Several Activists Arrested After Aiding Cyclone Victims in Myranmar; Rights Groups Urges China to Release Tiananmen Prisoners; 1,000 Tibetans are Still Missing from the March Protest in China

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar - Last week, Myanmar military Junta detained a prominent activist who was distributing aid to cyclone survivors.  Thet Htway was taken into custody from his parents' home in the central Myanmar town of Minbu, said his colleagues. 

Zaw Thet Htway's arrest was followed the detention of Myanmar's most popular comedian, Zarganar, who was working with Zaw Thet Htway to deliver donations of critical relief supplies to the cyclone-shattered Irrawaddy delta.  Zarganar was arrested after he criticized the military regime's slow response to cyclone victims in interviews with foreign news outlets.  International rights groups have called for Zarganar's release.

Furthermore, Myanmar military junta decided to extend pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi's detention by one year. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said detentions are permissible for as long as six years under a 1975 "Law Safeguarding the State from Dangers of Subversive Elements."  The military government said that Aung San Suu Kyi deserved to be beaten like an errant child for threatening national security.

The international community has condemned the junta's action.  According to them, Suu Kyi, who has been kept in some form of detention for 12 of the last 18 years, had rightfully won the election in 1990 but has been denied power by the junta that has ruled with an iron fist since 1962.

For more information, please see:

AP - Myanmar says detention of democracy leader legal - 13 June 2008

AFP - Sports writer arrested after aiding Myanmar cyclone victims - 16 June 2008

International Herald Tribune - Police arrest Myanmar activist who ferried aid to cyclone survivors - 15 June 2008

Reuters - Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi deserves to be flogged - 11 June 2008

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BEIJING, China – Human Rights Watch urged the Chinese government to improve human rights before the 2008 Beijing Olympics by releasing the estimated 130 Tienanmen prisoners improperly arrested or tried in 1989.   Human Rights Watch asked China to issue a complete list of those killed, injured or jailed as no such lists are publicly available.

The U.S. State Department also urged China to make a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing in the crackdown. It called on the international community to urge China to release prisoners still serving sentences from the protests.  In Hong Kong, thousands of people have gathered in the city's annual candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.

According to a statement issued by Human Rights Watch, 19 years ago, Chinese soldiers, backed by tanks, killed an estimated 2,000 pro-democracy activists in and around Tienanmen Square and in other Chinese cities.  The 1989 crackdown resulted in the arrest of hundreds of people on charges ranging from "counterrevolutionary'' offenses to "hooliganism,'' including robbery, arson and assault. 

For more information, please see:

AP - Rights group to China: Release Tiananmen prisoners – 3 June 2008

Human Rights Watch - China: Free Tiananmen Prisoners before Olympics – 2 June 2008

Reuters - China urged to free Tiananmen-era prisoners – 3 June 2008

Wall Street Journal - Chinese Students Rally, but Often In Support of Government – 4 June 2008

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BEIJING, China - According to a U.S. human rights group, China has disclosed that it has reduced jail terms for some political prisoners. The San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, which seeks the release of political prisoners in China, said nine citizens that were convicted of subversion for trying to set up "illegal political groups" had received sentence reductions since mid-2006.  Five of them had been freed from prison, the foundation said in an emailed statement.

At the same time, Amnesty International is still seeking more than 1,000 Tibetans detained during protests against the Chinese government in March. In a report, the human rights group said there were reports that detainees had been beaten and deprived of food. Amnesty asked China to "shine some light" on the situation.

Furthermore, the Olympic torch will pass through the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on Saturday, and Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, said the event should draw attention to the plight of the missing and those still in prison.  "There is very little information coming out of Tibet, but the information we have paints a dire picture of arbitrary detentions and abuse of detainees," he said.  "With the torch relay about to enter Tibetan areas, this should be an opportunity to shine some light on the situation there."

For more information, please see:

BBC - Amnesty seeks 'missing' Tibetans - 18 June 2008

CNN - Tibet protesters missing, Amnesty says - 18 June 2008

Reuters - China cuts jail terms for political prisoners: group - 18 June 2008