Tuesday, June 12, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Aung San Suu Kyi to Chair Peace Talks in Mon State

Posted: 12 Jun 2018 09:00 AM PDT

YANGON – State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will chair peace talks in Moulmein, Mon State, this month.

This will be the seventh round of peace talks the State Counselor has chaired over the past 18 months, following talks in Naypyitaw (twice), Shan State, Mandalay Region, Kayah State and Irrawaddy Region.

Mon State and Union officials, along with members of civil society organizations (CSOs), met at the Mon State Government office on Tuesday to discuss details and the issues to be highlighted during the peace talks.

Officials declined to discuss details of Tuesday's meeting or the planned talks. State Counselor's Office spokesperson U Zaw Htay could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Mon State-based CSOs said the planned peace talks in Mon State had not been heavily publicized, adding that they had only heard second-hand information about the talks on Tuesday — two days before the talks are reportedly due to begin on June 14.

The situation is markedly different from the lead-up to peace talks in Panglong, Shan State in February 2017, when CSOs were informed of the planned talks about 10 days beforehand, said Min Aung Htoo, a coordinator of the Mon State CSOs Network who participated in those talks.

Mon State CSO members and Mon youth whom The Irrawaddy spoke to on Tuesday said that notwithstanding the NLD leader's efforts to hold such talks, the most important thing was to be able to reduce the fighting in the northern part of the country and implement federal democratic principles through the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference process.

"Talk alone is not enough. Peace talks have been held five or six times, so we don't have high expectations for them. It is important to reduce the fighting and establish the federal union that the indigenous people of Myanmar seek," Min Aung Htoo said.

"Those participating in the peace talks with the State Counselor must be knowledgeable about Mon State's issues and aware of the Mon people's desires. We don't want to see people who just wear traditional Mon dress but are unable to reflect on the current political and social issues," said Min Zar Ni Oo, the secretary of the Mon Youth Network, which represents Mon people throughout the country.

Though Mon State is now relatively peaceful with less armed conflict than other parts of Myanmar, "it does not mean that we have peace," Min Zar Ni Oo added. "As long as there are human rights violations, corruption, land confiscation and implementation of big projects without consulting the public, we cannot say we have peace," he said.

The post Aung San Suu Kyi to Chair Peace Talks in Mon State appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

More than 100 Rohingya Refugees Wash Ashore on Rathedaung Beach

Posted: 12 Jun 2018 08:29 AM PDT

YANGON – More than 100 Rohingya refugees had a narrow escape in the Bay of Bengal on Monday as their damaged vessel drifted ashore in northern Rakhine State's Rathedaung Township. Some of those on board said the vessel had been bound for Malaysia, but it remained unclear Tuesday whether their journey had begun in Rakhine or a refugee camp in Bangladesh.

According to a statement from the government's Information Committee, local authorities were informed in the early hours of Monday that 104 people were sheltering on a stretch of beach between Aung Bala Chaung Wa village and Don Piek village near southern Maungdaw Township. The local officials discovered a 40-ft-long, 20-ft-high boat along with 60 female and 44 male passengers. According to passengers, the hull of the boat cracked as the vessel was buffeted by strong winds. The boat eventually drifted ashore in Rathedaung.

The statement referred to the stranded passengers simply as "Islam believers", avoiding the terms "Bengali" — the name used by many in Myanmar to refer to Muslims from northern Rakhine State, seeing them as immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh who arrived during British rule — and "Rohingya" (the term used by the community itself).

Authorities transported the refugees in four vehicles to Nga Khu Ya refugee reception camp in northern Maungdaw about 85 km from Don Piek village in Rathedaung Township in order to verify the group's origins.

U San Thein, a resident of Ahngu Maw village in Rathedaung Township who had been to the site where the boat made land, told The Irrawaddy that authorities initially discovered 65 people, and found the rest later in several groups at different locations. According to him, the group comprised 10 children, 35 men and 56 women — three fewer than the count later provided by officials. Some reportedly said they had been en route to Malaysia for five days, but passengers gave conflicting statements as to the vessel's point of departure.

Some of them said they had departed from a refugee camp in Bangladesh. About 700,000 Rohingya refugees are currently sheltering in camps there after being driven out by Myanmar military clearance operations against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which staged serial attacks on government security outposts in August 2017.

As their account could not be verified, it remains unclear whether all of the passengers left from the same location in Bangladesh, or if in fact they are all from Rathedaung and were attempting to leave the strife-torn zone for a fresh start in another country. Travel by Rohingya Muslims is heavily restricted both in and outside Rakhine. Rohingya are occasionally arrested by police for attempting to travel to Yangon without the necessary documents from the Immigration Department.

According to the Information Committee's statement, in May 2015 authorities located and assisted 228 Bangladeshi boat people in southern Maungdaw before transferring them to the custody of Bangladeshi authorities. That same month, authorities discovered 743 boat people in Irrawaddy Division's Pyar Pon Township. After identifying them as Bangladeshi nationals with the help of the Bangladesh Embassy, it repatriated them through official channels.

U Ko Ko Thaw, an immigration official in northern Maungdaw's Taungpyo sub-township who is leading the process of registering displaced people, declined to answer specific questions when contacted via telephone by The Irrawaddy, saying the case is being handled by officials at the Nga Khu Ya reception camp.

Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a refugee reparation agreement in November 2017 but as of Tuesday not a single refugee had been transferred to Maungdaw reception camp through official channels. A small number of people have attempted to return from the Bangladesh camps to the Maungdaw border without authorization, leading to the arrest of 62 returnees by local authorities. Of these, President U Myint Myint has pardoned 58 and four have had the charges against them dropped. This group was sent to the refugee reception camp for registration. A few days after their return, about 10 of them fled the camp. Authorities believe they returned to their place of origin.

To accelerate the return of refugees from Bangladesh, the Myanmar government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two UN agencies, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The MoU concluded a negotiation process that began in February. Moreover, the government last week announced plans to establish a credible investigation team including one high-profile international member and two Myanmar nationals to look into alleged human rights violations in northern Rakhine State linked to both ARSA and members of the security forces.

Min Aung Khine contributed to this report from Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State. 

The post More than 100 Rohingya Refugees Wash Ashore on Rathedaung Beach appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

WhatsApp the Media Platform of Choice for ARSA

Posted: 12 Jun 2018 05:16 AM PDT

YANGON — Facebook's recent blacklisting of a group of Myanmar Buddhist hardliners, including several monks notorious for hate speech against Rohingya Muslims, was a positive step, but it is not the only social media platform being abused to spread conflict in the country. In particular, concerns are growing about the wide use of the encrypted messaging application WhatsApp by Muslim militants who staged a series of deadly attacks against security outposts in Rakhine State last year.

The Myanmar government has denounced the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) as a terrorist group for its Aug. 25 attacks on security forces. According to news reports, ARSA and its followers have been among the most active adopters of WhatsApp, which they use to communicate their views to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. They use the service to drum up support, issue updates on the group's latest military movements and disseminate official press releases.

A number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh told Reuters they had no idea whether the messages, often posted by people with phone numbers registered in the Middle East or other parts of Asia, were actually ARSA members.

Refugees also worry that Bangladeshi security forces are monitoring the messages and looking for ARSA supporters within the camps.

Myanmar is not the only country grappling with the use of WhatsApp by terrorists. The perpetrators of three separate attacks in the U.K. last year — the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge attacks — were later found to have sent messages over the encrypted platform shortly before launching their assaults. Police there have been unable to access the contents of the messages, however.

U Nay Phone Latt, a lawmaker from Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy and an adviser to the Myanmar ICT for Development Organization, said it was WhatsApp's responsibility to monitor for suspicious messages shared via the application, adding that the company should have policies on what content can be viewed and which messages should be blocked.

"The Myanmar government needs to encourage the company to be responsible," said the adviser to MIDO, a local NGO focusing on ICT for development, Internet freedom and civic technology.

But WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, says privacy is an essential feature of the application. Every message is end-to-end encrypted, which means not even WhatsApp can see the content that is being shared.

"We've made it easy to block any phone number with one tap and we encourage people to report problematic messages to WhatsApp so that we can take action," a WhatsApp spokesperson told The Irrawaddy.

U Nay Phone Latt said the government should engage not only with Facebook but also other messaging developers to explain the problems Myanmar is currently struggling to cope with, including the spread of fake news and hate speech on social media, and urge them to help tackle the problem. Last week, a Facebook team led by the company's vice president, Simon Milner, visited Myanmar and met with Union Information Minister U Pe Myint to discuss what the company has been doing to tackle the problem of hate speech on its platform.

With 18 million accounts in a population of more than 52 million, Facebook is the most widely used social media platform in Myanmar. Since 2012, it has been heavily used by nationalists and others looking to instigate religious conflict — especially between Buddhists and Muslims — by spreading fake news.

The United Nations has said hate speech and incitement to violence against the Rohingya are rampant on Facebook.

In the wake of the ARSA-led attacks last year, the Myanmar military launched a clearance operation in areas with large Rohingya populations in northern Rakhine State. The operation caused nearly 700,000 Rohingya to flee to nearby Bangladesh. The exodus prompted international condemnation and accusations that the operation amounted to a crime against humanity.

The post WhatsApp the Media Platform of Choice for ARSA appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

‘Who is Ruling the Country?’: Military Representative

Posted: 12 Jun 2018 04:08 AM PDT

NAYPYITAW — Showing disapproval of the government's decision to include a foreign expert on a new commission that will investigate widespread allegations of human rights abuses in Rakhine State, a military representative asked, "Who is ruling the country?" during a parliamentary session in Naypyitaw on Monday.

Military representatives and lawmakers from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and Arakan National Party (ANP) objected to the government's inclusion of a foreign expert in looking into issues in Rakhine State.

Military representative Colonel Myint Cho pointed out that prior investigations included both foreign and local committee members and questioned why the government had to rely on foreigners.

"The Kofi Annan-led [Rakhine State Advisory] commission and others were already formed with foreign experts. Does the government not trust those commissions? Or not trust its citizens? Will it only trust foreigners?" Colonel Myint Cho questioned during the parliamentary session.

Despite the opposition, the argument failed, as a majority of National League for Democracy lawmakers voted in favor of including a foreign expert.

All six of the military representatives who submitted arguments stated that they worried about the sovereignty of the country if there were foreign interference.

Following a President's Office announcement at the end of May that the government would establish an independent commission to investigate human rights issues in Rakhine State, USDP lawmakers urged State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to lead the commission and include only locals.

Those in support of including foreigners stated that the investigation commission should not cause a fight between the military and the government and that both should work for the benefit of the country.

U Thiha Thwe, a columnist from Yangon, said the new commission should not be just for show, but that it should work hard to clear up any doubts held by the international community, or else the country's image would continue to be affected.

"If you want to protect the military's image, you have to accept whoever will help clear these negative allegations," said U Thiha Thwe.

"The new committee is not like the UN fact-finding mission. There will be only one foreign expert. If the opposition uses this to attack the government, it could affect both the military and the country," he added.

The opposition has said that foreign decisions on the acceptance of refugees and other issues facing Rakhine are unacceptable and that it is the military's duty to uphold the Constitution and the country's "three main national causes"—non-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty.

The vice minister of the State Counselor's Office U Khin Maung Tin explained that the government had to review the situation wisely, so as to not face an ICC [International Criminal Court] referral. He added that there is a lack of trust from the international community regarding the commission formerly called to investigate, and the Myanmar government has refused to give a UN fact-finding mission access to the country.

 Translated from Burmese by Zarni Mann.

The post 'Who is Ruling the Country?': Military Representative appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

KIA Blasts Myanmar Military on Anniversary of Civil War in Kachin

Posted: 12 Jun 2018 02:22 AM PDT

MON STATE — The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) accused the Myanmar military of genocide and human rights abuses including rape and murder on Saturday to mark the seven-year anniversary of fighting in Kachin State.

In a speech broadcast by the KIA’s State TV from Laiza, the group’s headquarters, Colonel Naw Bu, a spokesman for the KIA, said the adversaries had clashed 3,862 times since the collapse of a bilateral ceasefire agreement in 2011.

“There have been 447 clashes from the beginning of 2017 to May 2018 alone,” he said, claiming that the KIA only fights in self-defense.

Col. Naw Bu said the military has deployed 108 battalions against the KIA in Kachin since 2011 and another 90 in territory the group claims in northern Shan State. He said the military has also formed five militias in Kachin and 29 in Shan to fight the KIA as well.

The military itself, he added, fired on KIA forces more than 400 times since the start of 2017 and shelled them over 430 times in strikes that also hit towns and villages, killing four civilians and wounding six.

The spokesman also claimed that landmines laid by the military have injured 1,339 people over the past seven years, including 19 children and some KIA fighters.

The fighting has destroyed 406 villages and driven some 130,000 people from their homes — including some 6,000 since early 2017 — to 13 refugee camps spread across several townships, he said. The inventory of destroyed buildings, he continued, included 24 Buddhist monasteries, 256 schools, 264 hospitals and clinics and 311 churches.

Col. Naw Bu accused the military of having raped 124 women and murdered 90 of them.

The KIA said at least 300 innocent people have been arrested over the course of the fighting and that 78 of them were tortured in custody. Activists have also been arrested and convicted for staging protests against the fighting without permission.

The spokesman accused the military of genocide and of a campaign to Burmanize the Kachin as well as the country’s other ethnic minorities. He said the fighting continues only because the military has repeatedly rejected the KIA’s offers to negotiate a peace deal.

The military in turn has blamed the latest round of fighting that broke out earlier this year on the KIA and denied that it had launched an offensive.

The post KIA Blasts Myanmar Military on Anniversary of Civil War in Kachin appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Trump Says Summit is ‘Very, Very Good,’ Kim Calls it Prelude to Peace

Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:49 PM PDT

SINGAPORE — US President Donald Trump said he had forged a “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the start of a historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday, as the two men sought ways to end a nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula.

Should they succeed in making a diplomatic breakthrough, it could bring lasting change to the security landscape of northeast Asia, like the visit of former US President Richard Nixon to China in 1972 led to the transformation of China.

“There will be challenges ahead,” Kim said, but he vowed to work with Trump. Both men sat alongside each other against a backdrop of North Korean and US flags, with Kim beaming broadly as the US president gave him a thumbs up.

The combatants of the 1950-53 Korean War are technically still at war, as the conflict, in which millions of people died, was concluded only with a truce.

With cameras of the world’s press trained on them, Trump and Kim displayed an initial atmosphere of bonhomie.

Both men had looked serious as they got out of their limousines for the summit at the Capella hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa, a resort island with luxury hotels, a casino, manmade beaches and a Universal Studios theme park.

But they were soon smiling and holding each other by the arm, before Trump guided Kim to the library where they held a meeting with only their interpreters. Trump had said on Saturday he would know within a minute of meeting Kim whether he would reach a deal.

After some initial exchanges lasting around 40 minutes, Trump and Kim emerged, walking side-by-side through the colonnaded hotel before re-entering the meeting room, where they were joined by their most senior officials.

Kim was heard telling Trump through a translator: “I think the entire world is watching this moment. Many people in the world will think of this as a scene from a fantasy…science fiction movie.”

Asked by a reporter how the meeting was going, Trump said: “Very good. Very, very good. Good relationship.”

Kim also sounded positive about the prospects.

“We overcame all kinds of skepticism and speculations about this summit and I believe that this is good for the peace,” he said. “I believe this is a good prelude for peace.”

Trump was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff, for the expanded talks, while Kim’s team included former military intelligence chief Kim Yong Chol, foreign minister Ri Yong Ho and Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party.

Markets Calm

As the two leaders met, Singapore navy vessels and air force Apache helicopters patrolled, while fighter jets and a Gulfstream 550 early warning aircraft circled.

Financial markets were largely steady in Asia and did not show any noticeable reaction to the start of the summit. The dollar was at a three-week high and the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific shares was largely unchanged from Monday.

While Trump and Kim search each other's eyes and words for signs of trust or deceit, the rest of the world will be watching, hoping that somehow these two unpredictable leaders can find a way to defuse one of the planet’s most dangerous flashpoints.

A body language expert said both men tried to project command as they met, but also displayed signs of nerves.

In the hours before the summit began, Trump expressed optimism about prospects for the first-ever meeting of sitting US and North Korean leaders, while Pompeo injected a note of caution whether Kim would prove to be sincere about his willingness to denuclearize.

Officials of the two sides held last-minute talks to lay the groundwork for the summit of the old foes, an event almost unthinkable just months ago, when they were exchanging insults and threats that raised fears of war.

Staff-level meetings between the United States and North Korea were going “well and quickly,” Trump said in a message on Twitter on Tuesday.

But he added: “In the end, that doesn’t matter. We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!”

Pompeo said earlier the summit should set the framework for “the hard work that will follow,” insisting that North Korea had to move toward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.

North Korea, however, has shown little appetite for surrendering nuclear weapons it considers vital to the survival of Kim’s dynastic rule.

Sanctions on North Korea would remain in place until that happened, Pompeo said on Monday. “If diplomacy does not move in the right direction … those measures will increase.”

The White House said later that discussions with North Korea had moved “more quickly than expected” and Trump would leave Singapore on Tuesday night after the summit, rather than Wednesday, as scheduled earlier.

Kim is due to leave on Tuesday afternoon, a source involved in the planning of his visit has said.

One of the world’s most reclusive leaders, Kim visited Singapore’s waterfront on Monday, smiling and waving to onlookers, adding to a more affable image that has emerged since his April summit with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in.

‘Changed Era’

Just a few months ago, Kim was an international pariah accused of ordering the killing of his uncle, a half-brother and scores of officials suspected of disloyalty.

The summit was part of a “changed era,” North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency said in its first comments on the event.

Talks would focus on “the issue of building a permanent and durable peacekeeping mechanism on the Korean peninsula, the issue of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and other issues of mutual concern,” it added.

Ahead of the summit, North Korea rejected unilateral nuclear disarmament, and KCNA’s reference to denuclearization of the peninsula has historically meant it wants the United States to remove a “nuclear umbrella” protecting South Korea and Japan.

Trump spoke to both South Korea’s Moon and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday to discuss developments ahead of the summit.

“I too, got little sleep last night,” Moon told his cabinet in Seoul as the summit began in Singapore.

“I truly hope it will be a successful summit that will open a new age for the two Koreas and the United States and bring us complete denuclearization and peace.”

The post Trump Says Summit is ‘Very, Very Good,’ Kim Calls it Prelude to Peace appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

What’s for Lunch? Trump, Kim Summit Menu a Blend of Western, Asian Flavors

Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:38 PM PDT

SINGAPORE — Beef ribs and sweet and sour pork: US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be served a working lunch that combines the flavors of East and West during their historic meeting in Singapore on Tuesday.

A menu released by the White House showed the two leaders will sit down to starters that include prawn cocktail and avocado salad, a Southeast Asian-flavored green mango salad dish with honey lime dressing and fresh octopus, as well as “oiseon," a Korean dish of stuffed cucumber.

Main courses include beef short rib confit, served with potato dauphinois and steamed broccoli; sweet and sour crispy pork and fried rice with an “XO” chili sauce as well as a Korean dish called “daegu jorim”, which is a soy braised cod fish with radish and Asian vegetables.

For dessert, Trump and Kim and their delegations would have a choice of dark chocolate tartlet ganache, Haagen Daaz vanilla ice cream with cherry coulis and tropezienne, a cream-filled pastry.

The post What’s for Lunch? Trump, Kim Summit Menu a Blend of Western, Asian Flavors appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Ten Things to Do in Yangon This Week

Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:13 PM PDT

Myanmar Music Festival

International and Myanmar musicians will perform at this event.

June 17, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. National Theater. Free entry.

 

Metamorphosis

This event features a creative blend of traditional Burmese music, dance and song, Chinese music, and Western classical music.

June 16, 4 p.m. Sedona Hotel. Free entry.

 

Berlin Club Night

German DJs Cee and Phon.O will be spinning in the new auditorium, where their beats will blast until late night.

June 16, 8 p.m. until late. Goethe Villa, Kabar Aye Pagoda Road, corner of Nat Mauk Street. Free entry.

 

International Education Fair Myanmar

Various universities will present opportunities for earning a bachelor's degree abroad.

 June 16-17, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sule Shangri-La Hotel.

 

No Commitments

Yu KT is teaming up with DJ Seeger to offer up an inventive blend of dance floor heat, sampling from the global underground.

June 16, 10 p.m. LEVEL 2, Yangon International Hotel Compound, Dagon Tsp.

 

FAB XTRA (Crazy Hat Theme)

This is a club night for LGBT and friends. The craziest hat will receive a prize.

June 16, 10 p.m. until late. PYRITE Club, near Inya Lake Hotel.

 

Rainy Season Handicraft Sales

Orders will be accepted with a 10 percent discount for lamps, chandeliers, bookshelves and more.

June 12-15, Yangon Handmade Creations, No. 29, Yae Kyaw Market, Zizawar Street, Pazundaung Tsp.

 

New Treasure Group

This exhibition will feature the work of dozens of artists.

June 16, ongoing for three months. No. 84 (A), Thanlwin Street, Golden Hill Avenue, Golden Hill Valley, Bahan Tsp.

 

HB-The First Solo Show

This exhibition marks the 73rd birthday of Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

June 19-21, Ahla Thit Art Gallery, No. 17, University Avenue Road.

 

Seven Point Art Exhibition

Seven artists will showcase their creations.

June 13-17, MAOC Art Gallery, No. 188, 192, Bogyoke Market.

The post Ten Things to Do in Yangon This Week appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Reuters Reporters Say Deprived of Sleep During Myanmar Probe

Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:11 PM PDT

YANGON — Two Reuters reporters accused in Myanmar of possessing secret documents were subjected to sleep deprivation and asked if they were “spies” during police interrogations, their lawyers suggested during questions posed to a police witness on Monday.

Cross-examining Police Captain Myint Lwin at a court in Yangon, defense lawyer Than Zaw Aung asked if he was aware the two reporters were “not allowed to sleep” for three consecutive days during the initial police probe after their detention on Dec. 12.

He also asked the witness whether reporter Kyaw Soe Oo was “forced to kneel down” on the floor for more than three hours during questioning by investigators.

In what has become a landmark press freedom case, the court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January to decide whether Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, and his Reuters colleague Wa Lone, 32, will be charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The alleged offenses carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Captain Myint Lwin, the officer in charge of the Yangon police station that conducted the preliminary inquiry after the pair were arrested, denied the reporters were deprived of sleep or made to kneel, saying officers were not allowed to “do such a thing” under his command.

He also denied, under cross-examination, that the reporters were sent to a specialist interrogation facility after their arrests, saying they were detained at the police station in northern Yangon until his team finalized the preliminary probe and handed the case to a police crime investigation unit on Dec. 26.

After the hearing, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo confirmed details of their treatment, telling reporters they had been questioned every two hours for about three days after their arrests by different officers, who asked if they were “spies."

Wa Lone said it was “completely untrue” that they had remained in a regular police station.

“It is mental and physical torture,” a second defense lawyer, Khin Maung Zaw, told Reuters after Monday’s proceedings, adding that evidence gathered through such methods was unlawful and should not be presented to the court.

Prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung declined to comment at the end of the hearing.

Police spokesman Myo Thu Soe, contacted by telephone, said he was not aware of the matter and declined to comment.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay was not immediately available for comment after Monday’s hearing. Previously, he has declined to comment on the case or the conduct of the investigation, saying Myanmar’s courts are independent and the case would be conducted according to the law.

“Deeply Concerned"

Reuters President and Editor-in-Chief Stephen J. Adler said in a statement the news agency had long been deeply concerned about how the reporters were treated during their interrogation.

“No one, including Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, should be subject to mistreatment of the kind they describe,” he said.

“It is for this reason, and many others, that we hope the court will bring this matter to an end as swiftly as possible, and restore the press’s confidence in its ability to work safely and responsibly in Myanmar.”

At the time of their arrest, the reporters had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The killings took place during a military crackdown that United Nations agencies say sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.

The reporters have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some rolled up papers at a restaurant in northern Yangon by two policemen they had not met before, having been invited to meet the officers for dinner.

After the hearing, Kyaw Soe Oo, in handcuffs, told reporters that he was made to kneel on the floor for “three to four hours” when he refused to give the address of a hotel where he had been staying in Yangon or divulge details of the Reuters investigation.

Global advocates for press freedom, human rights activists, as well the United Nations and several Western countries, have called for the release of the Reuters journalists.

On Monday, diplomats from the European Union and France – as well as others – observed the proceedings.

The next hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

The post Reuters Reporters Say Deprived of Sleep During Myanmar Probe appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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