UPDATE (Burma): Human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe jailed in Insein Prison 

BURMA: Forced labour; impunity; un-rule of law; threats to human rights defender
———————————————————————

***CORRECTION***

In the October 13 press release on this case issued yesterday (AHRC-PL-58-2005; BURMA: Human rights defender Ma Su Su Nwe jailed in “vicious” act of revenge), the third paragraph should have read as follows:

“As soon as the sentence was read out an elderly woman present in the court wailed and fainted…” (emphasis added on changed text)

We apologise for the error.
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

———————————————————————

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is shocked to learn from the Yoma-3 News Service (Thailand) that on October 13, Ma Su Su Nwe, the villager who obtained the first successful conviction of forced labour against government officials (UP-11-2005), was found guilty of abusing government officers and sentenced to one and a half years in prison. She was immediately taken the notorious Insein Prison in the capital.

Ma Su Su Nwe has chronic heart disease. Apart from the fact that her jailing is a travesty of justice, in view of her illness, her imprisonment in Insein amounts to a life-threatening step by the authorities.

Please act on this case without delay. Contact your government and call for concerted pressure to be applied by the diplomatic community in Burma to have the case reviewed and Ma Su Su Nwe released on bail. Please also send a letter of protest, call or visit the Burmese mission in your country to demand that Ma Su Su Nwe be freed. Please also demand that there be no further pressure exerted on persons lodging complaints about forced labour in Burma. Finally, please also express your concerns to the relevant international organisations, including the International Labour Office.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
———————————————————–

DETAILED INFORMATION

The Yoma-3 News Service (Thailand) has been in contact with persons present at the Kawhmu Township Court for the judgment in the defamation trial of Ma Su Su Nwe, the Tanmanaing village member (Rangoon division) who earlier this year won a landmark case on forced labour, resulting in the conviction of four local government officials. The AHRC had earlier given the details of that case and updates on the progress of the defamation trial against Ma Su Su Nwe, which was initiated on spurious grounds by the new village tract head U Kyaw Lwin as an act of revenge. (For details see: UA-112-2004; UP-11-2005; UP-63-2005; UP-68-2005; and, UP-73-2005).

According to the information received from Yoma-3 and other sources, at about midday yesterday, October 13, Ma Su Su Nwe was convicted to one and a half years in prison for damaging the reputations of local officials through abusive language, and for criminal intimidation (sections 294B & 506 of the Penal Code).

Immediately afterwards, she was taken away to Insein Prison.

Up to 300 supporters, including villagers and democracy campaigners, many of them from the capital Rangoon are said to have entered the court to hear the verdict. Security was tight as a large number of youths and onlookers gathered outside. It was estimated that around 200 police, Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) (a state-organised ‘mass-movement’), local security officials and thugs were on hand since 9am.

The judge was Daw Htay Htay Win, who had given verdicts in all the related cases from the township. The lawyer representing Ma Su Su Nwe in court, Myint Thaung, was provided her by the National League for Democracy.

As Ma Su Su Nwe suffers from chronic heart disease, for which she takes medicine daily, there are also many fears about her health once in prison. In September she had alleged that a local nurse had declined to treat her after being intimidated by the authorities.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The AHRC has earlier described how complainants of forced labour in Burma face various legal sanctions, including prison terms (see for instance: UP-50-2004, UP-51-2004, UP-55-2004 & UP-60-2004). It has also described some of the ways in which Ma Su Su Nwe and her supporters were harassed and threatened to give up the case, including with orders to demolish their houses (UP-73-2005). It appears that this latest action against a courageous ordinary villager is intended as a message to the society that complaints will not be tolerated (in this regard see also AS-38-2004).

Again we remind you that on June 4 the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which has a liaison office in Burma, said that:

“The Government [of Burma] should give clear assurances that no action would be taken against persons lodging complaints of forced labour, or their representatives, in order that the [ILO] Liaison Officer could fully continue to accept and channel such complaints to the competent authorities¡K” (emphasis added)

Under the circumstances, the jailing of Ma Su Su Nwe places the ILO and its mandate in Burma in a precarious situation. The ILO should be expected to act firmly and without delay on this case. If it is unable to have an effect, its purpose for working actively in the country, as it has done with some results in recent years, will be seriously compromised.

See also our recent Hunger Alert on Burma: HA-24-2005.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

As a first and urgent step in this case, we urge you without delay to contact your government by phone, email, fax or mail and call upon it to take up the case of Ma Su Su Nwe as one of special concern. Please request that your country’s ambassador or other representatives in Burma lodge a strong formal protest with the government of Burma over her jailing. We also request you to contact the mission from Burma in your country or territory, where one exists, and submit letters of protest and take other actions in support of Ma Su Su Nwe.

Please also write directly to the Attorney General and other officials about this case. A suggested letter follows. Please note that for the purposes of these letters, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma; and the capital as Yangon, rather than Rangoon.