Rights group condemns ‘coordinated crackdown’ against anti-war activists as tensions rise in Rakhine

Fortify Rights has called for the immediate release of 15 campaigners arrested in recent weeks for distributing anti-war flyers

Student activists put up stickers in Yangon last month

The government must immediately release 15 activists arrested over the past month for opposing the war in Rakhine state, a leading advocacy group has said.

Fortify Rights said in a statement on Monday that the activists, who are facing multiple charges for distributing anti-war materials in cities around the country, were being targeted as part of a “coordinated crackdown”.

“There is a coordinated crackdown against peaceful protesters unfolding right now,” said the group’s regional director, Ismail Wolff. “The crackdown is aimed at incapacitating and silencing human rights defenders and student activists.”

“The charges should be dropped, and the Myanmar Government should free all political prisoners immediately,” he added.

The crackdown began on September 11, a day after protesters began distributing leaflets and putting up posters with slogans such as “Oppose murderous fascism” and “Dictatorships must fail” around Mandalay.

Despite efforts by the authorities to stamp out the protests, they continued well into October in a number of cities, including Yangon, Mandalay, Monywa, Meiktila, Pakokku, Magwe, and Sittwe.

Most of the detained activists are members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), a group that has a long history of resisting successive military regimes in Myanmar.

Four members of the group have already received prison sentences for their activities and are being held at Obo Prison in Mandalay region, along with at least four other activists.

ABFSU members Kyaw Thiha Ye Kyaw, 24, and Soe Hla Naing, 23, were sentenced earlier this month to five years in prison for their part in the protests, and are scheduled to face further charges later this week, according to Fortify Rights.

At least nine of the other detained protesters are also expected to appear before a court in Mandalay on Thursday to face a variety of charges under Myanmar’s Penal Code and Peaceful Assembly Law.

The country’s Natural Disaster Management Law, which applies to restrictions that have been put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19, has also been invoked in a number of cases involving protests.

In its statement, Fortify Rights noted that the government was holding its sixth Human Rights Dialogue with the EU at the same time as it was cracking down on students.

In a joint press release, the two sides made no mention of the arrests, but referred to conflicts in Rakhine state and other parts of the country where fighting has resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties and mass displacement.

The ongoing conflict between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Rakhine state and southern Chin state has become a major political flashpoint in the past year.

Last week, three candidates of the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) were abducted while campaigning in Rakhine state’s Taungup township.

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Regime’s forces threaten to shoot into people’s homes unless residents remove roadblocks

Some have complied with the order but others say they are leaving the barricades up

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

Police and soldiers patrolled neighbourhoods in Yangon and Mandalay on Wednesday and threatened to shoot into people’s houses unless locals removed defensive roadblocks they had set up amid spiralling one-sided violence.

A video of the coup regime’s forces making the threats through a loudspeaker circulated on social media and residents from several different neighbourhoods later told Myanmar Now they had received similar threats.

“The next time we see barricades on roads, we will turn this entire residential quarter upside down and shoot,” a voice said in the video.

The regime’s forces came to Khaymarthi Road and Nweni Road in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township in the afternoon to demand the removal of barricades, residents there told Myanmar Now.

“We did not remove the barricades, so they are still on the roads,” one resident said. “We only set up the barricades in our quarter. If they didn’t not shoot, we wouldn’t need barricades. But now they’re shooting, so it is more appropriate for the people to block the roads.”

A woman living in Hlaing Tharyar township, which this week witnessed the biggest massacre so far by regime forces since the February 1 coup, said locals removed the barricades from major roads after soldiers threatened to shoot into people’s homes.

She then saw military trucks driving around the township, she added.

On Wednesday morning the regime’s forces detained people and forced them to clear sandbags and other barricades on major roads elsewhere in Yangon, according to social media posts by people who said they were detained.

The junta’s security forces made similar threats in South Okkalapa, Thingangyun and Tamwe townships in Yangon and Manawramman Quarter in Mandalay, residents said.

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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More than 300 students detained in Tamwe in early March hit with 505a charge

Families and lawyers are still being kept in the dark about the status of court proceedings against them

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

University students and young people have been playing a leading role in the nationwide protests against the military coup on Februrary 1. (Myanmar Now)

The regime has charged more than 300 students who were detained at a protest in Tamwe on March 3 after keeping their families in the dark about their status for two weeks.

They were detained as police and soldiers used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to attack a march organised by the University of Yangon Students’ Union and the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

At least five were injured by rubber bullets during the attack. Police initially detained 389 people but last week released 50 who are under the age of 18.

The students have been charged under section 505a of the Penal Code, which the junta recently amended to give prison sentences of up to three years for causing fear, spreading fake news or agitating against government employees.

Lawyers say they have been unable to obtain an exact list of names of those being held and that police have been evasive regarding the case.

“The person in charge of the case was not present. We were told that he went to the court,” one of the lawyers said. “We can’t reach him via phone, so we followed him to Tamwe court, but there was no one at the court except security.”

Parents have been informed about the charges but not the details of the court proceedings, the lawyer said.

Because the military junta has shut down mobile internet, court proceedings have been adjourned as video conferencing is not available. In-person hearings were stopped last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We, the Students’ Union, do not believe in their judicial process and therefore we do not recognize these court proceedings as legitimate,” a student activist said, requesting anonymity. “The Students’ Union will continue to fight to topple the military regime.”

Among those detained on March 3 was Wai Yan Phyo Moe, Vice President of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions.

Three members of the central executive committee of the Yangon University Students’ Union were also arrested. They are Phone Htet Naung, Aung Phone Maw, and Lay Pyay Soe Moe.

The majority of those detained are from various universities in Yangon, with 176 being students of Yangon University. A few are from universities in rural areas of Myanmar.

Hundreds of other students have also been arrested at protests in Mandalay and Magway, on February 28 and March 7. Only 19 of them have been released.

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burmese and English.

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One person dead in crackdown to help captured informant

The fatal shooting came as locals in Sagaing region were punishing a man believed to be informing on protesters

Myanmar Now

Published on Mar 17, 2021

Kyaw Min Tun, 41, was killed on March 16 after police opened fire on protesters in a bid to rescue a suspected informant. (Supplied)

An anti-coup protester was killed in Kawlin, Sagaing region, on Tuesday after police fired on a group of people who had detained a man suspected of acting as a regime informant.

Kyaw Min Tun, 41, was shot and killed after about 50 police arrived to rescue the suspected informant.

“The snitch was taking photos and calling the military to give them information. A woman overheard his phone call,” a Kawlin resident told Myanmar Now.

“Everyone surrounded and captured him. While they were shaving his head, the police showed up and started shooting at the crowd. A person was shot and killed,” the local added.

The person alleged to be an informant was identified as Chit Ngwe, a member of the Kawlin District Military Council. He was reportedly making a phone call at the time of his capture.

Witnesses said that police offered no warning before they started shooting.

Kyaw Min Tun was shot in the side and died immediately, witnesses said. The native of Min Ywa, a village in Kawlin township, had arrived in Kawlin in the morning to join an anti-coup march.

A young protester was also arrested during the incident, local residents said.

When local people started showing up in front of the Kawlin police station to demand the release of the arrested protester, a combined force of soldiers and police cracked down again.

Two civilians were injured in the process, residents said.