By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGONG, Myanmar – Two defense lawyers have been sentenced for six months at the Northern District Court in Myanmar’s former capital of Rangoon. Nyi Nyi Htwe and Ko Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min represented 11 Kemmendine Township National League for Democracy (NLD) members that are being held in prison.

The NLD members were accused of demonstrating against the military regime, and calling for the release of detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  Nyi Nyi Htwe was taken into custody Oct. 29 at a teashop near the Hlaing Thayar courthouse, witnesses said.  Ko Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min is now in hiding.  The Hlaing Thayar judge has charged them under Mynamar Criminal Act 128.

Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min and Nyi Nyi Htwe appeared in court Oct. 23 with their clients.  At that hearing, three of the youths called Information Minister Gen. Kyaw  Hsan as a witness, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min said, speaking from an undisclosed location.  The judge told the lawyers to control their clients, but Nyi Nyi Htwe replied that he was required to represent his clients’ wishes.

In an interview with Democratic Voice of Burma, Nyi Nyi Htwe says that the charges were deliberately oppressing political activists and those lawyers who are working for political activists.  “As a lawyer who handles political cases, I feel this is deliberate pressure,” Nyi Nyi Htwe said.  “I already knew that my legal licence was not secure and that we could end up in jail at any time,” he added.

Similar pressure is being directed at other defense lawyers representing clients in political cases.  Khin Maung Shein said he was also threatened by a judge to take care when recently attending a political case at a Sanchaung Township court hearing.  “The Sanchaung Township court judge threatened me yesterday, saying I could be sentenced to a prison term for interruption of judicial proceedings and told me to take care in handling the case,” he explained.

For more information, please see:

Democratic Voice of Burma – Lawyer and activists jailed for six months – 3 November 2008

Radio Free Asia – Burma Jails Lawyers for Contempt – 30 October, 2008

Voice of America – US Group Says Burma Detained Opposition Activists’ Lawyer– 29 October 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Moscow, Russia – On October 23, 2008, a court in Manget, Karakalpakstan, a region in Uzbekistan, sentenced human rights activist Akzam Turgonov to a prison term of 10 years.  Turgonov was convicted of extortion.  He is the chairman of the human rights organization, Mazlum.

Turgonov was arrested on July 11, 2008.  He traveled to Manget to help a woman to seek child support payments from her husband.  The parties reached an out-of-court settlement and Turgonov went to meet the husband to give him the settlement money.  As soon as the plastic bag containing the alleged money reached Turgonov’s hands, police arrived at the scene and subsequently arrested him for extortion.

Since he was taken into custody, human rights groups stated that Turgonov has been denied basic human and legal rights such as ill-treatment and denied his right to counsel.  There is evidence of burns on his back, of which he claims authorities poured boiling water in order to obtain a confession.

Human rights organizations also urge that Turgonov’s arrest was politically motivated.

In 2005, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions upon Uzbekistan in response to the Andijan massacre, when militia opened fire upon hundreds of unarmed protestors.  In addition, the EU required that the government cease in their harassment of civil society, to free human rights activists and dissidents and to allow experts from the United Nations to enter the country.

Approximately, two weeks prior to the Turgonov trial, the EU lifted the sanctions, citing the progress with regard to human rights.

Igor Vorontsov, Uzbekistan researcher for Human Rights Watch, said, “Now that the EU has lifted sanctions, the Uzbek government seems to feel freer than ever to crack down on dissidents.”  He continued, “Turgonov is yet another example of a human rights defender arrested on fabricated charges, ill-treated in custody, and subjected to a blatantly corrupted trial.”  Uzbekistan will not allow Vorontsov to enter the country.

Salijon Abdurakhmanov’s trial has recently commenced on his drug charges.  Abdurakmanov is an independent journalist.  At least 18 human rights defenders and government critics are currently detained.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Uzbekistan:  Activist Sentenced to 10 Years – 23 October 2008

Institute for War & Peace Reporting – Criminal Charges Used to Smear Uzbek Regime Critics – 24 July 2008

WorldNews – Uzbekistan:  Free Human Rights Activist – 16 September 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand – The Thai government is planning to build a country-wide firewall that will block anti-royal family websites. Communications Minister Mun Patanotai said he and the Information Ministry is prepared to spend $2.9 to $14.6 million dollars (USD) to setup the digital firewall to prevent people in Thailand from accessing the controversial websites.

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. Slandering the Thai Royal family is a grave crime in Thailand and perpetrators can be jailed up to 15 years. However, actual prosecution of this crime is relatively rare.

Internet censorship already exists in Thailand. The Thai government passed theComputer Crime Act last year, which gave Thail police a legal basis for enforcing censorship of the Internet and provides penalties for attempting to circumvent it. However, most of the recent criticisms of the Thail royal family are from websites from abroad.

A BBC Bangkok correspondent thinks that the government mandated firewall is politically motivated. The government has come under pressure from the military to stop the “defamation” of the royal family.

Due to the recent political crises, which split Thailand into two divided political camps, the normally a-political Thai Royal family has come under criticism for what some see as political motives. Queen Sirikit presided over a protester’s funeral that died in a rally three weeks ago. Many supporters of the opposition party see Queen Sirikit’s attendance as a sign of sympathy for anti-government protestors.

Prime Minister, Somachi Wongsawat, said that the monarchy should remain a-political and accused the opposition party for using the monarchy for political means. “The government, officials, military, police, and every Thai must all uphold the monarchy,” Somachi told reporters. “No faction should use the monarchy.”

For more information, please see:

Asia One –Anti-Royal Websites to be Blocked – 28 October 2008

BBC – Thai Block Anti-Royal Websites – 28 October 2008

CNN – Thailand Plans to Block Anti-Royal Websites – 28 October 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Three Tamil Tiger suicide boats attempted to ram two Sri Lankan Navy freighters off the island’s northern coast last Wednesday.  The Navy said that it fired upon the terrorist boats, exploding two and capsizing the third.  It claims that it destroyed two of the suicide boats, while the Tigers only slightly injured one of its ships.  The Tigers, on the other hand, said that they had sunk one of the Navy ships and gravely damaged the other.

The suicide attack occurred within a few miles of Mullaittivu, located within the Jaffa peninsula, where 230,000 refugees are trapped in the rebel stronghold.  The ships were transporting food and supplies to these people when they were fired upon.  “By attacking these ships, the Tiger terrorists are trying to disrupt the smooth flow of essential items to Jaffna and thereby create a humanitarian crisis in the region,” stated the government.

In contrast, pro-rebel websites report that the ships were transporting military supplies for civilians under the guise of essential goods.

The Sri Lankan government has received diplomatic pressure from India to resolve this conflict by addressing the needs of the Tamil minority politically, through the election process.  The government stated that it would do so after recapturing northern Sri Lanka from the rebels.

The government stated that it was determined to put an end to the conflict by the end of 2008.  In addition to receiving opposition from the government, the Mahasohon Balajaya threatens to kill any lawyer that defends Tamils in terrorist related cases.  The group is acting in outrage against the thousands of casualties resulting from Tiger bombings.  These threats were sent to human rights attorneys and court registrars.

The conflict has been ongoing since 1983.  The Tamil Tigers seek secession from Sri Lanka to create a homeland for the Tamil minority.

For more information, please see:

Newsweek – Letter from Jaffna – 16 October 2008

Reuters – Sri Lanka Says Tiger Suicide Boats Attack Aid Ships – 22 October 2008

Times Online – Suicide Boats Are Sunk as Tamil Tigers Take War to Freighters – 23 October 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Human Rights Watch urged the Sri Lankan government to address the increase in killings and abductions that have occurred in recent weeks in the Eastern Province.  The Tamil Makkal Vidulthalai (TMVP) has allegedly been behind the acts of violence.

The TMVP is a political group formed when Colonal Karuna, former leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), broke away in 2004.

“The Sri Lankan government says that the ‘liberated’ East is an example of democracy in action and a model for areas recaptured from the LTTE,” stated Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.  “But killings and abductions are rife, and there is total impunity for horrific abuses.”

Human Rights Watch cites to at least 30 extrajudicial killings and 30 abductions in the Eastern Province since September.  Moreover, journalists reporting on the security situation have been the target of threats and attacks.  Finally, investigations reveal several cases of forcible recruitment of children by the TMVP.

For those who have fallen victim to disappearances, the government states that most are fabrications to discredit it and that alleged victims did not disappear but have gone abroad, or eloped.

Adams said, “Far from being a reformed and responsible party ready for government, the TMVP is still actively involved in serious human rights abuses.”  He further stated, “Instead of holding the group accountable, the Rajapakse government has provided unqualified support.  The government needs to open independent investigations into all serious human rights violations and hold perpetrators accountable.”

With the “liberation” of the East, the Sri Lankan government is currently engaged in the seizing of the stronghold of Kilinochchi, located in the North, from the rebel Tigers.  The recapture of the last LTTE controlled territory will end a decades long war that began as the LTTE’s struggle for their own Tiger homeland.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Murder, Abductions Rise in ‘Liberated’ Sri Lanka: Rights Group – 25 November 2008

BBC News – A Fearful End to Sri Lanka’s War? – 22 November 2008

Human Rights Watch – Sri Lanka:  Human Rights Situation Deteriorating in the East – 24 November 2008