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Weekly update on Human Rights situation in Karen, Mon States & Tanintharyi Region since the attempted coup [First week of February 2022]

HURFOM: A weekly update by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) on the situation on the ground. Summary data includes Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi region.

Karen State

• Junta troops continued patrolling around Hpa-an township and are torturing, looting, and arresting local civilians. Soldiers and police raided a house on Aung Nang-1 Road in Hpa-an, at 9:40 PM on 2 February.
• Airstrikes deployed by the military junta in the early morning of 5 February killed six civilians and injured two. 

Mon State

• More than ten local villagers, including a former member of the Ye Township Election Commission, were arrested and charged in connection with the murder of a junta Village Administrator, U Maung Myint, on 2 February in Ahsin village, Ye Township. 
• Junta military troops abducted Daw Win Win Soe, the Shwe-Sin-Win gold & jewel shop owner, in Kyaikto Market while conducting a guest registration check.

Dawei Region

• Ko Tun Oo, one of the leaders of the people’s strike in Dawei was sentenced by the military junta council to 26 years in prison on seven counts. Before that, he was charged by Weapons Act 19 (f) to 19 years under Sections 51 and 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Law.
• Tanintharyi Region Political prisoners have been on a hunger strike at Dawei Prison since February 1. Most political prisoners began the hunger strike at breakfast around 6 am. 

Analysis

It has now been over one year since the failed coup by the military junta on 1 February 2021. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland joined other civil society organizations in shared condemnation of ongoing human rights violations and called for an immediate end to the targeting of innocent civilians. HURFOM also echoed calls to the UN and international community which made clear that a solution to the many crises in Myanmar must first and foremost prioritize civilian safety. This means more proactive steps must be taken to holding the junta accountable through international mechanisms.

Over the last week, HURFOM reported ongoing arrests particularly in Dawei region, as well as outlandish charges by the military junta in their prison-run courts. An activist affiliated with the Civil Disobedience Movement, U Aung Thet Oo, a 45-year-old Civil Engineer from the Ministry of Municipal and Social Affairs of Tanintharyi Township, Tanintharyi Region, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the junta court in Dawei on February. In addition, according to the Dawei Political Prisoners Network, three Dawei women arrested on suspicion of associating with local People’s Defense Forces were sentenced to nine years in prison each by the Junta’s Dawei special court on 5 February. 

 Violent abductions are also ongoing. Local villagers reported that the bodies of three men abducted and killed by the Junta-backed armed forces, Pyu Saw Htee, were found near Nyin Maw Village, Laung Lon Township, in Dawei district. 

 In Karen State, weekend airstrikes targeting civilians resulted in more deaths and injuries of innocent people who were unjustly caught in the crossfire. The military’s continued disregard for the rule of law is emboldening them more each day as they commit more crimes with impunity.

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