Recently the President of Burma has been granting amnesty to political prisoners across the country. However, these grants have not reached every case, and do not address some of the most recent issues involving politically motivated mass arrests. Specifically, the government’s newspaper, The Global New Light of Myanmar has published a list of political prisoners that have not been granted amnesty. Moreover, the last year has seen a dramatic number of farmers arrested and locked up by the military while trying to regain possession of their own lands.
A list of remaining political prisoners and the charges for which they are serving their sentences; 27 out of 30 have been published in state’s own newspaper on 1 November 2014. According to the list, a significant number of the prisoners are from ethnic armed groups, who are charged over bombings. The list however, fails to address the issue that many are being punished without having had any chance to defend themselves in military court. Additionally, some cases include information that appears to suggest the law is being violated regarding the criminal sentencing of the otherwise political prisoners.
The situation is not just a holdover from the former military government. The most recent prisoners, La Phine Gam and Bran Yong, were convicted over alleged involvement in a militant ethnic based anti-government group and several bombings in 2012. The two men were interrogated and tortured. The court, aware that they had been tortured, created two criminal charges against them base on the confession extracted through torture, and convicted them without any other evidence. (AHRC-UAC-137-2014)
In other bombing cases, the accused are convicted even if they never participated in any of the bombings. One tragic case is that of Phyo Wai Aung who was convicted for the fatal bombing during the 2010 water festival in Rangoon. He was eventually proved to be innocent and was released but died a few months later; he had been denied medical treatment while in prison and the AHRC believes that the torture and denial of treatment contributed to his death.
Even when the government does try to fix the problem, they fail to follow through in resolving the entire effect of the broken system. In a case from Hinthada, Kyaw Swar Lin and Bo Bo Tun were allegedly involved in the explosion at telecommunication office and sentenced to prison. However, they were granted amnesty by the President during one of his mass amnesty announcements and released after about a year. Even though they had been arbitrary arrested and tortured, the new government did nothing to assist their social rehabilitation.
Members of the military are also on the list. According to The Global New Light of Myanmar, the state’s own newspaper, three Captains from air force were sentenced to long term imprisonment by summary judgment with neither a lawyer nor a chance to defend themselves after being tortured. Captain Chit Ko sent an email to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) asking whether the ILO could assist him in leaving the unit while serving as a pilot at the Myeik Airbase Headquarters. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. Another officer, Min Thame Tun, also allegedly leaked information about the air force and was sentenced to 7 years. Captain Nay Lin Dwe, who posted articles online about the plight of lower rank military personnel and criticized the promotion process, had been sentence to 20 years in prison. According to family members and lawyers that met with the three in jail after their convictions, the soldiers were tortured by forcing them to take drugs which affected their brain before their court hearings.
Former Major Win Naing Kyaw, Aung Kyaw Lin and Thura Kyaw were both handed death sentences for allegedly assisting in leaking State secrets. This case stands out because the President has used a grant of amnesty liberally for members of the military in prison, but in this case he merely reduced the sentence to life in prison. This is especially concerning because the paper only lists Thura Kyaw of having violated the Electronic Transaction Law, carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. How he was sentenced to death, and why the commutation only reduces it to life need to be investigated and explained.
One of the men, a monk, on the list Shin Moe Pyar (aka) Shin Nyana, was punished for formation of the Moepyar Group, who preach against the Buddha, and other religious infractions. Although his 20 year sentence has been significantly commuted, the AHRC believes that the majority of his original and remaining sentence is based on religious or political discrimination. He has already languished in prison for 4 years.
The men on the list (the list is all male) have been denied their basic rights in regards to their conviction, and the failure of the state to address their continued incarceration compounds this abuse. Some prisoners are not even involved in the issue being investigated, but prosecuted and punished with long term imprisonment, some even life sentences. While some of the prisoners have been serving their prison term since military regime, many have been convicted under the new government. These convictions occur in spite of insufficient evidence but result in prison sentences that are measured in years and decades, the government still needs to adequately address these problems.
In addition, earlier this year farmers from different part of Burma have been sentence to prison. Land grabbing by military and businesses took place during military regime, but when the new government formed, farmers wanted their lands back. After the Ministry of Defense ordered the land to be returned, the farmers began working in the previously confiscated land. As a result, the military, in coordination with local police, have been prosecuting and are sending the farmers to prison for extended sentences. (AHRC-UAC-109-2014, AHRC-STM-143-2014)These prisoners should also be included as political prisoner, as they are being prevented from reoccupying their own land so that the country’s largest political party: the military, can continue to use it for their own purposes. These farmers should be freed as soon as possible.
Therefore, the Asian Human Rights Commission condemns the continued persecution of the political prisoners in the list which appeared in the newspaper as well as the farmers trying to exercise their rights to their own land. The AHRC calls for the government to investigate the circumstances around the continued imprisonment of the 27 men listed, and either set them free, or grant them a new, fair trial. Similarly, the farmers who are being arrested and jailed must be allowed to return home and their rights to use their land must be protected.
