January 21 - 29, 2015

Praise, criticism after Muslim doctor is freed from prison

State-owned media

The Myanmar Times, January 23: “Praise, Criticism after President Pardons Muslim Doctor”

• Dr Tun Aung, a medical doctor and former politician, was freed from Insein prison on January 19. He was arrested and jailed for 17 years following an outbreak of violence in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw township in June 2012.
• Amnesty International has praised the release. Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said Dr Tun Aung’s release was a "positive step".
• Dr. Tun Aung believes his release is due to his lobbying of Congressman Aaron Schock and the Prague Freedom Foundation. 
• Despite international praise, his release drew criticism locally from ethnic Rahkine leaders.
• U Aye Thar Aung, a senior member of the Rakhine National Party, condemned Dr Tun Aung’s release and said it could create additional tension between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Rakhine State.
• Note: This article is vague on what Dr Tun Aung actually did to warrant jail time during the Maungdaw violence.

Private media

RadioFree Asia, January 23: “Myanmar Muslim Activist Tun Aung Gets Amnesty After International Campaign”

• Dr Tun Aung was freed suddenly after serving two years and eight months of a 17-year sentence.
• States that “Physician Tun Aung had tried to calm down crowds as violence surged between Muslims and Buddhists in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in mid-2012, but was jailed for 19 years for “inciting violence” and other charges his supporters in the international human rights community say were fabricated.”
• Asked if he suffered torture while in captivity, Tun Aung said “not physically.”
• Tun Aung’s case was taken up by Amnesty International, Myanmar-focused advocacy groups the U.S. Campaign for Burma, The Burma Campaign UK and the Czech-based Prague Freedom Foundation (PFF). U.S. Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois also fought for the doctor’s release.
• Amnesty International said it believed that Tun Aung, who was chairman of the Islamic Religious Affairs Council in Maungdaw, Rakhine state, was persecuted for his role as a Muslim community leader.

Response to Buddhist Wirathu’s ’whore’ slur against UN Human Rights Rapporteur

State-owned media

The Myanmar Times, January 23: “Defiant Wirathu defends ‘whore’ slur”

• Prominent Buddhist leader of 969 Buddhist group U Wirathu called UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee a ‘whore’ for opposing laws that he is pushing to the government.
• The outburst was provoked by her criticism of the treatment of Rohingya in Rakhine State and her opposition to four “protection of religion” laws proposed by the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion. Wirathu helped draft one of the laws on interfaith marriage. 
• According to a translation, he told a crowd of several hundred people, “Just because you hold a position in the United Nations doesn’t make you an honourable woman. In our country, you are just a whore.” He added, “You can offer your arse to the kalars if you so wish but you are not selling off our Rakhine State.”
• He told the Myanmar Times that monks had used similar language in the past, but could not think of examples.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein described the “sexist, insulting language” used against Ms Lee as “intolerable”, and called on religious and political leaders “to unequivocally condemn all forms of incitement to hatred including this abhorrent public personal attack against a UN-appointed expert”.
• The Burmese government has not responded either way.

Private media

Democratic Voice of Burma, January 23: “Religious Affairs officials deny plans to sue Wirathu”

• Burmese government’s Religious Affairs department denies that it will sue U Wirathu over his ‘whore’ slur against the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur.
• Wirathu was previously indicted for inciting religious hatred in 2003 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was freed in 2010 under a general amnesty. 

Democratic Voice of Burma, January 24: “Wirathu: ‘Delightfully proud’ to have defended Buddhism”

• DVB interviewed U Wirathu, who says he does not regret his ‘whore’ slur.
• “I was defending our religion… I am delightfully proud.”
• “I am against Jihadism but not against all Muslims. The Rohingya are Jihadists and so are the Islamic extremists and those plotting to conquer our country under the 786 banner. My activism is focused against them, but not the people who live in peace.” 
• “Burma’s stance on the Rohingya issue is not just about how the government feels about it, but our whole country. The entire national race shares the same sentiment. If [the UN] would like to see peace and coexistence in Burma, they must never use the word ‘Rohingya’, which is a bogus ethnic group.”

International coverage

The Nation (US), January 28: “How religion is being used to win power in Myanmar”

• Says Anti-Muslim Buddhist monk Wirathu, who was branded "The Face of Buddhist Terror" by Time magazine, gave a hate speech whose vicious insults shocked the country and many in the international community.
• Hate-filled words stunned many Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike and drawn ire from the international community; however, the Burmese government has yet to take action.
• Says the government has done nothing to stop him abusing the faith and taking advantage of his position as a monk.
• Says the Union Solidarity and Development Party are using the 969 group as part of their strategy to use religion to win the upcoming election. 

International Calls for Burmese citizenship legal reforms 

Private media

Burma News International, January 21: “Burma's Citizenship Law 'Fuels Repression' Says Human Rights Watch”

• Human Rights Watch called on the Burmese government to amend citizenship law, claiming it “fuels repression” and denies basic human rights to the country’s ethnic Rohingya minority.
• Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, said the law entrenched discrimination and must be changed.
• Human Rights Watch argues that the treatment of Rohingya is a crime against humanity. Burma’s 1982 citizenship law fuelled sectarianism because it does not recognize the roughly 850,000 people in the country who consider themselves Rohingya, HRW said. 
• The government refused to recognise the term Rohingya in last year’s nationwide census
• Details have emerged in recent years of Burmese authorities engaging in human trafficking rackets, exporting Rohingya to other countries in the region, notably Malaysia. 

International Coverage

BDNews24.com (Bangladesh) January 23: “US pitches for Myanmar citizenship for Rohingya refugees”

• Assistant Secretary of State of the Department of Population, Refugees and Migration Anne Richard visited Myanmar for a week to learn about Rohingya refugee issues.
• At a seminar in Bangladesh, she said Rohingyas deserved Burmese citizenship to end their statelessness, which she identified as a root cause of their plight and displacement.
• She said the situation in Rakhine state was not improving with the spirit of democratic reform in that country. She said she believed international pressure could help improve the situation. “It’s pressure from the governments like us that interest the Burmese. They would like to have militaryto-military relationship with the US military and that’s not going to happen until they have human rights in their country.”

State of the media

Private media

Burma Times, January 25: “Reporters take plea to Thai PM’s office over Rohingya trafficking story”

• Two Phuket-based journalists are facing a lawsuit from the Thai Navy over a story about the trafficking of Rohingya migrants.
• They have put in a plea to the Thai PM’s office to have the lawsuit dropped.
• Reporter Ms Chutima Sidasathian and her Australian colleague Mr Alan Morison face possible long jail terms under a suit for criminal defamation and a Computer Crimes Act charge, according to Phuketwan, the magazine they work for. The magazine has won international praise for its sevenyear reporting of the Rohingya exodus from Myanmar. 
• The legal action concerns a story they wrote about the illegal trafficking of Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar. It specifically focuses on one paragraph republished word for word from a Pulitzer Prizewinning series by Reuters news agency journalists. Reuters is not being charged.
• The legal action by the Thai Navy has been strongly criticised by human rights bodies and UN and European Union authorities, as well as the US authorities. 

Irrawaddy, January 27: “Journalists Lament Lack of Access Despite Military Pledge”

• More than three months since the Burma Army vowed to make itself more available to members of the media, journalists are expressing frustration that the promise remains unfulfilled to date.
• Three generals were named to serve as press liaisons, but their contact information was never provided and the army said they were ‘not ready.’
• In the absence of a Burma Army spokesperson, the Press Council has been collecting contact information from private media outlets with the aim of creating a mailing list to which the Burma Army can send official statements.
• Ma Thida, editor-in-chief of popular daily The Voice, said: “What they are doing right now doesn’t seem like they are trying to get in touch with media, but instead are propagandizing through the Press Council.”

Rohingya refugees say Malaysian traffickers abuse, kill

Private media

Burma Times, January 29: “Rohingya Refugees Say Traffickers in Malaysia Abuse and Kill”

• The recent murder of a Rohingya asylum seeker in Malaysia has cast light on what Rohingya activists say is widespread abuse by human traffickers in the country. They say they are willing to use extreme methods to protect their lucrative but illegal business.
• Since 2012, more than 100,000 stateless Rohingya Muslims have fled violence and poverty in Burma. Most travel in traffickers’ boats to Thailand, where they are held by traffickers in squalid jungle camps before a ransom is paid.
• NGOs and Rohingya defense groups report many cases of murder and torture of Rohingya refugees who fall victim to trafficking rings.
• Banned from legally working and fearful of police harassment, few victims bring their case to authorities. Those who do say police have taken little action.
• Local Malay media do not give the issue much coverage, so it is not a well-known problem.

 ** This story was also covered by Reuters India.