Myanmar Myanmar’S Political Prisoners: a Growing Legacy of Injustice
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Myanmar Myanmar’s Political Prisoners: A Growing Legacy of Injustice Introduction Amnesty International is concerned that prisoners of conscience continue to be arrested and imprisoned in Myanmar solely on account of their peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. They are a human legacy of authorities’ long- standing misuse of the justice system as a tool of political repression, and a means to restrict rather than protect the peaceful exercise of basic human rights. The State Peace and Development Council continues to abuse the justice system, impede the rule of law and the enjoyment of basic political freedoms in the country, and human rights in Myanmar generally. A list of prisoners of conscience and possible prisoners of conscience follows this introduction. This report updates earlier reports listing prisoners of concern to Amnesty International in December 20041 and April 20012, and reiterates the organization’s long-standing concerns on the administration of justice3 in the country, and the treatment of more than 1,350 political prisoners who have been sentenced for political offences. Amnesty International is also concerned that arrests and harassment of members and activists of registered political parties are increasing the numbers of people wrongfully deprived their liberty, solely on the basis of their peaceful political activities. Authorities are reported to have threatened individuals in 2005 that should they engage in politics they may face long terms of imprisonment. The SPDC has failed to release prominent political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy and U Tin Oo, vice Chairman of the National League for Democracy. They have been detained without charge or trial since they and other NLD members were subjected to a violent government-sponsored attack on 30 May 20034. They, like many of the other prisoners of conscience currently imprisoned, have been in and out of detention or prison for political reasons since 1989. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who turns 60 on 19 June 2005, will have spent 1 Myanmar, Facing Imprisonment: Prisoners of Concern to Amnesty International, ASA 16/07/2004, December 2004, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA160072004?open&of=ENG-MMR 2 Myanmar: Prisoners of Political Repression, ASA 16/006/2001, April 2001, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA160062001?open&of=ENG-MMR 3 Please see Myanmar, Justice on Trial, ASA 16/7/2003, July 2003, Myanmar: Grave Concerns with the Administration of Justice, ASA 16/01/2004, accessible on http://web.amnesty.org/library/eng-mmr/index&start=1 4 In what is widely acknowledged to have been a government organized attack, NLD members travelling at night in upper Myanmar were beaten by men with iron rods and sticks on 30 May 2003. At least four people died, and more than a hundred of those attacked, including individuals who sustained serious injuries, were detained and held incommunicado for months. Villagers who were reported to have assisted some members to escape and avoid detention were sentenced to prison terms, as were individuals who attempted to circulate information about the incident afterwards. There has been no independent investigation into the attack. AI Index: ASA 16/019/2005 Amnesty International June 2005 2 Myanmar’s Political Prisoners: A Growing Legacy Of Injustice 60 % of her time since 1989 under house arrest or in other forms of detention without charge or trial. Amnesty International renews longstanding calls by Myanmar citizens, other governments and the United Nations on the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners of conscience. The organization is also calling on authorities to take non-reversible steps to provide for the long term protection of the justice system against future abuse by putting an end to illegal practises such as torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment; incommunicado detention; the use of laws which excessively restrict the peaceful exercise of rights; secret trials and administrative detention. Myanmar’s political prisoners have been held hostage by the SPDC, thus perpetuating the political deadlock that has existed in the country since at least 1988. Many are elderly, and many have chronic mental and physical health problems that have been created or exacerbated by their treatment in prison, in contravention of international law and standards. Many have been imprisoned or repeatedly arrested for over a decade. The continued use of detention to remove senior political leaders from the political process, and those petitioning for their release, is presenting a significant obstacle to resolving the political deadlock in the country. Background Bitter and protracted political struggle continues in Myanmar, as the SPDC attempts to grapple with fundamental problems there, including ongoing economic stagnation; the ethnic nationalities’ desire for greater autonomy; and controversy over the future role of legitimate political parties. 2004 saw the dismissal of General Khin Nyunt as Prime Minister, a subsequent major cabinet reshuffle, and a reconvened National Convention, established to write constitutional principles. 2005 brought new problems for the government, including a bombing in Mandalay in March, killing at least two people, and major bomb explosions in Yangon on 7 May, killing an unknown number of civilians. The SPDC has accused three members of the Karen ethnic nationality of detonating the bombs amid widespread speculation about which organization was responsible for the bombing. Political arrests and trials continue during 2005. At least ten politicians from the Shan ethnic nationality were arrested in February 2005, and members of the National League for Democracy have been sentenced to prison terms. One Shan ceasefire group resumed armed struggle and there is still no ceasefire agreement between the Karen National Union (KNU, a Karen armed group who have been fighting for autonomy for over 50 years) and the SPDC. The National Convention, which convened in February and adjourned at the end of March, is due to reconvene in November. It is still unclear how much autonomy the many ethnic nationalities participating in the Convention will receive from the government. Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its concerns at the lack of due process in political trials in Myanmar and at the abuse of the justice system to silence peaceful political dissent. Prisoners are routinely arrested without warrant; held incommunicado and tortured or Amnesty International June 2005 AI Index: ASA 16/019/2005 Myanmar’s Political Prisoners: A Growing Legacy Of Injustice 3 ill-treated in pre-trial detention. Sentences have been handed down in trials which fall far short of international fair trial standards, and at which the right to legal counsel or to legal counsel of one’s own choice has been denied. Authorities have used confessions in trials extracted as a result of torture. Prison conditions continue to be poor, and prisoners are being denied adequate diet and necessary medical treatment. The authorities have justified the imprisonment of hundreds of students, politicians, doctors, lawyers, housewives, farmers and others on the basis that they were seeking to cause “unrest”, and they sentenced them under security legislation. Such arrests have been made possible by vaguely worded security laws, which allow an excessively wide interpretation by the authorities of what constitutes a threat to security, and legislation which criminalizes the circulation of any written information – whether or not it is published – without the permission of the official censor. Amnesty International is concerned that the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act; the Unlawful Associations Act, the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act and the 1975 State Protection Law, which have been used to imprison many political prisoners, subject rights and freedoms to far greater restrictions than are necessary to meet requirements of national security, public order or morality. Individuals have been penalized for peaceful symbolic acts of public political dissent, such as holding one-man demonstrations calling for the release of political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, or complaining about arbitrary measures carried out by local or central government authorities. People have also been penalized for calling for political dialogue, or trying to disseminate information with political opinions differing from the SPDC, such as criticisms of their proposals for political dialogue. Monks who reportedly refused alms from government officials have also been given lengthy prison sentences, and students have been penalized for attempting to create student unions. Basic principles of international law and standards on freedom of expression and opinion enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, include “freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Article 19(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that the exercise of this right, “…carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: (a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; (b) For the protection of national