Htun Htun Oo is a Human Rights Watch and Defender Network (HRWDN) member who has been jailed for his environmental activism in the Irrawaddy Delta. He is currently serving a six-month prison sentence on three separate charges under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law. He still faces charges under Article 19 of the same law for another peaceful protest. He also faces charges under Articles 427 and 447 of the Criminal Code and Article 6/1 of the Public Property Protection Act for activities related to planting mangrove trees in the Irrawaddy Delta. He is currently being held in Pyapon Prison, Irrawaddy Division.

Htun Htun Oo was detained frequently for his political activities during the 1988 popular uprising. He began his work with HRWDN, including activities supporting communities against land confiscation in Dedaye Township, Irrawaddy Division, following Burma’s April 2012 by-elections.

On 10-11 March 2014, Htun Htun Oo gave talks on environmental protection to villagers in Dedaye Township, Irrawaddy Division. The talks explained the value of planting mangrove trees in the region, which experienced coastal erosion and was one of the areas worst hit by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008. On 12 March 2014, local authorities charged Htun Htun Oo under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for these activities, along with associates Khin Shwe and Cho Lwin.

Beginning on 12 May 2014, Htun Htun Oo led a group of local villagers in the planting of more than 90,000 mangroves in a pasture in Dedaye Township. On 18 May, authorities charged Htun Htun Oo, Khin Shwe, Cho Lwin, and Myint Lwin under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for this activity. On 2 July 2014, Htun Htun Oo was also charged under Article 447 of the Criminal Code for trespassing, along with 12 residents, for trespassing on Kyone-Kanet grazing ground, where the mangrove trees were planted. Thirty more residents were also charged with one count of trespassing under Article 447.

On 5 August 2014, Htun Htun Oo was also charged under Article 427 of the Criminal Code for allegedly destroying paddy fields.

In the first week of July 2014, Htun Htun Oo and residents planted more than 70,000 mangrove trees in Dedaye Township, which authorities destroyed several days later. On 9 July, authorities charged Htun Htun Oo and 11 others, including Khin Shwe, Cho Lwin, Myint Lwin, Maung Myo, Daw Hla Yee and Win Shwe, under Article 6/1 of the Public Property Protection Act for allegedly destroying state-owned crops on grazing land while planting mangroves.

On 16 July 2014, authorities in Bassein (Pathein) Township, Irrawaddy Division, charged him under Article 19 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for a protest on 1 July against the detention of former Religious Affairs Minister San Sint. San Sint had built a strong base of support in his previous role as Speaker of Irrawaddy Division Parliament, in particular for his efforts in addressing land disputes in 2011 and 2012.

In July 2014, Htun Htun Oo also demonstrated in Dedaye Township, Irrawaddy Division, against the authorities’ failure to return confiscated grazing land to farmers. Later that month, this protest brought the latest charge under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law.

On 29 August 2014, Htun Htun Oo was detained in Pyapon Prison, Irrawaddy Division.

On 23 September 2014, a court in Dedaye Township, Irrawaddy Division, sentenced Htun Htun Oo to two months in prison for each of the three charges under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law.

On the same day, the court also sentenced Htun Htun Oo’s associates Cho Lwin and Khin Shwe to two months in prison under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for participating in environmental activities on 10-11 March and a two-month sentence for planting mangrove trees in May. Myint Lwin received a two-month sentence under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for planting mangrove trees on 12 May.

Phyu Hnin Htwe is a political activist and a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). Phyu Hnin Htwe is currently on trial at Yinmabin District Court in Sagaing Division on fabricated charges of kidnapping under Articles 364 and 368 of the Criminal Code for her alleged involvement in the abduction of two Chinese workers near the Letpadaung copper mine near Hsete Village, Salingyi Township, Sagaing Division. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison. She is currently being held in Monywa Prison.

Phyu Hnin Htwe is a former youth member of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Since 2010, she has participated in demonstrations focusing on issues such as land rights. From August to December 2012, as an ABFSU member, Phyu Hnin Htwe became involved in community protests against the Letpadaung copper mine, a joint venture between China’s Wanbao company and Burma’s military-backed Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings (UMEH).

After December 2012, she repeatedly visited two villages in the area affected by the Letpadaung copper mine, Tone and Hsete, to work as a volunteer teacher for children on weekends. She also remained engaged in the community’s land rights activities by attending demonstrations and publishing information on social media related to the Letpadaung copper mine’s impacts and villagers’ activities in opposition to the project.

On 18 May 2014, villagers near the Letpadaung copper mine detained one Burmese and two Chinese Wanbao employees because they suspected the workers were planning to fence in recently seized lands. The villagers released the Burmese worker the same day but held the two Chinese workers for about 30 hours in Hsete Village.

On 18 May, Phyu Hnin Htwe was in Hsete Village in her capacity as a volunteer teacher. When she heard about the situation involving the Wanbao employees, she visited the monastery where they were being held. She had not been involved in the kidnapping.

On 21 May, authorities requested seven people appear in court to face abduction charges. Phyu Hnin Htwe and a local villager, Win Kyaw, were among those charged, but they did not appear in court. On 22 May, Yinmabin District Court tried and then pardoned the five defendants present.

On 13 September, police arrested Phyu Hnin Htwe at her home in Patheingyi, Mandalay Division, and brought her to Monywa Prison. Authorities held her incommunicado until a 15 September court appearance, where she did not have a lawyer present. On 30 September, a judge at the Yinmabin District Court denied a bail request filed by her lawyer. On 15 October 2014, all charges against Phyu Hnin Htwe were dropped and she was released from Monywa Prison.

Kyaw Hla Aung, a prominent Rohingya human rights defender, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence on trumped-up charges of rioting. He is incarcerated in Sittwe Prison, Arakan State.

In 1986, Kyaw Hla Aung was imprisoned for two years for writing an appeal to the authorities on behalf of local farmers whose land had been confiscated. In 1990, he was arrested during a crackdown on Rohingya activists and spent the next 10 years in jail. In June 2012, government authorities detained him, along with several other Rohingya aid workers, for his alleged involvement in the sectarian unrest that hit Arakan State. He was released in August 2012.

On 15 July 2013, authorities in Sittwe Township arrested Kyaw Hla Aung in connection with a protest by internally displaced Rohingya against attempts by the government to register them as ‘Bengali’ in April 2013. Clashes between Rohingya IDPs and immigration officials during the protests at Thetkalpyin IDP camp in Sittwe Township forced the authorities to suspend the registration process. However, Kyaw Hla Aung was not present during the protests and, in fact, had tried to contact camp leaders in order to advise them to keep the protests peaceful. On 26 September 2014, the Sittwe District Court sentenced Kyaw Hla Aung to one year and six months in prison on charges of rioting in connection with the April 2013 protest.

Former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana, who repeatedly called for Kyaw Hla Aung’s release, described him as a prisoner of conscience and said his detention was arbitrary. Kyaw Hla Aung suffers from hypertension and stomach problems that require regular medication. Kyaw Hla Aung was released in an amnesty on 7 October 2014.

Tun Aung is a Rohingya human rights defender and community leader from Arakan State. He is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence on trumped up charges related to his efforts to prevent violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Arakan State during the June 2012 sectarian unrest. Presidential amnesties have reduced his overall sentence. However, Tun Aung still has more than a year of his jail term remaining.

Tun Aung worked with local leaders in the days leading up to the violence to negotiate between government officials and members of the Muslim community. A local MP called Tun Aung to assist authorities in calming the crowds. However, he was later detained and accused of provoking the violence and publishing information abroad about it. Prior to trial, he was denied family visits, was not allowed to appoint his own lawyer, and was denied private meetings with his court-appointed lawyer.

In November 2012, a court in Sittwe, Arakan State, sentenced him to 11 years in prison on a number of charges, including under the Myanmar Wireless Telegraphy Act and Article 24(1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. Following an appeal by the prosecution that his sentence was too lenient, the court added an additional six years. Tun Aung was released on 19 January 2015.

Sein Than

Sein Than, a land rights activist and leader of the Michaungkan community, has been repeatedly arrested and jailed for leading peaceful community protests against land confiscation in Rangoon. Since January 2012, he has campaigned for the return of villagers’ land in Michaungkan Village in Rangoon’s Thingangyun Township, which the Burma Army confiscated in the early 1990s.

On 10 September, a court in Rangoon’s Kyauktada Township sentenced Sein Than to four months in prison with hard labor under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for demonstrating against charges leveled against him for participating in a land confiscation protest. Since November 2013, he has received eight sentences on similar charges, totaling two years and nine months. He is currently being held in Rangoon’s Insein Prison.

Between January 2012 and September 2013, Michaungkan villagers held seven demonstrations in downtown Rangoon to demand the return of their land. From 2-5 October 2013, over 800 villagers set up a protest camp near the High Court in downtown Rangoon.

On 26 November 2013, villagers established a second protest camp at the Myasaryan Pagoda in Thingangyun Township. The same day, authorities arrested Sein Than and Rangoon’s Thingangyun Township Court sentenced him to three months in prison under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for his involvement in the protest. On 9 December 2013, Rangoon’s Kyauktada Township Court sentenced him to another six months in prison on the same charges. On 11 December 2013, he was released under a presidential amnesty.

On 12 December 2013, the Michaungkan villagers agreed to leave the protest site in Thingangyun Township for three months after the Parliamentary Farmland Investigation Commission agreed to investigate their case. However, the commission failed to resolve the dispute, and as a result, in March 2014, Sein Than and around 300 Michaungkan villagers reinstituted their protest camp near the High Court.

On 19 May 2014, authorities issued an arrest warrant for Sein Than, claiming that the protest camp near the High Court blocked the sidewalk. On 21 May, he and other members of the Michaungkan community peacefully demonstrated against the charges. On 31 July, authorities in Rangoon arrested Sein Than.

On 19 August, Rangoon’s Latha Township Court sentenced him to four months in prison with hard labor, and on 25 August, Rangoon’s Pabedan Township Court sentenced him to another four months, both under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for the 21 May protest.

On 20 August, Rangoon’s Bahan Township Court sentenced Sein Than to four months in prison under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for leading a peaceful protest in April 2014 to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s home, to ask for assistance with the Michaungkan community case.

On 29 August, Rangoon’s Kyauktada Township Court sentenced him to four months in prison under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for the protest near the High Court that began in March 2014. On 9 September, Rangoon’s Latha Township Court sentenced him to four months on charges that the protest camp near the High Court had blocked the sidewalk.

Laphai Gam

Laphai Gam is a Kachin farmer who formally lived in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) with his family. He is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Myitkyina Prison in Kachin State.

In July 2012, the Burmese Army detained him and forced him to confess to having connections with the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic armed group, and being responsible for different bombings in Kachin State. During his interrogation, he was tortured by soldiers.

In November 2013, after more than a year in detention, he was given a two-year prison sentence under Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act. At the trial, he told the judge that he had confessed so that the torture would stop. In December 2013, he received an additional five-year sentence under the 1908 Explosive Substances Act. In June 2014, he was sentenced to another 13 years, also under the Explosive Substances Act.

In November 2013, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that his detention was arbitrary and urged the government to immediately release him.

Thaw Zin

Thaw Zin is a member of the Yangon People’s Support Network and a human rights defender campaigning for farmers affected by the Letpadaung copper mine in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Division. He is currently serving a 15-month sentence in Monywa Prison, Sagaing Division.

In April 2013, authorities detained him under Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law for organizing protests against the expansion of the Letpadaung mine without obtaining the authorities’ prior permission. The charges were later dropped under a December 2013 presidential amnesty.

On 11 February 2014, plain-clothed police officers re-arrested him under Article 505(b) of the Criminal Code for disturbing public tranquility and for violating Article 447 of the Criminal Code related to criminal trespass for his role helping local villagers protest against land seizures related to the Letpadaung copper mine. He was sentenced in March 2014. He was freed on 26 September 2014. No reason was given for his early release.

Aye Thein is an activist who provided assistance to child soldiers and forced labor victims who were seeking assistance from the International Labor Organization (ILO). He is currently serving a six-month prison sentence in Mandalay Prison related to his intervention in a March 2013 land dispute between community members and authorities.

In August 2012, he assisted vendors in a protest against the proposed relocation of a market in Mandalay’s Chan Aye Thazan Township. On 12 June 2013, he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment under Article 505(b) of the Criminal Code and Article 18 of the Peaceful Gathering and Demonstration Law. He was released under a presidential amnesty in December 2013, but was re-arrested the same day on additional charges. In May 2014, he, along with eight other defendants, was sentenced to six months with hard labor on charges of assaulting a civil servant under Article 353 of the Criminal Code. He was released on 1 October 2014.

Than Htike Oo is the Chairman of the People Democracy Party (PDP) and is currently serving a four-year prison sentence in Katha Prison, Sagaing Division. In October 2012, he was arrested in Kachin State, along with three other PDP members on charges of defaming Kachin State Chief Minister La John Ngan Hsai. According a PDP party member, Kachin State authorities prosecuted PDP leaders after the party’s monthly bulletin accused Chief Minister La John Ngan Hsai and his officials of demanding bribes.

Aung Ko Latt is a human rights activist who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in Thayet Prison, Magwe Division.

In June 2011, authorities arrested him and falsely accused him of membership in the Karen National Union (KNU) and bombing the Myoma Market in Naypyidaw. He was charged with multiple offenses, including violating Article 17(1) of the Unlawful Association Act and the 1908 Explosive Substances Act. During the pre-trial detention period, which lasted more than eight months, he was tortured and forced into making a confession. The court sentenced him in March 2012.