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.
Political prisoners barred from testifying at Mandalay’s Obo Prison court
/in NewsDeprivation of due process rights is the latest in a series of abuses endured by the detainees
Sources close to Obo Prison have claimed political prisoners are no longer permitted to give testimony or attend hearings at the facility’s junta-controlled court as of Tuesday.
A Mandalay-based lawyer commented that the restriction was imposed in order to hinder investigations into events inside the prison, including a recent case that involved prison authorities reportedly beating female prisoners en masse.
“Their main goal is to cut off all connections to the inside of the prison. Prisoners were usually required to testify at the prison court when they received summons in the past, and were allowed to see their relatives and associates from the outside [while in court]. That won’t be possible anymore,” said the lawyer, who asked that his name be withheld.
He added that the suspension of court testimony had not been imposed by the court’s judge, but by the prison administration. According to the terms of the suspension, any prisoner required to testify in court must do so through an online conferencing system.
Sources close to the Mandalay courthouse also imparted that this suspension of court testimony would remain in effect indefinitely, which could cause major delays in court proceedings.
A letter secretly sent from inside the prison to Mandalay-based resistance forces last week described the oppressive conditions that the political prisoners faced inside, listing dozens victims by name, according to a local activist who received it.
The letter, written in blue ink on notebook paper, claimed prison authorities had beaten and tortured female political prisoners for two consecutive days in a crackdown following unrest in the women’s wards in the first week of February.
According to the letter, authorities hit female prisoners with slingshots and wooden and metal bats, sometimes with tasers attached.
Those in Mandalay’s activist circles speculated that at least three of the prisoners were critically injured and many more placed in solitary confinement or starved as punishment.
The suspension of court testimony is consistent with other measures taken by prison authorities to restrict the flow of information to and from inmates. Authorities have consistently taken extreme measures to isolate Obo prisoners from associates on the outside, according to sources close to those detained in the facility.
Among other limitations on inmates’ communications, visits have not been allowed at the Obo Prison since 2020, nominally for pandemic control purposes.
Myanmar Now has not been able to verify claims about conditions in the prison independently.
As of mid-February, a total of 15,745 people have been detained by the military since the 2021 coup, of whom 4,194 have been sentenced, according to data from the monitoring group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). More than 4,000 of those arrested by the junta in Myanmar during this period have been women.
Myanmar Now News
“We Cannot Move Freely”
/in ND-Burma Members' Reports, Other Human Rights Reports, ResourcesThe Impacts of Martial Law on Civilians in Southeastern Burma
Since the attempted coup on 1 February 2021 in Burma, clashes between the military junta and armed opposition groups have increased across the country. In Southeastern townships and villages, the frequency of the fighting has displaced thousands and led to mass instability. The Karen and Mon armed groups are battling the junta in an ongoing bid for ethnic autonomy that has been amassed for decades.
While fighting occurs, civilians are forced to confront widespread horrors. They are unable to work or travel safely which has impeded their fundamental human rights, including freedom of movement. The current circumstances have led to desolate conditions for civilians who are significantly impacted by the toll of the conflict.
On February 2, 2023, the military junta called a National Defense and Security Council meeting and declared that ‘absolute power’ was granted to the Commander-in-Chief for the next six months.
As of February 3, 2023, the Burma Army had issued Martial Law in 37 of the 330 townships across the country, including Tanintharyi Region, five townships of Bago Region, Ye Township of Mon State, Kyainseikgyi and Kawkareik townships in Karen State.
In Ye, Kyaik Hto and Bilin Townships of Mon State, Martial Law has been in effect for nearly two years.
“Before declaring Martial Law in our region [Ye Township], the junta arbitrarily arrested people. They beat innocent civilians and seized their motorbikes. They even killed villagers. But now they’ve declared Martial Law, so there will be more human rights violations,” said a member of Ye Township’s Mon Unity Party (MUP). The military’s South East Command is now controlling the whole township in the southern part of Mon State.
Human Rights Situation weekly update (February 8 to 14, 2023)
/in HR Situation, NewsFrom February 2 to 7, the Military junta beheaded two civilians from Demoso, Kayah state, and Monywa, Sagaing region. On first January, the military junta arrested two civilians from Mayangone, Yangon, one from Sagaing for taking records and photos of the Silent Strike Protest. They also arrested some civilians from Naypyidaw for sharing about the Revolution on Social Media. Political prisoners from Yangon Insein Prison and Mandalay O-bo Prison got beaten and brutally tortured.
Infogram
Girl, 7, among three injured by junta shelling in southern Sagaing
/in NewsThe child lost her left eye after regime soldiers fired at least five times on her home village in Myinmu Township on Sunday
A seven-year-old girl and two others were seriously injured when junta forces fired heavy artillery at a village in southern Sagaing Region’s Myinmu Township on Sunday, according to local sources.
The incident occurred in Gon Nyin Seik, a village located on the western bank of the Mu River near neighbouring Sagaing Township.
Junta forces stationed in the Sagaing Township village of Kywel Pon fired at least five 102mm artillery shells at Gon Nyin Seik, sources there said.
Ei Ei Chun, the seven-year-old victim, was blinded in her left eye, while another person, identified as Su Maw Zaw, 25, was said to be in critical conditional after being hit in the back, a local resident told Myanmar Now.
“We still don’t know the name of the third person. I heard he was injured when a shell fell on his house in the southern part of Gon Nyin Seik,” said the local, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Injured_child.jpg
Ei Ei Chun, 7, lost her left eye after being injured by heavy artillery fired by junta forces on February 12 (Supplied)
Residents of the area speculated that the target of the attack was a wedding ceremony being held in Gon Nyin Seik on Sunday morning.
“People are saying that the military heard that some resistance leaders would be attending a wedding in the village and decided to try hitting them,” said one local.
However, there were reports that other villages in the area also came under fire.
A serious clash reportedly broke out later the same day after anti-regime groups ambushed junta forces in Kywel Pon, which also has a large contingent of military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia members.
The soldiers based in Kywel Pon are from Light Infantry Division 33 and are known to frequently raid villages in the area together with the Pyu Saw Htee forces.
On February 6, Pyu Saw Htee members from Kywel Pon shot at three men working at a mango plantation on the bank of the Mu River, killing a 44-year-old man named Win Aung, sources there claimed. The other two men managed to escape without injury.
There were also reports that a 60-year-old man named Paw Htay from the village of Yin Ma Kyin was recently tortured and killed by Pyu Saw Htee members from Kywel Pon.
Resistance forces based in Myinmu say the military appears to be attempting to strengthen its hold over Sagaing Township, which is a regional gateway to Mandalay, ahead of elections planned for later this year.
Kywel Pon, which is located in the western part of the township, also came under attack from resistance forces on January 13.
Myanmar Now News
Five years added to prison sentence of former ABFSU leader
/in OthersThe additional sentence stems from false charges of terrorism, according to the wife of detained activist Lin Htet Naing
A court in Yangon’s Botahtaung Township sentenced Lin Htet Naing, a former leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), to an additional five years in prison on Monday, according to his wife.
The former student leader, who is better known as James in the activist community, received the sentence under Section 52b of Myanmar’s Counter-Terrorism Law, his wife, fellow activist Phyo Phyo Aung, told Myanmar Now.
“By adding more years to his sentence, the military council is not only systematically and politically oppressing a democratic activist, but also fabricating fake cases to charge him with terrorism,” she said.
She added that she still didn’t know if he would have to do hard labour or if time served would be deducted from his sentence.
Lin Htet Naing was arrested in Botahtaung Township in June of last year and later charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code.
On December 7, a prison court based in Yangon’s Kyauktada Township found him guilty of that charge and sentenced him to three years in prison.
The former ABFSU vice president was first imprisoned in 2008 after being arrested for his involvement in the monk-led Saffron Revolution of the previous year.
Following his release in 2011, he resumed his political activities, and was later handed six-month sentences in 2015 and 20202, with the latter ending just days before the military coup in February 2021.
On October 19 of last year, his mother, Kyi Kyi Myint, was among eight people killed when an explosive went off inside a reception area in Insein Prison, where Lin Htet Naing was being held.
Kyi Kyi Myint, who was known to many of her son’s activist friends as “Amay Kyi,” or Mother Kyi, was bringing him food at the time of the incident.
According to the latest figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a total of 15,117 people are currently being detained by Myanmar’s military, of whom 3,713 have been sentenced.
Myanmar Now News
UN efforts in Myanmar fail in implementation: Shadow government, aid groups
/in NewsThe UNOCHA must expand its assistance to conflict areas where need is greatest, they say.
Myanmar’s shadow government and aid groups have welcomed the United Nations’ efforts to assist millions amid widespread armed conflict in the country, but say they must be better implemented if they are to be effective.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) recently announced that 17.6 million people, or nearly one-third of Myanmar’s population of 55 million, need humanitarian assistance two years after the military seized power in a coup. In the 24 months since the coup, the number of people displaced by conflict had grown to 1.5 million, up from 1.2 million in January this year, it said.
But while the U.N. provided aid to some 4 million people across the country in 2022, it said that ongoing conflict, airstrikes, and tightened security have severely hampered the ability of its agency and other organizations to provide humanitarian assistance.
Win Myat Aye, minister of Humanitarian and Natural Disaster Management for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, acknowledged the difficulties in providing assistance amid widespread conflict, but said U.N. needs to do a better job.
“UNOCHA’s statistics for the previous year of 2022 show its humanitarian assistance programs were not effective,” he told RFA Burmese.
“We have seen that its programs are mainly concentrated in the Yangon region [where conflict is less pronounced] and they cannot provide aid effectively to other regions where the need for humanitarian aid is urgent. We conclude its programs were not able to provide aid effectively.”
UNOCHA’s own reporting found that at least 4.5 million of those in need of assistance are from Myanmar’s more remote conflict areas, with women accounting for 52%, children for 32%, and the disabled for 12% of the total.
The agency said at the end of January that U.S.$764 million had been earmarked for an emergency assistance program through the country’s humanitarian aid community, and that priority would be given to the 4.5 million people in conflict areas.
But Banyar, the director of the ethnic Karenni Human Rights Group, told RFA that while he appreciates UNOCHA’s work, he doesn’t see it as adequate.
“I am particularly unsatisfied with what they have done for IDPs in Kayah state,” he said.
“They only provide aid in the areas where the junta has given them permission. Their work is also entirely compliant to junta restrictions.”
From bad to worse
Sources in areas that have seen some of the worst fighting between the military and the armed resistance told RFA that the situation had gone from bad to worse, particularly for those displaced by violence.
“We are always on the run, so I don’t have a job and can’t make any money,” said one woman in Sagaing region’s Salingyi township, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.
“I have two kids, but I have never received any assistance. As I am running with the kids, I have to spend additional money for their nutrition. When I fled home this time, I didn’t have a dime as I had no income.”
More than 10,000 people from nearly 20 villages in Salingyi have fled their homes since the military began a clearance operation in the township on Feb. 4.
Another displaced woman in northern Shan state’s Kutkai township told RFA that fighting in the region had caused the price of basic commodities to soar in recent months.
“The price for rice is up significantly as we speak,” she said. “We have faced more and more hardships in life. We can barely make ends meet to provide for our families.”
‘A challenging situation’
A woman who fled fighting in Chin state’s Mindat township told RFA that her group is facing severe shortages, with many women and children among them.
“In some places there are no clinics, but even when there is a clinic, they don’t have enough medical supplies, so we have to travel to the city to get medicine,” she said.
“The IDP (internally displaced persons) camps and the officials accepting IDPs cannot provide medical care or medicine. Now, IDPs are required to find medical care using their own funds. So, we are facing a challenging situation.”
The Chin Human Rights Organization told RFA that at least 52,000 people from Chin State have fled across the border to India’s Mizoram state since the military coup.
When asked about delays to its emergency aid program for 2023, a UNOCHA representative told RFA in an emailed response that the agency is “working to start the process.”
According to independent research group ISP-Myanmar, as of Jan. 20, there had been at least 8,100 incidents of conflict in Myanmar since the coup – nearly double the number in the decade prior to the takeover.
Thailand’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said that authorities in Myanmar have killed 2,988 civilians and arrested more than 19,000 others since the coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.
Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Edited by Joshua Lipes.
RFA News