Shedding Light on Political Prisoners. As the fate of Burma's political prisoners hangs in the balance, a film documenting their stories is making the rounds. The Saffron Revolution that shook Burma’s military dictatorship in 2007 resulted in a rapid jump in the number of political prisoners. Some rights groups say there are about 2,000 at present but the new nominally civilian government insists it’s much less, without citing any figure. The political prisoners come from the most respected levels of Burmese society—monks, students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and members of parliament; as well as many women and ethnic minorities—and commonly, rights groups say, have been subjected to torture and long prison terms.
Writing a political poem or song or distributing one political pamphlet can bring years at hard labor, they say. There are numerous accounts of brutal treatment of political prisoners. Ex-political prisoners are watched, intimidated, and harassed, forcing many to live in exile. Filmmakers Testimonies. MYANMAR: Military porters "worked to death" | Myanmar.
A porter with soldiers in Karen State BANGKOK, 13 July 2011 (IRIN) - Convicts forced to serve as porters for the military are subject to torture, execution, and warfare, says a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG). "The military uses the porters as human shields to draw fire from the opposition, to trip land mines, and to walk ahead to be shot first in an ambush," David Scott Mathieson, co-author of the report and HRW's senior Asia researcher, told IRIN. Since January, up to 1,200 civilian convicts have been drawn from 12 prisons and labour camps throughout Myanmar to serve as porters for the army in conflict-ridden southern and northern Karen and eastern Pegu states, the report, Dead Men Walking, released on 13 July, stated. "The horrendous conditions of portering are systematic, widespread, and constitute a war crime," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director of HRW.
Civilians flee Abuses increase after elections dm/ds/mw. Burmese search for answers after explosions strike three cities. Four bombs exploded in three different cities across Burma on Friday, including its capital Naypyidaw. As amateur photos of the blasts begin to emerge on social media networks, internet users in Burma have started searching for answers to the origins of the attacks. The explosions come just four months after legislative elections led to the formation of a “civilian” government, officially ending nearly 50 years of military junta rule. This morning, near a market in Burma’s second largest city Mandalay.
Photo sent by our Observer Phoebe (not her real name). As information on the attacks surfaced, news agencies reported three explosions. The first blast hit shortly before noon, destroying a car near a main market in the central city Mandalay, Burma’s second largest urban centre and an economic hub. Just minutes later, another explosion struck an uninhabited house in the capital, apparently injuring no one. 'Achieve Equality Among Nationalities' In a program aired on Jan. 14, Aung San Suu Ky reiterates the equality of Burma’s ethnic groups, discusses Wikileaks, and expresses her concern for Burmese nationals jailed in Thailand. Q: I am a student of international studies in the United States. There are many ethnic nationalities in Burma, but I have never come across anyone calling a Burman an ethnic national. I am of the view that everyone is equal.
I do not want to see the Burman as a separate race, with a special status that is different from other ethnic nationals and treated in a special manner. A: I have often said that the Burmans are also one of the ethnic nationalities of Burma. Q: What is the most important thing in one’s revolutionary struggle for the freedom of a country or for a people and for the truth? A: The most important thing in the revolutionary struggle for the truth is to ensure that the truth one is fighting for is genuine. Q: I am a Burmese national who is in prison in the Bangkwin jail in Thailand. Aung San Suu Kyi to go online for the first time in life. Aung San Suu Kyi to go online for the first time in life.
Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma leader's first night of freedom. Baroness Kinnock: Release should be the start of a process of real change - Commentators, Opinion. The most striking thing about Aung San Suu Kyi is her modesty. Though her suffering has been great – more than 15 years in detention; denied the right to see her beloved husband before he died – she plays down her personal struggles and her many achievements and instead emphasises her failings. But as she knows, having been put through a revolving door of imprisonment and arrest by Burma's junta, there are wider concerns than her own story. There are still 2,200 other political prisoners in Burma. And the recent shamelessly rigged elections and the new constitution, which legalises military rule, as well as continuing large scale human rights abuses, are all clear indicators that the dictatorship has no interest in genuine democratic change.
The reality is that the junta have released Suu Kyi as a public relations exercise to distract from their sham elections. It is a tactic that the generals have employed in the past and the international community have fallen for it every time. Suu Kyi prepares route for peaceful revolution - Asia, World. While she had first spoken to diplomats and old colleagues, yesterday saw Aung San Suu Kyi meeting with the landlord of her National League for Democracy's (NLD) offices and turning to the maintenance of her crumbling home. Both were issues that have been neglected during her seven years in detention. The slow, solitary days of her house arrest have been replaced with constant meetings at a frantic pace to meet the many demands placed upon her time since she was freed on Saturday. Her priority is to consult as widely as possible as she resumes her struggle to overturn nearly half a century of military rule through peaceful means.
"She has so much to do now – she is trying to fit it all in," said her close ally Win Tin. Her word on the matter would heavily influence policymakers in Europe and the US who in the past have looked to Ms Suu Kyi for guidance on how to deal with Burma's military regime. "She wanted to write to Mr Brown because he has been such a firm supporter of hers. Aung San Suu Kyi back on a rocky road to freedom. Aung San Suu Kyi began her journey to freedom in the back seat of the quintessential Burmese vehicle: a battered, second-hand Toyota saloon. The car carrying her aides was even more dilapidated: midway through the 10-minute drive, it died.
The broken-down vehicle reached its destination pushed by a team of pro-democracy sympathisers. It could have been a metaphor for the speech the National League for Democracy leader was about to give. At times, the Burmese give the impression of pinning too much national aspiration on a single woman. Her message was that if she is to be in the driving seat, they need to push. But the day was all about her. Outside, the main road in the city centre had come to a standstill.
"Hold them up - I want to see how many there are," she said, and everyone did so. She admitted she had used one for the first time on Saturday when she spoke to Kim Aris, her 33-year-old son waiting in Bangkok in the faint hope of being allowed to visit her. The Times.