A year after the Saffron Revolution and just weeks before UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s planned visit, freedom of expression in Burma has reached a  historical  low  point  with  the  sentencing  of  a  comedian  to  45  years  and  the  imprisonment of journalists, lawyers, poets and activists.  ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship are immensely saddened by the plummeting  situation  in  Burma  and  are  concerned  by  the  evident  chain  of  events  which  systematically undermine human rights and freedom of expression. 

Worrying developments
A number of worrying incidents have taken place recently, including: 

September 2008: Since September, Burmese news sites Mizzima and Irrawaddy have  been targeted with electronic attacks and have had their servers bombarded with  denial-of-service attacks; 

October 2008: Two judges involved in cases arising from last year’s protests, Nyi Nyi Htwe  and Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, were sentenced to six months in jail on 29 October  under  Section  228  of  the  Penal  Code  for  requesting  that  the  Information  Minister and Director General of police be called as witnesses for their three  clients;

November 2008: New political detainees including Htwe and Min were moved to prisons located far away from their families, making it difficult for their families to support them, and bring them food and medicine;

7 November 2008: Supreme Court advocates U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein involved in  the cases of protesters were convicted to four-month prison terms for contempt  of court under Section 3 of the 1926 Contempt of Courts Act after submitting  a letter to the court that called into question the fairness of the entire judicial process;

11 November 2008: The infamous Insein prison special court in Rangoon sentenced fourteen leading democracy activists, all members of the ’88 Generation Student group, to 65 years’ imprisonment each;

Nay Phone Latt, a pro-democracy blogger, was handed down a 20-year prison sentence for posting on his website material that criticised military leader Than She. His lawyer was also put behind bars for criticising the special  court’s procedures;

Labour  activist  Su  Su  Nwe  was  sentenced  to  12  and  a  half  years’  imprisonment, and poet Saw Wai was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment  for a hidden anti-Than She message in one of his poems;

Musician  Win  Maw,  arrested  on  27  November  2007,  was  charged  under  Article  5(j)  of  the  penal  code  with  “threatening  national  security”  and  sentenced to six years in prison;

14 November 2008:  Eco Vision journalist Ein Khaing Oo was given a two-year prison term for  taking photographs of survivors of Cyclone Nargis;

18 November:  Three activists from the ’88 Generation Students group were sentenced for up  to 33 years’imprisonment for inciting public unrest under the Emergency Act;

Two Buddhist monks Ashin Gambira and U Kalatha were also sentenced to  long  prison  terms  of  around  12  years  for  their  part  in  leading  the  demonstrations of 2007

Five  UN  experts,  including  envoy  Tomas  Ojea  Quintana,  condemned  the  severe convictions and the unfair trials of prisoners of conscience

 20 November: Following his father and grandfather who were sentenced on 11 November, Di  Nyein Lin and two other student activists were sentenced to six and a half  years’ imprisonment for causing public alarm and insulting religion;

21 November:  Comedian Zarganar, arrested on 4 June for collecting money for Cyclone  Nargis  victims,  was  sentenced  to  a  staggering  45  years  for  creating  “disaffection towards state and government” and violating the Electronics Act.  Zarganar also has another five cases remaining against him to be tried on 27  November;

Sports  columnist  Zaw  Thet  Htwe  and  co-accused  Thant  Zin  Aung  were  sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment each, and Tin Maung Aye received 29  years in prison, all for their similar roles in the same cyclone relief efforts.

Awaiting Trial 
There are many more cases lined up in this rapidly unfolding situation that  include magazine editor Zaw Thet Htwe, human rights defender U Myint Aye  and activist monk U Gambira.   Over the last year, the number of political prisoners has leapt from 1,200 in 2007 to  over 2,100 today. What was already an unfair and opaque legal system has deteriorated substantially and cases are now heard within prisons devoid of any form of openness and transparency.

Appeal to international community
ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship note that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon  has repeatedly declared that Burma is a key priority for the UN. We also note and  express gratitude that the European Union, Japan and the United States have all  released statements on the unfolding situation.   Unfortunately,  the  states  with  the  largest  influence  over  the  Burmese  government  — the People´s Republic of China, India and Thailand — have remained silent. ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship call upon the People´s Republic of China, India, Thailand and the  ASEAN countries to raise these abuses with the Burmese government.

Furthermore,  ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship call upon European Union member states, and  in  particular  Nicolas  Sarkozy  in  his  capacity  as  President  of  the  Council  of  the  European Union and José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, to  use the upcoming 11 th EU-China Summit in Lyon, France, to raise these issues with  the Chinese government as part of their promised regional dialogue.