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UPDATE (Burma): Five persons remain in detention and legal rights violated

November 10, 2006

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

10 November 2006

[RE: UA-333-2006 BURMA: Five former student activists arrested without cause and denied their legal rights]
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UP-208-2006: BURMA: Five persons remain in detention and legal rights violated

BURMA: Illegal arrest & detention; military rule; threats to human rights defenders; restrictions on freedom of assembly & expression; un-rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to update you about the ongoing detention of the five former student leaders who were arrested between September 27 and 30 who remain under detention in an unknown location (UA-333-2006).
 
The AHRC has received information that on November 6 the Bahan Township Magistrate's Court remanded the five persons--Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya and Pyone Cho--in their absence, on the 1950 Emergency Provision Act under section (5)(j). On November 2 the police chief accused them of accepting money from the British and American embassies for the purpose of planning a bomb attack. However, there have been no proper legal proceedings following this allegation.

Additionally, there were procedural problems with the arrests and detentions. Under domestic law, persons may only be taken before a judge in the jurisdiction where they are arrested or have committed a criminal act. But at least one of the detainees, Min Ko Naing, was arrested at Thingankyun, some distance from Bahan. It is not known if the five persons are alleged to have committed any criminal acts in Bahan, as the authorities have not made public any details of the charges. There is nothing in section 5 of the Emergency Provisions Act which suggests that this procedure may be bypassed, and this is yet another example of the authorities in Burma not following their own laws.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

To briefly recall the case on 27 September 2006, Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe were taken from their homes by the police for questioning. Three days later on September 30, Min Zeya aged 45 and Pyone Cho aged 40, where also arrested at their homes for allegedly writing a letter to the authorities that questioned what was happening to their three colleagues. The arrests coincided with the 18th anniversary of the pro-democracy party, the National League for Democracy.

The AHRC has strongly deplored the arrests as speaking to the "un-rule of law" in Burma, on which it has reported for some years. These persons have been held incommunicado and at an unknown location for over one month without being brought before a magistrate, and in violation of domestic provisions.

See also UA-358-2006 for the fate of two other persons who were part of a signature campaign on behalf of the arrested persons. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the relevant authorities listed below calling for the immediate release of the five. The AHRC also urges you to express your concern over the government's continued crackdown on pro-democracy activists and politicians alike.

Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

MYANMAR: Five former student leaders remain under arrest and denied their rights

I am writing to express my deep concern over the continued detention of five pro-democracy activists, namely Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Htay Kywe, Min Zeya and Pyone Cho who were arrested in Myanmar on 27 and 30 September 2006. These five persons were remanded by the Bahan Township Court under the Emergency Provisions Act, Section 5(j) without even being brought in person before a court.

Furthermore, I am informed that under domestic law, persons may only be taken before a judge presiding over the area in which they were arrested or where they committed a criminal act. However, at least one of the detainees, Min Ko Naing, was arrested at Thingankyun. From my understanding of the Emergency Provisions Act, there is nothing to allow for such a breach of criminal procedure and I can only assume that this is yet another example of the "un-rule of law" in Myanmar.

All five of these persons are clearly being held in violation of their fundamental rights. I urge you to release them immediately.

In conclusion, I bring to your attention the comments of the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, to the Human Rights Council on September 27, in which he said that

"The capacity of law enforcement institutions and the independence and impartiality of the judiciary have been hampered by sustained practices of impunity. I am also very concerned by the continued misuse of the legal system, which denies the rule of law and represents a major obstacle for securing the effective and meaningful exercise of fundamental freedoms by citizens. Grave human rights violations are indulged not only with impunity but authorized by the sanction of laws. In that respect, I consider especially as a matter of grave concern the criminalization of the exercise of fundamental freedoms by political opponents, human rights defenders and victims of human rights abuses."

These views about your legal system are widely held abroad. The fact is that your courts and laws will continue to lack all credibility until you demonstrate a commitment to the basic principles of the rule of law, not merely the artifices of the law. I again urge you to do so in this case.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 040/ 069/ 072
Fax: +95 67 412 016/ 439

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:

1. Lt-Gen. Soe Win
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Signal Pagoda Road
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624

2. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Saya San Road
Yankin Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209

3. U Aung Toe
Chief Justice
Office of the Supreme Court
101 Pansodan Street
Kyauktada Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 372 249 / 253 066

4. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
101 Pansodan Street
Kyauktada Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Fax: + 95 1 371 028/ 282 449 / 282 990

5. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) - 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org

6. Professor Ibrahim Gambari
Undersecretary General for Political Affairs
United Nations
S-3770A
New York
NY 10017
USA
Tel: +1 212 963 5055/ 0739
Fax: +1 212 963 5065/ 6940 (ATTN: UNDER SECRETARY GENERAL POLITICAL AFFAIRS)
E-mail: gambari@un.org

7. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Mr. Laurent Meillan
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: lmeillan@ohchr.org

8. Mr. Leandro Despouy
Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Attn: Sonia Cronin
Room: 3-060
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9160
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR JUDGES & LAWYERS)

9. Ms Leila Zerrougui
Chairperson
Working Group on arbitrary detention
Attn: Mr Miguel de la Lama
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)

10. Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary General for human rights defenders
Att: Melinda Ching Simon
Room 1-040
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 93 88
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS)

11. Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo
Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression
c/o J Deriviero
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9177
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION)

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)


Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-208-2006
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.