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Rapper to be imprisoned for complaining about power cuts

May 31, 2023/in News

A relative has confirmed that hip-hop artist Byu Har will be sent to Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison to face charges of incitement Hip-hop artist Byu Har will be sent to Yangon’s Insein Prison next month for criticising Myanmar’s junta on social media, according to a relative. The 38-year-old rapper, who was arrested on May 23 […]

Intense clashes in Myanmar’s Chin, Shan states leave 19 dead

May 31, 2023/in News

Four civilians, including an 11-year-old, were killed by heavy artillery and airstrikes. Intense fighting between the military and anti-junta forces in Myanmar’s Chin and Shan states since the weekend left 19 dead, including four civilians, RFA Burmese has learned. The clashes, which killed an 11-year-old boy and left a dozen civilians injured, are the latest […]

Rapper to be imprisoned for complaining about power cuts

May 31, 2023/in News

Intense clashes in Myanmar’s Chin, Shan states leave 19 dead

May 31, 2023/in News

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Rapper to be imprisoned for complaining about power cuts

May 31, 2023/in News

A relative has confirmed that hip-hop artist Byu Har will be sent to Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison to face charges of incitement

Hip-hop artist Byu Har will be sent to Yangon’s Insein Prison next month for criticising Myanmar’s junta on social media, according to a relative.

The 38-year-old rapper, who was arrested on May 23 for complaining about frequent power outages in the country since the regime seized power more than two years ago, will be transferred to the prison on June 10, the relative said.

He is currently being held at the North Dagon Township Police Station, where he has been since his arrest at his home in the township’s Ward 48 more than a week ago.

He was remanded there on May 29 on charges of incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code. He faces up to three years in prison if found guilty.

The relative told Myanmar Now that Byu Har is in good health, contrary to claims made on a pro-junta social media account that he had died while undergoing interrogation.

“He no longer has the injuries that he had in the photo of his arrest that was posted online. He’s in good health and is only facing one Section 505a charge. That’s all we know for now,” said the relative, who did not want to be identified by name.

The propaganda page that claimed Byu Har was dead had also called for his arrest after he posted his criticism of the regime online.

He also faced similar calls in April, when junta backers urged the regime to arrest him for saying on Facebook that he would not be performing during the annual Thingyan water festival, which has been widely boycotted since the military takeover in February 2021.

On the evening of May 29, regime forces also raided the home of Byu Har’s father, songwriter Naing Myanmar. After failing to find him, they detained his wife at the local police station, but released her later that night, sources said.

Naing Myanmar is best known for his pro-democracy anthem “Kabar Ma Kyay Bu,” written during the 1988 uprising against military rule. Based on the melody of “Dust in the Wind,” by American rock band Kansas, it was widely sung at anti-coup protests held two years ago.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a total of 22,737 people have been arrested for opposing the regime, of whom 18,417 are still in detention.

Byu Har at the time of his arrest, in a photo that was widely circulated on pro-junta social media pages

Myanmar Now News

Intense clashes in Myanmar’s Chin, Shan states leave 19 dead

May 31, 2023/in News

Four civilians, including an 11-year-old, were killed by heavy artillery and airstrikes.

Intense fighting between the military and anti-junta forces in Myanmar’s Chin and Shan states since the weekend left 19 dead, including four civilians, RFA Burmese has learned.

The clashes, which killed an 11-year-old boy and left a dozen civilians injured, are the latest to erupt in two areas known as hotbeds of resistance to military rule since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat.

Salai James, the chairman of the anti-junta Zofe Chin Defense Force, told RFA that a battle broke out between his paramilitaries and military troops in the Chin townships of Hakha and Thantlang on May 28.

Over the course of two days, he said, junta troops fired heavy artillery on CDF positions with support from four fighter jets and a military helicopter.

“The junta’s heavy artillery hit the edge of Hakah town, which is close to their artillery base,” Salai James said. “Eleven anti-junta fighters have been killed by their airstrikes so far, but we haven’t been able to retrieve all of their bodies yet as we are still fighting.”

The bodies of only seven of the 11 dead CDF fighters had been retrieved as of Tuesday, he added.

A Hakha CDF official, who declined to be named for security reasons, said that the fighting is “continuing to intensify” as the junta forces seek to regain territory between Hakha and Thantlang, which is currently controlled by a joint force of Chin defense groups.

“They haven’t been able to operate safely in Hakha and Thantlang – that’s why they regularly attack those areas,” he said. “When their ground troops can’t beat the resistance forces, they use their air power to attack us.”

Undated photos of anti-junta medics who died in junta attacks, from left; Angela, John Bosco, Caroline Khine Lin and Mya Htwe. Credit: Karenni Revolutionary Union

Fighting between the two sides continued on Tuesday, residents of the two townships said.

Since the coup, the junta has launched nearly 80 aerial attacks on Chin state, killing 64 people, including members of anti-junta local defense forces, according to a May 22 statement issued by the Institute of Chin Affairs.

Shan fighting

Fierce fighting also was reported in eastern Shan state, when a joint force of ethnic Karenni resistance groups battled junta troops in the townships of Pekon and Pinlaung, according to anti-junta groups.

On May 27, junta troops “randomly fired heavy artillery” into Pinlaung’s Moe Bye village in an attack against members of the anti-junta Moe Bye People’s Defense Forces, killing an 11-year-old boy and injuring four civilians, Banyar, the director of the Karenni Human Rights Organization said Tuesday.

“This kind of attack isn’t a one-off occurrence – the junta plans and attacks this way in many different places, knowingly firing at the civilian population,” he said. “This is not only a war crime but also a crime against humanity.”

The Moe Bye PDF confirmed details of the battle, which was fought intermittently from May 27-29, in a statement issued on Monday.

Additionally, four medics from an anti-junta unit based in neighboring Kayah state’s Demoso township were killed while treating the injured during the fighting in Shan state, the Karenni Revolutionary Union rebel group said in a statement on Sunday.

The dead included Caroline Khine Lin, Angela, Mya Htwe and John Bosco – all between the ages of 17 and 23, the KRU said.

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing oversees a military display at a parade to mark the country’s Independence Day in Naypyidaw on January 4, 2023. Min Aung Hlaing declared at the Armed Forces Day ceremony in March, that the military would completely destroy NUG, PDF and the organizations supporting them. Credit: AFP

And at around 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, junta forces launched a series of airstrikes on an area of Moe Bye where civilians had taken shelter from the fighting, injuring four people and damaging three homes, according to the Moe Bye People’s Defense Force.

In a May 1 statement, the rebel Progressive Karenni People’s Force said that there have been at least 663 clashes in southern Shan state and neighboring Kayah state between the coup and April 30, 2023.

The junta has yet to issue a statement on the fighting in Chin and Shan states and attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Tuesday.

The clashes follow a vow by junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing on Armed Forces Day in March to eradicate the shadow National Unity Government, the anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary group, and the organizations that support them.

RFA News

Spring Revolution

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Aug 22 to 31, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Bago Region, Mandalay Region, Tanintharyi Region, and Shan State from August 22nd to 31st. Head of Prison which works under Military Junta, tortured and blackmailed the […]

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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.

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