Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to draw to your attention urgently to the case of a former army captain in Burma who has been held in illegal detention for over three weeks. His family has not been able to meet him and his whereabouts are currently unknown, but he was last reported to be at an interrogation centre where detainees are routinely tortured. The reason for his detention is not known but is believed to be because in recent years he has been involved in social work and has helped youth activists for the opposition party who have organized blood donation drives and other non-political activities.
CASE NARRATIVE:
According to the information that is available to date, on 2 April 2011 35-year-old Ne Myo Zin received a telephone call from the special security police requesting that he go to see them. However, after he went, instead of simply being asked some questions, he was taken into custody.
The following day, officials came to Ne Myo Zin’s house and took some clothes and items for him. In Burma, this is usually an indication of an extended period of detention, interrogation and torture. Although according to the law in Burma, nobody should be held for more than 24 hours without coming before a judge, this provision is routinely ignored by police and other officials, especially by intelligence officers in the army and police who operate completely outside of the law.
At around 11:30 on April 4, a group of eight police and other officials came to Ne Myo Zin’s house. They searched the house and also the small Internet shop that he had set up alongside it, and took away his laptop.
Ne Myo Zin’s family learned that he was being held at a notorious interrogation centre, Aungthapyay, where detainees are kept incommunicado and tortured to confess to all manner of crimes. On April 11 they went there to try to see him, but were not able to get access. At time of writing, nobody has been able to meet him and his whereabouts and condition are unknown.
The reason for Ne Myo Zin’s detention is not known, but it is suspected that the reason is connected to the work that he has been doing voluntarily since he left the army in 2005 with youth group members of the National League for Democracy who have been organizing blood donation drives for hospitals, including for army hospitals.
Further details of the case are in the sample letter below, as usual.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The AHRC has in recent years issued other interventions on cases in which people have been held incommunicado and tortured at the Aungthapyay interrogation centre, including Phyo Wai Aung’s case, on which it has set up a special campaign page: http://www.humanrights.asia/campaigns/phyo-wai-aung.
For other cases see: http://www.humanrights.asia/search?SearchableText=aungthapyay.
For more commentary on these and other human rights issues in Burma, visit the Burma page on the new AHRC website: http://www.humanrights.asia/countries/burma.
The AHRC Burmese-language blog is also updated constantly for Burmese-language readers, and covers the contents of urgent appeal cases, related news, and special analysis pieces.
REQUESTED ACTION:
Please write to the persons listed below to call for urgent interventions into this case to locate the whereabouts and circumstances of the detainee and to have him immediately brought before a court if he is charged with some offence, or released. Please note that for the purposes of the letter Burma is referred to by its official name of Myanmar, and Rangoon as Yangon.
Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar, and on torture; to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and to the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia calling for interventions into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
MYANMAR: Former army officer illegally detained for three weeks, fears of torture
Details of detainee: Ne Myo Zin, 35, army captain (retired), Internet shop owner, residing in Ward 19, Dagon South, Yangon
Date and place taken into custody: 2 April 2011, around 4pm, at Aungthapyay Interrogation Centre
Officials who searched detainee’s house: Police Colonel U Htein Lin leading group of eight persons, including two Special Branch personnel, township administration chairman and personnel, and a government computer technician
I have learned that a former army officer in Myanmar has been held incommunicado for over three weeks and that there are grave fears that he is being tortured. I call for immediate intervention from officials in Myanmar and concerned international agencies to establish his whereabouts and condition and to ascertain as to why he has been held illegally in this manner.
According to the information that I have received, on 2 April 2011 Ne Myo Zin received a telephone call from the Special Branch police requesting that he go to see them. However, after he went, instead of simply being asked some questions, he was taken into custody.
The following day, officials came to Ne Myo Zin’s house and took some clothes and items for him, which I understand is ordinarily an indication of a long period of detention and interrogation.
At around 11:30 on April 4, a group of eight police and other officials came to Ne Myo Zin’s house. They searched the house and also the small Internet shop that he had set up alongside it, and took away his laptop.
Ne Myo Zin’s family learned that he was being held at the Aungthapyay Interrogation Centre and on April 11 they went there to try to see him, but were not able to get access. At time of writing, nobody has been able to meet him and his whereabouts and condition are unknown. On the basis of the experience of other persons held at this interrogation centre illegally, there are grave and legitimate fears that Ne Myo Zin has been, and possibly is being, tortured in order to extract a confession for some crime that he did not commit.
I am informed that Ne Myo Zin had been volunteering his time and services to help National League for Democracy youth members who donate their blood to charity, including to armed forces hospitals. I am concerned that his illegal detention is somehow related to that work.
I note that according to the law in Myanmar, nobody arrested without a warrant in this manner should be detained for more than 24 hours without being taken before a judge (Criminal Procedure Code, section 61). Despite this provision, for the last two decades and longer security forces in Myanmar have routinely detained people in this manner, completely outside the domestic law, let alone international standards. The intelligence services particularly, including the military intelligence and police Special Branch, have enjoyed absolute impunity for their actions.
I call on the new parliament in Myanmar to put a stop to these abuses through the establishment of new laws to clearly prohibit abuses of authority, illegal detention, forced disappearance and torture, and institutions to give effect to these laws. If under the new parliament the same types of practices continue to abound as under military rule, as to date seems to be the case, then this legislature will be rightly condemned as a sham and nothing more than a continuation of the former government.
Lastly, I urge the government of Myanmar to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to prisons in its country in accordance with its globally recognized mandate without any further delay.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. U Hla Min
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439
2. U Thein Sein
President of Myanmar
President Office
Office No.18
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
3. U Tun Tun Oo
Chief Justice
Office of the Supreme Court
Office No. 24
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145
Fax: + 95 67 404 059
4. Dr. Tun Shin
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106
5. U Kyaw Kyaw Htun
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrc.asia)
