Arrest of Student on Trumped-up Charges is a Damning Indictment of Justice in Burma On 13 September 2014, police arrested female human rights defender (HRD) Phyu Hnin Htwe at her house in Patheingyi Township, Mandalay Region, and sent her to Monywa Prison, Sagaing Region, where she is currently being detained. Phyu Hnin Htwe is a second-year Burmese student at Mandalay’s Yadanabon University, and is also an activist and member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). She has helped farmers who have been forcibly evicted to make way for the infamous Chinese-backed Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Region, going to the Letpadaung area at weekends and supporting displaced farmers. Her arrest ostensibly relates to a murky incident that took place on 18 May of this year. Two Chinese workers – employees of Wanbao company, the main company involved in the joint venture – were seized from the Letpadaung area, taken to a monastery in Hsete Village, and held there for about 30 hours. The incident followed efforts by Wanbao employees to restart measuring plots of land for which compensation had not even been provided, in spite of villagers’ protests, thereby provoking their anger. As a result, Phyu Hnin Htwe and six villagers were charged with kidnapping and abduction under Articles 364 and 368 of the Penal Code, which prescribe sentences of up to ten years’ imprisonment. While the case against five of the villagers was quickly dropped, charges still remain against Phyu Hnin Htwe and local villager Win Kyaw, neither of whom attended court in May. While abducting workers clearly falls outside the parameters of peaceful protest, and is a breach of national and international law, serious doubts persist as to whether Phyu Hnin Htwe was even present in the first place, still less whether she was implicated in the alleged abduction. The ABFSU insists that she was merely teaching some extra classes to children in Hsete Village when the two Chinese workers were brought into the village. Phyu Hnin Htwe’s hearing is scheduled for today, 23 September 2014, at the Yinmabin Township Court. It is not yet clear whether she has a lawyer. It is more than likely that Phyu Hnin Htwe is being targeted for her legitimate human rights work. We are inspired by all HRDs in Burma for continuing their hugely valuable and difficult work in spite of these repeated incidents of judicial harassment, and the fear and suffering that they and their families inevitably face. We call upon the international community to peer behind the veil of the “political reforms” in Burma, and start to prioritize rights-based engagement over devil-may-care economic investment; and, finally, we call upon the Burma Government and the judiciary to drop all trumped-up charges against Phyu Hnin Htwe, and release her and all other HRDs in Burma immediately and unconditionally. full article: burmapartnership.org/2014/09/arrest-of-student-on-trumped-up-charges-is-a-damning-indictment-of-justice-in-burma/
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 16:02:15 +0000
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