BURMA/MYANMAR: Court denied bail five times to a seriously-ill detainee

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received updated information on a man arrested over a Facebook post allegedly defaming the military. He is suffering from a serious health condition in Insein Prison. He has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the prison hospital since 27 October 2015. His advocate has applied for bail petitions in Hlaing Township Court due to his health condition but it has been rejected for the fifth time yesterday, 23 November 2015. There were a number of arrests during the pre-election period on fabricated charges of reportedly mocking the military. Patrick Kum Jaa Lee is one of them. He is the husband of a noted human rights activist in the country.

CASE NARRATIVE:

As described in the original appeal, (AHRC-UAC-135-2015), Patrick Kun Jaa Lee shared a photograph of an unknown man stepping on a photograph of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing on Facebook with the following caption, “Don’t share this photo, or you may be arrested”. The photograph went viral in social media from 2013 and was also used in several media reports. It was taken during a protest in front of the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

He was arrested by plain clothes police without a warrant on 14 October 2015 for allegedly defaming the military due to the photo he shared on Facebook. Lt-Col Lin Htut of the Yangon Command filed a case against him under section 66(d) of the 2013 Telecommunications Law in Hlaing Township Court with a maximum punishment of up to three years in prison.

According to the latest information received, Patrick has been admitted to the ICU of Insein prison hospital since 27 October 2015 due to severe asthma and hypertension. But, his bail petitions were repeatedly rejected by the Hlaing Township Court. The judge rejected bail. He referred that he had been sued under the special law which is non-bailable and there is no proof that he must not be charged under the law. However, according to the section 497(1) of Code of Criminal Procedure, the court may direct that any person under the age of sixteen or any woman or any sick or infirm person accused of a non-bailable offence be released on bail.

Patrick was suffering from severe asthma during the hearing in court on 23 November 2015. Therefore, he was brought to a state run dispensary in Hlaing Township after the hearing. The doctor recommended and wrote a medical certificate. He stated that Patrick must be immediately admitted to the government general hospital which had sufficient facilities for treatment. The doctor also warned that the authorities bear responsibility for him. However the authorities refused to accept this and brought him back to the prison.

There was a similar type of case in which the accused person posted remarks on a political party leader; the court released him on bail. However, the AHRC documented case shows that the court would not perform in a fair way if the case was related to the military. Fundamental rights to a fair trial are denied wherever there is military involvement.

Further details can be found in the sample letter below.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Freedom of expression continues to face repression in Burma. The current restriction of internet freedom has significant negative impact on rights defenders and political activists who rely on social media, especially Facebook, to communicate with people and share information. Earlier this year, a photographer was similarly arrested for sharing information deemed insulting to the military, and detained for three days.

Opposition party campaigner Chaw Su Tun was also arrested for a Facebook post mocking the military, and is currently detained and facing trial: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-131-2015.

Another Facebook user arrested was Lu Zaw So Win. He was detained for three weeks over a fake account, but was released due to insufficient evidence.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Our original appeal letter, with full details of the case supplemented by updated information, is below. Please use it or write your own letter to release him immediately.

Please note that for the purposes of the letter Burma is referred to by its official name, Myanmar.

Please also be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in Myanmar; and on the independence of judges and lawyers; and, the regional office in Bangkok, calling for their intervention in this matter.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER