When there is an injustice and a violation of human rights all good persons irrespective of nationality, ethnicity, religion, political affliation... will act to right the wrong and liberate the oppressed..
Below is an Urgent Appeal by the Asian Human Rights Commission - it gives the good person a means of Acting for human rights and justice. (Would be good, if you could directly subscribe to their mailing list - and act for justice and human rights whenever required... your letter/email/etc will make a difference)
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-204-2008
12 September 2008
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BURMA: Blogger charged without evidence for upsetting tranquility during protests
ISSUES: Rule of law; rights to liberty and security; military government; judicial system; illegal detention; freedom of expression
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Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has been closely following the case against a blogger in Burma who has been arrested and charged in connection with last year's monk-led protests. The blogger, Nay Phone Latt, has been charged with distributing material to upset the public tranquility, but like in other cases of this sort there is not sufficient evidence against the accused, and he was also interrogated in army custody and sent for trial in a closed court.
CASE DETAILS:
Nay Phone Latt in 2007 set up a small Internet shop at his house in Rangoon. Later in the year, he was involved on the sidelines of the protests against the military government.
Nay Phone Latt was arrested at the end of January 2008 and accused of having defaced images of national leaders, writing and cartoons in his email inbox and having distributed these in order to upset the public tranquility. According to the police, in December 2007 when he went to Singapore he also met political activists and went to see the "Four Fruits" (Thi Lay Thi) entertainment troupe, whose CDs of performances he copied and passed to others, among other things.
There is as in other cases arising from last year's protests a range of problems with the cases against Nay Phone Latt. To begin with, first the police have not presented any evidence that he had himself been responsible for distributing any of the contents that they found in his email inbox, which he had received from elsewhere, not made himself. He did not post any of them or anything else inflammatory to his blog (http://nayphonelatt.blogspot.com). Secondly, the information given by the police on events in Singapore are irrelevant to the cases that have been lodged against him. Thirdly, the entertainment troupe had up to the time that it went to Singapore had its CDs freely sold in Rangoon. Fourthly, Nay Phone Latt was interrogated and detained at an army camp, a fact acknowledged by the investigating officer in his testimony, which is a flagrant violation of the law on evidence. And finally, fifthly, the case was yet again heard i
Nay Hpone Latt has been charged by the same police officer that has brought the case against Win Maw for having contact with an overseas radio station (AHRC-UAC-200-2008). However, it is not only the investigating officer who is the same. The so-called witnesses of the search conducted in the two cases also are exactly the same people, although the arrests and searches took place weeks apart. The purpose of having two people act as witnesses is so that there is an independent account of police actions in conducting a search. But this police officer is evidently taking his own "witnesses" along with him to multiple searches and arrests to have them fill out the form for him as required by procedure and without any regard to the purpose of having the witnesses there.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The AHRC has been documenting cases of illegal arrest, detention and prosecution since the nationwide protests in Burma last September and has in recent months also issued a number of other recent cases of young women imprisoned under similar circumstances and on similar charges, including the cases of three men who harboured a monk (AHRC-UAC-188-2008), Kam Lat Koat and two others (AHRC-UAC-177-2008), Ko Htin Kyaw (AHRC-UAC-146-2008), U Ohn Than (AHRC-UAC-131-2008), Honey Oo and Aung Min Naing (AHRC-UAC-083-2008), Ko Thiha (AHRC-UAC-052-2008) and Khin Sanda Win (AHRC-UAC-022-2008).
Similarly, it has been following the growing number of arrests and legal actions taken against persons who have launched their own cyclone relief operations since May. See on the arrest of human rights defender U Myint Aye and two others: AHRC-UAC-183-2008.
For links and other material on the protests in Burma of August and September 2007 see: http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/
See also the comprehensive report on Burma: "Burma, political psychosis and legal dementia" issued by the AHRC’s sister organisation and the 2007 AHRC Human Rights Report chapter on Burma.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the persons listed below to call for the charges against Nay Phone Latt to be dropped. Please note that for the purpose of the letter, the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar, rather than Burma, and Rangoon as Yangon.
Please be informed that the AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar and independence of judges and lawyers as well as the UN Special Representative on human rights defenders, the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia, calling for interventions into this case.
SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear ___________,
MYANMAR: Man arrested and charged for blogging on September 2007 rallies
Details of accused: Nay Phone Latt, a.k.a. Ne Myo Kyaw, Internet franchise owner, ID No. 12/KaTaTa(Naing)026013, Thuwanna-thanthumar Main Road, Thingangyun Township, Yangon
Investigating officer: Police Major Ye Nyunt, No. LA/58188, Special Branch
Charge and trial: Charged under section 505(b) of the Penal Code with upsetting public tranquility; section 32(b) of the Video Act; sections 33(a) & 38 of the Electronic Transaction Law 5/2004; Felony Case Nos. 69-72/2008 Yangon Western District Court, Judge Daw Soe Nyan, Deputy District Judge, No. Ta/1761 presiding
I am sorry to hear of a man who has been arrested and charged for having blogged on the unrest in Myanmar of August-September 2007 and am appealing to you for his immediate release.
According to the information that I have received, Nay Phone Latt was arrested at the end of January 2008 and accused of having defaced images of national leaders, writing and cartoons in his email inbox and having distributed these through the Internet. According to the police, in December 2007 when he went to Singapore he also met political activists and went to see the "Four Fruits" (Thi Lay Thi) entertainment troupe, whose CDs of performances he copied and passed to others.
From what I have learned, there are a number of very serious defects with the cases against Nay Phone Latt, including but not limited to the following:
First, the Special Branch police have not presented any evidence that he had himself been responsible for distributing any of the contents that they found in his email inbox, which he had received from elsewhere, not made himself. The fact that he distributed such material with intent to upset public tranquility is very important to the case. That he had it in his email box alone is not sufficient.
Secondly, the information given by the police on whatever the accused did or didn't do in Singapore is plainly irrelevant to the charges against him, which all relate to events under the domestic law, and so it should have been omitted from the trial process completely.
Thirdly, the investigating officer admitted during his testimony to the court that Nay Phone Latt had been interrogated and detained at an army camp, which is a flagrant violation of Evidence Act (sections 25-26).
Lastly, the case was yet again heard in a closed court inside the Insein Prison, rather than in an open court as required under the Judiciary Law 2000, for reasons that I am not able to understand as the accused clearly does not comprise a security threat to the state in Myanmar and there is no reason that his case should be heard behind locked doors.
I also note with interest that the two "witnesses" identified as having been present for the search of Police Major Ye Nyunt on the defendant's premises are not independent. They have appeared also in other cases for this police officer against detainees from last year, and their continued use by this officer is obviously a scam and a sham to have his people witness events for the sake of records.
In light of this patent lack of evidence and defects with the prosecution witnesses I urge that the court close the case and release the accused immediately. In the event that the court itself fails to do so I urge the Supreme Court of Myanmar to give directions to this effect in accordance with its powers as established by the new Constitution of Myanmar 2008.
I likewise call for the Attorney General to review the case and instruct the concerned law office to withdraw the case from the court as per section 4(b) of the Attorney General Law 2001, and for the Minister of Home Affairs and Director General of Police also to look into the matter both with a view to seeing the case withdrawn and also in order to review the work of their subordinates, in particular, that of Police Major Ye Nyunt whose work for Special Branch, which is supposed to carry a long and fine tradition, is nothing more than an utter shambles and a fraud.
Finally, I take this opportunity to remind the Government of Myanmar of the need to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross access to places of detention and not least of all, access to those persons and forcibly disrobed monks and nuns who have been held in violation of criminal procedure and without charge or trial since the events of last September.
Yours sincerely
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439
2. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624
3. U Aung Toe
Chief Justice
Office of the Supreme Court
Office No. 24
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 67 404 080/ 071/ 078/ 067 or + 95 1 372 145
Fax: + 95 67 404 059
4. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106
5. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +951 549 663 / 549 208
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
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