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Weekly update on Human Rights situation in Karen, Mon States & Tanintharyi Region since the attempted coup [Second 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.

Weekly Overview

Karen State

• At 8:40 PM on 9 February, junta security forces stopped, searched, and abducted six youths in front of the TB control center near the Hpa-an University traffic light.
• Junta soldiers and joint forces of the BGF indiscriminately fired ammunition and injured a man in Hpa-an. A local resident, Maung Kyaw Oo, was riding a motorcycle in front of Army camp No.1014, and was seriously injured when gunfire erupted.

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The military junta bars plantation workers from their workplaces

HURFOM: In August, 2021, the Oak Tara Myay Company Limited began an excavation project searching for  treasure and other valuables left behind by retreating Japanese troops during World War II.

The project site is based at Mount Mane Bala near Wae Kawa village, Thanbyuzayat Township, in Mon State.  Efforts to excavate treasure and other valuables from this site, was also attempted  by the Royal Eagle Myanmar Development Group in 2018. That company found nothing and stopped their project in early 2020. By February 2022 the Oak Tara Myay Company Limited project stopped due to a failure to unearth anything of value.

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Gasoline prices tripled since coup: Transportation and livelihoods experiencing increasing hardships

HURFOM: Since the February, 2021 coup ,  the price of gasoline has gradually been increasing.  One year later, the gas has tripled in price. 

On February 8, 2022, a liter of diesel  is  priced at about 1,700 Kyat and a liter of

premium diesel is priced at 1,800 Kyat. A liter of 92 octane is priced at 1,700 Kyat and the same amount of 95 octane is priced at 1,800 Kyat.

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People left helpless as charity/rescue teams face restrictions

HURFOM: The new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, is spreading across Burma.  On February 7, 2022, 40 schoolteachers and students from a high school in Kyaik Kha Mi Town, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State were found infected with the virus.

On January 11, 2022, a high-school teacher, ten students and their family members in Paung Township were infected with COVID-19.

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Statement: HURFOM Calls for An End to Unlawful Arrests of Innocent Civilians

HURFOM: The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) condemns the ongoing arbitrary arrest of innocent civilians and subsequent outlandish sentencing of political prisoners by the military junta. By the end of 2021, over 2500 people in target areas of Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi regions were unlawfully arrested and detained. Over the last week alone, HURFOM documented 19 arbitrary arrests. Arbitrary arrest is a human rights violation as it deprives civilians of their liberty to live protected under the law with the right to legal counsel. 

According to the Dawei Political Prisoners Network, three Dawei women who were arrested on suspicion of associating with local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) were sentenced on 4 February 2022 to nine years each in prison. Daw Aye Aye Khaing, a 51-year-old Tailor, Daw Mya Mya Lwin, a 52-year-old market vendor, and Daw Mya Mya Soe, 34, were arrested in August 2021 and charged under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code and Section 52 (c) of the Anti-Terrorism Law. They were sentenced and charged during closed-door military court hearings which the press and general public are denied entrance to. The lack of transparency speaks to the levels of corruption the regime is capable of. 

Eight women political prisoners from Dawei Prison, including these three, who were arrested on suspicion of associating with PDFs, were sentenced to between two and nine years in prison each by the junta-run court in Dawei:

Daw Aye Aye Khine, 9 years
Daw Mya Mya Lwin, 9 years
Daw Mya Mya Soe, 9 years
Ma Theint Theint Zin Phu, Dawei Tech University Student, 2 years and continued trial
Ma Lin Myat Moe, 2 years
Ma Hnin Hnin Yu, 2 years
Ma Myat Myat, 2 years
Daw Thet Thet Htwe, 2 years

A family member of one of the women told HURFOM: “It is too much to be sentenced to nine years in prison on terrorism charges. They are not terrorists.” 

Following their failed coup, the military junta has struggled to maintain control as the civilian population has spearheaded a powerful Spring Revolution in pursuit of safeguarding their fundamental rights and freedoms.

The continuation of arbitrary arrests and abductions is the result of the junta’s failed efforts to detain democracy activists in an attempt to stifle the pro-democracy movement. This will not succeed. Nothing can quiet the voices of the people in Burma whose long-time struggle for peace and freedom will outlast the junta’s incessant violence. 

HURFOM calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and for the military junta to be held accountable by the international community for their mass crimes against humanity and unjust treatment of innocent civilians. The leaders of the failed coup, and those complicit in the junta’s crimes must be held responsible and punished according to the rule of law for their actions through international accountability mechanisms. 

Media Contact
Nai Aue Mon, HURFOM Program Director
Email: info@rehmonnya.org
Signal: +66 86 167 9741

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. 

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New Cyber Security Law ready: Security forces using it for extortion

HUFOM: Since the coup, the military junta has been eager  to use their Cyber Security Law to monitor residents.  On January 13, 2022, the junta announced that the law is now ready having been reviewed from October to December, 2021.

The law has 115 sections and Section 90 has defined that anyone who uses  a Virtual Private Network (VPN) without the permission from a particular ministry shall be punished with one year to three years imprisonment and/or a fine that is not excess from five million Kyat.

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Village administrator killed by unknown assailant: Soldiers respond with gunfire, frightening villagers

HURFOM:On February 2, 2022, the Junta-appointed Administrator of Ah Sin village, Ye Township, Mon State was killed at approximately 10:30 am.

Soldiers in the vicinity believed the killers were nearby and responded with random gunfire, frightening Du Yar villagers.

The soldiers patrolled the areas for the whole night, according to the local villagers. Checks of pedestrians, motorbikes and cars have been on-going.

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One year later: Crime activity rises, community trust with police and security forces declines

HURFOM: It has been one year since the military coup took place.  In the time period there has been marked increase in criminal activity. Community members say the authorities show no interest in responding to criminal cases, unless they can profit from it.

Victims of crime are reporting cases to their Village General Administration Departments (GAD) and the police but the military junta does not appear to care or take action in support of the victims .

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MONTHLY OVERVIEW: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

REFLECTING ON 2021

HURFOM: One year has now passed since the Burma Army’s attempted coup on 1 February 2021. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) began documenting atrocities being perpetrated against civilians by the military junta in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region on 7 February 2021. The crimes that have been committed speak to the unrelenting horrors which continue to be forced upon innocent clusters of the population. The majority of the people in Burma strongly reject the military coup and have been collectively strengthened by a commitment to toppling the terrorist regime.

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