Monday, September 2, 2013

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

August is the Cruelest Month

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT

"I have no foes, only friends," the late Dagon Taya once famously said.

The literary giant died at the age of 95 last month, along with three other leading pro-democracy intellectuals who shone a bright light in Burma during the long, dark decades of repression.

Dagon Taya, born Htay Myaing, was the embodiment of Burma's turbulent history in the 20th century. A friend of late independence hero Gen Aung San, he contributed to Burma's independence movement. He witnessed the horrors of World War II, which turned the country into a battlefield, Aung San's assassination, and the civil war and political turbulence that ensued after independence.

When Burma came under Japanese occupation, Aung San offered Dagon Taya a high-ranking position, but he turned it down. Although they were friends, the writer was at times critical of the Bogyoke.

During the pre-war years he once tried to reach China via Shan State, together with the young nationalist Ba Hein, in order to seek help for Burma's independence struggle from Mao Zedong's Chinese communists, as he did not want Aung San to make a deal with Japanese. They were detained for entering Shan State illegally and the mission was aborted.

He also wrote a critical short essay about his friend, called "Aung San the Untamed". Not long after, on July 19, 1947, Dagon Taya was scheduled to meet Aung San, but he never saw him again. The Bogyoke and six of his cabinet members were killed that day by a group of gunmen acting on orders from a political rival.

Dagon Taya was a leading figure in Sar Pay Thit, or New Literature movement, which started in the early 20th century. It espoused the position that the arts could solve social problems and aid the people's struggle for freedom and peace.

Aung Zaw is founder and editor of the Irrawaddy magazine. He can be reached at aungzaw@irrawaddy.org.

Throughout the decades of political turbulence that followed Aung San's death and Burma's independence, Dagon Taya stayed away from party politics, but he was still cast as a communist sympathizer. Soon after staging a coup in 1962, Gen Ne Win threw him in prison, only to later change the government's attitude towards the writer, granting him national awards and titles.

Dagon Taya refused to accept the honors and went into self-imposed exile in Shan State. This time he didn't need any permission to enter the region. Above all, he was an artist who wanted to stay out of politics. His world was one of abstract thought, color and music. He sometimes painted and played songs on his old piano.

Not surprisingly, he was seeking solitude in the decades after Burma's independence, worn out by politics and infighting in the country, which had plunged into civil war. In the 1940s he had already written a famous poem—"Let's Go to Tahiti"—about a poet's desire to withdraw from ordinary society. He describes wanting to drink champagne under a palm tree with a girl, and longing for a simple peaceful life. Indeed, the poem was highly controversial in the strife-torn Burma at the time and he was lucky to have escaped without receiving punishment.

Despite his exile in the Shan hills, Dagon Taya remained an influential figure in Burmese literature and politics. He continued to write novels, poems and essays, and he followed politics from his home in Aung Ban. He regularly called for peace and reconciliation in his birthday messages and he would come down to meet fellow writers and followers every year.

Before I left Burma in 1988, I met him several times and I noticed that, despite his advanced age, his memory was sharp. At our last meeting, he learned I had joined the student protests in March and was tortured in Insein Prison. Then, he asked me to come closer to tell him my story. A decade later, I called him from abroad and to my astonishment, he still remembered my name.

Dagon Taya passed away last month and he will be dearly missed by many. Together with the great writer, Burma lost several other leading intellectual figures in August. Renowned journalist Maung Wun Tha, famous comedian Par Par Lay and humorist Min Lu also passed away. The country saw four funerals of renowned artists and writers in one month, prompting one Burmese observer to lament in a Facebook post "August is the cruelest month."

On Aug. 8, many Burmese intellectuals and the general public commemorated the 25th anniversary of the bloody crackdown by the military government on the 8-8-88 pro-democracy movement. We have seen quiet funerals and sobbing parents of slain protesters, who still haven't seen justice for the victims after all these years.

Maung Wun Tha was a journalist at the time of the uprising, but decided to join the movement and subsequently became a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). He spent many years behind bars as a political prisoner for his actions.

During the political reforms in Burma over the past two years, Maung Wun Tha continued to write and fight for greater press freedom. We met several times in Rangoon after the country opened up. Although he had become more pragmatic and less idealistic, I could see that his heart was still in right place. He continued to fully support NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The humorist and poet Min Lu also experienced the 1988 bloodshed and its fallout first hand, but he managed to see the incompetent and thuggish generals that ran Burma in a more amusing light than most.

The late Snr-Gen Saw Maung came under heavy pressure following the crackdown and reportedly began drinking. He then started acting erratically, sometimes referring to himself as the reincarnation of an ancient Burmese king, Kyansittha, who founded the Pagan dynasty. At one point, Saw Maung was even seen waving his pistol in the air on a military golf course and screaming, "I am Kyansittha," a reference meaning "the last remaining soldier" in Burmese.

Some Burmese who loathed the generals found Saw Maung, despite his threats and intimidation, at least entertaining. His long speeches, which sometime lasted hours, became the target for nationwide jokes, with people discreetly laughing as they watched him fumble his way through a speech on television, or when they read the transcripts in the newspapers.

Following these events, Min Lu distributed a satirical poem called "What Has Become of Us?" It mocked Saw Maung's bizarre behavior and the rest of the clueless generals who were busy "saving the nation."

It was a highly acclaimed poem and widely read among the Burmese, who found in it a rare opportunity to smile at events in those dark days. Min Lu made them smile and laugh—offering the public a psychological defense against the brutal dictatorship. But Burma's infamous intelligence units soon tracked him down and put him behind bars for years.

Likewise, Par Par Lay and his troupe "The Moustache Brothers" showed no fear of mocking the regime. In the 1990s, their performance at an NLD event drew hearty laughter from the audience but clearly angered the regime's leaders.

Par Par Lay and his troupe were sentenced to seven years hard labor. They subsequently spent years toiling in labor camps. Last year, I visited Mandalay to meet them, but I didn't see any hint of bitterness or regret about what they had gone through. They were warm and happy to see exiles like me come back to the country.

They told me the authorities had still placed a ban on The Moustache Brothers performances, but they made fun of the measures in jokes during events organized at their homes. Organizing performances there did not violate the government ban, and it cleverly allowed tourists to watch their shows and donate money to support the troupe.

In all of these four Burmese intellectuals that left us this month, I found the same shared dream: to see a peaceful and democratic country that is full of courage to resist authoritarian rulers. It was no surprise that the generals were afraid of these strong and proud individuals. It's only a pity that they weren't able to stay longer to see their life-long dream come true.

Kachin Rebels Clash With Burma Army and Govt-backed Militia

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 05:56 AM PDT

KIA soldiers move up to re-enforce frontline troops on Hkaya Bum outpost during fighting with government troops in January. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON — Ethnic Kachin rebels have fought deadly gun battles with the Burma Army and a government-backed militia this weekend in a frontline area near Putao, a town located in northern Kachin State, a rebel officer claims.

The clashes occurred despite ongoing ceasefire talks between Naypyidaw and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

"The fighting broke out on August 31 at 6 a.m. It lasted three hours. Two government troops were killed. Tensions remain high. And fighting might resume at any time as the KIA troops didn’t withdraw," a KIA officer told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

The officer was speaking by phone from Laiza, a small town on the Burma-China border where the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its armed wing the KIA are headquartered.

He said a combined force of about 300 soldiers of Burmese Army’s Light Infantry Battalion 137 and a supporting Kachin border guard force (BGF) militia attacked Battalion 7 under KIA’s Brigade 1 on Saturday. "The government used the Kachin militia as a proxy to attack the KIA," the officer added.

The Kachin BGF that fought alongside the government troops was formerly known as New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDAK). It was officially disbanded in November 2009, following an agreement reached earlier that year between its founder Zahkung Ting Ying and the government. The militia has since sided with the Burma Army against the KIA.

The clashes in Putao Township reportedly took place in a densely forested area known Nga Kha Akar. Burmese tycoon Tay Za allegedly has been granted a 100,000-acre (40,000 hectare) logging concession here by the government that would allow him to cut down vast swathes of valuable, pristine teak forest.

Tay Za is the founder of Htoo Trading Co Ltd and owner of private airline Air Bagan. The US-sanctioned tycoon is believed to be one of the richest men in Burma and has operated timber logging and trading rings that helped the former military government. He also has businesses interests in Putao town, including an Air Bangan flight route that operates between Myitkyina and Putao.

"The government and the BGF troops attacked the KIA to secure the area where Tay Za will do logging," claimed the KIA officer, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

"This area is historically very important for the Kachin people, so the KIA will resist the government troops. We won't pull out," he said, adding that ethnic Kachin villagers wanted to preserve the large hillside forest. "The fighting might even damage the peace deals between the KIA and the government," the officer said.

In mid-August, fighting between the KIO and the joint force of Burmese government and its BGF militia also broke out near Chibwe and Sawlaw, two towns in Pangwa region, in the northern Kachin State.

The BGF soldiers launched attacks together with government troops and targeted a battalion under KIA Brigade 1. Three soldiers from the joint BGF-government forces died at the time, according to rebel sources.

The KIA and the Burma Army have been involved in occasionally heavy fighting ever since a long-standing ceasefire broke down in 2011. From December to early February fighting escalated in the strategically important mountains surrounding Laiza.

Since then, the sides have met several times for ceasefire talks. In late May, the KIO and the government's peace negotiation team signed a seven-point preliminary ceasefire agreement agreeing to "undertake efforts to achieve de-escalation and cessation of hostilities" and to "continue discussions on military matters related to repositioning of troops."

Little progress in the talks has been made since, however, and reports of skirmishes between rebels and the Burma Army continue.

Burmese Migrants to See Thai Work Eligibility Extended: Rights Group

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 05:38 AM PDT

Burmese migrant workers pictured at a shrimp factory in Mahachai, Thailand, in February. (Photo: Getty Images)

Thailand has agreed to adopt a new, less restrictive policy for Burmese migrant workers whose visa extensions for temporary passports are currently limited to no more than four years' continuous work in the country.

The leader of a Burmese migrant worker rights group told The Irrawaddy on Monday that "the Thai employment director general said the Thai government has changed the policy" at a meeting in Bangkok on Sunday.

Aung Kyaw, chairman of the Bangkok-based Migrant Workers Rights Network, said Pravit Khiengpol, a director general from Thailand's Department of Employment, confirmed that under the revised policy, Burmese migrant workers residing in Thailand for four years would be allowed to re-enter the country for work after leaving for one month. The change would be a significantly less burdensome stipulation than the current policy.

Following the introduction of a national verification process for Burmese migrants in 2009, Thailand and Burma have managed cross-border employment affairs under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that has limited migrant laborers' ability to work in the neighboring kingdom. The MoU states that Burmese migrants who hold temporary passports must return to their home country after four years of working in Thailand, and are allowed to re-enter Thailand only after spending three years outside the country's borders.

The Migrant Workers Rights Network has for years argued that the policy creates confusion and an opportunity for unscrupulous Thai employment agencies to trick or exploit Burmese migrant workers.

"The director general told us that the details will be announced only after both [Thai and Burmese government representatives] hold a meeting on September 5, Thursday, in Bangkok," added Aung Kyaw.

Tin Win, Burma's ambassador to Thailand, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the Burmese Embassy was negotiating with the Thai Ministry of Labor in an effort to secure an even more favorable agreement allowing Burmese migrant workers to extend their visas with only a cursory trip across the border.

"We are still preparing for the migrant workers issue, now we are negotiating to be able to extend [the visa] within one day," said Tin Win, "so that the workers will only need to go back over the border for one night, and then re-enter [Thailand]."

The ambassador said negotiations over a one-night arrangement are ongoing, and urged Burmese migrant workers to adhere to whatever terms are agreed to for the revised Thai policy, which places restrictions on work visas due to Bangkok's desire to exercise control over the flow of immigrants across its borders.

Burmese government representatives were not present at Sunday's meeting, which was attended by the Thai Labor Solidarity Committee, the State Enterprises Workers' Relations Confederation of Thailand, the Migrant Workers Rights Network, and Thai immigration and labor officials, according to Aung Kyaw.

There are about 3 million Burmese migrants in Thailand, 1.7 million of which have been processed under the national verification program and provided with temporary passports, according to Tin Win. From that figure, about 400,000 of the 1.7 million registered Burmese migrants have stayed in Thailand beyond their four-year visa limit, exposing them to legal risks and leaving them ripe for exploitation.

The Thai border towns at which Burmese migrants would be able to have their visas issued and extended are Mae Sot, Mae Sai, Ranong, and Kanchanaburi. Under current policy, the four locations only allow for visa extensions at their immigration facilities.

Burma Gold Prices Draw Back After Volatile Month

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 05:19 AM PDT

Vendors arrange a display of gold jewelry at a shop in Chinatown in downtown Rangoon. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Gold prices were volatile in Burma last month, fluctuating more than in any other month so far this year, local gold dealers and shop owners say.

The lowest local gold price in August was 688,000 kyats per tical (0.576 ounces), or about US $1194 per ounce, while the highest was 730,000 kyats per tical (about $1,267 per ounce).

"Last month was the most volatile month of this year, as the price rose to its highest since late April," Kyaw Win, the senior vice president of Myanmar Gold Development Public Co. and owner of U Htone Goldsmith Shop in Rangoon, told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

The price of gold began rising in the middle of August in Burma, with the spike to about $1,267 per ounce occurring last week on Wednesday. That mirrored a spike in the global price of gold, to $1,434 per ounce. Analysts attributed the rise to investors buying into safe-haven assets such as gold last week after the United States threatened military intervention in Syria.

The domestic gold price in Burma fell again on Monday, to 719,000 kyats per tical ($1,248 per ounce), while the global price stood at $1,390 per ounce.

Zaw Aung from Tate Sein Gold Shop in Rangoon said the local gold price was fluctuating with international prices, and added that sharp drops locally this year twice hit last year's floor point—in late April and again in June.

Still, Kyaw Win said that despite the slight decrease early this week, the local gold price remained higher than in past months, leading to an approximate 30 percent decrease in sales rates compared with early last month.

He said there was also a drop in gold production during Burma's rainy season—from mid-May to late October—partly because of collapse of gold mines due to heavy rains. That fall in production was balanced by lower demand for gold in the country, he added, with people more interested in selling gold products back to dealers rather than buying new ones.

He called for local control over retail gold shops.

"Businessmen from Thailand, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan are interested in opening gold shops in Myanmar [Burma,]" he said. "But we prefer foreign investment in gold manufacturing. Allowing foreign retail gold shops into the domestic gold market can harm individual gold shop owners."

In Burma, gold is produced commercially in Pegu, Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Taninthayi divisions, as well as Kachin, Karen and Mon states.

Thein Sein Makes Rare Comments on 1988 Uprising

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 03:42 AM PDT

Students carry wreaths after marching last month near City Hall and Sule Pagoda in Rangoon, where many people were killed or injured during pro-democracy protests in 1988. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — In a rare public statement, President Thein Sein has acknowledged the important role in Burma's history of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, which was brutally crushed by the military, leaving thousands of people dead.

In a monthly radio address on Sunday, Thein Sein—who was a high-ranking general and prime minister under the former military regime—welcomed the new degree of political openness in Burma that allowed activists last month to freely commemorate the 25th anniversary of the uprising.

"The 88 people's movement Silver Jubilee held early last month commemorates an important movement in our political history," he said. "The fact that we can celebrate this event together shows us that we are moving toward a new political culture where those who 'agree to disagree' can still work together.

"In order to become a modern society, I believe that we need to solve our disagreements through peaceful and nonviolent discussions and negotiations geared toward finding a common ground."

The radio address came a day after Thein Sein met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy icon who won a seat in Parliament last year. In the address, he also called for better cooperation between the legislative and executive branches to work toward national reconciliation as the country transitions from nearly 50 years of dictatorship.

Burma's political activists last month organized a Silver Jubilee commemoration of the historic popular protests in 1988, in which hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets demanding an end to military dictatorship. Known as the "88 Uprising," the movement was crushed by the military's heavy hand, leaving at least 3,000 people dead.

As part of the Silver Jubille, activists and former student leaders held a three-day conference in Rangoon to commemorate the uprising through debate and ceremony, while marches and memorials were held in Mandalay and other parts of the country. Government officials, including Minister Aung Min from the President's Office, attended the events in Rangoon. Other delegates included Htay Oo from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), the party set up by the same Burmese military that crushed the uprising.

The commemoration was an indication of new political openness in Burma, where a nominally civilian government came to power in 2011. However, rights groups say the military generals responsible for the crackdown have yet to be held accountable.

"The mass killings 25 years ago in Burma are an unaddressed open wound that challenges the government's rhetoric of reform," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement last month. "The government should shed itself of 50 years of denial about military abuses by showing that it stands with the Burmese people and not with the killers of the past."

Activists have also called on Thein Sein to divulge his own role in the 1988 crackdown.

Thein Sein has never publicly spoken about his role in suppressing the uprising, says Burma Campaign UK. But citing a US embassy diplomatic cable from 2004, the UK-based activist group said the Burmese president served in 1988 as commander of Light Infantry Division-55, an elite organization loyal to the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party.

"In that capacity, he distinguished himself … in the crackdown against the 1988 uprising," the US diplomatic cable said, as quoted by Burma Campaign UK in statement released last month.

Thein Sein also praised actions of the military in 1988 during his first speech to Parliament after becoming president. "In 1988, the Tatmadaw [military] government saved the country from deteriorating conditions in various sectors and reconstructed the country," he told lawmakers, as quoted by Burma Campaign UK.

Pyong Cho, a leader of the 88 Generation Students group, says he has long waited for Thein Sein to comment on the uprising and brutal military crackdown.

"I believe his speech will support national reconciliation," the former student leader told The Irrawaddy on Monday. "He should be brave enough to speak out during his time in power."

The father of a 16-year-old girl who was gunned down by the military during the 1988 protests is also among those calling for justice.

"No-one from the government or Parliament has invited us to speak with us, even though there has been political change," said Win Kyu, the father of Win Maw Oo, the subject of an infamous photograph that appeared in the Oct. 3, 1988, issue of Newsweek magazine's Asian edition documenting a blood-soaked 16-year-old girl being carried by two doctors.

He and his wife met last month with UN human rights envoy Tomás Ojea Quintana in Rangoon. During the one-hour meeting, the UN envoy asked the parents what happened to their daughter the day she was killed on Sept. 19, 1988; what they wanted to ask the government; and whether they had any plan to seek justice for their daughter's death.

"Before, I wanted action to be taken to punish them," he told The Irrawaddy. "But now I'm getting old, I feel I can forgive them if they apologize to us."

With additional reporting by Samantha Michaels.

150 Years On, Bustle of Mandalay Jetty Endures

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 01:37 AM PDT

A worker carries goods from a Bhamo-to-Mandalay ship at the Gaw Wain jetty in Mandalay. (Photo: Teza Hlaing / The Irrawaddy)

MANDALAY — Gaw Wain, a jetty in Mandalay with a rich history as a vital hub on Burma's Irrawaddy River, continues to this day to play an important role in sustaining local livelihoods and linking the region's inland water transport network.

Ever since King Mindon relocated the capital of the Burmese kingdom to Mandalay in 1857, Gaw Wain jetty has been a major trading center, linking Mandalay and its goods and people with other settlements in upper and lower Burma via the Irrawaddy River.

The jetty's docks, which were built by Prince Kanaung in 1864, are still duly serving the region's merchants and mariners, just as the Irrawaddy River continues to act as a lifeline for many of Burma's people.

Today, Gaw Wain is a hive of activity as porters, vehicles and ships all work to move goods to and from the jetty. While their husbands are busy carrying cargo, wives babysit youngsters or chat with customers at a variety of small shops, restaurants and betel nut stands near the jetty.

"I used to get a maximum 15,000 kyats [US$15] per day for carrying all kinds of goods such as rice bags, oil barrels and other commodities," Zaw Myint Hlaing, a 35-year-old porter, told The Irrawaddy.

Gaw Wain jetty hosts both cargo and passenger ships that make their way down the Irrawaddy River to Mandalay from Bhamo and Katha in northern Sagaing Division, and from Mandalay onward south to Prome and Rangoon near the tributary's delta.

The cargo ships are usually laden with construction materials such as blocks of stone hewn from quarries, a major product of Mandalay Division often destined for the commercial capital Rangoon. Cooking oil, foodstuffs, medicines and clothing imported from China via the Sino-Burmese border are also widely shipped via the Gaw Wain jetty.

Zaw Myint Hlaing, a married father of two, lives with his family in one of the small huts scattered unevenly along the riverbank near the jetty. Those residences may be unsightly to some, but for many who rely on the jetty for a living, they offer welcome refuge after a hard day's work on the docks.

"We don't need to worry about the toilet or taking a bath as long as we live very close to the Irrawaddy River. Sometimes we buy [potable] drinking water but usually boil water from the river," Zaw Myint Hlaing said with a laugh. "We know we do not have proper sanitation, but we are healthy. If we are sick, we have traditional medicines. We can go to small clinics as well, if need be. I think our immune systems are very good or maybe the maladies feel pity on us because we are poor."

While most children of the jetty keep themselves entertained with the usual games and diversions of youth, Arr Mae and Kyaw Kyaw Naing, both 10 years old, collect discarded plastic bottles for fun—and money.

"We are very happy to walk along the riverbank. Sometimes we go to the town to find the empty plastic bottles. We get 1,000 kyats [per day]," said Kyaw Kyaw Naing. "My father sent me to school but I'm not happy at school, so I quit after I passed third grade."

Located a little bit north of Gaw Wain is a jetty for tourists who come to Mandalay on river cruises along the Irrawaddy River, where luxury tourist vessels travel routes from Bhamo and Katha to Mandalay and Bagan.

"We heard there will be more tourists this season, so I'm thinking of selling some postcards and souvenirs when I'm free with this porter job to earn more," said A Myint, 15, who works as a stone porter near the tourist jetty.

Like the others, she typically earns 4,500 kyats per day. "For us, we are not strong enough to carry the rice and bean bags. Carrying stones is much easier for us but we don't earn as much as the rice bag porters," she added.

Workers at the Gaw Wain jetty told The Irrawaddy that they earned a maximum of 500,000 kyats per month. That's enough to feed a family, they say, but it is far from affording a life of luxury.

"I can send my children to school but the eldest son, who is 13, quit school, saying he was not happy at school. Now he has his own job as a porter like me," said Thar Thar as he hoisted a giant stone onto his shoulder.

"Although we earn that much, it is still insufficient for our family. This may be because we play the lottery a lot," he said with a laugh. "However, as long as Gaw Wain is alive, we will not need to worry about starving."

Torture Persists in Kachin State

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 12:03 AM PDT

Brang Shawng, center, says he was tortured into confessing to being part of a KIO bomb plot following his arrest in June 2012. He was released on a presidential pardon earlier this year, but many others continue to face similar charges and severe mistreatment at the hands of the authorities. (Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy)

MYITKYINA, Kachin State — Despite the series of democratic reforms implemented by President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government over the past two years, interviews with recently released prisoners and the families of those who remain in detention in Kachin State indicate that police and military forces continue to torture those jailed on security grounds—this in spite of loud claims from the government that such practices no longer occur.

In the two years since a 17-year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and Burma’s central government collapsed in June 2011, dozens of Kachin men have been arrested after being accused of being KIO members or sympathizers. The relatives of those charged tell The Irrawaddy their loved ones were forced to confess to groundless charges after being tortured for days on end.

Those charged with being affiliated with the KIO have little recourse in a court system that after years of military rule is infamous for being biased in favor of the government and rife with corruption. Most if not all of those Kachin charged with violating Article 17/1 of the Unlawful Associations Act and related security laws whose initial trials have been completed appear to have been convicted, according to legal researchers keeping an eye on the court process.

Just keeping track of the outcomes of these trials is a difficult and complicated affair as Burmese courts rarely make their decisions publicly available. Members of the public have also been repeatedly barred from observing KIO-related trials this despite repeated pronouncements from the government that the courts now follow an open process. More than a dozen KIO-related trials remain ongoing but it is extremely unlikely these will result in positive outcomes for the accused, says a lawyer who represents several of them. These trials have continued despite the fact that representatives of the KIO and the president’s chief peace negotiator Aung Min reached a seven-point agreement to lessen tensions at the end of May.

At least 70 men from across Kachin State and the northwestern part of neighboring Shan State remain in jail or are awaiting trial for charges relating to their alleged KIO membership or involvement in the Kachin insurgency, according to Kachin legal researchers who declined to be identified for safety reasons.

Many of these men are in fact poor farmers who have nothing to do with the KIO, their lawyers and relatives claim. Some of those detained under KIO-related charges are not even ethnic Kachin: At least 11 are Shan while several others are of Nepali Gurkha and Sino-Burmese descent. The government has also arrested and charged as KIO members a few men from the Burman majority, Kachin researchers tell The Irrawaddy.

Representing those accused in KIO-related cases is a daunting challenge but this hasn’t stopped Mar Khar, a 30-year-old lawyer based in Myitkyina, the Kachin State capital. Despite receiving next to no pay, Mar Khar has dutifully continued to appear in court on behalf of his clients under circumstances that are far from ideal. According to Mar Khar, nearly all of his attempts to introduce evidence or witnesses that support his clients' claims of innocence are routinely rejected by the presiding judges.

Mar Khar is perhaps best known for representing Lahtoi Brang Shawng, a 26-year-old Kachin man who was arrested in June of last year by Military Affairs Security (MAS) agents and charged with being part of a KIO bomb plot. Brang Shawng’s arrest occurred while he and his family were living at the Jan Mai Kawng camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Myitkyina.

"He was covered in bruises and had cuts and burn marks all over his body. It was clear he had been tortured," says Mar Khar, recounting the first time he met Brawng Shawng in detention.

In his annual report to the UN Security Council after meeting Brawng Shawng in prison in February, the UN envoy for Human Rights in Burma Tomas Quintana also expressed "serious concerns" that the former mine laborer was "tortured by the military during interrogation to extract false confessions."

In the weeks after his arrest, Brang Shawng’s physical appearance was so bad that the initial judge presiding over his case refused to accept his confession when Brawng Shawng was first brought before him for allocution. Alarmed at the clearly visible cuts around Brang Shawng’s eye, the judge asked him to remove his shirt, at which point he discovered an audio recorder had been taped to Brang Shawng’s torso. "I was really scared. I couldn’t tell the judge what had really happened because of the recorder but fortunately he found it," Brang Shawng recalls when describing the bizarre incident which he says was orchestrated by the men from MAS who tortured him.

Just moments after the judge found the device, government agents whisked Brang Shawng away and the judge was quickly removed from the case. His replacement, Myint Htoo, rejected all of Mar Khar's attempts to get Brang Shawng medical attention during his detention and steered the trial towards its inevitable conclusion when in July of this year Brang Shawng was convicted and sentenced to a three-year jail term.

Brang Shawng’s treatment caused an outrage among the Kachin community. Just weeks after he was initially arrested, more than 1,000 people gathered in downtown Myitkyina to join his wife in an unprecedented protest.

Many of those marching that day were Brang Shawng’s fellow residents of the Jan Mai Kawng IDP camp who just days before had witnessed a disheveled and clearly bruised Brang Shawng being paraded around the camp by government authorities for an official reenactment of his supposed crime. "Seeing him in such bad shape upset many people in the camp," says Awng Myat, Brang Shawng's pastor who also serves as a director of the camp.

In an apparent response to the widespread public anger at Brang Shawng’s conviction, President Thein Sein officially pardoned him on July 23, less than a week after the judgment was handed down. He was released along with 12 other Kachin serving time for similar charges.

Brang Shawng is now living with his family again at the same IDP camp where he was first arrested.

"I’m very happy to be free now, but I cannot forgive them for what they did to me," Brang Shawng says. Though his bruises and cuts have healed, he has numerous scars all over his body as a result of the brutal methods he says his interrogators used to extract the false confession that he was a serving captain in the KIO’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA).

The interrogation sessions were conducted largely in Burmese, a language the 4th Standard-educated Brang Shawng doesn’t speak well. "He is a simple man, he had nothing to do with what they accused him of," his 40-year-old wife Ze Nyoi explains.

When asked about the extent of his injuries, Brang Shawng lifts up his shirt to reveal a scar just above his navel. "This is where they cut me with a knife," he recalls. He then lifts his longyi to show dozens of similar scars all over his legs and thighs, the result he says of being repeatedly poked with sharp objects.

Brang Shawng’s ordeal, which he says also included rubbing bamboo polls on his shins, has left him physically unable to work or even carry out simple household chores like carrying water from the IDP camp well just meters away from his family’s hut. Perhaps even more debilitating are the regular headaches and memory loss he now suffers from, an affliction he says was caused by his interrogators repeatedly delivering blows to his head.

His wife—whose very public campaign to push for Brang Shawng’s release was, according to his supporters, a key factor in obtaining his freedom—now worries about how she will support her three children and her husband all on her own.

In a nearby IDP camp located on the grounds of Myitkyina’s Shwezet Baptist church lives the wife of another of Mar Khar’s clients who, like Brang Shawng, was arrested in June 2012. Lashi Lu’s husband Lahpai Gam is currently on trial for a list of charges including those relating to explosives and being a KIO operative. Lashi Lu says her husband is completely innocent but was forced to confess after being tortured by security officials. According to his wife, Laphai Gam’s interrogators went so far as to force him to perform sexual acts on his fellow detainees.

She continues to attend his trial along with the relatives of three other men from their camp, Brang Yung, Zau Seng Awng and Dayau Tang Gun, who were all arrested at the same time last year and face similar charges. Their families also contend that, like Laphai Gam, the other detained men were forced to perform sexual acts on each other in order to humiliate them.

"They told him to do to the other man like he would do to his wife. They forced him," says Brang Yung’s wife Hkawn Nan. Traveling regularly to the court from the camp to attend her 26-year-old husband’s trial has drained much of Hkawn Nan’s meager financial resources. Though she remains hopeful that justice will prevail, it appears her husband’s only path to freedom is a pardon from the president.

Even being briefly detained by the military for a few days can have serious consequences that can scar a person forever. Across the river from Myitkyina in Waing Moe Township lives Lahaung Hkaung Haung, a 34-year-old farmer who continues to suffer from serious injuries he says were inflicted in late 2011 by his captors from the Burmese military. He says he was arrested on Nov. 6, 2011 at the local village church where his family and about 20 of his neighbors, including women and children from Muk Chyik village, had taken refuge shortly after fighting broke out in the area that morning.

"The soldiers told us to stop crying or they would shoot us," says Hkaung Haung’s wife, recalling how the arrest took place in front of her and their children.

The soldiers who detained Hkaung Haung were furious because the KIO had just launched a lethal strike on their colleagues that day and held the villagers responsible. But Hkaung Haung and the other three men he was arrested with had nothing to do with the KIO or the attack, he says. Despite his pleas of innocence he was held for three days, during which time he was beaten repeatedly. "They struck me on my head many times till I passed out," says Hkaung Haung.

Since then, he says he suffers from severe headaches that intensify whenever the weather changes. A strange bump on the back of his head suggests a serious injury, but Hkaung Huang hasn’t seen a neurologist or had a head scan, which are luxuries he can’t afford. Due to the persistent headaches and injuries to his back, he has a hard time working and can barely provide for his family. When The Irrawaddy went to visit him at his small farm, his misery was intensified by a severe bout of malaria. He was too weak to even sit up and spent the entire interview lying in the fetal position on the floor of his small bamboo hut.

"Even though I’m not an IDP, my family has still suffered a lot because of this war," he says.

Hkaung Haung is fortunate in one sense, however: Unlike two of the other men who were detained alongside him, he did manage to survive his run-in with the military. Neither 51-year-old Hplalaung Lum Hkaung nor his 20-year-old nephew Chayu Lum Haung have been seen since they were detained.

Presuming both are dead, their families already held funerals for them last year.

Hustle and Bustle at a Burmese Fish Market

Posted: 02 Sep 2013 12:25 AM PDT

Neatly stacked and ready to go. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — While there is talk in Burma of the potential for a lucrative export market in seafood, for now the real hustle and bustle of the country's fishing industry is confined to places such as the Kyee Myint Taing fish market, just west of downtown Rangoon on the banks of the Rangoon River.

Here, fish catches are unloaded, sorted according to variety and size, packed in ice, bought and sold, and then sent off into a nationwide network of produce markets. The Irrawaddy's photographer Steve Tickner went down to market to see what it's all about.

Arsenal and Liverpool Claim Derby Spoils

Posted: 01 Sep 2013 11:57 PM PDT

Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge celebrates with his team mates after scoring the winning goal against Manchester United on Sunday. (Photo: Reuters)

LONDON — Arsenal and Liverpool emerged victorious from two of the Premier League’s fiercest rivalries with wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United respectively on Sunday.

Arsenal prevailed over big-spending Spurs 1-0 thanks to Olivier Giroud’s third goal in as many matches, while Daniel Sturridge matched him in the scoring stakes as The Reds also won 1-0 on the day the club celebrated the 100th birthday of their renowned former manager Bill Shankly.

Liverpool sit top of the Premier League with nine points from three matches, two ahead of Chelsea.

Manchester City, Arsenal, Stoke City and Spurs are on six points, with United two further back on four.

Spurs have spent heavily in the transfer window in anticipation of the world record sale of Welsh winger Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, while Arsenal have only brought in Yaya Sanogo and Mathieu Flamini on free transfers.

Bale’s transfer to the Spanish club for 100 million euros ($131.86 million) was confirmed shortly after the match.

Spurs started brightly but Arsenal, however, looked the more cohesive side and were rewarded after 23 minutes when Tomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott combined to set up Giroud at the near post.

The goal failed to subdue a frantic start as both sides took advantage of gaps in the midfield, with Andros Townsend, Walcott and the impressive Aaron Ramsey all having opportunities.

Both teams pressed in search of further goals as the match progressed, but neither were able to find the crucial touch, with Spurs in particular indebted to goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who made several fine saves.

Wenger Relieved

"I was (relieved) because in the end we did hang on and protected our score because we could not get the second goal but overall it was an intense game," manager Arsene Wenger told Sky Sport.

"Their goalkeeper was their best player which shows you the chances we had. We had to dig deep to win in the end."

It was a sweet victory for Arsenal who have recovered from their shock 3-1 defeat by Aston Villa on the opening day of the season with two successive wins, and could help silence some of the critics hitting out at Wenger’s lack of action in the transfer market.

"We had opportunities in the first half, they also started strong but I think we came back into the game very positively," manager Andre Villas-Boas said, also acknowledging the new signings needed time to settle in.

"The second half was very strong from us, it was a difficult encounter but I think we deserved something in the second half but Arsenal were clinical in front of goal. That they finished with four full-backs on the pitch at the end shows how much they wanted to hang on to the result."

Sturridge on Target

At Anfield Liverpool honoured Shankly in the best possible fashion when Daniel Agger got the better of Rio Ferdinand from a corner and Sturridge, celebrating his 24th birthday, reacted sharply to nod the ball home from close range in just the fourth minute.

Champions United, without striker Wayne Rooney after a training-ground incident left him with a bad cut on his forehead, rarely threatened to equalise despite dominating possession.

David Moyes’s first competitive defeat as United manager continued his poor record at Anfield where he failed to win in 12 attempts when he was in charge at Everton.

"It is a great win for our belief, last season we drew too many of the big games and we lost both times to Manchester United, but today was another marker for us and since January our form has been very, very good," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said.

In a frenetic start Liverpool looked the more dangerous side with Philippe Coutinho continuing his impressive start to life in the Premier League by causing problems down the left, while United struggled to impose any authority in the middle of the park, where Tom Cleverley and Ryan Giggs endured difficult afternoons.

United stepped up their efforts after the break, but with Agger and Martin Skrtel strong in the Liverpool defense United’s best openings were limited to a ferocious strike by Portuguese substitute Nani, which was well blocked by Simon Mignolet and a late chance for Van Persie which he sent well wide.

"I thought we played really well," Moyes said.

"We had long periods of the game but couldn’t score. Apart from the lapse in concentration for their goal, we played well."

In the other early kickoff, Swansea City picked up their first points of the season with victory over West Bromwich Albion, who lie bottom of the table with a single point and no goals scored.

Ben Davies opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a classy side-foot volley after being set up by Pablo Hernandez who sealed all three points in the 83rd minute, capitalizing on good work from compatriot Michu.

TV Confessions in China an Unsettling New Trend for Executives

Posted: 01 Sep 2013 10:59 PM PDT

Chinese-American venture capitalist Charles Xue, widely known as Xue Manzi, attends a meeting at the 2012 Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing in this May 10, 2012 picture. (Photo: Reuters)

BEIJING — A series of confessions by foreign and local executives on China's state-controlled television has spurred anxiety among the business community about a trend that some lawyers say makes a mockery of due process.

Confessions have long been part of China's legal landscape, with petty criminals routinely admitting their guilt on television.

But rarely have senior business figures been put on television in orange prison jumpsuits to confess.

"If involuntary to any degree, the admissibility of the confessions is in question," said James Zimmerman, a managing partner at law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter and Hampton and a former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce China.

"Parading just-detained criminal defendants in the media is repugnant and reflects political expediency and a rush to judgment," he said in an e-mail.

Chinese-American venture capitalist Charles Xue appeared on state CCTV on Thursday to confess to visiting prostitutes, a crime in China.

Xue, also known as Xue Manzi, is an online commentator known for making controversial remarks on social and political issues. The US Embassy in Beijing said Washington was aware of his case and was providing consular assistance. It was unclear if Xue had a lawyer.

Last week, Peter Humphrey, a British risk consultant accused of buying and selling private information, apologized to the government on CCTV in a neon orange vest and handcuffs, saying he had sometimes used illegal methods in his work.

Humphrey, who once worked for Reuters, has a lawyer, his family have said without disclosing who it is. The British Foreign Office has expressed concern about Humphrey's appearance on television before any trial.

Humphrey and his American wife were detained in July, around the same time Chinese police announced they were investigating British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline for alleged bribery.

The couple's risk consultancy, ChinaWhys, had done work for GSK, sources familiar with the matter have said.

A Chinese GSK executive arrested in the anti-corruption investigation appeared on CCTV in July to describe how the firm bribed doctors and officials to raise the price of its medicines. GSK has said some of its Chinese executives appeared to have broken the law.

China's Ministry of Public Security did not respond to a faxed request for comment.

An amendment to China's criminal procedure law, which took effect at the start of the year, prohibits authorities from forcing anyone to incriminate themselves.

But confessions are coerced out of high- and low-profile offenders alike, criminal law experts said.

Ousted politician Bo Xilai, accused of bribery and abuse of power, said during his trial in August that he had been forced to admit to crimes against his will.

"Even Bo Xilai backtracked on his confession on the grounds that he felt that he was pressured to make a confession in order to get leniency or to maintain his political position," Zimmerman said.

Justice, Mao-Style

Indeed, suspects often strike deals to confess and apologize in the hope they will receive more lenient punishment.

Three milk powder makers who were investigated as part of a recent antitrust probe into the industry were not fined because, among other things, they carried out "self-rectification," the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which regulates prices, said.

If that doesn't happen, authorities can get heavy-handed.

Reuters reported last month that a senior NDRC official put pressure on some 30 foreign firms at a meeting in late July to confess to any antitrust violations and warned them against using external lawyers to fight accusations from regulators.

Publicizing confessions before a formal criminal process could reflect "a wider trend of returning to Mao-style criminal justice," said Eva Pils, law professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

During the Mao years, Pils said, "the point of the criminal process wasn't to determine whether or not the person at its center was guilty—at the time that was practically a foregone conclusion. Rather it was to educate the public—in this case, presumably also a foreign public."

When it comes to public confessions in politicized cases, the desire to spread propaganda may trump the rule of law.

"This isn't an issue of the law," said Chen Ruihua, a law professor at Peking University. "It's an issue of the media. They want to publicize these cases."

President Xi Jinping has called China's fight against corruption crucial to the ruling Communist Party's survival. Televised confessions help make clear to the public that authorities are tough on graft, legal activists said.

"The Chinese public is very suspicious about any legal process involving corruption, so showing someone on TV confessing is really very powerful," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch. "But it makes the whole trial look like a farce if people go on TV to confess beforehand."

The more important issue, Bequelin said, is the message getting sent to foreign investors.

"The signs are unmistakable that the government is cracking the whip against foreign companies."

Bali’s Rice-Field Irrigation System Faces Collapse

Posted: 01 Sep 2013 09:59 PM PDT

A panorama overview of Bali's famous, terraced subak irrigation system. (Photo: Creative Commons)

Bali’s mystically beautiful rice fields, watered by an intricate, centuries-old subak irrigation system, are near collapse as farmers sell their properties to developers for villas and as other pressures bear on them, according to a global food research organization.

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a worldwide consortium of public research agencies originally funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, says that with more than two million tourists swarming the island each year, the irrigation system is "is in danger of being loved to death."

As many as 1,000 hectares per year of Balinese rice fields, which have been awarded World Heritage Cultural Landscape status by UNESCO, are being taken out of production, said Steve Lansing, an ecological anthropologist who has been studying the system since 1974.

"Because the entire system is integrated, when a few terraced fields are sold, the taxes on neighboring farms increase, putting pressure on more farmers to sell, which threatens the viability of the whole," Lansing was quoted as saying in a CGIAR news release. "At the current rate of loss of rice fields, all subak are under threat and unless something is done in the next few years, the entire system could collapse."

For decades, Bali has assumed almost magical status, a Hindu island of perpetual festivals with stunning temples, gorgeous tropical landscapes and a populace seemingly steeped in tolerance. But the threat to the island took on ominous new proportions in the 1970s, when authorities built an international airport in the capital of Denpasar, which allowed jumbo jets to arrive with daily flights from Australia and other nearby countries, swamping the island’s own population of 3.5 million with beer-drinking party goers who swarm the tacky beach bar areas. In the 1980s, as the surrounding islands fell into poverty, another invasion of mendicant Indonesians also flooded the island.

Then a new flood of investment bankers, journalists and wealthy expatriates working in business in Hong Kong, Jakarta and other cities swarmed in to take advantage of the cheap land and building prices to build sprawling villas in the rice fields.

"Hotels and resorts started popping up all over Bali, erasing coconut trees and beaches to make way for private terraces and infinity pools," Point Consulting said in a recent report. "Other beaches were widened and the background nature was destroyed, transformed into parking lots to accommodate the masses of tourists flying in from Australia and Europe."

Every day, 13,000 cubic meters of waste is dumped and only half of it is recycled, the Point Consulting report said. "Traffic jams are becoming increasingly problematic, with the island’s road connections struggling to accommodate the 13 percent annual increase in number of cars."

The rice fields, terraced into the hills in emerald green profusion, played a major role in the island’s beauty. In an effort to save them under the auspices of UNESCO, Lansing and his Balinese colleagues have developed what they call a "bottom up model" used by the subak themselves is being adapted for their protection. A governing assembly consisting of elected heads of villages and subak will manage the world heritage area, the CGIAR report said. The Assembly will decide which aspects of the landscape visitors should engage with, collect fees from their visits, and use this revenue for the benefit of all.

"This will be the first UNESCO site in Asia to be managed locally and not by government," Lansing told the 6th Annual Ecosystem Services Partnership Conference in Bali on Aug. 26. "We hope that the councils will be able to act quickly enough to stop the threat to their own existence."

"An important development to note here is the preservation not just of the rice terraces but also of the management system," Meine van Noordwijk, Chief Scientist at the World Agroforestry Center and head of the conference organizing committee, was quoted in the CGIAR report. "The subak manage their own specific irrigation system that is intimately linked to all the others. This is unique to UNESCO heritage sites in Asia where the requirement normally is to first set up a management system that has a top down approach."

The system was earlier put to the test as a consequence of the Green Revolution of the 1970s when the Indonesian government introduced a package of new rice varieties, chemical fertilizers and organic pesticides. Farmers were urged to plant rice as often as possible with the new fertilizers and pesticides, bypassing the controlled pattern of the water temple systems that provided natural fertilizer and pest control.

"The results had unintended consequences because the absence of synchronized fallow periods led to an explosion of pests," Lansing said. "Substitution with high technology affected other aspects of the ecosystem because use of fertilizers in the already nutrient-rich water meant that the fertilizer was washed into the sea via the rivers, causing growth of algae that covered and killed the coral reefs. Today, the water temples are in control again but problems caused by excess fertilizers persist."

In Bali, the water temple system enables the subak to coordinate their activities along entire river systems. Inscriptions issued by Balinese kings in the 11th century describe subak and water temples, some of which are still functioning today, the CGIAR report notes.

"Irrigation water is regarded as a gift from the goddess of the volcanic crater lakes. Each subak performs ritual offerings to the goddess and other deities in their own water temples," Lansing told the conference. "These temples also provide a venue where farmers meet to elect leaders and make democratic decisions about their irrigation schedules. Groups of subak that share a common water source form a congregation of regional water temples, where all subak agree on watershed-scale cropping schedules."

That allows each village temple to control the water that goes into nearby rice terraces; regional temples control the water that flows into larger areas, Lansing said. The control of water is key to rice growth, in two main ways. First, the water flows over volcanic rocks rich in mineral nutrients, such as phosphate and potassium.

The rice paddies are effectively artificial ponds in which the fertility of the water creates an aquarium-like effect. The processes in the water help the rice grow through providing the necessary nutrients. Second, the upstream subak ensure that water flows to their downstream counterparts. This brings about a synchronized planting and harvest pattern that has turned out to be an excellent pest control and management system, providing benefits for all, the CGIAR report noted.

By synchronizing irrigation schedules across neighboring subak, pest populations are controlled when the fields are harvested and flooded, depriving the pests of food and habitat.

"The subak have achieved such success by getting the right scale of coordination through a system of controlling and sharing water that forms an integrated irrigation system in Bali, which has enabled them to maintain the ecology of their rice terraces for over 1000 years", said Lansing.

India Convicts Youngest Delhi Gang Rape Defendant

Posted: 01 Sep 2013 09:53 PM PDT

Students in Ahmedabad, India, hold candles as they pray during a candlelight vigil for a gang rape victim who was assaulted in New Delhi. (Photo: Reuters)

NEW DELHI — An Indian juvenile court on Saturday handed down the first conviction in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus, convicting a teenager of rape and murder and sentencing him to three years in a reform home, lawyers said.

The victim's parents denounced the sentence, which was the maximum the defendant faced. The family had long insisted the teen, who was 17 at the time of the December attack and is now 18, be tried as an adult—and thus face the death penalty—insisting he was the most brutal of the woman's attackers.

"He should be hanged irrespective of whether he is a juvenile or not. He should be punished for what he did to my daughter," the victim's mother, Asha Devi, told reporters after the verdict was announced.

Indian law forbids the publication of the teen's name because he was sentenced in a juvenile court.

The attack, which left the 23-year-old victim with such extensive internal injuries that she died two weeks later, sparked protests across the country and led to reforms of India's antiquated sexual violence laws. The government, facing immense public pressure, had promised swift justice in the case.

The convicted teen was one of six people accused of tricking the woman and her male companion into boarding an off-duty bus Dec. 16 after they had seen an afternoon showing of "Life of Pi" at an upscale shopping mall. Police say the men raped the woman and used a metal bar to inflict massive internal injuries to her. They also beat her companion. The victims were dumped naked on the roadside, and the woman later died from her injuries in a Singapore hospital.

The victim's father said the family was deeply disappointed with the sentence.

"This is completely unacceptable to us," Badrinath Singh said. "We are not satisfied with this outcome. He is virtually being set free. This is very wrong."

"No family should have a daughter if this is the fate that lies ahead for women. In this country, it is crime to be born a girl," he said.

Indian law forbids the publication of the names of rape victims, even if they die.

S.K. Singh, a lawyer for the victim's family, said they would challenge the juvenile court's verdict in a higher court.

"We will also seek a review of the man's age by a medical panel, since we believe he was not a juvenile when the incident took place," he said.

In India, especially in rural areas, many people do not have their births properly registered, and school certificates are used as proof of age.

Singh and the defendant's lawyer, Rajesh Tewari, both confirmed the conviction and sentence.

Reporters were not allowed inside the courtroom. Scores of television crews lined up on the road outside the court building beginning early Saturday, waiting for the verdict.

Four of the other defendants are being tried in a special fast-track court in New Delhi and face the death penalty. The sixth accused was found dead in his jail cell in March. The court is expected to hand down the rest of the verdicts in September.

The convicted defendant was tried as a minor on charges including murder and rape. The time he has spent in a juvenile home since he was arrested in December will count toward his sentence, Tewari said.

The attack set off furious protests across India about the treatment of women in the country and led to an overhaul of sexual assault laws.

A government panel set to suggest reforms to sexual assault laws rejected calls to lower the age at which people can be tried as adults from 18 to 16.

In July, India's top court also refused to reduce the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16 years. However, it later agreed to hear a new petition seeking to take the "mental and intellectual maturity" of the defendant into account, and not just age.
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