ND Burma
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.
Recent Posts
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- PRESS STATEMENT: CIVIL SOCIETY CALLS FOR DISASTER RELIEF FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS AND AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN MYANMAR
- AAPP Launches its New Report on Justice, the Judiciary and the Weaponization of Law to Repress Civilians in Burma
- Junta offensives leave 4 dead, thousands displaced in northwest Myanmar
Imprisoned NLD religious affairs minister among thousands freed in amnesty
/in NewsThura Aung Ko is released from Yangon’s Insein Prison some 10 months after being convicted of corruption by Myanmar’s military regime
The Myanmar junta released former religious affairs minister Thura Aung Ko from Yangon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday night in an amnesty ahead of the country’s January 4 Independence Day, according to a relative of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) official.
The ex-general was among more than 7,000 prisoners who were said to have been freed in the move.
Aung Ko was arrested on February 1, 2021, the day of the military coup, along with several other members of the NLD’s cabinet. He was sentenced in March of last year to 12 years in prison for alleged corruption, an accusation that the military regime levied against many of the NLD’s top leaders—including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint—in an attempt to neutralise its political rivals.
On the same day that Aung Ko was sentenced, the military reduced his prison term by half.
While in custody in Insein, he was reportedly in poor health and required medical attention for anaemia and an enlargement of his heart.
A relative of the former government minister, who turned 75 on Wednesday, confirmed to Myanmar Now that as of Tuesday night he had returned to his family residence.
“I think he is feeling much better because he is back home now,” said the relative, who did not disclose further details regarding Aung Ko’s release.
Despite Aung Ko’s military background and his earlier role as a central executive committee member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party—the army’s political proxy—Aung Ko angered his fellow generals by backing the NLD’s calls for amendments to Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution.
He was also scorned by members of the military for his role in abolishing Ma Ba Tha, an ultranationalist group led by hate-preaching monk Wirathu, who was arrested in November 2020 during Aung Ko’s tenure as minister for religious affairs.
Outside_obo.jpeg
People wait outside Obo Prison in Mandalay on Wednesday to see if their incarcerated loved ones are among those released in the January 4 amnesty (Supplied by CJ)
The junta said in a Wednesday announcement that it would free a total of 7,012 inmates from jails across the country for “the peace of mind of the public, being considerate of social circumstances, and in commemoration of the country’s Independence Day.”
Individuals convicted of charges related to terrorism, the use of explosives, unlawful association, corruption, murder or drugs would not be among those released, the junta said in state media.
According to local media reports, Than Myint Aung, who served as an NLD-appointed member of Yangon’s municipal committee, was also freed from Insein Prison, as was renowned author and former information officer for the NLD Htin Lin Oo. They were arrested on the day of the coup and sentenced to three years for incitement.
Several other anti-regime activists convicted of incitement by military-controlled courts were reportedly included in Wednesday’s amnesty, but Myanmar Now was unable to obtain further information about these individuals at the time of reporting.
Reporting by Han Thit and Sa Tun Aung.
Myanmar Now News
Human Rights Violations Documented
/in NewsInfogram
The Moso Christmas Eve Massacre (Mini-doc)
/in NewsOne year on from the horrific massacre, watch Myanmar Witness’ mini-doc investigation.
“Do you know what happened in Myanmar last Christmas?” is a first mini-documentary by Myanmar Witness, investigating the horrific events at Moso on Christmas Eve 2021. 24 December 2021. Footage emerges on social media of burnt out vehicles somewhere in Myanmar. Reports of many killed and images of burnt bodies soon follow. Myanmar Witness investigators immediately start collecting and analysing and attempting to verify the footage so that international media can report accurately on the unfolding atrocity and one day those responsible can be held to account.
To read the full investigation into the Moso Christmas Eve Massacre online click here or download the full report as PDF with the button below.
Myanmar Witness
Myanmar junta raid and burn 20 villages over 3 days in Sagaing region
/in NewsMore than 10,000 fled their homes in Tigyaing township ahead of the raids.
Junta troops stormed 20 villages in Tigyaing township over three days this week, burning down over 400 houses as their arson campaign continued in Myanmar’s Sagaing region.
Local residents told RFA around 300 troops took part in the campaign, prompting more than 10,000 people to abandon their homes ahead of the raids.
The latest wave of arson attacks began early on Tuesday morning when troops stormed and burned Aung Thar Kone village. Locals said more than 1,000 people abandoned three nearby villages on hearing about the raid.
Troops continued their raids on Wednesday and Thursday, burning homes in villages – including 40 houses in Lay Thar Kone and Inn Tein – forcing thousands more residents to flee.
A local, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA a soldier shot and killed a man in his 80s, identified as Sein Maung, after entering Inn Tein village Thursday.
“He was planting crops in the field. He might have gone to see his sons and been shot dead. They said the junta soldier took 400,000 Myanmar Kyat (U.S.$190) from him,” the local said.
Junta spokesman for Sagaing region Aye Hlaing, who is also the military regime’s regional social affairs minister, told RFA he was unaware of any killings or arson and was not authorized to speak on such issues for security reasons.
Fighting has intensified in Myanmar’s northernmost region in the 22 months since the military toppled the country’s democratically elected government. The fighting has forced people from their homes leading to 616,500 being displaced in Sagaing since the coup, according to a Dec. 3 statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
RFA News
Junta to file criminal charges against detained Kachin reverend
/in NewsOfficials from the Kachin Baptist Convention are summoned to the Northern Regional Command in Myitkyina and reportedly shown video ‘evidence’ of Dr Hkalam Samson’s ‘crimes’
The junta is expected to soon file criminal charges against the detained former chair of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) Dr Hkalam Samson, a representative of the organisation said on Wednesday.
Kachin religious leader Dr Samson was arrested at Mandalay’s Tada-U Airport on Monday and reportedly sent to the military’s Northern Regional Command headquarters in Myitkyina, Kachin State. He has not been heard from since.
KBC’s deputy secretary Lahpai Zau Ra said in a video message posted on the organisation’s Facebook page that the junta’s minister of border affairs and state security summoned four of the organisation’s officials to the Myitkyina military base on Tuesday. There, he reportedly informed them that Dr Samson would soon be facing charges.
Lahpai Zau Ra said that the border affairs minister did not elaborate on which laws the reverend had allegedly violated, but it was understood that the charges could be related to the content of his lectures and religious sermons.
“He showed us several videos as ‘evidence’ of the reverend’s ‘crimes.’ Some of them were meeting records,” Lahpai Zau Ra said in the video posted to KBC’s Facebook page.
KBC said it has formed a committee dedicated to working for Dr Samson’s release.
13 Rohingya, believed to be human trafficking victims, found dead near Yangon
/in NewsThe incident comes a week after 68 Rohingya men and women were arrested in the same area while being transported in a truck
The bodies of 13 Rohingya men and boys were found dumped on the side of a road in a northern Yangon suburb on Monday morning, two sources told Myanmar Now.
The victims, who were estimated to be between the ages of 16 and 20, were found dead near Ngwe Nant Thar, a village in Hlegu Township about 25km north of Yangon’s city centre, said a local regime authority who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“There were no injuries found on their bodies. The cause of their deaths is still unknown. The bodies were sent to the Yangon General Hospital and we are still waiting for the autopsy results,” the official told Myanmar Now on Monday afternoon.
The bodies were all dumped along a road less than a kilometre from Ngwe Nant Thar, he added.
A police source familiar with the case said that while the victims were known to be Rohingya, it was unclear where they had travelled from or how they got to Ngwe Nant Thar.
“I was informed that they were smuggled inside a vehicle and died due to a lack of oxygen,” the police source said.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify this information.
Most of Myanmar’s more than one million Rohingya have fled the country in recent years due to ethnic cleansing campaigns by the military. They have been subject to restrictions on their freedom of movement and other basic rights for decades.
These restrictions have made them vulnerable to human traffickers, who promise them better living conditions and work opportunities in Malaysia and other countries in the region.
Many are arrested in transit as they make the journey from Rakhine State to the Thai-Myanmar border or coastal areas in the country’s south. They are then charged with immigration offences that carry sentences of at least two years in prison.
On November 28, Radio Free Asia’s Burmese-language service reported that 54 men and 14 women of Rohingya ethnicity were arrested at a checkpoint in Hlegu while travelling inside a truck.
Myanmar Now News