Political Prisoner Watch (Burma) – June 2013

During the month of June, many activists were charged and sent to jail under Section 505 of Burma’s Penal Code and under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law. An emerging trend is the nation-wide cases of “protest plows.” Landless farmers have been contesting land confiscations by plowing and reharvesting their formally held […]

Burma: Arrest Warrants Issued Against Messrs. Moe Thway, Wai Lu and Wai Hmuu Thwin

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the issue of arrest warrants against Messrs. Moe Thway, a member of Generation Wave Youth Force, a network of human rights defenders that campaigns for civil and political rights, including the signature of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by Burma, and that campaigns against the Letpadaung copper mine project, and have brought the campaign to national attention, as well as Wai Lu and Wai Hmuu Thwin, members of Yangon People Service Network, which campaigns for the respect of rule of law and democracy in Burma and has been involved in the campaign against the Letpadaung project […]

Arrest Warrants Issued Against Human Rights Defenders Messrs Moe Thway, Wai Lu and Wai Hmuu Thwin

On 20 June 2013, human rights defenders Messrs Moe Thway, Wai Lu and Wai Hmuu Thwin published a statement regarding the arrest warrants issued against them on 13 June 2013 by Monywa Court under section 505 (b) of the Penal Code, “offences against the state or against public tranquillity” […]

Statement on Arrest Warrants for Speaking Out about Letpadaung Emergency Law

We would like to explain what is happening to us, Moe Thway (Generation Wave), Wai Lu and Wai Hmuu Thwin (Yangon People Service Network), in these days.

On 13 June 2013, Monywa court issued warrants to arrest the three of us under section 505(b) of the Penal Code. Lieutenant Khin Zaw Latt from Monywa Police Station 1 said he requested Monywa court to charge us with section 505(b) because of our comments about the Letpadaung copper mine case […]

BURMA: No Police Prosecuted for Incendiary Attack but Seven Activists so Far Imprisoned Over Letpadaung Mine Dispute

On 8 June 2013 the Myanmar Journalists Network hosted a press conference in Rangoon about the imprisonment without right to defence of at least seven persons who have been actively opposing the Letpadaung Hills copper mine project, in Monywa District, Sagaing Region, where police on the night of 29 November 2012 broke up encamped protestors by firing incendiary devices into their shelters, causing extensive burning and other injuries […]

MYANMAR: Police Who Attacked Peaceful Protestors Must Be Prosecuted

The struggle of farmers and their allies in the Letpadaung Hills of central Myanmar against the expansion of a copper mining operation under a military-owned holding company and a partner company from China obtained international attention when in the early morning hours of 29 November 2012 paramilitary police launched a night time […]

Hundreds Demand Probe of Burmese Mine Crackdown Five Months On

Hundreds of villagers held a protest Monday to back their persistent calls for a government probe into a harsh crackdown on protesters against a controversial China-backed copper mine in northern Burma’s Sagaing division that left more than 100 injured and was strongly condemned by rights groups.

More than 500 people marched from Ton village in Sagaing to the office of the Letpadaung mine developer, demanding an end to the project and calling on authorities to prosecute those responsible for a Nov. 29 pre-dawn raid […]

BURMA: Criminalization of Rights Defenders and Impunity for Police

The Asian Human Rights Commission condemns in the strongest terms the announcement of the commander of the Sagaing Region Police Force, Myanmar, that the police will arrest and charge eight human rights defenders whom it blames for inciting protests against the army-backed copper mine project at the Letpadaung Hills, in Monywa. The commission also condemns the latest round of needless police violence against demonstrators there […]

BURMA: Two Sharply Contrasting Reports on the Struggle for Land at Letpadaung

The Asian Human Rights Commission has since mid-2012 closely followed, documented and reported on the struggle of farmers in the Letpadaung Hills of central Burma against the expansion of a copper mining operation under a military-owned holding company and a partner company from China […]

Hundreds Resume Letpadaung Mine Protest

More than 300 farmers in northern Burma’s Sagaing Division have resumed their protests against a controversial Chinese-backed copper mine, saying they will refuse compensation and continue to push for the mine’s complete closure.

“No matter how much compensation they give, we won’t accept it, because all we want is for the mine to be shut down completely,” said one of the farmers from the Letpadaung area near Monywa […]