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Stories
Burma
junta frees, deports Montgomery Co.
activist (18 March 2010)
Burma's government on Thursday released a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Montgomery Village after six months of sometimes brutal captivity. Nyi Nyi Aung is a democracy advocate who was born in Burma and had traveled there often under his legal name Kyaw Zaw Lwin, which allowed him to visit family and work with the underground democracy movement. But last summer Nyi Nyi Aung helped deliver a petition to senior United Nations officials with 680,000 signatures calling for the release of all political prisoners in Burma and bringing new attention to himself. He was seized in September at the airport when he tried to enter the country. A month ago a court had sentenced Nyi Nyi Aung to five years of hard labor for forging his identity, possessing undeclared foreign currency and failing to renounce his Burmese citizenship. The government gave no explanation for his sudden release. ''In one way, I'm really happy, but on the other side, all my friends and my family are still in prison," Nyi Nyi Aung told reporters when he landed in Bangkok. ''That's my only message.'' The 40-year-old Nyi Nyi Aung was one of the leading organizers of demonstrations against the junta in 1988 and fled the country after a violent crackdown, eventually settling in the United States as a political refugee in 1993. He became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and earned a college degree in computer science, but he also remained deeply involved in Burmese democracy efforts. Nyi Nyi Aung's mother and sister are serving prison sentences of five years and 65 years, respectively, for their involvement in 2007 anti-government demonstrations known as the Saffron Revolution. At times during captivity, Nyi Nyi Aung was denied food and medical treatment or kept in solitary confinement in a cell for military dogs, supporters said. Burma, also known as Myanmar, is regarded as one of the world's most oppressive nations, ruled by generals who have enriched themselves while much of the country remains desperately poor. The National League for Democracy, the party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide electoral victory in 1990, but the military leadership refused to accept it. Since then, she has been under house arrest for most of the time, and more than 2,000 of her supporters are held in jail. The Obama administration, which has sought to improve relations with the military junta that controls the Southeast Asian nation, had kept a relatively low profile on Nyi Nyi Aung's case, angering his supporters, and his fiancee Wa Wa Kyaw, who is also a Maryland resident. In an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal last month, she implored Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Obama to take a public stance. "Neither your words nor your actions show that you take my fiancé's imprisonment seriously," she wrote. In a statement Thursday, Wa Wa Kyaw thanked several officials at the State Department -- but not Clinton -- and a long list of senators and members of Congress for their efforts to secure her fiance's release. There are signs the Obama administration is adjusting its stance toward Burma after 14 months of largely fruitless efforts at outreach. The administration had hoped to persuade the junta to open up elections scheduled for this year to democracy activists, including Suu Kyi, but rules announced this month would bar political prisoners from participating. The State Department condemned the rules in unusually strong terms, saying the new law "makes a mockery of the democratic process and ensures that the upcoming elections will be devoid of credibility." Washington Post
Burma election laws a 'setback' (12 March 2010) The US says Burma's newly-enacted elections laws are a "setback" for political dialogue and the junta's engagement with Washington. The comments from Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell came as Burma's military rulers unveiled the last of five widely-criticised election laws. No date has yet been set for the poll, the first in Burma for 20 years. Meanwhile, a UN special envoy to Burma has accused the country of a "gross and systematic violation of human rights". In a leaked report, Tomas Ojea Quintana called for an investigation into potential war crimes in Burma. 'Very regrettable' Burma's military leaders say they plan to hold multi-party elections this year. They have been announcing the laws under which the polls will be held all week. Many key opposition figures - including detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi - are not allowed to participate. Members of religious orders are also banned from taking part, a rule which covers the monks who led anti-government protests two years ago. Speaking on a visit to Thailand, Mr Campbell said the US was "very disappointed and ... concerned" by the new laws. "It's very regrettable. This is not what we had hoped for, and it is a setback," he said. Last year, the US said it would seek to engage directly with Burma's rulers in a bid to promote democratic ideas, saying sanctions alone would not be effective. Mr Campbell said the approach had been to "try to encourage domestic dialogue between the key stakeholders" but that the enactment of the new laws "doesn't leave much room for such a dialogue". He said Washington would continue to talk to leader Gen Than Shwe and the junta, but that sanctions would remain in place. 'Ethnic abuse' His comments came a day after Mr Quintana's report, which contained severe criticism of the Burmese authorities. Mr Quintana said there was a "pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights" in the country. "The possibility exists that some of these human rights violations may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes," he said, in the report to be presented to the UN on Monday. Mr Quintana, who has visited Burma on three occasions, said "far too many" people in the country were denied access to basic food, shelter, health and education. He also highlighted concerns about ongoing abuses of civilians in conflict areas around Burma's borders - including the recruitment of child soldiers - and about the treatment of Muslim ethnic groups in the north. BBC Suu Kyi appeal rejected (26 February 2010) MYANMAR'S Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by Aung San Suu Kyi against her extended house arrest, an official said, keeping her in detention ahead of elections promised by the junta this year. The 64-year-old opposition leader had her incarceration lengthened by 18 months in August after being convicted over a bizarre incident in which an American man swam to her lakeside home. A lower court rejected an initial appeal in October. 'The appeal was rejected,' the Myanmar official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the appeals of Ms Suu Kyi's two female assistants against similar periods of detention were also thrown out. Foreign ambassadors including the British, French and Australian envoys went to the court in the former capital Yangon to hear the verdict, witnesses said. Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi can now make a final appeal to Myanmar's chief justice - an option her lawyers said they would pursue. Ms Suu Kyi has already spent 14 of the last 20 years in jail or under house arrest since the country's last elections in 1990, which her National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide. Myanmar's ruling junta then prevented the party from taking power. 'If they reject it, there is a special appeal... We will go for it again,' Ms Suu Kyi's lawyer and NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP as he was on his way to court for the ruling. Ms Suu Kyi has previously dismissed comments by Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo, who reportedly said she would be released in November, as 'unfair' ahead of any court decision. -- AFP |
