The Irrawaddy Magazine

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• UN, US Urge Action After Rohingya Boat Accident
• Kawthaung Residents Claim Coal Plant Causes Health Problems
• Buddhists Threaten Aid Workers, Hamper Medical Relief in West Burma
• Arakan Court Sentences 68 Rohingyas to Lengthy Prison Terms
• Activists to Protest Electricity Rate Rise in Rangoon
• Burma Set to Release Dozens of Political Prisoners: Panel Member
• Myitsone Dam Project on Hold, but Far From Dead
• Trial in Burma Embassy Plot Begins in Indonesia
• SEA Games Preparations ‘on Track’ as Burma Draws Football Foes
• Thai Senate to Reject Controversial Amnesty Bill, Says Speaker
• Washington’s Holocaust Museum Highlights Burma’s Rohingya
• India and China Seek Economic Integration Via Burma, Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Court Sentences 152 to Death for 2009 Mutiny

UN, US Urge Action After Rohingya Boat Accident Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:30 AM PST Rohingya refugees from Burma sit on a boat as they try to get into Bangladesh. An overloaded boat of about 70 Rohingya Muslims sank over the weekend in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — The UN agency for refugees has called for action by the Burma government after a boat of about 70 Rohingya Muslims capsized off the coast of Arakan State over the weekend, leaving dozens dead or missing. A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said only eight survivors had been reported so far after the overloaded boat sank early on Sunday in the Bay of Bengal, reportedly en route to Bangladesh. It was the latest in a series of boat accidents off Burma's west coast involving members of the Rohingya minority group. "As with recent boat disasters on the Mediterranean, UNHCR's worry is that similar tragedies will follow unless actions are taken by concerned countries to address the causes and reduce the risks for those involved in dangerous journeys by sea," Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday, according to a report on the UNHCR website. "2013 is by all accounts one of the worst years in terms of deadly incidents at sea," he said. Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled from Buddhist-majority Burma after two bouts of communal violence last year in Arakan State left about 200 people dead and 140,000 others displaced. Buddhists and Muslims were both affected by the violence, but the vast majority of victims were Rohingya, who are widely seen by Arakanese Buddhists as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, although many trace their roots back in Burma for generations. The United States also on Tuesday said it was "deeply saddened" by news of the recent boat accident and called on the Burma government to act to avert similar accidents in the future. "We remain deeply concerned about the security and humanitarian conditions of all vulnerable populations in Rakhine [Arakan] State," the US Embassy in Rangoon said in a statement. "We urge the government to coordinate with local authorities as well as organizations involved in humanitarian assistance in the area to ensure the protection of vulnerable populations and develop durable solutions for their condition." The UN refugee agency called on Burma to address the root causes of the outflow of Rohingya, including by addressing a lack of development in Arakan State, the second-poorest state in the country. Edwards also urged the government to "resolve the statelessness of the Rohingya population." "In parallel, we are appealing to countries in the region to strengthen search and rescue operations to prevent further loss of life at sea," he said. "We also urge regional governments to harmonize disembarkation and reception conditions and to offer temporary protection to people in need of international protection while durable solutions are sought." The number of boat departures from the Bay of Bengal has risen dramatically since clashes first broke out in June last year, with unverified reports suggesting that 24,000 people left on boats from Burma and Bangladesh in the first eight months of this year, the UN refugee agency says. Last week the agency said it feared more people would begin setting out to sea in search of a better life as the rainy season in Burma comes to an end. It said more than 1,500 people boarded boats in north Arakan State in the last week of October alone. Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims have continued in western Burma this year. The latest outbreak of violence occurred on Saturday, with Muslim men allegedly killing a Buddhist woman in Pauktaw Township after a Muslim man was found dead earlier in the day. On Monday, the legislature in Naypyidaw called for attention to the security situation in Arakan State. Khin Saw Wai, a lawmaker from the Rakhine Nationals Progressive Party (RNPP), asked the government to urgently improve security, immigration and administration measures in the state, according to the state-run media. The deputy minister for border affairs, Maj-Gen Maung Maung Ohn, replied that the government had implemented short-term and long-term plans for peace and stability in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday. Both townships are heavily populated by Rohingya Muslims. The newspaper added that the deputy minister said the government had worked to improve socio-economic conditions in Arakan State, and that Maungdaw "enjoyed community peace." At the end of last month, dozens of Muslims in Maungdaw were reportedly sentenced to prison for destroying property during communal clasheslast year. Throughout the state, the majority of those detained since violence began in June last year were Rohingya, according to the UN special rapporteur on human rights. The post UN, US Urge Action After Rohingya Boat Accident appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Kawthaung Residents Claim Coal Plant Causes Health Problems Posted: 06 Nov 2013 04:24 AM PST The coal plant in Kawthaung operated by Than Phyo Thu Mining Company. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Residents of Kawthaung, a Tenessarim Division town located on Burma's southernmost tip, are complaining that air pollution caused by a coal-fired plant constructed last year is affecting the health of about 100 people. Nway Nway, a local resident, said the coal plant was located in the town, between Shwepyitha and Ayeyeiknyein quarters, where its emissions were affecting the respiratory health of an increasing number of local inhabitants. "If there were 50 people before, now we have 100 people who have health complaints," she said, adding that children and old people suffered the most from the air pollution. "I even suffer from coughing and chest congestion; five pregnant women living around the factory are facing the same problem," Nway Nway added. Local residents have protested against the construction of the 8-megawatt plant since it became operational in October 2012. The facility is managed by Than Phyo Thu Mining Company. Than Htun, a Democratic Party representative from Tenessarim Division, said his party was investigating the plant's reported effect on residents' health. "There are about 40 patients with those [respiratory] problems and we are examining them with three doctors to determine if smoke and ash from the factory were the root causes," he said. "After that, we will continue medical check-ups with skin and throat specialists from inside the country and Thailand. If [emissions] are the reasons, we will campaign until the factory is closed down entirely," he said, adding that his party held a meeting with local residents recently and many had demanded that the plant be moved elsewhere. "If the number of victims increases, but the factory continues its operations or doesn't relocate, it will face growing opposition from locals or other types of problems," said Than Htun. The facility's manager, Hla Maw, dismissed claims that the plant's emissions were causing health problems among local residents, adding that the plant was not located close to living quarters as it was at the center of a 28-acre compound. "People say they have suffered but there is no medical record to prove that," he said. Hla Maw said the power plant is a joint-venture between the Ministry of Electric Power and the privately-owned Than Phyo Thu Company, adding that it provided much-needed power to the town and for this reason it was unlikely that it would shut down, despite the complaints. "We are providing the whole urban area with electricity, so what can we do if we don't have this factory?," he said, adding that electricity prices for local residents had dropped from 450 kyat (US$ 0.45) per unit to 370 kyat after the plant began producing power. Than Htun said the reported health problems were the result of a flawed government decision to not use natural gas produced from fields off the coast of Tenasserim Division to construct a gas-fired plant in the town. "The government sells natural gas from our area to foreign countries and builds factories that are harmful to our people," said Than Htun, referring to Burma's large-scale export of natural gas to neighboring Thailand In early 2012, government plans for the construction of 4,000-megawatt coal plant in the Thailand-backed Special Economic Zone in Dawei, Tennaserim, were shelved following fierce protests by local residents and environmental activists. The post Kawthaung Residents Claim Coal Plant Causes Health Problems appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Buddhists Threaten Aid Workers, Hamper Medical Relief in West Burma Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:54 AM PST A makeshift Rohingya camp in Arakan State last year. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Humanitarian agencies operating in Arakan State say threats from local Buddhists have hampered efforts to deliver aid, with hostilities increasing this week amid allegations of an aid bias in favor of Muslims. Pierre Péron, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that humanitarian organizations in west Burma were finding it increasingly difficult to operate and deliver emergency assistance to thousands of people displaced following last year's inter-communal violence. Despite efforts to clarify that international partners are operating at the invitation of the Burma government, he said growing community resistance about the perceived bias of assistance, coupled with persistent threats and intimidation of aid workers, has created an increasingly menacing atmosphere. He added that in some circumstances this has lead to a disruption of assistance to all vulnerable families, irrespective of which community they belong to. Ethnic Arakanese Buddhist have accused UN agencies of delivering more aid to Rohingya Muslims than to local Buddhists. The majority of victims in the inter-communal violence last year were Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, although Buddhists and ethnic Kaman Muslims were also affected. The United Nations reports that two bouts of clashes last year in June and October left about 200 people dead and 140,000 others displaced. This week, during the latest outbreak of violence to hit the state, in Pauktaw Township, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) faced threats after taking three injured Muslims to a hospital, while Buddhist women wounded in a separate incident sought treatment on their own. A Buddhist woman was killed and another severely injured after they were stabbed by Muslim men wielding spears near a village on Saturday, in an attack reportedly carried out in retaliation for the discovery of a Muslim man's dead body. Buddhists accused MSF of aid bias, but the humanitarian medical said it was never contacted by community leaders or local authorities to assist with the transfer of the wounded Buddhist women or to provide emergency medical care. "If we had been contacted, MSF would have been very ready to provide emergency medical care and referral services, and [we] have facilitated this on several occasions in the past," MSF Deputy Head of Mission Vickie Hawkins told The Irrawaddy earlier this week. Buddhists hosted two days of meetings this week in preparation to protest against the alleged aid bias, according to Tun Hlaing, a rights activist in the state capital, Sittwe. "We have asked for permission to protest—we are waiting for this," he said. "We are not happy about UN agencies offering biased aid." Humanitarian partners reportedly hosted a meeting on Tuesday in Sittwe to discuss strategies for dealing with threats to staff members. The OCHA says they have also raised concerns with the Arakan State government over cases of intimidation. "Although the Rakhine [Arakan] State government has taken action and stressed in public meetings that international organizations are working in support of the government-led response, recognizing that the same assistance is going to IDPs [internally displaced persons] of all communities, and that the number of Muslim IDPs is much higher than the ones belonging to the Rakhine [Buddhist] community, tensions and community resistance continue unabated. Any obstruction of aid efforts is a violation of international humanitarian law," Péron told The Irrawaddy in an e-mail. The OCHA said the government had highlighted that intimidations would not be tolerated, and that action would be taken against those responsible for illegal acts. Still, he said more action was required on the state and national levels to ensure that aid workers can safely offer assistance to people in temporary camps, and to help address community misconceptions about the work of the aid community. In Sittwe, Maung Maung, an activist from Arakan Blood Donors, a group that donates blood to Buddhists in need of transfusions, said tensions were high. "Some activists have launched campaigns in Sittwe urging local people not to rent their houses for NGOs," he told The Irrawaddy. An aid worker in the state capital described one type of threat that humanitarian workers faced. "They put letters at houses where NGO workers stay sometimes and tell them to leave their houses within 48 hours. If not, they threaten to set fire to the house," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The post Buddhists Threaten Aid Workers, Hamper Medical Relief in West Burma appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Arakan Court Sentences 68 Rohingyas to Lengthy Prison Terms Posted: 06 Nov 2013 03:22 AM PST Burmese government troops patrol in conflict-ridden Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State in June 2012. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) Last week, Maungdaw Court in Arakan State sentenced 68 Rohingya Muslims to prison terms of up to five years for their roles in last year's inter-communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims in northern Arakan, local leaders and officials said. Almost 200 Muslims have now been sentenced to lengthy terms in Buthidaung Township's notorious prison. Rohingya leaders allege the defendants received disproportionally harsh sentences in unfair trials. Maungdaw Township Court found 68 Muslims guilty of arson under article 436 of the Penal Code and punished them with prison sentences of between three and five years, local Arakanese and Muslim sources told The Irrawaddy. "According to the relevant authorities, 65 Muslims were sentenced for five years each in late October," said Kyaw Soe Aung, a spokesperson of Democracy and Human Rights Party, a Rangoon-based Muslim political party. He added that another three defendants were sentenced to three years imprisonment. The group was sentenced for their roles in attacks on the Arakanese Buddhist village of Bohmuu in Maungdaw Township on Jun 8, 2012. A Muslim mob reportedly set houses on fire and killed a doctor and administrative officials during the attack. Arakan State government's attorney-general Hla Thein said the sentences wrapped up the trials of those involved in last year's violence in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships. "All the trials were completed in the last week of October," he said in a brief phone call, without elaborating on the cases. An official at Maungdaw Court confirmed the sentences had been handed down but declined further comment. In June and October 2012, two waves of deadly inter-communal violence between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims swept through western Burma's Arakan State, killing almost 200 people, destroying thousands of homes and displacing 142,000 people, mostly Muslims. Burma's government has been accused of tacitly supporting Buddhist mob violence. It does not recognize the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority as citizens and officials refer to them as "Bengalis" to suggest that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The Rohingyas claim they have lived in Arakan for generations and are entitled to citizenship. Last year's violence affected areas around the state capital Sittwe and in the Muslim-majority townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung in northern Arakan. The violence first flared up in Maungdaw and Buthidaung, where Rohingyas attacked Arakanese villages on June 8, 2012. About 20 Arakanese villages were reportedly burned down in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships and 12 Arakanese villagers were killed in Muslim mob attacks. When violence spread to Sittwe in mid-June 2012, most of the town's Muslim population—which comprised about half its original 170,000 inhabitants—were attacked and chased out by Buddhist mobs, while their properties were looted and destroyed. Many of the displaced Muslims continue to languish in squalid and crowded camps in the countryside. In Maungdaw and Buthidaung, hundreds were arrested in the aftermath of the violence. According to human rights groups, Muslim men and boys were subject to arbitrary arrests and held incommunicado for many months. "Hundreds of Rohingyas, including children and four humanitarian workers, were arrested and detained for alleged involvement in violence in June 2012," the Arakan Project said in a report submitted to the UN human rights rapporteur for Burma in August. By comparison, "very few" Buddhist perpetrators of the violence were sentenced, said the Rohingya rights group. On Aug. 20-21, 35 Muslim detainees were sentenced to 17 years, four to 6 years and four to life imprisonment for the violence in Maungdaw. Another 33 had been scheduled for sentencing in late August but the outcome of their trial remains unclear. About 55 Muslims suspected of involvement in violence in Buthidaung had been sentenced to prison terms of between 4 and 10 years in August last year. Last week's sentences raise the total number of Rohingyas imprisoned for the violence in northern Arakan State to 193. Rohingya residents of Buthidaung said they felt the trials had been unfair as they were held behind closed doors and Muslim defendants had not been given a lawyer. "The Muslims arrested in relation to the last year's conflict are not allowed to hire lawyers, but in regular legal cases it's okay [for Muslims] to hire a lawyer," said a Rohingya man, who declined to be named out of fear for retribution by authorities. Another Muslim resident alleged, "There are over 800 people still being detained and many of them received their verdicts in closed trials." He said almost 100 minors had been among those arrested last year, adding that some had since been released. "According to the released youths, they were badly treated in prison, without having enough food or water during their detention," said the man, who declined to be identified. He added that he had heard that another 30 Muslim defendants are still on trial at Buthidaung Court. Khin Maung Than, Maungdaw Township chairman of the Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP), which represents the Arakanese Buddhist population, played down the allegations that Muslim defendants had been subject to an unfair trial. "We actually heard that the government arranged lawyers to represent most of the Muslim offenders, as they cannot afford to hire the own lawyers," he said. Khin Maung Tan went on to claim that despite the arrest of numerous Muslims in northern Arakan State "those who committed the killings are still at large." "As Maungdaw is a border town near neighboring Bangladesh, the Bengalis can easily cross the Naf River to escape or sneak back [into Burma]," he said, referring to the Muslim community. A Muslim resident of Buthidaung said tensions between the communities in the town had lessened in recent months, although the Muslim population was still restricted from travelling outside of Buthidaung. The Arakanese Buddhist minority in northern Arakan State reportedly still live in shelters in their original villages. Some armed security forces are stationed nearby for their protection, but Arakanese villagers have said they still feel unsafe. The post Arakan Court Sentences 68 Rohingyas to Lengthy Prison Terms appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Activists to Protest Electricity Rate Rise in Rangoon Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:26 AM PST Demonstrators hold up candles as they protest near Sule Pagoda, in central Rangoon, on May 24, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) RANGOON — Activists in Rangoon plan to again take to the streets with candles to protest government management of the city's electricity supply, this time voicing opposition to a proposed electricity rate hike of as much as 100 percent. Activist groups plan to stage their protest—without having obtained the legally required permission—on Wednesday evening at 6pm outside City Hall. They hope to bring attention to what they say is public indignation over a planned rise in the city's electricity rates even as Burma's commercial capital continues to experience frequent blackouts. Last week, the Yangon City Electricity Supply Board (YESB) announced that households consuming more than 101 units of electricity per month would have to pay 50 kyats (US$0.05) per unit, a price increase of about 40 percent. "The amount is not much for cronies and the upper class but the low-income class has already felt the impact because small and medium-sized businesses have raised the prices of their products due to the electricity price increase," said Si Thu, an activist organizing Wednesday's planned protest. Commercial enterprises that consume from 1 to 5,000 units of electricity per month will experience a 35 percent increase and pay 100 kyats per unit starting in November, YESB also announced. Businesses using more than 5,000 units will see their electricity bills double as rates jump from 75 kyats to 150 kyats per unit. "There will be two groups protesting," Si Thu said. "One will be in front of Konezaytan Street, near Theingyi Market, to collect people's input as to whether they will accept the increase or not. Another group will be at City Hall and will march through Kyauktada Township." Min Nay Htoo, another activist coordinating the demonstration, said organizers were bracing for a potential crackdown by local authorities, given that no permit for the protest was granted by the city government. "We are not afraid because we are acting on behalf of the people who will suffer the impacts of this electricity price rise. The daily commodities prices are now getting higher because of this. How can low-income people survive?" 21-year-old Min Nay Htoo told The Irrawaddy. The YESB said in its announcement last week that it was implementing the price hikes "in order to cover costs of producing and purchasing electricity." The board could not be reached for further comment on the price increase. Protestors from several townships in Rangoon are expected to participate. "We know about Section 18," Si Thu said, referring to a provision of the Peaceful Assembly Law that requires prior approval from local authorities for any planned protest. "We can be arrested, but we will do it because we don't want to see people facing difficulties. We hope that the government will change course through this protest." Activists in Rangoon and central Burma staged similar candle protests last year in May, at the tail end of the dry season, when the country was afflicted by particularly acute power cuts. At least six people were arrested In late September, Union Minister for Electricity Khin Maung Soe said current energy supply stands at about 2,000 megawatts per day nationwide, while energy demand far outstrips supplies and is set to grow 15 percent annually, to 4,900 megawatts per day by 2015. Rangoon represents more than half of Burma's energy demand. During the dry season, from October to May, YESB struggles to supply Rangoon's approximately 5.3 million inhabitants and it is forced to ration electricity supply. Some parts of the city receive only six hours of power per day. The post Activists to Protest Electricity Rate Rise in Rangoon appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Burma Set to Release Dozens of Political Prisoners: Panel Member Posted: 06 Nov 2013 02:18 AM PST Activists in Rangoon pray for the release of political prisoners on Nov. 20, 2011. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — Burma may release scores of political prisoners this month to fulfill a promise by its reformist president to free prisoners of conscience by the end of this year, a member of a state-appointed panel said on Wednesday. A 19-member committee set up by President Thein Sein to identify the political prisoners has recommended 63 people be freed and the move could be imminent, Nyan Win, a former prisoner and member of the panel, told Reuters. Such a release would be in line with the guarantee Thein Sein made during a visit to Britain in July and add weight to Burma's promises that its political reforms are genuine and not superficial, as many critics have said. By the end of Burma's five decades of military rule in 2011, the number of political prisoners was estimated to be as high as 2,500, with activists, journalists, politicians and even comedians and artists behind bars, often in brutal conditions. "The president has said several times that there wouldn't be any political prisoners in the country by the end of this year, so we can expect their release any time," said Nyan Win, a close aide of Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who suffered house arrest for years under a military junta. A senior Home Ministry official, however, told Reuters that his ministry had yet to receive any instruction from the president to release more detainees. Freeing political prisoners has been key to the West's support for Thein Sein, the elderly former general who was fourth-in-command of the junta that for two decades ignored international calls to release them. Under his quasi-civilian government, hundreds of political prisoners have been freed in 12 amnesties, enough to convince the United States, the European Union and Australia to suspend most sanctions and allow a resumption of investment and development aid to one of Asia's poorest nations. But more needs to be done, say critics and the United Nations. The international body's special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, acknowledged progress with many reforms but last month expressed concern about recent arrests and convictions on charges he said were politically motivated, including some related to religious violence. About 150 political prisoners remain in Burma's various detention centers and 230 more face charges over political activities, says the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma A total of 73 were released on July 23, and 56 more released on Oct. 8, mostly members or ethnic minority rebel groups, with which the government is seeking peace deals. Additional reporting by Reuters reporter Jared Ferrie. The post Burma Set to Release Dozens of Political Prisoners: Panel Member appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Myitsone Dam Project on Hold, but Far From Dead Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:25 AM PST A town built to house Chinese staff for the Myitsone dam project in Kachin State. (Photo: Seamus Martov / The Irrawaddy) Back in September 2011 when President Thein Sein issued a decree ordering that construction of the Myitsone dam "be suspended in the time of our government," the announcement was met with widespread applause both internationally and at home. The ambitious project, which involves building a 152-meter-tall hydroelectric dam at the confluence of the two rivers that form the Irrawaddy, is the brainchild of a giant Chinese state-owned firm, China Power International (CPI). The recent disclosure by Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann that Thein Sein will not seek a second term in 2015 will likely boost CPI's not so subtle campaign to have the dam's suspension overturned. Even if Thein Sein's successor opts to resume the project, serious barriers remain to restart the dam, as the actual reasons for the project's suspension were far more complex than Thein Sein's initial explanation that he was respecting the "people's will." Some three months before the suspension was declared, Burma's military launched an offensive against the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), ending a 17-year ceasefire in Kachin State and parts of northwestern Shan State, and turning much of northern Burma into a war zone, including areas close to the dam site. CPI would soon learn how hard it is build a dam in the middle of conflict. Just weeks after the Kachin conflict erupted, the project was dealt a serious setback when a key bridge on the road between Kachin State and China was demolished with explosives, an action widely believed to have been carried out by the KIO. The bridge located at Kampaiti pass, north of the state capital Myitkyina, was the main way that CPI and its subcontractors shipped dam building equipment from China's Yunnan's Province to the project site. Nearly simultaneously, another key bridge on the road connecting Myitkyina to Bhamo was also destroyed, significantly complicating efforts to reroute equipment from China to the dam site via the south. The resumption of fighting in Kachin State and the destruction of the Kampaiti bridge in particular made moving forward with the project very difficult, if not impossible. Thein Sein's official suspension of the project was, according to his Kachin critics, a clever ploy to take credit for the dam's delay, which they say was inevitable once the fighting resumed. Interestingly, Chinese state media recently blamed the ongoing Kachin conflict as the biggest impediment to resuming the Myitsone project, something largely overlooked by most coverage about the dam's suspension. Writing in China's Global Times in September, Ding Gang, an editor with the English-language daily's sister paper the People's Daily, wrote, "On the surface, it seems that environmental concerns are the main obstacle to restarting this project. "But in reality, the key is the conflict between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) that affects the peace process in north Myanmar [Burma]," he added. Although the fighting began in June 2011, there were ample signs in the lead-up to the end of the ceasefire that a serious conflict was brewing, most notably in October 2010 when Burma’s state-run media once again started referring to the KIO as "insurgents," as had been the norm in the pre-ceasefire days. Yet CPI insisted on pushing ahead with the dam, despite the serious ratcheting up of tensions in Kachin State, a decision that would cost the company dearly. A Kachin businessman with ties to China confirms that CPI and its subcontracts lost vast sums of money once the dam was suspended. According to the businessman, a major factor contributing to these loses was the fighting and the destruction of key bridges in Kachin State, which meant that both CPI and its subcontractors were unable to remove large amounts of specialized dam-making tools and equipment stored at the project site. The KIO, for its part, made their opposition to the Myitsone dam, but not the other six dams planned for the upper Irrawaddy, well known before the fighting broke out. A March 2011 letter from the KIO's chairman, addressed to China's president, reportedly noted that the KIO had already "informed the military government that KIO would not be responsible for the civil war if the war broke out because of this hydro power plant project and the dam construction." While the dam remains on hold, CPI continues to keep a small squad of about 50 staff at the dam site, according to an article from the Chinese-language edition of BusinessWeek. They live in the nearby workers' town, built specifically to house more than 2,000 staff who were imported from China when construction started in 2010. Viewed from a passing boat on the river, the town appears to be well maintained. In an interview with China's Xinhua news agency conducted earlier this year, Li Guanghua, chief of CPI's Yunnan subsidiary, claimed that CPI continued to spend 300 million yuan ($US 49 million) per year on the Myitsone. According to Li, as of March 2013 CPI had invested some 7.3 billion renminbi, the Chinese currency, on the entire upper Irrawaddy hydro project, or about $1.2 billion. If fully implemented, the hydro project would consist of seven dams that would generate more electricity than the massive Three Gorges Dam in China. Model Village Misery Prior to the suspension of the dam, more than 2,600 people from villages set to be flooded by the dam's massive reservoir were forcibly displaced by government authorities in 2010 and early 2011. Most of the villagers, who were largely small-scale farmers, ended up in Aung Myin Thar and Maliyang "model villages," according to Mungchying Rawt Jat (MRJ), an advocacy group established by landless Kachin farmers. Despite the grand-sounding name, a recent visit to the larger of the two relocation sites suggested that the villages are anything but a model for development. Many of the relocated families have endured a major drop in their earnings since arriving at the model villages. "My income has gone down 80 percent since moving here," says Ja Hkawn, a 49-year-old divorcee who formerly ran a small farm and a store at Tang Hpre, a village near the Myitsone confluence. "When we stayed in our old place I could support all eight of my children going to school." Compounding her loss of earnings, Ja Hkawn cannot grow much food at her new home because the soil conditions are extremely poor. "We can’t grow anything," she says. The old villages, most of which have been completely destroyed by bulldozers, had much better soil that provided a steady income for Ja Hkawn and her small-scale farming neighbors, many of whom are now working as poorly paid casual laborers. Despite the dam's official suspension, displaced villagers have been barred by government authorities from returning to their fertile farms. "We were so happy when they stopped the project, but then they prevented us from returning," says Ja Hkawn. Even if the dam project never goes ahead, it is unlikely that Ja Hkawn and her fellow farmers will ever get their land back. Shortly after the dam's suspension, Sea Sun Star Company, a firm controlled by Hka Mai Tang, a locally elected Lower House lawmaker for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), took control of large tracts of the abandoned farmland. Fences built by Sea Sun Star and accompanying signs posted around the fields make it clear that the displaced farmers are not welcome back. The website of CPI's Burmese subsidiary Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Co. Ltd. (UACHC) boasts that the Aung Myint Thar model village, built with CPI funds, is "an auspicious place ," but Ja Hkawn strongly disagrees. She had to spend what little savings she had on rebuilding the home she was assigned because of the substandard quality of construction used by CPI's local partner, Asia World, a firm controlled by the family of the late drug lord warlord Lo Hsing Han. The fact that CPI chose Asia World, described by the US Treasury Department as a front for narco-money laundering, to carry out its corporate social responsibility projects is something many observers cite as proof that the firm was not sincere in its efforts to help those affected by the dam. With a 5 percent stake in UACHC, the entity that will operate the dam for a 50-year concession period, Asia World stands to make millions from its involvement in the Myitsone. The majority of UACH is held by CPI's Yunnan subsidiary CPIYN, which has an 80 percent stake, while Burma's Ministry of Electric Power controls the remaining 15 percent. According to a glossy report produced by UACHC, entitled "A Better Tomorrow of [sic] the Ayeyawady River," Burma will benefit tremendously from the project, earning more than $54 billion for the central government over the dam's first 50 years. UACHC also says that once the dam is built, the "shortage of residential and industrial power supply in northern Myanmar will be ended forever." It is a bold claim that sits at odds with the figures in the UACHC report, which shows that 90 percent of the 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually generated by the upper Irrawaddy dams that CPI wants to build will be exported. Claims by the CPI and its subsidiaries about the benefits of hydroelectric power are of little comfort to the displaced villagers. Among those displaced are several young women from Tang Hpre who, with few other options available, are now working as prostitutes in Myitkyina, according to a former neighbor. While CPI has made much fanfare about donating rice to displaced villagers, few of the villagers seem pleased. "They gave us very little compensation. It's very difficult for us to survive because we have lost so much, much more than what the Chinese businessman have lost," Ja Hkawn says. The post Myitsone Dam Project on Hold, but Far From Dead appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Trial in Burma Embassy Plot Begins in Indonesia Posted: 06 Nov 2013 01:13 AM PST Muslim activists protest outside the Burma Embassy in Jakarta in this Aug. 9, 2012 file photo. (Photo: Reuters / Supri) JAKARTA — One of the suspected militants who plotted to attack the Burma Embassy in Indonesia went on trial Wednesday on charges of terrorism that could result in a death sentence. Prosecutors told the South Jakarta District Court that Separiano, 29, and his group prepared five bombs to attack the Burma Embassy prior to a planned May 3 protest by hundreds of hard-line Muslims at the mission. He was arrested hours before the protest while riding a motorbike with another suspect on their way to the embassy in Jakarta. Police seized five homemade bombs from a backpack they were carrying. Other explosive materials were found later at their rented house in the capital. Days later, police arrested three other alleged group members, including Sigit Indrajit, the alleged mastermind. In the indictment, prosecutors charged Separiano with violating anti-terrorism laws, which carries a maximum penalty of death. "They wanted to bomb the embassy because of anger over Myanmar's treatment of Muslims," said prosecutor Susilo, who like Separiano and many Indonesians, uses a single name. He said the group wanted to retaliate against the country for attacks there on Rohingya Muslims. The four others alleged to be part of the plot are expected to go on trial later this week. Sectarian violence in Buddhist-majority Burma has killed scores, and thousands of Muslims have been driven from their homes. Members of the Rohingya ethnic group in particular face severe discrimination. They are considered to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite the fact many were born in Burma. Indonesia has been battling terrorists since the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The post Trial in Burma Embassy Plot Begins in Indonesia appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

SEA Games Preparations ‘on Track’ as Burma Draws Football Foes Posted: 06 Nov 2013 12:03 AM PST One month away from the start of the Southeast Asian Games, finishing touches are being put on venues, such as this indoor martial arts stadium (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) NAYPYIDAW — Just over a month before the Southeast Asian Games kick off, Burma's football team has learned that it will compete against Indonesia, East Timor, Thailand and Cambodia for a place in the knock-out stages of a tournament expected to be a highlight of the 27th biannual Games. Seeded third, a ranking based on the team's performance at the 2011 SEA Games in Indonesia, home favorites Burma will hope to finish among the top two in their pool to secure a place in the tournament semifinals. The draw took place at the Wunna Theikdi Stadium, a new 30,000-seater built in Naypyidaw to host the SEA Games' track and field events. The football matches will be played, however, at the Zayar Thiri Stadium, a replica of the Wunna Theikdi located a half-hour drive across town in Naypyidaw's main military area, while the women's football competition, in which Burma was drawn against Vietnam, the Philippines and again Indonesia, will be played in Mandalay. The first round match-ups for other team sports, including futsal, basketball and volleyball, were also drawn on Wednesday morning, with the event rocked to its foundations, however, by an interjection from the Brunei representative, who said that the oil and gas-rich Sultanate was withdrawing from the SEA Games futsal tournament. Outside of Wunna Theikdi Stadium, workers hammered and drilled away in the morning heat, readying the stage and backdrop for the opening ceremony scheduled for Dec. 8. The pageant will be attended by Burma President Thein Sein, as well as regional heads of government including Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Elsewhere in Naypyidaw, hotels are undergoing frantic last-minute renovations and, in some cases, round-the-clock construction of additional wings, to host the expected influx of visitors for the tournament. Nonetheless, Burma's Deputy Sports Minister Zaw Win told The Irrawaddy that arrangements for the SEA Games are on track. "We are happy that all preparations are coming on time and look forward to Myanmar holding the 27th SEA Games," Zaw Win said. The athletics competitions come ahead of Burma's 2014 chairing of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), during which hundreds of regional political and economic meetings will take place in the former military dictatorship. The SEA Games will feature 33 sports, with the usual sporting and athletics competition staples such as track and field, basketball, swimming and boxing being joined by regional sports such as sepak takraw, a cross between football and volleyball, and pencak silat, a form of martial arts. Football, however, is expected to be the main local spectator draw during the SEA Games. Myat Thura Soe, international relations secretary of the Myanmar National Olympic Committee, told The Irrawaddy that "we expect the crowds will be most interested in football, especially when the Myanmar team plays." The post SEA Games Preparations 'on Track' as Burma Draws Football Foes appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Thai Senate to Reject Controversial Amnesty Bill, Says Speaker Posted: 05 Nov 2013 09:47 PM PST A protester hits a picture of Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in central Bangkok Nov. 4, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) BANGKOK — The Thai Senate will reject an amnesty bill critics say is aimed at bringing back convicted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra from exile, the Senate Speaker said on Wednesday, a move that could defuse rising tension on the streets of Bangkok. The bill is aimed at whitewashing crimes committed by all leaders involved in political unrest since 2004 and is backed by the ruling Phea Thai party of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin's sister. "I reject this bill and will send it back to the Lower House. We will not accept this amnesty and the Senate majority agrees with me," Senate Speaker Nikom Wairatpanij told Reuters. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Bangkok since Friday in protest at the bill, threatening to disrupt months of calm in a country scarred by bloody unrest in 2010. More than 5,000 students at Bangkok's prestigious Chulalongkorn University marched through the capital in protest against the bill on Tuesday as public outrage gathered momentum. The bill will be debated in the Senate on Monday when it will need support from at least 76 of the 150 senators to pass. Critics say the bill is designed to allow Thaksin to return to Thailand without serving jail time after being found guilty in absentia in 2008 of corruption. Nikom has worked for governments backed by Thaksin in the past and is widely thought to be supportive of the Phea Thai-led administration of his sister Yingluck. Rights groups say the amnesty would absolve anyone accused of crimes connected to political violence, waive punishment for offenders and perpetuate a cycle of violence and culture of impunity. In her first official remarks since the draft bill passed Thailand's Lower House last week, Yingluck said on Tuesday she would leave the bill's fate in the hands of senators. Some analysts read her remarks as a sign of retreat after Thaksin, who is widely believed to be pulling the strings of government from abroad, misjudged the political temperature. "This is a sure signal that Thaksin wants to reverse and back out. Yingluck chose to act quickly and sent a strong message to the Senate before her party's image is left in tatters," Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, a political analyst at Chulalongkorn University, told Reuters. Opposition leaders heading the protests in Bangkok have vowed to continue their occupation of the city's Democracy Monument area until the bill is thrown out. "We cannot trust the government and their words until this law is withdrawn from Parliament. We will stay until that happens," former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the opposition Democrat Party, said in a speech to protesters at Democracy Monument. If it becomes law, the amnesty would also whitewash charges against Thaksin's enemies, including Abhisit and his deputy, Suthep Thaugsuban, who were charged with murder for ordering a military crackdown on pro-Thaksin protesters in 2010. About 90 people were killed in the violence. The post Thai Senate to Reject Controversial Amnesty Bill, Says Speaker appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Washington’s Holocaust Museum Highlights Burma’s Rohingya Posted: 05 Nov 2013 09:22 PM PST A family of Rohingya Muslims at a camp for internally displaced persons in Arakan State. (Photo: The Irrawaddy) WASHINGTON — Just a few blocks from the White House where Burma's president was feted for working for democracy, another side of his country is now on display at a more haunting Washington landmark: the plight of its most beleaguered people, the Rohingya Muslims, depicted in photos projected at night onto the external walls of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. The stark, black and white images by American photographer Greg Constantine combine searching portraits with pictures of the scorched settlements the Rohingya were forced to flee after a deadly outbreak of sectarian violence last summer that left more than 100,000 confined to camps and further darkened the prospects for this stateless people. They are denied citizenship in Burma, and are typically regarded there as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. "It's disturbing that at a time when there are so many conversations on the perceived amazing developments in Burma, this tragedy has been overshadowed by everybody's interest on what's been happening elsewhere in the country with democratic reforms," said Constantine, who has spent seven years photographing the Rohingya on both sides of the Burma-Bangladesh border. The US government-funded Holocaust museum primarily commemorates the genocide against the Jews by the Nazis during World War II. But it also documents the mass killings that have blighted Bosnia, Rwanda and Sudan, and seeks to spotlight situations where it sees a repeat of such atrocities. It has previously projected images on its walls of Holocaust survivors, and from South Sudan and the Darfur region of Sudan. "We are not saying that genocide is taking place in Burma," said Michael Abramowitz, director of the museum's Center for the Prevention of Genocide. "We are not trying to equate these different situations. The Holocaust was a unique event in human history. But what we do want to do is use our assets to try to prevent these kinds of crimes from happening to others in the future." The Burma authorities' failure to prevent sectarian clashes between minority Muslims and majority Buddhists has dented the international reputation of the government of Burma President Thein Sein. The former general, hosted by President Barack Obama at the White House in May, has been applauded in the West for steering the country from decades of direct military rule. He has eased media restrictions, freed most political prisoners and been rewarded with a rapid lifting of sanctions. But crimes against humanity have been reported in the midst of the democratic reforms. Sectarian violence that broke out between ethnic Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya in the country's west has spread to other regions of the country. In all, some 240 people have been killed, mostly Muslims, and 240,000 forced to flee their homes. Many thousands of Rohingya have fled by sea. More than 60 died this weekend when their boat capsized. The Burma Embassy in Washington did not respond to an email seeking comment about the exhibition. Constantine's images will also be shown at the European Parliament building in Brussels at the end of November. Constantine, who is from Carmel, Indiana, but is based in Thailand, has traveled to Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Kuwait and the Dominican Republic to document stateless peoples. He regards the situation of the Rohingya, who have faced persecution for decades, as the most extreme case of all. He began photographing them in Bangladesh in 2006, but only last year was he able to visit them in Burma, traveling to the western city of Sittwe. He said he saw a "complete helplessness" among Rohingya in displacement camps: People who wanted to return their homes but had no idea there's little left there but rubble. "It was disturbing to see and feel the complete and total absence of any Muslim presence in Sittwe," said Constantine, who last visited in March. "There was no call to prayer going on. All the mosques were empty or destroyed or Burmese troops were living in them. Every single Muslim shop was boarded up." Facing criticism from the West and the Islamic world, Burma's government has vowed to prevent further violence, but the Rohingyas' plight draws little sympathy among the wider population. UN special rapporteur for Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana said last month the government is showing greater willingness to address the crisis in Arakan State but has failed to investigate allegations of widespread human rights violations, including by security forces. Constantine, for one, says the stone facade of Holocaust museum is an appropriate canvas for his photographs. "The fact is this is a museum that's there to elevate discussion of atrocities against humanity," he said. "I believe that's what happening against the Rohingya right now." The post Washington's Holocaust Museum Highlights Burma's Rohingya appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

India and China Seek Economic Integration Via Burma, Bangladesh Posted: 05 Nov 2013 08:59 PM PST China's Premier Li Keqiang, right, shakes hands with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as they pose for pictures during their visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing on Oct. 23, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) The recent endorsement by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of a multibillion dollar construction corridor encompassing Bangladesh, China, India and Burma—if it materializes—could redraw the economic and geopolitical map of Asia. Termed "an international gateway to South Asia," the BMIC corridor, as it is known, was the highlight of Li's recent visit to India. The Chinese premier's office commented that the link "will surely release enormous growth energy and provide new vitality for the Asian economic integration and global growth." Statements like this are the usual hyperbole of state visits and must be taken with skepticism. But this time China, over recent weeks, has publicly unveiled a huge burst of ambitious plans to further draw East Asia, including both South Asia and Southeast Asia, into its economic and political orbit. "Connectivity" is China's new mantra and the focus of Beijing's long-term planning and strategic thinking, extending a web of rail, highway and air links all over the region and recently, during the visit of President Xi Jinping, offering an infrastructure bank to help build it. Given the region's considerable natural resources, and China's need for them to fuel its industrial growth, planners have all roads pointed toward Beijing. It may well be grandiose thinking, since China has had troubled relations with many of its neighbors, particularly India, with continuing border disputes over the eastern India Assam region. It should also be noted that as the four stakeholders are all developing nations plagued by capital constraints, regional economic cooperation has moved on a slow growth trajectory. They are also nations that have had considerable antipathy for each other, for instance with Bangladesh long suspicious of India and India with China. Burma is only now emerging from six decades of isolation and its basic infrastructure needs are enormous, let alone for sophisticated transport and communication links. However, Li's talks with Manmohan Singh, say policy watchers, have rejuvenated the idea of upgrading cooperation to a new level through the corridor. But what exactly is a trade corridor and how does it augment trade? "A trade corridor is a specific trading route that utilizes common trade agreements and infrastructure of the involved nations to increase the flow and productivity of trade and also strengthen bilateral ties," said the scholar and historian B K Joshi, who is currently working on a book on the Silk Road and its impact on the dynamics between countries who traded on it. The twin pillars of the economic corridor are visualized as industrial zones and infrastructure construction and cooperation. Through building industrial zones along the corridor, Joshi said, industrial transfer will be realized and industries such as processing, manufacturing and commerce logistics will be bolstered. This in turn, would create a thriving ecosystem for the growth of large and medium-sized cities along the corridor. The establishment of a trade corridor by the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (Burma) Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM) was an idea originally developed by Chinese scholars in Kunming at the end of the 1990s, then called the "Kunming Initiative." The "Kunming Initiative" evolved into the BCIM Forum for Regional Cooperation during its first meeting in 1999, with multiple objectives. These included, among others, creating a platform where major stakeholders could meet and discuss issues in the context of promoting economic growth and trade and identify specific sectors and projects that would promote greater collaboration among the grouping. "The BCIM economic corridor has an advantageous geopolitical position allowing it to reach multiple Asian markets," said the Mumbai-based trade analyst Diwakar Bedekar. "Once up, it will empower the four countries to work with each other's advantages, accelerate economic growth, and also open up to the outside world." The economic advantages of the corridor—covering 1.65 million square kilometers, encompassing an estimated 440 million people in the regions of Yunnan, Bangladesh, Burma and Indian states like West Bengal, Bihar and the northeast region—are gargantuan. Besides access to myriad markets in Southeast Asia, the link is also expected to enhance the transportation infrastructure and creation of industrial zones. "The construction of industrial zones will have a twofold benefit," says a ministry of commerce senior official who was a part of Singh's delegation to China. "Firstly, it will lead to industrial transfer boosting industries such as processing, manufacturing and commerce logistics." Secondly, the official adds, with labor costs rising in China, labor-intensive industries such as textile and agro processing will eventually be shifted out of China to newer regions that offer labor at relatively lower costs. "This will lead companies operating in China to give priority to the trade corridor region given its established infrastructure, improved logistics and ease of access," he added. India's isolated eastern and northeastern states also stand to gain by higher trade and connectivity with China and the rest of Asia. India's northeastern region alone covers 1.65 million square kilometers with a population of nearly 440 million people. Thus the BCIM may be a game changer for the states' economies by helping them boost investment and enabling them to showcase their commercial prowess to Chinese investors, given the long—and sometimes disputed—border between the two countries. The corridor will have an inevitable impact on diplomacy. "China will play a decisive role in the creation of the corridor as it faces economic slowdown and experiences difficulty in expanding into new markets. This requires China to eschew bilateral dissonance with India, and stress the tangible advantages of such an endeavor for the lesser-developed nations of Myanmar and Bangladesh," said foreign policy analyst Ashish Shekhsariya. The bridge dovetails well with India's own "Look East" initiative and regional plans to help the BMIC grouping. China and Bangladesh have already been pressing India to improve and upgrade existing road and other traffic network on its territory, with a view to facilitating more border trade and strengthening the local economies involved. Moreover, the link would help to right the adverse trade balance India faces of up to 42 percent with China even as bilateral trade touched US$62 billion last year as against the 2015 target of $100 billion. The BCIM countries may take up only 2 percent of global trade, but they are poised for exponential growth, trade analysts say. Once trade along the BCIM economic corridor is established, it will combine the China-Asean Free Trade Area, the Asean Free Trade Area and Asean-India Free Trade Area, to give shape to the biggest free trade area in the world. This will also bolster foreign trade of the BCIM countries and empower bilateral trading. Economic interdependence and investments in each other's economies, say policy watchers, is a surefire way to whittle down conflict as well. "It is important for Delhi to push Beijing to change its structure of trade and bring down import barriers to ensure a more favorable trade balance for India," said a senior external affairs ministry official. "Building roads, highways and infrastructure can bind the two most populous and fast-growing nations in the world to each other with positive results for the entire region." The post India and China Seek Economic Integration Via Burma, Bangladesh appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

Bangladesh Court Sentences 152 to Death for 2009 Mutiny Posted: 05 Nov 2013 08:50 PM PST Relatives react as a police van carrying prisoners arrives at the gate of the central jail after the verdict of a 2009 mutiny was announced, in Dhaka Nov. 5, 2013. (Photo: Reuters) DHAKA — A special court in Bangladesh on Tuesday sentenced to death more than 150 people among hundreds of border guards accused of murder and arson during a mutiny at their headquarters in 2009. Some 850 people had been accused of involvement in the bloody rampage that broke out in the capital, Dhaka, and quickly spread to a dozen other towns, killing 74 people. Prosecutor Mosharraf Hossain Kajol told Reuters the court sentenced 152 people to death. "The court announced the death sentence to them for the heinous killing of the country's brave sons," he said. Amid tight security, the court also sentenced 160 mutineers to life terms, including a former lawmaker of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and acquitted 171 soldiers. The rest got jail terms of up to 10 years and fines. Grievances over different facilities for army and border guards led to the mutiny, Judge Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman said in comments accompanying the verdict. "It also aimed to tarnish the image of the army in the outside world, where it has built up a reputation in performing UN peacekeeping duties," he added. The mutiny shook the stability of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's newly elected government, which ended the revolt by negotiating a settlement. The then chief of the roughly 48,000-strong paramilitary force was among those killed in the 33-hour rampage. Others included 57 top- and middle-ranking army officers deputed to the force, as well as several civilians. After the mutiny, the paramilitary force was renamed the Border Guard Bangladesh instead of the Bangladesh Rifles. The long-awaited verdict came nearly 5 years after the event. Four of the accused died in jail during the trial, with 20 more on the run and 13 free on bail while 813 remain in jail. Bangladesh's handling of the trials has drawn criticism from rights groups such as New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has said the use of torture and other abuse to extract statements while in custody violated standards for fair trials. The government has previously denied such accusations. Political grievances were behind the life term given to one leader of the opposition BNP, party official Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, though he declined to comment on the verdict. Defence lawyer Aminul Islam vowed to appeal against the judgment. "The verdict is nothing but a bid to gain political benefit," he said. Prosecutor Kajol said the government would also appeal, against Tuesday's 171 acquittals. The trial began in August 2011, with 801 force members and 23 civilians among those charged in 2010 after an investigation lasting more than a year. About 4,000 people have already been found guilty of involvement in the mutiny, all in mass military trials. They have been jailed for up to seven years. Junior law minister Kamrul Islam expressed satisfaction at Tuesday's verdict. "It was a plot to overthrow the newly elected government and also to assassinate the prime minister," he told reporters. Hasina, daughter of the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, narrowly escaped the brutal fate of her father and other family members, who were killed in 1975 by a group of army officials while she and her only sister were abroad. The post Bangladesh Court Sentences 152 to Death for 2009 Mutiny appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine.

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