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September 18, 2007
On this day, 19 years ago, thousands of
activists, students, monks and public were killed, detained, arrested
and tortured in a brutal and bloody military coup in Burma. Today,
AAPP, which closely monitors arrests, torture and imprisonment
of democracy activists, issues a list of 206 arrests that have
taken place in the last month. Since peaceful demonstrations against
the fuel price hike began on the 19th August until today, "We
can say that the SPDC has not changed at all in the last 19 years"
says Bo Kyi, joint secretary of AAPP, "still today they arrest,
interrogate, torture and imprison peaceful demonstrators with
complete impunity".
Amongst the list of those arrested in the
last month are students, monks, teachers, NLD members and organizers,
civilians, former political prisoners, human rights defenders,
members of other organizations and 88 Generation students. The
families of those who have been detained have not received any
information on their whereabouts or state of health, despite some
of them visiting Insein prison to try and find out what has happened
to their loved ones. Rumours have been circulating regarding the
death of Ko Jimmy, one of the '88 Generation Students, in Insein
prison, but at the present time AAPP can neither confirm nor deny
these to be true. What can be confirmed however is that many of
those arrested suffered injuries at the time of their arrest and
have received no proper medical attention, or been given decent
food and water. All belongings they had on them at the time were
also stolen by the authorities, including watches, cameras, money
etc.
The families of those currently detained
are suffering extreme hardships and are constantly under surveillance,
their homes have been searched without a warrant and personal
belongings have been stolen. Other activists known to the authorities
have been forced into hiding, including Ko Jimmy's wife, Nilar
Thein, who has had to leave her four month old baby with relatives.
AAPP is very concerned for the safety of those in hiding as there
are outstanding warrants for their arrest and fears that if they
were found they would be severely tortured and imprisoned.
The largest and most widespread protests
in Burma in the last decade have been sparked off in response
to a massive fuel price hike, introduced overnight by the ruling
military junta on August 15th. Together with an inflation rate
of up to 250% and sky-rocketing commodity prices, the hardships
became too much for the people to endure silently. On 19th August
prominent leaders of the '88 Generation Students, including Min
Ko Naing, led a peaceful procession of 500 people through the
streets of Rangoon. This has been expanding daily to many other
townships in and around Rangoon and states and divisions across
Burma including: Magwe and Kyaukpadaung (Mandalay Division), Mandalay
City, Pegu, Sittwe (Arakan State), Tavoy (Tennaserim Division),
Labutta and Bogalay (Irrawaddy Division), Taunggok and Buthidaung
(Arakan State), Kyaukse and Magok (Mandalay Division), Yanan Chaung
and Pakkhoku (Magwe Division), Hahka (Chin State), Myitkyina (Kachin
State), Taunggyi (Shan State), Gwa (Arakan State), Myinkyina (Kachin
State) and others. The numbers of those protesting have ranged
from solo protests through to 2000 plus. There have been additional
protests involving hunger strikes, noise campaigns, poster campaigns,
petitions, letter campaigns, leafleting, prayer vigils and boycotts
initiated by monks, together with solidarity demonstrations and
actions taking place worldwide. The response to this has been
extreme brutality by members of the local Union Solidarity Development
Association (USDA) and Swan-aah-shin, hired proxies of the SPDC.
During the last month, only three activists
arrested have been charged and sentenced. Soe Win, arrested in
Taungup (Arakan State) was given four years, for staging a solo
protest, and two members of the public were sentenced to two years
for providing water to the protestors. The same day they were
arrested they were given a summary trial with no legal representation
or opportunity to defend themselves. Only 26 of the 206 arrested
in the last month have been released.
On 5th September more than 500 monks peacefully
protested in Pakkhoku (Magwe Division). The Burma Army responded
to this by firing gun shots above the heads of the monks in order
to disperse them and the large crowd of onlookers. They then proceeded
to drag away some of the monks and reportedly tied three of them
to a lamppost and beat them with rifle butts and truncheons as
if they were animals. They were then de-robed when they reached
the police station. AAPP deplores these completely unnecessary
and brutal actions by SPDC soldiers on respected members of the
religious community who were peacefully expressing their objections
to the hardships forced on their country, a Buddhist country.
Currently security is extremely tight around
all pagodas and religious sites in Burma, especially Rangoon,
Mandalay and Pokkhoku, with the authorities particularly targeting
the religious community and obstructing civilians and monks from
their religious activities and duties.
During the last 19 years AAPP has reported
at least 134 deaths of activists under interrogation, imprisoned
or in labour camps (please see report, "Eight Seconds of
Silence" published May 2006). The amount of deaths documented
is based only on information AAPP has been able to obtain, however
Bo Kyi believes this figure to be extremely conservative, and
in reality there have been many more. AAPP concludes that the
current actions of the SPDC on peaceful protestors and activists
is atrocious and a crime against humanity, which has been constantly
perpetrated by an illegal government for 19 years. AAPP also believes
that the current ruling SPDC will continue with this course of
action until they are removed from power and a democratic government
is restored in Burma.
Annex is updated list of arrest.
AAPP
More information: Please contact: Tate
Naing (+66) 081-2878751
Bo Kyi (+66) 081-3248935
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