Human Rights Defenders
Individual Documents
Sub-title:
Human rights defenders in Myanmar are being targeted under a “brute force terror campaign” by the military junta, United Nations independent experts said on Monday, calling again for a stronger international response to the coup.
Description:
"In a statement, Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, and Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders highlighted credible reports of activists forced into hiding after having arrests warrants issued against them, under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code.
Their homes were raided, possessions seized, and family members threatened and harassed, they said, noting that many others who where unable to flee, have been arbitrarily arrested.
Lawyers representing those detained after the coup have themselves been detained, as have journalists covering the protests, the statement added.....Citizens ‘held hostage’: Special Rapporteur Andrews said that the people of Myanmar appreciate the expressions of concern from the international community, “but what they desperately need, is action”.
“It is critical that nations stand with and for the besieged people of Myanmar who are being held hostage by an illegal military junta. It is time for strong, focused and coordinate action that includes economic sanctions and an arms embargo.”
“A more determined, unified international solidarity with human rights defenders in Myanmar is required to avoid further attacks”, Mr. Andrews added, reiterating his call for an Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar to stop what he described as the junta’s “reign of terror” in the country.
More than 892 men, women and children have been killed and countless more wounded by security forces in a brutal crackdown since the 1 February coup.
According to humanitarians, thousands of people across Myanmar have also been displaced due to clashes between the military and regional armed groups, and the situation is further complicated by the worsening COVID-19 situation, which risks overwhelming health and medical services across the country.
‘Astonishing’ bravery
Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, applauded the bravery of rights defenders, in the face of massive risks for their own safety.
“Women human rights defenders are particularly at risk in remote rural areas and are often beaten and kicked before being sent to prison where they can face torture and sexual violence with no medical care provided”, Ms. Lawlor said.
“We have heard from women human rights defenders from different ethnic groups in various areas of the country. Their bravery in continuing to speak out against the human rights violations being perpetrated by the military against the country’s population, coming as it does in the face of threats of gender-based violence and massive risks for their safety, is astonishing.”
The Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The UN and Burma - news and commentary
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Description:
"Updated 17 July 2021:
As of 17 July, (914) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Sinbaungwe Township in Magwe Region and Minkin Township in Sagaing Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when..
As of July 17, a total of (5281) people are currently under detention. (254) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
In the morning of July 16, Tin Ohn from Ayekayit village in Magwe Region’s Sinbaungwe Township, was shot over 15 times by the terrorist junta and died while he was working at sesame field when the junta did not find his son Yan Myo Aung, MP of No (1) Constituency of Sinbaungwe Township of Magwe Region, who was evading arrest because he did not sign to not support CRPH and NUG.
On July 16, the terrorist junta raided nearby villages including Inpinhla Village in Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township and shot Zwe Ko Ko from Inpinhla Village to death.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Myanmar.
New information:
The Observatory has been informed about the acts of torture while in custody and the ongoing judicial harassment against Man Zar Myay Mon, an environmental and land rights defender, member of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) [1] and of the Subnational Coordination Unit (SCU) of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) [2] in Sagaing Region.
According to a family member, Man Zar Myay Mon had his fingers broken during interrogation at the headquarters of the Tatmadaw’s Northwestern Command in Monywa, Sagaing Region, where he was detained following his arrest on June 8, 2021. At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, Man Zar Myay Mon was detained in Monywa prison, Sagaing Region.
On July 7, 2021, Man Zar Myay Mon appeared for his third hearing in the Monywa prison court. During this hearing, he was able to meet with his lawyers in person for the first time since his arrest. Man Zar Myay Mon is facing five charges of “incitement” under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code. Among those charges, it is unclear to which alleged actions by Man Zar Myay Mon the charges are related.
The Observatory recalls that Man Zar Myay Mon has worked for many years to promote accountability of the extractive industries for the benefit of local communities. He led a regional mining investigation and helped inform the development of mining legislation in Sagaing Region. Throughout this process he helped uncover many instances of corruption among government officials. He was also active as one of the community leaders in the Letpadaung mine protests in Sagaing Region [3]. Since February 2021, he led non-violent anti-coup protests in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region.
Since his arrest, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar expressed deep concern about Man Zar Myay Mon’s arrest.
The Observatory expresses its utmost concern regarding the torture to which Man Zar Myay Mon has been subjected during his detention and alerts on the high risk of further acts of ill-treatment and torture he is facing while in military custody. The Observatory urges the military junta to immediately release Man Zar Myay Mon, put an end to all acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against him, and guarantee in all circumstances his physical integrity and psychological well-being..."
Source/publisher:
International Federation for Human Rights
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
A new drafting committee for a “hate speech” “law” that includes much broader political “crimes” is another sign of the military’s intention to restrict freedom of expression in the long term.
Description:
"According to information received, on 21 May 2021 the military established a new drafting committee with a mandate to change an old draft “hate speech” bill first developed by the USDP government and then re-written by the NLD. The military’s internal notification includes a deeply concerning order that the scope of a new “law” should include not only religious and ethnic “hate speech”, but also political and social “hate speech”.
“Hate speech” is best defined as an expression of discriminatory hate towards people. “Hate speech” laws, where they conform to democratic standards, are intended to protect the safety and social equality of marginalised groups with “protected characteristics”, including for example, women, ethnic minorities, members of religious groups, or the disabled. “Hate speech” is best addressed through educational and social programmes promoting values of tolerance, with criminal laws only used against severe hate speech such as incitement or targeted threats.
There is no such thing as political “hate speech”. Political expression is an expression of a political opinion, often against a political opposition, and is a fundamental democratic act. Sometimes political expression can be heated or even offensive to the political interests involved, but it is about changing politics and the decisions that control people’s lives. In a democracy, leaders must accept that they are going to be criticised, sometimes unduly, and those who try to prevent political expression should be regarded as dictators.
Including political “hate speech” within the scope of the law is clearly intended to criminalise opposition to the coup.
Both the USDP and NLD governments developed a series of drafts of a “hate speech” law, which many have been demanding in order to address discrimination. Each of those drafts was seriously flawed, focusing mainly on punitive punishments rather than promoting tolerance and inclusion. Although political “hate speech” was not included in previous drafts, FEM and other organisations raised serious concerns that those drafts did include vague definitions which meant that if adopted the law could be misused to censor political expression. The NLD also issued an internal directive on “hate speech” which was also seriously flawed.
Since the coup began, the military has already undermined the rule of law, created new crimes to restrict the right to freedom of expression, and violently punished opposition voices. Given that the military is already detaining people arbitrarily, and already has a wide range of undemocratic laws to punish their opposition with, the adoption of yet another “law” may indicate a much longer term intention to embed censorship.
This statement does not include recommendations that would indirectly legitimise any unlawful authority. Nevertheless, all stakeholders should act where possible to raise awareness of and address the military’s further attacks on freedom of expression..."
Source/publisher:
Free Expression Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of Opinion and Expression - tools for change in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Updated 15 July 2021: As of 15 July, (912) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Pyi Gyi Dagun Township in Mandalay Region was killed on the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 15, a total of (5269) people are currently under detention. (254) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
Sithu, 16 years old, was shot dead as the terrorist junta opened fire into the crowd arguing among each other in Pyi Gyi Dagun Township, Mandalay Region on July 14.
Htwe Htwe Myint, NLD member of Aye Thar Yar Town in Shan State’s Taunggyi Township, was arrested at home under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code on July 12 by the terrorist junta for allegedly writing on Facebook criticizing the junta.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Junta authorities have attributed multiple detainees’ deaths to Covid-19, a designation that loved ones say is a final attempt to cover up the abuse they endured in military custody
Description:
"Protesters Soe San and Zaw Lin were not home when some 30 junta troops raided their homes in Te Su village, in Mandalay Region’s Wundwin Township, at midnight on June 28.
Unable to locate the men, the soldiers initially arrested Zaw Lin’s wife, then released her.
Maintaining their innocence and fearing the further terrorisation of their families, Soe San and Zaw Lin went to the hospital in the Wundwin Township village of Pindale the following afternoon to meet with the regime authorities stationed there.
“They didn’t do anything wrong, so they decided to meet with them to clear the air so that they would leave their families alone,” a local man from Te Su who was familiar with the arrest told Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity.
After spending less than one day in the junta’s custody, 44-year-old Soe San, who was also the chair of the National League for Democracy party's office in Te Su, was declared dead.
“I think they went too far with the interrogation and killed him,” another resident of Te Su village said.
Strangely, the local said, Soe San’s body was presented to his family sealed in plastic—the standard practice for a patient infected with Covid-19, but not a man who had died in police custody.
Soe San’s face was reportedly the only part of his body exposed at the funeral.
He was one of multiple people who have died in military custody since the February 1 coup and whose bodies were later concealed from their families under the junta’s claim that they had Covid-19 and were still contagious. If they could examine the victims, family members of the deceased say they believe their bodies would exhibit clear signs of torture.
“I think they went too far with the interrogation and killed him."
According to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Wednesday, there have been at least 911 civilians who have died at the hands of the military council since the coup. Of these, at least 30 died in detention.
The military council has repeatedly dismissed the AAPP’s figures as being exaggerated.
No Covid-19 tests are known to have been carried out in the junta’s interrogation centers, which are frequently outside of prisons. Those who have been imprisoned and released since the coup have reported that Covid-19 tests were not carried out in the prisons, either.....Interrogation at the hospital, police station: Soe San and Zaw Lin’s families were only notified that the men had been sent to Pindale police station at around midnight, after they had been interrogated at the hospital all afternoon and evening.
Soe San was reportedly sent back to the hospital after passing out at the police station.
The following morning, June 30, Soe San’s family was notified at 11am that he had died.
Their attempts to claim his body were in vain, the first Te Su villager said.
While the military council allowed them to hold a funeral for Soe San at the Wundwin cemetery on the afternoon of July 1, they forbade the family from taking photos of the body or posting about the ceremony on social media.
“They wrapped his body in plastic with just the face exposed. They didn’t directly tell the family that he died of Covid-19, but word got out,” the villager said.
Only 10 family members were allowed to attend the funeral, accompanied by around 30 heavily armed troops, including soldiers from the air force and military engineers.
Zaw Lin, who turned himself in along with Soe San, was released on bail on July 3. Residents of Wundwin said he was severely injured to the point that he was not able to dress himself.
Myanmar Now tried to contact the Pindale police station for comment on the arrests, death and allegations of torture, but the calls went unanswered.....A pattern of deaths: The military’s handling of Soe San’s death was reminiscent of that of 19-year-old Mai Nuam Za Thiang, in Kalay, Sagaing Region on June 23.
She was shot by troops while riding on the back of a motorcycle and died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
“Their post-mortem report said that the girl died of excessive bleeding. However, the body was sealed and returned to us with the claim that she had Covid-19,” a family member of Mai Nuam Za Thiang told Myanmar Now in June.
Again, citing a Covid-19 infection, the military forced her family to cremate her immediately.
“I think they wanted to hide something, so they used that label [of Covid-19]. We could see only the report they gave us, and her face, so we were forced to accept what they said,” her relative said at the time.
“Their post-mortem report said that the girl died of excessive bleeding. However, the body was sealed and returned to us with the claim that she had Covid-19."
Just two days later on June 26, 26-year-old farmer Salai Van Tha Cung, also known as Zaw Htet, was arrested for unknown reasons at the hostel where he was staying. He died within 24 hours in detention.
Salai Van Tha Cung was cremated immediately, again due to the claim that he was positive for Covid-19, despite showing no symptoms of the virus before his arrest, according to a close relative. The relative added that the victim had not been involved in the anti-coup movement.
Chin State-based media reported that on May 9, a 59-year-old farmer from Haka Township, Pu Tale Lein, was arrested by the military and died after two days in detention. Although a local church asked that his body be returned for burial, the junta authorities told them that he had already been cremated because he had been infected with Covid-19.
One of the earliest known examples of the junta blaming Covid-19 for the death of a detainee was in the case of 26-year-old Yar Zar Aung, who was shot in a crackdown on a protest in Mandalay and then taken into military custody on February 20.
Four days later, his family was informed that he had died in detention, allegedly from Covid-19.
Only four of his family members were allowed to attend his cremation, and from afar.
His wife, Phyu Phyu Win, told Myanmar Now on the day of the funeral that she did not believe Yar Zar Aung’s cause of death was the coronavirus, and felt that he had died as a result of injuries inflicted by the junta.
“We were only able to look at him from a distance, as they said he had died of Covid-19. When we attempted to take his body [from the hospital], they wouldn’t let us,” she said. “I’m upset. I’m not going to let this go.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, COVID-19 (Coronavirus), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"On 30 June, the junta prison department announced the release of over 2000 protestors arbitrarily detained since the coup.
AAPP began to diligently monitor and record these releases amid that disorder. However, in the 2 weeks since 30 June only around 400 of the releases have been identified. These supposed releases were immediately hampered by the hostility of the junta. There were not as many releases across the prisons on 30 June, and in the days since many of the supposed released remain in a torturous prison system.
The junta only announced how many prisoners were released by region or state but not how many were released from each prison, making it difficult to trace the exact number of prisoners released. The process was also beyond transparent, the junta deliberately spread misinformation about which day the prisoners would be released. It is because of the deliberate attempt to complicate oversight that there is discrepancy in the figure of recent releases.
Misleading information is a practice of this junta, in their submission to ASEAN leaders on 24 April in Jakarta, the terrorist-like SAC group alleged “A total of 9,948 persons detained from February 1 to April 15… As of now, we have 4,511 released, 5070 charged, and further 367 charged in near future”.
This was below AAPP’s identified figure as of 15 April that 4483 had been arrested since the coup and 3459 were actively under detention. Yet, AAPP has consistently identified our data as ‘at least’, detained or killed, and that our figures “will be likely be much higher” because of the conditions which led to so many of arrests across the country.
The documentation process is currently tough because of the situation on the ground, impact of COVID-19 is also deteriorating with limited access to information. The military cancelled prison visits and special court hearings by reason of COVID-19, including lawyers visits to their clients, making it difficult for them to understand conditions inside prison. The junta has also banned media and civil society organization including our organization AAPP.
This intends to restrict access to accurate information simultaneously as the junta is spreading misinformation about our organization. AAPP’s documentation includes precise names and other relevant data, as such our release lists can only be updated if the specific data is obtained.
Those who were released on 30 June were primarily youths, civilians and journalists, AAPP maintains that those who remain behind imprisoned will be tortured even more severely. The organization believes with evidence of past experience that those released have been tortured and intimidated from engaging with independent media and civil society.
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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101.03 KB
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Description:
"As of 14 July, (911) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (5) fallen heroes today. These (5) fallen heroes from Seikphyu Township in Magwe Region, Minkin and Kani Townships in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 14, a total of (5257) people are currently under detention. (254) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
On July 12, Lun Maung, a local palm farmer from Thayet Pin Village in Seikphyu Township in Magwe Region, was shot dead unprovoked by local junta police.
Locals from nearby villages including Zin Kalal village in Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township are fleeing the terrorist junta raids on villages. San Win from Zin Kalel Village, one of the villagers fleeing, was killed by the terrorist junta while he was returning to the village to bring rice on July 11. According to a local, his hands were placed behind his back and there were injuries on his face and heads from beatings consistent with torture. In addition to this, Myint Swe from Than Pauk Village in Minkin Township was killed by the terrorist junta on July 13.
On July 12, three teachers from Thar Ya Mae Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Myeik Township, who are involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), were arrested on the night of July 12 by the terrorist junta wearing plain clothes. These three teachers are primary school teacher Nyo Mar Lwin from Pa Htet Kyun Su High School, primary school teachers Zin Mar Lwin and Than Ei Ei Nyein from Sub Shwe Du Middle School. In addition to this, Naing Linn, a hundred households administrator from Thar Ya Mae Village, was arrested on the same night.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.26 MB 4.93 MB 1.5 MB 1.74 MB
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Description:
"Updated 13 July 2021: As of 13 July, (906) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (4) fallen heroes today. These (4) fallen heroes from Sub-MyoThit Township in Tamu District in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 13, a total of (5239) people are currently under detention. (252) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
Two teenagers were shot dead on spot, three arrested and one managed to escape when the terrorist junta opened fire on the six teenagers from Naungket village in Sub-MyoThit Township, Tamu District, Sagaing Region who were returning home from visiting a nearby village at 10pm on July 10. One of the three arrested teenagers was shot in the stomach and released on July 12. The two others were tortured to death in detention, it is not yet confirmed if they were the teenagers under-18. The four fallen teenagers were Ngam Chin Pso, 23 years old, Dou Kho Lel, 16 years old, Mang Gou, 17 years old, and Pao Gin Mang, 18 years old. The bodies were not returned to the families.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Size:
1.25 MB 4.98 MB 1.52 MB 1.75 MB
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Description:
"Updated 12 July 2021: As of 12 July, (902) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Chan Aye Tharzan Township in Mandalay Region, Kani Township in Sagaing Region and Thongwa Township in Yangon Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 12, a total of (5203) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
Hla Po, Yin Village in Sagaing Region’s Kani Township, who was arrested by the terrorist junta on July 8, died on July 9 due to torture in detention. According to locals, there were bruises from beatings on the whole body of Hla Po.
Khant Ko Ko Maung, a CDM policeman from the traffic police force in Chan Aye Tharzan Township in Mandalay Region, who was evading arrest in Kyi Kone village, Patheingyi Township, was shot dead from the back in the evening of July 10 when the terrorist junta opened fire while arresting him soon after a woman active in helping the CDM movement was detained.
Phoe Sal died due to with beatings consitent with torture on July 10 after his arrest by the junta on July 10 while he was searching for oxygen to help treat COVID-19 at Thongwa Township, Yangon Region.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Size:
1.24 MB 5.04 MB 1.74 MB 1.52 MB
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Description:
"Updated 10 July 2021: As of 10 July, (899) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 10, a total of (5173) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
68 year old Saw Kyi and 13 year old Zay Myo Satt, the mother and nephew of protester Kan Win from Pyin Gyi Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Launglon Township were arrested in the evening of July 6 as Kan Win is evading arrest despite terrorist junta searched his home frequently for staging protests.
Political activist Win Tun Naing from Pathein Township, who was evading arrest as a warrant was issued against him for his leading role in the anti-dictatorship protests in Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region, was arrested at a house in Shwepyitha Township, Yangon Region on June 28. He was interrogated at interrogation center 2 of Insein Prison for one week and then transferred on July 6 and now currently detained at Pathein Myoma Police Station.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-10
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.23 MB 1.51 MB 4.77 MB 1.79 MB
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"Updated 9 July 2021: As of 9 July, (899) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 9, a total of (5141) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
Phyo Hlaing Win from Sarkhar Village in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township, was shot dead unprovoked while he was passing in front of the old industrial hall where the terrorist junta’s troops had camped on the night of July 8 at Myingyan City.
In the early morning of July 6, the terrorist junta’s forces raided a tea shop which is located in Ohn Pin Chan Village in Mandalay Region’s Sintgaing Township and arrested tea shop owner Min Thu Tun, his 12 year old son Aung Swan Pyae, wife Tin Nwel Hlaing, the younger brother of Tin Newl Hlaing, and three waiters.
Marn Zar Myay Mon, a protest leader of Chaung-U Township in Sagaing Region, who was charged with five charges of Section 505(a) of a Penal Code, was tortured and his fingers were broken during interrogation.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma -- offensives, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Format :
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1.23 MB 4.71 MB 1.51 MB 1.75 MB
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Description:
"Camp Victoria, Myanmar (CNN)Full-throated they belt out songs of victory, their boots adding the drumbeat as ranks of new recruits jog in formation through their jungle training camp.
There's no doubting the shining eyes of these young people united by an ideal -- freedom from the junta that's smothered democracy in Myanmar.
Nor, perhaps, hiding from the dark tragedy that may await them.
They pour into Camp Victoria, the headquarters of the long-standing ethnic army of the Chin National Front (CNF) in western Myanmar, close to India's border. They defy attempts by the camp's leadership to suspend training because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many come from within the surrounding mountainous territory. But many others make the dangerous journey across a nation that's already riven with protests, army violence and oppression -- in search of military skills.
On the cusp of adulthood, these volunteers say they demonstrated against the military coup that swept away their civilian government in February. And as the junta's response has grown increasingly bloody, so they have taken up arms.
But any hope of singing songs of actual victory anytime soon are remote. Their leadership is warning of a long fight.
"Now it's a kind of an urban guerrilla-type (conflict) but within months it will transform into a conventional civil war," Suikhar, vice chairman of the CNF, tells CNN.
This bleak truth raises the prospect, indeed the probability, that Myanmar will descend into a protracted conflict where no victors emerge, and the country collapses.
In a report on the emerging civil war in Myanmar published at the end of June, the International Crisis Group (ICG), a transnational think tank, accused the military of using a strategy that targeted civilians to undermine militia support.
But the experts' prognosis for the civilian population was grim, too. "The coming period of national economic collapse, widespread poverty and deprivation will give them greater incentive to secure sources of revenue, either directly from locals or at their expense. These factors point to the likely emergence of new, sustained armed groups in these areas, following dynamics witnessed many times over the decades of insurgency in various parts of Myanmar," the report said.
Suikhar insisted that his movement and the Chinland Defence Force, which are also being trained at Camp Victoria, were led by Myanmar's National Unity Government.
This exiled administration that exists largely, for now, in name only, is a loose alliance of anti-junta forces and has no command or control authority over the armed groups inside Myanmar itself.
And for the new graduates from the jungle training camp, there may be a bitter end to the romantic vision of a fight for freedom.
Anxious to hear how outsiders saw the conflict unfolding, a young fighter, a former journalist and graduate from the University of Yangon explained that he was the commander of what started out as a 10-person group specially trained in urban guerrilla warfare.
"At least, I did command 10 people. Now there are only seven. I lost three last week when they were carrying a homemade bomb to use against the junta. It blew up in their hands. They all died on the spot," he says.
He's been ordered by his superiors in the Chinland Defence Force back to Camp Victoria for a break after this blooding. In a few days he was in a new black uniform and undergoing more specialist training. His eyes now shone with cold determination, not hope.
Stalemate is not victory
But the junta army is striking back ruthlessly, analysts say.
"The Tatmadaw is using its long-established 'four cuts' counter-insurgency strategy in these areas, a cruel approach that deliberately targets civilians in an effort to deprive insurgents of food, funds, recruits and intelligence on troop movements (hence the four cuts). Attacks on populated areas are an integral part of this strategy, along with the looting of food stores and denial of relief supplies, in clear violation of international humanitarian law," the ICG alleges.
The strategy is well enough known around Camp Victoria, where civilians are leaving outlying villages for small refugee encampments, or safety in Indian communities across the Tiau River. Most of the refugees are women, children and the old. They all left their villages for the same reasons.
"I am really afraid of the Myanmar military because they're very nasty and they are a brutal military. Twenty years ago the military tortured my son in my own house. They hit him on the head. There was blood all over his head and that's why I am really afraid of them," said Tial Song, an elderly woman who was sitting under the orange plastic sheeting of a newly erected shelter.
"How long will be you a refugee?" CNN asked Chanlal, Song's neighbor on this muddy hillside.
"As long as the military rules over us," he replies.
Beyond the outer defenses of Camp Victoria, the mountains of Chin State leap in near-vertical waves of thick jungle. Travel is on precipitous mountain passes along tiny mud tracks.
Locals, many of them experienced hunters, have the edge over invading armies. They also have the mass intelligence network of their own communities, with fighters receiving live updates of enemy troops movements from village agents all over the state.
But these advantages alone won't help the anti-junta forces survive. Stalemate is not victory.
An unlikely jungle guerrilla
Getting in, or out, of the Chin-controlled zone is a grueling test of endurance. It often involves entire days of back-breaking bouncing along the mud-slickened tracks on the back of small Chinese-made motorbikes. These little 125cc workhorses are the mules of the modern era, carrying fighters, ammunition and food to far-flung camps run by the Chinland Defence Force.
One of these camps that CNN visited sits close to a jungle trail, with a small network of bunkers and dormitory tents for the volunteers. It may be their home and fighting base for many months to come.
John Ling gave up his history studies at the University of Yangon to join the insurgency. Swapping the classroom for a hilltop camp, he's the administrator, or quartermaster, for about 150 other volunteers. A slightly built man of 22, Ling's an unlikely jungle guerrilla.
"Aren't you afraid of being killed?" CNN asks him. "No, because I stand for my country," he replies -- adding that his parents are not worried about him, but proud of the stand that he's taken.
It may be noble -- but it's also open-ended.
The armory is an A-framed tent of plastic sheeting and tree trunks. Its precious contents, dozens of shotguns designed for shooting birds, are lined up along each wall. On the floor, a log fire burns to keep the damp out, and rust off the guns.
Suikhar, the Chin National Front vice chairman, is adamant that these fighters will soon be supplied with automatic firearms, such as AK-47s.
"There are international smugglers. ... You can get weapons anywhere," he insists, but is opaque about how those weapons would be paid for.
"People donate, raise the funds. So I don't think that money will be a problem."
Many armed groups in Myanmar have relied for decades on smuggling, especially drugs like heroin and methamphetamines, to fund their insurgencies. And the longer they depend on local populations, the greater the chances are that civilians will be burdened by graft, protection rackets or simple taxation by rebel armies.
The CNF says it believes it's one of 16 ethnic armies, and hopes for cooperation among them against a common enemy -- all in the name of "democracy and federalism."
Young citizens have flocked to this ideal; it was the thwarting of a democratic future that drove so many young people into the forests with guns. But the future length of their war, indeed whether they win or lose, may depend less on the young people of the opposition than on the young soldiers and officers being sent to fight them from the national army.
The quickest end to fighting rests in a "young officers' coup" against the brutality and corruption of the generals who returned to power in February. The Chin leadership knows this..."
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Defenders, Several Groups, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Updated 8 July 2021: As of 8 July, (898) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Waimaw Township in Kachin State was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 8, a total of (5127) people are currently under detention. (247) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
Mee from Makhawyan Village in Mainer Village Tract in Kachin State’s Waimaw Township was shot to death while she was selling fruit, when junta troops op
ened fire on a car which did not stop on the evening of July 7 at Waimaw Township.
On the night of July 6, Aye Min Thein, who is the father of Aung Khant Hphone, Hlegu Township student union member, was arrested when the terrorist junta did not find Aung Khant Hphone at his home in Yangon Region’s Hlegu Township. Maung Maung and Kyi Thar Maung Maung, the father and younger brother of Khin Marlar Maung Maung, Constituency 2 Regional MP of Hlegu Township in Yangon Region, were arrested by the terrorist junta on the night of July 6.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
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Size:
1.23 MB 4.65 MB 1.73 MB 1.5 MB
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Description:
"As Myanmar heads towards a new civil war, the police are coming under intense pressure to decide which side they are on.
Since the military coup on 1 February, police have been used to brutally suppress mass protests.
Some protesters have taken up arms to fight back, forming civilian militias called the People’s Defence Force.
The BBC has been given rare access to the first group of police officers who defected and joined the people’s side.
Some of those officers now say they’re prepared to use their weapons against their former colleagues..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Telenor declares it will pull out of Myanmar and hand over its infrastructure to the M1 Group, a company on a UK advocacy group’s blacklist for its dealings with the military
Description:
"Telecommunications provider Telenor announced on Thursday that it had entered into an agreement to sell its Myanmar operations to the M1 Group for US$105m.
The agreement, which is pending regulatory approval, allows for M1 to acquire all of Telenor Myanmar’s licences, contracts, employees and customers.
Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of the Norwegian company Telenor Group, said in a statement on Thursday that the company’s decision to leave Myanmar was based on the “increasingly challenging” context of working in the country in recent months.
The announcement came days after the Telenor Group said it was considering pulling out of Myanmar.
Following the February 1 military coup, Myanmar’s junta cut off mobile and internet connections nationwide and has continued to restrict access in a bid to stifle massive popular resistance to its rule.
“We have evaluated all options and believe a sale of the company is the best possible solution in this situation,” Brekke said in the statement, adding that the sale to the M1 Group would “ensure continued operations.”
Activist group Justice for Myanmar described the move as “a further nail in the coffin” for the “prospects for freedom of expression and the right to privacy in Myanmar,” which the group said had been destroyed in the attempted coup.
“The lives of activists and journalists are put at even more risk from Telenor’s planned, irresponsible exit from Myanmar,” Justice for Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung told Myanmar Now, adding, “The people of Myanmar must now be more vigilant in regards to military surveillance and the weaponisation of telecommunications.”
The M1 Group was founded and is run by Lebanon’s former prime minister, billionaire Najib Mikati, and his brother Taha Mikati and nephew Azmi Mikati.
The Mikati family history, which includes corruption charges in Lebanon and a pattern of investing in telecoms infrastructure in authoritarian contexts, should be “alarming” to the people of Myanmar, Yadanar Maung said.
M1 has been listed on the Burma Campaign UK’s “Dirty List” of companies with ties to the Myanmar military since August 2019. Director Mark Farmaner told Myanmar Now that M1 was included for being a major shareholder in Irrawaddy Green Towers, Ltd. (IGT)—the largest telecom towers company in Myanmar, founded in 2014—which also has links to telecoms provider Mytel, a joint venture with the military.
In December 2020 it was announced that IGT would be sold to CVC Capital Partners Asia. However, the nearly $400m loan CVC Capital Partners Asia required for the acquisition was reportedly “put on hold” after Myanmar’s coup.
“If M1 sold their interest in IGT, they would be removed from the list. They have not replied to our letters and emails,” Farmaner said.
At least one member of M1’s leadership still serves on IGT’s board of directors, according to IGT’s website and its listing on the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration in Myanmar.
During genocidal military operations against the Rohingya population of Rakhine State in August 2017, eyewitnesses reported that a tower constructed by IGT and leased to Telenor was used by Myanmar army soldiers as a sniper post from which to shoot fleeing Rohingya villagers in Alethankyaw, Maungdaw Township.
Telenor is one of four telecommunications operators in Myanmar and has around 18 million subscribers. It entered the market in 2014, when the military-backed government first allowed foreign investment in the industry.
The company wrote off the value of its Myanmar operation—once $782m—in May, saying the worsening security and human rights situation in the country showed “limited prospects of improvement.” ..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Updated 7 July 2021: AAPP will not be publishing a briefing, detention, or fatality lists on Sunday’s moving forward.
As of 7 July, (897) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Kale Township in Sagaing Region was killed today and (2) from Hopin Town in Kachin State and Kawlin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 7, a total of (5120) people are currently under detention. (246) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
In the morning of July 7, Aye Min, from Pauk Khone village, Kale Township in Sagaing Region, was shot dead in the head by terrorist junta’s troops who came into Hto Mar Village near Kale Town where Aye Min worked in a rice mill as a carpenter. On the night of July 6, Ba Gyan, a civilian who was returning home from a farm by driving an Ox cart in Ywar Thit Gyi village in Hopin Town, Kachin State, was shot dead in the back after being accused of not stopping his cart. In the morning of July 5, Thay Thay, a civilian, was shot in the stomach by junta troops and died on spot when she was on the bike with her son at Kawlin Township in Sagaing Region.
Chit Min Hlaing, a citizen journalist based in Pakokku City, Sagaing Region, who was arrested and charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code in April, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on July 6. In addition to this, Poet Thway Nay a.k.a Nay Linn Htet from Tada-U Town in Mandalay Region, was sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. Poet Thway Nay was shot and arrested when he drove protesters with his motorbike when the terrorist junta cracked down on a protest in Mandalay on March 27.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
Language:
Format :
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Size:
1.23 MB 5.64 MB 2.11 MB 1.57 MB
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Description:
"Madam President,
The European Union thanks the Special Rapporteur for his oral update as requested by this Council last March. The EU attaches critical importance to your mandate, Mr. Andrews, and would like to acknowledge your continued efforts to document the human rights situation on the ground. We call on Myanmar to resume immediate cooperation with your mandate and grant unrestricted access throughout the country.
The EU shares your serious concerns, Mr. Andrews, about the worsening human rights situation in Myanmar, following the military coup on 1 February, which the EU continues to condemn in the strongest terms. Since the coup, the Myanmar junta and its security forces have increased their brutal repression of peaceful protests across the country, leaving large scores of unarmed citizens dead or wounded. The escalation of military attacks against citizens, including those belonging to ethnic minorities, has resulted in an unprecedented number of displaced persons since the 2016 events in Rakhine state. .
Through its actions, the security forces have shown a blatant disregard for international law, and must be held to account. Violence will not give legitimacy to the illegal over-throwing of the democratically-elected Government.
The EU reiterates its calls to the Myanmar armed forces: These acts of violence against the people of Myanmar must stop and the rights of Myanmar citizens must be guaranteed.
The five-point consensus reached at the Leaders’ Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta on 24 April is a positive and important first step to begin a process of de-escalation and the return to the democratic transition in Myanmar/Burma. The European Union underlines the need for their swift and faithful implementation.
In this regard, how do you see, Mr. Andrews, the cooperation between your mandate and the Special Envoy due to be appointed under the five point consensus?..."
Source/publisher:
Delegation of the European Union to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, European Union-Burma relations (commentary/analysis), Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Updated 5 July 2021:
AAPP will not be publishing a briefing, detention, or fatality lists on Sunday’s moving forward.
As of 5 July, (892) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Monywa Township and Kanbalu Township in Sagaing Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 5, a total of (5၀85) people are currently under detention. (240) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
On July 4 in Mandalay, four people including Myat Thu, a protest leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), were arrested by the terrorist junta’s troops while they were at home. Myo Min Soe a.k.a Poe Hat, a village administrator of Pein Ne Kwin Village Tract of Ayeyarwady Region’s Kyangin Township, was arrested by junta on July 1.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
1.22 MB 4.62 MB 1.28 MB
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Description:
"Updated 6 July 2021:
AAPP will not be publishing a briefing, detention, or fatality lists on Sunday’s moving forward.
As of 6 July, (894) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from South Dagon Township and Hlaingthaya Township in Yangon Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 6, a total of (5၀94) people are currently under detention. (241) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
On the night of July 5, Khin Kyaw a.k.a Mae Gyi from South Dagon Township in Yangon Region, who is a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was shot dead by a pro-junta group called “Pyu Saw Htee”. Khin Kyaw’s dead body was then collected by the terrorist junta from his home.
On July 4, Aung Gyi, a reporter at Myaelatt Athan News Agency, and his 80 years old father San Maung, executive member of NLD of Paungde Township, Bago Region, were arrested on July 4 in relation to the murder of a pro- junta informer in Paungde Town.
Theint Sandi Soe, a third year university student majoring in Law, who was arrested as a hostage when the terrorist junta did not find his father, protest leader of Mogoke Town Soe Htay. Theint Sandi Soe suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and is not being allowed to receive medical treatment for this serious health condition.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
1.22 MB 4.6 MB 1.28 MB
more
Description:
"From tomorrow onwards, AAPP will not publish a briefing, detention, and fatality lists on Sunday’s.
As of 3 July, (890) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 3, a total of (5၀86) people are currently under detention. (233) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia.
Total 65 sentenced to death in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
On the night of July 2 at Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region, Moe Hein, a high school teacher at a private school, and his wife Su Su Hlaing, both were former executive members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myingyan Township, were shot to death by a pro-junta group called “Pyu Saw Htee”
Pwint Wai, a nurse, from Shan Inn Village in Sagaing Region’s Kalaywa Township, who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested by junta police in the evening of July 2. Nyein Chan Wai from Bago Weekly Journal, who was charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, was also charged under Section 124(a) of the Penal Code. He was arrested at his home in Bago Region’s Letpadan Township on the night of May 14.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Size:
1.24 MB 4.68 MB
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Description:
"As of 2 July, (888) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. oup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Monywa Township in Sagaing Region, Pyay Township and Shwedaung Township in Bago Region were killed on the previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of July 2, a total of (5173) people are currently under detention. (233) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia.
Total 65 sentenced to death in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees.
A youth named Thiha Zaw a.k.a. Nge Lay, who helped people injured during a bomb blast at a factory in Monywa Industry Zone, Sagaing Region, was arrested on the afternoon of July 1. Thiha Zaw’s body was returned on the evening of July 1.
The family was informed on July 1 that a civilian named Soe Min from Bago Region’s Pyay Township, who was arrested on the night of June 29 due to a junta informer who alleged Soe Min destroyed Mya Village School. The body of Soe Min was found with injuries consistent with torture, including bruises over his thigh and body, and electric shock wounds.
In addition to this, Aung Aung Lwin, a 19-year-old, arrested on the night of June 28 due to a junta informer in Shwedaung Township, Bago Region, was tortured to death in interrogation. His body was cremated by the junta on July 1 without being allowed to be seen by the family.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
1.22 MB 1.16 MB 4.78 MB
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Sub-title:
Wrongful Prosecutions Violate Rights to Counsel, Fair Trial of Accused
Description:
" Myanmar’s security forces have recently arbitrarily arrested at least six lawyers defending political prisoners, violating both the lawyers’ rights and those of their clients, Human Rights Watch said today. The arrests deprive defendants of their counsel of choice and the right to a fair trial and undermine the principle of the independence of the legal profession.
“The Myanmar junta’s wrongful arrest and prosecution of lawyers sends a chilling message that defending those arrested since the February 1 coup may lead to criminal prosecution,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal advisor. “Lawyers should be permitted to do their jobs without fear of arrest and intimidation.”
At least three of the lawyers have been arrested while attending court:
On May 24, 2021, security forces arrested Thein Hlaing Tun, a lawyer defending the deposed Naypyitaw council head Dr. Myo Aung, after a court hearing in the case in Naypyitaw.
On May 27, security forces arrested Ayar Linn Htut while she was defending a political prisoner at Hinthada District Court, in Ayeyarwady Region.
On June 2, security forces arrested Thet Tun Oo as he tried to attend a trial for one of his clients in Myitkyina. Thet Tun Oo is defending more than 120 political prisoners in Kachin State.
The authorities have arrested other lawyers at home, on the street, or as they sought to leave the country. Security forces beat and arrested May Zun Ko, a lawyer providing pro bono legal services for detainees, as she walked down the street in Mandalay on May 1. On June 10, security forces arrested Nilar and Hpone Myat Thu, part of the defense team for the deposed Kayin state chief minister, as they tried to leave the country after learning of outstanding warrants for their arrest.
Some of the lawyers have been charged with violating section 505A of the Penal Code, a new provision put in place by the junta that makes it a criminal offense to make 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 by up to three years in prison.
Targeting lawyers for their work defending political prisoners contravenes the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, Human Rights Watch said. Under the Basic Principles, lawyers must be permitted to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference, and should not be subject to civil or criminal penalties for good faith statements made in defense of their clients.
The clients of the arbitrarily arrested lawyers who themselves are in custody are being denied their right to be represented by counsel of their choice and to have a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said.
“Arresting defense lawyers makes it abundantly clear that Myanmar’s junta has no interest in providing a fair trial for pro-democracy activists and that justice under military rule is an illusion,” Lakhdhir said. “The United Nations and concerned governments should demand the immediate release of the six lawyers, along with all of those arbitrarily detained since the coup.”..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-07-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
more
Description:
"As of 30 June, (884) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Pyigyidagun Township in Mandalay Region was killed on a previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 30, a total of (5210) people are currently under detention; of them (222) are sentenced. 1965 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
The terrorist junta announced that on June 30, they will release over 2000 students and civilians who were arbitrarily detained and charged in prisons across the country after the coup. The names of today’s released detainees have not been immediately available to compile, we will continue to add the released names when confirmed.
In the morning of June 28, a civilian named Wai Phyo Aung was shot dead on spot by the terrorist junta when he went to look at a dispute over land in Pyigyidagun Township, Mandalay Region. His body was taken by the junta and his family was only shown a photo.
On the morning of June 29 in Yangon Region’s North Okkalapa Township, eight family members including lawyer Wai Wai Khaing were arrested when the terrorists did not find his son, a judge who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), when they came and searched to arrest him at home. Police Sub-Lieutenant Jorny a.k.a Thura from Chanayethazan Township Police Station in Mandalay Region, who was arrested for his involvement in CDM, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on June 7.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
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Size:
1.21 MB 4.66 MB 1.08 MB
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Description:
"Bonjour!
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dear respected members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of
Defenses and Armed Forces of the Senate, the Parliament of France, I cannot thank you
enough for giving me this great opportunity again to represent my people and country of
Myanmar before the French Parliamentarians. I am so moved by seeing and hearing the
strong support from the People, Parliament and Government of France for the liberation and
freedom of the people of Myanmar from the hands of the military junta and for the building
of an inclusive Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar for All of the people of Myanmar
regardless of race, religion, gender, culture, background and ethnicities.
The brave people of Myanmar and the National Unity Government of Myanmar greatly
appreciate the People, Parliament and Government of the French Republic for your solidarity
with us at this darkest of hours in the history of our country. I once again would like to
reiterate our sincere gratitude for your leadership in the EU, UN and at G7 on behalf of the
people of Myanmar. Thank you for the recognition of CRPH and NUG as representing the
voices of the people of Myanmar and thank you for joining countries that have imposed an
arms embargo in solidarity against the ruthless military junta in Myanmar. While the future
of Myanmar is in the hands of the brave people of Myanmar, we need the strong and
continued support, friendship and recognition from the people, Parliamentarians, and
Government of France and its international alliance. Your support and recognition are
absolutely crucial in stopping the crimes against humanity in Myanmar and ending the
military General’s reign of terror against the innocent people of Myanmar who’s only 'crime'
is expressing their fundamental rights as human beings. The defense and armed forces are
established in the countries around the world to protect their people and to defend freedom
and democracy, but the defense and armed forces in Myanmar are doing the opposite. They
are using their battlefield weapons to destroy our freedom and democracy by killing the
innocent people of Myanmar and bringing destruction to civilian homes, villages, towns and
cities across the Nation of Myanmar.
Under the hands of terrorist-turned-armed forces leader, Min Aung Hlaing and his military
junta gang, the innocent people of Myanmar have been facing the crises of crimes against
humanity, Covid-19 and a great humanitarian catastrophe. Under the brutality of the military
junta in Myanmar, Covid-19 cases are rising rapidly and out of control - the country is quickly
becoming a failed state; the economy is collapsing along with the healthcare system,
education system, and all basic services in the country are failing quickly. Food insecurity is
rising sharply, violence and killing continues day and night. The 54 million people of
Myanmar are facing the darkness of crimes against humanity, death and destruction which
are becoming both systematic and widespread.
Since the failed coup was instigated on the 1st of February 2021 in Myanmar, the military
junta forces have murdered over 915 people, including 72 children, unlawfully arrested and
detained more than 6,200 innocent Myanmar people including our elected leaders, our State
Counsellor, Daw San Suu Kyi, Mr. President U Win Myint and dozens of brave journalists,
hunting down more than 2,000 innocent civilians and forcing them to flee from illegal arrest
warrants. All these charges are a farce which has nothing to do with rule of law but has
everything to do with the destruction of our freedom, democracy and prolonging of the
military junta reign of terror in Myanmar.
On the 16th of June 2021, the military junta committed another crime against humanity by
burning down the entire village of Kinma (over 250 homes) and burning elderly people to
death who were trapped inside their homes. This is not a first, however, as this military junta
is guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing against the Rohinga
our brothers and sisters, the people of Karen, Kachin, Kayah, Shan, Mon, Rakhine, Chin
States which account for over 40% of the population of Myanmar. We have made our policy
and position strong and clear to bring justice for our Rohingya brothers and sisters and to
hold the military generals accountable for the crimes against humanity that they have
committed against the people of Myanmar. There shall never again be impunity for these
criminals.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 1.2 million
civilians are currently displaced by the violence caused by the military junta’s reign of terror.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is predicting that over half of the
population of Myanmar (approximately 27 million people) will be living in poverty within a
year. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is predicting that more than 6.4 million
people in Myanmar are going to face starvation by the end of October 2021. We cannot
allow the normalization of 1.2 million Myanmar people being violently forced to flee from
their homes because of a military dictator’s thirst for power. We cannot allow the
normalization of 6.4 million Myanmar people being forced into starvation; we cannot allow
the normalization of 27 million people in Myanmar being forced into extreme poverty
because of the greed of military Generals in Myanmar.
The brutal military junta forces are attacking civilian homes, properties, villages, towns and
cities across Myanmar with heavy battlefield weapons. They have occupied churches,
schools, community halls and hospitals to use as barracks and supply depots. These junta
forces are replacing textbooks and pencils with the terror of fear, violence, guns and bullets;
replacing Bibles and hymnals with intimidation, oppression, mortars and bombs; and
replacing life-saving hospital equipment with weapons of torture, destruction and death.
It is not normal that classrooms are being occupied by junta soldiers, and that the school
children are being forced to flee for their lives; nor is it normal that places of worship and
community centers are being occupied by the junta forces, and that the communities,
pastors, monks, and leaders are being forced to flee for their lives. It is not normal that our
hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, banks, and economy is crashing due to this military reign of terror..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Human Rights and international relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
230.65 KB
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Description:
"As of 29 June, (883) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 29, a total of (5224) people are currently under detention; of them (222) are sentenced. 1988 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the afternoon of June 28 in Puta-O Township, Kachin State, Yinn Htan Htal Yam, brother-in-law of a youth the junta police and soldiers came to detain, was arrested as hostage when they did not find the youth they were looking for due to reporting by a pro-junta informer. In addition to this, in the morning of June 28, Aye Aye Myint, wife of, and Hnin Ei Ei San, 14-year-old daughter of a civilian named Tun Wai were arrested as hostage when terrorist junta did not find Tun Wai at his home at Htauk Kyant Village in Kale Township, Sagaing Region.
Aung Soe, a technology student, charged under Section 505(a) and (c) of Penal Code, was sentenced to three years imprisonment by the special court in Dawei Prison, Tanintharyi Region on June 28.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
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Size:
1.21 MB 4.68 MB 1006.26 KB
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Description:
"Under the watch of Min Aung Hlaing’s failed coup and his military junta regime in Myanmar,
Covid 19 cases are rising hugely hourly and is out of control- the country is quickly becoming
a failed state; the economy is collapsing along with the healthcare system, education
system, and all basic services in the country are failing quickly. Food insecurity is rising
sharply, violence and killing continues day and night, and humanitarian catastrophe is
becoming widespread. Normalization of crimes against humanity and war crimes are being
attempted by the oppressive and brutal military junta that the 54 million people of Myanmar
are facing. This is the darkest moment in the history of Myanmar. The people of Myanmar
are facing the real darkness of crimes against humanity, death and destruction which are
both systematic and widespread.
Since the failed coup started on the 1st of February 2021, in Myanmar, the military junta
forces have murdered over 915 people, including 72 children (52 cases have been verified).
The brave people of Myanmar will never allow the normalization of the murder of innocent
civilians, and it is a matter of justice and accountability. The illegal military junta forces have
unlawfully arrested and detained more than 6,200 innocent Myanmar people without cause,
including our elected leaders, our State Counsellor, Daw San Suu Kyi, Mr. President U Win
Myint and dozens of brave journalists. The military junta has been hunting down more than
2,000 innocent civilians and forcing them to flee from illegal arrest warrants, for the mere
'CRIME' of expressing their fundamental and universal human rights.
The illegal military junta committed another crime against humanity on the 16th of June,
2021 by burning down the entire village of Kinma (over 250 homes), in Sagaing Region of
Myanmar, and burning elderly people to death who were trapped inside their homes. This is
not a first, however, as this military junta is guilty of war crimes, genocide, crimes against
humanity, and ethnic cleansing against the people of Karen, Kachin, Kayah, Shan, Mon,
Rakhine, Chin States, our Rohinga brothers and sisters who account for over 40% of the
population of Myanmar.
This violence we are seeing instigated by the military junta in Myanmar is both systematic
and widespread. The brutal junta forces are attacking civilians’ homes, properties, villages,
towns and cities across Myanmar with heavy battlefield weapons. They have occupied
churches, schools, community halls and hospitals to use as barracks and supply depots.
These junta forces are replacing textbooks and pencils with the terror of fear, violence, guns
and bullets; replacing Bibles and hymnals with intimidations, oppressions, mortars and bombs; and replacing life-saving hospital equipment with weapons of tortures, destruction
and death.
It is not normal that classrooms are being occupied by junta soldiers, and that the school
children are being forced to flee for their lives; nor is it normal that places of worship and
community centers are being occupied by the junta forces, and that the communities,
pastors, monks, and leaders are being forced to flee for their lives. It is not normal that our
hospitals, colleges, universities, banks, and economy is crashing due to this military reign of
terror. It is not normal that our teachers, tutors, professors, doctors, nurses, midwives,
engineers, scholars and civil servants are being forced to flee for their lives because of their
peaceful movement of CDM which is more powerful than all the military junta’s acts of
terrorism against the people of Myanmar.
According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 1.2 million
civilians are currently displaced by the violence caused by the military junta’s reign of terror.
There is nothing normal about 1.2 million innocent civilians in Myanmar being forced to flee
their homes due to this oppressive military junta.The United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) is predicting that over half of the population of Myanmar (approximately 27 million
people) will be living in poverty within a year. There is nothing normal about 27 million
innocent civilians in Myanmar facing harsh poverty. The United Nations World Food Program
(WFP) is predicting that more than 6.4 million people in Myanmar are going to face starvation
by the end of October 2021. There is nothing normal about 6.4 million innocent civilians
dying from starvation and thirst. It will be heart breaking to count the number of deaths
caused by not only the deepening crisis of violence, but also by the tragedy of poverty and
hunger that has begun directly because of the terroristic actions of this brutal military junta
in Myanmar.
We cannot allow the normalization of 1.2 million Myanmar people being violently forced to
flee from their homes because of a military dictator’s thirst for power. We cannot allow the
normalization of 6.4 million Myanmar people being forced into starvation, nor can we allow
the normalization of 27 million people in Myanmar being forced into extreme poverty
because of the greed of a few old generals.
The military junta’s brutality and cruelties against the doctors, nurses, health workers,
teachers and civil servants who are simply expressing their fundamental rights by joining the
peaceful movement of civil disobedience - CDM - have been increasing. We, the NUG again
denounce and condemn this illegal and illegitimate military junta and their acts of terrorism
against this most peaceful CDM movement. This unacceptable reign of terror, harassment,
tortures, intimidations and violence against the peaceful movement of CDM must be
stopped at once. The legal and legitimate government of Myanmar, the National Unity
Government (NUG) has now successfully established 16 Ministries with responsible
Ministers, and out of these 16 Ministries of NUG, 11 Ministries have built websites and pages
in order to serve the best interest of our people for whom and by whom the NUG was elected
and formed.
The NUG is looking out for the best interest of the people of Myanmar, and in doing so we
have waived all land fees and charges for all rented lands in the areas of Myanmar's natural resources. These attempts are to cut off all revenue belonging to the people of Myanmar
from going into the hands of this illegitimate military regime 'SAC'. At the same time, I want
to take this opportunity to appeal to the International Communities that the people of
Myanmar have put strong sanctions against the military junta on the ground. They are
putting themselves in harsh conditions, for they know that these harsh conditions are
temporary, and that freedom and federal democracy means everlasting peace, prosperity,
and stability. Therefore, it’s time for the International Communities to sanction all stateowned
enterprises such as Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprises (MOGE) and other revenue
streams which are the main income sources for the military junta to buy more weapons in
order to kill more innocent people in Myanmar.
We have produced very important leaflets on how to prepare emergency kits for families
and individuals, and these are made available to all the public. We have done this because
of the increase of internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a direct result of the military junta
forces acts of terrorism against the peaceful and innocent people of Myanmar. We are doing
everything we can to relief our people who have suffered so much for far too long.
The acts of terrorism against Mandalay City, the second largest and most populated city in
Myanmar, and the crimes against humanity and war crimes we have seen in Kinma, village
of Pauk Township, Pakokhu District, Sagaing Division, Demoso and other places in Kayah
State, and Mindat and other parts of Chin State have shown strong evidence that the military
junta in Myanmar is openly committing crimes against humanity and war crimes against the
civilian population in Myanmar. The acts of terrorism by the military junta in Myanmar are
leading the whole Nation into a civil bloodbath, a great civil war and another genocide. Day
after day, these nationwide peaceful protests, boycotts and strikes which are completely
non-violent have been cracked down on by the oppressive military junta with bloodstained
heavy battlefield weapons that have been secured from China, Russia and other countries
with the money that has been stolen from the same gas and oil enterprise and our natural
resources..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
121.85 KB
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Description:
"Myanmar's military junta is using torture to extract information from detainees on the whereabouts of senior opposition members and activist leaders, according to an American citizen and journalist who was recently released from a Yangon prison.
Nathan Maung, 44, was detained for more than three months in Myanmar before being deported to the United States on June 15. During that time, he said he endured two weeks in a secretive military-run interrogation center in the country's biggest city Yangon.
Speaking to CNN Business on Wednesday from Washington, DC, Nathan Maung described his time in the facility as "hell" and said he prepared himself to die there, believing the soldiers would kill him.
He is one of more than 6,200 people arrested since Myanmar's military, led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, seized power in a coup on February 1, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and embarked on a bloody crackdown on dissent and on any perceived opposition to its rule. Mass street protests have been suppressed with deadly force.
Former inmates, lawyers and family members of those held have previously told CNN the detainees have been subjected to torture during interrogation and held out of contact from loved ones. Some — including members of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) Party — have died while in custody, their bodies showing signs of brutal torture.
CNN Business has reached out to Myanmar's military for comment.
Despite months of escalating violence, the junta has said it is using restraint against what it called "riotous protesters," who it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.
Nathan Maung is co-founder and editor in chief of the Myanmar online news site Kamayut Media. He was arrested on March 9 alongside co-founder and news producer Hanthar Nyein, 39, as security forces raided their office.
Though now living in the United States, Nathan Maung said he is "not happy" and feels an overwhelming guilt he was released because of his American citizenship, while his friend and colleague Hanthar Nyein, a Myanmar national, remains incarcerated in the notorious Insein Prison.
"We've been through the hell together. So, we should be released together," Nathan Maung said, his voice cracking with emotion. "I really want him to know that we are not forgetting him. He's not alone."
Danny Fenster, another American journalist who was prevented from boarding a flight out of Myanmar on May 24, remains in detention, also in Insein Prison.
Weeks of 'hell'
Nathan Maung knew something was wrong when a convoy of military trucks full of soldiers pulled up outside Kamayut Media's office in Yangon. Security forces barged through the door and raided the office, seizing equipment and taking Nathan Maung and Hanthar Nyein with them as they left.
"They sent us to the interrogation center in Mingaladon," he said, referring to a suburb of Yangon.
There, Nathan Maung said they were beaten, denied water for two days and food for three. They were handcuffed and blindfolded nearly the entire two weeks they were there, he said.
"They started with a blindfold and handcuffs and then started questioning. They kicked our face, hands and shoulder, all the time. For every answer, they beat us. Whatever we answered — whether correctly or incorrectly — they beat us. For three days, non-stop," he said.
Nathan Maung said the facility had five houses and one big office. Within the buildings, he said, there were four interrogation cells. He said his blindfold was removed on his final day there so he got a look at the room and the buildings.
"In the room there is a CCTV camera, there's no bed, only a small table and a chair so you sit all day and night," he said. "You are blindfolded and there is no time to sleep. They won't let you. They put the handcuffs in front so you can try and sleep like that, but every five minutes they show up and start the questioning."
This torture carried on for eight days, during which the detainees would be moved between the houses and cells.
His colleague Hanthar Nyein bore the brunt of the torture, Nathan Maung said.
"Hanthar was badly treated because he was Burmese national. He had to kneel down on the ground for like two days. His skin was burnt with a cigarette," he said.
Nathan Maung believes the soldiers were pressuring Hanthar Nyein to hand over his phone password, which would give them access to his encrypted communications and phone records with high profile opposition and activist leaders.
For days, Hanthar Nyein held out from revealing the password, offering them false numbers in the hope his phone would automatically lock anyone out of using it. But the final straw came when the guards threatened to rape him.
"Hanthar couldn't stand for this and so he surrendered his password and they stopped beating," Nathan Maung said.
Nathan Maung's phone broke during the arrest. The beatings stopped for him on the fourth day, he said, when the soldiers discovered he was a US citizen.
"They stopped beating me and started asking questions about why the US government sent me and were giving me US funding, if I was working for the CIA — those kind of stupid questions," he said. "I said no, I'm a journalist, no one gave me money."
So, the line of interrogation focused instead on his media company Kamayut Media. He said the soldiers asked about budgets and finances. "They are looking for any fundraising or where we got it," he said..."
Source/publisher:
CNN Business
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 28 June, (883) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 28, a total of (5202) people are currently under detention; of them (221) are sentenced. 1966 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Zaw Moe Naing, a policeman of Pauk Myoma Police Station of Pakokku District of Magway Region, and Naing Naing Toe a.k.a Yan Naing Toe, a policeman of Min Ywa Police Outpost in Gangaw Township, who are involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), were beaten and arrested on June 26 by the terrorist junta. On June 24, Pe Tin, a protest leader and NLD member of Kokkar Village of Gangaw Township in Magway Region, was arrested at home by junta troops because of a military informer.
At Mogok Township in Mandalay Region, a wife and two daughters including four years old daughter of protest leader Soe Htay were arrested as hostage on June 13 when the junta did not find Soe Htay. They are currently detained at the Mogok Detention Center. An arrest warrant has been issued against Soe Htay.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 27 June, (883) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Kale Township and Monywa Township in Sagaing Region were killed on the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 27, a total of (5183) people are currently under detention; of them (221) are sentenced. 1966 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Zaw Htet, was arrested with his father in the evening of June 25 at Kale Township in Sagaing Region by junta troops, his family was informed on June 26 he died from COVID-19. Zaw Htet was in good health, he was killed from torture according to his friends. On June 25 at 9 pm, Naing Win Oo was shot dead by the terrorist junta without question while he went back to collect a garage key he had forgotten.
In the evening of June 26, Saw Pyae Chan Thar, a reporter from Sagaing City, was arrested by junta troops. On the night of June 25, San Lwin, an engineer, and his son Linn Latt Aung were arrested and beaten on the false information they were carrying explosive materials.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As the people of Myanmar continue the civil disobedience movement including nationwide street protests, the total number of deaths has doubled to at least 126 in the past week. The anti-coup protests saw another record-breaking surge in deaths on 14 March alone when at least 38 civilians were killed by security forces. The exact number could be higher as many casualties are yet to be confirmed.
After several Chinese-owned factories were burnt and a large number of deaths were reported in clashes between civilians and security forces in Yangon on 14 March, the military junta imposed martial law in Yangon’s Hlaing Thar Yar and Shwe Pyi Thar townships.
In the past week, the military junta also raided the offices of three independent news outlets and detained two media personnel following the ban of five news outlets. In addition, six journalists who were detained while covering anti-coup protests were charged for incitement.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a total of 2,156 people have been arrested, charged, or sentenced in relation to the military coup of February 1. Three of them were convicted, 73 have been charged with a warrant and are evading arrest, 319 were released..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Network for Free Elections (Bangkok)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"In the past week, the military junta shut down mobile internet and wireless broadband internet (except for fibre internet) indefinitely. Crackdowns against the media were also intensified, with three journalists arrested in a week. Since the military’s Feb. 1 coup, a total of 40 journalists have been arrested by the junta, with 22 of the 40 had been released and 18 still under detention as of March 19. The closure of The Standard Time following The Myanmar Times, The Voice, 7Day News and Eleven also marked the end of independent print media in the country.
As of March 21, at least 250 people are now confirmed killed by Myanmar’s police and military. A total of 2,665 people have been arrested, charged, or sentenced in relation to the military coup on February 1, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Of them, 15 were convicted; 109 have been charged with a warrant and are evading arrest, 375 were released. A total of 2,290 are still under detention or have outstanding charges/evading arrest, including the 15 sentenced..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Network for Free Elections (Bangkok)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As the Tatmadaw marked the Myanmar Armed Forces Day on March 27, at least 114 people were killed by the military junta, the bloodiest day so far since the military coup on February 1. The mass killings came a day after the military junta warned the protesters that they will face the risk of getting shot through state owned television.
As of 28 March, at least 459 people have been confirmed killed by the junta. Among them, at least 38 were children. A total of 2,559 people have been detained since the coup, of which 37 of them are sentenced and 119 have been issued arrest warrants.
Internet shutdown also continued in the past week including mobile internet and wireless broadband internet (except fibre internet). Crackdown targeting the media also continued, leading to more than 50 journalists being detained so far. The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), meanwhile, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Network for Free Elections (Bangkok)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 25 June, (881) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Kale Township in Sagaing Region was killed on the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 25, a total of (5156) people are currently under detention; of them (218) are sentenced. 1965 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 24 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Mai Nuam Za Thiang, 19 years old, died on June 23 at around 10pm after she was arrested with a left thigh injury shot by terrorist junta’s soldiers on June 23 at around 9pm at Kale Township in Sagaing Region. Her family was informed in the morning of June 24 that she died due to COVID-19. It is reported that lots of blood was found on her body.
On June 23, Kyaw Htwe, Dawei Protest Leader in Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region, was sentenced to (2) years and (4) months imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and Export and Import Law by the special court in Dawei Prison. Likewise Kyaw Htwe, Aung Waiyan Kyaw, a protest leader from Dawei, was sentenced to (4) years imprisonment on June 21.
On the night of June 23, three youths named Kyaw Tayzar Oo, Kaung Kyaw Htet and a youth from Padeegone Town in Bago Region’s Thegon Township, were arrested at their homes by the terrorist junta’s troops for sharing a post of the Thegon People’s Defence Force (PDF). Moreover, La Chake Lwan Nwal, head of nursing in Kachin State, who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested at her home in Chipwi Town on the night of June 23.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 26 June, (881) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 26, a total of (5174) people are currently under detention; of them (221) are sentenced. 1966 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In the morning of June 26, De Myat Nyein, reporter at Zeyar Times News Agency based in Sagaing City, was arrested at his home. On the night of June 25, seven youths named Hein Thant Zin, Thiha Tun, Hein Min Oo, Sabel Htoo, Aung Paing, Wai Phyo Aung and Aung Htet were arrested by soldiers and police pretending to check overnight guest registration in North Okkalapa Township, Yangon Region. On the night of June 24, Than Than Aye, NLD Chairman of the ward and village in Aye Thar Yar Town in Shan State’s Taunggyi Township, was arrested by soldiers. Kyaw Swar Win, former Major in the military, who had previously been sentenced to two years imprisonment for signing a constitutional amendment, was arrested at his home in Pyin Oo Lwin in Mandalay Region on June 22.
On June 25, Thaw Gyi, NLD executive member of Thazi Township, was sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code by the court in Meiktila Prison in Mandalay Region.
Over 60 people, who have been sentenced under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code in Myeik Prison in Tanintharyi Region, are being forced labor for 8 hours a day from Monday to Friday, 10 hours across Saturday and Sunday.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"I am writing to you again to apprise you o f the current deteriorating situation in
Myanmar. More than 144 days after the unlawful coup, there is no sign o f easing the brutal
crackdown and the violence committed by the military against its own people. As o f 20
June 2021, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a total
o f 6.219 people has been arrested whereas 5,033 people are still under detention, 1,950
people been issued with warrants and 871 people ruthlessly murdered by the military since
1 February 2021.
I wish to reiterate that the brutality, inhumane acts, arbitrary arrests, and tortures
committed by the military are clearly amounting to serious human rights violations and
crimes against humanity. A six-day-old baby has reportedly died o f cold due to lack o f
shelter, blankets, and medical supplies at a camp for displaced people in Pekhon in Shan
State. The people o f Myanmar are facing humanitarian crisis and the State Administration
Council (SAC) continues ignoring the calls from the international community to ease the
violence and committing further atrocities. Those displaced in the remote areas are also
short o f shelters, medicine and drinking water. On 11 June 2021, it is reported that soldiers
set fire to food rations, medical supplies, an ambulance and a vehicle in Lwal Yin village
where people have fied.
Taking this opportunity. I wish to again draw your kind attention to this continued
disturbing situation in Myanmar, particularly in Demoso and Loikaw o f Kayah State.
Because o f the irrational tortures and inhumane treatments o f the military, the Karenni
People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Kayah Slate has been triggering the armed resistance
with homemade guns. Since then, the military has been responding with heavy artillery
and airstrikes onto the residential areas, which has led to the displacement o f around 1
million o f local people. This is evidently a systematic brutal attack against civilians using
weapons o f war in order to hold onto power and control. The situation in my country has
not gotten better and regretfully even getting worse.
The situation in Myanmar can only be addressed through multilateral efforts, and to
stop killing o f innocent civilians, the urgent and decisive action from the international
community is more than critical ever.
Allow me to underline the facts mentioned in the General Assembly Resolution
"The situation in Myanmar" adopted on 18 June 2021 at the Seventy-fift h session o f the
United Nations General Assembly. The resolution clearly urged to respect the will o f the
people and to allow the sustained democratic transition o f Myanmar, to immediately
release all detainees including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi and to stop all violence. And it also calls upon the member states to prevent
the flow o f arms into Myanmar and calls for unhindered humanitarian access. The United
Nations and the international community must minutely monitor the implementation o f the
adopted resolution by all member states to ensure the restoration o f democracy in
Myanmar.
On my personal note, I hereby, wish to appeal again the international community
and the United Nations, by pursuing the principle o f responsibility to protect, to take a
decisive action against the military without further delay. As usual. I enclose herewith the
weekly information update on current situation in Myanmar o f 18 June and the legal
perspective information sheet issued on 20 June for your kind attention.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances o f my highest consideration..."
Source/publisher:
Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the United Nations
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UN human rights documents on Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Deaths and Arbitrary Arrests
Description:
"As of 20 June 2021, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a total of 6,219 people have been arrested whereas 5,033 people are still under detention, 1,950 people been issued with warrants and 871 people ruthlessly murdered by the military since 1 February 2021 when the military unleashed systematic and targeted attacks and violence against innocent civilians.
Nearly 140 days have passed since the coup, the military terrorist group has not stopped its inhumane acts and arbitrary arrests against the unarmed civilians until today.
Military’s Unstoppable Brutal Actions
Violent Crackdowns in Kinma village: The terrorist military forces set on fire Kinma Village in Pauk Township of Magway Region on 15 June 2021, whereby the entire village was burned to the ground. The incident broke out when the plate number of the motorbike of a suspect involved during the shooting at the house of the junta-allied administrator of Deedotekwin village on 12 June 2021. According to the witnesses, 88-year-old U Mya Maung and 82-year-old Daw Kyee Hmain were perished in the fire, 80 percent of the homes in the village were burnt down and the residents fled their homes in order to avoid the raid of the military.
According to the credible reports, there are five pregnant women, two of whom are close to giving birth, are among the hundreds hiding in the forest after burning down Kinma Village by the military. Moreover, there are also about 90 children under the age of five and 27 breastfeeding babies. The fleeing villagers have to sleep roughly under the trees or in tents and they are in desperate need of foods and medical supplies.
Open Fire in Depayin: In Depayin Township in Sagaing Region, it is reported that after a former local administrator and the daughters of a current junta’s administrator were killed by unknowns on 13 June 2021, the military forces stormed and opened fire on residents in Satpyarkyin and Boke villages on 14 June 2021. A 21-year-old man was shot dead and another 22-year-old man was seriously injured due to the violence. Hundreds of soldiers also reportedly stormed the villages Kyi, Inpin, Nyaung Hla and Yin Kyay and shot at locals. According to the information received, there were clashes between military forces and local People’s Defence Force (PDF). On 15 June 2021, around 300 military forces in 22 military trucks reportedly opened fire in Nyang Hla village in Depayin township.
Military’s Inhumane Destruction against Humanitarian Actions
On 13 June 2021, the military and security forces set fire to and destroyed an ambulance and a supply of humanitarian aid in Moe Byae Township, between Southern Shan and Karenni States. Eighty rice bags and medicines, and medical supplies, which were contributed by the people all over the country for internally displaced people, were destroyed. The military forces have been terrorizing and arresting community organizations and individuals who have been providing aid and support to internally displaced people and those affected by the conflict.
During the last week, a six-day-old baby has reportedly died of cold due to a lack of shelter, blankets, and medical supplies at a camp for displaced people in Pekhon in Shan State. The family of the baby was relocated from the Sacred Heart church in Pekhon when it was attacked by the military with artillery shells late last month that led people to seek shelter elsewhere. According to a witness who was among those displaced, other IDP camps in the state are also short of shelters, medicine and drinking water. On 11 June 2021, it is reported that soldiers set fire to food rations, medical supplies, an ambulance and a vehicle in Lwal Yin village where people have fled.
More than 100,000 have already been displaced in Kayah and southern Shan State in recent months and the military has repeatedly attacked civilians in those areas.
Military’s Continuous Arrests
Since the military coup happened on 1 February 2021, the military have never ceased arresting those who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, and taken charges to those who defied the coup and involved in pro-democracy movements.
Targeted to Medical Personnel: On 10 June 2021, Dr. Htar Htar Lin, Director of National Programme on Immunization, together with her husband and her seven-year-old son were arrested. She joined the Civil Disobedience Movement following the coup and was charged under Article 505 (a) of the Penal Code. Dr. Htar Htar Lin was the head of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout and before she joined the CDM, it is reported that there was about 100,000 USD (161 million kyats) allocated for the immunization effort in a government account. She set about distributing the funds to local health departments across the country so that the money would not be in the hands of the military groups. Since then, she was one of the most wanted people by the junta.
Following the arrests of Dr. Htar Htar Lin and her family, the military-controlled newspaper announced on 13 and 14 of June 2021 that 26 doctors including her were charged with high treason for colluding with an illegal organization. The announcement also stated that she failed to clear 161 million kyats balance for COVID-19 vaccine immunization rollout and 22 of the doctors on the list had evaded arrest. It also stressed that she led the Public Health Team on behalf of Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the Health Minister of the National Unity Government (NUG), drafted plans for the NUG’s health policy, and helped Dr. Zaw Wai Soe.
Similarly, Dr. Maung Maung Nyein Tun, a professor at Mandalay Medical University and his wife Dr. Swe Zin Oo from Mandalay General Hospital who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement were arrested in Mandalay on 13 June 2021. After the arrests, the military-controlled newspaper published a picture of him with bruises on his face.
On 10 June, two lawyers who are representing political detainees including Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint, were arrested in Myawaddy township in Karen State under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code.
On 11 June 2021, Ms. Mar Mar Khaing, MP for No.2 constituency in Thaton Township, Mon State and her husband Mr. Nyan Tun, Executive Committee member of NLD of Kyaikmaraw Township, under detention in Kyaikmaraw Prison, were charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code.
Unstoppable Anti-Military Resistance Movement
More than 130 days after the military coup, protests and demonstrations against the military throughout the whole country are continuing despite the brutal crackdowns.
On 19 June 2021, pro-democracy supporters across the country wearing flowers to mark the 76th birthday of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is still detained. Flower is a significant style of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and in Burmese saying “still wearing flowers” means to be defiant in the face of adversity.
Announcement by the National Unity Government on the incident in Kinma
The National Unity Government released an announcement on the incident in Kinma Village. It condemned in the strongest ways of the arson committed by the military and local police against the residents of the village on 15 June 2021. It stressed that the junta forces continue to ignore the law, violate human rights and commit crimes against humanity and urged local, national and international stakeholders to continue recording the crimes committed by the junta forces.
International Pressure on the Illegitimate Military Group
On 11 June 2021, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued a strong warning that further escalation of violence in Myanmar must be halted to prevent even greater loss of life and a deepening humanitarian emergency. For the immediate cessation of violence and ongoing human rights violations, the High Commissioner encouraged the intensification of regional diplomacy, including by ASEAN and other influential States, and remarked that dialogue is urgently needed with the National Unity Government and civil society stakeholders.
In the statement by the Group of Seven (G 7) issued on 13 June 2021, the leaders of G 7 condemned in the strongest terms the military coup in Myanmar and violence by the security forces of Myanmar and called for the immediate release of those detained arbitrarily, as well as urged the swift implementation for Five Point Consensus of ASEAN. G 7 member states also expressed concern for the devastating humanitarian situation and called for humanitarian access to vulnerable and displaced people.
On 17 June 2021, the United Nations in Myanmar issued the statement, expressing alarm over the recent acts of violence and serious human rights violations in Myanmar, particularly in Myawaddy Township in Kayin State and Kinma Village in Pauk Township of Magway Region. The UN in Myanmar reiterates its call on all actors to respect international human rights norms and standards, and calls for those responsible for human rights violations to be held accountable.
At the 83rd Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on 18 June 2021, the Assembly adopted a resolution that calls on the military junta of Myanmar to end the state of emergency, respect all human rights of the people, allow the sustained democratic transition and immediately and unconditionally release all detainees, as well as calls on all member states “to prevent the flow of arms to Myanmar”. The resolution was adopted by a recorded vote of 119 in favour to 1 against (Belarus), with 36 abstentions.
The Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations expressed his sincere thanks to cosponsors of the resolution and to those delegations who supported the resolutions. He viewed that the resolution will to some extent contribute to put pressure on the military to their inhumane acts against the people and to further consolidate the people’s efforts for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar.
*****
Date: 20 June 2021
Permanent Mission of Myanmar, New York..."
Source/publisher:
Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the United Nations (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Anti-coup protesters, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Most were arrested in townships in the former capital Yangon, where martial law was declared following the army’s coup against the elected civilian government on Feb. 1, 2021.
Description:
"At least 64 Myanmar citizens detained in protests against the country’s Feb. 1 military coup have been sentenced to death by junta courts, with the condemned list including two boys below the age of 18, according to sources in the country.
Most were arrested in townships in the former capital Yangon, where martial law was declared following the army’s takeover on Feb. 1, sources say. None of those sentenced are believed to have been executed, though, with no death sentences known to have been carried out in Myanmar since 1998.
Writing in a letter to his mother sent from prison, one of those condemned—17-year-old Nyein Kyaw Thein, formerly a student at the Thanlyin Youth Training School—denied his guilt in the case of a coup supporter, Zaw Min, who was murdered and set on fire in Yangon’s South Dagon township at the end of March.
“They have called me a killer, but it isn’t true. I didn’t kill anyone,” Nyein Kyaw Thein said, asking his mother to stay strong and look after herself and his father. “Everything’s fine with me. I’ve made you miserable, Mom, and I’d like to make it up to you when I come back, I promise,” he added.
Speaking to RFA, Nyein Kyaw Thein’s mother said she was surprised when soldiers came to arrest her son on April 17, a little more than two weeks after Zaw Min was killed.
“I asked him if he had been involved, and he said he didn’t know anything about it,” she said. “There had been a lot of shooting that day, and the boys went into hiding that night, but we were able to keep in touch by telephone.”
Arrested that same day, 15-year-old Min Thu, a 7th grade student in the school attended by Nyein Kyaw Thein, turned himself in to authorities after being told that his brother-in-law had been detained to force his surrender, his sister said.
“I asked my brother if he had been involved in the killing, and he denied it,” the young woman said. “But someone told him that the police had arrested my husband because they couldn’t find him, and so he gave himself up.”
“He’s a good boy, not a bad kid at all,” she said. “He tells us that [the police] have stopped beating him now, but he’s still being abused by others,” she added.
Four brothers who were working on security duty in their ward of the city on the night of the killing were later taken away from their home at gunpoint after they went to see the murder scene out of curiosity, their mother said, also speaking to RFA.
“At the time, I couldn’t say anything, but it was heartbreaking to see my boys taken from their home in handcuffs,” she said. “We heard nothing about them after that, but later learned that they had been sentenced to death.”
“How am I supposed to take that?” she asked.
“If they had been given prison terms, I would know at least that I would see them again some day after their release, and I could still have some hope for the future,” she said. “But now I can’t do anything but pray every night for their safety.”
“It’s unbearable that they’re in this situation now without having done anything wrong.”
Of the 18 defendants sentenced to death in the Zaw Min case, 11 are now in prison and seven were sentenced in absentia, sources say.
'I suffered in silence'
Bo Bo Thu, sentenced to death in a separate case involving the killing of two soldiers in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township, has now had his sentence commuted to life, his mother told RFA, saying “At least he’s lucky not to be on death row.”
When her son was first sentenced she couldn’t eat or sleep, and would not tell her husband what had happened, she said. “I just kept it in my heart and suffered in silence.”
“I prayed and prayed that my son would not end up on death row—and not only him, but everyone else who had been arrested,” she said.
Myanmar defendants sentenced to death can appeal their sentences within 15 days, but only prison officials are allowed to submit their appeals, lawyers say, with one lawyer telling RFA that officials assigned by prison authorities to submit the documents prepare them according to statements made by the prisoners themselves.
“And we don’t know whether what they’ve written is in accord with the law or not,” he said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a spokesperson for the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said the death sentences imposed by military courts in Myanmar have been handed down “out of resentment.”
“People don’t support their coup and are opposing it in any way they can. And amid all the arbitrary arrests and beatings, the people are fighting back in self-defense. The military then holds a grudge against the people, and they are handing down these death sentences out of resentment,” he said.
Nickey Diamond, a human rights specialist with the Southeast Asian rights group Fortify Rights, said that in recent years death sentences formerly imposed in Myanmar were changed under new laws to sentences of life in prison.
“But there are fears now that the [ruling] Military Council might ignore this fact.”
“These [death sentences] are the junta’s attempt to intimidate those who are opposing the dictatorship and to make them afraid,” he said.
According to data gathered by AAPP and RFA, of the 64 persons sentenced to death in Yangon since the Feb. 1 coup, 20 were sentenced in North Okkalapa, 18 in South Dagon, five in Shwepyithar, seven in Hlaing Thar Yar, and 14 in Shwe Paukkan Myothit..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Myanmar security forces on Thursday arrested one of the main leaders of the campaign against military rule after ramming him with a car as he led a motorbike protest rally, friends and colleagues said.
Opponents of the Feb. 1 coup that ousted an elected government led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi have kept up their campaign against the military this traditional New Year week with marches and various other shows of defiance.
"Our brother Wai Moe Naing was arrested. His motorbike was hit by an unmarked police car," Win Zaw Khiang, a member of a protest organising group, said on social media.
Wai Moe Naing, a 25-year-old Muslim, has emerged as one of the most high-profile leaders of opposition to the coup.
Earlier, Reuters spoke to him by telephone as he was setting off to lead the rally in the central town of Monywa, about 700 km (435 miles) north of the main city of Yangon.
Video posted on social media showed an oncoming car swerving into a group of motorbikes.
A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment.
Monywa has been one of main centres of the pro-democracy campaign with big rallies day after day and repeated crackdowns by the security forces.
Some colleagues said they feared for Wai Moe Naing's safety.
The Swedish embassy said it was following his case and urged that all detainees be allowed proper health care and their human rights be respected.
The U.S. Embassy also condemned the reported incident.
"This appalling act further demonstrates why the people of Myanmar do not accept the military regime," the embassy said in a post on Twitter.
PROTESTING MEDICS
In Yangon, security forces detained Myo Aye, director of the Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar, activist Ei Thinzar Maung said on Facebook. Myo Aye has also played a major role in organising the protests.
State media said a famous actor, Zin Wine, and singer Po Po, both known for their support of the democracy movement, had also been arrested.
The coup has plunged Myanmar into crisis after 10 years of tentative steps toward democracy, with, in addition to the daily protests, strikes by workers in many sectors that have brought the economy to a standstill.
An activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, says the security forces have killed 715 protesters since the overthrow of Suu Kyi's government.
Earlier on Thursday, soldiers opened fire in the city of Mandalay to disperse protesting medical workers and one man was killed and several wounded when security forces fired in a nearby neighbourhood, media reported.
Some medical workers have been at the forefront of the campaign against the coup, which for many people has dashed hopes of a more open society after tentative steps towards democracy since the military initiated reforms a decade ago.
State television announced that 20 doctors were among 40 people wanted under a law that makes it illegal to encourage mutiny or dereliction of duty in the security forces. Some 200 people are now wanted under the charge.
The military says the protests are dwindling but thousands joined protests marches and motorbike rallies in several towns, according to pictures posted by media outlets.
The United States and other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions focused on the military and called for the release of Suu Kyi and others detained by the new authorities.
Leaders of Southeast Asian neighbours, which have been trying to encourage talks between the rival Myanmar sides, are due to met in Indonesia on April 24 to discuss the situation, Thai PBS World reported.
Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is due to attend, the broadcaster said, on what would be his first known trip abroad and contact with foreign leaders since he seized power..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Anti-coup campaigns, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Posts ranging from wanted posters to death threats remain online for months, breaching platform’s own standards
Description:
"Facebook is promoting content that incites violence against Myanmar’s coup protesters and amplifies junta misinformation, despite promising to clamp down on the misuse of its platform, according to a study.
An investigation by the rights group Global Witness found that Facebook’s recommendation algorithm continues to invite users to view content that breaches its own policies. After liking a Myanmar military fan page, which did not contain recent posts violating Facebook’s policies, the rights group found that Facebook suggested several pro-military pages that contained abusive content.
Among the posts featured on one of the pages was an image of a “wanted” poster offering a $10m bounty for the capture “dead or alive” of a young woman. The post claimed she was among protesters who had burned down a factory following a military crackdown. Images of the woman’s face and a screenshot of what appeared to be her Facebook profile were posted alongside a caption reading: “This girl is the one who committed arson in Hlaing Tharyar. Her account has been deactivated. But she cannot run.”
Global Witness said that its report demonstrated that self-regulation by Facebook was not working, and called for Facebook’s recommendation algorithm to be subject to independent audit.
Other posts identified by Global Witness included a death threat, the glorification of military violence and misinformation, such as the incorrect claims that Isis is present in Myanmar, and that the military had seized power due to “voter fraud”. The military has accused Aung San Suu Kyi’s party of vote rigging in last year’s election in order to justify February’s coup – a suggestion that has been discredited by observers, including by the independent monitoring group Asian Network for Free Elections.
Facebook said in February that it would remove false claims of widespread fraud or foreign interference in Myanmar’s November election from its site. It also said it had banned military-controlled state and media entities, and introduced a specific policy for Myanmar “to remove praise, support and advocacy of violence by Myanmar security forces and protestors”. Content that supported the arrests of civilians by the military and security forces in Myanmar would be removed under this policy.
A spokesperson for Facebook said its staff “closely monitor” the situation in Myanmar in real time and has taken action on any posts, pages or groups that break its rules.
However, content identified by Global Witness has remained online for months, according to the rights group.
Separate analysis by the Guardian found numerous recent examples of posts that also appeared to breach Facebook’s standards:
In one post from 19 June, which received more than 500 likes, an image showed a man with a bloodied face and rope tied around his neck. The caption states: “This is how you should arrest them”, referring to protesters.
Posts often mock and encourage violence against protesters. One post, also from 19 June referred to a recent flower strike, where protesters wore flowers to mark Aung San Suu Kyi’s 76th birthday, stating: “Every single one of the real men that wore the flowers in public today must be killed … Trash. They all need to be killed so that the children will not have the wrong role models.” The post was liked 175 times.
Another post, from 1 June, targeted children. It showed an image of students outside their school, with a sign that states: “We are students and we will go to school. You are criminals, and you will go to prison.” Many children have not returned to school, despite orders to do so by the junta. The post had been liked more than 4,300 times.
Posts often share misinformation, for example, blaming pro-democracy politicians for leading “terrorists”. A post states “only real news outlets in this country are MOI, MRTV and MWD and other state-run news”, referring to military-controlled channels.
Facebook has previously acknowledged that its platform has been misused in Myanmar, where it is hugely popular and influential. The site is used by almost half the population and, for many, it is the primary way of accessing the internet.
In 2018, following the massacre of Rohingya Muslims by the military, Facebook admitted that its platform had been used to “foment division and incite offline violence”. A UN fact-finding mission drew similar conclusions the same year, stating that Facebook had been “a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate” and that the response of the company had been “slow and ineffective”.
In February, Facebook said its staff were working around the clock to keep its platform safe. The coup greatly increased the likelihood “that online threats could lead to offline harm”, Facebook said at the time.
The Global Witness report also called for Facebook to further investigate other types of content it hosted, including the circulation of forced confession videos by political prisoners, military adverts, and posts that amplified military propaganda – such as the claims that the army is acting in a measured way.
In a statement, Facebook said: “We proactively detect 99% of the hate speech removed from Facebook in Myanmar, and our ban of the Tatmadaw [military] and repeated disruption of coordinated inauthentic behaviour has made it harder for people to misuse our services to spread harm. This is a highly adversarial issue and we continue to take action on content that violates our policies to help keep people safe.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Opinion and Expression - tools for change in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Anti-coup campaigns, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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Sub-title:
The overwhelming rejection of state education since the coup has spawned the emergence of learning alternatives, including plans for both physical and virtual universities.
Description:
"In keeping with the motto embraced in state media, “national discipline starts from the school,” Tatmadaw soldiers began occupying school campuses in March. But unlike after the national uprising in 1988 and student protests in 1996, when the military closed universities or dispersed students to far-flung campuses, it is now trying to force students to return to school.
Although government schools re-opened in June, as few as 10 percent of students returned to their classrooms amid boycotts and demonstrations. Thousands of university professors – some sources say half of all academic staff – have been suspended for participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement or for refusing to return to work.
Although the CDM is saying “no” to government education, many students are saying “yes” to educational alternatives that have emerged since February. The National Unity Government, teachers’ and students’ unions, the education departments of ethnic nationalities, non-profit organisations and other groups all plan to offer new educational programmes.
If the military’s hold on power is prolonged, these emerging institutions may become part of a parallel education system that offers content contrary to that provided in state schools. Another possible scenario, under which democratic forces regain control of the country, is that some of these organisations become the basis for a reimagined education system that is more consistent with democratic than authoritarian principles.
This struggle over education in Myanmar – who controls it, what it contains and how it is delivered – is not new. These alternatives to government education are the latest effort to counter the status quo, and are likely to provide a sharp and positive contrast to the pro-military nationalism that the State Administration Council is offering in government schools.
Progress, interrupted
In January, the future of education in Myanmar appeared to be navigable, if not smooth sailing. The Ministry of Education was poised to release the second phase of the National Education Strategic Plan, or “NESP 2,” which would have charted a course for the next 10 years of reform.
As part of the NESP 1, from 2016 to 2021, the ministry released revised curricula for most primary and some secondary grades. I have argued elsewhere that the new textbooks missed opportunities to build pluralistic and democratic values, but they were of higher quality and more inclusive than those they replaced.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party and National League for Democracy governments had also made gestures toward decentralisation, including considering coordination with what are called Ethnic Basic Education Providers (educational entities affiliated with ethnic armed groups such as the Karen National Union and Kachin Independence Organization). Although student unions had been quite critical of the National Education Law, the ministry had at least promised greater autonomy to higher education institutions.
The reform process was far from perfect, and I and other researchers and practitioners criticised its products and processes, but the lively debate about education contrasted sharply with the constrained discussions that occurred under military rule.
Reforms stopped on February 1. Organisations including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank paused funding on all projects, including those related to education. The SAC’s Ministry of Education announced that there would be no change to the curriculum for the coming school year. While the ministry presented this as a positive – that education reforms would not be reversed – it also interrupted the scheduled release of new textbooks.
The impact of the halt to reforms may not be immediately apparent, because so few students are attending school. Amid the bombings of schools and education offices, concern about the COVID-19 pandemic, and objections to the SAC’s ideology and practices, schools are running far below capacity. A look at Myanmar’s history helps to understand why.
Echoes of the past
Student and teacher activism since the coup is rooted in a long history of politicisation of schooling in Myanmar. CDM participants are well aware of these historical connections, which inspired the description of the SAC’s school system as “military slave education” (စစ်ကျွန်ပညာရေး). This phrase harks back to the 1920 student protests against the British colonial “slave education” system that helped spark the Burmese nationalist movement. At that time, students demanded “national schools” with Burmese as the medium of instruction, as a counter to a British education system they regarded as elitist and pro-imperial.
A new generation of students continued this tradition of activism later in the 20th century, and were among the first to protest against the 1962 coup. When the dictator Ne Win demolished the Rangoon University Student Union building with explosives in July that year, it illustrated that not only colonial but also Burmese rulers were determined to use education as a tool for social control.
For decades, the military junta used school curricula as propaganda for its rule, but the key role students played in the uprisings of 1988 and 1996 showed that these attempts at indoctrination were not entirely successful. Those in power continued to target students as potential troublemakers and feared their ability to organise resistance and to collaborate with other groups.
It is not surprising, then, that CDM-affiliated student leaders regard their current boycott as a symbolic act, and also a practical matter of self-preservation that allows them to avoid the danger and trauma of attending schools run by the SAC. However, students are not only boycotting classes, they are also participating in new endeavours that could transform the educational landscape.....The rise of alternatives: Although the coup may have paused the reform process, some observers say the disruption to the education system offers a chance to revolutionise outdated models and content. Dr Thein Lwin of the Thinking Classroom Foundation says that despite restrictions, students have been finding ways to learn together and independently while participating in the CDM, including by using the internet to connect in creative ways.
Generation Z seems to be seeking out alternatives to traditional schooling, with its “one right answer” rote learning model and suppression of dissent. The combined resistance of students and teachers is an intergenerational collaboration in which younger activists can benefit from the wisdom of older peers.
In fact, there may be an opportunity to expand the category “students” in productive ways. Can workers be students? Can grandmothers be students? Can students be teachers? Opposition to the SAC has transformed social relationships in unexpected ways, and education is no different.
Nonetheless, there is an educational gap to be filled, and several groups are attempting to address it by offering classes that allow CDM participants to continue to develop their skills while boycotting school or work. These groups share the common aim of providing education to support democracy. However, they differ in their platforms, target audiences, principles, and approaches, which may make it difficult for students to navigate the options.
First, the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Education plans to create a parallel education system for basic and higher education. NUG deputy education minister Daw Ja Htoi Pan has mentioned “homeschooling” as the best option for basic education, and the NUG is soliciting university-level content from professors inside and outside the country via Moodle. It also hopes to establish a physical campus for a planned Federal University.
Confusingly, the establishment of another physical Federal University is also the goal of a coalition of groups including the Thinking Classroom Foundation, university teachers’ unions, migrant education organisations, church-based education groups, and Mon, Karenni, Karen and Shan education centres. The proposed university might be built in an area under the control of an armed ethnic group.
This Federal University aims to be autonomous and to provide free education in line with the principles of federalism and self-determination. It would prioritise admitting students who have attended schools run by ethnic armed groups, as well as church-based schools, and migrant schools. In the past, the qualifications of students who attended these schools were not recognised. The university could also accept students who had attended government schools.
A virtual option is Spring University Myanmar, which plans to offer online courses in preparing for university study, as well as in disciplines such as law, economics, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, federalism, peace studies, arts and sciences, and (most uniquely) ethnic languages.
The university’s goals include opposing the SAC’s “slave education” system while building capacity and providing part-time jobs for people involved in the CDM. Applications were recently sought for a range of positions, including a graphic designer, content writers, and a scholarship coordinator.
Courses are being offered for a fee of about US$100, and profits will be used to grow the organisation or to support the CDM. Scholarships are also available. SUM uses Telegram and Facebook to communicate with students.
Another online option is the Virtual Federal University, which was started by student union leaders seeking free, critical education to support a federal political model while building grassroots participation. In cooperation with scholars and practitioners from abroad, VFU offers short audio lectures organised into larger courses, which can be downloaded from its website and, in the future, maybe broadcast by radio, TV or both.
VFU is also partnering with international institutions. It has arranged for Princeton University’s EdX program to offer a synchronous global history course that can be audited or for which students can be granted a certificate of completion. (Disclosure: I am involved with VFU, and will be offering a short course called “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Top 5 Myths About Myanmar’s History” in the coming months.).....
Challenges and opportunities:
More educational ventures are being started all the time, but obstacles abound. The first concerns funding, which is scarce in a situation complicated by the difficulty of getting money in and out of Myanmar. Providing financial aid to striking teachers and supporting students who are boycotting classes is a key priority of several groups, but the mechanics are difficult.
Second, security is a worry for many students and teachers at a time when even an indirect association with CDM-affiliated or foreign organisations can be dangerous. It remains unclear how institutions mentioned above will be able to protect their students from harassment by the SAC.
Finally, it is difficult to plan and execute any kind of educational endeavour under the current circumstances. Unreliable communications, violence perpetrated by the military, the trauma, displacement, and upheaval that many students have experienced, and uncertainty about the future all make schooling – whether virtual or in-person – rife with challenges. Maintaining education quality is difficult in any circumstances, but amid the COVID-19 pandemic, military rule, and escalating civil conflict, it is an even more daunting task.
Despite the challenges, students and alternative education providers seem determined to proceed. SUM and VFU each have thousands of followers on Facebook. The NUG’s Ministry of Education is initiating its university program. There seems to be considerable enthusiasm over these developments among many of the nation’s youth.
For now, the diversity of alternative educational initiatives appears to be both a strength and a weakness. Although the range of organisations, formats and platforms may be able to meet the needs of students, there is a lack of consistency and parity among the various options. Some offer certificates, some don’t, some charge fees but others are free, some are affiliated with political groups and others are not. It is not yet certain which institutions will outlast the coup and which may become redundant or merge with others.
It is clear that the future of education in Myanmar depends to some extent on political developments linked to the coup. However, it is also important to remember that political developments may also depend at least in part on education. With the ambitious plans of these alternative providers, education in Myanmar could become not only a response to change but also a driver of it.
In other words, the educational arena can be seen as a microcosm of the larger society. If students can manage to learn together across ethnic, political, religious, economic and regional divides, it will bode well for the country’s future..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, the union and professional association for
Australia’s journalists, is deeply concerned for our colleagues in Myanmar (Burma) as the
crackdown by the military junta that began in February has all but completely silenced
independent media in the country.
Journalists have been beaten and shot. You would know that at least 85 journalists in
Myanmar have been arrested and more than 40 continue to be detained. Some have been
jailed for three years for spreading “misinformation” under section 505A of Myanmar’s
Penal Code. Independent media outlets have been stripped of their licences to operate, and
dozens of warrants have been issued for the arrest of other journalists.
Despite this harassment and persecution, Burmese journalists courageously continue to
work underground at great personal risk, informing the rest of the world about the crimes of
the junta.
Burmese journalists are in hiding not only in Myanmar but elsewhere in the region, seeking
safety from persecution and violence. However, Thailand has just sentenced three Burmese
journalists to seven months jail and fined them for entering the country.
Minister, we urge you to take action on behalf of our persecuted colleagues who are in
danger in their own country as well as abroad. We ask you to:
Issue a statement urging Thailand to provide stronger condemnations of the attacks
on freedom of expression in Myanmar and support the safe relocation of journalists
under threat in their territory.
Hold private demarches and otherwise engage with local authorities to underscore
their obligation to human rights standards and encourage protective action.
Provide safe haven, security and support for journalists facing immediate threats in
Thailand, including facilitating their relocation to Australia if sought.
Identify and send case referrals to emergency assistance programs (e.g. the
Journalists in Distress Network).
Work with and support local and regional civil society organisations located in India
and Thailand in aiding journalists facing threatening situations or otherwise
struggling to conduct their work, including funding, technical and material
assistance, and by fostering effective support networks.
We would welcome the opportunity to further talk about this issue with you as the need is
particularly urgent..."
Source/publisher:
Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Australia)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 23 June, (877) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Monywa Township in Sagaing Region and Kyaingtong Township in Shan State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 23, a total of (5088) people are currently under detention; of them (210) are sentenced. 1950 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 18 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Zayar Linn from Lalzin Sanpya Village in Monywa Township’s Sagaing Region was arrested and beaten on the night of June 21. His family was informed on the morning of June 22 that he died. He was found with wounds consistent with torture, one large on the back of his head and all over his body.
In addition to this, on the night of June 19 at Kyaingtong Town in Shan State, Than Soe Aung, a local, was injured and his one year and six month old daughter was killed when they were hit by a car driven by Deputy Officer of the General Administration Department (GAD) in Kyaingtong Township. This was after Than Soe Aung did not stop when told by the junta forces when riding his motorcycle to go to a clinic for his ill daughter. Moreover, Than Soe Aung is being detained at the Kyaingtong Myoma Police Station and has been charged with two lawsuits against him at the station.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 22 June, (875) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Bahan Township in Yangon Region and Singu Township in Mandalay Region were killed in previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 22, a total of (5053) people are currently under detention; of them (198) are sentenced. 1950 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 18 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of June 20, Kyaw Kyaw Myo, a bridegroom from Lat Pan Hla Village Tract in Mandalay Region’s Singu Township, was shot dead on spot while delivering wedding invitations with his friend by riding a motorcycle. His friend was beaten and also arrested. In addition to this, on the night of June 19 in Bahan Township, Yangon Region, Phoe Thingyan a.k.a. Phoe Sein, a 13 year-old, was shot in the back and taken injured by terrorist junta soldiers when he ran away after seeing them, he had been playing. On June 21, his family was informed that he had died.
Ngwe Soe a.k.a San Chote, father of Upper House MP for Yebyu Township of Tanintharyi Region Kyaw Zay Yar Soe, was sentenced to two years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code by Special Court in Dawei on June 21.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 20 June, (871) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen heroes today. from Kani Township in Sagaing Region was killed on June 19. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 20, a total of (5033) people are currently under detention; of them (196) are sentenced. 1950 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 18 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In the evening of June 19 at Mi Kyaung Twin Village in Kani Township in Sagaing Region, junta forces shot to arrest a local villager called Sein Min. When Sein Min was lying down injured, they shot him dead and put a rifle beside his body, took the photo to conspire that Sein Min was an armed group member. A 15 year-old Kyaw Min Khant Maung, and a CDM staff at Myanma Economic Bank were arrested, as was a 12-year-old boy, who suffers from illness and was taken as hostage when his father and brother were not found in Kale Township, Sagaing Region on the night of June 19.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.19 MB 4.36 MB 992.51 KB
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Description:
"As of 21 June, (873) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Chaungzon Township in Mon State were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of June 21, a total of (5045) people are currently under detention; of them (196) are sentenced. 1950 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 18 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of June 20, Moe Zaw Oo and Zaw Min Oo, two youths from Abaid Village in Chaungzon Township, Mon State, were shot dead by junta soldiers when they did not stop riding a motorbike at a checkpoint in Mawlamyine, Mon State.
In the morning of June 21, Nyein (Bago) a.k.a. Aung Ko, a writer from Bago and columnist at the Bago Weekly Journal, and his nephew Zaw Lin Htwe, a 16-year-old, were arrested at home in Bago. In addition to this, after a bomb blast near Pathein Hotel, Pathein Township in Ayeyarwady Region on the night of June 20, Tun Lin Aung, living in a nearby ward, was arrested on suspicion of involvement.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.2 MB 4.6 MB 989.18 KB
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Description:
"Around 13 civilians, including three social workers, were killed by Myanmar’s security forces in Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe regions and Mon State during the weekend.
On Sunday night, two civilians on a motorbike were shot dead in Mawlamyine, Mon State, after they reportedly refused to stop at a checkpoint.
The security forces opened fire on two citizens near a school in Letpanhla village in Singu Township, Mandalay Region, on Sunday night.
Ko Kyaw Kyaw Myo, who was due to marry soon, was killed. The security forces retrieved his body and detained another man.
“He was inviting friends to his wedding. He was shot while passing a school where junta forces were deployed. His friend was beaten and taken away,” a friend of the victim said.
Last Thursday, the security forces opened fire on young people playing football in Minywar village in the township and detained a villager who was shot in the thigh.
On Saturday night, junta troops in three vehicles raided a house in Kale, Sagaing Region, and killed four residents without providing a reason, according to residents.
A witness told The Irrawaddy that he heard gunfire after about 10 troops entered the house.
U Win Zaw Oo, 50, Daw San San Maw, 48, Ko Thiha Aung, 23, and Ko Zaw Zaw, 35, were killed.
An injured female relative was reportedly detained.
Around 40 million kyats (US$24,300), a car and other possessions were reportedly seized.
The People’s Defense Force in Kale said on Sunday that the junta must take responsibility for killing the family.
On Saturday evening, three members of the Sanpya Social Organization based in Yesagyo Township, Magwe Region, were shot dead in Myaung Township, Sagaing Region, while returning home in an ambulance.
Myaung resistance groups accused the junta of killing the three volunteers.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said at least 873 people have been killed by the junta since the February coup.
Junta torture
Nine civilians, including three villagers in their 70s, were allegedly tortured by junta forces during a raid on Kin village in Kani Township, Sagaing Region, on Saturday afternoon.
The three older villagers – U Aung Thaung, U Khin Maung Lin and U Kyaw Myint – were kicked by soldiers after being forced to kneel. A young female villager, Ma Khine Mon Htet, was also beaten, according to villagers.
Two villagers, Ko Aung Thet Min and Ko Lone Chon, were seriously injured after being tortured and stabbed with knives by soldiers.
Troops in three vehicles and several members of a Pyu-Saw-Htee vigilante group allegedly looted houses and destroyed Kin’s shops.
Pyu-Saw-Htee militias, named after a semi-legendary Bagan period king, have been formed and armed by the military to counter the anti-regime movement.
A villager told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the security forces appeared to mainly target the property of villagers who opposed the regime.
They also killed a village cow during the raid. Around 3,000 Kin Kin villagers have fled their homes since early May to avoid fighting and raids.
Troops killed an injured man and looted houses in nearby Michaungtwin village on Saturday evening, according to residents.
The junta-controlled media said the security forces were attacked by rioters near Michaungtwin on Saturday afternoon and a rioter’s body was found with a homemade hunting rifle.
Residents said there was no shooting that day and the junta forces killed a 50-year-old villager who returned to the village to collect water.
Leaked photos appear to show the villager was shot dead by junta forces after being injured.
One photo shows the man alive but with a leg missing. A bucket and medicine are near him.
The second photo shows him shot through the head beside a homemade rifle. The photographer’s arm in uniform is visible in the photo.
Michaungtwin was abandoned in early May after junta raids.
On Saturday, two resistance fighters were killed and five others detained during shootouts in Khin-U Township, Sagaing Region..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
"We understand why people hated the military so much and that’s why we are joining them," says Capt. Lin Htet Aung.
Description:
"Capt. Lin Htet Aung left the Myanmar Army’s Light Infantry Battalion #528 to join pro-democracy forces resisting the military coup that seized power from the elected government on Feb. 1, citing voting fraud in the November 2020 elections. He told Khin Maung Soe of RFA’s Myanmar Service in a telephone interview from an area outside military regime control that about 800 officers and soldiers – roughly five battalions -- have defected since the coup. RFA could not independently verify that number. The following Q&A has been edited for clarity.
RFA: Can you tell us how many members of the Armed Forces have defected to the people’s side?
Lin Htet Aung: There are around 800. That's about the size of five battalions in Myanmar’s military structure. Some of them were from the army and many are from the Navy, the Air Force, artillery units, the Defense Service factories, etc.
RFA: How do you get these numbers?
Lin Htet Aung: We have contacts with one another and also from other sources.
RFA: What is the security situation of these people?
Lin Htet Aung: Those who have arrived in the liberated areas and territories held by ethnic armed groups have security. For those who have joined ordinary citizens, we are a bit worried for their security. People are trying to give them some protection, though, and some have contacted us for help.
RFA: What about the welfare of these former soldiers?
Lin Htet Aung: Most of them left their units without much money in hand. Those who have arrived in territories held by ethnic groups do not have to worry about food and lodging.
RFA: What about their families left behind?
Lin Htet Aung: Most of them are single. Those with families who arrived in territories held by ethnic groups do not have any problems. But some of them had left their families in their mother units and we are a bit worried for them.
RFA: How many officers have defected from their units?
Lin Htet Aung: There are about 100 among the officers but the majority are from lower ranks.
RFA: What are you doing now?
Lin Htet Aung: Most of us have decided to join the armed revolution. Those who do not want to join the armed revolution are seeking ways to help the people in whatever capacity they can.
RFA: There are some people who are suspicious of people like you who have defected. Some people think you could be spies. How do you feel about these doubts and suspicions?
Lin Htet Aung: Yes we have faced such situations. But I believe we will gradually win their trust. We will need time but I hope they will soon realize we genuinely want to oppose military dictatorship.
RFA: Do you think we could say there might be military agents among those who have crossed over?
Lin Htet Aung: Of course it is possible. We cannot trust everyone. We systematically checked everyone who contacted us directly. We have to be very careful because they have very qualified people gathering intelligence. We understand why people hated the military so much and that’s why we are joining them. We also hate military dictatorship as much as the people do. Our main objective is to join hands with the people and bring down the military dictatorship.
RFA: Do you face any other difficulties?
Lin Htet Aung: Though we can say we are now in liberated areas we don’t actually know what we should be doing or what role we should take. Most of us who defected have pure goodwill in our hearts towards the people.
RFA: Do you think there will be more members of the Armed Forces coming over to the side of the public?
Lin Htet Aung: Changing sides is an important tactic for this revolution. At first, we had hoped about 4,000 of the 400,000-strong military would change sides. But now we are expecting more than 4,000 will come to the aid of the people.
RFA: The present revolution relies a lot on the ethnic armed groups and they have been staging a revolution fighting for their rights for many years. How do you think the two revolutions can be combined?
Lin Htet Aung: We cannot just ask for assistance from them and leave but we will have to help them achieve their goals, too. If we leave them after seeking help from them, then it will be like we are fighting for Burma proper only. If we are to fight for the entire country, we will have to complement each other to achieve better results.
RFA: Do you have any progress in working together with the National Unity Government (NUG)?
Lin Htet Aung: The NUG is working very hard through a lot of difficulties and we have found some cooperation between them and us. We are very encouraged..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"Myanmar’s military regime is using threats, dismissals and arrests to try and force striking school staff in Tanintharyi Region to return to work, after the junta’s reopening of public schools on June 1 flopped due to a lack of teachers.
Seven teachers in the region have been arrested for joining the civil disobedience movement (CDM) and refusing to work under the regime. On Monday, the junta sentenced three detained teachers to three years in prison each for incitement.
Less than a quarter of schools in Tanintharyi Region, southern Myanmar, opened on June 1 because so many teachers and education staff are on strike in protest at military rule. Those schools that have reopened are reporting a very low attendance of pupils, with parents and students choosing to boycott school enrolment under the regime.
A member of the Basic Education Teachers Union in Tanintharyi who requested anonymity said that several striking teachers and education staff have been told to return to work, or else the regime will arrest their family members and seize their possessions.
One township education administrator who was on strike for two months was forced back to work after her family were threatened, the teachers’ union member said.
Hundreds of teachers who have joined the CDM are now in hiding to avoid arrest.
Some 7,236 teachers and education staff in Taninitharyi Region were recently removed from their duties.
In Kin Maw Village in Tanintharyi, where just four out of 180 pupils at the local primary school are attending classes, parents were threatened alongside teachers in an effort to get children back in school.
In a video file shared by Khit Thit media, a military colonel told the Kin Maw teachers and village elders that he wants at least 90 students to show up by June 21, and threatened to seize their children if that fails to happen.
An official with the Myanmar Teachers Federation, who was recently suspended from one of Yangon’s universities for joining the CDM, said that despite the junta’s threats many of the striking teachers and education staff are determined to continue to fight until the fall of the dictatorship and the return of a civilian government elected by the people..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 17 June, (865) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 17 June, a total of (4962) people are currently under detention; of them (183) are sentenced. 1937 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On June 15, Yamin Htike a.k.a. Htike Htike, a middle school teacher at the Basic Education High School in Mi Kyaung Ye Town, Magway Region, who was involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested in Magway. A protest strike in Thayet Hna Khwa Village, Thayetchaung Township, Tanintharyi Region, was cracked down by a private car. Six policemen sped by and opened fire into the air on the evening of June 14. During this crackdown, Thi Thi Mar, a local villager was arrested.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.18 MB 4.4 MB 985.47 KB
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Title: Myanmar: State of Fear - 101 East exposes a secret interrogation centre and claims of torture
Description:
"Since a military coup in February, a climate of terror has engulfed Myanmar.
Disappearances, detention without charge, alleged torture and mysterious deaths are just some of the actions under the spotlight following widespread protests against the military takeover.
101 East uses witness testimony and forensic analysis to expose a secret interrogation centre in the country's biggest city, Yangon. This investigation also reveals how Western tech firms have sold surveillance software and data extraction tools to the country.
In a special collaboration with Lighthouse Reports and Forensic Architecture, we reveal how the military is creating a state of fear..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera English" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Description:
"As of 16 June, (865) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Pyigyidagun Township in Mandalay Region was killed the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 16 June, a total of (4911) people are currently under detention; of them (182) are sentenced. 1937 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of June 14, Su Paing Htwe a.k.a Paing Paing, died from severe bleeding when he did not receive adequate medical treatment after being shot in the stomach by junta’s forces while riding a motorcycle at Pyigyidagun Township in Mandalay Region.
After junta forces set fire to homes in Kingma Village in Magway Region’s Pauk Township on the evening of June 15, Some elderly and a disabled villager were killed, and buffalos and cattles died. In addition to this, a villager was shot in the thigh and some villagers arrested.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.18 MB 4.26 MB 981.72 KB
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Sub-title:
Relatives of seven young detainees say they are at risk since being separated and placed in cells with hardened criminals
Description:
"Family members of seven detainees in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison say that they are being mistreated by prison authorities for not complying with orders.
The seven prisoners—five student activists and two freelance journalists—had been locked up together since their arrest in late February and March, but were separated on April 22 for refusing to read out the prison rules.
They spent the next week in solitary confinement, and have since been placed in different cells with criminal prisoners, the family members said.
“They each have to share a cell with more than a hundred criminals who are facing long years of imprisonment. They have been separated and can’t see each other,” said a relative of detained activist Hpone Htet Naung.
Student activists Wai Yan Phyo Moe, Aung Hpone Maw, Lay Pyay Soe Moe, Thuta Soe, and Hpone Htet Naung are facing charges of incitement under Section 505a for taking part in anti-coup protests.
Freelance journalists Soe Yarzar Tun and Banyar Oo were arrested while covering the protests. They have also been charged with incitement, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
All seven are being tried by a special court inside Insein Prison, according to relatives, who say that they have denied access to the prisoners.
The family members said that the young detainees have received threats from criminal prisoners and are completely at the mercy of prison officials to resolve conflicts.
“They aren’t being treated like political prisoners. They’re being treated like criminals. This is not right. They’re drained mentally and physically,” said a relative of one of the prisoners.
Thet Naung, a lawyer representing Wai Yan Phyo Moe and Hpone Htet Naung, said his clients have also expressed concern about their current situation.
“They told me at a hearing that they’ve been worried about their safety since they were placed with criminals,” he told Myanmar Now.
One of the relatives said that the prisoners were being mistreated because of their strong political stance.
“They were fighting for the truth. Student leaders like them are being oppressed so that they can no longer defy the military. It’s like a warning. It’s political persecution,” he said.
However, the family members said they were confident that the detainees would not give in to pressure.
“The military puts dissidents in prison, barely keeping them alive. It is killing their futures. But I believe my son will keep fighting until his last breath. He is strong-willed and has a strong stance,” said Wai Yan Phyo Moe’s mother..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 15 June, (864) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Depayin Township in Sagaing Region was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 15 June, a total of (4893) people are currently under detention; of them (182) are sentenced. 1937 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In the evening of June 14, Aung San from Boke Village in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township was shot dead in the chest when the junta troops opened fire on villages after two daughters of a coup council-appointed village administrator in Kyi Village, Depayin Township were stabbed to death.
The terrorist forces searched for youth protestors to arrest in Patheingyi Township after two police were shot dead in Mandalay Region’s Patheingyi Township. A mother, who is not in good health, elder sister and brother were taken as hostages on June 11 when the junta forces did not find the two brothers who are pro-democracy demonstrators in Patheingyi Township. Lwin Maung Maung, Regional Hluttaw MP for Meiktila Constituency No.1, currently detained in Meiktila Prison, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on May 12 without trial.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
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Size:
1.18 MB 4.32 MB 982.07 KB
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Description:
"As of 14 June, (863) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 14 June, a total of (4880) people are currently under detention; of them (178) are sentenced. 1937 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Doctor Maung Maung Nyein Tun, lecturer of surgery at the University of Medicine in Mandalay, and Swe Zin Oo, a specialist doctor at Mandalay Public Hospital, were arrested on June 13 in Mandalay City.
Mar Mar Khaing, MP for No.2 constituency in Thaton Township, Mon State and her husband Nyan Tun, Executive Committee member of NLD of Kyaikmaraw Township, under detention in Kyaikmaraw Prison, were charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code on June 11 by the Thaton Township Court.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
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Size:
1.19 MB 4.48 MB 974.1 KB
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Sub-title:
Mandalay regional parliamentarian Lwin Maung Maung is the brother of Saffron Revolution leader and former political prisoner U Gambira
Description:
"A detained Mandalay regional parliamentarian with the National League for Democracy (NLD) has been sentenced to three years in prison by the military council without a trial, his family members said.
Lwin Maung Maung, who would have represented Meiktila Constituency 1 if not for the February 1 military coup, was arrested on the night of April 28 after briefly returning to his home following a period in hiding. The 38-year-old lived in Meiktila’s industrial zone, 10 miles from the town.
His family was barred from visiting him in Meiktila Prison, and were only permitted to deliver supplies to him on May 12. On that day, they learned of his prison sentence, but said that the charges against him are still unknown.
Yay, Lwin Maung Maung’s mother and a former school teacher, told Myanmar Now that 12 military vehicles and police cars were used in her son’s arrest.
“They arrested him because they wanted to—they sentenced him to prison time because they can, even though there is no legal basis for it,” she said. “They arrested him because he is an NLD member. Actually he had enough time to evade arrest, but he didn’t. I think he worried that if he tried to escape, the junta would arrest me as his mother.”
Lwin Maung Maung was known for assisting Mandalay Region farmers in issues related to the confiscation of their land by the military, Yay explained. She said that she discouraged him from running in Myanmar’s 2020 election, but he told her that he wanted to advance land rights in parliament.
The MP is the younger brother of Nyi Nyi Lwin, also known by his monastic name U Gambira, a leader of the 2007 Saffron Revolution. U Gambira was arrested in 2007, interrogated and tortured for his involvement in the anti-military protests. He was handed a prison sentence of 68 years, but released in a general amnesty in 2012.
“There is no one in our house who has not been imprisoned for politics,” Yay said. “Our family members were imprisoned in 1988, 2007 and 2021. It’s like they have a license to be imprisoned.”
Myanmar Now tried to contact the military council’s information department for comment on Lwin Maung Maung’s sentencing, but received no response.
Meiktila District is home to a large number of military bases, and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party won the area’s seats in the 2015 general election. However, in 2020, the NLD won the majority of votes in the area.
In addition to Lwin Maung Maung in the regional parliament, Lower House NLD candidate Dr Sint Soe won a seat, as did Upper House NLD candidate Phone Kyaw. Maung Maung Gyi, also from the NLD, won the second regional parliamentary seat.
After the military coup, which was staged on the pretext of voter fraud, NLD lawmakers and prominent party supporters in Meiktila Township were forced to flee the junta’s arrests.
The military council has repeatedly prosecuted dissidents, including NLD members, under Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must stop shielding the Myanmar military from international pressure and accountability, Amnesty International said today as the country's human rights crisis continues to worsen dramatically.
With the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi having started on 14 June, the organization further urges all ASEAN member states to finally get behind calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained in the country and support measures to stop the flow of weapons to the Myanmar military.
“ASEAN’s usual commitment to non-interference is enabling the military’s deadly rampage, fuelling a human rights and humanitarian crisis that will sink both ASEAN’s credibility and the very stability it seeks to uphold,” said Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research.
“Millions of people in Myanmar are losing faith in ASEAN. The regional bloc must change course and offer a lifeline to people in Myanmar by getting behind international efforts to protect civilians and urge the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including Aung San Suu Kyi.”
Aung San Suu Kyi is currently facing a total of seven charges. If found guilty, she can face decades in prison and will effectively be barred from holding office again. Her charges include violating Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, the Official Secrets Act, Section 67 of the Telecommunications Law and the Export and Import Law (possessing walkie talkies in her home). She also faces two charges under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law and “incitement” under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code.
“The military is digging deep into its arsenal of repressive laws, including those from the colonial-era, in a desperate attempt to silence Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leaders and many other vocal critics who have been arbitrarily detained,” said Emerlynne Gil.
The Myanmar security forces continue to kill, injure and arrest civilians. Since the 1 February coup, an estimated 863 civilians, including 58 children, have been killed and a countless number of people have been injured, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPPB). Reports of torture and deaths in custody keep emerging. Internet restrictions remain in place, and media freedom is severely restricted.
Meanwhile, fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and groups of protesters taking up arms is escalating and spreading across the country, killing or injuring civilians, damaging civilian properties, and displacing hundreds of thousands of women, men and children. Recent clashes, including air raids, in Karenni or Kayah State alone has displaced estimated 100,000 civilians who are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately 200,000 civilians have been displaced so far this year, adding to over 300,000 existing displaced persons reliant on humanitarian aid.
High-level meeting exposes faltering ASEAN diplomacy
On 4 June, a high-level delegation comprised of ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and Erywan Pehin Yusof, the second minister for foreign affairs for Brunei, the current chair of ASEAN, met with coup leader and head of the Myanmar military authorities, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital.
The high-level meeting in Nay Pyi Taw reported little tangible progress on ASEAN’s “Five-Point Consensus” on the Myanmar crisis, including calls for the cessation of violence, humanitarian access and the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy on Myanmar.
ASEAN must implement a call for Myanmar to release arbitrary detainees
In one welcome advance, in a statement after the meeting, the Chairman of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Erywan Pehin Yusof, called for the release of political detainees in Myanmar.
According to AAPPB, as of 13 June, 4,863 people are currently detained or have been sentenced in in the wake of the 1 February coup, including the country’s elected civilian leadership.
“The belated commitment of a senior ASEAN official to the release of the political opposition is welcome and essential and we hope that this view is adopted as consensus by ASEAN,” said Emerlynne Gil. “It should also be clear that ASEAN’s mediation efforts would be all but impossible if key stakeholders are all behind bars.”
“ASEAN should place top priority on demanding that the Myanmar military immediately release not only prominent political detainees, but all of the thousands of people arbitrarily detained, and call for their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Emerlynne Gil.
Shocking lack of progress since ASEAN emergency summit
The Five-Point Consensus was agreed at an emergency summit in Jakarta attended by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on 24 April, but the Myanmar military authorities have since repeatedly stated that it would not act upon the plan until the country had reached “stability.” Between the ASEAN summit and 13 June, 115 more people have been killed and 1,474 more people are arbitrarily detained or sentenced.
"Myanmar's generals are making a mockery of ASEAN's meek efforts to lead the international response - continuing to kill, jail, and drive the country into the ground before the ink had dried on ASEAN's 'Five Point Consensus'," said Emerlynne Gil.
“The regional bloc must get behind efforts at the UN to protect civilians, ensure their humanitarian needs are adequately met, urgently stop the flow of weapons to the military and secure the release of all those arbitrarily detained.”
Growing calls at the UN for a global arms embargo on Myanmar
ASEAN states continue to negotiate with the states sponsoring a UN General Assembly resolution to address the human rights crisis in Myanmar, of which only some of the ASEAN members are supportive of a comprehensive arms embargo.
“ASEAN must support the passing of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a halt of weapons transfers to the Myanmar military. Anything less is an abdication of ASEAN’s leadership role on the Myanmar crisis, and shows ASEAN is siding with a military that is continuing to kill and imprison unarmed protesters and other civilians.
Even if adopted, a call for halting transfers by the UNGA has only moral force and may not deter the major arms suppliers to the military – including China, Russia and India. The UN Security Council must urgently then make a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar mandatory for all states to stop the military's killing spree against its own people.
“Whether through willful obstruction or internal disagreement, ASEAN has become the Myanmar military's shield at the highest levels of global diplomacy. Instead, ASEAN states must stand together against rampant military atrocities and urgently get behind the calls for a global and comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
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Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Amnesty International reports on Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Despite the dangers, protesters in the Sagaing Region capital say they will keep hitting the streets – to send a strong message to the people, the junta and the world, and to honour fallen comrades.
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"The 36-year-old private school teacher grimaced as she lowered herself to the floor of the safe house. It was one of many she had called home in recent months, since the security forces put out a warrant for her arrest.
The brace enclosing her waist hinted at her bruising escape from a crackdown in early April, when the security forces pummeled her with batons. If the teacher went to hospital, she risked arrest, so instead she met her family doctor in secret. Still, she considers herself lucky. “Some others weren’t able to get away that day,” said the teacher, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
Despite the near-constant pain, the teacher spoke with steely determination about the protest movement in her hometown of Monywa, the Sagaing Region capital, where teachers and students have led opposition to the Tatmadaw’s February 1 coup.
She insisted that the violent crackdowns since late February, including the shooting of unarmed protesters, have failed to subdue opposition to military rule.
“Some people think Monywa is getting quiet now, but they’re the ones who are doing nothing for the revolution – the ones who are at home, scrolling through their phones and reading news,” said the teacher, a mother of two children. “We keep doing as much as we can. There are now a lot of restrictions in Monywa that make it very hard for us to protest. But we understand that every part of this revolution needs to stay strong.”
Even as resistance has shifted to armed struggle, including in the Dry Zone countryside around Monywa, residents still organise near-daily protests against the regime. Today it one of the few major towns where demonstrations continue on a regular basis.
During a visit to Monywa in May, resistance leaders emphasised to Frontier the importance of maintaining street protests in tandem with the public sector strikes under the Civil Disobedience Movement, and alongside the work of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a body formed by ousted lawmakers in February that has since appointed a parallel National Unity Government.
Because its protest movement has endured in the face of extreme violence, young resistance leaders proudly refer to their town as “sauk kyaw tin Monywa” (fucking stubborn Monywa).
On May 4, Frontier observed a flash protest in which more than 100 people converged from different areas onto a ward where the security presence was light. Scouts first observed the ward, including major roads, for signs of police or soldiers, and once they gave the all-clear the participants marched quickly through the streets, chanting slogans loudly to catch the attention of nearby residents. Many people emerged from their homes to clap or join the chanting, sometimes presenting energy drinks and water bottles to the marchers. The protest lasted less than 20 minutes, and afterwards the participants gathered briefly in a narrow residential street to listen to protest leaders.
“The street protests that triggered this Spring Revolution … have not disappeared yet,” Ko Than Kyaw Oo, the chair of Monywa University Students’ Union, told them.
“These protests are like a fist punch to the vulnerable sternum of the military council. It causes them a lot of trouble. However much they want to, they can’t control the town,” he said. “We will keep on protesting and our town will still be known as ‘fucking stubborn Monywa’.”.....Everything ‘gone to waste’:
On the day of the coup, teacher Daw Mya San Kywe was in Monywa helping to mark exam papers.
“I cried that day,” the 42-year-old mother of three told Frontier. “But I was also angry – so were many other people here in Monywa.”
She resolved to do whatever she could to oppose the military. On February 6, she and other teachers from her school, Basic Education High School Nyaung Phyu Pin, launched a photo campaign, posing in their green and white uniforms and giving the three-finger salute that quickly became a symbol of opposition to the regime. Two days later, 31 of the 45 teachers from the school took part in a protest.
Sources in Monywa estimate that around two-thirds of all teachers in the district, which includes three other townships besides Monywa, have gone on strike and joined the CDM, a relatively high rate.
NLD lawmaker U Myint Htwe, who won the Sagaing Region Hluttaw seat of Ye-U 2 in the November election, said local teachers had been invaluable in resisting military rule.
“We are all grateful and thankful for their efforts in this revolution,” he said.
Although Mya San Kywe no longer takes part in demonstrations, she remains active in the resistance movement, helping to raise and distribute donations for striking workers who have joined the CDM.
Mya San Kywe’s younger sister, Daw San San Lin, also teaches at a school in Monywa. They had both been optimistic about the future of education in Myanmar, particularly the prospects for further reform during the National League for Democracy’s second term, which was meant to start this year. They said they knew straight away that the military’s power grab had put paid to any chance of that. “It felt like everything we had been trying to achieve had gone to waste,” said Mya San Kywe.
When she got news of the coup, San San Lin was waiting for her husband-to-be to arrive in Monywa for their wedding, due two days later on February 3. The communications shutdown meant that she was unable to reach him for most of the day, and she wondered whether the ceremony would still go ahead.
Although they were able to marry as planned, the couple were in no mood to celebrate. From the following day, they dedicated themselves to the Spring Revolution, joining the CDM and participating in protests.
She said teacher strikes had helped to sustain opposition to the coup in multiple ways.
“The number of teachers in Myanmar is higher than the number of military personnel. That’s why I feel our CDM is as important as the others,” San San Lin said, referring to other public sector walkouts.
“Other government employees also don’t have contact with students like we do. So if teachers participate in the revolution then youths get more involved too. If a teacher is in danger or threatened with arrest, the students will stand by them.”
Despite their determination, San San Lwin and Mya San Kywe have both been shocked at the regime’s brutality, particularly towards young protesters. Figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners show that security forces have killed 27 people and arrested 80 in Monywa from April 3 to June 7.
Mya San Kywe said she’s tired of the loss of life and hopes the Spring Revolution will succeed soon, so that fewer people have to die. “When I saw young people dead on the road, even though I didn’t know them personally, my heart was broken,” Mya San Kywe said, before adding with grim humour: “Even when my ex-husband left me to marry another woman, I wasn’t that sad.”.....Fallen heroes:
After several weeks of swelling protests in which tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Monywa, the security forces launched their first major crackdown on February 27. About 200 people, mostly teachers and students, were surrounded by security forces near Zaung Kyan Bin monastery, in the middle of town.
At first security forces started shooting with teargas and stun grenades, but around 11am opened fire with live rounds. A restaurant owner was shot in his thigh and a teacher was shot in her abdomen but both survived, said U Myo Min Oo, a member of the Thumaydar volunteer organisation that has helped transport and treat those injured in the protests.
He said he was shocked at the violence, but it would soon get much worse. Just seven days later, he watched as police and soldiers opened fire on a protest organised by the town’s General Strike Committee.
“The protest group was taking a break in the afternoon at the corner of Aung Mahar and Pyidaungsu roads, near Hpayani Pagoda. The protesters had some food and then when they started moving to resume their march the security forces emerged and shot them immediately with live rounds,” said Myo Min Oo.
The nine fallen heroes that day included poet and educator Ma Myint Myint Zin, 34.
Better known to many by her penname, Kyi Lin Aye, she started writing poems and novellas in high school. After graduating with a degree in mathematics, she dedicated herself to education, volunteering as a teacher at monastic schools in the area.
She and her younger brother, Ko Win Min Latt, also co-founded a social welfare association, Myitta Dika, that funded teachers, books and meals for orphans and other children whose parents could not afford to send them to school.
Win Min Latt said that immediately after the coup, his sister began organising small protests in their neighbourhood, during which residents banged pots and pans, sung revolutionary songs and chanted slogans condemning the coup. “Even though she had never been involved with political parties or political movements before, she knew this the coup would be bad for the country,” he said.
From February 6, Myint Myint Zin began organising larger demonstrations, encouraging her friends and students to take part. “From that day until the day she died, she was involved [in the revolution],” Win Min Latt said.
Like many protesters, she knew the risks she was taking. On the day she was shot dead, she had written her blood type and her mother’s phone number on her arm with a marker, along with a message that her body was to be donated to Mandalay General Hospital.
Win Min Latt got the news about his sister just a few minutes after she was shot. Not long after, he learned she’d died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.
“My heart felt totally empty,” he said. “She was such an amazing person, I just felt it was such a waste. We weren’t just siblings; we were great friends. So, I’ve lost not only a sister but also a friend.”
The next day, Monywa residents renamed Aung Mahar Road, where Myint Myint Zin and eight others had died, as Arzani (martyrs) Road..... Honouring sacrifice:
Students have also been integral to Monywa’s resistance movement; and as the security forces have grown more violent, they’ve also borne the brunt of the casualties.
“Some of our comrades have died in our arms,” said Ko Khant Wai Phyo, a student activist and leading member of the Monywa General Strike Committee. “We feel we’re responsible for sustaining the movement and making sure their hopes are fulfilled.”
Ko Aung Kyaw, another student activist who is also part of the strike committee, echoed his words. “Every revolution requires sacrifice, but we don’t want these sacrifices to be in vain,” he said. “We will keep on fighting until we achieve the goal these fallen heroes were striving for.”
Like the teachers, the students are committed to ensuring that protests continue in Monywa, despite the risks. They and other activists said this was important for a number of reasons: to show that the people still reject military rule, to maintain hope that the revolution will succeed, and to remind the world that the people of Myanmar are still under dictatorship.
To maintain the momentum, activists try to organise at least one protest a day. This can take the form of motorcycle rallies in areas of Monywa town with a light security presence, but when there are too many soldiers or police in the town, they demonstrate in nearby villages instead.
Teacher Ma Soe Myint Htwe, who had to flee with her family into a forest when clashes erupted between a civilian militia and the Tatmadaw, said she would “stay with the CDM until the dictators fall”.
“There’s no way I can work under them,” said the 24-year-old, who had shelved plans to pursue a master’s degree in order to join local protests. “I want them to be annihilated as soon as possible – the longer they’re in power, the more likely we are to return to the dark days of the past...”
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Three striking teachers in Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region, were each sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for incitement for participating in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) against the regime.
Daw Nay Chi Htwe and Daw Chit Myat Thu were detained together at their home on March 31 and charged with Article 505(a) of the Penal Code for allegedly lobbying other staff on social media to join the CDM. The teachers, who are related, were beaten during the arrest.
U Nyein Chan Oo, a high-school teacher, was detained in early April in Myeik, on the same charge.
The three were held in Myeik Prison and sentenced on Monday, a member of the basic education teachers’ union in Tanintharyi Region said.
“They were sentenced for expressing their views peacefully by joining the CDM,” the member said.
Many civil servants have been on strike since the Feb. 1 coup, refusing to work under military rule.
Striking teachers have been jailed across the country and many have been officially suspended.
In Tanintharyi Region, 7,236 striking educators and administrative staff were removed from their duties, according to the regional teachers’ union.
Seven arrests have been made.
Hundreds of striking Tanintharyi teachers went into hiding to evade arrest in May when the regime threatened them with arrest if they failed to return to work when the schools reopened.
“Several schools can’t open as a majority of teachers went on strike. Only very few schools could open and less than a quarter of pupils have returned,” a Tanintharyi teacher said.
The junta opened public schools on June 1 amid efforts to normalize the country but attendances have been very low nationwide..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Preface
The purpose of publishing this information sheet is to increase the awareness of people over the Crimes Against Humanity committed by the military junta terrorists on a daily basis and to keep record of their brutal acts for future reference and proceedings. Committed crimes are selectively stated in this information sheet due to space limitations.
Arbitrary Detentions and Enforced Disappearances
On 27th May, Soe Linn Htet, a second year student majoring in Civil Engineering at the Technological University Meiktila, was arbitrarily detained at home at Pyawbwe Township in Mandalay Region. A village administrator, involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was also arrested at Nayin Village, Yesagyo Township in Magway Region on 29th May.
On 30th May, a former member of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) in Monywa District andwho is currently assisting IDPs was arrested at gunpoint by the junta troops wearing civilian attires. On 31st May, Khin HmwayLwin, a member of Sagaing Region and elected regional parliamentary representative fromMinkin Township constituency and Hein Win Latt, NLD executive member of Bhamo Town in Kachin State, were arrested respectively.
On 2ndJune morning, former village administrator of Pan Lin Village inPyaungKhaung Village Tract of Mogok Township in Mandalay Region, was arrested by the junta troops. A lawyer who is representing pro-bono and arrested people for staging anti-dictatorship protests in Myitkyina, Kachin State was also arrested and on 3rdJune, a leader of Sanay Charity Group, Bhamo Town in Kachin State, was arrested by the junta troops.
Murders
On 27th May, two youths from Demoso Township in Kayah State were shot to death by terrorist junta while they were delivering food toKarenni IDPs. On the same day, a 14 year old boy was shot dead in the head while running away from the junta forces in ThabyayKone, in Loikaw Township, Kayah State. Later on 28thMay, at Pauk Taw Wa in Insein Township, Yangon Region, a youth was brutally killed when a military vehicle intentionally crashed into him for not being stop for checking.
In early morning, 30 May in Baganmyothit in Nyaung-U Township in Mandalay Region, Moe Myint Aung was shot and died when the junta raided the Yonetan Ward and Hman Cho Ward. Later, sources said that Moe Myint Aung waswrongfully shot while capturing others six youths. On 30th May, in Loikaw Township in Kayah State,a man was shot dead by the junta troops while riding a motorbike.
During the night of 4th June, Thaw Zin, who is a LGBT, was shot by the junta troops deployed at Township Education Office in Kyaukpadaung Town in Mandalay Region onhis way back home with a motorcycle with two of his friends. Thaw Zin eventually died from not receiving medical treatment in time. While around 80 villagers in Ayeyarwady Region clashed with soldiers as they tried to prevent the arrest of a man accused of transporting weapons, at least three civilians were killed by the junta force.
The widespread and systematic murdering of the civilian population in Myanmar by the military shows no signs of stopping. In fact, it is evident that attacks against peaceful protesters across Myanmar have progressively intensified.
Intention to destroy the whole ‘Kayan’ tribes
The Kayan are a sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Myanmar lives around Phekhone, Moebyel, Demoso, and Seebu. The estimated Kayan population is about 2 millions. In the early days of May, some young generations residing in these regions have been resisting against the military’s repression with homemade guns. Since then, the military have beenoperating systematic and targeted attacks on the entire ‘Kayan’ people including civilians who are not directly taking part in the hostilities.
About 1 million of ‘Kayan’ are displaced directed towards Seebuu Township, due to the heavy artillery and Airstrikes of the military. Therefore, about 85% of the ‘Kayan’ people would become displaced persons and nowhere to hide since the geographical position of these regions are not interconnected with international borders, and if the military continues their strikes in Seebuu township.
Since the military have been cutting off humanitarian aids to this particular region, people urgently need foods, water and medicines.The Myanmar military has been violating the fundamental and peremptory norms of international law on a daily basis. In carrying out these atrocities, the military’s conduct confirms that it does not and has no intention of abiding the obligations laid under the international law. In a world governed by the rule of law, the military cannot legitimately represent Myanmar. The international community must act immediately to stop the military’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
Violations on Freedom of Speech and Fundamental Human Rights
On 27th May, a reporter of Ayeyarwaddy Times News Agency based in Ayeyarwady Region was arrested and beaten while interrogating. Moreover, on the same day, Myo Thiha Kyaw, a photojournalist for the Myanmar Press Photo Agency, was arrested in Mandalay. Also in Kyaukme Township in Shan State, a photographer was arrested. To silence the widespread opposition against the military’s actions since 1st February 2021, it has targeted, attacked and arbitrarily detained dozens of journalists reporting on the protests. As a result, most editors and reporters inside the country currently refrain from identifying themselves as members of the press. Indeed, the military has also revoked licenses of a number of independent media outlets.
Nevertheless, the National Unity Government planning to hand over documentary evidences of these crimes against humanity being committed by the military against the civilian population of Myanmar to relevant human rights bodies of the United Nations.
Ref : Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
: Myanmar Now..."
Source/publisher:
Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the United Nations (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Anti-coup protesters, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups.
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Sub-title:
Detaining People to Coerce Others is Collective Punishment
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"Myanmar security forces are arbitrarily arresting and detaining family and friends of activists, protesters, and opposition members, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all those wrongfully held and end all collective punishment, which violates fundamental principles of international human rights law.
Since the February 1, 2021, military coup in Myanmar, security forces have detained at least 76 people, including an infant, during raids when they were unable to find the person they sought to arrest, according to documentation by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). At least 48 of those people are still in detention, with some now held for more than three months.
“Seizing family members and friends as hostages is a thuggish tactic by Myanmar’s security forces to terrorize the population and coerce activists to turn themselves in,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The authorities should end the practice of collective punishment immediately and release everyone held on this illegal basis.”
Security forces unable to find specific suspects have arrested their parents, children, other relatives, and friends who happened to be present during the search. Cases include:
On March 8, security forces searching for lawyer Robert San Aung seized his daughter and brother-in-law and held them for 18 days before releasing them.
On April 22, security forces searching for Pu Do Sian Pau, a member of the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement, seized his mother and his 70-year-old father, a retired pastor of the Cope Memorial Baptist Church. Both are still in detention.
On April 29, security forces searching for Salai Bawi Uk Thang, the editor-in-chief of the Chinland Post newspaper, detained his father. He is still in detention.
On May 23, security forces arrested the parents and younger brother of a striking worker from the fire department. All three relatives are still in detention.
In some cases, witnesses allege that the security forces beat the relatives before detaining them. Tin Htut Paing, an activist who is in hiding, told the media that, on May 2, security forces searching for him and his brother beat his 90-year-old grandmother and 64-year-old mother. Security forces detained his mother and charged her with “incitement.” On May 28, she was sentenced to three years in prison. According to the AAPP, security forces searching for Associate Judge Kaung Myat Thu of Chaung-U Township Court beat his mother before arresting her. His mother is still in detention
Young children and even an infant have also been detained, at least temporarily. Security forces detained five relatives of strike leader Ko Jay Lah, including two girls aged 2 and 4. Similarly, forces searching for protest leader U Tan Win detained his wife and 20-day-old baby. While in both cases the family members were released later the same day, the arrests send a chilling message to activists and members of the Civil Disobedience Movement that no member of their family is safe, Human Rights Watch said.
The detention of people based solely on their relationship to another person is a form of collective punishment, which violates the right to liberty and security of person and the right to a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said.
“Myanmar’s junta has taken unlawful detention to a noxious new level by detaining those close to people who themselves should not be facing arrest,” Robertson said. “Concerned governments should urgently impose targeted sanctions and a global arms embargo or expect the junta to continue to raise the stakes on abusive actions.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Anti-coup protesters, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
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"Myanmar’s military regime has charged the national immunization director and others 26 doctors with the Unlawful Association Act and incitement under the Penal Code for allegedly assisting the National Unity Government (NUG).
Dr. Htar Htar Lin, the national immunization director, was arrested on Thursday in Yangon. Her husband, seven-year-old son, friend and her daughter were also detained with her. Their whereabouts are unknown.
Two other doctors, Dr. Maung Maung Nyein Tun and Dr. Swe Zin Oo, are among 26 suspects charged with her who were arrested on Sunday in Mandalay, a source told The Irrawaddy.
On Saturday night, the junta-controlled media announced that Dr. Htar Htar Lin formed the civil disobedience movement’s (CDM) core group and assisted the NUG, which it has designated as a terrorist group.
The state-controlled media said she confessed to communicating with Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, the NUG’s shadow health minister, through the applications Signal and Zoom. She helped write speeches and NUG health-care policy documents and helped prepare for Zoom meetings and plan to implement the NUG health-care programs, including estimating required drugs and costs, the state media stated.
It said she will be prosecuted under Article 17 of the Unlawful Association Act and Article 505(a) of the Penal Code for communicating with a “terrorist organization” and working with Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who is in hiding and acting health minister in the NUG. He also has two other ministerial portfolios.
It made the same accusation against 26 other doctors who it said had accepted NUG public health, state health administration and clinician team roles.
The state media broadcast their names and photos and called on the public to give evidence against them. It said anyone who hides the suspects would face prosecution.
Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act penalizes anyone who has joined an unlawful association or is taking part in its activities with up to three years in prison. Incitement under the Penal Code also carries three-year terms.
Several medics and Ministry of Health and Sports staff have been charged for participating in the CDM and for running secret clinics for wounded demonstrators.
At least 51 striking medics, including superintendents, academics, surgeons and other hospital staff, have been arrested with many still in detention and facing prosecution.
The regime also issued warrants for prominent CDM doctors, including Dr. Zaw Wai Soe and Dr. Htar Htar Lin. Thousands of medical staff are in hiding.
The CDM was launched by medics on Feb. 3 in protest against the junta and followed by other government workers nationwide..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-14
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement - standards and mechanisms, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Description:
"As of 13 June, (863) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Demoso Township in Kayah State was killed on a previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 13 June, a total of (4863) people are currently under detention; of them (178) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In the morning of June 11, May Lar was shot dead when he was bringing food back to Padan Kho Village from a displaced camp in Demoso Township in Kayah State because they lacked food. Two lawyers from Hpa-an Township in Karen State, who are representing political detainees including Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint, were arrested on June 10 at Myawaddy in Karen State. A lawsuit was filed against them under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code at Myawaddy Police Station. In addition to this, Kyaw Myat Min, a political activist, who was charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, was arrested at Hlae Kyaw Kone Village Monastery which is located in Pathein Township in Ayeyarwady Region on the night of June 10. While the monk was being arrested he was defrocked. Moreover, Aung Ko Min, a disabled man, living in Dawei in Tanintharyi Region, was arrested after leaving his home in a wheelchair on June 11.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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4.51 MB 1.19 MB 974.45 KB
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Description:
"As of 12 June, (862) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Demoso Township in Kayah State was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 12 June, a total of (4848) people are currently under detention; of them (178) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In the morning of June 11, Saw Bel Kream Hel a.k.a Khun Bel Bel was shot twice in the chest and died on the spot while he was helping to push a pick-up truck. In the evening of June 11, doctor Ye Zin Aung, Obstetrician-Gynecologist from Myingyan Hospital, was arrested at Myingyan Town in Mandalay Region.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.19 MB 4.4 MB 983.78 KB
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Sub-title:
Scores killed and injured, more than 1,400 arrested
Description:
"The Myanmar military junta must immediately end its deadly nationwide attack against nonviolent protesters and return power to the elected government, Fortify Rights said today. The junta’s forces killed at least 61 people in at least seven regions and states throughout the country since a February 1 coup d’état, according to various sources. Yesterday alone, soldiers and police reportedly killed at least 38 people.
On Friday, the U.N. Security Council will convene in New York City to discuss the situation in Myanmar.
“Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and his murderous junta are systematically terrorizing the people of Myanmar,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director of Fortify Rights. “We’re witnessing security forces commit targeted extrajudicial killings and other widespread violations. The Security Council should urgently impose a global arms embargo against the military.”
Since February 27, the Myanmar military and police have dramatically escalated the use of excessive and lethal force against unarmed protesters in almost all of the country’s 14 states and regions.
According to Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the junta’s forces killed at least 23 people from early February to March 1. Yesterday, the military and police killed an additional 38 people, according to the U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener.
The police and military killed men, women, and children. Victims included students, a carpenter, an engineer, a teacher, and others.
Video footage shared widely on social media shows military soldiers and police officers shooting into crowds of unarmed people, shooting into private residences, brutally beating and arbitrarily arresting people, including medical workers and journalists, and destroying property.
In two videos filmed yesterday and shared online, two bloodied, lifeless bodies lay on a street reportedly in Monywa, Sagaing Region. In one clip, two police officers drag one of the bodies down the road; in another clip, four officers carry a body down the same road.
In another video reportedly filmed in North Okkalapa in Yangon, a dozen police officers surround a man and escort him out of a building and onto a street. A gunshot then rings out, and the man collapses to the pavement. An officer then kicks the man’s lifeless body, and then another officer drags the body away.
Open-source photographs and videos show Myanmar Army soldiers holding automatic weapons, long-range sniper rifles, and other firearms. Police also used less-lethal weapons, including rubber bullets, slingshots, tear gas, and water cannons, against unarmed protesters.
The similar use of excessive and lethal force by security forces in towns and cities throughout the country demonstrates coordination between units and an overarching national strategy, said Fortify Rights. All military and police in the chain of command should be held liable for crimes committed against the people of Myanmar.
The junta has also arbitrarily arrested, charged, or sentenced at least 1,498 people since the February 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights organization monitoring arrests and detentions in Myanmar.
On February 1, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing orchestrated a military coup d’état, overthrowing the elected government and detaining President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, dozens of other government leaders, parliamentarians, and human rights defenders. The junta took over the executive, judicial, and legislative levers of power and, on February 2, created a military-appointed “State Administration Council” (SAC) to rule the country.
On March 1, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, comprising elected members of parliament, declared the SAC a “Terrorist Group” for its “atrocities and acts of terrorism.”
Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on February 26, Myanmar’s ambassador to the U.N., Kyaw Moe Tun, told member states that he represented the elected government of the National League for Democracy and called on the international community to use “any means necessary to take action” against the military to help “restore the democracy,” adding: “We need further strongest possible action from the international community to immediately end the military coup, to stop oppressing the innocent people, to return the state power to the people, and to restore the democracy.”
The U.N. Security Council should impose a global arms embargo against the Myanmar military, sanctions against Myanmar military individuals, entities, and assets, and refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, said Fortify Rights. Failing that, the U.N. General Assembly should hold an emergency special session to address the crisis.
“Soldiers and police in Myanmar are behaving like death squads and committing grave human rights violations,” said Ismail Wolff. “The world must take immediate action. There is no way out of this other than a complete repudiation of the coup and the junta.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-13
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Description:
"As of 11 June, (861) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Yenangyaung Township in Magway Region was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 11 June, a total of (4823) people are currently under detention; of them (176) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of June 10, Maung Chit Thae a.k.a Chit Ko Win, a university student, was shot dead on the spot while he was passing through the front of Yenangyaung Government Technical Institute (GTI) riding a motorcycle at Yenangyaung Township in Magway Region. On the night of June 10, Myo Win Aung, photographer, was arrested at home by so-called police and soldiers at Taungdwingyi Township in Magway Region. On June 5, Ma Eaint, a filmmaker, was arrested by the junta in Rangoon while leaving her home.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.19 MB 4.34 MB 972.22 KB
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Description:
"A student from Magwe badly wounded in a junta crackdown on anti-regime protesters and at risk of going blind in one eye has been denied medical treatment by the military regime and imprisoned instead.
Ko Liang Phyo Aung, a 22-year-old second-year engineering student at Magwe Technological University, was severely injured in his right eye after a violent crackdown by junta forces on an anti-regime demonstration in Magwe on March 27. He also lost his right hand, his left arm was broken and his mobility severely impaired by the wounds he suffered from being hit in the legs by multiple rubber bullets.
He received treatment for those injuries while in detention at a military hospital, where in April the junta charged him with incitement under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code.
The student was then sent to Magwe Prison on June 7, after the military hospital said that he is recovering from all his injuries except for his injured eye. But the military hospital stated also that his eye needs to be treated at Yangon Eye Hospital because the military hospital lacks a specialist eye doctor.
“His eye is oozing pus and is in urgent need of surgery. There is no eye specialist at the military hospital and he needs to be sent to Yangon for a cornea transplant,” said the elder brother of Ko Liang Phyo Aung.
“The medical report by the military hospital said his eye needs to be treated at Yangon Eye Hospital. But they sent him to prison right after the medical report was released,” he added.
The report also said that Ko Liang Phyo Aung still needs rehabilitation as he could not walk well due to his leg injuries inflicted by rubber bullets.
U Myat Thu Win, chairman of the Shwe Minn Tha Foundation, a group advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities, requested that Ko Liang Phyo Aung be given treatment under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Myanmar has ratified, and under Myanmar’s own law protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.
“He used to be normal and became disabled only a few months ago. It will be hard for him to get used to it and perform daily activities. What is important is that he has every right to continue receiving treatment. I would like to request that he is given further treatment,” said U Myat Thu Win.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, Ko Liang Pyo Aung has the right to apply for bail to receive emergency health care.
Citing Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, lawyer U Khin Maung Myint said the judge can grant bail for accused people who are sick if there are reasonable grounds for believing that they have not committed an offence punishable with death or with transportation for life.
“The maximum penalty for violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code is three years. As the case has not yet been brought to the court, bail can be applied for at the relevant police station and through the township police head,” said the lawyer.
“He is a disabled person now and was made disabled by their torture. It is too inhuman to prosecute him after making him disabled,” said the elder brother of Ko Liang Phyo Aung.
The regime has detained at least 15 physically or mentally disabled persons across the country, according to rights groups.
As of June 10, at least 860 people have been killed by the junta since their Feb. 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. More than 4,800 people remain in detention..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Nearly three months after being shot in the head for helping protesters, Daw Pyone is in prison and still suffering from her injuries
Description:
"A 50-year-old Mandalay woman who was shot in the head for hiding protesters nearly three months ago is alive but in need of medical attention, according to her family.
Daw Pyone, a resident of Seinban ward in Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township, disappeared on March 13 after sustaining serious injuries at the hands of soldiers who were pursuing the protesters.
Her family spent the next two and a half months trying to locate her, inquiring about her at the military command inside Mandalay Palace, military hospitals, and Mandalay’s Obo Prison, but to no avail.
Then, in late May, a police official called the family to inform them that Daw Pyone had been transferred from the Pyin Oo Lwin Military Hospital to Mandalay’s Obo Prison.
“From the beginning, I never believed that she was dead,” her daughter, Tin Nilar San, told Myanmar Now.
The family has since learned through a pro bono lawyer who is representing Daw Pyone that she has been charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code.
More worrying, however, is the fact that she was discharged from the hospital before she could fully recover from her injuries.
“At her last hearing, my mother told her lawyer that her wounds have not healed. Her lawyer said that her arm and leg are now almost paralyzed. I also heard she was not allowed to receive medical treatment at Obo Prison,” said Tin Nilar San.
Although the family has been denied permission to meet with Daw Pyone, they have been able to bring her food and other items on two occasions, according to her daughter.
“I would like to ask the authorities to allow my mother to receive medical treatment until her wounds are healed,” she said.
Daw Pyone’s ordeal began after she allowed a group of more than 20 protesters fleeing a violent crackdown by a joint force of police and soldiers to hide in her home on March 13.
Witnesses said she was shot in the head by soldiers as they stormed her house in pursuit of the protesters.
Neighbours carried her to an ambulance, but it was later commandeered by soldiers, according to rescue workers, who confirmed that regime forces killed at least 10 people and injured another 20 in Seinban ward that day.
All but five of the protesters who hid in Daw Pyone’s house were arrested. One who escaped by hiding under a bed said that he felt guilty about her situation.
“It happened to her because we hid at her house. I feel guilty. She protected us,” he said on condition of anonymity.
He also dismissed speculation that the soldiers shot Daw Pyone because she used a slingshot to attack them.
“She just asked them not to arrest us,” he said.
The military’s spokesperson and regime authorities in Mandalay could not be reached for comment on Daw Pyone’s situation.
The next hearing in her case is scheduled for June 24..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-12
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"As of 10 June, (860) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Meiktila Township in Mandalay Region and Yinmabin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 10 June, a total of (4804) people are currently under detention; of them (173) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of 9 June, a teacher involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and who participated in the Amarapura Strike, was arrested in Amarapura Township, Mandalay Region by the terrorist junta. Two poets, Maung Yu Paing and Nayi Myeik (a.k.a Lwin Aung, the lawyer), activist Tin Ko Ko Oo, NLD Township executive member Soe Linn, who were living in Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region were charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and sentenced to two years imprisonment on on 9 June, apart from Maung Yu Paing sentenced on 8 June.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.18 MB 4.4 MB 971.57 KB
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Description:
"The military group has carried out a series of daily arrests on elected leaders and civilians opposing the military coup since February 1, 2021. As a result of these arbitrary arrests and torture, people are being disabled and tortured to death.
Successive dictatorships have pursued policies to control the population with fear and torture as one of those policies. Interrogation centers during the military regime were notorious for torture. After the 1988 uprising, thousands of civilians against them were arrested and imprisoned. AAPP collected data on 127 deaths during the State Law and Order Resurrection Council (SLORC) and State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) era, torturing inside interrogation camps, prisons, police custody, and through lack of access to medical treatment.
Since February 1, the junta has brutally arrested and tortured, continuing to use torture as policy. The junta is beating, crashing with cars, and shooting. Many anti-coup activists have been arrested with serious injuries. Some of those cannot even be recognized because of torture and photos shown on junta-controlled media display people with injuries. Some detainees who were subjected to severe torture resulting in significant mental illness, being disabled and death.
Sometimes, days after arrest, families are informed to take the dead bodies. Some others are not even recovering the bodies but instead just informed they are dead. In Burma since the coup, people are tortured to death for the specific purpose of inducing a climate of fear. This is a crime against humanity, and fundamentally the activity of a foreign terrorist organization.
According to AAPP documentation, 5965 have been arrested since the coup. Of these, 4,804 remain in prison, interrogation centers, and under house arrest. At least 860 people have been killed. Of these, 22 have been killed from torture during detention. 3 of these tortured to death, dead bodies were not returned to their family. The number of tortured to death is likely to be higher than confirmed.
Of those 22 tortured to death, 13 were killed within 24 hours of arrest and 4 were killed within 2 days, another 4 were killed within a week, and 1 victim was killed within two weeks. Almost all the victims were found with wounds consistent with torture, it can be seen all over the bodies. However, the junta reports they died from illness or other cause.
U Aye Ko, 40-year old, was shot by the junta troops while night guarding in front of Ta Tar Oo Monastery, Mandalay on March 27. They dragged him onto a burning car tire. An eyewitness said that Aye Ko was not dead and could still walk when he was burnt alive.
U Kyaw Kyaw (a.k.a. Agga Moe Nyo) 39-year-old, was arrested on March 15. On March 30 he was announced dead, his family were not allowed to return and bury his body.
Daw Khin Marlar Win (a.k.a. Myo Myo Lwin) 39-year-old, was detained on March 19 in the Pakokku crackdown. She begged on her knees not to be arrested, she was forcibly arrested. The family was informed to take the dead body the next morning.
U Zaw Myat Linn, 46-year-old, was arrested in Shwepyithar Township where he lived. He was killed that night. According to eyewitnesses, his whole head was bruised, and parts of his mouth and body had disintegrated.
The prohibition of torture, and especially to death, is customary and observed across national military manuals. Torture is prohibited in Burma’s domestic law as well, “bodily pain” and “grievous hurt” are outlawed under the Articles 319 and 320 of Burma’s Penal Code. Articles 330 and 331 specifically forbid a public servant to commit “hurt” and “grievous hurt” during interrogations. According to Article 166, any public servant disobeying this law and intentionally harming any person shall be punished to one year imprisonment, a fine or both. When a public servant commits torture to death, it is a crime of murder. The Prisoner Act 49 provisions includes situations concerning the different use of punishment, and the restriction of a prison authority to significantly harm detainees.
According to the international human rights law torture is prohibited under any circumstances:
Article 3 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 7 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (commonly known as the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT)
Burma is one of the handful countries to refuse to sign the UN Convention against Torture. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) strongly condemns such brutal torture and killings. At the same time, we call on the international community to take immediate and effective action in preventing the recurrence of torture.
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-11
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
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Size:
125.73 KB 119.72 KB
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Description:
"As of 9 June, (858) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Aunglan Township in Magway Region died today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 9 June, a total of (4782) people are currently under detention; of them (163) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In the morning of 9 June, Tin Zaw Oo died while he was receiving the medical treatment at the hospital. He got injured by gunshot during a protest at Aunglan Town in Magway Region in March. On the night of 8 June, Myint Than, a philanthropic leader from Nawnghkio Township in Shan State, was arrested after his home was searched by so-called police and soldiers. A lawsuit was filed against him under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. On 7 June, Than Oo, headmaster of B.E.H.S (1) of Myitkyina of Kachin State, was arrested by the terrorist junta.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Size:
1.19 MB 4.31 MB 988.32 KB
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Description:
"As of 8 June, (857) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 8 June, a total of (4704) people are currently under detention; of them (162) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On June 7, doctor Aung Moe Nyo, Magway Region Chief Minister, was sentenced to two years imprisonment under 505(b) of the Penal Code.
Marn Zar Myay Mon, a protest leader of Chaung-U Township in Sagaing Region, whom a Penal Code Section 505(a) warrant was issued, was shot and arrested by terrorist junta troops in the early morning of 8 June in the village where he was evading arrest.
On 7 June, Myo Zaw, a former village administrator living in Nga Min Village of Taungdwingyi Township of Magway Region, was arrested by the terrorist police and military forces. In the early morning of 6 June, Kyaw Soe, elected MP for Thingangyun Township of Yangon Region, was arrested by junta troops. Moreover, on the night of 6 June, Tin Myint a.k.a Maw Si, Taunggyi Township Executive Committee Member of NLD, living in Ayetharyar Town, Shan State, was beaten and arrested at his home by junta troops.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.18 MB 4.22 MB 995.12 KB
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Description:
"Khet Thi made cakes, ice cream and poetry. The latter may have cost him his life.
He died in police custody in Myanmar early last month. The authorities say the cause was heart failure. His widow says he was beaten to death.
A civil engineer by training, the 43-year-old quit his civil service job in the central Myanmar town of Shwebo in 2012 and opened a cake and ice cream shop to support his poetry.
"Before the coup, he wrote poems about love, about life," says his friend Nyein Chan, another poet. "But after, all he wrote about was the revolution."
The revolution is what Nyein Chan calls the resistance to Feb. 1 coup that abruptly ended Myanmar's decade-long experiment with civilian rule. Four months later, that resistance continues to grow. So does the list of civilians killed by security forces.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma, an advocacy group, puts the figure at more than 850 — including Khet Thi. Well known in the restive Sagaing region, he wrote perhaps his most famous poem after security forces killed a close friend — another poet — with a bullet to the head in March.
"Khet Thi went to K Za Win's funeral and read his poem at the service," Nyein Chan says. "A lot of people posted the poem on social media afterwards. It went, 'They shoot in the head, but they don't know the revolution is in the heart.' "
Nyein Chan says his friend's spirit and commitment to the resistance was strong. "For this revolution, I have decided to sacrifice my life," he recalls Khet Thi saying. "Those words showed us his commitment. Now, I feel sad when I recall what he said."
Khet Thi's poetry and his highly visible social media presence may have made him a tempting target for a junta prone to hunting, jailing and killing artists and activists. His widow, Chaw Su, recalls the terrible night they came for him.
"Around 10 p.m., soldiers and police surrounded the house, more than 100 of them," she says. "He attempted to escape, but they caught him. They took him, me and my brother-in-law to a police station and accused us of making bombs. Then we were separated for interrogation."
Eleven hours later, police told her Khet Thi was in a hospital some 60 miles away, in Monywa. "If Khet Thi died, it depends on his karma," she says they told her. She learned her husband was dead after she reached the hospital.
She had to beg them to release the body at the hospital, she says.
"In the morning, I tried to comb his long hair and found his head was badly injured," she says, her voice cracking. "His ribs were badly damaged and his nose was broken, too. They said he died because of heart disease. But they just beat his head in."
When she got her husband's body back, Chaw Su says, there was a long incision in his chest that had been crudely stitched back together. "There is no justice," she declares. "They arrest and kill people like animals, like a cow, or a buffalo. But at least I got his body back. Other families don't even know if their loved ones are still alive or not."
Bo Kyi, secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, says at least 20 Myanmar families have had similar experiences.
"Actually, they send back that body in order to create a climate of fear," he says. "They want people to know if you are really against them, you will be tortured to death."
It's a tactic that's been honed by Myanmar's military during decades of fighting with ethnic minority militias, and more recently, in the majority heartland. Citizen journalists have posted grim photographs and videos on social media of soldiers or police dragging bodies into vehicles.
Nick Cheesman, a fellow at the Australian National University, calls it "state terror and torture."
"The manner in which the bodies are being used is part of a kind of spectacular violence," Cheesman says. "Spectacular violence which is characteristic of the way that state terror works in Myanmar under the military dictatorship."
State terror, Cheesman writes, wears people down. The targets it does not eliminate, it exhausts. That includes Khet Thi's widow.
"They're watching me," Chaw Su says. "At night, after curfew, they're here around my house. I'm scared. Not just me, but my family members, too."
Still, resistance to the coup isn't abating. And Chaw Su's husband remained defiant until the end. He even suggested that poetry might no longer be sufficient. In his final poem, he wrote:
I can't shoot a gun. I can only create a beautiful cake.
Now my men are being shot. But I can only shoot back with poem.
It is now sure only words from the mouth are not enough.
We have to choose arms. I will shoot..."
Source/publisher:
National Public Radio (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders
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Marn Zar Myay Mon was riding on a motorcycle in a bid to escape a raid when the bullet hit him
Description:
"Soldiers shot a local protest leader 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.
Marn 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.
Marn Zar Myay Mon received treatment for his wound but was sent to the Monywa interrogation center in legcuffs, the source said.
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..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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The brutal murder of a motorcycle mechanic in Kalay has some suspecting that he was the victim of an irate pro-regime neighbour
Description:
"Min Min, a 39-year-old motorcycle mechanic with his own repair shop in Kalay, Sagaing Region, called his wife at around 8pm on May 24 to tell her that everything was fine.
Earlier that day, a group of about 50 soldiers and police had arrived at his house and began searching for something. When they couldn’t find whatever it was they were looking for, they told him he would have to come with them for questioning.
“They told his wife to not worry. They said he just had to answer a few questions and would soon be released,” a family member recalled.
When Min Min called that night, he told his wife that he was being questioned at a local interrogation camp about a recent explosion near Kalay’s Basic Education High School 6.
“His wife asked him if he was being tortured. He said no. He said he would be released shortly and told her not to worry,” the relative said.
The next morning, Min Min’s wife went to the camp with some food and clothing for her husband. A soldier in plainclothes accepted them.
Then, about an hour after returning home, she received the news that he was dead. His death, she was told when she went to collect the body at the 100-bed hospital next to the camp, was caused by “an underlying lung issue.”
Min Min suffered from peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition most likely brought on by his diabetes, but was otherwise in good health.
A military officer apologized for Min Min’s death and offered 500,000 kyat ($300) as compensation, but no further explanation was forthcoming.
“We were angry when we went to get his body, but we couldn’t show it because we were worried that they would harm the family. So we just nodded our heads and left,” the relative said.....A battered body: When the family took Min Min’s body home and started cleaning it, they saw that it was covered with bruises and other signs of severe trauma.
“We saw bruises on his chest and about three more on his forehead, which we assume came from a blow with a gunstock. That part of his forehead was very mushy,’” said the relative.
There was also blood on his mouth and bruises from the back of his neck to his ankles. His hands looked like they had been cut with a knife and there were stab wounds made with some sort of pointed object, the relative added.
All of these injuries were inflicted while Min Min was in military custody, but his family knew there was nothing they could do about holding his torturers legally accountable.
Min Min was not the first person to die at the hands of the regime’s forces in Kalay, where brutal crackdowns on protests have prompted many civilians to arm themselves with traditional hunting rifles. But so far he is the first in the region to be tortured to death while undergoing interrogation.
People in Myanmar hit pots and pans together producing noise (that sound is believed to drive the evils away in Burmese tradition) at 8:00 PM local time as a symbol of resistance to the recent military coup.
It’s difficult to say why he was subjected to this ordeal. He was a supporter of the National League for Democracy, but not a member, and he was not involved in protests, according to his friends.
It seems, at least in the opinion of those who knew him, that he had simply crossed the wrong person.
“We assume that it was an informant. He didn’t get on well with his neighbour. Not for personal reasons, but because of politics. The neighbour is a well-known informant in the city,” one friend told Myanmar Now.....A letter of warning: Min Min had been making a living as a motorcycle mechanic for about 10 years. He moved his workshop to its current location near the Nan Kalein stream in Kalay’s Myothar ward a year or so ago.
Although he didn’t take part in the town’s anti-coup protests, he did show his defiance of the dictatorship in another way—by banging pots and pans every night at 8pm.
While this was a common practice in many parts of the country, it didn’t meet with everyone’s approval.
In late March, Min Min’s neighbour sent him a letter complaining about the “distressing” sound and warning him that he would be reported to the authorities if he continued.
It was unclear if the neighbour followed through on this threat, but it seems that Min Min took it seriously.
Soon after receiving the letter, he closed his shop for about a month. It was just three weeks before his death that he decided to reopen it so he could provide for his family.
Now that he is dead, his wife and two children will have to struggle to make ends meet. They have since moved to Tharsi, the village where he lies buried at the local cemetery.
Around a thousand people attended his funeral, which was held on May 27.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 21 people have died from torture while in detention over the past four months.
The junta’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment on these deaths..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-09
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 7 June, (857) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (8) fallen heroes today. These (8) fallen heroes from Pyigyidagun Township in Mandalay Region, Shwepyitha Township in Yangon Region, Bago Township in Bago Region and Kyonpyaw Township in Ayeyarwady Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 7 June, a total of (4677) people are currently under detention; of them (162) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of 6 June, two men were killed after being chased on motorbike and crashed into by a military vehicle in Pyigyidagun Township, Mandalay Region. On the night of 6 June, Chit Ko, NLD treasurer of Bhamo Township, Kachin State, was arrested. In addition to this, yesterday evening, three civilians from Nat Myaung and Nat Chaung Village in Kale Township, Sagaing Region, were beaten and arrested unprovoked.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"The violence used by Myanmar's armed forces against unarmed opponents since the coup in February has shocked the world; more than 800 people have been killed, most by military gunfire. But the deaths in custody of two officials from the National League of Democracy - the party led by Aung San Suu Kyi - have cast an even grimmer light on the military's actions.
On Saturday, 6 March, cities across Myanmar were on edge.
Three days earlier they had experienced what had then been the most violent day since the coup in February - with the UN recording the deaths of 38 people.
The army had seized power on 1 February, after claiming - without evidence - that a previous election which saw the NLD gain power was fraudulent.
Ms Suu Kyi and senior leaders were put under house arrest - triggering waves of protest against the military.
For the first three weeks the military had seemed unsure how to respond to the protests.
But by the end of February they were using increasing levels of lethal force. By the first week of March, it was clear there would be no restraint.
The historic downtown neighbourhood of Pabedan in central Yangon, with its narrow alleys between crumbling colonial buildings, had seen plenty of drama.
That week, activists had built barricades in some streets to keep out the security forces, and there had been several clashes.
Pabedan has a diverse population, with a large number of Muslim residents and eight mosques in the township.
In last year's general election, Sithu Maung, one of only two Muslim candidates fielded by NLD won the parliamentary seat there.
His campaign manager was Khin Maung Latt, a veteran NLD activist who had moved to Pabedan many years before and lived with the family of a Buddhist lawyer.
He co-owned a tour company, had run a video rental shop, and had been active in the NLD since 1988, becoming the chairman of his local branch. He was a well-known and well-liked member of the community.
"He was very religious and prayed five times a day," Sithu Muang told the BBC from where he is now hiding from the military.
"But people from all faiths loved him. He did a lot for the community, like making new green spaces for children to play in. He was very important to the NLD.".....An unknown cause of death: Khin Maung Latt was at home with his adopted family when police and soldiers arrived shortly after 21:00 local time (14:30 GMT).
The soldiers were identified by neighbours as members of the 77th Light Infantry Division, a unit notorious for human rights abuses.
According to Ko Tun Kyi, a friend of Khin Maung Latt, the soldiers were actually looking for U Maung Maung, a lawyer who was more senior in the NLD and who had already gone into hiding.
Instead, they broke into Khin Maung Latt's home, he says, and dragged him out, kicking and hitting him.
Ko Tun Kyi believes Khin Maung Latt was then taken to Yangon City Hall, one of the first buildings to be commandeered after the coup.
Early the next morning, Khin Maung Latt's family received a phone call from police telling them to come and collect his body from a military hospital in northern Yangon.
They were told there that he had fainted, and that they should inform people he had suffered a heart attack.
But the family insists that the 58-year-old was in good health and had no known illnesses. They say his body showed signs of multiple wounds on it, and was covered in a blood-soaked cloth.
The body had been cut open and then sewn up in what may have been an autopsy, but the family has been given no official report on the cause of death. He was buried later that day in a Muslim ceremony.
The US-based human rights organisation Physicians for Human Rights has examined the evidence, including photographs of Khin Maung Latt's body.
While it is unable to make any definitive judgements, it has concluded that the cause of death given by the military authorities is implausible, and that he is most likely to have died from "homicidal violence" while in custody.
Ko Tun Kyi believes he was deliberately killed. He was detained less than ten hours before his family was informed of his death; it was not the result of prolonged torture.
"I was once jailed and interrogated, so I know how they get information out of you. Maybe they believed he was connected to the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) - the rival government supported by the opposition," he said.
"Maybe they were trying to get information about what the NLD is planning, or where activists were hiding?".....'His intestines had come out': But the theory that the military was targeting Aung San Suu Kyi's party was given more weight two days later, by the death of another NLD official, Zaw Myat Lynn.
He was far more prominent in the opposition movement than Khin Maung Latt - and his treatment appears to have been a lot more brutal.
Zaw Myat Lynn was the 46-year-old director of a new vocational college in the industrial district of Shwe Pyi Thar - one of several opened under the NLD government.
He was also a dedicated NLD activist, and right after the coup he was chosen to be the local representative of the CRPH.
In the days before he was captured, he posted stirring messages on his Facebook page, calling on the residents to keep up their revolutionary struggle against the military, who he referred to as "dogs" and "terrorists".
"Zaw Myat Lynn was a political powerhouse," an NLD official from the same township, who is now in hiding and cannot be named, told the BBC.
"He was a superb speaker. He was the only person from our township who was able to unite people and lead the post-coup demonstrations. He was the one who persuaded employees from various government offices to join the civil disobedience movement."
The official remembers joining him and his students at a protest on 8 March.
"He didn't appear to be worried in the least," he says. "He even offered to have me stay with him at his school, claiming that it was too dangerous for me to be outside on the streets."
That evening Zaw Myat Lynn returned to the college with some of his students. Shortly before 02:00, soldiers broke through the gate of the college.
The students told their teacher to escape by climbing over the back wall. Seven of them were arrested; at the time no-one was sure what had happened to Zaw Myat Lynn.
At 15:00, his wife, Daw Phyu Phyu Win, received a call from a local official in Shwe Pyi Thar telling her that her husband was dead, and that she could see his body - which was at the same military hospital where Khin Maung Latt's family had been.
They found him badly bruised. His belly had been cut open by a long, horizontal incision, and she said his intestines had come out.
She was shown a large wound in his back. The official state media reported that he had fallen backwards onto two inches of steel pipe while climbing out of the back of his school. It warned that severe action would be taken against anyone giving alternative accounts of his death.
The Physicians for Human Rights doctor who examined photographs of the corpse concluded that the official explanation lacked credibility.
The horizontal cut across the belly was inconsistent with any autopsy incision, he said. The torso had also been cut vertically for what may have been an autopsy. The massive bruising on both sides of Zaw Myat Lynn's torso was also inconsistent with the official account that he had fallen while escaping.
These injuries were much more likely to have been inflicted on him by his captors. The PHR doctor could draw no definite conclusions from the hideous injuries to his head.
Zaw Myat Lynn's face was badly disfigured by the time of his funeral. However, the PHR doctor believes this may be due to decomposition.
The military authorities would not allow his wife to take the body until the day of his funeral, and it took her three days to arrange it. The body appears to have been left unrefrigerated.
It is hard to know why these two officials were subjected to such terrible torture, which from all the evidence appears to be what killed them.
The military junta has said little to justify its brutal treatment of those who oppose its coup.
The BBC has asked the spokesman for the junta to respond to the PHR report, but at the time of publication had not received one....A brutal track record: The military has a track record of treating victims in Myanmar in ways that suggests that they were unlawfully killed.
Bodies are dragged away from the scene in military trucks - usually no attempt is made to give first aid to those who might still be alive.
Some families have been blocked from recovering the bodies of relatives, which are cremated by the military authorities with no sign of an investigation into how they died.
Most bodies are returned with signs of torture and extensive autopsy work, but no credible or independent report provided to explain how they died.
The Association to Assist Political Prisoners in Burma, which has for many years documented abuses by the security forces, identifies 75 people missing from the turmoil following the coup, with 23 of those confirmed as disappeared, presumed dead.
Brutality and unaccountability have always been problems in the treatment of dissidents by the authorities in Myanmar; but they have become far worse since the coup.
In this case, neither man was a significant figure in national politics.
It is possible that the decision to treat them that way was made solely by the military units which detained them, perhaps inflamed by local or personal grievances, perhaps just in the heat of the moment. An instilled hatred of politicians might also have been a factor.
Myanmar's security forces have been habitually violent in their treatment of detainees for decades, and very rarely held to account.
But the NLD official believes Zaw Myat Lynn was killed in this way to send a message.
"I believe they reasoned that by executing [him] in such a terrible manner, they would instil fear in the people, causing them to retreat."..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-08
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights and international relations, Muslims in Burma
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"WASHINGTON, D.C., June 2, 2021-The National Press Club and the National Press Club Journalism Institute urged the junta in Myanmar to promptly release from prison all journalists jailed there, including at least two Americans.
Danny Fenster and Nathan Maung are the American journalists known to be detained in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which has been wracked by unrest since a February coup.
The National Press Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews and NPC Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane issued the following statement: “We call on the government of Myanmar to release all wrongly imprisoned people, including journalists Danny Fenster and Nathan Maung, two Americans who have done nothing wrong. Journalism is not a crime.”
Fenster, a native of the Detroit area, is the managing editor of Frontier Magazine in Myanmar. He was detained May 24 at Yangon International Airport just minutes before boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur to start a planned trip back to the United States to surprise his parents, who had not seen him in three years.
Fenster is being held at Yangon prison, a detention facility known for rampant human rights abuses. He has not been charged with any crime and has not been granted access to legal representation. Fenster’s family has since launched a social media campaign for his immediate release: #BringDannyHome.
Maung and Myanmar national Hanthar Nyein, co-founders of the Myanmar news website Kamayut Media, were arrested on March 9, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Maung and Hanthar were physically abused during interrogations when they were first detained, CPJ said.
Approximately 90 journalists have been arrested since the coup, according to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. More than half of those journalists are still in jail, and an estimated 33 are in hiding, the group says.
The jailed journalists are among more than 4,400 people imprisoned since the coup, the association estimates.
The association also calculates that more than 820 people have been killed in Myanmar amid the unrest, and some 5,400 others have been arrested.
Founded in 1908, The National Press Club is the world’s leading professional organization for journalists. The Club has 3,000 members representing nearly every major news organization and is a leading voice for press freedom in the United States and around the world.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute, the Club’s non-profit affiliate, promotes an engaged global citizenry through an independent and free press and equips journalists with skills and standards to inform the public in ways that inspire civic engagement.
Contact: John Donnelly, NPC Press Freedom Team Chairman: [email protected] 202-650-6738..."
Source/publisher:
The National Press Club (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-07
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 6 June, (849) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Shwe Nyaung Township in Shan State were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 6 June, a total of (4674) people are currently under detention; of them (160) are sentenced. 1936 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 people to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 5 persons to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Around 8pm on 5 June, two men were shot dead, and one man was beaten and arrested near the intersection of Shwe Nyaung and Nyaung Shwe in Shan State when junta troops opened fire from their cars at the men riding a motorcycle.
Khin Maung Shwe, Sagaing Region’s NLD Shwebo Township Chairman, who was arrested and charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code for alledgely inciting people to participate in the 22222 anti- coup movement, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on 4 June. In the afternoon of 5 June, Kyaw Ohn, village NLD Chairman of Man Ywet Village of Mogaung Township of Kachin State, was arrested at his home by the terrorist troops wearing plainclothes.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 5 June, (847) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Kyaukpadaung Township in Mandalay Region and Monywa Township in Sagaing Region were killed in previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 5 June, a total of (4642) people are currently under detention; of them (158) are sentenced. 1931 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour and 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of 4 June, when Thaw Thaw a.k.a Thaw Zin who is LGBT, and two friends were on the way home riding a motorcycle, Thaw Thaw a.k.a Thaw Zin was shot with three bullets hit in their arm and rib by junta troops deployed at Township Education Office in Kyaukpadaung Town in Mandalay Region, and died from not receiving medical treatment in time. On the night of 3 June, Ka Lar was shot to death when he did not stop his motorcycle for inspection by junta troops in Monywa, Sagaing Region. On 4 June, Khant Zin Ko, who is a member of Monywa University Student Union, was arrested when the junta did not find his father at home at Monywa in Sagaing Region.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-06
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Amid condemnation by the international community, the Myanmar military regime has intensified its violent suppression of anti-regime protests since the Feb. 1 coup, frequently committing crimes against humanity.
In the three months from Feb. 1 to April 30, nearly 760 people were killed during crackdowns, raids, arrests, interrogations and random shootings. Those killed include anti-regime protesters, bystanders, pedestrians and residents.
More than 3,400 people have been detained, including elected leaders, National League for Democracy members, election commissioners, doctors, journalists, protesters, activists, writers, artists, teachers and civilians.
Facing huge daily protests nationwide, the regime has used lethal weapons including live ammunition, hand grenades and heavy explosives to attack peaceful anti-regime protesters, labeling them as “rioters”.
During their raids and crackdowns, the military regime’s forces have committed crimes, destroying civilians’ belongings including vehicles, motorbikes and houses, and looting property including motorbikes, phones, money, foods, chickens and pigs.
The Irrawaddy has collected 29 photos containing evidence of the junta forces’ brutality, among thousands of such cases committed against civilians.....Feb 10, 2021: Ma Mya Thwet Thwet Khine, a 19-year-old high school student is on life support at a hospital after being shot in the head by police at an anti-regime protest in Naypyitaw on Feb. 10. During the crackdowns, at least four others were injured as police used live bullets.
Ma Mya Thwet Thwet Kine, who had been brain dead, was pronounced dead on Feb. 19.
Her death was the first protest related death at the hands of the junta’s force in Myanmar. However, the military junta has denied responsibility for her death claiming she died when protesters shot at each other.....Feb 20, 2021: A medic from a charity treats Ko Yarzar Aung who was shot in the leg in a police vehicle before he was taken away on Feb. 20.
Ko Yarzar Aung was injured during the crackdown on hundreds of people who appeared in the street to protest government staff taking part in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) at a dock, in a raid by police and military troops in Mandalay on Feb. 20.
In the crackdown, a total of six people were killed and nearly 30 people were injured.
More than 80 people, including some seriously injured protesters, were arrested. Medics were not allowed to provide proper treatment to the injured arrested during the crackdown.
Four days later, Ko Yarzar Aung died at a military hospital without being provided proper treatment, a witness told The Irrawaddy.
The military regime announced he died of COVID-19.....Feb 27,2021: A riot police officer in Myanmar intimidates a pregnant woman by pointing at her face with his fist in Yangon’s Myaynigon during a crackdown on anti-regime protesters on Feb. 27.
During the crackdowns, the junta’s forces arrested bystanders and intimidated medical teams by pointing at social worker with guns.....March 3, 2021: Ko Min Thura lost is eyesight in a crackdown by the junta’s forces in Yangon on March 3.
He was seriously wounded in the eyes by rubber bullets on March 3 when the junta’s forces conducted a crackdown on anti-regime protests in Yangon’s North Oakkalapa Township.
He was shot in the face with rubber bullets when he tried to carry the body of one of his friends out of the line of fire. His right cheek and ear are paralyzed and he can open his mouth only slightly due to the injuries.
In the crackdown, around eight anti-regime protesters were killed and several injured. Ko Min Thura lost two close friends killed by the junta’s forces during the crackdown.....March 3, 2021: The 19-year-old Kyal Sin during an anti-regime protest in Mandalay (left). She died after being shot in the head (right).
Kyal Sin, also known as Angel or by her Chinese name, Deng Jia Xi, was shot in the head during a heavy-handed police crackdown on anti-regime protesters in downtown Mandalay on March 3.
Before she left for the protest, she wrote on Facebok that her wish was to donate her organs if something happened to her.
One day after her burial, the regime’s solders forcibly exhumed her body and conducted an autopsy. Later, the regime denied responsibility for killing the girl, reasoning that the girl died when protesters shot at each other.....March 6, 2021: The dead body of NLD ward chairman U Khin Maung Latt, who was tortured to death by the military regime’s forces.
During a house raid, the 58-year-old Muslim, a National League for Democracy (NLD) ward chairman, was violently beaten and kicked before being taken from his home at Yangon’s Pabedan Township on the night of March 6.
He was tortured to death by the regime’s forces, hours after he was arrested. Since the Feb. 1 coup, three NLD members were tortured to death by the military regime......March 14, 2021: A mortuary with dead bodies of anti-regime protesters in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township.
Around 80 civilians were killed across the country when the military regime’s forces conducted crackdowns on anti-regime protesters on March 14.
Around 50 protesters were killed and several dozen were injured in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township alone when the regime’s forces opened fire on not only protesters but also bystanders and pedestrians.....March 14, 2021: Two police drag a medical student wounded by live bullets along on the street during deadly crackdowns on anti-regime protests in Yangon’s Tamwe Township on March 14.
The 18-year-old, Khant Nyar Hein, a first-year medical student, was shot on the street by the regime’s troops in Tamwe while he was taking part in a protest. Another protester tried to save him, but the police dragged his body away. The protester who attempted to save him was arrested. The body of the teenager was returned to the family later.
The boy was shot three times.....March 19, 2021: The mirror widow of a Yangon private hospital is damaged by a gunshot by the junta’s forces.
The regimes’ soldiers and police fired shots at SSC Hospital’s women’s center in Yangon on the evening of March 19.
No casualties were reported at the center, which provides maternity and newborn care. Pregnant women and women who had just delivered babies were present on two floors the hospital, which were hit by the gunfire.
After the gunfire, those in the hospital laid low. At least four other private hospitals were shot at and raided by the junta’s forces in Yangon.....March 19, 2021: Soldiers and police torture an arrested civilian during a crackdown on anti-regime protesters in Yangon Region’s North Oakkalapa Township on March 19.
Some said police rode on his shoulders and strangled the man neck with a rope until he was unconscious.....March 19, 2021: The inhumane treatment of citizens by the military regime’s forces was caught in this video screenshot showing officers forcing a man to crawl along a street in Tamwe Township, Yangon Region on March 19.
The man, who was being used as forced labor to carry sandbags, was forced to crawl after he could not carry any more.
Many residents were also used as forced labor to remove the sandbags, which are used as roadblocks by anti-regime protesters to protect themselves against the crackdowns of the junta’s forces.....March 20, 2021: A funeral is held secretly for 21-year-old Ko Chan Thar Htwe by his family in Mandalay.
Neither protesting nor gathering in the street, Mandalay resident Ko Chan Thar Htwe was deliberately shot in the head by the junta forces from long range while he was in front of his house in Chanmyathazi Township in the morning on March 21.
On that afternoon, family urgently held a funeral for the victim secretly after changing two locations as the troops searched for them in the ward.
On the next day, the whole family fled their home as the junta’s troops searched for them in the ward again, according to a family member..... March 21, 2021: The funeral is held for 16-year-old teashop waiter Zaw Myo Htet, who was shot dead by the junta’s forces in Mandalay during a night raid on March 21.
The high school student was shot dead on the night of March 21 by the junta’s forces when he was looking around outside a tea shop where he worked in Chanayethazan Township of Mandalay region. The native of Bago Region came to work as a waiter at the tea shop just two days before his death. During the shooting, seven other residents were also killed.
The next day, security forces, claiming they needed to conduct an autopsy, interrupted the funeral of the boy and forcibly took the dead body.....March 23, 2021: The dead body of Ma Khin Myo Chit, who was shot dead in her father’s arms during a house raid in Mandalay.
The 6-year-old Muslim girl was shot to death at close-range during a house raid at Aung Pine Lae in Chanmyathazi Township of Mandalay. The frightened girl was slain while being hugged by her father.
During the raid, a 19-old-man, the girl’s brother, was also beaten and taken away by the security forces.
The family fled their house and held a funeral for the girl secretly since the junta’s forces came to seize the dead body of the girl that night.
The military regime’s forces conducted a series of raids in several wards in Chanmyathazi including Aung Pin Lae, Aung Tharyar and Mya Yi Nandar over three days after a confrontation between them and peaceful anti-regime protesters on March 21.
In the raids, at least 20 people were killed and about a hundred were injured.....March 26, 2021: Two people are arrested while their hands are tied behind their backs during a crackdown against an anti-regime protest in Tanintharyi Region’s Myeik Township on March 26.
The junta’s forces also used two seized ambulances from which to shoot at protesters and bystanders in the town. During the deadly crackdown, four people were killed and at least two dozen were injured. Several protesters were arrested.....March 27, 2021: Soldiers drag away an anti-regime protester hit by bullets after a deadly crackdown against protesters in Yangon’s Dagon Seikkan Township on March 27.
At least two civilians were seriously injured as large numbers of junta forces dispersed anti-regime protesters in the Yuzana Garden Housing Complex in the township in the morning on March 27 by using live ammunition and stun grenades.....March 27, 2021: A video screenshot shows military troops in vehicles open fire on three boys on motorbikes passing by near them in Tanintharyi Region’s capital Dawei on March 30.
One of the three youths on the bike, 17-year-old Kyaw Min Latt, was shot and dragged away by the troops. He was pronounced dead on March 30 by the military hospital, saying the teenager died of a brain injury due to falling from the motorbike.....March 27, 2021: The remains of neighborhood watch member U Aye Ko, who was burned alive by the regime’s troops in Mandalay’s Aungmyethazan Township on March 27.
During soldiers’ night raid on Mintae Ekin ward, U Aye Ko, 40, was left behind after being shot. He was dragged away and set on fire at a roadblock by the junta’s forces, witnesses told the media.
Residents said they were unable to rescue the volunteer as soldiers were deploying in the area, threatening to shoot anyone who appeared at the windows of houses.
On that day, the Myanmar military regime marked its Armed Forces Day by slaughtering around 110 people across the country, making it the bloodiest single day since the Feb. 1 coup.....March 28, 2021: A video screenshot shows two junta forces in partial uniforms using a motorcycle to shoot anti-regime protesters in Myinchan Twonship, Mandalay Region on March 28.
A young female anti-regime protester and a male protester were shot dead when the junta’s forces using civilian vehicles and motorcycles randomly opened fire on protesters and residents in Myinchan in the morning on March 28.
In the afternoon, the junta’s forces also opened fire on a vehicle carrying children and women passing through the town. In the shooting, a man in the vehicle died after being hit with a live bullet.....March 28, 2021: A man carries the body of a nursing student who was shot dead while assisting the injured during shooting by police and soldiers against anti-regime protests in Sagaing Region’s Monywa on March 28.
The 20-year-old nursing student Ma Thinzar Hein was shot dead as she was assisting the injured when the junta’s forces opened fire on anti-regime protesters.
In the shooting by junta forces, at least five people were killed.....April 4, 2021: The 19-year-old fell to the ground after being shot while returning home with her husband on a motorbike in Mandalay at night on April 4.
The girl died after suffering a head injury, presumably after falling off the bike. Her husband managed to reach medics with his serious injury after being hit in the abdomen by a live bullet fired by junta forces.
The rescue workers took 20 minutes to reach her and to drive her home as the team had to hide from the junta’s forces.....April 4, 2021: Photos of Ko Aung Paing Htwe, who was tortured to death at the hands of junta forces.
Ko Aung Paing Htwe, 30, was arrested by junta forces while he was extinguishing a fire at a ward administration office in Shan State’s capital, Taunggyi on April 4.
His dead body was returned by the military two days later, saying he died of a brain hemorrhage and lung injuries caused by a crash with a fire engine.
However, signs of severe torture were obvious on his body, said fellow ward residents. His head was cracked open, his face was covered in bruises, one of his ears had almost been cut off, and there was a knife wound in his back. Wounds in his chest had been stitched back together.....April 9, 2021: The funeral of Ko Thiha, who was killed by the junta’s forces in Bago on April 9 (left). Explosives used by junta’s forces remain unexploded in the attack (right).
The social worker was among more than 80 people who were killed by the regime’s troops in a massacre in Bago on April 9.
The regime’s forces used automatic weapons and many rifle grenades in attacking the defense team members and night watchman guarding the protest assembly areas during their deadly crackdown on four anti-regime stronghold wards in Bago.....April 17, 2021: Police carry two bodies of protesters hit by bullet in a cart after a deadly crackdown on anti-regime protesters in Mogok, Mandalay Region on April 17.
Two were killed and two others were injured in Mogok, a ruby town in Mandalay Region, when the military cracked down on anti-regime protesters.
In a video recorded by a local, a soldier is heard issuing the command “I want five people (to be arrested) and I want them dead”.....April 20, 2021: Dead bodies of villagers who were killed during shootouts with the regime’s forces in Yinmabin Township of Sagaing Region on April 20.
Hundreds of villagers from Kapaing, Thigone and Thityarpin villages conducted a defensive action against hundreds of military troops approaching the villages for a raid.
In the shootouts, the military troops used a drone to search the locations of villagers and used heavy explosives in attacking the villagers taking up homemade percussion lock firearms and slingshots.
In the fight, more than 10 villagers were killed and several dozen detained. Troops were based in Kapaing after raiding the village. A villager said the troops looted all food, chickens, pigs, motorcycles and money from the village. They even stole women’s clothing.....April 24, 2021: Portraits of Ma Khin Nyein Thu who was sexually assaulted and tortured in detention.
After being accused of involvement in a series of bombing, the detainee, Ma Khin Nyein Thu, 31, was sexually assaulted and tortured by junta forces at an interrogation center in Yangon, a former cellmate released from the junta’s interrogation center revealed on social media and in regular media.
She had been tortured and beaten since being arrested by the junta’s forces along with five other people at a house in Yankin Township on April 17.
After learning that her boyfriend is a foreigner, officers at the police station in Yakin forced Ma Khin Nyein Thu to open her legs, kicked her in the genitals and beat her on the genitals with a stick.
She is still detained.....April 25, 2021: A photo shows regime forces forcing two women to dance for banging pots and pans in Mayangone Township of Yangon on the night of April 25.
Myanmar regime forces dragged around 10 residents from their home in Thamine ward in Mayangone Township for banging pots and pans as a night-time anti-regime protest.
The junta’s forces forced them to continue to hit their pots and made two women in nightwear dance for them for two hours in the street. Some male civilians were also beaten.....April 26, 2021: The dead body of a street vendor who was killed by the random shooting of junta forces in Mandalay on the evening on April 26.
Ko Zaw Shein, 37, was shot dead by the junta’s forces while he appeared on the road near his shop in Sein Pann Ward in Mandalay Region’s Mahar Aung Myay Township at around 7 pm on April 26.
In Mandalay, the junta’s forces frequently open fire on pedestrians and bystanders.....April 27, 2021: The dead body of a villager who died after being shot in the abdomen during shooting by the junta’s forces in Kayah State’s Demoso Township on April 27.
During the raid to remove roadblocks in Six Mile Village in Demoso, military regime forces opened fire on bystanders and villagers opposing them...."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
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Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"A doctor who provides treatment to protesters injured by the military describes the daily violence and trauma of post-coup Myanmar
Rebecca Ratcliffe
A medic in Myanmar, as told to Rebecca Ratcliffe
Fri 26 Mar 2021 11.40 EDT
A doctor who provides treatment to protesters wounded by the army and police has described a week in the turmoil of the post-coup Myanmar.
When the military coup happened, I joined a group of medics providing treatment to protesters. Every day is a risky day for us. I may be captured, I may be shot dead. We don’t have bullet-proof vests. We have only a waistcoat and a stethoscope. Our ambulance has been shot at twice before; we just had to get out and run.
If we weren’t providing medical cover, there would be nowhere for people to get proper care. Many doctors and nurses are refusing to work in the government hospitals, because they are protesting against the junta. The only other place for the wounded is the military hospital.
I am doing this for my country’s people, and because I want my children to have a bright future.....Saturday: Every morning I say a prayer. I write my blood group, my emergency contact number, my weight and other credentials on my forearm. I tell my wife: if I don’t come back, you must live yourself and take care of the children. My wife is also very active in resisting the military coup. She tells me: do what you have to do, and if you die, I will be proud of you.
Today there was a protest by students. The military tried to capture them, but they ran away and hid in the local people’s houses. Residents refused to hand them over, so the military started shooting at them.
We waited in hiding around the local houses, trying to get the students home safely. We managed to get about 50 students out. It took half a day. Some of them were very afraid to move. They were so young, only 17 or 18.
The students had just bruises, but residents were shot for protecting them. One of the victims, who I cared for, had been shot in the back, near the kidney area. We couldn’t go into his house because all the lanes were blocked off by the military. The other residents managed to carry him to us. They moved him slowly from one house to another house. Eventually he reached our ambulance. At this point, he was barely breathing. There was a lot of blood. We tried to resuscitate but we were not successful. Four people were killed in the area.....Sunday: My team heard from our network that there had been another shooting in a nearby downtown area. There was no protest at the time, but the military was shooting while patrolling the streets. Four people were injured, including a 13-year-old boy. A woman was shot dead. Her body was lying on the road, but we had to wait nearly two hours to treat her because the military was spraying bullets nearby. The fatal wound was on the back of her head.
There are some patients we see, lying down on the street, who we cannot reach. The military takes them. They may die, they may not be treated. I think the official death toll is an underestimate. I think I have almost got PTSD. I laugh sometimes, I cry sometimes, I feel depressed sometimes. Sometimes I cannot sleep well.
I had not treated gunshot wounds before the coup. I learned from watching YouTube and from reading my medical and surgical books.....Monday: Usually, we connect with our peer-to-peer network on apps, but now the junta has cut everyone’s mobile data. Three people were killed locally today. One of the victims, whose death I certified, was just 20. The military was taking down barricades that residents had put up to protect their neighbourhoods, and the people, who were afraid, were making new barricades further down the road. The military started shooting at them.
We treated the patients in nearby homes. There was a gunshot wound to the shoulder, buttocks, as well as rubber bullet wounds, and one patient had cuts to the thigh.
We stitched them up to control the bleeding, but without local anaesthesia. We don’t have lots of equipment with us, only our backpacks. We made an IV drip for them, and for the pain relief we gave only diclofenac (Voltaren). We need morphine sometimes but it is a controlled drug so we cannot get it easily.
We had to move locations three times as we treated the patients, because the military was coming. It’s like a war. The people living in the houses are very passionate towards us. As medical cover, we are the only help they can find.
If the patient’s condition is bad and there’s not much we can do, then they have to be moved to the surgeon, who performs operations in a safe place.....Tuesday: Today was quiet. Patients who were stitched yesterday were given wound dressings. We also went and gave money to the victims’ families. We give to wounded patients who have had to have limbs amputated as well. They are just poor people. Sometimes they have a wife and kids. In one case, a man who was killed had a wife who was three months pregnant.
At night time we could not sleep very well because the military was going around patrolling, shooting, and setting off stun grenades.
I no longer sleep at my home. I stay in a different place every night. I’ve done this for a month. I am afraid of being arrested in night raids. When the military comes, we turn the lights off in the house, and turn on the street lights, so that we can see what they are doing outside.....Wednesday: Mobile data is still down. We trained other volunteers who are not medics, teaching them how to check patients, how to do the tourniquet, how to stop the bleeding. I am afraid for tomorrow; often one or two days of quiet are followed by violence.....Thursday: The military came again tonight, patrolling the area where I am staying and yelling at us not to go outside. The people on my street were OK, but in another nearby area one man was shot dead. He was a resident who had volunteered to stay out on night patrol, to alert others in case the military approached.
My daughter is afraid of the loud bangs and cursing. She asks me: why don’t the police come [to stop the shootings]? She has seen, in the movies, how the police are the good guys who take the bad guys out. It is a very hard question for me to answer. How can I tell her that those who are shooting the people are police and soldiers?
Whenever I go outside, she asks me when I will come back. She tells me: daddy, don’t go out they will shoot you. It is traumatic for children. Due to Covid, the schools have already been closed for around one and a half years. My daughter asks me when she can go out on a trip, but it is too dangerous for children to go outside. Luckily we have wifi and so she can watch YouTube.
I logged out of my Facebook a few days ago, so that I can concentrate on my work. There is too much rumour, fake news, psychological warfare by the junta, and graphic imagery on social media. There are live videos of people being slaughtered or captured and beaten. It’s hard to cope with that stimulus all the time. Sometimes, if I can’t sleep at night, I take antidepressants.
After the revolution is successful, I want to apply to open a clinic specialising in trauma and stress. We need it a lot. We feel insecure all the time. We feel the danger and violence. We are fearful all the time..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Hostages under the military coup
Date : 4 June 2021
Since 1 February 2021, when the junta arrested Burma’s elected state leaders and unlawfully seized power, junta forces have carried out relentless and dailyarbitrary arrests. The junta uses brutal force to arrest these civilians, on thestreet, in their homes, and even in hospitals receiving medical treatment. The junta employs brutality to arrest those not easily detained, like ramming with cars. When wanted individuals aren’t found, family members are taken hostage.
This junta takes whoever they can find, including children, employing worsening methods to apprehend the detainees. According to AAPP’s documentation, at least 76 people have been taken hostage since the coup. 28 have been released and 45 remain in custody. Twowere placed under house arrest and one has been sentenced to prison.
The 45 who remain in custody include National League for Democracy’s Hluttaw representatives, party leaders, protestors, CDM strikers, those issued warrants under Penal Code 505-a, and those suspected to have links to EAO’s. Two people currently held hostage have been placed under house arrest. On 22 May, in Pantanaw Township, Irrawaddy Division, the junta came to arrest NLD party leader U Mya Nyein at his house. They did not find him, instead taking his wife Daw Nyein Nyine (75 years-old) and his cousin Daw Wine Tine (65 years-old). At first held in Pantanaw Police Station, they were later placed under house arrest. At present, they have not been allowed to return to
their home in Mimma Pye Village, instead held at the house of U Mya Nyein.
One person who was taken as hostage has been sentenced to prison. On 2 May, in Rangoon Division, the home of political activist Ko Tin Hute Paing, in North Okklapa, was raided. The junta could not find him, instead detaining and beating his mother. On 28 May, at a North Okkalapa military court, she was sentenced to three years under Penal Code 505-a. Of the 76 hostages, 36 of them are women, aged from 2 to 75 years old.Hostage taking is a serious crime, committed by terrorist organizations. Yetsuccessive dictators in Burma have carried out abductions. Preceding drafted constitutions have given impunity for these past crimes and present crimes.In 1979 the International Convention Against the Taking of Hostages was first introduced, Myanmar became a state party to the convention on 4 June 2004.
Partied states pledged that hostage taking is a threat to international peace and security. Hostage-taking is a violation of the basic values upheld by the United Nations, namely the fundamental rights enjoyed by every individual, including life, liberty, and security, laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR).
The terrorist actions by this junta clearly defy international humanitarian law in Burma. We, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP),condemn this brutality, call for the immediate release of all hostages, and for the international community to take stern and meaningful action..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-05
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 3 June, (845) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Launglon Township in Tanintharyi Region and Pekon Township in Southern Shan State were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 3 June, a total of (4509) people are currently under detention; of them (138) are sentenced. 1931 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, and 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour (who are evading arrest). We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of 2 June, a 19 year-old youth was shot dead to the forehead and another civilian was seriously injured after being shot in the mouth when junta forces opened sniper fire in Mobye Town, Pekon Township in Southern Shan State. Two women, who were arrested with gunshot injuries later died after they ran away in fear when junta troops entered Chaung Wa Pyin village, Launglon Township, Tanintharyi Region on the night of 29 May. Both women were cremated and photos of their bodies were sent to the families by the junta in the evening of 31 May.
In the early morning of 3 June, two NLD members were beaten and arrested at their home in Sein Pan Ward, Mahaaungmyay Township in Mandalay Region after an anti-dictatorship protest in Sein Pann ward. Lawyer Thet Tun Oo, who is representing pro-bono, people arrested for staging anti-dictatorship protests in Myitkyina, Kachin State, was arrested on 2 June. This happened after he testified in a case at the court in Myitkyina Prison. He is currently detained at Myitkyina Myoma Police Station. A lawsuit was filed against him under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code by the Myitkyina Myoma Police Station Officer.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 2 June, (842) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Loikaw Township in Kayah State was killed on 30 May and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 2 June, a total of (4468) people are currently under detention; of them (133) are sentenced. 1909 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 31 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour and 17 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of May 30, a man was shot dead in an unprovoked shooting by junta troops while riding a motorbike when he returned to Law Pi Ta Village from Kyauk Taung Village at Loikaw Township in Kayah State. On 2 June morning, former village administrator of Pan Lin Village of Pyaung Khaung Village Tract of Mogok Township of Mandalay Region, was arrested by the junta with two military vehicles. In addition to this, after a bomb blast at a car workshop in Ohn Shit Pin town, Pandaung Township, Bago Region on the night of 1 June, a 62 year-old mother and wife of a man who the junta was searching for, were arbitrarily arrested in the morning of 2 June when the junta did not find the man at his home. A grandfather was also arrested on the night of 31 May in Taungdwingyi town, Magway Region when the junta did not find his grandson Pyae Phyo Paing in a search, a political activist.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"The top lawyer for Myanmar's deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, voiced concern on Friday that she had no legal representative listed in the case against her brought by the military junta for breaking the Official Secrets Act.
Khing Maung Zaw said the Supreme Court had announced cases to be heard on June 23 against Suu Kyi and four others, including her Australian economic adviser, Sean Turnell, but had listed all of them as representing themselves.
"We have concerns that they won't have any legal representatives and there won't be any transparency with hearing," Khin Maung Zaw told Reuters.
"Normally, they should contact the defendants and need to give the opportunity to the defendants to contact their lawyers before they announce the case."
Reuters was unable to reach the Supreme Court or a junta spokesman for comment.
The secrets charges are the most serious ones facing Suu Kyi, 75, and could mean a 14-year jail sentence. She appeared in court for the first time since the coup this month on lesser charges, which include breaking COVID-19 protocols.
No explanation has been given for taking the secrets case directly to the Supreme Court, whose verdict cannot be appealed.
The army overthrew Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, cutting short a decade of democratic reforms that resulted from a long campaign for democracy that made her a national heroine and won her the Nobel peace prize.
The army accused Suu Kyi's party of fraud in its massive victory in a November 2020 election, accusations dismissed by monitors and the then electoral commission.
Suu Kyi is among more than 4,500 people who have been detained since the coup, which has plunged Myanmar into chaos - with daily protests, paralysing strikes and a resurgence of ethnic conflicts..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-04
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
About Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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DVB reporter Aung Kyaw in Myeik was sentenced for 2 years imprisonment under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code, on 2 June 2021 by a military court.
Description:
"On March 1, Aung Kyaw (32), also known as Kaung Myat Hlaing, was violently arrested by the military at his home in Myeik, where his wife and young daughter were also present. He streamed his arrest live on Facebook, which has been watched millions of times since.
He was arrested for reporting about the demonstrations against the military junta in Myeik. As his lawyer was under threat by the junta, he has decided not to hire another lawyer and defended himself in the court during the last 2 court hearings. He argued to charge him under the media law, which would have found him not guilty, as he was arrested for doing his work as a journalist, but the judge refused to accept his argumentation.
“I have no confidence in the judiciary under the military council, so I will not appeal”, Aung Kyaw said after the verdict, his wife Mane Chi Moe told DVB.
Another DVB’s reporter, Min Nyo was also sentenced to 3 years imprisonment by the court in Pyi on 12th May. The military junta is illegally detaining Aung Kyaw and Min Nyo and there is not a single reason to keep them in prison. 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.
DVB calls for their freedom, together with several international press freedom organizations..."
Source/publisher:
Democratic Voice of Burma (Oslo)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned Myanmar authorities’ sentencing of two journalists to prison on charges of incitement, and called for them to be released immediately.
Today, a military court in the southern city of Myeik convicted Aung Kyaw, a reporter with the Democratic Voice of Burma, and Zaw Zaw, a freelance reporter with Mizzima News, under Article 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes the dissemination of information that could agitate or cause security forces or state officials to mutiny, according to news reports.
The court sentenced each journalist to two years in jail, according to those reports and a statement from the Democratic Voice of Burma, which CPJ reviewed. The journalists do not plan to appeal their sentences, according to those sources.
“Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Aung Kyaw and Zaw Zaw,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Reporting the news is not a crime. Myanmar’s junta must stop jailing and sentencing journalists on fabricated charges, and should allow the press to work freely.”
Aung Kyaw represented himself during two hearings after his lawyer came under threat by the military, the DVB statement said. Military authorities banned both independent news outlets on March 9 for covering anti-coup protests, as CPJ documented at the time.
Authorities first arrested Aung Kyaw at his home in Myiek on March 1, and arrested Zaw Zaw in the same city on April 7; both journalists had covered anti-coup protests in Myiek, those news reports and the DVB statement said.
Previously, on May 12, a military court sentenced DVB reporter Min Nyo to three years in prison under Article 505(a).
Two other DVB reporters are being held without charge, according to the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Aye Chan Naing, who communicated with CPJ by email, and said that the outlet preferred not to identify those reporters by name.
Myanmar’s military regime currently holds dozens of members of the press behind bars, according to preliminary data compiled by CPJ based on independent reporting, news reports, and research by the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners, a local rights group. The majority have been detained during newsroom raids or while covering anti-coup street protests, and over half face charges under Article 505(a), according to that data.
On April 6, CPJ addressed a public letter to junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing calling on his regime to release all journalists detained in the wake of the February 1 coup.
CPJ emailed the Ministry of Information for comment on today’s sentencing, but did not immediately receive any reply..."
Source/publisher:
Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights and international relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in towns around Myanmar on Tuesday to denounce the country's military, marking four months since it ousted an elected government and unleashed a wave of nationwide anger.
Despite a bloody crackdown by security forces, Myanmar's military is still struggling to impose order amid protests and strikes, and fighting on multiple fronts in border regions as civilians take up arms against the junta.
Protests took place in the south in Luang Lone, several areas of the Sagaing division including Kale and Monywa, and the commercial hub Yangon, according to images carried by mainstream and social media.
"This is not over yet. We still have our turn," read a sign carried by one protester.
Schools officially reopened across Myanmar for the first time since the Feb. 1 coup, but turnout was low due to security concerns and a boycott over the junta's suspension of tens of thousands of teachers opposed to its rule.
Some students held demonstrations with blood-splattered white uniforms.
Security forces have killed 840 people since the coup, according to figures from activists cited by the United Nations. The junta says about 300 people have died.
The military, known as the Tatmadaw, says it seized power because of fraud in a November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling party.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper carried a quote from junta leader Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday saying the current crisis was caused by "dishonesty of democracy" in the election, under a large headline that said "Tatmadaw values democracy".
The military's use of lethal force against its own people has caused outrage among western countries, and concern among its neighbours. In April, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced a five-point consensus towards resolving the crisis, though no timeframe was agreed.
But four diplomatic sources have told Reuters that the chair and secretary-general of ASEAN are planning to visit Myanmar this week, to meet junta leaders, among other stakeholders. read more
It was not clear if they would meet detainees or members of a shadow unity government formed to challenge the junta and undercut its efforts to gain international recognition....HEAVY TOLL: The unrest has taken a heavy toll in the countryside, where clashes between Myanmar's well-equipped military and ethnic minority armies or newly formed People's Defence Forces have displaced tens of thousands of people.
On Tuesday, a local aid group said 8,000 people were in camps having fled the town of Mindat in Chin State, which the army took control of last month after days of clashes with militias armed mostly with hunting rifles.
The people's militias have stepped up ambushes in recent weeks on troops in Kayah state bordering Thailand, where witnesses said fierce fighting and retaliatory shelling and air strikes had taken place late on Monday in the town of Demoso.
A resident shared video and images with Reuters of soldiers he said were killed in Demoso late on Monday. He said he saw six bodies and residents had counted 20.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force said on its Facebook page that 80 army soldiers had been killed on Monday, while one of its fighters and a civilian were also casualties.
Reuters could not verify the information and a spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
Myanmar state television made no mention of the Demoso unrest in its nightly news bulletin.
Fighting in Kayah has displaced about 37,000 people in recent weeks, according to the United Nations. Many have fled into jungles and are in need of food and medicine.
The Elders, a group of former national leaders founded by the late Nelson Mandela, on Tuesday called on the international community, including ASEAN, to turn up pressure on the junta.
"Myanmar is currently on a dangerous path towards state failure," its chair, Mary Robinson, said in a statement.
"Allowing the coup to succeed through inaction and disregard would further undermine the international rules-based order upon which global stability depends."..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups.
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Myanmar's security forces have been accused by Amnesty International of "premeditated" attacks on peaceful protesters.
Description:
"In a safe house in Myanmar, resistance is growing.
Quietly, in the gloomy light, a group of men raise their hands in a three-finger salute.
Traditionally a sign of defiance and support for pro-democracy protesters, for these men it symbolises so much more.
Once police or soldiers, they now plan to fight the forces they used to serve.
Just talking to us is a huge risk; if caught the defectors could be killed.
So in hiding, faces and voices disguised for protection, they explain why they decided to defy the junta.
"We were told that we could shoot the protesters if they gathered in more than five. We could arrest them and shoot them," Officer A, a former police officer says.
"We were ordered to shoot but we couldn't do it."
The allegation echoes the claims of both protesters and human rights groups after February's military coup.
Myanmar's security forces have been accused by Amnesty International of "premeditated" attacks on peaceful protesters - including "extrajudicial executions" and indiscriminately spraying bullets in urban areas.
While a shoot-to-kill policy has never been officially confirmed by the junta, the defectors claim they were encouraged to open fire.
"My friends said if they shot the protesters, they would get a promotion as a reward and be praised for being brave and following the junta's order," another former police officer, Officer B, tells Sky News.
"They were promoted from police second lieutenant to police lieutenant, from corporal to sergeant. As far as I know, those who shot the protesters got promoted."
A former soldier in the group tells a similar story.
According to him, challenging an order wasn't an option.
"The soldiers and police are now abusing the people at the order of Min Aung Hlaing (Myanmar's junta chief)," he says.
"'Shoot. Just shoot. This is my order,' this is how they order the troops. If we did not follow the order, we would be punished."
As well as the shootings, the military is accused of other abuses: of power, of people, and of their duty to protect.
Some female protesters have publicly accused members of the security forces of physical and sexual violence following their arrests.
The soldier isn't surprised.
He says he heard reports of sex assaults during his service, in particular during military operations to ethnic minority areas in Myanmar.
"People are calling soldiers 'military dogs' [and] also accusing them of rape. Let me tell you, yes, we have seen those scenes at the frontline. I wasn't involved in it.
"The officers were calling the women here and there and abusing them. Rape as well. It's happening," he says,
At least 840 people have been killed since the coup, many shot by junta forces according to figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
We put the allegations made by the defectors to the junta, but on publication Sky News still hadn't received a response.
The men say the command to use violence against civilians is the reason they fled and joined the protest movement.
Their choice means the institutions they swore an oath to are the enemy they must defeat and the decision to defect has come at great personal sacrifice.
They have lost their freedom. They cannot see their families. They cannot return to their hometowns or tell friends where they are.
They now live their lives in hiding and on the run, waiting in dark, cramped and basic accommodation fearing they may be discovered.
Yet still they remain defiant - determined to fight for the democracy lost when the military seized power.
Since the coup, some protesters have travelled to border areas in Myanmar for resistance training and now some of the defectors are planning to use their own skills to help them.
"Those [protesters] who are not familiar with the military training, they need to learn how to use the weapons, to fix them, and set them up.
"I want to teach them. I will join with those organisations that are in the revolution to fight the junta.
"I will fight those power-hungry thugs," the soldier says.
"I will join this revolution until the end. I will give my life. I will kill them wherever I see them."
So in secret they plan, they train, they get strong; preparing to strike back against the generals they followed for so long..."
Source/publisher:
Sky News (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Officially, Myanmar says there are only a few dozen new COVID infections a day. Observers say that can't be true. There's hardly any testing going on. There are reports of a lack of staff in testing centers.
Hospitals have the same problem, with doctors and nurses joining strikes against the military, which seized power four months ago. There've been attacks on health-care workers. As schools reopen, teachers and students are also making a stand, defying the junta's calls for full classrooms, which would only help the virus spread.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Myanmar have been calling for an end to the military takeover.
The country is in turmoil. And the health-care system is one of the worst-affected sectors. Doctors and nurses were the first to go on strike, thousands refusing to work under a military regime. But that also poses a problem for COVID patients..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Public Health, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Myanmar's security forces have been accused by Amnesty International of 'premeditated' attacks on peaceful protesters.
Former police and military figures explained what they were asked to do, and why they are now rebelling in secret against the military junta..."
Source/publisher:
"Sky News"
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Women's rights, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
National team lost 10-0 in Japan after mainstays including an experienced goalkeeper refused the head coach’s call
Description:
"Second-division games in Malaysia don’t make many international headlines but that changed in March when the Myanmar under-23 winger Hein Htet Aung gave a three-fingered salute after scoring for Selangor II. Popularised by The Hunger Games film franchise, this gesture of resistance was adopted by pro-democracy protesters in Thailand and Hong Kong in 2014 and then by Myanmar, after the military took back power in a coup on 1 February.
Before Myanmar’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Japan last Friday, the goalkeeper Kyaw Zin Htet had called for players to copy Hein’s handiwork. “It would be good if some of them came out and gave the three-fingered salute to an international audience,” the 31-year-old told AFP.
There weren’t many opportunities for the national team to follow in Hein’s footsteps during the game as a ruthless Japan won 10-0 to inflict Myanmar’s biggest defeat. The only protests seen and heard came outside the stadium from a few dozen Myanmar residents in Tokyo. There are, though, more chances to grab headlines in Japan (where all the group’s games are being held to reduce travel) against Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on 11 and 15 June respectively.
There were mitigating circumstances regarding the size of Friday’s loss. Kyaw, an experienced goalkeeper, did not go to Japan, one of many mainstays who refused the call from the head coach, Antoine Hey, a development that delayed the team’s departure by a week. Kyaw made clear on 13 February during a protest with other footballers in Yangon that he was not going to represent the nation under the regime headed by Gen Min Aung Hlaing.
“If the entire group of players had opted out, it would have had an impact,” said Kyaw. “Younger players are also being threatened on their future if they choose not to play the game, so they might be worried about it.” The Myanmar Football Federation said on its website that players who refused could be suspended.
Prominent figures have been put under pressure. In April, the junta stepped up a campaign against celebrity protest supporters – some of whom have been imprisoned – by publishing a list of their names in state media and warning broadcasters and agencies against working with them.
According to the human rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, as of 1 June 841 people had been “confirmed killed by this junta coup”. Chit Bo Bo Nyein, the Paul Pogba-loving captain of the under-21 team of Hantharwady United, one of Myanmar’s leading clubs, was shot and killed on 27 March, a day when 150 were reported to have died in protests.
Hey, the German is in his second spell as head coach, is trying not to get drawn into the issue. He told the Guardian that he respected the players’ decisions but that football owed it to future generations to continue. After the heavy defeat by Japan he said: “We are concentrating on our job, on our team, on our players; we are not taking any political stand or side,” Hey said. “We just do what we are here for – playing football as good as we possibly can.”
Club football has ground to a halt in Myanmar, which rarely features in the south-east Asian summer itineraries of European club giants. Hantharwady and Shan United recently withdrew from Asian club competitions and federation officials say many players have returned to their home provinces and some are undergoing military training to learn how to fight back.
The 2022 World Cup would be out of the question even if Myanmar had all their players available but with the road to Qatar doubling as the route to the 2023 Asian Cup in China, there is a chance of making it to the continental tournament for the first time since 1968. It has been a while since Myanmar were a force even in south-east Asia, with Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and, these days, Vietnam leading the way. There had been promising signs. The talent that has always been there has started to move overseas in increasing numbers and when the Under-20 team qualified for the 2015 World Cup, the people took to the streets to celebrate. It feels like a long time ago now..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations
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"A Thai court has sentenced three Myanmar journalists for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and their two associates to seven months imprisonment and a 4,000 baht fine each for entering Thailand illegally.
They were arrested in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand in early May, after fleeing Myanmar following the junta’s order to close DVB’s news-gathering operations in the country.
Press freedom advocacy groups and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand had urged the Thai authorities not to deport them back to Myanmar.
Thai media reported that a public prosecutor filed a case against them at a Chiang Mai court and on the same day the court approved the indictment and sentenced them.
In March, the military regime revoked DVB’s license to operate in Myanmar in response to their coverage of the junta’s atrocities against anti-coup protesters. Four other media organizations also lost their licenses, making reporting for them an illegal act.
The lawyers for the journalists and their associates said that they had confessed and been taken into custody by Thai immigration in Bangkok. Their lawyers are negotiating for them to be released on bail.
Over 80 journalists are among the more than 5,500 people arrested by security forces in Myanmar since the junta’s Feb. 1 coup. The vast majority remain in detention amid widespread reports of torture and extrajudicial killings..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 1 June, (841) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Tamu Township in Sagaing Region was killed on 28 May and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 1 June, a total of (4443) people are currently under detention; of them (110) are sentenced. 1881 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of 28 May at Tamu Town in Sagaing Region, a youth who came back from his friend’s birthday, was shot dead in his left rib in an ambush by junta forces. On the night of 31 May, Khin Hmway Lwin, a member of Sagaing Region National League for Democracy (NLD) and elected regional parliamentary representative for Minkin Township constituency, was arrested at Shwe Taung Oo Myothit in Yinmarbin Township, Sagaing Region where she was in-hiding. Also on the night of 31 May, Gatone a.k.a Hein Win Latt, NLD executive member of Bhamo Town in Kachin State, was arrested at his home.
Yesterday evening at Ocean Center in Monywa City in Sagaing Region, Phue Theint Theint Tone, former member of All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) of Monywa District, who is currently assisting IDPs, was arrested at gunpoint by eight soldiers wearing civilian clothes.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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1.09 MB 4.03 MB 964.86 KB
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Description:
"Myanmar pro-democracy supporters took to the streets on Tuesday in several districts, as fighting between the army and anti-junta militias raged in border areas, four months after the military ousted an elected government in a coup.
Despite a ferocious crackdown by security forces, Myanmar's military is still struggling to impose order after arresting Aung San Suu Kyi and senior leaders of her party, sparking nationwide protests and paralysing strikes.
In the far south of Myanmar, anti-military protesters staged a march in Laung Lone, a photograph posted by the Irrawaddy newspaper on social media showed.
Meanwhile, in the commercial hub of Yangon a group of mainly young protesters rallied in the district of Kamayut, photographs posted by the Myanmar Now news portal showed.
"This is not over yet. We still have our turn," read a sign written on a sheet carried by one protester.
Demonstrators in urban areas have had to become more nimble to avoid security forces, often using flash mobs or staging small unnannounced protests, after larger rallies in the first months after the coup were often met with security forces firing live rounds.
Decades-old conflicts between the military and ethnic minority armies in border areas have also reignited since the coup. Ethnic militias allied with a shadow civilian government have stepped up attacks on the army, which has responded with heavy weapons and air strikes, forcing thousands to flee.
Mobile phone footage obtained from a resident in Kayah state bordering Thailand showed what appeared to be artillery being fired from inside the state capital Loikaw into Demoso, about 14.5 km (9 miles) away, where a People's Defence Force said it had attacked troops and was coming under heavy fire.
Residents in Loikaw said that about 50 rounds had been fired on Monday and six on Tuesday morning.
"The sound of artillery is deafening us," a resident told Reuters on Monday, requesting anonymity due to safety concerns.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, a militia active in Kayah state, said in a post on its Facebook page that 80 army soldiers had been killed on Monday, while one of its fighters and a civilian were also casualties.
Reuters could not verify the claim and a spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
Fighting in Kayah has displaced about 37,000 people in recent weeks, according to the United Nations. Many have fled into jungles and are in need of food and medicine.
Civilian forces, often armed with rudimentary rifles and limited training, have been formed in towns and regions across Myanmar to challenge the military, in support of a National Unity Government that the junta says is treasonous. read more
Security forces have killed 840 people since the coup, according to figures provided by an activist group.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has said the toll was nearer 300, and has said it is unlikely there will be a civil war in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Burma: Internal displacement/forced migration of several ethnic groups.
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Sub-title:
One of the three arrested volunteers was a National League for Democracy candidate in last year’s election
Description:
"Three volunteers, including a former National League for Democracy (NLD) candidate, were arrested last week while helping villagers displaced by recent clashes in Kayah (Karenni) State, according to close friends of the trio.
Sai Lin Lin Oo, a 29-year-old former NLD candidate, was arrested along with Nandar Oo Khin, 19, and May Zin Htoo, 20, near Loikaw while they were returning from a trip to deliver aid to Htee Poe Ka Loe, a village in Demoso Township, on May 26.
“We only found out on the morning of May 27. A policeman told us that Sai Lin Lin Oo had been held at the Demoso police station the night before. We were able to confirm this after asking around,” one of the friends told Myanmar Now.
“We heard they’re pressing charges against them, but we don’t know what for,” she added.
The three are in good health and are being kept at a military compound in Loikaw, she said, citing information received from sources familiar with the situation.
According to the Progressive Karenni People’s Force, a local youth organization, three other civilians were also arrested the same day. However, no further details were available.
Sai Lin Lin Oo contested a seat in Karenni State’s Bawlakhe constituency in last year’s election but lost to former President’s Office Minister Soe Thein, who ran as a candidate for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Sai Lin Lin Oo’s father, Sai Gyi, is the chair of the NLD’s branch in Bawlakhe. He was arrested on the morning of February 1 when the military staged the coup, but was later released.
Around 50,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since clashes between the military and the Karenni People’s Defence Force (KPDF), a civilian defence force formed in the wake of brutal crackdowns on anti-coup protesters, began on May 21.
The KPDF claims that it has killed 106 soldiers in Kayah State’s Demoso and Loikaw townships and neighbouring Moebye Township in southern Shan State since the fighting started.
About 26 civilians, including KPDF members, have also been killed in those clashes.
Civilians sheltering in the jungle to escape reprisals from the military are in urgent need of assistance, according to local volunteer groups..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karenni villagers, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Dozens of grassroots people’s defence forces have emerged to take on brutal military
Description:
"Myanmar is on the verge of a new civil war, a spokesperson for the country’s parallel government has warned, as communities increasingly take up arms to protect themselves from a relentless campaign of military violence.
Conflict has raged for decades in Myanmar’s borderlands, where myriad ethnic armed groups are fighting with the military for greater autonomy. Since February’s coup, however, dozens of new, grassroots people’s defence forces have emerged to oppose the junta, with battles occurring in areas of the country that were previously peaceful.
“The people of Myanmar have been left with no other choice. They just have no other option left,” said Dr Sasa, spokesperson for Myanmar’s national unity government (NUG), which was set up by pro-democracy politicians.
The constant threat of military raids, arrests, torture and killings had pushed communities to take up arms, he said.
“It is just the beginning. The situation will become out of control. Even if it is one man in a village, they will not just bow in front of these murderers. It is the whole country on the road to civil war,” Sasa said.
Over the past week, tens of thousands of people have been displaced in eastern Kayah state by intense fighting between the military, the newly formed Karenni People’s Defence Force and the Karenni Army, an established ethnic armed group. On Monday evening, the military used helicopters to bomb and fire at civilian fighters, the Karenni People’s Defence Force told local media. “We attacked with light weapons but they responded with artillery shells,” a the KPDF member told the independent outlet Myanmar Now.
At least 58 defence forces have formed across the country, of which 12 are active, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), a non-profit that tracks conflict. These groups are formed at a local level and are not necessarily officially linked to the NUG. Groups have revealed little about the nature of their training, but their resources and intensity vary.
In the town of Mindat in Chin state, one of the poorest areas of the country, volunteers armed with little more than traditional hunting guns rose up against the military in May. Elsewhere, young city dwellers have fled to the jungle to learn how to make homemade explosives. Celebrities are among those who have announced that they are joining training – from a former beauty queen who represented Myanmar in the Miss Grand International contest, Htar Htet Htet, to Han Htoo Lwin, known as Kyar Pauk, the lead singer of punk rock band Big Bag.
In Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, members of the security forces have been targeted in a wave of attacks over the past week, including shootings and explosions. A wedding party was also targeted, reportedly because the groom was suspected of being a military informant. Four people were killed – including the bride – after a bomb was disguised as a gift, according to local media. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts.
Schools across the country, some of which have been occupied by the military, have been bombed or set alight by unknown perpetrators, in what may be an attempt to reinforce the shutdown of the education system by anti-coup protesters. The junta has ordered parents to register their children to return to school, but the vast majority have not done so. More than half of the teachers working in state schools are on strike, according to local media.
Such attacks, including the targeting of individuals suspected of colluding with the military, were a worrying trend, said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser to Crisis Group. “It will be difficult to contain once this kind of violence becomes the norm. It’s hard to shut these dynamics down again later.”
The NUG, which has spoken of plans to build a new federal army, has urged anti-coup groups to follow ethical guidelines and not target schools or hospitals. It released a video on Saturday showing the first batch of defence force troops who have finished training.
Some ethnic armed groups have offered support to anti-coup forces, though others are ambivalent. Groups could seek to exploit the coup for their own territorial gains, further complicating the crisis.
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Anti-coup defence forces face an infamously brutal military that has an estimated 400,000 armed personnel, making it the second largest in south-east Asia after Vietnam’s. It is supplied primarily by China and Russia, drawing on generous state funding as well as its lucrative business networks – which campaigners are trying to weaken by placing pressure on international companies.
Sasa is calling for the international community to recognise the NUG as the official leaders of Myanmar. Doing so, he said, would help the body to demand that oil and gas companies, such as Total and Chevron, hand over payments to democratic officials rather than army generals.
“It is an insult to us that the gas that is from the land of Myanmar is being used by these military generals, and being paid for by Total company or [other] western companies, to buy weapons from Russia and China to kill the people of Myanmar,” he said.
Nine neighbouring south-east Asian countries have reportedly proposed that a draft UN resolution be weakened by removing a call for an arms embargo.
Sasa called for like-minded countries to push for the measure, and to introduce tougher, targeted sanctions. The more the international community delayed, he added, “the more bloody it will become, the closer we get to civil war and genocide”.
More battles are already reported to have taken place in Myanmar in the first half of 2021 than in the entirety of last year, according to Acled. It has also tracked sharp increases in reports of attacks on civilians, and reports of explosions and other forms of remote violence, which include the deployment of artillery, shelling, grenades or IEDs.
Previously, conflict was concentrated in Rakhine state and northern Shan state, but it has now spread more widely across the country. This is likely to place pressure on local commanders, said Horsey, but it is hard to know what impact it will have on the military as a whole.
“They are quite large, they have a lot of military resources and they are not concerned at all about civilian casualties. In fact, their whole approach to internal conflict over the decades has been to deliberately target civilians as part of a quite brutal counter-insurgency strategy,” Horsey said.
Salai Za Uk Ling, deputy executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organization, said people from Mindat reported the military had used civilians as human shields during recent clashes. Thousands of people from the town remain stranded just as the rainy season was beginning, he said.
“They say they are getting very, very desperate. There has been some delivery of food aid and basic medical aid from volunteers, but there has been no large-scale delivery,” he added, warning of an impending humanitarian crisis. Covid-19 is also spreading along the Indian border.
At least 833 people have been killed by the military since it seized power in February, according to estimates by the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma. Thousands have been detained, often in unknown locations where they are at risk of torture.
An activist who has met young people who are training to fight the military, and who asked to remain anonymous, said volunteers believed violence was the only language the military understood. “They want to scare the soldiers coming into their communities making arrests, beating and torturing,” she said. “Some people are hoteliers, some have their own restaurants, bars – and they have now left all their businesses.”
One young medical student had fled alone to train, the activist said. “She was so passionate because her friends got killed. Her place was terrorised under martial law. She saw people burning alive in front of her. That experience pushed her to pick up the gun.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-01
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights Defenders, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 31 May, (840) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 31 May, a total of (4424) people are currently under detention; of them (109) are sentenced. 1881 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the night of May 30, two women and a five year old girl were shot and arrested when the junta opened fire when villagers guarding the village ran away after seeing the junta patrol by on motorbikes in Pyingyi Village, Launglon Township, Tanintharyi Region. Last night, Min Min, a photography enthusiast from Kyaukme Township in Shan State, was arrested at gunpoint unprovoked. A teacher from B.E.M.S (4) in Thingangyun Township, Yangon Region, who was involved in CDM but later changed, was arrested yesterday for encouraging students not to enroll at school.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-31
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 30 May, (840) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Nyaung-U Township in Mandalay Region was killed today and (2) from Loikaw Township in Kayah State and Pinlebu Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.
As of 30 May, a total of (4409) people are currently under detention; of them (108) are sentenced. 1881 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In early morning, 30 May in Baganmyothit in Nyaung-U Township in Mandalay Region, Moe Myint Aung was shot in the stomach by a bullet and died when the junta raided the Yonetan Ward and Hman Cho Ward to arrest six youths and opened fire to the door to enter the house of Moe Myint Aung. On 29 May at Narnat Taw Ward in Loikaw Town, Kayah State, the terrorists entered a religious building compound where IDPs had fled to, and shot the former Hundred Household Administrator of Yayo Village to death.
In the afternoon of 29 May, a village administrator, who was involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested at Nayin Village, Yesagyo Township in Magway Region.
AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Human Rights Defenders, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Size:
1.09 MB 3.93 MB 955.51 KB
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