free all political prisoners > free nyi nyi aung

8/14/2019 Free All Political Prisoners > Free Nyi Nyi Aung

1/17

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My family is not the only family suffering in this way. My mother and

two of my cousins are merely three of over 2,100 political prisoners in

jails all over Burma. Many of them are in bad health and require urgent

medical treatment. They are our heroes; our hope and faith in the

democracy movement lies with them. Without your help and support

these precious people will die in Burma's notorious prisons.

I would like to say the Burmese greeting

Minglabar to you.

Nyi Nyi Aung (aka) Kyaw Zaw Lwin


2/17

So much for US dialogue with BurmaJared Genser http://www.dvb.no/english/news.php?id=3298

The junta, which professes to want to engage with the United States, believes that this wont have consequences for the

Obama administrations engagement policy with Burma. Since the arrest ofNyi Nyi Aung, the Burmese junta has done nothing

but ignore US diplomatic pleas on his behalf and flout international law. The junta arrested Nyi Nyi on 3 September last year at

the Rangoon airport. He travelled to Burma to visit his mother, also an imprisoned democracy activist, who has cancer and is

being denied medical treatment. Instead of informing the US embassy of Nyi Nyis arrest, the junta spent a week denying him

food and water, keeping him awake around the clock, and repeatedly beating him. These actions are clear violations of both

Burmas obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the international law prohibition against torture.

As if this flouting of its responsibilities under international law wasnt enough, the junta continued to regularly deny Nyi Nyi

consular access over the past five months. They also denied him access to lawyers and a public trial. They placed him in military

dog cell confinement for over a month. And on 10 February, they sentenced him to three years at hard labor in prison for sham

charges to punish him for being a democracy activist. Nyi Nyis treatment by the junta is shocking. But what is perhaps almost

as shocking is the juntas complete disregard for US diplomatic efforts on Nyi Nyis behalf. Instead of responding to requests for

access to lawyers for Nyi Nyi, the junta denied him a public trial. Instead of responding to demands it stop torturing him andprovide him regular consular access, the junta moved Nyi Nyi into solitary confinement and said he would be denied all family

visits going forward. The US and the international community appear satisfied to allow the juntas horrific treatment of its own

citizens to continue with impunity. In addition to Nyi Nyi and his mother, there are over 2,100 political prisoners in Burma. Most

famous, of course, is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, general-secretary of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party

and also the worlds only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. The litany of the juntas crimes against its people matches

few other nations from any time period. The junta is waging a war against Burmas ethnic minorities. Since 1990, it has

destroyed over 3,000 villages, and rapes, tortures, and murders these minorities. The number of internally displaced persons is

overshadowed only by the more than one million refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. The Burmese junta is one of

the most repressive regimes in the world. This is why it is critical that the US, United Nations, and international community

engage with the Burmese regime to seek and secure national reconciliation and a restoration of democracy. However, the juntamust first understand that engagement is only possible if it operates within the international norms of acceptable behavior in

how it treats its own people and conducts its foreign relations. The junta must realize that the torture and illegal imprisonment

of an American for his democracy advocacy will not be tolerated by the US and the international community. If Burma wishes to

engage with the US, or any other nation, it cannot continue to act with impunity. The human rights of foreign nationals, not to

mention its own, must be respected. We urge president Obama and secretary Clinton personally to call on junta leader Than

Shwe to immediately release Nyi Nyi Aung. We know that the Burmese junta doesnt care about the lives of its own people --

we can only hope that the US government will be able to make Burma care about one of its own. Jared Genser is president of

Freedom Now and international pro bono counsel to Nyi Nyi Aung.

February 11, 2010

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http://www.dvb.no/english/news.php?id=3298http://www.dvb.no/english/news.php?id=3298http://www.dvb.no/english/news.php?id=3298


3/17

U.S. citizen in Burma is sentenced to three years in

prison Feb 11, 2010 ( Bangkok Post) By Tim Johnston

A Burmese court on Wednesday sentenced a Montgomery County activist to three years ofhard labor, drawing an angry response from U.S. officials who called the allegations againstthe man "politically motivated."

Nyi Nyi Aung, 40, is a Burmese-born U.S. citizen. He was arrested in September when hereturned to Rangoon to visit his mother, an imprisoned democracy activist suffering fromcancer.

The government initially accused Nyi Nyi Aung of trying to foment political unrest, a charge

he denied. He was eventually convicted of carrying a forged identity card and undeclared U.S.currency and for not renouncing his Burmese nationality when he became a U.S. citizen.

Nyi Nyi Aung's attorneys and supporters, including the Washington-based rights groupFreedom Now, said he was arrested before he reached the customs checkpoint at the airportand had no chance to declare his currency. They said that even Burmese authorities admittedthere was no process to allow people such as Nyi Nyi Aung to renounce their citizenship atthe country's embassies.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Mei condemned the ruling and urged the government to

release Nyi Nyi Aung, the Associated Press reported. Referring to Nyi Nyi Aung by his legalname on his U.S. passport, Mei said: "We are deeply concerned by the unjustified conviction.We believe the charges against Kyaw Zaw Lwin were politically motivated."

Nyi Nyi Aung is a well-known democracy activist. After fleeing Burma, also known asMyanmar, Nyi Nyi Aung was granted refuge in the United States.

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4/17

WASHINGTON, DCHouse Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the

following statement today after Maryland resident Nyi Nyi Aung was sentenced to

three years in prison with hard labor in his native Burma. Aung, an activist for human

rights in Burma, was arrested at a Burmese airport in September when trying to visit

his mother, a democracy activist also in prison:

I am disappointed with the Burmese juntas decision today, and urge themto release Nyi Nyi Aung immediately. Yesterday, the State Department saidhis conviction was unjust and the charges were politically motivated. As theUnited States seeks a new approach to Burma, their treatment of Nyi NyiAung a resident of my state of Maryland seriously hinders thateffort. Reports of torture and denying him access to consular servicesthrough the U.S. Embassy is completely unacceptable. I will continue to

work with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman andthe Obama Administration to secure the release of Nyi Nyi Aung.

February 11, 2010

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5/17

Additional coverage

Myanmar urged to free jailed US rights activist (AFP)

Burmese-American Activist Gets Three Years in Prison

U.S. Urges Myanmar to Free Citizen, Says Charges

Unjustified

Jailed and tortured in Myanmar Paying the price

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9JgKg8gYC1PwOnZdPf3b3Z9_ynw

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17776&Submit=Submit

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15498377

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aHktd_LcH9t8

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9JgKg8gYC1PwOnZdPf3b3Z9_ynwhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9JgKg8gYC1PwOnZdPf3b3Z9_ynwhttp://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17776&Submit=Submithttp://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15498377http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aHktd_LcH9t8http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aHktd_LcH9t8http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15498377http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17776&Submit=Submithttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9JgKg8gYC1PwOnZdPf3b3Z9_ynwhttp://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i9JgKg8gYC1PwOnZdPf3b3Z9_ynw


6/17

Has been moved

confirmed with the Prison Department that Nyi Nyi Aung was

indeed moved to a prison in Pyay, about a half-days drivenorth of Rangoon, on Feb. 11.

No explanation was given.


7/17


8/17

ONSOB meeting

Bangkok (SCC)

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9/17

STOP CIVIL WAR

Bangkok, Thailand


10/17

Preparing package for

Free Burma ActWashington, D.C.


11/17

Against Burma junta team to the World Bank

Woodley Park, Washington, D.C.


12/17

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Fort Wayne, Indiana


13/17

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14/17

FREE all political leaders and prisoners

In front of Burma Juntas embassy

At the 60th Birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi


15/17

Freedom March For Burma


16/17

Cousin: Thet Thet Aung, aged 32, she was sentenced to 65 years imprisonment for her involvement in

the Saffron Revolution as a young member of 88 Generation Students movement. She has to serve her

sentence in the remote Myingyan prison, 396 miles away from Rangoon.

Mother: Daw Sann Sann Tin, aged 60, is in Meikhtila prison in Mandalay division. She was sentenced to

nine years imprisonment in November 2008.

Cousin: Noe Noe, aged 21, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in 2008 for expressing her beliefs

about freedom and democracy and she has been sent to Irrawaddy Divisions Ma-ubin prison to serve her

sentence.

Brother in law: Thet Thet Aung husband Chit Ko Lin, also a member of the 88 Generation Students

group, was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment and sent to Pakokku prison in Magwe division.

Aunt: Daw Su Su Kyi, mother of Thet Thet Aung, as also taken by the military authorities for three

weeks, and faced with interrogation. She was later released and now she is the one who visits four

family members in different prisons in Burma on a monthly basis. Thet Thet Aung and Chit Ko Lin

have three children.


17/17

Photos thanks to

Ko Moe Zaw Aung & Ma Kaythi Aung Family

Poez

iwa2010

free all political prisoners > free nyi nyi aung

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