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Myanmar Junta’s New Cyber Law to Jail Anyone Using VPN

January 24, 2022/in News

Myanmar’s military regime is seeking to adopt a new cybersecurity law to jail anyone accessing banned sites like Facebook via virtual private networks (VPNs). The regime banned social media following last year’s coup, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook – the main gateways to the internet in Myanmar – but people access the sites using VPNs, […]

Myanmar Court Sentences 2 Prominent Activists to Death

January 23, 2022/in News

BANGKOK — Two prominent political activists in military-ruled Myanmar have been sentenced to death for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, an army television station reported Friday. Myawaddy TV said on its evening news broadcast that Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy, and Phyo Zeyar Thaw, also known as Maung Kyaw, were convicted under the […]

Myanmar Junta’s New Cyber Law to Jail Anyone Using VPN

January 24, 2022/in News

Myanmar Court Sentences 2 Prominent Activists to Death

January 23, 2022/in News

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Myanmar Junta’s New Cyber Law to Jail Anyone Using VPN

January 24, 2022/in News

Myanmar’s military regime is seeking to adopt a new cybersecurity law to jail anyone accessing banned sites like Facebook via virtual private networks (VPNs).

The regime banned social media following last year’s coup, including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook – the main gateways to the internet in Myanmar – but people access the sites using VPNs, which allow internet users to bypass blocks.

The move to outlaw VPNs is seen as a further attempt to curb digital freedoms, including stifling online fund-raising for resistance groups, internet criticism and the flow of reliable information. Last month the regime doubled mobile internet data taxes.

According to a letter leaked online, the regime’s Ministry of Transport and Communications distributed a revised bill, which it first proposed within a week of the February coup, to 13 other ministries, chambers of commerce, banks, financial services, telecommunications operators and internet service providers and asked for comments by Jan. 28.

The draft law would grant the regime unlimited power to access user data, ban content it dislikes, restrict internet providers and intercept data, and imprison those criticizing the regime online and employees of non-compliant companies.

In the letter, the ministry stated that the decision to enact the law had been made.

An earlier proposal for the cybersecurity law was shelved amid opposition from both domestic and international business groups and IT communities as it would enable the junta to intrude into companies’ internal management.

Rights groups have widely condemned the proposed law as a violation of digital rights, privacy, human rights and freedom of expression.

A former Yangon regional lawmaker from the ousted National League for Democracy, Nay Phone Latt, said the bill is further evidence of the junta’s intent to permanently undermine internet freedom and proof of the success of the anti-regime digital strike.

Sentencing VPN users “would be similar to jailing the whole country”, he said.

“It is totally unacceptable. Only a parliament of elected representatives should have the power to draft legislation. The terrorist regime has no authority to draft laws,” he said. Nay Phone Latt said unless people follow the law, it will just be a written document.

Irrawaddy News

Myanmar Court Sentences 2 Prominent Activists to Death

January 23, 2022/in News

BANGKOK — Two prominent political activists in military-ruled Myanmar have been sentenced to death for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, an army television station reported Friday.

Myawaddy TV said on its evening news broadcast that Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy, and Phyo Zeyar Thaw, also known as Maung Kyaw, were convicted under the country’s Counterterrorism Law. They were found guilty of offenses involving explosives, bombings and financing terrorism.

Both have been detained since their arrests, unable to comment on the allegations, and no lawyer ever emerged to comment on their behalves. Min Yu’s wife, Nilar Thein, in October denied the allegations lodged against her husband.

Details of their trials were unavailable because the proceedings were carried out in a closed military court. It was unclear if their two cases were linked.

Modern-day Myanmar has a record of rarely carrying out death sentences.

The two are among the most prominent activists to be given death sentences since the military in February last year seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Its takeover sparked wide-scale popular protests, which have since turned into a low-level insurgency after nonviolent demonstrations were met with deadly force by the security forces. Almost 1,500 civilians are estimated to have been killed, and more than 11,000 arrest carried out for political offenses.

Some resistance factions have engaged in assassinations, drive-by shootings and bombings in urban areas. The mainstream opposition organizations generally disavow such activities, while supporting armed resistance in rural areas, which are more often subject to brutal military attacks.

Kyaw Min Yu is one of the leaders of the 88 Generation Students Group, veterans of the popular uprising that failed to unseat a previous military government.

He has been active politically ever since then and has spent more than a dozen years behind bars. His Oct. 23 arrest in Yangon was originally reported by his wife, an activist who also has been jailed in the past. Both went into hiding after the February takeover and she is believed to still be in hiding.

Two weeks after his arrest, a statement from the military-installed government accused Kyaw Min Yu, of “conducting terrorism acts including mine attacks to undermine the state stability” and alleged he headed a group called “Moon Light Operation” to carry out urban guerrilla attacks.

He had already been on the wanted list for social media postings that allegedly incited unrest.

Phyo Zeyar Thaw is a former lawmaker with Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party. He was a hip-hop musician before becoming a member of Generation Wave, a political movement formed in 2007.

He was arrested on Nov. 18 in possession of weapons and ammunition, according to a statement at the time from the ruling military.

That statement also said he was arrested on the basis of information from people arrested a day earlier for carrying out the shootings of security personnel.

Other statements from the military accused him of being a key figure in a network of dozens of people who allegedly carried out what the military described as “terrorist” attacks in Yangon.

VOA News

Spring Revolution

Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 15 to 21, 2024)September 27, 2024 - 8:26 am
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 15 to 21, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Shan State, Chin State, Rakhine State, and Kachin State from September 15th to 21st. The Military Junta committed arresting, occupying the properties, threatening by using power, and […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)September 20, 2024 - 2:30 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 8 to 14, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Magway Region, Shan State, Kachin State, and Rakhine State from September 8th to 14th. Military Junta arrested the civilians as human shields from Mindon Township, Magway Region, and Salingyi Township, […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 1 to 7, 2024)September 13, 2024 - 5:08 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 1 to 7, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Magway Region, and Shan State from September 1st to 7th. The Military Junta threatened that they would launch airstrikes on the townships which they lost. 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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ND Burma

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