- Update info:
- 22 Dec 2015 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 23 Jan 2015
- Country:
- UNION OF MYANMAR
- Subject:
- Ko Wai Lu (m), 14 Michaungkan activists (m and f)
Gender m/f: Both
- Period:
- 22 Jan 2016
- Distribution date:
- 23 Jan 2015
- UA No:
- 005/2015
Political activist Ko Wai Lu has been arbitrarily detained and is facing imprisonment in Myanmar after he provided support to peaceful protesters who are calling on the authorities to resolve their land dispute. Fourteen people have also been charged for taking part in the peaceful protests.
On 18 December 2014, Ko Wai Lu, a prominent political activist, was arrested in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, while he was offering support and encouragement, and reportedly providing water, to protesters from the city’s Michaungkan community. The community had been staging a peaceful sit-in protest next to Maha Bandoola Gardens, near Yangon’s City Hall, since March 2014. On 12 December, members of the community moved the sit-in protest closer to the City Hall. The protest was in response to failures by the Myanmar authorities to resolve the community’s land dispute. They allege that the Myanmar military confiscated their land in the early 1990s, and are calling for its return and for compensation.
Ko Wai Lu was charged on 19 December by the Kyauktada Township Court under Section 505(b) of Myanmar’s Penal Code – a law commonly used to detain political activists. It provides for up to two years’ imprisonment for publishing or circulating information which may cause public fear or alarm and may incite persons to commit offences "against the State or against the public tranquillity". He is currently detained in Insein prison, Yangon.
On 23 December, 14 members of the Michaungkan community were arrested when police disbanded the protest site. They have all been charged with protesting without permission under Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law and for causing harm by disobeying a public servant’s order under Section 188 of Myanmar’s Penal Code. They are currently not detained.
Ko Wai Lu and the 14 protesters will next appear before the Kyauktada Township Court on 16 January 2015.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Ko Wai Lu is a well-known activist in Myanmar, who has been arrested and detained multiples times in the past for his involvement in peaceful political activities. His arrest in December came less than a month after he was released from prison, having been sentenced in August 2014 to four months in detention for protesting without permission against a rise in electricity prices in Mandalay.
Amnesty International is concerned that the Myanmar authorities are targeting individuals involved or associated with the Michaungkan community protests. In September 2014, Michaungkan community leader U Sein Than was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for protesting without permission and obstruction (See Urgent Action: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA16/021/2014/en). U Sein Than’s daughter and four others were also charged with protesting without permission outside one of U Sein Than’s court hearings. In addition to the fact that criminally punishing people for peacefully protesting is contrary to international human rights law and standards, she claims that they were not protesting but just attending her father’s hearing.
The sit-in protest next to Maha Bandoola Garden by the Michaungkan community followed a similar protest which began in November 2013 at the Myasaryan Pagoda in Yangon. That protest came to an end on 11 December 2013, when villagers agreed to leave the protest site for a period of three months after the Parliamentary Farmland Investigation Commission decided to investigate their case. The Commission failed to resolve the dispute, prompting the resumption of the sit-in protest in March 2014.
Human rights defenders and activists in Myanmar continue to be arrested and detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, rights enshrined in Articles 19 and 20 of the UDHR. A range of laws in Myanmar are used to criminalize lawful expression and peaceful assembly, including Section 505(b) of the country’s Penal Code and Article 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. The restrictions on the right to freedom of expression imposed by these two laws are phrased in an excessively broad and vague manner, potentially resulting in both an overreach, and a discriminatory application, of the law.
Amnesty International continues to receive reports about poor prison conditions in Myanmar, which do not comply with those set out in the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. These concerns include a lack of access to adequate medical treatment, clean drinking water, nutritious food and water for bathing.
Name: Ko Wai Lu (m), 14 Michaungkan activists (m and f)
Gender m/f: Both
UA: 5/15 Index: ASA 16/002/2015 Issue Date: 9 January 2015
- Update info:
- 22 Dec 2015 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 23 Jan 2015
- Country:
- UNION OF MYANMAR
- Subject:
- Ko Wai Lu
Gender : m
- Period:
- 22 Jan 2016
- Distribution date:
- 22 Dec 2015
- UA No:
- 005/2015
Political activist Ko Wai Lu has been released from prison in Myanmar upon completion of his sentence.
On 12 November 2015, political activist Ko Wai Lu was released from Insein prison in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city upon completion of his sentence. He was arrested on 18 December 2014 while offering support and encouragement to peaceful protesters from the Michaungkan community. The community had been staging a peaceful sit-in protest near Yangon’s City Hall in response to the Myanmar authorities’ failure to resolve their land dispute.
On 8 April 2015 he was sentenced to one-year in prison by the Kyauktada Township Court in Yangon under Section 505(b) of Myanmar’s Penal Code for publishing or circulating information which may cause public fear or alarm and may incite persons to commit offences "against the State or against the public tranquillity".
Ko Wai Lu should never have been imprisoned in the first place.
Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.
This is the third update of UA 5/15. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/1418/2015/en/
Further information on UA: 5/15 Index: ASA 16/3085/2015 Issue Date: 15 December 2015
