ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-023-2010
5 March 2010 --------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA: Citizen-journalist sentenced to 13 years for non-existent illegal video footage ISSUES: Rule of law; judicial system; illegal detention; freedom of expression --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear friends, *The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has obtained the details of the case against a journalist who has been imprisoned in Burma for sending video footage abroad. Ngwe Soe Linn was sentenced to 13 years in jail for supposedly sending illegal clips and going illegally into Thailand, even though there was no evidence against him for either of the charges, and despite the fact that he was tried in a closed court in violation of the domestic law.* *CASE DETAILS:* Ngwe Soe Linn was arrested at an Internet shop in Rangoon on 26 June 2009 and thereafter charged with having sent illegal video footage to the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) media group, which is based outside the country. The police also charged him with having gone illegally to Thailand to attend training with the DVB. Another person arrested with him at the time was released without charge from a special interrogation centre at the end of August. After police arrested Ngwe Soe Linn they went to get his video camera from his house, but the only footage on it was concerning a water outage in his area of the city. The police did not collect any evidence from the Internet shop with which to make a case, nor for that matter, any evidence of his supposed travel to Thailand. The only material submitted to the court on this point was a document from the immigration department stating that he had not legally crossed a bridge into Thailand, which in itself proves nothing. Notwithstanding this, on January 27 a district court judge convicted Ngwe Soe Linn to 13 years imprisonment; the trial was held inside the central prison, preventing him from making an effective defence. Further details of the case, charges and officials involved are provided in the sample letter below. *ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:* Ngwe Soe Linn received an award in 2009 from the Rory Peck Trust for his footage of Cyclone Nargis orphans, which was shown on television stations abroad. His brother, Ko Aung Htun Myint, is currently serving a three-year sentence on one of the same charges as Ngwe Soe Linn, after he was arrested and convicted in another evidence-less case: for filming people voting during the 2008 referendum on a new constitution (UAC-040-2009<http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2009/3144/>). During the latest trial the judge pointed to the conviction of Ngwe Soe Linn's brother as a ground to convict him too, even though it was completely irrelevant and should never have been raised in court. *BACKGROUND INFORMATION:* Journalists and other persons sending information abroad or taking video footage of things without authorisation are often imprisoned in Burma; see for instance the cases in these appeals: UAC-009-2009<http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2009/3104/>; UAC-223-2008 <http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/3027/>; UAC-200-2008 <http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/2996/>. Since 2005 the AHRC has issued over 150 detailed appeals and updates on a wide variety of human rights cases in Burma. To browse these, go to the appeals homepage and type "Burma" or "Myanmar" into the search box: http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/. See also articles and special reports on the article 2 website:http://www.article2.org/search.php again search for Burma/Myanmar; and, see the 2009 AHRC annual report on Burma<http://material.ahrchk.net/hrreport/2009/AHRC-SPR-002-2009-Burma-HRReport2009.pdf>. The AHRC Burmese-language blog, Pyithu Hittaing<http://burma.blog.humanrights.asia/>, is also updated constantly for Burmese-language readers, and covers the contents of urgent appeal cases, related news, and special analysis pieces. *SUGGESTED ACTION:* Please write to the persons listed below to call for the release of Ngwe Soe Linn. Please note that for the purposes of the letter Burma is referred to by its official name, Myanmar. Please be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Myanmar, freedom of expression, and the independence of judges and lawyers, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the regional human rights office for Southeast Asia calling for interventions into this case. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
