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Category: ASEAN

Interview: Families of executed Myanmar activists press for return of remains

Editor013 mins

Hours after the terse announcement by Myanmar state media on Monday of the execution of veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw and two other activists, RFA Burmese spoke to Nilar Thein, Ko Jimmy’s widow, and Phyo Zeya Thaw’s mother, Khin Win May, about their final interactions Friday with their condemned loved ones. RFA: What have you heard about Ko Jimmy? Nilar Thein: The deputy warden notified us that the execution had been carried out. When I asked for the return of his body, he said the prison laws do not permit such requests. RFA: What do you want to say about this?  Nilar Thein: The entire population of our country is facing arbitrary arrests and all kinds of violence and repression. I would say the execution of four people including my husband and Phyo Zeya Thaw was blatant murder.  As I have said in the past, they will have to pay one day for each and every crime or whatever they have done. I didn’t say that without a reason. One day, the perpetrators will meet the fate and punishment they deserve for the actions they have committed. Another thing is my husband Ko Jimmy stood by his commitment and loyalty to the people until his last breath. He has written a good record for himself and he will never die in our hearts. He will forever live in our hearts, in the hearts of all the people, as a hero. RFA: What plans does your family have now following this execution? Nilar Thein: We are not holding a funeral for him because we do not accept their actions (of the junta). There is no plan for a funeral. RFA: Did you receive any responses from the international community? Nilar Thein: The EU Ambassador, the former U.S. Ambassador Derek Mitchell and some other ambassadors have contacted me. I explained to them about the latest situation up to the confirmation of the Prisons Department. It is stated in the prison manual that the body of the person who receives the death sentence has to be returned to the family. Only in cases when the family cannot be contacted do they take care of the body. I am now trying all steps necessary to get back the body. RFA: Did they say anything about the possible execution when you met him on Friday? Nilar Thein: We learned that the deputy warden had said things would  be done in accordance with the prison manual, but when it would be carried out was not known yet. When we talked on Friday, Ko Jimmy asked me to deposit some money (to buy provisions) and the prison officials said the money could be deposited on Monday. And this morning when we went to the prison, we heard the news. RFA: What did you talk about at the meeting on Friday? Nilar Thein: He said his health was good and that we don’t need to worry about him over whatever we heard from the outside. He told us to take care of our health. He said he had the Dharma in his heart. Phyo Zeya Thaw and his mother, Khin Win May, in May 2015 photo. Credit: Phyo Zeya Thaw RFA: We heard this morning that you went to Insein Prison and asked about your son Phyo Zeya Thaw’s case. What did you learn there? Khin Win May: I went there only this morning when the news came out. I wanted to know for sure what the truth was. I actually had a plan to go and deposit some money for him today in Insein. When I met him on Friday, I didn’t have time to make a deposit and planned to do it today, Monday. First at the prison gate, I asked them if it was true as published in the news and they said yes, just like in the newspapers. What was written in the newspapers was not clear. I wanted to know if it was really true, on what day and when it was carried out exactly.  We are not atheists. We need to do our funeral rites, according to the Buddhist tradition. At first, they just said it was like in the newspapers and refused to let me in. Later on, I insisted that I wanted to see the responsible officials. I told them I wanted the details and only then they let me see the official. RFA: What did the official tell you? How did he explain it to you? Khin Win May: I asked him if it was true my son had been executed and he said yes. In fact, the family was allowed to see him on Friday and I was so happy to see him hoping the path is clear (for the future). It was the first time (since the arrest). I told the official that I really welcomed the meeting, that I was so happy to see him bright and cheerful and healthy, and that I had no idea that day the execution would take place. And the Insein Prison authorities read out to me the prison procedures. When Ko Jimmy and my son were first sent to prison, they submitted appeals to the State Administration Council. They sent the appeals twice and were rejected both times. And now the authorities were reading out all the prison procedures.  So I asked him if the death sentence were to be carried out when he said things would be done according to prison procedures. And he said he couldn’t say that exactly. But he said he would let us know in accordance with the rules of the prison which day or when it were to be carried out. If I only knew it that day, I’d understand that would be the last time we saw each other. My son didn’t know that it was our last meeting either. He even asked me to bring some personal things on my next visit….

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Execution of democracy icons shows Myanmar junta is desperate to exert control

Editor011 mins

Why would Myanmar’s junta risk fueling more anger at home and outrage abroad through its execution on Monday of four activists, including two icons of the democracy movement? The answer might be found in its failing fortunes on the battlefield amid a deepening civil war. Myanmar state media announced Monday the execution of Ko Jimmy, a veteran activist since the 1988 uprising against military rule, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a popular rap artist turned politician. Two other lesser-known activists were also put to death. The four had been arrested for their anti-junta activism and violating the counter-terrorism law.  In January, the four were accused of helping carry out “terror acts” and sentenced to death, despite the fact that Myanmar had not carried out a judicial execution in over 30 years.  Many had thought that that the death sentences were a ploy. The junta, it was assumed, would not risk the diplomatic backlash and popular protest that are likely to ensue. This was a card to be played diplomatically at the right time in a bid to gain international legitimacy – possibly by commuting the death sentences to win credit. Besides, if the junta has had any success since its February 2021 coup, it’s been on the diplomatic front. Why would it jeopardize the fact that no government has cut off ties? Considering that some 50 people that had died in military custody since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the military had ample time and opportunity to kill the four. So why now? There can only be one answer.  In the past, the Myanmar military, led by Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, has been able to do what it wants because the population has been terrified of them. Credit: AFP The junta is losing on the battlefield. And thus they need to show that they are in total control. They have to show that they are not afraid of international or domestic repercussions from this act; that they are strong enough to withstand that pressure. Myanmar’s military is spread dangerously thin. They are fighting a multifront war across the country. They are fighting well-trained and well-armed ethnic resistance organizations (EROs) such as the Kachin Independence Army and the Karen National Liberation Army, both of whom are allied with the opposition National Unity Government (NUG).  The NUG itself has some 275 People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) spread throughout the country. Though they have limited resources and armaments, they have succeeded in capturing vast quantities of weaponry, and are now starting to manufacture their own armaments and ammunition. The NUG and affiliated EROs now claim to control roughly 50% of the country.  And things might get a lot worse for the military, which is on the verge of renewing hostilities against the Arakan Army, with which it has had a tenuous ceasefire since November 2020 after two years of bitter fighting in western Rakhine State. The AA has not joined the NUG, but has used the time since the coup to enhance its political and economic autonomy. For many in the military, this has gone too far and the AA needs to be put in its place.  But over 3,000 members of the army have defected to the NUG, despite the multitude of coercive instruments that it wields to deter them. The number of desertions is unknown. The military is estimated to have taken around 15% casualties, and recruitment is proving to be a challenge. Even the elite Defense Service Academy, once considered the most prestigious school in the country and avenue for upward social mobility, cannot fill their seats. The military has stepped up forced conscription and is using collective punishment to target family members of people who have joined the PDFs.  At the same time, the military‘s budget is severely constrained due to their economic mismanagement. The Myanmar currency, the kyat, has plunged, prompting junta authorities to impose more currency controls. There is a net loss of foreign investment, with little new coming in, except from China. Exports are down dramatically. The banking system is teetering. The World Bank just announced that an estimated 40% of the population is now living under the poverty line.   Street vendors wait for customers March 3, 2022, during one of the frequent power outages in Yangon, Myanmar. Economic mismanagement has hamstrung the military’s budget. Credit: AFP So what will be the impact of the executions? Since the coup, citizens across the country have protested military rule on a daily basis – resorting to wildcat demonstrations after the bloody crackdown on mass protests that initially greeted the coup. And now, notwithstanding the risk of deadly force, there is another compelling reason to protest the dictatorship. Historically, the military has been able to act with total impunity because the population has been terrified of them. They get away with things because, since 1962, they’ve been able to cow the population into submission.  The problem for them is that for the first time, the population of Myanmar refuses to be intimidated. After a taste of democracy and after enjoying a period of media freedom, diplomatic openness, engagement with the international world, and an open internet, the population refuses to accept the military’s usurpation of power.  In the international realm, the executions may galvanize stronger diplomatic action by foreign governments. It could move the needle and get some European states and Australia to take a tougher stance against the junta. Japan and South Korea, however, are unlikely to change course, though even Tokyo condemned the executions.  Meanwhile the NUG, which is seeking formal diplomatic recognition, is sure to use the executions to further delegitimize the military regime and bolster its own international standing.  So for a military that is losing on the battlefield and that has no legitimacy, and is desperate to prove that it is in charge, the executions were ultimately an act of weakness and desperation. The junta executed four men without knowing what their action may unleash in the coming months. …

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Cao Dai follower detained for hours after returning from U.S. religious summit

Editor07 mins

The follower of a Vietnamese religious group which has as many as two million believers faced more than six hours of interrogation on returning to the country from a conference in the U.S. 1926 Pure Cao Dai member Nguyen Xuan Mai went to Washington, D.C. to attend the 2022 International Religious Freedom Summit which took place from June 28 to 30. She also met with many international organizations to call for religious freedom in Vietnam. On her return to Ho Chi Minh City’s international airport on Friday evening she was asked by airport security to talk with nine officials, Mai told RFA on Saturday morning. “I was there from 8 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. the next day,” she said. “They [airport security] invited me to follow them over some issue, so I followed. There were nine people working, including one policeman from Vinh Long province and two policemen from Hanoi, one named Tran Dai.” The officers took her phone and checked her messages, printed all her emails and forced her to sign a letter of confirmation, Mai said. “My emails were already deleted, but they were still in the trash,” Mai said. “They took 90 of my documents and then printed them out asking me to sign to confirm that those people sent me emails. There was nothing wrong with my emails, just material for classes on human rights, and international and Vietnamese religious law. I honestly told them that, so it would be quick and wouldn’t create any difficulties for me.” “They said we should work together to see if I was sincere or hiding anything. I said I wasn’t denying anything. In general, I did not do anything to break the law.” Two riot police cars were parked outside the international terminal’s exit according to Mai’s daughter Nguyen Mai Tram. She said nearly a dozen people in plain clothes filmed and took pictures of a group of Cao Dai followers who had come to welcome Mai. “There were two riot police cars parked outside. A policeman walked around behind me filming and taking pictures of me, but he didn’t ask anything,” she said. Fellow Cao Dai member Tran Ngoc Suong said he and many fellow believers had to avoid police guards at their homes to get to the airport. Suong said while he was at the airport, a police officer in Tien Giang province named Manh, who didn’t give his family name, called a member of the delegation to “advise” everyone to go home because Mai was being held for interrogation and he was not sure when she would be released: “He said he saw me sitting to greet Xuan Mai, and advised me to go home because Mrs. Xuan Mai would be detained and could not return,” Suong said. The 1926 Pure Cao Dai group says the name of the religion is based on the year of its founding and it is an original religion, not under the direction of the State, and not part of the Cao Dai state-affiliated religious sect established by the Vietnamese government in 1997. Followers of 1926 Pure Cao Dai in Tien Giang province say they have frequently been harassed for many years by a policeman named Manh. He forced them to give up their religion to join a religious sect established by the government, Suong said. During her visit to Washington Mai met with some U.S. religious officials to raise the status of Pure Cao Dai followers who had been beaten and suffered years of repression. She met U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain and Katrina Lantos-Swett, co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit Steering Committee. Former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback wrote on Twitter: “It is very worrying about the news that Ms. Mai disappeared after returning to Vietnam. She was released by the police after six hours of questioning. Thankfully she is on her way home but this is a completely unwarranted form of harassment by the government.”

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Prominent democracy activist among four prisoners executed by Myanmar junta

Editor07 mins

Myanmar’s junta has executed veteran democracy activist Ko Jimmy, state media reported. New Light of Myanmar announced the executions of Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy lawmaker Phyo Zeyar Thaw and two others without reporting the date and method of killings, although it is believed the men were all hanged. The New Light of Myanmar said “the punishment has been carried out under the prison’s procedures,” without elaborating. Former student leader Ko Jimmy, whose real name is Kyaw Min Yu, was convicted on terrorism charges for activities against the military regime that has ruled the country since a coup last year, according to state media. The first judicial executions in Myanmar since 1988 came despite a direct appeal on June 11 by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to junta leader Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. Hun Sen acted in his role as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member. Myanmar political prisoner Kyaw Min Yu (C), known as Jimmy, and his wife Ni Lar Thein (L) holding her child, both members of the 88 Generation student group, celebrate upon their arrival at Yangon international airport following their release from detention on January 13, 2012. Myanmar pardoned prominent dissidents, journalists and a former premier on January 13 under a major prisoner amnesty, intensifying a surprising series of reforms by the army-backed regime. AFP PHOTO/Soe Than WIN Soe Than WIN / AFP                                         Koh Jimmy was a prominent leader of the pro-democracy 88 Generations Students Group who fought military rule three decades ago. The 53-year-old activist was arrested in October after spending eight months in hiding and was convicted by a military tribunal in January under the Counter-Terrorism Law. He was accused of contacting the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, National Unity Government (NUG), and People’s Defense Force (PDF), an opposition coalition and militia network formed by politicians ousted in the Feb. 1 coup that the junta has declared terrorist organizations. In September, the NUG declared a nationwide state of emergency and called for open rebellion against junta rule, prompting an escalation of attacks on military targets by various allied pro-democracy militias and ethnic armed groups. Ko Jimmy, an outspoken critic of the junta, was also accused of advising local militia groups in Yangon and ordering PDF groups to attack police, military targets, and government offices, and asking the NUG to buy a 3D printer to produce weapons for local PDFs. On June 3, Ko Jimmy, former National League for Democracy lawmaker Phyo Zeyar Thaw, and two others lost appeals of their death sentences. The junta rejected the possibility of a pardon for the condemned men. Phyo Zeya Thaw, a lawmaker of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy, arrives at the Myanmar parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Aug. 19, 2015. A Myanmar military spokesperson announced on June 3, 2022, that Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old former lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and Kyaw Min Yu, a veteran pro-democracy activist better known as Ko Jimmy, would be executed for violating the country’s counterterrorism law.(AP Photo) The four death sentences, as well 111 others that have been handed down by junta courts between the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup, and May 19 this year, have drawn criticism from legal experts and rights groups, who say the regime is threatening the public with unfair executions. The United Nations, Washington, Ottawa, and Paris have issued statements strongly condemning the decisions in the cases now proceeding to execution. Hun Sen on June 10 wrote a letter to Min Aung Hlaing, urging him to “reconsider the sentences and refrain from carrying out the death sentences.” He said the executions “would trigger a very strong and widespread negative reaction from the international community” and hurt efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar. In an interview with RFA Burmese last month, Ko Jimmy’s wife Nilar Thein called the planned executions “a blatant violation of human rights” for which the junta would be held accountable. “Regardless of what they will do, I want them to know they will be accountable for their decisions. Their acts will not be forgotten,” said Nilar Thein. Responding to Monday’s announcement, activist group Justice for Myanmar Tweeted: “The shocking executions of Phyo Zeya Thaw, Ko Jimmy, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw are #CrimesAgainstHumanity and #WarCrimes. All perpetrators from Min Aung Hlaing down must be held accountable for these brazen acts of cruelty. #EndImpunity.” Written By Paul Eckert.

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Border closures, conflict threaten ‘shipadi’ fungus trade in remote northern Myanmar

Editor08 mins

Pandemic-related border closures and travel restrictions under military rule are taking their toll on the trade of “shipadis,” a rare fungus prized in China for its alleged healing properties, according to the ethnic Rawan who hunt it in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state. The shipadi is a species of parasitic Cordyceps fungi whose spores infect caterpillars, causing them to crawl upwards before killing them. After the caterpillar dies, the fruit of the fungus grows out of its head in a bid to further spread its spores. While shipadi grow mainly in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, where they are known as “yartsa gunbu,” the Myanmar variant is found only on the ground, trees, and glaciers of northern Kachin state’s remote Puta-O region, near Myanmar’s borders with India and China. The ethnic Rawan who inhabit the region hunt for the fungus they call “Poe Say Nwe Pin” in May and June each year, when the weather warms and the ice has thawed. The highly-coveted golden-colored shipadi is mostly found on the glaciers of Phonrin Razi, Phangram Razi, and Madwe, and can appear as infrequently as once every four years. Aung Than, a local trader, told RFA Burmese that prior to the pandemic, merchants exported the majority of their shipadi to China, where they could expect healthy profits due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment for kidney disease. However, China closed its borders soon after the coronavirus began to spread globally in early 2020, forcing shipadi traders to find a new market for their product. “In the past, when border crossing was easy, they bought shipadi from us,” he said. “But we cannot go there anymore and they can’t come to us either. It’s been more than two years now since I lost the market in China.” Aung Than said that since the pandemic, domestic demand had grown for shipadi, but traders could no longer expect to earn the profits they once had. A shipadi pokes out of the ground in Puta-O township. Credit: RFA Danger from conflict Other Rawan shipadi traders in Kachin state told RFA that the market had been further impacted by fighting between junta troops and ethnic Kachin rebels since the military seized control of Myanmar in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021. Daw Hla, the owner of an herbal store in Puta-O, said she regularly sold to customers from Myanmar’s big cities, including Yangon and Mandalay, prior to the coup. But an increase in clashes between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the military since the takeover had made it more dangerous to hunt shipadi and ship it out of the region, she said. “I used to send them to Yangon, Naypyidaw and other cities, as well as all over Kachin state. I’d send them as soon as I got the orders,” she said. “The transportation was OK and sales were good in the past. But this year, I don’t have much [shipadi] to sell. There’s little product to be had this year – it’s getting very rare.” Sources told RFA that the KIA had recently seized a military camp in Puta-O’s Tsum Pi Yang village, and that fighting along the main road from Puta-O to the Kachin state capital Myitkyina had become particularly fierce since the anniversary of the coup, making it extremely dangerous to travel in the area. A collection of shibadi gathered in Puta-O township. Credit: RFA A risky journey Residents of Puta-O township form groups of five or six each year to climb the mountains and search for shipadi, and can spend months away from home during the hunt. One resident named Lan Wan Ransan told RFA that hunting shipadi has always been risky, particularly during the rainy season when flash floods are common. Other times, he said, the snow and ice may not have thawed enough, making the trek into the mountains deadly and the search for shipadi nearly impossible. “There are many difficulties along the way,” he said. Normally, a single shipadi could fetch 2,000-3,000 kyats (U.S. $1-1.50), Lan Wan Ransan said, but the price has doubled this year, due to the added danger of the conflict. Most hunters will only find around 50 shipadis this year, he added, calling it a significant decrease from years past. In addition to shipadi, the Rawan also gather herbs in the mountains of Puta-O that are rarely found elsewhere, including the roots of the Khamtauk, Machit, Taushau, and Kyauk Letwar plants, as well as ice ginseng. However, none are as highly-prized as the caterpillar fungus from the glaciers of northern Kachin state, they say. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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Four years after Laos’ worst dam catastrophe, survivors still live in limbo

Editor016 mins

Four years after a dam collapse that caused Laos’ worst flooding in decades, survivors who lost everything say they are tired of waiting for the government to provide them with new homes and arable land. On the night of July 23, 2018, billions of cubic feet of water from a tributary of the Mekong River poured over the collapsed saddle dam D at the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy (PNPC) hydropower project in southern Laos. The surging water that started in Champassak province, sweeping away homes and flooding villages downstream in Attapeu province, killed 71 people and displaced 14,440 when it wiped out all or part of 19 villages.  Many of the survivors lost their homes to the rising waters and were put in metal huts in relocation villages that were intended to be temporary. Four years on, a government that is still planning and building hydropower dams at a breakneck pace–even as it struggles with crippling debt, a sinking currency and fuel shortages–has failed to deliver on pledges to house the displaced. “It’s already been four years since the dam collapsed. Things have improved a little bit, but we aren’t receiving rice and cash allowances anymore. We do everything to earn money to buy rice and other necessities, but we’re still struggling,” one survivor told RFA Lao. Each family in his area were compensated with between one and two hectares (2.5-5 acres) of farmland, the source, from Attapeu’s Sanamxay district added. UN experts Friday called on the Lao government to rectify the situation. “It is shameful that four years since homes and livelihoods were washed away, many survivors continue to live in unsanitary temporary shelters, without access to basic services, and are still awaiting the compensation promised to them,” said the 10 experts, comprised of six special rapporteurs and a four-member working group. “While four years have been sufficient to rebuild the dam, survivors have been left unable to rebuild their lives during all this time,” the experts said. “Not only are many still living in entirely unsuitable temporary accommodation, the compensation promised by the Lao Government and the relevant companies is being delayed, reduced or simply not provided at all, leaving the survivors with no prospect for durable solutions,” they said. They said it was disturbing that the survivors and human rights defenders might face retaliation for bringing attention to their issues, which happened in 2019, and they noted that two other dams in the area show similar signs of impending failure as saddle dam D prior to its collapse in 2018. “Action must be taken now to ensure that these massive hydroelectric development programmes do not cause greater harm than they do good,” the experts said. Sanamxay district promised it would build 700 homes for the survivors there by the end of 2020, but to date, less than half of them have been completed. “Many of the survivors who still live in metal shelters have built huts as additional living space on their plots of land, because the metal shelters are too small and hot. They live in those huts as they grow vegetables and cassava,” said the survivor, who like all unnamed sources in this report, requested anonymity for safety reasons. “After four years, we’re still struggling to make ends meet,” a second survivor said. “We’re starting new lives. More than half are still waiting. “Nobody is working on our new homes right now because this time of the year is rice planting season. Almost all the workers have gone home to help on the farm. They also complain about being paid late and receiving less than they expected,” said the second survivor. The deadline for finishing the homes has been continually extended since the May 2020 agreement between Attapeu’s Public Works and Transport Department and the Vanseng Attapeu Construction Company.  Vanseng was to receive $25 million from the PNPC to complete 700 homes by the end of 2020. But only the skeletons of 200 homes had been built by then, and the deadline slipped to 2021. An Attapeu province official told RFA at the time that there were not enough carpenters and masons to meet the original schedule. Vanseng at that time promised to have 496 of the homes finished by the Lao New Year in April, and all 700 by the end of 2021. But by February Vanseng said only 440 would be done by April and that it would miss the anticipated completion date because not enough land had been cleared. At an official ceremony prior to the Lao New Year, only 153 completed homes were presented to survivors. The COVID-19 pandemic created new labor and materials shortages. Officials now anticipate the homes might be ready by the end of 2023 but possibly not until 2025, seven years after the disaster. As of April, only 322 of the promised 700 homes were complete, Souansavanh Viyakheth, minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, announced after visiting the survivors. A third Sanamxay district survivor told RFA that families are angry about the delays. “Most of us are not happy with the way the so-called ‘Reconstruction Programs’ work. Four years have passed and more than half of us are still homeless,” the third survivor said.  “Living in shelters, we often run out of water in the dry season. We have received the first compensation payments for lost vehicles like cars and motorcycles but nothing yet for our other property like homes, cash, gold and jewelry. We gave all the information about these losses to the authorities a long time ago,” the third survivor said. Houses being built for survivors of the 2018 Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy dam disaster are shown in a photo taken in early 2020. Photo: Citizen Journalist. Families still waiting for homes also have to deal with inferior education facilities for their children, a fourth survivor of the flood said. “One school for 500 children? It’s too crowded. Many of these kids who graduate from primary school don’t continue on to secondary school because [that school]…

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Junta cuts phone and internet connections in Magway amid fierce fighting

Editor08 mins

Junta forces cut phone and internet access in Myanmar’s Magway region on Monday at the start of a scorched-earth operation that is still raging. Residents of Gangaw and Tilin townships said they believed their telecoms were cut off because of strong resistance by local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) against junta troops. The People’s Administration Organization of nearby Saw township said that the cutting of internet and phone lines meant junta troops would soon raid local villages. “There is a news blackout in Tilin and Gangaw. We heard there were some attacks in the area but we don’t know exactly where they are happening because we don’t have phone connections. Normally, if the phone and internet lines are cut, it means they’ll be attacking the villages. Villages will be destroyed and burned so we have to be alert when the lines are cut. The movements of the revolutionary forces [PDFs] will also be seriously affected.” Locals said the military launched airstrikes on Tuesday and Wednesday near Zibya village and Shounshi village in Gangaw township. A resident of Myin Thar Village in Gangaw, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said he was very worried for his family. “I’ve been calling [my] village for four days now and I can’t get through. The internet and phone lines have been cut, and I’ve heard that they’ve been bombed by military aircraft. I don’t have all the information yet. I just heard that villages west of Gangaw and Hakha Road have been bombed but I can’t get any specific information because the phone lines have been cut.” A resident of Gangaw’s Sanmyo village, who is now in Chin state and also declined to be named, said he had heard reports the junta’s aircraft had attacked some villages but he did not know the exact facts. “Both the phone and lines have been completely cut off on our side. We have heard reports of bombings by fighter jets,” said the resident who added that the city has been hit as hard as the villages. “The entire Gangaw area has been completely shut down and we can’t reach anywhere.” A woman from Tilin, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said while lines were down some people managed to get a signal. “We could make some calls for the western side of our village so we had to go there to contact our relatives. But we can’t reach people in Gangaw,” she said, adding that villagers are concerned they won’t be warned in advance about attacks by aircraft and ground troops because lines have been cut. The woman eventually travelled two miles to the Magway-Chin border, where she was able to use her phone and the internet to gather information. Covering up junta war crimes The Human Rights Minister of the shadow National Unity Government, Aung Myo Min, said the military cut the internet and phone lines so as not to leave any evidence of the war crimes.“These cuts by the military council are to block the flow of information especially about their brutality, and war crimes committed by them on the ground and to cut off humanitarian aid,” he said. “Because when the news of their actions comes to light, it will definitely be used as evidence to international tribunals. Cutting off information has become a military strategy. It is obvious they do not want to leave any evidence that can be used when legal action is taken.” RFA called military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, director-general Myo Swe of the Department of Communications at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and the spokesman at the Magway Regional Government Office, but there was no response from any of them. Junta’s history of telecoms blackouts According to the General Administration Department, there are more than 200 villages in Gangaw and Tilin townships in Magway. More than 180,000 residents living in these townships are now losing their right to information due to the interruption of internet and phone lines. The military cut off all phone lines and the internet for the entire day of the coup on Feb. 1, last year. The internet was completely cut off on Feb. 6 and 7, 2021, only to be restored on Feb. 8. The military also cut off the internet in some townships and slowed it in others when the military launched attacks on armed PDFs in Magway, Sagaing and Mandalay regions and Chin and Kachin states. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese.

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China holds new naval drills as US carrier transits South China Sea

Editor04 mins

China has staged another military exercise off the back of a five-day large-scale drill near the Paracel islands–just as the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan docked in Singapore after spending over a week in the South China Sea. The U.S. carrier and its strike group were slated to visit Vietnam this month but the visit has been called off, said two Vietnamese sources with knowledge of the matter who wish to stay anonymous because they’re not authorised to speak to the media. “No reason was given,” said one of the sources, adding that the Vietnamese staff involved in the preparation for the port call were asked to be on stand-by for a couple days before the final decision last week. As “a matter of policy” the U.S. Pacific Fleet declined to comment on the purported port call. The USS Ronald Reagan is now at Changi Naval Base and its crew met with visiting Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro before taking some R&R. Del Toro’s office said the sailors have done “a fantastic job the past few months operating across the Indo-Pacific with Allies and partners reinforcing international norms and standards.” “Be safe, make good decisions, and enjoy your liberty!” it tweeted. The Ronald Reagan Strike Group began its first deployment in the South China Sea in 2022 on July 13 and was conducting exercises at the same time as another warship, the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold. China’s back-to-back military exercises While the U.S. ships were operating in the South China Sea, China announced a large military exercise on July 16 to July 20 in an area of 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) east of Hainan island overlapping the Paracel archipelago. On July 20 the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) issued another navigation warning about a second military exercise also in the South China Sea but smaller and at a closer proximity to Hainan island. This drill started on the same Wednesday and finished Friday. China often holds military exercises at short notice as a response to U.S. naval activities in disputed areas of the South China and East China Seas. Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam hold territorial claims over parts of the sea including the Paracel and the Spratly islands but the Chinese claim is by far the most expansive.

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Dozens of teachers killed, hundreds arrested by Myanmar junta for joining strike

Editor09 mins

Two dozen teachers have been killed and more than 200 others arrested since Myanmar’s military seized control from the elected government nearly 18 months ago, according to a Thailand-based Burmese human rights organization. The 24 teachers, who had joined the country’s Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) of striking professionals, died by gunfire during street protests or from torture, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The AAPP keeps a daily tally of the number of civilians killed and arrested by the military regime since the Feb. 1, 2021, coup. The 209 teachers who were arrested were also part of the CDM. The targeted arrest and imprisonment of CDM teachers may be higher than the AAPP’s tally, a spokesman for the organization said. Some teachers also have withdrawn from the CDM and returned to work because of pressure from the junta, he said. RFA reported in June that at least 40 teachers had been killed as of this May, according to information provided by the junta. RFA attempted to contact military spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun several times by phone without success. The shadow National Unity Government’s (NUG) Ministry of Education says that more 200,000 of Myanmar’s 450,000 schoolteachers participated in the CDM at its height in the months after the military coup. A family member of a middle school teacher who was arrested in April 2021 for joining the CDM and sentenced to three years in prison said she is furious with the junta. “We worked so hard for her to become a schoolteacher,” said the relative, who declined to be named for safety reasons. “It’s not appropriate for a young teacher to spend three years in prison.” Moe Thway Nyo, a secondary school teacher from Kawa township in Bago region who also joined the CDM but fled to the Myanmar-Thailand border to avoid arrest, said the State Administration Council, as the military regime is known, has begun prosecuting CDM teachers under the country’s Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries stiff penalties. “The longer the revolution goes on, the more severe the charges they are using to unjustly accuse and arrest CDM teachers,” he said. At first, the junta prosecuted CDM members under Section 505(a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, which the regime revised in March 2021. The section previously made it a crime to publish or circulate statements, rumors or reports with intent to cause military personnel to mutiny, disregard or fail in their duty. The revision made attempts to hinder, disturb or damage the motivation of military personnel and civil servants and cause their hatred, disobedience or disloyalty punishable by up to three years in prison, according to Human Rights Watch. Now the junta is prosecuting CDM members under Sections 50(a), 50(b), and 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law under which “the prison sentences became harsher,” Moe Thway Nyo said. Convictions under these sections of the law carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Protesters arrange abandoned flip-flops and other belongings next to a makeshift altar for teacher Tin Nwe Yi, left behind during a crackdown in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 1, 2021, after she was killed during a demonstration against the military coup. Credit: AFP ‘On the side of truth’ A CDM secondary school teacher from Taikkyi township in Yangon region said the junta’s targeting of educators participating in the strike is unacceptable. “Teachers are expressing their views and saying what they think is wrong,” said the educator, who declined to be named for safety reasons. “We are on the side of the truth. The junta’s Education Department already sacked us long ago, but arrests are still being made. We strongly condemn these actions of arbitrary arrests and unjust imprisonments.” The junta has asked thousands of teachers who joined the CDM to return to classrooms in schools administered by its Education Department. Some have returned to their jobs, mainly out of financial necessity, but many others have stayed the course and are teaching students in NUG-dominated areas outside the regime’s education system. As of mid-June, more than 3,150 academic staffers had quit the CDM and returned to service, according to junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun. He also told reporters in May that People’s Defense Force militias that have fought against the military in opposition to the regime were to blame for harassing and killing teachers who resumed working after they quit the CDM. A spokesman for the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation who did not want to be named for security reasons said that if the regime continues to arrest educators, they will eventually leave the teaching profession. “If these teachers are arrested and harmed again, they will get tired of the situation and quit,” he said. “They will no longer be able to pass on to the new generation of teachers the knowledge they have acquired, and our education sector will be like a barren plant without any fruit. It is very worrying for the education sector.” Other educators who are part of the CDM told RFA that in addition to threats of arrest, the junta has prevented them from teaching in private schools. In a statement issued on July 17, the NUG’s Ministry of Education stated that the arrest of teachers violated articles of the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Convention on the Rights of the Child, and provisions of Myanmar’s 2019 Child Rights Law. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

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Vietnam jails six in crackdown on religious group

Editor07 mins

A court in Vietnam has sentenced six members of an independent religious group to long prison terms following a two-day trial in which defendants said they had been forced to confess to the charges made against them, drawing condemnation from rights groups on Friday. Convicted by the People’s Court of Duc Hoa District in southern Vietnam’s Long An province, the members of the unofficial Peng Lai Temple were charged with “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy” and will now serve sentences of from three and a half to five years. Handed the harshest sentence on Thursday, temple member Le Tung Van was given a five-year term, with Le Thanh Hoan Nguyen, Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen and Le Thanh Trung Duong each sentenced to four-year terms. Le Thanh Nhi Nguyen was sentenced to three and a half years, and Cao Thi Cuc given a three-year term. All had been charged under Article 331 of Vietnam’s 2015 Penal Code. Speaking to RFA after the trial, a human rights lawyer in Vietnam called the case against the six temple members politically motivated. “These verdicts did not surprise me at all, because the nature of the case was political,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for his personal safety. “Right from the beginning, state media had deliberately published information aimed at slandering the Peng Lai Temple members, accusing them of incestuous relationships and of committing fraud,” the lawyer said. “[Vietnam’s] press law clearly stipulates that the media are not allowed to make accusations on behalf of the court or the judging panel.” The accusations made by state-controlled news outlets had nothing to do with the charge of “abusing the rights to freedom and democracy” on which the defendants were convicted, the lawyer said. “The government of Vietnam is showing that they don’t understand what freedom of religion is and that they are willing to crack down on any religious groups that they can’t control through their licensing system,” he added. State prosecutors in their indictment had specifically charged group members with posting articles and video clips on Facebook and YouTube aimed at harming the reputation of Duc Hoa district police and “offending the honor and dignity” of Tran Ngoc Thao, also called Venerable Thich Nhat Tu, a local Buddhist leader. Threats and torture However, confessions made to the charges and used against group members at their trial were obtained by threats and torture, three of the six defendants said in court on July 20. “During the investigation, a Duc Hoa district police officer named Phong slapped me three times against the side of my head and put me in handcuffs, closing them so tightly that it cut off the circulation of my blood,” Le Thanh Trung Duong said. “I almost passed out, and then I was threatened by an officer named Phap, and that’s why I made false statements,” Duong said. Defendant Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen said in court that he had also been beaten by police during his pre-trial investigation. “But after our lawyers got involved, I wasn’t beaten any more. Therefore, I would like to ask that this investigation be conducted all over again,” he said. Replying to defendants’ accusations at the trial, a representative from the Long An Police Investigations Department said that the interrogation of members of the Peng Lai group had been conducted in accordance with the law, and that audio and video recordings of the questioning had been kept. ‘Outrageous, unacceptable’ In a statement, Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson said that Vietnam’s government is now widening its rights crackdown by silencing ordinary people who complain about local officials. “All this shows how intolerance for any sort of public criticism is getting worse in Vietnam. Vietnam should reverse these outrageous and unacceptable sentences against all of these persons,” Robertson said.  Vietnam’s government strictly controls religious practice in the one-party communist country, requiring practitioners to join state-approved temples and churches and suppressing independent groups. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in a report released April 25 recommended the U.S. government place Vietnam on a list of countries of particular concern because of Vietnamese authorities’ persistent violations of religious freedom. Translated by Anna Vu for RFA Vietnamese. Written in English by Richard Finney.

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0