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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- December 24, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar court rejects appeal by
former dictator's relatives
Reuters - Myanmar death sentences
upheld for Ne Win relatives
AFP - Thailand worries over people
from neighbouring states in drugs trade
Hoover's Online - Burmese
government reports progress in polio-free certification
campaign
Asian Tribune - Alien workers
miseries, injuries and conflicts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar court rejects appeal
by former dictator's relatives
Dec 24 7:47 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death sentences handed down by a court against relatives of the late former dictator Ne Win for attempting to overthrow the government, officials and lawyers said. The nation's highest court rejected appeals by Ne Win's son-in-law and three grandsons of a Sept. 26 special court ruling that convicted them of treason and sentenced them to death by hanging, an official said on condition of anonymity. Defense lawyers lodged the appeal six days after the earlier decision, which found Aye Zaw Win, Aye Ne Win, Kyaw Ne Win and Zwe Ne Win guilty of plotting to topple the ruling military junta. Their lawyers said they will ask the Supreme Court to reconsider their decision. "We will submit a special appeal to the Supreme Court," defense lawyer Tun Sein told The Associated Press after learning of the Supreme Court decision. It is generally believed that their sentences will be commuted to life in prison, since Myanmar rarely executes people. Ne Win and his daughter Sandar Win, wife of Aye Zaw Win, were placed under house arrest when the suspects were arrested March 7 after an army officer told authorities the family was planning a coup to restore the former dictator to power. The government claimed the family was upset at losing privileges as Ne Win's influence declined. Ne Win died Dec. 4 at his lakeside villa with only Sandar Win by his side. He was cremated without fanfare within hours of his death. The four convicted men, who are being held at Yangon's Insein Prison, have not been informed of Ne Win's death, family sources said. Barbed wire barricades blocking the road to Ne Win's house since March remain in place. Sandar Win remains under house arrest and has not been allowed to receive visitors. Ne Win took ousted a civilian government in a 1962 military coup. During his 26-year socialist rule he led Myanmar, also known as Burma, into isolation and economic ruin. The current junta took power in September 1988 after Ne Win stepped down amid pro-democracy demonstrations that the military crushed, killing thousands of civilians. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday December 24, 5:59 PM
Myanmar death sentences upheld for Ne Win relatives YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed death sentences on four relatives of late dictator Ne Win for plotting to topple the country's military government with the help of black magic, court officials said. Ne Win's son-in-law and three grandsons were sentenced to death by hanging in September for high treason, 44 years to the day after Ne Win first took power. Disgraced after the arrest of his relatives and stripped of his political influence, Ne Win died while under house arrest on December 5 at the age of 91. "The Supreme Court hereby dismisses the appeal against the death penalty lodged by Aye Zaw Win, Aye Ne Win, Kyaw Ne Win and Zwe Ne Win," judge Khin Myint told the court. The appeal was heard by a two-judge bench and the four accused can now appeal to the full bench, Myanmar legal experts told Reuters. They can also appeal to the head of state for an official pardon. Relatives said lawyers for the four were meeting with their clients on Tuesday to decide whether to lodge another appeal. Diplomats in Yangon say they are sceptical that the four ever seriously planned a coup. Some have seen the trial as an effort by the junta to strengthen its grip on power. Ne Win's grandsons Aye Ne Win, 25, Kyaw Ne Win, 22, Zwe Ne Win, 21, and son-in-law Aye Zaw Win, 54, were arrested in March in a Yangon restaurant where they were allegedly plotting the coup with a senior army officer. All four had pleaded not guilty during the trial. Police rounded up more than 200 people suspected of involvement in the conspiracy, including a well-known expert in black magic who was hired to provide astrological advice. Ne Win first took power in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, at the head of a brief caretaker administration in 1958 and later made way for a democratically elected government. But in 1962 he seized power in a coup and ruled the country with an iron fist, ruthlessly eliminating his opponents. He officially relinquished power in 1988. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thailand worries over people
from neighbouring states in drugs trade
BANGKOK, Dec 24 (AFP) - Thailand's justice minister on Tuesday expressed concern that Singaporean, Indonesian and Malaysian nationals were increasingly engaging in the illegal drugs trade here. "We have found that people from neighbouring countries are coming to Thailand and more are getting involved in the drugs business," he told reporters. "We are concerned that Singaporeans, Indonesians and Malaysians are becoming more involved in the drugs business," he said, adding that many foreigners were marrying Thai women to help boost their connections. The minister did not specify what drugs the foreigners were trafficking. Thailand is facing an amphetamines addiction crisis, with the cheap pills largely replacing heroin as the drug of choice. Thai army officials recently predicted that a record one billion of the pills would be trafficked into the country in 2003 from dozens of drug factories in neighbouring Myanmar. Purachai also said authorities were gearing up for an expected rise in drugs being trafficked into Thailand over the New Year weekend. "Authorities in every province will carry out more strict drugs checks to prevent this," he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hoover's
Online
Burmese government reports
progress in polio-free certification campaign
December 24, 2002 6:39am newspaper The Myanmar Times web site on 16 December Myanmar [Burma] is heading for an important health care milestone when it is expected to be certified free of polio next February. However, vigilance would need to be maintained against the crippling disease, a senior medical officer said last week. There was always the possibility of cases from abroad, said the director of the Health Department's disease control division, Dr Ye Myint. "Early detection of the virus is essential to ensure that no epidemic occurs," he said. The disease was last recorded in Myanmar in 2000 when two cases were detected in Rakhine State. A country that can prove zero indigenous cases of the disease for three consecutive years is entitled to be certified polio free. Dr Ye Myint said after Myanmar was declared polio free it would maintain its status by improving immunization coverage and expanding surveillance activities. He added that more surveillance personnel would be needed to check if polio was the cause of any cases of paralysis detected in children. Myanmar launched a national polio immunization campaign in 1994, six years after a conference organized by the World Health Organization passed a resolution calling for the eradication of the disease. The final round of an eighth national immunization programme will take place on 12 January as a follow up to a similar event on 8 December which involved 95 per cent of the country's 6.25 million children aged under five. The next national immunization programme is expected to take part in 2005 as part of a regional campaign. "Immunization activities will never cease until the world is declared polio free," Dr Ye Myint said. On a related issue, Dr Ye Myint said 26 members of a Japanese non-profit group which is Myanmar's main vaccine donor had visited the country earlier this month. The delegation from the Japan Committee for Vaccines for the World's Children had observed immunization activities and discussed prospects for further collaboration. Source: The Myanmar Times web site, Rangoon, in English 16 Dec 02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-24
Alien workers miseries, injuries and conflicts. Surat Thani, Dec. 24: Radio Free Asia recently contacted some Burmese workers employed at a fish processing plant in Surat Thani which is located south of Bangkok and was given the following details about the tragic death of one Moe Ko Oo. He was a youth aged 21. Native of Myanaung island, Arakan state. His supervisor had been giving him a hard time. It reached a stage that was no longer tolerable so he retorted for which he was beaten up so badly that he fell into the sea and drowned. His friends made a search but could not find him. The next day (December 5) the corpse was found floating on the surface. On the10th December, Buddhist prayers and offerings were held by his friends and associates as is the custom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |