BURMA: An editor sentenced to 13 years over alleged anti-government activity 05.11.

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Print This Article A Statement by the Asian Human Rights

Commission

BURMA: An editor sentenced to 13

years over alleged anti-government
activity
The Asian Human Rights Commission has followed the
case of Nyi Nyi Htun, the editor of a Karenni state-
based news journal, who was charged for upsetting
public tranquility by sending news reports outside
Burma. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison on 13
October 2010 by the Seikkan Township court.

Police officers from the Yangon Division Police Chief

Office arrested Nyi Nyi Htun in Thingangyun Township
of Yangon Division upon suspicion of having
connections with a series of bomb blasts in Yangon in
October 2009. Nyi Nyi Htun was kept in police custody
and tortured continuously for six days at the Yangon
Divisional Police Headquarters. The police later
confiscated a computer, a memory stick and other
documents at his house.

The ALRC, the AHRC's sister organization, has already

submitted a statement to UN Human Rights Council
regarding the brutal torture Nyi Nyi Htun has been
exposed to. Kindly note ALRC-CWS-15-05-2010.

Nyi Nyi Htun was charged for being involved with an

illegal organizations based at the Thai-Burma boarder
under section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act,
section 13(1) of the Immigration Emergency Provisions
Act, section 6(1) of the Wireless Act. Further he was
charged with upsetting public tranquility under section
505(b) of the Penal Code.

The evidence presented in court by the police includes

documents taken from Nyi Nyi Htun's email account,
which was stored on the memory stick. According to
the Police the documents allegedly reveal that Nyi Nyi

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BURMA: An editor sentenced to 13 years over alleged anti-government activity 05.11.10 15:23

Htun illegally had gone to Mae Sot at the Thailand-

Burma boarder several times, where he met with anti-
government groups, whom he allegedly received
money from.

According to Nyi Nyi Htun none of the documents

seized from his computer and memory stick can be
used as documentation for him being involved in terror
acts, having traveled to the border or having met with
any anti-government groups. Apparently the stamp
showing his allegedly entrance at the bridge on the
boarder between Burma and Thailand shows a date,
where he had already been imprisoned.

The UN's Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Thomas

Ojea Quintana states that in the case of Nyi Nyi Htun
several domestic laws have been used to restrict
freedom of expression and assembly. These include the
Unlawful Association Act (1908), the State Protection
Act (1975) and sections 143, 145, 152, 295(A), 505,
505(b). In his report to the UN Human Rights Council
published in March 2010, Quintana emphasizes, "As a
State Member of the United Nations, Myanmar should
have ensured compliance of its domestic laws with its
international obligations, according to the principles of
the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties".

Burma is doubtlessly a dangerous place to be a

reporter. Journalists among others who send and
receive information outside the country are often
imprisoned under security measurements such as the
State Protection Act claiming to prevent terrorism.
There have even been reports on journalists being
arrested simply for taking photos of the area affected
by the cyclone in 2008 or for reporting on bomb
attacks. Kindly see AHRC-UAC-023-2010.

These arrest and imprisonments strongly oppose the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which present
everyone with the freedom to hold opinions without
interference, the right to assembly and to seek and
receive information and ideas through different media
regardless of frontiers.

The Burmese Military regime continues to harass all

freethinking people as the case of Nyi Nyi Htun clearly
illustrates. Similar absurd and undue sentences are
daily handed out for petty crimes in Burma. The
sentences are indicators of deep-rooted systemic
problems across institutions in the country, where
military rule has wiped out most of the framework for a
system based on rule of law. While this framework and
the concept it was build on have broken down in
Burma, so has the logic in which the regime operates.

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BURMA: An editor sentenced to 13 years over alleged anti-government activity 05.11.10 15:23

People in the country have no way to escape from this

abnormal and irrational situation. The judicial system is
tremendously politicized and the Burmese courts hold
almost no judicial power. It only has power to convict
and act on the will of the regime. No checks and
balances are available within the system and
institutions set up to monitor courts and judges have
been dismissed long ago.

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the

international community to condemn the torture and
undue conviction of Nyi Nyi Htun and demand an
independent and qualified investigation into the case in
accordance with international law to ensure the safety
of all journalists, the freedom of the press and the
freedom of expression in Burma.Â

###

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is

a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring
and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong
Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

Posted on 2010-11-04
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