.
Moreover, a bystander was shot when the regimes’ forces opened fire randomly from a monastery compound where they have established a base near Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda, in Bago. An 18-year-old, Ko Aung Myat Mon, was in critical condition after he was shot in the abdomen.
“He was on the way to see his friend. It has been ten days that they have occupied the monastery. Four were already shot dead by them,” a resident in Bago told The Irrawaddy.
“We don’t dare to walk near the monastery. They shoot randomly as soon as they see people on street,” he said.
In the early morning, an unidentified woman was found dead with her hands tied behind her back in a ditch in Thamine No.1 ward, in Yangon’s Mayangone Township. Police took her body away, and the cause of death is still unknown.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 6, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 3, 2021
- Event Description
The junta’s police force raided The Hakha Post, an ethnic media outlet based in Chin State, on Saturday, the publication’s editor said.
Police officers broke into the organisation’s office in the state capital of Hakha at around 10am on April 3, editor Pu Thawng reported. He added that no staff members were present at the time of the raid; they had cleared out after Myanmar’s February 1 military coup.
“We had predicted the raid since early February so we managed to escape in advance. We took over half of our [office] property,” he said. “Two computers were taken [in the raid], I heard. But only one of them was in good condition. They also took a pile of documents in a white sack.”
The raid of the Hakha Post comes amid an intensified crackdown by the regime’s armed forces on anti-coup movements in neighboring Sagaing and Magwe regions, where many ethnic Chin communities have been defending themselves against the junta’s violence.
The Hakha Post focuses on producing regional news and publishes articles in the Hakha Chin language. While it has ceased printing daily newspapers, it has continued online publication.
“Since the last week of March, we have not been able to publish newspapers safely. It was not safe for our reporters [to gather news], so we stopped the print edition. We have arranged to continue producing news online from a safe place,” Pu Thawng told Myanmar Now.
Chin State is home to multiple local media outlets, including Chin World, The Hakha Times, The Hakha Post, Khonumthung News, and Zalen Media.
According to Detained Journalists Information Myanmar, a Facebook group run by journalists and writers, more than 56 journalists have been arrested or targeted for arrest since the coup.
Around 28 reporters have been released from regime custody, but, at the time of reporting, the rest remained in prison. Many have been charged with violating Section 505a of the Penal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years for causing fear, spreading fake news or agitating against government employees.
The junta has also brought a case under the same law against Yangon-based media outlet The Irrawaddy News for showing “disregard” for the armed forces in its reporting of anti-regime protests.
Five publications, including Myanmar Now and Mizzima, had their offices raided and their publishing licences revoked in early March by the ruling junta.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 5, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 24, 2021
- Event Description
On the night of March 24, police raided the media outlet’s office and two of its employees’ homes in Taunggyi, the capital of Shan state, and detained editor-in-charge Nann Nann Tai, reporter Nann Win Yi, and publisher Tin Aung Kyaw, according to a Facebook post by the outlet and a report by The Irrawaddy.
Kanbawza Tai News editor-in-chief Zay Tai told The Irrawaddy that the outlet had not received any warning or legal action before the arrests, and he did not know where the staffers were being held.
CPJ emailed and called Kanbawza Tai News, an independent news outlet which posts stories on its website and social media, but did not receive any responses. The outlet’s news website was still posting updates as of today, and has recently covered strikes and demonstrations against the country’s military government, which took power in a February coup.
“The jailing of Kanbawza Tai News staffers Nann Nann Tai, Nann Win Yi, and Tin Aung Kyaw is the latest in a lengthening list of crimes against the press by the Myanmar junta,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “They must be immediately and unconditionally freed along with all other journalists wrongfully detained in Myanmar.”
Zay Tai told The Irrawaddy that authorities had previously tried to arrest him in mid-March in a separate house raid, but he escaped.
Also on March 24, Myanmar authorities released hundreds of political prisoners, most of whom had been detained in clampdowns on anti-military protests, including Associated Press journalist Thein Zaw and Polish freelance photographer Robert Bociaga, according to news reports.
At least 23 other journalists remain in detention, including the Kanbawza Tai News staffers, according to data shared with CPJ by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, an independent rights group.
Twelve of those journalists have been charged under the penal code, with at least 10 facing charges under Article 505(a), a broad criminal provision that penalizes the dissemination of information that could agitate or cause security forces or state officials to mutiny, that data shows.
CPJ emailed the Ministry of Information for comment, but did not receive an immediate reply.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to privacy
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2021
- Event Description
Ko La Raw from Kachin Waves and Ma Chan Bu, from the 74 Media, were arrested by the military while reporting in the city of Myitkyina on March 29. Witnesses said the journalists were both beaten and detained by authorities while reporting on a crackdown on anti-regime protestors.
The arrests coincide with escalating violence across the region, with reports of more than 114 people killed across Myanmar on Saturday, March 27, including several children. Police also opened fire on a funeral crowd in the city of Bago for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old killed March 27. Myanmar’s annual Armed Forces Day on March 27 was the bloodiest single day since the coup began on February 1. As the anti-regime protests entered their seventh week, the UN released a statement condemning the violence and calling on the military “to immediately stop killing the very people it has the duty to serve and protect”.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 28, 2021
- Event Description
On Sunday afternoon, a 38-year-old ethnic Chin woman, Ah Khu a leader of civil society group Women for Justice based in Sagaing Region’s Kale township, was slain by security forces during a crackdown against an anti-regime protest in the town. Another three men were also killed by the junta’s forces.
A resident told The Irrawaddy on Sunday that Ah Khu was deliberately shot by two security forces dressed in civilian clothes.
The Women's League of Burma described her as "a woman with a dedicated spirit and hopeful mind".
"We salute her courage, her commitment and her cause," it said.
On March 28, longtime activist Ah Khu was shot dead at a protest in Sagaing Division. While security forces started out by policing protests with non-lethal weapons, by mid-March they were armed with assault rifles, sniper rifles and submachine guns, according to Amnesty International, which said troops had adopted “shoot to kill tactics to suppress the protests”. Of those who were shot, about a quarter were shot in the head, according to the AAPP data. A military spokesman had no comment on Amnesty’s report. The women’s rights leader and activist
In Kale, a small town perched on the mountainous India-Myanmar border, many knew Ah Khu, an activist who promoted the rights of women.
For over a decade the 37-year-old had been a director of Women for Justice, a nonprofit that campaigned to stop violence against women and help victims, especially from the ethnic Chin, mostly Christian, minority group she belonged to. She led workshops on gender equality and traveled across the country to collaborate with other organizations and raise funds, sometimes going to India to help refugee Chin women.
“So many people knew her name as women’s rights activist Ah Khu,” said her colleague Ju Jue.
After the coup, Women for Justice – like many civil society groups across the country – turned to organizing protests. Ah Khu was a regular at demonstrations in Kale, often alongside her husband, Lahphai Laseng. Naturally shy, he said he had gained confidence by marrying her.
“I have lost everything,” he said.
On March 28, Ah Khu was at a protest with her friend and colleague Ju Jue when at around 3 pm, soldiers began opening fire. Explosions resounded around them; they thought the security forces were throwing grenades.
As the two women were urging others to flee – small children were among the crowds – Ah Khu fell to the ground. “At first I thought she fell accidentally, so I tried to pick her up, but she said she had been shot in the chest,” Ju Jue said. “She couldn’t believe it. How was it possible? We were too far from the place they were shooting. She could only say, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’”
They took her to hospital on a motorbike, but doctors were unable to resuscitate her. Fearful of retribution for treating a protester, the doctors urged her family to take her body away quickly. Her husband and friends drove 15 hours to her birthplace deep in the Chin hills. On the way, questioned by security forces three times at check points, they gave an alternative name for Ah Khu and said she had died of high blood pressure.
Kale police did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment.
On arrival, villagers greeted them with revolutionary songs and the anti-coup movement’s signature three-finger salute, Ah Khu’s husband said. But the family was not allowed to put her name on her grave because locals were afraid the soldiers would cause trouble over it. On a cold morning, a small crowd gathered in a clearing in the forest as her coffin was lowered, video of the funeral showed. A priest read from the Bible, and a colleague at Women for Justice read out a declaration releasing her from her work on earth.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- NGO staff, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 1, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 29, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar security forces killed 14 people Monday during demonstrations in towns across the country following the deadliest weekend since the February military coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
The group, which has been monitoring the violence, said Monday’s toll brings the total number of deaths since the February 1 coup to at least 510.
Eight of the deaths that took place Monday occurred in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, according to AAPP.
Protests took place Monday throughout the country, including in Sagaing Region, where hundreds of mourners lined the street to pay tribute to a 20-year-old nursing student who was shot and killed Sunday while helping provide aid to injured protesters.
- Impact of Event
- 14
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 1, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 28, 2021
- Event Description
Taking a stand
Thinzar Hein’s parents told her not to go, but she went anyway.
Her father was reportedly a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, the army-backed party that had suffered a humiliating defeat in last year’s election. He disapproved of the protests against the February 1 coup, but she was determined to join others who opposed the regime. She left home because she wanted to stand on her own two feet.
She said as much during a speech that she delivered in front of Monywa’s clock tower on February 22, the day of the “five twos” (22/2/2021) general strike that marked the start of an effort to turn weeks of protests around the country into a nationwide uprising.
By this time, public employees had already launched the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) that aimed to cripple the regime’s capacity to rule. Thinzar Hein said she had lost respect for teachers at her nursing school who did not join the CDM.
“You should be ashamed if you can’t say in the future that you were a part of the revolution,” she said.
Aye Aye heard this speech and was impressed. But their friendship began when Thinzar Hein started giving her rides to the protests on her motorcycle.
Since Thinzar Hein had nowhere to live after leaving her parent’s home, Aye Aye let her stay at her hostel. That’s when Thinzar Hein taught her how to provide basic emergency medical care, she said.
At first it was just the two of them who went wherever they were needed to help the wounded. That meant anywhere they could hear the sound of gunshots that had become a feature of everyday life in Monywa and cities all over Myanmar since the coup.
Then, on March 3, they saw a man who had been shot in the leg die right before their eyes. Thinzar Hein knew he might have been saved if they had been better prepared to deal with his injuries. And so they decided to form an emergency medical team, raising funds to buy proper medical equipment through their network of fellow protesters.
Facing death
Thinzar Hein used her formal medical training to teach others how to tend to the wounded. In a small room, she instructed 20 people at a time in the first-aid techniques that would make the difference between life and death for victims of a regime intent on terrorizing the country into submission.
“She was very passionate,” Aye Aye said of her friend, recalling Thinzar Hein’s reaction to the death of the man who had been shot in the leg.
“She said she knew there were going to be more shootings,” she added, speaking to Myanmar Now soon after undergoing surgery on her shoulder.
That certainty fuelled Thinzar Hein’s determination to be prepared for any eventuality, including her own death.
In her final message to friends and family, she asked for the forgiveness of those she would have to leave behind if she didn’t survive her dangerous mission.
“I hope my loved ones will forgive me for embarking on a path that doesn’t guarantee a safe return,” she wrote on her Facebook page two days before she was murdered by Myanmar’s terrorist junta.
While regime forces go on a state-sanctioned killing spree, medics and other volunteers around the country continue to put their own lives on the line in the hope that they can save even one injured civilian.
Even when they know there is no one left to save, they return to protest sites day after day to collect the bodies of the dead before they can be taken away and disposed of by their killers.
After a night of bloodshed, people like Thinzar Hein will arrive at a scene of carnage before dawn to attend to both the living and the dead. If they are caught off-guard, they, too, will become casualties of the regime’s war on human decency.
“This is not okay. Even in international wars, medics are not targeted. But here, they’re worried their actions will be exposed, and so they fire at everyone,” said one doctor in Mandalay, describing the behaviour of the junta’s forces.
Dying in agony
Often, medical volunteers will wait for hours for soldiers to leave, knowing that that many victims won’t live long enough to be rescued in the morning.
These are agonizing hours, when they have to listen to people in need of immediate attention moaning in pain. In Monywa, one team spent three hours like this, blocked by soldiers who stood ready to shoot them on sight, until the victim finally fell silent. By the time they were able to reach him, the 30-year-old man had bled to death.
“There was a big cement wall we used as cover, but we couldn’t get to him. We could only pick him up after he was dead,” said a member of the team that attempted to rescue the man.
“Every time we are forced to watch someone die from nearby, it hurts. Every second is important for a bleeding patient,” said the doctor in Mandalay, where many volunteers have had similar experiences.
A member of one rescue team in Myanmar’s second-largest city said he once spent six hours in this situation, as multiple gunshot victims slowly died from their injuries.
“The worst time was in Aung Pin Lal, where they even shot at ambulances and medics had to run for their lives, leaving patients behind,” he said. “Some died of blood loss, and there was nothing we could do about it. It was just a really sad sight.”
Another member of the team was killed at the same time, and his body was never recovered, he added.
Often, he said, family members of people who have gone missing will turn up at emergency clinics in tears, hoping to find them still alive. In many cases, however, the rescue workers can’t even manage to bring back their dead bodies.
And then there are those who somehow escape on their own, but don’t dare seek treatment because of the heavy military presence. Only when their condition becomes truly dire will they come out of hiding.
When Thinzar Hein was shot, her expressed wish to be abandoned to avoid further death was ignored by another member of her team, who crawled to her body under heavy fire and rolled it to a side street so that he could pick it up and carry it to a clinic, where she was declared dead on arrival.
Like others inspired by Thinzar Hein’s example, her friend Aye Aye vowed to continue her work as soon as she recovered from her injuries.
“I will keep fighting,” she said. “I will always be a part of her team.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Apr 1, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 3, 2021
- Event Description
At least 18 people were shot dead and dozens more injured in cities across Myanmar during lethal crackdowns by soldiers and police on anti-coup protesters on Wednesday, making it clear that the military regime is waging an all-out war against its own people in an effort to restore the full-blown Orwellian state it existed as for many decades.
It is tied with Sunday as being the deadliest day of demonstrations since protests began after the February 1 coup.
Myanmar Now spoke to sources in five cities, but there were also reports of shootings and arrests in towns and cities around the country.
Mandalay
In Mandalay, security forces killed a 37-year-old man and 19-year-old woman in a crackdown on demonstrations that used live ammunition and stun grenades.
The victims have been identified as Myo Naing Lin, who suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, and Kyel Sin, who was shot in the side of her head, emergency workers and family members told Myanmar Now.
At least 11 people were also injured in the shootings by security forces, according to medics on the ground. Of those injured, two are in critical condition, having suffered gunshots to the forehead and to the back.
Monywa
In the town of Monywa in Sagaing Region, seven people were killed and an estimated 70 were injured after security forces attacked them with live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas.
The identities of four of the casualties were known at the time of reporting: 26-year-old Kyawt Nandar Aung, 23-year-old Moe Aung, 37-year-old Myint Myint Sein and 17-year-old Min Khant Kyaw. There was also a 45-year-old man who was shot and killed but whose name had not been released.
Two of the victims were shot in the head: Kyawt Nandar Aung and Moe Aung.
Further details of the victims were unavailable, as well as the identity of the remaining two.
One of the protesters told Myanmar Now in a phone interview that security forces in a police truck took away two bodies of people who had been shot dead in the attack.
“Two other dead bodies soaked in blood were taken away by dogs,” he said, referring to police and soldiers.
Myingyan
In the town of Myingyan in central Myanmar, 22-year-old Zin Ko Ko Thaw died from a gunshot wound to the head and at least 15 other people were injured during the crackdown on a protest of tens of thousands of local residents.
A Myingyan local told Myanmar Now that around 150 soldiers and police had violently broken up the demonstration without any warning.
“It was so sudden, like a military operation. No warnings for the crackdown at all,” he said.
Mawlamyine
The Mawlamyine-based Than Lwin Times reported that 19-year-old bystander Htet Wai Htoo was killed this afternoon after being shot in the head with a live bullet by security forces who entered his neighbourhood.
He was pronounced brain-dead and died of the injury, according to the Than Lwin Times.
Yangon
Meanwhile in Yangon, police and soldiers killed at least seven protesters with live ammunition during a crackdown in North Okkalapa township, some 18 kilometers from downtown Yangon.
Wednesday marked the first deadly crackdown in this area of the city by the security forces after similar attacks were carried out at other major protest sites, including Hledan and Sanchaung.
Two of the victims have been identified as 19-year-old Htet Aung and 20-year-old Min Oo, according to a doctor from a nearby private hospital who helped treat those wounded in the crackdown.
Htet Aung was pronounced dead from a gunshot to the chest upon arrival at the hospital, while Min Oo, who was shot in the lower abdomen, died of his injuries later in the afternoon. Four people were pronounced dead upon arrival at the North Okkalapa public hospital, and another person died after being admitted for treatment, according to an emergency room doctor from the hospital.
The doctor said that there had been a total of 16 people injured and admitted to the public hospital.
No further details were available at the time of reporting.
Even though there are reports of more deaths in Yangon, at the time of reporting, Myanmar Now could independently verify only seven deaths.
- Impact of Event
- 19
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 31, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar’s military regime marked its Armed Forces Day on Saturday by slaughtering more than 100 people across the country, making it the bloodiest single day since the generals seized power on Feb. 1.
As of evening, The Irrawaddy has recorded at least 102 people, including at least four children ranging in age from 5 to 15, killed on Saturday in 41 locations in 10 out of Myanmar’s 14 states and regions.
Most of the victims were shot dead by trigger-happy soldiers and police during crackdowns on anti-protesters. One child was hit with a randomly sprayed bullet while playing.
Since early February, the junta has staged fatal assaults on protesters across the country who are opposed to military rule. A total of 429 have been slain so far.
While Saturday marked the seventh week of protest against the regime, it was also the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day, an annual celebration for the military to mark Myanmar’s resistance against the Japanese fascists in 1945.
However, protesters across the country viewed Saturday as “Revolutionary Day” against the regime and poured into streets. True to form, the regime’s soldiers and police responded with a burst of bloodshed, as if the heightened violence was a way of commemorating their special occasion.
The bloodshed came to Dala Township, a small town across the Yangon River, just after midnight. Eight people were shot dead about 12:30 a.m. Saturday as a crowd besieged a police station demanding that security forces release two women detained after a protest on Friday morning.
“They [security forces] kept shooting until 3 a.m. Several people were injured. Some of them are still critical condition,” a witness said.
A woman mourns for her family member killed by the regime’s troops on Saturday. In northern Yangon’s Insein Township, residents took to the streets at 2:30 a.m. to set up roadblocks, taking advantage of the absence of security forces in the small hours. Deadly crackdowns came about 6 a.m. and continued on into the day, resulting in four deaths.
A nurse from a local professional medic team that provided medical assistance in the area throughout the day said that not only protesters were slain. People like a drinking water deliveryman and other bystanders were either shot dead in the head and abdomen or wounded as attacks continued in neighboring areas and townships.
“They are devils. How can a human being behave like this? I can’t even find any proper words to describe their brutality,” said the nurse who gave her name as “Soe” for security reasons.
While Insein residents ran for their lives and fought back with whatever they could find—from broken bricks to slingshots to Molotov cocktails to burning piles of tires—coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing celebrated Armed Forces Day on a grand scale in the capital 200 miles away.
In his lengthy and cliché-ridden speech to a gathering of troops, he said the military has historically prioritized the safeguarding of the nation and its people and repeated his worn out excuse on staging the takeover by saying, “There was massive electoral fraud.”
A few hours after of his boast about how the military safeguards the nation and its people, his troops killed four civilians, including a 13-year-old girl, in Meiktila in Mandalay Region. The deaths occurred when security forces fired shots into a housing estate in an effort to disperse protesters.
It’s worth asking why the people of Myanmar are still taking to the streets, risking their lives to the violence of the regime’s troops.
A 26-year-old protester in Yangon’s Thaketa Township said he keeps protesting because he’s afraid of losing his future in the regime’s hands.
“We are not lambs to the slaughter. But if we stayed quiet, it would be the same as dying. So we fight for our hope and our future,” he said.
In northern Shan State’s Lashio, three more protesters including a lawyer were killed. They were shot in the head and chest when police and soldiers opened fire on anti-coup demonstrators, according to a local charity group. It also reported that several people were wounded during the crackdown.
“We could not retrieve the dead bodies. They dragged the bodies and the injured people onto a military truck,” a volunteer from the charity group told The Irrawaddy.
Coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during the Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on Saturday. ( Commander-in-Chief Office) Not surprisingly, the record-breaking killings by soldiers and police on Armed Forces Day have shocked diplomatic missions in the country.
The European Union in Myanmar said, “This 76th Myanmar Armed Forces Day will forever stay engraved as a day of terror and dishonor.”
“The killing of unarmed civilians, including children, is indefensible,” the EU statement said.
US Ambassador Thomas Vajda condemned the security forces for “murdering unarmed civilians, including children, the very people they swore to protect” while calling for an immediate end to the violence and the restoration of the democratically elected government.
“This bloodshed is horrifying. These are not the actions of a professional military or police force,” he said in a statement released on Saturday.
For the nurse Soe in Yangon, the regime’s brutality prompted her to question one of her professional ethics: neutrality.
“As professional health workers, we are supposed to help anyone whoever they are. But they even killed kids! They shot people living in their homes,” she said.
So, would she save a dying soldier or wounded policeman now?
“I would surely do it in the past. But, not now!” she vowed.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 29, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 25, 2021
- Event Description
Almost two months after the military seized power, people across Myanmar doggedly continued the fight to topple the regime on Thursday with protests in towns and cities across the country.
Once again, the military responded with murderous attacks, killing at least six. Fatalities were confirmed in Shan State’s Taunggyi, Kachin state’s Mohnyin and Sagaing region’s Khin-U.
The regime has now killed 320 people, including 20 children, in its bid to crush the democratic uprising, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Thursday’s renewed protests came a day after the country observed a “Silent Strike”. Businesses closed and people stayed in their homes as streets remained empty of pedestrians and cars.
The action was a show of strength and unity in response to the military’s hamfisted efforts to resume business as usual and force the economy to reopen after weeks of devastating strikes. It was also aimed at allowing people a chance to rest.
Here is a roundup of Thursday’s violence by region, as well as some additional details from Wednesday night that have now been confirmed:
Taunggyi, Shan state
Four people were killed and several, including a pregnant woman, were injured when soldiers opened fire on protesters in Taunggyi, locals said. The troops also used tear gas and rubber bullets during the attack.
Photos taken by locals and circulated on social media showed the regime’s forces beating residents and destroying their properties.
Residents said the army used drone cameras to watch over residential areas but Myanmar Now was unable to verify this.
Sources from the town said nearly 60 people were arrested during Thursday’s attacks and several people had their mobile phones seized.
Mohnyin, Kachin state
Forty-year-old Win Swe was shot in the abdomen and killed in Mohnyin when the junta’s forces opened fire on a crowd that had gathered in front of the police station to demand the release of nine protesters who were arrested on Thursday morning.
“At first, the police just said to disperse. Later a truck full of soldiers arrived and opened fire,” said a member of an aid group that is helping the injured.
Win Swe was a gasoline seller and a resident of the Aung Thabyay ward in Mohnyin.
Two other people in their 30s were severely injured during the attack, Mohnyin locals said.
hin-U, Sagaing region
In Khin-U, Sagaing region, troops from a battalion in nearby Shwebo attacked a pro-democracy demonstration and killed a 19-year-old demonstrator named Zaw Win Maung.
Two others were injured, according to a Khin-U resident.
“We had blocked main roads in town and troops from Shwebo came on foot to where we were at around midday. They started shooting as soon as they arrived,” the resident said.
Zaw Min Maung passed away at around 6pm while being treated at a local monastery. Soldiers then came and took his body as well as an injured teenager, whose whereabouts and condition is unknown.
On Wednesday night police arrested a group of 14 volunteer night guards in Aung Chan Thar ward. Residents then surrounded the police station to demand their release.
Police shot at the crowd outside the station but later released the night guards, a local said. Mandalay
A junta crackdown on a nighttime protest in Mandalay’s Kyaukpadaung township on Wednesday night left one person dead and three severely injured, a local rescue worker said. The protest was held to mark the end of the day’s Silent Strike.
Soldiers attacked the protest at around 8pm. Kyi Sett Hlaing, 23, was shot in the thigh and bled to death at around 11pm after he was unable to access medical treatment.
The rescue worker said his charity was delayed trying to reach injured protesters because there were soldiers patrolling the main road in the town in search of people who had left broken glass out to slow the advance of military vehicles.
“They were looking for those who shattered glass on the road, so we couldn’t go freely,” he said.
Also on Wednesday night, in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi township, a 16-year-old boy was killed during an attack on residents who were banging pots at Sein Pan street near the intersection of 66th and 67th streets, a doctor who helped treat the injured told Myanmar Now.
The victim was identified as Phoe Hti. He was shot in the back by the junta’s troops, according to his relatives.The shootings started at 8:30pm and at least five other residents were injured, a rescue team said.
Before the shooting, soldiers shouted: “If you have courage, come out now!” a resident said.
“After we banged pots, they came in shouting ‘Who has the courage? Who was banging pots? Come out now!’ They then went around shooting. I’ve heard that some night watchmen were shot,” the resident added.
One person was shot in the abdomen and the other in the leg, she added.
“No rescue team has arrived, they have been left just like that,” she added, speaking at around 9pm on Wednesday. “We don’t dare to go out to look either.”
Ambulances were able to enter the area around 9:30pm that night and took the injured people to a clinic, a doctor said.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 26, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 19, 2021
- Event Description
A BBC journalist and a former Mizzima News reporter were arrested by men believed to be plainclothes officers in Naypyitaw on Friday afternoon, a family member confirmed.
BBC Burmese journalist Aung Thura was in front of the Dekkhina District court to report on a hearing for National League for Democracy patron Win Htein when he was arrested. Former Mizzima correspondent Than Htike Aung was with him at the time of the arrest.
No further details of the arrest or the reporters’ detention were known at the time of reporting, according to Aung Thura’s relative.
“I saw some plainclothes officers dragging away a person in trousers into a car,” lawyer Min Min Soe, who was near the court at the time, told Myanmar Now. The man she saw is believed to be Than Htike Aung.
“Two other officers in plainclothes were hassling another individual in a paso [traditional sarong for men] and glasses,” she said, referring to Aung Thura. “It was quite a scene so I don’t know what happened next.”
BBC News issued a statement on Friday afternoon saying that they are "doing everything [they] can" to find Aung Thura, who they described as being taken away by unidentified men.
“We call on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe,” the statement said.
As of March 16, a total of 38 journalists had been arrested or targeted for arrest since the February 1 coup. The latest arrests of the BBC and former Mizzima journalists push this number up to 40.
Only 22 of these reporters have been released. Ten journalists have been charged with violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which has been used against people who are seen as causing fear, spreading fake news, or agitating government employees. Under recent amendments to the law, the charges come with a three-year prison sentence if convicted.
Online news website The Irrawaddy has also been charged by the junta as violating the same statute for showing “disregard” for the armed forces in their reporting of the ongoing anti-regime protests.
Five publications, including Myanmar Now and Mizzima had their offices raided and their publishing licenses revoked earlier this month by the regime.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 22, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2021
- Event Description
The junta’s armed forces shot and killed a protester in Monywa, Sagaing Region, on Sunday morning as a crowd of people set up preparations for an anti-coup demonstration.
Twenty-three-year-old Min Min Zaw was shot in the head while setting up street barricades on the frontline, a local doctor on strike told Myanmar Now.
Nine people were injured when police and soldiers shot live ammunition into the crowd, with four in critical condition at the time of reporting, according to the doctor.
As the regime’s forces took over the main roads in Monywa to deter civilians from protesting, locals instead used side streets to hold their rallies against the February 1 military coup, building makeshift barricades in the roads for protection.
Min Min Zaw was shot dead at the Bo Tayza Street in Monywa when the armed forces came to destroy these barricades.
Despite the killing of Min Min Zaw, Monywa residents continued to hold their rally against the regime for the 43rd day since February 7.
Twelve people have been killed in total in Monywa by police and soldiers.
Nationwide, the regime has killed at least 247 people since the military coup, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
However, medics and rescue workers believe that the actual number of protest-related deaths may be much higher than the AAPP’s estimates, as there are multiple reports of missing persons, and family members who say they have been unable to claim the bodies of their loved ones from the regime.
Despite the ongoing deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations by the armed forces, defiant protesters in Myanmar continued to take to the streets on Sunday in towns and cities across the country.
- Impact of Event
- 10
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 22, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 20, 2021
- Event Description
On 20 March, protesters gathered at Sanam Luang demanding that the power of the monarchy be limited under the constitution. The police responded by setting up a long barrier of containers. The people faced retaliation after removing the blockade. Rubber bullets, tear gas, and water cannon were deployed broadly and indiscriminately.
As of Sunday morning, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that 32 people were arrested. 30 people were taken to Border Patrol Police Region 1 headquarters in Pathum Thani for detention and investigation.
The Erawan Medical Centre reported on Sunday that 33 people were injured and transferred to hospital.
The protest was scheduled after a popular vote in the REDEM communication group. Protesters gathered at Sanam Luang at around 17.50 to face a long barrier of containers stacked two-high barring them from accessing the Grand Palace walls. The blockade was reportedly put in place at around 07.00 on Saturday. As more people arrived, some protesters were seen pulling down part of the wall of containers. At around 19.00 a path opened up after a row of containers was removed. Crowd control police behind the blockade began to warn the protesters not to cross the line otherwise they would be arrested.
At 19.02 water cannon opened fire from behind the blockade as the police were preparing arrest teams. 8 explosions were heard. The protesters retreated to Phan Phipop Lila Bridge before re-entering Sanam Luang, waving large white banners, only to face more water cannon fire. The water was reportedly infused with a tear gas agent. At around 19.30, the protesters were flanked by crowd control police who marched from Ratchadamnoen Road toward the protesters. The police on both sides then started forcibly dispersing protestors. Tear gas and rubber bullets were widely used at this stage as the protesters made a retreat to Phra Pinklao Bridge, the only major exit that remained open.
Doi, a 15-year-old young woman, was injured in the left chest by a rubber bullet. She said she was at the Mother Earth Statue across Sanam Luang when the police announced that they would arrest people who were lingering on the street. However, the police shot her after a couple seconds without allowing her to run. Doi said she was terrified and hurt. She said her family is not against her coming to the protest. However, getting hurt is not what she wanted as she was afraid of missing a test because of her injury.
The standoff at Phra Pinklao Bridge went on for around 1 hour. Tear gas and explosions were observed several times. The media around Ratchadamnoen Road were restricted in a designated area by the police.
At 20.43, crowd control police opened a path to Atsadang Road, allowing protesters to leave. Police asked the media to lead the people out of the area. Afraid of an ambush by a pro-monarchy vigilante group, the protesters urged the police to lead them out to a safe place. 2 units of police were deployed to lead the protesters out.
At 21.45, a person was attacked by an unidentified group of men around Wat Mahannapharam with some sort of flag pole. He was injured in the head and taken to hospital.
At 21.53, the Coalition of Salaya for Democracy posted on Facebook that a person was shot with live ammunition by unknown men around the Giant Swing.
At 22.24, Prachatai journalist Sarayut Tangprasert was shot in the back by a rubber bullet while livestreaming the crackdown at Kok Wua intersection, leading to Khao San Road. He was wearing a media armband provided by the Thai Journalists Association (TJA). During the night, journalists from Channel 8 and Khaosod were injured by rubber bullets, one to the head and one to the leg.
The police set up a line at Kok Wua intersection, moving back and forth to disperse protestors. People who were sitting in Khao San Road booed them before the police moved away from the famous tourist destination which is now less crowded due to the pandemic. Deputy Police Spokesperson Pol Col Kritsana Pattanacharoen said the police responded to the protest in accordance with legal provisions, noting that the protest was not allowed according to the restrictions of the Emergency Decree to control the spread of Covid-19. The police had warned the protesters not to trespass beyond the blockade. Protesters still came forward and some attacked the police with marbles or bolts fired by slingshots.
“In carrying out their duty this evening, police officers have used restraint, acting according to the steps of the law, acting strictly according to regulations in political science and legal principles,” said Kritsana.
At 21.15, the Medics and Nurses for the People volunteer group estimated that at least 30 people had been injured from tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannon blasts and assaults.
At around 23.00 a clash broke out at Wan Chat Bridge, 400 meters from the Democracy Monument when protesters seized a police van and used it as a shield. The Tempo News reported men were caught throwing a home-made explosive at the police from the lines of media. Molotov cocktails were used but quickly put out. Police returned fire with tear gas and rubber bullets.
According to the Reporters Facebook live feed, crowd control police staged a crackdown at around 23.00, resulting in 9 arrests. 1 police officer and 1 other person were injured and taken away from the scene.
On 23.30, the Dao Din activist group gathered in front of Khon Kaen University Police Station to protest against the violence in Bangkok.
Calm before the storm The Free YOUTH Movement, one of the protest organizers formed in 2020, published a statement demanding limits to the power of the monarchy, the demilitarization of politics and universal social welfare. Activities began peacefully. The protest on Saturday was meant to send messages via paper planes to address the issue of limiting the power of the monarchy under the constitution. People were seen flying kites, raising banners and spraying the ground with graffiti.
The artists' network Free Arts were also organising activities during the protest. Earlier in the evening, they were spray-painting pictures of activists currently imprisoned for charges relating to political activities, as well as messages such as “Free our friends” and “Abolish Section 112” onto kites, which can then be seen flying above Sanam Luang. A representative of the group said that the idea behind the event is that several of the imprisoned activists are facing charges because of the protest at Sanam Luang on 19 – 20 September 2020, so the group decided to paint their pictures onto kites to show that they are thinking of those who are imprisoned.
The representative also said that one of the activities they think of when they return to Sanam Luang was flying kites, and that the event is also symbolic of how Sanam Luang used to be a public space where anyone can organize an event.
Free Arts also planned to use the space for dancing, and said that there is also a plan for participants to read out Anon Nampa’s speech on monarchy reform. However, these activities did not take place as the protest was cut short due to police violence.
Eak, joining the protest wearing a T-shirt with a parody of the Naruto manga, changing the name to Narutu, a reference to the nickname (Tu) of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha. He said he wanted to express his anger at Thai politics. “I am angry at the senators who rejected the draft constitution. I am angry that our friends were ordered to be detained by the court without a verdict. It is against international principles, against every theory, against everything.”
Eak wants the government to step down for the good of Thai children and the future.
BANGKOK — At least 20 people were taken into custody after riot police broke up a protest calling for a monarchy reform at Sanam Luang on Saturday night, police said Sunday.
The rally outside the Grand Palace was organized by the REDEM group, who had said they planned to have demonstrators throw paper planes with messages over the palace walls.
The protesters, who numbered close to 1,000, gathered at Sanam Luang, where they were met with a massive barricade made of shipping containers to defend palace grounds. They proceeded to dismantle the obstacle installed by the police, to which the police retaliated with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets as they moved in to clear out the remaining protesters in the vicinity.
Protesters pull down a shipping container used as a barricade near the Grand Palace on Mar. 20, 2021. Protesters pull down a shipping container used as a barricade near the Grand Palace on Mar. 20, 2021. “Demonstrators began the violence,” deputy Bangkok police commander Piya Tawichai said. “The police were on the defense, since we were tasked to enforce laws and defend public property. Although the protesters claimed that they are leaderless, our investigation found that they actually have leaders, but they are not coming forward.”
Police said a total of 20 people were arrested during the crackdown on protesters last night, though the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group reported as many as 32 people, including seven minors, were taken into custody.
They faced six charges, which include breaking the Emergency Decree’s ban on mass gatherings, causing public disturbance, and resisting arrests, police said.
Khaosod English correspondents at the scene said police appeared to rely heavily on rubber bullets than any crowd control measures on Saturday night, especially during smaller clashes that flared up at multiple locations along the historic Ratchadamnoen Avenue as demonstrators hurled objects, including devices believed to be firecrackers, and set fires to deter riot police.
Bangkok’s emergency medical service center said a total of 33 people were injured. Twenty of them were civilians, while 13 of them were police officers.
At least three reporters, including Khaosod’s Thanyalak Wannakote and Prachatai’s Sarayut Tangprasert, were hit by rubber bullets. Police said they were hit by stray bullets as officers had already warned them to leave the area.
“We instructed police officers to use riot control measures in accordance with the regulations,” Maj. Gen. Piya said. “We insured warnings to journalists, volunteer medical workers, and civilians to disperse. However, not all of them left, so some were hit by stray bullets during the commotion. The metro police chief has already acknowledged and will visit the victims.”
Thai media guilds issued a joint statement Sunday asking every party to show tolerance, though it did not condemn police use of force on journalists on the frontline.
“Journalists working at protest sites must strictly observe the guidelines for reporting during a crisis to prevent loss of lives and properties,” the statement wrote. “Journalists working at protest sites should wear an identification armband every time, however it is not guaranteed to protect them from violence.”
The REDEM group, short for Restart Democracy, claims to have no leaders and relies on opinion polls on the Telegram messaging app to make key decisions. The group said they will call for another rally on Sunday after the majority voted for, though they have yet to announce the venue.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 22, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 15, 2021
- Event Description
The military regime has seized control of the bank accounts of billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation (OSF) in Myanmar and announced that it will take legal action against the foundation, which is accused of violating restrictions on the activities of such organizations.
On Monday, military-controlled MRTV announced that the military had issued arrest warrants for 11 staff members of OSF Myanmar, including its head and deputy head, on suspicion of giving financial support to the civil disobedience movement against the military junta.
The regime also claimed that the world’s largest private funder for justice, democratic governance and human rights had failed to obtain approval from the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM)’s Foreign Exchange Management Department for a deposit of US$5 million (7.04 billion kyats) with the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank (SMED) in Myanmar in 2018.
The foundation is also accused of illegally withdrawing $1.4 million from its account at SMED a week after the military takeover in Myanmar, as the civil disobedience movement was gaining momentum among civil servants across the country.
The military junta also took control of assets totaling $3.81 million and 375 million kyats in OSF bank accounts at four private banks—Kanbawza Bank (KBZ), Ayeyarwady Bank (AYA), SMED and Co-operative Bank (CB), according to MRTV.
The military said it had begun taking control of all illegal flows of money to OSF Myanmar, saying the foundation had breached the law that lays downs the rules and regulations for organizations in the country.
It said it would take legal action against SMED for allowing OSF to deposit $5 million and withdraw $1.4 million without obtaining approval from the CBM.
On March 12, the CBM notified all international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that they would be required to report all financial transactions involving international organizations or individuals from abroad, with relevant bank account information, since April 1, 2016. The order indicates that the military regime intends to investigate the financial transactions of organizations since the National League for Democracy (NLD) took office in early 2016.
The regime said the opening of the OSF Myanmar office came about after George Soros met ousted Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi four times between 2014 and 2017. It said OSF deputy chair Alexander Soros met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi six times from 2017 to 2020.
Military-aligned groups including the Union Solidarity and Development Party have accused Soros of manipulating Myanmar’s politics by supporting civil society organizations in the country. In 2017, lawmaker U Soe Thane, who served as President’s Office minister under U Thein Sein’s administration, objected to a ministerial appointment by the NLD government on grounds that the appointed minister had failed to disclose his previous work for the George Soros Foundation. He said that making the official a national security adviser could hurt Myanmar’s relations with China.
OSF has been supporting Myanmar’s democratic transition and promoting human rights, including those of marginalized groups, since 1994. The foundation said it had awarded more than 100 grants each year, mostly to grassroots civil society organizations including exile, ethnic media and educational organizations.
Following the coup, the military regime launched an investigation into the finances of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a charity founded by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The move is believed to be a pretext to file more charges against the country’s de facto leader.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property, Right to work
- HRD
- NGO, NGO staff
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 18, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 16, 2021
- Event Description
Chaunggyi, a village in Mandalay region’s Thabeikkyin township, was in a state of fear on Tuesday as regime forces continued to pressure residents a day after inflicting a deadly crackdown.
At least five people were reported dead in the village, located about 100km north of Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, following Monday’s brutal assault.
The attack began in the afternoon, when soldiers in five army trucks heading south from the town of Thabeikkyin opened fire in Chaunggyi and other villages in the area.
“They mainly hit Chaunggyi and two nearby villages as they were passing through,” a member of a local aid group told Myanmar Now.
One of the five who died instantly was a 15-year-old girl.
“The girl was shot in the chest. She was killed in her own home,” said the aid worker, adding that around 25 others suffered injuries, some of them life-threatening.
Reinforcements sent
The soldiers who carried out the initial attack were soon joined by reinforcements sent north from Singu, according to local sources.
Residents of Nweyon, a village in Singu township, attempted to block the military vehicles as they headed towards Chaunggyi, but soon came under fire themselves, the sources said.
Those who had been shot in Chaunggyi remained in the village overnight without medical care amid fears of facing further violence.
“We were afraid to send the injured to the hospital last night. We were also afraid to go to Mandalay. We didn’t send them to a hospital in the city until this morning,” a resident of Nweyon told Myanmar Now on Tuesday.
“One person who was shot in the groin was in terrible condition,” she said, adding that the victim’s family had no money to pay for hospitalization.
There were also around 14 arrests in Chaunggyi and an unknown number in neighbouring villages, local sources said.
Threats and intimidation
A day after their unprovoked attack, the soldiers returned to Chaunggyi on Tuesday to recover some lost property.
“They said they came back to search for a gun and some bullets they left behind yesterday,” said a Chaunggyi villager.
“They found the gun, but not the bullets. They told us we had five hours. If we didn’t find the bullets in that time, they said they would shoot the entire village,” he added.
They found the bullets at around 5pm on Tuesday and returned them to the soldiers, who were stationed just outside the village.
Meanwhile, the villagers said that a monk who negotiated with the soldiers for the release of those who had been detained has not returned since he was sent to collect them.
“Our monk spoke with them and they promised to release those they had arrested from the village. But the car that went to fetch them hasn't come back,” said Chaunggyi resident Cho Tuu.
Although Singu and Thabeikkyin both have military bases, voters in the two townships overwhelmingly supported the National League for Democracy in last year’s election.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 17, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 15, 2021
- Event Description
The number of civilians killed by regime forces on Monday has now reached at least 20, according to the latest information received by Myanmar Now.
The week started with a fresh outbreak of deadly violence that came after the worst weekend so far in the junta’s efforts to crush opposition to its February 1 coup.
Killings were reported around the country, with the highest concentration occurring in Yangon, where at least 63 people died on Sunday after soldiers opened fire in several townships.
In Hlaing Tharyar, the scene of some of the deadliest violence over the weekend, six people were murdered, including a man in his 50s who was collecting trash near the Aung Zeya bridge when a soldier approached him and shot him in the head.
Two women in their 60s were also killed when they were hit by bullets fired into their homes on Da Bin Shwe Htee road.
A night of terror
Indiscriminate shooting continued well into the night, resulting in at least two more deaths in the township, according to local residents.
The night of terror began at around 4:30pm, when the military sealed off main roads between the Aung Zeya bridge and the fire station about 2km away and started shooting.
“They were on trucks and shot at anything that moved. They shot anyone they saw,” said one resident, describing the scene on Monday night.
“There were two crab sellers in the area that night. When the trucks came by, they poked their heads out for a look and got shot. Both of them died,” the resident said.
On the other side of Yangon, a crackdown on a peaceful vigil for fallen protesters in Dawbon township left two men dead and four others seriously injured on Monday, a member of a township-based aid group told Myanmar Now.
There was also another death on Monday in South Dagon, one of six townships in Yangon placed under martial law since the weekend as the regime moves to clamp down on protests.
The killing continued in South Dagon on Tuesday, with reports that a man in his 40s had been shot in the head by junta forces. No further details were available.
Shooting at ambulances
Monday’s death toll also rose outside of Yangon, as more of the injured died and earlier figures were revised to reflect the latest available information.
In Myingyan, a town in Mandalay region, six people, including three boys in their teens and a 20-year-old woman, were confirmed dead, doubling the previously reported death count.
At least 17 others were injured during the crackdown, including five who are in critical condition, according to a member of a team that is caring for the wounded protesters.
“We’ve had to hide the dead bodies because we’re worried [the military] might take them away,” the medical support worker said late Monday evening.
He added that soldiers shot into the houses of local people who hid the injured protesters and also at ambulances that transported the dead and wounded to a makeshift clinic.
There were also two confirmed deaths in Chanmya Tharzi, a township in downtown Mandalay, as well as at least five others in smaller centres to the north of the city.
A total of four deaths were also reported in Aunglan in Magway region, Gyobingauk in Bago region, and Monywa in Sagaing region, according to local aid groups.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Myanmar’s military has killed at least 183 people in the six weeks since it seized power.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 17, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 15, 2021
- Event Description
At least 25 people were shot dead Monday as anti-coup protesters in multiple cities braved increasing violence by security forces following a bloody weekend that killed scores of protesters in Myanmar’s largest city, witnesses said.
The junta that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1 also imposed a 24-hours shutdown of mobile internet service in an attempt to cut off lines of communication among protesters and other members of a nationwide civil disobedience movement (CDM) that has opposed military rule for six weeks.
The suspension of internet service forced court officials in the capital Naypyidaw to postpone the videoconference trial hearing of the 75-year-old deposed leader, who has been under house arrest since the coup and is facing a handful of what supporters say are spurious charges.
Aung San Suu Kyi faces charges of alleged incitement, violation of telecommunication laws, possession of “illegally” imported walkie-talkie radios, violation of the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaching COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign, and corruption.
Eleven of the protesters killed Monday were slain in violent crackdowns in the cities of Mandalay, Yangon, and Magway, and in Shan state, witnesses said.
In Myingyan, a town in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, five protesters died and 13 were seriously injured when police and soldiers sprayed tear gas and shot live rounds at crowds.
RFA has recorded at least 170 deaths as of Monday, including 60 deaths across the country on Sunday, the bloodiest day since the coup.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is "appalled by the escalating violence in Myanmar at the hands of the country’s military," his spokesman said in a statement.
"The killing of demonstrators, arbitrary arrests and the reported torture of prisoners violate fundamental human rights and stand in clear defiance of calls by the Security Council for restraint, dialogue and a return to Myanmar’s democratic path," said spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a watchdog group, said that as of Monday, 2,175 people had been arrested, charged, or sentenced in relation to the military coup, with 1,856 still being held or with outstanding warrants. More than 70 people are in hiding, it said.
In Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, two men died when police and soldiers fired at anti-junta protest column, witnesses said. Rallies were held in other parts of the city, with schoolteachers staging a sit-in protest and attorneys riding motorbikes on town streets in defiance of the military.
One column of about 3,000 protesters set out around 9 a.m. Monday from Thonzu Pagoda, but were confronted and shot at by 50 police officers and soldiers an hour later near the Electric Power Corporation office, said a protester in Mandalay’s Myingyan township.
“Three people died at the private clinics we sent them to,” he said. “An elderly Muslim woman from a nearby house who opened her doors to protesters to hide them also was killed by gunfire. The other two were middle-aged men.”
At least five people in all died amid the violence, including two from a university student union, and four of the many wounded protesters are in critical condition, he said.
Violence in Yangon townships
In Hlaingthaya township, a factory zone west of Yangon, a bystander died at a road intersection when police and soldiers fired indiscriminately, witnesses said. At least 50 people died near the same site on Sunday when police and soldiers positioned on a flyover fired at civilians on the streets below with live rounds.
In Yangon’s Tamwe township, groups of young people held an anti-junta rally on Kyaikkasan Road, where one man died by police gunfire Sunday afternoon. Similar protests were reported in three other townships in Yangon, the country’s former capital and commercial center.
In one a video that went viral on social media, policemen on Sunday were recorded dragging away Khant Nyar Hein, an 18-year-olf first-year medical student who was shot in the street during a protest in Tamwe. Authorities asked his family to retrieve his body Monday morning, said his father.
The military regime has declared martial law in six Yangon satellite townships — North Okkalapa, North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan, Hlaingthaya, and Shwepyitha — areas overseen by the Yangon region military commander.
The Chinese Embassy in Yangon said in a statement Monday calling for legal action after Chinese workers were wounded and trapped a day earlier when Chinese-funded garment factories were set ablaze in an industrial zone.
In Shwepyitha township, local residents tried to extinguish a fire at the Solamoda Garments Co. Ltd. factory and spread to a nearby backpack factory. But the buildings were still burning at the time of publication Monday.
RFA was unable to obtain first-hand details about the fires because of the growing number of arrests of or threats against journalists by local authorities.
Sunday’s factory zone protest deaths prompted an appeal for pressure on apparel manufacturers to support workers from Simon Billenness, executive director of the International Campaign for the Rohingya.
“The young, mostly female, garment workers are the forefront of the civil disobedience movement” and had launched a general strike on March 8 to support restoring democracy, he wrote.
“But the apparel factory owners are intimidating and even firing workers for going on strike and taking part in pro-democracy protests,” added Billenness.
He said major textile buyers sportswear maker Adidas, Zara clothing brand owned by Indetex Group, and Lidl supermarket chain are among the global brands that have “significant market power” to “support the garment workers by demanding that the factory owners stop intimidating workers who join CDM protests.”
Germany-based Adidas, the only one of the three firms to respond to an RFA request for comment, said on March 12 that six of its 525 suppliers are located in Myanmar.
“We are in close exchange with other brands, industry associations and civil society organizations about the current situation,” said Stefan Pursche, senior manager for media relations at Adidas.
Rubber bullets, live rounds
Also on Monday, two men were killed and four others were injured when security forces opened fired on a group in Aunglan township, Magwe region, a resident said.
“When people fled the scene, police took away five motorcycles left on the roads,” the local said. “A huge crowd later surrounded the police station and that was when they started shooting. They used both rubber bullets as well as live rounds, and six people got hit.”
In Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady region, police and military attacked residents as they prepared for nighttime protests, killing three people and critically injuring another five, a witness told RFA.
In Aungban, a major trading town in the southern Shan state, one protester died and two others were injured during a crackdown by police and soldiers, witnesses said.
The Naypyidaw hearings for detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who faces similar charges, were rescheduled for March 24 because of the internet service shutdown.
The police notified Yuyu Chit and Min Min Soe, two junior attorneys from Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense team, that they would receive a signed transfer of power of attorney to represent the state counselor at the hearing, said defense attorney Khin Maung Zaw.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team submitted applications for seven attorneys to represent her at court, but only two were approved, he added.
Now that military authorities have extended the internet service shutdown from nighttime to around-the-clock, companies and ordinary residents say they are having problems conducting business.
Phone lines and internet service were first shut down on Feb. 1, but available the next day. The services were suspended gain on Feb. 6-7, but resumed the following day. As of Feb 15, internet service has been cut off daily between 1 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Monthly internet service subscribers with fiber optic lines said they were able to go online Monday morning, but that Wi-Fi services provided by the companies Ooredoo and Telenor were not available.
An Ooredoo spokesperson said she did not know when the company would be able to make the service available. A computer-generated reply to phone queries said that internet service had been suspended temporarily in accordance with instructions from the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
“The military authorities want to control the communications between protesters of the Spring Revolution,” said a man from Yangon’s Insein township who declined to give his name. “Wi-Fi is not available everywhere, but with the mobile data, they can communicate very easily.”
Rural residents, women stuck
Others said they believed it was an attempt by the junta to stop people live-streaming violent acts committed by soldiers and police during protests.
Rural residents who depend on mobile internet service to transfer money and conduct business online said they were stuck, especially since nearly all banks have remained closed for weeks. Women whose husbands are migrant workers and routinely transfer remittances online also are in a bind.
“There are many women here who need to go to hospital for various reasons, and some of their husbands who are in Thailand, China or Malaysia now find it impossible to send money home,” said a man who works at a money transfer services in Yinmabin, Sagaing region.
RFA could not reach military regime spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the shootings or internet shutdown.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Use of Excessive Force
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 14, 2021
- Event Description
At least 59 people were killed and 129 injured in Sunday’s crackdown by security forces in Yangon’s suburban and industrial townships, according to sources at three area hospitals.
The junta’s armed personnel used live ammunition against civilians at demonstrations in what is being described as an effort to terrorise the population to submit to and accept military rule.
An official at a public hospital in Hlaing Tharyar Township told Myanmar Now on Monday morning that 34 people who had been brought to the hospital were pronounced dead, and 40 others had been admitted with gunshot wounds during a brutal weekend assault on unarmed protesters.
According to a senior official at the Yangon General Hospital, seven of the 56 people brought to the hospital were pronounced dead.
The casualties were from Hlaing Tharyar, Kyimyindaing and South Dagon townships, he added.
“Three people among the injured are in critical condition. There will be more casualties arriving from Shwepyitha and Hlaing Tharyar,” the official told Myanmar Now.
Meanwhile, Thingangyun Sanpya Hospital had received around 70 injured people. Medical staff declared 18 dead, according to a doctor who had been participating in the general strike, but stepped in to provide treatment to injured protesters.
She added that more doctors were needed on different rescue teams to attend to people injured by security forces during crackdowns.
Doctors and rescue workers said the actual death toll may grow as more injured people were sent to other hospitals throughout the city. Some others who were killed at the scene of protests have been immediately returned to their families instead of being brought to local morgues.
“We brought in four dead bodies of people who lived in South Dagon Township from Thingangyun Sanpya hospital this morning,” a labour rights activist in South Dagon told Myanmar Now on Monday.
“There were some people who were killed last night, but we can’t retrieve their bodies from the crackdown site. I saw two people had been shot and fell down, one male and one female. We can’t retrieve their bodies. It was already dark, too,” he added.
He said that he witnessed around 24 people getting injured during the security forces’ crackdown in South Dagon and believed the actual number of those wounded was much higher than what could be confirmed at the time of reporting.
A striking doctor treating injured civilians with an emergency team at Hlaing Tharyar’s hospital told Myanmar Now that four men he attempted to help had later died from their injuries. Three were shot in the head with live ammunition, and another in the chest.
The doctor said that he had transferred three bodies to the morgue at the North Okkalapa General Hospital and sent the fourth body to the respective family’s home.
Myanmar Now was still awaiting further information from North Okkalapa and Insein hospitals at the time of reporting.
Three protesters were also killed on Sunday night in Shwepyitha Township, north of Insein.
At least three factories in Hlaing Tharyar’s industrial zone were set on fire during the confrontation, but further details, including who started the fires, were unavailable.
According to a report published by China's state-run CGTN on Sunday evening, two of the factories in question were owned by Chinese nationals.
The weekend’s assault on protesters marks the deadliest crackdown by the junta’s armed forces on public resistance since the military seized power in Myanmar on February 1.
The regime also imposed martial law in Hlaing Tharyar and Shwepyitha townships on Sunday night, and in South Dagon, North Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa on Monday morning.
Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar appealed to the UN member states to cut off supplies of cash and weapons to the Myanmar military.
“Heartbroken/outraged at news of the largest number of protesters murdered by Myanmar security forces in a single day. Junta leaders don’t belong in power, they belong behind bars,” he said on Twitter on Monday morning.
British Ambassador to Myanmar Dan Chugg also called for “an immediate cessation” of violence and for the military regime to hand back power to democratically elected civilian leaders.
“We have seen the violence today in Hlaing Thar Yar Township and in other places across Yangon and Myanmar. The British Government is appalled by the security forces’ use of deadly force against innocent people,” the ambassador said in a statement.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2021
- Event Description
Violent suppression of Myanmar demonstrations killed 15 people Thursday, raising the death toll from five weeks of street protests to 73, as the military junta announced a corruption investigation of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials from the deposed civilian government.
Accusations by the military regime that Aung San Suu Kyi had accepted U.S. $600,000 and more than 25 pounds of gold, swiftly dismissed as “totally baseless” by an MP from her National League for Democracy (NLD), add to a list of charges imposed on the 75-year-old leader since she was ousted and detained on Feb. 1.
While the military pressed its case against Aung San Suu Kyi and other top NLD figures at a news conference in Naypyidaw, violent crackdowns by police and soldiers killed at least 15 protesters in the cities of Yangon, Myaing, Mandalay, Myingyan, and Bago. The confirmed death toll tis now 73, according to an RFA tally.
Police and soldiers in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay killed one man and wounded 30 others when they cracked down on protesters near the Koe Lone Dagar Pagoda, witnesses said. At least 20 protesters were arrested in the incident.
In Myingyan, in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, residents said a man shot during a protest Wednesday died of his injuries Thursday.
In Bago region, one man died by police gunfire and another was hit in the leg, though his wound was not life-threatening, a witness said.
Residents in Kalaymyo, Sagaing region, continued protest marches despite a police crackdown on Wednesday. Five people there already have been arrested, including one who was taken from his home during the night, locals said.
The Myanmar junta’s response to peaceful protests likely meets the legal threshold for crimes against humanity, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
“The people of Myanmar need not only words of support but supportive action,” said Tom Andrews in a statement. “They need the help of the international community, now.”
The appeal came a day after the U.N. Security Council issued its strongest statement since the Feb. 1 coup.
“The Security Council strongly condemns the violence against peaceful protestors, including against women, youth and children,” the statement said.
It also called for the “immediate release of all those detained arbitrarily” in a statement that was agreed after accepting the objections of China, Russia, and Vietnam to language calling the takeover “a coup.”
On Wednesday, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the two adult children of coup leader and commander-in-chief of the military forces, Min Aung Hlaing, as well as six companies of his two adult children. Min Aung Hlaing was placed on the U.S. blacklist on Feb. 11.
“The indiscriminate violence by Burma’s security forces against peaceful protesters is unacceptable,” said Andrea Gacki, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a statement.
“The United States will continue to work with our international partners to press the Burmese military and police to cease all violence against peaceful protestors and to restore democracy and the rule of law in Burma,” she added.
- Impact of Event
- 31
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2021
- Event Description
Violent suppression of Myanmar demonstrations killed 15 people Thursday, raising the death toll from five weeks of street protests to 73, as the military junta announced a corruption investigation of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other top officials from the deposed civilian government.
Accusations by the military regime that Aung San Suu Kyi had accepted U.S. $600,000 and more than 25 pounds of gold, swiftly dismissed as “totally baseless” by an MP from her National League for Democracy (NLD), add to a list of charges imposed on the 75-year-old leader since she was ousted and detained on Feb. 1.
While the military pressed its case against Aung San Suu Kyi and other top NLD figures at a news conference in Naypyidaw, violent crackdowns by police and soldiers killed at least 15 protesters in the cities of Yangon, Myaing, Mandalay, Myingyan, and Bago. The confirmed death toll tis now 73, according to an RFA tally.
In Yangon’s North Dagon township, 25-year-old Chit Min Thu died instantly when police shot him in the head while defending fellow protesters with a homemade shield witnesses said. Two others were hit by gunfire, one of whom is in critical condition.
“We had to run because they were using live rounds, and he was shielding us from the front to protect other protesters behind,” said a demonstrator at the scene.
Supporters held an impromptu vigil for Chit Min Thu, who left behind a wife who is two months pregnant.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2021
- Event Description
The military government placed a major curb on media coverage of the crisis. It announced that the licenses of five local media outlets — Mizzima, DVB, Khit Thit Media, Myanmar Now and 7Day News — have been canceled.
“These media companies are no longer allowed to broadcast or write or give information by using any kind of media platform or using any media technology,” it said on state broadcaster MRTV.
All five had been offering extensive coverage of the protests, often with livestreaming video online. The offices of Myanmar Now were raided by the authorities Monday before the measure was announced.
DVB said it was not surprised by the cancellation and would continue broadcasting on satellite TV and online.
“We worry for the safety of our reporters and our staff, but in the current uprising, the whole country has become the citizens’ journalists and there is no way for military authorities to shut the information flow,” Executive Director Aye Chan Naing told The Associated Press.
The government has detained dozens of journalists since the coup, including a Myanmar Now reporter and Thein Zaw of AP, both of whom have been charged under a public order law that carried a penalty of up to three years in prison.
The night’s street protests began after police cordoned off part of Yangon’s Sanchaung neighborhood and were believed to be conducting door-to-door searches for those who fled attacks by security forces to seek shelter in the homes of sympathetic strangers.
News of their plight spread quickly on social media, and people poured into the streets in neighborhoods all over the city to show solidarity and in hopes of drawing some of the pressure off the hunted protesters. On some streets, they constructed makeshift barricades with whatever was at hand.
Kamayut Media’s co-founder, Han Thar Nyein, and editor-in-chief, Nathan Maung, were arrested by the Myanmar military on March 8 during raids of their offices in Yangon. Witnesses reported seven military trucks were involved during the raid on the independent media organisation. The arrests follow the death of a second National League of Democracy (NLD) figure since the military coup began. Zaw Myat Linn, an official from deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party died on Monday 8 in custody in Yangon, following his arrest on Tuesday.
Footage posted to social media showed further raids on Mizzima News and the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) offices after nightfall, also on March 8. The raids followed a raid earlier in the day on Myanmar Now’s offices and extensive media shutdowns ordered by the military, with the five major media outlets’ licenses cancelled, all of which have provided extensive coverage of the ongoing coup. In its announcement, the military said that five news outlets – including both Mizzima News and the Democratic Voice of Burma - were “no longer allowed to broadcast or write or give information by using any kind of media platform or using any media technology”. Despite this, many continue their coverage online.
Media sources have told IFJ that journalists are continuing to perform their professional duties in covering the military coup despite the continued documented aggressive attempts to silence media workers and media operations.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2021
- Event Description
Six people were shot dead by security forces during a brutal crackdown on protests against the military coup in the town of Myaing in upper Myanmar’s Magwe Region at around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday.
While the regime’s armed personnel attempted to detain a group of demonstrators, a struggle broke out between them and the protesters. The scuffle was followed by live gunfire, killing six of those present.
“One of the protesters was shot near the groin. Another was shot in the head. The right side of his head was blown apart due to the impact of the bullet,” a protester who witnessed the shootings told Myanmar Now.
All six people killed were men, the oldest of whom was 36 and three of whom were under 30, according to residents who viewed their bodies at a local public hospital’s morgue. Two were from the town of Myaing, and four were from nearby villages.
Protests against the military dictatorship started in Myaing Township in early February, as they did throughout Myanmar. Locals noted that Thursday’s crackdown marked an escalation in security forces’ response tactics, and the first time since the resistance began that they had opened fire on the public.
“In previous days, the police negotiated with the protesters, [asking them] to not go out and protest today,” a Myaing resident told Myanmar Now. “They warned them that they were given the order to shoot. This is the first time there has been a crackdown with shooting in Myaing. They didn’t shoot or arrest anyone in the days prior,” the resident added.
He also said that immediately following Thursday’s fatal shootings, locals had been informed that military trucks were arriving in Myaing from Pakkoku, where Light Infantry Division (LID) 101 is based, along with Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 235 and 251.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 11, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 9, 2021
- Event Description
“They took turns, beating us relentlessly. We couldn’t stay on our knees for long. Every time we fell, they would start beating on us again. So many of us were beaten up,” said a 30-year-old man from Myeik, in southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region.
The man is one of more than 70 protesters arrested during anti-coup demonstrations in Myeik on Tuesday.
He recalled how soldiers and police closed in on them from both ends of D street in the city’s Kat Thit ward at around 9am. There were around 45 men and 25 women in the group, he said, ranging in age from their early teens to their thirties.
All of the men were whipped repeatedly with strips of iron or beaten with wooden rods. Some were even hit with heavy chains, he said.
Photos received by Myanmar Now showed the extent of the damage inflicted on them: their backs, buttocks and chests were covered with painful-looking injuries.
While they were being tortured in this way, the protesters were also forced to sing the famous anti-dictatorship anthem “Kabar Ma Kyay Buu” over and over again and repeat protest slogans.
“They said, ‘What is it you chant and sing in marches and protests? How many fingers do you hold up?’ and beat us up. Anyone with a tattoo of Amay Suu was treated even worse,” he said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi, long regarded as the leader of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement.
“And they said, ‘You called us military dogs. Well, military dogs bite.’ And they just kept beating us,” the man said.
Around 10 soldiers made the men take off their shirts, put their hands behind their heads, and kneel down for one long, continuous session of beatings.
“If we raised our heads, they’d tell us to keep it down. They were afraid we’d see their faces. We kept falling down because we couldn’t stay on our knees while we were being beaten up. We were in a line and they would go back and forth, beating us constantly while we were in the room,” he said.
Of those arrested, only one woman who was injured by a rubber bullet was taken to a military hospital, while the rest were transported to the air force base near Myeik airport to be brutally tortured.
The majority of those arrested were students, who received the same treatment as the adults, even though the Myeik police told the soldiers not to be so hard on them, another detainee told Myanmar Now following his release.
“When we were arrested, there were police from Myeik who told the soldiers not to beat up the students. But the soldiers beat them anyway, saying that this was what they had come here all the way from Naypyitaw for,” he said.
A bystander is arrested by security forces in Yangon’s Tamwe township on March 8.
One arrested woman said the youth protesters were arrested after soldiers fired guns inside the houses they ran into to escape the crackdown.
Another woman who had been hiding inside a house said soldiers kicked down a door to get in and shot her repeatedly with rubber bullets from just three feet away.
“They kicked the door open, aimed and shot me twice in the neck,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “The bastards even arrested the homeowners,” she added.
“When they arrested the girls, they said, ‘We can do whatever we want with you. We can jail you for six months,’” one of detained girls told Myanmar Now.
“They hit one girl with the butt of a gun. She got four stitches. And another girl was kicked in the face. It’s all swollen up,” she said, adding that they were also taunted for their age.
“They said, ‘You’re pretty young. Do you even know what democracy is?’ And when we were released, the soldiers said, ‘Young people have nothing to do with politics. If you are involved again, we will put you in jail,’” the girl said.
“Once I recover, I’ll continue to protest wherever I can. We can’t lose this battle or give up,” said added defiantly.
“From the start of this dictatorship, they’ve done whatever they wanted to do. The law is whatever they say it is. I loathe this system. Even the internet is restricted. Not even Covid was this bad. The dictatorship is way worse,” she said.
According to the girl, around half of the detained protesters—29 men and six women—are still in custody and have been sentenced to one month in prison without charges.
However, Myanmar Now was unable to confirm the exact number of protesters who were arrested or how many remain in custody.
Among the arrested, some have been sent to Myeik prison. Others were released after they were bailed out by their parents, teachers, or ward administrators.
“We had to sign a release saying that we wouldn’t do this again. They said if we’re arrested again, all they will return to our families is our bodies,” said one man who vowed to continue fighting after he had recovered from his injuries.
“Once you get arrested, they will beat you up. Hard. They have no humanity,” he said.
“They can be so inhumane because they have weapons. We had to put our heads down because we don’t have weapons. I will never forgive and forget. My own parents have never hit me this much, this relentlessly. I’ve only seen this kind of torture in movies before. This is terrible. I’m not okay with it at all and we must win this revolution,” he added.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Torture, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 11, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2021
- Event Description
Police and soldiers arrested between 100 and 200 people and shot at least one during another vicious attack on peaceful protesters in North Okkalapa on Wednesday morning.
The attack came a week after the coup regime’s forces murdered at least 1o in the Yangon township and badly injured dozens of others, according to local aid group estimates.
The demonstrators were gathered near the Kantharyar park at around 10am when the security forces attempted to surround them while firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
A young female protester suffered severe injuries to the bladder after being shot with live ammunition during the attack; she is receiving treatment and is in a serious but stable condition, according to a fellow protester who witnessed the incident, which was also captured in videos shared on Facebook.
The protesters fled into the park and to the nearby Sein Gay Har shopping mall to hide. But they were chased and caught, said a woman who later joined a crowd facing off with security forces to demand the release of the protesters.
“They made the kids kneel down and slapped them,” she told Myanmar Now.
The detained protesters were lined up in rows inside the park, footage shows. They were later taken away in prison trucks to a barracks in Shwepyitha township, witnesses said.
Soldiers and police also raided homes on a street next to the park to arrest protesters who were hiding there, as well as homeowners who sheltered them. They beat the protesters after detaining them, a resident said.
In some cases, local informers seeking favour with the authorities betrayed the location of hiding protesters to security forces, according to residents who assisted the protesters.
“So many people got arrested, even inside homes, because of the snitches,” said the woman who joined the crowd calling for the release of the protesters.
About 150 soldiers and police were involved in the crackdown in the morning, then another 100 showed up as reinforcements later, local residents said.
As the protesters were put into trucks, a group of supporters showed up to demand their release, raising their hands and even kneeling to show they were unarmed and peaceful, a video posted to social media showed.
Soldiers aim guns at protesters in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township on March 10.
“They took so many,” said a man who filmed the scene, referring to the detained. “Our comrades, brothers and sisters, please think about how much danger they are in now.”
Soldiers and police attacked that group with tear gas, stun grenades, and smoke bombs, a livestream of the crackdown showed.
Tensions remained high until around 2pm, when the junta’s forces threw more tear gas into the crowd before taking away the protesters.
Later, a group of protesters showed up outside a military intelligence interrogation center near the Aung Mingalar bus station to demand the protesters’ release, according to local residents. Soldiers fired guns to disperse the crowd, but no injuries were reported.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Use of Excessive Force, Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 11, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 7, 2021
- Event Description
Aung Myat Lin, 23, was shot dead by security forces on Sunday night in northern Magway region’s Htilin township, according to a resident who witnessed the killing.
A group of Htilin residents, including Aung Myat Lin, gathered in front of the local police station on Sunday night demanding the release of a protest organizer before security forces fired live ammunition into the crowd, the resident told Myanmar Now.
Aung Myat Lin was shot in the chest and killed at the scene.
“They fired two rounds of bullets first and then threw stun grenades. And then they started shooting. The boy was shot. The bullet penetrated through his chest. He died near the police station,” the Htilin resident said.
Six other people were injured in the attack. Three of them were shot with live bullets and three with rubber bullets.
The recent deaths add to more than 50 killed by police and soldiers so far while resisting the military regime. The UN said last week the actual number of deaths is likely to be much higher than the toll it has been able to confirm.
An Assistance Association for Political Prisoners report on Sunday said nearly 1,800 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced following the February 1 coup.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 9, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2021
- Event Description
At many protest sites in Yangon, security forces broke up demonstrations using teargas and stun grenades.
Protesters once again avoided confrontations with a cat and mouse strategy, retreating when security forces approached but gathering again whenever they had the chance.
Elsewhere in Myanmar, things were more violent.
Myitkyina, Kachin
Security forces also used stun grenades and tear gas while attacking protesters in front of the Saint Francis Xavier Catholic church. At least ten people were arrested and five severely injured in the attack, he added.
Myitkyina residents sought to avoid being attacked by organizing different protest columns around the town as security forces cracked down on the demonstration at the church.
“When tensions rose between the security forces and the protesters in front of the church, we organized another protest column at another area. But they focused on cracking down on the group in front of the church,” another organizer said.
Mandalay
A security forces truck rammed into protesters who were fleeing from a crackdown on motorbikes near 57th Street in Mandalay on Monday morning, injuring at least 6 people.
Two of them – Mya Thway Chel, 22, and Han Lin Aung, 15 – are in a critical condition, according to a volunteer rescue team.
We are still gathering more details about the incident.
Pyapon, Ayeyarwaddy About 100 anti-coup protesters, including school teachers and young people, were arrested during the crackdown, he said.
Pyapon residents rallied in the town to demand their release, and security forces began releasing 10 people at a time starting from 3pm.
Htilin, Magway
Six other people were injured in the attack. Three of them were shot with live bullets and three with rubber bullets.
- Impact of Event
- 28
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 9, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2021
- Event Description
The Myanmar military continued to terrorize peaceful anti-coup demonstrators with lethal force across the country on Monday, killing at least three protesters and severely injuring many others.
The attacks came after soldiers and police came out in force in Yangon on Sunday night in anticipation of another day of mass protests.
Security forces stationed themselves inside hospitals, pagoda compounds and universities in Yangon and other major cities.
Gunfire and stun grenade explosions were heard at night in numerous Yangon townships in what appeared to be a bid to terrorize the city’s population.
But anti-military demonstrators still took to the streets on Monday morning, rallying around yet another call for a general strike, this time to coincide with International Women’s Day.
At a women-led anti-coup demonstration in Sanchaung township, protesters used htameins as flags.
Many superstitious soldiers believe that walking beneath the sarong-like garment - or anything else worn by a woman below the waist - diminishes a man’s power.
Protesters have been hanging htameins above roads to delay the advance of security forces, a strategy that uses the military’s own misogyny against them.
At many protest sites in Yangon, security forces broke up demonstrations using teargas and stun grenades.
Protesters once again avoided confrontations with a cat and mouse strategy, retreating when security forces approached but gathering again whenever they had the chance.
Elsewhere in Myanmar, things were more violent.
Myitkyina, Kachin
Two were shot dead by security forces in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina, residents and a protest organizer said.
The two victims have been identified as 63-year-old Ko Ko Lay, also known as Cho Tha, and 23-year-old Zin Min Htet. They were both shot in the head.
Pyapon, Ayeyarwaddy
Thiha Oo, 30, was killed during a crackdown by security forces in Ayeyarwady region’s Pyapon township. Six others were injured, including two severely, during the attack, according to residents.
Thiha Oo was shot in his lower chest. “We don’t know if it was a live bullet or a rubber one,” a resident told Myanmar Now. “He died before arriving at the clinic.”
Aung Myat Lin, 23, was shot dead by security forces on Sunday night in northern Magway region’s Htilin township, according to a resident who witnessed the killing.
A group of Htilin residents, including Aung Myat Lin, gathered in front of the local police station on Sunday night demanding the release of a protest organizer before security forces fired live ammunition into the crowd, the resident told Myanmar Now.
Aung Myat Lin was shot in the chest and killed at the scene.
“They fired two rounds of bullets first and then threw stun grenades. And then they started shooting. The boy was shot. The bullet penetrated through his chest. He died near the police station,” the Htilin resident said.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 9, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 3, 2021
- Event Description
On Wednesday afternoon, soldiers and police carried out a violent crackdown on anti-coup protests in North Okkalapa. Using live gunfire, they killed at least seven people, including bystanders, according to confirmations from two area hospitals.
During the attack by security forces, emergency response teams from FFSS helped treat those who had been injured, according to photos posted by the organization on social media.
Security forces also assaulted three medics from the Mon Myat Seikhtar rescue team who had also been working in the township to treat those injured in the shootings.
CCTV footage that went viral on social media on Wednesday showed several police officers brutally beating the medics with batons and the butts of their shotguns. The police also shot at the windows of the rescue team’s ambulance.
Hla Kyaing, the chair of Mon Myat Seikhtar emergency rescue team, said that four members of his team, including the driver of their ambulance, went missing after the incident and, as of Thursday, were being detained at the notorious Insein Prison in Yangon.
He told Myanmar Now that he is trying to secure their release.
According to an Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) report released on Wednesday, at least 50 people had been killed and 1,498 arrested nationwide since demonstrations began against the February 1 coup.
Estimates for Wednesday’s death toll vary, and Myanmar Now has been unable to independently verify the total numbers across the country.
The AAPP reported that at least 20 people were killed and around 800 arrested throughout Myanmar on March 3.
Christine Schraner Burgener, the UN Special Envoy for Myanmar, said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday that 38 people had been killed on that day alone.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Raid, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to property, Right to work
- HRD
- NGO, NGO staff, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 4, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 2, 2021
- Event Description
At least 20 people were shot, including one whose condition is critical, as security forces opened fire at protesters on Tuesday in Kale, northwestern Sagaing region, a medic has said.
Tens of thousands of anti-coup protesters gathered in the town from around 10am. About half an hour later, a soldier who was positioned inside a building nearby shot into the crowd, an emergency worker who witnessed the incident told Myanmar Now.
“The police advanced towards the protesters with water cannon and a police truck to break up the crowd with force,” he said. “A soldier behind them shot two rounds of bullets, but into the air according to what I saw.”
“At the same time, a soldier shot from inside a building nearby with what appeared to be live bullets,” said the medic, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.
Of those shot in Kale, one was in a “critical condition” after being hit in the abdomen, the medic added. “The patient is not ready to operate on because he had eaten recently and we are waiting for a surgeon from Tedim.”
Tedim, a town in neighbouring Chin state, is nearly 70km from Kale.
Two others - one who was hit in the chest and another who was hit in the thigh - were severely injured but now in a stable condition. “Doctors found the bullets,” he said.
Striking doctors and medics are treating the injured at a private hospital.
A video posted on social media showed a line of riot police in Kale advancing at protesters with a police truck following behind them. The protesters, equipped with homemade shields, then began repelling the police, forcing them to retreat.
At around 2pm, tensions had subsided but security forces were fanning out around the area, the emergency worker said.
“Confrontations between protesters and police are normal. It happens in many countries. But targeting them from a place and shooting into the crowd purposely is sickening,” he said.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners estimates at least 30 people have been killed in attacks by security forces against anti-military protesters since the February 1 coup.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 3, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar's military authorities have charged an Associated Press photographer and five other journalists over their coverage of anti-coup protests, their lawyer said on Wednesday.
AP photographer Thein Zaw, 32, was arrested on Saturday as he covered a demonstration in Myanmar's commercial hub Rangoon.
The country has been in uproar since February 1, when the army detained Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders, ending Myanmar's brief experiment with democracy and sparking protests far and wide.
Thein Zaw's lawyer said he and five other Myanmar journalists had been charged under a law against "causing fear, spreading false news or agitating directly or indirectly a government employee".
The junta amended the law last month, to increase the maximum sentence from two years to three years in jail.
"Ko Thein Zaw was simply reporting in line with press freedom law -- he wasn't protesting, he was just doing his work, the lawyer, Tin Zar Oo, said, adding that all six were being held at Insein prison in Rangoon.
The other five journalists are from Myanmar Now, Myanmar Photo Agency, 7Day News, Zee Kwet Online news and a freelancer, according to AP.
AP's vice-president of international news Ian Philips called for Thein Zaw's immediate release.
"Independent journalists must be allowed to freely and safely report the news without fear of retribution," he said.
"AP decries in the strongest terms the arbitrary detention of Thein Zaw."
Since the coup, authorities have steadily stepped up their tactics against anti-military protesters, deploying tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets, as well as isolated incidents of live rounds.
Sunday was the bloodiest day since the military takeover, with the UN saying at least 18 protesters were killed across the country. AFP independently confirmed 11, adding to five killed in earlier incidents.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group, more than 1,200 people have been arrested since the coup, with about 900 still behind bars or facing charges.
But the real number is likely far higher -- state-run media reported that on Sunday alone more than 1,300 people were arrested.
AAPP says that 34 journalists are among those detained, with 15 released so far.
"This repression is obstructing the flow of accurate information and news," AAPP said, adding that journalists were being subjected to "violent attacks" despite having clear credentials.
The most recent confirmed arrest came Monday, when a Myanmar journalist with broadcasting service Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) live-streamed a late-night raid on his home.
The footage -- posted on DVB's Facebook page -- appeared to show loud bangs outside his apartment building as he pleaded with authorities not to shoot.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 2, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 26, 2021
- Event Description
A Japanese freelance journalist in Myanmar said Friday he was detained by security forces while covering anti-coup protests in the country's largest city Yangon, but he was released hours later and he did not suffer any injuries.
Local media showed pictures of Yuki Kitazumi, with a camera around his neck, walking out of the gates of the Sanchaung township police station after 4 p.m. Kitazumi was detained around noon Friday.
The former reporter for the Tokyo-based Nikkei business daily who lives in Yangon, told a group of reporters and others outside the gate, "Thank you very much (and) for all of your friends who tried to help me....I'm OK, I'm safe."
He said that one of around six protesters still detained inside the station asked him to convey to friends and family waiting outside that they too were safe.
"I hope all the prisoners will be released, not only me," he said.
As for the reasons given for his detention, Kitazumi said in English, "They said they did not know I'm journalist. That is their explanation. But I had a helmet with sticker of the press, so I don't think their explanation is right."
Although the military has banned gatherings of five or more people, demonstrations are continuing in various places in the country.
State TV news said that 31 people were arrested in Yangon and 39 in the second-largest city Mandalay on Friday and that legal action would be taken against them. It said the protesters were violent and attacked riot police.
The security forces fired shots and tear gas to disperse protesters in Yangon.
Further raising tensions in the city, thousands of supporters of the military marched in the downtown on Thursday morning.
After locals banged pots and pans to register their displeasure with the apparently organized march, some of them were attacked by pro-military protesters with slingshots and stones.
During the series of demonstrations than began on Feb. 6, three protesters have been shot dead by security forces in the capital Naypyitaw and Mandalay.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 2, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 28, 2021
- Event Description
At least 18 were killed and dozens injured and arrested on Sunday as Min Aung Hlaing’s regime intensified a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests across the country, marking the deadliest day since the start of the uprising against the February 1 coup.
Even after days of steadily escalating attacks by police and soldiers, protesters in Yangon, Dawei, Mandalay, Bago and other cities took to the streets in their tens of thousands.
The demonstrators, many of whom were in their 20s and 30s, have braved gunfire, stun grenades, water cannon and vicious beatings in recent weeks.
Myanmar Now has independently confirmed at least 10 of Sunday’s deaths but Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, said in a statement that at least 18 had been killed so far.
“Deaths reportedly occurred as a result of live ammunition fired into crowds in Yangon, Dawei, Mandalay, Myeik, Bago and Pokokku,” the statement said. Thousands poured into the streets even as the junta intensified its deadly attacks against protesters. (Myanmar Now)
Thousands rallied at Yangon’s Hledan junction on Sunday morning around 9am, with frontline protesters wearing goggles and gas masks. Within minutes police began attacking the crowd with stun grenades, and then began shooting their guns.
At least two protesters were killed in the morning in the area, which has been a major rallying point during three weeks of daily demonstrations.
Three Myanmar Now reporters witnessed one of the killings while sheltering in a building across the street.
They saw a young man get shot in the chest and fall to the ground, where he lay in a pool of blood until he was carried away by other protesters. He passed away at a nearby hospital.
He has been identified as 23-year-old Nyi Nyi Aung Htet Naing. The man’s blood-stained shirt had the words "Spring Revolution" printed on it, a reference to the Arab Spring and a name that many protesters have given to this month’s uprising.
Protesters in Yangon erect barricades to protect themselves against attacks by police and soldiers (Myanmar Now)
Another young man named Zin Lin Htet died from a gunshot wound during the attack at Hledan.
In Yangon’s Kyimyindaing neighbourhood, security forces broke up a protest led by school teachers and shot a female middle-school teacher dead.
Myo Thu, one of the teachers who joined the protest, told Myanmar Now security forces threw tear gas and shot live ammunition as the teachers were preparing to march.
“We were in front of the education office from 8am and people were still gathering to start marching,” he said. “We hadn’t even done anything yet, but they just came at us and did the crackdown.”
Mya_5856.Jpg
A protester was beaten up and detained by police on Bargayar Road in Sanchaung township in Yangon on February 28. (Myanmar Now)
Defiant
The middle school teacher was shot in her elbow and lost consciousness, her friends said.
“She had heart disease,” Myo Thu said. “She fainted after getting shot. An emergency team in the area helped us bring her to a place where she could receive treatment. But she died on the way.”
Her body was taken to the morgue at the Yangon General Hospital, he added.
Another death and five other injuries were reported in Thingangyun, but Myanmar Now was unable to confirm further details.
Security forces opened fire on the protesters on Bargayar Road in Sanchaung township on February 28.
Even as attacks against protesters intensified, thousands remained in the streets and regrouped wherever they were able to. Some blocked off roads with makeshift barricades.
Footage broadcast by Mizzima TV showed one man who appeared to have been shot in the leg flashing a three-finger salute as he was carried away by medics on a stretcher.
The Yangon General Hospital emergency department, which had been closed for weeks amid a nationwide general strike aimed at crippling the junta, was back in operation “out of necessity” on Sunday, a doctor said.
A man seen at a hospital in Mandalay after being shot in the head. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards
Medics, who have been at the forefront of mass work stoppages, made a collective decision to reopen the hospital to treat Sunday’s wounded while continuing to disobey any orders from the military regime.
In the southern city of Dawei, three male protesters were killed during numerous attacks by police. One was shot in his lower right ribs, Dawei Watch reported.
Video footage showed security forces repeatedly shooting at protesters who were off screen.
At least 12 were injured by gunfire and admitted to different clinics and hospitals in the city, said Pyae Zaw Hein, an emergency worker there.
“At certain points we were trapped amid the crackdowns,” he told Myanmar Now. “It was terrible.”
2.Jpg
A woman with blood pooling around her head is seen lying dead on a street in Mandalay
Residents detain police
In Mandalay, at least three were killed, including two who were shot in the head. At least 10 others were shot by security forces and injured.
About 1,000 healthcare workers were preparing for a march inside a hospital in the city in the morning when they were trapped inside by security forces.
Residents who came to support the healthcare workers were attacked with tear gas. Doctors managed to escape from the hospital later in the afternoon.
At one point in the afternoon, residents detained five police officers who were riding in an unmarked car that was loaded with ammunition. Soldiers later showed up and took the officers away.
A man was injured after security forces shot protesters in the town of Dawei in southern Myanmar. (Myanmar Now)
No deaths have been confirmed so far in the capital Naypyitaw despite a heavy presence of police and soldiers and at least four arrests.
Those arrested on Sunday included at least six journalists. Shin Moe Myint, a 23-year-old freelance photojournalist, was beaten by several police officers before being taken away.
A reporter from the Myay Latt Voice news outlet in Pyay was injured by rubber bullets before being arrested.
At least seven journalists, including Myanmar Now’s multimedia reporter Kay Zon Nway, were arrested across the country on Saturday.
Two of them were briefly detained and later released. Another reporter from 7Day went missing on Saturday afternoon and it was later reported they had been arrested.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Killing, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 1, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2021
- Event Description
“Doctor Soe” was alone in his room on the afternoon of February 15 when police attempted to raid the housing compound for doctors at the Sao San Htun hospital in Taunggyi. He saw about 30 officers coming towards his room. He quickly locked the door and hid inside the bathroom, terrified.
Keeping perfectly still, he listened as they banged on the door for several minutes. Apart from the sound of his heartbeat, there was complete silence in the room. The banging seemed to get louder and louder.
After about 10 minutes, the police left.
“It was the first time the police came for us. Previously, they were just patrolling around the hospital,” Doctor Soe told Myanmar Now.
That night, Doctor Soe and other doctors at the hospital left the compound and went into hiding.
The 28-year-old is one of over 100 doctors and nurses at the hospital who have been on strike since the military seized power on February 1.
According to Thiha, another doctor who works at the hospital, no operations have been performed there since nearly the entire medical staff, except for the hospital’s superintendent and deputy, stopped going to work.
Doctors said they didn’t know who the authorities wanted to arrest that day, but they seemed to be targeting one specific person, as the police didn’t knock on the doors of any of the other doctors’ rooms.
They are among thousands of civil servants in Myanmar who chose to go on walkout rather than work under the country’s new dictatorship. This growing civil disobedience movement aims at toppling the regime’s government mechanism.
Photo_2.Jpg Doctors march in Yangon on February 22 as part of the nationwide general strike to demand an end to military rule. (Myanmar Now) Doctors march in Yangon on February 22 as part of the nationwide general strike to demand an end to military rule. (Myanmar Now)
Abandoning government hospitals
At least one doctor who joined the movement has been arrested, while many others around the country have been intimidated by police or pressured by their superiors to return to work.
A few others, including Prof Zaw Wai Soe, the vice chair of Yangon’s Covid-19 task force and rector of the University of Medicine (1) Yangon, have been charged with incitement for supporting the movement.
Doctors and other healthcare workers were among the first in Myanmar to join the nationwide movement to resist the return to military rule.
They have also been at the forefront of the country’s battle against Covid-19 since the deadly pandemic struck last year. Praised as heroes for risking their own lives to treat Covid-19 patients, they are now seen as champions of a very different fight.
“We were so exhausted all last year. At the start of 2021, we were hopeful because people were going to start receiving Covid-19 vaccines and we wouldn’t have to fear the pandemic anymore,” said May Yamone, a 31-year-old general practitioner.
“The military coup has ruined all our hopes,” she said.
Photo_3_doctors.Jpg Health workers in Mandalay protest against the military regime on February 18. (Myanmar Now) Health workers in Mandalay protest against the military regime on February 18. (Myanmar Now)
Since the military takeover, the same healthcare workers who were on the frontline of the country’s health crisis have been blasted by the ruling military council for “abandoning” their patients.
May Yamone said the authorities and those who call doctors “unethical” for going on strike are hypocrites, because the generals are the ones who have failed to uphold their real responsibilities.
“We have no reason to work under a military dictatorship that tries to govern the country, because that is not the military’s job,” she said.
“If the military returns to where it belongs and performs its own duty, which is defending the country, we doctors will also go back to our places.”
Photo_6.Jpg Healthcare workers from a private hospital in Yangon greet protesters from medical universities with a three-finger salute on February 22. (Myanmar Now) Healthcare workers from a private hospital in Yangon greet protesters from medical universities with a three-finger salute on February 22. (Myanmar Now)
May Yamone said that only doctors can truly understand how hard it is for them to leave their jobs, but added that initiating the civil disobedience movement was “essential” for the future of the country.
The doctors who joined the movement left the hospital facilities that are now controlled by the military with the purpose of defying the military’s orders, not because they don’t want to work, said 29-year-old Aung Thu, who used to work at Yangon General Hospital.
“We abandoned the government hospitals, not our patients,” he said, adding that they are coordinating with other medical practitioners to ensure that their patients continue to receive treatment.
Photo_4_nurses_.Jpg Nurses in Mandalay take part in a protest against the military regime on February 18. (Myanmar Now) Nurses in Mandalay take part in a protest against the military regime on February 18. (Myanmar Now)
No turning back
Nearly 12,000 health workers, including May Yamone and Aung Thu, joined the nationwide general strike on Monday to demand that the military regime restore power to Myanmar’s elected civilian government.
Millions of protesters came out into the streets across the country, from the northern mountain towns of Chin state to the coastal regions of Tanintharyi. The movement that started on Monday has been dubbed the “five twos” general strike because of the date, 22.2.2021.
Doctors who have joined the movement say they fear that a return to military rule could do irreparable harm to Myanmar’s public health sector.
While the past five years could not completely undo the damage of decades of military mismanagement, they say that the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi had made some headway in improving the country’s long-neglected public health sector.
“During the old days, people were urged not to go to public hospitals. But the NLD government was able to change that situation. We can’t go back to the previous situation,” said a doctor who used to work at a township hospital in Mandalay.
Photo_5.Jpg Medical imaging technologists take part in the nationwide general strike to demand an end to military rule on February 22. (Myanmar Now) Medical imaging technologists take part in the nationwide general strike to demand an end to military rule on February 22. (Myanmar Now)
Another doctor from a 300-bed hospital in Mandalay said that that Myanmar could not afford to have another dictatorship.
“We can’t accept another one. We can’t serve the junta, either,” he told Myanmar Now.
According to data from the website cdm2021.com, more than half of the 22,597 civil servants who have joined the civil disobedience movement across the country are from the public health sector.
Doctors who have joined the movement said they will continue fighting until the country’s elected government is allowed to take office.
Vowing never to kneel down to the regime, they insist that the civil disobedience movement is the only weapon that can succeed against the military’s might.
“We will resist until the very end. The military can’t force us to return to work by pointing guns at us,” said Thiha.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 25, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 24, 2021
- Event Description
Police and soldiers in Naypyitaw’s Pyinmana township tried once again to arrest journalists covering anti-coup protests on Wednesday, forcing them to flee to avoid capture.
A group of about five reporters were covering a protest march in front of a public high school when security personnel told them to stop filming. “A [police truck] came, and while we were filming it another one arrived and they asked us what we were filming,” said one of the journalists.
One person from within the vehicle shouted “arrest them!” added the journalist, who requested anonymity. “We had to run.” One journalist dropped his video camera and had to leave it behind as he fled, while another cut himself when he fell over.
“I was able to run into a house nearby,” another journalist told Myanmar Now. “We heard them say, ‘What are you shooting? Arrest them!’”
In a similar incident on Monday security forces in the city aimed their guns at a group of journalists who were reporting on the massive 22222 general strike, in which millions participated across the country. The journalists ran away to evade arrest.
Wednesday’s protests - which were relatively subdued compared to Monday’s enormous turnout - were the 19th consecutive day of demonstrations against the military regime.
The day passed with little violence against protesters despite recent threats broadcast on MRTV that people out on the streets could “suffer the loss of life”.
Min Aung Hlaing’s regime, which has been hobbled by nationwide work stoppages, has threatened to withdraw publishing licenses from media outlets that refer to his illegal February 1 power grab as a coup.
Twenty-four of the 26 members of the Myanmar Press Council have resigned since the coup, saying they were unable to protect press freedom and uphold media ethics under a military regime.
Japanese_embassy_.Jpg Security forces block the road in front of the Japan Embassy on Wednesday (Myanmar Now) Security forces block the road in front of the Japan Embassy on Wednesday (Myanmar Now)
In Yangon on Wednesday police charged with their shields raised at a crowd of around 20 protesters who were demonstrating in front of the Japanese embassy on Natmauk road in Tamwe township, forcing them to flee.
A police officer had earlier warned reporters covering the protest that “the situation is not good - you shouldn’t stay around here.”
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 25, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 20, 2021
- Event Description
At least four people—three anti-coup protesters and a member of a civilian neighborhood protection group—had been killed by security forces as of Saturday night and more than 100 wounded in nearly two dozen crackdowns by Myanmar’s military regime on demonstrations across the country over a two-week period beginning Feb. 7
The nationwide protests gain momentum each day.
During the crackdowns, police and military personnel have used water cannon, tear gas, slingshots, rubber bullets, live ammunition and deadly air guns firing lead pellets.
Several journalists covering the anti-coup protests have been deliberately attacked by police with batons and slingshots.
Crackdowns against peaceful anti-coup demonstrations have been launched in many cities, including Mandalay, Myitkyina, Bago, Myawaddy, Thandwe, Naypyitaw, Mawlamyine and Myaungmya.
Last night, a civilian from a quarter vigilante group was shot dead by police in a civilian van in Yangon’s Shwe Pyithar Township while the man tried to enquire why the vehicle was traveling during the nighttime curfew.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2021
- Event Description
Nearly two dozen anti-coup protesters were reportedly arrested by military personnel and police on Monday morning after tens of thousands of anti-military regime protesters joined the nationwide “22222” general strike in the nation’s capital, Naypyitaw, according to witnesses.
Anti-coup protesters were forced to disperse by security forces in Pyinmana while the protesters were en route to the capital Naypyitaw, home to the top Union government offices and the headquarters of the military.
Currently, major entry points to Naypyitaw and the major streets in Pyinmana are heavily guarded by military personnel and police forces.
In some quarters of Pyinmana Township, police violently dispersed anti-coup protesters and forcibly pushed them into prisoner transport vehicles and police trucks, according to live broadcasts by residents.
According to the residents, security officials arrested at least 10 people in Naypyitaw’s Ottara Thiri Township, five in Zabu Thiri Township and at least five in Pyinmana Township. Hundreds of protesters are currently hiding in nearby houses and monasteries.
A person who participated in the rally told The Irrawaddy he saw five police trucks packed with protesters.
A reporter who escaped the scene said security forces also tried to seize cameras from journalists and targeted them for arrest. She said, “An army officer even shouted to his subordinates to arrest the journalists, and to take our cameras from us, while chasing anti-coup protesters.”
Millions of people across the country have joined the “22222” general strike in opposition to the military regime since Monday morning.
- Impact of Event
- 20
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2021
- Event Description
Seven well-known activists, including Min Ko Naing and other leaders of the four-eights pro-democracy uprising of 1988, have been charged with inciting unrest against the state.
In a statement released late Saturday, Myanmar’s newly installed military junta said that it had issued arrest warrants for the wanted activists and urged members of the public to report them to the authorities.
According to the statement, former 88 generation student leaders Min Ko Naing and Jimmy, singer Lin Lin, writer Insein Aung Soe, think tank director Myo Yan Naung Thein, and social media influencers Maung Maung Aye and Ei Pan Sel Lo have all been charged with incitement against the state under section 505b of the penal code.
The statement accused them of “using their popularity to incite the people with their writing and speeches through social media and social networks to destroy the state’s law and order.”
Aung Myo Min, the director of the rights group Equality Myanmar, said that the statement shows the regime’s total disregard for freedom of expression.
“We cannot accept this way of denying all expressions of dissent,” he said, noting that the accused had all spoken out against last week’s coup.
The military arrested State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leading members of the civilian government in predawn raids on February 1, just hours before parliament was set to convene for the first time since last year’s election.
Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, won the November 8 election in a landslide, but the military alleged that it had found widespread voting irregularities.
In the weeks before the coup, it accused the government and the Union Election Commission of failing to resolve these issues.
The military takeover has sparked mass protests and a civil disobedience movement by public service workers. In recent days, the regime has carried out a series of late-night raids targeting resistance leaders.
Poet Maung Saung Kha, the executive director of the Yangon-based free-speech advocacy group Athan, condemned the military’s statement and warned that worse was yet to come.
“The military coup-makers will use all means available to them to arrest and imprison anyone who tries to oppose them. There is no chance to enjoy human rights under a military dictatorship. I think worse rights violations will come,” he said.
According to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 326 people were arrested in the first 12 days of the coup, including 23 who have since been released.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist, Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 23, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2021
- Event Description
Soldiers and police fired into a housing compound for railway staff in Mandalay at around 9:45pm on Wednesday, according to a resident of the compound.
“They fired approximately 15 rounds of bullets,” the resident told Myanmar Now.
“We found live bullets and they also used tear gas. I don’t know who got injured. I am still hiding to protect my family,” he said.
Before the start of the nightly curfew at 8pm, a crowd of about 300 protesters gathered near Mandalay train station was dispersed by police without incident.
“We had already returned to our homes because of the curfew. They are doing this on purpose,” the source added.
Myanmar Now has been unable to confirm how many people, if any, were injured in the incident. A reporter was beaten and briefly detained, but released when he explained that he was a journalist
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 18, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 17, 2021
- Event Description
The Thandwe protesters, who had been demonstrating against the February 1 military takeover for eight days, were engaged in a sitting protest after a major road they planned to use for an anti-coup march was blocked by police.
“We were sitting and protesting peacefully when two or three guys in plain clothes arrived with the township administrator and the police and started arresting people,” said one woman who took part in the Thandwe protest.
“At first, the plainclothes officers pretended they were just taking photos, but then they started pushing people into a police truck,” she added.
Three people—a 17-year-old girl, a student in his 20s, and a man in his thirties—were arrested, she said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 18, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 9, 2021
- Event Description
A 22-year-old Chin student activist is among five young people who were arrested on Tuesday night for taking part in a protest in Rakhine against last week’s coup.
Police came to Mai Yadanar Aung’s home in Ann township at 9.30pm and took her away without a warrant, according to the woman’s mother, Tin Tin Aung.
“They came and asked her to come along with them to the police station. But since she didn’t do anything wrong, I asked them why she had to. Then they said she was involved in the protest,” Tin Tin Aung said.
“I couldn't sleep the whole night. At first I considered not letting them take my daughter, but I was concerned she would be arrested forcibly, so I let them take her thinking they might release her on bail,” she added.
Police were due to bring her to the township court on Wednesday to be remanded in custody. Family members went to the police station on Wednesday morning to try to see her but police wouldn’t let them inside, citing Covid-19 regulations.
Ann township is where the Myanmar military’s Western Command is located.
Four other young people were being detained at the station for protesting, Tin TIn Aung said. Myanmar Now was unable to verify their names.
Mai Yadanar Aung is a third year student studying Chemistry at Sittwe University and secretary of a group called Chin University Students in Rakhine State (CUSR).
Young people and students began protests against the new military dictatorship in Ann township yesterday for the first time, said Mai Khaing Zin May Than, CUSR’s chair. The arrests began within hours.
“They are finding and arresting the protesters. Some of my sisterhood friends are still hiding,” she said.
Because of the arrest, parents in town told their children not to join the protests on Wednesday, Mai Khaing Zin May Than said.
“This is a human rights violation,” she added. “In Ann, not all the people are involved in the protests. The participants are mostly Chin ethnic girls.”
About a thousand mostly young people joined Tuesday’s protest in Ann, Tin Tin Aung said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 12, 2021
- Event Description
Today was the 74th Union Day as well as day 12 of the military coup. Protests against the coup continued to escalate across the country including in ethnic areas amid rising arrests along with violent crackdowns on demonstrations by the junta government.
Today across Burma videos have been circulating on social media and news agency’s which show arbitrary detentions and the use of force against peaceful protestors. The detentions defy domestic law and international standards. The rule of law is not being followed and the human rights of people in Burma is being suppressed.
In Mawlamyine, Mon State, While peacefully demonstrating at the Student Union in Mawlamyine Township on 12 February, riot police force cracked-down on the demonstration by firing rubber bullets. 5 students were injured and 9 students were abducted. There is a video of the police force charging at a protest, disproportionate to the actions of these demonstrators, they then violently detained one demonstrator in the clip. In another video in Mawlamyine, police are seen interrogating a demonstrator before abruptly taking them away.
Family members are left with no knowledge of the charges, location, or condition of their loved ones. These are not isolated incidents and night-time raids are targeting dissenting voices. It is happening across the country.
These actions are also against domestic law, if someone breaks Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, they must be arrested under Section 188 of the Penal Code. For allegedly breaking Section 188 they must be accused at the court, not arbitrarily taken away to undisclosed locations from the street and from in their homes. It is also not the authority of the police, the courts decided whether to detain, charge, and take away an individual’s liberty.
- Impact of Event
- 16
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Judicial Harassment, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 14, 2021
- Event Description
MYANMAR'S security forces fired to disperse protesters outside a power plant in the northern state of Kachin, footage broadcasted live on Facebook showed, although it was not clear if they were using rubber bullets or live fire.
Hundreds had gathered late on Sunday outside a power plant that soldiers had occupied in the city of Myitkyina. As darkness fell, riot police accompanied by soldiers arrived to drive away the crowds, the footage showed.
The security forces doused the crowds with a water cannon and shots were heard.
"A few minutes ago the Tatmadaw reinforced with military tanks and now they started shooting," said one resident who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, using the Burmese term for the armed forces.
The US embassy in Myanmar had also warned of military troop movements and possible "telecommunications interruptions" in Yangon. "There are indications of military movements in Yangon and the possibility of telecommunications interruptions overnight between 1:00 am and 9:00 am" on Monday morning local time, the US embassy tweeted on its official American Citizen Services account on Sunday night.
These developments come as the military regime warned the public not to harbour fugitive political activists on Sunday after issuing arrest warrants for veteran democracy campaigners supporting massive nationwide anti-coup protests.
Security forces have stepped up arrests of doctors and others joining a civil disobedience movement that has seen huge crowds throng streets in big urban centres and isolated frontier villages alike.
Police are now hunting seven people who have lent vocal support to the protests, including some of the country's most famous democracy activists.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2021
- Event Description
Yesterday, on 14 February the coup government passed the “Law Amending the Penal Code’ and the ‘Law Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure’. The recently passed Acts amend multiple articles of the colonial-era Penal Code. The Penal Code was already the most common legislation used to target political prisoners prior to the coup. Civil society had wanted the archaic legislation reformed, it has now become more arbitrary. The recent amendments will be aimed at the civil disobedience movement, changing the definition and charge of high treason as well as further persecuting public assembly and disseminating information. Some of these amendments include Section 121 which essentially could criminalize requesting international aid and/or support. Also Section 124A was substituted to cover ‘spoken and written signs’ which bring ‘contempt’ and such to the Union. This could now include pamphlets calling the military an illegitimate ‘coup’, ‘junta’ ‘regime’. Amendments to Section 124C now cover the ‘sabotage or hinder the performance’ of military or police acts. This could be used against recordings of “Drumming out of Evil” peaceful protestors when night-time raids are conducted, or when community groups try to protest arbitrary detentions, or when groups support public servants striking and taking part in demonstrations. Amendments to Section 505A add several offences, such as spreading ‘fake’ news, or ‘fear’ amongst the public, as well as ‘agitate’ directly or indirectly a criminal offence towards a government employee. Also detailed was imprisonment terms, with Section 124A and C covering a maximum 20 year sentence and fine and Section 505A with a maximum three-year imprisonment and fine. Today, protests against the coup erupted across Burma where people from respective regions peacefully demonstrated. Civil servants across the country including in Yangon, Mandalay cooperated increasingly with the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Despite tanks and military vehicles roaming the streets, demonstrations went on. On 15 February from 1:00am to 9am, internet connection was shut down under military directives. There is suspicion this blackout was to commit unjust activities including arbitrary arrests. Also today, in front of the NLD headquarters, the police attempted to raid the offices and blocked roads. However, they withdrew after a two hour-long demonstration by the people. On February 15, the police force arrested and detained 14 high school students of Nay Pyi Taw B.E.H.S (14) who were peacefully protested, who were thereafter released in the evening due to a collective demonstration by the general public. For detentions in relation to the coup. As of February 15, a total of (426) people have been arrested and detained in relation to the military coup on February 1. Of them, (3) have been sentenced, 2 to two years imprisonment, 1 to three months, (35) were released. A total of (391) are still under detention, including the (3) sentenced.
- Impact of Event
- 14
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 15, 2021
- Event Description
Yesterday, on 14 February the coup government passed the “Law Amending the Penal Code’ and the ‘Law Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure’. The recently passed Acts amend multiple articles of the colonial-era Penal Code. The Penal Code was already the most common legislation used to target political prisoners prior to the coup. Civil society had wanted the archaic legislation reformed, it has now become more arbitrary.
The recent amendments will be aimed at the civil disobedience movement, changing the definition and charge of high treason as well as further persecuting public assembly and disseminating information.
Some of these amendments include Section 121 which essentially could criminalize requesting international aid and/or support. Also Section 124A was substituted to cover ‘spoken and written signs’ which bring ‘contempt’ and such to the Union. This could now include pamphlets calling the military an illegitimate ‘coup’, ‘junta’ ‘regime’. Amendments to Section 124C now cover the ‘sabotage or hinder the performance’ of military or police acts. This could be used against recordings of “Drumming out of Evil” peaceful protestors when night-time raids are conducted, or when community groups try to protest arbitrary detentions, or when groups support public servants striking and taking part in demonstrations.
Amendments to Section 505A add several offences, such as spreading ‘fake’ news, or ‘fear’ amongst the public, as well as ‘agitate’ directly or indirectly a criminal offence towards a government employee. Also detailed was imprisonment terms, with Section 124A and C covering a maximum 20 year sentence and fine and Section 505A with a maximum three-year imprisonment and fine.
Today, protests against the coup erupted across Burma where people from respective regions peacefully demonstrated. Civil servants across the country including in Yangon, Mandalay cooperated increasingly with the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Despite tanks and military vehicles roaming the streets, demonstrations went on.
On 15 February from 1:00am to 9am, internet connection was shut down under military directives. There is suspicion this blackout was to commit unjust activities including arbitrary arrests. Also today, in front of the NLD headquarters, the police attempted to raid the offices and blocked roads. However, they withdrew after a two hour-long demonstration by the people.
On February 15, the police force dispersed with violence, threats, and arrests, peaceful protestors in Mandalay City, the security forces beat, arrested and shot gunfire towards peaceful protestors demonstrating in front of Myanmar Economic Bank 1. Six people including two girls aged 17 were arrested. Subsequently, the reporters reported at the event were brutally beaten by security forces.
For detentions in relation to the coup. As of February 15, a total of (426) people have been arrested and detained in relation to the military coup on February 1. Of them, (3) have been sentenced, 2 to two years imprisonment, 1 to three months, (35) were released. A total of (391) are still under detention, including the (3) sentenced.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 7, 2021
- Event Description
On February 7, demonstrations against the military coup intensified. This morning thousands of activists, students and civilians took part in protests in Rangoon and across the country, and Min Ko Naing, 88 Generation Student Leader, arrived and stood among the protesters. Demonstrations were held at Rangoon, Bago, Mandalay, Sagaing, Ayeyarwady, Tanintharyi and Magway Regions, Naypyidaw, Mon, Shan, Karen and Kachin States. Protests were peaceful and non-violent, and police blocked the roads for protestors and watched the situation, though there were no violent crackdowns.
When police fired in the air at protestors in Myawaddy Town in Karen State, rioting broke out and a total of 14 civilians (5 women and 9 men) including former female political prisoner Khin Htar were arrested. By 6:30pm, they all were released. A woman was also shot during the protest in Myawaddy. The 8pm symbolic peaceful “Drumming out of Evil” continued across the country in opposition to the military junta.
- Impact of Event
- 15
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 16, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 14, 2021
- Event Description
Shots Fired in Northern Myanmar City Amid Signs of Deeper Crackdown on Protests An armored vehicle drives pasto the Sule Pagoda, following days of mass protests against the military coup, in Yangon, Feb. 14, 2021.
Security forces fired guns to disperse protesters at a power plant in northern Myanmar on Sunday, as tanks and armored vehicles patrolled the streets of the country’s largest city and an overnight internet shutdown kicked in after days of nationwide mass protests against the two-week-old military junta.
The gunfire, livestreamed by protesters on Facebook, came after forces had turned a water cannon on hundreds of mostly young men who were chanting and beating oil drums outside a power plant in the Kachin state capital Myitkyina. The barrages lasted several minutes at a time, but it was not clear if the bullets were rubber or live ammunition or if any protesters were hurt.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 15, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2021
- Event Description
Arrest warrants have been issued for seven people — including veteran student leaders as well as social influencers — accusing them of incitement against Myanmar’s military regime. The warrants were announced Saturday evening by Myanmar’s military.
Those facing arrest are U Min Ko Naing and Kyaw Min Yu (a.k.a. Ko Jimmy) who are the veteran democracy activists and leaders of the 1988 uprising; singer Linn Linn, who is a former bodyguard of detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; Insein Aung Soe; Myo Yan Naung Thein, the director of Bayda Institute for a Just Society; presenter Maung Maung Aye and Facebook cele Ei Pencilo. They are charged with incitement, under Article 505 [b] of the Penal Code.
The military is alleging that the accused made and circulated a statement on social media intending to undermine the peace and order of the state.
The charge has been widely used to stifle political dissent under previous military regimes. If found guilty, the accused face up to two years in prison.
Since the pre-dawn coup on Feb. 1, the military has detained more than 300 people. Veteran leaders went into hiding but put out messages online daily to anti-coup protesters. Their social media messages also called for civil servants to take part in the civil disobedience movement (CDM).
Since last week, U Min Ko Naing also urged the public to boycott the businesses run by the military.
The accused actively support the CDM and are organizing to financially support those government staff, who take part in the CDM. Started by healthcare workers, the CDM movement is gaining momentum with some police, teachers, engineers, railways staff, as well as news announcers from the ministry of information boycotting the coup.
The military attempted to arrest the cele Ei Pencilo during the coup day, but have been unsuccessful.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist, Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 15, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 9, 2021
- Event Description
Police in Myanmar have fired rubber bullets and used teargas against protesters defying a ban on large gatherings, in an escalation of the military government’s response to demonstrations against last week’s coup.
Witnesses in Naypyidaw, the remote capital purpose-built by the previous military regime, said police fired rubber bullets at protesters after earlier blasting them with water cannon. A doctor at a clinic in the city told Reuters three people were being treated for suspected rubber bullet wounds.
Earlier, officers had used water cannons to beat back the crowd, and demonstrators had responded by throwing projectiles. Footage on social media showed people running, with the sound of several gunshots in the distance.
Opponents of the 1 February coup gathered in towns and cities across the country for a fourth day of protests on Tuesday, including in Yangon and Mandalay, where evening curfews have been instituted and gatherings of more than five people are banned.
Teargas was used against crowds in Mandalay, where police arrested at least 27 anti-coup demonstrators, including a journalist, media organisations said. A journalist from the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) said he was detained after filming the rally. He said people were beaten. Two media organisations also confirmed the arrests.
The military takeover followed an election in November decisively won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) that army leaders claim was fraudulent. The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi sparked outrage across the south-east Asian country of 53 million, and a growing civil disobedience movement affecting hospitals, schools and government offices.
Demonstrations were also held on Tuesday in other cities, including Bago - where city elders negotiated with police to avoid a violent confrontation - and Dawei, and in northern Shan state.
In Magwe in central Myanmar, where water cannons were also used, unconfirmed reports on social media claimed several police officers had crossed over to join the protesters’ ranks. A police officer in Naypyidaw was also said to have switched sides.
As large crowds again gathered near Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, one witness estimated there were tens of thousands on the streets by mid morning. Martial law and rumours of incoming soldiers had created an atmosphere of unease, but protesters were determined. Myanmar coup protests grow – in pictures
Pyae Phyo, 33, was gathered with his friends from the Myanmar Seamen Union under the shade of a tree near Sule Pagoda.
“Because of last night’s martial law announcement I thought people may not come,” he said. “But they have come. I am so proud of my people. Every day we will come here. Every day we aren’t free we will protest peacefully for our real leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and president U Win Myint.”
Earlier Win, 37, a street food vendor, said “Today I heard troops were on their way from Naypyidaw, but that won’t stop the protests.”
The protesters carried anti-coup placards including, “We want our leader”, in reference to Aung San Suu Kyi, and, “No dictatorship”.
Pockets of ambulances manned by a network of volunteer doctors and medical workers were stationed near Sule Pagoda.
Myat Moe Lwin, 25, a graduate doctor, and his colleague Kaung Pyae Sone Thin, 25, were waiting near the ambulances and were prepared to aid protesters injured by water cannon.
“We need to be ready,” he said. “So many people are protesting against the coup. We had to help if there are any problems. It is our professional duty.”
In San Chaung township in Yangon – where large gatherings were banned – scores of teachers marched on the main road, waving a defiant three-finger salute that has become the trademark of resistance to the coup.
“We are not worried about their warning. That’s why we came out today. We cannot accept their excuse of vote fraud. We do not want any military dictatorship,” teacher Thein Win Soe told AFP.
There was confusion over the reach of section 144 of the penal code, which bans gatherings of five or more people. State newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar announced that two townships in Yangon and others in Mandalay, Sagaing and Kayah state would be subject to the curfew but some believed it was nationwide.
The US embassy said it had received reports of an 8pm to 4am local time curfew in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay.
Promises on Monday from junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to eventually hold a new election have drawn scorn. In his first address since seizing power, he repeated unproven accusations of fraud in last November’s election. He promised “true and disciplined democracy,” different from previous eras of military rule which left Myanmar in isolation and poverty.
“We will have a multiparty election and we will hand the power to the one who wins in that election, according to the rules of democracy,” he said.
Min Aung Hlaing gave no time frame for the proposed vote, but the junta has said a state of emergency will last one year.
The military also released a statement on state TV on Monday warning that opposition to the junta was unlawful Western governments have widely condemned the coup, although there has been little concrete action. The UN security council has called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other detainees. The UN human rights council will hold a special session on Friday to discuss the crisis, at the behest of Britain and the European Union.
- Impact of Event
- 27
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 9, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 10, 2021
- Event Description
Security forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas at anti-coup protesters in Myanmar's capital on Tuesday (Feb 9), as demonstrators around the country defied a military ban on rallies.
Protests erupted for a fourth straight day against last week's coup to oust civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, despite a warning from the new junta that they would take action against demonstrations that threatened "stability".
In Naypyidaw, the remote capital purpose built by the previous military regime, witnesses said police fired rubber bullets at protesters after earlier blasting them with water cannon.
"They fired warning shots to the sky two times, then they fired (at protesters) with rubber bullets," a resident told AFP, adding that he saw some people injured.
An AFP reporter on the ground confirmed that shots had been fired.
In Mandalay, the country's second-biggest city, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters.
After watching hundreds of thousands of people rally in opposition to last week's coup, junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing made a televised speech on Monday evening to justify seizing power.
The military has banned gatherings of more than five people in Yangon, the nation's commercial hub, as well as Naypyidaw and other areas across the country where major rallies have erupted, including the second biggest city Mandalay.
A nighttime curfew has also been imposed at the protest hotspot sites.
But on Tuesday, fresh protests emerged in various parts of Yangon, including near the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained by the military.
On Tuesday, Myanmar's authorities extended areas where gatherings are restricted to more parts of the country, the military's information unit said
The areas where public gatherings of more than five people are banned and a curfew has been imposed include the commercial hub of Yangon, the capital Naypyidaw, as well as some towns in the Magwe region, Kachin state, Kayah state, Mon state and Shan State, the Facebook page of the military's True News information unit said.
One witness told Reuters that demonstrators ran away as guns were fired into the air, but not in the direction of the crowd.
The witness said police had initially used water cannon and tried to push a large crowd back, but demonstrators responded with projectiles.
Footage on social media showed people running, with the sound of several gunshots in the distance.
At least six anti-coup protesters were injured in police shooting in Naypyitaw on Tuesday and two of them are in a critical condition. A volunteer medic with the protest told The Irrawaddy that a man who was shot in the chest and a 20-year-old woman was shot in the head, the most serious injury.
Police shot 19-year-old student Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, also known as Myat Thet Thet Khaing in the head while she positioned herself with other protesters behind a protective barricade. A family member confirmed her death online.Mobile-phone footage of the incident shows police firing weapons in the direction of protesters, and a gunshot rings out as Myat Thet Thet Khaing drops to the ground. She was taken to a hospital in Naypyidaw where a doctor confirmed to Fortify Rights that she sustained an imminently fatal gunshot wound to the head with live ammunition. A doctor on the scene told Fortify Rights she was brain dead. Brain death is the complete loss of brain function and in most jurisdictions is regarded as legal death.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Killing, Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to life, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Feb 9, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 8, 2021
- Event Description
Police in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw used water cannon on Monday against protesters demonstrating against a coup a week ago when elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained, video from the scene showed.
Police fired the water cannon in brief bursts against a group of the thousands of protesters who had gathered. The video showed some protesters appeared to have been hurt when they were knocked to the ground.
Police appeared to stop using the water cannon after protesters appealed to them, but the demonstration continued.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 9, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 21, 2021
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities should immediately drop criminal defamation and other complaints against four ethnic-Rakhine (Arakanese) journalists, Fortify Rights said today. Last week, on January 22, Myanmar authorities filed criminal defamation complaints against Development Media Group (DMG) journalists Hnin Nwe, 23, and Nay Win San, 26, for publishing a story alleging the military confiscated rice and used forced labor in Rakhine State.
Two other DMG staff members—journalist Aung Kyaw Min, 40, and founder of DMG Aung Marm Oo, 40—are also currently facing criminal charges brought against them by Myanmar authorities in December 2020 and May 2019, respectively.The Sittwe-based DMG is an ethnic-Rakhine-led media outlet reporting on human rights violations and other news in Rakhine State and other parts of the country.
On January 22, Major Phone Myint Kyaw filed a criminal complaint at the No. 2 Police Station in Sittwe Township alleging that journalist Hnin Nwe and Nay Win San, editor-in-charge of the DMG, violated Section 66(d) of Myanmar’s Telecommunications Law. The Myanmar authorities requested the pair to report to the No. 2 Police Station in Sittwe today as part of the police investigation.
The complaints stem from an article DMG published online on January 10 alleging Myanmar military personnel looted 700 baskets of unhusked rice paddy in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State on January 7. The report also claims the military forced residents in Kyauktaw Township to mill rice.
Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law prohibits “extorting, defaming, disturbing or threatening to any person by using any telecommunications network.” Violations carry sentences of up to two years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to one million Myanmar Kyat (US$751).
The earlier cases brought by the Myanmar authorities against DMG journalist Aung Kyaw Min and DMG founder Aung Marm Oo remain pending.
Maung Win of the Department of Roads and Bridges Management in Maungdaw Township filed a complaint at the Maungdaw Township Police Station in Rakhine State on December 13, 2020 alleging that Aung Kyaw Min violated Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law. The allegations stem from an article published on December 11 by DMGthat reported complaints about local government failures to repair a broken bridge in Maungdaw, Rakhine State. The case against Aung Kyaw Min is still under police investigation, and the trial has yet to begin.
Aung Marm Oo, also known as Aung Min Oo, also faces up to five years in prison and a fine after the Special Branch Police, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs, filed a complaint at the Sittwe Myoma Police Station No. 1 in Rakhine State on May 1, 2019 alleging violations of Section 17/2 of the Unlawful Association Act.
Section 17/2 of the Unlawful Associations Act provides criminal penalties to “Whoever manages or assists in the management of an unlawful association, or promotes or assists in promoting a meeting of any such association, or of any members thereof.”
Aung Marm Oo is currently in hiding.
“I wonder if the military is deliberately imposing various restrictions on DMG, disrupting the media and intimidating journalists and editors,” Aung Marm Oo told Fortify Rights. “I sometimes wonder if the government and the military are deliberately collaborating to impose restrictions on DMG so that we can no longer continue to operate, and so that DMGcannot stand as a news organization.”
In March 2020, the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) directed telecommunications operators to ban 221 websites, including ethnic media outlets DMG, Narinjara, and Karen News, and several Rohingya-led news sites. The Myanmar government cited no reasons for targeting specific outlets nor did it provide a legal basis for the directive. Section 77 of the Telecommunications Law provides that the MOTC “may, when an emergency situation arises to operate for public interest, direct the licensee to suspend a Telecommunications Service, to intercept, [or] not to operate any specific form of communication . . .”
Aung Marm Oo founded DMG on January 9, 2012, and it was based on the Thailand-Myanmar border before registering in Myanmar and moving to Sittwe and Yangon in January 2014. DTV Daily News Programme and the bi-monthly Development News Journal operate under the DMG. DMG publishes in English and Burmese languages.
Under international law, restrictions on freedom of expression are permissible only when provided by law, proportional, and necessary to accomplish a legitimate aim. Criminal penalties for defamation, including imprisonment, constitute a disproportionate punishment that infringes on the right to freedom of expression.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 26, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 14, 2020
- Event Description
Questions are being raised over a recent case opened against a DMG reporter in Arakan State who is being charged with defamation under the Telecommunications Law in connection with a recently published article, instead of first resorting to the News Media Law for resolution.
“It is as if a case is being filed against us because of hate toward us. We published the story in accordance with media ethics, so we don’t understand why such a case was filed against us,” said U Aung Marm Oo, editor-in-chief of Development Media Group (DMG).
Engineer U Maung Win from Road/Bridge Special Group (4) filed a lawsuit against Aung Kyaw Min aka Kyaw Myo Aung at the Maungdaw Myoma police station earlier this month under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, alleging defamation on the erroneous premise that the story in question misquoted him.
Under the headline “Soonest repair needed at Maungdaw 3rd-Mile Bridge,” the article was published on the Facebook page and website of DMG on December 11.
U Aung Marm Oo said he had heard that the case was filed by U Maung Win at the behest of the Arakan State government.
“The plaintiff said he did not want to sue the reporter. We have heard that he was forced to sue the reporter by the local government,” DMG’s chief editor said.
Aung Kyaw Min was questioned at the Maungdaw Myoma police station on December 14 and was released on K500,000 ($370) bail.
Aung Kyaw Min, a Maungdaw-based DMG journalist who stands by his story, said the lawsuit against him is a threat to truth-seeking.
“The government seems to be cracking down on our journalists and the prosecution is a threat to the truth,” he said.
DMG phoned the head of the Maungdaw Myoma police station, Police Captain Ye Naing Tun, seeking comment on the case, but he could not be reached.
DMG has faced legal action previously, in a case that remains open. Sittwe Special Branch (SB) police filed charges against U Aung Marm Oo under Section 17(2) of the Unlawful Associations Act on May 1, 2019. He has been on the run since May 2019, and almost 20 months later, the charges against him have not been dropped.
If action is to be taken against a member of the media, in accordance with the 2014 News Media Law it is necessary to first file a complaint with the Myanmar Press Council (MPC).
The law states, “If any of the responsibilities or ethics required in Article 9 are considered to be breached by a News Media worker, the aggrieved department, organization or individual shall have the right to complain to the council first.”
Of the Arakan State capital Sittwe’s main three media outlets — Development Media Group, Narinjara News Agency and Western News — cases have reportedly been filed against U Aung Marm Oo of DMG and Narinjara’s chief editor, U Khaing Mrat Kyaw.
Ko Wunna Khwar Nyo, editor-in-chief of Western News, said the recent lawsuits against journalists in Arakan State are a source of concern for local reporters.
“We are concerned for our safety. There are only three media outlets in Arakan State. Reporters in Arakan State are increasingly concerned about the local government’s threat to prosecute under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law,” he added.
Maung Saungkha, director of the free speech advocacy group Athan, criticised the prosecution of journalists as deliberate, saying the local government should monitor them.
“I think the respective local governments should monitor these lawsuits. It is a shame that it is being pointed out by international and local civil society organisations. We think suing over trivial matters is a major obstacle to democracy,” he said.
Under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government, about 50% of all lawsuits against journalists have been filed under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, according to Athan.
“The government should stop litigating and amend the Telecommunications Law as soon as possible to prevent such lawsuits in the future,” Maung Saungkha said.
The December 11 news story about the bridge in Maungdaw was based in part on an interview willfully given by the complainant U Maung Win. DMG has demanded that the case be withdrawn, saying that at no point did the article misquote or misattribute any of the cited individuals.
DMG is also insisting that the complainant first take his grievance to the Myanmar Press Council, which is empowered under the News Media law to arbitrate in such circumstances.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 21, 2020
- Event Description
Three youths charged under Section 19(a) of the Peaceful Assembly Law over a human rights demonstration in the Arakan State capital earlier this month appeared before the Sittwe Township Court on December 30.
Ko Min Bar Chay aka Ko Than Hla, one of the accused, said a meeting to develop a case management plan was held at the court on Wednesday.
“The judge asked both sides if we wanted to settle the case. Both sides said to go to trial,” he said.
More than 30 young people joined a demonstration in Sittwe to mark Human Rights Day, celebrated globally on December 10, during which participants denounced ongoing human rights violations in Arakan State. Their march began at Sittwe’s BXT port and proceeded along Shukhintha Street, with demonstrators holding placards protesting rights abuses. The three defendants were arrested by police near Sittwe Hotel, and were released on bail later that evening.
Ko Min Bar Chay, Ko Naing Naing Tun and Ma Khine Myat Thu from the Rakhine Youth New Generation Network were charged on December 21 by the head of the Sittwe Township police.
“I do not understand why [the judiciary] accepted the charge. We did not stage a protest. We did not criticise someone. But the legal [authorities] accepted the charge of the police against us,” Ko Min Bar Chay said. “It proves how Myanmar’s rule of law, justice and judiciary sector is deteriorating.”
Under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, anyone who is convicted of assembling or demonstrating without applying for a permit in advance faces up to three months in prison, a fine not to exceed K30,000 ($22.50), or both.
Their next court hearing is scheduled for on January 14.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 8, 2021
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 20, 2020
- Event Description
Police have opened a case against four students who were arrested on October 19 after staging a protest against the government and military in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
“Police have opened a case against them under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for committing sedition and causing public disturbances,” said lawyer U Kyaw Nyint Maung.
Section 505(b) criminalises statements “likely to cause fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public, whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility.” It carries with it a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Police Major Zaw Naing of the Sittwe Township Police filed a complaint against them on Tuesday and a court hearing is scheduled for November 3.
Dozens of people joined Monday’s protest, which was organised by the Arakan Students’ Union.
Prosecuting student protesters is no way to address their grievances, said the chairman of the Sittwe University Students Union, Ko Toe Toe Aung.
“Those who are doing the prosecuting should be aware that people have voiced criticisms because they [the targets of protest] are doing wrong. If they were not doing anything wrong, we wouldn’t need to stage protests and end up in police stations and prisons,” he said.
Two of the four detained students are also facing lawsuits under the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law for staging a demonstration against alleged human rights violations in Arakan State in early September.
Recently, two students from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions who staged an anti-war protest in Mandalay were each sentenced to a total of five years in prison and have another court hearing scheduled for October 21.
Beginning in September, more than a dozen people have seen charges brought against them under the Peaceful Assembly Law, the Natural Disaster Management Law and the Penal Code for staging demonstrations against armed conflict, human rights abuses and internet restrictions in Arakan State.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 1, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 13, 2020
- Event Description
On September 11, the day after protesters distributed anti-war material in Mandalay, Chan Aye Thar-Zan Township police in Mandalay briefly detained and charged ABFSU member Myo Chit Zaw, 21, and filed charges against 12 others for failing to notify the authorities in advance of the September 10 protest. On September 13, police briefly detained and charged ABFSU Central Executive Committee members Soe Hla Naing and Kyaw Thiha Ye Kyaw on the same charges.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 21, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 7, 2020
- Event Description
A former lawyer from the Arakan State capital Sittwe was charged at the township court under the Telecommunications Law’s Section 66(d), a notorious defamation provision, on October 7.
The accused, U Thar Pwint, said he had shared posts on social media about the deaths of civilians in Arakan State amid ongoing armed conflict in the region.
“I was sued without any reason. If I was sued for sharing posts, the person who put up the post should be the No. 1 accused,” said U Thar Pwint. “Secondly, I was not the only person who shared the post. If there are 20 who shared the post, all these people have to be sued. The reason for me is they don’t like me.”
Major Kyaw Zaw of a local Tatmadaw engineering unit filed the case as plaintiff under Section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which threatens up to three years in prison for anyone “extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network.”
U Thar Pwint has been released on bail but will face his first court hearing on October 21.
Another Sittwe resident, U Soe Naing, was sued in August under 66(d) for allegedly making comments about the government on social media.
“There are things relating to the government and there are also things not relating to the government. I was not blaming the government but just commenting as a citizen on what they have said and done,” U Soe Naing said.
“Dear war victims, please honour the government for giving us a bar of soap to protect against coronavirus,” reads one of U Soe Naing’s Facebook posts. “We’d like to know whether the [Chief Minister] U Nyi Pu government, which said it has responsibility and accountability, has any plan to resign or not.”
“The government, the Tatmadaw, the leaders must bear political criticisms,” said Ma Thet Su Pyae Eain, a researcher for the freedom of expression advocacy group Athan. “We criticise the filing of lawsuits under such sections. All the cases filed against them should be withdrawn as soon as possible. Only then can we carry on with good democracy.”
In the first four years of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government’s five-year term, cases involving violations of free expression were filed against 1,051 people, according to a July report from Athan.
Charges brought under the Telecommunications Law topped the list.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 20, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 7, 2020
- Event Description
The Observatory has been informed by the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA)[1] about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Gei Om, a member of MATA who works actively on environmental protection and conservation in Chin State. Mr. Gei Om is also a member of the Chin Aung Ta Man (a youth organisation of Chin people), the Chin Civil Society Network, and the Man Eain Working Committee (a community-based organisation).
According to the information received, on July 24, 2020, Mr. Gei Om was taken into custody after a local official in Ohn Village Tract sent a letter of complaint to authorities in Mindat Township, Chin State, on July 13, 2020. The complaint alleged that Mr. Gei Om had spread false news about possible illicit activities throughout Chin villages, was involved in an illegal land dispute settlement in 2016, and had been collecting taxes from villages.
Prior to his arrest, Mr. Gei Om helped local community leaders to monitor the impact of a project of model farms to harvest oil seed plants designed by the Management Committee of Mindat Township. They found out that the local government in charge of the model farms had engaged in illegal logging and that the farms had caused environmental damage to the Natma Taung National Park. On June 1, 2020, they had sent a previous complaint to the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD) of the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation (MONREC), which ordered the Forest Department in Mindat Township to carry out an investigation into the matter. During a meeting with Forest Department officials and two representatives of local communities, Mr. Gei Om, who acted as a negotiator and translator from Chin to Burmese and vice versa, advised the community leaders not to sign documents, which asserted that an investigation was carried out and no wrongdoing had been found. The above-mentioned July 13 complaint letter of the Ohn Village Tract official against Mr. Gei Om was sent to the Mindat Township authorities following this meeting, and led to his arrest.
On August 7, 2020, the Deputy Police Chief charged Mr. Gei Om under Section 5 (1) (F) (G) of the Restriction of Movement and Probation of Habitual Offenders Act of 1961 for his participation in the settlement of a land dispute in 2016. The fabricated charge stemmed from his participation as a community negotiator in the resolution of a land dispute under a customary dispute resolution mechanism after the destruction of a village by a landslide in 2015. At the time, the government authorities had authorized the land dispute to be settled according to local customs but they subsequently claimed that the dispute was not settled legally and that Mr. Gei Om should therefore be charged for his involvement in it, which the authorities claimed it amounted to inciting conflict.
After charges were pressed, Mr. Gei Om was offered a conditional release provided that he would not leave Mindat Township and he would report on a bi-monthly basis to the police for six months to one year, which he refused. If found guilty, Mr. Gei Om will be prohibited from leaving his township and, if he does not comply with this measure of restriction, he could be sentenced to one year in prison. He is currently detained in Mindat Township.
The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Gei Om, which seem to be only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate human rights work.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, NGO staff, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 7, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 12, 2020
- Event Description
The Myanmar authorities should cease responding to criticism of the government and military with arrests and prosecutions of students protesting human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. They should immediately drop charges against the students and unconditionally release those in custody.
At least 20 students around the country have been charged or are facing arrest under various laws after joining protests or sticker campaigns critical of the government or military, including criticizing the mobile internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin States, according to the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU).
“The Myanmar government deserves a failing grade for intimidating and harassing students peacefully expressing their views,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser. “Neither criticizing the government nor peacefully protesting should be a crime, and the authorities should stop treating them as such.”
On September 10, 2020, members of the student federation conducted a “sticker” campaign in solidarity with Rakhine students who had been arrested the previous day for protesting internet restrictions. The ABFSU members distributed fliers and stickers demanding that 3G and 4G data services be turned back on across eight townships in Rakhine and Chin States. The slogans included: “No bloody government. No murder army” and “Oppose murder and fascism and stand together with the Rakhine people.”
On September 12, the Special Branch unit of the police conducted a nighttime raid on the home of Paing Min Khant, a student in North Okkala, Yangon. “When the police knocked on our door, they told us that they were coming into our home to take temperature checks as part of neighborhood health checks for Covid-19,” Paing Min Khant told Human Rights Watch. “But then they came in and told us they had filed complaints against us under section 19 of the Peaceful Procession and Peaceful Assembly Law in Mayangone and Kyauktada townships [in Yangon].”
Police took him and another student, Wai Yan Phyo Moe, to the Mayangone township police station, where they were told they would face charges under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for failing to notify police when distributing anti-war fliers and stickers in downtown Yangon.
Myanmar’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law requires organizers to give notice to the authorities 48 hours before holding a protest or assembly. The law carries a maximum penalty of three months in jail and a fine. Treating the distribution of stickers and flyers as an “assembly” requiring notice is a new and overly broad reading of that law, Human Rights Watch said.
The authorities also threatened Paing Yin Khant and Wai Yan Phyo Moe with possible additional charges under section 505(b) of the Penal Code, which carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and a fine.
The pair said police later took them to the Kyauktada township police station and questioned them about the whereabouts of other students before finally releasing the two around midnight. The students said the police did not immediately file charges against them but said they were conducting the investigations as part of an “open” case.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 25, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 22, 2020
- Event Description
Three Arakanese student leaders detained over an anti-government protest earlier this month will be charged under the Peaceful Assembly Law in a legal change from earlier indications that they would be prosecuted using the Natural Disaster Management Law.
The three students were arrested during a demonstration on September 9 outside the Arakan State government offices, where they were demanding the restoration of internet access and an end to human rights abuses in Arakan State.
They were remanded until September 24 under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law, but the lawsuit was changed at the Sittwe Township Court on September 22 as it was determined that the legislation was not appropriate for the circumstances.
Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law covers a requirement to inform authorities in advance of a planned demonstration.
“The section under which to prosecute them was changed according to the recommendation of the legal office,” said U Kyaw Nyunt Maung, a lawyer for the students — Ko Toe Toe Aung, chair of the Sittwe University Students’ Union, and information officers Ko Kyaw Naing Htay and Ko Oo Than Naing of the Arakan Students’ Union and Sittwe University for Computer Studies respectively.
Section 19 allows for bail, and the trio were released with their trial’s first hearing scheduled for October 6.
Members of student unions in Yangon, Mandalay and Meiktila have also faced charges for protesting against human rights abuses in Arakan State. Cases have been opened against some 20 students under various legal statutes including at least one charge of incitement.
“We thank our alliance students who support us. We want to urge them to keep trying together in the future,” said Ko Kyaw Naing Htay, information officer for the Arakan Students’ Union.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 25, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 10, 2020
- Event Description
The Mandalay student demonstration on September 10 protested alleged military misconduct in Arakan State. Protesters also demanded the full restoration of 4G mobile internet access in parts of Arakan and Chin states that have been deprived for more than a year.
Ko Myo Chit Zaw, from the Yadanarbon University Student Union, is being detained at the No. 6 police station in Mandalay. Charges have been brought against him under Myanmar’s Natural Disaster Management Law in addition to the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, Ko Htoo Khant Thaw said.
A total of 13 students who joined the protest have had cases opened against them under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, according to the federation.
“It is intended so that we don’t have any rights to note matters related to the military in Myanmar. So, all 13 students who participated in the protest yesterday are facing lawsuits. We don’t think it is appropriate. In fact, we noted the actual situations on the ground,” said Ko Htoo Khant Thaw.
On September 9, three students from the Arakan Student Union who staged a protest in front of the Arakan State government offices were arrested. Cases were opened against them under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law at the Sittwe Township Court on September 10.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 25, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 9, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state have arrested three students from the Rakhine Student Union for ignoring a law against large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic by participating in a protest against the Myanmar government’s 15-month internet ban on eight townships in the state.
Toe Toe Aung, Kyang Naing Htay and Oo Than Naing staged their protest Wednesday in front of the Rakhine state government office building in the state capital Sittwe, holding signs critical of the government and military. They were arrested mid-protest and were officially charged with violating the Natural Disaster Management Act Thursday evening.
According to Myanmar’s military, the government ban on internet service to townships where Myanmar forces have been fighting the rebel Arakan Army (AA) since December 2018 keeps government troop movements secret while dampening speech that incites ethnic tensions.
The policy has however hampered aid workers helping war refugees and left people uninformed about the coronavirus pandemic.
The director of a local legal support group told RFA’s Myanmar Service that charging the students out of concern for public health was disingenuous.
“It is totally irrelevant to charge these students using the Natural Disaster Management Act. They were holding a protest. They didn’t do anything else, so it is obvious the authorities are trying to indict them for protesting,” Nyein Chan of the Thazin Legal Aids group said.
“Are they going to charge other crimes like robbery or murder that occur during this pandemic under that same law? We should question them. They are manipulating the law to prosecute these students,” said Nyein Chan.
The Legal Clinic Myanmar office told RFA it would provide legal services for the arrested trio.
“These students have asked us for legal help. We are cooperating with other CSOs to give the students the help they need. Well will try to prevent them from being charged by irrelevant laws,” said Mya Thuzar, an attorney at the clinic.
“As we are now in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, things are so unstable. So, we will make sure they will not fall into the wrong hands,” Mya Thuzar said.
Unlawful arrests
A Sittwe University Student Union official told RFA the three students were arrested in unlawful ways.
“We are pointing out the wrongdoings of the government and military. I would like to appeal to prosecute them lawfully. They say no one is above the law, whether that is the state government or anyone else,” said the student union’s vice-chair Bhone Pyae Phyo.
“The law is the law. They should apply the law equally to everyone, so I would like to appeal to the authorities to handle the case lawfully,” said Bhone Pyae Phyo.
Aung Than Wai, a Sittwe resident, told RFA that arresting the students goes against democratic ideals.
“The ruling government said they are working to maintain the rule of law, but they always detain everyone who speaks against them. This is very undemocratic,” said Aung Than Wai.
“They always try to silence us. We all know how many townships in Rakhine state are under an internet ban and for how long. These students are just trying to highlight that. The government is always trying to control all of us. This is a clear persecution of the people,” the Sittwe resident said.
At least 289 civilians have been killed and 641 injured in Rakhine state and in Paletwa township of neighboring Chin state since hostilities between the AA and the national army escalated in December 2018, according to an RFA tally.
Students charged in Mandalay
Meanwhile, in other parts of the country, police in Mandalay charged 15 college students from the All Burma Student Union when they also staged protests demanding an end to armed conflicts and the Rakhine internet ban.
Ba Chit, a student who got charged by the authorities told RFA, “They summoned me to come for interrogations. They didn’t arrest me. They asked for the details of the protests.”
“They also asked about our activities in the past. They asked me to sign a proclamation that we wouldn’t protest again but I refused. They said I was free to go,” Ba Chit said.
Kyaw Thiha Ye Kyaw, another member of the student union in Mandalay, told RFA, “I and the other members are still in our college. I told the police I would not come.”
“If they come to take me in person, I will go with them. But I will not back down. We are protesting against the 2008 Constitution. So, we will not acknowledge any charges under the constitution,” the student said.
RFA attempted to contact the police station in Mandalay for comment but were unsuccessful.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 17, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 1, 2020
- Event Description
The Myanmar Telecommunications Ministry blocked the website for activist group Justice for Myanmar on September 1 for publishing information the government has deemed as �fake news�. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges the Myanmar authorities to be more transparent on their definition of �fake news� and to ensure that they are not silencing critical voices.
Justice for Myanmar�s website was blocked on Tuesday by the country�s Telecommunications Ministry. The website was launched earlier this year by a team of human rights activists dedicated to uncovering the military�s business interests and monitoring human rights violations. The blocking of the platform is the latest in more than 200 other websites have been secretly blocked by Myanmar authorities in recent months.
Spokesman for the Ministry, Myo Swe, said �The social media monitoring team found that some websites are spreading fake news,� but did not comment on what exactly constituted false news or information.
Justice for Myanmar has conducted investigations into the government�s crackdown on Myanmar�s Rohingya Muslims in 2017, including a report about businesses that donated to the security forces for the campaign that the United Nations said was carried out with �genocidal intent�.
In a statement, representative for Justice for Myanmar Yadanar Muang said that the government�s censorship of their website �is an attempt to silence dissent and cover up the truth about the Myanmar military cartel�s corruption and international crimes.�
�We will continue speaking truth to power,� Muang added.
The recent wave of website censorships is seen as a method of silencing critics of the government and military and avoiding accountability for unlawful military campaigns.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Censorship
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Media freedom, Online
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 16, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 12, 2020
- Event Description
Two Karen men and one Burmese woman were charged Wednesday by police under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for holding an event to mark the 70th Karen Martyrs� Day in Yangon.
The death of Karen revolutionary leader Saw Ba U Gyi, who was murdered on Aug. 12, 1950, is commemorated annually as Karen Martyrs� Day. Saw Ba U Gyi founded the Karen National Union (KNU), one of Myanmar�s prominent ethnic armed groups.
On Wednesday morning, Kyauktada Township police detained two Karen activists�Sa Thein Zaw Min and Saw Hser Kwar Lar�during a commemoration of Karen Martyrs� Day in the center of Yangon near Maha Bandula Park.
On Monday, authorities in the township denied the Karen organizers� request for permission to hold the Karen Martyrs� Day event, citing COVID-19 restrictions. Mass gatherings are banned in Myanmar under the government�s COVID-19-related restrictions.
On Wednesday, police also arrested Burmese activist Daw Sein Htwe, who attended the 70th Karen Martyrs� Day event, for allegedly absconding from a lawsuit brought against her under the Unlawful Assembly Law last year.
On Wednesday evening, the two Karen activists�Sa Thein Zaw Min and Saw Hser Kwar Lar�were released after police opened lawsuits against them under Article 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, according to Naw Ohn Hla, chair of the Karen Women�s Union (KWU).
Under Article 20, organizers of a gathering can face a maximum sentence of one month in prison and a fine of 10,000 kyats (US$7.31) for failing to properly inform township authorities about a gathering, including details on the kind of activities involved, slogans, speeches, places and times.
Police Colonel Myo Thet of the Kyauktada Police Force told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that police sued the two Karen activists for reading messages that were not mentioned in the letter about the event that they filed with authorities.
Under one of the terms of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, people who join an assembly �must not recite or shout chants other than the ones approved.�
On the same day, the Kyauktada Township Court sent Daw Sein Htwe to Insein Prison as she declined to request bail after being charged under Article 19 of the same law. Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law carries a maximum sentence of three months in jail and a 30,000 kyat fine (US$21.93) for violating any of over a dozen rules on how and when people may assemble.
This week�s arrests mirror a series of arrests that followed last year�s Karen Martyrs� Day events in Yangon, after which Sa Thein Zaw Min was sentenced to 15 days in prison.
On Oct. 12, 2019, Kyauktada police opened unlawful assembly cases against Daw Sein Htwe and two other activists�Ma Zarchi Linn of the Democracy, Peace and Women (DPW) group and Naw Larshee Htoo of the KWU�for leading a rally in solidarity with three other Karen activists who had earlier been sentenced to 15 days in jail for holding a rally on the 69th Karen Martyrs� Day in Yangon.
Karen activists Sa Thein Zaw Min, Saw Albert Cho and Daw Naw Ohn Hla, were sentenced to 15 days in prison by the Kyauktada Township Court on Oct. 2, 2019 for the 2019 Karen Martyrs� Day gathering.
Police Colonel Myo Thet said that Daw Sein Htwe was sued on Wednesday under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Precession Law for leading the solidarity rally last year without informing the township authorities.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 21, 2020
- Event Description
Myanmar police have charged six activists who participated in protests against a year-long government-ordered internet service shutdown in Myanmar�s conflict-ridden Rakhine state, accusing them of violating the country�s peaceful assembly law.
Five of the activists are from Yangon-based Athan, a freedom of expression advocacy group. They were taken into custody for denouncing the internet ban by hanging posters on an overpass in downtown Yangon on June 21, questioning whether the ban was intended to cover up possible atrocities committed by the Myanmar military in the conflict zone.
Myo Min Tun, an activist from the Ramree Township Youth Network in Rakhine state, also was charged for participating in a protest in Ramree town on the same day. A group of young people wearing T-shirts saying �Oppose Internet Oppression� demanded the restoration of internet access, according to photos the group posted on Facebook.
All six activists have been charged under Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, which entails criminal liability for organizing or participating in an assembly for which notice has not been given to local officials.
Rights groups have criticized the statute as incompatible with democracy, saying its provisions are vaguely written and could be used arbitrarily to restrict freedom of expression. They also point to the law's inclusion of prison sentences for peaceful protests.
Ye Wai Phyo Aung, an Athan cofounder, said police informed the group that five of its members, including executive director Maung Saungkha, had been charged, but provided no details or the identities of the others arrested.
�They have filed the charges for the protests at the Sule overpass downtown,� he told RFA. �They displayed posters and banners to protest against the internet shutdown.�
Pe Than, a lawmaker from Rakhine�s Myebon township, said the internet service blackout has hurt residents. He has appealed to the government to lift the ban.
�There have been several losses for the local people in terms of education, health, and social and government administration,� he said.
�It has also intensified the spread of fake news, rights violations, and war crimes,� he added, referring to the growing state of lawlessness in the conflict zones. �The local people are paying the price.�
The internet shutdown originally was imposed in June 2019 in eight townships in Rakhine sate and in Chin state�s Paletwa township amid intensifying clashes between government forces and the rebel Arakan Army (AA). Authorities later lifted the restriction in Rakhine�s Maungdaw township.
The 18-month-long conflict that has killed 260 civilians and displaced more than 160,000 others.
The government has extended the ban until Aug. 1, saying it will lift it when the region is secure.
Myanmar military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said Tuesday that the internet shutdown in the remaining townships must remain in place to prevent the leakage of army information and the spread of hate speech on social media.
Rights groups and foreign diplomats in Myanmar have called on officials to reinstate the service, arguing that the cutoff has prevented civilians from accessing information about COVID-19 and from contacting humanitarian aid groups.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- NGO staff, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 4, 2020
- Event Description
Six labor rights activists, including two union leaders from a factory in Yangon�s Dagon Seikkan Township, were jailed for three months on Monday for leading strikes which violated COVID-19 orders.
Since May, 2, more than 100 workers from the Blue Diamond bags factory have blocked the entrance to demand full wages during April, although operations stopped from April 19 to 30 due to government orders.
The strike was led by members of the unregistered All Burma Federation of Trade Unions (ABFTU).
Ma Thet Htar Swe of the ABFTU told The Irrawaddy that the authorities on Monday broke up the strike and arrested two leaders and four ABFTU members without holding any talks.
That evening factory union leaders Ma Zar Zar Htun and Ma Lay Lay Mar and ABFTU members Ko Kyaw Myo, Ko Myo Gyi, Ko Min Min Naing and Ko Thet Oo Maung were sentenced to three months in prison by the Dagon Seikkan Township Court under the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Law, according to ABFTU.
On April 16 the government banned gatherings of five or more people under coronavirus preventative measures with the threat of up to six months in prison and fines.
Dagon Seikkan Township administrator U Zaw Naing Oo confirmed the prosecutions to The Irrawaddy.
Before the Thingyan holidays, Blue Diamond workers held strikes demanding their employer close the factory for a month with full pay to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
�There will be strikes for labor rights in the future. Our demands for rights cannot be halted by prosecutions,� said labor activists Ma Thet Htar Swe.
She said five other workers� leaders from the Rainwear House and Brightberg factories in Dagon Seikkan also were arrested last night over strikes held before Thingyan.
State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told representatives of employers and labor unions via a video conference on April 22 that the government would take action against anyone violating COVID-19 restrictions.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- #COVID-19, Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 21, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 7, 2020
- Event Description
Right groups have asked the Karen State government to drop charges against a Karen environmental activist over his role in a traditional prayer ceremony, saying he was acting to protect local water resources against pollution from a coal-powered cement factory.
Police attempted to arrest Saw Tha Phoe, a Karen environmentalist from the Karen Rivers Watch Network, at his home in Hpa-an Township on Saturday but he was not at home.
The police attempted the arrest after the Hpa-an General Administration Department filed a complaint against Saw Tha Phoe under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code, which prohibits making or circulating statements that may cause public fear or alarm and incite the public to commit an offense against the state or “public tranquility.”
The government filed the complaint in connection with a traditional Karen prayer ceremony on Jan. 17, in which local residents and village monks from Hpa-an’s Myaingkalay District came together to pray for protection from pollution caused by the Myaingkalay cement factory.
Several civil society groups issued statements Monday condemning the attempted arrest of Saw Tha Phoe and the government’s actions, saying they violated the rights of citizens, human rights and democratic standards.
Sai Khur Hseng, spokesperson for the Save the Salween Network, told The Irrawaddy Tuesday that the Karen State government should drop the charges as Saw Tha Poe was acting peacefully and did not break the law.
“It was an environmental issue and he was working for everyone to be able to enjoy a clean environment. He was just trying to protect against the actions of the company, which will damage the local community’s environment,” Sai Khur Seng said.
“We strongly condemn the actions of the township General Administration Department and the Karen State Government, which severely hinders Myanmar’s peace process and steps toward federalism,” read a statement by the Save the Salween Network and Burma Rivers Network.
Ko Ye Lin Myint from the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) told The Irrawaddy that it was meaningless for the Karen State government to take action against Saw Tha Phoe.
“He was just praying for the environment and he did not commit any act of defamation against the government,” he said.
Karen communities in the area have called for the Karen State government to stop the Myaingkalay cement factory from using coal power as it has polluted water sources around Myaingkalay’s Nat Kone Village, in Bat Village-tract.
Right groups also questioned what type of democratic government would order the arrest of Saw Tha Phoe.
Sai Khur Hseng pointed out that the actions of the Karen State government represent the opposite of the principles of democracy, peaceful community and environmental values often discussed by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Tin Tun Aung, a Hpa-an police officer, told Radio Free Asia that he and other police went to arrest Saw Tha Phoe at his house but he was not at home. The officer said that police will continue to search for the activist.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 4, 2020
- Event Description
Two journalists who were abducted and released by Border Guard Force (BGF) troops in Myawaddy Township, Karen State said they were tortured by the soldiers during interrogation.
Naw Betty Han, a reporter for Frontier Myanmar, and Mar Naw, a photojournalist for Myanmar Times, were detained in the jungle for one day and released Thursday evening. the two were covering land and development issues in Karen State.
According to Naw Betty Han, the two were walking near a bridge at Border Gate 1 in Myawaddy and taking a picture of heavy machines building a new casino when the guards of the building compound, wearing black suits and armbands with Chinese letters, detained them.
“They told us to delete the photos and later said we needed to meet a major and called a car,” she said.
The guards forced the two journalists to cover their faces with black masks and drove them to a rubber plantation. There, armed men wearing fatigues with BGF logos on their armbands sat the reporters on the ground and interrogated them.
Mar Naw said the men hit him several times and kicked his face until his nose bled while others tried to cut his long hair and another held a bayonet near the journalist’s neck.
“I apologized to them several times and asked them not to hit me but they didn’t stop. One guy held a bayonet to my neck,” said Mar Naw.
“They hit and kicked Ko Mar Naw but they didn’t hit me. But they aimed their guns at me and cocked the guns,” Naw Betty Han explained to reporters in Myawaddy after she was released on Thursday.
“The guard in plain clothes who stopped us at the construction site is the one who put us in this situation,” Mar Naw added. “We deleted the photos as [the guards] requested but they called the armed group and threatened us like this.”
After the initial interrogation, the two journalists were handcuffed and put into another car, again with black masks covering their eyes. The armed men took them and locked them in a small prison enclosure in the jungle.
Naw Betty Han said she told the men that they were journalists and called out the names of BGF majors and officials who she had previously interviewed.
“They slapped me in my face for calling out their major’s name. They said we took photos of their army outpost. We explained ourselves but they didn’t listen,” she recalled. “We were later put in a different enclosure at about 2 a.m. The next afternoon, they told us to get into the car, put the masks on and we were sent back to an office where we met with the BGF officers and were released.”
Colonel Saw Chit Thu, head of the ethnic Karen BGF, told The Irrawaddy that they are taking action against those who were involved in the incident.
“We gave no instructions to arrest or interrogate any reporters. We arrested the person who was involved in this incident, who went beyond official orders, and they will be punished. I also instructed the troops not to do this in the future,” said Col. Saw Chit Thu.
The Karen State-based BGF, formed in 2010, is a splinter group of the defunct Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and is backed by the military. The group operates businesses in the area, including casinos, and is involved in building the Chinese-backed Shwe Kokko real estate development project. Naw Betty Han has written extensively about them.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Abduction/Kidnapping, Intimidation and Threats, Sexual Violence, Torture, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 24, 2020
- Event Description
Authorities in Myanmar Monday charged nine students with violating the country’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law after they staged a protest Sunday against the government’s suspension of internet services in restive Rakhine and Chin states, home to fighting between ethnic insurgents and Myanmar’s military.
The nine students organized and were part of a gathering of about 100 who demanded that the government reinstate mobile internet access in nine townships in Chin and Rakhine. Internet access was blocked in June of last year. In five of the nine townships, access was later reinstated, but then blocked again earlier this month.
Under section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, the students could face sentences of up to three months, because they did not receive prior permission to hold the protest.
Sources told RFA’s Myanmar Service that police officers in plainclothes ventured onto the campus of Yangon University to make arrests. Six of the nine students who were charged were in custody, Reuters news agency quoted a participant in the protest as saying.
One of the accused students, Myat Hein Tun, secretary of the university's Rakhine Students Union, told RFA that he disagreed with the manner in which the arrests were made.
“I think it is totally unacceptable,” Myat Hein Tun said.
“They should not make arrests on a university campus,” the student leader added.
Another student, Htoo Khant Zaw, secretary of the Federation of Myanmar Student Union, told RFA that organizers felt they did not need permission to stage their protest because under a democratic government, they have the right to peacefully protest.
“We are not allowed to express our opinions,” Htoo Khant Zaw said.
“If we had applied for permission to protest as mandated by Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, [the authorities] would tell us what slogans we could use and which route the protesters could take, and they would tell us not to deliver long speeches, so it does not make sense,” he added.
RFA contacted the police to inquire about the arrests, but an official from Kamayut Township Police Station said the police were not at liberty to answer questions on the matter.
During a news conference on Saturday, the government justified the internet shutdown in Chin and Rakhine states, saying it was for the benefit of the country. The government also said that access would not be restored while there is armed conflict in the region.
Ye Wai Phyo Aung, founder and research manager of Athan, a youth-led free speech advocacy group, told RFA that charging students for protesting against the internet shutdown was a “double violation of human rights.”
“We have seen so many cases of the government charging people who are merely practicing the right to freedom of expression and to criticize the wrongdoing of the government.”
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 5, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 11, 2020
- Event Description
Five labor rights activists, including a labor activist from a US-owned garment factory, were threatened with 24 days in prison unless they paid fines of 30,000 kyats (US$21) at Yangon’s Dagon Township Court on Feb. 11 for an unlawful assembly.
The five led more than 400 factory workers from the Natural Garment Company in Shwelinban industrial zone, Hlaing Tharyar Township, to the Yangon regional government offices on Nov. 7, 2019. They called on the National League for Democracy’s regional chief minister, U Phyo Min Thein, to take action against employers who they said violated labor rights and employment contracts.
Garment factory worker leaders Ma Thandar Phyoe, Ko Kyaw Myo Htike, Ko Chit Nan Maung and Ko Pyae Sone Aung and activist Ma Moe Sandra Myint from the labor rights advocacy group Action Labor Rights, were sued by Dagon police under Section 19 of the Unlawful Assembly Act.
Several labor supporters had to help pay the court fines to avoid prison sentences for the five union representatives.
“We just went there to request government help with our labor rights violation case. But we were sentenced although we did nothing wrong. This is unfair,” activist Ma Moe Sandra Myint told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
The case undermined trust in government as no action was taken against employers who repeatedly violated labor rights and contracts, said Ma Moe Sandra Myint.
The labor disputes began in August 2019 because staff said their salaries were cut. Around 1,500 factory workers reportedly went on strike in September.
Media reports said strikers stopped 10 Chinese technicians and two interpreters from reaching the factory in mid-September as the management called for talks.
Strikers released the factory’s technicians and interpreters after the township offered to hold negotiations.
The factory announced its closure on Nov. 7, saying that operations had been disrupted by the strike. The management said it would compensate workers for the closure. The announcement led to the November protest.
The Natural Garment management was unavailable for comment. The clothing factory closed last year only to re-open with many of its former staff. Union leaders were excluded, said Ma Moe Sandra Myint.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Labour rights, Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 4, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 17, 2020
- Event Description
The Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release four activists who have been convicted and sentenced to one month in prison simply for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Civil Rights Defenders said today.
On January 17, 2020, the Myawaddy Township court in Kayin/Karen State, south eastern Myanmar, sentenced four activists – Naw Ohn Hla, Maung U, U Nge (aka) Hsan Hlaing, and Sandar Myint – to one month in prison after finding them guilty of protesting without authorization under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. The law officially only requires notification of a protest but in practice, authorities treat the notification requirement as a request for permission. It has frequently been used to target peaceful activists, in particular those campaigning for justice for communities affected by human rights violations and abuses.
Police charged the four activists after they participated in a peaceful demonstration organized by residents of the Shwe Mya Sandi housing project in Kayin/Karen State on April 19, 2019. Residents had been protesting against demolition of their homes in February 2019, after the government declared that the land used for the project had been acquired unlawfully and began demolishing their homes. Protest organizers Maung U, U Nge (aka) Hsan Hlaing, and Sandar Myint had notified authorities of their intention to march along the Myawaddy road. Naw Ohn Hla was not involved in organizing the protest, however she joined in a show of solidarity. All four were arrested soon afterwards and charged under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. The court sentenced each of them to one month in prison. They are currently detained in Hpa An prison, Kayin/Karen State.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Civil Rights Defenders consider all four activists to be prisoners of conscience, imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. All three organizations call on the Myanmar authorities to release them immediately and without conditions, and quash their convictions.
The rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are enshrined in Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Under international human rights law and standards, certain restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly may be imposed, but only in narrow, clearly defined circumstances. Such restrictions must be provided by law; be limited to certain specified purposes such as national security, public order or respect of the rights or reputation of others; and be necessary and proportionate to the
achievement of one of those permissible purposes. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Civil Rights Defenders are concerned about a number of laws in Myanmar – including the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law – which are incompatible with the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and which are used to arrest, prosecute and imprison human rights defenders and other peaceful activists. Our organizations urge the Myanmar authorities – in particular Parliament – to take immediate action to review and repeal or amend all such laws to bring them into line with international human rights law and standards.
Human rights defenders play a vital role in the protection and promotion of human rights, and it is crucial that they are able to speak out freely on human rights violations, including those committed by the military against civilians in areas of armed conflict, without fear of repercussions. Under Article 2 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, each state has a duty to create the conditions necessary to defend human rights within their jurisdictions. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Civil Rights Defenders call on the Government of Myanmar to ensure an environment in which it is possible to defend human rights without fear of reprisal or intimidation.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 3, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 20, 2020
- Event Description
A court in Tanintharyi Region issued warrants Monday for the arrest of lawyer U Kyi Myint and poet U Saw Wai for failing to appear in court for a case over their remarks on Myanmar’s constitutional amendment process.
The Myanmar military filed the case in Tanintharyi’s Kawthaung Township against three prominent political activists—U Kyi Myint, U Saw Wai and former Myanmar army captain Nay Myo Zin—for remarks they made in April about charter amendment, suing the three activists under Section 505 of the Penal Code for allegedly defaming the military and military leadership.
The Kawthaung Township Court began hearings in the case on Jan. 20 after sending summons letters to the defendants.
On Monday, only Nay Myo Zin, who is already serving a one-year prison term in Insein Prison on the same charge from another military lawsuit, appeared in court. The military’s plaintiff also did not appear in court on Monday.
Poet U Saw Wai, a former political prisoner, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant goes beyond what is allowed under the law, as he has not received any legal summons letter from the court.
“There has never been justice and there never will be as the judiciary is in the hands of the military. That is why we talked about supporting amendments to the charter,” said U Saw Wai.
Lawyer U Kyi Myint told reporters that he did not attend the court hearing because police haven’t conducted a proper investigation into the case, as required under Criminal Procedure Code Section 202.
On Thursday, U Kyi Myint told The Irrawaddy that he had already reported to the Kawthaung Township Court and police force that, due to the warrant, he will appear in court for the next hearing, scheduled for Feb. 3.
U Saw Wai added that the defendants will hold a press conference in Yangon on Saturday.
Section 505(a) of the Penal Code carries a penalty of up to two years in prison for making, publishing or circulating statements, rumors or reports intended to cause military officers to mutiny, or to fail in or disregard their duties. Anyone sued under Section 505(a) must be arrested and detained, as it is a non-bailable offense.
In November, 130 Myanmar civil society groups released a joint statement condemning the military’s attempt to prosecute the three activists and calling on the military to drop the case immediately.
Over the past four years, the military has filed 47 lawsuits against 96 people, including 51 activists, 19 individual citizens, 14 journalists, five religious representatives, four artists and three members of political parties, according to a recent report by Athan, a group advocating for the right to freedom of expression in Myanmar.
Of the military’s 47 lawsuits, most have been filed by the military as a way to take action against its critics, the report said. Athan has also called on the military to drop its lawsuits and stop suing those that criticize it.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Lawyer
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: three political activists sued by the military
- Date added
- Feb 4, 2020
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 31, 2019
- Event Description
The military has opened a case against three prominent political activists – former Myanmar army Captain Nay Myo Zin, poet Saw Wai and lawyer U Kyi Myint – for their remarks on charter amendments made in April in Kawthaung Township, Tanintharyi Region.
The Kawthaung Township Court accepted the case on Oct. 31, according to the military’s Coastal Command.
One of the accused, Nay Myo Zin, is currently serving a one-year prison term under the same charge, filed by the Tatmadaw in Yangon, for calling the Constitution undemocratic.
The three addressed a public gathering at a hall in Kawthaung in support of the Parliament’s charter amendment committee on April 3.
Colonel Thant Sin Oo from the Coastal Command told The Irrawaddy that their remarks defamed the Tatmadaw (military) and the military leadership.
“Their comments were aimed at causing misunderstanding. Therefore, we petitioned directly to the Kawthaung court and the court charged them under Article 505 [of the Penal Code] on Oct. 17,” said Col. Thant Sin Oo.
Section 505(a) of the Penal Code carries a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment for anyone convicted of making, publishing or circulating statements, rumors or reports intended to cause military officers to mutiny, or to fail in or disregard their duties. It is a non-bailable offense.
U Kyi Myint told The Irrawaddy that he was sued for mentioning amendments to the Constitution at the gathering in Kawthaung six months ago, but insisted he did not say anything to damage the Tatmadaw.
The lawyer said: “Former Captain Nay Myo Zin talked for about 75 minutes. Ko Saw Wai talked for about an hour. I only talked for 20 minutes, as I was the eldest there and I could not cope with the heat. I talked about the Constitution, nothing else.”
He added: “We had to stand and raise [issues] for our country’s sake. There was no support from another country. We cannot stay silent. If everyone is silent, our country will further deteriorate. We must speak out about what needs to be done.”
But he said he was denied the opportunity to address the Kawthaung court.
“The military applied to the court on Oct. 17 and the case was accepted yesterday [Thursday], but we did not receive a letter. We don’t know yet if the letter arrived, whether we would be arrested without bail and sent to prison. According to the procedures, we will have to travel there and face [the charges].”
The number of military attempts to sue activists, especially those supporting charter amendments, has risen since April, said Maung Saung Kha, the director of Athan, a group advocating freedom of expression. Of 30 cases, 24 were lawsuits filed directly by the Tatmadaw against 77 people. The six remaining cases were filed by other people on behalf of the Tatmadaw, he said.
Those targeted have included monks, journalists, politicians, political activists, farmers and comedians.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said earlier that the Tatmadaw’s tolerance of criticism was not unlimited.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: three political activists sued by the military
- Date added
- Nov 4, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 3, 2019
- Event Description
Kyauktada Township police have opened unlawful assembly cases against another three activists for organizing a protest at a courthouse in Yangon in support of three Karen activists who were later convicted of similar charges.
The police captain of Kyauktada Township has opened cases against Daw Sein Htwe and Ma Zarchi Linn of the Democracy, Peace and Women (DPW) group, and Naw Larshee Htoo of the Karen Women’s Union (KWU) for leading a rally in solidarity with three Karen activists who were found guilty Wednesday for holding an earlier unlawful gathering on Karen Martyrs’ Day in Yangon.
The Kyauktada police said in a summons letter that about 130 people led by Daw Sein Htwe, Ma Zarchi Linn and Naw Larshee Htoo chanted slogans at the township court as police brought three Karen activists—Daw Naw Ohn Hla, Saw Elbert Cho and Sa Thein Zaw Min —to a court hearing on their own charges of unlawful assembly. The summons letter says that Daw Sein Htwe, Ma Zarchi Linn and Naw Larshee Htoo did not ask permission to organize their demonstration.
Larshee Htoo is Karen, while Daw Sein Htwe and Ma Zarchi Linn are ethnic Burmese. The three activists who are now being sued were asked to appear at Kyauktada Police Station on Friday.
On Thursday, DPW and KWU issued a joint statement condemning the allegations, saying that they will continue to protest against the lawsuits, which they say constitute dictatorial oppression.
”People who supported those whose rights were being violated have now been [sued]. This shouldn’t be the case,” Ko Min Nay Htoo, general secretary of the DPW, told The Irrawaddy on Friday.
He added that he suspects the cases are the result of a grudge held by the authorities, because all of the accused are members of organizations founded by Naw Ohn Hla.
Ko Min Nay Htoo also said that if police arrest these three activists, all the supporters who came to the court on Sept. 27 will go to the police station to be arrested.
Naw Ohn Hla, Saw Elbert Cho and Sa Thein Zaw Min were sentenced by the Kyauktada Township Court on Wednesday to 15 days in prison. They were then released without being sent to jail again as they had already been detained for more than two weeks while they were prosecuted.
Police had filed a lawsuit against the three after they refused to comply with orders to delete the word ”martyr” from all aspects of this year’s Karen Martyrs’ Day commemoration.
Authorities banned the use of the term ”martyr” in reference to Karen revolutionary leader Saw Ba U Gyi, who was murdered on Aug. 12, 1950. His death is commemorated annually as Karen Martyrs’ Day.
This year on Aug. 12, more than 100 people, led by Naw Ohn Hla, So Elbert Cho and Sa Thein Zaw Min, participated in an event to mark the 69th anniversary of Karen Martyrs’ Day in front of City Hall in Kyauktada Township, Yangon.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Offline
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 4, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 9, 2019
- Event Description
Chairwoman of the Karen Women’s Union Naw Ohn Hla has been detained under unlawful assembly charges for organizing a Karen Martyrs’ Day commemoration in Yangon last month without permission.
The long-term land rights and political activist, who herself is ethnic Karen, was arrested on Monday night and brought to the police station in Kyauktada Township, Ko Min Nay Htoo of the Democracy, Peace and Women’s Organization (DPW) said. Naw Ohn Hla also chairs the DPW.
Local authorities banned the use of the term “martyr” in reference to Karen revolutionary leader Saw Ba U Gyi, who was killed on Aug. 12, 1950. His death is commemorated annually as Karen Martyrs’ Day.
The 69th memorial was held—under the banner of Karen Martyrs’ Day—in front of city hall in Kyauktada Township this year. More than 100 people attended the event.
Police from Kyauktada Township opened cases against Naw Ohn Hla and two others under Article 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law for organizing the unauthorized event.
Ko Min Nay Htoo said the two activists will also face lawsuits when they return, as they are currently out of town.
At a court appearance on Tuesday, Naw Ohn Hla declined to request bail.
“We didn’t do anything wrong. I am not seeking bail as this is unfair. We acted in accordance with the law [by informing authorities about the event in advance],” she told reporters outside the court.
Naw Ohn Hla was sent directly to Insein Prison after the court appearance.
The offenses carry one-month prison sentences, fines or both.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Offline
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 2, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 6, 2019
- Event Description
A Kachin rights activist found guilty of violating the Peaceful Assembly Law received an additional sentence of three months in prison on Friday for giving a set of broken scales to a judge in Myitkyina Township Court.
Ko Paul was sentenced to 15 days imprisonment on Sept. 2 for violating Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law. When the sentence was handed down, he gave Judge U Than Tun a set of broken scales to show his dissatisfaction with the sentence.
The judge responded by filing a lawsuit against Ko Paul for disturbing the duties of a civil servant and for insulting and disrespecting the court.
“I gave him broken scales to represent the collapse of the judiciary in this country. The scales of justice in this country are broken. For that, I’ve been sentenced to three months imprisonment. This shows Kachin State, the country and the world that there is no justice,” Ko Paul said after leaving the court and before he was escorted to Myitkyina Prison.
Ko Paul and fellow Kachin activist Ma Seng Nu Pan were sentenced to 15 days imprisonment by the same court on Sept. 2 for organizing a street performance on June 9 to mark the eighth anniversary of the renewal of armed conflict in Kachin State.
Ko Paul’s lawyer U Mar Kha said his client did not interrupt or insult the judge.
“Insulting the judge means swearing. Paul did not do any brutal acts against the court, such as hitting something, kicking or beating the judge. The sentence is unjust. Ko Paul simply criticized the weakness and collapse of the judiciary, he did not insult it,” said U Mar Kha. “If we can’t have the chance to criticize or tell the truth, there will be no rights and we can’t achieve democracy.”
Demands for freedom of assembly and fair trails and complaints about the government’s prosecution and imprisonment of anti-war demonstrators have been mounting in Kachin State. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the state capital on Thursday and called for fair trails for Ko Paul and Ma Seng Nu Pan. They continued the protest on Friday and have plans for one more day of protest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: Two young Burmese leaders sentenced to two-week detention for organising public demonstration
- Date added
- Oct 2, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 2, 2019
- Event Description
Members of the Students and Youth Congress of Burma (SYCB), an umbrella group of youth organizations from across the country, joined a protest in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina on Monday to demand judicial justice and freedom of expression.
The protest—the latest to be triggered by last week’s sentencing of two young activists found guilty of violating Burma’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for staging an anti-war street performance in June—was organized by local Kachin youth groups.
Paul Lu and Seng Nu Pan, the organizers of the street performance, were both sentenced to 15 days in prison on September 2. Paul Lu later received an extra three months for handing a broken set of scales to the presiding judge in protest at the decision.
Say Pu, the secretary-2 of the SYCB, explained that his group decided to join the Myitkyina protests because it believed the sentence against the two Kachin activists violated their human rights.
“I think this sentence is unfair. [Paul Lu] even received an additional prison term. From a human rights perspective, this is unacceptable. That’s why we joined the protest to show our support,” Say Pu told NMG.
Regarding the reaction of the authorities to SYCB’s presence, Say Pu said that some members of the group had been questioned.
“They asked about our organization, our address, and so on,” he said.
The protesters, who have gathered three times in the past week, said they had four key demands—freedom of speech and expression, a fair and just legal system, understanding of the difficulties of people displaced by conflict, and an end to the civil war as soon as possible.
Twelve ethnic members of SYCB joined the protest in Myitkyina from Yangon.
“We are demanding freedom of expression because we have been denied this basic right. Youths in Yangon and Mandalay have been charged for their struggle for freedom of expression. So how can we speak about how we are suffering? How can we speak about human rights abuses?” Sut Seng Htoi, the spokesperson of the Kachin Youth Movement, said to NMG.
According to Sut Seng Htoi, the participation of SYCB members in the protest is a source of strength for Kachin youths.
“The participation of SYCB is great because these youths have had the experience of being charged by the authorities. We can work together to build a genuine federal democratic country. We can cooperate in non-violent demonstrations, which are a part of democratic culture,” Sut Seng Htoi added.
Meanwhile, the authorities have continued to press charges against activists. At a protest held last Thursday, Kachin activists N’khun La Nu and Malan Hkar Mai were charged by police for holding unauthorized placards.
Nearly 300 people, including Kachin civilians displaced by conflict, members of various Kachin youth groups and civil society organizations, local people, and SYCB members, joined the protest in Myitkyina on Monday.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Pro-democracy defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Myanmar: Two young Burmese leaders sentenced to two-week detention for organising public demonstration
- Date added
- Oct 2, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 27, 2014
- Event Description
Rangoon police said they filed a criminal lawsuit against the organizer of a demonstration that called for an inquiry into the killing of a journalist. Organizers of a similar protest in Mandalay could also face criminal charges. Police told The Irrawaddy that youth activist Moe Thway of Generation Wave is being charged under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly, which bans holding an unauthorized protest and can result in a prison terms of up to six months. "We filed a lawsuit against Moe Thway and party under Article 18, but we are still analyzing which of the protesters will be charged," an officer at Kyauktada Township Police Station said on Monday, before declining further comment. On Sunday, some 200 representatives of activists groups and civil society organizations, including the prominent 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, gathered in front of Rangoon's City Hall to demand justice in the case of the recent killing of reporter Aung Kyaw Naing. Last Friday, the Interim Myanmar Press Council said it had been notified by the Burma Army that the freelance journalist, also known as Par Gyi, had been arrested by the military in Mon State on Sept. 30, interrogated and later killed. Moe Thway said he sent a letter to Kyauktada Township Police Station on Friday asking for permission to hold the protest, but received no reply. He said he went ahead with the event as planned regardless. Moe Thway said he called Kyauktada police on Monday and learned that he had been charged. He added that he had not yet received official notification of the lawsuit. In Mandalay on Monday night, about 200 activists and demonstrators also assembled to call for justice in the case of the slain journalist. Organizers said authorities had turned down their request to hold a protest, but they had gone ahead anyway. "We informed the police about the protest on Sunday. The police gave back the letter and replied that they don't allow it at such short notice," said Thein Aung Myint, a Mandalay-based activist with the Movement for Democracy Current Forces. Thein Aung Myint said he feared that those who sent the letter and some of protestors could face criminal charges, adding that during the event police had shown up to question the demonstrators and discourage them from protesting. Moe Thway said he had noticed how Kyauktada police a week before had needed only one day to grant permission for a protest calling for fair treatment of two Burmese migrants in Thailand, who are being accused of killing two British tourists. He said he believed this indicated that police were using the Peaceful Assembly Law to thwart politically sensitive demonstrations. "They permit the protest depending on the cause of the protest. It is not good, it seems like they can do with the law whatever they want," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 30, 2014
- Event Description
Crowds gathered in downtown Rangoon on Sunday the 26th October to demand a full investigation into the death of freelance reporter Aung Kyaw Naing, commonly known as Par Gyi, who was reportedly killed in custody of the Burma Army. On Friday, news emerged that the Interim Myanmar Press Council had been notified by the military that Par Gyi had been abducted in Mon State on Sept. 30, interrogated and later killed, with the army claiming that he was affiliated with a Karen rebel group. The military's statement said that on Oct. 4, Par Gyi "tried to seize a gun from a guard and run away; then he was shot dead by the guard." His body was buried and his family was not notified. Concerned citizens reacted quickly, gathering in front of Rangoon's City Hall, some carrying placards reading, "Restore justice and security for citizens" and "Stop brutality." "Ko Par Gyi is a journalist, a politician and a citizen," said Ko Ko Gyi, a prominent activist and leader of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society movement. "His death shows that we do not have protection of the law." Ko Ko Gyi added that the statement produced by the Burma Army was sent to the Press Council nearly one month after Par Gyi's disappearance, suggesting that the government may have been concealing abuses and must provide answers to the public. "This case shows that the army is clearly abusing human rights," he said. "If they do not take action and reform, there will be a confrontation between the citizens and the army." Some protesters said that what happened to Par Gyi is not uncommon in conflict-affected ethnic areas, but that the case should be considered an alarm for citizens and an opportunity to demand justice. UPDATE 6th November: The body of a Myanmar journalist killed in military detention showed signs of trauma consistent with torture, according to a lawyer representing the reporter's widow, after it was exhumed by a forensics team Wednesday 5th November as part of an investigation into his mysterious death. Around 100 people gathered at the shallow grave site in Kyaikmayaw township in southeastern Myanmar's Mon state to witness the exhumation of freelance reporter Aung Kyaw Naing-also known as Par Gyi-including his widow Ma Thanda, political activists, lawyers and authorities. Members of the Myanmar military directed the group to the site. After the body was removed from the grave it was taken to the General Hospital in the Mon state capital Moulemein for further examination to confirm the identity and to determine the cause of death. Lawyer Robert San Aung, who is representing Ma Thanda and who was present at the exhumation, told RFA's Myanmar Service that Aung Kyaw Naing had likely died "as a result of torture" based on the appearance of his corpse. "Upon observing the body, the injuries indicate that his death was caused by excessive torture," he said. "This[conclusion] is based on my whole life of experience and on the science of criminal cases. It is also because there did not seem to be any gunshot wounds on his body." Robert San Aung rejected claims by the military that Aung Kyaw Naing had been given a proper burial after his death. "The burial site was about 800 meters (half a mile) from the village of Shwe Wa Chaung-one has to walk quite a ways to get there. It is on farmland and there are bushes around it," he said. "It is not in the village cemetery at all. That is why we reject the statement that a proper burial was given. There was no coffin or even a bamboo mat in the grave." The lawyer said that Aung Kyaw Naing's body was buried under "no more than one foot (30 centimeters) of earth" and had been interred with his clothing on. He said the body would undergo an autopsy and then be returned to Aung Kyaw Naing's home in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon for burial with the assistance of the city's Free Funeral Services Society. A report by the Democratic Voice of Burma quoted eyewitness Nay Myo Zin from local civil society group Myanmar Social Life Development Network as saying that the corpse showed signs of a broken jaw, a caved-in skull and swelling on the torso indicating broken ribs. "It is completely clear that Ko Par Gyi was tortured," he told DVB. Aung Kyaw Naing's widow, Ma Thanda, confirmed that the body was that of her husband, the report said. Wednesday's exhumation is believed to be the first time that Myanmar's Army has ever fulfilled a request to produce the body of a civilian casualty. Aung Kyaw Naing was killed in military detention last month after documenting clashes between government forces and rebels in Mon state, according to reports. The Ministry of Defense had said that he was shot dead on Oct. 4 while trying to escape military custody in Mon state's Kyaikmaraw township, accusing him of being an information officer for a branch of the rebel Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA). The DKBA however disavowed any links with Aung Kyaw Naing, who had served as a bodyguard for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the 1980s. On Oct. 31, President Thein Sein ordered Myanmar's National Human Rights Commission to fully investigate the case after immense public outrage and calls from foreign entities. The order followed a complaint filed by Ma Thanda at the Kyaikmaraw township police station, demanding that authorities conduct an investigation into the death of her husband, and calling on the authorities to exhume the body in her presence as part of the probe. Local and International nongovernmental organizations, including Thailand-based Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) and New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), had dismissed the Defense Ministry's statement and joined in the call for a probe into the killing. Civil society groups had also held mass protests in Yangon and in the northern city of Mandalay over the killing, demanding an immediate and independent probe. UPDATE: 12/ 05/ 2015 A military court's decision to acquit and unconditionally free two Myanmar soldiers accused of killing a freelance journalist prompted his widow and lawyer on Monday to vow to appeal the case to higher authorities, following a hearing on the case in a southeastern province. Reporter Aung Kyaw Naing-also known as Par Gyi-died in military custody last October after he was arrested while covering fighting between the government army and Karen ethnic rebels in southeastern Myanmar's Mon state. The country's Ministry of Defense said he was shot to death by government soldiers who claimed the journalist was trying to flee custody because he was an information officer with the rank of captain in the Karen armed ethnic rebel group. Doctors who performed an autopsy on his exhumed corpse last November found that five gunshot wounds, including one on Par Gyi's chin, two on his chest, and one each on his thigh and heel, caused his death, and that his corpse showed signs of torture.The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission[MHRC] conducted an investigation and recommended the case be heard in a civilian court. But the military overruled and said it would be held in a military court because Aung Kyaw Naing died during conflict. "We will let the president, commander-in-chief and people from the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission know about it," said Robert San Aung, the prosecuting lawyer representing Aung Kyaw Naing's widow Thandar, referring to the disputability of the military court's decision under the country's constitution. He made the comment to RFA's Myanmar Service during the latest hearing related to the case at Kyaikmayaw township court in Mon state. Thandar said she would send a letter to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing because the military court released the two soldiers, Lance-corporal Kyaw Kyaw Aung and Private Naing Lin Htun, accused of murdering her husband. "Although I filed a case on behalf of Par Gyi's death, I am a witness, and deputy chief of police Tin Oo of Kyaikmayaw township is a plaintiff today," she told RFA's Myanmar Service. " I have to testify about everything I have done. I have seen and heard about his case." Differences in testimony results The hearing came about after the MHRC report issued on May 8 noting differences in the results of testimony by division military headquarters and what the prosecuting attorney had.For example, when the trial of the two accused soldiers was set at a military court, the chairman of military court, Colonel Win Zaw Oo, said Par Gyi was shot by a lance corporal, said Robert San Aung. "We complained that the wound should be in the back or side if he was shot by a lance corporal, but why did he have a wound under his chin?" he said. " The military official couldn't answer our question."The trail was set after a week so that the military officials would have time to provide answers, he added."Actually, the chairman of the military court, Colonel Win Zaw Oo, should take action against these military officials according to their testimonies that day," he said. The two military officials said Aung Kyaw Naing snatched a gun from one soldier, which discharged and shot him, Robert San Aung said."Even if it is true, Par Gyi should be have been dead at that point from the bullet that went into his chin and exited his head, but he was shot with many other bullets again," he said. "It is not reasonable."The testimonies were approved by division military headquarters, but not yet by the commander-in-chief. We are going to request a new trial or that the case be handed over to a civilian court." Thandar blasted the MHRC report, saying it was neither comprehensive nor impartial, and called for a new and independent investigation into her husband's death, Democratic Voice of Burma reported.MHRC chairman Sit Myint told RFA that his organization recommended that Aung Kyaw Naing's murder be held in a civilian court according to the constitution and to ensure transparency. The commission then submitted the latest information it had on the case to the Ministry of Defense. "We examined and searched the details everything related to this case and put what we saw in our report, he said. "The military court did that case within the power and rights it has. We[the commission] can't do anything more than what we have done. I don't know what the lawmakers will do for the next step."He pointed out that the commission could not request a new trial on the case that was already made under orders from military or civilian courts."It is almost impossible that we can do something about that case," he said. UPDATE: 27/ 05/ 2015 Fifth civilian court hearing in Par Gyi case The fifth court hearing into the killing of freelance reporter Par Gyi took place at Mon State's Kyeikmayaw township court on Monday. "The court in the hearing today heard accounts from four civilian witnesses, two of whom were eye witnesses. They all testified," Ma Thandar, Par Gyi's widow, told DVB on Monday. A date was also set for the next hearing, which will take place on 1 June. Par Gyi, also known as Aung Kyaw Naing, was killed in military custody in September after being arrested by government forces while embedded with the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army. The Burmese army said he was shot while trying to escape, but the injuries discovered when his body was finally exhumed after a long campaign by his widow Ma Thandar were not concurrent with that version of events. subsequent investigation by Myanmar Human Rights Commission proposed that the case should be heard in a civilian court. However, the military overruled that recommendation, insisting it would instead be heard in a military court as the death occurred during conflict, resulting in two parallel cases. Ma Thandar said that she sent a letter of complaint to government bodies following the acquittal of two servicemen of charges relating to Par Gyi's killing by a military on earlier this month. Lance-Cpl Kyaw Kyaw Aung and Pvt. Naing Lin Htun on 8 May were released unconditionally by a martial court after being detained under Article 71 of the Military Code (court martial procedures) and Section 304 of the Penal Code (culpable homicide). Ma Thandar said she wrote to 21 different government departments, including the President's Office, the office of the commander-in-chief, and the parliamentary Rule of Law and Tranquillity Committee, led by National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "I sent out a letter complaining about the army's claim that the two servicemen had been acquitted in accordance with the 2008 Constitution. I want to point out that in that case, the 2008 Constitution can only protect soldiers but not civilians. My husband was arrested in a crowded downtown area, and no legal procedures were followed throughout his interrogation. "He was not charged in accordance with the law, but the soldiers who caused his death were apparently released in accordance with the 2008 Constitution," said Ma Thandar. Previous hearings were held at the Kyeikmayaw court on 10, 23 and 30 April, and 11 May.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Abduction/Kidnapping, Death, Killing, Torture
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 16, 2014
- Event Description
Five staff members of the now defunct 'Bi-Mon Te Nay' weekly news journal have been found guilty of sedition charges and sentenced to two years each in prison by Rangoon's Pabedan Township Court. Kyaw Win, a defence lawyer for the five - two editors, one reporter and two publishers - said the court on Thursday the 16th October found them guilty for "defamation of the state". "They were given the maximum sentence under Article 505(b) - two years each in prison," he said. The charges were levied after 'Bi-Mon Te Nay' (literally 'Bi-Midday Sun' news journal) published a report in July repeating an activist group's claims that Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had teamed up with several ethnic politicians to form an interim government. Kyaw Win said the defence team had previously appealed for the five defendants to be charged under the Media Law, but the motion was denied. He said they are now preparing to appeal to a higher court. Zaw Thet Htwe, a news editor and spokesperson for Burma's Interim Press Council, said he was frustrated to hear the verdict. "The sentencing of 'Bi-Mon Te Nay' staffers indicates a lack of communication and coordination between the country's three estates, and it gives me the impression that the judicial sector is not very fond of the media," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Censorship, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 25, 2014
- Event Description
Two well-known activists have been sentenced to three months in prison for violating Burma's controversial Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, after staging a rally without prior permission from local authorities. Win Cho and Wai Lu, who have both faced multiple charges and prison terms under the controversial statute, were convicted of organising an unlawful demonstration on 26 March 2014 against a sudden electricity price hike in Rangoon. The ruling was handed down by Rangoon's Kyauktada Township court on Monday, according to their lawyer, Robert San Aung. Win Cho, a prolific community organiser and member of the Myanmar Social Development Network, has been charged dozens of times for his role in protests over land rights, economic hardship and other causes common across Burma. Shortly after the energy price demonstration in March, Win Cho was jailed for his involvement in an unrelated protest two months earlier, when he was joined by hundreds of farmers demanding constitutional reform and the establishment of a farmers' union. He and fellow activist Nay Myo Zin were swiftly jailed, serving a total of 84 days in Insein Prison. The two were released on 25 June after serving out their full three-month sentences. Wai Lu, the other activist sentenced on Monday, was hit with an additional one-month sentence for his role in another demonstration over the eviction of central Burma's Moehti Moemi gold miners. The small-scale mine operators lost their jobs and homes when the government granted a mining concession to a major conglomerate in June 2012. After the work freeze, more than 100 displaced miners sought refuge in a nearby monastery where they faced a series of eviction threats and were subject to a early-morning raid in March at which about 50 people were arrested. Monday's sentencing was the latest in a long string of jail terms for peaceful protestors since the reform process began. The country's assembly laws have been oft-criticised for granting sweeping powers to authorities to arbitrarily detain activists. Among the most contentious edicts is part of Section 18 (often mislabelled as "Article 18?) of the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, as it requires the permission of local authorities for all public gatherings. Claims abound that permission is discriminately denied under the broad terms outlined in the law. Amendments made to Section 18 earlier this year have been called a "disappointment" by rights monitors, who argue that while the changes reduce sentences, the legislation still endangers the principle of freedom to assemble, which is enshrined in Article 534(b) of Burma's Constitution.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 19, 2014
- Event Description
Land rights activist Sein Than was sentenced to four months in prison on Wednesday, lengthening his term to eight months following another ruling issued on Tuesday. Sein Than was convicted of violating Burma's Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act in two separate townships for spearheading an unpermitted protest against an alleged land grab in Michaungkan, Rangoon Division. The activist's daughter, Nay Nwe, told DVB on Thursday that Rangoon's Bahan Township issued the second ruling for the same offence he had already been convicted of. Sein Than led a group of protestors to the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to deliver documents and plead their case. "My father was charged under Article 18[the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act] for leading a rally in front of Daw Suu's house, where we went to hand her documents about our case and ask for her assistance," said Nay Nwe. He has faced the same charge in several other townships, including Pabedan and Latha, all pertaining to his activism surrounding the Michaungkan land-grab case. In March, Sein Than helped organise an encampment in front of Rangoon's Maha Bandoola Park, where hundreds of protestors participated in a sit-in that continued until they were forcibly removed by authorities. Periodic re-occupations have since resumed as the 24-year struggle to retrieve the disputed land continues. The protestors say they were evicted from their homes in the suburban Rangoon township in a land grab by the Burmese military in 1990. When Sein Than appeared in a Latha court on Tuesday, around 80 protestors showed up in matching t-shirts to support him. Lawyers and activists have criticised the government for allowing the trial to proceed in multiple townships for what is essentially the same charge. Robert San Aung, a well-known attorney in Burma who often defends activists, argued that the multiple trials contravene the country's penal code. "According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 234, a person must undergo only one trial for three different counts of the same kind of offence if they are committed within one year," he said. "This is against the law." Aung Thein of the Myanmar Lawyers Network said that a defendant has the right to appeal to a higher court and upon doing so, can request to have the sentences combined. "The defendant faced charges by police in several townships, but he has the right to appeal to the district court to concurrently serve sentences for the same offence," said Aung Thein. Sein Than is still awaiting verdicts for similar charges in two other townships.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 12, 2014
- Event Description
Over 50 journalists and their supporters have been charged for protesting illegally after they attempted to take their calls for media freedom directly to Burmese President Thein Sein. The demonstration was held on Saturday, one day after five media workers from the now shuttered Unity Weekly journal were sentenced to ten years in prison with hard labour. They were found guilty of exposing state secrets after a January report alleged the existence of a "secret chemical weapons factory" in Magwe Division. Thein Sein was due to meet reporters after discussing Burma's developing arts scene with local celebrities at the Myanmar Peace Centre (MPC) in Rangoon. Journalists covering the press conference arrived at the MPC wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, "Stop Killing Press." They were stopped from entering by police. Instead, they lined up in front of the building, laid down their cameras and taped their mouths shut in silent protest. Aung Thura, chief reporter at popular news journal 7-Day Daily, said the protest was to express their disappointment with the recent verdict concerning Unity Weekly. "We want to express our disappointment with the ten-year sentence handed to the Unity Weekly staff and with the current oppression of media freedom," he said. "In protest, we are not covering the Myanmar Peace Centre event." More than 50 participants have now been indicted for protesting without permission - a charge that Burma's authorities regularly employ to stifle rallies. Maung Maung Oo, deputy superintendent of Kamaryut Township police, confirmed the charge. "We are taking action under Article-18," the officer told DVB on Saturday. "There are about 50 reporters facing charges." Saturday's crackdown marks the largest group of people charged under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act, a law enacted by Thein Sein's government. It is not the first time journalists have been slapped with the charge, as they fight for the right to report in the face of a perceived curtailing of Burma's media freedoms. Zaw Htet Htwe of the Interim Press Council, told DVB last week that the Unity verdict could be taken as an indication that all media are at risk of prosecution in Burma "at any time". "The government will not tolerate us touching upon issues about the nation, about government policy or politics," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 50
- Violation
- Censorship, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 25, 2014
- Event Description
Four activists who organised a protest against sexual violence in the town of Matupi in Chin State have been charged for staging a rally without permission - Chapter Three of Burma's controversial Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act. Women's rights activists Thang Zin and Khin Lwe Parh, and Chin Youth Organisation members Mong Han and Tate Manh, were summoned to the Matupi police station around noon on Wednesday after they had led some 200 local demonstrators through the streets the two previous days. "The women were interrogated by police who informed them of the charges and instructed them to wait for the court summons," said Mai Alli of the Chin Women's Association. "The local police chief apparently told them not to be worried - as they might be let off with just a fine." The two Chin Youth activists, Khin Lwe Parh and Thang Zin, were released on bail at around 5pm on Wednesday. Khin Lwe Parh later told DVB that she led the protest to raise awareness and call for an end to rampant abuses in the region, including domestic violence, and said she would face any charge for doing what she believes in - promoting female empowerment. "I will go to prison and take whatever punishment they give me for doing what I can for women's rights," she said. Thang Zin said she will continue to educate women so they know their rights, and to protect and defend them in cases of sexual and domestic violence. "There is a tradition in Burma that women are not allowed to talk back to their husbands, and due to a lack of rule of law, they are reluctant to make an issue of the domestic violence they suffer, which encourages the perpetrators even more," she said. "We staged the protest to raise awareness, and encourage women not to be afraid to speak out." Another group of female activists who held a similar protest in nearby Rezua sub-township concurrently with the rally in Matupi have also been summoned by police. The organisers of the two protests requested permission from local authorities and police prior to the events in accordance with the law, but their applications were rejected.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment, Sexual Violence, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Right to Protest, Women's rights
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 25, 2014
- Event Description
Burma's Parliament has amended the Peaceful Assembly Act, a widely criticized law responsible for the imprisonment of many political activists, but lawyers say the amendments are largely cosmetic and will have little practical effect. Enacted in 2011, the Peaceful Assembly Act required people to receive permission from authorities before staging public demonstrations, with penalties of up to one year in prison for violators. Protesters could also be imprisoned for up to two years for causing unrest during their demonstration. State-run newspapers announced on Wednesday that Parliament had amended eight articles of the law, cutting in half the prison sentences for these offenses. But legal experts said other amendments were superficial-consisting of slight changes in wording to appease critics. For example, lawmakers removed language from the law that described how authorities can "deny" permission for a public protest. Instead, the amended version says authorities can decide not to "issue" permission if applications are not in accordance with the law. As with before, a protest will not be allowed if it might disturb pedestrians or if participants plan to "say things or behave in a way that could affect the country, union, race or religion, human dignity or moral principles." Chants must be approved prior to protests. The amended version also contains some changes that could make life more difficult for protesters. It says authorities no longer need to inform applicants in advance if they decide not to issue permission. Applicants also no longer have the right to submit an appeal. Aung Thein, a veteran Burmese lawyer, accused lawmakers of playing word games and said the government has retained the power to restrict free expression. "Since the law is in their hands, they can simply say the reasons for the protest are unlawful. It will be denied if they do not want to give permission," he told The Irrawaddy. Other lawyers and activists called on Parliament to abolish the law entirely. "There are some reduction in penalties, but we cannot call this positive change or say the situation is improving," said Robert San Aung, a prominent lawyer who has defended activists charged with violating the law, when asked about the amendments. "If the government really wants to practice democracy, a law like this, which limits freedom of expression, must be abolished." Since President Thein Sein's government enacted the Peaceful Assembly Act in December 2011, rights activists and protesters, especially those demonstrating against the confiscation of farmland, have been arrested and prosecuted under the act. Naw Ohn Hla, a famous rights activist, was sentenced to two years in prison under the act. "Every citizen must have the freedom of speech and the right to protest. Until now we have needed to request permission to protest. This is not genuine democracy," she said. "If the government truly wants change, they should abolish the law. But now they are just tricking the people by showing very small amendments."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 7, 2014
- Event Description
A Myanmar reporter has been handed a one-year prison term for trying to interview an education official, his lawyer said Tuesday, in the latest prosecution to raise fears over press freedom in the former junta-run nation. Zaw Pe, a journalist for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) news website, was convicted of trespassing and "disturbing a civil servant" by a court in the central town of Magway on Monday, lawyer Thein Tun told AFP. He was jailed along with Win Myint Hlaing, the father of a student who accompanied him during a visit to the education department in Magway region to follow up a story about a scholarship programme in August 2012. "They went into the educational office with a simple intention. The student's father went there because he wanted to know more information (about the programme) and Zaw Pe went in to report back to the people," said Thein Tun. He said both men were appealing their sentences. "DVB is confident that reporter Zaw Pe was fulfilling his responsibility as a news reporter," the news group said in a statement denouncing the court ruling, adding he was "working in the public interest". DVB was a prominent source of independent information during Myanmar's long years of junta rule, when it operated from Norway and Thailand, and several of its journalists were given lengthy prison sentences for covertly reporting within the country. The website was one of several foreign-based news organisations to be lambasted on a daily basis in Myanmar's state media for spreading "killer broadcasts" in the isolated nation. But reforms implemented by a new quasi-civilian government, including the release of political prisoners and increased press freedoms, have seen former exile publications operate legally from within the country. In 2012 Myanmar abolished draconian pre-publication censorship, which had stifled everything from song lyrics to books and newspapers. The country has since come under criticism for creating a number of new press laws that observers fear have created an opaque legal atmosphere for journalists to work in. Myanmar ranked 145th of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. In February, four journalists and the chief executive of the Unity Weekly News were arrested and charged under the official secrets act after they published allegations of a military facility producing chemical weapons. UPDATE 04/07/2014: Zaw Pe is freed from jail following the completion of his three-month sentence.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Censorship
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 26, 2014
- Event Description
Four prominent right activists from the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society group were briefly detained in central Burma on Wednesday and charged with a controversial law that prohibits protesting without permission. The activists said they were taken to a police station in Pakokku Township, Magwe Division, after leading a demonstration-one of many currently taking place across Burma-in support of amending Burma's military-drafted 2008 Constitution before elections in 2015. Activist Than Naing said that he and three others who gave speeches at the rally-Pyone Cho, Mee Mee and Nilar Thein-were charged under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law. Than Naing told The Irrawaddy that his group asked authorities for permission to protest on March 17, but were rejected. The group also told the police again on Monday that they would be protesting. "They charged us with Article 18 for violating the law," he said. "They threatened us and told us we have to sign paper saying that we violated the law, but we refused to do it and told them to put us in jail. "We told them we informed them already that we would protest. Then, they released us." He said police told protesters that demonstrations were not allowed in the town because a proposed legal change to soften the rules around informing the authorities of a gathering was still being considered in Burma's Parliament. Mya Aye, an 88 Generation leader, said the police's explanation was unacceptable, and only went to show that they had no good reason to disallow the demonstration. "Protests were allowed in different townships. But we only had a problem in Pakokku," he said. "It is sad to see such charges against our members, and to see them[the authorities] using their power to threaten the people, just as Parliament is preparing to amend Article 18," said Mya Aye. "By charging our members, this could tarnish the image of the reforms in our country. It is sad to see it." Members of the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and the 88 Generation group have announced a joint effort to try to amend the Constitution. The charter includes measures that ensure the military's place in national politics, and in Parliament, and a clause that means NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi cannot become president, among numerous other unpopular clauses. But the coalition of campaigners has decided to first target Article 436, in Chapter 12 of the Constitution. The article gives the Burmese military an effective veto over constitutional amendments as it requires more than 75 percent of lawmakers-in a house where a quarter of seats are automatically filled by soldiers-to approve amendments.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 24, 2014
- Event Description
Activist Thaw Zin was handed a 15-month prison sentence at a court in Monywa on Monday for his role in helping local villagers protest against land seizures at the Latpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division. According to Thaw Zin's father, Thein Dan, the former political prisoner was convicted to three months for criminal trespassing, and given concurrent sentences of six months for the crimes of "disturbing public tranquility" and "disobedience duly promulgated by a public servant". Speaking to DVB, Thein Dan said he initially believed the rule of law would prevail, but he was wrong. "I am sad, but what can I do?" he said. Local residents in the villages around Latpadaung, which is situated near Monywa in central Burma, rallied around, saying the verdict was unfair. "I am not satisfied with the verdict against Thaw Zin. The court was not impartial," said local supporter Than Myint. Thaw Zin was arrested by plain-clothed police on the morning of 11 February as he walked between Tonywa and Shwehle villages in Salingyi Township where the controversial copper mine is located. Htay Yi, an activist who was with Thaw Zin at the time of his arrest, said she was assaulted in the incident. Police rejected her allegation on the grounds that it did not qualify as an assault by law, "as it was not premeditated". Less than a week later, four Latpadaung villagers were charged by police for holding a demonstration to demand the release of Thaw Zin. The controversial copper mine project is a joint venture between Chinese company Wanbao and the Burmese military-backed Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 17, 2014
- Event Description
Police authorities in Mandalay Division's Pyin Oo Lwin have pressed charges against labour activist Su Su Nway for organising a massive protest over land grabs without first seeking official permission. On Monday, more than 1,500 farmers from villages around Pyin Oo Lwin marched to local government offices, calling for the return of 300,000 acres of farmland allegedly confiscated from them by the government and private companies. Organised by the Farmers Union Organising Committee, the police initially informed Su Su Nway, a coordinator for the union, that she was violating Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, which requires a rally organiser to seek permission from the authorities before holding a demonstration. Markey, one of the leaders of civil society group 88 Generation Peace and Open Society - an organisation borne out of the 1988 student-led uprising against the then ruling military junta - told DVB on Wednesday that the police informed Su Su Nway the day after the protest that she had been charged. "Signed by the superintendent of the Pyin Oo Lwin police, the letter informed Su Su Nway that she had been charged under Article 18 and summoned to the police station," Markey said. "Su Su Nway responded to the police that she will not be complying with these instructions and that they may feel free to come and officially detain her at any time," he said. As of Wednesday afternoon, she had not been arrested. Originally from Rangoon Division, 43-year-old Su Su Nway has campaigned for labour rights for many years. A member of the National League for Democracy and a former political prisoner, she became the first person to successfully sue local government officials in 2005 under Burma's 1999 Forced Labour Law. Sentenced to 12 and a half years for protesting and activism in 2007 and 2008, she suffered ill-health in prison, exacerbated by long periods in solitary confinement. She was released on a presidential amnesty in October 2011, but immediately returned to the fray as a relentless campaigner for farmers who have had their lands seized. In a separate incident in Mandalay's Madaya Township, a group of local farmers also faced charges for violating Article 18 of the Penal Code by organising a "plough protest", an increasingly popular method of demonstrating by farmers who claim to have lost lands in seizures, mostly by the army during the time of military rule. Rights groups have slammed the government's policy of using Article 18 to arrest, detain and intimidate protestors who have staged demonstrations across the country over systemic government abuses such as land grabs. Thein Than Oo, a coordinator for the Upper Burma Lawyers Network - which focuses on assisting individuals prosecuted under Article 18 - said the law contradicts Burma's Constitution. "We believe that Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law is contradictory to the Constitution's Article 354, which guarantees freedom of expression," Thein Than Oo said. "The single purpose it serves is to oppress activists." Burma's Union Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill proposing amendments to Article 18. Protestors will still require written permission, but local authorities and police will not be allowed to reject a request to stage a rally without providing "valid reasons". Penalties for violating this article have also been halved, according to the bill, which currently awaits an endorsement from the president before it can be adopted into law.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 9, 2014
- Event Description
The government's recent warning that politically active students may be subject to expulsion could be linked to a campaign supporting constitutional reform, legal experts and activists said. A statement by Burma's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), released on 9 June and distributed at some state-operated schools, warned that students who have been convicted on charges related to any political activities that result in "unrest" could be punished with expulsion. Critics have claimed that the vague language of the announcement could lead to abuse by educational administrators, and suggested that the move was meant to preempt involvement in a growing campaign to support amending Article 436 of Burma's military-drafted 2008 Constitution. "We have some questions regarding the definition of "politically-related offences'. We don't know exactly what that means," said Sithu Aung, a technological university student. "Now it's risky for us to participate in any activities." The concern is exacerbated by a handful of laws that some say have been used to punish activists, such as Section 505(b) of Burma's penal code, which broadly criminalises any activities that could cause "fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility." Any court ruling related to such charges would now come with additional academic penalties.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Academic freedom, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 1, 2014
- Event Description
RANGOON - Burmese activists who publicly opposed a controversial interfaith marriage bill say they are receiving violent threats from anonymous callers. At least four activists have been targeted by threats after listing their contact information in early May on a public statement backed by nearly 100 civil society groups that objected to the bill. Since then, they have received anonymous phone calls and online messages threatening violence. One activist was forced to change her phone number after her original digits were posted on a Facebook page advertising prostitutes. Another activist, Aung Myo Min, says he has been urged to stop fighting the interfaith marriage bill, which places restrictions on marriages between Buddhist women and men of any other faith. "Some messages were like, "You will regret it. Stop working for this issue. If you continue, don't blame others for the consequences,'" the director of Equality Myanmar told The Irrawaddy. Khon Ja, a well-known women's rights activist from the Kachin Peace Network, said some anonymous callers have even used phone numbers from Thailand and Malaysia. "They called saying, "If you dare come to Mandalay, you will be dead when we see you," she said, adding that she wondered if the Association to Protect Race and Religion, a radical monk-led group promoting the bill, knew about the threats. Zin Mar Aung, founder of the Rainfall Gender Study Group,says she has received obscene messages on Viber, a phone application. She said one Viber group has been created with the name, "We will kill those who destroy the race." May Sabe Phyu, senior coordinator of the Gender Equality Network, says she is reluctant to connect to the Internet on her phone due to negative messages. "Once I connect, lots of Viber messages come up instantly, with some asking to call so we can talk," she says. Burmese civil society groups have grown increasingly concerned about the interfaith marriage bill, which is part of a package of four bills to protect race and religion. The other three bills would ban polygamy, enact population control measures and restrict religious conversion. The interfaith marriage bill calls for Buddhist women to receive permission from parents and authorities before marrying a man of another faith, who would be forced to convert to Buddhism. Opponents have criticized the bill as undemocratic and discriminatory. Some say it prevents women from making their own choices, while others believe it is intended specifically to prevent conversions to Islam. Aung Myo Min of Equality Myanmar said he is taking precautions with his safety following the threats. "If they are courageous, they need to tell us who they are and why they are doing this," he said of the callers. "It's like they are threatening us from the dark. "Our aim is not to destroy or disrespect race and religion. We also want to protect these. But there are some aims and concepts[in the bill] that we can't accept."
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of Religion and Belief, Minority Rights
- Source
The Irrawaddy?PageSpeed=noscript)
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 5, 2014
- Event Description
Civil society organisations (CSOs) on Wednesday reiterated their worries to the government about a draft law they believe will restrict their freedom of association, and which is currently awaiting passage through the lower house of parliament. Drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs last July, the legislation was met with vociferous criticisms from Burma's CSO community as its provisions required all organisations to register with the government and to face harsh criminal penalties - including prison time of up to three years - if they were unregistered. The draft law was re-introduced a month later as the draft Association Registration Law, with the obligation to register and the prison term stricken from its text. This passed through the parliament's upper house promptly and is expected to be discussed in the lower house this term. But the new version still carried clauses that CSOs believe could restrict their freedom to operate - such as limits to their activities if they are registered to a township, but not to an administrative region. They urged the parliament's Bill Committee and the Public Affairs Management Committee in a meeting last week to remove these provisions before it passed the lower house. In a press conference on Wednesday, CSO representatives said that if their concerns were not addressed, they would bring the complaint to Burmese President Thein Sein. "The Bill Committee said they have to negotiate with the Home Affairs Ministry and have been trying the best they can with it," said Soe Tun of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, an organisation borne out of the 1998 student-led uprising against the government. "We decided to boost our efforts by reaching out to the President's Office since we have tried all we can with our approach to parliament." Kyaw Thu, a former actor and film director who is now the founder and president of charity group Free Funeral Service Society, appealed to the government to allow the CSOs' work to continue without complicated restrictions. "Imposing restrictions on CSOs focused on humanitarian work is like shackling the Lord Buddha, who taught us to be kind and humane," Kyaw Thu said, who vowed to continue his group's work even if the law is passed. "The government needs to have some compassion when drafting a law like this," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 4, 2014
- Event Description
RANGOON - An opposition land rights activist in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been shot and killed in a remote village in northern Shan State. Neighbors said Sai San Tun was taken away from his house late Wednesday by two men and gun shots were heard minutes later. His body was found Thursday. Tin Maung Toe, another local member of the National League for Democracy, said the victim had been leading villagers in a campaign against land confiscation. "At the beginning of this month, he was helping to solve the issues of land confiscation and money extortion by the village chief. Villagers' lands have been grabbed by a military unit (LID 249). The unit said the lands would be returned, but not yet, so far. Actually he had good relations with the military," he said. Officials have not commented on the corruption allegations. A similar incident occurred last month when another member of the NLD was killed in a nearby township in Shan State. No one claimed responsibility for the killings. A police officer who did not want VOA to use his name said both cases were under investigation. The issue of land confiscation is a sensitive issue in many parts of Burma, where officials are frequently accused of colluding with companies to take land for profit.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Death, Killing, Reprisal as Result of Communication, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 22, 2013
- Event Description
On 22 October 2013, two military Special Branch officers came to Aung Zaw Oo's house at 3:45 p.m. They reportedly offered the removal of Aung Zaw Oo's name from a political activists watch list in exchange for his signature on a written statement committing him not engage in political activities. Aung Zaw Oo reportedly rejected this request. On 24 October 2013, as Aung Zaw Oo was leaving an internet caf_, a man on a motorbike ran into him. Aung Zaw Oo narrowly escaped serious injury. On 26 October 2013, a man on a motorbike again reportedly tried to run him over from behind. On 27 October 2013, as Aung Zaw Oo was on his way to a bus station a motorbike reportedly ran into his right arm. Following this, Aung Zaw Oo informed the police special branch of these three incidents. On 3 November 2013, while Aung Zaw Oo was driving his motorbike home from work, another motorbike reportedly intentionally crashed into him. Aung Zaw Oo was reportedly left unconscious by the impact, with his motorbike badly damaged. He woke up two hours after the incident with severe head pain, and received five days of treatment in Taungyi Sissan Tun Hospital. He is reported to still be experiencing head pain, backbone pain, and pain from a rib injury. Aung Zaw Oo reportedly informed the police about the incident and was told that this was a case for the traffic police. He then went to the traffic police office and asked to file a case. On 8 November 2013, the traffic police reportedly told Aung Zaw Oo that his claims were false and that the location of the incident was incorrect. They subsequently asked Aung Zaw Oo for proof of ownership of his motorbike, which he was not able to provide, and was subsequently reportedly accused of receiving stolen property. When Aung Zaw Oo went to the hospital to request his medical records, he was reportedly told by the hospital staff that the police had ordered them not to provide Aung Zaw Oo with his records. One of the motorbikes that hit Aung Zaw Oo is reported to have had a 969 sticker and a sticker depicting a leaf on one of the knee guards of the driver, allegedly indicating that he was a youth member of the 969 movement.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Reprisal as Result of Communication, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Minority Rights, Right to liberty and security, Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 15, 2013
- Event Description
On 15 July 2013, Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung was taken by police from his home in Thet Kae Pyin, Sittwe, and since then has been held in police custody for questioning. To date, he is being held for questioning reportedly based on accusations relating to protests against the verification exercise within the Muslim village and internally displaced persons (IDP) areas that took place on 26 April 2013. On 26 April 2013, the local government of Rakhine State began implementing a "verification exercise' among Muslim IDPs and villagers currently present in Sittwe Township to provide the Government with accurate household and population data to implement short and long term development plans. The exercise was reportedly conducted by a joint team of immigration officials, police and the border security force (Nasaka). Village household holds and IDPs were reportedly given leaflets informing them about the exercise, and meetings were held with community leaders between 7 and 25 April 2013. In these meetings, the community leaders were told that non-cooperation would be considered a refusal to comply with the rule of the law and that legal action would be taken accordingly. When being told of the forms requiring Muslim IDPs and villagers to be registered as Bengali, the community leaders reportedly repeatedly stated the unwillingness of community members to be registered as Bengali. The exercise began in Thet Kae Pyin and Baw Du Pha, where several individuals objected to being registered as Bengali. In both locations, children from the local schools, reportedly went into the street and shouted they were Rohingya. Observers described the incident as small in scale and mainly involving children and youths. Some stones were allegedly thrown that resulted in some members of the verification team being lightly injured. Following these incidents the verification exercise was suspended. Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung is 74 years old and is in ill health with high blood pressure and swollen joints, and is often in pain from his arthritis and cannot move easily. He takes medication for both. Concerns are expressed that the detention of Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung may be linked to his human rights activities as a community leader. Further concerns are expressed for his physical and psychological integrity while in detention, especially in light of his weak health condition which requires adequate medical treatment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2013
- Event Description
On 5 April 2013, Mr. U Than Htun, resident of Pandaung Township, Pyay District, Bago Region, was brought to the Pandaung Township Police Station after an argument with another villager and was released on bail three days later. It is reported that Mr. U Than Htun was actively working for farmers in the Kyar Inn Village (Old) Tract where the National Resource Development Cooperation Company (NRDC) is in a dispute with cultivators over rights to the land. As a result of his role in supporting the farmers, he had been interrog ated four times,and was among 17 people sued by the company. On 17 May 2013, over a month after the incident, Mr. U Than Htun received a letter from the police calling him in for interrogation at the Pandaung Township Police Station on 19 May 2013 at 4.00 p.m. A family member brought Mr. Than Htun to the police station where he immediately got detained despite the fact that he was previously granted bail by a court's decision. On 23 May 2013 at 10.30a.m, police officers came to the residence of Mr. U Than Htun and informed the family that he had been hospitalized at the Pandaung Township Hospital due to his alcoholism. Later that day, the family was reportedly informed that he died due to the effects of alcoholism before arriving at the hospital. Furthermore the police authorities explained that Mr. U Than Htun allegedly hit himself with an iron pole during interrogations as a result of his alcoholism. It is reported that the family took photographs of Mr. U Than Htun's body that depict scars and bruising on his face, legs, and ribs from what is alleged to be the results of beatings with a rubber truncheon; there are lacerations on his two wrists from allegedly prolonged handcuffing. According to the information received, other photographs showed that his face was heavily bruised and deeply swollen. Furthermore, it is reported that the ribs on his left side were broken and there were scars and bruising on his legs from the rolling of a rubber truncheon, which is allegedly a well-known technique of torture in the country. It is also alleged that the post mortem examination revealed that Mr. U Than Htun did not die due to any type of organ failure. It is also reported that when the family tried to recover Mr. Than Htun's clothes as evidence, the police refused to hand them over. Furthermore, it is reported that the police agreed to cover the expenses of the funeral, but did not agree on returning the body of Mr. U Than Htun back to his family. According to the information received, the family tried to lodge a complaint against the commander of Pandaung Township Police Station on 24 May 2013. According to the information received, the death was listed for an inquest which allegedly hindered the family from registering a complaint. It is also reported that on 28 May 2013 the family allegedly succeeded in lodging a complaint. However, it is reported that the court of first instance dismissed the complaint for unknown reasons. Finally, it is reported that in Myanmar, torture is widespread in police stations where it most commonly takes the form of beatings and other blunt methods intended to cause pain and obtain a confession. According to information received, this is also due to the pressure on police officers to take immediate action in criminal cases and to report any results immediately to the higher authorities, which allegedly leads to the use of torture to obtain confessions from suspects. Furthermore, torture is not defined as a criminal offence in the national legislation and police officers are rarely held accountable for abuses committed on detainees in custody. It is also reported that in similar cases, police authorities usually claim that the victims have died as a result of their medical condition. 22/07/13: A Joint Allegation Letter sent to Burma by Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 29/10/2013: Burma provided a short but substantive response.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Death, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Right to life, Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 26, 2014
- Event Description
Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd has confirmed that it has pressed kidnapping charges against activists who detained two of its Chinese employees overnight while demanding that the mining project be closed down. Speaking to DVB on Monday, Wanbao spokesman Dong Yunfei said that the firm had pressed charges of kidnapping at the police station in Monywa against whoever was responsible for detaining their staffers on 18 May. "We cannot accept this kind of criminal action, whether it is against our Chinese or Myanmar employees," he said. "It is terrible." He said that the two Chinese employees - Lu Yuanhao and Miu Jie, both 23 - had their hands bound with rope and held for more than 30 hours by local villagers. He told DVB that the men were not hurt or harmed during their detention, although an earlier press release stated that the men had been beaten and that death threats had been issued. The Wanbao spokesman said that one of the detainees, Lu, was now suffering from mental trauma because of the ordeal. "He[Lu] wants to return to China for treatment, but we have requested that he stay here[in Burma] while legal proceedings take place," he said. A third abductee, a 21-year-old Burmese driver for the company named Khin Aung Moe, was released by his captors shortly after the three had been taken to the village of Set_. Locals villagers from Latpadaung held a press conference on 22 May at the Myanmar Journalists Network office in Rangoon where they sought to clarify the abduction of the two Chinese nationals. A spokesman for the Latpadaung villagers insisted they did not kidnap the company staffs but only "detained" them for a short time while they stressed their demands regarding disputes over confiscated farmland. Sanda Thiri, the abbot of a Buddhist monastery in neighbouring Zeetaw village who helped mediate the situation, said the villagers decided to detain the two Chinese as they were surveying the area to build fences on farmland for which the locals had not agreed to accept compensation. "The villagers were disappointed with the company employees who continued fencing off their land even though compensation had not been agreed upon, despite repeated calls to desist sectioning off the disputed lands," said Sanda Thiri. "The two Wanbao employees were handed over to the company in the late afternoon on 19 May in front of the district administrator and a police commander who witnessed and confirmed that they had sustained no injuries," he said. "This was neither an abduction nor a kidnapping." Set_ residents at the press conference said locals from 26 villages in the area agreed on 19 May to hand over the two Chinese at Wanbao's liaison office in Latpadaung after local district administrator Zaw Myo Nyunt pledged to prevent the company from building fences on local farmland, and to allow farmers to work on vacant land plots that are not being utilised in the mining project. "I would like to make it clear that we did not kidnap the Chinese," said Mar Mar Shwe, a villager from Zeetaw. "They even admitted to us that they came to lay markers on the land to build more fences, and we treated them well before we handed them back to officials after the negotiations."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 10, 2013
- Event Description
Mr. Wai Phyoi, Secretary of the NGO Generation Wave, was allegedly arrested by the Chief of Pyay Township police station in Bago Region at 11:30 a.m. on 10 July 2013. He was arrested at a hotel called Sweet Golden Land in Pyay, where he was running a Sustainable Development workshop. It is also alleged that the police came to the hotel and recorded the training and, after it was finished, asked him to go with them for a cold drink and took him to the police station where they arrested him. The police allegedly arrested him for a "Free Political Prisoners" poster campaign, which he organized in July 2011, charging him under the 1962 Printing and Publications Registrations Act for distributing unlawful printed documents. The campaign was organized in several cities, with Mr. Wai Phyoi leading the campaign in Pyay. Two other members of Generation Wave had previously been arrested in July 2011 in relation to the poster campaign and sentenced to three months imprisonment in February 2012. The warrant for the arrest of Mr. Wai Phyoi had been outstanding since then. Following Mr. Wai Phyoi's arrest on 10 July, police took him to Pyay Township court and asked permission from the judge to detain him for interrogation for two weeks. He was taken to the court again on 12 July and his lawyers applied for bail, which the judge denied. He is currently in Pyay prison, Bago Region. He will reportedly appear in court on 25 July 2013 for prosecution. 16/07/2013- JUA sent by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar; the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. 15/08/2013- Burmese government's response.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 8, 2014
- Event Description
An Australian journalist covering protests in Burma was deported by authorities today, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the move. The exile-run news outlet Irrawaddy reported that today's case was the first time a journalist had been forced to leave the country since 2012, when President Thein Sein's administration started taking measures to address its restrictive anti-press practices. "Deporting journalists harkens back to Burma's half-century of military rule and is one of many signs that democratic reforms have been illusory," said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Bob Dietz. "Burma should allow foreign journalists to enter the country and report freely." Angus Watson, 24, an intern video journalist for the exile-run news website Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), flew out of Yangon today after authorities accused him of violating the terms of his visa by participating in a protest, according to news reports. Watson was covering protests in the Magwe region against a one-year jail term given to another DVB journalist last month, according to news reports. Ye Htut, a presidential spokesman and deputy minister of information, said in a statement on Facebook that Watson was on a business visa but had broken the law when he "participated in a protest that did not have government permission," The Associated Press reported. "Ye Htut's comment that I was involved as a protester is baseless," Watson told CPJ today. "I was at the protest only in the capacity as a DVB journalist. It seems as if my deportation is another attempt to intimidate media workers with the use of legal clauses unrelated to press law." Earlier this year, Burma's Ministry of Immigration began denying three- to six-month visas for foreign journalists working for exiled media groups, including DVB, according to Irrawaddy. Some were given visas for only two or three weeks. To counteract the move, some journalists with foreign passports began applying for business visas, while others had used business visas before the new restrictions were imposed, the report said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Deportation, Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of movement, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 4, 2013
- Event Description
On 4 June 2013, at approximately 15.30 hours police and military personnel came to Pa Rein village with some construction materials and workers for the construction of temporary long-houses. The village community had previously objected to the construction of the long-houses during several meetings with authorities, stating that they wished to construct their own houses on their original village location. The authorities arrived at the village in two boats together with about 30 workers from the neighbouring village of Led Mar. There were seven regular police and ten army personnel who accompanied the workers. A crowd of approximately 40 to 50 people gathered to protest against the construction, most of whom were women. Men did not join the protest due to fears of the police, though four to five men were present. Reportedly, some of the women may have become angry and verbally confronted the workers for some time at the scene. However, the protestors did not have weapons and did not resort to violence. When verbal arguments started, the security forces told the women to move back but they did not do so. The stand-off lasted for approximately one hour, after which shots were fired by the security forces in the air and allegedly directly into the crowd of protestors. It is not clear whether any order to fire had been given or any prior warning given that the security forces would open fire. When the shooting stopped, police and army personnel left the scene. When they had left, the villagers went forward to collect the injured and dead and took them to their houses. Three women were reportedly killed and five persons were reportedly injured (threemen and two women), all by gunfire. All the dead and injured had bullet wounds. In some cases, individuals were struck by bullets while they were in their house compounds and away from the immediate scene of the shooting and protest. Despite fatalities and serious injuries, the authorities, including the Township Administrator and Township Medical Officer, did not arrive in the village until 7.00 hours the following day (5 June). Two of the injured persons were taken to Sittwe hospital by an International Non-Governmental Organization. State medical staff reportedly saw the dead bodies and examined the wounds, but did not take the bodies for a post mortem examination. Furthermore, it is alleged that the authorities did not interview or ask any questions of the villagers. Access to the village was denied to some United Nations and other international actors by the authorities for some days following the incident. Among those reportedly injured are a boy of 15 years who suffered a gunshot wound to his knee when walking with his friends on the road to see what was happening, and a 25 year old woman, who was wounded in the lower left leg by a bullet when near a house close to the main road. 11 June 2013: A Joint Allegation Letter is sent by the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, human rights defenders, Myanmar, summary executions, torture, and violence against women. 22 July 2013: the Burmese government responds to the allegations, alleging that the protestors were in fact a heavily armed mob that attacked police officers.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Killing, Sexual Violence, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to housing, Right to Protest, Women's rights
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 25, 2013
- Event Description
At 9am on 25 April 2103 in the Letpadaung copper mine area, at Sal Tal village, Sagaing Region, around 100 riot police and 50 soldiers arrived to remove dozens of farmers who had refused compensation from the owners of the Letpadaung copper mine, Chinese state-owned company Wanbao and the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. The farmers reportedly started ploughing their fields three days previously and the police and military arrived to remove the farmers. The farmers were reportedly beaten with batons and had rubber bullets fired at them by the police and military, resulting in injuries to ten of the farmers who are now in Monywar hospital, including one farmer who was allegedly shot in his arm and rib. Three activists involved in the protest were reportedly arrested and sent to the Wan-Bao company building. Stones were reportedly thrown at police lines by protestors and 15 police officers were reportedly injured. Subsequently, the commander of the Sagaing Region Police Force reportedly announced that the police will lodge charges against eight persons for allegedly provoking demonstrations and other alleged illegal actions. The persons named reportedly include six members of the Yangon People's Support Network:Ko Aung Soe (14 charges), Ba Htoo (9 charges), Thar Kyi (6 charges), Ko Latt (8charges), Thaw Zin (5 charges) and Ko Thu (1 charge). The two other persons are reportedly Han Win Aung of the Political Prisoners Families' Beneficial Network (5 charges) and Thaung Taik Oo of the Yangon Institute of Technology Students Union (18 charges). The announcement reportedly goes on to warn that failure to provide information leading to the apprehension of these persons or harbouring of them constitute criminal offenses. Aung Soe along with two other demonstrators are reportedly already being detained at Nyaungbingyi Police Station. On 2 May 2013, a Joint Urgent Appeal was sent to Burma by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Update 20/06/2013: another Joint Urgent Appeal sent by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Update 1/7/2013: Burma responded to the 2 May 2013 Joint Urgent Appeal with a clarification which stated that the 25 April 2013 protests were disbanded because they were held in a 'restricted area.' The communication claimed that those against whom charges had been laid had attacked or abetted attacks against police officers during the protest. Update 8/7/2013- Aung Soe (11 years, 6 months), Maung San (2 years) and Ko Soe Thu (2 years) have been sentenced to prison for their participating in the 25 April 2013 protests. They were all sentenced under section 505(b) (intent to cause alarm to the public) and 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the penal code, with Aung Soe having additional charges under section 295 and 295(a) (intent to insult a religion). It is unclear whether charges were pressed against the other six activists mentioned above in connection with the 25 April protests. Update 16/08/2013: Burma responded to the 20/06/2013 JUA, providing the police's version of events and further information on the trials of those mentioned in the JUA. Update 05/10/2013: Burma provided further clarification to the 20/06/2013 JUA.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to property, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 29, 2013
- Event Description
The district administration of Pyay, in central Myanmar, on 27 January 2013 sent a letter to the Khetta Township administration head on the matter of "Permission to open political science instruction not granted"[Letter No. 5/95-1/Oo 6(0311)]. Under this heading, it refers to the community educator, Min Min, as a "so-called human rights activist" who had opened a political science class. The letter states that as no permission to open a course on political science had been granted, those persons responsible for the course ought to be prosecuted. On the morning and the evening of January 28 the township administration called Min Min and notified him that as he was teaching political science without a permit he was to close the programme until he sought authorization[Letter No.5/3-3/Oo 6(209)]. On January 29, as Min Min refused to comply, the administration opened a case in the township court[Letter No. 5/3-3/Oo 6(211)].The township court opened a case against Min Min under section 172 of the Penal Code. Yet, the charge itself does not correspond with the supposed crime, since its intention is to deal with cases of persons who abscond from summonses or similar orders, whereas Min Min made no such attempt to abscond and merely continued giving instruction in a manner that he legitimately believed to be legal and consistent with his country's democratic transition. The case against Min Min is ongoing, and he has been released on bail. The Olive Branch centre established by Min Min has as its aim the building of knowledge among local people so that they can defend their own rights. In addition to teaching political science, the centre holds courses on constitutionalism, human rights, environmental science, management, leadership skills, the United Nations system, international organizations, journalism, international law and domestic law. Hitherto, the centre taught political science as a unit together with other subjects, and attracted no attention or difficulties. On 15 April 2013, a Joint Urgent Appeal was sent to Burma by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. No reply has been received as of November 2013.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to education, Right to fair trial, Right to information
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 5, 2012
- Event Description
The Decree contains a number of provisions which curtail the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. 1) Regime of authorization Article 1, under Chapter 2, establishes a regime of authorization (application for permission required at least 5 days in advance), which is burdensome. In his first thematic report to the Human Rights Council (please see attached for ease of reference), the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of associ ation stated that "the exercise of fundamental freedoms should not be subject to previous authorization by the authorities..., but at the most to a prior notification procedure, whose rationale is to allow State authorities to facilitate the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to take measures to protect public safety and order and the rights and freedoms of others. Such a notification should be subject to a proportionality assessment, not unduly bureaucratic and be required a maximum of, for example, 48 hours prior to the day the assembly is planned to take place" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 28).The Special Rapporteur added that "[s]hould the organizers fail to notify the authorities, the assembly should not be dissolved automatically...and the organizers should not be subject to criminal sanctions, or administrative sanctions resulting in fines or imprisonment. This is all the more relevant in the case of spontaneous assemblies where the organizers are unable to comply with the requisite notification requirements, or where there is no existing or identifiable organizer. In this context, the Special Rapporteur holds as best practice legislation allowing the holding of spontaneous assemblies, which should be exempted from prior notification." (A/HRC/20/27, para. 29). In this regard, the Special Rapporteur recommended to Member States that: "[s]pontaneous assemblies should be recognized in law, and exempted from prior notification (A/HRC/20/27, para. 91). The Decree should therefore be amended in accordance with international human rights standards. Similarly, the Decree does not govern the holding of simultaneous assemblies and counter-demonstrations, which are healthy expressions in a democracy. According to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association,"[i]n the case of simultaneous assemblies at the same place and time, the Special Rapporteur considers it good practice to allow, protect and facilitate all events, whenever possible. In the case of counter-emonstrations, which aim at expressing discontent with the message of other assemblies, such demonstrations should take place, but should not dissuade participants of the other assemblies from exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly. In this respect, the role of law enforcement authorities in protecting and facilitating the events is crucial" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 30). The Special Rapporteur concluded that "[s]imultaneous assemblies should be allowed, protected and facilitated, whenever possible" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 92). Finally, it is worth noting that the Special Rapporteur recommended that "[a] presumption in favour of holding peaceful assemblies should be established in law in a clear and explicit manner" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 88). 2) Undue restrictions Article 6, under Chapter 3, provides that "[t]he application[for permission toassemble] should not be denied unless the security of the State, rule of law, public tranquillity and the existing laws protecting the public are to breached". Such a provision fails to meet international human rights standards. The Human Rights Council, in its resolution 15/21, recalled that "in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the exercise of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association can be subject to certain restrictions, which are prescribed by law and which are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others" (A/HRC/RES/15/21, OP4). In addition, in his thematic report, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association called upon States "[t]o ensure that any restrictions on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are prescribed by law, necessary in a democratic society, and proportionate to the aim pursued, and do not harm the principles of pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness..."(A/HRC/20/27, para.84(e). He further stressed the "importance of the regulatory authorities providing assembly organizers with "timely and fulsome reasons for the imposition of any restrictions...'" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 42). A provision in this regard is presently missing in the Decree. Article 7, under Chapter 3, givesthose who have applied for permission to hold an assembly the right to appeal only before the divisional or State-level Police Commander. Such a provision is problematic as the entity before which the appeal has to be made has also the function of policing/supervising assemblies . The Special Rapporteur stressed that "[i]n case an assembly is not allowed or restricted, a detailed and timely written explanation should be provided, which can be appealed before an impartial and independent court... which should take a decision promptly " (A/HRC/20/27, para. 90 and 42).3)Policing of assemblies Noteworthy is article 1, under Chapter 4, which provides that "[d]uring peaceful assemblies and peaceful processions, the attendees are to be given the protection by the officer with a rank of no less than police lieutenant and the sufficient number of police must be used depending on the number of the attendees at the assembly and procession". Yet it is regrettable that the law does not contain any provision on the use of force by law enforcement authorities when policing assemblies, as exemplified by the allegations of excessive use of force brought to the attention of your Excellency's Government in November 2012. In this regard, in accordance with report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association,we are of the opinion that "States should facilitate and protect peaceful assemblies, including through negotiation and mediation. Wherever possible, law enforcement authorities should not resort to force during peaceful assemblies and ensure that, "where force is absolutely necessary, no one is subject to excessive or indiscriminate use of force" (Council resolution 19/35, para. 6)" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 89). The Special Rapporteur further pointed that "[t]he right to life (art. 3 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights...) and the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 5 of the Declaration...) should be the overarching principles governing the policing of public assemblies... In this regard, soft law provisions-the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (in particular articles 2 and 3) and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (in particular principles 4, 9 and 13)- aim at guiding law enforcement officials when policing peaceful protests"(A/HRC/20/27, para.35).In the same report, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of assembly and to association called upon States to "ensure that law enforcement authorities hich violate the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are held personally and fully accountable for such violations by an independent and democratic oversight body, and by the courts of law" (A/HRC/20/27, para.84(i)and "[t]o ensure that victims of violations and abuses of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association have to the right to an effective remedy and obtain redress" (A/HRC/20/27, para. 84(j). Finally, we take this opportunity to point out the recommendation that "States should also ensure the protection of those monitoring and reporting on violations and abuses in the context of peaceful assemblies"(A/HRC/20/27, para. 94). 4)Liability of organizersArticle 4, under Chapter 4, providesthat "[t]he main applicant or organisation must take the responsibilities of all attendees during the peaceful assembly or peaceful precession, or that the peaceful assembly and peaceful procession is carrying out in accordance with the permission granted". In this regard, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association has stressed that "[a]ssembly organizers and participants should not be held responsible and liable for the violent behaviour of others (A/HRC/20/27, para. 93)". The individual responsibility of participants should be up held.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 29, 2013
- Event Description
Naw Ohn Hla was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with labour under a charge of sedition in a highly controversial trial in Monywa on Thursday. The veteran activist and former political prisoner had been arrested in mid-August for organising a public protest in the Sagaing division capital against the Latpadaung copper mining project. Her lawyer Robert San Aung said she was sentenced under Article 505(b) of the penal code for sedition in a trial at Monywa township court that began on Tuesday. He said he was unable to attend the hearing on Thursday and that Naw Ohn Hla had refused to appear in court without the representation of her lawyer. She was subsequently dragged into the courtroom by female police officials. He slammed the trial as unfair and condemned the court for sentencing her without the presence of a defence lawyer. "She refused to leave the holding cell in protest at being tried without a legal defence," he said. "Female police officers were ordered to drag her into court where sentence was passed. It is highly questionable whether this procedure represents a fair trial." On 3 October 2013, a Joint Urgent Appeal (JUA) was issued by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. On 26 December 2013, Burma responded substantively to the JUA.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 26, 2013
- Event Description
A court in Myanmar's western Rakhine state on Thursday ordered 10 activists jailed for three months each for participating in a demonstration against a China-backed petroleum pipeline project, drawing outrage among villagers opposed to the venture. About 300 people from 20 villages mobbed the court in Kyaukpyu Township, demanding the release of the activists who had joined hundreds in April in protesting against the Shwe Project over inadequate compensation and demands that its developer provide better transportation infrastructure and higher salaries for local workers. The 10 were charged with demonstrating and holding a peaceful march without a permit on Rakhine state's Maday Island, the westernmost site of the U.S. $2.5 million Shwe Project, which includes a deep sea port, natural gas from Myanmar's offshore reserves, and overland oil and gas pipelines from the state to China. They were convicted under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, a much criticized legislation which requires a permit for demonstrations and which rights groups say is being used by the government to silence critics even as Myanmar undertakes democratic reforms after decades of brutal military rule. The villagers said they went ahead with the protests in April after they applied twice for a permit and were denied each time. On Thursday, the protesting villagers demanded the release of the 10, saying they cannot be singled out from a group of 400 people who had demonstrated on April 18. "All villagers from Maday Island came and demanded that the 10 be released. If not, the authorities should arrest all the villagers who had protested," a villager, Ko Nyi Nge, told RFA's Myanmar Service. "They shouted[slogans] in front of the court, saying they won't go home if these 10 men are not released." About 100 security forces and several firefighters ringed the court but did not act against the protesters. Appeal planned Htein Lin, a lawyer for the jailed protesters, said although the authorities had identified the 10 as ringleaders of the protests, no one came forward to testify that they had indeed led the demonstrations. "Nobody witnessed these 10 people leading the protest," he said, vowing to appeal against the sentence on Monday. Rights groups have expressed concern over environmental and socioeconomic effects from the Shwe Project as well as issues related to takeovers of land from residents that remain unresolved. They have called on the authorities to drop the charges against the 10 protesters, saying the provisions of the law under which they were charged do not conform with international human rights standards. "Peaceful protesters should not face prison time for exercising their basic rights," Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch's deputy Asia director, said. "By jailing peaceful protesters, the Burmese[Myanmar] government is creating a new class of political prisoners." "No genuinely reformist leadership would oversee the prosecution of people who peacefully challenge the state's development plans," he added. The Shwe Project is a joint venture between Beijing's state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Myanmar's national petroleum company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). CNPC completed the U.S. $14.2 million, 800-kilometer (500-mile) gas pipeline and began delivering natural gas to southern China's Yunnan province in July, despite long-held objections from critics. The state-run petroleum giant is nearing completion of a pipeline along the same route to transport oil purchased in the Middle East to China via Myanmar, in what officials connected to the project say shortens a distance that originally would have included passage through the Malacca Strait. Two local rights groups have launched surveys to monitor potential adverse impacts of the controversial petroleum pipelines passing through 21 townships in Myanmar and plan to deliver their findings to the country's parliament, international organizations, and project investors.
- Impact of Event
- 10
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to fair trial
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 18, 2014
- Event Description
Nay Myo Zin, who carries the dubious honour of having been the first political prisoner detained under Thein Sein's reformist government, will face court on 4 March on fresh charges. The former military captain, now coordinator of Myanmar Social Life Development Network, was arrested and charged on 18 January after leading a protest of hundreds of farmers from more than 30 townships across Burma, who gathered in front of Rangoon City Hall the previous day. The group called for the release of jailed activists, constitutional reform, and the establishment of a farmers' union. The charge comes under Article 18 of the penal code, the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. Fellow activist Win Cho was arrested alongside Nay Myo Zin and will too face court on 4 March, under the same charge. Their application for a right to protest had been rejected. Nay Myo Zin spent nine months in jail in 2011 after police found articles on his laptop allegedly defaming the Burmese military. The former military man turned charity-worker received a ten-year sentence and reportedly suffered a broken pelvis while in Insein Prison. Nay Myo Zin's wife told DVB that he would have to be stretchered over to see her when she visited the infamous prison. Nay Myo Zin was released January 2012 via a presidential amnesty. Since then he has faced multiple charges, including the possession of an Aung San Suu Kyi T-shirt and matching key ring. Myanmar Social Life Development Network, which had previously received government funding, says it works to improve the lives of people in rural Burma through infrastructure and training programs. The organisation, as of last year, had installed six drilled wells, 58 water pumping machines and 28 libraries in remote villages, according to its website.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 19, 2013
- Event Description
An imprisoned Myanmar activist has been ordered jailed for nine more months as he fights off charges in at least seven townships in the commercial capital Yangon for protesting against a controversial public assembly law and against land grabs. Htin Kyaw had already been convicted in some of the townships and sentenced to a total of 12 months in jail over a December protest questioning Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, under which demonstrators can be jailed for protesting without government permits. In his latest convictions Tuesday, the Kyauktada and Pabedan township courts each sentenced him to three months jail for the protest, under the same charges he had been campaigning against, his lawyer Robert San Aung told RFA's Myanmar Service. He received another three months from the Pabedan court, also under Section 18, for a separate protest against the Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mine in northern Myanmar, according to the lawyer. Htin Kyaw has also been charged by other townships in the city under Section 18 for separate protests, as well as charged with "defamation" and spreading information that could disturb public tranquility. He is the leader of the Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF), a community-based organization which represents grassroots communities and campaigns against land-grabbing and other human rights violations. A longtime activist imprisoned under Myanmar' former military junta regime in 2007, Htin Kyaw resumed campaigning after his release under a political prisoner amnesty in January last year, staging solo protests and leading land grab victims in demonstrations. He has been held since August in Yangon's Insein Prison. He protested against his own detention with a hunger strike in the prison that month and spent a week in jail in May after refusing to post bail. In his December protest against Section 18, he marched without a permit through five townships in the city-Mingalartaungnyunt, Tamwe, Kyauktada, Pabedan, and Thingangkuun. All five have charged him under Section 18 for the protest, and Tuesday's sentences bring the total amount of time he faces over the march to a year and a half so far, while he awaits a verdict from Thingangkuun. Rights groups say Section 18 has been widely used to silence activists, arguing it is incompatible with reforms Myanmar has introduced in recent years as the country emerges from decades under military rule. Section 18 carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine for violating rules outlined elsewhere in the law, passed in 2011 under current President Thein Sein's government. Htin Kyaw's detention prompted a call for his release in September from international rights group Front Line Defenders, which said it was concerned about the multiple charges he faced "as a result of his role in exercising the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of assembly." Htin Kyaw had been "targeted for his legitimate and peaceful work defending land rights," the group said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property
- Source
Radio Free Asia?searchterm:utf8:ustring=human+rights) | International Federation for Human Rights - FIDH | Eleven Myanmar
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 26, 2019
- Event Description
Two Myitkyina News Journal journalists sued six employees of a company on Tuesday after they were allegedly detained in Kachin State's Waingmaw Township and physically abused, over an article published the previous day about an apparent attempt by the company, whose ownership is unclear, to establish an illegal banana plantation. At around 10am on Tuesday, employees of Tha Khin Sit Mining Company asked the two reporters, Moon Moon Pan and Ah Je, to leave the Myitkyina News Journal's office in the Kachin capital Myitkyina and accompany them to their company's compound in Waingmaw, about seven miles from the city, the journal's editor-in-chief Seng Mai Maran told Frontier. She said company employees told the journalists they wanted to discuss the article, published Monday, which cited local residents' concerns about land that they said was being cleared for a banana plantation, by two companies including Tha Khin Sit. Illegally grown tissue culture bananas, almost all of which are exported overland to China, are fuelling land conflict and environmental degradation in Kachin State, as Frontier reported in January. At the company's compound, the journalists were separated, Seng Mai Maran said. She said Ah Je was ordered to complete 100,000 squats and Moon Moon Pan's face was slapped with a copy of the Myitkyina News Journal. Ah Je managed to contact Zaw Khun, the journal's CEO, who went immediately to Waingmaw Township with other staff from the journal. There, they asked a police officer and two local administrators to accompany them to the company's compound. Meanwhile, at 10.56, Seng Mai Maran uploaded a post to the journal's Facebook page which said the two reporters had been detained by the company. She told Frontier that the company's employees saw the post, and asked the reporters to remove it. Salai Khwe Shane, one of the journalists who accompanied Zaw Khun, said that in the compound they talked with the company employees, who denied the allegations in the report, and said the company was not developing a banana plantation. Moon Moon Pan and Ah Je were released about two hours after they were detained, by which time Ah Je had completed about 300 squats, Seng Mai Maran said. The Facebook post was taken down from the Myitkyina News Journal's page at 12.16, and Seng Mai Maran uploaded the same post to her personal Facebook page. When they were released, the reporters went to Waingmaw Township police station to file charges against the company, Seng Mai Maran said. She said they sued six people from the company under sections 114, 294, 323, 341 and 354 of the Penal Code, which cover assault or criminal force to a woman "with intent to outrage her modesty", obscene acts, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, and abetment. If convicted, the company employees may face imprisonment and a fine. Frontier was unable to reach the company or the police for comment. "The boy is struggling to walk after having to do three hundred squats," Seng Mai Maran said. "The girl was crying to me on the phone because she was beaten up". A group of journalists from Kachin State published a statement on Wednesday that condemned Tha Khin Sit for abusing the two reporters and for assaulting Moon Moon Pan. They urged the state government to protect journalists, and the right to information, and called for action to be taken against Tha Khin Sit's managing director U Dein Saung. Seng Mai Maran said the nationality of the company's owners is not known, though they are locally believed to be Chinese.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Agricultural business, Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 12, 2019
- Event Description
Myanmar police injured 21 ethnic Karenni protesters Tuesday when they used rubber bullets and a water cannon to break up a demonstration in Kayah state capital's Loikaw over a statue of the father of Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a local protester said. About 5,000 Karenni marched in three columns during the morning protest, demanding that officials remove or relocate a newly inaugurated gold-colored statue of Myanmar independence hero General Aung San from a public park. Ethnic Karenni oppose the erection of the statue because Aung San came from the ethnic Bamar majority that dominates the country and because they believe that the current government should focus on equal rights for ethnic minorities. The protesters also called for the resignation of the eastern state's chief minister and the minister of planning and finance, who local residents believe are responsible for the crisis. Police used rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the protesters, saying they had crossed the barriers, demonstrator Kyaw Htin Aung told RFA's Myanmar Service. "Police cracked down on one of the columns using water cannons and rubber bullets," he said. "One person was seriously injured in the face." When RFA contacted Loikaw Township Police Chief Win Naing, he refused to comment, saying an official statement would be issued once the situation had settled. Reuters later reported that about two dozen people rallied in Myanmar's commercial hub Yangon in support of protesters in Loikaw and in opposition to the building of Aung San monuments. The latest protest follows other demonstrations by young Karennis last week outside the state headquarters of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Loikaw. Dozens were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, incitement, and defamation. Yanghee Lee, the United Nation's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, condemned the police violence against the Loikaw protesters. "This is yet another example of the government sidelining the rights of ethnic minorities and failing to truly do what is necessary to unite the country and bring about peace and democracy," she said in a statement issued Tuesday by the U.N.'s human rights office (OHCHR). "The government of Myanmar must respect the right of all people to peacefully assemble and express their views about issues that concern them," she said. "Using disproportionate force against peaceful protesters is entirely unacceptable. The arrests must stop." Some charges dropped At about 3 p.m., eight protest organizers and two journalists from different media outlets were allowed to hold talks with state officials during which the parties reached an agreement that the charges against detained protesters would be dropped, Kyaw Htin Aung said. A total of 86 protesters have been charged, some of them two or three times they were released on bail but then rejoined demonstrators and were re-arrested, he said. "They agreed to drop the cases of 55 people," Kyaw Htin Aung said. "There were also five people who are being charged under Article 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law following a protest in support[of building the statue,] so at least, the demand for dropping the cases was successful." Negotiations are still ongoing and are said to include a plan that the committee for erecting the Aung San statue and another committee objecting to it will settle the issue within a month, he added. In the meantime, the protests will be stopped, and the park where the statue is located will be closed during the discussions, he said. The local government is also required not to intervene in the negotiations and to respect the outcome of the talks, Kyaw Htin Aung said. "We want everyone to enter into negotiations whenever a conflict occurs," said NLD party spokesman Myo Nyunt. "But what really happened needs to be known," he added. "A group of people staged a protest against the statue. Likewise, a group of people protested in support of the statue, so we have to see who's reflecting the people's desire." Officials must also determine what led to use of force during the crackdown on protesters, Myo Nyunt said. "We can't make comments on only the information we have at hand," he said. Kayah state officials, including Chief Minister L Paung Sho, were unavailable for comment.
- Impact of Event
- 21
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Use of Excessive Force, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Minority Rights, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2019
- Event Description
YANGON: Seven Myanmar students were sentenced to three months in jail with hard labour for burning portraits of officials in protest over campus safety, a student activist said Wednesday, the latest draconian response to rippling discontent with authorities. Those jailed were among dozens enacting a mock funeral on December 28 calling for more security at a Mandalay university in central Myanmar after a student's murder near its campus. They burned paper coffins and portraits of the city's chief minister, Myanmar's security and home affairs ministers, and the head of the university, calling for increased security around the students' compound. Three people were arrested during the protest and four others were detained a few days later, when they rallied for their peers' release. The seven students were each sentenced to a total of three months in prison with hard labour for protesting without permission and arson, student leader Ei Mon Khin told AFP by phone from the court. "They will be taken to Obo prison in Mandalay later," she said. Time served will be deducted from their sentences, meaning they face a further one and a half months in jail. This is one of several recent examples of a heavy-handed response to protests by authorities. On Tuesday police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a crowd of several thousand in eastern Kayah state, the latest in a string of rallies against a statue of Aung San, father of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. He is widely revered by the majority ethnic Bamar (Burmese) population as an independence hero, but is viewed critically among many ethnic minority groups, who see him as a symbol of Bamar domination. Police agreed Tuesday evening to release dozens of arrested protesters in return for a suspension of the rallies while talks take place, state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported, a development welcomed by rights groups. "The Myanmar authorities have a long history of using excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters," said Fortify Rights CEO Matthew Smith. "The government needs to break the trend now."
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Labour rights, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender, Student, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 4, 2019
- Event Description
Police in eastern Myanmar's Kayah state this week broke up protests by ethnic Karenni youths calling for the removal of a newly inaugurated statue of national independence hero General Aung San in the state capital Loikaw, charging dozens with unlawful assembly, a group whose members participated in the demonstrations said. Authorities arrested the protesters on Monday, Thursday, and Friday as they staged sit-ins outside the state headquarters of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, the Union of Karenni State Youth said on its Facebook page. NLD party supporters plan to celebrate what would have been Aung San's 104th birthday on Feb. 13, according to the Myanmar Times. Three dozen protesters taken into custody on Thursday were later released on bail, the youth group said. Six of them plus another youth activist resumed the protest on Friday were again taken into custody. Those arrested have been charged with violating Article 19 of Myanmar's Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, which allows public demonstrations only if organizers first obtain permission from local authorities. Some have also been charged with defamation and incitement. Some friends of those who were re-arrested on Friday said those protesters have not yet been freed on bail. Calls by RFA's Myanmar Service to a police station in Loikaw went unanswered. Aung San, father of current State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, played a key role in freeing Myanmar from British colonial rule 70 years ago and in signing a pact with ethnic minority leaders to grant their groups ethnic autonomy within the independent nation. But decades of civil war have prevented successive governments from forming a federal democratic union. Members of the Karenni minority in Kayah state first protested in July 2018 when officials announced that they would erect the expensive bronze statue of Aung San in a public park in Loikaw. They began their protests anew this week in response to the state government's inauguration of the monument to the military leader, who came from the country's ethnic Burman majority. "Young people have respect for General Aung San," said Kyaw Htin Aung from the Union of Karenni State Youth. "[But] it's time now to implement General Aung San's promises," he said. "Opposition to building the statue has emerged because we think the[government's] focus should be on equal rights for ethnic minorities rather than statues." "Totally oppose the plan' Political observer Than Soe Naing asked why officials should erect a statue of Aung San in ethnic minority states like Kayah, which have their own local heroes. "It's damaging to General Aung San's reputation to forcibly build the bronze statue and ignore people's wishes," he said. "I don't think they[officials] should do that." Kwan Gaung Aung Kham, chairman of the Kachin Democratic Party, noted that when officials announced plans to erect a bronze statue of Aung San in northern Myanmar's Kachin state, local political parties issued statements rejecting the move. "But it was ignored, and they built it," he said, adding that additional monuments will also be built. "I totally oppose the plan," he said. "If they keep doing this, there will be more differences between the ethnic groups and the government of Daw[honorific] Aung San Suu Kyi." Myanmar's de facto leader is spearheading the country's sporadic peace talks in a bid to end fighting between ethnic armed groups and the national military and to create a federal system in the country. Myanmar has not guaranteed ethnic people self-determination and autonomous rights since its independence in 1948, said political observer Yan Myo Thein. "That's why we haven't had peace in the country up to now," he said. "It's important to hold talks with leaders of Myanmar civil society organizations, ethnic leaders, and military leaders for building a federal democratic union," he said. "If you consider it like this, then we need to stop building General Aung San's statues in ethnic states without their willingness." Ngo Than Kap of the Chin Progressive Party in western Myanmar's Chin state, said "All of us from ethnic states respect and recognize General Aung San, but it is more important to work on implementing his promises, such as equal rights for ethnic[minorities] and self-determination." "If not, what is the benefit of erecting his statue?" he asked. Dam protest organizer charged Meanwhile, police in Kachin state have arrested the organizer of a mass protest against a controversial dam project held on Thursday, charging her with violating Article 20 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, according to a local resident. Ja Hkawn helped organize the 10,000-strong rally in the state capital Myitkyina, during which ethnic Kachin activists, political party leaders, civil society groups, and Buddhist monks demanded the complete halt of the Chinese-backed hydropower project. Though the project was suspended in 2011 because of widespread opposition to its expected environmental and social impacts, China has pressed the current NLD government to allow it to resume. Police said protesters were issued a permit to hold the rally, but they did not obtain official permission to use loudspeakers, wear headbands saying "No Myitsone Dam," and make speeches, according to a Myitsone area resident named Lura who participated in the protest. The Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law requires protest organizers not only to notify local authorities of demonstrations in advance, but also to provide information about slogans and speakers. Ja Hkawn's first hearing is set for Feb. 11. She faces a maximum of one month in prison and/or a 10,000-kyat (U.S. $6.50) fine, the online journal The Irrawaddy said. UPDATE: On 13 February 2019, the Karenni State government agreed to drop lawsuits against 55 rights activists charged for their participation in a series of protests over the past year against the installation of a bronze statue of General Aung San in a park in the state capital, Loikaw.
- Impact of Event
- 12
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 11, 2018
- Event Description
YANGON-A court in Myitkyina, Kachin State has fined three activists who led a rally calling for the release of three imprisoned anti-war protesters. On Dec. 11, Sut Seng Htoi, Brang Mai and Seng Hkum Awng led a demonstration against the imprisonment of three activists who were convicted earlier this month of defaming the Army after leading an antiwar protest in April. Around 5,000 local residents took part in the Dec. 11 demonstration. Myitkyina Township police charged the three under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law. "Sut Seng Htoi was fined 100,000 kyats, and the other two were fined 300,000 kyats each," Maran Seng Htwal, a member of the protest's organizing committee, told The Irrawaddy. According to township police, demonstrators used the Kachin State flag without permission and held up placards reading "Failed democracy?" and "Failed law", as well as pictures of the three imprisoned anti-war demonstrators. They were protesting the Dec. 7 sentencing by Myitkyina Township Court of Lum Zawng, Nang Pu and Zau Jat to six months in prison and fines of 500,000 kyats each for defaming the Myanmar Army during the anti-war protests in April. The plaintiff in that case, a military officer of the Myanmar Army's Northern Command, took the three to court over the protests, which called for the rescue of 2,000 locals displaced and trapped by fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) near the village of Awng Lawt in Tanai Township. Activists said they would continue their campaign, including lodging an appeal for the release of the anti-war demonstrators. "We will also seek their unconditional release[through activities] outside the court," Maran Seng Htwal said. "Demonstrations calling for the rescue of innocent civilians are not defamatory. They were simply calling on the parties involved to rescue innocent civilians," Maran Seng Htwal, who is also the manager of the Yangon branch of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners told The Irrawaddy. June 9 marked the seventh anniversary of renewed clashes between the Myanmar Army, or Tatmadaw, and the KIA after a 17-year truce between the Tatmadaw and the KIA collapsed in 2011. More than 100,000 locals have been forced from their homes into camps across Kachin State since then.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 13, 2018
- Event Description
Myanmar police on Thursday arrested 13 protesters, including fired hotel workers, from the central town of Bagan as they marched to the capital Naypyidaw where they planned to ask central government officials for help with getting their jobs back, said a police officer involved in the situation. Fifty protesters participated in the march, including workers from the Tharabar Hotel who were laid off in August because of dwindling guest numbers, sacked workers from the Double Rhinos cement factory and Power dry cell battery factory in Bagan, and members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and the All Myanmar Workers' Union (AMWU). Police arrested four workers from the Tharabar Hotel, three students from the ABFSU, one person from the AMWU, and five workers from Mandalay, for violating Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, said the officer from Nyaung Oo township, where the protesters were stopped. The officer did not give his name. The law allows public demonstrations only if organizers first obtain permission from local authorities. "No government officials or authorities have tried to resolve this problem," said Nay Myo Win, the leader of the group of fired hotel workers. "That's why the workers tried to march to Naypyidaw, where someone will resolve the issue." The hotel workers, who say they were unfairly fired and are demanding their jobs back, set up a protest camp near Tharabar Gate in Nyaung Oo township in October. Central government negotiators discussed the labor dispute with those at the camp, but could not resolve it when the hotel's manager refused to rehire them. On Nov. 4, about 100 Bagan hotel workers who were sacked demonstrated at the Manawraman public square in the central Myanmar town of Mandalay, demanding that they be reinstated, Myanmar's Mizzima online news service reported. At the time, it was reported that hotel management had issued a statement that said that a dozen employees - about 10 percent of the staff - were let go in accordance with the law to compensate for a drop in revenue resulting from a decline in tourism, the report said. "Since we have exhausted the last stage of arbitration at the Union level, we will continue with the course of law," Kyaw Hein, manager of the Tharabar Hotel, told Mizzima. "There will be no more arbitration. We will take the course of law." After police forced the protesting workers to disperse from the camp in Bagan on Tuesday, they set out with others early Thursday on the roughly 330-kilometer (186-mile) march to Naypyidaw to take up their case with central government officials. The ABFSU issued a statement Thursday, condemning the arrests and demanding that the workers and student demonstrators be freed. "Nobody can visit the arrested workers at the police station," said Thein Shwe, chairman of a labor union for hotel workers. "When we tried to see them at the court, but the court's doors were closed." "We feel that our rights are being violated and that we have lost our citizens' rights," he said. "The workers are not thieves or robbers; they haven't committed rape; but we can't see them, and it is a violation of human rights."
- Impact of Event
- 13
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 7, 2018
- Event Description
Three more Kachin youths have been charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act for holding a protest without permission from the authorities, in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, according to local sources. The two men Brang Mai and Seng Hkum Awng and one woman Sut Seng Htoi, appeared in court today for the first day of their trial. "We wanted justice, therefore we held a protest. We did not intend to get benefits from someone. We just wanted justice. We did protest, but they told us they are charging us for not asking permission," said Brang Mai at the courthouse today. "From[the police's] point of view, we were not satisfied with the court sentencing our friends and we protested about it. But our point of view is that we want to get justice, therefore we protested for it," he said. When the judge asked the three youths today whether they were guilty or not, according to Brang Mai, they all said they were not guilty. All three activists were granted bail and will continue to fight for justice from outside the court. The youths were charged on Friday for holding a protest, alongside many other protestors, which started at the courthouse in Myitkyina and moved to Manau Park. They were protesting the sentencing and fining on the same day of three Kachin activists who were convicted for holding demonstrations earlier in the year calling on the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) to release Kachin refugees who were trapped in the jungle during fighting in Tanai Township between the Tatmadaw and the KIO. The court sentenced them to six months' imprisonment and fines of 500,000 kyats ($320) each. Sut Seng Htoi, a women's rights activist and one of the three charged on Friday, told reporters in front of the court today, "The court's sentencing[of the three activists on Friday] was a big punishment. We did not expect they would do that. It was unacceptable for us. We all know our three friends did nothing wrong, therefore we protested about the injustice." The authorities use the law to suppress rights activists in order to silence the voice of the people, she said. "We know their law is unfair, therefore we have to fight it. We will keep fighting until we have our rights in our hands," said Brang Mai. According to Brang Mai, U Myint Moe, the police officer who is pressing charges against them, said at the court today that his police will arrest as many of those who protest without permission as possible. When The Irrawaddy tried to call U Myint Moe for comment, a police officer at the station said he was unavailable. The next court hearing for the three youths will take place on Dec. 13 when witnesses will testify against claims that the rights activists violated the law.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 9, 2018
- Event Description
A textile factory in Mandalay Region agreed on Thursday to rehire the 207 workers it fired three months ago, though police sued four of them the same day for their protest. About half of the fired workers were on their way to the regional capital to ask the Mandalay chief minister to help them get their jobs back at the Panda Textile factor when three of their leaders were detained by police in Paleik on Thursday morning. The three were released that evening after the protesters sat down in front of the local police station to demand their freedom. They also agreed to call off the protest after the factory promised to rehire all the workers it had fired. However, the Paleik police filed a lawsuit against fourth of the protest leader - including the three they had detained - under articles 18 and 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, according to the workers. "We are not surprised by the lawsuit because that's how the authorities always work, without taking care of the welfare of the people. They only know how to take legal action," said Ma Zarchi Win, one of the four who claim they were sued. The workers also said that some of their demands had yet to be met, including that their water and electricity bills over the three months they were jobless be waived. "We are going to meet with the factory authorities in the presence of lawmakers and local authorities to negotiate about the bills, and if there is a deal the workers and the factory will sign the agreement and the workers will go back to work," Ma Zarchi Win said. Police and factory representatives at the police station on Thursday declined to comment for this story. The factory has seen its share of protests over the past five years. After Panda took over the factory in 2013 from the Ministry of Industry, workers staged a series of protests claiming their labor rights were abused during the transition period. In 2015, hundreds of workers set up a protest camp outside the factory to demand that 200 recently fired colleagues be rehired. The factory agreed to take a few dozen of them back, but two protesters died of pre-existing conditions during the sit-in and four of the leaders were fired. Then in 2017, once negotiations to rehire the remaining workers fired in 2015 stalled, employees staged a protest in Mandalay City.
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 7, 2018
- Event Description
The Rakhine government has instructed Ann Township Deputy General Administrator to file a lawsuit against another social activist under Section 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law. The police chief of Ann Myoma Police Station told Narinjara News on Sunday that Ann Township Deputy General Administrator filed charges against Ko Myo Lwin, a local Ann resident, on October 1 for posting a fabricated report on dead clams. The deputy general administrator was instructed by the Rakhine State government to file the charges. "We are trying to summon Ko Myo Lwin to investigate him. He said he is out of town so he cannot come to the police station now. We will start the investigation after he arrives," said the police chief. When Narinjara News contacted Ko Myo Lwin from the Rakhine National Resources and Environmental Network - Ann (ANREN - Ann), he said the police chief of Ann Myoma Police Station called him on October 6 (Saturday) and asked him to come to the police station. Although he was informed about the lawsuit, he was not told why he has been charged and he would only find out when he arrives at the police station. "I haven't been officially informed about what charges have been filed against me. I heard that it's concerned with the dead clams. I was reporting to the Rakhine State government with a constructive view on the environmental damages and loss of natural resources. I submitted to them. In my post, I've written about the need to do an inspection," he said. Section 390 (b) of the 2008 Constitution states that every citizen has the duty to assist the Union in carrying out environmental conservation and it will go against the 2008 Constitution if he is to be charged for the clam issue, Ko Myo Lwin explained. He continued that this act can be considered as a great threat towards environmental activists in the future. According to Ko Myo Lwin, millions of dead clams were found in Ta-O Creek, a tributary of Laung Stream that flows into Kyaukpyu and Ann townships in the Rakhine State and the dead clams were spread an acre wide along the creek bank. Although local residents believe water pollution in the Thanzit River in Kyaukpyu Township and also in Ann and Myebon townships is has caused the massive deaths of the clams, the government stated that they were killed by the entry of freshwater due to heavy rain.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 15, 2018
- Event Description
More than 100 Myanmar garment workers are continuing a strike on Wednesday in front of Maha Bandula Park in downtown Yangon, demanding that a Chinese-owned textile factory rehire 30 workers responsible for starting the labor action and punish those responsible for a violent attack on striking workers on Monday that injured 25 people. They also called on officials to enact laws to protect workers in Myanmar. Workers from the Fu Yuen Garment Company Ltd. in Yangon's Dagon Seikkan township have been on strike since Aug. 21 demanding better work conditions and an end to mistreatment by factory owners. After the 30 members of a committee that had been campaigning for better conditions for workers were sacked, others set up a protest camp outside the factory. On Monday, the striking workers clashed with thugs hired by the factory, who attacked them with iron bars, leaving 25 laborers injured. Following the violent clash, neighborhood residents demanded that police take action against those who beat the striking workers. After police told them to file complaints so they could arrest the assailants, the locals got into a fight with people still working at the factory, and authorities arrested two student union leaders on Wednesday. RFA's Myanmar Service was unable to reach the relevant police station and Fu Yuen's manager during several phone calls. Authorities issued false information that striking workers sustained injuries in a clash with those still on the job, instead of publicly acknowledging that they were beaten by thugs hired by factory owners, said Thet Htar Swe, chairwoman of the Fu Yuen factory union, who was among the striking employees. "Everybody knows who's right and who's wrong," she said, adding that the problem needs to be resolved as soon as possible. "If not, there could be more serious problems, and the government and the Myanmar Police Force will be the ones who create instability," she said. "Even if factory officials let us continue working at the factory, we can be discriminated against and face danger, and we'd have to protect ourselves. We can't depend on anybody to protect us." Activist Myat Kyaw, who is helping the striking workers, said some suspect that police collaborated with the factory's owner in making a plan to crack down on the workers' protest. "We would like to request that authorities implement a plan to resolve this problem," he said. Yangon regional lawmaker Nyi Nyi said that the police and other administrative organizations are responsible for delivering justice in this situation. "They also need to be transparent and release information, which is why there has been a delay in resolving the dispute between Fu Yuen and its workers," he said. "The factory is wrong, and the tension between the factory and workers is getting worse," said Mya Sein, a lower house lawmaker representing Dagon Seikkan township. "I have sent report letters on this case to the minister of labor, the Yangon regional minister, and the[ruling] NLD[National League for Democracy] party because I feel we need to solve this problem as soon as possible." Two student activists arrested On Tuesday, plainclothes police officers arrested two student activists who were part of a group from the Basic Education Student Union and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions protesting outside Dagon Shopping Center in Yangon in support of the striking factory workers. Hnin Aung, one of the arrested activists, told RFA that officer Win Naing plans to file a case against him and fellow protester Wai Yan Oo for violating Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, which allows public demonstrations only if organizers first obtain permission from local authorities. Police released both activists on bail Tuesday night. "We staged a protest questioning whether authorities were ignoring the attack on the workers by a group of thugs hired by the owner," Hnin Aung said. "They told us that we will be contacted later to undergo the legal process," he said. RFA could not reach the San Chanung township police station where the two activists were taken. Two dozen of the workers injured during Monday's clash between workers and the hired thugs were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday, Thet Htar Swe said. The injured workers have filed a case against the attackers at Dagon Port police station, she said. The case is pending until medical reports have been received. RFA could not reach the Dagon Port township police station or the manager of the Fu Yuen factory for comment. On Monday, thugs believed to be hired by factory owners and other employees still working at the plant destroyed the protest camp and beat dozens of workers as they demanded the reinstatement of the 30 fired employees. Those injured were taken to Sanpya Hospital, said injured factory worker Aye Thet Moe. "They hired gangsters to crack down on the protesters," he said. "I got hit on my head and had to get three stitches." Zayar Phyo, a union member of the MCE Rainbow Soup Factory who sent the injured workers to the hospital, told RFA that more than 20 workers were being treated at the medical facility for injuries to their heads, legs, hands, and other parts of their bodies and for broken bones. As protesters blocked both of the two entrances to the factory, supervisors and assailants created a small entryway along the factory's rear wall for non-striking employees and the thugs to access the building, he said. "We, the protesting workers, blocked this door because the protest has gone on for months, and the workers are tired," he said. But assailants wielding iron pipes and wooden sticks beat workers, most of whom were women, who blocked the entryway.
- Impact of Event
- 22
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 10, 2018
- Event Description
YANGON - Three journalists from Eleven Media Group were arrested on Wednesday after the Yangon Regional Government filed a lawsuit against them for committing an offense against the State for publishing "incorrect information" about the government. Managing editors U Kyaw Zaw Lin, Nari Min and chief reporter U Phyo Wai Win were summoned to Tamwe Police Station for testimonials on Wednesday morning before being brought to the township court to be charged under Article 505 (b) of Myanmar's Penal Code. Following the hearing, they were sent to Insein Prison. If found guilty, they could receive sentences of up to two years in prison. According to the court hearing on Wednesday, the Yangon government office director U Aung Kyaw Khaing filed the case against Eleven Media on Monday, complaining about an analysis in The Weekly Eleven published that day. The story, written by U Phyo Wai Win under the pseudonym Phyo Wai, criticizes the Yangon government for wasting public money due to mismanagement, citing examples including a government loan without Parliament's approval from two private banks to buy school buses and irregularities in the government's Yangon Metropolitan Public Company, where more than 60,000 shares are under the regional planning and finance minister's name. The Yangon government owns 51 percent of shares in the company and the 64-billion-kyat (US$41.6 million) investment was approved by Parliament. The company's board of directors includes the Yangon government's Electricity, Industry, Roads and Communications Minister Daw Nilar Kyaw, and Yangon's Planning and Finance Minister U Myint Thaung. Currently, the Yangon government is facing criticism for abusing its power to use public money without Parliament's approval following the auditor general's report on the regional government's budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year. The Wednesday lawsuit between the Yangon government and Eleven Media is not the first. In 2016, its CEO U Than Htut Aung and Editor-in-Chief U Wai Phyo were sued by Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein for accusing him of corruption. But later Eleven Media Group issued an official apology and a retraction of the editorial that led to the libel case.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Extrajudicial Killing
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 17, 2018
- Event Description
A court in Yangon has sentenced a former newspaper columnist for state media to seven years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine for violating a sedition law by criticizing Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on social media, in the latest challenge to freedom of expression in the Southeast Asian country. Ngar Min Swe, a well-known critic of the country's de facto leader, was arrested on July 12 at his home in Hlaing township and charged under Section 124A of the Penal Code for Facebook posts that took aim at Aung San Suu Kyi, whose civilian-led National League for Democracy (NLD) party has been in power since 2016. Charges were filed against Ngar Min Swe by police Lieutenant Colonel Thar Tun in Yangon's Western District court. "He was sentenced[on Tuesday] to seven years in jail and must pay a 100,000-kyat[U.S. $64] fine," said Ngar Min Swe's wife, May Than Win. She added that her husband wrote was he did as suggestions for Aung San Suu Kyi, not to criticize her. When police apprehended Ngar Min Swe, they said their superiors ordered them to arrest him for defaming Aung San Suu Kyi on Facebook, she said. "He didn't hire a lawyer for his case and defended himself in court because he feels he didn't do anything wrong," May Than Win said. "What he said is right," she said. "He didn't defame her. The punishment he received is not appropriate for what he did." "I don't even know what kind of government we have here," she continued. "This government has said that it is a democratic government, but it is like one that operates counter to democracy." With Myanmar officials increasingly suing their critics and the media for sedition and defamation, Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy government appear to have changed course on freedom of expression and press freedom after decades of stifling military rule. Earlier this month, two Reuters reporters were sentenced to seven years in jail after they were found guilty of breaching a law on state secrets for reporting on Myanmar's brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, though a witness for the prosecution testified during their trail that the pair had been set up by police. Ngar Min Swe used to write an opinion column in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper under a former military junta that ruled the country and has since become a critic of the NLD government, including its handling of the crackdown in Rakhine state that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. "Sentence too harsh' Aung Myo Min, director of Equality Myanmar, an NGO that facilitates human rights education and advocacy programs, said the court's ruling should have been fair and impartial. "It also needs to be clear about what constitutes defamation and what constitutes freedom of speech," he said. "It's also important for authorities not to use the law from the angle they want." Myint Kyaw, a member of the Myanmar Media Council trade union, said Ngar Min Swe's sentence is excessive. "There are some other charges, but he was intentionally charged under Article 124A because the authorities wanted him to get a more severe punishment," he told RFA's Myanmar Service on Wednesday. Myanmar journalist and political activist Thiha Thway partially agreed. "The sentence for Ngar Min Swe is too harsh," he said. "I don't think it should be that excessive, but his writing is somewhere between freedom of expression and freedom of vituperation. And his actions[of criticizing authorities] are controversial." "People need to use the right of freedom of expression to promote good in the democratic era," he said. Yu Lwin Aung, a member of the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MHRC), also noted the fine line between freedom of expression and harming a person's reputation. "Anybody can express his opinion, feelings, and suggestions freely, but it shouldn't hurt another person's dignity," he said. "It's as if Ngar Min Swe's posts hurt the state leader's dignity. We don't want people misusing their rights." Hla Swe, a former lawmaker from the opposition army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), pointed out that current President Win Myint encouraged people to criticize the government during a meeting with members of the Sagaing regional government. "[But] when Ngar Min Swe criticized Aung San Suu Kyi, he was sent to jail," he said. "That makes it difficult for people to criticize the government." "Ngar Min Swe's posts are sometimes funny like jokes, and he criticizes government authorities in a positive way," he said. "[But] I think of his sentence as a huge deterrent to freedom of expression."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 3, 2018
- Event Description
YANGON (Reuters) - A Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and jailed them for seven years, in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country. Yangon northern district judge Ye Lwin said Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents. "The defendants ... have breached Official Secrets Act section 3.1.c, and are sentenced to seven years," the judge said, adding that the time served since they were detained on Dec. 12 would be taken into account. The defense can appeal the decision to a regional court and then the supreme court. The verdict comes amid mounting pressure on the government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi over a security crackdown sparked by attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents on security forces in Rakhine State in west Myanmar in August 2017. More than 700,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh since then, according to U.N. agencies. The two reporters, who were investigating the killing by the security forces of Rohingya villagers at the time of their arrest, had pleaded not guilty.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 10, 2018
- Event Description
Sixteen ethnic Karenni youth activists were sued on Tuesday for organizing a protest against plans to erect a statue of late independence hero General Aung San in the Karenni State capital, Loikaw, according to a police letter posted online. About 1,000 local Karenni marched against the project in Loikaw on July 3. The demonstration turned violent after police blocked the marchers' path to the park where the statue is to be erected. A few days after the protest, the state's chief minister met with the statue's opponents and agreed to postponed the project. He ordered local officials to survey their constituents on whether they were in support of the statue and said he would make a final decision on whether to proceed at the end of the month. Despite the reprieve, 16 of the youth activists who organized the protest were informed on Tuesday that they were being sued by the Loikaw Township administrator under articles 19 and 20 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, which regulates protests. One youth group claimed online that more than 16 activists were sued on Tuesday, but neither the group nor police could be reached for confirmation. Ko Oattra Aung, a central committee member of the Union of Karenni State Youth, said the freedom of assembly and expression were enshrined in the Constitution and that the sued activists did not harm anyone.He said opponents of the statue would continue to resist the project despite the court action. Eleven of the 16 activists sued on Tuesday were also sued earlier in the month at the Loikaw Township Court for incitement under Article 505 (b) and (c) of the Penal Code for distributing pamphlets opposing the statue ahead of the protest. Of the 11, four have also been sued under Article 505 (b) and (c) at the Demoso Township court and made their first appearance there today. The four chose not to seek bail and were detained. Ko Oattra Aung said he believed the authorities were planning to open similar cases in every townships where the activists distributed the pamphlets. The incitement charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The charges under the Peaceful Assembly Law carry a maximum one-year sentence.
- Impact of Event
- 16
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Minority Rights, Right to self-determination
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, Youth
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 12, 2018
- Event Description
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the Myanmar government's latest interference in the work of journalists, a ban on local broadcasting by US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) for rightly using the term "Rohingyas" to refer to members of the persecuted Muslim community in Rakhine state, in the west of the country. The ban is officially imposed today, six months to the day after the arrest of two Reuters journalists who had been investigating a massacre of Rohingya civilians. The last broadcast of an produced programme in Myanmar was yesterday evening. It was carried by MRTV, a TV channel owned by Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), which was ordered by the authorities to stop transmitting RFA programmes if they continued to use the word "Rohingyas." "Radio Free Asia will not compromise its code of journalistic ethics, which prohibits the use of slurs against ethnic minority groups," RFA president Libby Liu said. "We would like to express our solidarity with the RFA journalists who have been working constantly in the field to provide the Myanmar public with freely and impartially reported news and information," said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "It is the prerogative of totalitarian regimes to want to impose their "newspeak' by banning the media from using certain terms - all the more so when the rest of the world uses the term. A prohibition on the word "Rohingya' is indicative of a desire to rewrite history and reality. In a reminder of the former military government's worst era, this latest press freedom violation has further compromised the transition to democracy begun by Aung San Suu Kyi's party." Orwellian order The authorities first announced their Orwellian ban on the word "Rohingyas" in June 2016, two months after the installation of a government headed by Suu Kyi, who was long seen as the embodiment of democratic hopes in Myanmar. The word was to be replaced by the improbable phrase "people who believe in Islam in Rakhine state," the authorities said. Since then, Myanmar media that want to continue publishing or broadcasting have had to comply with the directive. Those that are critical of the government's policies in Rakhine state, such as the Myanmar Times, use the neutral term "Muslims." But media that support the government use the discriminatory term "Bengalis," implying that the Rohingyas are just immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh in order to legitimize the ethnic cleansing to which they have been subjected since August 2017. In reality, the Rohingya presence in Rakhine state dates back centuries. The BBC's Burmese language service announced on 4 September 2017 that its daily programmes would no longer be broadcast by its local partner, MNTV, because MNTV was being pressured by the authorities over the use of the term "Rohingya." The ban on using the word "Rohingya" is indicative of the scale of the taboo that this issue represents for Myanmar's authorities. Six months ago, just as Reuters was preparing to publish a report about a massacre of Rohingya civilians in the village of Inn Din, two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, were arrested on a charge of possessing official secrets after being lured to a meeting with a police officer and being handed some documents. Myanmar fell six places in RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 137th out of 180 countries.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Censorship, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 9, 2018
- Event Description
Police plan to bring charges against the organizers of a demonstration held in Myitkyina on Saturday to mark the seventh anniversary of the resumption of military clashes in Kachin State. Thousands of people attended a prayer event to mark the anniversary on Saturday at the Manaw Ground in the Kachin State capital. A 17-year truce between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) collapsed on June 9, 2011. Organizers had received official approval for the assembly. According to police, however, they continued the event beyond the permitted time and staged a drama for which permission had not been granted. They would be charged under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, police said. "Their agenda for the assembly didn't state that they would stage a drama. And the time allowed was only until 12 p.m. We will bring charges for these two reasons," said Police Major Myint Moe of Myitkyina Township Police. Describing the event, Kachin Baptist Convention chairman Dr. Hkalam Samson said, "They just reenacted the atrocities of the war. By war, they mean both sides. Those who participated in the performance have suffered for seven years. They just wanted to express their grievances, and everyone should understand that." The Kachin Peace Network said on Saturday that Yangon authorities had banned the holding of public events to mark the anniversary. The network condemned the ban, saying it was made without a sound reason. It urged the government to lift restrictions on civilians' freedom of expression in conflict areas, and to protect the fundamental rights of citizens. According to the Joint Strategy Team, a network of civil society organizations helping internally displaced persons, clashes have forced more than 120,000 people from their homes to 167 camps in Kachin and northern Shan State.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 31, 2018
- Event Description
Police in Myanmar's Bago region on Thursday arrested eight students calling for the release of protesters detained earlier this month while urging an end to fighting in Kachin state, where the national army is engaged in hostilities with the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic armed group. Two of those arrested, Yan Paing Htet and Sit Myat Min, have now been charged under Myanmar's controversial Article 19 for protesting without permission from authorities, a local source told RFA's Myanmar Service. "The others are already facing the same charge for their role in a May 6 protest in[Bago's] Nattalin township," the source, a protester named Metta Oo, said. The eight arrested today were taken into custody in Pyay township in Bago, and are members of the Basic Education Students Union students' group, Metta Oo said, adding that a hearing for five members of the group has now been set for June 4. "They didn't apply for permission for today's protest, though the district administrator and township police called them yesterday and told them to apply for permission," she said. Myanmar's de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) have come under fire in recent months for the arrests and detentions of protesters and others who openly criticize the civilian administration or the country's still-powerful military. Rights groups and lawyers in Myanmar see the pursuit of charges against peaceful protesters as a threat to freedom of expression and assembly in the Southeast Asian country, which voted in the NLD-led government in late 2015 after five decades of military rule. 'Contradictions' feared Student organizations in Myanmar have meanwhile objected to new restrictions by higher education officials on public speaking on campuses, which they say have been put in place to prevent them from holding political lectures and discussions. The order, which was issued by the Department of Higher Education of Myanmar's Ministry of Education, was sent to all the country's degree-granting higher-learning institutions on May 21. Speaking to RFA's Myanmar Service, former NLD spokesperson Monywa Aung Shin said the order should be reconsidered, though the department issuing the directive had "reasons for doing so." "As we have many different student organizations these days, I think they issued this order because they were worried that contradictions would emerge among these groups," he said. "In my personal opinion, though, this is something that should be reconsidered." The NLD is planning to hold a nationwide conference soon that will attract younger members and will eventually assign "suitable duties" to members of all ages, Monywa Aung Shin said. "I know we have to make more room for young people, but for now the old and the young will have to work together, as the young are not able to take on all these duties alone at this time," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 8
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 16, 2018
- Event Description
Three antiwar activists were charged with criminal defamation on Wednesday for leading a protest in Myitkyina during which they called on the Myanmar government to rescue civilians displaced by hostilities between an ethnic army and Myanmar forces in volatile Kachin state, bringing the total number of demonstrators charged nationwide to 45. About 5,000 people protested in Myitkyina, capital of northern Myanmar's Kachin state, on April 30, demanding that the government provide assistance to residents who fled their homes and were trapped in forests with no food or water amid fighting between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Three days later, around 300 people renewed the protest and staged a short-lived sit-in camp in the city. Lwan Zaung and Zaw Jet, two of the three activists charged, appeared in Myitkyina Township Court during their first hearing on charges of violating Article 500 of the country's Penal Code. The third activist, Nang Pu, did not attend the hearing because she is out of town. "They are being charged because what they said defamed the military," said Lieutenant Colonel Myo Min Oo from Northern Military Headquarters, who filed charges against them. The military has increasingly been using Article 500, which dates back to the era of military rule, as a silencing tactic against protesters and journalists critical of it or of the government. "We didn't violate any law," Lwan Zaung said. "We didn't do anything that defamed the military or the government. We will defend ourselves according to the law." On Monday, domestic civil society groups banded together to call for charges to be dropped against the three Kachin youth leaders. At the hearing, the court accepted the bail applications of Lwan Zaung and Zaw Jet. The trio's next hearing is scheduled for May 21. Peaceful Assembly Law Forty-two activists who participated in antiwar protests in other towns in May, including the commercial capital Yangon, Myingyan in central Myanmar's Mandalay region, and Pyay in Bago region, have been accused of not obtaining official permission to hold public demonstrations, as required by the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. Eight activists charged under the law for leading an antiwar protest in Yangon on May 12 were granted bail on Tuesday. Those charged - Thet Swe Win, Moe Thway, Paing Ye Thu, Saung Kha, Htet Khaing Soe, Shar Yamone, Ei Ei Moe, and Thinzar Shwan Lei Yi - appeared at the Bahan township police station where they were granted bail, the online news service Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reported. Lin Htet Naing, a ninth member of the group who did not appear because he is traveling abroad, will be deemed a fugitive if he does not return to Myanmar by May 27, township police commander Thein Win said, according to the report. The nine are among 17 individuals who have been charged under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for participating in the protest at a traffic circle in the commercial capital. They each face a penalty of one month in prison or a 30,000 kyat (U.S. $22) fine. The Yangon protest devolved into fistfights between protest organizers and baton-wielding riot police, with CSOs and activists accusing police of violating demonstrators' human rights by conducting a violent crackdown on them as they started to head home. The Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MHRC), an independent group consisting of 11 retired bureaucrats and academics, is investigating accusations against police and other plainclothes individuals to determine whether human rights violations occurred. Meanwhile, police in Bago region's Nattalin township briefly detained 13 high school students for staging a candlelight rally on Tuesday, during which they demanded an end to military offensives in Kachin and neighboring Shan state and the provision of relief to those displaced by the hostilities, DVB reported. Clashes in the long-running conflict between the national army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have driven at least 7,400 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from their homes in Kachin state since early April, adding to about 100,000 already displaced, according to the United Nations human rights agency (OHCHR). The KIA is one of several militias with which the Myanmar government is trying to end decades of ethnic separatist civil wars and forge peace in the country through a series of peace negotiations launched in August 2016 by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi. EU, UN concerned about suffering The European Union delegation to Myanmar issued a statement on Wednesday, calling on parties involved in the conflict in Kachin state, as well as in clashes in southeastern Myanmar's Kayin state, to immediately end hostilities and offensive combat operations in order to protect civilians. "Reports of the use of excessive combat force, of civilians being prevented from fleeing, and of denied access to immediate humanitarian assistance of civilians in need are extremely worrying," the statement said. "Unfettered humanitarian access must be granted without delay and in full respect of international humanitarian law so that the most urgent needs of civilians can be catered for," it said. The EU also called on Myanmar to ensure that peaceful protesters can exercise freedom of expression and assembly. "Lasting peace in Myanmar must come through negotiations and constructive political dialogue between all parties concerned," the statement said. "In this context, the government of Myanmar must ensure the right to free expression and peaceful assembly. No person should be detained, arrested, charged, or sentenced for nonviolently expressing a desire for an end to hostilities and for peace." The EU's statement came a day after OHCHR expressed profound concern over the growing conflicts between Myanmar forces and ethnic armed groups in both Kachin and Shan states, where 20 people were killed and more than two dozen injured in attacks by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army in Muse township on May 12. "The protracted conflict in Kachin and northern Shan states has already caused immense suffering, and we urge all sides to work to resolve the situation through a genuine, meaningful dialogue," OHCHR spokesman Rupert Colville told the media in Geneva. "We urge all sides to exercise restraint and to fully respect human rights and international humanitarian law, ensuring the protection of civilians at all times," he said. Colville also commented on the arrests of the peaceful protesters in Myitkyina. "We call on the authorities in Myanmar to respect the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 12, 2018
- Event Description
A total of 42 activists who participated in demonstrations this month against the civil war in northern Myanmar's Kachin state have been charged with violating the country's peaceful assembly law, a freedom of expression group said Tuesday. Some activists who protested on May 12 in the commercial capital Yangon and in other rallies in Myingyan in central Myanmar's Mandalay region and in Pyay in Bago region have been accused of not obtaining official permission to hold public demonstrations, as required by the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, said a statement issued by the organization Voice, comprised mostly of young activists. "Most people have been charged this month," said Maung Saung Kha, Voice's executive director. "It is the highest rate of arrests for peaceful protests during this current government. All of them have been charged for protesting against the fighting in Kachin state." The protesters called for an end to fighting between the Myanmar army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in war-torn Kachin state and for officials to help thousands of displaced civilians, some of whom have been trapped in war zones for weeks. On Monday, a national-level committee representing dozens of civil society organizations (CSOs) in Myanmar asked authorities to stop the arrests of and violent crackdowns on demonstrators in Yangon where about 300 people protested on Saturday. The protest devolved into fistfights between organizers and baton-wielding police, who have charged 17 protesters, including Zayar Lwin, Myat Kyaw, Khin Sandar, Tin Htut Paing, Maung Saung Kha, Shar Yamone, Thet Swe Win, Moe Thway, and Thinzar Shoon Leiye with violating Article 19 of The Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law, which allows public demonstrations only if organizers first obtain permission from local authorities. Rights groups and lawyers see the pursuit of charges against peaceful protesters as a threat to freedom of expression and assembly in the Southeast Asian nation, which voted in a civilian-led government in late 2015 after five decades of military rule. Human rights commission to investigate Meanwhile, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MHRC), an independent group consisting of 11 retired bureaucrats and academics, will investigate the violent crackdown on the Yangon antiwar protesters and report its findings to the Yangon regional government and regional police force, commission member Yu Lwin Aung said Tuesday. CSOs and activists who participated in the antiwar protests informed the MHRC that police conducted violent crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators as they started to head home and violated their human rights. "If the police arrested demonstrators when they were going home, it shouldn't be like this," Yu Lwin Aung said. "But we didn't see what really happened that day with our own eyes because we were not there, so we have to listen to the other side." "We will review and decide who violated human rights after listening to both sides," he said. The MHRC will watch closed-circuit videos, talk to people from both sides, and review related documents before determining whether authorities violated human rights, he said. The Myanmar police have already come under fire in the ongoing trial of two Reuters news agency reporters detained for the past five months on charges of obtaining state secrets, despite recent court testimony by a policeman who said authorities set them up in a sting operation. Thet Oo Maung, also known as Wa Lone, and Kyaw Soe Oo were taken into custody on Dec. 12 on the outskirts of Yangon shortly after they had dinner with two police officers who gave them documents related to a brutal military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state. They were formally charged on Jan. 10 and face up to 14 years in prison if found guilty. In April, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing, called as a witness for the prosecution, gave sworn testimony that Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko had ordered subordinates to set up the reporters and arrest them for possessing state secrets for their work investigating violence against the Rohingya. The military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, which oversees the country's police, has denied accusations that it set up the reporters, said Police Chief Major General Aung Win Oo at a press conference in the capital Naypyidaw on Tuesday. "Police Captain Moe Yan Naing testified that the police had set up the Reuters reporters," he said, responding to a journalist's question. "The Police didn't do it. Police Brigadier General Tin Ko Ko has not been charged or taken action against because he didn't set up the Reuters reporters as Moe Yan Naing said." Aung Win Oo also said that the police brigadier general does not know the reporters, and saw them only for the first time in court during their ongoing trial. "Police Brigadier general Tin Ko Ko didn't order anybody to set them up," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 42
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 5, 2018
- Event Description
On 7th May, it was brought to our attention that a post was uploaded on Facebook on 5th May by a Myanmar national inviting the Tatmadaw (or anyone else, for that matter) to pursue defamation charges against our Executive Director, U Aung Myo Min. The basis for such allegations is an article (Rights Groups Question Tatmadaw Chief's Denial of Sexual Violence) posted on 2nd May in The Irrawaddy where U Aung Myo Min - among other CSO leaders - commented on recent declarations made by S.G. Min Aung Hlaing to UNSC Envoys on acts of sexual violence committed by the Tatmadaw in the country and how the Tatmadaw has (or has not) handled these cases. With 22 people tagged, 24 reactions, 6 comments (all of them highly offensive) and 3 shares so far, we do consider this post as a serious threat, just not imminent. Considering the highly charged political environment in which we operate, all precautions are not enough. Some of you have expressed concerns about Sayar Myo's safety in the past so we thought you should be informed too. This is not the first time he receives serious threats - was declared "enemy of the faith" by Buddhist nationalists last year-. We will monitor this and other posts and offer updates. Please, do let us know if similar posts come to your attention so we can monitor them as well. A very rough translation of the post and the comments is attached. If anyone is interested to see the original post, i'd be happy to redirect individually. Not copying here due to privacy reasons.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, SOGI rights
- HRD
- NGO staff, SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 7, 2018
- Event Description
PATHEIN, Irrawaddy Region - A local court in Pathein on Monday sentenced a human rights activist to three months in prison for broadcasting live on Facebook a drama deemed to be critical of the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw). The Tatmadaw's Southwestern Command sued nine students for defamation in January last year after they staged a performance at the Pathein Hotel in Pathein, the capital of Irrawaddy Region, depicting Tatmadaw clashes with ethnic armed groups. The performance was staged amid peace discussions. U Htun Htun Oo, leader of the Human Rights Activists Association-a Pathein-based civil society organization-was also sued the by the command under Article 66 (d) of the 2013 Myanmar Telecommunications Law for broadcasting the drama live on the social media platform. "The judicial sector is under pressure. Article 66 (d) directly bars the rights and freedoms of citizens enshrined in the Constitution. So as long as there are laws that restrict freedom of expression, there will still be defendants like me," U Htun Htun Oo told The Irrawaddy after the trial. In April, Pathein Township Court fined eight of nine students who staged the drama. Two students were fined 50,000 kyats each, and six others were fined 30,000 kyats each. Pathein Township Court issued an arrest warrant for the ninth student, Myo Ko Ko, after he failed to appear in court. The students performed a satirical comedy in which a news agency called "Oxygen" interviews supporters of conflict in Myanmar. During the play, one character, a soldier's wife, claims to support war because wives can have affairs while their soldier husbands are away fighting. The Tatmadaw was not amused by that part of the play and filed the lawsuit in response. "They were accused of performing dialogue that defamed soldiers and their wives. When I examined them,[I found that] they did perform that dialogue and U Htun Htun Oo broadcast it live on Facebook. So, I decided he also bears responsibility and I delivered this verdict. I was not pressured to make this verdict," Pathein Township Judge U Win Aung told The Irrawaddy. The judge said he limited the punishment to a fine, and intended it as a warning, saying they are still young and only intended for the play to be viewed by the people in the hall of the Pathein Hotel, where its impact would be limited. However, the judge said, U Htun Htun Oo is an adult and his live stream was viewed by people around the world. Therefore, he sentenced him to prison so that he will consider the consequences of his actions on other people before he acts next time, said the judge. The controversial Article 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law carries a maximum three years' imprisonment.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to information
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 12, 2017
- Event Description
The arrest of two Reuters journalists in Yangon this week was a signal that press freedom is shrinking in Myanmar and the international community must do all it can to get them released, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, 14 December. Guterres said his main concern over Myanmar was the "dramatic violations of human rights" during a military crackdown in Rakhine State that forced more than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee the country for southern Bangladesh, and the arrest of the journalists was probably related. "And probably the reason why these journalists were arrested is because they were reporting on what they have seen in relation to this massive human tragedy," he added. Myanmar's government said on Wednesday, 13 December, that police had arrested two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. The reporters had been working on stories about a military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rahkine State that has caused almost 6,50,000 people to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. The reporters "illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media," said the statement, which was accompanied by a photo of the pair in handcuffs. It said they were detained at a police station on the outskirts of Yangon, the southeast Asian nation's main city. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo went missing on the evening of 12 December, after they had been invited to meet police officials over dinner. Attack on Freedom of Press' The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh say their exodus from the mainly Buddhist nation was triggered by a military counter-offensive in Rakhine state that the United Nations has branded "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing" "We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately," he said. A spokesman for Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi confirmed that the two journalists had been arrested. "Not only your reporters, but also the policemen who were involved in that case," spokesman Zaw Htay said. "We will take action against those policemen and also the reporters." In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert emphasized that the agency was "following this closely." She said that US Ambassador Scot Marciel on 13 December had a conversation with two government officials in Myanmar who seemed "genuinely unaware" of the situation. The US embassy in Yangon said in a statement posted on its website on 13 December that it was "deeply concerned by the highly irregular arrests of two Reuters reporters after they were invited to meet with police officials in Yangon last night". "For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely," the embassy said. "We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists." The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for the reporters' immediate and unconditional release. "These arrests come amid a widening crackdown which is having a grave impact on the ability of journalists to cover a story of vital global importance," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. Britain's Concerns Britain has expressed "grave concerns" to the government of Myanmar over the arrest of the two journalists, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told reporters in London on Thursday. And the president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani also called on Myanmar to protect media freedoms and release the two. The Foreign Correspondents Club of Myanmar said it was "appalled" by the arrests and "gravely concerned" about the state of press freedom in the country. In a statement, it called on the authorities to ensure the safety of the reporters and allow their families to see them.In their appeal arguments made last month, defense lawyers had cited evidence of a police set-up and lack of proof of a crime. They told the appeal court the lower court that tried the case had wrongly placed the burden of proof on the defendants. The defense also said prosecutors had failed to prove the reporters gathered and collected secret information, sent information to an enemy of Myanmar or that they had an intention to harm national security. The foreign correspondents' club in neighbouring Thailand said it was "alarmed by the use of this draconian law with its heavy penalties against journalists simply doing their jobs". He has written about military land grabs and the killing of ruling party lawyer Ko Ni in January. This year he jointly won an honorable mention from the Society of Publishers in Asia for Reuters' coverage of the Rakhine crisis in 2016. He previously worked for The Myanmar Times, where he covered Myanmar's historic 2015 elections, and People's Age, a local weekly newspaper, where his editor was Myanmar's current Minister of Information Pe Myint ver the next 24 hours, Reuters colleagues in Yangon filed a missing persons report, went to three police stations, and asked a series of government officials what had happened to the two reporters. They got no official information until Wednesday, 13 December evening. UPDATE: On April 11 2018, a judge in Myanmar ruled that the case against two Reuters reporters who documented a massacre of Rohingya Muslims would proceed on accusations that they violated the Official Secrets Act after they were arrested with papers handed to them by the police. UPDATE: 23 April 2018, The family of a Myanmar policeman who told a court how police planted secret documents on Reuters reporters to "entrap" them was evicted from police housing in the capital Naypyitaw on Saturday, less than 24 hours after his testimony, family members said. Update: On 3 September 2018 the 2 journalists were sentenced to 7 years in prison. Update: On 11 January 2018 the Myanmar court rejected an appeal by Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo for their caseIn their appeal arguments made last month, defense lawyers had cited evidence of a police set-up and lack of proof of a crime. They told the appeal court the lower court that tried the case had wrongly placed the burden of proof on the defendants. The defense also said prosecutors had failed to prove the reporters gathered and collected secret information, sent information to an enemy of Myanmar or that they had an intention to harm national security.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 5, 2018
- Event Description
CHIANG MAI, Thailand - An indigenous Karen man from Ler Mu Plaw village in Karen State's Papun district was shot dead by the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw) on Thursday afternoon, according to local villagers and aid groups. Fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Tatmadaw has flared recently in the Ler Mu Plaw area, despite both sides being signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). Amid a persistent military standoff, some 2,300 villagers who were earlier forced to flee the area dare not to go back to their homes, as they claim the Tatmadaw has taken control of their villages. Saw O Moo, 42, a community leader and father of seven, was reportedly shot dead while on his way home on April 5. He was driving a motorbike when he came under fire. A friend who was riding on the back of the motorcycle managed to flee the attack and survived, said a member of the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network, citing local villagers. "The villagers returned to the scene on April 6 and saw both the body and the motorbike, but were unable to approach them as[the villagers] came under fire," said Saw Soe Doh, a spokesman for the Mutraw (Papun) Emergency Assistance Team. He said villagers went back to the area again on Saturday and Sunday but could not retrieve the body, as soldiers were stationed nearby. "Atee[Uncle] Saw O Moo was a good person," Saw Soe Doh told The Irrawaddy, adding that the slain man was a leader of the Mutraw (or Papun) indigenous Karen community and an advocate for indigenous Karen rights, including land and forest governance as well as peace for the Mutraw people. The Mutraw Emergency Assistance Team was formed by members of a Karen community organization and other local groups on March 12 to help villagers displaced from the Ler Mu Plaw area, following fighting between the KNLA and Tatmadaw in early March. The clashes were triggered by the Tatmadaw's deployment of troops to the area. The team has been providing medicine, food and shelter for IDPs. Saw O Moo worked for the team, providing peer support to villagers. "We want his body back," Saw Soe Doh said. Villagers and relief workers are convinced he is the shooting victim, as he never returned home and would never get lost in the area, they say. In a statement, the Mutraw Emergency Assistance Team urged President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi "to take immediate measures to protect the displaced villagers and ensure the safety of our humanitarian workers." Their statement reads: "The murder of an innocent humanitarian aid worker by the Burmese Army seriously violates not only human rights but also the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)." The Karen National Union, the political wing of the KNLA, said the Tatmadaw should halt its project to rebuild an old road that was abandoned in 2008 until trust can be restored between the two sides. Karen civil society groups said the Tatmadaw breached the ceasefire pact by moving troops across agreed ceasefire boundaries. As a consequence, they say, some 2,300 local villagers have been displaced.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Killing, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 7, 2018
- Event Description
YANGON - Myanmar's Upper House of Parliament approved a set of controversial amendments to the country's protest law on Wednesday despite strong opposition from activists and rights groups who claim the changes would further restrict the freedom of expression. Thirteen lawmakers discussed the bill amending the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law on Monday and Wednesday, with all but one of them - including some from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) - arguing against the changes. "We have vowed to get rid of authoritarian acts and suppression of the people in Myanmar. The provisions[in the bill] go against those objectives," NLD lawmaker U Htay Oo told reporters after Monday's session. Yet the bill passed with 113 lawmakers voting in favor and 78 voting against. The Upper House Bill Committee submitted the bill on Feb. 19. The amendments are being viewed as the latest attempt by the NLD-dominated Parliament to deter those with hidden agendas from masterminding protests and to reduce the risk of racial and religious violence. If the changes are fully approved, Article 4 (d) of the law will require would-be protesters planning peaceful assemblies and processions to inform police in advance of not only their agenda and estimated numbers, but also the estimated cost of the event and the identities of the people or organizations paying for it. The most controversial part of the bill would stipulate jail terms for those convicted of provoking or exhorting others to organize or participate in demonstrations by bribing or paying them or doing anything else with the intention of harming the stability, rule of law, peace and tranquility of the community. The provision was criticized as being too broadly written; activists warn it could be exploited to stifle political dissent. The bill will return to the Lower House where, barring any objections, it will be sent to President U Htin Kyaw to be signed into law.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Enactment of repressive legislation and policies, Judicial Harassment
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 25, 2018
- Event Description
The owner of the offices of the Myanmar Journalist Network has banned future events at the venue after the Anti-Adhamma Committee tried to hold a news conference there on Sunday that sparked a confrontation, said network information officer U Kaung Htet San. Titled "Encouraging monks to take action against U Wirathu," the news conference at the office in Kyauktada township, Yangon, was cancelled after an argument broke out on Sunday in front of the venue between Anti-Adhamma members and supporters of U Wirathu, the spiritual leader of the anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar. "A crowd gathered on Sunday in front of our office, which seemed to frighten people on the street. The property owner told us not to do it again because the event was about politics and religion, and it might affect him," U Kaung Htet San said. Negotiations are ongoing with the landlord, he said, adding that their group leased the building for one year from January 2018. The committee wants to take legal action against the controversial monk from Mandalay for hate speech, causing religious division and encouraging lawlessness. It also accuses him of making biased comments about political parties, which violate the instructions of the Sangha Maha Nayaka, the country's top religious organisation. Committee members alleged that U Wirathu supports Kyi Lin, who killed lawyer U Ko Ni, and had made a video of himself warning politicians who oppose nationalist monks that they risk being killed like U Ko Ni. The group also alleged that U Wirathu raised his fists in anger in a recent video marking the birthday of the Sayadaw of Insein Ywama Pariyatti monastery. Some nationalist monks argued on Sunday that U Wirathu has done nothing wrong and lay people cannot take action against him. The dispute became more heated, and people on upper 34th street gathered to ask the two sides to stop arguing.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Censorship
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom
- HRD
- Media Worker, NGO
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 20, 2017
- Event Description
A local journalist in Sittwe, Rakhine State, was stabbed in the early hours of Wednesday morning and remains hospitalised. According to reports, two unknown assailants on a motorbike perpetrated the act at around midnight in the Rakhine State capital. The victim, Kyaw Lin, is the founder and editor-in-chief of the local publication ROMA Time, as well as a contributor for DVB and other news outlets. A DVB reporter visited the Sittwe Myoma police station to inquire about the incident, but a police officer there replied that the station had not received any information regarding the stabbing. "We do not know about that yet. No one has come to the station to file a case. Only after a case is filed can we take measures on the case," said the officer. Kyaw Lin is currently receiving treatment at Sittwe General Hospital. It was not immediately clear whether the attack was in any way related to his work as a journalist in restive Rakhine State, where he has typically written about conflict and Burma's peace process.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 13, 2017
- Event Description
Myanmar police have arrested two domestic journalists working for Reuters news agency for violating the state secrets law by allegedly illegally possessing government documents, the government and a relative of one of the men said Wednesday. Thet Oo Maung, also known as Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were arrested for violating Section 3 of the 1923 Official Secrets Act for allegedly intending "to send important security documents regarding security forces in Rakhine state to foreign agencies abroad," said a statement issued by the Information Ministry. The papers included reports, a list of weapons, and a draft map, according to the police report filed by Lieutenant Zaw Naing from the No. 8 Security Unit. Police apprehended the pair at about 11 a.m. Tuesday on Road No. 3 in the commercial capital Yangon and took them to Htauk Kyant Police Station. They have been denied bail. Pan Ei Mon, wife of Thet Oo Maung, confirmed the news and said Reuters had not provided any details about the men's arrests. No one at the Reuters bureau in Yangon would comment on the matter when contacted by RFA's Myanmar Service, and officials at the Htauk Kyant Police Station could not be reached. The news agency's report on the arrests quoted Reuters global communications chief Abbe Serphos as saying: "We are urgently seeking more information about the circumstances of their arrest and their current situation." Stephen J. Adler, the news agency's president and editor-in-chief issued a statement that read: "Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been reporting on events of global importance in Myanmar, and we learned today that they have been arrested in connection with their work. We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately." Reuters has not yet informed the Myanmar Press Council about the arrests, said Myint Kyaw, a member of the organization which investigates and settles press disputes and protects media employees in Myanmar. "We heard that they were charged because of some secret papers related to the attacks in August in Rakhine," he told RFA, adding that it is not unusual for reporters to have documents related to the news they cover on their computers or mobile phones "But we have to see if they used the confidential facts from the documents ethically or not for their reporting," Myint Kyaw said, adding that he believes the men were arrested and charged become some authorities were not pleased with their reporting on northern Rakhine. "Finding documents related to the Rakhine attacks has now become a reason to charge them," he said. "We are worried that they will be imprisoned." "Both military and government authorities don't like some of the media reports on the problems in Rakhine, and we suspect that they arrested these two reporters because they have a grudge against them." The MPC will hold a meeting on what to do about the two reporters after it receives details from Reuters and from the police, he said. "Myanmar media's freedom will definitely deteriorate if these reporters are punished," Myint Kyaw said. US embassy issues statement The U.S. embassy in Yangon issued a statement on the arrest of two Reuters journalists on Wednesday. "We are deeply concerned by the highly irregular arrests of two Reuters reporters after they were invited to meet with police officials in Yangon last night," it said. "For a democracy to succeed, journalists need to be able to do their jobs freely," the statement said. "We urge the government to explain these arrests and allow immediate access to the journalists." Wa Lone has worked for Reuters about 18 months, covering a variety of stories, including the Rohingya refugee crisis in northern Rakhine state, while Kyaw Soe Oo has been with the news agency for about four months. An estimated 646,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the region to neighboring Bangladesh during a recent brutal military crackdown which began on Aug. 25 following deadly attacks by Muslim militants. Rights groups and some Rohingya have accused government soldiers of committing atrocities against them, including summary executions, rape, torture, and arson. The Information Ministry's statement also said authorities would take disciplinary action against two Security Police Brigade officers who had recently returned from duty in northern Rakhine state. They, too, are accused of violating the Official Secrets Act. String of detentions, lawsuits The arrests of the two Reuters reporters are the latest in a string of detentions of and lawsuits against journalists in Myanmar since de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian-led National League for Democracy (NLD) party came to power in April 2016. In November, a Myanmar court sentenced two foreign journalists reporting for Turkish state media, along with their interpreter and their driver, to two months in prison for violating a law regulating the use of aircraft after they used a drone to film near parliament in the country's capital Naypyidaw. All four were also charged under the Import-Export Act for importing a drone, an offense that carries a three-year prison sentence. The court in Naypyidaw's Zabuthiri township also charged the two journalists under the country's Immigration Act for allegedly conducting illegal activities inside Myanmar - an offense punishable by six months to five years in jail. The number of defamation suits filed under Article 66(d), a statute that prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people and carries a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine, has soared under the current government. Myanmar journalists and rights groups have called for the statute's abolishment, arguing that government and military officials are increasingly using it to silence their critics, thereby threatening freedom of the press. Update: Two Reuters journalists who have been detained in Myanmar for the past two weeks were remanded in custody for a further two weeks on Wednesday as a probe into allegations they breached the nation's Official Secrets Act continues. When they appeared in court for the proceedings, Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were allowed to meet their families and their lawyer for the first time since their arrest on the night of Dec 12. The two journalists said they had not been mistreated in custody. "The situation is okay," Wa Lone said after the hearing, adding that the two were being held at a police compound in Yangon. "We will face it the best we can because we have never done anything wrong," he said. "We have never violated the media law or ethics. We will continue to do our best." Dozens of reporters and cameramen were outside the courthouse in a northern district of Yangon for the appearance of the two journalists. They were brought in a white van, rather than a police truck, dressed in casual clothes and were not handcuffed. Their lawyer, Than Zaw Aung, who has been retained by Reuters, said the two had only been doing their job as journalists. "They are being accused under this charge while doing their work as media," he told reporters. Only their families and lawyer were allowed into the courtroom along with police and government lawyers. The two journalists had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in the western state of Rakhine, where an estimated 655,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from a fierce military crackdown on militants. The two journalists are being investigated under a section of the Official Secrets Act which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Right to information
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 1, 2017
- Event Description
A Myanmar land rights activist who challenged illegal land grabs in northern Shan State was beaten to death this week by a mob of some 20 people, a fellow unionist told RFA's Myanmar Service on Thursday. Htay Aung, a member of the National Farmer's Union was attacked by a mob on Wednesday in Iwine Parhe Village of Naungcho Township, northeast of the city of Mandalay and later died at Mandalay Hospital. Naw Ohn Hla, chairwoman of the National Farmers Union, described to RFA the events leading up to the attack, for which three people have been arrested. "An Iwine Parhe Village administrator telephoned Farmer's Union members and asked them to meet to talk about a land grab case on October 28. Htay Aung and some group members went to the meeting point and about 20 people including women attacked him in front of the village administrator," she told RFA. "That's why we wonder if this was planned," added Naw Ohn Hla. Of the 20 or more attackers, Eike Kyaw, Kyaw Zan Lat and Naw Ngyin were arrested, she said. "I asked the police to take action against all the people who were involved in the case and gave them the names of people involved as I was told by local villagers. I also asked them to work for getting justice," said Naw Ohn Hla. RFA's efforts to reach Naungcho Police Station and Banbwe Police Station in Naungcho Township by telephone were unsuccessful. Htay Aung, a leading rural activist who has tried to call the attention of Myanmar's president and vice-president to land-grab cases, spoke to RFA in mid-October about a long-running dispute in Naungcho Township involving 346 acres that were seized from 31 households back in 1997. The land had changed hands, with a New Zealand farming concern growing corn, wheat and sesame until 2002, then a group from Palaung ethnic minority growing corn and sugarcane from 2005-2008. "We haven't gotten the lands back yet. We have reported it to authorities since 2015, but haven't had any response," Htay Aung told RFA. "We received the letters from military and said this land is to be returned to us, but we can't work on it yet. We don't know what Naungcho Township administrator and Land Records and Agricultural Department are doing about it," he said. Land grabs and the appropriation of public property to turn over to foreign and domestic companies are a major source of political and social tension in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Land rights
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Suspected non-state, Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 12, 2017
- Event Description
The controversial trial of Myanmar human rights activist Khaing Myo Htun ended at a Sittwe courthouse yesterday with a conviction and an 18-month prison sentence. He was found guilty of sedition and incitement against the Myanmar military for his role in a report accusing the Myanmar army of committing torture and forced labor against civilians in Rakhine State. The report was published in April 2016 by the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) - the political wing of the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA), which is a signatory to a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government. Khaing Myo Htun served as deputy information officer for the party at the time. With time already served, the activist will have to spend another three months in prison. "[This] verdict deals another blow to human rights in Myanmar. Khaing Myo Htun is going to spend another three months in jail for doing what Myanmar's authorities should be doing: defending innocent people from human rights violations," said David Baulk, a Myanmar human rights specialist with Fortify Rights. "This is just the latest example of Myanmar's judicial system serving the military rather than the public interest. At the end of the day, Khaing Myo Htun was trying to help the government and military to do their job. Myanmar's human rights defenders are imprisoned for helping innocent people get justice for wrongs they've suffered, and that shows how dire the human rights situation is in Myanmar right now," he said. The activist's case has been beset by controversy since it began. When he was first called in over the report by Rakhine State's minister for security and border affairs, Colonel Htein Lin, in July 2016, Khaing Myo Htun was told he would only face charges if he could not substantiate its claims. Nonetheless, when he came back with video testimony from more than a dozen villagers corroborating the claims of forced labor and torture, he was arrested anyway. Although the ALP's leadership signed off on the report, Khaing Myo Htun was the only member held responsible for it. During the trial, Frontier reported, objections from Khaing Myo Htun's defense team were prohibited by the judge, who showed a preference for the prosecution throughout the proceedings. The judge also scheduled hearings every two weeks rather than every week, prolonging the activist's detention. Khaing Myo Htun's sentencing yesterday came after the judge determined that he had not substantiated his report's claims, even after two defense witnesses claimed they had personally been subjected to forced labor by the Myanmar military in Rakhine State. Since it is a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, disputes between the ALP and the Myanmar government are meant to be adjudicated by the Joint Monitoring Committee or the Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting and only sent to criminal courts as a last resort. Neither body was involved in Khaing Myo Htun's case, prompting him to remark after his sentencing that the judge's verdict was also a verdict against the ceasefire agreement. Nonetheless, the activist has no plans to appeal. He told his lawyer after the sentencing that he has lost faith in Myanmar's judicial system. "[This] verdict is yet another message from the government of Myanmar to the rest of the world that their interest in human rights isn't even skin deep," said David Baulk of Fortify Rights. "The government needs to drop its overly broad defamation laws and bring them in line with international standards to prevent more cases like this from happening in the future. At a moment when all eyes are on Myanmar, the government had an opportunity to do the right thing, and once again, failed."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Indigenous peoples' rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 30, 2017
- Event Description
YANGON - Ko Swe Win, chief editor of Myanmar Now news agency, was arrested at Yangon International Airport at about 7 p.m. on Sunday. Airport police told The Irrawaddy that a person who is facing an ongoing lawsuit is usually detained if they try to leave the country. Ko Swe Win is being charged under controversial Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law by a follower of the nationalist group Ma Ba Tha. Mandalay resident U Kyaw Myo Shwe opened the case in March at a police station in Mandalay's Maha Aungmyay Township, accusing Ko Swe Win of insulting ultranationalist monk U Wirathu. U Kyaw Myo Shwe told Mandalay police that the editor was leaving the country on Sunday, according to a police report on the arrest, however it is unclear how Ko Kyaw Myo Shwe obtained the information. The report stated that the plaintiff wrote to the Ministry of Transport and Communication on July 12, explaining that he wanted to continue with the trial process. The ministry responded on July 21, saying it would continue with the case. U Kyaw Myo Shwe then told police he believed Ko Swe Win was trying to flee the country and demanded his arrest. Mandalay police informed their counterparts in Mingaladon, according to the report, which said the editor arrived at the airport at 7.15 p.m., where he was arrested by Mingaladon Township police captain Mya Tun Kyaw at Terminal 2 at 7.20 p.m. and brought to police custody. Some unconfirmed reports said the authorities would transfer him to Mandalay Prison tonight. Ko Swe Win was scheduled to visit Bangkok for a short work trip, according to Myanmar Now staff, who confirmed his arrest and that he was being held at Mingaladon police station. The staff added that their editor had a verbal agreement with Mandalay police that he would report to them on August 3. UPDATE (01-08-2017) The judge released Swe Win on bail during the hearing at Mahar Aungmyay township court until his trial date on Aug. 7. UPDATE (27-10-2017) A court in Mandalay rejected on Friday an appeal to revoke bail for Ko Swe Win, chief editor of news agency Myanmar Now. The editor was detained and then released on bail in July after Mandalay resident U Kyaw Myo Shwe filed a complaint under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, accusing Ko Swe Win of insulting ultranationalist monk U Wirathu. The plaintiff opposed the granting of bail and filed an appeal in September. However, Mandalay District Court decided it would not deny bail. "The court said it will give bail to the Myanmar Now editor and he will continue the trial at the township court," said Ko Swe Win's lawyer U Myo Min Zaw. Ko Swe Win will continue the trial at Maha Aung Myay Township Court next week. "I welcome the judge's decision to release me on bail, as releasing me under Article 66(d) is up to him," Swe Win said. "I would like to say that I will face whatever comes along with this case within the boundary of the law."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Extremist group, Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 26, 2017
- Event Description
Seven people, including three reporters, have been detained and charged by the military in Myanmar's volatile northeastern Shan State for "having connections" to an ethnic armed group that has engaged in recent hostilities with the armed forces, the national army said on Monday. Among the seven are reporters Aye Naing and Pyae Phone Naing from the online news service Democratic Voice of Burma, and reporter Thein Zaw from the online journal The Irrawaddy, according to an announcement issued by the Office of the Commander-in-Chief. Both are independent media outlets that publish in Burmese and English. The four other men, who were not identified, were also arrested for "connection[s] to the TNLA terrorist group" while returning from TNLA-controlled territory, it said. The journalists were in two cars returning from an event organized by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, which is engaged in armed conflict with the national army in northern Shan state and has been deemed an "illegal organization," it said. They were detained while on the road near Phayagyi village between Namhsan and Lashio townships and were transferred to the police station in Lashio, the largest town in northern Shan state, for "further interrogation and to face legal actions," the announcement said without specifying which laws the seven had violated. The arrested reporters attended a drug-burning event organized by the TNLA to mark the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Restrictions on free speech The arrests come amid heightened concern about restrictions on free speech under the pro-democracy government of the ruling National League for Democracy government led by de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In early June, a group of journalists formed the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and began a white armband campaign called "Freedom of the Press" in Yangon during a court hearing for an editor and writer accused by the military of defamation under a controversial article of the Telecommunications Law. The law's Article 66(d) prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people and carries a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine for those found guilty of violating it. The committee is demanding that the government, parliament, and military abolish the law used to accuse reporters and editors of slander when they criticize government leaders, military officials, and high-ranking Buddhist monks. Repression of the media was the order of the day under the former military juntas that ruled Myanmar for a half-century. That changed under the government of former President Thein Sein, who eased censorship controls on the media and allowed independent news outfits. Though the current civilian NLD government, which has been in power since April 2016, lifted other censorship rules, the number of journalists arrested and tried on defamation cases under Article 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law has significantly increased. UPDATE: On 28 June 2017, three detained Myanmar journalists were officially charged under a colonial-era law and sent to prison in Thibaw on Thursday for covering an event hosted by an armed militia in northeastern Shan state Update 1 September 2017 HSIPAW, Shan State - Three journalists from The Irrawaddy and Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) were released on bail on Friday afternoon following the military's decision to withdraw its case against them. The judge from Hsipaw Township Court said the plaintiff's lawyer must file a request to the court in order to drop the charges, and the court would then drop the charges on Monday. Military plaintiff adjutant Thet Naing Oo withdrew the charges under Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act filed against the reporters after the commander-in-chief's office withdrew cases against six journalists and two activists. The journalists were arrested along with three other men by the Myanmar Army on June 26 as they returned from covering a drug-burning ceremony hosted by the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). A few days later they were moved to Hsipaw Prison and have been escorted from the prison for weekly hearings, some of which have been moved or delayed. As the defendants' lawyers submitted bail appeals in last week's trial, the judge granted bail for the three reporters in the wake of the military withdrawing the case. Three men who were detained along with the journalists also had charges of unlawful association withdrawn, but two of the men who had additional charges will remain in detention
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Censorship, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Right to information
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 15, 2017
- Event Description
Authorities in central Myanmar's Magwe region have charged three journalists under a controversial telecommunications law after one posted messages on social media about a dispute at a construction site and the two others commented on them, one of the reporters and a police officer said on 15 June 2017. On May 28, MGY Journal editor Tin Shwe posted a message on Facebook saying residents of Myinkin village were opposed to road construction workers bulldozing area trees and another calling on authorities to investigate a businessman from Magwe township who had illicitly supplied bricks for the project. Zar Zar San, a reporter with Democracy Today Journal, and Phyupwint Nayche, a reporter with the Myanmar Times, later commented on the posts about the project and the bricks, which are illegal to produce in Magwe region. Tin Shwe, also known as Minbu, told RFA's Myanmar Service Thursday that he was told the three of them had been charged under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which prohibits the use of telecom networks to defame people. Violators are subject to jail terms of up to three years and a fine. "In Magwe region, brick and sand businesses are banned, but some people are doing it illegally ...[so] we posted about[this and the construction dispute] on Facebook," he said. "We have heard that Zar Zar San ... Phyupwint Nayche and I were charged under 66(d) at Magwe's No. 2 Police Station, but we haven't received any notification from them." Kyaw Soe, an officer at No. 2 Police Station, confirmed to RFA Thursday that the three journalists had been charged for "posting incorrect information" by the head of Maehla Taung village tract-which administrates Myinkin village. "Tin Shwe and two female journalists were charged under 66(d) by Maehla Taung village administrator Htay Lwin," he said, adding that Zar Zar San and Phyupwint Nayche had been charged on June 10. It was not immediately clear when Tin Shwe had been charged. Kyaw Soe said the three reporters had traveled to the construction site at Myinkin village and told residents that brick companies are banned from operating in Magwe region, before posting information about what they had seen on Facebook. Htay Lwin claimed that the villagers had no problem with the road construction project and that the Facebook post was false, he added. "That's why Maehla Taung village administrator Htay Lwin filed against them under 66(d), as he believes they insulted him through social media," Kyaw Soe said. "We have already questioned Htay Lwin and Tin Shwe. Tin Shwe said he will bring the two female journalists to us for questioning and after we question them, we will have what we need to proceed with the case."
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 17, 2017
- Event Description
On 17 May 2017, Myanmar's powerful military filed a defamation lawsuit against a local independent newspaper editor and its satire columnist over an article that allegedly insulted the armed forces in the latest attack on freedom of speech in the developing Southeast Asian country. Kyaw Min Swe, editor-in-chief of The Voice Daily, and the newspaper's satire columnist who writes under the pseudonym "British Ko Ko Maung," are being sued under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people. Violators are subject to a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine. Government, military, and other officials are increasingly using the controversial law to file defamation suits against their critics under the current civilian administration of de facto national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which came to power in April 2016. The military filed the charges at Bahan Township Police Station in the commercial capital Yangon, citing alleged defamation over an article the newspaper published in late March. British Ko Ko Maung had written a piece entitled "Oath of the Nation of Bullets" that mocked "Union Oath," a military propaganda film that aired on the military-owned Myawaddy TV channel to coincide with Armed Forces Day on March 27. "I will face, according to law, whatever may come because I wrote what I believe," British Ko Ko Maung said. Lieutenant Colonel Tun Tun Oo of the Yangon regional command initially filed a complaint with the Myanmar Press Council charging that the piece offended the dignity of the armed forces, according to a report by the online news agency Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). The council mediates disputes involving the press. The Voice Daily issued an apology on May 14. Kyaw Min Swe said he has not yet discussed the lawsuit with the board of editors, but will comment on it after meeting with the Myanmar Press Council, DVB reported. The military, which previously ruled Myanmar for 50 years and continues to wield enormous political and economic power, has filed similar complaints about articles critical of it in the past. It settled the cases out of court when the publications offered a formal apology or published a correction, DVB reported. Rights groups argue that the defamation provision of Myanmar's Telecommunications Law has been used to silence criticism of the government, military, and Buddhist leaders, and should be dropped. The new case brings the number of people who have been charged under Article 66(d) to 56 under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government. So far, seven of them have been sentenced to jail. During the previous military-backed government of former president Thein Sein, only seven people were charged under Article 66(d), and five of them received prison sentences. UPDATE: On 2 June 2017, Kyaw Min Swe and the newspaper's satire columnist who writes under the pseudonym "British Ko Ko Maung," were detained under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which prohibits the use of the telecom network to defame people. UPDATE: On 8 June 2017, Myanmar court rejected bail for the HRDs. The next court hearing for the two men will be on June 16, and their lawyers will again seek release on bail. UPDATE: On 16 June 2017, the Bahan Township court has again rejected a bail application for The Voice chief editor U Kyaw Min Swe, while dropping charges against a staff writer from the paper accused of defaming the military. UPDATE: On 23 June 2017, the Bahan Township court rejected the fourth bail request of Kyaw Min Swe. UPDATE: On 30 June 2017, the court rejected the fifth bail request of Kyaw Min Swe. UPDATE: On 7 July 2017, the courtrejected the sixth bail request by Kyaw Min Swe. UPDATE: On 4 August 2017, a Myanmar court released on bail Kyaw Min Swe detained on defamation charges under a controversial statute, after having rejected nine previous bail requests since he was charged in June.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Censorship, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Media freedom, Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 19, 2016
- Event Description
Legal activist Robert Sann Aung told The Irrawaddy that he was first approached on Dec. 19 last year by a man wearing civilian clothes in the airport in Bhamo Township, Kachin State, on the way back to Mandalay. The man claimed to be from Military Intelligence, he said, but gave no evidence of the claim. Robert Sann Aung, a former political prisoner, tried to "ignore the man's many questions." Since then, he added, the man has waited for him at the airport and followed him until he boarded his connecting flight on four separate occasions. He said people have come near his home, watching him twice a week for a while, as well as to his local teashop. He has been receiving explicit photos, crude, insulting texts and threatening phone calls-some from international numbers-from men and women, mostly between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. Many of the calls warn him not to reform Burma's military-drafted 2008 Constitution, he said. In one of them, he was threatened with: "Aren't you afraid to die? You will be the next person who will be killed." "They may have intended to scare me and stop me from sleeping," he said. "I turn off my phone every night during that time. I was worried I wouldn't make it to work in the mornings." The lawyer has made posts on Facebook suggesting where the Constitution should be amended and has also given a media interview in which he advocated for constitutional reform. "I will keep saying it, and I will not stop," he said. "I will do my job as a citizen of the country." Robert Sann Aung, who has been imprisoned six times for his peaceful political and human rights activities, is hesitant to report the threats to authorities. In addition to believing that they would not listen to him, he says that the authorities might be connected to the intimidation and increased surveillance in the past few months. He added that it was difficult to identify who was making the phone calls, which would hinder his attempt to file a complaint at the police station. Amnesty International released a statement on Wednesday urging the authorities to take immediate steps to ensure the lawyer's safety, investigate the threats, and hold those responsible to account. The human rights activist is especially concerned about his safety as his work often involves traveling. "It is difficult to know when and where they are waiting to kill me," he added. National League for Democracy legal adviser U Ko Ni was shot dead as he held his grandson at Rangoon International Airport. His work included reforms to the Constitution. To date four people have been arrested in connection with the killing and are currently on trial, however, a fifth suspect, Aung Win Khaing, a former lieutenant colonel in the Burma Army, remains at large. Robert Sann Aung was disbarred in 1993 for defending peaceful political activists. Since his lawyer's license was reinstated in 2012, he has continued to represent human rights defenders, student activists, protestors of a contested copper mine and people whose land has been confiscated by the military.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Suspected state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 17, 2015
- Event Description
MANDALAY - A Muslim interfaith activist and member of Burma's main opposition party was apprehended in Mandalay this week on charges of unlawful association, possibly in relation to photos he shared on social media picturing himself holding an assault rifle. Zaw Zaw Latt, who is in his early 30s, was arrested on Tuesday at a teashop after being questioned by police and local authorities, according to his colleague, who said the photographs in question were taken during a charity trip to war-torn Kachin State in 2013. "The police called him to meet at the tea shop to ask about the photos, which he posted on his Facebook a long time ago," Pwint Phu Latt, who worked with the accused at the Mandalay Interfaith Social Volunteer Youth Group, told The Irrawaddy. "After talking for some time, the police pulled him and said he was under arrest, and they took him away." Pwint Phu Latt said she was present at the tea shop and witnessed the arrest. Zaw Zaw Latt's family said that investigators came to search their home on Thursday night, taking with them his camera, a few CDs and his memory cards. Police confirmed that Zaw Zaw Latt remains in custody, and that he faces charges under Article 17 (1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, a controversial law that critics claim is susceptible to abuse by authorities who wish to stifle dissent. The provision contains vague language that outlaws meetings or membership with any organization deemed as an "unlawful association," including multiple non-state armed groups. Mandalay's Criminal Investigations Department (CID) declined to comment on the case. It is unclear which unlawful organization he has been accused of associating with, though speculation abounds on social media. "He didn't do anything wrong and we feel that there's someone behind this, trying to stir up problems among the interfaith community," Pwint Phyu Latt said, remarking on Internet rumors claiming that her colleague belonged to an armed Muslim group that many credible researchers believe does not exist. "He is the one who always tried to clear away the rumors that try to destabilize our city, and we feel like he became a target for people who don't like the truth and want to spread hate speech," she said. Zaw Zaw Latt was also an information officer for a youth department of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the country's main opposition party chaired by Aung San Suu Kyi, leading the CID to question several other members of the local chapter. The party's information office confirmed that several members had been questioned in relation to the arrest, but declined to comment further. In July of last year, riots erupted in Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, between Muslims and Buddhists after false rape allegations went viral on social media. Two men-one Buddhist and one Muslim-were killed during the chaotic unrest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Freedom of Religion and Belief
- HRD
- Freedom of religion/belief activist
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2017
- Event Description
RANGOON - A Rangoon resident filed a lawsuit against Myanmar Now chief correspondent Ko Swe Win on Monday - the second he has faced this month - accusing the reporter of insulting Buddhism. Kyimyindaing Township resident Ko Thet Myo Oo, who described himself as an "active nationalist" and Buddhist in The Standard Time Daily, asked Kyauktada Township court to charge Ko Swe Win under a suitable provision of Burma's Penal Code. Ko Thet Myo Oo accused Ko Swe Win of insulting Buddhism during a press conference at the Myanmar Now office on March 8, according to Ko Swe Win's legal advisor U Khin Maung Myint. The reporter held the conference to address another charge brought against him under Article 66(d) of Burma's Telecommunications Law on March 7 by Mandalay resident U Kyaw Myo Shwe, a follower of ultranationalist monk U Wirathu, who claimed the chief correspondent insulted the monk in a Facebook post. From the press conference, local media quoted Ko Swe Win as saying: "They say[my post] is defamatory, but does[U Wirathu] have the dignity to be defamed? He is endlessly cursing across the country. Does this person have dignity?" On his Facebook, Ko Swe Win shared a Myanmar Now news story that stated that U Wirathu was no longer in the monkhood as he had thanked the assassins who killed National League for Democracy legal advisor U Ko Ni. The Myanmar Now story quoted a senior abbot who said thanking and encouraging murder was an unforgivable offense in the monastic practice. According to local media, Ko Thet Myo Oo said, "I sued him because he deliberately said those things about Ma Ba Tha[the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion] to damage Buddhists' respect for those senior monks and to lead followers of other religions to look down[on Buddhism]." Ko Thet Myo Oo attempted to file a complaint at Kyauktada Township police station on March 19, but police told him to file the lawsuit at a court. Kyauktada Township court accepted the complaint, assigning the police station to verify the accusations and report back on April 3. "The judge will either dismiss the case or issue an arrest warrant for Ko Swe Win depending on the police report," explained U Khin Maung Myint. "If he is charged, the case doesn't allow Ko Swe Win to apply for bail so he will have to face trial in custody." The legal advisor added that he reviewed Ko Swe Win's words at the press conference and found nothing that insulted Buddhism. He has submitted a report to the Myanmar Press Council about his findings, he said. Ko Swe Win has hired lawyer U Kyi Myint to prepare for the possible trial. The latest lawsuit follows an incident on the evening of March 14 in which three men in Rangoon's Sanchaung Township threatened Ko Swe Win, who then opened a case against the assailants in Sanchaung court. UPDATE: On 13 Febuary, state prosecutor Kyaw Myo Shwe said during today's hearing that he would withdraw his lawsuit against Swe Win if he apologized for allegedly sharing a Facebook post criticizing Wirathu for supporting the alleged murderer of a prominent Muslim lawyer. Swe Win, editor-in-chief of the nonprofit independent news service Myanmar Now, has refused to given an apology.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Online
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Extremist group, Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 8, 2017
- Event Description
More than 400 workers from a bread factory owned by Myanmar Mayson (Good Morning), including members of the labour union, have protested against sackings. On March 8, the factory in Hlaingthaya Township sacked 193 workers who opened a protest camp in front of the factory. Later more than 200 other workers joined their protest. Zaw Lin Khaing, chair of the Basic Workers Labour Union, said: "Our negotiations were unsatisfactory. Those sacked have up to 19 years' experience. Some are union members. The union asks for labour rights, peacefully and legally. Factory owners usually yield to our demands." The union has lodged a complaint with the township labour dispute committee. Currently, the committee is working to solve this problem. Workers said they would continue the strike until the factory meets their demand. Myo Thant, union executive, said: "The factory fired workers without any discussion with the union. Most of the workers are members." Strikers are demanding an end to sackings without discussions with the union, pay increases, the provision of ferries for staff, a 24-hour health clinic and recreation area.
- Impact of Event
- 193
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights, Right to Protest, Right to work
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 24, 2016
- Event Description
Charges have been filed against two Kachin pastors detained by the military sometime after they were last seen on Christmas Eve, with their whereabouts kept secret for weeks. Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, were last seen en route to Byuha Gon military base in northern Shan State's Muse Township after being summoned by telephone by an unidentified caller. Presidential spokesperson Zaw Htay told DVB the men have been charged under the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act. "According to the military, now they are in the hands of the Muse Police Station and have been charged under the Unlawful Associations Act," he said, adding that the government would oversee the appointment of the defendants' legal representation. Zaw Htay was speaking to DVB on Tuesday, after two international rights groups earlier in the day called on the Burma Army to "immediately release or appropriately charge" the two Kachin faith leaders in custody. In early December the men, who are both Baptist pastors, assisted a journalist inspecting a Catholic church that was damaged by military airstrikes in the Shan State border town of Mongko. Their subsequent abduction was widely considered to be an act of reprisal by the military. Since November, government forces have been locked in conflict with a coalition of ethnic armed groups calling themselves the "Northern Alliance." The government had originally denied the men were in military custody. On 10 January, Zaw Htay told UCANews, "According to our ground report, they were taken by the Kachin Independence Army, not the military." The KIA is a member of the Northern Alliance. Only nine days later, following a surge in media coverage of the case, the state-run daily Global New Light of Myanmar announced that the men had been arrested "under suspicion of recruiting,[and] spying for armed insurgents." Zaw Htay told DVB that the President's Office was unaware of the true nature of the men's disappearance until the military made its announcement last week. The Union government was "monitoring the situation," he added. Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia bureau, said the unlawful association charge was "not surprising." "We think the Unlawful Associations Act should be either revoked or brought into line with international human rights standards." For years, the legislation has been used to imprison those accused of having ties to the country's myriad ethnic armed groups. "We believe defendants should be able to select their own[legal] counsel," Robertson said. "If they decide that they want to avail themselves of some government-appointed lawyer that is their right, however, as representatives of the Kachin Baptist Convention I would be surprised if they can't find the own lawyers." Robertson voiced concern that the President's Office spokesperson had been quick to deny military involvement earlier this month. "If he[Zaw Htay] didn't know where they were until that statement was released by the military, his answer should have been, "I don't know where they are. We are concerned as well.' But instead to blame the KIA without evidence is shameful," he said. In its joint statement on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights said the military had been pressured into revealing the truth. "The arrest of the two Kachin Baptist leaders appears to be retaliation for their help in exposing wartime abuses. The military came clean about their detention only after local and international outcry, but they are still at grave risk," said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights. In a statement released on Thursday, the military alleged that Dumdaw Nawng Lat acted as a "financial supporter, informer, recruiter,[and] rumor monger" for the KIA, the most powerful armed group in the Northern Alliance. No evidence supporting allegations against either of the men has yet emerged. Attempts by DVB to speak with military representatives were unsuccessful at the time of publication. In their statement, HRW and Fortify Rights urged the military to act in accordance with international standards. "The Burmese military's handling of this case shows how far the army needs to go to bring the government in line with international human rights standards. The dangers to civilians and those who are helping to expose abuses in conflict areas seem as great as ever - strong action is needed to bring changes fast," said Robertson. On Friday, the United Nations human rights rapporteur for Burma registered her serious concerns for those living in the conflict-torn Kachin and northern Shan State region. "It is evident that the situation in Kachin and at the northern borders is deteriorating. Those in Kachin State tell me that the conditions have deteriorated - that the situation is now worse than at any point in the past few years," she said.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of Religion and Belief
- HRD
- Freedom of religion/belief activist
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 29, 2017
- Event Description
YANGON, Myanmar - U Ko Ni, a prominent human rights lawyer and a legal adviser to Myanmar's leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was fatally shot at Yangon International Airport on Sunday. Mr. Ko Ni, 65, a Muslim and a member of the ruling National League for Democracy, was returning from Indonesia with about 20 other government officials and civic leaders, who had traveled there as part of a government-organized trip to discuss democracy and conflict resolution. He was shot in the head at close range as he was about to leave the airport in his family car, according to witnesses. "During the shooting, he was holding his grandchild," said U Aung Myint Oo, an airport security guard. "He fell down bleeding on the ground and died on the spot." As the gunman tried to flee, he shot and killed a taxi driver, U Ne Win, who had tried to stop him. Other taxi drivers detained the gunman until the police arrived and arrested him, seizing two handguns. He was identified by police as U Kyi Lin from Mandalay, Myanmar. According to taxi drivers who witnessed the attack, the gunman shouted, "You can't act like that," before opening fire. The police were seen searching the house of Mr. Kyi Lyn in a neighborhood of Mandalay. No motive for the killing has been given. Mr. Ko Ni was one of the best-known Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, serving as a legal adviser to the National League for Democracy. He was the author of six books on human rights issues and democratic elections, and was actively involved in the interfaith peace movement. "It seems the gunman knew the exact time of his arrival and was waiting to shoot him," said a member of the team who traveled with Mr. Ko Ni to Indonesia, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity over concern for his safety. "I was shocked and scared. It is unsafe here." A spokesman for the National League for Democracy, U Win Htein, said during a telephone interview from Naypyidaw, Myanmar's capital, that Mr. Ko Ni was a key adviser in recent years to Ms. Suu Kyi, the former opposition leader turned leader of Myanmar, on constitutional amendments. "His assassination was a big blow to the National League for Democracy, and it would be very difficult for us to replace him," Mr. Win Htein said. "We lost a hero. It is a bad situation here." Amnesty International, which worked with Mr. Ko Ni on human rights issues in Myanmar, called for an independent investigation into his death. "The killing of prominent lawyer U Ko Ni in Yangon today is an appalling act that has all the hallmarks of an assassination," Josef Benedict, the organization's deputy campaigns director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement. "It demands that the authorities immediately launch a thorough, independent and impartial investigation," Mr. Benedict added. "The authorities must send a clear message that such violence will not be tolerated and will not go unpunished."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Killing
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security, Right to life
- HRD
- Lawyer, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Suspected non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 25, 2016
- Event Description
Sittwe Township Court in Arakan State's capital denied bail for the second time to human rights activist Khine Myo Htun on Friday despite bad health, according to his lawyers. The activist has been detained since July last year and will appear in court for his next hearing on Jan. 27. U Oo Kyaw Thein, one of Khine Myo Htun's lawyers, told The Irrawaddy that he applied for bail on Dec. 30 last year. The defendant is taking medicine for weak nerves and has collapsed three times in the prison, his lawyer said. U Oo Kyaw Thein has said he plans to appeal the bail decision to Sittwe district court. By law, he said, a defendant should be granted bail if they are in ill health and can guarantee that they will not flee the authorities. Earth Rights International (ERI), an environmental group that Khine Myo Htun has worked for, criticized the court's decision and called for charges to be dropped in a statement released Monday. "We are deeply disappointed by the decision, because of which Khine Myo Htun's health will continue to deteriorate," executive director of ERI Ka Hsaw Wa said in the statement. A letter from Khine Myo Htun's doctor showing evidence of his health problems was also submitted to the judge, he said. Khine Myo Htun, deputy-spokesperson for the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), was arrested on July 25 in Sittwe on charges of sedition and incitement under sections 505(b) and 505(c) of Burma's Penal Code. In April, the ALP incited controversy when it accused the Burma Army of violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians for forced portering and torture. The charges against Khine Myo Htun were filed by Lt-Col Tin Naing Tun from the Sittwe-based Regional Operations Command of the Burma Army on May 5. The Arakan Liberation Army, the military wing of the ALP, was one of eight non-state ethnic armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) last October with the former government. ERI maintains that charges against Khine Myo Htun are politically motivated due to his work in human rights and environmental activism. "This is yet another attempt to silence human rights advocacy and deter activists from exposing ongoing violations in Myanmar. We cannot revert back to the tactics used when our country was under military rule, now that the National League for Democracy controls the government," said Ka Hsaw Wa. ERI has reviewed the evidence supporting the ALP's allegations against the Burma Army and has deemed them credible. UPDATE: on 1 March 2017, Khaing Myo Tun was taken to court but the plaintiff did not come so he was taken back to prison without his case being heard. Since 25 July 2016, he has been taken to court 20 times but his case still has not been heard yet.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to health
- HRD
- Environmental rights defender, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 13, 2016
- Event Description
RANGOON - The Monywa Central Police Station has confirmed that local reporter Ko Soe Moe Tun of Eleven Media Group (EMG) was beaten to death with a wooden stick, his body discovered early Tuesday morning. Ko Soe Moe Tun, 36, a Monywa-based EMG journalist was found dead and with bruises at around 1 a.m. on the Union Highway in Monywa, Sagaing Division. An autopsy revealed that he died of a skull fracture resulting from being beaten, said police sub-lieutenant Soe Min Tun of the Monywa Central Police Station. "His skull was broken. This was the main cause of death," the police officer told The Irrawaddy. His personal belongings, including money, a gold ring and his national ID card, were not taken. EMG released a statement on Tuesday calling for police to find the culprit as soon as possible. "We want to find the truth. We are taking the necessary actions[as his employer]," U Kyaw Zaw Lin, EMG editor, told The Irrawaddy. Ko Soe Moe Tun joined EMG in January 2015 as a local reporter in Monywa. He reported on Monywa in regards to the controversial Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mining project, illegal logging and farmland confiscation, according to U Kyaw Zaw Lin. It is unclear if his death was related to his reporting on those issues, said U Kyaw Zaw Lin, although speculation has been raised that it could have been related to his reporting on illegal logging in the area. "He was my friend and he was keen to find information about illegal logging. He was interested in that issue," said Ko Thet, editor of the Monywa Gazette. The Monywa police force has opened a murder case in connection with the reporter's death. The Myanmar Journalist Network (MJN) issued a statement on Dec. 13, calling on the government to put more effort into ensuring the security of its citizens and discovering the truth as soon as possible. Ko Soe Moe Tun is survived by a wife and 8-year-old son.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Death, Killing
- Rights Concerned
- Right to life
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 11, 2016
- Event Description
The chief executive and top editor of Myanmar's embattled Eleven Media Group surrendered themselves to police in the commercial capital Yangon on Friday after receiving a summons related to a defamation case, a local police chief said. Than Htut Aung, head of Eleven Media Group, which publishes several newspapers and websites, and Wai Phyo, chief editor of the Daily Eleven newspaper, turned themselves in at Yangon's Eastern District police station a day after they failed to appear there for questioning, prompting police to issue an arrest warrant. "While we were looking for them to carry out our investigation, the two gave themselves up at 1 p.m. at the station," Police Lieutenant Colonel Myint Htwe, head of Yangon's Eastern District police force, told RFA's Myanmar Service. "I'm now sending them to Tamwe police station," he said, referring to a station in Yangon's Pazundaung township. Earlier this week, Than Htut Aung published an editorial in Daily Eleven about a government official who had received a $100,000 luxury watch from an unnamed drug tycoon. The tycoon, who had recently been released from jail, won a lucrative tender fro the government's term to build a city transit project. From the information provided in the editorial, it was clear that the official was Phyo Min Thein, chief minister of Yangon region. Eleven Media Group posted more details the next day on Facebook, saying that the information came from two businesspeople whom it refused to identify, prompting Yangon government authorities to file a lawsuit against Than Htut Aung and Wai Phyo. Myint Htwe said he will make the necessary preparations to prosecute Than Htut Aung and Wai Phyo under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law, which prohibits use of the telecom network to defame people and carries a jail sentence of up to three years and a fine for those who violate it. "There shouldn't be this Article 66(d)," Than Htut Aung told reporters at the police station. Phyo Min Thein, a former political prisoner, said the allegations against him were meant to defame him, Reuters reported. He and Than Htut Aung were transferred on Friday to Yangon's notorious Insein prison where they will remain for two weeks, the report said, citing domestic media. Myanmar's Legal Aid Network issued a statement on Friday objecting to the action taken against Daily Eleven and criticized the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party government for appearing to backpedal on freedom of speech, Eleven Myanmar media group reported on its English-language website.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 19, 2016
- Event Description
U Gambira, 36, was denied bail in a court hearing yesterday on charges linked to his entry into Myanmar from Thailand on January 16 at the Mai Sai-Tachileik crossing, along with his wife Marie Siochana. He was taken to Mandalay's Oboe prison pending his next court hearing set for February 3. The former monk, who spent more than four years as a political prisoner following the 2007 protests, was charged under Section 13a of The Burma Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1947. "I came here officially ... I have enough documents," he told media outside the Maha Aung Myay court, holding up his NRC identification document. U Gambira, born Nyi Nyi Lwin, was released from prison in a presidential amnesty in January 2012, having received a 68-year jail sentence. He was a front-row guest during US President Barack Obama's speech in Yangon that November. His arrest in Mandalay came just one day after US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken had called on President U Thein Sein during talks in Nay Pyi Taw to release all political prisoners before he leaves office at the end of March. "We are concerned about reports that U Gambira was arrested by authorities in Mandalay. We are seeking further details and will continue to closely monitor the case," a US embassy spokesperson said yesterday. Ms Siochana told The Myanmar Times that she was seriously concerned about the possible impact of detention on his fragile mental state. U Gambira suffers from acute post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), stemming from his earlier imprisonment when he was tortured. He is currently medicated and must follow a strict regimen of prescribed drugs. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia late last year, Ms Siochana said. Prior to the court appearance yesterday, police allowed Ms Siochana to get his medicine and instructions sent through. However, she estimates there is less than one month's supply left. According to the police report, some 15 officers went to the couple's Mandalay hotel room shortly before midnight on January 19 following a tip-off by an informant. However Ms Siochana said the pair had been followed before they got to Mandalay. After entering at Mae Sai, they had flown to Heho, then taken a bus to Meiktila, where they had stopped to visit his family. From there, they went to Mandalay. The couple had returned to Myanmar to get him a passport, and to have a new marriage certificate issued. "He got through immigration at Tachileik, Heho. Why, when he's in Mandalay, do 20 of them come to arrest him? It seems too much. We were harassed, followed by Special Branch, photographed in the lobby," Ms Siochana said. The police report said that during interrogation U Gambira confessed to having made several unofficial border crossings since he left Myanmar to seek medical treatment in Thailand in November 2013. However it did not appear these were the subject of the charges against him. Read more: Miles to go, Gambira, 7 years on from Saffron Rory Magee, trauma specialist and head of clinical services at The Cabin in Chiang Mai, treated U Gambira for PTSD during 2014. He told The Myanmar Times that being detained again could lead to a dramatic setback in his health. "[U Gambira's imprisonment] will have produced a catastrophic effect on his fragile recovery from PTSD ... Re-experiencing imprisonment will have triggered many of the traumatic memories that he still holds within his mind of all the diabolical torture he experienced seven years ago from the same authorities," Mr Magee said. "When people with PTSD are exposed to triggers of their original trauma, it feels as if all the trauma is happening again in the here and now ... The effects on both the body and the central nervous system are overwhelming." U Gambira spent over a month in Oboe prison in 2009, one of five prisons he served time in. The section under which the former monk has been charged appears to be a bailable offence, the International Commission of Jurists' regional director Sam Zarifi said yesterday. "Gambira's arrest and detention seems to be another instance of poor prosecutorial discretion. The charges against him seem to be based on the Immigration Act, which is really aimed at foreigners. If the charge is that he has somehow lost his citizenship status, it should be at most an administrative matter to be settled, not a cause for detention. It's hard to avoid the sense that he's being harassed for his previous political activity. At any rate, he should be immediately released from detention, if necessary on bail," Mr Zarifi said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 23, 2016
- Event Description
A leading local activist said Tuesday that he and others were deliberately hit by a truck owned by a Chinese company that operates the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in northwestern Myanmar's Sagaing region, fueling tensions between villagers and the firm. Thwe Thwe Win, who has led protests against the mine, was hit by the truck after he and others went to the company's office in the town of Lepadaung when workers dumped waste soil on the grounds of three Buddhist pagodas and shrines, told RFA's Myanmar Service. "We went there and asked about it," he said. "Then they hit us with a truck. I got caught on that truck." Thwe Thwe Win said he and the others filed a complaint at the local police station against the Chinese driver of the truck, who does not speak Burmese. "I've got pain in my left leg, toes, and back, and I have a stomachache," he said. "I had to get X-rays." The large project run by China's Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar army-owned conglomerate, has come under fire by local farmers who have long protested the company's land takeovers in the area. Wanbao resumed operations at Lepadaung in May, a month after the new National League for Democracy (NLD) party came to power under President Htin Kyaw. Farmers who lost crops in 2014 and 2015 during land confiscations for the mine project have demanded proper compensation from Wanbao. The company, however, has said that it has offered them money, but they refused to accept it. Years of protest Under the previous government, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi led a parliamentary inquiry commission on the Letpadaung project, later calling for more transparency in its land appropriation process and for police riot-control training in the wake of a violent raid on protesters at the mine site in 2012. Police had used canisters of phosphorous to disperse protesters, severely burning dozens of them. In March 2013, the commission recommended that the project be allowed to continue and that compensation for local residents' land be offered at rates higher than those decided when the project began under the country's former military junta regime. Later, Aung San Suu Kyi accused the administration of former President Thein Sein of ignoring the commission's recommendations to improve conditions at the mine, saying these had sparked clashes in December 2014 between police and farmers trying to prevent Wanbao employees from fencing off land for the project. That incident left one farmer dead and dozens injured. "The president has said not to expand land used for the project and not to confiscate land while the investigation is going on, but they are still expanding the land for the project," Thwe Thwe Win said. "This project is not good for local people; it just destroys the environment," he said. "We will continue our protest because this project is something that shouldn't be allowed to continue." The mine is one of several Chinese-operated megaprojects under way in Myanmar that have come under fire from local residents because of expropriated land and environmental damage.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Extractive industries
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 25, 2016
- Event Description
Sittwe, 28 July 2016: An Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) leader was arrested by the Sittwe police on Monday under a defamation case. Khaing Myo Tun, deputy in-charge of ALP's information department was booked under defamation case relating to Myanmar Army personnel, said a police officer. "We have arrested Khaing Myo Tun from Baukthi Su ward of Sittwe at around 3 pm, as he was charged by the Sittwe township court following the complaint by a lieutenant colonel based in regional headquarter in last May. Presently Khaing Myo Tun is being lodged at Sittwe prison," said the officer. The ALP is an Arakanese ethnic armed group, which had signed a ceasefire agreement with the U Thein Sein government in State level. But lately the ALP issued a statement criticizing the Burma Army for its human rights violation particularly in the issue of ongoing conflicts between the Arakan Army rebels and Myanmar Army troops. On 27 April, colonel Htin Lin, who is the minister of security & border affairs in Arakan State government, summoned Khaing Myo Tun along with Khaing Ray Lin to Sittwe to warn against the ALP statement. The State minister informed Khaing Myo Tun and Khaing Ray Lin that they would be prosecuted if their allegations against Myanmar Army turned incorrect. 112122 Later Khaing Myo Tun was charged with the defamation case (not having respect to Burma Army) under the act 505 (Kha) and act 505 ( Ga) by the Sittwe township court. "Khaing Myo Tun was summoned by the court many times, but he avoided the directive and did not prefer to attend the proceedings. Hence we detained him after the Sittwe township court issued a warrant against Khaing Myo Tun," added the police officer.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to political participation
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Armed forces/ Military, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 9, 2016
- Event Description
Me Me, a prominent rights activist, has decided to remain in prison rather than pay a fine regarding charges of violating Article 18 of Burma's Peaceful Assembly Law. The veteran of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society appeared in court in Rangoon's Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township on Wednesday, announcing that she had decided to stay in jail, calling the charges against her "unacceptable." She refused to pay a fine and has not hired a lawyer or requested a release from detention. She is accused of organizing a protest last year on Nov. 4 in Rangoon, where she demanded that Burma's controversial National Education Law be amended. Police arrested her on the basis that she did not have permission to protest. "Their charges are unacceptable. There should be no such this charge as our country[undergoes] political reform.[Article 18] blocks our people's desire to express themselves," Me Me said. Frequently used to imprison activists, Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law dictates jail sentences of up to six months for individuals found guilty of participating in an unlawful protest. More than a dozen activists in Rangoon have been detained and charged under Article 18 this year for their participation in protests as far back as 2014, said lawyer Robert San Aung. There are currently 88 political prisoners behind bars in Burma and 412 political activists awaiting trial, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an organization which advocates for their release.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 25, 2015
- Event Description
A student activist from Mandalay was arrested on Friday for spray-painting anti-government slogans on the grounds of Yadanabon University almost six months ago, the student's friend told The Irrawaddy. Ye Yint Paing Hmu allegedly took part in spray-painting messages calling on the government to resign and demanding the release of students and their supporters detained during the nationwide demonstrations against the National Education Law earlier this year. "He called us and said the police are sending him to Obo Prison and we have lost contact since then," said Kaung Zaw Hein, a friend of the accused. Four students were arrested in July over the protest and found guilty of unlawful assembly and incitement charges. Three of the students were released on Tuesday, while Naing Ye Wai, president of the Yadanabon University Student Union, is serving an additional three months and remains in prison. On Thursday, the three released students, Aung San Oo, Jit Tu and Nyan Lin Htet, said they had been barred from reenrolling at Yadanabon University.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Right to political participation
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 17, 2015
- Event Description
A pair of activists were sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor on Thursday in connection with labor strikes at Rangoon's Shwepyithar Industrial Zone earlier this year. The two brothers, Thu Zaw Kyi Win and Naing Zaw Kyi Win, were arrested on charges of instigating the strikes for more pay in the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone in March, after the Rangoon Division government's attempt to negotiate with the picketing laborers ended in clashes between police, vigilantes and the workers that resulted in some injuries. The two were charged under Article 505(b) of the Burmese Penal Code, covering behavior with "intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offense against the state or against public tranquility." The article carries with it a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment. The judge in Yankin Township ruled Thursday that the two men's period of detention while awaiting the verdict, more than nine months, be deducted from their term of imprisonment. At least 10 labor rights activists and workers who participated in the strikes are facing trial under a variety of charges. At its height in February, thousands of workers in the industrial zone had staged strikes against their foreign-owned employers, demanding higher wages. The violent confrontation that led to the breakup of one such strike on March 4 was notable for the way in which police were aided by vigilantes wearing red armbands marked with the word "duty," a scene that would repeat itself a day later in Rangoon to quell a protest against Burma's controversial National Education Law.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Labour rights
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 12, 2015
- Event Description
MANDALAY - Students on a hunger strike at Thayawady Prison in Pegu Division, currently on trial over the education protests at Letpadan, have been sent against their will to Rangoon General Hospital, their families said. Aung Hmein San, who began the hunger strike in late October to call for the release of all political prisoners in Burma, was sent to the hospital on Thursday alongside fellow student protester Myo Myat San. Authorities did not inform the families of either man. "We only found out when our friends, who are close to the prison staff, told us," said Lei Lei Nwe, the wife of Aung Hmein San. "We called the prison several times but they never told us the truth." According to their families, both students attempted to refuse their transfer despite suffering a rapid decline in health. "Our friend said their health is in a serious condition," Lei Lei Nwe said. "The prison authorities sent them to the hospital on Thursday night, using force as they refused to go. The prison authorities should inform their families about their health. Now they stay silent and abuse the rights of their prisoners." Meanwhile, in Mandalay Division's Myin Chan prison, inmates Soe Hlaing and Si Thu Myat are preparing to file a civil complaint against prison authorities, who forcibly stopped their sympathy hunger strike. "They said the prison authorities forced them to stop the strike and threatened to withhold water if they continued," said Shwe Hla, a friend of Soe Hlaing. There are now 8 students and supporters across several prisons who have participated in the hunger strike, down from 15 at its peak. Phyo Dana, who was on hunger strike for nine days, is suffering gastrointestinal problems and went into medical care in Rangoon General Hospital on Wednesday. Three others abandoned the hunger strike due to declining health on the same day.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to political participation, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 3, 2015
- Event Description
Student activist Lin Htet Naing, also known simply as "James," was arrested late Tuesday for his role the education reform protest movement, after spending more than seven months in hiding. Lin Htet Naing, who is married to jailed activist Phyo Phyo Aung, was the second student demonstrator to be apprehended in less than a week, after fellow fugitive Kyaw Ko Ko was arrested last Thursday. Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) confirmed that Lin Htet Naing had been found, arrested and transported to an unknown location in police custody. "We can only confirm that he is detained by police, but we don't know where he is and I am very worried about it," said Aung Nay Paing of ABFSU, adding that the 27-year-old had been detained while on a bus heading to Shwepyithar Township. Following his arrest, Special Branch officers searched Lin Htet Naing's home around 10am on Wednesday morning, interrogating one of his family members and confiscating some of his financial assets. "The police confirmed that they arrested James but they didn't want to tell me where he is," his aunt, Myint Myint Sein, told The Irrawaddy after officers left their family home. Lin Htet Naing's relatives are now waiting at the Kamayut Township Court where they believe he will be taken for arraignment. An arrest warrant was issued for Lin Htet Naing in earlier this year, just after a brutal March 10 crackdown on student demonstrators in Letpadan, Pegu Division, that initially landed more than 100 students and supporters in jail. Lin Htet Naing faces charges of unlawful assembly, rioting and incitement for his role in a solidarity protest that took place on the same day in Rangoon's Hledan Township. More than 60 people are in Thayawady Prison on charges relating to the March 10 protest, the violent conclusion of six weeks of nationwide protests against Burma's National Education Law. Most have been in detention for nearly eight months, facing prison terms of up to nine and a half years and sitting through a trial subject to numerous adjournments and walkouts by the presiding judge. International and domestic rights bodies-including the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission-have called for the release of all prisoners of conscience and student activists in detention before a general election to be held on Nov. 8. Aung Nay Paing of ABFSU said the recent "crackdown" on remaining activists indicates the government's reluctance to allow free participation in the polls. "The government is afraid of an all-inclusive election," he said, "so they detain the students and the politicians beforehand."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 29, 2015
- Event Description
RANGOON - A leader of Burma's student movement that was that brutally crushed earlier this year was apprehended by police in Rangoon on Thursday after spending more than seven months in hiding. The All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) announced in the early afternoon that the group's president, 34-year-old Kyaw Ko Ko, had been arrested near San Pya market in Thingangkun Township. Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday, ABFSU spokesperson Aung Nay Paing said the fugitive was found, arrested and taken away police, but the group did not know his current whereabouts. "He was detained by plainclothes police near San Pya Market at noon when he went out alone," Aung Nay Paing said, explaining that Kyaw Ko Ko was allowed to borrow an officer's cell phone to inform his peers of the arrest. Kyaw Ko Ko was a central figure in a stuent protest movement that began late last year against a new National Education law. The movement gained traction in early 2015, and culminated in a brutal police crackdown on March 10, when officers were seen surrounding and indiscriminately beating students, supporters and journalists outside a monastery in Letpadan, Pegu Division. More than 100 people were arrested during the crackdown, and about 60 are still in custody awaiting trial for various offenses including rioting, incitement and causing harm to a public servant. Kyaw Ko Ko, who was not present at Letpadan, led a similar peaceful demonstration in Rangoon on the same day, fleeing the scene as police arrived to break up the march. The sudden arrest came a day after the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) called for the release of all political prisoners-including all students and their supporters still awaiting a verdict-ahead a Nov. 8 general election. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) issued a similar request last week, calling on the government to immediately release all political prisoners and put an end to the arrest of opposition party supporters. According to AAPP, more than 560 people are either serving prison sentences or facing trial for charges deemed to be politically motivated.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 17, 2015
- Event Description
An independent candidate in Phyu has been arrested and charged for her alleged involvement in a protest last year. Myat Nu Khine, who is contesting a Lower House seat in the Pegu constituency, was arrested on Saturday on charges that she participated in a rally in front of the Chinese embassy in Rangoon in December last year. The protest had been organised by activists to condemn the fatal shooting by riot police of a local villager, Khin Win, during an altercation with local residents opposing the Letpadaung copper mine site in Monywa. Myat Nu Khine was brought before Dagon township court in Rangoon on Monday and arraigned on charges including sedition (under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code), and protesting without permission (Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law, commonly referred to as Article 18). Speaking to DVB by phone on Monday, Myat Nu Khine denied that she had been involved in the Rangoon protest, insisting she was merely an interpreter. "I acted as a translator at a rally in front of the Chinese embassy on 14 December. It may have appeared to authorities that I was joining in the protest," she said. "I have been charged on the customary articles 18 and 505(b), and for "disturbing an official on duty' as well. "They[officials] came to my house on 29 January but missed me as I was out, attending to other business. I didn't realised I was facing so many charges, and I didn't take it too seriously as they never came back nor had my name been published in the newspapers. I don't think I've done anything wrong, but now I'm accused of being a fugitive." She told DVB she was arrested in Phyu while having lunch with one of her campaign organisers, and taken to Rangoon in an unmarked vehicle. Myat Nu Khine was taken into custody in Insein Prison following her court hearing on Monday. She said her election campaign will continue despite the arrest. Seven other candidates are competing against her for a seat in the People's Parliament representing Phyu, most notably Shwe Mann of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Lower House Speaker Shwe Mann contested the 2010 election in the Naypyidaw constituency of Zayarthiri, where he won easily. The National League for Democracy, which did not contest the general election in 2010, will field candidate Than Nyunt in the race for Phyu this time round. In 2010, the USDP's Nyunt Hlaing won the Lower House seat for Phyu with nearly a 50,000-vote majority over his nearest rival, Than Htay of the National Unity Party.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 9, 2015
- Event Description
MANDALAY - A court in Mandalay's Amarapura Township sentenced four student protesters to several months in prison on Friday for charges related to anti-government graffiti on the grounds of Yadanabon University. Naing Ye Wai, Aung San Oo, Jit Tu, and Nyan Lin Htet, were sentenced under articles 143, 147, and 505(b) of Burma's penal code for having spray-painted messages critical of the government on university property in July. The students' messages demanded that the quasi-civilian government, which came to power in 2011, step down, release students jailed for their involvement in the education reform movement, and amend article 436 of the constitution, which effectively grants the military veto power over constitutional change. The four students had also been arrested in March of this year after police brutally cracked down on a protest in Letpadan, Bago Division, against a new National Education Law, but they were released after a few weeks because they had to sit their university exams. Burma's penal code metes out punishment to persons who are present when an offence is committed, who are members of an unlawful assembly or riot, or who cause fear or public alarm that may provoke actions against the state. All four students had initially been sentenced to one year in prison under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, but the court reduced this sentence to three months because they had already spent several months in detention. Naing Ye Wai, however, who was president of Yadanabon's student union, will serve an additional three months related to another case and faces a total of six months in prison. Immediately after the court's decision, the students were escorted to Mandalay Oh Bo prison, where they will serve out their terms. "We feel nothing about this and will not submit an appeal to a higher court. If the quasi-civilian government is still in power, there will be many cases like this. We simply don't want this kind of government in a democratic country," said Naing Ye Wai, before he was taken to prison. Calling the decision "ridiculous," Thein Than Oo, the students' lawyer, remarked that the sentence was still lighter than expected due to pressure from the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission. Nonetheless, the lawyer said that "charging students and activists for peaceful assembly threatens freedom of speech and the development of democracy in Burma."
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Oct 12, 2015
- Event Description
Authorities in Myanmar have arrested a young opposition activist and charged her with "defamation" after she posted comments online comparing the country's new military uniforms to a sarong worn by Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Nearly two dozen officers arrested 25-year-old Chaw Sandy Tun on Monday evening at a meditation center in the commercial capital Yangon and took her to the police station in neighboring Ayeyawady Region's Maubin district, where she was charged in court Tuesday, her friend May Thazin Hnin said. "She was arrested last night and her trial was held today," May Thazin Hnin told RFA's Myanmar Service. "She was charged under Article 34(d) and sent to Maubin jail[pending further court proceedings]," she said, adding that only family members have been permitted to meet with her in custody. Chaw Sandy Tun is next due to appear in court on Oct. 27. May Thazin Hnin said Chaw Sandy Tun had been detained "because she posted a collage[on Facebook] showing Aung San Suu Kyi wearing a green traditional longyi (sarong) next to photos of Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and other military personnel donning newly redesigned uniforms" of a similar color. "Text affixed to the image read, "They like the color of Mother Suu's longyi, so they had it tailored and are now wearing it themselves,'" she said. In Myanmar, it is considered an insult to imply that a man would wear a htamein, which is the woman's version of a Burmese sarong. Chaw Sandy Tun was arrested on the same day that Lt-Col Kyaw Htin of the military's Southwest Command in Ayeyawady's Pathein district filed a suit against her under Article 34(d) of Myanmar's Electronic Transactions Law. According to the article, anyone found guilty of altering digital information in a way deemed to constitute "defamation" is subject to up to five years in prison. Chaw Sandy Tun is a former member of the Maubin district Student's Union who had taken part in student demonstrations against a controversial new National Education Law earlier this year in Ayeyawady. She has since resigned from the union and joined the local chapter of the NLD to assist with the party's campaign ahead of general elections set for Nov. 8. May Thazin Hnin said Chaw Sandy Tun had been assisting with flood relief measures in Ayeyawady when she was arrested. The Irrawaddy online journal on Tuesday cited Maubin police chief Thein Aung as saying he was not authorized to comment on the case. Chaw Sandy Tun is believed to be the second person arrested in Myanmar this year after posting comments critical of the country's authorities. In February, authorities in northern Myanmar's Sagaing region arrested freelance photographer Aung Nay Myo after he posted a photo on Facebook which allegedly mocked officials. He was released after three days of questioning. UPDATE: 27/ 10/ 2015 Detained Facebook activist charged for defamation Chaw Sandi Tun, who was arrested for posting a satirical Facebook post about the military, was brought to the Maubin court for a hearing on October 27. She was interrogated in court by plaintiff Lt-Col Kyaw Htin. Her post made a satirical comparison between the colour of the new uniforms of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Defence Services) and the longyi (traditional skirt) worn by National League for Democracy Leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Chaw Sandi Tun was originally charged under Section 34(D) of the Electronic Communication Act before the charge was changed to Section 66(D). Plaintiff Lt-Col Kyaw Htin submitted a proposal to the court to take action against her for defamation under Section 500 of the law. Lt-Col Kyaw Htin told the court that he saw the post on the Facebook account of Chaw Sandi Tun on October 1 and that he believed the post tarnished the reputation of the Tatmadaw. He reported the post to his superiors and to the Maubin police station. He also said the comparison of a traditional skirt worn by a woman with that of the uniforms of army officers should not be done in accordance with Buddhist customs. "The judge scheduled the trial for November 9. The first charge was changed to Section 66(D). Moreover, she was further charged with defamation under Section 500. We objected to the submission of the plaintiff. We will address the situation in the coming trial," said defence lawyer Aye Aye Win said. Chaw Sandi Tun told journalists she did not want to comment on the case while it is being investigated by the court. "The lawyer will handle all matters concerning my daughter. We need to monitor what will happen at the next trial," said Ei Ei San, the mother of the detained student. Activist Chaw Sandi Tun, 25, was previously involved in the Ayeyawady column of the democracy education boycott and protest. She has also written statuses on Facebook supporting the National League for Democracy and advocating for greater assistance to flood victims. She was arrested by police while attending a meditation camp in Yangon and was immediately transferred to the Maubin police station. She was brought to court the following day. UPDATE - 29 October 2015 A young woman brought to trial in Irrawaddy Division after sharing a satirical post online deemed insulting to the military faces an additional defamation charge, the woman's mother told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. Chaw Sandi Tun appeared in Maubin Township Court on Tuesday where she was notified of an additional charge being brought against her under Article 500 of the Penal Code, a defamation clause, in addition to an existing charge under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law. Prosecutors have reportedly dropped the original charge filed under Article 34(d) of Burma's Electronic Transactions Law. Twenty-five-year-old Chaw Sandi Tun, also known as Chit Thami, is charged in relation to a photo collage shared online of Aung San Suu Kyi wearing a green traditional htamein, a female longyi, alongside Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and other military service personnel in newly redesigned uniforms. The post compared the new military garb to the apparel of the renowned opposition leader, who chairs the National League for Democracy (NLD) and once served nearly two decades of house arrest under the former military junta. "Today, she was charged under Article 500 of[Burma's Penal Code] for defamation against the commander-in-chief," Daw Ei San, the mother of the accused, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. "Initially, they filed a suit against my daughter under Article 34(d) of the Electronic Transactions Law, that then changed to Article 66(d) | [of the Telecommunications Law]." At least three other people are currently facing defamation charges under Article 66(d) for content shared to social media site Facebook. Patrick Khum Jaa Lee, the husband of renowned Kachin peace activist May Sabe Phyu, was arrested earlier this month over a Facebook post deemed to defame the Burma Army. He remains in custody after his second court hearing was deferred on Tuesday. Another incident involves a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) accused of defaming opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A third case was filed against a 23-year-old activist who shared a poem that suggested he had a tattoo of the president on his penis. UPDATE: 24 November 2015 Charges upheld against Chaw Sandi Htun Chaw Sandi Htun, the woman arrested for defamation after allegedly mocking the Burmese army's new uniform on social media, appeared for a fifth court hearing on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Maubin woman was detained and charged last month under Article 500 of the Penal Code and 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law for posting a photo of Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing sporting the new uniform. She added a caption comparing the colour of the uniform to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's longyi. Her lawyer, Robert San Aung, told DVB that Maubin township court on Tuesday heard testimony by officer Aung Kyaw San of the police's Criminal Investigation Department relating to the charges. At previous hearings, Chaw Sandi Htun's defence team raised a motion, calling for the charges to be dropped on the basis that the lawsuit was filed by an army officer on behalf of the commander-in-chief. On Tuesday, Robert San Aung said, Maubin township court dismissed the defence motion. Speaking to DVB, he complained that Burma's judicial system under the current government was no better than that of the military junta of yesteryear. "The judicial sector remains the same ___ we can only hope it changes under the next administration," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 7, 2015
- Event Description
Burmese authorities should immediately stop using abusive laws on association and expression to halt the activities of land rights activists, Human Rights Watch said today. The recent arbitrary arrest of a prominent land rights advocate in Karen State exemplifies the government's persecution of vocal opponents of land grabs by officials and their business associates. At about midnight on August 7, 2015, police arrested U Saw Maung Gyi, a leader of the 88 Karen Generation Student Organization. The authorities charged him under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly providing assistance to a man that police claim is a Karen insurgent. U Saw Maung Gyi faces a two-to-three-year prison sentence if convicted. To further harass the 88 Karen Generation Student Organization, on that same night the police arrested nine farmers and activists who were sleeping at the organization's office and fined them for staying overnight outside their home district without government permission. "The Burmese authorities' repeated use of oppressive laws against land rights activists is a heavy-handed attempt to silence them," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "These activists are forced to run a gauntlet of government intimidation, arrests - and now, trumped-up charges - just to try and help villagers stay on their land." The 88 Karen Generation Student Organization is one of the main groups in Burma's eastern Karen State assisting small farmers to peacefully resist land confiscations, which often involve powerful government officials and members of parliament, crony businessmen, and armed groups. Very few organizations are currently providing such assistance to villagers in Karen State, in part because of government oppression. The arrests of these activists follows the arrests of 27 people in June in Karen State for allegedly violating section 43(a) of the Forest Law after they erected huts on land they claimed to own. They face up to seven years in prison. In addition, another 13 people from Karen State are facing charges under section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law after a protest in Hpa-an in March. Several of those charged for their involvement in that protest told Human Rights Watch that the protest sought the return of their confiscated land and was peaceful. Both groups face trial on August 17. "Land rights activists in Karen State persist under especially repressive conditions as few groups feel they can safely speak out against government abuses without facing retaliation," Robertson said. Land rights disputes have dramatically increased since 2011, becoming a major nationwide issue. Increased protests have resulted in a marked increase in the arrest and prosecution of protesters and activists. Most recently, on July 23, police in Pegu Region arrested and charged the prominent former political prisoner and current head of the Myanmar Farmers Association, Su Su Nway, with trespass for her investigations into farmland seized by the Burmese military several years ago. Her trial began on July 29 and she could face three months in prison. The number of political prisoners in Burma has surged in the past year, with approximately 170 people in prison and over 400 facing various charges. These include large numbers of farmers and land rights activists charged with either trespass or unlawful assembly. "The arrests in Karen State mirror broader patterns elsewhere in Burma in which land activists are identified, targeted, and silenced," Robertson said. "Land activists are increasingly becoming Burma's new political prisoners."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Land rights
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jul 23, 2015
- Event Description
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary arrest of leader of the Myanmar Farmers Union Ms. Su Su Nway. According to the information received, on July 23, 2015, Ms. Su Su Nway was arrested by police in Intagaw, Pegu Township, Pegu Division, after meeting with farmers involved in a land confiscation dispute on her way back to Rangoon. Ms. Su Su Nway had been meeting with farmers who were seeking the return of land that the military had confiscated from them in Nyaunglebin Township in 2003. The same day, a court in Pegu Division charged Ms. Su Su Nway under Article 447 of the Criminal Code (trespassing) and sent her to Pegu Prison. Ms. Su Su Nway denied the charges and turned down bail, which had been granted by the court. In early June, police in Intagaw informed Ms. Su Su Nway that a local Army commander, Captain Hein Zaw, had filed charges against her for trespassing. She had refused to answer the charge. Her trial is set to begin on July 29, 2015. Ms. Su Su Nway has previously been detained on various occasions between 2005 and 2007. She was eventually released along with hundreds of other political prisoners during a October 12, 2011 presidential amnesty. The Observatory condemns the arrest and judicial harassment of Ms. Su Su Nway, which seem merely aimed at sanctioning her peaceful human rights activities, and calls upon the Burmese authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally. Actions requested : Please write to the Burmese authorities, urging them to : i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all human rights defenders in Burma, including Ms. Su Su Nway ; ii. Immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Su Su Nway since her detention is arbitrary and only aimed at sanctioning her human rights activities ; iii. Put an end to acts of any acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms. Su Su Nway and all human rights defenders in Burma ; iv. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with its : Article 1, which stipulates that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels" ; Article 12.1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to participate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" ; Article 12.2, which provides that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration" ; v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and ratify international and regional human rights instruments.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Land rights
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jun 2, 2015
- Event Description
The writer and former National League for Democracy (NLD) member Htin Linn Oo has been sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour on defamation charges by a court in Magwe Division. Htin Linn Oo had been on trial for eight months under Penal Code charges articles 295(a) for defaming religion and 298 for hurting religious feelings after he strongly criticised the nationalist policies of the Buddhist monk-led group Ma-Ba-Tha, officially known as the Association for Protection of Race and Religion, during a public literature talk in Magwe's Chaung-U in October last year. Htin Lin Oo's brother Nay Oo told DVB that the Chaung-U Township court on 2 June had been found guilty of one charge and acquitted of another. "The court gave him the maximum sentence under Article 295(a) - two years in prison with hard labour - and decided to acquit him of the Article 298 charge," said Nay Oo. Defence laywer Thein Than Oo criticised the ruling as unfair, and claimed that the decision had been influenced by pressure from the Ma-Ba-Tha, members of which gathered outside of the court at the hearing of the verdict. "We believe that Htin Linn Oo is innocent, and that he was practicing his right to free speech as provided by the 2008 Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He was accused under charges of intentionally insulting religion, but there was no evidence for that," said Thein Than Oo. "We think the court's decision was due to external pressure; a lot of Ma-Ba-Tha members showed up at the courthouse, and since the beginning of the trial they have been forming a mob outside of the building, chanting slogans and threats. We assume the court passed the maximum sentence in fear of an angry response from the Ma-Ba-Tha if the verdict was light," said the lawyer. In January Htin Linn Oo gave a formal apology to a collection of local Buddhist monks, who publically granted him forgiveness. "There was no member of the monastic community testifying against Htin Linn Oo in the trial - instead the revered Myawaddy Sayadaw testified in his defence. From that, we can see that the monastic community was not really upset by his remarks, but only the Ma-Ba-Tha," said Nay Oo. In the controversial speech made on 23 October 2014 in Chaung-U, Htin Lin Oo said: "They[the Ma-Ba-Tha] claim to teach the dharma but they do vile things - they yell and shout, and preach lies and prejudice to the people - and I am absolutely disgusted by them!" "One thing for sure is that the Lord Buddha was not Burmese, or Shan or Kachin or Karen or Chin or Arakanese - he wasn't from one of the ethnicities of Burma. Brothers and sisters, are you aware of this? If you really love your race, then don't follow his religion. He is not of our race," he said. Following the furore caused by his speech, Htin Linn Oo was removed from his post as NLD information officer. He appeared in over 20 court hearings since the trial at began eight months ago. He was sent to Monywa prison following the verdict. Rights groups have condemned Tuesday's ruling and highlighted the message of tolerance at the heart of Htin Lin Os's speech. Amnesty International's Rupert Abbott, research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: "Today's verdict is yet another blow to freedom of expression in Myanmar[Burma] and should be overturned immediately. Htin Lin Oo did nothing but give a speech promoting religious tolerance - we consider him to be a prisoner of conscience who should be released without conditions." "This is a sad indication of how Myanmar continues to rely on a range of draconian laws to silence and lock up critical voices. Despite promises to clear the country's jails of prisoners of conscience, arrests of peaceful activists have actually picked up pace alarmingly over the past two years," Abbott added. Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) have called on the British government to pressure Burma to halt its stifling of free speech. BCUK campaigns officer Wai Hnin said, "The Burmese government should be encouraging writers like Htin Lin Oo to promote interfaith tolerance in the country, rather than sending him to jail." "The jailing of Htin Lin Oo is an example that people in Burma still get arrested for exercising their freedom of speech. It is time for the British government to step up public and private pressure to make sure that Htin Lin Oo and all remaining political prisoners are released immediately," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of Religion and Belief, Media freedom, Right to liberty and security
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 23, 2015
- Event Description
A leader of the "column' of students who marched towards Rangoon from Irrawaddy Division in protest of the National Education Law has been sentenced to three months imprisonment with hard labour. Teacher Wai Yan Aung was sentenced at Pathein[Bassein] township court under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for organising a public protest without official permission. "The trial was for the peaceful sit-in demonstration by students of the Irrawaddy region in front of the city hall of Bassein[Pathein], protesting the violent police crackdown on the main student protest column[in Letpadan, Pegu Division]," said Aung Aung Kyaw, another leader of the student movement in Irrawaddy. Wai Yan Aung is a tutor from Bassein Government Technical College who joined up with local students in protest against the widely unpopular National Education Law, which activists say stifles academic freedom. He later became a member of the organising committee of the protests and marched alongside students from Irrawaddy when student groups from all over the country began marching to Rangoon. He is the first protester to be handed a prison sentence from the Irrawaddy column.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to education, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- May 26, 2015
- Event Description
Nine people, including three farmers' rights activists, have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to five months in connection with a plough protest held on military-held land in Mandalay Division's Meikhtila District. The Meikhtila district court on Tuesday jailed six farmers from the village of Kanthar in Wundwin Township to five months in prison under Penal Code Articles 477 and 427, for trespassing and vandalism, respectively. Three activists, including Myint Myint Aye of the Meikhtila People's Assistance Network, were sentenced to two months in prison for trespassing. "The farmers were sentenced to serve their prison terms separately - two months under Article 447, and three months under Article 427. The activists were sentenced to two months each," said Han Su Yi, defence lawyer for the farmers. According to local residents, in 1991 Maj. Nyan Tun Aung - the then-commander of the Meikhtila Air Force base and current incumbent Minister of Transport - oversaw the seizure of farmland belonging to residents of a village tract named Nyaungokphe in Wundwin. They say no compensation has ever been paid since the land was confiscated. "Our farm plots were seized by the following persons: Maj. Nyun Tun Aung, the Minister of Transport; a village chairman named Chit Htay; and a wealthy man from the town named Lwin Kyaw Htay,' said local resident Kyaw Myint. "They used the land to operate a fish farm." Kyaw Myint told DVB that the farmers had filed complaints several times with senior government officials but had been repeatedly ignored. In 2013, after staging a symbolic plough protest, they were arrested and charged with several counts including sedition. They have appeared in court over 70 times since. Following the 26 May sentencing, the group were transferred to Meikhtila prison where they will serve their terms. Plough protests have become popular methods of public demonstration in recent years, as farmers and their supporters try to reclaim lands that were seized from them by corrupt officials or the military or both, often back in the 1990s during the military junta era of Snr-Gen Saw Maung and Snr-Gen Than Shwe.
- Impact of Event
- 9
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to property, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2015
- Event Description
Seventy activists have appeared in Tharawaddy court for the first time since their trial was relocated from Letpadan Township, also in Pegu Division, where they were arrested for their part in an education protest on 10 March. One defendant, Yan Paing Soe, told DVB that the hearing on 30 April involved formal procedures, such as transferring powers of attorney and setting a hearing of the case against three "fugitive' student leaders, Myat Thu, Ye Yint Kyaw and Kyaw Ko Ko. "We have been told today[Thursday] that the court will first hear the case against the "fugitives', so our case will not yet be heard," said Yan Paing Soe. 127 people were arrested during a police crackdown on a sit-in in Letpadan on 10 March. Seventy of those who were involved in the protest against the National Education Law have been charged held on five charges each, including rioting and disturbing the peace. Some are also facing additional charges in other townships. The progress of the prosecution has been sluggish, with the court on Thursday setting a date of 12 May to hear the rest of the case. "We have been brought before the court many times, but our case is yet to be heard," said Yan Paing Soe. Another student activist told DVB the defendants on Thursday had been kept apart from their family members by metal fencing. "We were allowed to meet our parents, but only through metal screens, like during a prison visit, and we weren't allowed to speak freely," said Man Naw. Myint Moe Khine, the mother of Yan Paing Soe, said: "It wasn't easy - we couldn't even speak openly to our children, and the whole thing was very inconvenient. A court house is supposed to be open and transparent." UPDATE 16/06/2015 Activists seek bail at Tharawaddy court hearing Around 70 activists appeared in Tharawaddy district court on 16 June for their seventh hearing. They are being tried on charges relating to their involvement in education reform protests earlier this year that culminated in the violent disassembling of a sit-in by police in Letpadan on 10 March. Several of the accused sought bail, with applications accepted by the court pending approval, amongst them seven students - Than Swe, Ye Win Aung, Min Chit Thu, Wai Yan Min Lwin, Min Thu Shein, Myat Min Maw, Kyaw Zaw Khant and Nyein Kyaw Thu - from Prome[Pyay] University of Distance Learning who had already had their applications denied. The group are next expected to appear in court on 23 June. Khin Hlaing, who was hospitalised in Rangoon after collapsing and coughing up blood at the previous court appearance on 9 June, also applied for bail, as did Nyein Kyaw Thuwho, a non-student activist who is also seeking bail for health reasons. "The court today heard the[witness] examination of police official Phone Myint regarding the case of 11 students who have previously been granted bail. The hearing of two defendants in a juvenile trial was also continued," Hla Myo Myint, a lawyer representing some of the defendants, told DVB. In attendance at the hearing were parents of some of the activists, who reported that the defendants were mostly in good health, although some were experiencing stomach pain and headaches. Protest leader Min Thwe Thit told a different story, telling DVB that the incarcerated activists were denied medical assistance, and even when they received treatment in prison, the diagnoses was often wrong. "The most common conditions among the inmates have been gastric-related and internal injuries. One of the inmates who was beaten on the nape of the neck has gone completely deaf in one ear. Another inmate is suffering from a constant headache and three others have swollen stomachs, and two of them in the past week could only eat boiled rice." "We did get treatment in the prison but we cannot know if we are being given the right treatment for our conditions. For example, in the case of Ko Khin Hlaing, the[prison doctors] initially diagnosed him with swelling of the lung but later the[public hospital] found out he had a stomach rapture. It is we who have to suffer the consequences of such wrong treatments." Phyo Phyo Aung, the general-secretary of the All-Burma Federation of Student Unions, was handed her Citizen of Burma award by her father as she appeared at the courthouse. He had collected the prize, which aims to honour individuals or organisations who champion social causes in Burma, on her behalf at a ceremony last week. Around 100 people across Burma are standing trial at Tharawaddy, Insein and Myingyan courts for their involvement in the education protests earlier this year against the widely unpopular National Education Law which, activists say, stifles educational freedom.
- Impact of Event
- 70
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to education, Right to health, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Student
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 23, 2015
- Event Description
An activist accused of leading a demonstration in Mandalay last year, demanding justice after the killing in military custody of journalist Par Gyi, was sentenced to six months in prison with labour on Thursday. Thein Aung Myint, a member of the Myanmar Democratic Current Force (MDCF), was given the maximum sentence by a judge at Mandalay's Aungmyay Tharzan township court under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for organising a public protest without official permission. "The verdict was passed[on Thursday], handing my client the maximum punishment of six months in prison with labour under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law," defense lawyer Ywat Nu Aung told DVB by phone. She said Thein Aung Myint wanted to appeal against the verdict. "I had a short time to speak to my client after the verdict was announced. He said he planned to appeal as he considered certain words used by the judge to be harmful to his dignity as a political activist." Another Mandalay-based political activist, Aye Thein, insisted his colleague Thein Aung Myint did not take part in the protest in question, which took place on 27 October last year, and said that he was falsely accused. "Ko Thein Myint Aung previously went to the police station in Aungmyay Tharzan to submit an application for permission to hold a rally. He was taken in for questioning at around 6pm on 27 October. But we went ahead with the protest at 6:30pm, so he could not have taken part," said Aye Thein. "The charges against him indicate a lack of rule of law, and the fact that my colleague was given the maximum sentence shows that the law does not protect the people." On 23 March, Thein Aung Myint and his wife were also sentenced to six months in prison under the same charges for staging a separate protest against increasing electricity prices.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Apr 8, 2015
- Event Description
Po Po, a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) and participant in the main boycott student column, was arrested at her home in Thanlyin Township, Yangon, on the evening of April 8. "She was coming home for a while because she hadn't seen her mother for a long time. Her friends told her not to go back home. However, she wanted to see her mother. She was arrested at home with the help of informants in her ward. She was detained at the Thanlyin Myoma Police Station before being brought to the Kamayut Police Station," said ABFSU member Ei Po. "She was arrested for participation in the boycott student column in Heldan on March 10. We charged her under Sections 143, 145 and 505(B). Currently, she is being detained in our police station," said an unidentified police officer form the Kamayut Police Station. Four other student leaders from the ABFSU, including Kyaw Ko Ko and Nanda Sit Aung, have been charged under various sections of the penal code at the Kamayut Police Station.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2015
- Event Description
RANGOON - Prominent activist and former political prisoner Nandar Sit Aung is facing four charges after being detained in Rangoon for his role in the Letpadan student protest, which was violently quashed earlier this month. After he was arrested and detained in Lanmadaw Township police station on Mar. 27, Nandar Sit Aung was transferred to Mingalardon Township police station before being sent to Thayawady prison on Monday. He was brought before the Letpadan court for an arraignment on Monday evening. "We are facing the same problems we have faced in the past," he said during an interview with Myanma Khit Journal while at the Mingalardon police station on Monday. "They arrested us and said we were people who were trying to instigate problems in the country and were defaming the government by protesting." He added that the government had the power to make peace with student protesters if they chose, but was instead regressing to the era of military rule by penalizing student leaders. Nandar Sit Aung was imprisoned in 2004 along with five other university students for participating in a leaflet campaign which criticized the military junta's decision to reconvene the National Convention, the forum which was responsible for drafting the 2008 Constitution. According to US State Department embassy cables released by Wikileaks, Nandar Sit Aung was sentenced for "illegal assembly" and for violating immigration law as a result of his contact with Thailand-based Burmese exile groups. His 17-year sentence, the longest given to the six defendants, was later commuted by President Thein Sein as part of a broader political prisoner amnesty. On Monday, the US State Department released a statement expressing concern at the criminal charges brought against student protesters, and called for a halt to prosecutions. We call for the immediate, unconditional release of all individuals being detained in the country as a result of exercising their right to peacefully assemble," the statement read. "We strongly urge an impartial and credible investigation into the[student protests] of Mar. 5 and 10, in cooperation with civil society, that would hold accountable all those involved in the violence, including security forces who applied excessive force."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to fair trial
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2015
- Event Description
Burmese students and activists took to the streets again on Friday morning, calling for the release of fellow protestors and denouncing the watered-down amendments bill on the National Education Law, which was passed by the country's upper house of parliament on Thursday. Rallies were reported in Rangoon, Myingyan in Mandalay Division, Tavoy[Dawei] in Burma's southernmost Tenasserim Division, and Myaungmya in the Irrawaddy delta. Early reports indicate that seven protestors were arrested during the rallies - four in Myingyan and three in Rangoon- including Nanda Sitt Aung, who on Wednesday was charged in absentia on five accounts at Letpadan Township Court, where dozens of students and other activists were charged and jailed. Nanda Sitt Aung, one of four activist who were declared fugitives for not appearing in court, helped lead the Rangoon protest on Friday morning but was apparently spotted by police and arrested along with two colleagues. Ko James, deputy-chair of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), said, "The three were followed on their way back to their hideout after the protest. Plain-clothes police arrested them at a bus stop in Mingalar Taungnyunt." Ko James said that about 40 Rangoon activists turned out despite a heavy security presence to begin a protest at 10:10am in front of the Theingyi Market Plaza in the city's downtown area. "We have four demands: the adoption of a student- and public-focused education law; the release of the students and other protestors from Tharawaddy prison; action taken against government officials who acted above the law or ordered the violent crackdown on the students' protest[in Letpadan on 10 march]; and an official denunciation of the use of violence used to disperse peaceful demonstrators." Speaking to DVB on Friday after the rally, Aung Nay Paing, a member of the Committee for Democracy Education Movement, said, "The authorities tried to stop us but we persevered with the protest. We chanted slogans on the pedestrian crossing bridge and sang songs. "Afterwards, Ko Nanda Sitt Aung addressed the crowd, explaining the students' cause and denouncing the police's use of violence to disperse demonstrations, stressing that the government should find a political solution to the issue." Meanwhile, students in Myingyan demonstrated by flying student flags on their motorbikes instead of marching down the street due to the heavy police presence in the town, according to a DVB reporter who followed the march. "The students on motorbikes were ordered to stop by local police and the district administrator but they ignored them and drove on by," he said, adding that protestors also distributed leaflets to onlookers. Meanwhile, more than 30 students in the Irrawaddy Division town of Myaungmya marched through the town wearing matching t-shirts and distributing stickers to passers-by, according to local ABFSU member Tayza. "We are staging this campaign to promote awareness about the detained students and their supporters," he said, adding that two students from Myaungmya are among those detained in Tharawaddy prison. Another students' protest went ahead in Tavoy on Friday morning, but a planned demonstration in Henzada, also called Hinthada, just 30 kilometres west of Tharawaddy and Letpadan, was stopped by local police. UPDATE: 09/ 06/ 2015 Students apply for bail at Myingyan hearing One student's application for bail is to be considered while two others were rejected at a court hearing in Myingyan for eight detainees in connection with their participation in education law protests. Six of the eight - students Nyan Myint Than and Sithu Myat, and activists Sein Win, Ma Phyu, Kyaw Than Tun and Thant Zin - were arrested for staging a protest on National Armed Forces Day, 27 March, when they denounced a violent crackdown on student demonstrators in Letpadan earlier that month. The six appeared before a judge at Myingyan District Court, Mandalay Division, where they have been charged under Penal Code articles 143, 145 and 505(b): for joining an unlawful assembly; continuing to be part of an unlawful assembly, defying order to disperse; and sedition, respectively. Nay Oo Moe Aye, a lawyer representing the two students, said Sithu Myat's mother on Thursday requested bail for her son, a second year mathematics student, on the basis that his classes recommence in June. The judge accepted the bail application and said he would take into consideration. "Sithu Myat is set to begin a new university semester in early June and so his mother is requesting that he be released on bail," the lawyer said, adding that mother and son were permitted to speak to each other at the courthouse as per a request. Two other student activists appeared for a separate hearing at Myingyan District Court on Thursday: Soe Hlaing, a second-year at Monywa Technological University in Magwe; and Zin Ko Thant, a fourth-year Burmese major student at Mandalay's Yadanabon University. Both face charges under the State Flag Law for lowering the national flag during a protest at Myingyan Degree College in January. Their lawyer Chan Myae said an additional charge was read out at the hearing on 4 June: the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act - for staging a protest without official permission. Chan Myae said the pair applied for bail but were denied.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2014
- Event Description
Mandalay - The court has sentenced four individuals who protested an increase in the electric rates to six months in prison with hard labour. Chanayethazan Township Court rendered its decision Monday against Thein Aung Myint, his wife Khat Khat Tin, Saw Hla Aung and Kyaw Myo Tun. They were found guilty under Section 18 of the Penal Code, which covers unlawful protests. They were involved in a March 27, 2014 protest against the increase in electric rates in front of Diamond Plaza in Mandalay. Khat Khat Tin wrote on her Facebook page after her sentencing that she was judged "more as the wife of a politician. I do not trust the government." She also noted that she has had to make arrangements for care of her children while she is serving her prison term. Saw Hla Aung called the sentence "unfair," arguing that citizens have the right to protest. Thein Aung Myint is still on trial under the same section in Aungmyetharzan Township Court over a protest at Mandalay moat on October 27 relating to the killing of freelance reporter Par Gyi. UPDATE: 29 April 2015 Mandalay activist handed maximum sentence under Article 18 An activist accused of leading a demonstration in Mandalay last year, demanding justice after the killing in military custody of journalist Par Gyi, was sentenced to six months in prison with labour on Thursday.Thein Aung Myint, a member of the Myanmar Democratic Current Force (MDCF), was given the maximum sentence by a judge at Mandalay's Aungmyay Tharzan township court under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law for organising a public protest without official permission."The verdict was passed[on Thursday], handing my client the maximum punishment of six months in prison with labour under the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law," defense lawyer Ywat Nu Aung told DVB by phone. She said Thein Aung Myint wanted to appeal against the verdict."I had a short time to speak to my client after the verdict was announced. He said he planned to appeal as he considered certain words used by the judge to be harmful to his dignity as a political activist."Another Mandalay-based political activist, Aye Thein, insisted his colleague Thein Aung Myint did not take part in the protest in question, which took place on 27 October last year, and said that he was falsely accused."Ko Thein Myint Aung previously went to the police station in Aungmyay Tharzan to submit an application for permission to hold a rally. He was taken in for questioning at around 6pm on 27 October. But we went ahead with the protest at 6:30pm, so he could not have taken part," said Aye Thein. "The charges against him indicate a lack of rule of law, and the fact that my colleague was given the maximum sentence shows that the law does not protect the people." On 23 March, Thein Aung Myint and his wife were also sentenced to six months in prison under the same charges for staging a separate protest against increasing electricity prices.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 27, 2015
- Event Description
The recent re-sentencing of three prominent Rohingya community leaders in Arakan State and the ongoing detention of two others points to the uneven application of the rule of law in the restive region, their lawyer claims. The trio - Ba Tha, Kyaw Myint, and Kyaw Myint's son, Hla Myint - were sentenced by Sittwe's Appellate Court to eight years in prison on 27 February for their alleged role in inciting violence against government officials, and remanded into custody on 8 March. Their sentencing stems from an incident that occurred in April 2013, when a delegation visited the Rohingya village of Thet Kay Pyin near the state capital of Sittwe to forcibly register its inhabitants as "Bengalis." Another Rohingya community leader, Kyaw Khin, was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison on the same day and is currently in hiding, according to a statement issued by Thailand-based watchdog Fortify Rights. The officials' arrival at Thet Kay Pyin, on 26 April 2013, prompted a group of some 200 villagers to demonstrate against the registration process, spearheaded by Burma's Ministry of Immigration and Population as part of a contentious "citizenship verification" process that was paused in February 2015. The Burmese government does not recognise the Rohingya as one of the country's 135 "national races", and most Rohingya reject classification as "Bengali", a term they consider pejorative that implies origins in neighbouring Bangladesh. The trio were sentenced to one and a half years in prison in May 2013, but were released as part of a presidential amnesty in October 2014. At Thet Kay Pyin, the villagers defiantly chanted, "Rohingya! Rohingya! Rohingya!" in protest, and the demonstration turned violent. Although the circumstances under which violence broke out remain disputed, government officials allegedly sustained injuries after coming under attack by incensed villagers. Two other individuals charged by the authorities in May 2013 - Suleyman Begum and Muhammad Hashim -remain in prison after being sentenced to three and a half years on charges relating to robbery, intimidation and disturbing civil servants. On 27 February, five additional years were added to their sentences. According to Hla Myo Myint, a Rangoon-based lawyer representing the Thet Kay Pyin prisoners, the re-sentencing of the three community leaders was prompted by allegations that they abetted the rioters by compelling them to reject registration as Bengali, a charge the trio deny. "There's no rule of law. It's all bias of race in conflicts," Hla Myo Myint told DVB. He claims that the evidence presented by the prosecution was accepted blindly by the court, and relied heavily on the testimony of one policeman, which he classified as "tainted." The eight-year sentence was passed down after the defendants were found guilty of violating three sections of Burma's Penal Code: 147, 333, and 395, for rioting, causing "grievous injury" to a public servant, and "dacoity," or banditry, respectively. Burma's penal code is a piece of colonial-era legislation that was penned back in 1861. Its outdated statutes give the authorities sweeping, arbitrary prosecutory powers, offering the accused few avenues for recourse or a meaningful appeals process. Across Burma's justice system, 90 percent of charges end in conviction, and free legal counsel is not a legally enshrined right. Hla Myo Myint feels that his clients were arbitrarily singled out due to their prominence in the community. He claims that the authorities have no way of knowing who was responsible for starting the conflict, leading them to slap his clients with trumped-up charges in an attempt to stifle further dissent. Three years of the sentence justified under Section 395 for "dacoity", for example - a term that originally referred to roving bands of thieves in colonial India - was passed down because the mobile phone of an immigration official went missing during the riot, he claims. Bias by the ethnic Arakanese[Rakhine Buddhist] judges overseeing the cases - who many feel are likely to be prejudiced against Rohingya plaintiffs - has made a mockery of justice, he feels. "The real problem is the evidence in the case, the justification for punishment. They don't have any evidence," he said. "But Thein Aung, the appellate court judge, is Arakanese, and he is sensitive towards the Rohingya. He can change the primary order, and give punishment." The government has demanded that stateless Rohingyas currently possessing "white cards" that provide them with temporary identification turn them in at the end of the month, a factor that has contributed to heightened tensions across the state. Despite their non-citizen status, voting rights - facilitated by the possession of "white cards" - have been among the few privileges afforded to Rohingyas by Naypyidaw in recent years, albeit out of self-interest as their votes offset popular support for Arakanese nationalist parties in the 2010 polls. Hla Myo Myint - an ethnic-Burman Buddhist with close ties to the opposition National League for Democracy - has forged a career taking on contentious cases. He has represented farmers embroiled in land disputes in the Irrawaddy Delta and leading monks in the 2007 "Saffron Revolution" uprising against military rule. In 2009, he represented Aung San Suu Kyi after an American citizen, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside residence, prompting the authorities to extend her house arrest for an additional eighteen months. It is exceedingly rare for lawyers in Burma to advocate on behalf of Rohingya clients, owing to their pariah status both in and out of the corridors of power. But Hla Myo Myint feels that to deny anybody counsel on the grounds of ethnicity would amount to a dereliction of duty. "I'm an advocate, and because I follow the ethic of an advocate, I will take every case. I have no choice. Ethically, I am obligated," he said. He intends to bring the Thet Kay Pyin prisoners' case to Burma's supreme court in Naypyidaw, but it remains to be seen if the case will be re-opened. As far as he is concerned, however, there's no reason why it shouldn't be. "I have good legal grounds for revision," he said.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 11, 2015
- Event Description
The government announced last night it will release demonstrators detained at Letpadan on March 10 if they can prove they are "real" students, as more than 100 people appeared in court yesterday under heavy police guard. Students and other protesters among more than 120 arrested in a brutal police crackdown in Letpadan were taken yesterday from their prison cells to court, where they were told they would face five possible charges - under sections 143, 145, 147, 332 and 505(b) of the Penal Code - and were remanded in custody for two weeks pending trial. The charges include incitement, causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty and rioting. They carry a total maximum punishment of nine-and-a-half years in prison. Citing a Ministry of Home Affairs statement, the Ministry of Information reported last night that charges would be filed against those behind the students who incited the riots. The announcement came as a second batch of almost 80 detainees arrived at Letpadan Township Court at about 7:30pm. Earlier in the day, three blue prison vans crammed with about 50 detainees drove from Tharyarwady Prison back to Letpadan where the protesters - their hands cuffed with plastic and some showing injuries from the March 10 violence - filed into the courtroom for a one-hour hearing. "Our human rights have been violated," some of the students shouted from the vans as they left. Some had swollen eyes and foreheads covered with plaster patches, their faces tired from the stifling heat inside the police vans. According to the Ministry of Information, a total of 127 people were arrested on March 10 after police wielding batons ended an eight-day stand-off outside a Letpadan monastery, about 140 kilometres (90 miles) north of Yangon. Students and a small group of monks were demanding to be allowed to continue their march to Myanmar's largest city in protest against the National Education Law passed last year. Parents and supporters waited anxiously outside the court, along with about 50 police armed with rifles. Daw Khin Khin Yu, mother of Ko Min Thwe Thit, a detained leader of the All Burma Students Union, condemned the police crackdown and government action. "I was a supporter of U Thein Sein's government before but now I hate them," she said. Parents shouted out the names of their sons and daughters, asking how conditions had been in prison. Students responded by giving thumbs-up signs from behind the grills of their prison wagons. Daw Lae Lae Moe said she had encouraged her son, Ko Min Thu Sain, an English major from Nattalin township, to get involved in the protest. But now she looked desperately worried and frustrated. "I will always encourage my son to get involved in activities to change our country's democratic education. That will make our whole country a better place," she said. U Nay Win, father of Ma Phyo Phyo Aung, one of the arrested student leaders, said he and his wife had waited outside the prison since early in the morning to hear news about their daughter, but that the authorities had not allowed a meeting or given any information. "I am worried about my daughter and the other students. I heard my daughter has been beaten and injured. The government should not use violence against them," he said. Residents of Letpadan were among those arrested but some insisted they had nothing to do with the student protest. U Kyi Aye, 65, from That Nge Gone village, about 9km from Letpadan, said he had gone to the town with his son to get documents from the township immigration office. He said his 29-year-old son Ko Ye Min Aung had been arrested when he tried to stop a policeman from taking his motorbike. U Nay Win said he saw his son in one of the prison vehicles but had no chance to talk to him. "We are just farmers from a village," he said. "We are so afraid of police and are never against the government." UPDATE: 12/ 05/ 2015 High-school student released on bail from Tharawaddy trial A juvenile who was among the education activists arrested in the police crackdown on protestors in Letpadan on 10 March has been released on bail.Sixteen-year-old Aung Min Khine, chairperson of the Shwebo District Basic Education Students Union, was granted bail in a court hearing on Tuesday due to his status as a minor."Of the 13 bail applicants, only I have been granted bail so far," Aung Min Khine told DVB. "I was told I am to stand trial at a juvenile court as the charges have been upheld, including Article 505(b), and that I was granted bail because I am underage." Aung Min Khine said that he sustained injuries in the 10 March crackdown, some of which are yet to heal, including a head would.Robert San Aung, a lawyer representing the defendants in the trial, said that according to the Burma's Child Law, Aung Min Khine should be tried as a juvenile in a separate trial."As the accused is a juvenile, he should be dismissed from the adult trial, and stand in a separate trial at a juvenile court," said Robert San Aung. Families of the defendants, reporters and observers including German, French, EU and US representatives attended the hearing at Tharawaddy township court on Tuesday.One hundred and twenty-seven people were arrested on 10 March after nationwide, student-led demonstrations against the National Education Law came to a head when a sit-in turned violent. Activists say that the law stifles economic freedom, and marches on Rangoon from all over the country were organised in protest.After a series of negotiations between students and Naypyidaw representatives, an amendment bill was drawn up. Against the backdrop of the ongoing trial in Tharawaddy, activists reacted angrily to the passing of a heavily watered down bill by the parliamentary upper house at the end of March. UPDATE: 10/ 06/ 2015 A hearing for education law protestors at Tharawaddy district court in Pegu Division was postponed on Tuesday after one of the defendants coughed up blood and collapsed as he was being brought to the courtroom.Robert San Aung, a lawyer representing some of the activists, who were mostly arrested following a sit-in in Letpadan on 10 March which was brutally suppressed by riot police, told DVB that Khine Hlaing, 25, from North Okkalapa in Rangoon, collapsed in the prison van while being escorted by guards towards the Tharawaddy court house. "After he collapsed, Ko Khine Hlaing was first taken to Tharawaddy hospital. We went there to check on him and saw he had been coughing up blood. The left side of his chest was visibly swollen, and he had pain in his ribs, a shortness of breath and unstable blood pressure," said Robert San Aung. "Following recommendation by the hospital director, he was transferred to Rangoon General Hospital for further treatment." He said the court hearing was reappointed to 16 June, not only because of Khin Hlaing's condition but due to other complications. "The court was scheduled to hear the testimony of police chief Phone Myat, but it could not go ahead as not all the defendants were present. Robert San Aung, who was shortlisted for a major international peace prize in January, said he still doubts the independence and impartiality of the court. "The whole situation implies that the authorities have already taken the decision to jail them[68 students and activists in detention]," he told DVB on Tuesday. At a previous hearing for students and activists in the same courthouse, a defendant named Tin Win collapsed and was rushed to Rangoon General Hospital where he later received neurological surgery for an injury allegedly sustained during the police crackdown in Letpadan on 10 March. The 68 detainees from the crackdown stand accused of charges ranging from disturbing the peace to rioting to sedition. UPDATE: 25/ 06/ 2015 Family visits banned for Letpadan activists Thirty-five activists facing charges for their involvement in the Letpadan education protest have been banned from receiving visits in Tharawaddy prison amid allegations of family members smuggling prohibited items to their loved ones in jail. According to local resident and activist supporter, Kyaw Naing Oo, the Tharawaddy prisoners were discovered carrying cigarettes and betel quid, a cigarette substitute comprised of ground areca nut, tobacco and lime wrapped in a betel leaf, as they were returning from a court hearing on 16 June. "After the court hearing last Tuesday, the students brought back cigarettes. For that, the officials accused them of bringing prohibited items into the prison and sought disciplinary action against them," said Kyaw Naing Oo on Wednesday. "The director-general's office instructed a ban on family visits effective as of today." Robert San Aung, the activists' lawyer, slammed the authorities for violating his clients' prisoner rights. "According to the prison manual, the prison authorities are to provide the prisoners with cigarettes," said the lawyer. "When I was detained back in 2008, there was a fire in the prison and the director-general's office decided to ban cigarettes, but we were allowed betel quid as a replacement, and the prison bought some for the inmates." "I was released in 2010 and as of then, the prisoners were still allowed betel quid but now the officials are saying it is a __�prohibited item'. I view this as an obstruction of personal freedom and a violation of human rights." Robert San Aung also said that prison inmates caught with prohibited items are usually punished with a two-week visit ban. On Wednesday, students' family members who went to the prison to visit their loved ones were denied permission to see them. One-hundred and twenty-seven students and activists were detained in a violent police crackdown of Letpadan education protest on 10 March.
- Impact of Event
- 50
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly
- Source
Myanmar Times | Democratic Voice of Burma | Democratic Voice of Burma | [Democratic Voice of Burma]https://www.dvb.no/?p=53036)
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 10, 2015
- Event Description
One hundred and twenty-seven people were arrested in the police crackdown on students in Letpadan on Tuesday, the Burmese government has reported. A report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on 11 March says that 52 male and 13 female students, along with 62 other civilians, were detained in the fracas while 16 police were wounded when protestors turned "the sit-in protest into violence" as they tried to break free from a police barricade. No mention was made of whether protestors will face charges or not. Before the scenes of violence broke out on Tuesday, news of a breakthrough that would allow students to complete their march to Rangoon had been circulated. In an interview with DVB, Thiha Win Tin, a central committee member with the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, or ABFSU, described how the negotiations broke down. Swan Arr Shin members had posed as local residents and acted as agent provocateurs, Thiha Win Tin said. "Some "community members' were shouting on the loudspeaker, warning us that they had shown patience up to this point, and other provocative things. However, the "real' locals at the scene said those "community members' are bogus, and in fact they were Swan Arr Shin members." Related Stories The Border and Security Affairs minister called us for another meeting and proposed news conditions, such as for us to not carry banners, wear armbands or headbands, or to raise flags when we travel to Rangoon; also that the vehicles in the convoy must keep a minimum spacing between one another. The negotiations failed and at 11:45am, protestors started pushing through the police line. At first, the police did not react, but they later resorted to using violence." In images caught on video by DVB, chaos can be seen unfolding as several police officers escort detained activists towards police vans, attempting to shield them from blows from other officers. In one scene, three policemen carry a protestor by his arms and legs. Detained students can be seen waving and gesturing from a police truck as they are taken away, as other students cheer on in support. Wednesday's Global New Light of Myanmar also carried a report describing two "official" rallies held in Rangoon. Participants reportedly expressed their concerns over the "negative effects of the ongoing student protests," and called for "rule of law" and "peace and stability". These events that took place in Okkan and Taukkyi were contrasted with the "unofficial" protest - meaning, held without official sanctioning - that took place at Hledan Junction. An investigation committee, tasked with assessing whether security forces "acted properly" when they violently dispersed a Rangoon protest on 5 March - an action which drew international criticism - has been formed on President Thein Sein's orders. State media reports that the commission will be chaired by Brig-Gen Kyaw Kyaw Tun, and is to report its findings by 31 March. Meanwhile, small solidarity protests were held at Yadanabon University campus in Mandalay and Karenni State's Loikaw on Wednesday morning and Tuesday evening respectively, to denounce the police brutality against students in Letpadan. The university campus was reportedly shut down as around a dozen protestors entered, while the Loikaw demonstrators encountered a police barricade near the town's Naungya Lake. "We are denouncing the violent crackdown on the students protest in Letpadan yesterday. All campus gates were shut after we entered the premises," said Aung San Oo, speaking to DVB from Yadanabon.
- Impact of Event
- 127
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 24, 2015
- Event Description
Two garment factory workers who allegedly led a recent labour strike in Rangoon's Shwepyithar Industrial Zone are facing public disturbance charges. Naing Htay Lwin and Myo Min Min have been appointed hearings at the Shwepyithar Township Court for arraignment at the beginning of March. "Naing Htay Lwin has been called for a hearing on 3 March and Myo Min Min on 6 March. Both face charges under Article 505(b)*," said Naing Lin Aung, a member of the Myanmar Trade Union Federation. Myo Min Min, a worker at the E-Land Myanmar Garment factory, is also chairperson of the Garment Factory Workers Organisation in Shwepyithar, while Naing Htay Lwin works for the nearby Ford Glory factory. The two had been missing for several days when their colleagues and fellow strikers learned, while meeting for negotiations with Burmese government officials on Sunday. that the pair had been arrested by police and detained in Insein Prison. The negotiations involved 15 workers' representatives each from Costec International, Ford Glory and E-Land Myanmar Garment factories, sat opposite Labour Administration Officials. Sunday's meeting took place at the Shwepyithar administration office, but ended without any result. Speaking to DVB on Monday, Khin Myo Oo, a worker from E-Land Myanmar Garment, said, "I went to the meeting with officials yesterday. They pledged to increase our daily wage from the current 400 kyat to 550 kyat (US$0.40- $0.55) - which would be from 12,000 kyat ($12) to 16,500 kyat ($16.50) in total for one month. However, they wanted to cut our full-attendance bonus from 8,000 to 5,000 kyat. So, in the end, our pay would remain the same." The workers have complained that they must work the regular eight hours plus three hours overtime every day from Monday to Friday, and then work four hours overtime on Sunday in order to make ends meet. Khin Myo Oo said the workers demanded that Shwepyithar officials drop charges against Myo Min Min and Naing Htay Lwin. On Monday morning, she said, workers from all three factories were continuing their protest in front of the E-Land Myanmar Garment factory calling for release of the two strike leaders. "We will know what to do next only when Ko Naing Htay Lwin and Ko Myo Min Min are released," she said. "So we are prioritising this demand and will negotiate the rest later." Around 2,000 workers from the three factories have been on strike for almost one month, demanding better pay and work conditions. Negotiations between the workers and their employers have repeatedly fallen through during this time. On Friday, several striking workers and police officers were injured in a scuffle when police came to disperse them. Similar worker strikes are also taking place at another industrial zone outside Rangoon, Hlaing Tharyar. *Burmese penal code Article 505(b): "Intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity."
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Labour rights, Right to fair trial
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Mar 4, 2015
- Event Description
Thirteen striking workers and two journalists were apprehended by police during a labour protest and detained in Rangoon's Insein Township on Wednesday. Workers from the Shwepyithar Industrial Zone were continuing their recent demonstrations calling for better pay by marching to City Hall in the former capital. Leaders of the strike from the industrial zone have previously been charged under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code. Thirteen workers were detained on Wednesday, according to a report in state media, along with DVB's Myo Zaw Linn and 7Day Daily's Ko Nikki. The reporters were released last night after being held briefly, but the protestors remain in detention. A report by state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said that locals assisted police with the dispersal of the "illegal" protest. The journalists were taken to an interrogation facility on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road after being caught up in a clash between officers and workers at the Danyingone intersection. "The police began manhandling the labour protesters, who resisted," said Myo Zaw Linn, following his release. "It was chaos. Some men attempted to drag me away and snatch my camera out of my hand. They threatened to smash it up, and one of them shouted, "Punch that guy!' I told them there was no need to hit me, and that I would go with them. Four of them - two in civilian clothing and two in police uniform - dragged me into a truck," he said. After Myo Zaw Linn and Ko Nikki were taken into detention, Pol. Lt-Col Myint Htwe of the Eastern Rangoon district police told DVB the reporters would be released after the police check their belongings and take their affidavit. Speaking to DVB after their apprehension, Pol. Lt-Col Myint Htwe of the Eastern Rangoon district said, "We are not detaining them. They were brought to the interrogation centre by mistake, and I am just going to send them back home. We let them wait outside the interrogation room until we take the necessary details from them. After this, I will send them back to their parents' house myself." Myo Zaw Linn was escorted home on Wednesday evening after signing an affidavit. A report in Burma's state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said that prior to the release of the journalists, officials "warned them of observing media ethics while authorities are taking their duties in accordance with the law."
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Censorship, Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to information, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 26, 2015
- Event Description
Authorities in Myanmar on Thursday 26th February tore down a protest camp run by villagers demanding the return of land they say was unlawfully confiscated by the former military regime, arresting 14 and charging them with holding an illegal demonstration, according to state media and the group's lawyer. According to the official Global New Light of Myanmar, security forces broke up the protest camp in the eastern Yangon suburb of Migyaungkan where villagers had been calling for authorities to give back the land they say was taken from them by the country's former junta in 1990 for redevelopment plans. "Yangon City Development Committee on Thursday morning dispersed a group staging an illegal protest over[the Migyaungkan] land issue by setting up makeshift tents occupying a sidewalk next to Mahabandoola Park in Kyauktada Township in Yangon Region," the newspaper said. "As authorities concerned filed lawsuits against protesters at Kyauktada Township police station, respective courts charged protestors with Section 68 of Yangon City Development Committee Law and Section 18 of the law on peaceful assembly and peaceful procession." Myanmar's Law on Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Processions is a highly contested piece of legislation that activists and rights groups say gives peaceful protesters heavy penalties and is used to silence activism instead of protecting the right to demonstrate. Section 18 of the law, which was passed in 2011 as Myanmar began to emerge from decades under military rule, requires individuals to obtain a permit to demonstrate and allows the authorities to jail violators for up to one year and fine them 30,000 kyat (U.S. $35). Section 68 of the Yangon City Development Committee Law prohibits people from erecting fences or structures on public land. Robert San Aung, a lawyer representing the Migyaungkan villagers, said 18 people had initially been arrested Thursday, but only 14 were charged. "Among the 18 people who were initially arrested, four were later released as they are only street vendors" who had been selling goods to the protesters, he told RFA's Myanmar Service. "The remaining 14 people were charged under Section 18 and Section 68 of Yangon City Development Committee Law by the Kyauktada township administrative department." The dispersal marked the second time the villagers were evicted, following a similar incident in December when police tore down their protest camp at the gates of City Hall, which had relocated there after being based in Maha Bandoola Park for seven months. Last week, fourteen activists-12 of whom were women, including a 68-year-old-were sentenced to six months in jail each for the earlier protest under Section 18, as well as Sections 143 and 341, or "unlawful assembly" and "wrongful restraint," respectively.
- Impact of Event
- 14
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 18, 2015
- Event Description
Fourteen activists from Rangoon's Michaungkan Township on Wednesday 18th February were sentenced to imprisonment for six months each for staging a sit-in at the gates of the City Hall. The sit-in was one of a number of protests that have been held by the activists decrying a historic land grab that took place in 1990. Protestors say they were evicted from their homes in the suburban township of Rangoon when the Burmese military seized their land. Robert San Aung, a renowned human rights lawyer who is acting as legal counsel for the group, told DVB that 14 people were sentenced at the court in Kyauktada Township, 12 of whom were women, including a 68-year-old. The 14 were arrested on 23 December 2014 when authorities dispersed their camp at the gates of the City Hall in downtown Rangoon. "The defendants were facing two charges under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law ... They also faced additional charges under articles 143[unlawful assembly] and 341[wrongful restraint] of the Penal Code," Robert San Aung said. "The judge sentenced them all to one month under each of the Article 18 charges - in total two months - and to three months under Article 143, plus a further month under Article 341. This is six months altogether." "Jailing people is not the way to solve a problem. Rather, it will exacerbate it," he added. Before moving to the City Hall site, former Michaungkan landowners had established a camp in 2014 that occupied Maha Bandula Park in Rangoon for seven months. In August, a 72-year-old protestor died at the encampment after 138 days at the park. After the woman passed away her fellow activists reiterated that nothing would make them accept the loss of their land, even death. The camp was eventually forcibly cleared. In July 2014, Sein Than, a community leader from Michaungkan, was arrested and jailed for staging an unauthorised protest. His detention was met with a symbolic hunger strike. During Burma's military era, land was routinely confiscated by the government for state use. But ever since Burma transitioned to a quasi-civilian government in 2011 protests have become increasingly common as villagers attempt to reclaim their assets. New land legislation introduced in early 2012 was met with major criticism. In particular, critics have argued that the new laws legitimise government and corporate land-grabs while offering little protection to individuals. A government commission established in 2012 to resolve thousands of land-grab claims has yet to make progress on the majority of claims it has received.
- Impact of Event
- 14
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to property
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Feb 13, 2015
- Event Description
The government of Myanmar warned student demonstrators Friday 13th February that "action will be taken" to restore order in the country if they do not end a protest march to the commercial capital Yangon against education legislation they say will limit academic freedom. The special announcement, issued through state media, came days after the government agreed in principle to student demands on the National Education Law and had requested an end to the protests. Students, however, pledged to continue marching until parliament approves the reforms. "People are still marching toward Yangon, and in order to avoid undesirable problems and for the security of the country, the rule of law, and peace in the neighborhoods, actions will be taken in accordance with the law to deter the marchers from entering Yangon Region," the statement said. The government did not provide details of what action would be taken, though large numbers of security personnel had previously been deployed at points along the route from Myanmar's second largest city Mandalay to Yangon and could be used to confront or arrest the students. Hundreds of students from across the country have been marching to Yangon since Jan. 20, demanding that the government amend the National Education Law, passed last September, which they say is too restrictive. The students are protesting the legislation's centralized control of the curriculum, ban of student and teacher unions, and lack of education spending increases. The main group of students, from Mandalay, has stopped for the night in Bago region's Paungde township, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Yangon, after having completed nearly two-thirds of its journey. The Associated Press quoted a protester named Win Tin as saying marchers were "surprised by the announcement." On Wednesday, the government and lawmakers agreed to include students and other education professionals in referendums and education law drafts during four-way talks that also included students and representatives of the Network for National Education Reform (NNER)-an organization consisting of educational, political and religious groups. They also agreed to allow students to freely form unions, promised not to arrest students and their supporters who have participated in the reform movement, and abolished central control over the education system. Lawmakers pledged to raise the national budget allocation for education to at least 20 percent in five years and also agreed to implement an education system that includes ethnic minority languages in accordance with student demands that minorities be allowed to freely learn their own language. A member of NNER who took part in the talks told RFA Wednesday that the terms of the agreement would be submitted to parliament and students would continue with their march until they had been approved. Students released a statement Friday saying the march would continue despite the government threat, according to the Irrawaddy online journal. "If Parliament's decision is not satisfactory, we will march in protest to Rangoon, and if it is satisfactory, we will walk to Rangoon in a show of victory," the students' statement read. The Irrawaddy quoted Min Thwe Thit of the Action Committee for Democratic Education (ACDE), which is spearheading the march, expressing doubts about the government's commitment to reforming the law. "The public are worried and ask us why we don't stop our protest, and I want to explain to them that we only have an agreement[in principle] and have not officially seen our demands met." The march has attracted growing numbers of students and Buddhist monks, and also counts many supporters from Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which is expected to make a strong showing in elections slated for later this year. The threat of an expanded protest is sensitive in Myanmar, where in 1988 a student-led pro-democracy movement was crushed by the former junta. A delegation of protesting students met with Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday at her home in the capital Naypyidaw to discuss their demands related to amending the National Education Law, local media reported. The Nobel laureate and opposition lawmaker said she would relay the students' concerns to parliament, but reminded them that it was unreasonable to expect all of their demands would be met in a country operating as a democracy. Myanmar's education system is still recovering from decades of neglect under military rule, when the government clamped down on academic independence and freedom because the ruling generals viewed the nation's universities with suspicion. A fourth round of four-way talks on the controversial education law is scheduled for Saturday.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Academic freedom, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 16, 2015
- Event Description
Controversial nationalist monk Wirathu lambasted the UN's special rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Yanghee Lee, in a speech on Friday 16th January at the Kyeikkasan Grounds in Rangoon's Tamwe Township. He called her a "whore" for her alleged bias towards the country's Rohingya Muslim minority. "We have already made public our Race Protection Law, but without even studying it, this bitch[Burmese: kaungma] keeps on complaining about how it is against human rights!" he shouted to hundreds of supporters on Friday afternoon. "Can this whore really be from a respectable family background?" he thundered, to which the audience responded, "No!" "Don't assume you are a respectable person, just because you have a position in the UN," he continued. "In our country, you are just a whore. "If you are so willing, you may offer your arse to the kalar[racist term meaning "blacks']. But you will never sell off our Arakan State!" The UN had not responded to the insult at the time of press. On Friday morning, a group of some 500 monks and lay supporters, led by hardliners Wirathu and Parmaukkha, marched from Kyay Thon Pagoda, near Shwedagon Pagoda, to Tamwe Township east of the city centre, holding placards reading "UN decisions cause problems in Burma - we don't want that!" Among the marchers were members of the Arakan National Network, which has condemned the UN's call for Burma to grant citizenship to members of the Rohingya community who were born in the country. Wirathu's speech coincided with Yanghee Lee's press conference in Rangoon on Friday when she concluded a 10-day trip to Burma, her second official visit to the country. "Fundamental rights are not hierarchical - they aren't conditional upon one another. They're inalienable," said Lee on Friday. "You can be assured that in all my meetings with government interlocutors, I use the word "Rohingya'. The rights of Rohingya people must be protected, promoted and upheld." In December, the UN General Assembly approved a non-binding resolution, drafted by the European Union, that called on Naypyidaw to extend citizenship rights to the Rohingya and remove the mobility restrictions placed on them. The resolution also urged an investigation into rights abuses in Arakan State, equal access to essential services, and reconciliation between Buddhist and Muslim communities in the region.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Right to access and communicate with international bodies
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Jan 7, 2015
- Event Description
A Mandalay-based activist has been sentenced to one month in prison with hard labour for protesting the arrest of Phyu Hnin Htwe, an All-Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) member who faced charges relating to the controversial Latpadaung mining project. Tin Mar Ni was detained and charged using Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law in October of last year after staging a prayer demonstration at the Maha Myatmuni Stupa in Mandalay, a site of great Buddhist significance, for the release of fellow activist Phyu Hnin Htwe. Phyu Hnin Htwe was in detention charged with the kidnap of two Chinese national workers from Wanbao Mining Ltd, the owner of the Latpadaung mine which has seen ongoing protests and violence for the past 10 years, but was released when the charges against her were dropped ? the same day that Tin Mar Ni was arrested for campaigning for her freedom. In response to the Chanmyay Tharsi Township court's sentence on 7 January, Phyu Hnin Htwe reacted by saying,"I am sad to hear that someone has been jailed for praying for my release. This case shows that the judicial sector in Burma is completely broken and meaningless." Hundreds of local villagers and their supporters have been protesting the Latpadaung copper mine since its inception more than 10 years ago. Many have been displaced to make way for the project, which was originally contracted to a Canadian firm, Ivanhoe Mines. The mining project was temporarily suspended when activists and monks staged a mass sit-in protest in 2012. The protest was broken up brutally by riot police on 29 November that year when some 80 protestors were injured, including several Buddhist monks, many with horrific burns that experts have attributed to white phosphorous. A subsequent investigation headed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi failed to pronounce anyone guilty for the violent crackdown, and to many villagers' dismay, recommended to the government that the project be resumed. Controversy has heightened again in recent weeks after the fatal shooting in December of protestor Khin Win and subsequent protests and widespread outrage, with officials announcing an enquiry into the incident.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 30, 2014
- Event Description
On 30 December 2014, human rights activists Daw Naw Ohn Hla, Daw Sein Htwe, U Nay Myo Zin and Ko Tin Htut Paing were arrested for participating in a peaceful protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, the day before. They were among around 100 protesters calling on the Myanmar authorities to carry out an investigation into the death of Khin Win. She was shot dead on 22 December when police opened fire on her and other protesters demonstrating against land being taken over for the Letpadaung copper mine project in Sagaing region. All four are currently detained in Insein prison, Yangon. Along with protesters Daw San San Win, Daw Mya Nyunt, and Ko Thant Zin, the four have been charged by Yangon's Dagon Township Court with protesting without permission under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. They have also been charged with a series of offences under the Penal Code: publishing or circulating information which may cause public fear or alarm and may incite persons to commit offences "against the State or against the public tranquility" (Section 505(b); assaulting or preventing a public servant from the discharge of his duty (Section 353); rioting (Section 147); doing obscene acts in public (Section 294); and "intimidation" (Section 506). Amnesty International believes these charges to be politically motivated and without foundation. If convicted on all counts, they each could face more than eight years' imprisonment. UPDATE: 15 May 2015 Activists Get 4-Plus Years for Embassy Protest of Letpadaung Killing Six activists who attempted to protest at the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon over a deadly police crackdown at the Letpadaung copper mine were sentenced on Friday to four years and four months in prison. Their lawyer Robert San Aung confirmed that the heavy sentences were handed down by the Dagon Township Court to three male activists-Nay Myo Zin, Tin Htut Paing and Than Swe-and three female activists-Naw Ohn Hla, Sein Htwe and San San Win, also known as Lay Lay. The sentences are the aggregate punishment for guilty verdicts on four different charges related to a demonstration on Dec. 29 in Rangoon against the Chinese firm Wanbao's copper mining project in Sagaing Division. The activists received sentences of one year for the Penal Code's Article 147, which covers rioting; one year for Article 353, pertaining to assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his or her duty; and two years under Article 505(b), for making statements causing undue public fear or alarm. The additional four months were tacked on for violating Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, which states that activists need government permission to hold a protest. Organizing a protest without permission can result in a maximum sentence of six months' imprisonment. Robert San Aung said the defendants would not appeal the verdict. "They don't have a desire to appeal and they don't trust in the appeals process," he told The Irrawaddy, adding that the judge's decision to mete out the maximum sentence for Article 505(b) was particularly harsh. Nearly 100 people participated in a march to the Chinese Embassy on Dec. 29. Protestors had intended to lay wreathes in front of the embassy as a tribute to Khin Win, a woman in her 50s who was shot dead by police during a protest on Dec. 22 that turned violent at Letpadaung, where the mine is deeply unpopular with locals. Police blockaded the marchers before they could reach the Chinese mission, and the two sides clashed after protesters attempted to breach the barricades. Several of the defendants, who were arrested in the days following the march, have done time previously for their activism. Naw Ohn Hla is a prominent advocate for land rights and political prisoners, and her group Democracy and Peace Women Network (DPWN) was winner of an N-Peace award last year. She was sentenced to two years in prison in 2013 for her participation in a Letpadaung mine protest, but only served four months thanks to a presidential pardon. Retired Burma Army Capt. Nay Myo Zin is also a well-known activist who has the dubious distinction of being the first dissident jailed on political charges under President Thein Sein's government. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2011, but was released as part of a presidential amnesty in 2012. They are the latest to join, or return to, the growing ranks of political prisoners in Burma. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which tracks the matter, said on Tuesday that there were 157 political prisoners incarcerated in Burma, with 453 activists awaiting trial for political actions. UPDATE: 18 September 2015 Myanmar Court Slaps Additional Jail Time on Imprisoned Mine Activists A court in Myanmar on Friday imposed additional jail terms on two activists imprisoned for protesting the shooting death of an unarmed woman outside a Chinese-owned copper mine in the country's Sagaing region in December. The Kyauktada township court in Yangon handed Nay Myo Zin and Naw Ohn Hla four months each for holding an unauthorized demonstration outside of the Chinese Embassy on Dec. 29 against the police killing of villager Khin Win during a protest at the Letpadaung mine site a week earlier. The pair were convicted under Article 18 of the Act on the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession-one of four charges used by Yangon's Dagon township court in May to sentence them and four other activists to four years and four months each for the December protest. Following the sentencing, retired Army-captain Nay Myo Zin told RFA's Myanmar Service that his total jail term is now five years, while Naw Ohn Hla must serve six years and five months. "I received an additional four-month jail sentences today ... and now have five years in total," he said. "Naw Ohn Hla received a four-month jail sentence for protesting against Chinese Embassy with me, as well as another four months for her[Sept. 29, 2014] protest" calling for the release of political prisoners, he said. In addition to the convictions from Kyauktada and Dagon townships, the two activists have also been sentenced by courts in Alone and Latha townships for their part in the Chinese Embassy protest. They face additional charges related to the incident in Pabedan and Lamdataw townships. In April, Naw Ohn Hla was handed a four-month sentence for her September 2014 protest calling for the release of political prisoners, while in June she was given six months for conducting a peaceful prayer vigil eight years ago for the release from house arrest of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. Nay Myo Zin is facing charges under Article 18 in Mingalar Taung Nyunt township for a protest against a controversial amendment to the National Education Law in November last year. The two have been held in Yangon's Insein Prison since their arrest following the December protests calling for the closure of the Chinese Letpadaung mine venture in Sagaing's Monywa township, whose Chinese operator, Wanbao Co., residents say has orchestrated land grabs and caused environmental damage. Controversial mine The protests were sparked by the Dec. 22 police killing of Khin Win, a woman who had joined other protesters attempting to prevent Wanbao from fencing off land for the project for which villagers said they had not received adequate compensation. Authorities have yet to charge anyone in her death. Another violent showdown between villagers and police occurred in November 2012 when officers used smoke bombs containing phosphorus-a highly flammable chemical-to break up protests against the copper mine project. Dozens of anti-mine protesters, including Buddhist monks, were injured in the incident. In May, following their sentencing by the Dagon township court, Naw Ohn Hla told reporters the lengthy jail terms suggested authorities wanted to keep her, Nay Myo Zin and the other four activists Than Swe, Tin Htut Paing, Sein Htwe and San San Win locked up during national elections scheduled for Nov. 8. The Switzerland-based Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), strongly condemned the sentencing and called for their immediate and unconditional release. Saffron remembered Friday's court decision came as a group of monks and activists gathered in Yangon to mark the eighth anniversary of the failed Saffron Revolution against Myanmar's former military regime, holding a moment of silence for the more than 30 people killed during the ensuing crackdown by authorities. Following the event, participants released a statement calling on the government to hold free and fair elections in November and to release the country's remaining political prisoners-in line with the reform goals of the monks who led the democracy movement in 2007. "We demand the release of political prisoners, detained farmers and workers," said Ashin Agga, a monk who participated in Saffron Revolution and who was present at Friday's gathering. "We also call on the government to hold free and fair elections in November and to cease all fighting with armed ethnic groups," he said. According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), there were 108 political prisoners incarcerated in Myanmar as of the end of August, with 459 activists currently awaiting trial for political actions. Expressing gratitude Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 88 Generation democracy movement, expressed gratitude to the monks who led the Saffron Revolution and praised the example they set for those seeking reform in Myanmar, which transitioned to a quasi-civilian government under President Thein Sein following elections in 2011. "We believe that you all will stand for justice together with us during important turning points in our country," he said, adding that the 88 Generation pledged to "stay close" to the Buddhist clergy amid any threats to freedom and democracy. While some say the Saffron Revolution calling for democratic reform has led to positive changes in Myanmar, others contend that the goals of the movement were never met. Many who took part in the revolution say they are still waiting for an apology from authorities for their actions against protesters during the crackdown, which also saw hundreds of monks arrested.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 21, 2014
- Event Description
Four activists, including prominent 88 Generation Peace and Open Society leader Ko Ko Gyi, are facing charges after protesting a planned construction project at a sport ground in Rangoon's South Okkalapa Township on Saturday morning, 21st December. The group, which included Ko Ko Gyi, Saw Naing, Myo Khine (also known as Mone Khet), Naing Ko Lin and Aung Maung (also known as Sitt Maung), were charged by the township's administrator Myo Aung for staging a rally in an area that had not been approved by the authorities. "We do respect the law, but their law is inconsistent," said Myo Khin, a former political prisoner. "The former mayor of Rangoon, Aung Thein Lin, approved the Yan Naing Company's construction project and we cannot accept it. We see it as an irresponsible and dishonourable move - legal robbery - and the incumbent Mayor Myint Swe has a responsibility to answer for this." He said the protest organisers sought permission from local authorities in advance which was granted at designated spots at the Kyaikkasan grounds in Tamwe Township, but not in South Okkalapa where they had intended to hold the protest. The issue with the construction in South Okkalapa has courted controversy for over a year. When Rangoon city officials allowed private developers to build on formerly public land in 2013, it was met with protests led by an upper house MP and former political prisoners, which caused the project to be halted. The activists said they decided to stage another protest on Saturday after finding out construction had recently been resumed. On the morning on 21 December the protestors followed their original route in South Okkalapa - instead of the designated route through Kyaikkasan - and rallied from the sport grounds to the local municipal office. They were subsequently charged under the under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law by the township administrator for violating articles of the law and "local rules", for which they face up to three months in prison and 10,000 kyat (US$10) fine. Another protester who was charged, Saw Naing, said: "We requested permission to rally in South Okkalapa but they designated us to Kyaikkasan Township, which is completely irrelevant to our cause. "We insisted on sticking to our planned route and so we are now being charged."
- Impact of Event
- 4
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Dec 18, 2014
- Event Description
Myanmar authorities have arrested an activist who assisted protesters demanding the return of land they say was unlawfully confiscated by the country's former military regime and charged him with "defamation of the state," one month after his release from prison. Wai Lu was charged Friday the 19th December in Kyauktada township court in the commercial center of Yangon-a day after his arrest-under controversial article 505(B) of Myanmar's penal code, which prohibits spreading statements that cause alarm or induce others to commit an offense against the state or the public. Villagers at a protest camp in the eastern Yangon suburb of Migyaungkan told RFA's Myanmar Service that Wai Lu had only provided humanitarian assistance to the group, which staged a peaceful candlelight vigil outside Yangon City Hall on Dec. 12 calling for authorities to return land they say was taken from them by the former junta in 1990. "Wai Lu was not involved in our protest," said Khin Maung Myint, who lives at the Migyaungkan protest camp. "He had simply provided the elders from the camp with humanitarian assistance, but he was charged under article 505(B), and we feel that it is an unfair charge." Khin Maung Myint said members of the Migyaungkan protest camp went to Kyauktada court to show support for Wai Lu, but after arriving found that he had already been sent to Insein Prison, where he was being held pending trial. "Ko[honorific] Wai Lu didn't lead us to protest. We protested at city hall because we were ignored for nine months by authorities," he said. The villagers of the Migyaungkan protest camp say they lost their land under government redevelopment plans and have been occupying a protest camp near Maha Bandoola Park in the city center for more than 260 days. The charges against Wai Lu follow his Nov. 11 release from Insein Prison, where he had served a three-month sentence for organizing an unlawful demonstration against a sudden increase in electricity prices in Yangon and for helping Moehti Moemi gold miners, who say their land was confiscated by a private mining firm. Also on Friday, Myanmar's Land Utilization Management Central Committee announced in state-owned newspapers that the Ministry of Defense, other ministries and companies would return more than 300,000 acres (121,400 hectares) of confiscated land to the country's farmers. The committee, led by Vice President Nyan Htun, said 140,000 acres (56,650 hectares) had already been handed over to township Land Utilization Management offices, where farmers could go to find out if their land was on the list and submit certain documents to reclaim it. But members of parliament's Land Investigation Committee, which looks into land seizure cases, indicated that more needed to be done. Lawmaker Pe Than said the army alone had confiscated more than 300,000 acres and suggested that each ministry announce how many acres it had confiscated and how many would be returned. Lawmaker Min Thu said the committee members wanted to know if farmers had been compensated when their lands were confiscated, and whether the lands were used specifically for the reasons given when they were seized. "If not, authorities should explain to farmers why they used these lands for different projects," he told RFA. "If lands are not being used, they should be returned to farmers. The Land Investigation Committee submitted its report with all these facts in parliament." Forced land confiscations by the government, military and private businesses are rife in Myanmar and among the country's top rights violations. Land is vital for farmers in Myanmar, who make up a majority of the country's population. Those whose land has been taken have publicly protested. A report issued in late February by the Land Investigation Commission cited 745 such incidents in which the army, local government authorities and private companies had grabbed more than 500,000 acres (202,340 hectares) of land, according to a September report by Eleven Myanmar. In March, Nyan Htun had called for quicker returns of military-seized lands to their original owners. The defense ministry responded by handing back more than 200,000 acres (80,940 hectares) of land to farmers, but only half of it was returned to original owners, Eleven Myanmar said. UPDATE 8 April 2015: Activist Wai Lu was sentenced to one year in prison on April 8 for violating Section 505(B) of the penal code by supporting the Michaungkan protestors, who demand compensation for lands they lost to government seizures. Wai Lu said: "The police can arrest suspects only with a warrant for a violation of Section 505(B). But they took me without a warrant. What is more, when I asked the court what police regiment was responsible for my case, they said it is unknown. Now, I've been sentenced to one year in prison. There is someone conniving to disrupt the unity between the police and the public." "We can forgive imprisonment, but we can't forgive such unlawful arrests. Even politicians are arrested unlawfully. How can people live without the protection of the law? I don't hate the judge who sentenced me to a year in prison. But I can't forgive the authorities' suppression of the public. The detained students and workers are the family members of this country. All they want is freedom. Let people be free from homelessness and hopelessness created by the mismanagement of successive regimes," he said. Wai Lu's mother said: "I'm sorry that my son faces imprisonment. My son's actions are right. He loves truth. Actually, he should have been sentenced to just six months. It's unfair." Wai Lu has been imprisoned previously for his involvement in social movements, including the Letpadaungtaung conflict.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to property, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Land rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 29, 2014
- Event Description
Six activists from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) are facing charges in Pegu Division under the Peaceful Procession and Peaceful Assembly Law for organising a public rally without official permission. The six ABFSU leaders - Min Thwe Thit, Myat Thu, Aung Htet, Aung Ko Khant, Min Min Zaw and Aung Nay Paing - led about 100 activists in a protest against the National Education Bill on 29 November in the city of Taungoo. Min Thwe Thit said that the group has decided not to comply with a court summons and will instead face arrest. Students' protests against the recently adopted National Education Bill have taken place in cities across Burma, including Rangoon, Mandalay, Monywa and Myingyan. A delegation of student activists met with university professors at the Masoyein Monastery in Mandalay a day after the ABFSU led a public demonstration in the city denouncing the bill, which was passed on 30 September by President Thein Sein despite widespread objections from student and teaching bodies. The bill provides for the creation of a National Education Commission, which civil society organisations such as the National Network for Education Reform believe will keep the education sector under tight government control. The ABFSU has become involved in several campaigns over the past year, including rallies in support of farmers who have allegedly been the victims of land grabs by the military. On 14 May, ABFSU members joined a group of villagers protesting in Pegu[Bago] to demand the return of confiscated farmlands. After the rally, the group alleges it was assaulted by more than 60 police officers and about 100 plain-clothed thugs. Then, on 13 September, Phyu Hnin Htwe, an ABFSU member and second-year student at Mandalay's Yadanabon University, was arrested on charges of kidnapping in respect to a case involving villagers near the Latpadaung copper mine site in Monywa detaining two Chinese employees of the Chinese firm, Wanbao, one of the mine's joint partners. She was released in October when the charges against her were dropped.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Academic freedom, Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Right to Protest
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 7, 2014
- Event Description
The Myanmar government has pressed defamation charges against 11 staff of the Myanmar Herald after the paper carried an interview with a political scientist criticizing President Thein Sein, an editor of the journal said Friday 7th November. Editor-in-charge Aung Tun Lin told RFA's Myanmar Service that the Herald employees had been charged under the new Media Law for allegedly tarnishing the reputation of Thein Sein. According to the information ministry, the Myanmar Herald Journal ran an interview in which political scientist Myo Yan Naung Thein described the president's words as "gibberish, irrational, cheap, and inconsistent ... completely nonsensical, absurd, and insane." "We have been summoned to court on Nov. 14 for violating Media Law section 25(b)," he said, adding that the hearing would take place in the capital Naypyidaw's Pokebathiri township. "Eleven of us, including chief editor Kyaw Swar Win and publishing officer Zeya Moe, have been summoned." Aung Tun Lin said that the charges, which are the first to be brought by the Ministry of Information against a publication since the Media Law was passed in March this year, were unusual in that they were also leveled against newspaper distribution staff. "In other cases[against publications], only the editors-in-chief and the writers were sued," he said. "Here they have included not only all of the editorial staff, but also the distribution staff, who have nothing to do with the matter." The 11 employees face fines of between 300,000 kyats (U.S. $295) and 1,000,000 kyats (U.S. $985) if found guilty. The Ministry of Information said the interview the Herald published in August with Myo Yan Naung Thein contained criticism of the president that was extreme. But Aung Tun Lin questioned why the ministry only decided to pursue legal action against the Herald for publishing Myo Yan Naung Thein's comments when editors ran another highly critical interview with senior opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party official Tin Oo a week later. "In addition to publishing Myo Yan Naung Thain's interview, the following week we published Tin Oo's views and criticisms, in which he strongly criticized the president," he said. "Now we must ask the Ministry of Information why they are only suing us for what Myo Yan Naung Thain has said." Apology not accepted Aung Tun Lin said that before the dispute progressed to court action, the two sides had joined mediation meetings through the Myanmar Press Council (MPC), during which the ministry had demanded that the Herald print an apology. "We did what we could ... and apologized to a certain extent, but they did not accept it. They just went ahead and sued," he said. Aung Tun Lin defended his publication's decision to run the interviews, saying that the public has the right to read a variety of perspectives on how Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government is progressing with democratic reforms since taking over from the former junta in 2011. "We don't only publish what the government says; we also publish the views of the opposition if we think that they should be made known," he said. Under Myanmar's nearly five decades of military rule, journalists were forbidden to cover certain topics such as corruption, poverty, and natural disasters, and government crackdowns landed many reporters in prison. Thein Sein's reformist administration has implemented a series of reforms to push Myanmar towards democracy, including new laws enshrining media freedom. But rights groups say that the intimidation and arrest of journalists appeared to be worsening in the former military state, even though official censorship has ended. While Aung Tun Lin acknowledged that the media has enjoyed significantly more room to operate in Myanmar within the last three years, "to say that it is free-I don't think that we have reached such a stage as yet." "We[in the media] have pointed out in transparent terms the shortcomings, drawbacks, and weaknesses of the government and I wonder if they are making an example out of us so that we will not dare to write about them," he said. Outcome unknown He also expressed concerns over other media organizations that have been targeted by the government, including the Eleven Media Group-four staff members of which the Ministry of Information filed criminal charges of defamation against late last month. The group's Weekly Eleven had published an article in June questioning whether the Media Law then before parliament favored state-owned media, and alleged misuse of public revenue by the ministry over suspiciously high prices it had paid for a printing press. Aung Tun Lin said that the Herald would have to wait and see whether it would get a fair shake in legal proceedings initiated by the government against its journalists and those of other media organizations. "[According to the Constitution] all three of the respective arms of governance-namely, the judicial, the legislative and the executive branches-must operate independently of one another," he said. "Now that[the ministry] has filed a suit, we will have to wait until court is in session to know to what extent the proceedings with be just and fair."
- Impact of Event
- 11
- Violation
- Censorship, Judicial Harassment, Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Nov 5, 2010
- Event Description
The Asian Human Rights Commission has followed the case of Nyi Nyi Htun, the editor of a Karenni state-based news journal, who was charged for upsetting public tranquility by sending news reports outside Burma. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 13 October 2010 by the Seikkan Township court. Police officers from the Yangon Division Police Chief Office arrested Nyi Nyi Htun in Thingangyun Township of Yangon Division upon suspicion of having connections with a series of bomb blasts in Yangon in October 2009. Nyi Nyi Htun was kept in police custody and tortured continuously for six days at the Yangon Divisional Police Headquarters. The police later confiscated a computer, a memory stick and other documents at his house. The ALRC, the AHRC's sister organization, has already submitted a statement to UN Human Rights Council regarding the brutal torture Nyi Nyi Htun has been exposed to. Kindly note ALRC-CWS-15-05-2010 . Nyi Nyi Htun was charged for being involved with an illegal organizations based at the Thai-Burma boarder under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, section 13(1) of the Immigration Emergency Provisions Act, section 6(1) of the Wireless Act. Further he was charged with upsetting public tranquility under section 505(b) of the Penal Code. The evidence presented in court by the police includes documents taken from Nyi Nyi Htun's email account, which was stored on the memory stick. According to the Police the documents allegedly reveal that Nyi Nyi Htun illegally had gone to Mae Sot at the Thailand-Burma boarder several times, where he met with anti-government groups, whom he allegedly received money from. According to Nyi Nyi Htun none of the documents seized from his computer and memory stick can be used as documentation for him being involved in terror acts, having traveled to the border or having met with any anti-government groups. Apparently the stamp showing his allegedly entrance at the bridge on the boarder between Burma and Thailand shows a date, where he had already been imprisoned. The UN's Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Thomas Ojea Quintana states that in the case of Nyi Nyi Htun several domestic laws have been used to restrict freedom of expression and assembly. These include the Unlawful Association Act (1908), the State Protection Act (1975) and sections 143, 145, 152, 295(A), 505, 505(b). In his report to the UN Human Rights Council published in March 2010, Quintana emphasizes, "As a State Member of the United Nations, Myanmar should have ensured compliance of its domestic laws with its international obligations, according to the principles of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties". Burma is doubtlessly a dangerous place to be a reporter. Journalists among others who send and receive information outside the country are often imprisoned under security measurements such as the State Protection Act claiming to prevent terrorism. There have even been reports on journalists being arrested simply for taking photos of the area affected by the cyclone in 2008 or for reporting on bomb attacks. Kindly see AHRC-UAC-023-2010. These arrest and imprisonments strongly oppose the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which present everyone with the freedom to hold opinions without interference, the right to assembly and to seek and receive information and ideas through different media regardless of frontiers. The Burmese Military regime continues to harass all freethinking people as the case of Nyi Nyi Htun clearly illustrates. Similar absurd and undue sentences are daily handed out for petty crimes in Burma. The sentences are indicators of deep-rooted systemic problems across institutions in the country, where military rule has wiped out most of the framework for a system based on rule of law. While this framework and the concept it was build on have broken down in Burma, so has the logic in which the regime operates. People in the country have no way to escape from this abnormal and irrational situation. The judicial system is tremendously politicized and the Burmese courts hold almost no judicial power. It only has power to convict and act on the will of the regime. No checks and balances are available within the system and institutions set up to monitor courts and judges have been dismissed long ago. The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the international community to condemn the torture and undue conviction of Nyi Nyi Htun and demand an independent and qualified investigation into the case in accordance with international law to ensure the safety of all journalists, the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression in Burma.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 28, 2010
- Event Description
On 27 September 2010, a Burmese court sentenced a monk to 15 years in prison after he was arrested last year for taking part in an anti-elections campaign. Monk Okkantha was tried by the prosecution in a closed court inside Rangoon's notorious Insein prison. His sentencing coincided with the three-year anniversary of the September 2007 monk-led uprising, which has come to be known as the Saffron Revolution on account of the thousands of saffron-robed monks that took to the streets. His lawyer, Khin Htay Kywe, said that three charges - the Press Law, the Electronics Act, and article 505(b), which is loosely translated as "disturbing public tranquillity' - were levelled at Okkantha, each carrying a sentence of four years, 10 years and one year respectively. He is accused of involvement in anti-election and anti-constitution campaigns in Moulmein, Mon state, in December 2009. "He was charged with the article 505(b) and the Press Law after[authorities] claimed that they found some illegal documents at the monastery where he stayed and also charged with the Electronic Act under accusation that he provided information to the Mon News Agency," said Khin Htay Kywe, adding that she will be seeking an appeal. His sentencing brings the total number of monks behind bars in Burma to more than 255, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - Burma (AAPPB). Many of these were rounded up following the Septeber 2007 uprising, which became the biggest show of defiance against the ruling junta since the 1988 student protests. Monks are legally banned from voting or competing in the 7 November elections, Burma's first in two decades. The revered community has long protested military rule in the Southeast Asian pariah, and certain factions continue to boycott religious services for the generals.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to political participation
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Sep 30, 2010
- Event Description
Eleven student activists were arrested last week for distributing leaflets in Rangoon urging an election boycott, according to a leading student group. Five of the arrested students were later released but the remaining six are still in custody, said spokesman Zarni of the underground All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) on Wednesday. The ABFSU named the six as technology students Tha Htoo Aung and Zarni Lin; Zin Min Htet, an extra-mural student; Kyaw Thiha and Kyaw Thu Soe, who are studying geography; and economics student Ye Lin Phyo.They were arrested for distributing the leaflets on the Dagon University campus. Zarni said the leaflets reminded citizens of their right not to vote and containing the messages: "If you vote the USDP[the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party], monks and people will be killed again" and "the 2008 constitution and elections guarantee that military rule will be prolonged." Zarni told The Irrawaddy the authorities had acted illegally by arresting the students because the election law allowed citizens to refrain from voting. State media reported in August, however, that anyone who "disrupts" the election could face a punishment of up to 20 years imprisonment under the State Emergency Act 3. Dagon University's rector, U San, declined to comment on the arrests when The Irrawaddy contacted him on Wednesday. "I don't have information about it," he said. A junior official at the university, however, confirmed the arrests. Dissident sources inside Burma said stickers and leaflets are appearing in Rangoon and Mandalay urging an election boycott. The campaign is reportedly organized by the ABFSU, the 88 Generation Students group and Generation Wave. According to a Burmese human rights group in Thailand, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), 282 student activists are currently in custody in Burma. Among them is ABFSU leader Kyaw Ko Ko, who is serving an eight year sentence in Taunggyi Prison imposed in March 2008 because of his involvement in the September 2008 demonstrations.
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to political participation
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019
- Country
- Myanmar
- Initial Date
- Aug 9, 2010
- Event Description
Maj-Gen Sao Hso Ten, a leader of the Shan State Peace Council who is serving a 106-year prison term, has been transferred to three different prisons within one week, according to his family. Hso Ten, 74, was first moved from remote Hkamti Prison in Sagaing Division to Mandalay Prison, then to Insein Prison in Rangoon and finally to Sittwe Prison in Arakan State. The length of the journey, for which the form of transportation is unknown, was approximately 1,100 miles. Maj-Gen Sao Hso Ten Hso Ten has been in prison since 2005, and his daughter, Nan Kham Pong, told The Irrawaddy that his health is deteriorating. He injured his hand in a fall, needs an emergency eye operation and is suffering from a heart problem and diabetes, she said. Bo Kyi, the joint-secretary of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), told The Irrawaddy that "His[Hso Ten's] health is not in good condition, and being sent to Sittwe prison is like moving him into the mouth of death." Hso Ten's family lives in Lashio, Shan State, which is 96 miles from Mandalay. They had last seen Hso Ten in early June, so when he was transferred to Mandalay Prison on Aug. 2, a Monday, they came to meet him. Prison authorities told the family that visits for political prisoners are only on Saturday. But when Hso Ten's family returned to Mandalay prison on Saturday, the authorities said that Hso Ten had been transferred to Insein prison in Rangoon on Thursday and would not give an official reason for the transfer. The family proceeded to Insein prison in Rangoon, arriving on Sunday, but prison authorities said Hso Ten had been transferred to Sittwe prison in Arakan State on Saturday. "We could not catch him in Rangoon. I rang to Sittwe prison and they said that the family can visit, but they refused to tell me the date my father arrived," Nan Kham Pong told The Irrawaddy on Monday Hso Ten's family will proceed to Sittwe prison on Tuesday, Nan Kham Pong said. "We were shown a document signed by one of the head officials from Insein prison as evidence that they transferred my father to Sitttwe prison. I'm worried about his health because we haven't seen him for so long," she said. It is believed that the junta sentences political prisoners to remote prisons, far away from their family, as a form of torture. When being transported by Burmese authorities, a prisoner is shackled and not allowed to stand up or walk. Hso Ten was one of several Shan leaders arrested after attending a meeting of opposition and ethnic groups in Shan State on February 7, 2005. They were accused of high treason. Three leaders of the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD), which won a landslide victory across Shan State in the 1990 election, were among those sentenced. Hkun Htun Oo, the chairman of the SNLD, was sentenced to 93 years imprisonment and is currently serving his sentence in Putao Prison in Kachin State. Sai Nyunt Lwin was sentenced to 85 years and is confined in Kalay Prison. Sai Hla Aung was sentenced to 75 years and is being held in Kyaukpyu Prison in Arakan State. More than 200 Burmese dissidents were given prison sentences by Burmese courts in November 2008, about 136 of whom were transferred to prisons in isolated areas around Burma. According to the AAPP, there are 2,171 political prisoners in Burma, 207 of them from ethnic communities.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Torture
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Right to health, Right to political participation
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Active
- Date added
- Sep 20, 2019