[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Dec 24, 2002.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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