Amnesty International Report 1997 - Myanmar

More than 1,000 people involved in opposition political activities, including 68 prisoners of conscience and hundreds of possible prisoners of conscience, remained in prison throughout the year. Almost 2,000 people were arrested for political reasons, including at least 23 prisoners of conscience. Although most were released, 45 were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment after unfair trials and 175 were still detained without charge or trial at the end of the year. Political prisoners were ill-treated and held in conditions that amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Members of ethnic minorities continued to suffer human rights violations, including extrajudicial executions and ill-treatment during forced labour and portering, and forcible relocations. Seven people were sentenced to death. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Myanmar's military government chaired by General Than Shwe, continued to rule by decree in the absence of a constitution. Martial law decrees severely restricting the rights to freedom of expression and assembly remained in force throughout the year. In June, the SLORC issued Law No. 5/96, which allows for up to 20 years' imprisonment of anyone who expresses their political opposition views publicly. The National Convention, convened by the SLORC in 1993 to agree principles for a new constitution, met intermittently during the first three months of the year, despite the withdrawal in November 1995 of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the opposition party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In March, the Convention approved guidelines for the composition of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of the government, including a legislature in which the military would hold 25 per cent of the seats. The Convention was adjourned on 31 March and had not reconvened by the end of the year. The NLD appealed to the SLORC to enter into discussions, but there had been no dialogue by the end of the year. Cease-fire talks continued between the armed opposition group, the Karen National Union (KNU), and the SLORC, but by the end of the year no agreement had been reached. In January, the SLORC agreed a cease-fire with the Shan Muang Tai Army (MTA), led by Khun Sa. Following the cease-fire, thousands of MTA troops surrendered to the SLORC; however, some MTA forces along with other Shan nationalist armed opposition groups retained their weapons. Sporadic fighting between the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) and the government continued throughout the year. The cease-fire between the SLORC and the New Mon State Party (NMSP) continued. Forcible repatriation, without international monitoring, of 10,000 Mon refugees living in Thai camps began in December 1995 and was completed by June (see Thailand entry). However, repatriated refugees remained in NMSP-controlled areas, reportedly because they feared returning to their villages. In April and May, more than 1,000 Mon villagers reportedly fleeing human rights violations in SLORC-controlled territory, including forced labour on the Ye-Dawei railway, moved into camps in NMSP areas. More than 26,000 Burmese Muslim refugees remained in camps in Bangladesh, awaiting repatriation under a 1993 Memorandum of Understanding signed by the SLORC and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (see Amnesty International Reports 1994 and 1995). Although UNHCR maintained a presence both in camps in Bangladesh and in Rakhine State, to which some 200,000 refugees had already been repatriated, reports of human rights violations against Burmese Muslims, including ill-treatment during forced labour, continued. In February, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar submitted an extensive report to the UN Commission on Human Rights. In April, the Commission adopted by consensus a resolution extending the Special Rapporteur's mandate for another year and expressing grave concern at the extremely serious human rights situation in Myanmar. In May, Yozo Yokota resigned as Special Rapporteur, to be replaced in June by Rajsoomer Lallah. The new Special Rapporteur and officials in the UN Secretary General's office were repeatedly denied access to the country by the SLORC. In December, the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution expressing grave concern at continued human rights violations in Myanmar. In response to the deteriorating human rights situation, the European Parliament adopted several resolutions, and the European Union agreed a Common Position, calling on the SLORC to, among other things, immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners. In December, the European Commission recommended to the Council of Ministers of the European Union the suspension of preferential tariffs to Myanmar under the Generalized System of Preferences. In July, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) granted Myanmar Observer Status as a preliminary step towards full ASEAN membership. More than 1,000 political prisoners arrested in previous years, including 68 prisoners of conscience and hundreds of possible prisoners of conscience, remained in detention. Almost 2,000 people were arrested for political reasons during the year, among them at least 23 prisoners of conscience. Although most were released, at least 175 were still detained without charge or trial at the end of the year. No political prisoners arrested in previous years were released. Prisoners of conscience U Thu Wai and U Htwe Myint remained imprisoned, but Tun Shwe died of cancer in May (see Amnesty International Report 1996). In May, the SLORC arrested more than 300 political activists after the NLD called a party conference. U Aye Win, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's assistant, was arrested in May and was still held under the administrative detention provisions of the 1975 State Protection Law at the end of the year. He was a prisoner of conscience. In August, 35 political activists who had been detained since May were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment after unfair trials. U Kan Shein, a rice farmer, was one of five prisoners of conscience sentenced for their involvement in producing a videotape documenting a poor rice harvest. The authorities claimed that the five had sent false information to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the hope that it would be passed to the UN Commission on Human Rights. According to unofficial sources, a group of villagers, including U Kan Shein, had made the videotape in order to appeal to the authorities for increased agricultural assistance. Their trial was reportedly held in camera in three sessions at Insein Prison. In a separate trial, prisoner of conscience Maung San Hlaing, also known as Eva, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's bodyguard and a former political prisoner, was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. He had provided testimony on video to foreign journalists in April about the torture of political prisoners. In September, hundreds of members of parliament-elect and other NLD supporters seeking to attend a party congress were briefly detained. The authorities claimed that 573 people were arrested; the opposition put the number of arrests at 800. Senior NLD leaders Dr Aung Khin Sint, U Win Htein and U Kyi Maung were rearrested during the year (see Amnesty International Report 1996). In August, U Win Htein was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment in two separate trials, and in September Dr Aung Khin Sint was reportedly sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment. Both were prisoners of conscience. U Kyi Maung, aged 78, was released without charge after being detained for five days in October. The authorities had accused him of involvement in student protests in Yangon against alleged beatings of three students arrested by Insein township police. Unofficial sources stated that U Kyi Maung had merely listened to students' grievances. In November, security forces failed to intervene when 200 men armed with sticks and bricks attacked a motorcade of NLD leaders in Yangon, slightly injuring NLD Vice-Chairman, former General U Tin U. The attack was widely believed to have been orchestrated by the SLORC. In December, two large student demonstrations protesting against the poor quality of education and calling for democracy and human rights took place in Yangon and, on a smaller scale, in other parts of the country. There were reports that the security forces beat demonstrators and journalists with batons. The SLORC stated that the NLD and the largely defunct Burma Communist Party (BCP) instigated the student unrest; 13 NLD youth members and 34 BCP members were detained for their involvement. According to official figures, 859 people were arrested. The authorities claimed that all of them were released, but at least 96 people remained in detention at the end of the year. Reports of ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in both prisons and labour camps continued throughout the year. Prisoners of conscience U Pa Pa Lay and U Lu Zaw, two comedians sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in March for satirizing the SLORC, were transferred to a labour camp for several months and forced to work under extremely harsh conditions while shackled. Both men were reported to be in poor health after their transfer to Mandalay prison. Prolonged sleep deprivation was reportedly used during interrogation. In June, prisoner of conscience James Leander Nichols, a Myanmar national of European and Burmese descent, who suffered from a heart condition, died after having reportedly been deprived of sleep for four nights. A close friend of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, he had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment in May under Section 6(1) of the 1933 Burma Wireless Act for operating unregistered telephone and facsimile lines from his home. Prison conditions for political prisoners were harsh, often amounting to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Prisoners suffered from lack of medical care and an inadequate diet. From January to April, a group of 29 political prisoners, including prisoner of conscience U Win Tin, were reportedly held incommunicado in dog kennels in Insein Prison. In March, 21 of them were sentenced to additional terms of imprisonment for attempting to pass on information about poor prison conditions to the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. In August, U Hla Than, an NLD member of parliament-elect who was part of the group, died of tuberculosis associated with aids, which opposition sources claim he may have contracted while in prison. Hypodermic needles are reportedly re-used without sterilization by medical personnel in Myanmar's prisons. Human rights violations against ethnic minorities continued throughout the year. Soldiers routinely seized them for forced labour on infrastructural projects such as roads and railways in harsh conditions which often amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In May, the SLORC stated that soldiers rather than civilians would be used for railway construction, but it was not clear to what degree this policy was being implemented. From January, some 20,000 members of the Chin ethnic minority were reportedly forced to work on the construction of a road from Sagaing Division to Haka, capital of Chin State, in western Myanmar. Members of the Rohingya ethnic minority and other residents of Rakhine State were reportedly forced to work in prawn farms, army camps and brick-making projects for the military. As a result, at least 5,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh during the year. In an apparent effort to break civilian support for Shan armed opposition groups, the SLORC forcibly relocated at least 100,000 members of ethnic minorities in Shan State, reportedly threatening to shoot those who refused to leave their homes. As a result, at least 20,000 Shan civilians had fled to Thailand by the end of the year. In mid-1996, the SLORC forcibly relocated some 30,000 members of ethnic minorities in Kayah State, reportedly subjecting many to forced labour. Villagers received written orders stating that if they did not leave their villages they would be "regarded as enemies". In June, Sein Tun, a farmer from Ywa Thit, was reportedly shot dead by government troops in an apparent extrajudicial execution as he returned from his farm after curfew. At least 5,000 displaced people subsequently sought refuge in Thailand. Widespread human rights violations, including forcible relocations, extrajudicial killings, and ill-treatment during portering, continued to be reported in Kayin State. Seven people were sentenced to death during 1996 for drugs offences. No executions were reported. The Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, a Kayin armed opposition group, continued its attacks against Kayin refugees in camps in Thailand (see Thailand entry). At least three Kayin refugees were killed and several injured. In April and August, Amnesty International published reports on human rights violations against the Mon, Karen and Shan ethnic minorities. In July, the organization published Myanmar: Renewed repression, and in September, Myanmar: Update on political arrests and trials. Both reports highlighted the SLORC's repression of the NLD since the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In September, Amnesty International launched a campaign to draw attention to the increase in human rights violations in Myanmar. In November, an Amnesty International delegation met the Myanmar Ambassador accredited to the United Kingdom. Throughout the year Amnesty International continued to call for the release of prisoners of conscience.