News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 17 May, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 17 May, 2011
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Burma Frees Prisoners as US Renews Sanctions
Surveillance of media and Internet stepped up under new civilian president
Myanmar: Prison sentence reductions are not enough
US renews Myanmar sanctions
Burma to free 17,000 from jail
Burma frees 14,600, but few political prisoners
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Burma Frees Prisoners as US Renews Sanctions
VOA News May 17, 2011

Burma began releasing thousands of prisoners Tuesday under a limited clemency program that will have little impact on the nation's political prisoners.

Human rights groups and the U.S. State Department have said the government must go further and immediately release Burma's estimated 2,200 political prisoners. U.S. President Barack Obama renewed American economic sanctions on Burma for another year Monday, saying the large-scale repression of the democratic opposition in that country has not been resolved.

The clemency program, proclaimed Monday by President Thein Sein, commuted death sentences to life imprisonment and reduced all other jail terms by one year.

The government Tuesday began releasing more than 14,000 prisoners who had less than one year left on their terms. However the release was expected to affect very few political prisoners, most of who are serving terms of up to 65 years.

The French news agency AFP quoted an unidentified Burmese official saying the release would include some intelligence officers who were on the losing side of a power struggle in 2004. However former prime minister and intelligence chief Khin Nyunt is serving a 44-year sentence and was not expected to be freed.

Human Rights Watch on Monday dismissed the clemency program as a "pathetic response" to demands for increased political freedom. It called the program a "slap in the face" for a senior United Nations envoy who had just urged the release of all political prisoners in Burma.

Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, made the call at the end of a visit to Burma last week. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/southeast/Burma-Frees-Prisoners-as-US-Renews-Sanctions-121988499.html
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Surveillance of media and Internet stepped up under new civilian president
Reporters without Borders:
Published on Tuesday 17 May 2011.

Press freedom and online freedom of information are still being flouted in Burma, three months after Thein Sein’s election as a civilian president. He promised to “respect the role of the media” but heavy jail sentences for journalists, suspension of newspapers and police raids on Internet cafés show that there has been no let-up in controls and intimidation. And now a string of new measures have just tightened control over Internet use.

“Thein Sein announced a general amnesty on 16 April for prisoners sentenced to death but there has been no pardon for Burma’s 2,000 political prisoners,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The regime’s professions of good intentions aim to deflect attention from recent measures designed to reinforce restrictions on news and information.

“The authorities clearly fear that the Arab Spring could spread. The new regulations are intended to intimidate Burmese Internet users and cut them off from the outside world. It is unacceptable that Burma is reacting in this way while chairing ASEAN, whose charter mentions respect for fundamental freedoms, the promotion and protection of human rights and the promotion of social justice.”

The press freedom organization added: “We urge ASEAN’s members including Indonesia, which takes over its presidency this year, to put pressure on Burma to adhere to this regional organization’s principles.”

Reporters Without Borders learned last week that the Burmese government’s censorship bureau, called the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), has suspended the Rangoon-based weekly True News for two weeks – supposedly for misreporting a mobile phone offer by the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs (MCPT).

According to the exile news outlet Irrawaddy, the MCPT objected to a report quoting its chief telecommunications engineer, Zaw Min Oo, as saying anyone who owned a GSM mobile phone, which retail for 1.5 million kyat (US $1,830), would be able to get a second one for just 50,000 kyat ($60). But a True News reporter who requested anonymity said other articles published by weekly were the real reason for the suspension.

At the same time, the MCPT has just sent a new set of rules to Internet cafés, which were already subject to draconian regulations imposed by the ministry, including a requirement to keep the personal data of all their clients along with a record of all the websites they visit, and make it available to the authorities.

The new set of directives includes a ban on the use of portable hard disks, USB flash drives and CDs in Internet cafés, and a ban on the use of Internet telephony (VoIP) services to call abroad. The grounds given by the ministry is the need to protect the state’s income from international phone calls but it will isolate dissidents more and discourage Internet users from expressing themselves freely. Above all, it will affect users of services such as Skype, Gtalk, Pfingo and VZO, which are hard to monitor for the authorities.

Reporters Without Borders has obtained a copy of the directives, which were emailed to Internet cafés earlier this month. How they will be implemented is not always clear:

Rules for Owners of Public Access Centres

1. Personal information of PAC users such as name, National Registration Card number, passport number (if the user is a foreigner), contact address, telephone number etc. must be registered.

2. Service Records of all PAC users (date, time, screen shot, URLs) must be submitted once a month to the Directorate of Communication.

3. Utilizing Internet for international phone calls is prohibited as it is illegal and not permitted by the Department of Communication.

4. PACs are not allowed to use software, programs and technologies banned by the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication, Directorate of Communication and Department of Communication. PACs must also make sure that such software, programs and technologies are not utilized by their customers.

5. PAC users must be informed by means of written notice that cyber crimes (hacking, virus distribution, port scanning etc.) and viewing, copying and distributing of media that is not in line with Myanmar culture are prohibited.

6. Computers at the PACs are not allowed to have floppy drive, CD drive, USB port and other external drives.

7. PAC license holders are obliged to permit inspections by PAC service providers, and officials from the ministry and the directorate, and local authorities.

8. Leasing or transferring of PAC license is prohibited. Owners can apply permission from the directorate if they wish to change the location of PAC or technologies used.

9. Owners may submit application to renew PAC license 30 days prior to the expiry date. Renewal fee / annual fee has to be prepaid. Owners who failed to pay in time will be fined 30,000 kyats per every delayed month. License will be revoked if required payment is not made within 90 days.

10. In case of lost or damage of the original document (license), a copy of it may be issued against payment.

11. Computer Development Law must be observed and restrictions stipulated by Ministry of Post and Telecommunication’s WAN-order no. 3/2002 must be followed. Orders and instructions made by the government, ministries, Department of Communication and Directorate of Communication must be observed. Perpetrators will not only have their PAC license revoked but also be punished according to the existing laws.

12. Information that could harm State’s security and interest must not be leaked. Perpetrators who leak such information will be punished with State Secret Act.

At the end of 2010, the authorities gave themselves the means to cut off the public’s Internet access during any social or political crisis without having to disconnect themselves at the same time. A reorganization of Internet Service Providers, billed as major step forward, has enabled the authorities to increase online surveillance and repression while improving the quality of their own Internet connections.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association released an exclusive report on the subject, entitled “National Web portal – development or repression,” last November.

Burma’s Internet legislation is long been one of the most repressive in the world. Under the 1996 Electronic Act, which covers the Internet, TV and radio, importing, owning or using a modem without an official permit is punishable by up to 15 years in prison as a “violation of state security, national unity, culture, the national economy, law and order.”

Three netizens – Zarganar, Nay Phone Latt and Kaung Myat Hlaing (also known as "Nat Soe") – are still serving long jail sentences for expressing their views freely online.

Burma is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “Enemies of the Internet.” Amnesty International puts the number of Burmese political prisoners at more than 2,200. They include 17 video journalists (VJ) employed by the exile TV and radio station Democratic Voice of Burma, which recently launched a campaign for their release with support from Reporters Without Borders.
http://en.rsf.org/burma-surveillance-of-media-and-internet-17-05-2011,40296.html
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Myanmar: Prison sentence reductions are not enough
Prisoner of conscience Min Ko Naing faces a one-year reduction of his 65-year sentence
17 May 2011

The Myanmar government’s reduction of prison terms must be swiftly followed by the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, Amnesty International said today.

The Myanmar government said on Monday it had reduced by one year the sentences of all current prisoners and commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment.

“While the reductions are welcome news for political prisoners, they are astonishingly insufficient”, said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar researcher. “These actions fall well short of the comprehensive release of all prisoners of conscience desperately needed in Myanmar”.

Amnesty International also called upon Myanmar to go beyond commuting death sentences and join the worldwide trend towards the complete abolition of the death penalty.

While no death row prisoner in Myanmar is known to have been executed since 1988, the death penalty is still in the statute books and death sentences continue to be imposed.

“The commutation of these death sentences is encouraging, but the next move should be to bring about all necessary legislative changes to abolish the death penalty in Myanmar”, said Benjamin Zawacki.

The Myanmar authorities hold over 2,200 political prisoners, many of whom have been subjected to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. They are held in poor conditions in prisons that lack adequate medical treatment and are often located far away from prisoners’ families.

The international community has repeatedly called on the Myanmar authorities to release political prisoners, especially in the run-up to the country’s first elections in 20 years that took place in November 2010. However, at the January 2011 United Nations Human Rights Council, Myanmar government representatives denied that there were any political prisoners in the country.

“The Myanmar government has for decades used imprisonment to silence peaceful dissent, opting for sentence reductions and selective periodic amnesties as a small concession to international criticism of its human rights record,” said Benjamin Zawacki.

Last week, Mr. Vijay Nambiar, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, stressed the release of all political prisoners during his first post-elections visit to Myanmar.

Amnesty International also urged Myanmar to take concrete steps toward guaranteeing basic freedoms.

"The authorities should repeal or amend laws and practices that arbitrarily restrict rights, such as the Electronic Transactions Law that prevents the reporting of views critical of the government, and should ensure that the judiciary is free from political interference and other abuses", said Benjamin Zawacki.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/myanmar-prison-sentence-reductions-are-not-enough-2011-05-17
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US renews Myanmar sanctions
Posted: 17 May 2011 0836 hrs

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday renewed its economic sanctions against Myanmar and urged the military-backed regime to go much further after it reduced prisoners' terms by just one year.

In a formal notice to Congress, President Barack Obama said that he was renewing sanctions that would otherwise have expired this month because Myanmar, also known as Burma, was taking actions "hostile to US interests."

Obama, using language nearly identical to previous years, criticized actions by the regime including the "large-scale repression of the democratic opposition" in deciding to extend the measures that limit trade with Myanmar.

The Obama administration in 2009 launched an engagement drive with Myanmar, concluding that the previous Western policy of trying to isolate the regime had failed.

But the administration has said that it is disappointed with the results of the dialogue and rejected calls by some Asian nations to ease sanctions on Myanmar after it last year held elections, which were widely criticized.

Myanmar's President Thein Sein, in a message read on state television Monday, said that the government was reducing all prisoners' sentences by one year and commuting the death penalty to life imprisonment.

The United States and democracy activists have called for a broader amnesty in Myanmar, where many political opponents are held under vague laws for double-digit terms.

"We would just reiterate our call that all political prisoners should be released immediately," US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

The regime last year released Nobel Prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest.

But human rights groups say more than 2,000 other political prisoners remain.

- AFP/cc http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1129339/1/.html
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Burma to free 17,000 from jail

Published: 17/05/2011 at 02:31 PM
Online news: Bangkok Post

About 17,000 prisoners were due to be released nationwide in Burma, an official said Tuesday, after the president announced a limited jail-term reduction that was greeted with disappointment by critics.

A Myanmar soldier stands alert during a military event in the country's administrative capital Naypyidaw. About 17,000 prisoners were due to be released nationwide in the country, an official said Tuesday, after the president announced a limited jail-term reduction that was greeted with disappointment by critics.

Among those set to be released were some of the intelligence personnel purged after the ousting of former premier and army intelligence chief Khin Nyunt in a power struggle in 2004, the official told AFP.

But the vast majority were expected to be common criminals, despite human rights groups accusing Burma of holding more than 2,000 political prisoners.

Burma's President Thein Sein, in a message read on state television on Monday, said that the government was reducing all inmates' sentences by one year and commuting the death penalty to life imprisonment.

Human Rights Watch called the news a "sick joke" given the numbers of political prisoners in the country, while the United States urged the regime to go much further as it renewed economic sanctions against Burma.

The US and democracy activists have long called for a broader amnesty in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military handed over power to a nominally civilian government led by a retired general after an election last year.

Many political opponents remain held under vague laws for double-digit terms, and while it was unclear how many had less than one year to serve and so would be released, the numbers were expected to be extremely small.

"This is a pathetic response to international calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

About 2,600 prisoners began to be released from Rangoon's notorious Insein prison on Tuesday.

"Altogether about 17,000 prisoners from the prisons around the country will be released. Jailed former intelligence personnel will be among those released," the official told AFP, declining to be named.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in November shortly after the election, Burma's first in 20 years.

The opposition and the West welcomed her freedom but criticised the poll as anything but free and fair, and have urged the government to do more to improve its human rights record.

In a formal notice to Congress on Monday, President Barack Obama said that he was renewing sanctions that would otherwise have expired this month because Burma, also known as Burma, was taking actions "hostile to US interests".

Obama, using language nearly identical to previous years, criticised actions by the regime including the "large-scale repression of the democratic opposition" in deciding to extend the measures that limit trade with Burma.http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/237474/burma-frees-thousands-in-pathetic-jail-term-cut
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Burma frees 14,600, but few political prisoners
The Associated Press
Date: Tuesday May. 17, 2011 5:38 AM ET

RANGOON, Burma — Burma is releasing more than 14,600 prisoners under a clemency program that will include very few political prisoners.

Prison Department Director General Zaw Win said most of the convicts, including 2,166 women, were being freed Tuesday from jails around the country.

The limited nature of the program -- commuting death sentences to life imprisonment and cutting one year from convicts' prison terms -- has drawn criticism from many who had expected more generous terms, similar to broader amnesties that have been announced in the past.

Most of the country's political prisoners, both from the pro-democracy movement and from out-of-favor factions in the government, are serving long prison terms that will keep them locked up.

"My hopes are shattered. I thought my husband would be released in a general amnesty," said Moe Moe, 33, the wife of a former military intelligence officer sentenced in 2005 to 15 years in prison, after the measure was announced Monday night.

Asked how many political prisoners were among those to be released, Zaw Win repeated the government's position that the country has no political detainees.

But he said "some prisoners who are charged under emergency laws and for links with illegal organizations will be among those freed." Emergency laws are broadly defined security statutes usually used to prosecute political activists, who are often accused of links to banned political groups.

Long-term detainees include prominent student activists such as Min Ko Naing who are serving 65-year prison sentences and politicians from ethnic minority parties such as Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo who have sentences of more than 80 years.

Apart from pro-democracy activists, many former intelligence officers who were on the losing side of a power struggle are serving lengthy prison sentences.

Former Prime Minister and military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, who is serving a 44-year sentence under house arrest, is not benefiting from the clemency program, Zaw Win told reporters at Yangon's Insein Prison, where he gave a speech to inmates.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in Washington that the U.S. reiterated its call that all political prisoners be released immediately.

New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling the clemency "a pathetic response to international calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners."

"For the 2,100 political prisoners unjustly serving sentences of up to 65 years, the one-year reduction is a sick joke," the rights group said Tuesday.

The government in Burma generally grants amnesties to mark important national days. The last in 2009 freed 7,114 prisoners. Most recipients are petty criminals, but previous mass releases have usually included a handful of political detainees.

An amnesty had been expected when the country held its first elections in 20 years in November, when parliament convened in January, and then when the nominally civilian government was sworn in at the end of March.

The country has more than 60,000 prisoners in 42 prisons and 109 labor camps.

Zaw Win said 2,600 of the more than 8,000 inmates at Insein Prison were being released. He said 348 prisoners on death row will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

Burma has been under the sway of the army since 1962, and critics say its recent transition to civilian rule is a charade that perpetuates military rule. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20110517/burma-prisoners-amnesty-110517/

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