- Update info:
- 19 Apr 2016 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 10 Nov 2015
- Country:
- UNION OF MYANMAR
- Subject:
- Lin Htet Naing aka Aung Thant Zin aka James (m) and Phyoe Phyoe Aung (f)
Gender : both
- Period:
- 19 May 2016
- Distribution date:
- 10 Nov 2015
- UA No:
- 252/2015
After almost eight months in hiding, prominent student unionist Lin Htet Naing has been detained for his role in organizing student protests in Myanmar. Over 50 students are currently in detention for taking part in the protests. Lin Htet Naing is a prisoner of conscience who must be immediately and unconditionally released.
Lin Htet Naing aka Aung Thant Zin aka James, a prominent student unionist and member of the Central Executive Committee of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), was arrested on 3 November by Special Branch police on a bus in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. His arrest relates to a peaceful protest he organized on 10 March in Yangon against the violent dispersal of a student march earlier that day in Letpadan, Bago Region. After the protest on 10 March the police issued an arrest warrant against him and he went into hiding.
Following his arrest, his whereabouts remained unknown up until midday on 4 November when he was brought before the Kamayut Township Court in Yangon. He was later transferred to Insein prison where he is currently held. He has been charged with taking part in an unlawful assembly (Article 143 of the Penal Code), joining or continuing an unlawful assembly knowing it has been dispersed (Article 145 of the Penal Code), “rioting” (Article 147 of the Penal Code), and inciting the public to commit offences against the State or the public tranquillity (Article 505(b) of the Penal Code). He faces up to six years and six months’ imprisonment. His next court hearing will be on 5 November.
Lin Htet Naing is the husband of Phyoe Phyoe Aung, the Secretary General of the ABFSU who is currently in detention in Tharawaddy prison, Bago Region, for her role in leading the student protests in Letpadan. She is also a prisoner of conscience.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Lin Htet Naing, Phyoe Phyoe Aung, Kyaw Ko Ko, and Nandar Sitt Aung, all members of the ABFSU, have been leading student protests since the end of 2014, after the National Education Law was adopted on 30 September 2014. They claim the law curtails academic freedom and are calling for it to be amended. A nationwide student march was blocked in Letpadan, Bago Region and violently dispersed on 10 March by Myanmar police. More than 100 students were arrested that day. Since then, some have been released on bail but more than fifty remain in detention in Tharawaddy prison, Bago Region.
Lin Htet Naing is now facing trial in the same case as prisoners of conscience Nandar Sitt Aung and Kyaw Ko Ko. See UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/2484/2015/en/ and UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/2784/2015/en/
Lin Htet Naing was previously arrested in 2008 for his involvement in the “Saffron Revolution” – widespread anti-government protests across Myanmar in August and September 2007. He was released in a presidential prisoner amnesty in January 2012.
The Myanmar authorities continue to arrest and imprison activists and human rights defenders simply for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly which are enshrined in Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Amnesty International is concerned about a number of laws in Myanmar which restrict the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
In October, Amnesty International published a briefing highlighting how Myanmar’s authorities have intensified repression over the past two years and in particular by clamping down on freedom of expression in the lead up to general elections scheduled for 8 November. See: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/2457/2015/my/
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.
UA: 252/15 Index: ASA 16/2813/2015 Issue Date: 4 November 2015
- Update info:
- 19 Apr 2016 (Suspended)
- Latest info:
- 10 Nov 2015
- Country:
- UNION OF MYANMAR
- Subject:
- Phyoe Phyoe Aung (f) and Lin Htet Naing (m)
Gender m/f: Both
- Period:
- 19 May 2016
- Distribution date:
- 19 Apr 2016
- UA No:
- 252/2015
Student leaders Phyoe Phyoe Aung and Lin Htet Naing (aka James aka Aung Thant Zin) were released on 8 April after all charges against them were dropped by courts in Myanmar.
Phyoe Phyoe Aung and her husband Lin Htet Naing, student leaders and members of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), were released on 8 April after courts in Myanmar dropped all charges pending against them. The releases came a day after the new government announced that it would work to release all prisoners of conscience as soon as possible.
Secretary General of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), Phyoe Phyoe Aung had been in detention since her arrest on 10 March 2015, following a violent police crackdown on largely peaceful student protesters in the town of Letpadaung, in Bago Region. They had been protesting against the new National Education Law, which they claim curtails academic freedom. She and scores of others were charged with a range of criminal offences in connection with the protest. Phyoe Phyoe Aung, as one of the leaders of the student movement, was also charged later with multiple counts of protesting without permission for peaceful demonstrations she held between November 2014 and March 2015. She had been facing over 13 years in prison.
Phyoe Phyoe Aung’s husband, Lin Htet Naing – a member of Central Executive Committee of the ABFSU –, was arrested on 3 November 2015 following months in hiding. He had been facing politically motivated charges for participating in a peaceful protest in Yangon on 10 March 2015, held in response to the violent crackdown against student protesters in Letpadan, in Bago Region. Similarly to his wife, Lin Htet Naing has also been charged with protesting without permission during peaceful demonstrations between November 2014 and March 2015. He had been facing over nine years in prison.
Phyoe Phyoe Aung and Lin Htet Naing should have never been imprisoned in the first place. Amnesty International is continuing to campaign for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.
Thank you to all those who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network.
This is the second update of UA 252/15. Further information: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa16/3492/2016/en/
Further information on UA: 252/15 Index: ASA 16/3836/2016 Issue Date: 13 April 2016
