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U.N. council demands end to Myanmar violence in first resolution in decades

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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years on Wednesday to demand an end to violence and urge the military junta to release all political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the army took power from Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, detaining her and other officials and responding to pro-democracy protests and dissent with lethal force.

“Today we’ve sent a firm message to the military that they should be in no doubt – we expect this resolution to be implemented in full,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said after the vote on the British-drafted resolution.

“We’ve also sent a clear message to the people of Myanmar that we seek progress in line with their rights, their wishes and their interests,” Woodward told the 15-member council.

It has long been split on how to deal with the Myanmar crisis, with China and Russia arguing against strong action. They both abstained from the vote on Wednesday, along with India. The remaining 12 members voted in favor.

“China still has concerns,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council after the vote. “There is no quick fix to the issue … Whether or not it can be properly resolved in the end, depends fundamentally, and only, on Myanmar itself.”

He said China had wanted the Security Council to adopt a formal statement on Myanmar, not a resolution.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow did not view the situation in Myanmar as a threat to international peace and security and therefore believed it should not be dealt with by the U.N. Security Council.

Myanmar citizens who live in Thailand, hold a portrait of former Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as they protest against the execution of pro-democracy activists, at Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, Thailand July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the resolution’s adoption. “This is an important step by the Security Council to address the crisis and end the Burma military regime’s escalating repression and violence against civilians,” he said in a statement.

‘FIRST STEP’

Until now the council had only agreed formal statements on Myanmar, where the army also led a 2017 crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that was described by the United States as genocide. Myanmar denies genocide and said it was waging a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts.

Negotiations on the draft Security Council resolution began in September. The initial text – seen by Reuters – urged an end to the transfer of arms to Myanmar and threatened sanctions, but that language has since been removed.

The adopted resolution expresses “deep concern” at the continuing state of emergency imposed by the military when it seized power and its “grave impact” on Myanmar’s people.

It urges “concrete and immediate actions” to implement a peace plan agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and issues a call to “uphold democratic institutions and processes and to pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people”.

The only other resolution adopted by the Security Council was in 1948, when the body recommended the U.N. General Assembly admit Myanmar – then Burma – as a member of the world body.

Myanmar’s U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who still holds the U.N. seat and represents Suu Kyi’s government, said while there were positive elements in the resolution the National Unity Government – comprised of remnants of the ousted administration – would have preferred a stronger text.

“We are clear this is only a first step,” he told reporters. “The National Unity Government calls on the UNSC (to build) on this resolution to take further and stronger action to ensure the end of the military junta and its crimes.”

Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Alex Richardson and Grant McCool

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Myanmar junta frees Australian economist, former UK envoy in mass amnesty

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  • Australian held for 650 days for state secrets breach
  • Opponents sceptical of junta’s motives
  • Turnell headed for Australia – PM
  • Amnesty a bright spot at ‘incredibly dark time’ – Blinken

Nov 17 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s ruling military on Thursday freed a former British ambassador, a Japanese filmmaker and an Australian economic adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, officials said, among nearly 6,000 prisoners included in a mass amnesty.

Australia said economist Sean Turnell left Myanmar on Thursday and had arrived in neighbouring Thailand, while a diplomatic source confirmed former British envoy Vicky Bowman had also left the country.

Myanmar’s state-run MRTV showed footage of the pair as well as Japan’s Toru Kubota, signing exit documents with officials. The United States said its citizen, Kyaw Htay Oo, was released.

Turnell was arrested a few days after the army seized power from Suu Kyi’s elected government in February last year, ending a decade of tentative democracy.

The coup sparked chaos and a bloody army crackdown on dissent that has drawn international condemnation and fuelled an armed resistance movement against the military.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese thanked the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia for pressuring the military to free Turnell, who was found guilty of a state secrets violation and sentenced in September to three years in jail.

“I’ve just spoken to Sean Turnell, who has been released from 650 days of unfair, unjust imprisonment in Myanmar,” Albanese told reporters in Bangkok, where he is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

“He will travel overnight to Australia to be with his family.”

State-controlled media said the amnesty included 5,774 prisoners and foreigners were released “for the relationship with other countries and also for humanitarian purposes”.

Speaking in Bangkok, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the release was “one bright spot in what is otherwise an incredibly dark time.”

“Whether this signals anything more broadly about the intentions of the regime, I can’t tell you – too soon to say.”

‘HOSTAGE TACTICS’

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which backs the resistance movement, said it was heartened by the amnesty, but said the world should not be duped.

[1/2] Mya Aye, a prominent political activist who was imprisoned following the military coup on February 01, 2021, is greeted as he walks free after his release from Insein prison, in Yangon, Myanmar November 17, 2022. Assistance Association for Myanmar Based Independent Journalists/via REUTERS.

“These types of hostage tactics by the junta should not fool the international community into believing that the military has changed its colours,” said Htin Linn Aung, an NUG minister and spokesperson.

A junta spokesperson did not answer Reuters’ calls seeking comment.

Bowman, Britain’s ambassador from 2002-2006 who heads a group promoting ethical business in Myanmar, had been jailed for immigration violations.

Kyaw Htay Oo was detained on terrorism charges, media has reported. Kubota was last month sentenced to 10 years in prison for violating sedition and communications laws.

Human rights groups have said their detentions, as well as thousands of others, were politically motivated. The junta has denied that.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno earlier on Thursday said Japan “will continue to demand Myanmar take specific and appropriate actions to rebuild democratic society, and to solve problems peacefully and seriously.”

Others included in the amnesty were 11 celebrities plus Kyaw Tint Swe, a former minister and a close aide to Suu Kyi, according to state media.

Suu Kyi’s former ruling party spokesperson Myo Nyunt and prominent democracy advocate Mya Aye were among those seen by witnesses leaving the Insein prison in the biggest city Yangon.

“I will be together with Myanmar people no matter what the situation is,” Mya Aye said.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has been documenting the military’s crackdown, said the junta had freed the foreigners to ease political pressure.

“Yet again, political prisoners are being used as bargaining chips,” it said.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said people should not be jailed for expressing political views.

“One hopes this release will not be a one-off event but rather the start of a process by the junta to release all political prisoners,” he said.

Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Martin Petty; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Simon Cameron-Moore, William Maclean

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‘Miracle’ toddler survived Thailand nursery massacre asleep under blanket

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UTHAI SAWAN, Thailand, Oct 9 (Reuters) – A three-year-old child who managed to survive last week’s massacre at a nursery in northeast Thailand slumbered through the horror under a blanket in the corner of a classroom.

Paveenut Supolwong, nicknamed “Ammy”, is normally a light sleeper, but at naptime on Thursday when the killer burst into the nursery and began murdering 22 children, Ammy was fast asleep with the blanket covering her face, her parents said.

It likely saved her life.

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She was the only child in the nursery to have escaped unscathed after former police officer Panya Khamrap killed more than 30 people, mostly children in the nursery, in a rampage through the town of Uthai Sawan.

“I’m in shock,” said Ammy’s mother, Panompai Sithong. “I feel for other families… I’m glad that my kid survived. It’s a mixed feeling of sadness and gratitude.”

On Sunday, the family’s wooden home was bustling with relatives and neighbours sharing plates of fish, papaya salad, and reflections on the tragedy.

They fussed over Ammy as she played in the yard in a flowery gown, an amulet tied around her neck, alternating between bewilderment and gap-toothed smiles at all the sudden attention.

Ammy’s parents said she seems to have no memory of the tragedy. Someone found her stirring in a far corner of a classroom, after the killer had left, and carried her out with her head covered by the blanket so she did not see the bodies of her classmates.

Of the 22 children stabbed to death, 11 died in the classroom where she was napping, according to police. Two other children were in hospital with serious head wounds.

RARE MOMENT OF JOY

On Sunday afternoon, the family sat in a circle as a religious leader read from a Sanskrit prayer book, conducting a Buddhist ceremony for children who endure bad experiences.

Ammy sat patiently in her mother’s lap, looking around shyly through big eyes and playing with two candles she held.

Tawatchai Supolwong holds his 3-year-old daugther Paveenut Supolwong, nicknamed Ammy, who is the only child survivor of the day care centre mass shooting, during a family meeting at their home in Uthai Sawan, Nong Bua Lam Phu province, Thailand, October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Jorge Silva

Relatives splashed one another with rice wine poured from a silver bowl and cried out wishes for good fortune.

They loaded Ammy’s tiny wrists with white threads for luck, pinching her cheeks and whispering blessings.

It was a rare moment of joy in a town plunged into grief.

In addition to the slaughter at the nursery, Panya rammed his pickup truck into passersby on the street and shot at neighbours in a two-hour rampage. Finally, he killed the woman he lived with, her son, and himself.

In the close-knit community, few have been left untouched.

From dawn on Sunday, families of the victims gathered at the temples where bodies are being kept in coffins. They brought treats for the souls of the dead, according to local traditions, including food, milk and toys.

Later in the day they sat for a Buddhist ceremony at the nursery, where mourners have left white floral wreaths and more presents.

At Ammy’s home, her mother said she believed spirits had protected her little girl.

“My kid is not a deep sleeper,” Panompai said. “I believe there must be some spirits covering her eyes and ears. We have different beliefs, but to me, I think it protected my kid.”

Another relative told local media Ammy’s survival was a “miracle”.

But the family had to break the news to her that her beloved best friend, two-year-old Techin, and her teacher were dead. “She was asking her grandmother, ‘Why don’t you pick up Techin from school?’,” Panompai said.

She does not yet know the full extent of the tragedy she lived through.

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Writing by Poppy McPherson; Editing by Susan Fenton

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Myanmar court jails Suu Kyi, Australian economist for 3 years – source

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Sept 29 (Reuters) – A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Thursday jailed deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her former economic adviser, Australian Sean Turnell, for three years for violating a secrets law, a source familiar with the proceedings said.

Both had pleaded not guilty to charges of violating the official secrets act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

“Three years each, no hard labour,” said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

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Suu Kyi, Turnell, and several members of her economic team are among thousands arrested since the military overthrew her elected government in a coup early last year, including politicians, lawmakers, bureaucrats, students and journalists.

Turnell has also been charged with immigration violations, for which he faces up to five years in prison. The court is expected to rule on that case on Thursday, according to a second source and media reports.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to at least 23 years in prison in separate cases, mostly related to corruption charges.

She denies all accusations against her.

Opponents of the military say the charges against Suu Kyi are aimed at blocking her from ever getting involved in politics again and challenging the military’s grip on power.

A junta spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment on Thursday. The junta insists Myanmar’s courts are independent and those arrested are receiving due process.

Turnell, who is also a professor of economics at Macquarie University in Australia, has been in detention since a few days after the coup.

His wife, Ha Vu, who is based in Australia, said she and her family were “heartbroken” at the verdict and called for him to be deported.

“Sean has been one of Myanmar’s greatest supporters for over 20 years and has worked tirelessly to strengthen Myanmar’s economy. Please consider the contributions … and deport him now,” she said in a Facebook post.

Australia called for Turnell’s release.

“The Australian government has consistently rejected the charges against Professor Turnell. (It) rejects today’s court ruling … and calls for his immediate release,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.

Australian consular officials tasked with assisting Turnell were denied access to the court, Wong said.

Thursday’s sentencing took place in a closed court in the capital, Naypyitaw. The defendants’ exact offence under the official secrets act remains unclear, though a source previously said Turnell’s offence “relates to an allegation that he had government documents”.

An analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, Richard Horsey, called the proceedings “a show trial”.

“For Sean the hope now must be that – having already been in detention for almost 20 months – he will be released soon from this terrible ordeal and reunited with his family,” he said.

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Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Ed Davies, Robert Birsel

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Myanmar’s Suu Kyi gets more jail, hard labour for election fraud

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Sept 2 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s deposed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of electoral fraud on Friday and sentenced by a judge to three years in jail with hard labour, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.

The Nobel laureate and figurehead of Myanmar’s opposition to decades of military rule has been detained since a coup early last year and has already been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. She denies all the allegations against her.

On Friday, she was judged to have committed fraud in a November 2020 general election that her National League for Democracy (NLD) won with an overwhelming legislative majority, trouncing a party created by the powerful military.

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The source, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to media, said it was unclear what hard labour would entail. Co-defendant Win Myint, the deposed president, was given the same sentence, the source said.

Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends Invest Myanmar in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, January 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo

A spokesperson for the ruling military council did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The junta has said Suu Kyi is being given due process.

The military seized power in February 2021 to stop Suu Kyi’s NLD from forming a new government after the election that it said had instances of fraud that had not properly been investigated.

The NLD has denied fraud and said it won fairly.

Suu Kyi, 76, has been on trial for more than a year on multiple charges, ranging from corruption and incitement to leaks of official secrets, for which the combined maximum sentences is more than 190 years.

Her trials have been held behind closed doors in the capital, Naypyitaw, and the junta’s statements on the proceedings have been limited. A gag order has been imposed on Suu Kyi’s lawyers.

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Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel

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U.S. calls China’s military action over Taiwan unjustified, Beijing sanctioning Pelosi

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  • Taiwan plays down concerns
  • China staging unprecedented military drills around Taiwan
  • Follows visit by U.S. House Speaker Pelosi to Taipei
  • China says it will sanction Pelosi over ‘vicious’ actions
  • Pelosi, in Japan, joins PM Kishida in condemning China

TAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) – China’s firing of missiles during military drills around Taiwan was an unjustified escalation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, as Beijing said it would impose sanctions on House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi for visiting the island.

Diplomatic relations spiralled further downward on Friday, as China’s foreign ministry followed up by saying it would cancel dialogues between U.S. and Chinese military leaders, and suspend bilateral talks on climate and maritime safety. read more

Blinken said Washington has made it repeatedly clear to Beijing it does not seek a crisis, as diplomatic ructions continued over Pelosi’s visit this week to the self-governed island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory.

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“There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response,” Blinken said, speaking at a news conference during the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Cambodia. He added, “now, they’ve taken dangerous acts to a new level”.

China launched its largest ever military drills in the seas and skies around Taiwan on Thursday, a day after Pelosi enraged Beijing by making a solidarity trip to the island, the highest-level U.S. visitor to Taiwan in 25 years. The live-fire drills are scheduled to continue until noon on Sunday.

On Friday, China’s military conducted air and sea drills to the north, southwest and east of Taiwan “to test the troops’ joint combat capabilities”, the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said in a statement on its official Weibo account.

Blinken emphasised that the United States would not take actions to provoke a crisis, but it would continue to support regional allies and conduct standard air and maritime transit through the Taiwan Strait.

“We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” he said.

The White House summoned Chinese ambassador Qin Gang on Thursday to condemn escalating actions against Taiwan, the Washington Post reported.

Representatives for the State Department did not immediately reply for a request for comment on China’s halting of talks or the report that Washington had summoned Beijing’s ambassador

China’s foreign ministry announced on Friday that it would impose sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family in response to her “vicious” and “provocative” actions. read more

“Despite China’s serious concerns and firm opposition, Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan, seriously interfering in China’s internal affairs, undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, trampling on the one-China policy, and threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement. read more

The foreign ministry said it was also suspending co-operation on cross-border crime prevention and counter-narcotics, and cooperation on repatriation of illegal migrants.

Speaking in Japan, Pelosi said her trip to Asia was never about changing the regional status quo. read more

‘EVIL NEIGHBOUR’

About 10 Chinese navy ships and 20 military aircraft briefly crossed the Taiwan Strait median line on Friday morning, a Taiwan source briefed on the matter told Reuters. read more

Earlier, Taiwan’s defence ministry said the island’s military had dispatched aircraft and ships and deployed land-based missile systems to monitor the situation there.

On Thursday, China fired multiple missiles into waters surrounding Taiwan in an unprecedented escalation during live-fire exercises.

Japan’s defence ministry, which is tracking the exercises, first reported that as many as four of the missiles flew over Taiwan’s capital. It also said that five of nine missiles fired toward its territory landed in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), also a first, prompting a diplomatic protest by Tokyo.

Later, Taiwan’s defence ministry said the missiles were high in the atmosphere and constituted no threat. It gave no details of their flight paths, citing intelligence concerns.

Some Taipei residents, including Mayor Ko Wen-je, criticised the government for not putting out a missile alert, but one security expert said that could have been done to avoid stoking panic and playing into China’s hands.

“It counteracted the effect of the Chinese Communist Party’s psychological warfare,” said Mei Fu-shin, a U.S.-based analyst. “The shock and fear were not as great as they could have been.”

Asked to comment on the missiles, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang did not directly respond, but referred to China as the “evil neighbour showing off her power at our door.” read more

“In my view, the larger threat is that China is doing a rehearsal for a blockade, demonstrating it can block Taiwan’s ports and airports, and prevent shipping,” said Bonnie Glaser, a Washington-based Asia security specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

JAPAN’S WORRIES

Responding to the Chinese drills, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan would not provoke conflicts but would firmly defend its sovereignty and national security.

Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists in a civil war, prompting the KMT-led government to retreat to the island.

Beijing has said its relations with Taiwan are an internal matter. It says it reserves the right to bring Taiwan under Chinese control, by force if necessary.

In Tokyo, Pelosi addressed the diplomatic furore caused by the congressional delegation’s week-long trip to Asia, and most specifically to Taiwan.

“We have said from the start that our representation here is not about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region,” she told a news conference after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“I have informed speaker Pelosi that the fact China’s ballistic missiles had landed near Japanese waters including EEZ threaten our national safety and security and that Japan had strongly condemned such actions,” Kishida said.

China’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the ambassador for Japan and a Canadian diplomat in Beijing on Thursday over an “erroneous” Group of Seven (G7) nations statement on Taiwan, and also made complaints to EU envoys.

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Reporting by Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu in Taipei
Additional reporting by Elaine Lies and Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Greg Torode in Hong Kong, Ann Wang in Liuqiu Island; Susan Heavey in Washington;
Writing by Tony Munroe, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Simon Cameron-Moore and Frances Kerry
Editing by Mark Heinrich, Frances Kerry and Toby Chopra

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Myanmar executes four democracy activists, drawing condemnation and outrage

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  • Executed include democracy figure, former lawmaker
  • Activists had been sentenced in Jan after closed-door trial
  • UN Myanmar special rapporteur ‘outraged and devastated’

July 25 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military junta on Monday said it had executed four democracy activists accused of helping to carry out “terror acts” in the Southeast Asian nation’s first executions in decades, sparking widespread condemnation.

Sentenced to death in closed-door trials in January and April, the four men had been accused of helping militias to fight the army that seized power in a coup last year and unleashed a bloody crackdown on its opponents.

Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration outlawed by the ruling military junta, condemned the executions and called for international action against Myanmar’s junta.

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“Extremely saddened … condemn the junta’s cruelty,” the NUG president’s office spokesman Kyaw Zaw told Reuters via message. “The global community must punish their cruelty.”

Among those executed were democracy figure Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

Kyaw Min Yu, 53, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a 41-year-old ally of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, lost their appeals against the sentences in June. The two others executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.

“I am outraged and devastated at the news of the junta’s execution of Myanmar patriots and champions of human rights and democracy,” Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement.

“My heart goes out to their families, friends and loved ones and indeed all the people in Myanmar who are victims of the junta’s escalating atrocities … These depraved acts must be a turning point for the international community.”

Thazin Nyunt Aung, the wife of Phyo Zeyar Thaw, said she had not been told of her husband’s execution. Other relatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

The men had been held in the colonial-era Insein prison and a person with knowledge of the events said their families visited the prison last Friday. Only one relative was allowed to speak to the detainees via the Zoom online platform, said the person.

Myanmar’s state media on Monday reported the executions had taken place and junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun later confirmed the executions to Voice of Myanmar. Neither gave any details about when the executions occurred.

Previous executions in Myanmar have been by hanging.

An activist group, the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), said Myanmar’s last judicial executions were in the late 1980s.

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION

Last month, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun defended the death penalty, saying it was justified and used in many countries.

“At least 50 innocent civilians, excluding security forces, died because of them,” he told a televised news conference.

“How can you say this is not justice?” he asked. “Required actions are needed to be done in the required moments.”

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), appealed in a letter in June to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing not to carry out the executions, relaying deep concern among Myanmar’s neighbours.

Myanmar’s ruling junta has condemned foreign statements about the execution orders as “reckless and interfering”.

Myanmar has been in chaos since last year’s coup, with conflict spreading nationwide after the army crushed mostly peaceful protests in cities.

“These horrendous executions were murders. They’re a part of the junta’s ongoing crimes against humanity and attack on the civilian population,” Matthew Smith, head of Southeast Asia’s Fortify Rights, told Reuters.

“The junta would be completely wrong to think this would instil fear in the hearts of the revolution.”

The AAPP says more than 2,100 people have been killed by the security forces since the coup. The junta says that figure is exaggerated.

The true picture of violence has been hard to assess as clashes have spread to more remote areas where ethnic minority insurgent groups are also fighting the military.

Last Friday, the World Court rejected Myanmar’s objections to a genocide case over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, paving the way for the case to be heard in full. read more

The latest executions close off any chance of ending the unrest in the country, said Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey, of the International CRISIS group.

“Any possibility of dialogue to end the crisis created by the coup has now been removed,” Horsey told Reuters.

“This is the regime demonstrating that it will do what it wants and listen to no one. It sees this as a demonstration of strength, but it may be a serious miscalculation.”

Acting Asia director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said the executions aimed to chill the anti-coup protest movement.

“European Union member states, the United States, and other governments should show the junta that there will be a reckoning for its crimes,” said Pearson.

“They should demand immediate measures, including the release of all political prisoners, and let the junta know the atrocities it commits have consequences.”

(This story corrects paragraph 2 to clarify timing of trials)

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Reporting by Reuters Staff;
Writing by Ed Davies and Michael Perry; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Clarence Fernandez

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World Court says it has jurisdiction, Myanmar genocide case to proceed

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  • Court rules case brought by Gambia can proceed
  • Any full hearing could take years
  • Myanmar denies genocide

THE HAGUE, July 22 (Reuters) – The World Court on Friday rejected Myanmar’s objections to a genocide case over its treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, paving the way for the case to be heard in full.

Myanmar, now ruled by a military junta that seized power in 2021, had argued that Gambia, which brought the suit, had no standing to do so at the top U.N. court, formally known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

But presiding Judge Joan Donoghue said all states that had signed the 1948 Genocide Convention could and must act to prevent genocide, and the court had jurisdiction in the case.

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“Gambia, as a state party to the genocide convention, has standing,” she said, reading a summary of the 13-judge panel’s ruling.

The court will now proceed to hearing the merits of the case, a process that will take years.

Gambia took up the Rohingya’s cause in 2019, backed by the 57-nation Organisation for Islamic Cooperation, in a suit aiming to hold Myanmar accountable and prevent further bloodshed.

Gambia Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said outside the courtroom he was “very happy” with the decision and was confident the suit would prevail.

Gambia became involved after his predecessor, Abubacarr Tambadou, a former prosecutor at the U.N. Rwanda tribunal, visited a refugee camp in Bangladesh and said that the stories he heard evoked memories of the genocide in Rwanda.

A representative for Myanmar said that the state would do its “utmost” to protect the country’s “national interest” in further proceedings.

An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 11, 2017. Picture taken September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui/File Photo

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Protesters outside the court’s gates hoisted a red banner with the text “Free Burma” and yelled at cars carrying the junta’s representatives leaving the building after the decision.

A U.N. fact-finding mission concluded that a 2017 military campaign by Myanmar that drove 730,000 Rohingya into neighbouring Bangladesh had included “genocidal acts”.

Myanmar has denied genocide, rejecting the U.N. findings as “biased and flawed”. It says its crackdown was aimed at Rohingya rebels who had carried out attacks.

While the Hague court’s decisions are binding and countries generally follow them, it has no way of enforcing them.

In a 2020 provisional decision it ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya from harm, a legal victory that established their right under international law as a protected minority.

However Rohingya groups and rights activists say there has been no meaningful attempt to end their systemic persecution.

Rohingya are still denied citizenship and freedom of movement in Myanmar. Tens of thousands have now been confined to squalid displacement camps for a decade.

Bangladesh’s foreign ministry welcomed the judgment in a statement.

“For the victims living in the camps in Bangladesh as well as in Myanmar, they see the hope that justice will be delivered to them and that the perpetrators in the Myanmar military will be brought to accountability,” said Ambia Parveen of the European Rohingya Council outside the court.

The junta has imprisoned democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who defended Myanmar personally in 2019 hearings in The Hague.

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Reporting by Toby Sterling, and Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Peter Graff and Alison Williams

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Fearing junta, hundreds of Myanmar parents disown dissident children

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Feb 7 (Reuters) – Every day for the last three months, an average of six or seven families in Myanmar have posted notices in the country’s state-owned newspapers cutting ties with sons, daughters, nieces, nephews and grandchildren who have publicly opposed the ruling military junta.

The notices started to appear in such numbers in November after the army, which seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government a year ago, announced it would take over properties of its opponents and arrest people giving shelter to protesters. Scores of raids on homes followed.

Lin Lin Bo Bo, a former car salesman who joined an armed group resisting military rule, was one of those disowned by his parents in about 570 notices reviewed by Reuters.

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“We declare we have disowned Lin Lin Bo Bo because he never listened to his parents’ will,” said the notice posted by his parents, San Win and Tin Tin Soe, in state-owned newspaper The Mirror in November.

Speaking to Reuters from a Thai border town where he is living after fleeing Myanmar, the 26-year-old said his mother had told him she was disowning him after soldiers came to their family home searching for him. A few days later, he said he cried as he read the notice in the paper.

“My comrades tried to reassure me that it was inevitable for families to do that under pressure,” he told Reuters. “But I was so heartbroken.”

Contacted by Reuters, his parents declined to comment.

Targeting families of opposition activists was a tactic used by Myanmar’s military during unrest in 2007 and the late 1980s but has been used far more frequently since the Feb.1, 2021 coup, according to Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, senior advocacy officer at rights group Burma Campaign UK, which uses the old name for the former British colony.

Publicly disowning family members, which has a long history in Myanmar’s culture, is one way to respond, said Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, who said she was seeing more such notices in the press than in the past.

“Family members are scared to be implicated in crimes,” she said. “They don’t want to be arrested, and they don’t want to be in trouble.”

A military spokesperson did not respond to Reuters questions for this story. Commenting on the notices in a news conference in November, military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said that people who made such declarations in newspapers could still be charged if found to be supporting opposition to the junta.

VIOLENT CRACKDOWN

Hundreds of thousands of people in Myanmar, many of them young, took to the streets to protest the coup a year ago. After a violent crackdown on demonstrations by the army, some protesters fled overseas or joined armed groups in remote parts of the country. Known as People’s Defence Forces, these groups are broadly aligned with the deposed civilian government.

Over the past year, security forces have killed about 1,500 people, many of them demonstrators, and arrested nearly 12,000 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a monitoring group. The military has said those figures are exaggerated.

Journalist So Pyay Aung told Reuters he filmed riot police using batons and shields to break up protests and livestreamed the video on the Democratic Voice of Burma, a news website. After authorities came searching for him, he said he hid in different locations in Myanmar before fleeing to Thailand with his wife and infant daughter. He was disowned by his father in November.

“I declare I am disowning my son because he did unforgivable activities against his parents’ wills. I will not have any responsibilities related to him,” said a notice posted by his father, Tin Aung Ko, in the state-owned Myanma Alinn newspaper.

“When I saw the newspaper that mentioned cutting ties with me, I felt a little sad,” So Pyay Aung told Reuters. “But I understand that my parents had fears of pressure. They might have worries of their house being seized or getting arrested.”

His father, Tin Aung Ko, declined to comment.

Two parents who disowned their children in similar notices, who asked not to be named for fear of attracting the attention of the military, told Reuters the notices were primarily intended to send a message to authorities that they should not be held responsible for their children’s actions.

“My daughter is doing what she believes, but I’m sure she will be worried if we got into trouble,” one mother said. “I know she can understand what I have done to her.”

Lin Lin Bo Bo said he hopes to one day go home and support his family. “I want this revolution to be over as soon as possible,” he told Reuters.

Such a reunification may be possible for some families torn apart in this way, according to Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, the rights activist.

“Unless they do it properly with lawyers and a will, then these things don’t really count legally,” she said of the disowning notices. “After a couple of years, they can go back to being family.”

So Pyay Aung, the journalist, said he fears his split with his parents is permanent.

“I don’t even have a home to go back to after the revolution,” he told Reuters. “I am so worried all the time because my parents are left under the military regime.”

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Reporting by Wa Lone and Reuters staff
Writing by John Geddie
Editing by Bill Rigby

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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‘Horrified’ U.N. official condemns reported killings of civilians in Myanmar

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U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Martin Griffiths attends an aid conference for Afghanistan at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, September 13, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

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Dec 28 (Reuters) – A senior U.N. official called on Myanmar authorities to investigate the reported killing of at least 35 civilians that opposition activists blamed on government soldiers, saying he was “horrified” at the violence.

The ruling military has not commented on the killings near Mo So village in Kayah State on Friday and several calls since Saturday to junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.

State media reported on Sunday that soldiers had fired on and killed an unspecified number of “terrorists with weapons” in the village. It did not say anything about civilians.

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U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said there were credible reports the civilians, including at least one child, were forced from vehicles, killed and burned. He did not elaborate on why he considered the reports credible.

“I am horrified by reports of an attack against civilians… I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.

Griffiths called for “a thorough and transparent” investigation so the perpetrators could be brought to justice.

The Save the Children aid group said two of its workers, travelling to their home villages for the year-end holiday, had been killedby the Myanmar military in the attack. It suspended operations in Kayah State and parts of neighbouring Karen State and the Magway region. read more

The two staff were both new fathers who were passionate about educating children, the group said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that violence against civilians was intolerable.

“The UN Security Council must convene as soon as possible to set out the steps they will take to hold those responsible to account,” chief executive Inger Ashing said.

The U.S. Embassy said in a post on Twitter it was “appalled by this barbaric attack”.

“We will continue to press for accountability for the perpetrators of the ongoing campaign of violence against the people of Burma,” it said, using another name for the country.

Two residents and the Karenni Human Rights Group, which operates in the area, said soldiers had killed more than 30 civilians.

They said details were sketchy but it appeared the victims had been in vehicles, including at least one truck, that were stopped on a road. They were killed and the bodies set ablaze, the residents and the rights group said.

CHARRED BODIES

A villager who declined to be identified for security reasons said he knew there had been a fire at the site on Friday but could not go there as there was shooting.

“I went to see this morning. I saw dead bodies that had been burnt and also the clothes of children and women spread around,” he told Reuters by phone on Saturday.

Photographs posted by the rights group showed charred bodies, some in the back of a burned-out truck. Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the pictures.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military on Feb. 1 overthrew the elected government of Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Some opponents of the military have taken up arms, some linking up with ethnic minority guerrillas who have for years been fighting the government for self-determination in various parts of the country, including Kayah State in the east.

The killings and burning of bodies in Kayah State followed similar violence in the central Sagaing region on Dec. 7 when villagers said soldiers rounded up 11 people, shot them and then set fire to their bodies. read more

The military government has not commented on that incident.

Since Myanmar’s military launched the coup, more than 1,300 people have been killed in crackdowns on protests and more than 11,000 have been jailed, according to a tally by the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners rights group.

The military disputes the group’s death toll.

Fighting has also flared in Karen State, also in the east, between the army and the Karen National Union (KNU) insurgent group.

Thai authorities say more than 5,000 villagers from Myanmar have fled across a border river to the safety of Thai territory since Dec. 16.

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Reporting by Reuters Staff
Editing by Robert Birsel, James Pearson, Nick Macfie and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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